We collect, however, from these meagre pages, that Mr. Faneuil meditated other benefactions to the town--that his death was sudden--that votes of thanks had been passed, for his donation of the Hall, "a few months before"--that the meeting, at which the oration was pronounced, March 14, 1742, was the very first annual meeting, in Faneuil Hall--that Peter Faneuil was the owner of "a large and plentiful estate"--that "no man managed his affairs with greater prudence and industry"--that "he fed the hungry and clothed the naked; comforted the fatherless and the widows, in their affliction, and his bounty visited the prisoner."
Master Lovell, not inelegantly, observes of Faneuil's intended benefactions, which were prevented by his death--"_His intended charities, though they are lost to us, will not be lost to him. Designs of goodness and mercy, prevented as these were, will meet with the reward of actions_." This passage appears to have found favor, in the eyes of the late Dr. Boyle, who has, accordingly, on page 21, of his memoir of the Boston Episcopal Charitable Society, when speaking of Faneuil, made a very free and familiar appropriation of it, with a slight verbal variation.
Master Lovell's fervent aspirations, in regard to Faneuil Hall, one hundred and nine years ago, have not been fulfilled, to the letter. The gods have granted the orator's prayer--"_May Liberty always spread its joyful wings over this place_"--but not with Master Lovell's conditions annexed; for he adds--"_May_ LOYALTY _to a_ KING, _under whom we enjoy that Liberty, ever remain our character_."
In this particular, Master Lovell was not to be indulged. Yet he steadily adhered to his tory principles; and, like many other conscientious and honorable men, whom it is much less the fashion to abuse, at present, than it was, of yore, adhered to his royal master; and relinquished his own sceptre, as monarch of the South Grammar School, with all the honors and emoluments thereof, choosing rather to suffer affliction, with his thwarted and mortified master, than to enjoy the pleasures of rebellion, for a season. He retired to Halifax, with the British army, in 1776, and died there, in 1778.
Original copies of Master Lovell's oration are exceedingly rare; though the "_precious relic_" has been reprinted, by Dr. Snow, in his history of Boston. The title may be worth preserving--"A funeral oration, delivered at the opening of the annual meeting of the town, March 14th, 1742. In Faneuil Hall, in Boston. Occasioned by the death of the founder, Peter Faneuil Esq. By John Lovell, A. M., Master of the South Grammar School, in Boston. _Sui memores alios fecere merendo._ Boston, printed by Green, Bushell & Allen, for S. Kneeland & T. Green, in Queen Street, 1743."