MVB to B[enjamin] F[ranklin] Butler, 19 September 1828
Private
My dear Sir,
As it is very doubtful whether I <ever> get to the end of my message in season to look at the beginning I send you that most difficult of all its parts the Commencement; begging the favor of you to run it over according to your ideas & send it me as soon as you can. Dont let your politeness induce you to make a few immaterial alterations & then say it is so good that you cant make it better. I know better than that. You need have no delicacy upon the subject for you know I am and I thank God for it free from all and all manner of ^that^ predilection for my own offspring of this character which makes fools of so many people. Write it off <illegible> anew and I will adopt it in whole or in part as I please
Yours truly
MVBuren
Text is italicized in a typed transcript supplied to NjP by Harriet A. Butler, but not in the original document.