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[345] what kind and degree of excitement his visit would produce, we should have sent some special summons to fetch you. But the whole affair was unexpected. I mean the popular enthusiasm, which made everything go so warmly and heartily, and gave the whole tour for ten days the appearance of one continued and beautiful festival, which every heart shared and increased.

I saw him constantly, because, on the score of mere acquaintance, nobody among us knew half so much of him as I did, having passed some time at La Grange; and it was delightful in all cases — as of course it was peculiarly gratifying in my own — to observe that he uniformly stopped, in the midst of all the show and bustle that constantly pressed him, to recognize those who had none but the common claims of private regard on his notice.

On Sunday evening he supped with us, by his own suggestion and invitation. As it was Sunday, we did not wish or choose to invite company. We had, therefore, only Mr.Quincy and Mrs. Quincy, Mr.Prescott and Mrs. Prescott, and Mr. and Mrs. Webster. It was then I wanted you, for it was the only occasion in New England on which he has had a quiet opportunity to converse; and he talked most interestingly for two hours on the French Revolution, Bonaparte, and the Hundred Days, of all which—or, at any rate, of the first and last—nobody alive knows as much as he does.

His whole visit here was very fortunate. Everything went on without effort, because the universal enthusiasm gave the irresistible impulse that carried everything forward; while on his part he showed great skill and tact, always saying the right thing at the right time, and in the right place. I did not think, before he was tried, that he could have done so much and so well.

We have passed the summer . . . . almost entirely in Boston. About the first of August we went to Round Hill and Hanover, but that is all. What the winter will bring forth, we cannot yet begin to foresee. I shall lecture till late in the autumn. Then, if I can persuade A., we shall go South, as far as Charleston . . . . But she gives me little encouragement that she will do it, and yet seems willing to go to Washington, Richmond, and Monticello, where Mr. Jefferson has again and again written to invite us to make a visit. You may therefore hear of us from the midst of the University of Virginia, or from the bustle of the Presidential election, or we may keep our own fireside in quiet and peace. . . . .

Alexander Everett and his wife are here, and we see them quite often, and find them very pleasant. They supped here two evenings


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