To James Madison from William Beach Lawrence, 23 January 1828
From William Beach Lawrence
Legation of the United States
London 23. January. 1828
Sir,
In the letter, which I had the honour to address to you on the 29th. November, I mentioned that I entertained strong expectations that the University of Virginia would find in Mr Ritchie, a gentleman, who had been particularly recommended to my attention, a suitable Professor of Natural Philosophy. I have now the pleasure to communicate a letter from Mr Key to you, which had been left open for my perusal, together with several letters in favour of Mr Ritchie.1 I have not seen the proposed Candidate, but, in addition to the recommendations in the enclosed papers, Professor Pattison,2 formerly of Baltimore, and now of the London University, whom I requested to make enquiries among his colleagues, has just called to state that all the accounts which he has received are most favourable to Mr Ritchie.
I also forward herewith a letter from Mr Dodd, together with the testimonials, which he has transmitted to me.3 I have the honour to be &c
signed W. B. Lawrence
Letterbook copy (DLC: William Beach Lawrence Papers).
1. Letters not found.
2. In his turbulent career, Granville Sharp Pattison (1791–1851) of Glasgow, Scotland, was an “anatomist, surgeon and teacher” as well as a “grave-robber, adulterer, duellist, and inveterate wrangler.” He was a member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1813. He moved to Philadelphia in 1819 and a year later became professor of surgery and then anatomy at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. Pattison resigned in 1826 and returned to England, where he was professor of anatomy at London University, 1827–31. He returned to the United States to take a similar position at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, 1832–41, and then at New York University from 1841 until his death (F. L. M. Pattison, Granville Sharp Pattison: Anatomist and Antagonist, 1791–1851 [Tuscaloosa, Ala., 1987], 1–2, 23–25, 86–87, 89, 110–12, 135–36, 170–73, 183, 197, 198, 216).
3. Letter not found.