Like the Bostonians
of Massachusetts, the Bostonians of Lincolnshire were in fact
closely knit together by ties of kinship, owing, "R. N."
believes, to the isolation of Boston before the draining of its
fens, and not to their conviction that there were no outsiders
worthy to mate with them.
II
The house where the martyrologist John Fox first saw the light
was replaced long ago by a famous old inn, pulled down in its
turn; but the many and many Americans who visit Boston may still
visit the house where Jean Ingelow was born. Whether they may see
more than the outside of it I do not know from experiment or even
inquiry. "R. N." will say nothing of her but that she was born,
and that her father was a banker; perhaps he thinks that she has
spoken sufficiently for herself.
[Illustration: THE WORTHY ANCESTRESS OF FANEUIL HALL AND QUINCY
MARKET-PLACES]
The air of the market-place, as we crossed to the church, was of
a pleasant bleakness, and the Witham was coldly washing under the
wall which keeps St. Botolph from it.
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