USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. II > Part 64
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seeing it had been kept out more than my Life-time, and now the Cross much set by in England and here ; and it could scarce be put in but I must have a hand in it.1 I fetcht home the Silk Elizur Holyoke had of me, to make the Cross, last Friday morn ; and went and discoursed Mr. Mather. He judged it Sin to have it put in, but the Captain not in fault ; but I could hardly understand how the Command of others could wholly excuse them, at least me who had spoken so much against it in April, 1681, and that Summer and forward, upon occasion of Capt. Walley's putting the Cross in his Colours.
"Nov. 12, 1686. Jn. Griffin is this week buried with the Conon-Prayer : which is the third funeral of this sort, so far as I can learn.
" Satterday, Dec. 25, 1686. Governour goes to the Town House to Service, Fore- noon and Afternoon, a Red-coat going on his right hand and Capt. George on the left. Was not at Lecture on Thorsday. Shops open to-day generally, and persons about their occasions. Some, but few, carts at town with wood, though the day exceeding fair and pleasant.
" March 29, 1687. Last Sabbath-day, March 27, Governour and his retinue met in our [the South] Meeting-house at Eleven : broke off past two because of the Sacrament and Mr. Clark's long Sermon ; now we were apointed to come 1/2 hour past one, so 't was a sad sight to see how full the Street was with people gazing and moving to and fro because had not entrance into the House.
"'Thorsday, May 24, 1688. Bell is rung for a Meeting of the Church of England Men, being, in their language, Ascension day.
"Seventh-day. Decemb! 25, '97. Snowy day : Shops are open, and Carts and sleds come to Town with Wood and Fagots as formerly, save what abatement may be allowed on account of the wether. This morning we read in course the 14, 15, and 16th Psalms. From the 4th v. of the 16th Ps. I took occasion to dehort mine from Christmas-keeping, and charged them to forbear. Hanah reads Daniel 6, and Betty, Luke 12. Joseph tells me that though most of the Boys went to the Church, yet he went not. By the Intercession of his Mother, and his brother's Concession, he begins to read the Psalm.
"Tuesday, Dec. 25 [1705]. . Very Cold Day, but Serene morning ; Sleds, Slays, and Horses pass us as Usually, and Shops open.
" Midweek, Dec. 25 [1706]. Shops open ; Carts come to Town with Wood, Fagots, Hay, and Horses with Provisions, as Usually.
"Dec. 25 [1714]. Shops open, etc., as on other days ; very pleasant weather.
" Lord's Day, December 26. Mr. Bromfield and I go and keep the Sabbath with Mr. John Webb, and sit down with that Church at the Lord's Table. I did it to hold Communion with that Church ; and, so far as in me lay, to put Respect upon that affronted, despised Lord's Day. For the Church of England had the Lord's Super yesterday, the last day of the week ; but will not have it to-day, the day that the Lord has made. And Gen1 Nicholson, who kept Satterday, was this Lord's Day Rumaging and Chittering with wheelbarrows, etc., to get aboard at the long Wharf, and Firing Guns at Setting Sail. I thank God I heard not, saw not, anything of it, but was quiet at the New North."
If Judge Sewall and such as he set their faces as a flint against the Church of England, it is not to be wondered at that the commoner sort expressed
1 Sewall was captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company.
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LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE PROVINCIAL PERIOD.
their dislike in their own fashion. They did not keep diaries and record their feelings, nor take the Communion on the Lord's Day in special rebuke to those observing Christmas, but they called names and broke the win- dows of King's Chapel. Says one defender of the Church : -
" What scandalous Pamphlets have been printed to villifie the Liturgy ! And are not all of that communion daily called Papist Doggs and Rogues to their Faces? How often has the plucking down of the Church been threatened? One while it was to be converted to a school, and anon, 't was to be given to the French Protestants. And whoso will but take the Pains to survey the Glass Windows will easily discover the Marks of a Malice not common." 1
Edward Randolph, the most pushing of the Church of England men, writes to the Archbishop of Canterbury : " We resolve not to be baffled by the great affronts ; some calling our Minister Baal's priest, and some of them, ministers from the pulpit, calling our praiers leeks, garlick, and trash." 2 In Mather's Vindication of New England he refers to the charge of injuring King's Chapel in terms which confess, while excusing, the act: -
"We had almost slipt the notice of a Bawl or two these Libellers make about Damnifying their Church (as they call it), and obstructing their Minister in his office. As to their Church, all the mischief done is the breaking of a few Quarels of glass by idle Boys who, if discover'd, had been chastised by their own Parents. . . . They have built their Chapel in a Publick burying-place, next adjoining to a great Free Schooll, where the Boyes (having gotten to play) may, some by Accident, some in Frolick, and some perhaps in Revenge for disturbing their Relation's Graves by the Foundation of that Building, have broken a few Quarels of the Windows (and how should the contrary be imagined possible !)." 3
Mr. Whitmore, in a note to this, cites a passage from a pamphlet pub- lished in answer to Mather's Discourse against Common-Prayer Worship:
" Indeed, he [Mather] had dealt more sincerely if he had acquainted his Reader that they hold it unlawful to communicate with us because we are a National Church ; and that they don't joyn in the Common-Prayer Worship because it's a Form, and all Forms are, in his opinion, unlawful. This, indeed, had struck at the Root of all ; but this he knew was not so easily prov'd, nor would look so popularly as to cry out Heathenism, Judaism, and Popery, which he charges our Service Book with. This, indeed, will rouze the Multitudes ; and it's no wonder, when possess'd with this Rep- resentation of our worship, that the deluded People broke into the Church (erected at Boston for the worship of God according to the Church of England) to search for the Images they supposed we worship'd."
So also another pamphleteer on the same point: -
" The Church itself had great difficulty to withstand their fury, receiving the marks of their indignation and scorn, by having the Windows broke to pieces, and the Doors and Walls daubed and defiled with dung and other filth, in the rudest and basest manner imaginable." 4
1 John Palmer, " An Impartial Account of the 3 State of New England," in Andros Tracts, i. 53.
2 Hutchinson Papers, ii. 292.
VOL. II .- 60.
Andros Tracts, ii. 63.
4 "New England's Faction Discovered," in Andros Tracts, ii. 212.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
It was the political connection rather than the number of the Church of England men that disturbed the Bostonians. Dr. Douglass cites the evi- dence of Captain Watson, one of the assessors, who examined the books in curiosity, and " found the Church of England people charged not exceeding one-tenth of the rates or taxes in the town of Boston."1 In like manner the extreme sensitiveness regarding Papists and Jesuits was chiefly on account of an English jealousy and dread of the French, with whom they identified them. It was claimed in 1689 that there was not a Papist within the limits of New England.2 But in 1700 an act was passed, June 17, com- manding Jesuits, priests, and all other ecclesiastics of Rome to depart the province by September 10, under penalty of perpetual imprisonment. A fine of £200 was imposed on any harboring such men, and any person with- out a warrant could make arrests, except of shipwrecked or distressed men.
The funeral service was read at the burial now and then of some officer of the Crown; 3 but the customs of colonial times held sway for the most part, and indeed grew gradually to be a heavy tax; so much so, that in 1721 the General Court, -taking into consideration that " the charge or ex- pence of funerals of late years (when the circumstances of the province so loudly calls for all sorts of frugality) is becoming very extravagant, especially in the giving of scarves, to the great detriment of the province and the im- poverishment of many families," - enacted that no scarves whatever should be allowed and given at any funeral, on pain and penalty of twenty pounds.4 The act was to be in force for three years, and at the end of that time it was renewed for five years. Again, Jan. 15, 1741, it was enacted "that no scarves, gloves (except six pair to the bearers, and one pair to each minister of the church or congregation where any deceased person belongs), wine, rum, or rings shall be allowed and given at any funeral, upon the penalty of fifty pounds."
But these restrictions hint at the pomp and ceremony which attached to the departure of the dead.5 The living kept before themselves so constantly
1 Douglass, Summary, i. 531.
2 Andros Tracts, ii. 97, 122.
3 [The preaching of funeral sermons has been thought to have been an introduction of the early part of the eighteenth century. (See Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., September and October, 1879.) But it is stated in N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg. 1880, p. 360, that a funeral sermon was preached at the burial of President Chauncy in 1671 .- ED.]
4 Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massa- chusetts Bay, Sept. 9, 1721.
5 [Governor Belcher lost his wife during his term of office, and the News-Letter of Oct. 14, 1736, describes the funeral : "The Rev. Dr. Sewall made a very suitable prayer at his Ex- cellency's house, just before the funeral. The coffin was covered with black velvet and richly adorned. The pall was supported by the Hon- ourable Spencer Phipps, Esq., our Lieut .- Gov- ernor ; William Dummer, Esq., formerly Lieut .-
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of this Province; Benjamin Lynde, Esq., Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., Edmund Quincy, Esq., and Adam Winthrop, Esq. His Excellency with his children and family followed the corpse, all in deep mourning; next went the several relatives according to their respective degrees, who were followed by a great many of the principal gentlewomen in town; after whom went the gentlemen of His Majesty's Council ; the reverend Ministers of this and the neigh- boring towns; the reverend President and Fel- lows of Harvard College; a great number of officers both of the civil and military order, with a multitude of other gentlemen. His Excel- lency's coach drawn by four horses was covered with black cloth and adorned with escutcheons of the coats of arms both of his Excellency and of his deceased lady. All the bells in town were tolled; and during the time of the procession
475
LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE PROVINCIAL PERIOD.
the notion of a great Judge and of an assize before which they were to appear, that when one of their number set out for the Court above they attended him as far as they could go with the circumstance which the event demanded. Judge Sewall records against the burial of the Rev. Mr. Thomas Shepard the names of the bearers, as usual, and adds: "It seems there were some Verses; but none pinned on the Herse. Scholars went before the Herse."1 Indeed, a procession of dead men files through his book. As a man of importance and wide family connections he was very often called upon to be bearer; and, impressed himself with the frequency of this service, he set down in one place " an account of some I have been a Bearer to," - and his account was a veritable one, for against each name he credits the deceased with " Ring," " Scarf," "Gloves," and occasionally " nothing." There is a curious little passage in which he squares an account between his conscience and his interest upon the occasion of the death of a reprobate : -
"This day, John Ive, fishing in great Spie-pond, is arrested with mortal sickness which renders him in a maner speechless and senseless. Dies next day ; buried at Charlestown on the Wednesday. Was a very debauched, atheistical man. I was not at his Funeral. Had gloves sent me, but the knowledge of his notoriously wicked life made me sick of going ; and Mr. Mather, the president, came in just as I was ready to step out, and so I staid at home, and by that means lost a Ring ; but hope had no loss. Follow thou me, was I supose more complied with, than if had left Mr. Mather's company to go to such a Funeral." 2
This hints at the light in which what looks like funeral trumpery was regarded. It was, if we may borrow Mr. Wemmick's pleasantry, portable property, and was accumulated not merely as mementoes of solemn occa- sions, but with some reference to exchangeable value. At weddings, at christenings, and at funerals the parson and his wife, and at funerals the bearers also, received presents of a stipulated kind, which were substantially fees, and were faint traditions of earlier English customs with which readers of Bacon's life, for instance, are familiar. Mr. L. M. Sargent tells us that when a child he was much puzzled to say what the minister did with his gloves and his rings, for which the hands of Briareus would not have suf- ficed. The mystery was solved for him when he came upon an interleaved almanac belonging to the excellent Dr. Andrew Eliot: -
Castle William, which were followed by those on board His Majesty's ship "Squirrel " and many other ships in the harbour, their colours being all day raised to the heighth as usual on such occasions. The streets through which the funeral passed, the tops of the houses and win- dows on both sides, were crowded with innumer- able spectators." On the following Sunday "his Excellency's pew and the Pulpit" at the South Church "were put into mourning and richly adorned with escutcheons," and the Rev. Thomas Prince preached a sermon, which was printed by
the half-minute guns begun, first at His Majesty's J. Draper, with the customary black border and death's head. There is preserved in print an Epistle to the Governor, by Mather Byles, who protested that "while he employs the numbers of the poet, he never forgets the character of the divine," and proceeds "to take the freedom of an exhortation," and ends : -
" Meantime my name to thine allied shall stand ; Still our warm friendship mutual flames extend ; The Muse shall so survive from age to age, And BELCHER'S name protect his BYLES's page." - ED. ]
1 Sewall's Diary, i. 82.
2 Sewall's Diary, i. 482.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
"On the inside of the marble cover the first entry commences thus : 'Gloves, 1 748, January.' The gloves received by Dr. Eliot are set against particular names, and under every month in the year. Certain names are marked with asterisks, doubt- less denoting that the parties were dead, or stelligeri, after the fashion of the College catalogue ; and thus the good doctor discriminated between funerals and weddings and christenings. Although a goodly number of rings are enrolled, together with the gloves, yet a page is devoted to rings exclusively, in the middle of the book. This is not arranged under months but years ; and commences in 1741, the year before he was ordained as colleague with Mr. Webb. At the bottom of the record the good man states how many pairs were kid ; how many were lamb's-wool, and how many were long, or women's gloves, intended, of course, for the parson's lady. These rings and gloves were sold by the worthy doctor, with the exception of such as were distributed, in his own household, not a small one, for he left eleven children. A prejudice might have prevailed, an hundred years ago, against dead men's shoes ; certain it is, these gloves did not meet with a very ready market. It appears by the record, in the doctor's own hand, that Mrs. Avis was entrusted with fifteen pairs of women's and three dozen of men's ; and returned, unsold, eight pairs of women's and one dozen and ten pairs of men's. A dozen pairs of men's were committed to Mrs. Langstaff ; half-a-dozen women's to Mr. Langdon, and seventeen pairs to Captain Millens. What a glove and ring market the dear Doctor's study must have been ! In thirty-two years he appears to have received two thousand nine hundred and forty pairs of gloves at funerals, weddings, and baptisms. Of these he sold to the amount of fourteen hundred and forty-one pounds, eighteen shillings and one penny, old tenor, equal to about six hundred and forty dollars. He also sold a goodly number of his rings. From all this the conclusion is irresistible that this truly good man and faithful minis- ter must have been, if I may use the common expression, hand-and-glove with his parishioners." 1
It is not unfair in attempting to discover the mental and moral charac- teristics of the Provincial Bostonian to take our hints largely from Judge Sewall, and no one can read his Diary attentively without being struck, for instance, with that fascination of death which becomes a vulgar curiosity in uneducated countrymen, but rises into a singular importance in the na- ture of such a man. At Christmas, 1696, he buries a little daughter, and makes this note respecting he tomb: -
" "T was wholly dry, and I went at noon to see in what order things were set ; and there I was entertained with a view of, and converse with, the coffins of my dear Father Hull, Mother Hull, Cousin Quinsey, and Six children, -for the little post- humous was now took up and set in upon that, that stands on John's : so are three, one upon another twice, on the bench at the end. My mother ly's on a lower bench at the end, with head to her Husband's head ; and I order'd little Sarah to be set on her Grandmother's feet. 'T was an awfull yet pleasing treat. Having said, The Lord knows who shall be brought hither next, I came away."
1 Dealings with the Dead, i. 91, 92. [At a chase that the town, Oct. 28, 1767, voted to later day when the troubles with the mother "adhere to the late regulations respecting funerals, and will not use any gloves but what are manufactured here." -ED.] country were brewing, the presentation of mourn- ing gloves was still so important a matter of pur-
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LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE PROVINCIAL PERIOD.
Apparently no one dies - certainly not " Eliza Scot, a good ancient Virgin" - without his making a note of it: -
" Wednesday, Dec" 9th, 1685. Our neighbour Gemaliel Wait, eating his Breakfast well, went to do something in his Orchard, where Serg' Pell dwells ; there found him- self not well, and went into Pell's his Tenant's House, and there dyed extream sud- denly about noon, and then was carried home in a chair, and means used to fetch him again, but in vain. To the children startled about him he said, Here is a sudden change ; or, There will be a great change, to that purpose. Was about 87 years old, and yet strong and hearty ; had lately several new Teeth. People in the Street much startled at this good man's sudden Death. Gov" Hinkley sent for me to Mr. Raw- son's just as they were sending a great Chair to carry him home. Satterday, Dec' 12, '85, - Father Wait buried : Magistrates and Ministers had Gloves. There heard of the Death of Capt. Hutchinson's child by Convulsions, and so pass to the Funeral of little Samuel Hutchinson, about six weeks old, where also had a pair of Funeral Gloves." The mourning was a part of the ceremony of the little State. "May 2, 1709. Being Artillery day, and Mr. Higginson dead, I put on my Mourning Rapier ; and put a black Ribbon into my little cane."
About the Church were gathered the holy days which to the Puritan took the place of Saints' Days. The Thursday lecture was second only to the Lord's Day. We have already noticed how Sewall, under his breath, re- proached the Governor for keeping Christmas and neglecting the Thursday lecture, and the degeneracy of the times could be best intimated by this barometer : -
" April 8, 1697. Mr. Cotton Mather gives notice that the Lecture hereafter is to begin at Eleven of the Clock, an hour sooner than formerly. Reprov'd the Towns- people that attended no better ; fear'd 'twould be an omen of our not enjoying the Lecture long, if did not amend."
The private and public Fasts had in their minds a sanctity entirely sepa- rating them from occasions of the same name in the Established Church. There is a curious passage in Sewall, when under date of Thursday, Oct. I, 1702, he writes : -
" The Gov" and Council agree that Thorsday, Oct. 22, be a Fast Day. Governour moved that it might be Friday, saying, Let us be Englishmen. I spake against mak- ing any distinction in the Days of the week; desired the same Day of the Week might be for Fasts and Thanksgivings. Boston and Ipswich Lecture led us to Thors- day. Our Brethren at Connecticut had Wednesday ; which we applauded."
It will be noticed that the Fast was to be in the fall of the year, but it had not then become a custom to place the Fast in the spring and Thanks- giving in the fall. The churches had their own fasts, but the most striking feature of the fasts of the time, which has died out of use, was in the private or family fast. Sewall has preserved for us a minute account of one of these exercises, and we copy it at length from his Diary, for its singularity and its entirely local characteristics, so far as we know : -
"The apointment of a Judge for the Super. Court being to be made upon next Fifth day, Febr. 12, I pray'd God to Accept me in keeping a privat day of
.
478
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
Prayer with Fasting for that and other Important matters. I kept it upon the Third day, Febr. 10, 170}, in the uper Chamber at the North-East end of the House, fasten- ing the Shutters next the Street. - Perfect what is lacking in my Faith, and in the faith of my dear Yokefellow. Convert my children ; especially Samuel and Hanah ; Provide Rest and Settlement for Hañah ; Recover Mary ; Save Judith, Elisabeth, and Joseph. Requite the Labour of Love of my Kinswoman Jane Tappin ; Give her health, find out Rest for her. Make David a man after thy own heart ; Let Susan live and be baptised with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Relations. Steer the Government in this difficult time, when the Governour and many others are at so much Variance ; Direct, incline, overrule on the Council-day, fifth-day, Febr. 12, as to the special Work of it in filling the Super. Court with Justices ; or any other thing of like nature, as Plimº infer. Court. Bless the Company for propagation of the Gospel, especially Gov". Ashurst, etc. Revive the Business of Religion at Natick, and accept and bless John Neesnumin who went thither last week for that end. Mr. Rawson, at Nantucket. Bless the South Church in preserving and spiriting our Pastor ; in directing unto suit- able Supply, and making the Church unanimous. Save the Town, College, Province from Invasion of Enemies, open, Secret, and from false Brethren. Defend the Purity of Worship. Save Connecticut ; bless their New Governour. Save the Reformation under N. York Governmt. Reform all the European Plantations in America ; Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, Dutch. Save this New World, that where Sin hath abounded Grace may superabound ; that CHRIST who is stronger, would bind the strong man and spoil his house, and order the word to be given, Babylon is fallen ! Save our Queen, lengthen out her Life and Reign. Save France, make the Proud helper stoop (Job ix. 13) ; Save all Europe ; Save Asia, Africa, Europe, and America. - These were gen' heads of my Meditation and prayer, and through the bounteous Grace of GOD I had a very Comfortable day of it." 1
The reader of this memorandum will readily see how wide was the range of Judge Sewall's interests, and how completely he assumed a relation be- tween himself and God, to be expressed only in the terms of a suppliant at a mighty Throne.
It was due probably to the element introduced by the administration, and the English influence, that a relaxation of life in the way of amusement began to assert itself. In May, 1740, a petition was offered at town-meet- ing for use of part of Fort Hill as a bowling-green; but the petition was refused. The request was renewed March 15, 1742, when a long and ani- mated discussion followed. The vote was taken, but the opponents who were now in the minority doubted the decision which declared it to be · affirmative, and called for a poll; whereupon, the record says, "it appeared to be a clear vote by a great majority." From Sewall again we get a glimpse of street horse-play when we read: -
"Jos. Maylem carries a cock at his back, with a Bell in 's hand, in the Main Street ; several follow him blindfold, and, under pretence of striking him or 's cock, with great cart-whips strike passengers, and make great disturbance."2 Again, "Two persons,
1 Sewall's Diary, ii. 216, 217.
2 Sewall's Diary, i. 167. Also see p. 312. The sport was in honor of Shrove Tuesday.
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LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE PROVINCIAL PERIOD.
one array'd in white, the other in red, goe through the Town with naked swords advanced, with a Drum attending each of them and a Quarter-Staff, and a great rout following, as is usual. It seems 'tis a chaleng to be fought at Capt. Wing's next Thorsday. ... After the Stage-fight, in the even, the Souldier who wounded his Antagonist, went accompanyed with a Drum and about 7 drawn Swords, Shouting through the streets in a kind of Tryumph." 1
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