George Washington Papers

From George Washington to Clement Biddle, 19 March 1798

To Clement Biddle

Mount Vernon 19th Mar. 1798.

Dear Sir,

Your letter of the 11th instant has been received;1 and I shall depend upon receiving samples of the Oznabrigs & Ticklenbirgs, with the prices annexed, so soon as you are enabled to give them; as I cannot much longer delay purchasing the quantity I want, and am now making partial purchases to supply immediate calls, & not on good terms.

By the first regular Packett from Philadelphia I shall expect to receive the Groceries, the Table Ornaments, and the Encyclopedias: Let the latter be accompanied by Mr Dobson’s acct of cost; and say what sum will be necessary, in addition to any balance which I may have in your hands, after paying for such articles as have been ordered and which I am about to request; and the money shall be immediately remitted.2

In consequence of the opinion given by you of Mr Savages Print (presuming it is his you allude to) I pray you to request him to chuse four for me, and have them put into handsome, but not costly, gilt frames, with glasses (supposing them to be of a size to admit glasses) and send three of them to me; the other, Mrs Washington (I believe) is under promise of presenting to Mrs Green (now Mrs Miller). This is the additional expence alluded to in the last Paragraph; and which I request may be paid as soon as presented to you.3

I am very sorry to hear of the Capture of the Ship New Jersey. Where, or how, or when, these violations will end, is not for me to say. With esteem & regard I am—Dear Sir Your Obedt Humble Servant

Go: Washington

ALS (letterpress copy), DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW.

1Letter not found.

2For GW’s correspondence with Biddle about the encyclopedia, see GW to Biddle, 14 Aug. 1797, n.3; for the correspondence regarding table ornaments, see GW to Biddle, 29 Jan. 1798, n.3.

3GW posed for Edward Savage (1761–1817) in the winter of 1789–90.

Savage completed his portrait of the Washington family in 1796. It was prints of this to which GW was referring here. See Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 5:509, 6:58–59, 253, Edward Savage to GW, 3 June 1798, and note 2 of that document, and GW to Biddle, 17 June 1798. Nathanael Greene’s widow, Catharine Littlefield Greene, married Phineas Miller, the tutor of the Greene children, in May 1796.

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