Then the holy apostolic form of Eliot would have sanctified it.
Then would have arisen, like the shade of departed Puritanism, the venerable dignity of the white-bearded Governor Bradstreet.

Lastly, on the gorgeous crimson cushion of Grandfather's chair, would have shone the purple and golden magnificence of Sir William Phips.
But, all these, with the other historic personages, in the midst of whom the chair had so often stood, had passed, both in substance and shadow, from the scene of ages.

Yet here stood the chair, with the old Lincoln coat of arms, and the oaken flowers and foliage, and the fierce lion's head at the summit, the whole, apparently, in as perfect preservation as when it had first been placed in the Earl of Lincoln's Hall.

And what vast changes of society and of nations had been wrought by sudden convulsions or by slow degrees, since that era! "This chair has stood firm when the thrones of kings were overturned!" thought Laurence.

"Its oaken frame has proved stronger than many frames of government!" More the thoughtful and imaginative boy might have mused; but now a large yellow cat, a great favorite with all the children, leaped in at the open window.