Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/240

 he principal houses of Boston," says the writer, "there was a great hall, ornamented with pictures, and a great lantern, and a velvet cushion in the window-seat that looked into the garden. A large bowl of punch was often placed in the hall, from which visitors might help themselves as they entered. On either side was a great parlor, a little parlor, or study. These were furnished with great looking-glasses, Turkey carpets, window curtains and valance, pictures and a map, a brass clock, red leather-back chairs, and a great pair of brass andirons. The chambers were well supplied with feather-beds, warming-pans, and every other article that would now be thought necessary for comfort or display. The pantry was well filled with substantial fare, and dainties—prunes, marmalade, and Madeira wine. Silver tankards, wine cups, and other articles of plate were not uncommon, and the kitchen was completely stocked with pewter, iron, and copper utensils. Very many families employed servants, and in one we see a Scotch boy, valued among the property, and invoiced at £14." Negro slaves also often formed part of a New England household of that day. Even before this period, in the matter of dress, certain of the ladies were eager to copy the London and Paris fashions, as we learn from a splenetic old writer. "Methinks," he says, "it should break the heart of Englishmen to see so many goodly Englishwomen imprisoned in French cages, peering out of their hood-holes for some. men of mercy to help them with a little wit;" and he sharply complains of their eagerness to learn what dress the queen is in, and to copy it in all haste.

As a matter of interest, it may be noted here, that the first portrait painter in America was John Smibert, a Scotch artist, who came over with Berkeley, and painted that picture of the bishop and his family which is preserved at Yale College. An art so pleasing was not long in making its way over the colonies, and has preserved to posterity the youthful appearance of Washington. But though art and literature were making their way, public amusements were still frowned upon by the New England magistrates. Otway's play of "The Orphan" was acted in 1750, at a coffee-house in Boston; but such exhibitions were forthwith prohibited, as "tending to discourage industry and frugality, and greatly to increase impiety and contempt of religion." A London company of actors contrived, however, shortly afterwards, to gain a footing in New York, Philadelphia, and other towns further south.

The probable designs of the New Englanders at this date, in regard to the question of by and by throwing off the yoke of the mother country, afforded matter for considerable discussion in England. Some members of the Board of Trade entertained and expressed apprehension of such a determination on the part of the colonists. They even went so far as to give it as their opinion, that nothing but the effective interposition of parliament could arrest the manifest tendency to independence. The colonists treated all such charges as without foundation and we believe quite justly, so far as