“Several Personages descending towards the Door” ]
[Illustration: Copyright, 1896, by JOSEPH KNIGHT COMPANY Copyright, 1906, by L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (Incorporated)]
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[Illustration: List of Illustrations by Frank T. Merrill.]
“Several Personages descending towards the Door” (_color plate_) _Frontispiece_
“GAGE MAY HAVE BEHELD HIS DISASTROUS VICTORY” 5
“ONE OF THESE WORTHIES—A TALL, LANK FIGURE” 10
“PLEASE YOUR HONOR, THE FAULT IS NONE OF MINE” 15
“A STOUT MAN, DRESSED IN RICH AND COURTLY ATTIRE” 18
“THE SHAPE OF GAGE, AS TRUE AS IN A LOOKING-GLASS” 22
“A TALL MAN, BOOTED AND WRAPPED IN A MILITARY CLOAK” 23
“HE RECOILED SEVERAL STEPS FROM THE FIGURE” (_color plate_) _facing_ 24
“A STAGE DRIVER SAT AT ONE OF THE WINDOWS READING A PENNY PAPER” 27
EDWARD RANDOLPH’S PORTRAIT (_Half-title_) 29
YE YOUNG CAPTAINE OF YE CASTLE TELLS YE STORY OF YE PICTURE 35
“SOME OF THESE FABLES ARE REALLY AWFUL” (_color plate_) _facing_ 38
“THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SELECTMEN WAS ADDRESSING TO THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR A LONG AND SOLEMN PROTEST” (_color plate_) _facing_ 42
“_Choking with the Blood of the Boston Massacre_” 47
_Lady Eleanore’s Mantle_ (_Half-title_) 51
YE BEAUTEOUS LADY ELEANORE COMETH TO BOSTON 57
“A PALE YOUNG MAN ... PROSTRATED HIMSELF BESIDE THE COACH” (_color plate_) _facing_ 59
GOVERNOR SHUTE DESCENDED THE FLIGHT OF STEPS 60
A GATHERING OF RANK, WEALTH, AND BEAUTY 63
“I PRAY YOU TAKE ONE SIP OF THIS HOLY WINE” 67
“THE COMMUNICATION COULD BE OF NO AGREEABLE IMPORT” 73
“THAT NIGHT A PROCESSION PASSED BY TORCHLIGHT” (_color plate_) _facing_ 81
“HEAVEN’S CAUSE AND THE KING’S ARE ONE” 89
“A FEW OF THE STANCH, THOUGH CRESTFALLEN OLD TORIES” 95
“RECEIVE MY TRUST” (_color plate_) _facing_ 101
One afternoon, last summer, while walking along Washington Street, my eye was attracted by a signboard protruding over a narrow archway nearly opposite the Old South Church. The sign represented the front of a stately edifice, which was designated as the “OLD PROVINCE HOUSE, kept by Thomas Waite.” I was glad to be thus reminded of a purpose, long entertained, of visiting and rambling over the mansion of the old royal governors of Massachusetts; and entering the arched passage, which penetrated through the middle of a brick row of shops, a few steps transported me from the busy heart of modern Boston into a small and secluded courtyard. One side of this space was occupied by the square front of the Province House, three stories high, and surmounted by a cupola, on the top of which a gilded Indian was discernible with his bow bent and his arrow on the string, as if aiming at the weathercock on the spire of the Old South. The figure has kept this attitude for seventy years or more, ever since good Deacon Drowne, a cunning carver of wood, first stationed him on his long sentinel’s watch over the city.