Letter – Francis Pewterer to Charles Whitaker – 7 Apr 1732

      Auckland Castle April 7th 1732

Dr. Sr.

Mr. Mowbray’s Uncle lives near Lanchester abt. tenn miles from this Place, & so <…> to find him at home, that last Tuesday I Sent my Servant with a Letter to him to Know when & where I cou’d see him, & it being Passion Week, he was at home, & Sent me the Inclosed Answer. Yesterday he din’d with me here, & says that he has contracted with Ald: Ridley & Partners, for all their Ore till Xmas, so that Ald Smelts none this year, & therefore I need not wait upon him. The bargain, he says, will be about five or six & twenty hundred pounds. as my Lord Enters not till Mayday, Mr Mowbray says he need not be hasty in disposing of his ninth, neither thinks he it proper to Appoint One to look after it at present. I find by another Inclosed Letter, that Mr. Blacket’s Agents are busy in getting all the Ore of the <Fa: misses> before that time, so that my Lord must Enter Naked. the Under-Stewards make up their Accts quarterly, & the fairest way for my Lord is to see their Accts at every Quarter’s End, or rather sooner for him, & not to appoint One to Attend daily, because the workings lye straggling, at least tenn miles asunder, & in different places, & by their delivering Ore at several places at the same time, the servt. Appointed will give my Lord little satisfaction. He is confident the stewards dare not produce any false Books, & this is his scheme at present: on Saturday Sennight we have appointed another meeting, tho’ I find few Dealers care to thwart with Mr. Blacket; but I Know a Gent called Mr Hutchinson, who lives at Barnard Castle, & has the greatest Regard for his own Interest. he is a Dealer this way, & shal be waited upon the beginning of the next week , & what I gather from him shal be faithfully transmitted. if the subject had bin Coal instead of Lead, I cou’d have fram’d my self into a proper method, because <no it> like bought <to it>; but I confess I know little of  Lead Mines, only my best Endeav[our]s. the Poor here are daily Inquiring for Xmas Charity, as they call it. I have sought for Sanders Lease at Howden for a month by-past, & can find no mention of it, save the minutes  Ao 1687. I hope my Lord & his Surrog[ate]s find that the Enrolmt of Leases have not been so much neglected, since the office of Auditor came into the hands of  Dr. Sr.

      Yrs. Affectionately 

      Fra. Pewterer