“Since I received your last letter, I paid a visit to the present Archbishop,[[201c]] and mentioned to him what you wished me to do. I found he did not approve of your contemplated removal; but he proposed, that twenty pounds sterling per annum should be added to your salary: for, his grace observed, that a person so capable as you are, to advise and assist the people in your neighbourhood,[[201d]] could not be spared for any other mission: And, on that consideration, the society[[201e]] had agreed to this augmentation of your salary.”
On the 17th of June, 1767, Mr. Penn again wrote to Mr. Barton, from London; as follows:
“I am much concerned to find, that the missionaries have suffered so much, and that you are so uneasy in your situation as to have asked leave to move into Maryland. The society has offered, or intend to offer, an addition to your salary, or some other encouragement, if you stay in Pennsylvania: and I have desired Mr. Hamilton,[[201f]] who is upon his return, to talk to you on this affair, before you take your resolution; as I hope and intend to make you a present from me,[[201g]] if you do not put that design into execution.”
[201a]. This letter is contained in a volume of Dr. Smith’s Sermons, &c. published in England in two editions, in the years 1759 and 1762; and is also comprehended in an elegant edition of the Doctor’s works, republished in Philadelphia a few years since.
[201b]. The Rev. Mr. Barton.
[201c]. Dr. Thomas Secker, then lately translated from the diocese of Oxford to the archi-episcopal see of Canterbury: “a name,” as the author of the Pursuits of Literature has justly observed, “never to be uttered but with reverence, as the great exemplar of metropolitan strictness, erudition, and dignity.” This excellent prelate, after most worthily sustaining the highest station in the English church more than ten years, died in the year 1768.
[201d]. Mr. Barton’s residence was, at that time, in Redding township, York county, then a frontier settlement of Pennsylvania.
[201e]. The Society for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts.
[201f]. James Hamilton, Esquire.—This gentleman was lieutenant-governor of Pennsylvania from the year 1748 to 1754—again, from 1759 to 1763—and president of the proprietary and governor’s council, from the 6th of May, 1771, to the 16th of October in the same year. He was a liberal patron of learning and science.
“Est et Hamiltonus nomen venerabile, cujus