Adams Family Correspondence, volume 7
1786-04-05
We have Seen Magnificence, Elegance and Taste enough to excite an Inclination to see more. We conclude to go to Birmingham, per-133haps to the Leasowes, and in that Case shall not have the Pleasure to see you, till Sunday or Monday.1
Love to my dear Nabby, and to Coll Smith. He will be so good as to give this account of Us, if any Questions are asked. Yours forever
JA and Thomas Jefferson left London on 4 April on a tour of English gardens, country houses, and historic sites. Their stops included Alexander Pope's gardens at Twickenham and the landscaped estates of Woburn Farm, Caversham, Wotton, Stowe, The Leasowes, Hagley Hall, and Blenheim Palace. They also visited Stratford-upon-Avon to view the home and tomb of Shakespeare; Edgehill, site of the first great battle of the English civil war; a Birmingham paper factory; and Oxford before returning to London on 10 April. See also JA, D&A
, 3:184–187, and Jefferson, Papers
, 9:369–375.