69, Copley married Susan (or Susannah, as it is
sometimes written), the daughter of Mr. Richard Clarke, a distinguished
merchant of Boston, to whom, as agent of the East India Company of London,
was consigned the tea thrown overboard in Boston harbor. From all accounts
he soon began to live in good style; and as, in 1771, Colonel Trumbull
found him living opposite the Common, it is probable that he purchased at
about that time the property which afterward became so valuable, although
long after Copley had ceased to be the owner. In 1773, says the late
eminent conveyancer, Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch, "Copley owned all the
land bounded on the west by Charles River, thence by Beacon Street to
Walnut Street, thence by Walnut Street to Mt. Vernon Street, thence by Mt.
Vernon Street to Louisburg Square, thence by Louisburg Square to Pinckney
Street, thence by Pinckney Street to the water, containing about eleven
acres of land." This land is now covered with handsome residences, and is
of great value. An agent of Copley's sold his property after he went
abroad without being authorized to do so, and, although his son came over
in 1795 to look into the matter, he was only able to secure a compromise
by which a further sum of three thousand guineas was paid in final
settlement.

Soon after his marriage Copley painted his picture of a "Boy with a
Squirrel," which he sent anonymously to Benjamin West, in London, for
exhibition. West judged from the wood on which the picture was stretched
and from the kind of squirrel that the work was American, and so excellent
was the painting that a rule of the institution was set aside, and the
picture exhibited. This picture is now in the possession of Mrs. James S.
Amory, of Boston, a granddaughter of the artist. The boy in the picture
was his half-brother Henry. The picture was so favorably received that
Copley was advised to go to England. He sailed in 1774, and never
returned.

Mr. Copley, soon after his arrival in London, passed over to the
Continent, and through Italy, studying in Parma and in Rome. He visited
Naples and Paestum also. It is said that he studied so diligently that he
was with difficulty persuaded to paint two portraits in Rome. In 1775 he
travelled and studied in Germany, in Holland, and in France. This same
year his wife and family joined him in England. These consisted of his
wife, his son, John Singleton, who afterward became the famous Lord
Chancellor Lyndhurst; his