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tioned of singular scrupulosity, and of his refusing and returning fees when they appeared to him greater than the cause deserved. He was strict in religious observances. Being upon his return home from a journey, the sun set upon a Saturday evening when he was within a few miles of his house. He remained where he was until the sun set the next day, and then finished his journey. He was, however, violent in his resentments. He had been at the head of an opposition to the minister of the town where he lived, and the chief cause of his leaving the town and removing into another colony. In a few years after, he made a public acknowledgment of his unwarrantable conduct in this affair, which he caused to be published in the newspapers. This ingenuous confession raised his character more than his intemperate conduct had lessened it. He was subject to glooms, which confined him, and rendered him, while they lasted, unfit for business. Men of this habit, when the glooms are off, frequently go into the contrary extreme; but he always maintained great decency and propriety of behavior, with the appearance of gravity and seriousness, without any mixture of levity or undue freedom. He was more attended to in the house than any of the leaders, but less active out of it. He was sometimes carried by strength of passion farther than he could justify, but had too much virtue to go all lengths, and was the less fit for a complete partisan; and for this reason, probably, he found it necessary to decline the employments and honors offered him, and to retire from business when his popularity was at the highest.

Mr. John Adams was a distant relation and intimate acquaintance of Mr. Samuel Adams. After his education at the college, he applied to the study of the law, a short time before the troubles began. He is said to have been at a loss which side to take. Mr. Sewall, who was with the government, would have persuaded him to be on the same side, and promised him to desire Governor Bernard to make him a justice of peace. The governor took time to consider of it, and having, as Mr. Adams conceived, not taken proper notice of him, or given him offence on some former occasion, he no longer deliberated, and ever after joined in opposition. As the troubles increased, he increased in knowledge, and made a figure, not only in his own profession, but as a patriot, and was generally esteemed as a person endowed with more knowledge than his kinsman, and equally zealous in the cause of liberty; but neither his business nor his health would admit of that constant application to it which distinguished the other from all the rest of the province. In general, he may be said to be of stronger resentment upon any real or supposed personal neglect or injury than the other; but in their resentment against such as opposed them in the cause in which they were engaged, it is dif ficult to say which exceeded.

His ambition was without bounds, and he has acknowledged to his

acquaintance that he could not look with complacency upon any man who was in possession of more wealth, more honors, or more knowledge than himself.

Mr. Hancock's name has been sounded through the world as a principal actor in this tragedy. He was a young man whose father and grandfather were ministers in country parishes, of irreproachable character, but, like country ministers in New England in general, of small estates.

His father's brother, from a bookseller, became one of the most opulent merchants in the province. He had raised a great estate with such rapidity that it was commonly believed among the vulgar that he had purchased a valuable diamond for a small sum and sold it at its full price. But the secret lay in his importing from St. Eustatia great quantities of tea in molasses hogsheads, which sold at a very great advance; and by importing, at the same time, a few chests from England, he freed the rest from suspicion, and always had the reputation of a fair trader. He was also concerned in supplying the officers of the army, ordnance, and navy, and made easy and advantageous remittances. When he died, he left to his nephew more than fifty thousand pounds sterling, besides the reversion after the death of his widow, of twenty thousand pounds

more.

The uncle was always on the side of government. The nephew's ruling passion was a fondness for popular applause. He changed the course of his uncle's business, and built, and employed in trade, a great number of ships; and in this way, and by building at the same time several houses, he found work for a great number of tradesmen, made himself popular, was chosen select man, representative, moderator of town meetings, etc. He associated with those who were called friends to liberty. His natural powers were moderate, and had been very little improved by study, or application to any kind of science. His ruling passion kept him from ever losing sight of its object; but he was fickle and inconstant in the means of pursuing it; and though, for the most part, he was closely attached to Mr. Samuel Adams, yet he has repeatedly broken off from all connection with him for several months together. Partly by inattention to his private affairs, and partly from want of judgment, he became greatly involved and distressed, and the estate was lost with much greater rapidity than it had been acquired.

Margaret Hutchinson.

Daughter of the Governor.

MISTRESS PEGGY GOES TO COURT.

[A Letter to her Sister in America. Written, October, 1774.]

MY task is over.

I have been at court again. It has been a fatiguing though not altogether an unpleasant day. I sent yesterday to Mrs. Keene to know if it would be agreeable to her to go to-day. We were both of a mind; for while a servant was going with my card she sent one to me; and to-day about one o'clock papa and I set off for St. James. We called for Mrs. Keene, but found that one coach could not contain more than two such mighty hoops; and papa and Mr. K. were obliged to go in another coach. There was a very full DrawingRoom for the time of year. The King and Queen both spoke to me. I felt much easier than I did before, as I had not the ceremony of being presented to go through: indeed, my dear, it is next to being married. I thought I should not mind it, but there is something that strikes an awe when you enter the Royal Presence. I had, however, many compli ments paid me on my performance: if I tell you what the Queen said of me to-day, will you not think me vain? The company all stand round in a circle, and the King and Queen go round, and speak to everybody that has been presented. As she advanced toward me, I felt in a little flutter, and whispered Mrs. K. that I should behave like a fool. "You need not," says she, "for the Queen has been saying many fine things of you to my sister. She says you are very genteel, and have much the appearance of a woman of fashion."

I can't say but I felt of more importance, and perhaps answered her questions with a better grace. She asked me how long I had been in town? I answered: "About a fortnight.'

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"How do you like England-better than the country you came from?"

"I think it a very fine country."

"What part of it have you been in?"

"Norfolk."

"I hope you have your health better for it."

"Much better." Thus ended our conversation; and had it been with any other than a queen, I should have thought it too trifling to relate. She told papa she was very glad to see his daughter look so well. We

VOL. III.-5

were fatigued with standing, and got out of the Presence Chamber as soon as we could.

Lord Dartmouth came and spoke to me. I congratulated him on the birth of his daughter, which is a great rarity, after seven sons. He is the most amiable man I ever saw; and was he not married, and not a Lord, I should be tempted to set my cap at him,-two substantial reasons however to prevent me.

Four of the young Princes came in after I had been there about half an hour. I never saw four so fine boys. After the Drawing-Room was over we went into the nursery, and saw the rest of them. I was highly delighted, and could hardly keep my hands off them: such sweet creatures I never beheld. The Princess Royal with two sisters and a little boy which I took to be about three years old, stood in a row, one just above the other, and a little one in leading strings, sitting in a chair behind them, composed this beautiful group. I was determined, if possible, to kiss one of their little pudsey hands, and with some difficulty persuaded Mrs. K. to go up to them, their [there] being a great deal of company in the room. She at last went, and I followed her. I asked Prince Ernest for his hand, which he very readily gave me, and I gave it a very hearty kiss. They behaved very prettily: they courtesied to everybody that came in, and the boy nodded his head just like little Tom Oliver. We did not get home till almost five o'clock, and found Elisha and Billy fretting for their dinner.

Samuel Curwen.

BORN in Salem, Mass., 1715. DIED there, 1802.

A LONDON PROMENADE IN THE LAST CENTURY.

[Journal and Letters of the late Samuel Curwen, American Refugee in England, from 1775 to 1784. Edited by G. A. Ward. 1842.]

A

FTER tea, called on Mr. Dalglish, whom with his friend, I accompanied in a coach to "Carlisle House," at a Sunday evening entertainment, called the Promenade, instituted in lieu of public amusement; and to compensate for twelve tedious hours' interval laid under an interdict by the laws of the country, yet unrepealed formally by the legislature, though effectually so in the houses of the great and wealthy, from whence religion and charity are but too generally banished. The employment of the company is simply walking through the rooms; being

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