Mr. Pepys to the President, and Governours of Christ-Hospital, upon the present state of the said hospital To the Honour'd Sir John Moor, Kt. and President, and the rest of my honour'd friends, the Governours of Christ-Hospital. Pepys, Samuel, 1633-1703. 1699 Approx. 12 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 3 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2007-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A54297 Wing P1451D ESTC R222473 99833640 99833640 38118 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A54297) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 38118) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 2175:15) Mr. Pepys to the President, and Governours of Christ-Hospital, upon the present state of the said hospital To the Honour'd Sir John Moor, Kt. and President, and the rest of my honour'd friends, the Governours of Christ-Hospital. Pepys, Samuel, 1633-1703. Moore, John, Sir, 1620-1702, recipient. Christ's Hospital (London, England). Board of Governors, recipient. [4] p. s.n., [London : 1698] Signatures: A.̲, Signed at end: S. Pepys. Dated at head: York-Buildings. March 30th. 1699. Imprint from Wing. Copy stained, with heavy print show-through. Reproduction of the original in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. 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Charities -- England -- London -- Early works to 1800. 2005-05 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-10 Taryn Hakala Sampled and proofread 2006-10 Taryn Hakala Text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Mr. PEPYS To the President , and Governours of CHRIST-HOSPITAL , upon the Present State of the said HOSPITAL . To the Honour'd Sir John Moor , K t. and President , and the rest of my Honour'd Friends , the Governours of CHRIST-HOSPITAL . York-Buildings , March 30th . 1699. Gentlemen , YOUR Resolution of the 22 th instant , importing your Election of me to the Treasurership of this Hospital , was delivered me by the worthy Gentlemen appointed thereto , with a degree of Respect as obliging on their part , as the Message it self was on Yours ; and both surprising . Surprising I say ; but without ought of what ( I find ) was in too much Tenderness apprehended from me by some of this Body concerning it ; as being One , who think nothing below the Character of any Man to execute , in a Service of Charity : And who therefore in my late Searches into the Condition of this House , descended to Offices much beneath any thing that can occur in what you are now calling me to . I therefore do most thankfully own the Proof you herein tender me of the Continuance of your Esteem , after the unwelcome Freedom I have for some time been unavoidably exercising towards you , upon the Unhappy Subject of your present State ; in which Your selves are now pleased to give me this Testimony of your acquiescence : and in the Redress whereof , this Court shall never want any thing within my power improvable thereto . But whether in the method you now propose , is what I have made it my business for some days to consider ; without being able to bring my self to any other Determination in it , Than that the giving you any conclusive Answer ( whether of Acceptance or Refusal ) before this Resolution of yours shall have passed the Censure of another Court , is a no less Exposing of Myself , than Imposing on You , ( as in a very late Case ) under the Vncertain Issue of a subsequent Court ; and when that is over , of the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen also : As that without which , by the known Constitution of all our Hospitals , no Election of a Treasurer is valid . A Consideration of more than common Weight at this time ; from the Question under which the Authority of that Court now lies with this ; without Ought I can hear-of yet done on their side , in its Assertion . Which while in doing , and for Your clearer Guidance in Your second Debates on this matter at the next Court , I think it becoming me , in faithfulness both to You and Myself , to lay before You the few following Considerations . 1 st . — That I am no Freeman ; and consequently , according to the Original Book of Ordinances by which alone ( without entring into the Reason of it ) this Court and that of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen are at liberty to Act herein ; I neither am capable of being Your Treasurer , nor You nor They , apart or together , in a Capacity of making me so . Nor is there , I believe , any one Instance to be shewn me , of a Treasurer not a Freeman : And should therefore most unwillingly subject Myself to Question , for meddling unwarrantably with a Revenue so Sacred as that of the Poor's ; or be an Occasion of Your adventuring upon that in my Case , which was never yet done in any , nor can now justifiably be in this . 2 dly . — That the Office and Work of Your Treasurer ought not to be estimated by what we have seen of it in its Execution for some Years past ; but by the Condition the House is reduced to , from its being executed no otherwise . As being an Office , that calls at once for Qualifications , such and so many , as rarely meet in the same Person : Such are ( besides that of an approved Integrity ) Vigour of Mind , Steadiness of Health , Entire Leasure , Vninterestedness , Zeal for and Tenderness towards the Poor , General Experience , and particular Practice in the Business of Accounts , a Genius fitted for Command joyn'd with Temper , a Thorough-Insight into the Laws and Ends of our Constitution , and a Capacity of Controlling every of our Officers and Masters in the Execution of their Dutys , with a constancy of Attendance and Application ( in his own Person , and not by Others ) to the Performance of his own . A Task both in Bulk and Weight , too much for my Age and known Infirmities ; Besides the Disabilitys I am alone Conscious to my self of , for it . And though what I have here to add , might not possibly be reckon'd of Moment enough alone in this Debate : yet in Conjunction with what is already said , I know not how without Injury to my self to omit the observing ; that I can with no Satisfaction think of accepting of a Charge , which my self must be own'd to have had the greatest Hand in the rendring Vacant . 3 ly . — That suitable to my Advice to you elsewhere on this Subject , I do not see with what Safety this Court can proceed to the giving a final Discharge to its late Treasurer , nor how it should expect his being Succeeded by any Person of Sincerity or Substance , till a State shall be first Adjusted of all your Accounts , Revenues , Charges and Debts , to your Own and Their Satisfaction ; and that also laid before , and acquiesced-in by the Court of Aldermen . Besides the Review and fresh Establishment fit to be first had of the Work and Instructions of that Officer , before the Admission of a New. As foreseeing little Fruit from any Change of Hands ( be it what it will ) where those Hands shall be obliged by no other Rules nor Restrictions , than those we owe our present Distresses to . For the more Successful Dispatch of which , as well on the part of your said Treasurer as Your selves ; I submit it to You , whether it may not be advisable , that the Current Work of this Office be for the Present lodg'd with a small Commmittee of Your own Number , properly chosen ; till by the Adjustment of these Matters , You shall be in a Condition of restoring it to its Ordinary Methods . 4 ly . — Lastly , That no Degree of Industry , Experience , or other the Vertues ( before requir'd ) in a Treasurer , can alone be thought Sufficient at this Juncture ( where our Whole Constitution lies at once out of Order ) to compass its Reformation , without equal Aid from a no less vigorous and persevering , however otherwise meritorious a President . One , I mean , whose thorough-knowledge in the Design , Powers , Limitations , and Orders of this Pious Foundation , and the Rules of their Execution , is able both to preserve himself from being either discouraged or imposed-on , and by his Authority , Zeal and Vigilance , to prevent those Practices which , from the want hereof , the Generality of this House has been so long misled by , to its Vndoing . A Reflection , that in one word , would alone suffice ( lay there nothing else in my way ) to deter me from the Vndertaking You invite me to , under the Circumstances we at present labour in this Particular . Which having said , and the Reasons of it thus opened ; it remains only for me to beg , that my declining Your present Offer may not be taken for a Declension in any part of my Concernment for the Prosperity of this House . Forasmuch as no Consideration shall ever discourage or divert me from the pursuit of it ; till by some Means , Ordinary or Extraordinary ( though much rather the former ) I see it restored to the State wherein all Good men wish it . In view whereof , give me leave with great Satisfaction once more to assure You , that ( without any such Obligation as this of your Treasurership ) neither You nor Your helpless Orphans shall ever want the best Effects of my Personal Attendance and Service , from the Moment that , by Your thorough-Applications , and those of the Court of Aldermen towards it , I shall have any Grounds to hope , that such my Attendance and Service , may be followed with any Success , to the Recovery of the lost Honour of this House , by its Return to that Religious Strictness which once distinguish'd it from all others , in its Compliances with the holy and charitable Ends provided-for by its Munificent Founders and Benefactors ▪ I am Gentlemen , Your most humble and obedient Servant , S. Pepys .