New York, July 28, 1787.
Sir,
Your brother transmitted to me the valuable present that you were pleased to make me of your excellent book on the diseases of seamen,1 which I have read with much pleasure and instruction. It is certainly a business of great philanthropy to contribute to the health and ease of so valuable and so exposed a part of our species. I pray you, sir, to accept of my thanks for your politeness, and give me leave to assure you, that I am with much esteem and regard, sir,
your most obedient and very humble servant,
Richard Henry Lee.
MS not found; reprinted from Richard H. Lee, Memoir of the Life of Richard Henry Lee , 2 vols. (Philadelphia: H. C. Carey and I. Lea, 1825), 2:73. Addressed: "Dr. Blane, Physician to his royal highness the Prince of Wales, &c. &c. &c."
1 That is, Sir Gilbert Blane's Observations on the Diseases Incident to Seamen (London: J. Cooper, 1785).