should be adjusted to my
satisfaction; and he was very pressing in his entreaties. I answered his
letter, thanked him for his advice, and explained the reasons which had
induced me to quit Boston with such force and clearness that he was
convinced I had been less to blame than he had imagined.

"Sir William Keith, Governor of the province, was at Newcastle at the
time. Captain Holmes, being by chance in his company when he received my
letter, took occasion to speak of me and showed it to him. The Governor
read it, and appeared surprised when he learned of my age. He thought
me, he said, a young man of very promising talents, and that of
consequence I ought to be encouraged; that there were at Philadelphia
none but very ignorant printers, and that if I were to set up for myself
he had no doubt of my success; that, for his own part, he would procure
me all the public business, and would render me every other service in
his power. My brother-in-law related all this to me afterward at Boston,
but I knew nothing of it at the time. When, one day, Keimer and I being
at work together near the window, we saw the Governor and another
gentleman, Colonel French, of Newcastle, handsomely dressed, cross the
street and make directly for our house. We heard them at the door, and
Keimer, believing it to be a visit to himself, went immediately down;
but the Governor inquired for me, came upstairs, and, with a
condescension and politeness to which I had not at all been accustomed,
paid me many compliments, desired to be acquainted with me, obligingly
reproached me for not having made myself known to him on my arrival in
the town, and wished me to accompany him to a tavern, where he and
Colonel French were going to have some excellent Madeira wine.

"I was, I confess, somewhat surprised, and Keimer appeared
thunderstruck. I went, however, with the Governor and the colonel to a
tavern at the corner of Third Street, where he proposed to me to
establish a printing house. He set forth the probabilities of success,
and himself and Colonel French assured me that I should have their
protection and influence in obtaining the printing of the public papers
of both governments; and as I appeared to doubt whether my father would
assist me in this enterprise, Sir William said that he would give me a
letter to him, in which he would represent the advantages of the scheme
in a light which he had no doubt would determine him. It was thus
concluded that