well. I have nothing new to add but that I hope the time draws near when we shall have the Happyness of meating our Friends again. in the mean time please to present our Duty to our Mama, Compliments to Miss Maclavin,1 and except of the Affecti[o]nate Love of your Brother and Sister,

SUSANNA COPLEY.

Henry Pelham to Copley

MY DEAR BROTHER,

BOSTON, Octor. 22, 1771.

I shall not take up your time nor my Paper in describing the Pleasure we take in having a line from you and in hearing that you and my dear Sister are well after an agreable tour to Philedelphia. As Mr. Flagg setts out tomorrow morning for your City and as my time is short I shall without further Circumlocution proceed to inform you that your severell Favours of Septmr. 20th and 29th and Octor. 12 came safe to hand. Captn. Smith did not arrive here 'till last Thursday so that your Letter by him was of an old Date.

I shall answer them in their Order. I have wrote to Coll. Putnam and Mr Payne. Mr. Payne informs me he shall pay the utmost attention to your Cause. your Other Directions respecting it I shall follow. I have endeavoured since you left Boston to be as perticuler as possable in following your Directions; but with regard to the Peazas, I have been obliged to depart a little from your Inclination. Captn. Joy informs me and I believe you will see it yourself, that if it is let alone till the next Season it will cost at least 10£ Lawfull if not 10£ sterg. more, and it will be impossable to do the Work so well. If they are not done now the House must be closed Boarded and Clap

1 Miss Peggy McIlvaine.

boarded down to the Foundation and Water Tables put round. The lower Windows must be capped and Cornished. The doors either not cut out, in which Case it will make a great deal of Work, or if they are cut out the[y] must be closed at top and Caped, all which will be thrown away. he says it will not be possable to unite them so well to the House. He further says that he is quite disinterested in it, that he shall be but just able to make days Wages by them, and had much reather (for his own sake) that they had been left out entirely. As the case was so situated, as the time was short, and as by your several Letters I found it was your intention that they should be done some time or other, it left no doubt in my Mind but that you would think it was best to have them done. I have accordingly after the maturest Deliberation and advice given Orders for their being done, hopeing they would meet with your approbation. The Passage to your great Room is very convenient and worthy of the place it leads to. I don't think the Chinese you sent by Smith is so hansome as Mr. Vassell's.

In yours of the 29th I have an Account of your Journey to Philadelphia and a discription of some capitall Pictures. I should be exceeding happy in having an Opertunity of contemplateing good Coppys after some of the best Artists that have enriched Europe. I have not been able to ascertain at what time Vandyck came to England. Fresnoy1 and Depile2 are entirely silent. Walpole amidst all his exactness has neglected to give us that date. I think it probable that the Pictures at Brunswick dated 1628, must have been done before Vandyck

1 Du Fresnoy, De Arte Graphica. It was translated into French with additions by De Piles (1661). There are English translations by Dryden (1695), Wills (1754), and Mason (1783), the last with annotations by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and afterwards included in Reynolds's Works.

2 Roger de Piles, The Art of Painting.

came to England, for Walpole says "Hearing of the Favour that King Charles shewed to the arts, Vandyck came to England, hoping to be introduced to the King," that "he was not," that "he went away Chagrined, but his Majesty hearing what a Treasure had been within his Reach, ordered Sir Kenelm Digby to invite him over he came and was lodged among the King's Artists at Black Friers. Thither the King went often by Water and viewed his Performances with singuler delight, often sitting to him himself, and bespeaking Pictures of the Queen, his Children and his Courtiers, and Confered the Honour of Knighthood on him at St. James's July 5, 1632”1 4 Years after the date of the Brunswick Picture. I think we may reasonably conclude that those Pictures were done before his arrival at the British Court. It seems very unlikely that so distinguished a Patron of the Arts and so eminent an encourager of Artists as Charles, should suffer Vandyck to remain in his Service four Years without Confering that Mark of his Royal Favour. Your's by Captn Montresor is upon moneyd Matters. by the next opertunity I shall send you a state of your Acct. I should have sent it now but have not time. I must take this Opertunity to make great complaints of Mrs. Dawson. after several delays she has given me to understand that no rent shall be paid 'till you come home, and that you cant be so unreasonable as to expect any till the Place is put into good repair. Mr. Green has got your Letter. he say[s] three quarters of it consists of Apologies, that no printer would undertake to print your Life and Conversation but that in some leasure Hour he will write it. He further desires his and his Ladys Love to you and my Sister. My Mamma is rather unwell has a bad Cold she desires her kindest Love and Blessing to you and my Sister and 1 Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting in England (1762), 11. 90.

longs to see you. My Brother and Sister Pelham were in Town a few days ago, present their Love and Compliments. I have heard little Betzey was well a few days ago. she is a fine Girl and is almost able to walk alone. Your things are arrived from London in 13 Weeks from the departure of the Orders. The Glass is very good but 3 Squares out of 184 Broak, and those will cut 10-8. The White Lead I have not opened. The Box contain'g Putty, Brushes, Chalks, etc., has gone down (by the Captns. Mistake) to Salem from whence I expect it every Moment. The Cloths are good. Inclosed is Copy of the Invoice and Letter. Would it not be best to send for some more Paint as 200 lb will not be neer enough to finish both Houses. The Potatoes are dug and a prodegiou[s] Crop. Woodward and I have divided 80 Bushalls between us, that is 40 a peice. I imagine that the Field produced about a Hundred Bushall and most excellent ones they are.

We had like to have had the Town blown about our Ears a few nights ago. A quantity of Oacum in the store Room of the Admiral's Ship adjoining the Powder Room in which was 500 Barrells of Powder, by some Accident took fire and was burnt. The new powder house at the back of the Hill goes on briskly. I believe the Town will be perfectly Secure from it in that Situation, it will be finished in eight Weeks.

The Question is, as Mr. Fayerweather says, shall you be at Home this Fall or shall you not? I am dear Sir with my Love and Compliments to yourself and my Sister, Your Affectionate Brother and Humbl. Sert.

HENRY PELHAM.

P S. I have just found myself in a great Dillemma. I applyed to several Painters for boyled oyl to paint the outside of the