Illustrations JOHN SINGLETON Copley From the self-painted portrait in the New York Historical Society. PETER PELHAM, JR. From a portrait by Copley in the possession of Charles Pelham Curtis. RECEIPT OF PETER PELHAM, JR., 1728. Letter of Mary (Copley) PELHAM. The original was in the possession of Denison R. Slade. RECEIPT OF COPLEY, 1758 "BOY WITH THE SQUIRREL" (Henry Pelham). From the painting by Copley in the possession of Frederic Amory. RECEIPT OF COPLEY, 1769 LETTER OF CHARLES PELHAM The original was in the possession of Denison R. Slade. CIRCULAR OF CHARLES WILLSON PEALE'S PICTURE OF WILLIAM PITT 4 JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY. . 117 From a self-painted miniature in the possession of Henry Copley Greene. Signature oF ISAAC W. Clarke The original was in the possession of Denison R. Slade. LETTER OF RICHARD CLARKE The original was in the possession of Denison R. Slade. COPLEY'S DRAWING OF A FENCE 211 . 213 . 232 From a sketch by Benjamin West in the possession of Lord Aberdare. ¿ SIGNATURE OF SARAH STARTIN . 277 The original was in the possession of Denison R. Slade. RICHARD CLARKE . 279 From the family group painted by Copley in the possession of Copley Amory. From a sketch by Benjamin West in the possession of Lord Aberdare. THE REDOUBT ON BUNKER HILL · 327 From Pelham's sketch in the Public Record Office, London. 346 PERMISSION TO MAKE PLAN OF BOSTON From Pelham's sketch in the Public Record Office, London. LETTER OF JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY. The original is in the Public Record Office, London. POWER OF ATTORNEY, 1776 . The original was in the possession of Denison R. Slade. RECEIPT OF COPLEY, 1783 The original is in the Adams Papers. RECEIPT OF GILBERT STUART, 1800 Prefatory Note THE letters and documents printed in this volume are in the Public Record Office, London.1 They appear to have been drawn in part from the Domestic State Papers, but no note shows the history of the papers and how or when they reached the Record Office. For a long period of time they were among the paper's intercepted by the British Government during the first months of the American rebellion; but they could hardly have actually been intercepted, as so many never passed through the English post-office or even crossed the ocean. Mr. Paul Leicester Ford, to whom one bundle of the papers was known, and who printed a few of the papers in the Atlantic Monthly, LXXI. 499, states, but without giving his authority, that Copley and Pelham fell under the suspicion of the Government. "To what extent suspicion was attached to them it is now impossible to say; but it certainly went so far as to lead these two men to turn over their private papers to the government; and these, instead of being returned, drifted into this great depository of manuscripts.' Since Mr. Ford wrote, the collection has been much increased by newly discovered material, and in a rearrangement it had been assorted into four bundles. Three of those were discovered quite by accident by Professor Guernsey Jones, of the University of Nebraska. Becoming interested, he began to make copies, and while thus engaged, his attention was called by Professor Charles M. Andrews, whose Guide had not then been printed, to a fourth bundle, containing the earliest Pelham letters, The transcripts and the notes upon them 2 were offered by Professor Jones to this Society for publication. Of the collection he writes: "All of Pelham's letters and all of Copley's, except those to Pelham and his mother (and the one to his wife from the Chamberlain Collection), are in the form of rough drafts, sometimes in duplicate or even in triplicate with slight variations. The others are the letters actually received, with 1 Designated in Andrews's Guide as C. O. 5/38, 39. The arrangement in two bundles was made at the suggestion of Professor Jones. 2 It has not been thought necessary to locate the portraits by Copley mentioned in these letters, as Mr. Frank W. Bayley, of Boston, is preparing an exhaustive list of Copley's paintings. trifling exceptions, which may be readily inferred from the letters themselves. The entire correspondence was once carefully sorted and arranged by Pelham, but is now in the utmost confusion. The less important letters, together with Pelham's memoranda and household bills, are omitted in this volume. "It has been impossible to discover how these private letters of a provincial family came to be incorporated into the great collection of British State Papers. When Copley started on his Italian tour in the summer of 1774, he left his letters and papers with Pelham, who kept them with his own. In less than two years, Pelham in turn left Boston a Tory refugee upon the British evacuation of that place. He presumably took his papers with him, for upon one of the wrappers he has written, 'Letters from Mr. Copley, rec'd at Halifax.' On May 12, 1776, more than eleven hundred New England refugees embarked at Halifax for England. Among them was Pelham on the Brigantine Unity, Captain Hill.1 He reached Dover after a short passage on June 5.2 What happened to his papers is a matter of conjecture. We only know that, fortunately for us, they are now preserved in the British archives." The correspondence concerns Massachusetts before the date of Independence, and throws valuable light upon Copley and his early paintings. Mention is made of a number of his portraits, hitherto unknown, and his impressions of the work of other painters and methods of painting are detailed in his letters from France and Italy. The papers are thus both historical and technical. Professor Jones makes acknowledgment to Lord Aberdare, the Honorable Lady Du Cane, and the officials of the Public Record Office for courtesies received. The Society adds its acknowledgment for assistance to Mr. Frederic Amory, Mr. Charles Pelham Curtis, Mr. Henry Copley Greene, Mr. Copley Amory, the late Mr. Denison R. Slade, and the New York Historical Society. BOSTON, September 15, 1914. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. WORTHINGTON CHAUNCEY FORD. 1 C. O. 5/93, p. 333. Pelham, known to be an artist, was listed as a “reputable tradesman." See Copley's objection to the word "trade" as applied to art (p. 65, infra). 2 Morning Post, June 8, 1776. Governor Hutchinson heard of Pelham's arrival on June 7. Diary and Letters, 11. 61. |