,
where the relics of a force starving, sickening, and in rags, could
scarcely man the lines, which they held before a great, victorious, and
perfectly appointed army?

As the hopes and fears of the contending parties rose and fell, it was
curious to mark the altered tone of the partisans of either. When the
news came to us in the country of the evacuation of Boston, every little
Whig in the neighbourhood made his bow to Madam, and advised her to
a speedy submission. She did not carry her loyalty quite so openly as
heretofore, and flaunt her flag in the faces of the public, but she
never swerved. Every night and morning in private poor Hagan prayed for
the Royal Family in our own household, and on Sundays any neighbours
were welcome to attend the service, where my mother acted as a very
emphatic clerk, and the prayer for the High Court of Parliament under
our most religious and gracious King was very stoutly delivered. The
brave Hagan was a parson without a living, as I was a Militia Colonel
without a regiment. Hagan had continued to pray stoutly for King George
in Williamsburg, long after his Excellency our Governor had run away:
but on coming to church one Sunday to perform his duty, he found a
corporal's guard at the church-door, who told him that the Committee of
Safety had put another divine in his place, and he was requested to keep
a quiet tongue in his head. He told the men to "lead him before
their chiefs" (our honest friend always loved tall words and tragic
attitudes); and accordingly was marched through the streets to the
Capitol, with a chorus of white and coloured blackguards at the skirts
of his gown; and had an interview with Messrs. Henry and the new State
officers, and confronted the robbers, as he said, in their den. Of
course he was for making an heroic speech before these gentlemen (and
was one of many men who perhaps would have no objection to be made
martyrs, so that they might be roasted coram populo, or tortured in a
full house), but Mr. Henry was determined to give him no such chance.
After keeping Hagan three or four hours waiting in an anteroom in
the company of negroes, when the worthy divine entered the new chief
magistrate's room with an undaunted mien, and began a prepared speech
with--"Sir, by what authority am I, a minister of the----" "Mr. Hagan,"
says the other, interrupting him, "I am too busy to listen to speeches.
And as for King George, he has henceforth no more authority in this