Opening the text

Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution: with a Memoir of Mrs. AdamsAdams, John

History

Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution: with a Memoir of Mrs. Adams

Name: Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution: with a Memoir of Mrs. Adams
Author: Adams, John

Adams, John

Adams, Abigail, 1744-1818 -- Correspondence; Adams, John, 1735-1826 -- Correspondence; Presidents -- United States -- Correspondence

I am advised to take a ride to Geneva, or to Amsterdam; and I have been
so confined from exercise, having never been farther from Paris than
Versailles since my arrival here, that some such excursion seems
necessary for my health; yet I cannot well bear the thought of putting
the public to an expense merely for the sake of my pleasure, health, or
convenience. Yet my situation here is painful. I never was in such a
situation before as I am now, and my present feelings are new to me. If
I should return, and in my absence any orders should arrive here for me
to execute, in that case nobody would be here to execute them, and they
might possibly fail of success for want of somebody with power to
perform them; at least, this may be suspected and said and believed.
However, upon the whole, as Congress have said nothing to me, good or
bad, I have no right to presume that they mean to say anything, and
therefore, on the whole, it is my duty to return by the first
opportunity, unless I should receive counter orders before that occurs.
If ever the time should arrive when I could have a little leisure and a
quiet mind, I could entertain you with accounts of things which would
amuse you and your children. There are an infinity of curiosities here,
but so far from having leisure to describe them, I have found none even
to see them, except a very few.

The climate here is charming. The weather is every day pleasant as the
month of May; soft, mild air; some foggy days, and about ten or twelve
days in January were cold and icy. But we have had scarce three inches
of snow the whole winter. The climate is more favorable to my
constitution than ours. The cookery and manner of living here, which you
know Americans were taught by their former absurd masters to dislike, is
more agreeable to me than you can imagine. The manners of the people
have an affection in them that is very amiable. There is such a choice
of elegant entertainments in the theatric way, of good company, and
excellent books, that nothing would be wanting to me in this country but
my family and peace to my country, to make me one of the happiest of
men. John Bull would growl and bellow at this description. Let him
bellow if he will, for he is but a brute.




249. JOHN ADAMS.


   Passy, 27 February, 1779.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution: with a Memoir of Mrs. AdamsAdams, John

History

Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution: with a Memoir of Mrs. Adams

Adams, John

Adams, Abigail, 1744-1818 -- Correspondence; Adams, John, 1735-1826 -- Correspondence; Presidents -- United States -- Correspondence

I am advised to take a ride to Geneva, or to Amsterdam; and I have been
so confined from exercise, having never been farther from Paris than
Versailles since my arrival here, that some such excursion seems
necessary for my health; yet I cannot well bear the thought of putting
the public to an expense merely for the sake of my pleasure, health, or
convenience. Yet my situation here is painful. I never was in such a
situation before as I am now, and my present feelings are new to me. If
I should return, and in my absence any orders should arrive here for me
to execute, in that case nobody would be here to execute them, and they
might possibly fail of success for want of somebody with power to
perform them; at least, this may be suspected and said and believed.
However, upon the whole, as Congress have said nothing to me, good or
bad, I have no right to presume that they mean to say anything, and
therefore, on the whole, it is my duty to return by the first
opportunity, unless I should receive counter orders before that occurs.
If ever the time should arrive when I could have a little leisure and a
quiet mind, I could entertain you with accounts of things which would
amuse you and your children. There are an infinity of curiosities here,
but so far from having leisure to describe them, I have found none even
to see them, except a very few.

The climate here is charming. The weather is every day pleasant as the
month of May; soft, mild air; some foggy days, and about ten or twelve
days in January were cold and icy. But we have had scarce three inches
of snow the whole winter. The climate is more favorable to my
constitution than ours. The cookery and manner of living here, which you
know Americans were taught by their former absurd masters to dislike, is
more agreeable to me than you can imagine. The manners of the people
have an affection in them that is very amiable. There is such a choice
of elegant entertainments in the theatric way, of good company, and
excellent books, that nothing would be wanting to me in this country but
my family and peace to my country, to make me one of the happiest of
men. John Bull would growl and bellow at this description. Let him
bellow if he will, for he is but a brute.




249. JOHN ADAMS.


   Passy, 27 February, 1779.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution: with a Memoir of Mrs. Adams

Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution: with a Memoir of Mrs. Adams

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