VI.

I might have mentioned, as one of the amusements of childhood, the throwing of a piece of paper upon the embers of our wood-fire, for we had no coal in those days, and watching the gradual extinguishment of the sparks, likening it to a congregation entering the meeting-house. “There they go in,” we would say. “There’s the minister;” and as the final spark disappeared,—“Now, the sexton has gone in and shut the door.” I speak of this only as a curious illustration of English ways traditionally surviving in New England. Thus Cowper tells us:—

“So when a child, as playful children use,
Has burnt to tinder a stale last year’s news,
226 The flame extinct, he views the roving fire,—
There goes my lady, and there goes the squire;
There goes the parson, O illustrious spark!
And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk!"

VII.

Several allusions having been made in the text to the “Wolfe” Tavern, I am able to present the following original bill of lading, constituting an incident in relation to the famous expedition to Quebec, and evincing at least a more formal recognition of a superintending Providence, than is the custom of more modern days:— 227

12Oxen,
6Horses,
No. 29to 32. 4 Hogshd. Corn,
10Baggs Corn,
10Baggs Meal,
2Carts with Furniture,
500feet Boards,
1pr. Smiths Bellows,
1Box Smiths Tools,
1Anvil,
1Camp Kettle,
10Ox Yokes,
70Bundles of Hay,
2Handpumps,
18Pails,
4Tubbs,
2Shovells,
4Barr's Water, Settled.
Shipped by the Grace of God in good Order and well Condition'd by Thomas Hancock, by order of His Excell'cy Major General Amherst, in and upon the good sloop call'd the ``Endeavour,'' whereof is Master under God, for this present Voyage, William Clift, and now riding at Anchor in the Harbour of Boston, and by God's Grace bound for The Expedition up the River St. Lawrence, to say, Twelve Oxen, Six Horses, Four Hogshead and Ten Bags of Corn, Ten Bags of Meal, two Carts with their Furniture, Five hundred feet of Boards, One Pair Smiths Bellows, One Box Smiths Tools, One Anvill, One Camp Kettle, Ten Ox Yokes, Seventy Bundles of Hay, Two handpumps, Eighteen pails, Four Tubbs, Two Shovells, Four Barrells Water; being mark'd and number'd as in the Margin, and to be delivered in the like good Order, and well Condition'd, at the aforesaid Port of —— (the Danger of the Seas only excepted) unto His Excell'cy Major General Wolfe, or to his Assigns,——or they paying Freight for the said Goods——Nothing——with Primage and Average accustom'd. In Witness whereof the Master or Purser of the said sloop hath affirmed to Two Bills of Lading, all of this Tenor and date; the one of which Two Bills being accomplished, the other one to stand void. And so God send the good sloop to her desired Port in Safety, Amen. Dated in
Boston, May 14, 1759.
WILLM. CLIFT.