ng, and was given a snuff-box by His Majesty as a
token of his good-will to one of his subjects from across the sea.

Before leaving for home he learned all he could in regard to the
commercial relations between England and her colonies, and after
hearing the great orator Pitt make a stirring speech against unjust
taxation, he realized how much more daring in word and act were some
loyal British subjects than the colonists would have thought possible.
Doubtless to Pitt the young patriot-to-be owed his first inspiration
to serve the colonies, though it bore no fruit for many months.

October of 1761 found young Hancock again in Boston, and a year later
he was taken into partnership with his uncle. This gave him a still
greater vogue among the Boston belles who admired him for his strength
of character and for his fine appearance, as he was noted for being
the best dressed young man in Boston at that time. It is said that
"his taste was correct, his judgment of quality unsurpassed, and his
knowledge of fashions in London aided by recent residence there." We
are told that "a gold-laced coat of broadcloth, red, blue or violet; a
white-satin waistcoat embroidered; velvet breeches, green, lilac or
blue; white-silk stockings and shoes flashing with buckles of silver
or gold; linen trimmed with lace," made the prosperous young merchant
outshine others of his position, "and made it appear that by birth at
least he belonged to the wealthy and fashionably conservative class."

His uncle was indeed such a strong Conservative that he was unwilling
to have his adopted son show any leaning to the radical party. But
when on the first of August, 1764, Thomas Hancock died of apoplexy,
leaving his Beacon Hill mansion and fifty thousand dollars to his
widow, Lydia Hancock, and to John his warehouses, ships, and the
residue of his estate, in the twinkling of an eye the young man became
a prominent factor in the business world of the day, as the sole owner
of an extensive export and import trade. But more important to him
than the fortune which he had inherited was the knowledge that he was
now at liberty to speak and act in accordance with his own feelings in
regard to matters about which his views were slowly but surely
changing.

He was now twenty-seven years old, and on paying a flying visit to his
friend John Adams, in the home of his early childhood, attended divine
service in his father's old church, and thrilled at the glimpse he