Also, he had done a great
deal for Stephen, so that it required all his efforts to maintain the
splendor in which he lived, outdoing his associates. All things
considered, therefore, it was not so very strange that he should have
resembled Nebuchadnezzar in the other respect of satisfaction in his own
achievements. That day the cream of the society of Portsmouth and its
neighborhood were to be at his house; most of them, without doubt,
pleased to be invited. Peace and plenty were here. The war three
thousand miles away, in which the brave young queen Maria Theresa was
struggling for her inheritance, had just rolled a tidal wave across the
Atlantic, and the news of the garrison taken from the English fort of
Canso and carried prisoners to Louisburg had just reached Boston. This
capture had been made before the Colonies had learned that war had been
declared by France against Great Britain. Already there were signs of
hostility among the Indians, and a movement of whole tribes toward
Canada to join the French, whose old allies they were.
Still, so far, no heavy blow had been dealt, and this part of the coast
had not even felt the shock of the wave.
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