March 12, 1744

1744 March 12 (Monday).  I rode down to Colonel Wards[1] at Southborough that I might Consult Dalton[2] and other Lawyers, upon Letters Sent for one friend to another in a private and Secret Manner upon Witnesses etc.  Return’d without much Success, the Colonel being from home.  I call’d at his son Elisha’s, Dalton being there.

[1]William Ward, a justice of the peace.

[2]A work of Michael Dalton (1584-1648?), the English lawyer.  Perhaps The Countrey Justice, Conteyning the Practice of the Justices of the Peace out of Their Sessions (London, 1618).  It also appeared in later editions.