YALE UNIVERSITY
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YALE UNIVERSITY
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HENRY AND MARY LEE
LETTERS AND JOURNALS

WITH OTHER FAMILY LETTERS
i 8 o 2- i 8 60

PREPARED BY THEIR GRAND- DAUGHTER
FRANCES ROLLINS MORSE

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
MCMXXVI

PRIVATELY PRINTED

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THOMAS TODD COM 1' ANY
1'RINTHKS
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

TO MY DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER
HENRY LEE MORSE AND MARY LEE ELLIOT
AND TO THE BELOVED MEMORY OF OUR PARENTS
THE SMALL PORTION OF THIS BOOK THAT IS MINE
IS DEDICATED

Then, I think, the mind, retracing the old wander
ings and explorations, begins to perceive how little per
formance and definite achievement, either in one's self or
in others, has really counted; . . . and how lightly one has
reckoned that in which the true richness of life consists
— namely, the distinct and emphatic personalities with
and among whom it has been permitted to one to live;
how little one treasured them, how permanent they
seemed to be, how much one unconsciously depended
upon them, how constantly and desperately one misses
them. And then, too, one realizes how much energy and
force the persons who achieved solid successes were
forced to put into definite occupations, and how little they
had to spare for the mere business of living; then one
step farther and a veil falls from one's eyes; one sees
what a boundless debt one owes to the friends who
gave generously and lavishly their best and most beautiful
qualities to life itself, and cast their bread upon the waters
with an unsparing hand. . . . Most of them left no deep
mark upon the world, because their whole force and
charm and animation were used, naturally and uncalculat-
ingly, in enriching the texture of life and bestowing hap
piness, with a total disregard of all lesser personal
motives, on a small circle. Arthur Christopher Benson.

TO THE DESCENDANTS OF HENRY AND MARY LEE
These papers are put together for you, dear children,
believing that, some day, when the past begins so sur
prisingly to live, you may care to know something more
of your forbears, of the places where they lived, and the
part they took in the life of their time. The few me
moirs which tell of these earlier days are now out of
print — the pamphlets and memoranda become scattered
or lost — and you may like one volume to turn to for
reference. This is not a biographical study: rather it is a memo
randum-book in which the letters may bring before you
some picture of the dear people of our little world. There
would be no book at all but for the steady encouragement
of your Cousin Harry and the wise and sympathetic help
of our younger cousin, Ellen Hale. It is put into your
hands with the earnest prayer that if the letters do not
speak to you with a living voice you will not read them.
First is given the short published biographical sketch
of my grandfather, Henry Lee, with a few pages
about his parents and brothers and sisters. Following
that are long passages from the Memoir of Dr. James
Jackson, the brother of Mary Lee, written by his
grandson, James Jackson Putnam, and now out of print.
In reducing this perfect Memoir to small compass
much of abiding interest and charm is lost, and these
pages should be read with an apology to their writer at
heart. They give a beautiful and faithful picture of life
in eastern Massachusetts a century ago.
It is from letters and papers which Uncle Harry Lee
had kept in the great Flemish cabinet, the doors of
which Cousin Bessie Shattuck has generously opened to
me, and from other letters and journals kept by my
mother that the rest of the book is drawn. There are

many more letters in the households of the children or
Aunt Mary Higginson, Aunt Lizzie Ware and Uncle
Frank Lee, and I hope that some day some other of the
family may draw out their sweetness and strength for a
younger generation. I have not asked for these other
letters, finding that I cannot do justice to those already
in my hands.
What I should like to do would be to give some record
of my Grandfather and Grandmother, Henry and Mary
Lee, and of the old family connection between Lees,
Cabots, Higginsons, and Jacksons, intimately related
through several generations by marriage and by friend
ship1, among whom were many who took a good part in
the affairs of their day: who loved their country and
gladly served it.
In the latter half of the 18th century many of these
families were living in Salem, Beverly, and Newburyport.
Later many of them came to Boston, but until recently
Salem was still the home of Cousin John Lee's family
and Essex County still a familiar background.
There are unavoidably many overlapping dates and
much repetition in this story, but I will try to make it as
little confusing as possible ; at all events it is easy to skip
what does not interest one.
To avoid confusion, I have not indicated each omis
sion by asterisks, nor always put quotation marks to
a very few words, nor invariably given the old form of
spelling and abbreviations.
In following the clues found in the letters and journals
contemporary history springs into light illuminated by
the genius of the different historians: our own little cob
web thread of family history seems to attach itself to the
great events and changes of the world of that day: history
glows from within, and biographies and memoirs unite
to make a single picture.
1 There was an old Salem and Beverly saying: Cabots are
Cabots, but Lees are twice Cabots.

For your convenience I give a few references:
History of the United States of America, During the
First and Second Administrations of James Madison,
by Henry Adams. (Volumes VI, vil, and vm.)
History of the United States, by Edward Channing.
(Volume IV.)
Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783-1860, by
Samuel Eliot Morison.
History of the United States, 1850-1877, by James Ford
Rhodes.
Harvard Memorial Biographies.
For brief memoirs of our cousins, Charles Russell Lowell,
James Russell Lowell, Sumner Paine, Cabot Jackson Russel,
and Samuel Storrow, with many references to others of the
family.
The Life of George Cabot, by his great-grandson, Henry
Cabot Lodge.
Early Memories, by Henry Cabot Lodge.
The Memoir of Dr. James Jackson, by his grandson,
James Jackson Putnam.
The Memoir of Col. Henry Lee, by John T. Morse, Jr.
A fine and discriminating portrait with an historian's back
ground of nineteenth century Boston and Massachusetts.
The Life and Letters of Henry Lee Higginson, by Bliss
Perry.
A Great Private Citizen [II. L. H.J, by M. A. De W.
Howe.
Addresses by Henry Lee Higginson.
The Life of Charles Russell Lowell, by Edward Waldo
Emerson.
William Lloyd Garrison, by John Jay Chapman.
Memories of the War of '61, by Elizabeth Cabot Putnam.
A beautiful tribute of enduring friendship: no word too much.

In the New England Historical and Genealogical Re9litfr
July, 1922, is an article on The Lee Family, by Thomas Amory
Lee, of Topeka, Kansas, from which I am kindly permittee 10
use material. In Old-time New England for April, 1925. }**
article on the Cabot- Lee- Kilham House at Beverly, witti a
print from the pastel-portrait (now owned by Joseph Lee) ot our
"Common Grandmother," Elizabeth Higgmson Cabot.
Various references to the persons of the book may be found
in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society; in 1 he
Publications of the Essex Institute. Salem; in The Memorial
History of Boston; and in The Harvard Book, while in the office
of the Adjutant-General at the State House are the well-indexed
and deeply-moving Regimental Histories of the Civil (Tar.
Writings of Henry Lee
From Catalogue of Boston Athenaeum
Report of a Committee of Citizens of Boston opposed to the
increase of duties. Boston. 1827.
Exposition of evidence in support of memorial of the free trade
convention at Philadelphia. Boston. 1832.
Exposition of facts and arguments in favor of a bank of ten
millions. Boston. 1836.
Letters to the cotton manufacturers of Massachusetts. 1844.
At the Boston Public Library are sundry pamphlets on Taxes on
Woollens and Iron: on Sugar: on Ships: and others.
Writings of Henry Lee, Jr.
From Catalogue of Boston Athen^um
The Militia of the United States, what it has been and what it
should be. 1864.
University Hall, The Harvard Book. Vol. I. 1875.
Remarks on the Clark and Hutchinson Houses. Proceedings
Massachusetts Historical Society. 1 880-1 881.
A Massachusetts Savings Bank, being an account of the Provident
Institution for Savings, written for the World's Fair at
Chicago. 1893.
The Memoir of Colonel Henry Lee, with selections from his
writings and speeches; by John Torrey Morse, Jr., includes
article on Frances Anne Kemble from the Atlantic Monthly,
1893. Boston. 1905.
Many of Colonel Lee's most vigorous articles were written for
the newspapers, especially the Boston Evening Transcript, and
did their work at the time.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
II.
III. IV. V.
VI.

VII.
VIII. IX. X.
XI.
XII.
XIII. XIV. XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII. XIX.

Memoir of Henry Lee, by Hamilton An
drews Hill .

I
13
3i 7479

The Lee Family
The Jackson Family .
About the Letters .
Early Letters, i 802-18 ii
Letters from Henry Lee in India to His
Wife in Boston During the War of
1 81 2  109
Journal of Mary Lee, 1813-1816 . . . 167
Letters, 181 7-1829  227
Waltham Days, Letters i 832-1 842 . . 255
Letters, 1 845-1 849  280
The House in Boston in the Fifties and
Sixties  294
The Brookline House and Garden . . 297
The Household  309
The Garden and Farm Books . . .315
Letters, 1 852-1 859  324
Home Doings  375
During the War  388
Henry Lee, Jr., 1817-1898 . . . -394
The Close  403

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Henry Lee
Mary Lee

Joseph Lee •
From silhouette marked by Colonel Francis L.

Lee

FrontispieceFrontispiece To face
p. 14

Joseph Lee, Jr  P- lS
Thomas Lee  P- 24
Amelia Lee (Mrs. Charles Jackson) . . . . p. 30
Nancy Lee  P- 3°
Judge Jackson's Garden  p. 50
Judge Charles Jackson  p. 52
Patrick Tracy Jackson  p. 58
Dr. James Jackson . . . p. 68
Harriet Jackson . . . . . . . p. 82
Mary Jackson (Mrs. Henry Lee) . . . . . p. 82
Hannah Jackson (Mrs. Francis Cabot Lowell) . . p. 88
Mrs. George Higginson (Mary Cabot Lee) ... p. 272
From drawing by Mrs. Stephen Higginson
Mrs. Henry Lee, Jr. (Elizabeth Perkins Cabot), and
Bessie  p. 284
Stonysides ......... p. 292
From an old sketch by m. l. m.
The Parlour at Stonysides  p. 293
From an old sketch by m. l. m.
Mrs. Samuel Torrey Morse (Harriet Jackson Lee)
Samuel Torrey Morse 
The Brookline House 
Colonel Henry Lee's House at Brookline .
Dining-room and Hall in Colonel Lee's House .
From old sketches by M. l. m.
The Hall and Western Parlour of Mr. Lee's House
From Door-way of the Brookline House .
From an old sketch
From the Garden to the House  P- 3°7
From an old sketch by H. Lee, 3rd
Henry Lee and His Grandson, Henry Lee Morse . p. 308

294294
298300302
304
306

Mary Lee,

Mary

The Namesakes: Henry Lee Higginson, Henry Lee, 3rd,
and Henry Lee Morse ......
The Brookline House 
From an old sketch
The Small House 
Occupied by Mr. Higginson and later by Mr. Morse
From an old sketch
Stonysides, at Westport, N. Y. .
From sketch by J. E. Cabot
Colonel Francis L. Lee
Mrs. Charles E. Ware
Dr. Charles Eliot Ware
The Namesakes: Mary Lee Higginson,
Lee Morse, Mary Lee Ware .
Francis Wilson Lee .
Henry Lee Morse
George Higginson
George Higginson, Jr. .
Bessie in Her Riding Habit
Clara Lee .
Colonel Francis L. Lee
Mrs. Francis L. Lee (Sarah
Henry Lee Higginson
James Jackson Hicginson
Francis Lee Higcinson
Colonel Lee's Beverly House
Colonel Henry Lee on Meg
Colonel Henry Lee in 1877
Colonel Henry Lee at Beverly Farms
Mrs. Lee at Beverly Farms
Dr. Charles Eliot Ware .
Mrs. Ware, at West Rindge, N.
From photographs taken by M
Samuel Torrey Morse
Mrs. Samuel Torrey Morse

To face
p. 310
p. 312

p. 312

(Mrs. F. C Shattuck)

Mary Ann

H.
, L. W.

Wilson)

P- 330
P- 330
P- 370
P- 370
P- 372
p. 380
p. 380
p. 382
p. 382
p. 386
p. 386
P- 390
P- 390
P- 392
P- 392
P- 392
P- 394
P- 396
P- 398
p. 400
p. 400
p. 404
p. 404
p. 408
p. 408

From Memoir of Dr. James Jackson, by courtesy of Messrs.
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. pp. 30, 58, 82, 88.
From Memoir of Colonel Henry Lee, by courtesy of Messrs.
Little, Brown & Co. pp. 298, 300, 394. 398.
xi

CHILDREN OF JOSEPH AND ELIZABETH (CABOT) LEE
All born in Beverly
i. Joseph, b. 7 Feb. 1770, d. unm. 8 Apr. 1845, Boston.
11. Nathaniel Cabot, b. 30 May 1772, <*• 14 Jan. 1806, Barbados,
B W I.; m. 11 Apr. 1803, his cousin, Mary Ann Cabot.
Child, John Clarke, b. 9 Apr. 1804, Boston, d. 19 Nov. 1877,
Salem; m. 29 July 1826, Harriet Paine Rose, dau. of Wil
liam Paine Rose, M.D., of Worcester.1
in. Elizabeth, bapt. 28 Aug. I774- <*• unm- SePf- l8o4. Beverly.
iv. George, b. 10 Jan. 1776, d. unm. 22 July 1856, West Cambridge.
v. Amelia, b. 7 Aug. 1777, d- 8 Dec- l8o8> Boston>' m- 21 Nov.
1799, Hon. Charles Jackson, son of Jonathan and Hannah
(Tracy) Jackson. Child (Jackson), Elizabeth Lee, d. 26 July
1807.
vi. Charles, b. 2 Sept. 1778, d. 5 Jan. 1785.
vil. Thomas, b. 11 Oct. 1779, d. 14 Dec. 1867, Boston; m. July
1827, Eliza Buckminster, dau. of Rev. Joseph and Sarah
(Stevens) Buckminster.
vin. Nancy, b. 8 Nov. 1780, d. unm. in Oct. 1806, Beverly.
ix. Henry, b. 4 Feb. 1782, d. 6 Feb. 1867, Boston; m. 16 June 1809,
Mary Jackson, dau. of Hon. Jonathan Jackson. (See Chil
dren of Henry and Mary (Jackson) Lee.)
x. John, b. 22 Apr. 1783, d. Sept. 1790, Beverly.
xi. Francis, b. 24 June 1784, d. unm. 30 Sept. 1830.
xh. Rebecca, b. 27 Dec. 1785, d. 11 Oct. 1786, Beverly.

'Children of John Clarke and Harriet Paine (Rose) Lee
1. John Rose, (1827-1908) ; m. 1856, Lucy Chandler Howard.
2. Marianne Cabot, (1828-1911); in. 1848, Samuel Endicott Peabody.
3. George Cabot, (1830-1910) ; in. 1857, Caroline Haskell.
4. Harriet Rose, (1831-1912).
5. William Paine, (1833-1888) ; m. Hannah Greely Stevenson.
6. Rose Smith, (1835-1903) ; m. 1854, Leverett Saltonstall.
7. Francis Henry, (1836-1913) ; m. 1871, Sophia Edgell Willson.
8. Charles Jackson, (1839-1898) ; m. 1864, Mary Ann Berry.
9. Josephine Rose, (1 841-1842).
10. Josephine Rose, (1842-1889); m. 1867, William Gurdon Saltonstall.

CHILDREN OF JONATHAN AND HANNAH
(TRACY) JACKSON
All born in Newburyport
i. Robert, b. 4 Mar. 1773, d. unm. 28 May 1800, Philadelphia.
11. Henry, b. 12 Jan. 1774, d. 8 Dec. 1806, Salem; m. in Oct. 1799,
Hannah Swett, dau. of Samuel and Anna (Woodbury)
Swett. Children, (1) Mary Wendell, m. Samuel Woodbury
Swett; (2) John Barnard Swett, m. Emily Jane Andrews;
(3) Henry, m. Lavinia Whitney.
in. Charles, b. 31 May 1775, d. 13 Dec. 1855, Boston; m. (1) 20
Nov. 1799, Amelia Lee, dau. of Joseph and Elizabeth
(Cabot) Lee of Beverly; (2) 31 Dec. 1809, Fanny Cabot,
dau. of John and Hannah (Dodge) Cabot of Beverly.
Children, by first marriage, (1) Elizabeth Lee, A. in 1807;
by second marriage, (2) Fanny Cabot, m. Charles Cushing
Paine; (3) Charles, m. Susan Cabot Jackson; (4) Lucy,
m. John Torrey Morse; (5) Amelia Lee, m. Oliver
Wendell Holmes, M.D. ; (6) Marianne Cabot, d. unm. 1846.
IV. Hannah, b. 2 July 1776, d. 10 May 1815, Boston; m. 2 Nov.
1798, Francis Cabot Lowell, son of Judge John and Susanna
(Cabot) Lowell. Children, (Lowell), (1) John, m.
Georgina Margaret Amory; (2) Susan, m. John Amory
Lowell; (3) Francis Cabot, m. Mary Lowell Gardner;
(4) Edward Jackson, d. unm. 1830.
v. James, b. 2 Oct. 1777, d. 27 Aug. 1867, Boston; m. (1) 2 Oct.
1801, Elizabeth Cabot, dau. of Andrew and Lydia (Dodge)
Cabot of Beverly; (2) 24 Dec. 1818, Sarah Cabot, sister of
his first wife. Children by first marriage, (1) Edward,
d. infancy; (2) James, d. young; (3) Edward C, d. infancy;
(4) Elizabeth Cabot, m. Charles Gideon Putnam, M.D. ;
(5) James, d. unm. 1 834; (6) Lydia Cabot, m. Charles
Storcr Storrow; (7) Harriet, m. George Richards Minot;
(8) Francis Henry, m. Sarah Boott; (9) Susan Cabot,
m. Charles Jackson.
vi. Sarah, b. 26 June 1779, d. 29 Jan. 1809; m. John Gardner.
Children, (Gardner), (1) Sarah Jackson, b. 17 Mar. 1800,
d. unm. April 1865; (2) John Adams; (3) Joseph Henry;
(4) Jonathan Jackson; (5) Samuel, all d. unm.

Children of Jonathan and Hannah (Tracy) Jackson
(Continued)
vil. Patrick Tracy, b. 14 Aug. 1780, d. 12 Sept. 1847. Beverly;
m. 1 Nov. 18 10, Lydia Cabot, dau. of Andrew and Lydia
(Dodge) Cabot of Beverly. Children, (1) Anna Cabot,
m. Charles Russell Lowell; (2) Sarah Cabot, m. William
Channing Russel; (3) Susan Cabot, d. young; (4) Patrick
Tracy, m. Susan Mary Loring; (5) Hannah Lowell, m.
Samuel Cabot, M.D.; (6) Catherine Cabot, m. John Osgood
Stone, M.D., of Salem; (7) Eleanor, (Cousin Ellen), d.
unm. 18 Nov. 1896; (8) Sophia, d. young; (9) Edward,
d. unm. 8 June 1908.
via. Harriet, b. 20 Jan. 1782, d. unm. 13 Aug. 1849, Boston.
ix. Mary, b. 3 Oct. 1783, d. 1 June i860, Brookline; m. 16 June
1809, Henry Lee, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Cabot) Lee
of Beverly. [See Children of Henry and Mary (Jackson)
Lee.]

CHILDREN OF HENRY AND MARY (JACKSON) LEE
1. Mary Cabot, b. 17 May 1810, d. 14 May 1811, Boston.
11. Mary Cauot, b. 16 Aug. 181 1, d. 26 Aug. 1849, West Cam
bridge; m. 1 Nov. 1832, George Higginson, son of George
and Martha (Babcock) Higginson. Children, (Higginson),
(1) George, b. 6 Aug. 1833, d. 19 June 1921; m. 17 Dec.
1862, Elizabeth Hazard Barker; (2) Henry Lee, b. 18 Nov.
1834, d. 14 Nov. 1919; m. 5 Dec. 1863, Ida Olympe
Frederica Agassiz; (3) James Jackson, b. 19 June 1836, d.
5 Jan. 191 1 ; m. 11 Nov. 1869, Margaret Bethune Gracie;
(4) Mary Lee, b. 5 Sept. 1838, d. 16 Aug. 1923; m. 14 Oct.
1868, Samuel Parkman Blake; (5) Francis Lee, b. 11 Oct.
1841, d. 19 Aug. 1925; m. (1) 16 Feb. 1876, Julia Borland,
(2) 11 Apr. 1898, Corina Shattuck.
111. Henry, b. 2 Sept. 1817, d. 24 Nov. 1898, Brookline; m. 20 Oct.
1845, Elizabeth Perkins Cabot, dau. of Samuel and Eliza
(Perkins) Cabot. Children, (1) Elizabeth Perkins, b. 24
July 1846, m. 19 June 1876, Frederick Cheever Shattuck,
M.D.; (2) Henry, b. 3 Oct. 1848, d. 12 Nov. 1872, London;
(3) Clara, b. 18 Nov. 1851, d. 4 Mar. 1872, Rome; (4)

Children of Henry and Mary (Jackson) Lee
(Continued)
Elliot Cabot, b. 16 Apr. 1854, d. unm. 6 Feb. 1920; (5)
George, b. 6 June 1856; m. 6 June 1896, Eva Maria
Ballerini, of Venice; (6) Margaret, b. 24 Aug. 1858, d. 4
June 1879; (7) Joseph, b. 8 Mar. 1862; m. 20 May 1897,
Margaret Copley Cabot; (8) Susan Mary, b. 14 Feb. 1864,
d. 25 Feb. 1872, Rome.
IV. Elizabeth, b. 2 Apr. 1819, d. 20 Sept. 1898, West Rindge,
N. H.; m. 20 Nov. 1854, Charles Eliot Ware, M.D., son
of the Rev. Henry and Mary (Clark) Ware. Child,
(Ware), Mary Lee, b. 7 Jan. 1858.
v. Francis L., b. 10 Dec. 1823, d. 2 Sept. 1886, Westport, N. Y.;
m. 20 July 1848, Westport, Sarah Mary Ann Wilson, dau.
of Gen. James Wilson of Keene, N. H. Children, (1) Mary,
b. 3 Aug. 1849, d. 23 May 1902, Italy; m. 27 Dec. 1877,
Hon. Matthew Hale of Albany, N. Y.; (2) Francis Wilson,
b. 18 Jan. 1852, d. 10 Feb. 1923; m. 4 Sept. 1890, Marion
Glidden Dove of Andover; (3) Alice, b. 27 May 1854; (4)
Anne Wilson, b. 21 May 1856, d. 10 Aug. 1919, Westport;
(5) Thomas, b. 20 Dec. 1858; (6) Robert Wilson, b. 3
June 1861, d. 25 Feb. 1869, Chestnut Hill.
vi. Harriet Jackson, b. 16 Apr. 1826, d. 4 June 191 1, Boston;
m. 6 Dec. 1848, Samuel Torrey Morse, son of John and
Frances (Torrey) Morse. Children, (Morse), (1) Frances
Rollins, b. 21 Jan. 1850; (2) Henry Lee, b. 18 Nov. 1852;
m. 23 June 1884, Jessie Frances Scott, of Montreal; Mary
Lee, b. 28 Oct. 1855, d. 9 May 1926; m. 8 May 1883, John
Wheelock Elliot, M.D., of Keene, N. H.

CHILDREN OF GEORGE AND ELIZABETH HAZARD
(BARKER) HIGGINSON
i. Georce, b. 3 Sept. 1864, Lenox; m. (1) 1891, Edyth Griswold;
(2) 1898, Emily Wakem. Children, by first marriage, (1)
Roger Griswold, d.; by second marriage, (2) George, d. ;
(3) Theresa; (4) Lee.
11. Augustus Barker, b. 16 June 1866; d. 16 June 1915; m-
(1) 1895, Frances Girvan; (2) 1907, Ednah Sherman
Girvan. Child, by second marriage, George Girvan.
in. Jeanette Barker, b. 6 Sept. 1869; d. 30 Dec. 1903.

CHILDREN OF HENRY LEE AND IDA OLYMPE
FREDERICA (AGASSIZ) HIGGINSON
1. Cecile Pauline, b. 5 Jan. 1870; d. 18 Aug. 1875.
11. Alexander Henry, b. 2 Apr. 1876; m. (1) 1899, Rosamond
Tudor; (2) 1907, Jeanne Calducci; (3) 1925, Mary New-
comb. Child, by first marriage, Henry Lee, m. 1926, Betty
Bird.

CHILDREN OF JAMES JACKSON AND MARGARET
BETHUNE (GRACIE) HIGGINSON
1. Margaret Gracie, b. 19 Jan. 1872; m. 1 June 1895, Clarence
Stoughton Fiske. Children, (1) Margaret Gracie; (2)
Barbara; (3) John; (4) Dorothy Brooks.
11. Elizabeth Bethune, b. 5 June 1875; m. 1909, Charles Jack
son. Children, (1) Charles; (2) Elizabeth; (3) Margaret;
(4) James Higginson.
in. Dorothy Lee, b. 7 Aug. 1878; m. 1907, Arthur Delano
Weekes, Jr. Children, (1) Arthur Delano, 3rd; (2)
Dorothy Higginson; (3) James Higginson; (4) Townsend
Underbill.
iv. James Jackson, b. 9 Sept. 1884; m. 1919, L. Virginia Mitchell.
Children, (1) Thomas Lee; (2) James Jackson.
v. Thomas Lee, b. 4 Apr. 1887, d. 6 Jan. 1906.

CHILDREN OF SAMUEL PARKMAN AND MARY LEE
(HIGGINSON) BLAKE
I. Marian Lee, b. n July 1869.
n. Robert Parkman, b. 26 Oct. 1870; d. 22 Apr. 1914; m. 1908,
Mary S. Smoot. Children, (1) Robert Parkman; (2) Eliza
beth Beal; (3) Theresa.
111. Theresa Huntington, b. 12 Jan. 1874; d. 31 July 1900.
iv. George Higginson, b. 23 Apr. 1877; d. 24 Feb. 1887.

CHILDREN OF FRANCIS LEE AND JULIA
(BORLAND) HIGGINSON
1. Francis Lee, b. 29 Nov. 1877; m- June 1905, Hetty Appleton
Sargent. Children, (1) Francis Lee; (2) Joan; (3) Griselda.
11. Mary Cabot, b. 3 Dec. 1878; m. 2 Feb. 1898, Philip Shelton
Scars. Children, (1) Philip Mason, m. Zilla MacDougal ;
Child, Philip Mason, Jr.; (2) David, m. Ellen White.
hi. Juliet Borland, b. 6 Mar. 1881; m. 27 Sept. 1916, Frederic
S. Goodwin. Child, Alida Borland.
iv. Barbara, b. 28 Mar. 1884; m. 18 June 1910, Barrett Wendell,
Jr. Children, (1) Barbara; (2) Barrett; (3) Francis Lee
Higginson.

CHILDREN OF FRANCIS LEE AND CORINA
(SHATTUCK) HIGGINSON
v. Corina Shattuck, b. 19 Sept. 1899; m. March 1923, Bernard
Fowler Rogers, Jr. Child, (1) Corina.
vi. Eleanor Lee, b. 22 Nov. 1900; m. November 1921, George
Hinckley Lyman, Jr. Child, (1) Anne,
vn. George, b. 21 Dec. 1904.

CHILDREN OF FREDERICK CHEEVER AND ELIZABETH
PERKINS (LEE) SHATTUCK
i. George Cheever, b. 12 Oct. 1879.
11. Henry Lee, b. 12 Oct. 1879.
m. Elizabeth Perkins, b. 26 June 1881; m. 14 Aug. 1906, Henry
Bryant Bigelow. Children, (1) Elizabeth Perkins; (2) Mary
Cleveland; (3) Henry Bryant; (4) Frederick Shattuck.
IV. Clara Lee, b. 9 Dec. 1883; d. 6 Dec. 1921; m. 26 May 1917,
Edward Peirson Richardson, M.D. Children, (i) Edward
Peirson; (2) Elliot Lee; (3) George Shattuck.

CHILDREN OF GEORGE AND EVA (BALLERINl) LEE
1. Italia Maria, b. 17 Sept. 1887; m. (1) 1 9 1 3 ¦ Oliver Turner;
(2) 1922, Huntington Wolcott Frothingham. Children, by
first marriage, (Turner), (i) Marie; by second marriage,
(Frothingham), (2) Lucy Lee.
11. Henry, b. 14 March 1889; in. 1923, Frances Le Moyne. Child,
( I ) Henry.
in. Elizabeth Perkins, b. 3 Dec. 1890; m. 1913, Henry Pratt
McKean, Jr. Children, (1) Lee; (2) Marian; (3) Eliza
beth; (4) Pauline.
iv. Florence, b. 23 May 1892; m. 1923, Reginald H. B. Grey-
Edwards.
v. Margery, b. 22 May 1894; m- (0 1914. Francis Williams
Sargent; (2) 1922, Arthur Adams. Children by first mar
riage, (Sargent), (1) Francis; (2) Henry Lee, d.; (3)
George Lee; by second marriage, (Adams), (4) John Quincy.

CHILDREN OF JOSEPH AND MARGARET (CABOT) LEE
1. Margaret, b. 9 March 1898; m. Aug. 1921, David Oakes
Woodbury. Children, (1) Elsa, d.; (2) Mark Lee.
11. Susan Mary, b. 18 Nov. 1899.
rn. Joseph, b. 15 Feb. 1901.
iv. Amy, b. 9 Apr. 1903; m. 1 Dec. 1922, Charles Cary Colt.
Children, (1) Charles Cary; (2) Margaret.

CHILDREN OF MATTHEW AND MARY (LEE) HALE
I. Ellen, b. 15 Jan. 1879.
II. Mary Lee, b. 15 June 1880; m. 27 July 1915, Thomas Reed
Powell. Children, (1) Mary Lee; (2) Georgiana Reed;
(3) Thomas Reed.
Hi. Matthew, b. 30 May 1882; d. 29 Aug. 1925; m. 23 Feb. 1907,
Anne Taggard Piper. Children, (1) Anne; (2) Matthew;
(3) Elizabeth Crosby; (4) Mary Lee, d.; (5) Ellen.
iv. Robert Lee, b. 9 March 1884; m. 20 Dec. 1913, Dorothea
Keep. Child, (1) Robert Lee.
v. Dorothy Quincy, b. 8 July 1886.

CHILDREN OF FRANCIS WILSON AND MARION
(DOVE) LEE
1. Mary, b. 10 Dec. 1891.
11. Guy Hunter, b. 27 Jan. 1894; m. Jan. 1922, Simone Pailley.
Child, ( 1 ) Jeanne Marie.
Hi. Isabella Dove, b. 14 Oct. 1895; m. 3 Jan. 1920, Henry Jackson,
Jr., M.D. Children, (1) Francis Lee; (2) Henry.
iv. Susan Dove, b. 29 Dec. 1897; m- 27 May 1922, Thornton
Kirkland Ware. Children, (i) Marion Lee; (2) Thornton
Kirkland.
v. Alice, b. 4 June 1899; m. 10 March 1926, Joseph Timothy
Walker, Jr.

CHILD OF HENRY LEE AND JESSIE (SCOTT) MORSE
1. Jessie Gwendolen, b. 21 Oct. 1886.

CHILD OF JOHN WHEELOCK AND MARY LEE
(MORSE) ELLIOT
1. John Morse, b. 5 Nov. 1891.

MEMOIR OF HENRY LEE
1782-1867
By Hamilton Andrews Hill
From History of Suffolk County, 1894
Henry Lee was a representative merchant and man,
and he represented a notable family. In a memorial of
his nephew, John Clarke Lee (one of the founders of the
house of Lee, Higginson & Company), by the Rev.
E. B. Willson, from which we shall quote more than
once in this sketch, it is said: "The Lees of this line
appear to have been, from the first American forefather
known to us down to the subject of this notice, a people
with a positive flavor, in whom was a strong individuality
of character; not rounded and toned to a conventional
and commonplace type, yet very genuine withal, and
without affectation of eccentricity."
Henry Lee's great-grandfather was an upright business
man in Boston, a much respected citizen of the town, and
an honored member and office-bearer in one of the
churches of the established order, for fifty or sixty years
in the 18th century. His obituary, published July 21,
1766, was as follows: "Yesterday morning died Mr.
Thomas Lee, in the ninety-fourth year of his age, who
in the early and active part of Life carried on a con
siderable Trade in this Town, though he deserves to be
recorded, rather for the unblemished Integrity of his
Dealings, and the exact Punctuality of his Payments,
than for the extent of his Trade, or the Length of
his Life."
Thomas, the eldest son of the above Thomas Lee, was
born in Boston, 1702, was educated at Harvard College,
and settled in Salem, where he became a prominent mer-

2] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
chant, and was entrusted with various important duties
in the town, and served as its representative in the Gen
eral Court.1 He died in 1747, leaving a son Joseph, then
three years old, who was deprived by the circumstances
of his family of the advantages of a liberal education,,
and was obliged to go to sea at the age of thirteen. This
Joseph Lee in due time succeeded to the command of a
vessel, and then became a merchant and shipowner. He
married Elizabeth Cabot, who belonged to a family of
merchants. His wife's brother, George Cabot, who
afterward made a distinguished name as a public man
and a senator of the United States, served his brother-
in-law through all grades from cabin-boy upward, and
the two were partners for many years, and carried on
a large and profitable trade with the West Indies, Spain,
and the Baltic. What the biographer of George Cabot
tells us of his early experiences at sea, illustrates the
nature of the training which made great merchants and
great men in Massachusetts a hundred years ago: "Not
yet seventeen years old, he shipped as cabin-boy in a
vessel commanded by his brother-in-law, Mr. Joseph Lee.
Such a change in his mode of life must have been a sharp
one to a young collegian of studious habits; nor was his
lot softened by relationship with his captain; for if family
tradition may be trusted, Mr. Lee gave his young kins
man the full benefit of severe ship's discipline."
1 Judge Joseph Lee, 1710-1802, was a younger brother of
Thomas Lee and great-uncle of Henry Lee. He lived for many
years in the old house, No. 159 Brattle Street, Cambridge (often
called the Nichols house), and being "a Loyalist of cautious utter
ance," stayed there during the Revolution. The Columbian
Centinel, in an obituary notice, said of him, "He was a kind
neighbour, warm and sincere in his friendship. Attached to his
government by principle, he was a good subject to his King, under
whom he executed the duties of an important office with fidelity
and honor, and with equal fidelity he adhered to the Government
of the United States since the Revolution."

 MEMOIR OF HENRY LEE  [3
Mr. Joseph Lee and the Messrs. Cabot moved from
Salem to Beverly, which latter port was a busy one in
their day; other merchants there at the same time were
Moses Brown, Israel Thorndike, and John and Thomas
Stephens. Mr. Lee, better known as Captain Lee, un
derstood naval construction thoroughly; his models were
a great improvement upon anything which had been in
use, and were adopted by many of the merchants and
mechanics in Boston, as well as on the North Shore.
Commodore Downes used to say that in the War of 18 12
the "Lee model" was the favorite model in the navy.
Henry Lee, sixth son and ninth child of Joseph and
Elizabeth (Cabot) Lee, was born in Beverly, February
4, 1782. He was educated at Billerica, where Dr.
Ebenezer Pemberton, who had been principal of Phillips
from 1786 to 1795, kept school for some years, and at
Phillips (Andover) Academy. Two of his brothers had
been sent to Harvard College, and his father offered to
send him, but there was a prejudice in those days against
a college education for a youth who had a business
career before him, and he decided therefore not to go.
He entered the counting-room of Marston Watson,
Rowe's Wharf, Boston, and, early in the 19th century,
went into business with his brother Joseph, first having
an office at No. 9 Doane Street, and then in Phillips
Building, Kilby and Water Streets. The brothers were
not successful, and, in 181 1, Mr. Henry Lee went to
Calcutta, by way of London, in the brig Reaper, which
belonged to him or his father.1 He remained in Cal
cutta during the War of 1812, and came into very
friendly relations with the great English houses there,
1 Colonel T. H. Perkins, who also sailed in the Reaper in
August, 181 1, speaks of it as "belonging to my friend Henry Lee,"
but both my Grandfather and Grandmother speak of it as belong
ing to Andrew Cabot.

4J  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
which were continued after his return to the United
States. He brought home with him not only a large
acquaintanceship, but a fund of valuable information;
and he was regarded as an authority both in Calcutta
and Boston on all questions affecting the trade between
the two ports. His Calcutta friends reposed such trust
in him that, before the Barings furnished American mer
chants with letters of credit, all the younger and some
of the long-established houses depended on a letter from
Mr. Lee to substantiate and define their pecuniary re
sponsibility, and thus to enable them to sell their bills
to the resident merchants. His store was at No. 39
India Wharf, and he was associated with Mr. Ozias
Goodwin, who had served him as clerk and supercargo,
and, later, with Mr. William S. Bullard, who had been
brought up by him in the business. The firm was well
known and highly respected in all the commercial cen
ters in the United States and Europe, and the goods im
ported by it from Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay were
shipped again to the West Indies, South America, and
various European ports, as well as coastwise to New
York, Philadelphia, and the Southern cities. Mr. Lee
was somewhat sanguine, however, and more than once
met with temporary reverses. He was better fitted for
the legal profession than for active business, and had
it not been for his unconquerable shyness of manner, he
would have been useful and eminent in public life. He
was an able statistician and an enthusiastic student of
political economy, and while the conclusions to which
he came in this department were not in accord with the
prevailing opinions in the community in which he lived,
he was recognized in England as a high authority by
statisticians like McCulloch1, economists like Tooke2 and
Newmarch8, and Anti-Corn Law Leaguers like Villiers4
and Thornely. [Stc note 1 at bottom of page j]

MEMOIR OF HENRY LEE [5
When the question of protection began to be an
issue in New England, Mr. Lee ranged himself with
those who were opposed to tariff duties except for pur
poses of national revenue. In 1820 nearly all the lead
ing business men of Boston were anti-protectionists, and,
led by Mr. Webster, they vigorously protested against
any advance upon the low rates of duty then in force.
But, as the manufacturing industries in cotton and wool
obtained a foothold in this part of the country, and
became organized, the demand for protection on the
behalf of those who had invested capital in them divided
public opinion sharply, and the line was drawn between
those who were concerned in these industries and thr
merchants who represented foreign commerce. As the
discussions became intense, the motives of those who
were opposed to further protection were criticised, and
suspicion was thrown even upon their patriotism. Of
the Essex Junto, of which the Cabots and Lees were
prominent members, Mr. Clay said on the floor of
Congress that its predilection for foreign trade and for
British fabrics was unconquerable.
In 1827 a meeting was held in Boston of citizens
"opposed to the further increase of the existing burthen-
^ohn Ramsay McCulloch, 1 789-1 864, statistician and polit
ical economist. An important man among the political econo
mists of his day. For more than forty years he was a diligent
collector of economic facts and did eminently useful work.
2 Thomas Tooke, 1839-1875. well-known English economist.
'William Newmarch, 1 820-1882, economist and statistician.
His great ability and his knowledge of the principles of banking
and currency were early appreciated by Thomas Tooke.
* Charles Pelham Villiers, 1802-1898, statesman: Through
out his life interested in public affairs, the population question,
free trade, and the repeal of the corn laws. He was one of the
commission of 1832 for inquiring into the administration of the
poor law. During the American Civil War he was an advocate
of the cause of the Northern States.

6]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
some duties on imported articles, and especially the in
jurious consequences to the community at large of further
duties on imported woolen goods." An influential com
mittee was appointed, consisting of Nathaniel Goddard,
Lemuel Shaw, Isaac Winslow, Thomas W. Ward,
Henry Lee, Samuel Swett1, Daniel P. Parker, and others.
The duty of preparing a report was assigned by the
committee to Mr. Lee, and the result of his labors was
a pamphlet of nearly two hundred pages octavo, in which
the whole question of the tariff, both in its general bear
ings, and in connection with the particular measures then
under consideration, is discussed in a masterly way, and
which might well be made use of today by those who wish
to study the subject from all sides. The views of Frank
lin, of Hamilton in his report on manufactures, and of
Webster in his speeches of 1820, and later, are quoted
and applied, and the action of the Harrisburg Conven
tion of the year before is examined in detail. The re
port, which came to be known as the Boston Report, bears
date November 30, 1827. . . .
While conceding the power of Congress to impose
duties for revenue, the effect of which would be to en
courage and promote manufactures, the report says: "It
is the abuse of this power, when carried to such extremes
as to prohibit imports and consequently lessen our export
trade, destroy revenue, burden one part of the nation
with heavy taxes for the benefit of another, which con
stitutes the wrong, and which, we contend, is neither in
accordance with the spirit or letter of a constitution which
was intended to guarantee equal laws, equal rights, as
well as equal burdens, to all who live under it. . . ."
We quote the closing paragraph of the report :
"In conclusion, we say, the system we are opposing
is not patriotic, is not American. Disguise it under what
'We remember Col. Swett as a military-looking old man in a
dark blue cape, coming to see Grandfather at 28 Chauncy Street.

 MEMOIR OF HENRY LEE  [7
names you will, it is still a system founded on error and
injustice. It is a system in which there are principles
at work that will first weaken, and finally break, those
social, moral, and political tics which bind this Union
together. We call then upon the farmer, the merchant, the
mechanic, the navigator, the laborer, the citizen at large,
upon every one who feels an interest in the welfare of
his country, and, above all, upon the prudent, just and
enlightened manufacturer, to join us in resisting it."
The memorial to Congress which accompanied this
report was written by Lemuel Shaw.
The Congressional election in Boston in 1830 turned
upon the issue between free trade and protection. Cap
tain William Sturgis was selected to represent the former,
but he withdrew at the last moment, and Mr. Lee ac
cepted the candidacy in his place. Mr. Nathan Apple-
ton was the candidate of the protectionists, and he was
elected after a close contest1.
A Free Trade Convention Avas held in Philadelphia
in 1 83 1, and Mr. Lee took a leading part in its proceed
ings. A very forcible memorial for presentation to
Congress was drafted by Albert Gallatin, who presided
over its deliberations; at the request of the permanent
committee, Mr. Lee prepared an "Exposition of Evi
dence" in support of the memorial, and this was printed
and widely circulated. It is full of statistical matter,
carefully compiled and clearly presented, and it is a
monument to the ability, the painstaking industry, and
the public spirit of the author.
1 "Federalism, after a placid and powerless Indian summer,
melted into dominant Republicanism by 1825. Daniel Webster,
the child whom it had raised, seceded to high protection in 1828,
and Boston ratified his change by electing Nathan Appleton to
Congress against Henry Lee, a leading East India merchant and
brilliant writer on free trade." From Maritime History of
Massachusetts, by Samuel Eliot Morison.

8]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
In 1834, when General Jackson was in conflict with
the Bank of the United States, the government deposits
having already been withdrawn, Mr. Lee, with Mr.
Nathan Appleton, Mr. Patrick T. Jackson, and others,
went to Washington in behalf of the citizens of Boston,
to remonstrate with the administration, and to do what
could be done towards a renewal of the charter of the
bank. On their way they had an interview with Mr.
Biddle, the president, whose policy of violently contract
ing the currency they disapproved and protested against.
To relieve the pressure in the money market and the
general distress which followed the closing of the bank,
a meeting was held in Boston, January 18, 1836, at Avhich
Thomas B. Wales presided, and George William Gor
don served as secretary. The meeting was called specifi
cally "to consider the need of a bank with a capital
sufficient to do the business which had been done by the
Branch Bank of the United States," and it was resolved
to ask the Legislature "to incorporate a bank with a
capital of not exceeding ten millions of dollars, one-half
to be subscribed and paid for by the State in four per
cent bonds." The memorial embodying this proposition
was drawn up by a committee consisting of Henry Lee,
Henry Rice, George Bond, Thomas B. Curtis, James
McGregor, Ozias Goodwin, Horace Gray, and others,
and it received the signature of Perkins and Company
and seventeen hundred and thirty-six others. It said:
"The increased and increasing business of the whole
Commonwealth requires the aid of foreign capital, and
such capital cannot be obtained without the credit of
the State. Such an institution will not only relieve the
wants of the community, but will give a new impulse to
all the concerns of agriculture, manufactures, commerce
and the fisheries." Mr. Lee wrote an exposition of
the facts and arguments in support of the memorial,

 MEMOIR OF HENRY LEE  [9
which was printed with the legislative documents of the
year. Strong ground is taken in this paper against the
usury laws then on the statute book of the Common
wealth; but in this particular Mr. Lee says expressly that
he does not represent the opinions of all the memorialists.
At the urgent request of his son, Mr. Lee retired
from active business in 1840, and henceforth devoted
himself to the more congenial pursuits of reading and
writing, and to the study of the great questions of the
day. He was succeeded, in the same store on India
Wharf, by the firm of Bullard, Lee and Company, which
consisted of Messrs. William S. Bullard, Henry Lee, Jr.,
and Stephen H. Bullard. After more than a quarter of
a century spent in honorable and peaceful retirement, and
in the exercise of a genial and healthful influence upon
all who knew him, he died on the 6th of February, 1867.
In announcing the event of his death, the Boston Daily
Advertiser said:
"Mr. Henry Lee, who died at his residence in this
city yesterday morning at the venerable age of eighty-
five years, had been well known to our business commu
nity almost from the beginning of this century, and was
highly respected for his attainments, his public spirit, and
his many estimable personal qualities. In the prime of
his life he was well known as a writer on financial topics,
and it was his singular fortune in 1832 to receive the
vote of South Carolina for vice-president of the United
States on a ticket with John Floyd, for whom she voted
for president. In the latter part of his life, until ad
vanced age compelled him to withdraw his mind from the
excitement of politics, we believe that Mr. Lee was a
strong upholder of the ideas of Massachusetts. His
death removes one of the most familiar names from the
honored list of our merchants of the old school."
It should be said that the vote given to Mr. Lee for

ioj  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
the vice-presidency by the State of South Carolina was
merely an expression of its gratitude for his opposition
to high tariff legislation, and not because he had any
sympathy with its attempt at nullification. The reference
of the Advertiser to his being a strong upholder of "the
ideas of Massachusetts," meant, of course, that he gave
his support to the principles of the Republican party,
which were accepted by the majority of the people of
the State during the War of the Rebellion and in the
years that followed.
His simplicity, his cordiality, his eloquence in con
versation (for nothing would have induced him to speak
in public), his general information, contributed to place
him in friendly relations with the whole community, and
few men in private station have been more respected and
beloved. He married, June 16, 1809, Mary, youngest daughter
of the Hon. Jonathan Jackson, by whom he had six
children. His wife's brothers, Judge Charles and Dr.
James Jackson, were eminent in their professions, and
universally respected and beloved; her brother, Mr. Pat
rick Tracy Jackson, and her brother-in-law, Mr. Francis
Cabot Lowell, after a brief career as East India mer
chants, founded at Waltham the first successful cotton
cloth factory in Massachusetts, but never advocated per
manent high duties.
Dr. Frederick H. Hedge, clergyman of the church in
Brookline and distinguished scholar, always a valued
friend of all the family, said of Mr. Lee :
"Those who in years gone by were associated with him
in the way of business will bear witness to the high
principles and lofty integrity which governed his con
duct in all commercial relations, and impelled him after
repeated misfortunes to cancel obligations which the law
could no longer exact, but which his own quick sense of
honor made none the less binding.

MEMOIR OF HENRY LEE [n
"I, who knew him only in the latter days of his retire
ment, can speak only of his qualities as they exhibited
themselves in social intercourse. I esteemed it a privilege
to converse with one whose pursuits and large experience
of men and life had furnished his mind with such ample
stores of thought and anecdote, and who had at his
command such varied and exact information on topics
of public and national interest. I rarely left him with
out feeling myself enriched by his conversation.
"But what most impressed me in his social character,
as I recall it, was his perfect naturalness, his affluent
humor, and a certain gaiety of spirit, found only, as I
believe, in connection with great purity and innocence
of heart and life. I have seen him at the age of nearly
fourscore engaged in sports with young children as if
himself were one of them. He seemed to me to retain in
extreme age the playfulness and gentleness of a little child.
"I recall, moreover, with vivid satisfaction the high
tone and generous strain of sentiments expressed by
him on the great political question of the time in which
I knew him, and I well remember the encouragement I
derived from the patriotic zeal and prompt decision with
which, at the breaking out of the war, the old man em
braced the side of liberty and union."
Mr. Howells has preserved for all time, in one of his
volumes, the memory of the Calcutta trade, with whose
great development and gradual decline Mr. Henry Lee's
active life was contemporaneous. The story is told by
one who is supposed to have worked his way from the
forecastle to the quarter-deck, and from the cabin to the
counting-room; "The place (India Wharf)1 was sacred
1 39 India Wharf seems to have been the office home of various
members of the family for some forty years, beginning with
Andrew Cabot in 1810, later Joseph and Henry Lee, then "Henry
& Francis Lee, merchants"; "Henry Lee, merchant," in the
thirties; Bullard & Lee (Henry Lee, Jr.), in the forties. From
Boston Directory.

12] HENRY AND MARY LEE

to the shipping of the grandest commerce in the world.
There they lay, those beautiful ships, clean as silver,
every one of them, manned by honest Yankee crews. Not
by ruffians from every quarter of the globe. There were
gentlemen's sons before the mast, with their share in the
venture, going out for the excitement of the thing, boys
from Harvard, fellows of education and spirit; and the
forecastle was filled with good Toms and Jims and Joes
from the Cape, chaps whose aunts you knew; good stock
through and through, sound to the core. We had on a
mixed cargo, and we might be going to trade with east
ern ports on the way out. Nobody knew what market
we should find in Calcutta. It was pure adventure, and
a calculation of chances, and it was a great school of
character. It was a trade that made men as well as
fortunes; it took thought and forethought. The owners
planned their ventures like generals planning a campaign.
They were not going to see us again for a year; they
were not going to hear of us till we were signalled out
side on our return."
It has been well said by a friendly critic of Mr.
Howells : "This passage deserves a place in the best
history of Boston that shall be written, for it perfectly
pictures one of the great periods in Boston's commercial
past, a period when the magnificent East India trade of
the port laid the foundation for much of its present
wealth and greatness. How strongly the difference be
tween the broadening, cultivating effect upon those en
gaged in a trade which carried the mind out into remote
parts of the world, and the restrictive effect of most of
the mercantile occupations of today, is brought out. To
be in the East India trade was almost a liberal education
in itself."

II
THE LEE FAMILY
Joseph Lee and Elizabeth (Cabot) Lee
The following notes on Joseph Lee (the father of
Henry Lee) were written by Col. Henry Lee, and quoted
by the Rev. E. B. Willson in his Memorial of John
Clarke Lee.
Joseph Lee, second son of Thomas and Lois (Orne)
Lee, was born in Salem on 22 May, 1744, and died in
Boston, 6 February, 1831. He married, on 9 June, 1769,
Elizabeth Cabot (daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth
Higginson Cabot), who was the mother of his twelve
children and Avho died in Beverly, 22 June, 1786. On
12 May, 1793, he married as his second wife Deborah
(Higginson) Cabot [widow of Stephen Cabot, brother
of his first wife]. He died in Boston, 6 February, 1831.
Joseph Lee was, by the loss of his father, deprived
of the advantage of a college course and forced by
narrow circumstances to go to sea. He, with the Messrs.
Cabot, whose only sister, Elizabeth, he married, removed
to Beverly, and after a term of sea-service, carried on an
extensive business with his distinguished brother-in-law,
the Honorable George Cabot, who, as junior, had served
him through all the grades from cabin-boy to partner.1
Capt. Joseph Lee, as he was usually styled, had a great
talent for mechanics, especially for ship-building; a nu
merous fleet designed by him were sent out as privateers
during the War of the Revolution, and afterwards to
Europe and the East and West Indies. After his re-
1 "The traditional opinion expressed in the family being 'that
Cap'n Joe would put George Cabot's nose to the grindstone,'
which was doubtless done." — Life of Stephen Higginson, by
T. W. Higginson. '3

14] HENRY AND MARY LEE

tirement from active business the projectors of the Essex
Bridge, having for some cause lost their engineer, be
sought Mr. Lee to act in that capacity, which he did to
their satisfaction, which they testified by the presentation
of a silver pitcher, Mr. Lee having refused any com
pensation. [Joe Lee says, "I have often heard Father
tell the story of our great-grandfather and the silver
pitcher somewhat as follows: He built, and I suppose
designed, the bridge from Beverly to Salem. I gathered
that they considered it quite an expert matter and that
he was called in as the best (or only) man to do it.
When he got it done the authorities presented him with
a silver pitcher, upon which he remarked that if he had
known they were going to be such damn fools he wouldn't
have had anything to do with it. Probably there was
some characterization of the bridge in the last part of
the statement."] Early in the nineteenth century Mr. Lee
and the Cabots moved to Boston, where he was a direc
tor in various banks and insurance companies.
Like many old sea-captains, Mr. Lee took a great
interest in his garden, not only during his residence at
Beverly, but even in his extreme age he could often be
seen in the garden of his son-in-law, Judge Jackson,
opposite his home in Bedford Place, Boston, direct
ing the gardener, or, saw in hand, high on the ladder,
pruning or grafting his pear trees.
Joseph and Elizabeth Lee had twelve children, all born
in Beverly, several of whom died in childhood, and three
daughters in early womanhood.
All, sons and daughters, inherited their father's mas
culine strength of mind and simplicity of heart; only two
(his oldest son, Joseph, and Capt. George Lee), his
talent for naval architecture, which they exercised. None
of them had his precision and love of order, and ability
to regulate the details of family and business affairs for

JOSEPH LEE
i/44->83i
Kiilher of Henry Lee

JOSEPH LEE
1 744-1 83 1
Silhouette Marked by Mrs. C. E. Ware

 THE LEE FAMILY  [15
which he was eminent: all shared his love of nature and
skill in gardening, and, like their father, the sons were
sagacious, enterprising merchants.
Father and sons shunned display, declined public office,
finding resources in their books, their gardens, and the
constant society of a large circle of family and friends.
But, while unwilling to take office, or to appear in public,
they were interested in all political movements, awake to
all public claims, to which they responded liberally.
The children were of a more mercurial temperament
than their father, had remarkable powers of observation,
full of wit and humor and a corresponding liability to
depression ; their perceptive qualities were keen, they were
alive to all the phenomena of nature, to all the qualities,
good and bad, of their fellow men, and their frank utter
ances were not always relished. Capt. Joseph Lee
was wont to attribute all the Lee peculiarities to the
"Orne kink," whatever that may have been.1
The character of Joseph Lee is thus portrayed by his
minister, the Rev. Alexander Young:
"Bred to the sea in early life, Mr. Lee retained in
subsequent years the physical and mental vigor which had
been developed and nurtured by that perilous mode of
hardy industry. His virtue was of the severest kind.
"An inflexible integrity, a stern moral principle, an
uncompromising adherence to truth and right, regardless
of consequences, were its prominent characteristics. Firm,
decided, independent, he formed his opinions of men and
things for himself, and shaped his actions by his own
sense of propriety and duty. Resolute in pursuing his
own straightforward course, he turned aside to interfere
with no man's affairs, and would suffer no man to interfere
with his. Following the advice of the Apostle he 'studied
to be quiet and to do his own business.'
1 There was an Orne inheritance in both the Lee and Cabot
families.

1 6] HENRY AND MARY LEE
"Retiring and unobtrusive, he invaded no man's
province, encroached upon no man's rights, detracted
from no man's character. Though his morality was
severe, yet he was neither austere in manner, nor morose
in feeling. He would not designedly wound the feelings
of the humblest individual, nor do harm to any living
thing. Accessible to kindness, he reciprocated it to all who
came within the circle of his acquaintance; and mani
fested an affectionate interest in the concerns and
pleasures of his youthful relatives. It is saying much
for the goodness of an old man's heart that children
are glad to leave their sports to listen to his kind words
and obtain his smile.
"... Regular and temperate in all things, Mr. Lee
was free in an unusual degree from the infirmities inci
dent to old age. Till the day of his decease he retained
the vigor and elasticity of youth. His frame was erect,
and his step firm and elastic. . . .
"Mr. Lee's religious views were sober, rational, liberal.
He had great faith in the merit and efficacy of good
works, and did not like to hear moral virtues depreciated.
He thought that to benefit mankind was no mean way
of serving God, . . . and that a man's religion is of little
worth unless it pervades, elevates and purifies his whole
character." The Children of Joseph and Elizabeth (Cabot) Lee
Joseph Lee, born 7 February, 1770; died, unmarried,
in Boston, 8 April, 1845; was educated at Phillips Acad
emy, Andover. He became a merchant in Boston but
retired early. He inherited his father's talent for naval
architecture, and was long engaged in ship-building.
Uncle Joe, the oldest of our great-grandfather's chil
dren, was, by tradition, a man who cared for the society
of his contemporaries, and was enjoyed by them. Judg-

 THE LEE FAMILY  [17
ing from allusions to him in letters and from tradition,
he was lively-minded, critical, occasionally censorious, es
pecially of near relatives, so that he and Uncle Tom
had a quarrel of many years, which somewhat indefi
nitely faded away. There was a story (apparently not
founded on fact) that round the rim of the bell of the
little church given by Uncle Tom to Chestnut Hill, was
engraved "Let brotherly love prevail," but even that
the story was told implies that the strong family tie
still held. Uncle Joe proclaimed himself as idle, but he
was one of the builders of ships at Essex for years, and
he must have had ability and great activity of mind and
body, with perhaps periods of acute idleness at times,
which may have given rise to the old family saying "that
the Lees got tired seeing the Jacksons work."
Cousin Bessie Shattuck, whose accurate memory holds
many of Uncle Harry's stories of the older family, says
that her impression of Uncle Joe from family tradition
is that he was sociable in nature, liking and liked by
many friends, — impulsive, and often behaving rather
like an undisciplined child.
When he and Grandfather had failed in business he
stayed for a long time at Colonel Perkins's in Brookline.
At that time queues went out of fashion, and Uncle Joe
took a candle and burned his off, and wanted Colonel
Perkins to do likewise, which he declined to do.
One afternoon the Colonel went to sleep lying on the
floor, with his head on a Chinese rattan pillow, and
Uncle Joe asked the Colonel's little daughter Eliza (later
Mrs. Samuel Cabot and Cousin Bessie's grandmother)
if she had a pair of sharp scissors, and when she promptly
and innocently gave him hers, he cut off the Colonel's
queue, and, of course, in so doing wakened him; he
jumped up and pursued Uncle Joe, who dashed out of
the house and across the road, and all over the Theo-

i8]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
dore Lyman place (then the Mason place). The little
girl thought one or other of them would be killed,
but they came back together, laughing. In Captain
Bennet Forbes's Reminiscences he speaks of the Brig
Rose, built in 1836 — "Belonged to S. Cabot and myself:
Joe Lee modelled her. Took flour to Callao, and went
to Sandwich Islands and China" — and the Ariel, a
schooner built at Medford in 1842, "Model by Joe Lee
for himself and me." In this pleasant and interesting
volume are one or two amusing stories of Uncle Joe,
too long to quote, but evidently characteristic.
Uncle Joe's portrait with his dog Rover, painted for
my Mother, still hangs in our dining-room at 12 Marl
borough Street. In the portrait one eye is closed, so
that he might be thought to have been blind, but as he
sometimes closed the right eye and sometimes the left,
it is supposed that he was astigmatic and simply made his
own adjustment.
While he was sitting for this portrait the artist said
to him, "Why, Mr. Lee, you have got both eyes open I
Is not one usually shut?" To which the answer was,
"I don't know — which is it?" This portrait hung for
awhile in the Lyman house at Waltham, where my
mother first saw it.
His place at Chestnut Hill, called by Grandfather in
his letters "the Lee place," was the starting-point of
the group of pleasant homes occupied by his kinsmen,
the Lees, Saltonstalls, and Lowells, later widening into
the present Chestnut Hill, where are still Lees and
Saltonstalls and Lowells among many other friends.
Uncle Frank Lee's stone house, built in the late fifties,
was for years the chief gathering-place of the Chestnut
Hill friends and neighbors, especially during the years
of the Civil War, while the home of his son, Francis
W. Lee, has been again for many years a happy centre
of Chestnut Hill life and interests.

^ J770-/#A.ef

 THE LEE FAMILY  [19
Nathaniel Cabot Lee, born 1772. Married, 1803,
his cousin, Mary Ann Cabot. Died in Barbados, 1806.
The following notes are by Col. Henry Lee in the Memorial
of John Clarke Lee.
"Of Nathaniel Cabot Lee, I only know that he was a
friend of Mr. Francis C. Lowell (one of the founders
of our cotton manufacture) ; that he was highly es
teemed as a man, highly reputed as a merchant; that he
was born in Beverly, 30 May, 1772, graduated from
Harvard College, 1791, Harvard A.M., 1794, married
Mary Ann Cabot, and died in the Island of Barbados,
whither he had gone for his health, leaving an only child,
John Clarke Lee, to whom he willed half his fortune (a
competent one for those days, and large for a young
man of thirty-four to have acquired), deducting some
generous legacies to his wife's family." [His estate in
cluded a house in what was then called Tremont Place,
nearly opposite to King's Chapel, and it was there that
Cousin John Lee was born on April 9, 1804.]
"Whether Mr. Nat. Lee, as he was called, possessed
the humor and fluent conversational powers of his
brothers, I cannot say."
[From long and affectionate acquaintance with certain
of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Nathaniel
Lee I believe we may be sure that he did.]
Capt. George Lee, born 1776; died at West Cam
bridge, 1856. He was never married. He was edu
cated at Phillips Academy; became a sea-captain, and
inherited his father's ability as a naval architect. After
leaving the sea he lived at West Cambridge, on the banks
of Fresh Pond, devoting himself to shooting, fishing, and
gardening. About Uncle George, we none of us recall much, ex
cept his tall, muscular form and silver hair, and his kind-

2o]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
ness to us children : his small white house and the garden
and greenhouse, and the housekeeper who gave us ginger-
nuts. He was always spoken of as gentle in temper; a
peacemaker among brothers who were sometimes stormy.
He was especially fond of my Mother among his nieces
and nephews, and she of him.
The following fragment from an article called "Sedge-
Birds," by Cousin Elliot Cabot, in the Atlantic Monthly
for March, 1869, is the best description remaining to
us of our old Uncle George.
". . . The sound of a paddle comes from behind the
point to the right, and gradually a punt emerges and
makes leisurely way towards us, its broad-shouldered
occupant sinking the stern deep in the water. At last he
heaves to off our stand, and the voice of 'the old Captain'
hails us, asking whether we have seen a decoy of his.
We have not, but he edges in, still unsatisfied, and flings
out in a short, growling way that it looked much like
a wild one, etc., etc., evidently thinking we have shot
his bird, perhaps knowingly. Indeed, what do these
young scamps come here for, to spoil what little shooting
is left? There never was much, and now there's none.
All this inside the teeth, however, for he manages to
consume his own smoke, though with some rumbling.
He still keeps edging in until he gets fairly alongside,
where we dispel the doubt which native delicacy would
not allow him openly to express, even to such miscel
laneous-looking individuals as we. Satisfied that his pet
is not among the slain, he softens up, becomes chatty;
at length hearing a name which he will not directly ask,
he looks up sharp, and fairly overflows with friendly
talk and stories of the olden time, until we, warned by
the sunbeams that now begin to gild the woods on the
western point, with some difficulty make our escape. A
kindly old giant, — beneath all his gruffness as tender as

 THE LEE FAMILY  [21
true. He has vanished with the bit of wilderness and
the game he almost survived, and now men are levelling
off the oak-clad knolls that hid his trig cottage from
the north and from the Concord road; the railway runs
where the curving edge of the bank met the waters of
the bay, and the swale where his little greenhouse stood
open to the pond and the sun is blocked across by a line
of ice-houses. They have turned his place round, to suit
the requirements of a new era. He dwelt there sunning
himself in the old memories, among his flowers or in his
boat, silent, introverted, brooding over the old New Eng
land times to which he belonged. But now the present
has come in with its far-reaching schemes, its cosmo
politan interests, and must live on the street, and has
no time to think of the sunshine or the want of it."
After the death of Uncle Joe Lee in 1845, Uncle
George and Uncle Tom, "Heirs to the estate of their
brother Joseph Lee," directed the administrators, Cousin
John Lee and Uncle George Higginson, "to pay over their
proportions of the same to their nephews, John C. Lee,
Henry Lee, Jr., and Francis Lee, and to their nieces,
Mary Higginson, Elizabeth Lee and Harriet Lee, in
equal parts." This little document bears witness to the
warm feeling for nephews and nieces which has shown
itself in our uncles from then on, and markedly in our dear
cousin, Elliot Cabot Lee, for whom Clara Richardson's
little second son is named. Tom Lee, both in work and
play with many nephews and nieces, has always shown the
same warm feeling. Indeed, uncles and aunts have
played a very important part in our family life, loving
and much beloved.
Thomas Lee, born 1779; died in Boston, 1867. He
was educated at Phillips Academy, Andover, and at
Harvard College; he did not graduate, but in 1866 re-

22 J HENRY AND MARY LEE
ceived the degree of A.B. "as of 1798." "He married
in 1827 Eliza Buckminster, daughter of Rev. Joseph
Buckminster. He went into the counting-room of Hon.
William Gray; afterward entered the house of Lee &
Cabot, in which his father was a partner, and was later
in the Havana trade with Patrick Jackson, Having
made a moderate fortune, he retired early and devoted
himself to landscape gardening, at his place in Brookline,
now owned by Prof. Charles Sprague Sargent."
Col. Henry Lee, in a letter to Col. Marshall P.
Wilder, says : "Thomas Lee, to whom you refer, was my
father's brother, who for forty or fifty years spent his
summers at his place near Jamaica Pond, which, in my
opinion, was the best piece of landscape gardening near
Boston. "The park-like wood, the well-grouped plantations of
shrubs of every variety, with their constant succession of
flowers, the vistas, the lawn for many years unrivalled,
the footpaths winding about naturally, as dictated by ob
stacles or the natural undulations of the ground, the
insertion of native or foreign shrubs and plants in their
appropriate places, as if springing up spontaneously, —
in short, the art of concealing art has never been carried
so far by any of his contemporaries."
Professor Sargent is kind enough to point out a refer
ence to the place in Downing's second edition of his
treatise on Landscape Gardening (1844):
"On the other side of the lake is the cottage of Thomas
Lee, Esq. Enthusiastically fond of botany, and garden
ing in all its departments, Mr. Lee has here formed a
residence of as much variety and interest as we ever saw
in so moderate a compass — about twenty acres. It is,
indeed, not only a most instructive place to the amateur
of landscape gardening, but to the naturalist and lover
of plants. Every shrub seems placed precisely in the soil

 THE LEE FAMILY  [23
and aspect it likes best, and native and foreign Rhodo
dendrons, Kalmias, and other rare shrubs, are seen here
in the finest condition. There is a great deal of variety
in the surface here, and while the lawn-front of the house
has a polished and graceful air, one or two other portions
are quite picturesque. Near the entrance gate is an
English Oak, only fourteen years planted, now forty
feet high."
Mr. Sargent writes: "I from time to time removed
some of Mr. Lee's trees from the lawn, but on the whole
the place has been very little changed in the fifty years
of my occupation of it. The oak tree which Downing
mentions at the end of his paragraph is still standing
and I think has been visited by every distinguished lover
and student of trees in the world, and specimens of the
leaves and fruit are to be found in many European
museums. It is evidently a hybrid of still rather un
certain origin, and has now been named for me.1 Mr.
Lee's Rhododendrons and Laurels still flourish.
Faithfully yours,
C. S. Sargent."
Jamaica Plain, Feb. 26, 1924.
Uncle Tom had an inborn love of all that is beautiful
in nature and art ; his place at Brookline bore witness to
his quick sense of landscape beauty.
The low, rather rambling house, with pillared and
gabled veranda, stood almost level with the perfect lawn,
looking southward toward Jamaica Pond, seen through
JThe Bulletin of the Arnold Arboretum for October, 1924,
speaks of this oak. "The oldest of these hybrids now known in
Boston is on the Sargent estate in Brookline. It is of uncertain
origin, but no doubt was planted by Mr. Thomas Lee as early
as 1820. This tree is now known as Quercus Sargentii; it re
produces itself quite accurately, and as a young plant grows very
rapidly."

24]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
the trees of the avenue. There was a light trellis on
the veranda, up which climbed delicate vines — mauran-
dia, cypress vine, and Madeira and Canary vines; these
made only a light tracery and did not screen the view.
Between the pillars stood Italian stone vases in which
were fine pelargoniums, diosma, lobelias, and some delicate
roses. Set a little back and across the avenue was the small
greenhouse in which he successfully grew climbing roses,
and choice and beautiful flowers. Uncle Tom loved his
flowers, and liked to give them to his guests, but it was
hard for him to cut a rose just before it fully opened,
and there was a struggle between his wish to give liberally
and the pang it gave him to cut a flower at its perfect
moment, only to have it fade so soon. Northeastward
the ground lay in lovely curves, where the lengthening
afternoon shadows of the chestnut trees, lying across the
fine grass, were a never-ending delight to Uncle Tom.
The walk westward through the place, called Cook's
Walk, ran by the stream which flowed through the
grounds, by which were clumps of rhododendron. On the
right bank of the walk grew arum lilies, which to us
were Jack-in-the-Pulpits, thalictrum with soft brown
and cream-colored tassels, wood anemones, columbines,
triantalis, and the larger Solomon's seal. At one point
the stream widened into a pond, in which Frank Lee
and Harry caught bream and pout, and skated and
trapped muskrats.
Of course it never occurred to us as children that the
instinct of a landscape gardener, and choice and decision,
had any part in these pleasant places where we explored or
played. Rhododendrons might, for aught we knew, grow
by all the streams in New England ; laurel and shadblow
might grow anywhere as well as here, and the soft curves
of banks along avenues be always covered with little white

77 7,9 -7f 67

THE LEE FAMILY [25
Scotch roses in June. We supposed, too, that all lawns
were well kept, with marvellously fine turf. Cousin
Harry remembers that the two men who mowed it con
stantly kept their scythes so sharp that the blades were
like razors, and could mow as close as can a lawn-mower
now. Inside the house was a dark coolness on summer days ;
the east drawing-room for spring and autumn, the west
drawing-room for full midsummer, and usually flowers
in both, with books and periodicals on the tables and
Aunt Eliza and Uncle Tom perhaps reading. At all
events, quiet reigned in those orderly rooms. There
was a somewhat stately form of household, though really
simple. James Geddes was major-domo, whose first home when
he came as a lad from Scotland had been with Uncle
Guy Hunter at Westport, Lake Champlain: and Mrs.
Susan Emerson, handsome, spirited and respected, was
housekeeper. We minded James as we minded no one
else, unless when we had a sharp command from Uncle
Tom, and he was a friend of all our lives; later he was
with Uncle Harry Lee at the Union Safe Deposit vaults,
where he maintained his character of monitor and a sort
of Keeper of the Privy Purse. Cousin Bessie says that
Uncle Harry, one day leaving the Vaults hurriedly, said,
"James, give me fifty dollars," to which James's response
was, "What did ye do with the fifty dollars I gave ye
yesterday?" — the Scottish thrift and the Scottish speech
clean-cut as ever.
In both of Uncle Tom's houses, in Brookline and at
No. 2 Temple Place, Boston, his love of pictures and
interest in his belongings was evident.
Aunt Eliza Lee was a woman of letters, and something
of a writer, having written in 1849 the memoirs of her

26] HENRY AND MARY LEE
father and brother, the Rev. Dr. Buckminster, and J. S.
Buckminster, translated some of the books of Jean Paul
Richter, and written a life of him, besides several other
books. She was distinctly an intellectual woman; she
and Uncle Tom were readers of the best books of the
day, and the London Spectator and Saturday Review were
duly on the table week by week.
Uncle Tom liked good talk and could talk well, even
though, as John Morse says in two well-placed adjectives,
he could be at times "caustic and formidable." He en
joyed the variety brought into the house by his nephews
and nieces, perhaps especially by Aunt Sarah Lee,
and by Aunt Eliza's nephews and nieces as well as his
own; Mrs. Charles Homans, Col. and Mrs. Oliver W.
Peabody, and their brothers, Thornton and Kirkland
Lothrop, and by Cousin Lucy and Cousin John Lowell.
Friends, like Mr. Edward Silsbee, valued his taste
in pictures and liked to talk them over with him.
Uncle Tom was an early friend of Mr. W. Allan Gay,
the artist, and a purchaser of his pictures, which he
greatly admired, and to which he called people's attention.
Some copies of old Italian pictures were on his walls,
such as people had before the days of photographs, and
many delightful prints, now distributed about in our
various households. They were usually engravings of
the paintings of English artists— Wilkie, Callcott,
Collins, Turner, and others, often framed in light wood,
sometimes bird's-eye maple. His tastes were decided
and very much his own ; in a day when most vehicles were
sober in color, he had a canary-colored chaise in which
he drove his chestnut mare, Jenny, and in this chaise
he drove Mother to Uncle George Lee's funeral at West
Cambridge in 1856. He much liked the soft shades of
brown, then called "dead-leaf" colors, and the curtains
in the Temple Place drawing-room, and the coverings of

THE LEE FAMILY [27
the bird's-eye maple sofas and chairs, were of that soft,
sympathetic color. But he could like warm and rich
coloring as well, and the crimson cloth curtains, im
perishable of texture, of the Temple Place dining room
found a fitting place later in dear Mary Lee Hale's
Albany home.
Mary Lee passed several years after Aunt Eliza's
death with Uncle Tom in Brookline and at 2 Temple
Place, Boston, and made breakfast and tea-table and
all day delightful to him instead of lonely. I often stayed
there with her, and as I now think of it, Uncle Tom must
have been wonderfully patient with two talkative school
girl great-nieces, and we enjoyed and I think profited
by the society of older and clever people.
Temple Place was then only connected with Washing
ton Street by a flight of six or eight steps and a broad
passage. It was a Court occupied by many friends. Next
to Uncle Tom, at No. 4, lived Cousin Charles and Cousin
Elizabeth Putnam, and at No. 6 were Uncle Charles and
Aunt Lizzie Ware till they moved to 39 West Street.
Uncle Tom gave to the city the statue of Alexander
Hamilton which stands at the head of Commonwealth
Avenue, facing the equestrian statue of Washington,
across Arlington Street. It has never been considered
a good statue, but it at least expressed several of its
giver's characteristic traits. He was a Federalist ; a life
long admirer of Llamilton. He valued Dr. William
Rimmer, the sculptor, as an artist, and he believed in
encouraging artists. He had a conviction that as good
statues could be made of granite as of marble, and this
statue is made of Quincy granite; and he believed in the
commemoration of great men in cities and in the placing
of statues in public parks. The monument in the Public
Garden which commemorates the discovery of the anaes
thetic properties of ether was also given by him.

\ /
28] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
In 1856 Uncle Tom made a gift to the Hersey Pro
fessorship of Anatomy of Harvard College, now amount
ing in value to something over $25,000. The record
in the Treasurer's office reads : "the income to be paid
as an addition to the present salary received by Dr.
Jeffries Wyman, Hersey Professor1, so long as he
remains in office; and further, also, for the term of his
natural life; after his death my desire is that the said
Fund shall remain for the support of said Professorship,
to be managed and income applied in such manner as
the President and Fellows shall think proper. About
any change in investment of this property I desire to
be consulted. Securities amounting in value to $10,030
thankfully received and conditions accepted." Between
1863 and 1865 he gave to Harvard College, withhold
ing his name, $15,000, the income (or at discretion, the
principal) to be expended in the undergraduate depart
ment, "to encourage the attainment of the art of reading
aloud the English language well."
As the colony of the younger relatives at Chestnut
Hill grew, Uncle Tom thought they should have a church
nearer than that at Brookline, and built for them the
little church, with school-room attached, which still stands
there, the bell of which was rung on the Sunday after
noon in April, 1865, when we heard of the fall of Rich
mond by some of the Chestnut Hill children, headed by
Alice Lee, then nine years old.
For many years, Sunday after Sunday, all the neigh
bors and their children gathered there, and sometimes
Brookline friends as well. The Rev. William Whitwell
was the minister; Mrs. Daniel Curtis, accomplished in
all music, played the small organ. The beautiful voices
1 There was a strong friendship between Uncle Tom and Dr.
Jeffries Wyman, whom Mother used often to see at Uncle Tom's
in Brookline.

 THE LEE FAMILY  [29
of Cousin Leverett Saltonstall and Mrs. Daniel Slade
led in the hymns. Miss Susan Hale kept the school for
several years. Both church and school-room played their
part in Chestnut Hill life for something like a quarter
of a century, as Uncle Tom had hoped they would.
Henry Lee, born 1782; died 1867. Only a few
words about my Grandfather are given here, as the short
memoir of him precedes this account of his father and
brothers. Of his early life we know little, except that
he was at Dr. Ebenezer Pemberton's School at Billerica,
and at Phillips Academy, at Andover, of which he had
always good and happy memories. Early in the 19th cen
tury he went into business with his brother Joseph.
Grandfather was married on June 16, 1809, to Mary
Jackson, fourth daughter of Jonathan Jackson, of New-
buryport. Their first child was born in May; 18 10, a
little daughter. In that year Uncle and Aunt Lowell
with their four children, and Aunt Harriet Jackson,
went to England, and Grandmother's letters to her sis
ters give very sweet accounts of her baby; the letters
are happy and often gay, till in the spring of 181 1, Uncle
Joe and Grandfather failed in business, and in May,
the little Mary, who had until then been apparently a
very healthy child, quite suddenly died. The second little
daughter, Mary Cabot (Aunt Mary Higginson), was
born on August 16, 181 1, and on August 20th, Grand
father sailed for India in the Reaper. Then came the
long years of separation, till July, 18 16, when he arrived
at home again. The following chapters carry on the
story. Francis Lee, born 1784; died 1830. He was edu
cated at Phillips Academy, Andover. During the years
covered by Grandmother's Journal he was a constant

3°]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
correspondent on business matters with Grandfather in
India, and evidently a helpful brother-in-law, he and
Aunt Harriet Jackson, Grandmother's sister, making com
mon household with her and so lightening her expenses.
In speaking of her wish that Uncle Frank might some
day marry, Grandmother says in her Journal :
"Frank is one of the men whose happiness will be
greatly increased by having a wife — his habits are
domestic; he has been almost as much of a recluse as
you were, and such a man's happiness is greatly increased
by having a home and all the delightful interests excited
that belong to it — he will always be respected for his
strict integrity and firm, good principles, but all his bet
ter feelings and principles would be called more into
action as the head of a family than as a bachelor."
Besides the six Lee brothers, who grew to manhood,
and Aunt Amelia Lee Jackson, wife of Judge Charles
Jackson, of whom a sweet memory as wife and mother
remains, there were two brothers, Charles and John, who
died as little boys ; two sisters, Elizabeth and Nancy,
who grew to young womanhood, and the little baby sister
Rebecca, who died four months after the death of her
mother. Little record of them remains. The curtain
falls so quickly on a generation that is gone that all the .
more we want to keep all that we can.
As we remember Grandfather, Uncle George, and
Uncle Tom, and as others spoke of the other brothers,
they were strong-natured men, sturdy and muscular of
build; holding their opinions tenaciously, and occasionally
obstinately, but all of them possessed of a high sense of
honor and of duty to the public.

r.

AMELIA LEE
(Mrs. Charles Jackson)
1777-1808

NANCY LEE
1780-1806

Ill
THE JACKSON FAMILY
[The following long detached passages about Grand
mother's family are taken directly from the Memoir of
Dr. James Jackson by his grandson James Jackson Put
nam with the permission of Cousin Marian Putnam.
The Memoir is so beautiful, both in form and substance,
that it is hard to keep the passages quoted in anything
like due proportion to the rest of this book.]
Jonathan Jackson, i 744-1810, father of Dr.
James Jackson, was the only son of Edward Jackson
and Dorothy Quincy.
The materials for a life of Jonathan Jackson, although
not extensive, are sufficient to give a consistent and fairly
adequate impression of his character, disposition, and
career. This impression is that of a man of transparent,
straightforward character; ardent, loyal, care-taking, and
devoted; judicial and conservative in temperament; emi
nently fair minded; not remarkably talented or studious,
but disposed, in the face of present needs, to make the
most of his powers for the welfare of the public and of
his friends; a lover of law and order, and consequently
a warm supporter of the builders of the Federal Con
stitution, and of the government of Washington and
Hamilton. Throughout his life, his personal friends and associ
ates were among the best arid ablest people in Essex
County and the State. In 1761 lie was graduated from
Harvard College in company with a number of men who
afterwards gained distinction. Shortly after his gradua
tion, his own parents having died, he came to Newbury-
3'

32] HENRY AND MARY LEE

port to be near his friend John Lowell, and thenceforward
identified himself with the fortune of that town, serving,
year after year, on committees appointed to consider
matters of importance, — the public schools, questions of
representation in the General Court, of raising recruits
for the army, of the education of girls, of the problem
of the Embargo. He was elected several times as repre
sentative or senator to the General Court, and also as
representative to Congress.
The New England seaport towns of this period were
highly prosperous, and the social customs were luxurious
and gay. A nominal slavery still existed, and lent a pic-
turesqueness to a life which was easy for all classes. The
black servant still stood behind his master's chair, and
black footmen and coachmen in livery attended his
carriage when he drove. The older families in New-
buryport, of which Mr. Jackson was counted as one,
occupied the beautiful row of houses that crested the
upper portions of the hill, while the busy merchants
whose fortunes were in the making lived on the lower
streets of the town, near the wharves where their cargoes
were landed. There was a tinge of formality in the
social life which reflected the customs of the mother
country. Even in the Jackson family, although the inter
course between its members was in reality free and un
constrained, there was an infusion of ceremoniousness
which made a real impression upon the habits of the
children. Dr. Jackson used to say that he remembered
that each one of the children, on entering the breakfast-
room, was expected to greet the company with a "Duty
to father and mother and love to brothers and sisters;"
and in fact a tendency to stately formality, and a certain
courtly courtesy of manner, which remained among his
traits through life, had its roots, no doubt, in the aristo
cratic customs of colonial New England.

 THE JACKSON FAMILY  [33
In this smooth and pleasant life Jonathan Jackson
passed the days of his early manhood, looked upon as
a leader in social assemblies, and gaining friends and
well-wishers by his amiability and his "refined and pol
ished manners." He was fond of good form, and his
son James remembered him as careful of his dress and
as a "slave to his black barber," and says he long con
tinued to wear a "coat of deep blue color, with gilt
buttons, and the handsome waistcoat with broad stripes."
He also states that his father had inherited a property
of twenty thousand guineas, and that before the breaking
out of the war his business ventures had turned out so
successfully that he could count himself a very wealthy
man. Then came the rough harrow of the Revolution,
with its demand for courage, sacrifice, and forbearance,
and Mr. Jackson showed himself a fit associate of the
men whose wisdom and labor were to found a new
republic. In laying the new foundations for a stable government
in Massachusetts, which began early in the war and cul
minated in the adoption of the Constitution of 1780, he
took an active part. The need of a new constitution, to
replace the charter, had been urged upon the States by
the federal government from the very moment of the
outbreak, but the principles which were embodied in
the first draft of such an instrument for Massachusetts,
as agreed upon by the General Court and offered to the
people early in 1778, were not satisfactory to the con
servative and able group of Essex gentlemen, recognized
later as the nucleus of the Federalist party, and without
delay a meeting was called at Newburyport, which ad
journed to meet again a few weeks later at Ipswich, this
time with representatives from many of the Essex towns.
The outcome of this gathering was the "Essex Result,"
a document both critical and constructive, which has ever

34]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
been considered to embody a remarkable series of sound
political principles.
This step was followed in the next year, September,
1779, by the calling of a convention at Cambridge, to
frame a state constitution. . . . The main credit for the
finished work, remarkable for its soundness and complete
ness, is usually accorded to John Adams, but such records
of the convention as have been preserved show that
Jonathan Jackson was a member of several important
and working committees. It is interesting to note that,
forty years later, in 1820, Jonathan Jackson's son Charles,
then associate justice of the Supreme Court of Massa
chusetts, was called upon to aid in making the first re
vision of this constitution which his father had thus
assisted to frame.1
The leaders in the party which was then coming rap
idly into prominence were largely from Essex County,
and formed a circle of personal friends, of whom Mr.
Jackson was one. Their activity won for them the desig
nation of the "Essex Junto."
With the meetings of the Constitutional Convention
of 1780 began Mr. Jackson's acquaintance with John
Adams, which led to the exchange of a number of let
ters, partly of a public, partly of a private nature.
In the following year, 178 1, Mr. Jackson was chosen
representative to the Continental Congress, and was made
the recipient, in that capacity, of a long, frank, and
interesting communication from Mr. Adams, and also of
a number of extracts from Mr. Adams's diary, concern
ing matters which he desired to bring to the notice of
his friends, but not to place before Congress or the
public. Their purpose was to make it clear that the
1 In 1917 Matthew Hale and James Arnold Lowell, great-
great-grandsons of Jonathan Jackson, were both delegates to the
Constitutional Convention to revise the State Constitution.

THE JACKSON FAMILY [35
sentiments of the French government with regard to
America were by no means as disinterested as they had
seemed, an opinion which would have commended itself
to Mr. Jackson, who looked with great suspicion on
the tendency to accept France as a guileless foster-mother,
whose word should be the law.
On first establishing himself in Newburyport, Jona
than Jackson had entered the counting-house of the
prosperous merchant, Patrick Tracy, and this step
eventually led to his marriage with Hannah Tracy, and
to his forming a business partnership with her brothers,
Nathaniel and John Tracy, at one period the richest
merchants of Newburyport. But the prostration of com
merce during the Revolution, and the inability of the
national government to repay its loans, to which Mr.
Jackson, in common with Mr. Tracy and so many others,
had made substantial contributions, greatly reduced his
means, and when peace came he found himself with a
large family of young children, his business gone, and
no obvious outlook for replenishing his treasury.
Impelled by the courage and energy which afterwards
marked the conduct of his sons in periods of like stress,
Mr. Jackson threw himself at once into a new business,
and very soon formed a partnership with his friend
Stephen Higginson, for importing goods on commission.
To establish this business, he left home in December,
1783, in company with Mr. Tracy, and visited Great
Britain and Ireland, and afterwards France, soliciting
consignments. [This letter from Jonathan Jackson to his little eldest
daughter Hannah, nine years old, shows that there could
be a very sweet playfulness in the letters of the day be
tween parents and children, in spite of the usual observ
ance of due and proper formality. It was addressed to

36] HENRY AND MARY LEE
Miss Jackson
And did my sweet little Hannah write part of the letter
herself which her Mamma was so kind as to inclose me I
I am glad to find that she has learn't to write, and hope
that she will write still better by the time that I get home.
I long for that time to come when I shall take her
and her sweet little Sisters into my arms and squeeze
and hug them so I shall almost take their Breath away,
I believe. Sister Sally has not forgot me, I hope — but
Harriet has, I suppose; and as for little Mary, she never
knew much about me. Give my love to 'em all — and
learn to work as fast as you can to make Shirts, etc., and
assist your Mother. As I expect you will always be a
good Girl, I shall bring you home a Guitar to play upon
— and at all times be assured of the love of
Your Affectionate Father,
London, Feby., 1785 J. Jackson.]
But the times were hard, and the next ten years were
marked by privations cheerfully borne and ill-paid labors
zealously performed. On reaching home again, he found
both public and private problems pressing hard for a
solution. Everywhere there was poverty and derange
ment of business, and the deepest anxiety, regarding the
establishment of law and order. It was during this
trying period that the qualities which were predominant
in Mr. Jackson's character, and which made him so useful
as a citizen, came prominently to the front.
It is exceedingly important, for the correct apprecia
tion of the public acts, during the next quarter of a
century, of patriotic and conservative men like Mr.
Jackson, who felt that law and order and the best fruits
of the Revolution were at stake, and who saw — though
less clearly than we now see — that their political knowl
edge was all to be acquired in a rough school, to recall

THE JACKSON FAMILY [37

how strongly the forces of misrule and ignorance were
then at work. Shays' Rebellion was but one outcome of
an almost universal discontent.
"A debt of two hundred millions had been incurred,
the army was to be disbanded, throwing out of employ
ment a vast number of people, whose habits during an
eight years' war had become unfavorable to the quiet
labors of civil life. . . . Private debts had accumulated,
and the resort to law for the payment of these debts was
a source of great trouble. In Massachusetts, in 1782,
more than two thousand actions were entered in Worcester
County alone. . . . The State Senate was also an object of
jealousy and suspicion. This too," men thought, "might
in time become an order of nobility. At any rate, it was
expensive and useless." "In a pure democracy," it was
urged, "all matters should be determined by the whole
people in the general assembly."
While in consequence of this stress, large numbers of
the poorer people saw no remedy except through a resort
to arms against a government whose aims they could not
understand, many of their more cultivated neighbors,
half sympathizing with the attempt to seek relief by
force, formed a strong party in opposition to the order-
loving and law-abiding citizens, of whom the Federalist
party was made up. Then arose the inevitable separa
tion, as Judge Parsons wrote, between "those who love
the largest liberty, with more regard to its quantity than
to its quality, and those who desire only the best liberty,
and dread, as the greatest of evils, its corruption with
license." To the party which stood for organized discontent,
and whose success meant license, Mr. Jackson was con
stitutionally opposed; and when Shays' Rebellion in Mas
sachusetts actually broke out, a crisis which then looked

38] HENRY AND MARY LEE

more serious than it proved, he enlisted in a cavalry
regiment, recruited at Boston, under Colonel Hichborn,
Mr. Jackson being next in command. This position he
resigned shortly afterwards, to take that of aide-de-camp,
as volunteer without pay, to his friend General Lincoln,
by whom he was intrusted, later, with the duty of carry
ing the dispatches to Governor Bowdoin, announcing the
collapse of the insurrection.
These troubles over, and feeling the pressing need of
an income for the support of his family, Mr. Jackson
turned to his government to seek employment. Then
occurred the creditable incident which is recorded by
Mr. Henry Lee in the Memorial History of Boston.
Mr. Lee's account is as follows : —
"Mr. Jackson, like many more, having lost his vast
acquired and inherited fortune by capture of his vessels
and by loans to the Government during the war, was
compelled to apply for an office to eke out his support.
The evening before he was to leave home, his friend,
General Lincoln, requested a private interview, and im
parted his anxiety for the future, having come home from
the war penniless, and expressed his desire to obtain the
office of collector of the port of Boston. This was the
office upon which Mr. Jackson had set his heart, but this
did not affect his resolve. He went to New York, waited
upon the President, and, after some days' attendance,
was admitted to an interview. Washington, taking out
his watch, said curtly : 'I will give you, Sir, fifteen minutes.'
Mr. Jackson began to set forth General Lincoln's needs
and claims, when he was peremptorily stopped by, 'You
need not tell me about General Lincoln, Sir.' He then
explained why he spoke in his behalf, and the interview
ended without a word spoken for himself, and General
Lincoln was appointed collector."
Soon after this, in 1788, Mr. Jackson, who is said to

THE JACKSON FAMILY [39

have always stood well in General Washington's books,
was appointed United States Marshal for the district of
Massachusetts, then including Maine, and during this
period, in 1790, he superintended the taking of the first
census for that district.
It was while he was United States Marshal that Mr.
Jackson accompanied Washington from border to bor
der of Massachusetts, during the famous "Presidential
Progress" of 1789. While at Newburyport the Presi
dent stayed in one half of the large house now occupied
by the Public Library, but originally built by Patrick Tracy
for his son Nathaniel. At the period of the visit
Nathaniel Tracy was living in a smaller house, as better
suited to his reduced income, and Jonathan Jackson and
his family were temporarily occupying a portion of the
mansion. Washington's public reception took place in
the unoccupied half of the house, and when it was over
he crossed the passage and took tea with Mr. Jackson.
Dr. Jackson was present with some of his brothers and
sisters, and took a boyish pleasure, which he never for
got, in seeing the famous general by his father's fireside,
though he was filled with surprise at hearing the conver
sation turn on crops instead of battles.
In 1 79 1 Mr. Jackson was appointed to the second
inspectorship of the revenue for the counties of Essex,
Worcester, Hampshire, and Berkshire, and in 1796 to
the place of supervisor for the district of Massachusetts,
then including Maine. This position he retained until
about 1802, when a change was made in the laws gov
erning the collection of taxes.
Mr. Jackson had returned to Newburyport in 1787,
but in 1796, on being appointed supervisor, he moved
again to Boston, where from this time onward he con
tinued to live, active and busy until the last, an ardent
Federalist, yet able to command the respect and good-

4°] HENRY AND MARY LEE
will of the opposite party, so that he was retained in
office as supervisor even after the accession of President
Jefferson. Some of the traits which James admired in his father
are the more worthy of note for the reason that they
reappeared in Dr. Jackson and his brothers and con
tributed largely to their influence and success. Chief
among these traits were his scrupulous integrity and
fidelity in matters of business; his strong sense of fair
ness and of regard for the rights of others; his firmness
and cheerfulness under trials and loss; his sincere re
ligious devoutness, and that warmth of personal affec
tion, without which, in Dr. Jackson's opinion, the best
sort of religious sense is not to be found.
It may be mentioned, as an interesting piece of
evidence of Mr. Jackson's scrupulous sense of honor,
that he is said never to have used, throughout the long
period of his public service, a drop of government ink
or a scrap of paper for his private affairs.
The same sort of feeling which enabled James to
say, in later years, that a good part of his own influence
had been due to his determination and ability to see the
best qualities in the men he met, also led his father to
speak with indignation of the personal ill usage of the
Tories, and to declaim against persecution for opinion's
sake. Mr. Jackson's later years were passed amidst active
duties, implying ability and wide interests. He was
chosen the first president of the first Boston Bank, and
was among the original members of the Academy of
Arts and Sciences, and of the Society for the Promotion
of Agriculture. For the five years preceding his death,
which occurred in March, 1810, Mr. Jackson served as
treasurer of Massachusetts,1 and for three years as treas-
1 From September, 1920, till January, 1925, James Jackson,
great-great-grandson of Jonathan Jackson, served the Common
wealth as Treasurer.

THE JACKSON FAMILY [41
urer of Harvard College. The college papers contain
many of his clear and straightforward letters.
Mr. Jackson wrote, in 1788, during the period of
reconstruction, a painstaking and significant address to
his countrymen, entitled "Thoughts on the Political Sit
uation of the United States of America." In this address
he first points out the danger that the States were under,
of following the impulse of imitation rather than the
dictates of wisdom, in making choice of theu^political
system and forecasting their development. HThe struc
ture of the European governments, he maintained, had
been determined largely by chance, and the form in which
they had become stereotyped was not necessarily the best;
whereas it was still open to the new republic to strive
after various great national objects for which at a later
day it might be vain for them to seek. Our legislators,
he declared, should be few in number, amply paid, and
held strictly accountable. In fact, the most interesting
feature of the essay is the writer's elaborate advocacy of
small representative bodies, formed of carefully chosen
men, as capable of exhibiting a wisdom, moderation, and
effectiveness that are so often conspicuous by their ab
sence from the deliberations of large assemblies.
Various other subjects are considered in Mr. Jackson's
address, on which each citizen, he thought, should have
a fixed opinion. The writer advocated, for his part, the
organization of a thoroughly equipped militia, ready, if
need be, to resist the usurpation of a central govern
ment. He urged the importance of national honesty as
a basis for national credit, and the desirability of ^ a
reform in dress, in the interests of economy and of in
dependence of Europe. This was a movement, he in
sisted, in which it was incumbent upon the patriotic women
of the country to take the foremost step.

42]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
Jonathan Jackson's wife was Hannah, daughter of
Patrick Tracy and Hannah Gookin.
The Tracys were a Newburyport family of character
and intelligence. Patrick Tracy, the progenitor of the
American branch, was born in Ireland in 171 1. He
came to this country as a common sailor, and rose by
dint of energy and enterprise to be the commander of a
vessel, then the owner of many, and eventually a rich and
successful merchant. He was generous and liberal, and
left a good record as a public-spirited citizen. When
the idea began to spread that even men of dark skins
might love the rights of freedom, he responded by set
ting free a negro and his wife, well known in Newbury
port, who had lived long as trusted servants in his house
hold, and making a provision in his will securing to
them a home and maintenance for the remainder of their
days. From 1743 to 1747 he was vestryman at St.
Paul's Church, and during the Revolution he served on
important committees, and in every way lent his support
to the national government and cause. He died February
28, 1789.
Hannah Tracy, afterwards Mrs. Jackson, was born
April 24, 1755. Her two brothers, Nathaniel and John,
earned distinction both as merchants and citizens, and
through their services in behalf of the government dur
ing the Revolutionary War. Of Mrs. Jackson herself little
is recorded beyond a few affectionate references in the
family letters and a brief characterization in President
John Quincy Adams's diary, which gives the impression
that she was a person of gay and sociable temperament.
At the time of Jonathan Jackson's marriage with
Hannah Tracy, in 1772, he was but twenty-nine years
old and his bride eighteen. All their children, nine in
number, were born at Newburyport, during the impor
tant decade between 1773 and 1783, when all hearts

THE JACKSON FAMILY [43

were stirred with thoughts of war, of the momentous
rupture with a great past, and of doubts and hopes for
the future.
On April 28, 1797, Mrs. Jackson, whose cheerful
devotion to her husband and children had been repaid
by the warm affection of them all, died.
All the members of the pleasant circle were remark
ably united. Spirited, affectionate, unselfish, helpful in
all the relations of life, their mutual love and intimacy
were darkened by no shadow, and grew stronger with
advancing years. A good inheritance of character and
fine traditions of public service were not the only benefits
that Jonathan Jackson and Hannah Tracy conferred
upon their children. They were able to secure for them,
also, the friendship of men and women of rare quality, ,
with whose lives and fortunes their own soon became
intimately woven.
The friendship which stood nearest to Jonathan's
heart, and counted as much for his children's welfare
as for his own, was that which began in college days in
the form of a romantic attachment between himself and
John Lowell, a member of the class next following his
own, and the son of an eminent clergyman of Newbury
port, whose grandfather, Percival, with his two sons,
Richard and John, had come over from England to
share the fortunes of the little colony of Newbury in
the earlier days of its existence. The two young men,
John Lowell and Jonathan Jackson, were born, by an
odd and pleasant coincidence, in the same month of the
same year (June, 1743), and they became so firmly united
during their student days at Cambridge that graduation
could not be allowed to part them. Accordingly, when
John Lowell returned to his father's home in Newbury
port, to take up the study of the law, he was followed
by his friend Jonathan Jackson, whose own parents had

44]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
recently died. So contented were the two young men
with each other's company that they vowed eternal
celibacy, a circumstance which did not prevent them from
making later five marriages between them. The two
beautiful houses in Newburyport which they built and
lived in, side by side, are still pointed out to visitors.
Mr. Jackson's was afterwards occupied by the eccentric
"Lord" Timothy Dexter.
With all the members of Judge Lowell's family of
nine children the Jackson sons and daughters became
very intimate. Francis Lowell became the college chum
of Charles Jackson, and in 1798, four years after their
graduation, he was married to Charles's sister Hannah.
From then on he was the trusted adviser of the Jackson
family. "None of us engaged in any business or took
any important step without consulting him," writes James,
"and without much aid and advice from him." In
1 812-14 he was the prime mover in the great scheme for
the establishment of the cotton industry at Waltham,
which the energy of Patrick Jackson carried to a suc
cessful issue.
The tranquil life of the Jackson family, which began
so pleasantly in the quiet retirement of Newburyport,
was not destined to remain for many years undisturbed.
The fledglings of that busy household were not expected
to linger unduly within the parental nest. Even for the
girls, boarding-schools afforded chances not to be had
at home,1 while the ready sons slipped off, one by one,
into paths that at first diverged widely, then, again, ran
side by side. Their father had desired that each of his
boys should follow a profession of his own selecting, and
both the customs of the period and the needs of the day
impelled to an early choice. And so it came about that
by the time they were ten years old, James began to be
1 Three daughters were at the Derby Academy, Hingham.

THE JACKSON FAMILY [45
dubbed "the doctor," and Harry "the commodore;" for
the latter had determined, when a mere boy, to seek his
fortunes on the sea. Robert, the oldest son, and, as
James thinks, his mother's favorite, decided to throw
in his lot with the merchants, and Charles with the
lawyers. Patrick, the youngest, was likewise to be trained
for a business life, though in fact both Robert and he
passed, at first, several years at sea, and even in com
mand of vessels, as a preliminary to foreign trade, for
of lucrative business at home there was very little.
The Children of Jonathan and Hannah (Tracy) Jackson
Robert is spoken of in James's Reminiscences as
a dark-skinned, handsome boy, though his beauty was
unfortunately marred by an accident to his face and left
eye when he was but ten years old. He is said to have
resembled his mother. When he was about seventeen
years old his father obtained for him the chance to sail
for India in a ship belonging to Mr. Benjamin Joy, and
under the personal supervision of that friend and suc
cessful merchant. Dr. Jackson could recall, in his old
age, how carefully the family at home used to study the
map, to follow the ship's course, and with what conster
nation they received the news, brought by a returning
vessel, that tempest and wreck had overtaken the voy
agers in the southern seas, and that, although no lives
were lost, the ship and cargo had been destroyed. This
mishap seems to have led, however, to a temporary ad
vance in Robert's fortunes, the first notice of which was
that he entered Boston Harbor in command of a vessel,
which he had safely conducted home from Calcutta,
though even then scarcely more than a boy, by modern
reckoning. He died in 1800.
The next brother, Henry, was, as Dr. Jackson writes,
a bright, spirited, "generous-hearted" boy, "ready to do

46]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
battle for himself and for others," of dark complexion
and hair, but otherwise without any close resemblance
to his elder brother; "opening his eyes without any show
of fear, manly in his whole appearance, and constantly
engaging an interest in his looks and deportment, which
gained him numerous friends." He left home for the
first time when a boy of ten, accompanying his father on
his voyage to the West Indies in 1785; and although
he returned to Newburyport and remained there for a
season, proud of his sailor's dress and lore, yet from
then on, for a dozen years or more, his was a sailor's life.
Henry possessed in full measure the ardor and cheer
ful spirit of helpfulness which so strongly characterized
the family, and acquitted himself so well on shipboard
that a successful career seemed in prospect. Unluckily,
when he was still only a boy of fifteen, he met with a
severe accident, the effects of which remained with him
through life [the loss of an arm]. During the next
thirteen years he was almost constantly at sea, making
voyages to the East, at first under Captain Folger, as
mate, but eventually in independent command. He served
always to the satisfaction of his employers, but not with
any great financial profit to himself.
In 1799 Henry made a happy marriage with Miss
Hannah Swett of Marblehead, sister of Dr. John Bar
nard Swett, "who held a high character in the county
of Essex." Several children were born to them, among
whom was the well-known and greatly respected Dr. John
Barnard Swett Jackson, to whom belongs the credit of
having founded the systematic study of morbid anatomy
in the Medical School of Harvard University.
In December, 1808, he died, after a brief illness, leav
ing a widow and three children.
Henry's early absence from home, his accident, and
his cheerful disposition made him the recipient of many

THE JACKSON FAMILY [47
family letters, a number of which are still carefully
preserved by his grandson, Dr. Henry Jackson.
The three younger of the Jackson brothers, Charles,
James, and Patrick, and the two sisters, Harriet and
Mary (Mrs. Henry Lee), survived the rest of the family
for many years. Having chosen Boston for their home,
they lived there almost without interruption for the
remainder of their lives, in an intimacy which grew
closer year by year, and in houses which seemed to be
seeking to touch shoulders. Friendly as their relations
were with their neighbors, and wide as was the circle
of their acquaintances and friends, it was in the society
of each other and of their children and near kindred
that they found their greatest pleasure.
Charles Jackson, i 775-1 855, the third son of Jona
than Jackson, was born at Newburyport on May 31,
1775, only a few weeks after the gunshot at Concord
Bridge. After two years at the Boston Latin School, on the
return of the family to Newburyport in 1787, Charles
was transferred for a short time to Dummer Academy
at Byfield, until in 1789 he entered Harvard College
as Freshman, being then fourteen years of age.
Within two years after his graduation from college,
and while still living in Newburyport, Charles Jackson
was married to Amelia Lee, a daughter of Joseph Lee
of Salem and Beverly. She lived but eleven years after
their marriage, dying in 1809 of New England's enemy,
consumption. She left no children, but her name was
given subsequently to a daughter by a second marriage,
afterwards Mrs. Oliver Wendell Holmes.
In 1803 Mr. Jackson removed to Boston, and in the
same year he was the prime mover in the establishment
of a law library, now the great Social Law Library of

48]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
Boston. For ten years after his removal to Boston,
Mr. Jackson practiced law privately, with credit and
success. In December, 1810, just a year after the death of his
first wife, he was married to her cousin, Frances Cabot,
daughter of Mr. John Cabot of Beverly and cousin also
to Elizabeth Cabot, who had become the wife of Charles
Jackson's brother James. A story has long passed cur
rent as authentic among Judge Jackson's descendants
which clothes his second marriage with a local coloring
characteristic of the New England of that day. Frances
Cabot, besides being the cousin of Amelia Lee, had been
an old playmate of Charles Jackson, but they had not
once met during the year that elapsed after his first
wife's death. Nevertheless, as she afterwards told her
daughter-in-law, she divined on what errand he had
come, when his chaise rolled in at the gateway of her
father's house, as she sat on the porch shelling peas.
He arrived, proposed, and was accepted, without un
necessary delay.
Many years later, when the only son of this couple
had grown up and had taken a bride of his own, the
mother told the story to her daughter-in-law, and on
the latter's asking, "How could you make up your mind
so quickly?" she replied, "My dear I not marry Mr.
Jackson!" In 1 8 13, the death of Associate Justice Sedgwick
having created a vacancy on the Bench of the Supreme
Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Mr. Jackson was ap
pointed by Governor Strong to fill the place.
This appointment proved to be eminently fitting.
Many reasons combined to make him a good judge. In
the first place he was a strikingly fair-minded man, and
ready to labor studiously in preparing opinions which
should be sound and just. Then he was without the de-

THE JACKSON FAMILY [49
sire for personal distinction, and had none of the restless
self-consciousness which is so hostile to the formation of
a calm, unbiased judgment; and finally, he had been
a thorough student and a good practical lawyer. His
training and the habit of his mind inclined him to con
servatism, but this tendency, when not governed by
narrowness or bigotry, is an aid and not a hindrance to
the task of weighing dispassionately the evidence pre
sented by others, and drawing without prejudice the
conclusion to which it leads.
In 1823 Judge Jackson resigned his position on the
bench because he felt his health inadequate to the con
stant labor which was involved, and spent a portion of
the next two years in Europe. [Aunt Harriet Jackson
accompanying Uncle Charles and Aunt Fanny. This
stay in England gave Judge Jackson the opportunity to
make the personal acquaintance of legal colleagues to
whom he was already well known by reputation. They
passed a somewhat quiet winter in London, less interest
ing to Aunt Harriet than her earlier visit to Edinburgh
in 1811-12 with Uncle and Aunt Lowell when she had
keenly enjoyed the intellectual society of the group of
Edinburgh Reviewers and their friends.]
In 1 82 1 Judge Jackson received the degree of LL.D.
from his Alma Mater, having already served some years
as Overseer (1816-25). In 1825 he was chosen a
member of the Corporation, and this office he retained
until 1834.
In 1 832 Judge Jackson was appointed one of three com
missioners to revise the Public Statutes of Massachusetts.
Mr. John T. Morse, Jr., a grandson of Judge Jackson,
speaks of this work as follows: —
"The Revision of the Statutes is a transaction which
recurs at long intervals, when the mass of public statutes
passed by our fecund Legislatures becomes too vast, con-

50] HENRY AND MARY LEE
tradictory and undigested for endurance. It is not exactly
a codification, but resembles it in many particulars. Now
adays, when it has to be done (twice, in my life-time, be
cause productivity has so enormously increased), it
is given to able men, chiefly notable for acquisition and
critical accuracy. But the Revision which Judge Jackson
made was the first, and was regarded with great respect,
as being really a revision, re-framing, of the existing
Statutes, in the light of all the litigation and judicial
decisions which had arisen under them. It was really a
great and valuable work, with a considerable infusion
of the spirit of the creative law-maker."
The entire later portion of Judge Jackson's life was
spent in the house on Bedford Place, with its capacious
garden, which stretched from Bedford Street along the
northerly side of what is now Chauncy Street, the entire
estate covering almost one half of the distance between
Bedford and Summer streets.
The portion of Chauncy Street of the present day
which lies between Bedford and Summer streets was
divided at that period into Chauncy Place and Bedford
Place, the former occupying the easterly and the latter
the westerly half. The two places were divided at first
by a brick wall, pierced with doors corresponding to the
sidewalks, and at a later time by an iron chain hanging
between posts.
Judge Jackson's property embraced the whole north
erly side of Bedford Place, while the corresponding side
of Chauncy Place was mainly occupied by Chauncy Hall
School and the First Church, with its adjoining yard.
Bedford Place might well have been called by some
name distinctive of one or another of the kindred clans
whose representatives inhabited it so long, living in an
intimacy like that of the members of one large family.
On the southerly side, directly opposite the large house

JUDGE JACKSON'S GARDEN

THE JACKSON FAMILY [51

and garden of Judge Jackson, there lived in closely ad
joining houses, Mr. and Mrs. John Amory Lowell, Mr.
and Mrs. George Higginson, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Paine
(Fanny Jackson), Mr. and Mrs. Henry Lee (Mary
Jackson), Miss Harriet Jackson Avith her niece, Miss
Sally Gardner, and Mrs. Henry Jackson, almost all with
families of active children. Somewhat later Mr. and
Mrs. S. T. Morse (Miss Harriet Jackson Lee) occupied
the house previously lived in by Miss Harriet Jackson
and Miss Gardner.
Thus, at one period, the gardens of Judge Jackson,
Prescott the historian, and Mr. S. P. Gardner covered
most of the large area between Summer Street and Bed
ford Street, while another large and open estate with a
wide space of terraced lawn, occupied for a long time
by the Misses Pratt, lay on the farther side of Summer
Street opposite the end of Chauncy Place. The Jackson
garden itself was a retreat possessed of much beauty
and charm. Along its easterly side, adjoining the house,
was a brick walk and a border of shrubs, among them
the sensitive mimosa, whose leaves the passing children
loved to touch. The remainder of the garden, from this
brick wall to the Bedford Street end, was sunk several
feet below the level of the house; and in the angle of
the bank, where in winter the snow gathered in deep
drifts, fine snow-houses could be dug. Three graveled
walks traversed the garden lengthwise, leaving oblong
plots of grass bordered with rosebushes and other shrubs.
The children of the family were welcomed here, and
could bury rose-cakes in the garden beds, and pick fruit,
under certain restrictions, from the pear-trees which grew
at various points. Within the house, too, children were
made at home, and it was well known among them that
youthful visitors to Judge Jackson's quiet study rarely
went away without a large "gumball" from a certain

52]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
drawer in his desk. At the southeasterly corner of the
garden, near the house, stood a very old and famous
St. Michael's pear-tree, a variety then dying out and
already almost extinct. The fruit, of yellow color and
with blackish spots, was greatly prized by all the family.
When the place was sold, Mr. John M. Forbes had the
tree examined with a view to the possibility of transplant
ing it, but this was decided to be unadvisable. The front
door of the house, recessed with curving surfaces, was of
a rare construction, only two or three others like it existing
in the city at that time.
Judge Jackson always remained, as he had grown up,
a warm supporter of the Federalist party, but there is no
evidence that he took an active position as a leader.
However, he did feel himself closely identified with those
who had shaped the policies of that body of fine and able
men, whose lives and work had meant so much for the
early history of Massachusetts and of the new republic.
On the whole, Judge Jackson was considered the most
talented of the three brothers, and it has been shown
that he became an honored representative of that pro
fession where knowledge, fair-mindedness, and that form
of wisdom which is termed good sense are all equally
indispensable. While his amiability gained him the affection of many
friends, yet his reserve and sensitiveness in temperament,
combined with his delicacy in health and an indifference
to personal fame, kept him to a great extent remote from
the knowledge of the general public.
Jurists, as a class, are men whose best work some
times lies buried from all eyes but those of their col
leagues, or lives only as incidental to the successes or
failures of clients who are often of far less note than
they. This was more than commonly true of Judge
Jackson, because he had not habits or instincts such as

HON. CHARLES JACKSON, 1775-1855
Associate Justice of the Supreme Jlultcin I Court of Massncliusclls

 THE JACKSON FAMILY  [53
lead to social distinction, and because he held no public
office except within the line of his duty and profession.
All who knew him, young and old alike, were impressed
with his extreme courtesy and the kindliness of his speech
and manner; and although not distinctly witty himself,
yet he had a strong and pleasant sense of humor, and
carried on his face a smile which meant a ready reception
to the wit of others. His children and his wife adored
him, and regarded him, indeed, with a peculiar feeling
of consecration.
Patrick Tracy Jackson, 1 780-1 847, the youngest
of the Jackson brothers, was born in Newburyport,
August 14, 1780, and, like the rest, passed from the day
schools of his native town into the excellent Dummer
Academy hard by. He was by temperament sanguine,
ardent, and sociable, and soon won the confidence, friend
ship, and esteem of every one with whom he came in
contact. His own instincts prompted him to take up a
merchant's life, and at that period the best opening
for such an occupation was rather through the counting-
room or the deck of a merchantman than through the
halls of Harvard.
[The following paragraphs are from Notes written
by Dr. James Jackson, shortly after his brother Patrick's
death, on September 12, 1847, at nis nouse near Mingo's
Beach, Beverly — a house which had been a delightful
and hospitable home, open to many cousins and friends
for a number of years.
Later Mrs. Joseph S. Cabot and Miss Elizabeth
Howes of Salem lived there a long time, and later yet
Robert Saltonstall and his family.]
"Before he was twenty Patrick Jackson had gone as
supercargo in a merchantman to St. Thomas's in the
West Indies, with authority to take the command from

54] HENRY AND MARY LEE

the captain if he saw occasion, and within the year he
had an opportunity to go to India with his brother, Cap
tain Henry Jackson, six years older than himself, to whom
he was strongly attached.
"The voyage was to Madras and Calcutta and it
opened to him a trade which was at that period one of
the most profitable to the enterprising merchants of this
country. The English government found it to their
interest to give great privileges in the Bengal trade, and
our neutral position during the long wars of the French
Revolution enabled us to take the cottons and other
goods of British India not only for our own consump
tion, but also for the Continent of Europe.
"It was then a common practice, in Boston especially,
to send out a ship to Calcutta, or Madras, under an
enterprising supercargo, in which men of capital would
send adventures from five to twenty-five thousand dollars
in value, giving to the owners a certain commission for
the investment of their funds, as well as a freight for the
goods brought to them.
"On Mr. Jackson's return from his first voyage he felt
qualified to take on himself the charge of a ship upon
the plan above described. He chartered a ship for this
purpose and went round among the men of property,
who knew him, to procure funds for a cargo from Cal
cutta. He was successful in his applications, and in a
short time he took his departure, and during the next
four years made several business voyages, not returning
home till 1808.
"From this time he engaged in the business of a mer
chant in Boston. Here he had the invaluable counsels
and the support of his brother-in-law, F. C. Lowell. The
knowledge he had acquired of the Calcutta trade led
him to engage principally in buying and selling goods
from that port.

THE JACKSON FAMILY [55
"In 1 812 and '13 he had in some measure relinquished
his India business, which was embarrassed by the political
circumstances of the time, and became engaged with his
friend Mr. Thomas Lee, in the Havana trade. This, so
long as he prosecuted it, was quite profitable; and it contin
ued to be in the hands of Mr. Lee, after Mr. Jackson had
given up his share in it.
"In the year 18 12 the war commenced with Great
Britain. A few weeks after the declaration of war, Mr.
F. C. Lowell returned from a long visit in England.
While abroad, Mr. Lowell had formed the notion that
the cotton manufacture might be prosecuted in this
country with advantage. The use of machinery had been
carried farther and farther in England, and now it was
known that power looms were employed, though the
construction of them was kept secret. So far as machinery
was employed, the manufacture might be conducted here
as well as in England.
"While labour was cheaper there, the raw material was
produced in the greatest perfection in our Southern
States. The advantages were thus in some measure
balanced. We could also avail ourselves of water-power
in this country, of which the cost was very much less than
that of steam-power in that day. Mr. Lowell devoted
his strong mind to a consideration of this subject, and
within a few months he decided to bring the matter to
the test of experiment.
"In this new business Mr. Jackson engaged with Mr.
Lowell, giving to it a large part of his time and thoughts,
though not yet abandoning his other business. In 18 13
the first [power loom] cotton mill was erected in Wal-
tham; and with the aid of Mr. Paul Moody, the machin
ery was made there for the manufacture of cotton
shirtings and sheetings. Everything was new— every
thing was to be decided without any precise knowl-

56] HENRY AND MARY LEE
edge of similar works. The structure of the machin
ery, the materials of which they were to be made,
the very machinery of the machine-shop necessary for
making the cotton machinery with economy of time and
money; the arrangement of the mill and the size of its
various apartments; the character of the operatives to
be employed, the precautions that these operatives should
not suffer the degradation of character common among
those of the samt class in Europe; — the successful pre
cautions, as has since been proved, that not only the
operatives should not suffer such a degradation, but
rather that they should be elevated as to manners and
morals above the common standard of the country; — -
such were the subjects which occupied the minds of Mr.
Lowell and Mr. Jackson in the first period of this new
enterprise.1 1 In an address by the Hon. Robert S. Rantoul, given before
the Beverly Historical Society in 1897, 1S an account of the
establishment in Beverly in 1788 of "the first cotton mill in
the country."
Among the signers to the charter for this mill granted by the
Legislature of February, 1789, were John Cabot, George Cabot,
Deborah Cabot, Andrew Cabot, Israel Thorndike, and others,
all of Beverly, and Henry Higginson of Boston.
On January 6, 1789, the Salem Mercury mentions "a promising
cotton manufactory in Beverly." It was a plain three-storeyed
building of brick, at one end of which moved a heavy pair of
horses to furnish rotary power. In it was woven "cotton, denim,
thicksett, corduroys, velveret, etc."
On the 30th October, 1789, on his journey through Essex
County, President Washington breakfasted with George Cabot at
his house in Beverly, and afterwards rode out to visit the cotton
mill. In his journal he made this entry: — "Friday, October 30,
a little after eight o'clock, I set out for Newbury Port and in less
than two miles crossed the bridge between Salem and Beverly
which makes a handsome appearance. . . . After passing Beverly,
two miles, we come to the Cotton Manufactory which seems to
be carrying on with spirit by the Mr. Cabots (principally)." He
carefully describes the manufactory, and closes by saying: — "In
short the whole seems perfect and the Cotton stuffs which they
turn out excellent of their kind — warp and filling both of Cotton."

THE JACKSON FAMILY [57
"The actual manufacture of the cloth was commenced
in 1 8 14, and the result of the experiment was highly
satisfactory. "Although the first suggestions and most of the early
plans for the new business were furnished by Mr. Lowell,
Mr. Jackson gave the most time and labour in conducting
it; so much so, that he spent much of his time in the
early years at Waltham, separated from his family."
[In the Notes by Dr. James Jackson there follows
an interesting account of his brother's further enter
prises: of the new cotton mill and bleachery built at
Waltham after Mr. Lowell's death; of the development
of the water power at Pawtucket Falls on the Merri-
mac River; and of the Canal which had been already
cut around these falls, in which enterprise Mr. Nathan
Appleton and Mr. Kirk Boott took an active part. "With
out following the history of this enterprise, it is sufficient
to say that a new town was formed on the old canal,
to which the name of Lowell was given, in honor of
Mr. F. C. Lowell. This is now the city of Lowell."
Mr. Boott had the immediate charge and agency in the
Merrimac Locks and Canals and the Merrimac Manu
facturing Co., to which the charter was granted in 1822,
but he took no important step without consulting Mr.
Jackson, and indeed all concerned in the early years of
Lowell looked to him as the father and guardian
genius of the new city. The Notes also describe Uncle
Patrick's large share in the building of the Boston and
Lowell Railroad, and further tell of "the development
of Pemberton Hill, involving heavy work and heavy
losses, in part because of the commercial crisis of 1836-
i837-"] "Mr. Jackson was married on the 31st of October,
1 8 10, to Miss Lydia Cabot of Beverly. To those for

58]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
whom these notes are designed, it is needless to say a
word on the happiness of that union.
"It may, however, be noted that his two surviving
brothers and his only surviving married sister were united
to the very near relatives of his wife. The result was
intimacy in the families, such as is rare, and which is
productive of great happiness to all the parties concerned.
"Mr. Jackson was taller than the average of men
and had a strong frame. His countenance was very
agreeable in consequence of the lively and pleasant ex
pression which it commonly exhibited ; an expression which
arose from his kindly feelings. It seemed to invite one
to be happy with him. All his feelings were lively and
easily excited. His resentment was very prompt under
insult, or injury; indeed whenever he witnessed injustice
either toward himself or others. But his resentments
were short-lived; and feelings of malice or revenge were
strangers to his bosom. The only permanent feeling he
had toward those who were unjust toward him was a
wish that they might sec their error. If he himself did
wrong to others, by any accident, he was most anxious
to make amends to them. But the quickness of his feel
ings was shown in his kindness to others much oftener
than in resentment and anger. He had a most grateful
heart, never forgetting the good services, or even the
good wishes of others toward him.
"One of his marked characteristics was probity, pure
and elevated. He was not satisfied to pay men their dues,
to do them justice; he was more careful of the interests
consigned to his charge than of his own. He would at
any time forego a rightful personal advantage rather
than put in any jeopardy the property of others under
his control. Thus he was led in some instances to retain
shares in the corporation under his care, and in others
to sell such shares, as the case might be, from regard

FlsJ'i J Cr. /Win

(f^J^d)^

THE JACKSON FAMILY [59
to the welfare of those corporations. In the largest
part of his life his business was not that of a merchant,
but that of a manufacturer. This last was more con
genial to his feelings, and he was every way better quali
fied for it than for the former. He loved to take the
raw material and by the skillful treatment of it to add
to its value, by which the capitalist and the operative
were profited; and the public were gainers if he could
produce a useful article. He loved to benefit himself in
this way rather than by the business of traffic, however
honorable. It gratified him to be able, in this way, to
encourage industry and skill in those around him. He
scrutinized carefully the characters of those whom he
employed; but having done so he was ready to place in
them a generous confidence. It can hardly be doubted
that such confidence does good to those in whom it is
reposed." James Jackson, 1 777-1 867. Dr. Jackson describes
himself as having been always a delicate boy, but he was
always able to work and to play. In 1785, when his
father moved from Newburyport to Charlestown, James
went to board with his Uncle Wendell in Boston, and
for nearly three years attended the Boston Latin School.
In his thirteenth year he was admitted to Dummer
Academy, then a prime school, counting among its gradu
ates many young men who became living forces in the
community. In the last quarter of the collegiate year
1793 he entered Harvard College at advanced standing,
and was graduated in 1796.
In December, 1797, he entered himself as a pupil in
medicine under Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke of Salem.
Dr. Holyoke, "my glorious old master," was perhaps
the foremost physician in New England. Lie lived to
be over a hundred years old, but even in his early days

6o]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
he was as well known to every citizen of Salem as the
most time-honored landmark in the town. His well-
balanced instincts led him, moreover, to teach accuracy
in observation and moderation in treatment, — doctrines
that James Jackson found eminently congenial, and con
tinuously professed in his turn, believing in them so fully
that he was ready to give not only a cordial but a critical
welcome to the methods of clinical research to which
Louis, a quarter of a century later, gave so powerful
an impulse.
The whole period covered by the joint lives of Dr.
Holyoke and Dr. Jackson, which stretched from 1728
to 1868, or nearly a century and a half, witnessed a ver
itable revolution in medical standards, hopes, and aims,
— the transition from rank superstition to splendid
achievement. Of this great transformation, Dr. Holyoke
lived long enough to see the promise, and Dr. Jackson
a portion of the fulfillment.
In 1799 Dr. Jackson went to London for study. While
there, he served as "dresser" at St. Thomas's, and studied
anatomy with Cline at St. Thomas's and with Astley
Cooper at Guy's, and vaccination at the St. Pancras
Hospital under Woodville, besides attending the regular
courses of medical lectures. He was fortunate enough
also to renew and strengthen, during this visit, his friend
ship with Dr. J. C. Warren.
In August, 1800, he sailed for Boston, and reached
home after a journey of forty-nine days.
Two days later he began practice.
It is certain that Dr. Jackson stepped again upon the
shores of his native country with a light heart. He was
then twenty-three years old, with mind elastic, ambi
tious, and alert, a happy marriage in prospect, the cer
tainty of a generous welcome by a host of friends, and
the knowledge that his medical training had been as

 THE JACKSON FAMILY  [61
good as he could have had any right to ask. He had
but little money and many debts, but these conditions
did not daunt him.
Dr. Jackson was married in 1801 to Elizabeth Cabot,
daughter of Andrew Cabot of Beverly. The Essex towns
were within easy riding distance of each other, and the
best Essex families felt themselves united by strong bonds.
The widow of Andrew Cabot, brother of the distin
guished Federalist, George Cabot, who had been an in
timate friend of James Jackson's father, lived with her
eight daughters in the town of Beverly, and even before
beginning his medical studies he had become engaged
to the oldest daughter, Elizabeth.
A speedy marriage was out of the question; and, in
fact, it had to be postponed for four years, by the end
of which time Dr. Jackson had finished his studies and
had been for just one year in successful practice.
The first three children of Dr. Jackson and Elizabeth
Cabot died in infancy. The later children, by name
Elizabeth, James, Lydia, Harriet, Francis, and Susan,
were all born between 1807 and 18 17. In November,
1 8 17, Mrs. Jackson died, after a long period of impaired
health. She had been widely and warmly loved, but her
life had been of necessity so quiet and retired that no
materials for a permanent record have remained.
Not long after this, Dr. Jackson was married to Sarah
Cabot, sister of his first wife, a woman of retiring dis
position and simple tastes. There were no children by
this marriage, but Mrs. Jackson gave herself with devo
tion to the needs of her husband and of his children, the
younger of whom remembered no other mother.
Dr. Jackson had removed his residence, some years
before his first wife's death, to the charming neighbor
hood of Summer Street, which has already been alluded

62]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
to in the notice of his brother Charles, occupying there
a house which lay a short distance south of Chauncy
Place, between that and Church Green, and was sur
rounded by the gardens and pleasant homes of that beau
tiful portion of the city. Here, too, there were neighbors
of the most agreeable sort, with whom intercourse was
most friendly.
In 1825, loving the country, and feeling the need of
rest, Dr. Jackson had bought a large tract of land in
Waltham, and here he spent portions of many happy
years, enjoying the society of his children, and superin
tending the cultivation of his grounds, though continu
ing for the most part to keep on, even in summer, with
his usual work in town.
The ten miles of distance which separated Waltham
from Boston could be easily covered by the fast horses
that Dr. Jackson drove, but his chief reason for choosing
the place was doubtless that his brother Patrick had es
tablished himself there within a few years after the found
ing there of the Waltham Mills.
It was a beautiful estate of forty or fifty acres, now so
divided up by roads that its identity and its seclusion have
been lost. . . . Along its north-westerly side ran two
parallel and wooded banks, separated by a fertile inter
vale fed by the slender but lovely Beaver Brook, and bear
ing a few noble willow trees; on the crest of the further
bank ran a path called the Mall, a delightful and romantic
place to saunter.
In 1 841 Dr. Jackson's place passed to his nephew,
Francis C. Lowell, and thus became familiar to three gen
erations of cousins from both families, and a hospitable
place of meeting for their many friends.
[There are in the Memoir seven chapters which
cover Dr. Jackson's part in the vaccination movement,
the founding of the Harvard Medical School, and of the
Massachusetts General Hospital.

THE JACKSON FAMILY [63
For the substance of these chapters you can only be
referred to the Memoir itself. In them is contained an
interesting picture of the medical progress of the first
half of the 19th century. They speak especially to those
of the younger generations who are to be doctors, for
they are written of Uncle James Jackson, a doctor of
highest aims and character, by his grandson, James Jack
son Putnam, also a doctor, whose high-minded and sweet
nature, at once courageous, delicate and philosophic, made
a great part of the happiness of his family and friends.]
In 1830 James Jackson, Jr., Dr. Jackson's oldest son,
sailed for Europe, to continue there the medical studies
which he had begun in America under his father's eye.
He was a young man of unusual charm and promise;
and from the moment of his son's leaving home, Dr.
Jackson began to look forward eagerly to the day of
his return, so intense was his affection for him, and with
such fervor had he accustomed himself to picture his
future career and to see himself living again and with
redoubled interest under the glow of this fresh life.
In 1833 James returned, after four years of ardent
and remarkably fruitful study, carried on mainly in
the hospitals of Paris under the personal guidance of
M. Louis, who had from the first become warmly inter
ested in him, and who stood to him ever after almost as
a second father.
Although but twenty-three years old, and not yet
possessed of his degree of M.D., James had won a repu
tation which an experienced physician might have envied.
A brilliant career seemed assured to him, and a social life
enriched by the affection of a host of friends.
Almost immediately after his return he was attacked
by typhoid fever, and after this by dysentery; he
seemed to be fully convalescent, when he was seized with
a relapse, and quickly died.

64] HENRY AND MARY LEE

In 1835 Dr. Jackson's oldest daughter, Elizabeth, was
married to Dr. Charles G. Putnam, and the marriages
of Lydia to Mr. Charles S. Storrow, Harriet to Mr.
George R. Minot, Susan to her cousin, Charles Jackson,
and Francis to Miss Sarah Boott followed within the
subsequent six years.
These marriages were all fortunate and happy.
Through the new and varied interests brought in by
these unions of his daughters and his son, Dr. Jackson
found full play for sympathy and thought. Each new
grandchild brought him new and thoroughly individual
ized delight.
Losses of property led him, in 1842, to dispose of the
Waltham place and to seek to increase his medical prac
tice. In 1850 further losses obliged him to leave his
Pemberton Square house for a smaller though very pleas
ant house on Hamilton Place, where he soon found
himself again in company with his brother Patrick and
the widow of his brother Charles. Later, Charles and
Susan Jackson, with their family, and his nephew and
niece, Mr. and Mrs. John Torrey Morse,1 joined this
pleasant family group.
This quiet and pleasant retreat came to be as familiar
to the large group of cousins and friends as Bedford
Place had been in earlier days.
Throughout his busier years he drove his own chaise
on his professional rounds, and, like his friend Dr. War
ren, he made his horse tear through the familiar streets,
so as to lose no time. It is a pleasant picture to think
upon, and in essential respects still easy to recast, — the
quiet town, with its three hills, its detached or semi-de
tached houses, and its open squares; the streets lined
1 Aunt Lucy was daughter of Judge Jackson, twin sister of
Cousin Charles Jackson, and Uncle John was elder brother of
my Father, Samuel Torrey Morse.

 THE JACKSON FAMILY [65
with gardens and orchards where now thronging ware
houses tower; and the busy doctors flying about, each
with a good fast horse, such as every country doctor loves
to own. The Common, as surveyed from the windows
of Dr. Warren's house on Park Street, was still a public
pasture, and bounded to the westward by the waters
of the real Back Bay, which washed the Charles Street
Mall. What with the demands of private practice, the care
of his family and children, and the diversified labors of
which some hint has here been given, the first decade
of Dr. Jackson's professional life in Boston was filled to
overflowing. Nevertheless, time was found to help in
fostering a movement the accomplishment of which lay
very near his heart; namely, the founding of the Massa
chusetts General Hospital.
The credit for the first conception of this movement
undoubtedly belongs to Dr. John Warren; but Dr.
Jackson's support was cordial and devoted from the
first, and the long and eloquent appeal for contributions,
signed by the two friends, bears the mark, to a consid
erable extent, of his stately and graceful style. Both
men were themselves contributors in considerable sums
to the fund, besides making the practical success of the
undertaking one of the main purposes of their lives.
On September 1, 1821, the great enterprise was fairly
launched, though during the first three weeks only one
patient applied for treatment, and the end of the first
year saw but twelve patients in the wards.
Dr. Jackson's active service to the Hospital ended in
1837, but as Consulting Physician he was connected with
it during the rest of his life.
After Dr. Jackson had given up a part of his active
practice, it was his invariable custom to make, each morn-

66] HENRY AND MARY LEE
ing, a round of visits to those of his children and their
families who lived in the neighborhood. As he started
before eight o'clock, the neighbors came to regard him as
a thermometer, so many different coats had he, from the
long, wadded camlet to the short, close-fitting spencer,
according to the weather, and he was so punctual that
the clock could have been set by his ring at the door.
These morning calls were times for playing with his
grandchildren, who still recall the sunshine of his visits,
his interest in their doings, and his remembrance of
their birthdays.
He took great delight in discovering family traits as
they appeared in succeeding generations of the families
he had known so well, and always maintained that the
members of the younger generations, especially when
physicians, ought to be wiser than their predecessors.
The hospitable customs of earlier days were kept up
through this long period of peaceful age. On Sunday
evenings there were gatherings of the children and grand
children, nephews and nieces, in the pleasant parlor of
the Hamilton Place house, as there had been in Pember
ton Square; among them, almost invariably, Dr. O. W.
Holmes, Dr. J. B. S. Jackson, and occasionally Dr. Jacob
Bigelow and other intimate friends.
After his wife's death, Dr. Jackson was joined by
his son Francis H. Jackson and his family, with whom
he lived thenceforward, in Hamilton Place and later in
Marlborough Street, until his death, which occurred on
August 17, 1867.
For Dr. Jackson there was but one goal, — that of
acquiring the best sort of influence over the mysterious
forces that met him in the sick-room, that strange realm
where the patient's illness is but one of many problems
that the physician has to face. Here he became supreme,

THE JACKSON FAMILY [67
and certain it is that few physicians have ever brought
to their task a keener instinct for the important points
of a case, a finer sensitiveness for the needs and nature
of the patient, a more complete devotion to the art of
enlisting sympathy, authority, and unconquerable hope
fulness, of utilizing the sound of the voice and the ex
pression of the face in the service of therapeutics. In
the presence of his searching love of truth, his firmness,
simplicity, earnestness, and directness, prevarication and
petulance were disarmed, and the best instincts of nurse
and patient alike were made to do willing duty. It
could have been said of him as was said by Feuchtersleben
of the physician Rcil, "that his patients might lose life,
but could never lose hope."
Dr. Jackson's face, with its delicately moulded and
mobile features, and its lines that told again the his
tory of his well-spent life, was a faithful index of his
thoughts, giving expression, with equal ease, to thought
ful gravity or almost childlike gayety, while his man
ners showed the charm and grace that savored of a
day gone by, and could easily have brought to mind
the stately music of the minuet. The delicacy and sweet
ness of his face grew even more marked during his later
and quieter days.
To be ever ready with patience where impatience
would have seemed in place; to see merit where the
failure is more obvious, and thus to create an atmosphere
in which merit can best grow; to merge the personal
relation in a wider relation, and to represent for the
sick and troubled members of the community the interest
and protecting care of the community at its best, was
eminently Dr. Jackson's way.
His unassuming habit of mind made it his delight to
take young and old as he found them. Keenly sensitive
by nature to the faults and inconsistencies of those about

68]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
him, his reverent acceptance of imperfection of character
as a part of the plan left him free to enjoy the good which
his divining-rod discovered in almost every human crea
ture he came near.
in the Boston Medical aud Surgical Journal for August,
1867, Dr. Holmes wrote of him:
"So passes from us the last of those three brothers
whom many of us remember as honors to their several
callings, types and patterns of the best class of American
citizens. United in the dearest friendship while they lived,
we may hope that they are at length reunited among the
good and faithful servants who have entered into the joy
of their Lord. As the last of them leaves us, we seem to
look upon them once more as when we used to see them
together in their daily walk. Charles, grave, learned,
judicial by nature, gentle, unselfish, modest, whom to
have known is the most precious legacy of the past to
many of the living; Patrick, great-hearted, impetuous,
sanguine, constructive, executive, whose footprints were
among the first along the opening track of New Eng
land's progress; and with them this teacher of teachers,
this healer of the sick, this counsellor of the perplexed,
this consoler of the sorrowful, this benefactor of the
needy, whose sympathies were as boundless as the day,
and whose priceless labors extended through two thirds
of a century. With all gratitude for his beautiful and
most useful life, feeling, as we do, that he had filled
the full measure of his years and of his services, it is
yet with sorrowing hearts that we strike from the roll
of living men the revered and cherished name of James
Jackson." [The following passages are from letters of Dr. Jack
son to Miss Anna C. Lowell, whose father, the Hon.
John Lowell (son of Judge Lowell of Newburyport),
had been greatly loved and respected by him.

DR. JAMES JACKSON
1777-1867

 THE JACKSON FAMILY  [69
At this time Cousin Frank and Cousin Sarah Jackson
and their little children, Jim and Lily (Cousin Lily
Winsor), were living at Westport, N. Y., where Cousin
Frank was in charge of the Ironworks.
"Lizzie," so often mentioned, is Cousin Lizzie Putnam,
whose happy, dauntless, active-for-good nature seems
to have been pronounced in her as a child, and the spirit
and true style which during all her life we admired in
Lily Winsor shone out in her clearly when she was but
six years old.
In the letter of December 13, 1846, "Lydia" is Cousin
Lydia Storrow, whose husband, Cousin Charles Storrow,
a distinguished engineer, was taking great part in the
building of the town of Lawrence.
In November, 1848, Uncle Frank and Aunt Sarah
Lee, just married, were living at Stonysides, still lived
in and loved by their family to the third generation, and
still as open-heartedly hospitable as ever.] December 5, 1843.
. . . You ask about our Thanksgiving Day. Dr. Put
nam and family were at his father's. The rest were here,
all who were in town, except one grandchild. It was for
dinner; all were gone at dark. We had a pleasant day;
the children enjoyed it very much, though they would
have had much more fun and frolic if little Lizzie Put.
had been among them. She is always gay and has a
good deal of invention, and she makes the others happy
while she enjoys herself very much. You ask about
Frank's boy. He is undoubtedly a vigorous, active,
sensitive and healthy boy. It might delight you, it does
me, to hear his father talk of him, because it shows
how strongly he loves him and how much happiness he
gives him, and this makes a man better. Fathers need
the good which children do them even more than
mothers. . . .

70] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1843
Boston, December 27, 1843.
. . . My Christmas did not pass as you anticipated.
My wife was sick on Sunday and Monday, so that we
had not any company. We should have had those of
my children who were disengaged with my three oldest
grandchildren, except Lizzie. We hope to have the cele
bration during the holidays, but the weather is unpro-
pitious, for we wish to wait until Lizzie is well enough,
and the want of fair weather prevents her getting into
the air to get strength. She is however doing well and
is as busy as a bee. She is always the most industrious
of creatures, playing merrily, reading intently or work
ing earnestly. She tires herself, but what are we made
Tor but to work until we are tired? It is vain to wish
she were stronger. Our business is to cultivate in her the
habit which gives strength. Boston, August 12, 1844.
... I am exceedingly pleased that you liked to see
my dear little Lizzie, and that she likes to see you. She
has a deal in her as I think, a spring flowing up all the
time, sometimes spattering you, but it has so much vi
vacity, such pleasant bubbling, that you do not mind the
spattering, at least her grandfather does not. . . . I
Boston, October 10, 1845.
. . . Frank with his wife and children left us last week,
and we have heard of their safe arrival at home almost
without fatigue, which is better than we hoped for from
such little travellers. . . . Though these little chicks
were noisy, I feel the loss of them, especially of the little
Lily, who was a great pet with me. She has certainly the
most extraordinary quickness and activity of mind, and
withal a fun-loving disposition which was a constant source
of amusement. She enjoyed her own coquetry in a high
degree. It is certainly true, that I enjoy more than any-

1848] THE JACKSON FAMILY [71
thing else, the society of my grandchildren, and I was
going to say of the youngest of them. But this is not
true, for the oldest is yet the nearest to my heart, and
probably always will be. She is old enough to have a
feeling of friendship toward me, and I have the same
toward her in addition to what I feel to the others. . . .
July 6, 1846.
If you come through Lake Champlain in the daytime,
I hope you will see my son Frank's place. It is at West-
port, about two or three hours' sail on this side of Bur
lington. You probably will stop in the village of West-
port, which is in a bay; and on the north of the bay you
see his furnace, a large stone building down on the lake,
while on the bank above you see his neat row of houses
for the operatives, and above them his own house. As
the ground rises gently from the bluff on the lake, and
as there are many trees interspersed among the houses,
you have a pretty, quiet scene exhibited.
Boston, December 13, 1846.
. . . The last week I have spent two days in making
a visit to my daughter Lydia, and the other days were
crowded in consequence of that. I must tell you that I
had a most pleasant visit. Mr. Storrow is building a
little city, and it is gratifying to see the care with which
he lays the foundation, so far as in him lies, for the
moral as well as for the physical welfare of its future in
habitants. . . . [The "little city" is Lawrence.] November 1, 1848.
For myself and my wife we are as well as any
couple have a right to expect, averaging, as we do, three
score and ten. We had a very pleasant journey to Frank's
this autumn, enjoyed the gorgeous beauties of the Ver
mont mountains in their bright red, yellow and russet

72 J HENRY AND MARY LEE [i860
attire, and found everything very comfortable at West-
port. F.'s wife and two children were in excellent health
and very happy. His affairs are going as well as any
body's in these hard times. We saw there my new niece,
Mrs. Frank Lee, who was an old acquaintance, and whom
we had just been seeing on their visit here. But she is
always fresh. I cannot succeed in telling you what she
is, but I am sure you would see in her much that is very
pleasing, for everybody does. I used to say she had
some of the characteristics of Di Vernon; but I gave an
idea to some persons that there was something masculine
about her. It is not so. She is feminine entirely, though
she can draw on her boots to ride through the deep mud
of her country, and she can go out alone on the lake
in her boat. It is a singular good fortune that my chil
dren have her and her sister, Mrs. Hunter, and Mr.
Hunter for their neighbours. They are all three ex
tremely sensible and agreeable people. . . .
Boston, July 1, i860.
My latest sorrow was in the loss of my dear sister,
Mrs. Henry Lee, — the youngest of my father's nine
children, all of whom lived to the adult age. I only now
survive. My sister was, to a day, six years younger than
myself. She lived loving and beloved, — always contribut
ing to the happiness of the circle of friends to which she
belonged. I have not murmured. I have thanked God
that she was permitted to enjoy life so long, and then was
removed with so little suffering. I could relate other
sorrows, — but I could tell vastly more blessings which
have occurred since I passed the end of my threescore
and ten. Since then I have had labors too. But they
have not been heavy, nor severe. I have gone on with
professional business, though with slower steps than in
my youth. But I have found my happiness in this busi-

i86o]  THE JACKSON FAMILY  [73
ness, and I pray that I may not be compelled to relinquish
it altogether till the last days of my life. It causes me
some anxious hours — even days — but most of my days
are made happy by it. It may seem strange to you —
but my profession is perhaps the most happy of any to
one who loves it. The intercourse with the sick is most
cheering — in many more hours it is so than those in which
it is painful. The intercourse with the sick elicits feeling
all the time, and when everything is placed on the basis
of truth, when one can talk plainly with those who are
wasting away, even under pain, there is often an amount
of pleasing intercourse greater than you can imagine. In
such hours human nature sometimes shines out in the
most beautiful colors.

— And last, not least, in each perplexing case,
Learn the sweet magic of a cheerful face;
Not always smiling, but at least serene,
When grief and anguish cloud the anxious scene.
Each look, each movement, every word and tone,
Should tell your patient you are all his own ;
Not the mere artist, purchased to attend,
But the warm, ready, self-forgetting friend,
Whose genial visit in itself combines
The best of cordials, tonics, anodynes.
Such is the visit that from day to day
Sheds o'er my chamber its benignant ray.
I give his health, who never cared to claim
Her babbling homage from the tongue of Fame;
Unmoved by praise, he stands by all confest,
The truest, noblest, wisest, kindest, best.
From The Morning Visit, by O. W. Holmes.

IV
ABOUT THE LETTERS
It is hard to say whether later generations have any
right to read the letters, which, more or less by chance,
have drifted down to them, yet there seems an injustice in
leaving the great-grandchildren of Henry and Mary Lee
unaware of their character, of the happiness of their
married life of more than fifty years, of their fortitude
in anxious times, and of their faith in God.
Doubting much whether any part of the letters should
be read, I was very thankful to come upon this memo
randum of my Grandmother's, written in 1830.
"Boston, 3rd May, 1830.
"I have often felt that I ought to destroy the immense
quantity of letters which passed between my husband and
myself during his long absence, when our minds were fre
quently in such a state of depression that our letters
could have no interest after that period, to any third
person — but when thinking of doing so, the recollection
of the delight these letters afforded each of us at the
moment when they were received, makes me very reluc
tant to do it without looking over them, and this is a
labour that I have neither time nor eyes to perform.
"Still I keep them, thinking the time may coinc, and
as I can recollect nothing that would be very bad for
my children to read (though I should by no means want
them to go over so much ground for the little instruction
they would glean), I venture to leave them to Mary's
discretion or any other person into whose hands they
may fall."
This passage gives one a half permission, at least, to
put portions of the letters and Journal which remain be
fore the eyes of the younger generation. Only detached
74

ABOUT THE LETTERS [75
passages can be given, for in letters between husband
and wife much is for themselves alone and must be held
sacred. Henry Lee was a shy and reticent man. His love for
his wife and dependence on her were a part of his life.
His letters were written for her alone, and it seems
almost a desecration to put any part of them before
other eyes. Most of their tender expression of devo
tion and love and of the longing to be at home must
be left un-repeated in the pages of the old letters, but a
few loving sentences are kept as part of the portrait of
my Grandfather; in the same way are retained some pas
sages which show my Grandmother's deep feeling for
her husband. When my Grandmother entirely declined
to burn her husband's letters from India, he asked her to
strike out any expressions which seemed to her too strong,
or which he ought not to have written, probably in refer
ence to the War of 18 12 and President Madison's Ad
ministration. This I have once or twice done, as by
Grandfather's desire, but no omission of an adjective
here or there leaves one in doubt of his vigorously held
and vigorously expressed opinion.
A few of my Grandmother's letters, written to a near
friend before her marriage, and others written during
the first year and a half of her married life, 1810-1811,
to her sister Hannah are given.
Then follow portions of the long letters written by
Henry Lee while he was in Calcutta during the War of
1 8 1 2 and until 1 8 1 6 ; also some passages from the Journal
faithfully kept for him at home by his wife, Mary Lee,
while at the same time she was writing him letters which
went to India by every opportunity : some by way of Eng
land, some by Portugal, and some by South America.
None of the letters written to my Grandfather in India
remain, but the Journal at home keeps pace with them.

76] HENRY AND MARY LEE
The docketing by my Grandmother of the letters from
Calcutta bears touching witness to the patience and forti
tude needed and shown in the long waiting for news, made
longer by the Embargo and the War. At best the letters
were from six to seven months on the way: some were
received ten or more months from the date of writing;
some, after more than a year.
Such passages as the following occur again and again :
28th October, 18 13. I have just got a short letter,
dated 4th February, sent via England. God only
knows, my husband, how much I prize these constant
proofs of your affectionate solicitude to lessen my
anxiety, and to afford the best consolation I can have.
Sunday evening, 12th December, 18 13. On Thurs
day, 9th Inst., I received your No. 12. Its date was
down to the 16th of March, 18 13, nine days later
than I have before received. My dear husband, you
but too well know the value of even so old a letter.
My Grandmother seems to have persuaded herself
that she was of a cold and sluggish disposition, and more
than once speaks of herself as "oyster-like." "You
know that I never suffer exquisitely." "Believe me, I
have not a sensibility sufficiently strong ever to endanger
my health." Yet every word and every line of her
Journal tell of her loving nature, apprehensive at times,
and self-distrustful. The pain of the indefinitely long
parting, the slow, uncertain communication, her constant
anxiety about her husband's health, speak in letter after
letter. That it was no fanciful anxiety is shown by earnest
inquiries about him in their letters from Uncle Patrick,
Uncle James, and others of the family. "Seriously, I
wish you to say how Hal is. I find he has been sick, but
he does not say how bad," and other like inquiries. The
tendency to consumption vanished later, and in the latter

ABOUT THE LETTERS [77

part of his life he was a strong man, but there was gen
uine ground for anxiety during these earlier years.
Anxiety at home had to be kept in the background
during these long waiting-periods, and Grandfather, in
India, had also long to wait for news from home of wife
and child, and of the many kinsfolk, chiefly the Jackson
kinsfolk, the clan, as they called themselves in their
letters. There were fewer Lee relatives to hear from.
The Cabots were part of both families, Lee and Jackson.
All of Grandfather's Indian letters are written on
double sheets of a paper fine in texture, yet so firm and in
destructible that it can be folded and unfolded without
injury. Not a page is torn. The delicate line of gold on
the edge of the paper is bright and burnished as a hun
dred years ago. Grandfather's writing at that time had
a distinction which always characterized it, even though
in later years it was very hard to read.
Grandmother's Journal (of which we have only a part)
was also written on double sheets of uniform size.
Each page contains about 500 words, so clearly and
beautifully written that scarcely a word is hard to read,
and not one is illegible. Ilcr hand-writing is admirable:
the gentlewoman's writing of that day, and both Aunt
Lizzie's and my Mother's bore a strong likeness to it.
No one who had the privilege of reading the Journal
and the letters in their due sequence could fail to be
struck by their really beautiful literary form. There is
discrimination and fitness in the placing of each word, and
a wide vocabulary; her reading, too, carried on in the
midst of many family cares, is the serious, well-chosen
reading of Miss Edgeworth's day, appreciated and en
joyed.1 No reproduction can give their interest and
1 [In the early 19th Century] there was no large half-educated
class, and therefore the intellectual and literary standard of our
ancestors was in some respects higher than our own. Though
comparatively little was read, most of what was read was of

78]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
charm, nor the directness and simplicity of expression
which makes one for the moment contemporary with
them. In reading the old letters the picture becomes vivid
of the small, old town, with its many dignified, handsome
houses — with gardens, and fruit trees. It was truly a
seaport in those days, and felt its nearness to the harbor
and the ships, and to the countries to which the ships
sailed.2 The winds seem to blow through Grandmother's
letters, as she anxiously listens to them, and thinks of
the ships off the coast. "I must, however, wait with
patience, and pray for east winds to blow in the vessels
which are, I hope, hovering round our coast, and will
be richly laden."
"I hasten to finish this. The wind is blowing fresh at
the west, and will, I think, carry out some vessels, whose
[mail] bags were to close yesterday, but I hope to get
this on board."
During Grandfather's long absence, all the family
evidently tried to shield Grandmother from loneliness,
and as far as they could, from anxiety. By Grandfather's
family, and his Higginson and Cabot kindred, she was
much beloved, and her own Jackson family — the clan —
were deeply affectionate, and cared much for each other's
companionship.value. The later-day flood of newspapers, magazines, and in
different novels had not yet come to submerge literature and
provide substitutes for thought and taste. The modern as well
as the ancient classics held a much greater place in the national
consciousness than today. Shakespeare and Milton were familiar
to almost all who could read and write. — G. M. Trevelyan.
2 Even in the Boston of the fifties and sixties, with the East
India and China trade still extending the life of New England
round the world, the names of the old captains were still on
people's lips: Sturgis, Forbes, Heard, Dumaresq, Bacon, Israel
Whitney,— the names of the ports they sailed to, Bombay, Cal
cutta, Canton, Hongkong, Manila, more familiar in our ears
than New Orleans or San Francisco.

V
EARLY LETTERS, l8o2-l8lI
The Persons mentioned in the early letters and in the
letters to and from India are Henry Lee's father, Joseph
Lee ( 1 744-1831), and his stepmother, Deborah (Hig
ginson) Cabot ( 1 754-1 820), of whom both my grand
father and grandmother speak with much affection as
"my mother": they were living at No. 3 Bumstead
Place, a court with houses only on the north side, lead
ing from Tremont Street between "Bromfield Lane" and
Hamilton Place. Joseph, George, Tom, and Frank Lee
are my grandfather's brothers, Elizabeth, Amelia, and
Nancy Lee his sisters: John Lee (1 804-1 877), his
nephew, son of his brother Nathaniel.
Mary Lee's brothers and sisters are Frank and Hannah
(Mr. and Mrs. Francis C. Lowell) ; Charles and Fanny
(Judge Jackson and Mrs. Jackson), then living at 4
Hamilton Place; James and Betsey (Doctor and Mrs.
James Jackson), who were living at 26 Summer Street;
Pat and Lydia (Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Tracy Jackson),
a little later living on Winter Street; Harriet, the un
married sister, important to all the family and devotedly
attached to them, while reserving the right to criticize
when she thought criticism called for. Sally Gardner is
her niece, the daughter of an elder sister.
Uncle Cabot, 1 cannot absolutely identify but believe
him to be George Cabot, brother of Elizabeth (Cabot)
Lee, first wife of Joseph Lee. Andrew Cabot is a first
cousin of Henry Lee and brother of Nancy Cabot, of
Elizabeth and Sally Cabot (the first and second Mrs.
James Jackson), and of Lydia Cabot, wife of Patrick
Tracy Jackson. 79

8o]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
The Bromfield family were greatly respected in New
buryport. My grandmother always speaks of "Aunt
Bromfield" with love and reverence, while her daughter
Ann (Nancy), later Mrs. Thomas Tracy of Newbury
port, was a lifelong friend. Her son, John Bromfield
( 1 779-1 849), is gratefully remembered as an early bene
factor of the Boston Athenaeum.1 Mrs. Bromfield's un
usually fine character is spoken of in contemporary me
moirs. My grandfather says of her, "She was one of
the most admirable women of her time, beloved and
venerated by all."
The Searles were a well-known Newburyport family,
of whom Mrs. Curson (Peggy Searle) and her sisters,
Catherine, Lucy and Fanny Searle, intellectual and cul
tivated ladies, were intimate and lifelong friends of my
grandmother's. They lived in a charming old house at
Artichoke Mills, on the Artichoke River, a stream flow
ing into the Merrimac, where Miss Mary Curson was
living until very lately, surrounded by fine Blackburn
portraits and cherished old furniture.
Through the intimate friendship of Judge Lowell and
Jonathan Jackson their two families, living next door
to each other on the pleasant High Street of Newbury
port for many years, had grown up in affectionate
intimacy. 1 John Bromfield, merchant, 1 779-1 849, went as factor for Mr.
Theodore Lyman, Sr., to Canton in 1809. "During his resi
dence there he received repeated and valuable consignments of
property from Henry Lee, Esq., either on his own account, or
from persons for whose confidence he was indebted to Mr. Lee.
"In November, 18 io, he wrote, 'I am deeply indebted to Henry
Lee for unremitting marks of friendship, and for seconding my
interest on every occasion.' "— Quincy's History of the Boston
Athenaium. The name of Bromfield is still familiar to us in Bromfield
Street, and in the name of our dear cousin, Henry Bromfield
Cabot.

EARLY LETTERS [8 1
Nancy, or "our dear Nancy," was Anna Cabot Lowell
( 1 768-1810), the oldest daughter of Judge Lowell, much
loved and much esteemed in the family for her literary
interests and powers.
Mary Jackson, writing to Eliza Lowell in 180,3, says,
"Nancy, I think, my dear, is as perfect a being as I ever
knew." She was a charming writer of letters.
Hon. John Lowell, 1 769-1 840, of Bromley Vale,
Roxbury, was the oldest son of Judge Lowell. He was a
staunch Federalist, and writer of many political pam
phlets; interested in horticulture, and first President of
the Massachusetts Agricultural Society.
Sarah Champney Lowell, 1771-1851, is referred to as
Sally. Francis Cabot Lowell, 1775-18 17, son of Judge
Lowell and his second wife, Susanna Cabot of Beverly,
was married in 1798 to Mary Jackson's oldest sister,
Hannah. "From then on he was the trusted adviser of
the Jackson family."
Susanna Cabot Lowell, 1776-1816, became the wife
of the Hon. Benjamin Gorham.
Eliza Cults Lowell, 1 783-1 864, born in the same year
with Mary Jackson, was her affectionate and lifelong
friend. She was married to Mr. Warren Dutton in
June, 1806, and was always known in my Grandmother's
family as Aunt Dutton.
Rebecca Lowell, i779-l853- became the wife of
Mr. Samuel Pickering Gardner. The family for many
years lived in a fine old house, which, with its garden,
occupied the ground on Summer Street where C. F.
Hovey's shop was for so long. The building still bears
the initials S. P. G., on its granite front, opposite Hawley
Street.

82] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1802
After the death of Judge Lowell, 6 May, 1802, Mary
Jackson writes to Eliza Lowell :
"My dear, most warmly have I sympathized with you
in the loss of this invaluable parent — next to my own
father came yours in my heart. Although we are re
puted to be only relatives by adoption, I cannot but
think sometimes that there was some mistake and that
our fathers were really related — at any rate their hearts
were as firmly united as any brothers ever were, and
I hope the same constancy will descend to their children."
These were the great days of Essex County, when
Newburyport, Salem, and Beverly stood for much so
cially and commercially in our little world. There were
many visits between these towns, and Boston, Charles
town, and Roxbury.
The following letters to Eliza Lowell were written
when Mary Jackson was staying in Newburyport, at
"Aunt Bromfield's," and in Beverly, at "Uncle Lee's,"
both titles being terms of affection rather than of re
lationship so far as I know.
In the letter written from "Uncle Lee's at Beverly" in
1806 is the only picture we have of the household of
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Lee — Captain Joseph Lee, his
second wife, Deborah (Higginson) Cabot, much be
loved by his children, and his third daughter, Nancy.
The oldest daughter, Elizabeth, spoken of by Grand
mother in earlier letters as Betsey, had died in 1804.
Amelia, the second daughter, was already the wife of
Charles Jackson, Mary Jackson's brother, and their little
daughter, Elizabeth Lee, was five years old. In 1808
the young mother and the little Elizabeth had both died.
Nancy Lee, the third daughter of Joseph and Eliza
beth Lee, a year and a half older than her brother
Henry, was evidently Mary Jackson's special friend in

(Harriet Jackson)
1782-1849

.4

"7/

clc/Hv,.

fcT^V.

(Mrs. Henry Lee)
1783-1860

1804] EARLY LETTERS [83
the family, and her silhouette portrait is still in three
of the family households.
Mary Jackson to Eliza Lowell
Newburyport . . . 1804.
An unexpected pleasure is always more gratefully
received than one we have been long hoping for. Of
course, my dear girl, your letter afforded me very great
delight — when you left the door you gave me so very
little encouragement that I cannot say I indulged a hope
that you would prevail upon yourself to make the ex
ertion — I think, however, you would be fully repaid did
you know how great the gratification was to your friend.
I give you full credit, my dear, I assure you, for your
perseverance and wish you could impart a little of it
to me, for I think I shall want more than belongs to
me to get down even one page this morning. You will
not be astonished at this when I tell you that not only
Susan and Nancy are now here, but that we are every
moment expecting the arrival of all the most agreeable
beaux in town — it is our levee morning — such expecta
tions you know whether realized or not ought to agitate
one too much to be able to pen a sentimental epistle
to a fair friend.
I believe I must adopt the method to which I am most
accustomed as the most expeditious, although I must
confess it to be the most inelegant, and in a plain matter
of fact style rehearse to you the adventures of the last
evening which was passed very happily by me (if you
can imagine it possible) in an assembly room. You may
with the more readiness believe the assertion when I
tell you who were my party. Ann Bromfield let me
put first, and from the beginning you may be inclined
to think it was tolerably pleasant. My friends C. and
Fanny Searle escorted by Putnam and myself formed

84]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1804
in my opinion a very delightful party. Nancy had a
most tremendous nose cold, otherwise we were all in
good spirits and quite in the humor for dancing. I con
fess that was increased when I saw Pickering,* the always
pleasant and delightful Pickering, enter the room, and
thought it possible, as he could not have many friends in
the room, that I might claim some small share of his
attention. Tappan, who Susan may possibly mention
to you she thinks tolerably pleasant, was there. He does
not dance but performed his duty in entertaining those
ladies that sit still with great pleasantry and address.
We, that is to say, Tappan, Fanny, and myself, proposed
writing you as we were sitting quite by ourselves in the
drawing-room. He said he would be scribe if I would
indite — he wished me to be particularly sentimental, as
that was a fine place for a thing of the kind. I don't
know that you have ever known him at all — if you have
not you have a pleasure to come; he is a very pleas
ant fellow — has not the advantage of beauty of form
but a delightful expression of face. I never saw him
till since I have been here, but for the last week he has
been our constant companion and we have all resigned
our hearts — I am every moment expecting him to make
his appearance. When he does, my dear, I shall very
laconically (a Johnsonian word) say adieu.
But Tappan has taken up too much of my time and
paper. I have not yet told you that Mr. Putnam, in
course, took me up for the second voluntary. I had
before danced with Pickering. Captain Stocker, one of
the managers, paid the compliment due to strangers to
both N. and my fair self by hurrying down a dance with
each of us. The Tutor was a beau for our party when
1 Undoubtedly Mr. John Pickering, son of Col. Timothy Picker
ing—intimate friend of James Jackson, Mary Jackson's brother.
Cousin John Lee grew up in his kinsman Mr. Pickering's house
hold.

1806] EARLY LETTERS [85
he could leave Miss Sawyer,1 to whom he was quite at
tentive, mind you, not particularly so — I beg not to be
instrumental in raising any more reports about Miss
Sawyer, as I find the one we thought so very well authen
ticated when you were here, she has declared to me is
entirely without foundation.
Do not, my dear, let this poor return for your letter
prevent you from writing me again. I expect to be home
in the course of the next week, but on Monday I shall
earnestly hope for a letter and beg you to return good
for evil. — Our beaux arrive and I must conclude with
my good wishes for your health and happiness : if Miss
Vaughan is still with you give my remembrances to her.
You hope Susan has written me, you say. I have been
in daily hope of the same thing but presume her time
and thoughts have been entirely occupied by Mrs.
Perkins' illness. I still have a hope that I may hear from
her before I see her. Again adieu. Your friend Mary.
Uncle Lee's, Beverly, 10th April, 1806.
Day after day have I delayed writing, my dear Eliza,
because I have not had the firmness to resist Nancy's
entreaties not to write at this moment or the next, and
this having been (as I have suspected) combined with
ridicule for my scribbling humor, it has repeatedly van
quished me when I really wanted to write. There seems
to be a sort of incivility when keeping with a friend
to devote many hours to this pleasing employment. . . .
Now I have seated myself, upon what subject shall I
entertain you? Shall I give you an account of the state
of society in Beverly? or shall I tell you what is to me,
1 Probably Miss Hannah Farnham Sawyer, 1 780-1 865, married
in 1807 to Lieut. George Gardner Lee, first cousin of our grand
father Henry Lee. Her sister Mary Anna married Philip J.
Schuyler of Rhinebeck, N. Y., and was the mother of the Hon.
George Lcc Schuyler.

86]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1806
and I shall presume to you, much more interesting, of
myself and of my own conduct — this is, I presume, the
darling theme of all letter-writing nymphs . . . the week
which I have passed here has been very happy — the
family in which I am is, as you know, the very model
of regularity, and irregular as your poor friend appears
in all her habits, she still has taste enough to love regu
larity and to wish she could be so, too — not to get so
bigoted to any particular mode of life as to be made
miserable by any variation, but to have sufficient stability
to do one day what she did the preceding one — this is
the plan upon which I mean to proceed when I am mar
ried, Eliza, and I will recommend it to you as the surest
guide to become a good wife and an economist. . . .
Establish, however, I beseech you, better habits than
Nancy and myself have: do not, for instance, make it a
rule not to rise till nine, or near it, for it is neither con
ducive to health or, upon the whole, to enjoyment.
Neither would I advise you to waste so much time as
we usually do after we have breakfasted, but sit down
immediately to your work, as is the habit of my excel
lent hostess, or attend to your household concerns. . . .
I will proceed to tell you with how much pleasure I
am perusing a work which I am now more than ever
astonished that I have so long neglected — viz., Boswell's
Life of Johnson. Do you recollect when it first came
out your having it in Roxbury, and our all assembling
for two or three mornings in Nancy's1 chamber to read
it? — but, as girls almost always do in such cases, talked
more than we read, and, of course, did not proceed very
rapidly. I afterwards had it from Mr. Higginson, but
was obliged to give it up to some one else when I had
not got through the first volume. . . .
My love to Hannah, and to the children kisses from
their Aunt Mary.
1 This was Nancy Lowell.

1810]  EARLY LETTERS [87
On the 1 6th of June, 1809, Mary Jackson was married
to Henry Lee. Their first home in Boston was on
Bowdoin Street.
In 1 8 10-12 Grandmother's sister Hannah and her
husband (Mr. and Mrs. Francis Cabot Lowell), and
their children (John, Susan, Francis, and Edward), and
her sister, Harriet Jackson, were in England and Scot
land. For quite a long period the two older children
were placed in Edinburgh under the care of Mrs. Mary
Grant, usually spoken of as Mrs. Grant of Laggan. Mr.
Lowell's older sister Nancy was a friend and corre
spondent of Mrs. Grant's, although they never met, and
on 19 June, 18 10, Miss Lowell writes to Mrs. Grant:
"My 2nd brother with his wife and children and a
sister of Mrs. L. are about to embark for E-pe. Various
motives induce them to travel at this time — the health
of Mrs. L. whh. has for some years been delicate; the
hope of giving to their children some advantages in edu
cation, superior to those in their own country, and the
pleasure and improvement they anticipate from seeing
other countries, have all their influence. . . . You will
find Mrs. L. so lovely in her character, you will discover
in her so much good sense, so much delicacy of sentiment,
so much sweetness of temper and piety of heart, that
when you have penetrated the veil whh. humility and
modesty may draw over her excellence in the presence of
a stranger, I am sure you will become interested in giving
her your aid in forming a plan for her children while
she resides among you."
Mary Lee to her sisters, Hannah Lowell and
Harriet Jackson Boston, July 10-11, 18 10.
Dear Hannah :
I hope we shall succeed in letting you have letters by
every vessel. I do not seem so much in the humor of

88] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1810
writing as I expected to, or rather, I may say, not being
able to write as I think satisfactorily, I allow trifles to
prevent my doing it at all. This, I feel, is not right,
and I shall not allow it to influence me. . . . Charles
and his wife are well. I was out there yesterday, and
thought Fanny never looked so well; their place really
appears quite pleasantly, and the country life, as far as
I can judge from a trial of ten days, suits better than
they expected. When there is any probability of a change
in their situation, you shall know it. . . . Nancy Lowell
has gone to Newburyport to make her long talked of
visit. She is well, and has had fine weather. Nancy
Bromfield is quite well. I have desired her to write
by this opportunity. Caty Searle is with me. She, too,
will write Harriet, I hope, though she thinks it would
be foolish for her to write to Europe. This whim seems to
infest the brains of most of Harriet's female friends, so
that I fear, unless some of the beaux take compassion
on her, she will be confined to me for a correspondent.
(Well, dear Harriet, I will be as good as I can, but
the baby cries, and I must run up-stairs so often that it
is difficult.) ... I shall depend very much upon your hus
band's writing me, and shall certainly answer him. The
children, too, will, I hope, write. Sue promised it, and
will, of course. The bright moon of this week, you
must have enjoyed highly. I have pictured to myself
your little group, and always think of your husband satis
fying John's1 inquisitive mind by explaining to him the
motions of the heavenly bodies, etc., etc. These few
weeks of constant attention from his father may be of
infinite service to him. My husband is well, and, though
not given to making professions, would give his warmest
love to you all, were he here. You must receive it, my
dear friends, with that of your sister A/f T
M. Lee.
1 Later, the founder of the Lowell Lectures.

etitify^^ti/st&dLac

(Mrs. Francis C. Lowell)
1776-18 15

i8io]  EARLY LETTERS [89
Mary Lee to Hannah Lowell
Boston, nth August, 18 10.
I cannot let Aunt Higginson go without one line to
my dear Hannah. There have been a thousand things
I have wanted to say to you ; there have been a thousand
pleasures in which I wished you to participate since I
wrote you. . . . When I returned from Susan Gorham's
last Saturday, after drinking tea with her, I wanted to
tell you how glad I was that my husband had conquered
his feelings of embarrassment sufficiently to go there.
It was evidently a great gratification to her, not so much,
perhaps, from the value of our society, as from having
gained an object which she had taken much pains to.
I often smile at the value attached to anything which is
rare, and tell my husband that his whims make his society
much more courted than any agreeable qualities he may
chance to possess. We have been, too, to Becca
Gardner's this week, and have had our baby christened;
thus, you see, we advance. . . . Good-bye, my dear sister.
This will, I hope, find you settled in Edinburgh, improved
in health, dispensing and conferring pleasure on a small
circle, who you will, I hope, be enabled to call friends.
My love to your husband and kisses to the children,
in all of which, Mr. Lee cordially joins. Yours with
the greatest affection M I ee
[The following letter is to Aunt Hannah Lowell to
tell her of the happy engagement of Patrick Jackson,
brother of these three sisters, to Lydia Cabot.]
Boston, August 13, 1 8 10.
I find, my dear Hannah, that I must be a little in the
background in communicating the information of the ab
solute coalition of the families of Cabot and Jackson.

9°] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1810
Pat tells me that he wrote four lines yesterday morning,
and I cannot doubt what those four lines were. Charles,
too, I find was in the secret before he wrote, therefore
I must be contented to be thought very dull that I could
not ascertain with positiveness to assert that it certainly
would be so if I could not say that it was. In excuse
for my seeming want of penetration, I must tell you
that Pat has taken the liberty which the lords, you know,
think they have a right to, of trifling so long that I some
times feared his intentions could not be serious. Now
it has thus terminated, I suppose he may be forgiven;
indeed, I believe he has not excited the anger of others
so much as he has mine. The fair one has behaved with
uncommon propriety and has discovered more force of
character than I thought her possessed of. Indeed, I
think, my dear sister, we may be quite satisfied with this
addition to our family. She has qualities which will be
more durable and useful than more shining ones might
be, and by what I can learn from the girls fully under
stands the character with which she has to assimilate —
this is a very important circumstance in favour of their
future happiness; for his good qualities are not of a
kind which impose themselves upon you; they are
concealed behind a multitude of real and affected
failings and a woman should know how to humour
these in order to draw forth the others. Pat em
ployed himself yesterday in going round to give in
formation of the important conclusion to this important
affair to his most particular friends — the world may dis
cover it when they please. He will have to bear the
unmerciful raillery of the bachelors. Tom [Lee] is
determined to open his whole artillery against him. In
talking of it with the girls last night, he said he had never
any doubt Pat would be married, for he believed if a
man only put on a Jackson coat he would not escape the

1810] EARLY LETTERS [91
bands of Hymen — that they were all meant for husbands,
and for good ones — and good wives, too, Mr. Lowell I
think you say.
I am writing this to send by the first vessel from New
York, or this place, as we feel desirous that no vessel
should go without a line, and there will doubtless be many
escape us.
We are all well — all happy — all prosperous, and I
hope all grateful. I think I have improved more in that
for the last year than in anything, and I do not now quite
despair of carrying about with me as cheerful a face
as you, even when my circumstances are quite adverse.
I have always many more blessings than I feel that
I deserve, tho' sometimes the cup seems low. . . .
I have passed a most delightful day in tending my
child; she has been unusually pleasant, and I have en
joyed the true comfort of a little baby. The close of
the day is not so pleasant. My husband is at Nahant.
These temporary separations are very salutary, but they
make me think with horror of the long one I feared
this summer. You know not how much I dreaded it and
what a struggle it was with me to give my consent. I
was spared then, but I have the terror continually of its
becoming at some future period necessary. My dear
Sisters, I cannot tell you how continually you are brought
to my recollection. I scarcely look from my window
without seeing something that recalls you to mind — some
one who resembles you — some one who has lived with
you, etc., and as for the children, I see them daily in
the persons of the little boys around us. My dear brother
Lowell I cannot find any one to remind me of; he lives
only in my mind's eye, but he need not fear he shall soon
be blotted from that.
From you all I shall expect long and minute accounts
of all you see, do and feel. In one month from this

92] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1810
date I shall most anxiously expect letters. I have given
you, my dear Harriet, various commissions, without
supplying you with any funds ; this was rather a foolish
thing, but my husband and Pat will, I suppose, make the
proper arrangements to have you remunerated. Shoes,
I hope you will get me, tho' I found you took no measure ;
those which are tight for you or loose for Hannah will
answer for me.
You must put a little literary information into your
letters to me that I may not be quite distanced by the
belles-lettres world, as one interested only in shoes,
head-dresses, etc., but if you can say but one thing, let
that be of yourselves. My husband remembers you with
the warmest interest, tho' I cannot prevail upon him
to tell you so himself. You must accept his love united
with that of your sister M.
Mary Lee to Hannah Lowell
September 18th, 18 10.
... I have read Walter Scott's last poem with much
pleasure ; from his writings and the character Mrs. Grant
gives of him, I feel a strong desire to see him. She rep
resents him as having nothing of the poet in his manners
and therefore perchance he might speak to one who has
no literary taste or talent; but I feel myself so much
better suited to the cares of a family, etc., etc., than to
anything else, that I do not sigh with envy when I think
of your advantages. I can never much enjoy society
when I feel myself so little, as I should in that which
you probably frequent; a ridiculous pride, perhaps, and
I sometimes fear, a dangerous one, as it may preclude
the possibility of improvement, while it keeps me in
society where exertion is unnecessary; but as there must
be some good sort of people in the world, perhaps I may
as well be one of that number.

1810] EARLY LETTERS [93
Mary Lee to Hannah Lowell
Boston, 25th September, 18 10.
Your letter, written after your arrival in Edinburgh,
received this day, dear Hannah, gives me great pleasure
as it convinces me that at least the two first days' ride
were pleasant and salutary to you — you say you are sorry
you mentioned Harriet's slight indisposition — I beg you
not to feel so, for it is the only way to gain our con
fidence to have your letters bear the strong marks of
truth, and to mention these little difficulties will make
us feel more at ease. We know that some clouds must
sometimes obscure your sunshine, and even if they are
flying ones had rather know when they are passing. . . .
I flatter myself that my letters will be among the
first, if not the very first, you receive, which will of
course entitle me to early letters from you. I promise
Mr. Lowell I will be very patient now I have heard of
you safe in Edinburgh. I do hope your husband will
write me: the first time I write a whole letter either to
you or Harriet that I am satisfied with I shall feel en
couraged to write him, but at present I feel myself so
deficient in all the requisites for a good letter-writer that
I cannot persuade myself to intrude upon any one that
is not really my brother or sister. I shall be sadly dis
appointed not to receive letters from him.
I suppose some one has told you of the appointment
of James1 to the Clinical Professorship.
... I enclose a letter wh. your mother sent me, with
a most affectionate note to myself. I believe they think
Mr. Lee can get letters across the Atlantic quicker than
any one, but after all we are 3,000 miles distant from
each other — this I very forcibly feel at times, and might
1 Her brother, Dr. James Jackson, in August, 18 10, elected
first professor of Clinical Medicine in Harvard University.

94] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1810
often dwell upon it with gloom; but if ever inclined to
indulge this the baby either laughs or cries, which recalls
my whole attention to her. I wish I could send her to
you for a few hours, that you might see what a proper
child she is. . . . She thrives, all the wise folk tell me,
quite fast enough, and is, I can assure you, a plump,
pretty, little thing. Unfortunately for her she has in
herited from father or mother — you must determine
which — so much natural bashfulness that she will not
accept the advances of any one of her friends more re
mote than her parents and nurse. But a truce with
egotism, for the present. . . . Kiss all the children most
affectionately for me, and do not let them forget me.
Goodnight, my dear sister, continue to set a good example
to your M. Lee.
Mary Lee to Francis and Hannah Lowell
Boston, 8th October, 18 10.
Thank you, my dear brother and sister, for your charm
ing letter: it was perhaps productive of more pleasure
because undeserved from you, dear Frank — upon Hannah
I think I have strong claims — you would be amused to
see the spirit excited in Fanny because her husband has
not yet a letter — She says Mr. Lowell pretends to love
Charles better than any one, but she does not think he
gives much proof of it — She too hopes for a letter though
she acknowledges she has no claims. I have exhausted
all my powers of eloquence in persuading this Cabot
faction to write Hannah, but in vain : their false modesty
prevents. I cannot say very much to encourage them
for I never found it so difficult to write as I do now.
. . . Thank you for your good advice to my husband. I
wish you would enforce it in a letter to himself: he does
work too hard — I do not mean bodily labour. I wish
I could urge your example in favour of your precept,

i8io]  EARLY LETTERS  [95
but perhaps your past experience will enable you to speak
more to the purpose than you could if you had not your
self been guilty of the like mistake. . . . Joseph thanks
you for your recollection — he insists upon it the time will
come when even / shall not write more than once in six
months, and he shall then write you — he chooses to wait
till some value can be attached to his letters independent
of their real merit. . . . Tom has continued in the
country till this late season, with unheard of firmness,
occasionally regaling himself with a night or two in
town at his father's. [Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Lee were
then, and for ten years more, living at No. 3 Bumstead
Place.] They are as well as usual: My mother is now
anxious about Aunt Cabot and Charles,1 which always
makes her a little sick you know — they have neither of
them been quite as well lately as when I last mentioned
them. . . . Thank you, dear Hannah, for the little cap;
its being your gift will attach great value to it, I can
assure you. I wish you could see our poppet at this
moment before she begins to be troubled with her teeth,
for tho' I have seen and felt them for some time they
do not yet trouble her: when I say she has improved in
beauty you must remember what she was, and will not
expect to see her the belle of Boston: she is wonderfully
like Aunt Harriet in her form and manner of carrying
her head, etc. — already can stand for a moment or two
on the corner of the sofa. Aunt Tracy has this moment
left me, and we have had some interesting conversation
about years past; she is remarkably well and handsome,
and desires her affectionate recollections to you all. . . .
I wish you would talk as exclusively of yourselves and
of the things around you as I do. I am delighted that
you so much admire Mrs. Grant, and think that your
intimate acquaintance will enable you soon to give us a
very correct idea of her and Mary. . . . Catherine Tracy
1 Wife of the Hon. George Cabot and her son.

96] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1810
has just commenced a visit to me, and I must no longer
violate the laws of politeness and hospitality by writing.
I must add that we passed two evenings with Aunt
Bromfield very pleasantly when in Newburyport. . . .
All your Newburyport friends as well as here express
great interest in you and send a deal of love which I
cannot pretend to give. Let us know when to direct
to London. Kiss all the dear children and do not let
them forget your affectionate sister M. Lee.

Mary Lee to Hannah Lowell
Boston, 19th November, 18 10.
. . . But I will not dwell upon your letters, and by so
doing, fill my sheet without telling you anything of our
selves, who are, I trust, as interesting to you as you to
us. I have the same good to communicate of our clan
as I have had most of the time since you left us. We
are all well, and as happy as most of our neighbors,
I believe, tho' I often strenuously assert that we should
be much happier did we mix more with them. I do think
so in part, but then, I always find comfort in reflecting
that I cannot do it. I scold at Fanny occasionally, and
she told me yesterday that I had frightened her into a
determination to visit some one out of our immediate
family that evening. She went to Mr. Thorndike's, who
(you may tell Augustus) is established here. Charles,
I think, wants this variety more than the rest of us.
Immured in his office all day, he wants more diversion
than he usually finds among us. I did not think he would
so sensibly feel your loss. You may be assured you are
vastly important now you are absent, and when you come
home, you will, of course, continue so; a European
voyage gives such eclat. I hasten to finish this. The

1810] EARLY LETTERS [97
wind is blowing fresh at the west, and will, I think, carry
out some vessels whose bags were to close yesterday,
but I hope to get this on board. I was glad to find by
your letter to Harriet that you had seen our poppet in
your dreams. She was presented to you much as she
really is, except for her sociability. She partakes so
much of her father's modesty, that I fear she would
not so readily acknowledge you for an aunt as you then
supposed her to. She is a picture of health, and, of
course, you would think her tolerably pretty with the
addition of a pair of very brilliant blue eyes. I really
do not think her more than this, tho' my mother1 insists
that I do. . . . Oh, how I long to look in upon your
little group. Let us know just how my favorite Frank
does. Tell him his first letter must be to me; there is
no one who loves him better. Give him and the others
all a good hard kiss for me. You must attend strictly
to truth when speaking of the health of yourself or
children. Harriet is good in this way, but I am sorry
to say, you are not to be trusted. You know I always
like to find all the fault I can with you. . . . My
mother says the head dress you sent the baby is the
prettiest she has ever seen. I have, I believe, returned
Miss Molly's thanks for it. I wish you would pick
up something as pretty for her mother's poll. Tom
Lee and Charles Cabot2 are to sail soon for the Havanna.
I think Charles very sick, but there is much to be hoped
from the warm climate. Aunt has been better lately,
notwithstanding the anxiety she has felt about him. I
was at your mother's yesterday. She, with Sally, were
busying themselves about moving. They were well:
Nancy not quite as well as when she wrote you per Galen."
1M.ts. Joseph Lee.
2 Charles Cabot, son of George and Elizabeth (Higginson)
Cabot, died in Havana, 1811.
3 The Galen belonged to my father's old grandfather, Dr.
Eliakim Morse of Watertown, 1 759-1 858.

98] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1810
Mary Lee to Hannah Lowell
1 6th December, 18 10.
You cannot tell how impatient I feel for letters.
Mr. J. Lowell had one from your husband some days
since, written in October, which relieves me from a de
gree of anxiety that I cannot restrain when it is long
since I have heard. I cannot exactly define what this
anxiety is, but Harriet can tell you how inclined I am
to imagine evil when I do not hear good. I must, how
ever, rest with patience, and pray for east winds to blow
in the vessels, which, I hope, are hovering round our
coast, and will be richly laden. [On the following day,
Grandmother tells of the increasing illness of Miss Nancy
Lowell, and on the 18th, of her death, a great sorrow to
a wide circle.] Mary Lee to Francis Cabot Lowell
January 6, 181 1.
. . . You know the anxiety with which we women
dwell upon objects at a distance that are dear to us
. . . how much we want to know of all your move
ments, looks, etc. Harry [Higginson] has given us
more idea of the latter than we can get from letters by
describing your dress. He says you dress in a black suit
every day, and look quite like a Lord, and that Ma'am
Lowell is growing smarter, tho' she cannot yet give 100
dollars for a wig. All these little things are pleasant to
us to hear, and you can judge how very important other
things are. I have gone so much upon this principle,
that I may, perhaps, have fatigued you all. I hope I
have never made you unnecessarily anxious. I have
stated facts as they were, sometimes without a comment.
You will have received many gloomy letters before this

1811] EARLY LETTERS [99
announcing the death of our dear Nancy. . . . Your
family I have not seen as much of as I wish, for the
weather and walking have been such, most of the time
that I could not go. Sally is growing better. Becca
and Eliza are tolerably well (the latter thin). Your
brother, I sec nothing of. I hear he appears well. He
has another daughter, which may serve to draw him
from gloomy recollections. He intends calling it for
Sally. I find Richard Sullivan is going to name one
born the day before Nancy's death for her. There has
no character of Nancy appeared, and, I believe, your
family are glad no one has attempted to draw one. It
would have been a difficult thing, and probably no one
could have satisfied themselves or others. Mr. Lowell
thinks it very fortunate this child is a girl, I find, and
goes through a long course of reasoning to convince
every one it is best. You know he can talk himself into
a belief of anything. The merchants around us are all
looking very grave, owing to the continued failures
among their body; there has nothing yet happened that
has affected any of your very near friends much. Mr.
Lee and Pat have lost a very little, and Frank and Fred
have suffered a little.
["Fred" is Frederick Cabot, near friend as well as
cousin of Henry Lee, and in partnership with Grand
father's brother Frank (Cabot & Lee, Merchants,
8 Kilby Street, Boston Directory, 18 10) : the grand
father of many cousins and dear friends.]
. . . Hannah Jackson is very well; so are Charles, Pat,
and wives. I have waited for some days in hopes the
doctor's wife would be very decidedly better, but she gets
on very slowly. He and the children are well; so are we,
including baby. I pray that you may have commenced
the New Year under as happy auspices. Aunt Cabot
is as usual. My father and mother are well.

ioo] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1811
Mary Lee to Hannah Lowell
Boston, 27 February, 181 1.
... As for your treatise upon education, I shall not
excuse you if you do not find some time, either day or
night, to give it me. I am not going to promise in re
turn that I will wear the flesh off my bones as rapidly
as you have done by practice upon your principles, but
I will do what I can. Your letters upon this subject
both enforce upon me the same idea — "make your child
obedient." Yes, dear sister, I am fully aware of the
necessity of this, but I shall not know how to enforce
the doctrine. ... At present, no, no, with a shake of
the head must be often repeated before it has the effect
of making her desist doing anything which she fancies;
I fear from this she has taken some of the perseverance
which belongs to her two aunts, and which my too pliable
temper may perhaps yield to rather more than it ought.
My father Lee says, "Form a plan of conduct for your
self, no one else can judge for you." But he does not
know, and I hope he never will, how little plan I have
about anything, and how incapable I am of forming any.
I hope you have, ere this, fixed upon some plan for your
children during your visit to London. I think it will
certainly be best to leave them ; you cannot think of
interrupting their studies by taking them with you. Sue,
perhaps, may spare the time from her books, etc., as you
wish her heart to be more richly cultivated than the
head, and this cannot be under any one's tuition so well
as yours. A mother alone can do this, I believe. I
shall quarrel with you all if you do not say more of these
little things. Mary Grant says Sue is learning music,
and Harriet sometimes mentions the children, but we
do not know quite as much as we want to of your domestic
appearance and arrangements. I can scarcely mention

i8n]  EARLY LETTERS  [ioi
this by way of complaint, for Harriet is so excellent
in manner and matter that I presume it is almost im
possible we should have more communicated on paper
than she gives us. ... If I am half as satisfactory, I
shall be glad. We are all well, and in as good spirits
as the failures your husband so prophetically predicted,
and the vessels on the coast at this tempestuous season,
will let us be. My husband promises me that he will
never again enter so largely into business, and I hope
he will be firm. ... I should feel nothing but regret
did I think our dear sister would form this or any
connection1 that would separate her from her friends:
I do not think anything could compensate her for this.
She has warm affections, and the reserve which you
mention prevents her from easily transferring these
affections, or rather, enlarging her circle of friends as
many people can. She seems very much charmed with
Mary Grant, and I hope from what Mary G. says that
she begins to understand Harriet; without violating the
laws of delicacy, could you not let them a little into her
character? She has so many good qualities which are
concealed from the eye of strangers that I hate to have
her seen by them. From Mrs. Grant's silence about
her, I presume she has passed her by as only a clever
sort of woman. I know Harriet has not those acquire
ments which are, I suppose, considered all important
in the circle in which she now moves; this she sensibly
feels, and is the cause, I think, of that embarrassment
which, she says to me, she cannot overcome in going
even to Mrs. Grant's without you, but if you do not
overrate Mrs. Grant's discernment and good sense, I
should think she would esteem and love, if she did
not admire her. I think flattery very good for every
1 One of Aunt Harriet's friends had spoken of the possibility
of her marriage.

102]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1811
one when well administered, but for her, I have thought
it very necessary. You seem to fear she is sometimes
oppressed with ennui; I should not think so from her
letters, but if it is so, allowing her to be useful and feel
her importance to you would be the best cure for it.
She is proud, you know, and does not like to be useless.
If you and my husband grow any more tender, I
do not know that I shall continue to be the medium of
communication, particularly unless Mr. L. soon answers
my letters. My husband returns his thanks, and, of
course his love, for yours. I shall enclose a letter for
Sue, because you say she sighs for them. Kiss them all
for your sister M. Lee.
The letters of May and August, 181 1, to her sister,
Hannah Lowell, were written by my Grandmother after
the failure of my Grandfather and his older brother,
Joseph, early in the year, and the death of the little
daughter, 14 May, 181 1.
Mary Lee to Hannah Lowell
Boston, 25th May, 181 1.
Your mother has received your husband's letter of
April 18, in which you mention just having heard of the
failure of my husband. You felt, as I feared you would,
extreme anxiety for me, but I hope letters soon arrived
which convinced you how little you had to fear. I find
I wrote as early as the 10th March, and I hope Patrick
did, as a letter from him would have made you com
paratively easy. I think all my letters and those of
others will convince you that, although we have suffered,
we have been supported, and are now, not only tranquil,
but oftentimes cheerful. Mr. Lee must have employment
before we can either of us feel at ea.se, and it is ex-

i8n]  EARLY LETTERS  [103
tremely difficult to say what that employment had best
be. I fear it must lead to a temporary separation. You,
my dear sister, know how much I suffered when he be
fore contemplated this, but I now feel very differently;
the final good is to be thought of, not present ease.
. . . You who are parents can in some measure estimate
how severely we have again been tried. I suppose the
loss we have sustained of a darling and only child is
more calculated to call forth the tender feelings than
almost any other, but you would find more alleviations
than you would expect under this affliction, particularly
if as in our case the little creature did not suffer ex
quisitely or long. . . . Yet it is a very, very hard trial
to resign them. It seems as if all my occupation was
gone. I am convinced I ought not to allow this feeling,
and you may be sure I will in time conquer it. I have
still much to do for myself and others, and in employ
ment will seek relief. After all the above, dear Hannah,
you must think of us as much more comfortable than you
will readily believe, and I hope your husband's anxiety
on ours and Pat's account, will not induce you to return,
which we thought from some things in his letter occurred
to him. Could he have been here the past three months,
he might have done us great service, but now it is not
so important, except to Pat, and he seems to keep up his
spirits and confidence of success. I hope he is not too
sanguine, and if he will keep to his present resolution of
decreasing his business, he will do very well. . . . We
have had a great treat within the last week from you
all. Letters from the first of March to the eighteenth
of April, all arrived within a day or two of each other.
. . . Your alarm about Betsey Jackson [Mrs. James
Jackson] was not at that time unnecessary. I felt so
very apprehensive about her that I really felt it neces
sary to prepare you for the worst event, but she is now

104J HENRY AND MARY LEE [1811
in her usual health, except some weakness of the lungs
which she has not before had ; she walks constantly, and
I see a good deal of her. I had yesterday a letter from
Charles and wife at Hartford. They write in fine spirits,
and say Charles is already much benefited. At Uncle
Cabot's they are as usual; so at my Father's. Uncle still
thinks we shall see you in the summer, tho' he desires me
not to say why he thinks so, lest you may dispute it. We
all have a strange notion that you want to see us, but I
hope, my dear friends, you will persevere in your search
after health till you find it. Think of us constantly, but
not with anxiety. Yours in haste,
M. Lee.

Mary Lee to Hannah Lowell
Boston, June 19, 181 1.
Dear Hannah, I received your letter today of the 22nd
April via London — but I have so fatigued myself
writing Harriet that I can only tell you how much it
gratified us to have an expression of that interest which
we knew you felt for us — indeed I have scarcely any
thing to write about but myself, and I have hitherto
kept you so well-informed of everything relating to me
that I have nearly exhausted that subject.
You, in common with my friends here, seem to expect
much from me — you will, I fear, be disappointed — as far
as my duty is clearly pointed out I trust I shall be able
to act with some conformity to it, but farther you must
not calculate upon me — and indeed in that I shall, I fear,
fall far short — my physical formation prevents my ever
suffering exquisitely, but it also prevents my assuming
cheerfulness when I have it not. I am habitually tran
quil, but this is not sufficient I suppose you will think : I

1811] EARLY LETTERS [105
ought to be able to impart to my husband cheerfulness —
he must not depend on me and he has, thank Heaven, re
sources within himself which he can draw upon. . . .
These trials seem already to have drawn us nearer our
friends, or at least made them double their attentions
to us — my mother has indeed been a comfort to us, and
so, too, has yours. [In each case this was the mother-in-
law, Mrs. Joseph Lee and Mrs. Judge Lowell.] They
met here yesterday. I delight to see these ladies of the
old school together. . . . July 4th. Good Uncle Wen
dell is, I trust, well — he came in with a great deal of
real feeling to express his sympathy for me at the time
of our child's death — he has called once since, but in
his own style would not have me called, tho' at home,
and I did not see him. . . .
Harriet mentions that you have a most excellent woman
with you. Could you not prevail on her to come out
with you? A good domestic in this land of liberty is,
you know, a great treasure. Our Liberty boys have been
expending a great deal of strength today (the ther
mometer above 940) to convince the world how Inde
pendent they are. Captain Quincy's troop of horse, and
I presume all the other companies, were out upon the
occasion. There has nothing new occurred to us since my last
date : my husband supports himself I think with wonder
ful patience — there is nothing he can do without taking
too much risque at this moment when the cool and dis
passionate politicians think there is so much chance of
war. Insurance cannot be effected but at the war pre
mium which must take off the whole profit from a com
mon voyage, you know, and to risque the property of
others without insurance would be madness. . . . Betsey
is quite angry that you do not write her husband oftener,
and threatens not to let him write to you any more.

106] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1811
Mary Lee to Hannah Lowell
Boston, 9th August, 181 1.
Dear Hannah:
I closed a long letter to Harriet a few days since,
which I sent via New York. An unexpected opportunity
now offers, and I embrace it to tell you my husband has
agreed to go to Calcutta, for Andrew Cabot, in the
Brig Reaper. He will go by the way of England, and
now expects to get off in three weeks from this time. His
business will necessarily oblige him to go to London,
and I should be most sadly disappointed to have him
there without seeing you. I think your summer travels
will be near drawing to a close, and it will not put you
much out of your course to be at that time in London,
but I know that you would willingly alter your plans
for the sake of this meeting.
We have not yet heard what effect is produced by the
official account of the commander of the Little Belt1.
Should this be such as to produce a very strong appre
hension of War, it is possible the voyage would be sus
pended. At present it is not generally felt that there
will be any War.
The prospect of a remarkably good voyage is con
siderable, and our friends all thought it as good a thing
as Mr. Lee could do at present. Indeed, so did we, on
the whole, although it was somewhat difficult to decide
upon just at this moment. I am very well and hope I
shall continue so till he has gone, as I cannot possibly
be sick and well again before that time. . . . What a
delightful letter you wrote to me, my dear sister! In-
1 "In May, 181 1, the American frigate President and the
British sloop-of-war Little Belt, owing to some misunderstanding
not now to be discovered, fired on each other in the darkness
of the early morning, and the Little Belt was badly crippled." —
Channing's History of the United States.

i8n]  EARLY LETTERS  [107
deed, I cannot feel too grateful to you and Harriet for
your exertions in this way. Continue them I entreat
you. I shall now want your letters more than ever.
. . . Some of my friends in the warmth of their zeal
for me have wished much that Harriet should come
home, and have, I believe, expressed it. I have never
wished it. At moments, she and you would have been
a very great support to me indeed, but with so many
friends as I have, I am sure it would be wicked for me
to repine. I have received every attention, and in the
kindest way possible, from those who are very dear to
me. I am convinced from Harriet's letters she is en
joying herself very much, and would not for the world
have her return before you do. I think she has quite
a taste for travelling — seeing new people and new things,
and her letters prove her to be a very discerning traveller.
It would make me very unhappy to have her return. If
I felt it important to me I should freely say so, because I
know how much she loves to do good — but at present
I do not even desire it and would not have her give up
the present opportunity she has of laying up a fund of
information, etc., upon which she may draw for years
to come. I say this to you because I thought seeing Mr.
Lee might lead her to think of coming home and I wished
you to know what I really felt — truth is, you know, my
guide. ... It must be delightful to you to have Uncle
and Aunt Higginson with you — to both remember me
with the most affectionate respect — thank your hus
band for the interest he has felt and expressed for us,
adding at the same time I should rather have had it
under his own hand and seal. I rejoice my husband will
meet one so much interested in everything that concerns
him and who is at once so able and ready to give him
counsel and cheer him should any difficulties fall in his
way. ... I thank you a thousand times for sending us

108] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1811
the letters about your children — they were everything
that a mother could wish, I think; [these must, I think,
have been letters to Aunt Lowell from Mrs. Grant of
Laggan, with whom the Lowell children had been placed
in Edinburgh] they brought the children before me
most perfectly — indeed the last letters, taken as a whole,
give us a more perfect idea of your looks, feeling,
and situation for some weeks back than any we have
ever before had, only that none of you have told us in
what street or square or place you lived. All well. I
shall write by some other vessel to Harriet soon. Mr.
Lee will probably sail by the 20th. Yrs. M. Lee.
[The second little daughter, Mary Cabot (Aunt Mary
Higginson), was born on August 16th, 181 1.]

VI
LETTERS FROM HENRY LEE IN INDIA TO HIS WIFE IN
BOSTON DURING THE WAR OF 1 8 12
Every day brings a ship,
Every ship brings a word;
Well for those who have no fear,
Looking seaward well assured
That the word the vessel brings
Is the word they wish to hear.
R. W. Emerson.
Henry Lee was a Federalist, and his strong feeling
against the War of 1812 and his distrust of French in
fluence in President Madison's Cabinet is outspoken in
his letters. I believe that in reading the letters Henry
Lee's descendants, even if they disagree with his opinions,
will respect them as having been honestly held.
To show briefly and imperfectly something of the feel
ing in New England about the War of 18 12, the follow
ing passages, much abbreviated, are given from Henry
Adams's History of the United States during the first
administration of James Madison. These passages are
not selected to give an impartial view of the political
situation: on the contrary they are chosen to show the
Federalist opinion of the time with which, whether right
or wrong, Henry Lee was in absolute sympathy.
"The War of 1812 was chiefly remarkable for the
vehemence with which, from beginning to end, it was
resisted and thwarted by a very large number of citizens
who were commonly considered, and who considered
themselves, by no means the least respectable, intelli
gent, or patriotic part of the nation. That the war
was as just and necessary as any war ever waged
109

no]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
seemed so evident to Americans of another generation
that only with an effort could modern readers grasp the
reasons for the bitter opposition of large and respectable
communities which left the government bankrupt, and
nearly severed the Union; but if students of national
history can bear with patience the labor of retaining in
mind the threads of negotiation which President Madison
so thoroughly tangled before breaking, they can partially
enter into the feelings of citizens who held themselves
aloof from Madison's war. In June, 1812, the reasons
for declaring war on Great Britain, though strong
enough, were weaker than they had been in June, 1808,
or in January, 1809. In the interval the British govern
ment had laid aside the arrogant and defiant tones of
Canning's diplomacy; had greatly modified the Orders
in Council; had offered further modifications; and had
atoned for the Chesapeake outrage. In 1807 England
would have welcomed a war with the United States;
in 18 12 she wanted peace, and yielded much to secure
it. In 1 808 America was almost unanimous, her govern
ment still efficient, well supplied with money, and little
likely to suffer from war; in 18 12 the people were
greatly divided, the government had been weakened, and
the Treasury was empty. Even Gallatin, who in 1809
had been most decided for war, was believed in 1812 to
wish and to think that it might be avoided. Probably
four-fifths of the American people held the same opinion.
Not merely had the situation in every other respect
changed for the worse, but the moral convictions of the
country were outraged by the assertion of a contract
with Napoleon — in which no one believed — as the reason
for forcing religious and peaceful citizens into what they
regarded as the service of France."
[President Madison's message recommending im
mediate declaration of war was sent to Congress June 1,

LETTERS FROM INDIA, 1812-1816 [ill
1812. The two Houses instantly went into secret
session and the Message was read and was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Relations.]
"No one could dispute the force of Madison's long
recital of British outrages. For five years, the task of
finding excuses for peace had been more difficult than
that of proving a casus belli; but some interest attached
to the arrangement and relative weight of the many
American complaints.
"Madison, inverting the order of complaints previously
alleged, began by charging that British cruisers had been
'in the continued practice of violating the American flag
on the great highway of nations, and of seizing and
carrying off persons sailing under it.' The charge was
amply proved, was not denied, and warranted war; but
this was the first time that the Government had alleged
impressment as its chief grievance, or had announced,
either to England or to America, the intention to fight
for redress — and England might fairly complain that she
had received no notice of intended war on such ground.
The second complaint alleged that British cruisers also
violated the peace of the coasts, and harassed entering
and departing commerce. This charge was equally true
and equally warranted war, but it was open to the same
comment as that made upon the first.
"The third grievance . . . consisted in 'pretended block
ades, without the presence of an adequate force, and
sometimes without the practicability of applying one,'
by means of which American commerce had been
plundered on every sea, — a practice which had come to
its highest possible development in the fourth grievance,
the system of blockades known as the Orders in Council.
". . . After the House had listened in secret session,
June 3, to the report brought in by the Committee on
Foreign Relations, recommending an immediate appeal

H2] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1812
to arms, Josiah Quincy moved the debate should be
public. The demand seemed reasonable. That pre
liminary debate should be secret might be proper, but
that war with any power, and most of all with England,
should be declared in secret could not be sound policy,
while apart from any question of policy, the secrecy con
tradicted the professions of the party in power. Per
haps no single act in a hundred years of American
history showed less regard for personal and party con
sistency than the refusal by the Republicans of 18 12 to
allow society either rights or privileges in regard to the
declaration of war upon England. . . .
"The secret session gave the Speaker absolute power,
and annihilated opposition. By seventy-six votes to
forty-six, the House rejected Quincy's motion. ... In the
Senate . . . the President's message was debated in secret,
but the proceedings were very deliberate. . . . Except
Pennsylvania, the entire representation of no Northern
State declared itself for the war; except Kentucky, every
state south of the Potomac and the Ohio voted for the
declaration. . . . The bill, with its amendments, was at
once returned to the House and passed. Without a mo
ment's delay the President signed it, and the same day,
June 18, 1 81 2, the war began." [One day earlier,
June 17, 1 8 12, the Orders in Council were repealed in
Parliament.] Henry Lee in India to His Wife Mary Lee in Boston
[Henry Lee sailed in the Reaper in August, 181 1,
and was apparently in England, in London and Bristol,
till May, 18 12. From the letters and from Mary Lee's
Journal it is evident that he expected to return from
India on the Reaper. The following letter is the first
which remains.]

1812]  LETTERS FROM INDIA [113
Calcutta, September 6, 1812.
My dear wife,
My last letter, commenced on 4th ultimo and con
tinued down, I believe, to 4th instant, is on board the
Tartar on her way down the river : after two such volumes
as you will receive by the Tartar and Monticello it may
be unreasonable in me to make another demand upon
your patience which will probably be still under trial
when this comes to hand. I feel certainly a strong desire
to write, because I know you expect it of me and are
gratified with my letters. And I have another motive
which perhaps is still stronger, and that is the pleasure
I derive from it myself. I fancy for the moment we are
present to each other, and tho' the illusion unhappily is
too soon dissipated, yet I love to revive and cherish it.
September 9, Wednesday.
... I assure you, my dear wife, the two last letters
that have been received afford equal delight with the
others. You express yourself so happily always, with so
much warmth, tenderness, and sincerity, that everything
seems fresh from the heart, and for the moment I en
joy perhaps as great a happiness as your presence could
produce. Would to God I were furnished with the
powers to yield you in return by my letters an equal
degree of happiness. That, I have not the confidence
to hope for even, but this I can affirm with truth, and
trust you will not disbelieve me, that there is no ex
pression in my letters that is not sincere.
Goodnight, my dear wife, goodnight, and God bless
you. Thursday, September 10.
I have again before me the letter which came by the
Favorite — it is the more interesting from having been

H4] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1812
written while you were looking with eagerness, and some
times anxiety, for intelligence of my arrival. It was
perfectly natural that you should have the feelings you
described, and it gives me pleasure, now that they are
passed, to hear of them, tho' I hope you will not allow
yourself to be made uneasy when your accounts from
me are not so late as they might be : there is scarcely any
one that makes due allowances for the delay attending
the movements of a vessel, especially in these long
voyages, and Andrew and Pat are special fellows for
forcing the wind and everything else in aid of their cal
culations. I would have you always put my father's
and Tom's opinions against theirs by way of qualifying
them. . . .
I suppose your family is completed, unless Harriet
should incline to take up her quarters with you. In this,
I hope she will consult her own convenience and happi
ness, tho' it is not common for her to do it when she
thinks a sacrifice of them will conduce to the benefit of
her friends. . . .
If Fred and Frank both leave, perhaps you may not
readily fill their places. In such case you will have such
advice as, with your own judgment, will point out what
is best to be done. Do not, however, expose yourself
to the company of persons you do not like. It would
be better to go to the Searles', but I may as well leave
this subject. You will do what is proper, and what will
be most to your credit and happiness, and of course, what
will meet with my approbation.
I shall send home property in the Reaper to Pat,
if the Non-Intercourse Law is off. He will pay you
what may be wanted. If that source fails, my father,
no doubt, will do what is needful. I shall make by the
voyage, when all my property is shipped in goods and
has arrived, something like $1,000, and if the Law was

1812]  LETTERS FROM INDIA  [115
repealed, I should now be able to do better, because
my cargo is purchased much lower than usual: it is not
my intention to hazard against the Law more than $2,500.
The balance will be retained and disposed of as future
events may render profitable and safe, especially the
latter. I must hold on to this little capital, and endeavor
to build up my circumstances. If commerce should ever
again revive, my expenses here, of course, will be paid
by my owners, and upon my property I may hope to
make at least a high rate of interest, without incurring
the smallest risk, but I shall not venture to send home
any more 'til the Non-Intercourse Law is repealed. I
mention these particulars, that you may be comforted
with the prospect I have before me of doing as well,
if not better, for myself than what I anticipated: it is
true the time taken out is great, but perhaps in the
present situation of trade, together with my circum
stances, I ought not to put a high value upon that.
Sunday, September 13, 1812.
I am looking with great impatience and anxiety for
intelligence of what Congress did at the close of the
session. I have little or no hope the Non-Intercourse
Law is repealed. Yet it is important to the interest
of my owners I should know what they did do. I am
preparing as fast as possible for the departure of the
brig [the Reaper], and hope her stay will not ex
ceed twenty-five days, tho' it is uncertain. Our latest
accounts from home are via Isle of France. We hear
from thence, that down to the 15th of March, Congress
had done nothing, and there are some ships from
Madeira that would leave there about the first of June.
By then, I flatter myself we shall have at least news
from the United States, and I hope I may have letters
from you and the owners. These vessels are daily ex-

n6]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [181a
pected. I shall be deprived of a great source of
pleasure, my dear M., in the cessation of your corre
spondence, which has hitherto constituted my greatest
happiness : it is possible that Frank may continue to write
under the impression that I might remain here, but it
is what I do not expect. I shall, however, still con
tinue to enjoy the satisfaction of writing you, tho' by such
indirect conveyances that the letters will be a very long
time on the way.
You often mention the child, and always in such a
way as to assure me you are deriving great pleasure
from the care of her. I am extremely rejoiced for the
sake of the child and your own feelings, that you were
able to get on with nursing her. I trust by this time
she has passed safely through the trying season, and
that you are preparing for the weaning. I agree with
you that in the management and education of children,
there is an awful responsibility upon parents, which but
few seem to be fully sensible of. Where so many good
and wise men err, it seems like presumption to calculate
with much confidence upon any system to produce the
desired ends, but there is one thing in which I think
parents in our rank of life very often are wrong, and
that is too much indulgence, and too great a reliance
upon reason, when that faculty scarcely exists. Neither
you nor I ever knew of an instance among our friends
where too much severity has been used, but we have
known many of the saddest effects of the opposite
conduct. You have had a most excellent example before you
in your father, who was indeed conspicuous for every
virtue, and especially in the unwearied pains he took to
stimulate in his children every honorable passion, and
to subdue everything that was base and vicious. I can
speak only from what others have told me, and I the

1812]  LETTERS FROM INDIA  [117
more readily believe it (and more than I have heard)
from reflecting upon the characters of his children. The
Doctor seems to me to be a model which may be safely
imitated, but I need not propose any one to you : I have
entire and full confidence that everything will be done
that human nature can do to promote the present and
future happiness of our child.
That hard lesson of governing ourselves, which as
you say truly, is necessary before we can govern others,
has already been learned by you. Your character, in
my estimation, embraces every virtue that can dignify
and adorn a woman, and make her the proper object of
our love, friendship, and esteem. May our child imitate
and equal you.
It is midnight. I must bid you goodnight, and with
it, my sincere wish that you may enjoy health and every
kind of happiness. Goodnight, my dear wife.
Tuesday, September 15, 1812.
You complain of my not having numbered my letters.
I wish I had done it, but those sent from here are so
often referred to that you will easily ascertain the miss
ing ones. It is probable all will not come to hand: make
some allowance, therefore, for repetitions, besides the
barrenness of my brain. You would pity me if you knew
what an empty head I have to work with. I meet with
nothing to describe that can entertain you, and seeing
no one but my banians,1 who never had, nor ever will
have a thought except on business. Were the natives
as well informed as they are civil and well bred, one
would receive great pleasure from their society, but their
opinions are so confined, that I can truly say I never
derived half an hour's gratification from any one I have
been acquainted with. Nothing can be more uninterest
ing than their characters. I have not been very for-
1 Banians: "native broker to European house."

n8]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1812
tunate in the society of my countrymen, for, excepting
Captain Heard,1 I have not met one for whom I could
feel any esteem. Captain Heard is reserved, and it
requires an effort to keep up an intimacy, but he possesses
most liberal and gentlemanly feelings, and appears to
entertain those opinions, upon such subjects as I have
heard him converse, which are congenial to my own.
I hope he will call and see you, tho' I doubt if he does.
Should he, however, treat him with that affability which
will put him at his ease. He is a very modest man.
If he will throw off his reserve, you will be pleased with
him. ... I make no acquaintances among the inhabitants,
nor do I expect to: when the Reaper is dispatched I
shall be solitary, but not gloomy. I have a good col
lection of books which I can always resort to with
pleasure and advantage. . . .
Wednesday, September 23, 1812.
I had begun almost to despair of hearing again from
home when your number 23 came to hand, and shortly
after, the other letter, number 24, per Union. It is so
long since I had received any intelligence from home,
that the mere circumstance of hearing you and the child
were well was enough to make me very happy.
In addition to that, you give me a detail of domestic
events most interesting, and in the main, pleasant: the
sickness of Nancy Cabot2 is what we all most lament, for
1 Augustine Heard, 1 785-1 868. A man of remarkable energy,
decision, and undaunted courage. Born at Ipswich and early
going to sea, he was a supercargo at twenty years old, and not
long after a captain. He sailed for the Thorndikes of Beverly,
Mr. Eben Francis, Patrick Jackson, and others of Boston. His
house at No. 3 Park Street was filled with beautiful Chinese
furniture and lacquer and porcelain.
2 Nancy Cabot, sister of Aunt Betsey (Mrs. James Jackson),
and of Miss Sally Cabot; all were daughters of Mr. Andrew
Cabot of Beverly, 1750-1791, and sisters of Andrew Cabot. Anna
Cabot (Jackson) Lowell may have been named for her. She died
1 March, 1814.

1812] LETTERS FROM INDIA [119
besides her own excellent character to recommend her
to us, she fills a most important place in the family. I
know not who can succeed her, if, unhappily, she should
be taken from us.
I am afraid, too, the Doctor's wife will give way to
such repeated attacks. She has a better chance, however,
and I hope, after the delicacy and consequent sickness
was past, that she was again restored. I am most sin
cerely rejoiced that the hopes of Charles and Fanny
have been realized: I have no doubt their happiness
will be increased by the event. Charles, I think, of all
men in the world, will esteem this blessing to the full.
His wife will also be happier, even should it not live.
There is scarcely any woman, I imagine, who would
not consider it as a source of unhappiness to have been
childless. You will not fail to present my congratula
tions to the ladies, and thank them for having added
two valuable beings to the great family of the human
race, and beg them from motives of patriotism, as well
as for the honor of our clan, to continue the good events.
I perceive, my dear M., you still allowed yourself to
be uneasy about me. "Twelve days out and not arrived."
Lord bless me, how you hurry us. It puts me out of
breath to think of it. The art of sailing is not far
enough advanced to satisfy an affectionate, and I am
afraid, sometimes an anxious wife. I am jaded with the
labors of the day, and ought not to attempt writing in
this stupid state, but try when I will, I can never answer
as they deserve, your excellent letters. Sunday, 27 Sept., 1812.
You will think me indifferent and ungrateful, that
while I was enjoying your two delightful letters, there
should have been so long an interval in mine. There
has not, I assure you my dear Wife, been one in my

I2Q]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1812
thoughts of you, but just at this time I am very busy in
writing letters per Caravan,1 and preparing for the de
parture of the Reaper. Captain Heard goes in the morn
ing. I must finish before I go to bed; for tho' I have
not time to write, I have had time to read your letters
more than twenty times, and always with more pleasure
than I can express.
It is a great satisfaction to hear you had received my
Madeira letters: you praise them, and I love you for it,
but they are miserably cold compared with yours. I
never shall succeed in impressing them with that warmth
of affection, and zeal for your happiness that yours dis
cover for mine, but there is one thing I will not yield to
you in, — sincerity. Everything I say comes direct from
the heart, and I have the gratification to perceive you
do me credit for that virtue among many others which
I have not so fair a claim to.
You complain that you did not write so long a letter
as you might. I wish with all my heart it had been 1,000
pages, but I admit your reasons for not doing more, and
add that notwithstanding the extravagant expectations
I have indulged in of letters from you, they have been
more than fulfilled, and from what is said in one of them
I may still hope for another. I have much to say upon
several interesting subjects, which must be deferred until
I write again.
Do not expect so long a letter by the Reaper. I shall
be very busy until she has left. Goodnight. God bless
you and our child, and make you equal to all your trials
you may be called to sustain.
I am, with greatest truth and affection, Yours, H. L.
1 One of Captain Augustine Heard's ships which had arrived
in Calcutta 12 June, 1812, 115 days out from Boston.

1813]  LETTERS FROM INDIA  [121
January 12, 18 13.
My respected and belov'd wife, —
I have made all the purchases and contracts which I
shall venture upon until I hear of the removal of the
Non-Intercourse Law which I expect daily to learn by
arrival from America. I have sold all the liquors and
the speculation turns out well though less profit than if
I had been longer making the sales, but I consulted with
my prudent counsellor, who says that sure profit is better
than taking a hazard of more and perhaps lose the
whole. You perhaps do not know that I have a partner
in my business upon whose judgment I rely in all diffi
cult cases. It is true the distance between us makes it
sometimes difficult to profit by the prudence of my guide,
but I apply the judicious advice I remember to have rec'd
on all occasions where I can, and I am ever well satis
fied when our opinions concur. Are you at loss to know
who this sage adviser is? No other than yourself, my
dear wife, from whom I have rec'd many wise counsels
which I ought to have benefited by more than I have, as
indeed I should if I had followed all of them. I re
member, my excellent wife, all your prudent maxims, and
it is my intention never to engage in any important con
cern without reflecting upon the observations which I
imagine would be made by you were we together. This
resolution ought to diminish the anxiety you otherwise
might have from my sanguine and adventurous dis
position. . . . My only hope is to be able to acquire
enough to make you comfortable and, God be thanked
for your affectionate moderation, that sum is not great.
What a miserable wretch should I be was I connected
with a woman of less generosity than yourself! — how
much discontent should I have witnessed, how many re
proaches been subjected to in the reverse of fortune and
the consequent mortifications which we have encountered.

122] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
How different has been your conduct! You felt noth
ing on your own account, everything for me. You were
the first to advise me to those steps which saved my
honour and prevented the ruin of my best friends; with
out your advice I might not have had the firmness to
have acted thus. I look back with satisfaction to this
part of my conduct and perhaps the greatest merit I
can claim is that of having been open to your excellent
counsels. There is no subject in which I do not respect your
opinion. I always consider'd you as having a sound and
well-informed mind, and the more I see of you and think
of you the higher you rise in my esteem. The letters
you have written would do honour to any one. They
gratify me now almost as much as when first rec'd — the
affectionate concern you take in my welfare touches me
most sensibly, and though I ought to lament your ex
treme sensibility upon this subject as a source of un
happiness, yet I cannot help loving you the better for
it — but remember, my dear M., that your health is more
precious to me than to yourself, because upon your exist
ence I depend for all the happiness that I expect or
wish for. Take care of it, then, for my sake, and if
thinking of me has a tendency to disturb it, I w'ld rather
be banish'd from your thoughts.
You praise me, my dear M., for my letters. They
do not deserve it. The only merit I claim is the inten
tion. I never wrote a letter, except on business, until
my correspondence with you, nor should I have told you
anything more than the state of my health and business
but for your urgent request. I rejoice most heartily
that I comply'd with your solicitations because I am
satisfy'd you have deriv'd pleasure and I owe to you
all possible exertions to promote your happiness. Your
letters really deserve praise. They are admirably writ-

1813]  LETTERS FROM INDIA [123
ten, I am proud of them and should be glad to have all
the world improv'd and gratify'd with their perusal.
Good night, my dear wife and child, I embrace you
both most cordially and pray that you may have abun
dance of health and happiness. Good night, dear wife.
Thursday, 14 January, 18 13. A ship has arriv'd to
day with the most unexpected intelligence of war with
England, commenc'd by our Government. [June 18,
1812.]1 This is an event I have always had in my
mind as one that might happen between the two nations,
but it has given me much less apprehension since
I visited England, because I felt confident the Eng
lish would do everything to avoid beginning it on
their side or furnishing reasons for the American
Gov't to enter into it. When the news of the repeal
of the Orders in Council arriv'd I abandoned all fears
1 The war between Great Britain and the United States was
the result of a dispute over two questions arising out of our con
duct of the war with Napoleon: the enforcement of the Orders
in Council restricting neutral commerce with the Continent, and
the search of American vessels for deserters from the British Navy.
On both counts there was much to be said for .and against both
sides. It was a case for compromise, and war or peace really
depended on the mutual good will of the disputants. Unfortu
nately, neither Government deserved well of posterity. The Tory
Cabinet shared the aristocratic contempt felt by their party for
the federation of rebel States, which had arisen by defying
George III, and which was expected speedily to demonstrate by its
dissolution the impracticable nature of democracy.
On the other side President Madison catered for an equally
unintelligent anti-British tradition, against which President Wash
ington had striven with success when faced by a similar crisis in
1793. But it was of good augury for the future that the British
middle classes, led by Brougham, made their first appearance in
nineteenth century politics by compelling the Government to with
draw the Orders in Council, so as to avoid war with America.
Unfortunately the concession came just too late, for that week
America had declared war. — Trevelyan's British History in the
Nineteenth Century.

124] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
upon the subject, not that those Orders have been the
causes of our hostility, but they have serv'd as a pretext
and the most plausible one which has existed, and our
people of both parties have been dup'd by the Gov't fac
tion into a belief that Madison was contending for the
rights of the nation. I never suppos'd our corrupt and
traitorous rulers were sincere in negotiating, but I tho't the
mass of the nation, when once the most obnoxious pretence
for war was done away, would be for peace, and per
haps when the repeal reaches the United States a settle
ment may be made. I pray to God it may be so and
my hopes are strong that this great calamity may yet be
avoided. This news (notwithstanding the hope I enter
tain of a settlement when the repeal of the Orders in
Council is known) makes me feel miserable. I foresee
distress in all the commercial community and ruin to
many, and among them some of our nearest connexions.
My own prospects are cut off and, what is more insup
portable to me than all, my absence from you will be
lengthen'd. . . . Not an hour has passed, dear Mary,
for a month past in which I have not indulg'd in the
anticipation of the pleasure I was to have in meeting
my friends — the satisfaction I should enjoy from your
conversation — of the inexpressible delight I was to ex
perience from the kind and assiduous attentions, the
cheerful smiles and affectionate caresses of my faithful
and lovely wife. I know, my excellent wife, that I
ought to suppress these feelings, or at least conceal them
from you, but you have so often told me I must keep
nothing in reserve that I do not make the effort to do
this which I otherwise should — in a few days I hope
to feel more reconcil'd to this unexpected and miserable
reversing of my fond wishes. Until then farewell, my
ever honour'd and belov'd wife and our pretty little in
fant, who I hope has rewarded you ten thousand fold for

1 8 1 3 ]  LETTERS FROM INDIA  [125
all the pain she has ever occasion'd. I am sure this must
be the case if she inherits any portion of her mother's
animation and sweetness.
Good night, my dear Mary. God bless you.
Rec'd 6 Sept., 1813.
No. 7. Calcutta, February 10, 18 13.
My Dear Wife :
My No. 6 went by the Clarkson, one of the fleet now
on the way for London — No. 5 by a ship in the same
fleet. This will go either to Rio de Janeiro or Lisbon.
I am induc'd to avail myself of any tolerable conveyance
because many of the letters I have sent will, in the event
of the war being continu'd, never reach. They will, how
ever, be a very long time on the way as the English ships
will go in convoys and the Portuguese ships make several
stops on their passages. The letters on board the
American ships also here will chiefly be intercepted. In
every one there are some for you, my father, Pat,
Frank, etc., etc. I am exceeding impatient as you will
naturally conceive and somewhat anxious to hear what
our Gov't did when they had notice of the repeal of
the Orders in Council. My hopes are strong (tho' I
am less sanguine than most persons I meet with) that
a settlement will follow. I hear the public opinion in
New England and New York was express'd without any
reserve upon the subject and that they are decidedly
against a war1 — The peace party will certainly become
more numerous when the principal grievances will have
been done away. I think too the success of the English
in Spain will have some influence. Should the Russians
also have repuls'd Buonaparte as we hear they did (tho'
no authentic accounts have been rec'd) our Government
1 "New Englanders hoisted the flag at half mast on receipt of
the news of the declaration of war, and the New York militia
were only half-hearted." — Channing's History of the United
States.

126] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
will have another reason for accommodating their dis
putes with G. Britain. Should the war have been con
tinued, my situation will be an unpleasant one, but on the
score of interest, better than being on board the Reaper,
which will be captur'd in all probability. If war con
tinues I shall remain here, at least for some time; you
may, therefore, write and send the letters to S. Williams,
London, who will forward them by the India fleets —
you will direct to the care of Ramdon & Tillock,
Chaunder Benayia, Calcutta, with whom I shall leave
orders what to do with them in case they come to hand
after my departure. I have join'd with Capt. Chardon,
the owner of the Union, by which I diminish my ex-
pences and at the same time have in him a pleasant com
panion: he has a fine disposition and is acquainted with
all the fashionables and is constantly among them — we
have no society but I learn from him what is passing in
the world. His account of the state of manners, etc.,
has destroy'd what little inclination I had to be acquainted
with any of them — I read most of my time — have some
little business and study the language of the country a
few hours a day — I continue my morning and evening
walks — on the whole I pass my time more to my satis
faction than I fear'd I should, considering the total pri
vation of business and society.
I hardly know what to say about my health; sometimes
I feel as if my constitution was sinking under the effects
of my chronic disease and at others I am more en
couraged; at present I am better than I was a few months
since. I live very temperately and take more care than
ever of myself.
I hope this letter will find you and our little daughter
as well as when you wrote me last — long before this
reaches she will have learnt to walk and prattle. You
say in your letters much upon the subject of her educa-

1813] LETTERS FROM INDIA [127
tion ; I have such entire confidence in your judgment upon
whatever object it is exerted, that I feel perfectly easy —
besides I have already had some experience of your skill,
not only in the management of our own, but those of
your family, and at a time when I had every inducement
to observe and reflect. You know much better than I
do the best mode of governing, but from some things
you write I imagine the little girl has something of her
father's violence of temper. You are not one of those
visionaries who are willing to trust all to reason and
I doubt not when occasion calls for it will assist in the
correction of that and other defects by such correction
as will be salutary. I must confess I have not much re
spect for some of the systems of education that have
been adopted by members of our family and I believe
you are of the same mind — the Doctor I consider as a
pattern in this as everything, and his wife, if she did
not sometimes abandon the plan which she usually
follows, would be wholly worthy of imitation. . . .
If you wish me to point out an example whom I
should wish our child to resemble, I will tell you her
mother, not that I am so unreasonable as to expect she
can ever unite so many perfections, but the nearer she
approaches that incomparable woman, the more shall I
be grateful. And I hope she may now and thro' life
afford her parents and friends as much true satisfaction
as yours have deriv'd from you.
If the war between the two countries continues I
am, of course, a prisoner of war. You may perhaps
attach some unpleasant idea to this, but my situation will
not be in any respect different from what it now is, only
I shall not be permitted to depart without permission
from Gov't who no doubt will give me "parole" when
I shall apply for it — the people in this place have always
been particularly friendly towards Americans and regret
exceedingly the war.

128] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
I have written my father 7 letters, George, Joe,
Tom and Frank several times, Pat often, etc. I have
received two letters from Tom, a great number from
Frank, one from the Doctor and one from Uncle Cabot,
all of which gave me pleasure and still continue to do so.
Remember me to my father and mother and to all
other friends. Good bye, my dear Mary. I commend
you to the protection of a just and kind Providence, to
whose dispensations we must submit with patience and
cheerfulness as you always have done and as I shall
always try to do. I look up to your example, my
honour'd wife, with veneration, and I trust not without
some benefit. Farewell, I embrace you and our infant
with sincere and ardent affection and remain as ever
your most faithful friend and husband. H. L.
No. 9. Calcutta, February 14, 18 13.
My faithful and affectionate wife, —
... I shall have henceforth few opportunities of
sending letters, as the ships instead of going single as
they would have done but for the American War will
go in fleets for the sake of convoy against our privateers
— a very useless precaution, as no doubt most of the
privateers were captured in two months after the war
commenc'd and few would adventure after so much ill
success as the first experienc'd.
The first intelligence of the war was rec'd on the
14th ultimo by a ship from London. Our accounts from
America were down to the last of June, at which time
the repeal of the Orders in Council was not known1. I
^'The War of 18 12 was waged by one free people against
another free people in the interest of Napoleon, the real enemy
of them both. It diverted England's strength at a time when it
was sorely needed in Europe, and it might have been prevented
at any time before 1812 by a few conciliatory words, followed
by conciliatory deeds."— Channing's History of the United States.

1813] LETTERS FROM INDIA [129
indulged various sanguine hopes that the news of that
measure will cause a suspension of hostilities, not that
I confided much in the pacific temper of our Gov't, but
I did in the strength of the peace party, which that
measure must have increas'd and encourag'd. Strong
as were the hopes I indulged of an immediate termina
tion of the war, I felt as anxious as impatient to know
what steps our Gov't took on learning of the repeal : by an
arrival yesterday we have papers to 24 September from
London and dates to 8 or 10 August from the United
States and to my great sorrow the war continued — our
privateers were active but I was glad to learn that most
of them were taken. Our troops had commenc'd an at
tack on Canada where they met a repulse as might have
been expected — it is best we should not succeed in any
of the war measures — peace will sooner follow — as to
Canada, if we conquered it, on peace being made we shall
be compelled to restore it.
Our infamous Gov't have so long kept us under the
alarm of war1 that it had lost half its terrors even when
we really apprehended it: but it has come at last and
with its usual miseries I doubt not: the whole community
will suffer, but the heaviest evils will fall upon the mer
chants and of course our friends come in for a share.
I am afraid to think of the effects it will produce indi
vidually, and anxious as I am to hear from you all, I
shall willingly remain in ignorance, at least till my mind
becomes more familiar with thinking upon the misfortunes
and distress which must necessarily be occasioned to our
nearest connexions and friends. It is some alleviation,
indeed very great, to know that they are not created by
1 One justifiable cause of anxiety had been our undefended sea
ports. "The sea frontier was defenseless and was open to attack
by the naval forces of the greatest sea-power in existence." The
old Fort on Frank Higginson's place at Beverly was constructed
as one of the defences of Boston Harbor in the War of 1812.

I3°] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
their own imprudence or crimes; if a considerable por
tion of the community had been as active and sincere in
their opposition to the wicked and stupid policy of our
abandoned rulers we should still have been at peace and
prosperous — the peace party we hear remonstrated from
various quarters — I am glad they had courage enough
for it, for however well we may think of the Federal
Party as to their integrity and good sense, there is not
much to be said in favor of their energy or spirit — a
small portion excepted. The rich are usually cowards, es
pecially when as with us they are for the most part with
out any other principle than avarice — without education
suddenly rais'd from the most humble condition to that
importance which money confers. . . .
We are fortunate living in the best part of the Union,
and in Boston there is so large a portion of the inhabitants
who are well-inform'd and honest in their politicks that
I hope you may be protect'd from the cut-throats — and
this is all we have a right to expect. As to property, we
shall be poor, I suppose, at the end of the war and have
to begin the world anew, but neither you nor I think that
the greatest evil in life — certainly no one ever parted
with the luxuries and distinctions which wealth confers
with so much cheerfulness as yourself, and I trust there
are few who have witness'd your conduct without profit-
ting by so noble an example, as I profess myself to have
done, my honour'd wife — I feel griev'd at the calami
ties this mad war will bring upon the country and
our friends — what I shall suffer will be so trifling in com
parison with others that I ought not to speak of it — but
I am selfish and cannot help bringing home to myself
its consequences. There is no particular, however, which
I cannot support with greater fortitude and patience than
the continuance of my absence from you and the un
certainty of its duration. When the Reaper left in Oct'r

1813] LETTERS FROM INDIA [131
I felt gloomy at the apprehension of a longer continuance
of the Non-Intercourse Law — the repeal of the Orders
in Council dissipated all my fears and I was only anxious
lest ships should come too soon for the interest of my
owners — I went busily to work in preparing goods and
contracting for them and at the moment when I ex
pected and was ready for an arrival this unexpected
and ever to be lamented war came.
February 18, 18 13. I have seen some extracts from
American papers down to the 8th August. ... I have
seen the Boston Resolutions: they are very well and I
trust will be followed by others at a more general as
sembly — the people here consider the war as having been
commenc'd by the Gov't and their partizans the rabble,
contrary to the wishes of our best citizens and lament
it most sincerely — there is no animosity towards us what
ever. . . .
Take care of your health if you love me; it is the
greatest favor you can add to those already conferred
on your affectionate and grateful husband.
February 20, 18 13. You will all be anxious about me,
till you know I am not in the Reaper — it was a fortunate
decision my remaining here. I must confess I never
tho't much of war with England, though it has always
been in my mind as an event which might happen. The
Reaper's voyage will be a bad one unless Andrew has
made insurance, and even then it is probable the offices
will not be able to pay more than 10/ in the £ — even the
best of them. I made a shipment in the Harmony for
the owners, and one for myself — this I did on hearing
the repeal of the Orders in Council. I fear there is
no insurance. I can only say I am sorry it was done, but
I do not consider it as an imprudent thing — had time
admitted, it is probable I should have made it somewhat
larger — before I close this I shall send you a statement

132] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
of my own concerns by which you will perceive my pros
pects are still good, admitting I recover from the Under
writers one-half the amount shipp'd in the Reaper. I
have told you in many letters that I meant not to con
ceal anything which I tho't you desirous of knowing
concerning my business. I esteem you as good an adviser
as you are a wife. I think your judgment excellent and
by communicating my intentions I shall be led to reflect
the more upon them and at the same time your pru
dent councils will be bro't to my recollection. I have
not forgotten them, my excellent wife, and I have wish'd
a thousand times that I had listen'd to them at a time
when they might have sav'd us from calamities, the ef
fects of which you are now suffering, on my account, with
so much cheerfulness and patience. . . .
Good night, my incomparable wife — while I have life
I shall always love and honour you and I hope it will
give you as much pleasure to hear me say so, as I now
have in saying it. Good night, and God bless you, my
dear wife and child. February 22, 18 13.
I have seen the address of the House of Representa
tives of Massachusetts, and the Newburyport resolutions.
I am afraid it is all that can be done. If we were
united in New England, and New York w'd join us
heartily, the Western States might have the war to them
selves. We must one day or other separate and since
things have gone so far, the sooner it takes place the
better. The Northern section w'd soon have the as
cendancy and control over the others, and thus govern
instead of being governed by a people half civilized.
I was glad to hear George1 arriv'd in season to avoid
a capture. His vessel and cargo are not liable to the
1 His brother, Captain George Lee.

1813] LETTERS FROM INDIA [i33
Non-Intercourse Law but our Gov't are such a set of
robbers there is no safety within their grasp. I look
upon the Gov't as nearly dissolv'd by the war. The Con
stitution was too miserably weak to serve in peace when
everything went on prosperously — it cannot be expected
that the faction now in power will any longer regard
it. . . .
I have at last found a horse, an Arab, for which I
gave $300, not a large sum for this country — I shall
get perhaps $250 when I sell him. The expence of
keeping is $6 a month, yet I would have gladly avoided
this expence, had not my health requir'd the exercise.
I ride for 1 J4 hours one hour before sunrise — I feel
already the good effects — I go to bed at 9 to 10 — I
never led so regular a life. If you were here it would
be a happy one. Goodnight, my dear Mary.
[In Trevelyan's History of the British Empire in the igth
Century, he says, "It was of good omen that the war was un
popular in New England. In 1814 the Northern States began
to talk of secession if peace were not made. Although it was
the merchants and sailors of New England who suffered from the
grievances on the high seas that were the pretext of the war, yet
it was New England that protested against the war policy of the
Southern Democrats.
"The pacifism of New York and Massachusetts, the states that
could have made the earliest and most formidable attacks on
Canada if they had been so minded, saved us from a desperate
strait. . . . Never before or since has the independence of Canada
been in greater danger than in the summer of 1812. . . .
"The treaty signed at Ghent on Christmas Eve, 1814, very
wisely did not even attempt to decide the embittered controversies
on blockade and right of search. . . .
"The most important stage of the whole proceeding came in
1817, when, after a sharp struggle inside the British Cabinet, the
British and American Governments agreed to abolish their navies
on the Great Lakes, and forthwith dismantled, sold, or sank the
warships on Erie and Ontario. Those fleets have never been
reconstructed."]

134] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
No. 10. Calcutta, February 25th, 18 13.
My faithful wife,
The opportunities of writing via England occur so
rarely, that I must embrace conveyances more indirect
or at least more uncertain. I send this via Lisbon —
the ship stops at Rio Janeiro, which will add to the
length of the passage. I have forwarded another letter
to be sent from that place. . . .
I have been dreading the return of warm weather —
it has commenc'd, but not to the degree we shall have
it in June — thus far I do very well — indeed I think for ten
days I have not been so well since I landed. Let this
comfort you, my belov'd Mary; while I have you for a
wife and a common share of health, I ought to think
myself the happiest man on earth — as I should if we
were together — our little infant has hitherto given you
much occupation, and delightful occupation, if I may
judge from your letters: this is another blessing we
have to be thankful for. ... Do not be anxious about
me — take care of your health — read or do anything to
amuse yourself and remember that the greatest favor
you can do me, is to take care of a life upon which my
whole happiness depends and one which you value as
nothing in comparison with a husband who thinks and
knows you to be the best of wives and the most faultless
woman in existence. Farewell, my ever honour'd and
belov'd wife — I pray most fervently you may long enjoy
everything which can contribute to your happiness and
that the time may soon come when you will have it in
your power to reward a husband who loves and esteems
you more than he can express, by the charms of your
society, the delights of friendship and love — farewell —
I embrace you and our little girl most tenderly and re
main as ever your obedient and devoted husband
H T
Received 10 Sept., 181 j.

1813]  LETTERS FROM INDIA [135
No. n. Calcutta, March 2, 18 13.
I have read a considerable number of books — of late
Paley's Moral Philosophy and Evidences of Christianity;
the latter has given me more satisfaction than any work
of the kind that I have ever look'd into. I shall take
up some other books upon same subjects, in the hopes of
creating a stronger interest in the most important of
all matters — our religion. You are happy, my dear M.,
in having early in life engaged in it and since then con
tinuing to strengthen your belief by study and reflection
— it is this firm piety, my respected wife, together with
the natural firmness of your mind, which has enabled
you to fortify your soul against the misfortunes you have
had to encounter. W'd to God, I had made the same
advances as yourself. I should be happier without doubt
and more worthy of your esteem than I can hope to be,
or at least more so than I deserve. I am glad to learn
by your letters, that you found time to indulge your
inclination to read; after the little girl was weaned you
must have had more leisure. I hope you will not confine
yourself to such grave works as Mosheim, but take up
occasionally as may suit your feelings, those which are
more amusing: should history happen to be your humor,
I recommend Sully's Memoirs — there is much informa
tion in it and the characters of Henry IV, and Sully,
his minister, are extremely interesting; the work will
I am sure entertain you as much as any work you ever
read. My father has it if I mistake not; it is a favorite
book with my mother, whose taste and judgment are suffi
cient to give currency to anything, in your estimation as
well as mine.
You mention in one of your letters, that you sh'd keep
a Journal to note from time [to time] what might occur,
interesting to me. I have express'd several times, how
much I felt gratify'd and oblig'd by your intention — and

136]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
I repeat here, lest those letters sh'd not arrive, that the
perusal of anything you write will be interesting to me. . . .
March 5th, 18 13.
I have rec'd much gratification from learning the suc
cess of the English in Spain — they are doing wonders
there — and within a few days we have news from Russia
of a terrible bloody battle fought near Moscow, on the
7th Sep. in which the French suffer'd excessively — they
had advanc'd afterwards, but did not find the provisions
they expected and of which they stood in need, at Mos
cow; we are told they suffer from hunger and cold and
I have no doubt it is true — if the Russians are not coax'd
into a peace, the situation of Napoleon will be critical
indeed this winter: the Swedes are in his rear and he
must retreat between two armies and at an immense dis
tance from his country. I hope most sincerely his power
is on the decline and that the world may ever more be
freed from his tyranny, his defeat w'd change the view
of our cowardly Government, who have hitherto been
operated upon by his threats ; in fact it is very apparent
they are as much in his interest as his own Senate — it is
a lamentable fact, but the truth cannot be deny'd, tho'
we boast continually of the purity of our nation and of
their high notions of liberty and independence, there
never was a set of men in power in any country, more
contemptible as to talents or more base as to their
conduct and views than Madison and his faction — de
tested by all good men in their own country and despis'd
by all the rest of the world — the war they are now
waging will I trust end in their confusion — it is the
only thing which can balance in any degree the misery
it must occasion to ourselves. . . .
I heard of the arrival of George a few days since — this
is a very gratifying piece of news, for besides the saving
of his property and escaping an imprisonment, or at least

1813]  LETTERS FROM INDIA [137
a detention, which I fear'd would have been his fate —
I was under some apprehensions for his safety. We heard
a long time ago of his short run to St. Helena and when
I found by letters of 29th May dated at Phil'a that the
Aurora had not arriv'd, I concluded some accident must
probably have happen'd to her. Give my affectionate
regards to George and tell him I have written him five
or six letters since I arriv'd. . . . March 6th, 18 13.
I lost the opp'y of sending by the Imega for Rio de
Janeiro and Lisbon. I now mean to put it on board the
San Fernando, a Spanish ship for South America — the
super-cargo has promised to have it forwarded from
thence to U. States — or if no conveyance offers, then to
London; it will be forever on the way, yet I choose to
avail of the opportunity — if it is lost, no matter — if it
comes to hand you will be gratify'd. I have by me two
others intended for the next fleet to London and I shall
write a few lines by two Portuguese ships for So. America
and Lisbon — after which no more conveyances will offer
for some time. . . .
I employ my time principally in reading — we have ad
mitted to our family another member, a Lieutenant in
the army. He is a pleasant temper'd man and we live
in great harmony and at small expence.
. . . Charles will remain with me as long as I stay
here: you can say to his mother he is well and em
ploying his time to advantage, tho' I could wish there
was more employment for us both — he has a fine temper
and good understanding, but not much knowledge and
too little zeal and ambition, at least for his mercantile
profession — he seems better pleas'd with a ship than the
Counting House: it is fortunate he remain'd — his situ
ation on board the Reaper in case of capture w'd have
been unpleasant, and on his arrival in England, he w'd

138] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
of course have been confin'd as a prisoner of war with
a small chance of being exchang'd, as we shall have
few prisoners to give in return for the great number
of our seamen captur'd by the English — he leads a dull
life as well as myself, but is contented, I believe. . . .
March 7th, 18 13.
I have altered my mind and instead of sending this
to So. America it goes direct to Lisbon — No. 8 and No.
9 will go in the fleet for England, to sail in a month or
six weeks — after which, no more conveyances will offer
for some time. . . .
I have made a few hundred dollars upon Indigo lately
and about $1,000 upon the purchase of some opium —
I hope to gain a small profit upon a lot of Indigo now
on hand — I consider myself as a very good judge of it
and so are my banians.
Remember me to all who are interested in my welfare
and especially to Father and Mother and Harriet — I am
rejoic'd to find from your letters that you were so often
with my mother, on your account as well as hers. I
fear there have been many and great calls upon her
fortitude, in the events that have occur'd since I left
home, particularly in regard to the Higginsons. . . . Tell
Harriet both her letters are rec'd and that I have written
her three in return — her letters, as indeed all she writes,
are full of good sense and good feelings; I wish I knew
how to prove to her the extreme gratification they
afforded me, she would feel amply rewarded for the
trouble they cost — as you are the best wife in the world,
so is she the best sister and friend: I presume she will
live with you, at least I hope so, but not unless she finds
it more agreeable than any other place. . . .
Good by, my dear wife, God bless you, is the constant
prayer of your ever faithful and affectionate friend and
husband, H. L. Rec'd June g, 1814.

1 8 1 3 ]  LETTERS FROM INDIA  [139
Calcutta, March 9th, 1813.
No. 12. Per Bacchante for Rio de Janeiro.
. . . Our accounts from Russia come down to October :
we have the account of the battle of Borodino, fought
on 7th September — we have also the 18th Bulletin
from the French army, which is their official Statement
— either Napoleon has grown modest or he has sus-
tain'd something like a defeat according to his own
relation of the battle. I have never before seen a
French bulletin in so desponding and awkward a style —
subsequent reports from the Russian army say, that the
French are perishing by thousands with hunger and cold
and that the Russians are cloth'd and well fed and re
inforcing constantly. I am extremely impatient to hear
further — in meantime I cannot help entertaining sanguine
hopes. March 10th, 18 13.
... I read much of the time — am now upon Locke
and Roman history — I make no acquaintances nor am
I desirous of doing so, were it in my power, unless I
could choose them — I am sadly in need of a companion
or in other words my wife, without whom I can never be
contented — yet on the whole I am more reconciled to
my situation than you would expect, and if I only knew
you and our infant were well and happy, I should be much
more so. I hardly know what to say about your continu
ing to write me after this comes to hand; it is very un
certain whether I remain here or go to England — on the
whole however I would have you write by way of London
should the war continue: if I sh'd remain, the letters
will be invaluable — at any rate they will afford me
pleasure when they do reach me, let it be in what place
it may. I should wish also that Frank and Pat would
write me on business — should Andrew have been ruin'd
by the war, it may be important I sh'd know it and have

140] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
directions in whose name to put the property of the
owners. . . .
The war cannot last long and should Napoleon have
been kill'd or defeated, commerce will revive and we
shall all have a chance to re-establish our fortunes. The
trade to this place offers certain profit and a very great
one without much hazard — the knowledge I have ac-
quir'd since my arrival here, will enable me to lay down
a plan for the pursuit of it, which I know Pat will ap
prove of and a very moderate capital will suffice. Tom,
I am afraid, will also be a great sufferer by the war,
and Frank too (in fact all engaged in trade must lose
and there is no branch of the family that can escape
great losses) : with economy and industry we shall get up
again after the war; I have plann'd out business enough
for all of us — but I will reserve the communication of
it 'till I arrive. No plan I could write, could stand the
attacks of the clan — I must be present myself to defend
and explain.
Should the Reaper happily arrive and escape our in
famous Gov't afterwards, our friends will have some
proofs of the advantages an experienc'd agent has over
those who are less acquainted with this trade. ... It
would be very singular if, after having devoted 18 years
to this trade, and during that time been the largest im
porter and one of the greatest dealers in Bengal goods
of every description, I should not be confident in my
abilities to carry it on with uncommon advantages — my
long stay here this voyage has been extremely useful,
to complete my information, and had not the war broke
out I should have sent . Andrew a very excellent in
vestment. March 15th, 18 13, Monday.
... I apprehend the war will not end 'till the new
Congress is chosen, unless Buonaparte is either kill'd or

1813] LETTERS FROM INDIA [141
meets with a signal defeat, so much so as to render his
situation very critical — God grant the former may
happen for the sake of our country and for the world.
The weather for six months past has been quite tem
perate — the mornings and evenings very pleasant, but
there is not a day in the year when it is not uncomfortable
and even dangerous to be exposed to the sun after it is
one or two hours above the horizon. The Thermometer
stands now at about 86° to 88° through the day — but
that degree is not uncomfortable — I do very well while
it does not go above 90° to 92°. I have told you in
many of my letters, that I suffer'd from an oppression
at the breast — I think at this time I have less than for
some months and am likewise stronger. . . .
Good by, my ever belov'd wife — take all possible care
of your health and make yourself contented and happy.
I intreat you most earnestly not to be depress'd on my
account; the war has made an exile of me, but that I
ought to bear manfully when I reflect upon the losses
our friends will suffer. Think of my good fortune in
everything, but the separation from my dear M. — we
cannot have all our wishes gratify'd — let us be thankful
for such as are. Kiss our little infant for me — I pray
she may continue to amuse and comfort you — God bless
you both and in time make me participate in the hap
piness she affords. I remain always your truly affec
tionate and very faithful husband, jj ^
No. 15. Calcutta, April 14th, 1813.
My dear and estimable wife,
I am fluctuating constantly between the hope of a
settlement with Great Britain, and the fear of a continu
ance of the war. . . . The ill-success of our army, and
I presume, too, of the navy (tho' as yet we have heard
of the loss of only one public ship on the part of the

142J HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
Americans, Capt. Crane's, and that was more than
balanced by the destruction of the Guerricre, yet it is im
possible our frigates should escape for any long time,
unless they remain in port) — the failure of the attack
on Canada, the loss of an immense property by the mer
chants, the disappointment and capture of our privateers-
men, and probably of the public ships — the suspension
of all business in the seaports — the fall in produce — the
extinction of public and private credit — the fall in all
kinds of stocks — the embarrassments and distress of in
dividuals — and the discontents and apprehensions of
such as are rich enough to bear all this — must create
feelings which cannot fail of being formidable to Govern
ment and to discourage them in the prosecution of the
war. Whether the faction have the audacity to go on,
in spite of all these difficulties, God only knows, but if
they do I shall consider it is their wish to produce a
revolution and change the form of government. . . .
I doubt much, however, of their ability to do this; we
are too distant from France to receive the necessary aid,
and the war they have engaged in to cover their designs
is too destructive and inglorious to be for a long time
borne, even by their most zealous partisans. 1 am afraid,
however, it will last a sufficient time to ruin most of the
merchants; after that I shall not be sorry to have it go
on till the nation becomes heartily tired of the scoundrels
who are now ruining the country. Such an event might
lead to a state of things which would in some measure
compensate us for the sufferings of the war.
I am anxious to hear from America down to October
or November. I can then judge if the repeal of the
Orders in Council made any change; if not 1 shall con
clude the war will go on till the next Congress is chosen,
or till Buonaparte meets with some great reverse in his
fortunes. If Buonaparte succeeds in Russia he is without

1813]  LETTERS FROM INDIA [143
doubt our Master, and yet I doubt if we shall bear the
yoke very easy. I do not in any event believe the war
will continue beyond the year 18151, and I think it will
terminate pretty soon after the commencement of the
next Congress; though I am very confident Madison
will be re-elected, yet he will not have a majority strong
enough to carry on the war. These are my views today.
I state them to you because they will serve as a clue
to my conduct and intentions. I do not wholly despair
of a peace on the opening of Congress, especially should
the discontent of the Northern States increase and the
ill-success of our armies and the bad credit of Govern
ment continue. . . .
We have now dates to October 15, only. They came
via Cape of Good Hope. We learnt of General Hull's
capture, but except that event and the sinking of the
Guerriere we know nothing of affairs in America after
the middle of August.2
My attention is very anxiously fixed upon the Russian
war. We get our intelligence over land, principally from
Mr. Liston, the English Ambassador in Turkey. It
comes through Persia; thence to Bombay via the
Persian Gulf : from Bombay, which is in the English
Dominions, it comes by land to Calcutta. We have the
[French] Bulletins as far as No. 20; that and the pre
ceding one give us an account of the destruction of Mos
cow. The Russian and French accounts differ so ma
terially it is impossible to know the state of affairs. I
imagine, however, the French had the advantage in
every battle but have suffered so much that their actual
•The news of peace was received in Boston in February, 1815.
2 In July, 1 81 2, General Hull attempted the invasion of Canada,
but being met and defeated by Gen. Brock, recrossed the river
and surrendered Detroit. In August his nephew, Captain Isaac
Hull, in the Constitution, sunk the British frigate Guerriere in
Boston Harbor.

1 44 J HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
progress in the conquest of Russia has not been great
since they entered that country. It is true they have
burnt two of the greatest cities in the Empire, but they
have lost and disabled the strength of their armies, while
those of Russia appear to be more numerous than ever
and well enough provided with provisions, clothing and
shelter. We had some reports 15 days since which dis
couraged me a good deal. Now I begin to indulge pretty
sanguine hopes that Buonaparte will at least be com
pelled to abandon his plan of subduing Russia and per
haps be driven out of Germany. The Emperor Alex
ander has thus far held out well and been nobly sup
ported by his people. If he remains firm in refusing
Peace and adheres to his system of fighting and retreat
ing, I do not see why he should not succeed. I think
at least there are grounds for hopes and I am determined
to enjoy the contemplation of them till I am undeceived.
We have besides the above accounts which come down
only to September 18th, some letters from Sir Robert
Wilson to October 20th, which speak in the most hope
ful terms of the good state of the Russian armies, the
patriotism of the nation, and the firmness of Alexander
and his nobles. You will know the issue of this im
portant war long before this reaches you, and wonder
I should entertain you with my conjectures; I do it, my
wife, because I consider the war we are engaged in with
England as depending on the termination of the Russian
campaign, and I wish you to be acquainted with such
opinions as may influence my conduct in my business:
you can then the better judge whether I act right or
otherwise. If you approve of what I do, I shall feel
a confidence which my own decisions, unsanctioned by
yours, can never give me. I have experienced the sound
ness of your judgment in so many instances that I have
more respect for it than for that of any other person.

1813]  LETTERS FROM INDIA [145
. . . You will hardly believe that a person of my easy
manners and insinuating address should have lived al
most a year in this place without making a single ac
quaintance unless a few persons whom I meet on business.
It is true, however, and I should be in the same solitude
if I were to remain 10 years. I should enjoy extremely
the society of a few families like Mr. Russell's, where
I might visit on my own terms — but I doubt if I had
access to every house in the place whether I could find
one. There are two classes of people that make up the
English societies — the one composed of Company's
servants, as they are called, viz. persons in service of
the India Company — military officers and a few mer
chants. These are the gentry of the place and have
among them many respectable persons — live in great
style and hold themselves altogether above the common
citizens. The other class is made up of merchants,
mechanics, shopkeepers, artists, ship masters, and ad
venturers of all sorts, who came out from England to
seek what they seldom find — their fortunes. For the
most part they are a low-bred and worthless set — their
society is had on easy terms — you may be sure I have
no inclination, and if I had w'd not indulge it, to partake
of it. There is a small number among them, no doubt,
of good educations and characters and, if one had the
opportunity of selecting, very pleasant and useful ac
quaintances might be found among them. The re
spectable class it is impossible to become acquainted with,
without a better introduction than any of our country
men can obtain, and their habits are such that no man
of business could mix with them if he had an opportunity.
There are several gentlemen in business who have given
me invitations to their houses, but I declin'd them — if
I had made the most of their civility it is probable I
might have become known through them to some others,

146] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
but it neither suited my business, inclination or my cir
cumstances, and for that reason I declined. I have dined
twice at a house where business introduced me, with
two bachelors — and at no other time except occasionally
with my countrymen when they were in port. I know
about a dozen persons whom I meet at their different
offices, all of whom are very civil in communicating such
information as they receive from time to time, on the
arrival of ships from Europe, and it is on these occasions
I see them — they comprise some of the first merchants
in the place, and of course it is pleasant and useful to
be on these terms with them — it is all I want — accident
more than anything else began our acquaintance. April 21, 1 8 13.
The long expected ship has arrived and brought dates
from London to the 14th November; from United States
to the 10th October. As yet I have only seen a few
extracts from the American papers, but I perceive the
faction had taken their orders from Serurier1 to proceed
with the war, in spite of the ill-success of our Generals
and the complaints of our people.
I anticipated this, yet I had some little hope a nego
tiation might be opened. The repeal of the Orders in
Council produced no effect. Did not Mr. C, Charles
Jackson, John Lowell, and all our wisest men forewarn
us long since that they were only a pretense with our
Government to be on ill terms with England and that
the repeal would not produce a settlement? I hope
the Federalists are now convinced and all other honest
men of the hypocrisy, baseness and treachery of Madison,
and that we are sold to the Emperor of France.
I have seen General Hull's despatches: his proclama
tion held out a different result to his campaign. I am
1 French minister at Washington.

1813] LETTERS FROM INDIA [l47
not disappointed; I even predicted to all who made in
quiries of me on the subject the failure of any attempts
we should make to conquer and keep possession of
Canada, unless the war should continue for several years.
I pity this poor devil, he did as well as could have
been expected. No one who knew his character and the
quality of his troops anticipated any other effects from
this famous campaign.1 Our Navy had done nothing
besides the capture and destruction of the Guerriere.
It is singular the British should have sent so small a
force upon the coast, but they never tho't us in earnest,
we have so long boasted and threatened. The certainty
almost that the war will be continued through the year
causes some very gloomy feelings : my prospects are de
stroyed and our friends must all be still greater sufferers
than I am.
The Reaper has long since, I doubt not, been in the
hands of England." She was taken in the West Indian
latitudes or off our coast. I hope Andrew will have been
more fortunate in his Russian expedition. I am still
at a loss to know how to act. If after having remained
so long, I should now depart and in the meantime Peace
be concluded, I should think my decision an unwise one
1 "Unreasonable blame was laid upon Gen. Hull, who was
tried for neglect of duty and condemned to death, but fortunately
was pardoned by President Madison. It has since been made
clear that Hull was blamed unjustly."— History of the United
States, by John Fiske.
"The Government expected General Hull with a force not
exceeding 2,000 effectives to march 200 miles, constructing a
road as he went: to garrison Detroit: to guard at least 60 miles
of road under the enemy's guns: to face a force in the field equal
to his own, and another savage force of unknown number: to sweep
the Canadian peninsula of British troops: to capture the fortresses
at Maiden and the British fleet on Lake Erie;— and to do all this
without the aid of a man or a boat between Sandusky and
Quebec."— History of the United States, by Henry Adams.
2 The Reaper had arrived in Boston on March 20, 1813-

148] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
and regret not having remained some time longer: it
is true, there is no great probability of a peace till the
next Congress assemble, but Madison may possibly lose
his election, or his party in Congress may be alarmed at
the prospect before them of taxes and an unsuccessful
and inglorious war. On the whole I have determined,
at any rate, to continue till I hear what Congress did
at the opening of the session. The probability of Clin
ton's election, and the effect produced upon the French
faction by the reverse their master has met with in
Russia, and upon the nation at large by the destruction
of our commerce, the loss of our navy, and the defeat
of our armies (for I anticipate the defeat of the sec
ond attempt on Canada), all this we shall know in three
months, this being the season when ships are expected
and when they make the fastest passage. . . . God knows
I am anxious to be on my way home, but at the same
time I am desirous, extremely so, of making the most
of the property in my charge and especially when the
loss occasioned by the war may make even a few thou
sand dollars of great importance. . . . April 23, 1813.
I called upon Messrs. Alexander this morning; with
their usual politeness they furnished me with the latest
London papers and gave me all the information their
letters contained relative to the war. There are not
many extracts from American papers. I have seen
enough, however, to convince me the strength of the
peace party is great and that they are determined to
do all that is possible to end the war. We can only
conjecture as to the election. I have no idea Clinton
can succeed. Another year would have brought him in.
I do not think it very important he should be chosen.
He might be worse than even Madison. I never under-

'813]  LETTERS FROM INDIA [149
stood him to be possessed of great abilities; there is no
doubt of his entire want of good principles. I am much
pleased with Capt. Hull's modest letter to the Secretary
of the Navy.1 It does him as much credit as the skill
and courage he displayed. ... Our accounts from Spain
are not so favorable. Lord Wellington had abandoned
Burgos, and the French armies had formed a junction
and were very formidable. The Spaniards behave worse
and worse. I doubt whether any nation under the like
circumstances ever conducted so ill or produced so few
patriots and great men. Nothing but the success of the
Russians could have prevented Buonaparte from expelling
the English as soon as he was disengaged in the North,
but I trust his power is drawing to a close, and if he is
not driven from his throne that he will at any rate be
compelled to give up most of his conquests.
The good news from Russia has induced me to extend
my purchase of Indigo to $12 or 13,000. I shall sell it
again if I can, otherwise ship it to England, in case I
leave the country before the war terminates. . . .
I feel in better spirits than usual. The success of the
Russians is cheering. As to our war, I have expected
its continuance and was prepared for the late accounts;
but the Russians will give us Peace. April 27, 1813.
It is a long time since I said anything about the Ameri
can Missionaries — they were all compelled to leave the
country in two or three months after they landed, tho'
they made great efforts to remain.2 Newliall and wife
1 Referring to the sinking of the Guerriere by the Constitution.
2 The missionaries came in Capt. Augustine Heard's ship Cara
van. As the Government was unwilling they should stay in
India, they appealed to be landed in the Isle of France on the
return voyage. Captain Heard felt much compassion for the
Newhalls: the young wife was but nineteen.

15°] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
went to the Isle of France in a few weeks after they
arrived. Mrs. Newhall, I hear, died there, tho' I am
not certain this information is correct. Judson and Rice
were converted to Baptism with an expectation, perhaps,
of being allowed to remain with the English Missionaries
who are all of that persuasion. They remained two or
three months, but were finally ordered by Gov't to leave
the country for England. That destination was changed
at their entreaty for Ceylon, an island at the entrance
of the Bay of Bengal, from whence the cinnamon comes.
Judson is much of an invalid. Hall and Nott have gone
to Isle of France : the Governor of that settlement, I
am told, does not approve of their object and will
probably compel them to leave the place — perhaps they
may go from thence to Madagascar: they appeared to
me to be mad. The Society must abandon their project
of Christianizing India — this Government will admit no
one, unless they come with the permission of the Court
of Directors. There are thousands in England who
stand ready to engage in this business, so that foreigners
are not like to meet with support. As yet few or no
converts have been made, perhaps not one respectable
native, and it appears to me beyond the reach of human
means to change their notions: certainly while they
remain as at present in the grossest ignorance of every
thing but the particular profession they are engaged in.
Judson, Capt. Heard told me, was a man of pretty good
understanding, so was Mr. Rice. Mr. Newhall is the
most worthy character among them all, and the least
of a bigot. All of them seemed ignorant of the world,
and extremely ill-informed of the country and the in
habitants which they came to convert. I pitied them
most sincerely; they probably have good intentions, which
is more than one could venture to say of some of their
patrons and directors, who sent them upon this im-

1813]  LETTERS FROM INDIA  [151
practicable scheme. The English Missionary Society are
making great efforts by preaching and the distribution
of Bibles, but thus far I am told without much effect.
They have funds to a considerable amount and their
leading preachers are men of great learning; two of them
hold high stations in the College for the instruction of
the Company's servants in the Eastern languages.
I have finished the New Testament and find it more
intelligible and interesting than the Old Testament. I
mean to go through with it again in course of the year.
May 3, 1813.
I have had a tolerable good set of bearers and kept
them till the head one became sick; now I have new
ones and they plague me by their religious scruples —
they will not touch the warm water or carry a light be
fore the palanquin — the latter I can do without as I
never leave the house after dark. The business of a
house from their religious customs is subdivided into
many branches, for each of which there must be a servant;
this is a great expense and still greater inconvenience.
. . . Capt. Chardon still continues with us and the Lieut.
We spare no pains to keep our expenses at the most
moderate rate, but house rent and servants, which com
prise three-fourths of the whole amount, cannot be
diminished. While we continue three (besides Charles)
we live with great economy, but my expenses will be
the same, or nearly so, when they leave me as now.
The same servants are required for me as for half a
dozen. I endeavored to find a boarding house, but it is
impossible. I am tired of this dull and solitary life and
long to be once more among civilized beings. May 5, 1813.
We have some later dates from Russia. They come
down to nth December. The French still continued
their retreat, and suffered immensely. Much as we are

152]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
compelled to detest Frenchmen for the miseries they
have inflicted on mankind, and which we now begin to
feel, one cannot read the account of their sufferings with
out feeling touched at their distressing situation. If Sir
R. Wilson is correct in his letters there never were such
horrible scenes of misery as have presented themselves
in Russia among the soldiers of Buonaparte. I am afraid
that the author of all this mischief will himself escape.
. . . He will, I imagine, get back to France. His re
ception may not be to his liking. We hear the Senate
refused him the last conscription called for. I am eager
to know the result of these great and unexpected events.
It appears to me they will affect the Councils of our
Government, and incline the navy men to peace. I am
sorry the news could not have reached early in the ses
sion of Congress. . . . May 6 — evening.
My dear wife :
I have had the greatest pleasure, next to that of see
ing you, which the world can afford me. The schooner,
Alligator, arrived a few hours since. I have seen Ozias.1
You were in perfect health, and so was the child. This
news came upon me most unexpectedly. I have had no
expectation of seeing any American vessel, and twenty
might have arrived without bringing any intelligence of
you. . . .
I put a thousand interesting questions to Ozias, but my
mind is so entirely occupied with you that I hardly know
what answers he made. Mr. Lowell had been captured,
but they were well treated, and arrived safe in Boston.2
1 Mr. Ozias Goodwin, much younger than Mr. Lee, and later
his partner in business. The friendship between the families is
continued in the second and third generations.
2 Mr. and Mrs. Francis Cabot Lowell and their children and
Miss Harriet Jackson had arrived at home after a prolonged
stay in England.

1813] LETTERS FROM INDIA [153
Mr. Lowell had been sick and recovered: Mrs. Lowell
was as well as usual, Ozias thinks. Harriet he saw in
church, and she appeared in good health. It gives me
the most sensible pleasure to find them safe at home,
and that Harriet had taken up her residence with you.
Nothing could have happened more opportunely. You
would have had another dull winter alone. Now it is
impossible you should be otherwise than happy, saving
the anxiety you feel on my account. I think you will
agree with me that Harriet is more agreeable than ever.
She has made a great addition to her stock of knowledge,
and in her manners she has thrown off that reserve which
kept at an uncomfortable distance her acquaintances and
friends. Ozias could give me no particulars about other
members of the family, only generally that they were
all well. May 7, 1813.
I have convers'd with Ozias again today; he con
firms the account of your health in the most particular
manner; says he saw you often, — you were in excellent
health and always cheerful; that the child was vig
orous and lively and could walk. What more could
I wish, my precious wife, upon this score! I have not
permitted myself to be anxious, but the precariousness of
health and the uncertainty of life would sometimes make
me tremble for what might happen.
Ozias has given me a pile of newspapers to the 5th
of December. They are interesting, as you may imagine,
after such a suspension in dates. I had none later than
April 5 before. The war, as I feared, still continues,
in spite of the repeal of the Orders in Council and Ad
miral Warren's overtures. It is easy to see from
Madison's message that he seeks for pretences to keep
up the war, but I cannot but hope and believe that the
increasing discontent of the major part of the nation,

I54J HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
and the repulse of Buonaparte in Russia will compel
the faction to really wish for peace, and then there will
be no difficulty in adjusting the terms. I see nothing
in the papers which indicates an immediate settlement.
I conclude Madison was elected President, and as he
has the majority in Congress, it will be in his power
to keep on with the war for some time longer. I think,
however, there will be an armistice during the last session
of Congress, and at any rate, the Government will not
be able to protract the war beyond an early period of
the coming session of Congress.
I have hopes the majority will then be in favour of
Coalition, or if this is not the case that the Government
majority will be too small to venture upon a continuance
of an unsuccessful, unpopular, unnecessary and inglorious
war. . . .
The Calcutta vessels and others have almost all ar
rived safe and this gives me more hopes than I ever be
fore dared entertain of the Reaper's getting in; she will
be off New York in March — a stormy season — it would
make me very happy to hear she had arrived: the new
duties will operate very heavily upon her cargo, yet it
will come to a good market. Calcutta, May 19th, 18 13.
My dear wife,
Having just heard of a ship about to sail from Madras
for England I avail myself of it, to repeat again the
delight I experienc'd, on learning by the Alligator, that
you and our child were in perfect health. I had not
been very anxious, yet my mind was not easy and re-
quir'd something to cheer and enliven it — I am now
much more reconciled to my banishment. . . .
. . . Ozias has given me a detail as far as he could
have been acquainted, of everything that has occur'd
among our friends — I am most agreeably disappointed

•1813] LETTERS FROM INDIA [155
to find that the losses occasion'd by the war are much
less than could have been expected. You will have re-
mark'd what gloomy apprehensions I entertain'd for the
fate of some of my nearest relatives and best friends —
they are doing well, Ozias tells me, and are in a situa
tion to bear the losses which they may yet possibly sus
tain. Patrick's situation he represents as very secure;
he has not been able to inform me if his property in the
Calcutta is insur'd: he thinks the Reaper is not fully
cover'd, but as Andrew's Russian voyage is promising, he
will be able to bear the loss. I have more hopes than
I ever dared encourage, that the Reaper may arrive in
safety; she will be on the coast at a stormy season and
if the English do not reinforce their squadron she may
escape. ... I have come to the resolution of remaining here
for a year to come, sh'd the war not be finish'd any
sooner: it is with the utmost reluctance I bring myself
to this resolution, but I cannot do otherwise without a
great sacrifice of my owner's interest and my own.
I look with great hopes upon the consequences of the
complete destruction of Buonaparte's army and perhaps
his own — sh'd the latter have taken place, Europe will
be again freed from the dominion of France and we I
trust also. . . . Give my most unfeign'd regards to Har
riet — she still continues to hold the second place in my
affections — to my mother you will repeat the assurance
of my constant and unchangeable attachment and venera
tion. ... I have made some further purchases of Indigo
— I expect to dispose of all I have in three months, or
else ship it to London. ... H. L.
(Rec'd 3 Sept., 1814.) Calcutta, July 7th, 18 13.
My dear wife : —
. . . The news received yesterday over land from

156] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
Russia, by which it appears that in January and Feb
ruary the Russians had taken possession of almost all
Prussia, tends to strengthen my belief that our Govern
ment will begin to think seriously of the situation in
which their corruption and stupidity have placed the
country, and, as the only means of extricating us there
from, they will make peace with G. Britain. I am in
great hopes this event will have taken place by this time,
and that at any rate it cannot be protracted beyond Jan
uary first, even should Mr. Madison himself be inflexible
in his opinions on the subject.
. . . We hear, too, that a Russian envoy had been sent
to Vienna and that Lord Walpole, the English Ambas
sador, had been cordially received. This looks as if we
might calculate at least upon the neutrality of Austria if
not her co-operation in the war in favor of Russia. The
prospect is most cheering and really makes some amends
for the privations I am now sustaining, or rather priva
tion, for I complain of nothing as a hardship but the
loss of your society, and that is an evil which, notwith
standing what philosophers say about the force of habit,
becomes more intolerable the longer it continues. . . .
We have no further news from America. The cap
ture of two frigates has made us quite formidable, there
have been rumours in circulation of the capture of two
more, off the Island of St. Helena, by an American
Squadron. I do not credit the account because I have no
idea we have had any ships in that quarter. . . .
The trial of the Schr. Alligator takes place in 5 or 6
days. I shall not in all probability be allowed to put
any letters on board, should she be released. Her pas
sage will not be less than 5 months and probably she
may stop or be detained by the English. I shall continue
to write you by every fleet. . . .
I shall stay here during the war, and you must not

1813] LETTERS FROM INDIA [157
calculate upon my leaving here (let peace come when
it will) earlier in the year than November. I shall avoid
a winter's coast on account of my health. ... I am well
and do not suffer from the climate as I did last year.
I have made no sale of indigo, but the accounts from
Europe are favorable to a rise and the crop now in the
ground unpromising. I shall certainly make something
by the purchase. . . .
Farewell, my dear wife; if your health continues and
that of our child I have no doubt you are happy, tho' I
can easily imagine one circumstance which would make
you more so. . . .
Yours faithfully and affectionately,
(Rec'd May, 18 14.) H> L'
Calcutta, July 10, 18 13.
My dear Mary:
. . . This is merely to enclose a duplicate letter to
my Father which you will seal and deliver to him if the
original (by Cambrian) should not have arriv'd. This
sending duplicates may give you an impression that I
deem my letters of mighty importance. It is not the
case, however, for except in your eyes I do not imagine
they can be of any value in themselves, yet I know from
what you have stated several times that my father was
pleased with those I sent him from England, consider
ing them, I suppose, as marks of my attention, and in that
view they may be entitled praiseworthy, trifling as their
effects may be.
You know I have but few subjects for a letter except
on business, and especially to my father. This is the
reason why I am solicitous what few I write may reach
him. I have sent the letter open for you to read. You
seem to have observed very particularly the effects pro
duced on my father by my letters to him, and you grati
fied me by acquainting me with them. I should not have

158]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
imagined he would have felt or expressed so much satis
faction. You comprehend his character entirely and
what you say is true — that he is so accustomed to con
cealing his most amiable feelings that many who think
they know him would never remark that he possessed any.
There is not one of his children, however, who can be
otherwise than sensible of his affection, for I imagine
there are few fathers who have made greater sacrifices
to promote and advance the happiness of their sons.
I am glad to find you have so just an impression of
the feelings he has towards us. I rejoice, too, to hear he
is so open in communicating with you. He has always
entertained for you the warmest affection and the high
est esteem, and it is among the pleasantest reflections
arising out of the contemplation of your character that
he is now receiving in your affectionate and engaging
attentions a part of the debt of gratitude which I owe
to him for the generous sacrifices and efforts he has made
for my welfare. . . .
Yours very affectionately, H. L.
No- 20. Calcutta, July 12, 18 13.
Next to you, our Mother is the most frequent subject
of my thoughts. I pray most devoutly she may have
continued to enjoy as much health as when you last wrote.
I often lament, among the many good things I am de
prived of, the loss of her agreeable and instructive con
versation, of which she has such an exhaustless fund. It
is impossible to value sufficiently such a parent and friend.
I know of no one to be compared with her for soundness
of mind, judgment, knowledge and for the best feelings
of the heart. She is really a Christian and a philosopher
in the best sense of the word, and the wisest man that
ever lived might profit from her society. Let me re-

1813] LETTERS FROM INDIA [159
mind you, my dear M., of the pleasure and advantage
you enjoy in being so nearly connected and on such
intimate terms with so inestimable a companion and
friend, and one who esteems and loves you with the
affection of a mother.
No. 21, by Swallow. August 5, 18 13.
. . . The last fleet brought us but little upon this sub
ject [the war]. Madison is elected, we know this fact
and I never expected any other result to the election nor
do I regret much the ill-success of his opponent, only
as indicating a more favorable opinion of Madison than
I could wish. Madison will do his best to struggle on
with the war, but I trust the nation will be of a different
feeling and I think it will when the changes in the for
tunes and hopes of France have become known among
you. This, with the total loss of trade, threatened
bombardments, taxes, disgraceful expeditions into Canada
(for they will all end in that manner), want of revenue
and credit, etc., etc., must I think compel our reluctant
President to a peace, which' nothing under heaven stands
in the way of but the most unreasonable claims on our
part. But I must not write treason, I forget that our
Republican Gov't are to inspect my communications. August 12, 1 8 13.
The weather has been for some days past uncommonly
pleasant, and there will be no more extreme heat till
next May: the glass stands through the day at 82°-86°,
and there is generally a good breeze. I am reading
Gibbon's Roman History with great pleasure, which is
somewhat diminished, however, by the reflection that I
should have so long neglected a work which contains so
much information and entertainment. I am also en
gaged in reading Butler, which will be an antidote tb
any bad effect the former might have a tendency to
produce.

i6o]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
I am glad you remind me of your aversion to India
shirts. I have been compelled to make some addition
to the stock I brought from home of almost 9 or 10;
they will suffice for a long time. I have us'd my linen
ones very little because the mode of washing is so in
jurious to linen cloth that they w'd not last two months.
You need not make me any shirts against my return;
my linen, which are yet almost new, and the cotton
ones, will serve me for some years.
Calcutta, October 1, 18 13.
My dear wife:
I have given to Mr. Emerton a letter for you, which
will come to hand with this, which I write, merely, to
cover a letter to my father, that you may have the
satisfaction, what little there may be, of reading it. I
am sorry that I cannot make it more interesting, but
you know I have only two subjects — commerce and
politics. One ought, to such a father as ours, to have
many subjects of a more entertaining and interesting
nature, but I feel under a greater restraint in writing
to him than to any other person in existence. I am
afraid to express those feelings which are always present
to me when I think of his character and the generous
exertions he has made through life to contribute to my
comfort and success. I think I am afraid because he is
not accustomed to this kind of acknowledgments, and
they might not exactly suit his humour, though I sup
pose in the main he would be gratified.
You have his confidence, and- he is more open in his
feelings, in his intercourse with you, than with any of
his other children. If, at any moment, you conceive he
would be gratified by knowing what I feel toward him,
and the reasons I do not express my feelings, I would
have you say something on the subject. I consider my
self as one who made a very inadequate return to so good

1 8 1 3 J  LETTERS FROM INDIA  [161
a father, even less than has been in my power, for his
care and attention, and for the uncommon sacrifice to
bring forward his family. It is some comfort, however,
as I have before told you, my dear Mary, that I have
a wife who by her affectionate conduct will in some
measure make up for my deficiencies, and it is a pleasure
to reflect that this duty, which is so pleasing in its
effects to those who are the objects of it, constitutes like
wise one portion of the happiness of her who, with so
much cheerfulness, performs it.
I wrote my gratitude for all the attentions bestowed
upon my father and mother. . . .
I ever shall be your constant and affectionate friend
and husband,
H. L.
No. 24. October n, 18 13.
My affectionate wife:
. . . The time has been somewhat enlivened of late
by the arrival of the new Governor General, Lord Moira,1
and his wife, the Countess of Loudoun. They landed in
state last Monday. Charles [Cabot] and myself, who had
been on the watch to see the ceremony, had a very fair
view of it. But a small portion of the inhabitants were
present in consequence of the very early hour they
reached town, so that we took a station within a few
yards of the spot they landed on. His Excellency was
rec'd by a deputation of civil and military and march'd
to the Gov't house thro' two files of soldiers. The
Countess and other ladies, her sisters, followed in car
riages. Lord Moira was dressed in military uniform
and decorated with his star and garter. He is a well-
^ord Moira: Francis Rawdon, later Lord Hastings — Gov
ernor General of Bengal from 1813 to 1823. "As commander-in-
chief of the British forces in India he was to prove a great
Proconsul." — Dictionary of National Biography.

l62]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
made, good looking man of about 60, has a countenance
full of benevolence, and rather intelligent. Lord M.
is one of the most virtuous and popular noblemen in
England, but is not considered, I believe, in the first
rank of statesmen. I sh'd imagine he was extremely well
calculated for the situation he now occupies, which re
quires judgment and prudence rather than brilliant
talents; he will support the dignity of Government in
a way to command the respect of the natives, a circum
stance in which his predecessor, Lord Minto, failed very
much, tho' he was on the whole a very respectable
magistrate. The present Governor is commander of the
troops, thus uniting the civil and military commands.
He began his career in America at the revolution, and
distinguish'd himself very much under the title of Lord
Rawdon. I was a little disappointed in the Countess;
from having heard so much of her I had associated in
my ideas of her, youth, beauty, nobleness and every
other quality which we delight to behold in your sex.
Full of these extravagant expectations, I thought of
nothing less than a Goddess till my near approach to her
Ladyship broke the charm and spoiled the pretty picture
my imagination had created. She is about 45, of a
tolerable figure, rather stout, which in my judgment is
no defect, has a dignified and gracious expression, a
good air, and is in every way suited to the idea we form
of the wife of a man of rank. The Countess of Loudoun
is of high family in Scotland, and was a countess in her
own rank, previous to her marriage. She has two sisters
with her, younger than herself and not very handsome:
their rank and connections will accomplish the object
they probably had in view in coming to this country.
Hitherto the Governors of India have not been permitted
to have their wives with them, but this man is so great
a favorite that everything gives way to him, and I doubt

1814] LETTERS FROM INDIA [163
not he will perform his duties with as much fidelity as
if she was on the other side of the world, and she will
make his court more brilliant and more agreeable.
His Lordship has his first levee tomorrow and the
Countess a drawing-room a few days after — or rather
evenings — her hour is 9 in the ev'g. The milliners and
tailors and jewellers arc no doubt in high spirits; they
arc all in requisition, much to the disadvantage of many
honest husbands who have too much vanity or too little
courage to oppose the extravagance of their wives.
Women here have little else to do but waste their time
and money, and I am told they display in this way a
wonderful deal of ingenuity and diligence.
I do not suppose you will be much interested in all this,
but here, T assure you, it is a great affair and I am glad
of any subject that will serve to fill a page. Harriet w'd
make an entertaining letter of such an event, but she
has imagination and humour and a talent at description
which can make any subject, however trivial, instructive
and entertaining. I would not have you repeat this be
cause she would call it flattery, and I am not willing to
impair in any degree the good opinion I am fond of
believing she entertains for me. I may venture, how
ever, to assure her of my affectionate attachment and the
sincere respect I have for her understanding and
character. Calcutta, January 26, 18 14.
My ever belov'd wife:
. . . We lead the dullest life here you can imagine.
... I subscribe to a public library and get from thence
many useful and entertaining works. I have lately read
Garrick's Life; it is, however, considering the materials
which so famous a character might be expected to afford,
a very dull book. I have found the Memoirs of Lord
Charlemont more entertaining. I am now employed

164]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1814
in the travels of Chateaubriand through Greece, Egypt,
and Palestine. The author is a lively Frenchman, of
great learning and taste, who has the art of omitting
everything which is tedious to a reader or of representing
it in such a way as to render it entertaining and of making
you present with him in the various scenes he describes. I
have scarcely ever been more highly interested in a
book of travels. I think they are generally very dull.
No one who is at all acquainted with the former history
of the celebrated and interesting countries and places
which he describes, can read his observations and re
flections upon their present wretched state without being
painfully affected with the contrast. . . . For my more
serious hours I am engaged in Robinson's "Christian
Characters," which I recommend to you if any of your
acquaintance have it. I have gone thro' the Bible a
second time and Paley's Sermons two or three times.
I have had no business for many months but the sale
of the Indigo which I purchased last year. I have disposed
of the largest portion and am in a fair way of getting
rid of the remainder, but the gain upon it will be less
than I expected, and what there is will be consumed in
the deficiency of my banians, who have acted a very
ungrateful part and a very foolish one. I shall not
get rich this voyage, but that, I am sure, will not make
you unhappy. You, my good wife, are too rational to
allow the want of wealth, especially a super-abundance,
to make you even anxious, and I have learnt from your
example to think less of disappointments and ill-success,
than I ever thought I should. I believe trials and mis
fortunes are necessary for the improvement of the greater
part of mankind. . . .
Farewell, my dear wife and child. That you may con
tinue to be virtuous and enjoy as much happiness as the
world can afford is the constant and fervent prayer of

1816] LETTERS FROM INDIA [165
your ever faithful and affectionate friend and husband,
H. L.
[After the letter of January, 18 14, no letters remain
until the following fragment.] February 13 [1816].
You will not, I perceive by your letters, be sorry to
resume our former mode of life, in exchange for the one
necessity compell'd us to adopt. I am glad you are im
patient for a home once more. I am wholly of your
mind and detest a boarding-house in any form. I wish
you w'd recommence housekeeping before my arrival.
Engage some convenient house near our friends and
have it furnished in the way you judge best. It w'd
give me more pleasure to meet you so situated than at
a public house or with our friends, and I imagine our
feelings are alike. I shall make no stay at N. Y., but
hasten on to meet you.
You will have a letter of an intermediate date by the
Pickering, in which I expressed the lively satisfaction
your Ellen Douglas letter afforded me — thanks a thou
sand times repeated for these pleasing instances of your
affectionate attention and forethought. Nothing but the
most devoted attachment could have prompted you to
write when appearances were so much against my getting
the letters. Is it not one of the surest tests of friend
ship, never to despair of contributing to the welfare of
those we love, let the chance be ever so small?
The birth of a boy1 to the Doctor is mentioned, and
I enter into the joy such an important event must have
spread through the clan, especially as there was some
reason to fear the Jackson race would become extinct.
However, it is a good stock and I hope it may not de
generate. The coming generation have much to do to
maintain its present standing.
Francis Henry Jackson (Cousin Frank).

1 66] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1816
I am much pleased at having, within a few weeks, met
with a work which I think will gratify the Judge, — a
translation and digest of the Hindu laws. It will at least
be a curiosity. I sent it by the R. Dulill Duy in a box
with your muslins. I make as much progress in my
business as I expected. We shall leave town in 15 days,
but our passage will be long; a tedious one to me if ever
so much favoured.
It is midnight, and I must leave you, — not, however,
without praying most fervently for your happiness and
our child's.
Farewell. I embrace you with all the ardour and
purity of a faithful husband, conscious and proud of the
justice of those praises you bestow upon me, for my
undeviating affection and loyalty.
H. L.

VII
JOURNAL OF MARY LEE, 1813-1816
The Journal of Mary Lee, from which the following
passages are taken, was kept for her husband, Henry
Lee, during his absence in India. The early part, and
the portion from February, 1815, to October, 18 15, are
missing. Boston, January, 18 13.
Since my last date our mother has been ill, very ill.
It made your father and all of us very anxious for some
days, but she is once more restored to us and will live
I hope to guide and assist us for many years on our
journey: she has been today for the first time to Church
and appeared to enjoy being there very much. It was
wonderful to see what an effect her being absent from
the parlour had upon them all: Tom and George felt it
very much and your father was quite lost; her loss would
indeed produce a dreadful blank.
Your last letter received the nth Dec'r produced the
accustomed feelings of gratitude — it was short, but
you said what was most essential to me to know, that
you were well and that you should be able to bear
the extreme heat of the climate. It was a sore dis
appointment to find you would be so long detained, as
it not only delays your return but exposes you so much
longer to this heat, which I cannot but dread. ... J. Brom
field is taken and carried into Gibraltar, at whh. all his
friends rejoice, as they had apprehensions of the Algerines
getting hold of him.1 So far from the winter being more
dull than usual it appears to me there was never more
1 Letter from John Bromfield, Cadiz, January, 1813. "I have
been captured and detained ten weeks in Gibraltar. The con
sequence is ruin to the business I had undertaken.'
167

i68]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
dissipation — quite a succession of parties — Harriet has
joined some of them and has enjoyed them tolerably
well. Boston, 22 January, 18 13.
On Tuesday nineteenth I received your letter by the
Tartar and most grateful was it to my heart: I cannot
express to you how much pleasure your letters have
afforded me — if mine have only given you one half as
much satisfaction I shd. bless the art of writing more
than I ever before did and I have always had a high
veneration for it; I have reason to hope I have been the
source of some pleasure to you in this way for you say so
and of all the sins you may be charged with insincerity
cannot be one . . . you have given me a hard task, dear
Hal, for I must now set about acquiring those qualities
you imagine me already possessed of. I will work dili
gently, and as virtue is my pursuit I doubt not I shall be
successful — It has indeed made me very uncomfortable,
the idea of your return being so long delayed, for if you
remain until the news of war reaches you, I fear many
embarrassments will retard you and perhaps some per
sonal inconveniences : yesterday and the day before I
had felt almost decided that you would remain, but last
night the thought occurred to me that news of the Em
bargo whh. will I think reach you early in Oct/ may
make some favorable change in your determination — I
mean favorable for me, for I know it must have an ill
effect on your business, as it will lead you wholly to de
spair of the repeal of the Non-Intercourse Law. ... I
find we wrote on the 7th of April via England and
Madeira giving you intelligence of the Embargo, and to
calculate upon our usual good fortune I think the letter
will reach you by October, about the time you are dis
patching the Reaper, and induce you to remit to China
the funds in your hands and return in the vessel —

1813] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [169
when I reflect upon your being left I feel as if it
was to be almost a final separation, for in these times
of tumult when almost all the nations of the earth
are at war it seems to be an adventurous thing for an
individual to traverse such an immense extent of ocean,
but T must reflect, and receive hope and consolation from
the reflection that the Righteous Being who governs the
world watches over and protects each individual in it
and will ultimately make us happy if he finds us sub
missive and obedient while on our journey — and we
ought, my dear husband, not to allow ourselves to dwell
only on the dark spots in the picture: there have been
many, many blessings mingled in our cup and we must
gratefully acknowledge [them].
Sunday even'g, 24th January, 18 13. I have been to
church all day and read two sermons and I now feel as
if I shd. do as well to write a little as to continue any
longer reading. . . . Your friend McKean1 recom
mended and brought to me the Sermons of Fawcett
and I am now reading them; I am sorry to say I
cannot altogether agree with him in the high praise
he bestows upon the writer. . . . Porteous, which he
also lent me by my request, I very much prefer —
the style is perfectly clear and unaffected, at the same
time the language is forcible and he speaks to the heart:
he seems to have genuine piety and Christian Charity
mingled with an independence of spirit which makes
him fearlessly lash the prevailing vices of the times even
though he must have known by so doing he in fact cast
a censure that might have been (and probably was) ap
plied to one of the greatest men in the kingdom: but I
am convinced that he had real greatness of mind: — you
have no doubt heard of the interview he had with the
1The Rev. Joseph McKean, Boylston Professor of Rhetoric
at Harvard College, a warm friend of my grandfather's, and
grandfather of Cousin Amy Folsom.

170] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
Prince Regent shortly before his death: it was said
to have had a considerable effect even upon him and that
the Bishop carried his point, which was to induce the
Prince to give up his Saturday evening parties. I think
the works of men who have lived in our own times and
of whose characters we have known something interest
us more than those of older men, but my interest in
this book was greatly increased by the praise you gave
it — I have as yet read only the 2nd vol. and anticipate
with pleasure the perusal of the first.
We have had a feast today from the President.1
I wish you, my dear husband, could have partaken of it
with us — I was enabled to by the kind attention of the
Cabots, who called for me to ride with them for it was
too bad weather for me to walk. In the morning he
took for his text the parable of the Householder who hired
labourers at different hours but paid them all equally.
As usual, he spoke to the heart of his audience ; for how
ever wanting he may be himself in sensibility, he knows
better than almost any one how to awaken others — I
regretted extremely that the weather prevented your
mother going out, she likes so much to hear the President;
we have had him twice lately when she has not been
there. . . .
Frank says he knows you will receive the news of the
Embargo. I cannot possibly tell how it will influence
you — God grant that your decision may prove right!
I cannot conceive what had become of our letters written
by the Union or rather what had become of the vessel —
she had been out nearly 6 months when Hinckley left
Calcutta — We have hitherto been remarkably fortunate
about letters, I think.
Yesterday we had great news from Russia: I cannot
1 Rev. John Thornton Kirkland, President of Harvard Col
lege, whose wife, Elizabeth Cabot, was spoken of in the family
as Cousin Betsey Kirkland.

1813] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [171
state the amount of it because I never know, unless you
are by my side to tell me: the newspaper details are
quite unintelligible to me. I do know, however, and
this is enough for me to know, that the career of the
great Napoleon is most effectually checked in Russia:
for many weeks the news has been favourable from there,
and from circumstances many people have thought Bona
parte was either sick or dead; there is nothing to
strengthen this opinion, I believe; but that he has
been conquered is sufficient for us. Unfortunately at the
same time we hear this the accounts from Spain are
unfavourable — they are losing ground and there seem
to be dissentions among them — or rather between them
and the English, of whom they feel a jealousy. I hope
if you are detained you will hear all this cheering news.
Sunday evening, 31st January, 18 13. I did most
earnestly hope that this day would not arrive before I
had the inexpressible delight of welcoming you — but now
I dare not fix any period for your absence and can only
try not to allow myself to think of your coming in the
Brig — indeed my habitual feeling is that you will not
lCOme — this is sometimes shaken a little by some one
differing from me; for instance Tom seems fully to ex
pect you, and I think Patrick does. I do not wish to
have my hope of it again excited, — it makes me more
uncomfortable to be in suspense upon a subject so im
portant to my happiness than to come even to such a
decision — that you may continue to be governed in all you
do by your sense of duty is all I ought to desire, and I
will believe while you are so that everything will ul
timately prove for our happiness. . . .
This afternoon Mr. Thacher touched me still more
upon a subject that always interests me extremely—
Prayer. It is one of the duties that no one can doubt
the efficacy of and every one who has any reflection

I72J HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
must consider it a positive duty, and yet how ill is it
performed by most of us. He warmly urged us to par
ticipate with those we loved in this most interesting duty
— this is what I have always strongly desired but there is
an awkwardness in it which prevents us, and indeed one
feels a degree of embarrassment if surprised by another
performing any act of devotion, even tho' we know that
other would not only approve, but respect us for it —
it is a feeling I never could trace to its source.
I drank tea at Charles's two days since — they are well
and we had a pleasant eve'ng — all the family but the
Doctor's were there. Charles and wife are going to the
Theatre and urged Harriet and myself to go — Harriet
goes, but I knew the best acting in the world could not
make me enjoy an eve'ng there and therefore I declined
— I have not for some years been without you. Charles
is busy now with the Legislature and much interested in
the appointment of a judge in the place of Sedgwick,1 who
died a few weeks since. He is earnest that Prescott
should have the office, but his living here is considered
an objection and I believe he is himself rather averse to
it, either on a pecuniary account or because he thinks it
more laborious: Charles says the work would be of a
better kind for him.
10th February, evening. I am quite alone and the
temptation to write is too strong to be resisted : the day
has been passed rather more to my satisfaction than
usual and yet now I review it I cannot tell exactly why
I feel better satisfied. . . . The first hours of the morn
ing we passed quietly in our chamber: Molly was amus
ing us by her tricks without requiring scarce any attention.
Betsey Cabot and Miss Dwight of Springfield came in
1 Judge Theodore Sedgwick, 1740-1813, jurist and legislator.
Member of the Continental Congress in 1785-86. Justice of the
Massachusetts Supreme Court, 1802-18 13.

1813] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [173
and sat half an hour. . . . After the ladies left us we went
out, called at Becca Gardner's to excuse ourselves for
not going there yesterday afternoon as we partly en
gaged to do. ... I then went to Hannah Jackson's
where I met Miss Peabody, then to see Betsey Jackson,
who is sick, and dined at our mother's . . . since dinner
I have looked in at Charles's and Hannah Lowell's —
the latter was dressing for a party at Mr. J. Lowell's.
I have given you this detail to give you some idea of
one of my visiting days — they are not usually as pleasantly
passed as the more quiet ones in my own chamber, but
today my friends all seemed to smile upon me, and I
thought I cheered our father and mother a little, and
this belief of course cheers me — indeed, all your family
receive me as one of them, and though we sometimes
differ a little in our opinions (or at least in our ex
pressions, for I fancy it is more in words than anything),
yet I believe on the whole they think well of me and
feel interested for me. Tom passed last eve'ng here and
was more than usually agreeable — it is not often of late
he has taken the trouble to be so, and of course we
value such an effort the more. . . .
You may be assured, dear H., I count the days now
with impatience — if the Reaper sailed by the ioth or
15th Oct'r she may be here in ten days, and probably
will be in twenty unless she is taken — but I shall not
give her up until the last of March, particularly unless
I hear positively about her sailing, for it is impossible
to calculate within 20 days when that would be from
our present information, and the Caravan has not yet
arrived and I begin to despair of her almost. I am
obliged to take myself severely to task sometimes be
cause I am so inclined to dictate as to future events —
but I try to be submissive and hope I shall be so. . . .
I hear from others more than you have told me of the

174]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
sickness in Calcutta. I pray God to preserve you, my
husband, in the midst of danger. . . .
Thursday eve'ng, 18th Feb'y. Yesterday I passed the
day at Hannah Lowell's and enjoyed a great deal from
seeing your friends, Mrs. Dutton and Mrs. Davis1 —
they walked in to pass the afternoon, and Eliza's good
humour and apparent content was enough to cheer any
one whose social affections were not entirely benumbed;
even torpid as I now am I was by no means insensible
to the calls of sympathy, and found myself so often
laughing heartily and joining in her frolic that I began
almost to doubt my own identity.
Nancy Cabot2 happened by accident to be with us;
Susan Gorham, too, was there. Chas. Jackson having
received the appointment of Judge was one source of
amusement to us: we were expressing some of the feel
ings we knew Fanny would have upon the occasion and
were greatly amused at the different ones Eliza Dutton
expressed, who, in a laughing way, was wishing her
husband could arrive at a like honour and she could roll
in her carriage through the different Counties: they told
her she must pass a long day first, for Gorham would
take his turn when Charles was advanced to the Chief
Justiceship : she pretended to be greatly disappointed,
and Susan as much elated.
You will naturally conclude, dear H., that my pride,
and perhaps some better feelings, are much gratified at
the appointment of Charles, and at his willingness to
relinquish his present pecuniary advantages to accept the
office. Fanny I have not yet seen, but find she says
that it is no great gratification of her pride, as she
does not think it any new proof of his talents : or rather
xMrs. Isaac P. Davis (Miss Susan Henry of Philadelphia).
She and her sister, the mother of Mrs. Frederick O. Prince,
were known as the "Pocket Venuses."
2 Sister of Mrs. James Jackson.

1813] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [175
it amounts to this, that she was before sufficiently satis
fied on that subject. I cannot agree with her exactly
because, altho' we all know him, I do not think the
world have done justice to him and this will be a con
vincing proof to all.
Feb'y 21st, 18 13. I have been indulging myself the
last week in reading your journal from Madeira to
Calcutta, and it has excited a new desire in me to pursue
with more vigilance and spirit this dull memorandum of
passing events and feelings — this very journal of which
you made such complaints and for which you had to
draw entirely upon your own brain, not having any in
cidents to enliven it, this very journal has not only af
forded me the most heartfelt delight and completely
satisfied all my affectionate feelings, but it has highly
gratified my pride, and were it not for your injunctions
(which have been and will continue to be a law with
me) I shd. delight to read some parts of it to a number
of our friends such as Mother, Harriet, and a few
others — those passages most interesting to me of course
I could not read to any one — indeed, I scarcely dare
read them to myself lest they should excite vanity
or too high an opinion of myself — I deduct considerable,
dear Hal, for your partiality and am willing to hope your
praise will be a stimulant to future exertion.
I do not yet find the leisure I have thro' life sighed
for and expected to find for reading — I am now free
enough from occupation to indulge myself in this way,
having no important work — but Miss Molly, who is very
literary, will not allow me to hold a book in her presence,
and indeed, if I held it, I fear I should not be much
benefited by its contents while she was at my side, for
altho' she does not require attention she engages it almost
to the exclusion of everything else. The darling does not
yet prattle; this is rather a disappointment to me, not-

176]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
withstanding Aunt Cabot (who, you know, knotvs every
thing) says it is unusual for them to till the 20th or
22d month. I feel it probably more because Patrick's
child [Cousin Anna Lowell] is forward in this way. I
have been amused with the remarks upon this subject —
Becca Gardner said I need feel no apprehension respect
ing her understanding, for certainly the child in her
family of the most intellect was the one who talked latest.
I do not imagine there is any general rule of this kind,
but you will readily believe that I feel no apprehensions
on this subject. Miss Molly discovers sufficient intelli
gence in various ways to put me quite at ease, and this
very inability to talk makes a call upon her ingenuity to
find signs to express her wants, and she discovers quite
as much as if she could in the common way ask for things.
She has an excellent disposition, and I hope I shall govern
it well : it is a solemn duty we owe our children to teach
them early to control their passions — this little creature
cannot yet be taught that, for reason has hardly begun
its operation, but obedience may now be learn't, and I am
taking great pains to establish it, I am sorry to say with
out much success, for she yet dares to do the things I tell
her not. I shall never have sufficient firmness, and fear I
shall attend to trifles and let the weightier matters go.
When you come you will aid, you will assist me, but when
shall I have this happiness? We hear not a word from
your quarter; three vessels beside your own missing. . . .
I wish you could hear the political news now; some of
it would serve to revive you — that something has hap
pened to the person of the great Destroyer of Nations,
Napoleon, there seems little doubt, and this hope cheers
us, tho' all else is adverse: the defeat of his Army in
Russia the Paris papers and his own bulletins acknowl
edge, and Tom, who was here last night, said that even
he had become a believer in the report of Bonaparte's

1813] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [l77
death. ... It is impossible but that his death must pro
duce an immediate change in the state of the world,
and altho' it will take a very long time for some countries
to recover from the miserable state in which he will leave
them, others will, I should judge, immediately feel the
good effect of such an event: ours will, I trust, be of
this number: many people think that an immediate peace
with Great Britain would take place if, indeed, she will
allow it. . . .
I have been at Church today: Mr. Thacher returned
fervent thanks for the hope we had given us that the
progress of unprincipled ambition was at an end: he
did not positively return thanks for Napoleon's death,
but it came very near it. . . . Good night, my dear, I
have devoted too much time to you and must do some
thing better now. . . . The wind strong at the Eastward.
28th Feb'y, Sunday evening. Llarriet has a headache
tonight, whh. she is too often troubled with; and I have
banished Miss Molly into the other chamber and can
not resist the desire to say a few words to you, my dear
H., before I sleep — that you are continually in my mind
you will readily believe, because you must know it cannot
be otherwise at this moment of anxious expectation. . . .
I thank God that you are not exposed to the power of
the French! if you were, I think I should not enjoy one
moment of quiet, as it is I occupy myself as much as I
possibly can; I go out a great deal (in our family, I
mean), and do not appear to any one depressed or
anxious, and I do most earnestly pray to be submissive to
the will of Heaven. Tom was in, the early part of the
eve'ng and the Doctor [her brother, Dr. James Jackson]
— both of them talked of you till it has made me almost
sick : it is very difficult to suit me in this way, for if they say
nothing upon the subject I feel as if they thought it too
bad to talk about (and for that reason I often intro-

178] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
duce it myself), and yet I cannot bear to hear the con
jectures about your probable detention, being taken, etc.
I shall not give up all hope till the middle of March,
certainly, and am not sure that I shall even then. The
only way in which your situation is better than mine is
that you are exempted from all these anxieties respecting
me — you can see me seated in my chamber, and know
exactly in what corner to place me, or surrounded by a
circle of friends at the Doctor's or Charles's, while I
cannot possibly conjecture where you are at any moment.
Oh, my dear, dear husband, when we do meet I believe
I shall hold you fast — for it appears to me that almost
any labour, if together, would not be too hard for us.
One great source of trouble to me now is that I am
living a life of such corporeal ease. I think I should
be better satisfied if I were obliged daily to make some
efforts, either to gain or to avoid spending money — but
my friends all think that I am spending as little as I
can, and I suppose the pride of some of them would be
sadly wounded if I were to do anything to gain — this
is a pride I cannot conceive of. I know not why the
wife should not work a little as well as the husband
labour so hard, and did I feel a certainty that you would
agree with me upon the subject, I should most certainly
act upon the principle.
Wednesday evening, 3rd March, 18 13. I am so much
oppressed tonight with anxiety as to be almost unfit for
any society, and must indulge myself a few minutes in
writing. There is a N. E. storm raging without, at
tended with a thick snow and no moon — if your vessel
is near the coast she must be in danger, but I am lost
in such a variety of conjectures when I think of you that
I know not what to fear the most, and endeavour not to
be anxious about any particular thing — it will, however,
sometimes force itself upon me. I have been employed,

1813] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [179
and very happily so, with the child all day, but now I
cannot drive off unpleasant thoughts — I must try to, how
ever, and will go down and endeavour to talk — this in
dulgence will not do; you would, I know, disapprove it
. . . good night, I must commit you to the care of a good
Providence, and pray that you may be preserved. . . .
I am afraid you will think me foolish if I tell you that,
without having finished Sully, I have begun Goldsmith's
Roman History; I did not quite like to do this, but Har
riet was going to read it to herself and I thought it a
great pity to lose the chance of hearing it — I find it
almost impossible to fix my attention, but some of the
most prominent facts I may perhaps recollect, and this
is better than nothing — the history is not minute enough
to satisfy one, nor is the language good, but still I think
I shall not regret reading it, as all I do glean interests
me very much and will afford me information of things
of which I was deplorably ignorant.
Sunday eve'ng, 14th March. The time has arrived
when I thought I shd. quite despair of seeing you, my
dear H., if you were not here — but I find myself still
willing to protract the hope that you may yet be here;
having heard today of the arrival of a ship in N. Carolina
from the East Indies seems to give some colour to this
hope, because if she is, as we conjecture, either the
Monticello or Calcutta, I shall feel as if it was as pos
sible you might have as tedious a voyage as they: the
account is a very blind one. I hope tomorrow's mail may
bring something more, that Patrick, Uncle Higginson,
and every one interested may no longer be in suspense.
I am daily more convinced of the truth of your mother's
observation (and I ought never to have doubted what
so nice an observer of human nature remarked) that as
we advance we become more and more insensible to pain
or pleasure. I cannot tell if it is the natural course,

180] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
merely from the increase of age [Grandmother was now
twenty-nine years old], or if it is occasioned by the con
tinual vicissitude in our lives. It is no doubt a wise
provision or it would not be so, and there is one very
obvious advantage arising from it that the old are more
capable of judging for and counselling the young after
the feelings (or in other words, passions) are in a
degree subdued — if we were to continue as warm and
fervent in our feelings through life as at the beginning
we shd. lose one-half our usefulness — but I must ac
knowledge I am not yet quite willing to relinquish all
my warmth — I have a great aversion to the oyster state,
to which I sometimes fear I am fast approaching. I
hope we shall hear tomorrow — I shall feel great im
patience. March 20th, Saturday. I had made this date this
morning, but was interrupted, and since then I have had
my feelings so strongly excited by the arrival of the
Reaper that I do not know if I am fit to write. You
alone can sympathize with me, however, my beloved
husband, and while I am expressing to you some of the
disappointment I feel I may imagine you nearer to me,
and gain some consolation and support from you. I cannot
tell you what a disappointment I felt when Frank told me
you had not come : when I first rec'd your letters by Tartar
I gave up all hope of seeing you, but this feeling has been
gradually wearing off, and I found today that I fully ex
pected you. The vessel I did not think would get in be-
sure, and on that account had felt great anxiety — I cannot
tell what has led to this change of feelings — the young
men have often said they thought you would come, but
they talk so loosely it does not have much effect on me. It
has been the influence of my hopes over my cooler judg
ment — how little my reason — judgment — principle (call
it what you will) — influence me when strong feelings

1813J JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [181
come in opposition to them I dare not tell you. . . . The
knowledge that you are making a great sacrifice of feel
ing to duty is the only alleviation I yet have, for by
some unfortunate accident I have not yet got your letters.
Sunday, March 21st, half past eleven. I am more
oppressed and disturbed than I almost ever felt myself —
I have not yet got your letters, and the pilot has this
moment been with a packet from the mate whh. I had
no doubt was the very one I so much wanted, but I could
not persuade the honest fellow to leave it because his
directions were to give it into Frank's own hand — I could
not blame him, but you can conceive of my impatience.
... I was interrupted this morning by your mother
who walked here from Church, tho' the weather was bad,
to see how I felt and to sympathize with me in what
ever I did feel — how much do these attentions endear
us to each other and serve to strengthen our attachment.
Never was any one so blessed as I am in my friends —
your letters were brought while mother was here, and she
left me that I might read them. My dear, dear husband,
you can know only by comparing my feelings with your
own how much delight your letters have afforded me —
it is impossible by language to express it. Our feelings
are reciprocal upon this subject. We have been wonder
fully fortunate so often to hear of each other. — Monday
ev'ng. . . . The satisfaction and pleasure that the ar
rival of the Reaper has occasioned but ill accords with
my present state of feelings, for altho' I truly rejoice
that she is in on your account, and indeed for others,
the disappointment is yet too fresh in my memory for
me to be able to sympathize in others' joy — it has in
deed acted as electricity upon every one. George was
laughing about the bows and congratulations he had
rec'd from people by whom he had thought himself
wholly unknown, but who, at a moment of good fortune

i82]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
for the family (for the general impression is that they
are all greatly enriched), took pains to recognize
him. . . .
Monday, 26th April, 18 13. I have just been read
ing your letter by the Harmony. I have been so much
interested since I rec'd it in writing you, via Madeira,
that I have not allowed myself time to read it but twice:
it is (as all you have written are) a treasure to me. . . .
You beg of me to write — if I followed my inclination
be assured not one day would pass without my doing
so, for if there are not events there are always feelings to
note down, and as I really want you to know all I feel I
could write volumes, but I felt as if it were a mere in
dulgence of my own weakness and have resisted the in
clination. I shall do so no more — it will gratify you,
you desire it, and that is sufficient. Strange as it may
appear, however, I do not always find time. I cannot
write when Molly is with me, and that is much of the
time when I am at home, and visitors often (/ think)
intrude just at the moment I am seated. Good night, my
dear, my beloved Hal. May the God of Heaven watch
over and protect you.
nth May. I have just closed a letter to you that I
shall send to Remsen, but with very little hope of his find
ing any opportunity to send it. I had the mortification
last night to hear that two vessels had just cleared from
N. York for Madeira : I shall be too late for them, and the
port will soon be Blockaded, as all the Southern ports
already are, and then there will be no chance, for there
are no vessels go from here; you cannot imagine the
difficulty of finding opportunities; all the voyages under
taken are so secret, and vessels clear for one port and
go to another.
Saturday night, 15th May, 18 13. ... I have been
making visits the whole week; some of them have been

i8i3]  JOURNAL OF MARY LEE  [183
long talked of, and it is a relief to have them over —
this is a good lesson to me (tho' the subject is compara
tively a trifling one), not to make resolutions without
deliberation, and when I do make them, steadily to ad
here to them. We had one of the President's finest ser
mons on this subject a few weeks since: I wanted and
attempted immediately to give you the impressions I had
rec'd, but I was interrupted, and you know, my dear
husband, how frail my memory is.
I admire, and am at the time deeply impressed with
what I hear, but even the general impression soon wears
off, and I do not find myself improved, and certainly
cannot improve others.
1 8th May. I have a letter partly written in case any
chance of sending should offer, but it is what I so little
expect, and the probability of its ever reaching you is
so very small that I write in a very spiritless way: added
to this I have to repeat details which I have given twice
before, and some of them thrice, and write with the
constant dread of my letter being exposed, and my doing
mischief should I even allude to any political events. . . .
I have, within two months, sent two long letters to you
and a postscript to one of Frank's: the latter went to
Eng'd, one of the others to China, and the other is still
in Remsen's compting room. I do not think any of
them will ever reach you, but it is the only way in whh.
I can appease my conscience for not having written be
fore, and this does me no good — I never shall forgive
myself. [Grandmother had not written letters while expect
ing Grandfather's return in the Reaper (which had ar
rived, without him, in late March) but had kept up this
home Journal.]
Friday, 21st May. Our spring is even more back
ward than last year ; east winds have prevailed for many

,184] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
weeks, with less variation than I ever recollect, and
have been colder so that vegetation is very late; it- is
only within 10 days that the trees have put forth their
Blossoms — now the Country begins to look beautifully.
I walked out to H. Lowell's [at Roxbury] last week
and spent a very pleasant day: Harriet went with me
— we had no interruptions, and I had more conversation
with Hannah than I have had before since her return.
When we returned it was very cold walking over the
Neck1 — I shall, I believe, try the experiment again: it is
quite the fashion this Spring to walk, and I do not chuse
to be out-done by others. The Cabots walk in and
out 3 times a week to attend some Botanical Lectures
delivered by Professor Peck2 and Dr. Bigelow2; they
are all the rage just now as you recollect the Chemical
Lectures were some years since. . . . The embarrass
ments attending any mercantile transactions are now so
great and so perplexing that I sometimes think with
Frank that we had better go upon a farm when you re
turn and raise Merino sheep; he persuades himself that
a man might make money in this way: we will find the
wool for Mr. Lowell's manufactory, for I believe they
contemplate extending it to woollen and linen if the cotton
succeeds.8 I have at times thought we might enjoy as
much real pleasure in this as in any other sort of life,
but when again I reflect upon the deprivation of society
(and of such society as we have), I shd. hardly dare
to venture the experiment unless there was a decided
necessity; that is, unless you thought you could with more
ease and certainty secure a competency in this than any
other way — this would, of course you know, make it for
our happiness. . . .
1 The narrow neck of land connecting the peninsula of Boston
with the mainland of Roxbury, now Washington Street.
2 Dr. Dandridge Peck and Dr. Jacob Bigelow.
8 The cotton mill at Waltham, built in 18 13-18 14.

1 8 13] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [185
Sunday, 23rd. I have just been reading a sermon on
the formation of the minds of children and feel as I
usually do when I think upon the subject of education,
that I have so much to do for myself before I can do
anything for my children that it makes me almost des
pond. No, my beloved H., my mind is not under such
regulation as you think, nor is it so well furnished with
information on the vast variety of subjects that excite
the curiosity and interest of a child — nor have I the
power of communicating any little knowledge I may
have in intelligible language: this you must have often
remarked yourself. I have certainly thought you re
marked, and were mortified at it, tho' your affection led
you to pass over it as a trifle. My early education was
very faulty in some ways: my father's situation was
depressed, we had a large family, were subject to much
company, my mother was an invalid and there was an
irregularity in our family arrangements that rendered it
impossible for a child to acquire the habits of attention,
industry, etc., that are so important. In all the most
essential points of Education my dear and revered father
was very attentive; he took infinite pains to instill into
our minds the purest and best principles, and to give us
girls a refinement in feeling and manners; in this he was
peculiarly successful in Mrs. Lowell, but at the time I
was entering life his whole talents and time were occu
pied to gain a maintenance for his family, and he could
not pay attention to any but these essential points. Of
my mother you have seldom heard me speak; and,
altho' I was a girl of thirteen when she died, I have
a very imperfect knowledge of her character. I do recol
lect that she was very indulgent to me, whom she con
sidered as quite a pet, being the youngest, and I imagine
she was considerably so to all of the children. I believe
she was a woman of strong sense, but having suffered

1 86] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
herself from being very much restrained early in life,
I suppose she thought this the safest side to err upon.
I by no means, however, attribute entirely to these errors
of education all the faults of my character: I have
neglected many advantages, and I think I have naturally
a versatility of mind that would prevent steady applica
tion, unless I was constantly drilled to it. I shall en
deavour to improve our child's memory (whh. now
promises to be very good : six months ago she went
thro' the whole story of Mother Hubbard in pantomime)
by exercising it, and I shall constantly strive to improve
her habits of attention: these are two points in whh. I
feel myself so miserably defective that I shall take every
pains with her. . . .
I went out yesterday to F. Lowell's with Sally Lowell
in Mr. Dutton's chaise; thus you see I am ready to avail
myself of all the pleasant things that are passing: we
stopped and passed an hour or two with Eliza Dutton,
and then carried her to F. Lowell's to pass the day.
Hannah was not very bright, but Mr. Lowell was unusu
ally so, and on the whole I enjoyed the day very much.
Pat was there in the afternoon fixing their famous
Loom. I have told you of their plan in my letters. [Her
letters were sent to Calcutta: this Journal is a sort of
corollary to them, kept for my Grandfather at home.]
Oh, my dear Hal, would that you, too, were here en
gaged in any business that would yield us a scanty sup
port. I am sure I could, I would live with the strictest
economy if I only had you to encourage, to advise me. . . .
28th May, 1 8 13. Your embarrassment when you hear
of the war [declared on June 18, 18 12] must be ex
treme, and I cannot imagine what will be your decision.
I sometimes ardently hope you will be ordered home,
because this would take from you all responsibility, but
then the idea of the property being entirely sacrificed

1813] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [187
(whh. in such case it must be, I suppose) is a dreadful
one, and I fear that you will not (unless obliged) quit
Calcutta unless you have some prospect of profit. Frank
is, on the whole, glad you have no letters, for he says
he could not have written without expressing opinions,
and he would very likely have misled you. The hope
excited that the Repeal of the Orders in Council would
oblige our Government to pacific measures, will, I fear,
continue; it is most natural it shd. be so, for even many
of the wise ones among us thought it must produce a
peace, but nothing I believe is further from the intentions
of our wicked Rulers than peace : they have sent am
bassadors to Russia to ask the Emperor to mediate for
us when the admiral on our coast1 has full power to
negotiate — in fact they will never sue for peace, or even
consent to it, until they are certain the British are so
incensed as to deny it us. It is very wonderful to me
that they are not yet roused — I should think the suc
cesses of our little navy must make them [the British]
very angry, and excite a degree of resentment that would
lead them to retaliate; but thus far it has not been so;
they have been as tame as lambs, and do not even take
the measures to support the dignity of their Navy; you
will find a number of their public, as well as private,
vessels have been taken by us, and they still suffer it:
they have be-sure Blockaded some of our ports, but
they do not seem to do us much mischief. I do not
know that I should feel so greatly interested in the war
if it had not such a bearing upon all your movements, but
while this is the case I shall, I believe, have my resent
ment toward our own Government all alive. . . .
I have thought rather too much of you lately for my
bodily or mental comfort, and will, I believe, make one
of your famous resolutions to forget you ; as it is washing-
*The British Admiral, Sir John Borlase Warren.

f] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813

day tomorrow it is a good time to begin. Miss Molly
claims more of my attention. We drank tea at Mother's
yesterday — I had not been out of an evening for the week
before — it was quite pleasant — Tom talked a good deal
and Father seemed happy and pleasant.
1st June, 1 8 13. I think whatever virtues we may
possess, that of firm adherence to our resolutions cannot
be of the number: altho' I did allow yesterday to pass
without writing, my beloved husband, you were not ab
sent from my thought, and had not a dull headache over
powered me with stupidity, I should even then have
taken the pen. I hope in more important matters we
should have more firmness. I thought when I sat down
that I had little to write but my own feelings, but upon
reflection I find there is a number of important events,
such as receiving and making visits, etc. ; immediately
after breakfast Stephen Higginson,1 with his two young
est children, came in; the youngest, tho' excessively
heavy, he carries in his arms. I am always delighted
to see him, you know. We then took Miss Molly for
a walk and to buy her a pair of shoes; on our return,
stopped at the Doctor's and engaged to pass the evening
there. Mr. Thacher called in the forenoon to see me;
he was very pleasant, as he is always inclined to be.
. . . Dr. Griffin has lately published a course of lectures
— Mr. Thacher gave us a sort of summary of the con
tents of the volume; he did all this without any bitter
invective against the writer, though he plainly discovered
how opposed his own sentiments were to his. I think
I shall read them and then perhaps I shall entertain
you with some metaphysics. It seems he has thrown out
one of the five great points of Calvinism, but he has kept
enough to make one shudder — the doctrine of Election
itself is sufficient to render the whole community corrupt,
for what is to influence our conduct if we believe that
1 Stephen Higginson, 1770-1834.

1813]  JOURNAL OF MARY LEE  [189
we have no power of ourselves, and (what is still worse)
even if we had power it matters not how we use it, since
after we once feel ourselves to be of the Elect it is no
consequence what is our conduct.
8th of June, 1 813. The public feeling has been greatly
excited in the past week by an engagement between
the Chesapeake and Shannon in our Bay. Lawrence,1
who commanded the Chesapeake, was challenged by
Commodore Broke, the commander of the Shannon —
this is a mode of warfare that appears to me altogether
unjustifiable; it strikes me very much the same as private
duelling, and I could never reconcile that to my con
science upon any principle whatever — the event in this
case was very different from the expectations of any one,
and the hopes of many. The British Flag was success
ful, and although Bromfield abuses me for want of
patriotism, I could not find it in my heart to be sorry —
I cannot feel sorry at anything that has a tendency to
make the war unpopular, and if this does not have much
effect in this way the other would have had a strong
counter influence: we do not yet know the circumstances,
and T earnestly hope they will not he such as to disgrace
our Flag or produce very great private suffering.
Friday, nth June. Yesterday morning I added five
pages to the two I had before written you, my dear hus
band, and have put them on board a vessel that has
cleared for Madeira. I have also sent some newspapers,
and Frank has written; Joseph intends to write. It
makes me almost sick to think of your being in Calcutta
six months hence, but I have acted as if you certainly
would be, and my heart feels lighter now that one letter
has gone that will reach you if anything can — this is
the fourth time I have written since the Reaper ar-
1 It was Capt. Lawrence who exclaimed as he was carried below,
mortally wounded, "Don't give up the ship!"

190] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
rived — we do not hear of vessels till we see the clear
ance, and of course it is then too late to send letters
unless it is from here, which is rarely the case. ... I
think in three or four weeks I may hear from you.
I know you will take every pains I should hear, and I
hope you may be successful — had we been as vigilant
as you would have been in the same case, you would
have had letters from us before this time — I have been
this morning to your mother's with Mrs. Searle — they
did not get into much conversation, but what little they
had was pleasant and instructive — I was interrupted the
other morning by Pat who for the first time since we
have been at board came home to dine with Frank. I
was glad to find he had written you — should our hard
fate be to have you detained, this package will be a cordial
to you.
Yesterday was one of the finest days I ever recollect,
and you know how delightful a fine day in this month is.
I walked out to Eliza Dutton's to pass the day. . . .
I had a quiet and pleasant day; it was so long since Eliza
and I have been alone that we had some things to talk
of that must awaken sensibility, but on the whole we
were cheerful: the Doctor came out to bring me in, and
as I was returning I met Joseph going for me ; thus you
see, my dear husband, I am likely to be spoiled by at
tention. Pat and Lydia want me to pass some days
with them, and I think I shall some weeks hence. Har
riet talks of going to Newbury, and while she is absent
I shall go to Pat's, I think.
Tuesday, 15th June. Last evening I was alone and I
took your file of letters from the drawer. I was deeply
engaged in reading the close of your Sea journal from
England when Harriet returned from Mr. Parsons',
where she had passed the evening, and brought with
her Fanny Searle and George Dwight and E. Eliot.

1813] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [191
I want to go through your letters in course — I have read
them all enough to have them quite familiar to me,
but I want to find some reason why I should re-peruse
them. I know I shall receive new pleasure every time.
I have lately been reading a new poem of Walter Scott's
called Rokeby — it is interesting, and he discovers his
usual discrimination in drawing the characters which are
extremely well supported, but it is not as pleasant a poem
as The Lady of the Lake: Beside these little things,
which are but the pastime of a moment, I have lately
read, or rather attended to the reading of, Goldsmith's
History of Rome — this interested me very much from
the matter; the manner of it is very bad, so inferior
to Hume, Voltaire or Roberts that I could not relish
it as I should have done. We intend to take up Gillies'
Greece — you recommended this to me some years since,
and I have always intended to read it.
Monday, 21st June. I shall know something of you in
six weeks, I think; perhaps I am calculating too fast,
for I think only to hear of you via England; but I will
try, dear H., not to calculate upon anything in this world.
I have, thank Heaven, a natural propensity to cherish
Hope till the last moment, and it will not now desert
me — it ought not to. I know you are supported and up
held by an all merciful Creator, and this ought to make
me easy.
2 2d June. I do love to scribble to you just before bed
time, my dear H., and I love to go to sleep with a lively
recollection of you on my mind — there are not many
moments in the day that you are not present with me,
but while writing I seem to be nearer to you. I have
passed this afternoon happily. Fanny Searle has been
with me, and we have been deciding that two people can
be much more agreeable when alone than with a third
person, however familiar — she goes home tomorrow and

I92J HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
Harriet goes with her to pass a few weeks; I shall really
feel solitary, for Frank is now absent; I do not know
that I have ever before been quite alone. Solitude is
sometimes good for us — perhaps you could not at this
moment accord in this opinion — would that I could break
in upon yours; I should be certain of a welcome reception,
however you might be engaged. ... I was very much
pleased yesterday by a visit from my old acquaintance,
Eliza Devereaux. I have not seen her before since her
marriage; she has always been rather a favorite with me
and I was glad to find the interest was reciprocal — she
was very cordial — she has named her little girl for
Marianne Blanchard — poor Blanchard still lingers; he
has been very low for some weeks, but the vital prin
ciple seems very strong — good night, my dear husband,
I must go to bed, for Harriet threatens to call me very
early in the morning: good night: our darling is finely.
Yesterday I carried little Molly out to Pat's in a
chaise — she has been once before and enjoys it highly —
the ride is a little too long — children of her age become
impatient from the restraint imposed by being long held
in the same posture. She is very backward of Nanny1
in talking. . . . From living with old and rather sober
folks she has acquired a great habit of thoughtfulness,
but this would be dissipated by one week's intercourse
with children — her attachment to you increases daily —
these two last mornings she has called for you immedi
ately upon waking, and insisted upon kissing your pro
file, and she writes you even more constantly than I do. . . .
Now I have taken the pen, I do not find that it runs very
glibly, and shall, I believe, lay it aside till evening when
I am always more inspired. Harriet has gone to New
buryport and little Miss is out: being at leisure I could
1 Anna Cabot Jackson, oldest daughter of Uncle Patrick : later
the wife of Charles Russell Lowell (our Cousin Anna Lowell).

1813]  JOURNAL OF MARY LEE  [193
not resist devoting a few moments to you, but as I am
doing it to no purpose, I may as well desist. I am going
to spend the day at mother's, and must do some shopping
for Joseph first.
29th June. ... I have just returned from Wenham,
where I have been with my Father to pay the last duties
to poor Blanchard.1 ... I sometimes tremble for John
Lee — a boy of the sort of disposition I conceive him
to be, with considerable talent and money withal, wants
some one who can exercise parental authority over him
during his early life and retain a strong influence over
him in his more advanced years: our Father seems to
have taken him under his more immediate care now —
but still he will see him only twice a year.
Monday, 5th July. I have been occupied with and for
Molly all the morning, and this afternoon have been with
Chas. and wife to F. Lowell's: they have just returned
from Ballston — the water did not suit Mr. Lowell and
he seems to me as sick as before he left home ; he is
indeed a very sick man, and will, I fear, not continue
long with us unless there is a great change produced:
his loss would be a very great one to us all — a man of
such sound judgment, good sense, and friendly feelings
must be a prodigious loss to the circle in which he moves.
No one who knows him can feel insensible to his
merits, which are as of sterling pure gold. It seems to
me Hannah could not support such an event, but that
with the trial is also sent the ability to sustain. I pray
that she may not be called to it — for her as for myself
I should hope (for I dare not pray) that the termina-
1Mr. Blanchard died 26 June, 1813. He was the stepfather
of Cousin John Lee, whose mother, Marianne (Cabot) Lee
Blanchard, had died July, 1809, two months after the birth of
her daughter, Eliza Cabot Blanchard, who married, in 1832,
the Hon. R. C. Winthrop.

194] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
tion of their lives might be at the same moment. . . .
Good night, my dear H., good night.
July 9th, 1 8 13. . . . Night before the last I wrote a sheet
to send by a Portuguese vessel to Madeira — I was at
my father's when I heard that the vessel was going and
they all advised me not to write, saying that it was im
possible you should be in Calcutta 7 months hence —
so I think too, and at one time I determined not to
write any more, but I could not, on the whole, make up
my mind to let a vessel go directly from here without
writing when there was one chance in a million of letters
reaching you . . . there is one very important thing,
not even mentioned in this [letter] I believe, and that
is the celebration we had in consequence of the Russian
victories — I happened to be writing to you at that time
and gave you a most interesting and eloquent account
of it in two letters and could not repeat it. I believe
I must now refer you to Uncle Cabot on your return,
for I heard him the other day describing it to Dr.
Barnard with all the eloquence and elegance he could
command, and with the enthusiasm of youth. How in
finitely superior to almost every one is his language, how
polished, and at the same time perfectly unaffected and
natural — it is a gift which excites my envy always. I
heard him converse very agreeably at James's with,
or rather to Dr. Barnard, for no one spoke except to
answer him in monosyllables. I have not had such a
treat since you went away before. . . .
A few days ago S. Cabot took a carriage and carried
little James, Lydia, Mary, and myself out to pass the
day at Patrick's: the children were all in fine spirits and
as little trouble as possible, and I found to my great
satisfaction that, although ours was not as forward as
Nanny or Lydia for her age, she understood play
ing very well and stood her ground when attacked as

1813]  JOURNAL OF MARY LEE  [195
well as any of them: she has a great deal of character;
most earnestly do I pray that it may be well directed:
since then she has been in better humour, I think, because
she has felt better — this morning she has been somewhat
fretful and I sent her out to avoid the necessity of
punishing her — the day is very fine and it must, I think,
be of use to be out in such invigorating air. I have not
mentioned the birth of another daughter at the Doctor's,
though it took place nearly a fortnight since. I was a
little disappointed it was not a boy — he is so good a
manager I should like he would have a number of the
troublesome sex to train — they call her for Harriet.1
July 17th. I rejoice now that I taught the child to
say Papa, for she talks of you continually and seems to
anticipate the pleasure she shall have in seeing you :
be-sure her ideas are for the present rather of sensual
than intellectual pleasure, for she dwells upon the cake
and plums she expects you to bring with more delight
than what she is to enjoy from your society — it is very
wonderful to me that she can have any idea that you
are a thing she must love. I would give a great deal
for a peep into the interior that I might know what is
the course of reasoning upon this subject. She has often
lately called your father papa, because she could not
pronounce grandpapa, but she by no means confounds
the idea she has of you with him. I do wish you could
be with me to watch her intellectual improvement: it is
one of the most interesting periods of her life. Indeed,
what do I not wish you for — how much heightened will
every pleasure be when you can participate in them. . . .
I think, my dear, dear Hal, that this separation will
work one good if no other — in future we shall be con
tented with every allotment if we can be but together.
Fred [Cousin Frederick Cabot, father of Cousin Frank
Cabot] has just arrived from England; he can, of course,
1 Cousin Harriet (Jackson) Minot.

196] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
bring us nothing later than we have from you. I am
hoping to have by the same vessel your Prince Regent
letter as the India Fleet had arrived — every line is
precious, you know, to us, and although I do sigh for late
dates from you I shall rejoice to have old ones, as I
cannot get them.
Thursday, 22 July. Yesterday and the day before I
derived some pleasure from being with our father. He
has been confined for some days with rheumatism in his
shoulder, and Mother seems to feci as if I might amuse
him a little and make the hours of pain pass a little more
swiftly. I saw Mr. Sargent and Uncle Cabot there:
neither of them talked as much as usual, but it is some
treat to see such men. I was not aware how handsome
Mr. Sargent was till yesterday. I am always struck
with the animation of these old folks when I see them:
they certainly make greater efforts to be agreeable, and
more successful ones than we young folks. The Doctor
has more the manners of the old school than any of us.
. . . Harriet has not yet returned. I hope she will
the last of this week. Next week I think a little of
going out to Pat's to pass some days — they have been
urging it all summer, but circumstances have prevented it.
27th July — Roxbury. I came here today. Lydia re
ceived me with her accustomed placidity, and Pat seems
pleased to see me here.
Sunday, 1st of August, 18 13. Miss Molly has fairly
imposed upon me this morning, or rather to tell the
simple truth, I have been weak enough to indulge her
whims so much that I have scarce done anything but
attend upon her: now she is asleep and I shall indulge
myself in scribbling a little to you. I regret that you
did not feel greater pleasure from reading the Bible
than you appear to have felt. I must acknowledge, as
you have often before heard me, that I have never ex-

1813] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [197
perienced the pleasure I hear others say they have (and
I doubt not truly) — through my whole life I have been in
the habit of reading it rather as a duty than [anything]
else; I have constantly hoped I should be more enlight
ened, but I do not find it so. In the New Testament there
is a great deal of consolation to be found for such weak
beings as we are, and there is every moral and religious
virtue inculcated — the prophetic parts of scripture have
always been wholly unintelligible to me. I have often
thought of reading some of the various explanations of
them, but the only one I ever looked into appeared to
me as hard to be understood as the work itself — per
haps we might read such a thing with advantage together
when you come home — to this much wished for period
everything is deferred — all pleasure, all improvement,
all everything; when will it arrive! Had I thought two
years since that this time would arrive before your re
turn I fear I should have tried all my persuasive powers
to prevent your going, my husband, but we must submit
and ought to with cheerfulness.
Wednesday night, 4th August, 18 13 — you will be sur
prised to find that I am still at Roxbury, but the fact is
I enjoy the quiet and ease of this Country life so much
that I could not resist their solicitations to remain some
days more than I ever thought of before — we have been
theorising and making some experiments with the chil
dren, but I must leave the detail to another time, for I
am overpowered with fatigue and heat — it is past eleven
and Pat will rouse me at five in the morning.
Roxbury, 15 August. ... I am aware you will say,
"but my dear, the child must be taught obedience long
before its reason has much influence." True, my be
loved husband, I am now labouring hard to teach little
Molly what I mean when I tell her she must mind.
Tuesday, 17th Aug., 18 13. It really makes me feel

198] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
depressed to see Pat so entirely engrossed in business as
he is — he is not as sanguine as he once was, but it seems
almost to exclude all other things — even his wife and
child do not draw him from it. I most sincerely hope
this manufactory in which he is engaged may prove lu
crative — they have now completed their Company1 and
are beginning to think of fixing upon a stream and com
mencing their establishment, and I found, much to my
surprise, that they really intended to live at the place —
certainly Pat and perhaps Mr. Lowell. I had no idea
that it was a thing that would decide their future
destination. Boston, 2 1 st August. . . . Oh, my dear husband, I have
to rejoice with Peggy Searle that she has at length a
prospect of some news from Curson : she has heard from
a son of Colonel May's, who is on a passage from Cadiz,
I believe, that he (May) has a letter from Curson and
some for his friends in this country . . . she has all of my
sympathy in her happiness as she has in her sufferings,
which have been extreme. I venerate, I almost adore
her: there never was a woman conducted so nobly; I
am left far in the shade when compared with her — she
will have her reward, I firmly believe, even in this world.
... J. Bromfield and Frank have been on a jaunt to
Rhode Island and have returned Merino-mad : all the
gentlemen are talking of raising sheep as the most profit
able business now to be done — Joe is very earnest about
it, and is interesting Charles in it. I do not rely much
on the judgment of either of them, and fear they may not
do so well as they think they shall. I believe they are
contemplating buying Hogg Island for the purpose.
24th August. I have had a very pleasant ride with
Joseph this afternoon to Patrick's, and it is worthy of
note. I ride with him often, but do not generally find
1 The Boston Manufacturing Company.

1 8 1 3 ]  JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [199
him in a temper of mind that I can venture to talk much
— he is so irritable, and there are so many tender points
with him that I feel continual fear of wounding him.
He is disappointed in getting the Island — I cannot say
I am sorry, for I shall feel as if it was better for him
to mature his plan a little more before he begins the busi
ness — he docs not agree with me and feels great im
patience. He by no means relinquishes the plan. I find
through Charles that he has made two or three thou
sand dollars, which is a great relief to my mind: he will
never be a rich man, but that is not necessary to his
happiness, and if he could get enough to clear his ex
penses as he goes along and give him some little occupa
tion I shall be thankful — I do love Joseph when he will
suffer me to — he has a noble heart. . . . Our darling
continues well, and though she sometimes gives me a little
alarm by fretting more than she ought to (which I am
apt to consider a symptom of sickness), yet I do
think her a most wonderfully healthy child. ... I expect
Peggy Searle to pass the day with me tomorrow; thus,
you see, each day brings with it something to occupy
and often to interest me — the vessel by which her letters
were to come has arrived, and I trust she will have a feast
before I see her; I fully sympathize with her. This
month is about closing without my having the delight I
calculated upon; two months since I thought I should
be excessively anxious if I did not hear from my beloved
husband ere this — Tom thinks I shall see before I hear
from you — I dare not listen to him, he hurries me so
he makes me breathless with impatience; indeed, I do
not think he exercises his usual good judgment upon the
subject if he knows what I have never chosen to tell
him, that you would probably have goods on your hands
— Patrick goes as far the other way and thinks you will
wait in hopes of a peace. . . . My dear, dear Hal,
goodnight, goodnight.

200] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
27th August, 1 8 13. ... On Wednesday Peggy Searle
was with me, and Harriet came home. I was greatly
disappointed to find she had only a short letter from
Curson ; she had expected and hoped for long details, both
new and old, but he refers to letters sent every month
by the mail, none of which have ever come to hand.
This letter has, in a degree, relieved her suspense and
produced cheerfulness; but his movements appear still
very uncertain. Peggy and I seem powerfully drawn to
gether by having similar troubles. I enjoy very much
from seeing her on this as well as on many other accounts,
but I believe the sympathy excited for each by our pecu
liar circumstances renders us particularly interesting to
each other. I hope nothing will ever diminish this in
terest. You, too, admire her, my dear husband — this
may be another reason for my attachment, daily increas
ing. We had a very quiet, pleasant day; she was obliged to
leave us early as she had no beau. Harriet, too, was
obliged to go home to the Doctor's [Uncle James Jack
son.] I went with her. Tom, and Charles and his wife
[Grandfather's brother, Thomas Lee, and Judge Charles
Jackson and Aunt Fanny, Grandmother's brother and
sister] were there, they were all more than usually agree
able ; in the early part of the evening Tom and the Doctor
were discussing the merits of some of the rising geniuses,
such as young Everett,1 etc. [Edward Everett]. I was
quite entertained and glad I went out tho' it was quite
against my inclination. This young man seems to be
considered as the first on the stage; he is very young to
have acquired so great a reputation. There is but little
doubt that he will be the successor of Buckminster. There
is one other, his classmate, Frothingham,1 who is con-
Edward Everett, 1794-1864: Unitarian Clergyman; Member
of Congress; Governor of Massachusetts; Minister to England;
President of Harvard College; Secretary of Slate, succeeding
Daniel Webster; United States Senator.
'Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham, 1793-1870: clergyman and
author; pastor of First Church of Boston, 18 15-1850.

1813] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [201
sidered a sort of rival, but from what I hear I conceive
there can be no doubt of Everett's superiority.
I yesterday attended the Phi Beta Kappa exercises
at Cambridge, where I heard a poem from Frothingham,
or rather I did not hear it; I was distant from him and
he has a feeble voice; from what I caught I should give
him credit for great purity of mind and elevation — the
strain of moral sentiment was quite exalted. I was at
McKean's in the afternoon and found him greatly in
terested in the young poet, both as a man and a genius,
and I was told today that he ventured to patronize him
in opposition to Everett, who is the President's protege
[President Kirkland].
Monday, 31st August. It ought to and it does make
me feel quite serious when I reflect how often I say —
tomorrow I will do so and so, and find when the ap
pointed time arrives I still procrastinate; if I do it in a
case in which I feel so strong an interest as in this of
writing you, I ought certainly to suspect that I am more
liable to it in others which are more important. ... I
have had a most fatiguing day, therefore shall say only
a few words, just by way of restorative before I go to
bed. The Doctor [Uncle James Jackson] is actually
alone (Harriet is at Milton with Betsey) : and he
came last night to beg of me to go with the child and
stay with him that he might not be driven to despair.
I consented, for I find it indifferent, or nearly so to me,
where I am ; I am rather more comfortable at home, but
on the whole more amused abroad and feel as if I
was learning something, the more my intercourse with
others is increased.
Wednesday evening, September 1st, 18 13. I was
obliged to leave you last night to compose poor nurse
who had sprained her ankle, and was in such a state of
suffering she could not sleep until I had rubbed it for
a long time; this accident brought me home at night from
James's.

202J HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1813
I think you will notice throughout these pages an air
of importance given to trifles which will amuse you, my
dear husband: let it not render me insignificant in your
eyes, my beloved Hal — if it does I am sure I shall
deeply regret having solaced myself by writing them:
the fact is, when one is placed in a situation removed
from care and responsibility, trifles gain importance, and
I so much desire to feel as if I was of consequence to
someone that if the child has the finger-ache, or nurse
looks pale, I immediately think I cannot possibly leave
them and thus gain my point. I shall soon have to give
up even this ideal importance, for Molly is getting to
an age that will suffer from too much attention. The
darling has been quite unwell for four days. I have
had some moments of apprehension but they were wholly
unnecessary, I believe — when I see an appearance of
disease without anything very positive I shall always in
future be alarmed — this was so much the case with our
other darling. I had not an idea of her danger till
very late and then it was excited by the appearance of
those around me rather than observation of the child.
I cannot be sufficiently thankful that I have James to
guide me. You can scarcely conceive how much she talks
of you. I have lately hit upon a method to make her
feel her dependence upon you, and am very much pleased
with the success of it. I had noticed that she understood
the use of money, and one day when she wanted some for
cracker, or cakey as she calls it, I gave it to her and then
asked if she knew who gave it to her. She, of course,
answered — mama — I told her "yes, but who do you think
gives it to mama?" This puzzled her and I told her
"papa" — then enumerated the clothes, etc., purchased for
her and me — she was highly delighted, and now never
mentions buying anything without recollecting, and say
ing "papa buy."

1813]  JOURNAL OF MARY LEE  [203
6th September, 18 13. I have this day received two
letters from you via Rio de Janeiro, one of 10th Feb
ruary, and one written in December. ... I cannot fail,
my beloved Hal, enjoying a vast deal from all your
letters, tho' I blush to find how far you over-rate all
my good qualities — you do not draw me as I know my
self. You think my chief suffering will be for your dis
appointment: I do most keenly feel for you, shut out as
you are from all that you hold dear, but my own regrets
I always find come first.
I am too weary in body and mind to say more. I
have had a day of constant excitement and that of the
most painful kind. Our child is still sick, and from
the tone of my feelings today I have had apprehensions
respecting her that are, I trust, groundless. . . .
10th September. . . . Two more letters, written in
November, have come to hand today, and excited in my
heart the most delightful sensations of pleasure and
thankfulness. . . . They were peculiarly grateful to me
at this moment, for with the exception of one day, I
have had constant apprehensions since the last date for
our child, who still continues quite sick. Yesterday I was
extremely alarmed for a few hours, but all day today she
has been progressing.
nth. Molly had a very quiet night; slept for twelve
hours without any interruption. . . . She is astonishingly
better today, and I think James is easy about her, which
I am sure he has not been before.
Monday,. 13th September. I have had a day of fa
tigue, but I cannot close it without expressing to my
dear Hal the delight he has afforded me — think, my dear
husband, of my wonderful good fortune. I have re
ceived your No. 10, written in March, and it has operated
like electricity. It is not only wonderful that I should
get so late a letter, but its contents are of a kind to raise

204] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1813
my spirits; your health is better, although the warm
weather has commenced, and the whole tenour of the
letter is better than the last. . . . This page of my
journal, dear husband, will not occasion your displeasure,
for as I have much to rejoice at, I am cheerful. I will not
answer for all the others. I am not what you think me,
but as the deception produces pleasure to us both, I shall
never try to enlighten you.
Saturday, 18th September. Molly has been better
today, tho' my heart sinks within me when I see her
appearing at all more sick. I asked James tonight what
he thought of her. He said at first he could not tell;
and then added, "She will get well one of these days,
if that is what you mean." This was a great relief to
have him speak so decidedly, for I have at moments
been apprehensive even for her life. God grant that
his opinion may be well founded. I doubted for some
time whether to mention her sickness to you or not, but
finally decided to adhere to my general principle and
tell you. . . . Good night, my dear Hal. I must retire,
for I am fatigued and often feel mortified to find how
little of the spiritual I have about me; there is rather
more of the oyster than I like, tho' it is a comfortable
quality. Adieu — adieu.
Sunday, the 26th Sept., 18 13. . . . Since my last
date I have been occupied about something or nothing,
so that I have not found a moment to add to this
Journal; it has not meant any want of inclination, as
you will readily believe; on the contrary, I long so con
stantly to be communing with you in this way that I
always am obliged to interrogate myself strictly, if I have
a right to devote even as much time as I do to it. You
desire it, however, and this may quiet my guilty con
science, and if the pages served only for the pastry
cook, I should not regret having written, it has afforded

1813] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [205
me so much pleasure. Could I transmit the pages to
you as I write thcin I should not think for a moment
that it was time ill spent. Our darling is now quite well;
she has not quite recovered her strength, but in every
thing else she appears as strong as ever.
28th October, 18 13. I have just got a short letter
dated 14th February, sent via England. God only
knows, my husband, how much I prize these constant
proofs of your affectionate solicitude to lessen my anx
iety, and to afford the best consolation I can have. . . .
The fears you had excited for our political friends were
altogether groundless in this part of the country; we
have had no alarming commotions and the accounts of
those in Baltimore were much exaggerated. No, my
husband, notwithstanding we are engaged in this in
iquitous, this long-dreaded war, nothing around us bears
the marks of suffering. I am told, and I have no doubt,
that a great many do suffer a great deal, but most cer
tainly among us it does not exist. My greatest com
plaint is that I am living so easy and comfortable a life,
while you are not only deprived of all the pleasures that
surround me, but arc exposed to hardships. ... I wish
I could flatter myself that if you are still detained in
India, you have any letters  I trust to the papers giving
you news of the safety of your property. In this way
you have been most wonderfully fortunate. The In
digo consigned to Patrick has sold at a very handsome
advance; he was rallying about it last night, and said
that one speculation had afforded you more than all he
had done for ever so long. ... As for the property con
signed to mr, I cannot give a very good account of my
stewardship: it must be acknowledged we women are
not capable of such accurate calculations as you mercantile
men. I have sold all my goods but the handkerchiefs,
and I fear they will sell so badly as to make my sales

206] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1814
average very badly. They are in Tuckerman's shop.
Sunday evg., 12th December, 18 13. On Thursday, 9th
inst, I received your No. 12, my dear husband. You but
too well know the value even of so old a letter; its
date was down to 15th March, 9 days later than I had
before received. You say, my dear (and I have always
felt perfect confidence in what you say upon this and all
other subjects), that your health is better than it has
been; the most trying season, I know, had not come, but
I will endeavor to believe that you were preserved from
great indisposition. . . .
Sunday evg., 10th January, 18 14. Last evening I
felt as I often do, a hope which almost amounted to an
expectation that every ring at the door would bring
me some communication, if not announce your arrival
— the impression that you were actually in England now,
or on your way home, has been very constant with me
of late. Stephen Lligginson came in the other morning
with his head full of the peace. I had been a little
indisposed, and his first address was, "Well, my dear,
you will be well now, for your husband will be home in
twelve months, with a great cargo, and make his for
tune." "Indeed I hope not," I answered, "for I would
rather he would be here in two months without any cargo
than to wait so long for the wealth of India," and this is
my habitual feeling — I have no romantic notions, I think,
about the unimportance of wealth, and Heaven knows
how delighted I should be at the prospect of your at
taining that Independence once more which you so well
know how to estimate, but still the desire to be once
more united to you is so strong as to overpower all
others. I thought if this news shd. prove true you wd. probably
remain in England till you could hear from this country,
. . . but everything is so uncertain that I cannot form

1814] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [207
any probable conjectures concerning your movements.
. . . Peace may grow out of the fallen state of Bona
parte, but our most judicious men think it will be pro
crastinated till the last moment.1
You know how great an effect political rumours have
upon the public mind, but you would scarcely believe it
could be so very great upon the commercial part of it.
Within the last week coffee fell in one day 9 dollars,
and sugar in the same proportion. Mr. Lowell and Pat
who had bought a large quantity of Indigo, presuming
upon a continuance of the war and were making an im
mense profit upon it, could not help looking a little sober,
and I could not myself help wishing the peace had kept
off a little longer, that Pat might have realized the
little property which would have made him very inde
pendent. I want him to be rewarded for his cheerful
submission to such frequent disappointments as he has
experienced. . . .
Notwithstanding all these speculations, which one can
not help feeling a degree of interest in at the moment,
all our hearts were gladdened by the prospect of peace,
more or less according to our belief in the Rumours;
each doubtless thought of his private interest, and mine
was that you would not only return to me, but that you
would have occupation. I think so much of the happi
ness we are to have that sometimes I am a little super
stitious about it.
9th February, 18 14. . . . Dear, dear husband, do not,
I beseech, I intreat of you, do not set up an ideal
image in your heart, and when you return to the plain,
1 In October, 1 81 3, the final overthrow of Napoleon at Lcipsic
forced the French army to fall back in rout across the Rhine. . . .
In the same month Wellington succeeded in winning a triumph
on the Bidassoa, which enabled him to enter France, soon followed
by the Allies. Peace, liowever, was not declared till a year later.

208] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1814
homespun woman you left, feel a disappointment. This
is my only fear, and all that in any measure diminishes
my satisfaction when reading those praises which are
expressed with so much warmth and go directly to my
heart. If I am spoiled by vanity the sin is on your
shoulders, husband, and you must bear it with patience.
H. and I fancy now that we should get along much
better if we had more time to ourselves, which we could
devote to reading, and this keeps me continually fretting;
the fact is the child is with us nearly all day and the
young men, one or both generally at home in the evening.
They will not read to us and we cannot well read to
ourselves, and I am still more unwilling to excite their
observation by writing before them, which they think
ridiculous: from never having been situated as we are
they know not the heartfelt delight and satisfaction to
be derived even from such communication with a beloved
object, and I do not like to subject myself to their ob
servation — tho' they are perfectly good humoured. . . .
Harriet and the young men have gone to the theatre
with a detachment from the clan. This gives me the
solitude I so often sigh for to communicate with you. . . .
I do return my thanks again and again that I am united
to a man who unites all the qualities of heart and head
which I can desire and in whom I place the most entire
confidence. You have, my husband, unfolded to me
some new and delightful traits of character in your
letters, of which perhaps I might have forever continued
in ignorance had not our peculiar situation brought them
to light. You have repeatedly said what is perhaps true,
that this situation has shown me to you in a new light
and you have added, my respected, my beloved husband,
that this has reconciled you to the events which have
taken place or would but for the reflection of the trouble
brought on others by our misfortunes. When you are

1814]  JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [209
once restored to me, I fear I shall have no further re
grets upon the subject. I say fear because altho' we
have less to feel, I firmly believe than any people under
like circumstances ever before had, (owing to your highly
honourable conduct at the moment when most men sink
and are distracted and have not courage to meet the
evil;) yet I shd. not want to feel perfectly contented
while there were debts still remaining. I do not mean
to say by this, dear H, that I think you ought to feel
this like a millstone always hung about your neck, but
that it is a thing I shd. always wish to keep in view, and
if through the blessing of God you sh'd meet with suc
cess in future, that we should, as opportunity offered,
pay the whole or part of your portion of the debts —
it would be folly to attempt to do this for Joseph as
well as yourself, but I fully go along with you in your
waking dreams upon this subject. I have never been
able since you left me perfectly to understand the state
of your affairs, but as far as I have learned I believe
you have paid 16/ in the £ — if you never pay another
cent we have nothing to reproach ourselves with — all
that could be done we did, and I believe even those who
were sufferers thought so.
Sunday evg., 20th February, 18 14. I have been read
ing part of No. 8 and the whole of No. 9 this evening,
and I have been twice or thrice most provokingly inter
rupted when engaged in this way, for as you tell me
not to let people know how much you write, I feel bound
to keep your letters out of sight. ... I am sure I can
never express half the delight your letters have afforded
me. ... A vessel arrived from Pernambuco a week or
two since, and we hear there were two Portuguese vessels
from Calcutta going in as they came out. I waited with
the greatest impatience, as you will believe, for the Vine
yard mail which comes only once a week, and when it

210] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1814
came I was disappointed. . . . Some vessel must soon
be in from England, and if you were still in Calcutta I
must hear from you by the Governor's frigate, which
we are told was to sail in August. ... Oh these dread
ful long voyages! they are not fit for married men;
this must be your last if we live upon Bean Porridge
at home !
Monday, 21st March, 18 14. There is a raging N. E.
storm without, which I think cannot fail to blow some
vessels in from England. ... It appears to me I should
be overflowing with gratitude if I could but have a
late letter from you and know what were your deter
mination, what your health, and the thousand questions
which crowd upon my mind when I think of you. It
wants only ten days of a year since your last dates. . . .
April 1st. Should I know for a certainty when to ex
pect you, I think, if my father approves, I should take
a house as soon as I could get one at a proper rent and
go to housekeeping. I am very tired of this boarding
plan, though I ought not to be, for I have every accommo
dation that it is possible I should have at board, and
many more than others of our friends who have pur
sued the same plan. My principal objection to my present
situation is that I never feel at home. I was interrupted
the other day by Hannah Lowell, who came to propose
my driving her Susan down to Beverly with their horse.
I hesitated about it, thinking it might serve to shake
me up a little and perhaps make me feel better, but on
the whole, my courage was not equal to it, and I could
not bear to leave town for two days lest there should
be an arrival that would bring me letters. I was very
glad, on the whole, that I decided thus, for Sally Gardner
was here yesterday, and our child has such a cold that
I should not be quite willing to leave her. We had a
great alarm this week from the Doctor's youngest child,

1814]  JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [211
little Harriet, being very suddenly seized with the
Quincy or Croup. . . . After 48 hours of extreme anxiety
she was restored to them nearly well, and has now quite
recovered. She is an uncommonly vigorous, strong child,
has never before been the least sick.
Sunday ev'g, 3rd April, 1814. . . . Yesterday was a
day of dissipation for me; in the morning I went with
Harriet to pay a wedding visit on Mrs. Harry Cabot;1
from thence to Eliza Dutton's, who is now in Stephen
Higginson's house, boarding with Mrs. Carter. We had
a good croaking, for which I trust she felt better. I
certainly did. Dutton is poor, and for the last 20 months
they have been trying experiments to save money. . . .
We dined at father's and I went to Cambridge with
him and my mother in the afternoon. I found Uncle
Wendell quite alone: Mrs. Holmes was out. [Sarah
(Wendell) Holmes, daughter of Uncle Wendell, mother
of Oliver Wendell Holmes.] I really enjoyed sitting
with him because it was evident I gave so much pleasure.
He feels that his glass is almost run out and talks with
the most perfect tranquillity of the expected change. This
is delightful to me, to see any one who I think is really
prepared waiting without any fear for the summons. . . .
There has been a strong east wind all day and I most
earnestly hope there are some good tidings of you near.
Wednesday evg., April 13th. Most earnestly do I
rejoice that I have an hour which I hope I shall be able
to devote to you, my dearest best friend. Harriet has
gone to Mrs. J. Lowell's to meet Mrs. H. Cabot, and
some good genius has suggested to the young men to go
out. Frank asked me to go with him to Patrick's, but I
said I hated to walk in the evening, and thus secured
to myself the moment I have sighed for these ten days.
JAnna Blake, recently married to Mr. Henry Cabot — grand
parents of Henry Cabot Lodge.

212] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1814
I have had the child with me all day and she has been
more than usually troublesome, and I fear I must ac
knowledge what I thought I never should, that she is
more fretful with me than with any one — and yet I am
the only one who ever has inflicted any punishment upon
her, and I think I do not spare her. There must be
some radical defect in my management or this would
not be so. My mother says, and I begin to fear I must
believe her, that the fault is in allowing her to see
the power she has over me (she argues from human
nature), and when that is too much discovered it is al
most impossible to exercise authority with any effect.
Our mother is an acute observer of the human character,
and it seems almost like presumption to venture to differ
from her, but dear H., I think you will agree with me
in the opinion that her ideas upon the subject of educa
tion are less sound than upon almost anything else —
circumstances have (perhaps insensibly) influenced it — ¦
she always speaks in a way to discourage me, instead of
which I want in this as in everything to have the hope
of success held up as a stimulus to exertion. I do not
know that even you to whom I am willing to expose all
my weaknesses; you for whom I would desire to exert
all the powers with which heaven has blessed me ; I fear
you do not know how necessary an encouraging word
is to me now and then — if I think my friends approve, it
animates me to new exertion; whereas if I have the slight
est cause to think otherwise it depresses me and palsies
all my faculties, and thus of necessity produces self-dis
approbation, and its attendant discontent. Harriet is
either not aware of my feelings upon this subject or does
not chuse to indulge them, I cannot say which. I fancy
she considers the feeling to arise from vanity entirely,
and considers it a dangerous passion to indulge. If this
is her opinion I think she is wrong. If I know myself

1814] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [213
it is not the desire to have this passion fed and flattered,
but from a sense of my own inability to do much. I have a
constant jealousy of myself, and such a doubt on my
mind with regard to the propriety of any of the im
portant acts of my life as to render me unhappy until
I know how they are estimated by those who watch
over me with the most solicitude. The approbation
you have hitherto expressed for my past conduct has
been a source of inconceivable satisfaction to me, and
what you say of my ability to educate or rather to direct
the infant mind of our child would afford me delight and
encouragement had you ever seen me tried ; but, my hus
band, every step in the way is new to me, and I do
assure you I act as a novice. One of my greatest morti
fications is that as our child advances she is more and
more difficult to govern, and if I do not soon acquire
more firmness, both of body and mind, I shall have
to fly from her to conceal my weakness.
Friday, 27th May, 18 14. Since my last date I have
had as great an excitement of feeling as anything but
your return could produce. I have received 8 letters
from you — all by the same vessel. Six came in one day,
and it was almost too much for me. They embraced a
long period from April to September! . . .
On Sunday last, Joseph came and asked me if I would
take a little ride with him. Dutton and wife were to be
of the party. I at first felt it impossible to make up
my mind to leave the child for four days, but as it
was only a matter of feeling, not of real anxiety (for
Harriet and Nurse surely might be confided in most
perfectly), I determined to overcome it, and take the
opportunity of increasing my strength and health, and
therefore, after premissing with Joseph that he would
have a very dull companion (for my mind was more
than usually with you) I consented to go. We had a

214]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1814
pleasant ride; I accomplished the object of going to
Newburyport for a few hours and we passed part of a
day and night with Aunt Bromfield at Andover. The
weather was very fine, and I have gained strength from
the exercise in the open air, riding 30 miles a day. On
my return I was cheered by your No. 24. You refer
to other letters which I do trust contain a more detailed
account of your health, but your mother and I think
that you certainly did not feel more sick on the 12th of
October. 1 2th August, 1 8 14. ... I only visit in our clan, very
seldom beyond it except in the morning. I will give
you an account of the last few days. Monday and Tues
day were passed very quietly at home, except Tuesday
afternoon at Charles's; Wednesday I drank tea with the
Searles, passed the evening at home alone; Thursday
spent the day at my mother's [Mrs. Joseph Lee's], the
evening at home. The Doctor was here for an hour,
and I had a good deal of pleasant conversation with him
about you and our child, etc. ... I have just got home
a good deal wearied and find a note from Ann Stor
row,1 saying Stephen Higginson and wife are going to
Andover tomorrow and have a vacant seat which they
wish me to occupy. Though there is everything pleasant
to anticipate from such a ride, I can hardly persuade
myself to say "yes," yet as I have had no way of send
ing to them, I shall, I believe, go, as I presume they will
call. I believe it is because I have nothing to prevent
my going that I feel so unpleasantly about it always,
for I have no apprehension about leaving Molly — Do,
my beloved husband, return to me and give me the
delightful occupation of attending to you, and feeling
my presence at home of some importance.
Oh when shall I have this happiness !
1 "Aunt Nancy Storrow," sister of Mrs. Stephen Higginson.

1814]  JOURNAL OF MARY LEE  [215
Adieu, my husband. I pray God to protect you and
return you in safety to your wife, M. Lee.
Monday evening, 21st August, 18 14. The Doctor
came early in the evening to ask us to go up to Charles's
— Harriet had gone to Waltham to pass a day or two,
and I told him I wanted to stay at home, I had been
running about so much lately. I had a secret hope,
dearest husband, that I should have an hour to devote
to you after reading one of Paley's sermons which I
am doing for a second time from your recommendation
of them, but Joseph has been in and in part defeated my
object, for I am determined to, go to bed early. I have
at length despatched my letter to you; I kept it open
till last Friday, and after all I fear have not said one-
half what you will want to know.
Sept. 1st, 1 8 14. I have received a letter from you,
my husband, today, dated 26th January. It has been
long expected and most earnestly desired, and now it
has come it has overwhelmed me with anxiety. Your
kind, your heart-touching precaution has been useless,
my beloved husband; you say to me simply that your
health is not as good as six months since, but in your
letter to Patrick you speak in a manner the most dis
couraging. ... It has made me wretched for this day,
my dearest Hal, but hope, which scarcely ever fails me,
whispers that your state of spirits, which everything con
curred to depress, caused you to feel depressed as you
did about your health. God grant that it may be so.
... If you can be restored to me in tolerable health,
I shall never feel any other evil. I should be much
strengthened in the belief you would embark in March
did you not place so much confidence in the events of
Europe operating upon our Government. I shall, I think,
have more letters in a day or two, and they will, I trust,

216] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1814
afford me some relief. There is a Cartel' expected daily.
... If you were once at home I should feel great con
fidence that your health would be reinstated in a short
time. Sept. 2nd. The dreadful anxiety which will rest upon
my mind is in some degree diminished, as I think more
of the state of your mind and the effect that has on the
body, and also the influence it would have in your man
ner of speaking of yourself. My friends have sought
for every alleviation of this kind that could be imagined.
My Mother with your Father- passed last evening
here; also Charles and wife, Hannah Jackson [Aunt
Hannah, Mrs. Henry Jackson, mother of Dr. J. B. S.
Jackson], Betsey Jackson, and J. Bromfield.
My Mother says, "My dear, people may be made sick
by anxiety and excessively uncomfortable, but it never
proves fatal." And she also thinks that all you say of your
health is so much affected by your state of spirits that
I ought hardly to think of it as a fair statement. Han
nah Lowell makes use of nearly the same arguments, ap
plying them in a little different way. . . . How thankful
ought we to be, my husband, that I am surrounded by
so many friends who participate in all my troubles and
all my joys. Hannah Lowell insisted upon my sending
forward my hopes a little, and dwelling upon the many
happy years yet in store for us.
3rd Sept. The Cartel is below, has been detained
at the Castle for some hours; we shall have the letters
in the morning, I presume, and I know I shall have some
that will cheer me, tho' probably not one so late as that
I have. If I should get one acknowledging any of mine
it would make my heart glad indeed, for I am sure that
1 Cartel — a ship commissioned to exchange prisoners between
nations at war.
2 Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Lee.

1814] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [217
such an event would have a great influence over your
spirits. Adieu, my dear II. —
4th Sept. I did not get my letters till evening, and
have not now all which are to come. You can best
tell how my heart beat with impatience thro' the day,
and how grateful I was to heaven for once more afford
ing me the delight and satisfaction of seeing a cheerful
letter from you, my beloved husband. Such was your
No. 25, written in October and November, and I have
read it over and over again that I might enjoy the full
satisfaction of it. You at that time gave credit to the
account of the safety of the Reaper, and also of the
Harmony. The Russian Celebration, too, you had seen
an account of, and this cheered you, — in short, altho'
you express the keenest disappointment (and I am happy
to see some degree of resentment mingled with it), that
you have no letters from home, there is a freedom and
ease about your letter which I cannot recognize in those
of later date.
You say very little about your health, and this leads
us to hope, my husband, that during those two months
you felt better. . . .
I must meet you in England if you come before winter,
for you must not come here on a winter coast. May you
be decided by what Frank has said, to leave Calcutta
in March or April. All my friends bid me to hope this.
How could you think of remaining till 18 16! I most
fervently pray that no consideration will induce you
to do it.
Thursday, 22d September, 18 14. ... I am now read
ing Trimmers' Sacred History, which is the Bible with
some few omissions to adapt it to children. I took it
to see if I should like it better than the simple Bible for
our child. As far as I have read I think not, but I
shall be totally at a loss when she begins to read, whether

21 8] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1814
to put the Sacred volume in her hands or not. My
mother thinks it would impress the mind much more
if read at a later period of life — that the words be
coming familiar before any idea can be attached to them
prevents the effect which might be produced in after
life if it was presented to her anew. I have always
rather leaned to this opinion, and yet our earliest are
our strongest impressions, and this is in favour of an
early perusal of this most important volume.
I have been reading with Harriet a modern novel —
I see you scowl and say 'why will you, my dear, waste
your time on these silly things?' but before you pro
nounce sentence against it you must read Miss Edge-
worth's Patronage — if you do not gain one new idea
from it you will be grateful for the entertainment one
cannot but receive from such a book; there are perhaps
faults; the characters too numerous, etc., but they are
so justly delineated that we must receive pleasure, as we
do from the conversation of enlightened society, and I
think you cannot read the book without forming a high
idea of the talents of the author. She must have a keen,
penetrating mind and lively imagination, aided and gov
erned always by that plain good sense which alone enables
us to draw right conclusions. . . . By this time you are,
I trust, once more in a Christian country, and though you
may feel the coldness of the English chilling, you will
enjoy a great deal, I think, from the reflection that they
are a civilized set of beings. I think it possible Fred
erick Cabot may go to England soon. He is now in New
York; the night before he left here I gave him a great
many directions what to do in case he found you sick
there, which he said he should forget all of, but to ensure
remembrance, I told him I should write them down if I
found he was going — the principal thing I wanted was
that he should understand that I was ready at a moment's

1814J JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [219
warning to come to you, if he found that it would be
pleasant to you. I hope you will not over-rate the incon
veniences of such an expedition, for they would be as
nothing to me compared to the pleasure of being united
to you a few months sooner.
30th September, 18 14. When shall I have some more
and more cheerful letters from you? I dare not hope
very soon. Our coast is Blockaded so that nothing but
Cartels can reach our shores in safety, and these are
very infrequent.
6th October. Yesterday morning the boy who is in
Patrick's Compting-Room came to tell me a vessel would
sail in an hour or two for England (a Dutch armed
vessel — the Ajax). I immediately seated myself, and as
rapidly as possible scribbled three pages to you, my dear
Husband. I always feel a little fearful when I write
in such haste, that I may say something I ought not, or
omit to say what is very important; indeed I feel this
sort of jealousy of myself continually. I know in some
views my letters must be a comfort to you, my only
fear is that the desire I have to give you information
may mislead you. I hope not, I am sure, most earnestly,
but I confess I sometimes tremble when the young men
say they cannot write you from this fear. I really be
lieve this has influenced them sometimes when you have
attributed it to indolence. I do not think any of them
would suffer that feeling to prevent their writing you,
knowing your feeling upon the subject.
Theodore Lyman has arrived direct from London,
which he left on the 6th August, and has brought no letter
for me. I confess I am disappointed. I think, had there
been any, S. Williams1 could hardly fail to send them,
for tho' he [Theodore Lyman] came via Halifax, it is
so much better at this time to send them by a private
hand that I cannot conceive that Williams should have
1 United States Consul in London, 51 Finsbury Square.

220] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1814
doubted — perhaps the same good fortune which has
hitherto attended your letters may prevail, and from
South America or some other quarter I may soon have
news. I have been alone for the last week, or rather
Harriet is absent. I cannot feel alone while our child
is with me. I really feel that I was peculiarly blessed to
have the little creature sent at the moment she was —
the attentions almost necessary for the preservation of
an infant's life were exactly the best thing for me during
the first months of your absence, and as she advances she
necessarily leads me to more intellectual exertion than
I should otherwise be called to, and I am often, I assure
you, in so torpid a state, that nothing but necessity could
arouse me to exertion of any kind. I hope she will keep
me from actual stagnation till you return.
She has for two weeks advanced pretty rapidly in her
reading, but I find as the novelty wears off, so does the
zeal, and I shall, I fear, find it difficult to keep up suffi
cient emulation, as she is alone, to have her progress very
rapidly. [Aunt Mary was at this time three years and
one month old.]
I fear I gain no ground with regard to the regulation
of the heart and disposition, dear H. I cannot succeed
in getting the ready obedience which I think so important.
I can by severity or finesse always succeed, but this is not
what I want — I have of late felt irritation myself, which
was a thing I always considered impossible, but I find
my patience sometimes exhausted by those very whims
I have been perhaps the means of producing, either by
inheritance, example, or indulgence — Adieu. May I soon
hear of your welfare, dearest H.
13th October, 18 14. Five days have passed since
I received a most delightful, heart-cheering letter from
you, my faithful husband, and I have not written one
word of acknowledgment; my heart has continually

1814]  JOURNAL OF MARY LEE  [221
thanked you for your unremitting attentions, for your
never-ending solicitude to remove as far as possible all
anxiety from my mind — I cannot describe to you the
delightful sensations which have been excited by this
letter, and indeed I can scarcely conceive why I do thus
feel, for after all there is nothing very positive said
about your health which is favourable; the whole tenour
of your letter to me and to Pat is much better than the last,
and I flatter myself (as the Doctor bids me), that the
change was produced by the certainty you felt with re
gard to the Reaper. James thinks this a very important
fact, because it tends to prove, what we have all along
hoped, that your health was affected by your circum
stances, and of course when your anxiety was relieved
you would be much better. God grant that you were
soon after cheered by our letters.
The Fingal sailed on Monday, 28th of Sept., and
another vessel for Europe on the same day. I suppose
Remsen sent some of my letters by one, and some by the
other vessel. On Wednesday there was an arrival at
Newport from Canton, by which we learn that young
Paine had arrived there from Calcutta. I have a strong
hope, my dear husband, that you may have written by
him. . . . We have to wait for our letters as they were taken
on board on condition they should be delivered when the
owners pleased, and from some cause they choose to delay
them. I shall be disappointed if I have no letter, and
yet I ought not to expect it. I should not if you had
not spoiled me by indulgence. ... I look back with in
finite regret and self-reproach that I let so long a period
elapse without writing — I should regret it still more
if I did not think it would impress you more strongly
with the expectation I had you would return, and thus
influence your decision — thus good may come out of
evil. . . .

222]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1815
October 30, 18 14. I am now engaged on a little work
of Locke's on Education. I am much pleased with it,
but must leave to a future period my observations.
December 28, 18 14. . . . We have just returned from
your father's, where we have passed a pleasant after
noon. I asked him if there was any news from the
delegates [to the Hartford Convention]. Lie said,
"No." He was sorry I had mentioned the Convention
at all, or said anything more than that the war would
never end, and you must come home immediately.
Mother says if she ever wrote she w'd certainly have
added a postscript to my letter to this purpose, and to
say that it was the opinion of all your friends. I do
hope, my husband, my former letters have reached you,
and have had an effect to bring you to this decision.
Once more adieu. May you be guided entirely by
that Being who cannot err. To Him I commend you,
and to Him I pray for you. Adieu, my ever dear husband.
Your M. Lee.
[There is a gap in the Journal from February, 1815,
till October, 18 15, apparently accidental, as Grandfather,
who took the Journal with him to India in 1821, says that
he hopes to find the missing sheets on his return. During
this period occurred the death of Grandmother's sister
Hannah (Mrs. Francis Cabot Lowell).]
October 18, 18 15. I lament that you should have re
ceived the impression that your former letters were lost
or interrupted — not one of them has ever been opened
by our government, and I have been most remarkably
fortunate in getting them. My file from January, 18 14,
to 18 1 5 is only wanting two numbers. ... I have re
ceived six letters since the above date — the two latest
dated March 2d, April nth, the last very short but a

1815]  JOURNAL OF MARY LEE  [223
great comfort to me, as it gave so late information of
your health, etc., which appears to have been improving
almost constantly since January, 18 14.
October 25, 18 15. Sunday evening has again arrived:
on Friday I got your letter, via Bourbon, of 27th May,
saying that you had heard of the peace and, notwith
standing, you were troubling yourself about the probable
interdiction of trade; this news has afforded you a satis
faction which nothing else could have done, and as I
feel a certainty that this anxiety would soon be so happily
relieved, it does not distress me. I can say now that I
feel a lightness of heart and security which I had long
been a stranger to.
[Grandmother had an especially deep affection for her
sister Hannah (Mrs. F. C. Lowell), and great tender
ness for her motherless children1 — spoken of in the fol
lowing letter.
1 The children of Francis Cabot and Hannah (Jackson) Lowell
were: 1, John, 1 799- 1 836. Still young, he was very successful in
business, "by nature a statesman whom the caprice of fortune
had made a merchant." He was repeatedly elected to the
Common Council and Legislature. He married in 1825 Gcorpina
Mary Amory, who died in 1830. Having lost his wife and two
little daughters in 1830-31, in November, 1832, he sailed for
Europe and India, where he died at Bombay in 1836.
By his will he left half his fortune, $250,000, "to found and
sustain free lectures for the promotion of the moral and intellec
tual and physical instruction or education of the citizens of Boston."
ll. Susan, who became the first wife of Mr. John Amory
Lowell, and the mother of Cousin Susan (Mrs. William Sohier),
and of Cousin John Lowell.
ill, Francis Cabot Lowell, 1803-1874- Still most affectionately
remembered. Cousin Frank married Mary Gardner, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. S. P. Gardner. Their children were Mary (Mrs.
Algernon Coolidge) ; Georgina (Aunt Nina to a wide circle) ;
George Gardner, who married Mary Ellen Parker; Edward
Jackson, who married (1) Mary Goodrich, (2) Elizabeth Gilbert
Tones. iv, Edward, 1805-1830. Harvard College 1822, Law School
1825, a young lawyer of unusual promise.

224] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1815
Sally Gardner is the daughter of another of Grand
mother's sisters, and John Lee is the son of Grand
father Lee's brother Nathaniel.]
Tuesday, 11 o'clock at night, 5 December, 1815. . . .
We have had a very noisy evening — Susan and John
Lowell, Sally Gardner, and John Lee have been here,
and been in a great frolic; it really has been a delight
to me, to see the latter entering into all the fun with
the greatest good humour and spirit; he came in by acci
dent, and I at first rather regretted it, as I thought he
would not get on well with the girls, but he has been
extremely pleasant and quite at his ease. They had a play
of forfeits, and he as judge made so much laugh that I
think it will serve me for exercise for a long time. His
Uncle Frank, who was also here, helped him along a
little, — he discovers affectionate good feeling, and is a
boy of good understanding, and, I think, promises to
afford us much pleasure, but I am not sanguine about him
or any other boy but Frank Lowell, who is still the
delight of my heart, and of all his friends. His charac
ter seems already formed and it is composed of such
qualities that I think we may feel some degree of con
fidence in it. His health is feeble and I sometimes think
the very sweetness we so much love is but a premature
preparation for another country, and yet he seems fitted
to live in this world to be an ornament and blessing to
society.1 1 Francis Cabot Lowell. "He was born a counsellor, never so
happy as when aiding by advice or assistance, but his benevolence
was guided by tact, he knew when and how to give and to with
hold with equal delicacy. He had the high, unerring wisdom
vouchsafed only to the pure in heart; his eye was single and
his whole body full of light. He had an uncompromising love
of truth, a sincerity which limited his speech on occasion to yea,
yea — nay, nay, or bound him to silence when a weaker man must
have spoken. To come into his presence was to be summoned
before an august tribunal, a merciful but just judge; he was

1816] JOURNAL OF MARY LEE [225
He and Edward have lately been at home. They have
been here a good deal and the warm interest they ex
pressed in you and your return, bound them nearer
to me than ever. I have given them my promise I
would let them know what were your plans as soon as
I heard from you.
April 22d, 1 816. I confess that it is a source of very
great satisfaction to hear in the various ways I do of the
respect and interest you excite in those who have met
you abroad. Scarce a man has returned from Calcutta
but I have heard your praise, either directly or indirectly
— even Stark told the Doctor that you were pre
eminent as a man of business — that even the established
English merchants and all others came to you for in
formation — this was not said with a design to reach
me, nor did the Doctor tell me, I only heard him telling
some one else. All the clan, of course, take a little
pride in this. We ought, I think, to participate in the
good as well as evil of each other, and no family ever
did the latter more entirely than ours. . . .
[Grandfather returned in July, 18 16.]
Long afterward, when Henry Lee again made the
voyage to India, he took with him these many pages of
the Journal, and across the last sheet he wrote the follow
ing lines:
formidable without intention; his tranquil mind abashed the
noisy and vulgar, ... his dignified silence or brief words of truth
foiled the flatterer, the current coin of society did not ring clear
on the table of this assay-master. . . . But he neither censured nor
looked down on his fellow men, he judged as he would be judged,
the smile which lighted up his face, and the gentle courtesy of his
address were outward signs of a charity which characterized his
thoughts and words and acts, taking every form but that of
publicity. 'The wisdom that is from above is first true, then peaceable,
then gentle, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and
without hypocrisy'."— From an obituary article by Col. Henry Lee.

226]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
"I have read these sheets with the most unfeign'd de
light, not unmixed, however, with regret, that I should
have been the cause of so much anxiety and painful ap
prehension to the most interesting, faithful and affec
tionate wife man was ever blessed with. That every
wish and feeling express'd in this Journal is sincere, I
have the fullest confidence, and I receive them as evi
dences of that attachment and esteem I so much desire
to excite. Let the recollection of the sufferings this
Journal evinces, as well as the tenour of a whole life
devoted to my welfare, impress deeply on my mind and
heart a constant conviction of the claims, which she who
has been so active and instrumental in promoting my
happiness, has upon my most zealous efforts for the ad
vancement of hers. April 21, 1822, at sea on board
Palmer."

VIII
LETTERS, 1817-1829
Henry Lee to his Wife
Philadelphia, 23rd May, 18 17.
My dear wife:
I am afraid the seven weeks will not end our separa
tion, but I am as tired of it, at least, as you, and shall
do all I can to prevent its exceeding eight. I am as much
out of patience as if the time had been five years instead
of as many weeks, but the moment is at hand when we
shall feel the happier for this interruption to our inter
course. There is much satisfaction in the conviction that
our dependence on each other is mutually felt, and these
partings bring it home with additional force.
. . . My journey through Lancaster was very pleasant,
part of the country under high state of cultivation &
a great deal of fine scenery, pleasant views &cc.
I was glad to find the country had not suffer'd so much
by drought as I had understood. It is now raining, & if
continued all will be repaired which has been lost. I
could not but remark upon the want of towns in a fertile
rich country; for 135 miles we only passed thro' five; two
of them contained 3000 & 6000 inhabitants, the others
scarce 1500. This is a great defect in appearance of
the country & diminishes very much the pleasure in travel
ling thro' it.
I can't fix the day of my departure from hence nor
how long I may remain in N. York. You need not fear
my too great enterprise. I have plan'd my year's work
& shall do nothing more. My journey to the South has
tended to make me more cautious, tho' I was sufficiently
so before. I am afraid I shall not be in time for the
227

228] HENRY AND MARY LEE
great election; Molly must engage another Beau, but
I hope to be in time for the Artillery Election. She
still has her whims. She must have inherited all yours
& a portion of mine. Well, it will be an excellent exercise
& amusement for you to cure them. . . .
Good-night, my dear M. I hope to have a letter to
morrow before I close this.
Your ever affectionate & faithful husband
H. L.

Mary Lee to Henry Lee in Baltimore
Tuesday, Boston, 23rd May, 1820.
My dear H.,
I was excessively disappointed on getting yr. letter
Sunday, to find you still decided to remain some time
longer in Baltimore. ... I am thankful to be confirmed
in the assurance that you are well and I sincerely wish,
with you, that your mind was in a more tranquil state.
As I am convinced the only way to render it so is to have
your present concerns brought to a close, my earnest
desire is to have this done in the shortest possible time,
and therefore I would again intreat of you to put away
from you all anxiety for the future, and not suffer plans
of various kinds to be floating continually in your im
agination. Frank feels as if there was still a great
deal to be done before the old concerns can be brought
to a close, and you surely must feel that you owe it
to him and to yourself to make every exertion to assist
him in this arduous task. You cannot, and I am sure
you ought not to desire to enter upon anything new
until everything is either entirely settled or you see the
way clear for the satisfactory adjustment of everything.
I feel authorized to say as much as I do upon this sub
ject, because I think that much of your anxiety on this

LETTERS, 1 817-1829 [229
point is on my account, and I am apprehensive that
your aversion to the detail of business (particularly when
it is of so unpleasant a nature) added to this desire to be
again in the way of providing for us, may induce you
to run away from it, whereas I should think you ought
to persist in the performance of this duty and not suffer
your feelings to have the least influence upon your con
duct. You will say I am asking more of you than mortal
man can perform, but believe me, dearest H., it is not
more than you can perform if you are firmly resolved
to do it. I have a great opinion of your willingness to
work and only desire to have your industry exercised
upon the right object. I wish I did not and perhaps
I ought not to write so much upon this subject, but it
is so continually in my thoughts I cannot help it. I see
(indeed I hear from them continually) that T. and F.
[Tom and Frank] consider this the proper and only
course you ought to pursue, and feeling the obligation
I do to them, I cannot help considering their opinion as
very important. You can find excuses for me if I do
weary you by reflecting that it is my constant desire
to have you do what will make you at peace with your
self and others, that renders me so constant in imposing
upon you my advice. . . .
[In 1 82 1 Grandfather again made the voyage to India,
and when he returned in 1822, the house in Bedford
Place, which had been building under Great-Grand-
father Lee's supervision of carpenters and masons, was
ready for them, and became their home. Later, when
the posts and chains which divided Bedford Place from
Chauncy Place were taken down, it became 28 Chauncy
Street.]

230] HENRY AND MARY LEE

Mary Lee to Henry Lee on his second voyage to
India in 1821
Boston, 10th April, 1821.
It seems almost foolish to write you, my dear H.,
when you have been only six days absent from me, but
as my thoughts are ever with you, why should I not
put them on paper? Why should I not express to you
the heartfelt satisfaction whh. your letter afforded me?
I did not need it, my dear H., tho' you seemed to think
I did, to convince me that you had no intention of re
maining in Calcutta. . . . Your promise not to form
engagements of any nature to induce your return there,
I shall confide in entirely, and if you should again feel
it necessary to leave me, I must submit, and will try to
do it as well as I can, but I cannot promise much heroism
on this point; it is the one that touches my happiness so
essentially I dare not promise. ... I shall communicate
what you say to Frank — to Pat I have already shown
your letter, but as some one came in while he was reading
it, he made no remark upon it. Our children continue
as you left them very well — they have thought of you
as much as we could expect them to — Betty1 has re
peatedly called for "Papa to play more, run Beppa" —
and when we told her you were gone, called for "papa
come again, play Beppa." She and Hal2 have got a
notion of kissing your picture, but Mr. Hal is not in
clined to use it as Mary used to do for a father-confessor.
I have proposed it to him but he constantly says no —
I suppose he does not like to have his sins brought thus
before him. I shall continue as far as possible to hold
up your good opinion as a stimulus to him, and was very
glad this morning, to find that the fear of my writing
you word he breakfasted in the closet influenced him to
xAunt Lizzie Ware, born April 2, 1819.
2 Uncle Harry Lee, born September 2, 1817.

LETTERS, 1817-1829 [231

stop crying. Betty says I must tell you she did not "get
up arms" — she means this morn'g I walked with her
quite to the bottom of Beacon St. and home without
taking her up. We had Mary and Hal and half a dozen
more to amuse her or I should not have got on so well.
You will be glad to find I make so good a beginning.
Wed'y mg. nth — I was interrupted yesterday by Mr.
Channing (William), who had picked up a little boy in
the street that had lost his way, and came in here with
him to see if I could help him to find it — while he was
sitting here, whh. he did some time, he asked me whether
during your stay in India, you paid any attention to the
progress of the missionaries, and what your opinion was
of their usefulness. I gave it to him and found that
his was much the same. He says civilization and ele
vation of mind is the only thing from whh. any hope
can be derived. He then gave me some account of the
late improvement in the Sandwich Islands, which he at
tributes entirely to the influence of the Chief or King,
who was a man of very wonderful powers of mind. He
says the account given by the missionaries leaves one to
suppose that this effect was produced by a miraculous in
terposition of Providence, tho' he does not mean to say
that they intended to do so. ... If I am incoherent,
my dear H., you must set it down to Miss Betty's account,
for she is full of talk upon every subject that comes
under her observation, and continually calling my atten
tion. We have had another walk this morning. I hope I
shall persevere, but do not much expect to. Mary was quite
affected and much delighted with your letter to her. . . .
This is the 8th day since you left me — it seems much
longer. I have behaved very well, any one would tell
you who was just to my merit. I hope you have held
up as well as you promised — only do not let your busi
ness engross every thought, and I shall be content, nay

232] HENRY AND MARY LEE
grateful, that you have something which can draw you
off from unpleasant reflections. But your family, and
still more your God, have claims to some of your thoughts
and you will give them I doubt not. I mean to drink tea
with Father this afternoon, have not been in since you
went away — indeed I have not yet been out of an eve'ng.
Frank and Fred1 were here Sunday, which prevented
our attending the summons on that eve'ng. We have
had one or two visits from the Judge and the Doctor,
Joe, Tom, Pat — you must rejoice that I am thus sur
rounded by such thoughtful friends. What weather you
have had, my husband — we have rejoiced in it I assure you
most heartily — and tho' we cannot tell exactly what you
have had by what we have, it has some influence upon one's
feelings to see such a bright sky. Harriet and Sally
[Gardner] join in love to you and good wishes. Joseph
says I must look for you ioth April, 1822 — I like to
have people fix a day on such occasions. He seemed to
think you had gone off in famous order as he said, and
with the best crew that ever sailed out of the port, I
hope it may prove so. Adieu, as ever y'r M. Lee.
Boston, 27th April, 1821.
. . . Tom has been passing two or three hours with
us this evening, and has been very agreeable. I have
only to lament on such occasions my own want of re
source, which obliges me often to discussion of indi
vidual character for want of conversation of a more
elevated nature.
We expected the clan, but there seemed to be quite
an indisposition for a meeting, and they did not come.
I lamented this the less, as Charles is absent on a Cir
cuit, and if we could have our Sunday evening quiet,
*Our Great-Uncle Frank Lee, and Cousin Frederick Cabot,
who were then in business together as merchants.

 LETTERS, 181 7-1829  [233
I should be in favor of breaking up the habit of meet
ing on that evening, but this seems out of the question.
Of the four Sunday evenings since you left, two have been
devoted to company, and once we went out and carried
our company with us. By company, I mean Frank, Tom,
Fred, and so on. We have, however, had some other
visitors since you left me, such as D. L. Pickman, Mr.
Curson, George Searle, S. Swett, and others not im
mediately attached to the clan.
... 1st May. I have been again obliged to lay aside my
pen, but could not regret the interruption. The visitor was
Mr. J. Lowell, and the only thing that prevented the
full enjoyment of his visit was Harriet being stretched
on the bed with a most severe headache, and thus being
deprived of what she would have so much liked. How
ever, I was so good a listener that I detained him nearly
two hours, and most of the time engrossed in very in
teresting conversation, but I must not suffer myself to
detail it now, for, being May Day, we were all roused
by five this morning, and as it has been very hot, I feel
somewhat exhausted, and ought to go to bed. There
fore, I must say to you, Good Night, wishing most
earnestly, as the children do when kissing your picture,
that real Papa was here. I will just say one word more.
Betty, this morning at breakfast, from some circum
stance which recalled you to her at the moment, said,
"Papa away, Papa sea, Pa come again, walk Beppa."
And Hal immediately said, "Pa is naughty to go away."
I told him "No, you were not naughty, you went to get
money to buy us bread and meat," which satisfied him,
and he determined when you returned that he would go
to market. . . . Now all this looks very silly in detail,
but it passed very quickly and discovered great quickness
of apprehension, I assure you, in them.

234] HENRY AND MARY LEE

Thursday Evening.
Dear H.,
You will have a most uninteresting, stupid letter, I
fear, if I cannot get a little more animation, wisdom,
or something else into my brain. I thought, while talk
ing with Mr. Lowell the other evening, that I should
have an unexhausted fund for you, but upon retrospection,
I do not find much, and so it must always be when the
conversation is, as in this case, an expression of feeling
and sentiments which do honor to our nature, but which
lose half their charm when repeated; and, indeed, the
effect is quite different when one witnesses the animation
which, as you know, never forsakes Mr. Lowell. We
had some discussion of character, for even with him
I insensibly fall into it, but we discussed with a charitable
spirit, and in most cases without censure.
The Doctor and wife, Pat and wife, Harriet, and
all the world have gone to pay their respects to the two
brides at Mrs. Boott's tonight. Harriet has not re
turned, for she had a card for this evening from the
Miss Inches, and as one dressing would answer for both
visits, she accepted it.
Molly had her long-talked-of party yesterday, and she
really behaved extremely well; indeed, so did they all.
There were thirteen in all, and we got through the
afternoon very pleasantly.
I have been this morning with Harriet to Mr. John
Lowell's,1 for besides the delightful visit I mentioned
above, he, the next day, sent us an immense Bouquet of
flowers and two very valuable plants in pots. He had
never before known that we cared anything about them.
They move into the Country tomorrow, and I was not
willing they should go without some acknowledgment
1 Mr. Lowell was the first person in the United States to build
extensive green-houses on a scientific plan.

LETTERS, 1 8 1 7-1 829 [235
from me of the obligation. To such a man as he, I
love to feel under an obligation, particularly as I know
the interest he feels in us is in some sort an inheritance
from our father [Jonathan Jackson] whom he loved
most tenderly. It is one month today since you left me,
dearest H., and it certainly appears six. Thus it is
always with me, and I can only account for it by sup
posing that it is because I dwell so much upon it and
date everything from it.
I shall send you a letter from James and I have
challenged John Lee to write you, for I want to have
something in my packet that may excite a smile, and
I am sure my own letters will not have that tendency.
. . . You will be thankful to hear that your father is
entirely engrossed with the finishing of our house [in
Bedford Place]. On Friday it rained all day, and I
was every moment expecting him in, as he has been in
the habit of coming of late in dull weather, but I found
upon inquiry that he passed the whole day in our cellar
directing about the flagging, etc., etc. Our paint may
be a little darker than the precise shade we desire in
consequence of his superintendence, but of what im
portance is this compared to the benefit it has been to
him at this time. [Mrs. Joseph Lee had died 4 Decem
ber, 1820.]
. . . The clan are as usual — some planning journeys —
and others adhering with the greatest tenacity to their own
firesides. Charles's wife has been a little indisposed the
last few days, but excepting her. all, even to the young
est child, have been well since you left home, I believe.
Charles himself is talking of a little excursion to New
Bedford, etc. Harriet was to have gone, but, from a
variety of causes, the ladies have all fallen off, and she,
of course, does not want to go alone with a party of
gentlemen.

236] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
We are beginning to have fine weather now, except
ing the east wind, which will come up every day to chill
us. I walk often with the children. Hal has once or
twice troubled me by running off, and Betty wants to
get up in my arms, but on the whole, they behave pretty
well, and sometimes I have the hope that they may
overcome the Orne or Jackson, or whatever other name
we may choose to give to their irritability, by the time they
are twenty-one, should they live so long. You said I
should not feel your loss on their account, but I do, I
can assure you, both for correction and amusement. They
pined for the latter the first few days. Little Betty has
just come down from her nap. I ask her what I shall
say to Papa. She says, "Kiss Beppa."
My father has saved you a file of the Daily Adver
tiser. Frank is to inquire about the North American
[Review], for I do not know whether you finally got
the whole of the numbers. I shall send Kenilworth over,
so that Mr. Stark may read it on the voyage, if he likes.
You must not attempt to read Kenilworth while you are
busy. It would interest even you too much for that.
I think the author's knowledge of the human character
is as powerfully displayed in this last effort of his genius,
as in any he has ever given to the public. Some of the
characters have, to be sure, rather too dark shades for
us to be willing to consider them true to nature, but the
wise people say we must acknowledge even Varney's as
not too highly coloured. Such men have been, they say.
The day has been a long and fatiguing one. Frederick
has been in this evening, and my eyes will not suffer
me to say anything more, dear H., but Good Night.
Adieu. I am to be employed tomorrow making Hal's
new clothes. He is much pleased with the idea of being
made a big boy, which he fully expects his boy's dress
will make him.

LETTERS, 181 7-1829 [237
Thursday Evening.
Yesterday I had not one moment for you. I was
employed, as I hinted I should be, a part of the day.
Had a great many visitors, such as Catherine Eliot,
who made us her last visit before her marriage [to the
Rev. Andrews Norton], Fanny Searle, Margaret Curson,
Mr. Higginson, Martha, Mrs. Sam Appleton, and Mrs.
Prescott with her sister, Mrs. Webster.
I wasted an hour or two of yesterday deciding upon
a paper for our rooms, for my father came up quite
in a hurry at noon, and told me the painter said they
could not be painted to look well because they were not
properly smoothed. Father was quite delighted with
this, as he has never wanted them painted, and rather
pushed me into a decision at once. Of course, I went
about the business immediately, but it was trouble for
nothing, for the Judge has seen Gray today, who says
if they are not properly done, they shall be, cost what
it will. We are drawing to a close pretty fast, and
shall be in in four weeks from now, I think.
Catherine Eliot is to be married on Monday, and
goes off immediately on a journey. Ticknor and Anna,
[Mr. and Mrs. George Ticknor, sister and brother-in-
law of Catherine Eliot], Lucy Searle, and Elizabeth
Higginson are to accompany them, and Lake George is
their object. A pleasant prospect, you will say, and so
it most certainly is. I hope her life may prove as peace
ful and happy as it now promises, and as she (if any
mortal can be said to) deserves it should. I can see
no cloud in her horizon, except the apprehension of her
health being delicate.
. . . Frank has undertaken to see about the North
American Review, and I fear may not remember it.
I shall send to him tomorrow, if I do not see him. I
shall send Kenilworth and the little pamphlet which I

238] HENRY AND MARY LEE

mentioned (the sermon), and that is all I can collect.
I think you had the Edinburgh before you went away,
and if not, you will get it in Calcutta sooner than I can
send it to you. I hope you will like the sermon. I
think it one of his best, but do not expect you to rank
it with the one you so much liked and wished for, about
the "easily besetting sin."
I was at Patrick's last night, the first time since you
went away. The Doctor and wife were there. Father
has been in here two or three times today. He came
in the morning to bring the papers for you which you
will see bear marks of his folding. He is very well. I
am going to dine with him tomorrow. He has asked me
so often I thought I would go, though I should rather
it were any other day. I enclose a piece of paper which
Hal has scribbled all over, folded, sealed, and directed
for a letter to you. He says he has told you that he
is sometimes good, and sometimes naughty, and this
is a pretty fair statement of the case. Adieu, dearest
H., may Heaven bless you and all your wishes.
Your M. Lee.
P.S. Theodore Lyman is married. Catherine Eliot
is to be married Monday night.
Boston, Sunday, 20th May, 1821.
I despatched one packet of letters to Stark last night —
but Frank tells me he shall be sending by another con
veyance, and I must give him one sheet for you, dearest,
or you will think there is quite a desertion from my
loyalty to my liege. ... As this may reach you before
the other let me commence with telling you that we
all remain much as you left us. Our children are well
and as to behavior much as when you were with them,
except that they feel the want of your frolic and exer-

LETTERS, 1817-1829 [239

cise with them, for no one can take your place in that
way, and I fear Mr. Hal sometimes suffers for want
of your prompt correction — I always am inclined to the
lenient system till he provokes me and then perhaps I
am too quick. He has appeared today for the first
time in his boy's dress, and much strutting we have
had, I assure you — I thought it had a good effect in keep
ing him still at church, but for the rest of the day I
cannot say much. I hope his own reason, aided by my
judicious correction, will enable him to gain some con
trol over his sclfwill before your return. M. has written
you a long account of her progress at school whh. you
will be pleased with, I think. She has really made great
efforts and successful ones of late. Little "Beppa," as
she calls herself, constantly answers, "kiss Papa," when
I ask her what I shall tell you for her. She has not
gained much since you left us — I intend to keep her out
even more than I now do as the weather becomes more
settled, and preserve a pretty strict regime in her diet.
I hope to give her more vigor, and as there is no ap
pearance of positive ill health, have no doubt by attention
to confirm her in strength. She becomes more interest
ing every day, undertakes to talk sometimes now, I as
sure you, and is as angry as any of them if we do not
understand her. . . . Frank begs me to tell you the news,'
but he could not have given the commission to any one
less capable of it. To repeat Theodore Lyman's mar
riage is pretty dry — Joseph Lee, Mary Lyman, and
Nancy Pratt have gone on to Providence to meet the
bride. . . . We have heard the Pres't all day — in the
morn'g a beautiful sermon on the seasons. This after
noon one of a different, and as I should say, higher cast.
I enjoyed it the more I thought for having read it,
just before I went to church. It was one of a number
which Ann Storrow has lately loaned us. I have copied

240] HENRY AND MARY LEE
one of them for you whh. is the one I allude to above —
I think I shall not send it till Newton goes, when per
haps I shall add another — I feel some twinges of con
science at sending anything so precious so far off, but
trust you will give such directions that should they ar
rive after you left, they would be returned in safety to
us. The Pres't dwelt at rather more length than I
thought judicious in his prayer upon the death of Mr.
B., which you will see announced in the paper of yester
day. It was somewhat sudden and so far ought to have
been noticed, . . . but he could hardly have said more
had he been such a man as Uncle Cabot. Uncle has
had one of the extreme tedious colds that have pre
vailed very much this spring, and he finds it hard to get
over it — this is the third Sunday he has been absent from
church. Uncle John is much as he has been. Our father
continues firm as possible, much engrossed in the houses
— ours is going on rapidly now, will be ready for
us in about four weeks, I think, when I shall very gladly
move. We have had a clan meeting tonight, and more
agreeable than usual — Tom and Frank both there, and
they serve to rouse the gentlemen to a little more ani
mated conversation. Patrick was not very bright; he has
had a cold attended with Rheumatism of late and really
looked quite grave, so unusual a thing with him of late
that it excites remark. Good night, I suppose I shall
be silly enough to add a little more in the morning; till
then adieu, dear H.
. . . Monday, 21st May. Harriet (who has been dis
appointed of a little ride to New Bedford, etc., with the
Judge last week) goes tomorrow to Cambridge for a
few days, and next week to Newbury to make her long-
talked-of visit. As S. J. Gardner is at Beverly, I have
engaged Fanny Searle to pass the nights with me. In
the day I am so occupied I should hardly feel solitary,

 LETTERS, 181 7-1829  [241
but want a companion after the children have gone to
bed. You must always think of me as well and cheerful,
indeed I have no doubt you do, as this is your habit.
I do not and would not feel insensible to the loss of
your society — that is a degree of stoicism I never wish
to arrive at, but I must acknowledge that I am more
cheerful under it than I could possibly have expected
to be. The difference in my cares, amusements, and oc
cupations, owing to the situation and size of my family,
is very great between now and the former period of
your absence. You must not take an ungenerous ad
vantage of this acknowledgment, dear H., and let it
make you feel easier to leave me again — for I never can
think of it but as a great evil, and have only cause to
be thankful that I do not suffer as keenly as before.
This is in part I have no doubt owing to the sensibility
becoming less poignant after frequent trials, and I wish I
could believe a little more self control being acquired, but
of this I cannot flatter myself. I dined yesterday at your
father's with J. H. Cabot and Frank. He has seemed
to desire me to fill your place at the table ever since your
absence, but I do not much like to go out on Sunday
and have hitherto resisted — I shall do it, however, if he
makes much point of it. . . . Return to the circle, dear
H., as soon as possible and receive and yield your due
portion of enjoyment to the common Stock — Adieu once
more, yr. M. Lee. Boston, 23rd May, 1821.
... I am quite alone for a few days. Harriet is at
Cambridge and Sally Gardner at Beverly. I have Fanny
Searle to pass the evenings and nights, which is a very
great pleasure, it is so long since I have been with her
in this quiet way. I have written so much at length
before, this will be quite enough. The clan are all
well. I do long for the time to arrive when I shall

242] HENRY AND MARY LEE
see under your own hand and seal that you are well and
doing well. Adieu, dearest, make all the haste you can
to get through your business and return to your im
patient M. Lee. Boston, ioth June, 1821.
Now, my dear husband, the opportunities all come
together and a little earlier than I could wish. Goodwin
and Newton both calculate to be off in a week from to
day, or earlier. As Goodwin will be with you first, I
shall by him write the longest letter and everything I
can collect for you. It will be just too early for the
North American, and I fear I shall not even get another
of Scott's volumes, and do not know anything there is
worth sending. Betsy Cabot, who has been drinking
tea with me, says the last Quarterly is quite entertaining,
but you will undoubtedly have that as early as I could
send it to you. I do not feel as if you would want any
thing or would attend to anything while engaged in your
business on shore, for I too well know the overpowering
influence that has, but when on your passage, you will
feel the want of some interesting books.
. . . But I am wasting a deal of paper before I have
told you that our children and friends are well, the thing
most important to your happiness to know, and with
which I ought always to commence my letters, lest I
should get engrossed by something else and keep you in
a state of uncertainty. However, you may generally
feel easy if I do not say immediately that I have some
cause of anxiety. As I choose to adhere to my old
principle of telling you all, I shall mention an incident
that occurred to Hal, which I had half a mind not to. —
By this, I mean, Hal has had a half needle in his leg,
and I had the pleasure of seeing Warren1 cut it out : this
was, to Be sure, rather formidable, but I had fortunately
1 Dr. John Collins Warren.

LETTERS, 1 817-1829 [243

not a moment to think about it, and as there was no
doubt of the necessity of the case, I sat down without
hesitation and behaved, I assure you, with great firmness.
James was for sending me off, but I told him "No, if
the thing must be done, I must see it," and I assure you
it was not half as bad as I expected. Hal screamed
pretty loud, to be sure, but he made no resistance. James
took him in his lap, I held his hands, which he did not
even attempt to get away. This occurred on Sunday,
and Tuesday he went to school again, so that you will
see it was nothing very serious except the cutting. I
was rather glad Harriet and Sally were both absent,
so that I had no one to rest upon. I like to know what
I can do, and I am sure I was most happy that you, my
dearest, were not present : your feelings are quicker than
mine, and you would have suffered more.
I have been at home a great deal of evenings since
you went away, but very seldom alone. Your father
comes in very often, for which I am very thankful, on
his account, as well as my own. The time does and
must hang heavily upon him in these long days. He
employs himself as much as he can about the houses,
but with all his hurry, we shall not get in until the
very last of this, or the very first of next month. He
seems to try to interest himself in me and the children
as much as he can, but the little curmudgeons resist him
with the most determined coldness unless he brings a
passport to their favor of apples or cake. I cannot
tell what this arises from in our children, and sometimes
fear that it is a real want of affectionate feeling: I hope
not, I am sure. Joseph, in some of his late visits, seems
to have gained some ascendency over Mr. Hal, but it
requires a great deal of coaxing, and more than any of
them but Frank are willing to practice. Frank is almost
always welcomed by them, and Hal frequently proposes

244]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
putting a saddle on his legs as you sometimes let him,
and riding him. He has been somewhat wilful of late,
and I am obliged to contend for my authority. Be as
sured, however, I will not wholly relinquish it, and will
keep the reins in my hands, at least until you return.
Elizabeth is beginning the same troublesome course, but
does, I think, yield quicker. She is a dear little thing.
Mary begged me to leave the account of Hal's needle
to her, but I was afraid she might not give so clear a
statement, and therefore told her I must just mention
it myself. She has got the first prize for good conduct
this month, and I hope some others.
Hal has just come in from school. I told him I was
writing you and that Elizabeth would send you nothing
but a kiss, and asked if he had nothing more. He looked
up with one of his most pleasant smiles and said, "I love
Papa." Betty immediately echoed him and said, "I love
Papa." The little creatures will not think quite so
much about you as I want them to, but as much as I
ought to expect, perhaps. Sometimes they speak of you,
when nothing particularly leads to the recollection of
you, and this pleases me.
I never saw so little of my own family as this summer.
We none of us visit much in the day, you know, and I
have not joined their evening parties much. Last week
I went into Pat's one evening, and we accidentally as
sembled quite a party. It was very pleasant.
What an infinite variety of character there is in this
world! I have been extremely amused at remarking
the difference between Nancy Bromfield and Harriet,
as exhibited in Harriet's late visit there. — Perhaps there
are no two individuals who more remarkably differ than
these two, Harriet ever having kept in check all symp
toms of enthusiasm and, I may almost say, tenderness
of feeling, while Nancy has cultivated it to the extent

 LETTERS, 1 817-1829  [245
it would go. Each, I think, is wrong: a medium in
this as in everything is better. There is much pleasure
to be derived from the encouragement (I will not say
cultivation) of our tender affections, and no harm comes
of it, when it is united with good principle.
I have had more than half a mind to send you some
thing nice by Goodwin, as I have so good a chance, but
I can think of nothing that would do. Preserves of any
kind would not keep, put up at this season, neither would
butter, and I think gingerbread would become soft.
Plum Pudding is the only thing that would keep tolerably,
and that would only make you sick, I am sure.
You have now accomplished more than half your voy
age, I think. How much I should like to know if you
find everything you want at the top of your trunk. I hope
you will keep something of a journal, else I shall never
know how all these things are.
Mrs. Lyman has made less noise in the great world
than you would expect, partly from the season, partly
that, either from decorum or really good feeling, she has
chosen to refuse all invitations on account of the family
being in black at this time. Joseph acted as groomsman.
He seems to like her, but is not fascinated, as he is
wont to be with a fine woman, who is something new
withal. I have heard but little of her lately, but that
is more proof of my obscurity than her want of celebrity.
. . . You will find some odd papers tucked into your
file. In one of them, the Western Messenger, there are
some remarks about the theatre and Kean, which we at
tribute to Mr. Lowell. I thought you would like to
read it. The Antiquary I leave open for Goodwin.
Adieu. We are all well and tranquil at this time. Return
well and happy, and thus restore the happiness of your
M. Lee.

246] HENRY AND MARY LEE
To Henry Lee from his daughter, Mary Cabot Lee
Boston, June 13th, 1821.
My Dear Papa,
How do you do? I hope you are well. As Mr.
Goodwin and Mr. Newton are so kind as to take letters,
I take this opportunity to write you by Mr. Goodwin,
as Mr. Newton is going first to Madras. We have had
a vacation, and I have had a very pleasant one indeed. I
have been to Newton, Neponset, and Billings; I went out
with Uncle Charles and his family. Harry fell down
and broke part of a needle into his leg, but it has got
well now, for we had Dr. Warren to take it out; he
behaved very well indeed at the time, but he cried a
great deal afterwards. Aunt Harriet has been to New
buryport to stay a fortnight, and she came home last
night with Mrs. Eliot. Cousin Sally has been gone, too,
almost ever since you went away, but we expect her next
week. Mr. Coleman has got a new sort of certificate, which
he likes much better than he did the other kind. I have
got the premium for good conduct, but I do not know
about my studies, but if I can find out I will, and let
you know. I asked Mr. Coleman about the premiums
and he said that I had got the first in studies, too. He
gave me Miss Aikin's Poetry. Your most affectionate
and dutiful daughter Mary C. Lee.
This is what Mr. Coleman put in my book:
Mary C. Lee. One of the first premiums for excellence
in conduct and attention to her studies. H. C.

 LETTERS, 1817-1829  [247
From Mary Lee
Boston, Wednesday, 20th June, 1821.
I was interrupted yesterday by Frank, who came to
ask us to go down and see the new road.1
. . . Mary thinks she has nothing to say, and therefore
will not write you. I think if the vessel is detained,
she will. She lost some numbers yesterday in Latin,
which makes her more indifferent about writing. Mrs.
Newton will tell you that Harry said in answer to her
question of what she should tell you for him, "Tell him
I want him to come home. He must come home." Little
Beppa was asleep, which I was sorry for, but I can
tell you she is very well indeed now, much better than
a few weeks since, when I mentioned her to you. She has
astonishingly improved in talking the last few weeks.
Harriet was very much struck with it after being absent
from her some time. She is a dear little creature.
I was very much pleased with Ozias Goodwin's call
ing here on his way down to the vessel, that he might
give you the latest account of me he could.
Father has not seemed quite so well lately, I mean in
spirits. The occupation about the houses begins to tire,
and he seems indeed to have very little to interest him
pleasantly. George has gone to Sandwich, and I do feel
Father's solitude very much. I shall go in tonight if I
can. Thursday, 21st.
Mr. Cleveland, who just called here for Martha Hig
ginson, tells me Newton intends to go tomorrow. I
shall send a regular file of the Daily Advertiser and a
bundle of Palladiums, etc., that I think will afford you
quite as much pleasure, some of quite late dates.
JThe Mill Dam, which was completed in June, 1821. On
July 4th, 1 82 1, Gen. Sumner, with a cavalcade of a hundred
persons, rode over it.

248]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
That all the clan are in usual health, you will be most
glad to know. And now, my dear H., if I could make
you present with our children in one of their happiest
moments, take, for instance, that when Hal has just
got in from school, and they are eating their apples,
I should be most happy to do it, but as I am not good at
animated description you must imagine their happy faces
and little Betty calling for " 'ittle piece more, Mama,
'ittle piece more," until she sees that it is a hopeless case.
I am going to take them up to Sally Lowell's this after
noon to see her little bird, a promise of long standing.
Boston, 22d June, 1821.
I have just returned from Patrick's, where, through
the exertions of Harriet, we have had a full meeting. She
has some apprehension that the clan intend dissolving
their connection, and now and then goes around to drum
them up to a little exertion in this way. I might as well
have been alone with Tom, for he has kept my attention
exclusively to himself. He is full of wonder at this
connection of — 's, which he fails not to testify in his
usual satirical way. All he says is just, but I have got
a sad trick of opposing him. — I always feel as if he
thought his own opinion was so much wiser, better, and
more just than others, that I like to let him know that oth
ers do reflect. But it is not worth while to fill my last letter
to you, my dear husband, with cavils against a character,
that in all essentials I know to be so excellent, and which,
in the main, I so well like. It is well you and I under
stand each other, dear H, else you might take offence
at my speaking so freely, as I constantly do, of your
immediate family, but I find the habit grows upon me
of talking to you of whatever interests me at the moment,
or rather what fills my mind, and one thing often thrusts
out another of more consequence.

LETTERS, 1817-1829 [249
... I regretted very much being out today when Mrs.
Theodore Lyman returned Harriet's visit. You will
wonder at this, but I always have a curiosity to see any
one so much talked of.
Once more, Good Night. May Heaven preserve your
health and prosper your undertakings. Rest in the as
surance that all those most important to you are well.
The spirit will not move Molly to write and I will
not force it. Llal is on the other side of the table writ
ing you. He says, "Dear Papa, I want you to come
home. I am going to write you little funny letters. Have
you kept your figs and apples? I want you to come home
and that's all I've got to say — and I love you dearly.
I want you to come home and play with me and Betty.
And bring your figs and apples." I give it to you
exactly as he says, and to please him I shall put the
letter in. The other piece of paper is Betty's letter —
she won't tell me anything she says except "kiss Papa —
I love Papa" — Once more adieu, dear husband, yr.
M. Lee.
Copy of letter from Henry Lee to the Rt. Hon.
William Huskisson1, Secretary of State for the
Colonies, London
_. Boston, 21st December, 1827.
Sir: I take the liberty to forward to Mr. James Mackillop
a copy of a Report drawn up by me in behalf of a
1 William Huskisson (1770-1830), English statesman and fi
nancier. Interested from boyhood in politics from the liberal
point of view, he was also master of the principles of finance. He
was Secretary of the Treasury from 1804-1806. In 1810 his
pamphlet on the currency system confirmed his reputation as
the ablest financier of his time, but his free trade principles did
not accord with those of his party. He took a prominent part
in the corn-law debates of 1814-1815- In 1823 he was returned
by Liverpool as successor to Canning, and as the only man who
could reconcile the Tory merchants to a free trade policy.

250] HENRY AND MARY LEE
Committee, on a question which has for some years been
a source of contention in this country as well as in yours.
It will no doubt strike you with some surprise, to see
a nation which has long flourished under a system of free
trade now adopting one of restrictions and prohibi
tions and at a moment, too, when the only nation to
whom we ought to look for instruction and example, is
abandoning such a policy, after having experienced its
evils; but such is the ignorance and prejudice of the
community on this point, that a class of men few in
number, but wealthy, active & intelligent, have been
able to delude the Government and nation into a course
of measures, extremely burdensome to the nation & en
tirely opposed to the spirit of our institutions. In this
quarter the manufacturing policy is upheld entirely upon
a principle of pecuniary & sectional benefit & the most
intelligent supporters of it do not pretend to have any
better reasons to offer in its favor; still there is a large
party, including some of the most enlightened manufac
turers, who take a more just and liberal view of the
question, and are making a strenuous resistance to it.
The inhabitants of the South, on the other hand, who
would not participate in the benefits of this system of
prohibition & monopoly, are unanimously opposed to it
& with what aid they may derive from the free trade
party in the Northern and Eastern States, may, I hope,
succeed in defeating it, but as yet the result is quite
uncertain. The object of the report is to examine & to refute the
leading arguments & assertions on which the restrictive
party rely to sustain their cause.
The principles on which my arguments rest are familiar
to you, but the report contains many facts & statements
relative to the Commerce of this country that may per
haps be of some interest to you, which offers my only

 LETTERS, 181 7-1829  [251
inducement in calling your attention to it. There is,
however, one other object I have in view, which is to
show the sentiments entertained by the most liberal &
intelligent portion of this nation of your character & con
duct as a statesman, in the very important parts you have
acted for a long course of years.
You will, I have no doubt, be glad to see your name
and authority used in any section of the world, in aiding
to resist those principles which you have been contend
ing against all your life. I hope the day is not far
distant when most of the civilized nations of the world
will see from the successful results of your experiments
how much is to be gained by mutually acting on the just
& liberal principles which you have always advocated.
I have the honor to be Your ob't servant, H. Lee.
Acknowledged Feb. 25, 1828.
Mrs. Lee to Mrs. Thomas Tracy [Ann Bromfield]
at Newburyport
[At this date the children's ages were: Mary, 18;
Harry, 12; Elizabeth, 10; Frank, 5; Harriet, 3. Aunt
Harriet Jackson and Cousin Sally Gardner were then part
of the household.] Boston, 2 1 st June, 1829.
Many times before your mention of it, my dear friend,
I have thought of saying a word to remind you that
although so long neglected, you were by no means for
gotten by me. But as Harriet has told you, I do con
trive to busy myself about many things and am rarely
idle, although from some unfortunate physical or mental
deficiency I effect but little by my constant exertions. This
afternoon I feel more than usually quiet. I decided to
remain at home, as I wanted to attend to Elizabeth,
who has been slightly indisposed and just languid enough

252] HENRY AND MARY LEE
to want amusement without feeling able to seek it for
herself, but she has fallen into a quiet sleep, and Harry
and I are left quite to ourselves, the two younger ones
having gone to Church with their respective nurses. I
dare say you will feel some surprise at this, as you
probably have not kept an exact account of their ages,
but the youngest is past three, an age when children
behave better usually than when a year or two further
on, and when one feels no apprehensions of any injury
arising to them from producing a disgust at going to
Church; therefore, I have no objection to her going.
The other, Frank, I am more doubtful about, and am
sensible that I am taking some risque of injury to him,
while I am indulging myself with an hour of quiet. If
he would incline to reading, hearing reading, studying
little hymns, looking at pictures, drawing on his slate,
or any other quiet amusement, I should take delight in
passing Sunday afternoon with him, but I dare say
Harriet has told you that he has rather a turbulent
spirit, and unless managed with great address, it is but
seldom that he inclines to sitting still long enough to
engage in any of these things, and I must add to this
a want of controul, which renders him often trouble
some. With all this, we call him a nice boy, and I
earnestly hope we may so regulate him as to render the
strong traits of character he discovers, useful to him as
a man. ... I do not hesitate to say, in answer to your
many kind suggestions upon the subject, that I cannot
think of visiting you probably for many years, for as
my children are some of them the children of my old
age, I have still some time to look forward before the
younger ones will be out of leading-strings; but to tell
you the truth (though it perhaps ought to be a secret)
I feel it quite as great an evil to leave the elder ones

 LETTERS, 1 8 1 7-1 829  [253
who are apt to assume controul, as those who are under
the more immediate care and discipline of nurses.
I do feel as if you must be compelled to visit the City
soon, and most heartily do I wish you would. When 1
said something about it the other day, our little Betty
said, "I do wish Mrs. Tracy would come. Do, Ma', write
and ask her to." But I was obliged to remind her, that
although at this moment we had a whole chamber to
offer you (Harriet and Sally and Mary all being absent)
we had not often such a chance. Should it occur again,
I wish it might be, my dear Nancy, that you and Mr.
Tracy would come on for a few days. . . .
You cannot tell how often you have been present with
me during the three past months, when I have frequently
been seated in Mr. Greenwood's room and suffering under
his most ungentle hand. Lie has sliced off my gums, filled
my teeth, etc., etc., to his heart's delight. But I had the
pleasure of having him assure me that it was on the whole
as pretty a piece of work as he ever did, and as this was
assented to at home, it was some compensation for the
suffering. But had I known all I do not think I should
have attempted to renew my youth in this way. I have,
to be sure, been greatly complimented on the improve
ment, and am told by those who speak the truth no doubt
that if I would only give up the glasses, no one would
suspect me of being an old lady. I think you might, per
haps, espy some wrinkles, even if you did not see
the glasses to confirm your belief that I was turned
of forty. As my husband now mounts the glasses, I
do not so much mind my own advance in that way. You
will be glad to hear this good gentleman is very well
just at this time. Perhaps Harriet mentioned to you
his walk from Tewksbury to Charlestown the other day,
and I think he has shown the good effect of that week
in the country ever since.

254] HENRY AND MARY LEE
I hope you have seen Our Village, by Miss Mitford.
Peggy Curson speaks of having it, and although I make
the same objection that she does, that its character is
not quite elevated enough for these days of enlightened
piety, still there is great beauty in style, and I found
myself frequently saying in the few stories I heard from
it, "That would please my friend, Nancy Tracy. I wish
she could read this, etc." But I must say good night,
dear Nancy, after begging you to receive the united re
gards of Mr. L. and myself for your husband, and
kindest love to yourself. From your friend,
M. Lee.
Mary is at Brookline with her Aunt, Mrs. T. Lee,
or she would desire to be remembered.

IX
WALTHAM DAYS
Letters — 1 8 32-1842
— Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures
Whilst the landscape round it measures —
There is no consecutive story of the different decades
at hand to be consulted. Uncle Harry Lee most truly
said to Bessie and me one day, "When I'm gone you'll
none of you know anything!" This was when we had
shown some signal ignorance about our forbears — pos
sibly about the pastel portrait of our great-great-grand
mother, Mrs. Joseph Cabot (Elizabeth Higginson),
which hung on his staircase at Brookline, known in the
family as the common grandmother of Cabots, Lees,
Higginsons, and Jacksons, but it is just as true of our
ignorance of the sequence of quiet events which made
up the daily lives of our families as it was of the indi
viduals who made up the families. In the twenties,
thirties and forties most of the family life centred in
Boston in winter, in Waltham and Brookline in summer,
with kinsfolk and friends still in Newburyport, Salem,
and Roxbury. In Bedford Place, Chauncy Place, Sum
mer Street, and Hamilton Place were the Boston homes
of forty or more years.
It may have been during the late twenties or the early
thirties that Grandfather and Grandmother began to go
to Waltham for some months of each summer, though
not owning a house there.
Grandmother's brothers already made Waltham their
summer home.
Uncle Harry Lee many years later writes, "You know
that my uncles Lowell and Jackson developed Waltham,
and my Uncle Patrick's presence there drew the good
*55

256] HENRY AND MARY LEE
Doctor who created a lovely place, and we were also at
tracted thither for some years. After Mrs. Christopher
Gore's death the wise and good Judge Jackson leased her
place for two or three years."1
Thus the three Jackson brothers and their families,
and my Grandfather and Grandmother, with their
children, were in neighboring homes in Waltham for a
period of very happy years.
Waltham represented to my Mother in her girlhood
a true earthly paradise. The Mall at Uncle James's,
Mr. Lyman's woods where all wild flowers grew,
Prospect Hill, the Trapelo Road, were all familiar
names to us in our childhood, as Mother told us about
them. The many young cousins were constant companions,
and from that companionship sprang life-long friendships.
There were many delightful and interesting people then
living in Waltham, and from letters and traditions we
know that among them was friendship and good company.
My Mother often spoke of Mrs. Samuel Ripley's
warm friendship for my Grandfather and Grandmother.2
With my Grandfather Mrs. Ripley discussed public af-
1 It was at this place, which had belonged to their great-uncle,
Governor Christopher Gore, that my Father and his brothers had
played as little boys, where they remembered Aunt Gore as a
dignified little old lady in a black silk gown, walking in the
sunny garden. Her portrait by Trumbull hangs in our dining-room.
2 The Rev. Samuel Ripley and his wife, Sarah Alden (Brad
ford) Ripley, were living at the parsonage at Waltham at this
time. "Mrs. Ripley combined rare and living knowledge of liter
ature and science with the household skill and habits of personal
labor needful to New England women of limited means, and with
tenderest care for the young brothers and sisters left to her
charge, and for her own seven children. To these duties were
added those of assisting her husband in the cares of a boys' board
ing-school, both in housekeeping and teaching, while at times
she fitted pupils for college, or gave special instruction to sus
pended students. With all the activity of her busy life, the love
and habit of acquiring knowledge kept even pace."

WALTHAM DAYS [257
fairs and questions of social and intellectual interest,
and on summer evenings as he walked home with her
they would often be so interested in their talk that she
would turn back with him, and only would she be left at
her own door at the end of the discussion.
Uncle Harry, in an obituary notice of Mrs. Ripley,
said, with evident reference to the pleasant Waltham
evenings, "A mind alive to all the beauties of art and
science and nature, a heart which warmed to the most
unpromising pupil and kindled at the faintest ray of
hope, naturally craved the company of kindred men and
women of learning and thought, as they delighted in
hers, — this was Mrs. Ripley's true recreation after the
toil and trouble of the day.
"And what pleasant parties used to gather around her
hospitable fireside! What ambrosial nights, fondly re
membered by the privileged persons who enjoyed them
as actors or spectators! There were, probably, books
she had not read, languages and sciences she had not
learned, but she seemed to have explored every region
and to have intuitive ideas on every subject of interest.
"And over all these gifts and acquirements was thrown
a veil of modesty, so close that only by an impulse of
sympathy or enthusiasm was it ever withdrawn ; with sim
plicity equally amusing and touching, she impressed you
so little with her own wonderful powers, and referred
so much to your sayings and doings, that you really went
away wondering at your own brilliancy and doubting how
much you had given, how much received."
Uncle Frank Lee, preparing for college, was one of
Mrs. Ripley's pupils in 1837-8, and some years later
Mother was going to her for daily afternoon lessons,
reading with her Shakespeare's Historical Plays, and
Tacitus. Uncle Harry went to Harvard College in 1832 and

258] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1832
was of the Class of 1836. Grandmother's letters to
him as a student, carefully preserved, betoken a very
close tie between her and her children. They seem
like the threads and tendrils which bind life together,
and show in how many quiet ways she guided their be
haviour and tried to make them good, well and happy.
If the letters were quoted in full they would also show
with what confidence in mutual understanding she fear
lessly spoke out when she disapproved of word or
behaviour.
Mrs. Lee to Henry Lee, student of Harvard University
Boston, 3rd Aug., 1832.
My dear Son,
Supposing you to be on your way to Gardiner today,
I write thinking it will be the last time I shall know
where to direct to you, and altho' I know letters from
home are not so important to men, as women, still I
thought you would not dislike to hear what a nice quiet
time we have at home, with our two eldest and one
youngest hope absent. You cannot imagine how droll
it seems. We sit down to a small table at breakfast and
tea with only five around it, and Frank being left as
it were to himself is so quiet and calm as hardly to re
mind us he is here. Today we are going on an excursion
to Uncle Charles's and James's, and shall look out on
the way to see if we can secure any lodgings in case of
the approaching enemy [the cholera]. The report from
Providence of four persons having died there hastens us
to this movement, that we may be spared any unnecessary
inconvenience, and we decided that going to your Uncle
James's farmhouse would be attended with very great
trouble. . . . Betty has no message, Frank only gave some
boasting one about his swimming which I have forgotten.

1832]  WALTHAM DAYS  [259
I have no news and therefore can only say I am your
affectionate mother, M. Lee.
I shall really expect to hear from you either direct
from yourself or through Cambridge occasionally.
My dear Hal,
Your Mother certainly grows forgetful. I intended
you should have had your fire apparatus yesterday but
it escaped me. You must pin a memorandum on the top
of some of your clothes if you want anything more than
usual. Mary sends you some peaches which arrived last
night from New York; part of them got here in fine
order, but part were almost entirely spoiled — however,
she would have sent more to you if I had not been afraid
and I do beg of you to eat with the greatest caution, not
in the evening, I think. Of course you will eat the
ripest first. Let me see you tomorrow if the weather
is good enough. Mary is pretty well. Yr. afft. Mother.
Oct. 7, 1832.
I hope you will find all you want, my dear Hal. I
send a small pitcher that you may be accommodated with
water for drinking in a vessel according to your taste.
Shall you come in on Saturday? If you do not, pass
me a line by any opportunity to say how the world goes
with you, what you want, etc. I shd. be very glad to see
you, but the time is so short for Waltham I did not know
but you would prefer going there or to Uncle Charles
or Uncle George. Your Father wishes you to send or
carry the letter to Mr. Newell. We are all well. Frank
says Tell him to come home to mend my truck. Hat.
says she has nothing to say, and Betty don't know of
anything. Your afft. Mother, M. Lee.

260] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1832
My dear H.,
I cannot yet tell you the precise hour, but you will
probably know before night; at any rate I think you had
better take your name out at as early an hour as you can
with propriety, and come in for the day. Do come, my
dear son, with a determination to be pleased and to
please others. Yr. afft. Mother.
Wedy. morning, 31 Octr. The hour is half past ten.
Nov. 17, 1832.
My dear H.,
I enclose you two notes of invitation which you will
of course feel it expedient to decline, as it is only upon
extraordinary occasions you would think of going to
parties, I presume. I shall endeavor to get them out to
you today, that you may have an opportunity of answer
ing them in season, but if I cannot, will let E. decline
Miss Dorsey's for you, and the other you can apologize
if you chuse for the detention. Yr. afft. Mother, M. Lee.
Dec, 1832.
Dear Hal,
I send the cloth for your table without hemming, be
cause if it does not suit I can return it. I should not
consider that it did not suit because a little longer than
necessary, as that is a good fault, and I was tempted to
take it even thinking it was so, because a great deal hand
somer than any other I could get at the price. If this
does not suit, however, either your table or your taste,
as well as one of the checked, or a blue, I wish you
would send me by the first chance the measure exactly of
the table and I will get another. I cannot recollect that
you desired to have your flute put in the bundle, but as

1832]  WALTHAM DAYS  [261
I think it will go very safely, shall venture to send it.
You will also find wrapped in one of your towels a Bible.
I intended you should have taken one with you when you
went to Cambridge, and have been rather troubled that
I did not get it then. I believe I was a little influenced
by the apprehension that if I did give it you, it would
remain a dead letter to you, and that you would think it
was a matter of course for me as a mother to give it in
parting from you for the first time, and as much a matter
of course for you to let it lay neglected on your shelf.
[Here part of the letter is torn off, leaving only half
sentences about reading the Bible.] Do not say and
do not feel that Mother is always preaching — but I do
think, my boy, that from the apprehension of making
Sunday a tedious day to you all, and also from an in
ability to do for you all that I wished in the way of
religious instruction, I have been too inattentive to it,
and that you must yourself supply the deficiency, and I
would give you all the facilities I can to help you on in
the good work. I feel the same for Mary and Eliza
beth; the former is of course now beyond any controul of
mine, except the influence of my opinion, but for you and
E. I still may have it in my power to do something, and
if I can find you cultivating the kind and benevolent
affections, and gaining a controul over the passions which
are so apt to controul us, I shall feel that you have begun
a good work in which you must improve.
I think we certainly shall not go to your Uncle
George's until Saturday. I do not see why you should
not come in as early as you can Saturday morning and
dine with us and we will take you out — only do not bring
any of your friends on that day. If you do not come
in, we shall call for you soon after three o'clock.
Good bye, my boy, Mother.

262]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1836
[From the time of Aunt Mary's marriage to Uncle
George Higginson on 1 November, 1832, they lived in
New York at 67 Amity Street, for a number of years,
and there their three older sons were born (George,
6 August, 1833; Henry Lee, 18 November, 1834; James
Jackson, 19 June, 1836). There are many letters of
Grandmother's to Aunt Mary remaining, lovingly kept
and reread by Cousin Molly Blake : a few only are given
here. They are delightful narrative letters of family
doings: in various passages they show that the domestic
service question was one to be as delicately handled as
today.] Mrs. Lee to Mrs. George Lligginson
Boston, March 22, 1836.
Dear M.,
I have thought your husband's letters would be all-
sufficient and have not, therefore, made the effort to
write you the past week — and an effort I am sorry to
say it is to me of late. I often see things and often do
things whh. I wish to tell you, but when I take the pen
everything but cooks, etc., etc., vanishes from my mind,
and I am at the end of my paper before I think of it.
This morning I was at Colonel Perkins, and for a
rare chance was admitted. We found Mrs. Perkins sur
rounded by all the elegancies of the East, and the more
refined ones of Europe: two most beautiful paintings
(copies by modern artists) are among the most attrac
tive; some pieces of sculpture are exceedingly delicate
and beautiful; and above all, Mr. Cabot's dear little
baby, fair and lovely as possible [Sarah, later Mrs. An
drew C. Wheelwright]. She is a handsome likeness
of her sister Lizzie1, who is one of the most ladylike and
/This was my Grandmother's future daughter-in-law, Mrs.
Henry Lee, Jr.

1836] WALTHAM DAYS [263
attractive creatures I know of: she (Lizzie) was here
the other evening at a little party of Hatty's, and I dis
tinguished her far above the rest for agreeable manners
and address.
I was also at Mrs. Guild's this morning, where I
found her with her own girls, Anna Dwight, and one
of the Nortons,1 attending to drawing and music under
her eye. She is educating her two very pleasing daugh
ters most judiciously, I suspect, at home. You know
I usually think it best to send them to school, but she
obviates the usual objection, whh. is the fear of their
becoming exclusive in their feelings, by the free inter
course she has with society, receiving company at her
own house on the most easy and familiar terms, and
freely going to others. Your friend, George Bradford,2
is their private tutor this winter, and they like him very
much. . . .
I find your Aunt Harriet and Sally are thinking a
good deal of making you the long-talked-of visit. I
have not before thought it likely they would go and
therefore have said nothing about it, but now your aunt
speaks of it as a thing she really wishes to do, and she
is so well that there is no objection on her account.
1 Dwights, Nortons, Guilds, and Ticknors were all cousins in
the large Eliot family.
2 George Partridge Bradford. "A living portrait" of this
scholar, philosopher, and friend is among Uncle Harry Lee's beauti
ful prose elegies. But a few words are given here. "He was as
much more refreshing than other men as is the living water
gushing from the rock than the same liquid conveyed in a conduit
of men's devising.
"Like Emerson he was so filled with the Holy Ghost, with
love to God and man, that he diffused happiness wherever he
might go." — H. L.

264]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1836
Boston, Tuesday, March 29, 1836.
[After some home details :] I am very glad Susan
[Higginson] is with you. I have been grievously dis
appointed, I acknowledge, to find you and  have so
little free communication and sympathy with each other: I
had hoped and expected otherwise when you went there,
but we do not know how these things will be, and can
do nothing to regulate them for others, whatever we
may for ourselves.
I have myself been so dependent on the friends of
my youth, that I would gladly see my children cultivat
ing the same source of happiness for themselves.
We are and must be dependent creatures while we
remain here, and we must cherish love as the bond of
union. . . .
Well, my dear M., I have at length secured Abby
Hanson to you, and she has discovered very good prin
ciples in holding to her engagement, even after the time
had elapsed which she had agreed to wait your decision.
The fact was that she had an offer from Elizabeth
Lowell [Mrs. John Amory Lowell] to take charge of
her house in town while she was passing the summer
at Nahant; to have two dollars per week, and a com
paratively light duty. She felt strongly impelled to do
this, as she was under obligations to Elizabeth, and had
once before disappointed her; but I left her to her own
decision, only saying that I felt sure I could promise
her the same wages: this responsibility I ventured to
take from what your husband had said to me when he
was here, and also from your father's advice to secure
a good woman on any terms, and a good one, I believe,
she is, though her manners are not exactly what you
would like — but this I consider a trifle. She is not
pleased with the idea of any uncertainty in her work.
. . . She now thinks she should prefer taking the cham-

1 836]  WALTHAM DAYS [265
ber work wholly than to have the arrangement you speak
of, as she says she should never know when her work
was done. . . . The knives and tending we settled about
the other day, and she made no objection to either, ex
cept you had parties.
[Aunt Harriet and Cousin went safely to New York
to make their visit. Uncle Frank Lee was now twelve
years old, and then as always had a deep, adoring affection
for his eldest sister, Aunt Mary.] Boston, 7th April, 1836.
Frank desires me to tell you that he has great hopes
of gaining his rank at school, and thus being entitled
to a visit to you. You understand that he will be with
his father at The Clinton, and he seems to feel quite sure
that he should be able to do very well in finding his way
to and from your house, with the assistance of the
omnibus. I do not expect to feel quite at my ease about him, I
confess, but still shall trust him, I suppose, if he gains
the privilege, as he now expects to. . . . He is so in
telligent and accustomed to taking care of himself, that
I really think no great harm will come to him.
1 8th April, 1836.
You could not but have participated in Frank's delight
ful anticipations had you been here when he first realized
that by his diligence and application he had gained the
reward. The little rascal, after having passed the whole
winter in comparative idleness — that is, getting very low
numbers — worked so assiduously, that he got high num
bers, and a much higher rank than for a very long time
before. I hope Aunt will not think me very indiscreet to let
him go. I feel great confidence in his own care of him
self, and think he will have plenty of amusement.

266] HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1838
Tell Frank we certainly miss him a little, whether for
good or evil he can judge. Lizzie sends him a kiss, and
his Mother would like to see him with his little nephews.

Mrs. Lee to Henry Lee, Jr., who had sailed for
Rio de Janeiro as supercargo
Boston, 20th September, 1838.
Just one week has elapsed since you left us, my dear
Son, and we all agree that it seems not less than a month, —
you may put what construction you please upon this, but
at all events must believe that you are not forgotten.
On Monday, Father announced that he must begin to
write, for a vessel would sail in a day or two, — accord
ingly warning was given to some of your correspondents,
and I trust you will have news, sentiment, and all that
you desire from the various writers.
Sunday p.m. I was interrupted, as often happens,
you know, when writing the other day, and now resume
my pen with the two little boys (Georgie and Henry
Higginson) on one side, building block-houses, and Frank
[Uncle Frank Lee] on the other, getting his Greek
Testament. I mention these facts to excuse any inco
herence or inaccuracy that may occur in my Epistle. This
is the day fixed on to hear of the arrival of the Great
Western — Pat was in to hear if we had heard, saying
there was a report that the Stonington boat saw her
going in.
I think they will be disappointed if she arrives without
Charles, certainly his Mother will. [Cousin Charles
Jackson, son of Uncle Charles and Aunt Fanny.] You
young men become very important when you absent your
selves, I assure you, but perhaps it may be a useful ex
perience to all parties, and we shall learn to value each
other's society better for a temporary separation, and

1838]  WALTHAM DAYS  [267
I will take this opportunity to say (what I intended fully
to say in writing to you, my dear son, before you left me)
that there are so many exciting causes continually
operating in our intercourse with each other at home
that I sometimes fear the irritation produced by this
may lead to a doubt in your mind whether your real good
qualities arc justly appreciated, and I am sorry I al
lowed you to part from me without the assurance whh.
I can truly give you of my entire confidence in your
firmness of principle, and high sense of character, — and
in saying this I have a pleasure whh. you can know
nothing of until you are a parent.
We are all well. Aunt Harriet has been added to our
family the last few days, and Sally came yesterday; they
go to Newburyport tomorrow. This perpetual fluctua
tion in our family circle is somewhat annoying to me,
and I shall be very glad when we are upon the winter
establishment. I persuaded Elizabeth [now nineteen years old] to
accept an invitation from Uncle James yesterday to go
with him to Waltham to pass a week. She objected
because she feared she left me with too much care, as
little George is here now while his Father is in New
York, but I would not listen to this.
Georgie [Higginson] wishes me to tell you that he is
sorry you are gone, and sends you a kiss, and that cer
tainly the first days he was here he was a very good boy,
and he thinks he has been since, but I could not quite say
so, tho' he certainly improves upon acquaintance, and
behaves much better as our constant inmate than when
an occasional visitor. Hen. looked up in his sly
way when I asked what I should say for him, and
said I must tell you he was very glad you had gone, and
gave you a kiss. When I expressed surprise that he
was glad he said, "yes, because Uncle Harry tickled him

268] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1838
so," — he desires me to add that he is a good boy, whh.
you will know how to understand as well as if you were
at home. . . . Frank [Lee] has just completed his own
seal (on the letter he is sending) and is about making
one upon Susan's letter whh. she sent in open that
we might add to it if we wished. I feel as if you would
be rich in letters with two such good correspondents as
Susan and Amelia j1 Pat and Henry Bigelow and Frank
Jackson, too, have all pledged themselves, and your
father says Stephen [Bullard] will give you the news
from the store, while William [Bullard] undoubtedly will
keep you informed as to commercial affairs, of all things
most interesting to you, of course.
I do think of you a great deal with all your new re
sponsibilities. I realize most perfectly how many times
you have repented on your passage having placed your
self in this situation, but if you are tolerably well, you
will do well, I think, and find your strength, mental and
physical, equal to the call upon it. . . .
Uncle George [Lee], when he can spare time from
his peaches, melons, and squashes, feels and expresses
great interest about you ; he is apprehensive that you
have not men enough to work your ship, but I presume
in these days of improvement six men could certainly do
the work of eight of the old ones, and I do not allow
this to trouble me.
Do you know that after you were actually off it oc
curred to me that you had forgotten your mattress, but
I could not believe that it was so, and would not suffer
the apprehension to rest upon my mind.
I hope you found all you really wanted, and if there
are some superfluous articles they will do no harm:
1 Cousin Amelia Holmes, daughter of Judge Jackson, and
Cousin Susan Jackson, daughter of Dr. James Jackson, two
cousins nearly his own age, who were his lifelong friends.

1838] WALTHAM DAYS [269
whenever they trouble you you must remember how much
pleasure I took in preparing them.
I was wondering if you would keep sufficient record
of the passage of time to know when Sunday arrived,
but Father tells me it is always noticed in some way
or other. ... I beg you not to spend much time in writing
me and only give me a few lines now and then, — that
will suffice, especially if I have liberty to hear your
letters to others. Goodnight, my dear son.
Harriet [12 years old] has wanted to write and
thought of it, but dreads your strictures, and Elizabeth
seems to consider it quite out of the question, thinking
it could not be of any use, or give you any pleasure.
You must receive more substantial proofs of E's in
terest than this, and you always will, I doubt not, when
there is occasion. Your affectionate Mother, M. Lee.
Household occupations, sewing and reading aloud,
picking strawberries — making visits of a few days to
friends at no great distance — some horseback riding —
much music and some drawing, seemed to fill girls' lives
happily in those days, yet in a delightful letter written
by Cousin Amelia Holmes to Uncle Harry Lee when
both were about twenty-one, is a passage which seems
to anticipate by many years the very different interests
and occupations of girls today.
Amelia Lee Jackson to Henry Lee, Jr.
Oakwood [Brookline], Sept. 21st, 1838.
. We shall soon be in town and then for parties
and dissipation. For my part I almost dread this winter.
I think a girl's life at my age isn't the most pleasant
by any means ; she is in the most unsettled state : a young
man can occupy himself with his business, and look for-

270]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1838
ward to his life and prospects, but all we have to do is to
pass our time agreeably to ourselves. Not that we have
not enough to occupy ourselves in carrying on our edu
cation, but I think every one likes to feel the necessity
of doing something, and I confess that I have sometimes
wished I could be poor to have the pleasure of exerting
myself. This winter I hope that we shall go to Mrs.
Ripley and pursue our History Course and hear what she
has to say. She has the power of imparting her knowl
edge to others and in the best way. I think it is too much
the way here to study one thing one month and some
thing else the next, and I hope I shall do differently.
But I fear with all my exertions I shall never make a
scholar. I leave that to Marianne1 and Charles. I look
at Marianne as at one no relation to me, when I think of
the powers of her mind, for they are something more
than common. I think she likes to sit and be by her
self rather too much, but I think that will disappear in
time. His old kinswoman, Mrs. Waterhouse, says of Uncle
Harry at a little later date, "Henry Lee, a young rela
tive, made a morning visit; the first time I have seen
him since a little boy running about at my Father's
where he used to come often with his Grandfather
[Joseph Lee, brother of Thomas Lee, father of Mrs.
Waterhouse]. He has passed through college life and
now intends entering into active mercantile life. He
1 Cousin Marianne was Judge Jackson's youngest daughter. She
was very intelligent, a lover of beauty in nature and art, and
much beloved. My Mother said that Cousin Marianne first
taught her to see how beautiful was the tracery of the leafless
boughs in winter— a pen and ink drawing of a lamb, which she
made for the children, recalls Bewick's delightful and living
portraits of animals. She was never strong, and died in 1846,
when her dear namesake, Marian Cabot Jackson, was but a few
weeks old.

1842]  WALTHAM DAYS  [271
is a sensible young man, and I was pleased with him.
He attends too much to Genealogy, a study of little or
no use to an American, or indeed to anybody else."
In spite of this criticism, other passages in her Journal
show that Mrs. Waterhouse herself had much inter
est in genealogy, and a wistful affection for the
old portraits and pieces of furniture which had come
to her by inheritance. She seems to have been a lonely-
hearted woman, eighteen years younger than the gifted
and eccentric Dr. Waterhouse (whose second wife she
was), with no children, and apparently seeing few friends.
Her Journal was evidently a companion to her.
There must have been pleasant gatherings at Grand
father's Waltham home; at all events they remained
delightful memories to my mother. In her sixteen-
year-old diary (1842- 1843), it all sounds pleasant and
happy: — Uncle Harry and Uncle Frank bringing
home friends — the companionship of many cousins —
music in the evenings ; my Mother as she grew into young
girlhood, perhaps the most musical one of the family,
accompanying Uncle Harry for many devoted hours as
he played the flute, or Uncle Frank on his cornet or
French horn, and both her brothers as they sang. Aunt
Mary was music-loving also: many of her music books
and books of Scottish songs are still at 39 Brimmer Street.
My mother's faithful practising when a young girl
brought its reward in her lifelong companionship with
her piano, on which she played for us during all her
long happiness-making life. When Harry, in medical-
student days in Vienna, heard the rich music of the
Italian operas, "Ernani," "Lucrezia," "Lucia di Lam-
mermoor," or the glorious "Don Giovanni" of Mozart
and the "Marriage of Figaro," they were absolutely
familiar to him from my Mother's playing. The volumes
of Beethoven and Mozart were most of all dear to

272] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1842
her, and to the very last her face became young again
as she listened to a Mozart Concerto or Beethoven
Symphony or Sonata at a Symphony Concert.
Whenever during the Waltham years either brother
came in, he usually sat Mother down at the piano (her
own piano, which Cousin Charles Putnam had helped
her to choose), and there was music. "After tea, read
French till 8, when Marianne Jackson, and Mary
and Caty Bigelow came. Caty, Marianne and I
looked over Flaxman's illustrations of Hesiod which
I have just been reading, and then Mary Bigelow played
most delightfully till they went home." On another
evening, "After tea, I finished my work and marked a
towel while Ellen read a Review, and Lizzie and Pat
played a game of chess lasting two hours." "After
breakfast, played over some quadrilles and country-dances
a great while. Then heard Cousin Sally read Mr.
[Horace] Mann's oration till Cousin Mary Lowell came
in, when I came up here, where I have been copying dif
ferent things ever since (dinner time excepted). Played
with Frank on his trombone till tea time. We spent
the evening very pleasantly, sewing and reading aloud."
Throughout the journal Aunt Lizzie's name (or "E.")
occurs on every page, her able help and her judgment
always relied on by all her family, and her companion
ship evidently much sought by the many cousins and by
her brothers' many friends: when one or other of them
came to call, and Aunt Lizzie was not there, Mother
felt quite unsupported: "If E. had been here it would
have been all right." — "Our incomparable Betha,"
Cousin Ellen called her.
Among the friends whom Uncle Harry brought home
were Mr. Waldo Higginson, whom he always called his
Mentor, Mr. Richard Sullivan, Dr. Henry J. Bigelow,
whose sister Mary was a life-long friend of Aunt Lizzie's,

MRS. GEORGE HIGGINSON
(Mary Cabot Lee)
1811-1849

1842.I  WALTHAM DAYS [273
and whose younger sister Caty (Mrs. Francis Park-
man) was one of my mother's dearest friends. The
Minot brothers and sisters were among the group, and
Mary Sohicr (Mrs. Waldo Higginson) especially a
friend of Aunt Lizzie's, and her younger sister Lizzie
(Mrs. Henry Bryant), my Mother's beloved friend,
whose charm and gaiety of heart kept her young in spirit
till the day of her death, but a few years ago. Cousin
Lcvcrctt Saltonstall and his friend, Henry D. Sedgwick,
and Levi and Jonas Thaxter were among Uncle Frank's
friends. During some of these years of the early forties, our
dear Uncle George lligginson and Aunt Mary with
their children were living in Newton in the summer,
within easy driving distance of Waltham, and there was
frequent coming and going between the two houses; "the
little boys, Georgie, Henry and Jem," and also Molly,
often stayed for a few days with Grandmother. "Franky,
(lie dearest little boy," was often at home with Aunt
Mary, who was even then delicate.
Very constant intercourse there was also with Cousin
Frank and Cousin Mary Lowell, and pleasant visits to
the stately Lyman house, then occupied by Mr. and Mrs.
George Lyman and their family; the beautiful Eliza
beth Lyman, later Mrs. Francis Boott, and her brother
George, a lifelong friend of Uncle Frank's, are often
mentioned in the letters and diary.
Uncle Joe and Uncle George, respectively seventy-
two and sixty-six, but regarded as old uncles, came and
went, and often "stayed to tea" or "dined with us,"
Uncle George usually bringing with him "a great deal
of fruit," from his small place on the shores of Fresh
Pond. There were drives to Brookline to see Uncle Charles
and Aunt Fanny Jackson, living at Oakwood at the east-

274]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1842
ern end of the old Reservoir; and Aunt Lucy Morse
and "Johnny, who is now two years old," and sweet
Cousin Susan Jackson and her baby, all come into the
story. There were frequent drives to Watertown, where
Cousin Harriet and Cousin George Minot were living.
Mother's journal records a day when "Breakfast was at
6.30 because Father was going to the cars; I practised
my scales for nearly an hour, and at 8.30 E. [Aunt
Lizzie] and I took the chaise and went down to Water-
town to see Harriet Minot, who has just come out there
to stay. We stayed there an hour and a half, although
we meant to stay only three-quarters of an hour; but
the baby was awake almost all the time, and Harriet so
pleasant that the time passed before we'd any idea of it.
The baby, little Louisa, is one of the prettiest I ever
saw. She has soft, brown, curling hair, beautiful blue
eyes, and a beautiful complexion."
Uncle Harry, twenty-four years old, had gone abroad
in April, 1842, and his letters were eagerly looked for
and rapturously read.
"Tuesday, 3rd October, 1843. Mother's 60th birth
day. We took a little walk this morning and then I
took my first ride on horseback since my fever. Cora
went finely and I enjoyed it very much. Father went in
this morning and we thought he was not coming out till
5 o'clock, when lo and behold! when we were half
through dinner in he walked. We were quite surprised
but only supposed he had come by chance when he took
out of his pocket two letters for Mother and one for me
from Harry. They are the most beautiful letters with
out exception that we've had. Mine is a letter that I
shall keep precious all my life. Father, Frank, and Mr.
Bullard all had letters, and in the evening we had nine
closely-written sheets from Harry to read as E. brought
out the two last letters — thirty-six pages to Mr. Bullard

1842]  WALTHAM DAYS  [275
and us, besides writing to Hannah, and Mary Dwight.
While we were in the midst of our letters Aunt Dutton
and Lowell and Mrs. Russell drove up and made us a
little visit."
Uncle Frank was living at Cambridge, and frequently
coming and going. "Frank came home very pleasant
from the Lymans, and told us a great many amusing
stories of Cambridge and the Pierians." — "I spent the
rest of the evening playing to Frank." — "Accompanied
Frank on the piano for a little while before tea."
Mrs. Lee to Mrs. Thomas Tracy [Ann Bromfield]
December, 1842.
Thank you, my dear friend, for your never failing re
membrance of me and mine. I want you to know that
we have received a letter from Harry of the 10th No
vember. It was written in fine spirits. He was in the
full enjoyment of the thousand attractions of Paris —
has not, of course, the advantage of seeing the elite of
society, but the Americans who are there receive him
on pleasant terms, and he takes delight in the Opera, the
Theatre, and the never-ending variety of shows. To a
person like Harry, who is a quick observer and takes
much in at the eyes, it is a positive pleasure to walk
through the streets of such a City, and he gives a most
animating account of the variety which the Palais Royal
presents, which, as we have often heard, is almost endless.
How can we wonder at these young men being entirely
fascinated by what is so calculated to amuse and interest
them. I confess my wonder is that it does not dis-
affect them, even more than it seems to, to the dull
realities of a home life and that they return to us, as
they often do, I believe, with good habits. I am to
hope this will be my own happy fortune and perhaps I
may feel as much confidence as any mother; but I will
confess to you what I have not said even to my husband,

276] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1842
that I sometimes feel as if the improvement expected
from travelling was dearly bought by this exposure. I
do not want young men to be so worldly wise, and had I
my own way, I should ruin them, I have no doubt, by
confining them to the dull round of the domestic circle.
Fortunately, perhaps, for my sons, I have not.
Some of his letters from England and Scotland and
those on the Rhine were very pleasant. On the Rhine he
met, as he expected to, Professor Longfellow and several
other Americans, and enjoyed his stay there very much.
I find Harriet has mentioned to you his good fortune in
making the acquaintance of Mr. Irving [Washington
Irving], who was not only a most delightful companion
himself, but introduced him to some persons in London,
who were very pleasant to him and from whom he
derived much advantage. I am afraid he will hardly
avail himself of Mr. Irving's kindness in asking him to
visit him this winter, as he was still in Paris on 16th
November, but he certainly will not leave Europe with
out going to Madrid. Richard Sullivan and he were to
meet in Spain, but we have heard of R's arrival out on
the 5th of November, and this being the case, I fear they
will have to change their plan and meet in Italy as
Mr. Sullivan has limited Richard as to time, and laid
down a plan for him, which, if he adheres to, will
oblige him to hurry a little more than Harry feels it
necessary to or than will permit of his going at this time
to Madrid, which, as you know, is in the centre of Spain,
and travelling in Spain is no joke, we hear.
I find this miserable scrawl written two weeks since,
and am doubting whether to send it, my dear friend, or
to take the chance of writing a better in a few days 
fearing time will fail me, I have decided to send this 
it is no matter, you have often had such from me and
I cannot lose any character with you.

1842]  WALTHAM DAYS  [277
The fortnight has not brought me any more letters
from Hal. We hear from others that he is still
in Paris. I have been writing him this evening an
account of a party we had last week. One of our
young friends having taken unto himself a wife, and
Elizabeth feeling obliged to pay her some attention, we
thought it as well to pay off some of our obligations, and
send cards to our dear five hundred friends, that is to
say one hundred and eighty. About a hundred or more
accepted, and we had a very nice party, we hear, which
is some satisfaction after wearing one's self out in the,
cause. The Confectioners and waiters take off all the
responsibility upon the subject of refreshments, etc., then
we hire the lamps and china; but there is still left quite
enough, I assure you, in deciding who must be invited
and who can be omitted without offense, and in the care
of your guests after they arrive, etc., etc. However, we
have all lived through it, and I was amazed to think how
well we behaved. The girls, or rather E., is enough used
to it to behave well and has great tact, but, for myself, I
was somewhat alarmed and quite pleased to think I got
on without any great mistake. And now you are to
imagine my untutored rough Frank as you last saw him,
transformed into a well-dressed, decent-looking, and well-
behaved youth, managing our party, carrying the bride
to supper, and attending to all the etiquette of the affair
with propriety and some degree of elegance (Mother's
opinion. ) He had, to be sure, a man of experience and
taste in these matters to refer to in any difficulty (Frank
Jackson), but he did not seem to shrink from any part
of his duty except carrying the bride in to supper, and
no one would have suspected him of embarrassment about
that. And now, my friend, let me ask you to give me, or
Harriet if you prefer, some details of yourself in answer

278] HENRY AND MARY LEE [1842
to this truly egotistical letter, which, by the way, you
brought upon yourself, as you might have expected by
your kind inquiries. Never ask a mother unless you
are ready to hear them prate about their children.
You will be glad to hear from me that Harriet is very
well this winter. She walks almost daily, I think I may
say daily, with the exception of two or three which were
very slippery. She, as the rest of us, certainly grows old,
but not faster than the rest of us — even E. Dutton be
gins to show some of the marks of age. Harriet has been
exercising her taste and kind feelings in selecting Christ
mas presents for the grandchildren. She has not of late
years allowed herself to be so munificent as formerly in
this way, but still indulges herself a little and delights
each one by the appropriateness of the gift. For in
stance, to little Molly [Cousin Molly Blake], she gave
half a dozen linen cambric pocket handkerchiefs, just
the right size, hemmed, and marked very nicely, two of
them with colored borders, and to the others something
equally appropriate. Our shops are so filled at this
season with every kind of tasteful article to attract one
that it is hard to refrain.
Sally, too, is very well and in good spirits. She
has pleasure, I presume, in her intercourse with
Miss Burley1 and other intellectual friends in whose
society she passes much time, not, however, to the
neglect of home duties. Mary with her husband and
family are well and enjoying as much as falls to the lot
of most people — they might be glad of a little longer
purse sometimes, but I often tell M. it would have
ruined her to have been in affluence. The other girls are
pretty well, Lizzie a little more in company than she
1Miss Burley of Salem, the aunt of Mrs. Joseph S. Cabot
and Miss Elizabeth Howes, as well known in their own day
for their liberal interests and wide friendships as their aunt in
hers.

1842] WALTHAM DAYS [1279
sometimes wishes to be, as it fatigues her very much,
and Hattie looking forward with impatience to the time
when she shall be a real grown-up young lady and emanci
pated from the restraints of a little girl. In the mean
while, she attends to her school and other pursuits, music,
dancing, etc., with as much diligence as I desire, and
quite often enough joins small parties.
Good night, my dear friend, I do not think I should
think of sending such a letter as this to any one
but you. With the good wishes of the season and kind
regards to Mr. Tracy, I remain,
Yours very sincerely, M. Lee.
Do not expose my foolish egotism to your guest, or, in
deed, to any one.

Serene will be our days and bright,
And happy will our nature be,
When love is an unerring light,
And joy its own security. Wordsworth.

X
LETTERS, I 845-I 849
Grandfather retired from business in 1842, the firm
continuing as Bullard & Lee, Uncle Harry Lee as junior
partner. In 1848 the firm of Lee & Higginson was
formed by Cousin John Lee and Uncle George Higgin
son, Uncle Harry joining it somewhat later.
In October, 1845, Uncle Harry was married to Eliza
beth Perkins Cabot, daughter of Mr. Samuel Cabot, and
grand-daughter of Colonel Thomas Handasyd Perkins.
Grandmother had written to him on his engagement a
letter full of tenderly expressed admiration and delight
in seeing her lovely new daughter. "There is the most
peculiar and lovely blending of archness and serious ex
pression that I ever saw in any one. She is very charm
ing, and I am sure the face is indicative of the character.
Your father is quite delighted — this word does not ex
press the deep feeling of admiration which she seems to
have excited in him, and he has again and again repeated
that you certainly were 'a most fortunate fellow — few
men so much so.' " My mother also wrote of Grand
father's delight in her loveliness and intelligence. "He
kept repeating, 'Oh, she is a beautiful girl' more than
once. Uncle Joe drank tea here and he and Father vied
with each other in praising her."
In the winters Uncle Harry and Aunt Lizzie lived at
132 Tremont Street, and later at 27 Pemberton Square
till Uncle Harry built the Brookline house in 1851-52.
Their house at Beverly Farms, where so many happy and
happily-remembered summers were passed, had been
built in the year of his marriage.

GEORGE HIGGINSON
1804-1889

JOHN CLARKE LEE
1804-1877

(Photographs of later date)

Original Members of the Firm of Lee & Higginson, 1 848

 LETTERS, 1 845-1 849 [281
Mrs. Lee to Henry Lee, Jr.
24th July, 1846.
I must say one word to you and Lizzie, my dear Son,
on the joyful event of the birth of your child and the
safety of the mother — a dear little girl [Cousin Bessie
Shattuck]. I trust Lizzie is repaid for all her suffering
and you for your care and anxiety. I rejoice with you
both most sincerely, and hope Lizzie will continue as well
as she now promises. The girls have talked of nothing
else since we received yr. note, hoping she will be very
exquisite, wondering who it would resemble — if by any
fortunate chance it would have a beautiful mouth, a
finely chisel'd nose, etc., etc. I shall be impatient to see
her, but think I shall refrain for eight or ten days, or
until Mrs. Cabot thinks I can with safety see Lizzie, and
this must, of course, depend upon her progress.
Will you give my love and congratulations to Mrs.
C, whose anxiety is thus happily ended. Father gives
me a long message about his joy at the increase of popu
lation, the source of wealth to the Commonwealth if
not to the individual, etc., but I have no time for anything
more than the love of yr. Mother. Friday, 2 July [1847].
My dear Harry,
... I was very glad to get your own account of yr.
wife and Bessie, altho' as you conjectured I had pre
viously heard from others of Lizzie's illness and partial
recovery; by this time I hope she is quite well and from
your report on Wed'y at Aunt Harriet's I think she is
... as for Bessie, she seems to have full enjoyment of her
young life, and she is so very healthy I cannot but hope
she will pass through the season of teething with less
suffering than others of her kind. I long to see her and
all of you, and do not mean the summer shd. pass without
doing so. . . .

282] HENRY AND MARY LEE
. . . Yr. Father had a successful journey to Man
chester [N. H.j, and after travelling as much as ninety
miles in the cars, walked up from Watertown [to
Waltham], and declared he was not very weary; slept
well and has suffered no inconvenience from the exertion.
He was surprised at the progress made there, and much
pleased with their liberal arrangements in laying out the
City, large squares being left with provision that they
shall be forever left open, and also in the arrangements
of the houses for the operatives, much more room being
allowed than is usual.
We are all well and in the enjoyment of as many bless
ings as most people have. The girls have gone today
to George Minot's. Yesterday yr. friend Charles Parker
brought Cordelia Sears out to tea. They were very
pleasant. Mary and two of the children were here tonight. She
is better than when she moved out, tho' still very thin.
She with all her children passed a day at Brookline, and
it unfortunately was the day of the Presidential rain;
however, she had a pleasant visit to the Higginsons, and
guarded with India rubbers, etc., was able to go into
Mr. Aspinwall's1 garden (where she took tea) to see his
roses whh. were very beautiful.
Good bye. I have written quite a letter ; do not have
any twinges of conscience about answering, as I do not
expect it. Your affectionate Mother, M. Lee.
Thursday noon, 16th September, 1847.
My dear Harry,
... I thanked you from my heart for yr. last note,
and for the expression of yr. respect for yr. Uncle and
appreciation of his character, and our loss.2 — Your Father
1 Col. Augustus Aspinwall was brother-in-law of Uncle George
Higginson. His rose-garden, on what is now Aspinwall Hill, was
famous. 1 Patrick Tracy Jackson died 12 September, 1847.

//u. '//<•/,?,, L'»-fK errtifc'A:*

LETTERS, 1 845-1849 [283
was much affected by it, and gratified, for altho', perhaps,
he did not doubt yr. sentiments, still it was a pleasure
to have them expressed with so much feeling. — When I
was urging him last night to write (for my eye only)
a character of yr. Uncle, he said he could not possibly,
even for me, but he thought you could — perhaps you
can, but I think you have not known enough of the
inner man to be able to, and I can do nothing for myself
in this way. — I am apprehensive some one will write for
the public, a laudatory common obituary, without dis
crimination, and this would be most unsatisfactory.1
Do let us know if Sam Cabot has got home — I was
very sorry for his absence at this time when Hannah so
much wanted him.2 — I was glad to find her so calm the
other day as indeed they all were, — they will daily feel
their loss more and more, I think. — Lizzie desires me
to say that she shall be in town tomorrow when she will
get the silk, and she will send it to your store, to be
left there till you are in town, as we do not know of any
other safe conveyance. . . .
We were much pleased to hear you had secured the
house in Pemberton Square — on many accounts a very
desirable situation. . . .
I send the man in today on Charlie, to bring out our
chaise; tomorrow we shall be in with the carry-all —
Lizzie and myself certainly, perhaps yr. Father, but as
he has an unexpected call in today he may not go
tomorrow. . . .
I rejoice in this beautiful weather for Frank, who was
to start this m'g, and I am glad for Lizzie that she has
the bright sun to cheer her in her loneliness, which would
1 Grandmother's wishes were fulfilled by Uncle James's short
memoir of his brother Patrick.
2 Cousin Hannah Cabot, daughter of Patrick Tracy Jackson,
wife of Dr. Samuel Cabot.

284] HENRY AND MARY LEE
be to me intolerable, but she is more of a philosopher
than I am — I shall be glad when I hear of her at Brook
line — give her my love for herself and Bessie. M. Lee.
In July, 1848, came the marriage of Uncle Frank
Lee to Sarah M. Wilson, daughter of the Hon. James
Wilson of Keene, N. H., and for several years their
summer and winter home was at Westport, N. Y., where
Uncle Frank had already built Stonysides.
On 6th December, 1848, was the wedding of our
parents, Samuel Torrey Morse and Harriet Jackson
Lee. They lived at No. 80 Mount Vernon Street (now
No. 98) till they moved to 30 Chauncy Street, next
door to my Grandfather Lee's, in 1854. Their wed
ding is described by one of the cousins in the following
verses, written for Uncle Frank and Aunt Sarah.
Our loved ones on the Lake will wish to hear
How sped the bridal, what was done, what cheer,
What friends were gathered, how the bride was dressed,
And if like other brides she looked her best.
'Twas meant the day should have another claim
To fond remembrance, heartfelt, fireside fame.
But as the house was ready, stores laid in,
Garret and cellar, drawing room, coal bin,
My lady's wardrobe and her lord's menage
All ready, waiting four days seemed an age.
So on the sixth instead of tenth,1 was given
Their plighted troth and blessing craved of Heaven.
The early twilight of a winter's day
Saw them to old King's Chapel bend their way.
The bride was trembling, as all brides should do,
And some folks said the bridegroom trembled too.
1 December 10th was Uncle Frank's birthday.

LETTERS, 1845-1849 [285
Her robe of pearly silk, her hat love's hue,
And o'er her form her elder sister threw
A shawl of Ind that looked (between ourselves)
Made of magnolia leaves embossed by elves —
Between ourselves, I say, for here in town,
They're all in such a stir they mostly drown
The voice of fairy folk, their doings mock,
In talk of railroads, steam-boats, banks and stock.
But you, whose dwelling's by the lake and hill,
Can hear the fairies' voice and trust their doings still.
Kindred and friends now round the altar stood,
Some in a smiling, some in tearful mood.
The pastor's voice in solemn tender tone,
Pronounced the holy words that made them one,
Or rather recognized their own hearts' vow,
And sealed the mutual compact here below.
The blessing given, they left the church and took
A quiet cup of tea by their own ingle-nook,
Then came to Bedford Place. The flowers and light,
Presents and friendly faces all were bright.
Some honoured neighbours came to see the show
But ere the guests arrived were sure to go,
Wished us well through, and blessed their stars that they
Were married when things went a different way.
At half past eight aunts, uncles, cousins came.
The Minots, Bigelows and good Dr. Russell.
Miss Sedgwick kindly graced the festival scene,
Genial and friendly, as she's ever been.
Fair youth and reverend age together came,
And in their gladness seemed almost the same.
The Grandsire,1 who had numbered ninety years,
And the fair boy of seven, who'd shed no bitter tears.
Our classic Lizzie2 charmed all eyes, her lord
1 My great-grandfather, Dr. Eliakim Morse, born in 1759.
5 Mrs. Henry Lee, Jr.

286] HENRY AND MARY LEE
Was very gentlemanly, an unpoetic word,
But never mind, it's hard to find the rhyme,
And as your Mother says I'm pressed for time.
We had a bride, too, in our cousin Kate,1
Who, wedded Saturday, was urged to wait
Till Hatty's bridal; ere she left her home,
Her friends, relations, native town, to roam
To far New York. (We're clannish here, you know,
And think it awful such a way to go. )
Our Aunt,2 who seldom leaves her own fireside,
Drove to the church, whatever risk betide,
And in the evening graced the bridal fete,
(Aunt Fanny thinks for courage she's no mate.)
She was not tired, and she was amused,
'Twere better far if more people were used
To creep out of their nests to go abroad,
But habit's second nature and 'tis hard.
I wish you could have seen the bridal gifts,
Or that I had the mystic power that lifts
The veil and shows the distant scene,
Distinct and perfect as you'd present been.
Rich plate, rare books, and nameless pretty toys
From uncles, aunts, and cousins, girls and boys.
A lovely print of Turner's drew all eyes,
An absent brother's gift,3 it was the last surprise.
Your Father really talked quite at his ease,
And when he tries you know he's sure to please.
This morning, fearing he'd not done his best,
Indeed not spoken to a most honoured guest,
He made a call and found her most agreeable.
1 Daughter of Uncle Patrick Jackson, but a few days before
married to Dr. John Osgood Stone, of Salem.
2 Aunt Harriet Jackson.
3A print of Kilchurn Castle, from Uncle Frank Lee, now on
the wall at Harry's house at Medfield.

LETTERS, 1 845-1 849 [287
Isn't he droll, to use your word, as the devil ?
Soon after ten we all took leave, agreeing
'Twas quite a pretty sight well worth the seeing.
And what was wanting? Nought is perfect here,
We wish'd our loved ones on the Lake were near.
Written December 7, 1848.
Uncle Frank Lee, at Jftiestport, to his sister Harriet
in Boston
Stonysides, Tuesday, December 12, 1848.
Dear Hattie,
Last night we received Mother's letter of Decem
ber 3d, and in it she told us that by 5 P.M. on Wednes
day, December 6th, our little sister Hattie would be
Mrs. S. T. Morse. Of course, when we received the
letter, you were a wife of five days' standing, and the
happy little mistress of a loving husband and a charm
ing, cosy little establishment.
The mail crosses tomorrow early to Vergennes, and
as that is the earliest opportunity, we send you in this
little note our warmest and best love and congratulations.
We both wished very much that we could have come
down to your wedding, and been among the first to
wish you all joy and happiness, but necessity forbids,
and married people have to be ruled by that, as I sup
pose you will find out; but next summer when you and
Sam come up to see us you shall find that distance does
not cool affection, and you shall have the warmest of
welcomes. I long for summer to come, that you may
stay with us: you would have small quarters but they
shall be pleasant; and you and Sam would enjoy every
thing here. I long to have you know my brother and
sister Hunter, who are the salt of the earth, and to
whom your dear little open heart would warm instinc-

288] HENRY AND MARY LEE
tively, and to see how pleasantly and smoothly time
glides by upon the Lake.
The best wish we can send you, my dear little sister,
is that you and Sam may be as happy as we are, and
that you may fall into the ways of married life, as
quietly and happily as we have done. And now, darling
little Hattie, with our best love and wishes to you and
brother Sam, we are your most loving brother and sister,
Frank and Sarah.
We are just going to take your cake to the Jacksons,
and a piece to Mrs. Hunter this evening.
Aunt Sarah Lee at Westport to my Mother
in Boston
Monday Evening, April 16, 1849.
Every time I date a letter, dear Hattie, I am re
minded how the days do disappear — and that I cannot
tell what becomes of them, is the only excuse I have for
so long leaving your kind letter unanswered. We re
ceived a letter from Mother and one from Mary, and
I wish in one instant to write to them all, to thank them
for their thought of us — I ought to commence with
Lizzy, for her promptness and energy in procuring a
present for the Doctor. . . . Then Mother, for her
universal care and attention, and writing us such a good,
long, cheering letter, when she has so much besides to oc
cupy her mind — I cannot say enough to Mary to thank
her for going with you and Lizzy to select the offering,
and thereby lending her taste for the occasion — I will tell
her myself how I shall value the present she proposes
to send. Frank and I thought last night, as we were
driving home from the North Shore, how much writing
and reiteration it would save if we could drop in to your
Sunday evening meetings in person and see you all face
to face. That being impossible, I must content myself

LETTERS, 1 845-1 849 [289
with stating for the five hundredth time that we are well,
very well. The farming is well, livestock well, poultry
well, and that we live in the happy confidence that all
will end well. Every live thing continues to eat, and we
make our daily rounds to supply them with their usual
grub, and wishing them all success, we repair to the con
stant, never-failing employment of picking up sticks and
burning brush. Last Saturday we thought spring was
here, and had our garden ploughed, currant bushes placed
in the straightest possible rows, stakes driven and lines
drawn, peas ready and waiting for Monday to come,
when lo ! the ground froze an inch and a half deep, and
we were yesterday blessed with nearly two inches of
snow. Don't think, dear Hattie, that I am never in the
house, and that the indoor cares are all neglected. I
try to do them all, tho' I'll venture to say I do not
succeed one-half so well as you. When you come up
we will compare notes, and see what our progress has
been in the ways of well doing, and Brother Sam and
Frank may pour out their hidden griefs to each other,
if they have any. I have the vanity to suppose their com
plaints will be very few, and soon numbered. What is
your view?
. . . We had hoped the grass would be greenish
for Harry's coming visit, but it is brown yet, tho' the
hepaticas are in full blossom. The columbines have
started a little, and the Phoebe has come back over
our porch for the summer. . . . The pride and glory
of all is the white calf of Stonie Sides. It is too hand
some to kill, and is destined to live. It grows with its
growth and strengthens rather too fast for its chain. It
will soon be capering on the side hill, and I long to have
you see it. Frank has fed a little puppy that we have,
till he wonders whether he will have fits — he has now

290]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
brought him in, and he is about as long as your two
fingers — and very Dutch built. Frank was never so well
since I have known him. He works from morning till
night, and is apparently happy. Our addition is com
menced and the cellar completed. We hope it will be
very soon tenantable. Soon, I suppose, means six weeks,
but at all events, it is well under way.
. . . Father's letters give us a great deal of pleas
ure, and I am delighted if it is any amusement to him
to write. I am impatient to have him come up here,
for I do believe he would enjoy himself among the
hills. I must leave a little space for Frank, and with love
to all, and a great deal to Brother Sam and your own
self, dear Hattie, I am Your sister Sarah.
Uncle Frank Lee at Westport to my Mother
in Boston April 16, 1849.
Dear little Hattie,
I rise from the floor, where I was tending a poor little
gorged puppy who has distended his wee skin almost
to bursting by over-copious draughts of milk. He seems
to feel better now, having sunk into what is called a quiet
slumber. I must add my thanks to S.'s for your nice, pleasant
letter. You are a good little correspondent, for you
write when you think it will amuse us, and give us the
liberty of answering on the same principle. I wish you
and Sam could drop in here and see how comfortable
we are, and how busy we are; tomorrow morning the
carpenters lay the timbers on the foundation, and com
mence on the wall of the addition, and by the middle
of June I mean the plaster shall be dry and the carpets

LETTERS, 1845-1849 C201
down. Then we can make you and Sam as comfortable
as can be. You'll come, won't you?
Love to all. Your afft. brother, Frank.
Mrs. Henry Lee to Henry Lee, Jr.
[Written from Westport, N. Y., in autumn of 1849]
My dear Harry,
... I want you very much to come up here — this is cer
tainly not the season I should select for your visit, but
Lizzie must come when she can, and could hardly put
off her visit with the uncertainty if she would be able to
come in the spring; and she is so much accustomed to the
country and has such an eye for its beauties she can
easily imagine what it would be when the trees were in
full foliage, or as they have been since we have been
here, gorgeous with the brilliant coloring of autumn.
We have had wonderfully fine weather the last three
days and the scenery has been surpassingly beautiful. . . .
We have enjoyed the fine air very much and have taken
it freely in driving and walking a great deal. . . .
I should think you would come via Whitehall, as being
the most simple tho' not the shortest route — the road we
came will be good, I have no doubt, when completed, and
the baggage is brought in the same car all the way, but at
present you change it four or five times between Boston
and here, and, added to this, part of the road is as yet so
incomplete that the cars move very slowly, and the car
riage road is in some places very rough— still, we reached
Vergennes in fifteen and a half hours, and when you come
it would be a little quicker, as the road would probably
be open to Rutland. Whichever way you go I should
think you had better lodge at our house the night previous
to your starting, if you can put up with the upper

292] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
chamber — I do not move Lizzie for any one, but the
upper chamber will do very well for one or two nights —
yr. aff't Mother, M. Lee.
Mrs. Lee to her daughters E. C. Lee and H. J. Morse
Stony Sides, 26th Oct., '49.
Just received your letter of 22nd, 23rd, my dear girls,
and am very glad to have so good an account of you
both. Lizzie, to be sure, does not positively say she is
well, but as there is nothing to the contrary I draw that
inference, and you, dear H., say your head is better
than usual.
After passing an hour this mg. in Frank's field be
hind the barn [the Swale], seeing the stumps pulled
(a most interesting operation, I assure you), yr. father
and I set forth upon a walk, he to the village to call upon
Dr. Ranney, I to F. H. J's.1 I found Sarah1 paring
apples and joined her in the kitchen that I might not in
terrupt her, passed f$ °f an hour with her, and altho'
I thought I was tired, I could not resist going again to
the field where I staid till the men went to their dinner —
this brought it to the hour of your father's return, and
as he brought me your letter I must forego the pleasures
of the field until I have said a word in answer; T shall,
however, be very brief, as I must go out again before
they have completed the job.
Yesterday instead of Wed'y (when Mrs. Hunter
came), we went to Barbour's point, and I was perfectly
charmed. I have never seen any place at all to com
pare with it for actual beauty at this moment, and for
its capabilities one could hardly say too much. It seems
as if it would be impossible to indulge in any of the
ruder passions in such a place; so tranquil and mild a
1 Mr. and Mrs. Frank Jackson.

QIT.>
ch

THE PARLOUR AT STONYSIDES

LETTERS, 1845-1849 093
scene surely should produce a corresponding feeling —
most earnestly do I wish Frank and Mr. Hunter were
located there — the picturesqueness and wildness of this
mountain scenery is certainly very beautiful, and I by
no means undervalue it, but there is a repose at the
other extremely attractive to me.
Mr. and Mrs. Hunter have been here one eve'ng at
tea, and Mrs. H. walked up again yesterday and F.
carried her home; the only objection to this arrangement
is that Frank does not return till eleven o'clock at night,
whh. is not agreeable to his wife or us — to me, because
I hate his habit of procrastination. Mr. and Mrs. H.
we find very agreeable, particularly the latter, who
I consider the moving spirit of the trio of families, or
at all events the guardian spirit, exercising an almost
imperceptible influence over the others. They are very
friendly, allowing us perfect freedom as to our visits to
them, Mr. H. saying he cannot urge any one to pass
such rough roads for their sakes. . . .
Notwithstanding what you say and Sarah's urgency
we shall leave here on Monday if the weather is good.
I have told Harry we should do so and it is in accordance
with our first intention — also with my desire to be in
my own house, whh. is, you know, one of my weaknesses.
... I certainly shall not write again unless detained,
therefore, with best love to all who care for me, I will
subscribe myself Your affectionate Mother, M. Lee.
I am glad of the notices of the children. Give them
my love and tell them I have had a very good time. The
Highland Lassie,1 12 weeks old today, weighs 14 lbs.
She was in the field, too, this mg., and is with all the
rest again there this P.M. She looks finely and is im
proving in beauty.
1 Mary Lee was born August 3, 1849-

XI
THE HOUSE IN BOSTON IN THE FIFTIES AND SIXTIES
Sicut patribus, sit deus nobis
The rocky nook with hill-tops three
Looked eastward from the farms,
And twice each day the flowing sea
Took Boston in her arms. . . .
A blessing through the ages thus
Shield all thy roofs and towers!
God with the fathers, so with us,
Thou darling town of ours!
Emerson.
Grandfather and Grandmother Lee had been living
since 1821 in their house at 28 Chauncy Street (formerly
4 Bedford Place). We lived at No. 30, next door, with
a door leading through from Grandfather and Grand
mother's bedroom into our nursery, so that we were in
and out constantly. Uncle George Higginson and
Cousin Molly lived a little further along toward Summer
Street at No. 22, where houses were set forward fur
ther on to the sidewalk so that there was a side-window
looking down the street toward Bedford Street on each
storey of Uncle George's house. Next door to him lived
Cousin John Barnard Swett Jackson, and Cousin Emily
— Cousin John of the beautiful profile, very kind, very
enthusiastic, was a Doctor and Professor of Morbid
Anatomy in the Harvard Medical School. He was farther
of Harry and Robert Jackson, and grandfather of
Harry Jackson, who married Isabella Lee. Directly op
posite to Grandfather's was Judge Jackson's garden.
Cousin Frank Lowell and Cousin Nina also lived in
Chauncy Street near Uncle George, while between Bed
ford and Essex Streets, on the corner of Rowe Place
i94

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SAMUEL TORREY MORSE
MRS. MORSE
(Harriet Jackson Lee)
THE HOUSE IN BOSTON [295
lived Cousin Charles and Cousin Susan Jackson, father
and mother of Cousin Susie Folsom, and Cousins Charles,
Marian and Frank Jackson. So you see how many kith
and kin were living close to each other, while many
more were living in Hamilton Place and Temple Place.
The general plan of Grandfather's house and ours was
alike, though his was wider. Many times in London, in
Upper Brook Street and Green Street and in general the
short streets leading from the Squares and North Audley
Street to Park Lane, I have seen houses more like
Chauncy Street than any now in Boston. The front door
had a small portico supported by pillars (very modest
ones, wood sanded to look like sandstone), up three gran
ite steps. The front entry was to the left with straight
staircase. From it opened the so-called Basement, a
pleasant room where Miss Ames used to sit and sew.
On the wall were two old portraits, now at Uncle
Harry Lee's, one of our Great-Grandfather, Patrick
Tracy, in grey coat, with a full-bottomed grey wig. The
other of his wife, Hannah Gookin Tracy, with a long
garland of flowers. There was a shallow closet where
the preserves and jellies were kept. Behind was the
pleasant kitchen, and then the back yard and woodshed,
so important to children and so forgotten later 1 Grand
father's yard had a pear tree and an Isabella grapevine
growing against the wall.
Upstairs at Grandfather's the parlor went across the
front, its length on the street, with three windows, while
the dining-room, opening from it with folding doors,
and with the width of the entry taken off, had its length
the other way, ending in two sunny windows on the
yard; such a dear, pleasant, sunny room. The fireplace
and soapstone hearth and bright wood fire in this room
were its centre and keynote. When from our upstairs
nursery next door we entered into Grandfather and

296] HENRY AND MARY LEE
Grandmother's room with its big four-post bedstead,
and came down into the dining-room for breakfast, the
fragrant smell of the wood fire always greeted us. The
wood was always brought in a tanned hide with handles.
A mahogany bookcase stood to the right of the fireplace,
and to the left was a long mahogany shelf for books,
etc., where stood the box with a dancing Jim Crow which
Grandfather turned over and over for us and set danc
ing. Grandfather's chair was to the left, against this
shelf, as it were, and Grandmother's little rocking chair
(now at Aunt Lizzie Ware's in the dining-room) to the
right. Of course there was the mahogany dining table
and against the wall, opposite the fireplace, a sideboard,
and above it an engraving of Belshazzar's Feast, now
at Frank Lee's. The china closet, which seems to me
now to have had always ready red apples and ginger
bread, opened just beyond the sideboard. The dining-
room in those days was the morning room and gathering
place for kith and kin. Grandmother washed the break
fast things in a small, pretty, brass-bound, cedar tub,
with good-smelling hot soap suds, and we helped a little
in wiping cups and saucers. Grandfather read his
morning paper. We could play or sew or read while
Mother or Aunt Lizzie were sitting with Grandmother
and Cousin. Uncle Harry and Uncle Frank stopped
there on the way from the Worcester station, often hav
ing stopped at Quigley's on the way up Kingston Street
and seen or bought there some fine old mahogany chair
or desk. Cousin John Lee from Salem sometimes
came in to see "Uncle and Aunt Lee," and often Uncle
George Higginson from a few doors beyond.

XII
THE BROOKLINE HOUSE AND GARDEN
That each should in his house abide
Therefore was the world so wide. Emerson.

The large and gentle furniture has stood
In sympathetic silence all the day
W ith that old kindness of domestic wood ;
Nevertheless the haunted room will sav,
"Some one must be away.'" Harold Monro.
In 1850 the Hyslop place in Brookline was bought.
It was on the slope above the old Reservoir on the
Worcester Turnpike, "one of the best highways in the
country," which is now Boylston Street. It had be
longed in the eighteenth century to the Boylston familv,
and Susannah Boylston, the mother of John Adams, was
born tliere. The fine old house, which replaced an
earlier one, was built in 1 73 S by the architect who built
the Hancock House in Boston, and house and garden
in 1850 were in unimpaired condition.
A letter of the old President, John Adams, written
only five years before his death, gives an enthusiastic
picture of the place.
To Nicholas JJ ard Boylston, Esquire
September 16th, 1820.
My dear Cousin Boylston,
Oh that I had the talent at description of a Homer,
a Milton, or a Walter Scott ! I would give you a picture
of all that I have visited with more pleasure than I
should Mount Vernon or Monticello. Mr. David
Hyslop has been importuning me for seven years to dine
-9-

298] HENRY AND MARY LEE
with him in Brookline. I have always declined till last
Wednesday ; when taking my grandson, George Washing
ton Adams, for my guide and aide de camp, I went to
visit the original habitation of the Boylstons — where
my mother was born, and where she carried me frequently
in my infancy, and where I used to sport among the fine
cherries and peaches and plums and pears as well as
among the flowers and roses, on that fertile spot or
garden. It is more than seventy years since I set my
feet upon that hill. Indeed, my mother seemed to have
an aversion to visiting or thinking of it after her father
sold it to his brother, Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, and removed
into Boston.
There are ancient trees, elms and button-wood, some
of which I seem to remember; but I have inherited the
feelings of my mother. The weather was very fine and
I know not that I ever passed a pleasanter day; I as
cended the Hill, which is exuberantly fertile, to the very
top where there is a handsome summer-house,1 to the
roof of which I mounted, where are convenient seats and
sufficient railing from whence your Wachusett is plainly
seen; and even your own Mansion House was visible
through a prospect-glass; at least George imagined he
descried it. On that elevation my imagination was ex
alted almost to extasy: a prospect nearly as vast as
that from Wachusett opened all around me. Land and
sea conspired together to produce an assemblage of
beauties. The grand City of Boston and the Town of
Charlestown; The Castle, the Islands, the Rivers, the
Ponds of Water, the Orchards, and the Groves were
1 A finely proportioned Georgian summer-house, painted white,
which crowned the hill. Hill-top summer-houses and look
outs had then a value beyond pleasantness and picturesqueness,
for from them the incoming ships were watched for and sighted',
as from the "captain's walk" on the old stores of the then
long wharves in Boston.

The BROOKLINE HOUSE and GARDEN [299
scattered in such profusion over this great scene that I
was lost in admiration of its variety. And to add to its
sublimity in my estimation White's Hill was full in view,
the seat of my Great-Grandfather and the birthplace of
my Grandmother; all these lands have passed into the
hands of other families and other names. I said to Mr.
Hyslop, "If I was worth money enough on the face of
the whole earth I would buy it of you." Your uncle
Nicholas was well born, he had a soul bien ne, but
Thomas had not ; otherwise he would certainly have pur
chased it and given it to you. . . .
This much for family vanity and family mortification
— now for Politics and Legislation. I hope you will
attend the convention1 and come up and talk with me
and I with you about Plato and Solon and Lycurgus. I
shall rejoice to see the name of Boylston among the
members of that convention, as that alone will be sufficient
to preserve it.
George, who bears his honors meekly, is now humbly
employed in writing this letter for
Your Affectionate Cousin, John Adams.
The latest owner of the place had been old Mrs. Hyslop
and the first entry in Grandfather's Garden and Farm
Book is: "May 21st, 1850, came to Hyslop Place."
There are many references to Hyslop Place in these
notebooks, and Cousin Elliot Cabot, in his weekly letters
to Aunt Lizzie Lee while Uncle Harry and she were in
Europe in 1 852-1 853, frequently speaks of "walking
to Hyslop," where Cousin Sally Gardner was taking care
of the children, Bessie, Hal and Clara, in Uncle Harry's
1 The Convention to revise the Constitution of the Common
wealth of Massachusetts. The old President had been chosen
delegate, but had declined to serve on account of advanced age.

300] HENRY AND MARY LEE
brick house. But the name did not fasten itself to the
place and has been forgotten.
What outlasted the name many years was the wonder
ful enamel-like white paint of all the shutters and window
seats, the panelling and mouldings, which Mrs. Hyslop
had had mixed under her own eye — the white lead and all
other materials being brought there and mixed on the
spot. I never remember any re-painting in the years we
lived there.
Uncle Harry built his brick house on the place in
1851-1852: a delightful house: its doorways, mullioned
windows, fireplaces, and its panelled hall, Tudor in
character. The terrace, with its enclosing wall of blue-
green Chinese tiles, brought home from China by Com
modore Bennet Forbes, seemed to extend the house and
to be a part of the plan.
There Uncle Harry and Aunt Lizzie lived for many
years, and there the younger children were born.
Aunt Mary Higginson had died the year before
Grandfather and Grandmother came to live in Brook
line. Uncle George Higginson and his children lived
in summer in the small white house a little way up
the hill above the barn. Aunt Lizzie was close at hand
and was always "Aunt Lee," or later "Betha," to her
nephews and much loved by them and by their sister
Mary (dear Cousin Molly Blake). Molly, not very
strong, was often staying at Grandmother's, where each
member of the household, especially Cousin Sally, seemed
to have a special interest and care for her.
The old Brookline house became the home of half
the year — April till November — to Grandfather and
Grandmother and to Aunt Lizzie (always at Grand
mother's right hand till her marriage in 1854 to Uncle
Charles Ware, hardly leaving it then), and to Cousin
Sally Gardner.

ft'.V.
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I

The BROOKLINE HOUSE and GARDEN [301
In the early years my Father and Mother lived in
the Brookline house with Grandfather and Grandmother.
Cousin Mary Elliot was born in the old house and her
babyhood summers were all passed there, as Harry's and
mine had been. Her love of all the out-of-door world
began in those early days, and to her, "going out to
Brookline" meant going out of Grandfather's big front
door into the lovely world, outside, of all flowering
and singing things. To Harry, Mary, and me, and
to our little cousin Mary Ware a few years later, the
Brookline house was our summer home. With the
recollection of blossoming spring and early summer
comes the memory of that rush of bird song in the
grey dawn, all the air filled with happy bird voices —
never have I heard again anything so full and rap
turous. And in those early summer mornings was
another sound, now no longer heard — the long sweep
of the scythes through the dew-covered grass — a sound
delicious arid unforgettable. Later we lived for many
years in the small house higher up the hill, where Uncle
George had lived for some years after Aunt Mary's
death with his boys and Molly.
In June each summer Uncle Harry's family moved to
Beverly Farms (West Beach in those days), returning
in September or October. David Larcom would come
up from West Beach, driving his horses all night, to
move down the household belongings on the following
day. David was a large, burly man with the voice of a
child; an Essex County character and much respected
as a townsman.
As we came out from Boston in April or May, re
turning in October, it was only for weeks rather than
months that we children were together, but so important
to us were those weeks when we went to school to
gether and played endlessly together, that now in look-

302] HENRY AND MARY LEE

ing back they seem to stretch over the whole summer.
The later fifties were not long after the Irish famine
of 1847, and the great emigration from Ireland which
followed. Most of the Irish who came here were work
ing men — many of them farm-laborers — bringing with
them the familiarity of centuries with the earth we live
on and its properties, and with the care and use of animals,
and bringing also the instinctive respect for the gentry
— the owner of the land or the squire — which made them
turn to him as to a higher authority. The first fight be
tween grown men that I ever saw was one afternoon
when Grandfather and Grandmother were driving
through the village near the Punchbowl and came upon
an excited crowd which broke up as the old carriage was
driven slowly into it and both disputants, one with a
very bloody mouth, came to the carriage door in an
appeal to Grandfather — and, as I recall it, a very few
words seemed to settle the dispute and the crowd melted
away. The carriage was broad and very comfortable, lined
with creamy grey broadcloth and with broad and hand
some window bands and hangings. Two ample back
seats — two others opposite on which we children used
to kneel, and the coachman's double seat outside. It
was drawn by Bill and Charley, the dependable horses.
When we drove out of town in it, Harry and I were
given the money to pay the toll on the Mill Dam — large
and handsome copper cents it was paid in. The Rope-
walk buildings and a line of silvery poplars were on our
left as we drove toward Brookline.
There was often a drive in the afternoon in those
days, with Charley or Billy in the wagon with open
sides, over earth roads, pleasant to the horses' feet,
much longer than can be taken today — sometimes to
Oak Hill and the wood where was the great rock covered

DO
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The BROOKLINE HOUSE and GARDEN [303
with Solomon's seal, and where the polygalas grew, —
sometimes by Brookline Great Meadows and the Putter-
ham Road, or westward to Nonantum.
The old Brookline house still stands, sunny-faced and
pleasant, and has been lived in and loved by Grand
father's children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and
now his little great-great-grandchildren are playing there.1
The photograph speaks for itself of the exterior of the
house. The interior had a modest stateliness of charac
ter. There was a good hall, with a fine staircase and
hand-carved balusters, and an arched window and
window-seat where now is the doorway into the north
rooms. Cousin Sally Gardner's Aeolian harp was some
times placed in that window on a summer afternoon.
Much of the daily summer life seems associated with the
hall, the wide-open front door and the staircase. I remem
ber a hot Sunday morning in July, 1861, when many of
the family and various friends were sitting on the stairs
and in the hall and the western parlor, scraping lint
and rolling bandages for the soldiers. There was a
sense of disaster in the air, which I can still feel, as well
as the unspoken surprise of the children at the unwonted
week-day occupations on Sunday. It was the Sunday
after the Battle of Bull Run. There were a good many
such gatherings during the War ! sometimes making small
bags for coffee and sugar, which we were told afterwards
were chiefly used for cleaning muskets; havelocks (linen
or cotton helmets to keep off the heat of the sun, also
useless, I believe), and rolling bandages, which I trust
were more useful, or making shirts for the Sanitary
Commission. In the upper hall there were often pleasant household
occupations going on on summer mornings — sometimes
sewing and reading aloud; sometimes covering many jars
1 During some years in the seventies and eighties the old house
was occupied and enjoyed by Mr. and Mrs. John H. Sturgis and
their children.

304] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
of currant jelly with brandied paper, Aunt Lizzie mark
ing them. Other household occupations, such as cutting
calves' rennet into strips, and dropping them into a bottle
of sherry wine, or dividing great cones of sugar with
cutters which might have been used as instruments of
torture in the dungeon of the Castle of Torquilstone,
were carried on in the dining-room.
In the western parlor between the western windows
were the Eagles — splendid painted wooden Eagles, their
talons clasping the balls on which they stood, supporting
a marble slab. The story runs that during the Revolu
tion they were buried under dry leaves in the woods
behind the hill. Beneath them were great sea-shells
in which we used to hear the sound of the sea. On either
side of the broad panel above the fireplace there were
silver sconces. A round table stood in the middle of
the room, with table-cover of fine mouse-colored broad
cloth, and on it was often a shallow, slender-stemmed
glass vase, with Canary vine, or some other delicate
flower. A book-stand stood between the two southern
windows: among the books were the three precious vol
umes of Wilson's Birds, over which we used to pore on
Sunday afternoons, the volumes open on the floor; and
Cousin's Music-Box was on the lower shelf of all. There
was a sofa across the southwest corner of the room, —
another round table by the door as one entered. It was
a dignified room, well ordered, and we behaved better,
I think, there than in the more familiar dining-room.
The dining-room, facing east and south, was full
of sunshine. The sofa in the large bay-window was
covered with one of the fine and pretty French calicoes,
of a pattern in red, blue and green, as delicate and in
tricate as that of a Cashmere shawl. The sofa was al
most our playfellow, for in combination with the big grey
shawls from the hall it entered into many of our games.

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THE STAIRCASE OF THE BROOKLINE HOUSE

The BROOKLINE HOUSE and GARDEN [305
The tall bookcase stood between the door from the
hall and the china closet; books above; and two cup
boards, with cake and wine below. The dining table stood
the length of the room all summer, and in the autumn it
was placed across the bay for the early morning sunshine,
and the sofa stood opposite the fireplace in its stead,
where was afternoon and evening firelight and warmth.
On summer Sundays when we went to church, the dining-
room shutters would be closed to keep the room dark
and cool. It was a pleasant short walk to the church,
built by Cousin Edward Cabot, where Dr. Hedge then
preached, its Unitarian chancel end facing due west.
Grandfather's pew was in the middle aisle; ours on the
north aisle: after church there would be a lingering of
people in the porch and just outside, and friendly talk.
After the walk home we came into the cool darkness of
the dining-room and opened windows and shutters.
Grandfather's room was a little room built out just
beyond the dining-room on the east side of the house. It
was always pleasant to enter, and almost always smelt of
fruit. There Grandfather had his desk for writing, and
a table against the east window, with boxes of metal and
wooden tags for his fruit trees, and bits of red chalk,
pencils, etc. There were drawers to the left as one
entered, in which Grandfather kept ripening pears, and
apples stood about on mantelpiece or shelf. On the
bookshelves above the drawers were books and pam
phlets on horticulture and gardening. A small door to
the south led by two steps on to the grass, and a Canary
vine grew on the angle of the bay-window close by. There
was a remarkably pleasant large kitchen, a part of the
first old house, with laundry and cool dairy beyond, and
a small porch westward, at which Nancy Bryer, a kind,
gaunt, plain woman, used to stand to ring the gong for
the man to come to his dinner or supper — a long bar of

3°6] HENRY AND MARY LEE
iron, blacksmith-made, and a small iron rod with which
to strike it, giving a fine resonant sound.
Above the western parlor was Grandfather and Grand
mother's bedroom — and above the dining-room, Aunt
Lizzie's room, with its small bayed dressing-room with
a pink rose climbing up to it from the bed of periwinkle.
There were delightful prints on the wall. In the closet
of Aunt Lizzie's room was a small concealed inner-closet.
My father and mother had the Middle Room with
tiny dressing room above the kitchen, and beyond was
Cousin Sally's pleasant room, from the western window
of which we could climb on to the woodshed, the roof
of which on the north side sloped to the ground to the
row of quince trees and the seckel pear tree.
Above were the attics. In the Middle Attic, looking
east and west (the eastern dormer window reached by
a step), Miss Ames was usually sitting sewing or mend
ing by her work-table ; her canary bird beside her. Miss
Ames lived in Grandmother's household a large part
of each year and did all the family sewing. She was
always occupied, always composed, her old face a net
work of fine lines of character. Always a family friend,
she was sometimes affectionately called "Ames" by the
elders, and "Amesy" by us.
The little Eastern Attic, at the southeastern corner
of the house, was by all of us thought the most desirable
room in the house. There was a supporting post in the
middle of the room and a small mysterious closet and
concealed inner-closet leading under the roof. The low
trundle-bed was splendid for turning somersaults, and
from the eastern dormer window we could climb out
on to the roof of Aunt Lizzie's bay-window. This was
Harry's room when we lived there in the late sixties,
and there he used to listen to the wonderful rush of bird
song filling all the air before the dawn. In much later
years this was Bessie McKean's room.

<y^'-fr'':: C .."-..

FROM DOORWAY OF THE BROOKLINE HOUSE

LOOKING FROM THE GARDEN TO THE HOUSE
From an early sketch hy H. L., 3d

COLONEL LEE'S HOUSE IN WINTER

The BROOKLINE HOUSE and GARDEN [307
In front of the house was the box hedge, as now, and
there was then a cherry tree at each end of the white
acorn-topped fence; westward across the avenue was a
fine elm, which was blown down in the gale of September
9th, 1869. The avenue curved to westward a little
from the end of the house and then went straight down
the hill, with large trees set back on either side.
Golden robins built their hanging nests in the many
elm trees — there seemed a long grey pocket at the end
of almost every branch — and their coming and nest-
building were recorded each year in Grandfather's
Garden and Farm Books. Directly below the enclosing
white fence was a grassy bank where quantities of double
daffodils blossomed in the spring.
From the front of the house a pathway of red gravel
led to the garden, formal in plan, and full of warm
summer sweetness or autumn fruitfulness and color. It
was entered under a light trellised arch, over which grew
honeysuckle, and was divided by the straight path which
ended in a pretty white arbor with Boursault roses and
honeysuckle growing over it, and pleasant seats. The
garden was enclosed by a white fence heightened on
the southern side to a tall trellis for grapevines. Broad
flower beds lay between the path and this fence, in
which flowers grew generously — irises, balsams, verbenas,
petunias, monkshood and larkspur, phlox, four o'clocks,
coreopsis, asters, marigolds, beds of mignonette, helio
trope, and ladies' delights, and some smaller, more deli
cate flowers — nemophila, thunbergia, cypress-vine.
There were rose bushes, moss-roses and York and
Lancaster roses among them, and there was a great
calycanthus shrub ("the strawberry tree" beloved of
children), a fringe tree and a smoke tree — and beds of
lilies of the valley on either side of the trellised arch
by which one entered.

3°8] HENRY AND MARY LEE

In the upper garden, above the small grassy bank,
were the strawberry beds, the currant bushes, the rasp
berry bushes, and a beautiful double-flowering cherry
tree, and in the eastern end Grandfather had planted
many peach and pear trees. There were rose bushes
and rose-acacias, too, in the upper garden, and a sub
stantial wooden summer-house. It was in the upper half
also that acorns were planted. Grandfather liked to
have each of the family share in the planting, including
all the children.
In the autumn of 1851, he has recorded the planting
of acorns from "English oaks from Dr. Robbins's"1
by Grandmother (whose acorn grew and was known to
us all as Grandmother's oak), some by Uncle George
Higginson, some by Aunt Lizzie, and by my Father and
Mother, "all on slate to prevent the growth of a tap
root, which (it being necessary to cut it off in trans
planting) injures the tree."
The garden, the summer-house, and the arbor were
play grounds of unlimited resource, and also the tent
in the sloping field below the garden, covered with a
thatch, made of palm leaves, and wooden-floored.
To all the grandchildren, Grandfather's house, and
indeed the whole place, seemed their own, and of course
we thought that every one and everything was to re
main forever, just as it was then.
1 The father of Miss Anne Robbins, who founded the House
of the Good Samaritan.

*™

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^TSrtitsJrW- /Kh.h

XIII
THE HOUSEHOLD
Grandfather was delightful with his grandchildren.
For a high-strung, impetuous man he must have been
very patient with us. I think he had a natural under
standing of children and sympathy with them : he played
with us on equal terms and enjoyed it. My first im
pression of man's power to create and destroy was being
taught by him to set up on end a long winding row of
brown, satin-grained wooden blocks, and then by one
light touch to send them down in glorious ruin. He
taught us backgammon and checkers and played battle
dore and shuttle-cock with us: from him we learned to
make cat's cradles and weaver's knots, and paper cocked
hats which turned into boats. One by one as we came
along Grandfather took us all about the place, and told
us the name and character of each tree and shrub —
showing us the varieties of oak, elm, beech, maple, etc.
We pressed leaves from each and labelled them, and
if we do not now know them it is our own fault.
Grandfather was not musical — "Tasa-be-tas," a scrap
of Hindu song, is the only one his grandchildren associate
with him, when he gave them splendid rides on his foot.
Grandfather usually wore what Sir Walter calls "raven-
grey" clothes, with frilled shirts as I first remember him,
and in summer the cool, silvery-striped seersucker, then
worn by many gentlemen, and he carried great
bandanna silk handkerchiefs of delightful color. For
out-door wear there was a spencer or short overcoat,
under which the skirts of the other coat appeared, or
perhaps a cloak called a raglan, and a tall, soft beaver
hat, black or grey. Spencers and raglans were named
for the Lord Spencer and Lord Raglan of that day. He
was forgetful about his raiment and Grandmother had
3o9

310] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
often to lay out his new clothes for him and gently ab
stract the old, much as did Lucy Bertram for Domine
Sampson. Of course we knew nothing then of Grandfather's
abiding interests. He had been one of the earliest free
traders. His papers and newspaper cuttings show con
stant preoccupation with such subjects as Currency, Trade
Statistics, inquiry into conditions of Slave Labor, the
abolition of Slavery (though he was not an Abolitionist) ,
and through all runs an abiding interest in what Carlyle
called "the condition-of-the-people question."
That his younger friend, Mr. William S. Bullard,
should have founded in his memory a fellowship of
Political Economy, shows the impression made by his
deep interest in such subjects. We were all used to
seeing Grandfather writing or collating papers in the
little room in Brookline, or at his standing desk in the
small room leading from his bed-chamber in Boston, or
perhaps sitting in the pleasant dining-room reading the
morning paper and thrashing it with his forefinger when
the contents displeased him.
In following in my Grandfather's footsteps through
the early letters from India, and the fewer later letters,
and yet more in finding his many annotations and fre
quent under-scoring of significant passages in the books
he cared for and lived by, one comes to see and know
that his nature was especially sensitive to things of the
spirit. Written in the fly-leaves of his hymn-books are
long lists of the numbers of certain hymns and their
first lines ; and hymns were to him as to Francis William
Newman — "the truest links that bind ancient and modern
souls in one." All my life I have had a clear recollec
tion of his telling me, as he gave me a hymn to learn
when I was a little girl, that there would be many times
later on when I might be anxious or troubled, and be

THE NAMESAKES

HENRY LEE HIGGINSON

HENRY LEE, 3D

HENRY I.Eli MORSE

 THE HOUSEHOLD  [311
glad to have the hymns to turn to. He was deeply
moved by the religious spirit: with many doubts, and
often condemnation of himself, yet he seems never to
doubt the direct relation of the human soul to God. He
had a deep faith.
Grandmother was one of the happily-born people whom
every one loved.
In her early married life her place in her husband's
family was especially important to her four brothers-in-
law, then all unmarried, and throughout all her life she
was beloved, and her wisdom greatly trusted, by all the
family: by all the related families as well as by her own
brothers and sisters and her children.
The loving memory in which she was held by her
children, and by her nephews and nieces, and cousins'
children, remains as an inheritance to her grandchildren,
who remember, too, the deep affection and reverence
borne her by her sons-in-law, George Higginson, Charles
Eliot Ware, and Samuel Torrey Morse.
She was the very central influence of the homes in
Brookline and Boston, and Grandfather's life was bound
up in hers.
That very human, sentient thing, a house, makes an
ineffaceable impression of character on children's mem
ories. Grandfather's two houses spoke of order and wide
hospitality — the ample fires burned brightly, dinner and
tea-table were handsomely set: Grandmother's silver tea
set (given her by her Father, Jonathan Jackson, on her
marriage, and made by Moulton of Newburyport) —
the Nankin cups and saucers with crinkled edge — the other
breakfast cups, white with a gold band — the various
Wedgwood tea-pots and cream pitchers — all belonged
to a dignified period. The books and papers spoke of
Grandfather's interest in all public affairs— there were
interesting books being read aloud and talked over. They

312] HENRY AND MARY LEE

were houses in which there were many children coming
and going and little constraint or formality — though
there was always order and sweet cleanliness in every
corner — and no sense of hurry.
Aunt Lizzie was always at Grandmother's right hand
in the Brookline house — only Uncle Harry Lee could
have described her as she deserved to be described. Pos
sessed of a truly strong mind, a clear head, and a warm
heart, she was decided, able, intensely interested in all
the procedure of daily life: most unduly modest as to
her own social ability, but aware that in practical matters
she could excel. Grandfather in a letter speaks of her
as "Mother's adviser," and she held that position to
more than Grandmother.
Cousin Sally Gardner was the daughter of an older
sister of Grandmother's, early left without father or
mother. She had been with Aunt Harriet Jackson during
the last seven invalided years of her life, and after Aunt
Harriet's death in 1849 her permanent home was with
Grandfather and Grandmother, with visits to other of
the many family households. Cousin was then about
fifty. Her place in the family was important to all three
generations, and she was known to very many of the
kindred families simply as "Cousin." She was a sensi
tive, intellectual woman, and found her friends among the
intellectual group of the day. When Uncle Harry and
Aunt Lizzie went abroad in the autumn of 1852, Cousin
went to Uncle Harry's brick house and took care of
Bessie, Hal, and Clara while their parents were away.
Clara and Frank Lee were always especially loved by
Cousin, as was Uncle Frank in her own generation. "Dear
little Clara is as well and lovely as she can be — my joy
all the time and my rest when anything goes wrong." She
was fastidious, and must often have been annoyed by
our rough and silly ways, but she patiently bore with us,

THE BROOKLINE HOUSE

THE SMALL HOUSE
Occupied by Mr. Higginson! Inter by Mr. Morse

 THE HOUSEHOLD  [3J3
and we felt and responded to her civilizing influence —
at all events to a moderate degree.
Ller pleasant end room in the Brookline house, with
windows east and west, or the sunny room over the
dining-room at 28 Chauncy Street, was our constant
resort. She let us make seals — fascinating occupation — she
taught us to press flowers carefully and mount them.
She showed us how to make picture frames of the scales
of pine cones, or of tiny hemlock cones. We should
have short patience with these prettinesses now, but they
fitted in with the tastes of the day. To any child, tem
porarily invalided, Cousin's room was sanctuary, where
one would be made very comfortable and be read aloud
to, and in each of her rooms was a children's bookshelf.
She let us pore over her great book of old English
Ballads, and she often repeated poetry to us as we
sat on the sofa by her in the twilight.
After her death in 1865, Uncle Harry Lee wrote this
little memorial of her : — S. J. G.
"Charity suffereth long, and is kind."
Those who suffer long with others, and are kind, have,
for the most part, suffered long themselves.
One who had thus dearly bought this most amiable of
virtues, has just passed away.
Her great natural sensitiveness was heightened by
early affliction.
Left an orphan, she was a sojourner in the houses of
her kinsfolk, where she assumed the duties, but dis
claimed the rights of a daughter. Practising a self-
denial and self-sacrifice distressing to her family, she still
felt oppressed by an obligation her humility exaggerated.
Among a crowd of cousins, she was simply Cousin, the
one of that name in whose memory was stored all birth-

314]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
days and anniversaries, whose tender sympathies, in joy
or sorrow, never failed.
Nor were these limited to her very large family circle,
but extended to many friends, especially to those whose
bereavements recalled her own.
Her devotion to others was the more disinterested
that it robbed her of time naturally coveted by one of her
intellectual activity and literary tastes.
She gave her life to her friends, but never yielded
her opinions, for she was an independent thinker.
Her personal qualities were most attractive, a grace
ful person and the manners of a gentlewoman.
She was one of the benefactors of the poor; her name
is written on many lists of benevolent ladies, as it is en
graved on the hearts of all who knew her.
She has gone to a world where, happily for her, virtue
is its own reward.
On June 16th, 1859, there was a quiet celebration
of Grandfather and Grandmother's golden wedding; a
gathering of the children and grandchildren, and Uncle
James Jackson with Cousin Sue. Just a year later
Grandmother died. After that Aunt Lizzie was the
head of Grandfather's household. She kept always her
pleasant southeastern room,1 and her little Mary under
Exy Ann's2 good and very firm care was in the Middle
Room. Uncle Charles went and came from West Street
and his busy practise.
Summers and winters came and went — children grew
up and children were born — Uncle Frank and Aunt
Sarah came to live at Chestnut Hill and gradually our
families grew together as it were.
1 In much later years this has been Eva's room and is now
the nursery for Clara and Edward's little children, Peirson,
Elliot and George.
2 Very firm with all of us was Exy Ann 1 Her name may have
been Achsah, but this was our name for her.

XIV
THE GARDEN AND FARM BOOKS
I know the trusty almanac,
Of the punctual coming-back,
On their due days, of the birds.
*****
Welcome back, you little nations,
Far-travelled in the South plantations ;
Bring your music and rhythmic flight,
Your colors for our eyes' delight.
Freely nestle in our roof,
Weave your chamber weatherproof;
And your enchanting manners bring,
And your autumnal gathering.
Exchange in conclave general
Greetings kind to each and all,
Conscious each of duty done,
And unstained as the sun. Emerson.
My grandfather was sixty-eight years old when he
first became possessed of a place of his own in the
country, and he then entered upon a life which was really
new to him with characteristic enthusiasm and interest.
Somehow or other, although Grandfather was not an
experienced horticulturist and neither James O'Hearn,
his head workman, nor his brother Michael, who was
our faithful friend till he died, knew anything of garden
ing as taught in books, the garden was delightful at all
seasons; the strawberry beds were well kept and pro
lific, the pears delicious, the apple crops usually good.
Grandfather's day often began by a conference in the
morning with James about the day's work. If it had
rained, the rainfall was carefully measured in the large
3'5

316] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
rain-gauge which stood by the path into the garden,
and a record made : there was a walk about the place
for observation, and in summer and autumn the pick
ing up of windfall pears and apples which were placed
on the shelves and mantelpiece of his little room.
Several of his "Garden and Farm Books" remain, all
but one made by himself of folded sheets of foolscap
paper sewed together and covered with strong, gray
paper. They are ruled for headlines and for columns
of dates and figures, and although they look at first
confused, they give a very living picture of all that
went on, and show how full were the days with many
farming operations. They become, too, very practical
treatises on grafting, pruning, draining, and on the un
ceasing war on canker-worms and "borers." They
amount, indeed, to a sort of chronicle of the later years
of my grandfather's life, for everything went into them :
the dates of ploughing and planting, of the coming of the
birds, of the blossoming of the fruit trees, the grafting
of pear and apple trees, the wages paid to the workmen
on the place, and lastly, the list of the crops as they came
in, with the number of barrels of apples and bushels or
baskets of pears sent in November to many of the family
and to friends; also to Mrs. Gwynne's Home, Mr.
Charles Barnard's Warren Street Chapel, Harriet Ryan's
Home, and the Female Orphan Asylum, of which Aunt
Lizzie was for many years a directress. In the list of
expenses, Grandfather's own very modest personal ex
penditures were included: books, reviews, pew-taxes and
India-rubber shoes alternating with seeds, lime, young
fruit-trees, etc.
The flavor and interest of these old books remain
shut in between their covers. Something abides in hand
writing and in the strong old paper and unfaded ink
not to be transmitted by a few printed words.

1850] The GARDEN and FARM BOOKS [3*7
There was evidently much exchange of trees and
shrubs between friends in those days and close observa
tion of each other's experiments, successes and failures.
There was also a far greater variety in fruit trees than
any one adventures on now.
There were farmers in those days known by that title,
Farmer Humphreys, Farmer Jones, and others: Farmer
Jones's orchard on the southern slope of Aspinwall Hill
was famous for its uniformly good condition and full
bearing, and Grandfather, from time to time, looked
over this orchard and took counsel with its owner about
care of orchard trees, war on canker-worms, and general
farming operations.
Here are a few detached entries:
1850. "May 21, Came to Hyslop Place.
Planted melons, water and musk.
Grafted pear trees near carpenter's shop. . . .
June 1st to 4th. Melons up (and in September Grand
father records them as ripe).
June 25th to 10th July. Strawberries were in bearing.
July 20th to 1 2th August. Abundance of raspberries.
August 16. Budded natural plum trees with peach,
and some with greengage plums from Aspinwall's garden.
Budded cherry trees with Blackhart cherry buds from
Col. Perkins's."
18 51. "The apples in blossom late, say May 16 to
25, on place. June 13, first gathering of strawberries.
Aspinwall says canker-worms descend trees about 15 th
of June: none on his place or Col. Perkins's. Most
destructive in village. . . . Peas were had from 25th of
June to 10th of September. Musk melons in September."
There are lists of trees to be bought from the Botanic
Garden and planted "near G. Higginson's house and
in the circle near the shed," and the dates of the fall
ing of the leaf of various trees are noted.

3*8]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1852
Among the books bought this year are : Companions
of My Solitude, by A. Helps ; Bailey's Logic; three vol
umes of Friends in Council, for C. C. Biddle.1
18 52. Very careful record of rainfall from the 14th
of June to the 10th of September. There are measure
ments of the fields, including the new purchase of lots of
the Hyslop estate, probably the upper fields on the hill.
A careful account of the apple trees of a dozen differ
ent varieties in the different parts of the place, and a
splendid list of distribution of apples in November. The
names sound like one of the old family parties: Lee,
Higginson, Jackson, Morse, Putnam, Cabot, Holmes,
and then follow friends: Dr. Ephraim Peabody, Mr.
William Atkinson, Mr. William S. Bullard, Mr. Ozias
Goodwin, and others. There was much autumn planting
of trees in 1852. There was a planting of acorns on
October 29, "being the day of Mr. Webster's burial,"
and on several other days. Some of the acorns were
from the Cabot and Gardner places at Brookline; some
from Dr. Robbins's English oaks at Brush Hill; some
from Scarlet Oaks at Brattleboro, Vermont, where Hig
ginson kinsfolk and Aunt Nancy Storrow were living.
Each member of the family shared in the planting, either
personally or by proxy, from Grandfather and Grand
mother to the youngest grandchild in each family —
Frank Higginson, Clara Lee, Frank Lee and Harry
Morse. l853- Especially careful records of dates of flower
ing of fruit trees. Various trees are brought from
Beverly by David Larcom in May. "Canker-worms
abundant : some in Aspinwall's garden, a few on H. Lee's
xMr. Clement C. Biddle, 1784-1855, a diligent student of
economics. He was present at the Free-Trade Convention held at
Philadelphia in 1831, and was at that time influential in shaping
the financial policy of the Government. My Grandfather and he
were warm friends.

1857] The GARDEN and FARM BOOKS [319
apple trees. Borers on English Ash, none on American
Ash. In August, found borers in the White Maples."
1834. From the 4th to 8th of May, the robins and
sparrows are noted, the golden robins on the 9th of
May. On 25th of May, golden robins have a nest with
eggs on elm tree near the house. Much transplanting
in this year. Six volumes of Hildreth's History of the
United States are among the books of the year.
1833. In this year, began the removing of trees to
Uncle Frank Lee's place at Chestnut Hill, and some
to the Pulsifer place, to Cousin Leverett Saltonstall's,
and to George Lee's. "To F. L. L., three Maples, two
English Ashes, one Black Walnut, six Sycamores, two
Horse-Chestnuts, Norway and Sugar Maples."
1836. The work of five years in ditching and draining
the hill, which was full of springs, is summarized. "In
1850, the ground was so full of water as to ruin some
of the trees newly planted, and to injure still more of
them : Manuring and spreading 500 to 600 loads of loam,
100 of which, or more, came from Tom's grounds. The
land above G. Higginson's house and below east of his
house and below Lee, Sr.'s, garden, partly ploughed up
in 1 85 1 (principally in 1,852-3-4), and enriched with
loam from upper part of the estate. The land has been
drained between the two houses with blind drains, filled
in with stones and an outlet of water in the ditches at
the side of the road."
1837. "May 12, unburied carrots deposited in No
vember, 1856. About one-third rotten, suffered from
heavy April rains; eleven inches in a few days. They
were kept in ground too long.
"June 1 to 7, no canker-worms on the place, save a few
small ones on the tarred elm. None on Warren's trees.
None found on Shady Road. Never have seen any on
Tulip trees, or Norway or Sugar Maples, or Birch trees.

32Q]  HENRY AND MARY LEE  [1857
June 1 to 7, Farmer Jones' orchard: no cankers on his
trees, he says: did not tar last fall or this spring. Put
bags of fine salt in crotches of plum-trees as remedy for
knots which ruin them.
"September 10, removed trees to F. L. Lee's, Chestnut
Hill, on drag with two yoke of oxen. Seven men required
to load, and all delivered in good order with balls of earth
and rootlets. Four Arbor Vitae, very large ; one American
Spruce; six Norway Spruces, very large and fine, six
years in ground.
"October 20,, removed to F. L. Lee's six Butternuts
and six to Pulsifer place. October, F. L. Lee's apple trees
and the young apple trees examined by Michael for
three days, and work done on them.
An ominous entry is made on October 13, 1857, "New
York banks suspended," and on October 14, the Boston
banks. This was the disastrous financial crisis of 1857.
1838. Many notes of the pears. Among the pear
trees enumerated are: "Catillacs, S. Ghislain,1 excellent
quality; Louise Bonne de Jersey, Fultons, Flemish Beauty,
Beurre Royal, St. Michael, excellent quality, no rust or
breaks." "August 30, a bushel or two fallen off the
old Bartlett trees, used for baking. Too many on the
great tree for richness. September 1 and 2, Dearborn
Sweeting, about forty small pears, good for summer
fruit, but not worth cultivation. September 1, Julienne
Sweet, three-quarters of a bushel, superior to most sum
mer fruit. September 5, Beurre D'Aumale, about two
dozen, large and fine quality."
Grandfather's copy of Downing's Fruits and Fruit
Trees of America is full of careful notes and comments,
and the list of pears is long: among them recur often
Belle Lucrative, Dix, Urbaniste, Winter Nelis : among the
1 "S. Ghislain, most excellent Belgian pear, introduced in the
United States by S. G. Perkins, Esq., of Boston." — Downing.

1858] The GARDEN and FARM BOOKS [321
apples, Hubbardston, Nonsuch, Red Astrachan, Graven-
stein, and various Russets.
"Borers — Pulsifer Orchard: from April to 1st June,
a careful examination was carried on. The utter neglect
— apparently so — of this orchard by leaving every tree
afflicted by ravages of borer principally, and to some
extent by caterpillars and cankers, has kept the trees from
natural growth and from bearing any fruit. They also
suffered from not having been pruned to such an ex
tent that, in 1856, James cut out many cart-loads of suck
ers and branches, which absorb so much of the sap as
to diminish their bearing ability.
"The apple trees were mostly manured 1857. Scraped
and trimmed in winter 1857-58. Borers searched and
cleaned out. 1858 is the bearing year and never a finer
season for growth since my residence here. By reducing
all the trees from about 200 to about one-third, the land
has been relieved and the product is not much short of
that of the 200 trees.
"Baldwins1 are the most abundant bearers, and quality
is better on the whole, for winter consumption, than of
any other fruit. Four-fifths of the highly recommended
apples in the nurseries are falsely described, and are not
worth cultivating. Many of the young trees from the
nurseries are infested with borers.
"I find, on comparison of our Russet trees with others
in this vicinity, that ours are fuller than any. This
fact shows the benefit derived from the care taken
of them for the nine seasons passed here (including
the present one), namely, by trimming to the extent
of one-third of their surplus wood; and by clearing of
borers every year from ground to the tops, and filling
the holes with grafting wax. To kill the younger ones,
with which the surrounding ground was infested, I have
*Then a new apple, named for Loammi Baldwin, the engineer.

322J HENRY AND MARY LEE [1858
placed in it salt and lime, which served for manure as
well as for destruction of insects.
"Trees not too old for bearing, say Philbrick and
Powell Perkins, have been rendered fruitless by neglect
for many years to cut out surplus limbs : this has driven
the nourishment required for growth of fruit into [growth
of] wood. The blossoms were abundant, but did not
come to fruit. Jones keeps the interior of the trees open
for sun, light and air, and I have followed his example."
1830. February 23 : "Ordered through Crosby and
Nichols: Handbook on the Native Trade, by Thomas
Ellison, 7/6; J. Stuart Mill On Liberty; Journal of Sta
tistical Society of London, commencing 1st January,
1859, paid 2/6. April 20, remitted to Editor of Rich
mond Whig for 1858-9, $3; W. C. Bryant, Semi-weekly
Evening Post for one year, $3 ; to S. G. Ward, con
tribution to Agassiz' institution, $100. Came to Brook
line, April 21. New steps put by Haynes in garden, laid
with stone so that little or no wood comes in contact
with soil. Golden robins, 10th of May, bobolinks also.
Few birds' nests to 12th of May. Finches came for seed
[in bird baskets outside the windows]. Most of them
left about the 1st of September; few remained until
20th of October, thermometer 300 to 360. H. L., Jr.,
left for Beverly on 8th June."
i860. The first entry in Grandfather's Garden and
Farm Book for i860 is "Came to Brookline, Thurs
day, 26 April, i860. Found Finches had been here
some iq or 15 days and fed from baskets at our cham
ber window as last year. Golden Robins first appeared
May 12."
On Wednesday, 30 May, are a few words telling of
Grandmother's illness — an illness of less than 48 hours  ¦
and then the simple entry: "Died sH a.m., June 1."
Then in few words, solemn in tone to the ear even now,

1863] The GARDEN and FARM BOOKS [323
Grandfather says how thankful Grandmother would have
been for the swift end, while strength of mind and body
were still hers.
The Garden and Farm Book for 1861 is missing.
1862. There are notes of flowers planted in the chil
dren's gardens, from May 16 to 20. "Seeds in Mary
Morse's garden: Pink Carnation, Rose of Heaven, Afri
can Rose, Canterbury Bell, Rose Campion." Then fol
low indications of the war: "To Sanitary Society, $50;
7th of June, for Sanitary Commission of Boston, $25 ;
June 18, Sanitary Society, $25; October, contribution
at church to aid soldiers; October 25, Miss Heath,1 for
Sanitary purposes; December 28, James Higginson, a
gift to diminish the cost of his outfit, $50."
1863. In March: "To George Higginson for F. Lee
Higginson, toward expense of outfit, $50; March 15th,
for H. Lee, Jr.'s, uniform [as Governor's Aide], $50;
August, to R. P. Hallowell for Colored Regiment."
There are but few entries for 1863 and none later.
1 Miss Anne Heath of Brookline was the intimate friend of
Miss Dorothea Dix, and helped her in work for the soldiers.

XV
Letters, 1832-183Q
In the autumn of 1852 Mr. and Mrs. Henry Lee, Jr.,
went to Europe, leaving their children, Bessie, Hal, and
Clara, under the care of Cousin Sally Gardner in the new
brick house at Brookline.
In that year Uncle Harry had been interested in work
ing with his brother-in-law, J. Elliot Cabot, on plans
for an extension of the Union Building at 40 State Street,
then the home of Lee & Higginson : Mr. Cabot's letters,
full of delightful architectural detail, refer to Uncle
Harry's collaboration in this and in the building of
several houses, including his own: in notes written for
his sons, Mr. Cabot says, "Your Uncle Harry was one
of the proprietors of the Boston Theatre, and, when
the builder got into difficulties with the design, got it
turned over to your Uncle Edward and me, though he
was himself largely concerned with the design."
In this year 1925 the Union Building has been sold by
Lee, Higginson & Co., and we have bade good-bye to
the passages and the small rooms and offices into which
Uncle George or Uncle Harry would call us, — and later
Henry-. — and George Lee's familiar desk in the passage
from 40 to 44 State Street. In this year, also, the Boston
Theatre is to be pulled down.
Francis L. Lee at Westport to his sister,
Harriet Morse, in Boston
Stonysides, Feb. 5th, 1852.
Dear Hattie,
Your very pleasant letter has just arrived, and as I
am just going to drive out and take Sharon to the vil
lage, I thought I would answer, if only briefly.
324

 LETTERS, 1 852-1 859  [3^5
First, let me repeat our thanks to dear good Mother
for the carpet, the pills, and the little box of dainties,
which came last night just as the French baker's bread
had given out, and which to Sally, at the present stage
of convalescence, are delicious.
I reproached Sharon for bothering Mother about it,
but she said she obeyed Mother's orders, so I have
nothing to say but a thousand thanks.
Thank you, dear Hattie, for your kind welcome of
the "little totty baby brother"1 — tell Fanny that Mary
and Frankie send their best love and many kisses to
dear little Cousin Fanny, and want her to promise to
come and see them next summer, and go and see the
hens and pigs and lambs and doves and moo-cows with
them, and Mary wants little Fanny to help her take care
of her little flower-garden that her Father is going to
make for her next summer. . . . Within a week we
have had a plump foot of fresh snow, in addition to
a very fair coating before, and the country looks beauti
fully, shrouded with it. The Lake has been a busy scene,
covered with innumerable wood-sleds, and with travelers
from the Vermont side. ... I wish you could happen
up, and look in upon Sarah. She is very comfortably
established — the bay-window is turned into a small green
house, which adds to the comfort, and very much to the
pleasant look.
Sarah is nicely and the baby thrives apace. The only
trouble now is Sharon's cough, which she does not throw
off as quickly as I hoped, but the pleasant days we are
now having, and a drive every day, with one of Uncle's
cough pills every night, will, I hope, finish it. I am
exceedingly obliged to Uncle James for his note and the
pills. The recipe I am very glad to have, for it is in-
1 Francis Wilson Lee was born 18 January, 1852. Nurse
Sharon, a quite remarkable Englishwoman, was a friend and nurse
in many Boston families.

3^6]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
valuable, being an almost certain cure. I don't know
that I shall not have a lot made up, and advertise them
as the famous "Bfov ayyeXos Pill," and make an ever
lasting fortune out of them. It would be a most
Samaritan way of taking the needful out of the
public. . . .
Have you seen Jenny Lind in the Square? I think
of asking her up here next summer.1
Love to old Sam, and tell him to think of carrots and
cauliflowers, and prepare for next summer.
Goodbye. I must close with best love from Sarah,
Mary, Frankie, and old Frank to all.
Yr. afft. brother Frank.
Henry Lee to Henry Lee, Jr.
Brookline, 12 Oct., 1852.
Dear H.,
I hand you with this a bundle containing letters.
To Thomas Thornely,2 Liverpool ; who will be in Lon
don on the meeting of Parliament. If desired by you,
1 The famous Swedish singer was then in Boston, doubtless liv
ing at the Revere House on Bowdoin Square, the chief hotel at
that time.
2 Mr. Thomas Thornely of Liverpool "was a member of Par
liament, with close relations with the leading writers on finance
and trade at a time when currency problems and the position of
the Bank of England were quite as acute as the corresponding
problems in the United States. He was a correspondent of Mr.
Lee's through the period of the adoption of free trade by Great
Britain and the passage of the Bank Restriction Act of 1844,
measures that have profoundly influenced the course of English
history, and, indirectly, of the world. Unfortunately, only a
single letter from Mr. Lee has been found. Mr. Lee was long
prominent in the discussion of currency and tariff questions which
followed the wild-cat banking of the Jackson administration, and
the 'tariff of abominations' of 1828." — Lee-Thornely Letters,
1840-1847, Proceedings Massachusetts Historical Society, June,
1920.

 LETTERS, 1852-1859 [327
he can give you a few other introductions when he is
in London. . . .
To Gilson, Ord & Co., Manchester.
To B. D. Colvin, London.
To Thomas Tooke, London, with a copy of the Cotton
letters. . . . Mr. Tooke is President or Governor, as the
chiefs of such institutions are sometimes called.1 He was,
some 25 years ago, partner of the house of Astell, Tooke,
Thornton & Co., with whom Mr. Goodwin and myself
acted as agents in some matters of business. He is much
respected as a man, and was, while in mercantile life,
one of the most distinguished persons in the profession.
The letters are all open and some of them contain my
views of American stocks, and caution against purchas
ing them without seeking information concerning them
among persons who have no interest in deceiving them
as is the case among loan jobbers, etc., who speculate
largely in stocks, or are employed in disposing of them to
such as are foolish or credulous enough to confide in
them. If, during your stay in Europe, information is wanted
in regard to the character and value of American money
and securities, you can write for it. It is impossible, by any
inquiries now made, to know what may be the worth of
many kinds of stocks 2 or 3 months hence; or to obtain
any accurate and reliable information of their existing
value. I have no doubt that many millions of railway bonds
and bank shares will be at a great discount hereafter, and
some of them worthless. Wherever is a road that pays
a dividend over 5 or 6 or 7%, there will be parallel and
1 Thomas Tooke, 1774-1858. English economist. A recognized
authority on finance and banking. One of the earliest advocates
of free trade. With Ricardo, Malthus, James Mill, and others,
he founded the Political Economy Club in 1821. He was Gov
ernor of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation.

328] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
competing roads, and eventually a great portion of these
investments will sink to a low point.
It would seem from the state of the money market
and the enormous expansion of bank loans and bond
issues, that our banks are in an unsafe position. The
effect of this undue extension of credit and of bank paper
is to make prices unnaturally high, and consequently to
make this country the best market to sell in. Such being
the case, we import too largely; always have a balance
of payment against us which requires not only the ship
ment to Europe of all the gold we receive, but to add
to our means of payment of that balance the funds of all
the stocks, bonds, etc., that can be sold abroad.
Notwithstanding these resources, the foreign ex
changes are tending against the country, which requires
coin from the Banks, and should they lose a few millions
of their coin, they would be forced to make a sudden con
traction of their liabilities, which could not be done
without disturbing the great trading interests. Sooner
or later this hazardous game on the part of banks and of
the business community must result in a revulsion, not
so severe as that of 1837, but sufficiently so to cause much
mischief and suffering.
A suspension from losses or delay of two months in
arrivals of gold from California in the present state of
the exchanges, and under excessive importations, as com
pared with last year, would strip the banks of New
York of too much of their coin. In New England there
is not over $3,500,000 to $4,00,0,000 to sustain the whole
circulation, and in Western States the banks keep hardly
any reserves of coin.
Such, it seems to me, are the dangers ahead, but there
are counteracting causes in operation, or which may here
after be in operation, that may postpone or prevent a
recurrence of these revolutions in trade and money from
which the country has so often suffered.

 LETTERS, 1 852-1 859  [329
With my best wishes for the accomplishment of the
objects held in view by yourself and your wife, on your
voyage, I am yours affectionately, Henry Lee.
Mrs. Lee to Henry Lee, Jr.
Brookline, October, 1852.
Clara and Bessie are really in rude health and spirits.
Clara is playful all the time, and Bess is very pleasant.
I was quite charmed when I gave Hal your paternal
and maternal kiss that he immediately turned round and
kissed your note — was not that very sweet? . . . Every
fine day Clara has been out in state in her little wagon:
today she was calling my attention to Watch, who was
attending upon their walk [a black Newfoundland dog
— our first dog-friend]. The faithful David Larcom
brought him up from Beverly, and the children, one
and all, Grandfather included, are delighted to have him
here, and he seems well satisfied with his new situation.
Elliot Cabot has gone to Westport, and Henry Bige
low1 and wife are there now, I suppose, and Sarah will,
I doubt not, be able to receive them all with her usual
hospitality. . . . We have been much engaged in apple-
gathering the past week, and I have become so much
interested in the business as to remain out from two to
four hours in the day sorting them out: we have now
accomplished our sixty barrels for ourselves and friends
— they are fine this year.
/. Elliot Cabot to his sister, Mrs. Henry Lee, Jr.,
in Europe Brookline, Nov. 11, 1852.
My dear Lizzie,
I have just got back from Frank's. I went up on
1 Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, the distinguished surgeon, and Mrs.
Bigelow, daughter of Captain William Sturgis.

33Q]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
the 15 of Oct. "for a week or so," and it has come nearer
three. — You can imagine, better than I can tell you,
what an unspeakably good time I have had. The country
I found more beautiful than I expected. Then such
an entirely delightful way of life they lead there, such
as I had imagined, but never seen. I do not know how
to analyze it, or to say how much was owing to the
scenery, how much to the way of life, and how much
to the personnel. I had never seen Mrs. Hunter, and
you will know how much I was charmed with her. Then
Mr. H. was uniformly well, and, therefore, uniformly
agreeable, without any of the fits of the blues that I
had heard periodically befell him. Sarah Lee I thought
a very pleasant person before, but living in the house
with her I had the opportunity of appreciating the great
solid foundation of thoroughly hearty and healthy
character that underlies her more obvious practical and
social good qualities.
As for Frank, I thought I knew him pretty well before,
but I very soon found I had undervalued both the depth
and the breadth of his understanding, and I came to
love more and more his great and magnanimous heart.
— I have no criticism to make on his way of life, for I
did not find any evil effects upon him ; there is nothing
morbid or contracted, and tho' one might wish he could
have been developed more fully, and made the mark
on the world that he might, yet take him as he is, how
many men are there whose life on the whole one could
call more successful than his? I can think of but very
few. Very few men have ever come so near to me as
he. I feel that thorough good understanding between
us, that is so rare except between the nearest blood re
lations. . . . Then we had your friend Susan Bigelow for
near two weeks, and Mary Parkman1 with her husband
1 Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Parkman.

Hi?

^<

3^

 LETTERS, 1 852-1 859  [331
for a few days at the end of my visit. S. B. and Frank
kept up for the whole time they were within sight of
each other, the most unremitting volleys of wit I ever
witnessed. It was such a cut-and-thrust encounter as
I have seen between two active and skilful fencers, never
at a loss for a parry, never overlooking a loophole of
advantage. For my part I sat in rather a stunned state
among these incessant discharges, and with unbounded
admiration for S. B.'s wonderful brilliancy, for sbe said
good things enough in one day to set up a professed
jester for a month.
Out of the house, at Westport, there is not much news
to tell. Mr. Hunter's woods are fast disappearing, the
upper side of his avenue nearly bare. . . . Did you go
to Partridge Harbour and Rose Point, and the hill
where they talked of building? . . . Then what a pretty
site on the farm, next to Frank's. And still more beauti
ful, Barbour's Point, beyond the village. For my part
I feel like an escaped lotus-eater, it seemed so right and
reasonable to stay there forever. . . .
I find everybody well at Brookline. I went at once
to your house and to Mrs. Lee's. The children were
playing in the parlour, Hal endeavoring to make a fairy
of himself, according to Bessie's directions, by standing
unsupported on the arm of the sofa, which resulted, of
course, in his tumbling headforemost to the floor, which,
however, did not seem to affect him particularly, nor to
hinder him from trying it at once again. As for Clara,
she has made the most wonderful progress. I was really
astonished to see how much she had grown since I left
home. She has now that broad solid look that Hal has,
and her skin looked as clear and rosy as any baby you
will see in Old England. She is also making great
progress in talking, and says "Clara Lee" in the most
bewitching way. She called me by name at once, and

33 2 J HENRY AND MARY LEE
seemed to have a great many words. She evidently takes
very kindly to Miss Gardner, and while I sat there, was
stroking her cheeks and smoothing her hair in the most
affectionate manner. . . . Bessy dined at our house today,
and after dinner told me some long stories from
Slovenly Peter.
In your dining-room, where I found Miss Gardner, the
woodfire was burning cheerily, reminding me of Frank's.
. . . Hugh was washing the windows, and everything
looked well about the house. The Morses and George
Higginson have moved into town, but the Lees remain
some time yet. Your neighbour, Humphrey, is chosen to
General Court this year, and I hope will have the matter
of indiscriminate pig-pens impressed on his mind. . . .
I found the streets hung with mourning for Mr.
Webster, and it has really been a genuine and very
general grief, as it might well be, for in the dearth of
great men, a great possibility is worth lamenting. . . .
You are even less interested in politics than I, and so
will not care much to hear that the Democratic President
is elected, by a greater majority than any one since Mon
roe, and that Mr. Everett is Secretary of State for the
rest of Mr. Webster's term. Mr. Hunter says Mr.
Everett has a good chance to be president himself one of
these days, but I cannot think that. . . .
Give my best love to Harry, and tell him that I found
matters in good train at that great production, the Union
Bank Building. The plastering is now nearly done, and
they are at work joining the new building to the old.
John Lee is evidently rather astonished at the rotunda
of the rear staircase, and confided to me that if he had
known it was going to make such an imposing appear
ance, he should have wanted to have it in front. . . .
My dear Lizzie, don't think it necessary to write
such monstrous long letters as this, in answer. The more

 LETTERS, 1 85 2-1 859  [333
the better, but I am rather fearing you may put off
writing if you get it into your head that there must
necessarily be so much of it. But if you will be a little
methodical, and have a letter always on the stocks, add
ing from day to day, you will get one ready without
much trouble. We want to know all about your sur
roundings, and you cannot be too minute.
Ever yours, J. Elliot Cabot.
Mrs. Lee to Henry Lee, Jr.
Dec. 6, 1852.
My dear Harry: We were somewhat disappointed at
not getting letters last night by the steamer of the 20th
at New York. I account for it in part from your not
having recovered from the fatigues of the Duke's funeral,
two days having hardly passed since that ceremony, and
perhaps that you think once in two weeks enough for us,
and so it will be, unless some important event occurs, or
there is any particular cause of anxiety on your account.
. . . Your father saw Mr. and Mrs. Cabot at your
house yesterday; they seemed in good spirits and to be
enjoying their country life. As yet the weather has been
fine. You will be surprised to hear that Col. Perkins
went off to N. York yesterday, after having been to
Lowell the day before. Mr. Cabot said that he even
talked of going on to Washington.
Your father has not yet mustered courage to commence
his journey to Philadelphia. Perhaps I must take part of
the blame. The fact is he has a lingering cold hanging
about him still, and he knows so little how to take care
of himself that I am timid of his leaving home; he is
so scandalized, however, at the idea of the Colonel being
so much more adventurous than himself, that I think he
will start off this next week. I found him looking after

334] HENRY AND MARY LEE
his trunk this mg., and I shall make no opposition, cer
tainly, only I would a little rather he would wait a few
days, as Lizzie commenced a visit of a week to Sally
today, and she will, I know, insist upon returning home
when he goes.
. . . The children were all here on Thanksgiving Day,
and were good. Bessie was with Miss Ames the other
mg. when Abby came in, and Ames was giving a de
tailed account of the marriage of Margaret, our parlor
girl. Bessie, engrossed with her dolls, appeared quite
inattentive to their discourse, but bye and bye, when
alone with Ames, she looked up and said, "Well, Miss
Ames, I do not see that either you or I can be married."
Ames asked why? when Bessie answered with great quick
ness, "Why, you are too old and / am too young." A. was
greatly amused, and told us the story with great delight,
saying she had been very entertaining all the morning.
You have heard from all quarters how old and know
ing Clara grows and how finely she looks.
Hal is as usual alternating between his expressions of
affection and growling when his will is opposed; the
former has prevailed when with me of late. He has
several times given me a most ardent hug, saying, "I do
love you, Gramma."
Our party on Thanksgiving Day was not very brilliant.
Sally and yr. children and Geo. and his were with us,
and though each performed their parts well, we wanted
you and Lizzie to complete the group. We shall do
better at Christmas when Frank will be here. We
expect them in a week. They had a most delightful
time at the Lake when Sam and Mary Parkman,
Sue Bigelow and Elliot all met there. The party were
well assorted and acted upon each other, as you may
suppose, to produce brilliant flashes of wit. Sarah, in
speaking of it, says she did wish very much that Lizzie

 LETTERS, 1 852-1 859  [335
had been with them. Mary Parkman seems charmed
with the situation, the mode of living, the Host and
Hostess, and above all, with Mrs. Hunter, for whom she
has formed quite a friendship. She has invited her to
make her a visit, saying Mrs. H. is one of the persons
her husband could tolerate in that position. ... In a letter
addressed to Bennet Forbes in doggerel, she gives quite
an amusing account of the party. Do let me say with
out further delay what will, I hope, prove a great affair
for Lizzie if she pursues the Isle of Wight plan. Mar
garet Forbes and her sister Fanny1 are to sail on the 20th
for England. Mrs. Cary told Sally today, one of the
brothers goes out with them. I hope Lizzie may wish
and may be able to form some coalition that will be
pleasant to her. If the climate is what we have heard,
that will be favorable, and the quiet amusement of such
a place better for her than the crowd of the City, I
should think. . . .
Harriet was much pleased that your wife made her
a participator in her first impressions, and fully realized
the pleasure she shd. enjoy in being with you, but she has
other business on hand just now; her boy is a very nice
one, and has given and is giving as little trouble as
possible. Harriet is remarkably well now, while quiet,
and we have every reason to hope will gather strength
to meet the exertion of the coming month ; she has plenty
of food for her little "Henry Lee,"2 and will, I trust,
continue to nurse him through the year.
1 Sisters of Commodore Bennet Forbes, and Mr. John Murray
Forbes, and cousins of Aunt Lizzie Lee.
2 Henry Lcc Morse was born November 18, 1852. Uncle
Harry writes to my father from Ventnor, Isle of Wight, February
9, 1853 : "Lizzie longs to see your little baby, who, if he resembles
his papa inwardly, as Hattie says he does outwardly, will satisfy
one of his uncles." (Uncle Harry was always satisfied.)

336"]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
I have written many, many words, and expressed but
few ideas and very little information. I shall not write
often unless I can get a nice pen with paper adapted to it,1
that I may be more legible and the task may be easier,
but I wanted to answer your letter, my dear son,
and sympathize with you in yr. anxieties and pleasures.
This letter has been written at various times. I now
close on Mon., 6th Dec, — when we, including all the con
nections, are well — and with most aff'te love to L. and
yourself, from yr. Mother M. Lee.
You must write John Lee at once if you have not, or
you will lose your character as a man of business. His
daughter Rose makes her debut at a ball at Mrs. John
Amory Lowell's this week.
Henry Lee Higginson to his Aunt Harriet Morse
[Henry was always sure of her great sympathy in
his interest in music — a portion of a long letter from
Dresden, of December ioth, 1852, shows how strong
was his interest and purpose when but just eighteen years
old.] There is a man of the name of Wagner who was
the conductor or manager of the opera here before
the Revolution of 1848, but, being very active in that,
he was obliged to flee, or go to prison, and he is now
in Paris. He has composed a number of operas, and
lately they have played one of them here : it is very fine
music indeed, though difficult to perform and to under
stand; but the libretto is very fine, and by the composer,
too — a thing very rarely done, but which he always does ;
and I think I was never so much pleased — not pleased
exactly — but so well satisfied with any opera, except "Don
Giovanni," as with his "Tannhauser." He is a very
1 Steel pens were just displacing the sympathetic goose-quill.

 LETTERS, 1852-1859  [337
great favorite here, and his music is constantly played
at the concerts, though they seem to know only one
opera of his. . . .
I've not said a word of Beethoven's beautiful opera,
"Fidelio," which I've seen twice now: it is a most ex
quisite piece of work, just like Beethoven — so quiet, so
peaceful, so full of expression, so many beautiful chords,
such harmony I There is no show, no spectacle, but it
is far better, I think, for that than the more modern
affairs fit only for kings. ... I could write you for a
week about what I've heard here, but that would be
neither interesting, nor have I time. A few words about
my own music and I have done. I have just begun to
take lessons, and get along decently; but, after all, I'm
merely beginning, and tho' it pleases me extremely to
play, I believe it does no other person. . . . The only
evil effect of all this music is that it has unstrung my
nerves in a measure, and I sometimes get into a perfect
fit because I cannot play what is in my head; that is,
not what I've heard, but what is originated there, and
tho' I do not mean to say that it is all good, yet I am
very much given now to sitting down and playing just
the ideas that come up before me. Of course, I cannot
play nearly fast or well enough, and the bass part is very
lame indeed. Don't imagine that it is any of it good,
for it is not, but merely that it is something I like to
do. . . . This German music is very much finer to me
than the Italian, for, after all, there is little or no har
mony, real good harmony, in the Italian when compared
with German music; and the melody in the German, tho'
it may not stand out so clearly, is yet there very beauti
ful, too, and it lasts much better than the Italian.
I've determined to know something of music when
I return, and that it is in part which makes me
uncomfortable.

33§] HENRY AND MARY LEE
I've heard no operas here except real solid ones of
good masters, and whenever I go, I attend as if I had
an elaborate critique to write on the orchestra, and some
times on the different instruments in it, though of course
not all, on each part and on the whole; in fact, about
everything. The better I know the music, the more
attention I pay, to hear the different instruments or parts,
and to understand and see how it is done: all this, you
may be assured, is very different from going merely to
enjoy; and I must so manage that the studying part does
not interfere with the pleasure; for then it might be
come disagreeable to me, and that would be too bad;
but it will never be so.
Mrs. Lee to Henry Lee, Jr.
Boston, 14th Dec'r, 1852.
My dear H.,
. . . You speak of not getting letters by two successive
mails, and I fear it will often be so — When Frank is here,
and I expect them today, he will write, I think, and
Sally will remain faithful once a fortnight, having an
understanding with Elliot for the intermediate week; but
fr. me you must expect little and the girls insist upon
it their letters are not worth sending across the Ocean —
Harriet may, perhaps, recover from this delusion when
she is again able to use her energies, but Lizzie will prove
incorrigible on this point — She says people have various
missions, hers is a working one — and if we all fulfil ours
as well as she does that portion of hers (for I do not ad
mit that that is all), we may have quiet consciences. . . .
Mrs. Cabot was much pleased to hear of your Thanks
giving dinner — and so was I — it must be pleasant to re
call the idea of these annual festivities when absent from
the home fireside. Ours was more pleasant than usual

LETTERS, 1852-1859 [339

on one account, that your father was in a more cheerful
state of mind than sometimes — Your children seem to
be looking forward to Christmas with great animation —
I hope their expectations will not be disappointed — Har
riet and Sam, with their children, will be here unless she
has some drawback — I have good accounts of your father
as far as N. York, where he arrived in the day train at
1/2 past 4, and wanting exercise, walked up to Doct'r
Stone's in the eve'ng and wrote me that night — this
is well for a man of 3 score and ten.
I wish I could get some entertainment or incident for
you, my dear children, but have little to draw upon —
I can tell you that Aunt Lydia and Ellen took tea with us
last eve'ng, were well and very pleasant — that Uncle
James is in usual health, pursuing with his constant fidelity
his usual train of usefulness — the Judge and wife un
usually well, have been at church lately — and those in
middle life are all going on in the same moderate course
of life that you think so tedious, but whh. is the lot
of nine-tenths of mankind. For our own immediate
household I may say well emphatically — We expect to
be roused up a little by Frank and his family, who usually
have a few things to be done, you know — Lizzie came
in from Brookline on Sat., having been a week with
Sally — She would have stayed longer but for the calls
upon her in town: she is busy in selecting her Christmas
presents, has to do all of Harriet's shopping and Mary's
in addition to our own. We do not at present think of
any commission for you, unless you meet with children's
books that you think more desirable than what we have
here — those always come in use where there are so many
of different ages and tastes to be supplied — do not think
of getting these to us before your return, as the annual
festivities for this year will have passed.
We hear of Henry [Higginson] very pleasantly es-

34»]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
tablished at Dresden, where he hopes to be able to
use his eyes sufficiently to get the German language into
his head a little — I hope you may meet, but see little
prospect of it. . . . Frank Jackson and wife were at
John Amory Lowell's ball, and I think enjoyed it as much
as people can who go once in a century — it was very
brilliant, we hear — they have also dined at the Bigelows
— quite elegant I Adieu, dear children,
From your affectionate mother M. Lee.
26th December, 1852.
You will be pleased with the bookmark from Bessie
— dear little honest Hal said he had cut a peaked fence
out of paper for Mama, but Bessie seemed to doubt
if that effort of his genius was sent. . . . Your children
came in good health and spirits on Christmas Day, and
I think they enjoyed themselves. Harriet and her chil
dren were here, and the baby, of course, was a new
object of interest to the other children. He is a very
fine little fellow. We are now listening to Thackeray's
lectures with great pleasure — we have persuaded Sally
to come in for tomorrow night. Frank [Lee] and his
wife are enjoying themselves — they are as popular and
as much attended to as they were two years since. Mary
Parkman has asked them to come to her every Saturday
night, and Anna Lodge invites them to a five o'clock
dinner every Sunday.
Henry Lee to Henry Lee, Jr.
Boston, Jan. 3, 1853.
Dear H.,
. . . Your first meeting with Mr. Tooke was dis
couraging, but the dinner with him must have been grati
fying. His remarks on my works are very acceptable as
I had rather have his approbation than the praises of a
large majority of writers on the subjects therein dis
cussed.

 LETTERS, 1852-1859  [341
I am the more gratified because I am aware that some
of my views are not in accordance with the opinions and
doctrines which of late years have been put forth by
Mr. Tooke, and which, as he admits, are somewhat
at variance with his early ones. If, however, the book
should be subject of further conversation, you could say
that I have become convinced by a careful study of his
last publication that I have fallen into errors similar to
those committed by Mr. Jones Loyd (later Lord Over-
stone), and others of his opponents. I am further con
vinced that the task I undertook, so far as concerned
questions of currency, credit and banking, was beyond
my ability to deal competently with.
The paper and type would have been better had I
contemplated going beyond a discussion upon cotton and
its fabrics — say 200 pages. I have a copious Index
which would have indicated, to those desirous of reading,
the subjects most likely to interest them, but it has not
been printed. I marked such pages as I supposed Mr.
Tooke would confine his reading to, to save him the
trouble of going through the work.
... I did not anticipate much benefit or pleasure to
you from my letters, but as you may remain long in Lon
don and the vicinity you will, I hope, find the acquaint
ance of Mr. Thornely, Mr. McKillop, Messrs. Colvin,
and Mr. Tooke more useful and more agreeable than I
expected. The English, tho' a friendly people, are destitute of
that politeness which might be looked for in so highly
civilized a nation ; but as regards my experience in India
I must acknowledge I have rec'd more acts of friend
ship and evidences of confidence in my principles and
character than I ever looked for in my own country, and
with a moderate fortune I would prefer that country to
this had I been born and educated there. I can imagine

342]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
that there may be more happiness among the mass of our
people, and less physical sufferings among the poorest
portions than exist in Great Britain, arising, however, not
from the form of our government, or from the administra
tion of it, but from the cheapness and abundance of land
and our separation from countries that can disturb us by
wars. We have, then, more material prosperity, but in
literature, science, art, manners, and all the other ele
ments of civilization we are far below England and most
of the Continental nations.
Nor, from the nature of our institutions, which rest
for support on the numerical and physical, rather than
on the moral and intellectual strength of the nation for
their existence and operation, is there any reason to
anticipate an advance, at least for a long time to come,
towards so high a state of civilization and refinement as
prevails in England, France and Germany. It is not (as
often contended), from the comparative poverty of the
United States, that we are in so low a condition, for we
have a larger [prosperity] than any country, save Great
Britain, nor from our national infancy, for we are as
old as our Saxon ancestors; and those who came here
and laid the foundations of our national existence were,
in many respects, better educated and certainly more high-
minded in many respects, than most of the men who now
take the lead among us in social and political life. In
N. Y. City, claiming, and perhaps justly so, to be the
most highly civilized one in the country, the circle of
rank and fashion includes some 10,000 or more per
sons, the majority of whom, so far as one may judge
from specimens seen, are not in anywise distinguished
from the inferior orders except in the show of wealth.
In political life we have no persons of influence in this
quarter who rise above the rank of demagogues. . . .

 LETTERS, 1 852-1 859  [343
The better educated and more worthy portion of the
party leaders have lost their position by the death of their
idol, Mr. Webster, and some of them voted for Pierce,
and I hope may support his administration, Pierce being,
it is thought by many, the least mischievously disposed
of the demagogues of either of the contending factions,
though a very ordinary man in point of talents and ac
quirements for the station he is to fill.
In the matter of Colleges and Universities, as they are
called, we number more than all Europe, and have armies
of A.M.s, D.D.s and LL.D.s scattered through the
country, but a moderate sized omnibus wd. hold (and
comfortably) all who for 20 years can be ranked as hav
ing made valuable contributions to science and literature.
In those pursuits which make men wealthy we are be
hind no nation. Even in those branches of industry where
we compete against low wages and superior amount of
capital, we excel. For instance, in commerce and naviga
tion and fisheries, Great Britain is in the rear of us — so
in the most staple manufactures — except such portions as
are managed by corporations. When we follow the Man
chester and Yorkshire men in cotton and woollen manu
factures, we shall not only supply ourselves with cotton,
but be successful competitors in foreign markets. In
woollen we can't do so well, because at present we
don't produce % of the raw material, and prices are from
50 to 60% higher than are paid in Great Britain.
Iron, with aid of a few profitable years like the present,
will probably succeed, not in Mass'ts or New England
for want of ore and coal side by side, but in Pennsylvania,
where cost of production is so much lower as to be a
fair profit.
. . . The country at large is no doubt very prosperous.
Still there are appearances all around, and especially in
New York and Philadelphia (from whence I returned

344] HENRY AND MARY LEE
a few days ago) which lead me to fear the foundations
are laid for a money crisis, and a general disturbance of
the concerns of the country.
Long continued profits, from 1843 to 1853, the effects
in part of a rapid and excessive expansion of currency
and credit, with attendant profit, and extravagance and
indiscriminate confidence, have led to a spirit of specu
lation and gambling, as in the times which preceded the
revulsions of 18 18 to 1820 — 1834 to 1837-1839-40.
Evidence of these premonitory symptoms of reactions
and revulsions is strongly exhibited by enormous rise
of real property in New York and Philadelphia, and in
many other places.
1. The rents, enormous before, have doubled in some
parts of these cities, wholly beyond the ordinary and
natural profits of trade.
2. There has been a rise of almost all kinds of stocks,
wholly disproportionate to the incomes they afford, or
to the character of the investments.
3. The increase of bank capital, in many quarters, has
been very great and there are now 200 banks at least
that will be put in operation this year and fully as many
more the ensuing one, if prior to that period the revulsion
does not begin. These institutions are nearly all under
the freebanking system commenced in New York some
15 years ago, and in its origin denounced by Gallatin as
the "freebooting system." Their circulation is based
wholly on Bonds and Mortgages, and State and Munic
ipal Stocks — neither of them available in case of de
mand for redemption, and the former generally much
overvalued or nearly worthless, as seen in many failures
of these banks.
4. In the immense addition to railways undertaken
mainly for enhancement of prices of lands and in the
[absence of] any well-grounded expectation of revenue,

LETTERS, 1852-1859 [345
or even a saving of part or any of the money paid in
for their subscription, on the plan and for purposes of
the Ch. River Road, the intention is to rely mainly on
sale of the Bonds, the holders of which are likely to
have the road in payment of them when this falls due.
These Bonds must be sold in N. Y. City and with
expectation of re-sale to Europeans who may be so con
fiding and credulous as to buy what no prudent and in
telligent man here would think safe at any price. I
have no cause to say much on this subject, but enclose a
statement of railways — the facts it contains are probably
near enough to be relied upon — I also enclose an Editorial
from the Journal of Commerce, which contains remarks
on currency, banking, and real estate, which are in
concurrence with my views.
I have no doubt real estate will recede from the pres
ent inflated value to extent of thirty or forty million dol
lars in course of a year or two. Such a revulsion fol
lowed] over-valuation of former periods, when from
excess of credit speculation and prices were unduly en
hanced. In 1833 Real Estate in N. Y. City stood at
$114,129,561; in 1836, at $233,742,303. Suspension in
1837 followed by contraction of credit, and currency fell
off to $196,450,190,. In 1842, with an addition of 70,000
to population and perhaps 10,000 buildings, it amounted
to $176,489,000. In 1850, with a population of 515,394.
it was $207,141,436 against $233,742,303 in 1836, with
a population of 350,000.
This sudden fall in prices of an artificially raised prop
erty ruined thousands of over-invested persons and per
sons to whom they were indebted. Such may [be] the
case hereafter, though I don't look for so great a depre
ciation as then occurred.
I suppose letters will go by this steamer from the
correspondents on domestic matters. I will say, how-

346"]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
ever, lest such may not be the case, that on both sides
of the house all are well.
. . . Were my chirography not too bad for any one to
read I wd. write as often as I had matter that I tho't
might be of use in any of your business concerns,
tho' I know that Lee & Higginson are in frequent
correspondence. . . .
With my affectionate regards to your wife and my re
spects to Mr. McKillop and Mr. Thornely and others
for attending to you, I am yours affectionately H. L.
The Bank [the Union Building at 40 State Street]
looks well, and with rent of 8% on $240,000, I shall
consider its market-value $300,000, and good investment
at that valuation. Mrs. Lee to Henry Lee, Jr.
Boston, 9th January, 1853.
Sunday P. M.
. . . Well, after various little Custom House delays,
the box reached me in perfectly good order, and every
thing just as it should be — Little Clara's pelisse is a
beauty, and Hal's coat very appropriate and excellent
for him, and the little letter in his pocket delighted his
affectionate little heart. He brought it in to show me
and told me his Mama wrote it all. But for Bessie,
Miss Ames and I — benighted old women — "did think
they might have got something more tasteful"  but
fashion will make it go doubtless, and I dare say next
winter half the children in town will be clad in like man
ner. ["This shaggy sack," Grandmother calls it, and
it must have been the forerunner of all our "shag-coats "
most comfortable for playing in the snow.]

 LETTERS, 1 852-1 859  [347
Monday, 10th January.
Harriet came to tea last night, and was very bright,
and insisted on walking home. Sarah, too, was very
pleasant, and Frank was checked in his vituperations
against our benighted village of Boston by one or two
sly remarks in a satirical strain from Elliot Cabot, who
favored us last night for the first time this winter.
Frank and Uncle Tom had a little skirmishing about
"compost," etc., but both were on the whole more peace
ful than usual, and we had a pleasant gathering.
Uncle Tom was pleased and astonished to see the
number of sketches Elliot had taken of and from Frank's
place at Westport. Henry Lee, Jr., to Henry Lee
London, 22 February, 1853.
My dear Father,
I write to you to say that I have made an arrangement
with the house I most confide in here, Baring Brothers
& Co., perfectly satisfactory to me; whether there is
much money to be made in the business I doubt, but I
am sure no house will have the advantage over us, taking
the reputation of the acceptors of the bills, the terms of
our credit, and our own reputation all together.
Mr. Thomas Baring's illness has delayed their de
cision which was very much more advantageous than
Mr. Bates allowed me to hope. ... I hope mother is
well. Yr. affectionate Son H.
/. Elliot Cabot to Henry Lee, Jr.
Boston, Mass.
March 22, 1853.
My dear Harry,
. . . You will have heard from John Lee that the rent
roll of the Union Building amounts already to over

348] HENRY AND MARY LEE
$23,000, with several large rooms, and one or two small
ones unlet, as well as the whole of the basement and
attic. I daily receive compliments upon the building,
especially upon the admirable arrangement, which, of
course, I pocket with a modest smile, for "de non ap-
parentibus, et de non existentibus, eadem est ratio," and
if you should ever on your return endeavour to divert
any portion of the credit to yourself, it will be received
by the public with an indulgent shrug as a natural de
lusion on the part of the part owner of so successful a
building. March 27. I have got two new votes in favour of
the Union Building; Mr. Edward Austin and Mr.
Sohier (senior), both very decided approbation, which,
coming from people who have minds of their own, and
not over apt to follow the cry, I thought more
valuable. . . .
And so good night. Yours most truly, J. Elliot Cabot.
Mrs. Lee to Henry Lee, Jr.
Boston, 10th Ap., 1853.
Sunday P.M.
My dear Harry,
Yrs. of the 13th Mar. (to me), the 20th to yr. father,
and one to Uncle Geo. reached us on the eve'ng of the
6th, and we left Lizzie's note to her mother at Mr.
Cabot's door within an hour after receiving them. They
were cheering letters, Lizzie evidently better than for
some months before. On the 7th, which was Fast Day,
your Father and I went out to Brookline to take the
letters, and we took tea with Sally — the children were
nicely. Clara grows quite tall and is as pretty and

LETTERS, 1852-1859 [349
pleasant as possible — Sally is exceedingly fond of
her, perhaps we should say proud, were she the real
mother, and the little creature returns it very sweetly.
— Yesterday Sally, Bessie, and Hally came in for the
day when various things were accomplished, such as bon
net and shoes for Bessie, cutting Hal's hair, and Sally
hearing Wendell's lecture on Keats. . . .
The children were well, happy and good all day. —
Frank and Sarah went to Salem on Tues., and Lizzie,
Sam, and Harriet went down by invitation from Mrs.
Lee [Cousin Harriet Rose Lee] to dine on Fast Day.
F. dined with us yesterday on his way to Edw. Cabot's
where he had been trying to go for a Sunday for a week
or two, and he has a most delightful day today and
will enjoy it very much. — He is quite charmed with their
reception at John Lee's — they are very hospitable, and
very easy — the true secret, I suppose, of making one's
house agreeable.
Mrs. Hunter was with us occupying our upper cham
ber nearly a week, and we did enjoy her visit very much
indeed. It is a real refreshment to see any one so frank
and unsophisticated, and above all, so self forgetful and
disinterested as Mrs. Hunter is; we wanted very much
to prolong her visit, but she could not, and returned with
Mr. H. to New York, where they wait the opening of
the Lake as F. must here — Mr. Hunter is going to Michi
gan to look after some lands owned by some gentlemen
here, and Frank will go with him — we are all very glad
of this — he goes upon very pleasant terms; it will be
particularly useful to his health and he and Mr. H. are
always good friends. Mrs. Hunter and Sarah, of course,
make one family during the absence of their husbands —
I never have liked Mr. H. so well as on this visit — he
has passed several hours alone with us at different times,
and has shown more depth of feeling, and a higher tone

35Q]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
of sentiment, than I have before attributed to him — I
have always been highly entertained by his conversation,
but there is a freedom in that, that sometimes startles and
alarms me. Lizzie has particularly enjoyed their visit
for whh. I am very glad, for she certainly fulfills the
duty (always a very arduous one) of a single woman in
a most unexceptionable manner, and I am glad now
and then to have some pleasure fall in her way, for she
is slow to seek anything for herself — the opera, theatre,
and concerts are the only amusement she ever volun
tarily seeks. She is very well this spring — tomorrow we
commence operations at Brookline. We have got a most
unexceptionable man we hope and believe, recommended
by the indefatigable Hoyt [Uncle Charles Jackson's
faithful indoor man]. I hope he will prove as faithful,
and think he will be rather more polished than Hoyt.
Your father is much advanced of last year in his plant
ing, the weather so much warmer, and thinks he shall
be ready to attend to your trees, shrubs, etc., as soon as
they arrive. He is pleased to get them, but will speak
for himself, I think, when they arrive. I must say good
bye for the present, as Harriet will soon be here — I wish
you and Lizzie could be conveyed to us for the eve'ng.
Our party will be small tonight — not only Frank and
Sarah gone, but also the numbers who came for their
sakes. . . . Mr. Peabody preached his farewell sermon
yesterday.1 We enjoy his preaching very much — he
speaks to the understanding and conscience in plain,
simple language. He is to sail this week.
Anna Mills is coming to read us some of Ellen's2 let-
1 Rev. Ephraim Peabody, the. much-loved minister of King's
Chapel. 2 The Hon. Mrs. Edward Twisleton (Ellen Dwight), sister
of Mrs. Charles Mills, Mrs. John Wells, Mrs. Samuel Parkman,
Mrs. J. Elliot Cabot, and Mr. Edmund Dwight.

 LETTERS, 1 852-1 859  [351
ters tomorrow and I expect great enjoyment from them;
you know I am a perfect enthusiast about letters, and
I hear hers are very interesting. . . . (Tuesday) Anna
Mills, who has been today, and read us those charming
animated letters, thinks you will certainly meet Ellen in
Naples, where she is to be in April — I hope you will,
for if she is as sensible and simple as she seems to be
in writing, you and your wife must enjoy seeing her.
Brookline, 24 April, 1853.
My dear H,
On Thursday, 21st, we moved out here, and the same
day Frank and Sarah came up from Salem, and we had
the satisfaction of seeing them comfortably started on
their journey to the Lake before we left. The visit to
Salem has been quite successful; great hospitality most
cordially extended to them, and they quite disposed to
receive it. ... I again wish for the aid of some of these
"spiritual mediums" so much talked of, through whom
to communicate to you news of the health of your chil
dren, who are all in a fine state of preservation. Hal
has been dining with us, and has just gone to walk with
Elizabeth; Bessie declined going: she breakfasted here
this morning, and yesterday passed the day at Mr.
Cabot's, going at an early hour to breakfast.
Darling little Clara challenges "Ga'pa" whenever she
sees him to "p'ay her," and yesterday had a famous frolic
with him in the parlor — she afterward passed an hour
"p'aying Ga'ma's Dolls," which she enjoyed exceedingly.
. . . Hally is very affectionate, and quite an admirer
of the beauties of the opening spring — were he not re
stricted, we should have but few violets left in the
garden — we think this restraint should be enforced even
for the sake of the flowers, and as a good precursor to
what must be insisted upon by and by with regard to
the fruit. Your father is much engaged about the place,

352]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
which looks very well: the Norways make quite a show,
and nearly all the trees are doing and looking well —
not yet out, of course, except the elm and maple blos
soms. Father begs me to add that Hal is a most hon
est little thief, always acknowledging his misdeeds with
frankness. Sam and Harriet will be out about the second week
in May — she has asked Harriet and Rose Lee to pass
the next week with her, and we shall try to have them
dine with us while there, as we have not yet made any
demonstration to Saltonstall since the engagement [of
Leverett Saltonstall to our lovely Cousin Rose Lee].
. . . Do give my most affectionate love to Lizzie, and
tell her I earnestly hope she is well enough to enjoy
something besides the beautiful climate of Italy.
In love, yr. afft. Mother M. Lee.
15 May, 1853.
Thank you, my dear son, for your little note of the
latest date, but do not feel that you must always write to
me, as I do not feel neglected, and am satisfied to hear
from others of your welfare.
It is only a week today since I wrote you quite a full
letter, but, finding Sally is not writing by this mail, I
have taken this small paper to say how well your chil
dren are.
Bessie is, I think, gaining flesh this spring and seems
well. Hal holds his own and is quite happy in wander
ing round the place in search of flowers, and other pretty
things, as he emphatically calls them: he came in the
other day with a parcel of old cherry-stones which were
split in two, so that he called them "little cups," and
showed them with as much delight as the "diggers" do
their gold-dust; and yesterday I heard him calling out

 LETTERS, 1 852-1 859  [353
that he saw an "ear-drop," and asking if he might have
one, when he appeared with a snowdrop in his hand.
He has certainly an eye for the beautiful, and will, I
suppose, hold the pencil of an artist at some future day —
he develops slowly, but there is plenty of material in that
great head of his, and he has a sweet, frank nature:
your father is charmed with his ingenuousness and truth.
The dear little Clara is in fine spirits all the time — trots
off on her walk with a very independent step, and if
we are any of us in sight on her return, wants to come
in and "p'ay dolly," and this, of course, pleases us very
much. . . . Our cherry-blossoms have given place to
the pears, of whh. we have quite a show on both old
and young trees, whh. have come forward famously —
indeed, everything is thriving, and we only want the
smoothing off whh. your practiced eye and experience
would soon give without incurring any great additional
expense, I think. This is the part in whh. your father
fails more than in anything. In all essentials he succeeds,
and I think you will find manifest improvement. . . .
This week Lucy Emerson is to be married in King's
Chapel [to Cousin John Lowell, Grandmother's great-
nephew], at whh. we shall, of course, be present. It is
an eventful period in the Lowell family, Augustus hav
ing just engaged himself to Miss Kitty Lawrence — an
event most pleasing, I presume, to all parties. Your
uncles on both sides are very well now. The Doctor and
wife were here last week: he, with all of us, had great
anxiety about Charles Ware and others on that dreadful
day of excitement [the Norwalk disaster]. . . . Great
efforts are making to have more stringent laws, and to
have them enforced, and I hope something will be effected,
but it is rather difficult in this land of liberty. . . . With
love to Lizzie, your affectionate Mother
M. Lee.

354]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
/. Elliot Cabot to Henry Lee, Jr.
Brookline, Mass.
May 22, 1853.
My dear Harry,
I am now in your debt two letters, one that gave a
most full and satisfactory account of your Sorrento hab
itation and now that from Naples. To reply in order
of your queries, I thought John Lee would post you up
about the Union Building, though I do not know that
there is much to say. John Lee told me that he had let
one of the large rear banking rooms, and had a strong
nibble for the other and only remaining one. That on
Exchange Street is now occupied by the State Bank, while
their room is repairing. John Lee let me have my own
way generally, only one or two little details about paint
I should have had different.
... As for John Forbes [whose house at Milton was
then building], I think he might be induced to listen
to reason, but Edward is too easy for him, and I fear
it will not be so good as it ought. As to light trimmings
on red brick, I can readily believe it would be admirable
in a suburban place as, say, Cambridge, but that it should
have the repose and breadth that you want in the country
— that it should have any but a smart, civil, wide-awake,
good-citizen look, I shall hardly believe 'til I see it.
As to black bricks, I have thought of a good dodge,
which is to use Minton tile, which can be had of the
requisite size and shape, and, of course, pure and uniform
black. [Then follows a page of beautiful architectural
detail, and much about the Opera House, then building,
and latef called the Boston Theatre.1 . . .] I think you
will have got about enough of architecture by this time,
1 Mr. Edward Cabot was the architect, and in preparation
had gone to Europe and seen and examined the chief opera
houses, especially La Scala at Milan.

LETTERS, 1852-1859 [355

and I fear Lizzy may be so wanting in sympathy as to
express some impatience.
Your Beverly commissions were already executed by
your most provident cousin, Sally, and sister Elizabeth.
I must break off here, being unexpectedly summoned to
New York. Yours ever, J. E. C.
Mrs. Lee to her daughter Harriet Morse, who was
staying at Uncle Frank Lee's at Westport
Monday, 13th June, 1853.
My dear H.,
Your very bright and pleasant letter reached us just
as I think you intended it sh'd., while Lizzie and I
were washing the breakfast things. It was just the
account / expected, and we have only to hope you will
gain enough while there to turn to some account when
you get home. Liz. has been to Milton this P.M., tak
ing with her Molly H., Bessie, and little Fan — they did
not get home till after seven, but Fan was as bright as
a bird and truly delighted to drink tea at our table where
she thought grandmama had a very pleasant tea party.
She counted us all round, Bessie helping her to number
us according to age. She has had a very happy day. I
let her take her nap early enough to allow her to dine
at Lizzie's at one o'clock. She has been very good and
you must have the mortification of hearing that she
does not pine for her dear Mama and Papa. . . .
Your father sleeps by my side and I must say good
night. He does miss you awfully, but sustains himself
by his attentions to Fanny. We all miss you, but still
are glad to have you away. Liz. is pretty well and
takes her cares easier than I feared. I think Bess stands
rather more in awe of her than of Sally. Do give my

356]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
love to Sarah. I am glad everything looks so charm
ingly, and hope Mrs. Hunter is with you by this time;
to her my affectionate remembrance.
Yr. loving Mother, M. Lee.
Mrs. Lee to her daughters, Sarah Lee and Harriet
Morse, at Westport
Brookline, 26th June, 1853.
Sunday Eveng.
My dear children Lee and Morse,
Having decided that you will by this time begin to
feel some impatience to hear from us, particularly my
daughter Harriet, if still at the Lake, I take the pen,
being a person of quick parts and rapid execution, to
say that we are all in usual health, Fanny particularly
rejoicing in this Autumnal weather, having been a little
wilted by the heat while the glass was ranging from 750
to 950. She, innocent child, does not know what makes
the change, but shows the effect of it by increased appetite
and spirits. — Lizzie, of course, mourns over it and in
sists that all her faculties are benumbed, but I think
George Minot and his wife would not assent to that
as a fact. They, with their two eldest daughters, have
been here to tea and have just left — they were as usual
very pleasant. They praised the roses (which have been
very abundant and very beautiful, but are rapidly pass
ing away) and trees sufficiently to satisfy us, and par
took of our fruit, cherries, half ripe, and a most elegant
dish of strawberries from George's new bed, which is
eminently successful, and have made themselves very
pleasant. . . . Lizzie went to church this morning; she
has omitted it two weeks on account of her knees, and
today we rode down and walked home, and I do not
think she has suffered from the exertion, and she says

 LETTERS, 1852-1859  [357
she shall go down to the concert tomorrow night, which
I think is a crazy plan — however, she is a free woman.
I feel easy upon the subject of knees, believing it
decidedly to be neuralgia.
And now let me ask how my poor dear Sarah does —
if she is not made quite sick by the crowd you have had
this week — how you have managed I cannot conceive.
I also want to know how Hattie, the baby, and all are,
and when we are to expect you home. We get along
nicely without you, and as you see avail ourselves of your
absence to invite company, but still you will be received
with cordiality when you do come. . . . From Sally we
have had one charming letter from Niagara and a hur
ried note written while sailing through the Lake or River
with the 1,000 Islands. She is in Burlington this night,
I suppose — she has enjoyed a great deal on the whole.
Do let us hear, my dear children, all about you all,
including dear Mrs. Hunter and Sarah Jackson, to whom
my kind remembrance. Good night, Father sleeps and
I must not keep him waiting. Your afft. Mother, M. Lee.
Do not you admire my elegant style and attention to
the Unities, I believe, is the term?
/. Elliot Cabot to Henry Lee, Jr.
Boston, Mass.
September 6, 1853.
My dear Harry,
... I fear you will have thought me very remiss of
late in writing, but the fact is I went to Frank's a fort
night ago with a letter in my pocket, that should have
been mailed for you. From Frank's, I went with him
into the woods, taking the stage for Baker's on the
head waters of the Ausable, forty-odd miles west of

358]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
Westport, and thence a boat through the Saranac Lakes,
and by a series of portages and connecting streams into
Raquette River. The lakes are much like Lake George,
and the river somewhat like the Illinois — winding slug
gishly through rich bottom lands, densely wooded with
swamp Maple, Elm, Beech, Birch, and Oak, with an
endless variety of Cornels, Virburnums, etc., and inter
spersed with heavy Pine, Spruce, and Hemlock. Through
most of it there has been no logging, and not even the
choice sticks cut out. There are hundreds of square
miles of literally unbroken forest, truly the forest
primeval, — and this network of lakes and rivers ex
tends from near Trenton Falls on the South t,o the
neighbourhood of the Ogdensburg R. R. on the North,
and from Baker's till near Lake Erie the other way.
Much of it is not even marked into townships on the
map, and it is uninhabited, except by the scattered,
solitary log cabins of the half-hunters, half-lumberers
dotted here and there through the forest. Going out
from the settlements, we came to four of these in forty-
two miles. The scenery is an endless variety of beauti
ful river woods, less mountainous than I had supposed
(though it was rainy and cloudy much of the week we
were out), and with nothing of the rocky character of
the New Hampshire and eastern Maine rivers. We
passed by the more mountainous part — the Indian Pass,
Mount Marcy, etc. (whither Sarah Lee and party went),
about ten miles off, intending to take them on our return,
but Frank was taken ill with dysentery and we had to
hurry back. Luckily I had medicines with me, which
Sam1 had given me in a little box years ago, and which
happened to suit the case, so that he was nearly well
when he reached home. They are all well at Westport,
the children are looking remarkably well. . . . Frank has
been cutting the grass on the Swale, and wished you were
1 His brother, Dr. Samuel Cabot.

LETTERS, 1852-1859 [359
there to see what a transformation has been effected since
you first saw it. Lie says you and Lizzy must come up
next summer, and go out into the woods with him and
Sarah. Ladies travel there (at least what are called
such, though I saw none, and perhaps they would turn
out to be robust backwoods women such as I saw a
specimen of, a very pretty one, too, with Indian blood
showing in her long black eyes, paddling in the stern of
her husband's canoe, with a dead buck between them,
filling the bottom of the boat with blood). But really
there are no hardships about it if you go properly pre
pared. . . . You don't tell me whether I shall paper your
drawing-room. The paper is here, and we could get
it on before you come. I was at Hyslop1 on Sunday —
the children as well as ever. Hal will want some at
tention both from the legislative and the executive
branches of the household — betulce oleum quant, suff. in
some shape will probably have to be exhibited when you
arrive, but nothing out of the ordinary boy line. Clara
is growing tall and is unspeakably bewitching. Bessie
seems to me remarkably well. Have you given up
sketching? I thought from Lizzy's accounts we should
see something more of your talents in that line. Those
you sent before were most acceptable.
Yours ever,
J. E. C.
Henry Lee to Henry Lee, Jr.
Brookline, Sept. 19, 1853.
Dear H.,
I have refrained from writing principally from a be
lief that your numerous correspondents, who write every
few days, had kept you fully informed on such matters
as might be comprised in my letters, and partly from the
illegibility of my letters, which I have often heard from
1 Grandfather's Brookline house.

36o]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
correspondents cost more labor to decipher than they
are worth.1 Again, they might have drawn from you re
plies requiring time already sufficiently occupied in answer
ing other correspondents.
In a late letter you ask what has been done with the
seeds. I believe your mother has written on that sub
ject and the state of the shrubs and trees from statements
derived from me. Your uncles expressed pleasure at
your attention, but having completed planting they re
served their portion for next season.
. . . The Norway spruces have all perished, but we
have enough to supply all our wants, which must be
transferred from various places to the unplanted ground.
They have grown beyond expectations. I have already
transplanted about 40 to north boundary with entire
success, and we must move as many more in the spring.
They were taken chiefly from east and west side of
the avenue. The mahonias, oaks, arbor vitae and other
valuable shrubs and trees have done pretty well, and
enough will be saved to compensate for expenses incurred.
Our trees have been favored by the season; oaks,
maples, ashes, tulips, have grown from 3 to 5 feet, and
all in the ground seem very healthy, as do the pear trees,
about 25 of which are in bearing. Apple-crop none; not
20 barrels of sound ones on the place. That fruit is
done in this quarter, and I fear potatoes must also be
given up — all rotten in this quarter, save late ones, which
I hope may be saved. Hay crop moderate, but prices
will range from $22 to $25 thro' 1854; all articles of
food, 20% on average in advance of last year, and fuel
as much.
All building materials and mechanics' wages have
1 It was said that at 40 State Street Grandfather's letters
were occasionally pinned on the wall so that one might decipher
them by a quick glance in walking toward them.

LETTERS, 1852-1859 [361

risen 10 to 20%, and Haynes [the Brookline carpenter]
and others say your house and the Union Bank could
not now be done at less than 15 to 20% above what we
paid. Rents for houses have advanced within 3 or 4
months, and stores in vicinity of State Street have been
sold at 10 to 20% advance over what they sold for within
12 months.
. . . The growth of Boston, etc., has much to do with
this rise of prices, but an increase of precious metals
and increased issues of paper money consequent upon
increase of coin, the basis of circulation, may have had
its effect. The writers on the gold question nearly all
assume that a continuance of California, Australian,
Russian supplies must soon begin to affect general prices.
I hope you will ask Mr. Tooke what he thinks, if you
see him on your return to England.
I hope the Union Bank Building may never go from
those who are soon to possess it. Since in any event it
is, I think, safe from the danger of depreciation; and
where there is so much property to pass into many
hands who require it, I think real estate is very desirable.
Summer Street will soon be occupied with stores and so
will even Bedford Place, and land has, on that anticipa
tion, advanced in value. No more buildings East of
Washington Street will be built, save for poorer people,
chiefly foreign emigrants, and all West of that is now
occupied. Those who want houses must go on the North or in
the vicinity of Boston, the most desirable part of which
is Brookline. Sears has but 70 acres unsold. — 100 gone
to his children and occupied by them. The Lawrence
purchase is now about being covered with houses by the
Lawrences, who offer to rent them at 6% on cost.1 The
1The Sears and Lawrence estates form a great part of the
present Longwood.

362] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
Back Bay may accommodate 1,000 houses, but the land
when filled up years hence will be high, and the situa
tions liable to many objections. South Boston is filled
with a disagreeable population, and Roxbury is a dirty,
inconvenient suburb from which quiet people are moving.
I think the Lee Farm at Chestnut Hill, if laid out
well and sold on favorable conditions, as to buildings, etc.,
will, in a few years, be wanted at good prices, for there
is hardly any land in Brookline so well situated that can
be had under $500 to $1,000 per acre. It requires more
time to bring it to market than J. C. Lee could devote
to it, but you may have leisure.
The country at large is prosperous, and can't be other
wise, in the failure of crops [in Europe] and wars among
European powers. But I can't believe that the enormous
expansion of business, especially in N. York, and the
dangerous investment in railways can proceed much
longer without a reaction that will ruin classes of men,
tho' the nation will go on prospering as during and after
the crisis of 1837, which was not overcome till 1842.
There are those, however, of influence who say, "no
matter how much money (capital) is transferred from
Boston, N. Y., etc., where only money is loaned to other
states, so long as it is expended in this country," and
they took the same grounds prior to the breakdown in
1837, which they attributed to Gen. Jackson's measures
and the want of a National Bank. But there is one
thing peculiar to this country, namely, that our material
sources of prosperity are so much greater than in any
other nation that we sooner recover from the injurious
effects of imprudence, extravagance, etc., than is usually
anticipated, but at the same time individuals who are
exposed to the effects of such monetary and commercial
derangements are hopelessly ruined. I don't, in any
event, anticipate so disastrous a time as in 1837. • •

 LETTERS, 1 852-1 859  [36_3
As to commercial debts, fortunately our merchants are
not allowed to incur them as prior to 1837. This active
demand for money, and high rates of interest, will induce
shrewd men who mean to get the market value for it
to keep their capital in notes receivable, and thus your
concern, acting as agent for many of this class of lenders,
will have a good field to work in. . . .
At present you have few competitors, save those who
are stock jobbers and not brokers, and have not the con
fidence of those who know them. I hardly know 5 per
sons with whom one wd. feel easy to go abroad for a
year and leave to them the management of $100,000.
... It seems to me that your associates possess the con
fidence of their employers to an extent which guarantees
them large and profitable business. . . .
I consider the vocation of a broker as exposed to im
mense temptations which few, as experience has shown,
of the most able ones have been able to withstand. The
failures of many showed such to have been the case,
and the sudden and great success of others have shown
it as clearly. . . . There is such a want of trustworthy
men in management of money matters, that there will
be a demand for their services.
I think, therefore, you will, one day or other, have
orders from abroad to buy stocks, and money to invest,
as in the case of the British Admiral, one of L. & H.'s
constituents, and multitudes in this town and vicinity
who will be willing to rely on you.
The account of your reception at the Political Economy
Club and their proceedings gave me great pleasure. My
familiarity with the writings of many of its members,
and with the characters borne by some of them, has
created a personal interest in their favor which is in
creased by their treatment of you. A longer stay in
London might have given further opportunity of seeing
and hearing them.

364] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
It required more courage than I possess to think of
speaking on subjects discussed in such an assembly of
accomplished and eminent writers. To their works and
to those who preceded them, going back to Adam
Smith, the world is indebted for the subversion of the
most stupendous system of absurd and dishonest measures
that ever existed in an enlightened community, and to
the complete establishment of sounder ones, at least in
Great Britain.
The efforts of the League wd. have been of no avail
had not the foundations of the restrictive policy been
undermined by such theoretical and practical writers as
are well represented in the Pol. Econ. Club — and had
that combination of men never existed who were on the
wrong side most of them till they were secure from
foreign competition — Cobden, who was paid for his
labors, and Bright, who wanted a reduction here on
his cotton goods, carpets, etc., — the triumph of free trade
would not have been retarded. There was, long before
the League, a small body in Parliament who took up the
question when not more than 30, 40 or 50 votes could be
had, and they never ceased their labors.
Villiers, now in the ministry, was the leader in the
Commons and Thornely, his colleague, aided him, not
so much by his speeches as on committees, where he was
an efficient person. Lord Clarendon (another Villiers),
and Lord Howick,1 were also influential, and deserve to
be ranked far above any members of the League, for
they stood up for a cause which lessened their incomes,
while the Manchester men had stimulus of gain from
their success.
1 Lord Howick, 1 802-1 894, son of Earl Grey, Prime Minister at
the time of the Reform Bill of 1832, whom he succeeded as Lord
Grey in 1845. He became Colonial Secretary in 1846, under
Lord John Russell, and was the first to introduce free trade into
the relations of the colonies with Great Britain and Ireland.

LETTERS, 1852-1859 [365
Mr. Tooke's letter was a cordial to me. The approval
of what I wrote, however qualified it may have been,
of such a man is high reward for my labor 1 the more
as it is the only one I have rec'd, save from the criticisms
of Mr. Biddle, the ablest writer we have now Gallatin
is gone. . . .
You will see Mr. Tooke in London, and will not, I
hope, omit to thank him for his letter, which I have
not answered because his politeness might induce him
to continue a correspondence which at his age, and with
his employments, wd., no doubt, be burdensome. With
my affectionate regards to your wife, and my respectful
compliments to Mr. Thornely, Mr. McKillop, Messrs.
Colvin, and others of my correspondents, I am
Yours affectionately, H. Lee.
Your children are very well. Some diseases of the
season prevalent, but slight. Seldom have 3 children
been so free from interruption to health as yours for
a year, and much credit is due, and has been given by
you to Sally Gardner — your mother and mother's ad
viser [Aunt Lizzie], being rightly included.
Mrs. Lee to Henry Lee, Jr.
Brookline, 2d October, 1853.
My dear Harry,
Yesterday Henry Lligginson arrived, ... he looks
very well and appears pleasantly ... of one thing I
feel quite sure, that his presence at home will be a
positive good to his father, who does not only want his
companionship, but considers his influence at home very
important; and while George has so much care and re
sponsibility upon him, I am very glad to have some one
to share it with him. I believe I have told you that

366] HENRY AND MARY LEE
Jemmie entered college very well, and he is more happy
there than any freshman I have ever known.
Lie is a fine boy, and I think his mother showed her
usual discrimination when she said he had the best in
tellect of any of her children; not so much judgment,
perhaps, as Henry, but greater variety. But I think he
may give more anxiety than the others; he is extremely
self-willed and will not brook opposition: bold and dar
ing in his character. But as he has a perfect knowledge
and appreciation of right and wrong, we may hope he
will act upon his knowledge. Monday, 3rd October, 1853.
I have two letters of yours since I wrote you. Yes,
my son, you were certainly remembered by me most ten
derly on your birthday [2d September], and I earnestly
wished you were here to receive the affectionate and
friendly greeting of your family and friends. . . . Even
the reflections which so naturally arise upon the return
of our birthdays, at our own shortcomings and mistakes,
should not be too severely dwelt upon. Your Uncle
Charles once said, by way of comfort to me when I was
expressing the self-dissatisfaction I have suffered from
all my life :
"My dear, you ought not to indulge this feeling: you
always intend to do what is right, and you should be
satisfied with yourself." Now, although I cannot fully
apply this comforting unction to my soul upon this morn
ing, my seventieth birthday, I could wish you might
cherish such a feeling, and not dwell with so much self-
accusation on the past, or distrust of the future. I can
tell you from my own experience (and your nature is
in some respects like mine) that the indulgence of this
morbid self-examination serves to unfit us for exertion
by checking the cheerful feelings for ourselves and others
which should always be cherished.

LETTERS, 1852-1859 [367
But I have said enough, and more than enough. I
did not mean to answer your letter, and was involun
tarily led into doing so, perhaps, from the fact of this
being my own birthday.
This letter will find you in London, where I hope you
will find good weather. . . . Your father hopes very
much that you will see Mr. Tooke and other gentlemen.
... In her last letter Lizzie says she looks forward with
pleasant anticipations to the cleanliness she shall find
in England. I suppose she will be with Mrs. Follen
[Eliza Lee Follen, sister of Mr. Samuel Cabot] and
Charles, and I cannot help hoping that being with them
and enjoying the comforts of an English home will make
her last month of absence pass more comfortably and
cheerfully than the preceding. Sally has given you the
pleasant details of Bessie's party, which I should think
was quite successful. Bessie is now quite engrossed by
Ellen Cary, and is at Grandpapa Perkins's almost daily.
Hally came in with his most pleasant expression this
morning to give and receive congratulations on our birth
day. Lie was much delighted at a present Lizzie gave
him, and a book from me. . . . Clara favored me,
too, this morning with a little visit: she is in fine
condition. . . .
Sally Cary is going up to Westport this week for a
visit to Frank and Sarah, and we hear Mrs. Cary is
going for a few days. Frank has lately been at the
Agricultural Shows, and the Annual State Fair of New
York, whh. interest him very much. Lizzie and I go
into town tomorrow to pack a small box for Westport.
Goodnight, my dear son, with love to our dear Lizzie
from us all, I remain Your affectionate Mother,
M. Lee.

368]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
Henry Lee, Jr., to Henry Lee
London, October 7, 1853.
My dear Father:
Your letter of the 19 of September I received a few
days since. I was sorry that the mortality was so great
among the trees sent home. It was the neglect of the
nursery man partly. The plantations seem to have
flourished well. The soil is good and your care has been
great. I hope that next year the apples will recover.
Perhaps a new orchard on the upper field would do
better, or special manures may restore -our land.
I am rejoiced to hear of such large sales of factory
stock and your satisfaction with the Union Building, a
subject upon which I have had great anxiety and pleasant
labor. In fact it has interested me more than almost
anything. I called upon Mr. Tooke, read him the parts
of your letter which refer to him or to the subjects
common to you; he was gratified and gave me a pam
phlet issued by his brother, I believe, with his petition
and some other documents in the early history of free
trade, and on the subject of gold he referred me to a
pamphlet written by a protege of his, Mr. Newmarch,
which I have not been able to procure here, but shall
from Paris. You see Louis Napoleon is introducing free
trade just as Sir Robert did here, and our ample re
sources will force us to this policy.
I called also at once on Messrs. Colvin, McKillop,
Malcolmson, and Maris, and I hope for, perhaps, a
letter or two from them, to introduce me to some man who
has a plethora of gold, but I do not expect any success
in this now. Our connection with the Barings has been
strengthened by a voluntary remission of one-half their
commission, and I feel sure we shall make a good busi
ness of it in the end. Mr. McKillop has not yet got

LETTERS, 1852-1859 [369

through his tedious lawsuit. I le and the Messrs. Colvin
asked about you, as did Maris. I gave your regards
to I hem all. . . . Your affectionate son, II.
Mrs. I .re to Henry Lee, Jr.
Brookline, 30th October, 1853.
My dear 1 1.,
Sally and I having I bought a letter written at this late
hour to meet you at Halifax would be most welcome to
you and your wife, have decided lo write a few lines
just to say that all arc well, and that you will find your
children, and indeed all in your immediate circle, as well
as when you left home. . . . The weather was very
fine with us yesterday: one of those clear, beautiful au
tumnal days which we have at this season. I cannot but
hope (hat it extended across the ocean, and that you
embarked under such good auspices. ... I was inter
rupted by the sunset, and in a few minutes George and
all his children came in; and bye and bye Sally and Elliot
Cabot and Bessie, making fourteen at our Sunday tea;
and iu the evening, neighbour Barnct and wife. Elliot
has just returned from Westport: he and Mrs. Cary and
Snlly (Cary) have been there, all enjoying themselves,
Mrs. Cary as much as any of them. It is a rare quali
fication for any one to have such fascination as Sarah.
. . . We have had a most charming sermon from our
good Mr. Peabody today on his return: it was full of
feeling, good sense, and good sentiment and expression
in his own natural, simple, unaffected language. I did
wish you had happened to cross with him, and also that
you had listened to this sermon. . . .
In the hope of soon seeing you, I remain
Your affectionate Mother.

37°]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
In August, 1854, Grandmother writes to Uncle Harry
to tell him of Aunt Lizzie's engagement to Dr. Charles
E. Ware. She tells him of its being an attachment of
long standing on Uncle Charles's part, and then says,
"For ourselves, your father and myself, we rejoice in
this change of feeling [on Aunt Lizzie's part], though
we have refrained from exerting any influence. We not
only feel relieved from all anxiety as to her future hap
piness, but also think her remarkably well qualified to ful
fil the new cares which will gather around her.
"So full of good sense, activity, and judgment, she can
not fail to meet these duties with dignity and propriety.
We are particularly gratified to have a man of so much
good sense, cultivation, and interesting qualities enter our
family circle."
Mrs. Lee to Mrs. Henry Lee, Jr.
Oct. 5th, 1857.
I must thank you, my dear children, for the very ap
propriate and charming gifts I received from you. and
your children on Saturday.
You, dear Lizzie, sometimes wonder that / can re
member the birthdays of my children and grandchildren,
and I certainly may wonder that you should have selected
so exactly what I should most value.
Harry's photograph is invaluable, and I thank you
very much, my dear son, for having remembered my
request to have it.
Will you tell Bessie and Clara that I was very glad
they remembered grandmama's birthday, and that I
shall value their gifts very much; the shells came very
safely in the pretty glove box.
Grandfather immediately pronounced Bessie's sketch
a view of Mr. Forbes's house [Mr. R. B. Forbes built
the first house on Masconomo Hill] ; and I thought that

3

ei

..

LETTERS, 1852-1859 [37 1
great praise, as he is not familiar with the view and we
were both very much pleased that dear little Bess could
do so well. Hally has had a pleasant visit, I think, and
has commended himself to his friends by his simple,
pleasant manners. I do not know if he enjoyed the
dinner particularly, but Uncle James and Aunt Sally
were pleased to have him there, and he will remember
it in the future, I think, with interest, when he learns
why his uncle was held in such respect and love.
I have been prevented writing till the last moment,
and it must be my apology for this hasty scrawl.
We have gathered the seckel pears today — about five
bushels. I will put a few in Hally's bag, plucked from
the new trees on your side, and will you say if we shall
send you down some now or keep them till you come home.
Goodnight, my dear children, and in the hope you will
have good sleep tonight I remain yr. afft. mother,
M. Lee.
Mrs. Lee to Henry Lee, Jr.
Brookline, 21st June, 1859.
My dear Harry,
We received your note and the boxes last evening and
were most happy to find that the fruit reached you in
such good order and was so fully appreciated by your
household. Let me say at once, lest I should forget
it, that you need not feel in such haste to return the
boxes, as we have a great many of them and do not re
quire it; if you will send them to our house when con
venient to you we shall always get them in season, as
we have so frequent communication there. . . .
Your father desires me to say that Michael has at
tended to your directions and shall be reminded in future.

372] HENRY AND MARY LEE

Father is glad of the paper; it is a great resource
in this dull weather — however, we make quite too much
complaint about dull weather; this is only the second
day, and today we had a pleasant ride to refresh us.
Sunday the weather was bright and we had a pleasant
circle round our tea table, including George Lee and his
wife from Chestnut Hill, and Uncle Tom and wife
came in the evening to say good bye to Sally, who has
gone in this unpromising weather. She will reach Con
way tonight.
Do tell dear Lizzy I hope she had no doubt of our
receiving Hal as our guest, when the time came for Mrs.
Cabot to go to Beverly. I have told Hal so — he came
here this morning, having been down to school and found
the doors fastened and no school.
I shall expect him as our inmate tomorrow night and
hope the little fellow will be content, but it will be dull
for him while we are alone. . . .
Ask your little Dairymaid if I may depend upon her
for my winter supply of butter? and tell her I am very
glad to hear of her success in this her first attempt.
Our grass and trees have grown, as you suppose, most
abundantly, the grass quite ready to cut as soon as the
sun comes out — ten days earlier than last year.
As for Sally, she deserves all praise for what she did
and what she omitted to do about the golden wedding.
She received my idea just as I wished her to and fully
realized that your father would be excessively annoyed,
and I far from pleased were we called upon to have any
celebration upon the occasion, and as some of you had
said so much about the matter, I was a little jealous of
your knowing the day even. She has told Lizzy some
thing about it, I believe, in her note, but probably did
not say how entirely she took us by surprise when we
came to breakfast, to find it so charmingly arranged (and

. ¦Urti.y: ^ti/^e

-fmH/-Jrr ,. ¦//<¦> tie.

 LETTERS, 1 852-1 859  [373
my two little namesakes1 seated) with flowers and gifts
from my dear, good sympathizing children, who are al
ways ready to evince their sympathy and respect, and in
this case, from the same feeling, willing to forbear. We
certainly had a very pleasant day and enjoyed Sally's
very judicious and tasteful arrangements exceedingly,
but you and Frank and Lizzy were not forgotten, I
assure you, and I was only reconciled to your absence by
thinking you would have wanted us to do more had you
been here, and we could not. As it was, your father was
taken so by surprise he had no time for any nervous
excitement, and he was very good all day — and I think
I may add, very happy, only that he says it is horrid
to be so old and to be obliged to own up to it, too — you
will realize that part of it when your turn comes, and
Lizzy, I have no doubt, even now sympathizes with us
in our horror of celebrations when we are to be the ob
jects. You each had your representative, and the little
pet, Mary Ware, seemed to realize that she had some
thing to do, and was charming. Your offering united
taste with usefulness, and instead of scolding at you as
you do at me, I shall thank you for it and receive it
with a mother's love to you both from your afft. M. Lee.
I have, as I used to do when you were absent, covered
a deal of paper with a great many words instead of
saying concisely and in your neat handwriting what I had
t0 say— but remember I am 75 and Va, as the children
say, and you must excuse my garrulity. We had a
pleasant day at Concord, and Mrs. Ripley desired much
love to you and Frank.
Defer reading till you are at home, it is too much for
a man of business to read.
1 Mary Lee Morse and Mary Lee Ware.

374]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
On the first of June, i860, Grandmother died.
"There never was such a Grandmother," her grandson
Henry Higginson wrote from Europe to my Mother,
"and there will not be soon again. . . . Your children
have lost this sunshiny, thoughtful, sympathizing grand
mother, who has done so much for us. I used sometimes
to wonder that Grandmother could even understand many
of our whims and notions, not existing in her day and
often too absurd to be tolerated at all. Yet she com
prehended them, sympathized with them, and then merely
said, 'One of these days you'll change your mind and not
think so' ; and we went away thinking dear Grandmother
a little absurd, at least old fashioned, and waked up one
day to find her wisdom staring us in the face."

I see you there, consoling, patient, kind,
To faults forgiving, and to follies blind ;
I watch you there, through busy works and days,
Unmoved by thanklessness, unspoiled by praise ;
Most happy when most silent and unseen,
Yet in the world sagacious and serene,
And winning the beholder to confess
The conquering charm of self-forgetfulness.1

1 To C. W. P., by Francis Greenwood Peabody.

XVI
HOME DOINGS
Pleasures like these the gods grant not to last,
But even the gods touch not a pleasure past./. /. P.
During all the next years, the sixties, the cousins at
Brookline and Chestnut Hill were meeting often, either
at Grandfather's place, at the Old Oak in Pierce's Lane
on the way to Chestnut Hill, or at the Cabots' place
between, where Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cabot (Uncle
Edward and Aunt Martha) and their children were then
living in Colonel Perkins' old house, built in the style
of West Indian houses, with verandas on two storeys.
Colonel Thomas Handasyd Perkins was easily "first citi
zen" of Boston in the early nineteenth century. On his
large place in Brookline, extending from Heath Street
along Warren to Clyde Street, beside his own house he
had built Fernwood for his daughter, Mrs. William H.
Gardiner, whose children and grandchildren lived there
until recently, and a house, nearer his own, for his
daughter, Mrs. Samuel Cabot (Bessie and Hal's grand
mother), who was then living there. It is the same
place, though a different house, that Cousin Bessie and
Cousin Fred Shattuck now make delightful to their
children, their grandchildren, and their friends. The
Elliot Cabot house was built at the time of Cousin
Elliot's marriage.
On the old Perkins place were the greenhouses, in
themselves an earthly paradise, and the large garden,
and a number of small buildings, the pagoda-like hen
house, the "college," the big barn where we watched
the threshing on the floor, and the stone Lookout, from
3 75

376] HENRY AND MARY LEE
which we could see down the harbor, and where saxifrage
and golden moss grew. Bounding the place on two sides
was a belt of lofty hemlocks, which by some transference
of meaning we called "the shrubbery."
My first Chestnut Hill memory is of Uncle Frank tak
ing Mary and me up to the old place which was a part
of what had belonged to Uncle Joe Lee and which now
was Uncle Frank's — all that I recall was the cellar
of a house that had been burned down and the little
green-house. Next — without a break as it were — the
dear Chestnut Hill house was there and the life which
was so happy and animated for elders and youngers
alike. We can none of us fully tell you of all that happy
activity. To Harry, Mary, and me "to spend Sunday
at Chestnut Hill" was perfect happiness.
I suppose the knoll remains, on the left as you ap
proached the house. Uncle Frank used to encourage the
growth of pretty wild things there, I think. I know he
let us try — not very successfully — to transplant hepaticas
to grow there.
As you entered by the porch, the parlor was on the
left, the den to the right. Behind the parlor the dining-
room, opening by a long window on to the stoop. I
think all the woodwork was chestnut — at all events it
was very pretty woodwork and had a new character of
its own, for woods were being used with their natural
color and grain, instead of being painted. There was
the fireplace against the wall which separated parlor
and dining-room. The bronze Diana was on the mantel
piece, and always slender bronze vases usually holding
andromeda (cassandra), picked by Uncle Frank in early
winter, which blossomed with lovely little waxen bells
in March. The sofa — green — was against the wall
to the right and above it hung Leslie's "May Queen "

HOME DOINGS [377

and I think tliere was another picture of his, "The Church
Porch," over the fireplace. There were always plants,
and Uncle Frank worked over them and coaxed them
and arranged them so delightfully. There was a beau
tiful small-flowered, deep-colored fuchsia which we
always accounted Mary Lee's, because the picture,
painted by Mrs. Marquand,1 which Uncle Frank gave
Aunt Sarah when Mary was born, was just such a fuchsia.
I wish I could remember each of the flowers painted by
Mrs. Marquand, for we associated each with the child
it belonged to. Alice's was, I think, a lily of the valley,
and Anne's were the lovely columbine and wild violets
that grow at the Lake ; Robbie's the blue periwinkle.
Upstairs there was Aunt Sarah and Uncle Frank's
room over the parlor — the nursery over the dining-room,
with a little slip of a room off from it which was Frank's
— Aunt Sarah's pretty dressing-room over the entry and
overlooking the porch — Mary's room opening from it
on the east side, over the den. Both that room and I
think Aunt Sarah's dressing-room had a trellised paper
with grapevine foliage and trellised blue sky on the ceiling,
which was deeply interesting, but the Bird-room, with
its many-colored birds on the walls, was the nicest room
of all. Mary and I often passed the night there, and it
is in the Bird-room that I remember so many happy
wakings in the morning — the deliciously fresh tingle of
the snowy air, and the country sounds. To this day a
clear starlit night in winter with the snow on the ground
and the smell of winter in the air— or' an early dawn and
cock-crowings— bring back the Bird-room at Chestnut
Hill where Mary and I slept together— a wakeful and
talkative little pair till, in the depths of the night as
it seemed, Uncle Frank would look in on us and tell
1 Mrs. Marquand was Margaret Curson, daughter of Grand
mother's friend, Peggy Searle.

378]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
us to go to sleep. He kept up always a sort of patrol
at night, and especially if any child were ailing he was
wonderfully kind and tender — a sort of surprise to the
children, sometimes conscious in the day time of being
in the wrong place.
Aunt Sarah's sister and her husband, Mr. Guy Hunter,
a retired army officer, were often at Uncle Frank's at
Chestnut Hill before they built the brick house, where
the dear Frank Lee household lives. Aunt Lizzie Hunter
by the fireside in the evening, with a child on her lap, would
repeat poems to us and tell us stories, and I can still hear
in her voice the story from The Antiquary, of Isabella
Wardour being carried up the face of the cliff in the
storm. If a child were not well, the comfort of her voice,
and the clasp of her great warm hand, — "that most com
fortable hand which led me through the uneven land," —
made all things right and safe and happy.
The centre of play was a variable one. Sometimes
it was the Pulsifer orchard, sometimes Cousin John
Lowell's1 barn, with Olivia and Johnny, and wonderful
L Cousin John and Cousin Lucy Lowell were a great part of life
at Chestnut Hill. In March, 1865, Cousin John was appointed
by President Lincoln Judge of the U. S. District Court of Massa
chusetts, the same position to which his great-grandfather, Judge
John Lowell, had been appointed by President Washington in
1789. The Reverend Howard N. Brown in The Brookline First
Parish in My Time, says of him: " — And John Lowell: 'O wise
and upright judge, how I do honor thee!' It has been my privilege
to know with some degree of intimacy several men who have been
eminent in our state and national courts. Among them all, it
seems to me, John Lowell came nearest to being the ideal judge.
His learning in the law I am not competent to measure. But I
am perfectly sure that, without reference to the precedent of any
past decision, he could have decided right, on any issue brought
before him, out of his own keen intelligence and his strong sense
of justice. Being small of stature and possessing few of the super
ficial arts and graces which most conduce to popularity, he did
not greatly dazzle the eyes of the groundlings. But in any society

HOME DOINGS [379

jumps from the upper hay-mow on to piles of hay:
sometimes the shores of Hammond's Pond where pitcher-
plants, arrow-head and pickerel-weed grew in the warm,
rich sphagnum moss. It was at Chestnut Hill, too,
that we coasted on Uncle Frank's Canadian toboggan
from Mr. Daniel Curtis's house at the top of the hill,
down past Cousin Leverett Saltonstall's house, only stop
ping with the wall between field and road, and not always
then. The mails were infrequent then, and I am not
even sure that they were a daily matter between Chestnut
Hill and Brookline, and Mary used to send us notes by
Mr. James, the butcher, who took in both Chestnut Hill
and Brookline in his route. A note from Hal to me one
day said, "I have just got a letter from Mary, via
butcher," and it wasn't a single occurrence.
Sometimes we all met by agreement at the Old Oak
in Pierce's Lane (Percy's Lane it always was in our
imagination, with a dim association with Chevy Chase).
Pierce's Lane led from the Worcester Turnpike, now
Boylston Street, almost opposite Colonel Theodore Ly
man's gate, through light open woods and between
pastures, across the railroad into the rather closer woods
at the back of Chestnut Hill, coming out near the
Daniel Curtis house at the top. On the way, just be
fore reaching the railroad, we turned into an old over
grown pasture to the left and walked westward till we
which could discern between solid metal and varnished show in
human character, and could appreciate a sagacity which went to
the heart of every question with which it was called to deal,
Judge Lowell was known as a very prince of men . . . and Mrs.
Lowell, one learns to know after a time, as one of the most won
derful among women. Whom did she not know, and whose
friend did she not sooner or later approve herself? She had, per
haps, the keenest, the most extensive, and the most sympathetic
interest in people that I have ever witnessed. Her religious faith
was of that kind which reason never built and criticism could
never destroy. . . ."

3go] HENRY AND MARY LEE
reached the Old Oak, on which was one low-hanging,
strong-fibred branch, on which we all found room to
perch and swing. Harry and Frank were adepts at
swinging it just right. As the ground was true pasture,
fine sparse grass — houstonias, little silvery rabbits' to
bacco leaves, and much grey springy moss — no one as
a rule hurt themselves if they fell — but we seldom fell.
Alice and Tom I especially remember there, niched high
in the wonderful branches which took us all in. Bessie,
Hal, Clara, sometimes Martha and Lizzie and Willy
Cabot, Harry, Mary and I and all the Chestnut Hill
children must have met there scores of times. Frank
and Harry's life-long friendship began in these years —
a friendship so happy and so perfect that it never needed
a spoken word to affirm it, and never had a check.
Grandfather Lee's own place was a very happy
meeting-ground, full of resources. The barn — the old
summer-house on the hill — the white arbor with Bour-
sault roses over it at the garden end — the newer summer-
house above, and the Conversation Tree at the top of
the garden — an apple tree with a broad leaning trunk and
flat expanse, from which the branches diverged to which
even the most inexpert and clumsiest climber could climb
with success. Indeed, most of us walked or ran up the
old trunk. Harry and Frank built a little sheiling just
below it, with a table, and we had apple-sauce made
of early and rather unripe apples, which we made our
selves and ate there. A long row of quince trees was
behind the wood-shed, which ended in the tool-house,
cool, dark, with tool-bench and tarred rope, etc., and a
seckel pear tree midway of the quinces, which bore quan
tities of pears. The roof of the wood-house sloped
from the ground and we were on and off it like young
swallows. When we went over the hill there were the fields

a.c

Z

7,C

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HOME DOINGS [381

sloping to Muddy Brook, with cows browsing. Muddy
Brook was the clearest of streams, with minnows slipping
to and fro in sun and shadow, and caddis worms on its
clean brown floor. There seemed a wholly new flora
here — snap-dragon, flagroot with aromatic roots which
we nibbled, gold-thread winding over everything else
in golden tangles ; most charming of all, Robin-run-the-
hedge, with tiny white star flowers and sticky stems, so
that when we made wreaths of it we only pressed the
stems together. We made many, which we floated down
the stream and felt as if they reached some fairy shore.
Then there were dog's tooth violets, with their look of
personal dignity, "nodding in chequered sunshine of the
trees," and there were swamp violets and white violets.
The woods began at Muddy Brook and stretched up
the Aspinwall hill.
We none of us had precisely pets, yet many friendly
animals accompanied us through life like the animals
in a Persian miniature — the rabbits, which were always
out of their pen and in the carrot field beyond the broad
ditch on the hill when Harry and I came home from
school — George Crow, who, before we could stop him,
would nip Mother's thimble out of her basket as she
sat on the porch of our small house and hide it under the
great Norway Spruce — the kids, playmates of the two
little Marys and of Aunt Lizzie Ware, who loved and
understood animals — the horses of the different families :
at Uncle Harry's Jenny and Gipsy, Kitty, Nutmeg
(one of the horses who came back from the war), Meg,
on whom Clara beautifully rode — Trudge and Fidget
at Uncle Frank's and later Johnny Andrew whom he
had ridden as Colonel of the 44th — Punch, his Canadian
pony, lent us for the summer, on whom Harry and I rode
— our own blue roan Robin — Uncle Harry's old Tom
Tug, who was at Brookline for at least one summer, and

382] HENRY AND MARY LEE
who, in his desire for companionship, paced all about his
field, making a little pathway. Father, whose heart was
tender for horses, would go often and talk to him and
cheer him, as I am sure Harry did also.
For a number of years there were frequent Sunday
evening suppers at one or other of the Boston houses —
Uncle George's, Aunt Lizzie's, and our own, and at
Grandfather's at Brookline, before the families dispersed
for the summer; on these evenings we used to play
hide-and-seek, and I-spy all over the old house, before
supper. I do not know quite how the elders stood it,
for we were neither quiet nor silent, and the tide of noise
surged all over the house. We hid in everybody's closet,
especially in Aunt Lizzie's inner closet, which we re
garded as absolutely hidden from sight and knowledge,
and which was, I suppose, originally meant to be truly
so in the days before and during the Revolution. Later
we settled into quiet in the western parlor, looked ad
miringly at Aunt Sarah's wonderful sapphire ring, or
listened to the talk of the elders till supper time.
No boys and girls were blessed with older cousins so
good to them as were our Higginson cousins to us.
"They played with us in every mood," and never seemed
to think we were tiresome, as of course we were.
Henry Higginson, writing from St. Heliers to my
Mother, says, "Give my love to Uncle Sam and to all
your children. I shall soon be at home and shall ask for
an introduction to them. If Jim were to return with me
I should propose a child's party for all our little Cousins
and us two, that we might be presented in due form and
make acquaintance all round." Few young men of
twenty-five give much thought to little cousins four to
ten years old.
Then there was the wonderful time when Henry
came home from his long stay in Vienna, and brought

tiSC&O^&e- ee7~ttitz*2*ett^tr???^7i<

HOME DOINGS [383

with him several cases of Bohemian glass, which we saw
unpacked in the lower room at Uncle George's at 22
Chauncy Street, piece after piece appearing out of the
safe-guarding straw — a vase or dish for every Aunt and
Uncle, and for many small cousins: and there had been
an earlier home coming, when kind George Higginson
came home from a voyage to India. I remember the
evening when we were sitting in our parlor at 30 Chauncy
Street, round the table with the Carcel lamp, Father
reading, and Mother with her sewing, and George,
bronzed from the voyage, came in to see the family,
Jim just behind him saying, "Here he is," with the tone
of happy, triumphant welcome in his voice.
Uncle George filled a great place in our world, as did
dear Molly, also. She was always ready for us, and
Mary Lee and I might go up to her pleasant room at
any time and look through her upper bureau drawer,
sweet and orderly, where were many treasures of rib
bons, neckties, and precious odds and ends which she
gave us. They were all kind to us, and every now and
then planned some special pleasure for us — as when
Molly gave a dance at the Chauncy Street house for
Bessie, Mary Lee, and me, and asked her own especial
young men friends, who gave us an evening of blissful
pleasure; and Jim did much the same when he and Mr.
Ropes and one or two other friends were living in rooms
in West Cedar Street.
There were friends, as well as cousins, who were part
of all the Brookline and Chestnut Hill days; Eliot
Guild, Hal's schoolmate and friend; Lizzie Head, Clara's
great friend, who keeps unchanged today the look of
many years ago, while much of her old home, including
the wonderful Daphne tree, and the very shape of the
oval room, is carried along in her present delightful
house. Going to play croquet at the Heads, and stay-

384] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
ing to supper, was one of the great occasions which came
along from time to time.
Mr. and Mrs. Head stood for much in the Dramatis
Personas of our Brookline days. Mr. Head had an ad
mirably erect step and walk — an almost military pre
cision of dress — always appropriate coat and trousers,
always a red necktie, and always white stockings and
patent leather shoes which were never dusty. Our recol
lection of Mrs. Head, Uncle George Higginson's sister,
is of the very embodiment of justice and kindness and
perfect housekeeping, in the freshest of dimity or calico
gowns. Harry and Nelly Parkman were our constant com
panions — we all belonged together. Mrs. Parkman was
to us then, and yet more later as sixties turned to
seventies, a friend whose intuitive knowledge of what
young people were, and understanding sympathy with
their difficulties in finding their way into life, were an
unforgettable blessing to us all. She opened the door for
us into grown-up life, as if we were entering our larger
home. Our kinsman, Cabot Lodge, in Early Memo
ries, says of her: "Mrs. Parkman took an intense, af
fectionate, and personal interest in each one of us; the
kind of interest that no money could buy; she was a well-
bred woman in the fullest sense, and what was rarer,
perhaps, in those days, a woman of the world in the
best sense. She possessed unusual abilities, real learning,
and was widely read ; . . . there are few friendships which
I look back to with more pleasure. She was one of the
cleverest and wisest women, one of the cleverest and
wisest persons I have ever known. I delighted to talk
with her about everything which was interesting me
as a young man. She had both wit and humor, wide
knowledge of men and books, and intense beliefs, as well
as strong likes and dislikes, but she never meant to be
intolerant or unfair."

HOME DOINGS [385

In the summer months of each year, Uncle Harry's
family went to Beverly Farms, and Uncle Frank's to
Westport, Lake Champlain, but the sense of constant
companionship stretched along during the intervening
weeks, and we wrote each other many letters of many
adventures, and the sense of belonging together deepened.
At Beverly there were driving expeditions to Salem
to see the East India Marine Museum, the House of
the Seven Gables, and the Old Court House, and in en
tering Salem we came into the older New England, old
houses, old trees, old gardens, and unhurrying people in
the streets. Somehow Salem kept, along with its old
houses, a wonderful amount of personal beauty in the
old families (certainly in Cousin John Lee's) and it kept,
too, the pleasant Essex County intonation, and the pro
nunciation of certain words, which would give me a
feeling of New England were I to hear them in Aus
tralia today. The expeditions to Salem, driving Flora
or Dolly, seem, as I think of them now, chiefly to have
consisted of laughing. The wagon was as full of children
as it could hold, and we all laughed at very great jokes
all the time.
We all sketched unendingly, and wrote in our Poetry
Books, and illustrated them, and read over each other's
books. Hal's sketching sprang from a deep sense of
beauty and unusual power of expressing the scene he
looked on. He had the soul of the artist. His sketches
and studies have abiding power and distinction. Clara's
drawings were full of spirit, and had a character so
much her own — a power of expressing social charm and
social beauty — that today if Bessie or I come across a
drawing with certain curves and with a spirit of life,
and sometimes of mischief, we know it is hers. Her
namesake Clara Shattuck's drawings were very much like
hers. Hal had a beautiful tenor voice, and played on the

386] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
piano, and Mother played for him. Sam Cabot, too,
had a beautiful voice, and certain songs were always
his: "Her light the glowworm lend thee," "The Anchor
Watch," and others, and Sam's heart of chivalry always
spoke through his singing. Bessie sang many Scotch
songs, and German songs learned from Jim Lligginson.
Her singing was very sweet and true; and Clara sang — ¦
everybody sang — and Mother played for us all, modu
lating quickly and melodiously from key to key to suit
the young, untrained voices; we sang with her Moore's
Irish Melodies, and many Scottish airs, well or ill mat
tered not, and on Sundays the great hymns. She played
also for dancing which sprang up spontaneously and
unexpectedly from time to time. Indeed, she was our
great source of music.
In 1867, in the summer, Hal went to Calumet, Mich.,
to be with Mr. Alexander Agassiz, then beginning the
works at the Calumet and Llecla Mine. His work there
must have been, I think, chiefly writing, making clerical
entries, etc., but in his letters he spoke much more of
the walks to and from Torch Lake and of the beautiful
wild nature about him — the waterfall in the ravine, the
ferns and the wild-flowers.
— Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Loved the wood-rose and left it on its stalk?
In the late sixties came along Mrs. Daniel Curtis's
play, "The Spirit of '76," in which Mrs. Curtis herself
played the part of the Judge with such dignity and spirit
that she really paved the way for our acceptance now of
women Attorney Generals and Judges. Uncle Frank,
handsome and debonair, and Louise Slade singing lovely
songs, were hero and heroine. Cousin Ned Jackson was
the husband who stays at home and darns the stockings;
Mr. Jere Abbott and Hal filled out the cast. Mary Lee
was prompter, and I am sure general-utility man. In-

BESSIE, IN HER RIDING-HAMT

'.¦¦¦¦-

CLARA LEE

HOME DOINGS [387

deed, general utility was Mary's role in all that we
did together, and she was the natural leader of the
Chestnut Hill group and had a wonderful power of bring
ing things to pass through what Aunt Sarah called "con
ducting good sense," which later in her happy married
life we all recognized as wisdom.
Christmas days at Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Charles
Ware's through all the sixties were great occasions —
the dining-room at 39 West Street, as full as it could be
with thirty to thirty-five persons; a table for boys and
girls at one corner of the room, and for smaller children
somewhere else; and the glorious ceremony of the young
est baby of the day walking the length of the table, when
wine glasses were removed; there was the Christmas
tree in the back parlor (and no conflagrations, though
many precautions) ; wonderful games with Higginson
cousins; Mother at the piano, tireless — the Virginia Reel,
the Lancers, Cotillions, and Polkas; some singing, but
more general hilarity.
Mary Lee and I always passed Christmas week at
Aunt Lizzie's, and had a glorious time. Later it was
Bessie, Mary, and I.
Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Charles often took us to the
Boston Theatre, close by on Mason Street — the theatre
which held almost all our theatrical experience, for it was
there we were earlier taken by Uncle Harry as small
boys and girls to see the Ravels, those charming French
acrobats who stepped into second storey windows, became
long or short at will, and made magic familiar to us.
Uncle Harry would fill a box with children, as I. re
member, though perhaps it was only a row or two of the
balcony. Uncle Charles and Aunt Lizzie had tickets for
us for Booth's performance of "Hamlet," in April,
1865, which should have taken place the day after
Abraham Lincoln's death. The play was never given,
and Edwin Booth did not act again for many years.

XVII
DURING THE WAR
When the Civil War came it was at first only a form
of words to our not-understanding ears (though I can
recollect my father's tone as he spoke of the attack on
Fort Sumter). Then came the march of the 6th Reg
iment through Baltimore and the hot indignation that
followed. Soon followed the recruiting of the Massa
chusetts Regiments — Henry and Major Savage recruit
ing men for the 2nd Regiment in the neighborhood of
Fitchburg. The encampments began for us with the en
campment of this Regiment under Colonel Gordon, at
Brook Farm at West Roxbury. We more than once
drove over there, and I remember a Sunday afternoon
service, held by Mr. James Freeman Clarke, at sunset;
the regiment at attention. Our parents took us to see
the regiments as they went off from Boston, although we
took up room in the carry-all, and must have been
troublesome. The 2nd Regiment marched in from West Roxbury
on July 8, 1861, a very hot day. Many men were ex
hausted on reaching town, and some of them fainted
under their heavy equipment. There was a little group
on the Beacon Street Mall of the Common by the Spruce
Street entrance- — Henry Higginson, Major Savage,
Captain Greely Curtis, and others. Mr. John Ropes
came and went from a house on Beacon Street, bring
ing pails of hot coffee. There were many friends stand
ing about, and Mrs. Charles P. Curtis said so cheerfully,
"Let us hear from you in Washington, Greely," and
Cousin Nina Lowell brought a bunch of water lilies to
Henry, who took them and handed them to Aunt Sarah,
saying, "Keep them until I come back," which she faith-
388

DURING THE WAR [389
fully did. They hung over her pretty dressing table all
those years.
In 1862, when Uncle Frank Lee's 44th Regiment was
in camp at Readville, we many times drove over there
to dress parade — Uncle Frank looked very gallant and
soldierly in his uniform as he stood in the little group
of the field officers — the Colonel, Lieut.-Col. Edward
C. Cabot, and Major Charles W. Dabney, both near
friends of Uncle Frank's.
Harry reminds me how the handsome young adjutant,
Wallace Hinckley, barely nineteen years old, stepped up
to Uncle Frank and said, "Sir, the parade is formed."
Then followed the reports of the captains, the orders,
and the response — the calling up of the officer of the
day, the drill — and then the music of the band, often
the noble Russian hymn, and it was all over. Aunt
Sarah had had "Old Hundred" printed on cards for
each man in the regiment, with his name written on it,
to take with him, and wherever they might be they knew
that it would be sung every Sunday in their Colonel's
church at Chestnut Hill. Beside the Colonel and Lieu
tenant-Colonel there were many cousins and friends in
the regiment. Capt. Charles Storrow of Company F,
the Color Company, his barrack at Readville always
the cleanest and most orderly; Corporal Sam Storrow,
his nineteen-year-old brother, in Company H; and Cabot
Russel, but eighteen, a Sergeant in Company F.
The Rev. Edward H. Hall, the chaplain, and Dr.
Robert Ware, the regimental surgeon, were nephews of
Uncle Charles Ware.
The 44th Regiment,1 armed with Enfield rifles, cap-
1 The 44th Regiment was recruited in August, 1862, mainly
by officers of the Fourth Battalion, of whom Uncle Frank was
one, and went into Camp in Readville in September. Col. Charles
R. Codman's Regiment, the 45th, officered chiefly from the In
dependent Corps of Cadets, was in Camp at the same time. Both

39°J HENRY AND MARY LEE
tured from a blockade-runner, left Boston 3 1 October,
1862, for New Berne, N. C, where, and at Little
Washington, N. O, they did good service.
In the spring of 1863 we saw on the same grounds
at Readville the 54th (Colored) Regiment; later the
55th (Colored) Regiment, under Colonel Edward Hal-
regiments, besides giving good service at New Berne and Little
Washington, N. C, became more or less training-schools for offi
cers. In the spring of 1863 nineteen men of the 44th Regiment
were commissioned as officers of the 54th and 55th Regiments
(colored), among them Capt. Alfred S. Hartwell, later Colonel
of the 55th Regiment. Their nine months' service over, the 44th
Regiment arrived in Boston on 10th June, 1863, and were mus
tered out at Readville on the 1 8th of June.
In July came the Draft Riot in Boston, and on the 14th July
Adjutant General William Schouler issued Special Order 393:
"Colonel Lee, 44th Regiment, M. V. M., will cause his Regiment
to assemble at their armory, Boylston Hall, forthwith, and await
further orders," a similar order being issued to Colonel Codman,
45th Regiment, M. V. M., to assemble his regiment at the Cooper
Street Armory.
Cousin Alice Lee and my brother Harry both recall that Uncle
Frank made an address to his regiment, calling on them to serve
again gladly and willingly at this crisis. (Though formally mus
tered out of the U. S. Service, they were still Massachusetts
militia.) The riot was quelled two days later — in great part by Major
Stephen Cabot's prompt action in firing on the rioters from the
Cooper Street Armory.
The special order issued from Headquarters, Faneuil Hall
Square, on July 21st, 1863, reads:
"Col. F. L. Lee, commanding the 44th Regiment, M. V. M.,
and Col. Charles R. Codman, commanding the 45 th Regiment,
M. V. M., are hereby ordered to dismiss their respective com
mands until further orders. In issuing this Order, the General
Commanding is desired by His Excellency, Gov. John A. Andrew,
to express to them, their officers and men, his thanks for their
prompt response to the call of duty, and the admirable manner in
which they performed it. Every duty has been performed to the
entire satisfaction of the Commanding General.
"By command of R. A. Peirce, Brigadier General.
"C. J. Higginson, Acting Adjutant General."

o7.<
CC

y.

DURING THE WAR [391
lowell; while near there was Charles Lowell's regiment,
the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry.
On May 28, 1863, we watched Colonel Robert G.
Shaw ride at die head of his Colored Regiment, the
54th, from the State House, where they had been re
viewed by Governor Andrew, down Beacon Street to the
Parade Ground on the Common. Frank Higginson and
Cabot Russel went in this regiment.
There were times of depression, the feeling of which
filtered through to us, and of course diere were other
great times of triumph and rejoicing, like the three days
when die news came of the victories of Gettysburg and
Vicksburg. There was throughout the impression that all the
older people were holding on, and that they were per
fectly certain that die North would win. The deaths
came, which of course we never expected, and the
wounds, and the illness, and the imprisonments, and
through it all, our parents went on taking an interest in
bringing us up, and preparing pleasant times for us,
though widi hearts wrung as they were I do not now see
how thev could. Then came the entry into Richmond,
and the surrender at Appomattox. How unusual and
how deeply moving were the circumstances of the sur
render we never knew until later, when we could read
Grant's imperishable book and the beautiful and heroic
biographies of General Lee. Then came the death of
the President, still one of the greatest calamities which
has ever befallen our country.
Throughout the War, the door of Uncle George's
house, No. 22 Chauncy Street, stood always open to the
young men coming and going, and being sent off with
special comforts and good things to eat. The household
was on die simplest basis. Molly has said since then
that very few eggs were used during those years, yet

392] HENRY AND MARY LEE
somehow the fruit-cake had many raisins, and everything
tasted very good.
It is not children who perceive everyday heroism; that
privilege belongs to those who have known more of life,
though it is the children who live on happy and familiar
terms with the old heroes — with Jason and Perseus and
Bellerophon — with King Arthur, the Black Prince, and
Henry V. Bessie's uncle Walter Cabot, stooping from
his white horse to speak to her under the great hemlocks,
represented knighthood to me, and I do not think I
was far wrong. Such childhood memories of gods and
heroes form the leaf-mould of the heroism of youth and
manhood, which we were then seeing acted out before
us during the Civil War — and have so recently seen again.
We could not then know all that was offered up by
the men and boys who went to the War, nor did we
realize, as did our elders, what those were suffering who
were wounded in battle, or sick in hospitals, or who
were on their painful way home.
The actual facts we knew. Henry, the Major of the
ist Massachusetts Cavalry, was three times wounded at
the Battle of Aldie Gap on June 17, 1863; and Jim,
a First Lieutenant in the same regiment, was taken pris
oner. During the summer and autumn Henry was slowly
convalescing in the sunny upper chamber at 22 Chauncy
Street, where many friends came to see him : there was
excitement and rejoicing when, after several probings
of the most serious of the wounds, Dr. Samuel Cabot
found the embedded bullet.
All this time, and later, Uncle George was making
constant effort to get food and books sent through to
dear Jim in Libby Prison in Richmond by way of Fortress
Monroe, the gateway between North and South.
Harry remembers the letters which came from Jim
with sentences written in onion juice on their margins,

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DURING THE WAR [393
which were at once heated before the fire to bring out
their messages.
I can never forget the blue look under Jim's eyes
when, after nine months in prison, he was exchanged,
and arrived home. He passed many weeks at Uncle
Harry's at Brookline before he was again fit for service.
Frank Higginson was a First Lieutenant in Colonel
Robert G. Shaw's colored regiment, the 54th M. V. M.,
in which he enlisted before graduation.
After a two days' detail to James Island, in Charleston
Harbor, South Carolina, he returned to find that Fort
Wagner had been stormed on July 18, 1863, and his
nearest friends in the regiment killed. He came home
on sick leave that autumn, wasted and exhausted by
malarial fever. After the 54th was mustered out, he
was appointed Captain in the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry
(also a colored regiment), and served in Texas during
the terribly hot summer of 1865.
All this and much else: wounds and death of other
kinsfolk and friends — disasters and victories — we knew
as facts, but it was the elders who knew their significance.

. . . From every mountain peak
Let beacon-fire to answering beacon speak,
Katahdin tell Monadnock, Whiteface he,
And so leap on in light from sea to sea,
Till the glad news be sent
Across a kindling continent,
Making earth feel more firm and air breathe braver:
"Be proud I for she is saved, and all have helped to save
her!"
Lowell.

XVIII
HENRY LEE, JR.
1817-1898
About Uncle Harry Lee his son Joe writes :
. . . Father's various metiers, as I have often thought
of them, were1 : —
Acting and reading plays aloud — in which he repre
sented the Kemble School.
Architecture — building the Union Safe Deposit Vaults,
and his own houses, and taking much interest and sat
isfaction in so doing. He used to draw beds and other
furniture to scale and see that each room was practically
adapted to its use. In the same way he drew circles,
showing the spread of the trees that were to be grown
on a proposed bit of ground. The Union Safe Deposit
Vaults were built up upon the size of the largest bonds
— the safe to fit the bonds, the "bureaus" the safe, and
the whole the bureaus. He remembered the architecture
of houses that he had not seen, I think, since he was four
years old. Grandmother Cabot always said he remem
bered things much older than she did and that took
place a good while before he was born.
Drawing — I once discovered that he had done some
drawing from some pictures of faces that he found in a
book of Lavater's, illustrating different kinds of character,
and which seemed to me very well done. Of course he
was interested because he had acted the part of Lavater.
He made able sketches on a small scale of towns in Wales
and England.
1 The degree conferred on him on graduation by the Med. Fac.
— "multifariousness and gout" — was more than justified as to
its first item by his subsequent career.
394

HOUSE OF COLONEL LEE AT BEVERLY FARMS

HENRY LEE, JR. [395

Landscape Architecture — as it is now called, planting
all the trees on his place at Beverly, except the old
walnuts and a few oaks around the edge, and construct
ing a landscape out of a gravel heap. Also in Brookline
and elsewhere. I remember him and old Michael Fitz-
patrick harnessed to a cart in which he dragged shrubs
to the small piece of land he and Mother had at West
Chop, where they passed one or two summers when he
was about seventy years old. Of course he knew all
the trees and pretty well how to handle them. He was
far from being a naturalist, always speaking with humor
of the incomprehensible tastes of his Cabot brothers-in-
law in that direction, but he never failed to hear the first
bluebird, the first song sparrow and the thrushes in the
Essex Woods.
Music — He was extraordinarily fond of music of the
pre-German era, could whistle and sing most of the
Italian operas, the older English ones, and many of those
of the Opera Comique. I remember he and Dan Wister
passed a long evening in playing and whistling "Don Pas-
quale." "Pre aux Geres" was another favorite. He was
very fond of singing hymns. His dramatic performances
included parts in the "Rivals," "The Waterman," and
"Bombastes Furioso," and in "The Hunchback." Uncle
Frank and the "Cary girls" (Mrs. Agassiz and her two
sisters) were important parts of these singing and acting
troupes. Horses — for which he had the taste that runs in streaks
in the Lee family, as in our respective brothers, George
and Harry. He was fond of both riding and driving,
and of course you remember old Tom and his various
talents and escapades. Father taught him to rear up in
the shafts and stand on his hind legs, also to stop when
he said whoa, although he was a terrible puller. He once
made him stop in this way going down hill when the

396] HENRY AND MARY LEE
breeching broke, when most horses would have run away.
He was not an athlete in the modern sense, but he
must have been unusually strong, judging not only by
his meting out necessary punishment to a Swiss coach
man who tried to hold up him and Mother on top of
the Stelvio Pass, and one or two other pugilistic exploits,
but from the fact that he used to run home from his office
in Boston to his house in Brookline, about five miles round
by the Neck, as he always called Washington Street, until
he was, I should say, about fifty years old; and often
walked it at his rapid gait after that. [Two competent
family critics say this was impossible, but Joe holds to it.]
His literary career began, I think, with an elaborate
lecture about Winthrop, which he worked terrifically over
in about 1877 as one of a course of lectures given in the
Old South for the purpose of preserving it, — he being
treasurer of the committee in charge. I think he became
more expert after that and wrote some very good articles,
including one on Fanny Kemble.
Father had a more realistic historic sense as regards
Boston and the people in it than I should think most
historians ever attain about any time or place. He
knew Judge Sewall and Winthrop and other worthies as
if he had been brought up among them, read and enjoyed
many diaries and old gossipy stories. He read such things
with as much gusto as most people have for reading
novels. He read all Washington's letters and everything about
him, and of course he knew everybody's great-grandfather
and all about him — and usually remembered and could
illustrate how he looked.
He was a good speaker, and on the subject of the
Bulfinch front of the State House, which he took part
in saving, he made a speech before a legislative com
mittee in response to an argument by Governor Long,

COLONEL HENRY LEE ON MEG

HENRY LEE, JR. [397

which Frank Sanborn, a good judge, pronounced the
best speech he had ever heard, — some notes of which
are preserved in John Morse's Memoir.
Probably his greatest hobby was his love of Military
Affairs, from what might be called the sentimental side.
My brother Elly always said that Father would run across
the Common with the other small boys to hear a band
any time, this remark being made when he was about
seventy-five years old; and he never missed a parade of
the Ancient and Honorables or an Artillery Election. He
was an officer (captain, I think, perhaps the head) of the
Boston Light Infantry when he was a young man. His
interest in such matters was a help in his work as member
of the staff of Governor Andrew, though of course his
knowledge of men and his business-like qualities were
of more practical importance.
Father always took a great interest in politics from
the citizen's point of view, being one of the first members
of the Free Soil Party early enough to cause many of
his more aristocratic acquaintances to cut him in the street
and to incur the severe disapproval of Uncle Tom and
other revered relations. He prevented Uncle Tom and
other trustees from refusing the use of the Music Hall
to one of the anti-slavery orators (Theodore Parker).
Father, owning a single share of stock, remonstrated at
a stockholders' meeting against letting or not letting a
public hall for sentimental reasons. Uncle Tom appeared
next day at Father's office (counting-room as he always
called it) apparently to see how he would look, Father
not letting on at all that anything had happened that
might cause irritation. Many of the best citizens were
greatly scandalized by his taking a place on Governor
Andrew's staff. It meant a great deal from the so
cial point of view, and consequently from that of en
listments. He never would take public office except for

398] HENRY AND MARY LEE
the two years' service in the legislature in '76 and '77,
when he was living in Boston; but he always took a great
interest in public affairs and wrote a good many letters
to the papers, especially against Blaine, General Butler,
and other statesmen whose standards of honor he could
not accept.
Father was a merchant for many years and made a
voyage as supercargo to Rio in 1838, coming back up
the Mississippi and visiting Henry Clay and President
Jackson on the way home. He was always an amateur
of a very successful kind in real estate. He was also
the senior partner of Lee, Higginson & Co. for many
years, but of course his great business success was the
building of the Union Safe Deposit Vaults, which with
the exception of a pioneer institution in Philadelphia was
the first in the country, or, perhaps, in the world, though
I suspect they had the same sort of thing in Babylon.
This sketch is well supplemented by the following
pages written by Henry Higginson for the Boston
Evening Transcript:
We perhaps too often say of a valued friend that he
is a man apart from the rest of men, yet of Henry Lee
it was true.
His father, a man of large intelligence and enterprise,
was absorbed in political-economical ideas and forgetful
of ordinary rules and cares; so from early youth the son,
while admiring his father's good points, was forced to
supplement the weak points by taking up cares and re
sponsibilities unusual for so young a man.
Perhaps from early memories he hated business in
the ordinary sense, that is, buying and selling, borrow
ing and lending, and always declared himself a wretched
business man. Yet he well understood the great laws
of trade and enterprise, and when he determined to
build his safety-deposit vaults he prepared himself for

HENRY LEE, JR. [399

the task with the utmost care, and therefore he suc
ceeded. This venture was quite in keeping with the
workings of his mind, which did not permit the con
stant change of attitude, the presentation of only one
side to himself or to others, that a purchase first and
then a sale of an article or an investment requires. He
saw the entire propriety of the transaction, but did not
like it.
He gladly acquired money in the regular fashion, but
under no pretext could he be induced to accept one
penny that he had not fully earned — either by work or
by venture of capital. He gladly spent money for gen
erous and healthy living, for friends, for education, art
or benevolence. Yet here he also asked full value for
his expenditure, while insisting that it should not be
immoderate, for he asked measure and fitness in all
things. He liked place and honors such as in his opinion
were due to him; but he flatly refused the degree of
LL.D. from Harvard University, although he admired
and trusted the men who offered this distinction only
less than he loved and venerated the University. His
sense of justice and of fitness told him that it was not
his due, and no matter who else of lesser merit had
received the honor he would none of it.
This sense of justice, of truth, was strong and abid
ing and showed itself in other ways. With a keen
sense of humor and great insight into character, united
with this love of justice, he felt the good and bad points
of men and women, and often mentioned them, — some
times with a caustic tongue. No man treated his true
friends more liberally to criticism and praise, to reproof
and love, than he.
The life in which he delighted and of which he had
a full share was in the woods and garden, which he

4Q0]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
with his own hands tended; in his library or in his
dining-room, surrounded by his family and friends,
whom he entertained with his humorous stories and
remarks. Wherever he might be, there was society in
a high sense.
Of books he read the best and highest and knew
them well — history, genealogy, essays, poetry. Shake
speare and the Bible he revelled in. Not a scholar
himself, he was good company for scholars, or at least
for men of ripe culture, and he highly prized education
of a simple, healthy nature. With his death the old
town shrinks and dwindles for us. We lose the picture
which he could call up of its sober dignity, its "sunny-
faced" old houses set in terraced gardens, its colonial
traditions. Today nobody can tell so many curious and
characteristic traits and tales of by-gone days and gen
erations as he. His accurate and powerful memory could
recall the Boston of three-quarters of a century ago, and
it retained in its proper sequence and in its due place
each event of public moment since then, each change
for gain or loss in the rapidly growing town.
'Love thou thy land with love far-brought
From out the storied Past and used within the Present.'
Nobody will replace him.
In affairs of the nation he always from his youth took
a deep interest and a vigorous, independent, thoughtful
part — being a respecter of true morals and laws rather
than of men, for these last must meet his standard of
life or sink in his estimation. He criticised unsparingly
wrong or low public acts of public men without regard
to personal relations, past or present. Few men have
oftener irritated their near friends, few men have held
them faster.
Of his own strong and weak points he spoke frankly,
but he never thought to change them, for he was con-

COLONEL HENRY LEE AT BEVERLY FARMS

MRS. LEE

HENRY LEE, JR. [401

tent to live his own life in the sight of all men, freely,
kindly, consciously, — to make his comments, do his deeds
and take the consequences. It was a life animated with
a clear, humane, noble purpose and guided by courage
and high ideals without asceticism.
In fact, he seemed not to be a man of great parts,
but of a singular quality springing from unusual purity
and nobility of character, — from high aims, high think
ing and living. The truth held for him a foremost place
in the universe, because it was the truth and because it
was simple and beautiful.
One would not say of him that he was heavenly
minded, for he liked the world well; but lofty-minded,
pure-toned, he certainly was.
These qualities and these aims, purposely cultivated
with care, gave us a true gentleman of charming man
ners and thoughts, a delightful companion, a trusty, loyal
friend, always ready to stand up in church and testify
to his beliefs, — possessed with a full sense of his duty
to his country, to man, to God.
Men and women of all degrees trusted, respected,
enjoyed, loved him in unusual measure ; for he had words
and thoughts of service and of affection toward them
all, — the boys and girls, the old men and women, — the
unfortunate and the prosperous.
We could always count on his coolness and courage
in a storm, but when the sun came out once more, he
chided us and bade us make ready our sails for another
storm, which was sure to come, — another instance of his
balance and judgment.
It was a true, humane, warm nature, which bore the
great troubles of life well and made much of the simple
joys- . .
Lastly, as he grew older, like a noble, healthy fruit,
he ripened and grew mellow year by year. Was not
this a proof of true quality?

4Q2]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
'Tis well that he died quietly (as he had for some
years foretold), and at the end of this changing cen
tury, for of late he was not always in touch with the
eager, modern world, and he might have suffered from
the virtues and the sins of the next century.
There has passed to another world a rare gentleman
and friend, — a public citizen without reproach.
His figure and his life tell us that, if we choose the
noble path which he has trod, we also may live in his
high, pure atmosphere, may meet our fellows on the
same frank, kindly footing, and may brighten their lives
as he has done.
Let us try.

XIX
THE CLOSE
In trying to put together the few memoranda which
come down to us from the older generation, the persist
ence of certain family characteristics is striking — all the
more if one is untroubled by the smallest knowledge of
the laws of heredity.
What is said of Joseph Lee in 1831 by his minister
is almost repeated in what is said of Joseph Lee's son
Henry in 1867, and might have been said in 1877 with
equal truth of Joseph Lee's grandson, John Clarke Lee;
not, I think, because they are the usual expressions of
clergymen about their parishioners, but because each tried
to give a true portrait; while in John Morse's fine memoir
of Henry Lee, Jr., are noted the same traits — of ab
solute integrity, strong patriotism, absence of political
ambition — which were characteristic of Joseph Lee.
Also the love of little children, and of "a fair garden."
The love of little children, fortunately, belongs to all
the human race, and may be looked for everywhere —
but the gift of so loving and understanding children that
the love and understanding are returned, is a little more
individual, and was possessed by both Uncle Harry and
Uncle Frank Lee in great degree, and by Jim Higgin
son, while my brother Harry, who has had many child-
patients, has been loved by them all, and has had their
perfect confidence even when he had to hurt them, and
told them that he was going to.
In Uncle Harry's own account of his Grandfather,
Joseph Lee, he speaks of "his precision and love of
order, and ability to regulate the details of family and
business affairs" — qualities which he says did not seem
to have been inherited by Joseph Lee's sons, but they
403

404] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
were certainly transmitted in full to his grandson, Henry
Lee, Jr. Uncle Harry's notebooks, in his small, ad
mirable handwriting, were models of forethought and
order: his diagrams, whether of public buildings, domes
tic architecture, or detail of ornament, were alike per
fect. His niceties and particularities, even to the placing
of the silver on the dinner-table, or the objects (includ
ing the bronze Napoleon) on the mantelpiece, his care
ful and admirable preparation for any great occasion,
such as the 250th Anniversary of the founding of Har
vard College, or a speech at the State House, may all
have been an inheritance from his Grandfather, Joseph
Lee. The love of gardening of Joseph Lee was inherited
by his sons and by his grandsons. Cousin John Lee de
lighted in his garden in Salem, behind his pleasant house,
No. 14 Chestnut Street, and in his farm at North Salem.1
Uncle Harry and Uncle Frank were born landscape-
gardeners, and practiced that beautiful art for them
selves and for their friends throughout life. They had
each an unerring instinct for the placing of a tree or
shrub, or the opening out of a lovely view: both found a
great and satisfying delight in natural beauty.
In our own generation the love of gardens and of
beautiful natural growth would take us too far afield,
though it would be in pleasant places and among pleas
ant memories — perhaps walking with Henry hatchet or
clipping-shears in hand, among his trees at Manchester,
where he and Ida in forty happy years transformed the
open pastures into a beautiful wooded hill, threaded
through with grassy glades, where Ida's deep and loving
Swiss instincts have created lovely Alpine gardens in
*A. J. Downing in Fruits and Fruit Trees of America speaks
of Mr. John C. Lee's Salem garden: and of his successful culture
of foreign pear trees. The Duchesse de Mars, "a rich, melting
pear," was introduced here by him.

7377+ -7S6 '7

*/. 7/7ea,tey

THE CLOSE [405

unexpected places, or with them both among the great
woods and pastures at Rock Harbor. — Or leaving dear
Molly Blake's hospitable door at Manchester with the
sprays of lemon verbena and of heliotrope which she
always picked for one. — We could sit with Bessie at the
Brookline place, loved and worked over for more than a
hundred years, perhaps under the great English beech
where the birds always sing, overlooking the wide garden
with its fragrant flower-beds and grassy spaces, and Aunt
Lizzie's pleached alley of hornbeam which Uncle Harry,
an artist with pruning shears, trained into docility year
by year. — Or we might stay with Mary Ware on the
great farm at West Rindge, developed by her persever
ing work into the most beautiful place for many a mile
around, where she has promoted the health and happi
ness of all who live and work on it, and has made it
a stimulus and help to the whole countryside — a silent,
living memorial to Uncle Charles and Aunt Lizzie Ware.
— Or enter Frank and Marion's hospitable house at
Chestnut Hill where, as in Uncle Frank's day, there
have always been flowers growing and blossoming, in
doors and out, and where andromeda is brought from
Hammond's Pond each winter to flower in the house in
February and March.
And Alice has made beautiful places at San Diego
more beautiful by her skill in landscape gardening, while
Tom's work for Stony Lonesome at the North Shore
at Westport, has been unceasing and its results beneficent
as well as delightful, for he by nature understands the
ways of springs and streams and the qualities of soils
and rock and gravel.
For many happy summers now I have been seeing how
deep in my brother Harry is the instinct for farming
life: in spite of so many years of hardworking pro
fessional life in the city, he is at home in the country.

406] HENRY AND MARY LEE 
It has been wonderful to me to see how well he under
stands the life of the soil — how much satisfaction he
takes in the right treatment of it, with men who also know
and understand it from lifelong work and close relation
with earth and sky and weather.
Some one has said, "It may be hard to understand
why an education in horses is also an education in human
nature, but it is the truth," and Harry has all the ad
vantage which his love of horses from earliest boyhood
gives him; it has been the key to a loving understanding
of many other forms of animal life — including our own
human nature — and he knows the note or song of each
bird and the call of each animal as few people do. If
there is a note of distress in the cry he always under
stands it, and if he can responds to it.
Mary Elliot's loving intimacy with flowers has been
a part of her life — everywhere she has made flowers
grow. Beside the sweet summer flowers in the garden
at Beverly Farms, and the English daisies, which she
persuaded to grow and flower freely in the grass year
after year, there was a little Alpine garden, in which grew
dryas, androsace, little cushions of fragrant daphne, deli
cate fringed wild pinks, harebells, heather, and other
lovely things. I remember Dr. Asa Gray stooping his
tall old form to stroke the blue heads of the globularia
as if they had been children, so pleased was he to see
them blossoming there. And Mary's love of flowers
speaks in her water-color drawings of them, exquisite and
true, and reverent. It is as if the very spirit of the flower
— its genius — were there.
These are only a few of the many cousins who have
found and given happiness through their love of nature,
which by now, however, must draw from many sources
besides our old great-grandfather.

*m&

MARY LEE ELLIOT

THE CLOSE [407

Other inheritances have drifted down. Elliot Lee's
patient skill in making intricate braids and knotted cords
of sennit with his square, strong hands; his perseverance,
lame as he was, in boating, and later in the manage
ment of gondola or sandolo in Venice, were perhaps
derived from our old sailor great-grandfather.
George Lee, like his great-uncle, Capt. George Lee,
for whom he was named, has "blue water in his veins,"
as the old New Bedford saying goes. In his boyhood
at Beverly Farms he was constantly on the water, in
dories or catboats, and later in yachts; while as boy and
man, his love of the sea and of ships has spoken in his
fine water-color pictures and sketches: in these, as in
his pictures of horses in the hunting-field or on the race
course, he has a wonderful power of expressing speed
and motion — an impressionist before the word became
familiar to our ears.
Uncle Harry sometimes spoke of his son Joe as the
grandson of his grandfather rather than the son of his
father. Joe's keen interest, awake and sensitive, about
social and economic questions, his way of reading books,
pencil in hand, his marginal notes, and references at the
end of a book, bear out Uncle Harry's saying.
The various marriages have brought other inheritances.
Such are the strong, abiding Higginson traits: our dear
Uncle George Higginson had a markedly spiritual side
to his nature, as well as many more obvious characteris
tics — a glorious power of indignation over cruelty or
meanness, a gaiety of spirit, as well as corresponding
moments of depression. His affections were deep and
undying. Uncle Harry's beautiful elegiac prose gives
the true portrait of Uncle George. "He waited not for
wealth but gave from his penury as afterward from his
abundance. ... To enumerate his beneficences would

408] HENRY AND MARY LEE
be impossible, as no human being stood near enough to
him to ascertain their names or number. . . . His habit
of living like his habit of giving was liberal and un
ostentatious. An uncle of mine who was at Andover
Academy with the father and uncles of Mr. Higginson
said of them that they were the heartiest laughers and
the fiercest fighters, and these traits have come down with
the blood. . . . He was very human and his heart most
susceptible of joy and sorrow — of affection and anger. I
have been intimate with Mr. Higginson for near sixty
years, and I have never known a more upright, more
warm-hearted, more disinterested man.
'The kindest man;
The best conditioned and unwearied spirit
In doing kindnesses.' "
A deep love of beauty and the delightful gift of
drawing came with Aunt Lizzie Lee, in whose family
the power of expression in drawing, spirited, delicate,
and true, has been as natural as speaking. — The love
of science and of nature of Uncle Charles Ware shines
out in Mary. — The spirited attitude toward life of Aunt
Sarah Lee, her extraordinary practical capacity, her sense
of being at home in a world brimming with interest, and
her social gift we see again in her prototype, Alice. — My
dear Father's face speaks for itself of the qualities his
children so well knew and loved, integrity, singleness of
heart, and loyalty to home affections.
I have not succeeded in what I hoped to do. I cannot
give the picture, so vivid in my own memory, of the life
of the past, threaded through as it was with happy com
panionships. The impressions of character are deep,
but may not be transmitted in printed words — of Aunt
Mary's brilliancy and ability, and a certain distinction felt
by all who knew her — of Uncle Harry's leadership in the
family which was a standard of fitness to us all whether

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THE CLOSE [409

or not we tried to act up to it — of Aunt Lizzie Ware's
staunch, balance-wheel character — of Uncle Frank's fire
and charm and unreasonableness and tenderness — of my
Mother's undefeated enthusiasm which led her nephew
Henry once to say of her, "My Aunt Harriet can suck
more honey out of a hard cracker than any one I know."
It is the deep impression of character which endures
through the years and through the losses, each one of
which changes the aspect of life to some of us, — as we
have missed throughout the years the dear companionship
of Hal and Clara, and of others unnamed here but re
membered. So long as one remains of each of the five households
in a way all remain, but the chapter of this generation of
our Higginson cousins has closed and now one speaks of
them as one does not speak of the others. In later years
kind George Higginson's Lenox house seemed a true
shrine of the affections, so full was it of fragments of
the old time, — old chairs, old camphor-wood chests, old
photographs of his faithfully loved family. For more
than fifty years he has been respected and loved through
out Berkshire County as a true friend and kind neighbour,
and an upright gentleman.
Of Henry many loving words have been written which
may be read elsewhere: a few, more fugitive, are kept
here that they may not be lost.
The Harvard Alumni Bulletin, published the week
after his death, speaks of "a Harvard world rendered
suddenly and strangely void through the fact that Major
Higginson is no longer a visible member of it. His gal
lant presence, his direct, honest, ringing words, linked
the heroic time of the Civil War with each of the five
decades that have followed, and always to the bettering
of the later day."
One friend wrote from New York, "I have seldom

4io]  HENRY AND MARY LEE 
cared so much for any one I knew so little, but under
standing is not limited by time or meetings. It is in
stinctive and absolute. Henry Higginson's beauty and
distinction of mind and character, his delicacy and
chivalry and idealism were perfectly apparent from the
first, and the somewhat tragic human charm that Jim had,
also. They were both sad — Bostonian — and gentlemen —
and in passing I salute them. Somewhere in Heaven
where the most beautiful music is we may find them again,
and once more exchange a word."
Owen Wister said, "Genius is the second-best thing in
the world: goodness in the dimensions of genius is the first.
This is what Henry Higginson had. It is as rare as genius.
A patriot, a modest man; generous, giving not his money
merely but himself; mellowed and informed by civilized
American environment in his youth, by love of art, by
contact with the old world and faith in the new, by war,
by struggle and happiness, and constant enlightenment.
Who can replace that figure, solid, distinguished, and ar
resting, as it walked along the streets? What is it that
inevitably marks a man as quiet as he was? It must be
the thing we cannot see or grasp, which radiates from
character and sympathy. This, somehow, stamps upon
our memory his look of greeting, his sabred cheek, his
half-humorous, half-wistful smile."
President Eliot, a life-long friend, in speaking of
Major Higginson's twenty-six years' service as a Fellow
of the Corporation of Harvard College said, "Why was
he chosen a member of the Corporation? Not because
he was a successful banker and broker of State Street.
Far from it. He was chosen because he was as fine an
exemplar of the patriotic citizen-soldier as there was in
the country or the world."
Again, at the memorial mass meeting held in the Har
vard Union on November 17, 19 19, President Eliot
gave, perhaps, the keynote: "He had a great tenderness

THE CLOSE [411

of heart, and a strong hopefulness for the future of man
kind and the world, a confident expectation of good from
God and from men, and faith in the dignity and sweetness
of common human nature."
Judge Cabot, in speaking of Major Higginson, said,
"One of his qualities was that of intimacy, of making
you feel you were a privileged person and that you meant
much to him. ... I like to think of him as a soldier. He
was a fighter. He saw clearly (and believed in thinking
and seeing clearly) a great cause and in staking himself
for it and fighting for it, and because he had that quality
of thinking out clearly a great cause, realizing, as Justice
Holmes says, that life is 'a profound and precious thing,'
Mr. Higginson's life is a living life — a continuing life
for all of us. . . . Friendship is. one of the things which
meant most in Major Higginson's life. He learned its
meaning from his friends in their sharing together and
venturing their lives together in the cause of this country.
. . . Once, in speaking particularly to Harvard under
graduates, he said these words, 'Let your enthusiasm and
your love for noble thoughts and deeds, for noble men
and women, have full swing, and they will show you
clearly your birthright, — the duty and beauty of serving
your country.' "
The two verses by Cecil Spring-Rice which Henry had
placed on the programme of the last Harvard Memorial
Day Service at which he presided sound like a last word
from him. It is his prayer for our younger generation.
I vow to thee, my country — all earthly things above —
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love —
The love that asks no question; the love that stands the
test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

412] HENRY AND MARY LEE
And there's another country I've heard of long ago —
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that
know.
We may not count her armies; we may not see her King;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently, her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness and all her paths
are Peace.
Our dear Jim's was a nature of clouds and sunshine, —
such heart-warming sunshine. In him love of country
and love of Llarvard College burned as unwaveringly as
in his brothers Henry and Frank.
He was President of the Harvard Club of New York:
at the meeting held after his death, after recording his
services to his country and to his city, the minute says,
"But when men recall Mr. Higginson, it is not of his pub
lic services that they first speak. It is as a friend that he
is mourned; his acts of friendship cannot be counted, and
will never be known. Beneath a somewhat silent and
reserved demeanor, Mr. Higginson cherished a warm and
impulsive affection for all that he thought good in life
and among men. Perhaps he loved most the people and
the qualities which in his heart he associated with the
name of Harvard. It is pleasant to remember how ade
quately, although unconsciously, he illustrated that name
himself. . . . He was a true heir of the stock of the
Puritans, which has loved and cherished Harvard since
there was a Harvard to cherish."
Such men as he we lately lost and mourn for,
Rugged and bountiful — bold and wise to plan —
Strong in the faith and the service he was born for,
Staunch for the weal and honor of the clan.1

1

L From The Old Stock, by Edward Sanford Martin. J. J. H.
obiit January 5, 191 1.

THE CLOSE / [413

Dearest Molly Blake's loving-kindness blessed all
within her reach: her unshaken faith comforted and
helped the weak-hearted.
And now Frank has gone after a life of high integrity,
fearlessness, and generosity. We could never tell him
how fully we recognized and loved these qualities, for
he would not allow a word spoken of matters which he
felt were part of the life of a private citizen, whereas
they filled his life with work and gifts for both private
and public good.
In the notice of him in the Harvard Graduates Maga
zine for December, 1925, written by his cousin, class
mate, and lifelong friend, Charles C. Jackson, Mr.
Jackson says, "Physically Higginson was of slight build,
and in the days of his youth had a light, wiry frame
which made him proficient in boyish sports. He was a
good fighter, and this quality was held in great respect
by his classmates, but it would have been difficult to find
an instance in which the part he played in these contests
was not on the side of fair play and justice. ... As he
grew to manhood he seemed to exemplify in his own
person many of the traits characteristic of a long line of
predecessors. The fiery temperament, the dominating
spirit, the keen intelligence were all there as well as the
critical and cool judgment which held emotions in control,
and gave wise decisions. . . . But there was another side,
also; here under the armor of a cold reserve were sym
pathy and affection for those near to him which, as years
accumulated, kept him in close touch with a group of
loyal relatives and friends, young as well as old. The
records of the university bear upon its list of graduates
the name of Higginson from its earliest days. This fact
seemed to have bred in him a strong devotion to his Alma
Mater which was one of the mainsprings of his gen
erosity to her and of his wise judgment in her councils;
but his modest temperament and strong will held the

414] HENRY AND MARY LEE
knowledge of them to the world sternly in the back
ground. The community has lost a sterling character, the
university a loyal friend."
It is hard to put into other hands the letters written
years ago, and always for one reader alone, but just as
we have a feeling of instinctive interest in these unknown
forbears must they not have had some feeling for their
unknown descendants? and would they not have been
willing that we should share a little in their joys and
sorrows ?
Knitting, that occupation of old women, sometimes
seems to me like the linking of one generation to another
by the single thread, carrying the last row of stitches up
into the next, and it is to leave this thread in your hands
that the book is printed.
Do not destroy all the old letters and journals, no
matter how often you are advised to do so. It is through
the old letters, "those fallen leaves that keep their green"
that the past comes back, and one has the happiness
for a while of dwelling in another time, with the older
generation living and speaking, glad or sorry, indignant
or rejoicing, much as we live and speak today. But for
the letters they would be but silent shadows.
Lady Ritchie, in a letter written late in life, says : "So
do we all go on our own ways, but thank God we can still
somehow keep one bit by which we all travel along
together — that bit which belongs to us all."
No matter what different surnames you bear, dear
children, you are still the grandchildren of Henry and
Mary Lee in the past, and these fragments of the past
belong to all of you together.
— What is excellent,
As God lives, is permanent ;
Hearts are dust, hearts' loves remain;
Heart's love will meet thee again.

INDEX

Adams, Henry, quoted, 109-112
John, 34; letter to N. W. Boyl
ston, 297-299
John Quincy, 42
Agassiz, Alexander, 386
Ames, Miss, 295, 306, 334, 346
Andrew, Governor John Albion, 391
Appleton, Nathan, 7, 8, 57
Aspinwall, Colonel Augustus, 282,
2827/, 317, 318
Austin, Edward, 348
Baring Brothers & Co., 4, 347, 368
Bedford Place, Boston, 50-52, 294
Bible, The, 151, 164, 196, 197, 217,
218, 261
Biddle, Clement C, 8, 318, 365
Bigelow, Caty (Mrs. Francis Park-
man), 272, 273
Dr. Henry J., 268, 272, 329
Mrs. Henry J. (Susan Sturgis),
329. 33°. 33'
Dr. Jacob, 66, 184
Billerica, Academy, 3
Blake, Mrs. S. Parkman (Mary Lee
Higginson), granddaughter of
H. & M. L., 262, 273, 278, 294,
300, 355, 383, 39!, 405, 413
Blanchard, Francis, 192, 193
Blanchard, Mrs. Francis (Mari
anne Cabot) (see also Lee,
Mrs. N. C), 19, 192, 193/j
Boott, Mrs. Francis (Elizabeth
Lyman), 273
Kirk, 57
Boston Resolutions, 131
Boylston, Susannah, 297, 298
Bradford, George Partridge, brother
of Mrs. Samuel Ripley (p. 256),
263
Broke, Commodore, 189
Bromfield, "Aunt," 80, 82, 96, 214
Ann, see Tracy, Mrs. Thomas
John, 80, ton, 167, 189, 198, 216
Bryant, Mrs. Henry (Lizzie Sohier),
273
Bryer, Nancy, 305
Buckminster, Rev. Joseph, 22, 26
J. S, 26
Bullard, Stephen H., 9, 268
William S., 4, 9, 268, 310
Lee & Company, 9
Burley, Miss, 278

Cabot, Andrew (1), H. L.'s uncle,
S6n, 61
Andrew (2), H. L.'s cousin, jn,
79. 106, 114, 131, 139, 140, 147,
155
Charles, son of Hon. George
Cabot, 95, 97
Deborah (Higginson), see Lee,
Mrs. Joseph
Edward C, 305, 324, 349, 354,
354". 375, 389
Elizabeth, see Lee, Mrs. Joseph
Elizabeth, see Jackson, Mrs. James
Frances, see Jackson, Mrs. Charles
Frederick, H. L.'s cousin, 99, 114,
195, 218, 232, 236
Judge Frederick P., quoted, 411
George, H. L.'s uncle, 2, }6n, 61 ;
"Uncle Cabot," pages 194, 196,
240 apparently refer to him
Mrs. George ("Aunt Cabot"), 95,
97. 99
Henry, 211
Mrs. Henry (Anna Blake), 211
James Elliot, his plans for Union
Building, 332; at Westport, 334,
338, 347. 3«9, 375! quoted on
Captain George Lee, 20, 21 ;
Letters: to Mrs. Henry Lee, Jr.,
329-333 ! to Henry Lee, Jr., 347,
348. 354. 355. 357-359
John (of Beverly), H. L.'s uncle,
48, 56n, 79
Joseph, H. L.'s grandfather, 13
Mrs. Joseph (Elizabeth Higgin
son), H. L.'s grandmother, 13,
255
Lydia, see Jackson, Mrs. Patrick
Tracy
Martha, Lizzie and Willy, 380
Nancy (Ann), H. L.'s cousin, 79,
118, 174
Samuel (1), 280, 333
Mrs. Samuel (Eliza Perkins), 17,
18, 281, 333, 375, 394
Dr. Samuel (2), 283, 358, 392
Mrs. Samuel (Hannah Lowell
Jackson), M. L.'s niece, 283
Samuel (3), 386
Sarah, see Jackson, Mrs. James
Stephen, H. L.'s uncle, 13
Walter C, 392

4i5

4i6

INDEX

Cary, Mrs. Thomas G., 367, 369;
Sarah, daughter of Mrs. T. G.
Cary, 367, 369; Ellen, daugh
ter of Mr. and Mrs. William
Cary, 367
Channing, Professor Edward, vii
Channing, William, 231
Chardon, Captain, 126, 151
Chauncy Street, No. 28, 229, 235,
294-296
Chesapeake, The, no, 189
Clinton, Governor Henry, 148, 149
Codman, Colonel Charles R., 38971,
390
Cotton mill in Waltham, 10, 55-57
Curtis, Mrs. Daniel Sargent, 28, 386
Captain Greely S., 388
Dabney, Major Charles W., 389
Davis, Mrs. Isaac P., 174
Derby Academy, 44B
Dummer Academy, 47, 53, 59
Dutton, Mrs. Warren (Eliza Cutts
Lowell), 81, 99, 174, 186, 190,
211, 213, 275, 278; letters from
Mary Lee, 82-86
Edgeworth, Maria, 218
Eliot, Charles W., quoted, 410, 411
Family, 237, 263;*, 35077
Elliot, Mrs. John Wheelock (Mary
Lee Morse), granddaughter of
H. & M. L., 301, 323, 373, 406
Emerson, Mrs. Susan, 25
Essex Junto, 5, 34
"Result," 33
Everett, Hon. Edward, 200, 201, 332
Federalists, 771, 33, 34, 52, 109, 130,
146
Floyd, John, 9
Follen, Mrs. Eliza Lee, 367
Folsom, Mrs. George McKean
(Susan Cabot Jackson), 295
Forbes, Captain R. Bennet, 18, 300,
335
John Murray, 52, 335/1, 354
Free trade, H. L. on, 249-251, 364
Frothingham, Rev. Nathaniel Lang-
don, 200, 201
Gallatin, Albert, 7, no
Gardner, Mrs. John (Sarah Jack
son), M. L.'s sister, 36, 312
Mrs. Samuel Pickering, 51, 81,
89. 99. 173

Sarah Jackson (Cousin Sally), 51,
79, 210, 224, 243, 263, 265, 272,
278. 299, 300, 306, 312, 332,
34°, 348, 349. 355.. 357, 3^5.
372 ; obituary notice of, by
Henry Lee, Jr., 313, 314
Gay, W. Allan, 26
Geddes, James, 25
Goodwin, Ozias, 4, 8, 152, 153, 154,
242, 245, 246, 247, 318, 327
Gordon, Colonel George, 388
Gore, Mrs. Christopher, 256
Gorham, Mrs. Benjamin (Susanna
Cabot Lowell), 81, 89, 174
Grant, Mrs. Mary, of Laggan, 87,
92, 95, 101
Gray, Dr. Asa, 406
Guerriere, The, 142, 143, 147
Hale, Mrs. Matthew (Mary Lee),
granddaughter of H. Sc M. L.,
27. 293, 325, 377, 379, 383, 386,
387
Matthew, 3471
Miss Susan, 29
Hall, Rev. Edward H., 389
Hallowell, Colonel Edward N., 390
Head, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Dud
ley, 384
Elizabeth F., 383
Heard, Captain Augustine, 118, 120
Hedge, Dr. Frederick H., io, n,
305
Higginson, "Aunt and Uncle," 107
Francis Lee, grandson of H. &
M. L., 129, 273, 318, 323, 391,
393. 413
George (1), 51; marriage, 262;
in New York, 262 ; Newton in
summer, 273 ; 22 Chauncy
Street, 294; summers in Brook
line, 300; the Union Building,
324; Lee & Higginson, 324;
our Higginson cousins, 382,
383; during the War, 391, 392,
407, 408
Mrs. George (Mary Cabot Lee),
29, 108; as a child, 116, 172,
176, 186, 192, 195, 196, 197,
202, 203, 204, 205, 212, 220,
228, 231, 234, 239, 244, 246;
marriage, 262 ; Newton in sum
mer, 273, 278, 282, 288; death,
300, 366, 408 ; letters from
Mary Lee, 262-265

INDEX

417

George (2), grandson of H. &
M. L., 262, 266, 267, 273, 383,
409
Henry Lee, grandson of II. &
M. L., 262, 2C16, 267, 268, 273,
324. 339, 3«5, 366, 382, 388, 392,
404, 409-412 ; on Mary Lee,
374! on Henry Lee, Jr., 398-
402 ; letter to Mrs. S. T. Morse,
336-338
James Jackson, grandson of II.
& M. L., 262, 273, 323, 366, 383,
392, 393. 4'2
Martha, 237, 247
Mary Lee, see Blake, Mrs. S.
Parkman
Stephen (_i) (1743-1828), 35
Stephen (2) (1770-1834), 188,
206, 211, 214
Waldo, 272
Mrs. Waldo (Mary Sohier), 273
Hill, Hamilton Andrews, memoir
of Henry Lee, 1-12
Hindu Laws, Digest of, 166
Holmes, Mrs. Abiel (Sarah Wen
dell), 211
Dr. Oliver Wendell, 66; quoted,
68
Mrs. Oliver Wendell (Amelia
Lee Jackson), M. L.'s niece, 47,
268, 269; letter to II. L., Jr.,
269
Holyoke, Dr. Edward Augustus, 59,
60
Hull, Captain Isaac, 143, 149
General William, 143, 146, 147
Hunter, Guy, 25, 72, 287, 293, 330,
332, 349. 37?
Mrs. Guy (Elizabeth J. Wilson),
72, 287, 288, 293, 330, 335, 349,
378
Huskisson, Rt. Hon. William, 24971;
letter from H. L., 249
Hyslop, David, 297, 299
Mrs., 299, 300
Jackson, Amelia Lee, see Holmes,
Mrs. Oliver Wendell
Anna Cabot (Mrs. Charles Rus
sell Lowell), M. L.'s niece, 192,
194
Charles, M. L.'s brother, 10, 34,
44; memoir of, 47-53, 68, 94,
96, 119, 146, 166, 172; appointed
Judge, 174. 198, 237, 273, 339,
366

Mrs. Charles' (Amelia Lee),
H. L.'s sister, 30, 47, 79, 82
Mrs. Charles2 (Frances Cabot),
II. L.'s cousin, 48, 49, 64, 79,
94. 9«. "9. '74. '75. 273, 286,
339
Charles, Jr., M. L.'s nephew, 64,
266, 270, 295
Mrs. Charles, Jr. (Susan Cabot
Jackson), M. L.'s niece, 64, 268,
274, 295, 314
Charles Cabot, 295; on F. L.
Higginson, 413
Edward, M. L.'s grandfather, 31
Mrs. Edward (Dorothy Quincy),
M. L.'s grandmother, 31
Edward, M. L.'s nephew, 386
Elizabeth, see Putnam, Mrs.
Charles G. Putnam
Elizabeth Lee, H. L.'s and M. L.'s
niece, 82
Ellen (Eleanor), M. L.'s niece,
272. 339
Elizabeth, see Winsor, Mrs. Henry
Francis H., M. L.'s nephew, 61,
64, 66, 69, 70, 71, 165, 268, 277,
292, 340
Mrs. Francis H. (Sarah Boott),
64, 69, 292, 340
Frank, 295
Hannah, see Lowell, Mrs. Francis
Cabot
Harriet, M. L.'s sister, in Europe
with C. Jackson, 49; with Mr.
F. C. Lowell, 87; Boston house,
51, 79; personal, 101, 102, 107;
II. L.'s opinion of, 114, 138,
'53. 155. 163. 208, 211, 212,
233, 234, 235, 240, 241, 244, 248,
263, 265, 267, 278, 286; death,
312
Harriet, see Minot, Mrs. GeorgeR.
Henry, M. L.'s brother, 45, 46, 54
Mrs. Henry (Hannah Swett), 46,
5i. 99. '73, 216
Dr. Henry, 47, 294
Dr. Henry, Jr., 294
Dr. James, M. L.'s brother, 10;
memoir of, 59-68, 79, 93 ; H.
L.'s admiration for, 117, 127;
birth of a son, 165; his man
ner, 196, 202, 203, 204, 243,
314. 325, 339. 37i; h« notes on
P. T. Jackson, 53-59; letters to
Miss A. C. Lowell, 69-73

4i8

INDEX

Mrs. James1 (Elizabeth Cabot),
H. L.'s cousin, 48, 61, 79, 103,
104, 119, 127
Mrs. James3 (Sarah Cabot), H.
L.'s cousin, 61, 70, 79, 371
James (2), M. L.'s nephew, 61,
«3. 194
James (3), son of Francis H.
Jackson, 69
James (4), grandson of Francis
II. J., 4.7»
Dr. John Barnard Swett, 46, 66,
294
Mrs. John Barnard Swett, 294
Jonathan, M. L.'s father, 10, 29 ;
memoir of, 31-45, 116, 117, 185,
235> 311. letter to Hannah
Jackson, 36
Mrs. Jonathan (Hannah Tracy),
M. L.'s mother, 35, 36, 42, 43,
185
Lydia, see Storrow, Mrs. Charles S.
Marian Cabot, 27077, 295
Marianne, M. L.'s niece, 270, 27077,
272
Mary, see Lee, Mrs. Henry
Patrick Tracy, M. L.'s brother,
8, io, 22 ; memoir of, 53-59,
62, 68, 79; engagement, 89, 90,
103, 114, 198, 207; in Waltham,
255, 256; his death, 282, 283
Mrs. Patrick Tracy (Lydia
Cabot), marriage, 57, 79; en
gagement, 89, 90, 196, 339
Patrick Tracy (2),M.L.'s nephew,
266, 268, 272
Robert, M. L.'s brother, 45
Robert Tracy, 294
Sarah, see Gardner, Mrs. John
Susan Cabot, see Jackson, Mrs.
Charles
Judson, Rev. Adoniram, 150
Kirkland, Rev. John Thornton,
President of Harvard College,
170, 183, 201, 239, 240

Larcom, David, 301, 318, 329
Lee, Alice, granddaughter of H. &
M. L., 28, 377, 380, 405, 408
Amelia, see Jackson, Mrs. Charles
Anne Wilson, granddaughter of
H. & M. L., 377
Charles, H. L.'s brother, 30

Clara, granddaughter of H. &
M. L., 312, 329, 33'. 332, 34«.
35i, 353, 385, 386
Elizabeth, H. L.'s sister, 30, 79, 82
Elizabeth Cabot, daughter of H.
& M. L., see Ware, Mrs.
Charles E.
Elizabeth Perkins, granddaughter
of H. & M. L, see Shattuck,
Mrs. Frederick C.
Elliot Cabot, grandson of II. &
M. L., 21, 407
Francis, II. L.'s brother, memoir
of, 29, 30, 79, 99, 184, 198, 224,
228, 229, 243
Francis L., son of H. & M. L.,
18, 69, 252, 258, 259, 265,
266; in Waltham, 271, 272, 275,
277; marriage, 284, 312; at
Westport, 293, 330, 331, 335,
358; visits in Boston, 340, 347,
349; house at Chestnut Hill,
376-378, 386; during the War,
389, 390, 403, 404, 409; letters
to Mrs. S. T. Morse, 287, 288,
290, 324-326
Mrs. Francis L. (Sarah M. Wil
son), 26, 69, 72; marriage, 284,
329, 330, 335. 340, 349. 35«, 3^9,
382, 388, 389, 408
Francis W., grandson of H. &
M. L., 18, 24, 296, 312, 318,
325, 377. 380, 405
George, H. L.'s brother, 14; me
moir of, i9-2r, 26, 30, 79, 132,
136, 137. 167. 181, 268, 273, 348
George, grandson of H. & M. L.,
407
George C, H. L.'s great-nephew,
319, 324, 372
Harriet Jackson, daughter of H.
& M. L., see Morse, Mrs.
Samuel Torrey
Harriet Rose, 352
Henry, memoir of by H. A. Hill,
1-12; ancestry, 1-3; father and
brothers, 13-30; birth and death,
3. 9. 29; education, 3, 29; busi
ness career, 3, 4, 9, 29 ; business
reverses, 3, 4, 5, 29, 122; as
authority 011 trade with Cal
cutta, 4; association with O.
Goodwin and W. S. Bullard,
4; as statistician and student of
political economy, 4, 310; mar-

INDEX

419

riage, 10, 29, 87; birth and
death of first child, 29; first
journey to India, 3, 29, 112;
interest in free trade, 5, 249,
251, 310; meeting of and com
mittee of anti-protectionists, 5,
6; H. L.'s preparation of "Bos
ton Report," 6, 7; candidacy
for Congress, representing free
trade, and defeat by Mr.
Nathan Appleton, 7; activities
at Free Trade Convention, 7;
his "Exposition of Evidence"
supporting free trade, 7; to
Washington regarding Bank of
U. S., 8 ; his "Exposition of
Facts and Arguments" regard
ing State Bank, 8, 9; voted for
as vice-president of U. S. by
South Carolina, 9, 10; political
alignment, 10, 109; his Bos
ton house, 51, 294-296, 311; in
Waltham, 255, 256; his Brook
line place, 297-308, 311, 312,
314; personal, 4, 10, n, 30, 75,
286, 287, 309; with children,
309; his religious spirit, 310,
311; golden wedding, 314, 372,
373; his reading, 135, 139, 163,
164, 236, 318, 322; on educa
tion of his child, 116, 117, 126,
127; on childlessness, 119; on
his failure, 122; on his father,
'57. '5" > on natives of Cal
cutta, 117, 151; on English in
Calcutta, 145, 146; on arrival
of Governor General, 161-163;
on missionaries, 149-151; on
religion, 135; on opposition to
War of 1812, 130, 132, 142; on
probable effect on business of
the War, 130, 132, 142; on
Federalists, 130; on Madison
and his government, 129, 130,
131. 132, 133. 136, H2, 146,
148. 153. 154, '56, 159; on at
tacks on Canada, 129, 142, 143,
146, 147, 148, 159; on Boston
resolutions, 131; on Constitu
tion of U. S., 133; on Napoleon
in Russia, 136, 139. '52. I54.
155; on duration of the War,
140, 141, 142, '43. '46. 147.
153, '54. '55! on ,ife in u- s'
as contrasted with that in Eng
land, 341, 342; on political situ

ation in U. S., 343 ; on state of
education in U. S., 343 ; on
state of industry in U. S., 343 ;
on fears in 1853 of a money
crisis and reasons therefor,
328, 329, 344, 345, 362, 363 ; on
unstable business situation in
TI. S., 327-329; on American
investments* 327; on probable
direction of Boston's growth,
361; on free trade, 249-251,
364; on his English corre
spondents, 326, 327, 340, 341,
364, 365; letters: to Mary Lee
from India, 112-166; to M. L.
from Philadelphia, 227; to
Henry Lee, Jr., 326-329, 340-
346. 359-3^5; to Rt. Hon. Wil
liam Huskisson, 249-251; from
H. L., Jr., 347, 368; from M.
L., 228, 229, 230-245, 247-249
Mrs. Henry (Mary Jackson), her
family, 31-73; marriage, 10,
29, 87; personal, 76, 77, 311,
358; H. L. H. on, 374; in
Waltham, 255, 256, 258; house
in Boston, 294-296; in Brook
line, 300-306; golden wedding,
3'4, 372, 373! death, 72, 314,
322, 323, 374; on truth in let
ters, 93 ; on reluctance for so
ciety, 92, 173; on obedience,
100; on flattery and need of
encouragement, 102, 212, 213;
on death of tier first child, 103;
on H. L.'s failure, 102, 103,
208, 209; on Russian Expedi
tion, 171, 176, 194; on Napo
leon, 171-176; on Madison's
government, 187; on attitude
of the British in War of 1812,
187; on conditions caused by
the War, 205 ; on prospects of
peace, 206, 207, 223 ; on H.
L.'s business, 205, 228, 229; on
bringing up of her child, 176,
185, 195, 212, 213, 220; on her
own bringing up, 185, 186; on
prayer, 171, 172; on the Bible,
217, 218, 261 ; on Calvinism and
doctrine of election, 188, 189;
her reading, 86, 169, 170, 179,
191, 215, 218, 222, 254; on in
dulging feelings of self-dissat
isfaction, 366; letters: to Eliza
Cutts Lowell, 82-86; to Han-

420

INDEX

nah Lowell and Harriet Jack
son, 87, 88; to Hannah Lowell,
89-94, 96-98, 100-108; to F. C.
Lowell, 94-96, 98, 99; journal
for H. L., 167-226; letters: to
H. L., 228, 229; during his
second journey to India, 230-
245, 247-249; to H. L., Jr.,
when at Harvard, 258-261 ; on
his voyage to Rio de Janeiro,
266-269; on his engagement,
280; after his marriage, 281-
284, 291, 329, 333-336. 338-
340, 346, 347, 348-353. 365-367,
369, 37°. 37'-373; t0 Mrs-
George Higginson, 262-265 ; to
Elizabeth Cabot Lee and Mrs.
S. T. Morse, 292; to Mrs. S.
T. Morse, 355, 356; to Mrs. S.
T. Morse and Mrs. F. L. Lee,
356; to Mrs. H. L., Jr., 370;
to Mrs. Thomas Tracy, 251-
254. 275-279
Henry, Jr., son of H. & M. L., 9,
25. 230, 231, 233, 236, 238,
239, 242, 243, 244, 247, 248,
249, 255; in Waltham, 271,
272; first journey in Europe,
274, 275, 277; marriage, 280;
Brookline house, 300; Beverly,
301, 323 ; Union Building, 324,
387, 4°3, 4°4, 4°8; quoted, 13-
16, 19, 22, 38, 313, 407, 408;
notes on, by Joseph Lee, 394-
398 ; obituary of, by Henry Lee
Higginson, 398-402; letters to
Henry Lee, 347, 368 ; from
Henry Lee, 326-329, 340-346,
359-365; from Mary Lee, 258-
262, 266-269, 281-284, 291, 329,
333-336, 338-340. 346, 347, 348-
353. 365-367, 369, 370, 371-373;
from J. Elliot Cabot, 347, 348,
354, 355, 357-359! from Amelia
Lee Jackson, 269
Mrs. Henry, Jr. (Elizabeth Per
kins Cabot), 263; her engage
ment, 280, 283, 284, 285, 291,
367, 408; ietters: from J. Elliot
Cabot, 329-333; from M. L.,
370
Henry, grandson of H. & M. L.,
329, 33i, 334. 340, 346, 35', 352,
353, 359, 367, 37', 379, 385, 386
John, H. L.'s brother, 30

John Clarke, H. L.'s nephew, 19,
79, '93, 224, 280, 332, 349, 354,
403, 404
Mrs. John Clarke (Harriet Paine
Rose), 349
Joseph1, great-uncle of H. L., 277
Joseph2, H. L.'s father, 2, 3 ; notes
on by Henry Lee, Jr., 13-16, 79,
82, 100, 114; H. L.'s feeling
for, 157, 158, 160, 161, 167, 193,
196, 222, 232, 235, 237, 238,
243, 247, 403
Mrs. Joseph (Elizabeth Cabot),
H. L.'s mother, 2, 3, 13, 14
Mrs. Joseph (Deborah (Higgin
son) Cabot), II. L.'s step
mother, 13, 97, 5677, 79, 82, 86,
95, 97. 105. 138, 158, '67, '79,
181, 196, 212, 216, 218, 235
Joseph3, H. L.'s brother, 3, 14 ;
memoir of, 16-18, 21, 29, 79,
95. 198, 199, 209, 243, 245, 273,
280
Joseph*, grandson of H. & M. L.,
14, 407; notes by, on Henry
Lee, Jr., 394-398
Mary, see Hale, Mrs. Matthew
Mary Cabot, H. L.'s first daugh
ter, 29, 88, 89, 91, 94, 95, 97,
100, 102, 105, 202
Mary Cabot, daughter of H. &
M. L. (see Higginson, Mrs.
George)
Nancy, H. L.'s sister, 30, 79, 82,
85, 86
Nathaniel Cabot, II. L.'s brother,
19, 224
Mrs. Nathaniel Cabot (Marianne
Cabot), see also Blanchard,
Mrs. Francis, 19
Rebecca, II. L.'s sister, 30
Robert Wilson, grandson of II.
& M. I.., 377
Rose Smiili, sec Saltonstull, Mrs.
Leverett
Thomas', II. L.'s great-grand
father, 1
Thomas', H. L.'s grandfather, 1,
2, 13
Mrs. Thomas (Lois Orne), II.
L.'s grandmother, 13
Thomas', II. L.'s uncle, 270
ThomasH, H. L.'s brother, 17; me
moir of, 21-29, 30, 55, 79, 90,
95, "4, '67, 173, 229, 248, 347,
372

INDEX

421

Mrs. Thomas (Eliza Buckmin
ster), 22, 25, 26, 27, 254, 372
Thomas5, grandson of H. & M.
L., 21, 380, 405
Lee and Higginson, 1, 280, 324, 346
Letters, keeping of, H. L.'s and
M. L.'s opinion on, 74
Lincoln, General Benjamin, 38
Little Belt, The, 106
Lodge, Henry Cabot, quoted, 384
Mrs. John Ellerton (Anna Cabot),
340
Lowell, Anna Cabot (1), 81, 86, 88,
97, 98, 99", letter to Mrs. Grant,
87
Anna Cabot (2), 68; letters from
Dr. James Jackson, 69-73
Charles Russell, 391
Mrs. Charles Russell (Anna C.
Jackson), M. L.'s niece, 192
Edward, M. L.'s nephew, 87, 223,
225
Eliza Cutts, see Dutton, Mrs.
Warren
Francis Cabot (1), 10; estab
lishment of cotton manufacture,
55, 56, 57, 79, 81; capture in
War of 1812, 152, 193; letters
from M. L., 94-96, 98, 99
Mrs. Francis Cabot (Hannah
Jackson), M. L.'s sister, in
Europe, 29, 79, 87, 174, 184,
'85, '93, 216; her death, 222;
her children, 223; letters: from
Jonathan Jackson, 36; from
M. L., 87-108
Francis Cabot (2), M.L.'s nephew,
*7, 97, 223, 224, 225, 273, 294
Mrs. Francis Cabot (2) (Mary
Gardner), 272, 273
Georgina, 223, 294, 388
James Arnold, 3477
John (x), 32, 43, 44, 68, 79, 80, 82
John (2), 81, 99, 146, 233, 234,
235
John (3), M. L.'s nephew, 88, 223,
224
John (4), 26, 22377, 353, 37877
Mrs. John (Lucy Buckminster
Emerson), 353, 37871
John Amory, 51, 87, 340
Mrs. John Amory1 (Susan Cabot
Lowell), M. L.'s niece, 88, 100,
210, 223, 224
Mrs. John Amory2 (Elizabeth
Putnam), 264, 336

Rebecca, see Gardner, Mrs.
Samuel Pickering
Sarah Champney, 81, 97, 99, 186,
248
Susan Cabot, see Lowell, Mrs.
John Amory
Susanna Cabot, see Gorham, Mrs.
Benjamin
Lyman, Mr. and Mrs. George, 273
Theodore, 219, 238, 239
Mrs. Theodore, 245, 249

Madison, President James, 109-112,
'53, 156. '59
Marquand, Mrs. (Margaret Cur
son), 377
McCuIloch, John Ramsay, 4, 577
McKean, Rev. Joseph, 169, 201
Minot, George Richards, 64, 282, 356
Mrs. George Richards (Harriet
Jackson), M. L.'s niece, 61, 64,
'95. 211, 274, 356
Louisa, 274, 356
Missionaries, 149, 150, 151, 231
Mitford, Mary, "Our Village," 254
Moira, Lord, 161, 162, 163
Moody, Paul, 55
Morison, Samuel Eliot, Maritime
History of Massachusetts, 7
Morse, Dr. Eliakim, 9777, 285
Frances Rollins, 325, 355, 356
Dr. Henry Lee, 24, 25, 271, 301,
302, 306, 318, 335, 340, 380, 403,
405, 406
John Torrey, 64
Mrs. John Torrey (Lucy Cabot
Jackson), M. L.'s niece, 64, 274
John T, Jr., 26, 274; quoted, 49,
50
Mary Lee, see Elliot, Mrs. John
Wheelock
Samuel Torrey, 51; marriage,
284-287, 288; house in Boston,
294, 301-306, 383, 408
Mrs. Samuel Torrey (Harriet
Jackson Lee), daughter of H.
& M. L., 26, 51, 251, 252; in
Waltham, 256, 257, 269; her
diary, 271, 272, 273, 274, 279,
280; her marriage, 284-287;
house in Boston, 294, 295 ; in
H. L.'s house at Brookline, 301,
306; her son, 335, 340, 383;
her music, 386, 387, 409

422

INDEX

Napoleon I, no, 125, 128, 136, 139,
140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 146, 149,
152, 154. '55. '7'. 176, '77. 207
Newhall, Captain, 149, 150
Newman, Francis William, 310
Newmarch, William, 4, 577, 368
Newton, Captain, 240, 242, 246, 247
Non-Intercourse Law, 114, 115, 131
Norton, Rev. Andrews, 237
Mrs. Andrews (Catherine Eliot),
237. 238
O'Hearn, James, 315, 321
Michael, 315, 320, 371
Orders in Council, no, in, 112,
123, 125, 128, 131, 142
Paine, Charles Cushing, 51
Mrs. Charles Cushing (Fanny
Cabot Jackson), 51
Parkman, Ellen (Mrs. Vaughan),
384
Henry, 384
Dr. Samuel, 330
Mrs. Samuel (Mary Dwight),
272, 33°, 335, 34°, 384
Peabody, Rev. Ephraim, 350-35077,
369
Rev. Francis Greenwood, quoted,
374
Peck, Dr. Dandridge, 184
Pemberton, Dr. Ebenezer, 3, 29
Perkins, Colonel Thomas Handasyd,
17, 280, 317, 333, 375
Perkins & Company, 8
Phillips Academy, Andover, 3, 16,
19, 21, 29
Pickering, John, 84, 8477
Pickman, D. L., 233
Pierce, Franklin, 343
Political Economy Club, 363, 364
Putnam, Dr. Charles G., 27, 64, 272
Mrs. Charles G., M. L.'s niece,
27, 61, 64
Elizabeth Cabot, 69, 70, 71
Dr. James Jackson, 63 ; extracts
from his "Memoir of Dr. James
Jackson,'' 31-73
Mrs. James Jackson, 31
Quincy, Josiah, 112
Rantoul, Robert S., quoted, 5677
Reaper, The, 3, 29, 106, 112, 120,
126, 137, 140, 147. '54, 'SS, '73,
180

Richardson, Mrs. Edward Peirson
(Clara Lee Shattuck), 21, 385
Richter, Jean Paul, Life of, by Mrs.
Thomas Lee, 26
Rimmer, Dr. William, 27
Ripley, Mrs. Samuel, 256, 257, 270,
373
Robbins, Dr. Edward H., 308 ; Miss
Anne, 30877
Ropes, John Codman, 388
Russel, Cabot Jackson, 389, 391
Russia, Napoleon's campaign in,
125, 136, 139, 143, 144, 152, 176
Saltonstall, Leverett, 29, 273, 319,
352
Mrs. Leverett (Rose Smith Lee),
336, 352
Sargent, Professor Charles Sprague,
22, 23
Savage, Major James, 388
Sawyer, Miss Hannah Farnham
(Mrs. George Gardner Lee),
85, 8577
Scott, Sir Walter, 92, 191, 236
Searle, Mrs., 190; Catherine, 80,
83, 88; Fanny, 80, 83, 84, 190,
'9'. 237, 240, 241; Lucy, 80;
Peggy (Mrs. Curson), 80, 198,
199, 200, 237, 254
Sedgwick, Judge Theodore, 48, 172
Serurier, 146
Shannon, The, 189
Sharon, Nurse, 324, 325
Shattuck, Mrs. Frederick C. (Eliza
beth P. Lee), granddaughter of
H. & M. L., 255, 281, 284, 329,
33', 332, 334, 346, 355, 367,
37', 386, 387, 405
Shaw, Lemuel, 6, 7
Colonel Robert Gould, 391, 393
Shays' Rebellion, 37
Silsbee, A. Edward, 26
Slade, Mrs. Daniel Dennison, 29,
386
Sohier, William Davies, 348
Spain, Peninsular War, 125, ^49,
171
Spring-Rice, Cecil, quoted, 411, 412
Stone, Mrs. John Osgood (Catha
rine Jackson), M. L.'s niece,
285
Storrow, Ann, 239, 318
Charles S., 64, 69, 71
Mrs. Charles S. (Lydia Jackson),
M. L.'s niece, 61,-64, 69, 71, 194

INDEX

423

Captain Charles, 389
Samuel, 389
Sturgis, Captain William, 7
Sullivan, Richard (1), 99
Richard (2), 272, 276
Swett, Dr. John Barnard, 46
Colonel Samuel, 6, 677
Thacher, Rev. Samuel Cooper (1785-
1818), 171, 172, 177, 188
Thorndike, Israel, 3, 5677
Thornely, Thomas, 4, 326, 32677,
341, 346, 364, 365
Tooke, Thomas, 4, 577, 327, 32777,
340, 341, 361, 365, 367. 368
Tracy, Aunt, 95 ; Catherine, 95
Hannah, see Jackson, Mrs. Jona
than
John, M. L.'s uncle, 35, 42
Nathaniel, M. L.'s uncle, 35, 39,
42_
Patrick, M. L.'s grandfather, 35,
39. 42, 295
Mrs. Patrick (Hannah Gookin),
M. L.'s grandmother, 42, 295
Mrs. Thomas (Ann Bromfield),
80, 83, 88, 244; letters from
M. L., 251-254, 275-279
Trevelyan, G. M., quoted, 78, 123,
'33
Twisleton, The Hon. Mrs. Edward
(Ellen Dwight), 350, 351
Union Building, 324, 332, 346, 347,
348, 354, 361, 368
Villiers, Charles Pelham, 4, 577, 364
Wagner, Richard, 336, 337
Waltham, 55-57, 62, 64, 255-257,
271-275

War of 1812, 106, 109, no, 112,
123; New England opinion on,
125
Ware, Dr. Charles E., 27, 300, 311,
3'4, 353, 37°, 387, 389, 408
Mrs. Charles E. (Elizabeth Cabot
Lee), 27; as a child, 230, 231,
233, 236, 239, 244, 247, 248, 249,
251, 253, 259, 261, 267, 269; in
H. J. L.'s journal, 272, 274, 277,
278, 279; at H. J. L.'s wed
ding, 285, 288, 292; at Brook
line, 300, 304, 306, 312, 314,
33«, 339, 35°, 355, 356, 357,
365; her engagement, 370, 382,
387, 4°9
Mary Lee, H. L.'s granddaugh
ter, 301, 314, 373, 405, 408
Dr. Robert, 389
Warren, Dr. James Collins, 60, 64,
65, 242, 246
Sir John Borlase, Admiral, 187
Washington, George, 38, 39, 5677
Waterhouse, Mrs. Benjamin (Louisa
Lee), 270, 271; for Dr. Water-
house, see Memoir of Dr, James
Jackson
Watson, Marston, 3
Webster, Daniel, 5, 7, 332, 343
Wendell, Oliver ("Uncle"), 59, 105,
211
Winsor, Mrs. Henry (Elizabeth
Jackson), 69, 70
Wister, Owen, quoted, 410
Wheelwright, Mrs. Andrew C.
(Sarah Cabot), 262
Whitwell, Rev. William, 28
Wilder, Colonel Marshall P., 22
Williams, S., U. S. Consul in Lon
don, 126, 219
Willson, Rev. E. B., 1, 13
Wilson, James, 284

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