42 HIS LORDSHIP'S PATRONAGE

[The Commissaryship] is not a Sine Cure Office which admits of a
Gentleman's engaging in other Pursuits, but administered with proper
Diligence... it almost ingrosses a Man's whole Time & Attention....
Upon a view of the Act of Assembly, you will observe, there must be six
Courts held in a Year, besides what may be occasionally necessary. The
Attendance upon these Courts is tedious & troublesome, and the Fees for
that Branch of this Duty very trifling. He must hold a constant Cor-
respondance with the Deputies in the several Counties, to give them
Instructions in all Cases out of the Common Road, and has likewise a
good deal of Trouble in writing to Executors & Administrators and the
representatives of Estates who are frequently applying for Directions how
to conduct themselves. In very many Instances he is obliged to examine
the Vouchers and pass the Accounts of Estates, personally. The Pauper
estates being raised from 10 to £ 30, a good deal of business is done in
the Office without any Consideration for upon these he receives no Fees
at all. It would be tedious to enumerate all the duties of this Office, but
this I can confidently affirm, that there is abundantly more Trouble in the
Execution of this single Office than there is in all the rest of his Lord-
ship's principal Offices put together.

The net profits of the Commissaryship seem to have been
smaller than those of the less troublesome Deputy Secretary's
place, and we may recall that prior to 1756 they were often
divided between two or more persons. Governor Hart reported
in 1715 that "After the Office is Supported and the Registers
Sallary Payd, which is allways a Certain Quantity of Tobacco not
less than £ 20000 [£ 80 or £ 90 sterling], The Fees of that Office
for the last two Years have not Exceeded 70000 lb. of Tobacco
[a little less than £ 300 sterling] per Annum clear to the Com-
missary Generall and that dispersed in many hands in the Several
Countys. " ¹³ However, by 1754 the net income amounted to about
£ 570 sterling, and it must have reached about £ 670 by 1769. ¹⁴
The office expenses and the saddle together, after 1751, seem
to have come to around £ 330. The gross income averaged about
£900 from 1745 through 1752 and about £1000 from 1763
through 1769. ¹⁵

¹³ " An Account of the Several Offices within the Province of Maryland, " 1715
(Archives, XXV, 319-21).

¹⁴ An estimate of 1754 shows that Benjamin Tasker, Sr., and Daniel Dulany, Jr.,
Joint Commissaries, each received in that year £483. 14. 6 3/4 currency, or about
£285 sterling, apparently the net income (Portfolio No. 3, folder 30, Hall of
Records). See note 15 below.

¹⁵ The average gross incomes for 1745-52 and 1763-69 inclusive are derived
from yearly returns in tobacco (Archives, L, 184; LXII, 219; Maryland Gazette,
Nov. 29, 1770). These figures agree with an estimate of about 1745 which