1 June 10, 1700
Dear Madame Adelaide,
I am writing to you from Rhode Island. The colonial life is not what I have imagined it would be like. I have lived for three years and I just hate it. Just recently we have heard of gruesome wars with the Indians in Massachusetts, smuggling of goods past Britain, and just a few years ago there was a rebellion of poor farmers and farm workers down south and the rebels came up and burned down Jamestown. Remember all the fine things I brought with me on one of the king's ships. Well the materials for building my fine house sunk with the cargo ship. So now I have to live in a cramped town, where disease is rampant, the sanitation is terrible, and to top it all of I have to make sure that I don't get caught in one of the many fires that destroy whole blocks at a time. Also down south, I hear word of Africans being treated like animals and made to work all day long and not fed properly, they call them slaves I think. Well, my friend, who is a glassmaker who makes fine cups and vases, says that Britain is going too far with its laws over the colonies. He says that whenever he finishes a product they give him less than market value for it and then sell it themselves to other countries for more than market value. He says because of this the merchants are getting very upset with Britain, some even sneak their goods past Britain to Spain or France. I hope that when you get this letter you will pick up my jewels from the royal jewelers and my dresses from the royal dressmaker, and please tell everyone at the royal court don't come to America for it is just dreadful.
Hope to come back soon,
Madame Antoinette Pompadour
Dear Madame Adelaide,
I am writing to you from Rhode Island. The colonial life is not what I have imagined it would be like. I have lived for three years and I just hate it. Just recently we have heard of gruesome wars with the Indians in Massachusetts, smuggling of goods past Britain, and just a few years ago there was a rebellion of poor farmers and farm workers down south and the rebels came up and burned down Jamestown. Remember all the fine things I brought with me on one of the king's ships. Well the materials for building my fine house sunk with the cargo ship. So now I have to live in a cramped town, where disease is rampant, the sanitation is terrible, and to top it all of I have to make sure that I don't get caught in one of the many fires that destroy whole blocks at a time. Also down south, I hear word of Africans being treated like animals and made to work all day long and not fed properly, they call them slaves I think. Well, my friend, who is a glassmaker who makes fine cups and vases, says that Britain is going too far with its laws over the colonies. He says that whenever he finishes a product they give him less than market value for it and then sell it themselves to other countries for more than market value. He says because of this the merchants are getting very upset with Britain, some even sneak their goods past Britain to Spain or France. I hope that when you get this letter you will pick up my jewels from the royal jewelers and my dresses from the royal dressmaker, and please tell everyone at the royal court don't come to America for it is just dreadful.
Hope to come back soon,
Madame Antoinette Pompadour