Mrs. Calvert’s Chat

Riversdale, 3 January 1817

My dear Brother,

… Allow me to thank you again for the books you had the kindness to send me. They will be very useful, especially for next winter when Caroline will be here. I have begun Chateaubriand–he is highly imaginative. Moliere makes me laugh often, but I am nearly afraid of taking up Racine, for once begun, I cannot put him down. I prefer him to anything I have ever read in French …