Soyl for ever, I have a Conscience inwards tells me, that I must offer
up the remains of that Obedience of mine, that lyes close centered
within the cave of my Soul, at the Alter, of your paternal Love: And
though this Sacrifice of mine may shew something low and thread-bare,
(at this time) yet know, That in the Zenith of all {87} actions,
Obedience is that great wheel that moves the lesser in their circular
motion.
I am now entring for some time to dwell under the Government of
_Neptune_, a Monarchy that I was never manured to live under, nor to
converse with in his dreadful Aspect, neither do I know how I shall
bear with his rough demands; but that God has carried me through those
many gusts a shoar, which I have met withall in the several voyages of
my life, I hope will Pilot me safely to my desired Port, through the
worst of Stormes I shall meet withall at Sea.
We have strange, and yet good news aboard, that he whose vast mind
could not be contented with spacious Territories to stretch his
insatiate desires on, is (by an Almighty power) banished from his
usuped Throne to dwell among the dead. I no sooner heard of it, but my
melancholly Muse forced me upon this ensuing Distich.
_Poor vaunting Earth, gloss’d with uncertain Pride,_
_That liv’d in Pomp, yet worse than others dy’d:_
_Who shall blow forth a Trumpet to thy praise?_
_Or call thy sable Actions shining Rayes?_
_Such Lights as those blaze forth the vertued dead,_
_And make them live, though they are buried._
_Thou’st gone, and to thy memory let be said,_
_There lies that Oliver which of old betray’d_
_His King and Master, and after did assume,_
_With swelling Pride, to govern in his room._
_Here I’le rest satisfied, Scriptures expound to me,_
_Tophet was made for such Supremacy._
{88}
The death of this great Rebel (I hope) will prove an _Omen_ to
presage destruction on the rest. The Worlds in a heap of troubles
and confusion, and while they are in the midst of their changes and
amazes, the best way to give them the bag, is to go out of the World
and leave them. I am now bound for _Mary-Land_, and I am told that’s a
New World, but if it prove no better than this, I shall not get much by
my change; but before I’le revoke my Resolution, I am resolv’d to put
it to adventure, for I think it can hardly be worse then this is: Thus
committing you into the hands of that God that made you, I rest
_Your Obedient Son_,
G. A.
From aboard a Ship at _Gravesend_,
_Sept._ 7th, _Anno_
_To my Brother._
I leave you very near in the same condition as I am in my self, only
here lies the difference, you were bound at Joyners Hall in _London_
Apprentice-wise, and I conditionally at Navigators Hall, that now
rides at an Anchor at _Gravesend_; I hope you will allow me to live
in the largest Mayordom, by reason I am the eldest: None but the main
Continent of _America_ will serve me for a Corporation to inhabit
{89} in now, though I am affraid for all that, that the reins of my
Liberty will be something shorter then yours will be in _London_: But
as to that, what Destiny has ordered I am resolved with an adventerous
Resolution to subscribe to, and with a contented imbracement enjoy
it. I would fain have seen you once more in this Old World, before I
go into the New, I know you have a chain about your Leg, as well as I
have a clog about my Neck: If you can’t come, send a line or two, if
not, wish me well at least: I have one thing to charge home upon you,
and I hope you will take my counsel, That you have alwayes an obedient
Respect and Reverence to your aged Parents, that while they live they
may have comfort of you, and when that God shall sound a retreat to
their lives, that there they may with their gray hairs in joy go down
to their Graves.
Thus concluding, wishing you a comfortable Servitude, a prosperous
Life, and the assurance of a happy departure in the immutable love of
him that made you,
Vale.
Your Brother,
G. A.
From _Gravesend_, Sept. 7. _Anno_
{90}
_To my much Honored Friend_ Mr. T. B. _at his House_.
I am got ashoar with much ado, and it is very well it is as it is, for
if I had stayed a little longer, I had certainly been a Creature of
the Water, for I had hardly flesh enough to carry me to Land, not that
I wanted for any thing that the Ship could afford me in reason: But
oh the great bowls of Pease-porridge that appeared in sight every day
about the hour of twelve, ingulfed the senses of my Appetite so, with
the restringent quality of the Salt Beef, upon the internal Inhabitants
of my belly, that a _Galenist_ for some days after my arrival, with his
Bag-pipes of Physical operations, could hardly make my Puddings dance
in any methodical order.
But to set by these things that happened unto me at Sea, I am now upon
Land, and there I’le keep my self if I can, and for four years I am
pretty sure of my restraint; and had I known my yoak would have been
so easie, (as I conceive it will) I would have been here long before
now, rather then to have dwelt under the pressure of a Rebellious and
Trayterous Government so long as I did. I dwell now by providence in
the Province of _Mary-Land_, (under the quiet Government of the Lord
_Baltemore_) which Country a bounds in a most glorious prosperity and
plenty of all things. And though the Infancy of her situation might
plead an excuse to those several imperfections, (if she were guilty
of any of them) which by {91} scandalous and imaginary conjectures
are falsly laid to her charge, and which she values with so little
notice or perceivance of discontent, that she hardly alters her visage
with a frown, to let them know she is angry with such a Rascality of
people, that loves nothing better then their own sottish and abusive
acclamations of baseness: To be short, the Country (so far forth as I
have seen into it) is incomparable.
Here is a sort of naked Inhabitants, or wilde people, that have for
many ages I believe lived here in the Woods of _Mary-Land_, as well as
in other parts of the Continent, before e’er it was by the Christian
Discoverers found out; being a people strange to behold, as well in
their looks, which by confused paintings makes them seem dreadful, as
in their sterne and heroick gate and deportments, the Men are mighty
tall and big limbed, the Women not altogether so large; they are most
of them very well featured, did not their wilde and ridiculous dresses
alter their original excellencies: The men are great Warriours and
Hunters, the Women ingenious and laborious Housewives.
As to matter of their Worship, they own no other Deity then the
Devil, and him more out of a slavish fear, then any real devotion,
or willing acknowledgement to his Hellish power. They live in little
small Bark-Cottages, in the remote parts of the Woods, killing and
slaying the several Animals that they meet withall to make provision
of, dressing their {92} several Hydes and Skins to Trafique withall,
when a conveniency of Trade presents. I would go on further, but like
Doctor _Case_, when he had not a word more to speak for himself, _I am
afraid my beloved I have kept you too long_. Now he that made you save
you. _Amen._
_Yours to command_,
G. A.
From _Mary-Land_, _Febr._ 6. _Anno_
And not to forget _Tom Forge_ I beseech you, tell him that my Love’s
the same towards him still, and as firm as it was about the overgrown
Tryal, when Judgements upon judgements, had not I stept in, would have
pursued him untill the day of Judgement, _&c._
_To my Father at his House._
SIR,
After my Obedience (at so great and vast a distance) has humbly saluted
you and my good Mother, with the cordialest of my prayers, wishes,
and desires to wait upon you, with the very best of their effectual
devotion, wishing from the very Center of my Soul your flourishing and
well-being here upon Earth, and your glorious and everlasting happiness
in the World to Come. {93}
These lines (my dear Parents) come from that Son which by an irregular
Fate was removed from his Native home, and after a five months
dangerous passage, was landed on the remote Continent of _America_,
in the Province of _Mary-Land_, where now by providence I reside. To
give you the particulars of the several accidents that happened in our
voyage by Sea, it would swell a Journal of some sheets, and therefore
too large and tedious for a Letter: I think it therefore necessary to
bind up the relation in Octavo, and give it you in short.
We had a blowing and dangerous passage of it, and for some dayes after
I arrived, I was an absolute _Copernicus_, it being one main point
of my moral Creed, to believe the World had a pair of long legs, and
walked with the burthen of the Creation upon her back. For to tell
you the very truth of it, for some dayes upon Land, after so long
and tossing a passage, I was so giddy that I could hardly tread an
even step; so that all things both above and below (that was in view)
appeared to me like the _Kentish Britains_ to _William the Conqueror_,
in a moving posture.
Those few number of weeks since my arrival, has given me but little
experience to write any thing large of the Country; only thus much
I can say, and that not from any imaginary conjectures, but from an
occular observation, That this Country of _Mary-Land_ abounds in a
flourishing variety of delightful Woods, {94} pleasant groves, lovely
Springs, together with spacious Navigable Rivers and Creeks, it being
a most helthful and pleasant situation, so far as my knowledge has yet
had any view in it.
Herds of Deer are as numerous in this Province of _Mary-Land_, as
Cuckolds can be in _London_, only their horns are not so well drest and
tipt with silver as theirs are.
Here if the Devil had such a Vagary in his head as he had once among
the _Gadareans_, he might drown a thousand head of Hogs and they’d
ne’re be miss’d, for the very Woods of this Province swarms with them.
The Christian Inhabitant of this Province, as to the general, lives
wonderful well and contented: The Government of this Province is by
the loyalness of the people, and loving demeanor of the Proprietor and
Governor of the same, kept in a continued peace and unity.
The Servant of this Province, which are stigmatiz’d for Slaves by the
clappermouth jaws of the vulgar in _England_, live more like Freemen
then the most Mechanick Apprentices in _London_, wanting for nothing
that is convenient and necessary, and according to their several
capacities, are extraordinary well used and respected. So leaving
things here as I found them, and lest I should commit Sacriledge upon
your more serious meditations, with the Tautologies of a long-winded
Letter, I’le subscribe with a {95} heavenly Ejaculation to the God of
Mercy to preserve you now and for evermore, _Amen_.
_Your Obedient Son_,
G. A.
From _Mary-Land_, _Jan._ 17. _Anno_
_To my much Honored Friend_ Mr. M. F.
SIR,
You writ to me when I was at _Gravesend_, (but I had no conveniency to
send you an answer till now) enjoyning me, if possible, to give you a
just Information by my diligent observance, what thing were best and
most profitable to send into this Country for a commodious Trafique.
_Sir_, The enclosed will demonstrate unto you both particularly and at
large, to the full satisfaction of your desire, it being an Invoyce
drawn as exact to the business you imployed me upon, as my weak
capacity could extend to.
_Sir_, If you send any Adventure to this Province, let me beg to give
you this advice in it; That the Factor whom you imploy be a man of a
Brain, otherwise the Planter will go near to make a Skimming-dish of
his Skull: I know your Genius can interpret my meaning. The people of
this place (whether the saltness of the Ocean gave them any alteration
when they went over first, or their continual dwelling under {96} the
remote Clyme where they now inhabit, I know not) are a more acute
people in general, in matters of Trade and Commerce, then in any other
place of the World (see note No. 60), and by their crafty and sure
bargaining, do often over-reach the raw and unexperienced Merchant. To
be short, he that undertakes Merchants imployment for _Mary-Land_, must
have more of Knave in him then Fool; he must not be a windling piece
of Formality, that will lose his Imployers Goods for Conscience sake;
nor a flashy piece of Prodigality, that will give his Merchants fine
Hollands, Laces, and Silks, to purchase the benevolence of a Female:
But he must be a man of solid confidence, carrying alwayes in his looks
the Effigies of an Execution upon Command, if he supposes a baffle or
denyal of payment, where a debt for his Imployer is legally due. (See
note No. 61).
_Sir_, I had like almost to forgot to tell you in what part of the
World I am: I dwell by providence Servant to Mr. _Thomas Stocket_
(see note No. 62), in the County of _Baltemore_, within the Province
of _Mary-Land_, under the Government of the Lord _Baltemore_, being a
Country abounding with the variety and diversity of all that is or may
be rare. But lest I should Tantalize you with a relation of that which
is very unlikely of your enjoying, by reason of that strong Antipathy
you have ever had ’gainst Travel, as to your own particular: I’le
only tell you, that _Mary-Land_ is seated within the large extending
armes {97} of _America_, between the Degrees of 36 and 38, being in
Longitude from _England_ eleven hundred and odd Leagues.
Vale.
G. A.
From _Mary-Land_, _Jan._ 17. _Anno_
_To my Honored Friend_ Mr. T. B. _at his House_.
SIR,
Yours I received, wherein I find my self much obliged to you for your
good opinion of me, I return you millions of thanks.
_Sir_, you wish me well, and I pray God as well that those wishes may
light upon me, and then I question not but all will do well. Those
Pictures you sent sewed up in a Pastboard, with a Letter tacked on the
outside, you make no mention at all what should be done with them:
If they are Saints, unless I knew their names, I could make no use
of them. Pray in your next let me know what they are, for my fingers
itch to be doing with them one way or another. Our Government here
hath had a small fit of a Rebellious Quotidian, (see note No. 63), but
five Grains of the powder of Subvertment has qualified it. Pray be
larger in your next how things stand in _England_: I understand His
Majesty is return’d with Honour, and seated in the hereditary Throne
of his Father; God {98} bless him from Traytors, and the Church from
Sacrilegious Schisms, and you as a loyal Subject to the one, and a true
Member to the other; while you so continue, the God of order, peace and
tranquility, bless and preserve you, _Amen_.
_Vale._
_Your real Friend_,
G. A.
From _Mary-Land_, Febr. 20. _Anno_
_To my Honored Father at his House._
SIR,
VVith a twofold unmeasurable joy I received your Letter: First, in
the consideration of Gods great Mercy to you in particular, (though
weak and aged) yet to give you dayes among the living. Next, that his
now most Excellent Majesty _Charles_ the Second, is by the omnipotent
Providence of God, seated in the Throne of his Father. I hope that God
has placed him there, will give him a heart to praise and magnifie his
name for ever, and a hand of just Revenge, to punish the murthering
and rebellious Outrages of those Sons of shame and Apostacy, that
Usurped the Throne of his Sacred Honour. Near about the time I received
your Letter, (or a little before) here sprang up in this Province of
_Mary-Land_ a kind of pigmie Rebellion: A company of {99} weak-witted
men, which thought to have traced the steps of _Oliver_ in Rebellion
(see note No. 63). They began to be mighty stiff and hidebound in their
proceedings, clothing themselves with the flashy pretences of future
and imaginary honour, and (had they not been suddenly quell’d) they
might have done so much mischief (for aught I know) that nothing but
utter ruine could have ransomed their headlong follies.
His Majesty appearing in _England_, he quickly (by the splendor of his
Rayes) thawed the stiffness of their frozen and slippery intentions.
All things (blessed be God for it) are at peace and unity here now: And
as _Luther_ being asked once, What he thought of some small Opinions
that started up in his time? answered, _That he thought them to be good
honest people, exempting their error_: So I judge of these men, That
their thoughts were not so bad at first, as their actions would have
led them into in process of time.
I have here enclosed sent you something written in haste upon the
Kings coming to the enjoyment of his Throne, with a reflection upon
the former sad and bad times; I have done them as well as I could,
considering all things: If they are not so well as they should be, all
I can do is to wish them better for your sakes. My Obedience to you and
my Mother alwayes devoted.
_Your Son_
G. A.
From _Mary-Land_, Febr. 9. _Anno_
{100}
_To my Cosen_ Mris. Ellinor Evins.
E’ _re I forget the Zenith of your Love,_
L _et me be banisht from the Thrones above;_
L _ight let me never see, when I grow rude,_
I _ntomb your Love in base Ingratitude:_
N _or may I prosper, but the state_
O _f gaping_ Tantalus _be my fate;_
R _ather then I should thus preposterous grow,_
E _arth would condemn me to her vaults below._
V _ertuous and Noble, could my Genius raise_
I _mmortal Anthems to your Vestal praise,_
N _one should be more laborious than I,_
S _aint-like to Canonize you to the Sky._
The Antimonial Cup (dear Cosen) you sent me, I had; and as soon as
I received it, I went to work with the Infirmities and Diseases of
my body. At the first draught, it made such havock among the several
humors that had stolen into my body, that like a Conjurer in a room
among a company of little Devils, they no sooner hear him begin to
speak high words, but away they pack, and happy is he that can get
out first, some up the Chimney, and the rest down stairs, till they
are all disperst. So those malignant humors of my body, feeling the
operative power, and medicinal virtue of this Cup, were so amazed at
their sudden surprizal, (being alwayes before battered only by the weak
assaults of some few Empyricks) they stood not long to dispute, but
with joynt consent {101} made their retreat, some running through the
sink of the Skullery, the rest climbing up my ribs, took my mouth for a
Garret-window, and so leapt out.
_Cosen_, For this great kindness of yours, in sending me this medicinal
vertue, I return you my thanks: It came in a very good time, when I
was dangerously sick, and by the assistance of God it hath perfectly
recovered me.
I have sent you here a few Furrs, they were all I could get at present,
I humbly beg your acceptance of them, as a pledge of my love and
thankfulness unto you; I subscribe,
_Your loving Cosen_,
G. A.
From _Mary Land_, _Dec._ 9. _Anno_
_To My Brother_ P. A.
BROTHER,
I have made a shift to unloose my self from my Collar now as well as
you, but I see at present either small pleasure or profit in it: What
the futurality of my dayes will bring forth, I know not; For while I
was linckt with the Chain of a restraining Servitude, I had all things
cared for, and now I have all things to care for my self, which makes
me almost to wish my self in for the other four years.
Liberty without money, is like a man opprest with the Gout, every step
he puts forward puts him to {102} pain; when on the other side, he
that has Coyn with his Liberty, is like the swift Post-Messenger of the
Gods, that wears wings at his heels, his motion being swift or slow, as
he pleaseth.
I received this year two Caps, the one white, of an honest plain
countenance, the other purple, which I conceive to be some antient
Monumental Relique; which of them you sent I know not, and it was a
wonder how I should, for there was no mention in the Letter, more then,
_that my Brother had sent me a Cap_: They were delivered me in the
company of some Gentlemen that ingaged me to write a few lines upon the
purple one, and because they were my Friends I could not deny them; and
here I present them to you as they were written.
_Haile from the dead, or from Eternity,_
_Thou Velvit Relique of Antiquity;_
_Thou which appear’st here in thy purple hew,_
_Tell’s how the dead within their Tombs do doe;_
_How those Ghosts fare within each Marble Cell,_
_Where amongst them for Ages thou didst dwell._
_What Brain didst cover there? tell us that we_
_Upon our knees vayle Hats to honour thee:_
_And if no honour’s due, tell us whose pate_
_Thou basely coveredst, and we’l joyntly hate:_
_Let’s know his name, that we may shew neglect;_
_If otherwise, we’l kiss thee with respect._
_Say, didst thou cover Noll’s old brazen head,_
_Which on the top of Westminster high Lead_ {103}
_Stands on a Pole, erected to the sky,_
_As a grand Trophy to his memory._
_From his perfidious skull didst thou fall down,_
_In a dis-dain to honour such a crown_
_With three-pile Velvet? tell me, hadst thou thy fall_
_From the high top of that Cathedral?_
_None of the_ Heroes _of the_ Roman _stem,_
_Wore ever such a fashion’d Diadem,_
_Didst thou speak_ Turkish _in thy unknown dress,_
_Thou’dst cover_ Great Mogull, _and no man less;_
_But in thy make methinks thou’rt too too scant,_
_To be so great a Monarch’s Turberant._
_The_ Jews _by_ Moses _swear, they never knew_
_E’re such a Cap drest up in_ Hebrew:
_Nor the strict Order of the_ Romish _See,_
_Wears any Cap that looks so base as thee;_
_His Holiness hates thy Lowness, and instead,_
_Wears Peters spired Steeple on his head:_
_The Cardinals descent is much more flat,_
_For want of name, baptized is_ A Hat;
_Through each strict Order has my fancy ran,_
_Both_ Ambrose, Austin, _and the_ Franciscan,
_Where I beheld rich Images of the dead,_
_Yet scarce had one a Cap upon his head:_
Episcopacy _wears Caps, but not like thee,_
_Though several shap’d, with much diversity:_
_’Twere best I think I presently should gang_
_To_ Edenburghs _strict_ Presbyterian;
_But Caps they’ve none, their ears being made so large,_
_Serves them to turn it like a_ Garnesey _Barge;_
_Those keep their skulls warm against North-west gusts,_
_When they in Pulpit do poor_ Calvin _curse._ {104}
_Thou art not_ Fortunatus, _for I daily see,_
_That which I wish is farthest off from me:_
_Thy low-built state none ever did advance,_
_To christen thee the_ Cap of Maintenance;
_Then till I know from whence thou didst derive,_
_Thou shalt be call’d, the_ Cap of Fugitive.
You writ to me this year to send you some Smoak; at that instant it
made me wonder that a man of a rational Soul, having both his eyes
(blessed be God) should make so unreasonable a demand, when he that
has but one eye, nay he which has never a one, and is fain to make use
of an Animal conductive for his optick guidance, cannot endure the
prejudice that Smoak brings with it: But since you are resolv’d upon
it, I’le dispute it no farther.
I have sent you that which will make Smoak, (namely Tobacco) though the
Funk it self is so slippery that I could not send it, yet I have sent
you the Substance from whence the Smoak derives: What use you imploy it
to I know not, nor will I be too importunate to know; yet let me tell
you this, That if you burn it in a room to affright the Devil from the
house, you need not fear but it will work the same effect, as _Tobyes_
galls did upon the leacherous Fiend. No more at present. _Vale._
_Your Brother_,
G. A.
From _Mary-Land_, _Dec._ 11. _Anno_
{105}
_To my Honored Friend_ Mr. T. B.
SIR,
This is the entrance upon my fifth year, and I fear ’twill prove
the worst: I have been very much troubled with a throng of unruly
Distempers, that have (contrary to my expectation) crouded into the
Main-guard of my body, when the drowsie Sentinels of my brain were a
sleep. Where they got in I know not, but to my grief and terror I find
them predominant: Yet as Doctor _Dunne_, sometimes Dean of St. _Pauls,
said, That the bodies diseases do but mellow a man for Heaven, and so
ferments him in this World, as he shall need no long concoction in
the Grave, but hasten to the Resurrection_. And if this were weighed
seriously in the Ballance of Religious Reason, the World we dwell in
would not seem so inticing and bewitching as it doth.
We are only sent by God of an Errand into this World, and the time
that’s allotted us for to stay, is only for an Answer. When God my
great Master shall in good earnest call me home, which these warnings
tell me I have not long to stay, I hope then I shall be able to give
him a good account of my Message.