Abigail Adams by Natalie S. Bober

Author:Natalie S. Bober
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 1995-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

The next morning the little party set out for London at five o’clock. They traveled the seventy-two miles in four post chaises through Canterbury, Rochester, Chatham, and Blackheath, where a highway robber had just been caught. Abigail was distressed that the “poor wretch,” little more than a boy, must hang for his crime. But she was impressed by the “old Gothick Cathedrals” and she was enchanted with the English countryside, where the land was “cultivated like a garden down to the very edge of the road.”27

They arrived in London at 8:00 P.M. on July 21. Within half an hour one of their traveling companions had managed to track down Abigail’s cousins, William Smith and Charles Storer, and bring them back to Lows Hotel in Covent Garden, where she had taken temporary lodgings. They, in turn, soon had the women moved to another hotel overlooking the Thames River, where they were provided with a large “genteelly furnished” drawing room, a cook, a chambermaid, and a waiter.

“Heaven be praised I am with our daughter Safely landed upon the British Shore,” Abigail wrote to her husband as soon as they were settled.28

John replied immediately from The Hague: “Your Letter of the 23d has made me the happiest Man upon Earth. I am twenty Years younger than I was yesterday.” But it was “a cruel Mortification” that he could not meet her in London. In his place: “I send you a son who is the greatest Traveller of his age, and without Partiality, I think as promising and manly a youth as is in the World.”29

In mid-May, still unaware of which ship his wife and daughter would sail on, John Adams had sent John Quincy to London to await them. Johnny remained there for over a month. Finally, despairing of their arrival, he returned to The Hague just days before they landed.

Now Abigail and Nabby resigned themselves to waiting for John and John Quincy. They found their welcome to London even more enthusiastic than they had anticipated. There were many Americans in London, most of whom called to pay their respects to the minister’s wife and daughter. Abigail and Nabby received visitors from nine to three every day. Then, after dinner, mother and daughter went off to see the sights of London. Abigail soon pronounced herself in love with the city.

She and Nabby were surprised, though, at the informality of the dress among Londoners, who, they felt, lacked style and elegance. “A common straw hat, no cap, with only a ribbon upon the crown,” was considered suitable for going calling. Feminine grace and softness are “wholly laid aside here,” Abigail stated caustically.30

One of their first stops was at the studio of the young artist, John Singleton Copley. In October 1783, when John had been in London, he had commissioned Copley to paint his portrait in commemoration of the successful peace negotiations. His wife and daughter were anxious to see the painting.

“It is said to be an admirable likeness,” Abigail remarked of the husband she had not seen for almost five years.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.