John Adams to Peter Perpignan, March 4, 1823

Quincy March < , Start deletion, th , End, > 4th: 1823.

Sir

I have rec’d y’r letter of the 26th of last month—and I thank you for y’r infinitessinal miniature of President Washington—I cannot see it even with the help of a solar microscope & should not be able to distinguish the features or the figure, clearly enough to know; whether it is a fair representation of the hero x —I am always pleased to see correct representations of that great man—the more they are multiplied and the wider they are scattered and diffused the better, but I totally despise the miserable catch penny tricks by wh’ he is represented in situations where he never stood & as the author of measures in wh’ he had nothing to do & wh’ he did not even approve—this is a kind of rapine of fame counfounding all distinctions between right & wrong, truth &—falshood virtue & vice, subversive in short of all political morality—. I am sir yr humble servant

J. Adams.