CHAPTER VI.
POMPS AND VANITIES.
A FEW evenings afterwards, cousin Clara happened
inquire of Grandfather whether the old chair had never been present at a
ball. At the same time little Alice brought forward a doll, with whom
she had been holding a long conversation.
"See, Grandfather! "cried she. "Did such a pretty lady as this ever sit
in your great chair?"
These questions led Grandfather to talk about the fashions and manners
which now began to be introduced from England into the provinces. The
simplicity of the good old Puritan times was fast disappearing. This was
partly owing to the increasing number and wealth of the inhabitants, and
to the additions which they continually received by the arrival and
settlement of people from beyond the sea.
Another cause of a pompous and artificial mode of life, among those who
could afford it, was that the example was set by the royal governors.
Under the old charter, the governors were the representatives of the
people, and therefore their way of living had probably been marked by a
popular simplicity. But now, as they represented the person of the king,
they thought it necessary to preserve the dignity of their station by
the practice of high and gorgeous ceremonials. And, besides, the
profitable offices under the government were filled by men who had lived
in London, and had there contracted fashionable and luxurious habits of
living which they would not now lay aside. The wealthy people of the
province imitated them; and thus began a general change in social life.
"So, my dear Clara," said Grandfather, "after our chair had entered the
Province House, it must often have been present at balls and festivals;
though I cannot give you a description of any particular one. But I
doubt not that they were very magnificent; and slaves in gorgeous
liveries waited on the guests, and offered them wine in goblets of
massive silver."
"Were there slaves in those days!" exclaimed Clara.
"Yes, black slaves and white," replied Grandfather. "Our ancestors not
only brought negroes from Africa, but Indians from South America, and
white people from Ireland. These last were sold, not for life, but for a
certain number of years, in order to pay the expenses of their voyage
across the Atlantic. Nothing was more common than to see a lot of likely
Irish girls advertised for sale in the newspapers. As for the little
negro babies, they were offered to be giver away like young kittens."
"Perhaps Alice would have liked one to play with, instead of her doll,"
said Charley, laughing.
But little Alice clasped the waxen doll closer to her bosom.
"Now, as for this pretty doll, my little Alice," said Grandfather, "I
wish you could have seen what splendid dresses the ladies wore in those
times. They had silks, and satins, and damasks, and brocades, and high
head-dresses, and all sorts of fine things. And they used to wear hooped
petticoats of such enormous size that it was quite a journey to walk
round them."
"And how did the gentlemen dress?" asked Charley.
"With full as much magnificence as the ladies," answered Grandfather.
"For their holiday suits they had coats of figured velvet, crimson,
green, blue, and all other gay colors, embroidered with gold or silver
lace. Their waistcoats, which were five times as large as modern ones,
were very splendid. Sometimes the whole waistcoat, which came down
almost to the knees, was made of gold brocade."
"Why, the wearer must have shone like a golden image!" said Clara.
"And then," continued Grandfather, "they wore various sorts of periwigs,
such as the tie, the Spencer, the brigadier, the major, the Albemarle,
the Ramillies, the feather-top, and the full-bottom. Their three-
cornered hats were laced with gold or silver. They had shining buckles
at the knees of their small-clothes, and buckles likewise in their
shoes. They wore swords with beautiful hilts, either of silver, or
sometimes of polished steel, inlaid with gold."
"Oh, I should like to wear a sword!" cried Charley.
"And an embroidered crimson velvet coat," said Clara, laughing, "and a
gold brocade waistcoat down to your knees."
"And knee-buckles and shoe-buckles," said Laurence, laughing also.
"And a periwig," added little Alice, soberly, not knowing what was the
article of dress which she recommended to our friend Charley.
Grandfather smiled at the idea of Charley's sturdy little figure in such
a grotesque caparison. He then went on with the history of the chair,
and told the children that, in 1730, King George II. appointed Jonathan
Belcher to be governor of Massachusetts in place of the deceased
Governor Burner. Mr. Belcher was a native of the province, but had spent
much of his life in Europe.
The new governor found Grandfather's chair in the Province House. He was
struck with its noble and stately aspect, but was of opinion that age
and hard services had made it scarcely so fit for courtly company as
when it stood in the Earl of Lincoln's hall. Wherefore, as Governor
Belcher was fond of splendor, he employed a skilful artist to beautify
the chair. This was done by polishing and varnishing it, and by gilding
the carved work of the elbows, and likewise the oaken flowers of the
back. The lion's head now shone like a veritable lump of gold. Finally
Governor Belcher gave the chair a cushion of blue damask, with a rich
golden fringe.
"Our good old chair being thus glorified," proceeded Grandfather, "it
glittered with a great deal more splendor than it had exhibited just a
century before, when the Lady Arbella brought it over from England. Most
people mistook it for a chair of the latest London fashion. And this may
serve for an example, that there is almost always an old and timeworn
substance under all the glittering show of new invention."
"Grandfather, I cannot see any of the gilding," remarked Charley, who
had been examining the chair very minutely.
"You will not wonder that it has been rubbed off," replied Grandfather,
"when you hear all the adventures that have since befallen the chair.
Gilded it was; and the handsomest room in the Province House was adorned
by it."
There was not much to interest the children in what happened during the
years that Governor Belcher remained in the chair. At first, like
Colonel Shute and Governor Burner, he was engaged in disputing with the
Legislature about his salary. But, as he found it impossible to get a
fixed sum, he finally obtained the king's leave to accept whatever the
Legislature chose to give him. And thus the people triumphed, after this
long contest for the privilege of expending their own money as they saw
fit.
The remainder of Governor Belcher's term of office was principally taken
up in endeavoring to settle the currency. Honest John Hull's pine-tree
shillings had long ago been worn out, or lost, or melted down again; and
their place was supplied by bills of paper or parchment, which were
nominally valued at threepence and upwards. The value of these bills
kept continually sinking, because the real hard money could not be
obtained for them. They were a great deal worse than the old Indian
currency of clam-shells. These disorders of the circulating medium were
a source of endless plague and perplexity to the rulers and legislators,
not only in Governor Belcher's days, but for many years before and
afterwards.
Finally the people suspected that Governor Belcher was secretly
endeavoring to establish the Episcopal mode of worship in the provinces.
There was enough of the old Puritan spirit remaining to cause most of
the true sons of New England to look with horror upon such an attempt.
Great exertions were made to induce the king to remove the governor.
Accordingly, in 1740, he was compelled to resign his office, and
Grandfather's chair into the bargain, to Mr. Shirley.
