Peter W. Sproat to Thomas Jefferson, 26 July 1822
From Peter W. Sproat
Philada July 26th 1822
Sir,
I Enclose you by this days Mail a copy of the Savage Beauty a Novel recently written by me as a specimen of American Writing—
Please Sir to accept of my great Respect and best wishes for your mental felicity in the serene evening of your days—
P W Sproat.
RC (MiU-C: Thomas Jefferson Collection); addressed: “To his Excellency Thomas Jefferson. Late President of the U.S. Montiello”; franked; postmarked Philadelphia, 26 July; endorsed by TJ as received 31 July 1822 and so recorded in SJL.
Peter W. Sproat (d. 1832), author, lived in Philadelphia from at least the summer of 1818. He published several works in that city during the ensuing decade, including The Savage Beauty, A Satirical Allegorical Novel, and The Temple of Sensibility. A Parnassian Wreath, both in 1822, and General Welfare: an investigation of the powers vested in the Congress of the United States, by the constitution, in 1828. Sproat also operated a “military and naval intelligence office” on Spruce Street. He was in his fifties at the time of his death in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Franklin Gazette, 1 July 1818; , 4:113, 650; Desilver’s Philadelphia Directory and Stranger’s Guide, for 1828 [1828], 78; DNA: RG 29, CS, Pa., Philadelphia, 1830; Philadelphia Album And Ladies’ Literary Port Folio, 28 Apr. 1832 [age given as fifty-one]; Interment Book of Union Cemetery, Philadelphia [PPGen] [age given as fifty-nine]).