Dunlop Letters: Letter 4 - Take The Test
Background Information
In September 1684 William Dunlop was in London. His brother had died on a trading voyage to the West Indies and in this letter to his father, William tells of his attempts to find out what had happened to his brother and to his possessions. In the three years after his writing and ciphering lessons in Dordrecht his handwriting has deteriorated further.
In the days before standard punctuation, note how William Dunlop breaks up sentences by beginning new sentences with Sir or so sir.
Some legal terminology perhaps requires an explanation:
| Legal term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Letter Will | written will |
| Cationer | cautioner (a guarantor, a person standing surety for debts or the carrying out of a legal agreement) |
| Letter of Acturny | letter of attorney |
Image reproduced with permission of Glasgow City Council, Mitchell Library.
The document has been divided into 4 sections. Read the section shown in the image and transcribe the word you think is missing from the text below by typing in the appropriate blank space. The text will be red as you type and will turn black when you have transcribed the word correctly.
01. London 13th Sept[ember] 1684
02. S[i]r
03. Yours am very
04. that your all in good health
05. yesterday Mr Chislie &
06. Oath &
07.
08. & they Chislie & Ellis
09. S[i]r I have done
10. & a kind who
11.
12. peapers w[i]t[h] a Letter of Acturny
13. ding to your Command Now
14. S[i]r this business is putt Captane Bennet arrives
15. thir tuo Gentelmen will be in a Capacity to perseu if
16. as you wer hire your self S[i]r I
17. of my Brothers death than what you have
18. heard for s[i]r
19. was as yett this seson nether is ther any ever reported his death hire bott
20. that is hire by many
21. believed amise for
22.
23. thos long Voyadges & if he be ane honest
24. man all the goods befor the Mast &
25. home Coming to his friends which s[i]r he tells me he
26. doubts not bot P[ete]r Bennet
27. thos many years of any of P[ete]r Bennets ouners nether
28. bot houever s[i]r when ever he arrives it
29. will be