tures at sea, and the general prosperity had been diminished thereby, but a provincial guard-ship might have affected this very little; there had been no niggardliness in presents to keep the good will of the Indians, and agriculture, iron-making, and fur collecting, which were the great inland industries, had doubtless been safeguarded by the neutrality which the Assembly refused to persuade the Six Nations to break. Had not these Quaker statesmen and their fellow-members guided by them, under whom the Province had attained prosperity in time of peace,-had they not in the recent excitement, even, shown good judgment after all? Some such reasoning must have made conservative many voters who had been restive, for if a vindictive sentiment had survived in the majority, it could not have been defeated by the alertness or cohesiveness of a small personal faction, or of a religious denomination. Yet we find practically the same men elected to the House in 1748 and some succeeding years as for several years preceding.

As the English "Old Style" year 1747 was drawing to a close, the Proprietaries felt that they must appoint a Lieutenant-Governor to reach the Province in time to meet the Assembly to be chosen in October following, and James Hamilton, the Councillor, then visiting England, was selected. He was a close friend of Thomas Penn, but was as well qualified as any resident of the Penn dominion, having held with credit several offices, including that of Mayor of the City. He has been often spoken of, even by contemporaries, as a native of Philadelphia, but this appears incorrect, as for several years after the date of James's birth, the elder Hamilton is described as residing elsewhere, and the mother may be assumed to have stayed at the home. James Hamilton was rich, and appears never to have married. The expectation that he would marry Mary Miranda has been mentioned (page 696). The Proprietaries commis

sioned Hamilton on March 17, 1747-8. He received the royal approbation on May 12, and took the various oaths of allegiance and supremacy &ct. on August 4, before the Lords Justices of Great Britain. He did not sail very soon, and did not relieve the Council of the executive powers until November 23.

On August 13, 1748, President Palmer, being seventyfive years old, married in Christ Church, or, at least, by ceremony of its minister, Catharine Carter, aged twenty, who appears to have been, however, a widow née Allaire. In the letter which tells us of the ages of this bride and bridegroom, written by Rev. Richard Peters to Thomas Penn, under date of May 3, 1749, it is said: "She is likely to bring him a Child this Year. He has buried all his Sons and Daughters except Mrs. Keith and Betsey a Maiden Lady of Thirty-five and he has a Grand Child a pretty Girl of Mrs. Barkleys [Berkeley]." There was also, but probably not living with the grandfather, a son of a deceased son. The letter goes on to speak of Palmer's weakness, at least in old age, in money matters, Peters having paid to him over 20001. during his Presidency, and he having less than 1000l. left. Palmer died at Kensington about seven months after ceasing to be at the head of affairs, and was buried (Christ Church records) on June 2, 1749. Notwithstanding the prognostication aforesaid, no child was born, at least none appears in the burial or baptismal records, or in the partition of the estate. The widow married the President's kinsman and son-inlaw, Samuel Palmer, and had children by him, through whom the name was kept up longer than in the President's direct line: and she married again (the 4th time?). The President's posterity, reduced to a small number, sank in a few generations to a station in life less conspicuous than that of the descendants of his colleagues. In accordance with his design to provide

a cemetery for Kensington, his daughter Mrs. Keith by will established the Palmer ground.

On Aug. 31, 1748, about a week after receipt of official notice from the Duke of Bedford, Secretary of State, there was published in Philadelphia a royal proclamation of May 5 for cessation of hostilities with France, preliminaries for a treaty of peace with the "Most Christian King" having been signed at Aix-la-Chapelle on April 19 (0. S.). "His Catholic Majesty' acceded to this on June 17. Information to this effect, and a proclamation of the Lords Justices of Aug. 4, for cessation of hostilities with Spain, and a proclamation of the Lords Justices of Aug. 25 for resumption of commerce with the Spaniards, reached the Council officially on October 29, 1748; and immediately thereupon those proclamations were published. With that date, and Palmer still at the head of Pennsylvania and Delaware, this history closes, the definitive treaty having been, on the 7th of that month, signed at Aix-laChapelle.

ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA

CHAPTER II.

(page 50) Penn's Commissioners of Property, or, rather, the agents for his mortgagees, agreed in 1st mo., 1713-4, to let Michael Harlan have 2500 acres at Thunder Hill near Nottingham and the Maryland border, to hold at his own risk, in consideration whereof he was charged only 150%.

(page 57) If the reader asks why the appeal to the House of Lords was not taken against Hardwicke's decision, the answer may suffice, that, during his Chancellorship, there were no other "law Lords" in the House, and therefore there were only three appeals in equity "from Philip to Philip, in all of which the decrees were affirmed without difficulty," as says Lord Campbell in his Lives of the Lord Chancellors.

CHAPTER III.

(page 79) John Reed, in his Explanation (published in 1774) of his map of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia, shows that the Liberties included land west of the Schuylkill, as well as the Northern Liberties, and that some of the first purchasers received the full two per cent. in said western part, while only 80 acres, instead of 100, for each quantity of 5000 acres were laid out to others in the Northern Liberties. This inequality does not seem to have been complained of, and may have been agreed to by the purchasers arriving, as trifling or compensated for.

(pages 80 and 81) The statement that there are now twenty-two streets in the same space as the original twenty-three is not strictly accurate: the original

space was contracted nearly 600 ft. by moving Schuylkill Front eastward. There is some evidence that the change from Holme's published plan to the plan contemplated in the patent of 1692 was decided upon even before the former was actually published. The tradition that the change dates from about the time of the close of these Chronicles, probably arose from plans and measurements being made in those years, and perhaps it was then, and not earlier, that, without any considerable departure from the scheme indicated in 1692, the size of certain blocks east of Delaware Eighth Street was increased, and, as none of the blocks or streets of the city were shortened or narrowed, the position of all but Delaware Front and Delaware 2nd was moved west of what was intended in 1692, and practically to where they respectively stand on the official map to-day. West of and including Delaware 8th (now 8th) there is a regular correspondence in number and width of the streets running north and south and in the intervening distances with that part of the plan used in 1692, it being understood that the figures on page 81 for the distance between 13th and Broad, viz: 520 ft., are an error for 528 ft. Broad Street is 113 ft. wide.

(page 83) There is an account of the Claypoole, or Claypool, family in a letter of Mch. 22, 1706–7, printed in Penna. Mag., Vol. X.

CHAPTER IV.

(page 98) At Shackamaxon was the house of Thomas Fairman, which he let to Penn for the "Winter" of 1682 (Westcott's Historic Mansions), and it is likely that Penn retained it until July, 1683.

(pages 100, last line, and 101, top line) It will be seen, from the account of the Walking Purchase (pp. 770-779), that the deed in which Sahoppe, or Sayhoppy, joined, and which gave rise to the notorious Indian Walk, was for land extending from the Neshaminy, instead of the Pennypack, to the Delaware.