century. Those who remember the stately Hancock House, on the top of
Beacon Hill in Boston, and compare its exterior and interior with still
extant edifices which were residences of the wealthier colonists of two
hundred years ago, may gather some idea of the far more lavish adornment
and elegance of the period in which Hancock lived. We may well believe
that when Washington drove through the streets of Philadelphia in a
state coach, "of which the body was in the shape of a hemisphere, cream-
colored, bordered with flowers round the panels, and ornamented with
figures representing cupids, and supporting festoons," he presented a
very different appearance from that of the early Puritan governors and
Virginian squires; and could we have peeped into the square, solid
drawing-room in which, as President, he held his receptions, aided by
the matronly grace and dignity of Mrs. Washington, the scene would be
far gayer and more imposing than William Penn's house would have
displayed, or the company of the richest Dutch "patroon" of New York
could have presented in the seventeenth century.

[Sidenote: Old Furniture.]

Yet, had we gone over the mansion, in how many things would we, used
to the minute refinements of this later age, have judged it wanting!
Instead of gas, there would be candles, and not of the best quality,
everywhere. Instead of stoves and furnaces with coal, we should have
been fain to comfort ourselves with the cheerful blaze and genial glow,
but scant and capricious warmth, of the wood logs, burning in the big
open fireplaces. Lace curtains and moquette carpets would be nowhere
apparent. The furniture, though here and there richly carved and
bountifully upholstered, would be wanting in variety and the luxurious
ease of that which we now enjoy.