Gentlemen of wealth usually built a fine house; so Mr.
Belcher built one.

Gentlemen kept horses, a groom and a coachman; Mr.
Belcher did the same.

Gentlemen of wealth built green-houses for themselves and kept a gardener; Mr.Belcher could do no less.

He had no gentlemanly tastes, to be sure, but he could buy or hire these for money; so he bought and hired them; and when Robert Belcher walked through his stables and jested with his men, or sauntered into his green-house and about his grounds, he rubbed his heavy hands together, and fancied that the costly things by which he had surrounded himself were the insignia of a gentleman.
From his windows he could look down upon the village, all of which he either owned or controlled.

He owned the great mill; he owned the water-privilege; he owned many of the dwellings, and held mortgages on many others; he owned the churches, for all purposes practical to himself; he owned the ministers--if not, then this was another mistake that he had made.