9 July, 1774.
I NEVER enjoyed
better health in any of my journeys, but this has been the most irksome, the
most gloomy and melancholy I ever made. I cannot with all my philosophy and
Christian resignation keep up my spirits. The dismal prospect before me, my
family, and my country, is too much for my fortitude.
The day before
yesterday a gentleman came and spoke to me, asked me to dine with him on
Saturday; said he was very sorry I had not better lodgings in town; desired, if
I came to town again, I would take a bed at his house and make his house my
home; I should always be very welcome. I told him I had not the pleasure of
knowing him. He said his name was Codman.
I said I was very
much obliged to him, but I was very well accommodated where I lodged. I had a
clean bed and a very neat house, a chamber to myself, and everything I wanted.
Saturday, I dined
with him, in company with Brigadier Preble, Major Freeman and his son, etc.,
and a very genteel dinner we had." Salt fish and all its apparatus, roast
chickens, bacon, pease, as fine a salad as ever was made, and a rich meat pie.
Tarts and custards, etc., good wine, and as good punch as ever you made. A
large, spacious, elegant house, yard, and garden ; I thought I had got into the
palace of a nobleman. After dinner, when I was obliged to come away, he renewed
his invitation to me to make his house my home whenever I shall come to town
again.
Friday I dined with
Colonel, Sheriff, alias Bill Tyng.1 Mrs. Ross and her daughter Mrs.
Tyng dined with us, and the court and clerk, and some of the bar. At table we
were speaking about Captain MacCarty, which led to the African trade. Judge
Trowbridge said, “That was a very humane and Christian trade, to be sure, that
of making slaves.” “Aye,” says I, “it makes no great odds; it is a trade that
almost all mankind have been concerned in, all over the globe, since Adam, more
or less, in one way and another.” This occasioned a laugh.
At another time
Judge Trowbridge said, “It seems, by Colonel Barre's speeches, that Mr. Otis
has acquired honor by releasing his damages to Robinson.” “Yes," says I,
“he has acquired honor with all generations.” Trowbridge; “He did not make much
profit, I think.”2 Adams: “True, but the less profit, the more
honor. He was a man of honor and generosity, and those who think he was
mistaken will pity him.”
Thus you see how
foolish I am. I cannot avoid exposing myself before these high folks; my
feelings will at times overcome my modesty and reserve, my prudence, policy,
and discretion. I have a zeal at my heart for my country and her friends, which
I cannot smother or conceal ; it will burn out at times and in companies where
it ought to be latent in my breast. This zeal will prove fatal to the fortune and
felicity of my family, if it is not regulated by a cooler judgment than mine
has hitherto been. Colonel Otis's phrase is, “The zeal-pot boils over.”
I am to wait upon
brother Bradbury to meeting today, and to dine with brother Wyer. When I shall
get home, I know not, but if possible, it shall be before next Saturday night.
I long for that time to come, when my dear wife and my charming little
prattlers will embrace me.
1 William Tyng had just accepted a colonel's
commission from General Gage. He was proscribed and banished the next year. But
he returned to Maine in 1793, where he died in 1807. A brief but interesting
notice of him is to be found in the tenth volume of the collections of the
Massachusetts Historical Society, pp. 183-185.
2 Judge Trowbridge continued a moderate
adherent of the Government, without losing the regard of the patriot leaders.
His reputation as a lawyer was great, and when the writer of this letter
proposed the extreme measure of an impeachment of the Chief Justice, Oliver,
the admissions of Judge Trowbridge, when consulted, largely contributed to a
confirmation of his policy. The Judge lost his place on the bench, but he
remained otherwise unharmed, and died at Cambridge in 1793.
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