ibed
as they were, they were heroes among the colonists, and even Endicott,
the governor, ventured to give them a welcome. The inhabitants of Boston
and its environs paid them many attentions, and they appeared at large
with no attempt at concealing their names and character. The Bostonians
were not all Republicans, however; and several zealously affected
Royalists having been noticed among their visiters, they suddenly
conceived the air of Cambridge more salubrious than that of Boston, and
took up their abode in that village, now a mere suburb of the city.
There they freely mingled with other men, and were admitted as
communicants in the Calvinistic meetings of the place; and sometimes, it
appears, they even ventured, like the celebrated party at the Peak, "to
exhibit their gifts in extemporaneous prayer and exposition." On
visiting the city, they once received some insult, for which the
assailant was bound over to keep the peace; though, if he had but known
it, he was so far from having done any wrong in the eye of law, that he
was entitled to a hundred pounds reward, for bringing before a
magistrate either of the worthies who appeared against him. The
authorities, however, had received no official notice of the
Restoration, and chose to go on as if still living under the golden sway
of the second Protector.

A story is told of one of the regicides, while living at Cambridge,
which deserves preservation, as it not only illustrates the open manner
in which thy went to and fro, but also shows how well exercised were the
soldiers of Cromwell in military accomplishments. A fencing-master had
appeared at Boston, challenging any man in the colonies to play at
swords with him; and this bravado he repeated for several days, from a
stage of Thespian simplicity, erected in a public part of the town. One
day, as the mountebank was proclaiming his defiance, to the terror and
admiration of a crowd of bystanders, a country-bred fellow, as it
seemed, made his appearance in the assembly, accepting the challenge,
and pressing to the encounter with no other weaponry than a cheese done
up in a napkin for a shield, and a broom-stick, well charged with puddle
water, which he flourished with Quixotic effect as a sword. The shouts
of the rabble, and the confusion of the challenger, may well be
imagined; but the countryman, throwing himself into position, lustily
defied the man of foils to come on. A sharp command to be gone with his
nonsen