Ex-President John Quincy Adams in Pittsburgh in 1843 / Address of Welcome, by Wilson McCandless, and Mr. Adams' Reply; together with a letter from Mr. Adams Relative to Judge Brackenridge's "Modern Chivalry."

by Wilson McCandless; John Quincy Adams

CORRESPONDENCE.

Pittsburgh, March 29, 1847.

Hon. John Quincy Adams,

Washington City, D. C.,

Dear Sir: A day or two after I had the honor of addressing you at the instance of the citizens of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, I met you at the hospitable table of Col. Robinson. To me, and to all around, the conversation was most entertaining. All the leading incidents connected with the history of Western Pennsylvania, from the Whiskey Insurrection down, seemed to be as familiar to you as to any native to the "manor born." I recollect well your inquiries relating to the honored widow of the author of "Modern Chivalry," and how animated you were in speaking of Captain Farrago and Teague O'Regan. Cervantes would have laughed and rejoiced at your association of these western heroes with his own, and the author felt complimented with your favorable criticism of a work which he never expected to reach a second edition.

Perusing a reprint of the work this evening, it occurred to me that you might be amused in reading it, and I have therefore taken the liberty of enclosing it.

Trusting that your health is much improved and that it will continue so,

I have the honor to be,
with the most profound regard,
your obedient servant,
WILSON McCANDLESS

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Washington, 1st April, 1847.

Wilson McCandless, Esq.,

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Dear Sir: I cannot lose a moment before acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 29th ult., and of the valuable present which accompanies it—the two volumes of the new edition of Judge H. H. Brackenridge's "Modern Chivalry, or the Adventures of Captain Farrago and Teague O'Regan." My visit to Pittsburgh in 1843, and my intercourse with yourself, with the citizens of that place and Allegheny, at that time, afford me some of the most pleasing recollections of my life, grateful recollections of my obligations to yourself and them.

I had read the first part of Modern Chivalry and formed a pleasant acquaintance with Captain Farrago and his man Teague, at their first appearance more than half a century since, and they had then excited much of my attention as illustrations of life and manners peculiar to the times and localities, not entirely effaced when I became more familiarly acquainted with them, by this visit to the latter.

Captain Farrago and Teague O'Regan are legitimate descendants, on one side from the La Mancha and his squire Sancho, on the other, from Sir Hudibras and his man Ralph, and if not primitive conceptions themselves, are at least as lineal in their descent as the pious Æneas from the impetuous and vindictive son of Pelias.

The reappearance of this work, as a second edition, since the author's death, more than half a century after its first publication, well warrants the prediction that it will last beyond the period fixed by the ancient statutes, for the canonization of poets, a full century. I shall read it over again, I have no doubt, with a refreshing revival of the pleasure with which I greeted it on its first appearance; and if this expression of my opinion can give any satisfaction to the remaining relatives of Judge Brackenridge, or to yourself, it is entirely at your disposal, being with a vivid sense and grateful remembrance of your kindness, and that of my fellow-citizens of Pittsburgh and Allegheny,

Your friend and obedient servant,

J. Q. ADAMS.