Henry Knox recaps a letter he recently sent to William, in which he urged William to sail directly to Amsterdam instead of stopping in France. He mentions letters of introduction he previously sent for William's voyage to Europe, noting he will also ask the Baron von Steuben for introductory letters. He requests William to send a list of the persons to whom Baron Johann De Kalb's letters of introduction were addressed. Relates that the Winslow sisters will travel to Boston within a fortnight. Comments on the recovery of Lucy, his wife, from a recent illness. He instructs William to ship his goods by armed vessel, writing "you must be industrious & not tarry to long in Europe & remember 'There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood lead into Fortune omitted &c" (quote from Julius Caesar, by Shakespeare). He promises to send letters of introduction from Marquis de Lafayette and John Adams by the next post.