I received, Monsieur, your note from the 17th, and I learned with pleasure of Amphitrite's return, the good news that she brought of your victories over the English, and the certainty that the reported battle of the 11th of July was false, as it would have been known in Charlestown by the 21st. I saw a letter from Bordeaux which was too good to be true, and I learned that you did not trust it at all. We just read the harangue by the King of England; he seems finally to consider the American War as difficult, but apparently he doesn't believe it impossible to win, and apparently Parliament will give him considerable subsidies— so much the better, it will be more money uselessly spent, and it will be like La Fontaine's fable, "The Serpent and the File": the serpent wears out its teeth, and the file remains intact.

Since the conversation that we had a few days ago, I have thought quite a bit about your idea about the circulation of the air, produced by the rarefaction of the Torrid Zone which, making the air rise above the level of the atmosphere, then makes it fall again towards the poles, where the condensation caused by the cold lowers the level of the atmosphere. It is to this that you attribute in part the dehydration of the air near the poles, and its humidity near the Equator; you also spoke to me of your observations on your spectacles case, and of those on your magnets, which proves that the air is drier in America than in Europe: I was tempted to put down these ideas in writing, but there is a better way: if you would write them down yourself, during a few moments in which the interests of your country do not take up all your spare time, I would ask you permission to be your translator, and to have the work published in the Journal of Abbé Rozier.

I am still here for another two weeks or so; M. Deane has been good enough to promise me any news that you might receive; I ask you to remind him of his promise, while passing along my regards. My mother asks me to pass along hers to you, as well. I am very impatient to be within reach of seeing you and to renew, viva voce, the homage of my respect, and of the affection with which I have the honor of being, Monsieur, your very humble and obedient servant