PARIS, Feb'y 10, 1782.
My dear Madam,
I have been much longer silent than I intended to have been since I received your last, doubt not but that you will think me negligent in not having written to inform you of the Marquis de La Fayette's arrival, & yet that very circumstance has occasioned my not doing so. I have been in constant expectation of seeing him & of giving you more satisfactory intelligences after that event than I could possibly do before it. Hitherto I have been disappointed. He & the Marquise have been so obliging as to appoint an evening for calling on me. She was so good as to come & did me the favour to say that he was extremely sorry at not being able to do so, that he was prevented by business, just as he was going to step into the carriage. He has promised that he will take the first convenient hour they have for seeing me. I really am very anxious to see one who has so nobly distinguished himself in a cause we have so much at heart. He is to return to America very soon. The officers who have arrived from thence give very favorable accounts of the Country & its Inhabitants. It is now very much the fashion to wish to go to America, many of the young Nobility are soliciting it as a great favour. I am quite delighted with the Marquise; she speaks with great warmth & affection of our Hero Washington & says that I must look upon her as an American, for her heart is entirely so. You have, I dare say, seen the account in the Leyden Gazette of her receiving the news of her Husband's arrival while at dinner at the Hotel de Ville. It is literally true in all its circumstances. I can not find that any particular account of the situation of affairs in America has transpired since the arrival of the Alliance, nor do I know any news to communicate to you. I return you & Mr. Lee many thanks for your goodness in enquiring for Letters for me. I have received none since those by Mr. Barclay. If Mr. Lee will do me the favour to enclose me a Letter for Mr. Izard I will endeavour to forward it, if not before the Marquis de la Fayette's departure, I certainly shall have an opportunity then. I write very frequently but seldom with hopes of my letters reaching him. One out of a dozen may perhaps be so fortunate & therefore I give them a chance.
Mr. Sayre[note 10] called on me about a week ago, I have not seen or heard of him since. I think Abbe Needham made a very graceless will and I am sorry for his sister who seems to be a very worthy woman. What I mentioned of Mrs. Taylor was a mere flight of fancy, I beg you will think it is. It was mentioned to me with a laugh & I never meant seriously about it. What I said with regard to Masters was only for one scholar. I paid more if they staid more than an hour, otherwise not. I am much obliged to you for the letter you enclosed me signed J.D. I fancy that gentleman is pretty well known here now. I gave it to a friend of mine who is more in the way of politics than I am. I receive the London Courant regularly by means of a friend at Court. I was much pleased with reading the Edinburgh Association Resolves & the manly speeches of the Assembly of Barbadoes. Ad'l Rodney is out at last, & so it is said is the Spanish Fleet. The latter is so much superior and should they meet there is little doubt of their success. If Fortune has played the old Knight one slippery trick, perhaps she may be induced to keep up the Game. He behaved so ill in his prosperity that he deserves all the ill luck that can befal him.
Gen'l Arnold you see is in high life in London. I think he did well to cross the Atlantic. He will be safer in the sea girt Britain than he could be on our Continent. I believe we had best not expect any very early good tidings from Charles Town. It is said to be very strong & the force under Gen'l Greene not sufficient to take it. I have not heard anything about Mr. Jefferson nor of the destination of Mr, de Barras. I see Coll. Searle sometimes & really was astonished at the account of the Commodore. I defer my Judgment till I hear his defence. The whole affair is a mystery. I never mentioned it to you because I did not know what to make of it. The Queen's entry was very magnificent & happily the whole ceremony concluded with fewer accidents than ever were known to happen on a similar occasion. I have been told that Mr. Stead was going to be married but I am sorry at not being able to answer your question satisfactorily as to the Lady. My Girls join me in best regards to you & Mr. Lee. I am, Dr Madam, Your affect. friend & Serv't,
A. IZARD.
I am about an apartment in a private House * * in Marias where I think I shall be more at my * * * an Hotel Garni. When I am fixed I shall send * * address. Till then please to direct to me chez Mons. Banquier, Rue St. Sauveur, Paris.
Ă€ Madame Lee, St. Michael, Brussells.