12.  So infuriated were the soldiers that, when the men returned to take up the dead, they prepared to fire again, but were checked by Preston, while the Twenty-ninth Regiment appeared under arms in King Street.  “This is our time,” cried the soldiers of the Fourteenth; and dogs were never seen more greedy for their prey.

13.  The bells rung in all the churches; the town drums beat.  “To arms! to arms!” was the cry.  “Our hearts,” said Warren, “beat to arms, almost resolved by one stroke to avenge the death of our slaughtered brethren;” but they stood self-possessed, demanding justice according to the law.  “Did you not know that you should not have fired without the order of a civil magistrate?” asked Hutchinson, on meeting Preston.  “I did it,” answered Preston, “to save my men.”

14.  The people would not be pacified or retire till the regiment was confined to the guardroom and the barracks; and Hutchinson himself gave assurances that instant inquiries should be made by the county magistrates.  One hundred persons remained to keep watch on the examination, which lasted till three hours after midnight.  A warrant was issued against Preston, who surrendered himself to the sheriff; and the soldiers of his party were delivered up and committed to prison.

Definitions.—­1.  In-dis-crim’i-nate-ly, without distinction. 2.  En-sued’, followed, resulted from.  En’sign (pro. en’sin). an officer of low rank.  Fire’lock, an old-style musket, with flintlock. 7.  Bran’-dish-ing, waving, flourishing. 13.  Self’-pos-sessed, undisturbed, calm in mind, manner, etc. 14.  Pac’i-fied, calmed, quieted.  War’rant, a writ authorizing an officer to seize an offender.

Notes.—­This massacre took place Monday, March 5, 1770.

5.  Cornhill is the name of a street in Boston.

7.  Lobster was the epithet applied to a British soldier by the Americans on account of his red coat.

8.  Henry Knox (b. 1750, d. 1806) was then a bookseller in Boston.  He afterwards became one of the American generals.

8.  Ropewalk.  The active trouble resulting in the massacre arose from a soldier’s being thrashed the Friday before at Gray’s ropewalk, where he had challenged one of the workmen to fight; other soldiers joined in the affray from time to time, but were always worsted.

13.  Warren.  This was Joseph Warren (b. 1741, d. 1775), the American patriot, killed shortly after at Bunker Hill.

Thomas Hutchinson was at this time lieutenant governor of Massachusetts.  Although born in Boston, he sided with the British government in the troubles before the Revolution, and sailed for England in 1774.

LXXVI.  DEATH OF THE BEAUTIFUL.

Eliza Lee Fallen (b. 1787, d. 1859) was born in Boston, Mass.  Her maiden name was Cabott.  In 1828, she married Charles Follen, Professor of the German language and its literature in Harvard University.  Her principal works are “Sketches of Married Life,” “The Skeptic,” “Twilight Stories,” and “Little Songs.”  For several years Mrs. Follen was editor of the “Children’s Friend.”