596 Life of Coimt Rumford* 



of her long life was her adviser and then her executor. 

 I am able to give from his papers the following letters 

 addressed to him by Rumford. 



" AUTEUIL, near Paris, 8'. h Dec 1 ; 1811. 



"DEAR SIR, The friendship which subsisted between your 

 late worthy father and myself would alone have been sufficient 

 to have induced me to apply to you on the present occasion ; 

 but the excellent character that has been given of you by my 

 Daughter, who is just arrived here, has not allowed me to hesi- 

 tate one moment in the choice of a friend to assist me in fulfil- 

 ling the most sacred of duties, that of taking care of an aged 

 parent. 



" I shall send you herewith a power of attorney authorising 

 you to receive the dividends that are or may become due to me 

 for stock in the funds of the United States. This stock, 

 amounting to Ten Thousand Dollars, is in the 3 per cents; 

 consequently the interest which you will have to receive on 

 account of it will amount to 300 dollars a year : and of that 

 sum I request that you would pay to my Mother, Mrs. Ruth 

 Pierce, Widow, Two Hundred and forty dollars a year, in two 

 payments of 120 dollars every six months, at such periods as 

 she may prefer. The remainder of the annual income of 300 

 dollars, amounting to 60 dollars a year, you will be so good as 

 to place from time to time, at interest, and in my name, in 

 order to accumulate and form a small capital, that may be ready 

 to be disposed of to answer any sudden demand, in case of any 

 unforeseen accident. As all correspondence between this coun- 

 try and England is forbidden, I shall not venture to write to my 

 Bankers in London, Messrs. Herries, Farquhar, & Co., of St. 

 James' St., who have hitherto been my agents for receiving my 

 dividends on my American stock. But I beg you would take 

 the earliest opportunity of writing to them on my behalf, to 

 acquaint them with my having given you a power of attorney 

 for receiving those dividends in future, and that they will in 

 future receive no drafts on them for my account. 



" I request that you would forward the enclosed letter by a 



