A Bundle of Old Bills and What They Tell

52BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY. quiry if there be any that are in the use of periwigs extravagantly or unnecessarily large.8 Rhode Island Meeting 1712. John Hedley and David Greene are appointed by this meeting to take care and provide as much beer or cider and bread and cheese, as may be useful for friends' refreshment in the time of the Yearly Meeting, and to provide a suitable room for that use, with a suitable person to attend the service, and bring their account to next meeting. A BUNDLE OF OLD BILLS AND WHAT THEY TELL. There lies before the writer a bundle of receipted bills, etc., which belonged to John Reynell, Treasurer of the " Yearly Meeting of Friends of Pennsylvania and New Jersey " in the eighteenth century. They range from 1755 to 1783, thus covering the whole of the Revolutionary War. These particular accounts relate almost wholly to the printing ordered and executed under the direction of the Meeting for Sufferings, and they incidentally show how active the Friends of that day were in circulating literature relating to the Society. The first reads : Yearly Meeting of Friends held at Philadelphia To Joseph Crukshank Dr. 9mo 7, 1769 To printing 2000 Epistles from the Meeting for Sufferings ............................... £4.0.0 At a Meeting for Sufferings 10 mo. 19-1769 John Reynell is desired to pay the above Acct. & charge it to the Yearly meeting stock.Jam5 Pemberton CIk. this time. ,6JThis movement probably reached its height about the middle of the eighteenth century. In 1722, the Minutes of Sandwich Meeting record that " Friends should not wear periwigs," and in 1761 gravestones were ordered removed.—Editor. A BUNDLE OF OLD BILLS AND WHAT THEY TELL. 53 Joseph Crukshank's name appears on most of the Friends' books and publications from 1764 to 1824. He was a Friend, and his work was excellent. The special object of the Epistle does not appear in the bill, and the paper is not noted in Smith's Catalogue of Friends' Books. The records of the meeting would, of course, tell. Number 2 is a small piece of paper, and the writing is beautifully clear, it is as follows : 1770 Money remaining due to Isaac Collins for a numjj -mo I2a Ij61. 0f Sewell's History as ffollows Ballance Due from New Garden,¿I7-5- & from Bush River.15£18, Isaac Collins, the ancestor of numerous Collinses of the present day, was one of the best printers of his day. He lived many years in Burlington, New Jersey, and his folio edition of Sewel's History of the Quakers is a delight to the eye. He had an office in Philadelphia 1769-1770. He established the first newspaper in New Jersey—the New Jersey Gazette—December 5, 1777, and it was continued until November 27, 1786. In bis prospectus he promised to " reject any Proposition to make his Paper a Vehicle for the dark Purposes of private Malice by propogating Calumnies against Individuals, wounding the Peace of Families and inflaming the Minds of Men with Bitterness and Rancour against one another." Isaac Collins was a supporter of American Independence. Bill number 3 is interesting, and much could be said about the printer, his work, and the special edition of the book he printed. 54BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY. The Yearly Meeting of Friends Pennsylvania and New Jersey toChrist' Sower Dr. To printing Barclay's Apologie, according to agreement, viz : One Thousand Books£268.17. 6 Extraordinary Expences, for the uncommon Price of Paper17.11.10 Germantown gmo 19a1 Dy 1776£286. 9. 4 The FriendsCredit For three Sheets I had calculated too many £14.11.10 The printers Mite towards the Work3. o. o£17.11.10 Ballance due to the printer268.17. 6£286. 9. 4 Errors excepted Christ1 Sower Junr. N. B. The Printer charges nothing for comparing the several Amendments, Sizing the Paper after printed & other Extraordinary Troubles other Printers know nothing of. Another account appears to refer to the same edition, though dated nearly four years later. It is number 4, and reads : 4. March ye 19o1, 1777 I delivered to Christopher Sower Junior 61 Apologies , and 4 to Anthony Benezat and now...