Boston March the 13th. 1750 Dear Sir,

I had this day the happyness of receiving a Letter from you;1 nothing cou'd have given me a more real pleasure than what I found contain'd in it (vizt.) that my Friend was well. I assure you Sr. that my affection for you is such, that, had I only a principle of self-love to move me, that112were sufficient to make me thankfull to Heav'n for any of its favours to you. I think I can't express the sentiments of my Heart better than in the following lines of Mr. Thos. Rowe.

Thro' all thy Life may'st thou possess Uninterupted happiness; Serene may ev'ry Sun arise, To light thee to successive joyes' May ev'ry hour glide smooth away, And smiling as a summer's Day. No anxious tho'ts dist[r]act thy breast And no unpleasing dreams infest Thy downny sleep, and silken rest. When e'er tho lov'st, be light they chain, And gentle thy fair tyrants reign; Soft and melting may she be, Artless innocent and free; And in one word to sum the rest That thou may'st be compleatly blest.2

Your complaining of your want of Company, that are to the purpose makes me the more desirious of your selling, if possible, near Boston (this is self-love still) that so I might have an opertunity of gratifying my self in your company, and at the same time help to remove the mention'd inconveniency.

I wish you cou'd meet with such a solitude as that you mention, which I think would be much more eligeable than the tumult of the Town.

Where dwells true peace, that freedom of the Mind? Where, but in shades remote from human kind. In flow'ry Vales, where Nymphs and Shepheards meet But never comes within the Pallace gate. Lawnsdown3

Mr. Palmer's going home is still uncertain, it depending on our receiving our Debts, which we hope to get when the Dollars are paid out.

As to the state of money, all that I know is, that People already refuse Hampshire Bills and that our Province Bills will be redeem'd according to the late Act;4 and that no Bills of other Provinces may Pass here after this Month.

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And now, after so much verse and Prose, I'm apt to think it will be very a propos to subscribe my self Your sincere Friend and humble Sert.

R: CRANCH

P.S. Mr. Palmer and Ribb, and Polly5 are recover'd from their indisposition. You'll have a letter from Mr. Palmer I suppose per Bearer. I sent you a Letter last Week. Pray be so kind as to write, when you have an opertunity, which shall always be acknowledg'd as a favour by

RC

RC ; addressed: “For Mr. Robert-Treat Paine School-Master at Lunenburg"; endorsed.

1.

Not located.

2.

From "An Epistle to a Friend. Written in the Spring, 1710," by Thomas Rowe, in Original Poems and Translations (London, 1738), reprinted in The Miscellaneous Works in Prose and Verse of Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe, 2 vols. (London, 1739), 2:269–270.

3.

From "Occasion'd by the Foregoing" [i.e., "Sent the Author into the country. Written by a Lady"] by George Granville Lansdowne, Poems upon Several Occasions (n.p., n.d.), 70.

4.

Mass. Province Laws, 3:480–481. For a discussion of this and the redemption of paper currency, see Andrew McFarland Davis, Currency and Banking in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, 2 pts. (New York, 1901), 1, chap. 12.

5.

Mary Palmer (1746–1791), eldest child of Joseph and Mary (Cranch) Palmer.

Boston, N.E. March 13th. 1749/50 past 11 o'Clock at Night Sir,

Your's of the 2d. Inst. is now before me, for which I thank You, particularly for enquiring after poor Polly; She had a Severe Fever which brot. her very low; but She is very well recover'd. My Wife and Self were very ill; which I Suppose was chiefly owing to our care & Watchfulness abt. Poll, but thro' the blessing of the Governor of all the World, we are now very Well. May our afflictions (of whatever sort they may be) contribute to our final happiness; which they certainly will do, if we improve 'em in a proper manner.

With respect to going home, I can Say Nothing certain, because we have met with (almost) a Constant series of disappointments; my designs are to go as soon as possible, but we are now poorer than you can easily imagine. Notwithstanding which I may be able to go about May next, and I can't reasonably expect it sooner.

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With regard to the £60, I wou'd advise you to take no Bills but of this Province, because Hamshire Bills are refus'd by most people already, & Rhode Island & Connecticut Money will not be Current above a fortnt. longer is now abt. 10 pr.ct. worse than ours.

I stand corrected for not writing to you; and Shall only Say in excuse, that disappointmts. have Sunk my Spirits more than my friends & acquaintance think.

I wish you what ever Shall upon the whole be best for you; that is known to God alone, who pities them that fear him, even as a tender Father pities his Children. I shou'd Say more but I'm almost Asleep. Friend, Adieu,

J:PALMER

P.S. I hope you do not think my behavour to you, when you was last at our House, proceeded from a Sullen & Morose Temper. I assure you Sir my concern for Poll was so great, that somtimes I cou'd not Speak, without exposing my weakness.

RC ; endorsed.