Your letter of the 28th. reached me last fryday; & from the date of that & yr. former letter I find that both were written at the same times, perhaps the same insts. that mine to you were wrote,1 & I enjoy’d the idea that we had been mutually employed in marking our attention to each other at ^the^ same inst. of time. how happy for us my Love that Space seperates not the minds as well as persons, for otherwise absence would be deplorable indeed.— Mr. Rendon2 informs me that Congress are at length assembled, & I’m glad of it, for I now hope that by Christmas you’ll be at liberty to pay me the promised visit.

As I suppose you are now at Trenton I conclude my letters have reached you.3 since they were wrote the School master has left Eliz. Town, & it is now no longer in our option to place Peter with him—what therefore must be done? his Grand father expects to return in a fortnight or three weeks, & then hopes to have the sole care of him. I confess I sd. ^regret^ the loss of his writing, which is yet by no means established tho’ in a very fair way; & Mr. Mc. Worther4 thinks that writing his lessons will entirely spoil it; nor will his cyphering reading & spelling be more advanced at New Ark. I own I wish him to be a proficient in these first & not least necessary branches of Education before he leaves home & loses the parental care—had the school master stay’d at Eliz. Town all those advantages might have been united: at present I’ve been obliged to relinquish his grammer for I found that the time allotted for it was really lost since he did not learn that & neglected other things. I will however take care that he preserves what he has already learnt & be happy to receive your directions about him—he is a good boy & his backwardness to the grammer proceeds from a taste for what is more amusing & ^more^ apparently instructive not from obstinacy.

It is with difficulty I write & I believe it will be as difficult for you to read this scrawl—but Maria will not quit me & I’ve but one hand at liberty & ^not^ that but by spells.—

How imperfect my dr.! is human penetration— While the delicacy of little Nancy’s appearance awakened our fears, & the florid complection of Maria assured us on her part— Nancy recovers health & strength & poor little Maria is attack’d wh. a fever. This is the first in 8 days that she has eat a mouthful—last Sunday she was taken very ill, monday her fever still continued & her tongue & mouth appeared very sore; that alarmed me, for I apprehended she had the malignant sore throat, but the next day her fever abated, tho’ her mouth continued & still does very sore, & her breath very offensive. The fever has intirely left her & it is wh. pleasure I’ve observ’d ever since I first apprehended the sore throat, that when she drinks she swallows without difficulty, & I now conclude she has the sprue, or as the English call it the thrush:5 if it is that it will be some time yet before she’ll be quite well—to day she told me in the bed that Pappa Jay wd. come home bye & bye to see Maria—

The Chancelor I hear is gone to Congress; he told Susan in N. Y. that he shd. certainly wait upon me in his way to Trenton, but it seems it wd. have been too great an exertion of his politeness—every one in their humor; what depends on others becomes every day less interesting.—having mentioned Susan being at N. York, you’ll wonder what carried her there; she is gone with Wm. to see the wedding folks at Flat-bush, as she lodges at Aunt Vn. Hornes,6 B—t7 soon waited upon her, but said nothing to her of his approaching nuptials, tho’ report says his wedding was to be celebrated this day—by not inviting her he has saved himself the mortification of a refusal, for that wd. have been the return he wd. have recd.— Mr. Rendon waited upon us this afternoon & has promised to call himself or send his servant in the morng. for this letter—scrawl I might rather call it, & indeed I am quite ashamed of it, but if you knew under what disagreeable circumstances I’ve written, you wd. rather pity than blame me— I’ve just daub’d all my paper wh. syrrup that I had to mix magnesia for Maria— I’ll endeavor to let you know from time to time how she does—don’t be uneasy, for if I think her dangerous I’ll ^send^ an Express to you.

I’ve sent to the post-office but without success—

Adieu my dr. Mr. Jay & believe me most affectionately yours.