"I thank you much for the two books you were so kind as to send me by mr Gallatin, miss Wright had before favored me with the 1st edition of her American work: but her ‘Few days in Athens’ was entirely new, and has been a treat to me of the highest order. the matter and manner of the dialogue is strictly antient; the principles of the sects are beautifully and candidly explained and contrasted; and the scenery and portraiture of the Interlocutors are of higher finish than any thing in that line left us by the antients; and, like Ossian, if not antient, it is equal to the best morsels of antiquity. I auger, from this instance, that Herculaneum is likely to furnish better specimens of modern, than of antient genius; and may we not hope more from the same pen?" — Thomas Jefferson to Gilbert du Motier Lafayette, 4 November 1823