LAST ROYAL GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS 29 



its rich furnishings and works of art it contained the 

 superb library which its owner had for thirty years 

 been collecting, and which included many precious 

 manuscripts illustrating our early history, docu- 

 ments for a sight of which to-day the historical stu- 

 dent would deem their weight in diamonds a cheap 

 price. On the oaken desk which stood amid these 

 crowded shelves the ink was hardly dry upon the last 

 pages of the second volume of that " History of Massa- 

 chusetts " which remains to-day one of the most admi- 

 rable histories ever written by an American. The 

 first volume, bringing the story down to the accession 

 of William III., was published in 1764; the second, 

 continuing the narrative to 1750, was now about to go 

 to press, when riot and confusion burst in upon the 

 scene. On the i4th of August the Sons of Liberty 

 paraded through the streets, in just and rightful ex- 

 pression of indignation at the Stamp Act. Nothing 

 violent was done, though the beams of a house just 

 going up, and supposed to be intended for a stamp 

 office, were pulled down and used for a bonfire. By 

 the next night more disreputable elements were at 

 work. A mob surrounded Hutchinson's house, and 

 shouted to him to come out and deny, if he could, 

 that he had advised and abetted the Stamp Act 

 But this he refused to do. It was not for him to 

 yield to a demand made in such a spirit. Upon com- 

 pulsion, he, like Gabriel Varden, would do nothing. 

 An aged merchant hereupon harangued the crowd, 

 and assured them that they were quite in the wrong; 

 Mr. Hutchinson disapproved the Stamp Act, and was 

 in no wise responsible for it. So for that night all 

 passed quietly, but during the next week vague, ill- 



