What had happened in one part of the world might happen in another, for
the Stuart policy was the same. It aimed not at securing toleration but
at asserting unchecked supremacy. Its demand for an inch was the prelude
to its seizing an ell, and so our forefathers understood it. Sir
Edmund's formal demand for the Old South Meeting-House was flatly
refused, but on Good Friday, 1687, the sexton was frightened into
opening it, and thenceforward Episcopal services were held there
alternately with the regular services until the overthrow of Andros. The
pastor, Samuel Willard, was son of the gallant veteran who had rescued
the beleaguered people of Brookfield in King Philip's war. Amusing
passages occurred between him and Sir Edmund, who relished the
pleasantry of keeping minister and congregation waiting an hour or
two in the street on Sundays before yielding to them the use of their
meeting-house. More kindly memories of the unpopular governor are
associated with the building of the first King's Chapel on the spot
where its venerable successor now stands. The church was not finished
until after Sir Edmund had taken his departure, but Lady Andros, who
died in February, 1688, lies in the burying-ground hard by. Her gentle
manners had won all hearts. For the moment, we are told, one touch of
nature made enemies kin, and as Sir Edmund walked to the townhouse
"many a head was bared to the bereaved husband that before had remained
stubbornly covered to the exalted governor.
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