Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

It is within ten or twelve years that I was made indignant by looking over at the stone and finding its whole dignity removed, inasmuch as some one had caused to be engraved there, just below the goblet, the inscription "Col. John Vassall, died Nov. 27, 1747." On inquiry I found that this inscription had been put on without the knowledge of my old playmate, the late Mr. George Savil Saunders, who was the official custodian of the burial ground; nor do I know whether it was ever known who added these letters.

Mr. GREENOUGH submitted from his collections the following five letters of John Hancock, written while in London on business between his uncle Thomas Hancock and the Board of Admiralty.

TO REV. DANIEL PERKINS, BRIDGEWATER.

LONDON, October 29th, 1760.

REVEREND SIR, I have wrote you severall Letters since my Arrivall here, but have not heard one Word direct from you or my Mother since I left Boston. [I] fear if you have wrote your Letters have miscarried. I long much to hear of my Mother, has she her health, pray write me particularly, to whom please to present my most Dutifull Regards, and Acquaint her I am very well, and hope to have the pleasure of seeing her by June next or sooner. My Love to my Sister, Respectfull Compliments to the Doctor. I am very busy in getting my self mourning upon the Occasion of the Melancholy Event of the Death of his late Majesty King George the 2d, to which every person of any Note here Conforms even to the deepest mourning. His Death was very sudden last Saturday Morning. after Rising as well as usual, he felt not well, and fell down in a Fit of Apoplexy and died instantly. Every thing here now is very dull. All Plays are stopt and no Diversions are going forward, that I am at a loss how to dispose of my self. On Sunday last the Prince of Wales was proclaim'd King

1 He died at Kensington on October 25, 1760, between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, from a rupture of the right ventricle of the heart.

thro' the City with great Pomp and Joy. His Coronation I am told will not be till April, that I can't yet determine whether I shall stay to see it, but the rather think I shall, as it is the grandest thing I shall ever meet with. I am not more particular in the Circumstances of the King's Death, as I imagine you will have the Accounts long before this Reaches you.

The Purport of this is only to Acquaint you and my Mother and Sister, &c I am well, hope soon to hear from you, In'trim please Accept my best Respects, and am, Revd Sir, Your most Obed and Hume Servt.

I shall write you tomorrow.

TO EBENEZER HANCOCK.

LONDON, 27th December, 1760.

MY DEAR BROTHER, I have before me your agreeable letter of November 6th by Capt. Bride, and desire you will write me by every opportunity, and acquaint me more particularly with the Circumstances of my Uncle's Family. I am Glad to hear you are well, and earnestly beg you will give great attention to business and let your Conduct be such as to merit the Esteem of all about you, and remember that the Diligent Hand maketh Rich. I Expect on my Return to find you a Compleat Merchant. I am much pleased at the Advantages you have before you, of which I doubt not but you will make the proper Improvement.

I observed by your Letter our Sister is married, and that you were with them at the Celebration of it, I wish them great Happiness and satisfaction, and hope they will meet with nothing to Interrupt their Quiet, they have my best wishes.

I shall write you again Soon. Have me Remembered in the Strougest Terms of Affection to my Uncle and Aunt. Love to all in the Family, particularly Hannah and Betsy. How is Molly and how does Cato behave. Is Agniss a Breeding. Is Prince as Gouty as ever, and Hannibal as peevish as formerly; tell him I think of him, as he was the last of the Family I Saw on the Wharff. How is Thomas, and in short all.

I have lately been ill, but am upon the Recovery, hope soon to get abroad again. I wish you, with Hannah Betsy and all the Family many happy New Years. The Compliments of the Season attend you, and I am, etc.

Remember my Love to Nicholas Bowes, and all of my acquaintances. My respects to Mr. Glover and Brown. Forward the enclosed Letter to Bridgewater.

1

Tell Hannah that at Mr. Barnard's 1 where I am ill, is a young

1 Of the mercantile house of Kilby, Barnard and Parker.

woman who is Remarkably Tender and Kind to me in my illness, and often brings her to my mind; that I am as well attended as I could ever desire, and that I am very well off, but had much rather be ill, if I must be so, where my Aunt and she is, But that this young woman is exactly the Image of her in Respect of a good and tender Nurse.

TO THOMAS HANCOCK.

LONDON, January 14th, 1761.

HOND. SIR, Four days ago I sent you a very long Letter by the Harriott Packett, which hope will Come safe to your hands. I am this day favour'd with your most obliging Letters of November 30th and December 6th by Captain Farr. All the Bills you have sent me have met with Acceptance of which I have Advised you. I am very sorry that I have been so unlucky in Regard to my Letters not Reaching you. I did not write by Atkins, as Bull sailed at the same Time by whom I wrote, and never Intended to be Remiss in that Respect, and should you Receive all my Letters I am well Satisfied you and my Aunt will not Think me Blameable. On my Arrival I wrote by the Packett, then by Farr which you have Rec'd, since those I have wrote you by Bull, Hulme, Partridge, Smith, White, Binney, Vernon, Newton, Earl Lecester Packett, and Calef Via N. York, Rhodes, Beach from Bristol, and the Harriott Packett, and by almost all these to my Aunt, that I hope you will not Think me wanting in Duty and Respect tho' at so great a Distance, which nothing that this Grand Place Affords could Tempt me to Forget. The Detention of the Boston Ships here, is Really no Fault of the Merchants but Contrary Winds. Bull was Loaded by Mr. Barnard and Dispatched as soon as possible, and sailed at same Time with Atkins, that it's very unlucky she did not Arrive, hope long before this she is with you. Mr. Barnard is very uneasy at the Disappointment. By the little Observations I made, I am sure no House gives greater Attention to Business, and better Consults the Interest of their Correspondents than Mr. Barnard's.

The Day before I was to have been Introduced to Admiral [Edward] Boscawen he was taken ill, and I am sorry to Tell you he is since Dead, his Death is greatly Regretted.1 But the Governor 2 is so kind as to say he will get me Introduc'd to Mr. Frederick, by means of a particular Friend of his who is intimate with him. Mr. Bogdani I find is not upon the best Footing with the Board, that very little Attention is paid to any thing he says, and indeed he told me as much, but that he should be very Glad to Render you all the Service in his Power. I am Determined at all Events to See Mr. Frederick soon, and if I should Fail of

1 Died on January 10, 1761, at Hatchlands Park, in Surrey.
2 Thomas Pownall

i

being Introduc'd to him, will wait on him myself, and Acquaint him the Occasion, and Talk with him upon the Subject. Tho' the Governor Told me I might Depend upon his Friend, who is Lord Falmouth, I have not been wanting in Assiduous Endeavours to see him, but so many Intervening Circumstances have happened, and the Difficulty in meeting with great people at home, has put it out of my power hitherto.

I was this Morning with the Governor, he is very well. Mr. Green is not Arriv'd. I hope you will be able to Settle Nova Scotia Accounts to your Satisfaction. I intend mentioning the Scituation of them to Mr. Secretary Pownall. The Governor Tells me its next to a Certainty that Governor [Henry] Ellis of Georgia will be appointed to the Government of Nova Scotia.1 I the rather mention this, as he is now at York on his Return to England, and perhaps may Take Boston in his way that you can have an Opportunity of forming a Connection with him. This is not got abroad, but the Governor Told me with Leave to Acquaint you.

2

I wrote you I had seen Lady Warren, and that she begs her Money may be Called in as soon as possible. And desires an Account from Mr. Apthorp with the principal Interest particularly Specified. As she was soon to be in Town after my Arrival, I rather thought it as well to wait, but finding it would have been more Agreeable to you, I could wish I had gone. Mr. Davis's Company into the Countrey was not from Choice, but my Party failing, as he was going and it would lessen my Expence, I went down with him, but did not Return with him. I have no great liking to him, and we have but little Correspondence together, he is a man of a very assuming Behaviour, and has given himself some Liberties here, that I have taken Occasion to mention to him that there's no great Understanding between us, he is going over in the first Spring Ship.

I observe in your Letter you mention a Circumstance in Regard to my Dress. I hope it did not Arise from your hearing I was too Extravagant that way, which I think they can't Tax me with. At same time I am not Remarkable for the Plainess of my Dress, upon proper Occasions I dress as Genteel as any one, and can't say I am without Lace. I Endeavour in all my Conduct not to Exceed your Expectation in Regard to my Expences, but to Appear in Character I am Obliged to be pretty Expensive. I find Money some way or other goes very fast, but I think I can Reflect it has been spent with Satisfaction and to my own honour. I fear if you was to see my Tailor's Bill, you would Think I was not a very plain Dressing person. I en

1 Best known by his account of "A Voyage to Hudson's Bay, by the Dobbs Galley and California in 1746 and 1747, for Discovering a North-West Passage." 2 Probably Susannah de Lancy, widow of Sir Peter Warren.

deavour to be in Character in all I do, and in all my Expences, which are pretty large. I have great Satisfaction in the Reflection of their being incurr'd in Honorable Company and to my Advantage. I shall be mindfull to send by the first Opportunity the Mitts for my Aunt and the Shoes for you, with a Cane if can meet one Suitable. I wish to hear Bull is Arrived, and that the Things I sent by him for you and my Aunt proved Satisfactory. I imagine many of my Letters have Reached you before this, and long to hear from you on the Subject of my Tarry here. I could wish for many Reasons it may be Agreeable to you to Indulge me here to the Coronation, and hope my Resolution of at least waiting for an Answer to mine by the Packett in Regard to Mr. Trecothick will be Agreeable.

We have no News. Things seem very quiet. The King is very popular and much Beloved. I hear he has sent a Message to the House desiring he may be Enabled to Reimburse the Colonies the Expence of Raising and Cloathing the Troops. I imagine an Address to the King will soon Appear from our Province. Pray who will be Pitched upon to present it, some American I should Think. I don't know whether we have an Agent, I frequently see Mr. [William] Bollan, am told he intends in the Spring going to Boston, but believe it only Talk, he looks half Dead, and is kept alive merely by Mechanism, he once in my hearing at the Coffee House Asked who I was, but he said nothing to me nor I to him. I am apt to Think Mr. Jno. Husk 2 has some prospect of being Agent, he is a sensible cleane Man, and one I have a great Esteem of, I am very Intimate with him.

February 10th. The Governor has been so kind as to speak to Mr. Frederick and mention'd every thing that was Necessary upon the Subject of your Connections with the Board, that entirely Satisfied. him, and I am one day this week to wait on Mr. Frederick at the Board, and wish I could have seen him before this, but it is Attended with great Difficulty to find great people at home. When I have been with him I will write you fully. Mr. Frederick Told the Governor that he himself never heard a Complaint of you in his Life, and all the Board meant by Applications to others was to Endeavour to Employ those who would do their Business Cheapest, and Mr. Frederick said he should when his Leisure would allow be glad to see me, that he might know from me the particular Scituation of their affairs in America with Respect to your Transactions, and I must wait his own Time, of which in my next I shall be very particular, and am glad to find Things may be so easily Reconcil'd.

1 See Boswell's Life of Johnson (Hill's edition), III. 76 n.

* John, son of Ellis Huske. He represented Maldon, Essex, in the House of Commons, and was burned in effigy in America at the time of the Stamp Act. His father had been postmaster in Massachusetts, and publisher of "The Boston Weekly Post-Boy."

« ZurückWeiter »