The New Hampshire Gazette

To the Printer.

An Advertisement having appeared in your Paper of Friday last, under the Names of some worthy Gentlemen in Boston, setting forth that some Shopkeepers in Portsmouth in New Hampshire. have falsly Reported; that Mr. Benjamin Parker of said Portsmouth, has for some Time past been Non Compos; and that his being Indebted to the said Gentlemen more than he was able to pay, was the Occasion of his Distraction, &c.

We (who are Shopkeepers in Portsmouth ) under this general Accusation, think we are obliged to say something in Vindication of ourselves; and we are in Doubt whether the aforesaid Writing produced to your Press, may not be apocryphal ; and we are the more dubious, as it does not seem probable that the Gentlemen whose Names are thereto subscribed, should in so arbitrary a Manner pretend to assert Facts relative to Mr. Parker's being compos or non compos, at the Distance of sixty Miles, against the Evidence not only of the Shopkeepers, but of the greatest Part of the Inhabitants of Portsmouth, who had it at that Time in their Power to, and most of them actually did, see and converse with him every Day. But however, let the Attack upon the Shop- keepers come from what Quarter it will, we shall truly state to the Publick the plain Matters of Fact, leaving them to be his Judges. On or about the 1st of May, the said Mr. Parker ( instead of minding his Shop, and wearing his usual Garb, which had been always plain and grave, suitable to his Calling) suddenly appeared on Horseback with a lac'd Hat and Ruffles, and rode thro' the Streets in Portsmouth for many Days, proclaiming with a loud Voice to those he met, "Quebec is absolutely taken and what I am now doing is in Honour to Quebec. Now his Behaviour happening long after the Fate of Quebec was known to the very Children of Portsmouth to be settled, we having had some Months before a public Rejoicing here on Account of the Reduction of that Place by His Britannic Majesty's Arms, was not this a strong Suspicion of his being a Madman? (and not overcome with strong Drink, as was Reported by his nearest Relations) to be his Case, as all who are acquainted with that Disorder, know that it does not require a Fortnight's Confinement with the frequent Attendance of a Physician, with Blistering, Bleeding, Physicking, &c. Equally unaccountable were his frequent Assertions of his having had an Engagement with sundry Shopkeepers with his laced Hat and Ruffles, with which Weapons (he said ) he had made an entire Conquest of them : And his Riding in Procession ( as he term'd it) with some Officers of the New Hampshire Regiment, before a certain Gentleman's Door, in Defiance to him (Mr.Parker then imagining that Gentleman had conceived some Envy toward him, upon his ( Parker 's ) getting into the Molasses Scheme) Sometimes the poor Man would publish a Method for procuring Drugs ( a Term he had for Goods) to cure him of his Frenzies : Other Times he boasted of a Scheme he had found for depriving the Old Shopkeepers of Business : with many other Notions equally ridiculous. This Behaviour of his render'd him the Subject of every one's Conversation ; for our Parts it excited Pity from us ; we imagin'd this Frenzy might run in his Blood, as he was not the first of his Family who had been even very lately in like Circumstances. But we hereby declare that neither we nor any one( to our Knowledge ) ever Reported or imagin'd that his being Indebted to the said Gentlemen in Boston more than he was able to pay, was the Occasion of his Distraction. As to his Punctuality & Honor in Payments (if those Gentlemen have really declared it) we have no Room to doubt its being true. We shall take our Leave of Mr. Parker, wishing he would never be guilty of little mean Actions, and behave so as to merit that Respect and Esteem from the Shopkeepers in this Town, which they have always so remarkably shew'd to each other.

Query, Whether it might not be inferred, that as Madness is periodical, his Fit might have gone off before the Gentlemen at Boston saw him.