Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 1
I was very glad at the recipt of your letter. It come to me very unexpected when I was in bed on Sabbath Day Morning wch. I perus'd with a great Deal of Desire & Expectation. You began with leting me know that tho' I was absent in body I was present in mind. I agree with you that the Comunication of our thots to one another at so great a Distance is owing to a Supreame being. Seing absence is the Wall & Distance is the hight methinks it must be a very great Wall Indeed; pardon me for being Jocular. Now Sir comes yr. Question whither it was good tiding of great Joy wch. the Angell brought not only to them to whom he spake but to all people. I perus'd the chapter carfuly & as I am but a Weak Brother I should not set up my Opinion but I look upon it as very dificult. The Chapter says plainly in these Words; "& the Angell said unto them fear not for behold I bring you tidings of great Joy which shall be to all People.”3 Your Argument is how It could be so seing his Death redeem'd only the Elects: but we read in Zachariah "that in that Day a Fontain shall be opned to the House of Judah" &c.4 Certainly it must be tidings of great Joy to have a fountain opned for the Remission of Sin; we all have the liberty of the gospell wch. we never should have had if Christ had not have come. Any one be he of what nation soever if he will but come up to the terms of the gospell may have entrance into the Kingdom of heven or in Isaiah "ho every one that thirsteth" &c.5 I do not take the meaning in a larger Sence than that; I am glad my Father6 has not as yet minded the Absence of my Gun but if I had it here I should Not have been able to have used it for I Suppose you know I have been sick almost all the time I have been up but have Got so well as to go out of doors now.7 I am glad yr. mother8 is Come to see you & that yr. acquaintance are all well. Give my Duty to yr. mother & tell her I want to see her very much. I am very glad likewise I have gott a Hatt; & lastly Sir I thank you for yr. letter & take it very kindly of yr. hands but while I am writing nature wants to be Eased you may Guess Where. I must Conclude Your loving Couzin,
P:S. Be pleas'd Sr. to keep this very private & to put in all my name the next letter you write me wch. I hope will be Speedily.
This is the earliest letter by Robert Treat Paine in the Robert Treat Paine Papers (MHS). Paine, hereafter referred to in the notes as RTP, was in his first year at Harvard College, having been admitted to the Class of 1749 on July 9, 1745. He had earlier attended the Boston Public Latin School, from 1738 to 1745, graduating on June 29 as the first scholar in his class. When he wrote this letter, RTP was 15 years old, and, judging from an entry in his diary of April 19, 1746, was small in stature: "measured myself and was 5 ft. 2 inches tall; could reach 6 ft. 7; round my waist 2 ft. 2 in; leg long 1 ft. 8 in.; calf 11 3/4 in.; leg thick 7 3/4 in.; span 7 in.; neck 10 in."
James Freeman (1726–1758), son of Capt. Nathaniel and Mary (Paine) Freeman of Barnstable, and cousin of RTP, was a clerk for his uncle, Thomas Paine, and lived with Paine's family in Boston. He went to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1750 and resided there until his death, leaving a widow and one child, James Paine Freeman (Charles C. Paine, manuscript genealogy, RTP Papers).
Luke 2:10.
Zechariah 12:1. In a 1712 Bible the verse appears as "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the House of David. . . . " Biblical citations before 1766 are compared to a Bible printed in London by Thomas Newcomb and Henry Hills, 1712, which was known to have been used in Boston. After 1766, citations are compared to the Paine family Bible printed in that year.
Isaiah 55:1.
Thomas Paine (1694–1757), the father of RTP, was born in Barnstable on Apr. 9, 1694, the son of James and Bethiah (Thacher) Paine. After graduating from Harvard in 1717, he taught the town school at Andover and studied theology under the local minister, Thomas Barnard. Returning to Harvard as a scholar of the house, he continued to pursue his interests in theology and mathematics, a product of which were two almanacs he published for the years 1718 and 1719. Before taking his master's degree in 1720, Paine accepted a call as minister to the church at Weymouth in 1719. On Apr. 21, 1721, Paine married Eunice Treat, daughter of Samuel and Abigail (Willard) Treat, by whom he had five children: Abigail, Mar. 6, 1724/5–Jan. 15, 1809; Robert Treat, Oct. 9, 1727–Oct. 21, 1727; Thomas, July 3, 1729–Aug. 19, 1730; Robert Treat, Mar. 11, 1730/1–May 11, 1814; and Eunice, May 11, 1733–Feb. 2, 1803.
Thomas Paine moved his family to Boston in Nov. 1730, arriving at this decision because of his wife's poor health and his own dissatisfaction with his salary in Weymouth. He continued to fulfill his ministerial duties until Apr. 15, 1734, when the church dismissed him at his own request. Paine soon turned his attention to business and was so successful that by 1745 he was a wealthy man, owning ships and iron furnaces and carrying on a profitable trade with the South, the West Indies and England. King George's War (1744–1748), however, brought financial reverses to Paine. Several of his ships were taken by French privateers, and these losses together with the general stagnation of business because of the war reduced him to bankruptcy. As the letters printed hereafter demonstrate, Paine was never to recover from these financial blows and died insolvent in 1757 (Paine, Paine Ancestry, 14–24;
Sibley's Harvard Graduates
, 6:201–207).
RTP was suffering from a sore throat (RTP, Diary, Apr. 18, 1746).
Mary Paine (1700–1775), a younger sister of Thomas Paine. She married in 1723 Nathaniel Freeman (d. 1727), and in 1729 Edmund Hawes (d. 1762), both of Barnstable. Among her children were Bethiah Freeman (b. 1725), who married John Hinckley, Jr., of Barnstable; James Freeman (1726–1758); and Edmund Hawes, Jr. (1738–1831).
Quem Deus Conservat —"Whom God Saves." A frequent enjoiner on the address leaf of letters from this period. Frequently abbreviated as QDC.