Page:Letters of John Andrews.djvu/28

 22 I.Ki! ER8 OF JOHN ANDREWS.

afford better accommodations for them) and express'd himself much displeas'd with their (y: officers) conduct, and told 'em he would take effectual means to prevent the like behaviour in future, and further assur'd them, that if they chose to enter a prosecution in civil law, he would see that ev'ry of the culprits were deliver'd up.

The executors of the cursed Port Bill seem determin'd to put con- structions upon it, that, am perswaded, was never intended by the /. islators ; in particular, in regard to launching vessels, which, they •jim- nut, they shall seize immediately upon their being water borne — At present, there is aboul ten or a do/en ships on the stocks, nearly or quite ready to launch (the latter they are oblig'd to till with water for their preservation) one of which belongs to your brother Cole, and the rest principally to Scotsmen : which circumstance makes the matter rather less grievous to the town, as their countrymen, we are inform'd, were the chief promoters of the Bill for which they now sutler in common with the inhabitants, as they have cargoes of tobacco now laying ready for them in Virginia, to take home to Scot- land as freight.

I forgot formerly to acquaint yon that Ruthy and I were at Betsy Checkley's wedding, at which we were entertain'd with a very pretty collation, consisting of cold ham. cold roast beef, cake, cheese, iVc. [ts about three weeks since her mother and grandmother have retir'd to the upper end of Roxbury with their families, together with that amiable maiden, their cousin, Sally Hatch, and the family with which she resided, so that (including the Roxbury people resi- dent with them) they compose an agreeable social family of about twenty four or five and twenty females, with the master of the house a worthy Deacon of the parish, that Mrs. Checklej is perfectly easy in her mind, and says she enjoys more comfort and satisfaction in life than she has done since her husband's decease; which really gives me great pleasure, as she is a very worthy, amiable woman, and deserving of much better fortune than has fallen toher share.*

A.mong the innumerable hardships we sutler, that of not being suffer'd to convey any sort of merchandize across the ferry is not the leasl ; whereby we are necessitated to receive every kind of goods from Marblehead or Salem via Cambridge, which adds one third to the length of the way, which is attended with the expence of eight

��;kley was the widow of the Rev. Samuel Checkley, of the XV. (now Summer-street) Church. Her daughter Elizabeth was married to Samuel Adams.

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