264
��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��from the nature of his character, be- come subservient to the will of a man whose avowed object was the subjection of the people to the authority of the British administration.
'Time went on. Benning Wentworth gave way in the chief magistracy of New Hampshire to his nephew, John. It was the policy of this truly noble and sagacious man to attach all the distin- guished men of the colony to the royal cause, by offices either of honor or emolument. Recognizing the talents and influence of Bartlett he appointed him to the office of justice of the peace. Executive patronage, however, was not a bait by which a man like Dr. Bartlett would be seduced. He indeed accept- ed the appointment, but he remained as firm in his opposition to oppression as he was before.
In 1774 the house of representatives of New Hampshire, agreeably to the recommendation and example of other colonies, appointed a committee of cor- respondence, an act for which the gov- ernor immediately dissolved the assem- bly. 'This brought matters to a crisis. The committee of correspondence in turn re-assembled the representatives, by whom circulars were addressed to the several towns to send delegates to a convention to be held at Exeter for the purpose of selecting deputies to the Continental Congress, which was to meet at Philadelphia in the ensuing September. Dr. Bartlett was a dele- gate to this convention, and he and John Pickering, a lawyer of Portsmouth, were appointed delegates to the Pro- vincial Congress. As neither Bartlett nor Pickering des'red to serve, Nathan- iel Folsom, of Exeter, and John Sulli- van, of Durham, were chosen in their stead.
Dr. Bartlett's reason for declining the honor which the convention con- ferred upon him was, that he had a lit- fD previously lost his house by fire, and was under the necessity of rebuilding. Accordingly, all through the summer and autumn of that vear the sound of axe and hammer fell busily on the ears of Kingston people. Foot by foot the
��mansion rose, till it stood the proudest dwelling-house in Kingston, lit abode for its noblest citizen. In the towns near the sea-coast, from Newport to Portland, there was a great similarity in domestic architecture prior to and during the Revolution. A large num- ber of the better class of these old houses have been torn down and re- built. Very few remain in the vicinity of Boston, but in Newport, Cambridge, Salem, Newburyport, Portsmouth, Ex- eter, Dover, and towns further east- ward, we can behold the typical New England mansion. It is ample in size and stately in form. With its gam- breled roof and ancient porch is asso- ciated reminiscences of ruffles, shoe- buckles, silver-topped canes, courtly manners and hospitality. It is the house of the judge, the continental general, the colonial colonel, the squire, the prosperous doctor of divinity or of medicine, or of the merchant whose ships have brought him spices, ivory and gold dust. West India goods and negro chattels from over the seas. It is generally of three stories, the third being somewhat abridged ; the form is quadrangular, fifty feet on a side. Va- rious extensions and out-buildings are in the rear and sometimes on the sides. The front door opens into a wide hall, from which a grand stair-way leads to the upper stories. The hall is wain- scoted and hung with rather stiff por- traits. 'The stair- way is broad, and they steps are wide, giving an easy ascent to the landings. Twisted and carved ballusters support the hand-rail, each one wrought separately in some quaint device. There are four large square rooms on the ground floor, each with its open fire-place and elaborately carved mantel- piece. The walls are thick, like those of a fortalice, and the win- dows are recessed like embrasures.
Those who are accustomed to the card-board structures of our time, whether in the form of Italian villas, Swiss chalets, or white pine gothic, ex- perience a strange sensation in visiting these solid dwellings. There is an air of repose in them, an idea of ampli-
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