Boston 11th May 1772 Dear Sir,

Your favour1 by Capt: Cobb I2 have received & deliver'd the Letter to Mr: Joy; I now send you by Capt: Cobb the London Art of Building3: which I take to be the Book you wanted.

You will find in pa. 103 a delineation of the Tuscan door you so much admired; the Rustick work is added witht. any difficulty; the profile, of Entablature &ca. is minutely discribed in plate 4th. page 77. 4 when you determine the height of your column, you may find the proportion of Entablature, pedistal &ca: by the inspectional Table pa: 95.

These Hints I am persuaded will be suffient to a Gent: already so well acquainted with Architecture (in Theory) & of such curious observation.

I should have attempted a plan, but as no Team is now here, to carry one up, that could be serviceable; & the difficulty of getting good season'd Boards that will take Glue is very great, I have postponed it till you give further directions; as it must be the full bigness compleat.5

It will always give me pleasure to be favour'd with Mr: Paynes commands. I am with due Esteem. Your Hum. Servt:,

JAS: FLAGG

RC ; addressed: "To Robert Treat Payne Esqr. in Taunton favd: by Capt. Cobb." The address leaf has mathematical notes and a drawing of a house in RTP's hand.

1.

Not located.

2.

James Flagg (1739–1773), son of Gershom Flagg, housewright, was a Boston merchant who went to Maine in the 1760s. He was sued for debt by Dr. Sylvester Gardiner in 1765. They appointed referees to settle the case, but Gardiner disputed their findings, and this led to a pamphlet war between the two including A Short Vindication of the Conduct of the Referees in the case of Gardiner versus Flagg, against the Unjust Aspersions contained in two anonymous pamphlets lately published and banded about (Boston, 1767). Flagg died at St. Eustacia in the West Indies in 1773.

3.

William Salmon, Palladio Londiniensis: or, the London art of building (London, 1734). RTP may have had the 7th edition (London, 1767).

4.

Several illegible cancelled words.

5.

RTP was in the process of adding an office onto his Taunton house this summer (see Diary, June 8, July 11, Aug. 7, 1772), but the correspondence with Flagg probably refers to his work on a committee to build a new court house in Taunton (see Diary, Feb. 7, June 1, 10, 23, July 8, Oct. 13, 1772).

Boston July 17th 1772 Dr. Brother,

I have ho'd sometime on the Expectation of your coming down to Commencement. Your Not appearing has made me sorry, Im sorry you have grown so old a Man by marrying as to forsake your former acquaintance, they Enquire for you, but alass you are not; I am sorry that the Circumstances are such that I can see you no more, if we were more frequently together things wou'd appear in a different light than they do at present I make no doubt: but as it is Prudence forbids my particularizing the difficulties my Ignorance & your Distance & long absence's Produce. They are such as will Ever keep me in low health—a continual unsatisfied desire will waste the firmest frame, and as far as I can command I maintain a Serenity in Spite of demands, but while Lawrence Sprague Sends Billet after Billet & keeps away from me that I can't See him, (for I han't feet to go to him) I feel Ever apprenhensive: I catch't his father t'other day & told him I had applyed to you & that you at this Juncture cou'd do nothing about it, he Laugh't was good natured but sd. Just nothing: & in a few days I had a Boy with a Billet desiring I wou'd Pay the Bill & Deliver it to the bearer. He had the Bill I suppose but I did not at the time apprehend it so did not take it but Sent a complisant answer that I shod. see you at Commencement. I may now soon Expect another & the Expectation is unfriendly to my Shatter'd nerves. I have504been with Sister these 3 weeks past in her great affliction, the measles has gone thro' her family very heavily—distressing Symtomes but thro' favour they are all in a fair way of recovery. I shou'd otherwise have been at Watertown drinking the mineral waters for I have a very uncomfortable Pilgrimage with my present Strength.

I am out of cash have been Sometime, but coud not be wanting to Mr. Greenleaf in his distrest circumstances by reason of sickness so have borrowed. Jo Pearse Palmer1 lives in Town, & Boards with Sister he is to have the Measles yet, we hope theyll all be well Ere he is Sick and as that is matter of Profit I hope twill not be distressing. I suppose you are anxious about your own Babies for we hear it goes thro' the Country but I hope So Young twill be Easy with them my best wishes attend you all. I purpose to go out to Bath next week if I can see Sprague & get a promise 2 to wait your advise that I may be in Peace. Shall be glad to hear from you assoon as you Can Conveniently Send I am loth to loose the advantage gain'd over the disorder, I have so many years Labourd under, which I seem to leave when I can be free & Easy in my mind. I Expect to Send this by Capt. Cobb who I hear is in Town & will I deliver it safely to you. This for the present with my love to Wife & children from your Ever Affectionate Sister,

EUNICE PAINE

RC ; addressed: "For Robert Treat Paine Esqr. act Taunton Favr. Capt. Cobb"; endorsed.

1.

Joseph Pearse Palmer (1750–1797), elder son of Joseph and Mary (Cranch) Palmer, worked with his father in an unsuccessful salt manufacturing scheme. After attempts at running a boarding house in Boston and farming in Framingham, he was persuaded by his son-in-law Royall Tyler to move to Vermont and spent his last years there as a teacher. Through his daughter Elizabeth, he was grandfather to the famous Peabody sisters Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Mary Tyler Peabody (Mrs. Horace Mann), and Sophia Amelia Peabody (Mrs. Nathaniel Hawthorne) (Cameron, Calendar of the Papers of General Joseph Palmer, 8).

2.

One word blotted out. On the verso, the note: "new Ink too thick."