And now we come to the appointment of Belcher, with whom this chapter opened. He was in London, on the Province's behalf, at the time when the news of Burnet's death arrived and, by the exercise of not a little diplomacy, he managed to get himself commissioned governor (January 8, 1730), and so was able to land in Boston from a warship in the autumn of that same year. He also was received with signs of rejoicing, accompanied by the inevitable sermon. To his credit, it should be said, that he alone, of the governors chosen by the king, seems to have stood faithful to his paternal religion. He gave the land for the Hollis Street Church, of which Rev. Mather Byles, Sr., was minister, and, for many years, lived conveniently near to this parish of which he was a patron. The house still standing in Cambridge, with which Belcher's name is associated, was an inheritance from his father and had passed out of his hands ten years before he became governor.

Apart from the salary matter, concerning which he of course strove with no more and no less success than his predecessors, Belcher's administration of eleven years was a very peaceable one. I have elsewhere given an 'See "Among Old New England Inns."

account of the very interesting journey that he and his Council made to Deerfield for the purpose of settling a grievance of the Indians in that section. The governor lost his wife during his term of office and the News-Letter of October 14, 1736, obligingly describes in detail the ensuing funeral:

"The Rev. Dr. Sewall made a very suitable prayer. The coffin was covered with black velvet and richly adorned. The pall was supported by the Honourable Spencer Phipps Esq., our Lieutenant-Governor; William Dummer Esq., formerly Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in Chief of this province; Benjamin Lynde, Esq., Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., Edmund Quincy, Esq., and Adam Winthrop Esq. His Excellency, with his children and family followed the corpse all in deep mourning; next went the several relatives, according to their respective degrees, who were followed by a great many of the principal gentlewomen in town; after whom went the gentlemen of His Majesty's Council; the reverend ministers of this and the neighbouring towns the reverend President and Fellows of Harvard College; a great number of officers both of the civil and military order, with a number of other gentlemen.

"His Excellency's coach, drawn by four horses, was covered with black cloth and adorned with escutcheons of the coats of arms both of his Excellency and of his deceased lady [She had been the daughter of Lieutenant Governor William Partridge of New Hampshire]. All the bells in town were tolled; and during the time of the procession the half minute guns begun, first at His Majesty's Castle William, which were followed by those on board His Majesty's ship Squirrel' and many other ships in the harbour their colors being all day raised to the heighth as usual on such occasions. The streets through which the funeral passed, the tops of the houses and windows on both sides, were crowded with innumerable spectators."

Belcher was removed from his post in Boston May 6, 1741, and, after an interval of four years, was made governor of New Jersey, where he was welcomed with open arms and did much to help Jonathan Edwards-in whose "Great Awakening 99 he had been deeply interested-put Princeton University on its feet. But he always retained his affection for his native place and he enjoined that his remains be brought to Cambridge and buried in the cemetery adjoining Christ Church, in

the same grave with his cousin Judge Remington, who had been his ardent friend. He died August 31, 1757. He was succeeded in Boston by William Shirley, a man whose stay here was bound up with such an interesting romance that I have chosen to discuss his career along with the events traced in the next chapter. It must, however, be plain by now that Boston has advanced a long way from the prim town over which the Mathers held sway. Already it has become the scene and centre of a miniature court, with the state, the forms and the ceremonies appertaining thereto. Gold lace, ruffled cuffs, scarlet uniform and powdered wigs are by this time to be encountered everywhere on the street, and even when the governor went to the Thursday lecture he was richly attired and escorted by halberds. The bulk of the people to be sure are still thrifty mechanics, industrious and plain-living; but there are many persons of wealth, intelligence and culture, and these throng King's Chapel on Sunday. For the Brocade Age has dawned.