Yesterday my February Stated Court was opened. To that day I had adjourned the Circuit Court. Copies of the draft of the Decree in Le blanc's or White's Case had been delivered to each party. I found a reluctance on the Side of one party to do anything. It seems the whole of the Seven Comy to view appraise & value the property, & report the practicability of specifically dividing it, had signed the report; but only 6 had viewed it together.

I was concerned to hear that you were indisposed by a rheumatic attack which had fixed its venom in your right hand. I hope it has departed from that indispensable part of your judicial machinery; & that, at all events your tongue may be clear of it. I have had a long & irksome spell of the Influenza, which has reduced me to almost a Skeleton; but I have completely recovered from the malady, tho still debilitated by its effects.

Last Monday was the commencement of my stated February session. It was also the day to which the Circuit Court stood ajourned. All the Lawyers concerned in the Penn. causes were engaged in the State Courts. I sent Mr Caldwell to inquire if they had anything to do in the Circuit Court; & particularly in the Case of Conn. & Penn.

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.

I was much gratified by the Receipt of your Letter of the 8th instant. I have been uneasy lest you Should suffer by the Inroads of the Enemy, or the Depredations of undisciplined Friends. Mount Vernon should be hallowed, even by Barbarians. But all things are not as they ought to be, now a Days. I hope, however, that Vengeance is glutted by the Prostration of our Capitol. The Geese once saved the Capitol of Rome; but ours are not of the Same Breed; they would, had they so been, at least have given timely warning.

I have had a Visitation of my old Enemy the Vertigo. It is periodical, & continuous every Year, thro’ February & March, less or more vindictively, accordingly as good or bad Luck attends me; No Care or Attention will repel it entirely. It has been very oppressive & destressing to me. I am getting the better of it; but it retreats sourly. I should have acknowledged the Receipt of your Favour of the last of January, sooner, but for this embarrassing State of Pericranium. I cannot now satisfy myself on the Points you say you shall differ with me in.

I intended to have made Report, not of the Doings but of the Nullities of the Circuit Court; but I have been busy in other Matters, & added to other Concerns, I have been sick, with my old Tormentor the Vertigo. A Bleeding I have had. A Cupping in Addition, will give him his Quietus, Why dont you build, as you have long threatned, at some Place distant from Mount Vernon? which every body says, venerable as it is, is unhealthy? I hope you are now staunch & seaworthy; & the better for staying at Home, in Port.

Yesterday I selected out of a Neighbor's Flock, having none in my own fit for Transportation, a Number of Tunis Sheep, to be sent to S. Carolina by Mr Vaughan, for several Friends there. I set apart the best Ram & Ewe for you. The Ram was desired for the Carolinians, & would have been readily taken. I could have obtained a younger Ram—but of less Blood. I have been obliged to allow 40$ for the Ram; as he is rising 4 Years old; & fit for immediate Bussiness. The Ewe is at the usual Price of 25$.

I did not recieve your Letter of the 22d Feby 'till yesterday. I am much obliged by your Attention to my Request relative to the Enquiries on Plaister of Paris. I find that taking an Airing, or indeed a Gallop, now & then on some of my old Hobby Horses, relieves me from the small & sometimes the great Maladies of the Mind. If I can make these Excursions useful to others, a double Purpose will be answered. The Account given by Mr L. Lewis is exactly as I expected. Your Land is not of the Quality calculated for Plaister.

I interrupt your agreeable Law Engagements with a Bagatelle. Our agricultural Society have desired me to review my little Book on Plaister of Paris, for Republication; as it [is] out of Print. I wish to add all the modern Facts I can procure, but find everybody lazy & uncommunicative. I have been 2 Years endeavouring to collect Facts out of Loudon County Virginia (as there must be some Balm in Gilead) but have hitherto failed. It is only when the Maggot bites, or to relieve Ennui, that I get at such Subjects.

I have watched with anxious solicitude the successive reports of your board of health, always hoping that some favorable change would take place in the State of the disorder which seemed to threaten your City. The last accounts appear to us very alarming, particularly as they correspond very nearly with those from New York, Baltimore & Norfolk, & seem for this reason to prove that the Sickness is not local, but dependent in a great measure on the unfriendliness of the season, aided no doubt by imported causes.