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Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 2

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From William Belcher

31 December 1761

From Nathan Tisdale

21 January 1762
212
From Samuel Quincy
Quincy, Samuel RTP
Boston Jany: 1st. 1762 Dear Bob,

I recd. yours of the 25th. Ulto.1& am much obliged to you for your kind Remembrance of Me & Mine. A Lettr. of the 25th. of Novr: has laid upon my Table for you, & till This have missed every Oppo. for Conveyance. It has been a Matter of Surprize that I could hear nothing of you for so long a Time, & in short am now (like Swift) obliged to write At instead of To you.

I am & always shall be solicitous for yr. Welfare & hope it has at This Period a more pleasing Prospect than Ever. I love to hear from you, therefore let That be often. For as a Brother of The Quill I have an Interest in your Prosperity & am entitled to your Correspondance, & as a Friend I much esteem you.

As to News, our public affairs at Home & in Europe, wear a bad Aspect. The Russians are over running the K. of P. have taken Schweidnitz & 'tis probable will have all Silesia. We are in all Probability on the Eve of a Sp: War. Mr. is not like to be restored, & The present Ministry are for making a Peace wth. France, on any Terms, exclusive of the K: of P.!2

I shall take Care of the Actions you mention pleased to procure a Service of The inclosed, which was inclosed in the abov mentioned Letter and now is altered for the next Court.

Last Monday I followed my Second Mother3 to the Grave, Who died The Monday before very Suddenly after laying in &c.

Adieu, live long and happy! And (wth. Mrs. Quincy's Complts: &c.) believe me most heartily Your sincere Friend & H Sert.,

SAML. QUINCY

RC ; addressed: "To Robt. Treat Paine Esq. att Taunton; endorsed.

1.

Not located.

2.

Quincy was reporting on the previous day's Boston News-Letter, which contained letters on the continuing Seven Years' War, in which Frederick the Great of Prussia was allied with England against the forces of Austria, France, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony. The Silesian fortress of Schweidnitz had been taken by the Austrians on Oct. 16 (The Cambridge Modern History, ed. by Sir A. W. Ward et al., 13 vols. [New York and Cambridge, 1934] 6:297). The News-Letter had also reported from London that "It is now said, that Spain has declared, that unless we come to terms with France, sooner than see the French King oppressed, they will declare war against us." William Pitt ("Mr.") had resigned from the government on Oct. 5, and the successor Bute ministry based its own program on the restoration of universal peace (The Cambridge Modern History, 6:298).

3.

Unidentified.