I cannot withhold my expressions of sincere condolence from the dread of its, lacerating the wound that you have experienced by the death of your respectable worthy and truly amiable Brother I have felt much on the occasion and indeed so have all this family Mr Jefferson was in some degree...
You will hardly be more surprised at the date of this letter than I am my self, so firmly resolved was I not to come, under existing circumstances. but Mr R—. thought there were reasons for it even stronger than mine . like another Themistocles he over powerd them and brought me down sorely...
It is really so long since I wrote last that I am ashamed of addressing one against whom I have sinned beyond the hope of pardon, but as in withholding them, I deprive you of nothing but repetitions of a truth that you already know, the scarcity of my letters ought to add some what to their value...
I received Your last some weeks before I left Monticello, but I believe you are so much accustomed to my bad ways that you do not require a fresh apology for every letter—I have in vain tried to be punctual, but bad habits are not so easily conquered, particularly when the causes which first gave...
When your last letter arrived I was confined by a severe illness which has prostrated my small stock of strength and denied me the power of replying to it earlier—I have a perfect recollection of the letters from Mr Hamilton which you sent for my perusal and which were returned to you—I was much...
I could never make you understand my dear Sister how impossible it is for me to be punctual, without any laziness on my part. but you have been kind enough to give me credit for my good intentions and wave all ceremony in writing your self, for which I am most grateful. we have allways a great...
I have not written for a long time My dear Sister because in truth I had nothing but painful subjects to communicate. the unfortunate event of the sale I have long anticipated not altogether however to the extent it has gone. the property has fallen very far short of the payment of the debts. it...
Thank you dear Sister for your kind letter. This sad winter is gone, but the misfortunes which have marked it’s progress are as irremediable in themselves as the recollection of them will be lasting and bitter. Mr Bankhead’s conduct has been extremely kind and proper; he has given me the most...
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has received, with great sensibility, the communication of the 11th inst. made by you, on behalf of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, upon the occasion of the decease of our late venerable associate, John Adams. The Fellows of the Academy...
I am persuaded that whatever objections you may have had to Mr Jefferson’s politics, you think of him as I do of Mr J. Adams; that this country is more indebted for its independance to those two men than to any other, save perhaps General Washington. Mrs Randolph is left with eleven Children. I...
Mr. Editor.—I find, much to my surprize and regret, that a proposal has been started to convert the intended donation to Mr. Jefferson, into a monument to his memory. This appears to me an indirect way, of putting an end to the subscriptions originally intended to free Mr. J. and his family from...
Your very obliging Letter of the 11th instt enclosing the proceedings and Resolutions of the American Philosophical Society, on the occasion of the decease of their venerated associates Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams, have been received and by me communicated to the members of the family of the...
I was extremely Mortified dear Sister at having past through New York without seeing you as I had intended. but we were detained so long in Baltimore by a violent cold and sore throat that I had, that we were obliged to come on as rapidly as possible that Jefferson might return immediately. as it...
It appears doomed that I am always to begin every letter to you dear Nancy with an apology. I should have written to you as soon as I heard through Mr Wadsworth of Gouverneur’s illness, but I was my self confined to my bed at the time. My health although greatly improved is still delicate, and I...
I have received two letters from you dear Sister since I wrote last and although very closely employed yet the art of arranging my business so as to leave me most time, I never possessed and fear never shall, hence a great loss of that most precious comodity, and consequent neglect of many duties...
I have so long ceased to be surprised at anything William does, or rather at any want of judgement in him, that even his singular letter to you excited no feeling of that sort. he does what logicians call “begging the question” that is he takes that for granted, which remains to be proved. it is...
I am very much disturbed dear Nancy at not being able to lay my hand upon Professor Leslie’s letter; I received it in the hurry of packing up, and always thought I had brought it with me, but I can find it no where here. I trust I shall find it when I return to Washington. Dear little Jeff. was...
It is a very long time dear Sister since I have written any thing that deserved the name of a letter to you, more than a twelve month I beleive, for the last scrawl written upon a torn-sheet really did not deserve that name. I am sorry that you should have been distressed by any thing that...
I passed through New York in the month of July when it was full of cholera, and I was in great haste to reach Boston before Mr Coolidge sailed for Canton in China. My poor Ellen had just lost her second daughter a lovely creature of five years old, and her husband was on the wing for a long...
I am afraid dear Nancy from the account you give of your self that you are wearing your self out by attempting more than you have strength to accomplish, and sacrifising the most important object in life your...
I recieved your letter dear Sister just as I was preparing to leave Boston to spend a week or 10 days with My Cambridge friends, thinking that I should not return to Washington till the last of May or the first of June but to my great surprise and disappointment the day after My return My escort...
The mournful subject of this letter dear Nancy will excuse the delay in answering your last. I have had the affliction of again losing one of my dear and excellent children. my poor James who no doubt you remember, whose quiet gentle manly manners you remarked as a boy and whose manhood fulfilled...