"London, 15 February 1727.
"Honest Frd. This not only advises you of my arrival but acknowledges the rect of your favour. By your desire I waited upon Mr. Cox, & have told him and every body else, where it was necessary, as much as you desired, & account it part of my Felicity that I have so worthy a friend as Mr. Hancock. When you arrive here you'l find things vastly beyond your imagination,—I shall give you no other Character of England than this, that it is beyond expression, greater and finer than any thing I could ever form an Idea of. I wish you may arrive before I leave it, that you may with me, gaze and Wonder at a place that wee can neither of us give a good Discripsion of. Pray present my Services to Mr. Wood, Mr. Cunnington, and if Mr. Leverett be not so engaged at the Annual meeting in Choosing Hogg Constables &c. that to mention it to him might be an interruption in so important affairs, my Service to him also,—but rather than he shou'd loose any part of his Pleasure while you take up his Time in doing it, I begg you'l wait till a more leisure opportunity, when you may assure him that I am at his Service in anything but being Bread Weigher, Hogg Constable or any of those honourable posts of pleasure & profit. I have nothing more to add but Service to all friends, & assurance of my being
"Your sincere friend & very
"humble Servant,
"Chrisr. Kilby."
There is a letter in another book—Mr. Hancock's letter-book from 1740 to 1744—in which poetical justice to the arch-disturber of his peace is feelingly recorded. Cox[3] comes to grief at last,—surely, though late. Observe with what placid resignation Hancock regards his rival's mishap. The letter is to Longman, and bears date April 21st, 1742.
"——Thomas Cox has sent Orders to a Gentlen here to Receive from his man all his Effects,—the Shop is Accordingly Shutt up, & I am told his man is absconded & has Carried of all the money, I hear to the value of £500 Sterling; of Consequence a very bad Accott must be rendered to his Master & no doubt 't will put a final Stop to his unjust proceedings & Trade to New-Engd. I pray God it may have this long wished for Effect, the Good fruits of which, I hope you & we shall soon partake of."
The correspondence with Longman is kept up with great activity through the whole of the first third of the volume before us. Gradually, however, Hancock had been growing into a larger way of business, and his Bills of Exchange for £500 and £600, drawn generally by Mr. Peter Faneuil,[4] begin to be of more frequent occurrence,—bills which he writes his London correspondents "are Certainly very Good, & will meet with Due Honour." We read here and there of ventures to Medara and to Surranam, and of certain consignments of "Geese and Hogges to ye New Found Land." "Be so Good," he says, in a letter of May 17th, 1740, to a friend then staying in London, "as to Interist me in ye half of 8 or 10 Ticketts when any Lottery's going on, you think may doe, and am oblidged to you for mentioning your Kind intention herein. Please God ye Young Eagle, Philip Dumerisque Comr comes well home, and I believe I shall make no bad voyage." It is easy to see that the snug little business of the "Stationers' Arms" is soon to be given up, for what Drake[5] describes as "the more extensive field of mercantile enterprise."[6] By this time, too, the signs of the French War began to loom alarmingly upon the horizon of the little colony, and Hancock rose with the occasion to the character of a man of large and grave affairs. Cox's man, and his Trunks and Sortments of Books, appear, after this, to have but little of his attention. There was need of raising troops, and of fitting out vessels; and when the famous expedition against Louisburg was determined on, Hancock had a large share in the matter of providing its munitions and equipment. His correspondence with Sir William Pepperell in these great affairs still lies preserved in good order in boxes in the attic of the old mansion.
Meanwhile, as he rose in the world, he had been laying out his grounds, and building and furnishing his house; his first letter from which is addressed to his "Dear Friend," Christopher Kilby, then in London, and is dated, rather grandly, "At my house in Beacon Street, Boston ye 22d Mar. 1739-40." Let us look back, then, a little over the yellow, time-stained record of the letter-book before us, and see what were the experiences of a gentleman, in building and planting in Beacon Street, so long before our grandfathers were born.
Under date of the 5th of July, 1736, Hancock writes to his friend and constant correspondent in London, "Mr. Francis Wilks Esqr,"[7] inclosing a letter to one James Glin at Stepney, with orders for some trees, concerning which he tells Wilks, "I am advised to have 'em bought,—but if you Can find any man Will Serve us Better I Leave it to your Pleasure." He must have thought it a great pity, from the sequel of this affair, that Mr. Wilks's Pleasure did not happen to lie in another direction. "I am Recommended by Mr. Thos. Hubbard of This Town," runs the letter inclosed to Glin, "to you for A number of Fruit Trees,—be pleased to waite on Mr. Wilks for the Invo of them & Let me have ye best Fruit, & packt in ye best manner, & All numbered, with an Accot of ye Same. I pray you be very Carefull That ye Trees be Took up in ye Right Season, and if these Answer my Expectations I shall want more, & 't will Ly in my way to Recommend Some Friends to you. I Intreat the Fruit may be the best of their Kind, the Trees handsome Stock, well Pack't, All No'd & Tally'd, & particular Invo of 'em. I am Sr. &c. &c. T. H."
This careful order was evidently duly executed by the nurseryman, and at first all appears to have gone smoothly enough, since, on the 20th of December following, (1736,) we find another letter to Glin, as follows:—
"Sir,—My Trees and Seeds pr. Capt. Bennett Came Safe to hand and I Like them very well. I Return you my hearty Thanks for the Plumb Tree & Tulip Roots you were pleased to make a Present off, which are very Acceptable to me. I have Sent my friend Mr. Wilks a memo to procure for me 2 or 3 Doz. Yew Trees Some Hollys & Jessamin Vines & if you have any Particular Curious Things not of a high price will Beautifie a flower Garden, Send a Sample with the price or a Catalogue of 'em; pray Send me a Catalogue also of what Fruit you have that are Dwarf Trees and Espaliers. I shall want Some next Fall for a Garden I am Going to lay out next Spring. My Gardens all Lye on the South Side of a hill, with the most Beautifull Assent to the Top & it's Allowed on all hands the Kingdom of England don't afford So Fine a Prospect as I have both of Land and water. Neither do I intend to Spare any Cost or Pains in making my Gardens Beautifull or Profitable. If you have any Knowlidge of Sr John James he has been on the Spott & is perfectly acquainted with its Situation & I believe has as high an Opinion of it as myself & will give it as Great a Carrictor. Let me know also what you'l Take for 100 Small Yew Trees in the Rough, which I'd Frame up here to my own Fancy. If I can Do you any Service here I shall be Glad & be Assured I'll not forgett your Favour,—which being ye needful Concludes,