I have yours in answer to mine respecting Mr Sparks’ application: Thank you for your immediate attention to my request: it is creditable to us both. Sparks sails for England in Decr early: his life of Ledyard will be read by every body here; in it there are many things favourable to Mr Jefferson...

It is an old saying you know that a blacksmith’s mare and a shoe-maker’s wife are generally the worst shod animals in the Parish—& it is certainly true that my dearest friends are the worst-treated of my correspondents—for strangers will not bear to have their letters neglected—& friends...

I write to you at the particular desire of Mr Sparks, who has been for two years in vain trying to obtain copies of letters (5 or 6 in number.) written by Mr J. to Ledyard the traveller, in the years 1785., 1787. & 1788—: these have been promised him by Jefferson, but have never been recd—and...

I have done all in my power to make Gilmer’s stay here pleasant—but you well know how impossible it is for a man to see any thing properly in a day or even a week where there are so many things to call his attention at the same moment. He was accompanied by a Mr Wellford, of Fredericksburg, who...

I have your letter of Aug 1.many are the complaints which I have made against you, but your pardon is accorded:—so many things occur to me which I should be glad to say to you that I am at a loss to begin—take some of them as they arise. I am glad that you stood upon points with Key —; he is one...

I hoped to have heard, this morning, the result of the Trustees meeting—: who is the successful candidate? is it Walker? Since writing in his favor I have heard that Harker and Nulty probably were competitors; there can be no doubt that these men, as mathematicians, are far before Walker—; but...

My anxiety about the choice of a mathematical professor has led me to ask many questions, of late, of Mr Farrar, and from him I learn that Mr Munroe has written to President Kirkland, desiring him to name any individual whom he thinks peculiarly qualified for the situation: he (Mr Farrar,) also...

I wrote you yesterday, and took occasion of a line on business, to Brockenbrough, to enclose yours mine, and spare you postage for a letter which, on other terms, I would not have sent: This morning brought me yours from Montpelier, and although I have complained of you of late, I nevertheless...

I intended to call & see you to day, but am obliged another way—The season has arrived for employing Overseers, for the next year, & knowing how important it is that they should be engaged by the person who is to superintend them, I think it best, to know your views & wishes, on the...

At length I date from this place, dear to me from many causes:—as the scene of years of great happiness, and as arising in my mind recollections of Cambridge in England, where I passed the pleasantest hours spent abroad.We effected our removal, here, without difficulty, and are delightfully...