PENN'S LETTER DESCRIBING FULLY THE LAST HOURS OF KING CHARLES II, AND MENTIONS HIS (PENN'S) DEALINGS WITH THE INDIANS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 7 PENN, WM. Autograph Letter, signed. 8 pp., folio. London 16th, 3m0. 168. To Thos. Lloyd. Extracts of the letter were published in Proud's “ History of Pennsylvania," Vol. 1, page 290. "My true & sincere love reaches to thee & Thyne, desireing your encrease in all earthly blessings that ye God of our breath & manyfold mercys may be honored, to whom belongs all glory for ever. "I have no doubt upon me of thy faithfull & prudent Care in my publick affaires, & have remembered thee with ease & some pleasure in my Spirit on yt account. And truly Thomas the frame of the world requires it. "The King is dead & ye Duke succeeds peacably, he was well on ye first day night, being ye 1st of feb'r, but about 8 next morning as he satt down to shave, his head twicht both ways or sides, & gave a Skreech, & fell as dead, & so remain'd some hours, they opertunely blooded & cupt him, & plyed his head with red hot frying pans, he returned & continued till 6th day noon, but mostly in great tortures, he seemed very penitent, asking pardon of all & ye poorest subject he had wronged, prayed for pardon & to be delivered out of ye world, ye Duke appearing mighty humble & Sorrowfull, twas a loss wth his gain, he was an able man for a divided & troubled Kingdom, the present King was proclaimed about 3 o'clock that day. A proclamation followed wth ye King's Speech, to maintain the church and State as estableshet. Severity continue Still, but Some ease to us faintly promessed, be carefull that no indecent speaches pass agst ye Govermt, for the King goeing with his Queen publickly to mass in Whitehall gives occasion to weak people, he declared he conceald himselfe to oblg his Bro; & yt now he would be above bord, wch we like the better on many accounts. I was with him & told him so, but withall hoped we should come in for a share, he smiled & said he desired not yt peaceable people should be disturbed for their religion, & till his Coronation ye 23, when he & his consort are together to be crowned, no hopes of relase & till ye Parl, no hopes of any fixt liberty My busi ness I would hope is better, the late K the Papists will have dyed a R. C. for he refused (after his usuall way of evadings uneasy things, with unprepardness first & than weakness) ye church of englands communion) Bishop Ken, of wells prest him, yt it would be to his comfort and that of his people, to see he dyed of ye religion he had made profession of loving, but it would not do & once all but ye Duke, E of bath, Ld. feversham were turned out & one huddleston, a Romish Priest was seen about yt time near ye chamber, this is most of our news, the Popish lords & Gentry goe to Whithall to mass dayly & the Lower (or Royall) chappell is cram'd (by vyeing) with the Protestant lords & Gentry, the late Kings children, even by the Dutches of Portsmouth goe theither, our King stands more upon his terms than ye other with france, & tho he has not his brothers abilitys, he has great discipline & industry. If he will give liberty to conscientious people all will do well, If not, I expect judgem'ts & trouble, here is a Spotted feaver creeping about ye town, the Sutlers whole family by Whitehall & about 30 of ye Guard are dead; none knows what to make of it, ye Physitians are at a stand wt to call it, Cold, then a Stagnation, then a feaver, Spotts, & death; but they differ too. "The designe of takeing away Ld. Balt. Patent, Swallows up our dispute, for ye has promest to confirm my graunt, there I am, but I hope termed very penitent, asking pard of, all on pray out of od hubject ta khad wrong- med about FACSIMILE OF FRONT PAGE OF PENN LETTER, LOT 7. за X 8 yt may be without yt loss to him. Pray be carefull of thy carriage to one Gray, a Rom. Cath. Gent. yt comes over now, he is subtile & prying & lowly, a temper not unlike Somebody there, but not such a bottom in other things, he is a Scholar, & avers to ye Calvanists, lett Dr. More be cautioned of him, he comes in a post, be sure please him in his land & for distance he must take where it is clear of other pretentions. "I hope care is taken to buy of ye Indians, a days Journy above Consciahockin. I have given earnest for to Sickatickon, as my Store book Shoes, tell them I am comeing shortly with ten great ships with me, & as they use me, we shall use them, I have sent them some caps as p letter to I. Holmes, James Claypoole (over wch family be tender for truths sake) R. Turner & S. Carpenter. alas ye world is runing over to you, & great quantitys together is to putt ye Sale of land out of my own hands, after I have Spent wt I gott by my own, on ye publick Service for I am £3,000 wors in my estate than at first; I can say it before the lord, & have only ye comfort of haveing approved my selfe a faithfull Steward to my understanding & abilitys & yt I hope my children shall receive it in ye love of yours when we are gone. Dear Thomas tis a time to show thy skill & friendship to me, & wch is more to truthes interest in me, blessed are they yt are not offended; but have patience & endure. Keep up ye peoples hearts & love what thou canst. I hope to be with them next fall, if ye lord prevent not. I long to be with you, no temptations prevale to fix me here." Etc. This letter also mentions the names of many of the first settlers of Pennsylvania. PENN, WM. Autograph Letter, signed. Folio. London. 22d, 7 mo., 1685. Not published. "With my true love to you, thes are to recommend to ye friendly care and keep Jacob Chapman, Agent for Ths. Barker & Sam'l Jobson, they are true frds to ye Country & deserve this at my hand, I am well & myn, I bless God, my business with Ld. Balt. looks well, we were heard & pleaded our own cause by order of councel, & tomorrow week we have our final hearing I hope, we had much ye better of it ye 2d instant in opinion of all there, but himselfe & Fds. Whatever you do, Keep off complaints, the Shooting at R. D. does hurt here." Etc. From specimen. PENN'S LETTER GIVING NOTICE OF THE EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF ARGYLE. 9 PENN, WM. Autograph Letter, signed. Folio. London Ist, 5 mo., 1685. To "Thos. Lloyd President of ye Councill at Philadelphia." Not published. 'Thy Brothers were both with me, tother day, & well. So R. Davis, Thos. Ellis is well come home, Argile taken & executed. Monmouth yet in ye West, great forces gone agst him, Some Skermishes, but he sustains ym yet, reputed 10,000, the Kings 15,000 men strong, the Lord send us peace." Etc. PENN'S LETTER GIVING A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE DEFEAT OF THE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES, THE EXECUTION OF MONMOUTH, AND CONVEYING IMPORTANT INFORMATION IN REFERENCE TO PENNSYLVANIA. ΙΟ PENN, WM. Autograph Letter, signed (in full and with initial). 20 pp., Folio. 1685. To Thos. Lloyd, Jno. Simcock, Chas. Taylor, James Harrison and Robt. Turner. An exceedingly interesting and important letter, dated and written at various times during the 5 and 6 mo., 1685. Partly published in Proud's History of Pennsylvania,' Vol. 1, page 297. "This comes by one Captain Hamon, transporting some Dutch & french. The Dutch goe, some of them to New York, others with the french, are for that Province, the french come on John Bellers account, yt has bought half of R. Marshe's £10,000 & Lotts, pray be kind to the people and lett them be forthwith settled in a township way, taking care that they be so seated, as their Landlord may have at one end of the Town a good proportion of ye better sort of land lying next to theirs. Goodenough has Squeek'd so far yt he has gott Lords Stampford, Delamere & Brandon Gerrard in Prison, Coll Rumsy a witness in ye former plott, is in Newgate for not being ingenious enough at first, so says Goodenough yt he should save Stampford for an annuity of 150 pall quiet now till term, then triall enough, but 2 called Quakers & by us not owned before, presented to the King of above 1100 that are Prisoners on yt account, as Maj. Holmes said, it was not you, but god yt beat us, we were to be beaten else you had been where we are, he is 67 years old was a Maj. under Cromwell and a — for his family, ye K. took pleasure in his courage & witt, from him took the account of ye actions on both sides beyond any others, told him he could not but expect to dye, he reply'd alas Sr. after ye loss of my brave son & my best Arme yt little of my life wch is left is hardly worth my asking & less your taking sire, he was wounded in two fights in his Right Arm, lay among ye slayn, & ye Ks Chirurgien cutt it off, tis thought ye K. will pardon him, but others will dye, they hang'd 9 at Taunton, 14 at Bridgewater & at other places. Ye 15th last month the late d of Monmouth trod ye scaffold on tour hill; with a sedate, mild & cheerful countenance, as wt past between him and ye Bishops here inclosed shows, but had five stroaks from ye executioner, they jeeringly tell us he dyed a kind of a Q. & like an enthusiast. All agree, he ended like a man & yt his conduct since he landed was so great & yt Turene could not have done more, but Col. Holmes had a good share of it, a German Barron is in Prison too, taken with the K. Thy Packets are come to hand. I think too late to publish yṛ proclamation of ye King, how beit, I think to show it the King, to whom I am just goeing at windsor he is & will be till winter, I am sorry at heart for yr anemositys. Cannot more friendly & private courses be taken to sett matters to rights in an infant province, whos steps are numbered & watched, for ye love of God, me & ye poor country be not so Governmentish, so noisey & open in yr dissatisfactions, Some folks love hunting in Governm't it selfe. I know thy temper is for expediencys. They become wise & temperate heads. "Here is a lewd and extravagant bill of P. Lem, in his own hand. I have crost ye unusuall & extravigant rates, he attests it, if not true lett him suffer ye law for a forger & if true, for an extortioner, or those yt received ye money. Pray Thomas, by ye love thou hast to the true |