University of Virginia Library

3737. HISTORY, Writing.—

You say I
must go to writing history. While in public
life I had not time, and now that I am retired,
I am past the time. To write history requires
a whole life of observation, of inquiry, of labor
and correction. Its materials are not to be
found among the ruins of a decayed memory.—
To J. B. Stuart. Washington ed. vii, 65.
(M. 1817)