USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Old landmarks and historic personages of Boston.. > Part 14
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Randolph was Collector in 1681, but the " Bostoneers," as Hutchinson calls them, refused to recognize his office. He had been appointed "Collector, Surveyor, and Searcher" in New England. His authority was treated with contempt by Gover- nor Leverett, who sat with his hat on while the King's letter of appointment was being read before the Council. His public notification of the establishment of his office posted at the Town House was torn down by an officer of the Court. In 1682,
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fearing they had gone too far in resistance to the King's com- mands, the Court established a Custom House, but the loss of the Colonial Charter soon followed.
The removal of the papers belonging to this department at the evacuation of Boston leaves few materials wherewith to establish its history, and these are connected by imperfect links. The old building was long known as the "Red Lyon Inn," prominent among the early North End taverns. The tablet in. the front of the building bears the initials of the Wadsworths, former proprietors. The old "Red Lyon " gave its name to Upshall's wharf below, which became Red Lyon Wharf. The ordinary itself was one of the oldest, and was kept by Nicholas Upshall probably as early as 1654, when he had a number of soldiers billeted upon him, and certainly in 1666. He was one of the first to feel the rigor of the persecution of the Quakers. He was banished, imprisoned, and at length in his old age died a martyr to the faith which, amid all his sufferings and hard- ships, he seems stoutly to have upheld. He was in Boston as. early as 1637, and then owner of all the property on the north- east side of Richmond Street from Hanover Street to the water. His first banishment was for an attempt to bribe the keeper of Boston jail to give food to two starving Quaker women in his charge. Upshall was one of the first members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company ; his remains lie in Copp's Hill Cemetery, and his friends the Quakers were not forgotten in his will.
As little as North Square is known to the present generation, few localities can surpass it in the interest which attaches to the historic personages who have dwelt within its confined area. But our readers shall judge as we proceed.
Standing before an entrance still narrow, the relics of demol- ished walls on our right show that the original opening was once even more cramped than now, and scarce permitted the passage of a vehicle. The point made by North Street reached considerably beyond the present curbstone some distance into the street, both sides of which were cut off when the widening took place. This headland of brick and mortar, jutting out
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into old Fish Street as a bulwark to protect the aristocratic residents of the square, was long known as " Mountfort's Cor- ner," from the family owning and occupying it. It was the established custom of those early times to fix the limits of the streets from corner to corner. Thus Fish Street is described in 1708 as " from Mountjoy's corner, lower end of Cross Street, northerly to the sign of the Swan, by Scarlett's Wharf."
Opposite to us, reached by a little alley from the street, was the residence of Dr. Snow, the historian of Boston. Where we stand, a narrow passage opens at our left hand, through which, beyond the crazy tenements, we see the brick walls of the Second Church. Through this passage Governor Hutchin- son is said to have passed from his residence to the old church, a door having been constructed in the rear of that edifice ex- pressly for his excellency's convenience.
Fronting the street and bounding upon this alley was the residence of Francis Shaw, father of Samuel Shaw, the Revo- lutionary soldier, and grandfather of Robert G. Shaw, the wealthy merchant and philanthropist. In this house were the quarters of the old Major of Marines Pitcairn, and Lieutenant Wragg of the same corps. Troops were scattered in detach- ments throughout the North End, a cordon extending from the works on Copp's Hill to the South Battery. North Square was the rendezvous for those nearest the battery, and Pitcairn appears to have been intrusted with the supervision of his quarter.
Young Shaw, who became a major in the Continental army, served in the Revolution from the beginning to its close, first as a lieutenant in Knox's artillery, rising by successive grades to be a captain of artillery in 1780. He was secretary of the officers who formed the Society of the Cincinnati, major and aide-de-camp to General Knox, his old commander, at the peace, and was appointed by him to a post in his bureau when secretary-at-war. In 1794 Major Shaw received an appointment as consul to China from Washington, and sailed for that country in the first American ship that ever set sail for those shores. On this voyage he died, and his epitaph may be seen on the
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family monument in Copp's Hill. The company of artillery attached to the Boston regiment gave to the Continental ser- vice upwards of forty young men, most of whom became dis- tinguished officers of that arm.
A tradition is preserved that Wragg, the lieutenant of ma- rines, one day made some remark at the family board dispar- aging the "rebels," whereupon he was challenged by young Samuel Shaw. The interposition of Pitcairn, it is said, pre- vented a hostile meeting.
Proceeding up the square, which still preserves its cobble- stone pavement, we pass a tottering, ruinous wooden building said to have been once in the family of Commodore Downes, and come to another somewhat fresher specimen of the same order. This was the habitation of Paul Revere, and his prob- able birthplace. From this house he gave the striking exhi- bition of transparencies on the evening of the anniversary of the Massacre. We have found Revere at his shop in Cornhill, and briefly alluded to his engraving on copper, his first efforts having been on silver plate. He also engraved the plates, made the press, and printed the paper money for the Provincial Congress at Watertown. The house has not altered in appear- ance in fifty years.
On the other side the square stood the old Town Pump, in front of the present Naval Rendezvous. One of the old town watch-houses was near at hand.
Among the older families resident here were the Holyokes. The father of the celebrated President of Harvard was a re- spectable soap-boiler.
Within the compass of a few rods we find buildings of undeniable antiquity, some extremely ruinous, with shattered panes and leaky roofs, while others, improved upon to suit more modern tenants, have the jaunty air of an old beau in modern habiliments. One patriarch stands at the corner of Sun Court and Moon Street. Its upper story projects after the fashion of the last century ; the timbers, which tradition says were cut in the neighborhood, are of prodigious thickness, while the clapboards are fastened with wrought nails. If the
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fathers of Boston had not built strongly, these relics would not now be left to us. Their chimneys were a marvel, and contain the materials for a good-sized modern dwelling.
This narrow, contracted space was once the court end of the town. It was first called Clark's Square, from an old resident, and afterwards Frizell's Square. Where now is a brick block facing the square was built the Second Church in Boston, better known as the Old North. This was the church of the Mathers, - Samuel, Increase, Cotton, and Samuel the son of Cotton. Built in 1650, it was destroyed by fire in 1676, and rebuilt the next year. Both houses were of wood, and the latter edifice was pulled down in the winter of 1775-76 for fuel, as were also upwards of a hundred other wooden buildings. General Howe sanctioned the act.
Dr. Lathrop says : "No records of the Old North Church exist for more than a year after the memorable 19th of April. At this time most of the churches in town were broken up, and the greatest part of the inhabitants went into the country. While the pastor and members were dispersed, a number of evil-minded men of the King's party obtained leave of General Howe to pull it down." The society then joined the New Brick, which took the name of the Second Church.
Cotton Mather, the son of Increase and grandson of John Cotton, is regarded as the most celebrated of the Boston clergy. A Bostonian by birth, he graduated with honor at Harvard, and was a scholar of high attainments. Mather was a prolific author, and his numerous works are valuable contributions to the early history of New England. He was a firm believer in witchcraft, and his name is identified with the persecution of the unfortunates who fell under the ban of suspicion.
Samuel and Increase Mather were sons of Rev. Richard Mather, who was settled in Dorchester in 1636. Both were men of learning and high consideration. Increase received the first degree of D. D. conferred in America. He went to Eng- land as agent of the colony, and returned in 1692 with the new charter. Unlike his son, he did not pursue the witchcraft delusion, which desolated so many homes and left an indelible blot upon our history.
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Cotton Mather lived on Hanover Street, in a house built by Captain Turell. It was not far from the Cockerel Church on the opposite side of the street, and was afterwards occupied by Master Harris of the North Grammar School. Samuel Mather lived on the east side of Moon Street, about midway from Sun Court to Fleet Street, on the corner of what was formerly known as Moon Street Court. The house was demolished about 1832, and a tobacco warehouse erected on the site, which became afterwards a Catholic Church. Increase Mather lived on North Street, near Clark, in a house afterwards used as a seamen's boarding-house.
During the year 1676, when great scarcity prevailed, Dr. Increase Mather procured from his friends in Dublin a ship- load of provisions. Boston paid this debt of long standing with interest, when she sent by R. B. Forbes a ship laden with food for the starving in Ireland.
The following version of the humorous pen photographs of the Boston clergy of 1774 is from Mrs. Crocker's memoir. There were two distinct productions, which appear somewhat intermixed in the published versions. The lines given here were the first to appear, and were attributed to Dr. Benjamin Church. They were the rage of the town : -
" Old Mather's race will not disgrace Their noble pedigree, And Charles Old Brick " both well and sick Will plead for liberty.
There's puffing Pem, + who does condemn All Freedom's noble sons,
And Andrew Sly, # who oft draws nigh To Tommy skin and bones. §
In Brattle Street we seldom meć; With silver-tongued Sam, |
Who smoothly glides between both sides And so escapes a jamn.
There 's Penuel Puff, " is hearty enough, And so is Simeon Howard ; And Long Lane Teague ** will join the league And never prove a coward.
* Chauncy. + Pemberton. # Eliot. § Hutchinson.
Il Cooper. T Bowen. ** Moorhead.
E
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There 's little Hopper,* if you think proper, In Liberty's cause so bold, And John Old North, + for little worth, Won't sacrifice for gold. There's puny John # from North Hampton, A meek mouth moderate man, And colleague stout, § who, without doubt, Is linked in tory clan."
According to Mrs. Crocker, the residence of Samuel Mather in North Square was built by Captain Kemble, who in 1673 was condemned to stand in the stocks two hours for lewd and unseemly conduct in saluting his wife at the step of the door, on the Sabbath day, when he first met her after three years' absence. His daughter, Mrs. Sarah Knight, kept in the same house a school, said to have been the first writing-school in that part of the town, from 1701 till her death in 1708. Dr. Mather afterwards occupied the same premises. All three of the Mathers are interred in Copp's Hill. Mrs. Crocker, here referred to, was a granddaughter of Cotton Mather. It was she whom Frank- lin told that he was born at the Blue Ball in Union Street.
On the corner of Garden Court and Prince Streets, formerly Bell Alley, was the residence of Sir Charles Henry Frank- land, who was Collector of Boston in 1741 under Governor Shirley. He was said to have been removed from this office for inattention to its duties. Sir Charles led a romantic and eventful life. On one of his official visits to Marblehead he met with the lovely Agnes Surriage, maid-of-all-work at the inn. The attachment he conceived for her appears to have been returned, though Sir Charles did not offer her marriage.
"The old, old story, - fair and young, And fond, - and not too wise, - That matrons tell, with sharpened tongue, To maids with downcast eyes."
Sir Charles had a fine estate at Hopkinton, Mass., where he delighted to pass the time with his beautiful companion. Re- turning to England, Agnes was made to feel the scorn of her noble lover's family, and the pair went to Portugal. They were at Lisbon during the great earthquake of November 1,
Stillman. + Lathrop. # Hunt. § Bacon.
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1755, in which Sir Charles, while riding out, was overwhelmed by the falling ruins. The faithful Agnes succeeded in reaching and rescuing the entombed baronet, and carried him bruised and bleeding to their apartments. For this act of heroism the poor Marblehead girl became Lady Frankland. She survived her lord, and resided, until the breaking out of the Revolution, principally on the estate at Hopkinton, when she returned to England. The following lines were addressed to Sir H. Frank- land on receiving the present of a box of lemons, by S. M. (supposed to be Samuel Mather), February 20, 1757 :-
" You know from Eastern India came The skill of making punch, as did the name ; And as the name consists of letters five, By five ingredients it is kept alive. To purest water sugar must be joined, With these the grateful acid is combined; Some any sours they get contented use, But men of taste do that from Tagus choose. When now these three are mixed with care, Then added be of spirit a small share ; And that you may the drink quite perfect see, Atop the musky nut must grated be."
The Frankland estate at Hopkinton is now owned by Rev. Mr. Nason, who has written a most interesting account of its former possessor. Sir Charles attended King's Chapel in Boston. The house in which the baronet resided was built by William Clark, for whom the square and wharf were named. He was contemporary with the elder Hutchinson, Faneuil, Belcher, and Hancock, who may be said to have controlled in their day the commerce of Boston. He was also a Council- lor of the Province, and a man of marked distinction in the affairs of the town. Clark, it is said, met with reverses in the French wars, losing forty sail of vessels, which so impaired his fortune and depressed his spirits that he died soon after. He was one of the original attendants at Christ Church, and is buried in Copp's Hill in a tomb on which is blazoned the family arms.
The Clark-Frankland house was a monument of human pride. In all colonial Boston we have not met with its peer, and it was
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no
SIR H. FRANKLAND'S HOUSE.
without doubt built to outvie that of Hutchinson, Clark's® wealthy neighbor. A brick dwelling of three stories was, in itself, a unique feature for the period in which it was con- structed ; its solid brick walls were traversed by belts at each stage. The tiers of windows at either end of the front were narrower than the others, and opened upon closets that would have gladdened the eyes of modern housekeepers and put mod- ern architecture to the blush. The entrance door was low, a common fault in our old builders ; but what was unusual, the different flats or stories were ten feet in the clear. The dormer windows in the roof varied enough in form to break the mo- notony of the outline.
Entering by the front on Garden Court upon a hall twelve feet wide, you were ushered into a reception-room, or saloon, at the right of the hall of entrance. You walked on a floor cu- riously inlaid with alternate squares of pine and cedar, much after the fashion in vogue at the present day. Exactly in the
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middle of the floor was a centre-piece of a yard square, on which the mechanic had expended his utmost skill. The pieces of variegated wood were beautifully interwoven around a shield bearing the family device, -a bar with three white swans. This was before the day of carpets, when floors were kept brightly polished, even by the poorer classes.
The walls were wainscoted around and divided by wooden pilasters into compartments with panels, on each of which was painted armorial bearings, landscapes, or ruins. Similar panels in the wainscot were ornamented with various devices. A heavy moulding of wood, supported by the gilded capitals of the pilasters, enclosed the ceiling. One of the panels of this room bore an exact resemblance of the building, from a copy of which our engraving is taken.
The house was similarly finished with wooden pilasters in every story. Some of the mantels were exquisitely carved in imitation of fruit and flowers. There has been preserved a picture taken from a compartment built expressly for it into the wall, representing two children richly attired and of a tender age. Conjecture has been busy as to the authorship of this really fine work of art. It is evidently antecedent to Copley, and may have been from the pencil of Smibert. This relic, together with others, is in the possession of Rowland Ellis, Esq., of this city.
After the death of the baronet, he gave the house to the widowed Lady Agnes, who resided in it for a time. It ulti- mately came into possession of the Ellis family, during whose occupancy the entrance was somewhat enlarged, and the old wooden fence replaced by one of iron. The native hue of the brick had been improved upon with yellow paint. The con- version of old Bell Alley into an extension of Prince Street cut off a considerable portion of the building, and it was taken down. Mr. Cooper, the novelist, visited the Frankland house and examined it minutely before he wrote " Lionel Lincoln," in which the house is described as the residence of Mrs. Lechmere and located in Tremont Street. Mr. Cooper talks about the " salient lions" of the tesselated floor, into which a fertile im-
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agination converted the peaceful swans of the Clarks. It should be observed that the coat of arms in Copp's Hill bears a leafless branch, and is otherwise different from the escutcheon of the floor.
Redford Webster, an old Boston apothecary, and father of John White Webster, the slayer of Dr. Parkman, also lived in the house we have been describing.
Next to Sir Charles Frankland, on Garden Court, resided Thomas Hutchinson. Under his administration, as lieutenant- governor and governor, were enacted the most turbulent scenes- that preceded the Revolution. By birth a Bostonian, his love for office led him at length into a position of antagonism with his countrymen. Bancroft describes him as sordid and ava- ricious, smuggling goods and using every means to put money in his purse. By his townsmen he was nicknamed "Stingy
Tommy." He held at one time the offices of lieutenant-gover- nor, member of the Council, commander of the castle, judge of probate, and chief justice of the Supreme Court. Dr. Franklin, in 1772, obtained possession in England of some of Hutchinson's confidential letters, which he forwarded to this country. They showed that Hutchinson had advocated the most repressive measures by the home government.
On the night of the 26th of August, 1765, during the Stamp Act troubles, the mob attacked and sacked the governor's ele- gant mansion, destroying his furniture, drinking his wine, and scattering the streets far and wide with the débris. The gover- nor and family escaped personal violence, but an irreparable injury occurred in the destruction of the valuable library and manuscripts, - for Hutchinson was a man of literary tastes and scholastic attainments. Hutchinson at first took refuge with his sister at the house of Dr. Samuel Mather in Moon Street. The mob, however, demanded his person, and he was compelled to retreat by a back way to the house of Thomas Edes, a baker, guided by little Hannah Mather, as she herself relates. Here he remained during the night, returning to his brother's house to breakfast. The next day he was compelled to open court without gown or wig, both having been destroyed by the mob.
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The Massacre increased his unpopularity, although he appeared on the scene and censured the unauthorized and fatal action of Captain Preston. The destruction of the tea in December, 1773, was followed in a few months by the governor's depar- ture for England.
The governor's mansion-house has been minutely described by Lydia Maria Child in the "Rebels." The house was of brick, painted a neutral tint, and was ornamented in front with four Corinthian pilasters. One of the capitals of these is now in the Historical Library. The crown of Britain surmounted each window. The hall of entrance displayed a spacious arch, from the roof of which a dimly lighted lamp gave a rich twi- light view. The finely carved and gilded arch in massy mag- nificence was most tastefully ornamented with busts and statues. The light streamed full on the soul-beaming countenance of Cicero, and playfully flickered on the brow of Tulliola. The panelling of the parlor was of the dark, richly shaded mahog- any of St. Domingo, and ornamented with the same elaborate skill as the hall just quitted. The busts of George III. and his young queen were placed in front of a splendid mirror, with bronze lamps on each side covered with beautiful transparencies, one representing the destruction of the Spanish Armada, the other giving a fine view of a fleet of line-of-battle ships drawn up before the Rock of Gibraltar. On either side of the room were arches surmounted with the arms of England. The library was hung with tapestry, representing the coronation of George II., interspersed with the royal arms. The portraits of Anne and the Georges hung in massive frames of antique splendor, and the crowded shelves were surmounted with busts of the house of Stuart. In the centre of the apartment stood a table of polished oak. The gardens of the old mansion extended back to Hanover and to Fleet Streets. In 1834 the building was taken down, and ceased to be a noted attraction of the North End. Governor Hutchinson received a pension and was reimbursed for his pecuniary losses, but died at last, it is said, of a broken heart. On Pope Day Hutchinson's effigy was often exhibited with two faces.
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The Hutchinson House was built about 1710 by Thomas Hutchinson, father of the governor, who was born in it the year following. The estate was entailed to the male heirs, but was confiscated and sold for a mere song. The premises after- wards became the property of William Little, at which time Mrs. Child visited them.
General John P. Boyd also lived in the Hutchinson house. He had been in the service of the native East Indian princes, with a force raised and equipped by himself. Returning to the United States, he re-entered the army as colonel of the 4th infantry, and commanded at Fort Independence when the em- ; bargo of 1809 was laid. General Boyd distinguished himself greatly at Tippecanoe, Williamsburg, and Fort George during the campaigns of 1811-13. He was naval officer of Boston in 1830.
Fleet Street, formerly Scarlett's Wharf Lane, is another of those names by which the Bostonians loved to testify their love for Old London. It is an old street, bearing this name in 1708. From the lower end projected Scarlett's Wharf, now a part of Eastern Avenue, while from the junction of Fleet and North the latter anciently took the name of Ship Street, to its terminus at Battery Wharf, from the ship-yards that lined its course.
The "King's Head," another inn of "ye Olden tyme," was at the northwest corner of Fleet and North Streets, by Scarlett's Wharf. It belongs to the first century of the settlement ; was burnt in 1691 and rebuilt. James Davenport kept it in 1755, and his widow in 1758. The site was long a bake-house kept by Joseph Austin. This neighborhood must bear off the palm for inns, being, before the construction of Long Wharf, the chief commercial centre of the town.
In North Square were barracks for British troops at the time of the battle of Lexington. These troops were mustered in the square the night of the expedition, and sentinels, posted at all the entrances, turned the citizens from the spot. The prepara- tions for this affair were so secretly conducted that Gage hoped his intentions would escape discovery until the blow was struck. No changes were made in the disposition of the troops, except to detach the grenadier companies. Dr. Lathrop, the pastor of
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