Curiosities of History: Boston, September Seventeenth, 1630-1880

“I therefore command all Judges, Justices, Sheriffs, and other Officers, to use their utmost endeavors to enforce the laws for promoting religion and virtue, and restraining all vice and sedition; and I earnestly recommend to all ministers of the gospel that they be vigilant and active in inculcating a due submission to the laws of God and man; and I exhort all the people of this province, by every means in their power, to contribute what they can towards a general reformation of manners, restitution of peace and good order, and a proper subjection to the laws, as they expect the blessing of Heaven.

“And I do further declare, that in the disposal of the offices of honor and trust, within this province, the supporters of true religion and good government shall be considered as the fittest objects of such appointments.

“And I hereby require the Justices of assize, and Justices of the peace in this province, to give strict charge to the grand Jurors for the prosecution of offenders against the laws: and that, in their several courts they cause this proclamation to be publickly read immediately before the charge is given.

“GIVEN at the Council Chamber in Salem, the 21st day of July, 1774, in the fourteenth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord GEORGE the Third by the Grace of GOD of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c.

    “Thomas Gage.

“By his Excellency’s Command,

Thos. Flucker, Secry.

“GOD save the KING.”

The gist of the proclamation, which was specially intended for the people of Boston, for whose benefit the words “sedition and hypocrisy” were used, was in the phrase, “submission to the laws of God and man.” This proclamation was not like the previous one, directed to the sheriffs; nor was it ordered to be posted in the several towns of the province; nor was it ordered to be read from the pulpits of the churches; but the justices of the courts and grand juries were to see to its observance. It was, in fact, a mere piece of gasconade on the part of the governor, in imitation of his Majesty very likely; but, like the others, nobody either observed it or troubled themselves about it; and it has very rarely been spoken of since, if at all, by any historian. However it may be characterized, it simply had the effect to exasperate the minds of the people, owing to the insertion of hypocrisy among the immoralities.[10 - Gordon’s History, Vol. I., p. 253.] The proclamation itself, as they thought, was the boldest piece of political hypocrisy the government had yet perpetrated. It was much like every thing else which the king, ministry, or governor had done from the time of the stamp-act, and had a tendency to make matters worse instead of better.

Gen. Gage’s proclamation of the 12th of June, 1775, offering pardon to all who shall lay down their arms, &c., is well known. It begins,—

“Whereas the infatuated multitude who have suffered themselves to be conducted by certain well-known incendiaries and traitors in a fatal progression of crimes against the constitutional authority of the state, have at length proceeded to avowed rebellion,” &c. … “A number of armed persons to the amount of many thousands assembled on the 19th of April,” &c. “In this exigency I avail myself of the last effort,” and thereupon offers “a full pardon to all who shall lay down their arms, excepting Samuel Adams and John Hancock, whose offences are of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other consideration than that of condign punishment,” &c.

The proclamation was probably written by Gen. Burgoyne, and so little attention was paid to it that the army continued intact at Cambridge, and in exactly one week from its date occurred the battle of Bunker Hill, which proved so “fatal” to more than a thousand British soldiers. In less than four months after this time Gen. Gage “laid down his arms” and returned to England; and a few months later, in March, 1776, the army and the navy followed his example and left the country, taking the “Port Act” with them, but leaving for the use of the colony, arms, ammunition, provisions, and even medical stores.

XIII.

CURIOSITIES OF THE MARKET

“The turnpike road to people’s hearts, I find
Lies through their mouths, or I mistake mankind.”

    [Peter Pindar.

After arriving at Mishawam, and voting the church and that the minister should be supported at the common charge, it became necessary to think of providing in some way for the sustenance of the party. Although Gov. Winthrop, when he arrived off the harbor, went up to Salem in a boat, and was handsomely entertained by Gov. Endicott, whom he came to displace, with a rich venison paté, such fare was not afterwards found to be very plenty; and the strawberries, which those he left on board the ships found on Cape Ann, were not always to be had, nor a very substantial food for the settlers. Of course, the party had a supply of provisions,—a market of their own which they brought with them; and, as nobody could become a freeman or have a vote in public affairs unless he was a member of the church, it is to be inferred that nobody would be allowed any thing to eat only on the same condition; and this, if Peter Pindar was right, was a facile method of conversion and making disciples of the most obdurate. Hunting and fishing were no doubt readily resorted to as rather promising pursuits, and possibly some thought may have been given to cornfields, though there was no great anxiety for work. At all events, however successful the hunting parties were, so much of their supply of provisions was bartered with the Indians for furs that a scarcity of food was soon experienced, and then they had to buy corn of them. Matters soon became serious: for whatever might have been the primary object of the Puritans in coming to this country, eating was not beyond a secondary consideration, to say the least of it; and a market of supplies for the material man became an important consideration then, and has been so ever since. Dr. Johnson, who loved a good dinner and rarely found it at home, thought “a tavern was the throne of human felicity;” but, of course, such a notion as that never entered the minds of the Puritans.

The first thanksgiving was for the safe arrival of the party, and the next was for the arrival of the “Lion,” or some other ship, with a supply of food; and this, it is supposed, was not bartered off for furs. Indian corn, which was a new thing to the settlers, was for a long time the principal diet, occasionally modified with fish; but the truth is, how the settlers managed to live through all this time, in such a climate, up to the times that we know something about, is a complete mystery.

Capt. Roger Clapp, who arrived at Hull on the 30th of May, 1630, about a fortnight before Gov. Winthrop arrived at Salem, and who died in 1690-91, described the state of things “in those days,” in the following words:—

“It was not accounted a strange thing in those Days to drink Water, and to eat Samp or Hominie without Butter or Milk. Indeed, it would have been a strange thing to see a piece of Roast Beef, Mutton or Veal; though it was not long before there was Roast Goat. After the first Winter, we were very Healthy; though some of us had no great Store of Corn. The Indians did sometimes bring Corn, and Truck with us for Cloathing and Knives; and once I had a Peck of Corn or thereabouts, for a little Puppy-Dog. Frost-fish, Muscles and Clams were a Relief to many.”

ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND FISHES

Wood, in his famous “New England’s Prospect,” gives some particulars about game and hunting among the early settlers in 1639:—

“Having related unto you the pleasant situation of the country, the healthfulness of the climate, the nature of the soil, with his vegetatives, and other commodities; it will not be amiss to inform you of such irrational creatures as are daily bred, and continually nourished in this country, which do much conduce to the well-being of the inhabitants, affording not only meat for the belly, but cloathing for the back. The beasts be as followeth:—

“The kingly Lion, and the strong arm’d Bear,
The large limb’d Mooses, with the tripping Deer;
Quill-darting Porcupines, and Raccoons be
Castel’d in the hollow of an aged tree;
The skipping Squirrel, Rabbet, purblind Hare,
Immured in the self same castle are,
Lest red-ey’d Ferret, wily Foxes should
Them undermine, if rampir’d but with mould;
The grim-fac’d Ounce, and rav’nous howling Wolf,
Whose meagre paunch sucks like a swallowing gulf;
Black glistering Otters, and rich coated Bever,
The Civet scented Musquash smelling ever.”

WHAT BEFELL A HUNTER

“Two men going a fowling, appointed at evening to meet at a certain pond side, to share equally, and to return home; one of these gunners having killed a Seal or Sea-calf, brought it to the pond where he was to meet his comrade, afterwards returning to the sea-side for more game, and having loaded himself with more Geese and Ducks he repaired to the pond, where he saw a great Bear feeding on his seal, which caused him to throw down his load, and give the Bear a salute; which though it was but with goose-shot, yet tumbled him over and over; whereupon the man supposing him to be in a manner dead, ran and beat him with the handle of his gun. The Bear perceiving him to be such a coward to strike him when he was down, scrambled up, standing at defiance with him, scratching his legs, tearing his cloaths and face, who stood it out till his six foot gun was broken in the middle; then being deprived of his weapon, he ran up to the shoulders into the pond, where he remained till the Bear was gone, and his mate come in, who accompanied him home.”

The author gives a peculiar description of the animals named. Of the lion, he says he had never seen one; but others “lost in the woods have heard such terrible roarings as have made them much agast: which must be either Devils or Lions;” so lions have it. The moose “is as big as an ox, slow of foot, headed like a Buck, with a broad beam, some being two yards wide in the head; their flesh is as good as beef, their hides good for cloathing.” He describes deer, rabbits, squirrels, &c. The small squirrel troubles the planters so, that they have “to carry their Cats into the corn-fields till their corn be three weeks old.” “The beasts of offence be Squncks, Ferrets, Foxes, whose impudence sometimes diverts them to the good Wives Hen-roost, to fill their paunch.” He gives a fearful account of the wolves, which set on swine, goats, calves, &c., and care nothing for a dog.

Equally curious with these are his descriptions of the “beasts living in the water,” as the otter, musquash, &c., and of “the birds and fowls, both of land and water.”

“The princely Eagle, and the soaring Hawk,
Whom in their unknown ways there’s none can chalk;
The Humbird for some Queen’s rich cage more fit,
Than in the vacant wilderness to sit;
The swift-winged Swallow sweeping to and fro,
As swift as arrows from Tartarian bow;
When as Aurora’s infant day new springs,
There th’ morning mounting Lark her sweet lays sings;
The harmonious Thrush, swift Pigeon, Turtle Dove,
Who to her mate does ever constant prove;
The Turkey-pheasant, Heathcock, Partridge rare,
The carrion-tearing Crow, and hurtful Stare.”

The raven, screech-owl, heron, cormorant, and so on to geese, gulls, mallards, teal, ducks, snipes, and many others. The fish also are rehearsed in verse:—

“The king of waters, the sea-shouldering Whale,
The snuffing Grampus, with the oily Seal;
The storm-presaging Porpus, Herring-Hog,
Line shearing Shark, the Catfish, and Sea Dog;
The scale-fenc’d Sturgeon, wry-mouth’d Hollibut,
The flouncing Salmon, Codfish, Greedigut;
Cole, Haddick, Hake, the Thornback, and the Scate,
Whose Slimy outside makes him seld’ in date;
The stately Bass, old Neptune’s fleeting post,
That tides it out and in from sea to coast;
Consorting Herrings, and the bony Shad,
Big-bellied Alewives, Mackrels richly clad
With rainbow colour, the Frostfish and the Smelt,
As good as ever Lady Gustus felt;
The spotted Lamprons, Eels, the Lamperies,
That seek fresh-water brooks with Argus eyes;
These watery villagers, with thousands more,