To James Madison from Charles Stuart Waugh, 30 August 1817
From Charles Stuart Waugh
30. August. 1817
Dear Sir.
Could I take the liberty of asking the loan of Rollins Roman History?;1 or any other written on the Roman Commonwealth in yr library?
Should the work be in the French language, it will be acceptable.
The esteem and respect, with which you honored my Father, and which was duly appreciated by him; and above all yr love for the advancement of literature, will be I hope a sufficient apology for the liberty taken in this request.
You will oblige me Sir, in looking into the accompanying letter,2 for the extraordinary circumstance that the work for the present must be sought in private librarys. I have the honor to be Sir, your friend, and respectfull Humble Servant
Charles Stuart Waugh3
RC (DLC). Addressed by Waugh to JM at Montpelier and marked “James.” Cover docketed by JM, “Docr. Waugh”; also bears pen trials and figure computations in JM’s hand.
1. The book Waugh requested was JM’s edition of The Roman History, from the Foundation of Rome to the Battle of Actium, by the French historian Charles Rollin (1661–1741). The first English translation of this work was the sixteen-volume edition published in London from 1739 to 1750. JM’s copy was the third edition, published in 1768.
2. Enclosure not found.
3. Charles Stuart Waugh practiced medicine in Culpeper County, Virginia, and was a trustee of the Stevensburg Academy. His father, John Waugh, had been a justice of the peace (Eugene M. Scheel, Culpeper: A Virginia County’s History Through 1920 [Culpeper, Va., 1982], 63, 68, 120, 391 n. 7; Mary Stevens Jones, comp. and ed., An 18th Century Perspective: Culpeper County [Culpeper, Va., 1976], 70).