Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 4
By my request Mr. Sprague tells me1 he has applyd. to you for your oppinion, concerning some actions I now have depending, nothing coud be more fair or honest then my intention in taking such securities, and nothing can be more misterious, then that they shd. Even be suspected as Usurious. I should Esteem it a great Favour if you w’d Converse upon this matter with Mr. Sprague, & Judg Lincoln, and assist them to obtain Justice for me, that is all I wish for. Mr. Sprague will inform you how them securities was obtained, and in what principle, I am willing rather then to have any more perplexity to accept of 20/ per Ct. for all that is now due, or however I shall submitt the matter to you three, with my son who is the bearer of this, to whome you will please to Communicate your sentiments, and whatsoever you think Is Just & honest, shall be complyed with by me, I was in hopes I shd ben able to attend at worcester, but the sittuation of my Health forbids it. I wish you wd. make a serious point of these matters, and pay proper attention to them as a considerable sum depends on it; and I have but little dependance upon the Integrity of the debtors, you shall receive your recompence for your Trouble with sincere Thanks from your most obedient
Thomas Legate (1734–1807) represented Leominster in the first Provincial Congress in Oct. 1774, in which RTP also served. Legate was later a state representative from that town (1780) as well as a justice of the peace (from 1781) (David Wilder, The History of Leominster [Fitchburg, 1853], 94, 96; The Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775 [Boston, 1838], 14).