Boston March 13th. 1749/50 Brother Treat

I recd. yours 10th. Inst.1 pr. Lieut. Bellows, who is the Bearer, of this, And I know not how to begin in a more Acceptable manner to you than by Informing that I've recd. three Letters from Father since I wrote you last &, as it is his desire, so I now Inclose his Last Letter to which I referr you for particulars.2 As to what you mention about a School near Boston, I have to reply that there is a Vacancy at Wrentham abt. 26 Miles from hence where you may be Accomodated if you see Cause Or if it Suits Better, you have the Offer of a Grammer School at111Bristoll where you may have your Own price; and I am desired pr. Mr. Church3 to Inform you that poor Bristoll is in great distress for want of a Master, & that they will provide you a horse & pay yr. Expences there & home if you incline to go & make a Bargain.

If I knew what to advise as to School keeping, or Any Other Business I should not be Backward but as you ask my Advise I shall Just say that I think in this Unsetled time it will be most prudent not to Hurry into Any other Business for All Business is now Stagnated, And no Money but Province Bills or Silver will pay a debt or buy any Valuable Commadity; therefore you Sallery Men must beware.

We are like to have great Overtures in Business, & Every One is now upon the Look-out & Men in Business seem to fear their Own Shadows for Even those who have as much due to them in good hands as they owe, Expect to be mighty Sufferers notwithstanding that they receive a Sufficiency of those who Owe them to Discharge their Own debts. The Case is, they have it not in their power to make a Man pay 50/ that is in debt 45/ to advantage themselves because they must pay their Own Debts at the same Rate.

I shan't add but Just to Inform you that we are (thro' Divine goodness) all Well, and yr. Sisters both Joyn with me in sending all due respect's, and am yr. Loving Brother,

JOSEPH GREENLEAF

RC ; addressed: “To Mr. Robt. Treat Paine School=master att Lunenburgh"; endorsed.

1.

Not located.

2.

See above, Thomas Paine to his children, Feb. 19, 1749/50.

2.

Benjamin Church (1704–1781), a native of Bristol (then Mass., now R.I.), a 1727 graduate of Harvard, and a vendue master at Boston. He was the father of Dr. Benjamin Church (1734–1778) (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 8:12–29).

Boston March the 13th. 1750 Dear Sir,

I had this day the happyness of receiving a Letter from you;1 nothing cou'd have given me a more real pleasure than what I found contain'd in it (vizt.) that my Friend was well. I assure you Sr. that my affection for you is such, that, had I only a principle of self-love to move me, that112were sufficient to make me thankfull to Heav'n for any of its favours to you. I think I can't express the sentiments of my Heart better than in the following lines of Mr. Thos. Rowe.

Thro' all thy Life may'st thou possess Uninterupted happiness; Serene may ev'ry Sun arise, To light thee to successive joyes' May ev'ry hour glide smooth away, And smiling as a summer's Day. No anxious tho'ts dist[r]act thy breast And no unpleasing dreams infest Thy downny sleep, and silken rest. When e'er tho lov'st, be light they chain, And gentle thy fair tyrants reign; Soft and melting may she be, Artless innocent and free; And in one word to sum the rest That thou may'st be compleatly blest.2

Your complaining of your want of Company, that are to the purpose makes me the more desirious of your selling, if possible, near Boston (this is self-love still) that so I might have an opertunity of gratifying my self in your company, and at the same time help to remove the mention'd inconveniency.

I wish you cou'd meet with such a solitude as that you mention, which I think would be much more eligeable than the tumult of the Town.

Where dwells true peace, that freedom of the Mind? Where, but in shades remote from human kind. In flow'ry Vales, where Nymphs and Shepheards meet But never comes within the Pallace gate. Lawnsdown3

Mr. Palmer's going home is still uncertain, it depending on our receiving our Debts, which we hope to get when the Dollars are paid out.

As to the state of money, all that I know is, that People already refuse Hampshire Bills and that our Province Bills will be redeem'd according to the late Act;4 and that no Bills of other Provinces may Pass here after this Month.

113

And now, after so much verse and Prose, I'm apt to think it will be very a propos to subscribe my self Your sincere Friend and humble Sert.

R: CRANCH

P.S. Mr. Palmer and Ribb, and Polly5 are recover'd from their indisposition. You'll have a letter from Mr. Palmer I suppose per Bearer. I sent you a Letter last Week. Pray be so kind as to write, when you have an opertunity, which shall always be acknowledg'd as a favour by

RC

RC ; addressed: “For Mr. Robert-Treat Paine School-Master at Lunenburg"; endorsed.

1.

Not located.

2.

From "An Epistle to a Friend. Written in the Spring, 1710," by Thomas Rowe, in Original Poems and Translations (London, 1738), reprinted in The Miscellaneous Works in Prose and Verse of Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe, 2 vols. (London, 1739), 2:269–270.

3.

From "Occasion'd by the Foregoing" [i.e., "Sent the Author into the country. Written by a Lady"] by George Granville Lansdowne, Poems upon Several Occasions (n.p., n.d.), 70.

4.

Mass. Province Laws, 3:480–481. For a discussion of this and the redemption of paper currency, see Andrew McFarland Davis, Currency and Banking in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, 2 pts. (New York, 1901), 1, chap. 12.

5.

Mary Palmer (1746–1791), eldest child of Joseph and Mary (Cranch) Palmer.