The Romance of Old New England RooftreesCrawford, Mary Caroline
History
The Romance of Old New England Rooftrees
Crawford, Mary Caroline
Historic buildings -- New England; New England -- Biography
In the celebrated Clarke mansion, on Garden Court Street, which Sir
Harry purchased October 5, 1756, for L1,200, our heroine now reigned
queen. This house, three stories high, with inlaid floors, carved
mantels, and stairs so broad and low that Sir Harry could, and did, ride
his pony up and down them, was the wonder of the time. It contained
twenty-six rooms, and was in every respect a marvel of luxury. That
Agnes did not forget her own people, nor scorn to receive them in her
fine house, one is pleased to note. While here she practically
supported, records show, her sister's children, and she welcomed always
when he came ashore from his voyages her brother Isaac, a poor though
honest seaman.
Frankland's health was not, however, all that both might have wished,
and the entries in the diaries deal, at this time, almost entirely with
recipes and soothing drinks. In July, 1757, he sought, therefore, the
post of consul-general to Lisbon, where the climate seemed to him to
suit his condition, and there, sobered city that it now was, the two
again took up their residence. Only once more, in 1763, was Sir Harry to
be in Boston. Then he came for a visit, staying for a space in
Hopkinton, as well as in the city. The following year he returned to the
old country, and in Bath, where he was drinking the waters, he died
January 2, 1768, at the age of fifty-two.
Agnes almost immediately came back to Boston, and, with her sister and
her sister's children, took up her residence at Hopkinton. There she
remained, living a peaceful, happy life among her flowers, her friends,
and her books, until the outbreak of the Revolution, when it seemed to
her wise to go in to her town house. She entered Boston, defended by a
guard of six sturdy soldiers, and was cordially received by the officers
in the beleaguered city, especially by Burgoyne, whom she had known in
Lisbon. During the battle of Bunker Hill, she helped nurse wounded
King's men, brought to her in her big dining-room on Garden Court
Street. As an ardent Tory, however, she was _persona non grata_ in the
colony, and she soon found it convenient to sail for England, where,
until 1782, she resided on the estate of the Frankland family.
At this point, Agnes ceases in a way to be the proper heroine of our
romance, for, contrary to the canons of love-story art, she married
again,--Mr. John Drew, a rich banker, of Chichester, being the happy
man. And at Chichester she died in one year's time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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