USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Popular history of Boston > Part 6
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The royal governors occupied the Province House, a stately mansion with a broad lawn filled with noble trees, which stood nearly opposite the Old South Church. The builder and first occupant of this house was Mr. Peter Sergeant, a wealthy London merchant, who came to Boston in 1667. It was built of brick, was three stories high, with a gambrel roof and conspicuous cupola.
In 1716 the authorities purchased this house for £2,300, and it was fitted up with great elegance. Here the governors held their vice-regal court. The royal arms, carved in deal and gilt, crowned the wide portico. Here, at the official re- ceptions, ladies shone in silk and satin, and gentlemen in purple and scarlet embroidered with gold. Up the great staircase in military boots the new governor strode, and looked out from the high cupola over a most picturesque part
-
THE PROVINCE HOUSE.
1706.
Benjamin Franklin. 177
of the pleasant province. In the great court below the mili- tary were from time to time reviewed. The royal arms that were placed above the door may still be seen in the rooms of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the old vane, which was a gilded Indian, forms, or has formed, a part of the his- torical collection in the Old South Church. Hawthorne's "Stories of the Old Province House," giving views of the beautiful ladies, provincial warriors, and proud royalists who once attended its festivals, are masterpieces of fiction, and perhaps the most elegant ever written by a New England author.
After the evacuation of Boston by the British this house was used for the public business of the colony.
Governor Shute came to dwell here in 1 716. Here came Governor Burnet, son of the celebrated Bishop Burnet the historian, escorted to the door by a cavalcade. Mather Byles composed a poem for the pompous reception, full of soaring metaphors. The festivities on the occasion cost the treasury £1,100.
The royal governors worshipped in King's Chapel, where was a state pew with canopy and drapery. The first King's Chapel was built of wood about the year 1689, at the time of Andros. As the colonists would not sell the unpopular gov- ernor land for the purpose of a church, he used one corner of the public burying-ground. The corner-stone of the pres- ent King's Chapel was laid by the brilliant Governor Shirley Aug. 11, 1749. Governor and Lady Shirley, who died at Dorchester, were entombed under the church.
The first newspaper in America was published in 1704. It was called the Boston News-Letter.
Benjamin Franklin, the most eminent American philoso- pher of the eighteenth century, was born in Boston, Jan. 17, 1706. His birthplace was on Milk Street, where the Boston Post building now stands. The tomb of the Franklin
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Young Folks' History of Boston.
family is the most conspicuous in the Granary Burying-ground, near Park Street Church, and may be seen from the strcet. Benjamin was the fifteenth of seventeen children. "I re- member," he says, "thirteen children sitting at one time at the table." He was baptized on the day of his birth in the Old South Church. At the age of twelve he was apprenticed
FRANKLIN.
to his brother, who was a printer. He had a great thirst for learning, and read constantly. Among the boy's books were Addison's "Spectator," then just published, Locke on the " Understanding," and Xenophon's "Memorabilia," which were quite unlike the boys' books of to-day. When he was fourteen years of age his brother established the New Eng-
KING'S CHAPEL, TREMONT STREET.
18I
Franklin's Industry.
I730.
land Courant, the second newspaper in Boston, and fourth in America, and he himself carried it to the subscribers.
He wrote poetry, and was ambitious to contribute articles to the paper. As he feared that his brother did not appreci- ate his literary abilities, he tucked certain contributions under the door of his shop, which James Franklin thought so good that he printed them, not knowing from whom they came. James was much offended when he discovered their author- ship. He never treated Benjamin well, and he used some- times to beat him. Determined to be free from so arbitrary a master, Benjamin went to Philadelphia, where he ultimately established a printing press of his own. He had a hard expe- rience in youth, but he once said in regard to such disci- pline, " A good kick out of doors is worth all the rich uncles in the world."
A STORY OF FRANKLIN'S EARLY STRUGGLE FOR SUCCESS.
When Benjamin Franklin opened his printing office in Philadelphia, he was obliged to struggle against many ad- verse circumstances.
He was young and poor ; the country was new, and the public mind was unsettled, and two printing offices of estab- lished reputation were already doing a thriving business in the place. He knew that he must succeed, if he succeeded at all, by honorable dealing, energy, and perseverance.
There lived in Philadelphia, at this time, a gentleman of wealth and position by the name of Samuel Mickle. He was one of those morose persons who take a most dismal view of human affairs, and go about prophesying disaster and ruin. He looked upon the settlements in the New World as failures, and expected that Philadelphia would speedily decline and return to the primitive wilderness.
Having plenty of leisure, he made it a sort of missionary
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work to disseminate these startling opinions and to warn those who were prospering in a business way, and those who were engaging in new enterprises, of the impending doom.
Hearing that young Franklin had opened a printing office, he concluded to make him a call, and accordingly appeared, one day, at the door of the new establishment. Franklin's experience in business had not been promising thus far, and his view of the future was anything but cheerful. His face brightened, however, as he saw the portly old gentle- man at his door, and noticed his elegant and courtly bearing, thinking that he might have come with proposals for work.
" Are you the young man that has just opened a printing office ? " asked Mr. Mickle.
Franklin answered in the affirmative.
" I am sorry, very sorry," said the old gentleman, looking very solemn, and speaking in a very impressive tone. “ It must be an expensive undertaking, and your money will all be lost. Don't you know Philadelphia is already falling into decay? Most of its business men are obliged to call their creditors together. I know, as an undoubted fact," he con- tinued, with great emphasis, "that all of the circumstances that might lead one to think otherwise, such as the erection of new buildings and the advanced prices for rent, are deceitful appearances, that will only make the ruin more sweeping and dreadful when it comes !"
He then proceeded to illustrate these statements by detail- ing the private affairs of a number of individuals into whose business he had been prying.
" He gave me," says Franklin, " so long a detail of mis- fortunes actually existing, or about to take place, that he left me almost in a state of despair."
Franklin, however, recovered his self-possession, and re- solved to redouble his energy and to work as he never had worked before.
生毛Mi
GEORGE I.
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Franklin's Success as a Printer.
1756.
" The industry of this Franklin," said Dr. Bard, at a meet- ing of the Merchants' Club, not long after the occurrence of the incident we have related, " is superior to anything of the kind I have ever witnessed. I see him still at work when I return from the club at night, and he is at it again in the morning before his neighbors are out of bed."
The success of Franklin as a printer is well known, and we need only allude to it here. But poor Mr. Mickle ?
" He continued," says Franklin, "to live in this place of decay, and to declaim in the same style, refusing for many years to buy a house, because all was going to wreck ; and in the end I had the satisfaction to see him pay five times as much for one as it would have cost him had he purchased it when he first began his lamentations."
Almost every young man of enterprise encounters a Samuel Mickle. To such the example of Franklin affords a whole- some lesson.
FRANKLIN'S BIRTHPLACE.
" A FLEET with flags arrayed Sailed from the port of Brest, And the Admiral's ship displayed The signal, 'Steer southwest.' For this Admiral d' Anville Had sworn by cross and crown To ravage with fire and steel Our helpless Boston Town."
LONGFELLOW.
CHAPTER XI.
THE TIMES OF THE ELEVEN ROYAL GOVERNORS AND OF THE OLD PROVINCE HOUSE, CONTINUED.
THE Old South Church was erected in 1729. As King's Chapel is associated with the royal governors, so this church gathers historic fame from all the great episodes of the strug- gle for liberty. It became the church of the people.
In 1744 began the war between England and France known as " King George's War." The colonies entered into it by preparing an expedition against Louisburg, Cape Breton, then occupied by the French. The contest on this side of the water was called " Governor Shirley's War."
The fleet of the expedition sailed from Boston. It carried away three thousand men. Louisburg was regarded by the French as the Gibraltar of America, and its fortifications cost some five million dollars. The fleet came in sight of Louis- burg April 30, 1745, and on the 17th of June the besiegers compelled its surrender. Joy filled the colonies over this great victory.
The joy in Boston, however, was soon changed to anxiety by the news that Admiral d' Anville was preparing an expe- dition at Brest for the destruction of the town. In anticipa- tion of the attack nearly seven thousand men were placed under arms on Boston Common.
It was September, - the Sabbath. In his lofty pulpit in the Old South Church Rev. Thomas Prince rose to pray for
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deliverance from the impending danger. While he was praying " a sudden gust of wind arose, the day having until now been clear and calm, so violent as to cause a loud clattering of the windows. The pastor paused in his prayer, and, looking around upon the congregation with a counte- nance full of hope, he again commenced, and with great devotional ardor supplicated the Almighty to cause that wind to frustrate the object of 'our enemies.' A tempest ensued, in which the greater part of the French fleet was wrecked on the coast of Nova Scotia. The Duke d' Anville committed suicide."
Longfellow has thus paraphrased Thomas Prince's prayer, perpetuating the story in song : -
"'O Lord, we would not advise ; But if in thy providence A tempest should arise To drive the French fleet hence, And scatter it far and wide, Or sink it in the sea, We should be satisfied, And thine the glory be.'
" This was the prayer I made, For my soul was all on flame, And even as I prayed The answering tempest came ; It came with a mighty power, Shaking the windows and walls, And tolling the bell in the tower As it tolls at funerals." 1
In 1734 a great religious awakening under the powerful preaching of Jonathan Edwards began in New England. As by one impulse people turned their attention to their spirit- ual concerns. In 1740, while Belcher was governor, George
1 Atlantic Monthly, 1877.
163
CHN SIMPSON
ICLOTHING WAREHOUSE
MILTON CLOTHIER
LEATHER
FANEUIL HALL.
I740.
George Whitefield.
193
Whitefield came to Boston. He was welcomed by the gov- ernor's son, a "train of clergy, and principal inhabitants." No church would hold the throngs of people who came from all quarters to hear him, and he was obliged to preach on the Common. He once attempted to preach in the Old South Church, but such a crowd gathered that he himself was obliged to crawl into the house by the win- dow. It was early au- tumn. The Common was beautiful with its bright tinted trees. Ten thousand people used to gather in their shade to hear the matchless eloquence of the Eng- lish evangelist. He preached his farewell sermon there to twenty thousand people.
GRANDITRU
Notwithstanding the royal governors, this was a bright, happy period of history. The city was kept from hostile attacks, from disease, and every great calamity, and she grew THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH. in wealth, prosperity, and population, and in the determination that she would yet control her own liberties and be independent and free.
There were many elegant residences in Boston at this time. One of them belonged to the Faneuil family. It was on Tremont Street, opposite the King's Chapel Burying-ground.
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It had a "deep court-yard ornamented with flowers and shrubs, divided into an upper and lower platform by a high glacis, surmounted by a richly wrought iron railing, decorated with gilt balls. The hall and apartments were spacious and elegantly furnished. The terraces, which rose from the paved court behind the house, were supported by massy walls of hewn granite, and were ascended by flights of steps of the same material."
Andrew Faneuil was a French Protestant or Huguenot. He escaped to Holland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which destroyed the religious privileges of the Prot- estants in France. He came to America about 1691. A church of French Protestants was gathered here, and Peter Daillé, whose headstone may still be seen in the Granary Burying-ground, was the pastor. Faneuil and Bowdoin were leading members.
Peter Faneuil was a nephew of the French pioneer, and he inherited his estate and wealth. He gave to the city the large building for a market that became known as Faneuil Hall. At the first town-meeting held in the hall over the market, his own eulogy was pronounced, he having died shortly after the gift (1742).
The funeral oration of Peter Faneuil was delivered by John Lovell, master of the Latin School. It was the first of a long series of orations delivered in Faneuil Hall on Bos- ton's public men as the by-gone generation of patriots and benefactors one by one disappeared. It was printed on the town records. Near the close appears this striking, eloquent, and almost prophetic passage : -
" What now remains, but my ardent wishes that this hall may be ever sacred to the interests of truth, of justice, of loyalty, of honor, of liberty.
" May no private views or party broils ever enter within these walls, but may the same public spirit that glowed in the
REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES.
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1741.
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The Frankland Mansion.
breast of the generous founder influence all your debates, that society may reap the benefits of them.
" May Liberty always spread its joyful wings over this place ! - Liberty, that opens men's hearts to beneficence, and gives the relish to those who enjoy the effects of it.
" And may Loyalty to the King, under whom we enjoy this liberty, ever remain our character."
This was the town hall, - the Hotel de Ville after the manner of European cities. The town showed its loyalty by adorning it with the picture of George II. In 1761 it was nearly destroyed by fire ; it was rebuilt 1763-64. In the second hall Revolutionary meetings were held. A new hall was added to the building in 1805. This third hall Webster, Everett, Choate, Sumner, and Phillips have made famous by their eloquence.
For the following account of another colonial mansion, I am indebted to a lady who copied it from a verbal descrip- tion by a very aged member of her own family : -
" Lord Frankland's Palace " has formed the theme of many writers, and his romantic history has been a fruitful subject. The novelist Cooper visited the house with a grandson of Governor Winthrop, that he might make it the scene of his " Lionel Lincoln." Although better known by the name of Frankland, the house was built by Hon. William Clark, a wealthy merchant, whose tomb may be seen in the old part of Copp's Hill Burying-ground. It was purchased from him by Sir Henry Frankland, who in 1741 was ap- pointed Collector of the Port of Boston.
Hither it was that he brought Agnes Surriage, a poor girl of Marblehead. Her beauty attracted Lord Frankland in one of his visits to that town, as he saw her, barefooted and poorly clad, passing from the tavern door to the well for water. Upon his return to England he took her with
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him. His wealthy and aristocratic family refused to notice her.
They travelled extensively. At the time of the earthquake in Lisbon, in 1755, she was the means of saving his life. For this and her constancy he married her, and from hence- forth she was recognized as Lady Frankland.
THE FRANKLAND HOUSE.
Upon one of the attic doors in the old house, written in a childish hand with something resembling chalk, and yet which no amount of scouring would efface, were the words : "Isaac Surriage is a naughty boy and deserves a horse-whipping."
Who was Isaac Surriage ?
He was a brother of Agnes, some years younger. One day he was sent by the captain of the vessel on which he
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The Frankland Mansion.
1741.
was cabin-boy, to the house of Lord Frankland with a mes- sage. Returning to the ship he said to a companion, - " My sister lives there."
The next day they went to view the house; the front door being open they saw a lady pass through the entry.
" There is your sister, Isaac," said his companion.
The lady hearing the words turned and recognized her brother. He was welcomed to her home, and afterwards became the possessor of the elegant mansion.
The house was situated at the North End, for many years the fashionable part of the town and city. It was on Garden Court Street. There was a side gate on Bell Alley, now New Prince Street.
From the top could be obtained an extensive view of the harbor, forts, and islands. With spy-glass in hand one could discern the coming of homeward-bound vessels.
Although the outside of the house has been to some extent described by others, there are only a few left who can speak of the interior.
Passing up a flight of stone steps, one entered by the front door a large hall ; midway of this was an arch, in the centre of which was suspended a large brass lantern. On either side of the door were very large parlors. In one the floor was inlaid with hundreds of pieces of wood of various forms. The centre of this floor has been made into a table. All the windows had low mahogany seats, broad enough for two or three to sit upon them.
Here in this room the Duke of Argyle, grandfather of the Marquis of Lorne, son-in-law of Queen Victoria, was mar- ried.
Under one of the flights of stairs was a dark closet, where, it is said, a refugee was hid during the Revolution.
Except in the parts my father had repaired, the house reminded one of those old castle-like structures described by
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story-writers. But all has been gone for many years, and a number of houses and stores now occupy the site of this old landmark. E. C. W.
Oliver Wendell Holmes has told the story of Lady Agnes in one of his long poems. You may like to read it in this connection.
THE LIBERTY TREE.
Nepankat River
N
E
W
york
Keteri
Penicook
Dover
Pascatoway River Portsmouth
Hamp
Excefter
tori
Thoules Mlands
E
G
Haveril.
WE Neuberry
Brad
ford
the Rowley
.......
Topsfield.
Andover Wenham
Care Ann
Chuuk /M
Chocester
Orviter
Hosen
Lancaster
rica
h & Reding Lin,
Marble Head
Com.
brida
Wing Sformat)
Valent Priling Point
Worcester. Sudiary &
Boston Harbor Merten Pirnl
Nipnak
Marlborow
Haler
Denhan
Town
Conchufset or Conihajsul
Country
Mendon
Fammi
Wayruuth
Cape Cod
A
D
Darbury
Weft. Harbor
Ease
Connecticut"
Quanabary
Providence T
A Seuance
Plymouth
Wabaquasel.
Providente
vanty
Pły
yar- mouth.
Taurum
Genevar
" Eaftham
or Canonicus
Nam
Norwich
vet
Country
Colony
Colonie
Pocaset
and Crown
Londony A Similar
Manchester
Mount Profport.
"Pourillude
Port
Moniment Bay
Midle Grand
Narutoket I
Plum
Block Ifand
Rode Island
Elizoheths
Gardous I Pont
Ram! Oyster Montangh P
Martins Viryare
Sturgions I.
Napuye Harbor
Medfreut
Rubel's Delight.
an Rever
Waer River
Woodcock
Warwick
Menimnoy.
mouth
Bom
Bryte
BSandwich Ruble
Thames R
Swampfort
micedi
Naraganset Many
C.
Mount Hope
Shirbon & Bacon Dorchester
Braunte.
Rocks
Glofs River
Toulon
" Curte?
Manchester
Hutchinsons
Beverly
Swampt Squaborg.
Worsesick
Satis bury
Baon June'
Morimake Fever
MAP OF NEW ENGLAND ABOUT 1700.
Marshfield.
" THEY left the ploughshare in the mould, Their flocks and herds without a fold, The sickle in the unshorn grain, The corn, half-garnered, on the plain ; And mustered, in their simple dress, For wrongs to seek a stern redress. To right those wrongs, come weal, come woe, To perish, or o'ercome their foe.
"' And where are ye, O fearless men ? And where are ye to-day ? I call, - the hills reply again That ye have passed away ; That on old Bunker's lonely height, A In Trenton, and in Monmouth ground, The grass grows green, the harvest bright, Above each soldier's mound.
" The bugle's wild and warlike blast Shall muster them no more ; An army now might thunder past And they not heed its roar. The starry flag, 'neath which they fought In many a bloody day, From their old graves shall rouse them not, For they have passed away."
CHAPTER XII.
THE EVE OF REVOLUTION.
A SHADOW fell on the golden age of the colonial period when the old charter was taken away ; political clouds gath- ered again and again, and as often melted into sunshine during the long period of the royal governors, but now the tempest was gathering indeed.
The Stamp Act was passed in 1765. It decided the peo- ple. The colony needed leaders, and in this necessity, Otis, Hancock, Adams, and Warren appeared.
The Stamp Act laid a duty on every piece of paper on which anything of value could be written or printed. It was designed thus to raise a revenue for the Crown from the colonies. The people of the colonies said, "We are not represented in Parliament, and taxation without representa- tion is tyranny."
James Otis, a man of powerful genius and ardent temper, of brilliant and impetuous eloquence, was one of the earliest advocates of the independence of the colonies in the man- agement of their local affairs. He was born at West Barns- table in 1725. In 1764 he published a masterly pamphlet entitled " The Rights of the Colonies Vindicated." In 1765 he moved the calling of a congress of delegates of the several colonies, a plan which met with popular favor and was adopted. This was the first decisive step towards indepen- dence. He lost his reason in his last years. As if fulfilling
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a wish that he had often expressed, that he might die sud- denly, he was killed by a stroke of lightning in May, 1783.
John Hancock was born at Quincy, 1737. He was the son of Rev. John Hancock of Braintree, and was educated by his uncle, Thomas Hancock, of Boston, a gentleman of wealth, whose fortune he received. He visited England in 1760, where he witnessed the coronation of George III. He was a member of the Provincial Congress, and so strongly opposed the measures of the British ministry that he was exempted from the general pardon offered by General Gage when the latter attempted to stay the tide of revolution by pacific measures.
Samuel Adams was born in Boston in 1722. He was a cousin of John Adams, afterwards President of the United States. He studied for the ministry. As early as 1743, when he received the degree of A. M., he proposed a discussion of the question, " Whether it be lawful to resist the supreme magistrate, if the commonwealth otherwise cannot be pre- served." He strongly opposed the Stamp Act, and favored the Provincial Congress. He was also exempted from par- don in the proclamation of General Gage to which we have just referred.
General Joseph Warren was born in 1741, at Roxbury, Mass., where his place may still be seen. He was a physi- cian. He became an ardent patriot, and, in advance of the public sentiment of the time when he first espoused the cause of liberty, he maintained that all taxation which could be imposed by Parliament on the colonies was tyranny.
Here were the four leaders, brave, strong, educated men. Their cause was liberty, and events were hurrying.
In October, 1760, George II. died suddenly in his palace at Kensington. The bells of Boston tolled ; it was the last time they were ever tolled for a king. George III. was proclaimed, and his favorite minister, the Earl of Bute,
LOSTONIANS READING THE STAMP ACT.
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1766. Repeal of the Stamp- Act.
soon entered upon a policy hostile to the peace of the colony.
" What shall we do? "
Every patriot asked the question. Conventions were called in various places to answer this inquiry that rose to every lip.
It was the period of lawful and peaceable resistance to taxation, when the fiery spirit of the patriots was curbed by the bridle of English law. The Stamp Act, or a heavy tax on all kinds of paper, for the purpose of supporting the British government, had checked the growth of trade. Nothing could be done legally - newspapers could not be issued, the business of the courts could not proceed, no property could be transferred, no vessel could go to sea, no person could be married - without the use of the paper bearing upon it the odious stamp.
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