upon you for £100 sterling, I am sensible of the last bill of £30 be arrived and accepted; I have not so much money of mine in your hands; yet by no means would have the same protested therefore have sent inclosed towards making up the sum good sure bills as I think of Willis upon Perry & Lane for £7 sterling. I believe I shall be able to send you more bills speedily but if I be not, there is Jno Taylor son of Coll° Thomas Taylor hath the produce of some hhs of sweet scented Tob of mine in hand, which I shall order you: The reason that makes me so earnest is, I would by no manner of means have a protest, but never yet so branded, nor indeed did I ever yet before this time, draw bills for more money than I had in his hands upon whom I drew. Sr. I heartily thank your kindness in M" Lettens affair, and am glad since the circumstances have been so unfortunate that I had to do with one, that Judged of the manage of affairs, by reason and not by success. I have sent the inclosed to Mr. John Taylor open for your perusal, whereby you may see the methods I have taken about my money in his hands, if it be not already disposed. In my last by the Bristol Fleet I gave you an account of my design to send you a summary discourse of Virginia, and a full and methodical Digest of our Laws which were then not prepared, but are now fully ready and only wait a convenient passport to get them to your hands without the great charge of Postage, when I send them, I shall be more large in delivering some methods about them. All health and happiness is wished you by To Mr. Nicholas Hayward &c. Wff. Dec. 19th, 1693. Mr. John Taylor: S'. I received yours bearing date 15th Feby: by what ship I know not, and therein you give me an account of the receipt of my eight hhd & Barrel of Tobo, the Barrell and one hha3 you give me account is sold, the rest waits a market, which I hope may find a good one because all Informations give an account of the rising thereof, not one Londoner coming into our river of Potomack this year, and Tob° plenty when they Ride, there was no possibility of shipping any more this year, or else perhaps you might have heard more effectually from me by this time. The last year I ordered the produce of my Tob' to be sent me in goods according as I have mentioned, but if you have not shipped or purchased the goods before this letter arrives I would have you desist from purchasing any goods for me, but to pay the money due to me to Mr. Nicholas Hayward or his order, when he shall call for it. Pray let me hear from you by the first conveniency that so I may be able better to order my affairs towards a further correspondence. I rest, To Mr. Jn Taylor merchant in London. Mr. John Cooper: S' your Wff. Dec. 19th, 1693. S'. Your severall letters of the 20th of January and 10th of March dates came safe by the Fleet, wherein you give me an account of the lowness of Tob° & that therefore you have not yet sold that six hh of mine that is come to your hands. I hope your delay therein may be of some advantage to me, now in the time of a rising market; I see by your letter and return to Mr. Mathew Thompson it had been of great advantage to me to have sent treble the quantity of Oronoko, which that would have yielded me, but markets both here & there are so uncertain that no certain measure can be taken; I designed you some more Tob this year and intended to try of both sorts Aronoko and sweet scented but we had not one London Ship in our River of Potomack of neither side, from head to mouth thereof, and ships have no necessity upon them to come round from other Rivers, when they may be supplyed where they lye. As it happened I am glad none of the goods I sent for came in last year and now I would have you send me none till my farther order. As to Coll° Pye's affair I gave you a full account thereof by the Spencer Capt. Goodridge, and therein also sent you his bills of Exchange drawne upon Mr. Groome, together with his letter to you, which I presume before this time are come safe to your hand, he promising extremely fair & I hope I shall bring him to act as fair, but till the arrivall of your next in answer to those by Goodridge, I can't fairly proceed vigorously, for therein his letter you may see he promises to pay to the utmost penny what you shall justly make appear to be due from him upon the station of accounts. Notwithstanding I have sent your letter to him, and shall hold him in fair treaty till I receive full and farther orders and shall both now and then act and do for you as if it were my own concern. The long detaining the letter was almost as much prejudice to us here as the damage or loss of our Tob &c. not having one ship amongst us this year there is fair field open for a London merchant to strike in with a brisk & full trade here and if any Londoner had happened to send a ship he might had large consignments. S'. The box sent me by my mother with the letter tyed to it never reached me, nor do I know by what ship it came; if any more letters for the future come to your hands inclose them in yours, the Postage is nothing be the packet never so big. I received a letter bearing date the 12th of March from Capt. Goodridge out of Ireland, wherein he gives a particular account of his great loss, but withall writes me word that my four hh & Barrell Tob° I had in him are safe got on shoar and put in a warehouse without any manner of damage, for my Tob' was stowed in the Hatchway between decks, of which I suppose you have had full advice by this time, therefore I need say no more as to that at this time; your consignments this year, had there been an opportunity of freight, I believe would have been more than they were. I know no further I have to add save to assure you I am St To Mr. John Cooper Merch' in London. Your Wff. Dear Sir: At James Town. I received about the 3d Nov' and a small time after Capt. Brent and myself received the powers and Instructions from the Proprietor, of which we gave you an account, by a Ship then ready to go out, which I hope by this time you have receiv'd. At my coming home which was about the last of Nov I received two more from you that came by Capt. Jones in the Davis of Bristol, wherein you are pleased to repeat your kindness in your Kind Recommends to the Proprietor, for which I heartily thank you, and shall endeavour so to serve & accomodate their Interest, (which really at present lyes under very great confusion & Distraction by reason of the incapacity of Coll. Ludwell's Deputy and the opposition of the Government very ill managed) that I hope they may suddenly reap profit thereby and your self no disreputation for your kindness. As to Mr. Sherwood's business Capt. Brent & myself appeared for you in the Generall Court and cast him, making it manifest that the debt claimed by him was never assumed by you by which means you are cleared from that clamour, but you had not so good success in Capt. Mason's business, the reasons I suppose Capt. Brent will write you at large; to that shall refer. As to shipping Tob we have not one London Ship in our whole River, so no possibility of getting freight, which I earnestly endeavoured but could not, Capt. Braines whom you depended upon for freight came no nearer us than James River, where Tob° is not so scarce as to invite him to send up to us for Tob. We are just now fitting & Marshalling out our Receivers about the Quit Rents, and if we can get any Tob° ready before Jones is full, shall endeavour to get what we can in him and consign it to you; this I don't absolutely say but only hope within this month or six weeks, we shall be able to give them some account of their affairs, in which we have never been idle since impowered. When I have told you your success against Sherwood the Privateer's Ingratitude will better pass. Pray S' by the first conveniency let me have the happiness of hearing from you, together with the full of all news, as you may assure yourself you shall by all opportunitys. Pray in your next direct me where directly to direct to you. I am To Capt. Roger Jones. Your Wff. ORDEAL OF TOUCH IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA. [The following is a copy of the record of the County Court of Accomack, Va., giving an account of the Coroner's inquest held in that County in 1680, in a case of infanticide, where the "ordeal of touch," or "bier test," was gone through with, and one Paul Carter, the suspected party indited for the perpetration of the crime. The records of Northampton county, which latter adjoins Accomack, and with it forms the portion of the Eastern shore peninsular at present lying in Virginia, contain a similar instance of this ordeal which occurred in 1656. Capt. William Whittington issued a warrant for a jury of inquest over the body of one Paul Rynners, who had been murdered, and Mr. William Custis, who was suspected, was caused according to the report of the Jurors, "to touch the face and stroke the body of the said Paul Rynners (which he willingly did) But no sign did appear to us of question in the law." The superstition or belief that upon the murderer touching or coming into the presence of the body of the victim, the wounds. would bleed afresh, was widely prevalent in England and Scotland during the seventeenth century, and was evidently brought with our ancestors to this country. Michael Drayton, an English poet, who lived during the latter part of the sixteenth and first part of the seventeenth century, wrote "If the vile actors of the heinous deed Near the dead body happily be brought, Of't hath been prov'd the breathless corpse will bleed." Perhaps, however, the best known allusion to this belief is that contained in Act I, Scene II, of Richard III, where Lady Anne, in the presence of the body of the dead King and of Gloster, is made to utter the following passage: "O gentlemen, see, see! dead Henry's wounds |