all a question of etiquette--which should make the first call. Each
side played a waiting game, and at last Hancock's gout came in as an
excellent excuse and the country was saved.

In one of his letters, Hancock says, "The entire Genteel portion of the
town was invited to my House, while on the sidewalk I had a cask of
Madeira for the Common People." His repeated re-election as Governor
proves his popularity. Through lavish expenditure, his fortune was much
reduced, and for many years he was sorely pressed for funds, his means
being tied up in unproductive ways.

His last triumph, as Governor, was to send a special message to the
Legislature, informing that body that "a company of Aliens and Foreigners
have entered the State, and the Metropolis of Government, and under
advertisements insulting to all Good Men and Ladies have been pleased to
invite them to attend certain Stage-Plays, Interludes and Theatrical
Entertainments under the Style and Appellation of Moral Lectures.... All
of which must be put a stop to to once and the Rogues and Varlots
punished."

A few days after this, "the Aliens and Foreigners" gave a presentation of
Sheridan's "School for Scandal." In the midst of the performance the
sheriff and a posse made a rush upon the stage and bagged all the
offenders.

When their trial came on, the next day, the "varlots and vagroms" had
secured high legal talent to defend them, one of which counsel was
Harrison Gray Otis. The actors were discharged on the slim technicality
that the warrants of arrest had not been properly verified.

However, the theater was closed, but the "Common People" made such an
unseemly howl about "rights" and all that, that the Legislature made haste
to repeal the law which provided that play-actors should be flogged.

Hancock defaulted in his stewardship as Treasurer of Harvard College, and
only escaped arrest for embezzlement through the fact that he was Governor
of the State, and no process could be served upon him. After his death his
estate paid nine years' simple interest on his deficit, and ten years
thereafter, the principal was paid.

His widow married Captain Scott, who was long in Hancock's employ as
master of a brig; and we find the worthy captain proudly exclaiming, "I
have embarked on the sea of Matrimony, and am now at the helm of the
Hancock mansion!"

No biography of Governor Hancock has ever been written. The record of his
life flutters only in newspaper paragrap