“Lord Dexter is a man of fame; Most celebrated is his name, More precious far than gold that’s pure Lord Dexter shines forevermore.” [Illustration: GOVERNMENT BUILDING.] It will be seen that the poet sometimes used imperfect rhymes. “His house is white, and trimmed with green; For many miles it may be seen. It shines as bright as any star; The fame of it has spread afar. “Lord Dexter, like King Solomon, Had gold and silver by the ton, And bells to churches he hath given, To worship the Great King of Heaven.” The Arabian kings had their astrologers, and so had other kings in the Middle Ages. “Lord” Dexter was as famous for his intimacy with fortune-tellers as for his garden of statues of heroes, among which his own effigy occupied two pedestals at Newburyport. [Illustration: THE TRANSPORTATION BUILDING.] He was on the way to Lynn, when he drove up before Blingo’s door, to visit “Moll” Pitcher, a woman who was reputed to have the gift of second sight, and who “told fortunes by tea-cups.” “Lord” Dexter, as he was called, but really Timothy Dexter, of Newburyport, was a real and very famous character of the last century. He was a mildly insane man, who had acquired a large fortune by trading adventurously at sea. The grotesque fact of his sending warming-pans to hot climates, and of the ship’s captain selling them for ladles for molasses and returning with a fortune, was an old-time wonder-tale, as well as the joke of his writing a book called “A Pickle for the Knowing Ones,” and putting all the punctuation marks on the last page, with the direction to the readers to “Pepper the dish to suit themselves.” His strange mansion and gardens and statues are still to be seen pictured in old books, as is his own portrait in costume, with embroidered vest, cocked hat, and laced trousers. There were many stories of this eccentric man who so greatly enjoyed the fancy that he was a lord. Curious as is this history, well-known to the old New England families, it is hardly more so than that of “Moll” Pitcher, who figures in one of Whittier’s poems, and who was equally celebrated as an odd character in New England a century ago, when trading by sea was the principal business along the coast. This strange woman seems to have been sincere in her belief that she possessed the gift of “second sight,”—an hallucination that she probably inherited from her grandfather, who thought that he was a “wizard,” whatever that may have been. The sailors went to consult her in regard to their voyages, and crews sometimes refused to depart from port if her predictions were unfavorable. She had a strong, masculine face, with something hidden behind it; a rather kindly face withal, but self-conscious and keen.