168 



sunbeams and dash around the abode. The hall is spacious and well 

 finished ; the ceiling ornamented, and the richly carved banisters bear 

 traces of foi'mer elegance. On ascending the staircase, paintings of 

 angels' heads decorate the hall window. In this mansion, where he 

 was born, and died, the Baronet always lived suitably to his rank, and 

 extended hospitality to the numerous visitors who flocked to see and 

 converse with the victor of Louisburg. His walls were hung with 

 costly mirrors and paintings ; his sideboards and cellars were filled 

 with the choicest viands, and his park stocked with deer. He had a 

 retinue of servants, costly equipage, and a splendid barge with liveried 

 oarsmen. His dress was of the expensive kind worn by the noblemen 

 of that day, — scarlet broadcloth trimmed with gold lace, a cocked hat 

 similarly trimmed, and a large powdered wig, — as he is represented 

 in the portrait which hangs in the hall of the Institute. At the meet- 

 ing a lady exhibited a rich satin vest formerly worn by Sir William, 

 and the high-heeled satin shoes which belonged to his wife. 



Sir William owned real estate in nearly every town on the seaboard 

 from Hampton to Portland, and also in the towns bordering on the 

 Piscataqua River. It is said that he could travel from the Piscataqua 

 to Saco Rivers, nearly thirty miles, on his own soil. In Saco alone he 

 owned 5,500 acres, including the site of that populous town and its 

 factories. But all his vast fortune was dissipated and scattered at the 

 time of the Revolution. His grandson, who inherited the bulk of it, 

 took the loyalist side, and the property was confiscated by the legis- 

 lative act of 1778. No descendant bearing the Pepperrell name is now 

 living. The splendid service of plate presented to Sir William for his 

 conquest of Louisburg was exempted from confiscation, and was sent 

 under guard to Boston for shipment to England, whither his exiled 

 heir had gone. Sir William's Louisburg service sword is in the pos- 

 session of Dr. Parsons. Another sword, richly mounted with gold 

 and jewels, given him by Admii'al Sir Peter Warren, is in the posses- 

 sion of Dr. Jarvis, of Claremont, N. H. A superb gold snuff-box, hav- 

 ing upon tlie cover, in bas relief, a representation of the interview 

 between Alexander and Diogenes, presented to him by King George 

 II, was owned by Mr. Ward. 



The Pepperrell tomb is in a field in the rear of the mansion, and 

 contains the remains of Sir William and Lady Pepperrell, his father 

 and mother, and many members and servants of the family, now min- 

 gled in an indiscriminate mass. A few years ago it became greatly 

 dilapidated, and but for the respect entertained for the memory of the 

 illustrious dead, by a female remotely descended from the baronet, 

 the whole structure would long since have fallen into ruins. By her 

 exertions and limited means the tomb was put in good repair. The 



