rick, three stories high, with a garret, a flat roof, and
balustrade." Several of these houses were still standing in 1825; in
1855 only a very few remained; while only one, so far as we know, has
come down to us to-day and is yet even well-preserved, namely, the Old
Corner Bookstore, on the corner of the present Washington and School
streets.

This old house teems with historical associations, past and present.
Under its roof Mrs. Anne Hutchinson was wont to hold her Antinomian
_seances_, under the very nose of Governor John Winthrop, when
"over against the site of the Old Corner Store dwelt the notables of the
town,--the governor, the elder of the church, the captain of the
artillery company, and the most needful of the craftsmen and artificers
of the humble plantation; and at a short distance from it were the
meeting-house, the market-house, the town-house, the school-house, and
the ever-flowing spring of pure water."

The Old Corner Store is supposed to have been built directly after the
fire of 1711. It is an example of what is known as the colonial style of
architecture, and is thought to be the oldest brick building now
standing in Boston. Upon a tablet on its western gable appears the
supposed date of its construction, 1712.

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF W.D. TICKNOR.]

After passing through several ownerships the house reverted, in 1755, to
the descendants of the Hutchinson family. In 1784 it belonged to Mr.
Edward Sohier and his wife Susanna (Brimmer), and was valued at L1,600.
In 1795 it came into the possession of Mr. Herman Brimmer, and was
designated in the first Boston Directory (1789) as No. 76 Cornhill. In
1817 the front part of the building was used as an apothecary shop, by
Dr. Samuel Clarke, the father of Rev. James Freeman Clarke. In 1824 the
name of Cornhill was changed to Washington street, and the old store was
variously numbered until it took No. 135. Here Dr. Clarke remained
keeping shop until 1828, when he was succeeded by a firm of booksellers.
After he left, the building was considerably changed, inside and out,
and Messrs. Richard B. Carter and Charles J. Hendee then occupied the
front room as a bookstore, in 1828, and Mr. Isaac R. Butts moved his
printing-office from Wilson's Lane to the chambers soon afterwards.
Messrs. Carter and Hendee continued in the store until 1832, when they
removed to No. 131, upstairs, and were succeeded by John Allen and
William D. Ticknor in 1832-34. From 183