cted to be as simple in his us-ward emotions as an
Israel Putnam or a General John Stark might be.

General Lee arrived in New York from London, on November 10, 1773, his
avowed object in seeking the colonies at such a troublous time being to
investigate the justice of the American cause. He travelled all over the
country in pursuance of facts concerning the fermenting feeling against
England, but he was soon able to enroll himself unequivocally upon the
side of the colonies. In a letter written to Lord Percy, then stationed
at Boston, this eccentric new friend of the American cause--himself, it
must be remembered, still a half-pay officer in the English
army--expressed with great freedom his opinion of England's position:
"Were the principle of taxing America without her consent admitted,
Great Britain would that instant be ruined." And to General Gage, his
warm personal friend, Lee wrote: "I am convinced that the court of
Tiberius was not more treacherous to the rights of mankind than is the
present court of Great Britain."

It is rather odd to find that General Charles Lee, of whom we know so
little, and that little scarcely to his credit, occupied in the military
court of the American array a position second only to Washington; he was
appointed a major-general on June 17, 1775, a date marked for us by the
fact that Bunker Hill's battle was then fought. Not long after his
arrival at the camp, General Lee, with that tendency to independent
action which was afterward to work to his undoing, took up his quarters
in the Royall house. And Lee it was who gave to the fine old place the
name Hobgoblin Hall. From this mansion, emphatically remote from Lee's
command, the eccentric general was summarily recalled by his
commander-in-chief, then, as ever after, quick to administer to this
major-general what he conceived to be needed reproof.

The house in which General Lee next resided is still standing on
Sycamore Street, Somerville. When the place was occupied by Lee it had
one of those long pitched roofs, descending to a single story at the
back, which are still occasionally met with in our interior New
England towns. The house was, however, altered to its present appearance
by that John Tufts who occupied it during post-Revolutionary times. From
this lofty dwelling, Lee was able to overlook Boston, and to observe, by
the aid of a strong field-glass, all the activities of the enemy's camp.

[Illustration: GENERAL LEE'S HEAD