Many are the interesting historical houses to be found in this city, each of which has a story hidden away under its roof. One of these standing next to the Old Witch House was owned originally by a Captain Davenport. It is mentioned as early as 1662. Later, the captain removed to Boston to take charge of the fortification at Castle Island and on July 15, 1665, was killed "By a solemn stroke of thunder." The estate was then conveyed to one Jonathan Corwan, afterwards called Curwin, a man of prominence in the witchcraft trial through being appointed one of the judges. Later on his grandson Samuel, an exceedingly interesting man with a most irascible disposition, lived in the same mansion. Graduated from Harvard in 1735, he became a merchant, afterwards taking part in the Pepperrell Expedition against Louisburg as captain and rose to the rank of "Judge of Admiralty." Espousing the cause of the Loyalists, he was forced to leave for England. Returning in 1784, he found his estate in a very bad condition, most of his valuable library having been sold. For many years afterwards he was a prominent gentleman in the life of the city and was often seen walking the streets, wearing his English wig, clothed in a long cloak of red cloth, his fingers covered with rings, and using a gold-headed cane as he walked. [Illustration: PLATE IV.--Hallway, Cabot Low House, 1748; Fireplace, Oliver House.] There is no purer type of colonial house in the city by the sea, than the Cabot House, built by one Joseph Cabot in 1748 and which was for thirty years the residence of William Crowninshield Endicott, who served under President Cleveland as Secretary of War. Near Derby Street stands the house made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Here, in May, 1840, he called to see his cousin "The Duchess," Miss Susan Ingersoll, on which occasion she told him the story of the house, and the name struck him so forcibly that he is said to have repeated it again and again as if to impress it on his memory. From this incident we have the romance of _The House of the Seven Gables_. CHAPTER II THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES The visitor to Salem has no difficulty in finding the House of the Seven Gables, for any one can direct him there, and he is waylaid by boys who wish to guide him to it. His way lies through what was once the court end of the town. This quarter, long since deserted by fashion--its fine old houses are now turned into tenements--still retains enough of its ancient state to arouse the visitor's interest. So his mind is in a most receptive mood when a final corner takes him into Turner Street, and he descries at its very end the rear of the ancient mansion, embowered by trees, the long sweep of its lean-to crowned by a cluster of chimneys. [Illustration: PLATE V.--The House of the Seven Gables, Salem, Mass.]