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Publications. 



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Boston 
Old Stkte House 



MCMXI 



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CONTENTS 



The Church of England in the First Boston 
Town House 

Rev. Henry W. Foote. 

The Old Federal Street Theatre . 
William T. W. Ball. 



43 



The Practice of Medicine in New England 

BEFORE 1700 ....... Q2 

Francis H. Brown, M. D. 

The Reading Room and Marine Diary in the 

Exchange Coffee House, 1810 . . . 123 

From the Society s Collections. 

Index: — I. Names i^r 

II. Places and Subjects . . . 140 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Gov. Andros taking possession of the "South 

Church" Faces title 

By permission, from the Original Painting by Frank 
O. Small. 

The Old Federal Street Theatre ... 50 

From an Engraving by Abel Bowen. 

Snelling Powell 57 

From a Portrait in possession of Columbian Lodge. 

Dr. John Clark, 1598-1664 .... 104 

Frotn the Original, painted in 1664, in possession 
of the Boston Medical Library. 

The Exchange Coffee House . . . 125 

From an Engraving by Abel Bowen. 



THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 



IN THE 



FIRST BOSTON TOWN HOUSE 



BY 



REV. HENRY W. FOOTE 



THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 

IN THE 

FIRST BOSTON TOWN HOUSE. 



A PAPER READ BEFORE THE BOSTONIAN SOCIETY, COUNCIL CHAMBER, 
OLD STATE HOUSE, MARCH 14, 1882, BY THE 

REV. HENRY W. FOOTE. 




AM to speak of one of the most picturesque 
and dramatic incidents in the earlier history 
of Boston. One cannot but regret that 
the building with which the events which 
I have to describe are associated — Boston's First Town 
House — has not survived to us, even though the Old 
State House, as we know it, continues its traditions, and 
is its monument upon the spot which for a century and 
a half of the life of the town was the centre and heart 
whence everything pulsated. 

It illustrates the fixity of conditions in the Old World, 
as compared with the New, and shows how much more 
tenderly time and the hand of man have spared such 



lO TJie CJiurcJi of England in the 

ancient memorials, when we think of some one of the 
old Free Cities of Germany, like Bremen, for example, 
which preserves its venerable Rath-haus as its glory and 
pride. That picturesque building stands, stately and 
beautiful, with rich facade and gable, exactly as it stood 
when the Great Emigration sailed from Southampton in 
the Arbella and her consorts, — substantially the same 
as it stood when Columbus was born. The stone Ro- 
land bearing sword and shield, and with the head and 
hand of a criminal lying at his feet, typifying the juris- 
diction of a Free City, stares as blankly into space 
as he did four hundred and fifty years ago, unconscious 
of the whole New World which has risen out of the 
void. 

Could such an enduring shrine have been left to us 
by the fathers, we should all agree that neither Gothic 
roof nor front of carven stone ennobled it above its 
proper worth, as the centre not merely of a town history, 
but of the formative and crystallizing period of a great 
people ; and our Roland would typify not merely the 
commercial freedom of a city, but the imperial freedom 
of a nation. 

And yet, to the discerning eye, that primitive Town 
House had in its very homeliness and simplicity a truer 
fitness to the people who had built it and whose con- 
venience it served, than the stateliest edifice of Old 
World fame. As you stand at Salem in the little build- 
ing of the First Church whose rude frame-work, rescued 



First Boston Town House ii 

a few years ago from the barn in whose disguise it had 
been securely hidden for nearly two centuries, and 
seem to hear those rough timbers, just squared by the 
broad axe, echo the tones of Hugh Peter and Roger 
Williams, you feel that you are veritably in one of the 
incu7tabula gentium, — the place where a nation was 
cradled. 

So might you feel, in a measure, also, if you were to 
be landing with Edward Randolph and his wife, in De- 
cember, 1 68 1, at this town of less than two thousand 
houses and eight thousand people, a third of them men 
trained to arms. The three hills capped by a beacon, a 
windmill, and a fort ; the houses clustered beneath them, 
close along the shore and further back scattered among 
gardens ; the busy "Fairs," such as Josselyn' saw them, 
and "on the South ... a fmall but pleafant Common, 
where the Gallants a little before Sunfet walk with their 
Marmalet-yiz-^axas, . . . till the nine a clock Bell rings 
them home to their refpedtive habitations ; "' are a pleas- 
ant picture after a long voyage. "The buildings of 
Boston," says the impudent Ned Ward, " like the women, 
are neat and handsome ; their streets, like the hearts of 
the male inhabitants, paved with pebble." 

Up such a rough-shod way, the broad main street, 
you hobble, and soon come to the Town House built 
with Capt. Robert Keayne's legacy, " upon pillars, where 

' Josselyn's Two Voyages (Veazie's Reprint), p. 124. 



12 The ChurcJi of England in the 

the Merchants may confer " — a space only partially en- 
closed, while " in the Chambers above they keep their 
monethly Courts." With belfry and sun-dial and bal- 
cony and outside stair-case, and stocks and pillory under 
its shadow, this is evidently the centre and heart of the 
town. 

A few steps away stands the Mother Church ; and 
two main arteries stretch off, one to the northern ferry 
over the Charles, the other to the South " where the 
public gibbet creaked horribly in the wind, and the 
peninsula contracted to a narrow isthmus, over which 

passed the single great road from the metropolis 

Tributary streets and lanes, like rivulets, everywhere 
followed the natural conformation of the ground." 

The people whose capitol this was, we can easily pic- 
ture to ourselves from the abundant, though not over- 
friendly descriptions which have survived from the pens 
of not very sympathetic visitors to this distant shore. 
Indeed, I cannot but think that we, their descendants, 
have enough of them surviving in us to make it easier, 
one would think, than it sometimes seems to be, to re- 
produce their likeness out of our own consciousness. 
That saucy Ward whom I have quoted above, says : — 
"They keep no saints' days, nor will they allow the 
Apostles to be saints ; yet they assume that sacred 
dignity to themselves, and say, in the title-page of their 
Psalm Book, * Printed for the edification of the Saints in 
Old and New England.' " 



First Boston Town House 13 

A fixed and resolute race, — the English iron tem- 
pered to steel by the struggle with the untamed nature 
of the wilderness, the hardships of the first fifty years of 
life here before the climate was understood, the rugged 
world civilized and softened, the comforts of fireside and 
food fairly won. The law of " the survival of the 
fittest " had worked with all its merciless severity and 
left only the toughest in body and mind, — those who 
would not yield to the New England winter and were 
not likely to yield one jot beyond necessity to Old En- 
gland's dictation, A religious emigration, they carried 
in themselves the seeds of a sacred contentiousness which 
contained the germs, though long repressed, of the sects 
which have enriched our annals with more varieties of 
Protestantism than Bossuet included in his great work 
on that subject. 

Already in the first generation, the vision of absolute 
religious unity was rudely dispelled by the sharp strifes 
evoked by Mrs. Hutchinson, the earliest representative 
of ** Women's Rights," and Rhode Island was found a 
much-needed and salutary safety-valve for the explosive 
ecclesiastical elements. Roger Williams and Gorton 
were free, at that distance, to work out their theories, 
but could come no nearer to mar the peace of Israel. 
The second generation saw multiplying elements of dis- 
cord ; the Quaker, shrieking denunciations of the " Priests 
of Baal " in the steeple-houses, lashed at the cart's-tail, 



14 The CJnircJi of England in tJie 

hung from the Boston Elm ; ' the Baptist breaking the 
ice of strong hostiHty to administer the waters, his sav- 
ing ordinance. 

Nor was there perfect harmony within the bosom of 
the churches themselves. The Second Church, which 
was afterwards illuminated by the ministry of the 
Mathers, father, son and grandson, had indeed grown 
peacefully out of the First Church. But the Third, 
which we call the Old South, was the monument of a 
bitter strife, — the controversy which convulsed the 
whole Colony for years concerning the proper subjects 
for infant baptism. 

On one point, however, the elements most mutually 
hostile were agreed, and that was, in their feeling of dis- 
like and fear against the Church of England. Much as 
they might be opposed to each other, the widest fissure 
between them was not so deep but that it would close 
up solidly if the faintest tremor of that approaching 
earthquake shook the ground. 

Randolph wrote to the Bishop of London in 1682 '- 
" There was a great difference between the old church 



' In this remark the Rev. Mr. Foote evidently refers to the " Great 
Elm " on Boston Common, and follows a tradition generally accepted 
as a historic fact at the time this paper was read. But at the monthly 
meeting of the Society, held in the Old State House, May 17, 1910, 
Mr. Michael J. Canavan, in an exhaustive discussion of the story 
(printed in full in "Proceedings of the Bostonian Society, 191 1," pp. 
37-49)> gave very strong evidence, apparently conclusive, showing that 
the tradition was not true, and explaining its probable origin. — Ed. 



First Boston Town House 15 

and the members of the new church about baptifme and 
their members joyning in full communion with either 
church ; this was foe high that there was imprifoning of 
parties and great difturbances, but now, heereing of my 
propofals for minifters to be fent over .... they are now 
joyned together, about a fortnight ago, and pray to God 
to confound the devices of all who disflurbe their peace 
and liberties." 

Nor is this strange. The Episcopalian who wonders 
at it to-day is no more like the type which Randolph 
exemplified, and which the Puritans hated and dreaded, 
than is the Quaker who represents some of the gentlest 
and purest elements in our social life like the wild 
figures clad in sackcloth or in the less substantial gar- 
ments of our first parents before the fall, — whose 
prophesyings were known by the same name. To every 
New Englander, the English Church stood for a spirit- 
ual tyranny which had driven the fathers out into the 
wilderness ; in practice a corruption of the simplicity of 
the Scriptural rule ; its hierarchy contrary to the Gospel ; 
its Book of Common Prayer idolatrous ; its adherents 
a worldly element, demoralizing to the best welfare of 
New England, — to be kept out if it could be done ; if 
not, at least to be prohibited from practicing their empty 
form of religionism on the Lord's Day — and to be held 
under the watch and ward of the Congregational 
Churches in the hope of regenerating them in a purer 
way. 



1 6 The Church of Eiigland in the 

Nor was it only the ancient grievance against Arch- 
bishop Laud which smarted in memory. No one could 
tell how far, — but they feared very far, — the Church 
and State religion of Charles II was identical in policy 
and principle with that of Charles I. They knew well 
what happened to Scotch Covenanters and to English 
Puritans, and had no reason for confidence in their own 
exemption from the same measure. Moreover, the En- 
glish Church and the English State were identical. The 
representatives of the one would look after the interests 
of the other, and the tower of King's Chapel, if such 
a place should once be built, with its gilt mitre and 
crown, would be but a very short distance from the head 
of Long Wharf with the royal flag flying above a cus- 
tom-house. 

Those who are disturbed because the Massachusetts 
people liked their commercial independence better than 
paying duties as loyal subjects of Great Britain, forget 
that there may be an honest difference of opinion regard- 
ing the powers conferred by the Charter of Charles I. 
As the Puritans viewed it, this was practically indepen- 
dence. On that they had acted for fifty years ; and 
only the force of the stronger could modify their 
conduct. 

The point which the ruling influences here forgot, 
however, at the time which we are considering, was the 
very important fact that new elements had now come in 
among them, to a considerable degree modifying the tone 



First Boston Town House 17 

— if not of the community, at least in the community. 
The American process had begun, which we see in our 
own day (and not wholly to our liking), by which there 
is a perpetual transfusion of alien manners, customs, 
ways of thought and life into the veins of our people. 
Even in our own time, the process, though inevitable, is 
not gracefully accepted by us. The New England 
fathers saw clearly enough that all this tended toward a 
profound modification, if not extinction, of the idea on 
which New England was founded. 

But the other elements were here to some extent, and 
they had come to stay, — Englishmen who felt that they 
had a right to come to the English colony, and who 
probably felt themselves better than the people whom 
they found here, from the very fact that they did not en- 
joy the type of religious ministrations which were dear 
to the New England heart. Lechford and Josselyn, a 
few years before, illustrate their state of mind. It did 
not make them more acceptable in the Puritan town, that 
they had come to make money and not for conscience' 
sake. But here they were, with clear preferences for 
the Church of England ritual in which they had been 
born and bred. They went to meeting, as the whole 
population did, and must, under the law. But a sort of 
silent protest must have been felt in their presence, 
though they probably rarely ventured to show it as 
frankly as Mrs. Randolph in 1682, when, sitting with 
her husband in Mr. Joyliffe's pew in the South Meeting- 



1 8 The Church of England in the 

House, she was "obferved to make a curtefy at Mr. 
Willard's naming Jefus, even in Prayer time." 

How many there were of this way of thinking it is 
impossible for us to discern through the mists of time. 
Randolph estimated the number of disaffected very high, 
— at four-fifths of the population; he also wrote home 
to the Bishop of London, after the Church of England 
had been set up here, that there was a congregation of 
four hundred. But his figures on all subjects are un- 
trustworthy, unless we can check them from other 
sources of information ; nor does he say how large a pro- 
portion was composed of "boys and negros," who, until 
the Revolution, constituted so large a part of the con- 
gregation of King's Chapel as to require a special officer 
to " look after " them, and whose " looking after " doubt- 
less demanded pretty energetic measures of repression — 
not very godly or profitable worshipers. 

The Records of King's Chapel contain no clear indica- 
tion of the numbers of the congregation. I judge from 
them, however, that at first only a few persons of in- 
fluence were willing to risk the obnoxious step of identi- 
fying themselves with the planting of the English Church 
here. Under the sunshine of Sir Edmund Andros, the 
Church blossomed into prosperity, but at his downfall 
the Puritans exulted in the thought that it had withered 
to the root. 

These, then, were the elements that awaited the loss 
of the Charter which befell at last in October, 1684, after 



First Bostojt Totvn Hotise 19 

nearly twenty years' "threatening;" on one side agonized 
fear, on the other eager hope, that a spiritual domi- 
nation which was, according to the point of view, bene- 
ficent or blasting, would be overthrown. 

The central figure in all this commotion is, of course, 
Edward Randolph. It was a correct instinct of our 
forefathers which judged that he was most dangerous to 
their peace, and saw in him by no means so beneficent 
an angel as Marlborough in Addison's poem, ' riding the 
whirlwind and directing the storm.' Randolph's letters 
which have been preserved to us give an invaluable 
record of the steps in the introduction of the Church of 
England in Boston ; and clearly reveal a most resolute, 
persistent and able ending to the whole system of the 
Puritan Commonwealth. We can see in them how his 
unwearied flittings to and fro across the Atlantic were 
like the flying shuttle weaving a net around and around 
the New England State and Church. Everything in our 
laws and customs which could be noted to our prejudice 
was sure of being recorded and of being enlarged upon 
at last by him before Bishops and Lords in London. 

Evasions of Custom-duties and Navigation laws, and 
regulations about church-membership and baptism, and 
prohibition of Christmas, all were heaped up to make 
fuel for the flame which was to destroy the Charter. 
There is no want of charity in doubting how far his re- 
ligious zeal was religious. Church and State were so 
blended in those days in the thought of a loyal subject 



20 The Church of Englmid in the 

of the Stuarts, that he probably could not have told, 
himself. But he was a faithful subject of the King of 
England, determined to enforce that authority ; and he 
had the sagacity to see that no blow at the New England 
theocracy could be so deadly as the visible planting here 
of the Church which had loyalty to the King written all 
over its Prayer-book and its constitution. 

Two years before the Charter was annulled, and four 
years before the arrival here of the Rev. Robert Rat- 
cliffe, the first Church of England minister, Randolph 
had written to the Bishop of London, reminding him 
that "In my attendance of your lordfhip, I often expreft 
that fome able minifters might be appoynted to performe 
the officies of the church with us. The maine obflacle 
was [as might be supposed] how they fhould be main- 
tayned." If there were as many people ready for these 
services as he stated, one would think there would be no 
difficulty ; but Randolph had a more ingenious way than 
that, — which was to divert to this purpose the money 
which had been sent over to America by pious and 
charitable persons to be used in the propagation of the 
Gospel among the Indians. This was a favorite theme 
with him, and to it he frequently returned. It would 
have the double advantage of providing support for the 
English minister and of using for that purpose money 
which was given for a totally different one by people who 
would abhor this perversion of it. He also proposed 
that " no marriages hereafter Ihall be allowed lawful! 



First Boston Toivn House 21 

but fuch as are made by the minifters of the Church of 
England." This in a country where, from the beginning, 
marriage was a purely civil ordinance, and where from 
motives of conscience ministers were prohibited from 
officiating at such services, — the French Huguenot, 
Vanderbosch, having been expelled from the jurisdiction 
in 1684 and written down in history as a "drunken, 
worthless fellow," besides, because he presumed to do 
so. Probably nothing could have been suggested, better 
adapted to annoy and enrage the people here, than these 
devices, except the crowning and favorite plan of Ran- 
dolph, to seize one of the three meeting-houses which 
these people had built with their own money, and to set 
up in it the Church of England worship. Nor is there 
any reason to doubt that all these plans of his would 
have been accomplished if James II had retained his 
throne a few years longer. Meantime, at judicious in- 
tervals of time, he dropped the seeds of these ideas in 
the minds of those in authority at home. 

Before any question of the mode of his subject was 
settled, the minister himself arrived, a long-delayed 
blessing, May 15, 1686. Nearly four years before, Ran- 
dolph had written to the Bishop, «* The very report that 
your lordfhip hath remembered us and fent over a min- 
ifter hath given great fatilTaaion to many hundreds 
whofe children are not baptized, and to as many who 
never, fmce they came out of England, received the fac- 
raments." The cause of the delay till a year and a half 



22 The Church of England in the 

after the Charter was annulled, was the death of Charles 
II, and the changes consequent thereon. 

Mr. Ratcliffe came in the " Rose " frigate, with Capt. 
George, the same officer who was captured by the people 
in the memorable rising against Andros in April, 1689, 
and the same ship which was compelled to surrender on 
that great day. They brought with them the commis- 
sion to Joseph Dudley as President of Massachusetts, 
Maine, Nova Scotia, and the lands between. 

And now our Town-House becomes the scene of 
eventful things. We can look over Sewall's shoulder as 
he writes in his little brown diary day by day, and can 
enter into the intense though suppressed feeling of the 
writer at the events which brought home to all the reality 
of the change which had come. We see Randolph 
hurrying up from Nantasket on the arrival of the 
" Rose " on Friday, May 14, so that he reaches town by 
8 o'clock in the morning, and posting off by coach to 
Roxbury to notify Major Dudley of his new dignity. 
We see the dignitaries, whom Dudley has summoned to 
Capt. Paige's, assuring their own eyes that it is really so, 
as they see " the Exemplification of the Judgement againfl: 
the Charter, with the Broad Seal affixed," and that it is 
hopeless to resist. 

The Sabbath intervenes, — a dark day for the New 
Englanders. Randolph and his family sit meekly in a 
pew at the South Meeting-house, and hear the Rev. Mr. 



First Boston Town House 23 

Willard pray ' hot for the Governour or Government as 
formerly, but fpeak fo as implies it to be changed or 
changing." On Monday, the General Court sits at the 
Town-House to hear its fate. " The Old Government," 
writes Sewall, " draws to the North fide, Mr. Addington, 
Capt. Smith and I fit at the Table, there not being room : 
Major Dudley the Prefident, Major Pynchon, Capt. 
Gedney, Mr. Mason, Randolph, Capt. Winthrop, Mr. 
Wharton, come in on the Left. Mr. Stoughton I left 
out : Came alfo Capt. [of] King's Frigot, Gov"-. Hinkley, 
Gov"". Wefi:, and fate on the Bench and the Room pretty 
well filled with Spe6lators in an Inftant. Major Dudley 
made a Speech, that was forry could treat them no 
longer as Government Company ; Produced the Exem- 
plification of the Charter's Condemnation, the Commif- 
fion under the Broad Seal of England, both : . . . . openly 
exhibiting them to the People ; when had done, Deputy 
Governour faid fupposfd they expeded not the Court's 
Anfwer now ; which the Prefident took up and faid they 
could not acknowledge them as fuch, and could no way 
capitulate with them, to which I think no Reply. When 
gone .... fpake our minds. I chofe to fay after the 
Major Generall, adding that the foundations being de- 
ftroyed what can the Righteous do ? fpeaking againfl a 
Proteft ; which fome fpake for." 

The dramatic close of this episode falls on the Friday 
following, when Sewall found the magistrates and Depu- 
ties not at the Town House but at the Governor's. 



24 The Church of England in the 

♦• Mr. Nowell prayed that God would pardon fuch Magif- 
trates' and Deputy's Sin. Thanked God for our hith- 
ertos of Mercy fifty-fi.x years, in which time Sad Calami- 
ties elfewhere, as maffacre Piedmont : thanked God for 
what we might expe6t from fundry of thofe now fet over 
us. I moved to fmg, fo fang the 17 and 18 verfes of 
Habakkuk." That touching and sublime expression of 
trust, which declares that "although the fig-tree shall 
not blossom, .... and the labor of the olive shall fail, 
.... yet I will rejoice in the Lord," was the expiring 
cry of the old New England theocracy. No wonder 
that as they saw the edifice of the fathers go down in 
ruins " Many Tears were fhed in Prayer and at parting." 
Yet they expired with faith upon their lips. 

But while the old glory thus withdrew its vanishing 
skirts from the noteworthy building which had seen the 
Government of Massachusetts administered under the 
Charter by able and resolute lovers of the old New En- 
gland way, the echoes of unfamiliar sounds in this Puri- 
tan air had already been heard within those walls ; for 
on the Tuesday of that week, by whose authority we are 
not told, "Prayer was had at y*^ Town-Houfe," — the 
first public administration of the ritual of the English 
Church since the Colony began. And the same day saw 
Mr. Ratcliffe marry a couple " according to y« Service 
Book," and that too, with a ring, which they " borroowd." 

But another Sunday passed before the formal applica- 
tion was made for due recognition of the Church Estab- 



First Boston Town House 25 

lished by Law in Great Britain. One would like to 
know where Mr. Ratcliffe went to meeting that day, or 
if he broke the strict Sabbath-keeping laws and stayed 
at home. On Wednesday, however. May 26, " Mr. 
Ratcliffe, the Minifter, waits on the Council ; Mr. Mafon 
and Randolph propofe that he may have one of the three 
Houfes to preach in. That is deny'd, and he is granted 
the Eaft-End of the Town-Houfe, where the Deputies 
ufed to meet ; untill thofe who defire his Miniftry fhall 
provide a fitter place." 

We can look around the Council-board and see by the 
records who were present to consider this request. 
Dudley, Stoughton, Fitz and Wait, Winthrop, Pynchon, 
Dudley Wharton, Gedney, and E. Tyng. We may 
well regret that Sewall was not a councillor, and that no 
record is preserved of that scene, — the gloom and hesi- 
tation on the brow of the majority of the Council, 
determined to oppose as far as they can be, yet afraid to 
oppose too far, and troubled by the thought that there 
is one among them who will report everything at home. 
If you will look at the portrait of William Stoughton, at 
Harvard College, painted in his old age, you will perhaps 
think with me that the pinched and worried expression 
dates from this anxious moment. Mason and Randolph, 
however, are triumphant. 

Dudley is full of perplexity. He knows well that if 
he favors one inch of concession he will lose his last hold 
on the people, who distrust him ; — that if he does not, 



26 The CJinrch of England in the 

he will offend Randolph ; — and he dares not kick away 
that ladder of his fortune. He still wears the long, 
straight Puritan hair, and has the Puritan cast of face. 
The day will come when he will return from England to 
be Governor, with huge wig and the look of a man of 
the world, but he has not yet emerged from the 
chrysalis. 

A good and honest bearing, — that of an English 
gentleman, is that of the Rev. Robert Ratcliffe, "a sober, 
prudent gentleman and well approved," wearing the long 
black cassock of his calling ; " a very Excellent Preacher, 
whofe matter was good, and the Drefs in which he put 
it Extraordinary, he being as well an Orator as a 
Preacher." In graceful, dignified speech he asks that 
the King's Church may have a fit shelter in the King's 
most loyal Colony, and then withdraws, while the debate 
is urged, with hot and bitter words. 

And now turn from the debate on this all-engrossing 
subject, which must have thrilled from the Town-House 
throughout the little town, and try and picture to your- 
selves the state of mind of the Puritans when they think 
how their one public building, the symbol and shelter of 
the highest authority of the Commonwealth, is given up 
to this use, — the Puritan State taking, as it were, under 
the wing of its sanction (though with an ill grace) the 
representative of that which cast the fathers out from 
the Mother Country ! We are not left to imagination ; 
for one of them has outlined his feeling in his Diary. 



First Boston Town House 27 

Walk up Prison Lane with me then, leaving the 
porticoed Town-House behind you, — a company of men 
and boys watching anxiously to see if Mr. Ratcliffe will 
come in his surplice, or like the ministers of the town, 
in Geneva gown and bands. And now here is Mr. Sam- 
uel Sewall's house, " at a distance from other buildings 
and in winter very bleake," on the slope of Beacon Hill, 
near our Pemberton Square to-day. On this mild May 
morning, the casement of diamond panes set in lead, in 
the house which Sir Harry Vane built and where John 
Cotton once dwelt, is left ajar, and you can hear the 
family prayers. An eight-year-old boy is reading. 
" My Son reads to me in courfe y^ 26* of Isaiah — 
* In that day fhall y^ Song be fung, etc' And we fing 
the 141 Pfalm, both exceedingly fuited to y"^ day wherein 
there is to be Worfhip according to y^ Chh of Engld 
as 'tis called, in y^ Town-Houfe, by Countenance of 
Authority." 

The Psalm rises on the still air, in the rugged version 
of the Bay Psalm Book, to one of the old tunes which 
Sewall delighted to sing. " Set a watch, O Lord, before 
my mouth ; keep the door of my lips .... Incline not 
my heart .... to practice wicked works with men that 
work iniquity ; and let me not eat of their dainties .... 
When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they 
shall hear my words .... Let the wicked fall into their 
own nets, whilst that I escape." And then the father 
of the family prays, doubtless in a tone and strain whose 



28 The Church of England in the 

key-note was sounded by the Scripture lesson. So was 
it, probably, in hundreds of old-fashioned Boston homes, 
as well as Sewall's, on that day when ' Worship accord- 
ing to the Church of England ' was ' in the Town-House, 
by Countenance of Authority.' 

It was not, however, till the next Sunday, June 6, 
that worship was really held, as " a movable pulpitt " 
had to be provided, " carried up and down flairs, as 
occafion ferves." " It feems," says Sewall, " many 
crowded thither." 

On June 15, 1686, a meeting for organization was 
held, "by the members of the Church of England, as by 
Law eflablifhed, under the gracious influences of the 
moft illuflrious Prince, our Sovereign Lord James II, By 
the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France and 

Ireland King, defendour of the faith, etc at Boflon 

within his faid majeflies territory and Dominion of New 
England in America." Dr. Benjamin Bullivant and Mr. 
Richard Bankes were elected Church Wardens, and the 
first record book of King's Chapel, an old parchment- 
bound folio, gives the names of those who were present, 
including of course Edward Randolph, " one of his 
majeflies councell." 

It was here voted to send •' an humble addreffe " to 
the King, " to implore his Majeflies' favour to our 
Church," and to write to the Archbishop of Canterbury 
and the Bishop of London. Also " Agreed, That Mr. 
Smith, the Joyncr, do make twelve formes, for the fer- 



First Boston Town House 29 

vice of the Church, for each of which he fhall be paid 
4 J., 8 d. 

•' Agreed, with the faid mr. Smith, the Joyner, that 
this Church will pay and allow unto him 20/8 Quar- 
terlie, and every Quarter, for and in Confideration of 
his cleaneing, Placeing, and removeing the Pulpitt, 
formes, table, etc., and doing all other things which 
fhall be Convenient and Neceffary in our place and 
publique Affembling." 

This was " to furnilh the Library room in the Town- 
Houfe in a decent manner for the performance of divine 
Service." Says Ur. Greenwood: — "This was truly an 
humble beginning for those who made such high preten- 
sions as did these zealous royalists and churchmen. As 
they assembled in the east end of the Town-House, and 
looked round on their ' twelve formes ' and their * mov- 
able pulpitt,' they must have felt the contrast between 
such a tabernacle and the solemn old cathedrals at home ; 
and have felt, too, that they were among a people, who, 
though of the same blood with themselves, were 
strangers to their mode of faith and worship, despising 
what they esteemed most sacred, and setting at nought 
the power which they deemed unquestionable. It is 
hardly to be supposed that these feelings were calculated 
to conciliate them toward the Congregationalists, or that 
the condition in which they found themselves was favor- 
able at the time to their growth in Christian humility or 
charity." 



30 The Church of England in the 

The wonderful thing was, certainly, that they should 
find themselves in the Town-House at all ; and it shows 
how far the spirit of the Colony was under the dread of 
English power. But when it came to any concession 
beyond, even the Council or a majority of them, though 
it contained Dudley, Mason and Randolph, was firm. 
A fortnight later, July i, a paper from " Mr. Robert 
Ratcliffe, defireing an honorable maintainance and good 
encouragement (fuitable for a Minifter of the Church of 
England) was read" at the Council meeting, and in an- 
swer it was " Ordered That the Contribution money 
col levied in the Church where he performs divine feruice, 
be folely applied to the maintainance of Mr. Ratcliffe." 
No extreme concession, certainly. So the minister was 
left to the jQ^o a year which was thus collected. 

And now if we pass out of the Council chamber, 
where doubtless this proposition had been hotly debated, 
and where Randolph had been greatly disgusted at the 
flinching of Dudley (whom he had put in power) from 
carrying out his will, into the Library room, we can 
catch glimpses of the scene. Even the Puritan Sewall, 
though he deemed its presence there a pollution, and 
"dehorted" his family from entering such assemblies, 
somehow knew what was going on. When " one Mr. 
Clark, [of the English Church] preaches at the Town- 
Houfe and fpeaks much againft the Prefbyterians in En- 
gland and here," he hears the echo ; and when " one 
Robifon Efq^, that came from Antego, is buried with 



First Boston Town House 



31 



the Common Prayer and firft was had to the Town- 
Houfe and fet before the Pulpit," and when on " Sabbath 
day, Aug*. 8, Tis faid the Sacrament of the Lord's Sup- 
per is adminiftered at the Town-Houfe," he notes 
" cleverly there." 

Meantime Randolph was writing home, with touches 
that add vividness to the picture. " Our Company in- 
creafmg beyond the expe6lation of the gov"^, we now 
ufe ye Exchange, and have y^ Common-prayer and two 
fermons euery Sunday, and at 7 o'clock in y^ morning 
on Wednefdays and Frydays the whole fervice of y® 
Church." In a later letter he writes "To humour the 
people our minifter preaches twice a day, and baptizes all 
that come to him, — fome infants, fome adult perfons. 
We .... refolve not to be baffled by the great affronts, 
— fome calling our minifler Baal's prieft, and fome of 
their menifters from the pulpit calling our praiers leeks, 
garlick, and trafh .... To all my crimes [I have] added 
this one as the greateft, in bringing the letherdge and 
cerimonife of the Church of England to be obferved 
amongft us." 

But there were those who did not, like Randolph, 
write letters, whose feelings we ought to try to penetrate, 
if we would understand why the Church of England ought 
to be allowed here, and how it won its way. Those to 
whom that little Library-room at the east end of the 
Town-House was like the chamber looking toward the 
sunrising, in which Bunyan's pilgrim lay till the dawn 



32 The Church of England in the 

and arose and sang a hymn. "In the most contentious 
and stormy periods," says Dr. Greenwood, •' I doubt not 
that a holy calm was shed upon the heart of many a 
worshiper as he offered up his prayers in the way which 
to him was best and most affecting, and perhaps the 
way in which, long years ago, he had offered them up in 
some ivy-clad village church of green England, with many 
dear friends about him, now absent or dead. And when 
they celebrated their first Communion, on the second 
Sabbath in August, 1686, I am fully persuaded that it 
was celebrated in that small room which they held by 
sufferance, and round that " table " which was their 
cheap and lately-constructed altar, with as much rever- 
ence and humility and edification, as it was in any church 
or meeting-house in Old England or New." 

The occupancy of the Town-House was long enough 
to give the spot indelible associations, yet not so long a.s 
the Puritans may have desired. For already in the same 
July came the report that Dudley's Presidency would be 
very brief, and in December his rumored successor 
arrived. The extremists among the Churchmen had 
doubtless been content to await his coming, in hopes of 
then seeing more energetic measures adopted. They 
started a subscription paper, indeed, for money to build 
a church for themselves, but there seems not to have 
been enough of them to prosper greatly with this, from 
their own resources, and a sufficient motive was wanting 
to persuade the Puritan party to contribute. Sewall 



First Boston Totun House 33 

records that Randolph asked him to do so, but " feemed 
difpleafd becaufe he fpake not up to it." The tempo- 
rary occupation of the Town-House continued, there- 
fore, unchanged, through that summer and autumn of 
1686; and there Sir Edmund Andros found the little 
nurseling of the English Church feebly housed from the 
wintry climate of New England, when on December 20 
he landed, the representative of the Roman Catholic 
King who was ex-officio head of Church as well as State. 

The moment we speak of Andros, a wide and tempting 
field opens before us, which would lead us beyond our 
subject, and quite outside the doors of the Old Town- 
House, although indeed it is around that building that 
the whole of that picturesque chapter of our Colonial 
history seems to revolve, from the day of his triumphal 
entry into it to the memorable April day, twenty-eight 
months after, when the "Declaration " deposing him was 
read from its gallery, and he was brought to it a prisoner. 
But our field of vision to-day only sees him as now the 
pivotal person in the questions which at once arose con- 
cerning the Church of England here. 

We see him then on that December 20 landing "at 
Gov^ Leveret's wharf about 2 P. M. where the Prefident, 
&c., meet him, and fo march up through the Guards of 
the 8 Companyes to the Town-Houfe, where part of the 
ComiiTion read." Whether the sentence was read, we 
are not told, which enjoined " that fuch efpecially as fhall 
be conformable to the rites of the Church of England be 



34 TJie Church of England in the 

particularly countenanced and incouraged ; " but his 
first act was to carry out its spirit. He takes the oath 
of allegiance and as Governor ; then putting on his hat 
in token of superiority administers the oaths to the 
Councillors. Then entering the Library room, he 
" Speaks to the Minifters there about Accommodation as 
to a Mecting-Houfe, that might fo contrive the time as 
one Houfe might ferve two Affemblies." 

Perhaps the pinched and bare surroundings of the 
little room which he looked round upon stirred his 
choler (which lay near the surface of his mind), as he 
thought how these Congregationalists were housed in 
spacious temples ; perhaps the Tempter in the shape 
wherein the Puritan party almost believed him to be in- 
carnated, — in the person of Randolph, — was at his ear 
with his favorite suggestion. Perhaps this point had 
been pressed upon him before embarking for America, 
by the Bishop of London. However it may be, there is 
to my mind no more striking grouping of vivid and 
picturesque contrasts to be found in our early history 
than the scene which Sewall's Diary has preserved to us 
in scantiest outline, when in that moment in the Library 
room of the Old Town-House, the power of Great 
Britain, in the ixirson of the King's Governor, met the 
persistent resistance of New England Puritanism, in the 
person of the Boston ministers, face to face. 

Andros stands with easy dignity and conscious power, 
not clad, as we see him in his portrait, in the shining 



First Bosto7i Tozvn House 35 

breast-plate which so well befits a soldier, but as a gen- 
tleman of the court, "in a Scarlet Coat Laced," with 
lace falling from his sleeves and in a rich cravat at his 
neck, the flowing hair or wig, as becomes a cavalier, in- 
creasing his resemblance to the Stuart sovereigns whom 
he served ; an aquiline nose, a flashing eye, the bearing 
of a man who had braved danger in soldierly campaigns, 

— altogether a different figure from any that had been 
seen here. Able, imperious, an honest servant of the 
despot to whom alone he believed his loyalty was due, 

— let us give him his deserts of respect, though we 
do not love him and are thankful that the cause which he 
stood for went down in wreck. Our history is infinitely 
richer because only one Andros was possible for us ; 
and it is more picturesque because there was otie. 

Over against him is another group of five men in 
sombre clerical dress, their look and bearing always 
austere and probably specially so at this moment. They 
have come with the other dignitaries to welcome him 
with fit respect, — but with no intention of receiving his 
commands. He may bear himself like a courtier, but 
they are not the less ambassadors of the Highest, and 
some of them could stand in any assembly with Andros 
as peers in self-possession and in dignity, and one of 
them certainly is to prove himself more than his peer in 
statesmanship, before this controversy is done. 

To Andros probably, at this moment. Increase Mather 
seemed a very insignificant personage ; but he found his 



36 The Chun J i of England in the 

mistake later. When Boston has time to go back and 
gather up the memories of those who have deserved 
most, no memorial tablet or statue will be deemed too 
good for the man who procured for us the Charter of 
William and Mary. His face is also preserved to us, 
the countenance of a Puritan scholar, thoughtful, refined, 
severe. The lineaments of Samuel Willard also, of the 
South Church, are perpetuated in a frontispiece to his 
Body of Divinity, — a typical Puritan face, lined with 
thought and care. 

And with them in the group are Cotton Mather, young 
and full of promise, with most of his books still lying 
unwritten in his busy, restless brain ; — and James Allen 
of the First Church, rich and hospitable ; and his col- 
league Joshua Moodey, who having been imprisoned in 
Portsmouth for his Puritan conscience by one Governor, 
is not likely to be very compliant with the request of 
another. It was as typical a group in our New England 
history, as the famous P'ive Members of Parliament in 
that momentous scene which was like the stroke of 
destiny for Charles I. 

Behind them is the whole passive resisting force of 
the substance of New England, when they give answer, 
after a day's interval for consultation, that • they cannot 
with a good conscience consent.' Nor can there be a 
doubt that when Sir Edmund finally decided, as the 
Passion week of 1687 drew near, to take possession of 
the South Church for his own Church Service, he really 



First Boston Town House 37 

did as much to prepare his downfall as when he acted on 
the theory that the title of Massachusetts land-owners 
from the Indians ' was worth no more than the scratch of 
a bear's paw.' 

For the present, however, we see him putting up with 
the ' twelve formes ' and ' the movable pulpitt ' in the 
Town-House, where there was scant room for the in- 
creasing company of worshipers. Thither he goes, when 
January 25 "is kept for St. Paul," and when " Monday, 
January 31, there is "a Meeting at the Town-Houfe 
forenoon and afternoon, Bell rung for it, refpe6ling the 
beheading Charles the Firfl. Governor there, very bad 
going by reafon of the watery fnow." 

There, then, we leave him, as we turn away from 
that scene of Old World loyalty in this uncongenial 
clime; — around him the group of courtiers from En- 
gland or New York, and those whom the New England 
bitterness regarded as renegades, — most of them in the 
gay apparel and of the fashion which cast a gleam of 
brightness on the sombre hue of Puritan Boston ; officers 
in scarlet uniforms, and the Governor's guardsmen, — 
and in the midst the Rev. Robert Ratcliffe reading those 
passages in which the account of the Passion of Christ 
is applied to the Blessed Martyrdom of Charles I, while 
the congregation devoutly respond. " They shed the 
blood of the just in the midst of Jerusalem." " How is 
he numbered with the children of God ; and his lot is 
among the saints." 



38 The Church of England in the 

If we listen for the faint echoes of the preacher's 
words, we can hear them in the rubric of the " Form of 
Prayer with Fasting, to be used yearly on the 30th of 
January, being the Day of the Martyrdom of the Blessed 
King Charles the First, to implore the mercy of God, 
that neither the guilt of that sacred and innocent Blood, 
nor those other sins, by which God was provoked to 
deliver up both us and our King into the Hands of cruel 
and unreasonable Men, may at any Time hereafter be 
visited upon us, or our Posterity," which enjoins that 
"after the Nicene Creed, shall be read, instead of the 
Sermon for that Day, the first and second parts of the 
Homily against Disobedience and wilful Rebellion, set 
forth by Authority ; or the Minister who officiates shall 
preach a Sermon of his own composing upon the same 
argument." 

And the words of solemn prayer rise from the 
preacher's lips, there in the Town-House of New En- 
gland's Puritan people : '* We acknowledge it thine 
especial favour, that though for our many and great pro- 
vocations, thou didst suffer thine Annointcd, blessed 
King Charles the First, (as on this day) to fall into the 
hands of violent and blood-thirsty men, and barbarously 
to be murdered by them ; yet thou didst not leave us 
forever, as sheep without a shepherd ; but by thy 
gracious providence didst miraculously preserve the un- 
doubted Heir of his Crowns, our then gracious Sovereign 
King Charles the Second, from his bloody enemies, hid- 



First Boston Toivn House 39 

ing him under the shadow of thy wings, until their 
tyranny was overpast .... Grant to our gracious 
Sovereign King James, a long and happy reign over us." 
And Governor and people say. Amen. 

It was in the spirit of such old-fashioned loyalties that 
the Church which was soon built, to relieve the South 
Meeting-House of its unwelcome tenants, took, from the 
beginning, as a matter of course, the name of King's 
Chapel. And by a fine felicity, as an illustration how 
the loyalties which fitly belonged here while we were 
English subjects could be continued on a higher plane 
and in a loftier key after the Royal Province became a 
Commonwealth in the Great Republic, — the name was 
continued after the Revolution in token of loyalty to the 
" King of kings." 

Not only the Church which was thus first sheltered in 
the Old Town-House, but all that family of churches 
which are descended from the Mother Church of En- 
gland, may well look upon that spot as the Cradle of 
their Faith. And more than that, the fact should be 
imperishably connected with it, that (though against the 
will of New England and by some constraint of royal 
power) the Old Town-House was the first spot where 
freedom of religious worship was recognized as " by au- 
thority," — where the ancient order began to give place 
to the modern world. 



NOTE. 



Beside Sewall's Diary, so frequently cited by the author of 
the previous paper, there are numerous authorities which shed 
additional light on the incidents so graphically described by 
Mr. Foote, among which may be mentioned his History of King's 
Chapel, and the letters written by Randolph to the Archbishop 
of Canterbury in i6S6, giving particulars respecting his efforts 
in Boston for the introduction of the service of the Established 
Church into the Province, printed in the Hutchinson Papers 
(pp. 550-54 of the original edition, or Vol. II, pp. 291-96 of the 
Prince Society's reprint). Tlie Historical Collections relating to 
the American Colonial Church, compiled by Bishop Perry, the 
Andros Tracts, Vol. II, pp. 45, 211, etc.. Greenwood's History of 
King's Chapel, Drake's History of Boston (pp. 467-72), Palfrey's 
History of New England (Vol. Ill, pp. 521-22), etc., may also be 
consulted. — Ed. 



THE 
OLD FEDERAL STREET THEATRE 



BY 



WILLIAM T. W. BALL 



THE OLD FEDERAL STREET THEATRE 



A PAPER READ BEFORE THE BOSTONIAN SOCIETY, COUNCIL 
CHAMBER, OLD STATE HOUSE, JUNE 11, 1889, BY 

WILLIAM T. W. BALL 




'HE theatre has been the admiration of all 
ages and all climes. It is at once instruc- 
tive and amusing, and it has become, and 
will continue to be, one of the essential 
elements of a refined and refining civilization. The 
theatre, and the mysteries attendant upon it, are as- 
sociated with our earliest recollections ; it may be that 
our first introduction to its enchantments may cause 
us to exclaim with Dickens' poor demented Maggie, 
" Oh, ain't it a 'Ev'nly place " ; or we may have fancied 
that it took on the hues of a locality directly opposite, 
for there is no accounting for tastes ; but I believe the 
great majority experienced feelings similar to those of 
little David Copperfield when first he saw what the 



44 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

flaring footlights revealed. He was taken to Covent 
Garden, and from the back of a centre box saw Julius 
Caesar, and the new pantomime — Shakespeare, and 
the Lord knows who in the pantomimic line, on the 
same night ! 

Thus he describes his first impressions : — "To have 
all those noble Romans alive before me, and walking 
in and out for my entertainment, instead of being the 
stern taskmasters they had been at school, was a most 
novel and delightful effect. But the mingled reality 
and mystery of the whole show, the influence upon me 
of the poetry, the lights, the music, the company, the 
smooth stupendous changes of glittering and brilliant 
scenery, were so dazzling, and opened up such illimit- 
able regions of delight, that when I came out into the 
rainy street, at 12 o'clock at night, I felt as if I had 
come from the clouds, where I had been leading a 
romantic life for ages, to a howling, splashing, link- 
lighted, umbrella-struggling, hackney-coach-jostling, pat- 
ten-clinking, muddy, miserable world." Such indeed 
might have been, if they were not, the feelings of all 
of us. 

I do not propose to read an essay on the theatre, or 
theatres in general, but simply to say a few words about 
the old Federal Street Theatre, once the pride of our 
city. Unknown to the present generation, it had a 
warm place in the hearts of our older theatre goers, and 
triumphs of some of the noblest actors and actresses 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 45 

who ever donned the sock and buskin, still linger in 
their memory. 

It was with the greatest difficulty that the drama was 
planted in Massachusetts soil, which seemed to be too 
sterile to permit it to grow. Down to a late period 
public opinion opposed every attempt it made to gain a 
footing, and for a time the noble institution was com- 
pelled to hide its face behind the deceptive mask of 
" Moral Lectures." 

True it is, that as far back as 1686, according to 
Cotton Mather, there was " much discourse now of be- 
ginning stage plays in New England," but like Lord 
Burleigh's head, " there was nothing in it." About 
1749, a couple of adventurous Englishmen, not having 
a dread of Puritanism hanging over them, did, in a 
coffee house on State (then King) street, give a per- 
formance, such as it was, of Otway's play, " The Or- 
phan, or Unhappy Marriage," which on its first repre- 
sentation in London called to its interpretation the 
leading lights of the British stage. It would be a 
pleasure to know who were the actors who sustained 
the parts of Chamont, of Castalio, of Polydore, and of 
Monimia ; and a double gratification to learn the names 
of those ladies and gentlemen of Boston who braved 
public opinion, by giving their countenance to the per- 
formance. There must have been a touch of grim 
humor in the selection of this particular play, if for no 



46 TJie Old Federal Street Theatre 

other reason than the pronunciation of these lines in 
the third act : — 

If you're religious keep it to yourselves; 
Atheists will else make use of toleration, 
And laugh you out on't. Never shew religion 
Except you mean to pass for knaves of conscience 
And cheat believing fools that think ye honest ! 

The presentation of this play stirred up so much feel- 
ing, that in March of the following year, the Great and 
General Court found it necessary to pass an Act laden 
with stringent penalties sufficient to prevent, as it was 
thought, a recurrence of the offence. The adoption of 
this Act was but a temporary measure, to be held in 
force for four years, and it was continued from time to 
time by legislative action. 

Every possible means was taken, with more or less 
success, to evade its provisions, and on November 7th, 
1792,* Governor Hancock, a hater of plays and players, 
deemed it necessary to appear before the Legislature in 
person and address it in reference to the growing evil. 
Said he : 

Gentlemen, — I am urged by a sense of duty to communi- 
cate my mind upon a transaction v.hich I cannot but con- 
sider as an open insult upon the laws and the Government 
of the Commonwealth. 



* Clapp, in " Record of the American Stage," p. 13, gives this date 
(probably more correctly), as early in December. — Ed. 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 47 

In the year 1750 the Legislature of this then Province of 
Massachusetts Bay passed an Act entitled " An Act to pre- 
vent Stage-plays and other Theatrical Entertainments." The 
Act was temporary and only for four years. Perhaps the 
improbability of obtaining the royal assent to a permanent 
prohibition of such entertainments was the reason which 
induced the Legistature to conduct the business in this man- 
ner By subsequent Acts .... it was continued in force 

until the year 1797. 

The preamble of the Act is in these words : " For prevent- 
ing and avoiding many great mischiefs which arise from 
public stage-plays, interludes and other theatrical entertain- 
ments, which not only occasion great and unnecessary ex- 
pense, and discourage industry and frugality ; but likewise 
tend greatly to increase immorality, impiety and contempt 
of religion." 

Whether the apprehensions of the evils which might flow 
from theatrical exhibitions so fully expressed in the preamble 
of that Act are well founded or not, may be a proper subject 
of legislative disquisition, on a motion for the continuance or 
the repeal of the law ; but the Act is now a Law of the 
Commonwealth. The principles on which it is predicated 
have been recognized by and derive support from the con- 
sideration of several Legislatures, and surely it ought to 
claim the respect and obedience of all persons who live, or 
happen to be within the Commonwealth. Yet a number of 
aliens and foreigners have lately entered the State, and in 
the metropolis of the Government, under advertisement in- 
sulting to the habits and education of the citizens, have 
been pleased to invite them to, and exhibit before such as 



4^ The Old Federal Street Theatre 

attended, stage-plays, interludes and theatrical entertain- 
ments, under the style and appellation of " Moral Lectures." 
The fact is so notorious that it is in vain to attempt a con- 
cealment of its coming to your knowledge. 

Whether the judicial departments, whose business it is, 
have attended to this subject or not, I am unable to deter- 
mine ; but this I am convinced of : that no measures have 
been taken to punish a most open breach of the laws and a 
most contemptuous insult upon the powers of the Government. 

You, gentlemen, are the guardians of the Commonwealth's 
dignity and honor, and our fellow citizens rely upon your 
vigilance and wisdom for the support of the sovereignty and 
importance of the Government. I therefore refer this matter 
to your determinations, and cannot but hope that your resolu- 
tions and measures will give efficacy to the laws and be the 
means of bringing to condign punishment those who dare to 
treat them with contempt or open opposition. 

Only fancy a Governor berating a Massachusetts 
Legislature in such a style at the present day ! But 
John Hancock possessed the courage of his convictions, 
and his resolute character was evident from his bold 
signature down to the very soles of his silver-buckled 
shoes. 

This was the " transaction " which caused Hancock to 
uncork the vials of his wrath. — Sometime about the 
middle of the year 1792, there arrived from London a 
company of comedians, the chief of whom was Charles 
Stuart Powell. They leased a stable in Board alley, 
now known as Hawley street, and fitted it up for theatri- 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 49 

cal entertainments under the name of " Moral Lectures." 
This theatre was opened on the loth of August, and as 
the programme is in itself a curiosity, I give it you : 

NEW EXHIBITION ROOMS. 

Board Alley. 

FEATS OF ACTIVITY. 

This evening the loth of August, will be exhibited Dancing 

on the Tight Rope by 

MONSIEURS PLACIDE AND MARTIN. 

Mons. Placide will dance a Hornpipe on a Tight Rope, 

play a Violin in various attitudes, and jump over 

a cane backwards and forwards. 

Introductory Address by Mr. Harper. 

Singing by Mr. Woods. 

Various feats of tumbling by Mons. Placide and Martin, 
who will make somersetts backwards, over a table, chair, etc. 
In the course of the evening's entertainments will be de- 
livered 

THE GALLERY OF PORTRAITS, 

OR THE WORLD AS IT GOES, 

By Mr. Harper. 

The whole to conclude with a dancing Ballet called 
THE BIRD CATCHER, 
with the Minuet de la Cour and the Gavot. 

This surely was what may be termed " Lenten enter- 
tainment," but it was the entering wedge. Things went 
on for a number of weeks, when the Moral Lectures 
were brought to an abrupt termination by the appear- 



50 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

ance on the stage one evening, of Sheriff Allen who 
arrested one of the performers arrayed in the kingly 
robes of Richard the Third.* The sympathies of the au- 
dience were with the players, and an incipient riot was 
the result. Hancock's portrait, which was one of the 
decorations of the theatre, was torn from its place and 
trampled under foot. The captured player was brought 
before the magistrates, and being ably defended by 
Harrison Gray Otis, was discharged on technical 
grounds ; and owing to the exertions of Otis, Samuel 
Adams and John Gardiner, names dear to Bostonians, 
the law was repealed, notwithstanding the efforts of the 
Governor in its favor ; and a new and happier era dawned 
upon the stage. 

Encouraged by the repeal of the obnoxious law, and 
receiving countenance from the more liberal of the 
towns-people, Powell at once took steps to place the 
drama in Boston upon a permanent basis, and his efforts 
resulted in the building of the Federal Street Theatre, 



• The author follows the version of the affair given in Loring's " Hun- 
dred Boston Orators," which says that the play interrupted was " Richard 
III," and that the sheriff arrested the King durint; the scene of Bosworth 
Field ; Drake in " Landmarks of Boston," al.so says that the officer "ar- 
rested one of the performers as he stood in the guise of the crook- 
backed tyrant." But this is an error. The contemporary account given 
in the •' Columbian Centinel " of the following Saturday, and the printed 
Programme show that the plays announced for the evening were " The 
School for Scandal " and " The True-born Irishman," and the interrup- 
tion occurred during the first ; owing to the disturbance the second was 
not given. The sheriff was " one Mr. Jerry Allen," and the actor, " Mr. 
Harper." See Clapp's " Record of the Boston Stage," pp. 12, 13.— Ed. 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 51 

which was the first regular theatre established in this 
city. The site selected was on the northwesterly corner 
of Franklin and Federal streets, fronting on the latter, 
and extending back to Theatre Alley, now Devonshire 
street. The noted Charles Bulfinch was the architect. 

The building, still remembered by many of us, was of 
brick, 140 feet long, 61 wide and 40 high. From the 
front a species of arcade projected, which served as a 
covered way for carriages. In its external appearance 
the house resembled a building of two stories, orna- 
mented by a series of arches, which were pierced with 
square windows. The front and rear were further dec- 
orated by Corinthian columns and pilasters. The means 
of egress were ample, and in case of fire or other acci- 
dent, it could be emptied expeditiously. 

In its interior capacity the theatre was circular in 
form, and the ceiling or dome consisted of elliptical 
arches resting on Corinthian columns. There was a pit, 
two tiers of boxes, and a gallery. The stage was spa- 
cious, the proscenium neat and attractive, having in the 
centre of the arch the National and State arms enriched 
by tragic and comic emblems, depending from which 
was the Shakespearian motto, " All the world's a stage." 
The walls were painted a cerulean blue, and the columns 
in front of the boxes relieved in lilac and straw-color, 
while the balustrades, mouldings, etc., were in gold. A 
charming effect was given the house by draping the 
boxes of the second tier in crimson silk. 



52 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

Aside from the theatre proper, the easterly end was 
converted into a handsomely decorated and spacious ball- 
room, with the necessary complement of retiring and 
dressing-rooms, while underneath the theatre there was 
a well-furnished restaurant, with all the appliances. Ad- 
mission to the boxes was obtained by the main entrance 
on Federal street, the ticket holders passing into a 
saloon from which two staircases led to corridors in 
the rear of the boxes. The pit and gallery had inde- 
pendent entrances, located on Franklin street. The 
interior was admirably constructed for sight and sound, 
and the entire building was a noble monument to the 
enterprise of the day. 

While it was erecting, Powell returned to England for 
the purpose of securing a "cry of players " who should 
in every respect be worthy of the new theatre and the 
patronage of the town. In this he was successful, 
bringing with him Messrs. Baker, Jones, Nelson, Bart- 
lett, Collins, Snelling Powell, subsequently a power in 
our local theatricals, and Kenny ; and Miss Harrison, 
Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Baker, and Mrs. Collins. It may be 
said of this company that each lady and gentleman was 
proficient in the business of the stage. They had all 
served their regular apprenticeship to it, and were fa- 
miliar alike with its traditions and requirements. 

The theatre was opened to the public February 3, 
1794, Baker being associated with Powell in the man- 
agement, and both were assisted by the trustees of the 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 53 

stockholders, who retained a controlling power over the 
affairs of the theatre — a pernicious system by the way, 
as the history of our later Boston theatres teaches. 
The bill of the opening performance is in itself a curi- 
osity of composition, if nothing else, and reads : 

NEW THEATRE. 

Mr. Powell takes this opportunity of acquainting the Ladies 
and Gentlemen of Boston and its vicinity, that the new and elegant 
Theatre will open this Monday evening, Feb. 3d, 1794, with the 
truly Republican Tragedy 

GUSTAVUS VASA 
The Deliverer of His Country. 

All the characters (being the first time they were ever performed 
by the present company), will be personated by Messrs. Baker, 
Jones, Collins, Nelson, Bartlett, Powell, S. Powell and Kenny; 
Miss Harrison, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Baker, and the child by Miss 
Cordelia Powell, being her first appearance on any stage. 
To which will be added an Entertainment, called 

MODERN ANTIQUES 
OR, THE MERRY MOURNERS. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cockletop by Mr. Jones and Miss Baker. The 
other characters by Messrs. S. Powell, Collins, Nelson, Baker, 
&c., Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Baker, and Mrs. Collins. 

As we shall ever wish to give what we conceive to be the most 
Harmonic to the soul, and congenial to the general sentiments of 
our brethren of the land we live in, the following distribution of 
the music will precede the drawing up of the curtain. 

Yankee Doodle. 

Grand Battle Overture in Henry Fourth. 

General Washington's March. 

The Prefatory Address by Mr. C. Powell, between the Acts. 



54 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

A Grand Symphony by Signer Charles Stametz ; Grand Over- 
ture by Signer Vanhall; Grand Symphony by Signor Haydn; do. 
by Charles Ditters. 

([^ Box, one dollar; Pit, 3s. 9; Gallery, one quarter of a 
dollar. 

The doors will be opened at five, and the curtain drawn up pre- 
cisely at six o'clock. 

One paragraph which appeared in the opening adver- 
tisements in the papers is worthy of all commendation. 
It read, 

The Master of Ceremonies would so far presume upon the 
politeness of ladies, as to request that such of them who may be 
seated in the boxes, where the seats are low, would attend without 
hats, bonnets, feathers, or any other high head-dresses, that the 
sight of the gentlemen who are seated behind them, may not be 
obstructed. 

The opening Address was delivered by Powell in the 
character of Apollo. It was the work of Robert Treat 
Paine, the younger, then a youth of eighteen, who re- 
ceived the prize of a gold medal. The Address, as suited 
the taste of the day, was a very long one, and abounded 
in noble sentiments. After sketching the history of the 
drama in all ages and climes, it closed with this apos- 
trophe to the now house : — 

And now, thou dome, by Freedom's patrons reared. 
With Beauty blazoned, and by Taste revered ; 
Apollo consecrates thy walls profane, — 
Hence be thou sacred to the Muses' reign ! 
In thee three ages in one shall conspire: 
A Sophocles shall sweep his lofty lyre : 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 55 

A Terence rise, in chariest charms serene ; 
A Sheridan display the polished scene. 
The first with epic grief shall swell the stage, 
And give to virtue fiction's noblest rage ; 
The second, laws to Beauty shall impart 
And copy nature by the rules of art ; 
The last great master ends invention's strife 
And gilds the mirror which he holds to life ! 
Thy classic lares shall exalt our times, 
With distant ages and remotest climes ; 
And Athens, Rome, Augusta, blush to see 
Their virtue, beauty, grace, all shine — combined in thee ! 

It is to be regretted that the early records of our local 
stage are so incomplete that no extended notice of those 
who composed this company is at hand, but of a few of 
them we have some information. Elizabeth Harrison 
was about twenty years of age when she was first seen 
by the Boston public. " Her youth and beauty, her va- 
ried and extensive talent, the uniform propriety of her 
deportment and above all, the irreproachable purity of her 
moral character, rendered her a universal favorite."* In 
1794 she married Snelling Powell, brother of the man- 
ager, and himself subsequently and for many years 
holding that position. With the single exception of the 
season of 1 800-1, until she took her final leave of the 
stage in 1828, she was a member of the company. She 
was an actress of large range and great force, and 

* " Personal Memoirs," by T. T. Buckingham, ii : 171. 



56 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

Joseph T. Buckingham, in December, 1843 (she died on 
the loth of that month), writing of her decease, feelingly 
said : 

There are yet living many who delight to dwell on her 
simple but beautiful impersonation of Juliet ; her elegant and 
fashionable Lady Townley ; the terrible and indignant out- 
pouring of sorrow in Constance ; the devoted love and 
heroic resentment of Elvira ; the awfully sublime resolution 
and subsequent more awful remorse of Lady Macbeth ; the 
calm dignity of Portia ; the fascinating sprightliness and wit 
of Letitia Hardy and Lady Teazle.* 

Her remains lie peacefully at rest in Forest Hills. 

Not much is known of Charles Stuart Powell beyond 
the fact that he was an actor of some note, and had been 
a member of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, Lon- 
don, where he held a respectable position. On assuming 
the management of the Federal Street Theatre, he was 
guaranteed by the trustees of the stockholders, for the 
services of himself, wife and daughter Cordelia, a salary 
of £20 weekly ; but liberal as was the stipend for those 
days, he became bankrupt at the close of the second 
season, and retired from the management. He was for 
some time afterwards connected with the theatricals of 
the town as manager and author, at another establish- 
ment. He died in Halifax, N. S., in 18 10. 

Snelling Powell, a younger brother of Charles Stuart, 
was destined to make a more enduring mark on the his- 



• " Personal Memoirs," ii : 172. 




SNELLING POWELL. 



TJte Old Federal Street Theatre 57 

trionics of the town. He came of a theatrical family, 
and was born at Carmarthen, Wales, in 1758. He be- 
came a devotee of the stage at an early period of his life ; 
and was moreover, a practical printer, as have been 
many actors who have succeeded him. He possessed 
surprising versatility, sounding all the notes of the 
drama's gamut from pantomime, through broad farce 
and light comedy, to high tragedy. He was a man of 
undoubted probity, and for a generation a most respected 
citizen ; a member of the Masonic fraternity, and one of 
the original petitioners for the charters of Columbian 
Lodge* and of St. Paul's Royal Arch Chapter. With 
us he had his seasons of successes and reverses, and 
learned all the vicissitudes of a manager's career. He 
died in Boston, April 9, 1821, and was buried under 
Trinity Church. 

It is curious to note how history repeats herself, even 
in the most trivial matters. You will remember perhaps 
an attempt made not very long ago to induce Congress 
to pass a bill to prevent the importation of foreign actors 

* A very full tribute to the memory of Snelling Powell was printed 
in the New England Galaxy of April 13, 1821, which is copied in full 
in Heard's History of Columbian Lodge, and in which it is stated that 
Powell " repeatedly held the office of Master in the Lodge." The 
records of Columbian Lodge show that he was Senior Deacon in 
1795 ^"^ '96' ^'^^ occasionally acted as Marshal, before that became a 
regular office, but was never Master. We are indebted to the courtesy 
of Mr. W. Clifton Jones, the present Master, for permission to repro- 
duce the portrait of Powell in costume, which hangs in their room in 
the Masonic Temple. — Ed. 



58 Tlie Old Federal Street Theatre 

and actresses. As true art is above all petty jealousies, 
as it belongs to the universe at large, and knows no one 
country, the attempt was speedily frowned down, and 
its promoters relegated to that obscurity which they 
deserved. The idea however, was not a new one. In 
the " Boston Gazette " of February 24, 1794, appeared 
this communication : — 

Messieurs Printers, — When players are imported from 
London to surprise the Americans with the wonders of their 
performances, 'tis time for those of common understanding 
to bring forward a few from our own country, to show that 
we can in America produce as ingenious, active men and 
boys, as can be imported, with all their fine strained notes, 
and war-like appearances. However, we know from whence 
arises this importation ! 'Tis to convince us all is good and 
delightful that comes from Britain. 

Garrick, Jr. 

This screed was perhaps evoked by the fact that on 
February 1 8th, at a meeting of the proprietors an assess- 
ment was voted of £,11, 6s. and %d., on each share of 
stock, payable before the 26th. The entire first season 
was a success, and progressed to a most satisfactory 
close. 

The second season was opened December 15, 1794, 
with Shakespeare's "As You Like It," and the Opera 
of " Rosina." There were a few slight changes in the 
company, which on the whole was not so effective as 
that of the first season, although Mrs. Pownall, a singer 



The Old Federal Street Tlieatre 59 

of much ability, who had been famous in England as 
Miss Wrighton and was the mother of the wife of Pla- 
cide, whom we saw dancing on the tight-rope in the 
little theatre on Board Alley, was one of the additions, 
as was a Mr. Taylor, who had a temporary success in 
the part of Octavian, in the musical play of " The 
Mountaineers " last done in this city at the Museum by 
the elder Booth. On January 20, 1795, Shakespeare's 
"King Henry the Fourth " had its first representation 
in Boston ; and on March 2 a comedy was brought out, 
*' never before performed, written by a citizen of the 
United States," entitled "The Medium, or Happy Tea- 
party." 

On May 11 "The Contrast," written by Royall 
Tyler, was played for his benefit. Royall Tyler was the 
author of a number of dramatic pieces, and a poet of no 
mean order. He was born in Boston about 1756, and 
was a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1776. For six 
years he was an Associate Judge, and for six years more 
the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont, 
He was a man of elegant manners, and fine literary 
tastes. The Rev. Dr. Andrew P. Peabody said of him, 
" Royall Tyler had few equals, no superiors, among the 
wits of his day, — a more marked distinction probably 
than he possessed either at the bar or on the bench." 
He died in 1826. The season came to a close June 19, 
1795, and Charles Powell, who had a slight unpleasant- 
ness with the stockholders, retired from the management. 



6o The Old Federal Street Theatre 

The third season was opened November 2, 1795, Col. 
John S. Tyler having been entrusted with the manage- 
ment. He retained the regular company, and aug- 
mented it with a large part of the New York company, 
the principal members of which were John Hodgkinson 
and wife, and Lewis Hallam and wife. Hodgkinson, 
whose true name was Meadowcraft, acted as the stage 
manager. The augmented company added greatly to 
the running expenses, and to meet these the prices of 
admission were advanced to one dollar for the boxes, 
seventy-five cents for the pit and slips, and fifty cents 
for the gallery. Notwithstanding the jealousies existing 
between the rival companies, the season was a complete 
success. 

In looking over the old advertisements of the theatre 
I find the announcement made, that on Monday evening, 
the 9th of November, " will be performed the much ad- 
mired comedy written by Shakespeare {sic .'), called 
• The School for Scandal.' " On December 1 1 " Mac- 
beth " was given for the first time here. The cast was 
a notable one, including Hodgkinson as Macbeth, Hal- 
lam as Macduff, and Mrs. Snelling Powell as Lady 
Macbeth. Many notable plays were produced during 
the season, and on January 11, 1796, for the benefit of 
Mr. and Mrs. Tyler, "A School for Wives " was given 
for the first time here. The engagement of the New 
York contingent came to a close January 20, and they 
left the city. The Boston company continued the per- 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 6r 

formances. January 25th " Othello " was performed, to 
introduce Mr. J. B. Williamson, who had just arrived 
in the country, as the Moor. A few months later Mr. 
Tyler relinquished the management, Williamson was 
appointed his successor, and the season was carried 
through until the i6th of May. 

During the vacation the theatre was thoroughly reno- 
vated, and an agent sent to England to procure fresh 
talent. Among the engagements were Mr. and Mrs. 
Giles H. Barrett, the parents of their more celebrated 
son, "Gentleman George" Barrett, one of the most ac- 
complished comedians that ever graced the stage ; Mrs. 
Chalmers ; Mrs. Whitlock, who was one of the Kembles, 
a sister of Mrs. Siddons, and by consequence an aunt of 
Fanny Kemble Butler. Mrs. Whitlock had had the 
honor, when playing in Philadelphia, of appearing before 
Washington. Last, not least, certainly in one sense, 
came Mr. and Mrs. Rowson. 

From all I am able to glean, Mrs. Rowson was an 
actress of mediocre ability only, while in other walks 
of life she was pre-eminent. Her career was a romantic 
one. Susanna Haswell was born in 1761, the daughter 
of Lieut. William Haswell of the Royal Navy, and in 
1769 she accompanied her father on a voyage to 
America, where they were shipwrecked on Lovell's Is- 
land in our harbor. With her father she subsequently 
settled in Nantasket, but when the Revolutionary war 
broke out they returned to England. In 1786 she mar- 



62 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

ried William Rowson, who was the leader of the band 
of the Royal Guards. They were engaged by Wignell, 
the manager of the Philadelphia company, and came to 
this country in 1793. She closed her histrionic career 
the evening of her benefit, on which occasion was per- 
formed a comedy written by herself, entitled " Ameri- 
cans in England." Besides this she was the author of 
some twenty-four other miscellaneous works, the most 
popular of which was the tear-compelling novel, " Char- 
lotte Temple," After leaving the stage she opened a 
school for young ladies, and afterwards removed to 
Medford, where her boarding academy was constantly 
thronged by pupils. Subsequently she moved to 
Newton and again to Boston. She died in March, 
1824. 

The season opened September 15, 1796, with Rey- 
nold's comedy of " The Dramatist," Chalmers being the 
Vapid. On January 9, 1797, was brought out for the 
first time in Boston, Sheridan's comedy, "The Rivals " ; 
and on February 1 3, for the first time here, " The 
Merry Wives of Windsor," Williamson as Falstaff ; Mrs. 
Cleveland as Mrs. Page ; Mrs. Marshall as Mrs. Ford, 
and Mrs. Rowson as Dame Quickly. 

The Haymarket Theatre, under the management of 
Charles Stuart Powell and with a superb working com- 
pany, was opened to the public December 26, 1796, 
and immediately there sprung up a rivalry, and a bitter 
one too, between the old and the new theatre. Every 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 63 

possible attempt was made to crush the audacious in- 
truder. Each shareholder of the Federal Street Thea- 
tre had what was known as "his night," when he not 
only paid all the running expenses, but took a personal 
pride in having the house full to repletion. To this end 
as many tickets were sold as could be, and the residue 
given away to those who would make the pledge never 
to enter the Haymarket Theatre. The prices of admis- 
sion to a portion of the house were also reduced. Stock 
pieces were the order of the night, varied by the first 
appearance of William Charles White, a resident of 
the city. The season was brought to a close June 5, 
1797. 

The next season opened December 6, 1797, with a 
company strong in many respects, including Charles 
Powell, wife and daughter, who returned to their first 
love. Up to January 22, 1798, the theatre was man- 
aged by a committee of the stockholders, but now the 
management was assumed by Messrs. Barrett and Har- 
per, who brought out the classic play " The Roman 
Father." 

On the afternoon of February 2, 1798, the porter of 
the theatre built the fire in some dressing-rooms situated 
in the rear. A few hours afterwards a fire broke out, and 
the building was completely consumed with the excep- 
tion of the walls. There was but one share of the stock 
insured, but the energetic managers resolved on rebuild- 
ing at once a more elegant and convenient structure. 



64 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

Meantime some members of the company gave enter- 
tainments in what was known as Dearborn's Theatre, in 
Theatre alley, while others accepted engagements else- 
where. But the new theatre, such as we remember it 
down to 1852, phoenix-like arose from its ashes, and 
under the management of John Hodgkinson was opened 
October 29, 1798, with a prelude called "A First 
Night's Apology, or All in a Bustle," the comedy by 
Mrs. Inchbald, "Wives as they were and Maids as they 
are," and "The Purse, or American Sailor's Return." 
A dedicatory address was also furnished by Mr. Paine. 

The company included many of the old actors and 
actresses, and among the others was James A. Dickson, 
who had previously appeared at the Haymarket Theatre, 
and who remained an honored citizen of Boston up to 
the day of his death, Friday morning, April i, 1853. 
He took a formal leave of the stage April 14, 18 17, and 
some four years later entered upon a mercantile career 
as an importer of English condiments and so on, and it 
is to him we are indebted for the first importation of 
" Day & Martin's Blacking" brought into Boston. Mr. 
Dickson made occasional appearances after his retire- 
ment, his last being for the benefit of Mrs. Powell, May 
14, 1 82 1, when he was seen as Sir Robert Bramble, in 
" The Poor Gentleman ; " Will Steady in " The Purse ; " 
and Tag, in "The Spoiled Child," — a broad range of 
characters for one night. The season closed in April^ 
1799. 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 65 

The season of 1799- 1800 opened on the 14th of 
October, 1799, with Mr. Giles L. Barrett as manager. 
Snelling Powell and Bates, who had gone to the Hay- 
market, rejoined the company. The comedy for the 
opening was '* Laugh when you can," and in it "Gen- 
tleman George " Barrett made his first appearance on 
the stage as the child. On December 24 the sad tidings 
reached Boston that Washington was dead. The thea- 
tre was closed for a period, but was re-opened on the 
1 0th of January, when a funeral pageant commemorative 
of the death of the hero was presented. The season, 
which was entirely devoid of interest, was closed April 
28, with Mr. Barrett's benefit, when was played for the 
first time here, "A Bold Stroke for a Husband." As a 
manager Barrett had not been successful, and the books 
were closed with the balance on the wrong side. 

For the campaign of 1 800-1 the theatre fell into the 
hands of Mr. C. E. Whitlock, a member of the company 
as manager, who sailed to England in search of novelties 
and talent, but as it appears without any great amount 
of success. His principal attraction from abroad was 
Mrs. Jones, an excellent singer, and clever actress in 
comedy, farce, and what was then known as the English 
opera. She was very young when she came here, and 
still young as the mother of four children who were en- 
tirely dependent on her exertions, when she died in New 
York, November 11, 1806, at the early age of twenty- 
four. 



66 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

The season was opened October 27, 1800, with 
" Speed the Plough," and the operetta " Rosina." 
Sheridan's " Pizarro " was brought out in fine style here, 
for the first time. In March a political row occurred in 
the theatre, in which, like many other rows, there was 
more cry than wool. A comic opera, "The Lock and 
Key," was brought out, in which was a song extolling the 
bravery of English tars in the engagement of the 
" Saucy Arethusa " with a French frigate. There was 
really nothing wrong with the song, which was composed 
by Prince Hoare, a writer for the stage, and that you 
may see what trivial things incite to riot, the closing 
stanzas will suffice : — 

On deck five hundred men did dance. 
The stoutest they could find in France, 
We with two hundred did advance, 

On board of the Arethusa. 
Our Captain hailed the Frenchman, " Ho ! " 
The Frenchman then cried out, " Hallo ! " 

" Bear down, d'ye see, 

To our Admiral's lee." 
" No, no," says the Frenchman, " that can't be." 
" Then I must lug you along with me," 

Says the saucy Arethusa. 

The fight was oflF the Frenchman's land, 
We forced them back upon their strand, 
For we fought till not a stick would stand 
Of the gallant Arethusa. 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 67 

And now we've driven the foe ashore, 
Never to fight with Britons more, 

Let each fill his glass 

To his fav'rite lass, 
A health to our Captain and officers true, 
And all that belong to the jovial crew, 

On board of the Arethusa. 

But party spirit ran high. There was an English 
party and a French party. For three successive nights 
there was an attempt to drown the song with hisses, cat 
calls, and other demonstrations on the one side, while 
on the other the applause was on the whole more effec- 
tive. The efforts of the discontented proved vain ; the 
adherents of the theatre triumphed, and the incipient riot 
was nipped in the bud. The season was brought to a 
close in May, with a loss of some ^4,000 to Whitlock, 
while the stockholders were sufferers to a much greater 
extent. 

The season of 180 1-2 opened under happier auspices, 
and there was the dawning of a brighter day. Snelling 
Powell and J. Harper became joint managers, and the 
opening was on November 30. The greatest matter of 
interest during the season was the appearance of Mr. 
Cromwell, a native American, who I regret to say did 
not fulfill the expectations formed of him, though it was 
said he had visited England, and appeared at Drury 
Lane. The season was continued to July 4, and to the 
joy of all interested there was a slight margin of profit. 



68 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

The season of 1802-3 found Snelling Powell the sole 
manager, which position he held, with profit to himself 
and entire satisfaction to the stockholders, for four suc- 
cessive seasons. The house was opened on October 27, 
and as the Haymarket Theatre, which had been steadily 
on the decline, was sold at auction and taken down early 
in March, 1803, the older and the better theatre had 
everything its own way. The company was an excellent 
one, and among the new-comers was the charming Mrs. 
Darley, who as Miss Elizabeth Westray, had taken cap- 
tive the hearts of all the town at the Haymarket. Dick- 
son gave evidence of his surprising talent as Sir Anthony 
Absolute, and the eritire season was a triumph. 

The events of the season of 1803-4, were the appear- 
ance of Mrs. Jones, after a four years' absence; Henry 
Whitlock, then only sixteen years of age, played Young 
Norval with much success. John Bernard, for years a 
prime favorite in Boston, and an actor of great ability, 
became a member of the company. The comedy of 
"The Poor Gentleman " made a great hit. On March 
I, 1804, the comedy "What is she, or the Female 
Stranger," was played for the first time here ; and on 
the 8th, for the first time, the comedy " Folly as it 
flies." On March 22, Deborah Gannett, " The American 
heroine," who served three years as a private soldier in 
the Continental Army during the war, at the request of 
a number of citizens appeared upon the stage and re- 
lated her narrative. The season was brought to a close 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 69 

June 7, 1804, when Powell delivered a valedictory ad- 
dress. 

On the evening of Wednesday, October 27, was 
opened the season of 1804-5, with "The Poor Gentle- 
man," and " The Purse." The business was more than 
satisfactory. December 29 a young gentleman made 
his first appearance on any stage, as " Young Norval " ; 
and nothing more, of any great interest occurred, until 
Thomas Apthorpe Cooper made his first appearance at 
this theatre (he had previously appeared at the Hay- 
market) as Hamlet. His engagement was a great suc- 
cess, and shortly after, the season was brought to a 
close — the benefits having been unusually well pat- 
ronized. 

The season of 1805-6, the last of Snelling Powell's 
sole management, opened in October with " Speed the 
Plough," and must have been an unusually interesting 
one. Mr. and Mrs. Poe, the parents of the poet, were 
among the new faces for a time. They were from the 
Virginia theatres, making their first appearances in this 
as Henry and Miss Blandford. They were fair artists ; 
Poe possessed a full, manly voice of considerable extent, 
while Mrs. Poe made a favorable impression. She was 
born to the stage, and her maiden name was Elizabeth 
Arnold. A far greater interest attaches to them how- 
ever, from the fact that they were the parents of that 
erratic genius and gifted poet, Edgar Allan Poe, who 
was born in this city February 19, 1809. 



70 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

Mr. Cooper again appeared, and Mr. Luke Usher also 
joined the stock company ; though not an actor of the 
first order, he was regarded as a valuable acquisition. 
Darley as a lover was always pleasing, while as a singer 
he was regarded as perhaps the first in the country. 
His wife, another member, may be said to have shared 
the leading business with Mrs. Powell, — for while the 
latter played Lady Macbeth, Desdemona, and Juliana 
in "The Honeymoon," the former appeared as Ophelia, 
Rosalind, etc. Mrs. Darley died in Philadelphia as late 
as 1849; her husband had returned to England, and 
died in London twenty years earlier. 

Up to this time the language of the old plays was 
spoken with all its coarseness ; but an attempt was now 
made to purify the stage. In a well-considered news- 
paper article the writer said : — 

While we express an ardent desire for the prosperity of 
the theatre as a school of nature, as a mirror in which man- 
kind are .seen, we wish to check what too often exists, — a 
propensity to that kind of wit which savors of indelicacy. All 
that is written should not be spoken. Cannot the manager 
erase ? Why then mu.st innocence blush and modesty hide 
her face ? The exhibitions of the stage, though they borrow 
the sublimity of Jove, the strength of Hercules, and the 
beauty of Venus, should never forsake the chastity and re- 
finement of Diana. 

Good advice, which might be properly applied to some 
of the meretricious pieces of the present day. 



The Old Federal Street Theatre yi 

The season lasted for seven months, and was more 
than successful dramatically and financially. Many pieces 
had their first representation in the city, notably "The 
Honeymoon," Shakespeare's " Katherine and Petruchio," 
" Twelfth Night " and " Coriolanus " for the benefit of 
Cooper. During his engagement. Cooper appeared in 
such parts as Falstaff, Leon in " Rule a Wife and Have 
a Wife," Hamlet, Pierre in "Venice Preserved," Mac- 
beth and Othello ; his acting in the latter was spoken 
of as the " finest performance ever seen on the American 
stage." 

The season of 1806-7 opened under the management 
of Powell, Bernard and Dickson. 

On October 24 "Richard the Third " was produced 
for the purpose of introducing Master Loring, sixteen 
years old, a native of this city, as the Duke of Glouces- 
ter. The boy was said to imitate the acting of Cooper, 
and in this, was somewhat successful. The performance 
as a whole was uneven, yet the critics said, " considering 
his age and advantages, it was creditable to his judg- 
ment and talent." 

John Bernard arrived with re-enforcements for the 
company, bringing with him Caulfield from Drury Lane 
Theatre, Mrs. Stanley and others. October 29 Mrs. 
Stanley opened as Letitia Hardy, in " The Belle's Strata- 
gem." Her form was handsome, her gestures easy and 
graceful, and it was said of her, " never has the Boston 
stage been trodden by an actress superior to her in ele- 



72 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

gance of dress and dignity of manners." Her acting, 
however, savored a little too much of the tragic. On 
the 31st, Caulfield made his first bow as RoUa. He 
played the usual round of leading tragic parts, and Mrs. 
Stanley, who played the opposites, was more than suc- 
cessful as Jane Shore and Belvedera, in " Venice Pre- 
served." On January 19, a gentleman of Boston, whose 
name I have been unable to ascertain, made his first 
theatrical attempt as Earl Osmond, in that thrilling 
melodrama of Monk Lewis, " The Castle Spectre " — the 
first play, by the way, that I ever witnessed — and suc- 
ceeded much beyond expectation. Cooper played a 
round of his characters, and cleared by his engagement 
$2,000, which was a large sum in those days. February 
18, 1807, James Fennell, an actor of signal ability, made 
his first appearance in Boston as Zanga in '• Revenge," 
and he subsequently played Macbeth, Othello, Hamlet, 
and Lear. 

At the close of the theatrical season, Fennell gave 
a series of Shakespearian readings at the Exchange 
Coffee House, — the first Shakespearian readings ever 
given in Boston. Previous to his appearing here he es- 
tablished some salt works in Connecticut, which depleted 
his pockets, and caused his return to the stage. He 
was a extravagant liver, and addicted to the bowl, from 
the effects of which he became so utterly broken down 
in mind and body that he died in abject poverty in Phila- 
delphia, where he had once been a great favorite. 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 73 

The season of 1807-8 was opened early in Septem- 
ber, the principal attraction being a Mr. Webster, a fine 
singer who had previously given some concerts, to the 
delight of the towns-people. Not long afterwards he 
left the town in a hurry, and under a cloud. Twaits, an 
excellent show comedian from the South, was added to 
the company. He was manager of the Richmond 
theatre at the time it was burned. Fennell played a 
round of his characters. Mr. Taylor made his first 
appearance November 11, in the doleful tragedy of 
"George Barnwell," and on the 20th, Mrs. Anne 
Warren, the second wife of Warren, the father of our 
lamented comedian William Warren, made her first ap- 
pearance in Boston, as Belvedera in "Venice Preserved." 
As Anne Brunton she had met with great success at 
Covent Garden Theatre. She took for her first hus- 
band Robert Merry, and with him she came to this 
country under engagement to the Philadelphia theatre 
in 1796. Merry died in 1798, and in 1803 his widow 
married Wignell, the Philadelphia manager, who died 
seven weeks after. A widow for the second time, she 
married William Warren, August 15, 1806. She died 
in child-birth in Alexandria, Va., June 28, 1808. Her 
engagement here was for one week only, but her suc- 
cess was so great that her share of the receipts amounted 
to ^1,600. 

On January 25, 1808, Cooper began an engagement, 
Fennell playing seconds to him, and Mrs. Stanley being 



74 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

the leading female support. In a dramatic point of view 
the season was a complete success, but as the embargo 
was then on the port of Boston, business was stagnant, 
and as a consequence the receipts of the theatre were 
meagre. Though there was a loss to the man-.gement, 
all obligations were honorably discharged. 

About the most interesting event I can find in con- 
nection with the season of 1 808-9, was the first appear- 
ance on the Boston stage, on the evening of April 3, 
1809, of Master John Howard Payne, then seventeen 
years of age, as Young Nerval, which he followed up 
with Romeo, Selim in " Barbarossa," Tancred, and 
Hamlet. His performances though somewhat crude 
yet evinced great talent. He received for his week's 
services something over $Soo. I need not give even 
the slightest sketch of Payne's subsequent career, as its 
fortunes and misfortunes arc known to all. It is a mat- 
ter of congratulation however, that the author of the 
undying " Home, Sweet Home," was an American, and 
received his earliest recognition in our city. 

The season of 1809-10 was opened September 18, 
1809, with the first performance in Boston of Arnold's 
fine comedy "Man and Wife." Early in the season 
" The Beggar's Opera " was given for the first time at 
the theatre. On Wednesday evening, November 15, 
"for the benefit of Mr. Barrett, formerly of this theatre, 
who has arrived in Boston so very sick and infirm as to 
render him totally incapable of pursuing his profession," 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 75 

•' Katharine and Petruchio " with other entertainments 
was given. How much the suffering actor netted I can- 
not tell. He did not live long to enjoy it, however, for 
he died three days after. 

On Monday evening, November 20, was played for 
the first time in America "The Foundling of the 
Forest." On Monday evening, January i, 18 10, an 
American play by William Charles White, "The Clergy- 
man's Daughter," received its first representation. It 
was short-lived. Master Payne made a re-appearance in 
February, and on March 12, "The Forty Thieves" was 
brought out for the first time here. It was given with 
a great cast, and such was its success that it closed 
what up to the time had proved a losing season, with a 
large margin of profit. 

The season of 18 10- 11 did not open until October 
8, which was somewhat late. There were a few unim- 
portant changes in the company. On Monday evening, 
November 5th, the versatile John Duff, afterwards man- 
ager, together with his wife, who was a Miss Mary Dyke, 
the sister of the first wife of Thomas Moore the poet, 
began an engagement. They were both fine artists and 
played to the satisfaction of the town. On January 3, 
181 1, there appeared upon the boards of the theatre one 
of the greatest dramatic geniuses of which we have any 
note, George Frederick Cooke. Did I attempt the 
briefest sketch of Cooke's career, I should exceed all 
bounds of propriety. It is enough to say that he was a 



76 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

great actor. He was dissipated, but he had genius. 
He was a worthy rival of John Philip Kemble, and by 
many thought superior to " Black Jack." He scarcely 
had a moral attribute, but he could attract the largest 
audience and hold them by the power of his marvellous 
art. He was seen at his best in lago, in Shylock, and 
in Sir Pertinax Macsycophant in " The Man of the 
World." His engagement lasted for three weeks, and 
he took nearly ^4,000 as his share of the receipts. 

During the recess preceding the season of 1811-12 
the theatre was refitted and the interior was improved. 
Cooke reappeared in December, but one night of his 
engagement he was so badly intoxicated as to be obliged 
to give up before the completion of the play. As a 
consequence, during the remainder of the engagement, 
the receipts were greatly diminished. 

I pass over several seasons devoid of special interest 
and come to that of 18 16-17, previous to which the 
theatre had been again refitted. On October 9 " Guy 
Mannering " was played for the first time here, with 
Mrs. Powell as Meg Merrilies ; Dickson as Dominie 
Sampson, and Mrs. Moore, formerly Mrs. Woodham, 
who had previously delighted all by her Lady Teazle, as 
Julia Mannering. William Pelby, subsequently the 
manager of the National Theatre, became a member of 
the stock company. John Bernard returned, and was 
warmly welcomed. West's company of Equestrians 
brought out "Timour the Tartar " finely. On April 14, 



The Old Federal Street Theatre y7 

1817, the stage met with an irreparable loss, in the re- 
tirement of James A. Dickson, although for several 
years afterwards he continued to have an interest in the 
management. 

The season of 18 17-18 brought John Duff into the 
management in connection with Powell and Dickson. 
Two English singers of note occasionally appeared, 
Incledon the tenor, and Henry Phillips the baritone, 
who returned to the city some years later. Cooper 
made his annual appearance, but the season was mainly 
carried on by the stock company, as there was very little 
need of tragic stars, with John Duff at the head of the 
company. 

Early in September the season of 181 8-19, was 
opened with "The Honeymoon" and "The Bee Hive." 
The stock company remained substantially the same. 
November 30 James W. Wallack the elder, in his prime 
one of the finest actors of the romantic school who ever 
trod the stage, opened as Rolla, and played a round of 
leading tragic characters. He was followed by Mr. and 
Mrs. Bartley, actors of great repute. 

Nothing of very great interest occurred in the theatre 
until February 12, 1821, when that great dramatic 
luminary Edmund Kean made his first bow to a Boston 
audience as the Duke of Gloucester, He was engaged 
for nine nights, and re-engaged for six more. The 
houses were crowded nightly, and he brought more 
money than ever was before received at the treasury in 



yS The Old Federal Street Theatre 

a like period. The theatre this season was destined to 
meet with a great loss by the death of its honored man- 
ager, Snelling Powell. Of late years he had not been 
seen much upon the stage, devoting himself exclusively 
to the cares of management. During this season, Mas- 
ter William L. Ayling, still remembered by some of us 
as an excellent actor, and one of the original managers 
of the Howard Athenaeum, made his first appearance 
on the stage. 

After Powell's death his widow became interested in 
the management with Dickson and Duff. Kean re- 
turned to the theatre Wednesday, May 23, 1821, and 
opened as Lear to a fair house. It was late in the 
season, many people were away, and the business was 
not such as it would have been under other conditions. 
On the third night of his engagement, when " Richard 
the Third " was announced, he refused to appear, alleg- 
ing that the audience was too small. He left the city 
and sailed from New York for Liverpool on June 7, 
following. 

On June 16, 1821, the proprietors were granted an 
Act of Incorporation ; the following season was opened 
September 19, 1821, under the management of Kilner 
and Clarke, with "The Foundling of the Forest." 
Prominent in the company were Mrs. Drummond, after- 
wards famous as Mrs. George H. Barrett, and G. Mills 
Brown, whom some of you may remember from his 
great impersonation of John Mildmay at the Howard 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 79 

Athenaeum a few years ago. On the 28th Kilner ap- 
peared as Sir Anthony Absolute. For years he was a 
great favorite, until he gave up the stage and took to 
farming in Ohio, where he died. Cooper played an 
engagement, and so did Mrs. Holman, a superior singer, 
who was supported by Henry Phillips. Samuel Wood- 
worth, who wrote "The Old Oaken Bucket," produced 
"The Deed of Gift," which was "damned with faint 
praise." 

But the great event of the season took place May 6, 
1822, when Junius Brutus Booth made his first appear- 
ance here in " Richard the Third." He was then in his 
twenty-sixth year, eminently handsome, for it was long 
before his nose had been flattened out of shape by a 
hand-iron in the hands of his friend Thomas Flynn, or he 
had lost the music of his voice, not as that old reprobate 
Jack Falstaff had lost his, " by halloing anthems," but 
by indulging in " potations pottle deep." He was a 
wonderful actor down to the day of his death, which oc- 
curred November 30, 1852, and his last appearance in 
Boston was made at the Museum, as Richard, October 
31, 185 I. He was the author of the play of " U go- 
lino," which occasionally, but very rarely, sees the foot- 
lights. 

During the season of 1822-23 Mr. George H. Bar- 
rett, already mentioned as making his first appearance 
as a child, became a member of the company, as did the 
famous Mrs. Waring and the still more famous Henry 



8o The Old Federal Street Theatre 

J. Finn, who, on August i6, 1822, had married Eliza- 
beth Powell, the only one of Snelling Powell's children 
who adopted the stage as a profession. Finn began as 
a full-fledged tragedian, but we remember him as the 
best comedian and the most versatile actor that ever 
trod the Boston boards. He opened on October 28, 
1822, as Richard, and played a round of tragic parts. I 
need not follow his career. It is perhaps enough to say 
that he perished in Long Island Sound, on the occasion 
of the burning of the ill-fated steamer Lexington, on 
the night of January 13, 1840. Charles Matthews the 
elder appeared on Thursday, December 26, opening as 
Goldfinch and Mons. Tonson. For his share of his 
engagement he received $4,600. The theatre closed 
late in April. 

The season of 1823-24 opened September 15. Keene 
the singer, Adams, Pelby, Cooper, Booth, and Conway 
played star engagements. The Shakespeare Jubilee was 
brought out, and Charles Sprague won the prize for an 
ode written for the occasion. June 20, 1825, Lafayette 
visited the theatre, when " Charles the Second " was 
played. On December 2, the famous Kean riot occur- 
red, upon which it is unnecessary to enlarge. It was 
the outcome of Kean's insulting treatment of his audi- 
ence during his previous engagement. The theatre 
was much damaged ; Kean escaped with his life and soon 
after left the country never to return. He it was who 
pronounced the town "the literary emporium of the new 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 8i 

world." After his departure the season was carried to 
the close, though not with much eclat. 

The season of 1826-27, which opened September 25, 
was marked by two notable events ; the first was the 
appearance of the greatest actor we have had in Boston 
for half a century, William Charles Macready, who 
began an engagement October 30, 1 826, at which 
Daniel Webster was present ; the second was the first 
appearance of the greatest of American actors, Edwin 
Forrest, February 5, 1827, who played Damon to Finn's 
Pythias. Macready re-appeared at the close of For- 
rest's engagement. 

The season of 1827-8 opened September 17, with 
"The Rivals " and "The Young Widow." Meantime 
the Tremont Theatre was in the course of construction, 
and its opening announced for the 24th of the month. 
Here was a new and formidable rival. How was it to 
come out of the struggle > A superb company was 
engaged ; the strongest of the old members retained, 
while the new comers included Thomas Flynn, George 
H. Andrews, Walton, Mr. King, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard, 
Miss Rivers, and the versatile Miss Rock, who died in 
Albany a year or two ago. James H. Hackett and 
Forrest appeared in star engagements, and on Novem- 
ber 19, 1829, the famous Clara Fisher, as Mrs. James 
G. Maeder, took the city by storm, by her performance 
of Albina Mandeville in the comedy of "The Will." 
Her engagement was a triumph. There was unusual 



82 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

competition between the Federal Street and the Tre- 
mont, but it was generally conceded that in both stars 
and stock the old house maintained a decided supe- 
riority. 

On its opening of the season of 1828-29, on Septem- 
ber 22, the management reduced the prices of admis- 
sion, thus making a tacit confession that the new theatre, 
which was managed with tact and energy, was, to use a 
nautical expression, "Working to the windward." The 
stars were few and not of great attractiveness, and 
there was a troupe of Parisian dancers, and a season of 
French opera. But the manager could not stem the 
strong tide of the opposition of his competitor. Night 
after night there was a beggarly array of empty boxes, 
and the stockholders were weary with their losses. The 
actors could not draw their salaries, and sought engage- 
ments elsewhere, and in despair the doors of the theatre 
were closed. After this two or three spasmodic attempts 
were made to infuse new life into the old body, but the 
success was only temporary. 

In the summer of 1834, Harrington, the ventriloquist, 
gave exhibitions, and then came a marked change ; the 
theatre was converted into the " Odeon," under which 
name it was opened on August 5, 1835, when the Hon. 
Samuel A. Eliot delivered an address, and the "Boston 
Academy" furnished the music. After a lapse of about 
fourteen years, during which it was occupied by several 
religious societies, and at least one irreligious body — 



The Old Federal Street TJ teat re 83 

the notorious Abner Kneeland and his followers — the 
Lowell Institute, the Boston Lyceum, and other associa- 
tions for literary, scientific and benevolent purposes, it 
was restored to the legitimate use for which it was 
originally built, and opened to the public on Monday 
evening, August 24, 1846, by Mr. Oliver C. Wyman. 
In the " Courier " of that morning, appeared an " Ad- 
dress " written by the late Rev. Nathaniel L. Frothing- 
ham, to be recited at the opening, but never offered to 
the management for that purpose ; it noted the changes 
in the uses of the building since its close as a dramatic 
temple.* 

Mr. Wyman had summoned to his aid a most efficient 
company, and it was his laudable intention to bring back 
to the theatre the glory of the old days. There appeared 
to be something peculiarly fitting in the idea, the more 
so as he had taken to wife one of the daughters of 
Snelling Powell. He summoned to his aid such well 
known actors as Mr. and Mrs. John Gilbert, Mr. and 
Mrs. Humphrey W. Bland from London, George H. 
Barrett, Thomas Placide, John Brougham, William M. 
Flemming, Mrs. Phillips, Mrs. Cramer and her daughter, 
Mrs. W. H. Smith, Mrs. Muller, pretty Miss Wagstaff, 
and hosts of others, all favorites. 

The interior had been completely reconstructed and 
improved under the superintendence of Mr. D. P. Ells- 

* The lines, which were evidently written in some haste, are given in 
full in Buckingham's " Personal Memoirs," ii : 188-191. — Ed. 



84 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

worth, and a new act-drop, "Athens as it is," painted 
by Stock well. The opening address, written by Frances 
Sargent Osgood, was spoken by John Gilbert. It was 
conventional in its style, and abounded in allusions to 
the heroes and heroines of the Shakespearian drama. I 
quote the concluding stanza : — 

Not these alone ; creations rich and rare 
Of modern genius, here your smiles shall share ; 
Here the litlie spirit of the dance shall spring 
Like an embodied Zephyr on the wing. 
Here too the soul of Song shall float in air 
And on its wings your hearts, enchanted, bear. 
Ah ! yield to them, to us, the meed we claim — 
Your smiles to light the path that leads to fame. 
So shall this life of mockery seem more sweet, 
And flowers shall rise to rest our pilgrim feet; 
While from our lips, inspired by hope divine. 
Like fire shall flow the bard's melodious line ! 

Then came Morton's comedy of " Speed the Plough," 
which seems to have been a favorite play for opening- 
night at this theatre, strongly cast, and the farce of 
"The Irish Lion." The house was crowded, and there 
were some three thousand more applications for tickets 
than could be accommodated. The applause was gene- 
rous, the performances more than satisfactory. Our 
newspapers were not very enterprising in the line of 
dramatic criticism at the time, but we have the assur- 
ance of one at least, that '• the performances reached to 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 85 

a late hour, but the audience remained unbroken to the 
last," which is no doubt accounted for by the fact that 
there was no scrambling for late trains ; or perhaps the 
audiences were better mannered than at present. 

At the beginning of the third week of the season 
came that sterling actor, Henry Placide. The most 
notable event of the engagement was his appearance 
with his brother Thomas, as the Two Dromios in 
Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors." September 12, 
James W. Wallack followed in a round of characters, 
including " Don Caesar de Bazan," which has never 
since been presented so magnificently in Boston. Then 
came the Seguin Opera Troupe for three weeks, and 
Seguin astonished all by his " double G " in " The 
Postilion of Longumeau." October 19 Charles Kean 
came with his wife, young, beautiful and captivating, 
the famous Ellen Tree. At the close Wallack returned 
for a single week ; and then, on November 16, for three 
weeks came " the great Alcides " of the American stage, 
Edwin Forrest, then in the very zenith of his fame and 
the heyday of his popularity. 

It was during this engagement of Forrest that an 
incident took place which is thus related by Mr. William 
W. Clapp in his interesting " Record of the Boston 
Stage " : " On an evening when Mr. Forrest was per- 
forming, some gentlemen, who had indulged in rather 
more than their heads could conveniently bear, occupied 
the stage box, and were so boisterous in their talk as to 



86 TJie Old Federal Street Theatre 

interrupt Mr. Forrest, who coming down from the stage 
met ' Acorn ' [the nont de plume of the late James 
Oakes, Forrest's lifetime friend] behind the scenes, 
and at once remonstrated. ' Never mind them,' said 
Acorn ; ' they have been requested to keep more quiet, 
but the truth is — they are as tight as peeps!' Mr. 
Forrest, misunderstanding the reply, remarked that he 
didn't know who Titus A. Peep was, but he was bound 
to have him put out if he made any further disturbance." 
The joke took wings and flew all over the town, and for 
weeks almost the only query was, "Who is Titus A. 
Peep.-'" John Brougham, with his facile pen, seized 
upon the incident and turned it into an extravaganza, 
which was the occasion of much mirth at his benefit. 
But who ivas Titus A. Peep } He was a young man of 
brilliant parts, the son of a most respectable gentleman, 
who afterwards attained the distinction of being a mem- 
ber of the Governor's Council. His besetting sin was 
a too frequent indulgence in the circean cup, which 
followed him through life. He died a few years ago, in 
all probability by his own hand. 

Forrest was followed by James E. Murdock, who in 
turn was succeeded by Henry Placide and that perfect 
embodiment of genteel comedy, Mrs. George H. Bar- 
rett, to have witnessed whose performances was indeed 
a liberal education. I make no misstatement when I 
say that such characters, in so far as the Boston stage 
is concerned, as Lady Teazle, and Letitia Hardy, in 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 87 

"The Belle's Stratagem," were entombed with Mrs. Bar- 
rett. Next came a series of stock performances suited 
to the holidays, in which that delight of youthful days, 
" The Forty Thieves," was prominent. Then followed 
the season of benefits, which lasted until the theatre 
was closed. 

Shortly before the end of the season, Mr. Wyman 
retired from the management with a personal loss of 
over $20,000. He had labored hard for the success of 
his venture, but without avail. The stars took the 
lion's share of the receipts, while the community was 
by no means so generous in its patronage as it should 
have been to so worthy an enterprise. Mr. John Gil- 
bert has informed me that after Mr. Wyman's retire- 
ment there was an attempt to run the establishment as 
a Commonwealth. After settling up the first week's 
business, the share of himself and wife, including his 
services as stage manager, was $4.12; that of John 
Brougham was 75 cents. With Irish recklessness, 
Brougham invited the company over to Mrs. Dunlap's, 
in Theatre alley, and there spent all his week's wage, 
and much more too, in giving them a substantial treat. 

The theatre did not long remain idle, but found a 
new lessee in the person of the favorite National Theatre 
actor, Charles R. Thorne, who re-opened the establish- 
ment on June 21, 1847, with the celebrated troupe of 
Viennoise dancing children, who held possession until 
the fourth of July, when the season was ended. Thorne 



88 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

resumed his regular dramatic season on August i6, 
following, with a company by no means so strong as 
that of Wyman, but yet entitled to some considera- 
tion. Among the star attractions were Wallack, For- 
rest, James Anderson, an English opera company under 
the management of Madame Anna Bishop, and the 
elder Booth, who played Othello to the lago of his son, 
Junius Brutus Booth. Thorne relinquished the manage- 
ment at the end of the season. 

And now the life of the old theatre became an un- 
certain one, and again it was unquestionably on the 
decline. Welch, Nathans and Delevan gave circus per- 
formances. There was a flash of legitimacy, which 
expired in the brief space of three weeks, when Bland 
and Skerritt as managers introduced Charlotte Cush- 
man, flushed with her European triumphs. It was then 
that that honored actor, Charles W. Couldock, made 
his first appearances in Boston. 

Next came a series of cheap and vulgar perform- 
ances by fellows of no mark in their profession, with 
the price of admission reduced to twenty-five cents for 
the best seats. Parodi appeared in Italian Opera, which 
didn't pay, and McAllister, the magician, for a number 
of weeks nightly suspended his wife in air. For a brief 
period the Ravels made the old Temple once more 
brilliant, and then the light began to flicker. A number 
of costume balls were given, which proved to be foul 
orgies, disgraceful alike to the city and the participants, 



772!^ Old Federal Street Theatre 89 

and finally, on April 13, 1852, the land and building 
were advertised for sale at auction. The price bid, 
however, was not deemed sufficient, and the offer was 
withdrawn. A few days subsequently the property was 
purchased by Merriam & Brewer. 

April 22 the National Theatre was burned down, 
while Mrs. Sinclair, the divorced wife of Edwin Forrest, 
supported by George Vandenhoff, was playing an en- 
gagement there. By the courtesy of the owners of the 
property, and the consent of Messrs. Merriam & Brewer 
(for the papers had not yet been passed), the old theatre 
was again opened on that night by the National com- 
pany, and performances given until the afternoon of 
Saturday, May 8, when the engagement of Mrs. Sin- 
clair was completed. The lady had taken her benefit 
the night previous, on which occasion the last legitimate 
dramatic performance, made up of the second act of 
"The Lady of Lyons," and "The School for Scandal," 
was given within its walls. Mr. William Shimmin, an 
old and honored resident of the city was present, and 
witnessed the final descent of the green curtain on a 
performance by a regular dramatic company, as he had 
on February 3, 1794, something more than fifty-eight 
years previously, seen it rise there for the first time. 

But there was yet to be one more performance, for on 
Saturday night the Aurora Dramatic Club, a company 
of amateurs, appeared in " Speed the Plough " and " A 
Nabob for an Hour," for the benefit of the members of 



90 The Old Federal Street Theatre 

the National Company who had lost by the fire. But 
the attendance was small, the receipts meagre, and 
yielded nothing to assuage their sufferings. On Mon- 
day, the loth, the properties and fixtures were disposed 
of by auction and the work of demolition began. 

Will you pardon me if I suggest that it would be a 
very gratifying proceeding on the part of your Society, 
should you cause to be inserted in the building now 
occupying the site, a memorial tablet to commemorate 
the spot on which stood the first theatre legitimately 
devoted to the drama in Boston, — a theatre moreover, 
whose history, take it for all in all, is most interesting. 

" Old Drury " is a thing of the past. The once 
loved theatre, 

" Dear as the hearthstone of a father's home," 

with all its vicissitudes, all its glories and all its triumphs, 
has gone. But the Stage still remains with us, one of 
the most cherished of our institutions, and will continue 
to do so, "to the last syllabic of recorded time." It is 
one of the most potent, and certainly the most popular 
of our educators, for in holding " as it were the mirror 
up to nature, it shows virtue her own features, scorn 
her own image, and the very age and body of the time 
his form and pressure," thus teaching us, with a stronger 
accentuation and more indelible impressiveness than any 
university, that 

"The proper study of mankind is man." 



The Old Federal Street Theatre 91 

And the players, too! Are they not in very truth 
" the abstract and brief chronicle of the times ;" and do 
they not, indeed, hold the spell 

" Which only acting lends, — 
The youngest of the sister arts, 

Where all their beauty blends : 
For ill can poetry express 

Full many a tone of thought sublime, 
And painting, mute and motionless, 

Steals but a glance of time. 
But by the mighty actor brought, 

Illusion's perfect triumphs come, — 
Verse ceases to be airy thought, 

And sculpture to be dumb ! " 




NOTE. 



The print of the Old Federal Street Theatre is reproduced 
from a copper-plate engraving by Abel Bowen, the original of 
which appeared in Snow's History of Boston (1825); it shows the 
Federal Street front and the side on Franklin Street, with a 
glimpse of the little Park once opposite what was known as the 
" Tontine Crescent," on the southerly side of Franklin Place. 
The spire is that of the first Cathedral of the Holy Cross, built 
by Bishop Cheverus after designs by Charles Bulfinch, and con- 
secrated in 1803 ; the house on the corner at the left was occu- 
pied at one time as a convent by the Ursuline nuns, and later 
by the Clergy of the Cathedral, until the property was finally 
sold for business purposes. 



THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE 
IN NEW ENGLAND 

BEFORE THE YEAR 1700 



BY 

FRANCIS H. BROWN, M. D. 



THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE 
IN NEW ENGLAND 



BEFORE THE YEAR 1700 



A PAPER READ BEFORE THE BOSTONIAN SOCIETY, COUNCIL 
CHAMBER, OLD STATE HOUSE, APRIL It, 1905, BY 

FRANCIS H. BROWN, M. D. 




;N those early days of our country's history 
between Jamestown and the Declaration of 
Independence, when three million colonists 
were sparsely scattered over the thirteen 
States on the Atlantic seaboard, the doctors apparently 
had a reasonable proportion. Some three thousand or 
three thousand five hundred are supposed to have min- 
istered to the wants of the people. Of these it is 
estimated that not more than four hundred had received 
the degree of Doctor in Medicine from a medical school, 
and these had been educated in the schools of Europe. 

In Savage's Dictionary the names of one hundred 
and thirty-four practitioners are found among those who 
came to the New England Colonies before 1692. 



96 The Practice of Medicine in New England 

Mather estimated that forty thousand persons emi- 
grated to New England in ten or twelve years following 
the first settlement, bringing with them in money, mer- 
chandise and animals the value of nearly J[,20Q>,o<:>o. 
"Upon the whole," Mather says, "it has been com- 
puted that the four settlements of Plymouth, the Mas- 
sachusetts Bay, Connecticut and New Haven, all of 
which were accomplished before the beginning of the 
Civil Wars, drained England of four or five hundred 
thousand pounds in money, and, if the persecution of 
the Pilgrims had continued twelve years longer, it is 
thought that a fourth part of the riches of the kingdom 
would have passed out of it through this channel."* 

It may be well to consider for a moment the condition 
of medicine in Europe at the time. 

The seventeenth century was the era of the schools 
in medicine known as the Rosicrucians and the Eclectic 
Conciliators ; of those who governed medicine by math- 
ematics, and of the humoral pathologists, advancing 
theories which we of to-day should call utter charlatan- 
ism. The age, however, was pregnant with those first 
advances in medicine which in later years have unfolded 
into our present state of rational medicine. Harvey 
had in 1619 announced to his pupils his theory of the 
circulation of the blood, — a discovery attacked and con- 
tested with the greatest acrimony by the learned men 

* S. A. Drake, History of Middlesex County, 1 : 47. 



Before the Year IJOO 97 

of that period ; and it was remarked as an evidence of 
obstinate adherence to preconceived opinions that no 
physician in Europe who had reached forty years, even 
to the end of his life, adopted Harvey's theory. 

Sir Kenelm Digby's sympathetic powder of that day, 
applied, not to the wound, but to the weapon which had 
infiicted it, was thought to have a marvellous effect in 
restoring the injured man to soundness. To this super- 
stition Walter Scott, in the " Lay of the Last Minstrel," 
alludes : — 

But she has ta'en the broken lance 
And washed it from the clotted gore, 
And salved the splinter o'er and o'er. 
William of Deloraine, in trance, 
Whene'er she turned it round and round, 
Twisted as if she galled his wound ; 
Then to her maidens she did say 
That he should be whole man and sound. 

It was in this century that Bartholini, Malpighi and 
Steno — names well preserved in our professional nomen- 
clature — made important investigations in anatomy ; 
Sylvius, Willis and others, worked on the brain and ner- 
vous system ; Newton, Kepler, Descartes, determined 
the properties of the various parts of the eye, and 
Scheiner demonstrated the fact that the retina is the 
true organ of sight. Ambroise Par^, originally a barber- 
surgeon, who could boast that he had been surgeon to 
four kings of France in succession, made great advance 



98 The Practice of Medicine in New England 

in the treatment of gun-shot wounds, and taught the 
use of the ligature. So that, although it may seem to 
us that gross ignorance of medicine and surgery pre- 
vailed at the time when our fathers came to this shore, 
evidently light was beginning to break, and, in spite of 
many crudities, much over-dosing, and frequent hamper- 
ing of the vis medicatrix naturae^ our ancestors seem to 
have struggled through in spite of the doctors, and we 
are here to-day manifest witnesses of their pre-existence, 
— that they ate, drank and slept, and brought forth 
sturdy children. 

Very naturally abuses grew up in the practice of 
medicine by improper persons, so great that the Legis- 
lature of Massachusetts, May 2, 1649, passed a law 
restraining those who would otherwise have unneces- 
sarily perilled the lives or comfort of the inhabitants. 

Forafmuch as the Law of God allows no man to impare 
the Life, or Limbs of any Perfon, but in a judicial way : 
It is therefore Ordered, That no perfon or perfons what- 
foever, imployed at any time about the bodyes of men, women 
or Children, for prefervation of life or health ; as Chirur- 
gions, Mid wives, Phyfitians or others, prefume to exercife, 
or put forth any a<5l contrary to the known approved Rules 
of Art, in each Myflery and occupation, nor exercife any 
force, violence or cruelty upon, or towards the body of any, 
whether young or old (no, not in the moft difficult and def- 
perate cafes) without the confent of fuch as are fkillfuU in 
the fame Art. ♦ ♦ * 



Before the Year lyoo 99 

William Douglas in his Summary says : " When I 
first arrived in New England, I asked a noted facetious 
practitioner what was their general method of practice ; 
he told me their practice was very uniform, — bleeding 
vomiting, blistering, purging, anodynes, etc. ; if the ill- 
ness continued, there was repetendi ; and finally miirder- 
andi ! Nature was never to be consulted, or allowed to 
have any concern in the affair. ... In our plantation a 
practitioner bold, rash, impudent, a lyar born and edu- 
cated, has much the advantage of an honest, cautious, 
modest gentleman. In general the physical practice in 
our Colonies is so perniciously bad that, excepting in 
surgery and some very acute cases, it is better to let 
Nature, under a proper regimen, take her course, than 
to trust to the honesty and sagacity of the practitioner. 
Our American practitioners are so rash and officious, 
the saying in the Apocrypha* may with much pro- 
priety be applied to them : * He that sinneth before his 
Maker let him fall into the hand of the physician.' " 
All of which seems a libel on our early physicians, the 
majority of whom were probably good, God-fearing men, 
albeit they were ignorant of anaesthesia, asepsis, and 
the last news of bacteriological evolution. 

In the organization of the Companies sent out from 
England to people the Western wilds, the founders 
recognized the need which would arise for medical and 

* Ecclus. xxxviii : 15. 



lOO The Practice of Medicine in New England 

surgical skill among the colonists, and provided in many 
cases educated physicians to meet this need. The Com- 
pany which sent out Endicott to Salem thus instructed 
him : — " We have entertained Lambert Wilson, a chir- 
urgeon, to remain with you in the service of the Planta- 
tion ; with whom we are all agreed that he shall serve 
this Company and the other planters that Hve in the 
Plantation for three years, and in that time apply him- 
self to cure not only of such as come hence for the 
general and particular accounts, but also for the Indians 
as shall from time to time be directed by yourself or 
your successor and the rest of the Council, and more- 
over he is to educate and instruct in his art one or more 
youth such as you and the said Council shall appoint, 
that may be useful to him, and if occasion require suc- 
ceed him in the Plantation ; which youth or youths fit 
to learn that profession let [him] be placed with him, of 
which Mr. Hugesson's son, if his father approve there- 
of, may be one, the rather because he hath been trained 
up in literature ; but if not he, then such others as you 
judge most fittest." 

Young, in making this quotation in his New England 
Chronicle, says : — " We have here the embryo of a med- 
ical school, undoubtedly the first ever planted on the 
continent of America ; whether it went into operation or 
how it succeeded we are not informed." 

Dr. John R. Quinan, in his Medical Annals of Balti- 
more (1884), states that in June, 1608, William Russell, 



Before the Year lyoo loi 

" Dr. of Physicke," and Anthony Bagnall,* "chirurgeon," 
accompanied Captain John Smith in his exploration 
of the Chesapeake and his discovery of the Patapsco 
River. They are, perhaps, the first physicians who 
practiced the healing art within the limits of the United 
States of to-day. 

Dr. John R. Ham states that in 163 1, Dr. Renald 
Fernald was sent out to New Hampshire by Captain 
John Mason, and settled at Portsmouth ; Dr. Samuel 
Fuller came to Plymouth in the Mayflower, and William 
Palgrave and Giles Firmin were of the company which 
accompanied Winthrop, in the Arbella, to the Massa- 
chusetts Bay Colony. Others soon followed ; so that 
before the year 1700 many had landed in Boston and 
the surrounding towns, and were engaged in the prac- 
tice of the profession. I have somewhat detailed ac- 
counts of about one hundred such. 

The practice of medicine was not, however, confined 
to those regularly or exclusively educated for that pro- 
fession. In many cases the ministers of the Gospel, 
before leaving their homes in the old country, had ac- 
quired such a considerable amount of information in the 
art of medicine, as to make them very respectable prac- 
titioners, so that they could exercise the healing art 
over body and soul. Indeed, it has been somewhat 
difficult in studying the subject, to determine, in many 

*Sewall, 1825: 48. 



I02 The Practice of Medicine in Neiu England 

cases, whether the persons whose biographies are given 
were properly clergymen or physicians. Some left one 
profession to take up exclusively the duties of the other, 
and, in the sparsely settled regions, the superior intelli- 
gence of both ministers and magistrates was constantly 
called into requisition to aid the colonists in their neigh- 
borhood. As the priests of Egypt and Greece, in the 
early dawn of medicine, collected and preserved what 
was known of the healing art, so in the early history 
of our country the same association naturally exists. 
Physical and moral and spiritual evil are so closely asso- 
ciated, that those who are administering relief to the 
one cannot be regardless of the other. The analogy to 
this dual character of physician and spiritual adviser is 
carried out at the present day, where the physician, in 
desperate cases, finds no wiser or better assistant than 
in the intelligent priest or Protestant minister, called in 
to tide over the patient from the life on earth to the life 
beyond. 

This mingling of the two professions continued for 
nearly a century after the first settling of New England. 
One of the best of this class of men was the Rev. Jared 
Eliot, who was born in 1685 and died in 1763. He was 
a graduate of Yale College in 1706, and from 1709 to 
his death was minister at Killingvvorth, in Connecticut. 
He published several memoirs, and was so devoted to 
his clerical duties that it was said that "for forty suc- 
cessive years, in the course of his ministry, he never 



Before the Year I'/OO 103 

omitted preaching either at home or abroad on the 
Lord's day." He was the most eminent physician of 
his day in Connecticut. He was so skillful in his man- 
agement of chronic diseases especially, that he was 
frequently called in consultation to Boston, Newport and 
other places.* 

Beside the Clergy, some of the first Governors and 
magistrates of New England also practiced medicine. 
John Winthrop of Massachusetts, and his son the Gover- 
nor of Connecticut, and his other son Waitstill, were of 
this number. Of the Connecticut John, Cotton Mather 
says " he was furnished with noble medicines, which he 
most charitably and generously gave away upon all occa- 
sions."! 

It is much to be doubted if the advice which the early 
practitioners received from their friends in the old coun- 
try availed much to the sanitary condition of the 
Pilgrims and the Puritans. Witness the precepts incul- 
cated by Sir Kenelm Digby in his letter to John Win- 
throp of Connecticut, written in Paris, January 26, 
1656: — 

In the meane time let me tell you of an Eafy medicine of 
mine owne that J haue feene do miraculous cures in all fortes 
of vlcers, and in knitting Soddainly broken bones : w*^'' J con- 
ceive it doth by carrying awaye by vrine the ichorous matter 



* By the Yale Catalogue, he appears to have been a Fellow of the 
Royal Society of London, 
t Mather's Magnalia. 



I04 The Practice of Medicine in Neiv England 

that infefteth fuch maladies ; and then nature healeth and 
knitteth apace, when nothing hindereth her. It is this : 
Beate to fubtile pouder one ounce of crabbes eyes (in latin 
called Oculi cancrorum) then putt vpon it in a high glaffe 
(becaufe of the Ebullition) four ounces of (Irong vinegar. 
It will inflantly boyle up extremly ; let it (land till all be 
quiett : then flraine it through a fine linon ; and of this 
liquor (w"^'' will then tafte like dead beere without any fharp- 
nefTe) give two fpoonsfuls att a time to drink three times : 
and you fhall fee a flrange efTedl in a weeke or two. 

From the receipt book of Dr. John Wadsworth of 
Duxbury, a successful practitioner and a prominent char- 
acter in his native town, — belonging to George Eliot 
Richardson : — 

This Refipt cofl me fifty pounds by Count and J pray y' 
you would not Expofe the fame without a good fee. this 
for a canfer proves exelant and if in Time applyd will cure 
a Cancer humor Take 3 frogs and put y™ into a deep arthen 
Bafen and power upon them as much fwete oyel as will cover 
them put y™ into a hot oven and lett y"" ftand a quarter of 
an hour then turn off the Remaneing oyel and Dip Tow 
in it and apply to the canfer and for a plafler you muft 
take the yolks of 2 eggs Burnt allum 5i Boal armonick 
5i Bay fait 5fs Brufe all to a fine powder and mix up 
with 3 youlks of Eggs and apply in form of a plaller to the 
fore every 3 day give a portion of apfom Salts to cool the 
beet of the Blood this alwaife carry of a canfers humor if 
Timely applyd the parfen mufl make their Conftant Drink 




DR. JOHN CLARK. 



A Boston Physician from 1650 to 1664. 
The First of Seven Generations of Medical Men of Boston. 



Before the Year lyoo 105 

Canfer Roote Tea and Dinelybit (?) Tea Wee may att 
fartin times apply a Tode cutt in two to the wound 2 or 
3 times a week the nature of y^ tode is fuch y' it will 
draw out the fliarp hot canferous and pyfonous and if you 
profed in this matter you may cure any canfer in a week or 
two. 

For all fortes of agewes J have of late tryed the following 
magneticall experiment w'^ infallible fucceffe. Pare the pa- 
tients nayles when the fitt is coming on : and put the paringes 
into a little bagge of fine linon or farfenet : and tye that about 
a live eele's neck, in a tubbe of water. The eele will dye, and 
the patient will recover. And if a dog or hog eate that eele 
they v>'ill alfo dye. I have knowne (and now it is famous) 
in thefe parts a barke of a tree that infallibly cureth all inter- 
mittent feauvours. It cometh from Peru : and is the barke 
of a tree called by the Spaniards Kinkinia : the patient muft 
take 2 drammes of it in fubtile pouder : infufe it all night in 
white wine and drinke all (both powder and wine) when you 
feele the fitt approaching. It worketh no fenfible effe6l, but 
that you are cured. ... J have knowne one that cured all 
deliriums and frenfies whatfoever and at once taking, w'^ an 
elixir made of dew, nothing but dew, purified and nipped 
up in a glaffe, and digefted 15 months, till all of it became 
a gray powder, not one droppe of humidity remaining. This 
J know to be true ; and that firft it was as blacke as Inke ; 
then greene ; then gray; and at 22 months end it was as 
white as any orientall perle. But it cured manias at 15 
months end.* 

* Massachusetts Historical Society's Collections. 



io6 The Practice of Medicine in New England 

All of which shows us at this time that our fathers 
knew or realized very imperfectly our stronghold of to- 
day in the treatment of disease, the reparative power of 
Nature. It leads us to coincide with Dr. Holmes, who 
would have turned much of the medicine into the ocean, 
which would have been better for the patients and worse 
for the fishes. 

There seem to have been periods of great sickness 
noted from time to time by the annalists or the diarists 
of those days. You will all recall the fatality which 
attended the advent of the Pilgrims in 1620, when it is 
said fifty per cent, of the original company of the May- 
flower succumbed to disease in the first year ; and can 
we wonder that their delicate English constitutions, en- 
feebled by a long and tempestuous voyage, yielded to 
the hardships, the starvation, the monotony and the 
home-sickness.^ If you doubt it, go to Burial Hill in 
Plymouth — lay aside all the evidences of the modern 
civilization you will see there — and go back, in mind, to 
the cheerless wilderness our forefathers found. 

John Eliot, pastor of the First Church in Roxbury,* 
after relation of sundry cases of accident, which would be 
more interesting in their ghastliness to our medical than 
our lay readers, says in 1646 : — 

This winter we had much (icknefTe at Roxbury & greater 
mortality than euer we had afore, in fo (hort a time, 5 dyed 

* Rec. Com., VI : 187. 



, Before the Year IJOO 107 

in 8 days and more followed as appeareth in y« record 
thereof. 

And again in 1647 : — 

From that time forward a great fickneffe epidemical did 
the Lord lay vpon vs fo y* the greateft p* of a towne was Tick 
at one, whole familys fick young & old, fcarce any efcaping, 
Englifh or Indian. ... The manner of the Sickneffe was a 
very depe cold, w'h fome tindure of a feaver & full of mal- 
ignity & very dangerous if not well regarded, by keeping a 
low diet ; the body foUuble, warme, fweating, &c ; at w-^ 
time of vifitation, blefs M"= Winthrop the Govno^^ wife dyed. 
Also a lufty ftrong woman of Bofton, M^^ Stodder ; fondly 
eat greene peaches, W^i^ fet her to fo violent a vomitting as 
it burfl her intrails, as its thought and fo fhe dyed. 

He continues : — 

God's rods are teaching. 0>- epidemical fickneffe of colds 
doth rightly by a divine hand tell the churches what o^ epi- 
demical fpiri [spiritual] difeafe is. Lord help us to fee it. 
to have fuch colds in the height of the heate of fumer fhews 
vs f in the height of the means of grace, peace, liberty of 
ordinances cScc yet may we then fall into malignant & mortal 
colds, apoflacys and coolings &c. This vifitation of God 
was exceeding ftrange, it was fo fuddaine & generall ; as if 
the Lord had imediatly fent forth an angel, not w^h a fword 
to kill, but wth a rod to chaflife ; & he fmot all, good & bad, 
old & young, or as if there were a general infedion of the 
aer ; w=h went from North to South by degrees infeaing all, 
yea fuch as were on the feas neere ourcoafts were fo infefted 



I08 The Practice of Medicine in New England 

& fmitten : And this is remarkable y' though few dyed yet 
fome did ; and generally those y* dyed were of o"" choiceft 
flowers & mofl p'cious faints among othrs. y' were then 
taken to refl was y' worthy & blefTed light Mr. Hooker who 
haveing a cold and pi'ched twice on the Sab : and miniftred 
both the Sac : the L'^ Supper in the forenoone & Baptifm 
in the afternoone, he was fo over fpent & his fpirits fank y' 
he could never recover them againe 

The sickness noted would seem to be that which we 
to-day know as Epidemic Influenza, to which the popular 
name La Grippe has been assigned ; or it may have 
been similar to that which prevailed at Plymouth, of 
which Morton says : — "It was a kind of pestilential 
fever," of which upwards of twenty persons died in Ply- 
mouth, and that it was also very fatal to the Indians in 
the vicinity. Drake tells us that in 1633 "a great 
mortality occurred among the Indians by the small-pox, 
whereof Chickatawbut, Sachem of Neponset, dyed " ; 
and that again in 1636 the General Court met at Rox- 
bury, having adjourned from Cambridge on account of 
the small-pox. 

Edward Johnson, writing in his " Wonder-working 
Providence" in 1654, says: — 

Here the Reader may take notice of the fad hand of the 
Lord againft two perfons, who were taken in a ftorme of fnow, 
as they were pafling from Bojlon to Roxbury, it being much 
about a mile diflant, and a very plaine way. One of Roxbury 



Before the Year lyoo 109 

fending to Bojlon his fervant maid for a Barber-Chirurgion, 
to draw his tooth, they loft their way in their paffage be- 
tween, and were not found till many dayes after, and then 
the maid was found in one place, and the man in another, 
both of them frozen to death.* 

The man was William Dinely, and his son, born soon 
after, was christened Fathergone Dinely. William 
Dinely was a barber-surgeon, and combined with this 
vocation the art of drawing teeth. He was a favorer of 
the doctrines, then considered heretical, of Mrs. Ann 
Hutchinson. 

Indeed, the records of our old-time clergymen seem 
but constant iterations of the local disasters which 
afflicted our early inhabitants. Rev. Samuel Danforth 
is particularly fruitful in his narratives of these disas- 
ters : — "Old goody Bird of Dorchefter," he says, "falling 
down at a trap-door in her owne houfe broke her neck 
and never fpake more, but two days after died ; " and 
four days later, " Daniel Holbrooke, going over a ftone 
wall, fell down upon the ftones and y^ knife in his 
pocket pierced his howeles and two days after he died." 
And in 1672, "Agues and fevers prevailed among us 
about y^ Bay, and fluxes and vomiting at Bofton. The 
fpotted feaver at and about Wenham;" — a streak of 
sunlight occasionally appearing such as when " Efther 

* Wonder-working Providence, II : xv. 



no The Practice of Medicine i?t New Ejigland 

Grofvenor was reconciled to y^ church and folemmley 
owned y^ covenant." 

In the Court of Assistants, March 4, 163 1, it was 
Ordered that a Nicholas Knopp "be fined 5/. for taking 
upon him to cure the fcurvy by a water of no value, which 
he fold at a very dear rate ; to be imprifoned till he pay 
his fine or give fecurity for it ; or elfe be whipt. And 
fhall be liable to any man's action of whom he has 
received money for faid water." * 

It is an interesting fact in the history of irregular 
practice, though at a much later period, to note that a 
house in West Roxbury, which was built about the year 
1 800 by John Whiting, afterward the home of Theodore 
Parker, was bought in 1818 by a person who signed 
himself "J. Sylvan, the rain water Dr., Enemy of hu- 
man diseases." "And," as the writer says in speaking 
of him, *• whose stay was necessarily brief in a com- 
munity not tolerant of quacks." A strange interchange 
indeed, where Parker later drew around him the highest 
thinkers of New England, and in his study or his barn, 
as it is related, or on his lawn, held those Olympics for 
the discussion of Goethe or Fourier, the latest form of 
infidelity, all cosmic questions, and Emerson's last lec- 
ture, f 

In looking over the History of Brooklyn I found an 
account of another man who appeared there in 1810-1 1 • 



•General Court Records, 1 : 67. f Drake, Roxbury : 451. 



Before the Year lyoo m 

he was a German who landed in Philadelphia and came 
to Brooklyn, where he remained about a year, occupying 
a house called the Black Hawk Tavern; in 1812 he re- 
moved to Providence, R. I., where he had a large prac- 
tice ; thence to East Hartford, Conn., but returned to 
Providence, and died there in 18 14-15. He was, by one 
account, an educated physician, honest, skillful, extremely 
eccentric, and noted for his many deeds of charity. He 
used herbs and simple remedies, especially advising the 
use of rain-water as a drink. "At the culmination of 
his practice in Roxbury, near Boston," says one who re- 
membered him, " I have seen long lines of chaises and 
other vehicles on the side of the road near his residence, 
at the ' Punch bowl,' in Roxbury [Brookline], waiting 
patiently hours for their turn at the levee of the consum- 
mate charlatan. His specific for all maladies was rain- 
water in which herbs and roots had been stewed. This 
unsavory decoction he made his patients swallow by the 
quart at a time, repeating the potation several times a 
day ; and he prohibited salt in food." * 

He too called himself " Sylvan Gardener, enemy of 
human diseases," and published a "Formula of Prescrip- 
tion " to which he prefixed " A Vindication concerning 
the Dietetical Abstinence, detected the dangerous ten- 
dency of several articles .... tobacco, salted food, etc.," 
and another of similar character, " Prescription for 

*Hist. Mag., VI: 71. 



112 The Practice of Medicine in New England 

Chronical Diseases, etc." Both are said to have been 
"as worthless and frequently unintelligible in matter 
as they were ridiculous and laughable in style." He 
offered to " supply applicants with prescriptions at four 
cents, and the indigent received them gratis."* If not 
identical with the " Sylvan" above, he had his imitators 
— Dr. Octavius Plinth, who flourished about the year 
i8i7,t and Dr. C. Humbert, who by one account died 
in the vicinity of Philadelphia, June lo, 1825, at the 
supposed age of one hundred years. | 

That midwives were frequently if not commonly em- 
ployed, is seen from the records of Roxbury, where, 
under date of 9 November, 1642, "there were two in- 
fants dyed in the birth, it was conceded to be through 

* Hist. Mag., VI : 131. 

t The accounts of these two empirics are somewhat conflicting. One 
correspondent of the Historical Magazine (V : 350) says that the true 
name of the Sylvan first mentioned was Octavius Plinth ; that for East 
Hartford we should read East Haddam, and that he was drowned in 
181 5, in a large barrel of rain-water, which stood under the eaves of 
his house ! while another, from whom we have quoted above, says (Ibid., 
VI: 70), that he was living in Roxbury in 1S17, remarks "there have 
been two impostors of the name of Rain Water Doctor, or else this 
arrant quack succeeded in humbugging the public several years after he 
appropriately drowned himself in rain-water of his own collecting I " 
By a note from J. M. Fullerlye (Ibid., p. 102), " Octavius Plinth, 
M. D.," was the eighth son of Mahlon Plinth, of Randolph, Mass., and 
the epitaph on his tomb at North Dedham, Mass., says, " His good- 
ness surpassed most of his fellow men, and his home is in heaven." 
There would seem to have been several who used the title. 

% See an account of a " Rain-water Doctor," apparently identical with 
this Dr. C. Humbert, in Hist. Mag., VI : 294, which has a long epitaph 
on one of his patients, which Humbert is said to have composed. 



Before the Year IJOO 113 

the imfkillfulnefs of the midwife ; none of the p'ents 
[parents] were of o"" church."* And again : ** 3 Nov., 
5 day, 1644," when the wife of Mr. Bowen of Boston 
Church was "delivered of a ch. by Gods mercy, w*out 
the help of any other woman, God himfelf helping his 
pore fervants in a flraight."f Which reminds us of the 
good people of Connecticut who, in their earliest days, 
voted that they would be governed by the laws of 
God — until the General Court should meet and make 
better. 

It was not until the advent of Dr. James Lloyd,J as 
late as 1753, that the inhabitants of Boston could avail 
themselves of a systematic practitioner of midwifery. 
He was born at Oyster Bay, L. I., in 1728, and died in 
1 8 10. He had enjoyed the instructions of Warren, 
Sharp, and Hunter of London, and, in the following 
year, settled in Boston. § Davenport || says : — "Feb. 6, 
1705, died the Widow Wyat, aged 94: having as a mid- 
wife assisted at the birth of one thousand one hundred 
and more children." 

Ruth Barnaby was a noted midwife of Boston, who 
practiced her calling in our town for more than forty 
years, and died at the age of loi. During the epidemic 



* Rec. Com. VI : 170. t Ibid., VI : 115. 

X Beck, Historical Sketch, 1850. 

§ See also Massachusetts Medical Society Med. Com., II : 244, and 
Mem. History of Boston, 454. 

II The Sexton's Monitor, and Dorchester Cemetery Memorial, 16. 



114 1^^^^ Practice of Medtci^ie m New Engla?id 

of small-pox in 1764, she insisted on being inoculated, 
and thus escaped the disease in the natural way, although 
several members of her family contracted it.* 

Nor was the subject of abdominal surgery neglected. 
John Eliot again says: — " 1674, 25th, loth mo., being 
defired, I went to watertowne to be p'efent at the cuting 
of b. [Brother] livermore's daughter of a wonderful] 
great timpany : the op''ation fuccceded at the prefent 
bleffed be the Lord." However, on the 28th of the 
same month, he says, " The above named woman cut of 
timpany, the next day dyed." 

A thousand anecdotes might be detailed about the 
members of the medical profession, many of them hap- 
pily pointing to the higher traits of character ; traits 
which, as we consider the ideal physician, make him the 
nearest and best friend to the family in the scenes of 
joy and of sorrow, — his footstep long waited for upon 
the stairs, his face a benediction. The shadows gather 
too closely around the practitioners of two hundred and 
fifty years ago for us to recognize thoroughly their 
characters and their daily lives ; but we have had the 
descendants of those very men within the present cen- 
tury, and we may well believe that their characters do 
not materially differ from those of their forbears. 

It is pleasantly and jocosely told of Dr. Thomas Wil- 
liams, who was born in Roxbury in 1736 (Harvard 

• Toner. 



Before the Year lyoo 115 

1757), and died in 181 5, after a life of remarkable in- 
dustry, temperance and activity, that he was a remark- 
ably courteous man, but somewhat near-sighted. As he 
passed from one part of the town to the other, mounted 
on his large white horse, he would bow to every window 
he passed, so as to avoid giving offence to anyone, — 
which recalls the incident related of one of our own 
century, that he one day picked up in his chaise some 
brother physician, and, busily engaged in conversation, 
would supplement his frequent bows with "That is one 
of my patients." Presently came along a lady who re- 
ceived the same salutation, and the same remark fol- 
lowed. "Yes," said his brother, "quite true; the lady 
was your wife." 

With this review of the condition of medicine in the 
earliest days of New England, — with all the crudities 
of practice, with the drawbacks which our ancestors 
were forced to endure, — the medical men of the period, 
without doubt, formed a class which ranked among the 
first in the community. There came to the surface, in 
the brief records we have of the earlier physicians, evi- 
dences of strong character, of benevolence, patriotism, 
piety and Christian lives, which have not been surpassed 
in later years. Let me rehearse, briefly, some of the 
records gleaned from manuscript memoirs gathered 
through many years, and there my paper will end. 

Samuel Fuller, you know, came over in the May- 
flower, and was the medical attendant of the Pilgrims. 



1 1 6 The Practice of Medicine in New England 

Freeman* says he was deacon in the Plymouth Church ; 
a skillful physician and distinguished for his piety ; he 
died in 1633. He extended his benevolent labors not 
only to the sick among his immediate friends at Ply- 
mouth and the aborigines in the vicinity, but in 1628/9, 
by the desire of Governor Endicott, he twice visited the 
settlement at Salem, where he manifested his skill and 
success in practice among the numerous sufferers under 
scurvy and other diseases. f Among those present at 
the gloomy period following the arrival of Winthrop at 
Charlestown, he was in attendance, offering his sym- 
pathy and such aid as he could with medicines. 

In the burying-ground at Concord is the gravestone 
of James Minot (Harvard 1675) ; the epitaph tells his 
story : — 

Here is interred the remains of James Minot, Esq., A. M., 
an excellent grammarian, enriched with the gift of prayer 
and preaching, a commanding officer, a phyfician of great 
value, a great lover of peace, as well as of juftice, and, which 
was his greateft glory, a gent" of diftinguiihed virtue and 
goodnefs, happy in a virtuous poflerity and, living religioufly, 
died comfortably Sep. 20. 1735. 

In 1696 a French privateer, fitted out, perhaps, at 
Bordeaux, and cruising on the American coast, was 
wrecked in Buzzard's Bay ; the crew were taken prison- 
ers and sent under guard to Boston. On board this 

♦ liistory, II : 485. t Frothingham, History of Charlestown, 43. 



Before the Year lyoo 117 

vessel was Dr. Francis Le Baron, a skillful physician 
and surgeon, whose liberation was asked by the inhab- 
itants of Plymouth, that he might practice his profession 
in that town. From him were descended those of the 
name in Plymouth and elsewhere. He died August 8, 
1704, and his gravestone can be seen on Burial Hill. 
Read his story as told in fiction under the title "A 
Nameless Nobleman," by Mrs. Mary J. Austin. 

Dr. Charles Chauncy, a distinguished scholar, a res- 
pectable physician and an eminent divine, came from 
England in the year 1638 and lived in Plymouth and 
Scituate. Besides performing his ministerial labors, he 
practiced to a considerable extent, from which Mather 
infers he was eminently qualified.! In 1654 he was 
chosen President of Harvard College, and died Feb. 19, 
1672. His six sons were said by Mather to have been 
eminent physicians ; several of them returned to England 
and did not come back. 

Leonard Hoar (Harvard 1650), Chauncy's successor as 
President of Harvard College from 1672 to his death, 
March 15, 1675, was a distinguished scholar and phys- 
ician, with a degree in medicine from Cambridge, in 
England, in 1671. 

Thomas Scottow, who graduated at Harvard in 1677, 
in his will calls himself a " chirurgeon." He lived for 

* There are various versions of his life-history, for which see the 
Le Baron Genealogy, pp. 442 ef seq. All agree as to his surgical skill, 
t N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg. x : 118 ; Sewall, 1825 : 49 ; Farmer. 



1 1 8 TJie Practice of Medicine iji New England 

a time in Scarborough, where he was captain of the 
garrison and a magistrate. A letter of his, calling for 
reinforcements against the Indians, September 26, 1689, 
is in the Massachusetts Archives.* 

You will recall that Dr. Elisha Cooke (who married 
the daughter of Governor Leverett), born in Boston 1637 
(Harvard 1657), died October 31, 171 5, was a delegate 
to the General Court and Speaker; Assistant in 1684, 
'85 and '86; one of the Council of Safety, 1689 ; agent 
to England for the Colony, 1 690-1. 

Isaac Addington, who lived in what was called Half 
Square Court, near what is now the corner of State and 
Devonshire streets, was Secretary of the Province be- 
fore the arrival of the new Charter ; he was opposed to 
Andros, and among the signers of the petition to him 
in 1686, when a demand was made on him to deliver 
up the Government of the Colony. 

Dr. Thaddeus Mason Harrisf tells us that John Glover 
(Harvard 1650), son of John Glover of Dorchester, be- 
queathed a sum of money for the support of scholars at 
college. He was a physician of Roxbury, and received 
the degree of doctor at Aberdeen in 1654. 

George Alcock, the ancestor of the Alcotts of Con- 
cord, lived on Bartlett street, in Roxbury. The Church 
Record says of himj : — "He was with the firlt com- 

* History of Old South Church, I : 1 16. 

t Massachusetts Historical Society, I, ix : i8o. 

X Drake, Roxbury, 363. 



Before the Year I'JOO 119 

pany in 1630 ; . . . when the people of Rockfborough 
joyned to the church at Dorchefter (until fuch time as 
God fhould give them opportunity to be a church among 
themfelves) he was by the church chofen a Deakon 
efpecially to regard the brethren at Rockfborough, and 
after he adjoined himfelf to this church at Rockfborough 
he was ordained a Deakon of this church. ... He lived 
in a good and godly fort and dyed in the end of the 
10*'^ month 1640, and left a good favour behind him 
the poor of the church much bewailing his lofs." 

In the Roxbury Church Records, under date of No- 
vember 27, 1665, Mr. Danforth, the Minister, writes : — 
" Mrs. Sarah Alcock dyed, a vertuous woman, of vn 
ftained life, very Ikilful in phyfick and chirurgery, exceed- 
ing aftive, yea vnwearied in miniftering to y^ necefiTities 
of others. Her workes precede her in y^ gates." In 
the next paragraph her husband, John, son of George, 
is mentioned. He was also a physician, graduated at 
Harvard College in 1646, and died March 29, 1667. 
Sarah was a daughter of Richard Palgrave, the first 
physician of Charlestown, who came with Winthrop in 
the Arbella. 

With these words I have striven to call up to your 
minds some of the men, the manners, and the social 
conditions of the seventeenth century. There comes up 
to our notice a long procession of those sturdy, hard- 
headed, strong-minded, intelligent workers in the medi- 
cal profession in the time of our forefathers. Their 



12 o The Practice of Medicine in Nezv England 

shadows from the fitful firehght flit upon our study 
walls. We think of those early days when there was 
never a clearing made that did not let in the light upon 
heroes and heroines ; we see the old doctors threading 
their way through the narrow streets in Boston town, 
or plodding along on the old mare over the country 
paths, with their saddle-bags pregnant with calomel and 
jalap, blue pill, senna and salts. How strangely the 
hard-lined faces, the quaint homespun garb, the Puritan 
hat, doublet and short-clothes, jostle with the surround- 
ings of the modern doctor of to-day I But the diamond 
was there in their natures, albeit it was concealed, as in 
the Kimberly mines, by a matrix of homely surround- 
ings. We are stronger for their strength, invigorated 
by their very trials. Let us thank God for their lives ; 
let us learn from their experience, and so, by looking 
backward to their forms, be the better able to look 
forward. 




SUBSCRIBERS TO 

THE READING ROOM 



AND 



MARINE DIARY 

IN THE EXCHANGE COFFEE HOUSE 

1810 



THE READING ROOM 



AND 



MARINE DIARY 



IN THE EXCHANGE COFFEE HOUSE. 1810 



Lists of Subscribers from the Society's Collections. 




' Then Commerce brought into the public walk 
The busy merchant ; the big warehouse built ; 
Then, too, the pillar'd dome, magnifick, heav'd 
Its ample roof " 

HE Exchange Coffee House, in which the 
Reading Room and Marine Diary were 
located, was, during its brief existence, one 
of the landmarks of the town of Boston, 
and was when erected the most capacious building and 
the most extensive establishment of its kind in the 
United States. The architect was Charles Bulfinch. 

It was situated on Congress Street near State Street, 
and was built of stone, marble and brick, and ornamented 
by the three orders of architecture ; it was seven stories 
in height and was in fact a sky-scraper of its day. 



124 '^^^^ Reading Room ayid Marine Diary 

In the centre of the building, which was devoted to 
pubhc, mercantile and hotel purposes, was a rectangular 
area open to the roof and surmounted by a dome, the top 
of which was eighty feet from the floor. Two hundred 
and ten apartments of various sizes were grouped around 
the central area, and among them were a dining hall on 
the second floor capable of seating three hundred per- 
sons, a ball room and a Masonic hall. 

In the public Reading Room on the entrance floor 
were kept journals of the important events of the day, 
both political and commercial, and in addition to the 
merchants who frequented it, patrons of the Coffee 
House were allowed to consult the files. 

The E.xchange Coffee House was finished in 1808, 
two years and a half being occupied in its erection, 
and its building was the cause of financial ruin to many 
residents of Boston. It cost the projector of the enter- 
prise, and those associated with him, more than half a 
million of dollars, and he failed before the building 
was finished. It was completed by others and used 
for the purposes named above until 181 8, when, on 
November 3, it was totally destroyed by fire.* 

The "Reading Room and Marine Diary" was sus- 
tained by subscriptions. Among the documents relating 
to our local history in the collections of the Bostonian 



* For a futher account of the Exchange Coffee House, see Snow's 
"History of Boston and Ominum Galherum," November, 1809. 




^■i 




I 



In the Exchange Cojfee House 125 

Society are two lists of subscribers, 1810-1 1, with the 
original signatures of Boston merchants of that period, 
which are printed below : some, evidently written in 
haste, are difficult to decipher, and a few, illegible, are 
omitted. But the lists are of interest as showing many 
familiar names of the " Solid men of Boston " a century 
ago. 

SUBSCRIPTION BOOK. 

To maintain the Marine Diary in future, as correctly 
& diligently as it has been for the paft, at the Exchange 
Coffee Houfe, it is found neceffary to raife a Subfcrip- 
tion for that purpofe. 

Thofe who fubfcribe $10, for one year commencing 
the 2^ of July, 1810, will have the previledge of pofting 
up a new advertifement every day on the columns of the 
area, which will be fitted up for that purpofe. Alfo the 
reading of all the moft popular newfpapers printed in 
the United States — Alfo Letter Bags for receiving 
Letters for Europe, the Weft Indies & Nova Scotia — 
& a Room appropriated, with a Telefcope Glafs, to keep 
a look out for all Veffels coming up the harbour. — 
Together with fuch other improvements as the publick 
patronage will afford. 

Thofe who fubfcribe $5, will have all the previledge 
mentioned above excepting the pofting of advertifements. 
The prefent Subfcribers to the Reading Room are em- 
braced in this article, until their time expires. 



126 The Reading Room and Marifie Diary 



We the Subscribers, promife to pay the Treafurer of 
the Exchange Coffee Houfe, in 6 months from this date, 
the feveral fums affixed to our names, provided the fore- 
going conditions are put into complete operation. Sub- 
fcription to be for one year, from July 2, 18 10, to July 
2, 181 1. 



Subscribers' Names. 

Wm. Gray 
S. Higginson & Co. 
Henry Chapman 
G. L. Chandler 
Barker & Bridge 
Putnam tS: Ingalls 
Philip Ammidon & Co. 
Edward Cruft 
James Andrews 
Richards & Jones 
Benj. Rich 
Z. Cook 

Alanson Tucker 
Geo. Baylies 
Johnson & Adams 
Wm. Matchett 
Ephraim Lock 
Faulkner & Haskell 
Green <& Rhodes 
Carlton & Robins 
Tucker & Powers 
Andw Eliot 
Saml Swett 
H. N. Rogers 
J no. C. Page 
Brigham & Bigelow 
David Thacher & Son 
Saml Appleton 



Amount. 

$10 

20 



Subscribers' Names. Amc 

James A. Allen 

Jno. Hancock 

Ralph Haskins 

Harrison & Willey 

Fettyplace & Watson 

Mackay, Prince & Mackay 

Gideon Snow 

David Marslon 

Lemuel Pope, Jr. 

Benjn Russell 

Samuel F. Coolidge (for self 

and W. S. Skinner) 
Whitwell & Bond 
Joseph & John F. Head 
Jona Dorr 
Gardner & Downer 
Lynde Walter 
Giles Lodge 
John Jacobs 
Charles Bradbury 
J. & S. D. Harris & Co. 
Sylvanus Gray 
H. W. Gordon 
T. K. Jones & Co. 
J. C. Jones 
Dani Sargent 10 

George Cabot 
Wm. Pickman 



In the Exchange Coffee House 



127 



Subscribers' Names. 

Geo. Lyman 

Ignatius Sargent 

Henry Gray 

Nehemiah Parsons 

Caleb Haywood 

Wainwright & Jackson 

Boardman & Pope 

Dunham & Lord 

Chas C. Foster 

Isaac Stevens 

O. Sherman 

John Rice & Wm. Savage 

Jon Davis 

Wm. Marston 

John B. Fitch & Co. 

Ebenr Farley 

Stark & McKinstry 

John S. Trott 

Chas. Savage 

Sumner & Coffin 

Shimmin & Coleman 

Goodwin & Whiting 

Josiah Bradlee 

R. D. Tucker 

T. & E. Motley 

Lunt & Leech 

Wm. & T. N. Wood 

Eben Stocker 

Patrick Grant 

J. & T. H. Perkins 

J. Parker 

Eben Rollins 

Stackpole & Wheeler 

S. Higginson, Jr. 

And. Cabot, Jr. 

T. C. Amory & Co. 

Cornelius Coolidge & Co. 



Amount. 

5 


Subscribers' Names. 

Nathl Goddard 


Amount. 


10 


Thacher Goddard 






Tho. Thaxter 






Jos. Field 
Loring & Curtis 
Philip Thompson 
Storrow & Brown 






W. G. Eliot 




e 5 


Ingraham & West 
E. Brigham & Co. 
Nathi Ruggles 
Ezra Davis 






J. Park 
Robt Hinkley 
Nath. Amory 
Isaac Munroe 


30 

35 




William B. Swett & Co. 

John Grew 

Munroe & Grosvenor 

Josiah Whitney 

E. & F. Breed 




lO 


Hammatt & Newell 






Binley, Valentine & Co. 
T. K. Thomas 






Munson & Barnard 






Stanton & Spelman 
John Tappan 
Wm. Sturgis 


10 




E. & A. Winchester 




10 


William Ropes 
Phineas Adams 






J. B. Borland 






Lincoln & Wheelwright 
Obadiah Huse 






Nathl Dana 






Brown & Hough 
Francis Lincoln 





128 TJie Reading Room and Marine Diaty 



Subscribers' Names. Ami 

M. Blake 

Joseph P. Bradlee 

Joseph Locke 

I. P. Davis 

Francis Lee 

N. P. Russell 

S. Sanford 

Bond & Prentiss 

J. Sewall & S. Salisbury, Jr. 

Matthew Bridge 

Benj. Weld 

Standfast Smith 

J. W. Burditt & Co. 

Torrey, Symmes & Co. 

Jotham Barnes 

Russell & Cutler 20 

Smith & Otis 

Asa Penniman 

Amos Green 

Townsend & Dunbar 

B. W. Lamb 

Joseph Otis 

Charles C. Parsons 

Tappan & Searle 

Samuel Hopkins 

Moore & Somes 

Munroe & Nash 

Hathaway & Davis 

James F. Trott 

Dickinson & Hastings 

James Carter 

Henry Lee 

Isaac Winslow 

William Walter & Co. 

Joseph Baxter, Jr. 

Geo. Burroughs, Jr. 

Whitney & Dorr 



Subscribers' Names. 

Wm. Ladd 
James Baker 
Andrew C. Don- 
Henry Paine 
Joseph Tilden 
Isaac Clapp 
Hammond & Coolidge 
Weeks & Fifield 
Barnard & Foxcroft 
Minchin & Welch 
John Marston 
John D. Williams 
M. Williams 
Howe & Spear 
Adams, Rhoades & Co. 
I. & E. Phillips 
Oliver Keating 
Jno. & Sami Wells 
P. T. Jackson 
Oliver Everett 
Fredk Wm Geyer, Jr. 
Peters & Pond 
E. & Wra Reynolds 
Wm R. Gray 
I. Thorndike 
Otis & Dwight 
Eben Parsons 
David Greene 
Robt Roberts 
Peter Coffin 
Wm Leverett 
H. & T. Wright 
Jer. Fitch 
Isaac Boyle 
Wm H. Wood & Co. 
John Ballard, Jr. & Co. 
Gassett, Upham & Co. 



In the Exchange Coffee House 



129 



Subscribers' Names. Amount. 


Subscribers' Names. 


Amount. 


Cretner & Brown 


5 


Wm. Parsons 




Benj. Smith 


5 


Ebenr Baker 




Waddington & Warren 


5 


A. & G. Welles 




Freeman &; Gushing 


5 


John Kettell 




Benj. T. Pickman 


5 


Adam Davis 




Sami S. Willard 


5 


Jos. D. Bass 




Rice, Reed & Co. 


5 


Sam. Cabot, Jr. 




Barzi Homer & Henry Bass, 




Joseph Hurd, Jun. 




Jr. 


5 


Freeman & Patten 




Amos Fitch 


5 


Young & Minns 




Saml W. Pomeroy 


5 


P. P. F. Degrand 




Henry Rice 


5 


Perkins Nichols 




Benj. R. Cheever 


5 


S. R. Miller & Co. 




Hall, Thacher & Co. 


5 


Wm Fenno 




Bartlett & Denison 


5 


N. R. Sturgis 




Slack & Whitney 


5 


Wm Keith & Halls 




Benj, Dearborn 


5 


John N. Gilbert 





SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR A READING ROOM. 

We the subscribers engage to pay to the proprietors 
of the Exchange Buildings five dollars a year (payable in 
advance) for the use of the reading room in s^ Build- 
ings — every subscriber will have the privilege of intro- 
ducing his friend, who may be a stranger in the town, 
to this room. 



Subscribers' Names. 

Isaac Scholfield. 
Francis Willey. 
Dudley S. Bradstreet. 
James Magee. 
Tappan & Searle. 
Ob. Wright. 
William Tucker. 



Subscribers' Names. 

Eben Larkin. 
John Parkman. 
N. Appleton. 
Benjn. Johnson. 
Joseph Clark. 
John Perry. 
Wm. Blackstock. 



130 The Reading Room and Matine Diary 



Subscribers' Names. 

Ch. D. Coolidge. 
Thos. Hurd. 
Weeks & Fifield. 
Winslow Lewis. 
Andrew Dunlap. 
P. B. de St. Georges. 
Edw. Blake, Jun. 
John J. Valentine. 
Ebenr Francis. 
John Tappan. 
Stephen B. White. 
W>n. Ladd. 
Gs. Tuckerman. 
John Ritchie. 
Sam. Bridge. 
Richard Wheadey. 
Sam Frothingham. 
E. Crane, Jr. 
George Trott. 
Elijah Withington. 
William Hurd. 
R. Whiting. 
David Greenough. 
Jno. Baker. 
Bond & Prentiss. 
John Grew. 
Josiah Marshall. 
T. B. Wales. 
Daniel P. Parker. 
Whitwell & Bond. 
Richard Briggs. 
Thomas Pons. 
William Ritchie. 
Nathai Curtis. 
William Payne. 
Abraham Priest Gibson. 
Lothrop R. Thacher. 



Subscribers' Names. 

Isaac Stevens. 
O. C. Greenleai. 
Neh. Parsons. 
T. H. Perkins. 
Joseph Howe. 
Zebedee Cook, Jr. 
D. B. Ripley. 
John W. Quincy. 
Scammel Penniman. 
Benj. L. Swan. 
Samuel Falcs. 
Gardner & Downer. 
Sam. D. Harris. 
Elihu Hobart. 
Wm. Ray. 
Thos. W. Ward. 
Sam. Spear. 
Jno. Greenwood. 
Tho. Carter. 
Tho. Brewer. 
Adams & Wood. 
William Taylor. 

A. Hunt. 
Walley & Foster. 
Robert G. Shaw. 
Richard Austin. 
Henry Parkman. 
Tim. Rogers. 
Sam. Smith. 
John Prince. 
Tho. P. Kettell. 
Bellows, Cordis & Jones. 
T. & J. Wiggin. 
Williams & Stone. 
Sami Myers. 

J. & T. Lamb. 

B. Gardner. 



In the Exchange Coffee House. 



131 



Subscribers' Names. 

Jno Cabot, jr. 
Walter Welch. 
Robt Cabot. 
Andrew Cabot. 
Thomas Q. Hill. 
Joseph Byrnes. 
Will. Pratt. 
W. Blackstock. 
Thomas & Greenleaf. 
John F. Priest. 
Thomas W. Hooper 
Field & Bowman. 
Paul Mondelly. 
Titus Welles. 
John S. Ellery. 
Taylor & Gamage. 
John R. Hurd. 

Thomas Wigglesworth. 

Nathl. Goodwin, jr. 

Beckford & Bates. 

Sam. Soley. 

James IngersoU. 

Charles Cleveland. 

George Thorndike. 

Israel Thorndike. 

John W. Rich. 

Worthington & Vose. 

Tuckerman & Rogers. 

Thomas Dennie. 

James White. 

Pratt & Andrews. 

William Manks. 

Redfield & Beers. 

George Trott. 

Aaron Baldwin. 

Moses Inglee. 



Subscribers' Names. 

John Chandler. 

George Hallett & Co. 

Hammatt & Newell. 

Jaques & Skilton. 

N. Appleton. 

David W. Child & Co. 

Oliver Crocker. 

Wm. Belcher. 

Tim. Williams. 

Cheever Newhall. 

R. I. Reed. 

Marston & Johnson. 

J. W. Holland. 

John Pratt & Will Fitz. 

Andrew Oliver, jr. 

Israel Munroe. 

Eben Preble. 

John Clapp. 

John Peck. 

Silas Penniman. 

Charles Adams. 

Jeremiah Lee. 

Samuel Fales. 

F. G. Bull. 

J. H. Dammers. 

Austin & Thayer. 

J, & J. Howe. 

N. Smith, Jr. 

Sam. Train. 

Benjamin Bangs. 

Daniel Wise. 

Elihu Hobart. 

Henry B. & C. Curtis. 

George Shed. 

Henry Sturgis. 

Isaac McLellan. 



INDEX 



I. INDEX OF NAMES 
II. INDEX OF PLACES AND SUBJECTS 



I. INDEX OF NAMES 



In cases of well-known public men the Christian name is given, though it may 
not always appear in the text, The names of subscribers to the " Read- 
ing Room and Marine Diary," pp. 1 26 et seq. are not indexed. 



Adams, 80 

Samuel 50 
Addiiigton, 23 

Isaac 118 
Alcock, George 118, 119 

John 1 19 

Sarah 1 19 

Alcott, 118 

Allen, James 36 

(Sheriff) Jerry 50 
Anderson, James 88 
Andrews, George H. 81 
Andros, Sir Edmund 18, 22, 2,2, 

35.36, 118 
Arnold, Elizabeth 69 
Austin, Mary J. 117 
Ayling, William L. 78 

Bagnall, Anthony loi 
Baker, 52, 53 

Mrs. 52, 53 
Ball, William T. W. 43 
Bankes, Richard 28 
Barnaby, Ruth 113 
Barrett, 74 

George H. 79, 83 



Barrett, Mrs. George H. 78, 86, 

87 

Giles H. 61, 63, 65 

Bartholini, 97 

Bartlett, 52, 53 

Bartley, 77 

Bates, 65 

Bernard, Mr. and Mrs. 81 

John 68, 71, 76 
Bird (Goody) 109 
Bishop, Mme. Anna 88 
Bland, Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey W. 

83 

& Skerritt 88 
Booth (The Elder) 59, 80, 88 

Junius Brutus 79, 88 
Bowen, 113 

Abel 92 
Brougham, John 83, 86, 87 
Brown, Francis H. 95 

G. Mills 78 
Brunton, Anne 73 
Buckingham, Joseph T. 55, 56 
Bulfinch, Charles 51, 92, 123 
Bullivant, Benjamin 28 
Butler, Fanny Kemble 61 



136 



Index of Names 



Canavan, Michael J. 14 
Canterbury, Archbishop of 28, 40 

Caulfield, 72 

Chalmers, 62 

Mrs. 61 
Chauncy, Charles 117 
Cheverus, Bishop 92 
Chickatawbut (Sachem) loS 
Clapp, William W. 85 

Clark, 30 

Cleveland, Mrs. 62 
Collins, 52, 53 

Mrs. 52, S3 

Conway, 80 

Cooke, Elisha 118 

George Frederick 75, 76 
Cooper, Thomas Aplhorpe 69-73, 

77. 79. !>o 
Cotton, John 27 
Couldock, Charles W. 88 
Cramer, Mrs. 83 

Cromwell, 67 

Cushman, Charlotte 88 

Danforth, Samuel 109, 119 
Darley, Mrs. 68, 70 

Davenport, 113 

Delevan, 88 

Descartes, 97 

Dickson, 71 

James A. 64, 68, 76-78 
Digby, Kenelm 97, 103 
Dinely, Fathergone 109 

William 109 
Ditters, Charles 54 
Douglas, William 99 

Drake, 108 

Drummond, Mns. 78 

Dudley, Joseph 22, 23, 25, 30, 32 

Duff, John 75, 77, 78 

Dunlap, Mrs. 87 

Dyke, Mary 75 



Eliot, Jared 102 

John 106, 114 

Samuel A. 82 
Ellsworth, D. P. 83 
Endicott, Gov. 100, 116 

Fennell, James 72, 73 
Fernald, Renald loi 
Finn, Henry J. 80, 81 
Firmin, Giles 10 1 
Fisher, Clara 81 

Fitz, 25 

Flemming, William M. 83 
Flynn, Thomas 79, 81 
Foote, Henry W. 9, 14, 40 
Forrest, Edwin 81, 85, 86, 88, 89 

Freeman, 116 

Frothingham, Nathaniel L. 83 
Fuller, Samuel loi, 113 
Fullerlye, J. M. 112 

Gannett, Deborah 68 
Gardener, Sylvan in 
Gardiner, John 50 
George, Capt. 22 
Gedney, Capt. 23, 25 
Gilbert, Mr. and Mrs. John 83 

John 84, 87 
Glover, John 118 

Gorton, 13 

Greenwood, Dr. 29, 32, 40 
Grosvenor, Esther no 

Hackett, James H. 81 
Hallam, Lewis 60 
Ham, John R. loi 
Hancock, (Gov.) John 46, 48 
Hardy, Letitia 86 

Harper, 49, 50, 63 

J. 67 

Harrington, 82 

Harris, Thaddeus Mason n8 



Index of Names 



137 



Harrison, Elizabeth 52, 53, 55 

Harvey, 96, 97 

Haswell, Susanna 61 
William 61 

Haydn, 54 

Hinckley, Gov. 23 
Hoar, Leonard 117 
Hodgkinson, John 60, 64 
Holbrooke, Daniel 109 
Holman, Mrs. 79 
Holmes, Oliver W. 106 

Hooker, 108 

Hugesson, Mr. 100 
Humbert, C. 112 

Hunter, 113 

Hutchinson, Mrs. Ann 13, 109 

Inchbald, Mrs. 64 
Incledon, 77 

Johnson, Edward 108 
Jones, 52, 53 

Mrs. 52, 53, 65, 68 

W. Clifton 57 

Josselyn, n, 17 

Joyliffe, 17 

Kean, 80 

Charles 85 

Edmund 77, 78 
Keayne, Robert 11 

Keene, 80 

Kemble, 61 

John Philip 76 

Kenney, 52, 53 

Kepler, 97 

Kilner & Clarke 78, 79 

King, 8 1 

Kneeland, Abner 83 
Knopp, Nicholas no 

Lafayette, Gen. 80 



Laud, Archbishop 16 
Le Baron, Francis 117 

Lechford, 17 

Leverett, (Gov.) 118 
Lewis, Monk 72 

Livermore, 114 

Lloyd, James 113 

London, Bishop of 14, 18, 20, 21, 

28,34 
Loring, 7 1 

Macready, William Charles 81 
Maeder, Mrs. James G. 81 
Marshall, Mrs. 62 

Martin, 49 

Mason, 23, 25, 30 

John, loi 
Mather, 14, 96, 117 

Cotton 36, 45, 103 

Increase 35 
Matthews, Charles 80 

McAllister, 88 

Malpighi, 97 

Meadowcraft, 60 

Merriam & Brewer, 89 
Merry, Robert 73 
Minot, James n6 
Moodey, Joshua 36 
Moore, Mrs. 76 

Thomas 75 

Morton, 108 

Muller, Mrs. 83 
Murdock, James E. 86 



Nathans, 


88 


Nelson, - 


52> S3 


Newton, 


97 


Nowell, - 


24 



Oakes, James 86 
Osgood, Frances Sargent 
Otis, Harrison Gray 50 



138 



Index of Names 



Paige, Capt. 22 

Paine, Robert Treat 54, 64 

Palgrave, Richard 119 

William 10 1 
Pare, Ambroise 97 
Parker, Theodore no 

Parodi, 88 

Payne, John Howard 74, 75 
Peabody, Andrew P. 59 
Pelby, 80 

William 76 
Perry, Bishop 40 
Peter, Hugh u 
Phillips, Henry 77, 79 

Mrs. 83 
Placide, 49 

Henry 85, 86 

Thomas 83, 85 
Plinth, Mahlon 112 

Uctavius 1 12 
Poe, Edgar Allan 69 
Powell, Charles Stuart 48, 50, 52- 
54. 56. 59. 62, 63 

Cordelia 53, 56 

Elizabeth (Harrison) 55, 60, 64, 
70, 76, 80 

Snelling 52, 53, 55-57. 65, 67- 
69, 71, 77, 78, So, ^i 
Pownall, Mrs. 58 
Pynchon, Major 23, 25 

Quinan, John R. 100 

Randolph, Edward 11, 14, 15, 18- 
23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 31, II, 34, 
40 
Mrs. 17 

Ratcliffe, Robert 20, 22, 24-27, 30, 

37 
Richardson, George Eliot 104 
Rivers, Miss 81 
Robison, 30 



Rock, Miss 81 
Rowson, Mrs. 61, 62 

William 61, 62 
Russell, William 100 

Scheiner, 97 

Scott, Walter 97 
Scottow, Thomas 117 

Seguin, 85 

Sewall, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30, 

32. 34 

Samuel 27 

Sharp, 113 

Shimmin, William 89 
Siddons, Mrs. 61 
Sinclair, Mrs. 89 
Smith, 28, 29 

Capt. John 23, loi 

Mrs. W. H. 83 
Sprague, Charles 80 
Stametz, Charles 54 
Stanley, Mrs. 71-73 

Steno, 97 

Stockwell, 84 

Stodder, Mrs. 107 
Stoughton, William 23, 25 
Sylvan, J. no, n2 
Sylvius, 97 

Taylor, 59, 73 

Thome, Charles R. 87 
Tree, Ellen 85 

Twaits, 73 

Tyler, John S. 60, 61 

Mrs. 60 

Royal 1 59 
Tyng, E. 25 

Usher, Luke 70 

Vanderhoff, George 89 
Vanderbosch, 21 



Index of Names 



139 



Vane, Sir Harry 27 
Vanhall, 54 

Wadsworth, John 104 
Wagstaff, Miss 83 

Wait, 25 

Wallack, James W. 77, 85, 88 
Walton, - — 81 
Ward, Ned 11, 12 

Waring, 79 

Warren, 1 1 3 

(Mrs.) Anne 73 

William 73 
Washington, George 61, 65 
Webster, Daniel 73, 8 1 

Welch, 88 

West, Gov. 23, 76 
Westray, Elizabeth 68 
Wharton, Dudley 23, 25 
White, William Charles 63, 75 
Whiting, John no 
Whitlock, C. E. 65, 67 

Henry 68 



Whitlock, Mrs. 61 

Wignell, 62, 73 

Willard, 18, 23 

Samuel 36 
Williams, Roger n, 13 

Thomas 114 
Williamson, J. B. 61, 62 

Willis, 97 

Wilson, Lambert 100 
Winthrop, Capt. 23, 25 

Gov. 116, 1 19 

John loi, 103 

Mrs. 107 

Waitstill 103 
Woodham, Mrs. 76 

Woods, 49 

Woodworth, Samuel 79 
Wrighton, Miss 59 
Wyat, (Widow) 113 
Wyman, Oliver C. 83, 87, 

Young, 100 




II. INDEX OF PLACES AND SUBJECTS 



Aberdeen, Scotland ii8 
Albany, N. Y. 8i 
Alexandria, Va. 73 
Antego (Antigua) 30 
" Arbella " 10, loi, 1 19 
Arethusa frigate 66, 67 
Authorities cited by Foote 40 

Baltimore, Md. 100 
Bay Psalm Book 12, 27 
Bordeaux (?" ranee) 116 
Boston, Mass. 9, 11, 19, 28, 36,37, 
45. 50. 53. 55. 57. 59. 60. 62, 
64, 65, 68, 71-74. 77. 79-81, 
86, 88, qo, loi, 103, 107-109, 
III, 113, 116, 118, 120, 123- 
125 

Academy 82 

Anglican Holy Days First kept 
in 24,37, 38 

Board Alley Theatre, 48, 59 

Cathedral of the Holy Cross 92 

Columbian Centinel 50 

Columbian lx)dge 57 

Common 14 

Dearborn's Theatre 64 

Exchange Coffee House 72, 
123-125 

Expulsion of a Huguenot 21 



Boston, Mass. : — First Anglican 
Minister in 20 

First Anglican Service in 24 

First Church 12, 14, 36 

Franklin Place 92 

Gazette 58 

Haymarket Theatre 62-64, 68, 
69 

Howard Athenaeum 78 

Interior Decorations of the Fed- 
eral Street Theatre 55 

Kean Riot 80 

King's Chapel 16-18, 28, 39 

Legacy of Robert Keayne 1 1 

Leveret's Wharf ^2 

Librar)' Room in First Town- 
House 29, 31, 34 

Long Wharf 16 

Lowell Institute 83 

Lyceum 83 

Marmalet Madams 11 

Mrs. Dunlap's Shop 87 

Museum 59, 79 

National Theatre 76, 87, 89 

New England Galaxy 57 

Nine o'clock Bell 11 

Odeon 82 

Old South Meeting House 14, 
!?• 22, 36, 39 



Index of Places and Subjects 



141 



Boston, Mass. : — Old State House 

14.95 
Reading Room and Marine 

Diary 123-125 
Riotous Conduct in Board Alley 

50. 51 
Second Church 14 
Sewall's Diary cited 22-25, 30, 

31. ZZ^ 37 
Sewall's Elouse 27 
St. Paul's Royal Arch Chapter 

57 

The Great Elm never a " Gal- 
lows-tree " 14 

The Primitive Town House 9, 
10-41 

Third Church, see Old South 

Tontine Crescent 92 

Tremont Theatre 81, 82 

Trinity Church 57 
Bostonian Society 14, 124 
Bremen Rath-haus 10 
Brookline, Mass. in 

Punch Bowl Tavern in 
Brooklyn, N. Y. in 

Black Hawk Tavern 1 1 1 
Buzzard's Bay 116 

Cambridge, Eng. 117 
Cambridge, Mass. 108 

Harvard College 25, 59, 117, 1x9 
Carmarthen, Wales 57 
Charles River 12 
Charlestown, Mass. 116-119 
Chesapeake River loi 
Clergy Practitioners of Medicine 

101-103 
Concord, Mass. 116, 118 

Duxbury, Mass. 104 
Dorchester, Mass. 109, 118, 119 



Early Methods of Medical Prac- 
tice 99 
East Haddam, Conn. 112 
East Hartford, Conn, in, 112 
Epidemic Influenza in 1647, 108 

First Medical School in America 

100 
Forest Hills 56 
Frogs as a Cancer Remedy 104 

" Great Emigration " 10 

Halifax, N. S. 56 

Harvard College 114, 116-119 

Jamestown, Va. 95 

Killingworth, Conn. 102 

Lexington (steamer) burned 80 
Liverpool, Eng. 78 
London, Eng. 45, 48, 56, 58, 70, 
83. 103, 113 

Bishop of 14, 18, 21 

Covent Garden Theatre 44, 56, 

IZ 
Drury Lane Theatre 67, 71 
Long Island Sound 80 
Lovell's Island 61 

Massachusetts Bay 96 
"Mayflower" loi, 115 
Medford, Mass. 62 
Midwifery, Practice of 113, 114 
Moral Lectures 45 

Nantasket, Mass. 22, 61 
Neponset, Mass. 108 
New Haven, Conn. 96 

Yale College 102 
Newport, R. I. 103 
Newton, Mass. 62 



142 



Index of Places and Subjects 



New York, N. Y. 65, 78 
North Dedham, Mass. 112 

Oyster Bay, L. I. 113 

Paris, France 103 

Patapsco River loi 

Peruvian Bark 105 

Philadelpliia, Pa. 61, 62, 70-73. 

Ill, 112 
Plymouth, Mass. 96, loi, 106, loS, 

117 
Burial Hill 106, 117 
Plymouth Church 116 
Portsmouth, N. H. 36, loi 
Providence, R. I. 1 1 1 

Quakers in Boston 13-15 

Kain Water Doctors 1 10-112 
Randolph, Mass. 1 1 2 



Richmond Theatre 73 
Rose frigate 22 

Rosicrucian School of Medicine 96 
Roxbury 106, 108, 109, 112, 114, 
1 18, 119 

Salem, Mass, ic, 100, 116 

First Church 10, 11 
Scarborough, Me. 118 
Scituate, Mass. 1 17 
Southampton, Eng. 10 
Stage Plays in New England 45 

Titus A. Peep, Who was he 86 

Watertown, Mass. 114 
Wenham, Mass. 109 
West Roxbury, Mass. iio 
Women's Rights in the Seven- 
teenth Century 13 




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