Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 2
I have reason to fear by my long neglect of writing that you have suspected me Unmindful of you, but Sr. I can make a good Excuse for my Silence. As soon as I got to Boston & had dried my skin which was well soaked, I prepar'd the materials for this Letter expecting yr. Son down in a few days as you proposed & waited with a great deal of desire & enquiry but so unlucky was I that the first time I stept out of town he came down & was gone before I returnd so that I mist him. I should have sent the letter long ago, but people from Dunstable put up cheifly at Charlestown wch. has been quite out of my walks this Winter & so I had no opportunity & am uncertain by wm. I shall send this, but I purpose it by some safe hand & with it you will recive my sincere respects to you & yr. Family. I reflect wth. pleasure on the few pleasant days I spent with you but the confinement of my Business I fear will forbid me any more such pleasant Interviews. I can compare the practise of the Law to nothing but the keeping a Barber Shop, one can't stir out of Sight least they loose the trimming a man. I long much to hear the welfare of yr. Family. I my self Jogg on as usual, my poor Sister has had a terrible Winter of it but begins to revive a little. I fear my affairs demand my attendance in Such a Manner as that I shall not be able to bring her to visit you as you kindly invited me, but be that as it will I hope I Shall not loose ground in yr. Esteem by my absence but the next time we meet proceed on just where we left of. If you should wonder what engaged my attention so this Winter, I esteem my self obliged to inform you that I have been preparing 38to change my condition in Life, [here I added the allegory on being Sworn into Practice the Law.]2 And now Sr. if in this new State & alliance of Life I can speak a good Word for you to my Wifes Freind, I shall be proud to shew my Respects that way. Please to present my Respects to yr. Lady my Compliments to the young Ladys yr. Daughters & yr. Sons & forgive this long lockrum3 Story. I searched the Records faithfuly & send inclos'd all I could find between May 1727 & June 1737.4 & now I can only add how much I esteem yr. Regards & with how much pleasure I reflect upon the small acquaintance between us and must conclude by subscribing myself yr. Respectfull obliged hmble. Servt.,
Joseph Blanchard (1704–1758), of Dunstable (now Nashua, N.H.), commanded a regiment in the Crown Point expedition of 1755 and was a justice of the Superior Court of New Hampshire, 1749–1758 (Stearns, Early Generations of the Founders of Old Dunstable, 7–8).
RTP's brackets. The allegory is printed below under assigned date of May 13, 1757.
"A pack of gibberish" (OED).
Enclosure not found.
—by this Opportunity I may inform you, that that period of time, which most men with such eagerness long for, is at last arrived, & I am no longer to be looked upon as one in a single state, but as one at last wedded to an honorable Family. The forever memorable Sixth of May, was the day of my espousals, on the which I was wedded to a Lady of great birth & parentage. Her maiden name was Law, descended from the Antient Family of the Laws which from the earliest ages have been esteemed the patron of the distressed & the protector of their Liberties. But as it is well known that matrimony alters everthing from a Virgin State, it must not be wondred if this Lady should loose some of the virtues of her Ancestors. Indeed some malicious persons have said, that the Family is much reduc'd form its primitive excellence, tho' it is only the difference of the Climate which has altered that branch of the family which has settled here from that which is on the other side of the Water.39There have been many generations of them in this country, varying no more than is common for the children in a Family to vary both from one another & also from the common parent. The Family has always been esteem'd wealthy, tho of late their portions are much reduced by reason of the Heirs being much increased, & the income of the Estate much less'ned. But tho' she brought me nothing in hand, yet she may justly be called a fortune, by reason of her large alliances & a considerable estate in expectancy. But there is one very singular Advantage I had in obtaining this Lady which is I was not constrain'd to the unreasonable custom of taking her for better for worse, but was indulged several years experience of her disposition & good qualities, before the knot was tied, & even then this knot is of such a nature, as to be no confinement to either of us, when we think we can better our circumstances by parting.