. Old Boston days & ways; from the dawn of the revolution until the town became a city. omat had been handsomebut William Sullivan describes him at thisperiod, — he was now forty — as of aboutmiddle stature with light hair, sallow complexion,blue eyes and a mouth wide and far from hand-some; his body large and protuberant in front,his lower limbs small and his feet not a hero of romance. And yetthere is connected with his stay at the HancockTavern as romantic and tragic a story as can befound in any work of fiction. In the possessionof the landlord at Corn Court, — runs thetal
. Old Boston days & ways; from the dawn of the revolution until the town became a city. omat had been handsomebut William Sullivan describes him at thisperiod, — he was now forty — as of aboutmiddle stature with light hair, sallow complexion,blue eyes and a mouth wide and far from hand-some; his body large and protuberant in front,his lower limbs small and his feet not a hero of romance. And yetthere is connected with his stay at the HancockTavern as romantic and tragic a story as can befound in any work of fiction. In the possessionof the landlord at Corn Court, — runs thetale, — there was a penknife of exquisite work-manship to which Talleyrand took such a fancythat, upon his departure, it was given to him byhis host. Not long after leaving America, hewent to Homburg and there became enamoredof a woman of noble birth known to the worldas Cordelia. She, too, admired the penknife 376 OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS and, to give her pleasure, her lover presentedit to her. After he had deserted her she wasfound dead on the floor of her apartment stabbed. HANCOCK TAVERN, WHERE TALLEYRAND STAYED WTIILE IN BOSTON through the heart with the penknife that hadcome from Boston. Nearby was a note addressedto Talleyrand. It read in part: I have OLD BOSTON DAYS & WAYS 377 burned all your letters. They do no honor tomy memory nor to your heart. You are theauthor of my death; may God forgive you as Ido. Just how the wily diplomat put in the longsummer days of his stay in Boston I do notknow. But one trip he made regularly, — to theoffice of the Massachusetts Centinal and Republic,where was kept on file copies of the was entertained, too, at the Craigie Housein Cambridge, the talented mistress of whichpiqued her unpolished husband by talking totheir guest in his native tongue. Very likelythe two greatly enjoyed each other, for was young, beautiful and of remarkablemental powers. French literature was herdelight; so great was her admiration
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