176 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Boston's 



Wealthiest 



Merchant 



Peter 

 Described 



A Good Liver 



Generous and 

 Just 



churcli should cease to be, as he foresaw it might through 

 the intermarriage of the Huguenot with the Puritan ele- 

 ment, the warehouse was to revert to his heirs. 



Ill 



How much property Andrew Faneuil left was not an- 

 nounced, but it was commonly understood that he was 

 the wealthiest merchant in the province, and Peter now 

 succeeded to that proud position. He was thirty -eight 

 years old when he became the " topiniest merchant in the 

 town," as Thomas Hancock put it. He was corpulent, 

 with large, well-rounded features, had a genial disposi- 

 tion, and ambitions and tastes in keeping with his for- 

 tune. He was fond of display and good living, and his 

 home was the scene of open-handed hospitality. He or- 

 dered from London a "handsome chariot with two sets 

 of harness, with the arms as inclosed in the same in the 

 handsomest manner that you shall judge proper, but at 

 the same time nothing gaudy," and ordered also "two 

 sober men, the one for a coachman, the other for a gar- 

 dener ; and as most servants from Europe are apt when 

 here to be debauched with strong drink, rum, etc., being 

 very plenty, I pray your particular care in this article." 

 He sends for the "latest best book of the several sorts of 

 cookery, which pray let be of the largest character for the 

 benefit of the maid's reading." He refurnishes and re- 

 stocks the mansion, and among other new articles, buys 

 for house use "as likely a strait negro lad" as could be 

 found, "of a tractable disposition and one that had had 

 the smallpox." 



With the waning of the French church, Peter Faneuil 

 became a worshipper at Trinity church, of which his 

 brother-in-law, the Rev. Addington Davenport, was rec- 

 tor. In one of his orders from London is this item : 

 "Purchase for me 1 handsome, large, octavo Common 

 Prayer Book of a good letter, and well bound, with one 

 of the same in French for my owu use." Thus the mother 



