Hall, Hugh. Letter book : manuscript, 1716-1718. MS Am 1042. Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

(17)

London June 6th 1717

Madam,

While I Reflect on ye many Invaluable Favours I have Received at your House, with ye Regard, & Deference You always Paid me; I find I can do no less than thankfully to Acknowledge ye many Obligations I am under for ye same.

I am very Sensible, tho I cant plead ye least meritt for Your Notice, yet I have often had Your good Wishes since my Departure; & that ye Account I presume You have had of my Arrival now in London, you heard with a great deal of Satisfaction, & I easily believe I have Your Sincere & hearty desires for my Future Success.

I Conjecture You have been Acquainted with what great Joy my Father Received me in Barbados, & ye many Instances of his great Love & Unbounded Affection to me since; as also of my Compliance to his Inclinations of fixing me in a Merchantile life; for which I have Received such Manifestations of his Regard, as I am apt to think, Few Sons can boast off.

I hope you candidly think I dont hint this to Sound any Advantages peculiarly Accruing to my Self, but only to Represent in a free way the Happiness of a Fathers true Affection. Thô I am Assured what I have said will be very Agreably Accepted yet I shall add nothing further than that I am,

In the Highest Regards,

Your most Obedient, Humble {Servant}

{Hugh} Hall {Junior}

To Madam, Mary Bromfield In Boston. {New England} }

(18)

London June 8th, 1717

Madam,

Since I departed Your Clime, I have often reveled with a great deal of pleasure & Satisfaction, the many happy hours Spent in Your good Family, & more particularly ye Favour of your own most Agreable Conversation.

The bright Rays of Vertue & Piety Shone with a very Conspicuous Lustre thrô out Your whole deportment, & I always found every one Ready to Subscribe to ye same Character who had any Knowledge of Your self; & I do Assure You I have Always set an higher Value upon that faceciousness of Converse; & pleasing Familiarity, resul= :ting from Your own good Innate disposition; than ye most Exalted Sallies of Witt, or Starts of Humour, of ye most Celebrated of your Sex.

But should I ({Madam}) trace Your Vertues, & Your great Proficiency therein; your Humility would be too Apt to deem this Address Ceremonial, & ye Aery flights of Complement;(the Effect of my Travelling) tho' at ye same time Penn'd in ye greatest Sincerity, & in my most Grave & Retired Hours.

I Presume you long e're this Expected I should have Cancelled my Promise, by giving you an Account of my Pilgrimage since I left You, & how far Foreign Air Agrees with me; which Intentions I should now have Prosecuted, but am so Caress'd by my Friends here, & Entertain'd with such Continual Scenes of Curiosities, & besides am Crowded with such hurry of Business; that I must begg Your Goodness will yet permitt me to deferr it, & for Atonement, You may depend on my Resolutions of Honouring each I shall be Favoured with from You with two several Answers; In the Interim, I Crave leave to Assure I am,

With ye Utmost Deferrence

Your most Obedient

Humble {Servant}

{Hugh} Hall {Junior}

To {Madam} {Mary Bromfield} In Boston {New England}

(19)

London June 8th, 1717

Sir

Should I Assume ye Liberty of presenting You with a Satyrical Pill, or Regale You with a Dish of Snarles (instead of a Friendly Address) I can't foresee one Valid Objection. You could - Muster against such an Entertainment; for upon Sitting down & Chewing upon but one single Invective, I easily beleive you would tast Your Neglect & find that according to ye Mannor, of ye Age, your Promises look with a very Ill Aspect upon You, (by reason of ye Antartick Position of your Performances) which if You Examine in ye(*) Chapter of true Gentility you'l Find Portend as black Con(se)quences as ye Separate Appearance of Cástor or Pollux to ye Caro-Phenicians or ye Pittoril, & Corposant to ye Ignorant Sailor.

* Penn'd by Aquapulcolanus an Inhabitant in Terra Incognita under ye {South} Pole

I hope this dire Relation will bring you to a Serious thought & make you a little Reflect on ye Travells of Ulisses; It may Chance to Unravel your brain, & place your true Friend in Effigie before you, which I am sure would Nolons Volons urge you to a Peccavi.

I am Persuaded you Expected how ye Theses & Antitheses of News, wth the Jargon of the two Monsters Whigg & Tory; a Sketch of ye Flying Post & no Post; of ye Salutation of Mr ––– & ye Whipping Post, or at least my Sentiments of ye Babel London, & ye Noise & Non-sense --- Alamode hero; but ye Circle of my Thoughts is just upon ye Verge of Busieness; so must bid you, Adieu with ye Sincere Subscription of,

Your most Obedient Humble {Servant}

{Hugh} Hall Junior

My Service to Mr Fowles, & his Lady, & Acquaint him If I dont hear from him in a little time, I am Resolved to set his & his Lady's teeth an Edge wth a Cagg of Tamarinds --- }

To Mr Jonathan Dows {Junior} {Merchant} in Boston.

(XX)

London June 18th, 1717

Madam,

In my last I gave you an Account of my safe Arrival here in London, & ye Views I am prosecuting to Establish a good Correspondency, as also my Intentions upon my Return to Barbados; Since which I have Received two of Yours Inclosed in my first from my Father.

I Observe Your hints of {Captain} Blaques Letter to his Wife, long before Your Receipt of mine which I much wonder at having Wrote by ye Way of {Martineque} near two Months before ye date of his, & it was ye only Opportunity that Presented before mine by Mr Jacobs, who I perceive has punctually {per}formed his Promise of a Manual delivery thereof.

My Seventh (since I left You) now humbly offers You a Salute, so that you find I have not been Negligent in Answering Yours.

I am sorry to find, there is not that Concurrence between your Self & Mr Parsons as I Expected, when I desired him to be very Peculiarly Civil, & to Assist You in every difficulty that might Intervene in my Absence; & I have also since backt it by desiring him (to furnish You) with money upon any Extraordinary Occasion, & I would allow it in Accompting.

I hope in a little time to be more at leisure, & then shall honour your Request, with yr Addition of some other Senders of my Filial Regards. I Intend a few Lines to Mr. Br—l & freely charging his Promises on him shall modestly urge his Payment to You, under an Assurance of a full Discharge from Your Receipts; In ye Interim must begg You to be as Easy as you can. And now ({Dear} Madam) I cant offer any thing further, than this Repeated Resolution, that I shall always Study more & more to meritt ye happy Character of;

Your most Obedient Son,

{Hugh} Hall {Junior}

To {Madam} Lydia Colman in Boston.

(21)

London June 20th, 1717

Honoured Sir,

My first to you was within two daies of my Arrival, wherein I gave you a Sketch of my Journal, & an Account of ye Manual delivery of some of yours in my Favour, with a bare hint of our Friends Welfare; since which, I have been Honoured with Your Congratulation, & further Recommendations, which latter have propitiously Introduced me ye Company of men of Rank & Distinction, who have treated me with a very peculiar Regard by their Reiterated Promises of ye highest Friendship, & Repeated invitations to their Houses with ye Assurances of my Confidence in their Honour; which (thô Cauteously) yet Industriously shall Improve in every Advantageous View that has or shall present.

Upon my first Appearance on ye Exchange I (with all ye Good Manners) presented Your Favour to Mr L...s, who just read it, gave me a Cool Invitation to N—n, turned upon his heel, & away he went however I stifled all Resentment, & in a day or two waited on him; & (to my great Surprize) was Introduced by an head not unlike that of a Bass-Viol, save it was placed on a Moving Machine; I mean his SprigtlySon (pardon ye dimness of the Word) whom it would be a Farce to Entertain You, with his Complements, & most Exalted Inarticulate Non-sense (ye great Proficiency of his Travelling) - This Corporeal being, after one Nights Rest, early Regaled me with a View of almost twenty books, which from their late Publication, he Supposed new to me, & particularly Recommended Dr Sacheverills trial, a book he thought I had never Seen. I with a Smile laid it down, & had I not Converst with him ye Night before should have swound=ed

But for Air, I took a Turn in ye Garden; & (to my great Consternation) had no Sooner left ye Vera Copia, but ye Original presents himself; looks for ye Congee I made, & gravely Condescends a Return. Well, the Subject of Your Letter is Canvass'd, out comes an Harangue upon the Old Thread-bare Tautology of ye Discouragement of Trade by ye Vast loss in Remittance, he then Subjoined his late Advice to You, &

backt