From George Washington to Brühl, 3 January 1784
To Brühl
Mount Vernon 3d Jany 1784
Sir,
In forwarding the Letter of the Count de Solms1 you have done a most acceptable office by bringing me acquainted with so venerable & dignified a character; You have also given me an occasion of experiencing your great politeness, & of expressing my obligations for it.
I must now take the liberty of committing to your charge a Letter directed to the Count; it is the harbinger of the Portrait which is intended to be presented to him,2 in conformity to his request & your permission, & which will be likewise addressed to your care by my friend the Honorable Robt Morris of Philadelphia.3 I have the honor to be &ca
G: Washington
LB, DLC:GW.
At some time after becoming a clerk for GW in 1789, Bartholomew Dandridge (d. 1802), the nephew of Martha Washington, began entering in a letter book letters that GW had written since leaving the army at the end of 1783. He also copied a few personal letters written before 1784. The last letter that Dandridge copied in the letter book is dated 23 Jan. 1787, at which point George Washington Craik began copying.
GW had no secretary after his return to Mount Vernon in December 1783 until William Shaw came to work for him in the summer of 1785. All of the letters that Dandridge copied that were dated before Shaw’s arrival he must have taken from GW’s own drafts or retained copies, virtually all of which are missing. Perhaps they were discarded by Dandridge once they were entered into the letter book.
Aloys Friedrich, Graf von Brühl (1739–1789), a privy councilor to the elector of Savoy, at this time was the elector’s envoy in London.
1. Brühl’s letter to GW is from London, dated 4 Sept. 1783; the enclosed letter from Solms is dated 9 July 1783.
2. See GW to Solms, this date, and notes.