We stepped forth from the great front window into the balcony where in old times it was doubtless the custom of the king 's representative to show himself to a loyal populace , requiting their huzzas and tossed-up hats with stately bendings of his dignified person . In those days the front of the Province House looked upon the street , and the whole site now occupied by the brick range of stores , as well as the present court-yard , was laid out in grass-plats overshadowed by trees and bordered by a wrought-iron fence . Now the old aristocratic edifice hides its time-worn visage behind an upstart modern building ; at one of the back windows I observed some pretty tailoresses sewing and chatting and laughing , with now and then a careless glance toward the balcony . Descending thence , we again entered the bar-room , where the elderly gentleman above mentioned -- the smack of whose lips had spoken so favorably for Mr. Waite 's good liquor -- was still lounging in his chair . He seemed to be , if not a lodger , at least a familiar visitor of the house who might be supposed to have his regular score at the bar , his summer seat at the open window and his prescriptive corner at the winter 's fireside . Being of a sociable aspect , I ventured to address him with a remark calculated to draw forth his historical reminiscences , if any such were in his mind , and it gratified me to discover that , between memory and tradition , the old gentleman was really possessed of some very pleasant gossip about the Province House . The portion of his talk which chiefly interested me was the outline of the following legend . He professed to have received it at one or two removes from an eye-witness , but this derivation , together with the lapse of time , must have afforded opportunities for many variations of the narrative ; so that , despairing of literal and absolute truth , I have not scrupled to make such further changes as seemed conducive to the reader 's profit and delight . * * * * * At one of the entertainments given at the province-house during the latter part of the siege of Boston there passed a scene which has never yet been satisfactorily explained . The officers of the British army and the loyal gentry of the province , most of whom were collected within the beleaguered town , had been invited to a masqued ball , for it was the policy for Sir William Howe to hide the distress and danger of the period and the desperate aspect of the siege under an ostentation of festivity . The spectacle of this evening , if the oldest members of the provincial court circle might be believed , was the most gay and gorgeous affair that had occurred in the annals of the government . The brilliantly-lighted apartments were thronged with figures that seemed to have stepped from the dark canvas of historic portraits or to have flitted forth from the magic pages of romance , or at least to have flown hither from one of the London theatres without a change of garments . Steeled knights of the Conquest , bearded statesmen of Queen Elizabeth and high-ruffed ladies of her court were mingled with characters of comedy , such as a parti-colored Merry Andrew jingling his cap and bells , a Falstaff almost as provocative of laughter as his prototype , and a Don Quixote with a bean-pole for a lance and a pot-lid for a shield . But the broadest merriment was excited by a group of figures ridiculously dressed in old regimentals which seemed to have been purchased at a military rag-fair or pilfered from some receptacle of the cast-off clothes of both the French and British armies . Portions of their attire had probably been worn at the siege of Louisburg , and the coats of most recent cut might have been rent and tattered by sword , ball or bayonet as long ago as Wolfe 's victory . One of these worthies -- a tall , lank figure brandishing a rusty sword of immense longitude -- purported to be no less a personage than General George Washington , and the other principal officers of the American army , such as Gates , Lee , Putnam , Schuyler , Ward and Heath , were represented by similar scarecrows . An interview in the mock-heroic style between the rebel warriors and the British commander-in-chief was received with immense applause , which came loudest of all from the loyalists of the colony . There was one of the guests , however , who stood apart , eying these antics sternly and scornfully at once with a frown and a bitter smile . It was an old man formerly of high station and great repute in the province , and who had been a very famous soldier in his day . Some surprise had been expressed that a person of Colonel Joliffe 's known Whig principles , though now too old to take an active part in the contest , should have remained in Boston during the siege , and especially that he should consent to show himself in the mansion of Sir William Howe .
But thither he had come with a fair granddaughter under his arm , and there , amid all the mirth and buffoonery , stood this stern old figure , the best-sustained character in the masquerade , because so well representing the antique spirit XXXXX his native land .
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