Tuckerman. 227 



long been members of the Eepublic of the United 

 States, and Washington's mother belonged to this 

 family. During the war of Independence, while my 

 father, then Lieutenant Fairfax, was on board a 

 man-of-war on the American station, he received a 

 letter from General Washington claiming him as a 

 relation, and inviting him to pay him a visit, saying, 

 he did not think that war should interfere with the 

 courtesies of private life. Party spirit ran so high 

 at that time that my father was reprimanded for 

 being in correspondence with the enemy. I men- 

 tioned to my friend, the Kev. Dr. Tuckerman, of the 

 United States, how much I regretted that so pre- 

 cious a letter had been lost, and he most kindly 

 on going home sent me an autograph letter of 

 General Washington. 



FKOM THE EEV. JOSEPH TUCKERMAN TO MRS. SOMERVILLE. 



BOSTON, August 28th, 1834. 



MY DEAR MADAM, 



I have very great pleasure in sending to you an 

 autograph letter of your and our glorious Washington. 

 I obtained it from Mr. Sparks, Avho had the gratification 

 of seeing you when he was in England, and who told me 

 when I applied to him for it, that there is no one in the 

 world to whom he would be so glad to give it. It is 

 beyond comparison the best and almost the only re- 

 maining one at his disposal among the "Washington" 

 papers. 



Q 2 



