especially as regards those who, nurtured in affluence, had witnessed, if they had not mingled more or less freely in, the gayety

The difficulties of communication, owing to the bad state of the roads during a great portion of the year, the severity of the winter months, with the imperfect means of heating the dwelling, the scarcity of books and even of news, except what was brought by the weekly newspaper, which with the occasional letters from relatives and friends came very irregularly, owing to defective

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of foreign courts, and had at least been accustomed to the sociabilities of metropolitan life.

(See page 11.)

postal services,all these made daily existence vastly different from the conception formed at the present day. To be sure, the genial season of the year then as now compensated in great measure for the hardships undergone during the remaining

months, but to many, such rural solitude would have been insupportable under any circumstances.

Although Mr. Bromfield did not mingle in politics, and had little to do with village affairs except as charity or some good work invited him, he had early been appointed a justice of the peace and of the quorum in his native city, and to this office he was called at intervals for many years. Its duties in a country district were far from onerous, but its tenure marked him as among "our trusty and well-beloved," as reads his commission issued in 1777, not "by George III. by the Grace of God," these words being carefully crossed by the pen, but "by the Government and the People, of the Mass. Bay, in New England."

In addition to the occupations of overseeing his farm and working in his orchard and garden, he indulged in the healthful exercise of the saddle, by means of which he became well acquainted with the charming scenery about the village and the neighborhood. To one spot on an eminence in Still River, which commanded the valley of the Nashua and the western range of mountains to a great extent, he

was accustomed for many years to accompany his guests, that they might enjoy a scene which to him was unequalled in rural beauty.

In the summer of 1785 occurred the death of his estimable wife, with whom he had lived very happily for nearly a quarter of a century. Her character was thus portrayed in a journal of the day: "On the 17th instant died at Harvard, in the County of Worcester, Mrs. Hannah Bromfield, consort of Henry Bromfield, Esq., of that place A Lady whose virtues and accomplishments rendered her an ornament to human nature, and a blessing to her family and friends. Uniform in her endeavors to alleviate the distresses and heighten the enjoyments of life, she was equally amiable and beneficent in every situation, and left the world with serenity, in the joyful hope of that immortal felicity, for which afflictions, like those her decease occasions, had a happy tendency to prepare her."

Her loss was a severe blow to him, especially in his isolated situation, of which he speaks in a letter to his brother Thomas, in England, under date of December 29: "I thank you for those tender feelings which you express for myself and children under our great loss of my dear and beloved wife. This severe affliction is irreparable but in the divine favor. Your dear sister is worthy of everything I can say of her. As a Christian and a domestic character, no mortal could be blessed with a more amiable, worthy companion, fitted for both worlds and to make every one happy about her. Myself and children in particular have the greatest reason to hold her in everlasting remembrance, our hearts will ever be deeply impressed with the highest sense of her merit. The main thing is to act our part well in life, and to prepare for a better. I am solus here except a negro man. My children were well the last time I heard from them. Our weather is intolerable, extremely severe. I only wish myself in a more moderate climate."

His son was at this time in Philadelphia, engaged in business matters; and his unmarried daughters had left him for long visits to Andover, Boston, and Salem. The negro man deserves a passing notice. This was honest, faithful Othello, who, born a slave, was in the employ of Mr. Bromfield for many years, and was known to every

man, woman, and child in Harvard and the surrounding country. Such was his dependence upon him, and such was the force of habit, that for years after the servant's death the master, forgetting himself, would not unfrequently rise from his chair and go out upon the piazza, and loudly call him by name. Many stories of the negro's eccentricities are told, even at the present day. At one time, laying a wager with a fellow-workman that he would remove all the sheaves of grain from a certain field within a given time, he procured the old family horse, and, buckling on his bare feet his master's spurs, bestrode the animal bareback, and, galloping into the enclosure, seized, without dismounting, several sheaves, placed them in front of him, carried them out and returned at full speed, until, both man and horse covered with foam and perspiration, he won the day. His violin was also a source of great attraction, and many a jig and contradance was incited by its inspiriting strains. Othello, sitting in the corner of the huge old kitchen hearth, the generous wood fire lighting up his beaming countenance, while every feature betokened the earnestness and self-importance with which he rapidly drew the bow, and called out the figures for the city nephews, nieces, and cousins, who had assembled for a merry-making, formed a picture which was never in after years forgotten by those who witnessed it. The old fellow sleeps in the neighboring burying-ground which overlooks the scenes of his daily toils, and a plain blue slate stone, with the following inscription, marks the spot:

OTHELLO

The faithful friend of Henry Bromfield Came from Africa About 1760- Died 1813, Aged about 72.

As regards social enjoyment, Mr. Bromfield was almost entirely dependent upon the relatives and friends who visited him from the city, for the most part in the summer months, and also upon the neighboring clergy, who held him in great esteem. Under date of March, 1786, he writes to his married daughter, then travelling in Virginia: "I still remain here in retirement, and truly so. Since my having Mr. Grosvenor and wife to dine, a few days past, I have not seen, except Sundays when

I have the good deacon and his wife to dine, a single person since your sister left me, not even your brother, for his time is so taken up with his own affairs that he can't find time to come and see me. I have driven out twice, which is all the time I have been abroad this winter, except when I have been to Boston. But I cannot say that this retirement is disagreeable to me, for I wish rather to indulge my reflections as most agreeable. Your dear mother is ever with me, and I believe will be while I live. . . I could wish that my circumstances would admit of my living in Boston, for the sake of Betsey. Although when I consider how soon she might leave me, in which case I should not be as likely to enjoy myself as here in the country. In Boston, I should have nothing to employ my time and amuse me; and it is too late in life for me to emerge again in business, and not possible for me to live there without. Here in the country I have always something to call my attention, and nothing to disturb my peace. A good garden is a high amusement which I have, and everything about me very convenient. I expect, and indeed, I have no other prospect but that a country life must be my lot. Therefore, will endeavor to make myself as easy and contented as possible, and as the present and unhappy state of this country will allow."

In a letter to his son, February 4, 1791, he says: "Your sister Betsey has just gone from home. She came up with Mr. and Mrs. Foxcroft, and tarried four days, during which time we spent it very agreeably, as you may well imagine. Indeed, it was a high regale to me, having seen no one for a long time except Master Edward; but they have left me in the shades. When I shall be favored with the company of any more of my friends, is uncertain. The principal of my acquaintance here is with the clergy for twenty miles around, who now and then pay me visits, and are my most constant visitors; and there is a number of worthy characters among them. If sleighing should break up very soon, I shall have a hopeful prospect for three months to come, in which time there would be no such thing as putting my foot out of doors, in travelling. I am thinking to turn mechanic, and add some conveniences to my out-buildings, and believe shall go to work.

I want some entertaining books to amuse

me.

It will be three months, at least, before I can do anything in my garden or fields; but when that time arrives, I can always find employment, and such as is quite agreeable to me." He completes his letter on the 9th: "Last evening it came on to rain, and continued to noon this day, when it came on a tremendous snowstorm, and now it blows as if all nature was coming to wreck. It's now about nine o'clock in the evening, and here I am solus by the fireside, as solitary as I shall be when I come to leave this world of vanity, and my clayey tabernacle is lodged in a mausoleum."

From his description, how vividly can we reproduce the scene! The old gentleman dressed with as much care as if he expected guests, an invariable custom with him, sitting alone over a generous wood fire, writing to his far-distant son by the light of two candles, in their respective silver candlesticks, mementoes which are still religiously preserved. No sound within, except the loud ticking of the tall antique London clock in the corner, which has rung out the hour in its clear, silvery tones, while without the elms bend and swing beneath the wintry blasts which howl around the old mansion, roar down its chimneys, and shake it to its foundation. "I think this storm will produce snow enough to give me a chance of slipping down to Cambridge and Boston, and bringing up a few stores for the summer and my summer provisions, being a fine easy method of conveyance, although it's rather dangerous leaving home at this season, the weather is so uncertain. The winters are too tedious for such a length of exclusion from all society; but use, by degrees, will familiarize me to it, so as shortly not to make it so irksome. I was by invitation to have dined this day with the high sheriff at Lancaster, and in the afternoon to have attended divine service at church, performed by the Rev. Dr. Parker, once every quarter at Lancaster, - he is a very good preacher, but the weather prevented my going."

About this time, in a letter to his daughter, then travelling in Virginia for her health, he says: "I have seen no one since you left me, save that I sent and invited some of my Lancaster friends to come and dine. You see I am obliged to go out into the highway and invite my guests, or I should

have none. I picked a barrel of apples with a design to send down to have gone by the last vessel, but the weather was so extremely cold I dare not send them lest they should get froze as hard as stones; and the going, just now, is such that it's neither sledding nor carting, a great depth of snow from hence to Concord, but greatly drifted. From Lexington to Boston there is no passing with a sled. Hope before the vessel goes to get the barrel down. Although you may make no use of apples, Mr. R likes them; and they may be gratifying to your friends. I wish I had something better to send, you must accept the will for the deed.”

Among the relations and friends who visited Mr. Bromfield were the Quincy and Phillips families. They were accustomed to drive to Harvard in their family coaches, and to pass a few days with the worthy old gentleman. In Miss Susan Quincy's memoir of her mother she thus speaks of him: "Removed from the attrition of society, time had not obliterated the peculiarities of character acquired in the last century; and he remained, in mind, manners, and costume, a living representative of an age which had passed away. conversation he constantly referred to the year fifty.' The most aged inhabitants of Boston were spoken of by him as young men; and State, Court, and Summer streets were seldom recognized by his auditors under the names of King and Queen streets and Seven Star Lane."

In

Writing in December to his daughter at Cambridge, he says: "In the late sleighing, I had the pleasure of Mr. Chaplin's company, with six other clergymen to spend the day with me. They are a most sociable and agreeable company of any set of men and of the most information." These clergymen, for the most part, were members of the Worcester and Lancaster associations, the senior member of the latter being Rev. Nathaniel Thayer of Lancaster. At Lafayette's visit to this town in 1826, Dr. Thayer addressed him in behalf of his fellow-townsmen; at the close of his remarks, "the veteran Lafayette trembled with emotion, and he was often afterwards accustomed to refer with pleasure to the beautiful scenery of the banks of the Nashua, and the heart-thrilling address of the venerable minister of Lancaster."

They were mostly graduates of Harvard College, and as a rule were advanced and liberal in their theological views; in which Mr. Bromfield evidently coincided, if we may judge from the tenor of his correspondence on religious subjects, — and from the testimony of Dr. Thayer, who knew him well. A distinguished honor was conferred upon him in the spring of 1792, by his appointment as one of the trustees of the Massachusetts Humane Society. Whether he was ever in a position to attend its meetings does not appear. In the following year he was also chosen a member of the Massachusetts Society for promoting agriculture.

There is a constant allusion in his letters to the interest he took in his farm and garden, which were naturally the subjects which most deeply engaged his thoughts, and to which may be attributed the excellent health and spirits which terminated only with his unusual longevity. His son Henry, in the autumn of 1802, thus writes to his father from London, where he was established as a merchant and where he continued to reside through a long life:

"I participate in the pleasure with which you relate the circumstances of your farm,

a good crop well got in, the finest fruits of the neighborhood, the cellar stored with vegetables and the barn filled with hay, imply an abundance for man and beast, which may well communicate gladness to the heart and praise to that beneficence from whence they proceed. Such circumstances with such sensibilities, combined with the hope of better things to come, is an allotment truly enviable."

In the early part of May he writes thus to his daughter, expressing his enjoyment. of rural scenes: "The country begins to put on an agreeable appearance and a prospect of a fine season, our fruit trees are full of blows, in particular the peach, nectarines, etc. I have finished gardening, and my small seeds are coming up." Those who visited Harvard in those days well remembered through their lives the luscious peaches and other fruits with which the old gentleman delighted to load them. Later on in the season he writes: "The country is now delightful, and never looked better, all are highly favored by Divine goodness, in the present season 'a prospect of a plentiful harvest, of every kind for man and beast. May we have a grateful

sense of His Infinite goodness and be induced to live his praise." Still later in the year, November 5, he gives us an insight into his household occupations: "The weather, lately, has been very unfavorable for the ingathering which should be dry for housing of roots, etc., I am now housing mine, and last evening husked my corn and am now making my cider. I have one barrel of St. Germain pears, which I wish to send to your care by the first safe conveyance."

In December he writes to his brother, in London: "The present season keeps me at home, where I expect to remain in solitude till next April, there being no good travelling sooner except by sleighing, but which mode of conveyance is too cold for me, and at my time of life, and to go such a distance as Boston. Young men, if they catch cold, can get the better of it, but old men generally suffer severely, which sad experience I had last winter. In retirement I want to be near a circulating library, which would afford me much entertainment. I note your design of sending me Howe's Ecclesiastical History and the Bishop of London's Lectures. I mentioned in a former letter to send me either history, divinity, or travels, such as you and my son should think would afford me the most information and entertainment. You are sensible that I need something of this kind to amuse and keep up the animal spirits, being separated from my dear children and friends, and old age calls for society more than in early life."

Mr. Bromfield kept himself aloof from the political parties of the day, not even meddling with village affairs. This course he pursued without apparently giving of fence to any one. Still he did not abstain from giving an occasional expression of his views to his brother and his other relatives. In 1804 he says to his brother; "You mention that you are sorry to observe in our public prints such dissensions among us and the abusive language made of us. This same glory is a privilege annexed to a free government; liberty is not the only word, but some must add licentiousness to it. But this is the natural effect of such a government and not to be avoided. It is our own fault that we are not the happiest people in the world; but human nature is so perverse that they will act contrary and abuse the blessings they en

joy. And our chief magistrate, it is to be feared, is too nearly allied in principle to Bonaparte, and America cannot be happy under his administration. You mention the situation of England as being distressing, which I imagine must be the case, and I suppose from the present circumstances of affairs, you must be loaded with expenses, and this must be the case until you are relieved from the threats of Bonaparte, and you will remain so until something decisive takes place. From the internal strength of Britain, including their shipping, I don't seem to have any fears of France making any impression or getting any footing on the island, which I hope heaven will prevent, if they should attempt it.

"You say that you are pleased with our president's proceedings, which is more than any true, good Federalist with us can say. This opinion of yours is because you are unacquainted with his character and proceedings as a statesman. Besides, an infidel is unworthy to be our chief magistrate, and we have full evidence of this from the Scriptures. He and that infamous Tom Paine are intimate friends, and he was the means of bringing him to this country from France. Can any one who believes in Divine revelation think such a man fit to be at the head of government? He is for equality and liberty, and I would send him to France to enjoy it."

Later he writes: "By late advices from Europe, Bonaparte's success is very alarming.

May an over-ruling Providence preserve Britain from his infernal designs. I expect ere long we shall experience some trouble from him, and we are sorry to learn that Denmark has declared war with Britain. It is truly a dark day with Britain, and it appears as if Europe was going to experience an awful revolution."

As regards village and church affairs in 1813, he writes to his daughter, the wife of Professor Pearson, of Andover, and afterwards of Cambridge : "Since the dismissal of Mr. Bemis, we have had two of your Andover pupils to preach to us, who performed well. The Committee to provide for the pulpit were all democrats; the Federalists did not attend the meeting, and some of these democrats had not been into a meeting house, it is said, for four or five years, but attended the last two Sabbaths. Some of them drink two quarts of