[Autograph Letter; Thomas White, founder of Sion College, etc]] Letter, prob. draft, "for the May[o]r of Bristol to the Mayor [of London prob. ,"Right Wor[shipfu]ll].

One page, cr. 8vo, stained but text clear and complete. With excisions and corrections (hence draft). The first (with the narrower width) is a letter drafted 8-9 February 1647 (new style date) on behalf of the mayor of Bristol and addressed to the mayor of another city, which further details and the context make clear is London. The letter concerns a gift made by the late Dr. Thomas White (d. 1624) that included an annual payment to the Town of Bristol, now in arrears to the amount of 104 pounds. It was supposed to have been paid on the previous Bartholomew's Day (Aug. 24), but wasn't. The Corporation of the Town of Bristol sent two men to the common hall of the Merchant Taylors in London to collect the payment, but no one representing the City of London appeared. The writer says that recent political troubles may have prevented the payment, but now that things are calmer it is hoped that regular payments will resume. Charity's sake and the need of the poor freemen of Bristol, 'whose bowells are to be refreshed with this worke of mercye', demands a speedy answer. For context, this refers to Dr. Thomas White the important benefactor, who founded Sion College in London and an almshouse in Bristol (as Trollope's charitable institution in "The Warden"), among other things. Conceivably the financing of this almhouse has been interrupted.