The magistrate said "Merry", the defendant said "Mary"

[Joel S. Berson]

Upon his conviction in 1739 for roguery, the magistrate sentenced
Bampfylde-Moore Carew to transportation to "Merryland".  According to
Carew, he informed the justice that "he apprehended it ought to be
pronounced 'Maryland'."  (Aside from a dialectical comment, obviously
Carew might have been contending that the life of a transported felon
in Maryland would not be merry.)

Is Bristol west of the Hudson, and the place where Carew grew up,
"the parish of Brickley [or Bickley?], near Tiverton, in the county
of Devon," east of the Hudson?  :-)  Actually, I find that Tiverton
is *west* of Bristol.

Joel

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