Boston Octr. 13th 1754 Dear Sister,

I received yr. kind Epistle1 by Mr. Palmer & should have Answered it by him, but his Sudden Departure after its coming to hand, prevented it.

I am glad to hear of yr. health, & hope yr. Mercantile State of Life will both Profit yr. Purse & Health, I conclude you Recd. by Letters by Cato, & Mr. Prey, tho' you don't mention it; & I'll assure you my neglecting to write so long has not been owing to Unmindfulness, but that the Monday after my Last, we began to move Mrs. Elliots Goods to the long considered of Tenement in Dr. Boylstons Row.2 I was Obliged to take the care of the whole which hindred me till Thursday, & we are scarce settled yet. With Regard to Business, I have at present no prospect of any in perticular & expect this Week to set out wth. Mr. Willard for Lancaster &c.3 You have Doubtless heard of the Arrival & Progress of Mr. White-216field among us. I have heard him twice, admire his Oratory, but condemn his Imprudence, however I'll Endeavour to follow that sagacious Prescription of Dr. Watts, vizt.

"Sieze on Truth where 'ere it grows, Neglect the prickle, but assume the Rose."4

I want to know from you if you have ever look't into the Life of St. Rosalie,5 & if you have, how it affects you. However, let not her sequesterd Virtues wch. consisted in not being known ever instill into yr. Mind any favourable thoughts of a Recluse Life. True Courage & Virtue consists not in flying but in putting to flight.

My Respects to good Freinds there, & be sure to live in all that cheerfulness of Mind wch. Results from the consciousness of an honest heart & in all that freedom of Spirit which having Virtue for its Support defyes Vice in all its Pomp to do its Worst.

Tis so dark I can but guess to scrawl that I still Exist your Loving Brother

ROBERT-TREAT PAINE

NB From Cambridge; they send you many Complements; Mrs. Peggy is really about wedding with a very pretty Gentleman vizt. the Rev, Mr, Prentice of Holliston.6 I herewth. send you, the deed of the Distill-house, which I have got Recorded, and also the Deed of Cato and sundry Papers concerning him.7

RC ; addressed: "To Mrs. Eunice Paine German Town"; endorsed.

1.

Not located.

2.

RTP began boarding at Mrs. Eliot's on Sept. 12. She was Elizabeth (Marshall) Eliot, the widow of Samuel Eliot, bookseller. RTP's diary entry of Oct. 8 reads: "Mrs. Elliot Began to move her Goods to Dr. Boylstones house."

3.

Probably Abel Willard (1731/2–1781), of Lancaster, Mass., brother of Col. Samuel, Abijah, and Levi Willard and a cousin of RTP. He graduated from Harvard in 1752, studied law with Benjamin Prat in Boston, and was admitted to the Worcester Bar in 1755 and as an attorney to the Superior Court in 1762. Willard practiced in Lancaster where he was a selectman and did much local business. Appointed justice of the Peace and Quorum in 1760 he was later proscribed as a loyalist and died in England (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 13:301–303).

4.

Quotation not located.

5.

The Paine Papers contain a manuscript volume entitled "The Life and Miracles of the Virgina St. Rosalia being the production of the Master, Fryar John of St. Bernard's of the third Order of our Holy Father St. Francis, translated from the Spanish by Robert Treat Paine. 1754."

6.

Joshua Prentiss (1719–1788), the second minister of the First Congregational Church of Hollis-217ton from 1743 until his death, married Margaret Appleton (1720–1768), daughter of Rev. Nathaniel Appleton, on Jan. 9, 1755 (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 10:312–314).

7.

See RTP to Thomas Paine, Boston, Dec. 10, 1754, printed below.