before it grows hot. this method will take 6 Hours at least, the water boiling all the time. I have put the Oil somtimes imediately into the water which method will render the oil as white as water it self, but in the boiling so divides the oil into numberless Globles that it is a considerable time before it will unite sufficently to get any great matter from the water. The other will answer to your wishes. N B never fill the Vessell with oil above two thirds full. I see by the papers you have chang'd your condition,1 and have taken to yourself a wife. I have [not] the pleasure of knowing your Lady by sight: but from the Charracter of that family in general, you must be the happy Man. I sincerely wish you both every hapiness you promis'd yourselves, or that your hearts can desire; it is customary upon wishing a new married Couple Joy to salute, but as this must be done by proxie, I cant with propriety employ a better hand than yourself; please to make a kiss acceptable to your Lady till such times as I can have the Honor of doing in Propria Persona. Well adieu, God bless you; write me as often as you can, and dont forget the News of the place you live in, and which I have so great a regard for. my kind regards to your Lady accept the same yourself and believe me to be with truth and sincerity Dear Sir Your affectionate friend, and Very Humble Servant WM. JOHNSTON. P.S Inclos'd is a pencil to assist you in the miniature. I forgot to tell you I have an Organists Birth worth £75 Sterl❜g per Ann. What ever you may have to send me: if there should not be 1 Copley was married November 16, 1769, to Miss Susannah Farnum ("Sukey") Clarke, daughter of Richard Clarke, merchant. any Vessell in Boston for this place forward them to Mr. Hobby at Middletown Connecticutt. If there should be a Vessell in Boston for Barbados, Direct for me to be left at the Attorney Generals Office. I. Veyow. I had like to have forgot one thing. I want a rough scetch of that little picture that is over the Door of Mr Chardon's Hall,1 Time bringing truth to Light. SIR, Captain John Small to Copley HEAD QUARTERS, New York, May 15th, 1770. I was favor'd with yours by Captain Pascal Smith, who also Deliver❜d to me, the Picture you were kind enough to Send me by him; it came Safe and undamag'd from the Voyage hither. You'll see by the Inclos'd Accot. and Receipt that Captn. Smith has been paid, and Your Draught in his favor Duely honor'd. Allow me now, Sir, to Congratulate you on your marriage, which I saw inserted in a Boston paper. I had the pleasure of hearing you Mention the Lady, when I attended your Levee, and with such warmth of Encomium as Convinc'd me of your serious and well plac'd attachment. Both from what you said yourself and the amiable Character I heard of her from others: I make no doubt of your having been happy in your choice and success. I beg leave to assure you that I sincerly wish you Joy; A person of Your Merit and emminence in your proffession, deserves and ought to enjoy sweets of social and domestick 36. 1 Peter Chardon, who died in 1775(?). But see Works of John Adams, 11., happiness; as an additional and indeed the highest incentive of Endeavors to shine in so exellent an Art. The Beau Monde here, have Mutter'd a good deal; on hearing of your happy wedlock; not from want of good wishes for you, but that as they consider that agreable Event to you, as a prevention of your Coming hither; which I assure you has been earnestly and eagerly wish'd by some of the finest women in the World. The fame of your performances had Long ago Reach'd them, and the Specimens which have recently made their appearance, have confirm'd them in the Idea of your Superior genius; and Excited the Wishes of numbers of Both Sexes; that your Leisure might admitt of Even a Short Visit from you: Indeed I dare say they might undertake to bespeak you for several Years Employmt at this place alone: but they now begin to Despair of the happiness of seeing You. The Generals1 Picture was receiv'd at home with universal applause and Looked on by real good Judges as a Masterly performance. It is plac'd in one of the Capital Apartments of Lord Gage's house in Arlington Street; and as a Test of its merit it hangs between Two of Lord and Lady Gages, done by the Celebrated Reynolds, at present Reckon'd the Painter Laureat of England. The Picture you sent by Captn Smith; is not only approv'd highly by the person it's drawn for, but greatly admir'd by Crowds of My Friends who come to Look at it. I shall only further observe that Nothing Indifferent can Come from the hands of the Ingenious Mr. Copely. I am Sir your oblig'd and very humble Servt. JOHN SMALL. 1 Gage. SIR, John Wilkes to Nathaniel Barber1 PRINCES COURT, near STORIES GATE, My Brother Hayley 2 has sent me from you a most Valuable present of a Picture which I receive with great Gratitude and pleasure from its being the recemblance of my dear namesake, and the merrit of the Work it self. I was very happy to Observe to what a degree of excellence the most elegant art of Painting is Arrived in New England, and as you rival us in every essential good, so you now equal us in the refinements of Polished Life. I shall expect every thing good and intrinsically valuable from the Young Gentleman, whose Picture I admire, when I consider that he is educated under your care, and among the generous sons of Freedom in America, who remain undebauch'd by the wickedness of European Courts, and Parliamentary Prostitution. I pray heaven to give you great Comfort in him, and to permit him long to enjoy the Benefit of the virtuous example you set him! My most respectfull compliments ever attend the friend[s] of Liberty at Boston, and I beg you, Sir, to beli[e]ve me, with great truth and regard, Your Obliged, humble Servant, JOHN WILKES. 1 The letter to which this is in reply is printed in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, XLVII. 214. Barber had named a son Wilkes Barber, and sent to Wilkes a portrait of the child, then in his fourth year. Copley painted it. See Copley to Benjamin West, November 24, 1770. 2 George Hayley, an alderman of London and brother-in-law of Wilkes. He was a member of the mercantile house of Hayley and Hopkins, with important American connections. Henry Pelham to Charles Pelham DEAR BROTHER, BOSTON, Nov. 12, 1770. Upon my Arivall in Town I began to execute your Commands, by delivering your Message to my Mamma. In Return she presents her kind Love to you and says that she expects to use her stove next Winter, but in the mean time you are intirely welcome to the Use of it, if you think it worth while to put it up 'till then. I applyed Likewise to Mr Walley,1 and Messrs. Green and Russell,2 from whom I have procured a sett of the perpetual and Temporary Laws complete to the present time. The Temporary Laws were not to be had ready bound. The price of them you will see by the inclosed Notes. By the papers I am Informed of the sudden Death of Mr Barnard,3 and in Virginia of that of Lord Botetourt both of which I most Lement. Thos Pelham is in a deep Consumption. He was first taken ill about three Weeks ago, has continued to grow weaker, and is now so dangerous that his Life is not expected from one hour to another. His Family is in the greatest Poverty and Misery. I send you a new Specimen of the Abilitys of our Boston Poetess Phillis, which has undergone no Corrections what ever. Mr. Green, who examen'd her Poem on the death of Mr. Whitfield before it went to the Press alterd but one Word in the Whole, and that was the Word Stars instead of 1 Abiel Walley? 2 John Green and Joseph Russell, printers of the Massachusetts Gazette and the Boston Post-Boy and Advertiser. Francis Bernard, eldest son of Sir Francis Bernard. • Norborne, Baron de Botetourt. See Boston Gazette, November 12, 1770. |