Of the nineteen ministers to whom this letter is addressed, twelve - Barker, Brooks, Caryl, Cokayne, Collins, Griffith, Hooke, Knowles, Loder,2 Nye, Owen, and Palmer - had signed the letter in reply dated February 5, 1671-72. The other seven ministers were: Thomas Goodwin (1600-1680), William Greenhill (1591– 1671), Leonard Hoar (H. C. 1650), Samuel Lee (1625-1691), Nicholas Lockyer (1611–1685), Matthew Mead (1630-1699), and Ralph Venning (1621–1674).

Mr. HENRY L. CHAPMAN, a Corresponding Member, communicated a copy of an order dated 15 February, 1693-94, commanding Sir William Phips, then Governor of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, to appear before the Privy

1 Massachusetts Archives, lviii. 72, 73.

2 As stated in the text, the letter is a copy. Hence we should expect certain discrepancies in the spelling of names. In the copy the name of "m" Loather" occurs. I cannot find any trace of a dissenting minister of that name at the time, and I suppose that it was the copyist's error for "Loder." It is possible, too, that my identification of certain of the names is incorrect. Notices of all the dissenting ministers will be found in S. Palmer's edition of Calamy's Nonconformist's Memorial, while sketches of all except Griffith and Loder are given in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Council to answer sundry charges of illegal and arbitrary acts attributed to him. The copy which follows is taken from the original manuscript in the Bowdoin College Library.

Wm. R.

Trusty & well beloved we greet you well.

2

It haveing been rep'sented unto us by ye Lds of o' Privy Council appointed a Comittee of Trade & Plantačons upon y severall compits of Jaleel Brenton Coll & Suvey Genal of of Customs in N. England & Capt Rich Short late Comdr of o ffrigott ye Nonsuch That by sev'all Informations upon Oath it appears That after Seizure made by the s Jaleel Brenton of divers goods & merchandizes to ye value of 1000 for being imported contrary to Law into o' province of y Massachusets Bay in N England under yor Governmt you had wth ab fifty persons attending you violently taken the same out of o' storehouse at Boston in N. E. beating & evilly entreating the sd Brenton, And haveing discharged the goods from ye sd seizure you had afterwards som of them for you own use & yt o' s1 Collector had been otherwise hindered & discouraged by you in ye Execučon of his Duty by forbidding y: msts of sev'all Vessells arriving from Engl & other pts & loading y enumerated Comoditys in N: Engl to swear with o' sd. Collector or to produce ye Certificates to him you declaring that he had nothing to do therewith and directing them to apply themselves to a Navall Officer appointed by you for this purpose, That Cap' Short had suffered divers great hardships from you by Illegall Imprisonment for the space of nine months & suspended him from y comand of o sd ffriggot & yt afterwards turning him out you had appointed y Guñer of o sd ship to take ye chief comand in his Room contrary to yo Direčon you had rec'd from us whereby y next officer in ye Ship should have succeeded in y comand according to y usuall practice of y Navy, That haveing caused him to be putt on board a merch Ship to be brought in Custody into England you had afterwards forbidd the mast' of ye Ship to bring him over & going on board y sd m'chant Ship you had broken open y Cabbin Dore & taken away by force Cap' Shorts Chest with his money & cloathes leaving him without any means to come over to make his comp1 unto us of ye severall hardships he had suffered there until the arrivall of o' Squadron under the

1 Jahleel Brenton (1655–1732) was a son of Governor William Brenton of Rhode Island. The manuscript is obscure and may read "Taleel" Brenton. 2 For a notice of Short, who died May 23, 1702, see Charnock's Biographia Navalis, ii. 403.

comand of Sir ffra: Wheeler1 in those parts That Cap' Short with o' sd ffriggot ye Nonsuch haveing in April 1692 taken a ffrench ship of ab 1500 value upon his arrivall in N. England you had caused ye sd Ship to be brought to tryall & condemned as prize before you sitting yo'self as Judge abt s condemncon, But it does not appear y' any acc! has been made so far for any pt. of ye sd prize or to ye seamen of ye Non-such for ye Share belonging to them That ye S' Jacob of Rochell loaded with Wine & Brandy from ffrance to Canada valued at ab' 9970 haveing been taken in Aug 1692 by the Ships the Swan & the Briganteen y Eliz : & Sarah & brought to New E: was condemned by you as prize to the Cap' without reserving any pt thereof to us (notwithstanding you had many men & some great gunns & other Stores of warr to be prest and taken from french owners) for fitting out ye sd Ship Brigentine under pretense of their being imployed for o' service without taking Care any satisfacon should be given to ye sd owners for ye great Gunns or Stores so taken from them Upon all wch compl's Wee have thought fit to signify of Royall pleasure And we do hereby strictly require & comand That at ye first opportunity after yo' Receipt hereof you forthwith give yo' attendance here in England to answer in o' privy Council ye sev'all matters of Comp above menčoned And to ye end all who may be fully prepared to be heard thereupon we are further pleased to direct & require that free Libty may be allowed to all persons to give their Informations & proofs upon oath relating to ye sd complts before o' Trustye & well beloved W Stoughton Esq o' L' Govor of of sd province of the Massachusetts Bay & o' Council of o sd province, And that Authoritative Copys of all Records & Evidence of what nature soever relating thereunto be duly transmitted to us under the public seal of o sd province of ye Massachusets Bay wherein you are not to intermeddle in any other manner than by y offering to of 8 Lt. Gov' & Council such proofs as you shall desire may be made before them on yo! behalf we haveing likewise signifyed o pleasure to o gd Lt. Govor that he do all that in him lys to see these o Direcčons put in Execučon and that he take upon him the Goverm❜t of o' sd province during yo absence from thence or untill o further pleasure shall be signifyed concerning ye same according to o' Comission & Instruccons granted unto you for ye Gover'ment of os province, And so not doubting of yo-ready obedience to ye significačon of o2 Royall pleasure herein we bid you farewel.

Given at of Co't. at Whitehall ye 15th day of Febr 1693/4 in ye 6th year of o reign. By his Mäty's comand

J. TRENCHARD.

1 For a notice of Sir Francis Wheler, see the Dictionary of National Biography.

Mr. HENRY H. EDES made the following communication:

It is well known to many of the members that for more than sixty years the date of Judge Edmund Trowbridge's birth has been diligently but unsuccessfully sought by historians, genealogists, and editors. The approximate date has just been discovered in a business letter written by Chief-Justice Dana to Mrs. Frances Shirley Western, in which he refers to the health and age of his uncle, Judge Trowbridge, whose wife (Mary Goffe) was aunt to Mrs. Dana. As Judge Trowbridge lived for several years, after the death of his wife, with the Chief-Justice and Mrs. Dana, there is scarcely room to doubt the accuracy of his nephew's statement.

Mrs. Western, to whom the letter is addressed, was the daughter of William Bollan, long the agent of the Province in London, and Frances, daughter of Governor Shirley, who died at the birth of her only child.1 During her father's absence in London, her early childhood was spent on the Ten Hills Farm estate with her maternal aunt Harriet, who had married Robert Temple, a brother of Sir John Temple, whose son Sir Grenville Temple married Elizabeth (Watson) Russell, widow of the Hon. Thomas Russell, a son of the Hon. James Russell and nephew of Judge Chambers Russell. While living with the Temples, and when only thirteen years old, young Theodore Atkinson of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, fell in love with Frances Shirley; and notwithstanding her tender age his suit was encouraged by her uncle and aunt without the knowledge or consent of her father. Indignant at such conduct, Bollan removed his daughter from the care of the Temples and placed her with his friends Judge and Mrs. Trowbridge, with whom she remained until she sailed for England, in September, 1765, to join her father, who was then residing in Lisle Street,

1 The wife and daughter of Governor Shirley are commemorated by a beautiful monument in King's Chapel, Boston, and in Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes's poem, "King's Chapel." See Foote, Annals of King's Chapel, ii 131, 626. Mrs. Bollan was buried 18 February, 1744-45; and her daughter (Mrs. Western) was baptized on the ninth of March following (King's Chapel Registers).

2 Atkinson subsequently married his cousin Frances Wentworth, who, a fortnight after his death, married her early lover, another cousin, Sir John Wentworth, afterward Governor of New Hampshire and of Nova Scotia. Her portrait by Copley is in the Lenox Library. See Wentworth Genealogy (1878), vol. i. pp. xxviii, xxix, 299, 318, 548, 549. An engraving of Copley's canvas faces P. 548.

Leicester Square, London. She very soon married Charles Western of Rivenhall and of Felix Hall, Kelvedon, Essex, who died 24 July, 1771. Their eldest son, Charles Callis Western, baptized 9 August, 1767, was educated at Eton and at Cambridge, and after forty-two years' service in Parliament in the Whig interest was created, 28 January, 1833, Baron Western of Rivenhall. The letter of Chief-Justice Dana follows.

(N: 10.)

CAMBRIDGE, DECT 6th 1789.

MADAM

My last letter to you was of the 11th of May, 1788, and the last I have been honoured with from you, was of the 4th of Feby of the same year. In No 7 I requested you to furnish me with a copy of your Father's will duely authenticated in the proper office, under the seal of it; which, by the law of our government, will serve in all cases as well as the original will: and without it no suit whether real or personal can be brought in your favour. This has now become more necessary to be attended to, as we have a statute limiting actions against Executors and Administrators to three years, and near half of that time is already elapsed. And I fear an action must be instituted against the late Judge Russell's1 Executors, upon his bond to your Father: for notwithstanding his brother, who is one of them, wrote you long since that "he had settled the accounts and was ready to pay you Seven hundred & Twenty five pounds lawful money" yet I have never been able to obtain more than one hundred pounds which he paid me on the 17th of Sept: 1785,

2

1 The Hon. Chambers Russell (H. C. 1731), Judge of the Admiralty and of the Superiour Court of Judicature. A son of the Hon. Daniel Russell, long a member of the Executive Council, he was born in Charlestown, 4 July, 1713, and died in Guilford, Surrey, England, 24 November, 1766. See Wyman, Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, ii. 831, 832; Publications of this Society, viii. 159.

In this connection, it is interesting to note that Judge Russell was succeeded on the Bench of the Superiour Court by Edmund Trowbridge (Whitmore, Massachusetts Civil List, p. 70).

2 The Hon. James Russell of Charlestown, where he was born 5 August, 1715. He held many offices of trust and honor in the Province, including a seat in the Executive Council (1761-1773). He was also appointed, in 1774, one of the Mandamus Councillors, but refused to qualify. He was a Judge of the Inferiour Court of Common Pleas (1771–1774); and died in Charlestown 24 April, 1798 (Wyman, Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, ii. 831, 832; Whitmore, Massachusetts Civil List, pp. 61-64, 88).