Part 4 (2/2)
2 pair white silk } which stockings 4 pair white thread } I think will fit you
1 pair black satin } Shoes, the other, 1 pair Calem Co. } Shall be sent when done.
1 very pretty light hat 1 neat airy summer Cloak 2 caps 1 Fann
”I wish these may please you, I shall be gratified if they do, pray write me, I will attend to all your Commands.
”Adieu, my dear Girl, and believe me with great Esteem & affection,
”Yours without reserve,
”JOHN HANc.o.c.k.”[8]
[Ill.u.s.tration: DOROTHY Q. HOUSE, QUINCY, Ma.s.s.]
It is interesting to know that while Miss Quincy was a guest in Fairfield, Aaron Burr, the nephew of her host, came to the house, and that his magnetic influence soon had an effect upon the beautiful young lady. But watchful Aunt Lydia prevented the charmer from thwarting the Hanc.o.c.k family plans, and on the 28th day of the following August there was a great wedding at Fairfield. John Hanc.o.c.k, president of the Continental Congress, and Miss Dorothy Quincy were joined in marriage in style befitting the family situations.
The noted couple went at once to Philadelphia, where the patriot lived at intervals during the remainder of the session. Mrs. Hanc.o.c.k seems to have been much of the time in Boston, however, and occasionally, in the course of the next few years, we catch delightful glimpses through her husband's letters of his great affection for her, and for their little one.
Under date of Philadelphia, March 10, 1777, we read: ”I shall make out as well as I can, but I a.s.sure you, my Dear Soul, I long to have you here, & I know you will be as expeditious as you can in coming. When I part from you again it must be a very extraordinary occasion. I have sent everywhere to get a gold or silver rattle for the child with a coral to send, but cannot get one. I will have one if possible on your coming. I have sent a sash for her & two little papers of pins for you.
If you do not want them you can give them away.
”... May every blessing of an Indulgent Providence attend you. I most sincerely wish you a good journey & hope I shall soon have the happiness of seeing you with the utmost affection and Love. My dear Dolly, I am yours forever,
”JOHN HANc.o.c.k.”
After two years and a half of enforced absence, the President of the Continental Congress returned home to that beautiful house on Beacon Street, which was unfortunately destroyed in 1863, to make room for a more modern building. Here the united couple lived very happily with their two children, Lydia and Was.h.i.+ngton.
Judging by descriptions that have come down to us, and by the World's Fair reproduction of the Hanc.o.c.k House, their mansion must have been a very sumptuous one. It was built of stone, after the manner favoured by Bostonians who could afford it, with ma.s.sive walls, and a balcony projecting over the entrance door, upon which a large second-story window opened. Braintree stone ornamented the corners and window-places, and the tiled roof was surrounded by a bal.u.s.trade. From the roof, dormer windows provided a beautiful view of the surrounding country. The grounds were enclosed by a low stone wall, on which was placed a light wooden fence. The house itself was a little distance back from the street, and the approach was by means of a dozen stone steps and a carefully paved walk.
At the right of the entrance was a reception-room of s.p.a.cious dimensions, provided with furniture of bird's-eye maple, covered with rich damask. Out of this opened the dining-room, sixty feet in length, in which Hanc.o.c.k was wont to entertain. Opposite was a smaller apartment, the usual dining-room of the family. Next adjoining were the china-room and offices, while behind were to be found the coach-house and barn of the estate.
The family drawing-room, its lofty walls covered with crimson paper, was at the left of the entrance. The upper and lower halls of the house were hung with pictures of game and with hunting scenes. The furniture, wall-papers and draperies throughout the house had been imported from England by Thomas Hanc.o.c.k, and expressed the height of luxury for that day. Pa.s.sing through the hall, a flight of steps led to a small summer-house in the garden, near Mount Vernon Street, and here the grounds were laid out in ornamental box-bordered beds like those still to be seen in the beautiful Was.h.i.+ngton home on the Potomac. A highly interesting corner of the garden was that given over to the group of mulberry-trees, which had been imported from England by Thomas Hanc.o.c.k, the uncle of John, he being, with others of his time, immensely interested in the culture of the silkworm.
Of this beautiful home Dorothy Quincy showed herself well fitted to be mistress, and through her native grace and dignity admirably performed her part at the reception of D'Estaing, Lafayette, Was.h.i.+ngton, Brissot, Lords Stanley and Wortley, and other noted guests.
On October 8, 1793, Hanc.o.c.k died, at the age of fifty-six years. The last recorded letter penned in his letter volume was to Captain James Scott, his lifelong friend. And it was to this Captain Scott that our Dorothy Q. gave her hand in a second marriage three years later. She outlived her second husband many years, residing at the end of her life on Federal Street in Boston. When turned of seventy she had a lithe, handsome figure, a pair of laughing eyes, and fine yellow ringlets in which scarcely a gray hair could be seen. And although for the second time a widow, she was as sprightly as a girl of sixteen. In her advanced years, Madam Scott received another call from Lafayette, and those who witnessed the hearty interview say that the once youthful chevalier and the unrivalled belle met as if only a summer had pa.s.sed since their social intercourse during the perils of the Revolution.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 7: Drake.]
[Footnote 8: _New England Magazine._]
BARONESS RIEDESEL AND HER TORY FRIENDS
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