desirous of entering into this new union. It will hereafter be seen, that Mr. Jefferson devoted much of his public and private life to prove that they were dis-unionists and monarchists; factious and traitorous.

LETTER IX.

FEB. 20, 1833.

GOVERNOR HANCOCK continued in office till October, 1793, and then died at the age of fifty-six, of gout and exhaustion. In the latter years of his life, he was severely afflicted with the gout, and hardly competent to perform the duties of his place, even so far as these can be performed in one's house. Still he retained a strong hold on the popular good will. His funeral was conducted with great ceremony. The militia of the town and surrounding country were called into service. The judges of the Supreme Judicial Court had, up to this time, worn robes of scarlet, faced with black velvet, in winter, and black silk gowns in summer. On this occasion they appeared in the latter, but, for some reason, they wore neither robes nor gowns afterwards.

Hancock had some faithful friends and advisers in whom he reposed entire confidence. Among them was his clergyman, Dr. Samuel Cooper, though this person died during the early years of Hancock's magistracy, (in December, 1783,) at the age of fifty-nine. Dr. Cooper was one of the great men in revolutionary days. He was learned and eloquent, and one of the most finished gentlemen of that age, and one of the ablest divines of any age. He was singularly neat in his dress. He wore a white bushy wig, a cocked hat, and gold-headed cane. He was tall, well formed, and had an uncommonly handsome, intelligent, and amiable face. One could not fail to remember him well who had ever seen him.

He was as much of a politician as a divine, and a powerful writer on the patriot side; but there are no writings of his preserved, except sermons, and newspaper essays, which cannot now be distinguished as his. He is supposed to

have sacrificed his life to the inordinate use of Scotch snuff. His brain was first seriously affected, and his mind was much impaired before his physical powers failed. He told a friend who visited him a short time before the close of his life," when you come again, bring with you a cord; fasten "ends of it in each corner of the room; let the cords "cross in my head to keep it steady." There are representations of the personal appearance of Dr. Cooper, having inscribed on them this notice of his eloquence, melle dulcior fluebat oratio. The most distinguished men of that time were his parishioners, and among others, Governors Bowdoin and Hancock.

It may not be uninteresting to sketch the condition and usages of society about the time of the adoption of the constitution, according to the impression now retained of them. There were families who were affluent and social. They interchanged dinners and suppers. The evening amusement was usually games at cards. Tables were loaded with provisions. Those of domestic origin were at less than half the cost of the present time. The busy part of society dined then, as now, at one, others at two o'clock; three o'clock was the latest hour for the most formal occasions. There were no theatrical entertainments; there was a positive legal prohibition.

There were concerts. About the year 1760, Concert Hall was built by a gentleman named Deblois, for the purpose of giving concerts; and private gentlemen played and sang for the amusement of the company. There were subscription assemblies for dancing, at the same place, and it required a unanimous assent to gain admission. Dress was much attended to by both sexes. Coats of every variety of color were worn, not excepting red; sometimes the cape

and collar were of velvet, and of a different color from the coat. Minuets were danced, and contrè dances. Cotillions were of later date. They were introduced by the French, who were refugees from the West India Islands. A very important personage, in the fashionable world, was Mrs. Haley, sister of the celebrated John Wilkes. She came over in the year 1785, and purchased the house in which the late Gardiner Greene lived, at the head of Court Street. She was then advanced in life, of singular personal appearance, but a lady of amiable deportment. She afterwards married a gentleman who was the uncle of a celebrated Scotch reviewer; but after some years returned to England. Her house was a place of fashionable resort. Marriages and funerals were occurrences of much more ceremony than at the present day. The bride was visited daily for four successive weeks. Public notice was given of funerals, and private invitations also. Attendance was expected; and there was a long train of followers, and all the carriages and chaises that could be had. The number of the former in town was not more than ten or twelve. There were no public carriages earlier than the beginning of 1789; and very few for some years afterwards. Young men, at their entertainments, sat long and drank deep, compared to the present custom. Their meetings were enlivened with anec

dote and song.

Among the remarkable visiters of this country was Brissot de Warville, in 1788, afterwards chief of a faction in the French Revolution called the Girondists. He was executed in Robespierre's time, at the age of thirty-eight. He came over to learn how to be a republican. He was a handsome, brisk little Frenchman, and was very well received here. He wrote a book on this country. He was much delighted with the Quakers, and is said to have respected their simplicity of dress, and to have introduced, in his own country, the fashion of wearing the hair without powder.

The means of education have greatly improved. There One in School Street, and one at

were two Latin Schools.

the north part of the town. were one at Exeter (New Hampshire) and one at Andover, at which boys were prepared for college. It was a common practice for clergymen to receive boys into families to prepare them for college. The means of educating females were far inferior to those of the present time. The best were "boarding-schools," and there were but two or three of these. The accomplishments acquired were inferior to those which are common among hundreds of young females of the present time. The sum of acquirements now, in the process of education, greatly surpasses that of forty years ago in both sexes. The moral condition of society, among the well informed, (so far as is seen on the surface,) is greatly improved. There is more occupation of various sorts. Society, collectively, is undoubtedly better. Whether its members, in all things then and now, innocent, are happier or not, one cannot judge from youthful impressions. In one respect there is a change of immeasurable value; that is, in the intercourse of parents and children. It is very possible that there are some who prefer the strict discipline of former days; and who believe that as much of substantial benefit has been lost as gained, in the changes which have occurred. If this be so, it arises from the quality of education, and not because there is more of it.

The only academies recollected

LETTER X.

FEB. 22, 1833.

THE first occurrences under the new national government, are known from the most authentic sources, and eminently so from the fifth volume of Marshall's Life of Washington.

The government, though one of deliberate consent, encountered, from the first moment of its being, a powerful opposition. This gradually strengthened, and at the end of twelve years, acquired an ascendency, and converted the founders of the government into an opposition. It will appear, in distant times, to those who study the records of times recently passed, that when the government has been administered well, the principles developed by those who were its founders have been adhered to. How long the fabric on which the liberties of this nation depend, can endure the shocks which it must inevitably encounter, is beyond the power of conjecture. It may continue through many generations, or expire before another is gone. Its form and name may continue, though the true purposes for which it was instituted, may have been entirely perverted. There is an unceasing peril in the intrinsic difficulty of preserving the exact line between state and national authority. The same population, in each of the states respectively, being subjected to the two governments (national and state) may honestly divide in opinion as to rights and duties under each. This has been one of the causes of dissension, sometimes operating in one part of the union, and sometimes in another. The end of the union must come from this cause, or from the extinction of state governments, by the establishment of tyranny in the federal