110 Preamble to a Subscription List

    [ca. June 20 1697]

    Whereas the General Assembly hath by a Late Act Incorporated the Colledge in Cambridge, and Considering, that the Settlement of that Society, on a charter-foundation, may bee of Singular Advantage, both to the present and After generations in this Countrey, and that Delayes in this matter may bee of very Ill consequence to the public Interest; And, having been informed, That the said Corporation have unaminously Desired their president to undertake a Voyage for England, in order to endeavour that the happy Settlement of the Colledge may bee expedited; wee, whose Names are underwritten, shall contribute towards the Necessary charges of this Affayr, as wee have hereunto subscribed.

    College Papers, i. 14 (No. 33). Increase Mather expected to be sent to London in the summer of 1697 in order to obtain the royal approbation of the Charter of 1697, but the General Court declined to grant money for that purpose. This document appears to be the preamble to a proposed list of private subscriptions that would make Mather’s mission possible. See Morison, Seventeenth Century, ii. 513–514. As a similar situation existed in June, 1698, it is quite possible that this paper was written at that time instead of in the preceding year. See Quincy, History, i. 92–93.