To my Father at his House.
SIR,
AFter my Obedience (at so great and vast a distance) has humbly saluted you and my good Mother, with the cordialest of my prayers, wishes, and desires to wait upon you, with the very best of their effectual devotion, wishing from the very Center of my Soul your flourishing and well-being here upon Earth, and your glorious and everlasting happiness in the World to Come. {93}
These lines (my dear Parents) come from that Son which by an irregular Fate was removed from his Native home, and after a five months dangerous passage, was landed on the remote Continent of America, in the Province of Mary-Land, where now by providence I reside. To give you the particulars of the several accidents that happened in our voyage by Sea, it would swell a Journal of some sheets, and therefore too large and tedious for a Letter: I think it therefore necessary to bind up the relation in Octavo, and give it you in short.
We had a blowing and dangerous passage of it, and for some dayes after I arrived, I was an absolute Copernicus, it being one main point of my moral Creed, to believe the World had a pair of long legs, and walked with the burthen of the Creation upon her back. For to tell you the very truth of it, for some dayes upon Land, after so long and tossing a passage, I was so giddy that I could hardly tread an even step; so that all things both above and below (that was in view) appeared to me like the Kentish Britains to William the Conqueror, in a moving posture.
Those few number of weeks since my arrival, has given me but little experience to write any thing large of the Country; only thus much I can say, and that not from any imaginary conjectures, but from an occular observation, That this Country of Mary-Land abounds in a flourishing variety of delightful Woods, {94} pleasant groves, lovely Springs, together with spacious Navigable Rivers and Creeks, it being a most helthful and pleasant situation, so far as my knowledge has yet had any view in it.
Herds of Deer are as numerous in this Province of Mary-Land, as Cuckolds can be in London, only their horns are not so well drest and tipt with silver as theirs are.
Here if the Devil had such a Vagary in his head as he had once among the Gadareans, he might drown a thousand head of Hogs and they’d ne’re be miss’d, for the very Woods of this Province swarms with them.
The Christian Inhabitant of this Province, as to the general, lives wonderful well and contented: The Government of this Province is by the loyalness of the people, and loving demeanor of the Proprietor and Governor of the same, kept in a continued peace and unity.
The Servant of this Province, which are stigmatiz’d for Slaves by the clappermouth jaws of the vulgar in England, live more like Freemen then the most Mechanick Apprentices in London, wanting for nothing that is convenient and necessary, and according to their several capacities, are extraordinary well used and respected. So leaving things here as I found them, and lest I should commit Sacriledge upon your more serious meditations, with the Tautologies of a long-winded Letter, I’le subscribe with a {95} heavenly Ejaculation to the God of Mercy to preserve you now and for evermore, Amen.
Your Obedient Son,
G. A.
From Mary-Land, Jan. 17. Anno
To my much Honored Friend Mr. M. F.
SIR,
YOu writ to me when I was at Gravesend, (but I had no conveniency to send you an answer till now) enjoyning me, if possible, to give you a just Information by my diligent observance, what thing were best and most profitable to send into this Country for a commodious Trafique.
Sir, The enclosed will demonstrate unto you both particularly and at large, to the full satisfaction of your desire, it being an Invoyce drawn as exact to the business you imployed me upon, as my weak capacity could extend to.
Sir, If you send any Adventure to this Province, let me beg to give you this advice in it; That the Factor whom you imploy be a man of a Brain, otherwise the Planter will go near to make a Skimming-dish of his Skull: I know your Genius can interpret my meaning. The people of this place (whether the saltness of the Ocean gave them any alteration when they went over first, or their continual dwelling under {96} the remote Clyme where they now inhabit, I know not) are a more acute people in general, in matters of Trade and Commerce, then in any other place of the World (see note No. [60]) and by their crafty and sure bargaining, do often over-reach the raw and unexperienced Merchant. To be short, he that undertakes Merchants imployment for Mary-Land, must have more of Knave in him then Fool; he must not be a windling piece of Formality, that will lose his Imployers Goods for Conscience sake; nor a flashy piece of Prodigality, that will give his Merchants fine Hollands, Laces, and Silks, to purchase the benevolence of a Female: But he must be a man of solid confidence, carrying alwayes in his looks the Effigies of an Execution upon Command, if he supposes a baffle or denyal of payment, where a debt for his Imployer is legally due. (See note No. [61]).
Sir, I had like almost to forgot to tell you in what part of the World I am: I dwell by providence Servant to Mr. Thomas Stocket (see note No. [62]) in the County of Baltemore, within the Province of Mary-Land, under the Government of the Lord Baltemore, being a Country abounding with the variety and diversity of all that is or may be rare. But lest I should Tantalize you with a relation of that which is very unlikely of your enjoying, by reason of that strong Antipathy you have ever had ’gainst Travel, as to your own particular: I’le only tell you, that Mary-Land is seated within the large extending armes {97} of America, between the Degrees of 36 and 38, being in Longitude from England eleven hundred and odd Leagues.
Vale.
G. A.
From Mary-Land, Jan. 17. Anno
To my Honored Friend Mr. T. B. at his House.
SIR,
YOurs I received, wherein I find my self much obliged to you for your good opinion of me, I return you millions of thanks.
Sir, you wish me well, and I pray God as well that those wishes may light upon me, and then I question not but all will do well. Those Pictures you sent sewed up in a Pastboard, with a Letter tacked on the outside, you make no mention at all what should be done with them: If they are Saints, unless I knew their names, I could make no use of them. Pray in your next let me know what they are, for my fingers itch to be doing with them one way or another. Our Government here hath had a small fit of a Rebellious Quotidian, (see note No. [63]), but five Grains of the powder of Subvertment has qualified it. Pray be larger in your next how things stand in England: I understand His Majesty is return’d with Honour, and seated in the hereditary Throne of his Father; God {98} bless him from Traytors, and the Church from Sacrilegious Schisms, and you as a loyal Subject to the one, and a true Member to the other; while you so continue, the God of order, peace and tranquility, bless and preserve you, Amen.
Vale.
Your real Friend,
G. A.
From Mary-Land, Febr. 20. Anno
To my Honored Father at his House.
SIR,
VVIth a twofold unmeasurable joy I received your Letter: First, in the consideration of Gods great Mercy to you in particular, (though weak and aged) yet to give you dayes among the living. Next, that his now most Excellent Majesty Charles the Second, is by the omnipotent Providence of God, seated in the Throne of his Father. I hope that God has placed him there, will give him a heart to praise and magnifie his name for ever, and a hand of just Revenge, to punish the murthering and rebellious Outrages of those Sons of shame and Apostacy, that Usurped the Throne of his Sacred Honour. Near about the time I received your Letter, (or a little before) here sprang up in this Province of Mary-Land a kind of pigmie Rebellion: A company of {99} weak-witted men, which thought to have traced the steps of Oliver in Rebellion (see note No. [63]). They began to be mighty stiff and hidebound in their proceedings, clothing themselves with the flashy pretences of future and imaginary honour, and (had they not been suddenly quell’d) they might have done so much mischief (for aught I know) that nothing but utter ruine could have ransomed their headlong follies.
His Majesty appearing in England, he quickly (by the splendor of his Rayes) thawed the stiffness of their frozen and slippery intentions. All things (blessed be God for it) are at peace and unity here now: And as Luther being asked once, What he thought of some small Opinions that started up in his time? answered, That he thought them to be good honest people, exempting their error: So I judge of these men, That their thoughts were not so bad at first, as their actions would have led them into in process of time.
I have here enclosed sent you something written in haste upon the Kings coming to the enjoyment of his Throne, with a reflection upon the former sad and bad times; I have done them as well as I could, considering all things: If they are not so well as they should be, all I can do is to wish them better for your sakes. My Obedience to you and my Mother alwayes devoted.
Your Son
G. A.
From Mary-Land, Febr. 9. Anno
{100}
To my Cosen Mris. Ellinor Evins.
E’ re I forget the Zenith of your Love,
L et me be banisht from the Thrones above;
L ight let me never see, when I grow rude,
I ntomb your Love in base Ingratitude:
N or may I prosper, but the state
O f gaping Tantalus be my fate;
R ather then I should thus preposterous grow,
E arth would condemn me to her vaults below.
V ertuous and Noble, could my Genius raise
I mmortal Anthems to your Vestal praise,
N one should be more laborious than I,
S aint-like to Canonize you to the Sky.
The Antimonial Cup (dear Cosen) you sent me, I had; and as soon as I received it, I went to work with the Infirmities and Diseases of my body. At the first draught, it made such havock among the several humors that had stolen into my body, that like a Conjurer in a room among a company of little Devils, they no sooner hear him begin to speak high words, but away they pack, and happy is he that can get out first, some up the Chimney, and the rest down stairs, till they are all disperst. So those malignant humors of my body, feeling the operative power, and medicinal virtue of this Cup, were so amazed at their sudden surprizal, (being alwayes before battered only by the weak assaults of some few Empyricks) they stood not long to dispute, but with joynt consent {101} made their retreat, some running through the sink of the Skullery, the rest climbing up my ribs, took my mouth for a Garret-window, and so leapt out.
Cosen, For this great kindness of yours, in sending me this medicinal vertue, I return you my thanks: It came in a very good time, when I was dangerously sick, and by the assistance of God it hath perfectly recovered me.
I have sent you here a few Furrs, they were all I could get at present, I humbly beg your acceptance of them, as a pledge of my love and thankfulness unto you; I subscribe,
Your loving Cosen,
G. A.
From Mary Land, Dec. 9. Anno
To My Brother P. A.
BROTHER,
I Have made a shift to unloose my self from my Collar now as well as you, but I see at present either small pleasure or profit in it: What the futurality of my dayes will bring forth, I know not; For while I was linckt with the Chain of a restraining Servitude, I had all things cared for, and now I have all things to care for my self, which makes me almost to wish my self in for the other four years.
Liberty without money, is like a man opprest with the Gout, every step he puts forward puts him to {102} pain; when on the other side, he that has Coyn with his Liberty, is like the swift Post-Messenger of the Gods, that wears wings at his heels, his motion being swift or slow, as he pleaseth.
I received this year two Caps, the one white, of an honest plain countenance, the other purple, which I conceive to be some antient Monumental Relique; which of them you sent I know not, and it was a wonder how I should, for there was no mention in the Letter, more then, that my Brother had sent me a Cap: They were delivered me in the company of some Gentlemen that ingaged me to write a few lines upon the purple one, and because they were my Friends I could not deny them; and here I present them to you as they were written.
Haile from the dead, or from Eternity,
Thou Velvit Relique of Antiquity;
Thou which appear’st here in thy purple hew,
Tell’s how the dead within their Tombs do doe;
How those Ghosts fare within each Marble Cell,
Where amongst them for Ages thou didst dwell.
What Brain didst cover there? tell us that we
Upon our knees vayle Hats to honour thee:
And if no honour’s due, tell us whose pate
Thou basely coveredst, and we’l joyntly hate:
Let’s know his name, that we may shew neglect;
If otherwise, we’l kiss thee with respect.
Say, didst thou cover Noll’s old brazen head,
Which on the top of Westminster high Lead {103}
Stands on a Pole, erected to the sky,
As a grand Trophy to his memory.
From his perfidious skull didst thou fall down,
In a dis-dain to honour such a crown
With three-pile Velvet? tell me, hadst thou thy fall
From the high top of that Cathedral?
None of the Heroes of the Roman stem,
Wore ever such a fashion’d Diadem,
Didst thou speak Turkish in thy unknown dress,
Thou’dst cover Great Mogull, and no man less;
But in thy make methinks thou’rt too too scant,
To be so great a Monarch’s Turberant.
The Jews by Moses swear, they never knew
E’re such a Cap drest up in Hebrew:
Nor the strict Order of the Romish See,
Wears any Cap that looks so base as thee;
His Holiness hates thy Lowness, and instead,
Wears Peters spired Steeple on his head:
The Cardinals descent is much more flat,
For want of name, baptized is A Hat;
Through each strict Order has my fancy ran,
Both Ambrose, Austin, and the Franciscan,
Where I beheld rich Images of the dead,
Yet scarce had one a Cap upon his head:
Episcopacy wears Caps, but not like thee,
Though several shap’d, with much diversity:
’Twere best I think I presently should gang
To Edenburghs strict Presbyterian;
But Caps they’ve none, their ears being made so large,
Serves them to turn it like a Garnesey Barge;
Those keep their skulls warm against North-west gusts,
When they in Pulpit do poor Calvin curse. {104}
Thou art not Fortunatus, for I daily see,
That which I wish is farthest off from me:
Thy low-built state none ever did advance,
To christen thee the Cap of Maintenance;
Then till I know from whence thou didst derive,
Thou shalt be call’d, the Cap of Fugitive.
You writ to me this year to send you some Smoak; at that instant it made me wonder that a man of a rational Soul, having both his eyes (blessed be God) should make so unreasonable a demand, when he that has but one eye, nay he which has never a one, and is fain to make use of an Animal conductive for his optick guidance, cannot endure the prejudice that Smoak brings with it: But since you are resolv’d upon it, I’le dispute it no farther.
I have sent you that which will make Smoak, (namely Tobacco) though the Funk it self is so slippery that I could not send it, yet I have sent you the Substance from whence the Smoak derives: What use you imploy it to I know not, nor will I be too importunate to know; yet let me tell you this, That if you burn it in a room to affright the Devil from the house, you need not fear but it will work the same effect, as Tobyes galls did upon the leacherous Fiend. No more at present. Vale.
Your Brother,
G. A.
From Mary-Land, Dec. 11. Anno
{105}
To my Honored Friend Mr. T. B.
SIR,
THis is the entrance upon my fifth year, and I fear ’twill prove the worst: I have been very much troubled with a throng of unruly Distempers, that have (contrary to my expectation) crouded into the Main-guard of my body, when the drowsie Sentinels of my brain were a sleep. Where they got in I know not, but to my grief and terror I find them predominant: Yet as Doctor Dunne, sometimes Dean of St. Pauls, said, That the bodies diseases do but mellow a man for Heaven, and so ferments him in this World, as he shall need no long concoction in the Grave, but hasten to the Resurrection. And if this were weighed seriously in the Ballance of Religious Reason, the World we dwell in would not seem so inticing and bewitching as it doth.
We are only sent by God of an Errand into this World, and the time that’s allotted us for to stay, is only for an Answer. When God my great Master shall in good earnest call me home, which these warnings tell me I have not long to stay, I hope then I shall be able to give him a good account of my Message.
Sir, My weakness gives a stop to my writing, my hand being so shakingly feeble, that I can hardly hold my pen any further then to tell you, I am yours {106} while I live, which I believe will be but some few minutes.
If this Letter come to you before I’me dead, pray for me, but if I am gone, pray howsoever, for they can do me no harm if they come after me.
Vale.
Your real Friend,
G. A.
From Mary-Land, Dec. 13. Anno