Your letter of Mar. 28. did not get to my hands at Washington till July 7. and as I had left Parkyns’s designs of gardens at this place I was obliged to defer answering you till I came here. I now inclose it to you with many thanks for the use of it. I suspect you will find in the grounds you propose to improve on these models, in the highest degree, an obstacle which we find considerable even here: that is that the luxuriance of the soil by it’s constant reproduction of weeds of powerful growth & stature, will bid defiance to the keeping your grounds in that clean state which the English garden requires

I learn from Govr. Claiborne, with extreme satisfaction, that he has been enabled to find emploiment for your talents in a way much more congenial to your acquirements & habits of life, than would have been the mechanical drudgery of an Indian factory. in the office of a judge you will be able to compose with justice the differences arising among those committed to your care, often to prevent them, & always to exercise a paternal disposition towards a people whose harmless & orderly character cannot fail to endear them to all who are charged with the care of them. Wishing you all the happiness which flows from the enjoiments of retired but useful life, which your mind is peculiarly formed to feel I salute you with assurances of great esteem and respect.