Boston July 21st. 1769 Dear Brother,

Your absence at commencement has occation'd much speculation twou'd divert you to hear the various Lamentations, Fluckers1 say: twas nothing at all, they must have it over again & you must Come. My thots are melancholy upon it, I fear you are sick and Coudnt Come if you are not you shou'd have sent Publick Notice to have save'd my anxiety. I heard you was not well at Plymouth & since your return I have heard you were Poorly. This Day I was alarm'd by having a letter deliver'd me in a very odd way at the door seal'd with black it proved to be a mistake but I found how weakly I was arm'd by it. Pray let me hear from you I have no dependance on your letting me know when you are Sick so have nothing to Ballance my fears. You Cant imagine what you'll lose by your reserve for no one Can attend on the infirmitys of human Nature with more chearfullness & Patience than I, Sure I am I Shou'd think myself injured if I was deny'd that solaceing care to you which I bestow on all around me and find more satisfaction in than any other scene. Therefore let me hear Quicky & truly your situation or I shall be at Taunton Ere you are aware on't.

I date from Boston Yet, it seems to be the inchanted Circle which I cant get out of. I had prepare'd to go & the Day I was to have removd to Watertown the Smallpox broke out in our Neighbourhood. Poor Mrs. Tyler2 was torn from her young family by it & Mrs. Cranch being very near lying in was obliged to out of Town. Mr. Cranch attended her to her fathers where she has brot him a fine Boy.3 The family here must have been dispersed if I had not Staid as a Cememt. We now hope it will not spread and that I may go away when Mr. Cranch returns. Tis now past nine at night I write hoping to forward this by Mr. Laughton. Im very much fatigue'd having been to Faneuil Hall to hear the Female Quaker Preacher.4 'Twas a very crouded assembly but Perfect order maintain'd. Everything was Novel to me—the approach of a woman into a Desk Dash'd me I cou'd hardly look up but I soon found She felt none of those perturbations from the Gaze of a Gaping multitude which I pity'd. Shes448a Gracefull woman & has attain'd a very modest assurance. She spoke clear & Loud Eno' to be heard distinctly into the Entry. Her Language is very Polite & no doubt her mind is Zealously bent on doing good, her Exhortations to seek the Truth & Court that Light which Evidineth the truth were Lenthy & towards the close workt up to Poesy & produced a tune Not unlike an anthem—her fluency gains the applause She receives for these, nothing like method, & many are her repetitions to my Ear tiresome. I learnt but one thing new which was an Exposition on the Parable of the woman who hid her Leaven in 3 measures of meal till the whole was Leavened this she says represent the Compound of man Soul, Body, and mind in which the spirit of God is hid & shou'd be kept Close, the man being inactive as meal till animated by the spirit as the meal with Leaven. After the Exhortation she rested, rose to Conclude with Prayer which was short & pertinent. She then thanked the Audience for their Decent atendance & reprove'd the Levity she observed in some few faces in a very Polite & kind manner & in the Apostles words Blessed the assembly & dismissd. us. A great Number of the Gentlemen of the town with their Ladys shook hands with her. Mr. Otis Desire'd the men to go out to Leave room for the women to retire Comfortably & that they woud be orderly for the Honour of the town, twas done to his mind and Saving the Excessive heat of so crouded a place there was no inconvenience. We've had feirce Lightning Since meeting with thunder & altogether tis marvelous I can write so much. Excuse Every Error and accept the Effort to amuse a vacant hour. Let me hear from you assoon as you can Im lonely, Mrs. Cranch & Mrs. Adams & Nabby Greenleaf gone. Write as lengthy as health & Business will permit to your Ever Affectionate,

E PAINE

RC ; addressed: "For Robert Treat Paine Esqr. Taunton"; endorsed.

1.

Probably Thomas Flucker (d. 1783), last secretary of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and later a loyalist (Sabine, Loyalists, 1:428–429).

2.

Frances (Tyng) Tyler (1733–1769), wife of merchant Joseph Tyler and daughter of John Tyng, Esq. She died of smallpox in Boston on July 15, 1769 (Boston Evening Post, July 17, 1769).

3.

Mary (Smith) Cranch gave birth at Weymouth on July 17, 1769, to William Cranch (17691855), the future chief justice of the United States circuit court of the District of Columbia (DAB).

4.

"July 21. This afternoon Mrs. Rachel Willson, the famous Quaker preacher, preached in Faneuill Hall to at Least Twelve hundred people. She seems to be a Woman of good Understanding" (Rowe, Letters and Diary, 189). RTP in his diary entry for July 27 wrote: "Went to our Quaker meeting house to hear Rachel Wilson preach. PM. heard her in the Court House."