AMERICAN REFUGEES

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America, an inventor of explosive machines, who had made attempts to burn the arsenals at Portsmouth and Plymouth and the shipping at Bristol; several houses were actually destroyed. He confessed to having acted at the direct instigation of Silas Deane, the American Commissioner at Paris.' Dr. Bancroft excused himself for not giving information, on the ground that he believed Aitken to be a spy of the English Government. The incendiary was executed at Portsmouth on March 10, 1777.

Numbers of loyalists continued to arrive this year; but, unless the 'Diary' mentions any of these refugees as dining in company with Sir Francis Bernard, I have no means of knowing whether they renewed acquaintance with him. Judge Auchmuty he probably met, though the fact is not recorded. Sewall, his Attorney-General, who was in England so early as 1775, is not mentioned by Hutchinson in connection with Sir Francis until three years later; neither is Sir William Pepperell, who reached the Mother Country early in 1776, greatly depressed in spirits, having lost his wife on the voyage. The house on Jamaica Plain, in which Sir William had resided, would no doubt be a topic of discussion between him and Sir Francis. Possibly the lease had been only for seven years; but in any case Sir Francis can hardly have received any more rent for it, since his tenant was a ruined man. It was soon after this time, probably, that it became a camp hospital.

Another American refugee, named Samuel Curwen, who arrived in 1775, has left a Journal and Letters' bearing much resemblance to the 'Diary and Letters' of Governor Hutchinson. He belonged to a Salem family, and had been thirty years in the Commission of the Peace, but does not seem to have known Sir Francis Bernard in Massachusetts. When he left America he was a Judge of the Admiralty Court, probably appointed by Hutchinson, whom he greatly admired. It was, indeed, through signing a complimentary farewell address to that Governor, and then refusing to 'recant,' that he found his position at Boston untenable. Otherwise he appears to have been but a lukewarm Royalist,

and was a fierce Dissenter. Curwen occasionally visited Hutchinson, but does not seem to have met Bernard there. However, in 1776 he writes: London, Feb. 15, Dined with New England Club at Adelphi Tavern; was introduced to Sir Francis Bernard.' And again, when visiting Oxford in 1777, he notes proceeding on May 7 'to Christ Church College, in Peckwater Square; meeting Sir Francis Bernard with a son now educating here.' They do not appear to have seen each other again. At the close of the war, in 1784, Curwen returned to America.3

The arrival of destitute relatives and friends must have had a depressing effect on Governor Hutchinson; yet there was a certain sad pleasure in the reunion. Other painful events, however, followed. During this year (1777) and the immediately succeeding period the domestic record is full of sorrow, which doubtless hastened his end.

Early in the year Margaret, or Peggy, Hutchinson, the Governor's daughter, showed symptoms of failing health.* In a letter written some months later by Julia to Scrope Bernard allusion is made to the progress of the disease. It is, indeed, a gossiping letter, touching on many topics, as will be seen, and begins:

As you have been so anxious about Master Lee liking his new situation, every confirmation of that will give you pleasure; Sir W and Lady Eliz. have both heard from him since I wrote to you; he says 'he likes Harrow so well he thinks he shall never be tired of it'; he has bought a new set of tea-things, and says, with great satisfaction, and now I invite and am invited.' Sir W seems much pleased with his situation.

I am obliged to you for the books; I hope to make a good use of them. I must confess myself very deficient in the knowledge of history, which everybody ought to know something of, and hope to make up that deficiency, as well as many others.

We have had several gentlemen to dinner to-day, among the rest a Mr. Bingham, uncle to Sophy's father, who was with Dr. Bridle at Hardwicke; he is an old friend of my father.

1 Curwen, Journal, ch. i.

2 Ibid. v.

The foregoing sketch of Curwen's life is taken from the Introductory Memoir,' in the same volume as the Journal and Letters.

Hutchinson, Diary and Letters, vol. ii. ch. ii.

DEATH OF MARGARET HUTCHINSON

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Dr. Jeffries did not call on his way to Berkhamstead; he had not time.

Dr. Bridle1 was a Fellow of New College and rector of Hardwick, a parish north of Aylesbury, on the Buckingham road. Sophy was a lively young lady whom Julia had met at the Noyes' house. I am not certain whether her name was Bingham. The next paragraph in Julia's budget of news is the following:

I believe you have heard us mention Mr. Perkins, Dr. Dodd's nephew, as being far gone in a consumption; he died this morning at Eythrope; Lord Chesterfield is absent, and I think must be shocked when he comes home; he talked of taking him with him to Winchester Races; it's happy he did not; he seemed better a few days ago and walked about.

It seems strange that the nephew of a man who had recently been hanged should think of appearing at races. Perhaps he did not; but Lord Chesterfield evidently thought of taking him, which is almost equally strange. There can be little doubt on this subject, because the next paragraph in the letter affords a clue to the date: 'I suppose you have heard that Miss Hutchinson is quite given over. What a shock it will be to Governor Hutchinson! I am very sorry to hear it.'

Margaret Hutchinson died of consumption on September 21, 1777. Twelve years of her short life had been spent in peril and anxiety. Julia Bernard's letter must have been written either in August or early in September. Dr. Dodd had been executed on June 27.3

Then comes a passage in the same letter of a different

'Lipscomb, Hist. Bucks, vol. iii., 'Hardwick.' Dr. Bridle was instituted in 1760, having been previously rector of Akely. He remained at Hardwick until his death in 1792. The name of this parish is now generally spelt without an 'e.'

* Hutchinson, Diary and Letters, vol. ii. ch. iii.

There is an allusion to Dr. Dodd's execution in Hutchinson's Diary, vol. ii. ch. ii. The date of his death, with other particulars, may also be found in histories and biographies of the time.

character; it is one of the very few allusions to dress in the correspondence, and the longest:

In regard to your patterns, the buff is a pretty colour, but certainly would not suit your orange waistcoat, and a Feuille-Morte will suit, I think, worse; the light green is pretty; they would either of them suit [probably either light or dark green]; to tell the truth I don't think you can with propriety wear your satin waistcoat in the heat of summer; I don't recollect seeing one.

In that same month of September, during which Margaret Hutchinson attained the goal of her troubled pilgrimage, a deep gloom was thrown over the hospitable house at Hartwell by the unexpected and tragical death of Lord Harcourt. Julia notes in her 'Reminiscences':

The death of this worthy nobleman was affecting and remarkable. He was walking in the woods at Nuneham with his favourite dog Dash, which I well remember, when the dog fell into some old well; his master stooped down to see if he could help him, and pitched in. It was some time before he was found. I remember happening to walk to Hartwell just at the time this dreadful intelligence had reached the place. I marked a great distress on Sir William's countenance, and a lady there. Lady Elizabeth was very unwell, and it was kept from her that day.

Fanny Bernard's Happiness-Her Offers of Marriage-Sir Francis again Visits London-The Commissioners to Treat with the Americans-Death of Lady Bernard-Sir Francis Visits Mrs. Edmunds-He Pays Another Visit to London-A Committee of American Loyalists-Friendship between Scrope Bernard and William Wyndham Grenville-Julia Bernard's EngagementSir Francis's Last Visit to London-His Death-The Gordon RiotsHawthorne's Sensational Picture of Governor Hutchinson's Last Days.

DURING that year 1777, in which the events just narrated gave occupation to Julia's powers of description, Fanny Bernard remained with her cousin in Yorkshire chiefly; it appears, indeed, that she paid occasional visits to other houses, making Worsborough her headquarters. I have only two epistles of this time written by her to Scrope; these confirm the previous account of her great happiness. In the first, dated July 6, from Tyers Hill, she says:

I have been for these five days past at the place where the scene of action in my little history was laid, in a most agreeable tête-d-tête with the amiable sister of my heroine; . . . for particulars of the friends whom I am with I refer you to Julia; my partial pen might say too much; suffice it that many circumstances have served to endear us to each other, and the discovery of many great and amiable qualities in her makes me very happy in her friendship and affection.1

On December 8 Fanny was still at Worsborough ; Scrope had paid a visit there in the meantime, and she wrote:

When you left us I was looking forward with a melancholy eye to the time of my departure, & dreaded the expected day, after

MS. letter at Nether Winchendon.