Boston Decr. 10th 1754 Honored Sir,

I Recd. yrs.1 per Capts. Triffery & Gay; In the last of which you complain of our neglecting to write by Capt. Nickols, the Reason of which was that abt. the same Time Capt. Homer sail'd by wm. we wrote largely.2 I am very certain that I put all the Keys into the Doctor's Chest, & the Key of the Globe case must needs be there. You left wth. me no papers but those of Ralph Morgan's relating to Cato, & the Deed of the Still house, which I got Recorded.3 I purpose to send this by Capt. Jones who will sail suddenly, by wm. Mr. Greenleaf will send you sundry things you wrote for. Since I wrote you my last I have been down to226Falmouth in order to see if there were any bread for a Lawyer. After a great deal of consultation I am determin'd to follow that practice, And inasmuch as the County of York will probably be soon divided, & Falmouth made a shire Town,4 I thought it must needs be a good place to settle in. I met with considerable Encouragment there, but I find it as expensive living as at Boston, & If I can contrive any way down there to support my self while I am persuing my studies & getting into practice, I doubt not I shall get ahead. There is but one Lawyer in that County & he lives at York;5 & if a new County be Created there must be some Lawyers & I don't doubt with diligent application to my studies I shall be qualified by that Time there being no Law books there to be borrow'd I must necessarily be at a great charge in buying; however hope my Practice will soon pay for it. With regard to mentaining my self at first, I purpose to take a small Schooll, & I can make some profit by keeping some few things to sell, & perhaps get some writing. I shall soon see if there be a prospect of much Law Business. The Gentlemen there tell me there is & encourage me considerably. I don't purpose to get behind hand, if I dont get forward by the scheme.6

I returnd yesterday Morning from Falmouth, & abt. 9 oClock I went on board Capt. Jones to see abt. shipping yr. things, & I unluckily sprained my Ancle in such a manner as obliged me to ride home, and I am now confind to my Room but hope for a speedy Recovery. This will hinder my prosecuting this scheme immediately. However being confin'd I study the closer, & have good opportunity of consulting in difficult points; I should be glad to live somewhere, that I might consult a Lawyer, but if I cant I must apply my self the closer; I remember to have heard you speak of some Land you have there. If you would write me word the circumstances of it possibly it may be recovered. I hope you are well & in agreable Circumstances. Yesterday Capt. Bruce arrived in whom came sundry officers for our Regiments here viz. Shirley's & Pepperell's & an Agent to transact the Military Business & also Orders for all half pay officers to return to Duty.7 I have not been out & so cant recite many perticulars, perhaps shall be able to inform you more by the next opportunity. Pray Sr. write me your opinion of the above recited Scheme of Living, & if you can make any amendments or propose any thing better should be glad to know yr. opinion.

I subscribe my self yr. much Obliged and Dubtifull son,

ROBERT-TREAT PAINE 227

RC ; addressed: "To Mr. Thomas Paine Mercht. Hallifax Per favr. Capt. Jones"; endorsed.

1.

Not located.

2.

The bill of lading for this shipment aboard the schooner Providence, John Homer, master, is in R. T. Paine Papers. Dated Nov. 7, 1754, it mentions three chests "&* on pair Iron Dogges."

3.

This reference is probably to the lease of Cato's services to Ralph Morgan, a Boston gentleman. The still-house was a half interest in a Boston distillery which Eunice Paine purchased from her brother-in-law, Joseph Greenleaf, on Sept. 23, 1754. She sold this back to him on Jan. 29, 1761 (Suffolk Deeds, 84:237, 96:136). See also, Thomas Paine to His Children, Halifax, June 26, 1756.

4.

Cumberland County was not erected until 1761 when Falmouth (now Portland) was made the shire town.

5.

Noah Emery (1699–1761) was Kings Attorney for the Province of Maine and actually resided at Kittery (James Deane Hopkins, "Members of the Bar of the County of Cumberland, State of Maine, from the Year 1700 to the Year 1838," American Quarterly Register 12[1840]: 274–284).

6.

RTP did not follow this course of action. Instead he went to Lancaster on Jan. 31, 1755, to live with his cousin Capt. Abijah Willard (1722–1789) and study for the law. Willard (a brother of Col, Samuel, Abel, and Levi Willard) commanded a company at Louisbourg in 1745 and another in the Nova Scotia campaign of 1755. He was appointed a mandamus councillor, but was forced to resign the position and became a commissary in the Britsh army. As a loyalist Willard later settled in Lancaster, New Brunswick, where he became a member of the Council of that province (Lorenzo Sabine, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution, 2 vols. [Boston, 1864], 2:429–430; Willard, Willard Genealogy, 58–59).

7.

These orders together with a list of the officers are printed in The Boston Weekly News-Letter, Dec. 5, 1754.

Boston Decr. 11th 1754 Dear Sr.,

I am just return'd from Falmouth & enquired wth. big Expectations for yr. Letter, especially wn. my Sister return'd, but for Answer I recieved that I was not yet worthy to recieve News from the dead. My Unworthiness is my Argument, for the Meanest persons are genrally most visited with Ghosts & Apparitions. However I can scarcely wonder at yr. neglect, for Travellers are gen'raly fond of reaching their port before they transmit Any Accounts to their Freinds, & by a Secret Skill in Necromancy I have lately Acquired I find you still Wandring Near the Stygian Waters. & being determin'd to have a compleat knowledge of the countrys you pass through, you have Neglected An acquaintance wth. all the Worthy Heroes & Renown'd Philosophers that there wander disconsolate waiting for a Pass through this burning Clime to the Elysian Fields, & are courting An Intimacy with Cerberus the three headed Native & Guard228of those Regions. Whether you expect to coax the Cur to let you pass, or whether you think an Intimacy with so faithfull a porter will recommend you to the Happy feilds, I can't tell, tho' tis plain you have by his means contracted a Correspondence wth. Asculapius. However before you quit the Dog I expect you will obtain one of his heads, which will not only render you his equal but also set you Above Any Oposition you may meet wth. in yr. passage onwards to the high Court of Radamanthus; where I percieve yr. Indightment will be Robbery & Avarice in this World & sacralidge committed in the very face of the Court. To the former part of which the Attorney General will alledge & undoubtedly bring Notorious Proof that while on Earth you spent yr. Time in Robbing & plundring other peoples Brains, making havock in the most Ingenious performances monopolizing the Cream & extracting the Beauty & leaving the Dregs & Dross to be Shared at Random, & moreover having thru' exorbitant coveteousness stuff'd his head brim full it all lays stagnant not being posses'd of the one good principal of a Miser even to count his money that it may not Rust. So that having hoarded up great Treasures he has brought all off & defrauded the depending World besides disappointing his many expecting Freinds to their unsurmountable Damage & furthermore Since his Arrival in these Regions Unsatisfy'd with his Terrestrial Treasures, he has partly by fraud, cozen, & insinuating Violence & taken from & deprived our most faithfull Dog Cerberus, of his best head of three, such an unspeakable peice of audacious Sacralidge or Treason, as the Records of this Court cant produce & lastly what agravates his Crimes, & setts them if it were possible beyond the Jurisdiction of this Court is, that all this Robbery, plunder &c. is committeed with Malice propense & with full Intention to Rob & defraud the Creation of all its Excellencys, having never opned his Tresury for a long Time, becoming a great Bank that Refunds Neither principal nor Interest. Yr. punishmt. methinks will very naturally follow on the proff of these Crimes, which will be to comitt to yr. Memory & perpetually to Repeat all the Creeds that were ever made by Any Sect or party since the Creation, & not only to repeat 'em but to acknowledge them in a convend Assembly of their Patrons. Further more to be suspended by yr. Center of Gravity, & have yr. Miser's hoard ransack'd by all the Cullys, Fops, Pedants, Quacks & bungling Mechenicks in the Creation & finally to have yr. head fill'd with fragments of Almanacks hanging Speeches, Rebus's, Popish Legends & Fables, Œgiptian Soothsaying, Indian Powowing & all the Smutty Balder-229dash that ever was wrote, to be denied human Language & to speak only in the beloved Accents of a Dog, & then to howl forth yr. New bestowed Treasure for Ever. By this Time I may be that way my Self & to compleat yr. punishmt. for such notorious coveteousness & neglect I'll heap coals of Fire on yr. head.

P.S It is genrally said 1.2.3. & away, but my lenity reserves my utmost Efforts till the 4th wch. you are now Sensible is next. I have put much money in bank & am starving for the Interest, & if Radamanthus Court wont do me Justice I'm summoning my forces to attack you Vix Armis1 & being desperate nothing will satisfy me but Deaths Victory.

Dft ; addressed: "To R C. Allegorical."

1.

Scarcely by arms.