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細節
ADAMS, John. Letter signed ("John Adams") to William L. Shaw, Esq., Montezillo, 3 January 1820. 1¼ pages, 4to, small closed tears at creases, a small square of tape on verso and slight remnants of mounting along left edge of verso.
ADAMS LAMENTS AN EDITOR AND FRIEND: "I SHALL LOSE THE ONLY NEWSPAPER I PRETENDED TO READ." Adams dates this letter to his former secretary William Smith Shaw (1778-1826) from Montezillo. He liked to say: "Mr. Jefferson lives at Monticello, the lofty mountain. I live at Montezillo, a little hill" (McCullogh, John Adams, 606), not realizing that both words mean "little hill." He then mentions one of his rarest pamphlets: "The little Tract you mentioned entitled Thoughts on Government in a letter from a Gentleman to his friend, has been printed in Niles's Register. Since you were here I have found the original Edition by [John] Dunlap among my old scraps which I will show you when you come to see me, and I hope it will be soon."
"Congress is not yet gathered into Life," Adams resumes tartly, "--nor acquired heat enough to emit Electric Sparks--but I expect before long to hear loud Claps and harsh crashes of Thunder. I hope the bolts will strike only in desolate places." That year would see the great debate over slavery and the Missouri Compromise. Changing topics again, Adams notes the recent death of the talented Jeffersonian editor, scholar, and Unitarian minister, William Bentley (1759-1819): "I mourn over my friend Bentley with great sincerity--he was rather rara avis in terra nigro que simillima cygno. An immense magazine of learning...The Essex Register will never find such another Editor, and I shall lose the only news-paper I pretended to read." Jefferson too had been a great admirer of Bentley and unsuccessfully tried to make him the first president of the new University of Virginia. A full, colorful, and zesty letter from the Sage of Montezillo.
ADAMS LAMENTS AN EDITOR AND FRIEND: "I SHALL LOSE THE ONLY NEWSPAPER I PRETENDED TO READ." Adams dates this letter to his former secretary William Smith Shaw (1778-1826) from Montezillo. He liked to say: "Mr. Jefferson lives at Monticello, the lofty mountain. I live at Montezillo, a little hill" (McCullogh, John Adams, 606), not realizing that both words mean "little hill." He then mentions one of his rarest pamphlets: "The little Tract you mentioned entitled Thoughts on Government in a letter from a Gentleman to his friend, has been printed in Niles's Register. Since you were here I have found the original Edition by [John] Dunlap among my old scraps which I will show you when you come to see me, and I hope it will be soon."
"Congress is not yet gathered into Life," Adams resumes tartly, "--nor acquired heat enough to emit Electric Sparks--but I expect before long to hear loud Claps and harsh crashes of Thunder. I hope the bolts will strike only in desolate places." That year would see the great debate over slavery and the Missouri Compromise. Changing topics again, Adams notes the recent death of the talented Jeffersonian editor, scholar, and Unitarian minister, William Bentley (1759-1819): "I mourn over my friend Bentley with great sincerity--he was rather rara avis in terra nigro que simillima cygno. An immense magazine of learning...The Essex Register will never find such another Editor, and I shall lose the only news-paper I pretended to read." Jefferson too had been a great admirer of Bentley and unsuccessfully tried to make him the first president of the new University of Virginia. A full, colorful, and zesty letter from the Sage of Montezillo.