31To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 29 May 1787 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved yesterday evening your favor of the 21st. from the canal of Languedoc and in consequence of the route which you trace I send this to L’Orient to the care of the American Agent there. I percieve by your letter that mine of the 8th. must necessarily have missed you at Aix. I hope that of the 14th. sent to the care of Mr. Bondfield at Bordeaux, and that of the 21st. sent to Nantes post...
32To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 6 [March] 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
The first post day for the Hague, since your departure, will be to morrow. This letter will then set out and carry agreeable news of the health of your daughter. She has continued mending uniformly since the favorable turn of her disorder of which you were a witness, and this morning when I was at the Convent I learned that nothing remained of the indisposition except a necessary weakness....
33To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 9 March 178[8] (Jefferson Papers)
My letter by friday’s post has not yet reached you and still I despatch this that there may be as little interval as possible between the times of your hearing from your family in the convent. I have sent regularly to enquire about the health of Miss Polly and have as regularly received for answer that she was better. At present they are gone to enquire and to ask Miss Jefferson for the letter...
34To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 14 March 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
I am now in daily expectation of the pleasure of receiving a letter from you and hope it will bring us an account of your safe arrival at the Hague and of your having found there Mr. Adams.—You recollect without doubt the extract in the Mercure , from Mazzei’s book, where it was said, ‘ qu’ il y a vingt dieux, ou qu’il n’y en a qu’un &c. ’ In consequence of it Pankcoucke is decreté...
35To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 17 March 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
I cannot let the post go off without sending you some intelligence of your little family at the convent. Few words will convey it as there is only to say that they are all perfectly well. This is the answer which I get from the convent when I send there. It shews that Miss Polly whom you left sick is at present classed with those whom you left well. The Packet has not yet arrived. It is the...
36To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 6 April 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of March 29. arrived here yesterday. I see that you have received all the letters I have written. I have not been so fortunate. Your first (from Leyden) never reached me. Yours from Amsterdam of the 13th was the first I received. I have heard no complaints from the convent and consequently suppose your daughters are perfectly well. I know they were so some days ago. Letters by the...
37[To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 8 April 1788] (Jefferson Papers)
[ Paris, 8 Apr. 1788 . Recorded in SJL Index. Not found.]
38[To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 24 April 1788] (Jefferson Papers)
[ Paris, 24 Apr. 1788 . Recorded in SJL Index. Not found.]
39To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 24 September 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
I came here yesterday evening from Villefranche where I parted with my travelling companions. It is now early in the morning and M. de L’Aye being engaged in writing by the post of to day, I have only as yet seen the inside of the Chateau. With it as well as my reception both by the master and mistress I am perfectly content. I hope I shall continue to be as well pleased with what is to follow...
40To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 2 October 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
I have this moment arrived here, and the first thing I do is to announce it to you. I left this morning the Chateau de Laye and came by water diligence to this place. It is my first navigation in France and I am much pleased with it. We were from 10. o’clock to five en route of which one hour was spent in dining, the rest in passing through such a variety of pleasing and rich prospect as...
41To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 11 October 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
Geneva, 11 Oct. 1788. Acknowledges TJ’s letters of 20 and 24 Sep.; has not been able to use the letter to Tronchin because of the shortness of his stay in Geneva; would write more fully except that he has at this moment found an opportunity of crossing the Alps and must set off in half an hour; does not know whether he will go from Milan to Venice or to Florence. “The Voiturier is at my back...
42To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 18 October 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote you in a hurry from Geneva because I was forced to leave that place at a very short warning occasioned 1. by having been tricked by one voiturier and 2. by the necessity of taking another which then presented himself on the condition of my setting off in company with a carriage then getting ready. Both of these carriages were of two wheels each and two places. I was obliged to take one...
43To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 28 October 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
My last was from Turin, and being now able to ascertain my route with more precision, finding it will be doubtful whether your letter would overtake me on the road, I am to beg you to do me the favor to write to me poste restante à Rome. I came here on wednesday the 22d. and found Rutledge. Shippen had gone 24. hours before my arrival, for Genoa, in order to return to England by the way of...
44To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 19 November 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
In my letter from Milan I begged you to write to me poste restante at Rome. I was soon after stopped in my route by the influenza, and not knowing of how long duration would be the delay, I was induced by this consideration and by my desire to hear from you as soon as possible, to beg Mrs. Paradise to desire you in a letter she was writing to you to send me your letters poste restante to...
45To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 29 November 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
We left Bergamo Mr. Rutledge and myself, on Sunday the 23d. in the morning and after an agreeable journey though with much bad weather and snow arrived here yesterday evening. The road along which we have passed is one of the most interesting in Italy. In agriculture it is rich. The productions are grass, Indian corn, wheat, vines, mulberry trees and in one small part olive trees. The water is...
46To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 23 December 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
I arrived here yesterday and this days post has brought me your letter of the 8th. That sent to Milan agreeably to my request has not yet come to hand. The uncertainty of the time I should be obliged to remain in the neighbourhood of Milan added to my great anxiety to hear from you made me desire you to address your letters there. I still hope it will be forwarded to me though its long...
47To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 31 December 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
We are in hourly expectation of the post from Paris. It should have arrived two days ago. They say the snow on the Appennines is probably the cause of its detention. Nobody can desire its arrival more than I do because I hope by it to hear from you. In my last of the 23d. I acknowleged the receipt here of yours of Dec. 8. and mentioned the probable loss of that directed to me at Milan.—Since...
48To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 14 January 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote you on the 23d. and 30th. of December. Since that time I have been here constantly employed in the routine to which travellers are submitted, of running up and down Rome visiting curiosities ancient and modern. So much has been said on these by writers who have travelled as well as those who have not, that no person at this day can hope to give new information respecting them. My...
49To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 11 February 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I returned the day before yesterday from Naples. Your letter of the 22d. of Jany. arrived here the same day. I should have been mortified to have learned any circumstance which must give you pain, but I feel an anxiety to which I am not accustomed in learning the severe indisposition of your family. I know well how much you must have suffered on the occasion, and not only the duties of...
50To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 17 February 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
My last was of the 11th. In it I mentioned to you how anxious I was to hear from you the re-establishment of the sick part of your family. I still hope that you will be so good as to let me hear from you at Florence, and that I shall learn that the fine weather which has now returned at Paris, has brought with it health to those whom the rude season deprived of it. To the middle of March I...
51To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 25 February 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
The time of my departure from this place is now so near at hand that I have begun to calculate the time of my arrival at Paris and I find to my astonishment after putting down each stage, the time of going to and the time of remaining at them that I shall be nearly twice as long on the road as I had expected. Rutledge and myself found out this yesterday evening only. Before that we had...
52To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 2 March 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
Two hours after sending my last letter (of Feb. 25.) to the post I had the pleasure of receiving yours of Feb. 9. The American news which it contained I read with great pleasure because it was American. I could not but be astonished at the Virginia delegation to Congress. That Grayson should be preferred to Madison must shew a great change in the sentiments of the assembly. Should Henry’s...
53To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 26 March 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I have not written to you since I left Rome because I have been since that almost constantly in movement. I had the pleasure of recieving at Florence your letter directed to me there. The commission it contained for Genoa, I executed when at that place. My stay there was so short as not to allow me more than time enough to consult two workmen in marble, but as these two own most of the shops...
54To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 3 April 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 24th. of March has come to my hands. I have read it with an uncommon degree of pleasure because it is a new proof Sir of that friendship which I have long considered as essential to my happiness. The most pleasing proof that can be given of this sentiment is an unreserved communication of one’s thoughts and particularly when they regard the person to whom it is made. Your...
55To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 20 April 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the pleasure of writing to you from Marseilles in answer to your friendly letter recieved there. Since that I have been engaged in the journey from that place to this. We passed by Aix, Avignon, Orange, Pont St. Esprit, Nismes Montpelier, Bezieres. Here we embarked in the postboats which we found would be much cheaper and almost as convenient as a boat taken for ourselves. The stoppages...
56To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 28 April 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the pleasure of writing you last from Toulouse. On my arrival here I found yours of the 13th. I thank you much for the information it contained. Mr. Rutledge joins his thanks also. The letters you mention having certainly inclosed him in mine must have been taken out in the post office. He was present when I recieved and opened your letter and saw that his were not then in it. He is...
57To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 2 [May] 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I have this moment come to my banker to enquire if the post of this morning brought me any letter from you. I find that it did not and as it left Paris on wednesday last, I take it for granted you will not write to this place by any post posterior to that. My letter from hence desired you would direct to me post restante at Nantes as late as the 4th. I set off for that place tomorrow morning...
58To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 4 [May] 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
Rochefort, 4 Apr. [i.e. May] 1789 . Wrote Saturday from Bordeaux, and learned after posting letter that “the great opening of the States general would be on Monday the 11th, that it would be public &c. &c.” Will make “a push in hopes of arriving in time,” but this will mean giving little time to places en route and possible arrival late Sunday night. If he has been mistaken as to the opening...
59To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 8 October 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I have this moment received a letter from Mr. Nat. Cutting of the 6th. To my very great surprize he informed me that you were still at Havre. Petit’s not returning would have made me suppose you were detained, if on the contrary I had not been sure that you would not have remained so long there without writing to me.—I fear now that the beginning of your journey to America has an influence...
60To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 3 November 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the extreme pleasure of recieving the day before yesterday your letter of the 23d. which announced your departure. I had previously recieved one from Cowes, and another from Havre of the 7th. of October. In it you allude to one written from the same place and sent by a private hand. It has not been recieved. Immediately on learning that you were detained at Havre, I wrote you in an hurry...