From George Washington to Mason Locke Weems, 3 July 1799
To Mason Locke Weems
Mount Vernon, July 3, 1799
Reverend Sir,
For your kind compliment—“The Immortal Mentor,” I beg you to accept my best thanks. I have perused it with singular satisfaction; and I hesitate not to say that it is, in my opinion at least, an invaluable compilation. I cannot but hope that a book whose contents do such credit to its title, will meet with a very generous patronage.
Should the Patronage equal my wishes, you will have no reason to regret that you ever printed the Immortal Mentor.1 With respect I am Reverend Sir Your most Obedient Humble Servant
George Washington
Magazine of American History (1880), 5:102.
1. Parson Weems’s The Immortal Mentor: or, Man’s Unerring Guide to a Healthy, Wealthy, and Happy Life . . . was first printed in Philadelphia in 1796.