Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution Part 29

Abby and Tommy are not forgotten by me, although I did not mention them before. The first, by reason of her s.e.x, requires a different education from the two I have mentioned. Of this, you are the only judge. I want to send each of my little pretty flock some present or other. I have walked over this city twenty times, and gaped at every shop, like a countryman, to find something, but could not. Ask every one of them what they would choose to have, and write it to me in your next letter. From this I shall judge of their taste and fancy and discretion.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 137: James Warren.]

[Footnote 138: Afterwards published under the t.i.tle of _Thoughts on Government_.]

97. JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN Q. ADAMS.

Philadelphia, 18 April, 1776.

I thank you for your agreeable letter of the 24th of March. I rejoice with you that our friends are once more in possession of the town of Boston; am glad to hear that so little damage is done to our house.

I hope you and your sister and brothers will take proper notice of these great events, and remember under whose wise and kind Providence they are all conducted. Not a sparrow falls, nor a hair is lost, but by the direction of infinite wisdom. Much less are cities conquered and evacuated. I hope that you will all remember how many losses, dangers, and inconveniences have been borne by your parents, and the inhabitants of Boston in general, for the sake of preserving freedom for you and yours, and I hope you will all follow the virtuous example, if, in any future time, your country's liberties shall be in danger, and suffer every human evil rather than give them up. My love to your mamma, your sister and brothers, and all the family. I am your affectionate father.

98. ABIGAIL ADAMS.

18 April, 1776.

I cannot omit so good an opportunity as offers by Mr. Church of telling you that we are all well. I wrote you two letters last week, which I sent to Watertown. In those I said everything that occurred to my mind.

Nothing since of any importance has taken place. The 19th of April, ever memorable for America as the Ides of March to Rome and to Caesar, is fixed upon for the examination of the Tories by a committee from the General Court. I could have wished that some other persons in the room of one or two might have been chosen. It is so dangerous mentioning names that I refer you to Mr. Church for the names of the committee, and then you will easily guess who I mean.

I wish I could tell you that business in the fortification way went on briskly; but a western member of the General Court, who has great influence there, has got it into his head that Fort Hill and Noddle's Island are sufficient, and though a man possessed of a very good heart, is sometimes obstinately wrong.

The Court of Sessions sat yesterday, and went on with business very smoothly.

We hear that Congress has declared a free trade; and I give you joy of the success of Admiral Hopkins, not only in his expedition, but in his success upon his return. Great Britain, I think, is not quite omnipotent at sea any more than upon the land.

You promised to come and see me in May or June. Shall I expect you, or do you determine to stay out the year? I very well remember when the eastern circuits of the courts, which lasted a month, were thought an age, and an absence of three months intolerable. But we are carried from step to step, and from one degree to another, to endure that which at first we think impossible.

But I a.s.sure you I am obliged to make use of reason and philosophy in addition to custom, to feel patient. Be a.s.sured I always remember you as I ought, that is, with the kindest affection.

PORTIA.

99. ABIGAIL ADAMS.

21 April, 1776.

I have to acknowledge the receipt of a very few lines dated the 12th of April. You make no mention of the whole sheets I have wrote to you, by which I judge you either never received them, or that they were so lengthy as to be troublesome; and in return you have set me an example of being very concise. I believe I shall not take the hint, but give as I love to receive. Mr. Church talked a week ago of setting off for Philadelphia. I wrote by him, but suppose it has not yet gone. You have perhaps heard that the bench is filled by Messrs. Foster and Sullivan, so that a certain person is now excluded. I own I am not of so forgiving a disposition as to wish to see him holding a place which he refused merely from a spirit of envy.

I give up my request for Chesterfield's "Letters," submitting entirely to your judgment, as I have ever found you ready to oblige me in this way whenever you thought it would contribute either to my entertainment or improvement. I was led to the request from reading the following character of him in my favorite Thomson, from some spirited and patriotic speeches of his in the reign of George II.:--

"O thou whose wisdom, solid yet refined, Whose patient-virtues and consummate skill To touch the finer springs that move the world, Joined to whate'er the Graces can bestow, And all Apollo's animating fire, Give thee with pleasing dignity to s.h.i.+ne At once the guardian, ornament, and joy Of polished life. Permit the rural muse, O Chesterfield! to grace thee with her song, Ere to the shades again she humbly flies; Indulge her fond ambition, in thy train (For every muse has in thy train a place) To mark thy various, full accomplished mind,-- To mark that spirit which, with British scorn, Rejects th' allurements of corrupted power; That elegant politeness which excels, Even in the judgment of presumptuous France, The boasted manner of her s.h.i.+ning court; That wit, the vivid energy of sense, The truth of nature, which, with Attic point, And kind, well-tempered satire, smoothly keen, Steals through the soul, and, without pain, corrects."

I think the speculations you inclose prove that there is full liberty of the press. Cato shows he has a bad cause to defend; whilst the Forester writes with a spirit peculiar to himself, and leads me to think that he has an intimate acquaintance with "Common Sense."

We have intelligence of the arrival of some of the Tory fleet at Halifax; that they are much distressed for want of houses,--obliged to give six dollars per month for one room; provisions scarce and dear.

Some of them with six or eight children around them, sitting upon the rocks, crying, not knowing where to lay their heads.

Just Heaven has given them to taste of the same cup of affliction which they one year ago administered with such callous hearts to thousands of their fellow-citizens; but with this difference, that they fly from the injured and enraged country, whilst pity and commiseration received the sufferers whom they inhumanly drove from their dwellings.

I would fain hope that the time may not be far distant when those things you hint at may be carried into execution.

"Oh! are ye not those patriots in whose power That best, that G.o.dlike luxury is placed Of blessing thousands, thousands yet unborn Thro' late posterity? Ye large of soul, Cheer up dejected industry, and give A double harvest to the pining swain.

Teach thou, the laboring herd the sweets of toil; How, by the finest art, the native robe To weave; how, white as Hyperborean snow, To form the lucid lawn; with venturous oar How to dash wide the billow; nor look on, Shamefully pa.s.sive, while Britannia's fleets Defraud us of the glittering finny swarms That hem our firths and swarm upon our sh.o.r.es; How all-enlivening trade to rouse, and wing The prosperous sail from every growing port Uninjured round the semicircled globe."

It is rumored here that Admiral Hopkins is blocked up in Newport harbor by a number of men-of-war. If so, 't is a very unlucky circ.u.mstance. As to fortifications, those who preside in the a.s.sembly can give you a much better account than I.

I heard yesterday that a number of gentlemen who were together at Cambridge thought it highly proper that a committee of ladies should be chosen to examine the Tory ladies, and proceeded to the choice of three--Mrs. Winthrop, Mrs. Warren, and your humble servant.

I could go on and give you a long list of domestic affairs, but they would only serve to embarra.s.s you and noways relieve me. I hope it will not be long before things will be brought into such a train as that you may be spared to your family.

Your brother has lost his youngest child with convulsion fits. Your mother is well and always desires to be remembered to you. Nabby is sick with the mumps,--a very disagreeable disorder. You have not once told me how you do. I judge you are well, as you seem to be in good spirits. I bid you good night. All the little flock send duty, and want to see p--a.

Adieu. Shall I say, remember me as you ought?

100. JOHN ADAMS.

Philadelphia, 23 April, 1776.

This is St. George's day, a festival celebrated by the English, as St.

Patrick's is by the Irish, St. David's by the Welsh, and St. Andrew's by the Scotch. The natives of Old England in this city heretofore formed a society, which they called St. George's Club or St. George's Society.

Upon the 23d of April, annually, they had a great feast. But the Tories and politics have made a schism in the society, so that one part of them are to meet and dine at the City Tavern, and the other at the Bunch of Grapes, Israel Jacobs's, and a third party go out of town. One set are stanch Americans, another stanch Britons, and a third, half-way men, neutral beings, moderate men, prudent folks; for such is the division among men upon all occasions and every question. This is the account which I have from my barber, who is one of the society, and zealous on the side of America, and one of the Philadelphia a.s.sociators.

This curious character of a barber I have a great inclination to draw, for your amus.e.m.e.nt. He is a little, dapper fellow, short and small, but active and lively. A tongue as fluent and voluble as you please, wit at will, and a memory or an invention which never leaves him at a loss for a story to tell you for your entertainment. He has seen great company.

He has dressed hair and shaved faces at Bath, and at Court. He is acquainted with several of the n.o.bility and gentry, particularly Sir William Meredith. He married a girl, the daughter of a Quaker in this place, of whom he tells many droll stories. He is a serjeant in one of the companies of some battalion or other here. He frequents, of evenings, a beer house kept by one Weaver, in the city, where he has many curious disputes and adventures, and meets many odd characters.

I believe you will think me very idle to write you so trifling a letter, upon so uninteresting a subject, at a time when my country is fighting _pro aris et focis_. But I a.s.sure you I am glad to chat with this barber, while he is shaving and combing me, to divert myself from less agreeable thoughts. He is so sprightly and good-humored that he contributes, more than I could have imagined, to my comfort in this life. Burne has prepared a string of toasts for the club to drink to-day at Israel's.

The thirteen united colonies.

The free and independent States of America.