Mount Vernon, November 7, 1790.  A letter full of minute details.  It sets out with expressing his renewed anxiety respecting the education of his adopted son Washington Custis, remarking that if the schools in the college are under good masters, and are as fit for boys of his age [he was probably about eight at this time, for we were schoolmates in Philadelphia at the dates of the earliest of these letters] as a private school would be, he is still of opinion he had better be placed there in the first instance; but the propriety of the step will depend:  1.  Upon the character and ability of the masters; 2.  Upon the police and discipline of the school; and thirdly, upon the number of the pupils.  If there be too many pupils, justice cannot be done to them whatever the ability of the masters, adding that what ought to be the due proportion is in some measure matter of opinion, but that an extreme must be obvious to all.  He leaves it with Mr. Lear to decide that point if nothing else should be finally resolved upon by himself before he reaches Philadelphia.  He next incloses a letter from Mr. Gouverneur Morris, then in Paris [but not our minister at the French court at that time] with the bill of charges for certain articles which he had requested him to send from Paris.  The plated ware far exceeds in price the utmost bounds of his calculation; but as he is persuaded Mr. Morris had only done what he thought right, he requests Mr. Lear to make immediate payment in manner as he points out.  Among the articles of this plated ware, were wine coolers, for holding four decanters of cut glass, also sent by Mr. Morris; and he seems as little satisfied with the size and fashion of these coolers, from the description he has received of them, as with their unexpected cost.  He thinks more appropriate ones of real silver might be made, the pattern being different and work lighter, giving his own ideas of a pattern, and a little draft of it, and requesting Mr. Lear to talk to a silversmith on the matter, remarking that perhaps those sent by Mr. Morris might give hints for the pattern; which, if not found too heavy, as he had not yet seen them, might after all answer.  He approves of the Pagoda’s standing in the smallest drawing-room where Mr. Lear had placed it.  Whether the green curtain or a new yellow one is to be used for the staircase window in the hall, may depend on his getting an exact match in color for the former; in things of this sort one would not regard a small additional expense, to save the eye from bad contrasts.  He expresses the hope that his study will be in readiness by the time he arrives, and that the rubbish and other litter made by those “men of mortar and the carpenters,” will be removed so that the yard may be made and kept as clean as the parlor.  This, he says, is essential, as, by the alterations made in the house, the back rooms had become the best and there was an uninterrupted view from them into the yard, especially from the dining-room.  He concludes by saying that as Mrs. Washington writes to Mrs. Lear, he would only add his best wishes for her and affectionate regards for himself, “being your sincere friend, G.W.”