embarrassed by the number of localities and buildings that appeal to his
interest. Many of these buildings were new and undoubtedly commonplace
enough at the date of Washington's visit; time and association have
given them a quaintness and a significance which now make their
architecture a question of secondary importance.

One might spend a fortnight in Portsmouth exploring the nooks and
corners over which history has thrown a charm, and by no means exhaust
the list. I cannot do more than attempt to describe--and that very
briefly--a few of the typical old houses. On this same Pleasant Street
there are several which we must leave unnoted, with their spacious
halls and carven staircases, their antiquated furniture and old silver
tankards and choice Copleys. Numerous examples of this artist's best
manner are to be found here. To live in Portsmouth without possessing a
family portrait done by Copley is like living in Boston without having
an ancestor in the old Granary Burying-Ground. You can exist, but you
cannot be said to flourish. To make this statement smooth, I will remark
that every one in Portsmouth has a Copley--or would have if a fair
division were made.

In the better sections of the town the houses are kept in such excellent
repair, and have so smart an appearance with their bright green blinds
and freshly painted woodwork, that you are likely to pass many an old
landmark without suspecting it. Whenever you see a house with a gambrel
roof, you may be almost positive that the house is at least a
hundred years old, for the gambrel roof went out of fashion after the
Revolution.

On the corner of Daniel and Chapel streets stands the oldest brick
building in Portsmouth--the Warner House. It was built in 1718 by
Captain Archibald Macpheadris, a Scotchman, as his name indicates, a
wealthy merchant, and a member of the King's Council. He was the chief
projector of one of the earliest iron-works established in America.
Captain Macpheadris married Sarah Wentworth, one of the sixteen children
of Governor John Wentworth, and died in 1729, leaving a daughter, Mary,
whose portrait, with that of her mother, painted by the ubiquitous
Copley, still hangs in the parlor of this house, which is not known by
the name of Captain Macpheadris, but by that of his son-in-law, Hon.
Jonathan Warner, a member of the King's Council until the revolt of the
colonies. "We well recollect Mr. Warner," says Mr. Brewster, writing in
1858, "as