said Clara, "he had it varnished and gilded anew."

"No," answered Grandfather. "What Mr. Hutchinson desired was to restore
the chair, as much as possible, to its original aspect, such as it had
appeared, when it was first made out of the Earl of Lincoln's oak-tree.
For this purpose he ordered it to be well scoured with soap and sand and
polished with wax, and then provided it with a substantial leather
cushion. When all was completed to his mind, he sat down in the old chair,
and began to write his History of Massachusetts."

"Oh, that was a bright thought in Mr. Hutchinson!" exclaimed Laurence.
"And, no doubt, the dim figures of the former possessors of the chair
flitted around him, as he wrote, and inspired him with a knowledge of all
that they had done and suffered while on earth."

"Why, my dear Laurence," replied Grandfather, smiling, "if Mr. Hutchinson
was favored with any such extraordinary inspiration, he made but a poor
use of it in his History; for a duller piece of composition never came
from any man's pen. However, he was accurate, at least, though far from
possessing the brilliancy or philosophy of Mr. Bancroft."

"But, if Hutchinson knew the history of the chair," rejoined Laurence,
"his heart must have been stirred by it."

"It must, indeed," said Grandfather. "It would be entertaining and
instructive, at the present day, to imagine what were Mr. Hutchinson's
thoughts, as he looked back upon the long vista of events with which this
chair was so remarkably connected."

And Grandfather allowed his fancy to shape out an image of
Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, sitting in an evening reverie by his
fireside, and meditating on the changes that had slowly passed around the
chair.

A devoted monarchist, Hutchinson would heave no sigh for the subversion of
the original republican government, the purest that the world had seen,
with which the colony began its existence. While reverencing the grim and
stern old Puritans as the founders of his native land, he would not wish
to recall them from their graves, nor to awaken again that king-resisting
spirit, which he imagined to be laid asleep with them forever. Winthrop,
Dudley, Bellingham, Endicott, Leverett, and Bradstreet! All these had had
their day. Ages might come and go, but never again would the people's
suffrages place a republican governor in their ancient Chair of State!

Coming down to the epoch of the second charter, Hutchinson thought of the
ship-