Difference between revisions of "MRP: 20th December 1666, Letter from John Lewis to Sir GO, London"
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==Abstract & context== | ==Abstract & context== | ||
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| + | John Lewis wrote to Sir George Oxenden from London in a letter dated December 20th, 1666. | ||
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| + | The letter had both business and social purposes The primary purpose was to chase up some small investments Lewis had made, but he also provided news of the naval war and of the great fire in London. His own house had been spared in the fire, and he was spending Christmas in London, due to foul weather and against his own desire. As a result he was without his family, though his wife was with him, she having come to London for the funeral of her mother. | ||
The letter writer was Sir John Lewis, a senior London merchant and ironmonger. Sir John Lewis was a part-owner of the ship the ''Loyal Merchant'', along with Sir George Oxenden and Sir George Smith and others.<ref>See Bill of Complaint in Court of Chancery by 'S:r John Lewis of London Kn:t and Barronett, S:r James Maddifford Kn:t and Barronett, S:r George Smith of London kn:t S:r George Oxenden Knight Thomas Hussey of London Esq Henry Sparstow of London Esq Daniell Pennington [??] Jonathan Dawes, Phillip Mirell [Mirsell?] and Richard Binly of London Merchants and part owners of the good shipp called the Loyall Merchant of London' ([[MRP: C10/488/141|C10/488/141]])</ref> | The letter writer was Sir John Lewis, a senior London merchant and ironmonger. Sir John Lewis was a part-owner of the ship the ''Loyal Merchant'', along with Sir George Oxenden and Sir George Smith and others.<ref>See Bill of Complaint in Court of Chancery by 'S:r John Lewis of London Kn:t and Barronett, S:r James Maddifford Kn:t and Barronett, S:r George Smith of London kn:t S:r George Oxenden Knight Thomas Hussey of London Esq Henry Sparstow of London Esq Daniell Pennington [??] Jonathan Dawes, Phillip Mirell [Mirsell?] and Richard Binly of London Merchants and part owners of the good shipp called the Loyall Merchant of London' ([[MRP: C10/488/141|C10/488/141]])</ref> | ||
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(1) Check transcription against physical manuscript at BL | (1) Check transcription against physical manuscript at BL | ||
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| + | (2) Verify the writer is Sir John Lewis. Lewis was a common name and there is no identification of other partners or places | ||
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Yo:e most affectionate frend & humble servant | Yo:e most affectionate frend & humble servant | ||
John: Lewis | John: Lewis | ||
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==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
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| + | ==Possible primary sources== | ||
Revision as of 08:39, January 24, 2012
20th December 1666, Letter from John Lewis to Sir GO, London
BL, Add. MS. XX, XXX, ff. ?
Editorial history
06/02/09, CSG: Completed transcription
18/12/11, CSG: Page created
22/12/11, CSG: Posted transcription to wiki
Contents
Abstract & context
John Lewis wrote to Sir George Oxenden from London in a letter dated December 20th, 1666.
The letter had both business and social purposes The primary purpose was to chase up some small investments Lewis had made, but he also provided news of the naval war and of the great fire in London. His own house had been spared in the fire, and he was spending Christmas in London, due to foul weather and against his own desire. As a result he was without his family, though his wife was with him, she having come to London for the funeral of her mother.
The letter writer was Sir John Lewis, a senior London merchant and ironmonger. Sir John Lewis was a part-owner of the ship the Loyal Merchant, along with Sir George Oxenden and Sir George Smith and others.[1]
Suggested links
See March 1665/66, Letter from John Lewis to Sir GO (letter sent with Sir George Smith's letter)
See 24th March 1665/66, Letter from George Smith to Sir GO, London
To do
(1) Check transcription against physical manuscript at BL
(2) Verify the writer is Sir John Lewis. Lewis was a common name and there is no identification of other partners or places
Transcription
This transcription has been completed, but requires checking
[RH SIDE]
London: Decemb: y:e 20:th 1666
Honoured S:r
Having answered yo:s of y:e 6:th March 1664: y:e 16:th ditto 1665, & not having reced any from yo:w since, have at this time little of enlargement, more y:n to ?improve this opportunity by y:e tending of my humble service w:th these ?paxanessingers, & so reitterating former intreaties for y:e dispatching of those small ??Concernmen:ts x:th I made bold to trouble yo:w w:th; if it may ly in my power to make part of a retaliation heere, by any service, amongst many abler friends, yo:w shall find me really greatefull, & sensible of soe greate a kindnes, The not hearing from yo:w by land, as y:e not yet arrivall o:e this years ships puts us into some ?panink feares, but God, I hope, will bless us w:th auspitious tidings of y:m, & prosp: o:e royall Navy, a squadron or 2: being suddenly intended out in quest of o:e Insolent enimies, who hath made a strong Confederacy w;th both french & danes, y:e sad disolation of y:e late merciless fire brought me to towne to look after my pticular Concernmen:ts, & dispose of my house w:tch providence had spared from soe great a Consumaton & am now by fowle weather forced to keepe my Christmas in London, & not w:th my family more y:n my wife,[2] who came heither to y:e buriall of her mother[3], I shall at y:s time in large no more, but to intreate yo:e kinde respect & kindness to ?Lans y:e Comp:a linguister in Persia[4], & I doubt not but yo:w have done him justice in y:e wine business, as was by y:e Comp:a Comended to yo:w; y:e rest is y:e subscription of
[RH SIDE]
S:r
Yo:e most affectionate frend & humble servant
John: Lewis
Notes
Possible primary sources
- ↑ See Bill of Complaint in Court of Chancery by 'S:r John Lewis of London Kn:t and Barronett, S:r James Maddifford Kn:t and Barronett, S:r George Smith of London kn:t S:r George Oxenden Knight Thomas Hussey of London Esq Henry Sparstow of London Esq Daniell Pennington [??] Jonathan Dawes, Phillip Mirell [Mirsell?] and Richard Binly of London Merchants and part owners of the good shipp called the Loyall Merchant of London' (C10/488/141)
- ↑ John Lewis' wife was XXXX. See Missing faces
- ↑ John Lewis' mother-in-law was XXXX. See Missing faces
- ↑ CHECK THE NAME. This may be an Armenian. Several years earlier, a letter from the English East India Company in London to Surat had stated: "Wee have received a peticion from one William Bell an Armenian, whoe hath formely lived as an interpreter to Mr William Garway and Mr Buckridge in Persia. Hee hath peticioned to us, to recomend him to you, that hee may bee imployed as one of those for the making of wine in Persia, to which his request wee condiscend, and referr him unto you." ('Company in London to Surat, 10 August 1663, E/3/86 Extract from ff. 150-150v.' in Vahé Baladouni, Margaret Makepeace, Armenian Merchants of the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries: English East India Company Sources, (Philadelphia, 1998), p. 54)
