The Republican journal., 1870-05-12
LORD TIMOTHY DEXTER.

huge eagle. Before time is allowed for ask
ing question concerning it, the train moves
by, and the question is rarely asked. This
was the residence of Lord Timothy Dexter
q rich and queer combination of shrewdness
ignorance, credulty, self-esteem, .mbecility
RIGHTEOUSNESS, prodigality-who lived in
NeWburyport many years and died, in the
house above named, October 26, 1906, at the
age of sixty-fve.
events, atfording another illustration of the
old adage that ''fortune favors fools"
Though there appeared to be method in much
Of his madness, and much that passed for
luck seemed really the result of shrewd fore
sight, he was nevertheless entitled to the
motley garb, though he sported black and as
sumed to be ''the first in the west, and The
greatest philosopher of the known world"
Timothy Dexter was born in Maiden, near
Boston, in the year 1743, and was bred to
the leather-dressing business, which business
was almost exclusively confined to Charles
town. This was the time when deer, sheep
and goatsl1ns were prepared for clothing,
and at the period of his apprenticeship, the
secret of preparing morocco, similar to that
brought from the Levant, was discovered, a
part of the monopoly of which Dexter proba-
bly, enjoyed. Commencing business at
twenty-one, he by industry and trugality be-
came thrifty, married the widow of q neigh
boring leather-dresser, and had accumulated
several thousand dollars in specie at the close
of the war. At this dark period, when the
national currency was reduced to a merely
nominal value, and it was sacrificed at ruin
Gus discount, John Hancock and Thomas
Russell, Boston merchants, attempted to
keep up the public confidence by buying this
money, which attracted the attention of
young Dexter, tor he believed such men
would do no unsound act, and proceeded to
invest every cent he possessed and all that
his wife possessed, in purchasing the govern
ment scrip that was in the market. All doubt
was soon after removed by the funding sys
tenn OF hamilton, and Dexter had realized u
princely fortune, for that day. There is
hardly an instance, in our own season of
quick fortunes, that can surpass this for rapid
ity. but the only claim to shrewdness that can
be seen in it is in the imitation of Hancock
and Russell. that has little more merit than
might be claimed for instinct.
With the acquisition of fortune came the
craving for distinction, but society of that
period was of Il kind that no parvenu foot
could enter. The accident of wealth gave
no entrance card to the merely moneyed, and
Dexter found himself shut out. Boston re-
iectcd him, Salem treated him worse, if any
thing, and he alighted, money-bags and all,
in Newhuryport, which he made the scene Of
his exalted career. Lands were cheap, and
ut that time the failure of some merchants
who had ventured too largely enabled him
to purchase deeply, which he did, buying
two .paiaces.' as they were then regarded,
one OF which he sold, the other one-that
which we see from the car window--he oc-
cuplcd. Here he commenced that career OF
extravaganza, which won for him the title Of
'ILord, that he, with his craving for promi-
ncncc accepted, an account of which he thus
gives: '.lme the first Lord in the Younited
States of Amercary Now OF Newburyport it
is the voise of the peopel and cant Help it
and so let it Ne gone
To act in a lordly manner, he commenced
a course of dissipation and prodigality. His
elegant mansion and grounds he at once dis
figured hy procuring rudely carved figures
OF great men. whose names were familiar to
him, that he placed in the most slightly situa-
tlonS, oulraglng taste, but at which the yul-
gar stared and wondered while the shrewd
laughed. His roof was graced with minarets
tipped with gold balls. and everything was
resplendent in the glory of bright paint.
Directly in front of his door was q Roman
arch, on the centre Of which stood General
Washington in his military garb; on the
left, Jefferson, on the right, Adams. Wash
ington alone was covered, as he would al
low none other to wear 4 hat in his presence
lie had some reverence, and always took his
hat off when he passed the statue of Napoleon,
one OF the collection. On columns in the
garden Were figures Of Indian chiefs, states
men, military characters, philosophers-and
mythology suggested others-to his artists
who doubtless made a good thing out of it..
He adopted a system of changing the names,
occasionally, for his statues, in order to give
greater variety-thus tho William Pitt Of one
day became the Albert Gallatin of the next.
a little paint made all the needed change.
An account of the fate of these images is
given in Samual l.. Knapp's life of Dexter
published some years since: ''Thcse images
were all in good repair when Dexter died.
The first that time or accident threw down
was the gigantic Cornpanter, the mighty
progenitor of q race of illustrious sachems
The rest of the columns stood the sun
shine and storms until the great September
gale, which happened in 1873, when most of
them were thrown down in that tornado
The three presidents rode out the storm
The executor of the estate sold the images at
auction. The goddess of Fame sold for the
most money-she brought five dollars. The
image of the great premier of England,
William Pitt, was sold for dollar, and an
ccclesiastic who had been named the 'sTrav-
cling Preacher brought only fifty cents"
The image of Dexter himself, prominent
among the rest was not bid on at all 1t is
estimated that the cost of these images eX-
ceedcd fifteen thousand dollars.
His garden rivallcd in elegance the garden
of Lucullus, and was an object Of admiration
to thousands Of visitors--many females from
the country-and it was a custom with him
to insult such rs were strangers, under the
guise of the greatest liberality in giving them
fruit and flowers. He got into frequent
trouble on this account This erotic DISPOSE
tion procured him many severe visitationS,
and the back of the "firSt Lord'' was again
made familiar with vulgar leather, in the
form of bit of green hide
HIS family consisted of wife and two
children-a son and daughter, attended by
princely retinuc of servants. The dissipation
and tyranny of the father affected the whole
house. The wife would one day be driven
from home with blows, the next paid large
sum to come back. His son was 4 drunken
protligate, his daughter not much better.
This house, fitted in the extreme of elegance,
hung with curtains that rivalled those of the
Hancocks and Otises, became filthy through
the domestic orgies that were held in the
fine rooms. Vulgar books and paintings
denoted the prevailing taste, though cxtray-