Correspondence of Governor Sharpe. 545

Agency I was not on any Account to confer on M^r Allen that
Office ? Did Col^o Lloyd hold any Office beside the Agency
& the Keepership of the Rent Roll ? or what other Office was
there any probability of my being able to bestow on M^r Allen?
What Expectations both His Ldp's Letters & yours had
encouraged that Gentleman to entertain are fully explained in
his note to me of the 27^th of March, he absolutely refused to
accept the Rent Roll & Nothing less you see than one of the
Best & Capital Places would have contented him. If he
remonstrated against my delaying only for a few Days to put
him in possession of the Office to which both he & I supposed
His Ldp intended he should succeed What Lengths might
he not have gone had I refused to appoint him Agent at all.
Would he not think you have treated me as a Contemner of
His Ldp's Orders? The Truth is I did conclude from your
Letters that His Ldp would be well pleased at M^r Allen's
being appointed Agent, both His Ldp & you seemed to
entertain not only the greatest Esteem & Friendship for him
but the highest Opinion likewise of his Abilities, & I am for
my part satisfied that with regard to that Matter he is full as
well qualified to discharge the Duties of the Agent's as of the
Rent Roll Keepers Office. My Lord who had long been inti-
mately acquainted with him seem'd to have placed in him
entire Confidence, & was it for me to make such an Objection
to his being Agent as that it was an Office of all others most
interesting to His Ldp ? Had I told him by way of Objection
to his having it that it was an Office which required an inti-
mate knowledge of the Country & of every Law & every
Branch of the Revenue arising within it & the greatest skill
& Experience in Accounts, might he not have said how do you
know Sir the Extent of my Skill & Experience in Accounts,
Does His Ldp's Revenue arise from more than a very few
Articles, are the Laws relative thereto multifarious or difficult
to be understood, or does the Business of the Agent make it
absolutely necessary that he should understand Algebra or
the Doctrine of Fluxions. Is it not enough for him to be
Master of the four first Rules of Arithmetic & to know how a
Sett of Books ought to be kept, & if you can suppose my
Knowledge docs not yet extend so far, am I so deficient in
point of Capacity as not to be able in a few Days to learn
what is often taught to Children under ten years of Age. then
as to my being unacquainted with the Laws of the Province
Could I in that Case have been qualified for or been destined to
the Commissary's Office, or even to a part of it, when by Vir-
tue of such Commission to me I must have sat as Judge in a
Supreme Court & have had perhaps to determine various &
intricate Points of Law, & as that is an Office in which All the

Letter Bk. V