Your communication of March the 10th concerning a meeting of the visitors of a College to be established near Charlottesville, came duly to hand; as also a duplicate, with your note of March the 30th. It would give me very great pleasure to meet the other visitors at Monticello, agreeably to your polite invitation; & I hoped, till very lately, that I should be able to do so. But my health has been bad for some time; & I have been frequently unable to ride as far as Charlottesville, without much inconvenience, & even danger to my health; which happens unfortunately to be the case at present.

As I presume a meeting of all the visitors is not necessary to enable them to act, I hope no inconvenience will arise from my unavoidable absence.