Your letter of the inst came to hand in course of the mail, but as I had to write to Mr Marshall & to await his answer, I have not been able sooner to acknowledge it. – The complaints which you mention on account of the delay in the publication, give me great pain, particularly as it is unavoidable, and were the subscribers still more clamorous than they are, the work could not go on faster. If they had any conception of the labour & time required to examine many trunks of papers, they might perhaps be more considerate, tho' of this I should doubt.

I recd your letter, and have been disappointed in not seeing you here agreeable to your promise. I am glad that you have determined to give your undivided attention to Mr Wayne's business, & he will no doubt make the allowance of a dollar per day as before agreed upon, in case he feels satisfied of your prompt attention to the obtaining subscriptions – Certainly no time is now to be lost as the first vol. will soon be in the press. – I hope you will set out immediately to the Southward where you will have fine winter quarters & cannot fail of success in your undertaking.

Mr. Marshall requests that you will endeavour to procure for him from the editor of the Lancaster Journal or of the federal paper in that place the original letter from Genl Washington, which he has published.

Your letter of the 3d. inst. I have received, and hope that my acknowledgment of one or both of your former letters has reached you before this. If I have not been as punctual in answering letters for a month past as usual, the painful sickness & death of Major Blackburn to whom my whole time was devoted must be my apology.

The first vol. will be copied this month & if it were not necessary to take another copy for Mr Morgan it would be immediately sent on. I expect however that the delay from this circumstance will not be considerable. I shall write Mr Marshall upon the subject & will let you know when you may expect it. The 2d vol. Mr M. will bring with him to Washington in February.

The yellow fever in Alexandria prevented me from recieving your favor as soon as I otherwise should have done.

     I wrote to you a few days ago begging to know if you would do me the favour to represent me on the 20t inst. to manage the sale of 2800 acres of lands Westd which under a deed of trust I am to dispose of.

Whereas by deed bearing date the 17h day of April in the year of our Lord 1798 between Henry Lee and Ann his wife of the first part, Bushrod Washington of the second part and William Ludwell Lee of the third part; the said Henry Lee and Ann his wife did convey to me the said Bushrod Washington & my heirs amongst other parcels of land all that tract or parcel of land containing twenty eight hundred acres or thereabouts called and known by the name of Hollis's Marsh in the County of Westmoreland which said tract was purchased by the said Henry Lee from Ludwell Lee, Richa

I have Just time to acknowledge your letter of the 29th Augt. & to request that you will have the goodness to send me both vol. of Minot's hist.¹ by stage (directed to the care of Joshua Riddle Alexa) in case you should meet with some person coming on who will take charge of them. I will pay you this month when I see you in Phila.

I shall expect to hear from Mr Morgan – I thank you for the publication from the Lancaster paper & Am very sincerely yrs   

     I am happy to find that you have at length got fixed at your new purchase, and I sincerely hope that in every respect, but more especially as to its healthiness it may surpass your strongest expectations.

    I think I mentioned to Mr Dallas in April last, that you were engaged in preparing for publication reports of the decisions in the Supreme Court since the removal of the Govt. to Washington, and regretted that there would be a chasm between his last volume & your work unless he would fill it up. – He said that he should not publish those cases, but would with pleasure furnish you with his notes of them.

     Your letter to Mr Custice was put into my hands a few days ago. The Tracts on the Mohawk lie in Montgomery County in a patent granted to Danl Cox in the township of Coxborough & Corolan, contain about 2000 acres one half of which belongs to the estate of Genl Washington & the other half to Govr Clinton‑ By a letter from Govr Clinton to the General I find them to be described as follows

Lot No. 8      in the    1st Division        105 acres     

     The meeting of the Legatees after two days sitting rose yesterday. We resolved to sell amongst ourselves all the property except the Kanawha and Ohio lands, the Kentucky & N. W. territory lands, the Mohawk, Nansemond d[itt]o & the improved Lots in Washington.

The Charles County land sold for                       $4.950

Lotts in Alexa.                                         8 923.19

     Forsyth's treatise which you were so polite as to lend me, I brought as far as Alexa., with an intention of returning it as I passed thro' the City, but in the hurry which an unexpected call of the Stage occasioned, the book was forgotten. I wrote last night from George town to request it might be sent on to you today, but lest this may not have been done, I forward you a Copy from this place. Should both go safe to hand, you will have the goodness to leave one of them with Mr Forest until my return.

     Mr Ashton has enclosed me a power of Atty from his Sister Ann Ashton & requested the 4th part of a Share of the property sold to which She is entitled, to be sent to him. I have made an acct from your book of what she is entitled to of the Sales of the Columbia bank shares & dividends recd by you, as also his 4th part of the same, & also their Share of the Difficult run land & her share of the U.S. Stock, which you will see enclosed in the letter to him, with a rect on the back for him to Sign. I also send one check in my own name for the U.S.

I promised to write to you respecting the Mohawk lands as soon as I returned home. I find by the Schedule to the General's will that he values this land at $6 per acre, stating that the latter Sales have been at that price, & that what remains unsold will fetch that or more.

     Your favor of the 19th Decr was not received until a few days ago when I found it accidentally in the bar room of the tavern in which I stay.

     I send to town today principally on account of the order on the Cashier of the Bank, which I omitted to send you sooner— It is now enclosed.

     I arrived here last Night from the City and being obliged on account of company to go on before the bank opens I have requested Mr Riddle to call upon for a check for $875 my last quarter's. His rect will be given & will I suppose be sufficient.

     The mules sold so much higher than your estimate, that I did not concieve myself authorized by your letter to purchase for you. The first class went above 400$ a pair, the 2d $150 or more, and the whole averaged as high as $139— The amount of the whole sales exceeded $8000, of which the mules alone came to more than $6000. The hires of about 19 of Mrs French's negroes amounted to 7 or 800$ a year during her life.

     Your proportion of the United States Stock which has been sold, is $163.5 which is lodged in the bank and will be paid at any time to your order. You had better also draw for the Share of my Sisters children forwarding however with your draft an order from Mr Robinson for his part.

     In haste I am My dear Sir Yrs affectionately

     Mr Stith delivered me your letter of the 28th Novr on the race field at Washington, after which I did not see him, but have been expecting him here for two days. At the time I recd the letter, Mr George Washington, who had gone to Baltimore to dispose of the Stock had not returned. He came the next day having effected a Sale upon as good terms as could be expected, and I expect him here today or tomorrow with the mony— If he does not disappoint me & Mr Stith should also come, I will pay him your proportion.

I now enclose you a certificate that you have purchased the American copy right to the life of Gen Washington, tho' with the contract in your pocket, I can hardly conceive how this can be necessary. I presume the best way will be for you to have this certificate subjoined to your proposals which are inserted in the different papers. This will be better that to let it appear as an independent thing, which would seem to imply that your right had been questioned, altho you had asserted it. 

     I recd your favor of the 1st Inst. which a few moments only are allowed me to acknowledge. The house has been full of company since our return, and I can hardly expect to have much leisure, until the visits of ceremony are at an end.

I got here this evening, & immediately afterwards recd your note. As I am extremely impatient to pursue my Journey, I must beg the favor of you to meet me in the morning at Grays ferry, which I presume will be equally convenient to you as this place. I shall leave Frankfort in the morning about 5 O'clock, and expect to be at the ferry about 7. This will go by express car by enough to enable you to meet me by that hour. I am respectfully yrs