THE HOME OF LADY WENTWORTH.
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��for a moment overcome with a halo of distinguished associations. The same floor had been pressed by the feet of brave soldiers, scholars, and grave dig- nitaries of state. Few houses in Amer- ica have had as many illustrious visitors. Rooms under its roof have been occu- pied by Governor Shirley of New York, Lord London, commander in chief of the British forces in America, Sir Charles Knolles, Admiral Boscawen, George Whitefield, and other worthies of that period. Stately merrymakings have been celebrated in its old halls. The wide doors of the grandly carved vestibule have been flung open more than once upon festival times. Over this spacious staircase many a time half a dozen noble dames walked abreast, with their embroidered trains. Gay belles with stiff brocades, and hair three- stories high, and young gallants, with powdered wigs and the brave court cos- tume of the Second and Third George's reign — the beauty, the wealth, the aris- tocracy of Portsmouth, have danced stately figures on the oaken floors. All this was long ago, but as you gaze on the high, dadoed walls, the solid floors, the carving, the staircase, it is easy to imagine it all. You can almost hear the rustle of the sweeping trains, and the patter of high heeled shoes, with a flutter of your imagination.
The first door on the right hand of the hall opens into the grand parlor of the old governor, which still, retains all of its former magnificence. The paper on the walls is the same that was put on at the time the mansion was erected, and the carpet on the floor was put there by Lady Wentvvorth more than eighty years ago. The four windows draped by those blue woolen damask curtains with silken fringes, command a long stretch of out of door beauties in striking contrast to the antiquarian fire- place with tiled jams, brass andirons and fender, and the ancient stone hearth. Several portraits, those of Hancock and Washington, and Judge William Cushing, whom Washington wanted to be Chief Justice of the United States, among the number, adorn the walls, and there are several inter-
��esting relics of later families about the apartment.
In this room, surrounded by the won- dering invited guests of the governor, was consummated the marriage cere- mony which Longfellow has celebrated in his "Tales of a Wayside Inn," be- tween Wentworth and his chamber- maid. It was something of a change for Martha Hilton. She was a girl of matchless beauty, but very poor. When young she had scandalized her neigh- bors by glimpses of bare ankles and white shoulders as she promenaded the streets in scant costume. A puritanic dame one time remonstrated with the maiden in rather severe terms for ex- hibiting so much of her beauty to every passer in the street. But the sleek- limbed Martha answered not abashed, "never mind how I look ; I yet shall ride in my own chariot, ma'am." It was a true prophecy. After a lapse of years, attracted by her grace, her beauty, her wit and good sense, Ben- ning Wentworth offered her his hand. Of course she accepted it — what woman would have not? and they were mar- ried on the governor's sixtieth birthday, by Rev. Arthur Brown.
From the parlor the visitor passes in- to a large, roomy apartment, known as the Council Chamber. It was formerly the state apartment, and was truly mag- nificent, enough so, even for a vice re- gal Wentworth. The ceilings are high, and the wainscots, panels, and mould- ings are enriched with carvings. The closely-jointed, smooth, white floor, de- spite a century's wear, looks as if laid but yesterday. The original fireplace is there, before which the royal gov- ernor and his friends discussed the tangled questions pertaining to the sway of his growing province. The room is finished in the best style of the last century. The ornamentation of the huge mantel was carved with knife and chisel, at which the artist worked con- stantly for a whole long year.
Around the Council Room are some grand old portraits, thirteen in all. They are all in handsome gilt frames, and some of them have rare histories if they could be told. A copy of one of
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