You will please accept Bushrods and my united thanks for your kind consideration of us; we were indeed anxious to hear how you and our dear Aunt were after your rough journey and the heavy rains which we knew must have impeded your progress, and rendered the roads even worse than usual; we were much gratified to learn that you were benefited by bathing and using the water.

     Your friendship will induce you not only to pardon this protracted answer to your favor by Mr Bartram, but to regret the cause of it, when I inform you that I am Just recovering from a severe bilious attack, which succeeded a distressing dyspectical state of my stomach, which really unfitted me for business of every kind.

     I had the pleasure of receiving your letter from Baltimore my dearest Uncle some days ago, and should have written again, immediately on receiving it but waited in the hope of being able to say on what day we should have the happiness of being with my beloved Aunt and yourself.

     It is long my dearest Uncle since we had the pleasure of receiving a letter from you, and while we learnt every other day thro.

     Our Anxiety is in a great measure releived by the receipt of your kind considerate letter my dear Uncle, to Judy; I trust what was so welcome to us, did not cost you too much exertion, or solicitous as we are to hear from you we had rather forego the gratification; than you should incur additional fatigue.

     It rejoices me to hear that you are recovering from your late serious illness.

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 received the day before yesterday at my brothers your letter of the 7th and am much concerned to hear that your health has not been so good as I had been led to hope it was from what I had heard concerning it on your leaving Philadelphia. As your chills have left you we may however indulge the expectation that the Dyspepsy which has persecuted you will follow them or at least be greatly moderated.

It has given me inexpressible pleasure to receive a letter from you; for the newspaper statement of your indisposition led me to fear that you were quite ill— I rejoice that you are so much recovered; & I trust, that a good Providence will enable you to join the Supreme Court at Washington, where your presence is so important to the public, & withal so interesting to myself.

     I wrote you in the month of March but hearing you were then from home, I again take up my pen to inform you of my unhappy and deplorable situation which has distroyed my health (not having necessary Clothing and nourishing food I have not a second suit and some times we have nothing but indian meal, that is enough to distroy the strongest constitution) it is my wish to try and get necessary Clothing to go to the Country untill it is in Fathers power to suport us comfortably I do not wish expensive apparel I merely want enough to be neat in, you must excuse the liberty as I could not th

I was extremely sorry to learn from your last that you were again indisposed. This has been generally the most sickly season I have ever known, but I will hope that the frosts have had a favourable influence on your health as they have had on that of most others. You were certainly right to return, and I hope your endeavours to meet your brethren in February will succeed.

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.

Your letter of the 21st from Alexandria, gives me great pleasure, not only by its announcing your capacity to bear the Journey, but also your determination to apply yourself seriously to a radical removal of your malady, which requires every attention to remedies, & a perseverance in the application of them.

     Altho much too unwell to attend to business of any intricacy or which requires a reference to papers, there can be little difficulty in making the necessary observations upon Mr Hammonds claim. In the first place I do not believe that in the contract with H. we engaged to assign Ashtons Mortgage, for if we had, I presume he would have called for it. Neither do I think that if it had been assigned, it would have entitled Mr H.

     I received yours My dear Sir of the 12th of Decr and am happy to hear from you & your family. It is but a poor consolation to tell you, that I sympathize with you for your late distresses, and that I have a deep sense of your friend & relations Calamity. It is nevertheless all that human weakness can do; and to do any thing more we must have recourse to a superior tribunal, to one, that I feel unworthy to approach. It is to that source I am now convinced we ought to address ourselves; to the comforter of the afflicted, and the protector of the weak.

I am grieved to learn by your late letter of your continued indisposition— I heard in the autumn quite by accident of your sickness at Philadelphia; but I presumed it was temporary. I most earnestly hope & pray that a good Providence will restore you to health & enable you to attend at the February Term. I shall feel quite lost <illegible> without you; & must say in all sincerity & frankness that I know not in whose judgment I have implicit a reliance, as in yours.

I wrote you some days ago describing the Situation of Mrs W. & myself, and expressing my anxiety (which I most sincerely felt & yet feel) to attend the Phila. Court, and my doubts whether it would be practicable. I am now distressed, (as well on account of the effect as of the cause) to inform you, that I altogether despair of being able to go forward. I am yet very weak myself, although I should risk the attempt to get on, if I had myself alone to attend to. But Mrs W.

Very soon after the rect of your kind favor, whilst the Hack from Washington was here to take us to Trenton, & the night before the Journey was to commence, I was attacked by a bilious fever, which with the necessary evacuations have so prostrated my strength, that I have scarcely enough left to enable me to move, but with great difficulty, about the room. Mrs W. is equally indisposed with the same Complaint.

     I recd your letter my dearest wife of the 15th many days after the date of it, and have been not a little puzzled to decide whether it would be best to address mine to you at Rippon Lodge or Mount Vernon, as you intended to remain only a few days with your mother; I shall however direct this to the latter place presuming that before this time you have returned.

I yesterday recd a very discouraging letter from Mrs Washington from which I beg leave to trouble you with the following extracts. She says that the pain in her side encreases, and has for several days past been accompanied by a dull pain (as heretofore felt) in the shoulder; occasionally in the wrist and other Joints. She is certain she has night fevers– Wants appetite & sleeps badly. She has for some days discontinued the steel & bark being afraid, & very Justly she thinks, that those medicines have done injury to her side.

Mrs Washington’s mouth having got much better, we commenced the application of the mercurial ointment about ten nights ago. After using it for two nights, she became apprehensive that it had affected her mouth, and of course it was thought best to discontinue the operation untill these symptoms should disappear. At this period, the experiment was extremely flattering to our hopes. To use Mrs W’s expression, the ointment, with the gentle friction used in rubbing it on, acted upon the pain in the side like a charm.

Whilst I was in Richmond, Mrs Washington commenced the taking of the mercurial pills, and having most unfortunately persevered too long, even after the soreness in the mouth had taken place, a kind of salivation was brought on, & though not attended by a spilling, her tongue & mouth have been for 8 or 10 days so much swollen, that she has been unable to take any kind of nourishment not in a liquid form. Her mouth is now somewhat better, but I am greatly alarmed by the return of the pain in the side which had almost ceased.

     Your friendly Letter of the 29th of March I received on the 11th Instant. I sent to Mr James McAlpin for his Bill; and to save your too exquisite Feelings I ordered my Housekeeper to inform him—that had he sent it to me immediately on your departure from Phila. I would have discharged it at sight, as I had in my Hands Money sufficient to answer every just demand against you in this City (a mental Reservation) I paid his Bill on the 16th Inst.

     I had heard with much concern, before your letter of the 21st instant was received, of your illness; and congratulate you on your recovery. Be careful in guarding against a relapse, by taking cold.

     I hope my letter of the 19th of this month got safe to your hands (by the Post); contained therein, were $120 to enable you to do the needful relative to the taxes of my Western Lands; accompanied by some statements which might assist in the investigation of that business.