LETTER CCLXXXIII, From the same. George Town, Potomac, Jan. 8, 1795. It is odd, but when I baptized my work Cadmus, and the American Philosophical Society inscribed it on my medal as an honour, I had no idea that, like him, I was to build a city. I wish my life may be half as honourable in the West, as thine has been in the East, to our native country! Thou deservest a column, while I cannot hope for a stone. I cannot rest when I think what I might have done, and reflect on what only I have done. I sicken at the idea, and lament the loss of timeGod grant grace to me, and direct me to be, if possible, a benefactor to man! But I am sinking fast. I cannot bear fatigue without being sick. I am sought for by company; when I hear music my ear is tickled; my eye delighted with painting; the murmuring brook arrests my attention, and I forget that it represents time, which glides away and returns not. Nature is always regenerating, but man is dying. I must do more than I have ever yet done, or my name too will die. I live, but to no end. I will work, and may yet do something. I am now in company, and cannot write all my thoughts. They are such as cannot amuse thee; I will drop them. I must institute a Philosophical Society; an Agricultural Society; establish the University which has long lived in my mind, and which, on mentioning my ideas to the President, he approved of much. He even desired me to write and digest a plan. I have begun it. I mean that it shall include the mechanic arts, as well as sciences; but I believe I have mentioned this before. Washington (city) improves very rapidly, and I think will be one of the most elegant cities in the world. W. T. LETTER CCLXXXIV. From the same. George Town, Nov. 26, 1795. The place where thy parents lie, is under the two tamarind trees, which stand in the middle of the picture, a little to the left of thy old mansion house. The view is taken from Great Joes Vandyke *, and represents the scene after a shower of rain. There may be a boat in the channel between the two islands. At a little distance from the shore, in a line with the house, (in the passage between the islands,) there is the greatest variety of beau * From this Drawing the annexed Engraving was made. ED. tiful corals, sea-ferns, sea eggs, and various productions that I almost ever beheld. I brought several hence, which I have in boxes, and indeed I think a cabinet might be much increased from that place. The sea looks purple with them sometimes, when very clear. On the print I have drawn a few plants of the great American aloe (agave Americana). The whole hill abounds with them, in great perfection. I have seen some of these plants forty feet high, and could easily distinguish them seven miles. I have somewhere a little piece I wrote on them, if it contained any thing worth sending thee, I would have sent it. I can hardly write yet. When I visited thy place of nativity, I had not a compass with me, nor had I any instruments, but from observation, the house stands north and south; I have taken a north-west and by north view. I have, from the rough measures I then made, taken a ground plan, which I will send by another letter. It must not be considered as correct, for it is meant only to give an idea of it. I would advise thee (as the posts and frame of the house are of amarat wood, which is hard and durable, and as the whole is very perfect) to send for the whole of the frame, let not a peg be taken out unnecessarily, for the hammock pegs are still in their places, on which thy relations have slept; and thou mayst fit up this house in England, and Let the pieces be all marked in rest on the same. taking them down, and it will be very easy to |