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Peleg Wadsworth to Zilpah (Wadsworth) Longfellow, 25 January 1794
Manuscript letter
Philadelphia 25Jany1794
My dear Zilpah your agreeable Letter of the 7th Inst: gave me much Pleasure; more especially as you intimate the probability of your keeping up with a brisk Correspondence – this will be very agreeable to me as I am very fond of your Letters. & am desirous of hearing from the Family as often as possible.
When I wrote you before, I in-timated that you might expect an account of Lady Washington’s Levee. but to be sure for one impediment or another I have never attended One, to this day – but, have had the honour of Dining with the President since my last – but even this, saving the Splendor of the Table was nothing new – We ate & drank much in the old way – nay, even convers’d in plain (p. 2) English & about common Topics. But the Furniture of the Table was indeed magnificent. The Table accom-modated 25 persons, oval at each end – in the midst stood a Server of the Plate, in laid with mirrors on which were placed at small intervals Alabaster Images of heathen Divinities of various Atti-tudes – this service tho, in nine parts was about 12 feet long & 20 inches wide oval at the ends & designed I suppose to fill the middle space of the Table otherwise it would have been vacant as, in order to present an agreeable proportion in the dimentious of the Table which must have breadth as well as Length – or Beauty would be lost – but I must away on Committee this morng & if you are not satisfy’d with the spreading of the Table – You must wait till five oclock PM when your dinner shall be serv’d up - in the meantime Adieu my dear
P Wadsworth
[Note:] Lady Washington/Lucia - Phila/Jan. 1794.
[Note:] From Papa Janry/2d Philad1794/Portland
[Addressed:] Miss Zilpah Wadsworth
My dear Zilpah your agreeable Letter of the 7th Inst: gave me much Pleasure; more especially as you intimate the probability of your keeping up with a brisk Correspondence – this will be very agreeable to me as I am very fond of your Letters. & am desirous of hearing from the Family as often as possible.
When I wrote you before, I in-timated that you might expect an account of Lady Washington’s Levee. but to be sure for one impediment or another I have never attended One, to this day – but, have had the honour of Dining with the President since my last – but even this, saving the Splendor of the Table was nothing new – We ate & drank much in the old way – nay, even convers’d in plain (p. 2) English & about common Topics. But the Furniture of the Table was indeed magnificent. The Table accom-modated 25 persons, oval at each end – in the midst stood a Server of the Plate, in laid with mirrors on which were placed at small intervals Alabaster Images of heathen Divinities of various Atti-tudes – this service tho, in nine parts was about 12 feet long & 20 inches wide oval at the ends & designed I suppose to fill the middle space of the Table otherwise it would have been vacant as, in order to present an agreeable proportion in the dimentious of the Table which must have breadth as well as Length – or Beauty would be lost – but I must away on Committee this morng & if you are not satisfy’d with the spreading of the Table – You must wait till five oclock PM when your dinner shall be serv’d up - in the meantime Adieu my dear
P Wadsworth
[Note:] Lady Washington/Lucia - Phila/Jan. 1794.
[Note:] From Papa Janry/2d Philad1794/Portland
[Addressed:] Miss Zilpah Wadsworth
Archives Number: 1005/4.1.1-03#01
U. S. National Park Service
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Courtesy of National Park Service, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site (1005/4.1.1-3#1)
Public domain
Peleg Wadsworth Papers (1005/004.001), (LONG-SeriesName)
, Correspondence - Outgoing (1005/004.001.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, Letterbook - 1794-1807 (1005/004.001.001-003), (LONG-FileUnitName)
, Correspondence - Outgoing (1005/004.001.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, Letterbook - 1794-1807 (1005/004.001.001-003), (LONG-FileUnitName)
Image
Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Code: LONG
Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Latitude: 42.3769989013672, Longitude: -71.1264038085938
Latitude: 42.3769989013672, Longitude: -71.1264038085938
NPS Museum Catalog Number : LONG 27923
Title: Finding Aid to the Wadsworth-Longfellow Family (1610-1971) Papers, 1610-1971 (bulk dates 1745-1950)
URL: https://www.nps.gov/long/learn/historyculture/archives.htm#WL
URL: https://www.nps.gov/long/learn/historyculture/archives.htm#WL
2021/03/24
01/25/1794
Manuscript letter in the Wadsworth-Longfellow Family Papers, Peleg Wadsworth and Family Papers, Peleg Wadsworth Papers, Correspondence, Outgoing, Letterbook - 1794-1807. (1005/4.1.1-3#1)
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Organization: Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site
Address: 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Email: LONG_archives@nps.gov
Address: 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Email: LONG_archives@nps.gov
Friday, August 25, 2023 10:32:03 PM
Wednesday, November 8, 2023 3:02:02 PM
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