CASTLE WILLIAM

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mencement was memorable for A Dialogue in the Chaldaic language, the first of the kind ever exhibited in America, and wholly the product of the generous foundation of the late Thomas Hancock, Esq.'

The summer months must have passed drearily away. It might be no privation to the young people that they were not wanted at the Province House; but the difference of position would seem strange. If they took their summer airing and bathing at Castle William, it would in all likelihood be as the guests of Mr. Hutchinson, and with the feeling that it was probably for the last time. In August, however, the Lieutenant-Governor's control over the Castle appears to have ceased. He received orders from England, through General Gage, at once to remove the Province garrison and commit the fort to the keeping of Colonel Dalrymple. This, after some demur, was quietly effected in September, to the disgust of the provincial Captain Phillips and the annoyance of Mr. Hutchinson.

The history of this measure seems to be that Dalrymple had been worked upon by his friends, Samuel Adams and Co., to demand the removal of one regiment from the town to the Castle. The Lieutenant-Governor, who dreaded such a move at that moment, declined to act, alleging, like Governor Bernard, that he had no power to order a removal. Dalrymple, who had only two years before commented so severely on Bernard's want of spirit, as evidenced by his failure to obtain quarters in the town for the soldiers, was now induced to ask for the banishment of both regiments to the Castle, which request was evidently approved by Gage, and Hutchinson was thus left defenceless against a riot.

These events were hard upon the loyalists who still held out. John Bernard's name continued for some time to head the list of proscribed traders,2 and his position, entailing loss, insult, and even danger, must have been a constant

1 Hutchinson, Diary and Letters, vol. i. ch. i.; also Hist. Mass. from 1749 to 1774, ch. iii.

2 See various numbers of The Boston Gazette.

source of apprehension to his relatives. The names of his fellow-sufferers vary a little. Mein, the bookseller, a man of determined spirit, was driven by violence to England; yet the list shows a slight increase in numbers in the course of a few months. In September one James Gillespie, in Common Street,' takes precedence of John Bernard, and is honoured with capital letters, perhaps on account of the magnitude of his crime; he has imported a quantity of glass, contrary to the agreement of the merchants, and refuses to reship it.'

Mr. Bridgeham, at whose house in Brimfield, Massachusetts, Sir Francis and Lady Bernard had visited, mentions in a letter to Scrope Bernard, written about twenty years after this time, that he was in England in 1770, when Sir Francis offered to procure him a collectorship in the West Indies; and, on his declining the appointment, by reason of his preference for a mercantile career, volunteered to advance him some money to go on with in England. He adds: I returned to Boston with a cargo of goods, and was the first who broke through the non-importation agreement which was then formed to distress the trade of this country.' By this Mr. Bridgeham must mean the first who went over with a cargo. He is silent as to the consequences, from which it may be inferred that he escaped startling and unpleasant adventures.

1

Various rumours were now afloat concerning the appointment of a Governor. Sometimes Sir Francis Bernard was to resume his post; sometimes Lord William Campbell was to come from Nova Scotia; or Governor Pownall, who had been long out of office, was to return. These unauthorised statements came from England, but were published in the Boston Gazette,' which at that moment seemed to prefer anybody to Mr. Hutchinson. Meanwhile Lady Bernard must have learned that her husband had definitively resigned, and was prepared to receive her in England. On

MS. Letter at Nether Winchendon.

2 See various numbers of the Boston Gazette.

DEATH OF YOUNG FRANCIS BERNARD

225

September 11 their furniture, books, plants, &c., at the Province House were sold by Public Vendue.' 1

1

It is probable that the health of young Francis Bernard had shown some of those delusive signs of a rally which sometimes come shortly before the end. Beyond the tradition that his disease was the result of the unfortunate accident at Westminster School, and had affected his brain, I have no particulars. It must, however, be concluded that he was now considered fit to undertake the voyage, since Lady Bernard made her preparations for departure. She was, however, detained some time beyond expectation, because the vessel bespoken to convey her was not ready at the right time. No explanation is given, but from the sequel it is probable that the interval was employed in patching up an unseaworthy craft.

In the meantime young Francis died, November 20, 1770, at the age of twenty-seven, one of many examples of a career of great promise blighted. The end was most likely sudden. But for the disappointment in the arrival of the ship, it would have taken place on the high seas. As it is, Francis Bernard probably rests beside his younger brother, Shute, in the burial-ground of the King's Chapel at Boston.

Some particulars of the articles for sale have been given in Chapter xiii. Volume I. of this work.

2 This date was communicated, with others, by Miss Collinson. Julia Bernard does not mention it nor give any particulars of the end, although she notes the tardy arrival of the vessel.

VOL. II.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE REUNION IN ENGLAND

A Perilous Voyage-Arrival at Portsmouth-Health of Sir Francis-His Appointment to the Irish Board of Commissioners-Death of Mrs. Beresford -Illness of Sir Francis-He Resigns his Appointment in Ireland-Receives the Hon. Degree of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford-The Family Move from Nether Winchendon to the Prebendal House, Aylesbury—Intercourse with the Lees of Hartwell-Last Years of Sir Francis.

LAST Monday arrived in Nantasket Harbour the Tweed frigate, Capt. Collier, after a Passage of 25 days from New York, the Weather having been very blustering on the Coast, she received some Damage in her Sails and Rigging, which it is said will prevent her sailing for England these ten days. The Tweed brot the Right Hon. the Earl of Dunmore to his Government of New York, and is now come here to take on board Lady Bernard & Family, for England.1

This paragraph appeared in the Boston Gazette' of Monday, December 10, 1770, consequently the vessel must have come into harbour on the 3rd; but it was not ready in ten days. On this subject Julia Bernard writes: "My mother, with four children, set sail on Xmas day 1770, a bad time for a voyage, but the King's ship which was ordered for her accommodation was accidentally delayed, which brought us unfortunately into the Stormy Season.'"

Lady Bernard had arrived in America with four children, but only two of these-Amelia and William-were her companions on the home voyage. Thomas was with his father in England; Shute was no longer of this world. Scrope and Julia, born in New Jersey, replaced them. It

The Boston Gazette and Country Journal, Monday, December 10, 1770 (No. 818).

24 'Reminiscences.'

A PERILOUS VOYAGE

227

can hardly be supposed that their mother, whose nerves had been shaken by recent events, looked without apprehension on the impending trial. She had apparently met with no alarms during her previous crossing, but the perils of the deep had been forcibly brought to mind by the experiences of others. Julia relates the sad story of a family in Boston, evidently friends of Lady Bernard :

There was a Mrs. Greenleaf, who had 4 fine daughters all married. One, Mrs. Apthorpe, was singularly handsome and elegant; her loss was a melancholy stroke to her mother. Mr. Apthorpe would go by sea to New York in a vessel that was not thought safe. Her Mother requested her to stay with her; No, she said she would follow her husband wherever he chose to go, but left her children behind. They were never more heard of; some remnants of things were seen floating. The unhappy Mother wrote to my Mother; I remember the letter began 'Dear & ever honoured Lady Bernard,' & then touched upon her sorrowfull loss.

Preparatory to our departure [continues Julia] we were invited to two gentlemen's houses in Boston, to be ready for embarkation; the family being divided for easier accommodation. At this time a Colonel Martin (whose daughter was thought to be in a consumption, & was advised to try a change of climate) waited upon my Mother, & requested her permission for his daughter and himself to come over in the same vessel, the Tweed, under her protection. To this my Mother acceded, the Captain also not objecting. She was a pretty young woman, 16, delicate and interesting, my Mother adopted her as a child.

The Christmas season of that winter (1770-71) was cheerless in the extreme to the travellers, as the narrative most clearly shows :

We embarked on Christmas-day; on New Year's day, 1771, we had a smartish storm; it appeared formidable to me at the time, but how inconsiderable compared to the tremendous one that followed on Twelfth-night. I was eleven years old the month before we embarked. Never can I forget the impression of that most awful night. It appears as if my Mother, in adopting a third daughter, was in danger of having lost one if not both of her own. Her bedroom, next the cabin, contained two beds, her own and