USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Topographical and historical description of Boston > Part 9
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and weather brought us safe into the harbour of Boston. From this road, which is interspersed with several agree- able little Islands, we discovered through the woods, on the side toward the west, a magnificent prospect of houses, built on a curved line, and extending afterwards in a semi-circle above half a league. This was Boston. These edifices which were lofty and regular, with spires and cupolas intermixt at proper distances, did not seem to us a modern settlement so much as an ancient city, enjoying all the embellishments and population, that never fail to attend on commerce and the arts.
"The inside of the town does not at all lessen the idea that is formed by an exterior prospect: a superb wharf has been carried out above two thousand feet into the sea, and is broad enough for stores and workshops through the whole of its extent; it communicates at right angles with the principal street of the town, which is both large and spacious, and bends in a curve parallel to the harbour; this street is ornamented with elegant buildings, for the most part two or three stories high, and many other streets terminate in this, communicating with it on each side. The form and construction of the houses would surprise an European eye; they are built of brick, and wood, not in the clumsy and melancholy taste of our ancient European towns, but regularly and well provided with windows and doors. The wooden work or frame is light, covered on the outside with thin boards, well plained, and lapped over each other as we do tiles on our roofs in France; these buildings are gen- erally painted with a pale white colour, which renders the prospect much more pleasing than it would other- wise be; the roofs are set off with balconies, doubtless for the more ready extinguishing of fire; the whole is
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supported by a wall of about a foot high; it is easy to see how great an advantage these houses have over ours, in point of neatness and salubrity.
" All the parts of these buildings are so well joined, and their weight is so equally divided, and proportionate to their bulk, that they may be removed from place to place with little difficulty. I have seen one of two sto- ries high removed above a quarter of a mile, if not more, from its original situation, and the whole French army have seen the same thing done at Newport. What they tell us of the travelling habitations of the Scythians, is far less wonderful. Their household furniture is simple, but made of choice wood, after the English fashion, which renders its appearance less gay; their floors are covered with handsome carpets, or printed cloths, but others sprinkle them with fine sand.
"This city is supposed to contain about six thousand houses, and thirty thousand inhabitants; there are nine- teen churches for the several sects here, all of them con- venient, and several finished with taste and elegance, especially those of the Presbyterians and the Church of England; their form is generally a long square, orna- mented with a pulpit, and furnished with pews of a sim- ilar fabrication throughout. The poor as well as the rich hear the word of God in these places in a conven- ient and decent posture of body.
"Sunday is observed with the utmost strictness; all business, how important soever, is then totally at a stand, and the most innocent recreations and pleasures prohib- ited. Boston that populous town, where at other times there is such a hurry of business, is on this day a mere desert ; you may walk the streets without meeting a single person, or if by chance you meet one, you scarcely
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dare to stop and talk with him. A Frenchman that lodged with me took it into his head to play on the flute on Sundays for his amusement; the people upon hearing it were greatly enraged, collected in crowds round the house and would have carried matters to extremity in a short time with the musician, had not the landlord given him warning of his danger, and forced him to desist. Upon this day of melancholy you cannot go into a house but you find the whole family employed in read- ing the Bible; and indeed it is an affecting sight to see the father of a family surrounded by his household, hearing him explain the sublime truths of this sacred volume.
"Nobody fails here of going to the place of worship appropriated to his sect. In these places there reigns a profound silence; an order and respect is also observ- able which has not been seen for a long time in our Catholic churches. Their psalmody is grave and ma- jestic, and the harmony of the poetry, in their national tongue, adds a grace to the music, and contributes greatly towards keeping up the attention of the wor- shippers.
" All these churches are destitute of ornaments. No addresses are made to the heart and the imagination; there is no visible object to suggest to the mind for what purpose a man comes into these places, who he is and what he will shortly be. Neither painting nor sculpture represent those great events which ought to recall him to his duty and awaken his gratitude, nor are those he- roes in piety brought into view, whom it is his duty to admire and endeavour to imitate. The pomp of cere- mony is here wanting to shadow out the greatness of the being he goes to worship; there are no processions to
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testify the homage we owe to him, that great Spirit of the Universe, by whose will Nature itself exists, through whom the fields are covered with harvests, and the trees are loaded with fruits."
The Abbé gives a particular description of the cere- monies of the Quakers, which we omit, and he then con- tinues : "Piety is not the only motive that brings the · American ladies in crowds to the various places of wor- ship. Deprived of all shows and public diversions what- ever, the church is the grand theatre where they attend, to display their extravagance and finery. There they come dressed off in the finest silks, and overshadowed with a profusion of the most superb plumes. The hair of the head is raised and supported upon cushions to an extravagant height, somewhat resembling the manner in which the French ladies wore their hair some years ago. Instead of powdering, they often wash the head, which answers the purpose well enough, as their hair is com- monly of an agreeable light colour; but the more fash- ionable among them begin now to adopt the present European method, of setting off the head to the best advantage. They are of a large size, well proportioned, their features generally regular, and their complexion fair, without rudiness. They have less cheerfulness and ease of behaviour, than the ladies of France, but more of greatness and dignity; I have even imagined that I have seen something in them, that answers to the ideas of beauty we gain from those master-pieces of the artists of antiquity, which are yet extant in our days. The stature of the men is tall, and their carriage erect, but their make is rather slim, and their colour inclining to pale. They are not so curious in their dress as the women, but everything upon them is neat and proper
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At twenty-five years of age, the women begin to lose the bloom and freshness of youth; and at thirty-five or forty, their beauty is gone.
"The decay of the men is equally premature, and I am inclined to think that life itself is here proportionably short. I visited all the burying grounds in Boston, where it is usual to inscribe upon the stone over each grave, the names and ages of the deceased, and found that few who had arrived to a state of manhood, ever ad- vanced beyond their fiftieth year; fewer still to seventy, and beyond that scarcely any.
" Boston is situated on a peninsula upon a descent to- wards the sea side; this peninsula is connected with the continent only by a neck of land, which at full tide is not more than the breadth of a high way, so that it would be no difficult matter to render this a place of great strength. Hard by is an eminence which commands the whole town, upon which the Bostonians have built a kind of lighthouse or beacon, of a great height, with a barrel of tar fixed at the top, ready to set fire to in case of an attack. At such a signal, more than forty thou- sand men would take arms, and be at the gates of the town in less than twenty-four hours.
"From hence may be seen the ruins of Charlestown, which was burnt by the English, on the 17th of June, 1775, at the battle of Bunker's hill-a melancholy pros- pect, calculated to keep up in the breasts of the Bosto- nians, the spirits and sentiments of liberty. This town was separated from the peninsula only by Charles River, and was built in the angle formed by the junction of this river with the Mystic. The buildings in it were good, the whole capable of being fortified to advantage, and seems to have been about half as big as Boston.
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"The harbour of this last mentioned city, can receive more than five hundred sail of vessels, but the entrance is difficult and dangerous, being only a channel about the breadth of three ships. Some strong batteries, erected upon one of the adjacent islands, protect the road, and consequently relieve the town from any appre- hensions of an insult from an enemy by sea. The capes that bound the entrance of the bay,-the reaf of rocks that edge the outlet of the road, and the little islands that are seen every where scattered up and down, form so many obstacles, which diminish and repress the sea swell, and render this harbour one of the safest in the world.
"The commerce of the Bostonians formerly comprised a variety of articles, and was very extensive before the breaking out of the present war. They supplied Great Britain with masts and yards for her royal navy, and built, either upon commission or their own account, a great number of merchantmen, remarkable for their superiority in sailing. Indeed, they were of such a slight and peculiar construction that it did not require the abili- ties of a great connoisseur to distinguish their ships in the midst of those belonging to other nations. Those that they freighted on their own account were sent either to the American islands or to Europe laden with timber, plank, joiners stuff, pitch, tar, turpentine, rosin, beef, salt pork and some furrs; but their principal object in trade was the codfish, which they caught upon their own coasts, and particularly in the bay of Massachusetts."
After remarking upon the fisheries and certain exports the Abbé continues,-"It is computed that from 1748 to 1749, inclusive, there were 500 vessels employed from this port in foreign commerce, and inward entries were
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made at 430; and the coasting and fishing vessels amounted to at least 1000. It appears, however, that after this, as a certain English author remarks, their commerce had declined.
"The great demand for rum among the Americans led them to form connexions with the French Colonies: and our wines and brandies making this liquor of small request among us, they flattered themselves that they could import molasses to advantage. This attempt suc- ceeded beyond their expectations, although they had nothing to give in exchange but lumber, and some salt provisions. But the English government perceiving the injury its own islands thereby suffered, prohibited this commerce entirely. The colonies, upon this, complained bitterly, and represented, that by hindering them from exporting the productions of their soil to what port they pleased, they would be rendered unable to pay for those indispensably necessary articles, which they purchased at an exorbitant price in England.
" The government then took a middle way; permitted them the exportation of lumber, and loaded French sugar and other foreign commodities imported, with very heavy duties. But this did not yet satisfy the colonies: they considered the mother country in the light of a jealous and avaricious step-mother, watching every opportunity to turn to her own advantage those channels of gain, which would have enabled them to live in ease and plenty. This was one of the principal causes of the misunderstanding between England and her colonies; from thence forward the latter perceived what a change independence would make in their favour, and France was by no means ignorant of the political advantages that would accrue to her from such a revolution.
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
"The Irish Presbyterians, discontented with their landlord, at home, and attracted by similarity of senti- ment, have established in this place, with some success, manufactories of linen, and have made some attempts at broadcloths; those that have been lately manufactured are close and well woven, but hard and coarse; their hat manufactories have succeeded not better than the cloths; they are thick, spongy and without firmness, and come far short of the beauty and solidity of ours.
"The Europeans have long been convinced of the natural and moral dangers to be apprehended, in acquir- ing education in large towns. The Bostonians have advanced farther, they have prevented these dangers. Their University is at Cambridge, seven miles from Boston, on the banks of Charles River, in a beautiful and healthy situation. There are four colleges all of brick, and of a regular form. The English troops made use of them as barracks in 1775, and forced the profes- sors and students to turn out. The library contains more than 5000 volumes; and they have an excellent printing house, well furnished, that was originally in- tended for a college for the native Indians. To give you an idea of the merit of the several professors, it will be sufficient to say, that they correspond with the literati of Europe, and that Mr. Sewall, in particular, professor of the Oriental languages, is one of those to whom the author of genius and ability has been lavish of those gifts; their pupils often act tragedies, the subject of which is generally taken from their national events, such as the battle of Bunker's Hill, the burning of Charles- town, the Death of General Montgomery, the Capture of Burgoyne, the treason of Arnold, and the Fall of British tyranny. You will easily conclude, that in such a new
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nation as this, these pieces must fall infinitely short of that perfection to which our European literary produc- tions of this kind are wrought up; but still, they have a greater effect upon the mind than the best of ours would have among them, because those manners and customs are delineated, which are peculiar to them- selves, and the events are such as interest them above all others: the drama is here reduced to its true and ancient origin."
CHAPTER V.
DESCRIPTIONS BY FRENCH WRITERS.
Description by St. John de Creve Coeur in 1770-1786 . .. Account by the Mar- quis de Chastellux in 1780-1782 . . . Road from Salem to Boston . . . Tea Party in Boston . . . Aversion to the English . . . Visit to Harvard College . . . Tues- day Club · · · The Parting Stone ··· Letters of Brissot de Warville in 1788 ... His Delight on being in Boston . . . Young Women of Boston . .. Neat- ness characteristic of the Mothers . . . Attendance at Meeting . . . Mary Dyer, the Quakeress . . . Card-playing ... No Coffee Houses, but Exchanges . . . Decline of Rum Distilleries and Suppression of the Slave Trade ... Meeting-houses and Bridges.
ANOTHER Frenchman, sometimes known as "J. Hector St. John, a farmer in Pennsylvania," and sometimes as "M. St. John de Creve Cœur," wrote during the years 1770 to 1786 an account of his residence in the United States, in which are very remarkable statements about Boston, the greatest value of which is in their ludicrous absurdities, such as giving the famous Cotton Mather (grandson of John Cotton and of Richard Mather) the credit of the foundation of the town. These ridiculous stories were evidently derived from "family traditions," which, generally speaking, should as a class always be received with great skepticism, for they are really the rocks against which all true history splits, and from which the fabulous gains precedence.
The Marquis de Chastellux, a Major-General under the Count de Rochambeau, during the years 1780-1782, wrote the journal of his travels in the United States,
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while the French Army was assisting the American Col- onies in their war of independence. A portion of this account, in an edition of twenty-four copies only, was printed on board the French squadron while lying off Rhode Island, for strictly private circulation; and a sur- reptitious edition of disconnected parts of the same account was published in 1785, at Cassel. In 1787, a translation of the whole work by George Greive, at one time a resident of Salem, was published in Dublin; and it is in this edition that the relation is to be found from which the following extracts have been selected. The Marquis was a gentleman of much culture, and was one of the forty members of the French Academy. He gives a very interesting account of social life in Bos- ton, introducing into the narrative many pleasant per- sonal reminiscences.
The Chevalier François Jean -for he had not then attained the rank of Marquis-in the course of his travels, left Salem on the fourteenth of November, 1782, on horseback for Boston. He describes his approach to the town in the following words: "The road from Salem to Boston passes through an arid and rocky country, always within three or four miles of the sea, without having a sight of it; at length however, after passing Lynn, and Lynn Creek, you get a view of it, and find yourself in a bay formed by Nahant's Point, and Pulling's Point. I got upon the rocks to the right of the roads, in order to embrace more of the country, and form a better judgment. I could distinguish not only the whole bay but several of the islands in Boston road, and part of the peninsula of Nantucket [a mistake for Nantasket], near which I dis- covered the masts of our ships of war. From hence to
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
Winisimmet ferry you travel over disagreeable roads, sometimes at the foot of rocks, at others across salt marshes. It is just eighteen miles from Salem to the ferry, where we embarked in a large scow, containing twenty horses; and the wind, which was rather contrary, becoming more so, we made seven tacks, and were near an hour in passing. The landing is to the northward of the port, and to the east of Charles-Town ferry." He then speaks of alighting at the Cromwell's Head, kept by Mr. Brackett (Joshua, an innholder, in South-Latin School Street) ; after which he repaired to private lodg- ings prepared for him at the house of a noted mechanic, Adam Colson, a glove-maker, in that part of Washing- ton street which was formerly known as Marlborough street. While in Boston he appears to have associated with the elite of the town, of whom he has spoken quite favorably, giving the women a character for elegance and refinement, and also as being well dressed, and in general good dancers, though the men were very awk- ward, especially in the minuet.
Having dined with one of the most opulent merchants of the town, he remarks: "After dinner, tea was served, which being over" the host "in some sort insisted, but very politely, on our staying to supper. This supper was on table exactly four hours after we rose from dinner; it may be imagined therefore that we did not eat much, but the Americans paid some little compliments to it, for, in general, they eat less than we do, at their repasts, but as often as you choose, which is in my opinion a very bad method. Their aliments behave with their stomachs, as we do in France on paying visits; they never depart, until they see others enter. In other respects we passed the day very agreeable; and there reigned in this soci-
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ety a ton of ease and freedom, which is pretty general at Boston, and cannot fail of being pleasing to the French."
He found very few persons who could speak in the French tongue, although some of his officers spoke Eng- lish. This led him to write, "As for the Americans, they testified more surprise than peevishness, at meeting with a foreigner who did not understand English. But if they are indebted for this opinion to a prejudice of education, a sort of national pride, that pride suffered not a little from the reflection, which frequently occurred, of the language of the country being that of their oppressors. Accordingly they avoided these expres- sions, you speak English; you understand English well; and I have often heard them say-you speak American well; the American is not difficult to learn. Nay, they have carried it even so far, as seriously to propose intro- ducing a new language; and some persons were desir- ous, for the convenience of the public, that Hebrew should be substituted for the English. The proposal was, that it should be taught in the schools, and made use of in all public acts. We may imagine that this pro- ject went no farther; but we may conclude from the mere suggestion, that the Americans could not express in a more energetic manner, their aversion for the Eng- lish."
For a person endowed with the peculiar traits of mind which the Chevalier possessed, it was impossible to leave Massachusetts without visiting the college at Cambridge. Therefore, as he remarks, "At eleven I mounted my horse, and went to Cambridge, to pay a visit to Mr. Willard, the President of that University. My route, though short, it being scarce two leagues from Boston to Cambridge, required me to travel both by
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
sea and land, and to pass through a field of battle, and an intrenched camp. It has long been said that the route to Parnassus is difficult, but the obstacles we have then to encounter, are rarely of the same nature with those which were in my way. A view of the chart of the road, and town of Boston, will explain this better than the most elaborate description. The reader will see, that this town, one of the most ancient in America, and which contains from twenty to five and twenty thousand inhab- itants, is built upon a peninsula in the bottom of a large bay, the entrance of which is difficult, and in which lie dispersed a number of islands, that serve still further for its defence; it is only accessible one way on the land side, by a long neck or tongue of land, surrounded by the sea on each side, forming a sort of causeway. To the Northward of the town is another peninsula, which ad- heres to the opposite shore by a very short rock [neck], and on this peninsula is an eminence called Bunker's- hill, at the foot of which are the remains of the little town of Charles-town. Cambridge is situated at the north-west, about two miles from Boston, but to go there in a right line, you must cross a pretty considera- ble arm of the sea in which are dangerous shoals, and, upon the coast, morasses difficult to pass, so that the only communication between the whole northern part of the continent, and the town of Boston is by the ferry of Charlestown, or that of Winissimet. The road to Cambridge lies through the field of battle of Bunker's- hill." The writer describes Cambridge as " a little town inhabited only by students, professors, and the small number of servants and workmen whom they employ." After words of respect for the President of the College, and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, to
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which he acted as Secretary, he remarks, "I must here repeat, what I have observed elsewhere, that in compar- ing our universities and our studies in general, with those of the Americans, it would not be our interest to call for a decision of the question, which of the two nations should be considered as an infant people."
The Tuesday Club is thus described by the Cheva- lier: "This assembly is held every Tuesday, in rotation, at the houses of the different members who compose it; this was the day for Mr. Russell, an honest merchant, who gave us an excellent reception. The laws of the club are not straitening, the number of dishes for sup- per alone are limited, and there must be only two of meat, for supper is not the American repast. Vegeta- bles, pies, and especially good wine, are not spared. The hour of assembling is after tea, when the company play at cards, converse, and read the public papers, and sit down to table between nine and ten. The supper was as free as if there had been no strangers; songs were given at table, and a Mr. Stewart sung some which were very gay, with a tolerable good voice."
The journal of M. de Chastellux is very full in per- sonal descriptions, and his pictures of American society are extremely interesting, but are entirely too pointed for the objects for which these chapters were intended. One statement made by the Marquis needs an explana- tion. He speaks of Cambridge being at a distance of two leagues (about six miles) from Boston; and the Abbé Robin gives the distance between these places as seven miles. Now, to have a fair understanding of these writers, it must be remembered that Boston was not connected with any of the neighboring towns by . a bridge at the time when the above quoted descriptions
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