USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of Boston, the metropolis of Massachusetts, from its origin to the present period; with some account of the environs > Part 20
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* They were both of them of Sir Edmund's council.
t He married president Dudley's sister.
Į Other accounts say, that he and the old magistrates were guarded by the militia with great formality.
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and from thence, some to the close jail, and the governour, under a guard, to Mr. Usher's house .*
' The next day, they sent the two colonels to demand of him the surrender of the castle, which he resolved not to give ; but they told him, if he would not give it presently, under his hand and seal, he would be exposed to the rage of the people, and so left him ; but he sent and told them that he would, and did so ; and they went down, and it was sur- rendered to them with cursings ; and they brought the men away, t and made Captain Fairweather commander in it. Now, by the time that the men came back from the castle, all the guns, both in ships and batteries, were brought to bear against the frigate, which were enough to have shattered her in pie- ces at once, resolving to have her. It is incident to corrupt nature to lay the blame of our evil deeds any where rather than on ourselves ; so Captain George cast all the blame now upon that devil Randolph, (for had it not been for him he had nev- er troubled this good people,) earnestly soliciting that he might not be constrained to surrender the ship, for by so doing both himself and all his men would lose their wages, which other- wise would be recovered in England, giving leave to go on board and strike the topmasts and bring the sails on shore ; and so he did. The country people came armed into the town, in the afternoon, in such rage and heat, that it made us all tremble to think what would follow ; for nothing would satisfy them, but that Gov. Andros must be bound in chains or cords, and put into a more secure place, and that they would see done before they went away ; and, to satisfy them, he was guarded by them to the fort.'-
None of the magistrates appear to have been privy to the rising of the people on this occasion : but the former gover- nour, Mr. Bradstreet, with several of the assistants chosen in 1686, assembled immediately at the town-house, and assumed the direction of affairs, under the title of 'a council for the safety of the people and conservation of the peace,' and as- sociated 22 others with them. Mr. Bradstreet was chosen their president. They recommended to the towns to send deputies (not exceeding two for each town, except Boston fourt) to form an assembly on the 9th of May. This assem-
* Mr. John Nelson, a young gentleman of Boston, at the head of the soldiers, demanded the fort the second time ; and then the governour came down, and surrendered himself and the fort. Neal.
t Ensign John Pipon was at that time commander there. The veteran Roger Clap, who had succeeded Capt. Richard Davenport in 1665, resigned his office rather than submit to the requisitions of Andros. Prince, Chr. Hist. p. 71 .- Col. Rec. 1689.
# After many successive petitions for an increase in the number of her representatives, Boston had been allowed to choose three in 1681.
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bly declared the officers chosen in 1686 to be the rightful government ; and adjourned to the 22d, when warm disputes occurred on the expediency of reassuming the old charter. This was not done.
' On the 26th, a ship arrived from England, with advice of the proclaiming of King William and Queen Mary. This was the most joyful news ever received in New-England. The fears of the people, of any very bad consequences from their late actions, were now over. On the 29th, the proclamation was published in Boston, with greater ceremony than had been known ; the governour and council, civil and military officers, merchants of the town, and principal gentlemen of the town and country, being on horseback ; the regiment of the town, and many companies of horse and foot from the country, appearing in arms ; a grand entertainment was pre- pared in the town-house, and wine was served out to the soldiers.'
On the 5th of June, the representatives from the several towns, on a new choice, assembled at Boston. The council immediately proposed to them to consent to the enlargement of the 'gentlemen seized by the people,' upon security ; but this was not agreed to : and on the 27th they resolved, that they were not bailable, and sent up articles against them. Sir Edmund and his friends remained in close custody for upwards of twenty weeks ; excepting the knight himself, who was absent a short time, on his way to Rhode Island, having made his escape through the craftiness of a servant, that ' enticed the centinel to drink, and then to suffer him to be on guard in his stead :' but ' there, Major Sanford stopped him and sent him back to the castle again.' At last an order was received from the king, approving the course pursued by the people and old magistrates, and directing, that Andros and the rest of their prisoners should be sent forthwith to England. This order arrived late in the year, and on the first opportu- nity, (Feb. 1690,) Sir Edmund with Mr. Dudley* and several others embarked for England.
* ' Of all that were concerned in the late government, Mr. Dudley felt most of the people's resentment. He writes to C. Mather, June 1st, ' I am told that this morning is the last op- portunity for rolling away the stone from the mouth of this sepulchre, where I am buried alive, in which I yet trouble you for your assistance.' To governour Bradstreet, Sept. 12th, ' After twenty weeks unaccountable imprisonment, and many barbarous usages offered me therein, the last seven weeks whereof are upon account of your letters to me, I have now to complain, that on Monday the whole day I could be allowed no victuals till nine of the
· clock at night, when the keeper's wife offered to kindle her own fire to warm something for me, and the corporal expressly commanded the fire to be put out .- I may be easily op- pressed to death .- God will hear them that complain to him .- I pray your directions for your oppressed kinsman, J. D.'
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
CHAPTER XXXII.
" This is a beaten track." " Is this a track Should not be beaten ? Never beat enough Till enough learnt the truths it would inspire."
THERE were, in the company of first emigrants, a very few who entertained sentiments in unison with the church of Eng- land. We hear very little of them until the year 1646, when Dr. Child, Maverick, Fowle, and others, presented a petition to the court, in which, among other grievances, they complain that 'divers sober, righteous, and godly men-members of the church of England-and their posterity are detained from the seals of the covenant of grace, because, as it is supposed, they will not take these churches' covenants' ; and ' humbly intreat-liberty to the members of the Church of E .- to enjoy all those liberties and ordinances Christ hath purchased -till inconveniences hereby be found, prejudicial to the churches and colony.' This petition met with so unfavoura- ble a reception, that it is probable the episcopalian brethren made no attempts afterwards to establish a society of their order for several years. In 1662, the court declared in an official document, that ' none as yet among them had appear- ed to desire to use the book of common prayer.' But when the commissioners from K. Charles II. were at Boston, in 1665, they had a chaplain with them, and the agents of the colony in England, and the general court, in their answers to complaints made against them in 1677, had promised that no person should be hindered from the performance of church services. From that time a society seems to have been form- ing, and in the year 1686 Randolph writes to the Archbishop of Canterbury, that ' there are 400 persons who are daily fre- quenters of our church, and as many more would come over to us, but some being tradesmen, others of mechanick professions, are threatened by the congregational men to be arrested by their creditors, or turned out of their work, if they offer to come.'
In disregard, however, of all such discouragements, a meet- ing was held on the 15th of June, of that year, which may be considered the origin of the first episcopal society in Bos- ton. The persons who then associated were 'Mr. Robert Ratcliffe, our minister, Edw. Randolph, Esq. one of His M.'s
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council, Capt. Lidgett, Mr. Luscomb, Mr. White, Mr. Mac- carty, Mr. Ravenscroft, Dr. Clark, Mr. Turfrey, Mr. Richard Banks, and Dr. Benja. Bullivant ; and at a subsequent meeting, July 4, Mr. Proctor, Mr. Steph. Wessendonck, Mr. Thomas Brinley, and Mr. Mallet, are also named. Dr. Bulli- vant and Mr. Banks were elected the first wardens.
At those meetings it was agreed, that an humble address should be made to the king, to be signed by the gentlemen first named, ' to implore H. M.'s favour to our church, and it is consented that all true sons of the Church of E. may join with us in the same.' In the same method, letters were to be sent ' to the Right Reverend Father in God, the Lord Arch- bishop of Canterbury, and to the Reverend Father in God, the Lord Bishop of London, to implore those prelates' favour.' It was also agreed, that there be a sacrament the second sab- bath in August, and that the prayers of the church be said, every Wednesday and Friday in the year, for the present in the library chamber in the town-house in Boston, and that a sober and fit person be sought after for a clerk. Mr. Thomas Hill was selected and held the first office of that name. Mr. Smith was the first sexton. He was a joiner, and was employed to make 12 forms [settees] for the service of the church, and also to clean, place, and remove the pulpit, forms, table, etcetera, and ' do all other things, which shall be conve- nient and necessary, in their place of publick assembling.'
The first step towards the erection of a church was an ad- dress to the [President and] Council, for ' liberty and author- ity, by a brief, to pass through the whole territory of H. M. in N. E. and therein to collect and receive all such voluntary donations, as all persons whatsoever shall be disposed to give us, for and towards the building of a church, in Boston, to be erected for the service of God and for the use of the church of E. as per law established.' This was in July, 1686 .* Gov. Andros arriving in Dec. of that year, and not finding the church so well accommodated as the congregations were, made application for the use of one of the meeting.houses, and having examined the three, made choice of the Old South, and sent Randolph to ask for the keys. The proprietors decler- ed, that they could not in conscience suffer the house to be occupied for such a purpose as the governour proposed. Andros however persisted, and on Friday, the 25th of March, 1687, had a service performed there : 'good man Needham, though he had resolved to the contrary, being prevailed upon to ring the bell and open the door at the governour's com- mand.'
* ' Aug. 5. Mr. Harris, boddice-maker, is the first buried with Common Prayer : he was formerly Randolph's landlord.' Scwall's Diary in Holmes' Annals.
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It is probable, that the council acceded to the request of the church, and granted them a brief for obtaining subscrip- tions, for they proceeded to build a house of worship. It is usually said to have been founded in 1688 : the first record, that speaks of it as if finished, is dated July, 1689, and is a list of those ' that contributed' towards the house. They were 106 in number, and the amount of their contributions was £256. 9s. Od. The cost of the house was £284. 16s. Od. exclusive of some items for which no charge was made. It was a wooden building, with a steeple, and occupied part of the land on which the Stone Chapel now stands. How the society obtained possession of the lot does not appear. It had been the property of the town ; but whether Johnson, as is the opinion of some, had reserved a portion of it for the site of a church, or whether, according to another opinion, Andros ex- ercised the power, which the annihilation of the charter was supposed to give the king over all landed estate, and of his own will appropriated it to the use of the church, must remain undecided. At first there were no pews in the house; in 1694, fifty-three persons subscribed toward the building of pews ;. those probably were all attendants on the service of the church. Down to May, 1698, we find the building called His Majesty's chapel; in November, King's chapel, and in 1713, Queen's chapel, in honour of queen Anne.
Mr. Ratcliffe, the first rector (who had an assistant by the name of Robert Clarke) came over with Mr. Dudley. He is noticed by Dunton, who says, he ' read the common prayer in his surplice and preached in the town-house on Lord's days. He was an eminent preacher, and his sermons were useful and well dressed : I was once or twice to hear him, and it was noised about, that Dr. Annesley's son-in-law was turned apostate : but I could easily forgive 'em, in regard the common prayer and surplice were religious novelties in New- England.'
It may be noted here, that, under the charter government, the clergy had never performed any part of the ceremonies at marriages or funerals, except an occasional prayer, ' lest it might in time introduce the customs of the English church.' Upon Mr. Dudley's being appointed President, in 1686, he published an order of council, authorizing and empowering ministers and justices to " consummate marriages :" and in 1688, we find Mr. Ratcliffe persisting in the performance of the burial service at the grave of one Lilly, in opposition to the will of his executors. After that time our present customs in these respects came slowly into vogue.
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
She deals in charms --- can read the book of fate, And tells the future with unerring skill.
Atheneum.
THE execution of Mrs. Hibbins for witchcraft had been disapproved by many persons of note, and it is not unlikely that her death saved the lives of others, who might have been made the victims of a delusion, which, in the thirty years suc- ceeding, had brought people to believe that there might exist such a thing as a witch, or person favoured with uncommon communications from the prince of darkness. In 1687 or '88 an instance occurred in Boston, which was more alarm- ing than any that had preceded it. It certainly entitles us to divide the credit, which our sister town of Salem has borne away so long.
'Four of the children of John Goodwin, a grave man and a good liver at the north part of Boston, were generally be- lieved to be bewitched. I have often heard persons, who were of the neighbourhood, speak of the great consternation it occasioned. The children were all remarkable for ingenu- ity of temper, had been religiously educated, and were thought to be without guile. The eldest was a girl of thir- teen or fourteen years. She had charged a laundress with taking away some of the family linen. The mother of the laundress was one of the wild Irish, of bad character, and gave the girl harsh language ; soon after which she fell into fits, which were said to have something diabolical in them. One of her sisters and two brothers followed her example, and, it is said, were tormented in the same part of their bodies at the same time, although kept in separate apartments, and ignorant of one another's complaints. One or two things were said to be very remarkable ; all their complaints were in the day time, and they slept comfortably all night; they were struck dead at the sight of the assembly's catechism, Cotton's milk for babes, and some other good books, but could read in Oxford's jests, Popish and Quaker books, and the common prayer, without any difficulty. Is it possible the mind of man should be capable of such strong prejudices, as that a suspi- cion of fraud should not immediately arise ? But attachments to modes and forms in religion had such force, that some of these circumstances seem rather to have confirmed the credit of the children. Sometimes they would be deaf, then dumb,
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
then blind ; and sometimes all these disorders together would come upon them. Their tongues would be drawn down their throats, then pulled out upon their chins: Their jaws, necks, shoulders, elbows, and all their joints would appear to be dislo- cated; and they would make most piteous outcries of burnings, of being cut with knives, beat, &c. and the marks of wounds were afterwards to be seen. The ministers of Boston and Charlestown kept a day of fasting and prayer at the troubled house ; after which the youngest child made no more com- plaints. The others persevered, and the magistrates then in- terposed, and the old woman was apprehended ; but upon ex- amination would neither confess nor deny, and appeared to be disordered in her senses. Upon the report of physicians, that she was compos mentis, she was executed, declaring at her death the children should not be relieved. The eldest, after this, was taken into a minister's fan:ily, where at first she behaved orderly, but after some time suddenly fell into her fits. The account of her affliction is in print ; some things are mentioned as extraordinary, which tumblers are every day taught to perform; others seem more than natura! ; but it was a time of great credulity. The children returned to their ordinary behaviour, lived to adult age, made profession of re- ligion, and the affliction they had been under they publicly declared to be one motive to it. One of them I knew inany years after. She had the character of a very sober, virtu- ous woman, and never made any acknowledgment of fraud in this transaction. The printed account was published, with a preface by Mr. Baxter, who says, the evidence is so con- vincing, that he must be a very obdurate Sadducee, who will not believe.' Says Hutchinson, from whom this account is ta- ken, 'it obtained credit sufficient, together with other prepar- atives, to dispose the whole country to be easily imposed up- on by the more extensive and more tragical scene, which was presently after acted at Salem and other parts of the county of Essex.'
In 1690, August Sd, a fire near the Mill-bridge, across the creek in Hanover street, consumed several houses :* and the fire known as THE FIFTH GREAT FIRE happened Septem- ber 16th, near the [Old] South meeting-house, greatly en- dangered it, and burnt several houses. A lad was burnt to death in the house where it began.
1691, June 30th, in the sixth great fire, which happened at the King's Head, by Scarlett's wharf, North-end, several houses were consumed.
* See Thomas' llistory of Printing, i. 282.
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1
CHAPTER XXXIV.
The senate owns its gratitude to Cato, Who with so great a soul consults its safety, Aud guards our lives, while he neglects his own. Addison.
HOWEVER true the observation may have been, that the peo- ple in general were patient under Andros's government, some of the principal men had thought it an object to endeavour to obtain relief from their sufferings, by a representation of their grievances to King James. It was proposed 'that some one should be sent with an address of thanks to the king, for his gracious declaration, wherein he does promise us the free ex- ercise of our religion, and that he will maintain us in the en- joyment of our rights and possessions.' Mr. Increase Mather (then pastor of the Old North church, in conjunction with his son Cotton) was selected for this purpose, and on propound- ing the matter to his church, Dec. 11, 1687, he found them all willing that he should go. He was ready to sail in April, 1688, and did so, notwithstanding the machinations of Ran- dolph, who, on false pretences, was bringing an action against him about the same time. Mr. Mather was obliged to keep himself concealed, to avoid the service of the writ ; and when the vessel was ready to sail, some of his church carried him aboard, in the night, in disguise.
Mr. Mather was the man of all the clergy, on whom the mantle of the departed Cotton seems to have rested. His in- fluence on the character of the town, and particularly on that part of it in which he resided, was equal to that of his revered exemplar. 'Ardent, bold, enterprising, and perhaps ambi- tious ; conscious of his own power, religiously.sensible of his obligations to exercise it usefully ;* born and trained in a young colony struggling with hardships, and forcing its way through peril and fear ; his mind fashioned by a father, who for conscience' sake had quitted all and settled in this hope- less land, and who had all the zeal and firmness which char- acterized the puritans of that age, a race eminently formed " to do and to dare ;"-thus gifted and educated, he became peculiarly fit, and no wonder it was felt that he was fit, to have an ascendency and exercise a control. He had re-
* Rev. Mr. Ware's Discourses.
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ceived the best education of his own country, he had con- pleted it abroad, he had been driven from place to place, suffering for his religion, and presented with strong temp- tations to abandon it, thus acting a hurried and various part in the most trying times in the mother country -- and after this discipline, so calculated to give firmness and character, he returned to labour in the service of this infant state. Noth- ing can be conceived more likely to prepare a man to act well his part in so peculiar a scene. He soon became eminent. Talents, learning, and virtue are always commanding. In that age a religious spirit was indispensable to honour and power. Mather had all. He was conspicuous for rigid pi- ety where all was rigid, and eminent for talents and knowl- edge, where many had been eminent before him. It there- fore is not strange that he acquired a control to which few are equal, and received and held honours which would not now be bestowed upon ministers.'
Mr. Mather's exertions and remonstrances with James II. were unavailing, and he determined to wait the event of the Prince of Orange's expedition. Soon after the withdrawal of James, Mr. M. was introduced to the prince, and obtained some partial favors, and royal promises of more. He impro- ved all his time in unwearied efforts to secure friends for his country. Besides several of the nobility and principal com- moners, he had engaged the whole body of the dissenting ministers, whose weight at that time was far from inconsidera- ble. Before any thing was completed, the general court thought it advisable to send over two of their members to join with Mr. Mather and Sir Henry Ashurst (whose services he had retained) in maintaining their charges against their op- pressors, as well as in soliciting the restoration of the charter, with such additional privileges as should be thought proper.
The persons appointed were Doctors Elisha Cooke and Thomas Oakes, both practitioners of medicine in Boston, just rising into eminence in the political theatre, in which both sustained very prominent parts afterwards. The result of all their petitions and remonstrances, suggestions and objections was, that a new charter was formed, in which 'the colony of New Plymouth, the province of Maine and the country of Nova Scotia, with the lands between the two latter, were joined to Massachusetts.'
Sir William Phips was appointed the first governour under the new order of things. He arrived at Boston with the charter, Saturday the 14th of May, 1692, towards evening. On Monday he was conducted from his house to the town- house, by the regiment of Boston, the military companies of Charlestown, the magistrates, ministers, and principal gentle-
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men of Boston and the adjacent towns. The charter was first published, then the governour's commission ; and there- upon the venerable old charter governour Bradstreet resigned the chair; not without a deep sigh from many of the specta- tors. After the publishing of the lieutenant-governour's com- mission, and administering the oaths, the governour was con- ducted, with the same parade, to the place appointed for a publick dinner, and from thence to his house again.
His residence was in Charter-street at the corner of Salem street, which was then called Green-lane, in the house now occupied by the Asylum for indigent boys. It is a three-story brick house, in an elevated situation, commanding a delightful view of the harbour and of the surrounding country.
The charter named the persons who were to form the coun- cil for the first year, and made provision for the organization of an assembly or house of representatives. Writs were is- sued without delay, and the first court under the new charter met on the 8th of June, 1692. Although a party was form- ed, which opposed submission to the charter, a majority of the court ' thankfully accepted it, and appointed a day of solemn thanksgiving to Almighty God, for granting a safe arrival to his excellency the Governour and the Rev. Mr. I. Mather, who have industriously endeavoured the service of this people, and have brought over with them a settlement of government, in which their majesties have graciously given us distinguishing marks of their royal favour and goodness.'
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