There were so few cases of importance decided at my spring circuit, that I thought it would be best to wait for the fall Sessions, and to give you the whole in one letter. This task it is now my intention to perform. Some of the points decided are involved in much difficulty, upon which I shall be much pleased to see your observations.

It is about a week since I returned home, the session of the Phila. Court having been abridged by a severe rheumatic attack, which confined me to the house for many days prior to my departure. I have seldom, on any circuit, tried so few cases as on the last, and few of them were either new or difficult.  Such as are at all interesting, I will now proceed to state.

Your favor of the 25th inst., recd today, induces me to do immediately what I had mentally arranged to do after my return from Trenton—answer your interesting letter of the 4th July. But first allow me to excuse myself from the censure to which I am apparently obnoxious for having postponed the performance of this duty to this late day. I took that letter out of the office in Alexa.

I have at length returned home, after an absence of between 4 & 5 months, and I employ the first moments of leisure in reporting to you & brother Story the most interesting cases which came before me for Judgt during my late circuit. I shall say nothing of the Atlantic ins. Co. of N. Y. and the U. S.² which employed us very closely for 9 days, as the case will go to the Supreme Court.

As Mr Sparks will probably leave this in a few days for Boston, I have determined, altho but half settled at home after an absence of 4 or 5 months, to prepare my letter to you that it may be ready for him to take on. The tea cause employed so great a part of the court at Phila. that few others could be tried before the Session came to a close.

I had a short session at Phila, and decided but few Cases, but most of these are interesting. Without further preface, I proceed to give you an abbreviated report of them.

At length I have got sufficiently released from more urgent business to enable me to perform my promise to forward you a report of the cases which came before me on my late Circuit. I think I sent you from Phila. printed statements of¹ Pennock & Sellers vs. Dialogue & Courcier vs. Ritter— These will therefore be omitted from this letter.

Your letter would have been sooner answered if I had not known that you had Courts to attend which would detain you for some time from home.

At the time I recd your letter of the 7th July, I was engaged in completing some business which would not admit of delay, & as I wished to examine with attention, & a reference to books, the decisions you had given, I determined to postpone my answer until this could be done. In the mean time, our domestic misfortunes occurred, which compelled me to take my family to the mountains, where I remained until it was necessary to commence my circuit duty.

I owe you an apology for not having returned an earlier answer to your letter of the 20th June. The truth is, that at the time I recd it, and another from brother Thompson, I was engaged in a piece of business which required dispatch, & which induced me to postpone my answers to a period when it would be more in my power to reflect upon the decisions which you & he had made & to examine cases. But before that period had arrived our domestic misfortunes commenced.

I now sit down to report to you the few decisions made during my last circuit. The Court at Phila. continued only two or three weeks in consequence of the sickness of Mr Binny who was concerned in almost all the arguable causes. The only Cases decided which may be considered as containing important principles are the two following.

I embrace the first moment of relief from more urgent business to perform my promise to report to you the substance of the decisions made during my last circuit which may be worthy of your notice.

I returned home two or three days ago, after an absence of more than 3 months, when I had the pleasure to recieve from the post office your very friendly and interesting letter of the 2d Septr— For your kind & affectionate wishes for my health I am sincerely grateful to you, as I am for some other expressions which I owe chiefly to your indulgence & partiality. my health is now, thank God, as good as it has been for some years past.

Your three letters of the 25th Jany, 6 & 22d february have been recd, but not duly, the first written having been detained at the Alexandria post office until three days ago, when it was forwarded to me. As to the one containing observations upon the case of Conn. vs. Penn., I must postpone an answer until I can look again over my notes, which I left at Mount Vernon, as also the opinion in extenso.

I returned home from my Circuit on the last day of Novr, since which, I have, as far as the various calls to which a farmer is exposed, have afforded me time for Study, been employed in preparing an opinion in the equity case of Conn. vs. Penn. the argument of which consumed nearly a fortnight of our last Term. I hope to make a final decree in this case in April, and never again to be plagued with it, unless an appeal should be taken.

Your letter of the 11th July found me upon a bed of sickness, from which I was not very soon relieved. I had scarcely become convalescent, before others of my family were taken down— finally, I determined to abandon the Country, which was becoming universally sickly, and to take refuge with Mrs W. in this place, which has, thus far, been unusually healthy. I trouble you with this account of my past troubles, as it furnishes the only legitimate apology for my long Silence since the rect of your favor.

Altho I have been at home upwards of six weeks, yet this is the first day when it has been in my power to write to you. My whole time, when it was not engaged by company, has been devoted to a chancery suit in which I am, involved as Executor of Genl W., the entire management of which devolves necessarily upon me.

Before I proceed to business, I must account for my long but involuntary silence. During the second day of the April term of this Court, I was, whilst on the Bench, attacked by a violent pleuresy which terminated the Session, as it had nearly done the life of your friend. I anticipated that event myself, as did most of my friends.

     I recd yesterday, at this place, your favor of the 30^th Ulto.— Had it come to hand before I left Mount Vernon, it is highly probable I could have found amongst my papers a rough Copy of the two opinions in the case of Miller vs Mitch— it is now too late to have the search made. These opinions however are copied into my note book volume 17 which is in the hands of Mr Richard Peters Junr of Philadelphia, who, I think it likely, will attend this supreme Court.

Yesterday was the first day that I was at liberty to read your letter of the 19th July with the attention it deserved, and to look into a few Cases. I regret that is not in my power to devote more time¹ in examining the authorities before returning you an answer; but this is prevented by the necessity I am under of leaving home in a day or two for the Springs, whence I shall proceed on my circuit.

I returned from my Circuit yesterday after an absence of 3 months wanting as many days. I was ten weeks in Court without intermission, and have upon no former occasion had so many important cases to decide. Notwithstanding the length & severity of this tour of duty, my health, thank God, has continued to improve, and I now feel as well as I have been for some years past.

After my return from Phila. I recd your letter requesting me to furnish you with the opinion delivered in the above case. Most fortunately I had preserved a rough copy of that opinion, or I am perfectly satisfied that it would not have been in my power to comply with your request. As this is the case I am rather pleased that you have been compelled to call upon me, since it has enabled me to correct a mistake in the opinion which was delivered, into which I was led by depending upon an abridgement for the want of the full reports of cases.

     I have read over all the cases in my note books to the end of the fall term of 1809, with some attention, and now enclose you some observations upon such of the cases as seemed to merit criticism. You will observe that the corrections which I have suggested are principally such as qualify expressions more general than it was safe to use, or tend to expunge dicta which were unecessary to the points decided, the correctness of which might be doubted.

     I have Just read over the Case of Sperry vs. DE Ins. Co. & find it as all my notes of cases must necessarily be from the hurry in which they are made, extremely inaccurate in Style & in everything but substance. I trust therefore that you will consider my report of this as of all other cases nothing more than rough notes, to be corrected & reformed in your own way[.] If I did not calculate upon these corrections, I should not suffer copies to be taken until I could find time to transcribe then.