" Precisely the opposite course
was deemed effectual with the Highland Scotch, between whom and our
Indians there was a very close analogy. They were compelled by law to
adopt the usages of _Gallia Braccata_, and sansculottism made a penal
offence. What impediment to civilization Williams had discovered in the
offending garment it is hard to say. It is a question for Herr
Teufelsdroeck. Royalty, at any rate, in our day, is dependent for much of
its success on the tailor. Williams's opportunities of studying the
Indian character were perhaps greater than those of any other man of his
time. He was always an advocate for justice toward them. But he seems to
have had no better opinion of them than Mr. Parkman,[146] calling them
shortly and sharply, "wolves endowed with men's brains." The same change
of feeling has followed the same causes in their case as in that of the
Highlanders,--they have become romantic in proportion as they ceased to
be dangerous.
As exhibitions of the writer's character, no letters in the collection
have interested us more than those of John Tinker, who for many years was
a kind of steward for John Winthrop and his son. They show him to have
been a thoroughly faithful, grateful, and unselfish servant.
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