To John Jay from Peter Jay Munro, 20 November 1783
From Peter Jay Munro
Chaillot the 20th. Novr. 1783
Dr. Uncle,
Young Mr. Adams has informed me, that he never saw you look so well as you do at Present.1 I am glad to [he]ar it. Tho’ I long for your arrival, I hope you will not return before you are quite rid of all your Complaints: my aunt says the same. Is the Inflamation in your Throat, of the same kind as that, which gave you so much Pain and trouble some years ago?— As you say nothing of England in any of your letters; we expect you will tell us a great Deal at your return.2
Aunt Jay and the Children are well. Nancy is but little trouble to her mamma—3 Before I conclude I must tell you a Punn, made upon you and Mr. Fox. I saw ^it^ in the Courier de l’Europe—4 Perhaps you have heard of it—5 A London wit [hear]ing that you and Mr. Fox had had a Conference; “Bon, dit il, nous voila donc revenus au tems d’Esope; où les Quadrupedes et les Oiseaux avoient le don de la Parole.”—6
When you see my Father remember me to him, and beleive me to be Dr. Uncle Your Dutiful Nephew
P. J. Munro—
His Excellency John Jay Esqr
P.S. I have been so unfortunate as to break my Pen-knife, and I would be very much obliged to my Uncle If he would bring me another. Mrs. Ridley is very ill— Mrs. Price is arrived—
ALS, NNC (EJ: 9360). Addressed: “His Excellency / John Jay Esqr.—/ At Mr. Bingham’s, Harley / Street, No. 30.—/ London”. Endorsed: “ . . . ansd. 6 Decr. 1783 / Recd. 5 Dec. 1783”. Dft, NNmuS (EJ: 382). Endorsed.
1. John Quincy Adams to PAJ, 4 Nov. 1783, ALS, NNMus. The younger Adams accompanied his father to London, and he and PAJ carried on an extensive correspondence.
2. Here in the Dft Munro added, then excised: “Abby is still obstinate in prison. Mr. Ridley and myself went to see ^her^ last Evening he either offered to”.
3. Here in the Dft Munro added, then excised: “she is sometimes in 12 hours without sucking for 12 hours and it often happens ^is rare^ that she suckes in Night, Will you believe that she”.
4. Courier de l’Europe, a French language newspaper published from 1776 to 1792 in London and, from 1778 to 1783 at Boulogne by Samuel Swinton (d. 1797), a secret agent of the British Admiralty. The French permitted its circulation in France because of its substantial coverage of the American Revolutionary War. , 138; see also Louis Eugène Hatin, Bibliographie Historique et Critique de la Presse Périodique Française (Paris, 1866), 74.
5. In the Dft, Munro reworked this passage after excising: “en particulier comme par ses fo saillies se trouvant dan un Cafe, où en rappartoit que Messieurs a Fox & ^et^ Jay”.
6. “Fine!” said he, “here we are back in the time of Aesop; when quadrupeds and birds had the gift of speech.”