.. does desire me to give an account to yourself of the
late unhappy accident which has happened to him. A little time since, a
careless girl playing with fire at the door, it immediately took hold of
the mats, & in an instant consumed it to ashes, with all the common as
well as his lady's chamber furniture, & his own wardrobe & armory, Indian
plate, & money to the value (as is credibly reported in his estimation)
of more than an hundred pounds Indian.... The Indians have handsomely
already built him a good house & brought him in several necessaries for
his present supply, but that which takes deepest melancholy impression
upon him is the loss of an excellent Masathuset cloth cloak & hat, which
was only seen upon holy days & their general sessions. His journey at
this time is only to intreat your favor & the gentlemen there for a kind
relief in his necessity, having no kind of garment but a short jerkin
which was charitably given him by one of his Common-Councilmen. He
principally aims at a cloak & hat."
"King Stephen was a worthy peer,
His breeches cost him but a crown."
But it will be observed that there is no allusion to any such article of
dress in the costume of this prince of Pequot. Some light is perhaps
thrown on this deficiency by a line or two in one of Williams's letters,
where he says: "I have long had scruples of selling the Natives ought but
what may tend or bring to civilizing: I therefore neither brought nor
shall sell them loose coats nor breeches.
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