Having been appointed at the last Nelson Court a member of a committee to draft a plan for a new Jail for the county in obedience to the act of the last Assembly on the subject of Jails, I wrote on the 23d. ulto. to Mr. Jefferson, requesting him to favor me with a copy of a plan which I understood he had drawn for some gentleman in cumberland. I have since heard that Mr. Jefferson's health is so feeble, that I feel concerned at the thought of having given him trouble, and think it probable I shall not hear from him. I therefore wrote lately a hasty letter to Mr. Peck, suggesting a brief outline of my views of a proper plan, enclosing one drawn by a gentleman in this county, inviting him to offer himself as an undertaker for the wood-work, & to procure an offer for the brickwork, and perhaps a sketch of a more perfect plan from some good draftsman at the University. My letter to Mr. Peck was written in great haste. I have since had leisure to reflect more maturely on the subject -- And I write this with the hope that you will shew it to Mr. Peck, as a correction of my letter to him. You will find two plans enclosed -- No. 1. is more compleat, & what according to my imperfect knowledge of the subject, it would be proper for the county to have erected. But as from the size of the county, & the difficulty of raising money, this plan may be thought unnecessarily large & expensive, & better suited to the furture than to the present state of the county, I have drawn another plan No. 2. which omits the wings of No. 1. but embraces all the rest of it, with some small unavoidable changes: so that No. 2. may be hereafter enlarged to No. 1. The only error which I perceive at this time in these plans is that the stair cases should be reversed, so as to put the Jailer on the other side of the passage between the Slaves & Convicts. I am perfectly ignorant of what may be the sentiments of the court on the subject of a proper plan. I think it, however, not improbable that No. 2 will be adopted, with a view to the ultimate adoption of No. 1. That is, unless Mr. Jefferson should answer my letter, & recommend a plan not more costly: in which case, no doubt, his plan would prevail. As the court will expect me to be ready at our next Court & time is short, I must ask the favor of your aid to get me the necessary information. I will thank you to execute or to get executed, a neat drawing of the two enclosed plans, laying down the necessary thickness of the walls, the grated windows & all the details. I wish the plans to be represented in the Tuscan order: The entire plan to having a suitable portico, to shew how the building would look hereafter; & No. 2 without a portico. I suppose the wings to be 20 feet long, but you may vary the length to suit the proportions of architecture. Yet I should like to Keep to the dimensions laid down as nearly as due proportion will admit. Should you be unwilling to execute the drawings yourself, will you have the goodness to engage Mr. Nelson to prepare them. I would write to him, but the mail is about to close, & I have had barely time to finish the enclosed sketches. I wish a drawing representing the front of the entire plan. It will be unnecessary to make a separate drawing of the plan No. 2, as that constitutes a part of No. 1. They should be drawings representing the size of the rooms in both plans. I am not authorized to commit the county as to expense, and I cannot afford to pay the expences of the county: but Mr. Rives, who is a member of the Court, has pledged his support if I would procure drawings on acct. of the county, & I have no doubt the Court will readily pay any reasonable charges on this account. If Mr. Jefferson should have procured drawings already which will be a charge to the county, I should be fearful that the court would be unwilling to pay for both. In that case, probably it would be better not to have drawings of these plans. Having procured the drawings, I would be obliged to you, to forward them by the mail, or by private hand, so as to let me receive them early in the day at Lovingston on the 4th. monday of the month. I shall go there the night before to fix upon a suitable site. Along with the drawings I would wish to receive an estimate of the cost of each plan, or what would be still preferable, proposals from some of the workmen at the University to build the House on definate terms according to each of the plans. I think I am warranted in saying that propositions from that quarter would be preferred to any other. Probably it would be well for such as may be disposed to undertake to come to our next Court, on monday week. If in drawing the plans, the draftsman should perceive room for manifest improvements on my ideas, he may make small changes, provided he will adhere to them in the main. I would thank you for your opinion whether it would be too late in the Season now to execute the brick work. I am Dr. Sir, very respectfully yours