ever published in English, of ten words properly spelt!

Upon this system I am composing a short piece, by which the surd, and consequently dumb, may be taught to speak in a very short time; and children who can hear may be taught to read in a few weeks.

My piece is entitled Cadmus, and will shortly be offered to the American Philosophical Society. I am engaged in a Dictionary of the English language, with all the roots, and the true spelling, which has never yet been given properly; for this is entirely different to any plan heretofore pursued, as Sheridan's ingenious plan was new in its day. But Sheridan's is full of error; Johnson's very imperfect and erroneous in his ́explanations, and particularly in his derivations. I am much assisted by my dear friend Captain Rivardy, who is so much pleased with my plan, that he enters heartily into my scheme, and I cannot have a more certain criterion of its goodness than his approba

tion.

W. T.

LETTER CCLXXXI.

From the same.

Philadelphia, Feb. 21, 1794.

I long to hear of thy son; I hope he will not imbibe any ideas from Germany, except philosophical or chemical ones; I doubt not but he will support amply the lustre of thy name. He will hardly outshine thee; but his genius is great, I am certain, from what I saw of him. He has penetration. He has many valuable qualities, which will not suffer him to pass unknown in the world. He has virtue; his tutor or Mentor has virtue and learning; he must be great. He will have had opportunities of improvements, which I shall always have to lament the want of. He will be ripe before I began to take root. He will be urged by thy incessantly-working soul to become active like thee. I languish here amongst merchants, and talents here are in a measure useless. I must work in politics, and exert myself in a way suited, not to myself, but to those about me.

I am ashamed of my idleness; I have done nothing; I promise Heaven to do much: If a man wills to do, he does. I have not yet a claim suffi

cient to demand thy attention, but I will endeavour to obtain it. London I often sigh after, not because I love gaiety, but science; not because it contains pleasures, but profit, by which the mind has always a repast prepared for it. You are a great, a virtuous people; the rich cannot, however, feel for the poor; you have many hospitals, and great provisions for them, but that is the test of their misery; you ought to ask why they require them. We have no poor, except those who, from disease, are rendered incapable of working. Every man can get, by daily labour, from two to four or five shillings sterling per day. We pay him, we thank him, and we treat him with due respect. No man here can abuse another, even by word; all are respectful, and we do not despise a man who cannot afford to lay his legs by as useless. A man who does not even keep a horse, is nevertheless thought worthy of our public trusts, and we measure his rank by his virtue and talents; it is not universally the case, but it is general: in England it is not so at all. I will not dwell upon the subject.

W. T.

VOL. II.

NN

LETTER CCLXXXII.

From the same.

Columbia, Dec. 22, 1794.

When thy favour of the 10th of August last arrived, I was sick in bed of a bilious fever. I read thy letter with much pleasure; it was a reviving cordial, and had a good effect on thy sick friend. I was seized with this fever in consequence of fatigue in getting down to Georgetown, on account of public business. My wife and I are settled here, in consequence of a very honourable appointment, which the President of the United States has conferred upon me. I deem it honourable to have this mark of the attention of George Washington, especially unsolicited on my part. The Secretary of State sent to me, and asked if I would accept the appointment, which I could not indeed refuse. I am made one of the commissioners of the district of Columbia. This district I have more than once sent thee a plan of—no, I am mistaken, it was of the city of Washington, which is included in the district of Columbia. This extends one hundred square miles, and includes also George Town, which joins the city of Washington. These are in Maryland.

It includes also Alexandria in Virginia. The Board of Commissioners consists of three: my colleagues are Daniel Carroll, late Member of the Grand Convention that formed the constitution of the United States; and Gustavus Scott, one of the senators of Maryland. Mr. Scott and I succeed Dr. Stewart, son-in-law to Mrs. Washington; and Mr. Johnson, late Governor of Maryland: we are the chief magistrates of the district, which was ceded to the Congress, over which they were to possess exclusive jurisdiction. We have the expenditure of all public monies, for the accommodation of the Congress, in buildings, &c. We have the disposal of one half the whole city, for the ground was equally divided between the individual possessors and the public, by accommodations which gave great and general satisfaction. The trust reposed in us is so great, that I do not know a more extensive power in any offices of our Go vernment, except the President, or perhaps the Secretary of State, Treasury, and War. Our salaries are small; theirs about double; we have six hundred pounds per annum (currency). In Republican Governments we are not quite so expensive as in Monarchies; we work for honour and the public good. The Treasurer of the Mint has not five hundred pounds per annum.

W. T.