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Preferred Citation:

Matthew Steele Letter, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Scope and Contents

Lengthy letter from Matthew Steele of Liverpool, England to C. Birnie in Taneytown, MD dated June 20, 1821.  In it he details his trip to Paris to visit his daughter who was attending school in the city.  He gives illustrative description of his travels enroute to Paris and of his sojourns around and outside the city.  Steele and his daughter also travelled to the Netherlands, Brussels, and Holland.  While doing his eastern visits, Steele toured the battle of Waterloo field where he collected bullets, broken shells, and bones.  Steele talks highly of Bonaparte throughout his letter and on the inside of the letter's cover, Steele reports, "just as I was going to seal this letter the news od Bonaparte's death is come.  He died on the 5th May they say of a canser [sic] in his heart his father died of the same complaint at the age of 35 years he is 52. now is gone the greatest man that ever lived. Yours, MS".