Of Baltimore in this pre-Revolutionary period, a few odd, disconnected facts have been handed down. The tax upon bachelors--levied to raise supplies for his Majesty’s service--cannot have been very productive, as only thirteen “taxables” are reported. The commercial activity of the community was stimulated every October and May by a fair, when residents and visitors were free from arrest, except for felony and breach of the peace. Among other police regulations, fines were laid upon those whose chimneys blazed out at the top, or who neglected to keep ladders. Baltimore began to look like a busy, thriving town, enjoying life to the utmost. And if our ancestors lived well, they endeavored to die well--at least with regard to the comfort of the guests at their funerals. One bill for funeral expenses, besides yards upon yards of crape, tiffany, broadcloth, shalloon and linen, several pairs of black gloves and other necessary attire, includes these items: 47¹⁄₂ lbs. loaf sugar 14 doz. eggs 10 oz. nutmegs 1¹⁄₂ lbs. allspice 20⁵⁄₈ gall. white wine 12 bottles red wine 10³⁄₈ gallons rum [!] The first recognition of Baltimore’s existence by the Proprietary appears to have been in connection with an inquiry as to the possibility of making the growth of the town a source of additional income. Cecilius Calvert, the secretary of Frederick, the sixth Lord Baltimore, writes to Governor Sharpe that in Philadelphia William Penn has reserved property that brings him “much income now” and will produce to his heirs “immense revenue.” Sharpe replies that Baltimore town is built upon land patented to private persons, and embraces the opportunity to moderate the extravagant reports of Baltimore’s size that had reached the ears of the Proprietary, by adding that it “is almost as much inferiour to Philad^a as Dover is to London.” However, the twenty-five houses and two hundred people of 1752 had become, in 1764, two hundred families, and the town “is increasing.” Such was Baltimore town when the citizens met together in town meeting to adopt a non-importation agreement, and to propose, upon the last day of May, 1774, the assembling of a general congress of delegates from all the colonies. The suffering of Boston under the Port Bill awoke deep sympathy, and in August of this year the sloop _America_ sailed from Baltimore Harbor carrying three thousand bushels of corn, twenty barrels of rye flour, two barrels of pork and twenty-one barrels of bread, “for the relief of our brethren, the distressed inhabitants of your town.”