It was but a doubtful whisper ; it might be false or the attempt might fail , and in either case the man that stirred against King James would lose his head . Still , the intelligence produced a marked effect . The people smiled mysteriously in the streets and threw bold glances at their oppressors , while far and wide there was a subdued and silent agitation , as if the slightest signal would rouse the whole land from its sluggish despondency . Aware of their danger , the rulers resolved to avert it by an imposing display of strength , and perhaps to confirm their despotism by yet harsher measures . One afternoon in April , 1689 , Sir Edmund Andros and his favorite councillors , being warm with wine , assembled the red-coats of the governor 's guard and made their appearance in the streets of Boston . The sun was near setting when the march commenced . The roll of the drum at that unquiet crisis seemed to go through the streets less as the martial music of the soldiers than as a muster-call to the inhabitants themselves . A multitude by various avenues assembled in King street , which was destined to be the scene , nearly a century afterward , of another encounter between the troops of Britain and a people struggling against her tyranny . Though more than sixty years had elapsed since the Pilgrims came , this crowd of their descendants still showed the strong and sombre features of their character perhaps more strikingly in such a stern emergency than on happier occasions . There was the sober garb , the general severity of mien , the gloomy but undismayed expression , the scriptural forms of speech and the confidence in Heaven 's blessing on a righteous cause which would have marked a band of the original Puritans when threatened by some peril of the wilderness . Indeed , it was not yet time for the old spirit to be extinct , since there were men in the street that day who had worshipped there beneath the trees before a house was reared to the God for whom they had become exiles . Old soldiers of the Parliament were here , too , smiling grimly at the thought that their aged arms might strike another blow against the house of Stuart . Here , also , were the veterans of King Philip 's war , who had burned villages and slaughtered young and old with pious fierceness while the godly souls throughout the land were helping them with prayer . Several ministers were scattered among the crowd , which , unlike all other mobs , regarded them with such reverence as if there were sanctity in their very garments . These holy men exerted their influence to quiet the people , but not to disperse them . Meantime , the purpose of the governor in disturbing the peace of the town at a period when the slightest commotion might throw the country into a ferment was almost the Universal subject of inquiry , and variously explained . `` Satan will strike his master-stroke presently , '' cried some , `` because he knoweth that his time is short . All our godly pastors are to be dragged to prison . We shall see them at a Smithfield fire in King street . '' Hereupon the people of each parish gathered closer round their minister , who looked calmly upward and assumed a more apostolic dignity , as well befitted a candidate for the highest honor of his profession -- a crown of martyrdom .
It was actually fancied at that period that New England might have a John Rogers of her own XXXXX take the place of that worthy in the Primer .
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