rniture consisted of the table, over which was spread a black cloth,
whereupon stood several lighted candles in brass candlesticks, of a
dozen chairs, covered with russet-colored leather, and of some wooden
benches, ranged against the walls, and which were occupied by various
persons. At one end of the apartment the floor was raised a few
inches, and the chair standing on this elevation differed from the
others in having arms at the sides, and in being of ampler proportions,
as if by its appearance to vindicate a claim to superior position. But
unpretending as was the room, it was a place of no little importance,
being no less than the Court Hall and Council Chamber of the "Governor
and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England." At the moment
of which we are speaking, it was appropriated to a meeting of the
Court of Assistants of the Colony.

The person occupying the arm-chair, on the platform, was a man of not
unpleasing appearance, somewhat less than fifty years of age, and
dressed with considerable precision in the style prevailing among
gentlemen of distinction at that day. His face was rather long, and
surmounted by a high and well developed forehead, from the top of
which, dark, parted hair fell in curls down the temples over a white
ruff, fringed with costly lace, that encircled his neck. His eyes were
blue; his eye-brows highly arched; his nose large; beard covered the
upper lip and chin; and so far as an opinion could be formed, from his
sitting posture, he was tall and well-made. The expression of his
countenance was gentle, and there was an air of introspection and
abstraction about it as if he were much in the habit of communing with
his own thoughts. The upper part of his person, which only was
visible, the rest being hid by the table and depending cloth, was
clothed in a black coat or doublet, without ornament or even the
appearance of a button, and at his side he wore a rapier, evidently
more as a badge of his rank than for use.

Seated at his right hand, and below the platform, was a man a dozen
years at least his elder, whose stout look and fiery glances indicated
that if time had grizzled his thick and close cut hair, it had not
quenched the heat of his spirit. Like the gentleman first described,
he was dressed in sad-colored garments, differing but little from
them, except that instead of a ruff, he wore a plain white band,
falling upon his breast, cut somewhat like those worn by clergymen at