USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III > Part 22
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2 J. Quincy, Life of Josiah Quincy, Fr. In his will was the following provision : " 1 give to my son Josiah [afterward President Quincy], when he shall have arrived at the age of fifteen years,
Lord Bacon's works, in four volumes, folio ; Gordon's Tacitus, in four volumes ; Cato's Let- ters, by Gordon ; and Trenchard's and Mrs. Ma- canlay's History of England. May the Spirit of Liberty rest upon him!" [See his portrait and references in chapter i. - ED.]
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THE LITERATURE OF THE REVOLUTION.
weighted with metaphor and imagery, but frank and sincere in thought, logical and direct in statement, and impressive in delivery. The oration of
My ever honoud Fellow Getirent,
It is not without the most humiliating convictions of my want of ability that now appear beforeyour "The venue I have of the obligation I am under to stay The call of my country at all times , together with an animating recolection of your indulgence extrabed upon so many occasions , has induced me once more, undefering as Jam , to throw myself spron that canar which works with Konings on the feeblesk offerts of an honest min). You will not now expect the elegance , the learning , the fre : the enraptureny vliains of eloquence which charm you when a Lovell , a church , or a Hancock reaks ; but Howwill permet me to say that with a sinveertig agreat Is there Is nouriover my bleeding country : with them Tweep at her diferent , and with them deeply resent the wrong which she has suffered from the hands of ervel and ungodly men. That personal freedom is the natural right ofevery , man , and that property , or an exclusive right to difrase
WARREN'S 1775 MANUSCRIPT.1
1775 was given under circumstances much more singular and distressing. The town was occupied by hostile troops. Warning had been given that
1 [The manuscript of this second oration of Warren has descended to Dr. John C. Warren, the second of that name, and by his kind per- mission the first page of it is here reproduced. The script is of uncommon legibility, contained in a quarto book with black or dark covers, and occupies twenty-eight pages, with one paragraph at least inserted on an attached bit of paper. The oration was printed in the Boston Gazette, March 17, 1775, and in the same year in a pam- phlet by Edes & Gill, and probably the same ycar in New York. (Frothingham's Warren, 428-436.) Dr. Warren also possesses, beside the
likeness mentioned in another note, a contem- porary colored mezzotint portrait, following evi- dently the likeness in question ; and in his dining- room, above the portrait, hang two swords crossed, -one a slender blade sheathed in black, which is believed to have been the one worn at Bunker Hill ; the other was worn for many years by his grandfather as an officer of the Cadets. Dr. Warren possesses various papers of the General and some of his books, which have a printed book-plate: " Joseph Warren. The wieked bor- roweth and returneth not." See the portrait and references in chapter i. - En.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
the citizens would commemorate the day at their peril. Warren, with char- acteristic spirit, sought the post of danger. To avoid the crowd, he reached the pulpit through a window in the rear of it. On the steps of the pulpit and in the pews before him were the military representatives of an empire whose power he met with audacious defiance. The chivalry of his nature had full play in this remarkable presence. Poetry and history have at- tempted to describe the scene; but no description can give adequate ex- pression to its impressiveness and significance.
In the intervals of these periods of special exaltation, Warren wrote stirring verses for the newspapers, of which "A Song for Liberty," be- ginning -
" That seat of science, Athens, and earth's proud mistress, Rome, - Where now are all their glories ? We scarce can find their tomb,"
is perhaps the best known.1
With these Patriots, who are most eminent in the literary annals of the Revolution, were many others whose names are not wholly foreign to them. James Bowdoin published little aside from his contributions to the state papers; but he cultivated letters during his whole life, and his reputation for science and learning extended over both continents.2 John Hancock, eloquent, graceful, and accomplished, and " formed by nature to act a bril- liant part in the affairs of the world," contributed much to the correspond- ence of the time, and gave an oration in 1774, on the anniversary of the Massacre, in which he rose to the occasion with boldness and dignity.3 Robert Treat Paine, the learned and eminent judge, had refined literary tastes, and cultivated the society of learned men. He was wise in theology as well as in law, but the tradition of his great acquirements is all that is left concerning them.4 Oxenbridge Thacher, the associate of Otis in the trial of the Writs of Assistance, an ingenious lawyer, a cultivated scholar, and of a most amiable character, died carly in the strife, just as his fine spirit and rich gifts were beginning to be appreciated. William Tudor, who attained eminence at the bar, served with distinction in the army, and um delivered the spirited Massacre oration of 1779.5 Thomas Cushing was a dili- ifuders gent promoter of learning and litera- ture ; but his position, as Speaker of the
1 Massachusetts Spy, May 26, 1774. Reprint- ed in Frothingham's Life and Times of Joseph Warren, p. 405. Duyekinck, Cyclopedia of American Literature, i. 466, gives a different version.
2 Judge Lowell, quoted by R. C. Winthrop, Orations and Addresses, i. 131. [See Mr. Lodge's chapter. - ED.]
3 Sparks's Biographies; Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence; Thacher's
Funeral Sermon; Loring's Hundred Boston Orators.
4 Washburn, Judicial History of Massachu- setts; Tudor, Life of James Otis. [See the chap- ters by Mr. Porter and Mr. Lodge in the present volume, and by Mr. Quincy in Vol. IV. - ED.]
5 [There is a portrait of Colonel Tudor in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., i. 282, and an extended memoir of him by his son in 2 Mass. Ilist. Coll. viii. 285 .- En.]
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THE LITERATURE OF THE REVOLUTION.
House for many years, in which he was required to sign all public docu- ments, gave his name a celebrity quite out of proportion to his real influence, which, indeed, was not slight.1 Benjamin Church, the accomplished physi- cian, poet, scholar, and a writer of undoubted genius, gave his talents to the Whig cause, and was a trusted associate of the Whig leaders until the war began, - for a considerable timc, indeed, after he had secretly resolved Panga Church Jun! to betray them.2 His writings were much celebrated. His poems, somc- times satirical, sometimes serious and pathetic, were always correct and elegant. His orations were polished, scholarly, and eloquent.3 His prose writings, scattered through the publi- cations of the time, were often witty and philosophical, but never especially profound.
Foremost among the writers on the royalist side was Thomas Hutch- inson. Many of his state papers were written with singular moderation and dignity.4 The royal prerogative had no more able and learned defender than it found in this favored son of the province. Had he fallen upon more peaceful times, he would easily have attained the fame to which his varicd accomplishments and his blameless character entitled him; but his over-
· estimate of power, his want of sympathy with popular rights, and his great ambition led him to the losing side of the controversy which had to be decided in his time. The storm of obloquy falling upon all who shared his faith in the power of the Crown quite overshadowed his undoubted claims to respect as a citizen, a magistrate, and an historian. In various public capacities he had rendered useful service to the Province. He was a capa- ble and upright judge. His charges to the jury were models of clear and methodical statement, and his decisions were founded upon principles of jus- tice and reason. His historical labors do not display original or profound thought, and have few graces of style; but he was conscientiously pains- taking and thorough in his investigations, and to the relation of events in- volving strong partisan feeling he brought a spirit of candor which disarms criticism. The impartiality of his narrative, even in relating incidents of which he was himself a great part, and by whose interpretations he must stand or fall, is one of the striking features of his History of Massachusetts
1 This circumstance led Dr. Johnson, in his pamphlet on Taxation no Tyranny, to say : " One object of the Americans is said to be to adorn the brows of Mr. Cushing with a diadem." [Thomas Cushing was Lieut .- Governor, under the new constitution of 1780, till his death in 1788. He was the last to add to his pay as one of the council the salary of that sinecure office, the captaincy of the Castle. See his likeness, etc., in Mr. Porter's chapter .- ED.]
2 Hutchinson, Letters to Bernard, January, 1772.
& Thacher's Medical Biography ; Loring's Hundred Boston Orators.
4 The more important of these papers are preserved in the volume of Massachusetts State Papers, compiled by Alden Bradford, and printed in Boston in 1818. The volume includes the speeches of the Governors of Massachusetts from 1765 to 1775, and the answers to them by the House of Representatives, with the resolutions and addresses for that period, and other public papers.
VOL. II1 .- 19.
146
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
Bay. His greed of office, his exaggerated ambition, his persistent misjudg- ment of the nature of the forces contending for the mastery of this conti- nent, were followed by quick and bitter retribution; but no record of his time is complete which fails to recognize him as one of the very few Ameri- cans who, outside of the absorbing interests of the time, made permanent and useful contributions to the history of the country.1
Jonathan Sewall, Attorney-General of Massachusetts, was reputed to be one of the best writers of his time in New England. The Royalist journals were indebted to him for many of the ingenious essays in defence of the Crown and Parliament, which enabled them to maintain their ground against great odds from 1768 to 1775. John Adams, his early friend and com- panion, credits him with a lively wit, a pleasing humor, a brilliant imagina -* tion, great subtilty of reasoning, and an insinuating eloquence. Andrew Oliver,2 Lieut .- Governor, was a temperate and judicious writer in support of the prerogative, and against the extreme pretensions of the Patriots. His son, Andrew Oliver, Jr., more of a scholar than a politician, found time, in the midst of political distractions, to publish treatises on comets, storms, and other natural phenomena; and he was a member of many learned societies.
The names of two women, from very different walks in life, are entitled to a place in the literary annals of this time. " It was fashionable to ridi- cule female learning," Mrs. Adams wrote in one of her letters. " In the best families it went no further than writing and arithmetic; in some few and rare instances, music and dancing."3 But Mercy Warren was no slave to the social code. Urged by her own intrepid spirit, and stimulated by the example of her brother, James Otis, and her husband, James Warren of Ply- mouth, she became no indifferent part of the Revolution. Her house was the resort of all its great leaders, and she was a welcome companion in their most secret counsels. Her first publications were The Adulator, issued in Boston in 1773, and The Group in 1775,-both political dramas satirizing the prominent Royalists. These were followed by poems, less elaborate and of a more serious cast ; not remarkable as poetry, but charged with patriotic feeling and closely reflecting the spirit of the times. The Squabble of the Sea Nymphs, celebrating the tea adventure; A Political Reverie, written while the Colony was hesitating between its ancient loyalty and its passion for freedom ; To the Hon. Fohn Winthrop, Esq., who had requested her to give him a poetical list of the articles which a lady would require under the head of " real necessaries of life," while trade with Great Britain was sus- pended; and later than any of these, The Sack of Rome, and The Ladies of Castile, - all won great praise in their day and were widely read.4 Mrs. Warren kept at the same time a careful record of public events, and main- tained an active correspondence with many Whig statesmen, which at a
1 [See his likeness and an estimate of him in Dr. Ellis's chapter in Vol. II. p. 68; also Mr. Porter's chapter in the present volume. - ED.]
2 [See his likeness and references in Mr. Porter's chapter. - En |
3 Familiar Letters of John Adams and his Wife, x. xi.
4 Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous. By Mrs. M. Warren. Boston : Thomas & Andrews, 1790.
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THE LITERATURE OF THE REVOLUTION.
later period furnished the principal materials for her history of the Revo- lution.1
Phillis Wheatley, a waif brought to these shores in a slave-ship from the coast of Africa, wrote youthful verses, which at first attracted attention rather on account of the novelty of their origin than for any special merit of
I am very affectionately your Friend philes Wheatley
Boston March 21. 17h.
their own. Her earlier poems were first published in England, whither she had been taken in 1773 in ill health, at the age of eighteen years. These poems, gratefully inscribed to the Countess of Huntingdon, her chief friend and benefactor, and subsequently republished in this country, are of vari- ous degrees of merit, - the best of them being simple, graceful, and not without traces of genuine poetic and religious feeling. Her memorial verses on the death of Dr. Sewall, of George Whitefield, and of Governor Hutch- inson's daughter, and others, were well calculated to win the sympathetic interest of many persons; while her more ambitious poems, "Goliath of Gath," "Niobe Mourning for her Children," and her contemplative and re- ligious pocms show great purity of sentiment and unusual gifts of poetic expression. Poverty, neglect, and a tragic death following a melancholy marriage quenched the fire just as it was beginning to light her way to hope and fame.2
But the crowning achievement of this period, - the magnum opus, to which the ripest thought, the highest aspiration, and the best literary skill of that generation contributed, -were the Massachusetts Constitution and Declaration of Rights of 1780. No worthicr monument exists to the intel- lectual elevation, as well as to the wisdom, sagacity, and breadth of view of the statesmen who modelled and the people who accepted it. John and Samuel Adams, Bowdoin, Hancock, Lowell, Parsons, Cabot, Sullivan, Cush- ing, and many more had a part in the work ; but John Adams was the
1 Mrs. Ellet, Women of the Revolution; Duyc- kinck, Cyclopedia of American Literature ; Life and Works of John Adams. [See Mr. Charles A. Cummings's chapter in the present volume, and Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney's chapter in Vol. IV .- ED.]
2 Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, a Native African and a Slave. Boston : George W Light, 1834 ; Allibone, Dictionary of Authors; Duyckinck, Cyclopedia of American Literature ; Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1863, 1864, pp. 166, 167 [where will be found various letters by her, edited by Charles Deane, with an account of her by N. B. Shurtleff. The memoir of the
1834 publication was written by Miss M. M. Odell, of Jamaica Plain. The book passed to a second edition in 1835, and to a third in 1838, the latter containing Phillis's letter to Washing- ton, from Sparks, iii. 297. The original edition of her "Poems on various subjects " was pub- lished in London in 1773, with an engraved por- trait, and it was sold in Boston by Feb. 8, 1774. Other editions were published at Albany in 1793; at Philadelphia, 1801, as an appendix to The Negro equalled by few Europeans ; at Wal- pole, N. H1., 1802 ; at Hartford, 1804 ; and “ New England," 1816. See Mrs. Cheney's chapter in Vol. IV. - ED.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
chief architect. The distinguishing feature of this instrument, especially worthy of commemoration here, is the chapter relating to the University of Cambridge, the encouragement of literature, etc., which remains to this day a part of the supreme law of Massachusetts, - at once a model of literary expression and the high-water mark of American statesmanship.1
This rapid sketch omits many names and many books entitled to a place in any complete review of the literature of the Revolutionary period. The teeming intellectual fertility of the town itself was stimulated by Thomas Hollis, Nicholas Boylston, Thomas Hancock, and a score of enterprising booksellers who brought or sent into the colony all the standard books on law, politics, and history, together with the best of the belles-lettres then read by the English-speaking world. The printers, moreover, on both sides of the controversy, responded to the spreading interest in public affairs, and poured out pamphlets and broad-sides, which found their way to every man's door. Stately and elaborate essays alternated with the light and ephemeral humors of the passing hour, presenting in every variety of form, and with every shade of feeling, the one leading thought of American intellectual or literary life. On the Loyalist side, under the greatest possible discour- agements, there were displayed ability, sincerity, devotion, and many noble virtues which will always command human sympathy. On the Patriot side, while the people were equally disinterested and courageous, the love and the hope of freedom took more passionate and complete possession of them. All social and public interests came under the sway of that impulse; all talents were quickened and uplifted by that conviction. The long travail of a people contending against powerful injustice; the assurance that suc- cess would ultimately vindicate and reward their faith; passing moods of depressing doubt and triumphant confidence, alternating with dreams of grandeur and happiness under new institutions, òver which kingly power would have no control and lingering tyrannies would cast no shadow, - these were the accompaniments of a political change wrought in a single generation, which in purity of motive, exaltation of purpose, and splendor of results is without parallel in the annals of men.
Delano r. Goodand
1 " In all the formulas of rights adopted by the several States there is a general resemblance of substance and phraseology. ... The Massa- chusetts Declaration is more extended, and enunciates more in detail the investiture of the liberties of the citizen subject; and though I must unavoidably be suspected of bias, I am free to express the opinion that, as a whole, it is su- perior to any other similar form in existence for its comprehensive projecting of the eclectic
lessons of history over the future of a new Com- monwealth, for its repeated inculcation of the duties of religion and education as the primary agencies of civilized States, and for its own simple and solid literature. With the exception of the third article it is the work of Mr. Adams, though in the convention it took on considerable changes in the grouping and phraseology." Alexander H. Bullock, The Centennial of the Massachusetts Constitution, pp. 20, 21.
CHAPTER IV. LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
BY HORACE E. SCUDDER.I
T HE struggle for personal freedom which occupied the mind of Eng- land and her colonies in the eventful last quarter of the eighteenth century was sharply accented in Boston, and the crisis which came with the Boston Port Bill was of a nature to change materially and rapidly the con- ditions of life in the capital of New England. The succession of hostile acts on the one side, and of retaliatory reprisals on the other, practically sealed Boston Harbor before the British navy made its fence of ships across the entrance, and the sudden check upon free commerce fell with force upon the great centre of the town's activity. At the wharves were idle vessels, in the streets were idle sailors and mechanics, and the saw and hammer which had made the ship-yards noisy were thrown aside. The withdrawal of la- bor was the concentration of interest upon politics, for public affairs were now more than ever closely involved with private affairs. The introduction of troops into the town increased the disorder, and it would seem as if nothing was going on but town-meetings and strect rows. The glance which we get at Boston in the few years immediately preceding the outbreak of the war - through the columns of the journals, the records of the General Court and of the town - discloses a half-turbulent, excited, angry, but res- olute town, where there was a constant exhibition in miniature of the conflict which was so imminent.
The resolute, not to say obstinate, temper of the town found abundant opportunity for expression, and the hand seemed always on the hilt. In 1773 the Governor and Council were to have their customary annual clec- tion dinner; and the town, in its meeting, instructed the selectmen to grant the use of Faneuil Hall only on condition that neither the commissioners of the customs and their attendants, nor the officers of the army and navy stationed at Boston for the purpose of enforcing unconstitutional acts of
1 [Mr. Scudder published in 1876, in Men and A Short History of the English Colonies in Amer- Manners in America One Hundred Years Ago, a ica, iSSI, gives a chapter (p. 406) to depicting picture of life in the colonies, a third of the the condition of life in New England just at the out-break of the war. Another general survey will be found in the introduction to The First Century of the Republic, New York, IS76. - ED. ] book being given to New England; drawing his material, without change of form, from some of the most helpful of the contemporary accounts. The recent book of Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge,
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
Parliament by military execution, be invited, -it being utterly against the inclination of the town that even one person who had rendered himself inimical to the rights of America should be admitted to the hall upon such an occasion.1
The famous non-importation agreement of 1770 struck into society ; for those were days when politics and society were so closely identified that. there were two camps, more strictly defined than cven by religious differ- ences afterward. The matrons entered into an agreement to drink no tea until the revenue acts were repealed. "We do strictly engage," they say, " that we will totally abstain from the use of that article (sickness excepted ) not only in our respective families, but that we will absolutely refuse it if it should be offered to us on any occasion whatsoever." A fortnight afterward, that no loophole might be left, the daughters of the Patriots signed a like agreement ; and the Patriot papers now began to publish, and to keep stand- ing in their columns, the names of those shopkeepers who refused to enter the non-importation league, and they were practically excommunicated by the town. " It must evidently appear that they have preferred their own little private advantage to the welfare of America; . .. so those who afford them their countenance, or give them their custom, must expect to be considered in the same disagrecable light."2 One frequently comes upon advertise- ments of dealers who offer certain goods with the assurance that these were all obtained before the non-importation agreement, and so may safely be sold and bought. Isaac Viburt publishes an indignant card because hand- bills have been posted charging his wife with buying tea of William Jackson. It was probably done, he declares, " to raise the resentment of the inhabi- tants, and to injure me in my business, which wholly depends on the em- ploy of the merchants and traders of the town, in repairing of vessels, etc. N. B. - The occasion of Mrs. Viburt's going to Mr. Jackson's shop was, a number of shoes from Lynn was left there for her, and she called on Satur- day last and took them away."3 Such advertisements illustrate well the village-like character of the town, and the extreme sensitiveness of the people.
The sewing-circle was a miniature camp, and American ideas and indus- try were extolled : -
" Last Wednesday forty-five Daughters of Liberty met in the morning at the house of the Rev. Mr. Moorhead in this town ; and in the afternoon they exceeded fifty. By the evening of said day they spun two hundred and thirty-two skeins of yarn, - some very fine. Their labor and materials were all generously given to the worthy pastor. Nothing appeared in their whole conduet but love, festivity, and application. . Their entertainment was wholly American production except a little wine,
. etc. ... The whole was concluded with many agreeable tunes and Liberty songs, with great judgment ; fine voices performed and animated on this occasion in all the several parts by a number of the Sons of Liberty." +
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