John Adams to Abigail Adams, February 1, 1799

Phil. Feb. 1. 1799

My dearest Friend

On Tuesday M r T. B. Adams left Us, at
Eleven in the stage for New York & Boston and consequently Quincy.— I should have
been glad to have held him till I could carry him with me: but I thought it my Duty to
comply with his desire, both for his sake and yours.— He Seems determined to settle in
Phyladelphia.— He would have a happier Life, and be a more important Man in Quincy: But
I must do & say as My Father did to me: leave him to his own Inclination and
acquiesce in it as a dispensation of Providence. You will find him very agreable and
pleasant.

By the time he returns, I expect the Plague will drive him out,
again.— It is undoubtedly here lurking about the City all this Winter. Tazewell did not
die of it: but I suppose of an Appoplexie tho they call it a Pleurisie.

We had Yesterday a large Company: C. J. M c Kean and the Judges & Lawyers of Pensylvania with some Members of Congress:
all very agreable. I am reading the K. of Prussias Correspondence with Voltaire
D’Alembert &c He is forever talking of his Age Infirmities, Decline & Decay. His
Memory is going. His Imagination is gone— His Teeth fail— His Limbs are stiff &
goutty— He is broken— He is old— &c &c &c— 1 Yet at last When he was really old and broken he
could not bear to hear of it.

His Phylosophy was bad enough: tho not so bad is that of others
then & since. His Wit is to me a little dull— His humour heavy— There is an Affectation of Gaiety, which however does not make the Reader very
gay.— 2 Frank waits for my Lettr.

J. A