1828 November 17, Woodbourne, to Brother, Philadelphia

              Woodbourne 11mo. 17. 1828

Dear Brother,



Thy letter of 28 ult. has been rec'd.  Wm Drinker has transferred his claim on Father to Martin Curtis, store-keeper of Montrose.  ye latter mentioned to me, when I was last in Montrose, that Wm has spoken to him on the subject of stopping any legal proceedings that may have been commenced.  this he said he was willing to do, tho' he wd. not relinquish a cent of ye claim, wh he was sure must be all paid: that unless a legal tender had been made, interest cd. be obtained on ye respective sums for ye time of their becoming due: that he knew W. Drinker had pd. a considerable portion of them in cash, because they had been pd.thro' him.  I told him that I tho't he had only heard one side of the case & advised him not to be to confident of success.-  W.D. also says that he subjected himself to considerable inconvenience in order to pay the taxes, but considered that ye debt was in safe hands & wd. ne accumulating by ye addition of interest.



I observe that the Ches. & Dele. Canal loan has not yet risen, if ye public quotations are to be relied on, & shall be glad if thou hast succeeded in making a further investment for me.-  besides the drafts mentione[d] in thy last, I drew on the 6th inst. draft no. 5 for $50.00.- how [---] does ye agitation in ye corn market affect ye shipping interest?  and what freights have ye packets lately had?-  I was sorry to learn that Alfred was again lame.  please mention in thy next ye cause of his lameness.-  with particular love to ye members of thy family individually, I remain thy affectionate brother,
Wm D Cope



I will be obliged by thy collecting the annexed drafts for me.