Thursday, October 12, 2023

Senator Henry Clay to Thomas H. Clay, January 10, 1852

WASHINGTON, January 10, 1852.

MY DEAR THOMAS,—I received two or three letters from you since I came here, and should have answered them with pleasure if my strength and health would have admitted of it. You observe now I am obliged to employ the pen of a friend. I was very thankful for the kind offer of yourself and Mary to come here and nurse me. I should have promptly accepted, if it had been necessary, but it was not. Every want and wish that I have are kindly attended to. I am surrounded by good friends, who are ready and willing to serve me; and you and Mary yourselves could not have been more assiduous in your attentions than are my friends the Calverts.

The state of my health has not very materially altered. Within the last eight or ten days there has been some improvement; not so great as my friends persuade themselves, but still some improvement. The solution of the problem of my recovery depends upon the distressing cough which I have, and I think that it is a little diminished. I am embargoed here by the severity of the winter, which has confined me to the house for the last three weeks. I hope to derive some benefit when I shall be again able to drive out in the open air. You must continue to write me without regard to my ability to reply. It is a source of great comfort to me to hear, and to hear fully, from Ashland and Mansfield. John has been very kind in writing very frequently to me. Give my love to Mary and all the children.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 624-5

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