Bath: Town Novr. 3. 1752 Kind Sr.,

It may possibly be surprizing to you to find a Letter of so late a date, seeing you left me in the Country when you went out. But I have been constrain'd by the Rigid Fates to linger away the Summer in an unpleasant & unprofitable manner. My Vessell never arrived till the Latter End of August, & altho' I had so long a Time, yet it was beyond my Skill to get in one farthing of what was due to me from you. Soon after you departed I applied my self to Mr. Hardee,1 who told me in a freindly manner, that he would do all he could to serve Mr. Snoad but would not lay himself under any obligation for any Man. He told me he believed he could get Some, of the Tar, but was sure he could not get all, he really did provide forty Blls. Tar at Tyces Landing, but before I could recieve it he lent it to Capt. Pilkington & so I never See more of it. He sent me twice down to Goose Creek for 30 Bits. Tar, but the Kiln was not burnt off tho' he promised to send a man down on purpose, them two Jobbs hindred me a full Week, or more & could not possibly be less than 70£ out of my Pocket. Upon the whole Sr. I never Recd. one farthing from Him of Whom I was to have recd. the whole Sum, nor was he of any service to me in Collecting the Little I did get; & had I not have been hindred by My Vessell's Springing a Leak wn. near Laden, & many other difficultys which must accrue upon being disappointed of yr. Tar, I should not have recd. the 70 Blls. I had from yr. house, & even as it was I was much beholden to Dr. that I got it at all. As to the Pitch that you left at Gryces Landing, I never knew it was there till just before the Vessell arrived. When I went to recieve it 'twas in the worst Order. Severall Blls. of it we dug out from under the Bushes, I took as much pain to save it as was possible but could get but 13 Blls. (Mr. Leniere2 was present who can testifye the thing). We carried it on board some it Bulk, where we were obliged to start it in new Blls., & your Negro coopered it as also he sat 137 hoops on some other Tar for wch. I have credited you As to the price I have allow'd for the Pitch & Tar I settled that Matter with Dr. Chauncy3 who allow'd it to be the market price at the time of delivery. Thus Sr. I have given you an Acct. of all I have recd. (save 20 Blls. Pitch of Mr. Knowe4 And surely Sr. yr. leaving nobody to take care of yr. Business might have been of worse Consequence to you than you were aware off. What could have been Expected of Me who had been trifled179with a whole summer, by a man who sd. he had nothing to do with the affair, but would do what he could, & when almost every Body advis'd me to leave it in a Lawyer's hand, because I could find no Body in the Country that would allow they had any Authority to act in the affair; but Sr. the Regard I have for you, & the Thoughts I had that I should have honorably paid, had yr. health allow'd you to tarry in the Country, would suffer me to do no such thing. I chose rather to leave the matter in a private Manner altho I have been so great a Looser by it. I have left your Obligation in the hands of Mr. Salter, as also an order on you for the Ballance, wch. pray Accept & with all convenient speed pay to him that he may remit it to me; for I am not fond of coming again into a place where I have met with so many difficultys, nor am I willing to lay so long out of My Money. I Entertained Great hopes of seeing you in New England, but I now despair of seeing you there or Here, I hope you have fully recoverd yr. Health, pray write me by the first Opportunity & let me have a Summary of yr. Voyage. Inclos'd you have yr. Account the Credit of wch. I have put on the Back of Yr. Obligation. I think I have done everything that lay in my Power to make matters easy, & I hope you'll find no occasion to blame for any one thing. I shall always be pleasd to hear of yr. Welfare, & you may Assure yr. self I am &c.,

ROBERT TREAT PAINE

LbC ; addressed: "To Henry Snoad Esqr. Mercht. at North Carolina."

1.

Not identified. Perhaps the John Hardee mentioned in RTP to Edward Salter, Boston, May 7, 1753.

2.

Not identified.

3.

A merchant of Bath and friend of RTP. In 1752 he held the post of inspector of Beaufort County, in the port of Bath, which entailed determining the true weight of casks of pitch and turpentine (Colonial Records of North Carolina, 23:381).

4.

Not identified.