Papers of John Adams, volume 7
1779-02-25
In regard to your desire, expressed to me yesterday, of returning to America and the dangers of being captured and made prisoner by your enemies, I have been thinking that your continuance at Passy might not suit you, and that you might prefer to live inexpensively in the country. I have in the Blesois1 a property that I do not occupy and I offer, with pleasure, to leave you the master of it as long as the war lasts.2 You will find there all the necessities of life even cheaper than here. I ask you, sir, to regard my offer as a testimony that I render to your virtues.
I have the honor to be very perfectly, sir, your very humble and very obedient servant
The Blésois or Blaisois was an old county, about one hundred miles south-southwest of Paris, midway between Orleans and Tours. (Larousse, Grand dictionnaire universel
).
In the course of reading this sentence JA underlined and copied into the left margin the words “Blesois,” “une terre,” and “guerre.” He probably did so because the words were particularly difficult to read and he wished to produce a correct copy in his Letterbook. There “unne terre” appears as he copied it in the margin rather than as it is in the recipient's copy.