MEMOIH 
 
 MES. SUSANNA ROWSON, 
 
 ELEGANT AND ILLUSTEATIVE EXTKACTS FROM HER 
 WRITINGS IN PROSE AND POETRY. 
 
 ELI AS N ASON, M. A 
 
 LA NATURE ET LE C(EUR SONT 1NEPUISABLES. 
 
 JBernardin de Saint Pierre. 
 
 WITH HER BOOK AND HER VOICE AND HER LYRE, 
 TO WING ALL HER MOMENTS AT HOME; 
 
 AND WITH SCENES THAT NEW RAPTURE INSPIRE, 
 AS OPT AS IT SUITS HER TO ROAM, 
 
 WILL SHE HAVE JUST THE HIFE SHE PREFERS ? 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 ALBANY, N. Y. : 
 
 JOE I, MUNSELL 
 
 1870. 
 
DEDICATORY. 
 
 TO HIS 
 ESTIMABLE AND LONG TRIED FRIEND, 
 
 JOHN" WAKD DEAJST, A.M., 
 
 WHO BRINGS TO 
 
 THE STUDY OF EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE, 
 
 A RETENTIVE MEMORY, A SOUND JUDGMENT, A REFINED TASTE, 
 AND AN ARDENT ZEAL 5 
 
 WHOSE MENTAL ACQUISITIONS ARE EQUALLED ONLY BY 
 HIS MODESTY AND GOOD SENSE, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY 
 
 Inscribe^ 
 
 HIS VERY OBEDIENT SERVANT, 
 
 ELIAS KASOK. 
 
 BKIGHTSIDE, Jan. 1, 1870. 
 
 The excellent Portrait of Mrs. Rowson ivas engraved 
 expressly for this work, at the expense of Mrs. John J. 
 Clarke, n6e Rebecca Cordis (see p. 190), in testimony 
 of her affectionate regard for the memory of her dis 
 tinguished relative. 
 
 Publisher. 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 MRS. SUSANNA ROWSOK. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Dear to memory are the scenes of our early days, though^ then 
 the cup of existence was often mingled with the tear of affliction. 
 MRS. ROWSON. 
 
 The ship hangs hovering on the verge of death. Falconer. 
 
 Mrs. SUSANNA ROWSON was one of the most 
 remarkable women of her day. Her life is as ro 
 mantic as any creation of her gifted pen, and is a 
 beautiful illustration of the potency of a large, 
 glowing heart, and a determined will to rise supe 
 rior to circumstance and achieve success. She was 
 the only daughter of Lieutenant, afterwards Cap 
 tain William Haswell, of the British navy, and 
 was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, in 
 1762. Her mother s maiden name was Susanna 
 Musgrave, 1 and she died in giving her infant 
 
 1 The Musgrave family is of German origin, and settled in Eng 
 land as early as the Norman conquest. Camden styles it " the 
 martial and warlike family of Musgrave." Mus signifies fen ; 
 grave, governor ; i.e., the governor of the fens, as landgrave, etc. 
 Arms : az. six annulets, or. Burke s Commoners of England, Sup., 
 p. 15. 
 
6 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 daughter, 1 whom she named with her own name, 
 and baptized with her blessing, to the world. 
 Lieutenant Haswell, being then engaged in the 
 revenue service on the American station, 2 married 
 sometime afterwards, Miss Rachel, daughter of 
 Ebenezer an,d Elizabeth (Hudson) Woodward, 3 of 
 George s . island, in Boston harbor, by whom he 
 ;!; ad i;Eree ;gpns 9 Robert, William, and John Mon- 
 tresor, an account of whom will be found in a 
 subsequent part of this work. 
 
 The infancy of Mrs. Rowson was passed in Eng 
 land, under the " watch and ward " of a most 
 faithful nurse, of whom she ever spoke in terms of 
 grateful praise. 
 
 Having settled pleasantly with his family in a 
 delightful valley at Nantasket, Mr. Haswell now 
 desired to bring his little daughter to America, to 
 be nurtured by his excellent and pious lady under 
 his own roof; and for this purpose he returned to 
 England in 1766, and receiving Susanna and her 
 
 1 In the preface to the Trials of the Human Heart, Mrs. Rowson 
 says : " My mother lost her life in giving me existence." She lies 
 buried under one of the churches in Portsmouth, England. 
 
 2 W. Musgrave, Esq., was one of the commissioners of the cus 
 toms in England, 1707. 
 
 ;i Ebenezer Woodward was the son of Smith Woodward of Dor 
 chester. The will from which the pedigree is derived, bears the 
 date of 1738. His daughter Mary married Hezekiah Hudson, of 
 Cohassut, and had issue, Scarlet Hudson, born January 20, 1775. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 7 
 
 affectionate nurse, embarked with them ^October, 
 at Deal, on board a brig bound for Boston. 
 
 The voyage was long and perilous. 1 The brig 
 encountered the fearful storms and contrary winds 
 of that inclement season, and the provisions failing, 
 each passenger was finally put upon an allowance 
 of a single biscuit, and a half a pint of water per 
 day. Mrs. Rowson often spoke in after life of the 
 intense thirst she then experienced, and of her 
 bitter disappointment, when her father, with a 
 tearful eye, presented her a cup of wine instead of 
 water. Her faithful nurse subsisted many days on 
 half of her own scanty allowance, affectionately 
 reserving the other portion for her beloved Su 
 sanna, should they be reduced to a more terrible 
 necessity. Having thus been driven to and fro by 
 wintry storms for many weeks, and having endured 
 the pangs of famine to the last extremity, their 
 hearts were overwhelmed with joy when the sweet 
 cry of "Land ahead ! " was heard late in the after 
 noon of the 28th of January, 1767. They were ap 
 proaching Boston harbor, and anticipating quick 
 relief from their protracted sufferings ; but a severer 
 trial yet awaited them. The wind rose suddenly ; 
 the night fell darkling over the ill-fated vessel ; the 
 
 1 For a graphic description of this wintry voyage, see Mrs. Row- 
 son s Rebecca, p. 152. 
 
8 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 sleet encased the ropes in ice ; the sailors were 
 benumbed with cold ; the brig became unmanage 
 able; and to add to their dismay, they lost sight of 
 the beacon l at the entrance of the harbor, and were 
 drifting hopelessly in amongst the rocks and break 
 ers. At ten o clock that dreadful night, their 
 fears were realized. Suddenly the vessel struck 
 a rock. It proved to be upon that long, low 
 point running out north-westwardly from Lovell s 
 island, 2 opposite Kam s head, in Boston harbor. 
 The floods came beating violently over deck, and 
 there, all through that long, cold, dreary, stormy 
 night, the little weather-beaten company remained 
 in agony, anticipating instant death. But the good 
 brig held together; and when the tide receded 
 in the morning, the kind people of the island wad 
 ing into the sea and placing a ladder against the 
 side of the vessel, received the passengers and con 
 ducted them safely to the land ; the rounds of the 
 ladder, however, being soon covered with ice, Lieut. 
 Haswell did not dare to risk his little daughter on 
 
 1 This was the Boston lower light. There was but one lighthouse 
 in the harbor at that period. 
 
 2 This island, lying between Long island and the Great Brew- 
 ster, is about six miles from Boston. Many ships have been wrecked 
 upon the shoal extending from it on the north-west side. " One 
 ketch was carried out to sea, and wrecked on Lovell s island, De 
 cember 25, 1645." Drake s History of Boston, p. 291. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 9 
 
 them ; and so, fastening a strong cord round her 
 waist, he swung her out over the bulwarks of the 
 brig into the arms of a stout old sailor, standing 
 up to his waist in the water to receive her. 
 
 Amid such scenes of peril, Miss Susanna Has- 
 well was receiving her first lessons in the school of 
 human life ; and though she was then but just be 
 ginning to read a few letters from the strange pages 
 of the book of Providence, her beautiful story of 
 Hebecca shows how deeply they were imprinted on 
 the tablets of her tender heart. 
 
10 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The surf-beaten rocks and green hills of Nantasket are perpetual 
 memorials to remind us of those who first planted among them the 
 standard of the cross. LINCOLN. 
 
 And in our life alone does nature \\ve.-Coleridge. 
 
 Hardly any spot along the irregular seaboard of 
 our state presents to the eye more picturesque and 
 beautiful local scenery, or awakens in the mind 
 more interesting historical associations than the 
 green headland of Nantasket. It stands as a bold 
 and everlasting sentinel to guard the chief entrance 
 to our city, and every heavy laden ship that makes 
 our port must pass Point Allerton and have its 
 name announced at Telegraph hill. From the 
 verdure-crowned eminences of Nantasket, you be 
 hold upon the east the broad Atlantic, now dotted 
 with many hundred sails and breaking in gentle 
 murmurs along the sandy shore; now lashed to 
 fury by the howling tempest and lifting its angry 
 surges to the skies; towards the north and west, 
 your eye sweeps over the green islands of Boston 
 harbor from the lower lighthouse to Fort Warren, 
 Eainsford s island, the upper light, and still beyond 
 to the city sleeping like a queen of beauty in the 
 distance; while to the south, it rests upon the pic- 
 
MBS. SU8ANNA ROWSON. 11 
 
 turesque islands of Quincy bay and Hingham.harbor. 
 It seems to be the very centre of a little world of 
 beauty, and every spot within the field of vision has 
 been consecrated by events which constitute an 
 interesting portion of the history of our nation. 
 
 As early as 1624 a settlement was made on this 
 delightful promontory by the celebrated John Old- 
 ham, 1 and in 1630 the assessment on its inhabitants 
 was just one pound sterling. A fort was ordered 
 to be constructed here in 1633 and a meeting house 2 
 was erected the ensuing year. The name of Hull 
 is supposed to have been given to the place from 
 that of one of its early settlers. 
 
 The principal village is built upon a single street 
 w 7 hich winds gracefully between two gentle emi 
 nences across Nantasket head, and thence along 
 a very narrow beach towards Point Allerton and 
 Strawberry hill. At the period of which I write, 
 this place contained about one hundred and fifty 
 inhabitants, engaged principally in fishing and in 
 agriculture, who lived in a state of primitive sim- 
 
 1 Killed at tlie great swamp fight in Narragansett, December 
 19th, 1675. 
 
 2 Incorporated, May 29, 1644. It is nine miles south-east from 
 Boston, with which it has steam boat communication. In 1860, it 
 had two hundred and two inhabitants, and the number of voters 
 in 1869, was seventy-five. The plan of its old fort on Telegraph 
 hill is said to have been drawn by Lafayette. 
 
12 A ME MO lit OF 
 
 plicity, extending a cordial hospitality to such 
 strangers as might chance to visit their secluded 
 village, spinning long yarns of ocean life, or discuss 
 ing politics in the bar-room of the venerable Mrs. 
 Lobden s tavern ; and attending regularly every 
 sabbath on the ministrations of the Rev. Solomon 
 Prentice, 1 their beloved minister, whose unpretend 
 ing church 2 stood on the margin of the little sheet 
 of water in the centre of the valley. 
 
 On the day succeeding the shipwreck at Lovell s 
 island, Lieutenant Haswell and his little daughter 
 reached their home at Nantasket. The house 3 
 which they occupied is still standing. It is a large 
 one story wooden building with a huge chimney 
 
 1 The Rev. Solomon Prentice was settler! at Hull, on March 21st, 
 1768, where he continued till 1772: His predecessor, the Rev. 
 Samuel Veazie, was ordained there in April, 1753, and dismissed 
 in 1767. 
 
 2 This " rustic temple " as Mrs. Rowson terms it, was blown 
 down in what was called the great gale of September 23, 1815, 
 since which no church edifice has been erected at Nantasket. 
 
 3 Now owned by Matthew Hunt, Esq. It is very ancient and 
 contains five rooms below ; the posts of the house being uncovered 
 within and the attic unfinished. The court in front is shaded with 
 ancient apple and pear trees ; while rose and lilac bushes skirt the 
 tottering walls. In visiting this hquse in August, 1860, a woman 
 brought to me a very fine looking babe, hight Eliza Josephine 
 Carney, born March 19, 1860, which she observed was the first 
 child born in the house for more than half a century. Mr. Clement 
 Millaken now (1869) lives in the Haswell house. There is on a 
 panel of one of the doors, a very curious landscape scene, said to 
 have been painted by Lieut. Has well himself. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROW SON. 13 
 
 in the centre, and is styled the parsonage. It is 
 pleasantly situated upon rising land on the south 
 side of the street, a little eastward of the ancient 
 house of entertainment and the church. It over 
 looks Nantasket harbor, just beneath it, on the 
 right; and Telegraph hill protects it from the 
 northern blast. The quiet burial place upon the 
 green margin of the bay is near; the sandy beach 
 a little farther on ; and indeed the fine delightful 
 hills of Hull are all within the distance of a morn 
 ing s walk. It was in this house and amid these 
 lovely scenes that Miss Haswell passed the days of 
 girlhood. Here her mind received its shape and 
 colorine;, and here amidst His marvelous handi- 
 
 O" 
 
 work her heart first learned to glow in adoration 
 of her Maker. Endowed by nature with a lively 
 fancy and a vigorous constitution, she spent much 
 of her young life in sports and rambles over the 
 hills and valleys of Kantasket. She collected shells 
 and flowers, of which she was most passionately 
 fond, upon the winding beach ; she sailed out over 
 the beautiful bay with her father in his little boat ; 
 she gathered berries, early red, upon the sunny 
 side of Strawberry hill, and from Point Allerton 
 she saw with glad surprise the golden tressed sun 
 come up from the old ocean s bed, and watched the 
 increasing sail of the proud merchantman bearing 
 
14 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 past the headlands into port. Sometimes a ship 
 wreck, too, upon that dangerous shore would bring 
 to mind her own keen sufferings in the harbor, and 
 awaken all the sympathies of her young and tender 
 heart. 
 
 Lieutenant Haswell was a man of liberal culture. 
 His library was, for the times, extensive, and his 
 books well chosen. His daughter had acquired 
 the art of reading, as by intuition ; and at the age 
 of ten, or twelve, read Dryden s Yirgil, Pope s 
 Homer, Shakespeare and Spenser, 1 fluently and 
 understandingly ; and her enunciation was remark 
 ably, correct and pure. She loved these classic 
 authors, and continued to peruse them with increas 
 ing interest to the end of life. Her knowledge of 
 language was derived rather from studying elegant 
 productions, than from the formal and technical 
 rules of grammar and rhetoric. She also early 
 evinced a taste for music. Her sprightliness and 
 proficiency soon attracted the attention of our great 
 lawyer and statesman, JAMES Ons, 2 who usually 
 
 1 The following passage from her Sarah has reference doubt 
 less to herself: I have heard her father say that at ten years old, 
 she read with propriety and seemed fully to comprehend all the 
 beauties of Pope s Homer, Dryden s Virgil, and other works of the 
 same tendency ; Spenser and Shakespeare were great favorites 
 with her." P. 11. 
 
 2 This great lawyer and statesman was born February 5, 1725 ; 
 married Ruth Cunningham, 1755 ; made his famous plea against 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROW80N. 15 
 
 spent his summers at Nantasket and who was a 
 frequent visitor at Mr. HaswelFs house. 1 He often 
 took his little scholar, as he called her, on his knee, 
 heard her recite poetry and instilled into her inqui 
 sitive mind those principles of liberty, of which he 
 was one^of the most eloquent advocates in America. 
 Living in comparative affluence, Lieutenant Has- 
 well enjoyed the society of many other distinguished 
 individuals, most of whom were officers of the 
 crown, 2 with whom his little daughter was a general 
 favorite; so that nurtured thus in this romantic spot 
 with the bounding ocean on the one hand and the 
 refined society of Boston on the other, her mind 
 received those deep impressions of the external 
 beauties of creation, gained that clear insight into 
 human character, and developed those seeds of 
 genius which rendered her pen so fertile and so 
 brilliant in her subsequent life. Nor is it strange 
 
 the Writs of Assistance, 1761 ; was elected to the Stamp Act 
 congress, 1765 ; was beaten by the royalist Robinson, 1770 ; and was 
 killed by lightning in 1783. 
 
 The house which he occupied at Hull is still standing and the 
 study where the fires of this brilliant genius were kindled is still 
 shown. 
 
 Among his immediate neighbors were the Loring, Southen, 
 Jones and Gould families. 
 
 2 Speaking of this period of her life, she says : " enjoying a con 
 stant intercourse with the families of the officers of the British 
 army and navy then stationary, eight years of my life glided imper 
 ceptibly away." Preface to Trials of the Hainan Heart, p. 16. 
 
16 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 at all that a bright girl growing up under such 
 peculiar circumstances should have lent a willing 
 ear to stories of romantic fiction and woven a para 
 dise around her somewhat different from the actual 
 world in which she was to play her part. Her step 
 mother seems to have been a pious and exemplary 
 woman, and to have instilled into her daughter s 
 mind the solemn sanctions and the obligations of 
 religion. 
 
 " I was/ says Mrs. Rowson, in speaking of her 
 own education, " early accustomed to make the 
 Bible my study and guide ; and to settle all ques 
 tions of morality by the sermon on the mount and 
 by the decalogue." Could she have chosen a better 
 standard ? 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 17 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 quaeque ipse miserrima vidi, 
 
 Et quorum parsmagna fui. J2n., b. II, 5. 
 
 The great drama of the American revolution was 
 now opening. The restrictions imposed upon our 
 trade by the unwarrantable acts of the British par 
 liament had aroused the indignation of the colony. 
 An appeal to arms was deemed inevitable, and 
 as Boston was then the commercial emporium of 
 America, it was destined to receive the first blow 
 in the unjust aggression. Failing in the execu 
 tion of the iniquitous laws against our trade, and 
 trembling before the spirit of patriotism which the 
 burning words of Otis, Hancock and Adams had 
 evoked, the royal governor, Bernard, seconded by 
 the wily Hutchinson, sends for English troops to 
 sustain his government ; and in less than two years 
 after her arrival, Miss Haswell must have seen with 
 her own eyes, from the highlands of Hull, the en 
 trance of the British fleet of six ships of war, 1 with 
 seven hundred troops into Nantasket roads. 
 
 1 This occurred September 28, 1768. The following British ves 
 sels were then in the harbor: the Beaver, 14 guns ; the Senegal, 
 14 ; the Martin, 10 ; the Glasgow, 20 ; the Mermaid, 28 ; the Rom- 
 ney, 50 ; the Launaston, 40 ; the Bonetta, 10. 
 3 
 
18 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 From this period, until 1776, the constant arrival 
 of British transports and men of war, the cannon 
 ading, the occasional skirmishes and collisions 
 between the hostile parties, rendered Boston har 
 bor one of the most animated fields of observa 
 tion in the world. Miss Haswell was a daily and a 
 central witness of the warlike preparations, floating 
 pageantries and shifting scenes; nor was her ear 
 inattentive to the details of the Boston massacre, 
 to the discussion of the Boston port bill, or to the 
 story of the destruction of the chests of tea in Bos 
 ton harbor. 
 
 An officer of the crown with an American wife, 
 Lieutenant Haswell lived, as it were, in a kind of 
 neutrality, upon the dividing line between the con 
 tending forces. His house was the constant resort 
 of British naval and military commanders ; and his 
 situation, as the preparations for the impending 
 struggle advanced, became more and more criti 
 cal. The arrival of the splendid fleet of Admiral 
 Graves, however, in the summer of 1774, soon fol 
 lowed by the Scarborough, the Boyne, the Asia 
 and the Somerset men of war, bearing sixty guns 
 
 Cols. Mackay and Pomroy arrived with their regiments from 
 Cork, to protect the revenue officers, in 1768. About four thousand 
 foreign troops arrived this year. John Adams. 
 
 Col. Dalrymple took possession of Castle William, in 1770. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 19 
 
 or more, inspired the loyalists with the hope that 
 the provincials would be quickly brought to terms. 
 But the mustering of soldiers in the interior, and 
 the bloody conflict on Bunker hill, the dreadful 
 sounds of which roll over Boston harbor, filling the 
 Haswell family with dismay, dispel the illusion, 
 and reveal an enemy which the veteran troops 
 and armaments of England could not so easily in 
 timidate. 
 
 The peninsula of Nantasket being very much 
 exposed to the depredations of the British, the in 
 habitants, 1 immediately after the battle of Bunker 
 hill, deserted their homes and fled into the interior, 
 leaving their grain standing in the fields, and 
 Lieutenant Haswell and his family the sole occu 
 pants of the place. 
 
 General Washington assumed the command of the 
 American army in July, and while constructing a line 
 of entrenchments around the town of Boston where 
 the British were now lying in masterly inactivity, 
 one of those daring exploits occurred in the harbor, 
 which seems more like a romance than a reality, 
 
 1 The general court caused the inhabitants of Hull to be removed 
 in July, 1775, and a guard to be stationed at the entrance of the 
 town, which remained until December of the same year. It was 
 resolved in general court, September 9, 1776, that the guard that 
 did duty at Hull last winter, be paid " wages and vittelling."- 
 See Mass. Archives, vol. ccix, pp. 188, 189. 
 
20 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 and which strikingly displays the intrepidity of the 
 provincial soldiery. 
 
 Early on Thursday morning, July 20th, two or 
 three companies under Major Joseph Yose, 1 of Col. 
 William Heath s regiment, went from Hingham 
 to Nantasket, visited the house of Mr. Haswell, 
 threw his family into great alarm, and then, drag 
 ging their boats noiselessly across the beach, rowed 
 over the bay to the lighthouse, 2 which they set on 
 fire about daybreak, within sight of several men of 
 war. The British immediately sent out eight 
 barges, a cutter and a schooner, in pursuit of them ; 
 but our men soon reached the shore without the 
 loss of life, two only of the number being slightly 
 wounded. "I ascended," says an eye witness, " an 
 eminence at a distance, and saw the flames of the 
 lighthouse ascending up to heaven like grateful 
 
 1 Major Joseph Vose, son of Elijah, of Milton, was born in 1742. 
 He was afterwards colonel of the first regiment of Massachusetts 
 troops. Gen. Reg., April, 1855. 
 
 2 The lighthouse at the entrance of Boston harbor was erected 
 in 1715,"at a cost of 2,385 17*. Sd. currency. Douglass, vol. I, 
 p. 541. 
 
 " Major Vose burnt the wooden portions of the lighthouse, 
 brought off its furniture, lamps, etc., and the boats." Frothingham. 
 " The Americans grew so bold at length as to burn the light 
 house, though a man of war lay within a mile of them at the 
 
 time." History of the War in America, vol. i, p. 376. 
 
MKS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 21 
 
 Major Yose returned the next day, bringing 
 with him a thousand bushels of barley, and a quan 
 tity of hay. It was thought then that the British 
 would burn the town, but Lieutenant Haswell s in 
 fluence probably prevented it. 1 
 
 The British were then expecting large supplies 
 from home, and soon began to reconstruct the light 
 house ; twelve tory carpenters, guarded by thirty 
 marines, were engaged upon the work. 
 
 On the 31st of July, 2 while a heavy cannonading 
 was going on along the British and American lines, 
 Major Tupper, 3 with a detachment of three hundred 
 men, went out from Dorchester and Squantum to 
 cut off the workmen at the lighthouse. Planting 
 a single field piece under Major Crane upon NSLU- 
 tasket point to cover his retreat, he landed in good 
 order on the island amidst the fire of the marines, 
 killed ten or twelve men on the spot, and took the 
 remainder prisoners. On returning, he was so 
 hotly pursued by the barges from the men of war, 
 
 betters of Mrs. Adams, p. 58 ; Siege of Boston, p. 226. 
 
 2 July 31, 1775. The George Tavern [Roxbury] was burned by 
 the regulars, " and the house at the lighthouse by the provincials 
 (about three hundred) who took about thirty soldiers and a number 
 of carpenters." " Cannonade from Charlestown ; " " very trying 
 scenes." Timothy Newell s Journal. Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. i, p. 
 265, [4th series]. 
 
 3 Major in Col. Ward s regiment. See Gen. Beg., January, 1850, 
 p. 68. 
 
22 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 that he was obliged to run one boat ashore, a young 
 man by the name of Griffin being killed, as he was 
 rowing it. At the same time a shot from Major 
 Tapper s one-gun battery struck and sunk one of 
 the pursuing boats, killing several of the crew. 
 
 This action took place in the immediate vicinity 
 and within sight of the Haswell family ; and in his 
 rapid retreat from the firing of the enemy across 
 Nantasket point, Major T upper left a British sol 
 dier, by the name of Darnel Carnagon, twenty-six 
 years years old, mortally wounded in their house, 
 promising them if he made a safe retreat, to send 
 for him upon the morrow. He was laid upon a 
 mattrass, and efforts were vainly made to staunch, 
 with bandages of linen, his bleeding wounds ; his 
 life was ebbing fast; and after recounting with a 
 faltering voice a little of his personal history l to 
 the sympathizing family, and then attempting to 
 say the Lord s prayer, he died before completing it, 
 
 Mr. Haswell and his daughter then went out, and 
 selecting a retired spot in a corner of his garden, 
 dag with their own hands the soldier s grave ; and 
 just as the sun s last beam was lingering on the hill 
 
 1 He was the only son of a clergyman in the north of England, 
 from whom he had received an excellent education. He died in 
 the south-eastern room in the house, where traces of his blood are 
 said to be still seen upon the floor. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 23 
 
 above, they wrapped the body carefully in a sheet 
 and bore it silently to its lonely resting place. 
 Miss Haswell read with trembling voice the burial 
 service of the church of England over it; and then 
 the weeping family, as the evening shades were 
 falling, laid it gently down into its narrow bed, 
 and covering it with tender hands, left it sleeping 
 peacefully by the moaning sea. 1 
 
 In reference to this scene of bloodshed and of suf 
 fering, which is touchingly described in her Rebecca, 
 Mrs. Rowson says: "It was a day never to be 
 obliterated from the mind of the author, who par 
 took of all its horror, though but just emerging 
 from a state of childhood." 
 
 Through such scenes and trials she was develop 
 ing that tender sympathy for the unfortunate, that 
 sweet humanity, that energy of character, and that 
 heroism which she exhibited so steadily and so 
 beautifully to the end of life. 
 
 1 The spot where this soldier was buried is indicated by three 
 large apple trees, standing near the south-west corner of the gar 
 den of the parsonage. 
 
24 A MEMOIR OH 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " You are too near the sea-coast" said the stranger, " and may 
 hold correspondence with tfie enemy." REBECCA, p. 179. 
 
 The position of Lieutenant Haswell s little family 
 was at this period extremely perilous. The town 
 of Boston was in the hands of an insolent British 
 soldiery ; and British men of war, as birds of evil 
 omen, were intently watching from, different points 
 in the harbor the operations in the American lines, 
 and bringing, as they could, their longest guns to 
 bear upon them. 
 
 The raids and skirmishes of the two armies to 
 secure wood, or hay, or grain, upon the islands in 
 the harbor, were constant, sometimes sanguinary ; 
 and the lives and property of the inhabitants of 
 these places, as well as of the neighboring towns, 
 were exposed to imminent peril. From its promi 
 nent position and the easy access to it either by 
 land or water, no spot between the two armies was 
 more directly open to attack and pillage than Nan- 
 tasket ; and when its people immediately after the 
 events related in the preceding chapter, fled for 
 safety, Lieutenant Haswell s family with the Ame 
 rican guard remained as the sole occupants of the 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 25 
 
 place. Allied to our cause by matrimonial ties, 
 and yet holding his commission from the king of 
 England, this officer endeavored through these 
 exciting scenes to maintain a kind of unobserved 
 neutrality, and the following incident will serve 
 to exhibit his bearing towards the Americans, as 
 well as the goodness of his heart. 
 
 As Mr. Amos Binney and his brother Spencer, 
 who had fled from Hull, were returning from Pettix 
 island to bring off their flocks, a British vessel cap 
 tured them, and its captain placed them at the guns. 
 Mr. Huswell hearing of their situation visited the 
 commander of the vessel, told him that Amos was 
 one of the selectmen of the town of Hull ; and also 
 that he had a family dependent on him and must 
 be released. The officers of the ship laughed at 
 the appearance of the selectman and dismissed him ; 
 retaining however his brother Spencer until Amos 
 with a ransom of fourteen sheep succeeded in 
 redeeming him. 
 
 Observing the peculiar situation and bearing of 
 Lieutenant Haswell, our officers were now induced 
 to make favorable overtures to him to espouse the 
 cause of liberty; but his prompt reply to them was 
 that having served the king of England thirty years, 
 it was now too late to take up arms against him. 
 In those eventful times neutrality was impossible ; 
 
26 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 Mr. Haswell had too high a sense of honor to dis 
 semble, his property was declared confiscated and 
 himself and family, in the autumn of 1775 removed 
 on parole by a guard of fifty men across the bay to 
 the neighboring town of Hingham. Here they 
 occupied a house on Lincoln street belonging at 
 that time to Mr. Stephen Lincoln, but now to the 
 Hon. Albert Fearing; and here they received kind 
 and courteous attentions from Dr. Ebenezer Gay 
 and son, from Captains John and Francis Barker, 
 Colonel John and Deacon Joseph Thaxter, Mr. 
 Stephen Lincoln, and other citizens of that town. 
 They lived, however, in very humble and unpretend 
 ing style as prisoners of war ; and in their adversity 
 the health of Mrs. Haswell now began to fail, while 
 her husband s heart was sinking underneath its load 
 of care. In this dark hour the cheerful voice and 
 radiant smile of their young daughter often sent a 
 gleam of sunshine through the house and raised the 
 drooping spirits of the family. Keenly alive to the 
 distresses of her parents, Miss Haswell not only 
 assisted in the common labors of the scanty house 
 hold, but also learned the useful art of spinning 
 cotton, wool and flax, and often spent the livelong 
 day in twirling her busy wheel ; hearing sometimes 
 above its monotonous hum the distant booming of 
 the cannon from the hostile armies, and lifting up 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 27 
 
 her earnest prayer to heaven for peace. In the 
 way of recreation, she was accustomed to visit a 
 beautiful forest of oak trees l on the border of the 
 sea, and there admire the ever changing aspects of 
 the ocean, or sing a cheerful evening song of praise 
 to Him who rules above it. She was here passing 
 through those scenes and trials which she after 
 wards so vividly portrayed in her story of Rebecca. 
 
 In the autumn of 1776 a question arose in the 
 town of Hingham respecting the support of the 
 Haswell family, and the following petition was 
 drawn up and sent to the general court : 
 
 " To the Honorable, the Council of the State of Massa 
 chusetts Bay in North America, and the Honorable the 
 House of Representatives the General Assembly convened. 
 The petition of the subscribers, a committee of Inspection 
 and Correspondence, humbly shows : That William Has 
 well, late a lieutenant of one of the king of Great Britain s 
 ships of war, and now on half pay from the crown of Great 
 Britain was by the order of Major General Ward about 
 twelve months agone taken and removed from his own dwell 
 ing house in Hull, with wife, mother, and three children or 
 family to the neighboring town of Hingham, where he has 
 resided ever since and has been supported by the overseers 
 of the said town till lately by order of Major General Ward. 
 But the said Major General now declining to be any farther 
 concerned about him. the said Haswell has made application 
 
 1 The oak trea forest stjrxl on land belonging now to Mr. Cal 
 vin Lincoln. 
 
28 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 to your Honors petitioners as a Committee aforesaid for 
 support. Now your Honors petitioners humbly pray the 
 direction of your Honors how they shall conduct with 
 respect to said Haswell and your Honors petitioners as in 
 duty bound will ever pray. 1 
 
 " THEOP S . GUSHING. 
 
 JNO. FEARING. 
 
 ISRAEL BEAL. 
 
 JNO. WHETCOMB. 
 
 JABEZ FISHER. 
 "Hingham, Nov. llth, 1776." 
 
 In the house of representatives, November 26, 
 1776, it was 
 
 Resolved, That the selectmen of the town of Hingham 
 be and hereby are directed to take care of the within named 
 Wm. Haswell and family, make such necessary provision 
 for them as their circumstances require, and lay their ac 
 counts before this court until they shall receive further 
 order. 
 
 " J. WARREN, Speaker" 
 
 Under the support afforded him by this resolve, 
 Lieutenant Haswell continued his residence in the 
 fine old town of Hingham until the winter of 1777, 
 his daughter s mind unfolding its beauty through 
 adversity as the precious gem through the clippings 
 and the burnishings of the artist. 
 
 1 See Mass. Archives, vol. ccxi, pp. 193, 194. 
 
MES. SUSANNA ROW80N. 29 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Sweet are the uses of adversity ; 
 
 Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 
 
 Wears yet a precious jewel in his head ; 
 
 And this our life exempt from public haunt. 
 
 Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
 
 Sermons in stones, and good in every thing. 
 
 As You Like It, Act n. 
 
 As some apprehension was felt that in the event 
 of an attack from the sea on the town of Boston, 
 Lieutenant Haswell might be still in a position to 
 render aid to the enemy, 1 it was deemed advisable 
 that he should be removed somewhat further from 
 the seaboard into the interior, and accordingly the 
 following resolution was passed in the house of re 
 presentatives, December 5, 1777 : 
 
 "Resolved, That the selectmen of Hingham be and 
 hereby are directed to remove William Haswell and family 
 to the town of Abington, and that the selectmen of Abington 
 are directed to receive said Haswell and family, and allow 
 them proper support, and present them their account to this 
 court for allowance and payment. 
 
 JOHN PITTS, Speaker, pro tern.- 
 
 1 Israel Beal was appointed, in 1777, to procure evidence of such 
 persons as were suspected of being inimical to this and tlie United 
 States of America in this town." Lincoln s History of Hinyham, 
 p. 107. 
 
 . Archives, vol. ccxvi, p. 87. 
 
30 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 The Haswell family arrived at Abington in desti 
 tute circumstances, at the close of the year 1777, 
 and but for the intervention of former friends who 
 forgot the party in the necessities of the man, 
 would have been reduced by the chances of war, in 
 that inclement season, to the sorest extremity. 
 They occupied a poor old house standing alone on 
 the outskirts of the forest, and two miles distant 
 from any other dwelling. The father was an in 
 valid ; food and raiment were expensive ; the cold 
 was intense ; the snows were deep, and the daughter 
 aided with her own hands in bringing fuel from 
 the forest for the family. In later times she fre 
 quently recurred to these trying scenes of her life, 
 and with a heart overflowing with grateful emotion, 
 rehearsed the names and the deeds of those who 
 alleviated their distresses. In one of her works, she 
 writes : " Dear worthy inhabitants of Hingham, 
 when I forget the friendship that alleviated my 
 parents sorrows, may this heart cease to beat." 
 
 In another place she speaks of the disinterested 
 goodness of a Thaxter, a Leavitt, and a Gay, 2 and 
 
 1 Rebecca, p. 181. 
 
 2 This was the Rev. Ebenezer Gay, D.D., of Hingham, born August 
 26, 1696. graduated at Harvard University, 1714, and died March 
 18, 1787, in the sixty-ninth year of his ministry. He preached a 
 remarkable sermon on his eighty-fifth birthday, which was re 
 printed in England. See Allen s Biog. Diet., in loco. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROW SON. 31 
 
 in her preface to the Trials of the Human Heart, re 
 ferring to the kindness of some American people 
 to her parents, she most gratefully exclaims : 
 " "Would to Heaven it were in my power to render 
 their names immortal, as my gratitude is un 
 bounded." In the spring of 1778 the selectmen 
 of Abington, and soon after Lieutenant Has well 
 himself, laid a petition before the house of repre 
 sentatives for his removal under a flag of truce to 
 Halifax, and on the 30th of May it was " resolved 
 that the said Mr. Haswell have, and he hereby has 
 leave to depart in the first cartel for Halifax, with 
 his wife and children, at the public expense, he 
 giving his parole to Major General Heath, com- 
 mander-in-chief of the Continental army in this 
 department." l Mr. Haswell and his family were 
 soon after conveyed in a small vessel bearing a 
 flag of truce, to Halifax, and thence to England. 
 Here, I have been informed, he resided for some 
 time at Hull upon the Humber; he soon, however, 
 removed to the vicinity of London, where misfor 
 tune still attending him, he struggled several years 
 to give his family a respectable maintenance. His 
 daughter, now intelligent, blooming, and versatile, 
 sought assiduously to alleviate the burdens of her 
 
 1 See Mass. Archives, vol. ccxvni, p. 449. 
 
32 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 parents, and eventually succeeded in obtaining a 
 situation as a governess in a noble family, with 
 whom she made a tour in France, and learned the 
 elegant language of that country. 
 
 Friendless and alone, Miss Haswell went to Lon 
 don to seek employment as a teacher, and long and 
 wearily she waited for a situation. From the regis 
 ter office, she often returned on foot, cold, hungry 
 and penniless to her miserable home ; but hope and 
 honesty, two prime elements of success, sustained 
 her, and at length the long sought opportunity to 
 teach, was found. 
 
 In presenting herself to the lady who assisted 
 her to a place, she touchingly narrated the history 
 and condition of the Haswell family in these simple 
 words : " My father, madam, is an officer in the 
 army ; my mother dying while I was yet an infant, 
 my father married a lady in America who brought 
 him an ample fortune ; he took me over to America 
 when only eight years old, and we remained there 
 in the utmost harmony till the unhappy breach 
 between Great Britain and her colonies. My father 
 refusing to join the Americans, his property was 
 confiscated, and he returned with his family to 
 England in a distressed situation. We have been 
 in England seven years ; the family has been sickly 
 and expensive; my poor father was involved in 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 33 
 
 debt; I could not bear the idea of adding to 
 his expenses ; I left my home, which is in the 
 country, and came to town to a distant relation, in 
 hopes by industry to obtain a living. This relation 
 I have undesignedly offended, as also some who 
 were nearer allied ; my efforts to live by industry 
 have failed, and I find myself under the necessity 
 of seeking for service." l 
 
 Miss Haswell remained as a governess in a 
 noble family until declining health compelled her 
 for a while to cease from intellectual labor; but 
 the instructions to the young ladies of her charge 
 were afterwards embodied in Mentoria. 
 
 On returning to London she became acquainted 
 with Mr. William Rowson, a friend of her father, 
 who was then engaged in business as a hardware 
 merchant, and who acted also as a trumpeter in the 
 Royal Horse Guards. 2 To this gentleman she was, 
 by the persuasion of her friends, united in marriage 
 in the year 1786 ; and in the same year she pub 
 lished by subscription, and under the patronage of 
 
 1 Inquisitor, vol. n, p. 139. 
 
 2 Mr. William Rowson was the son of an armorer to George the 
 Third. In youth he was considered handsome ; he sang agreeably, 
 and was of convivial habits. On leaving the stage he was em 
 ployed at the custom house as marine clerk, for more than a third 
 of a century. He married a second wife whose name was Han 
 nah S. Bancroft. " There are probably many persons," says Buck 
 ingham (Personal Memoirs, vol. i, p. 83), " who recollect, for no 
 
34 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 her grace, the Duchess of Devonshire, 1 then one of 
 the most beautiful arid accomplished ladies of Eng 
 land, her first work, entitled Victoria. 21 It is in two 
 volumes; the characters are taken from real life, 
 and the design of the work is " to improve the 
 morals of the female sex, by impressing them with 
 a just sense of the merits of filial piety." It con 
 sists of a series of familiar letters interspersed with 
 poetry, vividly portraying the condition of English 
 society, at that period, and the fatal effects of aber 
 ration from the path of virtue. The plot is not 
 very cleverly arranged ; yet in some of the scenes we 
 have an earnest of the success which the author was 
 soon to achieve. 
 
 one who heard can ever forget, the sublime and spirit stirring tones 
 of this gentleman s trumpet, when he played for the Boston Handel 
 and Haydn Society, the accompaniment to the magnificent air 
 in the Messiah. The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be 
 raised. One might almost see the graves opening and the dust 
 quickening into life." 
 
 1 Her grace, the Duchess of Devonshire, 1757-1806, eldest daughter 
 of John, first Earl of Spencer, was celebrated alike for her love 
 of art and for her personal charms. She published Passage of 
 St. Gothard, Poems, etc., and was a liberal patroness of learned 
 men. She married William, fifth Duke of Devonshire, in 1774. 
 " I could light my pipe," said an Irish laborer, " at her eyes." 
 
 2 The title of the work is : " Victoria, a Novel, in two volumes. 
 The characters taken from real life, and calculated to improve the 
 morals of the female sex, by impressing them with a just sense of 
 the merits of filial piety. By Susannah Haswell. London : Printed 
 by J. P. Cooke for the author at No. 38 Tavistock street, Co vent 
 Garden, etc., 1786." 
 
MRS. SUSANNA EOWSON. 35 
 
 "The touching pathos," says Mr. Knapp, "of 
 those passages in which Victoria is described as 
 losing her reason from the cruel treatment which 
 she receives ; her plaintive sorrow when deserted, 
 and the overpowering revulsion of feeling when 
 restored to her first love, are worthy of the best 
 hours of the gifted writer." 
 
 The work is elegantly dedicated to her grace, 
 the Duchess of Devonshire, and among the sub 
 scribers names are those of Samuel Adams, Gen. 
 John Burgoyne, Sir Charles Middleton, Mrs. Sarah 
 Siddons, and other celebrities of that day. In the 
 second volume the author introduces herself in the 
 character of Lucinda Harlow, and frequently ad 
 verts to the generosity of her distinguished pa 
 troness. 
 
 This grateful homage to her benefactress was not 
 lost ; for on the appearance of Victoria, the duchess 
 introduced her protege to the Prince of Wales, 
 known afterwards as George the IV, who was so 
 well pleased with the young author and her book, 
 as to bestow a pension on her father. 1 
 
 1 Writing to one of liis children in 1799, he says: " I find the 
 king in council of the 21st of September, 1796, has caused fifty 
 lieutenants, of which I am one, to be superannuated, all to rank as 
 commanders in his majesty s navy, which is a happy thing for us 
 in our old age. O that your dear mother had health to enjoy the 
 additional income it gives us." 
 
36 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Seule au bord des ruisseaux je chante sur ma lyre, 
 Ou le Dieu des guerriers, on le Dieu dcs amans, 
 Et ne changerois pas pour le plus vaste empire 
 Ces doux amusemens. Madame Deshoulieres, tome i, p. 9. 
 
 "Writing now, observes Mrs. Rowson, was her 
 most pleasurable amusement; and so she gave the 
 world in rapid succession Mary, or the Test of Honor, 
 the substance of which was furnished by her book 
 seller ; a Trip to Parnassus ; or a Critique of Authors 
 and Performers ; The Inquisitor, or the Invisible Ram 
 bler, after the manner, but without the grossness 
 of the Sentimental Journey of Sterne; and Mentoria, 
 or the Young Ladies Friend, 1791. These works 
 exhibit alike fertility of invention, simplicity of 
 style, and purity of heart. The Inquisitor, published 
 in London, 1788, 1 in three small volumes, 8vo, is 
 dedicated to Lady Cockburne, who had shown 
 herself a true and generous friend of the young 
 author. It consists of a series of pictures of Lon 
 don society drawn by a person, who, by placing a 
 charmed ring upon his finger renders himself 
 
 1 The second American edition of the Inquisitor was published 
 by Matthew Carey, Philadelphia, 1794. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 37 
 
 invisible to the parties whose conversation he 
 reports, and whose actions, good or evil, he de 
 scribes. In this, as in her other w r orks of fancy, 
 Mrs. Rowson introduces under fictitious names, 
 herself and something of her eventful history. 
 
 The rambler at the printing office in volume I, 
 is undoubtedly Miss Haswell with the manuscript 
 of Victoria, at J. B. Cooke s in Tavistock street in 
 1786. It is a fair specimen of the writer s manner 
 through the book. 
 
 " And can that young creature be an author ? 
 said I she was standing at the door of the print 
 ing office waiting for admission. I had rambled 
 out that morning in search of adventures my 
 ring was on, I entered the office with the young 
 author. 
 
 " i I have brought you my manuscript, Mr. 
 C ke, said she ; the story is founded on fact, 
 and I hope will be so lucky as to please those who 
 shall hereafter peruse it. 
 
 " Is it original, Miss ? 
 
 "Entirely so. 
 
 " Lord bless me, that was quite unnecessary. 
 
 " Why, sir, how could I think of offering to the 
 public a story which has appeared in print before ? 
 
 " Nothing more common, I assure you. He 
 was a thin, pale looking man, dressed in a shabby 
 
38 -4 MEMOIH OF 
 
 green coat. He never looked in her face the whole 
 time he was speaking; but standing half sideways 
 towards her, fixed his eyes askance upon the 
 ground. I never like a man that is ashamed to 
 look one in the face ; it argues a consciousness of 
 not having always acted with integrity. 
 
 " Nothing can be more common, Miss, con 
 tinued he, than for an author to get a quantity of 
 old magazines, the older the better, and having 
 picked and culled those stories best adapted to his 
 purpose, he places them in a little regular order, 
 writes a line here and there, and so offers them to 
 the public as an entire new work. 
 
 " See here, now, I have published this work on 
 my own account; these few first pages are original ; 
 but I assure you the scissors did the rest. I have 
 entitled it the Moralist, and sell these two volumes 
 at seven shillings and sixpence. 
 
 " I should rather call that compiling, said the 
 young author. 
 
 " Why, so it is in fact, but I assure you there are 
 few people who have genius sufficient to write a 
 book ; or even if they had, would take the trouble 
 to do it. A sentimental novel will hardly pay you 
 for time and paper. A story full of intrigue, 
 written with levity and tending to convey loose 
 ideas would sell very well. 
 
MRS, SUSANNA ROWSON. 39 
 
 " It is a subject unfit for a female pen, said the 
 young lady. 
 
 " Why, you need not put your name to it. 
 " It is a subject unfit for any pen, retorted she, 
 a deep vermilion dyeing her cheeks and fire flash 
 ing from her eyes ; but checking her rising passion, 
 4 1 think, continued she, with more composure, 
 the person who would write a book that might 
 tend to corrupt the morals of youth and fill their 
 docile minds with ideas pernicious and destructive 
 of their happiness deserves a greater punishment 
 than the robber who steals your purse, or the mur 
 derer that takes your life. 
 
 "Mr. C ke stared, it was a vacant stare; he 
 wondered, no doubt, how an author could study 
 anything but her own emolument. I was pleased 
 with her sentiments. If your writings are equal to 
 what you have just uttered, said I, they will be 
 worth perusing * * * You mean 
 to publish by subscription ? said Mr. C ke. 
 She replied in the affirmative. 
 
 " ; And how do you mean to get subscribers ? 
 " By showing my proposals and simply request 
 ing them to encourage my undertaking. 
 
 " < Oh, God bless me ! he replied, still looking 
 askance, for he never changed his position, or raised 
 his eyes from the ground except it was to look at 
 
40 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 his elbow and contemplate his threadbare sleeve ; 
 c it will never do to go that way to work ; you 
 must have a tale of distress to tell or you will never 
 procure one subscriber. 
 
 " I am not very much distressed, said she, i and 
 if I was, why should I blazon it to the world ? 
 
 " t It is no matter whether you are really distressed 
 or not, said C ke, < but you must tell a tale to 
 excite pity or you will never gain a single shilling 
 towards printing your books. I have sold eight 
 hundred copies of the Moralist by these means. 
 Nobody gives himself trouble to inquire whether 
 my story be false or true. It excites pity for the 
 moment ; they send me a subscription, my purpose 
 is answered, and it is a question whether they ever 
 think of me or my story again. 
 
 " She seemed tired of the conversation, so laying 
 down her manuscript and desiring him to put it in 
 hand immediately, she bade him good morning." l 
 
 Mentoria was published in Dublin in 1791, and 
 by Robert Campbell, Philadelphia, 1794. " My 
 design in publishing these volumes," says Mrs. 
 Rowson, "was an anxious desire to see all my dear 
 countrywomen as truly amiable as they are univer 
 sally acknowledged beautiful; it was a wish to 
 
 1 Inquisitor, vol. r, p. 52, et seq. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 41 
 
 convince them that true happiness can never be 
 met with in the temple of dissipation and folly." 
 
 In the life, letters, and stories of Helen Askham, 
 or Mentoria, whose father fell at Quebec in 1759, 
 the author conveys her own experience as a go 
 verness, and her idea of female education most 
 agreeably to the world. 
 
 The dramatis personal are far too numerous ; yet 
 the characters are well sustained," and the style 
 superior to that of her preceding works. The 
 story of George Campbell, and the eastern tale of 
 Urganda and Fatima, were introduced as models of 
 fine writing into the Young Ladies Guide, one of 
 our earliest American school reading-books pub 
 lished by Thomas & Andrews, Boston, 1799, and 
 it also undoubtedly suggested to Miss Hannah 
 Webster, author of the Coquette, the idea of the 
 Boarding School, published by the same firm the 
 previous year. 
 
 A single extract from the Essay on Female Educa 
 tion, in the second volume, will show something of 
 Mrs. Rowson s views upon this subject, and furnish, 
 perhaps, a useful hint to Instructors at the present 
 day : 
 
 " It is much to be lamented that in the present 
 mode of educating females, the useful is entirely 
 neglected for the more ornamental and superficial 
 
42 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 accomplishments. There was a time, when, if the 
 daughter of a respectable tradesman could read and 
 write good English, handle her needle with neatness 
 and celerity, and understand both the theory and 
 practice of good housewifery, she was thought per 
 fectly accomplished, and so indeed she was; as 
 those qualifications rendered her capable of under 
 taking the management of a family. 
 
 "But in the present refined age, if an indus 
 trious tradesman can afford to give his daughter 
 five hundred pounds, it is immediately settled by 
 mama that miss must be genteelly educated. Ac 
 cordingly, she is, at an early age, sent to a board 
 ing school where she learns to jabber bad French 
 and worse English ; the old fashioned sampler 
 and useful plain work are neglected, and she 
 is instructed how to work filagree, make wafer 
 work, daub satin, and work ill proportioned figures 
 in cloth, which in due time are curiously mounted, 
 and hung around to ornament the parlor of the 
 fond, but ill judging parents. Add to these ac 
 complishments the very fashionable one of jingling 
 the keys of the harpsichord with great velocity, 
 though perhaps out of time and out of tune. 
 
 " Imagine miss just returned at the age of seven 
 teen, her mind puffed up with vanity, her head 
 well stored with sensibility, and all the delicate 
 
MItS. SUSANNA ROWSON, 43 
 
 feelings to be gleaned from a circulating library, 
 the contents of which she has eagerly and indis 
 criminately perused, without any one taking pains 
 to direct her judgment or correct her taste. We 
 will suppose her lovely in her person, and attract 
 ive in her manners. She comes home and is idol 
 ized by her too partial mother, and spoken of by 
 her father with pride and exultation ; but alas, she 
 is too fine a lady to pay any attention to the domes 
 tic concerns of the family. 
 
 " In this foolish idea she is indulged by the 
 mother, who thinks her dear girl s heart, sensibility 
 and accomplishments will undoubtedly obtain her 
 a match far superior to her present station, and she 
 will have no occasion to be a good housewife. 
 But these sanguine wishes are seldom, if ever, 
 realized ; and we will suppose her married to a 
 man just entered into a genteel and improving line 
 of business : her friends think it is a good match ; 
 her fortune is an acquisition to her husband, and 
 they enter the career of life with all the hopes of 
 permanent happiness, which all the hopes of peace 
 and plenty can inspire. 
 
 "But what a wretched figure does this elegant, 
 accomplished girl make as mistress of a family ! 
 Her servants cheat and laugh at her ; her acquaint 
 ances blame her, and perhaps she even may incnr 
 
44 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 the censure of her husband, for paving no more 
 attention to matters which so nearly concern his 
 interest. 
 
 " Has she children ? She knows not how to make 
 or mend their clothes ; she is always surrounded 
 with difficulties from which she knows not how to 
 extricate herself, and ashamed to confess her igno 
 rance to any one who could instruct her in the 
 point she requires, she becomes selfish and dissatis 
 fied ; neglects even those accomplishments which 
 she formerly strove so hard to attain ; becomes 
 negligent in her dress, careless in her manners, and 
 sinks into a very blank in creation. 
 
 " Her husband, disappointed in not seeing that 
 order and regularity at home which he had once 
 fondly hoped, no longer finds any charms in her 
 society, and seeks to forget his disappointment, 
 either in the bottle, or at the gaming table, both 
 equally destructive, and she sees inevitable ruin 
 approaching, without the smallest power to ward 
 off the blow. 
 
 "Nor can the whole universe present us with 
 an object more truly deserving our pity, than 
 such a woman in a state of penury. She is at loss 
 how to perform even the necessary duties of life ; 
 she cannot exert herself to obtain even a single 
 meal for herself and children; she pines in obscu- 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 45 
 
 rity, regretting her useless education, and wishes 
 that the sums so expended had been laid by to 
 increase her fortune, and she herself had been only 
 instructed in those things which would have tended 
 ultimately to render her a useful and respectable 
 member of society." l 
 
 As an old Grecian educator once said of boys, 
 Mrs. Rowson believed of girls, that they should 
 learn while young just what they were to practice 
 when grown up ; and although her course of in 
 struction might appear too limited for the present 
 age, her idea that the light and fanciful should 
 give place to the solid and substantial, every intel 
 ligent parent will undoubtedly accept. 
 
 l Mentoria, Dublin ed., p. 247. 
 
46 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Io canterei d nmor si novarnente 
 Ch al duro flanco il di mille sospiri 
 Trarrei per forza. Petrarcha, son. ci. 
 
 In 1790, Mrs. Rowson, then in her twenty-eighth 
 year, published in London, Charlotte Temple; or, a 
 Tale of Truth, which at once engaged the attention 
 of the public, and established her reputation as one 
 of the ablest female writers in the department of 
 literature she had chosen. It is a tale of senti 
 mental fiction founded on fact; the hero, Mon- 
 traville, being in reality, it is said, Col. John 
 Montresor, who, while in service in the British 
 army in 1774, persuaded Miss Charlotte Stanley, 
 a young lady of great personal beauty, and 
 daughter of a clergyman, who, it is affirmed, was 
 a younger son, or of the family of the Earl of 
 Derby, one of England s proudest peers, to leave 
 her home and embark with him and his regiment 
 for New York, where he most cruelly abandoned 
 her, as Mrs. Rowson faithfully and tragically re 
 lates. She died at the age of nineteen years, and 
 was buried in the grave-yard of Trinity church, 
 New York, where the inscription of her name upon 
 a long, moss covered slab, within a few feet of the 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 47 
 
 living tide that surges through Broadway, may still 
 be read. 1 
 
 " I had the recital," says Mrs. Rowson, in speak 
 ing of Charlotte Temple, in her introduction to the 
 Trials of the Human Heart, from the lady whom I 
 introduce under the name of Beauchamp, I was 
 myself personally acquainted with Montraville; 
 and from the most authentic sources, could now 
 trace his history from the period of his marriage 
 to within a very few late years ; a history which 
 would tend to prove that retribution treads upon 
 the heels of vice, and that though not always appa 
 rent, yet even in the midst of splendor and prospe 
 rity, conscience stings the guilty, and 
 
 Puts rankles in the vessels of their peace. 
 
 Charlotte Temple is not then a creation of fancy, but a 
 faithful transcription of real life, in 1774, and hence 
 it is a living book, and criticise it as we may, the 
 people after all will read it, weep over it and enjoy 
 it. It appeals to the tenderest sentiments of the 
 
 J On her return to this country in 1793, Mrs. Rowson visited the 
 grave of Charlotte Temple, and the house in which she died. It is 
 said that the monumental tablet in Trinity church yard originally 
 bore the quarterings of the noble house of Derby, and that the 
 name of Charlotte Temple has been substituted for that of Char 
 lotte Stanley. The Old Tree House, a part of which is still stand 
 ing on the corner of Pell and Doyers streets, New York, is said to 
 be the place in which the tragical death of Charlotte occurred. 
 
48 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 human heart, and sweeps across the chords of feel 
 ing as the evening breeze across the strings of the 
 ^Eolian harp. It exhibits passages of beautiful 
 description, as the one commencing; "It was a 
 fine evening in the beginning of autumn;" of 
 tender pathos, as the visit of Mr. Temple to Fleet 
 prison, the sorrows of a mother, and the death of 
 Charlotte ; of moral sublimity, a.s the agonizing 
 struggles of a wounded conscience. The character 
 of an intriguing, heartless teacher is well portrayed 
 in that of Madam De la Rue, and that of a fiendish 
 libertine in that of Belcour. As to Montraville, his 
 course and character may perhaps be too favorably 
 described; his punishment too light; but in him, 
 we must recollect, the writer was dealing with an 
 acquaintance, if not a distant relative of the Haswell 
 family; nor had he, when the book was written, 
 finished his career. 
 
 The plot of the story is as simple and as natural as 
 Boileau himself could desire; the denouement comes 
 in just at the right time and place; and the reader s 
 interest is enchained, as by magic, to the very last 
 syllable of the book. A question has been raised as 
 to the moral tendency of this work. I will attempt 
 to answer it only by observing that it is a simple 
 record of events as they transpired, as truthful as 
 Macaulay s sketch of Charles the First, or of La- 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 49 
 
 marline s Columbus ; and that whatever objection 
 one might urge against it on the ground of immo 
 rality, might, with equal force, be brought against 
 some of our very best works of history and bio 
 graphy. But let the decision be what it may, it 
 seems quite certain that Mrs. Rowson wrote the story 
 with the purest motive. She had seen something 
 of the scandalous lives of the British land and naval 
 officers of that period, and she determined to warn 
 her fair countrywomen of their seductive arts. 
 The bishop of London would have taken another 
 course; but his voice would have failed to reach, 
 as her cunning fingers did, the secret springs of the 
 heart of the people. 
 
 Charlotte Temple is a literary curiosity. Twenty- 
 five thousand copies l were sold within a few years 
 after its publication, and editions almost innumera 
 ble have appeared both in England and America. 
 During the first quarter of the present century, this 
 
 1 " The most popular of her works was Charlotte Temple, a Tale 
 of Truth, over which thousands have sighed and wept, and sighed 
 again, which had the most extensive sale of any work of the kind 
 that had been published in this country, twenty-five thousand 
 copies having been sold in a few years." Personal Memoirs of 
 Joseph T. Buckingham, vol. i, p. 82. 
 
 " The tears of many thousand readers have borne ample testi 
 mony to the power and pathos of this work." Memoir of Mrs. 
 Rowson, by Samuel L. Knapp, Esq., prefixed to Charlotte s 
 Daughter. 
 
 1 
 
50 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 little book distanced in popular favor, Horace Wai- 
 pole s Castle of Otranto ; Henry Mackenzie s Man of 
 Feeling; Ann Radcliffe s Romance of the Forest, pub 
 lished 1791 ; Regina Maria Roche s Children of the 
 Abbey ; Frances Burney s celebrated Evelina; and 
 every other competitor in the field ; and it was not 
 until the Great Wizard of the North began to en 
 chain our attention, that the pathetic history of Char 
 lotte Temple found a rival in the hearts of the people; 
 and even now it is more than probable that a greater 
 number of persons could be found in America who 
 have perused this book, than Waverley itself. 
 
 It has stolen its way alike into the study of the 
 divine and into the workshop of the mechanic; into 
 the parlor of the accomplished lady and the bed 
 chamber of her waiting maid; into the log-hut on 
 the extreme border of modern civilization and into 
 the forecastle of the whale ship on the lonely ocean. 
 It has been read by the grey-bearded professor 
 after his " divine Plato; "by the beardless clerk 
 after balancing his accounts at night ; by the tra 
 veler waiting for the next conveyance at the village 
 inn ; by the school girl stealthfully in her seat at 
 school. It has beguiled the woodman in his hut 
 at night in the deep solitudes of the silent forest; 
 it has cheated the farmer s son of many an hour 
 while poring over its fascinating pages, seated on 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 51 
 
 the broken spinning wheel in the old attic ; it has 
 drawn tears from the miner s eye in the dim twi 
 light of his subterranean dwelling; it has unlocked 
 the secret sympathies of the veteran soldier in his 
 tent before the day of battle. 
 
 A great warm loving heart guided the fingers 
 which portrayed the picture, and that is power; 
 and ply the rules of rhetoric as we may, the people 
 feel the power and they acknowledge it. The 
 common mind of the common people is after all 
 the true arbiter of the merit of the works of genius. 
 This sanctions Homer, Shakespeare, Le Sage, 
 Cervantes, Bunyan, Burns, Goldsmith ; this sanc 
 tions the Aminta, the Gentle Shepherd, Paid et 
 Virginie, Charlotte Temple ; this sanctions Guy Man- 
 nering and the Pilot; this sanctions power ! 
 
 The plaintive song of the heroine in the twentieth 
 chapter is in Mrs. Rowson s happiest vein : 
 
 i. 
 
 Thou glorious orb, supremely bright 
 
 Just rising from the sea, 
 To cheer all nature with thy light, 
 
 What are thy beams to me ? 
 
 II. 
 In vain thy glories bid me rise 
 
 To hail the new born day ; 
 Alas ! my morning sacrifice 
 
 Is still to weep and pray. 
 
52 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 III. 
 
 For what are nature s charms combined 
 
 To one whose weary breast 
 Can neither peace nor comfort find, 
 
 Nor friend whereon to rest ? 
 
 IV. 
 
 Oh, never, never, whilst I live 
 
 Can my heart s anguish cease ; 
 Come friendly Death, thy mandate give 
 
 And let me be at peace. 
 
 In Charlotte s Daughter, or the Three Orphans; a 
 Sequel to Charlotte Temple, a posthumous story by 
 Mrs. Kowson published in 1828, she traces the life 
 of Lucy Blakeney, 1 the orphan child of Charlotte 
 Temple, through a variety of strange, but real scenes 
 to the verge of a matrimonial alliance with Lieu 
 tenant Franklin, son of Col. Montraville, and her 
 half brother, whose name, as well as her own, had 
 been changed in infancy, and whose relationship 
 was therefore to each other unknown. A minia 
 ture of the mother of Lucy prevents the fatal step. 
 Lieutenant Franklin shows it to his wretched father 
 as a picture having some resemblance to the lady of 
 his choice. The colonel seizing it exclaims : ki It is, 
 it is come, again to blast my vision in my last hour ! 
 
 1 Supposed to have been adopted by Lt. Col. Grice Blakeney, of 
 the 14th Koyal Dragoons. 
 
MllS. SUSANNA ROW80N. 53 
 
 The woman you would marry is my own daugh 
 ter ! Just Heaven ! oh that I could have been 
 spared this. Go, my son, go to my private desk ; 
 you will there find the record of your father s shame 
 and your own fate! Nature was exhausted by 
 the effort. He fell back on the bed supported by 
 his trembling wife, and in a few moments the 
 wretched Franklin, the once gay, gallant, happy 
 i Montraville, was no more." ( Charlotte s Daughter, p. 
 147.) . The remaining days of Lucy Blakeney are 
 spent in acts of charity and devotion. The style of 
 Charlotte s Daughter is for the most part finished 
 and beautiful ; the story is well contrived, and the 
 moral bearing healthful. A single brief sketch of 
 a celebrated locality in England will serve as a 
 specimen of the elegant passages in which the work 
 abounds : 
 
 "Edward s estate was in the neighborhood of 
 the romantic vale of Keswick. The mansion lately 
 inhabited by his uncle, was an old-fashioned, but 
 comfortable house, situated on the southern declivity 
 of the mountain Skiddaw, with a beautiful garden 
 and extensive, but uneven grounds, laid out in a 
 style entirely suited to the surrounding scenery. 
 The view from the balcony in front of the house 
 was one of singular beauty and sublimity. A long 
 valley stretched away to the south, disclosing in the 
 
54 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 distance the still glassy surface of Derwent-water, 
 and terminated by the bold and fantastic mountains 
 of Borrowdale. On the east, the lofty steeps of 
 Wallow-crag and Lodore seemed to pierce the very 
 clouds ; whilst the towering heights of Newland 
 bounded the view to the west, displaying the pic 
 turesque varieties of mountain foliage and rocks. 
 The cottages and farm houses of his tenants were 
 scattered about in such points of view as to afford 
 a pleasing sort of embellishment to the landscape. 
 Many of them were composed of rough, unhewn 
 stone, and roofed with thick slates, and both the 
 coverings and sides of the houses were not unfre- 
 quently overgrown with lichens and mosses as well 
 as surrounded with larches and sycamores." (P. 166.) 
 This volume is preceded by an excellent memoir 
 of the author from the practiced pen of Samuel L. 
 Knapp, Esq., who, in speaking of her as a novel 
 writer, very sensibly observes : " It is no trifling 
 merit that she should have drawn her characters 
 and incidents directly from life, when it was the 
 prevailing fashion of writers of fiction to riot ex 
 clusively in the regions of fancy; nor is it less to 
 her praise that in an age of false sentiment and 
 meretricious style, she should have relied for suc 
 cess on the unpretending qualities of good sense, 
 pure morality and unaffected piety." (Memoir, p. 17.) 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROW80N. 55 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Truth is stranger than fiction. 
 
 In 1792 another agreeable story from the fertile 
 pen of Mrs. Rowson, appeared in London under 
 the title of Rebecca : or, the Fille de Chambre. For 
 this, as for most of her other works of fancy, the 
 materials were drawn from scenes in her own 
 checkered life, or from those in the lives of her own 
 kinsmen and acquaintances. Her drama revolves 
 around herself as the enlightening centre ; and she 
 might almost say of every part as old ^Eneas did 
 of the sack of Troy : 
 
 quseque ipse miserrima vidi, 
 
 Et quorum pars magni fui. JEni. II, 5. 
 
 In the introductory chapter to a revised edition 
 of Rebecca, published some twenty years afterwards, 
 1814, Mrs. Rowson speaks with tenderness of revi 
 siting the scenes of Hingham and Nantasket, where 
 she had experienced so much kindness at the hands 
 of the people in the days of her girlhood and 
 affliction, and says: " The scenes in her [Rebecca s] 
 
56 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 father s family, previous to her leaving it ; those at 
 Lord Ossiter s ; the distress at sea [to which I have 
 already adverted] ; the subsequent shipwreck ; the 
 burning of the Boston lighthouse; the death of 
 the poor marine; the imprisonment of the family; 
 the friendship experienced by them in the most 
 distressed circumstances ; the removal farther into 
 the country, and exchange to Halifax, are events 
 which really took place between the years 1769 
 and 1788, though the persons here mentioned as 
 sufferers are fictitious." 
 
 The plot of Rebecca is not as well contrived as 
 that of Charlotte Temple ; the unity not so well sus 
 tained ; nor are the characters, if we except that of 
 Rebecca, 1 so ably drawn ; yet it will ever be inte 
 resting as a faithful picture of English and Ameri 
 can life in the days of the revolution, as a record of 
 the trials and privations which the author herself 
 experienced in early years, upon our guarded 
 coast, and of the troubles no less serious which she 
 met with while a governess at Lord Ossiter s. 
 
 1 " It is hardly assuming too much to say," observes Mr. Knapp, 
 in his memoir, " that Rebecca is one of the best drawn female cha 
 racters in modern fiction. Not only the stronger traits, but all the 
 nicer shades, the innocent foibles and amiable weaknesses of wo 
 men, are given with a truth which discovers a careful study of 
 female; manners, and a thorough acquaintance with the human 
 heart." 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROW80N. 57 
 
 The affair at the Boston lighthouse, and the death 
 and burial of the marine, are thus graphically de 
 scribed : 
 
 " The terrified inhabitants of Nantasket left the 
 village and took refuge in the interior parts of the 
 country, all but Mr. Abthorpe s [Haswell s] family, 
 who still remained, though deserted by all their 
 servants ; for the colonel had too high a regard 
 for his royal master to join the cause of his ene 
 mies, and it was impossible to join the British 
 troops without relinquishing all his property; he 
 therefore hoped the storm would soon pass over; 
 that some method would be proposed and accepted 
 to conciliate matters, and in the meantime he wished 
 to remain neutral. 
 
 " It was a still morning about the latter end of 
 July, when Rebecca, being disturbed by some 
 little rustling at her window, raised her head, and 
 by the faint dawn that just glimmered from the 
 east, discovered armed men placed around the 
 house. Alarmed, she started from her bed and 
 awoke Miss Abthorpe ; they threw a few clothes 
 over them and flew to the colonel s apartments. 
 They were met by Mrs. Abthorpe who caught her 
 daughter in her arms and pointed to the room 
 where they usually slept, crying : l Look, Sophia, 
 
 your poor father. 
 
 8 
 
58 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 " Miss Abthorpe looked and beheld two soldiers 
 with firelocks, who, placed at the door of the apart 
 ment, held her father prisoner. 
 
 " Ah, my dear mother, said she, i who are these 
 and what are they going to do ? Surely, they will 
 not murder us ! 
 
 " Don t frighten yourselves, said one of the men, 
 we don t usually murder such pretty girls. 
 
 " But my father, cried she eagerly, what do 
 you intend to do with him ? 
 
 " Set him at liberty again when our expedition 
 is over. 
 
 " Rebecca now learnt that these were a part of 
 the American army who had come to Nantasket 
 in whale boats w r ith a design of dragging their 
 boats across the beach before mentioned, and pro 
 ceeding to the lighthouse at the entrance of the 
 harbor, intending to destroy it in order to mislead 
 the expected relief that was coming to Boston, which 
 was at the time besieged by the American army 
 and in possession of the British. They had before 
 made an unsuccessful attempt to demolish this 
 lighthouse, and were now come resolved not to 
 leave their work unfinished. Accordingly they 
 proceeded as quietly as possible to the beach, almost 
 carried their boats over, and arrived totally unex 
 pected at the little island on which the lighthouse 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 59 
 
 stood and which was guarded by a party of marines. 
 A smart skirmish ensued ; but the Americans were 
 too numerous to be withstood by so small a party, 
 the whole of which were either killed or taken pri 
 soners, and having completed their design returned 
 to Nantasket victorious, though in the utmost conster 
 nation for fear of being pursued by boats from the 
 Lively frigate and other ships that lay in the harbor. 
 
 " Rebecca was standing at a window as they re- 
 landed, the tears streaming down her pale face, and 
 so entirely absorbed in terror that she was inatten 
 tive to the surrounding objects. From this state 
 of torpor she was aroused by a deep groan, and 
 raising her eyes saw two Americans entering the 
 house, bearing between them a wounded marine 
 whom they laid on the floor, and were preparing 
 to depart when Mrs. Abthorpe rushed out of the 
 adjoining apartment. 
 
 " What are you doing? said she, you will not 
 surely leave him here. 7 
 
 " He is in our way, cried a watch ; i if he don t 
 die quickly, we will kill him. 
 
 " Oh, do not kill me ; cried the almost expiring 
 soldier, i I am not fit to die. 
 
 " At this moment Major Tupper entered. Mrs. 
 Abthorpe addressed him in a supplicating accent : 
 we can procure the poor soul no assistance, said 
 
60 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 she, he will perish for want of proper applica 
 tions to staunch the blood. 
 
 " My dear madam/ said the major, w r hat can 
 we do ? we fear pursuit and must retreat as fast as 
 possible ; and should we take him with us, in our 
 hurry and confusion, he would perhaps be precipi 
 tated into eternity. If we make a safe retreat, I 
 will send for him to-morrow. 
 
 " He then departed, and Col. Abthorpe being now 
 at liberty turned his thoughts towards the wounded 
 soldier. 
 
 " He had fainted ; a mattrass was laid on the floor, 
 and as they all united in endeavoring to lift him 
 upon it, the motion increased the anguish of his 
 wounds and recalled his languid senses. 
 
 " Oh spare me, do not kill me ! said he, looking 
 around with a terrified aspect. 
 
 " < Be comforted, said the colonel ; 4 you are 
 among friends who will do all in their power to 
 save your life. 
 
 " God will reward you, said he, faintly. They 
 now examined the wound and found from its depth 
 and situation that a few hours would terminate the 
 existence of the poor sufferer; however they made 
 long bandages of linen, and with pledgets dipped in 
 spirits endeavored to staunch the bleeding, but in 
 vain. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 61 
 
 " I am very faint, said he. 
 
 " Rebecca knelt and supported him in her arms, 
 assisted by the weeping Sophia. 
 
 " < Can I live, think you, sir ? said he, looking in 
 the colonel s face. 
 
 " I fear not, was the reply. 
 
 " < God s will be done, said he, but I have a 
 long account to settle, arid but a short time to do it 
 in. Dear good Christians pray with me pray for 
 me. Alas, it is dreadful to die and with the weight 
 of murder on my conscience. 
 
 " Here he grew faint again and ceased to speak. 
 
 " A cordial was administered he revived. 
 
 " You see before you, my friends, said he, 
 6 a most unhappy man, the victim of his own 
 folly. My father is a clergyman in the north of 
 England ; I am his only child, and have received 
 from him an education suitable to the station in 
 which he meant to have placed me, which was the 
 church; but alas! I despised his precepts and 
 joined myself to a set of the most dissolute com 
 panions, with whom I ran into every species of 
 vice and debauchery. By repeated extravagance, 
 I involved my poor father, who, no longer able to 
 supply my exorbitant demands, remonstrated against 
 my way of life; but I was too much attached to 
 vice to resolve to quit it, and in a fit of desperation, 
 
62 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 having lost more money than I could pay, I enlisted 
 in a regiment bound to this place. Oh, sir, I have 
 reason to think my conduct shortened my dear 
 mother s existence, and I have embittered the last 
 hours of a father whom it was my duty to comfort 
 and support. These are heavy clogs upon my 
 departing soul, but he who witnesseth the sincerity 
 of my repentance, I trust will compassionate and 
 pardon me. 
 
 " No doubt of it, cried Rebecca, whose heart 
 was almost bursting as she listened to the expiring 
 penitent. 
 
 " He looked around, and fixing his eyes on 
 Rebecca and Sophia, < poor girls, said he, i you are 
 but young ; take the advice of a dying sinner and 
 treasure it in your memories. Obey your parents; 
 never forsake them, and shun vicious company; 
 for had I clone this it would have been well for me 
 in this evil day. 
 
 " Rebecca s susceptible heart smote her ; she hid 
 her face with her handkerchief, and sighed deeply. 
 
 " God forever bless you my friends, said he, < I 
 am going ; a few pangs more and all will be over. 
 Oh may he whose fatal aim took my life have it 
 not remembered against him; may the father of 
 mercy forgive him as freely as I do. 
 
MBS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 63 
 
 " He then commenced the Lord s prayer, but ex 
 pired before he could finish it. 
 
 " Peace be to his repentant spirit/ said the 
 colonel, as he raised his weeping daughter from her 
 knees. 
 
 " < His poor father, said she, what would he feel 
 did he know this! 
 
 " He felt more, replied the colonel, when the 
 misguided youth forsook the paths of virtue, than 
 he would, could he even behold him now. 
 
 " The heat at this season of the year is intense, 
 and the colonel knew the body of the unhappy 
 soldier must that day be consigned to the earth, 
 yet how to make the grave, or how to convey the 
 corpse to it when made, were difficulties which he 
 could hardly think it possible to surmount; but sad 
 necessity enforced the attempt. He fixed on a re 
 tired spot just by the side of his garden, and began 
 the melancholy task. Rebecca and Sophia, with 
 their delicate hands, attempted to assist, and by 
 evening they had completed it. 
 
 " The faint rays of the setting sun just tinged 
 the summit of the highest hill ; the sky was serene, 
 and scarce a breeze was heard to move the leaves 
 or ruffle the smooth surface of the water. Awfully 
 impressive was the silence that reigned through this 
 once cheerful village. 
 
64 -4 MEMOIR OF 
 
 " As the colonel sat pensively considering his situ 
 ation, and thinking how in the decentest manner 
 possible he could render the last sad duties to the 
 deceased, he saw a small fishing boat with one man 
 in it, drawing near the shore. He ran hastily down, 
 entreated him to land, and assist him in his mourn 
 ful office. 
 
 " The body was carefully wrapped in a sheet, it 
 was impossible to obtain a coffin. 
 
 " i We have no clergyman, said the colonel, 
 but the prayers of innocence shall consecrate his 
 grave. 
 
 " He gave the prayer book to Sophia; she opened 
 it, and with her mother and Rebecca, followed the 
 body. She began the service, but her voice fal 
 tered, the tears burst forth, she sobbed, and could 
 no longer articulate. The colonel took it from 
 her; he was a man of undaunted courage in the. 
 day of battle, but even here his heart sank and his 
 voice was tremulous; but he recalled his forti 
 tude, and finished the solemn rite in a becoming 
 manner." l 
 
 "This was a day," says Mrs. Eowson, in a foot 
 note to this passage, " never to be obliterated from 
 the mind of the author, who partook of all its hor- 
 
 1 Rebecca, p. 164. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 65 
 
 rors, though but just emerging from a state of 
 childhood." 
 
 The journey of the Has well family from Hing- 
 ham to Abington, about nine miles distant, in the 
 autumn of 1777, and the hardships then experienced 
 are thus vividly recounted : 
 
 " And must we leave this place my dear father, 
 said Sophia, coming from a small adjoining apart 
 ment, whither she had retired to indulge the tears 
 she was no longer able to restrain; must we be 
 separated from those friends whose generous atten 
 tions have lightened all our afflictions ? 
 
 " We must, Sophia, said her father, rather 
 sternly, 4 to-morrow morning. 
 
 " Ah ! me, said the weeping girl, turning to 
 Rebecca and resting her head on her shoulder. 
 
 " Do not grieve thus, my dear Sophia, said our 
 heroine, for though separated from your friends, 
 you will still live in their remembrance and they in 
 yours. 
 
 " Yes, cried Sophia, with a look of grateful 
 rapture, 4 ever while the vital tide nourishes my 
 heart. Dear worthy inhabitants of Hingham, when 
 I forget the friendship that alleviated my parents 
 sorrow, may that heart cease to beat. 
 
 " The next morning, just as the gray dawn began 
 to enliven the east, Mr. Abthorpe s family were 
 
66 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 called to begin their journey. An open chaise, 
 drawn by a miserable horse, was all the conveyance 
 provided for Mrs. Abthorpe, Sophia and Rebecca ; 
 the colonel himself was expected to walk. About 
 nine o clock in the morning they set out; but the 
 road was so heavy, and the horse so old and lame, 
 that though they had only a journey of fifteen miles 
 to make, they had not completed it at four in the 
 afternoon. The darkness of the night began to 
 envelop every object, when the chaise stopped at 
 a hut that could scarcely be called habitable. 
 Rebecca and Sophia assisted Mrs. Abthorpe to 
 alight. Gloomy as was the outward appearance of 
 their destined habitation, the inside served only to 
 increase their horror. It consisted of three rooms ; 
 the windows had once been glazed, but were now, 
 some parts open, and others mended with wood. 
 One room indeed was boarded ; the others had only 
 the ground for a floor. 
 
 " There were two chimneys, large and dreary, in 
 which no trace of fire appeared ; all was desolate 
 and gloomy. 
 
 " It was now quite dark and the colonel had not 
 yet arrived. Rebecca and Sophia felt around the 
 damp, solitary rooms for something on which Mrs. 
 Abtho rpe might sit down ; for she was faint and 
 weary from taking no refreshment during their 
 
MUS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 67 
 
 tedious journey, and having been exposed to the 
 intense cold so many hours ; but their search was 
 in vain; no seat could be found; they took off 
 their own cloaks and laid them on the floor; on 
 these she sank weak and exhausted, and in spite of 
 her accustomed fortitude, suffering nature wrung 
 from her a few complaints. Rebecca and Sophia 
 knelt beside her and supported her ; the voice of 
 comfort no longer issued from their lips; their 
 sighs responsive answered hers ; their tears mingled 
 as they fell ; but all remained silent. 
 
 " They heard footsteps approach ; the colonel s 
 well known voice saluted their ears. 
 
 " Dry your eyes, my dear girls, said Mrs. Ab- 
 thorpe, let us not increase his sorrows, whose every 
 pang is doubled by our sufferings. 
 
 "The colonel entered someone accompanied 
 him, for they could hear more than one footstep. 
 
 " < We shall have a tire soon, said the colonel, 
 * it is a very cold evening. 
 
 u But I am well wrapped up and do not feel it, 
 said Mrs. Abthorpe. 
 
 " His heart thanked her, though it refused to 
 believe her assertion. 
 
 " Just then a third person entered and threw down 
 an arrnful of wood, when the person, who had 
 accompanied the colonel, produced a tinder box, 
 
68 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 and striking a light discovered to the astonished 
 females the sons of two of their best friends. 1 
 
 " Mr. Lane ! < Mr. Barker, 2 involuntarily burst 
 from all their lips ; but the generous young men 
 would not hear a word of praise or thanks. They 
 soon cheered the solitary mansion with a comfort 
 able fire, and in the meantime a small cart arrived 
 with two beds, a few chairs and some kitchen 
 utensils. From a basket in this cart the young 
 men produced a couple of fowls, some butter, 
 bread, and two bottles of wine, so that in less than 
 two hours from their first melancholy entrance, 
 our distressed family were sitting in homely wise 
 around an old wainscot table before a large fire 
 partaking of a plentiful supper, while their hearts 
 expanded with gratitude to that good Providence 
 who had thus raised them up friends when least 
 expected. 
 
 " The next morning the young men exerted them 
 selves to repair the breaches in the windows and 
 to stop the large crevices in the doors of the house. 
 Having to the utmost of their power lessened the 
 troubles of the family and rendered it tolerably 
 
 1 Mr. David Andrews drove the team which carried Lieutenant 
 Has well s goods from Hingham to Abington. They passed 
 through Wey mouth, and the house in Abington to which they 
 came stood about one half mile from the church. 
 
 3 Gen. John Barker and Capt. Peter Lane, of Hingham. 
 
MBS. SUSANNA BOWSON. 69 
 
 comfortable, they departed, leaving behind them 
 some meat, bread, butter, cheese, and a small parcel 
 of tea and sugar; but as the last named articles 
 were at that time extremely scarce they could not be 
 so liberal as their expanded hearts led them to wish. 
 
 " Oh! with what rapture must the parents of such 
 young men have received them after such a journey, 
 to which they had been excited by motives of purest 
 benevolence. 
 
 " Blest spirits of philanthropy, the hearts of whom 
 ere discord shook her baneful wings and shed her 
 influence over your happy plains, felt not a pang 
 but for another s woe, arid whose first pleasure was 
 to alleviate the sorrow of a suffering fellow creature ! 
 May the arrows of affliction with which she has 
 since wounded you, be drawn forth by the hand of 
 sympathizing friendship ; and the anguish oblite 
 rated by the remembrance of your own good deeds ! 
 
 But to return. The habitation to which Colonel 
 Abthorpe had been thus suddenly removed was 
 situated on the skirts of an extensive wood. The 
 face of the country was rocky and dreary, to which 
 unpromising appearance the snow and ice not a 
 little contributed. There was but one habitation 
 within two miles of them and that was occupied by 
 people, if possible more wretched than themselves. 
 
70 A MEMO IE OF 
 
 In this dismal situation, with no amusement but 
 what sprang from themselves, for they had not 
 even the consolation of books, did the colonel and 
 his family pass four wearisome months, during which 
 time they had often no food but coarse Indian 
 bread and potatoes, nor any firing but what Sophia 
 and Rebecca assisted each other to bring in their 
 delicate arms from the adjacent woods, for the 
 colonel was a great part of that time confined to 
 the house by the gout, and in their daily excursion 
 to procure this necessary appendage to the support 
 of life in so cold a climate, they had no covering to 
 their feet, which often bled from the intenseness of 
 the cold, or from incisions made by the rugged path 
 over which they were obliged to pass." l 
 
 The following easy and graceful song in Rebecca, 
 seems worthy of transcription : 
 
 i. 
 
 Aurora, lovely, blooming, fair ! 
 
 Unbarred the eastern skies ; 
 While many a soft pelucid tear 
 
 Ran trickling from her eyes. 
 
 II. 
 
 Onward she came with heartfelt glee, 
 
 Leading the dancing hours ; 
 For though she wept, she smiled to see 
 
 Her tears refresh the flowers. 
 
 1 Rebecca, p. 180, et seq. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 71 
 
 in. 
 Phoebus, who long her charms admired 
 
 With bright, refulgent ray 
 Came forth, and as the maid retired 
 
 He kissed her tears away. 
 
 IV. 
 
 So youth advances, mild, serene } 
 
 Our childish sorrows cease; 
 While hope s gay sunshine gilds the scene, 
 
 And all is joy and peace. 
 
72 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 May I come forward ? Do I friends behold ? 
 
 Mrs. Amelia Opie s Epilogue to the Curfew. 
 
 While Mrs. Rowson was engaged in these de 
 lightful literary pursuits, having, as she says, few 
 duties to perform, and many leisure hours, her 
 husband, through the mismanagement of his Ame 
 rican partner, became a bankrupt. In her generous 
 efforts to aid her father s family, she herself had 
 exhausted her patrimonial estate, and although the 
 sale of her works had already become quite exten 
 sive, she realized but limited returns for them. 
 
 Now what was to be done? How could the 
 ruined fortunes be retrieved ? How and where in 
 deed could bread and raiment for the day be found ? 
 was the sharp question. "Writing for the press 
 in London would not give it ; teaching had been 
 tried; but then no place for it could be com 
 manded; there was no capital for recommencing 
 trade. The hour was dark ; but Mrs. Rowson had 
 already taken lessons in adversity, and her cou 
 rageous heart was not to be dismayed. What are 
 the talents of the family ? Mr. Rowson was a 
 musician, the master of a band; his voice was 
 good, and he could sing a merry song effectively. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 73 
 
 He had a sister Charlotte, then about fourteen 
 years old, whom Mrs. Eowsou had adopted, and 
 who had a sprightly manner and a pleasant voice ; 
 Mrs. Rowson herself had a face beaming with ex 
 pression, an easy and polite manner, and retentive 
 memory. She read, or sang, or played the harpsi 
 chord, or guitar, or improvised a song or speech 
 with equal skill and beauty. 
 
 It was, therefore, finally resolved, though not 
 without misgivings, to attempt to gain a livelihood 
 on the stage. To this end they entered into an 
 
 engagement with Mrs. , and made their first 
 
 appearance on the boards at Edinburgh, in the 
 winter of 1792-3 ; they also performed that season 
 in several of the larger towns in England. Mrs. 
 , however, proved to be a worthless cha 
 racter, failed to fulfill her contract with the Rowson 
 family, and thus plunged them into straits and 
 difficulties still more serious. 
 
 But the laconic motto of the Haswell family is 
 Taut que je puis, as much as I can; and in ac 
 cordance with it, an engagement was soon effected 
 with Mr. Thomas Wignell, who had leased the 
 Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, and who 
 was spending the summer of 1793 in England, 
 
 gathering his celebrated company for America. 
 10 
 
47 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 On arriving with his troupe of performers at 
 Philadelphia, in September, 1 of the same year, and 
 finding that the yellow fever was driving the people 
 from the city, he repaired immediately to Anna 
 polis, Md., where Mr. Rowson, his wife and sister 
 Charlotte, first appeared upon the American boards. 
 They were quite successful in light comedy, vaude 
 ville and opera; and returning to Philadelphia on 
 the abatement of the fever, performed occasionally 
 in that city and in Baltimore, the two following 
 seasons. Although fulfilling the exhausting duties 
 of an actress, Mrs. Rowson did not allow her pen 
 to remain unemployed. She wrote at this period 
 the Slaves in Algiers, an opera, which drew forth a 
 severe critique from Peter Porcupine, the cele 
 brated William Cobbett, and in 1794, the Volun 
 teers, a farce founded on the famous whiskey 
 insurrection which occurred in western Pennsyl 
 vania that year; and still another play called the 
 Female Patriot, 2 altered from one of Philip Massen- 
 
 1 " In 1793, Mr. Wignell, who formerly belonged to the old 
 company, arrived with a number of excellent performers, from 
 England, who commenced their career the following- winter, in the 
 new theatre in Chestnut street, which had been recently built 
 by a company, upon a tontine principle." The Picture of Phila 
 delphia, by James Mease, M.D., p. 329. 
 
 2 Performed at the new theatre, Philadelphia, 1795. See James- 
 Ree s Dramatic Authors of America, p. 114. 
 
 Mrs. Rowson performed before Washington, who attended the 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 75 
 
 ger s, together with several odes, epilogues and 
 songs, which appeared in the periodicals of that 
 day. 
 
 One of her pieces written at this time was set to 
 music by Mr. Carr, and extensively sung. It was 
 published by S. G. Willig, Philadelphia. 1 
 
 IN VAIN is THE VERDURE OF SPRING. 
 
 i. 
 
 Restrained from tlie sight of my dear, 
 
 No object with pleasure I see; 
 Though thousands around me appear, 
 
 The world s but a desert to me. 
 
 II. 
 
 In vain is the verdure of spring, 
 
 The trees look so blooming and gay ; 
 
 The birds as they whistle and sing 
 Delight not when William s away. 
 
 ill. 
 
 Reclined by a soft murmuring stream, 
 
 I weeping disburthen my care ; 
 I tell to the rocks my sad theme 
 
 Whose echo soothes not my despair. 
 
 theatre five or six times during the season, 1794. His favorite 
 plays were the School for Scandal, Every one has his Fault, the 
 Poor Soldier, and Wignell s Darby. Lossing s Recollections of 
 Washington. 
 
 1 The music by Mr. Carr : Printed by G. Willig, Philadelphia, 
 before 1799. 
 
76 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 IV. 
 
 Ye streams that soft murmuring flow, 
 
 Convey to my love every tear ; 
 Ye rocks that resound with my woe, 
 
 Repeat my complaints in his ear. 
 
 While residing in Baltimore in 1795, she wrote 
 a spirited poetical address to the army of the 
 United States, entitled the Standard of Liberty, 
 which was admirably spoken on the stage by the 
 celebrated Mrs. Whitlock, in presence of the mili 
 tary companies of the city. She published, also, 
 this year at Philadelphia, her largest and most 
 elaborate, though perhaps least popular work, which 
 she named the Trials of the Human Heart. 1 It was 
 printed in four volumes, by subscription, and dedi 
 cated to Mrs. Bingham, April 19, 1795. Among 
 the names of the subscribers are those of Franklin, 
 Mrs. Washington, Matthew Carey, Gen. Jeremiah 
 
 1 Trials of the Human Heart, a novel in four volumes, by Mrs. 
 Rowson, of the new theatre, Philadelphia, author of Charlotte, 
 Fille de Chamlre, Inquisitor, etc., etc. : 
 
 If there s a power above us 
 And that there is all nature cries aloud 
 Through all her works, he must delight in virtue. 
 The soul secured in its existence, smiles 
 At the drawn dagger, and defies its point. 
 
 Philadelphia : Printed for the author, by Wrigley & Berriman, 
 No. 149 Chestnut street, sold by Messrs. Carey, Rice, Campbell, 
 Ormrod, Young, and the author, corner of Seventh and Chestnut 
 streets, 1795. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 77 
 
 Wads worth, and of other well known characters. 
 The work consists for the most part of a series of 
 letters written in a discursive, often sentimental 
 style, from Meriel Howard to Celia Shelburne, in 
 which the author leads her heroine through many 
 trying and perplexing scenes, as a daughter, wife 
 and mother, " tempering the weakness of humanity 
 with the patience and fortitude of a Christian." 
 The scene is laid mostly in London and vicinity, 
 and the time of the action runs from April 20, 1775, 
 to September 29, 1791. The sorrows of Meriel 
 arise chiefly from infidelity, scandal and penury ; 
 trials which the author herself experienced. The 
 dramatis person ce are by far too numerous ; the plot 
 is carelessly constr acted, and the general drift of 
 thought and sentiment, is similar to that of the 
 leading female novelists of that period among whom 
 Mrs. Rowson mentions [vol. iv, 74], Mrs. Frances 
 Burney, Mrs. Bennet, and Misses Sophia and Harriet 
 Lee, as her especial favorites. The moral bearing 
 of the work, however, is healthful, as the following 
 brief extract in tone and keeping with the author s 
 main design may serve to indicate. 
 
 u I will have my hours of peace and retirement: 
 for in my opinion, the life that is spent in a con 
 tinued round of insipid pleasures, is not only 
 entirely useless to society, but in some measure 
 
78 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 guilty ; as we can have no time for the performance 
 of those duties which are incumbent on every pro 
 fessor of Christianity; nor do I think, as many 
 do, that people of a certain rank in life may pass 
 their time in any way most agreeably to them 
 selves, and that they are not accountable for it to 
 any one. We certainly are answerable to One 
 who will demand an account of our stewardship at 
 a time when no evasion whatever will serve our 
 turn, and the more elevated our station, the more 
 careful we should be to set examples worthy the 
 imitation of our inferiors : examples that may inspire 
 all who know us with the love of virtue." 
 
 We cannot forbear transcribing from this work 
 a sacred lyric which does honor alike to the author s 
 head and heart. It is thus gracefully introduced : 
 
 " The moon shone through the windows full upon 
 an organ which was placed there for me to enter 
 tain myself with, and as I am fond of solemn music, 
 the stillness of the evening and the serenity of every 
 surrounding object inspired me with a wish to 
 touch the instrument. I therefore sat down, and fol 
 lowing the impulse of my soul, began the following : 
 
 1 Vol. HI, i>. 54. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 79 
 
 HYMN TO GRATITUDE. 
 
 i. 
 
 Where er I turn my raptured eyes, 
 New scenes of beauty round me rise, 
 
 My heart exulting glows ; 
 And while I view the wondrous whole, 
 To the Creative Power my soul, 
 
 With gratitude o erflows. 
 
 II. 
 
 Yon burning orbs, that round the pole, 
 In solemn, grand succession roll, 
 
 Declare their Maker s power ; 
 Then while such glories deck the sky, 
 Can such a weak, frail worm as I 
 
 But worship and adore. 
 
 in. 
 
 Father of all, thou dost bestow 
 On us poor reptiles here below, 
 
 Each good we re taught to prize ; 
 And tho sometimes we feel thy frown, 
 The truly grateful heart must own 
 
 Thy judgments just and wise. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Hail, Gratitude, celestial guest, 
 Come make thy mansion in my breast, 
 
 Thou spark of love divine ; 
 Inspired by Thee, though troubles rise, 
 My soul shall mount toward the skies, 
 
 And Heaven itself be mine." 
 
 {Trials of the Human Heart, vol. m,p. 107.] 
 
80 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 The stanzas to Hope, are as touching as they are 
 beautiful : 
 
 Oh ! cease, vain, busy Fancy, cease 
 
 To dwell on scenes long past, 
 When every hour was winged with peace ; 
 
 With joy too great to last. 
 But conie, sweet Hope, celestial power, 
 
 Thy healing comfort bring ; 
 Oh, soothe my mind, and let me soar 
 
 Upon thine airy wing. 
 
 II. 
 
 When through the vaulted aisle I roam, 
 
 And breathe the sigh sincere ; 
 Or o er my mother s hallowed tomb 
 
 Drop the sad, filial tear : 
 Tis thou can st cheer the solemn hour ; 
 
 Can st peace and comfort bring ; 
 Elate my thoughts, and bid them soar 
 
 Upon thine airy wing : 
 
 ill. 
 Methinks I hear thee, whispering say; 
 
 " Mortal thy tears give o er, 
 Thy mother, thou, in realms of day, 
 
 Shalt meet to part no more." 
 Soothed by thy words, benignant power, 
 
 My soul exulting springs, 
 And toward the sky, with rapture soars 
 
 Upon thine airy wings. 
 
 [Trials of the Human Heart, p. 47.] 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 
 
 In her introduction to the Trials of the Human 
 Heart, Mrs. Rowson defends herself and writings 
 against the unjust and gross aspersions of William 
 Cobbett, who had accused her of writing in an 
 improper style in her novel of the Fille de Chambre ; 
 and of expressing sentiments foreign to her heart 
 sentiments favorable to America in her comedy of 
 Slaves of Algiers. After affirming that " both asser 
 tions are equally false and scandalous," she pro 
 ceeds to give an interesting resume of the events 
 of her early life as a kind of explanation of the 
 political opinions which she entertained. 
 
 " Though many a leisure hour," she writes, " has 
 been amused and many a sorrowful one beguiled 
 whilst, giving fancy the reins, I have applied my 
 self to rny pen, it has ever been my pride that I 
 never yet wrote a line that might tend to mislead 
 the untutored judgment, or corrupt the inexpe 
 rienced heart, and heaven forbid that I should 
 suffer aught to escape me that might call a blush 
 to the cheek of innocence or deserve a glance 
 of displeasure from the eye of the most rigid 
 moralist. 
 
 ; As to my opinion of the political concerns of 
 America, or my wishes in regard to her welfare, 
 I cannot better explain them than by giving a 
 slight sketch of my private history, with which I 
 
 11 
 
82 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 rather imagine the creature alluded to, is entirely 
 unacquainted. 
 
 "It was my fate, at a period when memory can 
 scarcely retain the smallest trace of the occurrence, 
 to accompany my father, Mr. William Haswell, 
 who is lieutenant in the British navy, to Boston in 
 New England, where he had married a second wife, 
 my mother having lost her life in giving me exist 
 ence. Blest with a genteel competency, and placed 
 by his rank and education in that sphere of life, 
 where the polite and friendly attention of the most 
 respectable characters courted our acceptance and 
 enjoying a constant intercourse with the families 
 of the officers of the British army and navy, then 
 stationary there, eight years of my life glided 
 almost imperceptibly away. 
 
 " At that time the dissensions between England 
 and America increased to an alarming degree. 
 My father bore the king s commission, he had taken 
 the oath of allegiance ; certain I am that no one 
 who considers the nature of an oath voluntarily 
 taken, no one who reflects that previous to this 
 period, he had served thirty years under the British 
 government will blame him for a strict adherence 
 to principles which were interwoven as it were into 
 his existence. He did adhere to them, the attend- 
 
MBS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 83 
 
 ant consequences may readily be supposed ; his 
 person was confined, his property confiscated. 
 
 1 Then it was that the benevolence and philanthropy 
 which so eminently distinguish the sons and daugh 
 ters of Columbia, made an indelible impression on 
 my heart; an impression which neither time nor 
 chance can obliterate; for while their political 
 principles obliged them to afflict, the humanity, the 
 Christian like benevolence of their souls, incited 
 them to wipe the tears of sorrow from the eyes of 
 my parents, to mitigate their sufferings and render 
 those afflictions in some measure supportable. 
 
 " Having been detained as a prisoner two years 
 and a half, part of which was spent in Hingham 
 and part in Abington, an exchange of prisoners 
 taking place between the British and Americans, 
 my father and his family were sent by cartel to 
 Halifax, from whence we embarked for England. 
 I will not attempt to describe the sorrow I expe 
 rienced, in being thus separated from the com 
 panions of my early years ; every wish of my heart 
 was for the welfare and prosperity of a country, 
 which contained such dear, such valuable friends, 
 and the only comfort of which my mind was capa 
 ble was indulging in the delightful hope of being 
 at some future period permitted again to revisit a 
 land so beloved, companions so regretted. 
 
84 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 u Too young at that period to have formed any 
 political opinion of my own, I may naturally be 
 supposed to have adopted those of my father; but 
 the truth is, that equally attached to either country, 
 the unhappy dissensions affected me in the same 
 manner as a person may be imagined to feel, who, 
 having a tender lover and an affectionate brother 
 who are equally dear to her heart and by whom she 
 is equally beloved, sees them engaged in a quarrel 
 with, and fighting against, each other, when let 
 whatsoever party conquer, she cannot be supposed 
 to be insensible to the fate of the vanquished. 
 
 During a period of twelve years a variety of painful 
 circumstances unnecessary here to recount, contri 
 buted to deprive me of a decent independence 
 inherited from my paternal grandfather, and at 
 length to bring me back to America, in a very 
 different situation, I must confess, from that in 
 which I left it; but with a heart still glowing with 
 the same affectionate sensations, and exulting in its 
 evident improvement: the arts are encouraged, 
 manufactures increase, and this happy land bids 
 fair to be in the course of a few years the most 
 flourishing nation in the universe. 
 
 " Is it then wonderful, that accustomed from the 
 days of childhood, to think of America and its 
 inhabitants with affection, linked to them by many 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 85 
 
 near connections and sincerely attached to them 
 from principles of gratitude that I should offer the 
 most ardent prayers for a continuation of their 
 prosperity, or that feeling the benign influence of 
 the blessings of peace and liberty, here so eminently 
 enjoyed, I should wish that influence extended 
 throughout every nation under heaven." 
 
 In a paper entitled a Kick for a Bite, etc., pub 
 lished in Philadelphia, 1796, Peter Porcupine 
 again rails at Mrs. Rowson s sudden conversion to 
 republicanism and says : 
 
 " A liquorish page from Fille de Chambre serves 
 me by way of a philtre ; the Inquisitor is my opium, 
 and I have ever found the Slaves in Algiers a most 
 excellent emetic." It does not appear that Mrs. 
 Eowson took any farther notice of her ungenerous 
 fellow countryman. Her life was her reply. 
 
86 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Je vais ou le vent me mene, 
 
 Sans me plaindre, on m effrayer. A. V. Arnault. 
 
 Entering into an engagement with J. B. William 
 son, manager of the Federal street theatre, 1 Boston, 
 the Rowson family came to this town in 1796, and 
 made their debut in the comic opera of the Farmer 
 by John O Keefe, Esq., on the night of the 19th of 
 September. In speaking of the performance, the 
 Centinel of the 21st instant says : " Mr. Rowson in 
 the song of the Farmer united a good voice to a 
 happy execution, and Mrs. Rowson s Betty Blackberry 
 received many marks of public pleasure." 
 
 By reference to the play bills of that day, it 
 appears that Mrs. Rowson performed the part of 
 Lady Sneerwell in Sheridan s School for Scandal, 
 on the 21st of September; and a part in the Fatal 
 Marriage, on the 10th of October. She appeared as 
 Margery in the Spoiled Child, by Hoare, November 
 
 1 This theatre was opened under the management of Charles S. 
 Powell, February 3, 1794, with the play of Guxtavas Vasa, by 
 Henry Brooke, Esq. It went into the hands of Colonel J. Tyler 
 for a while and was then leased to J. B. Williamson, who failed in 
 1797. The building was destroyed by fire, February 2, 1798. 
 Snow s History of Boston, p. 334. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ItOWSON. 87 
 
 21st; and as Mrs. Druggett, in Mr. Murphy s Three 
 Weeks after Marriage, on the 25th of December. 
 
 On the evening of January 11, 1797, she per 
 sonated Catalina, in the comic opera of the Castle 
 of Andalusia; on the sixteenth of the same month, 
 Lady Autumn in the Wedding Day ; on February 
 1st, Mrs. Cheshire, in the Agreeable Surprise ; arid 
 on February 13, Dame Quickly, in the Merry Wives 
 of Windsor. On the 27th of March, she took the 
 part of Mysis, in Kane O Hara s operetta of Midas ; 
 and on the 31st, that of Lady Torrendal. On the 
 3d of April, she appeared as Marcellina, in the 
 Follies of the Day, her husband taking the part of 
 Bounce; and on the 12th of the same month, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Rowson enjoyed a benefit, when a new 
 comedy in three acts, entitled Americans in England, 
 or Lessons for Daughters, written by the author of 
 Charlotte Temple, etc., etc., was for the first time 
 presented. Mr. Rowson appeared as Snap ; Mrs. 
 Rowson as Mrs. Ormsby and Jemima Winthrop, 
 and Miss Charlotte Rowson, 1 as Betty: Mrs. Row- 
 
 1 Charlotte Rowson was born in or near London, about 1779 ; was 
 early left an orphan, and came to this country in Wign ell s com 
 pany, with her brother. She was for a while upon the stage, and 
 played in light characters, and sang with fine effect, such songs as 
 Auld Robin Gray, etc., which were then popular. She married 
 before she was eighteen years old, Mr. William P. Johnston, then 
 a bookkeeper in the office of David Claypole, of Philadelphia, and 
 
88 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 son pronounced the epilogue. This play was again 
 performed on the 19th of April, and also for the 
 benefit of the author, on the 26th, when it was 
 received with great applause by the audience. 
 The Chronicle speaks enthusiastically of the fine 
 acting of Mrs. Rowson. This play is now extremely 
 rare ; the book hunters having offered as much as 
 fifty dollars for a single copy. On the 3d of May, 
 Mrs. Rowson s play of the Slaves in Algiers was 
 performed; and on the 17th of this month her sea 
 son in Boston closed with the popular play of the 
 Spoiled Child, in which, as Mrs. Pickle, she made 
 without the least regret, her final exit from the 
 stage. " As an actress," says the .Boston Gazette 
 [1824], " she was distinguished for correct deport 
 ment, clearness of enunciation, and good reading," 
 She entered on the profession, not from inclination, 
 
 publisher of the first daily paper issued in this country. Their 
 . son, David Clay pole Johnston, born in March, 1797, married Miss 
 Sarah Murphy, of Boston, in 1830, by whom he had eight children. 
 He was eminent as an artist and caricaturist, and died November 
 8, 1865. His son, Thomas Murphy Johnston, has inherited his 
 father s genius. Of the daughters, Miss Susan R. Johnston, in 
 connection with Miss Mills, continued Mrs. Rowson s school ; an 
 other married Mr. John T. Tait, of Philadelphia. Mrs. Wm. P. 
 [Rowson] Johnston died in July, 1855, at the age of seventy-six 
 years. She was of medium size ; and her eyes and hair were 
 dark, and her temper genial. She was very much attached to Mrs. 
 Rowson, and regarded her more as a mother than a sister. See 
 Genealogical Register, April, 18GG, p. 170. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 89 
 
 but necessity; and though she met with a fair 
 measure of success in it, the failure of Mr. "William 
 son, together with the silent monitor within her 
 breast, persuaded her to relinquish it, and seek for 
 an employment more congenial with her feelings, 
 and more beneficial to society. 
 
 12 
 
90 A MEMOIR Of 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Delightful task 1 to rear the tender thought, 
 To teach the young idea how to shoot ; 
 To pour the fresh instruction o er the mind, 
 To breathe the enlivening spirit, and to fix 
 The generous purpose in the glowing breast. 
 
 Thompson s Spring, p. 53. 
 
 On leaving the stage in the spring of 1797, Mrs. 
 Rowson, under the patronage of Mrs. Samuel 
 Smith, began a school in Federal street, and with 
 but a single pupil, Mrs. Smith s adopted daughter, 
 continued it for one whole term. She was known 
 in Boston only as a novel writer, as an actress 
 how could children be confided to her care ? 
 
 But the light cannot be hid ; her motto was taut 
 queje puis, and persevering steadily, she came before 
 the close of the scholastic year to number one hun 
 dred pupils on her daily roll ; and applications were 
 received for more than she could possibly accom 
 modate. Her head, and heart and hand were given 
 to her school ; and yet redeeming rigidly her time, 
 she suffered not the ink to dry upon her graceful 
 pen. In 1798, the birthday of Washington, who 
 was then expected to assume again the command 
 of our armies, was celebrated with great eclat 
 throughout the country. The patriotic address 
 
MRS. SUSANNA 1WWSON. 91 
 
 before the troops at Baltimore had given Mrs. 
 Rowson some renown as a poet, and she was in 
 vited to prepare a song for the great festival in 
 Boston. She wrote the following, to the tune of 
 Anacreon in Heaven, since called the Star Spangled 
 Banner, which was sung and rapturously applauded 
 by the audience : 
 
 i. 
 When rising from ocean Columbia appeared, 
 
 Minerva to Jove, humbly kneeling, requested 
 That she, as its patroness, might be revered, 
 
 And the power to protect it in her be invested. 
 Jove nodded assent, pleasure glowed in her breast 
 
 As rising, the goddess her will thus expressed : 
 The sons of Columbia forever shall be 
 
 From oppression secure, and from anarchy free. 
 
 II. 
 
 Rapture flashed through the spheres as the mandate went forth 
 
 When Mars and Apollo together uniting, 
 Cried, " Sister, thy sons shall be famed for their work 
 
 Their wisdom in peace and their valor in fighting; 
 Besides from among them a CHIEF shall arise 
 
 As a soldier or statesman, undaunted and wise, 
 Who would shed his best blood, that Columbia might be 
 
 From oppression secure, and from anarchy free." 
 
 III. 
 
 Jove, pleased with the prospect, majestic arose 
 
 And said : " By ourself they shall not be neglected ; 
 
 But ever secure, though surrounded by foes, 
 By Washington bravely upheld and protected, 
 
92 A MEMOIR O* 
 
 And while peace and plenty preside o er the plains, 
 While memory exists or while gratitude reigns, 
 
 His name ever loved and remembered shall be, 
 While Columbians remain Independent and Free" 
 
 At this time Reuben and Rachel, or Tales of Old 
 Times, was passing through the press. It is in two 
 volumes, 12mo, and was written with the design of 
 awakening a deeper interest in the study of history 
 which the author had pursued with great delight, 
 and of showing that not only evil itself, but the 
 very appearance of evil is to be avoided. 
 
 While this story presents many passages of vivid 
 description; and several scenes of touching pathos, 
 we nevertheless can claim but little merit for it as 
 a work of art. The writer made her plot sub 
 servient to her desire of teaching history, and hence 
 it ranges over a period of quite two centuries. 
 The hero and heroine, Reuben and Rachel Dudley, 
 whose grandfather, William Dudley, had been taken 
 captive by the Indians in King Philip s war, and had 
 married Oberca, the daughter of a chieftain, are 
 not introduced to the attention of the reader until 
 the chapter closing the first volume. Through 
 many trying scenes and temptations both in Eng 
 land and America, they are then conducted, still 
 
 1 Miscellaneous Poems, p. 178. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 93 
 
 maintaining the honor of the name of Dudley, until 
 they finally come to settle in peace on the estate of 
 their beloved father at Mount Pleasant, Pennsyl 
 vania. Mrs. Rowson has breathed so much of her 
 own generous emotion into this work, that in spite 
 of its want of unity and the improbable incidents 
 with which its pages abound, the interest of the 
 reader is enchained as by the spell of an enchanter, 
 to the last. 1 
 
 The following extract in which the twin children 
 make inquiries of their Aunt Rachel respecting 
 a coronet of feathers which they had accidentally 
 found, displays alike the author s graceful style and 
 happy manner of imparting knowledge to the young. 
 
 " It was my brother s, said she in a mournful 
 tone, taking it from the child s head and laying it 
 on her knee; I have seen him wear it often. 
 
 " i He was a great man in America, aunt ? said 
 Reuben. 
 
 " l Pie was more than great, my love, he was good. 
 
 " i Pray, aunt, said Rachel, do you remember 
 my grandmother ? 
 
 1 " She wrote a novel called Reuben and Rachel, which I re 
 member to have read and admired when I was an apprentice. " 
 Personal Memoirs by Joseph T. Buckingham, vol. i, p. 84. 
 
 This work is now quite rare. A copy of it, however, is pre 
 served in the Library of the American Antiquarian Society, Wor 
 cester, Mass. Another copy lies before me. 
 
94 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 " Perfectly. 
 
 " Was she an Indian ? 
 
 " Yes. 
 
 " What, quite a wild savage ? 
 
 " * JsTo, my dear; she was what is in general 
 erroneously termed so ; but her heart was as gentle, 
 as compassionate, as full of virtue and piety as that 
 of the most enlightened Christian. 
 
 " < Was she black, aunt ? 
 
 " !No, dark brown, or rather copper. But the 
 complexion of her face was like that of her mind. 
 Its charms and imperfections were discoverable at 
 one glance, and it was ever beautiful because 
 invariable. 
 
 " i But was my grandfather a sachem ? 
 
 " He was. 
 
 " What is a sachem? 
 
 " It is a title given to a chief amongst the 
 Indians, and is the same as a governor with us. 
 
 " How came he to be a chief of the savages, aunt? 
 
 " I will tell you, replied Aunt Rachel. 
 
 "It was a subject on which she delighted to 
 expatiate. She stirred up the fire, folded up her 
 work, and placing the attentive children on each 
 side of her began. But my readers already know 
 the whole story and repetitions are ever tedious. 
 Aunt Rachel was minute in her recital. At the 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROW SON. 95 
 
 account of her capture Rachel wept ; but Reuben 
 started from his seat, his countenance glowing with 
 resentment, and cried, I wish I had been there. 
 
 " And what would you have done, my love, said 
 his aunt. 
 
 " Have rescued you or died, replied our hero. 
 
 " i Charming, undaunted spirit, exclaimed his 
 aunt, and then continued her narrative. 
 
 " When she recounted the death of Otooganoo, and 
 the solemn manner in which he recommended their 
 father, (then an infant) to the care of the chiefs : 
 4 Good old man, said Rachel in the most expres 
 sive accents of affection, what pity he should die. 
 
 " 4 Then my father is a sachem, and the seeds of 
 ambition which nature had implanted, but which 
 till that moment had lain dormant in his bosom, 
 started into life. At the account of their grand 
 father s death, the children both sobbed audibly. 
 
 " I will, I am determined, I will go to America, 
 said Reuben, first suppressing his emotions. 
 
 u< What, without me, brother, asked Rachel in 
 a mournful voice. 
 
 " i ]N"o, no ! he replied ; < not without you, but 
 when I am a man we will go together ; we will find 
 out our grandfather s government and discover our 
 selves to his people ; I dare say they would be glad 
 to see us since they loved him so well. 
 
96 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 " i But what should we go there for, brother ? I 
 am sure we are very happy here ; and papa would 
 not be willing to part with us. 
 
 " Well, then I will go and leave you with them, 
 and when I have settled myself in my government, 
 I will send for you all ; oh what a fine house I will 
 have, and then what a number of servants, and 
 horses and coaches. 
 
 "Aunt Rachel smiled to hear how eagerly the 
 fancy of youth catches at the hope of future great 
 ness, and how readily they connect the ideas of 
 grandeur, affluence and numerous attendants, to 
 the possession of a title. She gazed for a moment 
 with pleasure on his intelligent countenance which 
 the emotions of his little swelling heart had lighted 
 up with uncommon animation,, and paused, unwill 
 ing to throw a dampness on those delightful sensa 
 tions he appeared to enjoy. At length, 
 
 " "What would you say, cried she, if I were to 
 tell you that your grandfather had no attendants 
 except a few warriors, who, from voluntary attach 
 ment to his person, followed to protect him from 
 danger; that he had neither horse nor carriage; 
 that his palace was composed chiefly of the bark of 
 trees ; that his bed was the skins of wild beasts, and 
 his seat of state the trunk of an old tree hewn into 
 something resembling a chair, covered with beaver 
 
MBS: SUSANNA ROWSON. 97 
 
 and other skins, and its ornaments the teeth of 
 tigers, polished shells and fish bones ? 
 
 " But he was good, said Rachel, and conse 
 quently happy. 
 
 " And he was brave and wise, said Reuben 
 exultingly, and every body loved him. 
 
 " Sweet children, said Aunt Rachel, those are 
 consequences which ought ever to follow goodness, 
 bravery and wisdom. But, alas ! they" are not 
 always certain. 
 
 " What, then, are not all good persons happy ? 
 
 " Not always in their outward circumstances ; 
 but they enjoy internal peace. 
 
 " And are not the brave and the wise always 
 esteemed ? 
 
 " By those who have sense and discernment, 
 they in general are ; but unfortunately, great and 
 shining qualifications, either of rnind or person, 
 excite, in general, more envy than love. 
 
 " What is envy, aunt ? 
 
 " A passion, my dear Rachel, to which I hope 
 you will ever remain a stranger. With this wish 
 the good old lady kissed the children and dismissed 
 them to bed." 1 
 
 1 Reuben, and Rachel, vol. n, p. 17G. 
 18 
 
98 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Apt to teach. ST. PAUL. 
 
 In the spring of 1799, 1 Mrs. Eowson introduced 
 a piano-forte into her school room, an event which 
 constitutes an era in the progress of music in Bos 
 ton, where the instrument was then almost entirely 
 unknown. Mr. Laumont was employed as the 
 teacher, and young ladies from different parts of 
 the country now began to avail themselves of this 
 opportunity of learning to play upon the instrument 
 which had recently come to take the place of the 
 spinet and the harpsichord. The elegant manners, 
 lively imagination, line conversational powers, and 
 affectionate disposition of Mrs. Rowson won the 
 hearts of her pupils ; gave her gradual access to 
 the most refined and intelligent families of the 
 town, and steadily increased the reputation of her 
 school. In the autumn of this year she wrote a 
 spirited ode on the birthday of John Adams, then 
 president of the United States, which was received 
 
 1 In 1707, a piano was introduced on the stage atCovent Garden 
 theatre, London, as a new instrument. See New American Ency 
 clopaedia, article piano. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 99 
 
 with favor by both of the political parties, and se 
 cured the good will of a large and influential family 
 circle. 
 
 At the commencement of the new century, how 
 ever, she gave the public a poetic composition still 
 more beautiful, entitled An Eulogy to the Memory of 
 George Washington, Esq., in which these impressive 
 and admonitory lines occur : 
 
 Let this reflection dry a nation s tears : 
 
 He died as ripe in glory as in years ; 
 
 And though the loss of Washington is great, 
 
 Adams remains to guide the helm of state ; 
 
 And would you prove the hero s memory dear ? 
 
 Learn his last parting precepts to revere : 
 
 " My friends, my fellow citizens," said he, 
 
 Be still unanimous, be great and free ; 
 
 For know, a state may soon be rendered weak 
 
 By foreign faction, or by private pique, 
 
 Let not corruption e er your judgment blind ; 
 
 Preserve with care an independent mind ; 
 
 Support, revere the laws ; believe me, friends, 
 
 Your all on unanimity depends : 
 
 By faction, all would be to chaos hurled, 
 
 Be but united and defy the world." l 
 
 Mrs. Rowson was intended for a teacher. Loving 
 ardently the pursuit of literature, she had the rare 
 
 1 Dr. Josiah Bartlett quoted these lines in his oration on the death 
 of Washington. 
 
100 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 and happy faculty, without which no instructor can 
 succeed, of inspiring others with her own emotions. 
 Her own enthusiasm awoke enthusiasm. She was 
 moreover, systematic, dignified, persistent. Her 
 school became the topic of conversation in the 
 fashionable circles, and applications for admission 
 to it were made from every section of the country. 
 Finding her accommodations too limited, and 
 desirous of enjoying the freshness and beauty of 
 the country, Mrs. Kowson took a lease in the 
 spring of 1800, of the beautiful mansion, since 
 known as the Bigelow place, 1 about five miles 
 from the capital, in the fine old town of Medford, 
 and to this charming spot transferred her school. 
 The house, near that of Gov. John Brooks, is 
 delightfully situated on the left or eastern bank of 
 the Mystic river which winds along through mea 
 dows of the deepest green to meet the sea. Built 
 on the acclivity rising gradually from the margin 
 of the stream, and commanding a charming view 
 
 1 The Hon. Timothy Bigelow, from whom this place derives its 
 name, removed to Medford in 1807, and died May 18, 1821, at the 
 age of fifty-four years. One of his daughters became the wife of 
 Abbott Lawrence. The house was built by Mr. Joseph Wyman, 
 of Woburn, who taught a school in it several years anterior to its 
 occupation by Mrs. Rowson. Mrs. Newton, a sister of Gilbert 
 Stuart, the painter, succeeded Mrs. Rowson. Brooks s History of 
 Medford, p. 292. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 101 
 
 of the distant spires of Boston and of Cambridge, 
 it seems intended as the appropriate residence of 
 the Muses and the Graces. The approach to it 
 from the road which here runs through a very 
 beautiful grove, is by a long avenue of lofty trees, 
 whose branches interlacing, form a grateful shade. 
 The ash, the elm, the pine, the linden, and the 
 silver tree, display their rich and varied foliage; 
 the clambering vines and wild flowers shed their 
 fragrance on the evening air, and the song birds, 
 unmolested, sing their sweetest melodies. Wander 
 ing at nightfall underneath the leafy arches of this 
 secluded wood, through which the silver moon 
 beams glimmer, and listening to the murmuring of 
 the waters and the whippoorwilPs plaintive note, 
 one could easily imagine himself in the sacred 
 grove of Academia veins, dedicated to the study of 
 divine philosophy. 
 
 To this sylvan retreat, Mrs. Kowson drew pupils 
 not only from this, but other states and even 
 from the British provinces. Here she taught them 
 those useful, varied and elegant accomplishments 
 for which the ladies of the ancient regime were 
 so happily distinguished ; here she discussed the 
 politics of the country with the eccentric Dr. David 
 Osgood and the courtly Col. John Brooks ; here 
 she wrote her pathetic story, Sarah, in which her 
 
102 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 own heart s struggles are most touchingly portrayed; 
 here she composed the Choice, in which her beau 
 ideal of terrestrial happiness is unfolded ; and here 
 beneath the arching vines, and surrounded by her 
 loving pupils in the summer evenings she would 
 vividly recount some story of the olden times, or 
 sing to the guitar, which she had learned to touch 
 quite skillfully, a song of her own writing, or lead 
 them forth into the mazes of a merry contra dance. 
 By referring to the papers of that period I find 
 that her charges were thirty dollars per month, for 
 board; five dollars entrance each for music and 
 dancing, and then seventy-five cents per lesson for 
 one and eight dollars per quarter for the other. 
 Mr. Peter Von Hagen 1 and then afterwards Mr. G. 
 Graupner, 2 was her music teacher ; Mr. Miln taught 
 the French language and Miss Peggy Swan of 
 Medford, penmanship. The dancing master was 
 
 Mr. Peter A. Von Hagen, professor of music, died in Boston, 
 October, 1803, aged 48 years. " A worthy and honest citizen." 
 See Bodon Weekly Magazine, Oct. 22, 1803. 
 
 2 Mr. Gotlieb Graupner was born in Hanover, Germany, and 
 was an oboe player in the royal band. He came to this country 
 at the close of the last century and settled in Boston, where he 
 was successfully engaged for many years in publishing, selling 
 and teaching music. His house and store was No. 6 Franklin 
 street. He was the first American importer of dementi s pianos. 
 He married for his first wife Mrs. Catharine [Comoford] Hilliar by 
 whom he had issue : 1. Olivia. 2. Catharine C. 3. Charles Wil- 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 103 
 
 Monsieur Des Forge, a French nobleman, whose 
 daughter, Bernardin Des Forge was a boarder in 
 Mrs. Rowson s family. 
 
 In discipline this celebrated teacher was severe, 
 and yet not arbitrary ; fortiter in re, suaviter in modo 
 was her constant rule of action. 
 
 " A bell," says one of her Medford pupils, "was 
 rung at five o clock in the morning ; we then arose 
 and learned a lesson before breakfast. At seven 
 o clock the bell was rung again for prayers and 
 when we had assembled, Mrs. Rowson, holding her 
 English prayer book walked into the room with 
 stately tread, and while the young ladies and 
 assistants stood around her in a circle, read the 
 morning family prayer ; we then sat down to break 
 fast, Mrs. Rowson presiding at the head of one 
 table, Mrs. Haswell, or an assistant occupying the 
 corresponding seat at the head of the other. At 
 
 liam. 4. Samuel. 5. John Henry. M. (1), Margaret Beath. (2) 
 Hester Thomson. 6. Frederick Lewis. 7. Charlotte E. ; and for 
 his second wife, Miss Mary, daughter of Capt. John Hills, by whom 
 he had : 8. Harriet Hills. 9. Stephen Hills. 10. Charles Edward. 
 Mr. Gotlieb Graupnerdied April 10, 1836, aged 69 years, and was 
 entombed in the family vault under St. Matthew s church, South 
 Boston. His daughter, Harriet Hills, is a teacher of the piano, and 
 his son John Henry an engraver of music, Boston. 
 
 The Graupner and Rowson families were always on intimate 
 terms with each other. They occupied the same pew in Dr. John 
 S. J. Gardiner s church. 
 
JQ4 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 dinner Airs. Rowson. offered thanks. "We were 
 never allowed to go unattended beyond the limits 
 of the grove and garden, or to pluck a flower or 
 fruit without permission of our teachers. Our les 
 sons were reading, writing, geography, drawing, 
 painting, and embroidery. Our preceptress, was 
 very attentive to our dress and manners. If she 
 noticed any of us sitting, or standing in a stooping 
 posture, she would immediately pronounce the 
 name of the forgetful one and assume herself the 
 
 O 
 
 proper atitude. 
 
 " At nine o clock in the evening Mrs. Rowson, 
 arrayed in a dark striped, or black silk, and some 
 times in a white muslin dress, entered the school 
 room and read a prayer with a clear and impressive 
 voice, and then receiving a parting kiss from her 
 dear pupils, bade them an affectionate good night. 
 
 " Though exact in her requirements as to neatness, 
 order, punctuality, bienseance, and correct expression, 
 she frequently indulged with us in little pleasantries, 
 bon mots, and anecdotes which twined as flowers 
 around the iron bands of discipline, and won with 
 out much hazard of respect the pupil s heart." 
 
 " I once remarked to her," said a person who 
 had the good fortune to attend her school, " that 
 one of the young ladies had a most luxuriant head 
 of curling hair." " Ah ! " said Mrs. Rowson, " that 
 
MRS. SUSANNA KOWSON. 105 
 
 is not her own hair, but a wig, and thereby hangs 
 a tale ; " alluding to a fever which had caused the 
 lady s hair to fall. 
 
 At another time a pupil asked her how the name 
 of Madame de Genlis ought to be pronounced. After 
 kindly telling her, Mrs. Rowson added : I once 
 sent a servant to a bookstore for Madame de Genlis s 
 works. He returned and said the bookseller knew 
 nothing of them. " What did you ask for? " said 
 I. " Why, I told him you wanted the history of 
 Mad John Lee ! " 
 
 On Saturday at noon, Mrs. Rowson was accus 
 tomed to present each scholar with a piece of paper 
 on which was written her standing or deportment 
 for the week, and which was called " the character." 
 The reception of these brief, but very expressive 
 words of praise or blame created generally a pro 
 found sensation in the seminary, and often caused 
 the tear of joy or sorrow to flow forth. " What 
 have you got? " " Let me see yours ! " "I told 
 you that you would be sorry for it ! " " Oh ! yours is 
 always good ! " and similar expressions flew from 
 lip to lip on the retirement of the teacher from the 
 presentation, and fresh resolves were made to 
 make a better record on the coming week. Some 
 
 of these celebrated characters on yellow paper and 
 14 
 
106 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 in faded ink are lying before me as I write, and as 
 I read in Mrs. Rowson s neat and well known hand 
 the significant words : " Incorrigible," " Inatten 
 tive," " Uniformly good," " Very neat, industrious 
 and well behaved," "Excellent in manners,"! seem 
 to see the dark eyes of the gifted teacher fixed upon 
 the beaming faces of the lovely group around her; 
 to hear her words of sweet encouragement ; and 
 responses from that shining circle touching millions 
 yet to come : " Yes, beloved teacher, we will obey 
 thy precepts and aspire to meet the duties which 
 humanity and heaven impose ! " One of these 
 papers bears the following pleasant turn upon the 
 word character, which the school applied to them : 
 " It is unnecessary, my dear young lady, to give you 
 a character ; but I hope always to know you in the 
 character of my friend. Susanna Rowson." 
 
 To this the recipient has most affectionately 
 added : " Dear, generous, kind hearted woman ! 
 How often since that time have I wished, but in 
 vain, that she could know the sorrow I have felt 
 for any want of respect and gratitude I may have 
 shown towards her and to ask her forgiveness. 
 God grant that we may meet in heaven ! " 1 
 
 The following testimonials exhibit the heartiness, 
 
 Mrs. Samuel Batchelder, of Cambridge, Mass., died 1800. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 107 
 
 as well as the elegant style in which this earnest 
 teacher was accustomed to recommend her merito 
 rious pupils. 
 
 MR. DOGGETT,! MEDFORD, April 28, 1801. 
 
 Sir : I am extremely happy in giving my testimony to the 
 merits of Miss Sallie Burgess, who has been under my imme 
 diate care eight months. She is a young lady of good 
 abilities, amiable disposition, and unexceptionable manners. 
 She has made, whilst with me, great proficiency with her 
 needle and pencils, and I believe her qualifications in gene 
 ral to be such "as will render her a very desirable acquisition 
 to any respectable academy. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 With respect, 
 
 Your humble servant, 
 
 SUSA. ROWSON. 
 
 MEDFORD, April 28, 1803. 
 
 Respected Sir : I have the pleasure of recommending to 
 your friendly attention, Miss Mary Warner, a young lady 
 whose personal merit, and acquired knowledge are such, as 
 make me proud to acknowledge her having been my pupil 
 for nearly a year and a half. 
 
 In the department for which she is engaged for the 
 Academy at Taunton, I have no doubt of her acquitting her 
 self with honor, and so as to obtain the entire approbation 
 of her employers. There is nothing which seems likely to 
 impede her immediate success but her extreme diffidence, 
 and that is a defect (if so it may be named), which time 
 
 1 This was the Rev. Simeon Doggett, preceptor of the academy 
 Taunton, Mass. He died March 20, 1852, aged 87 years. 
 
108 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 and experience will naturally rectify. Her disposition and 
 manners are so amiable, that I feel much interested in her 
 success and happiness. That she may ably fill the situation 
 to which she is called, and her future good fortune in life 
 be equal to her deserts is my fervent wish. 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 With respect, 
 
 Your humble servant, 
 
 SA. ROWSON. 
 Mr. Doggett. 
 
 On the sabbath, Mrs. Rowson was accustomed to 
 lead her school in procession to the meeting-house, 
 where seats in the galleries had been provided by a 
 vote of the town, 1 and where the young ladies lis 
 tened for the most part with devout attention to the 
 eloquent discourses of one of the ablest divines of his 
 day. Some little occurrence, however, would occa 
 sionally create a new sensation, and furnish a topic 
 of conversation for the week. On one sabbath morn 
 ing after the young ladies had taken their accus 
 tomed places in the gallery, and the good doctor 
 given out his hymn, it was suddenly discovered that 
 the choir, amounting to some forty or fifty, had left 
 en masse, their accustomed seats, and that no one 
 
 1 " Hertford, May 12, 1800. Voted that the second and third seats 
 in the women s gallery in the meeting house be allowed Mrs. 
 Rowson for herself and scholars, and that, she be allowed to put 
 doors and locks on them." History of Medford, Mass., by the 
 Rev, Charles Brooks, p. 292. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 109 
 
 appeared to sing a note. In this exigence, Mr. 
 Rowson, with Gen. John Montgomery, of Haver- 
 hill, "N. H., who was then on a visit to the school, 
 rose in his pew below, gave out the tune, and the 
 heavy base of the one, uniting with the fine tenor 
 of the other, formed a powerful duo which sur 
 prised and delighted the listening congregation. 
 At the close of the service, Dr. Osgood tendered 
 them his cordial thanks, and at dinner invited them 
 to do the singing for him in the afternoon ; but 
 when the service opened, every member of the choir, 
 both male and female, was in his or her own place. 
 At the examination of Mrs. Rowson s academy, 
 which was held in Franklin Hall, Boston, October 
 14, 1802, 1 a large and fashionable audience was 
 present, when original dialogues, written in poetry 
 by the preceptress, were spoken by the young 
 ladies, all of whom were dressed in white; and 
 elegant specimens of embroidery on satin, and 
 painting in water colors, were exhibited. I will 
 
 1 The Boston Weekly Magazine gives this account of it : " The 
 public were gratified by an exhibition of the drawing, needle 
 work and other improvements of the young ladies of Mrs. Row- 
 son s academy in Medford. The pupils assembled in Franklin Hall, 
 Nassau, [since Common street], which was decorated with a number 
 of very beautiful specimens of embroidery, paintings and drawings 
 in water colors, maps, etc. The ladies were attired with the great, 
 est simplicity no ornament whatever appearing among them 
 all pure white, and fit emblem of their own excellence." 
 
HO A MEMOIR OF 
 
 venture to present my readers one of the many 
 pieces which were recited at this, or at a subsequent 
 examination of this celebrated school. 1 
 
 THE BEE, A FABLE, BY MRS. ROWSON. 
 
 [Spoken by her little niece, Mary Haswell.] 
 
 Ladies and gentlemen, will you allow 
 
 A very small girl, who scarcely knows how 
 
 To make her courtesy in a proper way, 
 
 To tell a story which she heard one day? 
 
 It chanced once on a time, no matter when, 
 
 For all strange things they tell us happened then, 
 
 A little bee on a sunshiny day 
 
 Crept from the hive among the flowers to play. 
 
 A wise old laborer of the hive espied 
 
 His sportive gambols and thus gravely cried : 
 
 " To work as well as play should be your pride, 
 
 Come learn of me, for wisdom is a treasure, 
 
 And you shall mingle profit with your pleasure. 
 
 Observe this bed of clustering flowers ; behold 
 
 Their velvet leaves all powdered o er with gold, 
 
 And see within the cups of crimson hue 
 
 The precious drops of rich, nectareous dew. 
 
 1 A beautiful poem on the Rights of Woman, by Mrs. Rowson, 
 commencing 
 
 While patriots on wide philosophic plan, 
 Declaim upon the wondrous rights of man, etc., 
 
 was spoken by Miss Mary Warner ; and Miss C. Hutcliins read a 
 fine prose composition which was published in the Boston Weekly 
 Magazine. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. HI 
 
 This golden dust, this precious dew collect, 
 
 Now in the early morning, nor neglect 
 
 To bear it to the hive, a valued store, 
 
 Against the time when chilling torrents roar, 
 
 And Boreas howls, and rains and snows descend, 
 
 And bees must on their hoarded stores depend." 
 
 Now this young bee was a good little creature, 
 
 Had much good sense, industry and good nature ; 
 
 She sipped the dew, scraped off the golden dust, 
 
 That turned to liquid sweets, and in a crust 
 
 Composed of this, the ambrosial treasure closed, 
 
 But as she worked, a drone who had reposed 
 
 For many a morning in a lily s bell, 
 
 Addressed her thus : " Poor thing : tis mighty well 
 
 That you have strength and spirits thus to labor, 
 
 You are indeed a valuable neighbor 
 
 To toil on thus from morn till eve for others ; 
 
 For, trust me, little slave, I and my brothers, 
 
 When we have spent the summer sweetly here, 
 
 All winter will regale on your good cheer. 
 
 For I m too delicate, too blythe, too gay, 
 
 To waste in toil my summer hours away, 
 
 I was not formed for labor, I was made 
 
 To rest on thyme beds in the myrtle shade : 
 
 I do protest, were I obliged to bear 
 
 That yellow dust away, and take such care, 
 
 That not a grain is lost, that I should die, 
 
 Fainting beneath the fever of the sky. 
 
 But you were formed for toil and care by nature, 
 
 And are a mighty good, industrious creature." 
 
 " Winter draws nigh," replies the little bee, 
 
 " And who is wisest we shall quickly see, 
 
 My friend who warned me to beware in season, 
 
 Or yours who left you in despite of reason 
 
112 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 To bathe in dew, flit over beds of flowers 
 
 Heedless of coming cold, or wintry showers." 
 
 When winter came, the little bee was well, 
 
 Secure and warm within her waxen cell ; 
 
 The drones half starved came shivering to the door 
 
 And forced an entrance, they could do no more : 
 
 The laborers rose, the encroaching tribe drove forth 
 
 To brave the terrors of the frigid north, 
 
 Shrink in the rigor of the wintry sky, 
 
 Lament their idleness ; to starve and die ; 
 
 While the good little bee next coming May 
 
 Hailed the returning sun, alert and gay, 
 
 Led forth an infant swarm in healthful ease ; 
 
 A bright example unto future bees. 
 
 My story s ended ; but methinks you say, 
 
 Is there no moral, little girl, I pray ? 
 
 Yes. there s a moral ; hear it if you please ; 
 
 This is the hive, and we re the little bees, 
 
 Our governess is the adviser sage 
 
 Who fits us for the world s delusive stage, 
 
 By pointing out the weeds among the flowers, 
 
 By teaching us to use our mental powers ; 
 
 To shun the former, and with nicest care 
 
 Cull from the latter all that s sweet and fair, 
 
 Extract their honey, keep their color bright 
 
 To deck the chaplet for a winter s night. 
 
 Have we succeeded ? Judge, you will not wrong us 
 
 I trust we have no idle drones among us : 
 
 Or is there one or two, how great their shame, 
 
 Whilst here we re striving for the meed of fame, 
 
 And catch with transports of exulting joy, 
 
 The approbating glance from every eye ; 
 
 To feel they cannot hope to share our pleasure, 
 
 To know they slighted wisdom s offered treasure, 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. H3 
 
 To feel that those kind friends who dearest love them, 
 
 Will blush and pity, while they can t approve them. 
 
 dear, I would not for the richest gem 
 
 That India can produce, feel just like them, 
 
 Nor lose the joy we hope to feel this day, 
 
 To hear our friends and patronesses say, 
 
 "All is done right and well, and truly these 
 
 Dear children are a hive of thriving bees." 
 
 And should you thus approve, you ll make of me. 
 
 A very proud and happy little bee. 1 
 
 1 From A Present for Young Ladies, containing Poems, Dia 
 logues, Addresses, etc., as recited by the Pupils of Mrs. Roicson s 
 Academy at the Annual Exhibitions. By Susanna Rowson. Bos 
 ton : published by John West & Co., No. 75 Cornhill. 1811. E. G. 
 House, Printer. This little work of 156 pages, 18mo, is now 
 quite rare. 
 
 15 
 
114 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " The standard of society may be gracefully, and almost imper 
 ceptibly raised by exciting the attention to questions of taste, morals, 
 ingenuity and literature" HANNAH MORE S HINTS, p. 207. 
 
 On the 30th of October, 1802, the Boston Weekly 
 Magazine, a periodical in quarto form devoted to 
 polite literature, and published by Samuel Gilbert 
 and Thomas Dean, made its appearance. Mrs. 
 Rowson was engaged as editor, and Mrs. John 
 Murray, author of the Gleaner, Friend, etc., as one 
 of the principal contributors. The paper was con 
 tinued three years 1 when it was superseded by the 
 more able Monthly Anthology, edited by Mr. Wil 
 liam Tudor. As an early attempt to describe the 
 manners, reprehend the follies, cultivate the taste 
 and soften the customs of the people, the Boston 
 Weekly Magazine is not discreditable to American 
 literature. In looking over its pleasant and diver 
 sified pages I find among other poetical communi- 
 
 1 This early American journal of polite literature was discon 
 tinued Oct. 19, 1805. Its volumes are now extremely rare. The 
 only complete set known to the writer is in the Boston Athenseum . 
 In the last number but one, Mrs. Rowson inserted some very beau 
 tiful lines on the death of a beloved pupil, Mrs. Lydia Parsons, 
 aged 21 years, commencing : 
 
 Wealth and youth and beauty joined 
 
 Cannot sinking nature save, 
 Lovely form, or lovelier mind, 
 Shield the owner from the grave. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. H5 
 
 cations over the signature of S. R. this fine little 
 address to a CANAKY BIKD, which was found dead 
 in its cage two days after the departure of its mis 
 tress from home : 
 
 i. 
 
 His mistress gone, poor little Bill, 
 His wings in pensive sadness hung; 
 
 His soft, melodious voice was still, 
 Unless these mournful notes he sung. 
 
 II. 
 
 " Ah, mistress mine, where art thou gone ? 
 
 Return, return/ he plaintive cried ; 
 Thus many an hour he made his moan 
 
 .Till sick of hope deferred, he died. 
 
 in. 
 Poor hird, with thee I sympathize ; 
 
 Such pangs the feeling bosom proves, 
 That wrung with anguish hourly dies 
 
 When absent from the friend it loves. 1 
 
 Another pleasant little poem appears in the num 
 ber for April 3, 1803, entitled : 
 
 HOME. 
 
 i. 
 While round the globe the wanderer 
 
 With wearied steps may roam ; 
 Through every stage, in every clime 
 
 Each thought still points to home. 
 
 1 Boston Weekly Magazine, Nov., 1802. 
 
116 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 II. 
 
 Each dear domestic scene is still, 
 
 By partial fancy drest, 
 And e en the Greenland savage thinks 
 
 His barren soil the best. 
 
 in. 
 
 So wheresoe er henceforth by fate, 
 
 This frame of mine may be, 
 Each thought, each wish will fondly dwell, 
 
 America, with thee. 
 
 The following spirited ode appears in No. 5, 1802 
 
 THANKSGIVING. 
 
 i. 
 Autumn receding throws aside 
 
 Her robe of many a varied dye ; 
 And winter in majestic pride, 
 
 Advances in the lowering sky ; 
 The laborer in his granary stores 
 
 The golden sheaves all safe from spoil ; 
 While from her horn gay Plenty pours 
 
 Her treasures to reward his toil. 
 To solemn temples let us now repair, 
 And bow in grateful adoration there ; 
 Bid the full strain in hallelujahs rise. 
 To waft the sacred incense to the skies. 
 
 II. 
 
 Now the hospitable board, 
 
 Groans beneath the rich repast; 
 All that luxury can afford, 
 
 Grateful to the eye or taste. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. H7 
 
 While the orchard s sparkling juice, 
 
 And the vintage join their powers, 
 All that nature can produce, 
 
 Bounteous Heaven bids be ours. 
 Let us give thanks ; yes, yes, be sure, 
 Send for the widow and the orphan poor ; 
 Give them wherewith to purchase clothes and food, 
 ; Tis the best way to prove our gratitude. 
 
 in. 
 
 On the hearth high flames the fire, 
 
 Sparkling tapers lend their light; 
 Wit and genius now aspire 
 
 On Fancy s gay and rapid flight ; 
 Now the viol s sprightly lay, 
 
 As the moments light advance, 
 Bids us revel, sport and play, 
 
 Raise the song, or lead the dance. 
 Come, sportive love and sacred friendship, come, 
 Help us to celebrate our harvest-home ; 
 In vain the year its annual tribute pours, 
 Unless you grace the scene and lead the laughing hours. 
 
 S. R. 
 
 Mrs. Rowson contributed to this magazine a series 
 of light and graceful papers, after the manner of 
 the Spectator, on education, music, books, etc., called 
 the Gossip, and running up to sixty or seventy 
 numbers. In one of these papers, Gossip, No. 13, 
 the subject of which is Novel Reading, the writer 
 says : " Of the works of Mrs. Rowson, Reuben and 
 
118 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 Rachel, an historical romance, is the best. Charlotte 
 and the Inquisitor have considerable degree of merit." 
 This appears quite modest in comparison with the 
 " mercenary puffing " of the present day, and it is, 
 indeed, probable that some of the numbers of the 
 Gossip were from another pen. 
 
 But the most important contribution of Mrs. 
 Rowson to this magazine was a serial story called 
 Sincerity, in thirty-three numbers, the last of which 
 appears in the issue of June the 20th, 1804. The 
 whole was published by Charles "Williams in a 
 small volume in 1813, under the title of Sarah, the 
 Exemplary Wife. 1 The scene of this novel is laid in 
 London, and the time extends from 1775 until 1793. 
 The story opens where such productions generally 
 terminate, with the wedding day, the first line of it 
 being, " Yes, Anne, the die is cast, I am a wife." 
 The motto is : " Do not marry a fool," etc., which 
 those acquainted with the author s life perceive had 
 sharp significance. In the sufferings and unflinch 
 ing fidelity of the heroine, Sarah Darnley, the author 
 
 1 Sarah, the Exemplary Wife. By Susanna Rowson, author of 
 Charlotte Temple, Reuben and Rachel, Fille de Chambre, etc. etc. 
 " Do not marry a fool : lie is continually doing absurd and dis 
 graceful things, for no other reason but to show he dares do them." 
 Gregory s Legacy. Remember that nothing but strict truth can 
 carry you through life with honor and credit. Boston : Published 
 by Charles Williams ; Watson & Bangs, Printers, 1813. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. H9 
 
 is said to have given with a very faithful pen, the 
 portraiture of her own checkered and eventful life ; 
 and one of her intimate acquaintances once said to 
 me, " This is her best biography." The remark 
 must be understood, however, as referring, not so 
 much to the outward scenes and circumstances, 
 though some of these the author but too well re 
 membered, as to the sufferings and discipline of the 
 heart. The plan of the story is simple ; the lead 
 ing characters are few, distinct and consistent with 
 themselves in word and action; the style is easy, 
 flowing, natural, and sometimes truly tender and 
 pathetic. The volume closes with this exalted sen 
 timent, which came directly from the writer s own 
 generous and chastened soul : " It is the sincere and 
 pious spirit alone, that tried in the thrice heated 
 furnace of affliction, comes out like refined gold, 
 bright and pure and fit to be placed in the palace 
 of the Most High." Sarah, p. 270. 
 
 In the summer of 1803, Mrs. Kowson removed 
 her school from Medford to the large and commo 
 dious mansion of the celebrated Gen. William Hull l 
 of Newton, and held her first public examination in 
 
 Gen. William Hull, born in Derby, Conn., June 24, 1753 ; Yale 
 College, 1772 ; and died November 29, 1825 ; was a warm personal 
 friend of Mrs. Rowson, and a patron of her school. Although ac 
 tually condemned to death for his supposed pusillanimity in the 
 affair at Detroit, it seems now to be the prevailing opinion that his 
 
120 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 Harrington Hall, Watertown, in October following. 
 The papers spoke of it in glowing terms of com 
 mendation. Her seminary continued to rise in 
 popular favor; distinguished families in every part 
 of the country bestowed on it their patronage; and 
 it was not misplaced; for her large experience, 
 fertile fancy, love of order, aptitude to teach and 
 great executive ability, rendered it one of the very 
 best institutions of the kind upon this continent. 
 
 In order to make a deep impression on the mind, 
 she had inscribed in imposing capitals along the walls 
 of her school room, mottoes such as these : " What 
 has been done may be clone." " Speak the truth 
 always." " Perseverance leads to excellence." 
 She caused her pupils to write with pencil letters to 
 their parents and she then with anxious care cor 
 rected them ; she insisted not only on polite be 
 havior, but also on the use of elegant forms of 
 speech and a distinct articulation ; she taught her 
 pupils the art, and impressed upon them the im 
 portance of preserving health ; she diverted them 
 by a frequent change of study; she encouraged 
 them by judicious commendation ; and loving litera- 
 
 course at the time was worthy of praise instead of condemnation. 
 He married Sarah Fuller, and had Sarah, born 1783 ; Eliza, born 
 1784, married Isaac McClellan ; Abraham Fuller, born 1786 ; Nancy 
 Binney, born 1787; Maria, born 1788 ; Rebecca Parker, born 1790 ; 
 and Caroline, born 1793. See Ward s History of Newton, p. 312. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROW SON. 121 
 
 ture most ardently herself, she by the secret law of 
 sympathy awakened in their minds a kindred taste 
 for it. Her pupils can never forget the ardor, life 
 and love she manifested in her instructions at this 
 period ; the brilliancy of her conversation ; the 
 splendor of her examinations, or the gentleness of 
 her heart. 1 The second public exhibition of the 
 
 1 One of her old term bills, neatly made out in her own beautiful 
 chirography, and now lying before me, is not devoid of interest as 
 indicative of some of the studies of her pupils, and of the cost of 
 
 female education at that period : 
 
 NEWTON, May 26, 1805. 
 
 JOHN MONTGOMERY, ESQ., 
 
 To S. ROWSON, Dr. 
 
 To 23 weeks board for his daughter, Miss Ann Montgomery, $57 00 
 
 " Do Tuition, 16 50 
 
 44 Use of books, pens and ink, 75 
 
 44 Silk for finishing embroidery, 1 00 
 
 44 Altering, printing and painting, do 1 50 
 
 44 Use of embroidery frame, 25 
 
 " 4 writing books, 80 
 
 44 Drawing paper, pencils, etc., 1 50 
 
 " Washing 13 pieces, 54 
 
 " 1 Grammar, 20 
 
 44 Carriage to meeting, 1 50 
 
 $81 54 
 " Entrance and one quarter s dancing. 9 00 
 
 To 15 weeks board of Miss Mary Montgomery, 37 50 
 
 44 Do Tuition 11 25 
 
 44 Use of books, pens and ink, 66 
 
 44 Use of piano-forte, 2 20 
 
 44 2 writing books, 40 
 
 44 Drawing paper, pencils, etc., 85 
 
 44 Satin, silk, etc., for a screen, 5 00 
 
 44 Use of embroidery frame, 25 
 
 44 Small piece for pin cushion, ... 50 
 
 44 Ticket to the play and carriage for both ladies, 4 66 
 
 44 Washing, 13 pieces, 54 
 
 $63 81 
 Deduct for one week s absence of Miss Ann, 3 25 
 
 Miss Ann, . . . $90 34 Cash reed, of J. M. Esq., . , . 50 00 
 
 Miss Mary, 63 81 
 
 $53 25 
 
 154 45 Paid, 
 
 53 23 SUSAN ROWSON. 
 
 Balance due S. R. $101 22 
 16 
 
A MEMOIR OF 
 
 school in Newton occurred, October 17, 1804, and 
 engaged the attention of the public quite as much 
 as the commencement at the college in the neigh 
 boring town of Cambridge. 
 
 Mrs. Rowson had a thorough knowledge of the 
 Word of God ; she took it as her guide, and made 
 it the basis of her educational system. She inter 
 preted it with singular ability, and her scriptural 
 readings at this epoch in her life became quite 
 celebrated. The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Homer 1 and 
 the leading families in the vicinity used to go into 
 the school room and with rapt attention sit and 
 hear this popular teacher read and eloquently ex 
 pound the sacred page to her beloved pupils. 
 
 Mrs. Rowson s diversion was her pen. To this 
 she betook herself when her pupils had retired to 
 rest, and lovingly portrayed the shifting scenes of 
 busy fancy, or the joys and sorrows of her own gene 
 rous heart. With little regard for praise or blame, 
 she wrote in prose or verse because she loved to 
 write, and when her thoughts were once on paper, 
 cared but little for revision, or the judgment which 
 the world might pass on them. 
 
 1 This excellent divine died at Newton, Aug. 11, 1843, aged eighty- 
 four years. He spent much time in making a comparison of the difl 
 ent versions and editions of the Bible for the purpose of ascertaining 
 the correct reading, He was a warm friend of Mrs. Rowson and 
 her school. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 123 
 
 CHAPTEE XHL 
 
 Mais elle a su prouver que sous see doigts legers 
 Soupire sans effort la flute des bergers. 
 
 Legouve, Le Merite des Femmes, p. 16. 
 
 In the autumn of 1804 Mrs. Rowson published 
 by subscription a volume of 227 pages, entitled 
 Miscellaneous Poems by Susanna Howson, Preceptress 
 of the Ladies Academy, Newton, Mass. 1 The sub 
 scribers names, in all 245, are printed at the be 
 ginning of the book, and among them I find 
 those of many of the celebrated personages of the 
 day, as Mrs. Josiah Bradlee, Col. David Humphreys, 
 John H. Payne, Robert Treat Payne, Junr., Esq., 
 Thomas 0. Selfridge, Esq., etc., of Boston; Mrs. 
 Charles Baring of Charleston, S. C.; Gen. William 
 Hull and Dr. Jonathan Homer of Newton ; Madame 
 Elizabeth Price of Hopkinton; Mr. Leverett Sal- 
 tonstall of Salem, etc. They were for the most part 
 patrons of her school. In looking over this time 
 worn, but well printed volume, I find a great variety 
 
 1 There is a favorable review of these poems in the Monthly 
 Anthology, 1804, vol. i, p. Gil, written probably by Mr Tudor, 
 who cites this stanza as a specimen of the author s style : 
 
 Yes, they are happy, if the polished gem, 
 
 On which the sun in varied colors plays, 
 Rejoices that its lustre comes from Him, 
 And glows delighted to reflect his praise. 
 
124 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 of poems on different subjects, moral, patriotic, 
 amatory, elegiac, in various metrical forms and of 
 various degrees of merit. 
 
 In common with the poets of her day, Mrs. Row- 
 son frequently personifies the faculties of the mind, 
 and makes them play their scenic parts before us. 
 Her versification is generally smooth, her images 
 striking ; but she often wrote too rapidly, sometimes 
 too sentimentally, to write well. With much, how 
 ever, that is affected, and much that bears the 
 marks of haste, we occasionally meet with pieces 
 rich and vigorous in thought, as they are graceful 
 and appropriate in language. 
 
 The lines to Solitude written at midnight are inter 
 esting as a faithful record of the author s own per 
 sonal experience. 
 
 i. 
 Soft sleep the moonbeams on the stream ; 
 
 Light breathes the zephyr through each tree, 
 Sweet chirps the cricket ; all things seem 
 
 Attuned to SOLITUDE and me. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Oh ! soul reviving Solitude ! 
 
 Only by active minds enjoyed ; 
 Fled by the ignorant and rude, 
 
 And by unfeeling mirth destroyed ! 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 125 
 
 in. 
 
 Oh ! let me in the evening shade, 
 
 Stray where the solemn night bird flits ; 
 
 And where in sober weeds arrayed, 
 Eagle-eyed contemplation sits. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Let her my soaring spirit bear 
 
 To the etherial realms above, 
 To mix with kindred spirits there 
 
 And join their strains of peace and love. 
 
 v. 
 
 There friendship which on earth was pure, 
 
 Shall be with double force renewed ; 
 There from malignant fiends secure, 
 
 Twill be no crime to love the good. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Few are the moments I can spare, 
 
 Mild SOLITUDE, to pass with thee ; 
 Yet few and scanty as they are, 
 
 How dear those moments are to me. 
 
 VII. 
 Now night her dusky wing hath spread 
 
 And half the world is wrapped in sleep ; 
 Still as the mansions of the dead, 
 
 E en misery s self forgets to weep. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 This hour s my own ; I need not fear 
 Thou wilt my secret soul betray ; 
 
126 A- MEMOIR OF 
 
 Thy sombre vail conceals the tear 
 Which dreads the glaring eye of day. 
 
 IX. 
 
 To thee my tortured soul can own 
 Its faults and sue to be forgiven ; 
 
 Kneeling before the awful throne 
 Of the all-righteous God of Heaven. 
 
 x. 
 
 God ! great as good ! and wise as great ! 
 
 To thee each secret stands revealed ; 
 Thou art my hope, in thee I trust, 
 
 From thee my heart is not concealed. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Oh ! shed on my perturbed breast 
 Thy peace, and grant, forgot by all, 
 
 When death shall wrap my soul in rest, 
 Oblivion s shade may o er me fall. 
 
 The Choice, though inferior to that of John Pom- 
 fret and hardly equal to that of John Cotton, or that 
 of the Rev. Elijah Fitch, is still by no means devoid 
 of merit, and is, so far as I am aware, the only one 
 ever written by a lady : 
 
 I ask no more than just to be 
 From vice and folly wholly free ; 
 To have a competent estate 
 Neither too small, nor yet too great ; 
 
MRS. SUSANNA EOWSON. 127 
 
 Something of rent and taxes clear, 
 
 About five hundred pounds a year. 
 
 My house, though small should be complete 
 
 Furnished, not elegant, but neat; 1 
 
 One little room should sacred be 
 
 To study, solitude and me. 
 
 The windows, jessamine should shade 
 
 Nor should a sound the ear invade, 
 
 Except the warblings from the grove, 
 
 Or plaintive murmurings of the dove. 
 
 Here would I often pass the day 
 
 Turn o er the page, or tune the lay, 
 
 And court the aid and sacred fire 
 
 Of the Parnassian tuneful choir. 
 
 While calmly thus my time I d spend 
 
 Grant me, kind Heaven, a faithful friend 
 
 In each emotion of my heart, 
 
 Of grief or joy to bear a part, 
 
 Possessed of learning and good sense, 
 
 Free from pedantic insolence ; 
 
 1 Jean F. Duels expresses the corresponding idea thus : 
 Petit sejour, commode et sain 
 l)u des arts et du luxe en vain 
 On chercherait quelque merveille ; 
 Humble asileou j ai sos la main 
 Mon La Fontaine et mon Corneille. 
 
 Pomfret not so elegantly : 
 
 It should within no other things contain 
 But what were useful, necessary, plain ; 
 Methinks tis nauseous, and I d ne er endure 
 The needless pomp of gaudy furniture. 
 
 Dr. Benjamin Church in his Choice has it thus : 
 
 No needless pomp my modest dome should claim, 
 Neat and genteel without ; within, the same. 
 
 For the latter see Boston Weekly Magazine, April 6, 1805. 
 
128 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 Pleased with retirement let him be ; 
 Yet cheerful midst society ; 
 Know how to trifle with a grace, 
 Yet grave in proper time and place. 
 
 Let frugal plenty deck my board, 
 So that its surplus may afford 
 Assistance to the neighboring poor, 
 And send them thankful from the door. 
 A few associates I d select, 
 Worthy esteem and high respect ; 
 And social mirth I would invite, 
 With sportive dance on tip-toe light ; 
 Nor should sweet music s voice be mute, 
 The vocal strain, or plaintive lute ; 
 But all, and each, in turn agree, 
 To afford life sweet variety ; 
 To keep serene the cheerful breast, 
 And give to solitude a zest. 
 
 And often be it our employ, 
 For there is not a purer joy, 
 To wipe the languid grief-swollen eye, 
 To soothe the pensive mourner s sigh, 
 To calm their fears, allay their grief, 
 And give, if possible, relief. 
 But if this fate, directing heaven 
 Thinks too indulgent to be given, 
 Let health and innocence be mine, 
 And I will strive not to repine ; 
 Will thankful take each blessing lent, 
 Be humble, patient and content. 
 
 Miscellaneous Poems, p. 137. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 129 
 
 Of the sonnets in this volume perhaps the follow 
 ing quoted in Duyckinck s Cyclopedia of American 
 Literature, vol. i, p. 533, is the most pleasing. 
 
 The primrose, gay, the snowdrop pale, 
 The lily blooming in the vale, 
 Too fragile or too fair to last, 
 Wither beneath the untimely blast, 
 
 Or rudely falling shower. 
 No more a sweet perfume they shed, 
 Their fragrance lost, their beauty fled, 
 
 They can revive no more. 
 
 So hapless woman s wounded name, 
 If Malice seize the trump of fame ; 
 Or Envy should her poison shed 
 Upon the unprotected head 
 
 Of some forsaken maid j 
 Though pity may her fate deplore, 
 Her virtues sink to rise no more, 
 
 From dark oblivion s shade. 
 
 Ibid., p. 116. 
 
 The following light effusions are conceived in 
 the same happy manner : 
 
 To HOPE. 
 
 Gilded phantom, light and vain, 
 
 Gay, delusive, fleeting thing; 
 Flattering shade, descend again, 
 
 Bear me on thy downy wing. 
 17 
 
130 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 What, though oft thou dost deceive, 
 
 Still I woo thee to my breast, 
 Listen still and still believe, 
 
 Till each doubt is hushed to rest. 
 
 To THE ROSE. 
 
 i. 
 
 Lovely, blushing, fragrant Rose, 
 
 Emblem of life s transient joys, 
 Ere half thy sweets thou canst disclose. 
 
 One rude touch thy bloom destroys. 
 
 II. 
 
 Though the sweetness thou dost yield, 
 Can pleasure to each sense impart, 
 
 The thorn, beneath thy leaves concealed, 
 Oft wounds the unsuspecting heart. 
 
 In the Thunder Storm we have this natural and 
 effective passage, which conveys a good idea of the 
 whole piece : 
 
 See where the lightning rends the sturdy oak, 
 Around the wood the shattered atoms fly ; 
 
 The savage herd, astonished at the stroke, 
 Quick to their dens for shelter hie ; 
 
 The boding raven e en forgets to croak, 
 And nature seems in silent agony. 
 
 Her Hymn to the Deity, though in poetic merit in 
 ferior to that of Pope or of Mrs. Carter, still sur- 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 131 
 
 passes both of them in depth and earnestness of 
 devotion : 
 
 Alpha, Omega, first and last, 
 
 Creative Spirit, Power Supreme, 
 Whose hand directs the stormy blast, 
 
 Or gilds the morning s ardent beam ; 
 
 II. 
 
 Who spake and from chaotic night 
 Unnumbered worlds and systems rose ; 
 
 Whose word is life ; whose presence, light, 
 Whose smiles are health, content, repose. 
 
 in. 
 
 Where dost thou dwell ? Thy throne how high ; 
 
 Where hast thou fixed thy dwelling place ? 
 Can finite wishes ever fly 
 
 E en to the footstool of thy grace ? 
 
 IV. 
 Oh, could I now ascend and stand 
 
 Upon the zenith of the globe, 
 And mark how round, on either hand, 
 
 The heavens enwrap it as a robe ; 
 
 V. 
 
 How orbs of pure empyrean light 
 Around the wondrous system roll ; 
 
 Revolving seasons day and night, 
 Visit each land from pole to pole. 
 
132 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 VI. 
 
 View the vast stores of hail and snow, 
 The region of the air contains ; 
 
 Trace whence the genial breezes blow, 
 Or whence descend refreshing rains ; 
 
 VII. 
 
 Could I ascend the orb of light, 
 
 That great, that wondrous type of thee, 
 
 And at one wide, extended sight 
 The unbounded universe could see. 
 
 VIII. 
 Where should I find thee ? Still above, 
 
 Bright clouds thy majesty enshrine, 
 Emitting rays of joy and love ; 
 
 Of joys eternal, love divine. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Where should I find thee ? Need I ask ? 
 
 Is there a shrub, a plant, a flower, 
 But makes its daily, hourly task, 
 
 To speak thy presence and thy power ? 
 
 x. 
 
 E en now when silence reigns around, 
 E en in this solemn hour of night, 
 
 Thy voice is heard ; and thou art found 
 In all thy works revealed to sight. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Ten thousand insects chant thy praise ; 
 
 Ten thousand worlds thy power declare ; 
 None from thine eye can hide his ways, 
 
 For thou art present everywhere. 
 
MUS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 133 
 
 XII. 
 
 Then teach the atom thou hast made 
 
 To trust and hope thy mercy still ; 
 To fear thy wrath, to seek thy aid, 
 
 To love thy laws and do thy will." Ibid., p. 55. 
 
 Mrs. Rowson had acquired in early life, and while 
 a governess in England, some knowledge of the 
 French and Latin languages, from the former of 
 which she made the translation or paraphrase of 
 the celebrated Marseillaise Hymn commencing 
 
 Columbia s sons awake to glory, 
 
 Your Guardian Genius bids you rise 
 
 which, with some alterations, has been adopted as 
 a national song in this country ; and from the latter, 
 she rendered into English metre the 10th eclogue of 
 Virgil and five of the odes of Horace. Her version 
 of the 23d ode of Horace, book in, is perhaps equal 
 in spirit to that of Francis and may serve as a fair 
 specimen of the whole. 
 
 CCELO SUPINAS SI TULERIS, ETC. 
 
 I. 
 
 Phidyle, simple, rustic dame, 
 
 If thou hast fanned the sacred flame, 
 
 Hast bade the smoke of incense rise, 
 
 Or raised thy hands toward the skies, 
 
 When the chaste queen of night, now born, 
 
 Faintly displays her silver horn : 
 
134 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 II. 
 
 If thou hast offered ripened grain, 
 But lately reaped from off the plain, 
 Hast offered fruits that might suffice, 
 To appease the household deities ; 
 Invoked their aid with rites divine, 
 And sacrificed a hungry swine : 
 
 in. 
 
 If with pure hands and heart sincere, 
 A conscience from offences clear; 
 Then shall thy prayers accepted be, 
 Thy flocks and fields from blight be free; 
 The gods thy industry shall bless, 
 And crown thy labors with success. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Let wealth and power be displayed. 
 By pompous gifts on altars laid ; 
 Even bread and salt if freely given, 
 Are more acceptable to heaven ; 
 And the best sacrifice assigned, 
 Is a pure heart and grateful mind. 
 
 lUd., p. 164. 
 
 The Little Sailor Boy, written for the author s 
 brother, William Haswell, and set to music was 
 a popular song in its day : 
 
 i. 
 
 The sea was calm, the sky serene, 
 And gently blew the western gale, 
 
 When Anna, seated on a cliff, 
 
 Watched the Lovina s lessening sail. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 135 
 
 To Heaven she thus her prayers addressed : 
 " Thou who canst save, or canst destroy. 
 
 From each surrounding danger guard, 
 My much loved little sailor boy. 
 
 II. 
 " When tempests o er the ocean howl, 
 
 And even sailors shrink with dread, 
 Be some protecting angel near 
 
 To hover round my William s head. 
 He was beloved by all the plain, 
 
 His father s pride, his mother s joy ; 
 Then safely to their arms restore, 
 
 Their much loved little sailor boy. 
 
 in. 
 
 " May no rude foe his course impede, 
 
 Conduct him safely o er the waves. 
 Oh may he never be compelled 
 
 To yield to power or mix with slaves. 
 May smiling peace his steps attend, 
 
 Each rising hour be crowned with joy, 
 As blest as that when I again, 
 
 Shall meet my much loved sailor boy." 
 Ibid., p. 210. 
 
 The song of the Independent Farmer trips away 
 in sprightly anapaestic measure, cleverly setting 
 forth the felicities of rural life : 
 
 i. 
 
 When the bonny gray morning just peeps from the skies, 
 And the lark mounting tunes her sweet lay, 
 
 With a mind unencumbered by care I arise, 
 My spirits light, airy, and gay. 
 
136 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 I take up my gun ; honest Tray, my good friend, 
 
 Wags his tail and jumps sportively round ; 
 To the woods then together our footsteps we bend, 
 
 Tis there health and pleasure are found. 
 I snuff the fresh air ; bid defiance to care, 
 
 As happy as mortal can be, 
 From the toils of the great, ambition and state, 
 
 ; Tis my pride and my boast to be free. 
 
 ii. 
 At noon I delighted to range o er the soil, 
 
 And nature s rough children regale ; 
 With a cup of good home-brewed I sweeten their toil, 
 
 And laugh at the joke or the tale. 
 And whether the ripe waving corn I behold, 
 
 Or the innocent flock meet my sight, 
 Or the orchard whose fruit is just turning to gold, 
 
 Still, still health and pleasure unite. 
 I snuff the fresh air, bid defiance to care, etc. 
 
 in. 
 
 At night to my lowly roofed cot I return, 
 
 When, Oh ! what new sources of bliss ; 
 My children rush out while their little hearts burn, 
 
 Each striving to gain the first kiss. 
 My Dolly appears with a smile on her face ; 
 
 Good humor presides at our board, 
 What more than health, plenty, good humor and peace, 
 
 Can the wealth of the Indies afford ? 
 I sink into rest with content in my breast, 
 
 As happy as mortal can be, 
 From the toils of the great, ambition and state, 
 
 Tis my pride and my boast to be free. 
 
 Ibid,, p. 193. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 137 
 
 Her masculine song of America, Commerce and 
 Freedom was sung, during the first quarter of this 
 century, all over the country. It is certainly too 
 boisterous for the pen of a lady ; but it must be 
 remembered that the author was the daughter of 
 a sailor, and had herself learned to navigate a ship. 
 
 i. 
 How blest the life a sailor leads, 
 
 From clime to clime still ranging, 
 For as the calm the storm succeeds, 
 
 The scene delights by changing. 
 When tempests howl along the main. 
 
 Some object will remind us, 
 And cheer with hopes to meet again, 
 
 Those friends we ve left behind us. 
 Then under snug sail, we laugh at the gale, 
 
 And though landsmen look pale, never heed em, 
 But tos s off a glass to a favorite lass, 
 
 To America, Commerce and Freedom. 
 
 II. 
 And when arrived in sight of land, 
 
 Or safe in port rejoicing, 
 Our ships we moor, our sails we hand, 
 
 Whilst out the boat is hoisting. 
 With eager haste, the shore we reach, 
 
 Our friends delighted greet us ; 
 And tripping lightly o er the beach, 
 
 The pretty lasses meet us. 
 When the full flowing bowl has enlivened the soul, 
 
 To foot it we merrily lead em, 
 And each bonny lass will drink off a glass, 
 
 To America, Commerce and Freedom. 
 18 
 
A MEMOIR OF 
 
 in. 
 Our cargo sold, the chink we share, 
 
 And gladly we receive it, 
 And if we meet a brother tar 
 
 Who wants, we freely give it. 
 No freeborn sailor yet had store, 
 
 But cheerfully would lend it, 
 And when tis gone, to sea for more, 
 
 We earn it but to spend it. 
 Then drink round my boys, tis the first of our joys, 
 
 To relieve the distressed, clothe and feed eni, 
 Tis a task which we share with the brave and the fair, 
 
 In this land of Commerce and Freedom. 
 
 Ibid., p. 201. 
 
 Truxton s Victory was for a while more popular 
 even than the two preceding songs. The spirit 
 of those stirring political times is finely portrayed, 
 and the story of our most important naval encounter 
 with France well told : 
 
 When Freedom, fair Freedom her banner displayed, 
 Defying each foe whom her rights would invade, 
 Columbia s brave sons swore their rights to maintain, 
 And o er ocean and earth to establish her reign. 
 United they cry, 
 While that standard shall fly, 
 Resolved, firm and steady, 
 We always are ready 
 To fight and to conquer j to conquer or die. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 139 
 
 II. 
 
 Though Glallia through Europe has rushed like a flood, 
 And deluged the earth with an ocean of blood ; 
 While by faction she s led, while she s governed by knaves, 
 We court not her smiles and we ll ne er be her slaves. 
 
 Her threats we defy, 
 
 While our standard shall fly, 
 
 Resolved, firm and steady, 
 
 We always are ready 
 To fight and to conquer ; to conquer or die. 
 
 in. 
 
 Though France with caprice, dares our statesmen upbraid, 
 A tribute demands, or sets bounds to our trade ; 
 From our young rising navy our thunders shall roar, 
 And our commerce extend to the earth s utmost shore. 
 Our cannon we ll ply, 
 While our standard shall fly, 
 Resolved, firm and steady, 
 We always are ready 
 To fight and to conquer; to conquer or die. 
 
 IV. 
 
 To know we re resolved, let them think on the hour, 
 When Truxton, 1 brave Truxton off Ne vis s shore, 
 His ship manned for battle, the standard unfurled, 
 And at the Insurgente defiance he hurled. 
 
 1 The action between the Constellation, 38 guns, Commodore 
 Thomas Truxton and the French frigate, L Insurgente, 40 guns 
 Capt. Barreault, took place off Nevis on the 9th of February, 1799. 
 After an hour s sharp engagement the enemy struck her colors, 
 having twenty-nine killed and forty-four wounded. We had 
 
140 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 And his valiant war cry, 
 While our standard shall fly, 
 Resolved, firm and steady, 
 We always are ready 
 To fight and to conquer ; to conquer or die. 
 
 v. 
 
 Each heart beat exulting, inspired by the cause, 
 They fought for their country, their freedom and laws ; 
 From their cannon loud volleys of vengeance they poured, 
 And the standard of France to Columbia was lowered. 
 
 Huzzah ! they now cry, 
 
 Let the eagle wave high, 
 
 Resolved, firm and steady 
 
 We always are ready 
 To fight and to conquer ; to conquer or die. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Then raise high the strain, pay the tribute that s due 
 To the fair Constellation and all her brave crew, 
 Be Truxton revered and his name be enrolled 
 Mongst the chiefs of the ocean, the heroes of old. 
 
 Each invader defy, 
 
 While such heroes are nigh, 
 
 Who always are ready, 
 
 Resolved, firm and steady 
 To fight and to conquer ; to conquer or die. 
 
 Ibid., p. 212. 
 
 Since our literature has been enriched by the 
 sweet and elevated strains of Amelia Welby, Hannah 
 
 only one man killed and two wounded. Commodore Truxton died 
 at Philadelphia, May 5, 1822, aged sixty-seven. See History of 
 the Navy of the U. 8. A., by J. P. Cooper, vol. i, p. 168. 
 
MBS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 141 
 
 F. Gould, Lydia H. Sigourney, Alice and Phoebe 
 Carey, Sarah Jane Lippincott, and other female 
 favorites of the muse, these poems of Mrs. Rowson 
 would hardly seem to merit the attention I have 
 bestowed on them; yet it must be borne in- mind 
 that they were written when the author of Ouabi 
 and Honora Martesia l were almost the only rivals of 
 her sex in the field ; and by a lady whose early edu 
 cation was often interrupted by the vicissitudes 
 of fortune ; whose associates were connected with 
 the army, navy and the stage ; whose domestic state 
 was far from beiug happy, and whose time was 
 mostly occupied in the ceaseless struggle for daily 
 bread. Reflecting, as they do, the spirit, taste, 
 and manners of an age immediately succeeding the 
 American revolution, they seem to be worthy of a 
 place in some small corner in the library of every 
 one interested in the early history and progress of 
 our literature. Though too often painting the 
 frailties of women, they, nevertheless, breathe sen 
 timents of ardent patriotism and of reverence for 
 religion and for God. Pier later poems, as her 
 later life, it will be seen, are more serious, elevated 
 and devotional. 
 
 1 The soubriquet of Mrs. John Murray. Her maiden name was 
 Judith Sargent. She was the sister of Governor Sargent of Missis 
 sippi, and died at Natchez, June 6th, 1820, aged sixty-nine years. 
 She sometimes wrote under the name of Constantia. 
 
142 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Et c est la bonte qu on clierit. 
 
 Voltaire. 
 
 In the spring of 1805, Mrs. Rowson received 
 the sad intelligence of the death of her beloved 
 father, who died at Newport, Wallinsgton, near 
 South Cave, Yorkshire, England, on the 26th of 
 February, at the age of seventy-three years. In 
 speaking of his decease the Boston Weekly Maga 
 zine says : " He married about the year 1769, for 
 his second wife, a New England lady, and bring 
 ing over an infant daughter settled near Boston, 
 and continued an inhabitant here until the third 
 year of the revolutionary war. He was a man 
 of integrity, and a gentleman, and has given four 
 valuable citizens to this commonwealth. His eldest 
 son, Captain Robert Has well is supposed lately 
 to have been lost on a voyage to the north-west 
 coast; his second son commands a vessel out of 
 this port ; his youngest son is a lieutenant in the 
 United States navy, and his only daughter, Mrs. 
 Susanna Rowson, is preceptress of the young ladies 
 academy in Newton." * 
 
 Sue Boston Weekly Magazine, August 31, 1805. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 143 
 
 Although Mrs. Rowson had as many as sixty 
 young ladies, thirty of whom resided in her family, 
 to instruct daily, she still found time this year to 
 prepare for the press an Abridgment of Universal 
 Geography* and History from the works of Guthrie, 
 "Walker and Morse. It contains the subject mat 
 ter of her instructions in these important branches 
 of education. She had been accustomed for seve 
 ral years to write out exercises for her pupils 
 to transcribe and commit to memory. These 
 lessons she carefully revised and gave to the press. 
 The work is well arranged and written in a lucid 
 
 O 
 
 and entertaining style. It proved to be of great 
 service in her own, as well as in other kindred 
 institutions. Had it appeared on good paper, and 
 had it contained, as the cotemporaneous works of 
 Morse and Parish, a series of illustrative maps 
 and charts, it would undoubtedly have had a far 
 more extensive circulation. Her excellent mode of 
 treating and teaching history, may be seen from the 
 closing page of the book: 
 
 " How were the United States governed after the 
 revolution ? 
 
 1 The title is : " An Abridgment of Universal Geography, together 
 with sketches of History. Designed for the use of schools and 
 academies in the United States. By Susanna Rowson. Boston : 
 Printed for John West, No. 75 Cornhill. David Carlisle, Printer, 
 
144 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 "By a congress, consisting of senators assisted 
 by representatives from each state ; but a constitu 
 tion hastily formed was not likely to be permanent, 
 and in 1789 it was thought necessary to new form 
 it when by the wisdom of those able statesmen who 
 undertook the arduous task, it was new modelled 
 and fixed on a solid and permanent foundation; 
 and as it was thought necessary that such a great 
 people should have a chief magistrate at the head 
 of their government, on the 3d of March, 1789, 
 George Washington, Esq., was chosen first presi 
 dent of the United States of America, by the una 
 nimous voice of more than three millions of 
 freemen. He filled this dignified station with 
 honor to himself, and satisfaction to the states, 
 till the year 1797, when he resigned the presidency, 
 and retired to the enjoyment of domestic peace in 
 the bosom of his family at Mount Vernon. In 
 1798, he accepted the appointment of commander- 
 in-chief of the American forces. Convinced that 
 the exigence of the times required his assistance, he 
 gave a noble proof that his own private happiness 
 was of but little value in his own estimation, when 
 put in competition with the public weal. But the 
 
 Cambridge street. 1805. 12mo, pp. 302." It is favorably re 
 viewed on page 304 of tlie Literary Miscellany, published at 
 Cambridge, 1806. 
 
MES. SUSANNA KOWSON. 145 
 
 days of his glory are past. In December, 1799, 
 this great and good man received his passport to 
 the regions of immortality. Alas, for Columbia ! 
 the shades of death rest upon him ; the silence of 
 the tomb surrounds him; but his pure spirit 
 rejoices in the regions of eternal day; and the 
 humblest child of genius may snatch a laurel to 
 save her labors from oblivion, while she twines a 
 wreath to consecrate his name. 
 
 i. 
 
 " Heroes have been renowned in ancient days, 
 And various poets have their praises sung; 
 And Scipio s, Caesar s, Alexander s praise 
 Known in all ages, told in every tongue. 
 
 II. 
 
 But o er these heroes fame some dusky shade, 
 Hangs to eclipse their virtues, else divine ; 
 
 But one whom vice, nor folly could mislead, 
 Ne er lived but once ; Columbia, he was thine. 
 
 in. 
 
 Envy stood mute, she could no blemish find, 
 And when translated to his native sky, 
 
 Fame linked with gratitude a wreath entwined, 
 Fair as his virtues which can never die." 
 
 Two years later Mrs. Rowson published, from 
 
 her own autograph transcriptions for her school, 
 19 
 
J46 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 a Spelling Dictionary divided into Short Lessons for 
 the easier committing to Memory by Children and 
 Young Persons. 7 1 The second edition, published 
 at Portland, by Isaac Adams, 1815, lies before 
 me. As most of the school books of that day, 
 it is printed with miserable type and ink on a 
 kind of coarse brown wrapping paper and bound 
 in boards. It contains one hundred and fifty-six 
 pages of words carefully divided into syllables and 
 defined; together with a concise account of the 
 heathen deifies at the close. In the advertisement 
 to this edition she says : " It has been rny study 
 for eighteen years to render the little talent with 
 which I have been entrusted beneficial to society ; 
 and I can truly say that the happiest moments of 
 my life have been those in which I have been em 
 ployed in the instruction of the young and unin 
 formed. Should it please God to continue my life 
 and indulge me with a moderate portion of health, 
 I hope in a short time to give unquestionable proofs 
 that the permanent good of the rising generation is 
 the object nearest my heart." 2 
 
 1 The collectors of early American school books consider this, as 
 indeed all of Mrs. Rowson s educational works, quite rare. A copy 
 of the original edition was sometime ago presented to the library 
 of Harvard College by the Hon. Charles Sumner. 
 
 2 Reference is here made to the Biblical Dialogues which she 
 was then preparing. See preface to the same, vol. i, p. 0. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 147 
 
 Mrs. Rowson ever held the pupils entrusted to 
 her care in affectionate remembrance, and continued 
 in correspondence with many of them to the end 
 of life. She delighted to learn of their prosperity 
 and generously befriended them in adversity. Her 
 letters to her pupils are models both in respect to 
 elegance of language and tenderness of sentiment. 
 Though far away from them, she was still their 
 teacher and every epistle a new lesson. Here is 
 one of them : 
 
 BOSTON, Jan. 8, 1808. 
 
 I know my dear M. you would hardly pardon me were I 
 to permit your sister to return without a line. She lias 
 made a long visit in Boston, and has gratified me by passing 
 a day or two here. I fear she has found our family very 
 dull after the frequent pleasurable parties she has mixed 
 with in town ; but if the time has seemed heavy to her, I 
 must feel the more obliged to her for affording me so much 
 of it. Your sister Myra is a very fine girl, and what is of 
 more consequence, a very good one. She has been embar 
 goed at school by a wise papa and has submitted without a 
 repining look or word. I do assure you she bids fair to 
 become a great favorite. 
 
 I understand that you are about to discard the name of 
 Montgomery and adopt another, which though not more 
 valued, is still dearer to the affections from the strong and 
 binding tie by which you will acquire it. I could write 
 volumes on this subject, but I should say nothing new; nor 
 anything but what your own good sense will naturally sug 
 gest. Allow me then simply to offer my best wishes for 
 your happiness and to say that to hear of, or to witness it 
 
148 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 will ever give me pleasure. When you visit Boston I hope 
 you will pass a little time with me. My respects attend 
 your mother and remembrances to all inquiring friends, and 
 
 believe me ever yours in sincerity, 
 
 S. ROWSON. 
 
 On the death of a sister of the above mentioned 
 lady, Miss Juliana Knox, who had been Mrs. Eow- 
 son s pupil, she wrote the following beautiful elegiac 
 lines : 
 
 i. 
 
 Peace to the heart that mourns, the eye that weeps, 
 The lovely maiden is not dead, but sleeps. 
 Where seraphs minister round Jehovah s throne, 
 Her unembodied, spotless soul has flown ; 
 And kindred angels tuned their golden lyres, 
 Their bosoms glowing with celestial fires, 
 To guide her through the doubtful, gloomy way, 
 Safe to the realms of everlasting day ; 
 Welcomed their sister to the house of rest. 
 The bright, eternal mansions of the blest, 
 There mixing with the bright celestial train, 
 Exulting she will join the adoring strain, 
 To Him who was, and is, 
 
 And shall forever reign. 
 
 II. 
 
 Oh mother ! most afflicted, sure if e er 
 Maternal love was Heaven s peculiar care. 
 Thy silent tears, thine agonizing sighs 
 Before the great Eternal will arise. 
 Cease then thy plaints, look up with faith, behold, 
 They in the magic volume are enrolled ; 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROW SON. 149 
 
 Registered in the awful court of Heaven, 
 
 Who only has recalled what it had given. 
 
 Religion, smiling as she marks the page 
 
 Cries, " Let this hope the mother s pangs assuage ; 
 
 Though the unspotted angels went before. 
 
 The hour will come when grief shall be no more ; 
 
 Then shalt thou see those much loved forms again, 1 
 
 And join with them in the adoring strain, 
 
 To Him who was, and is, 
 
 And shall forever reign." ~ 
 
 To another beloved pupil in sickness she tenderly 
 wrote : 
 
 My dear Hannah : 
 
 I have just received a present of some fresh oranges and 
 a box of guava. I send you a part of each and wish I could 
 as easily send you health and spirits ; but that both these 
 valuable gifts may speedily be enjoyed again by you is the 
 ardent desire of yours affectionately, 
 
 SUSANNA ROWSON. 
 
 ACROSTIC (to the same). 
 
 Have you not seen the eastern sky 
 
 Adorned with streaks of burnished gold, 
 
 Now breaking gorgeous to the eye, 
 
 Now with a sable cloud enrolled. 
 
 And ere the sun could dart his burning ray, 
 
 How vapors dank, obscured the face of day ? 
 
 1 Mrs. Knox lost four children in two years, two of whom were 
 grown up. 
 
 2 Miscellaneous Poems, p. 141. 
 
150 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 So joy oft gilds life s early scene, 
 When, ere fair reason s sun has power, 
 A sombre cloud will intervene, 
 Nor pleasure gild the prospect more. 
 
 Dear Hannah, may your morn as brightly shine, 
 And your meridian be 
 From those dank vapors free 
 Which overshadowed mine. 
 
 Ou the death of Miss Eliza Bradley, another 
 pupil, she wrote these touching lines : 
 
 i. 
 
 Fair as the lily of the vale, 
 
 As sweet, as fragrant and as frail, 
 
 The unoffending maid 
 Just oped her beauties to the day, 
 But ere twas noon she drooped away, 
 
 Born just to bloom and fade. 
 
 II. 
 
 If there s a heaven beyond the sky. 
 Where unpolluted spirits fly, 
 
 Her s surely found the road. 
 On seraph s wings pursued its way, 
 Left its frail tenement of clay, 
 
 And sought its parent God, 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROW80N. 151 
 
 The ensuing letter, written to Miss Louisa Bliss, 
 a favorite pupil, discloses the author s political views 
 and feelings at this eventful period : 
 
 BOSTON, Jan. 8, 1808. 
 
 Does not my dear Louisa accuse her friend of neglect ? 
 I must submit, though not actually guilty, for if my pen 
 was silent, my thoughts have frequently reverted to you and 
 often, very often do I speak of you. I enquire after you of 
 every one who comes from Haverhill and trifles become of 
 consequence if they concern Louisa Bliss. Mrs. Graupner 
 is highly gratified with your polite mention of her. She 
 begs me to present her respects to yourself and mother, and 
 to say that if ever her fortune leads her again your way, 
 she will certainly pay you a visit. What thinks your good 
 father of the present times ? Hard enough, no doubt ; and 
 so they are; nor is the present gloom of the political atmo 
 sphere half so alarming as the thick cloud which hovers in 
 the horizon of domestic peace, since for foreign war an 
 united nation may be prepared. And what foreign enemy 
 could cope with the unanimous power of so mighty a nation 
 as the American states ; were their commerce free and their 
 forests converted into towers of defence to protect that com 
 merce from insult and invasion; were our citizens all of one 
 mind ; were our statesmen wise and our lawgivers virtuous* 
 But say the opposite party, if the spirit of commerce is so 
 much encouraged, manufactures will languish and the handi 
 crafts be banished the land. And indeed in some measure 
 this is true ; but a country as young as this has never been 
 known to arrive at any high pitch of excellence in the arts, 
 whether social, or those of a higher class without the assist 
 ance of commerce. Few would be found in a situation able 
 sufficiently to reward the ingenious artificer. It is therefore 
 
152 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 our part, I humbly conceive, at present, to profit by the 
 great advantages an extensive commerce affords, and by de 
 grees the social arts will rise into estimation ; by degrees 
 they will rise into perfection, and future ages will in all 
 probability see new and as yet undiscovered countries re 
 ceiving the overplus of their manufactures coming to their 
 seaports as to chief marts for merchandize, when the now 
 imperial cities on the other side of the Atlantic, like Troy, 
 Carthage, Greece and Rome, are sunk into insignificance. 
 Nay, pass but a few centuries more and like Balbec, Pal 
 myra and Jerusalem, their places be only distinguished by 
 a heap of ruins. These reflections, my Louisa, should per- 
 haps lead us to be indifferent as to present circumstances, 
 since every sublunary scene so rapidly fades from our view; 
 but it has pleased the all wise Director of the universe to 
 implant in our minds a patriotic principle which vibrates 
 with delight in beholding, promoting or insuring the pro 
 sperity of our native land. For though I am by birth a 
 Briton, my heart always clings to dear America, arid it 
 would be with equal anxiety I should contemplate the misery 
 of either country. Power of all might, may the waves of 
 thy ocean ever be the bulwark of revered old England, and 
 may the good angels with peace dropping from their pinions 
 hover over beloved America. Defend us from civil discord 
 and let not her fertile plains be drenched with the blood of 
 her brave sons, slaughtered by each other. You will be 
 weary, my sweet young friend, with my serious political 
 letter, but old folks will write and talk of what is nearest 
 the heart ; and when they once begin they know not where 
 to stop. 
 
 Will you pardon me for not returning your flower pieces. 
 Miss Ann Montgomery and Miss Frances Price have been 
 copying them and have not quite finished them. I wish 
 I knew of anything I have that would return the favor of 
 
MRS. SUSANNA MOWSON. 153 
 
 having been allowed to keep them so long. If you can 
 think of anything, mention it freely and it will give me 
 pleasure to comply. Mr. Rowson joins me in most friendly 
 remembrances to your parents. Give Caroline a kiss for 
 me and teach your little sister to speak my name. Adieu, 
 beloved Louisa. Rest assured of the affection of your friend. 
 
 SUSAN ROWSON. 
 
 20 
 
154 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " We are bound to do benefits." Timon of Athens , Act I. 
 
 In the autumn of 1807 l Mrs. Rowson, in connec 
 tion with her sister-in-law, Mrs. Mary Cordis Has- 
 well, opened her school in "Washington street, near 
 Roxbury in a commodious building now known as 
 the Washington House ; employing Mr. Gotlieb 
 Graupner as teacher of music and Mr. George Shaf 
 fer as dancing master. 2 The superior merits of 
 the principal had now become well known through 
 out the whole country, and pupils from the north, 
 east, south, and west, continued to gather round 
 her to receive the living words of wisdom she so 
 gracefully imparted. Other female schools were 
 good, but hers was excellent; and happy was the 
 young lady of that day who had the means to enter 
 the old Washington House and mingle in the ani 
 mated throng that plied the busy needle, performed 
 the literary task, or learned the music lesson in its 
 pleasant halls and chambers. 3 
 
 1 Mr. Knapp says erroneously in 1810. 
 
 2 Old Doctor Shaffer, as they called him, was for a long time 
 known as second violin player in the Boston theatre. See Per 
 sonal Memoirs of J. T. Buckingham, vol. IT, p. 52, note. 
 
 3 Her annual exhibition subsequent to the transfer of her school 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROW SON. 155 
 
 Although generous by nature and educating 
 several young ladies at her own expense, Mrs. Row- 
 son made so much money by her seminary that in 
 December, 1809, Mr. Rowson, then a clerk in the 
 custom house, had the means to purchase of Elisha 
 Adams and John Foster, for the sum of $4,600, an 
 eligible estate on Hollis street, nearly opposite the 
 Hollis street church, where his wife established her 
 school in 1811, placing her tuition at $12 per quarter, 
 and where she continued her labors as a teacher until 
 compelled in 1822, regretfully to relinquish them 
 for that repose which her declining health and age 
 demanded. 
 
 Soon after opening her school on Hollis street 
 Mrs. Rowson published (1811) her Present for Young 
 Ladies, 1 containing poems, dialogues, etc., a little 
 book of borne two hundred pages, wherein many of 
 those pieces recited by her pupils with so much eclat 
 at her exhibitions, appeared. It proved of signal 
 service to the principals of other kindred institutions 
 and some of the dialogues are selected for the school 
 examination still. They very gracefully rebuke the 
 
 to the Washington House occurred Nov. 19, 1807. The tickets of 
 admission were fifty cents. The spring term of the next year be 
 gan on the llth of April. Mrs. Haswell and Messrs. Graupner and 
 Shaffer continuing with her. The annual exhibition took place at 
 the academy, November 10 ; the price of admission being the same. 
 Ante, p. 113, note. 
 
156 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 improprieties and frivolities of girlhood, and point 
 ingeniously to the rewards of virtue and obedience. 
 They also, as faithful mirrors, reflect the spirit, 
 order, life and animation of the author s school room. 
 
 DIALOGUE MARY AND LUCRETIA. 
 
 Mary. 
 
 Do stop, Miss Lucretia, pray why in such haste, 
 And where in the world are you running so fast ? 
 
 Lucretia. 
 
 Pray, Miss, don t detain me, I m going to school, 
 And our governess long has established a rule : 
 She who for three months the most neatly is dressed, 
 Comes the soonest to school, says her lesson the best, 
 Shall receive from her hand the reward of a book, 
 And what s more, a kind word, an affectionate look. 
 For ten weeks I ve been there e er the bell has struck nine, 
 And in one fortnight more the dear prize will be mine. 
 
 Mary. 
 
 Well dear, twas but eight a few minutes ago, 
 To stop just a moment, you ve time enough now. 
 What s the prize of a book ? such nonsensical stuff. 
 If I want new books aunt can give me enough. 
 I abominate reading, it makes one so dumpish. 
 And as to our governess ; la, she s so frumpish. 
 " Miss, do mind your work, do, child, sit upright. 
 Miss, your frock is unpinned ; dear, how badly you write." 
 Then if I am late she cries : " Miss how you stay; 
 I believe in my heart you love nothing but play." 
 Love play ! to be sure I do, so do you all, 
 Yes, it s truth ; the great misses as well as the small. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA EOWSON. 157 
 
 Some primitive miss may protest that she don t, 
 And you may believe, if you please, but I wont. 
 
 Lucretia. 
 
 Dear me, how you talk, child, I m really amazed ; 
 Such a parcel of stuff, I believe you are crazed. 
 Pray what do you think our dear friends would all do, 
 If all little girls were as giddy as you ? 
 I own 1 love play ; yes, none more admires it ; 
 Yet I cheerfully work when my dear aunt requires it. 
 I make all the linen for her and my brother ; 
 Indeed I should blush were they made by another. 
 To assist in the household concerns I arise 
 With the sun ; nay, I sometimes make puddings and pies, 
 See the sheets and the tablecloths kept in repair, 
 Help wash, rinse and starch when the weather is fair ; 
 For we heard my aunt say : " Who lead indolent lives 
 Are indifferent daughters and make wretched wives." 
 
 Mary. 
 
 Wives ! well, twere worth while to be married indeed, 
 Were one forced to do nothing but work, write and read. 
 Why, dear, when one s married the principal merit 
 Is dancing with elegance, betting with spirit, 
 At whist or at loo ; Mrs. Giddy makes light 
 If she only should lose fifty dollars a night, 
 And Miss Tattle told me a lady she knew 
 Made nothing of losing a hundred or two ; 
 And d ye think when I m married that I ll be confined, 
 At home to make pies, or the servants to mind ? 
 No, child, I shall marry to live at my ease, 
 Eat, drink, dance and dress, and do just as I please ; 
 But la, we re fine folks to be prating away 
 About marriage indeed, come, let s go to play. 
 
158 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 Lucretia. 
 
 Play ! no, my dear Mary, though I did not choose 
 To hasten to school, I should surely refuse, 
 To spend my time idly ; for I have to make 
 Full fifty new garments for charity s sake ; 
 For, dear, do you know many children there be, 
 As good, nay, perhaps who are better than we, 
 Without any home where to shelter their head, 
 Without clothes, without fire, sometimes without bread ? 
 
 Mary. 
 
 Dear me, is that true ? now indeed I m ashamed ; 
 But I hope I am not very much to be blamed ; 
 Though yesterday morning I gave half a dollar 
 To buy little Pompey a pretty new collar. 
 And had I but known some poor child as you say 
 Might be hungry, I would not have thrown it away ; 
 But, see here, the last week when my aunt was in town, 
 She gave me to keep for her sake this French crown. 
 She bade me be sure and not foolishly spend it ; 
 But I m certain she did not forbid me to lend it ; 
 T will buy them some linen, Lucretia, do take it, 
 You buy it, and though I hate work, I ll help make it. 
 
 Lucretia. 
 
 How good you are, Mary, I blush when I see 
 In virtue you rise thus superior to me. 
 The prize of true merit is surely your due ; 
 And certain I am if our governess knew 
 How much you deserved it, she d give it to you. 
 
 Mary. 
 
 No, no, it is yours for my merit is small, 
 And compared with Lucretia tis nothing at all. 
 My flippancy henceforth I ll strive to correct, 
 And to be like yourself, free from every defect. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 159 
 
 Lucretia. 
 
 And I thy benevolent spirit will join 
 To the little industrious spirit of mine, 
 To be good as I can I ll exert my best power. 
 
 Mary. 
 When I ve nothing to give, why I ll work for the poor. 
 
 Exeunt. 
 
 Aside from the arduous duties of the school room, 
 Mrs. Kowson found time to visit and console the 
 widow and the fatherless, to mingle in the brilliant 
 scenes of social life, and to furnish contributions 
 both in prose and poetry for the Boston press. 
 
 On the proclamation of peace at the close of the 
 war in 1815, her house on Hollis street was most 
 brilliantly illuminated with transparencies and ap 
 propriate mottoes; indicating the joy of her heart 
 at the reconciliation between the imperious mother 
 and her unconquerable daughter. Of her interest 
 in the dissemination of the gospel, her catholicity 
 of spirit and of her unwearied literary labor, the 
 ensuing letter to one of her early pupils, furnishes 
 pleasing evidence : 
 
 HOLLIS STREET, BOSTON, Aug. 11, 1816. 
 
 Dear Hannah : 
 
 I fear you think me very negligent, and in some degree 
 I plead guilty to the charge ; but perhaps you yourself have 
 
 Miss Hannah Swan, of Medford. 
 
160 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 experienced that what may be done at any time is perhaps 
 seldom done at all. This has been the case in regard to the 
 ode and hymn I promised to send you. I will thank you 
 to return the former as I have not another copy ; the latter 
 is much at your service. It was written for the first anni 
 versary of the Prayer Book and Tract Society, established 
 in Boston, for sending prayer books and religious tracts to 
 the new settlements in the district of Maine. Perhaps you 
 may think that we are laboring to disseminate the tracts of 
 the Episcopal church ; but that is not the chief aim. The 
 prayer book contains excellent extracts from the New Testa 
 ment, the Psalms, both in prose and verse, excellent prayers 
 for all occasions, and a very comprehensive, plain catechism. 
 These may be of service to assist the unenlightened and 
 ignorant; and though, my dear Hannah, there are some 
 tenets which I hold peculiarly sacred, yet I am no bigot to 
 any party, or sect. I am so sensible of my own blindness and 
 infirmity that I can only pray in the words of Pope : 
 
 " If I am right, assist me still, 
 In that best path to stray. 
 If I am wrong, oh ! teach me how 
 To find the better way." 
 
 I send you the life of Frey, the converted Jew, which you 
 will please to send to Mrs. Gilchrist when you have perused 
 it. I hope my dear Ann is better, and that you are all en 
 joying a desirable portion of health and spirits. My affec 
 tionate remembrance to my beloved friends, Susan, Peggy 
 and your dear self. Yours with esteem, 
 
 SUSANNA ROWSON. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 161 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Et, se sentant animee par V amour de son pays, elle se fit entendre 
 dans des vers pleins de charme. CORRINNE, Chapitre in. 
 
 Of the New England Galaxy, commenced in 1817, 
 Mrs. Eowson became, in the words of its editor, 1 
 " an acceptable and highly valued correspondent " ; 
 her contributions were chiefly of a religious and 
 devotional character 1 and usually signed with her 
 initials S. R. 2 In looking over the files of this ably 
 conducted journal, I find several communications 
 
 1 In an article in the Galaxy, February 6, 1818, the writer justly 
 says : Mrs. Rowson, author of Charlotte Temple and numerous 
 other works, much read and admired, is a writer of no ordinary 
 mind. To advance knowledge, excite virtue and cherish philan 
 thropy, have been her objects and her aim. With powers to make 
 herself distinguished, she has been content to be useful. If she 
 has lost any portion of that world of fame which was within her 
 reach, it has not been by reclining in idleness, or running after the 
 golden apples ; but in tarrying to cultivate the delicate flowers and 
 savory herbs in the garden of youthful intellect, in teaching that 
 the highest knowledge is goodness and the purest fame is virtue. 
 Her pen has never been employed but to give elevation to senti 
 ment, chastity to feeling, dignity to argument, and to make religion 
 lovely and alluring to the young and gay. Her muse of vigorous 
 wing and purest flame has been satfc*ifMl *" i.i~infr +im nrii o f 
 affection or the bier of friendship, in wreathing the garland for the 
 torn!) of the patriot and pouring her sweetest incense on the altar 
 ofaevofum. "Truly it may De said of her that she has written 
 
 41 No line which dying she could wish to blot." 
 
 2 See Personal Memoirs by J. T. Buckingham, vol. i, p. 83, where 
 an interesting sketch of Mrs. Rowson s life is given. 
 
 21 
 
362 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 under the well known signature, which are alike 
 creditable to the author s head and heart. The fol 
 lowing beautiful ode to the memory of John War 
 ren, M. D., appears in the issue of Feb. 13, 1818. 
 It was written at the request of the Grand Lodge 
 of Massachusetts and sung in Concert Hall immedi 
 ately after the oration by W. J. Bartlett, Esq : 
 
 RECITATIVE. 
 
 Be wreaths of glory for tlie hero s name ; 
 
 August his deeds and sacred be his fame ; 
 
 But flowers of rich perfume shall deck the grave 
 
 Of him who lived to succor and to save. 
 
 And Cassia s blossoms twine with Sharon s rose 
 
 Where our dear brother s relics now repose. 
 
 Air. 
 
 I. 
 
 Thy Memory, Warren, will ever be dear, 
 
 Whilst any the sense of thy virtue retains, 
 Fraternal affection with gratitude s tear, 
 
 Shall blend on the marble that shrouds thy remains. 
 For bright as the arch that through heaven extends, 
 
 Was the genius that flashed from thy luminous mind, 
 And soft as the dew on the dry earth descends, 
 
 Was the pity that led thee to succor mankind. 
 
 II. 
 
 How sweet was the voice that instructed our youth ! 
 
 What wisdom, what science that voice could impart, 
 How bright was that face where the radiance of truth, 
 
 Beamed over each feature, direct from the heart ! 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 163 
 
 Let sorrow each ensign of glory enshroud, 
 
 [When Sol is eclipsed we his presence deplore] 
 
 For sad is the hour, dark, sombre the cloud, 
 
 Warren s voice will he heard and his face seen no more. 
 
 in. 
 Then huild the fair cenotaph, true to each hlock, 
 
 That raises the column his fame to record, 
 And ! may that column of time bear the shock; 
 
 Upright as his actions, and firm as his word. 
 But where is the man on this sublunar ball, 
 
 The jewels of honor so worthy to wear ? 
 Since our brother obeyed the Great Architect s call, 
 
 And the bright gem of Hope is bedimmed with a tear. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 Who shall, sweet Hope, on thee rely, 
 Who lift the full confiding eye, 
 Who, resting on thy promise, die, 
 
 If not the just?- 
 
 Freed from a world of care and pain, 
 His body shall in rest remain, 
 Till the Great Master s voice again, 
 
 Shall animate his dust. 
 
 FULL CHORUS. 
 See Religion s sacred ray 
 Chase the cloud of grief away, 
 While welcomed by the eternal eye 
 Our Warren s spirit mounts the sky. 
 
 S. R. 
 
 In the issue of May 15, of the same year, appears 
 scriptural piece, which, as it is believed to be the 
 
164 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 only one of the kind which Mrs. Rowson wrote, and 
 possesses considerable poetic merit, I venture to 
 transcribe. It is entitled 
 
 THE WEDDING SUPPER. [Matt. 22.] 
 
 i. 
 
 The marriage supper was prepared ; 
 
 The king invited many a guest ; 
 Nor Jew, nor Pagan was forbade 
 
 To enter and partake the feast. 
 
 II. 
 
 The king provided wedding robes 
 
 Which all who asked, might have to wear. 
 
 The hour arrived ; the supper served, 
 But no invited guest was there. 
 
 in. 
 
 " Go," said the king, " through streets and lanes, 
 And see who wants refreshment most. 
 
 Bid them come in ; I should be grieved 
 If this my wedding feast were lost. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Press them to come ; they need not mind 
 How mean and poor their garments are, 
 
 I shall for all who willing come 
 A spotless wedding robe prepare." 
 
 v. 
 
 Now from all parts, the sick, the lame, 
 
 Dressed in new garments thronged the board, 
 
 Bounteous their fare and light their hearts ; 
 Gracious their condescending Lord. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 165 
 
 VI. 
 
 But one there was who full of self, 
 Too proud the Prince s robe to wear, 
 
 Thought his own garments good enough : 
 " Friend," said the prince, " how earnest thou here ? 
 
 VII. 
 " Didst thou not know that every guest 
 
 Should in a wedding garment shine ? 
 Thou mightst have had one hadst thou asked 
 
 Without the least expense of thine." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Aghast he stood, for he had thought 
 By outward garments decked with pride 
 
 From the king s penetrating eye, 
 His inward filth and rags to hide. 
 
 IX. 
 
 11 Go, bear him forth ! " ! gracious Lord, 
 
 Thy sentence dare I not repeat, 
 I feel like him I want the robe 
 
 When at the board I take my seat. 
 
 x. 
 
 Naked, a beggar here I come, 
 
 To crave admission to thy feast ; 
 Clothe me in thy own righteousness 
 
 And I shall be a welcome guest. 
 
 8. E. 
 
 In the number for June 19th, I find a hymn com 
 bining strength and beauty and which seems worthy 
 of a place in our collections of psalmody : 
 
166 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 THE MIGHTY LORD. 
 
 i. 
 
 Who that beholds the billows rise 
 In foaming mountains to the skies, 
 Or marks the ship in safety brave 
 Their fury and surmount the wave, 
 Or views them late in terrors drest, 
 Sinking in murmurs soft to rest, 
 And doubts but there s a mighty Lord 
 Who rules the ocean by his word ! 
 
 ii. 
 
 Ah ! who can see the glorious sun 
 
 His daily race of splendor run ; 
 
 Or trace the planets in their spheres, 
 
 In which they ve rolled for thousand years 
 
 See man, chief wonder of the whole 
 
 With power of speech and reasoning soul ; 
 
 And doubt but there s a mighty Lord 
 
 Who rules creation by his word ! 
 
 in. 
 
 Who that observeth genial spring, 
 Its yearly wreaths and blossoms bring, 
 Or summer bland with tempered heat, 
 Laden with sheaves of golden wheat ; 
 Or gather in rich autumn s spoil 
 Of corn and fruit and wine and oil, 
 And doubt but there s a mighty Lord 
 Who feeds his creatures by his word ! 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 167 
 
 IV. 
 
 Yes ! mighty Lord, thou God alone, 
 Who in the person of thy son, 
 Twixt wrath divine in mercy stood, 
 And ransomed sinners with thy blood, 
 Ah ! who can know such boundless love, 
 And not thy faithful servant prove, 
 Or feel they want such wondrous grace 
 
 But in the dust must hide their face ? 
 
 S. R. 
 
 For the 4th of July of that year, Mrs. Eowson 
 wrote a stirring, patriotic ode which was raptur 
 ously sung to an air composed by Dr. Samuel Ar 
 nold, author of that of Anacreon in Heaven, or the 
 Star Spangled Banner. 
 
 Strike, strike the chord, raise, raise the strain, 
 Let joy reecho round each plain, 
 
 Your banners be unfurled ; 
 Hail, hail the day, when deathless fame 
 Gave to Columbia rank and name 
 Amid the astonished world. 
 
 The muses match their lyres sublime, 
 
 To publish Jove s decree, 
 Columbia to the end of time, 
 Shall nourish great and free. 
 
 II. 
 
 Hail, hail the day when hand in hand, 
 Patriots and heroes, glorious band, 
 
168 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 Breathed forth a solemn vow, 
 Freedom to purchase, or to die, 
 While Jove s own bird with naming eye 
 Perched on their chieftain s brow. 
 Bellona s martial clarions sound, 
 
 To publish Jove s decree, 
 Columbia shall to-day be crowned, 
 A nation great and free. 
 
 in. 
 
 Hark, hark, the woodlands catch the strain, 
 Pan and his sylvans beat the plain, 
 
 In wild, fantastic round, 
 While from the rustic grots and bowers, 
 The virgin train fling odorous flowers, 
 And cheerful rebecks sound. 
 
 Chaste Dian s nymphs with tuneful horn, 
 
 lleecho Jove s decree. 
 A nation has this day been born : 
 Columbia, great and free. 
 
 IV. 
 
 O er her primeval martyrs grave 
 Let freedom s banners proudly wave : 
 
 Immortal be their names. 
 Sound, sound the charge, let cannon roar 
 From hill to hill, from shore to shore, 
 To celebrate their fame. 
 
 Old Neptune bids his tritons sound 
 
 Jove s mandate o er the sea ; 
 Columbia must e en here be crowned 
 Victorious, great and free. 
 
MRS, SUSANNA ROWSON. 169 
 
 CHAPTER X7II. 
 
 "But the greatest of these is charity." ST. PAUL, 
 
 Among those branches of learning which Mrs. 
 Rowson loved to teach, geography was perhaps the 
 most conspicuous. Her organ of locality, as the phre 
 nologist would say, was prominent, and led her to 
 associate events with places. Her lively imagina 
 tion delighted to explore the distant regions of the 
 globe, to traverse the seas, to climb the mountains, 
 examine the natural curiosities, and mark the man 
 ners of the people. With her fine descriptive 
 powers, she presented the results of her own re 
 searches vividly to her pupils. Mastering herself 
 the science, and throwing her own enkindling spirit 
 into it, she taught it with ever fresh delight, and her 
 scholars found it, not that dry and barren field which 
 modern systems and inferior teachers render it, 
 but a delightful garden teeming with rarest flowers 
 and golden fruits. One of her methods of teaching 
 this charming study was to make an occasional tour 
 with her pupils, noticing things remarkable as they 
 went, entirely round the globe. These entertaining 
 voyages she prepared for the press in 1818, and 
 
170 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 published them under the title of Youth s First Steps 
 in Geography, being a series of exercises making the 
 tour of the habitable globe. The style is clear as 
 crystal ; the subject matter admirably selected and 
 arranged, so as to engage the attention to the end. 
 The method is sensible, and still, to some extent, 
 prevails. } 
 
 The advertisement of the school for the spring 
 term of 1819, indicates the studies then pursued. 
 Music and dancing, owing perhaps to the teacher s 
 declining years, are no longer introduced. 
 
 " Mrs. Rowson s academy, Hollis street, near the meeting 
 house. Mrs. Rowson begs leave to inform her friends and 
 the public in general that her spring term commences on 
 Monday the 5th of April next. Terms of admission are, 
 for reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, geo 
 graphy, composition, plain work, marking, etc., etc., per quar 
 ter, $8. Any or all the above, together with painting 
 landscapes, figures and flowers, embroidery and print work, 
 $12. Use of books, pens and ink, fifty cents. Children 
 under eight years of age, $6. Two young ladies can be 
 admitted to board in the family. A young lady who has 
 been studying sometime with Mrs. Rowson, wishes a situa 
 tion as an assistant in an academy." l 
 
 In the autumn of 1820, Mrs. Rowson wrote an 
 ode remarkable for elevation, tenderness and beauty 
 of thought and diction, for the anniversary of the 
 
 ] Sec New England Galaxy, April 2, 1819. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 171 
 
 Fatherless and Widow s Society, 1 of which she 
 herself was the honored president. The music 
 was composed by her friend, Mr. John Bray. 2 The 
 meeting took place in Boylston Hall, Oct. 11, when 
 after an eloquent oration by Edward Everett, the 
 Handel and Haydn Society sang with fine effect the 
 original piece prepared by the best talent then in 
 Boston for the occasion. The ode is appropriately 
 entitled : 
 
 CHARITY. 
 
 Recitative. 
 
 Touch the soft chord, the tuneful notes prolong, 
 To Heaven-born Charity we raise the song. 
 Oh ! white-robed seraph, quit the realms above, 
 Led by thy sisters, Faith and Heavenly Love. 
 Teach us such aid and comfort to impart, 
 As soothes the suffering, heals the broken heart; 
 
 1 The Boston Fatherless and Widow s Society was instituted in 
 1817, and incorporated in 1837. Its noble and praiseworthy de 
 sign is to search out objects of charity and to assist them with 
 fuel, garments and stores. Old and infirm widows and very young 
 children are the first to receive attention. The first president was 
 Mrs. Sophia O. Lincoln. Mrs. Rowson was the second, or third. 
 She was also a life member, and most earnestly devoted her time, 
 talents, and money to the promotion of its growth and efficiency. 
 By sweet experience she realized that " it is more blessed to give 
 than to receive." The number of members in 1820, was three 
 hundred and eighty-one. The society is still accomplishing an in 
 calculable amount of good under the presidency of Mrs. James F. 
 Baldwin. 
 
 2 Mr. John Bray, comedian and composer, was born in Leeds, 
 England, June 19, 1782, and was bred a merchant. Becoming 
 
172 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 And may our souls iu grateful thanks arise 
 Like incense at the hour of sacrifice. 
 
 Air. 
 
 The brightest of gems is humanity s tear, 
 The heart s purest offering is brotherly love, 
 
 And the hand which dispenses its benefits here, 
 Lays up a rich treasure in mansions above. 
 
 II. 
 
 Sarepta s lorn widow, though famine was near, 
 Yet shared with the prophet her last poor regale, 
 
 For she trusted the voice of the heaven-taught seer, 
 
 That her oil should not waste, that her meal should not fail. 
 
 in. 
 
 The poor widow s mite in the treasury cast, 
 
 Was more than high gifts from the Pharisee s hoard, 
 
 She cast it in cheerfully, though twas her last, 
 
 And obtained, blessed meed, the applause of her Lord. 
 
 interested in private theatricals, he was finally induced to try his 
 fortune on the stage. He came to this country with a corps of 
 theatrical performers under Warren, in 1805, married Miss Sarah 
 Sophia Hunt of Philadelphia, in 1808, and settled in Boston, 1815, 
 where he was long known as a favorite comic actor and skillful 
 composer. He understood both French and Latin, and translated 
 Who Pays the Piper and other plays from the former language 
 into English, for the stage. He is the author of the Toothache, 
 a farce ; the Astrologer, the Simpleton, Child of the Mountain, etc. 
 He was a good performer on the piano, and among his most merito- 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 173 
 
 Recitative. 
 
 For he hath said whose word unchanged remains, 
 Who for my sake shall set the prisoner free, 
 
 Who clothes the naked, soothes the sufferer s pains, 
 
 At my right hand eternal life obtains ; 
 
 For what was done for them was done for me. 
 
 Air. 
 
 I. 
 
 Ye daughters of affluence open your stores, 
 Tis the widow entreats ; tis the orphan implores. 
 The husband, the father lies cold in the grave; 
 But your pity may comfort, your charity save. 
 
 II. 
 
 And when the storm rages, the piercing wind blows ; 
 And when on your pillows you seek for repose; 
 The angel of mercy that reigns in your breast 
 With sweet recollection shall lull you to rest. 
 
 rious musical compositions may be mentioned, Ode on Washington, 
 Glory of Columbia, Maid of the Mill, The Rose, Hunter of the Alps, 
 and Child of Mortality, to words by Mrs. Rowson, in 1821. On 
 entering the hall of the Handel and Haydn Society (of which he 
 was a member) just previous to his final departure for Europe, that 
 body rose to receive him, and performed with great effect his Child 
 of Mortality in testimony of its admiration of his genius. It was 
 his requiem. Repairing to Leeds, his native place, for health, he 
 died there on his birthday, June 19, 1822, and his fine musical 
 library was accidentally destroyed. His death is noticed kindly in 
 the Christian Register for August 9, 1822. The names of his child 
 ren are : 1, John Francis ; 2, Emma Sophia ; 3, Frances Anne ; 4, 
 Henry; 5, Charles, m. Miss Eliza Davenport, and is a merchant, 
 145 Milk street, Boston ; 6, Edgar ; 7, Edwin. 
 
174 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 Trio. 
 
 Hail ! hail ! sweet cherub Charity, 
 
 Thou first of virtues, hail ! 
 For thou canst blend in misery s cup, 
 The balmy, cheering cordial, Hope, 
 When other comforts fail. 
 
 And thou, meek-eyed Humility 
 
 Instruct us all to own 
 
 Our noblest efforts weak must be, 
 
 And we re deficient when the best is done. 
 
 Full Chorus. 
 
 Great God of love and light and day 
 We humbly here our offering lay, 
 
 Before the footstool of thy throne. 
 All that we have, Lord is thine, 
 And should we all to thee resign 
 
 We only render back thy own. 
 To soothe and mitigate distress 
 
 make us ever free. 
 And may our hearts in holiness, 
 
 The glory give to thee. 1 
 
 In the New England Galaxy for December 22, 1820, 
 we are informed that " The following song by Mrs. 
 
 1 For this fine poem and the celebration, see the Centinel of that 
 day. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 175 
 
 Rowson, set to music by Mr. John Bray, was sung 
 at the Oratorio on Tuesday evening (Dec. 19), by 
 Master Ayling, a lad of about twelve years of age." 
 
 i. 
 When the cloud has passed away 
 
 The sacred bow adorns the sky ; 
 And rich on every flower and spray, 
 
 Hang sparkling gems of varied dye. 
 
 II. 
 
 Then gazing on the blue serene, 
 
 The soul elated soars above, 
 Beholds the Author in the scene, 
 
 Soothed into peace and holy love. 
 
 in. 
 
 Dying, fading in the west, 
 
 Lost is the sun s declining beam ; 
 
 While from the east in splendor drest, 
 The moon pours radiance on the stream. 
 
 IV. 
 
 And gentle zephyrs, sportive, light, 
 
 Just sighing, whisp ring, through the grove, 
 
 Put each unhallowed thought to flight, 
 And soothe to peace and holy love. 
 
 The most celebrated sacred lyrical composition 
 of this lady, however, is her Child of Mortality writ 
 ten, also, for an anthem, by Mr. John Bray. It 
 
176 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 were not easy to find, I think, in the whole range 
 of devotional poetry, so many weighty thoughts 
 compressed into a form so solid and compact, and 
 at the same time clothed in language so vivacious 
 and dramatic. The theme is one, the unity is per 
 fect; the origin of man, his mortal life, his 
 resurrection, the way to heavenly rest, the pleasures 
 that await him there and the ascription of the praise 
 to God, are all logically welded together and 
 cemented in the glowing imagination of the author, 
 who thus in four brief stanzas presents, as it were, 
 the very sum and substance of the glorious doctrines 
 of Christianity. It is delightful to see this noble 
 woman s muse, as the shadows of evening begin to 
 fall, assuming a loftier flight and fondly anticipat 
 ing the brightness of the celestial morning. 
 
 CHILD or MORTALITY. 1 
 
 [By SUSANNA ROWSON. Set to music by John Bray.] 
 
 I. 
 
 Child of mortality, whence dost thou come ? 
 From the dark womb of earth 
 I first derived my birth, 
 And when the word goes forth, 
 That is my home. 
 
 1 for the words and music, see the Modern Harp, by Edward L. 
 White and John E. Gould, p. 303. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 177 
 
 II. 
 
 Child of a transient day, there shalt thou rest ? 
 No ! when this dream is o er, 
 Then the freed soul will soar 
 To where sorrow comes no more ; 
 Realms of the blest. 
 
 ill. 
 
 Heir of eternity, teach me the road. 
 Trust a Redeemer s love ; 
 Faith by obedience prove ; 
 And share in courts above 
 Christ s own abode. 
 
 IV. 
 
 There in etherial plains, 
 Join the angelic strains ; 
 Jesus forever reigns ; 
 G-lory to God. 
 
 23 
 
178 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 " She possessed an exact and accurate knowledge of the scrip 
 tures, and had committed to memory most of the striking passages 
 in them." HANNAH MORE, Hints, p. 18. 
 
 In the spring of 1822, Mrs. Rowson, finding her 
 self in impaired health and the infirmities of age 
 increasing, committed her beloved school into the 
 hands of her adopted daughter, Miss Fanny M. 
 Mills, 1 and her niece, Miss Susan K. Johnston, 
 both of whom she had educated in her family ; and 
 devoted her remaining days and strength to the 
 completion of her literary undertakings. Her last 
 advertisement is characteristic, evincing alike her 
 
 1 She was the daughter of Mr. John Mills, of England, who was 
 educated as a lawyer, but left his profession for the stage. He 
 was a man of genius, a scholar and a poet, and obtained considera 
 ble reputation as an actor. His daughter was placed when about 
 six years old, at Mrs. Rowson s academy, who, on the death of Mr. 
 Mills, adopted her and educated her as her own daughter. Her 
 generosity was well repaid in the rapid progress Miss Mills made 
 in the useful and elegant branches of education, and in the affec 
 tionate regard she ever bore towards her benefactress. Miss Mills 
 married for her first husband, Mr. George Lord, a merchant of 
 Boston, by whom she had Georgiana, who married Mr. Hall of 
 New York, and then Dr. Richard S. Spofford, of Newburyport, by 
 whom she has Richard S., who married the talented Miss Harriet 
 Prescott, and now resides in Newburyport. The fortunes of the 
 Mills family are, to some extent, given in the novel entitled Aunt 
 Margaret s Secret. 
 
MRS, SUSANNA ROWSON. 179 
 
 sense of declining years and a grateful apprecia 
 tion of the patronage she had so long received. It 
 appears in the Centinel for April 3d, 1822 : 
 
 " Young Ladies Academy, Hollis street. Mrs. Rowson, 
 grateful for the patronage she has enjoyed from the inhabit 
 ants of the state of Massachusetts and particularly of Boston, 
 and vicinity, during nearly twenty-five years, while she has 
 been occupied in the instruction of female youth, begs leave 
 thus publicly to make her heartfelt acknowledgments. Ad 
 vanced into the vale of years and infirm in health, she must, 
 however painful to her feelings, relinquish her duties in the 
 school, and presumes to solicit that the same kindness and 
 patronage may be extended to her adopted daughter, Miss 
 Mills, and her niece, Miss Johnston, both having received 
 their education in her family, the former for twelve years 
 past, and the latter nearly three. Mrs. Rowson pledges 
 herself that their qualifications, tempers and principles are 
 such as she shall ever feel a pride in having formed, and 
 such as the trusts will ever be honored with the perfect 
 confidence of those parents who may entrust their children 
 to their care. Miss Mills and Miss Johnston propose to 
 commence the school on Monday, April 15th. Mrs. Row- 
 son will always attend to the composition herself. She 
 also begs leave to mention that she shall be happy to accom 
 modate two or three young ladies with board at a very 
 moderate rate ; where they may, if the parents wish it, be 
 attended with a music instructor. An excellent piano-forte 
 is in the house, of which they can have the use for $2 per 
 quarter. Every attention will be paid by Mrs. Rowson to 
 the comfort, health and manners of the young ladies com 
 mitted to her care." 
 
180 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 It had been the invariable custom of this eminent 
 teacher to make the Bible a text book in her school, and 
 to explain with sedulous care its sacred pages to her 
 pupils. She resolved, if possible, to lead them to 
 appreciate its excellence and to impress its solemn 
 sanctions on their ductile minds. To this end she 
 not only read and interpreted the precious volume, 
 but actually committed to writing for them, a con 
 tinuous history of the most remarkable incidents 
 and events therein related. This elaborate work 
 which must have cost her years of study and re 
 search, she committed to the press in February, 
 1822. It is written in the form of a colloquy be 
 tween Mr. and Mrs. Alworth and their children, and 
 bears the following title : 
 
 Biblical Dialogues between a Father and his Family : 
 Comprising Sacred History from the Creation to the 
 Death of our Saviour Christ. The Lives of the Apostles 
 and the Promulgation of the Gospel ; with a Sketch of 
 the History of the Church down to the Reformation. 
 The whole carried on in conjunction with Profane His 
 tory. In two volumes. By Susanna Eowson. 1 
 
 1 Boston : Richardson & Lord, 1822, pp. 416 and 395. This is 
 the dedication : " To the Right Rev. Alexander V. Griswold, D.U., 
 Bishop of the Eastern Diocese, whose learning, piety and Christian 
 urbanity have rendered him universally beloved and respected, this 
 work is inscribed with sentiments of the highest deference, venera 
 tion and esteem by the author. 
 
 SUSANNA ROWSON. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 181 
 
 With admirable tact and skill, she brings by the 
 aid of the writings of the learned Prideaux, Poole, 
 Stackhouse, Schuckford and Calmet, the light of 
 profane, to illumine the obscure passages of sacred 
 history, and ably meets the cavils and objections of 
 the infidel. Taking her listeners gently by the 
 hand, she leads them pleasantly along through the 
 labyrinths of biblical history; always telling the 
 " good old story" gracefully, and sustaining her 
 narrative by apt and appropriate references to geo 
 graphy and chronology. Her style is easy, flow 
 ing, natural ; her language, elevated, as the subject 
 justly claims. In her preface she gives this interest 
 ing account of her own personal experience in study 
 ing and teaching Holy Writ. 
 
 " To trace all moral and religious truth up to its 
 divine source, it is necessary that children should 
 be taught, not only to read, but to understand the 
 Bible. To teach them to read it was an easy task ; 
 but to make them understand it, associate ideas, to 
 connect the events related, the persons mentioned, 
 the places where those events happened and where 
 those persons lived with the same events, persons 
 and places mentioned in profane history, was an 
 herculean labor. I perfectly remembered the time 
 when to my own uninformed mind the world of the 
 Bible and the world of which I felt myself an in- 
 
182 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 habitant were two distinct worlds. As I advanced 
 in life, a naturally inquiring disposition, assisted by 
 some learned and judicious friends and an insatiable 
 love of reading, began to open my understanding; 
 and though I could not comprehend the highly 
 figurative language of the prophets, or more sub 
 lime parts of the inspired writings, yet I began to 
 perceive the connection between the Old and New 
 Testaments, and in a slight degree between sacred 
 and profane history, and as I happily had a step 
 mother (a New England lady) who whenever I did 
 wrong made me judge of the rectitude of the action 
 by referring me to the commandments delivered 
 from Sinai, or our Lord s sermon on the mount, I 
 was early accustomed to make the Bible my study 
 and guide. When I became engaged in the mo 
 mentous business of instructing females of the rising 
 generation, whose future conduct as wives and 
 mothers was to stamp the moral and religious cha 
 racter and ensure in a great measure the virtue and 
 consequent happiness of another age, I could not 
 but feel the great responsibility of the undertaking. 
 My whole soul was engaged in my duties ; my 
 pupils became to me as my children, and few things 
 were of consequence to me that did not contribute 
 to their improvement, their present and eternal 
 happiness. The Bible was read in classes, always 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 183 
 
 once, and sometimes twice a week ; bat some read 
 with perfect indifference, some, though they ap 
 peared to wish to understand, were confused and 
 bewildered in their ideas, and if any time I wished 
 to render it plain to their unsophisticated minds, I 
 felt my own inefficiency so powerfully that I had 
 almost despaired of success, when chance threw in 
 my way Camp s Dialogues on the Faculties of the Soul, 
 and the History of Cortez and Pizarro, by the same 
 author, in conversations between a father and his 
 children. I introduced these books into my school, 
 and found that the children became interested in 
 the recitals and read them with avidity. The 
 thought then struck me that if something of the 
 same kind could be produced from the history of 
 the Bible it might be of infinite benefit to the young, 
 the ignorant or weak minded, who having neither 
 time nor perseverance to investigate, nor judgment 
 to discriminate, were easily led astray by the cavils 
 of affected philosophy, or the jeering taunts of ridi 
 cule/ 
 
 A single extract from the body of the work will 
 serve as a specimen of the felicitous manner in 
 which the whole is executed. 
 
184 A MEMOIR Of 
 
 THE EXTENT or THE DELUGE. THE WORLD NOT 
 FORMED BY CHANCE. 
 
 James. Do you think, sir, the effects of this deluge were 
 felt equally in every part of the globe ; that the whole earth 
 was inundated ? 
 
 Father. There is no doubt of it : inquire of the inhabit 
 ants of every climate ; we shall find that the fame of the 
 deluge has gone through the whole earth. Every nation 
 has some record or tradition of it. The Indians in America 
 acknowledge and speak of it in various parts of the continent. 
 The Chinese, who are the most distant people in Asia, have 
 a tradition concerning it. The natives of Africa tell various 
 stories of its effects ; and in the European parts there is a 
 tradition of a flood which agrees with the account of the 
 flood given by Moses ; only a little disguised by fable ; 
 which in a greater or less degree pervades all the early 
 histories of the heathen or pagan writers. Moses assures us 
 that the waters prevailed fifteen cubits above the tops of the 
 highest mountains; and the mountains existing at this day 
 in every quarter of the globe, are a sufficient testimony to 
 the truth of the assertion. The Alps, the Apennines, the 
 Pyrenees, the Andes, Atlas and Ararat, every mountain in 
 every region from Japan to Mexico, contains in its bowels 
 the spoils of the ocean ; beds of shells, petrified bones, teeth 
 of fish and sea monsters of every kind. The whole universe 
 affords incontestible evidence of the fact. Skeletons of ani 
 mals are found in countries where that kind of animal has 
 never been known to exist ; crocodiles in the heart of Ger 
 many, and what is more, trees and plants of various kinds 
 have been thus preserved in the centre of the earth, which 
 are not now known to grow in any region under heaven. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 185 
 
 Charles. What folly then it is for people to say that the 
 world was made by chance. Could chance do this ? 
 
 Father. Folly indeed ; its folly can only be exceeded by 
 its wickedness. When you behold the course of a ship upon 
 the water, do you not conclude that it is directed by art ? 
 Were the noblest ship launched upon the ocean and left to 
 chance, would it not become the sport of the waves and 
 wind ; and having been tossed about in every contrary direc 
 tion be at length dashed upon the rocks, or engulfed in the 
 unfathomable abyss of the waters ? Can you contemplate a 
 clock or watch and not acknowledge that it is the work of a 
 skillful artist ? It points the hour, it strikes the number 
 upon the bell and performs many other extraordinary things ; 
 but omit to wind it up at the appointed time ; it is still, it 
 is silent, it is useless. Would you not pronounce that man 
 stupid and devoid of reason who should assert that this 
 wonderful little machine was formed by chance, went by 
 chance, that it stopped by chance, and by chance may go 
 again ? 
 
 Horatio. Sir, no one but a perfect idiot could make such 
 an assertion. 
 
 Father. How much more stupid is it then for any one 
 to assert and endeavor to persuade others that this most 
 beautiful world, those glorious planets which roll above us, 
 and which for nearly six thousand years have performed 
 their allotted course uniformly in the appointed period, 
 could have been formed by chance ? He might as well 
 assert that if innumerable figures of the four and twenty 
 letters which form the alphabet were casually thrown from 
 some high place upon the ground, they would fall so dis 
 posed and arranged as to form a complete dictionary, ency 
 clopedia, or any other book ; whereas it would be a very 
 great wonder if even one small connected sentence could 
 be found in the whole confused mass. If chance formed 
 24 
 
186 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 the world, why has it not somewhere or other formed upon 
 the earth a temple, a house, or a city ? Yet this is so far 
 from ever having been the case, that should a man be cast 
 upon a desolate island, and find there a building of any 
 kind, however rude, it would never enter his head that it 
 came there by chance ; that it was produced by an earth 
 quake or had stood there from the first construction of the 
 world. No ; he would conclude that some intelligent being 
 had been there and that the building was the effect of his 
 labor and skill. Or should he find there but one sheet of 
 paper with writing on it containing sense and elegance of 
 diction ; do you suppose he would think it had been pro 
 duced by the dashes of an unguided pen, or the rude scat 
 tering of ink upon the paper ? No, my children, you are 
 convinced that no man in his senses could be so absurd. 
 He would not only conclude that some man, but that a man 
 who had received the benefits of education had been there. 
 Look, then, around you, my beloved children, observe with 
 an understanding mind, the beauty, order, and if I may be 
 allowed the expression, the regular variety of animate and 
 inanimate nature, then lift up your hearts in devout adora 
 tion to the Great First Cause ; that Supreme Intelligence 
 that formed, supports and governs all, and say : Father 
 we are thy children ; we are weak and blind and helpless ; 
 assist us with thy power ; teach us by thy wisdom ; guard 
 us with thy mercy. Teach us, Father, to know, to love 
 and serve thee in an acceptable manner ; give us that wis 
 dom which leadeth to salvation." 
 
 Mr. Alworth then arose and offered a devout prayer to 
 the God of all for the safety and eternal welfare of his 
 family; and having recapitulated to his family the many 
 reasons for their faith in the Holy Scriptures and conclud 
 ing with " Lord help us to understand and believe aright," 
 he retired to his chamber. Biblical Dialogues, vol. I, p. 59. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 187 
 
 In the autumn of the same year this gifted and 
 Industrious lady published a volume of historical 
 exercises for the purpose, as she avers, " of awaken 
 ing a laudable curiosity for the reading of history." 
 The title of the work is Exercises in History, Chrono 
 logy and Biography in question and answer for the use 
 of schools, comprising Ancient History, Greece, Rome, 
 etc. Modern History, England, France, Spain, Portu 
 gal, etc. ; the discovery of America, Eise, Progress and 
 final Independence of the United States. By Susanna 
 Rowson, author of Biblical Dialogues, etc., etc. 
 
 It is in the form of question and answer as taught 
 in her academy, and I know not where so much of 
 what is really valuable in history can be found re 
 corded in so small a compass as in the one hundred 
 and seventy pages of this little compend. In her 
 preface the author very touchingly refers to her 
 long career as a teacher, her love of America and 
 the proximity of the closing hour of life : 
 
 44 Out of sixty years which I have been permitted 
 to exist in this transitory world, twenty-five have 
 been devoted to the cultivation of the minds of the 
 youth of my dear adopted country, America ; in 
 particular, the young ladies of Boston and its 
 vicinity. Many leisure hours in early life were de 
 voted to their amusement, and I trust I can say 
 that among the productions of my pen I have never 
 
188 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 promulgated a sentence that could militate against 
 the best interests of religion, virtue and morality. 
 The morning of life has declined ; the sun has 
 passed the meridian and the shadows of evening are 
 quickly advancing ; soon will the gloom of night 
 enshroud me, but to my latest hour I shall devote 
 my leisure to the improvement or innocent amuse 
 ment of youth. 
 
 BOSTON, Oct. 12, 1822." 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WMle through this changing world we roam 
 
 From infancy to age ; 
 Heaven is the Christian pilgrim s home, 
 
 His rest at every stage. James Montgomery, 
 
 Under the pressure of many literary and benevo 
 lent labors, cares and anxieties for the welfare of 
 others, Mrs. Rowson s health now began seriously 
 to decline ; and, though in her descent towards the 
 " dark valley " her heart was upheld by an unfalter 
 ing trust in God, she still experienced moments of 
 sadness and sorrow at the thought of her approach 
 ing dissolution. The fear that she might be left to 
 die unheeded and alone, would sometimes cast its 
 darkling shadow over her confiding soul. Her 
 kindred had fallen one after another by land or sea; 
 her father died in 1805 ; her last remaining brother, 1 
 
 1 ROBERT HASWBLL, her oldest brother, named from his uncle, 
 Robert Haswell of the British navy, who died November 10, 1800, 
 sailed around the world in the ship Columbia Rediviva and kept a 
 journal of the voyage from 1787 to 1789. He also kept the log 
 book of the same vessel in another voyage under Capt. Gray, ex 
 tending from August 14, 1791, to May, 1793. It was during this 
 voyage that Capt. Gray discovered Columbia river, cast anchor in 
 its spacious bay, and bestowed on it the name of his vessel. In 
 his Astoria, p. 38, Irving says : " The Columbia is believed to be 
 the first ship that made a regular discovery and anchored within 
 its waters, and it has since borne the name of that vessel." These 
 books are beautifully written, and are still in the possession of 
 
190 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 John Montresor Haswell, died in 1810; William 
 Rowson, a natural son of her husband, whom this 
 noble lady loved and cherished as her own, had been 
 lost in Boston harbor on his return from a long 
 voyage at sea ; her school had been relinquished ; 
 
 John J. Clarke, Esq., of Boston. Robert Haswell and his brother 
 John Montresor Haswell, were officers and greatly distinguished 
 themselves on board the Boston, in the sharp engagement with 
 the French corvette, Le Berceau, in the month of November, 1800. 
 Lieutenant Robert Haswell left the naval service at the peace es 
 tablishment, 1801, and sailed in August in the same year, in the 
 Louisa, fitted out by Capt. John Gray, for the north-west coast, 
 and was lost on his return home. He married Mary, daughter of 
 Joseph Cordis, merchant of Charles town, Oct. 17, 1797, by whom he 
 had 1, Mary, m. George Murdock of Boston, May 19, 1819, and had 
 Ellen Haswell, m. the Rev. Samuel Osgood ; and Eliza A. S. m. C. E. 
 Soale, Esq. 2, Rebecca Cordis, m. John J. Clarke, Esq., son of the 
 Rev. Pitt Clarke, of Boston, May 25, 1830, and has Mary Lemist 
 Clarke, m. John A. Hanson, and Haswell Cordis Clarke. The widow 
 of Lieut. Robert Haswell, m. John Lemist, who was lost in the ill 
 fated Lexington, in 1840. She died in Boston, November 23, 1808, 
 aged eighty-seven years. William Haswell, the second brother of 
 Mrs. Rowson, was master of a vessel sailing out of Boston. He m. 
 Miss Nancy Bull, and died sine prole. 
 
 John Montresor, her youngest brother, named from Col. John 
 Montresor of the British army, became a midshipman in our navy, 
 1800, and received the thanks of congress for his signal valor in 
 the war with Tripoli. He was promoted to a lieutenancy, February 
 26, 1807. He died of yellow fever, in Charleston, S. C., 1810, leav 
 ing no issue. The Haswell famify is of Scottish origin and 
 espoused the cause of Charles Edward Stuart. Robert, the grand 
 father of Mrs. Rowson, died 1766, aged seventy-five years. Her 
 own father, William, was commissioned as lieutenant, 1756. A rela 
 tive, Anthony Haswell, came from Portsmouth, Eng., to this country 
 prior to the revolution, settled in Bennington, Vt., where he esta 
 blished the Gazette, which he conducted with ability till his death, 
 May 27, 1816. He was an estimable man, and left many descend 
 ants. 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 191 
 
 and though she had herself educated, soothed and 
 blessed so many of her sex, the sad feeling still 
 came over her, that she must pass away with none 
 to bend above her pillow and to close her dying eye. 
 In such an hour of sadness and depression a little 
 prior to her decease, she penned the following pa 
 thetic lines : 
 
 To Miss REBECCA CORDIS HASWELL. 
 
 i. 
 Rebecca, my loved one, the last of thy race, 
 
 Thy father still lives in his sister s fond heart ; 
 Though long past the time, yet can memory trace 
 
 The hour when necessity urged us to part. 
 
 IT. 
 
 He sobbed as he rested his head on my shoulder, 
 
 And said : "To thy heart be my infant babes dear ; 
 
 And my wife, if I never again should behold her, 
 Transfer thy affection, dear Susan, to her." 
 
 in. 
 I ne er have forgotten the vow I then gave thee, 
 
 My first, dearest brother, protector and friend , 
 And though twas thy fate that no power could save thee } 
 
 My love for thy orphans can ne er know an end. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Though my life s feeble taper, its last flicker throwing, 
 On thy offspring, just rising, gleams fitfully round, 
 
 My heart s latest beat its kind wishes bestowing, 
 On them and on theirs, shall expend its last bound. 
 
192 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 V. 
 
 My dear loved Rebecca, when looking around me, 
 
 I see desolation extending its wing ; 
 Nor father, nor mother, nor brothers surround me, 
 
 Time seems to have taken from death its last sting, 
 
 VI. 
 
 For even the son I adopted and cherished, 
 
 Whose grateful affection was balm to my breast, 
 
 In the bloom and the beauty of manhood has perished, 
 And lies on the margin of waters at rest. 
 
 VII. 
 
 But thou art still spared ; my dear Mary remains ; 
 
 And a long valued friend to my heart is restored, 
 And Hope s buoyant pinion its vigor retains ; 
 
 Whilst I look on my treasure; exult in the hoard. 
 
 VIII. 
 grant, gracious Heaven, I may not be left 
 
 Forsaken and lonely and useless to lie ; 
 Of friend and connections and daughters bereft ; 
 
 Un pitied to suffer, unheeded to die. 
 
 IX. 
 
 May one gentle bosom support me when dying, 
 May one gentle eye shed a tear on my shrine ; 
 
 Rebecca, I feel when my soul shall be flying, 
 
 Perhaps the kind tear; the last care may be thine/ 
 
 S. R. 
 
 The author s wish was gratified. The sufferings 
 of her closing hours were soothed by the assiduous 
 
MHS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 193 
 
 and kind attentions of Miss Fanny M. Mills, Miss 
 Rebecca C. Haswell and Miss Susan Johnston, 
 whom she always called her children, and whose 
 devotion she most gratefully appreciated and ac 
 knowledged to the last. In the arms of these 
 affectionate and loving pupils, and in the hope of a 
 blessed immortality, Mrs. Rowson expired on the 
 second day of March, 1824, at the age of sixty-three 
 years, and was entombed on Thursday following in 
 the family vault No. 14, of her friend, Mr. Gotlieb 
 Graupner, beneath St. Matthew s church, 1 South 
 Boston. 
 
 In recording her death, the newspapers speak of 
 her as " distinguished for her talents, virtues and 
 intelligence;" as an "eminent preceptress;" as a 
 "model of industry ;" a " great economist;" of 
 "remarkable conversational powers," and "to her 
 charities," says a writer in the Boston Gazette, " there 
 was no end." A few days subsequent to her decease, 
 a fine poem over the signature of J. E., descriptive 
 of her character and virtues, appeared in the Colum 
 bian Centinel, from which I make this extract : 
 
 1 This church was demolished in 1866, and the remains of bodies 
 not claimed by relatives were transferred to Mount Hope Ceme 
 tery, where all that was mortal of this excellent woman now reposes. 
 It is hoped that some suitable monument will be erected to her 
 memory. 
 
194 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 it * * * I knew 
 
 Some twenty years ago this lady s worth 
 
 As an instructress, when around her sat 
 
 Thirty fair misses ready at her beck 
 
 To draw the needle with the silken thread 
 
 Through the framed specimen of female art ; 
 
 To trace the forms of nature with their tints 
 
 And various shades with pliant pencil dipped 
 
 In their appropriate colors ; or to say what kings 
 
 And people and what warriors too 
 
 That fight their battles ; what the world was once, 
 
 And what it still remained, they learned. Then, too, 
 
 All that the female mind required to form 
 
 A bulwark gainst the assaults of human art 
 
 Or intellectual weakness, or raise 
 
 The aspiring genius to celestial themes. * * * 
 
 But who can measure all her worth, or find 
 
 A rival to her industry, or tell 
 
 What deeds her needle, pencil, or her pen 
 
 In leisure hour performed ? " 
 
 The most elaborate notice of her life and charac 
 ter, however, was written by Samuel L. Knapp, 
 Esq., and appeared in the Boston Gazette, soon after 
 her death. 
 
MRS. 8U&UT&A ROWSON. 195 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Tlieir works do follow them. St. John. 
 
 In her religious views, Mrs. Rowson was, as I 
 have said, an Episcopalian, and in her later years a 
 regular attendant on the preaching of the Rev. Dr. 
 John Sylvester Gardiner, at Trinity church. Her 
 piety was intelligent, ardent, active and sincere. 
 She believed that religion consisted mainly in 
 diffusing the sunshine of love through a genial 
 temper of mind, through pleasant words and deeds 
 of beneficence. Her heart was a temple filled with 
 the music of grateful emotion, which was ever roll 
 ing forth in golden strains of charity. She was a 
 rigid economist, in order that she might be a liberal 
 almoner of the bounties of her Master. She re 
 ceived into her family and educated several young 
 ladies gratuitously, and led them into the way of 
 obtaining for themselves an honorable support. 
 She delighted especially in making young people 
 happy, and her pleasant " God bless you, my 
 darling," was indeed a precious benediction. 
 
 She was awakened on one bitter cold winter 
 night by one of the family who came to tell her 
 
196 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 that somebody was at her wood pile stealing wood. 
 " God help the poor creatures," she in pity replied, 
 " if they need it enough to come for it on such a 
 night as this, let them have it and welcome." 
 
 She took a profound interest in the Fatherless 
 and Widow s Society, and her scholars even could 
 tell by the vivacity of her spirits when any new 
 object of charity had been assisted, or when a 
 meeting of that excellent society was at hand. The 
 misfortune of persons and families connected with 
 the stage ever awakened in her heart the liveliest 
 sympathy, and many a poor actress has had occa 
 sion to remember her refreshing words of counsel 
 and her charities with equal delicacy and heartiness 
 bestowed. 
 
 If her matrimonial life was not happy, no one 
 discovered it by any want of kindness or attention 
 on her part. She was, as every one who knew her 
 testifies, a most devoted wife. Her story of Sarah is 
 her own. Whatever she deemed her duty, that she 
 made her pleasure. Though worn with illness and 
 fatigue, she was always up at night with a bright 
 tire arid some little delicacy on her table to give 
 her husband cheerful welcome home. But during 
 these long vigils she was never idle. With a circle 
 of young ladies seated around her and conversing 
 or reading by turns some interesting book, she threw 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 197 
 
 off an amount of needle work for the household, or 
 for the poor, almost incredible. 
 
 In regard to industry, she has never been ex 
 celled. She suffered not a moment to be lost. 
 Rising early, ordering all things systematically, 
 working steadily, cheerfully and rapidly, she as 
 tonished every one by the advancement she made 
 in learning, and by the ease and celerity with which 
 she executed what to other minds appeared hercu 
 lean labors. By her own untiring efforts she ac 
 quired the treasures both of ancient and modern 
 history ; she learned the French and Latin lan 
 guages; she obtained a good knowledge of music 
 and could play quite skillfully on the piano and 
 guitar; she was an elegant dancer; she became a 
 proficient in painting, drawing, and embroidery; 
 she learned to navigate a ship during a voyage 
 across the ocean ; she managed the concerns of her 
 household with great wisdom, neatness, and eco 
 nomy ; she governed and taught with consummate 
 ability a large boarding and day school ; she wrote 
 many articles expressly for that school ; she en 
 tertained a great deal of fashionable company ; 
 she took an active part in society, in literature, 
 politics and religion ; she visited the poor and 
 needy ; she corresponded largely with her friends 
 in Europe and America ; she wrote for the periodi- 
 
198 A MEMOIR OF 
 
 cal press continually, and while in the midst of these 
 varied employments, sometimes gave the public a 
 volume or two a year as an extra presentation. 
 She was a living woman. Son dme, as Madam De 
 Stael has said, se mele a tout. And yet the dignity 
 of her demeanor as a lady was never compromised ; 
 for every thing she touched was brightened by her 
 genius; and her delicate sense of propriety in 
 scribed the circle carefully wherein true woman 
 hood may develop its full power and most 
 imperially confer its benediction on the world. 
 
 Our literary ladies but too often make a sacrifice 
 of the domestic graces to the pen ; but she con 
 sidered writing the improvement of a leisure 
 moment merely, and had so fine a sense of what 
 belonged to a woman s sphere in the direction of 
 her family, such an innate love of order and such 
 executive power withal, that the arrangements of 
 her household were as perfect, the spreading of her 
 table as exquisitely neat, as if her whole attention 
 had been confined to them alone. 
 
 The versatility of this gifted lady s talent is most 
 remarkable. Madame De Genlis once observed 
 that she had so mastered twenty arts that by any 
 one of them she could obtain a livelihood. This 
 might be truly said of Mrs. Rowson ; but her favorite 
 employment was to teach. In this delightful vo- 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 199 
 
 cation, she had few, if any, equals in her day. She 
 possessed preeminently the very first element of 
 successful teaching ; a large, warm, loving heart. 
 At the same time she was dignified and command 
 ing in look and gesture. While she gained her 
 pupil s love, she secured, also, her reverence and 
 respect. There was that in her large, dark, pierc 
 ing eye, which seemed to detect a falsehood in 
 stantly. But though severe in probing insincerity 
 to the very quick, she held the balm of gentleness 
 in willing hand to heal the wound. Instruire, c est 
 inspirer, most truly says the accomplished author 
 of L Education des M&res, and this rare faculty 
 Mrs. Rowson had. Original, fertile in expedient, 
 sprightly, eloquent, to be sure she was; but above 
 all this, she had the liveliest poetic sympathy, she 
 had a shining mark in view, and in aspiring to attain 
 it, she inflamed the hearts of her dear pupils with 
 her own emotions and bound them to her and to learn 
 ing as by fascination thrugh the potent witchery of 
 her own strong and unselfish Christian love. 
 
 So deeply did she, through the might of her 
 gentleness, impress the lineaments of her own cha 
 racter upon her pupils that the few of those thou 
 sands whom she educated still remaining, do after 
 the lapse of more than half a century, cherish her 
 memory as tenderly as a mother s ; and still repeat 
 
200 -4 MEMOIR OF 
 
 her words of wisdom as reverently and recount her 
 virtues as lovingly as those of the sainted one from 
 whom they drew their being. 
 
 Through the young ladies then of the past genera 
 tion, Mrs. Rowson exercised a most benign and 
 blessed influence upon the morals and the manners 
 of New England. While the votary of fashion was 
 wasting time and talents in the gay round of frivo 
 lous amusement, she was imprinting the indellible 
 marks of her genius upon the polished pillars of 
 the temple of our greatness ; while the brawling 
 politician was wasting breath in vain complaints 
 against the discords in the music of the church and 
 state, her cunning fingers were busily employed in 
 tuning the unseen strings into the perfect harmony. 
 The power behind the throne in this birthland of 
 freedom is the mother. The artistic hand of Mrs. 
 Rowson made good mothers. One of them writes 
 to me : " Six ladies who were at her school with me, 
 I am still acquainted with. They have all made 
 good wives and mothers; have reared large fami 
 lies; some of their sons have become distinguished 
 men, and thus these ladies have fulfilled the destiny 
 which Napoleon considered woman s highest glory; " 
 and whenever I have had the pleasure of meeting 
 a pupil of this celebrated teacher, I have invariably 
 
MRS. SUSANNA ROWSON. 201 
 
 found her to be a woman of intelligence, refine 
 ment and exalted virtue. 
 
 In such mothers, in such children, in such influ 
 ences, diffused and gentle as the aroma of the 
 flowers borne by the winds across the desert, Mrs. 
 Rowson lives amongst us still. The echoes of her 
 gentle voice are murmuring sweetly still. The 
 gems she touched with beauty sparkle still. The 
 spirit she evoked is breathing and the strings she 
 struck are quivering still ; the life she lived is 
 eloquently speaking still, and as the tide of our 
 national glory rolls along, will be most eloquently 
 discoursing still ; and may we not believe that when 
 the Master shall make up his jewels at the final 
 audit, this accomplished writer, this faithful wife, 
 this loving teacher, this blessed almoner of God s 
 sweet mercies to the poor, this humble, earnest 
 and adoring Christian, will, surrounded by the 
 radiant gems of her own polishing, and beaming 
 in etherial light, live still ! 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 26 
 
MRS. ROWSON S PUPILS. 
 
 It would be impossible to give the names of all the ladies 
 who had the benefit of her immediate instruction ; but from 
 the papers now before me I am enabled to make the follow 
 ing record : 
 
 Arnory, the Misses, daughters of R. Greene Amory, Esq., of 
 
 Roxbury. 
 
 Ayer, H., Manchester, N. H. 
 Bartlett, Julia, daughter of Dr John Bartlett, Roxbury. 
 
 She was an excellent reader. She m. Mr. Hill. 
 Bartlett, Hannah, m. John Porter, Newburyport. 
 Bartlett, Laura, Haverhill, N. H. 
 Bishop, Miss, Medford, m. N. Parsons. 
 Bishop, Rebecca. 
 Bliss, Louisa, Haverhill, N. H. 
 Boyd, Miss, Portland. 
 
 Bradlee, Susan. Mrs. R. wrote lines on her death. 
 Brooks, Lucy, daughter of Gov. John Brooks, and b. June 
 
 16, 1775 ; m. Rev. O Kill Stuart. 
 Burgess, Sarah. 
 Burroughs, Eliza. 
 Burton, A. M. She delivered the introductory address at 
 
 the exhibition, Oct. 27, 1803. 
 Casey, Miss. 
 Child, Isabella. 
 Christie, Nancy. 
 Claiborne, Emily. 
 Coverly, Sarah G., m. E. G. Ware. She attended Mrs. R/s 
 
 school in Federal St., Boston, and rode in the carriage with 
 
 her when she removed to Medford. 
 Dane, Miss, Gloucester. 
 Dexter, " 
 Dewolf, Misses, Bristol, R. I. 
 
204 MR8. ROWSON S PUPILS. 
 
 Dow, Mary, Haverhill, N. H. 
 
 Downs, Clarissa, Boston. 
 
 Downs, Harriet. 
 
 Drake, Maria P., North wood, N. II., sister of S. G. Drake, 
 
 Esq., the distinguished antiquary. 
 Duncan, Nancy, Concord, N. H. 
 Eaton, Miss. 
 
 English, Mary, Brighton. 
 
 Farmer, Ann Maria, niece of Mrs. Baring, of Newport II I 
 Field, Sophia. 
 
 Fiske, Mehetable, Natick, m. Rufus Fiske. 
 Fougue, Henrietta Maria, Newburyport. 
 French, Caroline. 
 French, Catharine. 
 
 Gay, Caroline, m. Caleb Eddy, Boston. 
 Giles, Narcissa, Newburyport. 
 Gray, Lucia, m. Samuel Swett. She was daughter of Win. 
 
 Gray, of Medford. 
 
 Graupner, Catharine C., Boston, m. George Gushing. 
 Graupner, Olivia H., Boston. 
 Greene, Mary Ann, m. Judge Hubbard, Boston. 
 Greene, Charlotte, m. Win. Butters, Pittsfield, N. H. 
 Hale, Mary Ann, m. Dr. Nathanael Lowe, Dover, N. H. 
 Hale, Martha. 
 
 Halliburton, Miss, Portsmouth, N. H. 
 Hammond, Julia, Brookline. 
 Hamlin, Miss. 
 Harris, Miss. 
 Has well, Mary. 
 
 Haswell, Rebecca Cordis, m. J. J. Clarke, Esq. 
 Hill, Lucy, m. Oliver Everett. 
 Holbrook, Eliza Edwards, Wrentham. 
 Holbrook, Mary, m. Silas Holbrook, Wreutham. 
 Hull, Julia, daughter of Gen. Wm. Hull. 
 Hull, Caroline, " 
 Hull, Rebecca, " 
 
 Hutchins, Caroline, m. Mr. Thatcher. 
 
 Huntington, Miss, Norwich, Conn., m. the Rev. Dr. Hooker. 
 Ingraham, Misses. 
 
 Jackson, P. W. She gave the closing address at the ex 
 hibition, October 27, 1803. 
 Johnson, Frances, Hillsborough, N. H. 
 Johnston, Susan, niece of Mrs. Rowson. 
 
MRS. RO W SON S PUPILS. 205 
 
 Jones, Misses, four daughters of Alexander Jones, Provi 
 dence, R. I. 
 
 Knapp, Caroline, m. Dr. Hayward. 
 
 Knox, Juliana. Mrs. Rowson wrote some lines on her 
 decease addressed to her mother. Sec ante p. 148. 
 
 Lambert, Misses. Ladies remarkable for personal beauty. 
 
 Lane, Mary, Ten Hills Farm, Medford. 
 
 Lanman, Miss, Norwich, Conn. 
 
 Leach, Miss, Boston. 
 
 Mann, Mary Ann, Wrentham. 
 
 M Clure, Ruth. 
 
 Mansfield, Misses, two, Gloucester. 
 
 Means, Mary Ann, Amherst, N. H., died Sept. 12, 1812. 
 
 Means, Jane, " Nov. 2, 1805. 
 
 Mellen, Miss, m. Prof. Levi Frisbee. 
 
 Mellen, Miss, Cambridge, sister of the preceding. 
 
 Mills, Frances M. Mrs. R. adopted her as her daughter 
 about 1810 
 
 Montgomery, Ann. 
 
 Montgomery, Mary K., daughter of Gen. John Montgomery 
 of Haverhill, N. H., m. Samuel Batchelder, Esq.. Cam 
 bridge, d. 1859. 
 Montgomery, Myra. 
 Montgomery, Nancy. 
 Morton, Miss Mary, Freetown, sister of Governor Marcus 
 
 Morton. 
 
 Norton, Jerusha, m. Josiah J. Fiske, Wrentham. 
 Noyes, Mary, Newburyport. 
 Neil, Miss. 
 
 Page, Lydia, Charlestown. 
 
 Parsons, Eliza, daughter of Chief Justice Parsons. 
 Parsons, Lydia. 
 
 Porter, Caroline, a fine scholar. 
 Powell, Isabella, Boston. 
 Pratt, Susan. 
 
 Price, Susan, Jamaica, W. Indies. 
 Price, Frances. 
 Proctor, Elizabeth. 
 Ripley, Miss. 
 
 Robbins, Martha, Lexington, Mass. 
 
 Rose, Anne, from London, Eng., m. Joseph Swan. She 
 opened a day school for girls in Medford in 1811, and died 
 in 1859. 
 
206 MR& R0 WSON S P UPILS. 
 
 Rowson, Charlotte, m. William P. Johnston of Philadelphia, 
 
 and died July, 1855. 
 Russell, Eliza, J3oston. 
 Sheafe, Mary Huske, m. Edward Cutts, lawyer, Portsmouth, 
 
 N. H., d. 1868. 
 Swan, Hannah, Medford. 
 
 Swan, Peggy, Medford. An assistant in Mrs R/s school. 
 Thomson, Catharine, Medford. 
 Trask, Misses, three, Gloucester. 
 Tufts, Peggy. 
 
 Wait, Sarah, Medford, m. S. Symmes and then J. Howe. 
 Wait, Harriet. 
 
 Waldron, Miss, Portsmouth, N. H. 
 Warner, Mary. 
 Waterhouse, Maria Towle. 
 West, Eliza, Salem, Mass. 
 Whittemore, Eliza, Cambridge. 
 Whittemore, Hannah Maria. 
 Whittemore, Sarah Anne. 
 Williams, Mary. Afterwards a successful teacher in Rox- 
 
 bury. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Abington, Mass., 29, 30, 31, 55, 
 
 68, 83. 
 Abtliorpe, Col. (Wm. Haswell), 
 
 57, 58, 59, 60, 65, 66, 67, 69. 
 Adams, Elisha, 155. 
 
 Isaac, 146. 
 
 John, 18, 98. 
 
 Samuel, 17, 35. 
 2Eneas, 55. 
 Alexander, 145. 
 Allen, Wm., 30. 
 Allerton, 10, 11, 13. 
 Al worth, Mr. & Mrs., 180, 186. 
 Anacreon, 91. 
 Andrews, David, 68. 
 Annapolis, Md., 74. 
 Arnault, A. V., 86. 
 Arnold, Dr. Samuel, 167. 
 Auld Robin Gray, 87. 
 Autumn Lady, 87. 
 Ayling, Master, 175. 
 
 B. 
 
 Bachelder, Mrs. Samuel, 106. 
 Baldwin, Mrs. James F., 171. 
 Baltimore, 74, 76, 91. 
 Bancroft, Hannah S., 33. 
 Barker, John, 26. 
 
 Francis, 26. 
 Barreault, Capt., 139. 
 Bartlett, Dr. Josiah, 99. 
 
 W. J., 162. 
 Beal, Israel, 28, 29. 
 Beath, Margaret, 143. 
 Beauchamp, 47. 
 Bennet, Mrs. A. M., 77. 
 Bennington, Vt., 190. 
 
 Bernard, Gov. Francis, 17. 
 Betty Blackberry, 86. 
 Bigelow, Timothy, 100. 
 Bingham, Mrs., 76. 
 Binney, Amos, 25. 
 
 Spencer, 25. 
 Blakeney, Lt. Col. Grice, 52. 
 
 Lucy, 52, 53. 
 Bliss, Caroline, 153. 
 
 Louisa, 151, 152, 153. 
 Boileau, Nicolas, 48. 
 Borrowdale, Eng., 56. 
 Boston, 7, 10, 15, 17, 18, etc. 
 Boston Lighthouse, 56, 57. 
 Boston (South), 103. 
 Bounce, 87. 
 
 Bradlee, Mrs. Josiah, 123. 
 Bradley, Eliza, 150. 
 Bray, John, 171, 173, 175, 176. 
 
 Family, 173. 
 Brooke, Henry, 86. 
 Brooks, Rev. Charles, 100, 108. 
 
 Gov. John, 100, 101. 
 Buckingham, Joseph T., 33, 49, 
 
 93, 154, 161. 
 Bull, Nancy, 190. 
 Bunker Hill, 19. 
 Bunyan, John, 51. 
 Burgess, Sallie, 107. 
 Burgoyne, Gen. John, 35. 
 Burke, John, 5. 
 Burney, Miss Frances, 50, 77. 
 Burns, Robert, 51. 
 
 C. 
 
 Caesar, 145. 
 
 Calmet, Augustine, 181. 
 Cambridge, Mass., 101, 105, 122, 
 144. 
 
208 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Camden, William, 5. 
 
 Camp, 183. 
 
 Campbell, Robert, 40, 76. 
 
 Carlisle, David, 143. 
 
 Carnagon, Daniel, 22. 
 
 Carney, Eliza Josephine, 12. 
 
 Carr, Mr., 75. 
 
 Gary, Matthew, 36, 76. 
 
 Alice & Phoebe, 141. 
 Carter, Mrs. Elizabeth, 130. 
 Catalina, 87. 
 Castle William, 18. 
 Cervantes, Miguel de, 51. 
 Charles I, 48. 
 Charleston, S. C., 190. 
 Charlestown, Mass., 21, 190. 
 Cheshire, Mrs., 87. 
 Church, Dr. Benj., 127. 
 Clarke, J. J., 190. 
 
 Haswell Cordis, 190. 
 
 Mary & Mary Lemist, 190. 
 
 The Rev. Pitt, 190. 
 Claypole, David, 87. 
 dementi, 102. 
 Cobbett, William, 74, 81. 
 Cockburne, Lady George, 36. 
 Cohasset, Mass., 6. 
 Coleridge, S. T., 10. 
 Columbia, 145, 167, 168, 173. 
 Columbus, 49. 
 Constantia (Mrs. John Murray), 
 
 141. 
 
 Cooke, J. P., 34, 37, 39. 
 Cooper, James F., 140. 
 Cordis, Joseph, 190. 
 
 Mary, 190. 
 Cork, Ireland, 18. 
 Corneille, Pierre, 127. 
 Cortez, Hernando, 183. 
 Cotton, John, 126. 
 Covent Garden, 34. 
 Cowper, Wm., 1. 
 Crane, Maj., 21. 
 Cunningham, Ruth, 14. 
 Cushing, T., 28. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dalrymple, Col. William, 18. 
 Darnley, Sarah, 118. 
 Davenport, Eliza, 173. 
 Deal, Eng., 7. 
 
 Dean, John Ward, 3. 
 Thomas, 114. 
 
 Derby, Conn., 119. 
 the Earl of, 46. 
 
 Derwentwater, 54. , 
 
 Des Forge, Mons., 103. 
 
 Bernardine, Miss., 103. 
 
 Deshoulieres, Madame Antoin 
 ette, 36. 
 
 Detroit, Mich., 119. 
 
 Devonshire, the Duchess of, 34, 
 
 35. 
 William, Duke of, 34. 
 
 Doggett, the Rev. Simeon, 107. 
 
 Dorchester, Mass., 21. 
 
 Douglass, William, 20. 
 
 Drake, Samuel G., 8. 
 
 Druggett, Mrs., 87. 
 
 Dry den, John, 14. 
 
 Dublin, 40. 
 
 Ducis, Jean F., 127. 
 
 Dudley Reuben & Rachel, 92, 
 
 93, 95, 97. 
 William, 82. 
 
 Duyckinck, Evert A. 129. 
 
 E. 
 
 Edinburgh, 73. 
 Everett, Edward, 171. 
 
 F. 
 
 Falconer, William, 5. 
 Fearing, Albert, 26. 
 
 John, 28. 
 Fisher, Jabez, 28. 
 Fitch, the Rev. Elijah, 126. 
 Fontaine, Jean de la, 127. 
 Fort Warren, Mass., 10. 
 Foster, John, 155. 
 Francis, Philip, 133. 
 Franklin, Lt., 52, 53. 
 
 Mr., 76. 
 Frothingham, Richard, 20. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gardiner, Dr. John, S. J, 195. 
 Gay, Dr. Ebcnezer, 26, 30. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 209 
 
 Genlis, Madame de, 105, 198. 
 George III, 33. 
 
 IV. 35. 
 
 Gilbert, Samuel, 114. 
 Gilchrist, Mrs., 160. 
 Goldsmith, Oliver, 51. 
 Gould, 15. 
 
 Miss Hannah F., 141. 
 
 John E., 176. 
 
 Graupner, Gotlieb & family, 102, 
 103. 
 
 Mrs., 151. 
 
 Graves, Admiral, 18. 
 Gray, Capt, John, 189, 190. 
 Great Brewster, 8. 
 Gregory, John, M.D., 118. 
 Griffin, 22. 
 
 Griswold, Bp., A. V., 180. 
 Guthrie, .William, 143. 
 Guy Mannering, 51. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hagen, Peter von, 102. 
 Halifax, N. S., 31, 56, 83. 
 Hall, Mr., 178. 
 Hancock, John, 17. 
 Hanover, Germany, 102. 
 Hanson, John A., 190. 
 Harlow, Lucinda, 35. 
 Haswell, Anthony, 190. 
 
 Eliza A. S., 190. 
 
 Ellen, 190. 
 
 John Montressor, 6, 189, 
 190. 
 
 Mary, 110, 154, 155, 190. 
 
 Rebecca Cordis, 190, 191, 
 192, 193. 
 
 Susan, 9, 13, 17, 18, 23. 
 
 Robert, 6, 142, 189, 190. 
 
 William, 5, 6, 8, 12, 14, 18, 
 
 19. 
 
 Haverhill, N. H., 109. 151. 
 Heath, Col. William, 20, 31. 
 Hilliar, Mrs. C., [Comoford,] 102. 
 Hills, Capt. John, 103. 
 
 Mary, 103. 
 Hingham, Mass., 11, 20, 26, 27, 
 
 28, 29, 30, 55, 65, 68, 83. 
 Hoare, Prince, 86. 
 Homer, 51. 
 
 Dr. Jonathan, 122, 123. 
 
 27 
 
 Honora Martesia (Mrs. John 
 
 Murray), 141. 
 Hopkinton, Mass., 123. 
 Horace, 133. 
 House, E. G., 113. 
 Howard, Meriel, 77. 
 Hudson, Hezekiah, 6. 
 
 Scarlett, 6. 
 
 Hull, Mass., 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 
 25, 27. 
 
 on the Humber, Eng., 31. 
 
 Gen. William & family, 119, 
 
 120, 123. 
 
 Humphreys, Col. David, 123. 
 Hunt, Matthew, 12. 
 
 Sarah Sophia, 172. 
 Hutchins, Caroline, 110. 
 Hutchinson, Thomas, 17. 
 
 I 
 
 Irving, Washington, 189. 
 
 .1 
 
 Johnston, David Claypole, 88. 
 
 Susan R., 88, 178, 179, 193. 
 
 Thomas Murphy, 88. 
 
 Mrs. Wm. P. (Rowson), 88. 
 
 William, 87. 
 Jones, 15. 
 
 K. 
 
 Keefe, John O., 86. 
 
 Knapp, Samuel L., 35, 49, 54, 56, 
 
 194. 
 Knox, Juliana, 148. 
 
 Mrs., 149. 
 
 L. 
 
 Lafayette, the Marquis de, 11. 
 Lamartine, Alphonse de, 48. 
 Lane, Capt. Peter, 68. 
 Laumont, Mr., 98. 
 Lawrence, Abbott, 100. 
 Leavitt, 30. 
 Lee, Mad John, 105. 
 
tno 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Lee, Misses Harriet & Sophia, 77. 
 Leeds, Eng., 171, 173. 
 Legouve, J. B., 123. 
 Lemist, John, 190. 
 Le Sage, 51. 
 Lincoln, Calvin, 27. 
 
 Solomon, 10, 29. 
 
 Mrs. Sophia, 171. 
 
 Stephen, 26. 
 
 Lippincott, Sarah Jane, 141. 
 Lively, frigate, 59. 
 Lobden, Mrs., 12. 
 Lodore, Eng., 54. 
 London, Eng., 31, 32, 33, 34, 36. 
 
 Bishop of, 149. 
 Long Island, Mass., 18. 
 Lord, George, 178. 
 
 Georgiana, Miss, 178. 
 Loring, 15. 
 
 Lossing, Benson J., 75. 
 Lovell s Island, 8, 12. 
 
 M. 
 
 Macaulay, Thomas B., 48. 
 Mackay, Col., 18. 
 Mackenzie, Henry, 50. 
 McLellan, Isaac, 120. 
 Marcellina, 87. 
 Massinger, Philip, 74. 
 Mease, James, 74. 
 Medford, Mass., 100, 103, 105 
 
 107, 108, 119, 159. 
 Middleton, Sir Charles, 35. 
 Millaken, Clement, 12. 
 Mills, Fanny M., 88, 178, 179 
 193. 
 
 John, 178. 
 Miln, Mr., 102. 
 Milton, John, 20. 
 Montgomery, Ann, 121 , 152. 
 
 Gen. John, 109, 121. 
 
 James, 189. 
 
 Mary, 121. 
 
 Myra, 147. 
 Montraville, 47, 52. 
 Montressor, Col. John, 190. 
 More, Hannah, 114, 178. 
 Morse, Jedidiah, 143. 
 Mount Pleasant, Pa., 93. 
 Mount Vernon, 144. 
 Munsell, Joel, 1. 
 
 Murdock, George, 190. 
 Murphy, Arthur, 87. 
 
 Sarah, 88. 
 
 Murray, Mrs. John, 114, 141. 
 Musgrave, Susanna, 5. 
 
 William, 6. 
 Mystic River, Mass., 100. 
 
 N. 
 
 Nantasket, Mass., 6, 10, 11, 12, 
 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 55, 
 57, 59. 
 
 Napoleon I, 200. 
 
 Narragansett, 11. 
 
 Nason, Elias, 1, 3. 
 
 Natchez, Miss., 141. 
 
 Nevis, 139. 
 
 Newburyport, Mass., 178. 
 
 Newell, Timothy, 21. 
 
 Newland, Eng., 54. 
 
 Newton, Mass., 119, 120, 121, 
 122, 123, 142. 
 
 Newton, Mrs., 100. 
 
 New York, 46, 178. 
 
 O. 
 
 Oberca, 92. 
 O Hara, Kane, 87. 
 Oldham, John, 11. 
 Opie, Amelia, 72. 
 Ormrod, 76. 
 Ormsby, Mrs., 87. 
 Osgood, Dr. David, 109. 
 
 the Kev. Samuel, 190. 
 Ossiter, Lord, 56. 
 Otis, James, 14, 17. 
 Otoganoo, 95. 
 Ouabi, 141. 
 
 P. 
 
 Paine, Robert Treat, 123. 
 Parish, Dr. Elijah, 143, 
 Parsons, Lydia, 114. 
 Paul et Virginie, 51. 
 Payne, John Howard, 123. 
 Pearl St., Boston, 98. 
 Pettix Island, Mass., 25. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 211 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa., 36, 40. 
 
 Philip (King), 92. 
 
 Pickle, Mrs., 88. 
 
 Pitts, John, 29. 
 
 Pizarro, 183. 
 
 Plato, 50. 
 
 Pomfret, John, 126, 127. 
 
 Pomroy, Col. Seth, 18. 
 
 Poole, Matthew, 181. 
 
 Pope, Alexander, 14, 130. 
 
 Porcupine, Peter (Wm. Cob- 
 
 bett), 74, 85. 
 Portland, Me., 146. 
 Portsmouth, Eng., 5, 6, 190. 
 Powell, Charles S., 86. 
 Prentice, the Rev. Solomon, 12. 
 Prescott, Harriet, 178. 
 Price, Madam Elizabeth, 123. 
 
 Francis, 152. 
 Prideaux, Humphrey, D.D., 181. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quickly, Dame, 87. 
 Quincy, Mass., 11. 
 
 R. 
 
 Rachel, aunt, 93, 97. 
 Radcliffe, Ann, 50. 
 Rainsford Island, Mass., 10. 
 Rams Head, Mass., 8. 
 Rebecca, 55, 57, 61, 67, 70. 
 Rees, James, 74. 
 Richardson & Lord, 180. 
 Robinson, John, 15. 
 Roche, Regina Maria, 50. 
 Rowson, Charlotte, Miss, 73, 74, 
 
 87. 
 
 Susanna, 1, 93, 94, etc. 
 William, 33, 72, 74, 86, 87, 
 
 109, 155, 190. 
 Roxbury, Mass., 21, 154. 
 
 S. 
 
 St. Pierre, Bernardin de, 1. 
 Salem, Mass., 123. 
 Saltonstall, Leverett, 123. 
 Sarah, 101, 118, 119. 
 
 Sargeant, Gov., 141. 
 
 Judith, 141. 
 Scipio, 145. 
 
 Self ridge, Thomas O,, 123. 
 Shaffer, George, 154, 155. 
 Shakespeare, 14, 51, 
 Shelbourne, Celia, 77. 
 Sheridan, Richard B., 86. 
 Slmckford, S., 181. 
 Siddons, Mrs. Sarah, 35. 
 Sigourney, Lydia H., 141. 
 Skiddaw, Eng., 53. 
 Smith, Mrs. Samuel, 90. 
 Snap, 87. 
 
 Sneerwell, Lady, 86. 
 Snow, 86. 
 Sophia, 57, 61, 67. 
 Soule, C. E., 190. 
 South Cave, Eng., 142. 
 Souther, 15. 
 Spencer, Edmund, 14. 
 Spencer, John, Earl of, 34. 
 Spofford, Dr. Richard S., 178. 
 
 Richard S., 178. 
 Squantum, Mass., 21. 
 Stackhouse, Thomas, 181. 
 Stael, Madame de, 198. 
 Stanley, Charlotte, 46, 47. 
 Sterne, Lawrence, 36. 
 Strawberry Hill, Mass., 13. 
 Stuart, Charles Edward, 190. 
 Stuart, Gilbert, 100. 
 Sunmer, Charles, 146. 
 Swan, Hannah, 149, 159, 160. 
 
 Peggy, 102, 160. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tait, John T., 88. 
 Taunton, Mass., 107. 
 Telegraph Hill, Mass., 10, 11, 13. 
 Temple, Charlotte, 46, 47, 52, 
 
 56. 
 
 Temple, Mr., 48. 
 Thaxter, Col. John, 26, 31. 
 
 Dea. Joseph, 26. 
 Thomson, Hester, 103. 
 
 James, 90. 
 
 Torrendal, Lady, 87. 
 Tripoli, 190. 
 Troy, 55. 
 Truxton, Thomas, 138, 140. 
 
212 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Tudor, William, 114, 123. 
 Tupper, Maj., 21, 22, 59. 
 Tyler, Col. J., 86. 
 
 V. 
 
 Veazie, the Rev. Samuel, 12. 
 Virgil, 133. 
 Voltaire, M. A., 142. 
 Vose, Elijah, 20. 
 
 Maj., Joseph, 20, 21. 
 
 W. 
 
 Wadsworth, Gen. Jeremiah, 76. 
 Walker, John, 143. 
 Wallingston, Eng., 142. 
 Wallow-Crag, Eng., 54. 
 Walpole, Horace, 50. 
 Ward, Gen., Artemas, 21, 27. 
 
 A. H., 120. 
 
 Warner, Mary, 107, 110. 
 Warren, Mr., 172. 
 
 John, M.D., 162, 163. 
 
 J., 28. 
 
 Washington, George, 19, 74, 75, 
 90, 91, 99, 144, 173. 
 
 Washington, Mrs., 76. 
 Watertown, Mass., 120, 
 Watson & Bangs, 48. 
 Webster, Hannah, 41. 
 Welby, Amelia, 140. 
 West, John, 113, 143. 
 Weymouth, Mass., 68. 
 Whetcomb, John, 28. 
 White, Edward L., 176. 
 Whitlock, Mrs. Elizabeth, 76. 
 Wignell, Thomas, 73, 74, 75, 87. 
 Williams, Charles, 118. 
 Williamson, J. B., 86, 89. 
 Willig, S. G., 75. 
 Winthrop, Jemima, 87. 
 Woburn, Mass., 100. 
 Woodward, Ebenezer & Eliza 
 beth, 6. 
 
 Mary, 6. 
 
 Rachel, 6. 
 
 Smith, 6. 
 
 Worcester, Mass., 92. 
 Wriggley & Berriman, 78. 
 Wyman, Joseph, 100. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Young, Mr, 76. 
 
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