Germantown Jan: 31st 1753 Sr.,

I've recd. your favour of the 17th Inst. with the Wheel, and am very much oblig'd to you for your care in that affair, and to Mr. Brown for his trouble in altering his Engine on my acct.

I'm glad to hear that you had so tollerable a Passage, tho I suppose you pass'd not without some danger of your Vessell, from Rocks and Sholes while like the Hero of old you had on one hand Scilla to avoid, and on the other Charibdis.

But stay—where could be the Danger when Neptune himself deign'd to be your fellow Passenger? He certainly while so close under your Stern would guard you safe from ev'ry harm, nor suffer one deluding Syren to lead you astray.

But how shall I enough bewail your loss when I reflect that this your Guardian has left you? A Sailor without his God! 0 Mather! thy Preaching I knew was enough to scare the Human race, but that it should frighten even the Gods, is incredible!

But perhaps I mistake, it might be only his Heathen Morality which attracted this Deity to attend him home, if so you may still find your desir'd Patron, and tho they should be so closly united as Tobit and his Dog were of old,1 yet your perswasive Tongue may be sufficient to make him leave the Priest and do his Duty again on the Mighty Waters.

I am in great haste as you may see by the "Lapses of my Quill" so I hope you will excuse all errours comitted in haste by your Old Friend

R: CRANCH

Please to give my Service to Mr. Brown and Wife.

RC ; addresed: "For Mr. Robert Treat Paine in Boston"; endorsed.

1.

A reference to the Book of Tobit, "a romance of the Jewish captivity," in which a faithful dog figures (Paul Harvey, The Oxford Companion to English Literature [Oxford, 1932]).