beth, widow of John Usher (Lieutenant-Governor), five hundred and four acres, three quarters, and twenty-three rods of land, for £10,350. 7s. 9d., on the 26th December, 1732. The record runs thus:

"This estate is bounded south-west on Menotomy Road; west, on land of Nathaniel Tufts, Aaron Cleveland, and John Tufts; east, on the river and salt marsh of Captain Samuel Brooks in part, and part on river and salt marsh now improved by Josiah Whittemore; and south-east, on land of said Whittemore, lying on both sides of Medford or Mystic Road."

Colonel Royal came here with his family in 1738. He died in Medford on Thursday, June 7, 1739, in the forenoon, was buried in Medford on Saturday, 10th inst., and was carried, the same night, to Dorchester, and there "buried in his marble tomb." His wife died April 21, 1747, and was buried from Colonel Oliver's house, in Dorchester. The tomb is ' entire at this time. His son, who seemed also to inherit his father's title of colonel, fixed his residence in the house now standing, and which is yet called the "Royal House." It was built by Colonel Royal, into its present form, by enlarging the house built by Lieutenant-Governor Usher on that spot. A thick wall, running through its centre, shows the outer wall of the former building. Some diversities in the height of rooms indicate the same fact. Its exterior form is a copy of a nobleman's house in Antigua; and its present owner, Mrs. Tidd, has carefully preserved the form given to it by Colonel Royal. It was at first within the limits of Charlestown; and Colonel Royal was chosen Representative by that town nine years in succession, from 1743 to 1752. In 1752, he was promoted to a seat at the Council Board, and, for twenty-two years, performed his duties acceptably in that office.

When Harvard Hall was burnt, Jan. 24, 1764, and the entire library of the College destroyed, he contributed most generously for the purchase of another. The first mention of him in the Medford Records is May 8, 1754, when he was chosen Moderator in the town-meeting. For sixteen years, he was Chairman of the Board of Selectmen.

He died of small-pox, in England, in 1781, and was buried there. His wife died in 1770. Funeral sermon by Rev. Mr. Turell.

We have shown above how the virtues and hospitality of his character secured his estates from confiscation, when those

of his sons-in-law, Mr. George Erving and Sir William Pepperell, were not spared. But when it was subsequently testified that "he had gone voluntarily to our enemies," and his estates were therefore confiscated in 1778, he writes to Mr. Edmund Quincy, of Boston, 1779, complaining bitterly of this injustice, declaring that he had been prevented from returning to Medford solely by ill health. acts of oppression, as viewed by him, did not weaken his attachment to this town; for in his will, made in London in 1779, he bequeathed generously to the clergymen of Medford, to the church, and the schools. Many valuable tokens he left to friends in Boston and to the town of Worcester.

These

His daughter Elizabeth, who married the second Sir William Pepperell, died on her passage to England, in 1775. Her husband died in London, in 1816, aged seventy.

Although Colonel Royal's property in Medford was confiscated in 1778, it was kept together, and well guarded by officers appointed by the Judge of Probate. By the act of 1777, the General Court empowered the Judge of Probate to nominate agents to take charge of the estates of absentees, with full power to keep and improve the same.. Colonel Royal was an exception to the great body of royalists; and, although the General Court dealt with his property as with that of a voluntary absentee, they nevertheless considered that it might be restored on his return to Medford. The laws which took effect on Colonel Royal were as follows:

January, 1778: "Resolved, To prevent any person from returning into this State, who left it as aforesaid, unless such return be by the leave of the General Court."

"April 30, 1778: On petition of Simon Tufts. Resolved, That Simon Tufts, Esq., of Medford, be, and he hereby is, directed to deliver into the hands of the Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, &c., of the town of said Medford, all the estate of Isaac Royal, Esq., that he, the said Tufts, has in his hands, which he, the said Royal, left in the said town of Medford. And the said Committee of Medford are hereby directed to receive the same, and improve it in the best and most prudent manner they can agreeable to the resolves of this Court respecting absentees' estates.

"And it is also resolved, That the several Committees of Correspondence, Inspection, &c., of such towns and plantations within this State, are directed to take possession of any estate in each town or plantation respectively that belonged to the said Isaac Royal when he left this State. And all such persons holding possession of any such estate are hereby directed to deliver possession thereof to such Committees respectively. And said Committee are further

directed to observe the same rules relative thereto as they are ordered to do in managing the estates of other absentees."

October, 1778: The General Court order agents of estates of absentees to lay before them an account of all the property of such persons; and, furthermore, resolve that none of the real estate shall be sold to pay their debts.

Feb. 1, 1779: The General Court resolved that all moneys received from rent or sale of the land of absentees be put into the treasury of the State.

May 1, 1779: The Court resolved to direct all agents to warn out the present possessors, and give possession to the new lessees of the State.

May, 1779: The General Court appointed a Committee to sell at auction the confiscated estates of certain absentees. Sir William Pepperell, the son-in-law of Colonel Royal, is named in the list; but Colonel Royal is not.

October, 1782: The General Court resolved that the estates of absentees ought to be held to pay the just debts of said persons; and therefore they order that the moneys received from the sale of such estates shall go to pay the creditors, deducting three per cent to the State for expenses.

The mode of restoring the estate of Colonel Royal to his heirs, and their disposition of it, may be learned from the following documents.

Extract from the deed given by Henry Hutton and Elizabeth Royal Hutton, of England, to Mr. Robert Fletcher, of London, dated London, Feb. 25, 1806. It refers to the powers granted by the Legislature:

"And whereas, by an act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, passed on or about the 31st January, 1805, it was enacted or resolved that the Hon. James Sullivan, Attorney-General of said Commonwealth, and the Hon. Christopher Gore, or the survivors of them, should be, and they were, thereby authorized to make and execute a deed of conveyance of the said lands, messuages, and tenements, formerly belonging to the said Isaac Royal, to the said Robert Fletcher, his heirs and assigns, in fee simple, in manner and form, as was provided by the act passed on the 8th of March, 1792, entitled 'An act for providing a more easy and simple method than was then in use for barring estates in tail in lands, and for making the same liable for the payment of the debts of tenants in tail;' and that such deed, executed and acknowledged by the said James Sullivan and Christopher Gore, Esqrs., or the survivors of them, and recorded in the Registry of Deeds, in the Counties of Middlesex and Norfolk respectively, should be as good and sufficient in law,

and should have the same force and effect, as though the same were made, executed, and acknowledged by Charles Henry Hutton, the eldest son of the said Henry Hutton and Elizabeth Royal, his wife, when of full age and in possession of the said premises.

"And that, for and notwithstanding any act, matter, or thing done by them, or either of them, they have good right and lawful authority to sell and convey the said houses, lands, tenements, pew, and hereditaments, with their appurtenances, unto and to the use of the said Robert Fletcher, his heirs and assigns."

The deed was for "five hundred acres of land, on the west side of Mystic River, with the mansion-house;" for all which Mr. Fletcher agreed to pay £16,000.

These legislative acts and public documents show that Colonel Royal's property in Medford was dealt with at last after the manner of other absentees; that it came into legal possession of the State, and was put under the care of the Medford "Committee of Inspection," and all the rents and incomes paid into the treasury of the State. For twentyseven years it continued in this situation, when a petition or claim of the heirs of Colonel Royal was preferred. The records of these details we have not been able to find; but the final results are seen in the legislative grants of 1805.

We take leave of our townsman with the remark, that he was so generous a benefactor, so true a friend, so useful a citizen, and so good a Christian, that we forget he was a Tory,

if he was one. Happy would it be for the world, if at death every man could strike, as well as he did, the balance of this world's accounts.

CHAPTER V.

MILITARY HISTORY.

1630: THE first tax levied on the inhabitants of Medford was the sum of £3, for the paying of two instructors in military tactics. The hostile Indians, and the more hostile wild animals, soon placed guns, swords, powder, and ball among the necessaries of life. To be "a good marksman" became one of the first accomplishments.

The legal equipment of a soldier was as follows:

"A musket (firelock or matchlock), a pair of bandoleers, a powder-pouch, with bullets, a sword, a belt, a worm, a scourer, a rest, and a knapsack. His pay 18s. a month, and diet, and pillage; and his town to provide him with a month's provisions; viz., thirty pounds of biscuits, twelve of pork, twenty of beef, one half-bushel of pease or meal. The leader to receive 40s. per month. The towns to bear their share of the loss of arms. A list of the men and their arms to be handed in to the Court."

The men of Medford, Cambridge, and Charlestown formed one company. We can see exactly how one of our Medford soldiers looked in his military array in 1635. The bandoleer was a large leathern belt for supporting the gun. It passed over the right shoulder, and under the left arm. The two kinds of guns used by our fathers were called "firelock" and "matchlock." The first kind had a flint, which struck fire into the pan; the second was without a flint, and therefore required a match to be applied to the powder.

It will give us some idea of the habits and customs of the people in Medford when we read the following law, passed July 26, 1631:

"Ordered that, every first Friday in every month, there shall be a general training of them that inhabit Charlestown, Mistick, and the Newtown, at a convenient place about the Indian wigwams; the training to begin at one of the clock in the afternoon."

"March 22, 1631: General Court. Ordered that every town within this jurisdiction shall, before the 5th of April next, take especial care that every person within their town (except magistrates and ministers), as well servants as others, be furnished with good and sufficient arms."

Aug. 7, 1632: It is ordered that the captains shall be maintained (on parade-days) by their several companies."

"March 4, 1635: It is ordered that, from this day forward, the captains shall receive maintenance out of the treasury, and not from their companies."

"Nov. 20, 1637: It was ordered that training should be kept eight times in a year, at the discretion of the chief officers. Magistrates and teaching elders are allowed each of them a man free from trainings; and the deacons of the several churches are freed in like manner."

The first rule was this: "Their meetings shall begin with prayer."