From James Madison to George Tucker, 25 January 1828
To George Tucker
Jany. 25. 1828
Dr. Sir
I have recd. your letter of the 20th.1 The view you give of the usefulness of Dr. Barbers Lectures to the Students,2 and the favorable dispositions of the Faculty reconcile me to the indulgence you suggest for him. You are aware however that my authority, being individually not greater than that of any other Visitor, except as one of the Executive Committee, the concurrence of Genl. Cocke is as necessary as mine. Should that be given, on your making the case known to him, Dr. B. can be allowed the use of either of the places you name.
I thank you Sir for the little volume, accompanying your letter.3 The pleasure expected from its perusal, will induce me not to delay it more than may be unavoidable.
Draft (DLC); written on verso of Reynolds Chapman to JM, 21 Jan. 1828.
1. Letter not found.
2. Jonathan Barber (ca. 1783–1864), an English physician, came to the United States about 1820 and began to lecture and write on elocution. He taught this subject at Harvard College from 1829 to 1834 and then returned to the lecture circuit with talks on phrenology. After a sojourn in England beginning about 1840, Barber returned to America and was professor of oratory at McGill University in Montreal, 1858–64 (David H. Grover, “Elocution at Harvard: The Saga of Jonathan Barber,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 51 [1965]: 62–66).
3. This may have been Joseph Atterley [George Tucker], A Voyage to the Moon: With Some Account of the Manners and Customs, Science and Philosophy, of the People of Morosofia, and Other Lunarians (New York, 1827; 30846).