you left me. The great anxiety I feel for my country, for you, and for our family, renders the day tedious and the night unpleasant. sands appear upon every side.

The rocks and quickWhat course you can the bosom of futurity.

or will take is all wrapped in Uncertainty and expectation leave the mind great scope. Did ever any kingdom or state regain its liberty, when once it was invaded, without bloodshed? I cannot think of it without horror. Yet we are told that all the misfortunes of Sparta were occasioned by their too great solicitude for present tranquillity, and, from an excessive love of peace, they neglected the means of making it sure and lasting. They ought to have reflected, says Polybius, that "as there is nothing more desirable or advantageous than peace, when founded in justice and honor, so there is nothing more shameful, and at the same time more pernicious, when attained by bad measures and purchased at the price of liberty." I have received a most charming letter from our friend Mrs. Warren.1 She desires me to tell you that her best wishes attend you through your journey, both as a friend and a patriot.

I have taken a very great fondness for reading "Rollin's Ancient History" since you left me. I am determined to go through with it, if possible, in these my days of solitude. I find great pleasure and entertainment from it, and I have persuaded Johnny 2 to read me a page or two every day, and hope he will,

1 Mercy Warren, the sister of James Otis, and the wife of Colonel James Warren of Plymouth.

2 John Quincy Adams, then seven years old.

from his desire to oblige me, entertain a fondness for it. We have had a charming rain, which lasted twelve hours and has greatly revived the dying fruits of the earth.

I want much to hear from you. I long impatiently to have you upon the stage of action. The first of September, or the month of September, perhaps, may be of as much importance to Great Britain as the Ides of March1 were to Cæsar. I wish you every public as well as private blessing, and that wisdom which is profitable both for instruction and edification to conduct you in this difficult day. The little flock remember papa, and kindly wish to see him; so does your most affectionate.

3.

A. A.

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, 28 August, 1774. I received your kind letter at New York, and it is not easy for you to imagine the pleasure it has given me. I have not found a single opportunity to write since I left Boston, excepting by the post, and I don't choose to write by that conveyance, for fear of foul play. But as we are now within forty-two miles of Philadelphia, I hope there to find some private hand by which I can convey this.

The particulars of our journey I must reserve, to be communicated after my return. It would take a volume to describe the whole. It has been upon the whole an agreeable jaunt. We have had opportunities to see the world, and to form acquaintances with the most eminent and famous men in the several col

1 The day of Cæsar's assassination.

onies we have passed through. We have been treated with unbounded civility, complaisance, and respect. We yesterday visited Nassau Hall1 College, and were politely treated by the scholars, tutors, professors, and president, whom we are this day to hear preach. To-morrow we reach the theatre of action. God Almighty grant us wisdom and virtue sufficient for the high trust that is devolved upon us. The spirit of the people, wherever we have been, seems to be very favorable. They universally consider our cause as their own, and express the firmest resolution to abide by the determination of the Congress.

2

I am anxious for our perplexed, distressed province; ? hope they will be directed into the right path. Let me entreat you, my dear, to make yourself as easy and quiet as possible. Resignation to the will of Heaven is our only resource in such dangerous times. Prudence and caution should be our guides. I have the strongest hopes that we shall yet see a clearer sky and better times.

Remember my tender love to little Abby; tell her she must write me a letter and inclose it in the next you send. I am charmed with your amusement with our little Johnny. Tell him I am glad to hear he is so good a boy as to read to his mamma for her entertainment, and to keep himself out of the company of rude children. Tell him I hope to hear a good account of his accidence and nomenclature when I return.

Your account of the rain refreshed me. I hope our husbandry is prudently and industriously managed.

1 Now Princeton.

2 Massachusetts.

Frugality must be our support. Our expenses in this journey will be very great. Our only [recompense will be the consolatory reflection that we toil, spend our time, and [encounter] dangers for the public good - happy indeed if we do any good.

The education of our children is never out of my mind. Train them to virtue. Habituate them to industry, activity, and spirit. Make them consider every vice as shameful and unmanly. Fire them with ambition to be useful. Make them disdain to be destitute of any useful or ornamental knowledge or accomplishment, Fix their ambition upon great and solid objects, and their contempt upon little, frivolous, and useless ones. It is time, my dear, for you to begin to teach them French. Every decency, grace, and honesty should be inculcated upon them. I am, with the tenderest affection and concern,

4.

Your wandering

JOHN ADAMS.

PHILADELPHIA, 8 September, 1774. When or where this letter will find you I know not. In what scenes of distress and terror I cannot foresee. We have received a confused account from Boston of a dreadful catastrophe. The particulars we have not heard. We are waiting with the utmost anxiety and impatience for further intelligence. The effect of the news we have, both upon the Congress and the inhabitants of this city, was very great. Great indeed! Every gentleman seems to consider the bombardment 2 of Boston as the bombardment of the capital of his

1 The words in brackets supplied, as the manuscript is defective. 2 A false alarm.

own province. Our deliberations are grave and serious indeed.

We cannot depart from this place until the business of the Congress is completed, and it is the general disposition to proceed slowly. When I shall be at home I can't say. If there is distress and danger in Boston, pray invite our friends, as many as possible, to take an asylum with you. There is in this Congress a collection of the greatest men upon this continent in point of abilities, virtues, and fortunes. The magnanimity and public spirit which I see here make me blush for the sordid, venal herd which I have seen in my own province. The addressers and the new councillors are held in universal contempt and abhorrence from one end of the continent to the other.

Be not under any concern for me. There is little danger from anything we shall do at the Congress. There is such a spirit through the colonies, and the members of the Congress are such characters, that no danger can happen to us which will not involve the whole continent in universal desolation; and in that case, who would wish to live?

5.

Adieu.

J. A.

BRAINTREE, 14 September, 1774. Five weeks have passed and not one line have I received. I would rather give a dollar for a letter by the post, though the consequence should be that I ate but one meal a day these three weeks to come. Every one I see is inquiring after you, when did I hear. All my intelligence is collected from the newspaper, and I 1 Both addressers and councillors were on the Tory side.