Since the date of my last letter to you, my family has been visited by an infliction of divine Providence, which, 'tho to us seemingly severe, was, no doubt, designed for beneficent purposes. In the course of about 12 hours, my cherished & beloved niece has been bereaved of an affectionate husband & two children.

I have at length succeeded in collecting together your letters to Genl Washington and some copies of his to you, which it affords me great pleasure to have accomplished & still greater to forward them to you. I shall apply to the Secretary of State to afford them a Conveyance to you by the first vessel which shall be charged with dispatches from our Government to France.

     I had the pleasure to recieve your letters by Mr Deleport and Mr Parish, and whilst I feel flattered by these proofs of your recollection, I have to thank you for introductions to two gentlemen who seem so well to deserve what you say of them. The former having favoured me with a visit, I had an opportunity of presenting him to Mrs Washington. The latter I saw in Philadelphia in May, and recieved from him a promise of his Company at Mount Vernon whenever he should go to the banks of the Potomack.