New Hampshire -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Portsmouth (N.H.) -- Social life and customs
George Jaffrey, third of the name, was a character of another
complexion, a gentleman born, a graduate of Harvard in 1730, and one of
His Majesty’s Council in 1766--a man with the blood of the lion and
the unicorn in every vein. He remained to the bitter end, and beyond,
a devout royalist, prizing his shoe-buckles, not because they were of
chased silver, but because they bore the tower mark and crown stamp. He
stoutly objected to oral prayer, on the ground that it gave rogues and
hypocrites an opportunity to impose on honest folk. He was punctilious
in his attendance at church, and unfailing in his responses, though not
of a particularly devotional temperament. On one occasion, at least, his
sincerity is not to be questioned. He had been deeply irritated by some
encroachments on the boundaries of certain estates, and had gone to
church that forenoon with his mind full of the matter. When the minister
in the course of reading the service came to the apostrophe, “Cursed be
he who removeth his neighbor’s landmark,” Mr. Jeffrey’s feelings were
too many for him, and he cried out “Amen!” in a tone of voice that
brought smiles to the adjoining pews.
Mr. Jaffrey’s last will and testament was a whimsical document, in spite
of the Hon. Jeremiah Mason, who drew up the paper. It had originally
been Mr. Jaffrey’s plan to leave his possessions to his beloved friend,
Colonel Joshua Wentworth; but the colonel by some maladroitness managed
to turn the current of Pactolus in another direction. The vast property
was bequeathed to George Jaffrey Jeffries, the testator’s grandnephew,
on condition that the heir, then a lad of thirteen, should drop the name
of Jeffries, reside permanently in Portsmouth, and adopt no profession
excepting that of gentleman. There is an immense amount of Portsmouth
as well as George Jaffrey in that final clause. George the fourth
handsomely complied with the requirements, and dying at the age of
sixty-six, without issue or assets, was the last of that particular line
of Georges. I say that he handsomely complied with the requirements of
the will; but my statement appears to be subject to qualification,
for on the day of his obsequies it was remarked of him by a caustic
contemporary: “Well, yes, Mr. Jaffrey was a gentleman by profession, but
not eminent in his profession.”
This modest exhibition of profiles, in which I have attempted to
preserve no chronological sequence, ends with the silhouette of Dr.
Joseph Moses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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