Adams Family Correspondence, volume 11
It is now determined what the President has to depend on after the 4th March. The Committee determined against raising the Salary of P. or V. P.
The House which the P. had for 500£ cannot again be had under 1000£— Horses are from 3 times to five times as high as they were Seven Years ago, Carriages three times as high—Provisions &c
In Short all Levees and Drawing Rooms and Dinners must be laid aside and I am glad of it.
I will entertain my friends, and Such as I please and no more. The Foreign Ministers must be Seen sometimes.
It will never do for you to come here before next October. The Ladies, some of them think so. The Heats are intollerable—and the Yellow Fever not improbable.
The P. bought the furniture of the drawing Room of Count de Moutier—that is his. and he carries it to Mount Vernon.1 The Lustre the Glasses the Plateau &c are his. The Linnen and Kitchen furniture, he has been obliged to replace several times. In short the whole salary for the Year will be taken up in an Out fit. affectionately
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A.”
For Elénore François Elie, Comte de Moustier, see vol. 8:151. When Moustier was recalled to France in Oct. 1789, George Washington bought from him several pieces of furniture, some of which are still at Mount Vernon (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series, 5:71–72; Carol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon, Manchester, Vt., 2006, p. 186).
JA previously wrote to AA on 23 and 26 Jan. 1797. In the letter of the 23d, JA expressed concern about her health, informed her that he had engaged a carriage to use, and explained that they must make provisions for their Massachusetts properties while they would be living in Philadelphia. On the 26th JA wrote of dining with Joseph Priestley and asking him if France would ever establish a republican government, to which the doctor replied in the affirmative. The second letter appears to be incomplete (both Adams Papers).