We dined very agreeably; after dinner Gen'l [John] Thomas one other Gentleman and myself rode to Dorchester Neck and viewed the lines there, which are within point blank shot of the enemy . . . We then returned to Roxbury, viewed the Fort and lines there, which are very strong . . . This day there was a conference between Major [Benjamin] Tupper and the Regulars at their lines on the Neck. They told him they could destroy all our seaports. He told them they would do us a great favor, as it would take off our attention from Trade, and put us on agriculture, for we had a fine fertile country, enough to employ millions of people, a land that produced every necessary of life. He also told them we never would submit so long as a man was alive. I supped with the Gen'l and lodged there, had a very good bed to myself and rested well. Major Tupper brought out a letter from Treasurer Gray² to his son Allen Oates . . . There was one other letter from Gen'l Brattle³ . . . He also wrote in his letter that he heard the Port of Boston was quite open, and the Custom House kept in Boston as usual, and that a ship on the 4th of this month brought into Boston two thousand and two hundred Barrels of Flour. . . .