The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson Compiled From Family Letters and ReminiscencesRandolph, Sarah N. (Sarah Nicholas)
History
The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson Compiled From Family Letters and Reminiscences
Randolph, Sarah N. (Sarah Nicholas)
Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826; Presidents -- United States -- Biography
I am sorry M. Simitière can not attend you, because it is
probable you will never have another opportunity of learning
to draw, and it is a pretty and pleasing accomplishment. With
respect to the payment of the guinea, I would wish him to
receive it; because if there is to be a doubt between him and me
which of us acts rightly, I would wish to remove it clearly off
my own shoulders. You must thank Mrs. Hopkinson for me for the
trouble she gave herself in this matter; from which she will be
relieved by paying M. Simitière his demand.
In the spring of this year (1784) Mr. Jefferson received definite
orders from Congress to go to Europe as Minister Plenipotentiary, and
act in conjunction with Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams in negotiating
treaties of commerce with foreign nations. He accordingly sailed
in July, taking with him his young daughter Martha. The following
description of his voyage, establishment in Paris and life there, is
from her pen. The other two children, Mary and Lucy Elizabeth, were
left with their good aunt, Mrs. Eppes. Mrs. Randolph says, in her
manuscript:
He sailed from Boston in a ship of Colonel Tracy's (the Ceres,
Capt. St. Barbe); the passengers--only six in number--of whom
Colonel Tracy himself was one, were to a certain degree select,
being chosen from many applying. The voyage was as pleasant as
fine weather, a fine ship, good company, and an excellent table
could make it. From land to land they were only nineteen days,
of which they were becalmed three on the Banks of Newfoundland,
which were spent in cod-fishing. The epicures of the cabin
feasted on fresh tongues and sounds, leaving the rest of the
fish for the sailors, of which much was thrown overboard for
want of salt to preserve it. We were landed at Portsmouth, where
he was detained a week by the illness of his little travelling
companion, suffering from the effects of the voyage. Nothing
worthy of note occurred on the voyage or journey to Paris.
On his first arrival in Paris he occupied rooms in the Hôtel
d'Orléans, _Rue des Petits Augustins_, until a house could
be got ready for him. His first house was in the Cul-de-sac
Têtebout, near the Boulevards. At the end of the year he removed
to a house belonging to M. le Comte de L'Avongeac, at the
corner of the Grande Route des Champs Elysées and the Rue Neuve
de Berry, where he continued as long as he remained in Paris.
Colonel Humphreys, the secretary of legation, and Mr. Short, his
private secretary, both lived with him. The house was a very
elegant one even for Paris, with an extensive garden, court, and
outbuildings, in the handsomest style.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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