opportunity for real knowledge of one another's peculiarities and
habits of thought. Circumstances placed them under the same roof
for years before marriage, and it would have been impossible to
preserve any illusions, while every weakness as well as every
virtue had fullest opportunity for disclosure. There is no hint of
other suitors, nor detail of the wooing, but the portrait of
Governor Bradstreet, still to be seen in the Senate Chamber of the
Massachusetts State House, shows a face that even in middle life,
the time at which the portrait was painted, held an ardor, that at
twenty-five must have made him irresistible. It is the head of
Cavalier rather than Roundhead--the full though delicately curved
lips and every line in the noble face showing an eager,
passionate, pleasure-loving temperament. But the broad, benignant
forehead, the clear, dark eyes, the firm, well-cut nose, hold
strength as well as sweetness, and prepare one for the reputation
which the old Colonial records give him. The high breeding, the
atmosphere of the whole figure, comes from a marvellously well-
balanced nature, as well as from birth and training. There is a
sense of the keenest life and vigor, both mental and physical, and
despite the Puritan garb, does not hide the man of whom his wife
might have written with Mrs. Hutchinson: "To sum up, therefore,
all that can be said of his outward frame and disposition, we must
truly conclude that it was a very handsome and well-furnished
lodging prepared for the reception of that prince who, in the
administration of all excellent virtues, reigned there a while,
till he was called back to the palace of the universal emperor."

Simon Bradstreet's father, "born of a wealthy family in Suffolk,
was one of the first fellows of Emanuel College, and highly
esteemed by persons distinguished for learning." In 1603 he was