I have this morning heard a dialogue between Will Gardiner and a Captain
Pote, of Falmouth. Gardiner says he can't subscribe the non-consumption
agreement because he has a hundred men coming from England to settle
upon Kennebeck River, and he must supply them, which he can't do without
English goods. That agreement he says may do at Boston, but not in the
Eastern country. Pote said he never would sign it, and railed away at
Boston mobs, drowning tea, and tarring Malcom.
James Sullivan at dinner told us a story or two. One member of the
General Court, he said, as they came down stairs after their dissolution
at Salem said to him, "Though we are killed, we died scrabbling, did not
we?"
This is not very witty, I think.
Another story was of a piece of wit of brother Porter, of Salem. He came
upon the floor and asked a member, "What state are you in now?" The
member answered, "In a state of nature." "Aye," says Porter, "and you
will be damned before you will get into a state of grace."