DR. EDWARD BANCROFT.-A book was published in London in 1769 entitled 'An Essay on the Natural History of Guiana, in South America, containing a description of many curious productions in the animal and vegetable systems of that country, together with an account of the religion, manners and customs of several tribes of its Indian inhabitants, interspersed with a variety of literary and medical observations, in several letters from a gentleman of the Medical Faculty, during his residence in that country." The book is 8vo. in size, and has a plate as a frontispiece of "Amphibæna or Double-headed Snake"-"This snake was found near Lake Champlain in America, in the year 1761, by Lieut. Moses Park." The plate represents a spotted snake or serpent, with two distinct heads, and if true, the animal was of course a very great curiosity.

The author of this book was a Dr. Edward Bancroft, a medical gentleman, and as he has been characterized, or stigmatized, (whichever is the correct word to apply), as a British spy, I beg to give one or two trivial facts about him in the hope that some of your correspondents will add others thereto-and also vindicate his character from the atrocious and ugly word I have used, or show that in reality he deserved the character he has received.

Edward Bancroft was born at Westfield, Massachusetts, 9th January, 1744-and appears to have been in medical practice in Guiana in 1765, while only 19 years of age. The essay of which the volume consists, is made up of four letters, dated Rio Demerary, July 8, Aug. 15, Oct. 25 and Nov. 15, 1766, and are addressed to his brother. This brother was named Daniel, and was a physician practicing at Wilmington, Delaware. He was alive, I have ascertained, on 3d June, 1793, but I cannot trace him after that time. I should imagine that Edward went to England not long after the dates of his letters, and that he was in England when he published his book, for he dedicates it to William Pitcairn, M. D., Physician of St. Bartholomew's Hospital-with respect and gratiBancroft enjoyed the confidence, esteem and friendship of Franklin, when

he went to Europe, and during the time he resided in Paris as Envoy from the United States, Dr. Bancroft acted as his private secretary. After this, Bancroft returned to London, married an English lady, and settled down in England, and died in London in 1821. William Temple Franklin (the biographer) states that Dr. Bancroft was an American gentleman of great worth and abilities, an intimate and much respected friend of Dr. Franklin to whom the United States are greatly indebted for his exertions and assistance in the cause of their Independence.

In a copy of Bancroft's Guiana, which I possess and which once belonged to a Dr. John Shadwell, he writes in it respecting Bancroft: "After the peace he (Bancroft) settled in England and obtained an Act of Parliament to secure to himself the result of a discovery of an oak that produces with iron a yellow colour-applicable to wood, linen, silk, &c. Dr. Bancroft possessed considerable science, and was in all respects a very estimable man, and intimate companion, as from several years' intimacy I experienced." Signed "Jno. Shadwell."

GEORGE TAWSE.

New York, June, 1872.

"E PLURIBUS UNUM."-This national motto, seen upon the great seal of the United States, the national flag, et cetera, is so very expressive of the character of our Republic-many States forming one nation that it seems strange to me that it was never used until the old Confederation of the United States, which preceded our present National Government, adopted it. Was it ever used, in a similar sense, before? J.

BOSTON. One of the first females born there.-Ipswich, Nov. 27. On Thursday last in the Forenoon died here Mrs. Grace Graves, Widow, in the 99th year of her age. She was one of the first Female English Children that was born in Boston in New England; she retained her reason and understanding to a good degree to the last. Boston Weekly News Letter, Dec. 3, 1730. W. K.

1 Addison had married in his forty-fifth year, the dowager Countess of Warwick, for whose son he had been a tutor. He had long sought the honor of her hand, and on their marriage he took up his abode at her seat, Holland House. The imperious widow became a more imperious wife, and he found the Club a much more congenial place than Holland House. He survived the wedding day only about two years. [EDITOR.]

2 In allusion to the government established by William Penn the Friend or Quaker.

3 Supposed to have been written to James Logan, a member of the Society of Friends, who accompanied William Penn to America, at the close of the seventeenth century, and held important offices in Pennsylvania for a great many years. Logan was a man of learning and corresponded with the leading men of letters in Europe. He translated Cicero into English better than any other man before Melmoth. He wrote several important scientific treatises. In conformity with his desire, his library containing about two thousand volumes, was presented to the city of Philadelphia. It is kept by itself in the Philadelphia Library, and is called the Loganian Library. [EDITOR.]

4 Adddson was extremely popular during a greater portion of Queen Ann's reign and held many offices of honor and profit. On the accession of a new ministry in 1717, he was appointed one of the principal Secretaries of State, but he held the office only a short time. He died at Holland House in June 1719.

Infirmities. But I hope to be faithful so long as I serve that I may be worthy of the good opinions of men like yourself.

That God may bless you and the beautiful land in which you dwell is the prayers

of,

Sir:

Your Friend,

and most Obedient

Humble Servant.

I. Addwon

[HUGH GAINE.']

Newark Sept. 8, 1776.

Agreeable to your request of the 26th ult. I am to inform you that my books are now in such a situation, as puts it out of my power to render you an exact state of General Schuyler's account with me since

1 Hugh Gaine was a native of Ireland. He begun the business of a printer and bookseller in New York, in 1750. In 1752, he began the publication of the "New York Mercury," a weekly newspaper. His place of business was in Hanover Square, under the sign of the Bible and Crown, where he traded for 40 years. He was a time server in politics. At the beginning of the contest, he took sides with the Whigs, and after the battle on Long Island at the close of August, 1776, seeing the menacing aspect of the British victors, he fled with his printing materials, to New Jersey, where he was at the time when the above letter was written. He afterward espoused the royal cause, but his petition to remain in the city when the British reached it in 1783, was granted. He died there in April, 1787, at the age of 81 years.

Richard Varick to whom the letter is addressed, was then the Secretary of General Schuyler. He was a young man about 23 years of age, of fine address and much ability. He had begun the practice of law when the war broke out, when he entered the army as Captain in McDougall's regiment, and was soon attached to the military family of General Schuyler. He was afterward Washington's recording secretary, with the rank of Colonel. From 1783 until 1789, he was Recorder of the City of New York, when he was appointed Attorney General of the state. He was also elected Mayor of the city. He assisted in the revision of the State laws, was Speaker of the State Assembly, and one of the founders of the American Bible Society. He died in Jersey City, in July, 1831. -[EDITOR.]

June, 1775, but as near as I can think, 'tis about £45. Should it be more or less it can be easily rectified.

Please to direct to me at Newark. I am, Sir

your humble Servant,

Slugh Gaine

RICHARD VARICK, ESQ.

[NOAH WEBSTER, the Lexicographer.] New York, June 24, 1788.

Gentlemen

I have procured a copy of Mr Young's1 last edition of the Spelling Book & have great pains to make it correct; for it is wretchedly done, I mean in point of accuracy. Such bungling work is a disgrace to the business. However with my corrections, the work will stand as I wish it, except that I wish to have the familiar dialogues & phrases in your editions improved -you may make room for a part of them by omitting two pages at the beginning, which you have no concern with. The pronunciation will never be altered much -perhaps not at all; as the Philological Society in this city agree to most of my decisions.'

2 James Rivington came from London to America in 1760, and established a book-store in Philadelphia. In 1761, he opened one near the foot of Wall Street, in New York, where he published the first number of his "Royal Gazeteer" in 1773. He took the Royal side in the controversy that led to the Revolution in 1775, and was thoroughly detested by the

"The direction of the letter has been torn off, only a half sheet remaining, but I have no doubt it was written to Thomas and Andrews, then publishers in Boston and Worcester. Thomas and Andrews, having bought the copyright of the Spelling Book for the States of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, for the term of ten years, issued their first edition in 1789. This edition is dedicated to "the Rev. Ezra Stiles, S. T. D., President of Yale College, &c., &c.," and has printed recommendations of the work from Joel Barlow, Timo Dwight, Jas. Willard, Prest of Harvard College, Benj. West, Stept Hopkins, and many other eminent men; also the endorsement of the Philological Society of N. Y., signed by Josiah O. Hoffman, Prest. The cut of Washington referred to in the letter was not used by Thomas & Andrews but in place of it there appears what is called a portrait of Noah Webster, Jr., though I am informed it was executed without the knowledge of Webster."

pointed, generally, with good nature. He was a keen observer of the signs of the times; and when in 1781, he perceived the improbability of success on the part of the British Government, he made a peace-offering by furnishing Washington, secretly, with valuable information from within the city of New York. When the Loyalists fled on the evacuation of the city by the British, Rivington was allowed to remain. But his business declined, and he lived in comparative poverty until 1802, when he died at the age of 78 years.-[EDITOR.]

8 Journals of the First Continental Congres, whose sessions begun in September, 1774, ended at near the close of October. The Address or Petition to the King was drawn by John Adams, and corrected by John Dickinson.-[EDITOR.]

This was a pamphlet written by James Wilson, afterward one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was a native of Scotland. Emigrating to America in 1766, he took a prominent place at the bar in Philadelphia, after his admission in 1768. He wrote several political pamphlets during the war for independence. He was a member of the Convention that framed the National Constitution, and Professor of Laws in the College and University of Pennsylvania. His works were published at the beginning of this century. He was an eloquent orator and ready debater; and ranks as one of the first jurists in the country.-[EDITOR.]

shop that the many who frequent it may be induced to purchase the arguments of the several writers on both sides the question, which they will readily do when they present themselves duly arranged on your compter, for there are many hundreds yet unsupplied with them, who will readily secure a complete sett.

Next week I shall publish "The Farmer's Letters Refuted, and his Arguments Conquered." Of this you will sell a number. Shall I send you any of them?

I desire the above may come to me pr. first Bordentown Boat. If the King's Speech or any other material occurrence from England should reach you, pray at all times send them to, Gentlemen,

Your obliged and Obe' Servant

James Ruington

Messrs. BRADFORD,

Printers, Philadelphia.

[WILLIAM PENN.]

The RECORD is indebted to the Rev. EDWARD D. NEILL, for the following copy of a letter written by William Penn, from Philadelphia, on the 9th of January, 1683, to the Duke of Ormond, then Viceroy of Ireland. It was copied by a daughter of Mr. Neill, in Dublin, from a copy in the possession of Mrs. Maria Webb, of that city, authoress of "The Penns and Penningtons of the Seventeenth Century in their Domestic and Religious Life," who copied it from the original in the Carte Collection (see page 128 of the RECORD) in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. It has never before been published.—[EDITOR.] My Noble & old Freind:

Permitt me at this great distance, the best way y' is left me, to Congratulate thy quiet and happy Regiment in Irland; and

4 These letters were written by John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, and were addressed to "the Inhabitants of the British Colonies." They were twelve in number, and appeared in the "Pennsylvania Chronicle" during the summer and autumn of 1767. Their effect, like Paine's "Crisis" at a later day, was powerful in drawing the public mind, to the importance of a redress of the grievances under which the Colonists were then suffering. It is believed that the pamphlet entitled "The Farmer's Letters refuted," published by Rivington, was written by Rev. Samuel Seabury, (afterward Bishop) of Westchester County, New York, and that this was one of his offenses, as a Loyalist, that caused Isaac Sears and his party to carry him off to Connecticut at the time they destroyed Rivington's printing materials on November, 1775.

to salute thee wth yt sincere affection & respect which former obligations have raised in me & made indellible by time or distance.

The singular intimaces it pleased thee to allowe me (above the men of my Rank) in the Court of Irland, are remembred with adequate sentiments: For I love gratitude, tho' I vanely lament my inability to show it; but it is some comfort, y' great men are borne to do good & that they have their reward in the good they do, or it would undo small folks to be the object of their favor.

But if it be below great men to be kind for recompence & marchendize their Pow', it is equally below all sensible mindes to neglect to yield their best acknowledgments, and therefore, great friend, suffer mine to write upon thee, tho' in homely sort, which I have confidence to hope will be taken in good part, when measur'd & valud by the respect and integrity of y' sends thee.

This said, I wish thee length of days, health & true felicity, begging by the old thee, that thy moderation may be known to freedom & friendship that I have had with all men, in all things, because God, our Judge, is at the Door; who will have the finall Inspection of all our actions, at that great and general assize of the world where nothing can be dissembled, or escaped that we have done. This is a lesson y affects all, but of all, Magistrates, & of those Supream, who have not only their own, but the people's sin's to answear for, if by example and punishment they labor not [to] teach virtue and deter the People from Impiety and the reason is plaine, for Justice and Sobriety are the end of Governm', and the reason of that extraordinary pow not to vex men for their beliefe & modest practise of y' faith with respect to ye other world, into weh Province & soveraignety temperall Pow' reaches not, from its very nature & end. Honesté vivere, alterum, non lædere, et jus suum cuique tribuere (Pardon my extract) are the Magistrates mark.

To take care of the worship of God was a peculier commission to y° Jewish Poten

tates, whose entire modell, in every ceremonious part thereof, came from God, & wch stood in externall Rites, for the most part; but the Religion & Kingdom of Xt. are not of this world, more mentall, inward, and spirituall; neither at the mountaine, nor at Jerusalem, the Rites of neither place, but saies our blessed Savour, in spirit & in truth, with as little shew & pomp as may be, this is ye worship christain, not calculated to our senses, but our souls. This comes from heaven, over comes and prevales by conviction; no fire from heaven to make conforme, much less from the earth; Christ Jesus, to whom all pow is given, is sufficient for ye part, as to him only it is appointed of the father. But lett vice be punisht, Corporall Ills have Corporall sufferings and corrections, y' the Magistrate may be a terror to evil doers, not mistaken believers about t'other world, much less peaceable livers & worshipers.

Of all that falls under thy administration, in the love of God & the sincere affection of a friend, lett me prevale with thee to avoide troubling conscientious and quiet liveing dissenters; they are best for the country and not the worst for the church. Since if Religion be at heart in our great churchmen, they will leave the example of such vertue and make it a spurr to mend the pace of thos y' they conceive of sounder principles in their own communion.

Jews' great pretentions to Abraham, Moses, ye Prophets' Law & Rites if you commit sin you are the servants of sin, slighting their conceits of heirship, & sonship by sucession & peculiar traditions, a snare too powerful upon a great part of the world.

Lett then the tares grow with the wheat, errors in judgement remain till remov'd by ye pow" of light & conviction: a Religion without it is inhumain since reason only makes humanity. Should men supercede yt to be conformists y essentially makes them better then beasts, to witt understanding; to conclude men by authority is coercive, to conclude by conviction is manly & christian.

Lett it not, Noble fr'd, be uneasy to thee that I am thus long & perticuler; tis a troublesome time in those parts of the world, & good & peaceable men may suffer by ye follys of other Pretenders. We hear of a Presbyterian Plott & the severity yt is exercised against our friends in divers parts on y' occasion, tho' to the astonishment of our prosecutors there be none of them found in the list. tis what I ever told the King & Duke,' & y' at parting; if God should suffer men to be so farr infatuated as to raise commotions in ye Kingdom, he would never find any of y' Party among ym at least of note or Credit. the Lord Hyde was by now Earl of Rochester: their designe being no more but to enjoy their conscience & follow their vocations peaceably, y' the labor of ye week may not be ye price of their Sabbath, I mean worship; & yt I believed he would live to be convinced that we never carried the matter higher : lett others answear for themselves. This makes me press y° more upon thee in favour of our fr'ds in Irland, because upon

fications according to ye unquestionable doctrine of St. Peter and St. Paul, y' God is no respecter of Persons, but those yt in all nations feare him & worke righteousness shall be accepted, that men must reap w' they sow, and his servants people are whom they obey; thus Xt. overthrew ye

The Act of Uniformity passed early in the reign of Charles the Second, was intended to crush out Presbyterianism in England, which had been transplanted to that realm

sects, were by it placed in direct antagonism to the established Episcopal Church, and the first named, by far the most powerful, and sympathized with by almost the entire people of Scotland, were suspected of plots for regaining their former ascendancy in Church and State. At the time Penn wrote, the air was full of rumors of a "Presbyterian Plot." Quakers and other non-conformists, suffered in consequence.[EDITOR.]

2 King Charles the Second, and James (his brother) Duke of York, who soon succeeded him on the throne.