singular and irrefragable chain of specific proof. A protracted land
suit, hereafter to be described, gave rise to a great mass of papers,
which are preserved in the files of the county courts and the State
Department; among them are several plots made by surveyors, and
adduced in evidence by the parties. Not only the locality but a
diagram of the house, as then standing, are given. The spot on which
it stood is shown. Further, it appears, that in the deeds of
transference of the estate, the homestead is specially described as
the house in which Townsend Bishop lived, called "Bishop's Mansion."
This continues to a period subsequent to the style of its
architecture, and within recent tradition and the memory of the
living. In the old Salem Commoner's records, it is called "Bishop's
Cottage," which was the name generally given to dwelling-houses in
those early times. Having, as occasion required, been seasonably
repaired, it is as strong and good a house to-day as can be found. Its
original timbers, if kept dry and well aired, are beyond decay; and it
may stand, a useful, eligible, and comely residence, through a future
as long as the past. It may be doubted whether any dwelling-house now
in use in this country can be carried back, by any thing like a
similar strength of evidence, to an equal antiquity. Its site, in
reference to the surrounding landscape, was well chosen. Here its
hospitable and distinguished first proprietor lived, in the interims
of his public and official service, in peace and tranquillity, until
ferreted out by the intrusive spirit of an intolerant age. Here he
welcomed his neighbors,--Endicott, Downing, Peters, John Winthrop,
Jr., Read, and other kindred spirits.[A]

[Footnote A: Not only the storms of two hundred and thirty years, but
the bolts of heaven, have beat in vain upon this mansion. The view
given of it in the frontispiece is from a sketch taken in winter. The