Nov. 1782 Hon. Sr.,

Knowing you are at all Times hurried beyond Measure, I ought to apologize for this Intrusion, which I shou’d not have dar’d to have made, were I not will acquainted with Your natural Goodness & Benevolence.

I beg leave to inform you Sr., that I have lately been inform’d that the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court have not, yet, appointed a Clerk to succeed Mr. Henshaw, if that is the Case, & you shou’d think me equal to the Place, as I am in no Stated Business for a livelihood, I shou’d be glad to accept it, if I cou’d, at the same Time serve myself & the Public.1 I don’t mean that I am destitute of a livelihood, for I have a small Farm in Newbury, which, with the public Business I do, affords me a snug Support; However, I had much rather be in some regular Way; If therefore, upon the whole, the Court is yet unprovided, & you think you cou’d serve the Public by giving me your Influence, allowing my family still to reside at Newbury Port; In doing it you wou’d oblige him who is with profound Esteem

& Respect, Honble. Sr., your Honor’s most obedt., & very hble. Servt., Nicolas Pike

RC ; addressed: “Hon. Robert T. Pain Esq: Boston”; postal endorsement: “NP. paid 1:8.”; endorsed, with notation: “out of pocket Jany. 10th 1783.”

1.

Andrew Henshaw’s successor as clerk of the courts in Suffolk County was John Tucker (1753–1825), appointed in 1783. Tucker, a 1774 Harvard graduate, also succeeded Henshaw in the marital bed when he married the widow Sally (Prince) Henshaw in 1785 (Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 18:520–522).