r home on Beacon Hill
frequently. Possibly, too, Aunt Lydia may have been uneasy lest Judge
Quincy, left without the wise counsels of his wife, might insist that
his daughter sever her connection with such a radical as Hancock had
become. In any case, after her mother's death, Dorothy spent much of
her time with her lover's Aunt Lydia, and Hancock was much envied for
the charms of his vivacious bride-to-be. In fact, it has been said
that "not to have been attracted to Dorothy Quincy would have argued a
heart of steel," of which there are but few. To her lover she was all
and more than woman had ever been before, in charm and grace and
beauty, and he who among men was noted for his stern resolve and
unyielding demeanor was as wax in the hands of the young woman, who
ruled him with gentle tyranny.

To Dorothy her lover was handsome and brilliant beyond even the Hero
of her girlish dreams; her love was too sacred for expression, even to
him who was its rightful possessor. He appealed to her in a hundred
ways, she delighted in his "distinguished presence, his inborn
courtesy, his scrupulous toilets;" she adored him for "his devotion to
those he loved, his unusual generosity to friends and inferiors," and
she thrilled at the thought of his patriotism, his rapid advancement.
And if, as has been said, crowds were swayed by his magnetism, what
wonder that it touched and captivated Dorothy Quincy, the object of
his heart's deepest devotion?

On the fifth of March, 1770, British soldiers fired on a crowd in the
streets of Boston, and the riot that ensued, in which the killing of
six and the injury to a half-dozen more, was dignified by the name of
a "Massacre." Blood was now at boiling-point, and the struggle between
the mother country and her colonists had commenced. Private meetings
were beginning to be held for public action, and John Adams, Samuel
Adams, John Hancock, and Josiah Quincy, a nephew of Dorothy's father,
and an ardent believer in American liberty, were among the leading
spirits who took notice of every infringement of rights on the part of
the government and its agents. In the House of Representatives they
originated almost every measure for the public good, and the people
believed them to be the loyal guardians of their rights and
privileges.

John Hancock, who at first had stood out against taxation without
representation because of his own business interests, now stood firmly
for American Independence for t