I leave this on the 24th, and shall be in great hopes of receiving yourself and Mr. Eppes there (Monticello) immediately. I received two days ago his letter of the 8th, in which he gives me a poor account of your health, though he says you are recruiting. Make very short stages, be off always by daylight, and have your day's journey over by ten. In this way it is probable you may find the moderate exercise of the journey of service to yourself and Francis. Nothing is more frequent than to see a child re-established by a journey. Present my sincerest affections to the family at Eppington and to Mr. Eppes. Tell him the Tory newspapers are all attacking his publication, and urging it as a proof that Virginia has for object to change the Constitution of the United States, and to make it too impotent to curb the larger States. Accept yourself assurances of my constant and tender love. He reached Monticello on the 25th of July, and was there joyfully welcomed by his children and grandchildren. He was apparently in robust health; but we find that six months before this period, to his intimate friend Dr. Rush, he had written: "My health has always been so uniformly firm, that I have for some years dreaded nothing so much as the living too long. I think, however, that a flaw has appeared which insures me against that, without cutting short any of the period during which I could expect to remain capable of being useful. It will probably give me as many years as I wish, and without pain or debility. Should this be the case, my most anxious prayers will have been fulfilled by Heaven. I have said as much to no mortal breathing, and my florid health is calculated to keep my friends as well as foes quiet, as they should be." He was at this time in his sixtieth year. CHAPTER XVI. Returns to Washington.--Letters to his Daughters.--Meets with a Stranger in his daily Ride.--Letters to his Daughter.--To his young Grandson.--To his Daughter, Mrs. Randolph.--Last Letters to his Daughter, Mrs. Eppes.--Her Illness.--Letter to Mr. Eppes.--Goes to Monticello.--Death of Mrs. Eppes.--Account of it by a Niece.--Letter to Page.--To Tyler.--From Mrs. Adams.-- Mr. Jefferson's Reply.--Midnight Judges.--Letters to his Son-in-law. Jefferson returned to Washington on the 5th of October, and, as will be seen from the following note, was looking eagerly for the promised visits of his daughters: _To Mary Jefferson Eppes._ Washington, Oct. 7th, 1802.