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PROCEEDINGS

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

Committee at Publication.

CHARLES DEANE.
CHARLES FOLSOIM.
SAMUEL A. GREEN.

PROCEEDINGS

asMcIjusetts PistBrkal Societg.

■ALgnu

1864-1865.

BOSTON :

PUBLISHED FOR THE SOCIETY,

BY WIGGIN AND LUNT.

H.DCCC.LXVI.

CAMBRIDGE ;
JOHN WILSON AXr

PREFATORY NOTE.

1128339

This volume contains the Proceedings of the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society, from the stated Monthly
Meeting in October, 1864, to the stated Monthly Meet-
ing in December, 1865, inclusive.

The medallion portrait of Mr. Everett, inserted in
this volume, was issued in the Everett Memorial volume
published by the city of Boston. An engraving from
the un&iished picture by Stuart, painted when Mr.
Everett was a young man, and now hanging in the
Dowse Library, Avas published in the volume of the
Society's Proceedings for 1855-1858.

Many of the papers in this volume, it is believed,
will be found to possess more than usual interest. The
Andrews correspondence, covering the period of the
" Siege of Boston," conveys a lively picture of the time,
and cannot fail to be regarded as of great historical
value. It has been compiled and edited from the origi-
nal letters by our Corresponding Member, Winthrop
Sargent, Esq., of New York. These original letters

VI PREFATORY NOTE.

were presented to the Society by J. Francis Fisher,
Esq., of Philadelphia, also a Corresponding Member.

The historical portion of this volume is published
at the charge of the "Appleton Fund."

CHARLES DEANE,

For the Committee of Publication.
Boston, June 1, 1866.

CONTENTS.

Prefatory Note v

Officers elected April 12, 1866 xi

Resident Members xii

Honorary and Corresponding Members ........ xiv

Members Deceased xvi

OCTOBER MEETING, 1864. 1

Communication from the New- York Historical Society ... 2

Letter of Joshua Simonds, June 26, 1767 4

Catalogues of Harvard University, by John L. Sibley . . 9

NOVEMBER MEETING. 76

Letter of Lord Sandwich 77

DECEMBER MEETING. 78

Account of the donation of William Winthrop 79

Remarks by the Pkesident and others on the Death of Prof.

Benjamin Silliman and Prof. C. C. Rafn 80

Letter to Gov. Bowdoin 85

Letter of Gov. Bernard to the Earl of Hillsborough .... 86

JANUARY MEETING, 1865. 88

Memorial to Pishey Thompson 89

Letter from Solomon Lincoln, Dec. 30, 1864 90

Paper on the Portrait of Sebastian Cabot, by Dr. John

Appleton 91

[vii]

VIU CONTENTS.

Page

Remarks of the President on the Death of John Disney and

Count Jules de Menou 97

Tribute to Hon. Edward Everett 101

Remarks of Hon. Robert C. Winthrop 101

Hon. George S. Hillard 107

Resolutions oflered by Mr. Hillard 113

seconded by Rev. Dr. Lothrop 114

Remarks of Hon. John C. Gray 127

George Ticknor, Esq 130

Hon. John H. Clifford Ill

Rev. Dr. James AValker 149

Poem by Dr. Oliver W. Holmes 151

Remarks by Hon. Richard H. Dana 152

Hon. BenjaiBin F. Thomas 154

Hon. James Savage 159

Hon. Emory Washburn 160

Letter from John G. Whittier 168

FEBRUARY MEETING. 171

Letters of Andrew Jackson, James Sullivan, and Christopher

Gore 172

Paper on Prof. Rafn, by Dr. Thomas H. Webb 175

MARCH MEETING. 201

Letter of B. Schwartz to Henry Johnson, Lima, 1724 . . . 202

Letter of Dr. Nathaniel Appleton to Rev. Joseph Sewall . . 213

Letter of Dr. John J. Zubly, 1773 214

Dr. Stiles's account of Rev. Samuel Lee, of Bristol . . . 219

Account of a Conference in 1752, at Bristol 220

Letter of Michael Joy to Jonathan Homer, Aug. 20, 1824 . 223

Letter of Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London 226

Letter of Stephen Longfellow to Thomas Hubbard, April

7, 1770 228

Letter of John Adams to Ezra Stiles, Nov. 4, 1788 . . . . 230

Memoir of Dr. Convers Francis, by Dr. William Newell . 233

Page

ANNUAL MEETING, APRIL, 1865. 253

Remarks by the President on the Death of President Lincoln . 254

Annual Report of the Standing Committee 258

Annual Report of the Librarian 262

Annual Report of the Treasurer 268

List of Officers * . . 272

Anecdotes of Edward Everett, by Rev. Charles Brooks . . 272

MAY MEETING. 274

Remarks of the President and Dr. O. W. Holmes on the

Dante Commemoration 275

JUNE MEETING. 280

Letters of Drs. E. P. Morong and Norton Folsom, May and

April, 1865 281

Remarks by the President, Hon. Emory Washborn, Rev.
Charles Brooks, Judge Gray, and William Brigham,

on the Death of Joseph Willard 283

The Origin and Sources of the Bill of Riglits declared in the

Constitution of Massachusetts, by Hon. E. "VVasiiburn . 294

JULY MEETING. 314

Letters of John Andrews of Boston, 1772-1776 316

Papers of Sir John Eliot 413

Letter of John Hampden to Sir John Eliot 427

Instructions of White of Dorchester for the Plantation of New

England 428

AUGUST MEETING. 331

Remarks on a Letter of Columbus to Santaagel, by Charles

Deane 432

Paper on Longevity, by Dr. Joseph Palmer 434

Page

SEPTEMBER MEETING. 442

Remarks on the Death of George Livermore, by the President,
Mr. Deane, Mr. Hillaed, Rev. Dr. Peabodt, Mr.

FoLSOM, Dr. Holmes, and others 442

Letter of John Wilkes to John Hancock, May 15, 1783 . . 459

Proposals for printing Phillis Peters's Poems and Letters, 1779 461

OCTOBER MEETING. 463

Remarks on the small Size of Ships used in crossing the

Atlantic, 1492-1626, by Charles Deane 464

NOVEMBER MEETING. 466

Remarks by the President on the Death of Dr. J. E. Worcester 467
Letter of the Massachusetts House of Representatives to

Dr. Franklin, 1771 468

Letter of J. H. Trumbull, Sept. 20, 1865 475

Letter of S. Alofsen on the Society " Doctrina et Amicitia" . 477

DECEMBER MEETING. 480

Letter of John F. Eliot on the portrait of Dr. John Eliot . . 481

OFFICERS

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

Elected April I'

Ircsibcnt.
HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP, LL.D Boston.

itlicE-^rEsibtnls.

COL. THOMAS ASPINWALL, A.M Boston.

HON. JOHN C. GRAY, LL.D Boston.

CHARLES DEANE, A.M Cambridge.

Corrfsponbiitg Stcrtfarg.
REV. CHANDLER ROBBINS, D.D Boston.

HON. RICHARD FROTHINGHAM, A.M Charlestown.

Il'ibrarian.
THOMAS C. AMORY, A.M Boston.

Cabhut-JUtpcr.
SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D Boston.

Slaitblitg Commhffc.

LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, A.M Newton.

CHARLES FOLSOM, A.M Cambridge.

AMOS A. LAWRENCE, A.M Boston.

HENRY W. TORREY, A.M Cambridge.

SAMUEL ELIOT, LL.D Boston.

[xi]

EESIDENT MEMBEES,

AT THE DATE OF THE PUBLICATION OF THIS VOLUME, IN TUB ORDER OF
THEIR ELECTION.

Hon. James Savage, LL.D.

Rev. William Jenks, D.D.

Rev. Joseph B. Felt, LL.D.

George Ticknor, LL.D.

Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, LL.D.

Hon. Charles Francis Adams, LL.D.

Rev. George E. EUis, D.D.

Hon. John C. Gray, LL.D.

Rev. Nathl. L. Frothingham, D.D.

Hon. George S. HiUard, LL.D.

Hon. William Minot, A.M.

Hon. Peleg W. Chandler, A.M.

Rev. George W. Blagden, D.D.

Rev. Lucius R. Paige, D.D.

Hon. Solomon Lincoln, A.M.

Rev. Chandler Robbins, D.D.

Francis Bowen, A.M.

John Langdon Sibley, A.M.

Hon. Richard Frothingham, A.M.

Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, M.D.

Henry Wheatland, M.D.

Hon. David Sears, A.M.

Thomas H. Webb, M.D.

Charles Deane, A.M.

Francis Parkman, A.B.

Ellis Ames, A.M.

Hon. John H. Clifford, LL.D.

William Brigham, A.B.

Hon. Emory Washburn, LL.D.

Rev. Samuel K. Lothrop, D.D.
Rev. WDliam Newell, D.D.
Hon. Lorenzo Sabine, A.M.
Col. Thomas Aspinwall, A.M.
Rev. John S. Barry, A.M.
John A. Lowell, LL.D.
Lucius M. Sargent, A.M.
J. Lothrop Motley, LL.D.
George R. Russell, LL.D.
Hon. Charles H. Warren, A.M.
Rev. James Walker, D.D.
Rev. Edmund H. Sears, A.B.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D.
Henry W. Longfellow, LL.D.
Rev. Frederic H. Hedge, D.D.
Jacob Bigelow, M.D.
Hon. George T. Davis, A.B.
Hon. Stephen Salisbury, A.M.
Henry Austin Whitney, A.^L
Rev. William S. Bartlet, A.M.
Josiah G. Holland, M.D.
Rev. Charles Brooks, A.M.
Leverett Saltonstall, A.M.
Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, A.M.
Samuel F. Haven, A.M.
Richard H. Dana, jun., A.M.
Hon. Levi Lincoln, LL.D.
Joseph Palmer, M.D.
Hon. George Tyler Bigelow, LL.D.

RESIDENT MEMBERS.

Xlll

Hon. Caleb Gushing, LL.D.
Henry W. Torrey, A.M.
Hon. Joel Parker, LL.D.
Williams Latham, A.B.
Hon. Charles Hudson, A.M.
Rev. Robert C. Waterston, A.M.
Theophilus Parsons, LL.D.
Thomas C. Amory, A.M.
Hon. Benjamin F. Thomas, LL.D.
Samuel A. Green, M.D.
Hon. James M. Robbins.
Charles Eliot Norton, A.M.
Hon. John J. Babson.
Robert Bennett Forbes, Esq.
Rev. Edward E. Hale, A.M.
Rev. Andrew P. Peabody, D.D.
Hon. Theron Metcalf, LL.D.
William G. Brooks, Esq.
Hon. Horace Gray, jun., A.M.
Hon. Charles G. Loring, LL.D.
Charles Folsom, A.M.

Amos A. Lawrence, A.M.

Rev. Edwards A. Park, D.D.

Charles Sprague, A.M.

Rev. William A. Stearns, D.D.

Francis E. Parker, A.B.

William H. Whitmore, Esq.

George B. Emerson, LL.D.

James R. Lowell, A.M.

Rev. Nicholas Hoppin, D.D.

Nathaniel Thayer, Esq.

John G. Whittier, A.M.

Erastus B. Bigelow, A.M.

William C. Endicott, A.B.

Hon. Eben. Rockwood Hoar, LL.D.

Hon. Seth Ames, A.M.

Josiah P. Quincy, A.M.

Samuel Eliot, LL.D.

George Bemis, A.M.

John Foster Kirk, Esq.

Hon. John A. Andrew, LL.D.

HONORARY AND CORRESPONDING
MEMBERS,

ELECTKD UNDER THE ORIGINAL ACT OF INCORPORATION, 1791, IN THE ORDER
THEIR ELECTION.

Hon. Gulian C. Verplanck, LL.D.

])on Manuel Moreno, M.D.

Rev. John Hutchinson.

Hon. Lewis Cass, LL.D.

Theodore Dwight, A.M.

M. Cesar Moreau.

Erastus Smith, Esq.

Joshua Francis Fisher, A.'Sl.

T. A. Moerenhout, Esq.

Usher Parsons, M.D.

Hon. George Folsom, A.M.

Rev. Luther Halsey, D.D.

Rev. Francis Lister Hawks, D.D.

Rev. Leonard Bacon, D.D.

M. Henri Ternaux-Compans.

George Catlin, Esq.

John Winthrop, Esq.

Dom Joaquim Jose da Costa de

Macedo.
Hon. David L. Swain, LL.D.
Hon. James M. Wayne, LL.D.
Rt. Rev. William B. Stevens, D.D.
Henry Black, LL.D., C.B.
Rev. Charles Burroughs, D.D.
Richard Almack, F.S.A.
Sir Archibald Alison, Bart., D.C.L.
Robert Lemon, F.S.A.
[xiv]

John Romeyne Brodhead, A.M.

Major E. B. Jarvis.

E. George Squier, Esq.

Miss Frances Manwaring Caulkins.

Thomas Donaldson, Esq.

Hon. George Bancroft, LL.D.

J. Hammond Trumbull, Esq.

Robert Bigsby, LL.D.

James Ricker, jun., Esq.

Henry Stevens, Esq.

Cyrus Eaton, A.M.

Hon. William Willis, A.M.

Frederick Griffin, Esq.

John Carter Brown, A.M.

Hon. Elijah Hayward.

Rev. William S. Southgate.

Hon. Samuel G. Arnold, A.M.

John Gilmary Shea, Esq.

James Lenox, Esq.

Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Oxford, D.D.

Winthrop Sargent, A.M.

Earl Stanhope, D.C.L.

Hon. AVilliam C. Rives. LL.D.

Hon. Peter Force.

Hon. John R. Bartlett, A.M.

G. P. Faribault, Esq.

William Paver, Esq.

HONORARY AND CORRESPONDING
MEMBERS,

ELECTED SINCE THE PASSAGE OF THE ACT OF 1857

Honorary.
Frangois Pierre Guillaume Guizot,

LL.D.
Hon. Edward Coles.
Baron Charles Dupin.
M. Francois A. A. Mignet.
Count Adolphe de Circourt.
Hon. Horace Binuey, LL.D.
The Very Rev. Henry Hart Milman,

D.D.
William C. Bryant, LL.D.
Count Agenor de Gasparin.
Hon. Millard Fillmore, LL.D.
George Grote, D.C.L.
M.Edouard Rene LefebreLaboulaye.
Major-General John A. Dix.
Hon. William H. Seward, LL.D.

Corresponding.
Rev. William B. Sprague, D.D.
Rev. Samuel Osgood, D.D.
William Durrant Cooper, F.S.A.
E. B. O'Callaghan, M.D.
Buckingham Smith, Esq.
Benjamin F. French, Esq.
Francis Lieber, LL.D.
William H. Trescot, Esq.

Dr. J. G. Kohl.

Hon. Albert G. Greene.

Hon. John P. Kennedy, LL.D.

Hon. George P. Marsh, LL.D.

Benjamin R. Winthrop, Esq.

J. Carson Brevoort, Esq.

The Ven. Lord Arthur Hervey.

Horatio Gates Somerby, Esq.

George H. Moore, Esq.

Hon. William R. Staples, A.M.

Hon. Hugh Blair Grigsby, LL.D.

W. Noel Sainsbury, Esq.

S. Austin Allibone, LL.p.

William Winthrop, Esq.

Henry T. Parker, A.M.

Rev. Leonard Woods, D.D.

Benson J. Lossing, Esq.

Lyman C. Draper, Esq.

George Washington Greene, A.M.

Rev. William G. Eliot, D.D.

Henry B. Dawson, Esq.

Prof. Goldwin Smith, LL.D.

John Foster, Esq.

George T. Curtis, A.B.

Evert A. Duyckinck, Esq.

James Parton, Esq.

William V. Wells, Esq.

[XV]

MEMBERS DECEASED.

Resident, Honorary and Corresponding 3Iembers who have died since the
puhlication of the last volume of Proceedings, Dec. 1, 1864; en- of
whose death information has been received since that date : —

Edward Everett, LL.D.
Jared Sparks, LL.D.
Joseph E. Worcester, LL.D.

Joseph Willard, A.M.
George Livermore, A.M.

Honorary and Corresj}omling.

Rev. Eliphalet Nott, D.D.

Thomas C. Haliburton, D.C.L.

John Disney, Esq.

Israel K. Tefft, Esq.

M. Hall McAllister, Esq.

Lieut.-Col. James D. Graham.

Hon. Charles S. Daveis, LL.D.
Count Jules de Menou.
Richard Hildreth, A.B.
Rt. Rev. George Burgess, D.D.
Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott
LL.D.

PROCEEDINGS

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

OCTOBER MEETING, 1864.

A STATED monthly meeting of the Society was held
■^-^ this day, Thursday, Oct. 13, at eleven o'clock, a.m. ;
the President, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, in the
chair.

The Librarian announced donations from the City of
Roxbury ; the Essex Institute ; the Historical Society
of Delaware; the Literary and Historical Society of
Quebec ; the New-England Loyal Publication Society ;
the Sussex Archaeological Society ; the Trustees of Bow-
doin College ; Mrs. William Beecher ; Charles K. Dil-
laway, Esq. ; Rev. Ezra S. Gannett, D.D. ; Rush C.
Hawkins, Esq. ; Clement H. Hill, Esq. ; Benjamin P.
Johnson, Esq. ; A. W. Lamson, Esq. ; James Lenox,
Esq. ; John M. Pinkerton, Esq. "; S. B. Ruggles, Esq. ;
Mr. Samuel H. Smothers ; Adjutant-General John T.
S^jrague, of New York ; and from Messrs. Amory, Bart-
let, Green, Livermore, Robbins (C), "Webb, and Win-
throp, of the Society.

2 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.

The President laid before the Society the following
communication : —

New -York Historical Society.

LiBRAKT, New-York City, Sept. 15, 1864.
Gentlemen, — The New-York Historical Society proposes to
commemorate, by suitable Acts and Proceedings, the Two Hundredth
Anniversary of the Conquest of New Netherland in the autumn of
the year 1G64.

Next to the discovery, in 1609, by the Dutch, of New Netherland,
— the original bounds of which included the present States of Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecti-
cut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, — its con-
quest by the English, in 1664, is the most interesting event in the
Colonial History of New York. The consequences of this event were
of momentous import, not only to the City and the State of New
York, but to the American Union. It forms one of those great epochs
in National existence which it is the special office of Historical Socie-
ties fitly to observe.

The time appointed for the proposed commemoration is "Wednes-
day, the 12th of October nest; being just two centuries after the
last Dutch Fort on the Delaware was taken by the English, and the
Conquest of New Netherland was completed.

An Oration will be delivered on that day, before the Society aiid its
guests, at the Hall of the Union, Cooper Institute, in this Cit^^, by
John Romeyn Brodhead, LL.D. ; and other proceedings will take
place.

In behalf of the New- York Historical Society, the undersigned
request the pleasure of your attendance on this occasion.

Awaiting your favorable reply, we have the honor to be, sir,
Your obedient servants,
GULIAN C. Vekplanck
George Bancroft,
Hamilton Fish,
James AV. Beekman,
Evert A. Duyckinck,

George H. JIoore,
Attested, by order. Committee of Airangemeiits

Evert A. Dctckinck, Secretary.
To the President of the Massachusetts Historical Society,
and such Delegates as they may appoint.

Frederick de Petster,
Augustus Schell,
George Folsom,
Charles P. Kirkland,
Andrew Warner,

1864.] PORTRAIT OP DANIEL WEBSTER. 3

The President stated, that, as this communication could
not be laid before the Society in time for its action, the
Standing Committee had appointed Delegates to attend
the celebration referred to, which took place on the
12th instant.

The President read an application from the Eev. Dan-
iel Dorchester, pastor of the Trinity Methodist Church
in Charlestown, Mass., for liberty to copy a portion of a
manuscript letter of Dr. Benjamin Rush to Dr. Belknap,
on the abuse of spirituous liquors, and also a tabular
statement from the Belknap papers relating to the same
subject.

Leave to copy the above was granted under the
rules.

The President read a letter from ]\Ir. Whitmore, in
behalf of a Committee of the National Sailors' Fan-,
to be held in this city in November, asking a loan of
certain pictures in the Society's Cabinet, for exhibi-
tion.

Voted, to grant the request of Mr. Whitmore.

The President announced as a gift to the Society,
from the Editor, Henry J. Morgan, a volume on " The
Relations of the Industry of Canada with the Mother
Country and the United States, being a Speech by Isaac
Buchanan, Esq., M.P.," as delivered at Toronto, Decem-
ber, 1863 ; with a large Appendix.

The acknowledgments of the Society were directed
to be made to Mr. Morgan for the gift.

The President said he had been requested to present
to the Society a beautiful miniature portrait of the late
Daniel Webster, taken while he was yet a young man.

4 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

by the late Miss Goodrich. It was the property of the
late Mrs. Eliza Buckminster Lee, who had enjoyed
the intimate friendship of Mr. Webster, and whose own
name is associated with not a few highly interesting
contributions to literature. Her surviving husband,
Thomas Lee, Esq., has desired to commit it to our keep-
uig in her name. It has been pronounced one of the
best likenesses of Mr. Webster ever taken, and no one
who remembers him in his vigorous manhood can doubt
that it is so.

Voted, that the grateful acknowledgments of the
Society be returned to Mr. Lee for the gift.

Mr. Brigham presented to the Society the manuscript
Records of John Quincy of Braintree, kept by him in
his capacity as Justice of the Peace, embracing the
period from 1716 to 1761.

Mr. Deane read the following letter (which had been
placed in his hands by Dr. Appleton, our Assistant
Librarian), the writer of which was the maternal grand-
father of Benjamin Thompson, afterwards Count Rum-
ford. John Appleton, to whom the letter is addressed,
was a merchant of Salem, with whom Thompson, then a
boy, was apprenticed.

To M'- John Appleton, in Salam.

Mf.dfoed, June ye 26: 1767.
M'. Appelton, Sir, these lins left us all well, as I hope they may
fiud you. Thompson hath wrote to me diuers times about his affairs,
and he saith he is Contented, and hath Sum priuyledge of trade for
him Self, and that you. Sir, would let him haue Sum fish to Ship, if I
would send you an order for them ; acordingly I send one inclosed.
Pray Sir, if he Shipeth any thing. See it insured in a proper manner.
Sir, if Beu Sends to Sea and dont make Pay, let me haue Notis of it.

1864.] COUNT EUMFORD. 5

Pray Sir, tak Spechal Care about the Company he keeps, and I
should be glad to know the General Run of his behauour, both as to
trade and Company ; and if you will fauour me with an acount there
of, I shal tak it as [a] fauour. As to his Cloath, I Exspect his
Mother will Giue me and a Count there of. Sir, I hear you line shingel
as yet, but dont Exspect it will be so long. Sir, Remember me to
Ben:° and to M'- West. No more at this time. So I Remain
yours to Serue, Joshua Simonds.

Appended to the letter is the following note by the
late John Sparhawk Appleton, A.M., of Salem : —

Benjamin Thompson (afterwards Sir Benjamin, — and Count Rum-
ford) was apprenticed to John Appleton, merchant, Salem, October
14th, 1766, with whom he continued until about October, 1769, — as
appears by some memoranda sent to Professor Levi Hedge, Cam-
bridge, this 25th March, 1817. J. S. A., Salem.

Mr. R. Frothingham related the circumstances of a
visit which he made, during the period of the Mexican
War, to the daughter of Count Rumford, known as the
Countess of Rumford, who spent the close of her life in
Concord, N.H. Her residence was a little out of the
centre of the town, in a pleasant dwelling, which was
filled with pictures and memorials of her father. She
was engaged — with maps and newspapers before her
— in tracmg the progress of our army in Mexico. She
spoke with eloquence of the valor of her countrymen,
and lamented that she was not in Europe, to meet, with
this record, the sneers of the aristocracy which she had
so often encountered. Her remarks indicated an un-
commonly vigorous intellect. Mr. Frothingham also
stated that an aged female relative once described to him
the impression which Benjamin Thompson, the school-
master, made in Woburn, his native place, when he

6 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

brought thither his wealthy bride. He was then a hand-
some and dashing man.*

The President said, that he hoped at no distant day to
be able to furnish an interesting paper from England,
for some future volume of our Proceedings ; that on read-
ing Foi'ster's most interesting " Biography of Sir John
Eliot," recently published, he had found a statement,
that while Eliot was imprisoned in the Tower, where
he died, he wrote a treatise on emigration to New
England. It was written at the very time when Win-
throp and others were counselling together in regard
to the emigration of 1630. It seemed to have been a
somewhat elaborate treatise, and to have been commu-
nicated by Eliot to the celebrated John Hampden.
Among the papers discovered at Port Eliot, and which
formed the material of Forster s " Biography," there was
a letter from Hampden himself to Eliot on the subject.
The President said, that, immediately on reading this

* The followinj; letter, written by the late John Fanner, the distinguished antiquary
of New Hampshire, may uot be without its interest as connected with Count Eum-
ford: —

" CoxcOBD, N.H., 20 February, 1836.
"Dear Sir, — Mrs. Rolfe, the wife of Count Rumford, was the daughter of Rev.
Timothy Wallier, the first minister of this town. Tlie town Records, which I have
faithfully examined since yours of the 17th was received, state that she was born
6 October, 1739, and died 19 January, 1792, aged fifty-two. I have in vain searched for
the marriage of the Count, and am pretty confident it is not on record. It seems not
improbable that he was married by license, in which case nopublishmetit was necessar}-.
The publishments are regularly recorded here at the time of his marriage, which must
have been in 1773 or early in 1774. The Countess was born 18 October, 1774.

" There is a lady in this town, who, I am informed, has a manuscript, either a
journal or commonplace book, of the Count, written before he came to this town,
which was about 1772. Having thus answered your inquiries, I remain, respectfully,
" Your obedient servant,

" John Fahsiek.
" John Appletox, F.^q.,
" Gloucestur, Mass."

1864.] FIRST HOUSE OP WORSHIP ERECTED IN SALEM. 7

statement, he wrote to the Earl of St. Germans, who is
the Hneal descendant of Sir John Eliot, and who wiU
be remembered as accompanying the Prince of Wales to
this country in 1860, and begged for copies of these
papers, for publication by the Society. The Earl of St.
Germans had, in the kindest manner, acceded to the re-
quest ; and he trusted, that, before many months had
elapsed, he might be able to lay the papers of these
celebrated martyrs in the cause of civil liberty, on the
subject of New-England emigi-ation, before the Society.

Dr. Webb read a letter written by Paul Tew, of
Woodstock, Conn., under date of July 20, 1779, and ad-
dressed to his Excellency, Governor Trumbull, soliciting
the discharge from military service of Eufus Child, a
student, who had been drafted to serve " as a common
soldier." The application was made on account of the
" puny, weakly constitution " of Child, it being " futile
to send such children to oppose the invasion of a veteran
army ; " and, further, because the Governor had declared
" it was not a custom to oblige young gentlemen, that at
a great expense were fitted for the University, to serve
as soldiers, to the discouragement of learning." Dr.
Webb stated, that his purpose in introducing this letter
was to show that the desire to evade the draft was not
confined to the present time. He was not aware of the
success of the application in the case referred to.

The President stated, that he had been recently in-
formed that the frame of the building first erected in
Salem for religious worship had been of late identified
in that city as still in existence, and that it was now to
be set apart as an object of antiquarian curiosity. He

8 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.

appealed to Mr. Endicott, who, he supposed, might
know more respecting it.

Mr. Endicott stated that the frame of the first house
of worship erected in Salem, on the site of the present
edifice occupied by the First Church, had been indicated
by tradition as still in existence, and forming part of a
building in another vicinity ; that recent investigations
by members of the Essex Institute, among whom
the late George A. Ward, Esq., was actively engaged,
had resulted in the identification of that portion of the
building which had been used in the construction of
the old church ; and that careful measurements of dif-
ferent parts of the structure corresponded exactly with
the dimensions of the first house of worship, as recorded
in contemporary documents.

By the exertions of certain members of the Institute,
and other citizens of Salem, the frame had been se-
cured, and, after being restored in those parts which
were decayed, was to be erected on a lot in the rear of
Plummer Hall, and protected by a substantial and per-
manent covering ; the interior being so arranged as to
exhibit the timbers of the ancient building, and, at the
same time, to afi"ord a place of deposit for certain anti-
quarian relics from the cabinet of the Institute.

Professor Goldwiu Smith was elected a corresponding
member.

Mr. SiBLET communicated the following paper on the
Triennial and Annual Catalogues of Harvard University,
which he had read to the Society at the meeting in
June, 1864: —

1864.] CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

CATALOGUES OF HARVAED UNIVERSITY.

BY JOHN LANGDON SIBLEY.

TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES.

Catalogue of 1674.

Although the names of graduates of Harvard College, for
each year, were, at a very early date, — perhaps from the
first, — printed on the programme of the Commencement
exercises for that year, I am not aware that there is any
record to show when the first complete catalogue of all the
graduates was issued. The earliest of which I have any
knowledge is a broadside, which was found, in 1842, in the
State-paper Office at London (Colonial Papers, 1674), by
the honored Ex-President of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, James Savage, LL.D., and is mentioned by him in
his " Gleanings for New-England History," in the Collections
of the Society (vol. xxviii. p. 341). When our associate,
Samuel Abbott Green, M.D., a graduate of the College in
1851, was about visiting England in 1857, another of our
associates, Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff, M.D., a graduate
in 1831, availing himself of Dr. Green's kind offer to serve
him, expressed a desire that he would procure a copy of this
Catalogue. Dr. Green made an application for leave to
transcribe it, and received the following note : —
2

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

Colonial Office, 27th July, 1857.
Sir, — In reply to your letter of the 20th Instant, I am directed
by Mr. Secretary Labouehere to acquaint you that the Keeper of the
State Papers has been requested to aiFord you the lisual facilities for
enabling you to make a Copy of the Catalogue of 1G74:, relating to
Harvard College, Cambridge, New England.

I am Sir, your Obedient Servant,

Herman Merivale.

S. A. Gkeen, Esq.,

London Coffee House,

Ludgate Hill.

Dr. Green copied the Catalogue for Dr. Shurtleff, 22 Octo-
ber, 1857 ; and from this transcript he made another, whicli,
with the preceding permit, he gave to the Library of
Harvard University, where they are preserved. Another
copy, biit not so accurate, was procured from the State-
paper OfBce for the Historian of New England, Dr. John
Gorham Palfrey.

The original has " a pattern printed border," — heavier at
the sides than at the top and bottom, — and measures seven-
teen inches and a half by ten and a half. The dedication,
signed with the initials of President Hoar, extends across
the sheet.* The ninth and eleventh lines of it are so long,
that it has been here necessary to make two lines of each.
Under the dedication, the names of the graduates, which are
there in four columns, are here arranged in two. The fol-
lowing is a reprint of the original, with which, in the proof-
sheet, it has been carefully collated : —

* From these manuscript copies a reprint was attempted for the present paper;
but, not being satisfied with it, on the 14th of March, 1865, I sent a proof-sheet, for
collation with the original, to the agent of the College Library in London, Henry Tuke
Parker, Esq., a graduate in 1S42. He entered heartily into the subject, carried the
proof to the State-paper Office, where it was carefully collated with the original by
W. Noel Sainsbury, Esq., and returned it in season for me to receive it 21 April. After
all these efforts to procure a correct copy, tlie reprint may be considered as exact,
even to retaining the errata, as can be reasonably expected under the circumstances.

1864.]

TEIENNIAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

JOHANNI LEVERETrO Armigero,

MASSACHUSETTENSIS COLONIZE GUBERNATORI:
Cceterifque Coloniarum Nov-Anglicce gentis Diccearchis ColendiJJitnis;

AcEarundem Vice- Gubernatoribus Si MAGISTRATIBUS ASSISTENTIBUS ;

Authoritate, Prudentia, & vera Religione non minus ornatis quam Honoratis Viris :

JSi Collegii Harvardini Curatoribus Perbenigne Vigila7ttiJJlmiSi

Patronis & Benefaaoribus Munificentiffimis :

Nee Non

Omnibus Ecclejiarum Presbyteris, Doctrina, dignitate, & Jincera Pie-

tate Meritijfime Reverendis :

Omnibus etiam in eodem Inclyto Lycao dextre & Jideliter Docentibiis atque Regentibus

riunc Sobolis Harvardin<E, per trium & triginta Annorum spatium ad Gradum aliquem

in Artibus admifl';e Catalogum

Tanquam Memorialem & votjvam Tabulam :

Honoris, Gratitudinis, & Amoris Erg'o, Devotijfinik Conjccrat

L. H.

1642.

Benjamin Woodbridg.
Georgius Downing.
Johannes Bulklseus. Mr.
Gulielmus Hubbert. Mr.
Samuel Bellingham Mr. M.D.Lugd.
lohannes Wilfonus. Mr.
Henricus Saltonflall.
Tobias Barnardus.
Nathaniel Breufterus.

1643.
Johannes Jonefus. Mr.
Samuel Matherus. Mr. Socitis.
Samuel Danforth. Mr. Socius.
Johannes AUin.

1644.

1645.
Johannes Oliverus.
Teremias HoUandus.

Gulielmus Amefius.
Johannes Ruffellus. Mr.

Samuel Stow. l\Ir.
Jacobus Ward.

Robertus Johnibn.

1646.
Johannes Alcock. Mr.
Johannes Brock. Mr.
Georgius Stirk. Mr.
Nathaniel White. Mr.

1647.
Jonathan Mitchel. Mr. Socius.
Nathaniel Matherus. Mr.
Comfort Starr. Mr. Socius.
Johannes Birden.
Abrahamus Waiver.
Georgius Haddenus. Mr.
Gulielmus Mildmay. Mr.

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

[Oct.

1649.

Johannes Rogers. Mr.
Samuel Eaton. Mr. Soctus.
Urianus Oakes. Mr. Soctus.
Johannes Collins. Mr. Soc. & Cantah:
Johannes Bovvers.

1650.
Guilielmus Stoughton. Mr. Oxonice.
Johannes Gloverus. M.D. Aberdo-
Jofhua Hobartus. Mr. {itix.

Jeremias Hobartus. Mr.
Edmundus Weld.
Samuel Phillipfius. Mr.
Leonardus Hoar. Mr. M.D. Cantab.
Ifaacus Allertonus.
Jonathan Inceus. Mr.

1651.
Michael Wigglefworth. Mr. Socius.
Marigena Cottonus. Mr.
Thomas Dudlajus. Mr. Sochis.
Johannes Gloverus. Mr.
Henricus Butlerus. Mr.
Nathaniel Pelhamus.
Johannes Davilius. Mr.
Ifaacus Chauncaeus. Mr.
Ichabod Chauncieus. Mr.
Jonathan Burrseus. Mr.

1652.
Jofephus Rowlandfonus.

1653-
Samuel Willis.
Johannes Angier. Mr.
Thomas Shepardus. Mr. Socius.
Samuel Nowellus. Mr. Socius.
Richardus Hubbert. Mr.
Johannes Whiting. Mr.
Samuel Hookerus. Mr. Socius.
Johannes Stone. Mr. Cantab. Angl.
Guilielmus Thomfonus.
^ui ad secundum gradum admiji fuere

Die seqtiente vera baccalaurei, ad secundum
gradum admiji ut maris est, 1656.

Edvardus Rawfonus.
Samuel Broadftreet, Mr. Socius.
Jofhuah Long. Mr?
Samuel Whiting. Mr.
Jofliuah Moodaeus, Mr. Socius.
Jolhuah Ambrofius. Mr : Oxonia.
Nehemiah Ambrosius. Mr. Socius.
Thomas Crosbaeus.

1654.
Philippus Nelson.

1655-
Gerfhom Bulklffius. Mr. Socius.
Mordecai Matthulius.

[Hib :
Mr: Dubl:

Igicc.
Caiitabri-

1656.

Eleazar Matherus.
Crefcentius Matherus.
Robertus Painaus. Mr.
Subael Dummerus.
lohannes Haynefius. Mr
lohannes Eliotus. Mr.
Thomas Gravefius. Mr. Socius.
lohannes Emmcrfonus. Mr.

1657-

Zecharlas Symmefms Mr. Socius.
Zecharias Brigden. Mr. Socius.
lohannes Cottonus. Mr.
lohannes Hale. Mr.
Elilha Cookeus. Mr.
lohannes Whiting.
Barnabas Chauncaaus.

165S.

lofephus Eliotus. Mr
lofephus Haines.
Benjamin Bunker,
lonah Fordhamus.
lohannes Barfham,
Samuel Talcot.
Samuel Shepardus

1659.
Nathanael Saltonltal.
Samuel Alcock.

Mr.

Mr. Socius.

1864.]

TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

Habijah Savagius.
Samuel Willardus.
Thomas Parifli.
Samuel Cheverus.
Ezechiel Rogers.
Samuel Belcherus.
lacobus Noyfe.
Mofes Noyfe.

1660.
Simon Broadflreet. Mr.
Nathaniel Collins. Mr.
Samuel Eliotus. Mr. Socius.
Gulielmus Whittinghamus.
lofephus Cookeus.
Samuel Carterus.
Manaffeh Armitagius.
Petrus Bulklffius. Mr. Socius.

1661.
lohannes Bellinghamus. Mr.
Nathaniel Chauncxus. Mr. Socius.
Elnathan Chauncffius. Mr.
Ifrael Chauncseus. Mr.
Compenfantius Osborne.
Daniel Weld,
lofephus Cookeus.
lofephus Whiting. Mr. Socius.
Caleb Watfonus. Mr.
lohannes Pai'kerus.
Thomas lohnfonns.
Bezaleel Shermanus.'

1663.

lohannes Holiokus.
Benjamin Thomfonus.
Solomon Stoddardus.
Mofes Fiskseus. Mr.
Ephraim Savagius.
Thomas Oakes.

1663.
Samuel Symonds.
Samuel Cobbet.
lohannes Reynerus. Mr.
Benjamin Blackman.
Thomas Mighil. Mr.
Nathaniel Cutler.

Mr. Socius.

1664.
Alexander Nowellus. Mr. Socius.
lofiah Flintffius. Mr.
lofephus Pynchonus. Mr. Socius.
Samuel Brackenburius. Mr.
lohannes Woodbridge.
lofephus Eftabrookeus. Mr.
Samuel Street.

1665.

Benjamin Eliotus. Mr.

lofephus Dudteus. Mr.

Samuel Bifhop.

Edvai-dus Michelfonus.

Samuel Mannseus.

Sperantius Athertonus.

labez Foxius. Mr.

Caleb Cheefechaumuck. Indus.

1666.
lofephus Browna;us. Mr. Socius.
lohannes Richardfonus. Mr. Socius.
Daniel Mafonus.
lohannes Filerus.

1667.
lohannes Harriman. Mr.
Nathaniel Atkinfonus.
lohannes Fofterus.
Gerfhom Ilobartus. Mr.
lapheth Hobartus.
Nehemias Hobartus. Mr.
Nicolaus Noyfe.

166S.
Adamus Winthropus.
lohannes Cullick.
Zecharias Whitmanus.
Abrahamus Pierfonus.
lohannes Prudden.

1669.

Samuel Epps. Mr.
Daniel Epps.
leremias Shepardus Mr.
Daniel Gookin Mr. Socizis.
I lohannes Bridghamus Mr.

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

[Oct.

Daniel Ruffellus Mr.
lofephus Taylerus Mr.
lacobus Baylwus Mr.
lofephus Gerrifh
Samuel Treat Mr.

1670.

Nathaniel Higginfon. Mr.
Ammi-Ruhamah Corlet. Mr.
Thomas Clarke. Mr.
Georgius Burrough.

1671.
Ifaacus Fofterus.
Samuel Phips.

Samuel Sewall. Mr. Socius.
Samuel Matherus.
Samuel Danforth.

Petrus Thacherus. Mr. Socius.
Gulielmus Adamus.
Thomas Weld. Mr.
Johannes Bowles. Mr.
Johannes Nortonus.
Edvardus Taylorus.

1673.

Edvardus Pelhamus.
Georgius Alcock.
Samuel Angler.

Johannes Wife.

Edmund Davy.

1674.

EN regis magni diploma infigne yacobi!
Quo data in He/pcriis, terra colenda piis.
Regum illuftre decus, premat ut veftigia patris

Carolus innumeris regibus ortus avis,
Supplicibus diploma novis dedit : unde Coloni

Protenus arva colunt, & fata IJEta metunt.
Sed neque cura minor juvenura cultura : & alumnii

Mularum Harvardi eft munere ftrufta domus,
Patroni, patres, & cum reftoribus almis,

Cura, confiliis, muneribufque fovent.
Unde favente Deo, in fylvis Academia furgit;

Heu quam non fimilis matribus Anglicolis
Non matrona potens, ut vos : fed fedula nutrix :

Vivet in obfequiis matribus ufque fuis.
Si nos amplefti, prolemque agnofcere vultis. [,]

QuiE veftr^ foboli gaudia ! quantus honos !
Pingitur his tabulis ftudiorum meffis, honores

Pro merito juvenum munere, more dati.
Inter vidtrices lauros tibi Carole ferpat,

Qii^ spica eft fegetis, quam tibi fevit Avus.
Madiejiote fit juvenes ; atgue edit e f nidi us

Condignos vejlro femine, Rege, Deo.

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 15

The preceding Catalogue is distinguished from the modern
Triennials by the absence of stars to designate deaths, of
Italics to designate ordained ministers, and of obituary dates.
In this, as in the other early catalogues, surnames, as well as
the Christian names, are generally Latinized. At the end,
printed under the third and fourth columns, are twenty-two
Latin verses, apparently prepared for the occasion.* In mod-
ern Triennials, there is no dedication ; but, at the beginning
of this, there is one, somewhat like the dedications on the
modern programmes for Commencement ; and yet it is differ-
ent, as it is by the President, instead of the members of the
graduating class, and it is considerably longer.

* The following translation, which is almost word for word, is furnished by a
member of the Society, who has taken a special interest in the Catalogues: —
Lo the famed charter of the great king James!
By which here in the West was given a land
To pious men, by their hands to be tilled.

Charles, too, bright honor of the royal name,
Descended from innumerable kings,
That he might press the footsteps of his sire
Another charter to new suppliants gave :
Hence do the Colonists go on to till
Their arable fields, and joyful reap their crops.

But the due culture of our rising youth,
The Muses' nurslings, is no less a care :
And, by the noble gift of Harvard, here
There has for them been built a fitting home ;
Patrons and fathers and kind governors
Foster it with care, with counsels, and with gifts.

Thus, by God's favor, rises in these woods
A young Academy. Ah! how unlike
Her mothers, dwelling on the soil of England !
No powerful matron is she, such as ye;
But yet, a faithful and a sedulous nurse,
She in all reverence towards you will live.
If you embrace us and your offspring own,
What joy, what honor, to your progeny 1

Upon this tablet there is painted out
The gathered harvest of our studious youth,
Honors conferred as their deserved reward.

'Mong thy victorious laurels let there twine
This spike, Charles, culled from the ripened growth
Of a fair field thy Grandsire sowed for thee.

Go oji^ then, pious youth ; and bring forth fruits
Worthy your origin^ your King^ your God.

16 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

A peculiarity, which at first appears inexplicable, is the
circumstance, that, while later Triennials include three names
in the class of 1674, — the year in which the Catalogue was
issued, — this Catalogue has but one, — "Edmund Davy."
The name of " Joseph Hawley, 1675," which now appears in
the class, was not then printed, because he did not take his
degree till the next year.

The omission of the name of Thomas Sergeant, and its
subsequent insertion as though there had been no irregu-
larity, may be thus explained : Chief-Justice Sewall, who took
his second degree in that year, in his " Diary," writes, — if
the copy which I quote is correct: —

" 1674, June 15, Thomas Sargeant was examined by y° Corpora-
tion finally, y° advice of M' Danforth, Mr Stoughton, Mr Thacher,
Mr Mather, (y° present) was taken. This was his sentence.

" That being convicted of speaking blasphemous words against
y" H. G. [Holy Ghost] he should be therefore publickly whipped
before all y" scholars.

" 2. That he should be suspended as to taking his degree of
Baclielour. (this sentence read before him twice at the P"' [Presi-
dents] before y° Committee & in y" Library . . . before execution)
"3. Sit alone by himself in y" Hall uncovered at
meals, during the pleasure of the President & frs
[Fellows] & be in all things obedient, doing what
exercise was agointed him by the President or else be
" Mr Dan. finally expelled the Colledge. The first was presently
" Mr Gook. put in execution in y' Library (Mr Danforth jr. being
" Sa Sewall present) before the Scholars. He kneeled down, & the
instrument Goodman Hely attended y" presidents word
as to y" performance of his part in y° work. Prayer
was had before and after by the President. July 1,
1674."

On consulting the Records of the Corporation of the Col-
lege, I find, under the date of 11 December of the same
year, that, " The Overseers having consented, the Corporation
order that Thomas Sergeant take his degree of Bachelor of
Arts from which by y" and the Corporation he was suspended."

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 17

"Dec 21 1674. The Corporation (on occasion of Thomas Ser-
jeants going to sea next week) and in pursuance of the order made
Dec. 11, he performing all exercises before them which were wont to
be done in publick, The President did admit him to the degree of
Batchelour of Arts."

So that, though Sergeant's name does not appear on the
Catalogue published at the Commencement in 1674, he re-
ceived his degree before the expiration of that year. I have
not been able to find any other information respecting him,
except that he is starred as dead in the Triennial of 1700, and
also in Cotton Mather's " Magnalia," from which it seems
that he died as early as 1698. If it were not for the state-
ment, 21 DecemJber, 1674, that he was "going to sea next
week," the fact that he did not take his second degree, when
much importance was attached to that .honor, would make it
probable that he died in less than three years after his gradu-
ation ; and I find no evidence that he did not.

It is not unreasonable to suppose, that the course of gov-
ernment and discipline, indicated by what Sergeant under-
went, had something to do with the unpopularity of President
Hoar. Although the ignominious flogging was by the advice
of such men as Sewall names, it was only about a fortniglit
afterwards, on the 16th of July, that Increase Mather writes
thus : " Cotton having received some discouragement at
the college, by reason that some of the scholars threatened
him, &c., as apprehending that he had told me of their
miscarriages, he returned home to me." The action of
the General Court, in the month of October, encouraged the
students in their insubordination; and, "Nov. 15. — The
scholars, all except three, whose friends live in Cambridge,
left the college." President Hoar was compelled to resign
on the 15th of the following March; and, on the 28th of the
subsequent November, he "died, having been brought into a
consumption by the grief he sustained through afilictions
when President."

18 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

Catalogue of 1682.
The next Catalogue appears to have been issued in the
year 1682. Of this, as of the Catalogue of 1674, but a single
copy exists. It is the oldest printed catalogue of Harvard
Graduates which has been found on this continent. My atten-
tion was first called to it, in the year 1844, by the late Rev.
Benjamin Clark Cutler Parker, of the class of 1822, minister of
the " Floating Church of our Saviour for Seamen in the Port
of New York." I expressed great surprise at the existence
of so early a catalogue, and thought there must be some
mistake as to the date. The result was a letter from Mr.
Parker, inclosing the Catalogue, with the following com-
munication, which is printed entire, as it contains some
statements of interest in addition to those which relate to
the Catalogue.

" New York, Jan. 16, 1845.
"Dear Sir, — Iliave had it in mind, for some time past, to trans-
mit to you for acceptance a catalogue of the alumni of Harvard
University, on a printed sheet, 1682. I am informed by the Rev.
Mr. Parker, of the Episcopal Church in this city, and one of the
graduates of Harvard, that the oldest catalogue in your possession is
of a date some years later ; and that the possession of this would be
esteemed valuable by you. The manner in which it came to my
hands may impart additional interest to it. Three or four years
since, the General Synod of our church committed to me the office of
procuring materials for the preparation of a history of our Church.
As our early churches were formed under the care and superintend-
ence of the Classis of Amsterdam, and continued so for a long period
of years, it was deemed of importance to refer to the archives of that
Classis. Through the agency of J. E. Brodhead, Esq., the Histori-
cal Agent of the State, visiting the Hague in 1842, for the promotion
of his object, the Classis were induced to grant the loan of original
documents, letters from ministers, ecclesiastical bodies, &c., and
copies from their minutes, correspondence, &c. The catalogue now
sent to you was forwarded to the Classis of Amsterdam by the
Rev. Henry Selyns, of the Reformed Dutch Church in this city.
Mr. Selyns was first settled on Long Island from 1660 to 1664,

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OP HAEVARD UNIVERSITY. 19

when he returned to Holland. Such was the reputation that he left
behind him as a minister and as a man, that, on two recurring vacan-
cies, the church at Now York at once called him ; and, on the second
call, he became their pastor from 1681 to 1701. He was a man of
learning and worth. In his letters to the Classis of Amsterdam, he
makes occasional references to Harvard (" the college at Cambridge,
N.E."); and it appears that he was in correspondence with some
of the ministers of Boston, particularly Cotton Mather. You will
find prefixed to C. Mather's " Magnalia Americana," a Latin poem
over his signature. Rev. Mr. Selyns procured a copy of Eliot's
Indian Bible, and presented it to the Classis of Amsterdam, the
receipt of which was gratefully acknowledged by them.

" The Rev. Johannes Megapolensis was first minister of Renssel-
aerwyck (now Albany) from 1642 to ^648. In that year he became
pastor of the church at New Amsterdam, and continued so until his
death in 1670. I find, from his letters, that he placed his sou
Samuel in your Harvard College for two years ; when he sent him to
Leyden University in Plolland, where he pursued and finished a
theological and medical course. He returned to New York in 1662 ;
when he became a colleague pastor with his father and the Rev. Mr.
Drisius. He was one of the commissioners appointed by Gov. Stuy-
vesant at the time of the surrender of the Colony to the British.
" Yours with great respect,

" Thomas De Witt."

A memorandum on Mr. Parker's letter says : —
"Amsterdam, 20 Sept., 1841. — Received from Scriba of Classis.

"J. ROMEYN BrODHEAD."

This Catalogue has been bound with the letters of Dr. De
Witt and Mr. Parker, and is now in the Library of Harvard
College. In the year 1849, Dr. Shurtleff printed from it, in
the octavo form, twenty copies from types set up with his
own hands. Like the one issued in 1674, it is a broadside, in
four columns. With the surrounding border, it measures
ten inches and three-quarters by fourteen and a quarter.
In the following reprint the last seven lines of the Presi-
dent's dedication make, in the original, but four, which are
here denoted by upright strokes : —

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

[Oct

HONORATISSIMO
Simoni Bradftreeto :

MASSACHUSETTEXSIS COLONL« in NOV-ANGLIA GUBERNATORI. C.E.

TERISCt; ACADEML^ CURATORIBUS PERQLJAM | HONORAJVDIS d-

REVERENDIS\ Hunc, eorum qui in COLLEGIO HARVARDINO,

intra annos quadraginta, | Alicujus gradus Laurea, donati J'uiit,

Catalogum, Honoris & Gratitudinis Ergo; Devoto Cuitu,

inlcribit & ofFert | CRESCENTIUS MATHERUS,

Cum fupyadit^i Gymnajii Sociis.

1647.

Jonathan Mitchel. Air Socius.
Nathaniel Matherus. Mr.
Confolantius Star. Mr. Socius.
Johannes Bh-den.
Abiahamus Waiver.
Georgius Haddenus. Mr.
Gulielmus Mildmay. Mr.

1649.
Johannes Rogers. Mr. Prwjes Elect.

Samuel Eaton. Mr. Socius.

Wianus Oakes. Mr. Socitts, PrcBjes.
Johannes Collins. Mr. Socius,
Johannes Bowers.

]\Ir- Socius.
Mr. Socius.

1643.

BEnjaminWoodbridge. S. Th.D.
Georgius Downing.
Johannes Bulkteus. Mr.
Gulielmus Hubbard. Mr.
Samuel Bcllingham. Mr.M.D.Lugd.
Johannes Willonus. Mr.
Henricus Saltonflal.
Tobias Barnardus. \^Hib.

Nathaniel Breuilerus. Th. Bacc.Dubl.

1643.
Johannes Jonefius. Mr.
Samuel Matherus.
Samuel Danforth.
Johannes AUin.

1645.
Johannes Oliverus.
Jeremias HoUandus.
Gulielmus Amelius.
Johannes RulTellus. Mr.
Samuel Stow Mr.
Jacobus Ward.
Robertus Johnibn.

1646.
Johannes Alcock. Mr.
Johannes Brock. Air.

Georgius Stirk. M/-.
Nathaniel White. Air.

1650.
Gulielmus Stoughton. Air. Oxonii.
Johannes Gloverus. AI.D.Aberdonice.
Jofhua Hobartus. Air.
Jeremias Hobartus Air.
Edniundus Weld.

Samuel Philipfius. Air. \^Prcefes.
Leonardus Hoar. Air. M.D. Cantab.
Ifaacus Allertonus.
Jonathan Increus. Air.

I 65 I.
Michael Wigglefworth. Air. Socius.
Marigena Cottonus. Air.
Thomas Dudlsus. Air. Socius.

TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OF HARVAED UNIVERSITY.

Johannes Gloverus. il/r.
Henricus Butlerus. Mr.
Nathaniel Pelhamus.
Johannes Davifius. Mr.
Ifaacus Chauncseus. Mr.
Ichabod Chauncaus. Mr.
Jonathan Buitebus. Mr.

1652.
Jofephus Rowlandfonus.
1653. Aug. 9.

Samuel Willis.
Johannes Angier. Mr.
Thomas Shepardus. Mr. Socins.
Samuel Nowel, Mr. Socins.
Richardus Hubbard. Mr.
Johannes Whiting. Mr.
Samuel Hookerus. Mr. Socitis.
Johannes Stone. Mr. Cantab. Angl.
Gulielmus Thomfonus.

^uiaiifcciiiidumgradum admijiftiere 1655.

Diei Jequcnfis Baccalaurci, ad fccundum

gradum admi//i ut maris cji. 1656.

1653. Aug. 10.
Edvardus Rawfonus.
Samuel Bradftreet. Mr. Socms.
Jofhuah Long. Mr.
Samuel Whiting. Mr.
Jofhuah Moodaeus. Mr. Soc/'iis.
Jolhua Ambrolius. Mr. Oxonii.
Nehemiah Ambrolius. Mr. Socins.
Thomas CrosbiEus.

1654.
Philippus Nelfon.

1655-
Gerfhom Bulklasus. Mr. Socius.
Mordecai Matthulius.

1656.
Eleazarus Matherus.
Crefcentius Matherus. Mr.Dubl.Hib.

{Socius & Press. Pro Tempore.
Robertus Painseus Mr.
Subael Dummerus.
Johannes Haynefius. Mr. Cantab.

Johannes Eliotus. Mr.
Thomas Gravefius. Mr. Socii/s.
Johannes Emmerfonus. jMr.

1657-
Zecharias Symmelius. M. Socius.
Zecharias Brigden. Mr. Socius.
Johannes Cottonus. Mr.
Johannes Hale. Mr.
Elifliah Cookieus. Mr.
Johannes Whiting.
Barnabas Chauncaeus. Mr.

1658.
Jofephus Eliotus. Mr.
Jofephus Haines.
Benjamin Bunker. . Mr.
Jonah Fordhamus.
Johannes Barfham.
Samuel Talcot.
Samuel Shepardus. Mr. Socius.

1659.
Nathaniel Saltonftal.
Samuel Alcock.
Habijah Savagius.
Samuel Willardus.
Thomas Parifh.
Samuel Cheverus.
Ezekiel Rogers.
Samuel Belcherus.
Jacobus Noyfe.
Moles Noyfe.

1660.
Simon Bradftreet. Mr.
Nathaniel Collins. Mr.
Samuel Eliotus. Mr. Socius
Gulielmus Whittinghamus.
Jofephus Cookjeus.
Samuel Carterus.
Manafleh Armitagius.
Petrus Bulklffius. M. Socius

1661.
^'bhannes Bellingham. Mr.
Nathaniel Chauncaeus. Mr. Socius.
Elnathan ChauncEeus. Mr.
Ifrael Chauncsus. Mr.

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

[Oct.

Compenfantius Osborn.
Daniel Weld,
yofephus Cookffius.
^ofephus Whiting. M. Soci.
Caleb Watfonus. Mr.
Johannes Parkerus.
Thomas yohnfonus.
Bezaleel Shermannus.

1662.
Johannes Holiokus.
Benjamin Thomfonus.
Solomon Stodardiis. Mr. Socius.
Mofes Fiskffius. Mr.
Ephraim Savagius.
Thomas Oakes.

1663.
Samuel S3'mondus.
Samuel Cobbet.
Johannes Reynerus. Mr.
Benjamin Blackman.
Thomas Mighil Mr.
Nathaniel Cutler.

1664.
Alexander Nowellus M. So.
Jofia h Flintseus. Mr.

lofephus Pynchonus. M. Soc.
Samuel Brakenburius. Mr.
Johannes VVoodbridge.
yofephus Eaflabrookeus. M.
Samuel Street.

1665.
Benjamin Eliotus. Mr.
yofephus Dudlieus. Mr.
Samuel Bifhop.
Edvardus Mitchelfonus.
Samuel Mannsus.
Sperantius Athertonus.
yabez Foxius. Mr.
Caleb Cheeichaumuk. Indus

1666.
^'bfephus Brownteus. Mr. Soc/»s.
Johannes Richardfonus Mr. Socius.
Daniel Mafonus.
yohannes Filerus.

1667.
Johannes Harriman. Air.
Nathaniel Atkinfonus.
Johannes Fofterus.
Gerfhom Hobartus : Jifr'
yapbeth Hobartus.
Nehemias Hobartus. Af. So.
Nicolaus Noyfe.

1668.
Adamus VVinthropus.

Tbhannes Cullick.
Zecharias VVhitmanus.
Abrabamus Pierfonus.

Johannes Prudden.

1669.
Samuel Epps. Afr.
Daniel Epps.

yeremias Shepardus. Afr.
Daniel Gookin. Afr. Socius
yohannes Bridghamus. Air.
Daniel Ruflellus. Air.
yofephus Taylorus. Air.
jacobus BaylcBus Air.
yofephus Gerrifh.
Samuel Treat. Air.

1670.
Nathaniel Higginfon. Air.

Ammi-Ruhamah Corlet. Air. Socius
Thomas Clark. Air.
Georgius Burrough.

1671.
Ifaacus Fofterus. AI. Socius.
Samuel Phips Air.
Samuel Sewall. Air. Socius
Samuel Matberus.
Samuel Danforth. AI. Socius
Petrus Thacherus. AI. Socius
Gulielmus Adamus. Air.
Thomas Weld Air.
Johannes Bowles Air.
Johannes Nortonus.
Edvardus Taylorus.

1673.
Edvardus Pelhamus.

1864.1

TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OP HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

Georgius Alcock.
Samuel Ang-ier. Air. ■
Johannes VVife. Mr.

1674.
Edmundus Davie.
Thomas Sergeant.

1675-
yofephus Haiiley.
yohannes Pike. Mr.
yonathan Ruffellus Mr.
Petrus Oliveriis. Mr.
Samuel Andrew. Mr. Socius
yacobus Minot.
Timotheus Woodbridgc. Mr.
Daniel Allin M/-.
yohannes Emmerfonus. Mr.
Nathaniel Gookin. Mr.

1676.
Thomas Shepardus. Mr.
Thomas Brattle Mr.
Jeremiah Cufliing.

1677.
Thomas Cheveriis. Mr.
yohannes Danforth. Mr.
Edvardus Payfon. Mr.
Samuel Sweetman
[ofephus Capen. Mr
rhomas Scottow.

1678.
lohannes Cottonus M. Socizis.
Cottonus Matherus. Mr.
Grindallus Rawfonus Afr.
6^-ianus Oakes.

1679.
Jonathan Danforth. Mr.
Edvardus Oakes Mr.
lacobus Ailing Mr.
Thomas Barnardus. Mr.

16S0.
Richardus Martin,
lohannes Leverettus.
lacobus Oliver.
Gulielmus Brattle.
Percivallus Green.

Samuel Mitchel.
Tbhannes Cottonus
lohannes Hafting.
Noadiah Ruffel.
Jacobus Pierpoint
Johannes Davie
Samuel Ruffel.
Guilielmus Denifon
Jofephus Eliot.

BOSTONS Nov-Anglorum; Die Sexto ante Idus Sextiles. Anno.

24 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

Catalogue in Mather's " Magnalia."
The next catalogue of graduates which has come to my
knowledge is printed as a part of Mather's " Magnalia " ; the
title-page of which bears the imprint of London, 1702, though
the contents are none of them later probably than early in
1699. The Catalogue covers nearly four pages, three col-
umns on a page. Stars are, for the first time, placed against
the names of the deceased graduates ; and antiquaries are
commonly agreed in regarding the Catalogue as made up and
finished in 1698. It does not contain a dedication, but has
merely the title, —

"CATALOGUS,
Eorum qui in Collegio Harvardino, quod est Canta-
brigIjE Nov-Angloriim., ab Atino 1643. ad Aiinurn 169S. alicujus
gradus Laurea donati funt."

At the end, under the last column, are the words, "i7Zt
quorum Nominibus Iicbc Nota * Prcefgitur, e Vivis cesserunt.'"

At the bottom of the Catalogue are the words " Canta-
BEiGi^ Nov-Anglorum Sexto Quintilis. M DC XC VIII."

Of this Catalogue, Dr. Shurtleff has also printed twenty
copies in octavo.

Catalogde of 1700.

The Catalogue of 1700, found among the Winthrop papers,
and presented to the Massachusetts Historical Society by the
President, the Hon. Robert Charles Winthrop, LL.D., was,
with his approbation, generously given by the Society to the
Library of Harvard University. Like the others, it is a broad-
side ; but it is arranged in six columns. It has no printed
border or dedication. It is the earliest broadside, now
known, which has the stars.* The last three lines of the
reprint of the title make, in the original, but two, here
separated by an upright stroke.

• As but .1 single copy of any of the three catalogues which are here reprinted is
known to exist, it seemed desirable, by multiplying copies, to preserve the text, as
well as to aid persons whose investigations make each of these Catalogues important.

1864.]

TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OP HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

CATALOGUS,

Eolum qui in COLLEGIO HARVARDINO, quod eft CANTABRIGI^

NOV-ANGLORUM, | ab Anno 1643. ad Annum 1700.

alicujus giadus Laurea donati funt.

1642.

164S.

*TpVEnjamin Woodbridge.

1649.

1—^ * Georgius Downing.

* Johannes Rogerlius Mr. Prcejes.

1 B * Johannes Bulklffius Mr.

* Samuel Eaton Mr. SotiuS

-■-^ Gulielmus Hubbard Mr.

* Urianus Oakes Mr. SociUS Prcefcs.

Samuel Bellingham Mr. M.D. Ludg.

* Johannes Collins Mr. Sonne

* Johannes Bowers.

* Johannes Wilfonus Mr.

* Henricus Saltonftall.

1650.

* Tobias Barnardus

Guilielmus Stoughton. Mr. Oxonii.

* Nathaniel Brufterus. Th. Bac. Diih.

♦Johannes Gloverus M D. Abird.

1643. Hib.

Jofhua Hobartus Mr.

* Johannes Jonefius Mr.

Jeremias Hobartus Mr.

* vSamuel Matherus Mr. Socius

* Edmundus Weld.

* Samuel Danforth Mr. Sotius

* Samuel Philipfius Mr.

* Johannes AUin.

* Leonardus Hoar Mr. M.DCantahr.

1644.

* Ifoacus Altertonus {Prcc/'es

1645.

* Jonathan Inceus Mr.

* Johannes Oliverus.

* Jeremias Hollandus.

1651.

Michael Wigglefworth Mr. Socius

* Guilielmus Amefuis.

* Marigena Cottonus Mr.

* Johannes Ruflellus Mr.

* Thomas Dudlieus Mr. Sotiue

Samuel Stow Mr.

* Johannes Gloverus Mr.

* Jacobus Ward

* Robertus Johnfon.

* Henricus Butlerus Mr.

* Nathaniel Pelhamus.

1646.

* Johannes Davilius Mr.
Ifaacus Chauncseus Mr.

* Johannes Alcock Mr.

* Johannes Brock Mr.

* Ichabod Chauncseus Mr.

* Georgius Stirk.

* Jonathan Burrajus Mr.

* Nathaniel White Mr.

1652.

1647.

* Josephus Rowlandfonus.

* Jonathan Mitchel Mr. SociUS

* Nathaniel Matherus Mr.

1653. Aug- 9.

Samuel Willis.

Confolantius Star Mr. SociUS

* Johannes Angier Mr.

* Johannes Barden.

* Thomas Shepardus Mr. Socius

* Abrahamus Waiver.

* Samuel Nowel Mr. SociUS

* Georgius Haddenus Mr.

« Richardus Hubbard Mr.

* Guilelmus Mildmay Mr.

* Johannes Whiting Mr.

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

[Oct.

* Samuel Hookems Mi- Socius

* Johannes Stone Mr. Cantab. Angl.
Guilielmus Thoinfonus

^ui ad fecutidum Gradiim admiji
fuere 1655. Diei fequentis Bac-
calaurei, ad fecundum Gradum
admijji ui tnoris ejl. 1656.

1653. Aug- 10.

* Edvardus Rawfonus.

* Samuel Bradllreet Mr. Sotius

* Jofhua Long Mr.
Samuel Whiting Mr

* Jofliua Moodey Mr Sorins
Jofhua Ambrolius Mr Oxonii.

* Nehemiah Ambrolius Mr; SociUS
Thomas Crosboeus.

1654.

* Philippus Nelfon.

1655-
Gerfhom Bulklceus Mr SotlUS
Mordecai Mathewlius.

1656.

* Eleazarus Matherus
Crefcentius Matherus Mr. Diihl. H!b.

(Socius, Rector, PrccJ'es. S. T. D.
Robertus Painteus Mr.

* Subael Dummerus

* Johannes Haynelius Mr Cantab.

* Johannes Eliotus Mr.

* Thomas Gravefuis Mr Socius
Johannes Emmerlbnus Mr.

1657-
Zecharias Sj'mmes Mr. Socins

* Zecharias'Brigden Mr Socius

* Johannes Cottonus Mr.

* Johannes Hale Mr.
Elifha Cooke Mr.

* Johannes Whiting.

* Barnabas Chauncaeus Mr.

165S.

* Jofephus Eliotus Mr.

* Jofephus Haynes.

* Benjamin Bunker Mr.
Jonah Fordhamus.

* Johannes Barfham.

* Samuel Talcot.

* Samuel Shepardus Mr 5ocitt0.

1 659.
Nathaniel Saltonftall.

' * Samuel Alcock.
*Abijah Savagius.
Samuel Willard Mr. SociUS.
Thomas Parifh.
Samuel Cheverus.

* Ezekiel Rogers.

i Samuel Belcherus.
i Jacobus Noyes.
, Mofes Noyes.

1660.
! * Simon Bradllroet Mr.

* Nathaniel Collins Mr.

* Samuel Eliotus Mr Sorius.

* Guilielmus Whittingham.

* Jofephus Cookseus.

* Samuel Carterus.

* Manafleh Armitagius.

* Peti-us Bulklsus Mr Sorins.

1661.

* Johannes Bellingham jSIr.
*NathanielChaunc£eusMr5ociUS

* Elnathan Chauncteus Mr.
Ifrael Chauncieus Mr.

* Compenfantius Osborn

* Daniel Weld.

* Jofephus Cookjeus.
Jofephus Whiting Mr Socius.
Caleb Watfonus Mr.

* Johannes Parkerus.

* Thomas Johnfonus.

* Bezaleel Shermannus.

1663.
Johannes Holiokus.
Benjamin Thomfonus.
Solomon Stoddardus Mr Sotius.
Mofes Fiskaeus Mr.
Ephraim Savagius.
Thomas Oakes.

1663.

* Samuel Symondus.
Samuel Cobbet.

* Johannes Reynerus Mr.

* Benjamin Blackman.

* Thomas Mighil Mr.

* Nathaniel Cutler.

1664.

* Alexander Nowellus Mr. 6'ocins.

* Jofiah Flintffius Mr.

1864.]

TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OP HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

* Jofephus Pynchonus Mr. 6"ocius.

* Samuel Brackenburius Mr.

* Johannes Woodbridge
Jofephus Eafterbrookaeus Mr.
Samuel Street.

1665.

* Benjamin Eliotus Mr.
Josephus Dudlffius Mr.

* Samuel Bishop.

* Edvardus Mitchelfonus.
Samuel Manneeus.

* Sperantius Athertonus.
Jabez Foxius Mr.

* Caleb Cheefchaumuk Indus.

1666.

* Jofeph Browneeus Mr Socina.

* Johannes Richardfonus Mr 0o-

* Daniel Mafonus. (ciUS.
Johannes Filerus.

1667.
Johannes Harriman Mr.

* Nathaniel Atkinfonus.

* Johannes Foflerus.
Gerlliom Hobartus Mr.

* Japheth Hobartus.
Nehemiah Hobartus Mr Socitte.
Nicholaus Noyes.

1668.
Adamus Winthrop.

* Johannes Cullick.
Zecharias Whitmannus.
Abrahamus Pierfonus.
Johannes Prudden.

1669.

* Samuel Epps Mr.
Daniel Epps.
Jeremias Shepardus Mr.
Daniel Gookin Mr SoritlS.
Johannes Bridghamus Mr.

* Daniel Ruffellus. Mr.

* Jofephus Taylorus Mr.
Jacobus Bayley Mr.
Jofephus Gerrilh.
Samuel Treat Mr.

1670.
Nathaniel Higginfon Mr.

* Ammi Ruhamah Corlet Mr. 00-
Thomas Clarke Mr. (ciUS.

* Georgius Burrough.

1671.

* Ifaacus Fofterus Mr SociUS
Samuel Phips Mr.

Samuel Sewall Mr. SodUS.
Samuel Matherus.

* Samuel Danforth Mr SodU0.
Petrus Thacherus Mr Socius.

* Guilielmus Adamus Mr.
Thomas Weld Mr.

* Johannes Bowles Mr.
Johannes Nortonus.
Edvardus Taylorus.

1673.

1673.
Edvai'dus Pelhamus.

* Georgius Alcock.
Samuel Angier Mr.
Johannes Wife Mr.

1674.

* Edmundus Davie M.D. Padua.

* Thomas Sergeant.

1675-
Jofephus Hauley.
Johannes Pike Mr.
Jonathan Ruffellus Mr.

* Petrus Oliverus Mr.
Samuel Andrew Mr SocitlS.
Jacobus Minot.
Timotheus Woodbridge Mr.

* Daniel Allin Mr.
Johannes Emmerfonus Mr.

* Nathaniel Gookin Mr 5'ocitlS.

1676.

* Thomas Shepardus Mr
Thomas Brattle Mr.
Jeremiah Cufhing.

1677.
Thomas Chevers Mr.
Johannes Danforth Mr. SocittS.
Edvardus Payfon Mr.
Samuel Sweetman.
Jofephus Capen Mr.
Thomas Scottow.

167S.
Johannes Cottonus Mr 6'otiU0.
Cottonus Matherus Mr. QociUS.
Grindallus Rawfonus Mr.

* Urianus Oakes.

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

[Oct.

1679.

* Jpnathan Danforth Mr.

* Edvardus Oakes Mr.

* Jacobus Ailing Mr.
Thomas Barnardus.

16S0.

* Richardus Martin.
Johannes Leverettus Mr. Sotins.
Jacobus Oliver Mr.
Guilielmus Brattle Mr Sorins

* Percivallus Green Mr.

16S1.

* Samuel Mitchel Mr. ^ocins.
Johannes Cottonus Mr.

* Johannes Hafting Mr.
Noadiah Ruflellus Mr.
Jacobus Pierpont Mr.
Johannes Davie.
Samuel Ruflellus Mr.
Guilielmus Denifon Mr.
Jofephus Eliot Mr.

16S2.

16S3.
Samuel Danforth Mr.
Johannes Williams Mr.
Guilielmus Williams Mr.

16S4.

* Johannes Denifon Mr.
Johannes Rogerfius Mr.
Gordonius Saltonflall Mr.

* Richardus Wenfleus.
Samuel Mylefius Mr.
Nehemiah Walterus Mr Sociufl.
Jofephus Webb Mr.
Edvardus Thompfonus.
Benjamin Rolf Mr.

1685.

* Thomas Dudl»us Mr.
Warhamus Matherus Mr.

* Natlianiel Matherus Mr.
Roulandus Cottonus Mr.
Henricus Gibs Mr.

* Thomas Berrius Mr.

* Johannes Whiting Mr.
Edvardus Mills Mr.
Johannes Eliotus Mr.
Samuel Shepardus.

* Petrus Ruck.
Ifaacus Greenwood.

Johannes White Mr 5'oriU3
Jonathan Pierpont Air.

16S6.
Francifcus Wainwright
Benjamin Lynde Mr
Daniel Rogerfius Mr
Georgius Phillipfius Mr
Robertus Hale
Carolus Chauncagus Mr.

* Nicolaus Mortonus

16S7.
Johannes Davenport Mr
Johannes Clark Mr
Nathaniel Rogers Mr

* Jonathan Mitchel Mr
Daniel Brewer Mr
Timotheus Stevens Mr

* Nathaniel Welfh.

* Jofephus Daffet Mr
Henricus Newman Mr.
Jofias Dwight
Sethus Shove Mr

1688
1689

* Jacobus Allen Air
Samuel Moodey Mr
Guilielmus Payn Mr
Addingtonus Davenport
Tbhannes Havnes

I * Guilielmus Partrigg.
Richardus Whittingham Mr.
Johannes Emmerfonus Mr
Johannes Sparhawk Mr

* Benjamin Mai-fton
ybhannes Eveleth

* Benjamin Pierpont Air
5^ohannes Hancock Air
Thomas Swan Air.

1690
Paulus Dudleeus Mr Socins
Samuel Matherus Air
Johannes Willard Mr

* Daniel Denifon
Johannes Jonefius Mr
Jofephus Whiting Air
Nathaniel Clap Air
Jofephus Belcherus Air
Nathaniel Stone
Johannes Clark Mr

1864.-

TEIENNIAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

Thomas Buckinghamus
Samuel Mensfield Mr
Petrus Burr Mr

* Johannes Selleck
Johannes Newmarch Mr
Thomas Greenwood Mr
Benjamin Wadsworth Mr Socins
Thomas Ruggles Mr
Stephanus Mix Mr
Edmundus Gofte Mr '
Nicholaus Lynde.

* Benjamin Eaflerbrookteus Mr

1691

* Johannes Tyng Mr
Ebenezer Pemberton Mr Socius

* Thomas Mackarty Mr
yofephus Lord Mr
Chriilopherus Tappan Mr
Samuel Emery Mr

* Thomas Atkinfonus
Timotheus Edwards Mr

1692
Benjamin Colman Mr
Zecharias Alden
Ebenezer White Mr
jacobus Townfend
^^ohannes Mors Mr
Caleb Culhing Mr

1693
Ifaacus Chauncceus i\Ir
Stephanus Buckinghamus
Henricus Flintteus Mr SoritlS
Simon Bradflreet Mr
Johannes Wadaeus Mr
Nathanael Hodfon
Penn Townfend
Nathanael Williams Mr
Georgius Denifon
Johannes Woodward Air
yofephus Baxter Mr
Guilielmus Veazie
Nathanael Hunting Mr
Benjamin Ruggles Mr
Guilielmus Grofvenor Mr

1694
Adamus Winthrop Mr
5^ohannes Woodbridge
DudlcBus Woodbridge
Eliphalet Adamus Mr

Johannes Savage
Johannes Ballantine Mr
Salmon Treat
Jabez Fitch Mr ^Sorins

1695
Samuel Vaflal
Gualterus Price Mr
Richardus Saltonftall Mr
iVathaniel Saltonftall Mr
Johannes Hubbard Mr
Simon Willard Mr.
Habijah Savage Mr
Oliver Noyes JMr
Thomas Phips Mr
Timotheus Lindal Mr
yonathan Law
Ezekiel Lewis Mr
Thomas Blowers Mr
Thomas Little
Ephraim Litde Air
Johannes Perkins Air
yedediah Andrews Air
Jofephus Smith
Johannes Robinfon Mr
Jofephus Green Air
Jofephus Mors Mr
Nicolaus Webftcr

1696
Georgius Vaughan Mr
Roulandus Cottotius Mr
Petrus Thacher Mr
Dudlffius Woodbridge Mr
Jonathan Remington. Mr
Samuel Whitman Mr
Samuel Eafterbrookaeus
Andreas Gardner Mr
Samuel Melyen Mr

1697.
Elifha Cooke Mr
Antonius Stoddardus
Antonius Stoddardus Mr
Jabez Wakeman
Nathaniel Collins
Samuel Burr Mr
Johannes Read
Samuel Moodey Air
Richardus Brown
Hugo Adams
Johannes Swift Mr

MASSACHUSETTS HISTOBICAL SOCIETY.

[Oct.

Johannes Southmayd
yofephus Coit
^ofephus Parfonus Mr

1698
Thomas Symmes
5'blias Cottonus
Samuel Matherus
yofias Willard
Dudlaeus Biadftreet
Petrus Cutler
Johannes Foxius
Nathanael Hubbard
Henricus Swan
yohannes White
yofias Torrey
Oxenbridge Thacherus
Richardus Billings.

1699
^eremias Dummer
yonathan Belcher
yohannes Bulklieus
Edmundus Qiiinfey
Johannes Taylor
Stephanus Horfmer
Daniel Greenleaf
Mofes Hale
Francifcus Goodhue
Nathanael Eels

Samuel Niles
^ofephus Mofs

1700.
yohannes Winthrop
Simon Bradftreet
Daniel Hooker
Johannes Whiting
yofephus Gerrifh
yeremias Wife
Robertus Breck
David Deming
Samuel Hunt
yohannes Barnard
ybhannes Prentice
Thomas Banifter
Daniel Dodge
ybhannes Holman
ybhannes Veazie

Illi quorum No-
minibus hasc No-
ta * Prefigitur, e
Vivis ceflerunt.

CANTABRIGI^ NO V-ANGL OR UM Tertio Quintilis. M D C C.

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OP HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 31

Triennial Catalogues after 1700.
Whether the preceding were all the Catalogues which
were printed in the seventeenth century is uncertain. It is
not improbable that one was published regularly every three
years afterward, with the exception of the period from 1751
to 1758; during which, if any was issued, either that or the
one of 1758 must have been after an interval of four years.
There appears to have been one in 1712 ; for there is a
record of a question being then raised about inserting the
doctrine of divinity, which had been conferred on Cotton
Mather, two years before, by the University of Glasgow.*
A few years since, I found an excellent copy of the one for
1715, bound near the middle of a volume of the "Boston
News Letter " of that year, which is in the Library of the
Boston Athen^um. Being of the same size as the newspaper,
it had till then escaped observation. The Library of Harvard
College now contains those which were issued as broadsides
in 1682, 1700, 1727, 1730 (a fragment), 1733, 1736, 1745,
1748, 1751, 1758, and all that have been printed subsequently.
The size, of course, increases with the accessions of gradu-
ates. In 1764 and 1767, the broadside consisted of two
sheets, ' pasted together, side by side. In 1770 the two
sheets were pasted one above the other, each sheet having

* "May 16. 1712. The Pres'. waited on his Excy. . . Upon the PresiJ'.' enquiring
concerning the dutyfull Letters that he had bin informed had bin written to bis Excy
by M'. C. M. He was pleased to assure him that he had never red a Letter from him,
Since the undutieful One the s'i C. M. had Sent him Anno Dom. 1707. Which was no
Small Surprize to the Presid'. and a further imbarassing liis tliots w'? respect to what
direction he sh"! think himself obliged to give as to Inserting the New Title lie the said
C. M. had lately red from Glascow in the new Edition of the Catalogue of Graduate[s]
to be put out this year. And for what his Excy was pleased to Express upon that mat-
ter, the Presid'. finds a Necessity of Concerting the Measures to be taken upon y'.
head with the Wise and grave, Det Deus Exiiuftlice.

" June 1712. Upon a further discourse w* M'. PembertoVi upon y» Subject matter
above- written, the s^ M'. Pemberton had a free conference with his Kxcy, from whom
he reported to the Presid'. , that he w'! not have the said presid'. to omitt the Inserting
the Title upon his Acct Upon the whole of All Consideratons the Presid'. Orderl the
Catalogue to be Printed with the Insertion of the Title added to y" Name of C. M." —
J. LeverelVs MS. Diary.

32 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.

a distinct title, so far as to indicate the classes it contained.
The last broadside was issued in 1773.

Family Rank.
In all the Catalogues before 1773, the graduates in each
class are arranged according to their social position or family
rank. Judge Wingate,* when nearly ninety-two years old,
wrote to Mr. Librarian Peirce, 15 February, 1831, respecting
the " excitement " which " was generally called up whenever
a class in College was placed. . . . The scholars were often
enraged beyond bounds for their disappointment in their
place ; and it was some time before a class could be settled
down to an acquiescence in this allotment. The highest and
the lowest in the class was often ascertained more easily
(though sometimes not without difficulty) than the interme-
diate members of the class ; where there was room for un-
certainty whose claim was best, and where partiality no
doubt was sometimes indulged. But I must add, that although
the honor of a place in the class was chiefly ideal, yet there
were some substantial advantages. The higher part of the
class had generally the most influential friends ; and they
commonly had the best chambers in College assigned to them.
They had also a right to help themselves first at table in

* Paine Wingate, son of Paine Wingate, a graduate in 1723, was born 14 May, 1739,
at Araesbury, Mass., where, for more than fifty years, his father was a clergyman.
He graduated in 1759; was ordained at Hampton Falls, N.H., 14 December, 1763; was
dismissed in 1771 ; afterwards was a farmer at Strathara ; member of the State Legisla-
ture; in 1789 a member of Congress under the Confederation; from 1789 to 1793,
United States Senator; from 1793 to 1795, Representative in Congress; and from 1798
till May, 1809, when he attained the age of 70, he was Judge of the Superior Court of
New Hampshire. He died 7 March, 1838, in his 99th year, having outlived all who
were members of College when he was there, all who were members of the U. S.
House of Representatives and of the Senate when he first took his seat, and all (except
Timothy Farrar, a graduate in 1767) who were members of the Court when he was ap-
pointed to the bench. After he was 91 years old, at the solicitation of Mr. Peirce,
who was preparing a History of Harvard University, he wrote several very interesting
and admirable letters, now before me, of which the extracts here given are specimens.
Portions of them are printed in Peirce's History. Judge Wingate married the Hon. Tim-
othy Pickering's sistei-, Eunice, with whom he lived in wedlock about three-quarters
of a century. She survived her husband, and died in 1843, at the age of 100.

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OP HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 33

Commons; and, I believe, generally, wherever there was
occasional precedence allowed, it was very freely yielded to
the higher of the class, by those who were below." — " I think
that the government of the College, in my day, was a com-
plete aristocracy."

Again, he wrote, 2 March, 1831 : —

" The Freshman Class was, in my day at college, usually
placed (as it is termed) within six or nine months after their
admission. The ofScial notice of this was given by having
their names written in a lar^e German text, in a handsome
style, and placed in a conspicuous part of the College But-
tery, where the names of the four classes of Undergraduates
were kept suspended until they left College. If a scholar
was expelled, his name was taken from its place ; or, if he
was degraded (which was considered the next highest pun-
ishment to expulsion), it was moved accordingly. As soon
as the Freshmen were apprised of their places, each one
took his station, according to the new arrangement, at recita-
tion, and at Commons, and in the Chapel, and on all other
occasions. And this arrangement was never afterward
altered, either in College or in the Catalogue, however the
rank of their parents might be varied."

The importance attached to this scale, and the difficulty of
making it unexceptionable, sometimes elicited from the par-
ents communications, detailing reasons for precedence, which
would now be thought ludicrous. Bitter feelings were the
consequence ; and, when a student was degraded for ill-con-
duct, those who, for no misdemeanor, but merely because of
their humbler origin, were still left below him in the class,
were not likely to be heartily reconciled to their position.
An examination of the Catalogue reveals several instances
where there must have been degradations.

There is one well-authenticated instance, in which strenuous
and almost humiliating appeals, even after graduation, by one
who appears to have enjoyed the confidence and respect of

34 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

such a man as Cotton Mather, and who afterward became a
clergyman, were persistently rejected ; and, to this day, his
name stands in the Triennial at the foot of his class.* In

* The following letter, found many years ago among the papers in the office of the
Secretary of the State of Massachusetts by Dr. Shurtlefi", was read before the Society,
9 March, 1865, and accompanied by a communication, which may be found in the
Proceedings under that date.

"M^ Mathee "Mat 19th ABo 1698

" Reverend S^ s

" After my Respects are paid to yo'. self & the Lady yo'. worthy
consort, this is come to inform you that I have not as yet finished yo' book, but intend
that, by y. Last day of this week, (God willing) to put a conclusion thereunto. S'. I
hope you will not impute my tardyness to any thing of unwillingness; but partly to
y' license you sent me, when you last sent y. Original, & partly to my intervening
business. Pray S'. be assured by this that I am not only willing & ready to serve
yoti as far as in me lies, but esteem it an honour to be in your service, wherefore S^ I
hope you will not decline yo' Impos'ing it upon me, at any time when yo' occasions
call for it.

" One favo'. , Worthy S'. ! I should be exceedingly rejoyced to obtain at yo'. benign
hands, if it may not engage yofself in a too great a trouble, which 1 will manifest after
I have p^mised, y'. towards y" End of o'. Sophymoreship by my audaciously calling
freshmen at y^ doo' of y^ Worthy M'. Brattle in a way of contempt, y' Venerable &
Reverend President with ray Tutor, y' well deserving M'. Leverett saw it convenient
to place me y^ Lowest in yt class, whereas before I was placed between S'. Remington
& S'. Whitman.

" Now, S'. my hnmble request is (seing y" Catalogue bass not since been printed, &
is before y. Ensuing Commencem'. to be printed) that you would be pleas' d to motion
to y^ Reverend President, that I may be reduced into my former station — Nothing
S^ can be more grateful! to my Father & Mother, nor any thing more encouraging to
me — I am very Sorry (& desire to be very penitent) that in that as well as in many
other things I have displeased so worthy a Gentleman as y^ President, & so kind a
Tutor as M'. Leverett w'.' y! Revi M'. Brattle, hoping that y. remainder of my days
may be so manidg'd that glory may redown to God, & thereby some satisfaction may
be made for y' wrong I offer'd them — I lye at their feet & hnmbly beg their Pardon
(praying y! Lord to forgive me in & thro his son Jes: Christ) hoping they will
henceforth pretermitt y. offences of my former life, and grant me this favour, which
will much encourage me in my labour & lay me und'. fresh obligations to serve them &
yo'. noble self in any thing y'. I may or can — Had I, S^ ! been placed at first Inferior
to y. rest, I should have been contented & thought it my place, (wherefore S'. I hope
you will not conjecture that pride is y Impulsive cause of this my Petition) but it
being after such a nature as it was, makes me verA' desirous of reducem*. — S' All our
class y'. were placed at first beneath me, have voluntarily manifested unto me y'. they
were very willing I should Enjoy my Antient standing. Thus S^ hoping you will do
vo' Endeavo' & pardon my boldness, I shall at p'seut beg leave to conclude my self

" humble petitioner & hearty Serv".

" Samuel Melten."
"These
To yl Kever'! M'. Cotton Mather
with my hearty Kespects"
P'sent
P' Bishop Elliott "

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OP HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 35

another case, the only man in his class who gained a position
to entitle him to have his name in capital letters, Benjamin
Prat,* of 1737, Chief Justice of the Province of New York,

This Samuel Melyen was the son of Jacob Melyen, of New Haven, who removed to
Boston, where he was a leather-seller, and held the office of constable. Mr. Savage says
(" Genealogical Dictionary," iii. 196), " This son Samuel stands the lowest in the class,
being ninth in the modern catalogues; but, in the old catalogue of the ** Magnalia," the
class contained but eight. I found at the State House a letter ... to Cotton Mather,
begging his aid in restoring him to a higher rank; but the consequence was, that Ma-
ther had his cousin Roland Cotton inserted in the Catalogue as second next after Gov-
ernor Vaughan ; and poor Melyen took nothing but one peg lower by his motion. So that
he had shown greater discretion in keeping quiet than in asking the patronage of his
Boston friend." In 1700-1, Melyen taught the Hadley Grammar School one year for
£38. About the tirst of June, 1704, he was settled over the First Presbyterian Church
at Elizabethtown, N.J. There is a tradition that he was charged with, or strongly sus-
pected of, being intemperate; and that, not long afterward, the choir, soon after he
entered the meeting-house on a Sunday morning, sang a tune which he supposed was
intended for his instruction or admonition. He immediately left the pulpit, and with
his wife walked out of the church, and never again entered it.

Very little importance is to be attached to tradition. If, however, there were any
foundation for the charge against Melyen, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the im-
portance attached to place in the class, and the deep humiliation which he felt at his
degradation, connected with the mortification that his application had not been success-
ful and that he could never be restored, had a tendency to produce discouragement,
and to bring about the result. He died in 1711; and his widow, in November, 1717.

A word as to what Melyen writes respecting the publication of a catalogue in 1698.
His letter seems to imply that none had been printed since 1693, at least: and the fact
that there was an edition in 1700, renders it rather improbable that there was one also
in 1698, only two years before; though it is possible there may have been, and the one
in Mather's "Magnalia" may have been printed from it. I have never seen a copy of
a catalogue of 1698, or any allusion to one, except Melyen's.

* Benjamin Prat, according to Eleazer Franklin Pratt's " Biographical Sketch of
Benjamin Prat," in manuscript, now before me, was grandson of the Phinehas Pratt,
who was instrumental in saving Weston's Company at Wessaguscus, or Weymouth,
and the colony at Plymouth, from being cut off by the Indians in 1623. His "Narra-
tive " is printed in the 34th volume of the " Collections of the Massachusetts Historical
Society." In 1630 he married Mnry, daughter of Degory Priest, whose wife, a sister
of Isaac AUerton, after her husband's death, married Cuthbert Cuthbertson. Pratt
removed to Charlestown, and in 1668 presented to the General Court a document,
stating that he "was the remainder of the forlorn hope of sixty men," that composed
Weston's Colony; that he was "almost frozen in time of our weak beginnings;" that
he was now lame ; and he asked for aid " that might be for his subsistance the remaining
time of his life." In his will he is denominated "joyner." His son Aaron, who settled
at Cohasset, Mass., appears to have been a farmer. His second wife was the widow-
Sarah Cummings, from Woburn, whose maiden name was Wright. Their son, the grad-
uate, was born 13 March, 1710, in the p.art of Hinghara then called Connohasset, which
is now incorporated as Cohasset. He fell from an apple-tree, and injured his leg so badly
that it was finally " taken off" up to the hip, when he was about nineteen years old, at
his father's house." He was fitted for college by the Rev. Nehemiah Hobart of Cohasset,
a graduate in 1714, who married this Prat's half-sister Elizabeth for liis second wife

1128339

36 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

still stands at the bottom, where he was origiDally placed.
The class of 1773, which was the last on the last of the
broadside Triennials, was the first at Harvard College which
was arranged alphabetically, according to the surnames. Al-
though the aristocratic arrangement had been abolished at
Tale College in 1768, I suppose we can hardly conceive of

He entered the Junior Class. He was at Cambridge after graduating, and from 1742 to
1743 was College Librarian. For a short time, perhaps immediately after he took his
first degree, he " preached, or more probably instructed the Indians on the Islands in
Boston harbor.*' He read law with Judge Kobert Auchmuty, and married his daughter
Isabella. He was an indefatigable student, and would be absorbed in books while he
was suffering such pain that large drops of sweat ran down his cheeks. He soon rose
to the first rank in his profession. His oflnce in Boston was on the north side of King,
now State, Street, nearly opposite the pump which formerly stood a few yards east of
the east end of the Old State House. He owned, at Milton Hill, a country seat of about
one hundred and sixty acres, which descended to his daughter Isabella.

At one time he contemplated writing a History of New England, for which he had
admirable talents and rich materials; but he was prevented by the pressure of other
business, and by his increasing infirmities. He occasionally wrote poetry, which was
printed in the newspapers of the day.

From 1757 to 1759 he represented Boston in the Legislature. He was opposed to
Shirley in politics, and was a personal friend and supporter of Pownall. He was made
His Majesty's Advocate-General for Massachusetts. Through Pownall's influenop, the
King, in 1761, appointed him Chief Justice of New York, and one of His Majesty's
Council of that Province. In graphically describing, for a painter, the scene in the
Council Chamber in Boston, where, soon afterward, the discussion was held as to
granting "writs of assistance," John Adams wrote: " In a corner of the room must
be placed, as a spectator and an auditor, wit, sense, imagination, genius, pathos, reason,
prudence, eloquence, learning, and immense reading, hanging by the shoulders on two
crutches, covered with a great cloth coat, in the person of Mr. Pratt, who had been
solicited on both sides, but would engage on neither; being, as Chief Justice of New
York, about to leave Boston for ever."

Prat went to New York, where he^died 6 January, 1763, and was buried under the
chancel in Trinity Church. The " Boston News Letter " of 27 January, 1763, after
announcing his death, has "the following Lines dedicated to his Memory." —

*' TVith ardent love for ancient wisdom fired.
And with a genius Heaven alone inspired,
He rifled Rome of all its mighty store ;
And, still athirst, to Athens went for more.
Both now exhausted, from the modern page,
Fraught with the sense of each preceding age.
He seized its treasures, made them all his own.
And "midst the sons of science greatly shone.
" In him, though science did its rays unite.
And shed around him a distinguished light.

Adorned the man than all his learning's store.

" To heaven now sped, — beyond all mortal ken, —
Ue rivals angels as hu rivalled men."

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD CNITERSITT. 37

the effect which, coming from so important a source as Har-
vard College was then considered, this change must have
produced on the aristocracy, by stripping them of fondly
cherished distinctions ; and on others, by inspiring self-
respect, changing social relations, and advancing the spirit of
liberty and equality.

The Collection of Broadsides in Harvard College Library.

I am not aware of the existence of any other general or
Triennial Catalogues, published as broadsides, than those
which have been noticed. Some of those in the College
Library are mutilated and imperfect, or so worn that in some
places they are illegible. But, with all these imperfections,
the collection is undoubtedly the best which exists. It is the
result of diligent inquiry and search for many years. It has
already been of great value in the investigation of the lives
of Graduates, and has settled biographical questions which
could not otherwise have been put at rest. Different cata-
logues serve to identify a Graduate among several persons
bearing the same name, and to clear up the confusion of
fathers with sons. The prefixing of stars to the names in
the successive editions enables one commonly to ascertain,
within about three years, the time when a graduate probably
died, and thus limits the field of research. A contemporary
Triennial is also of assistance in putting one on the right
track of investigation, by giving the name as spelt or
pronounced at the time of graduation. Every broadside
Catalogue, or fragment of a broadside, which can be added
to the collection in Harvard College Library, will increase
its value, and be gratefully received.

Triennials in Octavo.

The earliest Harvard Triennial, in the octavo form with a
titlepage, was printed at Boston " Typis Thomfe & Johan-
nis Fleet, Academic Typographorum," in 1776; and it is

38 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

noticeable, that this first octavo edition was published in the
first year of the Independence of the United States of
America ; or, as it is expressed on the titlepage, " MDCC-
LXXVI. Annoque Reipublica3 AmericanEe primo." The Tri-
ennial, which then filled but thirty-two pages, has been
published every third year since ; and now, with its Index,
makes a volume of two hundred and thirty-four pages.

Since the formation of the Constitution of Massachusetts, in
1780, the names of ordained clergymen have been printed
in Italics. From that time, too, the institution was, on the
Catalogue, styled " Harvard University " in every edition till
1848, when it was thought by some that the titlepage was
wrong ; and the name of " Harvard College or University at
Cambridge " was adopted. In 1851, the old designation of
" Harvard University," which had been used for about
seventy years, was restored. It was continued in the edi-
tions of 1854 and 1857 ; but, in 1860, the title was again
changed to " Harvard College," which was not altered in the
edition of 1863.

Before the year 1791, no names of officers had been pre-
fixed to the list of Graduates. In the edition of that year,
the back of the titlepage, which had previously been a blank,
was filled with the names of all who had been Presidents, and
with the names of the President, Fellows, and Treasurer at
that time, and of the six Professors. These were followed
by those of the four Tutors, with a specification of the
branches severally taught by them, to which was added

" Qiiorum unufquifque Claffem Rhetorica et Hifloria inftituit."

Then came these statements : —

" Bibliotheca 13000 volumina feledla continet.
" Concl.ive phylicum organis, ad experimenta phylica et obferva-
tionesaftronomicasexhibendumneceflariis, ampliffimeeftornatum."

This form and language, with the exception of the addition
of the Librarian's name, first inserted in 1794, and the omis-

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OP HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 39

sion of the words "Rhetorica et " in 1800, were continued
till 1806.

Changes and Improvements.

The names of all who had been Fellows, Professors, and
Tutors, from 1707, Treasurers from 1640, and Librarians
from 1766, were printed in the edition of 1806. Appended
to the list of " Socii," in this edition, was the note " Sociorum
Tutorumque Catalogum in editione proximo sequente perfec-
tiorem fore speratur;" and 14,000 is substituted for 13,000
as the number of volumes in the Library. This preliminary
part makes five pages, instead of one. In the edition of
1812, it is stated, that the Library contains 15,000 Volumes.
After this, all the notices which are now appropriately in-
serted in the Annual Catalogues were omitted. No important
changes, however, were made for nearly twenty-five years
after the publication of the edition of 1806.

In 1830 the Triennial was issued with substantial paper
covers. The pages were bordered with lines. At the bottom
of each of the classes, the number of the members was desig-
nated. The names of those who were not Alumni of Har-
vard College, but had been admitted ad eundem, or had there
received a medical, law, or honorary degree, instead of being
placed at the end of the class of contemporaneous graduates,
and separated from them by a line, and thus scattered through
the volume, were now put by themselves in appropriate divi-
sions, and arranged chronologically according to the years of
their degrees.

Indexes.

The most important improvement, however, in the edition
of 1830, and one that has been generally adopted by other
institutions, was the addition of the Index. Manuscript in-
dexes had previously been made by a few persons for their
own use. The College Library contains several of these ;
one of which, full bound in calf, has the following preface : —

40 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

" To the honourable and reverend Board of Overseers of Harvard
College in Cambridge, N.E.

" The Original of the following Catalogue, was, at a very great
Expence of Time and Labour, prepared by me, in the year 1761,
in order for the more speedily finding the Names of our worthy
Ancestors, whose memory is precious to me beyond what "Words
can express. — I have taken as fair a Copy of it, as my poor State of
Health, and Hands, would admit of; and the same is, with the utmost
Respect, presented to you for your acceptance, by your, once, for
many years. Brother ; but now

" hearty well Wisher and
most humble Servant

" Fra : Foxcroft.* "
"Camb. March 23^ 1764.

" N.B. This Catalogue includes the Names of the Graduates
in 1763."

At the end we read, —

"Finished, on Friday, the 23? of March 1764."

At the beginning, President Holyoke has written, " The
Gift of the Hon"'; Fran: Foxcroft Esq' to the Library of
Harvard College. 1764. May."

Additions were made to this Index, apparently in President
Holyoke's handwriting, which bring it down to the year 1767
inclusive ; so that it embraces in all two thousand and eighty-
nine names, or about one-fifth of the present number.

In an interleaved Triennial of William Winthrop is a man-
uscript Index, which appears to include the names of all
the graduates before the nineteenth century, and some which
are later. It is not unlikely, that Winthrop, in making it,
availed himself of Foxcroft's labors.

* Francis Foxcroft, son of Colonel Francis Foxcroft of Cambridge, whose wife was
Elizabeth, daughter of Deputy-Governor Danforth, was born 26 January, 1694; gradu-
ated in 1712; and died at Cambridge, 28 March, 1768. He was for many years Regis-
ter of Probate for the County of Middlesex ; was Clerk of tlie House of Representatives ;
Register of Deeds forty-four years; one of His Majesty's Council twenty-six years;
and for thirty years a Judge on the Bench of the Superior Court. Most of these
offices he resigned. His life was one of sorrow and suffering. He lost ten children.
His temper was quick aud almost uncontrollable in his excruciating paroxysms of
gout and pain; "but this was his burden and

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OP HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 41

But the first Index which was printed was made by-
Nathaniel Lord, jun., of Ipswich, a graduate in 1798. It was
published anonymously at Salem, and separate from the
Catalogue, in 1806, in fifty octavo pages. Mr. Lord's name,
as proprietor, appears in the copy-right certificate of the
Clerk of the District of Massachusetts. In the " Preface,"
dated "Aug. 27, 1806," the Editor observes, "that great diffi-
culty appeared in ascertaining the true orthography of many
names. Generally speaking, difficult cases have been deter-
mined by a majority of the last ten editions of the official
catalogue, or other authority which appeared superior."

In 1807, this Index was followed by an "Appendix" of
corrections and additions, also published anonymously at
Salem, in octavo, before the Commencement ; the seventh or
last page containing the names of those who were to be
admitted as Bachelors of Arts in that year. In 1813, a
second edition was printed by Joseph T. Buckingham, of
Boston, in sixty octavo pages ; the sixteenth page being a
" Synopsis," giving the number of the different family names
of the graduates, beginning with each letter of the alphabet,
and the sum total of these names; also, under the same
initial letters, the number of the clergy and of the laity, the
number of the dead and of the living, in each of these two
divisions, and the sum total of all the graduates.

The preparation and publication of these printed Indexes
seem to have been a private enterprise of Mr. Lord ; who
proposed, as he states in the first of them, " to extend the
plan so as to form an alphabetical catalogue of all who have
received any degree at any University or College in New
England," " should this work meet with sufiScient encour-
agement." *

* The Hon. John Kelly, of Exeter, N.H., prepared " a mnnuscript catalogue of the
Graduates and others named in the Triennial Catalogues of all the New-England Col-
leges, with those of New Jersey and Union, from the time tliey were respectively
founded down to 1828." He obligingly put it into the hands of John Farmer, of Concord,

42 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

The first introduction of the Index at the end of the Tri-
ennial, which was in 1830, and the other important improve-
ments made in the edition of that year, by our associate,
Charles Folsom, a graduate in 1813, gave, to it a new char-
acter and interest. The features of this edition were con-
tinued till 1842, with the small changes of printing, in 1833,
in Roman instead of German type the surnames in the Index,
and of carrying back the list of Librarians, from 1766 to
1674, in the edition of 1839.

Thoeough Revision.
Up to this time, I had not given any particular attention
to the Triennial Catalogues, further than sometimes to look
over the proofsheets, and occasionally to transfer to the
printer's copy the stars, which were returned by various per-
sons, to designate the deaths. There was no responsible
editor. In anticipation of the edition of 1842, 1 was reluc-
tantly prevailed on, after repeated applications by our late
associate, Josiah Quincy, then at the head of the University,
to undertake the editorship, and to make a thorough revision
of the work. Accordingly, I examined all the Records of the
Corporation and of the Overseers, and corrected hundreds of
errors, which they revealed. Special pains was also taken to
affix the dates, when they could be found, to all the honorary
as well as to the other degrees, whether conferred by Har-

N.H., -who continued it to the year 1834, revised the whole, compared it with the latest
editions of the Triennials, and then published in "The American Quarterly Register,"
vol. vii. pp. 93, 181, 289, 334, " A List of the Graduates, and those who have received
Degrees, at all of the New-England Colleges." This was followed, in vol. xi. pp. 145,
290, and 415, of the same work, by Mr. Farmer's " List of the Graduates, and those who
have received Degrees at the several Colleges in the States of New York and New
Jersey, from the foundation of each to 1834." The Hon. Mellen Chamberlain, of
Chelsea, Mass., then an undergraduate in Dartmouth College, published, in November,
1842, and February and May, 1843, in vol. xv. pp. 137, 276, and 446, of the same work,
•' A List of the Graduates, and those who have received Degrees at the several Colleges
in New England, New York, and New Jersey, from 1834, and at other Colleges in the
United States from their Foundation to 1841." So that by other hands Mr. Lord's pur-
pose has been carried out more extensively than he contemplated.

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 43

yard or by other Colleges. Particular attention was given to
the filling out of the middle names ; in doing which great
assistance was received from another of our members, Judge
James Gushing Merrill, of the class of 1807.

Obituary Dates.
With the edition of 1845 begins a new era in the history
of the Triennials. At the suggestion of Mr. Justice Joseph
Story, of the class of 1798, an effort was made to procure
and print the dates of the deaths. As the suggestion did not
lead to a determination till late in the season, there remained
but about ten weeks in which to collect all the information
and carry the work through the press. One of the first
points to be settled was the best mode of placing the dates
against the names. Several specimen pages of difi'erent
styles were put in type ; and, after much consideration, the
one particularly recommended by Mr. Folsom, and finally
adopted, was so satisfactory, that it has not been changed.
In order that the obituary dates of the early classes might be
inserted, it was also necessary to delay all the printing as long
as possible. The labor was much facilitated by the previous
researches of many members of this Society. Dr. Eliot, a
graduate in 1772, and Dr. Allen in 1802, in their Biographi-
cal Dictionaries ; Washburn in his " Judicial History of Mas-
sachusetts ; " Farmer in his " Genealogical Register ; " Ward
in his edition of " Curwen's Journal ; " Felt in his Histories
of Ipswich and Salem, — many of them Harvard Graduates,
and all of them members of this Society, — had provided
rich stores of materials. These, as well as the contributions
by members of the Society and others to the " American
Quarterly Register," together with town histories, files of
newspapers, and all other means of information which could
be turned to account within the limited time, were freely
used. The object was so far accomplished, that the Cata-
logue, with an " Advertisement," stating the facts, and asking

44 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.

for corrections and additions, was issued in due time, with
the obituary dates of more than three thousand, or about
three-fourths of all the deceased. The work was distributed
with many misgivings, considering the circumstances under
which it had been prepared, and was regarded as beginning
imperfectly what it was hoped future editions would present
with greater accuracy and completeness. It was found, how-
ever, to be as accurate as works of a similar character com-
monly are. The plan became popular ; and now it is gener-
ally adopted by other Colleges and literary institutions.

Interi,eaved Triennials.

In addition to the sources of information which have been
named, the results of the labors of four persons, who pre-
pared interleaved copies for their own use, were of such im-
portance as to deserve particular notice.

1. The Gilman Interleaved Triennial, the oldest interleaved
Catalogue of which I have any knowledge, contains manuscript
notes by the Rev. Nicholas Gilman, who was born at Exeter,
N.H., 18 January, 1707, graduated at Harvard College in
1724 ; was ordained at Durham, N.H., where he died 13
April, 1748, and was " borne in funeral procession by young
men of the town, — who requested the privilege of perform-
ing this service," — to be buried in the place of his nativity.
It is a broadside, of the edition of 1733, cut into columns,
and pasted on the left-hand margin of consecutive pages of
foolscap paper folded so as to make it a very small octavo.
There are twenty-nine of these pages, each a little less than
four inches wide, and a little more than six inches long ; thus
affording about as much room for manuscript notes as the
printed columns themselves occupy. At the end, three
pages of the same size are covered with additional notes.
Of course the memoranda extend no later than to the Gradu-
ates in 1733. They are very brief, and not always correct ;
but of some Graduates they furnish the only information

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OF HARVABD UNIVERSITY. 45

which has been found. On the outside of the original paper
cover is written, " Nich? Gilman, 1737." Under it is, " Nich?
Gilman, Exoniensis, Pastor Ecclesice Dunelmiaj." On the
outside of the cover, at the end of the book when reversed,
is " Reuben Daniel, Octf 9, 1742. For London bound. -Dur-
ham in New England." Below, in a different hand-writing,
but in the same as on the first cover, is " Never reached
Durham ; " under which, repeated, is the line of Virgil, —

" Oh mihi prseteritos referat si Jupiter annos ! "

This copy, which is now bound, was not used in preparing
the edition of 1845, when the obituary dates were first in-
serted ; but it has been examined since. It was given to the
Library of Harvard College, 20 July, 1846, by Mr. Folsom,
who is Mr. Gilman's great-grandson.

2. The Belknap Interleaved Triennial measures a little
more than seven inches by nine, and is half-bound in sheep,
the sides being covered with the peculiar marble paper in
common use nearly a century ago. Not long after the publi-
cation of the Triennial of 1845, it was sent to me by the late
John Belknap, Esq., of Boston, son of Jeremy Belknap, D.D.,
of the class of 1762, who was one of the founders of this
Society. Subsequently, Mr. Belknap readily acceded to my
proposition to give it to the College Library, where it was
permanently placed, 3 September, 1846. The edition is of
1791, and contains the manuscript notes of the Historian of
New Hampshire. Commonly two quarto leaves of writing
paper alternate with the smaller-sized printed leaf. Dr. Bel-
knap seems to have had in view something more than notices
of the Graduates ; for, at the beginning, are extracts from
" New England's First Fruits," Winthrop's " Journal," Ma-
ther's " Magnalia," and Hutchinson's " History," in relation
to the College. To the Doctor's memoranda are additions
by another hand, probably that of the Rev. Dr. John Eliot,
of Boston.

46 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

3. The Winthrop Interleaved Triennial, with its manuscript
Index, each page measuring about seven and a half inches by
nine and a half, is bound in half-sheep ; and the wearing
away of the paper on the sides, the soiled leaves, and the
Worn edges, bear testimony to its great service. It was
lent to me while preparing the edition of the Triennial
of 1845 ; and subsequently, at my earnest solicitation, it was
given to the College Library by the heirs of the Compiler,
through the late Abraham Hilliard, Esq., his executor. With
the exception of very brief notices of " Settled Ministers
(in the first Parish) in Cambridge," which are on the inside
of the first cover, the manuscript memoranda pertain to the
Graduates. The titlepage is dated 1794; but Classes were
subsequently added till the publication of the edition of
1812. The Catalogues were cut into single columns, and
pasted on the extreme left of consecutive pages, leaving no
margin either at the top or the bottom, or on the left-hand
side. Of course the only room for memoranda is the single
line continued from the right of the name across the page.
There is much interlineation, made at different times with
ink of different shades ; and it is not always easy at first to
disentangle it, and decide to what individuals the notices
belong. As the names of ordained clergymen became Itali-
cized in successive editions, they were cut out and very
neatly pasted over the names which were originally printed
in Eoman letters. A copy of the manuscript notes in this
Triennial, made many years ago for the Massachusetts His-
torical Society, is in the Library. The Library also contains
various letters to "Winthrop, respecting the Graduates, as well
as memoranda by him ; which Mr. Hilliard told me he lent to
our early co-adjutor, the Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D., of Cam-
bridge, who brought them to our Library, where they were
when Dr. Holmes died. The pioneer of American geneal-
ogists, John Farmer, and others, often refer to this Winthrop
Triennial, which contains the results of the labors of William

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 47

Winthrop of Cambridge, a graduate in 1770, who died in
1825, and was a member of this Society.

4. The Pierce Interleaved Triennials begin with the edition
of 1791, which was published when the Rev. Dr. Pierce was
an Undergraduate, and end with the one issued in 1848, the
year before he died. On the first of these is " John Pierce,"
written in the vigorous hand of his early years ; to which, in
the uncertain hand induced by disease, were added, a short
time before his death, the words, " leaves this Catalogue to
be used by the Rev. John L. Sibley so long as he shall desire
it, and then to be lodged in the Library of the Mass. His.
Soc>'." Dr. Pierce wrote words of the same import on each
of his other nineteen Triennials. During this period of more
than half a century, he was continually recording facts. His
enthusiasm, his very extensive acquaintance, and the cordi-
ality with which he was everywhere and at all times wel-
comed, enabled him to procure more information respecting
Graduates than could probably have been obtained by any of
his contemporaries. Though his manuscript " Diary," in eigh-
teen volumes, which was bequeathed to the Society, contains
an accumulation of facts, there is much to be gathered from
the condensed statements in these twenty Triennials, some of
which were always at hand, and were oftener consulted than
his almanacs.

The edition of 1791 contains no manuscript memoranda,
but stars prefixed to the names of those who died before the
next one was issued in 1794. On the latter, he wrote, " Na-
tive Places ; " and against most of the names, he recorded
the places where the Graduates were born, or where they
had their homes when they entered College. This plan he
continued in each succeeding Triennial, for each of the three
additional Classes, even after the necessity was superseded
by the publication of the Annual Catalogues.

The copy on which he spent the most labor was the inter-
leaved one of 1806. The facts recorded in this are frequently

48 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

repeated in his other Catalogues, in words somewhat diiTer-
ent ; and, when he noticed the death of a Graduate in a later
edition, he sometimes gave more details. But, in the one of
1806, he was in the habit of making memoranda respecting
all whose names it contained. The importance he attached
to it is apparent from the great satisfaction with which, more
than once, he remarked to me, that Dr. Sprague of Albany-
considered the manuscript information so valuable that he
had it all copied.

Results of the Edition of 1845.

The time of the pubhcation of the Triennial of 1845 —
for the improvements in which we owe so much to the inter-
leaved copies which have been noticed, as well as to other
sources �� was favorable for the change then made. Aged
Graduates were living, who could give information extending
back to the middle of the eighteenth century. There were
young men whose tastes lay in that direction, and who
were prompted, by its new features, to render assietance. A
few years later, and the aged would have been gone, and
with them a large portion of the information which has been
secured ; and the tastes of these young men might have taken
a different turn.

From that time to this, there has been a generous co-
opei'ation by many besides Graduates in communicating obit-
uary dates and other memoranda respecting their ancestors,
and other relatives and friends. The dates of the deaths of
some of the three or four hundred, which seemed to defy
research, mysteriously come up to be inserted in each new
edition. An unprecedented interest has been awakened in
what at first appears to be little else than a list of names.
An importance is attached to the Triennial which was not
wont to be attributed to it. The addition of the Index and
of the Obituary Dates has made it a suggestive document. It
has led to inquiries and researches respecting the lives and
fortunes of the Alumni.

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OP HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 49

I hardly Deed say, that one of oui- associates has felt a new-
interest ; and, by his vigilance and industry, has not only con-
tributed materially to the correctness of the succeeding editions
of the Triennial, but has honored himself, the University,
and this Society, by the succession of Necrologies, which, for
several years, have appeared on Commencement mornings in
the " Boston Daily Advertiser," doing justice to those who
were well known, and preserving many worthy and modest
graduates from undeserved oblivion.* Other persons have
been prompted to collect, for preservation, biographical mate-
rials, which, in the hands of our successors, if not in our day,
•will be made useful.

Distribution of the Copies.
In the mean time, the Catalogues have always been ready
for distribution on the Commencement days when they were
due. The number printed in 1863 was two thousand five
hundred ; and one copy was given to each person whose
name appeared in it, and who applied for it. Previously,
back to a time not recorded, the edition consisted of three
thousand copies ; and, several years ago, each Graduate was
entitled to three copies.

Late Editions.
In 1851, for the first time, a separate list of the names of
those who had completed their course of study in the Divin-
ity School was added to the Catalogue, on the ground, that,
though they received no degrees, — which was the reason
why the names were not previously inserted, — they were as
much entitled to a place there as Graduates of the other
Schools of the University. As most of this class become

* Since these "Notices" were read before the Society, the Necrologies have been
collected and printed in an octavo volume, with the title, " Necrology of Alumni at
Harvard College, 1851-52 to 1862-63. By Joseph Palmer, of the Class of 1820."
7

50 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

ordained ministers, their names have never been printed in
Italics, except in the Index.

In 1854, upon the suggestion and encouragement of Charles
Sanders, of the class of 1802, a list of the College Stewards
was added.

The editions of 1860 and 1863 contained the following

"Appeal to Graduates and Others.
" For several years, efforts have been made to collect materials for
a biographical dictionary of Harvard College graduates. Of some,
it has not been possible to ascertain even the place and time of their
birth and death ; and, of others, there is absolutely nothing known
but the name on the Triennial Catalogue. In many cases I have
not been able to learn if there are any descendants or relatives to
whom application can be made for information. In order that just-
ice may be done, as far as possible, to all, and to obtain materials
for a full biogi'aphical sketch of every Graduate, I take the liberty,
respectfully, but urgently, to reiterate my appeal to the Graduates,
and other friends of the College, for answers to the accompanying
questions respecting ancestors or relatives whose names may be on
the Triennial, or any Graduate who may ever have lived in the towns
"where they reside : —

1. Name of the Graduate.

2. His father's occupation and name, with his mother's and her

parents' names.

3. Place, year, month, and day of the Graduate's birth.

4. Eesidences, occupations, journeys, and incidents before entering

College, with their respective dates.

5. What first led him to think of going to College.

6. Places of study and teachers before entering College, with the

dates.

7. When admitted to College.

8. Struggles in getting an education.

9. Incidents, tastes, and habits in College, with College prizes,

honors, class appointments, &c.
10. Occupations and residences from the time of graduating, with

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OP HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 51

11. If he studied a profession, where, when, and with whom; if a

clergyman, of what denomination, when and where settled ; if
a lawyer, when and where admitted to the bar.

12. All oflices, honors, and titles, with the dates ; all societies of

which he was a member.

13. If married, when, to whom ; the names of the wife's parents in

full ; and the place, time, &c., of her death, if deceased. If
married more than once,< the same information in regard to
succeeding marriages.

14. Disease of which he died, with the circumstances, place, and

day of his death.

15. Travels, incidents, hereditary tendencies, peculiarities, tastes,

and particularly anecdotes illustrative of his habits and course
of life, or which will give interest to a biographical sketch.

16. A full and exact title of every book or pamphlet written or

edited, with notices of manuscripts left by him.

17. Genealogical details of his ancestors and descendants.

18. Obituaries, eulogies, or funeral sermons respecting him.

"It is not supposed that all these questions are pertinent to every
Graduate, or that there is any case in which all of them can be
answered ; but it will be gratifying to receive a reply, though it be in
answer to only one of the questions, and relating to but one person.
At the same time, no communication, though it should cover many
pages, can be too long or too minute.

" It is also very important in all cases to have the Christian and
middle names written in full, and to have as many dates as possible.
The dates, in addition to the year, should always contain the month,
and the day of the month, whenever they can be ascertained.

" The value of the communications will depend on their accuracy.
The sources from which much of the desired information may be
derived are town, church, probate, and family records, deeds, news-
papers, interleaved almanacs, manuscript diaries, and inscriptions on
gravestones and monuments.

" Answers from Graduates in relation to themselves are respectfully
solicited, as they are more likely to be full and correct than if given
by othei-s after their decease.

" I may add that I am desirous of obtaining the Triennials pub-
lished before the year 1800, and particularly any one published on
sheets before the year 1776, as the addition of the stars to the sue-

52 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

cessive editions commonly furnishes an approximation to the dates
of the deaths.

" It is important that the communications be received as early as
practicable. They may be addressed to John Lakgdon Sibley,
Librarian of Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass."*

* This " Appeal," and the statements which have been already made, are, to some
extent, an answer to the inquiry as to what means have been taken, particularly by
myself, to collect and preserve materials for biographical sketches of the Harvard
Graduates. A brief communication on this subject, which I was requested to prepare,
was printed, in 1855, in the "Memories of Youth and Manhood. By Sidney Willard."

The information in the Records of the Corporation, of the Overseers, and of the
College Faculty, respecting graduates before 1732, is marvellously meagre and unsatis-
factory. From that year, with the exception of a considerable part of President
Kirkland's administration, the Faculty Records purport to contain the ages of the
Students, and the places of their residence when they entered College. The dates of
the births begin with the class which was graduated in 1741. At first, these statistics
were incorporated with the regular proceedings of the Faculty. They cease to be
found there after the year 1817, with the exception of those for the class of 1824,
which was admitted in 1820. In 1823, a separate book was made, in which, on being
admitted, the students wrote their names, and " respectively engaged and promised
to observe and conform to the laws and regulations made for the government of the
students of Harv.ird College" No memoranda were made but of the "Names of
Parent or Guardian " till the " Residence " was affixed to those who were admitted in
1826. In 1830, President Quinoy resumed the old custom of recording the age and the
birthday; to which was added, in 1831, "By whom offered." This form continued,
without essential modifications, till 1860. In that year, at the request of President
Felton, I planned a blank-book to give more deBniteness to some of the statistics.
These are now recorded iu a tabular form, and embrace the name in full, with the
year, month, and day of birth, and of admission, together with the age on the day of
admission; the place of birth, as well as the present residence; the class to which the
student is admitted; the name of the person who offered him for examination; the
names of his father and mother, and of his guardian, if he has any.

From these and other sources, I began, many years ago, to insert, in a tabular form,
in a large volume, ruled and bound for the purpose, and admitting of continuations, the
most important dates and events in the lives of the Graduates; and the book now
contains more collected information, probably, than any other work of the kind.

But little attention was given to preparing and distributing, for corrections and
additions, interleaved Triennijjls before President Quincy's administration. The manu-
script additions of the honors received, and of stars to the names of those who had
died, which was all the information required for a new edition, could he made on the
common margins. A few interleaved copies were sent out; and a few were prepared
by individuals for their own convenience. The manuscript memoranda, returned in
those which were distributed in 1839, were transferred to one of these copies when the
edition of 1842 was prepared for the press. From that time to this, on the publica-
tion of each new edition, ten or twelve substantially bound interleaved copies, to be
returned in the April or May before the issuing of the next edition, have been dis-
tributed to persons interested in the subject; and the information thus gained has been
transferred, for preserv.ation, to one of the copies, as in 1843. In these copies, with
the exception of what is derived from catalogues of other institutions, are commonly

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OP HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 53

This " Appeal " was the result of careful thought, and was
intended to be so comprehensive, and at the same time so

recorderl the authorities for all the changes which have been made, even to the
or addition of a letter in a name.

Beginning with the year 1842, 1 have received what now makes a large collection
of letters, memoranda, iStc, relating to Graduates ; and they are chronologically arranged
and preserved, with a view to their being ultimately bound.

I have also been making a collection, from newspapers, of biographical sketches,
obituaries, and notices of appointments to office, and other honors, to be arranged and
bound in the order of the graduation of the individuals mentioned. This collection is
already large ; but the number of newspapers which falls under the eye of one person is
comparatively small: and it is to be regretted that Graduates do not forward for preser-
vation such notices as they mget with; for this would throw much light on the his-
tory of the University.

I have examined with much care nearly seventy thousand pamphlets, and probably
more than twenty thousand volumes, in the College Library, omitting biographical
dictionaries, local histories, and other kindred works of reference, since these would
naturally be consulted in searching for biographical information ; and have indexed
the allusions which they contain to Graduates.

In the year 1849, I began to solicit interviews with all the members of the several
classes as they were successively graduating ; and most of them willingly communicated
to me, viva voce, the prominent incidents in their lives, and allowed me to jot them
down. The value of such a record was commonly acknowledged; and by perseve-
rance, and the co-operation of individuals who were interested in such subjects, much
useful information was collected, which, at the time being deemed of little conse-
quence by those who gave it, would otherwise have been lost. The topics to which
attention was directed were the places and dates of their birth; their parents; their
paternal and maternal ancestors; the schools and academies where they studied;
teachers by whom they were fitted for College, and the time of their admission; their
vocations or trades; voyages and travels; places and seasons of teaching schools; the
books or pamphlets which they had written; striking incidents and accidents; favorite
pursuits, predilections, tScc. As these and similar topics were successively introduced,
eacli one was left to reply or not, as he chose; and no record was made of any thing
to which he objected. All were requested to be communicative, to any extent they
pleased, beyond the topics suggested. By some, the information given was quite
limited, their lives being very uneventful. The details of others were so various, the
"pursuit of knowledge under difficulties" was so peculiar, and the experience so
strange, that there might be made a volume of selections which, at times, would
border on romance. The details, with a view to secure accuracy, after being written
down, were often read to the individuals, or by them; and they conferred the additional
favor of putting to them their signatures. This course was pursued till the classes
became so large, and my duties as Librarian of the University so pressing, that time
could not be found to continue them properly. . I have, however, been able occasion-
ally to make similar memoranda in relation to Graduates of long standing;, and, in
these cases, the sketches are carried forward so as to embrace their professions, various
resiliences, honors, family relations, publications, &c. In connection witli these, I have
examined extensive files of newspapers and other works in the libraries in Boston,
Worcester, and New York, and transcribed from them such portions as were not
easily to be found elsewhere. Sometimes I have copied maimscript letters which
have fallen under my observation. These " Manuscript Collections respecting Har-

54 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.

minute, as to cover every thing which could be said respect-
ing any Graduate. It has not eUcited so many replies as
could be reasonably expected.

vard College Graduates, consisting of Verbal Communications, Copies of JIanuscript
Letters, and Extracts from Newspapers and other Periodicals," already fill nearly
seven hundred very closely written pages, each having a generous margin for the
binding. Of their value we can judge by the importance we should attach to such a
collection, covering the entire period of the history of the College.

To make all these materials available, a Triennial of the edition of 1S48 was pre-
pared, with six blank leaves for each printed leaf. In this I have made an Index of all
the references to Graduiites found in my examination of the works in the College Library,
of all allusions to Graduates in ray private letters and memoranda, and newspaper cut-
tings, and in the "Manuscript Collections," above mentioned. In addition to all these,
the Index contains references to Graduates in numerous files of newspapers. Thus it
is easy to recur at once to all the sources of information respecting Graduates which I
have, or which I know of.

Of these collections and references I have availed myself to write extended bio-
graphical sketches of the Graduates during the first twenty years of the eighteenth
century, and, at this date (June, 1865), of about fifty-four years of the preceding cen-
tury. As soon as those for the intervening years (1696-1700) are written, and all are
carefully revised, it will be reasonable to consider the expediency of beginning to print
them. Increasing age admonishes me that I can work up but a small part of these mate-
rials; and that what remains, together with the "Index," the making of which, con-
tinued through more than fifteen years, has already cost me more time and labor than
all the rest, will contribute more than can well be appreciated to lighten the labors of
others who may come after me, by pointing at once to extensive sources of informa-
tion, which I shall continue industriously to enlarge as heretofore.

I think the present system of Class-Books, or Historical Records, originated with
the Class of 1827 ; though, of late years, some of the earlier classes have procured
Class-Books, and recorded in them such information as could be collected. In order
that there may be uniformity in the volumes, a pattern for the style of the ruling and
the size of the paper is now kept by the College Librarian. The election of Senior-
Class Officers is made shortly before, or immediately after, each Winter vacation. Of
late years, as the classes are so large that there would not be sufficient time for all the
members to prepare .and copy their lives into a bound volume, the Class Secretary
frequently procures the paper, and has it stitched into portions, each containing three
or four sheets, according to the number of pages allowed to each individual. Com-
monly two names, following each other alphabetically, are put into each of the por-
tions. These sheets are then distributed among the members of the class, each of
whom writes an account of his life, and returns the sheets to the Class Secretary
about the time of the Spring Recess, near the end of May. The sheets are then bound.
AVith them are often bound manuscript copies of the Oration, Poem, Ode, Order of
Exercises, Sic, on Class Day; to which is sometimes added information in relation to
the general history of the class.

The writers commonly make their biographical sketches before they have much
experience in this kind of composition; and I am informed there are instances in
which tliey have subsequently become so dissatisfied, that they have removed them
from the books. Since I was obliged, in 1856, to abandon the practice of making notes
myself, I have had an interview with each class secretary, soon after his election, and

1864.] TRIENNIAL CATALOGUES OP HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 55

I have now noticed all the important changes and improve-
ments in the Triennial Catalogue. During the quarter of a
century, in which I have edited it eight times, — a longer
period, perhaps, than any other person has had charge of it, —
the " Numerus Integer" has been increased from 6,311 to
10,155, and the number of pages from 133 to 234. Without
counting the additions to be made since the last edition was
issued in 1863, I have prefixed stars to 1,120, or nearly one-
fourth of the 4,761 Alumni who have died since the first Class
was graduated in the year 1642.

Connection of the University with the Histoiiical Society.

In preparing these " Notices," I have been forcibly struck
with one fact which never occurred to me before, and which
makes the subject particularly appropriate for our considera-

given to him a series of questions, as a basis on which the members of the class might
write their lives in a narrative form. These questions, with some modifications, have
generally been circulated ; and, within a few years, they have been regularly printed
for distribution at the same time with the stitched sheets. The questions relate partic-
ularly to facts and dates, and have served to keep the writers, in some measure, from
indefinite and unsatisfiictory generalities. The Class-Books are left with the Class
Secretaries, whose duty it is, after graduation, to continue the record, so far as practi-
cable; and each member is expected to keep him intimately acquainted with his own
personal history. When the last survivors of a class pass away, the Class-Book is to
become the property of the Library of Harvard University.

Occasionally a wise provision has been made by a class, that, for private distribu-
tion among themselves, a few copies of biographical sketches of each of the members
shall be printed regularly at intervals of two, three, or five years; preference being
given to the year when the Triennial Catalogue is issued.

Nearly all the members of the class of 1852 placed their daguerreotypes in the
College Library. For each of the succeeding classes, there is a volume of photographs,
not restricted to the persons who graduate, but often including persons who have been
members of the class, College officers, and others employed at the College at the time,
as well as views of the buildings from difi'erent points, and of scenery in Cambridge.
A set of the photographs is commonly presented by the photographer, and bound by
the class. Already they are beginning to be instructive by suggesting the changes of
costume since the first were taken, and by showing the progress made in the art of
photography. The series, if continued, will become one of the most interesting objects
at the University. Copies of the pictures, at the time of their being taken, are multi-
plied at small cost; and hardly any one graduates without carrying away a set of
photographs of his classmates.

Thus I have answered, perhaps too minutely, the question which led to the intro-
duction of this note.

56 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.

tion. Almost every important change in the Triennial has
been made or suggested by some one whose name is on our
list of members, so that its history for a century is intimately
connected with the historical researches of persons who have
been members of the Society. Perhaps it may be said, that
more has been done for the history of the College, directly
and indirectly, by members of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, than by all the Graduates who have not been mem-
bers of it ; and of the Graduates, who, since this Society was
chartered, have contributed bountifully to literature and his-
tory, how few there are whose names are not on our roll !
So far as there is a similarity of purpose, the two institutions
have co-operated in the work for which this Society was
particularly incorporated. The aim of both has been for a
high elevation, from which to look at truth, and develop in
the loftiest spirit whatever illustrates history and kindred
topics ; without the question, or even the thought, whether
in so doing the one or the other is the most successful.
Tlie history of the Triennial is identified both with Harvard
College and with the Massachusetts Historical Society.

1864.] ANNUAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 57

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1839-40
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1846-47

1864.] ANNUAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 59

600
2000
2000
2000
2000
1260
2000
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1500
1500

250
2000
1500
2600
1500
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1500
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4600
1600
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1600
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1600
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1250
5000
2600
5000
3000
4600
4000
4600
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588

596

573

549

566

577

584

596

604

606

626

631

649

652

656

659

700

707

669

705

710

666

669

661

697

679

734

700

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757

762*

860*
896
869

814
822
819
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1849-50
1850-51
1850-51
1850-51*
1851-52
1851-52
1852-53
1852-53
1852-53
1852-53
1853-54
1863-64
1863-54
1854-55
1854-55
1864-55
1856-56
1855-56
1856-57
1866-67
1867-68
1857-58
1868-59
1868-59
1858-59
1858-59
1859-60

1860-61
1860-61
1861-62
1862-63
1863-64
1863-64
1864-65
1864-65

60 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETT. [OcT.

Remarks.
The preceding " Analysis " contains a complete list of all
the editions of the Annual Catalogues which I have been
able to collect during a long period of diligent inquiry and
research. For many years, the different editions have not
been prepared by resetting the types, but by printing from
types left standing ; such alterations and additions being
made as were necessary.

Annual Sheet Catalogues.

1803. The first printed Annual Catalogue was a broadside,
issued at '^Cambridge October, 1803," with the title, — "A
Catalogue of the Members of Harvard University Cam-
bridge." It contained no names whatever, except those of
the Students. Over these stood the names of the Classes to
which they respectively belonged. The " Senior Class " was
placed in two columns over the " Junior Class ; " and the
" Sophomore Class," in the same way, over the " Freshman
Class." The Places of residence were printed, but not the
Rooms. A dagger (f) was prefixed to several of the names ;
and at the bottom of the sheet was a note, stating that
" t Those with this mark prefixed to their Names, have left
College." The practice of enrolling persons whose connec-
tion with the College was terminated, has long been discon-
tinued. President Quincy opposed the inserting of the name
of any one who did " not answer at roll-call."

1804. The title was changed to " Catalogue of the Mem-
bers of Harvard College, Cambridge." Each class occupied
a column extending from the top to the bottom of the sheet.
The Booms were inserted in columns between the Names and
Places of residence. A star was prefixed to the name of
Joseph Barker of the Sophomore Class, from Marblehead.
At the bottom of the sheet was " Cambridge, October, 180-1."
"Note. H. for Hollis Hall, M. Massachusetts Hall, C. H. Col-

1864.] ANNUAL CATALOGUES OP HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 61

lege House. * Dead, f Those with this mark have left
College."

C.H., or " College House," sometimes called " Wiswall's
Den," stood near the south side of the present junction of
Church Street with Harvard Square ; but it projected further
upon the Square than the present " College House." Church
Street was not then opened.

1805. The names of the Classes were printed in Old Eng-
lish instead of Roman letters. The columns designating
Rooms and Places of residence were transposed. " Stough-
ton Hall," now first occupied, was called " New Hall." For
the first time there is a summary of the students. It is put
under the Freshman Class. " Cambridge, October, 1805. . . .
[ W. Hilliard, Printer."* The sheet is surrounded by a fancy
border.

1806, October. " New Hall " takes the name " Stoughton
Hall."

1808, October. The classes are designated as " Senior
Sophisters," "Junior Sophisters," "Sophomores," and "Fresh-
men."

1809, October. " Bev. Samuel Webber, D.D. President."
This is the first edition in which the names of the President,

* There is nothing to show by whom the previous, and some of the subsequent,
editions were printed ; but " W. Hilliard, Printer," appears on the Catalogues of 1805,
1806, and 1807. In 1809, 1811, 1812, and 1816, the imprint was " Hilliard and Metcalf,
printers." From 1819 to 1825 it was "University Press — Hilliard and Metcalf;" and,
in 1826 and 1827, " University Press — Hilliard, Metcalf, and Co." From 1828 to 1831,
it was " Published by Hilliard and Brown." In 1832 and 1833, the word " Published "
was omitted, and the names are " Brown, Shattuck, and Company; " for which, in 1834,
is substituted " Charles Folsom, Printer to the University." In 1835, the imprint was
"Cambridge: James Munroe and Company, Booksellers to the University. Boston:
134 Washington Street;" and in 1836, "Cambridge Press: Metcalf, Torry, and Bal-
lou." From 1837 to 1840, it was "Folsom, Wells, and Thurston;" in 1841, "Thomas
G. Wells;" in 1842 and 1843, "Metcalf, Keith, and Mchols;" and from 1844 to
1850-51 (Second Term), " Metcalf and Company," — all from 1837 being designated as
"Printers," or "Printer," "to the University." From 1851 to 1858-59 (First Term),
it was "John Bartlett, Bookseller to the University;" and, since that time, it has been
" Sever and Francis, Booksellers to the University." The word " Cambridge " appears
from 1803 to 1808; and, with the exception of "a new edition" printed in Boston in
1835, it is on all the catalogues from 1819 to the present time.

62 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.

Professors, Tutors, Librarian, Regent, and Proctors are
printed. The title is changed to " Catalogue of the Officers
and Students of Harvard University, Cambridge." The
names of the classes are printed in lower-case type.

1810, October. " Rev. John Thornton Kirkland, D.D.
LL.D. President."

1811, October. Resident Graduates are introduced. At
first, these were mostly, if not entirely, students in divini-
ty.* Subsequently the list included those who had com-
pleted their theological course, and were candidates for
settlement in the ministry. In the " Analysis," when the
Candidates and Students are not distinguished in the Cata-
logue, they are placed with Divinity Students ; when the
Candidates are distinguished, they are classed with Resident
Graduates.

1816, October. The names of the Classes are printed in
black-letter.

1817, October. The " Rooms " of the " Resident Gradu-
ates," and " 2 C.H. 2d College House, and 3 C.H. 3d College
House," are for the first time printed. The Second College
House stood on or near the spot now occupied by the Stew-
ard's Office and the Charles-River Bank in the lower story
of the south end of what was once " Graduates' Hall," but is
now called " College House." The Third College House was
on the east corner of Dunster and Harvard Streets. It does
not appear on the Catalogues after 1823 being afterward

* Although there were probably, from the infancy of the College, Graduates or
others residing in Cambridge for the purpose of stndying divinity, there have been but
two separate catalogues of the Divinity Students. The first, of eight octavo pages,
dated August 10, 1836, issued by Professor John Gorham Palfrey, D.D., was somewhat
of the nature of a Circular or letter, giving and soliciting information. The names of
tiie Students who had joined the School were arranged under the years of their
admission. The other catalogue was prepared by the writer of these " Notices," and
published in July, 1844. The names were placed under the years when the Students
finished their studies at the School. To these were added some items of information
as to the places of birth, graduation, and settlement; changes of oocnpation; resi-
dences, deaths, &c.

1864.] ANNUAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 63

again used for a private dwelling-house, and for other pur-
poses. "2 C.H." disappears in 1835. "C.H." was taken
down in 1844, and disappears in the Second-Term Catalogue
of 1844r-45. It was purchased by the College in 1774.

1818, October. Title changed to " Catalogue of the Offi-
cers and Students of the University at Cambridge." The
names and residences of " Students attending Medical Lec-
tures, 1817-18," are printed.

This was the last of the broadside, or sheet, Annual Cata-
logues.*

Annual Catalogues in Octayo.

1819, October. The first Annual Catalogue printed in an
octavo form ; stitched, and issued without covers. Page 1,
tlie title ; viz., " Catalogue of the Officers and Students of
the University in Cambridge ; " 2, " Abbreviations " for the
names of the buildings occupied; 3, "Members of the Cor-
poration;" 4 and 5, "Officers of Instruction and Govern-
ment ; " 6, " Candidates for the Ministry, and Theological
Students. S:^" The Candidates are designated by Italic
characters." The list also occupies a part of page 7, on
which are also " Law Students " and " Resident Medical Stu-
dents;" 8 and 9, "Students attending Medical Lectures,
1818-19," with their "Residence;" 10 to 16, "Undergrad-
uates," arranged according to Classes. The heading " Resi-
dent Graduates " is omitted.

1820, October. " Overseers " first introduced ; being placed
on the page following that containing the " Corporation."
At the end of the Catalogue are four pages, which can be
detached and distributed as Circulars. They contain the

* In the "Analysis" is given the number who attended the last course of Medical
Lectures which had been delivered previously to the printing of the Catalogue; so
that, except in the Second Term Catalogues, the medical students are those who .attended
the Medical Lectures nearly a year before. Separate Annual Catalogues of the Medi-
cal School have commonly been issued ; but, as no one appears to have takeu enough
interest in them to save a file, the editions cannot be designated.

64 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

" Course of Instruction for Undergraduates in Harvard Col-
lege, October, 1820, for the ensuing Year." This appears to
have been the initiatory step towards printing the general
information which now occupies an important portion of the
Catalogues ; though every thing of the kind was occasionally
omitted after this.

1823. The Vacations, Commencements, and Exhibitions
are now first mentioned.*

1824. The last octavo edition.

* The following notices are taken from the different Annual Catalogues in which
they first appear, —

1823. Commencement on the last Wednesday in August. Vacations four weeks
and two days from Commencement; seven weeks from the fourth Friday in Decem-
ber; and two weeks from the third Friday in May.

'* Any student may have leave to spend the annual Thanksgiving with his friends
from Wednesday next preceding, after the morning exercise, till the Saturday next
following." At this time, there were always recitations before breakfast. "The
Seniors may retire from College the seventh Tuesday before Commencement."

1825. Vacations two weeks from the Wednesday preceding the twenty-fifth day of
December; two weeks from the first Wednesday in April; and the six weeks next
preceding Commencement.

1838-9. Commencement on the fourth Wednesday in August. Two Terms in-
stead of three. The First Term, of twenty weeks, begins on the following Friday, and
is succeeded by a vacation of six weeks, which is followed by another Term of twenty
weeks, after which is vacation till the Friday succeeding Commencement.

1848-49. Commencement on the third Wednesday of July; thus preceding instead
of following the Summer vacation of six weeks.

1849-50. From Tuesday evening till Saturday evening of the week in which is the
last Wednesday in May, and also in Thanksgiving week, there are Recesses, which, in
1851-52, were extended till Sunday evening.

1865. While these "Notices" are passing through the Press (June, 1865), the
following changes are made. " The academical year is divided into two Terms of
twenty weeks each, separated by a vacation of four weeks, the Second Tei-m ending on
Commencement Day, which is the third Wednesday of July " ; and " the Scientific
School shall hold two sessions of twenty weeks each, separated by a vacation of one
week, the Second Term ending a fortnight before Commencement." The two Recesses
will end on Monday morning instead of Sunday evening.

1823. Public Exhibitions in the Chapel of University Hall were held on the last
Tuesdays in October and April, and on the Thursday preceding Commencement,
beginning at eleven o'clock, a.si.; and, in 1825, on the third Tuesday of October, and
the last day of the Second and Third Terms. From that time to the present, there
has always been an Exhibition on the third Tuesday of October. Besides this, the
Annual Catalogue in 1826 announces Exhibitions on the second and last Tuesdays of
the Third Term; in 1829, on the second Tuesday and last Monday of the Third
Term; in 1838-9, on the first Tuesday of May, and last Wednesday of the Second
Term; and, in 1848-49, on the first Tuesday of May; there being in that and each
succeeding year but two Exhibitions instead of three.

1864.] ANNUAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

Annual Catalogues in Duodecimo.

1825, October. The duodecimo form, with covers, was now
first adopted, and is still continued. After the " Overseers "
appear, for the first time, " Directors of the Theological
School," who are discontinued in the Catalogue of 1831-2 ;
the Theological School having then been put on a similar
footing with the other Professional Schools. The word "Offi-
cers " is substituted for " Officers of Instruction and Govern-
ment." Candidates for the Ministry and Theological Students
are subdivided into " Candidates," " Senior Class," " Middle
Class," and " Junior Class." This is the first Catalogue in
which " Candidates " are separated by a distinct heading
from the " Theological Students," and the first in which the
latter are arranged in Classes.

The last six pages of the Catalogue are an " Appendix," in
which it is announced, that " The stated time of examination
for the Freshman Class is the Friday next after Commence-
ment. Those who are necessarily prevented from ofi"ering
themselves at that time may be examined at the beginning
of the First Term."*

* The second edition of 1825 says, they may be examined " in the second week of
the First Term; " and both editions state, that " Persons may be admitted to advanced
standing, or from any other College, at any part of the College course previous to the
Second Term of the Senior Year." In 1826, the time for examination was on the
Monday of Commencement week, and on Friday of the same week for those who
are necessarily delayed. In 1830-31: First Thursday of the Summer vacation, and on
the Friday of Commencement week, fur those who are necessarily delayed ; to which,
in 1834-5, is added, " No person will be examined for admission to College at any
other time than at the close or commencement of a Term, except in extraordinary
cases." In 1836-7: " On the Monday and Tuesday of Commencement week, beginning
precise!}' at six o^ clock, A. M.^^ From this date, the examination has occupied two'
days. In 1842-3: "No person will be examined for admission to the College at any
other time than the commencement of a Term, except in extraordinary cases." In
1848-49: Examinations on Friday and Saturday of Commencement week. In 1849-50:
Monday and Tuesday of Commencement week. In 18.53-54: For advanced standing,
on the following Friday. Other examuiations for admission are at the beginning of the
First and the Second Terms ; and " No person will be examined for admission to College
at any other time than those above specified." In 1854-55: To begin at eight o'clock
instead of six o'clock, a.m.; — a great improvement, when it is considered that the

66 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.

Another announcement is, that " the University is open to
persons who are not candidates for a degree, and who desire
to study in particular departments only : provided that such
[)ersons have a good moral character ; that their previous
acquisitions be such as are now demanded of Students before
admission, so far as the studies proposed to be pursued shall
lequire ; and that they be subject to all the laws of the Uni-
versity, in regard to diligence and good conduct;" to which
was added, in the following year, the words " and College
discipline." This announcement opened the way for those
who were denominated " Students not Candidates for a
Degree," and, subsequently, " University Students ;" of whom
there were some till the establishment of the " Scientific
School."

The " Appendix " also contains the following estimate of
necessary expenses for a year, included in the College bills : —

"• vSteward and Commons, including board for 42 weeks, at

$1.75 per week S83 50

Instruction for the two first years, $46 ; for the third and

fourth, $64 ; average 55 00

Rent of room 12 00

J-ibrary 3 00

Text-Books 12 50

Expenses of public rooms, repairs, catalogues, &c. ... 10 00

$176

" Other necessary expenses must vary with the economy of each
individual.

nination began on Monday morning; that, in Old Cambridge, tlien, as now, there
10 public house; and that candidates were commonly obliged to pass the two pre-
ig nights, and the intervening Lord's Day, in Boston, from which there were then
leans of regular conveyance to enable them to arrive at Cambridge so early as
'clock. The present arrangement is substantially the same. In 18G0-1, the rule,
in force, was adopted, that no examinations for admission should be made later
tlie beginning of the First Term of the Academic Year; nor later, for advanced
ing, than the beginning of the First Term of the Senior Year.

ANNUAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

" The price of wood furnished by the University is $7 per cord ;
a room in a private house, from $30 to $45 a year ; washing, from
$3 to $5 a quarter.

" College uniform Coat $15 to $25

Pantaloons 4 " 8

Vest 3 " 5

Outside Coat 15 " 25

" The Students find their own beds and furniture,
town, has been of late from $2 to $3 a week." *

Board, in

1826, September. " D." for Divinity Hall, first occupied
after Commencement in this year. For " OfEcers " are sub-
stituted " Members of the Faculty and other Officers ; " and
this is the first mention of what is now known as the " Facul-
ty," or the " College Faculty." — " Resident Graduates" appear
as a separate class, and are placed immediately before " Un-
dergraduates."

" The regular Gymnastick exercises, when the Superinten-
dent of the Gymnasium is present, are on Wednesday and

* The amount

of the College Bills was

In 1830, with board at $1.75 . . $179.00

In 1847-48 (2d Term),

„ 1834, „ „

„ 1.90 . . 185.30

with board at . . $2.50

. . $204.00

„ 1836, „ „

„ 2.25 . . 199.50

or 2.00

. . 184.00

M 1838, „ „

„ 2.25 . . 195.00

„ 1849, with board at 2.50

. 204.00

» 1840> ,> >,

„ 2.25 . . 194.00

„ 1853, „ „ „ 3.00

. 224.00

or 1.75 . . 174.00

„ 1854, „ „ „ 3.50

. 249.00

„ 1863, „ „ „ 4.00

. 273.00

„ 1864, „ „ „ 6.00

. 390.00

In 1864, the tuition, including gynanastic exercises, was raised to $104; and there
was an advance in the average of rents. Tliese statements, taken from the Annual
Catalogues, do not include the extremes of what may be the actual expenses; for,
while some students live in luxury, and exceed these amounts, others study economy,
and live for less.

Commons were discontinued in July, 1849, — at the end of the Academic Year,
1848-49. At that time, there were about fifty boarders in Commons. The other stu-
dents preferred to board in private houses. The College Corporation thought it advisa-
ble, under the circumstances, to abolish the Institution, which had been continued
from the first establishment of the College in 1636.

68 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.

Friday,* from 12 to 1 o'clock ; or when the length of the day
admits, after evening Commons. On Monday, the Monitors
and Vice-Monitors meet separately with the Superintendent
to prepare for the general exercises." At the end are two
pages of " Eules of the Gymnasium of Harvard University."
The Superintendent was Charles Follen, who had been ap-
pointed " Instrncter in German, and Lecturer on the Civil
Law," and was afterwards Professor of the German Language
and Literature in the University. Various kinds of appara-
tus, as bars, a " gallows," a mast sixty feet high, <fec., were
fitted up on the highest part of the College Delta, or Play-
Ground. Apparatus was also fitted up in the room in Uni-
versity Hall once occupied for Commons by Freshmen, and
designated by Nos. 13 and 14.

Another announcement in the Catalogue of 1826 is, that
" Military exercises are allowed on Tuesday and Thursday,
from 12 to 1 o'clock, or after evening Commons ; with music
not oftener than every other time, and liberty of a parade on
the afternoon of Exhibition Day." At the noon or evening
drills, there came a fifer and a drummer from Boston, or, more
frequently, from the Castle in the harbor ; and the interdic-
tion of music, " oftener than every other time," was probably
on account of College expenses, which were then loudly
complained of, as they always have been since the College
was founded. A band of music was hired for Exhibition-Day

• On the other secular days of the week, Dr. Follen, for some time, gave instrnc-
tion in Gymnastic exercises, and in the Gemian language, in Boston. There is no
mention of Gymnastic exercises in editions later than that of 1S27-8, till 1859. In
1858, Professor Huntington had collected subscriptions to a considerable amount for
this object, when a gradunte offered to build and furnish the edifice, at a cost of eight
thousand dollars. The offer was accompanied with the condition, that the benefactor's
name should not be known during his lifetime. An octagonal building, eighty feet in
diameter, was begun in March, 1859, completed in July, and opened for use in Septem-
ber. Mr. Aaron llolineaux Hewlett, from Worcester, and previously from Long
Island, experienced, athletic, gentlemanly, and careful, and carrying in his veins the
blood of the African, the Indian, the Yankee, and the Frenchman, was appointed
Curator. From that time to this, the exercises have been conducted with interest and
success, and have contributed essentially to the vigor and health of the members of the
University.

1864.] ANNUAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 69

parades. There is no mention of military exercises in the
Catalogues after the autumn of 1833.*

1827-8. The first double-dated catalogue. Title changed
to " A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Harvard
University." The position of the " Law Students," and of
the " Students attending Medical Lectures," is interchanged ;
and these departments appear for the first time as " Medical
School " and " Law School," with the names of the " Members
of the Faculty " of each.

1828-9. Presidency vacant.

1829-30. "Hon. Josiah Quinct, LL.D." President. A
division, denominated " College Faculty," is inserted after
" Members of the Faculty, and other Officers." " Candidates
for the Ministry," but no " Resident Graduates." At the end
of " Theological Students " are " Theological Students who
are not members of the regular Classes." — " Law Students"
subdivided into " Senior Class " and " Junior Class ; " and
their " Residence," as well as " Rooms," given.

1830-31. " Candidates for the Ministry " discontinued.
" Residence " of Theological Students first printed. " Law

* The company was called the " Harvard Washington Corps." It was organized
in 1811; and George Thacher, of the class of 1812, was the first Captain. A good
account of it is contained in the valuable work by Benjamin Homer Hall, of the class of
1851, entitled "A Collection of College Words and Customs." Mr. Hall also gives an
account of a military company which was organized about the year 1769, of which the
first Captain was William Wetmore, of the class of 1770. The motto was "Tarn
Marti quam Mercurio; " and the Company was called the " Marti-Mercnrian Band."
The last captain, it is believed, was Solomon Vose, of the class of 1787. The venera-
ble Royall Morse, who, from a familiar intercourse with the students for more than
eighty years, knows more than any other person respecting the unrecorded incidents
of the College, remembers the company in Vose's day. The uniform was a three-
cornered cocked hat; long blue coat, opening at the lower part in front, with white
facings, knee breeches; white stockings, extending up to the knees; and black gaiters,
extending about half as high. He says he recollects, that, as with the militia generally
at that time, it was customary, after the company was dismissed, to pass round three
or four buckets of toddy.

It is a subject of much regret, that the Records of these military companies, which,
it is said, were kept with great care and minuteness, and which, like those of other
College organizations and societies, should have been placed for preservation in the
College Library, have been lost. A sketch of them would make an interesting chapter
in the history of the University.

70 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.

School " placed before the " Medical School." * " Resident
Graduates " inserted after " Medical Students." The list of
Resident Graduates comprises only those who are Candidates
for the ministry. This list is followed by the " College Facul-
ty," which is followed by another Board called the " Parietal
Committee," consisting of College Officers living in the Col-
lege buildings, who are to take cognizance of small offences,
while the greater offences are to be acted upon by the " Col-
lege Faculty."

1831-2. " Divinity School " and " Divinity Students "
substituted for " Theological School " and " Theological Stu-
dents." — "Law Students" divided into "Senior Class," "Mid-
dle Class," and " Junior Class," instead of being in two
classes.

1832-3. " Gr. H.," and, at a later period, " G.," appears
for " Graduates' Hall," the name given to the brick block on
the west side of Harvard Square ; and which, after its exten-
sion on the north end, in 1860, took the name of " College
House," from the circumstance that it occupied ground on
which the College houses. No. 1 and No. 2, formerly stood.
Of the " Resident Graduates," the eight " whose names are
printed in Italics are Resident Graduates of the Divinity
School."

1833-4. The " Resident Graduates," being Candidates
for settlement in the ministry, are all printed in Italics. The
last pages of this and of the preceding two Catalogues, and
of the one for 1835-6, are filled with advertisements of the
booksellers to the University.

1834-5. Two of the " Resident Graduates " in Italics.
The distinction by Italics is from this time discontinued.

• The arrangement of the Professional Schools in the different Catalogues seems, in
some degree, to have been according to convenience in filling out blank spaces.
Strictly speaking, it should be according to the seniority of the schools; but the Medi-
cal School being in Boston, and the students seldom coming to Cambridge, or having
much connection with the Institution there, it is placed after the other schools.

1864.] ANNUAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 71

1835-6. The Annual Catalogues, from an early date, per-
haps from the first, were prepared by the member of the
Senior Class who had been Eegent's Freshman, or had per-
formed his duties. The copies of the octavo editions were
sold for six cents and a quarter each, and the profits were
considered his perquisite. This mode of editing the Cata^
logues was probably discontinued soon after President Quincy
came into office. With the information which was added
year after year, the cost had been increasing, till the charge
became twelve cents and a half. The students, not wishing
to pay for the preparation of the additional information, it is
said, circulated a subscription paper ; and, as soon as this
edition was issued, procured " A New Edition, Eevised and
Corrected. Boston : Printed for the Students by John Ford.
Mechanics' Hall. . . . Wilson's Lane." From that time to the
present, single copies have been retailed for six cents and a
quarter, or for six cents when the six-and-a-quarter cent silver
pieces have passed for only five cents ; and the booksellers
in Cambridge have procured them for five dollars a hundred.
This has been on an average about half the cost of making
them; though, for the first edition of 1864-65, the cost was
seventeen cents and three-quarters apiece.

1842-43. In the Second Term, the first separate cata-
logue of the Law School was published.*

Triennial Catalogues of the Law School were published in
1836, 1839, 1812, 1815, 1848, 1851, and a Septennial in 1858 ;
purporting to contain the names of all who had ever been
members of the school, but distinguishing those who had
received the degree of LL.B. The Catalogue of 1858 was
entitled " Catalogue of the Students in the Law School of the
University at Cambridge ; " all the others were " A Catalogue
of the Students of Law in Harvard University."

' It is not probable that a complete file of the Term Catalogues of the Law School
be procured. The following is the best collection I have been able to make.
y were commonly printed near the end of the College Terms, so that the " Total "

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

[Oct.

1843-44. " The laws of the University allow, after the
Freshman year, to the Parents or Guardians of Undergradu-
ates a selection in respect of certain specified studies. ... No
student is allowed to select or have assigned to him more
elective studies, than will occupy, with the required studies,
in Recitation and Lectures, every week, twenty-one hours."
In accordance with this, the Catalogue contains a statement
of the " Required Studies " and " Elective Studies." — " Natu-
ral History " and the French language had sometimes been
Elective Studies previously.

1844-45. The first year in which an Annual Catalogue
was printed for the Second Term.

1845-46. " Rev. James Walker, D.D., President pro tern."
Second Term, " Hon. Edward Everett, LL.D.," President.

1846-47. The expression " Harvard University," on the
titlepage and elsewhere, is changed to " University at Cam-
bridge ; " and the name of HARVARD, the Founder of the
Institution, does not once appear in the Catalogue. In the
Second Term, the " Residences " of the " Officers of Instruc-
tion and Government " are printed for the first time. After
" Medical Students " comes " Scientific School," with the

frequently differs from that in the " Analysis," above given. The first two are entitled
" A Catalogue of the Faculty and Students of the Law School of Harvard University ; "
the ethers, " A Catalogue of the Law School of the University at Cambridge : " —

NO. OP

PEODABLB

.O.OP

PEOBABLE

D4TE.

PAGES.

TERM.

DE™'s

NDMBEK
OF COPIES.

.ATK.

PAGES.

TERM.

BENTS.

NCMBES
OP COPIES.

1842-43

104

1855-56

118

3,000

1843-44

115

1856-57

124

2,300

1848-49

3,000

1857-58

119

3,500

1849-50

103

5;000

1857-58

127

600

1850-51

103

3,000

1858-59

127

3,000

1850-51

100

2,000

1859

175

750

1851-52

111

1,000

1860

164

1551-52

111

1861

113

1,500

1852-53

133

6,500

1862

1,250

1853-54

158

9,000

1863-64

114

1,000

1854-55

146

6,000

1864-65

131

1,000

Second edition.

1864.] ANNUAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 73

names of its" Faculty;" and on page 59 are some statements
respecting it, and an announcement, that " the courses of
instruction in the Scientific School are intended to com-
mence with the next academic year (Aug. 27th, 1847)."

The second edition of the Second Term may be distin-
guished from the preceding by critically comparing the titles
of the Overseers.

1847-48. After the " Faculty of the Scientific School "
are " Special Students in Chemistry." This may be consid-
ered as the beginning of the Scientific School. After the
First Term, the designation " University Students " ceases ;
this class of students probably being from this time attached
to the Scientific School; which, in the Second Term, takes
the name, " Lawrence Scientific School." *

1848-49. First Index to the Catalogue.

1849-50. "Jared Sparks, LL.D.," jPresic?en^. The words
"University at Cambridge," on the titlepage, changed to
"Harvard College." — "Committees of Examination " first
printed in the Annual Catalogues.

1850-51. The first Annual Catalogue edited by the wri-
ter of these " Notices," who has edited nil which have since
been published. All titles of " Hon." and " Rev." stricken
from the " Officers of Instruction and Government ; " and, in
the succeeding year, from the " Corporation " and " Over-
seers." Between the "College Faculty" and "Undergrad-
uates" are introduced the names of the " Parietal Committee,"
which were never printed but once before. " Tabular View
of the Hours of Recitations and Lectures " first introduced.
Instead of " Senior Sophisters," "Junior Sophisters," "Soph-
omores," and "Freshmen," are substituted "Senior Class,"'
" Junior Class," " Sophomore Class," and " Freshman Class."

* In 1850-51, First Term, was printed " A Catalogue of the Officers and Students
of the Lawrence Scientific School in Harvard University;" and another in 1851-52.
Eacli had twelve pages, 12mo. No other Catalogues of the Lawrence Scientific
School, in a separate form, have ever been printed.
10

74 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.

1852-53. Second Term, "James Walker, D.D.," Presi-
dent.

1853-54. " Harvard College " changed to " Harvard Uni-
versity;" so that the title is "A Catalogue of the OfEcers and
Students of Harvard University, for the Academical Year,
1853-54." Important changes made. Page 1, The titlepage.
2, " Abreviations." 3, " Corporation." 4, " Overseers."
5, " OiEcers of Instruction and Government." 8, " Academic
Year," (which, the next year and afterward, is called " Calen-
dar"). 9, "College Faculty," and " Pai-ietal Committee."
10, "Undergraduates." 22, "Resident Graduates." 23, "Re-
quisites for Admission," followed by information pertaining to
Undergraduates, and, on page 44, to Resident Graduates.
After this are the names of the Faculties and of the Students
of the several Professional Schools, each School being imme-
diately followed by the information which particularly per-
tains to it ; thus differing from previous catalogues, in which
all the names were printed at the beginning, and all the other
information afterward. Index at the end omitted. This gen-
eral arrangement, in the main, has been continued to the
present time.

1854-55. General Index reconstructed and inserted.

1855-56. A new division, denominated " Astronomical
Observatory," with the names of the "Faculty" and of the
" Students in Astronomy," is inserted before the " Medical
School."

1857-58. The Brattle House, originally built for a hotel,
becomes the property of the University; and, the rooms
being occupied by students, it appears as one of the College
buildings, designated by the letter B. The occupation of it
by students ceased in 1864, and then it disappears from the
catalogues. In 1865, it was sold to be converted into a
printing-ofSce.

1859-60. Second Term: " Cornelius C. Felton, LL.D.,"
President. — "Museum of Comparative Zoology" introduced.

1864.] ANNUAL CATALOGUES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 75

1860-61. " G. " for Graduates' Hall is dropped. " C. "
for College House takes its place. Second Term : As the
names of the Examining Committees were not furnished in
season, they were left out, and have not been inserted in
subsequent Catalogues.

1862-63. " Thomas Hill, D.D., President."

1864-65. " G." for Gray's Hall, now first occupied.

There being no Junior Class of Divinity Students, all the

members of the Divinity School are arranged alphabetically ;

and a considerable change is made in what relates to the

of Comparative Zoology."

This concludes the statements which it seems desirable to
preserve. Some of them, though not very interesting or
important, are statements of facts which have no other record
but in the memory, and must soon have passed into oblivion.

76 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.

NOVEMBER MEETING.

The Society held its stated monthly meeting this day,
Thursday, Nov. 10, at eleven o'clock, a.m. ; the President
in the chair.

The Librarian announced donations since the last
meeting from the Department of State of the United
States ; the State of Ohio ; the Essex Institute ; the
Franklin Club of Philadelphia ; the Historical Society
of Pennsylvania ; the New-England Loyal Publication
Society ; the Suffolk Institute of Archseology and Natu-
ral History ; Major John W. M. Appleton ; Major-
General Nathaniel P. Banks; Hon. Charles P. Daly;
the Rev. Daniel Dorchester ; Clement H. Hill, Esq. ; the
Hon. Calvin T. Hulburd ; Benjamin P. Jolinson, Esq. ;
James S. Loring, Esq. ; J. Hammond Trumbull, Esq. ;
James C. Ward, Esq. ; Colonel James G. Wilson ;
and from Messrs. Dana, Folsom, Sibley, Whitmore, and
Winthrop, of the Society.

The Corresponding Secretary read a letter from Prof.
Goldwin Smith, of Oxford University, acknowledging
his election as a corresponding member.

Count Adolphe de Circourt, through the President,
presented some pamphlets of his own writing, em-
bracing one which contained a review of Kkk's Life of
Charles the Bold, for Avhich due acknowledgment was
directed to be made.

Mr. D. W. Dennison, of Philadelphia, presented to
the Society the original commission to John Hancock,

1864.] LETTER FROM LORD SANDWICH. 77

as Justice of the Peace, granted by Governor Bernard,
dated 6th June, 1765.

The thanks of the Society were directed to be given
to Mr. Dennison for this gift.

A copy of the fourth edition of Curwen's Journal,
edited by the late George A. Ward, was sent to the
Society by the son of the editor, J. C. Ward, Esq. ; who
said he had presented it in accordance with the known
intention of his father.

The President, in exhibiting the volume, took occasion
to pay a tribute to the memory of Mr. Ward, who
had for more than twenty years been a corresponding
member of this Society.

Dr. Ellis and Mr. Savage followed the President,
and spoke in terms of great respect for the character of
Mr. Ward.

Mr. Savage read a letter from Lord Sandwich, First
Lord of the Admiralty, to Captain Francis Reynolds,
afterwards Lord Ducie. It is dated " Admiralty, Nov.
23, 1779," and is as follows : —

Dear Sir, — It is unnecessary for you to write to me about sta-
tions or cruizes, because you may be assured that I have your interest
and credit so much at heart, that every thing that I can do to favor
you will be always uppermost in my mind, and executed without any
solicitation on your part.

For God's sake, get to sea instantly, in consequence of the orders
you have received. If you can take "Paul Jones" you will be as
high in the estimation of the public as if you had beat the combined
fleets. The whole of this business depends on despatch : therefore
not a moment is to be lost on any consideration. — I flatter myself,
that, after what I have said, I need only add that I am your very
sincere friend and faithful servant, Sandwich.

Dr. Webb exhibited a volume entitled " The North-

78 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [DEC.

American and West-Indian Gazetteer," &c., London,
1778 ; from which he read extracts, showing its ludicrous
errors in topography and history. Under the head of
" Bristol, a County and Town in New England," it says,
" It is the most considerable town in the country, having
a commodious harbor, at the entrance of which lies
Ehode Island. This town is laid out with more regular-
ity than any in the province, and has more trade. The
capital is remarkable for the King of Spain's having a
palace in it, and being killed there." The Indian " King
Philip " is here confounded by the writer with a king of
Spain.

Dr. Webb also exhibited another volume, entitled
" nANZSiOPTKTOJOriA I Sive | Panzoologico-mineral-
ogia, I or a complet | History | of Animals and Miner-
als I XX. By Eobert Lovell, St. C. C. Oxon. | xx Oxford,
1 Printed by Henry Hall, for Jos: Godwin, 1661 | ;"
it being the book referred to by Dr. Holmes in his
paper on Dr. Stafford's Receipts, read before this Society
at the February meetmg, 1862.

DECEMBER MEETING.

A stated monthly meeting of the Society was held this
day, Thursday, Dec. 8, at eleven o'clock, a.m. ; the Presi-
dent, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, in the chair.

Donations were announced by the Librarian from
the State of Ohio ; the Essex Institute ; the New-
England Loyal Publication Society ; Oberlin College ;

1864.] LETTER PROM WILLIAM WINTHROP. 1\)

Rev. E. M. P. Wells, D.D. ; and from Messrs. C. Brooks,
W. G. Brooks, Dana, Deane, Green, Metcalf, C. Rob-
bins, and Winthrop, of the Society.

The Hon. Seth Ames was elected a resident member.

The President read a letter from William Winthrop,
Esq., of Malta, Avith whom he had been in correspond-
ence relating to the large number of manuscript volumes
of Italian operas, prologues, and sacred dramas which,
during the year, Mr. Winthrop had presented to this so-
ciety. " I leave the collection," he says, " entirely at
your disposal, feeling persuaded that you will do what
you may think best for the interests of the Society, either
if sold or exchanged."

The President also read a description of these vol-
umes, which, by his request, had been drawn up by the
Assistant Librarian, Dr. Appleton, by which it appears
that —

This donation to the Library was received, on the 10th of
August last, from William Winthrop, Esq., of Malta, consist-
ing of 224 volumes in manuscript, entitled " Collezione di
Opere Drammatiche per Musica rappresentate in Diversi
Teatri," and containing the libretti of no less than 1567
Italian operas, sacred dramas, cantatas, prologues, &c. The
Collection appears to have no definite arrangement, either
alphabetical, chronological, or as connected with the author
or subject of the several works ; the sacred cantatas (among
which we find, in a single volume, versions of twenty-seven
Psalms) being mingled indiscriminately with the standard
operas, prologues, and minor compositions, written on occa-
sion of the birthday or marriage of some royal or noble per-
sonage.

A conversation ensued among the members, relating

80 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.

to this large and valuable collection of manuscripts ; and
the feeling was expressed that it be kept by the Society,
and no other disposition made of it, except by a vote of
the Society.

The thanks of the Society were directed to be given
to Mr. Winthrop for this large donation.

The President called the attention of members to the
new volume of Proceedings which had been laid upon
the table this morning, embracing the transactions of the
Society from the annual meeting in April, 1863, to
the stated monthly meeting in September, 1864, inclu-
sive.

The President then made the following remarks : —

Gentlemen of the Massachtisetts Historical Society, — After
the new volume of Proceedings, which has been laid on our
table this morning, had gone through the press, and while
our faithful Secretary, to whose dihgence we owe it, was in
the act of preparing the roll of living members to be prefixed
to it, he was called on to strike from that roll two names upon
which I may be pardoned for dwelling for a very few moments
this morning. One of them is the name of Benjamin Silli-
MAN, of New Haven, Connecticut ; the other, that of Charles
Christian Eafn, of Copenhagen, Denmark.

By the death of Professor Silliman, we are reminded of
the fact that the Natural History, as well as the Civil and
Political History, of New England, and of our country at
large, was originally included in the objects of our Associa-
tion. Elected in September, 1808, his name has been on our
rolls for more than fifty-six years ; and, for many years past,
it has stood at the very head of our honorary and correspond-
ing members. He undoubtedly owed his election to the
distinction which he had already acquired as a pioneer in
the cause of chemical science ; and, from that time to this, his

1864.] president's remarks. 81

life has been mainly devoted to the pursuits of Chemistry and
Geology. Our brethren of the Academy of Arts and Sci-
ences, and of other kindred institutions, will not fail to do full
justice to his memory in these relations. But we cannot
allow his name to disappear from our own rolls without a
passing tribute to his virtues and accomplishments. Pew
men have enjoyed a more enviable reputation for purity of
life, for amiability of disposition, and for devoted interest and
effort in advancing the cause of science in our country. He
has left an imperishable monument of himself, in the periodi-
cal which has so long been associated with his name. The
Journal established by him in 1818, of which he was the sole
editor for twenty years, and the senior associate editor for
eight years more, has long been recognized, at home and
abroad, as the chief repository of American physical science.
He may thus be regarded as having been, in some sort, the
historian, or certainly the chronicler, of the rise and progress
of the science of our country. Born on the 8th of August,
1779, and dying on the 24th of November, 1864, Professor
Silliman had become venerable alike for his years and his
virtues ; and he has left an example, in both private and pro-
fessional life, which can hardly be too highly commended.

Professor Charles Christian Rafn was an antiquary of no
common distinction. He is represented as having conceived
in his early youth a warm interest in the literature and lan-
guage of Northern Europe. After completing his education,
he obtained an appointment at the University Library, in
Copenhagen, where he made a careful revision of the old Ice-
landic manuscripts, which were among the treasures of that
institution. At his suggestion, and under his lead, a society
was soon formed for advancing the cause of antiquarian
researches in that region, and for collecting, preserving, and
publishing such ancient records and manuscripts as might
have escaped the ravages of time. This society, which went
into operation on a small scale about the year 1825, is now
" 11

82 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.

known to us all as " The Royal Society of Northern Antiqua-
ries ; " and its meetings at Copenhagen, and its numerous and
valuable publications, have attracted deserved attention in all
parts of the world. During the twelve years and a half, from
January, 1825, to June, 1837, it published no less than fifty
volumes; and, since that period, about fifty more volumes
have been added to the series. Professor Rafn was the per-
petual Secretary of the society ; and the greater part, if not
the whole, of its publications were carefully edited by him.
In some of these publications, however, he could claim much
more than the ordinary credit of an editor. He was substan-
tially their author ; his notes and comments forming the prin-
cipal part of the volumes, both in amount and value. One of
these publications was of peculiar interest to our own land.
I refer to his " Antiquitates Americana^, sive Scriptores Sep-
tentrionales Rerum ante-Columbianarum in America," pub-
lished in 1837 ; in which he brought together so many
materials, geographical, astronomical, and nautical, in illustra-
tion and confirmation of the old Scandinavian traditions and
Icelandic manuscripts, to show that Amei'ica had been dis-
covered by the Northmen in the tenth century, and that some
of their navigators visited its coasts repeatedly during the
three or four succeeding centuries. It was said of this work
in the " North American Review," soon after its publication,
in an article written by our honored associate, Edward Ev-
erett, that " of the authenticity of the manuscripts there was
not a shadow of doubt," and that " it was one of the most val-
uable contributions ever made to the study of the history and
geography of our continent."

The Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries was for many
years under the immediate patronage of the late King of Den-
mark, Frederick VII., who was not merely its titular Presi-
dent, but who took a most active and intelligent personal
interest in its proceedings and welfare. He communicated
several valuable essays to its publications, and was munificent

1864.] PROFESSOR RAFN. 83

in his contributions to its library and cabinet. His recent
death, and that of Prcrfessor Eafn, which followed it so soon,
could not fail to have been deeply felt by that society under
any circumstances. Such losses have an additional claim
upon our sympathy, however, at a moment when the King-
dom of Denmark itself is sufiering so severely from the
encroachments and spoliations of Foreign Powers.

Professor Eafn was born on the 16th of January, 1795,
and died on the 20th of October last; having nearly com-
pleted his seventieth year. He was elected an honorary
member of this Society in April, 1829. He will be remem-
bered by students of history in both hemispheres, as one of
the most devoted and successful antiquaries of his time. I
have been directed by the Standing Committee to offer the
following Resolution : —

Resolved, That the Massachusetts Historical Society offer to the
Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries the assurance of their sym-
pathy in the severe losses which they have recently sustained by the
successive deaths of their enlightened and munificent President,
the late King of Denmark, Frederick VII., and of their perpetual
Secretary, Professor Charles Christian Rafn, P.D., whose labors and
researches, as an antiquarian, have been well known and highly
appreciated in the New World as well as in the Old.

■ Dr. Sparks seconded the resolution, and spoke at
some length of the services which Professor Rafn had
rendered to the cause of American Archteolog-y. He also
spoke in terms of respect of the character of the late
King of Denmark, and of the services he had rendered
to the Society of which he was the President.
The resolution was unanimously adopted.
Colonel AspiNWALL remarked that one of our asso-
ciates, Dr. Webb, had, he believed, been a correspond-
ent of Professor Rafn; and suggested that he might

84 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.

favor the Society with some interesting reminiscences
concerning him.

Dr. Webb replied, that he had for many years corre-
sponded with Professor Eafn ; and, if he had been aware
that his death would be noticed at this meeting, he would
have been prepared with some remarks. At some
future meeting of the Society, if desired, he would be
glad to speak of Professor Eafn.

The President exhibited to the Society an Indian
relic, which had been presented by William Minot, jun.
It was a small stone chisel found by Mr. Samuel Whit-
more, on his farm in Canterbury, in West Roxbury,
Mass., while ditching a swamp near the northern bound-
ary line of Mount Hope Cemetery, in October, 1864.

Mr. FoLsoM exhibited and presented to the Society a
manuscript " Journal kept on board U. S. ship ' Superior,'
by Lieutenant James A. Dudley, U. S. Navy," in 1814.
This ship was commanded by Commodore Isaac Chaiui-
cy, and was the largest vessel built on Lake Ontario
during the last war with Great Britain.

Colonel J. D. Graham, a Corresponding Member, was
present ; and, his name having been referred to by the
President, he arose, and briefly addressed the meeting,
expressmg his pleasure at the opportunity of meeting
the members of the Society.

The President read the following letters from Gover-
nor Bowdoin's papers : the fii'st, taken from the original ;
the latter, from an early attested copy, in his possession.
The letter addressed to "the Hon. James Bowdoin,
Esq.," is anonymous.

18t)4.] GOVERNOR BOWDOIN'S PAPERS. 85

The Hon. James Boivdoin, Esq.

London Feb'? 20'" 1774.

My Deae Sir, — I had pleasure in receiving your favor of the 13'"
December (with the inclosure) which has had a good effect on the
minds of Considerable people here.

You will by this opportunity hear that Dr. Franklin is dismissed
from his Office of Post-Master in America ; but it is impossible the
Province will let him be a loser by it ; they must fall upon some
means of raising money for paying their Agent, &c., immediately,
which they must do amply for their own interest and credit here ; I
should think that in their several Town taxes (over the mode of which
the Govl hath no Controul,) a sum might be raised for this purpose.
You have nothing to hope or expect from the Justice of Ministry, who
after all will be afraid to come to extremities with you ; you must be
firm. Resolute and Cautious ; but discover no mai'ks of timidity, for
they will take advantage of [these] to teize you in mean pitifull ways.
The next thing hoped for, and expected by the friends of America,
and in perticular the D'! himself, is that Boston, New York, and
Philadelphia will immediately fall upon a method to starve the Post
office which hath always been given as a president for taxing the
Colonies; this may be done the D' says, in the easiest manner,
by a Private Carrier's being set up by one person, and the merchants
of York, Boston & Philadelphia subscribing each such a sum as they
suppose their postage now costs them, which will be much more than
sufficient to maintain such a Carrier ; and all poor peoples' letters go
Gratis. This being done in the three middle Capital provinces the
other parts of America may be left as they now are, to the British Post
Office. D': F thinks Mr. Tuttle H[ubbard] will give information as to
the mode of conducting this business which however inconsiderable it
may appear at first, is a great point to carry, as it removes the only
president and may be effected if properly managed without breaking
the letter of the Act of Parliament, and will greatly mortify here, as
it is expected by many. I hope a small Committee from Boston will
immediately treat with the two other Colonies, to whom letters are
written on the subject. You cannot expect any very explicit letters
on this subject from the D' or any other of the friends to Amer-
ica ; hints must be sufficient. You may rely on it, that prudent,
yet manly and resolute Conduct on your parts is what will carry you
through. The Eyes of all Europe are watchfully on you, and will not
suffer Tyranny to prevail against you, but their must be firm spirit on

86 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.

your parts. The World have never yet known who stop'd Fortius in
his carier; Your Town born Enemies are more indefatigable than
ever in their Endeavours to bring distraction on you, but I thinlc you
can have no doubt about them at this time of day, any more than you
can [liave] of those who have acquitled them of the Charge the assembly
exhibited against them. In writing this, you will consider what I have
said as being the sentiments of your Best friends to be communicated
for the Public good of America. It is also thought by D' Lee, D'

F and other friends to America that it would be proper for the

assembly of Massachusetts Bay to pass some spirited resolves in Con-
tempt of Mr. Wedderburn, the soliciter General, for his scurilous
treatment of the Assembly and province, when pleading in defence
of Hutchinson & Oliver before the privy Council. I am desired to
mention this to you, least it might escape the thought of those who
lead in tlie Assembly.

Directed "to the Honorable James Bowdoin, Esq. Boston, New England."

Governor Bernard to the Earl of Hillshormigh.

Boston Nov. 30. 17G8
Mt Lord, — I think it proper to inform your Lordship that I com-
municated to the Council that part of your Lordships Letter No 19
in which your Lordship signified his Majesty's gracious reception of
the petition of the Council which I transmitted in July last, and added
that the petition with my reasoning in support of it would have full
Consideration. Upon which Mr. Bowdoin who has all along taken the
Lead of the Council in their late extraordinary proceedings, charged
me with having misrepresented the purpose of their petition, by taking
advantage of an Expression of theirs " drawing a Revenue from the
Colonies" and therefrom insinuating that their Objection lay not so
much against the raising Money as the carrying it out of the Country
and not expending it here. And to Justify this he quoted a transi-
tory Conversation he had with me on the day of the public Commence-
ment at the College in July last. I told him that if the Conversation
had made such an Impression upon him, it was a pity he had not men-
tioned it before, whilst my Memory could interpose in my behalf.
That at this distance of time, five Months, I could not recollect every
trifling Conversation, for such I was assured this was from his Report
of it. But I could be certain whether I had or had not misrepre-
sented their petition by inspecting my own Books. And before I
looked at them I could declare that 1 had not.

1864.] GOVERNOR BOWDOIN'S PAPERS. 87

My Letter Books were at my Country house, where I generally
write all my Letters. As soon as I got at them, I had the Letter
in Question, No. 11. July 16, copied: and as soon as I returned
to Town, I read that part of it which related to this Business to
three or four of the Council ; and I let two of them and the
Secretary read the whole Letter : they were greatly surprized to
find it so very clear of Mr. Bowdoin's Charge. At the next Council
I produced the Letter and read the whole passage referred to : from
whence it appeared that in mentioning the prayer of their petition, I
used their own words without adding a single word of my own : and
also that the argument I used in behalf of the prayer went against
Taxation in general, more than the Disposal of the Money : This ap-
peared satisfactory to the whole Council except Mr. Bowdoin. But
he still persisting in Justifying himself, mentioned something more of
the Conversation referred to which explained the whole, and showed
that what I said upon that Occasion was entirely in Joke. This was
confirmed by a Councellor who recollected that on that day, being a
Day of Festivity, I did Joke with some of them upon their petition,
to the same purpose as Mr Bowdoin quoted. But in Terms that one
could not have imagined could have been taken seriously, and really
were quite inoffensive to every one else.

This is a very trifling matter to trouble your Lordship with ; but it
has already been the subject of Debates in Council and Libels in the
News-papers. It would have also produced a formal Eemonstrance to
your Lordship which I am told was actually prepared by the Gentle-
man who made the charge, if it had not been prevented by my making
Communications which, but for saving Trouble to your Lordship, I
would not have submitted to. But it will vent itself in another and
more public way : of which I shall be able to give your Lordship
an Account in a few days. Your Lordship may depend upon it that
my Informations have been and shall be dictated by the Spirit of
Truth and Candour: but I cannot make Facts other than they are,
nor can I excuse myself communicating such Observations and reflec-
tions as occur to me and appear to be material to the Subject.
I am with great respect My Lord

your Lordship's most Obed' & most humble servant

Fea : Bernaed
the Right Honorable the Earl of Hillsborough

January 27. 1769

A true Copy. Geo. Whitk Clerk of the papers to the House of Commons.

00 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

The attest of the Clerk of the House of Commons is
evidently original.

JANUARY MEETING.

The stated monthly meeting of the Society was held
this day, Thursday, Jan. 12, at eleven o'clock, in the
Dowse Library ; the President, the Hon. E. C. Wra-
THROP, in the chair.

In the absence of the Recording Secretary, the Libra-
rian was requested to act as Secretary 2ii''o tempore.

The Librarian announced donations for the past
month from the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences ; the American Antiquarian Society ; the Essex
Institute ; the New-England Historic-Genealogical So-
ciety ; the New -England Loyal Publication Society ;
Oberlin College ; the SuflFolk Institute of Archaeology
and Natural History ; Hon. John G. Baldwin ; Heman
S. Doane, Esq. ; D. A. Harsha, Esq. ; Clement H. Hill,
Esq. ; Charles M. Hovey, Esq. ; William Hovey, Esq. ;
Benjamin P. Johnson, Esq. ; Hon. John G. Palfrey ;
Professor William B. Rogers ; Moses H. Sargent, Esq. ;
Adjutant-General John T. Sprague, of New York ; Rev.
E. M. P. Wells, D.D. ; Hon. Henry Wilson ; Benjamin
R. Winthrop, Esq. ; and from Messrs. Bartlet, C. Brooks,
Deane, Everett, Green, Latham, Metcalf, Quint, C. Rob-
bins, Savage, Wheatland, and Winthrop, of the So-
ciety.

1865.] MEMORIAL TO THE LATE PISHEY THOMPSON. 89

A specimen of the first printing from type, justified by
machinery, was exhibited. It had been sent to the
Society by Mr. Charles W. Felt, of Salem.

The President called the attention of members to a
sword or cutlass lying upon the table, taken from the
"Bounty," Lieutenant Bligh commander, in 1789. It
was procured, some years since, at Pitcairn's Island, from
a descendant of one of the mutmeers.

The following communication was received from Bos-
ton, in England, soliciting contributions towards the
erection, in Boston Church, of a memorial to the late
Pishey Thompson, the historian of Boston : —

The contributions of Mr. Thompson's friends are respectfully soli-
cited towards the memorial now erecting in Boston Church, which
consists of a stall in the chancel, with hatchment brass, containing Mr.
Thompson's arms ; and also a mural Tablet in the South-west Chapel
with the following inscription : —

PISHEY THOMPSON.

Natus FreistoniiE xviii™" Die Jun mdccclxxxv.

Hujus municipii olim incola,

Mox Washingtonioe apud Americanos

Civis honoratissimus ;

Qufesiti tandem patria,

Obiit Londini xxv"» Die Sept. mdccclxii,

In Fide Christi

In spe immortalitatis.

Ne mortui nomen provincia periret,

Quam vivus ornavit,

Cujus etiam annales summo opere

Summaque prudentla composuit,

Hoc Monumentum

Plurimi amioi et cognati

Ponendum (

Subscriptions are limited to a guinea, and will be received by the
Rev? the Vicar of Boston, or Tho? Wise, Esq., Boston.

Boston, 1864.

90 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

The following letter was read by the President : —

HiNGHAM, Dec. 30th, 1864.

Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, President of the Massachusetts
Historical Society.

Dear Sir, — Miss Elizabeth Cranch Norton, of Billerica, has
placed at my disposal a collection of manuscript sermons and frag-
ments of sermons which were in the possession of her father, Rev.
Jacob Norton, of Billerica, at the time of his decease. Mr. Norton
was best known as a minister of Weymouth, and successor to the Rev.
William Smith, from whom probably the manuscripts were received.
The daughters of Mr. Smith became the wives of the Rev. Mr.
Shaw, President John Adams, and the Hon. Richard Cranch. Mr.
Norton married a daughter of Mr. Cranch, who was the sister of the
late Judge Cranch, of Washington. The sermons are, with few
exceptions, in the French language, and are supposed to be the pro-
ductions of the Rev. Andrew Le Mercier, the minister of the French
Protestant Society who built a church in School Street, Boston.
There is in the collection one sermon in Latin, and a few briefs of
sermons in English. The Latin sermon appears to be in a hand-
writing similar to that of the French sermons.

The author of the English sermons is not known.

Mr. Le Mercier died in Boston, March 31, 1764, about one hundred
years ago.*

If you deem the manuscripts of sufficient value, will you please
to present them to the Historical Society in the name of Miss
Norton ?

I am, with great respect, your friend and servant,

Solomon Lincoln.

A suitable acknowledgment was directed to be made
for the papers which accompanied the communication of
Mr. Lincoln.

* See Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, iii. 264; Snow's History of ]
tion, 202.

1865.] PORTRAIT OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 91

The following paper, prepared by the Assistant li-
brarian, Ur. Appleton, relating to the Society's portrait
of Sebastian Cabot, was read by the President : —

The attention of visitors to these rooms has often been
attracted to the fine copy, by Chapman, of an original portrait
of Sebastian Cabot, hitherto supposed to have been painted
by Holbein. The copy was presented in 1838 by the late
Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, then President of the Society.
The original picture is not now extant, having been burned
when the house of Mr. Richard Biddle, of Pittsburgh, the pro-
prietor, was destroyed by fire. Aside from its merit as a
work of art, the original possessed considerable historical
interest, not only as the portrait of a navigator whose name is
identified with the discovery of this portion of the Western
continent, near the close of the fifteenth century, but also as
having been noticed as one of the series of portraits in the
gallery of Whitehall, in the time of Charles I. The portrait of
Cabot is twice mentioned by Purchas, who, in the third vol-
ume of his " Pilgrimes " (p. 807), says : " In the yeere 1497,
lohn Cabot, a Venetian, and Sebastian, Ms sonne (these are
the wordes of the great Map in his Maiesties priuie Gallerie, of
which Sebastian Cabot is often therein called the Authour, and
his picture is therein drawne, with this Title, Effigies Sebast.
Caboti Angli, filij lo. Oa. Venetiani, Militis Aurati, (fee.) dis-
couered that Land which no man before had attem^jted" &c. In
his fourth volume (p. 1812), Purchas notices the portrait
again, as follows : " Sir Sebastian Cabot, at the charges of K.
Henry the seuenth, Avith two Caruels, in the yeere 1496 (so
himselfe in Ramusio ; the Map with his picture in the Priuy
Gallery hath 1497) sailed to the New-found-land," &c. : and in
a marginal note, he adds, " Sir Seb. Cabota, his picture in the
priuie gallerie at White Hall hath these words, Effigies 8eh.
CabotcB Angli filij loannis Cabotce. Veneti, militis aurati, &c. '
he was born at Venice, and serving H. 7., H. 8., Ed. 6., was

92 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

accounted English, &c. Galpano* saith he was borne at
Bristol." t

It will be noticed that the inscription on the painting is
given by Purchas in an abbreviated form. Upon the portrait
in the possession of the Society, which is understood to be an
accurate copy of the original, it is as follows : —

EFFIGIES ■ SEBASTIANI CABOTI

ANGLI • FILII • lOHANIS CABOTI VENE

TI • MILITIS • AVRATl • PRIMI INVET

ORIS • TERRiE NOV^ SVB HENRICO VII. ANGL

1^ REGE.

In the opposite corner of the picture is the motto, " spes

MEA IN DEO EST."

The original portrait seems to have disappeared from the
gallery at Whitehall soon after the death of Charles I. ; and it
was probably sold, with other valuable personal effects of the
late king, by order of Parliament in 1648 ; or it may have
been disposed of during the lifetime of Charles, as it is not
named in a catalogue of the pictures belonging to the king,
found among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, and
apparently drawn up for his private use.

Evelyn published in 1674 a tract entitled "Navigation and
Commerce, their Original and Progress," &c., which is dedi-
cated to Charles II., and which narrates the exploits of Eng-
lish discoverers and naval commanders, among whom he
mentions Cabot ; but, though he refers to the paintings in
the Royal Gallery at Whitehall by Holbein, he does not allude
to the portrait of the navigator.

* Antonio Galvano, a Portuguese writer, in his " Account of the Discoverys of the
World, from their first Origin to the Year 1555: translated and published by Richard
Hakluyt," London, 1601 (p. 66), says of Cabot, "In the yeere 1526 there went out of
Siuill one Sebastian Cabota, a Venetian by his father, but borne at Bristol, in England,
being chiefe pilote to the Einperour, with fower ships toward Maluco," &c.

t The expressions used by Purchas have sometimes been understood as i-eferring to
a portrait drawn upon the map; but the identity of the inscription here quoted with
that upon the original painting would seem to indicate that the latter was intended.

1865.] PORTRAIT OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 93

Mr. Biddle, in the Appendix to his Memoir of Cabot, has
given a minute description of the painting, with a notice of
its disappearance from the gallery at Whitehall, and of its dis-
covery by the late Charles Joseph Harford, Esq., of Bristol,
Eng., who first saw it in 1792 at the seat of a nobleman in
Scotland, and who, many years later, was enabled to obtain
possession of the portrait, through the intervention of the late
Sir Frederick Eden. It was afterwards purchased by Mr.
Biddle, and brought to this country, where the copy was made
which is now in the collection of the Society ; not long after
which, the original portrait was destroyed by fire, as already
related.

Mr. Biddle's opinion was, that the evidence of the original
painting being the work of Holbein, executed for Edward VI.,
was conclusive ; and that its identity with the portrait de-
scribed among the pictures in the Whitehall Gallery was satis-
factorily established ; and this conclusion has been generally
accepted by those who have given the subject their attention.
But more recent researches have tended to invalidate this
opinion.

The biographers of Holbein have uniformly alleged that he
was born at Basle in 1498 ; that he lived through the reign of
Edward VI. ; and that he died in London of the plague, in
1554. It may be stated, in reference to this tradition, that
none of the contemporary chronicles mention the prevalence
of the plague in that year ; and the fact that Queen Mary
passed in state through the city, on her way to Westminster,
not long after her marriage to Philip of Spain, leads us to
conclude, that London was not, at that time, visited by a pesti-
lence, while we have evidence that the plague did prevail
there in 1543.

In February, 1861, William H. Black, Esq., found, in one of
the Registers of the Commissai-y of London, preserved in the
Record Room, at St. Paul's Cathedral, the will of " John, alias
Hans Holbein," of the Parish of St. Andrew Undershaft, who

94 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

styles himself " servaunte to the Kynges Magestye," dated
1 October, 1543, and witnessed by " Harry Maynert, Painter,"
among others. Administration on the estate of Holbein was
granted to "John Anwarpe " or John of Antwerp, on the 29th
of November following. Mr. Black laid before the Society of
Antiquaries, soon after, a copy of the will, accompanied with
a communication stating many of the facts above recited,
which is printed in the 39th volume of the Archajologia.*
Augustus W. Franks, Esq., has since communicated a paper to
the Society on the subject of this discovery, which appears
in the same volume, in which he brings forward many circum-
stances strongly corroborative of the opinion of Mr. Black,
that the death of Holbein took place eleven years earlier than
the date usually assigned to it. In this communication, the
writer calls attention to the fact that in the Book of Payments
of the royal household, kept by Sir Bryan Tuke, Treasurer,
Holbein's name occurs no less than twenty-one times between
1538 and 1541, in which last year the volume of accounts
closes ; and, as Mr. Franks observes, " no notice of Holbein
has been brought to light in any public document subsequent
to this date." A volume containing the accounts of Sir Bryan
Tuke for the years 1543-44 has been also carefully examined ;
but the name of Holbein does not appear in it, although other
artists are mentioned. Several paintings, however, dated
1543, — including a portrait of himself, and another of Henry
Vin., — are, without doubt, the productions of his pencil.
Others which have been attributed to him are now gener-
ally considered as the works of some other artist.

The portrait of Cabot could not have been painted, as Mr.
Biddle observes (Memoir, p. 325), until after his return to Eng-
land in 1548, after thirty years' absence in the service of the
King of Spain, when he is said to have been appointed Grand
Pilot of England by Henry VIII. ; as he is represented in the

1865.] PORTRAIT OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 95

painting as " in extreme age." Assuming that Holbein lived
through the reigu of Edward VI. until 1554, Mr. Biddle con-
siders the proofs to be conclusive which refer the original
painting to this artist. Erasmus has appended to his Life of
Holbein a list of his principal productions; but the por-
trait of Cabot is not included. It must be noticed, how-
ever, that many of the works of Holbein, executed after his
final removal to England, are not mentioned in this list.*
The Rev. James Dallaway, in his edition of Horace Walpole's
" Anecdotes of Painting in England," gives " an extended
catalogue " of the works of Holbein then (1828) remaining in
England, in which he has introduced those portraits which
had been, on good authority, ascribed to him (although he
does not pretend to verify, in every case, the works of this
artist), but without mentioning the portrait of Cabot.

It may be observed, that many portraits, painted between
1543 and 1554, which were formerly attributed to Holbein, are
now ascribed to his contemporaries or successors in the art.
On this subject, Mr. Black remarks that "the discovery of
Holbein's will cannot fail to draw after it some interesting con-
sequences, as affecting the genuineness of works of art as-
cribed to this great master;" and Mr. Pranks considers "that
sufficient evidence has been brought forward to show that the
testator of the will, discovered by Mi-. Black, coincides with
Holbein, the painter, in his name, his position, his probable
nationality, his necessitous circumstances, his associates, his
residence, and the pestilential season in which he died ; while,
by shortening the artist's career by eleven years, Ve account
for the omission of his name from all documents between 1543
and 1554, and for the paucity and mediocrity of the works
attributed to his later years."

* " Prffiterea Holbenius noster plurimas pinxit effigies Magnatum, virorum & femi-
narum, quae passim, in Anglia priscipue, ubi raaximam vitas partem exegit, sumrac
studio servantur. — Dedd. Erasmi Roterodami Opera Omnia. Lugd. Batav. 1703, iv. 390.

96 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

John Gough Nichols, Esq., in a later communication on the
contemporaries and successors of Holbein, says that " it is
now ascertained, beyond dispute, that Holbein could have
produced no works later than the year 1543 ; " and, in a note,
he quotes an expression of Dr. Waagen, in relation to a por-
trait painted in 1547, who remarks that " this has quite the
natural and animated air of Holbein, and the admirable draiu-
ing of the hands ivhich distinguishes his later i^ictures ; and
again, in speaking of a portrait of Henry VIII., which he
ascribes with much confidence to some one of the successors
of Holbein, he says that " the hands " are " most strikingly
true to nature." It is remarkable that Mr. Biddle, in his de-
scription of the original portrait of Cabot, speaks of the right
hand as exhibiting " an admirable specimen of the painter's
minute, elaborate finish." * This coincidence would seem to
show that these three pictures were the work of the same
artist.

In fine, if we adopt the conclusion that the recently dis-
covered will is that of Hans Holbein, the painter, and that he
died of the plague which prevailed in London in 1543, eleven
years before the generally received date of his death ; know-
ing as we do that Cabot did not return to England between
the years 1517 and 1548, and that there were other painters
in London, of considerable ability, during the reigns of
Edward VI. and Queen Mary, — the inference would seem to
be certain that the original portrait from which the copy in
the gallery of the Society was made, was painted by some
one of these artists, and not by Holbein.

Mr. Waterston read a letter written by the Rev.
John Lothrop, D.D., " to the Honorable Judge Da'vis,"
found among the pajjers of the late Mr. Quincy, upon
the subject of a remark made by President Washing-

1865.] DEATH OF TWO MEMBERS. 97

ton, while on a visit to the College Library at Cam-
bridge in 1789 ; namely, that the inscription on Dighton
Rock resembled those he had seen in early life, in the
wild country of Virginia, made by the Indians.

The letter was presented to the Society by Miss
Quincy, to whom an acknowledgment was directed to
be made ; and it was referred to the Committee on the
Publication of the Proceedings.*

Mr. Waterston moved that a copy of the Society's
Collections be presented to Professor Goldwin Smith, of
Oxford University.

Referred to the Standing Committee.

The President announced the death of two of the
Honorary Members of the Society in the following
language : —

In the little interval between the publication of the new
vokime of Proceedings which was laid on the table at our last
meeting, and the publication of the new volume of Collections
which greets us this morning, our Secretary has had occasion
to strike off two more names from the list of our foreign Hono-
ra,rj and Corresponding Members. They are the names of
John Disney, Esq., of England, and Count Jules de Menou,
of Prance. Both of them, we have reason to think, died more
than a year, perhaps several years, ago ; but the fact of their
decease has not been ascertained by the Secretary until now.

John Disney, of the Hj'de, near Ingatestone, Essex Co.,
England, was elected a Corresponding Member in June, 1838.
He was an accomplished and laborious antiquary, whose name
is associated with the Museum Disneianum, — a fine collection
of ancient curiosities now in the Pitzwilliam Museum at the

• This letter is reserved to be published hereafter with some other papers relating to
Washington.

98 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

University of Cambridge, in England, and of which Mr. Dis-
ney pubhshed one or more volumes of illustrations and ex-
planations, in royal quarto, with elaborate engravings, which
received the highest encomiums of archajologists and artists.

The Count Jules de Menou was chosen an Honorary Mem-
ber of this Society at our annual meeting, in 1858, at the
instance of Dr. Sparks, who had then recently seen him in
Europe. He was brought to this country by his mother, in
1793, at three years of age ; his father having fallen a victim
to the massacres of September, 1792, at Lyons. He was edu-
cated in Baltimore, and resided there for many years of his life.
He was Secretary of the French Legation at Washington, while
M. Hyde de Neuville was Minister, — about forty years ago ;
and, after the departure of that Minister, the Count de Menou
was, for some time. Charge d'' Affaires. He soon afterwards
returned to his native land, where he resided for more than
thirty years before his death. He took a warm and lively in-
terest in every thing that related to the prosperity and prog-
ress of American institutions, and cherished the feeling of
an adopted son towards the State of Maryland, where he had
received his earliest protection and education. But he was
especially interested, too, in our early New-England history,
from the fact that he was of the same family with that Chai-les
de Menou d'Aulnay-Charnisay, the Governor of Acadie, in
1644, whose controversy with La Tour, and whose corre-
spondence with the Massachusetts Colony, growing out of that
controversj', form so considerable a part of the history of that
period. In June, 1859, Count de Menou sent over, as a pres-
ent to our library, a valuable collection of ancient American
maps, in a volume entitled " Atlas des Colonies Anglaises en
Am<irique ; " and from time to time he has often transmitted
other smaller contributions to our library. When I saw him
in Paris, in the summer of 1859, his apartments were full of
interesting souvenirs of his American friends, and he was
contemplating some new donations to the Historical Societies

186d.] DEATH OF TWO MEMBERS. 99

of Maryland and of Massachusetts. But, on returning to
Paris in the summer of 1860, I found him broken down in
health and spirits, and learned that he had taken refuge in
one of those private religious hospitals, where aged men of
the highest respectability, but of moderate means, often find
relief for the solitude and infirmities of age. I have here a
little volume which he gave me, when I visited him in that
hospital, and which I find inscribed, " Given me on Sunday,
12 August, 1860, at the Maison St. Jean de Dieu, Paris, by
Comte Jules de Menou." It is entitled " Preuves de I'His-
toire de Menou," and it contains many documents connected
with the old D'Aulnay and La Tour controversy of 1644.
The volume concludes with some account of the Count him-
self, at the close of which is the following passage : " Plus
tard et rentr^ dans la vie priv^e, le Comte Jules de Menou
fut vivement touch^ de voir venir a lui un descendant des
Wiuthrop, qui, a3'ant appris sa presence a Paris, voulait
renouer, au nom de sa famille, les bons rapports qui, deux
cents ans auparavant, avaient exists entre son aieul, President
des Colonies Unies de la Nouvelle Angleterre, et Charles
de Menou d'Aulnay-Charnisay."

It is only within a few days that I have heard of the
Count's death, though I now learn that it took place a year or
more ago. I am glad, even at this late day, to pay this pass-
ing tribute of respect to the memory of one who was himself
so good a friend to our country, and whose name has such
interesting associations with the early history of New Eng-
land.

The President appointed Judge Hoar to write a
Memoir of Chief Justice Shaw, and Mr. Dana to write
a Memoir of the Hon. Rufus Choate.

The President announced a new vohime of Collec-
tions, vol. vii. of the Fourth Series, which had just been
laid upon the table ; and stated that it had been prepared

100 ' MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

iinder the immediate charge of Mr. Deane, one of the
Committee of Publication. It embraced a continuation
of the " Winthrop Papers." The thanks of the Society
were voted to the Publishing Committee for their labor.

On motion of Mr. Paige, it was voted that the same
Committee be requested to publish another volume of
selections from the " Winthrop Papers," whenever they
may deem it expedient.

The Librarian submitted to the inspection of the So-
ciety a manuscript book prepared in 1602 by William
Smith, " Eouge Dragon," a Pursuivant in the Herald's
College, London, containing 4,400 coats of arms. It
had been for a long time in the possession of the family
of the late Governor Gore, the second President of this
Society. Its title is " Promptuarium Armorum."

John Forster, Esq., of London, was nominated a Cor-
responding Member.

Mr. Sibley presented some memoranda relating to the
erection of the President's House in Cambridge, in 1726.

(Zc^^yz^^^ C^A^^T-t:^.

TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT.

TRIBUTE

EDWARD EVEEETT.

SPECIAL MEETING.

A Special Meeting of the Massachusetts Historical
Society was held in the Dowse Library on Monday
evening, January 30, 1865, to commemorate their late
illustrious associate, Edward Everett. The attendance
was very large.

The meeting was called to order at 7J o'clock by the
President, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, who spoke
as follows : —

Gentlemen of the Massachusetts Historical Society, — The
occasion of this meeting is but too well known to you all.
None of us were strangers to the grief which pervaded this
community on the recent announcement of the death of
Edward Everett. Not a few of us have had the privilege
of uniting with the public authorities, who hastened to
assume the whole charge of his funeral, in paying the last
tribute to his honored remains. And more than one of us
have already had an opportunity of giving some feeble ex-
pression to our sense of the loss which has been sustained
by our city, our Commonwealth, and our whole country.

But we are here this evening to take up the theme again
somewhat more deliberately, as a Society of which he was
so long one of the most valuable, as well as one of the most

102 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

distinguished members. We are here not merely to unite in
lamenting the close of a career which has been crowded with
so many good words and good works for the community and
the country at large, but to give utterance to our own par-
ticular sorrow for the breach which has been made in our
own cherished circle.

Mr. Everett was elected a member of this Society on the
27th of April, 1820, when he was but twenty-six years of
age ; and, at the time of his death, his name stood second in
order of seniority on the roll of our resident members. I
need not attempt to say to you how much we have prized his
companionship, how often we have profited of his counsels, or
how deeply we have been indebted to him for substantial
services which no one else could have rendered so well.

His earliest considerable effort in our behalf was a lecture
delivered before us on the 31st of October, 1833. It was
entitled " Anecdotes of Early Local History," and it will be
found in the second volume of his collected works, — now
lying upon our table, — with an extended note or appendix
containing many interesting details concerning the Society,
its objects, and its members. But it is only within the
last nine or ten years, and since his public life — so far as
ofiice is necessary to constitute public life — was brought to
a close, that he has been in the way of taking an active part
in our proceedings. No one can enter the room in which we
are gathered, without remembering how frequently, during
that period, his voice has been heard among us in rendering
such honors to others, as now, alas ! we are so unexpectedly
called to pay to himself. No one can forget his admirable
tributes to the beloved Prescott, to the excellent Nathan
Hale, to the venerated Quincy, among our immediate asso-
ciates; to Daniel D. Barnard of Albany, and Henry D.
Gilpin of Philadelphia, to Washington Irving, to Hallam, to
Humboldt, to Macaulay, among our domestic and foreign
honorary members.

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 103

Still less will any one be likely to forget the noble eulogy
which he pronounced, at our request, on the 9th of Decem-
ber, 1858, upon that remarkable self-made man whom we
have ever delighted to honor as our largest benefactor, and in
whose pictured presence we are at this moment assembled.
Often as I have listened to our lamented friend since the
year 1824, — when I followed him with at least one other
whom I see before me to Plymouth Rock, and heard his
splendid discourse on the Pilgrim Fathers, — I can hardly
recall any thing of his, more striking of its kind, or more
characteristic of its author, than that elaborate delineation of
the life of Thomas Dowse. No one, certainly, who was pres-
ent on the occasion, can fail to recall the exhibition which he
gave us, in its delivery, of the grasp and precision of his
wonderful memory, — when, in describing the collection of
water-colors now in the Athenajum gallery, which was the
eai-liest of Mr. Dowse's possessions, he repeated, without
faltering, the unfamiliar names of more than thirty of the
old masters from whose works they were copied ; and then
turning at once to the description of the library itself, as we
see it now around us, proceeded to recite the names of fifty-
three of the ancient authors of Greek and Roman literature,
of nineteen of the modern German, of fourteen of the Ital-
ian, of forty-seven of the French, of sixteen or seventeen
of the Portuguese and Spanish, making up in all an aggre-
gate of more than one hundred and eighty names of artists
and authors, many of them as hard to pronounce as they were
difficult to be remembered, but which he rehearsed, without
the aid of a note and without the hesitation of an instant,
with as much ease and fluency as he doubtless had rolled off
tlie famous catalogue of the ships, in the second book of
Homer's Iliad, with the text-book in his hand, as a college
' student or as a Greek professor, half a century before !

I need hardly add, that, with this library, now our most
valued treasure, the name of Mr. Everett will henceforth

104 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

be hardly less identified than that of Mr. Dowse himself.
Indeed, he had been associated with it long before it was so
munificently transferred to us. By placing yonder portrait
of him, taken in his earliest manhood, upon the walls of the
humble apartment in which the books were originally col-
lected, — the only portrait ever admitted to their compan-
ionship, — our worthy benefactor seems himself to have
designated Edward Everett as the presiding genius or patron
saint of this library ; and as such he will be enshrined by us,
and by all who shall succeed us, as long as the precious books,
and the not less precious canvas, shall escape the ravages of
time.

I may not omit to remind you, that our lamented friend —
who was rarely without some labor of love for others in
prospect — had at least two matters in hand for us at the
time of his death, which he was hoping, and which we all
were hoping, that he would soon be able to complete. One
of them was a memoir of that noble patriot of South Carolina,
James Louis Petigru, whose lifelong devotion to the cause of
the American Union, alike in the days of nullification and
of secession, will secure him the grateful remembrance of all
to whom that Union is dear. The other was a volume of
Washington's private letters, which he was preparing to pub-
lish in our current series of historical collections. It is hardly
a month since he told me that the letters were all copied,
and that he was sorry to be obliged to postpone the printing
of them a little longer, in order to find time for the annota-
tions with which he desired to accompany them.

But you do not require to be told, gentlemen, that what
Mr. Everett has done, or has proposed to do, specifically for
our own Society, would constitute a very small part of all
that he has accomplished in that cause of American history
in which we are associated. It is true that he has composed
no independent historical work, nor did he ever publish any
volume of biography more considerable than the excellent

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 105

memoir of Washington, which he prepared, at the suggestion
of his friend Lord Macaulay, for the new edition of the
" EncyclopEedia Britannica." But there is no great epoch,- —
there is hardly a single great event, — of our national or of
our colonial history, which he has not carefully depicted and
brilliantly illustrated in his occasional discourses. I have
sometimes thought that no more attractive or more instruc-
tive history of our country could be presented to the youth
of our land, than is found in the series of anniversary orations
which he has delivered during the last forty years. Collect
those orations into a volume by themselves ; arrange them in
their historical order : " The First Settlement of New Eng-
land," " The Settlement of Massachusetts," " The Battle of
Bloody Brook in King Philip's War," " The Seven Years'
War, the School of the Revolution," " The First Battles of
the Revolutionary War," " The Battle of Lexington," " The
Battle of Bunker Hill," "Dorchester in 1630, 1776, and
1855 ; " combine with them those " Anecdotes of Early Local
History " which he prepared for our own Society, and add to
them his charming discourses on " The Youth of Washing-
ton " and " The Character of Washington," on " The Boyhood
and the Early Days of Franklin," and his memorable eulogies
on Adams and Jefferson, on Lafayette, on John Quincy Adams,
and on Daniel Webster, — and I know not in what other vol-
ume the young men, or even the old men, of our land could
find the history of the glorious past more accurately or more
admirably portrayed. I know not where they could find the
toils and trials and struggles of our colonial or revolutionary
fathers set forth with greater fulness of detail or greater
felicity of illustration. As one reads those orations and dis-
courses at this moment, they might almost be regarded as
successive chapters of a continuous and comprehensive work
which had been composed and recited on our great national
anniversaries, just as the chapters of Herodotus are said to
have been recited at the Olympic festivals of ancient Greece.
14

106 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JaX.

Undoubtedly, however, it is rather as an actor and an
orator in some of the later scenes of our country's history,
than as an author, that Mr. Everett will be longest remem-
bered. Indeed, since he entered on the stage of mature life,
there has hardly been a scene of any sort in that great his-
toric drama, which of late, alas ! has assumed the most terrible
form of tragedy, in which he has not been called to play a
more or less conspicuous part; and we all know how per-
fectly every part which has been assigned him has been
performed. If we follow him from the hour when he left the
University of Cambridge, with the highest academic honors,
at an age when so many others are hardly prepared to enter
there, down to the fatal day when he uttered those last im-
pressive words at Faneuil Hall, we shall find him every-
where occupied with the highest duties, and everywhere
discharging those duties with consummate ability and unwea-
ried devotion. Varied and brilliant accomplishments, labori-
ous research, copious diction, marvellous memory, magnificent
rhetoric, a gracious presence, a glorious voice, an ardent
patriotism controlling his public career, an unsullied purity
crowning his private life,- — what element was there wanting
in him for the complete embodiment of the classic orator,
as Cato and Quinctilian so tersely and yet so comprehen-
sively defined him eighteen hundred years ago, — Vir bonus
dicendi peritus!

But I may not occupy more of your time in these intro-
ductory remarks, intended only to exhibit our departed
friend in his relations to our own Society, and to open the
way for those who are prepared to do better justice to his
general career and character. Let me only add that our
Standing Committee have requested our associates, Mr. Hil-
lard and Dr. Lothrop, to prepare some appropriate resolu-
tions for the occasion, and that the Society is now ready to
receive them.

18G5.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 107

Mr. HiLLARD then proceeded as follows : —

The Psalmist says, " The days of our years are threescore
years and ten ; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore
years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow." The latter
part of this sentence is not altogether true ; at least, it is not
without exceptions as numerous as the rule. To say noth-
ing of the living, we who have witnessed the serene and
beautiful old age of Quincy, protracted more than twenty
years after threescore years and ten, will not admit that all of
life beyond that limit is of necessity " labor and sorrow." But
in these words there is as much of truth as this, that he who
has lived to be threescore and ten years old should feel that
he has had his fair share of life ; and, if any more years are
dropped into his lap, he must receive them as a gift not
promised at his birth. And thus no man who dies after the
age of seventy can be said to have died unseasonably or
prematurely. But the shock with which the news of Mr.
Everett's death fell upon the community was due to its unex-
pectedness as well as its suddenness. We knew that he was
an old man, but we did not feel that he was such. There
M^as nothing, either in his aspect or his life, that warned us 'of
departure, or reminded us of decay. His powers were so
vigorous, his industry was so great, his sympathies were
so active, his eloquence was so rich and glowing, his elocu-
tion still so admirable, that he appeared before us as a man
in the very prime of life ; and, when he died, it was as if the
sun had gone down at noon. The impression made by his
death was the highest tribute that could be paid to the worth
of his life.

In 1819, after an absence of nearly five years, Mr. Everett
returned from Europe at the age of twenty-five, the most
finished and accomplished man that had been seen in New
England, and it will be generally admitted that he maintained
this superiority to the last. From that year down to the

10b MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

hour of his death, he was constantly before the public eye,
and never without a marked and peculiar influence upon the
community, especially upon students and scholars. You and
I, Mr. President, are old enough to have come under the spell
of the magician at that early period of his life, when he pre-
sented the most attractive combination of graceful and bloom-
ing youth, with mature intellectual power. The young man
of to-day, familiar with that expression of gravity, almost of
sadness, which his countenance has habitually worn of late,
can hardly imagine what he then was, when his " bosom's
lord sat light upon his throne," when the winds of hope filled
his sails, and his looks and movements were informed with a
spirit of morning freshness and vernal promise.

In the forty-five years which passed between his return
home and his death, Mr. Everett's industry was untiring, and
the amount of work he accomplished was immense. What
he published would alone entitle him to the praise of a very
industrious man; but this forms but a part of his labors. Of
what has been called the master-vice of sloth he knew noth-
ing. He was independent of the amusements and relaxations
which most hard-working men interpose between their hours
of toil. He was always in harness.

Some persons have regretted that he gave so much time to
merely occasional productions, instead of devoting himself
to some one great work ; but, without speculating upon the
comparative value of what we have and what we might have
had, it is enough to say, that, with his genius and tempera-
ment on the one hand, and our institutions and form of
society on the other, it was a sort of necessity that his mind
should have taken the direction that it did. For he was the
child of his time, and was always in harmony with the spirit
of the age and country in which his lot was cast. He was
pre-eminently rich in the fruits of European culture ; Greece,
Rome, England, France, Italy, and Germany, all helped by
liberal contributions to swell his stores of intellectual wealth :

1S65.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 109

but yet no man was ever more national in feeling, more
patriotic in motive and impulse, more thoroughly American
in grain and fibre. Loving books as he did, he would yet
have pined and languished if he had been doomed to live in
the unsympathetic air of a great library. The presence, the
comprehension, the sympathy of his kind, were as necessary
to him as his daily bread.

" Two words," says Macaulay, " form the key of the Baco-
nian doctrine. Utility and Progress." I think these two
words also go far to reveal and interpret Mr. Everett's
motives and character. Not that he did not seek honorable
distinction, not that he did not take pleasure in the applause
which he had fairly earned ; but stronger even than these
propelling impulses was his desire to be of service to his
fellow-men, to do good in his day and generation. He loved
his country with a fervid love, and he loved his race with a
generous and comprehensive philanthropy. He was always
ready to work cheerfully in any direction when he thought
he could do any good, though the labor might not be particu-
larly congenial to his tastes, and would not add any thing to
his literary reputation. The themes which he handled,
during his long life of intellectual action, were very various :
they were treated with great affluence of learning, singular
beauty of illustration, and elaborate and exquisite harmony
of style, but always in such a way as to bear practical fruit,
and contribute to the advancement of society and the eleva-
tion of humanity.

So, too, Mr. Everett was a sincere and consistent friend ol
progress. He was, it is true, conservative in his instincts
and convictions ; I mean in a large and liberal, and not in a
narrow and technical sense. But that he was an extreme
conservative, or that he valued an institution simply because
it was old, is not only not true, but, I think, the reverse of
truth. He had a distaste to extreme views of any kind, and,
by the constitution of his mind, was disposed to take that

110 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JaN.

middle ground which partisan zeal is prone to identify with
timidity or indifference. But he was a man of generous
impulses and large sympathies. No one was more quick to
recognize true progress, and greet it with a more hospitable
welcome. No man of his age would have more readily and
heartily acknowledged the many points in which the world
has advanced since he was young.

It would not be seasonable here to dwell upon Mr. Ever-
ett's public or political career; but I maybe permitted to
add that I think he had a genuine faith in the institutions of
his country, which did not grow fainter as he grew older.
He believed in man's capacity for self-government, and had
confidence in popular instincts. He was fastidious in his
social tastes, but not aristocratic; that is, if he preferred
one man to another, it was for essential and not adventitious
qualities, — for what they were, and not for what they had.
He was uniform^ kind to the young, and always prompt to
recognize and encourage merit in a young person.

Mr. Everett, if not the founder of the school of American
deliberative eloquence, was its most brilliant representative.
In his orations and occasional discourses will be found his best
title to remembrance, and by them his name will surely be
transmitted to future generations. In judging of them, we
must bear in mind that the aim of the deliberative orator is to
treat a subject in such a way as to secure and fix the atten-
tion of a popular audience ; and this aim Mr. Everett never
lost sight of. If it be said that his discourses are not marked
by originality of construction, or philosophical depth of
thought, it may be replied, that, had they been so, they would
have been less attractive to his hearers. They are remarka-
ble for a combination of qualities rarely, if ever before, so
happily blended, and especially for the grace, skill, and tact
with which the resources of the widest cultivation are so
used as to instruct the common mind, and touch the common
heart. For, whatever were the subject, Mr. Everett always

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. Ill

took his audience along with him, from first to last. He
never soared or wandered out of their sight.

I need not dwell upon the singular beauty and finish of his
elocution. Those who have heard him speak will need no
description of the peculiar charm and grace of his manner,
and no description will give any adequate impression of it to
those who never heard him. It was a manner easily carica-
tured, but not easily imitated. His power over an audience
remained unimpaired to the last. At the age of seventy he
spoke with all the animation of youth, and easily filled the
largest hall with that rich and flexible voice, the tones of
which time had hardly touched.

His organization was delicate and refined, his tempera-
ment was sensitive and sympathetic. The opinion of those
whom he loved and esteemed was weighty with him. Praise
was ever cordial to him, and more necessary than to most
men who had achieved such high and assured distinction.
Doubtful as the statement may seem to those who knew him
but slightly, or only saw him on the platform with his " robes
and singing garlands " about him, he was to the last a modest
and self-distrustful man. He never appeared in public with-
out a slight flutter of apprehension lest he should fall short
of that standard which he had created for himself. His
want of self-confidence, and, in later years, his want of animal
spirits, sometimes produced a coldness of manner, which, by
superficial observers, was set down to coldness of heart, but
most unjustly.

His nature was courteous, gentle, and sweet. Few men
were ever more worthy than he to wear " the grand old name
of gentleman." His manners were graceful, more scholarly
than is usual with men who had been so much in public life
as he had been, and sometimes covered with a delicate veil
of reserve. Conflict ,and contest were distasteful to him,
and it was his disposition to follow the things that make for
peace. He had a true respect for the intellectual rights of

112 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

others, and it was no fault of his if he ever lost a friend
through difference of opinion.

Permit me to turn for a moment to Mr. Everett's public
life for an illustration of his character. In forensic contests,
sarcasm and invective are formidable and frequent weapons.
The House of Commons quailed before the younger Pitt's
terrible powers of sarcasm. An eminent living statesman
and orator of Great Britain is remarkable for both these
qualities. But neither invective noj- sarcasm is to be found
in Mr. Everett's speeches. I think this absence is to be
abscribed, not to an intellectual want, but to a moral grace.

Great men, public men, have also their inner and private
life; and sometimes this must be thrown by the honest painter
into shadow. But in Mr. Everett's case there was no need
of this, for his private life was spotless. In conduct and con-
versation he always conformed to the highest standard which
public opinion exacts of the members of that profession to
which he originally belonged. As a brother, husband, father,
and friend, there was no duty that he did not discharge, —
no call that he did not obey. He was generous in giving,
and equally generous in sacrificing. Where he was most
known, he was best loved. He was wholly free from that
exacting temper in small things which men, eminent and
otherwise estimable, sometimes fall into. His daily life was
made beautiful by a pervading spirit of thoughtful considera-
tion for those who stood nearest to him. His household
manners were delightful, and his household discourse was
brightened by a lambent play of wit and humor, — qualities
which he possessed in no common measure, though they were
rarely displayed before the public. Could the innermost cir-
cle of Mr. Everett's life be revealed to the general eye, it
could not fail to deepen the sense of bereavement which his
death has awakened, and to increase the reverence with
which his memory will be cherished.

No man ever bore his faculties and his eminence more

1865.] ■ TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 113

meekly than he. He never declined the lowly and common-
place duties of life. He was always approachable and accessi-
ble. The constant and various interruptions to which he
was exposed by the innumerable calls made upon his time
and thoughts were borne by him with singular patience and
sweetness. His industry was as methodical as it was uni-
form. However busy he might be, he could always find time
for any service which a friend required at his hands. He
was scrupulously faithful and exact in small things. He never
broke an appointment or a promise. His splendid powers
worked with all the regularity and precision of the most
nicely adjusted machinery. If he had undertaken to have a
discourse, a report, an article, ready at a certain time, it
might be depended upon as surely as the rising of the sun.

I feel that I have hardly touched upon the remarkable
qualities of Mr. Everett's mind and character, and yet I have
occupied as much of your time as is becoming. I have
only to offer a few resolutions, in which I have endeavored
briefly and simply to give expression to what we all feel.

Mr. Hillard then presented the following resolu-
tions : —

Besolved, That, as members of the Massachusetts Historical So-
ciety, we record, with mingled pride and sorrow, our sense of what
we have lost in the death of our late illustrious associate, Edward
Everett, the wise statesman, the eloquent orator, the devoted patriot,
tlie finished scholar, whose long life of singular and unbroken intel-
lectual activity has shed new lustre upon the name of our country in
every part of the civilized world, and whose noble powers and un-
rivalled accomplishments were always inspired by an enlarged and
enlightened philanthropy, and dedicated to the best interests of knowl-
edge, virtue, and truth.

Besolved, That we recall with peculiar sensibility the personal
qualities and private virtues of our departed friend, the purity and
beauty of his daily life, his strict allegiance to duty, the strength
and tenderness of his domestic affections, the uniform conscientious-

114 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

ness which regulated his conduct, his spirit of self-sacrifice, his
thoughtful consideration for the rights and happiness of others, and
the gentleness with which his great faculties and high honors were
borne.

Mesolved, That the President of the Society be requested to trans-
mit these resolutions to the family of our lamented associate, with
an expression of our deep sympathy with them in their loss, and
of our trust that they may find consolation not merely in the re-
membrance of his long, useful, and illustrious career, but in the
hopes and promises of that religion of which he was a firm believer,
and which was ever to him a staif of support through life.

The resolutions were seconded by the Rev. Dr. Lo-
THROP, who then addressed the meeting as follows : —

Mr. President, — I rise, at your request and at that of
the standing committee, to second the resolutions which have
just been offered, and to pay my portion of the tribute of
profound, grateful, and affectionate respect which the Society
would offer this evening to the memory of our eminent
deceased associate. And as we gather within these walls
and in this room, where we have so often welcomed his pres-
ence, I feel brought back upon me afresh that sense of lone-
liness and of personal bereavement, which, in common with
so many, I had when I first heard that one who for more
than forty years had been the object of my youthful and my
mature admiration, one whose speech never disappointed me,
but had often stirred my heart with pure and noble emotions,
and to whom I and others had so long been accustomed to turn
upon all occasions of public interest and importance, as the
person who could do and say, in the best way, the best things
to be done and said, was really dead, and that the utterances
of his wisdom and eloquence would never more be heard by
us on earth. My sorrow, however, at his departure, the sor-
row of all of us, I think, must be greatly softened by the
extraordinary felicity of the time and manner of his death,

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 115

and by the recollection of the grand and noble career of
which that death was the close.

In view of my profession, and the pulpit which it has
been my honor and happiness to occupy in this city, it may
be permitted me, in glancing at his career, to speak with
some particularity of that which was the beginning of it
before the public, — his brief but honorable connection with
tlie clerical profession, and his short but brilliant pastorate at
Brattle-street Church. Mr. Everett has said, I believe, that,
on leaving college, his strongest preferences were for the
law ; but the influence and advice of friends, combining with
tlie promptings of his own heart, the deep religious instincts
of his nature, determined his choice of the Christian ministry.
That determination must now be regarded as foi'tunate for
him and for us. He left the pulpit, indeed, shortly after he
had entered it; but no true man ever forgets that he has
stood in, it, and the studies, the spiritual discipline and culture
of his early profession, seem to me to have exerted upon Mr.
Everett's mind and heart blessed and important influences,
which affected his whole subsequent career, and impreg-
nated his life and character with the simple but grand dignity
of purity. Graduating in 1811, at the age of seventeen, he
spent two years and a few months at Cambridge, pursuing
theological studies, and discharging at the same time the
onerous duties of a tutorship. On the 10th of December,
1813, a mere youth, who had not yet numbered twenty win-
ters, he first stood in Brattle-street pulpit to preach as a
candidate. Fame had preceded him, and told of his talents
rich and rare, of his great learning and his great capacity to
learn, — marvellous even then in the judgment of his peers
and of the University, — of his extraordinary gift of golden
speech, his powers of winning, persuasive oratory.

The great, though vague and undefined expectations thus
awakened were not disappointed. I have been told by many
who distinctly remember the occasion, that, when he rose in

116 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

the pulpit that morning, a youthful modesty, almost timidity,
blending with the dignity which a grave and reverent sense of
the importance of his office inspired, lent a fascinating charm
to his manner ; and, from the moment he opened his lips, the
audience were held spell-bourid to the end of the service.
When the days of his engagement were numbered, the
universal cry was, " Come unto us in the name of the Lord :
break unto us the bread of life, and let all these rich gifts
find their usefulness and their glory in the service of the
Master here among us." He heard the cry as the leadings
of Providence, and came. His ordination, on the 9th of
February, 1814, was an occasion of as deep interest as any
event of the kind ever excited. The most eminent and excel-
lent men of that day took part in it. It brought a perfect
satisfaction to the people. It awakened the most brilliant
anticipations. It was accompanied not simply with the hope,
but with the conviction, that the former glory of that pulpit,
which the death of Buckminster had veiled for a season,
would be revived with increased and increasing splendor.
That conviction was verified. As the months rolled on.
Brattle-street Church, then near the residences rather than
the business of the people, was crowded Sunday after Sun-
day with audiences of the intelhgent and the cultivated, who
went away charmed, instructed, religiously impressed ; and
the records of the communion show that it was a season of
spiritual growth, as well as of outward prosperity. But the
year had not reached its close before painful rumors began
to prevail that this was not to last ; and, at the end of thir-
teen months after his ordination, he resigned his charge, to
adcept the Eliot Professorship of Greek Literature in the
University at Cambridge, to which he had been appointed
by the corporation, Avith leave of study and travel for five
years in Europe, in further preparation for its duties.

He left the clerical profession, and virtually the pulpit,
when he thus left Brattle-street Church. On his return from

1860.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 117

Europe, indeed, and for two or three years subsequently, he
preached occasionally, some ten or fifteen, perhaps twenty
times in all. I may be permitted a brief allusion to some of
these occasions, which I remember. First, of course, he
preached in what had been his own pulpit, Brattle Street, in
the summer of 1819, a few weeks after his return. I was one
of the mighty company that thronged the aisles of that church
on that day, and, standing on the window-seat nearest the
door in the north gallery, heard him for the first time when I
was just old enough to receive my first idea of eloquence, to
understand and feel something of its power. A month or
two later, in December of that year, I think, he preached a
famous Christmas sermon at King's Chapel ; and, on the first
Sunday in December, 1820, the Quarterly Charity Lecture,
at the Old-South Church, which was crowded to overflowing
to hear him. Another memorable and impressive sermon of
his, preached several times in different pulpits in this vicin-
ity, and which several gentlemen present must distinctly re-
member, was on the text, "The time is short." He preached
the sermon at the funeral of the Rev. Dr. Bentley of Salem,
on the 3d of January, 1820; President Kirkland and Dr. Ware
of the University officiating in other parts of the service.
This arrangement was probably made in the expectation that
Dr. Bentley had left his valuable library to Harvard College.
But the doctorate from Cambridge was conferred too late,
and it was found that the library had been bequeathed to
Alleghany College ; so, to the deep regret of those who heard
it, Mr. Everett's sermon on this occasion was never pub-
lished. On the 19th of January, 1821, he preached the
sermon at the dedication of the First Congregational Church
in the city of New York, of which the late Rev. William
Ware subsequently became pastor. This sermon was pub-
lished, and is, I believe, the only sermon he ever published.
It is the only one I have ever seen. In style it is simple and
grave, less rhetorical than his orations. It is liberal, but con-

118 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

servative, in its theology ; broad and catholic in its charity ;
fervent in tone and spirit ; evidently the product of a devout
heart. This dedication at New York was the last, or amotg
the last occasions on which he preached. I feel quite con-
fident that he did not preach after 1821, because the next
year, as some who hear me will remember, in addition to the
lectures connected with his professorship, and other duties
at Cambridge, he was occupied with a course of lectures,
whose preparation, judging from their learning and brillianc)-,
must have cost him no little time and study, on Art and Ar-
chitecture, — more especially, if my memory serves me, on
Greek and Egyptian Architecture, — which he delivered at
what was then called the Pantheon Hall, on Washington
Street, a little south of the Boylston Market. Lectures of
this kind were then unusual in Boston ; and these, iiaving in
addition to their novelty the strong attraction of the name
and fame of the lecturer, were attended by an audience as
cultivated and appreciative as ever assembled for a similar
purpose.

From this review it appears that his whole connection
with the pulpit, including his preparatory studies and pas-
torate before he went to Europe, and the period during
which he preached occasionally after his return, was only
about five years. His exclusive connection with it as pastor
was only one year and a month, lacking four days, from the
9th of February, 1814, to the 5th of March, 1815. In this
brief period he made an impression as a preacher which
abides distinct and clear to this hour in many hearts. He
left the pulpit with the reputation of being the most eminent
and eloquent man in it ; and he left in and with the profes-
sion one book — his "Defence of Christianity " — which at the
time it was published was justly regarded as one of the most
learned and important theological works that had then been
written in America, and which, considering its contents, the
circumstances under which it was prepared, and the extreme

1865.]

TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 119

youth of the author, may still be regarded as one of the most
extraordinary books produced at any time in any profession.
It is one of those books of which the paradox may be uttered,
that its success caused its failure. It so perfectly accom-
plished its work that it almost dropped out of existence. Few
of the present generation ever heard of it ; fewer still know
any thing about it. Copies of it can now be found only here
and there, on the shelves of public libraries, or among the
books of aged clergymen. It was prepared, as some gentle-
men here will remember, in reply to a work by Mr. George
Bethune English, who graduated in Cambridge in 1807, the
year Mr. Everett entered. This gentleman, not without
talents, but erratic in his career, which his death terminated
in 1828, remained at Cambridge four or five years after
graduating, studied theology, and, I believe, preached for a
brief period. Being led, apparently by the study of the deisti-
cal works of Anthony Collins, to adopt opinions unfavorable
to Christianity as a divine revelation, he published a book
entitled, " The Grounds of Christianity Examined by compar-
ing the New Testament with the Old." This work, plausible
in spirit, having the appearance of great candor in statement
and fairness in argument, attracted attention, and was much
read. It unsettled the faith of many, and, if left unanswered,
seemed destined to do this for many more.

Mr. Everett did what several older men, I have heard,
attempted without success : he made a triumphant answer to
Mr. English's book, in a volume of nearly five hundred pages,
which to this day must be regarded as replete with the
learning bearing upon its particular point. Cogent in argu-
ment, clear and close in its reasoning, eloquent often in the
fervor and glow of a devout faith, keen yet kind in its wit
and satire, conclusive in its exposition of the ignorance of
his opponent, his plagiarism, and his dishonesty in the use
of his materials, — this book so completely extinguished Mr.
English and his disciples, that it soon ceased to be read itself.

120 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

It died out, as I have said, and is now known only to few of
the older members of the community and the profession. It
is a book of such a character, that any man, at any period of
his life, might be pardoned the manifestation of some little
self-complacency at finding himself the author of it. Many
have passed a long life in the profession, and held a high and
honorable position in it, without giving any evidence of the
mastery of so much of the learning that belongs to it as is
contained in this work.

His " Defence of Christianity," written partly before his
ordination, and published six months afterwards, in August,
1814, was Mr. Everett's legacy to the clerical profession,
bequeathed to it before he was invested with a legal man-
hood. I am aware that their opinions on the Prophets and
the Old Testament generally do not permit some eminent
theological scholars to put a very high estimate upon Mr.
Everett's " Defence of Christianity ; " but, for myself, with-
out disparagement of the good he has done, and the honors
he has attained in other departments, I cannot but think,
that, if there be any one event, work, or labor of his varied
and useful life, of which he may, on a just estimate of things,
be most proud, it is, that, in the days of his early youth, on
the very threshold of his career, he prepared and published
this book, which silenced the voice of infidehty, and gave
peace, satisfaction, and a firm faith to thousands of minds in
a young and growing community.

We are not surprised that a career which began in such
industry, in the exhibition of so much learning, and such
fidelity in improving opportunity, should have gone on to the
close increasing in honor and usefulness. 1 do not propose
to follow this career with such minuteness all through, nor
would it be proper in me to do so here ; but,as I have spoken
of the clergyman, I may be permitted to say something of
the professor at Cambridge, as I am the only member of the
Society present, who, as a pupil in the Academic Depart-

1863.] TRIBUTE TO EDWAED EVERETT. 121

ment of the University, had the benefit of his instructions
and lectures. Cambridge and the family of President Kirk-
land having been my home for several years before I entered
college in 1821, not long after he entered upon his professor-
ship, I knew something about the college, and had ample
opportunity of knowing also the fresh impulse which he gave
to the study of Greek, by the general influence of his repu-
tation as a Greek scholar, by his occasional presence at our
recitations to the tutors in Greek, by his suggestive direc-
tion or advice to such students as wished to give special
attention to this department, but chiefly by his lectures on
the Greek language and literature, which were delivered to
the senior class, in what was then, there being three, the
second or Spring Term of the college year. The class gradu-
ating in 1825, of which I was a member, was the last of the
six classes who had the benefit of these lectures. From my
recollection of them, from notes taken at the time, and from
the printed synopsis which was furnished for our guidance, I
have a strong impression of the extraordinary character of
those lectures, as profound, comprehensive, discriminating,
and largely exhaustive of all the learning connected with
their theme. Had he published them when he resigned, he
would have left in his professor's chair a legacy as remarka-
ble, in its kind, as his legacy to the pulpit in his " Defence of
Christianity," and secured to himself such a reputation as a
Greek scholar, master of all the learning appertaining to the
history and criticism of Greek literature, as many a man
would have been willing to rest upon for the remainder of
his life.

But, while professor at Cambridge, Mr. Everett was inter-
ested not simply in his immediate duties, but in whatever
touched the welfare and improvement of the college. In all
departments his influence was felt ; and, in one direction, he
was active in a way which had some connection, I suppose,
with his resignation of his professorship to enter upon political
16

122 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

life. In 1823, some of the eminent gentlemen at Cambridge,
then resident professors, took up the thought, not without
some quite substantial reasons, that the " Fellows," as they are
termed in the charter, " Members of the Corporation," as we
commonly designate them, should be chosen from among them-
selves ; that the authoritative body controlling the college,
having primarily the charge of all its interests and the con-
duct of all its affairs, should be composed of the working-men
on the spot, who best understood its condition and its wants,
and were most competent to carry it on successfully, rather
than of gentlemen engaged in other occupations, and living
in Boston, Salem, or some more distant place. In 1824, they
prepared a memorial to this effect, addressed to the Corpora-
tion, who referred them to the Board of Overseers, before
which body a hearing, asked for and granted, was subse-
quently held. The late Andrews Norton, Dexter Professor
of Sacred Literature, and Mr. Everett, were selected to rep-
resent the memorialists at this hearing. Mr. Norton read a
very able paper, marked by the concise accuracy of state-
ment and closeness of reasoning for which he was distin-
guished. Mr. Everett, without manuscript, with only a few
brief memoranda, such as a lawyer would use before a jury,
addressed the Board in a speech occupying more than two
hours. He was interrupted at times by gentlemen of the
Board adverse to the position of the memorialists ; the accu-
racy or pertinence or propriety of his statements questioned ;
and, in one instance, if not more, the decision of the chair,
(Lieutenant-Governor Morton presiding), that he was " not in
order," required him to change his line of argument and re-
mark. Nothing, however, seemed to confuse or discompose
him. The situation was novel and trying, yet he sustained
himself with an admirable degree of self-possession, and con-
ducted his cause with great ability. I have always supposed
that it was the exhibition of his powers on this occasion, the
coolness and tact with which he conducted himself in an argu-

1S65.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 123

ment, and sometimes almost a debate, before a body of emi-
nent men, some of whom were opposed to his position, that
first suggested his nomination to represent Middlesex in Con-
gress ; and that his splendid and eloquent oration before the
Phi Beta Kappa Society, in August, 1824, only helped to
confirm the purpose of his nomination and secure his elec-
tion. Thus much at least is clear, any distrust that may have
been felt in any quai'ter as to his fitness or competency for
congressional service, in view of his scholastic training and
habits, found a conclusive answer in the manner in which he
bore himself in this hearing before the Board of Overseers.

But, whatever suggested the nomination, it was made,
and he was elected in the autumn of 1824 ; and, delivering
his lectures for the last time in the spring of 1825, he re-
signed, and took his seat in Congress in December of that
year. The deep regret felt and expressed by many at that
time, that so much learning, such various abilities, persuasive
eloquence, and rare combination of qualities, were lost to the
direct service of literature and religion, must be largely
diminished, if not entirely extinguished, by his eminent and
brilliant success, by his wide-spread usefulness in varied
departments of public and political life, by the singular noble-
ness and purity of his whole career, and by his constant
fidelity and devotedness to the interests of truth, virtue, and
religion. For he seems to me to have been thus faithful
and devoted. I feel disposed to maintain that Mr. Everett
was true always to the spirit of his early vows ; and, though
he did not continue in the administration of religion as an
institution of society, he continued to cultivate its spirit and
power in his heart, and to make it the controlling inspiration
and energy of his life. It is not necessary, nor would it be
proper for me here, to go into an analysis of his speeches,
votes, or conduct, at various junctures in our piiblic affairs
during the last forty years ; but it seems to me, that whatever
difference of judgment party predilections may dispose us to

124 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

entertaio about portions of his public career, a broad, gener-
ous, just, and fair review of the whole of it will lead every
one to concur in the position, that it was all underlaid and
impregnated from the beginning to the end with a simple,
honest, conscientious, patriotic purpose. The very admirable
and beautiful analysis of his character which Mr. Hillard has
just read before us, seemed to me to confirm this position, and
to give the true explanation of his course. From his entrance
upon public life in 1825 to the spring of 1861, all through
those more than thirty years, in which the struggle between
the antagonistic elements of liberty and slavery in our gov-
ernment and institutions came up in various forms, he, in com-
mon with many of our greatest statesmen and large masses
of our people, felt that a certain line of policy was the wisest
and the best, most adapted to keep the peace, to preserve the
Union from dissolution, and the Government and the coun-
try from ruin. Therefore, adhering to this policy, adopted
on conviction, he was for patience, forbearance, compromise,
concession, for yielding any thing and every thing that could,
not simply in justice, but in generosity and honor, be yielded
to satisfy those who were perpetually holding over us the
menace of dissolution. Honestly, and in the spirit of a broad
patriotism, to disarm this menance of all occasion and all
justification, was the purpose of his action and policy while
in public office, and of his efforts as a private citizen, and
especially of that grand national pilgrimage which he made
with the life and character of Washington as the theme of
a magnificent discourse, which he delivered so many times
to such vast assemblies in all the principal cities of the land,
in the hope, that under the shadow of that august name,
and by the glory of a memory so sacred to all of us, he might
allay sectional prejudice and the strife of parties, and bind all
together in a common love and devotion to the Union. But
when this hope failed, and he found that treason bad devel-
oped its plans ; that rebellion, unfurling its standard, had

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 125

inaugurated civil war, — then the policy that had hitherto
guided his life was instantly abandoned. He felt that there
was no longer any room for concession or compromise, and
so gave himself, time, talents, wisdom, strength, all that he
had, in all the ways that he could, to support the legitimate
Government of the United States, in all the action and policy
by which that Government sought to maintain at all hazards
and at any cost the integrity of the Union and country which
that Government was instituted to preserve. But in all this
he was under the inspiration of a patriotism that always
dwelt in his heart, though in these latter years he seems to
have been raised to an energy, enthusiasm, and earnestness
of effort, that indicate a deeper and stronger conviction that
he was right than he exhibited or perhaps ever experienced
before.

This is the true interpretation, I conceive, to be put upon
Mr. Everett's political course as a public man. In our esti-
mate of him intellectually, it will not be maintained, I pre-
sume, that Mr. Everett was one of those grand, original,
creative, inventive, productive minds, that strike out new
paths in science, philosophy, or the policies of States. Such
minds come upon the world only in the cycle of centuries.
But he had a mind of vast powers, capable of comprehending
principles, gathering up details, and making use of both.
He had a conscientious, unwearied industry, and consequent-
ly accumulated vast stores of knowledge in all the depart-
ments of art, science, history, and literature. He had a
wonderful memory, raised to the highest power by constant
culture and exercise. He had a rare combination of intel-
lectual, moral, and physical faculties ; and, above all, he had
the power of using all his faculties and all his acquisitions
with grace, beauty, and dignity, so that he touched nothing
that he did not illustrate and adorn, and came before us ever,
on all occasions, with a freshness and force that charmed
and instructed. As is well known to his intimate friends,

1:^6 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

he was singularly kind, tender, faithful, and true in every
domestic relation of life, and to all the claims of kindred and
friendship, with a warm heart under a reserved manner,
and a sympathizing spirit under lips often reticent ; and if,
remembering this, we do justice to liis private, personal char-
acter, and then look at his public career, at the wide circle
of varied offices which he successively held, at the labor
performed, the ability displayed in each ; if we add to these
his works as a scholar and a literary man, — his magnificent
orations, all of them such masterpieces of eloquence, pure
and elevating in their impression ; broad, noble, generous in
their thoughts ; breathing ever the spirit of piety and patri-
otism, fitted to instruct our people and unfold our history,
while they adorn our literature, — his numerous contributions
to the periodical press, especially those to the " North Ameri-
can Review," often profound discussions of grave questions
in literature and philosophy : if we then crown all with the
noble and patriotic labors of the last four years, we find enough
surely in this survey to win for him alike our admiration and
our gratitude ; enough, and more than enough, to dispose us
to bow before his memory in reverence, and accord to him the
name and the fame of being a great man. Where shall we find
one who in such varied spheres has done so much and done it
so well ? His was a noble life and character ; and his career,
followed from the beginning to the end, was marvellous in
its early precocity, its growing wisdom, its ever-increasing
breadth, and its grand conclusion. He was a Franklin Medal
scholar in the old North Grammar School at the age of ten,
a Franklin Medal scholar at the Public Latin School at thir-
teen, chief in his class at Cambridge at seventeen, a tutor in
the University at eighteen, an ordained minister of the Gospel
before he was twenty, appointed to a professorship of Greek
literature before he was twenty-one, elected a member of
Congress at thirty ; and thence, after a few years' service in
the halls of national legislation, he was called to the Chief

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 127

Magistracy of this State, all of whose affairs he directed with
wisdom, dignity, and usefulness, — and thence to represent his
country abroad in one of its most important and honorable
foreign embassies, — and thence, on his return to his native
land, to preside over the interests of learning at its oldest
and most advanced University, — and thence to a seat in the
National Cabinet for the Department of State, — and thence to
a seat in that august body, the Senate of the United States,
— and thence, through noble and patriotic labors, to a higher
and a broader place than he had ever held before in the
hearts of his countrymen, — and when he had attained to this
grand pre-eminence, to be the foremost private citizen in all
the land, holding no public office, but wielding a power and
doing a service which mere office could never do, wearing
this great distinction with unaffected modesty, walking among
us with none of the infirmities but all the glory of age upon
his person, and the wisdom of age in his speech, — then the
beautiful and fitting end came, and without a lingering sick-
ness, without a shadow upon his noble faculties, suddenly he
died. Alone in his solitary pre-eminence, alone, as it were,
he died ; and that cold Sunday morning air, that brought a
chill to our bodies, as it swept through our streets and by
our doors with its sad announcement, " Edward Everett is
dead ! " brought a chill to our hearts which the warmth
of many summers will not dispel, and left an image and a
memory there that will abide with all of us, beautiful and
bright, so long as we live. Mr. President, I second the reso-
lutions.

The Hon. John C. Gray then spoke as follows : —

Mr. President, — Apart from the intimation with which I
have been honored through you and other respected friends,
I might have been prompted by my own feelings to offer a
few remarks on this most solemn and interesting occasion.
One of the few remaining companions of my youth has

128 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

departed. An uninterrupted friendship of nearly sixty years
has been dissolved. But I am not here to speak of my own
loss or my own feelings, but to contribute in doing justice to
the memory of the deceased. The theme is a most copious
one. It is not my purpose to analyze the character of our
friend, still less to indulge in vague and extravagant eulogy.
I prefer to speak briefly of those points in his character
which have stamped themselves most deeply on my own
memory. We were of the same class in college, and for two
years of our college life occupied the same apartment. I
have ever looked back on that association as one of the most
valuable, as well as one of the most gratifying, of my early
days. His ripeness of judgment was not less remarkable than
the precocity of his genius. But there is yet higher praise.

I can say — and you perceive that I had some means of
knowing — that I never knew one who preserved a more
unruffled temper. Not a single instance can I recollect of
irritability. Such a temper must, of necessity, be its own
reward ; and I think we may fairly ascribe to it much of his
subsequent greatness. For, sir, among the many weighty
truths which fell from his lips, I recollect none more striking
than a remark in his lecture to the working-men, while recom-
mending the improvement of their leisure hours. " Generally
speaking," he observes, " our business allows us time enough,
if our passions would but spare us." Never man more faith-
fully practised as he preached. In the course of his life, he
had his share of those chastening dispensations which come,
in various shapes and degrees, to every one. But none of
them caused the slightest remission in his unwearied indus-
try. The great summons which awaits us all found him at
his work ; and so it would have done, come when it might.
I shall say little more of his college life. New-England edu-
cation was not then what it has since become. Mr. Everett
improved his literary advantages to the utmost, and bore off
the first honors.

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 129

I pass over his short but brilliant ministry in the pulpit,
and his years of assiduous study in foreign countries. Shortly
after his return, he assumed the post of editor of our leading
review. It was at a most interesting period. This country
and Great Britain had closed their contests by an honorable
peace, and there was on our side a general disposition to cul-
tivate a friendly and respectful feeling towards our late adver-
saries. This certainly was not fully reciprocated. The leading
British reviews seemed to agree in nothing so much as in
speaking of our country and its institutions with hatred or
contempt. Mr. Everett felt it his duty to stand forth in
defence of our good name. It is not a little to his praise,
that, while he did this most ably and earnestly, he always pre-
served the dignity befitting his cause and himself, and never
descended to meet his antagonists with their own weapons.
There is good reason to believe, that his candid and manly
appeals to the good sense of the people of England were not
in vain, and that they contributed to create among educated
Englishmen a feeling better becoming them and more just to
us,^ — a feeling which for a long time seemed prevalent, and
which we had hoped would have been general and perma-
nent. Mr. Everett's able and eloquent defences of the good
name of his country naturally led to invitations to serve her
in public trusts.

I will not pretend to say that such invitations were unac-
ceptable. Suffice it to remark, that, if he desired public life
he never accepted an oflSce which was not properly offered ;
never purchased one by pledges in advance, direct or indi-
rect ; and never, for a moment, used his position for the emol-
ument of himself or his friends. What I have more to say
will be devoted to his personal character. A spotless private
character has ever been considered in New England — and I
trust not in New England alone — as one of the elements of
true greatness, and Heaven forbid that it should ever be held
in light estimation ! This merit was his beyond impeach-

130 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

ment, — not his alone, most certainly; but his eminence in
other respects rendered his example in this more conspicu-
ous, and thus more widely beneficial. Of this character I
shall notice one leading feature, — I mean his wakeful and
unremitted disposition to benefit others. If judged by his
fruits, we must allow that Edward Everett was a most benevo-
lent man. His exertions and resources of mind, body, or
estate, were most freely imparted on every reasonable call, —
I should say on every reasonable opportunity. Whether the
applicant was a friend or a stranger, the occasion conspicuous
or unconspicuous, it was enough for him that he could serve
or oblige in great or small. And now, sir, I will close by a
few inquiries. No one will suspect me of disparaging any of
our eminent men, departed or surviving, when I ask, —

Has any one among us ever been more distinguished by a
noble use of noble endowment? Has there been any one
less obnoxious to the charge of talents wasted and time mis-
spent ; any one who could say with more truth in words he
once felt compelled to utter, that he knew not how the bread
of idleness tasted ? Has any one done more, by his wise and
eloquent productions, to elevate, instruct, and refine the
minds of his countrymen ? Finally, has any one been more
distinguished by exemplary fidelity in public office, and by
constant kindness and benevolence in private life? Few
higher eulogies can be uttered than the reply which must
rise to the lips of every one.

George Ticknor, Esq., then addressed the meeting
as follows : —

Mr. President, — I ask your permission to say a few words
concerning the eminent associate and cherished friend whom
we have lost, — so sadly, so suddenly lost. It is but little
that I can say becoming the occasion, so well was he known
of all ; for, in his early youth, he rose to a height which has

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 131

led US to watch and honor and understand, from the first, his
long and brilliant career.

On looking back over the two centuries and a half of this
our New-England history, I recollect not more than three or
four persons who, during as many years of a life protracted
as his was beyond threescore and ten, have so much occu-
pied the attention of the country,^-! do not remember a
single one who has presented himself under such various, dis-
tinct, and remarkable aspects to classes of our community so
separate, thus commanding a degree of interest from each,
whether scholars, theologians, or statesmen, which, in the
aggregate of its popular influence, has become so extraor-
dinary. For he has been, to a marvellous degree, successful
in whatever he has touched. His whole way of life, for
above fifty years, can now be traced back by the monuments
which he erected with his own hand as he advanced ; each
seeming at the time to be sufficient for the reputation of one
man. Pew here are old enough to remember when the first
of these graceful monuments rose before us ; none of us, I
apprehend, is so young that he will survive the splendor of
their long line. And now that we have come to its end, and
that it seems as if the whole air were filled with our sorrow-
ful and proud recollections, as it is with the light at noon-day,
we feel with renewed force that we have known him as we
have known very few men of our time. And this is true.
How, then, can I say any thing that shall be worthy of mem-
ory ; still less any thing that is fit for record ?

When he was ten or eleven years of age, and I was about
three years older, his family came to live within a few doors
of my father's house, and subsequently removed to a contigu-
ous estate. But, at this time, Mr. President, when the city of
Boston, I suppose, was not one-fifth as large as it is now,
neighborhood implied kindly acquaintance. I soon knew his
elder brother, Alexander, then the leader of his class at Cam-
bridge, while I was a student in a class one year later, at

132 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

Dartmouth College. I at once conceived a strong admiration
for that remarkable scholar, — an admiration, let me add,
which has never been diminished since. The younger
brother, of whom I saw little, was then in that humble
school in Short Street, which he has made classical by his
occasional allusions to it, and to the two Websters, who were
his teachers there. From the elder of these, who was fre-
quently at my father's house, I used to hear much about the
extraordinary talents and progress of this younger Everett;
praise which my admiration of his brother prevented me, I
fear, from receiving, for a time, with so glad a welcome as
I ought to have done. During the two or three subsequent
years, while the younger brother was at Exeter or beginning
his career at Cambridge, I knew little of him, though I was
much with the elder, and belonged to at least one pleasant
club of which he was a member.

The first occasion on which the younger scholar's delightful
character broke upon me, with its true attributes, is still fresh
in my recollection. It was in the summer of 1809. Mr.
Alexander Everett was then about to embark for St. Peters-
burg, as the private secretary of Mr. John Quincy Adams ;
and a few nights before he left us, he gave a supper — sad-
dened, indeed, by the parting that was so soon to follow, but
still a most agreeable supper — to eight or ten of his personal
friends, one of whom (Dr. Bigelow) I now see before me;
the last, except myself, remaining of that well-remembered
symposium. The younger brother was there, so full of
gayety, — unassuming but irrepressible, — so full of what-
ever is atti'active in manner or in conversation, that I was
perfectly carried captive by his light and graceful humor.
And this, let me here say, has always been a true element of
his character. He was never, at any period of his life, a
saturnine man. In his youth he overflowed with animal
spirits; and, although from the time of his entrance into
political life, with the grave cares and duties that were

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 133

imposed upon hjm, the ligbt-heartedness of his nature was
somewhat oppressed or obscured, it was always there. There
was never a time, I think, excepting in those days of trial
and sorrow that come to all, in which, among the private
friends with whom he was most intimate, he was not cheer-
ful, — nay, charmingly amusing. It was so the very day
before his death. He was suffering from an oppression on
the lungs ; and, as I sat with him, he could speak only in
whispers: but even then, his natural playfulness was not
wanting.

But, from the time of that delightful supper in 1809, my
regard never failed to be fastened on him. At first, during
his under-graduate's life at Cambridge, I saw him seldom.
But in that simpler stage of our society, when the interests
of men were so different from what they have become since,
all who concerned themselves about letters were familiar
with what was done and doing in Cambridge. Everett,
3'outhful as he was, was eminently the first scholar there ; and
we all knew it. We all — or, at least, all of us who were
young — read the "Harvard Lyceum," which he edited,
and which, I may almost say, he filled with his scholar-
ship and humor.

In 1811 he was graduated with the highest honors, and
pronounced, with extraordinary grace of manner, a short ora-
tion on — if I rightly remember — " The DiflBculties attending
a Life of Letters," which delighted a crowded audience, at-
tracted more than was usual by the expectations that waited
on what is called " The First Part." But, thus far, what was
most known of his life was strictly academic, and was only
more widely spread than an academic reputation is wont to
be, because he was himself already so full of recognized
promise and power. His time, in fact, was not yet come.
But the next year it came. He was invited to deliver the
customary poem at Commencement, before the " Phi Beta
Kappa Society." It was not perhaps a period when much

134 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

success could have been anticipated for. anybody, on a
merely literary occasion. The war with England had been
declared only a few weeks earlier, and men felt gloomy and
disheartened at the prospect before them. Still more re-
cently Buckminster had died, only twenty-eight years old,
but loved and admired, as few men ever have been in this
community ; — mourned, too, as a loss to the beginnings of
true scholarship among us, which many a scholar then thought
might hardly be repaired. But, as in all cases of a general
stir in the popular feeling, there was an excitement abroad
which permitted the minds of men to be turned and wielded
in directions widely different from that of the prevailing cur-
rent. The difficulty was to satisfy the demands in such a
disturbed condition of things.

Mr. Everett was then just in that " opening manhood "
which Homer, with his unerring truth, has called " the fairest
term of life.!' And how handsome he was, Mr. President !
We all know how remarkable was Milton's early beauty. An
engraving of him — a fine one — by Vertue, from a portrait
preserved in the Onslow family, and painted when the poet
was about twenty, is well known. But, sir, so striking was
the resemblance of this engraving to our young friend, that I
remember often seeing a copy of it inscribed with his name
in capital letters, and am unable to say that the inscription
was amiss. Radiant, then, with such personal attractions,
he rose before an audience already disposed to receive him
with extraordinary kindness.

His subject was " American Poets," certainly not a very
promising one. Of course his treatment of it was essentially
didactic; but there was such a mixture of good-natured satire
in it, so much more praise willingly accorded than was really
deserved, such humorous and happy allusions to what was
local, personal, and familiar to all, and such solemn and tender
passages about the condition of our society, and its anxieties
and losses, that it was received with an applause which, in

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 135

some respects, I have never known equalled. Graver and
grander success I have often known to be achieved, on
greater occasions, not only by others but by himself. But
never did I witness such clear, unmingled delight. Every
thing was forgotten but the speaker, and what he chose we
should remember.

This success, it should be recollected, was gained when
Mr. Everett was only a little more than eighteen years old.
But, sir, in fact, it had been gained earlier. The poem had
been read when he was only about seventeen, before a club
of college friends in the latter part of his senior year, and
had now been fitted, by a few additions, for its final destina^
tiou. Its publication was immediately demanded and urged.
But, on the whole, it was determined not to give it fully to
the world. Four copies, however, were privately struck off
on large paper, one of which I received at the time from the
author, and thirty-six more in common octavo, which were at
once distributed to other eager friends. But this was by no
means enough. A little later, therefore, there were printed,
with slight alterations, sixty copies more, of which he gave
me two, in an extra form, marked with his fair autograph. I
know not where three others are now to be found ; though
I trust, from the great contemporary interest in the poem
itself and from its real value, that many copies of it have
been saved.

I^t is written in the versification consecrated by the success
of Dryden and Pope ; and, if it contains lines marked by the
characteristics of the early age at which it was produced,
there is yet a power in it, a richness of thought, and a grace-
ful finish, of which probably few men at thirty would have
been found capable. At any rate, in the hundred and more
years during which verse had then been printed in these
Colonies and States, not two hundred pages, I think, can now
be found, which can be read with equal interest and pleasure.

It was only a few weeks afterwards, as nearly as I recollect,

136 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

that he began to preach. I heard his first two sermons,
delivered to a small congregation in a neighboring town ; and
I heard him often afterwards. The effect was always the
same. There was not only the attractive manner, which we
had already witnessed and admired, but there was, besides, a
devout tenderness, which had hardly been foreseen. The
main result, however, had been anticipated. He was, in a
few months, settled over the church in Brattle Street, with
the assent and admiration of all.

But, in the midst of his success in the pulpit, he was turned
aside to become a controversial theologian. Early in the
autumn of 1813, Mr. George B. English published a small
book, entitled, " The Grounds of Christianity Examined by
comparing the New Testament with the Old." It was, in
fact, an attack on the truth of the Christian religion, in the
sense of Judaism. Its author, whom I knew personally, was
a young man of very pleasant intercourse, and a great lover
of books, of which he had read many, but with little order or
well-defined purpose. He would, I think, have been a man
of letters, if such a path had been open to him. A profes-
sion, however, was needful. He studied law, but became
dissatisfied with it. He studied divinity, but was never easy
in his course. His mind was never well balanced, or well
settled upon any thing. He was always an adventurer, — just
as much so in the scholarlike period of his life, as he was
afterwards, when he served under Ismail Pasha, in Egypt,
and attempted to revive the ancient war-chariots armed with
scythes.

His ill-constructed book received several answers, direct
and indirect, from the pulpit and the press ; but none of them
was entirely satisfactory, because their authors had not fre-
quented the strange by-paths of learning in which Mr.
English had for some time been wandering with perverse
preference. Mr. Everett, however, followed him everywhere
with a careful scholarship and exact logic unknown to his

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 137

presumptuous adversary. His " Defence of Christianity "
was published in 1814; and I still possess one, out of half a
dozen copies of it that were printed for the author's friends,
on extra paper, and are become curious as showing how ill
understood, in those simpler days, were the dainty luxuries
of bibliography. But the proper end of the book was quickly
attained. Mr. English's imperfect and unsound learning was
demolished at a blow ; and, as has just been so happily said
by Dr. Lothrop, the whole controversy, even Mr. Everett's
part of it, is forgotten, because it has been impossible to keep
up any considerable interest in a question which he had so
absolutely settled. Mr. Everett's "Defence," however, will
always remain a remarkable book. Some years after its pub-
lication, Professor Monk of Cambridge, the biographer of
Bentley, and himself afterwards Bishop of Gloucester, told me
that he did not think any Episcopal library in England could
be accounted complete which did not possess a copy of it.

In the winter following the publication of this book — that
is, in the winter of 1814-15 — he was elected Professor of
Greek Literature. I was then at the South, having made up
my mind to pass some time at the University of Gottingen,
and was endeavoring, chiefly among the Germans in the inte-
rior of Pennsylvania, to obtain information concerning the
modes of teaching in Germany, about which there then pre-
vailed in New England an absolute ignorance now hardly to
be conceived. With equal surprise and delight, I received
letters from my friend telling me of his appointment, and that,
to qualify himself for the place oflFered him, he should endeavor
to go with me upon what we both regarded as a sort of ad-
venture, to Germany. Perhaps I should add that this sudden
change in his course of life excited no small comment at the
time ; and that, especially, by a part of the parish whose bril-
liant anticipations he thus disappointed, it was not accepted
in a kindly spirit. But of its wisdom and rightfulness there
was soon no doubt in the mind of anybody.
18

138 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

We embarked in April, 1815, and passed a few weeks in
London, during the exciting period of Bonaparte's last cam-
paign, and just at the time of the battle of Waterloo. But
we were in a hurry to be at work. We hastened, therefore,
through Holland, stopping chiefly to buy books, and early in
August were already in the chosen place of our destination.
It was our purpose to remain there a year. But the facilities
for study were such as we had never heard or dreamt of.
My own residence was, in consequence, protracted to a year
and nine months ; and Mr. Everett's was protracted yet six
months longer, — both of us leaving the tempting school at
last sorry and unsatisfied.

How well he employed his time there, the great results
shown in his whole subsequent life have enabled the world to
judge. I witnessed the process from day to day. We were
constantly together. Except for the first few months, when
we could not make convenient arrangements for it, we lived
in contiguous rooms in the same house — the house of Bouter-
wek, the literary historian, and a favorite teacher in the uni-
versity. During the vacations — except one, when he went
to the Hague, to see his brother Alexander, then our Secre-
tary of Legation in Holland — we travelled together about
Germany ; and every day in term time we went more or less
to the same private teachers, and the same lecturers. But he
struck in his studies much more widely than I did. To say
nothing of his constant, indefatigable labor upon the Greek
with Dissen, he occupied himself a good deal with Arabic
under Eichhorn ; he attended lectures upon modern history
by Heeren, and upon the civil law by Hugo ; and he followed
besides the courses of other professors, whose teachings I
did not frequent, and whose names I no longer remember.

His power of labor was prodigious ; unequalled in my ex-
perience. One instance of it — the more striking, perhaps,
because disconnected from his regular studies — is, I think,
worth especial notice. We had been in Gottingen, I believe;

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 139

above a year, and he was desirous to send home something of
what he had learnt about the modes of teaching, not only
there, but in our visits to the universities of Leipzig, Halle,
Jena, and Berlin, and to the great preparatory schools of
Meissen and Pfrote. He had, as nearly as I can recollect,
just begun this task. But how so voluminous a matter was to
be sent home was an important question. Regular packets
there were none, even between New York and Liverpool.
We depended, therefore, very much on accident, — altogether
on transient vessels. Opportunities from Hamburg were rare
and greatly valued. Just at this time, our kind mercantile
correspondents at that port gave us sudden notice that a ves-
sel for Boston would sail immediately. There was not a
moment to be lost ; Mr. Everett threw every thing else aside,
and worked for thirty-five consecutive hours on his letter,
despatching it as the mail was closing. But, though sadly
exhausted by his labor, he was really uninjured, and in a day
or two was fully refreshed and restored. I need not say that
a man who did this was in earnest in what he undertook.
But let me add, Mr. President, that, by the constant daily
exercise of dispositions and powers like these, he laid, during
those two or three years in Gottingen, the real foundations
on which his great subsequent success, in so many widely
different ways, safely rested. I feel as sure of this as I do of
any fact of the sort within my knowledge.

When I left Gottingen, he and a young American friend
(Stephen H. Perkins) — then under his charge, and who still
survives — accompanied me on my first day's journey. At
Hesse Cassel we separated, thinking to meet again in the
south of Europe, and visit together Greece and Asia Minor,
which, from the time of the appearance of " Childe Harold,"
four or five years earlier, had been much in our young
thoughts and imaginations. But " forth rushed the Levant
and the Ponent winds." A few months afterwards, at Paris,
I received the appointment of Professor of French and Span-

140 MASSACHDSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

ish Literature at Cambridge ; and, from that moment, it was
as plain that my destination was Madrid, as it was that he
was bound to go to Athens and Constantinople. We did not,
therefore, meet again until his return home, in the autumn of
1819, where I had preceded him by a few months.

From this time Mr. Everett's life has been almost constantly
a public one, and all have been able to judge him freely and
fully. He began his lectures on Greek literature at Cam-
bridge the next summer ; and I went from Boston regularly
to hear them, for the pleasure and instruction they gave me.
The notes I then took of them, and which I still preserve,
will bear witness to the merit just ascribed to them by the
friend on my left, who heard the same course somewhat
later.

But Mr. Everett was, in another sense, already a public
man. From the natural concern he felt in the fate of a coun-
try he had so recently visited, he took a great interest, as
early as 1821-23, in the Greek Revolution, and wrote and
spoke on it, both as a philanthropic and as a political question.
In 1824 he was elected to Congress. There and elsewhere,
like other public men of eminence, he has had his political
trials and his political opponents ; sometimes generous, some-
times unworthy, but never touching the unspotted purity of
his character and purposes. All such discussions, however,
find no becoming place within these doors. We recognize
here no such divisions of opinion respecting our lamented
associate. We remember his great talents, and the gentle-
ness that added to their power; his extraordinary scholarship,
and the rich fruits it bore ; his manifold public services, and
the just honors that have followed them. All this we remem-
ber. In all of it we rejoice. We recollect, too, that for five
and forty years he has been our pride and ornament, as a
member of this Society. But we recognize no external dis-
turbing element in these our happy recollections. To us, he
has always been the same. At any meeting that we have

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 141

held since he became fully known to us and to the country,
the beautiful, appropriate, and truthful resolutions now on
your table might — if he had just been taken from us as he
has been now — have been passed by us with as much ear-
nestness and unanimity as they will be amidst our sorrow
to-night. They do but fitly complete our record of what has
always been true. And let us feel thankful, as we adopt this
record and make it our own, that — grand and gratifj'ing as it
is — neither the next generation nor any that may follow will
desire to have a word of it obliterated or altered.

The Hon. John H. Clifford then proceeded as fol-
lows: —

Mr. President, — Having been unable to participate in
the last offices of respect to the remains of our departed
associate, and feeling obliged to decline the distinguished
service to which I was invited, of pronouncing a more elabo-
rate address upon his life and character before the two
Houses of th^'Legislature, I could not forego the opportunity
of uniting in this ofiice of commemoration, with an Associa-
tion in which he took so generous an interest, and of which
he was so eminent a member.

However inadequate must be any expression of my sense
of the loss we have sustained, I cannot doubt that the assu-
rance of a simple, heartfelt tribute of personal affection and
gratitude, when he was to be remembered in a circle like
this, would have been more grateful to him than an}' studied
words of eulogy, though they were polished into a rhetoric
as brilliant as his own.

It is thus only that I desire to speak of him, — my hon-
ored chief, my wise and trusted counsellor, — my ever con-
stant friend. It was from his hands that I received, now just
thirty years ago, my first commission in the service of the
State ; and, from that period up to the close of the last month
of the last year, he honored me with a correspondence which

142 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

I have carefully preserved as a precious possession for myself
and for my children. You will pardon me, Mr. President, if,
in this brief review of what I owe to the influence of his
friendship and his counsels, I shall invoke his presence, still
to speak to us, by a free and unreserved reference to this
correspondence.

Admitted to the intimate intercourse of a member of his
military family, during the entire term of his service as
Governor of the Commonwealth, he never afterwards ceased
to manifest the interest in me which that intercourse im-
plied, and the value of which no poor words of mine, of public
or of private acknowledgment, can ever measure or repay.
Of that military family, Mr. President, — and " we were
seven," — who bore his commission during those four years
of brilliant service to his native Commonwealth, you and I
are the only survivors to render these last honors to our illus-
trious chief.

In the review of his remarkable career, to which, since
its triumphant close on earth, the minds of 8Q> many have
been turned who never knew him otherwise than in his pub-
lic character, I am persuaded that some impressions respect-
ing him, which those who were brought nearest to him know
to be utterly unfounded, are certain to be corrected when
the materials of a just judgment of all that he was, and all
that he did, are open to the examination of his countrymen.

It. has been said of him that he was of a cold and un-
sympathizing nature. There never was a more mistaken
judgment of any public man than this. If he possessed any
trait more distinctly marked than another, it was his unfalter-
ing fidelity to his friends, and his warm and generous interest
in every thing that touched their happiness and welfare, as
well in the trials and the sorrows as in the successes and the
sunshine of life.

While he was representing the country with such signal
ability at the Court of St. James, and in the midst of the

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD ETERETT. 143

grave and perplexing questions which he there discussed
and disposed of with such masterly skill, I had occasion to
communicate to him the death of a much loved child, in whom
he had taken great interest, and who bore his name. In a
letter written on the receipt of the intelligence, and under
circumstances that might well have excused him from an
immediate reply, — and which would have excused him, if
that reply had been prompted by any thing less than a sin-
cere and unaffected sympathy, which does not belong to a
cold and formal nature, — he says, " I was staying at Sir
Robert Peel's with a very agreeable party, consisting of sev-
eral of the cabinet ministers and my diplomatic brethren,
when I received your letter, which has cast a shade of sad-
ness over my visit that I feel as little inclination as ability to
throw off. . . . But let us not speak of our beloved ones as
taken from us. They are, in truth, not lost, but gone before.
They have accomplished, in the dawn of life, the work which
grows harder the longer the time that is given us to do it."

Equally erroneous, in my judgment, is the opinion that Mr.
Everett, as a public man, was lacking in moral courage.
There were occasions in his life when it would have required
less courage, and have cost a smaller sacrifice to escape this
imputation, and secure to himself the popular favor, than it
did to invite it. But his resolute adherence to his own con-
scientious convictions, his large and comprehensive patriot-
ism, his unswerving nationality and love of the Union, and
the knowledge which a scholar's studies and a statesman's
observations had given him of the perils by which that Union
was environed, closed many an avenue of popularity to him,
which bolder, but not more courageous, public men than he
could consent to walk in.

If timidity consists in an absence of all temerity and rash-
ness, of entire freedom from that reckless spirit which so
often leads "fools to rush in where angels fear to tread," let
it be ever remembered to his honor, that Mr. Everett was a

144 ^lASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

timid statesman. But if the virtue of moderation is still to
be counted among the excellent qualities of a ruler or coun-
sellor, in conducting the complex and delicate questions of
policy which aifect the well-being of a country like ours, and
which bear upon its future fortunes as well as its present
favor, let it also be remembered that our departed statesman,
while he adhered inflexibly to his convictions of the right,
was not " ashamed to let his moderation be known unto all
men."

In this aspect of his character, it has seemed to me that
the great Pater Patrice, whom he had so diligently studied,
and his oration upon whom wrought as great a work upon
his countrymen as his unsurpassed biographical sketch of
him in the " Encyclopaidia Britannica " has had upon the
foreign estimate of Washington, was " his great example, as
he was his theme."

It has been not an unfrequent criticism upon Mr. Everett's
career, that it was in a certain sense a failure, because, with
his scholarly tastes, his patient industry, his afiluent learning,
and his great opportunities, he would leave behind him no
" great work " as the fruit of all his accomplishments and
powers. If it be a worthy ambition in one of great endow-
ments and liberal culture to do the greatest good to the
greatest number of his fellow-men, and to make the w^orld
better for his having lived in it, this is a mistaken criticism.
It is true, his resources were ample to have accomplished any
" great woi'k," such as this criticism implies, in any of the
fields of intellectual activity, from which great scholars gather
their ripened harvests. He could have graced the shelves of
our libraries with precious octavos of history or science or
literature. But to have done this, he would have foregone
that " greater work " which he did accomplish, and of which
the three volumes already published, to be followed, we trust,
by many more, will stand for ever as the witness and the
memorial, — Non omnia possumus omnes. And he appointed

1865.] TRIBDTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 145

to himself the nobler task of elevating the public taste, — of
bringing before a working people the highest truths of phi-
losophy in a style of adaptation to their wants before unknown
— of diffusing throughout the community a knowledge of great
historical events and their application to the duties of living
men, — of implanting in the breasts of the people a reverence
for their God-fearing ancestors, and in justifying the ways of
Providence to them and their posterity, — of displaying before
them the brightest deeds and the most heroic sacrifices of
patriotism, and thereby inspiring in them the warmest love
of their country, and instructing them in the duties they
owed to her, — all these, and more, of the glorious proofs that
his life was a noble success and in no sense a failure, glow in
every page of his writings, not one of which in dying would
he need to blot, from that first lecture before the Mechanics'
Institute in Charlestown, down to that last fervid. Christian
appeal in Faneuil Hall.

Mr. President, I speak in the faith of the clearest convic-
tion, that, whatever of unjust or censorious or honestly mis-
taken judgment has ever been passed upon our departed
friend, will be surely modified, if not entirely reversed, in all
candid minds, under the lights with which a true and com-
plete history of his life will illuminate it, from its earliest
promise to its latest most glorious record. Already one of
his contemporaries, who has made his own name " imperish-
able in immortal song," in words of manly confession, as hon-
orable to their author as they are just to the memory of him
of whom they were spoken, has anticipated the verdict of
history.

" If," says Mr. Bryant, " I have uttered any thing in dero-
gation of Mr. Everett's public character at times when it
seemed to me that he did not resist with becoming spirit the
aggressions of wrong, I now, looking back upon his noble
record of the last four years, retract it at his grave, — I lay
upon his hearse the declaration of my sorrow that I saw not
19

146 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

then the depth of his worth, — that I did not discern, under
the conservatism that formed a part of his nature, that gen-
erous courage which a great emergency could so nobly
awaken."

But the praises of men were now of little worth, had we
not one source of pride and affection open to us in the con-
templation of this beneficent life, the value of which no words
of eulogy, apt as they are to run into exaggeration, can
express too strongly. The manifold temptations of public
life, whether insinuating themselves through our domestic
politics, or the social and political ethics of the national capi-
tol, in the arts of diplomacy or through the enervating allure-
ments of foreign courts, which, in some of their Protean
forms, are so apt to assail the home-taught virtue of our pub-
lic men, never left a trace of their influence upon the purity
of his unsullied character. To those who had the closest
view of him, there was always apparent his constant recogni-
tion of the presence and direction of a Higher Power in all
the concerns of life. Abundant illustrations of this, indeed,
may be found in his published works. Who that has read it,
who especially that had your privilege and mine, Mr. Presi-
dent, of listening to it as it fell from his lips, can have for-
gotten that magnificent passage, in my judgment the most
eloquent he ever uttered, in his speech at the centennial cele-
bration at Barnstable in 1839? — a passage which the late
Chief Justice Shaw, who was present, declared to me was, in
his opinion, unsurpassed in modern history.

After describing the condition of " the Mayflower freighted
with the destinies of a continent, as she crept almost sinking
into Provincetown harbor, utterly incapable of living through
another gale, approaching the shore precisely where the broad
sweep of this remarkable headland presents almost the only
point at which for hundreds of miles she could with any ease
have made a harbor," he adds : " I feel my spirit raised above
the sphere of mere natural agencies. I see the mountains ot

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 147

New England rising from their rocky thrones. They rush
forward into the ocean, settling down as they advance ; and
there they range themselves, a mighty bulwark around the
heaven-directed vessel. Yes, the everlasting God himself
stretches out the arm of his mercy and his power in sub-
stantial manifestations, and gathers the meek company of his
worshippers as in the hollow of his hand."

But a more striking, because a more spontaneous expres-
sion of the same characteristic spirit, is contained in a letter
of farewell which I received from him, dated at New York,
on the day before his embarkation for Europe with his whole
family in the summer of 1840, and of course written amidst
all the distractions incident to the preparations for his
voyage.

The intelligence of the burning of the packet-ship " Po-
land " at sea, and the rescue of her passengers from imminent
peril by a passing vessel, had then just been received in this
country. " The fate of the Poland," he writes, " makes me
feel strongly how near to death we are in the midst of life,
I embark with all my treasures with some misgivings. But
having undertaken the voyage from proper motives, I seem
to be in the path of duty, and I am sure I am in the hand of
God. There are many paths to his presence. And whether
they lead us singly, or in families or companies, — whether
by a bed of languishing on land, or the blazing deck of
a burning vessel, or the dark abyss of the sea, .can~ be
of but little consequence in the existence of an undying
spirit."

When his own hour had come, Mr. President, it was
through no such avenue of suspense and sufferings as these
that his heavenly Father took him to himself. But in wel-
coming him, as our faith assures us, to the rewards of a
" good and faithful servant," He bore him from our sight so
graciously as to leave us nothing to regret for him, either
in his death or in his life. Why should we mourn over such

148 MASSACHDSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

a death, — the serene close of such a life on earth, the en-
trance upon the assured rewards of the life eternal ?

" If ever lot was prosperously cast.
If ever life was like the lengthened flow
Of some sweet music, sweetness to the last,
'Twas his." . . .

Not the music of that matchless voice alone, whose inspir-
ing cadences seem still to linger in our ears, as we assemble
in this room, where it so often charmed and instructed us,
but the diviner harmony to which he gave such magnificent
expression by a rounded and completed life, — a life that was
mercifully spared to his country for its greatest work during
its closing years ; whose music, during those years of a
nation's regeneration, was but a prolongation of the music of
the Union, by which he marched himself, and inspired his
countrymen to march, to the great conflict with treason and
with wrong.

Here, and wherever throughout the world, in all coming
time, the gospel of constitutional liberty is preached among
men, shall this, his last, greatest work " be told as a memo-
rial of him." One word more, Mr. President, and my grateful
task is done.

In the correspondence from which I have so freely quoted,
I found, a day or two ago, a striking passage, which seems to
me a fitting close for this feeble tribute to the memory of a
loved and honored friend. In a letter written to me from
Washington early in 1854, the year that he resigned his place
in the Senate of the United States, he says : " I have never
filled an office which I did not quit more cheerfully than I
entered. I am not sure that it is not so in most cases with
the last great act of retirement, not from the offices and
duties of life, but from life itself."

Brethren, to what far-ofi" sphere of celestial fruition may
we not, without presumption, in that spirit of faith which he
so strongly cherished, follow our departed associate, and hear

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 149

again the music of that voice, repeating this sentiment, now
verified and made certain in the supreme experience of that
last sabbath morning?

Dr. Walker spoke as follows : —

Mr. President, — Leaving it for others to speak of Mr.
Everett's eminence as a scholar and as a statesman, and of
the purity and beauty of his daily life, I ask permission to say
a few words of his administration as President of Harvard
College. There is, I believe, a prevailing impression in the
community, that this part of his public career was less suc-
cessful than the rest. If so, it is to be imputed, in no small
measure, to three causes which have hindered his merits and
services as head of the University from being duly appre-
ciated.

The first of those causes was his known distaste for the
of3ace. Most of us remember, that, when he was appointed to
the place, the community were of one mind as to his being
precisely the man to fill it, — with a single exception ; but
that was an important exception, for it was liimself. This
distaste was never entirely overcome ; and there are those
who have construed it into evidence of want of success.
They might have done so with some show of reason, if it had
grown up in the office ; for, in that case, it might be regarded
as resulting, at least in some degree, from disappointed hopes.
But when it is considered that the distaste was as strong, and
perhaps stronger, when he accepted the office, than when he
laid it down, there would seem to be no ground for such a
construction.

The second cause which has hindered the public from duly
appreciating Mr. Everett's services to the college as presi-
dent, is found in the nature of the reforms and improvements
attempted and actually introduced by him. With his accus-
tomed method and thoroughness, he could not do otherwise
than begin at the beginning. Accordingly, one of his first

150 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

undertakings was to prepare and publish, under the proper
authorities, a careful revision of the college laws. This was
a most important and necessary work, which cost months of
anxious labor ; yet not likely to attract public attention, nor
even to be known beyond the precincts of the University.
Again, he believed that all improvements in the college, to be
of much solidity, must have their foundation in its improved
moral and religious condition. No president ever labored
more assiduously or more anxiously for this end, nor, consid-
ering the time occupied, with more success. Indeed, I can-
not help thinking that it is for the measures he instituted or
suggested with a view to promote the moral elevation of the
college, that its friends have most reason to hold him in grate-
ful remembrance. Yet these also were matters which, from
their very nature, did not admit of displaj', and some of them
not even of publicity ; nay more, in the beginning they were
not unlikely to occasion some degree of opposition and trouble.
But the principal cause hindering a due appreciation of
Mr. Everett's presidency of the college, brief as it was, is
doubtless this very brevity. If his health had permitted him
to retain the oiSce ten years, I have no doubt that many
things which were offensive to him would have disappeared.
His attention, meanwhile, would have been turned to proper
academical reforms, noticeable in themselves, and bringing
the college into notice by extending its influence and fame.
And this, together with the just pride taken in his distin-
guished name, and the unsurpassed dignity with which he
represented the University on all public occasions, would
have made his administration for ever illustrious in the annals
of the college ; and even, within its limited scope, as illustri-
ous/or Mm as any other part of his public career. Nor is
this all. It would then have been seen that the first three
years, those which we really had, were an appropriate and
necessary introduction to the whole ; and, as such, they would
have come in for their full share of the glory.

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT.

Dr. Holmes read the following poem : —

OUR FIRST CITIZEN.
Winter's cold drift lies glistening o'er his breast ;

For him no spring shall bid the leaf unfold ;
Wliat Love could speak, by sudden grief oppressed,

What swiftly summoned Memory tell, is told.

Even as the bells, in one consenting chime,
FiUed with their sweet vibrations aU the air ;

So joined all voices, in that mournful time.
His genius, wisdom, virtues, to declare.

What place is left for words of measured praise,
Till calm-eyed History, with her iron pen.

Grooves in the unchanging rock the final phrase
That shapes his image in the souls of men ?

Yet while the echoes stiU repeat liis name,
Wliile coimtless tongues Iiis full-orbed life rehearse.

Love, by liis beating pulses taught, wiU claim
The breath of song, the tuneful tlirob of verse, —

Verse that, in ever-changing ebb and flow,
Moves, like the laboring heart, with rush and rest ;

Or swings in solemn cadence, sad and slow,
Like the tired heaving of a grief-worn breast.

This was a mind so rounded, so complete, —
No partial gift of Nature in excess, —

That, like a single stream where many meet.
Each separate talent counted sometliing less.

A little hillock, if it lonely stand.
Holds o'er the fields an undisputed reign,

Wliile the broad summit of the table-land
Seems with its belt of clouds a level plain.

Servant of all his powers, that faithful slave.
Unsleeping Memory, strengthening with his toils,

To every ruder task his shoulder gave.
And loaded every day with golden spoils.

Order, the law of Heaven, was throned supreme
O'er action, instinct, impulse, feeUng, thought ;

True as the dial's shadow to the beam.
Each hour was equal to the charge it brought.

Too large his compass for the nicer skiU
That weighs the world of science grain by grain ;

All realms of knowledge owned the mastering will
That claimed the iranchise of his whole domain.

152 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

Earth, air, sea, sky, the elemental fire,

Art, history, song, — what meanings lie in each

Found in his cmining hand a stringless lyre,

And poured their mingling music through his speech.

Thence flowed those anthems of our festal days.

Whose ravishing division held apart
The lips of listening throngs in sweet amaze.

Moved in all breasts the self-same human heart.

•Subdued his accents, as of one who tries

To press some care, some haunting sadness down ;

His smile half shadow ; and to stranger eyes
The kingly forehead wore an iron crown.

He was not armed to wrestle with the storm.
To fight for homely truth with vulgar power ;

Grace looked from every feature, shaped his form, —
The rose of Academe, — the perfect fiower !

Such was the stately scholar whom we knew

In those iU days of soul-enslaving calm.
Before the blast of Northern vengeance blew

Her snow-wreathed pine against the Southern palm.

Ah, God forgive us ! did we hold too cheap
The heart we might have known, but would not see,

And look to find the nation's friend asleep
Through the dread hour of her Gethsemane f

That wrong is past ; we gave him up to Death

With all a hero's honors round his name ;
As martyrs coin their blood, he coined his breath,

And dimmed the scholar's in the patriot's fame.

So shall we blazon on the shaft we raise, —

Telling our grief or pride to unborn years, —
" He who had Uved the mark of all men's praise

Died with the tribute of a nation's tears."

The Hon. Eichard H. Dana then spoke as follows : —

Mr. President, — This full tide of grief and admiration has
carried along with it ah there is of eulogy, and there seems
nothing left for me to-night — not wishing to say over what
has been so well said — but a single, commonplace sugges-
tion, exciting no feeling, and entirely below the demands of
the hour. I would simply remind you, brethren, that the
fame of Mr. Everett has been fairly earned.

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 153

It seems to me that he has earned his fame as fairly as the
painter, the poet, the sculptor, and the composer earn theirs.
The artist submits his picture or statue, the composer his
oratorio, and the poet his epic or lyric, to the judgment of
time, and abides the result. Mr. Everett, for fifty years, year
by year, submitted to the judgment of his age orations,
essays, lectures, speeches, and diplomatic letters, and abided
the result. If the judgment has been favorable to him, what
can have been more fairly earned ?

It has not only been earned without fraud on the public
judgment, or mistake or accident, but it has been earned in
strict compliance with the primeval law of labor, — that in the
sweat of the brow all bread shall be eaten. It has not been
the result of a few happy strokes of genius. He never did
any thing except with all the might his mind and body could
lend to it. He was first scholar at Harvard, because four
years of competition left him so. If he was in any thing
more learned than other men, it was because he did his best
with great natural powers. No occasions occurred to him
that may not occur to all. What other men made little of, he
made every thing of He never trusted to genius or to
chance. He owes as little, too, as any man, to the posts he
has filled. Many derive importance from holding offices that
connect them with great events. He stands upon his work,
irrespective of ofiice ; and, indeed, his best and brightest acts
have been those of a private citizen. Yes, brethren, every
stone in the monument he has builded to himself has been
quarried, fashioned, and polished by his own hand and eye.

Fairly earned, his fame is also firmly fixed. His style of
thought and expression in written address has been tried by
the tests of novelty and of familiarity, of sameness and of va-
riety, in old communities and in new communities ; and that
style which, forty years before, in its freshness charmed the
choice spirits of a critical community of readers and scholars,
was found in its maturity, nay, almost in its age, equal to the
20

154 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

conflict with the trained diplomatists of Europe, before
the forum of nations.

So of his elocution. An orator may, by accidental charm
of voice or manner, or by tricks of speech, gain celebrity for
a time ; but the crucial test comes, and he is found wanting,
or he palls and stales by mere custom. But Mr. Everett's
style of speech has been tried by every test, applied to every
variety of topic in different countries, and has survived the
changes and chances of taste and opinion, as potent with
the sons and daughters as with their fathers and mothers.
At threescore and ten the spell of his elocution was as effect-
ive as in the freshness of his youth, or the vigor of his man-
hood. The eloquence which forty and fifty years ago filled
Brattle-street Church to the window-tops, which, in its new-
born beauty, charmed the select assemblages at Cambridge,
Concord, and Plymouth, was found, in its gray and bent age,
equal — more equal than any other — to the exigencies and
shocks of the most vast and momentous popular canvass the
world ever knew.

The Hon. B. F. Thomas spoke as follows : —
Mr. President, — If I had consulted my own judgment only,
it would have been to listen to the gentlemen around me, the
early, the life-long companions of the illustrious dead. I may
not claim to have been of Mr. Everett's intimate friends.
Though I have met him occasionally in private life, my means
of knowledge are, after all, those of a reader and hearer of his
public discourse. Nor have I, during a portion of his public
life, been drawn to him by ties of political affinity and sym-
pathy. Possibly, following the courtesies of parliamentary
assemblies, these considerations may have led to the request
that I should say a word this evening.

If the object of these services of commemoration were
indiscriminate eulogy, the custom were more honored in
the breach than in the observance ; such service being good

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 155

neither for the dead nor the Hving. If we had no higher or
nobler purpose, we might well turn to the pressing duties of
hfe and of the hour, and let the dead bury their dead.

But if we believe the saying of an old historian, cited by Bo-
lingbroke, that history is philosophy teaching by examples ; if,
rejecting the godless speculations of Buckle, we recognize in
history the power and influence of the individual spirit ; if we
see in the lives of great and good men not only beacon lights
on the line of human progress, but the most efficient of motive
powers, the causce causantes ; that great and good men not
only make history, but constitute history, and the best part
of history, — no work can be more appropriate to an historical
society than the commemoration of such a life.

As you well observed, Mr. President, the other day in
Faneuil Hall, in a speech, let me say, so worthy of its theme,
one knows hardly where to begin or where to end. If we
had but one word to say, it would be perhaps that Mr. Ev-
erett was the most accomplished man our country had pro-
duced ; of the widest, most varied and finished culture. That
using the word " orator " in the sense in which it has come to
us from classic times, he was our most finished " orator," in
fertility of resources, in aptness of use, in grace of manner,
in compass and music of voice, in curious felicity of diction,
seldom if ever surpassed. Not always evincing magnetic
power or projectile force, or the ars artium celare artem; but
in his best and happiest moods recalling the lines in which
Milton, with such marvellous beauty, has described Adam,
wrapt, entranced with the last accents that fell from the
lips of Raphael : —

" The angel ended ; but in Adam's ear
So charming left his voice, that he awhile
Thought him still speaking, — still stood fixed to hear."

Though it was as a graceful and eloquent orator that Mr.
Everett was most widely known to his day and generation, we
feej that in saying this we have not got very near to our sub-

156 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

ject ; that we have not touched upon the lines of character
which make the life of a great or good man the worthy sub-
ject of study and contemplation.

Outside of revelation, Mr. President, men make their own
gods. They project them from within. They clothe them with
their own passions, they dwarf them by their own infirmities.
So it is in the construction of our heroes and great men. We
not only admire chiefly the qualities in which we discover
some resemblance to our own, but we are very apt to dwell
on them as the saHent points of character. We insist upon
casting men into the moulds of our own minds. This may be
natural, but it is neither manly nor just. That only is a
manly and catholic criticism which appreciates and admires
qualities utterly diverse from our own ; which recollects that
our antipodes stand also on the solid earth ; that there may be
diversities of gifts, but the same spirit, differences of admin-
istration, but the same Lord ; that the eye cannot say to the
hand, I have no need of thee, nor the head to the feet, I
have no need of you ; that this diversity of gifts and tenden-
cies is part of God's economy for the well-being and progress
of the race.

It is by the conflict and balance of forces that the planets
know their places, and " each in his motion like an angel
sings." A like conflict and balance of forces is the law of
human life and progress. In the shallow philosophy of Pope,
there is not a shallower commonplace than " Just as the twig
is bent, the tree's inclined." You may twist and distort the
growth of the tree, you may prune it into fantastic shapes,
but the tree as God meant it to be lies wrapt in the germ,
before the warm embrace of earth sends it up to greet the
sun. The natural differences of men overcome and outgrow
all culture and discipline. These two sons of the same
parents, bred at the same fireside, trained in the same schools,
surrounded by the same influences, ripened into manhood, the
one shall become in politics a radical, the other a conserva-

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 157

tive. In religion one shall be the most pi'otesting of Protes-
tants, the other repose with a child's trust on the bosom of
the Church.

In all free governments, political parties are formed, and
though they spring up sometimes for local and temporary-
purposes, yet, as a general fact and in their last analysis, they
will be found to be radical and conservative, —the one hav-
ing progress as its constant aim, the other dwelling upon the
limitations of progress.

In the best sense of the word, Mr. Everett was a conserva-
tive. No man more thoroughly understood or more fully
appreciated the free institutions which the toils and sacrifices
of good and wise and true men of twenty generations had
secured to us. He had faith that whatever of error and
imperfection was to be found in the work of the fathers
would he removed by peaceful methods, by the progress
of science and art, and Christian culture and civilization.
With his conservatism was found a broad, liberal, and catho-
lic spirit. Bred in the extreme school of Protestantism, he
did not understand by liberal Christianity the negation of
things divine, the bowing of religion out of the circle of the
human mind. He did not exclude from his idea of mental
liberty the " liberty of obedience ; " the liberty with which
Christ makes men free.

Bred in the school of the Puritans, illustrating their virtues,
admiring their sublime devotion to duty, he could not have
loved Puritanism the less because it was associated with the
venerable past, because time had softened and hallowed its
more rugged features, because distance lent enchantment to
the view.

Bred in a school of politics, which, though of the highest
integrity, had strong sectional tendencies, he was among the
most national of our statesmen. No part of the land was shut
out from his sympathy and regard. His patriotism covered
the country, however bounded. No word dropped from his

158 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

lips or pen to promote sectional hate or strife. His public life
Avas a ministry of concord and peace. He understood the
compromises of the Constitution, and was ready faithfully to
abide by them. He appreciated and admired this marvellous
frame of government, by which, for the first time in history,
central power was reconciled with local independence, the
immunities of free States with the capacities of a great em-
pire. From the first to the last, through evil report and
through good report, he clung to the Union of these States
and to the Constitution as its only bond. No man labored
more earnestly and devotedly to avert the coming strife. His
dread of civil conflict seemed to wear at times almost the
aspect of timidity. But, if he felt more strongly, it was be-
cause he foresaw more clearly.

No greater injustice can be done to Mr. Everett than by
the suggestion, that, in the last three or four years of his life,
his opinions had undergone a radical change, and that the
services of the past three years were a sort of propitiation
and atonement for those that had gone before. Some of the
views of public policy developed by Mr. Everett within
the last two years did not command my assent. That was
equally true with some of his earlier opinions. But I can see
no necessary conflict between Mr. Everett, the conservative
statesman, the life-long defender of the Union and the Consti-
tution ; and Mr. Everett, the ardent supporter of a war to
secure from destruction that Union and Constitution. Difier-
ence of judgment as to what might might be eS"ected by force
of arms might be the result of changes in the condition of the
country, in the unity of sentiment and action in the loyal
States. What seemed to him impossible in 1861, might, from
the success of our arms, seem feasible in 1864. So measures
that he deemed to be impolitic at the first period might seem
to him to be demanded by the necessities of the second.
Those differences marked no radical change of principles ;
and one who differed from him on some few questions of

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 159

policy, while adhering to his general views, may be pardoned
a word to save him from the too great kindness of his later
friends.

Honor, as the heart shall prompt, his labors to uphold the
arm of government against secession, to give unity to its
counsels and efforts to bring all men to its standard. We
may honor none the less a life given to what his nephew and
my friend has fitly called the ministry of conciliation, to the
victories of peace. Nor will we forget how, at the first
glimpse of opportunity, he turned to his first love ; how, when
the cry of suffering came from a conquered city, his heart
went out to meet and to help it ; how naturally he recurred
to the power of Christian sympathies and kindness ; how the
blessed words of the royal preacher of Israel sprung to his
lips, " If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him
drink."

Blessed close of a great and good life ! Blessed privilege
to forget for a moment the horrors and glories even of war,
the shouts and waving banners of triumph, to sit again at the
feet of the divine Master, to lean upon his bosom, to be kin-
dled by and to radiate his divine love 1

The Hon. James Savage made the following re-
marks : —

Mr. President, — I am a little surprised to be called up;
but, sir, as the catalogue of the Society shows Mr. Everett's
name stood next to mine, I hope I may be excused in what I
say, if the infirmity of age is more apparent than any thing
else. I can refer to the early days of Mr. Everett, which have
not been more than once alluded to, and that before he had
adopted the resolution of taking the profession of a preacher
of the everlasting gospel. In this he was most eminently
successful ; and, before that, I remember well, sir, that the
boy was father to the man.

No one who then looked at him and heard him would

160 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

have failed to foretell the success which attended him. Of Mr.
Everett, I suppose, it can be said as of few other men, that he
touched nothing that he did not adorn. I cannot give you the
Latin, sir ; but it is one of the very strong illustrations of
human grace and feHcity. It was very observable. When I
was in England, I had the advantage of great attention from
Mr. Everett. When their chief statesman, Sir Robert Peel,
was suddenly stricken down by instant death, — and when the
Earl of Aberdeen, another great friend of our country, suc-
ceeded him, continuing to maintain all our just rights consist-
ent with the rights of his own country, — I had the advantage
of meeting at Mr. Everett's, more than once or twice, some of
the first gentlemen of England, chiefly official persons, and
there to observe that no man of their own country was more
attended to or less inclined to presume upon that attention.
He seemed to be always the servant of the public in private
as well as in public. I believe that our country has never
had a superior minister anywhere at any court. I only wish
that our present representative, my younger friend, may
make Mr. Everett's place good.

Hon. Emory Washburn addressed the meeting as
follows : —

Mr. President, — I shall not presume, in such a presence,
to speak of Mr. Everett as a scholar ; for I should feel that, by
so doing, I was trespassing upon ground which would be much
more properly occupied by others. Nor will the time allotted
me admit of my dwelling upon the prominent part which he
has taken in the historic events of the last thirty years of his
life.

On the other hand, I cannot pretend to that intimate rela^
tion in the associations with him with which I have been
favored, which would justify my attempting to draw the nicer
shades of character which intimacy alone enables one to an-

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 161

alyze and trace. The most I can hope to do is to give, in
general terms, the results upon my own mind of the observa-
tion of more than forty years, chiefly of his public life. And
yet I have too often shared in his acts of personal kindness
and courtesy, not to feel that I have a right to speak also of
some of those traits of private character which stand out so
prominently in the history of his life.

The impression which my study and observation of Mr.
Everett's career have left most strongly defined upon my own
mind, is its harmony and completeness in all its parts and
characteristic qualities. In no field of honor or usefulness
which he was called upon to occupy, did he ever fail to meet
its reasonable requirements, nor did he ever shrink from the
labor which its duties imposed. Many men have been great
in one department of intellectual power or excellence, without
possessing any claims to distinction in any other. Some cul-
tivate one set of their powers or faculties at the expense of
the others. And of many, the judgments which we form are
but the balancing of one quality against another, the good
against the evil, in order to ascertain at what point in the
scale of moral worth we are to place them, in the estimate
which we form of their character. The great warrior may
be the brutal tyrant or the sordid miser. The brilliant poet
may not soar above the atmosphere of his own vices ; and the
splendid orator, while arousing and wielding the passions of
others at his will, may be the veriest slave of his own. Ex-
amples like these serve to mark the contrast of good and evil
which are found in so many of the men whom the world has
called famous.

But, in the life of Mr. Everett, we seek in vain for any such
contrasts as these. It was not because there were not, in the
constitution of his mind and character, prominent and striking
qualities ; but because there was no occasion to go through
the process of balancing these qualities against each other,
in order to determine the relative rank of merit in which he
21

162 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

is hereafter to be held in the judgment of posterity. His
character in this respect was homogeneous in its elements,
and complete, as well in its parts as in the relations of these
to each other.

That which must have struck every one who knew Mr.
Everett, as worthy of special notice, was the fiUing-up, if I
may so say, which gave to his life and character that round-
ness of proportion which renders it difScult, as we now look
upon it, to say which of the traits for which he was distin-
guished stand out most prominently upon the canvas. The
picture is therefore in danger of being indistinct, from the
absence of shade by which to bring out its features into
bolder relief. He was the scholar at the same time that he
was the orator of the pulpit and of the senate. He was the
statesman and the diplomatist, the administrative officer, and,
for many years of his life, the leading citizen in all the land.
He was the Christian gentleman and the patriot ; and he won
in them all the respect and admiration of the country. And
yet who is now ready to say in which of these he transcended
his own excellence in any other trait into which his character
may be divided ? Had he been either of these alone, there
would have been, in the graces and accomplishments which
he would have brought to its duties, enough to have given to
his life in that sphere the seeming finish of completeness.
This is what I mean by that filling-up which gave such an
admirable fulness and consistency of proportion in his char-
acter and life.

I might illustrate this thought further by referring to what
is familiar, perhaps, to us all. It is more than forty years
since I first heard him in the pulpit. I need not say with
how much delight I listened to the rich and varied thought,
the beauty of diction, the inimitable power of description,
the affluence of illustration, and the pathos of appeal, which
gave so much life to his sermons of that day. These qualities
of high pulpit oratory may not have been peculiar to him.

1865.] TllIBUTE TO EDWAED EVERETT. 163

But there was added to these a beauty of countenance, a
grace in action, a sweetness in voice, and an impressive,
though almost measured modulation in tone and cadence,
which left upon the mind of the hearer the conviction that
he was unsurpassed as a rhetorician and an orator.

I afterwards heard him on the floor of Congress, and there
he was no less at home than in the pulpit. And the dignity
of his bearing, the mastery he showed of his subject, and the
eloquence of the language he uttered, commanded the willing
attention of that body, while it was yet dignified by men of
eloquence and a national fame.

We all know how faithfully and conscientiously he per-
formed the duties of the Executive of this Commonwealth.
Nothing was left undone which courtesy or kindness or
etiquette claimed at his hand, from patiently listening to the
broken language of the wife or mother pleading for the par-
don of a wayward husband or son, to those dignified state
papers which came from his pen perfect in all their parts.
The same may be said of the manner in which he bore him-
self at the court of St. James, and as successor of Mr. Web-
ster, at the head of our American court at Washington.

And in this I do not mean to refer so much to great exhi-
bitions of skill and power as a diplomatist and a statesman, as
to the qualities which belonged to him personally as a man,
and which helped to grace and fill up the measure of his
official character.

But this character for completeness to which I have alluded,
may perhaps be better illustrated in the personal qualities
which he exhibited in the amenities of private life. We have
heard him called cold in his sympathies, and ungenial of man-
ners in his intercourse with others ; and I confess, that, till I
knew him, I thought his seeming reserved, if not austere.
But I need not say, in this presence, how soon this impression
was corrected when one came in direct contact with him-,
either socially, or in the ordinary intercourse of private life.

164 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

There was in his organization something of that shrinking
dehcacy which makes one apparently shy and sensitive. But
I will venture to say, that no one ever went to him for kind-
ness or sympathy or counsel, and found him either cold or
repulsive.

He never forgot the courtesies of the gentleman in his
intercourse with any man, however humble or devoid of influ-
ence he may have been. He never was surpassed in the
scrupulous punctuality with which he replied to a corre-
spondent, however unimportant the subject addressed to him,
nor in the indulgence with which he received, and the kind-
ness with which he acknowledged, the well-intended but often
equivocal favor of printed works and papers, with which
authors loaded his table and taxed his time, — the thing he
was least able to spare.

The kindliness of his nature was manifested in a hundred
different forms, though rarely so as to attract the observation
or applause of others. In all the trying situations in which
he was placed at times, censured by party antagonism, mis-
construed in his motives and his acts, and smarting under the
keen rebuke of public disfavor, I do not believe any one ever
saw him lose the dignity of his self-possession, or heard him
indulge in harsh or uncourteous language towards his bitter-
est opponent.

Nor will the world ever know how often the deserving
young man, struggling with adverse circumstances, has found
in him, what he needed more than money, — a wise counsellor
and a kind friend. Hundreds could now tell us how he sought
them out, aided and encouraged them, and helped them on-
ward in a career of usefulness and honor. While his body
lay waiting for that august solemnity in which a whole city,
and, I might add, a State and nation bore a part, the door-bell
of his house was rung, and, upon its being opened, there stood
■upon the threshold a young man, a stranger, in the dress of a
junior officer in the navy. He asked permission to come in,

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 165

and look once more upon the form and face of Mr. Everett.
" I am a stranger to you," said he to the gentleman in attend-
ance ; " but Mr. Everett was the best friend I ever had. He
procured me the place I now hold, and from that day has
never failed to write me letters of encouragement and advice,
although I had no claim upon his kindness and generosity."

Of his affluence, whether of wisdom or learning, of worldly
gifts or kindly consideration, he never withhold, when ap-
pealed to by objects of merit and desert.

I desire also to say a single word upon another error into
which the public mind may have naturally fallen. Whatever
he wrote or delivered was, uniformly, so finished and perfect
in style and language, as well as in thought, that an impres-
sion became general that he had little ready or spontaneous
eloquence, and that, in order to meet an occasion, he must
have time for careful preparation. In the danger which he
had to contend with, of having himself for a rival, he was,
undoubtedly, loth to speak without previous preparation.
But his friends knew that he was not only a man of ready
and stirring eloquence, but that, with all the grave, serious,
and dignified manner which characterized so many of his
orations and public addresses, he had a fund of keen and
sprightly wit, of playful humor, and apt and gentle repartee,
which at times electrified the hour, and delighted whoever
was fortunate enough to witness them.

It might seem that for one who, through a long period of
public services, had shown himself worthy to hold a place in
the foremost rank, nothing could be needed to fill up and
round out a life of so much active usefulness and honor.

But do we not all feel now how much it would have wanted,
if it had lacked the finish with which the. history of the last
four years has crowned and completed the work? Nobody
had a right to doubt the honesty and sincerity of his convic-
tions and opinions, however much one may have difi'ered from
him in the matters of public policy. But he saw the coming

166 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

of that dreadful storm which has been sweeping over our
country; and, like many other true patriots, he was willing to
avert it by a conciliatory policy, though, by so doing, he sub-
jected himself to the imputation of timidity or want of heart.
But when he saw that the scheme of the conspirators was not
to secure the rights which were theirs, but to usurp those to
which they had no claim ; when he saw that the purpose at
which they aimed was not peace, but the overthrow, by war,
of the government under which our country had grown great
and prosperous and happy, — he threw the full weight of his
accumulated power of intellect and influence into the strug-
gle ; and, in the forgetfulness of old opinions and cherished
associations, he gave up to his country the stores of learning,
the resources of eloquence, and the gathered energies of an
entire life devoted to diligence and duty. Men no longer
called him timid ; for he showed that he had that highest of
all courage, which dares to go against one's own prepos-
sessions and uttered opinions, when, in the light of present
events, he looks back upon the unintentional mistakes of the
past. The nation, the world itself, looked on with admi-
ration, as this brave old champion in the cause of right urged
on the battle by his trumpet-call to duty and to arms. And
they felt that his record was complete, his life rounded out
into the full proportions of Christian manliness, when he ut-
tered that last noble appeal, to crown the triumphs of a
nation's success, by the divine magnanimity that feeds our
enemy and carries him comfort in the hour of prostration and
distress.

While standing upon that lofty eminence of fame to which
a long and arduous life of noble action had raised him, it was a
kind Providence that spared him from even the possibility
of danger of any coming misapprehension or mistake. He
laid by his armor before the evening shadows had dimmed a
single gleam of its brightness. But he went not to his rest
till his last day's work was fully and nobly accomplished.

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 167

He put off the garb which he had worn amid the dust and
toil of an ever-busy life, to waken to a new existence, where,
while the past is secure, the future can never be clouded by
the passions of erring nature or the frailties of human judg-
ment.

The fame which till then had been in his own keeping, he
left in charge of the country he had so long served. And
can we doubt that the trust will be sacredly kept? They
will rear to him statues and monuments. And they will do
more. They will keep these monuments and memorials alive,
by cherishing the memory of the man to whom they are
reared, in the treasured offerings of a nation's history.

It will be but another illustration of the immortality which
the fame of a truly great man lends to the works of art, by
which men seek to perpetuate the memory of the dead. The
chisel of the artist may bring out from the marble the form
and features of one whom pride or affection may seek to
honor. But it is, at last, to history that we must look
to iuterpret the record which sculpture may have tried to
register.

You, sir, beautifully reminded us, on another occasion, of
the search of the Roman orator amongst the rank weeds and
gathered rubbish of the cemetery of Syracuse, for the for-
gotten monument of Archimedes, while you reminded his
countrymen that the great American philosopher and states-
man, till then, had no memorial of art reared to him, even in
the city where he was born. But, though they answered
that appeal with a generous alacrity, the enduring bronze of
which his speaking statue is fashioned by the skilful cunning
of art, would do little to keep his memory alive for the ser-
vice of posterity, if his name had not been enrolled among
the great names that shed lustre upon the pages of his coun-
try's history.

So it will be with the statue which, as we trust, a gratified
people will place by the side of his great compatriot, in the

168 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

front of our capitol. It is fitting that it should stand there,
a memorial, immortal in the light of history, of the man, and
of a people's gratitude. The name of Everett, repeated to
the inquirer in after-ages, will re-animate that form ; and it
will speak of the scholar, the statesman, the orator, the
patriot, and the Christian gentleman, to whom it shall have
been reared by a people that knew and loved and honored
him.

The E.ev. Mr. Waterston read the followmg commu-
nication from John G. Whittier, introducing the letter
by the words of Dr. Channing, who said of Mr. Whit-
tier, more than a quarter of a century ago, " His poetry
bursts from the soul with the fire and energy of an
ancient prophet. And his noble simplicity of character
is the delight of all who know him."

Amesbury, 27th 1st Month, 1865.

My dear Friend, — I acknowledge through thee the invitation
of the Standing Committee of the Massachusetts Historical Society to
be present at a special meeting of the Society for the purpose of pay-
ing a tribute to the memory of our late illustrious associate, Edward
Everett.

It is a matter of deep regret to me, that the state of my health
will not permit me to be with you on an occasion of so much
interest.

It is most fitting that the members of the Historical Society of
Massachusetts should add their tribute to those which have been
already offered by all sects, parties, and associations, to the name and
fame of their late associate. He was himself a maker of history,
and part and parcel of all the noble charities and humanizing influ-
ences of his State and time.

When the grave closed over him who added new lustre to the
old and honored name of Quincy, all eyes instinctively turned to
Edward Everett as the last of that venerated class of patriotic civil-
ians, who, outliving all dissent and jealousy and party prejudice, held
their reputation by the secure tenure of the universal appreciation of
its worth as a common treasure of the republic. It is not for me to

1865.] TRIBUTE TO EDWARD EVERETT. 169

pronounce his eulogy. Others, better qualified by their intimate
acquaintance with him, have done and will do justice to his learning,
eloquence, varied culture, and social virtues. My secluded country
life has afforded me few opportunities of personal intercourse with
him ; while my pronounced radicalism, on the great question which
has divided popular feeling, rendered our political paths widely diver-
gent. Both of us early saw the danger which threatened the coun-
try. In the language of the prophet, we " saw the sword coming
upon the land ; " but, while he believed in the possibility of averting
it by concession and compromise, I, on the contrary, as firmly be-
lieved that such a course could only strengthen and confirm what I
regarded as a gigantic conspiracy against the rights and liberties, the
union and the life, of the nation.

Eecent events have certainly not tended to change this belief on
my part ; but, in looking over the past, while I see little or nothing
to retract in the matter of opinion, I am saddened by the reflection,
that, through the very intensity of my convictions, I may have done
injustice to the motives of those with whom I differed. As respects
Edward Everett, it seems to me that only within the last four years I
have truly known him.

In that brief period, crowded as it is with a whole life-work of
consecration to the union, freedom, and glory of his country, he not
only commanded respect and reverence, but concentrated upon him-
self in a most remarkable degree the love of all loyal and generous
hearts. We have seen, in these years of trial, very great sacrifices
offered upon the altar of patriotism, — wealth, ease, home-love, life
itself. But Edward Everett did more than this : he laid on that altar
not only his time, talents, and culture, but his pride of opinion, his
long-cherished views of policy, his personal and political predilec-
tions and prejudices, his constitutional fastidiousness of conservatism,
and the carefully elaborated symmetry of his public reputation. With
a rare and noble magnanimity, he met, without hesitation, the de-
mand of the great occasion. Breaking away from all the besetments
of custom and association, he forgot the things that are behind, and,
with an eye single to present duty, pressed forward towards the mark
of the high calling of Divine Providence in the events of our time.
All honor to him ! If we mourn that he is now beyond the reach of
our poor human praise, let us reverently trust that he has received
that higher plaudit, " Well done, thou good and faithful servant ! "

When I last met him, as my colleague in the Electoral College of
22

170 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.

Massachusetts, his look of health and vigor seemed to promise us
many years of his wisdom and usefulness. On greeting him, I felt
impelled to express my admiration and grateful appreciation of his
patriotic labors ; and I shall never forget how readily and gracefully
he turned attention from himself to the great cause iu which we had
a common interest, and expressed his thankfulness that he had still a
country to serve.

To keep green the memory of such a man is at once a privilege
and a duty. That stainless life of seventy years is a priceless legacy.
His hands were pure. The shadow of suspicion never fell on him.
If he erred in his opinions (and that he did so, he had the Christian
grace and courage to own), no selfish interest weighed in the scale of
his judgment against truth.

As our thoughts follow him to his last resting-place, we are sadly
reminded of his own touching lines, -wTitten many years ago at Flor-
ence. The name he has left behind is none the less " pure," that,
instead of being " humble," as he then anticipated, it is on the lips
of grateful millions, and written ineffaceably on the record of his
country's trial and triumph : —

" Yet not for me when I shall fall asleep
Shall Santa Croce's lamps their vigils keep ;
Beyond the main in Aubmn's quiet shade,
With those I loved and love my couch be made ; —
Spring's pendent branches o'er the hillock wave,
And morning's dewdrops glisten on my grave,
While heaven's great arch shaU rise above my bed,
When Santa Croce's crumbles on her dead, —
Unknown to erring or to suffering fame.
So I may leave a pure though humble name."

Congratulating the Society on the prospect of the speedy consum-
mation of the great objects of our associate's labors, — the peace and
permanent union of our country, —

I am very truly thy friend, John G. Whittier.

Robert C. Watekston, Boston.

The Kesolutions were unanimously adopted, and the
meeting then adjourned.

FEBRUABT MEETIKG. 171

FEBEUARY MEETING.

The stated monthly meeting of the Society was held
this day, Thursday, February 9, at 11 o'clock, a.m. ; the
President, the Hon. Egbert C. Winthrop, in the chair.

The Librarian announced the donations received since
the last meeting, from the following sources : —

The Boston Athenaeum ; the Chicago Historical Soci-
ety ; the Essex Institute ; the New-England Historic-
Genealogical Society ; the New-England Loyal Publica-
tion Society ; the New-Jersey Historical Society ; the
Prince Society ; the Proprietors of the Heraldic Journal ;
the Publishers of the Savannah Republican ; William
Appleton, Esq. ; Hon. Edward E. Bourne ; Henry B.
Dawson, Esq. ; Clement H. Hill, Esq. ; Charles J. Hoad-
ley, Esq. ; Benjamin P. Johnson, Esq. ; Hon. Frederick
W. Lincoln, jun. ; James S. Loring, Esq. ; Hon. Alex-
ander H. Rice ; John G. Roberts, Esq. ; William V.
Spencer, Esq. ; J. Hammond Trumbidl, Esq. ; Hon.
Henry Wilson; and from Messrs. E. B. Bigelow, Deane,
Ellis, H. Gray, jun., Loring, C. Robbins, Sibley, Wheat-
land, Whitmore, and Winthrop, of the Society.

Letters from Mrs. Samuel Appleton were read by
the President, acknowledging with thanks the gift of the
seventh volume of the fourth series of the Society's
Collections, and the last-issued volume of the Proceed-
ings, Avhich had been sent to her.

The President also read a letter from Mr. Charles H.
Hart, of Philadelphia, offering for the Society's accept-

172 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [FEB.

ance a broadside copy of Theses of Harvard College for
the year 1762; for which a proper acknowledgment
was directed to be made.

John Forster, Esq., of London, was elected a Corre-
sponding Member.

Mr. Deane communicated, and read a portion of, the
following letter (from a copy in fac-siynile), written by
Andrew Jackson, when President of the United States.
The copy was presented to the Society by Major W.
L. Burt, of this city.

Andrew Jackson to Andreiu J. Crawford.
(Private.)

Washington, May 1st, 1833.

Mt deak Sir, — I have just received your letter of the 6th ultimo,
and have only time in reply to say that General Coffee well under-
stood Mr. Shackleford, and urged your nomination in his stead. I
had nominated you ; but, on the serious importunity of Col King,
your Senator, with General Coffee, the change was adopted, and you
nominated for the office you now fill. Before the receipt of yours
General Coffee had written me, and requested that I would appoint
you to the office vacated by Mr. Shakleford. If we had a Senate in
whose principles we could rely, this would have been done ; but I did
not believe it would be prudent to bring your name before the Senate
again, and am happy you are content where you are.

The Senate cannot remove you, and I am sure your faithfulness
and honesty will never permit you to do an act that will give good
cause for your removal ; and, if Moor and Poindexter discovered that
you were related to me, that would be sufficient cause for them to
reject you. Therefore it is, that I let well enough alone, allhough
I know it would be a convenience to you to be located where you are ;
still a rejection by the Senate might prove a greater inconvenience,
and, for the reasons assigned, it was not done.

I have had a laborious task here — but nullification is dead ; and
its actors and exciters will only be remembered by the people to be
execrated for their wicked designs to sever and destroy the only good
government on the globe, and that prosperity and happiness we
enjoy over every other portioa of the world. Haman's gallows ought

1865.] LETTER OP JAMES SULLIVAN. 173

to be the fate of all such ambitious men, who would involve their
countiy in civil wars, and all the evils in its train, that they might
reign and ride on its whirlwinds and direct the storm. The free people
of these United States have spoken, and consigned these wicked dema-
gogues to their proper doom. Take care of your nullifiers ; you
have them amongst you ; let them meet with the indignant frowns
of every man who loves his country. The tariff, it is now well known
was a mere pretext. Its burthen was on your coarse woollens — by
the law of July, 1832, coarse woollen was reduced to five per cent,
for the benefit of the South. Mr. Clay's bill takes it up and classes it
with woollens at 50 per cent., reduces it gradually down to 20 per
cent., and there it is to remain, and Mr. Calhoun and all the nullifiers
agree to the principle. The cash duties and home valuation will be
equal to 15 per cent, more, and after the year 1842, you pay on
coarse woollens 35 per cent. If this is not protection, I cannot under-
stand. Therefore the tarifi" was only the pretext, and disunion and a
Southern confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be the
negro, or slavery, question.

My health is not good, but is improving a little. Present me
kindly to your lady and family, and believe me to be your friend.
I will always be happy to hear from you.

Andrew Jackson.

The Rev. Andrew J. Crawford.

Dr. Peabody read the following letters : —

James Sullivan to Tobias Lear.

Boston, 18th October, 1789.

Dear Sir, — "When we received the news of your coming this way
with our illustrious President, we flattered ourselves with the idea of
your making our house your home while you should stay in town.
But I have been with His Excellency, our Governor, to-day ; he is
obliging enough to forward this by express he sends to meet the
President, and he tells me that his intention is to invite the Presi-
dent to command his house while he shall continue here, and that
he hopes and expects you will take up your abode there also.

When I know that to be the case, it would be but a piece of for-
mality to give you an invitation otherwise than by saying, that, if
any thing should happen which shall prevent the Governor's superior
invitation, Mrs. Sullivan will be much hurt by your going to any
other house than ours. It is possible, from an unfortunate call we

174 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.

have in the country, that we may be absent when you arrive ; but
Miss Sullivan has it in charge to receive you as our dear and very
particular friend, and we shall rejoice abundantly to find you here
when we return, — which we shall do with all possible expedition, as
I would by no means fail of paying my respects to the President, or
of having the pleasure of seeing you.

The Governor is making arrangement to show every mark of
respect to the President ; and I believe he TN-ill be received with the
rejoicings and acclamations of the people.

Should the President take any other lodgings besides at the Gov-
ernor's house, it will hurt the feelings of the Governor, and of all
those who have seen with pleasure the process of the late revolution.
The house is very convenient, and there can be no difficulty in the
President's receiving the compliments of the gentlemen in the Gov-
ernor's commodious hall.

There will be a number of people in the street paraded to see the
President as he shall, come into town ; and it would be a great con-
venience to the Governor to know, as soon as possible, on what day
and hour the President expects to arrive. If you can give this intelli-
gence, I wish you to address a line to the Governor, [or] to your
friend Major Otis, to be communicated to the Governor. But if it
should be after this week, and you do not choose to write the Gover-
nor, I wish you to indulge me with a line.

I am very sensible that the President would wish to avoid this
parade ; but the wishes of the people must be complied with, and
you may as well arrest the tide as stop it.

I am, dear sir, with great regard, your friend and humble servant,

Jas. Sullivan.
Mr. Leak.

Christopher Gore to Tohias Lear.

Boston, October 22, 1789.
My dear Sir, — In consequence of your letter dated at Hartford,
11th inst., I have engaged Mrs. Ingersoll's house, at the corner of
Court and Tremont Streets, for the President of the United States,
during the time he shall honor the town of Boston with his presence.
In this house are three parlors on the lower floor, three bed-chambers
on the second, and sufficient on the third to accommodate servants.
In the neighborhood is a very good livery stable, the owner of which
I have not been able to see this evening, but will engage this or

1865.] PROFESSOR RAFN. 175

another in the morning ; and, if I have not the pleasure of seeing
you before your arrival in Boston, you shall hear of accommodations
for four horses, by a line left at Ingersoll's. But, as Judge Lowell
and myself intend doing ourselves the honor of paying our respects to
the President of the United States at his morning stage of Saturday,
I hope the pleasure of mentioning to you this in person.

The people of Boston are, beyond all conception, enraptured with
the idea of beholding their deliverer and protector ; and none more
than Your obliged friend, C. GoRE.

Tobias Lear, Esq., Secretary to the President of the United States.
To be left at Williams', Marlborough.

Mr. Sparks referred to a letter written, at his request,
by the late Benjamin Russell, and published m the Ap-
pendix to the tenth volume of Washington's Writings.
It relates to "the difference of opinion between Gover-
nor Hancock and President AVashington on a point of
etiquette during the visit of the President to Boston in
1789."

The President stated, that the Standing Committee, to
whom the subject of Mr. Waterston's motion at the last
meeting had been referred, had decided to send to Gold-
win Smith a complete set of the Society's publications,
to be deposited in any public library in Oxford that he
may designate.

Mr. W. G. Brooks, from the Standing Committee,
called the attention of members to a large photograph
album then lying upon the table, which he had procured
in order that each member of the Society should furnish
his photographic likeness, to be preserved in this volume
as a memorial.

Dr. Webb made the following communication on Pro-
fessor Rafu : —

At the December meeting of the Society, in answer to. an

176 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [FEB.

inquiry made by Colonel Aspinwall, I stated that I had been
in correspondence with the late Professor C. C. Rafn, of Co-
penhagen, during a period of more than thirty years ; and that
had I known that any notice of his decease would be taken at
that meeting, I might have selected and brought forward
from my files some letters suited to the occasion, which,
possibly, would prove of interest to the members. Since
that meeting, I have devoted the brief time I could spare
to an examination of a portion of the letters in my posses-
sion, and to a reconsideration of some of the subjects to
which many of them relate, but which, from various causes,
have been dismissed, or rather crowded, from my mind for
several years. The contents of these letters still prove as
interesting to me as ever, and would undoubtedly be exam-
ined with much satisfaction by those among us who have
directed attention to the Ante-Columbian history of America.
But on reflection, since the promise I then made, I have come
to tlie conclusion, that to a majority of our associates, whose
researches in the past do not extend further back than to
Post-Columbian colonial times, these letters cannot be so
acceptable as communications derivable from other sources :
I therefore produce only a sufficient number to redeem my
pledge.

I avail myself, however, of this opportunity, to discharge
a duty which I feel incumbent on me relative to Professor
Eafn, and to that Society, of which, for so long a period, he
was one of the most eminent collaborators.

Of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, to whose
labors some reference was made at the December meeting by
our President, and respecting which some details were given
by Dr. Sparks, — both of whose names, as also that of Colonel
Aspinwall, are enrolled upon the list of its " founding " mem-
bers, — it is sufficient for me to say, that it stands in the front
rank of European learned societies; that, in some branches of
ancient lore, it takes the lead of all others ; and that, in regard

1865.] PROFESSOR RAPN. 177

to these, its opinions and judgment are deemed pre-eminent.
The extent and value of its researches, more especially the
ethnic and philological, are unsurpassed by the labors of kin-
dred institutions ; so that even those who for years, from the
want of proper information, and disinclination or unwilling-
ness to obtain it, were accustomed to ignore its doings, or
allude to them deridingly as " pleasant fictions, with which
sober history has been sometimes wont, when treading the
shadowy confines of the uncertain past, to embellish her
pages," have gradually moderated their tone, and at last,
with scarcely an exception, have recognized the value of its
labors, and the soundness of the most important of its conclu-
sions. For many years, it has been actively and almost
unremittingly engaged in making examinations and explora-
tions in Iceland (justly styled " the nursing mother of the
ancient history of the North "), in Greenland, and elsewhere ;
to the prosecution of which not only much time but much
money has been devoted. The success with which these
efiforts have thus far been crowned has proved highly en-
couraging to the participants therein, and been pronounced,
by the most distinguished savans of the day, as of prime
value in illuminating some of the dark pages of the world's
history.

A portion of the results of its investigations is embodied
in the various works wliich have been given to the public,
and which in number have nearly rounded their century, al-
though the first of them was issued so recently as 1825.

It may be well to observe, that the principal object of the
Society, originally, was the translation, interpretation, and
publication of old Icelandic manuscripts ; but it noio embraces,
in addition, whatever else may serve to elucidate the language,
history, and antiquities of the North in general; — in the words
of Professor Rafn, " whatever may tend to a more extensive
diffusion of the interest taken in Northern archaeology, and
thereby to awaken and cherish an interest for forefathers

178 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [FEB.

and fatherland." Of late years, it has directed much attention
to the preparation and publication of a series of lexicograph-
ical works.

The ancient writings publislied by it are issued in a triple
series : the first containing the original Icelandic ; the second,
a Danish translation ; and the third, a translation in Latin, or
some extensively used modern language, — by which means
there is placed within the reach of literary men of other
countries a body of ancient writings replete with matter
illustrative of history, language, or antiquities.

" Its objects are of a nature calculated to interest others
than the natives merely of the Scandinavian kingdoms. The
ancient codes of law of the North; its Eddas, with their
significant mj'thology ; and its stores of ancient historical
lore, as well as the Northern antiquities, are attracting the
attention of the civilized world: and their importance to
the antiquary, the historian, the lawyer, and the philologist
of almost every country, has been generally admitted," at
least on the other side of the Atlantic.

Besides the valuable separate works, the Society has pub-
lished, and still continues to issue, two serials, — the one
entitled " Annals of Ncirthern ArchEeology and History,"
wherein appear communications in Icelandic, Danish, and
Swedish ; and the other, styled " Memoirs of the Antiqua-
ries of the North," consisting of papers written in French,
English, or German. It also issues a review, containing
accounts of its labors, and other information pertaining more
immediately to its own affairs, to its archives, and to its
library; and short articles of an antiquarian, historical, or
linguistic character.

It also possesses a museum rich in Northern antiquities,
chronologically arranged, in twelve rooms of the Palace
of Christiansborg, so as to represent the three successive
periods of heathenism ; viz., the stone age, the bronze age,
and the iron age. In connection with these, there are also

1865.] PROFESSOR RAPN. 179

arranged, according to successive periods, the articles illus-
trative of later times. It has, besides this large collection at
Copenhagen, similar, though smaller, collections in various
parts of the kingdom.

It has also, in the palace just named, a cabinet for Ameri-
can antiquities, which is divided into a Scandinavian section,
containing relics from Greenland, illustrative of the remote
ages when the Northmen were its inhabitants ; an Esquimaux
section ; a Vinland section, which contains a larger collection
than is probably elsewhere to be found, of the stone antiqui-
ties of our own country ; a Mexican section ; a Caribbean
section, in which are deposited collections from the West
Indies, more especially the Danish Antilles; and a South-
American section, whei-ein are deposited stone and metallic
specimens from Brazil, Chili, and Peru.

This Society has, likewise, a cabinet of more than fifty
thousand coins and medals, besides twenty thousand casts of
valuable ones elsewhere owned ; a cabinet of classical antiqui-
ties, arranged in Egj^ptian, Grecian, and Roman sections ;
and an ethnographical cabinet, already requiring, for the
preservation and exhibition of its specimens, more than
twenty large rooms.

In 1846 it established what is denominated " The Historico-
Archffiological Archives"; for the accommodation of which
I'ooms have been assigned in the palace. These are arranged
in two sections, — first, an old Northern Icelandic section,
wherein are deposited documents of a date not later than
A.D. 1450, and historical and archteological collections relating
to the Feroe Isles, Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland ; and,
second, an antiquarian-topographical section, in which is
carefully preserved whatever relates to Northern antiquities
in general, and the historico-antiquarian topography of the
Scandinavian countries in particular. The ArnEe-Magnaean
collection, which forms but a part of the archives, numbers
two thousand volumes of Icelandic, or old Northern manu-
scripts.

180 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.

This meagre outline, for the minute details and filling up
of which reference must be made to the Society's reports and
publications, is sufficient to convey some idea of the extent
and richness of material and ajjparatus at command to enable
it to undertake and prosecute, understandingly, advanta-
geously, and, as for the most part it has thus far done, suc-
cessfully, the line of investigations by it marked out, and
steadily followed for some years.

Besides all these appliances, what is, at the least, equally
important, it has enjoyed and profited by the labors of
men of renowned talents and high attainments in their re-
spective departments and specialties. Among these it must
sufiice at this time to name the late distinguished philologist,
Professor R. Rask ; the learned antiquarian, Finn Magnusen ;
the eminent archaeologist, E. C. Werlauff ; the Icelandic
scholar and lexicographer, Erik Jonson ; the late privy coun-
cillor of State and professor of languages, M. Schlegel ; the
profound Swedish scholar, Perinskiold ; and lastly, and to us
the best known of all, our lately deceased and much-esteemed
' honorary member, Carl Christian Rafn, who for so many years
has taken such a prominent and active part in the doings of
the Society, that he and it seem but to be portions of one
organization.

Most of the numerous works issued under the auspices of
the Society bear, in a greater or less degree, evidences of his
diligence, his indefatigable labor, his deep research, and
his judicious supervisory care. To his unwearied indus-
try, discriminating judgment, devoted, selfsacrificing spirit,
and indomitable perseverance, we are indebted for some
of the most valuable of the Society's publications. Among
those edited by him may be mentioned —

Fornaldar Sogur Nordrlanda, or Mythico-historical Sagas, treat-
ing of events in the North anterior to the colonization of Iceland in
the ninth century : edited in the old Northern or ancient Icelandic
original text, and published in 3 vols. 8vo.

1865.] PROFESSOR RAPN. 181

The same Sagas translated by him into Danish, making also 3
vols. 8vo.

Fajreyinga Saga, or History of the Inhabitants of the Feroe
Islands : in Icelandic, the Feroe dialect, and Danish, with a fac-
simile and a map of the Islands.

Gronlands Historiske Mindesmajrker, or Greenland's Historical
Monuments : edited by C. C. Rafn and Finn Magnusen, in the old
Northern text, with a Danish translation, explanatory notes, and 12
illustrative plates. 3 vols. 8vo.

Antiquites Russes d'apres les Monuments Historiques des Islandais
et des Anciens Scandinaves, or Russian Antiquities from the Histor-
ical Monuments of Iceland and of Ancient Greenland. 2 vols,
imperial 4to. — This valuable work contains 1,035 pages of letter-
press, illustrated with twenty-three plates.

The work for which we, in an especial manner, should
hold in high regard the memory of Professor Rafn, and pay-
due homage to his many rare qualifications as an historian,
annotator, and commentator, is that to which reference was
made at our December meeting by the President, in his
notice of the deceased; viz., the " Antiquitates AmericauEe,"
in which is brought together, for the first time in a printed,
form, a large mass of evidence to show that America was
discovered and colonized by the Northmen late in the tenth,
and early in the eleventh centuries. The work is an imperial
quarto volume, of 526 pages, and is illustrated by eight fac-
similes of the most important manuscripts, or Icelandic Skin-
Books, used in the preparation of the work, showing their
exact condition at the time of use ; some of them being still
perfect, and others in various stages of decay, from age and
neglect. It contains also maps of ancient Iceland and Green-
land ; a chart of the Northern Ocean and the Atlantic coast,
showing the tracks of the principal voyagers ; a map of Vin-
land, with the ancient appellations by which the various
portions visited were designated (the modern names being
added for convenience of reference); and, furthermore, six
engravings of Greenland and American monuments. The

182 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [FEB.

body of the work consists of the original Icelandic text, and
a full Danish translation, in parallel columns, with a complete
Latin translation subjoined. Preceding the whole is a very
copious abstract in English, exhibiting an historical view of
the voyages of discovery.

The work is worthy of something better than this
extremely brief, as it were skeleton, exhibit of it; for, though
well known to a comparatively small number of our scholarsj
the reading community at large have no acquaintance with
it : were its merits more generally understood, the book put
in a more convenient form, and an English version in full
furnished, we believe it would receive attention somewhat in
proportion to its intrinsic worth. This course was once
contemplated, but never consummated, for reasons that may
be gathered from one of the accorapan3'ing letters of Pro-
fessor Eafn.

The work was very ably reviewed by the principal critical
journals of Europe and this country; and the conclusions
arrived at, in almost every instance, were highly flattering
to the learned editor, and to the society under whose
authority it appeared. The article in the " North-American
Review " emanated from the pen of our late distinguished
associate, the Hon. Edward Everett ; two very able articles
on it were furnished to the " United-States Magazine and
Democratic Review " by his brother, the late Hon. Alexander
H. Everett; an interesting one was contributed to the "New-
York Review " b}' the Hon. George Folsom ; and one to the
" Biblical Repository " by the Hon. Henry R. Schoolcraft,
whose death has been announced within a few days past.
Critical notices also appeared in the " American Monthly
Magazine," in the " New-York Monthly," in the fourth volume
of the " Rhode-Island Historical Society's Collections," and
in the "Western Messenger" (Louisville, Ky.), by its edi-
tor, the late Leonard Bliss, jun., a former member of this
Society.

1865.] PROFESSOR EAFN. 183

Of European journals, which spoke of it in the strongest
commendatory terms, I need only name the " Foreign Quar-
terly Review " and the " Journal of the Royal Geographical
Society of London " ; the former of which states that this
volume puts the matter of the early Scandinavian voyages
beyond a doubt, and the latter that the publication entitles
the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries " to the gratitude
of the whole civilized world."

Its appearance was the occasion of many lectures being
given in various parts of the Union. Among those the
most worthy of a passing reference were, one delivered by
our respected associate already alluded to. Governor Everett,
in a public course of this Society ; two by the Hon. A. H.
Everett, before the Rhode-Island Historical Society ; and
two by the Hon. George Folsom, before the New- York
Historical Society ; all of which were received with great
favor.

Itinerant lecturers of coarse availed themselves of the
opportunity to obey the advisory injunction of lago to
Roderigo.

The leading scholars and historians, both abroad and in
this country, with very few, we believe but two, exceptions,
acknowledged that Professor Rafn had satisfactorily made
out his case. These exceptions were the late Washington
Irving and the Hon. George Bancroft.

The former gentleman was reluctant to assent to the
soundness of Professor Rafn's conclusions, for the reason,
among others, that he apprehended their tendency would be
to detract from the credit due to Columbus as a discoverer.
A correspondence took place between him and myself on the
subject, which resulted in his being convinced that no such
design was contemplated ; the Northern Society explicitly
declaring, that, although "the latest researches have rendered
it in a high degree probable that the knowledge of the
previous Scandinavian discovery of America, preserved in

184 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.

Iceland, and communicated to Columbus when he visited that
island in 1477," was " one of the most powerful causes which
inspired the mind of that great man with that admirable skill
which, bidding defiance to every difficulty, enabled him to
effect the rediscovery of the New World, under circumstances
that led to its immediate, uninterrupted, and constantly in-
creasing colonization and occupation by the energetic and
intelligent races of Europe," — " yet his glory cannot in any
degree be impaired by the prior achievements ; " and, for
what he so successfully accomplished, " his memory will be
imperishable among the nations of the earth." *

The consequence was, that Mr. Irving, in the next edition
of his abridged "Life of Columbus" (Boston, 1839), inserted
a " Note " at the end of his Introduction, in which he says,
" Since the first publication of this work, researches made
concerning the early voyages of the ' Northmen ' have estab-
lished the fact, to the conviction of most minds, that ' Vinland,'
the country accidentally discovered by those wide-wandering
navigators about the year 1000, was really a part of the
continent of North America." He adds, " This fact, however,
does not lessen the merit of the great enterprise and achieve-
ment of Columbus. . . . We see no reason to believe that
he heard any thing of these discoveries, or saw the Sagas in
question."

Mr. Bancroft early took a position adverse to the claims
set up for the Northmen, as will be found by referring to his
admirable work, the " History of the United States " (vol. i.
chap. 1), wherein, among other statements, are the following :

* " still," the Society adds, " we Northmen ought not to forget his meritorious
predecessors, who in their way had difficulties to contend with not less formidable,
since, without knowledge of the properties of the magnet, — without aid of compass,
charts, or mathematical science properly so called, — they dared to navigate the great
ocean, and thus by degrees discovered and partly colonized Iceland in the ninth
century, Greenland in the tenth, and subsequently several of the islands and portions
of the coasts of America during the latter part of the tenth and the beginning of the
eleventh century."

1865.]

PROFESSOR RAFN. 185

"The national pride of an Icelandic historian has, indeed,
claimed for his ancestors the glory of having discovered the
Western hemisphere. But the story of the colonization of
America by Northmen rests on narratives mythological in
form and obscure in meaning. . . . The chief document is
an interpolation in the history of Sturleson, whose zealous
inquiry could hardly have neglected the discovery of a con-
tinent. . . . The geographical details are too vague to sus-
tain a conjecture."

It is not my purpose to comment on these and other
similar passages in the volume from which I have quoted.
It is sufficient for the present simply to observe, that " the
chief document " asserted to be interpolated in Sturleson's
work is not to be found in it. There are passages, Tiot
interpolated, of such a character as to show that Sturleson
knew of the Scandinavian voyages ; but, were there not, it
might not seem very surprising, since the work is a history
of the kings of Norway. Notwithstanding the constantly
accumulating evidence in favor of the Scandinavians, it is
believed that Mr. Bancroft's opinion remains unchanged.

The adverse views entertained by some are, in a degree,
counterbalanced by the sentiments expressed by many of the
most distinguished literati of Europe, and more especially by
the declaration of him who, " of all modern travellers, has
thrown the greatest light on the physical circumstances, first
discovery, and earliest history of America," the late Alexander
von Humboldt, who is justly pronounced, on all subjects of
this class, the summus auctor.

In that masterly work, constituting the crowning glory
of a long life devoted to philosophic and scientific research,
" Cosmos," he says, " The discovery of America, in its more
northern portions, is certainly to be ascribed to the North-
men. . . . Whilst the Caliphates of Bagdad still flourished
under the Abassides, and while the Samanides, whose reign
was so favorable to poetry, bore sway in Persia, America
24

186 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [FEB.

was discovered in the year 1000, by a northern route, as
far south as 41}° north latitude, by Leif, son of Eric the
Red."

Again : " By the critical' and highly praiseworthy labors
of C. Rafn, and of the Royal Society, established at Copen-
hagen for the study of Northern antiquities, the Sagas and
original sources of information respecting the voyages of
the Northmen to Hdluland (Newfoundland), to Markland
(the mouth of the St. Lawrence and Nova Scotia), and to
Finland (Massachusetts), have been severally printed and
satisfactorily commented on."*

So also the Norwegian scholar, Professor Jacob Aall,
furnishes his valuable testimony to the merits of the work,
and says, " By collecting all the Saga accounts thereunto
belonging, by fixing the places visited, and by raising con-
jecture to historical evidence. Professor Rafn has successfully
closed one of the most interesting investigations tiiat have
been accomplished by antiquarian research in our time."
Further : " The North has every reason to be grateful to the
Royal Society of Noi'thern Antiquaries, and particularly to
Professor Rafn, who, with such indefatigabfe perseverance,
with so much knowledge of the subject, and critical acumen,
has elucidated a portion of ancient history hitherto so ob-
scure, and at the same time so interesting."

Our former Minister to the Court of Berlin, the late
Hon. Henry Wheaton, LL.D., who had aqiple opportunities,
which he diligently improved, for acquainting himself with
the claims of the Northmen, entertained not a doubt of their
validity. Indeed, in his history of the Danes and Normans,
he makes a statement to the effect that the voyagers landed
near Boston. f

I would add, that he who is looked upon as the founder

" Cosmos," vol. ii. pp. 233-236. Loudon, 1S49.

History of the North Men; or, Danes and Normans. By Henry Wlieaton, LL.D.

1865.] PROFESSOR RAFN. 187

of this Society, the late Rev. Jeremy Belknap, D.D.,
of the Northmen's discoveries in a manner which indicates
that he deemed the subject one well worthy of the atten-
tion of American scholars.

As regards their ability, and their possession of the re-
quisite appliances to make such voyages as the discoveries
referred to would demand, he observes : —

" Their situation near the coast of the sea, and the advantages
which that element presented to them, beyond all which they could
expect from a rough soil, in a cold climate, led them at an early
period to the science and practice of navigation. They built their
vessels with the best of oak, and constructed them in such a manner
as to encounter the storms and billows of the Northern Ocean. They
covered them with decks, and furnished them with high forecastles
and sterns. They made use of sails, as well as oars, and had learned
to trim their sails to the wind in almost any direction. In these arts
of building ships and of navigation, they were superior to the people
bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, who depended chiefly on their
oars, and used sails only with a fair wind." *

" The distance between Greenland and Newfoundland is not
greater than between Iceland and Norway ; and there could be no
more difficulty in navigating the western than the eastern parts of
the Northern Ocean, with such vessels as were then in use, and by
such seamen as the Normans are said to have been, though they
knew nothing of the magnetic needle.

" Upon the whole, though we can come to no positive conclusion
in a question of such remote antiquity, yet there are many circum-
stances to confirm, and none to disprove, the relations given of the
voyages of Birou." f

Professor Rafn's Memoir or Essay on the subject, enti-
tled " America Discovered in the Tenth Century," excited a
great deal of interest. It was translated into English by
G. Gordon MacDougal ; into German by Dr. G. Mohnike ;
into French by Professor Xavier Marmier, of Paris ; into
Dutch, one version by Judge Montanus Hettema, of Leeu-

* American Biography. By Jeremy Belknap, D.D. Vol. i. pp. 47, 48. Boston,
1794.

t lb. p. 56.

188 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.

warden, and another by D. Buddingh, of Gravenhage; into
Polish by Professor J. K. Trovjanski, of Cracow ; into Bus-
sian by M. Sjogren, and published as a separate pamphlet, as
well as inserted in the Journal of the Imperial Ministry
of Instruction, and afterwards translated therefrom into
Bohemian.

Five different Spanish versions appeared; viz., one at
Caraccas, by Don Jos^ Vargas, ex-President of the Vene-
zuelan Republic; a second at Madrid, by Don Pedro Jos^
Pidal; a third at S. Jago, Chili, by Don Joaquin Prieto y
Warnes ; a fourth at Valparaiso ; and a fifth at Lima, Peru,
by Don Francisco de Rivero. Into Portuguese it was trans-
lated by Manoel Ferreira Lagos, and published at Rio de
Janeiro ; another translation appearing in the Journal of the
Historico-Geographical Institute of Brazil. It was rendered
into Italian by Count Jacopo Graberg, and into Magyar by
Xavier Marmier; the former published at Pisa, the latter
at Pesth.

The larger work also served as the basis for numerous
volumes in English and in foreign languages, of which I will
name, as being the most accessible to American readers, the
two following ; viz., " The Discovery of America by the
Northmen in the Tenth Century ; with Notices of the Early
Settlements of the Irish in the Western Hemisphere. By
North Ludlow Beamish. London, 1841." — "The Northmen
in New England ; or, America in the Tenth Century. By
Joshua Toulmin Smith. Boston, 1839."

Mr. Smith is an English barrister, who, at the time of the
preparation of his work, resided in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
He subsequently returned to his own country, and caused
to be published in London a revised edition, with maps and
plates, under the title of " The Discovery of America by the
Northmen in the Tenth Century."

I ought not to omit remarking, that a double debt of grati-
tude is due to the memory of Professor Rafn, first for having

1865.] PROFESSOR RAFN. 189

assiduously devoted many years of his life to an examination
and mastery of the contents of the Icelandic Codices, — for the
untiring research made, and profound, cautious, and discrimi-
nating investigations instituted, and zealously prosecuted
to the end, for the purpose of sustaining and substantiating
the Sagamen's statements ; and, secondly, because after finish-
ing his nearly decennial labors, and having his manuscript
material ready for the press, when the Royal Society of Nor-
thern Antiquaries (under whose auspices it finally appeared)
was unable to assume the expense of issuing it, their available
funds having previously been appropriated for, and absorbed
by, other important and costly undertakings. Professor Rafn
generously furnished from his private means the funds neces-
sary to present the work to the world. Had he not stepped
forward in this emergency, the work would have remained a
sealed book for an indefinite period.

The earliest letter which I had the pleasure of receiving
from Professor Rafn bears date June 15, 1829. This has
been mislaid. From my file I have selected and brought
with me several, for the inspection or perusal of any members
who may feel a special interest in the matters to which they
relate ; and from these I will read a few extracts.

Under date of April 16, 1835, Professor Rafn writes: —

" Your three letters of November, 1834, with the other docu-
ments, were received on the 30th of March. We are under great
obligations for the elucidations so readily communicated to us, and
which are of great importance. We have now, through your good-
ness, received a complete guide ; and the communications have come
time enough to be made use of. Some more sheets of the work have,
in the mean wliile, been printed ; and we are now about to commence
with the ancient inscriptions. . . .

" You mention several times Haup Bay and Mount Haup. We
take the liberty to ask, whether this name is — as we may presume —
of Indian derivation, or if there are any trustworthy accounts of its
having been given to these places in recent times ? Are there no tra-
ditions preserved among the Indians about the name ?

190 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.

" Are the shores on the coast of South Kingston, Charlestown,
and Westerly, or more to the south, of a whitish appearance, when
seen from the sea ?

" Is honey-dew found anywhere in the vicinity, particularly, per-
haps, on the Island of Nantucket ?

" The Indian names of places may possibly be of consequence. K
it should not be attended with too much ditficulty, we wish more such
names mentioned than are marked on the maps which were sent, par-
ticularly in the vicinity of the entrance of Haup, and the district
round that bay itself, and on the banks of Taunton River.

" For the purpose of more particular examination, we should like
to obtain, for our Museum of Antiquities, some North-American
antiquities, particularly of the sort which you mention in your letter
of Sept. 22, 1830 ; and we shall be very happy to give from it, in
return, duplicates of Northern European antiquities."

I had sent, for Professor Rask, a copy of Roger Williams's
" Key iuto the Language of America ; or, A Help to the Lan-
guage of the Natives in New England: " in allusion to which,
Professor Rafn says, " My friend, the great linguist, Rask, is
no longer in this world."

On the 20th of June, 1835, he furnished a complete list of
the publications of the Society of Northern Antiquaries, a
set of which was sent me as a present. Among these were
some minor works in the Greenland tongue. He remarks, —

" It may perhaps be worth while to direct attention to the lan-
guage spoken by the Esquimaux of Greenland, with a view to a com-
parison between it and the Esquimaux dialects of America."

Several linguistic productions of Rask were sent.*

" These," he observes, " will furnish the means of appreciating
bis System, in so far as regards a number of the languages of Europe,
Asia, and Africa. It is to be regretted, that his premature death
prevented his treating in like manner, at least, one of the dialects of

* Among them, his work entitled *' Commentatio de pleno Systemate decern Sibi-
lantium in Linguis Montanis, item de Methodo Ibericam et Armenicam Linguam
Uteris Europjeis exprimendi."

1865.] PROFESSOR EAFN. 191

America. Some brief notes upon this subject, found among his
papers, will be given to the public.

" We also transmit an Abstract of the Transactions of our Society.
You will find in it an essay on the stone implements used by the
Pagan Northmen, with plates, being the first part of a treatise on
' Old Northern Antiquities,' from the period antecedent to the historic
era. As we are particularly desirous of making you acquainted
with this class of our antiquities, we send herewith a set of specimens
of the various denominations there adverted to.*

" The queries we have already put to you comprise all the points
concerning which we were most desirous of obtaining information.
The answers which you were kind enough to transmit us were most
satisfactory," &c.

July 9, 1836, Professor Eafn writes, in reference to the
" Antiqnitates Americanse, " —

"The printing of our announced work will, we hope, be entirely
finished in the course of a couple of months. . . .

" Your idea and proposal, in regard to an English translation,
meet our cordial approbation ; but we cannot by any means think
that such a translation will render the text edition superfluous. On
the contrary, we must strenuously endeavor that the edition in the
ancient original language may obtain the widest possible circulation
in the American States.

" As the publication of the edition in the original language will
undoubtedly give rise to a series of additional researches concerning
this matter, we have formed a Committee for the Ante-Columbian
History of America.f . . .

" We hope the English translation may be printed in America.
It ought, however, to be prepared direct from the old Northern or
ancjf nt Icelandic original text ; otherwise, it will have but little
value. We hope to prevail on our English fellow-laborer, John
McCaul, M.A., Oxford, — who, in consequence of a long residence
in Copenhagen, has acquired a command of the Danish language,
and has also paid some attention to the Icelandic, — to undertake
the translation, which will afterwards be submitted to an accurate
revision by the committee.

* These are now in the cabinet of the Rhode-Island Historical Society,
t Among the earliest members of that Committee was our recently deceased asso-
ciate, the Hon. Edward Everett.

192 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [FEB.

" In the mean time, it were good that you made some preparatory
arrangements for the publishing of this translation in a separate
octavo volume. . . . You can now reflect maturely on this matter,
letting me knovi^ the result. We shall then, if possible, send you the
manuscript at the same time that the principal work is sent. The
great point, however, is to procure as extensive a circulation as prac-
ticable of the original text edition, for the attainment of which we
ought to employ our most strenuous exertions ; as it is precisely by
the greatest circulation of this edition that we can eventually expect
a favorable result for science."

Under date of Copenhagen, July 20, 1837, Professor Rafn
writes : —

" Providence has been pleased to grant, that, after seven years of
labor, I have now the satisfaction of seeing the ' Antiquitates Ameri-
canaj ' brought to a close.

"The number of subscribers is as yet only small; but, now that
the work is out, we may venture to hope that it will be considerably
increased. This is not only desirable for the sake of the work itself,
but, moreover, is very necessary with a view to our future labors.
The work has required considerable funds, which it was impossible
for the Society to spare from the other undertakings it had previously
projected. I was therefore myself obliged to furnish the greater part ;
otherwise it must have lain unpublished for perhaps another decen-
nium.

" I know that you appreciate my labors in behalf of a good and
praiseworthy cause, and that you will contribute all that lies in your
power, so that my exertions, and my partiality in favor of the Ameri-
can undertaking, may not hereafter be cramped, while there yet
remains so very much to be done.

" That you will take up this work with feelings of some expfcta-
tion is what I can easily imagine ; and it will give me no small
satisfaction if your expectations shall be in some measure real-
ized.

" It has been my endeavor to give to the world a faithful edition
of these ancient records. You will here find a true picture of the
events that are long since passed away. In my disquisitions, I have
attempted simply to produce conviction by means of arguments, and
have in no manner sought to persuade by the ornaments of style.
Here for the first time will be found indicated the precise spots where

1865.]

PROFESSOR RAFN. 193

tlie ancient Northmen held their intercourse. In doing this, I hope I
have brought forward a clear and convincing proof of the importance
of the ancient records.

"The researches concerning the ancient monuments, and respect-
ing the points of resemblance in the language of the Indians, may
now be considered as commenced, but by no means finished. The
members of the Committee on the Ante-Columbian History of Amer-
ica ought in future to labor in concert for the purpose of conferring
greater light and certainty on a matter hitherto so obscure. In as
far as regards the European members, our very first step is to request
an opinion as to what has been already communicated. Afterwards,
we shall endeavor to proceed further in our search after the truth.

" Mr. McCaul has translated into English the two Sagas of Erik
tlie Red, and Thorfinn Karlsefne. Agreeably to what you observe, it
will doubtless be best to wait until the main work has obtained the
necessary circulation before we think of a complete English transla-
tion, and then to publish the whole at once, and not in numbers as
we proposed. In this way, some years may be occupied in its prep-
aration ; and the accounts respecting Greenland, which are impor-
tant, may be incorporated. In the mean time, to prevent ignorant
scribblers from corrupting the accounts by publishing them in an
English version, an ' Historico-Geographical View,' in English, is
prefixed to the work." *

June 5, 1838, Professor Rafn writes: —

" I am glad the ' Antiquitates Americanse ' have met with such a
favorable reception in the very districts that were visited by our fore-
fathers in days of yore. Here in Europe also, the work has met with
a similar reception. The objections which have been made to indi-
vidual passages, particularly by the ' North-American Review,' it
will not be dilficult to answer."

April 26, 1839, Prof. Rafn addressed a very long communi-
cation to me, the contents of which are of such a character
that they cannot but prove of interest, whatever may be
thought of the writer's speculations or deductions : I there-

* This was also reprinted in this country in an octavo pamphlet; and several
thousand copies were gratuitously distributed, in the hope of contributing to the
success of the main work.

194 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [FEB.

fore do not hesitate to extract largely from it. He ob-
serves : —

" In my ' Antiquitates Americanae,' I have adhered to the method
which you also recommend to be followed; viz., to use the greatest
possible caution in antiquarian investigations and theories. I have
put dovifn as settled only those matters, of the truth of which my
researches had given me the fullest conviction. My geographical
investigations, it would appear, have met with general approbation.
They have been reprinted in many places, and even plagiarized, so
that I have every reason to be pleased with their favorable re-
ception.

" Profound Northern investigators have likewise approved of my
derivation of the local names Haup and Nausit. This has induced
me to bring forward my earlier Notes of 1835, where I have in
greater detail developed this inquiry and pursued the traces dis-
covered.

" I now communicate some of my remarks for your consideration,
and beg you to favor me with the sentiments of our friends, and in
particular to mention if you know of any derivation of these local
names more probable than the one I have here suggested.

" That the projecting half of Barnstable must, by the ancient Scan-
dinavians, have been called Nesit, xur t^op'p; is what I have already
shown, and is what no one will entertain any doubt of, who is ac-
quainted with the practice of the ancient inhabitants of the North.
I have moreover pointed out this circumstance, that the Indians
anciently called this promontory Nauset ; which word, as pronounced
by Englishmen, has the very same sound as the Nesit of the ancient
Northmen, or as the modern Danish Nosset.

" The word nes, with the definite article annexed nesii^ is to be
recognized besides in several of the terminations of the local names
in this district, among which I may here mention —

" Soconasset (Suckenicet Point, Soconusset, Sockanossei) , Barn-
stable, Mass. ; probably from the proper name Socl-i, gen. Socka,
which occurs in the most remote times, as well in Iceland (Land-
nama, 3 P. 19 c.) as in Greenland (Grijnland's Hist. Mindesmerker,*
ii. 680), and also in Norway (Fornm. Sogur,t ii. 1, 2, 4, 6 ; iii. 119).

" Poppinnessit and Foponescet, Barnstable, Mass. ; the first being

* Monuments. f Historical Sagas, recording events out of Iceland.

1865.] PEOFESSOR EAFN. 195

the name of the town, which is otherwise called Mashpee {Mdsby,
from Mar, the name of a man, gen. Mas, and hyr, by, a town or
farm), and the latter the name of Poponescet Bay; but both being
undoubtedly one and the same name of the long cape that projects
from that arm of the sea. The name may possibly be derived from
the proper name Poppa, Poppo, one of the earliest preachers of
Christianity in Denmark (see Fornm. S. xi. 37, 38, 419), and which
name has subsequently been given to many persons in our northern
countries. Or we might also suppose it to have been Papanesit or
Papeynesit (see Papar and Papey in Ant. Am. 203, 206), in the pos-
sible supposition that Papar may have inhabited the island lying
opposite, or the cape itself.

'■'■ Hrjannes (according to others, Hyannas, Hyanaes, Highanous),
Barnstable, Mass. ; either the same name as the Icelandic Heynes
(Landnama, 1 P. 17 c.), from /ley, foenum, hay ; or Haganes, ivoxa
Hagi, a meadow ; or Hauganes, from haugr, a hillock. The name
Gamon seems to have sprung from hafn, a harbor, pronounced hamn,
from which the transition is easy to gamon, possibly Hyannes harbor,
or roads.

" Ghipinoxet Point, Warwick, R.I. ; derived from Skip, a ship, in
Icelandic, Skipsnesit, or Skipanesit, a promontory bearing a striking
likeness to a ship, from which a stage is projected to the shore.

" Quidneesett, North Kingston, R.I. ; a very broad, far-projecting
cape, perhaps so named from its resemblance to the womb of an
animal ; from quidr, ace. quid, which occurs in compound words (a
Quidnesi), or perhaps from Qui, a sheep-track, or path: compare
Quidal in the parish of Stadsboigden, bailiwick of Trondhjem, Quid-
striip and Quiby in Jutland. It is probably the same name that has
since been transferred to Quonsett Point, and is now applied to the
extreme point of that broad cape which in some maps is also named
S econiquonsett.

" Hamonasset Point, or Hemunasset Point, Middlesex, Conn.,
opposite to Long Island ; either from one of the proper names
Hamundr or Eamall, or rather perhaps from heimr, habitaculum.
In this way the derivation is the same as that of Heimaey in the
Southland of Iceland.

" Seaconnet, Sogconnet, or Seconnet, from sea, sjd, or see (ace. ;
nom. sear, sjor, S£er), the sea, the ocean; for all these three forms
occur in Icelandic, cona, gen. conu, a woman, and nesit contracted
into net; so that it becomes Sedconunesit, Mermaid Cape.

196 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.

" As a reason for this interpretation, may be mentioned a popular
tradition among the Indians at the Vineyard, about the warrior
Maushop's wife, who for a length of time dwelled on this promon-
tory, and exacted tribute from all those who passed it by water, but
who afterwards was transformed into a rock. Her whole figure was to
be seen for many a year ; but, on the arrival of the English, some of
them broke off the arms and the head : nevertheless, the greater part
of the body is still to be seen at this day. From the above-mentioned
Maushop the Indians often received presents of whales ; and he was
looked upon by them as a sort of demigod.

" Assonet, or Assoonet, perhaps Esiones, from esia, gen. esio, a
marshy district. The Old-Northern n, or, as it is occasionally found
in manuscripts, o, amnis, modern Danish aa, occurs as a termination
in the names of many smaller rivers and streams. The pronunciation
is variously indicated in the ditferent modes of spelling ; as, for ex-
ample, mig, augh, oag, and sometimes also ock, uch ; whence a
transition has been made to ucket : in this way the definite article
has been affixed to the termination, the word, after the corruption of
the language flowing several centuries, having come to be considered
as neuter. As examples of this, we may quote the following : —

" Mashp-mig Brook, Cranston, R.I., derived from the proper name
Moshof, or Ilaushop, — strictly speaking, a warrior who plays a gi-eat
part in the superstitions of the Vineyard and Nantucket Indians (see
Hitchcock's Geology, pp. 204, 205), which name again may possibly
be derived from the Icelandic name Mar, gen. mas.

'■'■ Ashaiv-axig River, Stonington, Conn., Icelandic A.s61fsd ; Os-
queip-aug River, Richmond, R.I., Icelandic Osvifrsa ; Appon-aug,
Warwick, R.I. ; Pascoaug River, Burrillville, R.I. ; Tommaqrt-atig,
Brook, Hopkinton, R.I., Icelandic, Thormodard ; Natchaug River,
Windham, Conn. ; Quinnehaug River, ib. collate Quinisd, parish of
Lister, in Norway ; Aspaw-og River, New London, Conn., Icelandic,
Asbiarnard ; Shunock River, Icelandic, JoMsn; Pochaug, Petch-aug,
Icelandic, Thetrsd ; Schipp-aug River, Icelandic, Skipd, &c.

" The word vatn, a lake, gen. vains, pronounced vats or vaz, the n
being; dropped in the pronunciation, occurs in Wotchaug Pond, or, as
it is written by others, Watchoag Pond, Charleston, R.I., — the name
of a lake into which a rivulet or brook flows. Here both the com-
ponent syllables are old Danish, or old Northern ; since we must •
interpret them Vatnsd, pronounced Vatsd, or almost like Vazd, con-
sequently identical with the English pronunciation of Watcharig. In

1865.] PROFESSOR EAFN. 197

Iceland there is a rivulet of the same name, which is mentioned as
early as in the ' Landnama ' (3 P. 14 C), and the name of which has
been transferred to a farm on the bank of the stream ; whereas, in
the present case, the name has been transferred to the pond.

" I would now beg of you to reflect maturely on this matter before
any thing is published relating to it. As far as I can judge, these
local names furnish a proof that the ancient Northmen have, during
several centuries, inhabited your district ; and that such can be satis-
factorily proved is naturally a matter of much interest. It is of
great importance to obtain the opinion of Indian scholars ; for all due
caution ought to be observed."

Under date of Copenhagen, Oct. 17, 1839, Professor Rafn

advises: —

" You will with this receive No. 1 of the Society's Memoirs,
wherein you will find a more detailed explanation of the terms clag-
indlastadr and eyktarstadr, which occur in the Saga of ' Eric the
Red.' You will now, I feel persuaded, no longer entertain any doubt
as to the correctness of my interpi'etation ; and your honorable gov-
ernor [Edward Everett] will doubtless no longer hesitate to adopt
the same opinion. It is an established custom, that places retain the
names which have been imposed on them by their first civilized
discoverers. The names of Kialarnes and Furdustrandir are no
longer doubtful."

April 21, 1810, Professor Rafu says, —

" I anxiously expect the promised elucidations of my explanation
of Indian local names. I wish that nothing should be published on
the subject until we arrive at a greater degree of certainty.

" You ask me if I consider the names Mosioetuset and Aquiday to
be of old Danish original. I think it not unlikely that they may be
such, lldsvidhiiset {llosvi'edhuset) is good old Danish, from Mosvdr,
Mar's wood, and htiset, the house (i. e., hits, with the definite article
et afiixed).

'■^Aquiday, a Hvitey (pronounced nearly a Kvitay), 'on White
Island.' We often find local names formed in this way, with a
preposition prefixed. For example, ' The farm was called d Haugi.'
In the same manner Aquidnec might be derived from a, hvitr, and
hnacki (modern Danish, Nakke ; Anglo-Saxon, hnecca), a neck.

198 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.

"I would deduce Aquidnesi from a Hvitnesi, and Quidneesit from
Hvitnesit.

" When you write to any of your friends in the district of Fall
River, where I have assigned the position^ of Leifsbiidir, will you
have the goodness to request them to send us, as a specimen, some of
the grapes which grow wild in that region ? "

I will conclude these extracts with the following, from a
communication addressed to me Oct. 22, 1841 : —

" The Mosur specimens * were very acceptable. A correspondent
in Ireland lately sent us a piece of wood, which he received some
years ago from North America, that the Indians there called Manser,
or Mausur. It would be remarkable enough, if it should turn out
that the Old-Northern appellation of this kind of wood had been
retained and preserved among the Indians.

" We have lately received from Alexander Humboldt a letter,
■wherein he expresses his approbation of the result of my geographical
disquisitions.

" I request you will prevail on the Hon. John Pickering to com-
municate his opinion of my explanation of Indian local names in your
country. The Old-Northern origin of such names as Nauset and
Haup seems beyond a doubt. I beg for your answer in reference to
this as soon as possible, as it is my intention to publish my Essay on
these names, with a view of eliciting further discussion on ihis
subject."

It is hardly necessary for me to remark, that the Danish
Society labored under a serious mistake in supposing that we
had scholars among us familiar with the language and dialects
of the Indians, who readily could and cheerfully would aid
its members in their philological and linguistic inquiries, and
solve the question whether the similarities referred to consti-
tuted an additional evidence of the Scandinavian visits, and
of an intermixture of the Northmen with the Red men at that
period inhabiting New England, or whether they were acci-
dental, though very singular, coincidences.

To the only scholar hereabouts, within my knowledge, pro-

Samples of curled and bird's-eye maple

1865.] PROFESSOR RAFN. 199

perly qualified to sit in judgment on the case, — I mean the
late John Pickering, LL.D., — I communicated Professor Eafn's
conjectures, which struck him with much surprise. He said
that the subject was one deserving a thorough, critical exami-
nation. I consequently furnished him with a copy, which he
kept by him, fondly anticipating, as he more than once in-
formed me, the advent of the time when a release from a
portion of his professional and other duties would enable him
to direct attention to a matter in reference to which Profes-
sor Rafn's solicitation, from the delay, became — as his cor-
respondence shows — more and more urgent. I regret to
add, that Mr. Pickering died, without the realization of his
wish.

The inquirer, and the inquired of, have both passed away ;
and the letters of inquiry have since remained undisturbed
upon my files to the present time.

The last package transmitted by Professor Rafn reached
me but a short period before his death, and whilst I was
preparing to renew more regularly a correspondence which
of late years bad been, on my part, almost entirely, though
reluctantly, suspended by circumstances quite beyond my
control.

This package contained, among other documents, one very
briefly alluding to the Danish Society's proceedings on the
occasion of the death of their illustrious President, King
Frederic VII. of Denmark, who had presided over their
deliberations for nearly a quarter of a century with distin-
guished honor and marked acceptance ; having been chosen
to the high position several years prior to ascending the
throne, in consequence of the active interest he had taken
in the objects of the Society, — an interest which not only
continued unabated, but was throughout his life ever on the
increase.

One of many papers prepared by him was mentioned by
Dr. Sparks at our December meeting ; viz., " An account of

200 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.

the probable mode in which was constructed the Giants'
Halls," so called ; an appellation used for a similar reason,
probably, to that which suggested in our own country the
name of Giants' Fields, popularly applied to designate the
regions wherein the remains of the Mastodon were found to
abound. The one was deemed the work, perhaps residence,
and the other the burial-grounds, of giants. The structures
treated of by the President-King are what are generally
known as Cromlechs, and often described as Druidical re-
mains ; a representation of one of which may be found at the
end of the paper referred to, whereof a copy is laid upon
the table.

Accompanying this, there was sent me by Professor Rafn a
photograph representing his Majesty presiding at a meeting
of the Society of Antiquaries, surrounded by numerous
ancient relics discovered by him, which he is describing to
the members. Whoever looks upon it will be convinced that
he was " every inch a man ; " and all, I am sure, will join me
in hoping that his successor in the presidency and on the
throne will imitate his noblo example, for the benefit of litera-
ture and science, and the promotion and extension of historic
truth.

In justice to myself, I would say that my remarks relative
to Professor Rafn are necessarily very imperfect; I having
received no communication and seen no notice respecting
him since his demise.

In writing this hastily penned article, my thoughts invol-
untarily, and quite unexjjectedly, wandered far from what I
apprehend was the purpose had in view by the gentleman
whose inquiry has led to my trespassing so long upon the
time of the Society. I have, therefore, since the meeting at
which this was to have been presented, prepared a paper,
chiefly from materials collected many years ago, upon Inscrip-
tion Rocks in general (especially those which have come
under my personal observation in New England, and between

ISGo.] MARCH MEETING. 201

the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific coast), and the Assonet
Rock in particular, concerning which last, the usual stir has
of late been made that pretty regularly recurs after a certain
limited period. As the reading of this would consume more
time than has been already occupied by me, I will spare the
Society the infliction, and submit it unread as a portion of
the present communication, or reserve it for some future sit-
ting, incorporating therein the opinions of Professors Eafuj^
Magnusen, and others, in regard to the Assonet Inscription.

MARCH MEETING.

The Society held its stated monthly meeting this day,
Thursday, March 9, at 11 o'clock, a.m., — the Presi-
dent in the chair.

The Librarian announced donations from the Com-
monwealth of Massachusetts ; the New-England Loyal
Publication Society ; the proprietors of the " Heraldic
Journal ; " the publishers of the " Savannah Eepub-
lican ; " Mr. George Arnold ; Amos Bonsall, Esq. ; J.
Francis Fisher, Esq. ; Eush C. Hawkins, Esq. ; John
Holmes, Esq. ; Benjamin P. Johnson, Esq. ; Thomas S.
Kirkbride, M.D. ; Rev. Edwin M. Stone ; and from
Messrs. Amory, W. G. Brooks, Felt, Green, Hale,
Metcalf, Washburn, Webb, and Winthrop, of the So-
ciety.

The President referred to a volume lying upon the
table, of " College Essays, delivered in Trinity College,
Cambridge, by William Everett," a son of our late dis-

202 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MaRCH,

tinguished member, Edward Everett ; presented by the
author.

The President also communicated, as a gift to the
Society, from J. Francis Fisher, Esq., of Philadelphia,
the following letter ; and the thanks of the Society were
voted to the donor for the gift.

The letter gives a lively and graphic description of
the city of Lima, and of the manners of its inhabitants,
as observed by a foreigner, who appears to have held
some diplomatic or commercial agency in the Province
of Peru.

B. Sivartz to Henry Johnson.

Lima, 5"' June, 1724.

S", — The Great noise Lima makes all over Europe, as well as in
Panama, has no doubt raised the Expectations of a flriend as it did
mine ; and were he to see it, would be equally baulked.

I wrote you from Pyta the hystory of my Voyage, and shall now
that of my Long Journey, and the description of Lima. It is said to
be 200 Leagues from one to the other, but I found it above Two
hund? & fifty ; the whole an lutire desert, happy if a drop of water in
12 or 20 Legf, and in some parts 40 ; and as it never Eains in so large
a tract of Land, it is not Inhabited by a bird, or is there the least
shrub, or herbage to be seen ; either all salt, or shells, or moveing
sands, that will not permit the Traviler to rest in the night, under
the Peunalty of being buried alive, & when y" come to a River, y"
run y" risque of being carried away by the Rapidity of the Stream,
from the 111. Contrivance & management of the Spaniards, haveingno
other Conveniency for passengers than ffloats of Bull-Rushes, which
when they suck themselves full of water, will sink with Two People
upou them, or if the Callabashes gives way (which are ffastned to
the foot), you are in danger of sinking, & nothing is more coinon, be-
cause the strings that fasten them slide from their smooth sides often,
and then they sink, which is the Occation of dropping their Passengers
by the way. From the heigth of these Rivers they cut a trench to
water their Land, so that here only you meet with Inhabitants.

In the winter, when the snows do not melt, some of 'era are Salter

1865.] LETTER OF MR. SWARTZ. 203

than the sea, and others without a drop of water, but when I passed
them, they were a mile broad, & more Tej-ible than the Sea. The In-
habitants of all Casts are so thinly sown in this Country, and the
Natives so destroy'd by the Corigedoros & Priests, that there scarce
appears the remains of a People that once were so numerous, as we
have often heard by the Spaniards ; & I Cred' w' they say, for in
all their deserts & Barren Eocks, appears the remains of mighty
Cytys, which by the reguler Squares of 200 paces each, the Streets all
of Equall breadth, and houses of equall heigth. Large Cisterns for
water in the Earth, handsome figures & forms of their fflow'r Gar-
dens, admirl Contrivances of water Trenches on the top of vast high
hills, Joyning them by Bridges to convey it to every place, — their
strong & Beautyfull fFortificat"', w"" reguler Bastians repeated seven
fTold, one higher than the other, raised from the levell ground, shews
not only the great Gcnious, but the Number of the Inhabitants the
Spant found when they first Conquer'd that countrey ; & near Truxillo
is the rem^ of a Cyty of 264 Squares, & in each Squ' 1000: houses,
which may give you an Idea how mighty a Cyty this must have
been, and all around it are the burying places of their Incas, each of
which is about an acre square, and the heigth is equal to its breadth, de-
termining in a point, and were it not for it's regularity, would be taken
for hills. Out of some of these the Span''.' have dugg such Riches
tiiat the Kings Quinto has come to Two Millions. The Bigest of all is
still Intire, tho' some have worked on it eleven years, which makes
them say 'tis Inchanted (the Span"" excuse for Laziness & Igno-
rance). Had I a patent from the King, I'd blow the D — 1 away with
Gunpowd' ; for the Chambers, in which the King & his Serv" lay,
are beneath the surface of the Earth, and this mighty heap is Clapped
upon it after the work is compleated — for as we heritiques are in
allyance w*"" the D — 1, I ventur'd alone (for none would ffollow me)
to Visset some Inchanted Subteranious halls, from which the D — 1 had
drove the Xtians, and I brought from thence some Cotton fFriuges,
like those of thread now in ffashion, severall Jarrs of Various shapes for
water, of w"'' some were very beautiful!, & p's of Cotton Cloath
of various Colours ; but some y! were of nearer Relation to the Old
Gentl" had Carried away the Gold. W surprized me most in these
buildings, the roofs of all the chambers are iBatt, & the Doors
squf, of no other Materialls than Stones & Clay ; & that those should
support so mighty a weight without ifalling In, is w' I can not acco'
for. — My Bold Attempt has left me an Imortall name among the Lay-

20-1: MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MaRCH,

men in Truxillo, but the Holy fFathers have sullyed my Glory, and
taken from me the bravery of the attempt, by Pnblishing that we are
at peace with the D — 1 in this World ever since the reformation,
which makes the Batle fall so hard on the poor Span"!', who are al-
most the only ones who will not accept of a Truce w" B'elzeebub, no
more than they will with the Moors, and oblige them to Invent so
many Engines to catch or scare him, on which we look with so little
veneration.

In Brief, my fFriend, in all this Tract of land from Pyta to Lima,
are not twice so many souls of all breads, as are in Deptford, nor as
much Riches as in Hackney ; that the mighty Dominions of his Cath-
olique Majesty are like Sn' Bennets Bargain, and begin to think that
Gibralter merits the Tytle of a Kingdome. — I with some concern iu
my Journey Reflected on the many heavy Judgem" which God has
Power'd on these people, so as in a maner to destroy them Intirely
from the Earth, and does now Persue them with Pestilence in the
Mountaine Country, and which has reached within three Leag' of
Lima ; nay some in the Cytj are already Infected, and from Bones
Ayres hither (a Tract of a Tho"" Leag!) there is not an Indian left
alive ; and whj' he should give their Country to the most Wick"" Nation
that is under the Sun, a people among which Oppress" & murder" are
Esteemed Saints, then think w' must the Wicked be. — David might
well say his ways are past fludeing out.

After a Journey of 40 days, on the 9*" of May I arrived at the
Cyty of the Kings, and was met 8 Leg' out of Town, by 56 Gentl"
on horse back, I haveing with me 4 Life Gaurd men sent me by the
Vice King and Miguel Nunez, Two of which were sent for me to
Pyta, but mett me in Truxillo, with Letters to all the Coridgedores
to do me hou' in their Provinces ; and when I came within half a
League of Lima, the Coach of Don Miguell (of which there are but
5 in Lima) met me with his Son (he being Sick), and took me out of
the Litter. Also there met me all the Gentl" that we have Ever seen
in Panama & Porto Bello, and many more, in their Callashes, and the
Coach of the Conde de Monclue & three Grandees of Spain, besides
an Empty Coach, Callashes of severall of the principall people & Jes-
uites, to add to the Cavalcade, that it lookt like the Entry of a Welsh
Ambassador, on the first of Aprill, by the number of people that
Lined the streets. Thus I was Conducted to the house that Don Pedro
had prepared for me, where I was tyed to my Estrado for tfifteen days
to receive Vissets, & I have had all but the Vice King & Inquisition*.

1SG5.] LETTER OP MR. SWARTZ. 205

When I waited on the Vice King, he accompany'd me thro.' three
rooms to the fartliermost Gaurd room door, and would have gon to
the Stairs if I woidd have let him ; he seated me under his Throne,
& placed his Chaire to face me, & gaue me the Tytle of L^'ship. He
Excus'd himself about everything tliat had passed, and said if it had,
or sliould please his Majes'f to Continue him or restore him again,
what a friend the Comp" should finde in him, but in particuler that he
had sent in to Eacoba, a present of Wine, Brandy, and such things
as Chily & Peru produc'd, as a specemen of his Esteem for me..
That he said he could not help to Complain of M"' Dennis, who Pub-
likley, in the Couacludorea, before his Officers & Subjects, had said y'
lie had rec'' a bribe not to Let the Assieuto's money go for Panama ;
appealing to me what motive he could have to Covetusness, that was so
amply provided for, and had no other Childe but the King, for whome
he made provision by the Trespasses of his subjects. — I Joynd with
him, Exclaiming what an ugly Vice Covetiousness was, and that such
a thing could not enter into his serene breast. — Then I began to
Complain w' Treatm'. the Comp? had met with all, which he answered
he would Endeavour to make amends, if I could shew him wherein
before his Successor arrived ; and then I asked for the money. He Ee-
plyd that there was none in the Chest, but if I knew of any that
owd the King, he'd give a deliverance on them.

After that I told him I had a personall Quarrell with him, on
tlie part of myself and Bretheren, about the Letter he had wrote the
King, and put on a sower iface ; he made many Excuses, I prest to
know his Author, he shuffeld & cut, but said he himself resented it
from the person that had deceived him, that it was very unworthy in
him, because he ow'd us many ffavours, and began to Paint him, till
I found it was Docf Jacobo, & told me further, that that Gentl" had
endeavourd to perswade him there would be another Eeprcsenta'son. —
I Eeply'd then that was y" reason of the Prohibition of our Mon'y, he
coullerd & Stop't a while, then said if he had belived it, he had not
wrote me the letter to Invite me to Lima, nor given leave before I
arrived that it might go, but that he had writt the King another Let-
ter, in wliicli he declared he was Mis-Inform'd, — that we were persons
of Nice nou":, & very Just in all our Actions.

In brief, S', I am now his Father Confessor, & am to be his agent,
& make him friendly Vissets, and have all his Complaints ; & a
Thous'' fine Promises, & have hopes to be his heir, if an Irish
Fatiier here, who is now studying on a treatis apurpose for my Con-

206 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,

version, can Compleat the Work before he dies. — But whilestlam
a sxviming in all this Happyness, an uulucky accident which has
befallen me, sinks my hopes. The basket of Jarrs you may remeinber
I bought, was plunderd of every p" in Callio, and in its place, to
make it heavy, they Clapt stones, and the bones of bulls & Mules
&ca, which was discovered before it was brought home, & an Acco'
transmitted to the Inquist!", who sent to the Co, — that they were Informd
I had brought some Heritique Reliques packed in a basket, that they
should open it, & if ifact, to aquaiut them, which I had notice of, and
refused to have my things Exam'J. After three days I gaind my Cause,
& got my things home. Being disapointed in this, they fell on my
heathen Gods in my Hall, of w"*" the Vice King gave me private
notice, but I told him they were Coppys of his Holyness" Cabinet. —
After that they would not let me put up the Crucifix of Vandyke, or
Drunken Lott with his Two daughters, as being Saints pictures in
the hands of heritiques ; this I maintaind also ; then comes a greater
Storm than all the rest, their Secratary came with an Auto, coiTianding
me on the fforfiture of 5000 p" Eight, to deliver them all my books,
Espetially my Heritick bible, — that they were Credibly Informd that
I had abillitys to do mischief with it to the Holy Church. I answered
to the Secratary that I was Concernd to finde them so Ignorant of my
Privalidges as not to know that every place I called mine was a
Sanctuary, and that my person was not subject to Vice Kings, much
Less to any Spirituall Court ; that I would not obey them, & that the
first person that came to put their orders in Execution, I would shoot
him, or them, if it were the Inqusedores Gentl" himself. Calling for my
arms at the same time & Charg'd them before his face, assureing him
that I would rather have it said I dyed Like a mad man, in opposeing
a whole Cyty, than that like an ass, I had given up the privaledges
of my Comp°. In the afternoon they sent the Irish tifatlier to me, to
Convince me that I was subject to them as a Christian by Babptism,
that they allow'' me to be a Rotten Member of their Church. — I
thauk'd them for their Complement, & dismis'd him in a huff, and
went to the Vice King & our Judge Conservadore, & Complain'd of the
Affront, — but they were both tfrighted, telling me they durst do noth-
ing against the Inquisition. I told the fformer that the King was their
head, & that he represented him, & was bound to Protect me ; he
repeated his Excuse ; I then reply'd, if the hands of his Goverm' were
so weak, as not to be able to protect me, he must pardon me if I was
my own Judge, and so left him, & three days are past without hearing
a word from the Holy Tribunall.

1865.] LETTER OF MR. SWART Z. 207

To give you now, my friend, a discription of this Cyty. In their own
Terms it's Grandure consists in Pf-Founto — Pita — Pun 7 — but
they've forgot another P: Putas, to wliich I've added four English
P?, in which in my opinion it Excells all the World, viz', Pox, Pov-
erty, Pimps & Priests.

The Bridge is handsome, has .5 Arches over a dry river, that
is draind of it's water by the Innumerable small trenches cut to
water the ffields. The ifountain has as much brass as would cast
Eight guns, & is placed in the market place, but the least in Ver-
sails is his Elder Brother. The bread is equal to our half penny
Roles, & about as much for a E'f. The Whores (for such are all
the Women in Town) have certainly the beautifullest faces & eyes
that Nature ever fram'd, but they strive to make themselves ugly by
three bellys, compassed by Two Cords of Sn' Francis, & the Girdle of
8' Augustin, & look more like a bundle of Barly Straw than any thing
elce. Their Tongues are the Serpants, but all is studyed, not one in the
whole Cyty but knows what is Love, but all seem daughters of Diana.
If Lust enter into their heads they soon take care to Quench it with
one or another ; the Man only sSrves to provide fflnery. Their mindes
are made up of Bays, Laces, brocades, Pearls & Diamonds, which are
their Gods. All are poxt. The Churches, streets & houses are pestred
w" beggers. Consisting Chiefly of woiu past their time, men that
have spent their all upon them, & Priests which Torment one to
Death ; carrying each My'n Ars in a Ban box for their Authority.
Every man or woin : is a Pimp, or Bawds for their own ffamilys
or their ffriends ; the very nuns are of that order ; -I3''' of the white
People are Priests or Fryers, from 6 to 800 in a Convent. The
Trades people, with the Nuns, Inhabit one third of the Town.
As for the form of the Cyty, & suburbs, its very beautyfuU, Laying in
reguler Streets, all of Equall breadth & Length ; the former streaches
N: N: E : & S S W:' the Length of the Town E S E' & W N W:',
the streets Cutting in Squares, all of 150 paces, except a Convent in
the way swallow up three or four, yet it does not break cross the
way. — To have an Idea of the houses, you must Jmagine you see a
long wall of unburnd brick, about 13 or 14 foot high, with doors at
every 10 or 14 paces, with a mat clapped at top covered w"" Clay &
horse dungg, to breed buggs & ffleas, which when the Clowds come
off the Hills, (at the ffoot of which it is scituated), they drop down
upon you as the soot out of London Chimneys, — of this Species they
have none, for not 20 familys in Town eat any other thing but

208 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MarCU,

what is dressed in the streets, and from the highest to the Lowest,
are all starved. I spend 4 p' ^\g a day in wood, which is too bought of
the best hand. The market produces starved Mutton, sometimes ordin-
ary beef & Pork, & now & then a lean hen, but well tasted. The
wine & Brandy is worse than at Panama, in stead of which they treat
you with a Lump of Ice in a glass of water, when it is so cold that I
am obliged to wear my woolen cloathes, & Cloack over it ; & they do
not get up till 10 or 11 a Clock for the Cold, In 12f 20"" Latt : — The
only thing in which it excells, are fine Lettices, & the Sweetest Cab-
bages I ever tasted, & produces all sorts of ffruits you put into the
Ground, & that all the Year Round ; but from the peach to the Nut,
there is about as much difFerance between them & ours, as small beer
w'^'' stood in a mugg all night, and that ffresh drawn, — haveing only
the form but nothing of the True Taste. — The adorning of their
houses consists of a handsome Estrado, a doz° Leather Chairs, & some
Cusco Pictures of Paltry Sn'.% always ffeasting w"" God the ffather &
our Lady, who has a thousand different Equapages, her Car sometimes
drawn by Doves, Angells, Bulls, Peacocks, — and in her greatest
State, a Spanish Coach with a pair of mules, attended with Saints of
all Creeds ; but the greatest state of all Lima is about 2 doz° and some-
times 50 Eosards of a night, made up of such hidious voyces,' of which
the Lowdest is the best, Crowding the Streets of a night, & when they
meet, every man tights for his Lady in so violant a manner, that some
are knock'd on the head. Last night before my door. Two Ladys
mett, and Like Two English Butchers disputed the way, there you
might have seen the Wrecks of some hundreds of Paper Lanthorns in
the streets, the poor Lady of the Mercy, my Devote, on a Dung hill,
by the Violence & Rudeness of the Lady of Bethlehem ; but the Con-
vent of the former being near, a detachment of 2 or 300 Bolls came
out with arms & staves, and put the before Victorious Lady to fiiight;
yet not before they fel'd a great number of Impenetrable Sculls, and
I had my Hall all Bloody with those that took Sanctuary there, that
6 ryalls worth of water will hardly be sufficient to wash the bricks.

The Churches are all well built, and the Spyers have Clocks as bigg
again as old Tom of Westminster, & if one of 'em Dies they are
Resolv'd to Kill the Liveing w"" the Noise of Bells. My ffather Saint
Augustin, who is over my Beads head, is so Troublesome that I have
been forced to buy my peace with a Table of Chocolat & a Loaf
of Sugar to the Prior, not to be waked in the night, to the Great Joy of
the Sexton and all the Neiglib'erhood. — As for Riches, my Poor ffriend

1SG,J.] LKTTER OF MR. SWARTZ. 209

Frank seems to Excell the rest, who three days since, had on the
Great Table & side board above seven Mill? of Silver, Gold, Pearls
and Diamonds. — As for Diversions, they are a Cloak, Short Coat,
Lace night Cap, & handkerchief like Mother Red Cap, neatly Clapt
on in the afternoon to Visset a fair Lady, to waste the night in Scratch-
ing a Guitar, & to kiss & grin. On Holydays to drive to the Mole,
made up of -Scurvey Orange trees, put the pole under the Calash, & sitt
& say never a word. After two hours of this Nice Diversion they
drive near a Mile, close to the Overshot, to sett & see the Pines or
Canes (for so they call the water which their Imaginations have ffixd
to the flailing of the water) forms as beautifull as w' Maids ffliug out
at Belconeys on Saturday-nights. Here you set another hour with
the Curtains of the Ladys Calash shut ; thence you drive to ragg fair,
there they open them ; here you say never a word, but see the stolen
goods & rags, then drive to the Bridge, halt a little till it is dark,
then to the Foiuitain or the Market place ; there the ffryers and other
Holy men are gathered togeather to Cellebrate the Misteries of Venus ;
drive as good a bargain as they can, then get into the Callash, the
boy holding the Pole and the Master the Mule, & thus ends the plea-
sures of the Day.

The Great & Mighty Cyty, that may Contain about 35 or 40 Thous-
and souls, has 54 Churches, Includeing the 8 Parishes with the con-
vents, & three Colleges, the University w'" 20 Proifessors, above 200
Doctors & 2000 schollers. Their Masters are Called Rectors — Corn-
only Chosen but beadles for Life. They study no other Language but
Latten, & there is but one Jesuite that understands Greek. Their
studyes are a certain dry Philosophy, & Sophistry, & the Divinity of
Sn' Tirecia & other old Women, & he that can pun best, or has a
happy knack at Quibling is most Learned, & has his name wrote overi
the house doors with Victor et Dootissimo Bermudas, he who is only
a Punster, or Santissima, Subceutissima, &ca., & that Great Ser alta y'
is the American Monster for Learning, is only an Almanac maker, but
this I must say of his Genious, that he has attained it of himself, as
also English, French, Dutch, Italian, as fac as 7 Languages, to be able
to read a book in them ; but when he writes any thing it is the Dullest
Stuff alive, as at present a Dialogue, between Justice, the King, &
Truth, the Vice King ; accuseing the King for Turning out the Latter ;
tho' it has but 24 Leaves, I fell asleep w'" it 4 times. As for the top
Theologia it consists in giveing great names to Saints, and on their
day to make them above the Deity, as on the 29"' Last month, the
27

210 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MaRCH,

Catliedrall Cellebrated the fFestivall of Sn' Ferdinand, King of Castile.
A ffamous Fransiscan, after he had given his Saint more power than
God, made his Complim' to the Vice King, bringing the Virgin down
in a Chariot drawn by Six white Bulls, to Fetch him to heaven for his
Sanctity, and as he's going to Accept of it, he Cryd out Gaurds,
Gaurds, Halbardears, Stop him, stop him, in the King's name, stop
him for the Benefitt of his Church &; Kingdoms, Oh your Excellency,
Leave us not for we Perish. — Much had I to do to suppress a Loud

Laughter, and was Forced to duck below the to vent myself; his

Sermon & Modes was Cellebrated to the sky, so I Joynd with the
Learned world to Comend it. I Lookt over the Books in times when
there were no French, & no Vent for Pinas, besides what wrought for
fflimily uses ; a little more or less in Potosi, Orusa, ifc by the Kings
(^iiento the mines produce oj^ Mill"' of Silver, & H of Gold p' annum ;
then Recon Choco, Barbacoe, & Andariel to Produce a Mill" of Gold
more. This is the True state of tlie Mines, so that if the New Vice
King will shut up the Port, & the King permitt no Ships to go to
Buenos Ayres, every three years there may be a very good Fair, the
want of Eains Two Years, is the cause they have not ground their
Mettals, that were Taken before the plague of the Indians, sufficient
to Imploy them for three Years ; and last January they had such
Violent Rains, that all their ponds between the Hills over flowd.

There was, a few years since, a p' of Virgin Gold, now in the
hands of the Conde de Moneloa, that weighed 25f 9" & I had one of
Silver, which was made me a present by the Vice Kings Physitian,
which w'' 0°. & also a fine Peruvian horse, by the same person, (Don
Jacobus was only wind.) The Gallant way of Eideing here, is in a
night cap & Cloak wrapt Round, Silver Sadie & Stirrups, that weigh
as much as the man. They Laugh at my Rideing, & I at theirs ; but
the Vice Kings master of his horse is come into my mode, and all the
French now Venture to return to theirs, haveing an Example, that we
shall beat them out of doors. Here are many of that Nation, & a
great many Irish & English. Some of these which were perverted,
are in the Inquitition for talking afterwards Ireverantly of trifles. I
released thirteen others that were in State Prisons, & seven Dutch-
men, which had Layn 14 months, for fear they should Rise on the
Countrey, Two in Truxillo, where I was obliged to Bully the Cor-
idgedore, & made him send them to Panama.

Don Pedro' Letter is the True State of the place, to which I refer
you ; and if the Vice Kings Letters arrives before I close this, take

1865.] LETTER OF MR. SWARTZ. 211

'Speciall care about it, for he tells me it concerns both him & us
very much. D.' Jonathan has wrote me a very Coinicall Letter
about 2400 p' Eight, which Butler had Received from Belmuse, & is
very witty on us both, but makes me a [hlanjc] of his affairs. I have
heard here a number of Storys ofHarwood, when you were sick, which
reflect on you very much. I will bring them to his face, if Heaven sebds

me back ; he is a Trecherous fi'ellow. As for the Comp" Debts, not

one can Comply with the time, they all seem safe, & will not differ
above six or 7 months, which I assure you is a Miricle, considering
how the times are, which is to me no small Consolation. D' Valen-
teen Lost 64 Negroes, of his pareell which Rigby Praiz'd so much. —
Don't forget to press the Compl about our part of the Dr., and
Read over my Memorandums, & let me know Certain if you will
return, that I may Shape my Course accord'f — for Poor Bulpen & I
are not able to stem the Tide, and I long to be aplanting my Garden,
& Injoy the Life you have often heard me mention. 1 have sold the
Diamond I bought of Borroa (for 1600 p" \) for 3050, & sav'd the
Ring with the single stone, one of the Indian Cut, for 100 p.% this is all
the Proff.' I am Like to make this Voyage. I could wish that those
that you & I wrote for were come, that 1 might sell them here, &
bid adieu to America, for 1 can sell 20 or 30 per C dearer than
any here, for 1 have sold for some ffriends here Cruses for 500 p"| s
that they have ofierd at 4, but on small single diamonds is most
Proff'. — Tho' this is a fine Air, and a man might spin away a few
days with Tollerable Content, tho' 'tis amongst the Vilest, ffalsest.
Villains, if he could be getting money ; Else to me 'tis a Very Insipped
place. — If this Vice King, who is on the Road, does not enliven it a
litle, it's duller than Panama, tho' my house is the pleasantest in
Town. We are at the Extrf Expence of 4 R a day in Ice. 1 have
every night the Oydores and other principall people at my Levy, Talk-
ing of w' Prittaines and Bayetos were worth such a year, & other
such Like diverting Hystorys. — If I Ride, it is among Barren Rocks,
or deep Sand mixt with Large Peble stones, between high Clay Walls.
If I go in the Callash, I am covered with dust of Mules Dung, for the
Streets have not been Swept Since the Conde De Monclous Time,
which is 16 years ago ; and here are no Assemblys nor Comedys, to
divert the Night ; if with all this you Envye me, you are an 111 natured
Fellow. Live happy my ffriend, and

belive that I am Y" Intirely,

B. SwARTZ.
To Mr. Henry Johnson,
at Panama.

212 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MaRCH,

George Ticknor Curtis, of New York, was elected a
Corresponding Member.

The President stated, that, since the last meeting of
the Society, a communication had been received by the
Standing Committee from members of the Essex Insti-
tute,, requesting the co-operation of the Society, or of its
officers, in recommending to the Governor of the Com-
monwealth the printing, by authority of the State, of the
Statutes of the Province, from the union of the Colonies
of Plymouth and ^Massachusetts, under the charter of
1691, to the adoption of the Constitution of the Com-
monwealth of 1780. A speedy action being thought
necessary, the Standing Committee, at a special meeting
held 2oth February, after fully considering the subject,
adopted the following resolution, which was ordered to
be reported to the Society at this meeting : —

Resolved, Tbat tlie preserving and publishing of the Stat-
utes of Massachusetts, between 1691 and the adoption of the
Constitution of 1780, is of the greatest interest, and the first
importance to all engaged in the study of the laws, or the his-
tory of the Commonwealth ; and that it is very desirable tiiat
this should be done in an authentic and complete form, under
the supervision of suitable Commissioners appointed by the
Commonwealth, with notes indicating the action of the King
in Council, annulling or confirming those Statutes, according
to the power reserved in the Charter of the Province.

This resolution was communicated to his Excellency
the Governor by a Sub-Committee, consisting of Messrs.
Winthrop, Deane, and Horace Gray, jun. ; the receipt of
which was duly acknowledged by him.

ISGj.] LETTER OF REV. NATHANIEL APPLETON. 'J.16

The above resolution, on being now laid before the
Society, was unanimously adopted.

The President stated that the Standing Committee
had been considering a plan for increasing the sale of
the Society's publications ; viz., to issue proposals for
subscriptions for all the Society's publications that may
hereafter be printed during the life of the subscriber.
The sum which the Committee has decided upon was
forty dollars. The Committee also designed to accom-
pany the proposal, on the same sheet, with a list of all
the publications of the Society already issued, with a
brief analysis of the contents of the volumes of Collec-
tions and Proceedings, and giving the prices at which
they may be obtained on application to the Sub-Libra-
rian.

Voted, To adopt these suggestions of the Standing
Committee, to whom the whole subject was referred.

Messrs. Solomon Lincoln, Livermore, and W. G.
Brooks, were appointed a Committee to nominate offi-
cers for the ensuing year.

The President announced a donation to the Society of
a number of valuable letters from John Holmes, Esq.,
of Cambridge, to whom the grateful acknowledgments of
the Society were directed to be given.

The letters were referred to the Committee on the
Publication of the Proceedings.*

Nathaniel Appleton to Joseph Seivall.

Revek" vSie, — These may acquaint you & y" clih \v''of you are
y" Pastor, y' on May 23'' 1697, M'' Anthony Stoddard was admitted to

* lliiiiy of the letteis iire here publi.-hL'd.

214

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

[March,

full Communion by y'^ clih of Christ in Cambridge, and we with all
cheerfulness recommend him to your holy fellowship & communion ;
and Earnestly asking your prayers for y" plentifuU Effusion of y'
Divine Spirit upon us, we recommend you to y* tender care tfc con-
duct of y' great Shepherd of y" Sheep.

Yours in y' faith & fellowship

of y" Gospel,
Kath"-"- Appleton, Pastor of
y" chh. of Christ
in Cambridge.
To y« KeTT'd M' Sewall,
Pastor of y" South chh in Boston,
to be communicated to y chh.

[Superscription.]

To the Reverend
M' Joseph Sewall
Pastor of ■
the South chh
In Boston.

[Indorsed bj' Dr. Holsies,]

" Rev. N. Appletojj's Recom"
of iU AsTHcixY Stoddard to
0. S. Chh in Boston.
[A. S. admitted to chh in Camb.
1697.] "

Letter of Rev. Joliii J. Zuhly* of Savannah, Ga.

Reed July 11 177.3
Ansa Sept 29 1773

By the Charter for establishing the Province of Georgia, dated June
5. of the Q'.*" of Cico. II. his Majesty, for himself, his heirs & Successors,
grants, establisheth & ordains, " Tliat there shall be a Liberty of Con-
" science allowd in the Worship of God, to all persons inhabiting or which
" shall inhabit or be residents within the Siiid Province, & that all such
" Persons, except Pajjists, shall have a free Exercise of their Religion ;
" so they be contented with the peaceable Enjoyment of the same, not
" giving Offence or Scandal to Government."

The Government of the Trustees to whom this Charter was granted
afforded no very material occurrence with regard to ecclesiastical affairs. —
The Revi J. Wesley was prosecuted as by a kind of Spiritual Court, &
part of a double Grand Jury found several facts against him, which

* John Joachim Zubly. D.D., was the first minister of the Presbyterian Church, of
Savannah, Ga. He died in July, 1781. He came from " St. Gall," in Switzerliind, and
took charge of this church in 1760, and preached to an English and German congrega-
tion. He was esteemed a man of learning, and of a vigorous mind. See Alleji's
Biographical Dictionary.

1865.] LETTER OP EEV. DR. ZaBLY. 215

anotlier part of the Grand Jury either justified, or at least thought of no
account. While he was Minister of Savannah he found out what he
calls the Invalidity of dissenters Baptism, & seemed to have very high
-notions of Church Power.

(See a Pamphlet published by Rob. Williams, — & Wesleys Journals
& Appeal.)

When Georgia became a King's Government, an Act was passed to
establish the Church of England, but with a clause against all ecclesiasti-
cal Jurisdiction.

By another Act the Province was divided into 8 Parishes, & upon
the enlargement of the Province, four more Parishes were added.

The Province at present stands divided into 12 Parishes, but there
are no Ministers in any, except Savannah or Christ Church, where Mr
Tim" Lawton is Rector, St Pauls or Augusta, the Living of Mr James
Seymour. I think there is but two Parishes more that have churches
arroimd there besides the above that have any ministers.

There are three English Congregations of protestant dissenters, one
at Medway, whither the Rev'' Mr. Osgood movd from Dorchester in
South Carolina, with the greater Part of his Congregation. The Church
is Congregational, containing about 150 Communicants. There is a place
of worship also at Sunbury, within the same District, but united in the
same Church & Congregation. In Savannah or Christ Church — thither
J. J. Zubly removed from South Carolina, a church has since been
gathered of about 70 Comunicants ; the Lot on which the Meeting
stands was granted to his Majesty's subjects professing the Westminster
Confession of faith.

There is a Society of Presbyterians on Alatamaha, who have
had ministers occasion;dy among them. The Rev'^ jNIr. Gillies of
Edinbourg was lately ordained at Charlestown, South Carolina,
for that charge.

There is a considerable body of people at Wrightsborough, Queens-
borough, & Bryar Creek, chiefly Presbyterians, & very desirous of
having a regular Gospel Ministry setled among them ; they have
had some occasional Suplies of preaching, but a Stated Minister
among them might answer many very important purposes.

There is no baptist Church in the Province, unless it be of separate
haptists, who appear to me very ignorant & irregular.

Besides the English, there are also some German Dissenting Congre-
gations, viz., a very large one at Ebenezer, of the Lutheran Persuasion,
another of the same Persuasion at Savannah, the latter without any, the

216 MASSACHCrSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,

former having two Ministers, & a Calvinistical Congregation at & near
Savannah, of upwards of 70 Comunicants, of which J. J. Zublj is min-
ister.

Much Pains have been taken to persuade the Lutherans that they are
of the Establishment, but in their having purchased a Lott in Savan-
nah, when they found it necessary to have a Conveyance, they found out
that the Law looks upon them a?: dissenters. Some account of this
matter may be found in the proceedings of the Society for propagating
the Gospel, in 17 6-.

I know of no Law existing that abridgeth the religious Liberty of
the dissenters, but it seems some hardship upon' some of them, that in
cLiil & criminal causes & qualifying for assemblymen, they are obligcl
to swear by Book. I was lately requested in Court to take a voluntary
Oath as Interpreter, when I insisted that the Law did not require kiss-
ing the Book, but only holding it (tactis Sacrosanctis Evangeliis.) the
two Judges diflfer'd in opinion, but the chief acquiesc'd in my arguments,
& I took the oath without kissing, wiiich may & doubtless will now be
pleaded as a precedent. Dissenters taking the oath are capable of all
offices ; in the present house of Representatives, a third or upwards are
dissenters, & most of the churchmen of moderate principles.

There has been little or no altercation between the church & dissent-
f rs, except in Christ Church Parish, the first dissenting Minister finding
that some persous had unkind designs against the dissenters, thought
it, his duty to withstand every thing that look'd like Encroachment.

The most that happened of the kind was between him & a "former
Incumbent. I would not choose to revive personal matters. That Minis-
ter, when he came on his Deathbed, could have no body to attend him
but the dissenting IMinister, & the dissenting Minister was desired by
the Executors, tho' no relation, to follow his corpse next to the principal
mourner, & preach'd his neighbour's funeral Sermon on 1 Pet. 4, 18,
which was not disapprov'd of

"When we had no Bell of our own, the church bell has been some-
times refus'd to be toll'd at our Burials, but now sometimes both
church & meeting Bells toll upon the same occasion.

I don't know whether it is any hardship that no Church Minister
yet accepted of an Invitation to be pi-esent at our funerals. Mr. Frinck
refused to walk with a dissenter in church funerals, & it once hap-
pened to me that I was oblig'd to speak at my own Child's Grave,
because the Rector, whom I had invited & expected, as being my partic-
ular friend, did not choose to attend. i\Ir. Frinck would not suffer an

1865.] LETTER OF REV. DR. ZUBLT. 217

unbaptizd child of an Antipoedobaptist to be intered in the burying
Ground, but the father of it thought it would do as well to bury it
within any private Inclosure.

To end all disputes about burying, we petitioned the assembly to
grant us part of the coiiions of Savannah, in which, as freeholders, many
of us had an undoubted Right for a burying Ground. What gave rise
to this application has appeared in Print. A Fee was demanded of dis-
senters for tolling the Bell, when the church Bell was neither desir'd
to be toll'd nor did go at all. A Suit was coinenced in which the Rector
personally appeared, which was carried so far as to issue & make out
an Execution against the defendant's Body, some time after the defend-
ant had been- buried. I was in hopes what I published would put a stop
to such Proceedings, but the cause was brought on again. I appeared
myself in behalf of a poor Widow, one of my hearers, protested against
the authority & Jurisdiction of that Court to try any such matters ; the
Court sneer'd at me, & dropt the Action. — A Letter from our agent,
D! Franklin, to our Speaker, & I believe Rector also, will I hope for
ever prevent the Revival of any such Claims. A very sufficient Bill for
a distinct Burying Ground pass'd with great Ease thro' the lower house,
after I had been heard in Sujjport of it. The upper house also gave me
a very civil hearing, but putt off the second Reading of our Bill to the
Kings Birthday, in order to drop it, & then framed & sent a Bill of
their own to the lower house, in which tlie Cemetery at Savannah was
declared open for all Christians to bury in, according to their own forms,
papists only excepted, but as it was cloggd with a fee of three & six
pence where the Rector attended, & two & sixpence whether he attended
or no, I found it necessary to petition to be heard upon the Bill, wliich I
was, & having observ'd that this was actually the begining of Laying on
a Fee on dissenters, merely for their being so, a churchman then movd
" that the Bill might be thrown under the table " ; however, the second
reading by a very great majority was putt off to the same day the
upper house had refered the second reading of our Bill, viz., to the
King's Birth day, & the house not meeting that day, both Bills dropt
of course. We now bury in the same Ground unmolested, & pay no
fees except to the sexton, which I have consented to pay whenever his
attendance should be required, & not otherwise.

There has been a good deal of difficulty about marying ; we were
indeed, never interrupted to mary with a previous Publication of the
Bans, but the established Clergy hitherto seem to claim the Privilege
of marying by Licence, entirely to themselves. I am not fond of that

218 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

[March,

method, but considering what I did or omitted would be pleaded as a
Precedent, I thought it proper, as far as in me lay, to secure the same
Liberty to dissenters.

Under Gov. Ellis's Administration, a Person applied to him so to
alter the Direction of a Licence, that I might mary him by it ; the Govl,
therefore, after the Eector's name added " or any other qualified minis-
ter"; some persons thought this was rather done as a snare ; I answered
tlie Gov! was desired to alter the Licence, so that I might be included
in the direction, & that doubtless he chose to do it in the Words he
did, because he knew they would take me in. I maried the couple, &
heard no more about it.

I applied to the present Governor by a Letter, & submitted it to
him, (but did not ask it as a favour) ; near a twelve mouth after he an-
swered, " that on considering the Mariage act, he found he could not
make any Alteration in the Direction of Licences. I maried several by
Licence directed to the Rector, but declined the fee, he threat'ned hard,
but I believe found he could do nothing.

The late Mr. Frinck oiferd to endorse Licences to me if I would
give him half of the fee ; in few instances the persons (as I directed
them) gave up the whole fee, he insisting on it. The first time he
endorsed a Licence to any protestant Minister, the second to any Min-
ister of the established church. He had taken the Liberty to say (as
was expected), those maried by me lived in fornication. I was willing
to have one Licence endorsed by him to a dissenter, & after I had,
feeling that his Endorsements now were directed to churchmen, I took
no more Endorsements from him.

Some time since the present King's Attorney, who is nephew to the
Governor, Mr. Frinck being out of town, but in the parish, applied to
me to perform the Ceremony ; I told him if the Licence was endorsed
to me by his Ex''', I would readily oblige him, but could not teach hira
to say " In the name of God with my Body I thee worship." The
Gov! readily endorsd the Licence, & I refused the fee.

A Justice of the Peace had several Blank Licences, signed by y"
Com'd! in Chief, wliich he directed to himself, & by tliem maried. One
of them he took in his own Case, & directed it to me, & I maried him
accordinglj'. Complaint, I believe, has been made, but tliat no notice
was taken of it was not out of any kindness to me.

When I marry any of our people by Licence, I do it without Book,
if others, I leave out what I think exceptionable.

What is most unfavourable to religious Liberty & the dissenting

1865.]

DR. STILES'S ACCOUJNT. 219

Cause, besides the low Estate of vital Religion every where, I take to be
the dissenters Indifference to theirown princip les. Their too great con-
ibrmity to the woild prepares them for that Religion which is most
fashionable & stands on rising ground. The Scotch preshtjUrians almost
universally fall in with the estaUishment, & even affect a Difference
between Presbyterians & my people, whom they call Dissenters. On
the whole I canot but hope religious Liberty among us begins to be
better understood, Prejudices rather diminish, & in our back settle-
ments the number of dissenters is likely very much to increase.
[Inilnrsed by Dr. Holmes,]
" Rev. IK ZuBLY,

Savannah (GeorgiR),
Ecclesiasti-&c."

Dr. Sfiles's account of Rev. Samuel Lee of Bristol and his Church.

May 19, 1769.
Bristol was settled soon after Philip's War. They obtained W Wood-
bridge to preach the Gospel, but no chli Gathered. M' Eben' Daven-
port, an aged Man of my chh, tells me that his Father was one of the
Members in the gathering of Bristol chh, & settling M' Lee.* He lias
heard his Father speak of this Transaction in this manner. That M'
Lee was a great & learned Man — and when the persons proposed gath-
ering a chh, & sending for a Council of Ministers as customary, he ob-
jected, & said there was no need of it, that he himself was a Minister,
and was able to lead them to incorporate, as well as to do all otiier Min-
isterial Acts. And so they yielded, & Bristol chh was thus gathered
by M' Lee .alone : — and the chh being embodied, elected M' Lee their
pastor ; but whether he was ordained anew M' Davenp' can't say —
only thus much, that all that was done, as well about establish'' M' Lee
pastor, as gather" the chh, was transacted by M' Lee & the Chh only,
without the presence of any other Ministers or Chhs. Bristol Chh Rec-
ords are burnt previous to Mr Burta Ministry. This is all the Tradi-
'tion I can recover of its Gathering.

Dr. Calamy says he left Engfd & came over about 1 G8G, & was chosen
pastor of the Chh in Bristol, but did not continue there much above three
years : and on the Revolution returned.

He left a good Estate & patrimony in England. He left to his
Daughters, M"' Davp' says, £1300 a piece. He had no sons, — one
daughter married Col. Savin of Bristol, supposed to be rich but deceived
her ; anotlier daughter clandestinely married his Man serv' Harry ;

• See Baylies's History of New Plymoutli, ii. 51-53.

220 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MaECH,

anotlier M' George of Boston. In all of them M' Lee was sorely
disappointed. M' Davenp' says he had no more. But Calamy says he
carried home a Wife & Daughter. He was a Man of high Temper, &
wealthy, & expected his children would intermarry with the best &
most honorable Families. He was disappointed & mortified. His
Daughter George, when Widow, married Rev M' Baxter of iled.

MOTIVES INDUCING KETURN.

1. Kemoval of the Persecution of Dissenters, & passing the Act of
Toler'; in Engl'd.

2. Disappointm' & Mortific? as to his children here.

Bristol Chh was gathered May 3. 1687. jM' Lee left it & returned
to Europe, 1691. Aged widow Treby tells me she remembers him,
tlio' she was small, yet she has often seen him, & particularly remem-
liers his Walk or Gait. She was born at Bristol, which was settled after
Pliilip's War — Philip was killed 1G76. Bristol began to be settled
about Ten years before M' Lee came.

M' Davenpt says M' Lee was much complained of for preaching in
too learned a Style ; upon which he endeavoured to express himself
in Language more familiar to his Hearers. They were all acquainted
with Lobsters. The Indians called the Fat of a Lobster, which is very
sweet, Squitchett. M' Lee preach^ upon the Delights of Heaven, said
Heaven ^ the Glorious Enjoym" of the future ivorld, toould be siceet to
true Believers, sweet, sweet — sweeter than the Squitchett of a Lobster.
This his English Auditors understood as well as the Indians.

[Indorsed by Rev. Dr. Holmes]
" D' Stiles' Ms.
Rev JH Lee of
Bristol, &c."

Account of a Conference in 1752, in the handwritinc/ of the J?ev. Dr.
Stiles.

CONFERENCE.

About 1751 Elder Benj" Pearce of Warwick rebaptized M' Isaac
Backus, Min' of Cong' pxA. Chh at Midd[l]eboro'. The Chh thereupon
called in a Council of Chhs, viz. M' Snow & M' Solo. Payne of C'ant>', &c
who admonished M' Backus, &c. Thereupon Mr. Back' Called in Eld'
Sprague, Ex^ & Eld. Babcock of Wesf & chhs. &c. to take off the Ad-
monition. The Cong'^ part of the Chh (i. e. all but 3 or 4 Baptists) called
in at same Time M' Snow & M"- Peck & Chhs. Agreed to defer all
matters, & have a general Conference of all the Min'rs & Chhs, in

1865.] DR. STILES'S ACCOUNT. 221

order to settle the Terras of Coinun", respoct'g difference [of] opin" as
to mode & subj'" of Water Baptism.

Upon this there was notice given to the chhs, & a gathering in June
1752, at Exeter, in Elder Spragne's old meef'h". Present (think just
30, but not quite certain) about thirty chhs, about half Bap., half Cong",
paid.

CONGREGATIONALL CHHS.

Chh. Providence — (M' Snow ab.) Deacon Richmond & Mr Nath' Jacobs.
Chh. Attlebor" — • (Eld. lately dead) Deacon Joshua Everit & another.
Chh. Norton — Elder William Carpenter, present. . .
Chh. Rehob" - Elder Sam' Peck, Deac. Jn" Pearce, no more.

Chh. Bridgwater — No Elder. •

2 or 3 Chhs. fr. Cape. M' Ewer, &c.

Chh, Cant'' & Plainfd not there, but they by their Elder M' Sol" Payn
& Tho' Stevens wrote Letters to Excuse.

BAPT. CHHS.

AVesterly chh. Eld. Steph. Babcock & Delegates.
Exeter chh. Eld. David Sprague.

S° Kingston. Elder Rogers.

Warwick. Present • •

Coventry. Elder vSam' Drown.

- ■ Elder Gardner.

Elder Babcock was Moderator.
Elder Sprague Scribe.
The Enquiry in the first Days conference was as to our Agreem' in
the Doctrines of the Gosp! & experimi stand^ in Christ. Unanimously
agreed.

The 2'' Days conference was respect"^ Term of Coiiiuii, upon w'"'"
two Votes passed — 1. That if any one who had been bap"" by sprink^
or in Infancy, & belonged to a Cong' chh, & was hopefully a gracious per-
son — yet scruples aris^ as to the mode & Subj' or both, & desires Bap™ by
plung^ — & went to a Bap' Eld' — & was so bap'', & returned to his own
Chh — whether he sh'd be received to coiiiuii or censured. - 2. If a Bap'
should have scruples, & manifest his Belief of Inf! Bapt" — & go to a
Cong' Chh & get his child" baptized, & return to his own Chh, whether
Clih would receive or censure him ? — Voted unanimously not to censure,
hut to receive in both cases ; — this is open Coiiiunion.

Then the Modf declared that they, i. e. all the Chhs of this Body, were
one Chh, — ■ & henceforth the Words dip & sprinkle sh'd cease, & the

222 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,

word baptize only be used — And as a TesF of the mutual Comunion
Elder David Sprague, a Bapt. (who was to have the Comun next Sab-
bath) desired Elder Peck a Cong' & pa?d., to stay and administer the
L'ds supper with his Chh : hut M' Peck was obliged to return home.
Tlie Door however was open for pastoral & Chh Coinuii in all Ordi-
nances & Office Acts.

M' Peck sometime after adm'' Bapt'° to children in Middlebor", of
persons of M' Back' chh, 3Ir Back' approving it, tho' not present.

M' Back' continued in principles of open coiiiuuion after his Rebap-
tism about six years. Then most of his Chh follow'^ his Exaiiip, & be-
ing plunged — M' Backus sent for some Bap' Elders, to reinstall him over
a Bap' Chh. — Thereupon they drew a new Cov^ Express^ that Water
Bap" was to be administered to none but Believers, & signd & read it
publickly, & professedly became a Bapt' Chh in close Coiiiunion, & the
Elders (M' Bound, of B° & Mr Round of Rehob.) probably, (for were
sent for) ordained or installed him a new as pastor o[r] Eld' of Bp' Chh :
He told M' Peck that he renounced his ordin" as well as baptism, &
rec" both anew. He was first ord'' by M' Snow, M' Sol° Payn, &c.

Soon after the conference, 1752, but in same year. Elder Nathan
Pierce of Providence (ord'? by Elder Timothy Peckham of Newp') took
pains iinediately to draw off particular persons from the several separate
Chh, to renounce their agrem' & come into close coiiiuuion, & formed such
a Chh of Members in different T" from Groton to Dighton. — The
begin^ of this he was not ord'', but soon became an Elder, ordained by
Elder Peckham. At Thomson was a sep" chh, M' Whitman Jacobs
Elder, (first Cong, then B.) M' Pierce, tho living at Provid" drew off
a small Sep" for Whitm" & here Elder Peek ord'' Pierce Elder over
them : & thereupon Pierce enlarged his Chh to corapreh'' all in close
Corn in distant surround^ Towns. Now Eld. Pierce done, & removed
to Oblong.

Mr. Peck ord" at Rehob" Oct. 1751, by Lay^ on hands of Elder
Solomon Payn, Elder Tho' Stevens, & Deacon Richmond & Elder Shej)-
herd of Attleboro', (ob. 1752): Eld. Snow not present, tho his Deacon
was. Chhs present.

M' Peck present at Ord" of M' Shepherd at Attleb" about 1749, & saw
among other' Deacon Joshua Everit of that Chh lay on hands. — M'
Matthew Smith, then Eld' of Stoniugton, preached, & So. Pain & Tho.
- Stevens present, & doubtless laid on hands.

The Chh at Norton became Baptist — had a Bapt' Council who con-
stituted it anew, & ordained Elder WT Carpenter over it. They sent
to ]Mr Peck to come & see, — but he did not j;o.

1865.] LETTER OF MICHAEL JOY. 2'Z6

W Pecks sep" Chh at Rehob. gathered by Gov.' May, 1748. Five
Brethren signed, & 2 unbaptized agreed to joyn as soon as they could
obtain that ordinance. In 1771, M' Winchester, a young Bap' preacher
came JEt. 20, & divided the Chh, then of about 40 B" & Sisters, nearly
equal. M' Peck has baptized several by plunging. Congreg", 2 to 300
pursons — lost ph. 40 or 50. Winch' Chh, in dispute on close coiiiun, he
settled on open, &c.

Mr Pecks Great Grandfather was M' Joseph Peck, who came from
Ilingham to Rehob" about 130 y. ago, a Merch' univ"'uian, knew 7 Lan-
guages, I suppose Teacher of Hing" Chh once.

Ex Ore M' Sam"- Peck, Elder, &c. Augt 7. 1772.

Michael Joy * to Jonathan Homer.
Hartham Paek, [near Chippenham, Wilts., Eng.] 20 Aug! 1824.

My Deak Coz. — In turning over the Historical Collections some
thoughts occur which I send to you. Nugce ! you will exclaim : & such
they are, but they will shew you what interest I take in all that regards
America.

My late excellent friend, Dr Eliot, observes (H. C. [v. 7.] 1800) that
N. England is reproached with its puritanical origin. I could be con-
tent to derive from so pure a source — excuse the pun — but has any
one noticed how many of the first settlers had received a classical educa-
tion ? the best that Europe could then bestow. Perhaps no community
then, or since, contained so large a proportion of literary characters.
Their errors were those of the age ; their virtues their own.

Mauduit (v. 9. p. 272) I believe was never a friend to N. Eng'?, &
so thought the H" of Representatives when they took from him the
agency. Soon after the peace, 1783, a leading member of the Society
for promoting Xtian knowledge brought to me a paper which had been
given in by M' M., to induce the .Society to withhold any further allow-
ances to the Missionaries in N. E. At this gentlemen's request, I drew
up an answer to this paper ; in which I set equity, law, & religion all
in array against M' M . My friend thought my reasoning convincing,
and said he would avail himself of it, Wliat is inserted in the II. C
brought this to my recollection.

* Michael Joy was of the Boston family of that name. He was graduated at Har-
vard College in 1771. In August, 1816, he was elected a Corresponding Member of
this Society, residing, as our records say, in " London, England." In the College cata-
logue, his death is recorded as having taken place in 1825.

224: MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MaRCH,

y, of Newburyport, [ ? ] was possessed of considerable humour.
At Boston a well-curled wig was given him : his parishioners were
shocked at it, they said it was prelatical, popish, and I know not what.
Moody delivered it to the Elders to be reformed ; they executed their
power iu so merciless a manner, tliat when they returned it to Moody,
he told them there was nothing in the second Commandment to puo-
hibit them falling down and worshipping the wig, for it was unlike
anything in heaven or earth, or the waters under the earth.

The adroitness with which Moody secured for himself 3 eggs out of
5, when going with two of his Elders to an ordination, is a trite story
which you must have heard.

Isle of Skoals. I doubt if there be now sufficient efficacy in your
prayers to recover a lost boat ; but you see Prince Hohenlohe & the
Irish priests are still able to work miracles ! ! !

Sir Henry Vane (v. 7. [2']s.] p. 136.) a man of talents as gi'eat, as his
character was inexplicable. When Cromwell prayed the Lord to de-
liver him from Sir Harry Vane, he thought of him as Sylla did of Cesar,
— " nam Ccesari multos Marios inesse." Burnet says " When Sir H. V.
saw that his death was designed, he composed himself to it with a reso-
lution w"? surprized all who knew how little of that was natural to him.
Some instances of this were very extraordinary, though they cannot be
mentioned with decency." Swift iu his Eemarks on Burnet (in the Li^
brary of the Marquess of Lansdowne) says, on this passage, " His Lady
conceived by him the night before his execution."

The JReview of Military Operations, 1753-56, is curious; leaning
somewhat in favor of Shirley ; but upon the whole pretty fair.

In the Bill of Mortality for Boston, 1816, 1 find 15 females upwards
of 80, to 5 males. Does not Bacon somewhere say, women live longer
than men, because they take less exercise, [and] lead a more ascetic life ?
I have often heard that it was difficult to get rid of an old woman ; per-
haps this hint from Bacon may suggest the means. To this subject of
Longevity I early called the attention of Dr. Belknap : it was whilst
he was writing his history of N. Hampshire. An opinion tlien prevailed
in Europe that the Biog ^QC'/vi of Hippocrates applied specially to
America. Many Americans entertained the same notion, but it was
unfounded, as will appear from our Harvard Catalogue, and from vari-
ous other documents. This Bill of Mortality, inter alia, in a popula-
tion of 33in, 20 super-octogenarians in one year, is a large proportion.
Middleborough in 1802 and 1803, gives, I presume, a still greater pro-
]iortion ; but the population is not stated. And in Brookline nearly
one tenth of the deaths above 80.

18G5.] LETTER OP MICHAEL JOY. 225

III N. Series v. 1. p. 2-21. Sermons hy Dr. A. Eliot, 1774. One is
on preaching to tlie Spirits in prison ; a dark & obscure passage for you
Theologians to trust yourselves in. I do not think that Dr. E. has
thrown much light upon it. Since his time we have a sermon on this
text by the late Bp. of S' Asaph, Horsley, a hard-headed controversalist,
as Priestley found ; he supposes these " spirits in prison " to be the
souls of deceased good men shut up in the centre of the earth. Why
these good souls should be confined in so comfortless an abode, we are
not told. In the early days of the church, towards the close of the 4""
century, Vigilantius placed the souls of prophets, saints & martyrs,
either in the bosom of Abraham, or under the altar of God ; & applying
prophane logic to Spiritual matters, he says, "nee posse suis tumulis
et ubi voluerunt adesse prsesentes." To which Jerom replies, in some
heat, " Tu Deo leges pones ? tu apostolis vineula injicies, ut usque diem
judicii teneantur custodia, nee sint cum Domino suo ? de quibus scrip-
turam est sequuntur Agnum quocunque vadit. Si Agnus \jori)'\ ergo
et hi, qui cum Agno sunt, ubique esse credendi sunt. Et cum [torii]
Diabolus et Dajmones toto vagentur in orbe." Strange company ! If
you have by you Burnet De Statu Mortuorum, turn to it ; it is worth
consulting on this subject. This volume of Sermons is, however, very
creditable to Dr. Eliot. It is much to be regretted that my late friend
Dr. J. E. did not live to finish & revise his Ecclesiastical History of
Massachusetts. "What an amiable spirit of liberality and candour has
he there shewn ? & in fact on every occasion ! My acquaintance with
him commenced when he was freshman, it soon ripened into friendship :
it was impossible to know, & not to esteem him.

Ill Princess An. The sentence of Court on a man for theft, " that in
future he shall be called Josias, & not Mister, as formerly," reminds
one of

Felices proavorum atavos, felicia dicas

Stecula, quffi quondam sub regibus atque tribunis,

Viderunt uno contentam carcere Eomam.

Your account of the present flourishing state of Boston fully verifies
the prediction of wonder-working Johnson, vol. 2. p. 92. "presages some
sumptuous City."

I could continue, but my paper warns me to release you from this
farrago. I will therefore only add the assurance of my regards for you
& M? Homer ; & that I am ever truly

Yrs,

M. Joy.
29

226 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Makch,

As a book of reference, I thought D'Herhelot a proper contribution
to the Library of the Historical Society — Was I right?

I have just learnt that Southey's Book of the Church, which I di-
rected to be sent to you, was not in time for the ship : it will go by the
next conveyance. I have been for some weeks absent from home, and
only just returned.

[Superscription.]
Rev:<i Jonathan Homer,
care of

Benjamin Joy, Esq.
Boston,
U.S.

Letter of Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London,

Good Sir,* — I am very sorry to find by the Account which I have
received of late from New-England, that the differences among the
clergy at Boston are grown to such a heigth, & that they have spread
themselves into other parts of the government, & are like to spread
more & more. The Representations whh come over hither, concerning
the true ground & foundation of these unhappy ditferences, are so vari-
ous, that I am not able as yet to form any certain judgement about it,
nor to see who is most in the blame. But as in cases of this nature
there is usually more or less of blame resting on both sides, while pas-
sions prevail against reason ; so I earnestly entreat & require both sides
to lay aside passion & think seriously of peace. They should remember
that they belong to one & the same Church, & what is more, a Church
that is yet in its infancy, & in the midst of enemies who will take great
advantages against it from the unhappy Feuds & Animosities among
its ministry & principal members. The Letters from thence, both to
the Society & myself, are full of the hardships whh the ministers of the
church of England suffer from the independants there, which one would
hope should be a lesson to the ministers, to unite firmly among them-
selves to support one another, instead of reproaching & aspersing their
own brethren, to enter into the most proper Christian methods of defend-

* " Probably to the Hon. Thomas Graves, of Charlestown, Mass., an influential cha
acter, who worshipped with the Episcopal Church in Boston. He died in 1747." [No
by the transcriber of this letter. The original is wanting.]

1865.] LETTER OP BISHOP GIBSON. 227

ing y;"selves against the oppressions of their adversaries, and of pre-
serving & by degrees enlarging that poor chh whh is committed to yf
care.

It is with great concern y! I write this, arising from a just appre-
hension of the mischiefs whh are like to accrue from those differences,
to religion in general & to the Chh of Engll in particular ; & I write to
you as a person who is not directly concern'd in y" quarrel, & who being
upon the place can best judge of the most likely methods to bring
both sides to a peaceable disposition, whh I earnestly entreat you to
endeavor by all ways possible. One way, & I hope a successful one,
may be, to show wh! I write to both contending parties, & to let them
know tliat I beseech & conjure them to lay aside their animosities, & to
forget & forgive y° provocations y' have passed on both sides, as be-
comes Christians, & more especially the ministers of the gospel. The
ent'ring into a strict examination of all the particulars, in order to see
who is most to be blam'd, would be a long work, & I doubt at this dis-
tance impracticable ; but at best it would be a work of much time, and
all that [time] the feuds would be kept up & increased, & the chh
would be bleeding of the wounds whh they have already given her, &
whh is tlie earnest wish of all good men, both here & there, to see im-
mediately closed by mutual forbearance & friendly reconciliation.

I have been informed within these few days by one of the Bishops
who had red a Letter from Boston, that some of the ministers of the
government are beginning the dispute about the validity or invalidity
of Baptism administered by persons not episcopally ordain'd. This was
on foot here in England by the nonjurors some years since, & bred great
disturbance among us ; & the Arch Bishop & Bishops in Convocation
set forth a pa[)er to show that it has been the constant doctrine of
the Chh of Eng'l, y' Baptism w"* water in y" name of y"^ Father, & of the
Son, & of the Holy Ghost, by w' hand soever administered, is valid in
itself, & not to be repeated, however irregular in y" manner of it.
Nothing is more certain than that this was y" Doctrine whh the great-
est patrons of our chh maintained against the puritans, in the reign
of Q. Eliz'.'' & K. James 1'.', and it is easy to see w'? w! views y° con-
trary doctrine has been advanced & espoused of late years, by the ene-
mies of the protestant succession & the present governm! ; & if any
missionary shall renew this controversy & advance the same doctrine
there, that the nonjurors have been advancing here, t shall esteem him
as a enemy to the Chh of England, & to the protestant succession, &
shall deal with him accordingly. I earnest[Iy2 recommend these things

228 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MaRCH,

to your care, beseeching God to dispose both pai-ties to peace, & to
prosper your endeavors for obtaining of it.
I remain
Sir, your Faithful friend and Brother,

Edm? Loxdon.*

Stephen Longfelloiv f to Thomas Huhhard.

Falmouth, April ""', 1770.

Hon'" Sir, — I beg Leave to acquaint you that the Inhabitants of
this first Parish in Falmouth, within these few days, have been much
surprized by a Resolve of the General Court, concerning a Number of
the Inhabitants of the District of Cape Elisabeth (who were many years
ago, by an Act of the General Court, set of [f] to this Parish) being
excused from paying Taxes here, ever since said Cape Elisabeth was
incorporated into a District.

The History of this matter is, I imagine, pretty nearly as follows. —
Many years ago, some of the Inhabitants of Cape Elisabeth, then a part
of Falmouth, being dissatisfied with the Settlement of a Minister there,
petitioned the General Court to be dismiss'* from the Parish there, and
set off to the Parish here, and were accordingly so dismiss^ and set o'S,
and have in Consequence thereof been rated here ever since. However,
some where about the year 1765, Cape Elisabeth was incorporated by
an Act of the General Court into a District ; soon after which. Disputes
arose about those of that District who were heretofore set off to this
Parish, continuing to pay Rates here ; the Assessors on their side
alledging that the Act of the General Court that incorporated the Dis-
trict superseded the former Act that set off some of them to this Parish ;
our Assessors urging that the Act which made them a District was
merely a Town affair, mentioned nothing of any Parish matter, and
that nothing less than an express Act of the Government could dissolve
their Union with this Parish. To put an End to which Disputes, the
Select Men or Assessors of Cape Elisabeth petitioned the General Court
in 1767, and among other Things (if I remember right) said that it was

* " Supposed about 1720 to 1730." [Note of tnmscriber. Edmund Gibso
Bishop of London from 1T23 to 1748.]

t Stephen Longfellow was the first of tliat name who settled in Portland. A
of him may be seen in Willis's history of that town.

186j.] letter op STEPHEN LONGFELLOW. 229

the Desire of the Inhabitants of Cape Elisabeth, heretofore set off to
this Parish, to be set back again. Our Parish being serv'd witli a Copy
of said Petition, made it their Business to enquire of those Inhabitants
whether they had a mind to be set back again, & found that some of
them liad not, & they certify'd under their Hands that they had not ;
all which being made to appear in our Answer to the General Court,
the General Court gave their Opinion that they still were of this Par-
ish, as I'm inform'd. After this it is said that some of those Inhabi-
tants petitioned themselves, before the late Dissolution of the Gen-
eral Court, to be set back again, and they were order'd by the General
Court to serve this Parish with a Copy, but this has never been done.
However, within these few Days, the Inhabitants of Cape Elisabeth, a
number of them, have been here, exulting immoderately that they have
been to the General Court and revived their Petition, and have got
every Thing done to their Mind, and that the General Court have deter-
mined that the Act incorp[or]ating Cape Elisabeth into a District set
those Inhabitants back again, and that the General Court have resolved
that they should pay no Taxes to this Parish since that Time, which is
about five Years. — This Eeport has put this Parish into a General
Surprise, and they cannot readily believe that the General Court would
revive an old dormant Petition, when the other Party has never been
notified, unless the Petitioners have, by some means or other, imposed
upon and deceived them. In short many things seem to conspire to
depress, if not crush this Parish. About Six Years ago, our Minister
being advanced in Age & Infirm, 'twas thought proper to settle .a Col-
league with him, immediately upon which a Number that lived some-
thing remote, moved to be a separate Parish, & it was granted. Di-
rectly after this another Party in the Heart of the Town set up a Church
of England ; what remains now is but small compared with what it was
before, & the Charges double ; and if after all this the Inhabitants of
Cape Elisabeth be excused from paying their Taxes for five years back,
the Burthen will be almost intolerable. The Parish are so concern'd
that they have immediately called a Meeting, & dispatched M^ Thomas
Smith J' to the General Court, on Purpose to enquire how Matters are,
and if there has been any unfair Eepresentation, if possible, before the
Court rises, to get the Matter set right. I beg Pardon for troubling
your Honour with so long an Epistle ; some small Acquaintance for-
merly while serving as your Sub-Coinisary, and the Welfare (if not
the very Existence) of this Parish is my Apology therefor, & for crav-

230 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MaRCH,

ing your Favour & direction to W. Smith in any Matters he is betrusted
with, so far as is consistent. —

I am, with great Esteem,

Y.' Hono? most Obed'. Hum*" Serv!,

Step" Longfellow.

[Superscription.]

The Hon'?"' Thomas Hubbakd, Esq.

in Boston.
P'. Fav^ of M^ Smith.

[Indorsed.]
" F.ilra° 7th April, 1770.

Step: Longfellow, Esq.
Letter p' M'. Smith, rec<i ll'i" April, 1770."

John Adams to Ezra Stiles.

BraIiNTREE, Novf 4, 1788.
Sir, — Last night, I received the Letter you did me the Honour to
write me, on the thirteenth of September, informing me of the Honour
that has been done me by the University over which you so worthily
preside.

If this honorary Degree is, as you inform me, to be considered as a
token of Affection and I^steem, I shall certainly hold it among the most
precious of Things ; since nothing can ever be more pleasing to me, or
more satisfactory to my highest ambition, than the approbation of an
University which has distinguished itself in Literature among the fore-
most in America, and which is the Light of a Commonwealth that 1
esteem the purest Portion of Mankind.

With great Respect and Sincere Esteem,
I have the Honour to be. Sir,
Your most obedient and most humble Servant,

John Adams.

The Reverend ^

Dr. Stiles.

[Superscription.]

The RevJ Ezra Stiles, D. D.

President of Yule College,
New Haven.

1865.] LETTER OF SAMUEL MELYEN. 231

Messrs. Thayer, Lawrence, and E. B. Bigelow, were
appointed to examine the accounts of the Treasurer.

Mr. Savage remarked, that he had in his possession
the original pictures of James Otis and his wife ; and,
as the only representative of Otis was now in a foreign
land, he desired to place the pictures in the cabinet of
this Society, to remain there until they should be called
for.

Dr. Jenks exhibited a cast taken from an old medallion,
in lead or pewter, " found when digging the foundation
of the Railway Bridge over the Thames, on the Chat-
ham-Dover Railway.'' It was presented to the Society,
through Dr. Jenks, by A. A. Gould, M.D., of Boston.

Mr. FoLsoM read several extracts from a series of
letters, sixty-four in number, written in the years 1775-
1779, by Joseph Hodgkins, of Ipswich, lieutenant of the
company of minute-men of his town, and afterwards
major in the American army, in which he served through-
out the war of the Revolution. These letters were
addressed to his wife, and illustrated the patriotic spirit,
sound sense, and domestic virtue of the New-England
yeomanry of that day ; and, as contemporary documents,
they were conclusive testimony as to the dates and facts
of the events they described or mentioned. Mr. Folsom
said he brought them now to the notice of the Society,
in order to excite such an interest in them as might lead
to their bemg hereafter added to the similar documents
preserved ui the archives of the Society.

Dr. Shurtleff communicated, with remarks, a copy of
a letter written by Samuel Melyen, a graduate of Har-
vard College, of the class of 1696, to Cotton Mather, in

232 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MaRCH,

1698. The letter alludes to a work of Mather which
had been placed in the hands of Melyen, evidently for
revision ; and also to his degradation in his class. Re-
ferred to the Secretary for publication in the Proceed-
ings.*

Mr. Frothingham asked leave to copy an extract from
a letter of Isaac Royal, of date 17 7 J:; permission was
granted under the rules.

The President announced the " Memoir of the Rev.
Dr. Francis," prepared by Dr. Newell, agreeably to ap-
pointment.

* Tbis letter, by request of Mr. Sibley, is published with the history of the catalogue
of Harvard College, and may be found on page 34 of this volume.

] MEMOIR OP REV. DR. FRANCIS. 233

MEMOIR

THE REV. CONVERS FRANCIS, D.D.

BY THE REV. WILLIAM NEWELL, D.D.

CoNVERS Francis, the subject of this Memoir, was born
Nov. 9, 1795, in "West Cambridge, then called Menotomy,
in a house still standing on the main road leading from
Cambridge to that place ; one of the oldest dwellings there,
built in the humble rural style of its time, often pointed out
by him to his friends, when they happened to be with him on
the way.

In a fragment of autobiography prepared by him fifteen
years before his death, he has given some account of his
ancestry ; though, from an inaptitude, of which he there
speaks, for genealogical inquiries, he does not attempt to
trace minutely their history.

The supposed progenitor of his family in New England
was Richard Francis, one of the early colonists, settled in
Cambridge, a member of the church and freeman in 1640,
who.died in 1687.*

Benjamin Francis, the grandfather of Dr. Francis, born in
1734, in Menotomy, removed to Medford in 1764, where he
died in 1798, aged sixty-four. He was a weaver by trade, a

* His gravestone, one of the oldest in tlie old burying-ground at Cambridge, has
this inscription: "Here lyeth buried the Bodj' of RICHARD FRANCES Aged 81
year or There about died March y" 24 168?." It w.as raised and reset, and the in-
scription restored by Dr. Francis after his removal to Cambridge.

234 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,

good workman, and said to have been skilful in the making of
" figured stuff. " He was a man of great strength and cour-
age, was one of the soldiers of the Revolution, distinguished
himself in the Concord Fight, afterwards served four years
in the army, was in several battles, and suffered much hard-
ship as all the soldiers did, but was never wounded. On
coming home, and finding his family severely straitened in
his absence, he at once resumed his trade, which at that
time, when no cloth was imported, was a busy and thriving
one.

His wife's maiden name was Lydia Convers. She was
an orphan, and adopted at an early age by her uncle. Dr.
Convers, a physician of Woburn, in whose family she was
brought up, and at whose house the marriage took place.

Eight sons and two daughters were the offspring of this
marriage. Tlie fourth of the sons, Convers, was born in
Medford, July 14, 1766. His boyhood fell on tlie stormy
days of the Revolution. Speaking of him, his son, in the
autobiographical fragment to which reference has been made,
says, —

" My father's education was as scanty as can be imagined. His
parents were poor ; tlie times were times of great necessity to all ;
and he had to work hard all his childhood. He went to school regu-
larly but two months in his whole life, and that was to ]Mr. Edward
Brooks, father of the late Peter C. Brooks (distinguished for his
immense wealth, but who began a very poor boy, and was a companion
of my father in childhood). This Edward Brooks had been a clergy-
man in York, Maine, I think; but at length removed to Medford, yhere
he sometimes kept a school, and spent the rest of his days. My father
did what he could afterwards to make up the deficiency ; and, being
fond of reading, became finally better informed than many whose
early privileges had been far more abundant."

In his fifteenth year, he was sent as an apprentice to Mr.
Ebenezer Hall, a baker in Medford, in whose employment
he remained as journeyman six years after serving out his

1865.] MEMOIR OF BEV. DR. FRANCIS. 235

time. He then went to West Cambridge, and set up in busi-
ness for himself. Here he staid two years (during which
time his son Convers was born), and then returned to Med-
ford. He was married, in 1788, to Susannah Rand, daughter
of Barrett and Susannah Rand, of CharlestowQ.

" They were married young, and lived happily," says Dr. Francis,
" amidst hard work and great exertion, in the marriage state, twenty-
six years, — my mother dying in 1814. Of her I have the most
grateful and affectionate recollections. Hundreds of instances rush to
memory of the devoted, anxious care with which she watched over my
welfare ; and, if she had but little cultivation, she had, what is far
better, a simple, loving heart, and a spirit busy in doing good. Ever
blessed with me is the remembrance of this excellent mother. . . .
My father and mother were intensely industrious and rigidly econom-
ical. For some time they found it a hard struggle indeed; but my
father's unwearied industry, his sterling honesty, his good judgment,
and his dntermination never to live so as to be in debt, assisted and
strengthened by the same and other good qualities in his excellent
wife, without whom he never could have effected what he did, pretty
soon placed him strong on his feet ; and he thenceforth went on very
pro:.perou-ly. His business became thriving, and increased every
year. No baker in the vicinity, I think, had so high a reputation.
The butter-crackers which he made became quite famous, being known
far and wide as the Medford crackers ; and he sent large supplies of
them and of other bread to Boston, whence they were exported to
more distant places. He husbanded his means well, and became a
flourishing, and, for those times, a rich mechanic.

" He was highly respected in Medford ; being several times elected
to important oflices in the town, and in the religious society (Dr.
Osgood's) to which he belonged. For myself, I owe more than I can
tell to his vigilance, kindness, and practical goud sense ; and now, in
his old age (June, 1849), I never see him without remembering my
obligations to this revered and excellent father."

He died in Wayland, November 27, 1856, at the age of
ninety. Of his six children, Convers and Lj'dia Maria
(afterwards Mrs. Child, the well-known authoress, of whom

236 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,

her brother speaks* with great admiration and love) were
the youngest.

Dr. Francis gives a most interesting and amusing account
of his early years, which it would be pleasant to quote in
full, did the limits of this Memoir permit. He dwells with a
fond and half-sad, half-joyous memory, and in a strain of
tender and touching sentiment, on the scenes and sports, the
rural enjoyments, and Thanksgiving festivals of his boyhood.
He speaks of his visit in his later years to the house built by
his father, the home of his childhood : —

" What curious and touching things," he says, " were brought to ray
mind ! I stood in the chamber where my mother died, and my eyes
were dim with tears. I went to the little chamber where I slept and
studied, and a dreamy sadness came over me sweeter than any present
enjoyment ; — to the bakehouse, and how the hours of work there
came back as fresh as yesterday ! — to the garden, and how the tears
again started when I remembered how my dear mother used to take
me out there to help her dig and weed in the flower-beds ! Mysteri-
ous and affecting ties, which link the soul fast to the spots where it has
once loved or wrought or grieved ! "

He seems to have been a happy, healthy, hardy child, busy
in work or in play, entering into all athletic and active games
with an intense earnestness and delight. He was diligent
and successful in his studies ; and did best, as he thought,
" in whatever required memory." He describes with a pleas-
ant humor his different schools and teachers, from " Ma'am
Betty," the village schoolmistress, an odd and somewhat
untidy character, of whom it seems he was a great favorite,
so that she was commonly said to be " dreadfully fond of

* " Maria is the only one of our family who has become famous: and she has most
richly deserved her fame, which is a pure and honorable one, by her beautiful writings,
rich in fine thought, a loving spirit, and the highest aims; by her great and generous
soul, and by a multitude of deeds in which rare benevolence and self-sacrifice were
equalled only by the spontaneous simplicity with which they have been performed."
— AuUibiog. MSS.

1865.] MEMOIR OF EEV. DR. FRANCIS. 237

Coiivers — and cheese," to Dr. Hosmer of " the academy,"
where he was prepared for college. His love of books was
early developed.

" I had a sort of passion for reading whatever came in my way ;
and often, when I was wanted for work, in and about the house, I was
found somewhere by myself over a book."

After speaking of some of the few books in his father's
house, the meagre crumbs of literature that fell in his way
in his boyhood, he says, —

"There were better things than books, however, to work upon my
childish mind and heart. The love I had for my mother was a blessed
power for good to me. It viound into and around my heart silently,
sweetly ; and I can never know how much good it did me. Since
I have been a grown man, the remembrance of instances in which I
disobeyed her, or pained her feelings by waywardness, has brought
tears to my eyes. Then there were influences coming from the
solitary hours in the woods, &c. Many were the reveries, the dreamy,
sweet thoughts, I had on the morning and night excursions in driving
the cows to pasture, or bringing them home. The sky and the
woods and the brooks came into the boy's soul, and shone and waved
and rolled tliere ; God was with him, and he was with God, th lUgh
he knew not of it, — perhaps would almost have been frightened to
know tliat it was God. . . . Thus matters proceeded in my boyish
days ; and thus one influence after another came and went, and
left something with me. Meanwhile, my love of books and of learn-
ing was continually increasing. I seized every opportunity to get
a book, and spent as much time as I could in company with these
treasures. But, all this time, I was kept at work in the bakehouse
and on the farm, — mostly in the bakehouse. I became an expert
iu the business, at least in some parts of it. I could break and mould
and flat and doch as well as the best ; but rolling and setting were
reserved for more practised hands. Then the wiping of the crack-
ers took up a great deal of my time. How many hours and days
and weeks and months I sat on the floor of the chamber over the
bakehouse, rubbing away at the work ; and how many hundreds upon
hundreds of barrels of crackers did I wipe ! Sometimes these labors
were carried on before and after school-hours, and in the afternoons of

238 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MaECH,

half-school days ; and sometimes I was kept at liome from school for
them. Then I was frequently sent out to help the men on the lands ;
and, in haying-time, to help get in the hay. My father was a somewhat
severe exactor of labor from his children. With work and school and
my own reading, I was certainly pretty closely tasked ; but none too
much so. For I had my times for play ; and the whole together made
up a good discipline, calling out and strengthening my various faculties

Of what he calls " the great event of his boyhood, "

" In my fifteenth year, as I was sitting one morning in the bakehouse,
my father waiting for the bread to be ready in the oven, and I wailing
to take it and carry it into the shop for our morning customers, my
father turned suddeuly to me, and said, ' Convers, what do you want to
do ? Do you want to learn a trade, or do you want to go to college ? '
I was taken by surprise, and the unexpected question fluttered me.
Yet I immediately replied, with a sort of nervous decision, ' I should
like, sir, to go to college, if you are willing.' — ' Well, then,' said he,
' You shall go to college, and next' Monday morning you may begin
to attend Dr. Hosmer's academy to be prepared.' Nothing more was
said. These few words were the turning-point whiih decided the
character and course of my coming life. The impression of that morn-
ing will never go out of my memory. The almost trembling gladness
with which I heard the decision seems even now to vibrate, as it were,
in my feelings. I had never imagined that my father thought of giving
me the opportunity of a liberal education ; but, from what I afterwards
heard, I suspect that he had long been thinking of it, and had con-
sulted g.bout the matter Dr. Osgood and other friends, who probably
advised him to make a scholar of me. My strong love of books did
much, I suppose, to decide the question. When the Monday morning
came, I went with a beating heart to the 'Academy,' — a name
which, in a country village at that time, meant a great deal. There
was an air of aristocracy about it ; sons of rich men from other towns
came to it as boarding-scholars ; and only ' the better sort, ' in the
town, sent their children to it. It was quite a different thing frum the
common town school, where Tom, Dick, and Harry, everybody's boys,
and everybody's girls, went as a matter of course. The academy was
for the elite ; so that when I, the baker's boy, was transferred from the

1865.] MEMOIR OF REV. DR. FRANCIS. 239

town school to it, it was a promotion which made me tremble, though
the fear was overbalanced by a large admixture of hope that promised
great and fine things."

He entered into his new studies with the keenest zest and
delight; and often, in the winter evenings, shut himself up
alone in the bakehouse, as the warmest place he could find,
where he would be undisturbed, with a flour-barrel for his
desk. With so much zeal and success did he give himself to
his work, that, in little more than a year, he was prepared for
college. He entered Harvard University in 1811, in the
class that was first admitted under President Kirkland. He
graduated with honor in 1815 ; and, having chosen the minis-
try for" his profession, remained in Cambridge for the study
of divinity the next three years. In the autumn of 1818, he
preached, for the first time, in Medford, in Dr. Osgood's
church. After supplying the pulpit of the North Church in
Salem, during the sickness of its minister, Mr. Abbott, he
officiated for a few Sundays in the First Church of Water-
town, then recently bereaved of its pastor, Rev. R. R. Eliot ;
and, in the spring of 1819, received an invitation from the
church and the town to settle as minister in that place. He
accepted the call, and was ordained June 23, 1819, — Dr.
Osgood, his old pastor, preaching the sermon ; and his class-
mate, Rev. John G. Palfrey, then minister of Brattle-street
Church in Boston, giving the right hand of fellowship.* He
entered on his new duties with the earnest, diligent, devoted
spirit which had marked him from his boyhood, with a full
appreciation of the solemnity and greatness of his work, and
a true, affectionate interest in the people who had called him
to his charge. With all his scholarly tastes and pursuits,

* " The services were all remarkably good, except that Dr. Osgood was a little toe
polemical for the occasion. Mr. Palfrey, to give him the highest praise, surpassed his
usual excellence." — X>r. F.'s MSS.

240 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,

his love of study and fondness for his books, he was no
unsocial recluse ; but entered with genial sympathy into the
feelings and interests of all classes, and enjoyed their society,
and was an easy, pleasant guest at their homes. His pastoral
influence, quietly exerted, was far greater than he, in his self-
distrust, was aware. His ministry, never clouded by any
difficulty or disaff"ection, was, what he prayed it might be, a
useful and successful one. He was respected and beloved
by his flock. His public services were held in honor. His
visits from house to house were always welcome.

Nevertheless, he was subject, like many others of his
clerical brethren, to occasional moods of depression, which
sometimes threw a chill over his spirits, a cloud over his
parish horizon, and made him underrate his own abilities and
services. He did not, as it seemed to himself, fulfil his own
ideal of the preacher's work ; and was often, as appears from
his Sunday diary, troubled by the feeling that his sermoniz-
ing was a failure, — that it was not of the practical cast at
which he should aim. He laid great stress on making his
preaching plain, simple, and useful, adapted to the mass of his
hearers, and reproached himself for supposed deficiency in
this respect. He at times gave way to a morbid selfdissatis-
faction, that worried bis mind, especially in the first years of
his ministry, and oppressed him in his work.*

" Under the pressure of this despondency," says his suc-
cessor, " born of his temperament, but nourished and made
morbid by clerical routine, he preached in Watertown for
twenty-three years, with scarce one interval of relaxation.

* In his Sundiiy diary, under date of Dec. 2, 1821, speaking of his sermons for the
diiy, he says, " I do not know that they were calculated to be useful ; and this doubt
distresses me with regard to most of my sermons." And ai;ain, on the 30th of the
same month, "My mind is now filled with anxious thoughts which indispose me for
my duties, and it distresses me very much that I am subject to such fluctuations; for
it shows that my heart is not absorbed as it ought to be in my great work. I am
almost discouraged. God forgive me."

1865.] MEMOIR OP REV. DR. FRANCIS. 241

lecturing and holding extra services in the fashion of the
times, and performing an abundant amount of pastoral labor
that was never lessened by his passion for books and all
scholarly delights."

Dr. Francis was married on the fifteenth of May, 1822, to
Miss Abby Bradford Allyn, a daughter of Rev. Dr. Allyn, of
Duxbury, whose companionship and sympathy cheered and
sustained him in his ministerial labors, and whose intellectual
and literary tastes were in harmony with his own. He found
in her a true and affectionate helpmate in his parish, as well as
his home : but her life was somewhat clouded by ill health ;
and her death, two years before his own, was a severe afflic-
tion to one whose domestic affections and sensibilities were so
keen and strong. Of the offspring of this marriage, two only
survive their parents,— George Convers Francis, a graduate
of Harvard, of the class of 1851 ; and Abby Bradford Francis,
both residing in Cambridge.

The ministry of Dr. Francis, in a rural parish, and in
peaceful times, was a quiet and uneventful one ; giving large
opportunities of study, which he did not leave unimproved.

With advancing experience in his profession, and more
ample leisure, he devoted himself with intense and ever-
increasing diligence to a wide course of reading, and of
literary as well as theological inquiry.* Besides this, he
wrote a history of Watertown, published in 1830, and a life
of the Apostle Eliot, in Sparks's American Biography, besides

* " Take as a specimen the course of study for the year 1835. The companions of
tliis year were Platonic Henry More, Norris, Egerton Brydges's Censura Literana,
Cicero, Plato, Tacitus, Sophocles, Drake's book, and others about Shakspeare to
accompany a study of the plays ; Coleridge's various works, Corrodi's Geschichte des
Chiliasmus, Relandus de Religione Mohammedica, Herder's Spirit of Hebrew Poetry
and of Christianity, Berger's Moralische Einleilung in das N. T., Stillingfleet's Origines
Sacral, De Wette, Portalis, Ilgen, Eckerman, Lardner, Bauer, and Benjamin Constant.
The spare time was filled with the preparation of his biography of the Apostle Eliot,
which he wrote for Sparks's American Biography. Cicero, Plato, Sophocles, and
Tacitus were studied by him with enthusiasm ; and some volume of theirs was con-
stantly at hand." — TFeiss's Discourse.

242 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,

some occasional articles for periodicals. So that his time
was occupied with constant work. He took his place in
the public regard as one of the most industrious and best-
read scholars among the clergy ; and his society was sought
not only by those of his own age and standing, but by young
men entering on the ministry, who enjoyed his pleasant and
instructive conversation, his easy, friendly ways, and his free
communication of his accumulated lore.

He had a passion for books, and early began to gather a
fine library of the best, together with many rare and curious
works, which, with a bountiful hospitalit}' not always met
with, he was ever ready and pleased to share with his friends.
In his literary tastes and studies, there was no narrowness.
He was an enthusiastic admirer and student of the classics,
and specially delighted in the ethical and philosophical writ-
ings of the Greek and Roman authors, yet valued none the
less the treasures of English thought and speech. He was
among the earliest students of the German in this country.
He became greatly interested in German literature and phi-
losophy, in German theology and criticism. Without accepting
their views and conclusions, he was ready to give a hearing
to the thinkers and scholars of other lands, and to receive
whatever truth, new or old, they had to offer ; to prove all
things, and to hold fast the good. This mental freedom and
liberality sometimes exposed him to the imputation of holding
views which he did not entertain.

Thus, amid the quiet labors and duties of his village parish,
in the still air of delightful studies, and in the society of
chosen literary friends, his life flowed smoothly on. Though
a strong and decided Unitarian from the outset, he was never
involved in any of the sharp polemic controversies of tiie
day ; and his relations to the other churches and ministers of
the town were pleasant and kindly. He was a favorite
preacher, especially in the country parishes, with which his
ministerial exchanges were chiefly made ; and always a favor-

1865.] MEMOIR OP EEV. DR. FRANCIS. 243

ite visitor in tlie families which entertained him. The de-
gree of Doctor of Divinity, conferred upon him in 1837,
by Harvard University, was only one token of the public
appreciation of his professional and private worth, of his
scholarly attainments and merits, and his signal industry.

In 1842, by the death of Rev. Henry Ware, jr., the Pro-
fessorship of Pulpit Eloquence, and the Pastoral Care in the
Divinity School at Cambridge, became vacant; and Dr.
Francis was chosen to fill the place. The appointment was
received with general approval or acqixiescence. Some,
however, were anxious, on account of his supposed sympathy
with the " Transcendental " and Rationalistic movement of
the time. Others, again, and especially those who were most
intimate with him (among them Rev. Theodore Parker,*
whom circumstances had brought into close communion and
friendship with him, though differing from him in many of
his views), hailed his election with delight, and urged him to
accept the office from which, in his own distrust of his abili-
ties and qualifications, he half shrunk at first. Mr. Parker
writes to him, —

" I trust you have, long before this, made up your mind to go to
Cambridge. I can't help thinking that the welfare of the denomination

* " One afternoon in April, 1832, there came to tlie door of the red brick house by the
river, a young man in homely and awkward dress, carrying a small bundle. He wanted
to see the doctor. Upon being ushered into the study, he looked delightedly at the
well-filled shelves, and said, 'lam told that you welcome young people; and I am
come to ask if you will be kind to me and help me, for I have come to Watertown to
try and keep a school. I long for books, and I long to know how to study.' This was
Theodore Parker, then about twenty-two years of age, fresh from school-keeping in
Boston. He opened a private school in Watertown, and began to prepare himself for
the Divinity School, under the supervision of Dr. Francis. After Mr. Parker was
settled at West Roxbury, they carried on a lively correspondence upon all the subjects
which were then engrossing the minds of liberal thinkers in this neighborhood; the
Grounds of Authority, the Composition of the Pentateuch, the Canon, the Mythical
Element in the Old and New Testaments, the Nature of Christ, and the Spiritual
Philosophy. Mr. Parker had some pages of his Journal headed with ' Questions to
ask Dr. Francis;' aud there was a perfectly frank and liberal interchange of sugges-
tion and interpretation upon all high topics between the two schola s." — Rev. J,
Weiss' s Discourse, occasioned by the Death of Rev. Dr. Francis.

244 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,

depends upon it. It seems to me to be the bloom and fruitage of your
life, — your going thither, and pouring out the learning you have hived
up in diligent summers, and drawing from the wells of thought and
emotion which you have so long frequented." ..." I look for-
ward to a brighter period in your life than you have ever rejoiced
in before, when the wine of your life, hoarded and ripened in fruitful
years, shall show itself worthy of its mark, and quicken the blood of
youth, making their pulsations more generous than before." *

Dr. Francis, thus urged and encouraged by his friends,
accepted the offered professorship, and preached his farewell
sermon to his parish on the twenty-first of August, 1842.
At the beginning of the month following, he entered on his
new duties in the Divinity School and the University.

And thus, without any interval of leisure, or any opportu-
nity of special preparation for his new work, he was plunged
at once into labors that might well employ three professors
instead of one; and no one, without his habits of intense
industry and method in his studies, as well as his accumulated
stock of learning, could have accomplished them. Besides
the instruction, which belongs of right to his particular
professorship, he found it necessary, in order to meet the
requisitions of a proper theological education, to undertake
lectures to the senior class in the Divinity School on Ecclesi-
astical History, of itself demanding, as it now has, a separate
teacher devoted specially to its subjects ; and a course on
Natural Theology for the juniors, with whom he had besides
this a regular exercise in Cicero's De Natura Deoimn. He

* Jlr. Parker, soon after this, was greatly offended, and for a time alienated, when
Dr. Francis, after his acceptance of the professorship, at the instance of persons con-
nected with the University, recalled an engagement which he had made to exchange
with Jlr. Parker, under the apprehension, that, in the existing state of feeling, such an
act of ministerial fellowship would impair his influence in the college, and would be
understood as giving an implied sanction to Mr. Parker's religious views. Their
friendly intercourse, however, was afterwards renewed; and a letter from Mr. Parker,
quoted in a following part of this Memoir, will show his continued appreciation of the
worth of his early friend.

1865.] MEMOIR OF EET. DR. FRANCIS. 245

had also to conduct the daily religious services in the college
chapel and to preach there on Sundays, during half the year.
He felt the difficulty of doing justice to such a multiplicity
and variety of subjects and duties ; but he gave himself with
all his mind and heart to his work, and with varying accept-
ance and success, but with unvarying fidelity, for more than
twenty years continued at his post, till death released him
from his earthly service for a higher.

If Dr. Francis, in his new career, did not entirely fulfil the
ardent expectations of his early admirers and friends, it was
not from any want of fidelity, or any lack of learning and
intellectual ability ; nor certainly on account of any stiffness
or ultra conservatism, putting him into antagonism with
the free spirit of his pupils, for his own spirit was always
most liberal and candid, and ready to welcome new light; nor
from any lack of personal kindness and attention : but from
the absence of certain qualities and gifts which are compar-
atively rare, but are necessary in an instructor, especially of
our American young men, to inspire enthusiasm, and to
awaken a hearty interest in the themes which it is his
province to present and discuss. There never was a man
more faithful, more punctual, more scrupulously attentive to
all the details of his office ; none more thoroughly conversant
with the literature of his subjects, or more competent to
direct the student to the intellectual treasures of the past ;
to the best sources of argument and information in the writ-
ings of others, and to the various works of the various
authors whose thoughts have helped to form and color the
mind of their age of the world. And no one could be more
kindly, social, and communicative ; more large-minded in his
views ; more tolerant and patient than he ; more indulgent
towards any honest thought, however it might difler from his
own. But he missed that pecuHar combination of gifts,
mental and personal, which carries with it an electric and
potently quickening influence, commands a brilliant siiccess,

246 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [MaKCH,

and wins the admiring homage of young men whose age and
whose studies make them peculiarly critical, fastidious, and
exacting. Then, too, the method which he pursued as an
instructor, however conscientiously adopted, and in theory
attractive, had its deficiencies and drawbacks, and did not
work well on the whole. It was necessarily lacking, on the
part of the teacher, in the decided, strong, and positive
expression of individual views and convictions, which ardent
young men, especially of this age and country, crave. What
his friend and his successor, in the Watertown pulpit, has
said of him on this point, presents a just statement of his
position, and of the dilEculty which it involved.

" Wlienever Dr. Francis approached the young minds of his classes,
■whether in lectures or conversations, his object was to impart a mental
method and a spiritual freedom. There are two ways of stimulating
a student: one is by assailing him vigorously with your individual con-
victions ; the other is by showing him fairly the views of other men,
emphasizing them as much as your own, till the young mind learns to
make its first gestures in the act of deciding. Dr. Francis employed
the latter way, partly from a cautious temperament, and partly from
an inherent impartiality, which made him a gentleman in the realm of
thought. He loved his own ideas, and had tliem of a decided, but
always liberal kind ; still, he preferred to throw his scholars into the
water with the injunction to swim. It was impossible for him to con-
ceal his bias for spiritual views of man and God ; yet he seemed
almost neutral, when it came to the development of doctrines, and the
history of human opinions. Then he had so much to say about other
men, that he called to mind the nomendator, whom the wealtliy
Romans hired to walk with tht-m and name their clients. He could
tell his classes all that had been advanced upon all the sides of great
controversies ; he knew the metaphysical and ecclesiastical history of
human tendencies; he delighted to throw these coins that bear the
mental stamp of different epochs into his nice scales, and weigh them
before the students' eyes. They sometimes suspected that he was
dazzling with foreign wealth, to conceal his own poverty of profound
convictions. But he was teaching them to become observers ; to sift, to
weigh, to separate the facts, to classify. He longed to inspire them

1865.] MEMOIR OF REV. DR. FRANCIS. 247

with a love for knowledge, and a respect for the human race, whose
innumerable deaths uprear the continent of truth. . . . Dr. Francis
abhorred the slovenly and insincere methods of popular writers and
thinkers ; he saw that it nourished sectarianism and bigotry, and fam-
ished hearts to fill pockets. He sought to lay the courses of sound
learning deep in the youthful mind, — a foundation upon which the
man would be ashamed to build a shingle palace, or to pitch an Arab's
tent.

" His love for books, and for the thoughts of other men, conspired to
make this easy for him to do. Yet he sometimes did it under mani-
fest constraint ; and, if he was unhappy during his professional career,
it was because his knowledge worried his enthusiasm, and he longed
to forget that he had to report a whole world full of thinking, and to
begin telling all that he himself felt and believed.

" He was also unhappy sometimes, because the students misunder-
stood his method. He sat, patiently shifting a lens, and throwing color
upon every side of a question, apparently dreading lest he show himself
instead of the question. Perhaps he was too modest, and might have
asserted himself oftener. But students think there is no instruction,
except by a person who is red-hot with some particular view of the
universe; and they chafed at his tranquillity. Some of them came to
the recitation-room ill prepared, and sat through this well-digested
course with indifference : ' all of which foolishness,' says one of them,
' he bore patiently, gently, and sweetly, never losing his interest in the
young men, and always doing them more than justice when they made
an effort to perform their duty.' — ' I wish,' he adds, ' I could see him
once more, to tell him how sorry I am, for two or three wounds I
inflicted on him. But, if I should see him, his nobleness would shut
my mouth.' "

But whatever lack of success there was, or perfect satis-
faction in his system of instruction, there was one point in
which his services were invaluable, and in which his place
can hardlj be supplied ; viz., his knowledge of books, of their
character, contents, and value. Not only did he bear in his
retentive memory, for his own use and that of others, the
writings of classic antiquity, and of the olden times of Eng-
land, the best works of former generations up to our own,
together with all the curiosities, as well as substantial pro-

248 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MaecS,

ducts of the human mind, as embalmed in books ; but he was
equally familiar with the current literature of the day, and
the latest conclusions and speculations of the scholars and
theologians of the present time, English, French, and German.
He kept himself freshly informed of all publications relating
to those departments of thought and study which had any
bearing on his work. He was a living dictionary to all who
consulted him on such matters, and could at once direct the
young men under his charge, or friends who were engaged in
some special subject of inquiry, to the best authors and books
for their purpose ; or would furnish from his own library the
volumes of which they were in need, and often those which
elsewhere it would be difficult to obtain.

The affluence of his conversation, abounding as it did both
with instruction and with pleasantry, with sound sense, apt
illustration, and varied anecdote, revealed, without effort, the
riches of his well-stored mind. It was here, indeed, even
more than in the lecture-room or the pulpit, that he shone.
His pupils and his visitors could not be long in his company
without some mental gain. At the same time, he was free
from the faults which often make the society of full talkers
tiresome or uncomfortable. He was ready to hear, as well as
to speak ; was courteous, genial, and sympathizing.

To some of the marked features in the life and character
of Dr. Francis, the charming farewell letter of his friend,
Mr. Parker, bears so grateful a testimony, that it ought not
to be omitted even in a brief Memoir.

" To Dr. Francis. Feb. 3, 1S59.

" I am sorry to leave the country on a journey of uncertain dura-
tion, and do not like to depart without a word to you. I have much
to thank you for. In my earlier life at Watertown, your devotion to
letters and your diligent study of the best thoughts and the highest
themes offered an example whieli both stimulated and encouraged me.
Then your sermons, always generous and liberal, well studied, and rich
in thought, and bearing marks of the learning of the preacher as well

1865.] MEMOIR OP REV. DR. FRANCIS. 249

as Lis religion, were a cheer and a solace, while they abounded in
instruction. I admired also the faithfulness with which you did your
duty to all the parish, — rich and poor, — and your hearty sympathy
with all common men in their common pursuits. I have rarely found
such things in a minister's life ; for ' education ' separates the scholar
from the people, and makes them strangers, if not foes.

" I thank you also for the interest you then took in my studies, — for
the loan of books, your own, and those from the college library,
which I had then no access to. I remember also, with great delight,
that, in the conversations of the little club, your learning and your
voice were always on the side of progress and freedom of thought.
Then, too, you early took a deep, warm interest in the anti-slavery
enterprise, when its friends were few, feeble, and despised ; and you
helped the great cause of human freedom, not merely by word and
work, but by the silent and subtle force of example, which sometimes
is worth more than all the words and works of a man ; for, while they
may fail, I think the other never does.

" Let me thank you, too, for the many wise letters you have written
me while at home, and while abroad. They still live in my memory as
a joy, which it is pleasant to recall. I leave America with hopes of
returning a sounder and laborious man, to live long and useful years ;
but you know how fallacious are the hopes of a consumptive man. I
do not trust them, but leave the shore as if I should never see it
again. I am not sad at this pause or ending of my work. Heaven is
as near at forty-eight as at ninety, — the age of my uncle, to whom
I bade farewell to-day. I am equal to either fate, though both my
wish and my will incline me to the earthly life.

" I congratulate you on your sound body and your unfailing health,
which are not less your acquisition than your inheritance. Eemember
me kindly to your wife and family, and believe me

" Faithfully yours, T. P."

The writer little thought that the "sound body," which
seemed born for a centenarian, would so soon be struck with
incurable disease. Dr. Francis began life with a compact,
vigorous frame, strengthened by early labor, and, though a
hard student, was in the habit of daily exercise ; was a good
walker, and loved the fresh air, and had a prudent care of his
health. Among his ministerial brethren, he was one of the

250 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MaECH,

comparatively few robust and strong-looking men, with a voice
to match; and his appearance promised a long life and a green
old age. But, some months before his death, an inward
disease — from which, without knowing what it was, he had
occasionally suffered — began to show itself more distinctly;
and he at length became so enfeebled, that, at the opening of
the college term in March, 1863, he found himself compelled
to receive his classes at his own house, and, after a few trials,
to discontinue his exercises in the Divinity School altogether.
He lingered for a few weeks, at times in much pain, but
thankful and trustful to the end.

" Thus the pallor of disease fell upon that ruddy and well-knit
frame, out of which, of late, his gentle qualities breathed in such an
Indian summer, that December seemed impossible. It was nearer
than anybody thought ; but the mellowness of that fine character
endured as long as the body was capable of influence. The youthful-
ness was not to be tired down : it seemed to come to the hand of a
friend as agile as a bird which you call. It broke out of the stupor of
one of the last days, when a beloved relative brought a token of her
attachment to the bed upon which he was supposed to be sunk in
unconsciousness. He roused and exclaimed, ' What strawberries and
flowers ! — they bring June back to me ! ' This was his latest im-
pression from the nature that he loved with almost boyish warmth.

" The last day of his consciousness, he was in a very serene state of
mind. ' I have not a want in the world,' said he to his sister. She
replied, ' That is a blessed state, dear brother.' — ' Yes : it is blessed,'
said he, ' and I thank God for it.' Afterwards, when he was dozing,
she heard him murmur, ' Blessings upon blessings ! ' "

He died on the seventh of April, 1863.

Without brilliant gifts of genius or of eloquent speech. Dr.
Francis was a man of great merits and virtues, that will not
soon be forgotten by his friends. He was, through life, an
industrious student, a completely furnished and ever-ready
guide to the writings and thoughts of others, especially in
philosophical and theological literature, and by this an invalu-

1S65.] MEMOIR OP REV. DR. FRAKCIS. 251

able helper to his pupils. In his acquaintance with books, of
which he had a large, and, in many respects, rare collection,
accumulated through many years, he had few equals ; and
admirable was the heartiness with which he communicated
his knowledge, and the generous alacrity with which he lent
his treasures to all who sought his counsel, suggestion, and
help. This was one of the marked traits in his character,
which his friends will gratefully remember. No one, in this
respect, will be more missed than he. He was no niggard of
the honey in his hive ; he kept it stored for others as well as
for himself. And to the last months of his life, he was among
the busy workers in the hive: the years of his manhood and
of his age, like the years of his youth, were years of earnest
study, or industrious action and industrious teaching. Nor
was he merely a learned scholar, a student and critic of
books, a lecturer on the special subjects of his professorship :
he was a genial and instructive companion, a faithful friend,
a good neighbor, a Christian citizen, true to his Common-
wealth and his country. Without taking an active, promi-
nent, public part in the movements of the time, he welcomed
and advocated the reforms of the day, and was from the
beginning an earnest, indignant opposer of slavery, and of
the political corruptions and manoeuvres through which it
crept into its arrogant strength. In all the phases of our
great national trial, he was uncompromisingly patriotic, un-
flinchingly loyal, having no question about the Christian's
duty and the minister's duty at that momentous crisis in the
destinies of our country.

It was a sad surprise to his friends, to see a life, still seem-
ingly so elastic and vigorous, stricken down by painful and
incurable disease ; but a larger faith, discerning the light
behind the cloud, instructs them to be thankful for the happy
time of his death, as well as the fidelity and usefulness of his
life ; and to praise God, that having been graciously permitted
to work on, as he loved to work, with little pause, to the end.

252 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MARCH,

he was transferred, without long waiting and weariness, to a
higher service and a heavenly rest.

Tlie following is a list of the publications of Dr. Francis : —

The Eight Hand of Fellowship at the Ordination of Mr. Charles
Brooks, in Hingham, 1821.

A Sermon preached at the Ordination of Mr. Benjamin Kent as
Associate Pastor with the Rev. John Allyn, D.D., in the Congre-
gational Church in Duxbury, 1826.

Errors in Education : a Discourse delivered in Bedford before the
Middlesex Bible Society, 1828.

A Discourse delivered at the Anniversary of the Derby Academy in
Hingham, 1828.

An Address delivered at Watertown on the Fourth of .July, 1828.

An Historical Sketch of Watertown, Mass., from the First Settlement
of the Town to the close of its Second Century, 1830.

The "Address to the Society," at the Ordination of Mr. Thomas B.
Fox, in Newburyport, 1831.

A Sermon preached at the Ordination of Mr. Oliver Stearns to the
Pastoral Care of the Second Congregational Society in Northamp-
ton, 1831.

A Discourse delivered at Plymouth, in Commemoration of the Land-
ing of the Fathers, 1831.

The Charge at the Installation of Rev. Edward B. Hall at Providence,
1832.

" The Dust to Earth, the Spirit to God : " a Discourse delivered be-
fore the Congregational Society in Watertown, 1833.

The Dudleian Lecture, delivered before the University at Cambridge,
1833.

Three Discourses preached before the Congregational Society in
Watertown ; two upon leaving the Old Meeting-House, and one at
the Dedication of the New, 1836.

Life of John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians (Sparks's Am. Biog.),
1836.

Memoir of the Rev. John Allj-n, D.D., of Duxbury, 1836 ; Memoir
of Dr. Gamaliel Bradford, 1846 ; Memoir of Judge Davis, 1849.
(The last three were published in the Collections of the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society.)

The Death of the Aged : A Discourse occasioned by the Death of the
Eev. Dr. Ripley, of Concord, 1841.

1865.] ANNUAL MEETING. 253

The " Address to the People " at the Ordination of Rev. John

Pierpont, jun., at Lynn, 1843.
Life of Sebastian Rale, Missionary to the Indians (Sparks's Am.

Biog., new series), 1845.
The " Address to the People " at the Ordination of Mr. Horatio

Stebbins, 1850.
The Charge at the Ordination of Mr. Edwin M. Wheelock, 1857.

In addition to tlie above, he published many articles in the
Christian Disciple, the Christian Examiner, the American
Monthly Review, the Unitarian Advocate, the Scriptural
Interpreter; also translations from Herder, several sermons
in the Liberal Preacher, and several tracts published by the
Americau Unitarian Association.

ANNUAL MEETING, April, 1805.

The annual meeting of the Society was held this day,
Thursday, April 20, at eleven o'clock (it having been
postponed one week on account of the occurrence of the
annual Fast-day on the 13th) ; the President, the Hon.
Robert C. Winthrop, in the chair.

The Librarian announced donations from the Ameri-
can Philosophical Society ; Bowdoin College ; Columbia
College, New York ; Dartmouth College ; the New
England Historic-Genealogical Society ; the New-Eng-
land Loyal Publication Society ; the New-Jersey His-
torical Society ; Oberlausitzischen Gesellschaft der
Wisscnschaften zu Gorlitz ; the Royal Society of
Northern Antiquaries, Copenhagen ; the Royal Uni-

254 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,

versity of Norway ; the SuiFolk Institute of Archfeology
and Natural History ; the Principal of the Collegiate
and Commercial Institute, New Haven, Conn. ; the
Publishers of the Savannah Kepublican ; the Trustees
of the Free Public Library, New Bedford ; John Apple-
ton, M.D. ; Charles J. Biddle, Esq. ; Mr. Deloraine P.
Corey ; C. F. Duncklee, Esq. ; Mr. John H. Ellis ; Mr.
William Everett ; William Gray, Esq. ; Reuben A.
Guild, Esq. ; Clement H. Hill, Esq. ; Franklin B.
Hough, M.D. ; Adjutant-General William Irvine ; Rev.
Samuel Osgood, D.D. ; William F. Poole, Esq. ; Messrs.
G. C. Rand and Avery ; Benjamin S. Shaw, M.D. ; S. L.
Taylor, Esq. ; Messrs. Ticknor and Fields ; Mr. W^illiam
Veazie ; Hon. William Willis ; William Winthrop, Esq.
(84 volumes) ; and from Messrs. Ellis, Green, Lawrence
(59 volumes, principally of Town and Local Histories),
Quint, C. Robbins, and Winthrop, of the Society.

The Corresponding Secretary read a letter from John
Forster, Esq., of London, acknowledging his election as
a Corresponding Member.

The President then addressed the meeting as follows:

The annual meeting of our Society, as some of you doubt-
less may have remembered, should Lave taken place in regu-
lar course on Thursday last, — that having been the second
Thursday in the month. But, as that day had been designated
by His Excellency the Governor as a day of fasting and
prayer, the Standing Committee, under the authority con-
ferred upon them in our By-laws, postponed our meeting until
to-day. Had we met a week ago, gentlemen, we should have
come here with feelings of unmingled joy and exultation at
the recent and glorious successes of the Union armies, and
should have exchanged heartfelt congratulations on the cheer-

1865.] DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 255

ing prospect of an early restoration of Union and Peace to
our beloved country. Nor can we fail to remember most
gratefully to-day, even amid all the clouds and darkness
which surround us, that such successes' have been achieved,
and that such prospects have indeed opened upon us. But
an event has since occurred Vi'hich has turned all our joy into
mourning, and we meet under circumstances which almost
unfit us for the ordinary routine of business. The awful
crime which was perpetrated at Washington on Friday last
would have filled all hearts with horror, even had it only in-
volved the life of any of the humblest of our fellow-citizens.
But it has taken from us the chosen Chief Magistrate of the
nation, — the man who, of all other men, could least be spared
to the administration of our Government, — the man who was
most trusted, most relied on, most beloved by the loyal people
of the Union. Beyond all doubt, the life of President Lincoln
was a thousand-fold the most precious life in our whole land ;
and there are few of us, I think, who would not willingly
have rescued it at the risk, or even at the sacrifice, of our
own. The cheerful courage, the shrewd sagacity, the earnest
zeal, the imperturbable good-nature, the untiring fidehty to
duty, the ardent devotion to the Union, the firm reliance upon
God, which he has displayed during his whole administration ;
and the eminent moderation and magnanimity, both towards
political opponents and public enemies, which he has mani-'
fested since his recent and triumphant re-election, have won
for him a measure of regard, of respect, and of afiection, such
as no other man of our age has ever enjoyed. The appalling
and atrocious crime of which he has been the victim will only
deepen the impression of his virtues and his excellences, and
he will go down to history with the double crown of the fore-
most Patriot and the foremost Martyr of this great struggle
against treason and rebellion.

With the concurrence of the Standing Committee, I submit
for your adoption the following resolutions : —

256 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOBICAL SOCIETY. [April,

JResolved, By the Massachusetts Historical Society, that we are
unwilling to enter upon the business of our annual meeting this day
without having placed upon record some formal expression of the pro-
found emotions which have been excited in all our minds and in all
our hearts, by the tidings which have reached us during the last few
weeks, and more particularly during the last few days ; tidings which
at one moment have thrilled us with delight by the glorious assurance
that an unnatural and abhorrent rebellion was on the point of being
triumphantly suppressed, and which at the next moment have over-
whelmed us with grief for the loss of the most valued and most im-
portant life in our whole land by a foul and wicked assassination.

Resolved, That the fall of the rebel capital, which had so long de-
fied the strenuous assaults of the Union army, followed as it has been
by successive surrenders of the rebel forces, calls for the most grate-
ful acknowledgments of every American patriot ; first, to the Almighty
Ruler of the Universe, who in his own good time has vouchsafed us
these decisive successes ; and, next, to Lieutenant-General Grant and
the officers and soldiers under his command for their persevering
and heroic conduct and courage : but that we cannot forget how much
we are indebted also for these glorious results to President Lin-
coln and his Cabinet, who have superintended the military as well
as the civil policy of the Government during our great struggle for
maintaining the American Union.

Resolved, That in the assassination of President Lincoln we recog-
nize as atrocious and dreadful a crime as ever stained the annals of
any age or any land ; that his loss to our country is the heaviest
which could have befallen it ; that his integrity, fidelity, and patriot-
ism, his moderation and magnanimity, and his untiring and successful
devotion to the cause of Union and Liberty, followed as they have
been by a murder so cruel and so wicked, have secured for him a
place in American history, and a place in every loyal heart through-
out the land, such as has hitherto been held only by the Father of his
Country.

Resolved, That our cordial sympathies are hereby tendered to the
Hon. William H. Seward in his sufferings from the inhuman and
fiendish assault which has been made upon him and his family ; that
we pray God that he may live to witness the final re-establishment of
the Union for which he has labored so ably and so devotedly ; and
that, as a humble tribute of our regard and respect, we unanimously
enroll him among the honorary members of our Society.

1865.] LETTER OF L. L. DOTY. 257

Resolved, That we recognize the duty and the privilege of all good
citizens to uphold the constituted authorities of the land in an hour
like this ; and that we hereby ofier to President Andrew Johnson,
who has succeeded to the Chief Magistracy under circumstances so
impressive and so trying, the most respectful assurance of oui- sym-
pathy and confidence, with our best wishes for his personal welfare
and the success of his administration.

On the seconding of these resolutions, remarks ^yere
made by Messrs. Livermore, Hedge, Savage, Ellis,
Amory, Hoppin, Quint, Brigham, Saltonstall, R.
Frothingham, and C. Brooks.

The resolutions were unanimously adopted.

Samuel Eliot was elected a Resident Member.

The President noticed the decease, since the last
meeting, of Charles S. Daveis, of Portland, a Corre-
sponding Member of this Society ; elected in May, 1855.

The President read a letter from L. L. Doty, dated
"Albany, March 17, 1865," stating that Daniel Shays,
who headed the rebellion in Massachusetts in 1787, died
at Scottsburgh, a little village in Western New York, in
the county of Livingston ; that he lies buried in the
graveyard there, and that there is nothing to indicate his
grave to a stranger. " A simple three-cornered piece of
slate, say nine or ten inches square, without mscription,
overgrown with weeds and grass, is the only thing that
marks it at all." The writer hopes that this Society
may feel inclined to appropriate means for some simple
memorial to be placed over the grave. If so, he would
undertake to have the remams re-mterred, and a fence
erected about the spot.

Voted, That the Society decline to make an appro-
priation for the object stated. The President was re-

258 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,

quested to reply to the letter of Mr. Doty, which was
addressed to him.

The ChauTnan of the Standing Committee, the Libra-
rian, and the Treasurer produced their Annual Reports.

Mr. Frothingham, the Treasurer, stated that the Com-
mittee appointed to examine the Treasurer's account
(having been obliged to leave the meeting before the
time to make then- report) had attended to the duty
assigned to them, and had certified to the correctness of
the accounts.

Voted, To accept the several Eeports which had been
presented, and refer them to the Committee on the pub-
lication of the Proceedings. They here follow : —

Annual Report of the Standing Committee.

The Standing Committee, in compliance with the third
article of the By-laws of the Society, ask leave to present
their Annual Report.

They would commence by congratulating the Society on
its continued prosperity and success in the objects for which
it was founded. The meetings have been held without any
interruption, and have been attended more numerously, and
Avith an increased interest in their proceedings. This may be
considered very encouraging in a time which is of such his-
torical importance, and whose record is to be shown in future
years. But there is still room for improvement.

It will be recollected that there was a Special Committee
appointed in 1861 to collect and preserve in the library all
documents of any kind relating to the Rebellion, now so hap-
pily drawing to a close. This was at first responded to
favorably ; but the interest has not been kept up as the Com-
mittee would wish. The history of the war is yet to be
written, and it is incumbent upon us to see that our archives

1865.] EEPORT OF STANDING COMMITTEE. 259

are furnished with the documents which will supply the need
of the historian. We would call upon each member individu-
ally to send us any volume, pamphlet, or manuscript, bearing
on this subject, for future reference. We cannot feel that the
members fully recognize the duty laid upon them by member-
sliip of the Society, till they fully meet their responsibilities
as collectors and treasurers of the historical material that is
daily accumulating. The Committee cannot better enforce
the subject of donations, than by quoting from the Introduc-
tory Address of the founders of the Society : " With such
advantages in our hands, we are wholly inexcusable if we
neglect to preserve authentic monuments of every memorable
occurrence. Not only names, dates, and facts may be thus
handed down to posterity, but principles and reasonings,
causes and consequences, with the manner of their operations
and their various connections, may enter into the mass of his-
torical information."

It is much to be regretted that the Society has no fund
that we can appropriate for the purchase of historical works,
since, from such a want, opportunities are frequently lost of
enriching the library with treasures of lasting value.

The Committee have discharged the duty of examining
the libj-ary, and report it in its usual excellent condition.
Every book was in its place or accounted for. The whole
number of volumes in the library, including the Dowse col-
lection of 4,650 volumes, is 16,619. The number of pamphlets
will not vary far from 20,000.

The crying need is still for more room, as the shelves are
now crowded ; and it is difficult to see how the want is to be
supplied.

An important and very necessary improvement has been
made this year by the construction of a circular iron staircase,
by which the rooms of the second and third stories have been
connected, and made more accessible. Other improvements
might be suggested ; but as it is hoped the Society may at

260 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,

no distant day be provided with accommodations here or else-
where more commodious and roomy, and, what is of greater
consequence, more safe, the Committee refrain at this time
from further remarks on the subject. For additional details
respecting the library and its wants, the Committee will
refer to the report of the Librarian.

Of the Society's publications six full sets have been dis-
posed of during the year ; and they are now scarce, as but
eight sets remain. We have on hand, of the thirty-seven
volumes of the Collections, 4,022 volumes ; of the five volumes
of Proceedings, 268 volumes ; of the two volumes of Cata-
logues, 219 volumes. Of unbound volumes of the Collections,
551 volumes ; and of Proceedings, 1,048 volumes.

There has been published the past year the seventh volume
of the fourth series of the Collections, being a continuation of
the valuable " Winthrop Papers " furnished from the private
collection of the President; also volume fifth of the Proceed-
ings, bringing them down to October, 1864.

At the last meeting of the Society, a plan was proposed and
accepted by which we may be able to increase the sales of
the publications, and thereby to create a Publication Fund.
A circular has been prepared, giving the details, and also a
comprehensive list of contents, both for the whole thirty-
seven volumes of the Collections, and for the five volumes of
Proceedings. This is made available to persons not mem-
bers, by the payment of forty dollars, which entitles them to
all the publications of the Society thereafter published, dur-
ing life. While tliis will give us the opportunity of distrib-
uting our publications, and thus increase the amount of
historical information, it will be to us also a source of income.
The volume of Proceedings, published annually by the So-
ciety, is not, as is supposed by some, a mere record of the
proceedings of the monthly meetings of the Society; but it
contains a great amount of historical information from the
papers belonging to the Society, and those read at the meet-

1865.] REPORT OF STANDING COMMITTEE. 261

ings, and also notices and memoirs of deceased members, with
portraits and engravings.

The Report of the Treasurer will be laid before you, and
will exhibit the financial condition of the Society in its de-
tails, in the clear and business-like manner which always
marks the Eeports of that officer.

At the annual meeting in April last, our roll bore the
names of ninetj^-eight Resident Members, and of one hundred
and nine Honorary and Corresponding Members. During the
year, there have been added four Resident and two Corre-
sponding and Honorary Members. Three Resident Members
have died. In June last, our list consisted of just one hun-
dred members, our full constitutional limit. That number
was soon broken by the decease of our venerable senior mem-
ber, Mr. Quincy ; and the names of Quincy, Lamson, and
Everett, will long mark the year as one to be remembered
for the loss of valued and eminent members.

This department of the cabinet remains in much the same
state as it was left by the last Report, and not much improve-
ment can be expected until more ample room and accommo-
dation are provided for its arrangement and display. The
Cabinet-keeper, Dr. Green, after being at home a few months,
has again returned to his post in the army.

At the last annual meeting, it was proposed that an
arrangement should be made " for the preparation of an his-
torical paper, to be communicated at each stated meeting by
one of the members of the Society." This was referred to a
Select Committee, who prepared and addressed a circular to
each member. This action, however, has not had the de-
sired eflect. Papers have been prepared by Messrs. R. B.
Forbes, A. A. Lawrence, J. L. Sibley, and Dr. Webb, and also
other shorter notices of historic interest. Memoirs of Dr.
Bell, Rev. Charles Mason, and the Hon. William Sturgis, have
also been published. It is hoped that in the future a syste-
matic plan of prepared papers will receive the more particu-
lar attention of the members.

262 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,

At the request of several members, the Committee recently
procured a book for the collection and preservation of the
photographs of the members, commencing in June last, when
our roll consisted of one hundred members. A circular was
addressed to each member, requesting the contribution of his
own photograph. To this request members have to some
extent responded, but not so generally as was desired. It is
hoped each member will contribute to the collection, so that
not one vacant place will remain. The value of such a col-
lection can hardly be overestimated when preserved in the
Society's cabinet.

The Committee cannot close their Report without noticing
the rapid changes and events in the history of our country ;
and as they have already spoken of the special duties of the
Society at a time of such historical importance, so they cannot
forget to render words both of congratulation and of sorrow,
BO especially appropriate to us at this time. For surely none
can better appreciate or enjoy the triumphs of free govern-
ment than those accustomed to trace the issues and periods of
our New-England history, and from none can there come a
fuller expression of the nation's grief than from those who
have witnessed and enjoyed its recent triumphs. The record
of the year, indeed, closes with a terrible tragedy, and we
mourn for him who was at the head of our Government ; but,
in the work he has left behind him, we trust almost com-
pleted, of restoring the country to more than its original
position, we mark the year as one that will be remembered in
all future time, and stand as an epoch in history.
Respectfully submitted,

Wm. G. Brooks, Chairman.

Annual Report of the Librarian.
The Report of the Standing Committee exhibits so fully the
present state of the library, that little remains for additional
comment. Depending chiefly on voluntary contributions, our

1865.] EEPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. 263

collection has already become one of great variety and extent,
embracing valuable works in almost every department of his-
torical literature. We should be ungrateful to our numerous
contributors from the earliest period of our foundation, did
we not take much pleasure and pride in the treasures we pos-
sess. Presentation copies from distinguished authors, works
inestimable not for cost or rarity alone but intrinsic worth,
selected by scholarship knowing how to appreciate, and gener-
osity knowing where to bestow, have for three-quarters of
a century been filling our shelves. It must be a source of
especial satisfaction to the honored members of this Society,
that, among the more conspicuous monuments of usefulness
that crowd their paths, they have placed here so many sub-
stantial claims to be remembered by their successors in all
times to come.

In reviewing the growth of the library the past year, our
donations are found to have been numerous and valuable.
The largest was that of our Corresponding Member, Mr.
Winthrop, of Malta ; comprising, among other acceptable
gifts, two hundred and twenty-seven volumes of Italian
dramas in manuscript. Including these, our accessions from
April 1, 1864, to April 1, 1865, were as follows: —

410 Bound volumes, making our whole number 15,907.
970 Pamphlets, making our whole number about 19,470.
190 Broadsides.

227 Bound volumes of Manuscript ; now in all 746.
59 Other Manuscripts.
195 Unbound Newspapers.

6 Maps ; now in all 339.

1 Atlas ; now in all 32.

1 Photographic copy of Manuscript.

2,059 Separate Articles.

The whole number of volumes added the last year by dona^
tion, exchange and purchase, with the 15,881 volumes in the

264 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,

library at the last annual meeting, after deducting thirteen
volumes exchanged, makes the whole number on the first day
of April, 1865, 16,619.

On our table to-day, not included in the above enumeration,
are fifty-nine volumes presented by our associate, Mr. Amos
A. Lawrence, for the most part of an historical character, and
among them several town histories. One principal object in
contemplation by the founders of the Society was the pres-
ervation of interesting facts connected with the early settle-
ment and growth of towns in the Commonwealth, and in its
collections are found accounts of many of them contributed by
its original members. A laudable zeal to save from oblivion
local and family particulars, for the instruction of their future
inhabitants and generations, has led, in recent years, to the
preparation of many sepai-ate works. These are sufficiently
numerous for a time in the localities to which they relate, but
soon disappear. It is hoped that this effort to rescue for our
shelves what might otherwise perish will not be without imi-
tation. With these our whole number of bound volumes is
16,678.

Numerically considered in comparison with other large
libraries in Boston and its vicinity, — the University, with its
one hundred and eighty thousand; AthenEeum, eighty-five
thousand ; City, one hundred and twenty thousand ; Ameri-
can Academy, ten thousand ; State, twenty-five thousand ;
Boston, twenty-five thousand ; Law, eighty-five hundred ;
Genealogical, six thousand : Theological, ten thousand ; Medi-
cal, ten thousand ; Natural History, eleven thousand ; amount-
ing, in the aggregate, nearly to half a million of volumes, none
too many for our educated community, — our own is not
large. But the value of libraries is not to be measured
by the number of books. Our various collections are so
happily ordered and distributed as to accommodate different
classes of readers ; and those for the use of the professions, for
scientific inquiry, or which are devoted to other specialties:

1865.] REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. 265

if limited in range, are generally reasonably complete within
their respective departments. Of historical, biographical, and
geographical works we possess many that are choice, and not
to be easily replaced. Our deficiency is in modern publica-
tions, that money will purchase.

We receive with gratitude whatever is presented ; but our
aim should be to perfect our collection in American History
and its ancillary branches of biography, civil polity, and sta
tistics. Productions of an ephemeral nature are constantly
issuing from the press, which, unless secured when published,
go out of print and out of mind. Pamphlets, maps, public
documents, nari-atives, books of controversy, often improve in
value with age. It is doubtful whether files of newspapers in
sufficient numbers are preserved by this generation to supply
the constantly augmenting wants of those to come. With
other similar institutions throughout the land, we share a
sacred responsibility, imposed by public expectation, to pro-
vide for the future all the historical material it may need.

Early in the war, the attention of the Society was called to
the propriety of collecting whatever in print or in manuscript
would serve to illustrate this our second great historical
epoch ; and a Committee was appointed, charged with this
duty. If, from the scanty means at their disposal, less has
been effected than was hoped, their efforts have not been
without result.

The war we believe virtually ended; but, for years, relations
of its stirring incidents will flood the press, and help to form
just views of its principal characters and events. Whatever
is of a public nature, much that is not, will find its way into
print ; but a thorough understanding of all its secret springs
and motives can be obtained only from private correspond-
ence. Much of this in time is set free from any obligations to
confidence, divested of all power to pain or to harm. Would
it not be well to signify to the public, that every thing of
interest connected with the Kebellion, letters and other
34

266 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APKIL,

manuscripts, whether presented to the Society, or intrusted
for safe-keeping, will be carefully preserved, and only per-
mitted to be used with the utmost discretion ?

If works relating to our own country should be our first
object, whatever concerns the history of the race falls appro-
priately within the scope of an association like this. Several
of its members have won world-wide celebrity by researches
into the past of other nations. Some portion of their material
was of course only to be procured from original and unpub-
lished documents in the unexplored recesses of public archives
abroad ; but cost and toil would often have been spared, had
our libraries been more complete. Our shelves are now all
occupied, and little room remains in this building for farther
acquisitions. But the rapid development of trade and popu-
lation, before many years, will compel our removal where
there shall be ampler space ; and, meanwhile, should books
accumulate, our upper apartments can be re-arranged for
their accommodation.

Want of space is not our only discoui-agement. We need a
permanent, increasing, adequate fund, for the purchase of
books. To keep pace with the times, we should procure all
modern publications of merit of an historical nature, when
they are to be had: losing no opportunity of enriching our
collection with the ancient historians, chronicles and memoirs
of mediseval Europe ; issues of the printing societies, annals
of jurisprudence, literature, religion, science, and art ; statis-
tics, social statics, geography, and ethnology ; and all the
various records of political and municipal action. The gener-
osity of this community is proverbial, and its bounty meted
in no stinted stream to every worthy object. This claim
should not be regarded with indiiference. The actuating
motive to contribute to such a fund would be to promote the
preparation of wholesome literature, to take the place of trash
that dilutes and distorts youthful minds, whose vigorous ap-
petites would do justice to more useful and substantial nutri-

1865.] REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. 267

ment, if rendered more attractive. But, as an additional in-
ducement to the generously disposed, we might well imitate
the example of the Alma Mater of so many of us, and perpet-
uate the memory of benefactors who fill our shelves. The
inscription of their names when contributing more than one
thousand dollars to the fund, engraved in golden letters on a
marble tablet, to be permanently and prominently placed upon
our walls, would afford to the numerous generations of their
descendants a great pleasure at little cost.

An index to our manuscripts, many of which are enume-
rated in the preface to the second volume of the General
Catalogue published in 1860, is in course of preparation. As
these collections are peculiarly rich in local and national his-
tory, this index should be printed when completed. If other
institutions, states, and individuals would follow our exam-
ple, as regards their own treasures, there might exist some-
where in each large city, if not in every librarj', a clue to all
the manuscript collections of the land. These collections are
constantly increasing in magnitude, and with the advance of
time will enhance in value. A method embracing them all,
and perfected at stated periods, but not so minute as inordi-
nately to swell the expense beyond the reach of scholars, would
render available stores of historical lore now valueless from
dispersion and inaccessibility.

Title-cards of our recent accessions have accumulated in
sufficient numbers to fill another volume of the General Cata-
logue. Whether we should keep them out of print until a
new edition is called for, or issue a supplement, is a question
of economy. Were our means unlimited, the latter course,
with revisions at regular intervals of ten or twenty years,
would, in all probability, prove, in a long course of time, the
most convenient.

Thomas C. Amory, Jun.,

Lih-arian.

MASSACHUSETTS HISTOBICAL SOCIETT. [APRIL,

Annual Eeport of the Treasurer.

GENERAL ACCOUNT FOR THE TEAR ENDING APRIL, 1865.
DEBITS.

Balance due Treasurer, April, 1864 S474.30

John Appleton 999.97

George Arnold 699.96

Insurance 187.S0

Boston Taxes 266.00

Sundries 711.42

Massachusetts Historical Trust-Fund 120.00

Appleton Fund 732.18

Printing 940.21

Improvements in Room 287.50

$5,419.04

CREDITS.

Eent of Suffolk Savings Institution $2,200.00

Assessments 461.00

Admission Fees 90.00

Sales of Society's Publications 626.77

Tax of Suffolk'Savings Bank 266.00

Interest on SIOOO Bond 136.50

Sundries 6.34

Balance due the Treasurer 1,632.43

$5,419.04

THE APPLETON FUND.

This fund consisted of ten thousand dollars, presented to
the Society, Nov. 18, 1854, by the executors of the will of
the late Samuel Appleton, on the condition that its income be
applied to tlie purchase, preservation, and publication of his-
torical material. It was received from the executors in ten
shares of manufacturing stocks. These stocks were sold in
February and March, 1864 ; and the net proceeds, amounting
to twelve thousand two hundred and three dollars, were in-
vested in the real estate of the Society, according to the
Declaration of Trust on file, and recorded in the Register of
Deed's office, book 827, p. 63. Volumes three, four, five, six,
and seven of the Fourth Series of the Society's Collections

1865.] REPORT OF THE TREASURER. 269

were printed from the income of this fund, and a portion of
the Society's Proceedings ; and the strictly historical portion
of the volume of the Proceedings, printed for 1862-63.

Account ending April, 1865.

DEBITS.

John Wilson and Son, printing vol. vii. of Collections . . $1,461.26

John Appleton, services 200.00

William B. Trask, copying 45.53

J. F. Barrett, copying 29.00

Balance in the Treasurer's hands 342.46

82,079.25

CREDITS.

Balance of Account of 1864 $1,347.07

One Year's Interest op the Investment in Society's Build-
ing 732.18

$2,079.25

MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAl TRUST-FUND.

This fund consists of two thousand dollars, presented to the
Society, Oct. 15, 1855, by Hon. David Sears; the annual in-
come of which may be expended in certain specified objects,
as the Society may by special vote direct. It is invested in
the real estate of the Society.

Account to April, 1865.

DEBITS.

Balance in the Treasurer's hands $630.57

$630.57

CREDITS.

Balance of Account of 1864 $510.57

Income to March 1, 1865 120.00

$630.57

THE DOWSE FUND.

This fund, of ten thousand dollars, was presented to the
Society, April, 1857, by the executors of the will of the late
Thomas Dowse; and it was invested in a note signed by
Edward Hyde and 0. W. Watris, secured by mortgage on

270 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [APEIL,

real estate. This note was paid on the 7th of April, 1863;
and the whole fund was then invested in the real estate of the
Society. The income of this fund is included in the rent
received from the Suffolk Institution ; aud the expenditure
is included in salaries paid to Messrs. Appleton and Arnold,
who are employed in the care of the Dowse Library.

PROPERTY or THE SOCIETY.

The Estate on Tremont Sti-eet. — The Society purchased,
March 6, 1833, of the Provident Savings Institution, the
second story, and one-half of the attic story, of this building,
for $6,500 ; and, on the 13th of March, 1856, the remainder of
the interest of this institution, for $35,000. A portion of this
was paid by subscription; and, for the remainder, the Society
mortgaged the whole estate to the Suffolk Savings Bank for
Seamen and Others, for $27,500. This mortgage was dis-
charged on the 7th of April, 1863. The payments of the note
have been as follows : Two thousand dollars from the legacy
of Miss Mary P. Townsend ; sixteen hundred dollars from the
legacy of the late Nathaniel I. Bowditch ; five hundred dol-
lars from the Historical Trust-Fund ; twelve thousand two
hundred and three dollars from the net proceeds of the sale
of stocks of the Appleton Fund ; ten thousand dollars from
the note of Hyde and Watris, constituting the Dowse Fund ;
and the balance, eleven hundred and ninety-seven dollars,
from a donation by the late Hon. William Sturgis, to enable
the Society to discharge the mortgage. The lower floor is
rented to the Suffolk Savings Institution for fifteen years from
March 1, 1856, at an annual rent of $2,200.

The Library, Paintings, and Cabinet. — The library con-
sists of about nine thousand bound volumes and fifteen
thousand pamphlets.

The Society's Publications. — These consist of the thirty-
seven volumes of the Collections, five volumes of Proceed-

1865.] LIST OF OFFICERS. 271

iiigs, and two volumes of the Catalogue, — nearly eight
thousand volumes, which are for sale.

The JppUton Fund, of ten thousand dollars ; The Massa-
chusetts Historical Trust-Fund, of two thousand dollars ; The
Doivse Fund, of ten thousand dollars, — all invested in the
real estate of the Society, as explained in this Report.

The Doivse Library. — This library was presented to the
Society by the late Thomas Dowse, and consists of about five
thousand volumes.

The Copyright of the ^^ Life of John Quincy Adams.'" — This
was presented to the Society by Hon. Josiah Quincy. A
new edition is on sale by Nichols and Noyes.

Stock. — A certificate of one thousand dollars in the 5-20
United-States Loan.

THE INCOME.

The income of the Society consists of an annual assessment,
on each resident member, of seven dollars, or, instead, the
payment of sixty dollars ; the admission-fee, of ten dollars, of
new members ; the rent of the lower floor of the Society's
building ; the sales of the publications of the Society, the
sales of the " Life of John Quincy Adams," and the interest
on one thousand dollars of United-States Stock.

As I have heretofore suggested, I know of no way by which
the efEcieucy of the Society would be so much increased, as
by the creation of a fund for the purchase of books. As the
interest in historical inquiry increases, the need of such an
addition to the library is more urgent, especially as to works
on American History.

Richard Frothingham,

Treasurer.
April 18, 1865.

The Committee of Nomination reported the following
list of officers for the ensuing year : —

272 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [APRIL,

President.
Hon. ROBERT C. WINTHROP, LL.D Boston.

\'ice-Presidents.

JARED SPARKS, LL.D Cambridge.

Colonel THOMAS ASPINWALL, A.M Boston.

Recording Secretary.
CHARLES DEANE, A.M Cambridge.

Corresponding Secretary.
Rev. CHANDLER EOBBINS, D.D Boston.

Treasurer.
Hon. RICHARD FROTHINGHAM, A.M Charlestown.

LibraHan. ij
THOMAS C. AMOEY, Jus., A.M Boston.

Cabinet-lceeper.

SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D Boston.

Standing Committee.

Hon. HORACE GRAY, Jdn., A.M Boston.

Rev. GEORGE E. ELLIS, D.D Charlestown.

LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, A.M Boston.

CHARLES FOLSOM, A.M., Cambridge.

AMOS A. LAWRENCE, A.M Boston.

The gentlemen nominated were unanimously elected.
Mr. C. Brooks read the following paper, embracing
some anecdotes of the late Mr. Everett : —

Anecdotes of Mr. Everett.

Me. President, — There are two facts connected with the history
of the hite Hon. Edward Everett which are very interesting ; and, as
I have not heard any allusion to them, I will state them to the Society.

One I found in a newspaper sent to me, since his death, from San
Francisco, Cal. The writer, unknown to me, seems Avell acquainted
with Mr. Everett's character and history. The fact to which I
allude is stated thus : " While minister at the Court of St. James,
a dispute between the scholars of the two Universities of England,
Cambridge and Oxford, as to the correct rendering of a Greek
idiomatic sentence, was referred by mutual consent to Mr. Everett
for settlement. He undertook the delicate task, and succeeded in
convincing both parties to the contest that they were each in error

1865.] ANECDOTES OF MR. EVERETT. 273

and gave the true meaning ; and the London " Times " pronounced it
honor enough for one man to be able to teach the two great Univer-
sities of Great Britain how to construe Greek dialects."

The other fact is well known to me, and it is this : After Mr.
Everett had lost his election as Governor of Massachusetts, in 1840,
he went with his family to Europe. On his arrival in Paris, he called
the next morning at my house, and told me he was on his way to
Italy. I told him I hoped he would remain long enough in Paris to
allow me to introduce him to M. Victor Cousin, then Minister of
Public Instruction. He said he should be happy to do so, as he had
known M. Cousin as a student in Germany. M. Cousin appointed
tlie earliest opportunity for meeting us ; and, while walking to the
palace, I thought it a time peculiarly opportune to say this: "Mr.
Everett, I have for many years wished to ask you to perform a work
which greatly needs to be done, and which you can do better than any
other man: I. mean, — to write a History of Greece. Its histories
have been ex-parte productions, without the true aroma of native re-
publicanism. The history of Greece should be written by an Ameri-
can ; and the unanimous vote of the United States would select you
as the writer, believing you would produce one worthy the theme,
and place it by the side of Gibbon's ' History of the Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire.' " He replied : " Bating the compliments, I
must tell you I have hoped I might try my hand on the great theme."
I then grouped hurriedly the reasons for his undertaking it, — his
long training in Greek literature, his age, health, pecuniary means,
and his leisure then to take up his residence for a couple of years in
Athens, &c. He replied : " As they seem to have done with me in
politics, I feel quite inclined to think of Greece ; and, as I am now
going to Italy, I may examine the question at leisure."

The Hon. Henry Wheaton, our Minister Plenipotentiary at Ber-
lin, had special reasons for frequent visits to Paris. He was there at
this time ; and I asked him to second my efforts in persuading Mr.
Everett to undertake the writing of a History of Greece. He did so,
and told me that he got so far as almost to extort a promise that he
would begin it.

Mr. Everett went to Italy, and took up his residence in Tuscany,
in one of the historical palaces of the Medici family. In a few months
after, he called at my house in Paris to tell me he was on his way to
the Court of St. James !

I shall never cease to regret that the Court of St. James found
him, and Greece lost him.

274 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MAY,

MAY MEETING.

The Society held its stated monthly meeting this day,
May 11, Thursday, at eleven o'clock, a.m. ; the President
in the chair.

The Librarian announced donations from the State
of Ohio ; the City of Boston ; the Mercantile Library
Association of San Francisco ; the New-England Loyal
Publication Society; the proprietors of the "Heraldic
Journal ; " the publishers of the " Savannah Kepubli-
can ; " the Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hos-
pital ; Mr. George Arnold ; Rev. Charles H. Brigham ;
Dr. Isaac Brinckerhoff, U.S.N. ; Rev. John Chester ;
Count Adolphe de Circourt ; Mr. Andrew Cushing ; Mr.
Samuel T. Cushing ; Benjamin P. Johnson, Esq. ; Hon.
John G. Palfrey ; Hon. Alexander H. Rice ; Mr. John
Iv. Wiggin ; Ashbel Woodward, M.D. ; and from
Messrs. Holland, Latham, C. Robbins, and Winthrop,
of the Society.

A circular letter was received from the Mayor of Bos-
ton inviting this Society to take a part in the commem-
orative service to take place on the first of June ; this
day being appointed by the President of the United
States " to be observed as a day whereon all shall be
occupied at the same time in contemplation of the vir-
tues, and sorrow for the sudden and violent end, of
Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States
of America."

Voted, To accept the invitation of the city authorities.

The Corresponding Secretary announced acknowl-

1865.] president's remarks. 275

edgments from a number of persons to whom the last-
issued pubhcations of the Society had been sent.

Josiah Phillips Quincy was elected a Resident Mem-
ber.

The President exhibited a manuscript which he had
found among the papers of Governor Bowdoin, and
which somewhat resembled his handwriting, — being the
inscription prepared for the pedestal of the Beacon-hill
Monument.

Dr. Shurtleff thought it not improbable that Gov-
ernor Bowdoin was the author of that inscription,
although popular tradition had referred its authorship to
Judge Dawes.

An application from George W. Greene, Esq., for
leave to copy a manuscript map of the island of Rhode
Island, illustrating the expedition of 1778, in the arch-
ives of the Society, was granted, and referred to the
Standing Committee under the rules.

The President then made the following remarks : —

A little more than a year ago, gentlemen, we thought it
not unfit to recognize the commemoration, in Old England, of
the three hundredth anniversary of the birthday of Shak-
speare, and to enter upon our records a passing expression of
our sympathy with all who were engaged in paying homage
to the memory of that marvellous man. No other birthday of
a kindred character, I am aware, can have equal claims upon
our notice with that birthday. The language of Shakspeare
is our own language, and his native land is the native land of
our fathers. But we may not wholly forget, that, in another
and still more distant clime, there is in progress at this very
hour a commemoration of the six hundredth anniversary of the
birthday of a great poet, who, though far less familiar to most

276 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,

of US than Shakspeare, cannot fail to be regarded by us all
with the warmest admiration; a poet, who — though ban-
ished from his own city for the part he had taken in its un-
happy civil wars, and though forbidden to return within the
boundaries of the republic under penalty of being burnt alive
— was yet no sooner in his grave, than all Italy felt that she
had lost her foremost man ; a great Christian poet, who
was not merely the father of modern Italian poetry, but to
whom the poets of all countries for so many centuries have
been accustomed to turn with an almost filial reverence, and
who has been happily and justly styled the morning star of
modern literature. Nor can we forget that from his native
land came forth the discoverers of our own, and that his lan-
guage was substantially that of Columbus and Vespucius.
Italy has many titles to the regard and sympathy of lovers of
literature and lovers of liberty throughout the world. But
Americans may well feel a special interest in all that concerns
her welfare and her honor, and particularly at a moment when
she is just entering on a new career as a united nation, with
the birthplace of Dante as its capital. And no American, I
am sure, can have observed without emotion, in the very
latest accounts from Europe, that the Chamber of the Italian
Deputies was instantly draped in mourning on the announce-
ment of the deplorable event which has deprived our country
of an honored and beloved chief magistrate. I will not detain
you by any further remarks of my own on this subject, as
there are those of our number whose particular province and
privilege it is to deal with Dante and his " Divine Comedy,"
if any thing is to be said about them here on this occasion.
It is enough for me to open the way for them by submitting
the following resolution, under the authority of our Standing
Committee : —

Resolved, By the Massachusetts Historical Society, that we cannot
fail to bear in mind with deep interest that a great historical and
literary festival is this day in progress in the beautiful city of Flor-

1865.] DR. HOLMES'S EEMAEKS. 277

ence, commemorative of the six hundredth anniversary of the birthday
of Dante ; that we heartily sympathize with all who are uniting to pay
homage to the memory and the genius of that illustrious Christian
poet ; and that we rejoice that the occurrence of so memorable a
jubilee finds Italy in the enjoyment of a national union, for which so
many of her noblest sons have long and ardently labored, and from
which she confidently anticipates a revival of her literary and historic

Dr. Holmes then spoke as follows : —

It is not my purpose, Mr. President, to speak of the works
or the character of the illustrious poet to whom the resolution
relates. I had hoped to listen to the voices of some of our
members whose studies, whose taste, whose genius, fit them
to speak of him with an authority which we should all have
recognized. In accordance with a suggestion of the Presi-
dent, I hinted to some of these gentlemen how agreeable
their presence, and any words they might feel prompted to
utter at this meeting, would be to all the members of our
association.

Mr. Longfellow, as is well known to most or all of us, has
published two cantos of a translation from the " Divina Corn-
media," a precious instalment of a complete translation which
he is understood to have made. Mr. Lowell has given proof of
his long and profound study of the great poet in his admirable
article, " Dante," in the " New American Cyclopa3dia." Mr.
Norton, to whose elegant scholarship we have often been in-
debted, has helped to naturalize Dante among us by introdu-
cing a select circle of readers to the " Vita Nuova." If we
might look beyond our own inclosure, we should see that our
townsman. Dr. Parsons, had anticipated all these accomplished
scholars by his faithful and poetical rendering of the few first
cantos of the " Inferno," recently followed by thirteen addi-
tional cantos not unworthy of their predecessors.

Some of these gentlemen we might reasonably have hoped
to hear from to-day. But Mr. Longfellow, like many of our

278 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MAT,

sweetest forest birds, is not often to be seen when he is sing-
ing ; and we must let nature's songsters have their way. Mr.
Lowell is, for the moment, suffering from indisposition ; and
Mr. Norton, who is so competent to say all that we would
have said is, to our regret, not with us to-day.

Who is there, then, to speak of Dante ? I fear none at least
of those whom we see here to-day. Certainly, I shall not be
the one to attempt to do justice to such a task. For, to speak
rightly, one must have given years of his life to the study of
that vast genius, of that eventful life. "We talk of Shak-
spearean critics, men who have studied Shakspeare as astron-
omers study the stars, as natural philosophers study the tides.
To speak adequately even of a dried fossil demands the
knowledge of a pi'ofessed palaeontologist. If we must have
specialists for the class of creeping things ; if we must
have ticketed experts for the study of mummy-cases ; if none
but herpetologists must talk to us of reptiles, and none but
Egyptologists of sacred tables, — how shall any but a trained
Dantologist, one who has not only read and entranced himself
in those wondrous visions, but read them with the aid of all
that erudition can bring to illuminate their obscurity, and
pondered* their meaning until he has transported himself
utterly into the land and the century of their birth, attempt
to add to their glory by his tribute ?

Such, Mr. President, is not my intention. Feeling it my
duty to account for the absence of those to whom we should
have been so happy to listen, I rose to read the roll-call, —
which may not have included all whose names it ought to
bear, — and to explain why our friends did not answer from
their places, while I availed myself of the opportunity to
move the adoption of the very appropriate resolution offered
by the President of the Society.

Mr. Savage seconded the resolution, and expressed
the hope that the remarks to which the Society had just

1865.] VOTE OP THANKS. 279

listened, with the resolution, would be printed in some
daily paper.

The resolution was then unanimously adopted.

The President read a letter which he had received
from Winthrop Sargent, Esq., of New York, accom-
panied by a copy of the first portion of a journal, or
series of letters, written by Mr. John Andrews, of
Boston, during the years 1772-1776, embracing the
period of " the siege ; " which Mr. Sargent is engaged
in preparing for publication in the Proceedings of the
Society.

The greater part of the instalment of letters received
was read to the meeting by the President, and proved to
be of great historical interest.

Dr. Shurtleff communicated to the Society a new
chart of the harbor of Boston, presented by Samuel
Thaxter Gushing. It is called " Eldridge's New Chart
of Boston Harbor, compiled from the latest surveys.
Boston, 1865."

Dr. RoBBiNS offered the following vote? which, he
stated, was inadvertently omitted to be offered at the last
meeting.

Voted, That the thanks of the Society are due to
the retiring members of the Standing Committee, Mr.
William G. Brooks, chairman, and Mr. Norton, an asso-
ciate member, for the valuable services they have ren-
dered during the past year.

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,

JUNE MEETING.

A stated montMy meeting of the Society was held
this day, Thursday, June 8, at eleven o'clock, a.m. ;
the President, the Hon. Mr. Winthrop, in the chair.

The Librarian announced donations from the Ameri-
can Philosophical Society; the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania ; the New - England Loyal Publication
Society ; the Trustees of the Peabody Institute, South
Danvers ; the Trustees of the Free Public Library, New
Bedford ; Mr. George Arnold ; Mr. Thomas Y. Crowell ;
Henry B. Dawson, Esq. ; Frederic De Peyster, Esq. ;
Charles H. Hart, Esq. ; Hon. William McDougall ; Mrs.
Charles Mason; Henry Onderdonk, jun., Esq.; Hon.
Alexander H. Rice ; Hon. Henry Wilson ; and from
Messrs. Bartlet, W. G. Brooks, Dana, Lawrence, C.
Bobbins, Shurtleff, and Winthrop, of the Societ}'.

Dr. Bobbins, the Corresponding Secretary, stated that
he had received a letter from the Department of State at
Washington, acknowledging the receipt of his letter to
Secretary Seward notifying him of his election as an
Honorary Member of this Society. The letter, written
in behalf of Mr. Seward by A. Anthony Gutman,
stated that the Society's communication would be laid
before the Secretary as soon as he should resume his
official and private business.

The President read a letter from James B. Congdon,
Esq., written in behalf of the Trustees of the " Free
Public Library," of New Bedford, stating that he had
sent to the Society photographs of the two fii'st pages

IS65.] DR. NORTON FOLSOM'S LETTER. 281

of the Eecords of the Town of Dartmouth, as a present
to the Society.

The following letters, one of which relates to some
relics of the war which had been sent to the Society
from the " Burnside Mine," near Petersburg, and the
other describes a visit made to the mine, were read by
the President : —

Headquaeteks 25th Army Corps,

Camp Lincoln, Va., May 10, 1865.

Secretary of the Historical Society, Boston, Mass.

Dear Sir, — I have forwarded to you, by Adams's Express, some
relics of the war, which were picked up by Surgeon Folsom, Medical
Inspector of this Corps, and myself, in the rebel fort known as the
" Burnside Mine," near Petersburg, Va. Tlie sharpshooters' box
illustrates very forcibly the accuracy of our boys' fire at a distance of
two hundred yards. The bullets, some twenty or more, fell from
between the logs, constituting the box, as we removed, it from its bed
on the parapet of the fort.

The plate of boiler iron covering the outer foce of the log has evi-
dently been turned, as its under surface shows the indentation of
several bullets, one of which must have passed through, as is seen by
the hole in the plate near the opening for the muzzle of the musket.

Some idea of the shower of bullets which filled the air during that
fearful charge may be had from the great number of bullet holes in
the shelter tent, canteen, and haversack. — Very truly yours,

E. P. MORONG,

Surr/eon, U.S. Vols.; AJedical Director^ 26th Anny Corps.

Surgeon Norton Folsom to Ms Sister.

April 30, 1S65.

Dear M ... I took a ride to-day (Sunday), the first since

I have been here [camp near Petersburg, 2.5th United-States Army
Corps]. We went over to where the mine was exploded. It was
very interesting. The main work was about as big as the bank our
house stands on, with earthworks and ditches zigzagging away from it
in all directions. Then, within a stone's throw — very near indeed
— were our works, less elaborate. Here, within speaking distance,
men lived for months, on each side protected only by a few feet of

282 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,

earth ; and woe be to him who ventured to lift his head above the
bank.

Deep covered ways led up to our works, and the daily detail of
pickets were sent out through them.

In one place in the rebel fort, the work was covered by a log
through which some sharpshooter had cut a hole for his musket to
point through ; and, to make it more secure, he had fastened an iron
plate, likewise with a hole through it, on the outside (this he must
have done at night, unseen) . The log, around the iron plate, is torn
and cut nearly half in two by the bullets of our sharpshooters aiming
at the hole.

There we saw the remains of the mine, a passage big enough for
a man to walk in, slanting deeply down, and full of water ; then the
countermine, which the rebels made after the explosion ; and a great
depression, where the explosion took place.

After the explosion, during the next week or so, the rebels built
the new fort which I speak of, in the rear of where the old one was
blown up. There are also wooden defences, — three or four feet
high, — like four combs at right angles, made of logs, — with sharp
pickets running through a sort of fence, to prevent infantry charging.
These are torn to flinders by bullets and shell. A bullet must have
struck every inch or two over the whole space ! — without exaggera-
tion.

Then, on the narrow space between our lines and theirs, where we
charged, that awful night, the ground is torn up every foot or two
with large and small shell ; and hundreds of bullets and fragments of
shell lie there, washed bare by the rain. Scores of caps and coats
and canteens and cartridge-boxes, riddled with balls (I counted six
holes in one canteen, say eight inches in diameter). No buttons
on the coats. They lie there, where the brave soldiers died ; and
above the bodies of many of them.

It was the worst sight I ever saw, and I have not told you the
worst part of it.

AlFectionately, N.

A letter from Leouard C. Bowles, Recorder of the
Cincinnati Society, requesting, in behalf of that Society,
the loan of the portrait of General Lincoln, in the pos-
session of the Historical Society, to be used in the dining

1865.] DEATH OP MR. JOSEPH WILLARD. 283

hall at Parker's on the fourth of July, was read by the
President.

Voted, To grant the request of Mr. Bowles.

The President announced the death of our associate
member, Joseph Willard, in the following terms : —

You will hardly have failed to notice, gentlemen, that, since
our last stated meeting, another vacancy has been created in
the list of our Resident Members, by the death of our
esteemed and respected associate, Joseph Willard. Not a
few of us, indeed, attended his funeral on the 15th of the last
month. Mr. Willard was elected a member of this Society
in 1829 ; and, at the time of his death, his name stood fifth in
order of seniority on our resident roll. He had been our
Eecording Secretary for twenty-two years, and our Corres-
ponding Secretary for seven years afterwards. More than a
year has elapsed since we began to miss his famihar and wel-
come presence at our meetings. The loss of a gallant son in
battle gave a shock to his system from which he never wholly
recovered, and conspired with other causes in hastening his
decline. But, until his health failed, few of our number were
more regular in their attendance or more earnest in promoting
the objects of our Society. More than one valuable and
elaborate historical discourse or essay have evinced his inter-
est in our pursuits. Others can do better justice than myself
to his acquirements as a lawyer, to his fidelity and devotion
as a clerk of the courts, and to his virtues and excellences
as a Christian gentleman. I will only detain you further by
offering, in behalf and by authority of the Standing Commit-
tee, the following resolution: —

Besolved, That we have learned with deep regret the death of our
esteemed associate, Joseph Willard, Esq., who had rendered us val-
uable services for many years as our Recording and Corresponding
Secretary ; and that the President be requested to appoint one of our
number to prepare the customary Memoir for our transactions.

284 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,

Professor Washburn then spoke as follows : —

Mr. President, — While I do not propose to detain the So-
ciety by any protracted remarks upon the life or character of
our late associate, Joseph Willard, Esq., I am unwilling to suffer
the occasion to pass without adding a few words dictated by
the unbroken intimacy that has given me an opportunity to
know him in almost every phase through which a man ordi-
narily passes from opening manhood till he has reached the
confines of the period usually allotted as the goal of human
life. Since the year 1819, it was my privilege to be asso-
ciated with him, on terms of great familiarity, until the subtle
and painful disease which terminated his life withdrew him
from his accustomed intercourse with his friends.

Like other men of literary and retired habits, his life pre-
sented comparatively few salient incidents or events to mark
its progress, or claim public attention beyond the simple
career of a professional man and the unobtrusive course of a
pure private life.

In his social and domestic relations, Mr. Willard was for-
tunate and happy. He was, from his childhood, associated
with men of literary culture and refinement ; and the habits
which he early formed from such an intercourse, were retained
to the last. He was the youngest child of President Willard
of Harvard College, and was graduated at that institution at
the age of eighteen, in 1816. For the best part of two years,
he was a student in the office of the Hon. Charles H. Ather-
ton, of Amherst, N.H. ; and, while there, had charge of the
education of his two sons, one of whom subsequently became
a senator in Congress. He then joined the law-school in
Harvard College, then in its infancy, and received from it the
degree of LL.B. He was admitted to the bar in 1819, and
began practice in Waltham. From there he removed to Lan-
caster, in 1821, where he pursued his profession with diligence
and assiduity, until his removal to Boston, in 1831. In 1830,

1865.] DEATH OF MB. JOSEPH WILLARD. 285

at the age of thirty-two, he married Miss Susannah H. Lewis,
of Boston, who still survives him. It may be only proper
therefore to add, that in her he found a companion and friend,
in every respect worthy of the confidence and affection which
he reposed in her as a wise counsellor and devoted wife.
He shared the common lot of most men in the scenes of domes-
tic joy and sorrow through which he was called to pass. Of
seven children born to him, three only survived him. Two
died in infancy. His son, the noble and gallant Major Sidney
Willard, fell in bravely leading his regiment into action at the
battle of Fredericksburg. And a daughter, — a young woman
of much cultivation and attractiveness, who had become
endeared to him as a companion, and never tired in her devo-
tions to his happiness, — soon after fell a victim to disease,
aggravated by her painful solicitude on account of his own
wasting health and vigor. But, in whatever form sorrow and
affliction touched the sensibilities of a susceptible nature, he
bore them with the calm and unhesitating confidence and
courage of a Christian. Never did that unimpassioned equa-
nimity forsake him, which shed over his intercourse with
others a quiet dignity which sometimes bordered upon re-
serve. He never forgot the self-respect of a gentleman, nor
failed to impress upon others the conviction that he was act-
ing up to the standard of a refined Christian morality.

Of his character and success as a lawyer I do not propose
to speak here, nor of his connection with the difficult and
responsible position of Clerk of the Suffolk Court of Common
Pleas and, afterwards, of the Superior Court, which he held
from 1840 to the time of his death. He represented the town
of Lancaster two years in the Legislature, which was the only
occasion on which he held political office, although he was
subsequently for several years a Master in Chancery, and
always took a lively interest in the current political events of
the day.

I do not propose to speak further of his personal character

^Ob MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,

or qualities, as my time will not admit of attempting to do
him justice by any effort at analyzing these.

Of his connection with this Society and historical pursuits,
I cannot forbear to say something.

Mr. Willard had, from an early date, a taste and fondness
for antiquarian research and the learning of genealogy.
These he cultivated, as occasion served, after his removal to
Lancaster. He was fortunately situated for this purpose, as
he found in the county several whose tastes corresponded
with his own, and who had inducements to pursue these
actively, from there being less to divert them than in the
more exciting scenes of city life. Among them I might men-
tion William Lincoln, John Davis, Isaac Goodwin, and Chris-
topher C. Baldwin, who had been active members of this or
the American Antiquarian Society, of which Mr. Willard was
also a member. A magazine was started under the auspices
of these gentlemen by Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Baldwin, devoted
principally to historical subjects, especially the local histories
of the towns in Worcester County. Mr. Willard furnished for
this work a full and elaborate history of Lancaster, which was
distinguished by that accuracy and fidelity which character-
ized every thing which he undertook. In 1829, he was
appointed by the bar of that county to prepare an historical
address, which he delivered in October of that year. It was
a work of great labor and research, and was performed with
unsurpassed success. None but a true lover of his subject
could have so well sought out, and brought to light, the
memories of men and things over which the dust of antiquity
had been settling for so many years. The bar of that county,
and the commonwealth generally, owe him a large debt of
gratitude for this valuable and interesting chapter in the
juridical history of Massachusetts.

It was in this year of 1829 that he became a member of
this Society. Prom 1835 to 1857, he was its Recording Secre-
tary; and from 1857 to 1864, — when he resigned the place

I860.] DEATH OF MR. JOSEPH WILLARD. 287

on account of growing ill health, — he was the Corresponding
Secretary of the Society. Of the punctuality, courtesy, and
fidelity with which he performed the duties of these offices,
I have no occasion to speak in this presence. They are too
recent to require any testimony on my part.

Although, upon his removal to Boston, Mr. Willard entered
upon a somewhat wider sphere of action, he did not fail to
pursue matters of historical inquiry and research as occasion
oflered. Nor did he confine himself to this department of
literature alone. He was a contributor to a periodical called
the " New Monthly," which was published in Boston from
1830 to 1833. In 1853 occurred the anniversary of the sei>-
tlement of Lancaster, at the expiration of two hundred years.
And, although it had been many years since his removal from
the town, he was regarded as the best qualified to do justice
to tiie occasion by a commemorative address. It was literally
a labor of love on his part; and the completeness of the
work, which now forms a part of our historical literature,
left nothing to desire in the narrative of the events con-
nected with the planting and growth of that, the most an-
cient town in the county of Worcester. But the most signal
monument of his untiring labor, in the way of research and
composition, was a volume of nearly five hundred pages
devoted to the genealogy of the Willard family.

He took an early and deep interest in the events and dis-
cussions which resulted in the conspiracy and rebellion to
overthrow our government, and could not fail to observe
the unfriendly spirit with which the struggle was regarded
by the English press and many of the leading English minds.
He was led from these considerations to address a communi-
cation of much power and interest to a friend in England,
in which he exposed the ignorance of facts and the errors in
principle under which the sentiment of that country had
become hostile to the institutions and government of the
United States. This was published in England, and could

288 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuXE,

hardly have failed to carry conviction to the mind of any one
who read it with an honest wish to learn the true merits of
the controversy between freedom and slavery in which the
country was then involved.

But the work upon which the fame and character of Mr.
Willard, as a writer of biography and history, was to rest,
had not received the finishing touches of his pen, when his
labors were arrested by that subtle and insidious disease
which terminated a life of constant and unwearied industry.
It was to this overtaxation of his brain, as some have thought,
that we are to look for the remote, if not the direct, cause
of the breaking-up of a most admirable constitution, in as
healthy a frame as one ever meets with; where the flush,
almost of youth, upon the cheek was but a counterpart to the
elastic step and muscular action of early, vigorous manhood,
and would never have suggested that these belonged to the
man of sixty-five summers.

The work of which I speak was the " Life of General
Henry Knox," of Revolutionary memory, iipon which Mr.
Willard had been engaged for about two years before his
death. The idea of his engaging in the undertaking was, I
believe, first suggested by the late Judge Wilde, who had been
familiar with General Knox and his family while he resided in
Maine, and believed that Mr. Willard would do justice to the
subject. The papers left by the General were afterwards
placed in Mr. Willard's hands by Mrs. Thacher, the daughter
of the General ; and the work was prosecuted in a manner to
insure its entire accuracy and fidelity, and had been substan-
tially completed when it was arrested by his sickness. It is,
however, in such a state of forwardness that we may hope ere
long to have it given to the public in a form which will sus-
tain alike the fame of the hero and statesman of whom it
treats, and the character of the author for fidelity, accuracy,
and good taste, for which he had laid the foundation in his
earlier productions.

1865.] DEATH OP MR. JOSEPH WILLARD. 289

I would only add to this, at best, meagre sketch of our
late friend and associate, the hope that some one may be
induced to do for him what he had so cheerfully done for
others, in preserving some suitable memorial of a useful,
busy, and spotless life, in which private virtues were mingled
with public duties, and the drudgery of oflfice did not dull
the refined taste or quick sensibilities of the scholar, nor
ever stand in the way of the courtesies of the Christian
gentleman.

The Rev. Charles Brooks then addressed the meet-
hig : —

Having known and loved this good man as a classmate
and friend for nearly half a century, I am happy in bearing
testimony here to his talents and worth. He wore the rose
of youth when we entered Harvard College, in 1812; and he
wore through life a manly beauty. President Willard, his
father, died in 1804; and therefore he came under the chief
care of an intelligent and pious mother, who was aided by her
older sons and daughters. His situation was favorable to the
development of his mental powers and his moral character.
As a scholar in college he held a very respectable rank. He
did not make sudden and unexpected exhibitions of mind or
feeling. His temperament did not favor spasmodic actions.
He was as regular as the seasons, and as welcome as the sun.
His mind was eminently direct and practical, judicious and
patient. There was something solid and reliable in him,
which inspired confidence and secured respect. He knew
himself, and was not likely to fail in what he was willing to
attempt. Demanding a substantial basis for every procedure,
he was never among those who calculate on a meteor, and
anchor on clouds. History was his favorite study; and the
time between the publications of his excellent " History of
Lancaster " and his uncommonly valuable " Memoir of Major
Simon Willard " is marked bv fliithful researches, — some of

290 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JdnE,

which the records of the Massachusetts Historical Society
will carefullj' preserve among its treasures. As our Corre-
sponding Secretary, he became acquainted with many distin-
guished scholars, from some of whom he derived most valu-
able information.

In his profession as a lawyer, he stood among the indus-
trious, the intelligent, and faithful ; and as a clerk of the
court, in SuiFolk County, was very highly esteemed for his
accuracy, patience, and gentlemanly deportment. In social
life he was a great favorite, because he was so modest, affable,
and sincere. Among his classmates he was uncommonly
popular ; and this fact speaks loudly for his genuine worth.
In his family he was all that a faithful husband and a loving
father should be. Blessed with a friend who was all that a
friend can be, his domestic circle was so united that every
heart answered to every other heart in the blessed response
of confiding love. He and his wife believed that early 7noi-al
culture is the most successful beginning of intellectual devel-
opment, and therefore that whatever goes into a child's mind
should be first filtered through its heart. The effects of this
wisdom were very visible in their noble, virtuous, and patri-
otic son, Major Willard, who gave his life in battle for liberty
and his country.

The crowning beauty of my classmate's character was its
Christian piety and cheerful beneficence. He was a sincere
disciple of Jesus Christ and a true lover of his fellow-men.
He belonged to the Unitarian denomination, and honored his
profession by his life. He performed most of the labor of
collecting the Hymns used for public worship in the West
Church of Boston. He was a friend to the poor, and loved
to do them good secretly ; and " blushed to find it fame."
He was a beautiful specimen of a Christian gentleman, —

" His henrt and hand both open and both free:
For what he had, he gave; what thought, he showed."

He has left behind him a character that will be remem-

1865.] DEATH OF MR. JOSEPH WILLARD. ^91

bered with gratitude, and an example which may be followed
with safety. He rests in Jesus ; and it is well.

Judge Gray made the following remarks : —
He said, that he had not known, before entering the
room, that resolutions of respect to the memory of Mr.
Willard were to be presented at this meeting; yet he could
not refrain from adding a word from a younger generation to
the full tributes of Mr. Willard's intimate friends. He said,
that, when he came to the bar, he found Mr. Willard the clerk
of the Court of Common Pleas, recognized by all as a model
clerk; faithful, accurate, and dignified; performing all his
varied duties in such a way as to increase respect for the
administration of justice ; combining perfect courtesy towards
the members of the bar with the degree of reserve necessary
to the proper discharge of his own ofSce ; — • that he afterwards
had repeated occasion to put to the test Mr. Willard's kind-
ness in imparting the results of his historical information and
research ; and had uniformly found in him the two qualities
of an antiquarian most worthy of praise, — his knowledge
was exact and valuable, and it was freely communicated to
any who asked his assistance.

Mr. Brtgham paid the following tribute : —

He remarked that he became acquainted with Mr. Willard
soon after he took an ofBce in Boston ; that he had before
known him as one of that company of young men in the
county of Worcester who had already distinguished them-
selves as historical students. He sought his acquaintance,
at first, from the fact that he knew he was the friend and
associate of Lincoln, Baldwin, Washburn, and Goodwin. The
acquaintance then formed proved a most agreeable one, and
continued to the day of his death. Mr. Willard came to
Boston with a good reputation as a lawyer. His Address
before the Worcester Bar, delivered a year or two before,

292 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuKE,

had given him a most favorable reputation throughout the
Commonwealth, and had already secured his election to mem-
bership of this Society. His practice in his profession was
respectable, and as large at that time as he could reasonably
have expected. He soon was employed as an auditor and
arbitrator very extensively, and as such gave general satis-
faction. He seemed, at that time, better fitted for this branch
of his profession than for the trial of causes in the courts ;
and was then inclined to make that his leading and principal
business. On the establishment of our present insolvent
system, in 1838, he was appointed a master in chancery ; and,
as such magistrate, he had for a time the principal insolvent
cases in the county of Suffolk. This insolvent system was
then new; it was established with great difficulty, and for
some years it encountered an opposition that seemed to
threaten its existence. So different was it from the system
of insolvency that had been in use in this Commonwealth for
more than a century, that it seemed to its best friends but a
doubtful experiment. It did, however, at length establish
itself in the hearts of the people, and is at this day as perma-
nent as any part of our statute law. And this success of the
sj^stem was owing more to the wise and prudent administra-
tion of the law by Mr. Willard than to any other cause. The
magistrates in other counties followed his lead ; and he was
regarded by them all as a safe and intelligent guide. In the
year 1839, a vacancy occurred in the office of clerk of the
Court of Common Pleas for the county of Suffolk ; and Mr.
Willard was appointed to fill it, to the universal satisfaction
of the bar. This office he filled to the day of his death, a
period of twenty-six years, — at first by the appointment of
the court, and afterwards by an election of the people for
two successive terms, without even a show of opposition.
How well he performed the duties of that arduous and trying
office is well known to every member of the bar. Amidst all
its annoyances he always preserved his temper, and never

1865.] DEATH OF MR. JOSEPH WILLAED. 293

allowed his feelings or wishes to control his judgment. On
questions of practice, it was not unusual for the court to con-
sult him; and it was a common saying, that it was folly to
appeal from his decision to the court on questions of costs or
other matters of practice, with which he was so familiar. In
fact, such appeals did not often succeed. It was common
among the members of the bar to call him the court ; and,
though it was said jocosely, yet it nevertheless appeared that
there was more truth than wit in the appellation. During
all the time he held the office of clerk, he still acted as
auditor and referee, and parties were often willing to refer
their cases to him rather than to submit them to a jury ;
and there can be no question that he could and did do greater
justice to litigants than it was possible for juries ordinarily
to do.

During all this period, and notwithstanding the incessant
labor of his oflSce, he still kept up his historical studies.
How well he succeeded, the members of this Society best
know. His historical studies were not for his own amuse-
ment alone, but resulted in valuable contributions to the his-
tor}' of the country. His papers on American naturalization
prior to the Revolution, and on the former militia system of
the United States, published in our Proceedings, are evidence
not only of his industry as an historical student, but show
him to have been a vigorous writer and an able man. His
" Memoir of the Willard Family " and his " Address at Lancas-
ter " are remarkable specimens of a conscientious and faithful
research in a department where none but a devoted lover
of historical studies will ever e'nter.

The resolution was unanimously adopted, and the
President appointed the Eev. Charles Brooks to pre-
pare the customary Memoir.

An interesting volume on the colors of the National
Guard of New York, with some passages of the history

294 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETT. [JuXE,

of the regiment, was exhibited to the meeting ; being a
gift to the library from Mr. Asher Taylor, of New
York. A suitable acknowledgment was directed to be
made to Mr. Taylor for this acceptable contribution to
the hbrary of the Society.

Professor Washburn read the following paper on —

The Origin and Sources of the Bill of Bights declared in the
Constitution of Massachusetts.

Pew, I apprehend, as they read the Declaration of Rights
which is prefixed to the Constitution of Massachusetts, ever
stop to inquire into the history of its provisions, if, indeed,
the idea that they have a history were at any time to suggest
itself to such readers.

These statements, so clear and simple, strike every mind,
now, as something so just and reasonable, that the rights and
liberties which are therein claimed, seem little more than a
reiteration of self-evident truths. They chime in so exactly
with the theory of government in which we have been edu-
cated, that it requires a considerable effort to persuade our-
selves that they were established only after a long and severe
struggle with the antagonist principles which they were made
to supplant, and that they once formed the rare exceptions to
the policy which prevailed for centuries, in the administration
of the governments of the Old World.

It almost savors of absurdity to the mind of one who has
never made the subject a study, that there can be a history
connected with the enunciation of truths which are so plain
and simple as to seem all but intuitive in their nature.

On the other hand, to any one at all familiar with the his-
tory and science of government, it would partake of the
character of a miracle to suppose, that any man, or body of
men, could have set down, and, by a process of a priori rea-
soning and calculation, marked out and defined so fully and

1865.] MASSACHUSETTS BILL OF EIGHTS. 295

accurately the essential principles of a system of free govern-
ment, as we find embodied in that instrument. And what is
quite as remarkable, that the Declaration of Rights should
have not only been so definite, but so comprehensive in its
character, that no new important civil right has been devel-
oped in the progress of political science, which it has been
thought necessary to incorporate into our constitution after
the experience of eighty-five years. It is only necessary^
further, to remind such a one, that government, in itself, is
a thing of slow development, in order to prepare him to under-
stand that the embodying such a store of important elemen-
tary truths into the frame-work of a state must have involved
profound political wisdom, as well as an intimate acquaintance
with the history of the progress of human society and the
principles upon which its different forms have been shaped
and administered.

Without any further preliminary explanation, my purpose
is to attempt to trace the sources from which some of the
more striking propositions were derived which go to make
up the Declaration of Rights in the Constitution of Massa-
chusetts, without, however, intending to trench upon the
interesting report upon our Constitution from the pen of our
associate, Mr. Deane, already published.

There was nothing new or original in the idea of such a
declaration. They had an example answering to it in the
Magna Charta, which was familiar to every one who had had
any share in the discussions which preceded or accompanied
the Revolution. And the still more analogous declaration
which, under the name of a Bill of Rights, entered into the
settlement of the crown of England at the time of her revo-
lution in 1688, was fresh in their recollections. But these,
after all, were too much in the nature of concessions from
the crown to the people to answer to that preliminary decla-
ration which recognizes the people of Massachusetts as being
the sole and independent actors in agreeing upon, ordaining.

296 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JUXE,

and establishing a Declaration of Rights and Form of Govern-
ment as their Constitution. The rights which they there
proclaim are not something conceded by a superior to an
inferior, but are assumed to have become fixed and established
as something inherent in the State itself, in its relations to
the nature and administration of its government. The colo-
nies had themselves more than once made solemn declara-
tions of what they deemed to be their rights as Englishmen,
under their charter from the crown. Plymouth had done this
and Chalmers says that Massachusetts, after the restoration
in 1660, drew up something like a Bill of Rights, claiming the
patent, under God, as the foundation of their civil polity,
under which they had a right to elect officers, enact laws, and
govern the affairs of their body politic. But these declara-
tions were, in many essential particulars, distinct from and
unlike the settling by the people, between themselves, what
rights they deemed to be inherent in the social system which
they were about to establish. The framers of our Constitu-
tion had, moreover, an example, to guide them in laying down
beforehand a broad statement of the principles upon which
the fabric of their government was to rest, in the Bills of
Right which had been adopted in the constitutions of the
States of North Carolina and Virginia as early as 1776. The
first Continental Congress, moreover, in 1774, had adopted a
Declaration of Rights which they claimed as colonists, and
published to the world. But their attention was called more
immediately to the subject by the fate of the instrument, de-
signed as a Constitution, which had been recently submitted
to the people of Massachusetts, and found so little favor that
from more than a hundred towns no votes upon the subject
of its adoption were even returned ; and, of those which were,
the proportion was as five to one against it. The great cause,
perhaps, of such a unanimous action in the matter was the
efi'ect produced upon the public mind by the manifesto put
out for their consideration by a convention of towns in, Essex

1865.] MASSACHUSETTS BILL OF EIGHTS. 297

County, known as the " Essex Result," which embodied with
great ability and effect the objections to the Constitution then
under consideration, and the defects which, in their judgment,
such an instrument ought to supply. Among the objections
to the Constitution of 1778 was the want of a Bill of Rights;
and it will be recollected that the same objection was urged
against the Constitution of the United States in 1788, though
the cases were not analogous, since the purpose of the latter
was only to create a government with limited powers and
jurisdiction over matters of a national interest and concern.
And one reason given in the debate upon the subject in the
convention of 1787, was, that the State declarations of rights
were not repealed bj'' this Constitution, and, being in force,
were sufficient. Upon the question of raising a committee
to prepare a Bill of Rights, the States voting were equally
divided, and the motion was lost (3 Mad., pp. 15G5, 1566).

Among the members of the Essex Convention, and to whose
pen the Result is chiefly ascribed, was Mr. Parsons, — after-
wards Chief Justice of our Supreme Court, — who was also
a member of the convention who framed the Constitution of
1780. There were, also, in the latter convention, most of the
strong men of Massachusetts, and many of them second to
none of her great men of that or any subsequent period of her
history. And when I name Bowdoin, its President; the
Adamses, John and Samuel; John Lowell, John Pickering,
George Cabot, James Sullivan, Levi Lincoln, Robert Treat
Paine, Caleb Strong, and William Cushing, I shall be justified
in the strong terms in which I have characterized that august
assembly. The subject of the political rights of the people
of the colonies had so long engrossed the attention of the
leading minds of the Commonwealth, that they had made
themselves masters of historic precedent as well as the
thoughts of the leading publicists of that and a former day ;
so that, when they came to act in the formation of a new gov-
ernment, they were prepared to undertake the work in the

Z9S MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,

light of the experience and improved knowledge of their own
and previous generations. The works of Filmer and Sidney
were familiar to them, and Montesquieu and Rousseau formed
a part of the political studies of the day. And we are told
by the second President Adams, that " the principles of Sid-
ney and Locke constitute the foundation of the North-Ameri-
can Declaration of Independence, and, together with the
subsequent writings of Montesquieu and Rousseau, that of
the Constitution of Massachusetts and of the Constitution of
the United States" (Lee. Prov. Lye, 1842, p. 29). And the
elder Adams, in writing upon the subject, says : " None was
ever made so perfectly upon the principle of the people's
rights and equality. It is Locke, Sidney, Rousseau, and Dr.
Mably reduced to practice in the first instance " (Adams's
Life, &c., vol. iv. p. 216). And, as an evidence that our an-
cestors were familiarly acquainted with the works of these
writers, we may refer to the familiar fact, that the motto of
the arms of Massachusetts is borrowed from a Latin couplet
inscribed by Sidney in the album of the Royal College at
Copenhagen, —

Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem."

(Lee. Prov. Lye, p. 28.)

And, if any thing more were wanting to show the familiarity
of the leading minds of that day with the great fundamental
doctrines of a free government, it need only be stated that
the Bill of Rights, with the exception of the Third Article,
was adopted in almost the precise terms in which it was
reported to the convention, as drawn by a subcommittee,
consisting of James Bowdoin, Samuel and John Adams ; and
that its original draft was prepared by John Adams, whose
afBuence of learning in the history and theories of govern-
ments was evinced afterwards in his voluminous Defence of
the American Constitutions, which he tells us was chiefly
intended to sustain that of Massachusetts against the attacks

1865.] MASSACHUSETTS BILL OP RIGHTS. 299

of Mons. Turgot upon the Constitutions of the States in his
letter to Dr. Price (4 Adams's Life, &c., 216).

Unfortunately, we have no light from the debates in
the convention, nor any cotemporaneous history of the
grounds upon which the several articles of the Constitution
were sustained ; nor are we always able to distinguish between
what was the original thought and judgment of the member
or committee who suggested any measure, and that which, as
a body, they borrowed from treatises and essays with which
they were already familiar. As an illustration of this, the
subject of the convention is hardly mentioned in the columns
of the " Boston Gazette" of the day; and nothing like a report
of any of its debates is to be found there. And so careless
was the government to preserve a memorial of its own his-
tory, that not only the original draft of the Constitution is
lost, but when, in 1832, it was proposed to publish the journal
of the convention that framed it, it was found impossible to
procure one of the original printed copies of the Constitution,
which, at the time of its adoption, had been sent to each of
its members (4 Adams's Life, <fec., 216). One of these copies,
however, was discovered in time to insert it in the appendix
to the printed Journal ; and a copy of it may be found in the
library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, together with
a discriminatory historical analysis of the same, from the pen
of its present Recording Secretary, which is piiblished in a
volume of its transactions.

Many of the articles of the Bill of Rights were undoubt-
edly a mere statement, in a concise and definite form, of senti-
ments then generally accepted as axioms in the community,
the origin of which it would have been difficult, even then,
to trace with any degree of confidence, and which now has
become impossible. Every State has, for the time being, a
prevailing tone of thought upon the topics then exciting
public interest and attention, which answers to a popular con-
sciousness or instinct, and shows itself more or less distinctly

300 MASSACHDSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,

in all its cotemporaneons acts. This was undoubtedly true
as to m-Auy of the sentiments which we iind embodied in the
propositions in the Bill of Rights. They were not so much
the enunciation of a new political or philosophical dogma as
the putting upon record, for all time, principles which had
become familiar from the frequency with which they had been
repeated as fundamental truths in the discussions to which
the Revolution had given rise. Take, for instance, the open-
ing declaration of this instrument, that " all men are born
free and equal." It is hard to believe that this was an original
thought or conception on the part of any one in that conven-
tion. It seems to be the kej'-note to all that follows, and must
have been the simple and almost spontaneous utterance of
what everybody then felt. It had been repeated, in almost
the same terms, by George Mason of Virginia, in the Bill of
Rights of that State, in June, 1776. It was again repeated in
July, 1776, by ilr. Jefferson, in the Declaration of Independ-
ence, which Mr. Maine, an English writer upon Ancient Law,
supposes he borrowed from " the peculiar ideas of the French
jurists " (p. 95). In respect to the declarations in this instru-
ment, Mr. Adams says, " There was not an idea in it but
what had been hackneyed in Congress for two years before;"
which Mr. Jefferson subsequently remarked might all be true
(1 Const. Hist., 85, 86). The thought was expanded and
dwelt upon at considerable length in the famous Essex Result,
which had been called out by a critical examination of the
defects of the Constitution of 1779, which was defeated by
this powerful and timely appeal. " All men," it says, " are
born equally free. The rights they possess at their birth are
equal and of the same kind. Some of these rights are alien-
able, and may be parted with for an equivalent.' Others are
inalienable and inherent, and of that importance that no
equivalent can be received in exchange " (Life of Parsons,
p. 365). And if we undertake to follow the political dogma,
that " by nature all men are equal," to ?ts origin, we should

1865.] MASSACHUSETTS BILL OF RIGHTS. 301

find ourselves lost in almost a pre-historic age. Sir Robert
Filmer borrowed it from Bellarmine, an early Italian writer,
and contested its soundness in his " Patriarcha," published in
1680; and Locke as stoutly maintains it in his treatise on
Civil Government (chap. 8), a part of his celebrated reply to
the lucubrations of Filmer. Mr. Maine, whose work I have
already mentioned, quotes from an ordinance of King Louis
Hutin, about 1312, enfranchising his serfs: " Whereas, accord-
ing to natural law, everybody ought to be born free" (p. 94);
while he declares that the Roman jurisconsults of the Anto-
nine era lay down as law, that " omnes homince natura 93-
quales sunt" (p. 92). It may be safely assumed, therefore,
that this article did but embody the prevailing sentiments of
the people.

The same, to a considerable extent, may be said of the
Third Article, so famous in its day, and so long the apple
of discord between sectarians and parties, whose zeal for re-
ligious liberty was inverse!}', in many cases, in proportion to
the amount of the Christian virtues they possessed.

There had come down, from the first landing of the Pilgrims
on these shores, a sentiment that religious faith and religious
worship were essential to a Christian Commonwealth. It
showed itself in the requirement of church-membership as a
qualification for the privileges of a freeman, and by the
various laws enacted from time to time requiring attendance
iTpon public worship and the observance of the Lord's day.
But there had been growing up in the community sectarian-
ism of various kinds. Mrs. Hutchinson with her Antinomian-
ism, the Quakers, the Baptists, and even what the Orthodox
thought still more latitudinarian heresies, had found advocates
and defenders. As has already been intimated, the committee
in their report, in the brief form which the Third Article
assumed under their hand, fell far short of the views of the
convention. The article was referred to a committee, of
which Rev. Mr. Alden of Bellinghani was chairman, who re-

302 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,

ported the article substantially in the form in which it was
finally adopted (4 Adams's Life, &c., 221 ; Journal Conven-
tion, p. 40). And when the article in this form was proposed,
under the ancient and traditional spirit of Puritanism, it was
stoutly resisted ; and is the only one on which the convention,
in their address to the people accompanying the constitution,
found it necessary to comment or explain. They say it " un-
derwent long debates, and took time in proportion to its
importance." And, though they add that it was at last adopted
with "more unanimity than usually takes place in disqui-
sitions of this nature," the contest only ended in our own
day by making it an enabling clause instead of a coercive
requirement.

The declaration in the Fifth Article, that all power origin-
ally resides in the people, &c., may be directly traced to
Burlamaqui, where the doctrine of ultimate sovereignty in
the people is fully sustained and illustrated (vol. ii., c. 5).
And the same is also maintained by Vattel (b. i., c. 4). And
the doctrine which is here maintained, of the relation of the
government of a State, as an agency, to the ultimate sove-
reignty of such State in its people, seems to be the readiest,
and indeed the only, clew by which to reconcile and explain
the inherent sovereignty of the United States as co-existing
with the inherent sovereignty of the several States.

The Thirtieth Article, which prohibits the exercise, by
one department of the government, of the jurisdiction dele-
gated to another, — though now an elementaiy principle in
every free government, — may undoubtedly be traced directly
to the writings of Montesquieu (b. ii., c. 6), in his comment
upon the constitution of England, where the idea is expanded
and enforced at great length.* It ma}', indeed, have been
borrowed more immediately from Blackstone, who repeats the
doctrine in briefer terms, and draws his authority for so rea-

* See 2 Story, Const., 3.

1865.] MASSACHUSETTS BILL OF RIGHTS. 303

sonable a dogma, in some measure, from the history of the
Star Chamber, to which 1 shall again allude. The first volume
of his Commentaries was published in 1765, and republished
in this country in Philadelphia in 1771 (^vide vol. i., p. 269).
A similar article had also been adopted by Virginia.

Several of the propositions of the Bill of Rights were bor-
rowed directly from that of England, already referred to, and
several are found in that of Virginia ; and I therefore pass to
another class of them, which are clearly traceable to the im-
pressions left upon the public mind by the history of the
struggle which the people of England had been carrying on
with the spirit of absolutism and despotic power, and which
was never fully laid till the antagonistic spirit of English
Puritanism was finally triumphant at the Revolution of 1688.

The history of Magna Charta is in a measure familiar to
the public, though very little of it now remains of any prac-
tical application or utility. There is, however, the 29th chap-
ter of that instrument, which is as vital in its elements of
civil liberty in the constitution of a free state to-day, as it
was when published six hundred and fifty years ago. This
is almost the only chapter which relates altogether to the
general liberties of the people of England, and forms the cor-
ner-stone of what is called the English Constitution. And
even that goes back much farther in its origin and history
than its date, — to the stern old notions of Saxon freedom
which were embodied in the laws of Edward the Confessor.
It secures to every citizen the protection of a juror's oath
and the safeguard of fixed and equal laws, and closes with
those noble words, which our own Supreme Court so perti-
nently adopted as the motto for the seal of that court,
"Nulli vendimus, nulli negabimus aut dlfferemus justitiam
vel rectum."

This chapter forms the substance, and almost the language,
of the 11th, and, to a considerable extent, of the 12th, article
of our Bill of Rights. But few, comparatively, ever stopped

804 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,

to trace its history back to the days of Norman misrule, when
justice was openly bought and sold in the courts, and the
voice of the law was drowned by the noisy passions of feudal
barbarism.

TJie 25th Article and the last clause of the 12th, which
forbid the declaring of a subject guilty of treason or felony
by the legislature, may probably be traced more directly to
an instance of personal outrage and oppression than any
other of its provisions, the history of which was still fresh in
the memories of the framers of that instrument. In order to
guard the subject against the prejudices and passions of the
crown by withholding from its officers the power, so fre-
quentlj^ used against an obnoxious individual, of torturing
equivocal acts and declarations into constructive treasons, the
parliament, in the first year of Edward VI. (c. 12, § 22),
enacted a law by which no one charged with treason could be
convicted upon the oath of less than two witnesses ; and in
its effect forbade the application of torture to compel the
accused to make confession. But the safeguard which was
thus designed to be thrown around the citizens was often
evaded by acts of attainder passed by parliament, in the con-
demnation of persons charged with the crime of treason, in
which the accused was denied the right of trial bj"^ jury, and
the rule requiring two witnesses of his guilt was disregarded.
Nor was any man safe, if, for any cause, he became the object
of parliamentary and royal jealousy or displeasure. The last
time in which this engine of political injustice was applied in
England was the case of Sir John Fenwick, who was behead-
ed on Tower Hill in 1696, some years after the accession to
the throne by William and Mary. Sir John had been com-
plicated with the troublous times growing out of the depo-
sition of James II., and was indicted and tried for treason-
But the crown, having failed to convict him by the requisite
oath of two witnesses, resorted to a bill of attainder, which
was carried by a vote of 189 to 156, to the utter subversion

1865.] MASSACHUSETTS BILL OF EIGHTS. 305

of his legal rights. And so shocked was the public sentiment
by such an outrage, that the experiment was never again
repeated. And it was in order to remove the possibility of
such acts of legislative injustice and oppression that the
article referred to was inserted in. bur Bill of Rights. Nor,
in the light of Enghsh legislation, was such a clause to be
deemed unnecessary, when it is remembered that the same
parliament which condemned Sir John Fenwick upon the tes-
timony of a single witness, had, within a year, reiterated the
law of Edward VI., and had passed an act that no man should
be tried or attainted of high treason but by the oath of two
lawful witnesses (7 & 8 Wm. III., c. 3, Jacob's Law Diet.
Attainder.)

We are also carried back to the same reign for one of the
steps which led to the 29th article of our Bill of Eights,
which declares that " it is not only the best policy, but for
the security of the rights of the people and of every citizen,
that the judges of the Supreme Judicial Court should hold
their office as long as they behave themselves well ; and that
they should have honorable salaries ascertained and estab-
lished by standing laws."

Up to the time of William III., the commissions of the
judges limited the tenure of their office to the will and
pleasure of the crown, durante bene placito. But upon the
settlement of the crown, after the death of Mary, upon
the House of Hanover, — in reversion after the demise of
William and Anne, — a clause was inserted in the act passed
in 1700, by which the commissions of the judges should there-
after be made quamdlu se bene gesserint, and their salaries
ascertained and established; but, upon the address of both
houses of parliament, it might be lawful to remove them.
It was, however, still understood that these commissions
expired upon the death of the king ; but by the act of the
1 George III., c. 23, the death of the sovereign was not to
affect the commissions of the judges.

306 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuKE,

In view of the judicial history of England prior to these
dates, few things had gone further towards establishing the
civil rights of people than the independence of the judges.
Before that time, even the most learned of these had been
found lacking spirit and energy sufficient to administer justice
impartially whenever the interests or the wishes of the crown
were at stake. There were noble exceptions, it is true ; but
when we see the base sycophancy and subserviency to royal
favor of such men as Coke and Bacon, and when we see such
men as Saunders and Jeffries placed at the head of the King's
Bench to carry out the avowed purposes of the crown at
whatever sacrifice it might be to the rights of the citizen, it
may be regarded as one of the crowning acts of the Revolu-
tion of 1688, that the temptation before existing in the way
of their judges, of being time-serving or dishonest, was re-
moved by placing them above the caprices of the appointing
power. It is not, therefore, surprising that the framers of the
Constitution should have regarded this as an important ele-
ment in the declaration of their rights ; though it certainly
seems a Httle remarkable, that, in another part of the Consti-
tution, they should have inserted the clause of the English
act authorizing the removal of a judge upon the address of
the two houses of the legislature.

The feeling of dread and detestation in which the atroci-
ties of the Court of Star Chamber were still held by the
framers of our Constitution may, undoubtedly, be regarded
as the origin and occasion of the declaration of sundry impor-
tant rights which is contained in the 12th article of that
instrument, and is in many respects like one adopted by Vir-
ginia. The progress of Puritanism swept away in its course
many of the most objectionable insti'umeuts of despotic power
and oppression which the Tudors and the Stuarts had been
wielding against the liberties of the English people. None
of these, perhaps, had been more potent than that of the
Court of Star Chamber, which was abolished by the Long
Parliament in 1641, in the time of Charles II.

1865.] MASSACHUSETTS BILL OF RIGHTS. 307

In the forms of its proceedings this court adopted that in
use in the Court of Chancery. The accused was required to
appear before the court, and answer upon oath as to all mat-
ters with which they might wish to charge him, in direct
violation of that principle of the common law which exempts
every man from becoming his own accuser. If the party
accused refused thus to answer, he was punished for contempt
by the court, according to their discretion, which might be by
fining, whipping, standing in the pillory, and imprisonment in
chains in the foulest of the dungeons in the Fleet. All these
were inflicted more than once upon the famous Lilburn, who
had given offence to Archbishop Laud for having to do,
as was alleged, with publishing and circulating Puritanical
books.

It is accordingly declared in our Bill of Rights, " No sub-
ject shall be held to answer for any crimes or offence, until the
same is fully and plainly, substantially and formally, described
to him ; or be compelled to accuse or furnish evidence against
himself"

Another feature in the proceedings before the Star Cham-
ber was the mode of proof allowed in that court. Instead
of requiring the personal attendance of witnesses in open
court, it allowed proof to be taken by depositions, in which,
till comparatively a late period, the party charged was
neither allowed to be present at the taking, nor permitted to
see the witness so as to know whether he was the person
whose name he assumed. Nor was the accused at liberty to
attack the credibility of the witness, nor to impeach him for
perjury, provided he was testifying in behalf of the crown.
The consequence was, there was no difSculty in furnishing
any desirable quantity of proof upon any point which the
crown found it an object to establish. And instances were
not few where wretches the most reckless and abandoned
carried through schemes for the ruin of honest men by being
hired to personate respectable and responsible witnesses, and

308 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,

assuming their names when subscribing depositions to which
they had falsely made oath. It was a great advance in the
course of justice when Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, about 1603,
introduced a new rule of practice, whereby a party who pro-
duced the deposition of a witness was required to show him
to the adverse party that he might be sure he was not per-
sonating another. Nor was this outrage upon the administra-
tion of justice confined to the Star Chamber alone. In the
trial of the Earl of Somerset for the murder of Sir Thomas
Overbury before the Court of the Lord High Steward, and
in that of Sir Walter Ealeigh before the High Commission
Court in which the Chief Justices Popham and Anderson sat
as members, evidence was admitted of what other witnesses
had said without calling these witnesses, although they were
within the jurisdiction of the court, and the court was re-
quested by the defendants to have the original witnesses
called. The admission of hearsay evidence like this, of
what other persons had said, was more or less tolerated at
that time by all the English courts.

This practice of allowing depositions of witnesses who were
absent taken in this way, disappeared during the Common-
wealth, when so many great and essential reforms in the
administration of justice were effected ; and was never after
revived (Amos, Oyer of Poisoning, pp. 286-288.)

Shakspeare refers to this custom of keeping back wit-
nesses, while evidence of what they bad said was introduced,
in the play of Henry VIII., Act 2, where one describes the
trial of the Duke of Buckingham: —

" The king's attorney, on the contrary, urged on the exam-
ination, proofs, confessions of divers witnesses, which the duke
desired to have brought viva voce, face to face."
, In addition to this, it should be remembered, until the time
of Mary no witnesses were ever allowed in court upon a trial
in favor of the prisoner, if charged with a high offence. And
even then the admission of such witnesses was of but little

1865.] MASSACHUSETTS BILL OP EIGHTS. 309

effect, since, unlike those called on the part of the prosecu-
tion, they were not allowed to be sworn or to testify under
the sanction of an oath. Nor was the right of having them
thus sworn conceded as a general right to a party accused
until the act of 1st of Anne, c. 9, which was passed in 1709.

It was these circumstances, undoubtedly, which led to the
further declaration in article 12, that " every subject shall
have a right to produce all proofs that may be favorable to
him," and " to meet the witnesses against him face to
face."

But the occasion for the clause which followed in that
article is even more remarkable when regarded in the light
of modern jurisprudence. It is in these words : " And to be
fully heard in his defence by himself or his counsel at his
election."

By the English common law, a prisoner arraigned upon a
charge of felony or treason was not permitted to have the
assistance of counsel upon his trial, nor in ordinary cases to
have the use of pen and ink while such trial was going on.

The theory upon which this was done was, that the court,
being impartial, was bound to act, so far, as counsel for the
prisoner, as to see that no injustice was done in the case.
And the same theory prevailed as well when Jeffries or
Scroggs administered the law as when the learned and con-
scientious Lord Chief Justice Hale held the scales of justice.
Nor should we forget that the prisoner thus cut off from the
aid of counsel was obliged to answer to an indictment in
which the offence with which he was charged was set forth
in an unknown tongue. Indictments were in the Latin lan-
guage till as late as the 4 Geo. II, 1731. The embarrass-
ment of Algernon Sidney, in being called upon to plead to his
indictment, is thus touchingly referred to by him in his ad-
dress to the court : " I presume your lordship will direct me,
for I am an ignorant man in matters of this kind. I may easily
be surprised in it. I never was at a trial in my life of any-

310 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,

body, and never read a law-book." Another instance was
that of Lady Lisle, who was arraigned before Jeffries for high
treason for receiving into her house, from the merest motives
of humanity, two persons, one a lawyer and the other a dis-
senting clergyman, who were suspected of having been con-
cerned in Monmouth's insurrection. She was more than
seventy years of age, and so feeble as to fall asleep from
sheer exhaustion during her trial, but was, nevertheless,
denied the aid of counsel (Amos, Oyer of Poisoning, p. 240).

In the process of time, this rigid rule was so far relaxed as
to allow a prisoner the aid of counsel so far as to argue to the ■
court a point of law that might arise in the trial. But he
was not permitted to employ counsel to make full defence, as
it was called, that is, to address the jury upon the facts as well
as the court upon the law, until the 7 W. III., c. 3, 1686. Nor
was this extended to cases of treason until the 20 Geo. II.,
c. 30, as late as 1747.

This might be sufficient to account for that clause in our
Bill of Rights which secures to every person to be fully
heard in his defence ; but the further pi-ovision, that he might
do it " by himself or his counsel at his election," requires a
further explanation, by recurring again to the practice of the
Star Chamber.

In that court, where the trial took place without the inter-
vention of a jury, the defendant, when charged with a crime,
had not only a right to be heard by his counsel, but he must
answer to the charge in writing, and this answer must be
signed by two counsellors of the court.' If he failed to pro-
cure two such counsellors, it was in vain that he appeared and
answered alone, or with a single counsel. The charge, in
such a case, was taken for confessed, and the court proceeded
at once to sentence him. The consequence was, that counsel
were often deterred, by fear of the court, from signing the
answer of their clients. Instances were not rare of harsh
and brutal berating of counsel by the court, by way of intim-

1865.] MASSACHUSETTS BILL OP RIGHTS. 311

idation, where they had been employed to prepare the re-
quisite answers to the charges made against their clients.
The court had every thing in their own way. They adminis-
tered what they called justice, without a jury, and by a
major vote of the members of the court.

An instance of this was in the case of Prynne, who, more
than once, fell under the severe animadversion of the court ;
and, among other things, for his pleasant little volume of
something over a thousand pages, which bore the significant
title of " Histrio-Mastis," which was aimed at stage plays,
masques. May-poles, and all kindred amusements.

He was a barrister at law, and employed counsel to aid
him ; but one of these failed him at last, from actual fear of
the court. It was in vain that he asked permission to join
with his other counsel in denying the charge made against
him. The court refused the application, and thereupon as-
sumed the charge against him to be confessed, and proceeded
at once to pass sentence upon him, to the utmost extent to
which their hate of Puritanism allowed them to go. It was
on this occasion that a colloquy took place between Prynne
and the court, especially Archbishop Laud, who was particu-
larly bitter towards him, inasmuch as his crime consisted in
publishing religious books.

On a former occasion, he had been condemned to lose his
ears for a like offence, and the court at first concluded that
such a process could not be repeated. But the Chief Justice,
looking at him carefully, thought he saw some appearance of
ears still upon Mr. Prynne's head ; and ordered the usher to
raise his hair, and shqw them. The lords were exceedingly
angry to find that only a part of each ear had been cut off; to
which Prynne significantly replied, " There was never one of
their honors but would be sorry to have his ears as his
were." They accordingly proceeded to sentence him to pay
a fine of £5,000, stand in the -pillory, lose the remainder of
his ears; be branded" S. L." on each cheek and be perpet-

312 MASSACHDSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,

ually imprisoned. This last was carried out in what he calls
a " nasty dog-hole," in Cfernarvon Castle, in Wales, from which
he was liberated at the revolution in affairs in England, which
deprived these prelates of their power.

It should, moreover, be kept in mind, that these punish-
ments were not inflicted upon the unfortunate barrister for
any crime of which he had been convicted; but because, upon
a charge for publishing religious works which did not accord
with the views of the head of the Anglican Church, he could
find only one practitioner in the court bold enough to sign his
name to a written answer to the charge.

The only other clause in the Bill of Eights which my time
will allow me to notice, is that relating to searches and seizures,
in the 14th Article, which also form the subject of an article
in that of Virginia. The relation of this clause to the famous
contest in respect to the " writs of assistance," which has
been immortalized in the pages of Mr. Tudor, in his " Life of
James Otis ; " and by our associate, Mr. Justice Gray, in the
volume of " Quincy's Reports," just published ; and in the
struggle against which, in the words of Mr. Adams, "the
child Independence was born," — is too obvious and apparent
to require any extended illustration or remark. And I need
only add, that, under it, the theory that an Englishman's house
is his castle is practically sustained by the vigilance of the
law and the strong arm of a free government. But, so far as
the seizure of his person is concerned, relation was undoubt-
edly had here to the history of a ti-ansaction which had made
a deep impression upon the public mind in England, in 1627,
just before the Massachusetts colonists left there. The king
had, without any right, called for a forced loan from persons
of wealth, to supply his treasury, after having dissolved the
parliament. Several of these had refused to contribute ; and,
in order to make an example of them, they were committed
to prison by order of the king.- In order to carry forward the
measure successfully, Chief Justice Crew was removed from

1865.]

MASSACHUSETTS BILL OP EIGHTS. 813

his place in the King's Bench ; and a more supple tool was
found in Sir Nicholas Hyde. Five of these prisoners sued
out writs of habeas corpus ; but the court refused to dis-
charge them or admit them to bail, because they had been
committed on a warrant from the crown, although no cause of
imprisonment or detention was contained in the warrant.
This led to an investigation of the whole subject of arrests
by the king or his privy council, before the House of Com-
mons, in which Selden, Coke, and others took active and lead-
ing parts. It resulted in the unanimous adoption, by the
house, of a series of resolutions condemning such seizures,
which was followed by extorting from the king the declaratory
statute known as the famous Petition of Eight, and the fuller
triumph of the habeas corpus act of the 31 Charles II.
(1 Eushworth, 499, 513, 529, &c., &c.; 7 Harg. St. Trials, 114,
et seq.).

I may have failed in eliciting a single new fact or thought
in respect to that portion of our Constitution to which I have
confined these remarks ; but the consideration of the subject
can hardly have failed to confirm the veneration and respect
in which the instrument and its authors should ever be
held by the generations which shall successively enjoy the
rights which are there so fully and so admirably declared.
With the exception of the Third Article of the Bill of Eights,
that part of the Constitution remains, I believe, substantially
in the form in which it was originally reported by the com-
mittee of the convention of 1779 ; and the action of the last
few months warrants us to hope, that the first declaration in
this bill will soon be acknowledged as the right of every
human being upon the soil of America.

314 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

JULY MEETING.

The Society held its stated monthly meeting on
Thursday, July 13, at eleven o'clock, a.m. ; the President
in the chair.

The Librarian announced donations from the City of
Boston ; the American Antiquarian Society ; the Essex
Institute ; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; the
Long-Island Historical Society ; the Mercantile Library
Association of Brooklyn, N.Y. ; the Suffolk Institute of
Archaeology and Natural History ; the Young Men's
Mercantile Library Association of Cincinnati ; the Pro-
prietors of the Heraldic Journal ; John Appleton, M.D. ;
George E. Chambers, Esq.; Henry B. Dawson, Esq.;
John F. Eliot, Esq. ; Charles M. Ellis, Esq. ; Charles R.
Lowell, Esq.; Edward B. O'Callaghan, M.D.; Hon.
Alexander H. Rice ; Mrs. Samuel A. Smith ; Hon.
Henry Wilson ; and from Messrs. C. Brooks, Deane,
Folsom, Metcalf, and Winthrop, of the Society.

George Bemis was elected a Resident Member.

The President stated that he had received a letter
from M. Mignet, Perpetual Secretary of the Imperial
Institute of France, acknowledging the receipt of this
Society's last-issued volume of the Collections and that
of the Proceedings.

The President also referred to a circvdar letter which
had been received by the Society, containing an ac-
knowledgment from Goldwin Smith to Henry T. Tuck-
erman, Esq., for the books Mr. Smith had received from
America ; and stating that he had obtained pei'mission to

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 315

place the volumes in the new library of University Col-
lege, Oxford, where they will occupy a range of shelves
by themselves. He adds, " They will remain my prop-
erty while I live ; . . . and at my death they will pass
to the College."

An application from Ralph D. Smith, of Guilford,
Conn., to copy an agreement between William Leet and
Edward Jones, in a volume of " Letters and Papers,"
1632 to 1638, fol. 5 and 18, was laid before the Society;
and leave was granted under the rules.

The President called the attention of members to a
parcel of letters and papers lying upon the table, con-
sisting of two MS. letter-books and fifty-seven original
letters from the "Barrell Papers," — a gift of J. Francis
Fisher, Esq., to the Society. Many of the letters be-
longing to this collection were written by John Andrews,
of Boston, from 1772 to 1776, embracing the period
of the " Siege of Boston," and have been in course of
preparation by Mr. Winthrop Sargent, of New York,
for publication in the Proceedings of this Society. The
letters received were forwarded to the Society by Mr.
Sargent, who says, in a communication addressed to
the Recording Secretary, that he retains a portion of
the letters belonging to this same lot, to compare in
correcting proof; that, "when that is done, they shall
also be forwarded to the Society. The copy of the
Andrews Letters and a brief preface and some notes are
also in the parcel."

316 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULY,

L E T T E E S

JOHN ANDREWS, ESQ., OF BOSTON.*

1772-1776.
Compiled and edited from tlie original JISS. by Wisthkop Sakgent.

INTRODUCTION.

During the year 1859, Captain George Gibson, jun., of the
United-States Army, being stationed at the United-States ar-
senal on the Schuylkill, Philadelphia, discovered a number of

* The attention of the President of this Society was called to these Andrews letters
in September, 1S64, by the following communication: —

(Copy.) Residence of Mr. Geo. Baenard,

Lysn, Massachusetts, Sept. 17th, 1864.
Dear Sir, — At the request of my friend, Mr. Barnard, I take the liberty of address-
ing you in relation to some correspondence discovered by me in a garret room at
Schuylkill Arsenal, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the year 1859.

It consisted of a quantity of letters, written by one Joseph Andrews, of Boston, to
"William Barrell, a merchant of Philadelphia, describing the arrival and occupation of
the former city by the British; the daily street-fights that took place between the
citizens and the soldiery; the primary meeting and destruction of the tea in the harbor
by the inhabitants, dressed as Indians; the battles at Lexington and Breed's Hill; in
fact, many circumstances not known to history, and of which the writer was an eye-
witness. Being a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, I mentioned the
existence of these papers to Joshua Francis Fisher, Esq., our Vice-President, who
resides on Walnut Street, between Ninth and Tenth, Philadelphia. At his request, I
placed them in his possession, he being desirous of having them annotated by an aged
member of the Society, Mr. Samuel Breck (since deceased), who claimed in some
way to be connected with the writer, Joseph Andrews. Shortly after this, I was or-
dered to Washington; consequently am unable to say whether any thing was done iu
the matter or not.

My impression now is that they should more appropriately belong to the Historical
Society of Massachusetts; and I have every reason to believe that Mr. Fisher would
gladly place them in the possession of its members upon being written to.
I have the honor to be, dear sir,

with great respect, yonr Obedient servant,
Geo. Gibson,
Captain 11th U. S. Regular Infantry.
Hon. R. C. WiNTHKOP,
President of the Historical Society of Massachusetts.

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 317

papers relating to the affairs of Mr. William Barrell, formerly
a merchant in that city. These papers consisted chiefly of
letters addressed to Mr. Barrell, by members of his family,
shortly previous to, and about the period of, the breaking-out
of the war of the Revolution; and of two letter-books of Mr.
Barrell himself, and of Stephen Collins, his administrator,
extending from May 3, 1771, to July 30, 1783. When or why
they were left here, I have no means of ascertaining; but it
was probably, in the first instance, merely to keep them
together in a place of security, where afterwards they re-
mained undisturbed, because forgotten.

Captain Gibson handed over these documents to Mr. J.
Francis Fisher, of Philadelphia, a Corresponding Member of
the Massachusetts Historical Societ^y, who at once recognized
the propriety of their being placed among the archives of
that body. And it is at his suggestion that the preparation
for publication of a selection of the most suitable parts of
their contents has been undertaken by me; while the whole
collection, as it came to his hands, is presented by him to the
Society.

The only connected and really interesting series of letters,
among those now before me, consists of communications ad-
dressed to Mr. Barrell by his brother-in-law, Mr. John An-
drews of Boston ; and such portion of this correspondence as
does not seem to turn entirely on family matters or details of
business I have here set forth. I may be mistaken ; but, in
my humble judgment, the pages now printed will be found to
possess a piquancy of style, a freedom of expression, and a
discrimination in the narration of such particulars of local
history that a Bostonian residing away from Boston would
naturally be glad to procure, yet could not expect to find in
the public journals of the day, that will amply repay the
perusal of the historical student. The form in which they
are here presented by me (somewhat in that of a journal)
recommended itself not only by its conveniency, but by the

318 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jdlt,

reason that in his later and larger communications it was
adopted by Mr. Andrews himself, some of whose letters were
thus carried on from day to day, until weeks had elapsed
between their commencement and their conclusion.

Of the merits of the correspondence I think very highly.
There is little of the same description and period that is more
readable. That they were not written with the faintest idea
of publication is palpably evident; and their language, there-
fore, while animated and unrestrained, is sometimes frank, and
perhaps careless. But a good letter may well be character-
ized by such traits. The style and method of spelling, too,
that they present, was that of the age ; and differs no more
from the standard of our own period, than ours will probably
differ from that of 1960.

Of William Barrell himself, to whom these letters were
addressed, the following particulars are gleaned from the
letter-books and other documents in question. He was the
son of John Barrel), who in 1778 appears to have been dwell-
ing at London. Of his brothers, there were Joseph, Theodore,
and Colborn. There were also two sisters, — Ruthy, married
to John Andrews, Esq., of Boston ; and another married to
Samuel Eliot. Mr. William Barrell seems to have married a
sister of John Langdon, Esq., of New Hampshire, in which
Colony (at Portsmouth) he was so early as 1766 engaged in
business. Even at this period, he was an uncompromising
opponent of those acts of the British ministry that finally cul-
minated in producing revolution. On the 14th of April, 1766,
he received " the joyful news of the repeal of the cursed
Stamp Act. God grant we may soon have it confirmed, and
that all the cursed projectors thereof may meet that just
infamy and disgrace which is due to every enemy of his
country ! " About October, 1774, he was established in busi-
ness at Philadelphia by the house of Amory and Taylor, of
Boston. The undertaking does not seem to have been very
successful, and was terminated by his death on the 31st of

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 319

August, 1776. His administrator, Stephen Collins, naively
writes of this event to Mr. William Langdon : " He did not
seem to have any expectations of being near his end, though
he had his senses to the last, or nearly so, having never made
any mention of a future state during his illness." In his life
he had not only been a warm Whig in opinion and words,
but seems to have been, at one time at least, in arms for the
American cause ; and,when the British occupied Philadelphia,
there appears to have been some attempt made by them to
get at the effects he had left behind him. These were
estimated at about £500 or £600 sterling in value. They
were appraised at £5,719 currency after the English had
left Philadelphia, and were sold for about £10,000 currency.
When these letters were first placed in Mr. Fisher's hands,
he very naturally submitted them to the examination of the
late venerable Samuel Breck, Esq.,- — a nephew of Mr. John
Andrews, — who at once recognized them as the productions
of his uncle, whom he had formerly known and still remem-
bered. Mr. Breck urged their preservation in some suitable
form of publication ; and, with his wonted kindness, communi-
cated several facts explanatory of circumstances connected
with them : —

" Benjamin Andrews," he said, " alhided to in the letter of
April 11, 1776, was the elder brother of John. Shortly after this
date, my uncle Benjamin was writing in his parlor on some business,
preparatory to a journey into the country the next day. His friend
Benjamin Hitchborn, a lawyer of eminence, sat near the chimney,
preparing for use a pair of pistols, — without which, in those days, no
one ventured to travel, — when, by some awkward turn, the pistol
which he held in his hand exploded, and killed Andrews on the spot.
The very melancholy event was supposed to be accidental ; and
Hitchborn, who married my widowed aunt, took the best possible
care of her children by Andrews, whom he educated and established
in life with true parental affection.

" Mr. Breck, so frequently mentioned, was my father, and brother-
in-law of John Andrews. During that period of trouble and danger,

820 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLY,

he removed from Boston temporarily, and brought his wife and two
children (myself, the eldest, and the late Mrs. James Lloyd) to
Philadelphia. On his return to Boston in the autumn of 1775, he
resumed his commercial pursuits, and was appointed agent for the
supply of the numerous ships-of-war of the King of France that
visited Boston after our treaty of alliance. He was for many years
in succession a member of the Legislature from Boston ; and, after
his removal to Philadelphia in 1792, was elected a Director of the
lirst Bank of the United States, in which capacity he was associated
with that institution until its dissolution in 1809. He was likewise
appointed one of the commissioners, under Washington's administra-
tion, for settling the claims of citizens of the United States on
Spain.

" Robert Hallo well was one of the chief officers in the custom-
house at Boston under the British Crown. He was the neighbor and
friend of my uncle's family. He returned to England, of course,
with the British army ; but after the peace of 1783 he came again to
America, and settled or founded the town in the State of Maine that
bears his name.

" George Erving, who is mentioned the 18th May, 1774, was the
father or uncle of the American minister Erving, whom President
JelFerson sent to Madrid.

" Samuel Adams is so well known in history that I will briefly
note here what I recollect of him. His residence in Winter Street,
Boston, was within a few doors of my father's house, and of course
I saw him frequently. His habits in dress and manners were modest
and plain. Not being rich, he did not associate with the higher
circle, such as Hancock, Bowdoin, Higginson, the Russells, and, I
may add, my ftither ; yet was always honored by the respectful atten-
tion of the public, who elected him to the high station of Governor
after the death of Hancock."

To the recollections of a member of this Society,* who also
speaks of what he has himself seen, I am indebted for some
further observations. Such passages possess in my eyes a
peculiar and original value. They are the few remaining
links which connect us of the present day with the characters
of the Revolution. Of all who knew, or even looked upon,

• Mr. Lucius Manlius Sargent.

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 321

the great men of that period, comparatively few now remain
among us ; and any thing that they can relate of their per-
sonal knowledge of bygone scenes and circumstances in our
history cannot but be interesting : —

" I remember John Andrews, his trim dress, and white-top boots,
and powdered hair. He was small of stature. When I knew him,
he occupied a beautiful estate at the northerly corner of Winter and
Tremont (then Common) Streets, — an antique wooden house in the
midst of a delightful garden, extending down Winter Street, and in
rear to what is now Hamilton Place. This house was once occupied
by Sir Francis Bernard, probably till the year of his recall, 1769.
My mother once pointed out to me the chamber she occupied when
she made a visit to the Bernards. At a later period, this estate was
occupied by Earl Percy.

" In the first Boston directory ever published (1789) is this entry :
'Breck, Samuel, Esq., Merchant, Common Street.'

" He is the gentleman named above, and was then the owner of
this house. He complained of Boston taxes, and, removing to Phila-
delphia, sold the estate to John Andrews. . . .

"In the letter of April 11, 1776, not long after the evacuation,
Mr. Andrews speaks of entertaining General Washington, &c., at
dinner. Mr. Andrews then lived, as his son Henry Andrews tells
me, in School Street, in a house occupied afterwards by Dr. John
Warren, brother of Joseph, and father of the late John C. Warren,
M.D. That house, as I well recollect, stood next above Joshua
Brackett's tavern, at the sign of Cromwell's Head, upon the site
where Palmer's fruit-shop now stands."

Referring to this entertainment of General Washington,
Mr. Breck says : —

" The last time I saw my uncle in Boston, when he was eighty
years old, he related with pride this fact to me."

Mr. Andrew^ was elected a selectman of Boston in 1785,
and continued in that office until 1790, when he declined to
serve longer.

It only remains for me to add, that such passages of the cor-
respondence as have been considered rather too free-spoken
41

322 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

in regard to domestic events, and therefore as being liable to
give pain to persons now living, have not been here printed,
but remain nevertheless unexpunged in the original manu-
scripts themselves in the possession of the Society.

COERESPONDENCE.

February 24rt, 1772. . . . An unhappy aifair happen'd here last
Saturday. The Guuuer and the Captain's Clerk of the Beaver were
drinking together at Admiral Vernon's Tavern ; being warm'd with
liquor they quarrell'd, when y'. former stabb'd y* latter with a stilletto,
which has so injur'd his lungs that his life is despair'd of. The
Gunner was immediately committed to jail. . . . Doctor Cooper's Con-
gregation have at last concluded to pull down their own Cathedral, and
build as grand a house as our native materials will admit of. They
have computed it to cost about 7 or £8000 sterling, subscriptions for
which are gave very generously. John Hancock, who suffers no body
to outdoe him in acts of publick utility, has generously gave £1000
lawful money towards so necessary a work : Mr. Bowdoin, £200 :
Pitts, Erving, J. Gray, £100 sterling each, and others in proportion.

September 3rd. Yesterday died old Justice Kuddock, y'; most cor-
pulent man among us, weighing, they say, between 5 and 600 weight.

December ibth. . . . Yesterday your aunt Anna spent the day with
us, and I like her much ; more especially as she has promised to rum-
mage up and make me a present of an ancient roman coin (one of the
twelve Cipsars) which will make me possess'd of five of that kind,
besides a variety of more modern ones, having lately made an acqui-
sition of one of Claudius Ca3sar's and another of Domitian's ; and this
day bought for old silver a fine large medal of y'. Emperor Constan-
tino y". great's. I mention this, that in case any of the kind that are
genuine should come within your knowledge, you would, if possible,
procure them for me. I expect a laugh from you ; but no matter for
that, every one has their whims and I have mine. . . . Our season
has been most remarkably fine : till last evening we have not had half
an inch of snow, and tlien fell only about an inch and a half, and
clear'd up today as warm and pleasant as in September ; and what's
most remarkable, that not a day in this month but y" Sun has shone
pleasant, either half or the whole of the day.

March Ibth, 1773. Our general Court have passed an act to limit

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 323

the number of four vendue masters for this town, and not more ; to
be entirely at the disposal and direction of y°. Select Men : in con-
sequence of which, many have petition'd their high mightinesses
for that lucrative employment, which takes place yl 29th instant. A
very judicious act ! Likewise our very respectable Town meeting have
voted to have 300 lamps properly dispos'd to light this town — a thing
I have long wish'd for.

March 18th. Should not have sent the scroll, intended to have
gone by Church, without transcribing, would my convenience have
admitted of it.

Have enclos'd you Doctor Church's Oration delivered y' 5th in-
stant, as well as one deliver'd by James Lovell last year.*

I suppose you must have seen reprinted in your papers the mes-
sages passing to and from our Governor and house of Representatives
respecting the most important matter of right of parliament to tax
America, which have been very lengthy on both sides, frequently filling
up near a whole paper. We have had an innovation here never known
before — a Drum or Souf given by the Admiral last Saturday eve-
ning, which did not break up till 2 or 3 o'clock on Sunday morning,
their chief amusement being playing cards.

Jane ith. The minds of people are greatly agitated, on account
of some original letters that have been sent from London to the gen-
eral Court, that were wrote some three or four years since by the
Governor and Lieutenant Governor and Auchmuty, &c., very much
to the prejudice of the province, and recommending or rather urging
y". necessity of all y°. measures which have been lately taken with us :
also pointing out y". absolute necessity of taking oif five or six of j°.
leaders in y" opposition, such as Otisj Adams, &c., enumerating their
several names ; without which, they say, it is impracticable to accom-
plish their plans. The Lieutenant Governor strongly recommends (in
one of his letters) his son Daniel as Secretary for y': province. Thus
much has transpired respecting them, as they are enjoin'd not to be
publish'd. Am almost every minute taken off with agreeable sight
of our militia companies marching into the Common, as it is a grand
field day with us ; and I assure, were you to see 'em, you'd scarcely
believe your eyes, they are so strangely metamorphos'd. From mak-
ing the most despicable appearance they now vie with the best troops
in his majesties service, being dress'd all in blue uniforms, with drums

* He should have said " the year before last." — Eds.

324 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLY,

and fifes to each company dress'd in white uniforms trim'd in j'. most
elegant manner ; with a company of Grenadiers in red with every
other apparatus, that equal any regular Company I ever saw hoth in
regard to appearance and discipline, having a grand band of musick
consisting of eight that play nearly equal to that of the 64th. What
crowns all is the Cadet company, being perfectly compleat and under
the best order you can conceive of, with a band of musick likewise,
that perform admirably well. What with these and Paddock's com-
pany of artillery make y1 compleatest militia in America ; not a drum-
mer, fifer, and scarcely a soldier but what are in compleat uniforms
and thorougtily instructed in the military exercises. In addition to
all this the Town House is fitted up in the most elegant manner, with
the whole of the outside painted of a stone color, which gives it a fine
appearance.

November 29th. Hall and Bruce* arriv'd Saturday evening with
each an hundred and odd chests of the detested Tea. What will
be done with it, can't say : but I tremble for y° consequences should
y! consignees still persist in their obstinacy and not consent to reship
it. They have softened down so far as to offer it to the care of Coun-
cil or the town, till such times as they hear from their friends in Eng-
land, but am perswaded, from the present dispositions of y^ people,
that no other alternative will do, than to have it immediately sent back
to London again. . . . Y° bells are ringing for a general muster, and
a third vessel is now arriv'd in Nantasket road. Handbills are
stuck up, calling upon Friends ! Citizens ! and Countrymen !

December 1st. Having just return'd from Fire Club, and am now,
in company with the two Miss Masons and Mr. Williams of your
place, at Sam. Eliot's, who has been dining with him at Col° Han-
cock's, and acquaints me that Mr. Palfrey sets oiF Express for New
York and Philadelphia at five o'clock tomorrow morning, to commu-
nicate y": transactions of this town respecting the tea. ... I acquainted
you that Bruce and Hall had arrived, which was a mistake, as only
Hall has arriv'd ; which has caus'd y'. most spirited and firm conduct
to be observ'd that ever was known : the regularity and particulars of

* By Hall and Bruce, Mr. Andrews sij^iifies vessels, the commanders of which bore
these names. This was an idiom of these days: witness Defoe, in the Life of Captain
Singleton (chapter xii.), — " We found the fellows were hearty in their resolution, and
jolly brisk sailors they were; so 1 told them I would do nothing without our admiral,
that was the captain of the other ship; so I sent my pinnace on board Captain Wilmoti
to desire him to come on board," &c.

1865.] LETTEES OF JOHN ANDEEWS. 325

■which proceedings Mr. Palfrey will be able to tell you. The con-
signees have all taken their residence at the Castle, as they still persist
ia their refusal to take the tea back. Its not only y? town, but the
country are unanimous against the landing it, and at the Monday and
Tuesday Meetings, they attended to the number of some hundreds
from all the neighboring towns within a dozen miles : — 'twould puz-
zle any person to purchase a pair of p — Is in town, as they are all
bought up, with a full determination to repell force by force.

December 18th.* However precarious our situation may be, yet
such is the present calm composure of the people that a stranger
would hardly think that ten thousand pounds sterling of the East India
Company's tea was destroy'd the night, or rather evening before last,
yet its a serious truth ; and if your's, together with y". other South-
ern provinces, should rest satisfied with their quota being stor'd, poor
Boston will feel the whole weight of ministerial vengeance. How-
ever, its the opinion of most people that we stand an equal chance
now, whether troops are sent in consequence of it or not ; whereas,
had it been stor'd, we should inevitably have had 'em, to enforce the
sale of it. — The affair was transacted with the greatest regularity
and despatch. Mr. Rotch finding he exposed himself not only to the
loss of his ship but for y' value of the tea in case he sent her back
with it, without a clearance from the custom house, as y" Admiral kept
a ship in readiness to make a seizure of it whenever it should sail
under those circumstances ; therefore declin'd complying with his for-
mer promises, and absolutely declar'd his vessel should not carry it,
without a proper clearance could be procur'd or he to be indemnified
for the value of her : — when a general muster was assembled, from
this and all y° neighbouring towns, to the number of five or six thou-
sand, at 10 o'clock Thursday morning in the Old South Meeting house,
where they pass'd a unanimous vote that the Tea should go out of the
harbour that afternoon, and sent a committee with Mr. Rotch to y".
Custom house to demand a clearance, which the collector told 'em was
not in his power to give, without the duties being first paid. They
then sent Mr. Rotch to Milton, to ask a pass from y! Governor, who
sent for answer, that " consistent with the rules of government and
" his duty to the King he could not grant one without they produc'd

* The original of this letter, when first discovered at the Arsenal, bore and still
bears abundant evidence of the interest which its contents must have excited in Phila-
delphia. It has been so thumbed and worn, doubtless by passing from one curious
hand to another, that it fairly hangs in shreds.

326 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULY,

" a pre%'iou.s clearance from the office." — By the time he return'd with
this message the candles were light in [the] house, and upon reading
it, such prodigious shouts were made, that induc'd me, while drinking
tea at home, to go out and know the cause of it. The house was so
crouded I could get no farther than y' porch, when I found the mod-
erator was just declaring the meeting to be dissolv'd, which caused
another general shout, out doors and in, and three cheers. "What
with that, and the consequent noise of breaking up the meeting, you'd
thought that the inhabitants of the infernal regions had broke loose.
For my part, I went contentedly home and finish'd my tea, but was
soon inform'd what was going forward : but still not crediting it with-
out ocular demonstration, I went and was satisfied. They muster'd,
I'm told, upon Fort Hill, to the number of about two hundred, and
proceeded, two by two, to Griffin's wharf, where Hall, Bruce, and
Coffin lay, each with 114 chests of the ill fated article on board ; the
two former with only that article, but y' latter arriv'd at y". wharf only
y' day before, was freighted with a large quantity of other goods,
which they took the greatest care not to injure in the least, and before
nine o'clock in y". evening, every chest from on board the three vessels
was knock'd to pieces and flung over y^ sides. They say the actors
were Indians from Narrafjansett. Whether they were or not, to a
transient observer they appear'd ' as such, being cloath'd in Blankets
with the heads muffled, and copper color'd countenances, being each
arm'd with a hatchet or axe, and pair pistols, nor was their dialect
different from what I conceive these geniusses to speah, as their jargon
was unintelligible to aU but themselves. Not the least insult was
offer'd to any person, save one Captain Conner, a letter of horses in
this place, not many years since remov'd from clear Ireland, who had
ript up the lining of his coat and waistcoat under the arms, and watch-
ing his opportunity had nearly fill'd 'em with tea, but being detected,
was handled pretty roughly. They not only stripp'd him of his cloaths,
but gave him a coat of mud, with a severe bruising into the bargain ;
and nothing but their utter aversion to make a7iy disturbance pre-
vented his being tar'd and feather'd.

Should not have troubled you with this, by this Post, hadn't I
thought you would be glad of a more particular account of so impor-
tant a transaction, than you could have obtain'd by common report ;
and if it affords my brother but a temporary amusement, I shall be
more than repaid for the trouble of writing it.

The weather as yet continues with us very mild and at the same

1865.]

LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 327

time very unhealthy. An inflammatory fever prevails much. This
evening one of the most amiable and accomplish'd girls among us, a
daughter of Henderson Inches, was incorporated vk^ith her mother
earth, after only four days sickness. Such is y". sudden transition
after being seiz'd ; and last Weiisday, Mrs. Johonnot, eldest daugh-
ter of Doctor Cooper, was carried to her grave. . . .

Sunday Evening. [^December 19th.'] I give you joy of your easy
riddance of the bane/ull herb ; being just inform'd by y° arrival of the
post, that it's gone from whence it came. You may bless your stars

that you have not a H n and board of Commissioners resident

with you. — I forgot to acquaint you last evening that Loring, in a
brig belonging to Clark, one of y° consignees, is on shore at y° back
of Cape Cod, drove thither by a storm last Fryday week, who has the
last quota of Tea for this place, being 58 chests, which compleats the
400. — Am inform'd some Indians were met on y". road to Plimouth,
which is almost fifty miles this side of Cape Cod. Its unlucky that
Loring has y! lamps on board for illuminating our streets. Am sorry
if they are lost, as we shall be depriv'd of their benefit this winter in
consequence of it.

April 14:th, 1774. Have inclos'd you the anniversary oration de-
liver'd by Col : Hancock. Its generally allowed to be a good com-
position (and asserted to be his own production), both spirited and
nervous. I can't myself judge of its merit, as I did not hear it deliv-
er'd, nor have I allow'd myself time to peruse it, since its publication.

3Iay 18th. — Imagine to yourself the horror painted in the faces
of a string of slaves condemn'd by the Inquisition to perpetual drudg-
ery at the oar ! Such is the dejection imprinted on every countenance
we meet in this once happy, but now totally ruin'd town. — Yes, Bill,
nothing will save us but an entire stoppage of trade, both to England
and the West Indies, throughout the continent : and that must be de-
termin'd as speedily as absolutely. The least hesitancy on your part
to the Southerd, and the matter is over ; we must acknowledge and
ask forgiveness for all past offences, whether we have been guilty of
any or no ; give up the point so long contested ; and acknowledge the
right of parliament to d — n us whenever they please ; and to add to
all this, we must pay for an article unjustly forced upon us with a
sole view to pick our pockets (not that I would by any means justify
the destruction of that article) : when that is done, where are we ?
Why, in much the same situation as before, without one flattering
hope of relief: entirely dependant on the will of an arbitrary Minis-

328 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULY,

ter, who'd sacrifice the Kingdom to gratify a cursed revenge. A
more convincing proof we can't have than in the present Act for
blocking up our Port, which could not have been more severely and
strongly express'd if all the Devils in the infernal regions had had a
hand in the draughting it.

Shall endeavor to content myself to stay here till I see what turn
affairs will take. If to my liking, well : if not, shall look out for
some other place of residence, as I sincerely believe they intend to
put their threats in execution ; which is, to make the town a desolate
wilderness, and the grass to grow in our streets.

Our Militia was yesterday muster'd for the reception of General
Gage, who was proclaim'd Governor, amid the acclamations of the
people. He express'd himself as sensible of the unwelcome errand he
came upon, but as a servant of the Crown, he was obliged to see the
Act put in execution : but would do all in his power to serve us.
Whether they were only words of course or not, can't say ; am a little
doubtfull. There was an elegant entertainment provided for him at
Faneuil Hall, and after a number of toasts gave by him, in which the
prosperity of the town of Boston was included, he gave Governor
Hutchinson, which was received by a general hiss. Such is the
detestation in which that tool of tyrants is held among us.

May Gage be both impower'd, ami inclin'd to close
The wounds now opening by our cruel foes !

May N h repent for his obdurate heart!

Deep feel the stings of an avenging dart:
And ere liis impious wishes shall be sped,
May he be number'd with the guilty dead!
And while fresh lawrells shall adorn the brave,
May noisome weeds grow thick upon his grave!
Till his detested name be known no more,
And we forget the woes we now implore!

• • • The damn'd arch traitor, as he is call'd, is very much cha-
grin'd at being superseded, as its only last Thursday when he gave
orders for repairs to his houses in town and country, and upon y°
workman's suggestions that he would be succeeded soon, he said it
was like many other reports that prevail'd, for that he had all y1 satis-
faction he could wish for or expect from home, and every part of
his conduct was entirely approv'd of, and left to his option whether
to enjoy y". Government or go to England. But now a guilty con-
science has induc'd him to take refuge at y! Castle. Its reported
here that your Government, as well as New York, is to be chang'd

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 329

and remov'd, the one to Burlington and the other to Amboy, with
requisitions made upon both, and more particularly upon Rhode
Island.

May I8th. — Since mine to you of this same date, we have had
advice from Salem, Newbury, etc'a., that they will haul up all their
vessels, and stop every trade, provided it becomes general through the
continent. At the same time, we have many among us, who are for
compromising matters, and put forward a subscription to pay for the
Tea. George Erving has declar'd this day, that if it should be pro-
moted, he is ready to put down two thousand pounds sterling towards
it, and will take it upon himself to wait on Governor Gage and
know what his demands upon us are — which circumstance J^
Amory mentioned at y". town meeting this day, which was in general
rejected, though he urged the matter much.

June 12th. — If my last was in a desponding stile, I'm sure I
have much more reason to be so now ; as ought else than poverty
and distress stares us in the face. Our committee of correspond-
ence, not content with the calamities already come upon us, have
issued out letters to every town in the province (without consulting
y'. town in regard to the expediency of such a measure) accompa-
nied with a Solemn League and covenant, so stil'd, for every inhab-
itant in each town to sign, whereby they obligate themselves by the
most sacred oaths not to purchase any kind of goods fabricated in
England, either already here, or that may be hereafter imported.
Such is the cursed zeal that now prevails: animosities run higher
than ever, each party charging the other as bringing ruin upon their
country ; that unless some expediency is adopted to get the Port open
by paying for the tea (which seems to be the only one) am afraid we
shall experience the worst of evils, a civil war, which God avert ! —
The trading part promis'd themselves a general compliance with the
tenor of the Act would have been readily come into in making com-
pensation for the Tea, after being assur'd the other provinces would
not adopt y? plan propos'd ; but, instead of that, those who have gov-
ern'd the town for years past and were in a great measure the authors
of all our evils, by their injudicious conduct — are grown more obsti-
nate than ever, and seem determin'd to bring total destruction upon
us : which may be suiSciently evinced by all their conduct. They
not only intend to deprive us of trade in future, but render us utterly
incapable of contributing that assistance which will be absolutely
necessary for the support of the indigent the approaching fall and
42

330 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLT,

winter, by their cruel endeavors to stop the Jlttle inland trade we
expected.

Our wharfs are intirely deserted ; not a topsail vessel to be seen
either there or in the harbour, save the ships of war and transport,
the latter of which land their passengers in this town tomorrow.
Four regiments are already arriv'd, and four more are expected.
How they are to be disposed of, can't say. Its gave out, that if
y? General Court don't provide barracks for 'em, they are to be
quarter'd on y? inhabitants in y? fall : if so, am determin'd not to
stay in it. The executors of the Act seem to strain points beyond
what was ever intended, for they make all y° vessels, both with grain
and wood, entirely unload at Marblehead before they'll permit 'em
to come in here, which conduct, in regard to j'. article of wood
has already greatly enhanced the price, and the masters say they
won't come at all, if they are to be always put to such trouble, as
they are oblig'd to hire another vessel to unload into, and then to
return it back again, as they have no wharves to admit of their
landing it on. Nor will they suffer any article of merchandize
to be brought or carry'd over Charles river ferry, that we are oblig'd
to pay for 28 miles land carriage to get our goods from Marble-
head or Salem. Could fill up a number of sheets to enumerate
all our difficulties.

July 22nd. — Previous to my receiving your two favors of the 6th
and 22nd June, I ^^TOte you by Mr. Pollard of your place, when
I made some observations on the solemn League and Covenant,
which I had not then seen, as it was not known to be in being in this
town (but by the few who promoted it) till near a month after it had
been circulated through the country : in which time it went through
whole towns with the greatest avidity, every adult of both sexes
putting their names to it, saving a very few. It was sent out in
printed copies by the Clerk to the Committee, "W. Cooper, who ac-
companied it with a letter intimating that the measure was in general
adopted here, whereas upon enquiry I can't find that a single person
in the town has signed it — and the only excuse they now make for
so absurd a piece of conduct is, that it originated altogether from the
country, without any of their advice or interposition ; thinking so
palpable a falsehood will remove the just prejudices of the more
rational and judicious people among us.*

* The Solemn League and Covenant here referred to was a covenant between the
people in the various towns to suspend all commercial intercourse with Great Britain

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 331

That you may judge for yourself of the propriety of my entering
my protest against their conduct in that particuhir, have enclos'd you
the Covenant, with many sensible remarks upon it, together with the
two protests ; y". latter of which (among y°. number of y" respective
signers, you'll observe, I have the honor to be one) is humourously
call'd the Little Pope ; the declaration following it, (wherein our
reasons for a dissent are given in a more explicit manner than in the
protest) should be glad you'd attend to. We don't mean to oppose
any general measure that may be adopted by the Congress, but are
well dispos'd in the cause of Freedom as any of our opponents, and
would equally oppose and detest Tyranny exerciz'd either in England
or America. For my own part, I did not expect the vote would
have been put as it was ; i.e., to censure and dismiss y°. Committee ;
but rather expected it would tend only to order them to suspend y'
Covenant till yf Congress should meet. But the just resentment of
the Addressers* on hearing the letters read that were sent to your
place and New York (the latter in particular) in regard to that part
of their conduct, rais'd such warm emotions in their breasts, that
nothing less than the committee's being annihilated would satisfy 'em.
Our brother Eliot f display'd his eloquence in a long speech upon
the subject, deliver'd in so masterly a stile and manner as to gain
y!' plaudits of perhaps the largest assembly ever conven'd here, by an
almost universal clap : wherein he deliver'd his sentiments with that
freedom and manliness peculiar only to himself. He related his own
particular case, as expecting a large quantity of goods which, should
they arrive, he can't possibly qualify himself to sell according to the
tenor of the Covenant, having countermanded 'em no other ways
than to have 'em shipped, provided your place, with New York,
Ehode Island, &c., should have their goods as usual ; and from the
determination of those places, he has all the reason in the world to
expect them. My own case is somewhat similar to his, having
countermanded my orders by the first opportunity after the Port Bill

until the obnoxious acts were repealed; to buy no goods imported after August, 1774;
to break oflf all relations with those who should continue to import or buy such goods ;
and to discountenance, so far as might be, all who should not sign this covenant.

* The Addressers were one hundred and twenty-three Bostonians, supporters of
Governor Hutchinson, who, on the 28th of May, 1774, presented him with a " warm,
affectionate, and respectful " address, on occasion of his departure for England. One
hundred and twenty-nine citizens signed the protest against the proceedings of this
town meeting of June.

t Samuel Eliot, of Boston, whose wife was the sister of William Barrell and of the
wife of John Andrews.

332 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLT,

arriv'd, and of consequence acquiesced with a non-importation agree-
ment when propos'd about three or four weeks after : but upon y1
measure not being adopted by the Southern Colonies, I embrac'd the
first opportunity and re-ordered about one fourth part of such goods
as I thought would be most in demand, and behold ! in about three
or four weeks after that, I heard of y". amazing progress the non-
consumption agreement had made through y'. country ; which, in my
opinion, has serv'd rather to create dissentions among ourselves than
to answer any valuable purpose.

Its about a fortnight or three weeks since the talk of Govern-
ment's taking up and sending home a number from this town, was
matter of great speculation here, which caus'd much uneasiness
among the most thinking part of the community least such a step
should cause commotions that would prove fatal to the town. At
present the aifair seems to be blown over, though the high friends to
Government promise themselves great things upon the arrival of
the Scarborough, which is hourly expected with the two last Acts,
compleated by the royal sanction.

Its reported for fact, both last evening and this morning, that a
country team was stopped by y° guards upon the Neck and riffled of
two firelocks that they were carrying into the country. Certain I
am that the Governor has order'd the Keeper of the Province's Mag-
azine not to deliver a kernel of powder (without his express order)
of either public or private property : which is attended with great in-
convenience to the dealers in that article, as he is, for the most part
of his time, at Salem, and a personal attendance is necessary to
procure an order.

Yesterday one Harris, a baker, with two of his apprentices, were
fin'd ten pounds sterling each by Benjamin Girdley, lately made a
Justice of y". Peace, for enticing and assisting a soldier to desert, by
furnishing him with cloaths and carrying him 20 miles from town
in a chaise. The soldier has since returned and produc'd the above
sentence, which they are to comply with in four days or suffer three
months imprisonment.

"What will be the event of these things its impossible to say ; but
we promise ourselves that y'. Congi-ess will adopt such salutary meas-
ures as may in y'. end prove efficacious to our relief as well as bene-
ficial to y°. whole continent.

Before the sealing this I am inform'd that y". Governor, previous
to his going out of town yesterday morning deliver'd up the keys of

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 333

the Powder house to Slyde again, with liberty to deliver as usual,
but not in such enormous quantities as about a month since ; being
inform'd that he deliver'd near two thousand barrels in y' course of
about a fortnight, which gave some alarm to the troops, together
with an illjudged pun of Doctor Byles's, who intimated to some of
the Corps that on the 14th June, forty thousand men would rise up
in opposition to them with the clergy at their head, and left them to
suppose it a fact ; without explaining the matter, that on that day a
general fast was to be observ'd throughout the province.

August 1st. — I wrote you a long letter, the 22nd ultimo, by one
Mr. Marshall of your place, which I wish safe to hand, as it con-
tains matters that I should be sorry for you not to see. If I remem-
ber right, one paragraph mention'd a waggon's being riffled of four
firelocks by the Centinel on guard upon y1 Neck, which I have since
been inform'd is a fact, and that the officer of the day return'd them
and pleaded much with the party injur'd not to prosecute the matter,
as it might be consider'd as a military robbery : which leads me to
think that notwithstanding their hostile preparations and formidable
appearance, they as yet esteem themselves as liable to the civil law ;
whether their dispositions when the two infernal acts arrive, with the
royall assent, I can't say. From their long delay in coming, am in
some hopes they are suspended, as the latest accounts we have from
England are of the 14th May, at which time they had passed the
two houses eight days, when a man of war was under sailing orders
waiting only for their completion to bring 'em out, and its now eleven
weeks since. God grant that may be the case ! —

A few days since fifteen officers din'd at a house towards New
Boston, improv'd by one of the Miss Erskines (a family noted for
their hospitality and kindness to strangers, in admitting all comers to
their b — d and board) where towards evening they committed all
manner of enormous indecencies, by exposing their anteriors, as well
as their posteriors, at the open windows and doors, to the full view of
people, either men or women, that happened to pass by, with a great
deal of opprobrious language, which caused a number of boys to
gather round the house, at whom they presented pistols, and threat-
ened to fire among 'em, when at dusk they began to break up and go
ofi", two or three at a time, insulting people as they pass'd the streets.
I happened to be going up that way (to Breck's) at the time, when
I met two who had just come out of an apple shop, where they had
been turning over all the old woman's things. They'd scarcely

334 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

passed me, when they insulted two men by running their fists in
their faces and damning them (which men were in yt principal aiFray
afterwards and took away a sword and shoulder knot from one of
'em) : a few steps further, another came running, as the only expedi-
ent to avoid making Virginia fences, when he came full against me,
made a handsome apology, begged my pardon, and went on. About
five minutes from this (when I had pass'd) the remainder, being five
in number, sallied out with their cutlasses drawn, and met Abra
Hunt, wine cooper (a well built, nervous fellow) with his wife, the
latter of whom they began to abuse : at which the husband (being
provided with a hickory walking stick) aim'd a blow at yt officer's
head, and laid it open ; and had he not been prevented by yt inhabi-
tants from repeating his stroke, he must have demolish'd him : upon
which they all laid about with their weapons and cleared the street of
all the inhabitants, save Samuel Jarvis, Samuel Pitts, one Fullerton,
a chairmaker, y° man mentioned above, and a negro fellow, each of
whom disarmed one without hurting 'em, save the negro, who
knock'd his down with a billet of wood that he took from a pile that
lay in the street. Samuel Pitts only of the inhabitants got wounded
in the affray, having parried off several of their blows with his cane.
One stroke in particular aim'd at him must inevitably have lay'd his
scull open, which he had not opportunity to guard against, having
two upon him at once ; but, fortunately for him, he was standing
against a fence and y? cutlass struck against it, just above his head,
and retarded the stroke, which was immediately repeated across his
belly, when he received it upon his left hand, whereby his knuckles
are split open and he is likely to lose yf use of two or three fingers.
He receiv'd the swords from those who had taken 'em and return'd
with the officers to y? house they came from, where they sent for
y? surgeon of y". regiment and dress'd his wounds as well as the
others, and upon their professing a sorrow for what they had done,
and begging his pardon, he redeliver'd their swords (for which he is
much blam'd) and the next morning acknowledg'd himself fully sat-
isfied, by their concessions, for the injury he had receiv'd, at which
his father was much vex'd, and threalned absolutely to disinherit
him, if he did not prosecute the matter. Upon the whole, the Select-
men took cognizance of the afftiir, and chose a committee of four
from their number to wait upon Earl Piercy (who commands in y°
Governor's absence) and acquaint him with it, who treated them
very politely (and made many apologies that his marque would not

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 335

afford better accommodations for them) and espress'd himself much
displeas'd with their (yf officers) conduct, and told 'em he would take
effectual means to prevent the like behaviour in future, and further
assur'd them, that if they chose to enter a prosecution in civil law,
he would see that ev'ry of the culprits were deliver'd up.

The executors of the cursed Port Bill seem determin'd to put con-
structions upon it, that, ain perswaded, was never intended by the
Legislators ; in particular, in regard to launching vessels, which, they
give out, they shall seize immediately upon their being water borne —
At present, there is about ten or a dozen ships on the stocks, nearly
or quite ready to launch (the latter they are oblig'd to fill with water
for their preservation) one of which belongs to your brother Cole,
and the rest principally to Scotsmen ; which circumstance makes the
matter rather less grievous to the town, as their countrymen, we are
inform'd, were the chief promoters of the Bill for which they now
suffer in common with the inhabitants, as they have cargoes of
tobacco now laying ready for them in Virginia, to take home to Scot-
land as freight.

I forgot formerly to acquaint you that Ruthy and I were at
Betsy Checkley's wedding, at which we were entertain'd with a very
pretty collation, consisting of cold ham, cold roast beef, cake, cheese,
&c. Its about three weeks since her mother and grandmother have
retir'd to the upper end of Roxbury with their families, together with
that amiable maiden, their cousin, Sally Hatch, and the family
with which she resided, so that (including the Roxbury people resi-
dent with them) they compose an agreeable social family of about
twenty four or five and twenty females, with the master of the house
a worthy Deacon of the parish, that Mrs. Checkley is perfectly easy
in her mind, and says she enjoys more comfort and satisfaction in
life than she has done since her husband's decease ; which really
gives me great pleasure, as she is a very worthy, amiable woman,
and deserving of much better fortune than has fallen to her share.*

Among the innumerable hardships we suffer, that of not being
suffer'd to convey any sort of merchandize across the ferry is not the
least ; whereby we are necessitated to receive every kind of goods
from Marblehead or Salem via Cambridge, which adds one third to
the length of the way, which is attended with the expence of eight

Mrs. Checkley was the widow of the Rev. Samuel Checkley, of the New South
' Summer-street) Church. Her daughter Elizabeth was married to Samuel Adams.

336 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLT,

dollars a load for about 28 or 30 miles, or 40/ lawful money at y°
lowest rate it is done for. It is no uncommon thing to hear the
carriers and waggoners, when they pass a difficult place in y? road,
to whip their horses and damn Lord North alternately: — nor are
the coasters who bring wood and grain allowed to carry away any
more provisions and stores than will suffice to last 'em to Salem,
much less permitted to carry any sort of merchandize or utensils
for farming, whereby I am depriv'd of the sale of at least two thirds
of y1 goods I usually us'd to vend, and of the other third I am in a
manner totally depriv'd of, by the operation of the ill-judg'd policy of
our committee, in promoting that hane to harmony, the solemn
League and Covenant : — that really. Bill, I think myself well off to
take cash enough to supply the necessary demands of my family, and
you may as well ask a man for the teeth out of his head as to request
the payment of money that he owes you (either in town or country,
as we are all alike affected) for you'll be as likely to get the one as the
other : notwithstanding which, there seems to be ease, contentment,
and perfect composure in the countenance of almost every person you
meet in the streets, which conduct very much perplexes the Governor
and others, our lords and masters, that they are greatly puzzled, and
know not what to do or how to act, as they expected very different
behaviour from us. I hope we shall have resolution and virtue
enough to observe a steady course, and not give them the least advan-
tage by any misconduct of our own, much more to quiet any dissen-
sions among ourselves that may tend to distiu-b that harmony so
necessary to the welfare of us all.

— ind Instant. Early this morning arriv'd in town eleven carts
loaded with meat fish and one loaded with sweet oil, a donation from
our sympathizing brethren of Marblehead, which the Committee of
ways and means wei-e oblig'd to get to town in this manner, as the
Commissioners would not suffer it to come up by water, though it
must be obvious to every one that it may be deem'd an article oi pro-
vision. Neither will they permit the two cargoes of rice, a generous
donation from South Carolina, together with a thousand bushels
grain from Weathersfield in Connecticutt, come up to us by water,
and have gave out that they shall take upon 'em to say when we have
fewell and provisions enough : after that, cease to let any come at
all ; more particularly any that may be sent for the relief of the poor.
Am told that we are indebted for these minieuvers to two born among
ourselves, they composing half the number of the Commissioners :

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 337

the othertwo being for more favorable construction, but as there's an
equal number of voices, they thought best rather to err in favor of
the government than the people.

The Committee of Ways &c., met yesterday, and came to a
determination to ship some of the rice at Marblehead on board a ves-
sel for this town, and demand a clearance : in case of refusal, to
enter a protest and proceed with it to Boston and take the chance of
it, and then see whether they will put their threats in execution or
not.

The poor of the Town are in general employ'd at present in mend-
ing the streets and cleaning the docks, for which they are paid 3/4 a
day, but some few of them grumble thai they are oblig'd to work
hard for that which they esteem as their right without work.

August bill. — Being inform'd that a Mr. Hare of your city leaves
town tomorrow morning, shall embrace the opportunity and enclose
you the budget I have already wrote, and conclude by acquaint-
ing you that in consequence of the Committee's determination to
bring some of the rice up to town by water (at all events), the Com-
missioners, together with the Governor, Admiral, Solicitor, etc'a.,
have had a general Council, and finally determin'd to admit Dumb
fish and rice to be brought up as articles of provision, as also to
suffer the ships on the stocks to be launched and proceed out of the
harbour without let or molestation.

Must put off all thoughts of a journey to Philadelphia this fall, as
its impossible to say what commotions may take place here when
the other Acts arrive, if they ever do ; as I am perswaded, from the
spirit that prevails in the country towns in general, that they will
never be suffered to operate there, whatever they may do in this
town. Tlierefore I think it absolutely necessary for every one pos-
sessing property, to be in the way, least things may happen that are
little thought of now.

P.S. Should be glad you would not show this, or any other of
my letters, so as to let 'em know who was the autlior.

August 6lh. — I expect you'll set me down for a journalist ; as this
gives a detail of occurrences in succession to my last by Mr. Hare
of the 1st and 5th instant. This day arriv'd the transports with the
59th Regiment from Halifax and a detachment of the Artillery with
twenty odd pieces of ordnance — as also the Scarborough ship of
war with despatches for Governor Gage, among which is a Manda-

d38 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

mus for 36 Councellors upon the new establishment — it is appre-
hended most of 'em will accept.

August 1th. — Arriv'd the other ships with the Koyal Welch
fusileers from New York, which with the others and the Men of War
make the harbour look alive, affording a prospect of near thirty sail ;
a sight which would be really pleasing, if upon a different errand.

August Sth. — The gentlemen, nominated for councellors, set out
early this morning, being Monday, to wait on his Excellency at his
seat at Danvers, near Salem, agreeable to summons sent them last eve-
ning, among whom ten were sworn in, three accepted but not sworn,
two absolutely declining, and four took time to consider of it ; of the
latter of which your uncle Joe * is one. The remainder being at
a distance about the country, could not be advis'd early enough to
give their attendance. Those sworn in are curst with near as many
reproaches as Lord North, who, if the millionth part of the petitions
are answer'd, will be sunk to the lowest pit : not only from the Sons
of Freedom, but from the Tories likewise, who suffer equally with
the others.

August 9th. — By an adjournment from about three weeks since,
the town met together at Faneuil Hall (to consider of some eligible
plan to adopt in regard to the distribution of the generous donations
receiv'd from our sympathizing brethren in the other colonies) not
without some apprehensions that Government would have interpos'd
and dispers'd them, by virtue of the new Acts for regulating our
Government : but nothing of the kind happen'd. Every thing went
on without interruption. Among the business transacted, 7 per cent,
of all bounties received was voted for the town of Charlestown, who
are alike sufferers with us ; after which, they adjourn'd to the latter
end of October next, when they expect to act upon matters that may
be agreed upon by the Congress.

August lOlh. — This morning the remarkable cleanliness of your
uncle Joe's door was obliterated by the application of what was for-
merly called Hilshorough •paint. Whether it was done by the whigs
or tories, I can't say, as they each lay it upon the other. The for-
mer lay it to the tories, and say that they did it with a view to vex
him, and make him determine to accept of being a counsellor, when
otherways he had no iotention to do it : and the latter say it was
done to intimidate him from accepting. I think the former supposi-

* Joseph Green.

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 339

tion most natural, as they neglected to meddle with several in town
who were universally known to be actually sworn in, and who in
y' general opinion of the people, have render'd themselves .much more
obnoxious than the Addressors. Forgot to acquaint you yesterday,
that Charles Starlin of your place, together with Daniel Waldo of
this town, assisted by the Sheriif, seiz'd all the goods and effects of
John Hunt, the Corn hill Brazier, who is now left to begin the world
anew : which may possibly be the case with many more among ais,
especially at this critical juncture, when a man in trade who has got
two thousand sterling due to him can't command or procure a pay-
ment of even forty shillings, even if to save him from an arrest —
such a general stagnation is taken place.

The officers concern'd in the affray mention'd in my last, waited
upon the Select Men, and *publickly ask'd their pardons, to prevent a
prosecution at law : which conduct evidently shews that the Gov-
ernor is dispois'd to preserve peace among us, and that he intends to
observe a strict and impartial administration of justice, so far as he is
permitted to act himself. But under the present administration of
affairs, poiver is substituted for right, and a ministerial mandate su-
persedes all Law and equity. Intended to have wrote you by Robert
Treat Paine, who set out with the Committee for the Congress this
morning, but did not know of their going till now. Am told they
made a very respectable parade, in sight of five of the Regiments
encamp'd on the Common, being in a coach and four, preceded by
two white servants well mounted and arm'd, with four blacks behind
in livery, two on horseback and two footmen. Am in hopes their
joint deliberations will effect something for our relief; more partic-
ularly to concert such measures as may be adopted by the llother
Country, so as to settle a/ friendship between us that may be lasting
and permanent. And may the Divine disposee of all things so
order their determinations, that they may tend to promote that social
harmony heretofore subsisting between us, unincumbered with vmjust
taxes and illegal claims ; and may brand with eternal disgrace the
man that may hereafter dare to agitate any questions that may tend
to disturb it.

August 11th. — Am just return'd from viewing a sight that a per-
son must be destitute of every claim to sensibility not to be affected
at, as the shocking circumstances attending it makes one almost
shudder at the recital. Having passed the fall, winter, and spring,
without being disturb'd with midnight cries of fire (a circumstance

340 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLY,

that never happen'd before in my remembrance) we were last night
alarm'd with that dismal cry between eleven and twelve o'clock. It
broke out in a house improv'd by Zach. Morton, y". Baker, and others
to the number of 3 or 4 families. All the men and some of the
women escaped, by jumping out of the chamber windows, and going
upon the top of the house and falling on to the adjacent ones, as the
floors, and even the beds they lay on, Avere on fire before they were
appriz'd of their danger : whereby three of the women and two
children suffer'd in the flames. The bodies, or rather trunks, of
two of the former and one of the latter have since been taken out,
so prodigiously mutilated, that I shall never get the idea out of my
mind the longest day I have to live. Earl Piercy sent a very polite
message down and oifer'd the assistance of the army (who were
apprehensive, at first, of an attack and fir'd their alarm guns, putting
themselves in a posture of defence upon hearing all the bells of the
town ring and the noise of the engines passing) which the Firewards
as genteelly declin'd, having as much assistance as they thought
necessary.

The ultimate wish and desire of the high Government party is to
get Samuel Adams out of the way, when they think they may accom-
plish every of their plans : but however some may despise him, he has
certainly very many friends. For not long since some persons (their
names unknown) sent and ask'd his permission to build him a new
barn, the old one being decay'd, which was executed in a few days. A
second sent to ask leave to repair his house, which was thoroughly
effected soon. A third sent to beg the favor of him to call at a taylor's
shop and be measur'd for a suit of cloaths and chuse his cloth, which
were flnish'd and sent home for his acceptance. A fourth presented
bim with a new whig, a fifth with a new Hatt, a sixth with six pair of
the best silk hose, a seventh with six pair of fine thread ditto, a eighth
with six pair shoes, and a ninth modestly enquir'd of him whether
his finances want rather low than othei-ways. He reply'd it was true
that was the case, but he was very indifferent about these matters,
so that his poor abilities was of any service to the Publick ; upon
which the Gentlemen oblig'd him to accept of a purse containing about
15 or 20 Johannes. I mention this to show you how much he is
esteem'd here. They value him for his good sense, great abilities,
amazing fortitude, nohle resolution, and undaunted courage : being firm
and unmov'd at all the various reports that were propagated in regard
to his being taken up and sent home, notwithstanding he had repeated

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. . 341

letters from bis friends, both in England as well as here, to keep out
of the way. The Governor came to town this afternoon. He is to
bold a Councell next Tuesday, when its to be determin'd whether the
considering Gentlemen accept. I hope your uncle wont be sworn, as
you can have no just conception of the spirit now prevalent in town
and country. The ten already sworn are generally esteeni'd as worse
enemies to our just rights and privileges than Lord North, who is
curs'd from morn to noon and from noon to morn by every denomina-
tion of people.

August 12th. This afternoon the two delegates from New Hamp-
shii-e pass'd through the town on their way to your city.

August 13th. The Governor sent for the Selectmen, and ac-
quainted them if they wanted a town meeting they had better make
application while he was in town, as he would endeavor to grant their
request. They in reply shew'd to him that two former meetings now
stood adjourn'd to some future time, and that they [had ?] not an immedi-
ate call for Another. In regard to that, be said he bad not sutfioiently
consider'd of it, whether such a procedure was admissable or not ; but
they might depend that he should see that the act of parliament (which
he read to 'em) was put in execution. It's currently reported that a
regiment is to go to Worcester to protect the Court, which is to sit
there soon. Yesterday the Committee of correspondence, in conjunc-
tion with the Select men, chose five delegates out of their number for
a county meeting, to be convened at Stoughtonhara and advise upon
some measure to induce the inhabitants to settle all the little disputes
that may subsist, either of a mercantile or private nature, and if ■possi-
ble prevent any suit coming on at the ensuing court, whereby they may
evade acknowledging the authority of the act.

August 14th. Sunday. The anniversary of first opposition made
to the Stamp Act in this town.

August Ibth. Every humane person was pleas'd to be inform'd
that the military were not suffer'd to punish a deserter with a death ;
but when we find that a thousand lashes is the substitute, we are
equally shock'd to think that mankind can so far divest themselves of
humanity as to be instrumental in inflicting such an horrid punishment
on their fellow mortals. Early this morning a poor culprit received
2.t0 lashes, which number he is to receive four successive weeks, being
one that deserted from the Welch fusileers, just before they left York,
and was taken at the Jersies and brought here, which Regiment is now
encamp'd on Fort Hill, and the 59th from Halifax are gone to Salem,

342 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [JuLT,

where tliey are to take up their residence. The above, with one
belonging to tlie 5th Eegiraent are the only two deserters they have
taken, although upwards of 200 have left 'ein since they've been here.
They are kept under much stricter discipline than if in an enemy's
country ; being put under guard if seen conversing with an inhabitant,
and not suffer'd to leave the camp without a written pass, which makes
the Soldiers very dissatisfied with their situation, and rather stimulates
their going off than otherways.

I intend sending this by Mr. Glover, who leaves town We'nsday
morning. If anything turns up in the mean while worth relating,
shall communicate it. Must beg your candour in regard to all I have
wrote you of late, being only my crude thoughts, as they arise in my
mind, without any correction whatever, as it would be almost an end-
less piece of business for me to copy all I have wrote, and what I may
probably write you in future : for which reason I hope any of my
letters wont miscarry, as in that case you will lose the connection
between them, which it will be out of my power to supply by a du-
plicate. Must likewise enjoin it upon you to keep my name, as the
author, to yourself; having wrote them only for your amusement, and
if they serve to afford you any my utmost end is auswer'd.

August IQlh. Last evening the Cadet company met at Faneuil
Hall by desire of Col° Hancock, when he communicated to them a
letter he had received from the Secretary, by order of the Governor,
dismissing him from any further service as Captain of that Company :
when they pass'd a vote to return their Colors to his Excellency, and
acquaint him that they should not in future esteem themselves as his
body guard ; as also to deliver their Equipage, Musical instruments,
&ca. into Colonel Hancock's keeping till some future time, being
determin'd not to appear under any other leader while he lives, as by
the establishment of the Company they have a right to choose their
own officers. By your uncle's not going to Salem to attend Councill
this morning, I conclude he has declin'd to accept, which I am the
more inclin'd to think, as your aunt (with whom I drank tea yesterday
P.M.) was very uneasy least he should accept. Like the African
habituated to slavery, I begin to be a little more reconcil'd to the loss
of business and an inactive state of life ; but the distant prospect of
relief affords one some small consolation, and leads me to think that
sooner or later our just rights and liberties will be reinstated upon a
Jinn and solid foundation, if not impeded by a defection among our-
selves. With a hearty concurrence in every general plan that may be

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 343

adopted to that end, and a sincere wish that they may have the desir'd
etfect I sign myself your's &c.

August 17th. Mr. Glover, who left town this morning, was kind
enough to take charge of a letter to you of the 6th and 16th instant,
which he inform'd me he should be able to deliver you in nine days.

Yesterday a Committee from the Cadet Company waited upon his
Excellency at Salem, consisting of Gabriel Johonnot, Foster*

and Samuel Pitts, attended by the Company's servant bearing the
Standard. He received them and their address with, politeness,
but was somewhat nettled at the contents, as his answer evidently
shews, being very laconic, and expressive of chagrin and disappoint-
ment. He accepted their colour, and told them Mr. Hancock had
used him ill by personally affronting him (though Col. Hancock dont
recollect that ever he did, and is sure he never meant to do it, nor can
he conceive the reason why he should charge him with it, other than
that his ill state of health would not admit of his personally paying his
compliments to him when he came to the chair) and that he would not
receive an affront from any man in the province, and had he previously
known their intentions, should have disbanded them himself.

August 18th. I herewith inclose you an additional list of Councel-
lors who have taken an Oath, virtually, to enforce all arbitrary Acts of
Parliament upon us, and it wont be for want of their endeavors if they
dont make slaves of the whole Continent. The inhabitants of the
country towns (where many of them belong) are prodigiously vex'd,
and its my opinion (if we may judge from the tenor of all their conduct)
that they wont suffer any one to live among 'em.

August l^th. Am told this morning that Col. Murray's son of
Rutland has sent express down to his father to beg him by no means
to return home, as his life would be in imminent danger if he should :
am excessive glad your uncle has declin'd.

August 20th. When I seriously reflect on the unhappy situation
we are in, I cant but be uneasy least y" trade of the town should never
be reinstated again : but on the other hand, when I consider that our
future welfare depends altogether upon a steady and firm adherence to
the common cause, I console myself with the thoughts that if, after
using every effort in our power, we are finally oblig'd to submit, we
shall leave this testimony behind us, that, not being able to stem the
stream, we were of necessity borne down by the torrent. You can

* Tlie Christian name prefixed in the manuscript to Foster is illegible to me.

344 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULY,

have no just conception how sensibly I ara affected in my business. If
you'll believe me (though I have got near two thousand sterling out in
debts and about as much more in stock) I have not received above
eighty or ninety pounds Lawful money from both resources for above
two months past ; though previous to the port's being shut, I thought
it an ordinary day's work if I did not carry home from 20 to 40 dollars
every evening. Consequently the burthen falls heaviest, if not entirely,
upon the middling people among us ; for the poor (who always liv'd
fiom hand to mouth, i.e. depended on one day's labour to supply the
wants of another) will be supported by the beneficence of the colonies ;
and tlie rich, who liv'd upon their incomes either as land-holders or
usureis, will still have the same benefit from their wealth, for if one
tenant is incapacitated to pay the annual rent, there is always another
ready, that is able, to supply his place, and some among the money-
lenders will rather be benefitted by our calamities, for many among us,
who have heretofore been good livers (will not be esteem'd as objects
of charity while they preserve that appearance, whether they have
anything left which they can call their own, or not) if our embarrass-
ments should continue very long, must be necessitated to take upon
what little interest they may have left under very great disadvantages
to themselves, and perhaps to the emolument of those who icould be
thought their benefactors. Such are the inevitable consequences result-
ing from a stoppage of trade ; for if you consider the branch of the
distillery of rum alone, at the smallest computation, is allow'd to be a
loss of six thousand pounds Lawful money, a week to the town, as the
expence attending the transportation of molasses 28 or 30 miles by
land, and the rum when made the same distance (to be ship'd for
foreign markets) is equal to a prohibition — that the manufacturers of
that article in Mistick, "Watertown, Salem, Haverhill and Newbury
engross the whole of the trade, and its a chance (after being long used
to those channels for a supply) whether it will ever revert to us again.
The constant intercourse of heavy loaded carriages passing between
this and Salem has so worn the road, in addition to the many uphills
and down, that those carriers and waggoners, who prided themselves in
keeping their horses fat and in good case, are obliged to submit to the
mortification of being able to count their ribs, without the assistance
of artificial optics, or the sense of feeling, such is the fatigue they
undergo ! If so now, what will it be in the fall and winter, when every
step will imraerze 'em a foot or two deep in mud and mire. In one of
your letters you give me to understand that you expected, or would

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 345

wish to have, a circumstantial account of all proceedings, &c : , at this
particular time. If I have omitted any material circumstance, its be-
cause I was never acquainted with it. Have endeavor'd to give you a
diurnal account, and where occurrences have fail'd to embellish the
day, have presum'd to afford you a treat of my own lucubrations.

Am this instant interrupted by a chace of four soldiers after a
deserter through the market. He proves to belong to the 65th, and
left 'em two or three years since. He seems to be a smart, stout
fellow, dress'd in a short jacket and long trousers. Am amaz'd he
should be so stupid as to appear in so publick a place. They have
lug'd him up to the camp, from whence they will send him to his regi-
ment, where I suppose a thousand lashes at least will be his portion.

August '2\st. This evening two officers of the 38th were very
severely drub'd for going into a house in Pleasant street and ill-using
two women, whose husbands happen'd to be at home ; whereby one of
the officers got a contusion on his head from the stroke of a pistol,
apply'd by a son of Vulcan ; who followed him, took away his sword
and broke it, while the other was feeling the effects of an injur'd
husband's rage. They then both went and press'd a complaint to Lord
Percy : what satisfaction he gave 'em, cant learn, but from his disposi-
tion to punish every misbehaviour, either in officers or soldiers, am
perswaded he will do them justice.

August 227id. The arrival of a vessel into Marblehead from Fal-
mouth afforded us some few articles of intelligence that were rather
encouraging than otherways. The arrival of Hutchinson, with the first
news of a Union of the Colonies being likely to take place, must be
productive of some good ; and then, for every succeeding vessel to give
'em a fresh dose, must be too powerful for my Lord North, and I fancy
the operation will produce strong convulsions, if not a total deprivation
of his political existence. However uncertain the dependance, yet am
pleas'd that the popular clamour has turn'd in our favor.

August 23rd. Notwithstanding the 59th Regiment, with part of
tlie 64th, are quarter'd at Salem, yet they had a town meeting yester-
day, in contempt of the Act of Parliament, and without leave from the
Governor, though he was then in the town ; when they chose five
delegates for a county meeting, for the laudable purpose of settling dis-
putes without having recourse to law. Which spirit prevails through
the province, for Daniel Leonard, one of the new Councellors, belong-
ing to Taunton, has return'd to town this morning, as the day he got
home they muster'd from all the towns around to pay him a vizit, when

346 MASSACHTJSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLY,

he very prudently came off to avoid tlie threatening storm. Colonel
Murray of Rutland, another of them, set out for home this morning,
accompanied by his son, (who is studying physic here) being both well
arm'd and resolute, that I imagine they are determin'd to stand a
brush, if oppos'd, being both very stout men, near or quite as large as
Forrest. We also have account this morning that Simpson's shop at
Providence (one of the Council belonging to this town) attended by
his two nephews, who are connected with him in business, was tarr'd
and feather'd one evening last week, and so many days allow'd for 'em
to take their departure. On default, they are threatned to be serv'd
as their shop, and carted likewise. An express arriv'd yesterday to
his Excellency from Great Barrington, a town about one hundred and
twenty miles westward from us, where they were rather premature
with their conduct (having puU'd the judges from the bench, dispers'd
the jurors, and would not suffer any court to be held) as the regulation
in the choice of jurors does not take place till after the first of next
month, though they were aggravated to it by one Ingersol, their repre-
sentative, a lawyer, who about three weeks since behav'd so very
insolent, jby threatning to execute the new Acts, that they beset him
and for want of tar they stuck the feathers on with grease and put
him down an empty well, where they kept him till morning. Since
which he has taken refuge with the Governor at Salem.

August 24th. We hear from Taunton this morning that upwards
of two thousand men met on the green in that town, and but for the
expostulations of Leonard's father (who disapprov'd of his son's being
a Councellor, and promis'd to use his influence with him that he should
resign) would have pull'd his house down. Col° Murray halted yes-
terday at Cambridge, least too great precipitancy in so bold an en-
terprise should prove fatal. He has behav'd like an experiencd
commander, and sent to reconnoitre before he advances, with a view
to better inform himself of the hostile dispositions of his townsmen.
They say the affair at Great Barrington was not quite so bad as
represented to the Governor, as the people that muster'd came from
Connecticut Government (the town bounding on the line, and had so
fill'd the courthouse as not to leave room either for the judges or jurors
to enter. The consequence was that they either adjourn'd or dissolv'd
the court.

August 25th. Am told that the Governor made a shew of dispers-
ing the town meeting at Salem, by ordering down two companies from
the 59th Regiment, who proceeded within a few rods of the meeting.

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 347

when they halted, and march'd back again immediately : which gave
occasion to a shrewd fellow to repeat the old adage — "the king of
France, &c'a.", when the surgeon of the regiment made a stop, and
said he could not but acknowledge it a just similarity — for here I am,
says he, with my mates, provided with every apparatus for dressing
wounds, performing amputations, &c'a. Since which, the committee
of correspondence there were summoned before his Excellency and
question'd in regard to the meeting, whether they were call'd by their
authority or not. They readily acknowledg'd it was call'd and manag'd
by their direction. He then observed to 'em, that they must abide by
the consequences ; for he should issue out writs to seize their persons
and, if necessary, tlie Sheriff should be supported by the troops and he
would bear 'em harmless for whatever they might do. Accordingly,
two of 'em were taken up the same afternoon, when they gave bail and
were dismiss'd. The other five were taken this morning, when they
refus'd to give bail, and said they would rather be committed ; when
the magistrate thought proper to release 'em upon their parole of
honor. The town was greatly alarm'd, and had they been committed
the consequences must have been fatal ; for the last accounts from
England have rather encourag'd the sons of freedom to persevere than
othervvays, and confirmed the luke-warm that were staggering, as well
as cool'd down the opposite party.

August 26th. The affair at Salem is the only topic of speculation
this day. The latest accounts we have had from there was at ten
o'clock P.M., when there was upwards of three thousand men assem-
bled there from the adjacent towns, with full determination to rescue
the Committee if they should be sent to prison, even if they were
oblig'd to repel force by force, being sufficiently provided for such a
purpose ; as indeed they are all through the country — every male
above the age of 16 possessing a firelock with double the quantity of
powder and ball enjoin'd by law. The Marblehead people sent them
word that they were ready to come in at a minute's warning sufficiently
provided to lend assistance. George WilUams, Captain Derby, &c.,
of the Committee told the Governor if the ninetieth part of a farthing
would be taken as bail, they would not give it, and very pertinently
retorted upon him " if he committed them he must abide hy the conse-
quences " — for they would not be answerable for what might take
place. He told them that 4 o'clock p.m. was the utmost extent of
time he would give them to consider of it, and earnestly recommended
their giving bail to appear at the next Superior Court to answer to a

348 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

charge of " high crimes and misdemeanures." The towns through the
country are so far from being intimidated, that a day in the week does
not pass without one or more having meetings, in direct contempt of
the Act ; which they regard as a blank piece of paper and not more ;
that I expect we shall be in a state of Nature for a season, as at present
there dont seem the least probability that any court of justice will be
suifer'd to act.

August 21th. — This morning we are favor'd with the agreeable
news that his Excellency has suspended the matter at Salem by drop-
ping the prosecution: which shews a great instance of prudence in
him, that seeing them resolute and the people so determinate, he was
willing to give up a point rather than push matters to extremities.

August 28th : Tuesday. Last evening two ^soldiers of the Welch
fusileers attack'd young Mr. Molineaux in the street leading to his
father's house, at about 11 o'clock. They seiz'd, and were lugging him
away, when he disengag'd himself, run aside and pull'd oif his coat
and waistcoat. They made up to him : he knock'd one down and then
the other with his fist ; at the same time call'd out murther to raise the
neighborhood. Not knowing what their intentions were respecting
him, he kept 'em in play for about 15 minutes, when a lad came to his
assistance : just at which time Major Small, an officer much respected
here, came up. He seiz'd one of the fellows and put him under guard.
The other ran off. He waited on Mr. Mollineaux at noon, and begg'd
the favor of him to attend the Court Martial to-morrow morning.

August 2dth. It is rumour'd this morning that a company or two
has march'd for Roxbury, as there is to be a town meeting there this
day. Notwithstanding all the parade the Governor made at Salem
on account of their meeting, they had one directly under his nose at
Danvers, and continued it two or three howers longer than was neces-
sary, to see if he would interrupt 'em. He was made acquainted
with it, but reply'd — "Damn 'em! I wont do anything about it
unless his Majesty sends me more troops." Three or four of the
new councellors living in the country have resign'd already, and some
of the more obstinate have taken refuge here. Have inclos'd you this
day's paper, which contains many Speculative pieces that may aflbrd
you entertainment at a leisure hour : more particulai'ly the details of
transactions and expences occurr'd by this province for a series
of years.

August SOth. From my frequency of writing you may well think
I have little else to do, being neither fatigued with that nor troubled

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 34:9

with business. Much less am I dispos'd to lead an idle life : and if I
cant employ my time to my own benefit I think the least I can do is
to contribute all in my power to the amusement of my friends abroad
as well as at home, in j°. former of which I esteem you as the principal,
and am happy in the thought, that like se7itiments possess congenial souls.
If the budget by Mr. Breck dated the 17th (a) 29th instant affords you but
a moment's satisfaction, I am fully repaid for the part I have towards
it ; as the dictates of true friendship ever prompts us to wish our friends
a participation in those matters that may prove agreeable. So much
for introduction: — will now proceed to acquaint you that they met
with no interruption in the business of their meeting at Roxbury yes-
terday, save that Isaac Winsloiu attended and declar'd his entire
willingness to resign his councellor-ship ; made an apology for his
acceptance, and said that it was more owing to the perswasion of
others than to his own inclinations.

Late in the evening a member waited upon Commodore Loring,
and in a friendly way advis'd him to follow the example of his towns-
man. He desir'd time to consider of it. They granted it, but ac-
quainted him, if he did not comply, he must expect to be waited upon
by a larger number, actuated by a different spirit. His principal ap-
prehension was that he should lose his lialf -pay.

The Superior Court, which sits here this day, affords the only sub-
ject for speculation which has turn'd up in the course of it. Judge
Oliver having assum'd his seat at the bench (for the first time since
his impeachment) caus'd a reluctance in the jury to serve, and they
one and all absolutely refus'd. The Grand-jurors gave in their rea-
sons in writing and the petit-jurors by a bare negative, save Mr.
Mifilin's cousin, Thomas Chase, who declar'd boldly " that his con-
science would not let him take the oath whiles Peter Oliver set upon
the bench, who was under impeachment by the honorable house of
representatives : " — upon which they were dismiss'd, and the Court
adjourn'd till tomorrow, when the affair at Salem is to be reassum'd
again, though the Governor is at present with us.

August 31s<. At sunset last evening I amus'd myself with a walk
in the Mall, and could not but admire at the subservient honors paid his
Excellency, being attended by five or six field oflftcers and two or three
aid de camps, with eight orderly sergents at an aiuful distance in the
rear : parading up the street from Sheriff Greenleaf's he met with
'Squire ^rfson, (a mere plowjogger to look at) one of the newfangled,
councellors, whose townsmen, at Bridgewater, after some

350 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

exhortation, thought proper to send him to Coventry, nor would they
even deign to sing y". psalm after his reading it, being deacon of the
parish, such is the detestation in which they are all held that refuse
to resign. His Excellency, after about ten minutes earnest conversa-
tion with him, proceeded to Earl Piercy's, who occupies a house at the
head of Winter Street, belonging to Inspector Williams. While he
went in, his attendants of high and low rank stood in waiting at the
gate like so many menial slaves.

Seven of the transports now in the harbour are under sailing orders
to proceed to Quebeck and bring away the troops from there (that it
may be an easier conquest for the French, for I think the least they
can do, after passing an act to allow them their old mode of legisla-
tion and the church of Rome, the establish'd religion of the country,
is to give 'em an opportunity to assume the reins of Government into
their own hands, independent of Great Brittain), as \ve\\ as from New
York and your city : which in addition to the four more regiments
expected from Ireland (of which we have certain accounts of their
coming) they intended to carry all before them here. But I hope y1
strict observance of a steady and peaceable conduct will disappoint
their views, for am perswaded there is nothing they wish for more than
an opportunity to deem us rebels ; but God forbid ! they should ever
be gratified.

September the 1st. Yesterday in the afternoon two hundred and
eighty men were draughted from the severall regiments in the common,
furnish'd with a day's provision each, to be in readiness to march early
in the morning. Various wei-e the conjectures respecting their des-
tination, but this morning the mystery is unravell'd, for a sufficient
number of boats from the Men of War and transports took 'em on
board between 4 and 5 o'clock this morning, and proceeding up Mistick
river landed them at the back of Bob Temple's house, from whence
they proceeded to the magazine (situated between that town and Cam-
bridge) conducted by judge Oliver, Sheriff Phips, and Joseph Gold-
thwait, and are now at this time (8 o'clock) taking away the powder
from thence, being near three hundred barrells, belonging to the
Province, which they are lodging in Temple's barn, for conveniency to
be transported to the Castle, I suppose.

The cause of this mineuvour was brought to light yesterday by
mere accident. The Governor walking up the main street to dino
with Brigadier Pigot of the 43d, who improves a house just above
Liberty tree, by chance or design, in pulling out his handkerchief, dropt

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 351

a letter from Brigadier Brattle of Cambridge (am apt to think the latter,
with a view to exculpate himself from being thought to take such a
measure of his own head) : the purport of which, as near as I can
recollect, is as follows, vizt. ; — " that being acquainted by one Cap-
tain Minot th[at] he the said Jones had been apply'd to, and urgently
press'd to conduct about fifteen hundred men towards Cambridge,
that he disswaded the said Minot from complying, and told him if
he did, he would be hang'd and shott for a Rebell : that he was
apprehensive the Province powder was in danger, all other, either
belonging to particular towns, or individuals, had been withdrawn.
It being private property, he could not do otherwise than deliver it,
and as a friend to good government he should do his utmost en-
deavour to preserve that as a sa.cred depositum."

It was obvious to every one of the least discernment that the Briga-
dier was much chagrin'd at not receiving a mandamus, though he has
since declar'd, in a scoffing loay, that he was exceeding glad he was
not appointed, and would only wish to have been, that he might have
had an opportunity to shew that he had the good of his country at
heart, by resigning luith contempt, or rather refusing. From the
above, we may judge of his sincerity, which was always doubted,
and its very evident that he's aiming to fill a vacancy.

Judge Danforth waited on Governor this day to resign his seat at
the Councel Board. He refus'd to accept of it, and told him he
might absent himself, if he plcas'd, but he had sworn to give him coun-
cil, from which oath it was not in his power to release him. And
yesterday young Mr. Hutchinson sent in his resignation in writing,
with his reasons at large, to his Excellency, which makes me think
they must have some private intimations from England that affairs are
likely to take a more favorable turn for us.

September 2nd. The country people, being vastly more vigilant
and spirited than the town, did not fail to visit Brattle and Sewall's
house last evening, but not finding either of 'em at home, they quietly
went off. But a report having prevail'd through the country (by rea-
son of the seizure of the powder yesterday) that y' same game had
been play'd here, and y1 inhabitants disarm'd has rais'd such a spirit
as will require the utmost prudence to allay ; for they are in arms at
all quarters, being determin'd to see us redress'd. At eight o'clock this
morning there were about three thousand under their regular leaders at
Cambridge common, and continually increasing ; had left their arms
at a little distance, when Judge Lee and Danforth waited upon 'em.

352 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JdlY,

and gave them the fullest assurances that they had resign'd their seats
at y'. board and would not act in any capacity whatever, that was dis-
agreeable to the people. Lieutenant Governor Oliver is come to town
and Brattle is gone to the Castle, which I believe is the only place of
safety for him in the province. Four or five expresses have come
down to Charlestown and here, to acquaint us, that between Sudbury
and this, above ten thousand men are in arms and are continually
coming down from the country back : that their determination is to
collect about forty or fifty thousand by night (which they are sure of
accomplishing) when they intend to fling in about fifteen thousand
by the way of the Neck, and as many more over the ferry : when once
got possession, to come in like locusts and rid the town of every sol-
dier. But such a scheme is so big with mischief and calamity, that
j". Committee of correspondence, select men, and every prudent man
in the town of Charlestown, set off to appease 'em early in the morn-
ing ; and the committee of correspondence from this town also went
at the same time. Since which, accounts have been so alarming that
between ten and eleven o'clock the Select men set out from here, to
try what they could do to satisfie and disperse 'em. Ruthy set out
this morning for Hingham, in company with my mother, Mr. Breck,
and Ben. Am rejoiced that she is out of the way, just at this
time.

A Guard of Soldiers is set upon the Powder house at the back of
yt Common, so that people are debar'd from selling their own prop-
erty ; and the Guard upon the Neck is doubled, as well as that the
whole battallions have had new flints, &ca., delivered out to them.

Commissioner Hallowell, coming from Salem to his house in Eox-
bury, pass'd by Cambridge common, where the people were collected,
spoke somewhat contemptuously of them, which soon came to their
ears. They immediately sent a party in pursuit of him. He saw
them coming ; jump'd out of his chaise ; order'd his negro off the
horse and got on ; when he set out upon the full gallop with a pistol in
each hand. Oue of the party, better mounted than the rest, overtook
him upon the Neck, at whom he snap'd his pistol, which luckily missed
fire, when he put on with full speed, and flung himself into the pro-
tection of the guard posted there. News of the above movement of
the Army, which was represented as though they were coming against
them, together with the aggravation that Hallowell had shot a man,
was carried to Cambridge, which set the people in a prodigious fer-
ment (who before were become quite calm and compos'd) and every

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 353

one retii-'d to Watertown, where they liad left their arms, and return'd
to the Common fully eqiiipp'd and well dispos'd to make a tryal of
skill. They had the presence of mind to get matters in readiness to
take up the bridge, to prevent their bringing the artillery to bear upon
'em, least the Combat should be too unequal. An express came down
and rode full speed up to the fortification, and upon being inform'd
that matters were not as had been represented, hastily returned over
the ferry and quieted their minds again. Pray excuse incorrectness,
as I am neither historian nor Scholar.

September 3rd. — As a continuation to the other sheet, must ob-
serve to you that between three and four thousand remain'd upon the
field in Cambridge till night, when they peaceably return'd, each one
to his own house, but not till they had proeur'd a written acknowl-
edgment from Governor Oliver, that he would give up his seat in
Councill, and verbally offer'd to renounce the Commission of Lieuten-
antcij if they desir'd it : but they told him to retain it by all means,
that they did not wish for a hetter man to hold the second office in
the Government than him. They also proeur'd a written obligation
from Sheriff Phips, that he would not return jurors, serve writs,
&ca., nor even act oflicially in any case upon the principal of y". new
establishment. It is worthy remark that Judge Lee observ'd to 'em,
after he had made his resignation, that he never saw so large a num-
ber of people together and preserve so peaceable order before in his
life.

Though they had an account at Marlborough of the powder's be-
ing remov'd, last Thursday night, yet they were down to Cambridge
(which is thirty miles) by eight o'clock Fryday morning, with a
troop of horse and another of foot, both under the command of Gib.
Speakman, a young fellow who serv'd his time with John Rowe.

One day this week they had a County meeting at Concord, con-
sisting of 158 delagates (not one town or district failing to send one
or more) when they pass'd a number of spirited resolves, not leaving
any subject or circumstance under their cognizance unnoticed. They
were drawn up by a sub-committee of nine, and after being reported,
it was resolved that every member should answer yea or nay, for the
question, when there was 154 yeas, one absolute nay, and the other
three apologiz'd, that as they were not permitted to qualifie their an-
swer, they must say nay, though they excepted against only two or
three paragraphs.

They have also had a rendevouz at Springfield this week, and
45

354 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

number'd about two thousand men, who took much the same meas-
ures as at Cambridge, in regard to their sheriffs, constables, &ca.

Simday, Sepfemlier the Ath. They have haul'd the Men of War
close in upon the town at all quarters. Last evening, after holding
out against the perswasions of all his friends, Treasurer Gray re-
sign'd, and in the morning of the same day Jonathan Simpson, with
Willard of Lancaster, and indeed most of those belonging to the
country — save some who are here in town, and Governor wont let
go home, least they should be prevail'd on to comply. The Com-
mander in Chief asked the Lieutenant Governor how many the mob
consisted of that were before his house. He told him about four
thousand, but they were not a mob by any means, but consisted of
the leading men in the county and reputable substantial farmers.

As Brattle's letter has since been publish'd, with his address to
the public in vindication of himself, I herewith inclose 'em, together
with an acknowledgment to the public by E. Goldthwait, which I
think very extraordinary from him.

Were it my ■wretched fate, to lead a life
"Without a home, much more without a wife,
Experience then could not but make it so :
SoVman said, alVs vanity here below.

But were my case to be vice versa thus,
Blest with a tdfe, a home, but empty purse ;
Then might I say, with Agur in his prayer,
A competence. Lord ! give me for my share.

When blest with that, I still might crave for more,
And not content, plead poverty as before ;
Thus human nature always is the same.
One wish acquir'd yet still we "nash again.

Being three days without Ruthy's company, the only time of her
absence since we were connected, gave rise to the first verse, but
when in the vein my muse led me on : therefore you have it rough as
it runs.

I expect my private opportunities will fail me soon, and should
not chuse to put you to the expence of postage, without your special
permission, though I dont think the matter I write is worth that cost,
yet if I have your orders I shall endeavor to comprise as much as
possible in a single sheet, with my toast in one hand, my pen in the
other, and a sup of coffee (not tea) now and then.

Septembei- bth. The alarm caus'd by the movement of the couu-

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 355

try has iuduc'd the Governor to order a number of field pieces up to
the neck guard, and this morning has got a number of workmen
there, to build blockhouses and otherways repair the fortification. It
was reported that he was going to cut a canal across and break off
the communication with the country other than by a bridge ; in con-
sequence of which the Select men waited upon him. He assur'd
them he had no intention to break ground, but was only about secur-
ing the entrance into the Town, that the inhabitants as well as the
soldiers may not be expos'd to inroads from the country. One of the
gentlemen shew'd to him, that if he persisted in such proceedings,
the inhabitants would leave the town and send an express home with
a remonstrance against him : upon which he exclaim'd, " J — s G — d !
what! leave the town ! " — being apprehensive, I suppose, if such a
tiling should take place, that he and his formidable host would come
to short commons.

September Qth. From the various county meetings, we promise
ourselves great benefitt, and I think every good member of society
will acquiesce with their purposes. But any one who avails himself
of the times, and keeps a creditor from his just due, ought to be de-
spis'd by every good man. Our county meets this day at Stoughton,
Essex county at Ipswich, and Worcester county are to meet at that
Itlace, when at a short day they are to have a provincial assembly, in
order to cement the union upon a Basis as firm as solid, and keep up
that noble spirit that universally prevails among all ranks of people.
Its allowed, by the best calculations, that at least a hundred thousand
men were equipt with arms, and moving towards us from different
parts of the country. The celebrated Colonel Putnam was at the head
of fifteen thousand, and its said that five and twenty thousand more
were in a body a day's march behind him. Among the former was
two of Governor Trumbal's sons of Connecticut, who were three
days in the ranks as soldiers. Its greatly to their credit that in all
the different parties that were collected, and in all their various move-
ments, there was as much good order and decorum observ'd, as when
attending church on Sundays.

The townspeople are in general very uneasy and dissatisfied with
the Governor's fortifying the entrance ; so much so, they cant get
any one workman to assist 'em. They've got an engineer from York,
who is trying what he can do with a number of carpenters and ma-
sons out of the army. They talk of sending to New York for a
number of mechanics to affect it : its my opinion, if they are wise,
they wont come.

356 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLT,

The famous Colonel Jones of Westown was held in durance about
three hours, one day last week, and catechised by about three hun-
dred from the contiguous towns.

September 1th. A ship from London arriv'd at Salem yesterday
P.M., with thirty odd chests of that cursed herb for Smith and At-
kinson of this town. Cant learn that she has brought anything in
particular, save that the commotions are very great in England upon
account of the Quebeck bill, as well as our's. An arm'd schooner
from England, but last from Halifax, is just entered the harbour at
my writing this, and saluting the admiral, (who, by the way, detains
all the ferry boats along side his ship from nine at night till five in
the morning) with dispatches for General Gage.

Two light horse, well mounted and equipt, came into town this
morning, who belong'd to a troop of five hundred that were upon
their march from Connecticut ; and upon hearing that matters were
quiet here, they return'd to their respective homes.

September 8th. As the Governor, Commissioners, and indeed all
the Governmental gentry have taken up their residence in town for
the Winter, the 59th Regiment is expected from Salem immediately.
They have tix'd the colors and laid out their ground for their encamp-
ment at y*: side of y". Neck, near y' Windmill. Yesterday, between
one and two o'clock p.m., the General, with a large parade of at-
tendants, took a survey of the skirts of the town ; more particularly
that part opposite the country shore. 'Tis suppos'd they intend to
erect Batteries there to prevent any incursions of the country people
from that quarter, having effectually secur'd the Neck by the disposi-
tion of the field pieces ; and their caution extends so far as to have a
guard patrole Roxbury streets at all hours of the night, as well as
another posted at Charlestown ferry every night, after the evening
gun fires.

As experience makes men wise, so the least alarm will put 'em
upon their guard that have once been trick'd. A Scotch Captain,
who is building a ship at Charlestoivn, observ'd that they put the
ammunition, such as shot, &ca., belonging to the battery there, under
ground. He came over and inform'd the Governor of it, who sent
an otficer over with him to examine the premisses yesterday afternoon.
The inhabitants, suspecting what would take place, provided a num-
ber of teams, such as carry ship timbers, and slung all the guns
belonging to the battery, and carried up country, together with the
reposit of shot, &ca. About midnight another formidable expedi-

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 357

tion was set on foot. The boats from all the Men of War were
man'd with soldiers, with orders to dismantle the fort and bring off
all the Ordnance, Stores, &ca. : but I imagine their chagrin was as
great as their disappointment. So much for the honor of Fig Village,
Bill! Tell Breck, if with you, that Bradstreei is at least a foot
higher upon the occasion.

September 9th. Neither prompted by a brutal gratification, nor
destitute of tender feelings, but led by a curiosity natural to most
men, early this morning I attended the execution of the poor fellow
whom I mentioned in one of my former letters to have been taken up
iu y"; market for desertion. After the Parson had pray'd with him,
and while his grave was digging, he address'd himself to the Soldiers
(who were drawn up from all the Regiments around him) : he spoke
for half an hour very fluently and compos'd, but when he was fix'd
to the spot from which he was not to remove but into an mvfull eter-
nity, his spirits were much agitated, and after another exhortation and
prayer, which continued about a quarter of an hour, he received the
discharge of six muskets from about eight yards distance, and least
that was not sufficient, a fourth stepp'd up and presented his gun
close to his head and discharg'd it, which put a period to his life.
He was then laid upon the lid of his coffin and expos'd to the view of
the whole Army, who were made to march in a slow, solemn step
close on one side his body, as an example in terrorem, I suppose ;
though I immagin it will have a quite contrary effect (unless they are
lost to all sense of humanity) and create in them an utter detestation
to remain subordinate to a set of men, who were instrumental in
committing such an unjust act of cruelty.

Colonel Frye, of Salem (who was the magistrate that endeavor'd to
commit the committee of correspondence there) has resign'd all his
posts of lionor and profit. Indeed necessity oblig'd him to, as he and
his family were in danger of starving ; for the country people would
not sell him any provisions, and the inhabitants, however well dis-
pos'd any might be to him, dare not procure him any. And Colonel
Browne of the same place, a lately appointed Judge as well as coun-
cellor, is oblig'd to repair here for an assylum. A committee from
that county waited on him yesterday to require a resignation.
Whether they obtain'd it or not I cant learn. The present temper of
the People throughout the Province is such, that they wont suffer a
tory to remain any where among 'em without making an ample
recantation of his principles ; and those who presume to be so obsti-

358 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULY,

nate as not to comply, are oblig'd to take up their residence in this city
of refuge, which the Governor and the Army esteem as yet unsafe for
them as well as themselves, and notwithstanding the six field pieces
planted at y" Neck, they have brought twelve cannon from the
Castle, some nine and some four pounders, which they have dispos'd
about the entrance of the to\Yn. And this is not the only proof of
their fear ; for I am well inform'd that they keep so many and such
strict guards of nights, that the soldiers don't get but one undisturb'd
night's sleep out of four.

September 10th. They have drawn oiF the whole of the troops
from Salem, and the Board of Commissioners, with the Governor's
family and furniture, are all arriv'd here, not thinking themselves
secure in a town surrounded by the country as that is: so that they
disobey the Act of Parliament as well as y° People, which is expressly,
that no Commissioner shall remain in y', town of Boston. The Tea
arriv'd at tliat town in y". Julius Csesar is to go to Halifax, where it
will meet with as unwelcome a reception, I imagine, as here ; as a
number of y" inhabitants who are here, seem to breathe the same
spirit of freedom as prevails through the continent. A chest of that
which went from Portsmouth, was smuggled up to Windsor, a town
about forty miles from Halifax, and lodg'd with a Magistrate, whose
house was surrounded by the populace and threatened to be set on fire
if he did not deliver it up ; and the waggon which convey'd it there
was intirely demollish'd.

Sunday, September lUh. By the Eastern post last evening we are
inform'd that a mast ship had arriv'd at Portsmouth with thirty
chests of tea on board, which had taken shelter under the fort ; that
the inhabitants had taken possession of the fort, and beset one Parry's
house, to whom it came consign'd, he beiq^ a contractor there. And
sometime yesterday a ship bound from Scotland to New York with
passengers, put in here in distress, having been eleven weeks out and
only two days provisions left. They apply'd to the Admiral for leave
to victual, who very humanely told 'em, if they did not depart in six
hours he would sink 'em ; and his secretary ask'd them, w hat the
Devil they came to America for, to be made slaves of ; that they'd
much better go back to Scotland again ; that they should not have
any provisions in this province ; if they wanted any, they might go
to Newport for it. Am told the Admiral us'd the same threats to the
transports which sail'd a few days since for Quebeck, as y" captains
were very unwilling to go, it being so late in the season, and they not
at all relishing the thoughts of wintering there.

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 359

September V2th. The Governor is to return an answer to-day to
the Committee from the County of SutTolk, or rather our county, who
waited upon him on Saturday last. Among other matters in their
remonstrance is, " that nothing less than an immediate removal of
the cannon and artillery from Boston Neck will satisfie 'em." Four
of the refugee councellors lodge at y" head of Quaker lane, and have
four soldiers lodge in y° house every night to defend 'em if molested,
at y' bottom of which lane, or rather opposite Joy's huildings, are five
or six shops, improv'd by a Chaisemaker, Taylor, Shoemaker, Barber,
&ca., in each of which they have a bell ; and when either of 'em ob-
serves a councellor or high Torey pass, he gives y" signal by ringing
his bell which takes through the whole, and thus they are compli-
mented till out of sight.

The General has set about two hundred soldiers to work upon the
fortifications this morning ; I suppose with a view to be in readiness
to give the county committee a negative answer. He is by no means
satisfied with his disappointment at Charlestown, as he sent a number
of officers and soldiers over there yesterday ; who were employ'd, in
service time in particular, in traversing the streets and by-ways, and
tampering with the children, to get out of them where the cannon
were hid. Many of the inhabitants are serious about leaving the
town, as they are in general apprehensive that when the Governor
has sufficiently fortified it, military Law will be declar'd, and no one
sufFer'd to go out but by his permission, notwithstanding what he may
have said to the Contraiy. There is no knowing. Bill, what may take
place with us. For my own part, I endeavor to make myself as easy
as I can ; but if they should come to disarming the inhabitants, the
matter is settled with the town at once ; for hlood and carnage must
inevitably ensue — which God forbid ! should ever take place.

The County Committee waited upon the Governor this forenoon
for his answer, when he express'd himself nearly as follows : —
Good God ! Gentlemen, make yourselves easy, and I'll be so. You
have done all in your power to convince the world and me that you
will not submit to the Acts, and I'll make representations home
accordingly, for which I will embrace the earliest opportunity.
You must be sensible it is as much for my benefit as yours', not to
take any measures that may prevent the country from bringing in
their provisions, and in return should be glad to be answer'd in
some questions I may ask, vizt. — What is the reason that the can-
non were remov'd from Charlestown ? — And why do the country

360 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

people go in and out of the town arm'd ? " Answers to which they
told his Excellency they would deliver to him in writing to-morrow ;
not but that they might have satisfied him immediately, but I suppose
they chose to be very explicit upon the subject, and take the oppor-
tunity to open their minds fully upon matters and things to him. In
regard to the people coming in arm'd, I never understood that they
did ; but as to their going out so is very common, for every man in
the country not possess'd of a firelock makes it a point to procure one,
so that I suppose for a month past, or more, not a day has pass'd,
but a hundred or more are carried out of town by 'em.

Septemher Vith. Have inclos'd you yesterday's paper, which will
shew you better than I can express, with what rapidity the recanta-
tions go on with regard to addressers, &c. ; as also the Middlesex
County resolves, which are judicious and spirited — with the Conduct
of Jurors. The 59th Eegiment, encamp'd on the Neck, are very
busy entrenching themselves. P. S. Should be glad to be favor'd,
if opportunities present, with any particulars of importance that may
turn up your way, more especially transactions of the Congress. Am
just inform'd that the officers prevail'd on a negro at Charlestown to
inform 'em where the cannon were lodg'd ; which being known there,
they mustered about three thousand, and with teems carried 'em
about ten or a dozen miles further up. Several among 'em were
eight and forty pounders, which weigh'd between two and three ton
apiece. This morning Doctor Young left the town, to settle at
Providence, being apprehensive from the measures that are taking
that he may be taken up, and therefore thinks it his duty to defeat
their purposes, in regard to himself, while it's in his power.

Septemher \ith. As vicious minds are apt to exaggerate the truth,
so one wedded to any particular principles, is very likely to make a
partial representation of facts favorable to his own tenets. And as
the mind of man is capable of receiving different impressions, I think
it absolutely necessary for one who undertakes to relate occurrences,
that he should not be influenced by any prejudices, nor endeavor to
dress matters so that they may admit of a false coloring — not that I
can boast of an independant spirit myself, by any means, but must
freely acknowledge that my sentiments entirely coincide with the
people ; therefore cant but approve the general spirit of freedom that
prevails at this time through the continent — but at the same time
would equally condemn any injudicious measures, adopted either by
whiy or tory ; and have endeavored, as far as my abilities would

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 361

admit, to give you a true state of things, untinctur'd with mistaken
zeal or bad policy, at least so far as I can judge for myself, upon
which principle mine of the 6th la) 13th instant was founded, which
will be handed you by your old friend, Doctor Loring ; and regarding
the same mode, shall proceed to acquaint you with an instance of the
military's disposition to preserve peace and live in harmony among
us. Yesterday S. Rogers, J. Smith and Wm. Palfrey were con-
versing together near the Province House, when one of y". guards
posted at y" gate came out, and very insolently order'd them to dis-
perse, and upon refusal, threatned to make 'em, by a push of y°.
bayonet, upon which Palfrey immediately walk'd up to the door to
acquaint his excellency with the usage, and was waited upon by his
aid de camp, who directly ordered the fellow under guard, and beg'd
y": favor of y° gentlemen that they would attend the court martial this
morning, and they should have all the satisfaction they would wish
or desire.

Precepts are issued out to call a general Court to be conven'd at
Salem, but the Governor certainly dont intend they shall sit there, as
he sent Baker oif this day to bring the Records, papers, &ca., from
there. Besides, he would not chuse to risque his dear self there, now
that all the troops are come away : for after laying out near, or quite
two thousand sterling in building hospitals, hutts, &ca., they have
tore all down again, save the chimnies, and brought entirely away.

September loth. As few days pass without afibrding some matter
for speculation, what engrosses the attention of the public this morn-
ing is the mighty feat perform'd by the General last night, having
order'd two ships near the North battery, with a spring upon their
cables, ready for an engagement, while a number of Soldiers were
spiking vp all the guns : in which measure he has anticipated the
intentions of a number of y°. inhabitants, who have had it some time
in contemplation whether to remove, or treat them in y" same manner
least they might be made use of to fortifie the Neck : though am told
they had such a tremor upon their spirits while about it, as to do
them very ineffectually. One man, who had been to view 'em, told
uie he would engage to reinstate 'em all, in the course of a day. But
what occasions some small diversions is, that a captain of an arm'd
schooner and the lieutenant of the Preston went between ten and
eleven o'clock p.m. to inquire for y"; keys, to see if the business was
done properly, when a woman waited upon 'em, unlock'd the door
and let 'em in, and watching their motions, she observ'd when they

362 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

had got far enough forward, and came out hastily and lock'd the
doors upon 'em, — where they remaind a long while, calling to
the ships to take 'em oif (in view of a vast concourse of people on the
shore, enjoying the jest), as they could yot scale the walls without a
ladder, nor indeed could they get ofi' by water, as the tide was low
and they must have dropt above twenty feet from yt port holes into a
boat. So, Bill., you may see we have subjects that provoke our
risible faculties, as well as our irrascible ones.

Septemher \(Jtli. Overbearing systems, either in Eeligion or Poli-
ticks, oftener produce effects that are counter, rather than favorable
to their designs. Ever since y^ cannon were taken away from
Charlestown, the General has order'd a double guard to jt new and
old gun houses, where y': brass field pieces belonging to our militia
are lodg'd : notwithstanding which, the vigilance and temerity of our
people has entirely disconcerted him, for We'n'sday evening, or
rather night, they took these from the Old house (by opening the side
of the house) and carried away through Frank Johonnot's Garden.
Upon which he gave it in orders the next day to the officer on guard
to remove those from the New house (which stands directly opposite
the encampment of the 4th Eegiment and in the middle of the street
near the large Elm tree), sometime the next night into the camp;
and to place a guard at each end, or rather at both doors, till then.
At the fixed hour the Officer went with a number of Mattrosses to
execute his orders, but behold, the guns were gone ! He swore the
Devil must have help'd them to get 'em away. However, they went to
work, and brought off the carriages, harness, utensils, &ca., which they
reposited in the Camp. Its amazing to me how our people manag'd
to carry off the guns, as they weigh near seven hundred weight
apiece ; more especially that they should do it, and not alarm the
centinels. Am told their business was not executed above 10 or 15
minutes before the officer came as above.

Septemher nth. Sometime yesterday an officer went to take away
seven or eight iron ordnance, belonging to Arnold Wells, Esqr., who
forbid him to take 'em at his peril. They lay along side his Distil
house,* at a wharf near the South fish market, his dwelling house
being in the street above, and communicating with the wharf. The
Military, apprehensive that a delay of their expedition 'till midnight

• This was formerly a lawful term for distillery: see the leading case of Horn v.
Baker, 9 East, 215.

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. " 363

would bilk 'em of their prize, went with a large parade in the evening
to take 'em away. Mr. Wells being out, his wife (whom you know
has a very voluble tongue) went out and rallied 'em so, that the
officer was necessitated to give her a receipt to be answerable for their
forth coming, before she would suffer him to take them.

A greater or less degree of timidity always accompanies those that
are commissioned to execute any unjust or umoarrantaUe measures •'
a very recent proof of which we have, from the conduct of the mili-
tary last night ; among ivliom a rumour prevail'd that the country
were preparing to fire their ships (which must have arisen from their
own terrified imaginations, as I can't learn that they had the least
cause for such an alarm), which induc'd 'em to place a double guard
upon their decks, keep boats man'd and rowing about all night, be-
sides placing an extra guard on the end of the long wharf.

Sunday, September the 18th. It being customary in the camp for
the soldiers to be drawn out every Monday morning compleatly
equip'd, with knapsacks, &ca., to be thoroughly examin'd in regard
to their linnen, &ca., and as great part of the 38th Regiment are
going to work upon the fortifications tomorrow morning, they under-
went their examination about 9 or 10 o'clock this morning ; in order
to which, they march down towards the beach, which manceuvre
rais'd a suspicion in some people's minds (who were more credulous
than tvise) that they were going to Watertown after the cannon : which,
by being often told, came to be leliev'd, and tlie committee here sent
to inform their brethren of Charlestown, which broke up their morn-
ing service and induc'd them to proceed to Cambridge; and from
thence to Watertown, alarming all as they went, to be prepar'd and
ready to act upon the defensive, if attack'd. Its possible so trivial an
affair by propagation may be aggravated to such gross falsehoods as
were caus'd by the powder expedition.

September Idlh. A participation in each other's pleasures and sor-
rows is a blessing that oiily the human species can boast of; and in-
deed there are many among them whose natures are so deprav'd as
not to admit of a fellow feeling for another. But on the other hand,
I have the charity to think that much the greater part of mankind
are not only willing to participate, but equally dispos'd to give proofs,
far more convincing than bare professions. Among the number of
the latter. Bill, I always esteem'd you, nor have I ever had reason to
alter my opinion. Therefore am convinc'd you will partake with us
in the satisfaction we receive from being told that our cousin Hannah

364 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLY,

Green, who has repeatedly been given over by her physicians, is now
in a fair way of recovery, as almost every symptom of her tedious
disorder has disappear'd — though am much afraid that Ridhy is
going to be sick, as her very slender constitution continually exposes
her to take cold. She set out from Hingham late in the afternoon,
and of consequence did not get home till between 10 and 11 o'clock
at night, by which means she has caught a very bad cold, attended
with a high fever. She was let blood last Fryday, and by the appli-
cation of proper medicines am in some hopes it will go off.

September 20th. As the fall of the year comes on, and of conse*
quence the days grow shorter, I find less leisure to write as well as
less subject to write upon. The first thing which saluted my eyes
this morning was sis loads of straw (a certain prelude to more
troops) repositing in a house and barn directly opposite us (formerly
improv'd as barracks) to be in readiness for their use when they
arrive. Last evening six or seven iron cannon were taken by some
of the towns people from near Jno. Timmins' store, and put into a
mudscoio, or Portsmouth pleasure hoat, with a view to carry up Cam-
bridge river by the way of the Mill Pond ; but the tide failing 'em in
the creek, they were oblig'd to leave them there, where they were
discover'd, and information sent to the Admiral, who sent a boat
about 11 o'clock this forenoon and tow'd 'em along side his ship.
Thus you may find thieving is encourag'd here, though trade is sup-
press'd.

Septemher 21st. Am told this morning that Enoch Brown (who
lives on the Neck) was passing the evening before last to his house
near the encampment of the 59th, when he was abus'd by one of the
centinels. He enter'd his complaint to the otficer (the only resource
to be had now, since we are reduc'd to a state of nature) who ac-
quainted him, if he would attend the court-martial on the morrow, he
should have satisfaction. He accordingly attended yesterday, but
instead of that, he met with the most scurrilous abuse. The officers
who sat as arbitors ask'd him what he wanted ? He reply'd that he
came to have satisfaction for the insult ofler'd him the night before.
They told him " there was the soldier ; he might take it by boxing or
pistolling with him, which he pleas'd ; that he was a dam'd rebel,
and would be hung upon the Neck before long ; that nine tenths of the
people in Boston were a pack of dam'd rebels, and would share
the same fate." He had taken two evidences with him ; one, a young
fellow who attended his store, and the other a son of Nat. Barber's

1865.] LETTEES OF JOHN ANDREWS. 365

at the North End. When he told 'em he came for satisfaction and
not to be treated ill, they then ask'd him what satisfaction a rebel can
expect, and who were those he had got with him ? He told them
they were his evidences, with their names. "What!" said tliey —
" a son of that dam'd rebel at the North of the town ! A pretty
affair indeed, to bring a rebel as an evidence." After some other
altercation he came off, and was oblig'd to put up with the treatment.
Now, if this is the game they are going to play, we shall be in a fine
situation all winter, especially when the others come, as without doubt
the larger their numbers the more insolent they'll be.

Have just parted with young Barber, who came from the Camp a
few minutes before, as his father had complaiu'd to the General iu re-
gard to the reflections cast upon him, who had been to the Camp with
them to examine into the matter, but it seems that the Officers denied
that ever they had said anything of the kind. So that Brown is as far
from getting satisfaction as before, though his partner, as well as
young Barber, are ready to give their oaths that they not only said as
above but that they told Brown, that the Soldier was a better man
than he, and that he did right to call him a Rebel, and further told
the Soldier that if he call'd a hundred of y" Boston people Eebels,
he would be right in regard to ninety nine of them.

At a town meeting this morning they made choice of y° same
Members that serv'd the last court, and what's most extraordinary,
they all had every vote, save Mr. Adams, wlio was only one defi-
cient. After which, they went upon other business, and are now at
4 o'clock P.M. proceeding as formerly upon the town's business,
without let or molestation from the Governour, though they conven'd
the meeting without application for leave of him.

Captain Scott arriv'd yesterday at Salem in 7 weeks from London.
He has brought a quantity of powder, which comes very seasonably
at this time, as it's now five or six weeks siuce the Governor has al-
low'd any to be taken out of the magazine here, whereby for some
weeks there has not been a pound to be sold or bought in town.
He has likewise brought the Bell for Doctor Cooper's Meeting, which
weighs 29 cwt. — the gift of the Hon. John Hancock, Esquire.

September 22nd. The town meeting continued through this day
without interruption, when, among other matters transacted, they ap-
pointed Doctor Warren and Nath. Appleton as temporary members
for the provincial Congress, vice Messrs. Adams and Cushing ; for
they immagine that no business will be done by the General Court

36G MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLT,

■when conven'd at Salem, as the Governor, it's more likely than not,
will not meet 'em there, nor can he adjourn 'em to this town till they
are constituted a legislative body, and they won't submit to be sworn
by tlie new Councellors, neither is it supposed that the Governor will
allow them to be capacitated by the old ones. Therefore it's gener-
ally suppos'd they will adjourn themselves to Concord (where it
is intended that y'. Provmcial Congress shall meet) and resolve them-
selves into such a body.

Septemher 23rd. The Military are now busy in preparing frames,
to erect barracks in the Common, for the accommodation of the
troops now encamp'd there. Some days ago they contracted with
Thompson of Mistick for a supply of bricks. He loaded one lighter
to bring over, but by soyne accident or other, she sunk in the river.
Since which his townsmen have taken the matter into consideration,
whether he shall supply them or not. And the 21st, he was waited
upon by a deputation from Woburn, a town just above Mistick, to
desire he would desist from transporting any untill it should be deter-
min'd in what way and manner it ought to be done, or whether it
should be done at any rate ; in order to which, a number of Dele-
gates from all the neighboring towns are to meet in a day or two —
as they think that others in the trade who are equally sufferers with
him by the operation of the Port bill, ought to come in for some
share of the advantage that may accrue from supplying them. Be-
sides, they have it in contemplation whether to let them have them
at all other than by way of land carriage, that they, with us, may
experience some trifle of the many disadvantages arising from the
cursed Act.

September 24:th. Yours of the 19th inst. by Mr. Revere have
just receiv'd. Am pleas'd with the approbation of the Congress to
our proceedings. Am in haste, as Mr. Wilde is now waiting.

September 2bth. As I write for your amusement rather than for
my own emolument, I doubt not your candor will excuse any error
you may observe either in diction or composition — and not pretend,
ing to any scholastic rules, I pen my ideas as freely as they flow-
Neither do I mean to embellish my letters with apt quotations or
improve another's sentiments for my own (as my memory is not suffi-
ciently retentive for the first, nor is my inclination dispos'd to the
last), other than that I endeavor, in relating facts (though express'd
in my own mode), to conform as near to the truth as the best infor-
mation I can get will admit of. Therefore if there's any fault, am

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 367

only chargeable myself. The preceding epistle of the 14th la) 24th,
favored by Mr. Wilde, I imagine will afford you the earliest intelli-
gence you can have from here of late transactions, provided he makes
the dispatch he told me he should.

The last evening, Joseph Russell in his horse and chaise, together
with Caleb Blanchard and Captain Symmes, ivho uses the London
trade, were returning into town just after nine o'clock, pass'd five or
six centinels till they came to the last before entering the town, who
hail'd 'em, and they chusing not to answer, he stop'd the horse and
demanded why they did not reply friend ; when Capt. Symmes (be-
ing a rough spoken man) damn'd him for a scoundrel, and told him
he was not his friend, and would not answer to him, and took the
reins from Russell, and drove upon full gallop through y'. fortifica-
tion. The fellow calling to the guard to stop the chaise, they turn'd
out and thrust four bayonets into the horse's side. They immedi-
ately waited upon the General, who being in bed, they deferred it
until next morning, when he told 'em that one of the soldiers was
already under guard and the others should be taken care of, and if they
would attend court martial nest day, they should have justice done
'em. Russell reply'd that he did not chuse to attend to be insulted
and ill-treated as one of his townsmen had been, referring to Enoch
Brown. The Governor assur'd him he should be protected, and have
full satisfaction, and indeed, as Russell acquainted me, said every-
thing he could say ; and in mitigation of Brown's treatment said they
who us'd him so wei-e not a proper constituted court.

The example of our worthy brethren of New York, in not letting
their vessels for Government service, as well as that their Carpenters
would not engage in any work for 'em, has induc'd the country people
to think seriously whether they were right in supplying with timber,
jolce, and straw for the Barracks here. They accordingly met and de-
termin'd in y' negative ; sent committees to the severall contractors
to let them know if they supply'd any further they would incur the
resentment of the luhole country ; and at the same time signified to
our committee of correspondence that they did not think it eligible
for the workmen here to go on with building barracks or preparing
houses for the reception of the troops, as we might possibly, by per-
sisting, not only incur blame from our sister colonies, but essen-
tially affect the union now subsisting between town and country;
which circumstance caus'd the Committee to get together Saturday
P.M., when they pass'd a vote, that it was not prudent for y" work-

368 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

men to go on with y". frames, &ca., nor in any shape to contribute
towards the accommodation of the soldiery, as they might themselves
give offence to their country brethren. The purport of which
coming to the Governor, he sent his compliments to the Select
men, and beg'd their attendance at six o'clock this evening, when he
requested of them that they would not take any measures to prevent
the workmen from going on with the barracks. They reply'd it was
not in their power to influence the country, and it lay principally with
them whether the workmen should proceed or not : that they themselves
were dispos'd to have the barracks go on, as they conceiv'd it much
more for the benefit of the town (if the Soldiery must be here) to
have them kept together, rather than to be scatter d over the town, as
in that case it would be a very difficult matter to keep them in order.
The Governor seem'd a great deal worried about y! affiiir, and am
told that in the course of the conversation he express'd himself thus —
" Good G — d ! for G — d's sake, Gentlemen ! they have got two
months work to do, and the Soldiers ought to be in barracks in one.
Do consider. Gentlemen!" — Tims the tables are in some measure
turn'd. Formerly they solicited the Governor, but now it seems he
solicits them. A pretty good mess for Sunday, Bill ; don't you think
it is?

Septeniber 26th. Sometime this day the Governor had a confer-
ence with Col: Hancock, requesting him to use his influence with the
Committee to re-consider their vote respecting the barracks. The
Colonel observ'd to him that he had taken every possible measure to
distress us : that notwithstanding it was the Solicitor's opinion that
the Act could be construed to prevent goods, &ca., being transported
within y° bounds of the harbour, yet he had not suffered it to be done,
and the Ships of War had seiz'd whatever had been attempted to be
transported in that manner. He likewise told him that he had been
threat'ned, and apprehended his person was in danger, as it had
been gave out by some of his people that he deserv'd to be hang'd :
upon which the Governor told him he might have a guard, if he
chose it, to attend him night and day. You will naturally conclude
that he declin'd accepting.

Scptemher 27th. At four o'clock yesterday afternoon, the work-
men all pack'd up their tools and left the barracks, frames, &ca. ; so
that I am apprehensive we in the town will feel ill effects of it, as it
has been giveu out that the troops will force quarters next month, if
biirracks are uot provided for 'em : neither should I blame them for

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 369

SO doing, as the nights are so cold already, that it's impossible for 'em
to sleep comfortable under their slight canvas tents. And as to
empty houses, now since we have got so many refugees among us,
there is not half sufficient to liold what troops we have got already
here. After the carpenters had left off work, the General sent Col.
Robinson and Major Sheriff to Mr. Hancock, to let him know if they
would proceed with the barracks, he could suffer any thing to be
transported within the limits of the harbour, under the sanction of
King's stores — but all would not avail; as they very justly sn-ppos'd,
that after the work was compleated he would withdraw the indulgence,
as he deems it, though in justice it not be prevented at all.

They have got the Carpenters from the Ships of War, and have
sent an arm'd Schooner to Halifax for all the Artificers they can pro-
cure from there. It's possible they may be as averse to coming as
the Yoriers.

Joseph Scott having sold a large quantity of Cannon Shot, Co-
horns, Mortars, &ca., for the use of the Army; this afternoon they
took away ten cart-loads of the former, which has, with great reason,
caus'd much uneasiness among the inhabitants, who forbid the car-
riers not to transport any more upon their peril. One of the Com-
mittee expostulated with Scott upon the subject, who pretended that
the Government had a right to them, as they were made for their
tise last War — a pitifull excuse indeed! to justify a man that fur-
nishes an enemy with ammunition to destroy his own townsmen,
countrymen, or I may say his own brethren. The Gentleman of the
Committee observ'd to him that he did not think even those men,
pointing to a number of Soldiers in his shop, would be guilty of such
an action, upon which they immediately reply'd " that they would
not."

September 28th. Captain Calef arriv'd from London last night.
He left there the 4th ultimo, and Admiral Montague arriv'd the 2d ;
but has brought no news of any importance, as the letters by him
were to undergo the inspection of the Admiralty office ; therefore the
subject of them could not have transpired so as to cause much spec-
ulation before he came away. It's immagin'd by the passengers, that
if Calef had stay'd a few days longer, they would have taken most of
the goods out of him again, as Governor Hutchinson had represented
matters in such a light (and by help of the address, however infamous)
as to lull their suspicions altogether, and make them believe that the
Tea was paid for, and that the new regulations would take place
47

370 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

without any opposition. So that they had executed orders that were
only conditional, whereby the four ships already arriv'd, came as full
as they could store.

About nine o'clock a.m. a company of the train came down to
Scott's for the remainder of the shot, hand Granades, Cohorns, &ca.,
in consequence of which some of the Committee waited on ]iim. He
told them that he had not sold 'em (though Col. Cleveland, who com-
mands the train, and was the whole forenoon about the neighbour-
hood, declar'd that the business was not of their seeking ; that Scott
had repeatedly solicited them to take 'em, and as they were now the
King's property, he had it in orders from the General to take the re-
mainder ; and have them they must, at all events), and would refuse
to let them have the remainder. He accordingly went and told the
Officer not to take any more at his peril, that he disavow'd the
proceeding and order'd his cellar door to be lock'd ; upon which
the officer return'd with half his men, and left the others as a guard.
"When about noon, they came down with about 100 men and 8 or 10
officers, with a number oi fatigue men with hand barrows, with about
thirty tackled in one of their field carriages with a box flx'd on,
■when proceeded up the court and brought away about fifty or sixty
cohorns. After which, they return'd with a carpenter, broke open
the cellar door, and were constantly employ'd in carrying shot,
&ca., till nearly sunset, which they reposited in the South battery,
having improv'd that as a magazine for some time past : the only
articles remaining of the purchase being two carriage guns, which
caus'd 'em two trips more. The countrymen that happen'd to be in
town, seem'd to be more enrag'd than the townspeople, whose pas-
sions were full high enough likewise. One of the former, seeing
Scott standing near his shop, told him if he would come across the
gutter, he would be the death of him, and think in so doing, he
should do God service.

September 2dlh. Sometime last night they gave Scott a HUs-
borough treat, and not content with disfiguring the outside of his shop,
they by help of a ladder open'd his chamber window and emptied
several buckets full into it. Should be glad for the honor of the
town, that they would leave off such beastly practices — as there
many much better ways of showing their resentment.

Yesterday Captain Llyde sailed for London, from Salem, in whom
Josiah Quincy went passenger. It was not known that he was to be
her passenger till he went on board to set sail. Upon enquiry, am

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 371

told that he is gone upon publick business, with proper credentials
from the Congress, and that a deputy is to go, or have ah'eady gone,
from each of the provinces, in the same secret manner. Am much
pleas'd with the plan, as I make no doubt it will be attended with
great benefit to the continent, and may expedite measures for our re-
lief — for to continue long in the state we are now in, is shocking to
tliink of. In the course of a day or two past, the Roxbiiry people
have burnt several load of straw that was bringing in here, which
has enrag'd the soldiers to such a degree, that I am in continual ap-
prehension we shall soon experience another ffth of March, which
God forbid ! for should such a thing take place, it must be attended
with fatal consequences ; as the only expedient would be for the in-
habitants to remove themselves and effects out of the town — when
the country would instantly avail themselves of the advantage, and
would indeed rejoice at the opportunity, to stop a supply of provis-
ions, whereby those remaining in the town together with the innocent
Soldiers, would share one common fate, or move otf.

September 30th. In the afternoon of yesterday, a boat from the
Lively (which ship, by the way, is under sailing Orders to carry the
first news of what may be determin'd by the Congress) seiz'd a
parcell of Merchandize to the amount of about fifty pounds, lawful
money, which were a dozen firelocks, the property of Mr. Phillips
of Andover. He waited on Captain Bishop to obtain a release of
them ; but most people would be glad to have the matters come to a
tryal, in order to have it determin'd whether they have a right to
seize any article, transported across the harbor, or not.

October 1st. It's common for the Soldiers to fire at a target fix'd
in the stream at the bottom of the common. A countryman stood by
a few days ago, and laugh'd very heartily at a whole regiment's firing,
and not one being able to hit it. The officer observ'd him, and ask'd
why he laugh'd ? Perhaps you'll be affronted if I tell you, reply'd
the countryman. No, he would not, he said. W/iy then, says he, I
laugh to see how awkward they fire. Why, I'll be bound I hit it ten
times running. Ah! will you, reply'd the officer; come try : Sol-
diers, go and bring five of the best guns, and load 'em for this honest
man. Why, you need not bring so many : let me have any one that
comes to hand, reply'd the other, but I chuse to load myself. He ac-
cordingly loaded, and ask'd the officer where he should fire ? He
reply'd, to the right — when he puU'd tricker, and drove the ball as
near the right as possible. The officer was amaz'd — and said he

372 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULY,

could not do it again, as that was only by chance. He loaded again.
Where shall I fire ? To the left — when he perform'd as well as
before. Come ! once more, says the officer. — He prepar'd the third
time. — Where shall I fire naow f — In the Center. — He took aim, and
the ball went as exact in the middle as possible. The officers as weU
as soldiers star'd, and tho't the Devil was in the man. Why, says
the countryman, I'll tell you naow. I have got a boy at home that
will toss up an apple and shoot out all the seeds as its coming down.

The Country towns, in general, have chose their own officers, and
muster for exercise once a week at least — when the parson as well
as the Squire stands in the Rtinks with a firelock. — In particular at
Marblehead, they turn out three or four times a week, when Col. Lee
as well as the Clergymen there are not asham'd to appear in the
ranks, to be taught the manual exercise, in particular.

One more anecdote, and I'll close this barren day. When the
59th Regiment came from Salem, and were drawn up on each side
the N'eck, a remarkable tall countryman, near eight feet high, struted
between 'em, at the head of his waggon, looking very sly and con-
temptuously on one side and t'other ; which attracted the notice of
the whole regiment. — Ay, ay, says he, you don't know what boys
we have got in the country. I am near nine feet high, and one
of the smallest among 'em — which caus'd much merriment to the
spectators, as well as surprise to the soldiers. Indeed, Bill ! were
I to tell you of all the jokes and wittisisms of the Country people, I
would have little else to do.

October 2d. Yesterday a Serjent and eight men of the Royal
Welch fusileers were to be try'd at a Court martial for endeavoring
to make their escape from the Regiment, with two others who
betray'd 'em : their intentions were to go off in a body, and take the
standards with them.

October 3rd. Am told the general has assur'd the respective Regi-
ments this day, that they shall go into barracks in three days, as they
were very apprehensive of a mutiny ; the hard service and bad accom-
modations having rais'd great discontents among them. But where
he means to provide for 'em, I don't know, as they can't get a work-
man here, though they have offer'd so high as two and three dollars
a day, or even any price at all, if ever so extravagant ; as they are
oblig'd to dismiss the Carpenters they had from the ships, being very
ignorant of the method of framing and indeed of any sort of work
that they wanted done.

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 373

October Ath. Yesterday afternoou our honorable and ancient
Artillery company turn'd out, and for want of a better place they
march'd down to Cop's hill, where they went through their several
manoeuvres to the satisfaction of every one, and really made a much
more respectable appearance than they formerly us'd to. Their fifes
and drums, when near the hill, alarm'd the Lively, which lays near
the ferry ; and when they had got upon the hill, in sight of the Ship,
the Boatswain's whistle call'd all hands upon deck, the marines with
their firelocks were fix'd upon the quarter, the ports open'd with a
spring upon their cables, the round tops man'd, and a boat man'd and
sent out upon each sidd to reconnoitre. Such was the terror they
were in, from the appearance of about fifty pomjnons iu arms. At
about five o'clock they remarched into Kingstreet, where they per-
form'd their evolutions with the greatest propriety and exactness ;
much more so, in my opinion, than any performances of the troops
since they've been here.

October 5th. The dispositions of the people in the Country are in
general so restless, that they are continually sending Committees
down upon one errand or other — which has caus'd the Governor to
say, that he can do very well with the Boston Selectmen, but the
damn'd country committees plague his soul out, as they are very
obstinate and hard to be satisfied. This day a deputation of twelve
came to town with a very spirited remonstrance from the body of
Worcester County, which consists of five and forty towns ; where
they have incorporated seven regiments consisting of a thousand men
each, chose their officers, and turn out twice a week to perfect them-
selves in the military art — which are call'd minute men, i.e., to be
ready at a minute's warning with a fortnight's provision, and amuni-
tion and arms.

At Newbury bridge they have got an Old Man fix'd with a drum,
who, as soon as he observes a GovernmeiH man enter, parades with
his drum beating and proclaims through the town " a tory come to
town," &ca.

October Qth. A Committee is expected in town some time today,
from the general assembly to his excellency, who are met at Salem,
notwithstanding the governor's prorogation, among whom a number
of the old Constitutional Councellors are conven'd. Yesterday met at
Plymouth, the body of that county, to the number of about four thou-
sand, when they proceeded to make all the addressors and protestors
there make a publick recantation. After which, they attempted to

374 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

remove a Rock (the one on which their fore-fathers first landed, when
they came to this country) which lay buried in a wharfe five feet
deep up into the center of the town, near the court house. The way
being vp hill, they found it impracticable, as after they had dug it up,
they found it to weigh ten tons at least. A modern instance of
Superstition, Bill !

October 7th. One consolation afforded us by our people's refusing
to build Barracks, is that they are fitting up the Block houses &ca.,
at the Castle, for the reception of the expected Regiments, fis well as
that they keep the 64th Regiment also there, which was intended to
have been quarter'd in town, had the barracks been built. Ben.
Davis has let his store, on the Dock, for the use of the troops, and
George Spooner his also, which lays near it ; so that all those who
improve Stores there are upon the look out to remove, they being
deterniin'd so to do, rather than be in the midst of them.

Odoher 8ih. We were this morning hless'd with the agreealle
sight of about twenty soldiers, with their tools, &ca., ready to go to
work upon the store opposite the front of our house, formerly im-
prov'd as barracks ; so that we are like to have a fine time of it, all
winter.

Odoher 9th. Breck arriv'd home on fryday evening, but his trunk
not coming to hand, I did not receive your fiivor, by him, till last
night. Am oblig'd for your intentions of being more particular, and
can very easily make an allowance for the hurry of business, as I
have formerly experienc'd it myself; nor is my wishes wanting to
have such an excuse to plead now. But, alas ! Bill, our condition is
nndescribable. Cole's wife, I imagine, has been in your city some-
time, as she went from here three or four weeks since, from whence
she is to embark with her husband and children for England, who has
let his ship to Captain Holland (a gentleman who has been this way
near seven years, taking a survey of the Continent) to convey him
and his family to Philadelphia, with whom Cole takes passage like-
wise, and after her discharge proceeds with her to England or Scot-
land, where he proposes making a long tarry. He din'd with us last
Aveek, and acquainted us that Mrs. Le Cand, upon account of the
troubles here, had put off her intentions of coming for a twelvemonth,
which information he had from Joe, who has had five or six letters
from her since she left here. Therefore the excuse of masters of
vessells not being willing to take letters is altogether idle.

When she was here, we were together at Cole's store, where she

I860.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 375

saw some fine sealing wax, said Jilr. Fooks liad been looking for some
such a long time (it being after he had returned to Philadelplija), that
she would take it all, five dollars worth, for him, and he would send
the money for it, when she got back to your city — but by intention or
forcjetfulness it never was sent. Coles' lad, being there in a vessell of
his last winter, apply'd to Mr. Fooks for it, who acquainted him that
he had already paid Mrs. Le Cand for it, and that otherways he was
largely in advance for her and therefore should not pay it.

Octoher 10th. Am told, there are great dissentions among the
Committee at New York, and that they have voted to supply General
Gage with whatever he may want; in consequence of which. Carpen-
ters are coming from there to build barracks. — If true, and they are
sutfer'd to proceed, the matter is settled with us, for it is with the
greatest difficulty that the country are restrain'd from coming in even
now. As to the Quarel of the New York Committee, it is notorious.
Have iiiclos'd you a New Catalogue of the names of the Addressors
and protestors, which are bought up by the country people with the
greatest avidity. You'll observe that the Compilers have a better
opinion of the little pope than to rank them with such a class of men.

October I'dth. Governor Hutchinson having ship'd twelve field
pieces on board Captain Eobson for the use of this province, which
were voted by the house two years since, and the money paid into the
Speaker's hands to procure 'em, but a difficulty arising in England in
regard to the seuding them, ivhich Governor Hutchinson has remov'd
since he has been home — but the proprieter in London has consign'd
them to William Pepperill, one of the new Councellors, with orders
not to deliver them till the money is forthcoming ; in consequence of
which, am told the General has this day sent a Ship of War to Salem,
to order the ship to the Castle immediately upon her arrival at Salem,
and there to unlade the Cannon.

October lith. A Committee from the provincial Congress waited
upon the Governor this afternoon, with an address or remonstrance.
He treated them very politely, but would not allow it to be read to
him. He told them he would consider whether he could admit of an
address from a provincial congress. Colonel Lee of Marblehead,
their chairman, told him, that admit or not admit, times were such
now, that something must be done, and that it was highly necessary
that they should be heard and regarded. Upon whicli his P^xcellency
told him he would take it as a favor if he would leave it for his pe-
rusal, and he would endeavor to give them all the satisfaction in his
power, consistant with his duty to his Majesty.

876 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

Octoher 15th. The Committee of ways and means have been
flinging.up a dyke to prevent the water from flowing upon the brick
yards on the Neck, and as the 59th incampment lays near them, the
Soldiery are preparing the ground to set up pickets across the Neck,
to prevent the Soldiers from deserting, as they embrace every oppor-
tunity and go off very fast, being sure of protection in the country.
Yesterday in the afternoon, they carried their line across the dyke,
and began to cut through it ; which being observ'd, the people at
work there immediately dispatch'd a messenger to the Select men,
when Samuel Austin went and forbid the commanding officer to pro-
ceed at his peril ; upon which a very warm contest ensued, when
Austin step'd into the breach and declar'd he would lose his life be-
fore another spade should be stuck in the ground, and that unless the
officer would promise upon his honor that he would desist, whiles he,
Austin, waited upon the General, he would bring the country upon
them immediately. The officer complied, and he accordingly waited
upon the Governor, who directly order'd the principal engineer to
take horse and immediately order the breach to be till'd up again and
put in the same condition as before.

We are all wishing for a re-establishment of peace and harmony,
both the Soldiery and Inhabitants, but am afraid. Bill, it is further
off than we imagine, as they are taking up transports in England to
send over six more regiments. God grant there may not be any
blood shed ! in the sincerity of which wish I subscribe myself your
affectionate friend and brother.

P. S. You don't mention having received the letter I sent you by
Mr. Glover, though you have acknowledg'd the receipt of two suc-
ceeding ones.

October 16*/i, Sunday. The chief felicity of Man's life, in my
opinion, consists in being bless'd with a virtuous mind, domestic hap-
piness, and the good will of the community where he resides, together
with a competent fortune. The last concomitant may be deem'd by
some as no ways necessary to happiness, but as a good mind and
generous heart are ever inseparable, it must afford a peculiar satis-
fiiction to one so bless'd, to have it in his power to relieve the necessi-
ties of those whom the Almighty has thought fit to place in a station
of life that may require it — and the good will of our neighbours, as
well as peace at home, are essential requisites for the enjoyment of
those blessings that all mankind are seeking after, and may tend to
compose our minds to such a frame as is highly necessary for our
future well being.

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. , 377

Upon reading the above, you may possibly say, Jach has turn'd
moralist — but the thoughts of what we noio, and are like to suffer,
gave rise to the above reflections — and, however different our senti-
ments may be, from the general conduct of the people, every day's
experience tells me that not only good policy, but our own quiet,
absolutely depends upon a hare acquiescence at least. Therefore I
esteem them very blameable who have persisted in an opposition to
them, as vox populi, vox Dei — and their resentment is so great in
return, that it's a chance whether (if their struggles should produce
better times) they will ever admit of such passing their future days
uninterrupted among 'em. My last of 25th ultimo to 15th Instant,
will be handed you by Mr. Edward Hill, a pupil of John Adams's,
Esquire.

October 17th. The return of one Mr. Dyar, who was kidnapp'd,
put in irons, and sent home in the ship that carried Admiral iMon-
tague, causes much speculation here — as by his affidavit, taken
before the Lord Mayor (which is sent by Sheriff Lee to Mr. Han-
cock) wherein he declares that Colonel Maddison of the King's Ow7i
Regiment promised him rewards and endeavor'd to entice him to say
that Colonel Hancock, &ca., were the instigators of, and immediately
concern'd in, the destruction of the Tea. He also says that the
Admiral, on his passage, us'd many arguments to perswade him to
the same thing. As he was a seafaring man, his wife nor family did
not know of his being gone in that manner, but, by his absence, sup-
pos'd he was gone a voyage that he had been engag'd for. His
account of the matter is, that he having said that he knew all about
and who were concern'd in the destruction of tea — being an artfuU
fellow and one who pretends to know every thing — in consequence
of which, he was seiz'd by two soldiers in a remote, retir'd part of
the town, and convey'd to the camp, where he was kept shackled till
the ship sail'd. It was known to many, though it never came to my
knowledge, that a man was carried home for enticing the Soldiers to
desert, which was the reason they then gave for his being taken up.

Am told that Colonel Hancock and Colonel Maddison have had an
interview upon the subject — and that the latter has fully satisfied the
former that what the fellow has alledged is absolutely false ; tho' that
he was carried home, and in the manner here related, is beyond
dispute.

October 18th. The above mentioned Dyar having declar'd since
he came home, that if he could not have publick satisfaction for his
48

378 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLY,

extraordinary treatment, lie would fake it personally ; — in conse-
quence of which resolution, about noou this clay, he made up to
Colonel Cleveland of the train and Captain Montresor, Engineer, who
were standing together in the main Street, just above Liberty tree, and
inquir'd if the former was not Colonel Maddison. He understood
they said yes (but they told him no), and being provided with a pair
of pistols loaded with bullets, he presented one at Colonel Cleveland's
head and the other at Captain Montresor's. It very luckily happen'd
that the former flash'd in the pan, and the other only snap'd. Disap-
pointed at his ill success, or rather diabolical scheme, he seiz'd and
drew the former's cutlass out of its sheath, and made a stroke at his
head. The Colonel elevated his arm, and fortunately receiv'd the
blow upon one of the buttons on the sieve of his coat, which diverted
the edge in such a manner, as that the blade glanced down by the
side of his head and gave him only a small wound in the neck, and
splitt the /(luoraWe button in two. Captain Montresor ran behind a
cart to escape his fury, upon which he flung the pistols at him and run
off flourishing the Colonel's cutlass, and proceeded directly to Cam-
bridge and went into the room where the provincial Congress were sit-
ting, and told them lie had got one of the swords that Lord North had
sent over to kill 'em with. When they came to know what he had
been doing, they immediately sent for an officer and committed
him.

October 19th. By the return o{ Severe, am a little easier in regard
to matters, as I hope the resolves of the Continental Congress, brought
by him, will have some influence upon the councils of the provincial
one, and check their impetuous zeal.

October 20th. This day the trial came on before the court of Ad-
mirality respecting the seizure of a Mud scow for daring to convey a
few effects over to an Island, luithin the limits of the harbour. The
Admiral, conscious of his having done wrong, and apprehensive that
judgment would be gave against him, made interest to have the court
adjourn'd without any reasonable plea — but at the same time told
the injur'd owner he might, if he would, take the scow, &ca., again.
They likewise let a boatload of wood come up from Hingham, and
told the skipper he might have brought it up ever since the harbour had
been shut, if he had not been a fool — as d — d a lye as ever was told
— when they've all along prevented even the produce of the islands
within the harbour being brought up to town, such as potatoes, &ca.
Am told they find it difficult to get a supply of wood for the troops,

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 379

and that they have engag'd most of the piles that the wharfingers have
laid up for a winter supply for the poor. I laid in my winter's stock
last week, which cost me nearly twenty dollars more than formerly it
used to.

Octoher 2\st. In every respect, I find this town are sufferers, as
the Carpenters are not only coming from New York, but a parcell
have already arriv'd from Portsmouth, New Hampshire — whereby
our oivn workmen are starving, when they might have had a dollar a
day for as long as they would work — and others come, and are bene-
fitted by it. Such has in general been the policy of this town. The
Committee of ways and means have not as yet reallis'd the value of two
thousand pounds sterling from all the donations that they have receiv'd

— which, you must be very sensible, Bill, will go but a very little ways
towards maintaining so numerous a body of men as are now out of
employ by the operation of port hill — more especially over a tedious
winter.

Octoher 22nd. After surviving a fit of apoplexy two days, at six
o'clock this morning died that zealous advocate for American liberties,
William Molineaux. If he was too rash, and drove matters to an
imprudent pitch, it was owing to his natural temper ; as when he was
in business, he pursued it with the same impetuous zeal. His loss is
not much regretted by the more prudent and judicious part of the
community.

Octoher 23rcl. This day arriv'd the four transport ships from New
York, with the 47th Regiment, &ca., on board. Where they intend to
quarter 'em, I can't learn, as they have already taken up all the empty
houses in town, which are hardly sufficient for the eight Regiments
already here, who are still in camp.

Octoher 2ith. On Saturday evening a man was badly wounded by
one of the guard at Charlestown ferry house. Complaint was made
to the General, who immediately order'd the Guard to be reliev'd and
taken into custody, and assur'd the friends of the sufferer that they
should have satisfaction, by a fair tryal, this day.

Octoher 2oth. By a vessel just arriv'd from Bristol, we have
accounts ratlier more favorable than heretofore, as they now begin to
view the Port Bill in its true light, and have opened subscriptions, both
in London and Bristol, for the relief of this town. Am told that one
Alderman in the former city put down five hundred pounds sterling

— which circumstance has serv'd, in a great measure, to compose the
minds of the people here, as one third of the inhabitants, by reason

380 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULY,

of things looking very dark lately, are in pursuit of houses in the
country, in order to remove with their families. A gi-eat many are
already gone, and others are removing daily — which I think a mad
scheme altogether, and am determin'd for my own part, not to think
of any thing of the kind, but to stay here as long as I can get pro-
visions to eat, and can go and come where I please. Breck is deter-
min'd among the rest to leave town. Have made use of every
argument I was capable of, for a fortnight past, to diswade him from
it, but can't prevail, as he views matters in such a dismal light, as that
he is obstinately bent upon going.

October 26th. We have had so remarkable a fine season that
many bushes that had lost their leaves, are rebudded again — and in
some Gardens in town they have trees that are in blossom ; this, and
several preceeding days, have been as warm as in June.

October 29th. Last evening one of the transport ships arriv'd
from Quebeck with more troops. Was in hopes, as the season was so
far advaric'd, that they would have been oblidg'd to have taken up
their residence for the winter there — but I find ev'ry thing tends to
promote our having a blessed winter of it : that is, blessed with having
twelve regiments, of Devils I was going to say, among's — blessed with
having them dispos'd in almost every other house in town — bless'd
with having their enrag'd tempers to deal with, caus'd by the ill-
jud(j'd policy of few among us.

SiLch has been the fate of tkousamh ! but hard to tell
If for such ill-concerted plans, we fare so well.

Where uisdom rules, and reason bears the sway,

And pi^ent conduct governs all they say,

Then mighty zeal, upheld by patriot rules,

XJnaw'd by power, nor check'd by ti7nid fools —
Must — by reason^s right^ as well by nature^s laws.
Overcome the tyrant, and support the Came,

So much for Liberty strain, Bill — the poetical vein having just
taken me ; perhaps tomorrow (being a very fickle genius) I may breath
different sentiments, as like causes don't always produce the same
effects.

Our provincial congress have adjourn'd themselves for three weeks.
Had much rather they were dissolv'd — as they are principally com-
pos'd of spirited, obstinate countrymen, who have very little patience
to boast of. Am therefore much afraid they will adopt measures that
may impede the adjustment of our differences — as the more prudent
among 'em bear but a small proportion. They have follow'd the

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 381

example of the Continental congress and kept all their debates and
transactions to themselves. All we can learn is, that they have seve-
ral times agitated the matter about requesting the inhabitants of this
town to leave it : which is as absurd as it is impracticable. Several
times since their sitting it is likewise been reported, that they were
about establishing a standing army to be compos'd of fifteen thousand
men : a scheme not only ridiculous, but fraught with a degree of mad-
ness at this juncture.

It has been given out by some of the members, that they have pre-
par'd a pill for the governor. I hope not, from my soul, as there is no
man existing could behave better than he has done, considering the
ditficult part he has to act. As to removing the cannon from
the Neck, no reasonable man can blame him for it, when they con-
sider how many hostile threats he has had. For should he comply,
and by that means be surpriz'd and worsted, he must inevitably lose
his head. Not that I am in the least apprehensive that he would be
attack'd — but then it's his duty to guard against even a bare possibil-
ity — though it maybe represented to him as improbable, and as such
he may believe it.

Sunday the 30th October. Last evening an affray happen'd at New
Boston with three or four drunken officers of the 28th Regiment, who
to support their character abus'd every person they met by cutting
some and beating others, when at last they met with one Thomas
Moore, a noted man for Cruizing, whom they fell'd at the first onset.
He found them too many for him, and being without a cudgel, he fled
into Ned Carne's house, and they after him. He got out the back
way, and crossing the fences came to his own house in Battle street,
furnish'd himself with a club and two assistants, and return'd to the
charge. He met them by Chardon's house, and told 'em it was his
turn now, and fell to and beat them pretty decently — took three of
their swords and one hat as booty. — Thus in ev'ry affray as yet the
officers have been the aggressors and came off second best.

October 31st. Am in hopes tomorrow will produce some plan to
preserve peace and harmony among the Soldiers and inhabitants, as
the Governor is then to send in his proposals to the town meeting for
such a purpose, in consequence of the measure being propos'd to him
last Sunday by Mr. Richardson. He readily acquiesc'd with it, and
said he would confer with any committee the town might chuse.
They accordingly made choice of seven, who have negotiated the mat-
ter, and are to make report of their proceeding and lay the govern-

382 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

[July,

or's proposal before them. I think it a degree of condesention we
could not have expected from the Governor, as he not only permits
the meeting, contrary to the express letter of the Act — but rather
promotes it by holding a conference with them when assembled in
that capacity.

November 1st. Tomorrow come, but no good effects have arisen
from the Governor's proposal, as a discontented few, who make it
their principal to keep up the Ball, by their influence among the
popularity, rais'd a party, and caus'd the whole day to be pass'd in
altercation, and eventually, set the matter aside — under a notion of
preserving the dignity of the town, and that it was derogatory to their
honor to treat with the governor in his Military capacity — tho' his
excellency propos'd, among other things, that the Soldiers should not
be permitted to wear side arms, but upon duty. The affair of burn-
ing the vessel with tea at Maryland has elevated their spirits — and
caus'd an indignant smile at the feeble efforts of tyranny.

November 2nd. Last evening the Overseers of the poor here, as is
their custom, took up the llisiress, or house keeper of one Wiswall, a
shoemaker (who formerly belong'd to Cambridge, but since the troops
have been here has got to work for one of the Regiments and remov'd
into town, where he has kept a house of ill fame for some time past),
and committed her to the charge of a constable, to be deliver'd to the
care of another constable at Charlestown, and so on till they get her to
the town from whence she came ; — upon which Wiswall apply'd to the
Colonel of the Regiment, and told him they had taken away his wife
because he work'd for them. In consequence of which, the Colonel
immediately orders a guard of men in pursuit of her, who came up
with her at Charlestown and forcibly took her from the Constables and
convey'd her to the Camp. Upon application of the Gentlemen Over-
seers to the General, he not only order'd her to be deliver'd immedi-
ately — but very severely reprimanded the Colonel for medling in
the matter — and likewise thoroughly assur'd, as well as convinc'd, the
Overseei'S and Selectmen, that he was more dispos'd to support the civil
or Common Law, than Military LaAv in tliis town.

November 3rd. In consequence of an adjournment from Tuesday
the town met this day, and made choice of a new Committee to con-
sider of so7ne plan to preserve the peace of the town ; by increasing the
number of watchmen, &ca.

November itli. Am told the General is determin'd to send two or
three Othcers home, who were the principals in this affray of Satur-

1865.]

LETTEES OF JOHN ANDREWS. 383

day niglit last, in order to make their punishment the more exem-
plary.

November 5/h. Last evening they burnt at Charlestown a hogs-
head and barrell of Tea, the property of one Graham, a Scotsman,
who lives at May place on the Neck of Land. The hogshead was
stow'd as full as it could hold, and the barrell contained parcels done
up 1 to 2 oz. bundles for a conveuiency to retail.

Sunday the 6th November. This day sail'd for London his Majes-
ty's Schooner St. Lawrence, in which went passenger that stanch friend
to Government (as the tories call themselves) Ingersol of Great Bar-
riugton. She was to have sail'd a week ago, but waited till now, to
carry the resolves of the Congress.

November 9th. By the Association of the Congress I observe they
recommend it, that no one shall advance the price of their goods in
consequence of the non-importation agreement. Now, whether we
shan't be justified in doing it, when we have had so scanty a supply
in compare with the other provinces, as well considering the enor-
mous expence we are at to get our goods from Salem, being more than
equal to the freight from England ; but more especiall)' in regard to
the high price of provisions, being obliged to pay from lid. to 15d. a
pound for Butter, 1 shilling a dozen for Eggs, 6d a pound for Tur-
keys, 2 shillings to 3 shillings a pair for fowls, 5d. for Beef, 14 shil-
lings for Cyder, with every thing else in proportion, together 53
shillings 4 pence to 60 shillings for brown sugar, 13d. for Loaf ditto,
and hardly to be got at that : all in consequence of our new-comers,
whose servants go into the market and give any price they are
ask'd.

November 10th. Last evening the Congress arriv'd, together with
Esquire Loring, who deliver'd me two demands upon Officers which he
could not get paid at York, together with your letter of the 26th
ultimo inclosing two other demands — all which will endeavor to
attend to. At present it's impossible to find 'em out (among such an
iuumerable number as we have here, not less than five hundred to be
sure) as they have not as yet got into Lodgings, being on board the
transports — and as the policy of the town don't admit of an inter-
course with any of 'em, it's out of my power to find out by enquiring
of others, as I have not the least acquaintance with one among 'em —
though Rulhy has been complimented with a couple Cards to attend a
Concert for the season (by an Officer's wife' who improves the front
part of the house which Old Dana formerly liv'd in — in gratitude

384 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JdLY,

for many favors they've received of us in the lending and giving
way for four months past) which she politely declin'd accepting.
She's the prettiest woman among 'em all — but no soisability as yet
with her.

November Wth. Yesterday a man on board one of the Transports
cut his throat from ear to ear. His being detected in stealing grease
was the cause of his committing so horrid an act — as he said he had
lost his character, and therefore was asham'd to live any longer.
Should not care if some other people in both England and America
were moved with the same compunction to rid themselves of the world
and the world of them.

November 12th. Both Hancock's and Long Wharfs are lin'd with
Transports, which have on board the 47th, 52nd, 18th, 16th and 10th
Regiments — which are oblig'd to remain on these, as they've not as
yet got barracks provided for 'em.

Sunday, November Voth. The Soldiers that are in encampment
are so much expos'd to the weather, that their women and children
die off very fast: which has caus'd the General to order the workmen
that they work all this day upon the Barracks.

November 14th. Many among us were about promoting plays this
winter, but it seems the Governor won't even admit of assemblies —
as upon application made to him for that purpose, he replied that it
was no times to encourage any thing of the kind, more especially as
many of the officers could not afford the expence, and said he had
already had too many complaints of their not paying their debts.

November loth. This day we have had a general flurry, as all
the troops have gone into barracks, both from the Ships and encamp-
ments — that it is hop'd the Covves will once more have the priviledge
of grazing upon the Common. Have been three times down to the
vessel, and have not been able to find any of your gentry of the 18th
— and this forenoon went to their barracks (being your Uncle Green's
Distil house) but could find no Officer there but a Quarter Master.

November l&th. The Barracks, though occupied, are by no means
made convenient for want of materials, as no lumber of any kind is
allow'd to be bro't either by land or water; every town having a
committee to look out. And several vessells have been burnt at the
Eastward, whose mastere have had the temerity to contract with
the Barrack master for to supply 'em. One skipper, not long since,
who had bro't 'em several load of wood, told them he believ'd he
could pick up a load of boards for 'em at several diffiirent harbours.

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 385

They accordingly agreed to give him a large price for as many as he
could procure. He finally got near a load, by keeping his intentions
to himself; but coming up, he put into Portsmouth harbour, where
they by accident discover'd who his load was for — whereupon a
number seiz'd and drag'd him thro' all the gutters in town. His obsti-
nacy induc'd them to threaten that they would drown him if he did
not comply with their injunctions, and accordingly drag'd him down
to the water's edge, when the fear of their putting their threat in ex-
ecution extorted a confession from him, that he would agree to and
sign any obligation that they should see fit to draw up.

As to bricks, they were necessitated to buy an old house down at
point Shirley — which by the expence of pulling down, cleaning, &ca.,
the bricks stood 'em in at the rate of two Guineas m. They profFer'd
four dollars a in for all that the industrious poor have made on the
Neck under the inspection of the Committee of wai/s and means, but
was told that they dare not let 'em have them at any price, least they
should offend their country brethren — for want of which, the chim-
neys in the barracks are so ill-secur'd, that the Barrack Master says
that he shan't be surpris'd if fire breaks out in 'em very often. So that,
in addition to other calamities, we are likely to be expos'd to the
dreadful one of Jire — whereby not only our property but lives will
be endanger'd.

November 17 th. The town have finally chose a Committee to settle
some plan for the preservation of peace among us, who have had
several conferences with the Governor upon the subject, whereby they
have adopted a measure perfectly pleasing to him and agreeable to
themselves, though the publick are not as yet made acquainted with
it. One consequence already resulting from it is, that none of the
Soldiers, save those on duty, appear in the streets with side arms.

November ISth. This day saw Lieutenant Blackwood, who has
accepted the draft, and promises me he will pay it at the end of
30 days. I likewise saw Captain Shee, who was upon duty at the
main guard. The man is either paralytic or was in great trepidation
at sight of the draft, as he not only trembled but stutter'd prodigiously.
Not having pen and ink handy, he told me if I would suspend the
demand a few days he would pay it without any previous sight, though
he seem'd to make very strange of it, and pretended not to know
Griffin, and then said he had left orders with Mr. Shee or Duchey
to pay it there.

November 19th. General Gage's conduct has been so very unex-
49

386 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [JULY,

ceptionable of late, that the most flaming Sons among us can't but
speak well of him — for let the Selectmen or any respectable inhab-
itant of town wait upon him at any hour, though he may be ever
so busy or engag'd in company, he is always ready to attend to
them as long as they please, and that with the utmost chearfulness.
But the poor refugee councellors are oblig'd to walk the entry for hours
before they can be admitted to audience — that I really believe he
despises them from his heart.

November iOfh. Doctor Cooper gave us a funeral sermon this
afternoon on the death of Thomas Gray, in the latter part of which,
in relating his behaviour and sayings before his exit, he drew tears
from most of his audience. As Mr. Gray's conduct through life was
unexceptionable (save in his zeal for the preservation, or good of
the town, he was led to express himself rather too bitterly) so his
death is greatly lamented, as a publick loss, for, take him all in all,
he has left few equals behind him. He has died possess'd of about
ten thousand pounds sterling, two thousand three hundred of which
he has left by will to your Aunt Jeny Green, and after her decease
to devolve to her children : his real estate, to the value of two or
three thousand, to his bi-other Bill Gray : five hundred sterling each
to his half brothers the treasurer and Colonel Jackson : the like sum to
be divided between his half sister Blake's children who are much
in want of it ; as well as the like sum to Benjamin Gray, only sur-
viving son to bis brother Edward : a thousand sterling to Ellis Gray
and a thousand lawful money to Edward, with five hundred sterling
to their sister Mrs. Cary, as also a hundred sterling to their mother,
with a legacy of fifty pounds sterling to Doctor Cooper and the like
sum to the poor of the Church. I forgot to mention the hke sum
of fifty pounds to his brother John, as a token of afiection rather
than an emolument to him, as he conceiv'd him to be so wealthy as
not to stand in need of a larger bequeath. His brother Bill and
young Ellis are left executors, who together with Ned are appointed
residuary legatees.

November 2\st. The action of the Portsmouth pleasure boat or
Gondalo, so long depending before the Admiralty Court, was finally
determin'd last week in favor of the claimant — when the judge
declar'd that they had no right by virtue of the port Bill to stop or
molest any boats carrying merchandize, &ca., within the limits of
the harbour. Thus you may see how long we have been guU'd.

November 22nd. The spirited behaviour of the Eastward people in

1865.]

LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 387'

not suffering the contractors to supply the Barrack Master with wood,
whereby (by its being indulg'd to enter the harbour without stop-
ping at Maiblehead or Salem) it came much cheaper to them than
what the poor of the town could be supplieid at — has at last in-
duc'd our Lords and Masters to permit all vessells bringing wood to
come up to town without previously unlading at either of the above
places.

November 2ord. I waited upon Captain Hammilton* with your
compliments and presented your Note for payment. He made answer
that he should write Mr. Griffin by the post, and ask'd me if I was
going to write you likewise : if I was, he would write you also. I
told him I intended it, the first private opportunity that offer'd, when
I would let him know. Upon the whole, he don't seem to have any
intention of paying the Note.

November 2ith. The article of Sand being very scarce by its not
being suffer'd to be brought up as usual, whereby the women are very
dissatisfied, as they have to give ^ lawful money a bushel for that
that's very bad and dirty.

November 25th. Some few days since they withdrew the Guards
from Charlestown ferry, as their frequent desertion from their post
has discourag'd the continuance of them.

November 26th. Since the troops have been in barracks, there has
been several children, as well as men, broke out with the small pox
among 'em, who are all remov'd to the Pest house at New Boston.

November 21th. The poor Mandamus Councellors are iu a misera-
ble plight, as they are even afraid of the men whom they esteem their
protectors — for most of 'em belonging to the Country, have not had
the small pox, and therefore think it unsafe to admit a guard, as
usual, to sleep in the house with them since that distemper has pre-
vail'd among 'em.

November 28th. This day being very pleasant, the respective regi-
ments have march'd into the Common, to give their Men an airing, as
well as to perform their Manoeuvres, of firing, &ca.

* This was probably Robert Hamilton, afterwards Sheriff of Lanarkshire, a favorite
friend of Sir Walter Scott's. In his Life, Loolihart gives a notice of him, saying that he
hiid served and been severely wounded in America, and that on his death-bed, in 18.31,
having requested Sir Walter to select some keepsake of him, his sword that he had
worn at Bunker's Hill was chosen to adorn the armory at Abbotsford.

In the official report of the battle, Captain Hamilton of the Tenth was named
among the wounded at Bunker's Hill.

388 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLY,

November 29th. Yesterday the General order'd a Sergent and drum
from each Regiment to parade every street in town and proclaim to
the inhabitants that if they trusted a Soldier more than a day's pay,
their commanding officer would not pay it, and therefore they must
do it at their own risque.

November 30th. The desertions have been so great of late thaftJ
the troops had orders last evening to call the roll every half hour tilltl
further orders.

December 1st. Saw Mr. Prideaux, who acknowledg'd the Note
and said he would pay it at some future time.

December 2nd. The General, in order to remove every cause of
complaint has this morning set a number of Soldiers to work upon the
Common to fill up the cellars and holes that were made by the troops
when encamp'd there, as well as to level the banks flung up by them.

December Srd. The arrival of a number of ships from England
within this week past, who give an account of the parliament's being
dissolv'd in consequence of the Scarborough's arrival there with the
intelligence of the Cambridge muster, &ca., has caus'd some disagree-
able apprehensions to arise in the minds of the people, least the Minis-
try should, by such a sudden manoeuvre, patch up a new parliament
as equally subservient to their cursed schemes as the old one, and by
that means play the devil with us in the Spring.

December ith. Sunday. This morning the Scarborough arriVd
with a double compliment of Marines (contrary to the opinion of
many, who believed, as it had been reported, that she was gone to
take her station at Ireland) who informs that three or four more
capital Ships are coming out with the like number of Marines. What
their designs are, other than to reinforce General Gage, I cant
conceive, nor am I, for my own part, apprehensive in the least of
worse consequences.

December 5th. Last Fryday the provincial Congress, now sitting,
deputed three of their number to wait up Secretary Fluker and de-
mand a list of the Mandamus Councellors, with an account of those
who refus'd taking the oath, as well as those who had resign'd, to-
gether with the time of such respective refusals and resignations —
who in reply told them that he did not know any mandamus councel-
lors, but he knew a number of gentlemen who were appointed by his
majesty as councellors of this province, and therefore declin'd com-
plying with their demand. I suppose the intention of the Congress
is to return their thanks to those who had refus'd or resign'd, and

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 389

to sensure, upon record, the conduct of those who have had the temer-
ity to continue in office. As the Congress keep all their transac-
tions a profound secret, am indebted to your uncle Joe for the above
intelligence.

December Gth. Saw Captain Shee again this morning, who shew
me a letter from Bertie Shee of your city, acquainting him that he
had paid all the debts left in the Memorandum, among which was
Griffin's, and at the same time requesting Captain Shee to send him
a draft for £200 on Messrs. Mifliins, to reimburse him for what he
had advanc'd.

December 1th. The town met this day and made choice of sixty
one, principally young fellows, to see that the association of the Con-
gress is put in execution.

December 8tk. Wrote you by the post, and return'd Captain Shee's
draft for £6, your currency, which he declines paying.*

* The following letter sent by post, referred to in the text : —

" Boston, 8th December, 1774.

"Dear Will, — Have been a long while waiting for a private opportunity to write
you, and as none has offer'd, am necessitated to put you to the expence of postage. Its
about ten days since I waited upon Captain Hamilton and presented his note for pay-
ment with your compliments. He reply'd that he must write Mr. Griffin about it and
did not say whether he would pay it or not.

"About three weeks since I presented the draft to Captain Shee, who stammer'd
much about it, and told me he had left orders with Bertie Shee of your city to pay it;
therefore desir'd of me to suspend the matter till he heard from him. Last Tuesday I
waited upon him again, when he shew me a letter from that Gentleman, wherein he
advis'd him of having paid all y® debts of which he left a mem., and Captain Shee said
Mr. Griffin's was among 'em, and thei-efore advis'd me to send it back again, which I
now inclose you, and as you neglected to make an indorsement upon it, am oblig'd to
return it without a regular protest.

" Mr. Blackwood has accepted the draft on him, and by his conduct believe he intends
to pay it. Have seen Mr. Prideaux, who likewise tells me that he will pay his note.
Must depend altogether upon their Honor, as the times are such that they cannot be
be compell'd, and in haste. Yours etc'a.

" Jno. An'Drews.

" P. S. You may think it odd for me to have mentioned as I have respecting those
demands on the Officers, without previously acknowledging the receipt of them — but
that, you must know, is done in the Buili/et, which I dont much expect to have a private
opportunity to send you till the Spring. There's nothing in particular new among us
at present, save that the transports are fitting out with the greatest expedition, though
their destination is not known. It has been rumour'd for some days past that more or
less of the troops are going to leave us, but [what] foundation there is for the report I
cant learn. The ai-rival of a number of men of war causes much speculation here, as
we cant conceive of the expediency of sending out such large ships. Some conjecture
that they are going to block up all the harbours in this province, and oth^s that the
principal ports on the Continent will [be] subjected [to] that inconvenience."

Address; "Mr. William Barrel!, Merchant, Philadelphia, p. post." Postmarked,
" Boston, Dec. 6. Postage 1 \ 10."

390 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLT,

December 9th. We have an account this day of a vessell having
arriv'd at Salem in a short passage from Falmouth, but cant learn
whether she has brought anything new or not. Last evening Deacon
Storer's wife took a final farewell of this transitory life.

December 10th. We have had a continued succession of fowl
weather since this day week, and last night it blew very hard. It is
imagin'd that one of the Seventy four Gun Ships is run ashore, as
they have heard the report of a continued quick succession of very
heavy mettlie since midnight. The Admiral has sent a schooner down
this morning.

December llth. The Ship in distress on fryday night turns out
to be the Glasgow of twenty guns from HaHfax, who lias lost her
keel and rudder with some of her men. Yesterday a Sergent went
off with about £40 sterling, which was intrusted to him to pay off the
Soldiers. He got away by the assistance of a chaise, which carried
him beyond the Guards.

December V2th. Yesterday p.m. the Eoyal Irish reraov'd from
their quarters in your uncle Green's distilhouse, to go on board the
transports, as the smell of the lees in the cisterns added to their
urine, has caus'd an infectious distemper among 'em, whereby two
or three have dropt down dead of a day. The same mortallity has
prevail'd, though in a less degree, in some of the other distillhouses.
I dont [know ?] any that have got half so good barracks as those oppo-
site our house, though you must be sensible, Bill, that they are not
very agreeable neighbours.

December 13th. This morning the Welch fusileers, together with
a detachment from another regiment, form'd a body of 400 men, and
equip'd with knapsacks &ca., march out of town as far as the punch
bowl in Brooklyne, when they return'd again. What this manoeuvre
can be for, I cant imagine, other than to give the men an airing, or
with a view to make frequent feints of the kind in order to familiarize
the people to it, whereby in future tliey may make an irruption into the
country without creating any suspicion of their design, or possibly to
make the Soldiers acquainted with the diiferent roads near the town.

December lith. Another Regiment's performing the same manoeu-
vre this day, and taking a different road, looks a little like as though
my suspicions are well founded.

December loth. This day was celebrated our annual Thanhsgiring,
recommended by the provincial Congress. Last evening my sister
Breck was deliver'd of a fine boy, and what's remarkable, she was
deliver'd of a daughter the last thanksgiving eve.

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 391

December IGth. Yesterday died of a throat-distemper, which is
very prevalent in the army at this time, Captain Maturene, the
Governor's private Secretary, and however obnoxious the day might
be to the government party, he did not fail sending Supplicatory Notes
to all the congregations in town yesterday.

December 17 tk. The Distilhouses continue to prove so very fatal
to the Soldiers, that the Surgeons have one and all drew up a protest
against the Soldiers remaining there. Where they will find quarters
for 'em otherways, I cant conceive, as there's scarce a m of Lumber
in town, and the inhabitants even find it difficult to procure it for a
(/round tenement for their deceased friends.

December 18th. The Somerset of 74 guns arriv'd this forenoon,
being the last of the squadron that came out with the Scarborough.

December 19th. Am this day favor'd with your letter of the 5 De-
cember, handed me by Mr. Williams, with a mem°. for books, which
I shall endeavor to procure as soon as I get an opportunity, as my
apprentice is now confin'd at our house and very ill with a putrid
fever, that we are in great trouble, being apprehensive that we shall
all be attack'd with it — if so, God's will be done — The Doctor
has pronounc'd him very dangerous — and people in general are so
very much affraid of the distemper, that we have been trying in vain
to procure a nurse for him, and as his parents live in the country we
are in a pitiable situation.

December 20th. Mr. Blackwood call'd and paid the bill on him
this day, being £15/19 Lawful money.

December 21st. Two or three Regiments continue to go out of
town every day, sometimes to Cambi-idge, and at other times towards
Dedham. This day being excessive cold, a Granadier of the 59th
fell down lifeless, and was sent to town in [a] countryman's cart.

December 22nd. The affair at Portsmouth, of their having dis-
mantled Newcastle fort, has caus'd the General to send the Scar-
borough there to keep 'em in order.

December 2Srd. Am told the Extra number of Marines that came
in the last ships of war refuse to come on shore, as they say they did
not enlist for Land Service. Suppose the hard duty the Soldiers are
put to here has induced 'em to take this resolution.

December 24:th. This morning the poor fellow, who was taken on
the Neck last Saturday night, attempting to desert, was shot. There
were many intercessions made to the General, for his reprieve, by the
Officers, but these going off so very fast, and he being the first taken

392 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JtTLY,

since the troops were all arriv'd, he would not regard their prayer, as
he was determin'd to make an example of him. It was debated in a
council of officers, but over rul'd, that he should be hung in chains
upon the gallows in terrorem.

December 2bth. The Packet has brought credentials that dub Wil-
liam Pepperell a Night, for his steady adherence to the Government
side in not resigning his Councellorship — a bauble he has been seeking
after a long time, and could not procure it when at home, because not
worth an estate of three thousand a year — the most he could presume
upon being seven hundred. But it seems that will come vastly short
now, as they have, in great part, put the threats, in the inclos'd scrap
of News paper, in execution ; and would have done the whole, but
the leases are not all expir'd as yet.

December 26tk. Am not at all surpris'd that provisions are so very
dear amongs, considering the great number of additional mouths there
is to feed. Am told that the contractors for the Navy alone, engage
for a Tun weight of Mutton every day.

December 2iiih. Last Evening a soldier, who [was] plac'd centinel
on the Long wharfe, in assisting to get a drunken sailor out of the
Dock, unfortunately got in himself, and the sailor not being able to
afford him any assistance, he was finally drown'd and his body taken up
this morning.

December 30th. The Marines, consisting of about five hundred men,
landed this forenoon and have gone into barracks at the extreme part
of the North End, by much the fittest place for them, as I am told they
are ten times more dissolute (if possible) than the marching regiments
— partaking of the extreem ill qualities of a soldier as well as that of
a man-of-war's-man.

December 3i st. The Soldiers are much discontented upon account
of the man who was shot for desertion, as they say if the General had
a right to send his body to the grave, he had no right to send his soul
to the Devil, for he had his death warrant but eleven hours before he
was executed.

January the 1st, 1775. With wishing you a happy new year, Bill,
must add my wishes that we may have a less troublesome year than
the last, and that Great Britain may see her error in distressing the
Colonies, and restore to them their just rights and liberties ; that we
may 07ice more see that harmony prevail which formerly us'd to subsist
between them.

January 2nd. This afternoon, an Officer of the 10th Regiment, one

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 393

Dulap an ensign, being warm or rather frantic with liquor, stop'd a
man, who drives a waggon between Salem and here, in union street, and
order'd him to turn out of the way for him to walk on. The waggoner
refus'd ; he made no more words but struck across the face with a hick-
ory stick, upon which the waggoner clos'd in upon him, took his stick
from him, and beat him pretty decently. Before the affray was over,
upwards of fifty soldiers had collected upon the place — some smiling
with inward satisfection (especially those of his own regiment) and
others pretending to assist him.

January Ath. The Discontent of the Soldiers has become so general
that they have doubled all the guards and made one or two regiments
lay under arms, as well as that they have fix'd a field piece in the
Centre of the town to be fir'd in case of a mutiny, whereby all those
that are not concern'd in it are to appear under arms.

January 6th. This morning we had quite a novel sight. The Sail-
ors belonging to the Transports consisting of about 30 or 40 dress'd in
white shirts ornamented with various color'd ribbons dispos'd crossways
on their bodies with knots and garlands, paraded each side of a long
rope dragging a plow, accompanied with one compleatly tar'd and feath-
er'd, representing a he Devil, together with a She Devil, and an at-
tendant, each furnish'd with a bag to collect money, stopping every
person of genteel appearance to request a remembrance of Old Eng-
land, wishing 'em a merry Christmas. The former look'd as com-
pleatly like the devil as the most fertile invention could form an idea
of or picture. The General gave them two half Joes, and it is sup-
pos'd that they collected at least forty guineas. The design of it was
to celebrate the twelfth night, or the breaking up of Christmas.

January 7th. The uneasiness of the tenth regiment has caus'd a
general report, for several days past, that tliey had mutinied and were
disarm'd in consequence of it. This much is very certain, that they
have lost a number of their men by sickness, and near forty of the
regiment in particular are down with inflammatory fever, caus'd by
the hai-d duty on the Neck several very stormy days. Am told they
one and all, i. e. of the privates, came into some agreements among
themselves, which they would not divulge to their officers, and were
depriv'd of the use of their arms, when off duty.

January dth. For this fortnight past, scarce a day passes without
three or four soldiers' funerals : a spot of ground at the bottom of the
common being allotted for them, which they have improv'd for upwards
of a hundred already.

394 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

Januarij lOf/i. Its about ten months since Ruthy began to cut a
coat of arms, on vellum, for your uncle Joe ; which hurt her eyes to
such a degree as that she was oblig'd to lay it by. This fall she reas-
sum'd it again, and compleated it a few days since. Its about eight
inches square, with his and his wife's arm quarter'd, supported at the
lower corners by Jupiter and Minerva inimitably executed, and to-
gether with the embellishments of her fruitful fancy, forms the most ex-
traordinary piece of workmanship of the kind, that I believe was ever
perform'd. It was sent home yesterday, and this morning the follow-
ing poetical note was sent Euthy by your uncle (accompanied with a
neat silver salver about 8 inches diameter) address'd to Garterilla,
principal Queen at Ai-ms.

Garter, Clarencieux, and Norroy
May boast a tawdry painted toy;
Pleas'd to adjust, by Herald's rules
Their Argent, Azure, Or, and Gules.
Judicious eyes take more delight
To view your simple black and white.

Then as a favor let me ask
You'd undertake another task;
Since in my Arms such art you've shown.
Pray on this Plate engrave your own.

which I think show an ingenuity and a delicacy peculiar only to
him.

January llth. This morning the soldiers in the barrack opposite
our house, left it, and took quarters with the royal Irish in Gould's
auction room or store — in the street leading to Charlestown ferry.

January Vith. By a court martial which continued two days this
week on board the Sommerset, Captain Maltby of the Glasgow was
broke, being convicted of embezlement. He not long since bro't the
Gunner of his Ship to tryal for some small misdemeanor, and mulcted
him a year's pay. The latter made reprisals on him by the above
accusation.

January loth. A few days since an Officer carried a manuscript to
Henry Knox for him to publish ; being an answer, as he said, to Gene-
ral Lee's pamphlet (which you sent me). He told him he did not
mean to confute every part, as the principal of it was unanswerable.
Knox perus'd a few pages of it and found it to be rather a weak per-
formance, and therefore declin'd undertaking the publishment — excus-
ing himself as its being out of his way.

January IQth. Am not much surpriz'd at the dearness of provisions

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. ' 395

among us when I consider what an additional number of inhabitants we
have got, together with the quantities that are barrell'd up in every
town in the country to serve as a supply for any future exigencies —
no town having less than a hundred barrels and some a thousand ; that
partridges are sold in our market for half a dollar a pair which us'd
formerly to be bought for eight pence, and eggs at the reasonable price
of 1/6 lawful money per dozen.

January 18tk. Either yesterday or Monday, Justice [ ] fin'd a

poor oysterman five pounds sterling, together with 5 / for his writ, for
buying or rather letting a Soldier have a few coppers upon a pair of
drawers which the Soldier was to have redeemed again — this being
the third instance of the kind that has been transacted ; advantages
taken of the ignorant country people by necessitous Justices, that would
not stick at any thing to put such a fine in their own pockets. Have
eras'd out his name as I would not have it mention'd.*

January \Wi. Yesterday was celebrated the Queen's birth day by
the Array, and in the afternoon a large Company of Officers assembled
at the Coffee house, with a band of Musick in the balcony, and the King's
own Grenadiers upon the opposite side of the street ; when upon eVry
toast they gave three chears, after which, one of their number came out
to the balcony and announced it to the Commander of the Granadiers,
who thereupon order'd a volley to be fir'd, when the Musick struck up
and after that succeeded the drums. This they continued till near
nine o'clock. — Among their toasts was the 16th April, '46 — a similar
chastisement to all Rebels — Confusion to the American Army —
Lord North — with a number of such exasperating toasts — which the
populace, that were gather'd upon the occasion, took no notice of, save
the last, when they gave a general hiss and exclaim'd damn him, upon
which the announcer of the toast cry'd hless him, which was retorted
upon him by frequent curses and execrations, that the Grenadiers were
order'd to clear the street with their bayonets, which did not do other
than to push tlie length of their muskets.

January '21st. Last evening a number of drunken Officers attacked
the town house watch between eleven and 12 o'clock, when the assist-
ance of the New Boston watch was call'd, and a general battle ensued ;
some wounded on both sides. A party from the main guard was
brought up with their Captain together with another party from the

* The uame of this justice, though partially erased, is still legible in the original
manuscript.

396 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jdlt,

Governor's. Had it not been for the prudence of two OiRcers that
were sober, the Captain of the Main Guard would have acted a
second Tragedy to the 5th March, as he was much disguis'd with
Liquor and would have order'd the guard to fire on the watch had he
not been restrain'd. His name is Gore, being a Captain in the 5th
or Earl Peircy's regiment. He was degraded not long since for some
misdemeanour.

This afternoon there was a general squabble between the Butchers
in the market and a number of Soldiers. It first began by a Soldier's
tripping up the heals of a fisherman who was walking through the
market with a piece of beef in his hands. A guard from the 47th
Barracks appear'd and carried off the Soldiers, together with one
hutcher who was most active, the Officer taking him by the Collar. He
was able to have crush'd the officer, but was advis'd to be quiet. Young
Ned Gray insisted on it that he should not be carried into the guard
house, upon which many hard words pass'd between him and the Cap-
tain of the Guard. However Gray prevail'd, and they carried the man
into Miss Foster's store close by the barracks, from whence the Officer
dismiss'd him after finding upon deliberation that his conduct was not
justifiable — and seem'd to be much afraid least the Butcher should
take advantage of him by Law or complaint.

Sunday, January 2'2nd. The Officers' animosity to the watch still
rankling in their breast, induc'd two of them to go last night to the
watch house again at about 10 o'clock and threaten the watch that they
would bring a file of men and blow all their brains out. The watch
thereupon left their cell and shut it up, and went and enter'd a com-
plaint to the Selectmen — some of whom waited on the Governor at
about 12 o'clock, who was very much vex'd at the Officers' conduct, and
told the Gentlemen that he had got the names of three that were con-
cern'd in Fryday night's frolick, and was determin'd to treat them
with the utmost severity — and likewise order'd a guard to patrole
through every street in town and bring every officer to him that they
should find strolling or walking.

January 23rc?. A Court of enquiry is to take place this day, when
its suppos'd that the Captain of the Guard at least will be broke, for
being drunk when on duty.

January 2ith. In consequence of an application from a number of
the inhabitants of Marshfield (who are under the influence of Ray
Thomas, one of the Mandamus Councellors, and the Winslow family,
who are likewise remarkable high tories) a number of men, drafted

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 897

from several of tlie Eegiments, to the amount of 100, erabark'd on
board an arm'd schooner last evening to go there for their protection —
they pretending that the neighbouring towns had threatned to molest
'em — but cant learn that they had any such intentions. Hope the
people will be discreet and prudent enough not to meddle with the Sol-
diers.

January 2oth. Yesterday the Officers were all examin'd at the
New Court house, respecting fryday night's affair, being carried there
under arrest, nine in number (after which the General is to deal with
them) : being a great number of evidences they were oblig'd to adjourn
till [to] day.

January 26th. The very great expenses of the army and navy has
put the Commanders so much to their trumps, for want of Cash, that
they have been oblig'd to borrow upwards of fifteen thousand sterling
in specie of old Captain Erving, and near as much more of Borland.

January 27tk. Its shocking to conceive to what degree the Soldiers
are punish'd. Its imagin'd half their deaths arise from it, as it often
happens that their ribs are laid quite bare, whereby their kidneys are
so affected that they become incurable. A Drummer in the tenth
Regiment, more humane than the rest, refus'd one day this week to
take his turn with the whip, and when it was handed him, flung it on
the ground, saying that he inlisted to serve his Majesty as a Drummer,
in which calling he would venture to say that ha was as capable and
did his duty as faithfully as any in the Regiment, but he never enter'd
the service to become a whipper or hangman, and therefore, let the
consequence be what it would, was determin'd not to do it. The adju-
tant order'd him immediately under guard. The next day he was
tried by a court martial and honorably acquitted.

January 28th. Our joy, in getting rid of the soldiers from the
house directly opposite us, is shortliv'd, as they are now preparing it
for the reception of the sick from the Welch fusileers — who have so
many down with fevers and what not that they have not room to stow
'em in the house which they have alwaise improv'd as a liospital, so
that we are like to be in a fine situation. As to moving, its impossible,
as there's not a room scarcely in the town ten feet square unimprov'd.
We have thought of selling our furniture and going out to board, as
we dont see any other method we can take to avoid being continually
expos'd to infection. Have been to the barrack master about it, who
tells me he has expostulated against it, but to no purpose, his office
being near by it — but they can get no other place, and tlie general's
orders are positive to fit it up immediately.

398 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLT,

Sunday, January 29tk. You may possibly have seen in the papers
some curious resolves of the town of Barnstable, which were effected
by one Bacon, a magistrate there, who proour'd one of the pamphlets
written by Doctor Cooper of New York, which he read to the inhabit-
ants and told them that Doctor Cooper of this town wrote it, and
perswaded 'em likewise that all the Sons of Liberty here were falling
off in the same manner. As soon as he had obtain'd the resolves, he
hasted up to town with them, and carried immediately to the press,
since which he has tarried here with other refugees. Last week, the
town of Barnstable, convinc'd of their error, had a meeting and pass'd
a number of resolves entirely abrogating all of the other that were in
the least derogatory to the cause of freedom ; and execrate the author
of their deception.

Treasurer Gray has attempted in a pamphlet to ridicule the transac-
tions of the Congress — quite a weak, puerile performance — much of
the same stile with one wrote in answer to General Lee's by one Bar-
rey, an officer in the 52nd Regiment, whose performance is pretty
much like himself, being an awkward sappy looking chap, the more so
I think than any officer I have seen among all that's here.* Am
doubtfuU whether I can prevail on Martin Brimmer to take any tiling
more than this letter (else I would send 'em you together with what
others I have procur'd) as he intends going as far as South Carolina,
and of consequence yill be encumber'd with linnen and other necessa-
ries. The Dramatic piece in the Newspaper, am told is written by a
woman — the characters are exceedingly well delineated, and I think
the stile is masterly.

I believe. Bill, I must leave off journalizing, as its the season of the
year in which I am employ'd in settling my accounts, as well as that
the sleding bring us some up country business, which, together with the
shortness of the days, scarcely allows me leisure enough for the per-
formance. Therefore you must not be disappointed if you dont hear
any thing more from me in this stile. Shall notwithstanding embrace
every opportunity that offers to write you, though in more general
terms. Shall close this by giving you a small anecdote, relating to
some of our school lads — who as formerly in this season improv'd the
Coast from Sherburn's hill down to School street. General Haldiman,

* Captain Biirry, of the Fifty-second Regiment, was, on the 24th December, 17S0,
appointed Deputy Adjutant-General under General Leslie, by Lord Cornwallis. While
in South Carolina, he was the author of another political paper, designed to be satiri-
cal, which is printed in Johnson's " Traditions of the American Revolution," p. 278.

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDBEWS. 399

improving the liouse that belongs to Old Cook, his servant took it upon
him to cut up their coast and fling ashes upon it. The lads made a
muster, and chose a committee to wait upon the General, who admitted
them, and heard their complaint, which was couch'd in very genteel
terms, complaining that their fathers befgre 'em had improv'd it as a
coast for time immemorial, &ca. He order'd his servant to repair the
damage, and acquainted the Governor with the affair, who observ'd
that it was impossible to beat the notion of Liberty out of the people,
as it was rooted in 'em from their Childhood.

March \%lh. Your favor of the 27th ultimo by Mr. Phillips was
handed me yesterday, and being St. Patrick's day I could not see
Captain Hamilton till this day, who told me that he did not acquaint
Mr. GriiRn that he should have to draw upon his father soon, as he is
so unhappy as not to have a father, and further made many excuses,
that cash was scarce, and there was no getting his pay without a con-
siderable loss, and it was impossible for him to pay any part at
present, but it was likely he should be able to pay the whole in the
course of the Spring — that the note was for money he lost at play a
few evenings before he came away, though he did not mean but that it
was as justly due and that he esteemed it the same as though he'd had
the cash from Mr. GritRn ; but said that Griffin [promised] him that
the note should not go out of his hands, and only requested it of him
as a mem.

Have repeatedly sent to Mr. Prideaux, who as often as he is seen
either makes promises or excuses. Shall endeavor to follow him close,
but hope ere long they will both be with you again.

As printed extracts of Letters that came by the packet to New-
York was brought us last night from Providence, giving xib great hopes
to expect a full completion of our wishes in regard to publick aifairs,
they were reprinted here and out early this morning. The tories
say they were made by S. Adams last night. Others, that they are the
same letters that were received in the Stamp Act time — and others
say, if they are genuine, merchants' letters are not worth regarding —
but unhappy for them, the whole is confirm'd by the post just arriv'd.

An express came to the governor with letters by the packet on
Wensday evening, but nothing transpir'd but to a few of his refugee
councellor's, who have been observ'd ever since to be much crest-fallen.
Old B — le was heard to exclaim yesterday — " We shall lose the day.
Good God! what will become of us ?" — A certain Reverend Doctor
of the Eslablish'd Church in this town has lately said that he would

400 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULY,

rather wade up to his knees in blood, than that the Ministry should
give way. Thursday was observ'd here as a general fast. An officer,
with men from the 4th Regiment in Barracks at West Boston, erected
a couple of tents just at the back of Howard's meeting and conducted a
parcell of fifes and drums there, which play'd and beat Yanky Doodle
the whole forenoon service time, to the great interruption of the con-
gregation. They intended to repeat the same in the afternoon, but
were prevented by orders from the General. The officers in general
behave more like a parcell of children, of late, than men. Captain

[ ] * of the Royal Irish first expos'd himself by behaving in a

very scandalous manner at the South meeting, while Doctor Warren
was delivering the oration in commemoration of the Massacre. He got
pretty decently frighted for it. A woman, among the rest, attaek'd him
and threatened to wring his nose. Last Wensday, the day the oration
was publish'd, a vast number of Officers assembled in King street,
when they proceeded to the choice of a moderator and seven out of
their number to represent the select men, the latter of whom with the
moderator went into the Coffee house balcony, where was provided a
fellow apparrell'd in a black gown with a rusty grey wigg and fox
tail hanging to it, together with bands on — who deliver'd an oration
from the balcony to a crowd of few else beside gaping officers. It con-
tain'd the most scurrilous abuse upon the characters of the principal
patriots here, wholly made up of the most vile, profane, blackguard
language as ever was express'd. They intend acting the same farce
over again on farce day, or rather to deliver a sermon from the same
place, but the General, knowing more than we did at that time, pru-
dently forbid it. The affiiir of Colonel Nesbitt of the 47th having
tarr'd and feather'd a countryman, and Colonel Leslie's expedition to
Salem, do them equal honor, and I dare say will become subjects of the
keenest satire. A Committee from the country in behalf of the coun-
tryman above, waited on the General on fast day, who was greatly
disgusted with their remonstrance (being a very spirited one) but
finally dismiss'd them with every assurance of protection from danger,
and that [in] quite a pleasant manner: also assur'd them that he
would undertake that the man should have full satisfaction. Had I
time and room, the subject would afford large comments. The same
day I overheard a number say that they were going to have a congress,

* This name is also legible in the original manuscript, though erased by the pen
of the author.

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 401

consisting of a deputation of three officers from each regiment, but I
imagine the late news will put a stop to their folly in this respect.

Really, Bill, its necessary a person should have eyes and no ears to
be in the way of these chaps — for a person must [be] more than a
stoic to prevent his irracibility rising at the speeches they are continu-
ally making, more so of late than ever before — That they may return
the same harmless tools they came, is the wish of your affectionate
brother.

[P. S.] Monday morning. Its by Captain Hamilton's particular
desire that I write you. He intends writing you himself also. Its my
opinion, that if we had not had some News, as a check upon the army,
it would have been impossible to have bore with their insults, as they
increas'd every day, stimulated thereto by the damn'd refugees, who
liave one and all, directly or indirectly, declar'd their sentiments as the
Reverend Doctor above. Our provincial congress is to meet next
month at Concord, when, I am told, there is to be an army of observa-
tion incamp'd, consisting of twenty thousand men. Am also inform'd
that the congress have expended near a million in our Old tenor for
amunition and provisions. This I know, that they have had upwards
of fifty ton of shot, shell, &ca., cast, besides an innumerable number of
Musket balls. Have seen twenty load cover'd with dung to go out of
town myself, but lately all carts have been search'd by the Guards, and
unluckily last Saturday evening a load of cartridges were seiz'd pack'd
in candle boxes, consisting of 13500 besides 4 boxes balls. The coun-
tryman struggled hard before he would deliver 'em, and received two
or three bad wounds. The same evening eight or nine officers paraded
tlie street and abus'd every person they met, but finally met with their
matches and were all made to lay level with the ground — and yester-
day four Sergeants and as many men were sent to insult John Hancock,
under pretence of seeing if his stables would do for barracks. He
went directly to the Genei'al, who order'd a pai'ty there, but they were
gone. The General told him if he was any ways insulted again, to
write a billet and send by a servant, and he would immediately redress
him — but it seems the officers and soldiers are a good deal disaffected
towards the Governor, thinking, I suppose, that he is partial to the
inhabitants, many of the latter have made no scruples to call him an
Old Woman.

In regard to the season. Bill, am perswaded you could not have been
more favor'd than we have been. The oldest man among us can't
51

402 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLT,

remember to have ever seen one equal to it. Dont you "think I have
improv'd my paper well ?

April 11th. About ten days since Captain Hamilton had the misfor-
tune to fiill from his horse, and broke two or three of his ribs, and
otherways bruis'd himself in such a manner that it was tho't he could
not survive it, but am told he is likely to get well. I doubt whether I
shall ever be able to get the money of him, more especially of Mr.
Prideaux, who does not pay the least regard to his promises, though I
follow him very close too.

In regard to publick affairs, we are all in confusion at present, the
streets and Neck lin'd with waggons carrying off the effects of the in-
habitants, who ai-e either affraid, mad, crazy or infatuated — which term
you please. Bill — imraagining to themselves that they shaU be liable to
every evil that can be enumerated, if they tarry in town. For my
own part, am determin'd to stay at all events, though I look upon
my outstanding debts in the country (which are very considerable) to
be totallj' lost, as if the army moves into the country (which by all
their maneauvries at present, there remains no dispute of) the country
are determin'd to oppose 'em, at least if they proceed in a hostile man-
ner ; and to expect better times, very speedily, is wishing against hope.

William Whitwell, who trades largely to your town, died last night ;
upon receiving the last disagreeable news, his spirits fail'd him, and as
his fortitude could not support him under the apprehension of seeing
the misseries and calamities that are likely to befall his country ; he
languish'd and died.

The Commissioners have appointed an officer, under pretence of
searching for contraband goods, who inspects every Cask that is carried
out of the town by opening and boring, so that the waggons are detain'd
sometime by him.

Have sent you Doctor Mayhew's Sermons to young Men, agreeable,
to your desire in a former letter. I expected to have procur'd one more
neatly bound, but could not. The officers' oration is in print among
themselves, should have exerted myself to procure one for you, but the
scandalous freedoms taken in it, by printing or rather exposing the
Domestic troubles of some very worthy characters among us, induc'd
me not to send it, as ^vith many, they are not known, and should you
have it, you might possibly be induc'd to shew it to a friend or two
who might thereby be acquainted with circumstances, though no ways
lessoning to the merits of an unexceptionable character — yet may be
disagreeable to the injur'd party to have the faults of those expos'd

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 403

with whom they are necessarily connected, more especially when
dress'd up with so false a gloss.

The second part of the comic performance I sent you some time
since, I now enclose you, under the title of the Group, together with
the paper that is principally open to the tory party. My intention in
procuring this for you is to shew the childish play of a number of offi-
cers among us, who have foolishly endeavor'd to ape men, who are as
superior to them in abilities as they are degrading to their order, in
acting such a despicable part as they do, which you may see by their
resolutions. Their procession was from the coffee house to the Cock-
loft in the- town house, where they stew'd in one room, or rather hovel,
scarce sufficient to contain them standing. Their silly parade consisted
of a president with a horrow'd scarlet cloak and perriwig, with a wand
in one hand and a book in the other, follow'd by six others, alike ap-
parell'd, who stil'd themselves (however impropei'ly for a congress) the
selectmen, together with about thirty others in their uniforms walking
two and two — with much greater courage, I imagine, than they would
face an enemy.

Young Ned Hill who was in your city last fall is dead of the camp
fever, being the fourth and last son the old gentleman has lost in
the course of two years. His daughter together with a domestic in the
house now lay at the point of death with the same disorder, which has
been very prevalent among us, and carried off a great number of the
inhabitants as well as soldiers.

Several young tradesmen have left town, to join the American
Army, as they call it, and others of a higher sphere in life, am told,
have sent up their names to the congress for commissions. I hear
they liave provided stores, ammunition, tent equipage and provissions
for an army to consist of thirty thousand men.

Ruthy has lately finish'd a landscape which she drew with a pen,
that's equal to any copper plate that I ever saw. In regard to design
I think it exceeds most every thing of the kind, but the attention she
is oblig'd to pay to it, while in hand, is so great that it cant but be
prejudicial to her health. It is so much admir'd, that it is sent for to
all quarters to see. She has received the compliment of Earl Piercy
upon the occasion, who express'd his very great admiration of it.

April \'dth. Yesterday produced a scene the most shocking New
England ever beheld. Last Saturday p.m. orders were sent to the
several regiments quarter'd here, not to let their Grenadiers or light
Infantry do any duty till further orders, upon which tlie inhabitants

404 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIKTT. [JuLT,

conjectur'd that some secret expedition was on foot, and being on the
look out, they observ'd those bodies upon the move between ten and
eleven o'clock the Evening before last, observing a perfect silence in
their march towards a point opposite Phips's farm, where [boats ?] were
in waiting that eonvey'd 'em over. The men appointed to alarm the
country upon such occasions got over by stealth as early as they
[could] and took their different routs. The first advice we had was
about eight o'clock in the morning, when it was reported that the
troops had fir'd upon and killed five men in Lexinton — previous to
which an oificer came express to his Excellency Governor Gage,
when between eight and nine o'clock a brigade march'd out under
the command of Earl Piercy, consisting of the Marines, the Welch
fusileers, tlie 4th Regiment, the 47th, and two field pieces. About
twelve o'clock it was gave out by the General's Aide camps that no
person was kill'd, and that a single gun had not been fir'd, which report
was variously beleiv'd — but between one and two certain accounts
came that eight were kill'd outright and fourteen wounded of the
inhabitants of Lexinton — who had about forty men drawn out early
in the morning near the meeting house to exercise. The party of the
Light Infantry and Grenadiers, to the number of about eight hundred,
came up to them and order'd them to disperse. The commander of
'em reply'd that they were only innocently amusing themselves with
exercise, that they had not any amunition with 'em, and therefore
should not molest or disturb them, which answer not satisfying, the
troops fir'd upon and kill'd three or four, the other took to their heels
and the troops continued to fire. A few took refuge in the meeting,
when the soldiers shov'd up the Windows and pointed their Guns in
and kill'd three there. Thus much is best account I can learn of the
beginning of this fatal day.

You must naturally suppose that such a piece would rouse the coun-
try (allow'd the report to be true). The troops continued their march
to Concord, enter'd the town, and refresh'd themselves in the meeting
and town house. In the latter place they found some ammunition and
stores belonging to the country, which they found they could not bring
away by reason that the country people had occupied all the posts
around 'em. They therefore set fire to the house, which the people
extinguish'd. They set fire a second time, which brought on a general
engagement at about eleven o'clock. The troops took two pieces [of]
cannon from the peasants, but their numbers increasing they soon
regaiu'd 'em, and the troops were oblig'd to retreat towards town.

1865.] LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. 405

About noon they were join'd by tlie other brigade under Earl Piercy,
when another very warm engagement came on at Lesinton, which the
troops could not stand ; therefore were oblig'd to continue their retreat,
which they did with the bravery becoming british soldiers — but tlie
country were in a manner desperate, not regarding their cannon [any
more] in the least, and follow'd 'em till seven in the evening, by which
time they got into Charlestown, when they left off the pursuit, least
they might injure the inhabitants. I stood upon the hills in town and
saw the engagement very plain. It was very bloody for seven hours.
Its conjectur'd that one half the soldiers at least are kill'd. The last
brigade was sent over the ferry in the evening to secure their retreat
— where they are this morning entrenching themselves upon Bunker's
hill [to] get a safe retreat to this town. Its impossible to learn any
particulars, as the communication between town and country is at
present broke off. They were till ten o'clock last night bringing over
their wounded, several of which are since [dead], two officers in par-
ticular. When I reflect and consider that the fight was between those,
whose parents but a few generations ago were brothers, I shudder at
the thought, and there's no knowing where our calamities will end.

April 2ith. Yesterday, though Sunday, we had town meetings all
day, and finally concluded to deliver up all our Arms to the Selectmen,
on condition that tlie Governor would open the avenues to the town,
which is to be comply'd with tomorrow, when if I can escape with the
skin of my teeth, shall be glad, as I don't expect to be able to take
more than a change of apparell with me, as Sam. and his wife with
myself and Ruthy intend for Nova Scotia.

And as I see no prospect of ever getting the money of Captain
Hamilton or of Mr. Prideaux, have thought best, as this is the last
safe conveyance, and as I don't know who intends staying here that I
could leave 'em with, to enclose them to you by Mr. Breck, who sets
out for your place with his family as soon as he is at liberty to leave
this distress'd town. I don't doubt, Bill., but you will sympathize with
us, as I can safely say, I never knew that my nature was capable of
enduring such poignant distress as at present, more on your sister's
account than my own, as if we are not gone soon I fear she will go
distracted. Be it as it will, Bill., I expect to become a beggar ere
long, as our own countrymen have not compassion, but persist in
threatening the town with storming it, which pray God avert before I
depart.

May 6th. You'll observe by this that I'm yet in Boston, and here

406 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLY,

like to remain. Tliree of us charter'd a vessel a fortnight since to
convey us to Halifax, as Sam don't think your city safe by any means,
but the absolute refusal of the Governor to suffer any merchandize to
be carried out of the town, has determin'd me to stay and take care
of my effects, together with the perswasion of Sam. and his wife and
Euthy — the latter being perfectly willing and desirous of going with-
out me, as her peace of mind depends entirely upon her leaving the
town : in consequence of which, have acquiesc'd, but am affraid it will
be a long time before I shall see her again, if ever. Near half the
inhabitants have left the town already, and another quarter, at least,
have been waiting for a week past, with earnest expectation of geting
papers, which have been dealt out very sparingly of late, not above
two or three procur'd of a day, and those with the greatest difficulty.
Its a fortnight yesterday since the communication between the town
and country was stop'd. Of consequence our eyes have not been
bless'd with either vegetables or fresh provisions, how long we shall
continue in this wretched state — God only knows — but that no more
blood may be shed is the earnest wish and prayer of your affectionate
friend.

P. S. I expect to bid farewell to Sam. and his wife and Euthy,
tomorrow or Sunday, but I hope not an eternal farewell. You can
have no conception. Bill., of the distresses the people in general are
involv'd in. You'll see parents that are lucky enough to procure
papere, with bundles in one hand and a string of children in the other,
wandering out of the town (with only a srifferarice of one day's permis-
sion) not knowing whither they'll go. Such, BiU., are but feint
emblems of the distresses that seem to threaten us, which I hope the
Almighty God, in his infinite wisdom, will avert. Your uncle Joe has
engag'd a passage for London, at the expence of one hundred Guineas
for himself and wife, to expedite her sailing without waiting for freight.
Balch, brother Joe and his wife, Jno. Amory, &ca., &ca., go in her.
Your uncle and aunt are very desirous for us, but my finances wont, at
present, admit of it, as my whole interest, saving outstanding debts, is
in town and cant be remov'd. If the lines should be attack'd, as some
are apprehensive of, farewell to life and property. — You must know,
that no person who leaves the town is allow'd to return again, and this
morning an order from the Governor has put a stop to any more
papers at any rate, not even to admit those to go who have procur'd
'em already.

June 1st. Its possible Samuel may have wrote you from the coun-

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 407

try, where he is wandering I know not where, with his wife and
Ruthy, having quitted the vessell at Marblehead upon hearing that the
same spirit prevail'd there as in the other colonies, together with find-
ing it disagreable to the Congress that people should emigrate there,
though previous to that it was determin'd for his wife and Ruthy to
leave her, as they had been three days beating in the' bay and became
so intolerable sick, that no perswasions could prevail on them to pro-
ceed the voyage. Ruthy writes me in the utmost distress, and says
her sister must inevitably have died. You must know that we hir'd
the vessel and were ready for sailing near a week before they went,
but after we had had her in pay three weeks, and lay'd out a hundred
Dollars for accommodation, the Admiral bought her for Government
use, but stipulated that she should proceed to Halifax with our passen-
gers, but then we were oblig'd to wait his orders for sailing, he having
appointed a commander and other oflBcers to her with eight men, which
were all to go with our Captain, Mate and hands, and we to victual
here, therefore you must think she was well man'd ; but having out-
stay'd a long spell of fair winds, they'd no sooner sail'd but head winds
came up and oblig'd them to put into harbour as above, where they
concluded to alter their plans, but was oblig'd to leave their provissions
and furniture on board ; the admiral's commander being very willing to
oblige them, by taking 'em out, if it had been in his power, but has
finally carried them with him to Halifax, and what will become of
them there, God only knows ! as a rumour prevails here that they
have forc'd the troops from their posts there and destroy'd all the
stores belonging to the King, in the dock yard, &ca. — that she being
a Government vessell, will no doubt, meet with difficulty. — My honor
oblig'd me to bear the same expences in voyage as though I had gone
myself, therefore you must suppose much money to be flung away to
no purpose, more especially if the furniture and provissions should be
lost, having on board sufficient of every kind to go to housekeeping.
By the last letter I received they seem inclin'd to go to Exeter, but not
determin'd. I wish 'em well fix'd somewhere, to their satisfaction.
When they are, I shall be much easier in my own mind, altho' amidst
continual alarms and frequent battles. It cant but afford satisfaction
to every well wisher to his country to find that providence smiles upon
'every of their undertakings.

If Breck and his wife are with you please to shew 'em this, and
tender my love to tliem all.

Your favor of the 2nd May p. Post, came to hand but a few days

408 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jdlt,

since. You earnestly request my writing you by evtry Post, at which
time you did not consider the embarrassments we are under in town,
and that a letter cannot pass without being liable to the inspection of
both parties, unless by water. I wrote you by Breck, as well as by
Mr. Prince, which letters I presume you have received. If my brother
can get a pass to go out, shall give him this to forward, if possible,
without inspection. Its hard to stay coop'd up here and feed upon salt
provissions, more especially without one's wife. Bill, but at the same
time would not wish to have her here under the present disagreable
circumstances — though I find an absolute necessity to be here myself,
as the soldiery think they have a license to plunder every one's house
and store who leaves the town, of which they have given convincing
proofs already — And the wanton destruction of property at the late
lire, makes the duty, in my mind, more incumbent on me.

We have now and then a carcase otfer'd for sale in the market,
which formerly we would not have pick'd up in the street ; but bad as it
is, it readily sells for eight pence Lawful money per lb., and a quarter
of lamb when it makes its appearance, which is rarely once a week,
sells for a dollar, weighing only three or three and a half pounds. To
such shifts has the necessity of the times drove us ; wood not scarcely
to be got at twenty two shillings a cord. Was it not for a trifBe of
salt provissions that we have, 'twould be impossible for us to live.
Pork and beans one day, and beans and pork another, and fish when
we can catch it. Am necessitated to submit to such living or risque
the little all I have in the world, which consists in my stock of goods
and furniture to the amount of between two and three thousand ster-
ling, as its said without scruple that those who leave the town, forfeit
all the effects they leave behind. Whether they hold it up as only a
means to detain people or not, I cant say — but in regard to slaves
their actions have been consistant with the doctrine, however absurd — '
It has so far avail'd as to influence many to stay, who would otherways
have gone.

April Will. Nothing but a continual round of company has pre-
vented my writing you before this, but one of your liberal principals,
am perswaded, will not only forgive the neglect, but rejoice in our de-
liverance, as well as sympathize with us in all the difficulties we have
gone through. Nor are my anxieties yet at an end. Your favor of'
the iGth ult. by express, concludes Ruthy to be with me before this,
but you undoubtedly will be surpriz'd, that after above three weeks
liberation, I am still witliout her, and all owing to the wikindiiess of

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 409

Sam., who was down a few days after our deliverance, and contrary to
my most sanguine expectations, came without her, nor could I prevail
on him to stay and take care of the extensive charge I had on my
hands, while I went and fetch'd her ; notwithstanding which I was de-
termin'd at all events to go and leave my affairs to chance, but he
urg'd the badness of the roads, the impossibility of a carriage's passing,
the uncertainty as to the designs of the fleet, the melancholly appear-
ance of the town, &ca., all which I esteem'd as mere trifles and of no
consequence, but finally to answer his own purposes, and keep her as
company for his wife, whom he dont intend to bring to town for a
month or two, he promis'd me if I would make myself easy, I might
depend on his bringing her the next monday, or tuesday at farthest,
but now its a fortnight since, and all the satisfaction I've had, is a
letter or two from him, amusing me with his intentions of coming at
this and that time, when its now out of my power to go myself, as I
understand a warrant is issued to seize the remaining furniture of your
uncle Joe's, which I must be upon the spot to prevent, if possible. I
suppose I shall make myself Enemies by it, but I'll do my duty at all
events.

I should have set out for Haverhill the day after the troops evac-
uated the town, had not the small pox prevented my lad from coming
in, which ditficultie still continues. By the earnest perswasion of
your uncle's friends and with the advice of the select men, I mov'd into
his house, at the time the troops &ca., were preparing for embark-
ation, under every difficulty you can conceive at such a time, as every
day presented us with new scenes of the wantonness and destruction
made by the soldiers. I had the care of six houses with their furni-
ture and as many stores fiU'd with effects for eleven months past, and
at a time like this I underwent more fatigue and perplexity than I did
through the whole siege ; for I was oblig'd to take my rounds all day,
without any cessation, and scarce ever fail'd of finding depredations
made upon some one or other of them, that I was finally necessitated
to procure men at the extravagant rate of two doUai-s a day to sleep
in the several houses and stores for a fortnight before the military
plunderers went off — for as sure as they were left alone one night, so
sure they were plunder'd. Poor Ben. in addition to his other misfor-
tunes suffer'd in this ; the fellow who took charge of his house neg-
lected to sleep there the third night, being affrighted, the consequence
was, a party of soldiers got in, went into his cellar, took liquors from
thence and had a revelling frolick in his parlour, carried off and de-
52

410 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLT,

stroy'd of his furniture, &ca., to the value of two hundred sterling —
which was not to be nam'd with what fifty other houses suffer'd, or I
may say a hundred.

I was oblig'd to pay at the rate of a dollar an hour for hands to
assist me in moving ; such was the demand for laborers, that they were
taken from me, even at that, by the tories who bid over me, for the
sake of carrying away other people's effects, wherever they could come
at them, which so retarded my moving that I was oblig'd to leave my
kitchen furniture in the house I left — consequently it was broke
open and rumraag'd, and with all my crockery ware carried oiF. Wat
has strip'd your uncle's house of every thing he could conveniently
carry off, which had I have known that had been his intention I would
by no means have consented to go into it, but as I had mov'd most of
my heavy things while he was preparing to go, it was too late for me
to get off", when I discover'd it. Your uncle Jerry was almost frantic
about it, and said he should write bis brother and acquaint him that I
was knowing to it, and yet permitted him to do it ; little thinking that
it was not in my power to prevent his carrying off' every thing, if he was
dispos'd to do it, as I only took charge of the house as his (Wat's)
substitute. He has left all tl)e looking glasses and window curtains,
with some tables and most of the chairs ; only two bedsteds and one
bed, without any bedding or sheets, or even a rag of linnen of any
kind. Some of the china and principal part of the pewter is the sum
of what he has left, save the Library, which was pack'd up corded
to ship, but your uncle Jerry and Mr. Austin went to him and abso-
lutely forbid it, on his peril. He treated them in a very rough, cavalier
way ; told them they had no right to interfere with his business ; he
should do as he pleas'd, and would not hear what they had to say.
Upon the whole, I dont know but what it would have been as well if he
had taken them, seeing matters are going to be carried with so high
a hand. For my further comfort, I have Boston upon my hands, with a
confirmed consumption upon him, whom I had not the least thought of
being troubled with, as he was in the service of Major Smelt of the
47th and had embark'd with him, but was sent on shore again, on
account of his sickness.

I am well in health, thank God, and have been so the whole of the
time, but have liv'd at the rate of six or seven hundred sterling a
year — for I was determin'd to eat fresh provissions, while it was to be
got, let it cost what it would ; that since October I have scarce eat
three meals of salt meat, but supply'd my family with fresh at the

1865.] LETTERS OF JOHN ANDREWS. 411

rate of one shilling to one shilling and sixpence sterling the pound.
"What wood was to be got, was oblig'd to give at the rate of twenty
dollars a cord, and coals, though government had a plenty, I could not
procure (not being an addressor or an associator) though I offer'd so
high as fifty dollars for a chaldron, and that at a season, when Nabby
and John, the only help I had, were under inoculation for the small
pox, that if you'll believe me, Bill, I was necessitated to burn horse
dung. Many were the instances of the inhabitants being confin'd to
the Provost for purchasing fuel of the Soldiers, when no other means
offer'd to keep them from perishing with cold — Yet such was the
inhumanity of our masters, that they were even deny'd the priviledge
of buying the surplusage of the soldier's rations. Though you may
think we had plenty of cheese and porter, yet we were oblig'd to give
from fifteen pence to two shillings a pound for all we eat of the former,
and a loaf of bread of the size we formerly gave three pence for,
thought ourselves well off to get for a shilling. Butter at two shil-
lings. Milk, for months without tasting any. Potatoes, from nine
shillings to ten shillings and sixpence [a] bushel, and every thing else in
the same strain. Notwithstanding which, Bill, I can safely say that I
never sutfer'd the least depression of spirits, other than on account of
not having heard from Ruthy, in one season, for near five months —
for a perswasion, that my country would eventually prevail, kept up
my spirits, and never suffer'd my hopes to fail.

Do tender my best regards to Colonel Miffling and Lady, and tell
him that I have this day got the apples he was kind enough to order to
be sent me. They have been laying for ten days past in a remote part
of the town and I not made acquainted with it till last evening, whereby
they are chiefly carried off, and most of the remaining ones rotten.
Am much oblig'd to him, notwithstanding, as the state they are in by
no means lessens the merit of the donor. Tell him farther that my
wishes are answer'd. The brave Captain Manly has taken the Brig
that contained that cursed villain, Crean Brush, with great part of the
plunder he rob'd the stores of here, that I immagine she must be
the richest vessell in the fleet. The brave General Warren is to
be interr'd this afternoon with all the honors his great merit deserves,
an oration is to be deliver'd at the Chaple. Last Tuesday week I had
the honor of General Washington with his lady. General Gates, Mr.
Custos and Lady, with Aid de Camps, &ca., to dine with me, with no
earlier notice than half past eleven the same day. So good an oppor-
tunity as by Mr. Hammatt (who comes your way to fetch home Breck's

412 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

little daughter) I thought I would not omit, but I find I have been so
prolix, that I believe you'll be tired before you'll half peruse it, must
request you'd not let any body see it, as I wrote it in the greatest
hurry, and with continual interruptions.*

* The following is a copy of Mr. Barrell's reply to this letter of April 11th, 1776,
from Mr. Andrews. By its date, we can form an estimate of the time then consumed in
travel between Boston and Philadelphia: —

" Philadelphia, May the 1st, 1776.

" Dear Jack, — Congratulations, sincere congratulations, my dear Lad, on the
happy change of your situation. After twelve months separation from one's dearest
connections and friends, shut up in a besieged town, garrisoned by one's worst enemies,
disappointed, mortified, and exasperated with their disgraceful situation, suffering in
addition to the natural distresses of a besieged, numerous and streightened garrison,
the insulting taunts and merciless cruelties of inraged Tyrants, to have a free commu-
nication at once set open for the tender and indearing embraces of husbands and wives,
parents and children, brothers and sisters, and friends of every degi-ee and denomina-
tion, must present a scene that beggars all description. The lordly tyrants of yesterday,
confiding in their strong holds, spreading destruction and plunder through a distressed,
defenceless city, this day quitting their dependances in haste and confusion, carrying
with them the distresses of a long and severe seage to the still greater distresses of a
boisterous voyage, while our friends are mounting their deserted ramparts, and bringing
with them joy and peace, refreshment and plenty — such a change merits the highest
congratulations, and demands the. warmest returns of gratitude to the alone Author of
Bliss and Peace. The complaining parts of your letter by Mr. Hamet is set to rights
by a letter from Sam. dated six days after. The greatest allowances are to be made for
your circumstances, and I believe so situated I should have acted with less prudence than
you have done. Yet I think a more ftivorable cause might have been assigned why
Euthe was so long detained from you. I will not pretend to acquit or condemn Sam. in
this matter, as I am ignorant of the cause, but this I must say, very weighty reasons
alone can justifie it; as you are convinced of his innocence, you are satisfied with the
reasons, and consequently every disagreeable reflection has vanished. May your present
happy union be no more interrupted, but your future days be crowned with such happy
circumstances as to remind you of your past troubles but with pleasure. I am not much
surprised at Wat's conduct. It seems passive obedience and non resistance are incom-
patible with honor, gratitude and Justice. I applaud your conduct in sp.aring no
cost to make yourself and dependants as comfortable as your situation could be
made, and rejoice with you in the preservation of your health and spirits. Had your
persuasions have been impressed on the minds of some others, it would have saved the
just confusion that has overtaken many, and which I trust in God will be the fate of
every eoemie to his country. Colonel Mifiin being at New York, puts it out of my
power to comply with your request respecting him at present. I am glad you were
honored with the General's company, &ca. Major Palfrey, who is promoted to the
office of Paymaster General, and left this town yesterday, has given me an account of
that visit. I wish Ruthe could have been with you to do the honors of your table on
the occasion. My love to Ruthe, with a suitable remembrance to all friends, concludes,
my dear Jack, Your very affectionate friend and brother."

The following extract from a letter of Mr. Barrell's to Hayley and Hopkins, London
(March 25th, 1773), may possess some interest, as showing the character of his literary
taste in the list of books he orders them to send him: —

" You will oblige me much by procuring the undermention'd books of the best

1865.] PAPERS OP SIR JOHN ELIOT. 413

A proper acknowledgment was directed to be made
for this valuable gift.

A parcel of original letters was presented by Mr.
John F. Eliot of Boston, a son of one of the early mem-
bers of the Society, and a nephew of another member.

The President made the following communication : —

It may not perhaps be forgotten, that, at the October meet-
ing of last year, I mentioned, that, in reading the recent
admirable biography of the great English patriot. Sir John
Eliot, I had found an allusion to a paper on the subject of
New-England Colonization, which had been discovered among
the unpublished manuscripts from which that biography had
been prepared, and which had been the subject of a corres-
pondence between Eliot and the celebrated John Hampden.
I mentioned, also, that the Earl of St. Germans, the lineal
descendant of Eliot, had responded in the kindest manner to
my application for a copy of this paper, with a view to its
publication by this Society. A copy was accordingly pre-
pared, under the supervision of John Forster, Esq., the ac-
complished author of the biography ; and I have now the
satisfaction of presenting it to the Society in the name of
Lord St. Germans.

The Society, I am sure, will share in my surprise at finding
that this paper, found among Sir John Eliot's manuscripts in

editions, a good Tipe, on good paper, neatly bound, gilt and letter'd, which you will
please forward with my Fall Goods. . . .

A neat edition of Churchil's Works, small octavo.

A ditto of Stern's Works, Compleat, ditto.

A ditto of Roderick Random, ditto.

A ditto of Peregrine Pickle, ditto.

A ditto of Telemachus, ditto.

A ditto of Gil Bias, ditto.

A ditto of Mrs. Maoauly's History of England, large octavo.

A ditto of Hutchinson's History of New England, ditto.

A ditto of Johnson's Dictionary, 2 vols, letter'd, ditto.

A new ditto of the New Testament, not divided in chapters and verses, ditto, and
five setts of the newest and most approved Novels, including the Vioker of Wakefield,
and such like."

414 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. • [JuLY,

his own handwriting, has proved to be no other than the Con-
siderations or Conclusions on the subject of colonizing Massa-
chusetts which were printed many years ago by Governor
Hutchinson in his Collection of Original Papers; and which
have recently been published in a more extended form in the
" Life and Letters of John Winthrop," with the reasons for
ascribing their authorship to him. In this latter connection
it was stated that copies of this paper were undoubtedly sent
to leading friends of the New-England enterprise, for exam-
ination and approval; and the reply of Robert Rj^ece, the
Suffolk antiquary, to Governor Winthrop, was given in evi-
dence of this fact. The memorable letter of John Winthrop,
jr., to his father, on the subject of these Conclusions, clearly
implies, too, that they had been considered and approved by
others. It would now seem that they must have been sub-
mitted to Sir John Eliot, among others; and that he prepared
a copy of them with his own hand, while a prisoner in the
Tower, to be transmitted to his illustrious friend Hampden.
The very paper, of which this is a copy, is indorsed by Eliot,
" The project for New England, ffor Mr. Hampden." And Mr.
Forster has kindly sent us a fac-simile of an original letter
from John Hampden, dated December 8 (1629), in which
Hampden requests Eliot to have the paper sent to him. This
was not many weeks after the date of the letter of John
Winthrop, jr., to his father, which has just been referred to ;
and it is thus plainly proved that Hampden and Eliot must
have been among those who entered into the counsels of our
Massachusetts fathers, and perhaps among those " wise wor-
thies of Israel " to whom the younger Winthrop referred.

We have now four independent copies of these Considera-
tions and Conclusions: — ■

1. The copy printed by Hutchinson among the Higginson
Papers.

2. The copy from Governor Winthrop's manuscripts, printed
in the '"Life and Letters of John Winthrop."

1865.]

PAPERS OF SIR JOHN ELIOT. 415

3. A copy which I obtained some years since from the State
Paper Office in London, indorsed, " White of Dorchester, his
instructions for the plantation of New England," and which I
now present to this Society.

And, 4. The copy sent to us by the Earl of St. Germans,
from the papers of Sir John Eliot.

They all differ more or less from each other, not only in
spelling, but in substance. But all had evidently a common
original ; and the rough drafts found among Governor Win-
throp's papers leave little room for doubt that the original was
prepared by him. That the copy which was transcribed by
Sir John Eliot came directly or indirectly from Winthrop,
would seem to be put beyond a question by the fact that it
includes the " Particular Consideracons of J. W.," being
Winthrop's private memorandum of the views which were
applicable to himself personally. This copy, however, con-
tains a preamble which has not been found among Winthrop's
papers, and which may, perhaps, have come from Eliot's own
hand.

Mr. Forster, whose opinion on such a point would every-
where be regarded as of the highest authority, does not
hesitate to ascribe the principal authorship to Winthrop. In
his first note to me on the subject, dated 18th December,
1865, he says: —

The time when Eliot and Hampden were conferring on the " Project
for New England," thus exactly corresponds with the date of young
"Winthrop's letter to his father ; and the " Conclusions " — which had
been placed before him in August, 1629 — formed, doubtless, part of the
rough draft of the paper which Eliot sent in a more complete form to
Hampden, in his own handwriting, in December, 1629. I can hardly
doubt that whatever additions or amendments it may have received in
transcription, as it passed from hand to hand, the substance of this (as
of the other papers which constitute the various Reasons, Considera-
tions, and Conclusions), had been derived in the first instance from
Winthrop himself. At the same time it would hardly present itself

416 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. , [JuLY,

wholly in Sir John's handwriting, as it does, if he had not himself taken
some part in its production as we now see it ; and the tone of the
communication between him and Hampden goes far to imply this.
The questions raised by this curious discovery are indeed full of strik-
ing interest.

You wdll, of course, have observed that Eliot's paper contains, as
portion of itself, both the " General Conclusions " and " Particular
Considerations," which in the Winthrop Papers appear to exist in
separate " Tractes ; " and in the curious differences between the Italic
headings at page 326 of your volume and the same headings in Eliot's
paper — as well as in those passages where " motives" are dealt with,
which are only in Eliot's copy — we may probably find ultimately some
clue to further discovery. At present I can offer, as you see, little or
no help ; but I am not without hope of what a closer examination of
the papers may bring. Were the matter even to end here, however,
resting where it does, there is a new and striking interest contributed
to a transaction which more largely than any other in history has
affected the destinies of the human race.

In a subsequent note, dated 3d May, 1865, after a full ex-
amination, Mr. Porster says : —

Upon the question of the authorship of both the " Considerations "
and '■ Conclusions," I am satisfied, after the most careful inquiry I have
been able to give it, that the presumed authorship of both — whatever
subsequent touches in way of amendment or addition either may have
received from the Whites, Hampdens, Eliots, or Higginsons, with whom
consultation was held — must be taken to rest with the Winthrops.

If this paper, so kindly furnished us by Lord St. Germans,
and the one from the State Paper Office, shall now be printed
in our volume of Proceedings, as I trust they will be, all four
of the independent copies will have been published, and op-
portunity will be given for a careful comparison of them.

In the mean time, I would propose that the grateful ac-
knowledgments of the Society be communicated to the Earl
of St. Germans, and to our Corresponding Member, John
Forster, Esq., for their kindness in transmitting to us the
copy of this most interesting paper from the manuscripts of
Sir John Eliot, which has so directly connected the coloniza-

1865.] PAPERS OF SIR JOHN ELIOT. 417

tion of Massachusetts with two of the most illustrious names
in the history of English liberty.

Voted, That the President be requested to communi-
cate the thanks of the Society to the Earl of St. Ger-
mans, and to John Forster, Esq., for the valuable and
interesting papers which have just been laid before the
Society.

PAPERS OP SIR JOHN ELIOT.

[This manuscript is a literal transcript of a paper at Port Eliot in Sir John Eliot's
handwriting, and endorsed by him " The Project for New England, for Mr Hampden."
It is the same to which reference is made in Mr. Forster's Biography of Eliot, ii. 532;
and which, in the fac-simile of Hampden's letter to Eliot sent with it, is called " y
.. paper of considerations concerning the Plantation." J. F.]

The grounds of settling a plantation in new England.

First, The ppagacon of the gospell to the Indians. Wherein first
the importance of the worke tendinge to the inlargment of the King-
dome of Jesus Christ & winning them out of the snare of the Divell
& converting others of them by their meanes.

Secondly, The possibility of attaineing it, God havelnge by his word
manifested his will for the spreadinge of the Gospell to all Nations, and
intercourse of Trade haveinge openned a passage, & made a waie for
comerce w* the East & "West Indies and divers platacons of the Dutch
& English being settled in sev'all parts of those countryes & the ill
condicons of the tymes being likely to furnish those plantacons w""
better members then usually have undertaken that worke in former
tymes.

1. The Consideracon of our owne Condicon like
unto theires in tymes past.
The advantages and benefitts wee may receive
from those pa"' challenCTinge the rendringe

~, . J, , ^. / of spirituall things for their Temporall.

Thirdly for motives ( „ ^, ^.„. „ , ^^ . .

^ ^ The Dilligence of the Papists in ppagatinge

their Keligion and supsticon & enlarginge

the kingdome of Antichrist thereby w'" all

the manifest hazards of their psons & depe

engagem'.' of their estates.

418 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLY,

2 Ground. Charitie to our neighbo? impoverished by decay of Trade
and lefte destitute of hope of imployment in tyme to come, who may
comforttably be sustayned by their labo? & endeavo? in this Country
yeUding them sufficient matter of imployment & meanes of recom-
pence, as, corne both of o' kindes w'."" prosper well in those pa".' & of
the country w".'' is farr better for use then o? & maye be sett yearly
after our graines are sowne, & consequently w^out hinderance of our
ordinary course of husbandrie.

' Fishes, Sturgion, Salmon, Mullett, Bas, Codd,
I Lobsters, Eeles.

XFowle, as, Turkie, Feasant, Partridg, Goose,

2'">' infinite varietie / Duck, Teal, and Deare, w'."" if the were p'served

& store of \from the spoyle of Wolves (w".'' is not impossible

/ would soone abound there more, then sheep in

I this Kingdome, the Does bringinge after the first

\ 2 fawnes att a birth att least.

3'"^ The possibility of Breedinge of Kine w* growe to a farr

greater bulke of body in that country then w* us, in this Kingdome,

secondly, of Goates w°.'' may easily be Transported w"" small charge.

3"^}^ Swine w^" breed in great numb? by reason of the abundanrfawce

of Acornes growndnutts, 4'^ Wall-nutts, & clummes, 4':' Trade of

Furres which may be Brought out of that Continent to the valew

of 30000" p ann at least besides moose & Deare skinnes, feathers &c.,

5^7 fishing a knowen & staple Commoditie. 6'?' possibilitie of makeinge

Salt, the Country lieinge in equall height w'" Biskie. 7'.^ plantinge of

vines.

8'r makeinge pitch, Tarr, Pottashes & sope ashes.
9'r Cuttinge of masts.

10'? makeing of L'on, what other mines there are we know nott.
ll'r some woods fitt for dying, others for Phisicall uses, as, Sarza-
perilla Sassafras &c.

12. Silke grasse.

13. hemp & flax for w°? the soyle is very fitt.

3 Ground. The Danger & extremities of the p'sent estate of the
Churches both in forraigne p'? &c.

The meanes of effecting this worke.
First The Eaysinge of a sufficient stocke to the valew of 10000" by
the adventurers of such voluntary psons as God shalbe pleased for the
former weightie ends to move to the forwardinge of y° worke wherew""

1865.] PAPERS OF SIR JOHN ELIOT. 419

might be transported 200 Carpenters, Masons, Smithes, Coopers,
Turners, Brickbunrners, Potters, Husbandmen, Fowlers, Vingnerons,
Saltmakers fishermen and other /• by whose labours in 3 yeares space
laborers, 100 IQne & Bulls, 25 ^ may be pvided at least for a thou-
Horse & Mares. j sand psons dwellings & meane of

^ lively hood besides.
2 or 3000" stocke wiU remaine of 10000" for Trade.

Secondly The Free adventures of pticular psons of whom many
wilbe readie to ingage their psons and estates for furtheringe this de-
signe.

Some generall conclusions showing that a ^son imployed heer in piib-
licke service may yett he transplanted for the ^pagation of the Gospell
in N. E.

1. It is granted by all that this intended plantacon is a worke both
lawfull & honorable.

2. It must be advanced by psons guifted for such a worke.

3. Every one that is fitt hath nott a minde to the worke & noe bond
of conscience cann ordinarilie be imposed uppon him that hath noe de-
sire to itt.

4. The service of raysinge or upholdinge a pticular church is to be
p'ferred before the Comfort of some pte of a Church alreadie estab-
lished.

5. The membV of that Church maie in tyme be of better use to
their mother churbh heer, then those whome she shall kepe still in her
owne bosorae. When the woman in the Rev. 12 was psecuted by the
Dragon, & forced to flie into the wildernes her sonne was taken upp
into heaven (when it might seeme shee had greatest need of him)
to be reserved there for future service.

6. The exercise of an office of lesse consequence for God & for his
Church (whereinto any is put by ordinary calling) maie be lefte uppon
the like call to some other office of greater consequence especially
where there followes noe violacon of the rule of righteousnes & that
the difference is such beteweene the execution of an ordinary place of
Magistry in this land & the supportacon of this plantation is easy to be

7. It may be instanced in divers psons both magistrates and Minin-
ist™ who (sometimes for private respects) have forsaken the place
where the have been setled. to good use, & their changes aproved &
blessed.

420 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLT,

8. The takeing off a Scandall from a whole Church & Religion it
self is to be p'ferred before the good of any ptieular Church, it is a
reproach to our Religion that when we professe an Intention of Con-
vertinge those Indians we send nott psons meett for such a worke but
such only as wee cann well spare & most Coinonly those that are a bur-
den to our selves, while the Papists out of a false zeale to draw them to
their supsticon sticke not to imploy their most able and usefuU instru-
ments.

9. Our approved practise in matters of like Nature must be a rule
in this, in all Forraigne expedicons wee imploy of our best statesmen
& wee grudge not to want their service heer (though never soe useful^
while the are in such imploym! for the good of the Churches.

Perticular Consideracons in the case of J. W.

First It is com to that issue as the successe of the plantation de-
pends uppon his goeing for the chiefe supporters (uppon whom the
rest depends) will not stirr w"'out him.

2'?" His meanes heer are soe shortened (now 3. of his sonnes being
com to age have drawen awaie the one half of his estate) as he shall
not be able to continue in that place & imployment where he now is,
his ordinary charg being still as great almost as when his meanes was
double.

3''.'>' He acknovvledgeth a satisfactory callinge outward from some of
the cheife of the plantacon inward by the inclination of his owne hart
to the worke & both approved by godly & juditious divines (whereof
some have the most interest in him) & there is in this the like imme-
diate call from the Kinge, as was to his former imployment.

4'?' If he lett pass this opportunitie. That talent w""? God hath be-
stowed uppon him for publicke service is like to be buried.

5. His wife & such of his Children as are at yeares and discretion
are voluntarily disposed to the same course.

Reasons to he considered for Justifieinge the undertakers of the intended

plantacon in New England S^ for encouraging such whose harts God

shall move to Joyne w" them in it.

First, It wilbe a service to the Church of great consequence to carry
the Gospell into those p" of the world, to help on the cominge in of
fulnesse of the Gentiles and to rayse a Bulworke against the kingdome
of Antichrist, w"!" the Jesuites labour to rear up in those parts.

2. All other Churches of Europe are brought to desolacon and o'

1865.] PAPERS OF SIR JOHN ELIOT. 421

sinnes for w'." the lord beginns already to frowne uppo us, doe threaten
us fearfully, & who knowes but that god hath provided this place to be
a refuge for many whom he meanes to save out of the generall callam-
itie, and seeinge the Church hath no place lefte to flie into but the
wildernesse what better worke cana tliere be, then to goe before &
provide Tabernacles, and food for her, ajjainst she cometh thither.

3. This land growes weary of her Inhabitants, soe as man whoe is
y" most pretious of all creatures is heer more vile & base then the
Earth we Tread uppon, & of lesse price among us, then a horse or a
sheep, masters are forced by authoritie to entertaine servants, parents
to maintaine their owne children, All Townes complaine of the burthen
of their poore though we have taken up many unnessessary, yea un-
lawfull trades to mainteaine them, And we use the authoritie of
the law to hinder the increase of people as urging the execueon of the
State against Cottages & Inmates & thus it is come to passe that Chil-
di-en, servants & neighbo? (especially if the be poore) are counted the
greatest' burthen wl'' if things were right it would be the' cheifest
earthly blessinge.

4. The whole earth is the lords Garden & he hath given it to the
sonnes of men, w'.*" a generall Condicon, Gen : 1. 28. Increase & mul-
tiply, replenish the earth & subdue it, w'^.'' was againe renewed to
Noah, the end is Double morall & naturall that man might injoy the
fruites of the earth & god might have his due glory from the creature,
why then should we stand hear striveing for places of habitation,
(many men spending as much labo' & cost to recover or keep som-
tymes a Acre or two of land as would pcure them many hundred as
good or better in an other country) and in ye mean tyme suifer a
whole Continent, as fruitfull & convenient for the use of man to lie
waste w'^out any improvement.

5. We are growne to that height of intemperance in all excesse
of riot, as noe mans estate almost will suffice to keep saile w'? his
equalls, & he who failes herein must live in scorne & contempt, hence
it comes that all arts & trades are carried in that deceiptfull & unright-
eous course, as it is almost impossible for a good & upright man to
maintaine his charge and live comfortably in any of them.

6. The fountaines of learning & religion are soe corrupted (as beside
the unsupportable charge of the educacon) most Children (even the best
witts & fairest hopes) are p verted corrupted and utterly overthrowen,
by the multitude of evill examples and the licentious gov'm' of those
Seminaries, where men straine at Gnats, & swallow Camells, use all

422 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

[July,

severity for maintenance of cappes, & other accomplements but suffer
all Rulfian-like fashion & disorder in manners to passe uncontrowled.

7. What cann be a better worke & more bono'':"'' & worthy a Chris-
tian then to help rayse & support a pticular church while it is in the
infancy, & to Joyne bis forces w* such a company of faithfuU people
as by a tymely assistance may growe stronge and prosper, and for want
of it may be put to great hazard, if not wholely ruined.

8. If any such whoe are knowen to be godly, & live in wealth and
prosperity here shall forsake all this to joyne themselves to this church
& to runn a hazard w"' them of a hard & meane condicon it wilbe an
example of great use both for removeing the scandall of wordly &
sinister respects w""" is cast uppon the adventurers to give more life to
the faith of Gods people in their prayers for the plantacon & to en-
courage other to joyne the more willingly in it.

9. It appeares to be a worke of god, for the good of his church in that
he hath disposed the harts of soe many of his wise & faithfull ser-
vants (bo'th ministers & others) not only to approve of the enterprise
but to interest themselves in it, som in their psons & estates, others
by, their serious advise & helpe otherwise : And all by their prayers
for the welfare of it, Amos 3. The lord revealeth his Secretts to his
servants the Prophets, it is likely he hath some great worke in hand
w"'' he hath revealed to his prophets among us, whom he hath stirred
upp to encourage his servants to this plantation for he doth not use to
seduce his people by his owne Prophets, but comitts that office to the
ministery of false prophets and lyinge spirits.

Divers objections w'^ have been made affainst this plantacon w"' their
and resolucons.

Ob : 1 : "We have noe warrant to enter uppon that land w'." hath
been soe long possessed by others.

Aiisw : 1 : That w""" lies comon & hath never been replenished or
subdued is free to any that will possesse and improve it, for god hath
given to the sonnes of men a double right to the earth, there is a natu-
rall right & a Civill right the first right was uaturall when men held
the earth in common every man soweing, and feeding where he pleased :
and then as men and the cattle increased they appropriated certaine
pcells of ground by enclosing, and peculier manurance, and this in tyme
gave them a Civill right, such was the right w* Ephron the Hittite
had in the feild of Mackpelah wherein Abraham could not bury a dead
corps w"'out leave, though for the out parts of the Country w"? lay com-

1S65.] PAPERS OF SIR JOHN ELIOT. 423

mon he dwelt uppon them, & tooke the fruit of them att his pleasure,
the like did Jacob w"'' fedd his cattle as bold in Hamors land (for he is
sayd to be the lord of the Country) and other places where he came as
j° native inhabitants themselves & that in those times & places men
acooumpted nothing their owne but that w')" they had appropriated by
their owne industry, appeares plainly by tliis that Abimelecks servants
in their owne Countrey when they oft contended w"" Isaacks servants
about wells w""" they hadd digged yett never strove for the land wherein
they were, Soe likewise between Jacob & Laban he would not take a
kidd of Labans w"'out his speciall contract, but he makes noe bargaine
w"' him for the land where they feed, and it is very pbable if the
countrey had not been as free for Jacob as for Laban, that covetous
wrecth would have made his advantage of it, & have upbrayded Jacob
w"" it, as he did w* his cattle, And for the Natives in New England
they inclose noe land neither have any setled habitation nor any tame
cattle to improve tlie land by, & soe have noe other but a naturaU right
to those countries Soe as if wee leave them sufficient for their use wee
may lawfully take the rest, there being more then enough for them &
us.

2'^y We shall come in w"" the good leave of the Natives, who finde
benefitt already by our neighbourliood & learne of us to improve pt to
more use, then before they could doe the whole, & by this meanes
wee come in by valuable purchase : for they hav of us that w""" will
yeikl them more benefitt then all the land w"!" wee have from them.

3'"!^ God hath consumed tlie Natives w* a great plague in those
pts soe as there be few in-habitants left.

Ohjec. 2. It wilbe a great wrong to our church to take awaie the
good people & we shall lay it the more open to the judgment feared.

Answ: 1. The departinge of good people from a country doth not
cause a judgment but foreshew it, w""" male occasion such as remaine
to turne from their evill waies that they may prevent it, or to take
some other course that they may escape it.

2'"7 Such as goe away are of noe observation in respects of those
whoe remaine & they are likely to doe more good there then heer, &
since Christ's tyme the church is to be considered as universall w^out
distinction of countries, soe as he who doeth good in any once place,
serves the church in all places in regard of the unitie.

S"*!^ It is the revealed will of god that the gospell should be
preached to all nations, and though we know not whether those Bar-
barians will receive it at first or not, yett it is a good worke to serve

424 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLY,

gods pvidence in offering it to them, & this is fittest to be done by
gods owne servants for god shall have glory by it, though they refuse
it, & there is good hope that the posterity shall by this meanes be gath-
ered into Christ's Sheepfold.

Ob : 3. We have feared a judgment a great while, but yett wee are
safe it were better therefor to stay till it come, & either wee may flie
then or if we be overtaken in it, we may weU content our selves to
suffer w? such a church as ours is.

Answ : It is likely this consideracon made the churches beyond the
seas, as, the Palatinate, Rochell &c. to sitt still at home & not to looke
out for shelter while they might have found it, but the woefuU spectacle
of their ruine, may teach us more wisedome, to avoyd the plage when it
as foreseen, & not to tarry as they did till it overtake us, if they
were now at their former liberty, we might be sure they would take
other courses for their saftie & though half of them had miscarried in
their escape, yett hadd it not be soe miserable to themselves nor scan-
dalous to religion as this desperate bakeslidinge, & abjuringe the truth,
w'*" many of the Antient pfesso? among them, & the whole posteritie
w'^'' remaine, are now plaged into.

Ob : 4. The ill successe of other plantaeons may tell us what wilbe-
come of this.

Answ: 1. None of the former susteyned any great damage, but Vir-
ginia which happened through their owne sloth & securitie.

2. The argum*. is not good, for thus it stands, some plantaeons have
miscarried therefore we should not make any, it consists in pticulars &
soe concludes nothinge, we might as well reason thus, many houses have
been burnt by Kilnes, therefore we should use none, many shipps have
been cast away, therefore we should content our selves w"" our home
commodities, & not adventure mens lives at Sea for those things w"""
wee might live w'^out, some men have been undone by being advanced
to great places therefore we should refuse our p'ferment, &e.

3. The fruite of any publicke designe is not to be discerned by the
imediate successe, it may appear in tyme that former plantaeons were
all to good use.

4. There were great and fundamentall errors in the former w"^"" are
like to be avoyded in this, for first their maine end was Carnall & not
Religious, secondly they used unfitt instruments a multitude of rude &
misgov'ned psons, the very scumme of the people, thirdly they did not
establish a right forme of goverment.

Ob : 5. It is attended w"* many & great difficulties.

1S65.1 PAPERS OP SIR JOHN ELIOT. 425

Answ : Soe is every good accon, the heathen could say Ardua virtu-
tis via. And they way of gods kingdome (The best way in the world)
is accompanied w"" most difficulties. Straight is the gate & narrow is
the way that leadeth to life, againe the difficulties are noe other then
such as many dayly meet w"" and such as god hath brought others well
through them.

01): 6. It is a work above the power of the undertakers.

Answ: 1. The welfare of any body consists not soe much in quan-
tity as in due pportion & disposicon of p"^' & wee see other plantacons
have subsisted divers years & prospered from weake meanes.

2. It is noe wonder for great things may arise from weake contemp-
table beginnings, it hath been oft seen in kingedomes & states & may as
well liold in towns & plantacons. The Waldenses were scartered into
the Alpes & mountaines of Piedmont, by small companies, but they
became famous churches whereof some remaine to this day & it is cer-
taine that the Turkes, Venetians & other states were very weake in
there beginninge.

Ob : 7. The country affiDrds noe naturall fortifications.

Answ : Noe more did Holland & many other places w""" had greater
enemies & nearer at hand & God doth use to place his people in the
middest of perills that they may trust in him and not in outward
means & saftie, soe when he would chuse a place to plant his beloved
people in he seateth them not in an Ileland or other place fortified by
nature, but in a plaine country besett w"* potent and bitter enemies
round about, yett soe long as they served him & trusted in his help
they were safe. Soe the Apostle Paule saith of him self & his fellow
labourers that they were compassed w"" dangers one every side, & were
daily under the sentence of death that they might learne to trust in the
liveinge God.

Ob: 8. The place affordeth noe comfortable meanes to the first
plauto" & our breedinge heer at home have made us unfitt for the hard-
shipp we are like to indure.

Answ : 1. Noe place of it self hath afforded sufficient to the first in-
habitants, such things as we stand in need of are usually supplied by
gods blessing uppon the wisedome & Industrie of man & what soever
wee stand in need of is treasured in the earth, by the Create' & is to be
fetched thence by the sweat of o' Browes.

2. Wee must learne w'? Paule to want, as well as to abound, if we

have food & raiment (w""" are there to be had) we ought to be con-

426 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

tented, the difference in the quallity may a litle displease us but it
cannot hurt us.

3. It may be by this meanes God will bringe us to repent of our
former intemperance, & soe cure us of that disease, w""" sends many
amongst us untimelie to their graves and others to hell, soe he carried
the Israelits into the wildernesse & made them forgett the flesh potts of
Egypt, w'!" was sorie pinch to them att first but he disposed to their
good in th'end. Deutron. 30. 3. 16.

Oh: 9. "We must looke to be p'served by miracle if we subsist & soe
we shall tempt God.

Answ: 1. They who walke under ordinarie meanes of saftie & sup-
plie doe not tempt God, but such will be our condicon in this plantacon
therefore &c. : The pposieon cannot be denied, the assumption we
prove thus, that place is as much secur'd from ordinary dangers, as
many hundred places in the civill p'f of the world, & we shall have as-
much pvision before hand, as such townes doe use to pvide agf a seige
or dearth, & sufficient meanes for raysinge a succeeding store against
that is spent, if it be denied that wee shalbe as secure as other places,
we answeare that many of o' sea Townes, & such as are upon the con-
fines of enemies countries in the continent, lye more upon & neerest
to danger then we shall, & though such townes have somtymes been
burnt or spoyled, yett men tempt not God to dwell still in them, &
though many houses in the country amongst us lye open to theeves &
robbej's (as many have found by sadd experience) yett noe man will say
that those w'"" dwell in such places must be p'served by miracle.

2. Though miracles be now ceased, yett men may expect more then
ordinary blessinge from god uppoo all lawfull meanes, where the worke
is the lords, & he is sought in it accordinge to his will, for it is usuall
w* him to increase or weaken the strength of the meanes as he is
pleased or displeased w"* the instrum'f & the action, else we must con-
clude that god hath left the gov'm' of the world, «& coniitted all power
to the creature, that the successe of all things should wholly depend
upon the second causes.

3. Wee appeale to the jiidment of the Souldiers if 500 men may
not in on moneth rayse a fortiflcacon, w"'' w"' sufficient munition &
victuall they may make good against 3000 for many monethes, & yett
w"'out miracle.

4. We demand an instance if any Prince or state hath raised 3000
souldiers & victualled for or 8 monethes w"" shipping & munition
answeareable to invade a place soe farr distant as this is from any for-

^ ojl;^ ft t/hr' (TT-

t 6^ no ^^^^^fvcig__

1865.] PLANTATION OP NEW ENGLAND. 427

raigne enemy & where they must runn a hazard of repulse & noe bootie
or just title of Sov^aignty to allure them.

Ob: 10. If it succeed ill, it will raise a scandall uppon o' pfessiou.

Answ : It is noe Rule in Philosophy (much lesse in Divinitie) to judg
the aceou by the suceesse, the enterprise of the Israelits against Ben-
jamen succeeded ill twice, yett the accon was good & pspered in the
end. The Earle of Begiers in France & the Earle of Tholouse mis-
carried in the defence of a just cause of Religion & their hereditary
right, against the unjust violence of y° Earle Montford & the Popes
Legate, the Duke of Saxony & the Lantgrave had ill suceesse of the
Gospell against Charles the 5. wherein the Duke & his children lost
their whole inheritance to this day. The King of Denmarke & other
princes of the union had ill suceesse in the defence of the Pallattinate
& the libtie of Germany yett the pfession suffered not w"" their psons,
except it were w"" the adversaries of Religion, & soe it was noe Scan-
dall given.

The following is the letter of John Hampden to Sir
John Eliot, referred to by the President : —

Jolm Hampde7i to Sir John Eliot.

Noble S". I hope. this letter is conveyed to you by so safe a hand
y' yo" will be y° first y' sliall open it, or if not, yet since you inioy as
much as without a contradiction you may y° hberty of a prison it shall
be no offence to wish you may make y" best vse on't. y' God may find
you as much his now you inioy y" benefitt of secondary helpes as you
found hirae yo'* while by deprivation of all others you were cast vpon
his immediate support. This is all I have or ame willing to say, but
y' y" paper of considerations concerning y" plantation might be very
safely conveyed to mee by this hand & after transcribing should be as
safely returned if j'ou vouchsafe to send it mee. I beseech you pre-
sent my service to JVP Valentine M' Long my countryman if with you.
& lett mee be honored w"* y" stile of

yo' faithful friend
& servant.
Hampden, Jo : Hampdex.

Decemb' S"" [1629].

The following is the paper obtained from the State
Paper Office, by the President, and alluded to by him

\(>fim

iftu^, 1 iJ- fi^^ ff^"^ ^'-^ -*? ^^"^ t^'^u^ {^^2^
co^^^^ f '^'^ ^y^^ Wir^-,

^">9n\^

C-^ii^l ^;/V^-' ^'^«.»V^« </^*

;?M>t- ■?£>

f^^U ^'^' /jki '/^

n^^-n

.umf^f'i

1865.] PLANTATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 427

raigne enemy & where they must runn a hazard of repulse & noe bootie
or just title of Sov''aignty to allure ihem.

Ob: 10. If it succeed ill, it will raise a scandall uppon o' pfessiou.

Ansu> : It is noe Rule in Philosophy (much lesse in Divinitie) to judg
the aecou by the successe, the enterprise of the Israelits against Ben-
jamen succeeded ill twice, yett the accon was good & pspered in the
end. The Earle of Begiers in France & the Earle of Tholouse mis-
carried in the defence of a just cause of Religion & their hereditary
right, against the unjust violence of j° Earle Montford & the Popes
Legate, the Duke of Saxony & the Lantgrave had ill successe of the
Gospell against Charles the 5. wherein the Duke & his children lost
their whole inheritance to this day. The King of Denmarke & other
princes of the union had ill successe in the defence of the Pallattinate
& the libtie of Germany yett the pfession suffered not w"" their psons,
except it were w* the adversaries of Religion, & soe it was noe Scan-
dall given.

The following is the letter of John Hampden to Sir
John Eliot, referred to by the President : —

John Hampden to Sir John Eliot.

Noble S^ I hope. this letter is conveyed to you by so safe a hand
y' yo" will be y" first y' shall open it, or if not, yet since you inioy as
much as without a contradiction you may y" liberty of a prison it shall
be no offence to wish you may make y" best vse on't. y' God may find
you as much his now you inioy y° benefitt of secondary helpes as you
found hime yo" while by deprivation of all others you were cast vpon
his immediate support. This is all I have or ame willing to say, but
y' y° paper of considerations concerning y" plantation might be very
safely conveyed to mee by this hand & after transcribing should be as
safely returned if you vouchsafe to send it mee. I beseech you pre-
sent my service to M' Valentine IP Long my countryman if with you.
& lett mee be honored w* y° stile of

yo' faithful friend
& servant.
Hampden, Jo : Hampden.

Decemb' 8'" [1629].

The following is the paper obtained from the State
Paper Office, by the President, and alluded to by him

428 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuLT,

as bearing the indorsement, " White of Dorchester, his
instructions for" the plantation of New England : " —

S. P. O. (colonial) Vol. VI. No. 64.
General observations for the plantation of New England.

1'.' It wilbe a service to the church of great consequens by carringe
the gospell into those parts to raise a bulworke against the Kingdom of
antichrist w"'' the Jesuits labour to rere in all p'.' of the world :

2? All other churches of Europe beinge brought to desolation it
cannot be but that the like judgment is cumminge upon us & wlio know-
eth but that God h'." prepared this place for a refuge for many whome
he meaneth to save in the general distruction :

3*! The land groneth under her inhabitants soe that man the best
of creatures is held more base then the earth they tread on

4'.'' We are growen to that hight of intemperancy as no mans
estate will suffice him to keepe sayle with his equall & he that doeth
not must live in contempt. Hence trades are carried so deceiptfully
& unrightusly as it is almost impossible for a good upright man to
mayntayne his charge & to live comfortably in his profession.

S* The fountaynes of learninge & religion are soe corrupted as
besides the unsupportable charge many chyldren of best witts & fayrest
hops are perverted corrupted & utterly overthrowne by the multitude
of evill examples & the licentious government of those seminaries :

6*.'' The earth is the Lords garden & he hath given it to the sonns
of men to be tylled & improved why then should we stand strivinge
here for places of habitation many men spending as much labour &
cost to recover & keepe somtymes an acre or tow of land wc'J would
procure many acres of as good or better in an other place & in the
m'eane tyme they suffer whole countryes usefull & convenient for the
use of man to lye waste witliout inhabitant.

7* What can be a better or more honorable worke then to helpe
rayse & support a particular church, whyle it is in the budd & infancy
to joyne our forces with such a company of faithfull people as by a
tymly assistance may growe stronge & prosper & for want of it may
be put to great hazard if not ruinated.

S'."" If such as are knowen to be godly & live in wealth heare shall
forsake all this to joyne themselves with this church & to runne their
hazard it wilbe an example of great use boeth for the reinovinge of
the scandall of worldly & sinister respects to give more lyfe to the

1865.] PLANTATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 429

faith of godly people in their prayer3 for the plantation et alsoe to
encourage others to joine the more willingly in it.

Ob : It wilbe a greate wronge to our owne country & church to
take away the godly people & we shall lay it the more open to the
judgements feared : | fol : | It will be nothinge in respect of those that
shalbe lefte & many that live in noe use heare more then for their
owne private famylys mdy be employed to a more coem? * good in a,n-
other place : 3°. by such as are of noe use heare to be see employed as
the church shall receave noe lyffc. A°. the church since christs tyme is
to be considered as universall without respect of countryes : Soe as
he that doeth good in any place doeth serve the church in all places.
5" It is the revealed will of God that the gospell should be preached
in all places & nations & therefore we knowe not whether the Indians
will receave it, yet it is a good worke to observe Gods will in offeringe
it for God shall have glory if they refuse :

Ob : We have feared a judgement a longe tyme but yet we are
■ saffe : it were better to stay till it come & either we may fly then or if
we be overtaken we may content ourselves to suffer with such a church
as this : | fol : | It is likely that this consideration made the church be-
younde the seas viz : the Palatinate. Rochellf to sit still & not labour
for shelter whyle they might : but the wofull spectacle of their ruine
may teach us wysdome to avoyd the plaige whyle it is forsenne & not
to tarry as they did till it overtake us : If they were now in their
former liberty we may be sure they would take other course for their
safty although most of them had miscarried in their escape yet that
had not been halfe soe miserable to themselves &' scandalous to religion
as their desperate backslydinge & abjuring the truth w°.'' many of
their auncient professors amongst them & their whole posteryty that
remayne are plunged into

Ob : We have here a plenty full land of all thinges with peace :
I fol : I yet we must leave all this abundance if it be taken from us : |
"2^ when we be in our graves it wilbe all one to have livd in plenty or
poverty or whether we had died in a bed of downe or one a locke of
straw only this is the advantage of a meane condition that it is at
more freedome to dye, the lesse comfort any have in the things of this
world the more liberty & desire he may have to lay upp treasure in
heaven :

Ob. But we may perrish in the way or when we come there hunger

* Common.

t It should be, the " Palitinate and Rochell."

430 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JULT,

or the sword there : | how uncomfortable would it be to see our wyfes
chj'ldren & frends come to such mysery by our occasion. Such objec-
tions savour to much of the tlesh who can free hymselfe or his frends
from the like calamyties heare : if this course be warrantable we must
trust gods providence for those thinges either he will keepe those evills
fi-om us : or will dispose them for our good & in able us to beare them :

Ob. But what warrant have we to take the land w".'' is & hath bin
soe longe tyme possessed by other sonnes of Adam : | fol .'I that w'."" is
coeiii : to all is proper to none, these savage people ramble over much
laud without title or property. 2° there is more then enough for them
& us : 3°. God hath consumed these nations in a myraculouse plauge
wherby a great part of their country is left voyd without inhabitants :
we shall com in with good leave of these nations :

Ob. But we should yet send yonge ones & such as can be best
spared & not of our best number & magistrates | fol : it is a great worke
& therefore requyres skylfull artifficers to lay the foundation of a new
buyldinge then to uphold & maynteyne it alreddy buylt : If great
thinges be attempted by weake instruments the effects wUbe -annswear-
able:

Ob : we see that plantations that have bin formerly made succeed
ill : I fol : the fruit of any probable designe is not to be deceaved by the
iiiiediate successe it may appeare in tyme that they were to good use.
2° ther were great & fundameutall errors in the other wc^ are likely to
be avojded in this for first their mayne end wc^ was proposed was
carnal & not religiouse they aymed cheefly at profitt & not the propa-
gation of religion : secondly they used untitt instruments viz : a multi-
tude of rude & misgoverned persons the very scumme of the land :
3° they did not establysh a right forme of government.

[Endorsed in the same handwriting as the paper.]
White of Dorchester
his instructions for the
plantation of New
England.

DEATH OF MISS ELIZABETH BELKNAP. 431

AUGUST MEETING.

The Society held its stated monthly meeting this day,
Thursday, Ang. 10, at eleven o'clock, a.m. ; the President
in the chair.

The Librarian announced donations from the State
of Vermont; the American Philosophical Society; the
Chamber of Commerce of New York ; the Massachu-
setts Bible Society ; the Massachusetts Sabbath-school
Society ; the New-England Historic-Genealogical Soci-
ety ; the New-England Loyal Publication Society ; the
Proprietors of the Heraldic Journal ; the Kenssalaer
Polytechnic Institute ; John Appleton, M.D. ; Mr.
George Arnold ; Messrs. Bartlett and Halliday ; John
F. Eliot, Esq. ; Eev. William C. French ; Col. Thomas
W. Higginson ; Clement H. Hill, Esq. ; Hon. Samuel
Hooper ; Benjamin P. Johnson, Esq. ; James Lenox,
Esq. ; J. H. Siddons, Esq. ; Increase Sumner, Esq. ;
Rev. John A. Vinton ; and from Messrs. W. G. Brooks,
Green, Lawrence, and Winthrop, of the Society.

The Corresponding Secretary read a letter of accept-
ance from Samuel Eliot, Esq.

The President noticed the decease of Miss Elizabeth
Belknap, — daughter of Dr. Belknap, the principal
founder of this Society, — which took place on the
3d instant, at her residence in Dover Street, at the
age of ninety-one years. He stated, that, in March,
1858, Miss Belknap authorized Mr. Ticknor to present
to the Society, m her name, the principal part of the
manuscripts, books, and pamphlets, relating to American

432 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [AUG.

history, left by her father, the late Rev. Dr. Belknap.
These are now bound m one hundred and fifty volumes,
comprising six folio and forty-eight smaller volumes of
manuscripts, and ninety-six of printed works, in which
last division are many rare and valuable tracts. The
manuscripts include a portion of the diary of Increase
Mather, and that of Cotton Mather for six years ; the
autobiography of the Rev. Hugh Adams ; the diary of
Lawrence Hammond ; Fitch's narrative relating to af-
fairs in New Hampshire ; autograph letters from Dr.
Watts to Dr. Colman ; and other interesting papers
mentioned by Mr. Deane in his Report on the donation
at that time. There are also in this collection thirty-four
interleaved almanacs, from 1758 to 1798 inclusive.

In January, 1861, she presented, through Dr. Ellis,
the letters from Dr. Belknap to Ebenezer Hazard, Esq.,
commencing in 1779, and contmued until March, 1798.

Mr. C. Brooks also paid a brief tribute to the mem-
ory of Miss Belknap.

Mr. Deane made the following remarks respecting
a pamphlet then lying upon the table, presented by our
Corresponding Member, Mr. Lenox of New York : —

Those of our members who are familiar with the bibli-
ography of American history will remember the fact, that
Columbus, on his return from his first voyage, addressed a
letter from Lisbon — dated 14th March, 1493, the day before
he arrived at Palos — to Rafael Sanchez, treasurer to Fer-
dinand and Isabella, giving an account of his great discov-
ery ; and that this letter was soon afterwards translated from
the Spanish, in which it was written, into Latin, — the uni
versal language of scholars of that day, — and published in a
large number of editions. Mr. Lenox, in an interesting

1865.] FIRST LETTER OF COLUMBUS. 433

bibliographical paper printed as an appendix to a transla-
tion of " Syllacius," in 1859, describes no less than six
editions which appeared in that year (1493) in Latin. These
little volumes are very precious in the eyes of the bibliog-
rapher, being the earliest memorial extant relating to the
history of the discovery of America. But no copy of this
letter to Sanchez, in the original Spanish, is known to be in
existence, either in print or in manuscript. It was first
translated from the Latin into English in 1816, and pub-
lished in the " Edinburgh Review," vol. xxvii. It has since
been translated anew by Mr. Major, in a volume of " Colum-
bus's Letters," published by the Hakluyt Society, in 1847.

In the valuable collection of documents published by
Navarrete in 1825, we learned for the first time that there
was extant another letter of Columbus, announcing his great
discovery, written about the time he wrote the one just
described ; and addressed to Luis de Santangel, secretary
and steward of the Royal Household. This was discovered
in the archives of Simancas, in manuscript, and in the origi-
nal Spanish ; and was published by Navarrette. These two
letters — to Sanchez and to Santangel — are nearly the same
in substance ; but no contemporaneously printed copy of that
to Santangel was known to exist until the recent discovery
of a copy, described by Mr. Lenox in the pamphlet which
now lies upon the table. (This account by Mr. Lenox had
been previously communicated to the " Historical Magazine "
for September, 1864.)

By this it appears that this printed copy was discovered
in the archives of the Ambrosian Library, at Milan. It be-
longs to a collection of books and manuscripts bequeathed
to that library, about twelve years ago, by the Baron Pietro
Custodi, a Milanese historian and political economist. This
unique little volume is described as being in very good con-
dition, with broad margins. The whole leaf measures twenty
centimetres high by fourteen broad (about eight inches by
65

434 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Au(3.

five-and-a-half; what we call a small quarto). Mr. Lenox
furnishes in his pamphlet facsimiles of the commencement
and the close of the letter.

There is no place or name of printer in the book ; but Mr.
Lenox thinks it was probably printed in Spain, in 1493, and
before any of the Latin editions of the letter to Sanchez had
been issued. The letter bears date " February 15th," off
the Azores. A postscript is dated " March 4th;" the day
Columbus put into Lisbon in a storm.

It may be mentioned, that this letter to Santangel was
translated into English by Mr. Samuel Kettell, of Boston, and
published here, in 1827, in a volume containing other papers
relating to the first voyage of Columbus, from Navarrete's
great work.

Dr. Palmer read the following paper on longevity : —

It has been asserted recently by some English writers,
that there is no positive proof that any person has lived in
modern times to the age of one hundred years. We often
see reported in the papers the deaths of persons at the age of
one hundred years and upwards. But there is not unfre-
quently some doubt as to the time of birth of these old people.
I recollect that a few years since there was announced in
the "Transcript" the death of a lady, in Boston, at the age of
one hundred and seven years. The next day, or in a short
time afterwards, a communication appeared in the same paper,
in which the writer proved by authentic records, that the
lady at the time of her death was only about ninety years old.
I speak from recollection, not having made any memoranda of
the case. I have never known, nor do I remember to have
heard of, any wealthy person who lived to enjoy his riches a
century. It has been stated that none of the English nobility
ever attained to the age of one hundred years. The reason
of this might, perhaps, be accounted for in the fact that they

1865.] LIST OF CENTENAEIANS. 435

are in affluent circumstances, and, as it is vulgarly termed,
live faster than those people who earn their bread by the
sweat of the brow.

A memorandum of a writer, under the signature of " M.
S. R.," was published in London " Notes and Queries," vol.
ix. second series, page 438, a few years since, in which he
gives a list of centenarians who belonged to the British army,
from which I extract the following : —

" John EfRngliam was born in Penryn, and died there in February,
1757, aged one hundred and forty-four years. In the revolution of
James II. he was pressed, and served under Lord Feversham, then
commander-in-chief. On William III. making his descent, he fought
under Schoraberg at the Boyne, — ■ his intrepidity in action there
gaining him the rank of corporal. Under Marlborough, he was at the
battle of Blenheim, and lost one eye and most of his teeth by the
bursting of a musket. In the reign of George I. he was discharged ;
and, returning to Penryn, worked as a laborer. When young, he
never drank spirituous liquors. He used constant exercise, seldom
ate meat, and walked ten miles about a week before his death.

"James Macdonald died near Cork, August, 1760, aged one hundred
and seventeen years. His height was seven feet six inches. He
enlisted as a grenadier in 1 685, and served in that rank till the break-
ing out of the rebellion. In 1716, he returned to his native country,
where he toiled as a laborer till within three years of his decease.
When in health, he could eat four pounds of solid meat at a meal, and
driuk in proportion strong liquor, without feeling its effects. His limbs
were prodigious. A lady's bracelet might have served one of his
enormous fingers for a ring.

"John Craig died at Kilmarnock, May, 1793, aged one hundred
and eleven years. He served in the North-British dragoons, and was
at the battle of Sheriffmuir, in 1715. He was never married, and
never had any sickness.

" John Durham died at Sunnyside, Durham, March, 1776, aged one
hundred and one years. He had been in the army, and mounted guard
at Whitehall, in 1714.

"John Hastie died in Edinburgh, about 1798, aged one hundred
years. He was fifty years in the service, and fought at Sheriffmuir,
in 1715.

436 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [AuG.

"John Nesbit died at Dunge, in Scotland, about September, 1800,
aged one hundred and seven years. He served at the siege of Bergen-
op-Zoora, in 1747.

" Eobert Swifield, a pensioner, died at Chelsea Hospital, 30th
August, 1805, aged one hundred and five years.

"James Lack died at Hackney, 31st October, 1807, aged one hun-
dred and five years. During the reigns of George I. and II., he fought
in the German wars. He was also at the siege of Quebec, and at-
tended Wolfe in his last moments.

"John Stewart died at Aberfeldie, in 1808, aged one hundred and
eleven years. At the age of eighteen he joined the Pretender, and
was present at SheriiFmuir, in 1715. In 1745 he again joined the
standard of the Stuart, and fought at Falkirk and Preston Pans. He
had eight wives, by all of whom, except the last, he had several
children. Whiskey, of which he was very fond and drank to excess, it
is believed, shortened his days.

"John Covvie died at Crimond, 27th February, 1811, aged one hun-
dred and eight years. In his youth he enlisted into the army, and,
after some war service, was discharged as worn out, in 1739. In 1745
he was in arms again, and present at Culloden. When somewhat
above seventy, he married ; and, his wife having brought him some
money, he resigned the office he then filled of parish bell-man.

" Daniel McKinnon died at Falkirk, 2d April, 1813, in his one hun-
dred and third year. He was born in the Isle of Skye, and passed
his early life in the army. He was thrice married ; and, when about
ninety, his last wife brought him a thumping boy, of which the old
man was excessively proud.

" David Ferguson died at Dunkirk, 6th August, 1818, aged one hun-
dred and twenty-four years. He was born at Netherud, in the parish
of Kirkud, and was the youngest of fifteen children. He was present
at the battle of Sherilfmuir, in 1715.

"Patrick Grant died in Braemar, 11th February, 1824, aged one
hundred and thirteen years. He fought at Falkirk and Culloden, and
also in the English raid under the Pretender.

" Arthur Johnson died at Drumlough, county Down, 14th April,
1832, aged one hundred and six years. He served in most of the
battles and sieges in America.

"John Henderson died at Kilmainham about April, 1836, aged one
hundred and five years. He fought at Culloden, at the sieges of
Quebec and the Havana; also at the battle of Bunker Hill.

1865.] LIST OF CENTENARIANS. 437

"Thomas Plumb died at Whitechapel, 25th August, 1832, aged one
hundred and eight years. He was a native of North America ; and,
when young, was the servant of a surgeon in the army. He after-
wards joined a loyal corps of engineers formed in America, and was
present at the battle of Bunker Hill and several other battles, till taken
prisoner.

" George Fletcher died at Poplar, 2d March, 1855, aged one hun-
dred and eight years. After following the occupation of a farmer for
twenty-one years, he joined the army, in which he served twenty-six
years ; and was present at Bunker Hill, and also in the Egyptian cam-
paigns of 1801."

Another correspondent, under the signature of "J. R., m.d.,"
vol. X. second series, page 15, in reference to this communi-
cation, says : —

" The possible duration of life in any living creature is not merely
a curious but an important problem, in relation to man especially, and
has engaged the attention of countless philosophers down to Walker
the Original, who is satisfied that men might prolong their existence
indefinitely ; while Goethe, by another process, came to the conclusion
that nobody died till he himself willed it. Upon either of these prin-
ciples, we may imagine the long lists of old old-people, which have
appeared in your pages, probable. But, some way or other, a stern
inquirer into evidence, one who wants proofs, is always doomed to
disappointment ; and, without being quite positive, I have very serious
doubts whether there is one instance of any human being having com-
pleted his hundredth year in modern times.

" It is singular enough that most of the centenarians recorded hith-
erto have been Irish, Scotch, or Negroes, always in the lower classes
of society, and where a register of birth is hardly to be looked for ;
and yet, without this, the evidence breaks down at once. The nobility
and gentry, where these matters are more carefully watched, don't
afford a single instance ; not a case occurs in the insurance-office regis-
ters, though these include a more miscellaneous list, and, a priori
we might suppose, more likely to embrace long-lived individuals.
According to " M. S. R.," no less than four persons who were at the
battle of Sheriffmuir reached the age of one hundred, one hundred and
eleven, one hundred and eleven, and one hundred and twenty-four,
respectively ; but we want the birth registers and the identification of
the parties.

438 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [AuG.

" May I hint to your correspondents, that, in these matters, neither
assertions, nor even convictions, are of any avail ; and that all such
lists show only time wasted, and, I may say, Mr. Editor, your valua-
ble paper and ink thrown away, and your still more valuable space
occupied with matter of no possible use to any one ? Take the first
name in ' M. S. R.'s ' roll, — John Effingham. He must have been
born in 1613; was made a corporal at the battle of the Boyne when
seventy-seven, — rather slow promotion ; was wounded at Blenheim
when ninety-one ; and got his discharge in the reign of George I., —
year not stated ; but, if on the day of his accession, at the age of one
hundred and one. Now, I am not going to deny the possibility of
all or any of these statements ; but, surely, I should want some better
evidence than the 'Public Advertiser' of Feb. 18, 1757, in which
month he is said to have died.

" We now and then find, in the obituaries of our own periodicals,
notices of these deaths at or over one hundred ; and I am sure that your
correspondents, who might have a chance of really sifting these state-
ments, would be conferring a benefit upon your readers by giving them
the result of a detailed and trustworthy examination. It must, how-
ever, be borne in mind, that the child has been mistaken for the parent;
and that two children have been named alike, — the elder dying, and
the younger taking the additional years, and getting credit of the prior
registers."

My attention was called to this subject by a letter I re-
ceived from Hon. Edward Kent, of Bangor, formerly Gov-
ernor of Maine. He writes as follows : —

Mt Dear Sir, — I see that some of the English writers and spec-
ulators in the matter of longevity assert that there is no weU-authen-
ticated case of any person who has actually lived beyond one hundred
years. You, as the necrologist, have doubtless noticed this singular
doubt. Can you and Friend Sibley — one or both — produce the
proof? Is there not suificient evidence in the case of Ezra Green ?
(H. C. 1765;) he lived eighty-two years after his graduation. Judge
T. Farrar (1767) lived eighty-two years; Dr. Holyoke (1746) lived
eighty-three years. There are probably other cases nearly the same.
Now, is there not a record at the College, in some or all of these cases,
of the age of the aforesaid graduates when they entered ? We all
know that the men I have named did live beyond a century. The
point is to prove it by records, — town, parish, state, college, or family
records.

1865.]

LETTER OF HON. EDWARD KENT. 439

Dr. Holyoke was the son of President Holyoke; and, I should think,
in his case there must be some certain record. The denial of the fact
of the existence of any centenarian on this earth, in modern times, is
so absurd that one naturally desires to have the proof of the fact.
I think it belongs to you, aided by the guardian of the library at
Cambridge, to look into this matter, and to establish the truth of the
catalogue. You see, these men must all have been not over eighteen
years old when they were graduated, — if they died the year stated in
the catalogue. The second fact, after tliat of the time of birth, is the
time of the death. This, of course, is easily proved in all these cases.

We buried, as you know, here at Bangor, a few years since. Rev.
John Sawyer, a graduate of Dartmouth. Hg was undoubtedly at
least one hundred and three years old. I heard him preach the day he
was one hundred years old. But I do not know that there are here
any records to prove the fact to the satisfaction of these gentile unbe-
lievers. The race cannot afford to be thus docked, — cut down, —
denied to every one the chance of living one hundred years. I pray
you, therefore, to look out this matter sine mora. Call on Dr. ShurtlefF
to look after these heretical doubters, and to put a stop to this direct
assault of John Bull on the whole human family.

Yours truly, Edward Kent.

It is going too far, I think, to say, that no one ever com-
pleted his hundredth year in modern times. Many of those
who have been reported to have attained to an extraordinary
old age, probably did not know, or have any record of, the
date of their birth. I recollect an instance, published in the
papers at the time, when the last census of the United States
was taken. A census-taker in Albany called at a house in
that city occupied by an Irish woman and her daughter. He
took down their names, and then asked the woman how old
she was. She replied that she was thirty. He then asked
her what was the age of her daughter. She said her daugh-
ter was twenty-five. He told her that could not be correct.
"Well," said she, "your honor knows better than I do."
He told her he would put down her age sixty, and that he
would put her daughter down thirty. Well, she said, she
thought that would be about riglit.

We have had four centenarians, graduates of Harvard Col-

440 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

[Aug.

lege ; that is, if the dates of their births were recorded
correct]}'. The first was Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke, who
graduated in 1746. He was born in Marblehead, 1st August,
1728, and died in Salem, 31st March, 1829, aged one hun-
dred years and seven months.

The next was Samson Salter Blowers, who graduated in
1763. He was born in Boston, 22d March, 1742; was a
refugee at the time of the American Revolution, and died in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, 25th October, 1842, aged one hundred
years, seven months, and three days.

The third was Dr. Ezra Green, who graduated in 1765.
He was born in Maiden, 17th June, 1746, and died in Dover,
N.H., 25th July, 1847, aged one hundred and one years, one
month, and eight days.

The fourth was Hon. Timothy Farrar, who graduated in
1767. He was born in Lincoln, 11th July, 1747, and died in
Hollis, N.H., 21st February, 1849, aged one hundred and one
years, seven months, and ten days.

I obtained the dates of the births of these four graduates
from the college records, and presume they are correct.
They therefore disprove the statement that no individual has
completed his hundredth year in modern times.

Dr. Webb read some letters v^hich he had received
from aged persons to whom he had addressed inquiries
relative to the origin of the " buff and blue " uniform
of the Revolution, and whether there were any sobri-
quet by which Washington was known among the
soldiers. The letters, generally, gave but little satisfac-
faction relative to the information sought for ; but one
of the aged writers, a Mr. Snyder, stated that among
the soldiery Washington was known by the appellation
of the " Sly Fox."

In connection with the subject of the dispersion of
manuscripts, occasioned by the late Rebellion, Mr.

lS6o.] MASON AND DIXON'S REPORT. ■ 441

Waterston spoke of an early letter of Washington
which he had seen ; it having been recently picked vip
in the streets of Richmond. The letter was dated in
1749, and contained on one page a plan of a tract
of land and of a river, which had been surveyed by
Washington. Mr. Waterston expressed the opinion
that all such papers should ultimately be restored to
the libraries to which they had belonged.

Ish: Deane spoke of a copy of the original Report of
Mason & Dixon, the surveyors of the line between the
States of Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, 1763-
1768. It was in the possession of the managers of
the Sanitary Fair, recently held in Philadelphia, —
having been given to them by a collector of manuscripts
who had bought it at the sale of the library of the late
E. D. Ingraham, of Philadelphia. It is supposed that
there were at least tvro copies of this Report. One of
these is now in the archives of Maryland; and this
copy, it is thought, may have once belonged to Penn-
sylvania.*

Mr. R. Frothixgham asked permission to copy a pas-
sage relative to General Warren, from Dr. Pierce's
manuscript diary ; and leave was granted under the
rules.

Mr. Porter C. Bliss, while on a visit to Nova Scotia in 1860, discovered, in the
a gentleman residing there, a full journal kept by Mason, in his own
handwriting, during the whole period of his residence in this country; embracing
statistical details of their surveys, astronomical observations, field notes, &o. The
first entry was made Nov. 15, 1763, indicating it as the day he arrived at Philadelphia
from England; and the last entry, Sept. 9, 1768, the day he sailed for England. The
manuscript consists of about five quires of paper, or between four and five hundred
pages. As this was Mason's private journal, it must have been taken by him to Eng-
land. It subsequently recrossed the ocean to the British Provinces. ( See " Historical
Magazine " for July, 1861, pp. 199-202.)

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [SEPT.

SEPTEMBER MEETING.

The Society held its stated monthly meeting this day,
Thursday, Sept. 14, at eleven o'clock, a.m.; the Presi-
dent, the Hon. E.. C. Winthrop, in the chau-.

The Librarian announced donations from the Com-
monwealth of Massachusetts ; the City of Boston ; the
City of Roxbury; the American Tract Society, New
York ; the Bunker-Hill Monument Association ; the
Chicago Historical Society ; the Mercantile-Library As-
sociation of New York ; the New-England Loyal Publi-
cation Society ; N. A. Apollonio, Esq. ; Count Adolphe
de Circourt ; Jeremiah Colburn, Esq. ; Henry B. Daw-
son, Esq. ; Elnathan F. Duren, Esq. ; John F. Eliot,
Esq. ; Charles L. Hancock, Esq. ; Ebenezer Lane, Esq. ;
John Langton, Esq. ; and from Messrs. Bartlet, C.
Brooks, Deane, Green, Hale, Latham, Lawrence, Park-
man, C. Robbins, and Whitmore, of the Society.

The President then spoke as follows : —

I need not say to you, Gentlemen, that our Society has sus-
tained a severe loss since our last monthly meeting. Other
names have disappeared of late, in but too rapid succession,
from our rolls, which have enjoyed a wider celebrity from
their association with exalted public service, or with eminent
literary or professional success. But we have been called to
part with no name which has been more immediately and
peculiarly identified with the prosperity and progress of our
own Society, during the golden period of its last ten years,
than that of George Livermore; and we owe to his memory
the largest measure of respect and gratitude.

We need not look beyond the room in which we are assem-

1865.] DEATH OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 443

bled, to find evidence of the leading part which he took in
what may almost be called the reconstruction of our Society.
No one will have forgotten, that it was from his hand, on the
9th of April, 1857, we received the key that unlocked to us
this beautiful library, and that first admitted us to the en-
joyment of privileges which each succeeding year has taught
us to value more and more highly. To him, beyond all doubt,
as the tried and trusted friend of our munificent benefactor,
and as one of his chosen executors, — to him more than to
any or all other men except Mr. Dowse himself, are we in-
debted at once for the original possession Qf these cherished
treasures, and for the rich appointments and liberal endow-
ments by which they were accompanied and followed.

I was myself officially in the way of witnessing his earnest
interest and efficient intervention, from the first confidential
intimation of Mr. Dowse's views, until the final consummation
of the noble gift. And, though his modesty at that day
shrunk from any formal recognition of his own relation to the
transaction, I should be wanting in fidelity to its history, were
I to omit to bear testimony to the controlling influence which
he seemed to exercise in our behalf. Our lamented friend
was accustomed always to speak of this apartment, in which
he justly took so much pride, as finished and completely fur-
nished ; nothing to be taken away, and nothing to be added.
And so, indeed, we have all regarded it as long as he lived.
But now that he is gone, and his familiar and welcome pres-
ence may no longer be looked for among us, we cannot but
feel that there is sometliing wanting to these walls ; that
there is a void to be supplied, so far as it is in the power of
poor, perishable canvas to supply it; and I trust that at no
distant day a suitable portrait may find its place here, which
may perpetuate the remembrance of that effective interven-
tion, and that thoughtful and constant care, which have enti-
tled the name of George Livermore to be associated with that
of his venerated friend, Thomas Dowse, in connection with
this richest of all our possessions.

444 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [SEPT.

Our obligations to Mr. Livermore, however, have by no
means been confined to those resulting from his relations to
our enjoyment of the Dowse Library. From his first admis-
sion on the 22d of November, 1849, he has been among our
most active and useful associates. As a member of our
Standing Committee for many years, and its Chairman for
more than one, and as a member of the Publishing Commit-
tee of our beautiful volumes of Proceedings, he has rendered
us most valuable services. Nor has he been wanting in im-
portant contributions to our collections in the cause of history.
The " Historical Research respecting the Opinions of the
Founders of the Republic on Negroes as Slaves, as Citizens,
and as Soldiers," which he read at the August monthly meet-
ing in 1862, and which he afterwards printed in so many
attractive forms, and distributed widely at his own cost, would
alone have been enough to secure for him a reputation which
any of us might envy.

Our Society, however, I am aware, can claim no monopoly
in the sorrow which Mr. Livermore's death has occasioned.
Boston has lost in him an upright and intelligent merchant.
Cambridge has lost in him a useful and respected citizen.
The American Antiquarian Society has lost in him an active
associate and trusted counsellor. The Boston Athenffium and
the Massachusetts State Library have lost in him a faithful
and assiduous trustee. The Sunday-school of his own parish
have lost in him a devoted instructor and superintendent.
Indeed, it would be difficult to name the public institution in
this neighborhood, which has not been directly or indirectly
indebted to him for personal services or valuable contribu-
tions. Ardent, intelligent, laborious, liberal, philanthropic,
he was untiring in his exertions in every field of usefulness
which was opened to him. You all know the zeal he dis-
played in the cause of the Union during the last four years ;
and how he labored, in season and out of Season, at the risk
and even at the positive sacrifice of his own health, to pro-

1865.] DEATH OP GEORGE LIVERMORE. 445

mote the raising of troops, to stimulate patriotic action, and
to uphold the flag of his countrj'.

Yet, while he was thus willing to spend and to be spent in
the service of others, Mr. Livfermore had special pursuits and
tastes of his own, quite apart from his mercantile connections,
to which he devoted his hours of leisure through a long
course of years, and which were enough of themselves to
secure for him an enviable distinction and a cherished re-
membrance. His beautiful library — with its remarkable col-
lection of rare editions of the Sacred Scriptures, including
not a few Bibles which had the special charm of having be-
longed to illustrious persons of other ages and other lands,
and, foremost among them all, the Bible of that loved and
loving disciple and friend of Luther, Philip Melancthon —
was the chief source of his own pleasure, as it was an object
of the deepest interest to all who visited him. Nor can any
one forget that exquisite bibliographical taste of his, which
had been kindled by a personal acquaintance with Dibdin
himself; which had been nurtured and stimulated by familiar
association with the beaiitiful books in his own library, or in
the libraries of kindred spirits in this or in other States; and
which he so often indulged by preparing a private edition of
some tract of his own, or of some reprint of a rare old book
or pamphlet, in a style which will always render it a gem in
the collections of the many friends whom he delighted to
gratify with a presentation copy.

I will attempt no analysis of Mr. Livermore's personal char-
acter and qualities, in the presence of so many who have
known him longer and better than myself. Admirable trib-
utes have already been paid him, and others are ready to be
paid here and elsewhere. We had all hoped that many more
years of usefulness were still in store for him ; but we may
apply to him the exquisite words of Jeremy Taylor : " It must
needs be, that such a man must die when he ought to die ;
and be like ripe and pleasant fruit falling from a fair tree, and

446 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [SEPT.

gathered into baskets for the planter's use." I may be per-
mitted to express my regret, that unavoidable absence from
the State prevented me from uniting in the last honors to his
remains. But not a few of our ofiScers and members were
present on the occasion; and you will all concur, I am sure, in
the adoption of the resolutions which the Standing Committee
have instructed me to submit, before proceeding to other
business this morning : —

Eesolved, That it is with deep sorrow we make record of the death
of our esteemed associate, George Livermore, Esq., whose services
to our Society in many ways, and more especially in connection with
our possession and enjoyment of the Dowse Library, have entitled
him to our most respectful and grateful remembrance.

Hesolved, That the President be requested to appoint one of our
number to prepare a memoir of Mr. Livermore, for the next, or an
early, volume of our Proceedings.

Mr. Deane then addressed the meeting as follows : —

You kindly asked me, Mr. President, to say a few words
today respecting our dear friend and associate who has de-
parted from us since the last meeting of this Society ; and I
certainly thank you for the privilege of doing so. One of our
members, with whom I conferred concerning this meeting,
one who loved our friend most tenderly, said, that he should
desire that over this grave, as over no other, the official eulo-
gium might be dispensed with. And, in some respects, I
sympathize in this feeling. The modest and retiring nature
of Mr. Livermore would have shrubk from the idea of a eulo-
gium of himself. But a moment's reflection would satisfy us
that this omission could not be. Our friend was too import-
ant a member of this Society, his memory is too closely
interwoven with its history and welfare for the past ten or
fifteen years, to warrant us in passing over his name in
silence. We owe it as a duty to ourselves and to the public to
record our testimony here to those rare virtues which should

1865.] DEATH OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 447

be held up for the emulation of all. And we have the satis-
faction, Mr. President, to feel, that whatever shall be uttered
here to-day will be uttered as no mere formal eulogy. Every
one will speak from the heart, for all loved Mr. Livermore : —

" None knew thee but to love thee,
Nor n:imed thee but to praise."

So much has been already said elsewhere, and so well said,
on the character of Mr. Livermore, and so much I know will
be contributed from those who will follow me here, — feeling
also, as I do, that I should fail in any attempt to express my
own idea of the man, — that I shall content myself, in the few
words I may now utter, with relating some details of Mr.
Livermore's literary history which have come under my own
observation. These may not be deemed wholly inappropriate
before this Historical Society.

I formed an acquaintance with Mr. Livermore over twenty
years ago ; being attracted towards him by his loving and
genial nature, his general intelligence, his historical tastes,
and his great love of books. He had been for some 3'ears
forming his biblical library. About that time, an important
addition was made to his collection of books in this depart-
ment, by the puvchase of a number of bibles from the library
of the late Rev. Dr. Homer, of Newton, whose books were
placed on sale at one of the book-stores in Boston, and the
most valuable of them secured by Mr. Livermore. One of
these, I well remember, afterwards proved to have once been
the property of Adam Winthrop, the father of the first Gov-
ernor Winthrop. Soon after, an opportunity was offered by
the sale of the library of the Duke of Sussex, which was
especially rich in biblical literature, to add copies of other
choice editions to his store. In 1845, Mr. Livermore went
to Europe, — it being his first and only visit there ; and he
then took advantage of the rich opportunities before him, to
enlarge his collection of books as regards bibles, and to in-

448 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETT. [Sept.

crease his knowledge and gratify his taste on the general
subject of bibliography, of which he had long been fond.
While in London, he formed an acquaintance with Dibdin,
the celebrated bibliographer, who took a great interest in our
friend ; and, after his return, I remember seeing, in his library,
copies of some of Dibdin's own works, which had been pres-
ented to him by their author.

Mr. Livermore had early conceived a great admiration of
"William Roscoe, whom he thought the true merchant scholar.
He named one of his children after him, and always had a
bust of him in his hall; and, when we were selecting suitable
memorials of distinguished men to place over the bookcases
in this room, Mr. Livermore requested that the bust of Ros-
coe might not be forgotten. While in England, he studied
his character anew, on the spot.

His opportunities here of seeing famous men — and
what pleased him better, famous libraries — were well im-
proved. His enthusiasm for bibliography — I may almost
say, his bibliomania — was well illustrated by a letter he
wrote home to a friend from the celebrated Althorp Library,
to which he said he had gained access by a letter from Mr.
Everett, our Minister in London. " I am writing this let-
ter," he says, " with my arm resting on the 'Decameron.'"
This was the famous editio prmceps of Valdarfer, 1471, the
only perfect copy known. It was sold at the great Roxburgh
Library sale, in 1812, for the enormous sum of =£2,260, or over
$10,000, the highest price ever paid for a book. The Rox-
burgh Club was formed to commemorate the event of its sale.
Dibdin had told the story of the book and of its sale with
great unction. He sa3-s that, when Evans's hammer fell, it
resounded throughout the libraries of Europe, and startled
Boccaccio himself from his slumber of five hundred years.
Mr. Livermore was familiar with all this: so, on entering the
librarj' where the famous book now reposes, he seeks it out,
places it on the table, and, resting his arm upon it, writes a

1865.] DEATH OF GEORGE LIVERMORB. 449

letter to his friend. What can better illustrate his love of
rare books, and his sympathy with a friend in the enjoyment
of them?

After his return from Europe, Mr. Livermore continued to
add to his library as opportunities and means were afforded.
But he not merely bought books ; he read them. On the subject
of the Scriptures, — his specialty, — his information was exten-
sive and thorough. And, as regards the history of the differ-
ent editions of the Bible since the invention of printing, his
ambition was to know every thing, — to exhaust the subject.
He carried his inquiries into the by-ways of its history. Al-
though, as I have said, he was not confined to one branch of
historical pursuit, still, on this he became like " the man
of one book," of whom we are told in the proverb to " be-
ware." A good illustration of the accuracy and minuteness
of his knowledge here is exhibited in a series of papers which
he contributed to the " Boston Daily Advertiser," in 1849, in
reply to the charge brought by Bishop Chase, of Ohio, against
Cromwell and the Puritans, of having corrupted the Scrip-
tures. The charge was, that Cromwell, having supreme
power, had authorized his friends to change the word " we "
— in Acts vi. 3, respecting the appointment of the seven
deacons — to " ye," in order to favor the views of the Inde-
pendents. The Bishop indulged in many other loose state-
ments, neither creditable to his taste nor to his knowledge ;
among others, that the " Cambridge Platform " of 1648 was
based upon this noted error.

Mr. Livermore, in answering the Bishop, showed by re-
spectable Episcopalian authority, that the edition of the Bible,
first containing this error, was printed while Laud and Charles
I. were in the ascendant in church and state, and that the
next edition of the Bible which is known to contain the same
error was printed after the Restoration. The truth is it was
simply a typographical error.
• About the same time he corrected some errors into which

450 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [SEPT.

Mr. Bancroft had indavertently fallen, respecting tbe publica-
tion of the Scriptures in this country before the Revolution.
An article also which he wrote in the " Christian Examiner,"
reviewing Strickland's " Hlstorj' of the American Bible Soci-
ety," gave abundant evidence of his large information on the
subject of the translation and circulation of the Scriptures.

In 1850, Mr. Livermore wrote a paper for the " North-
American Review," on Public Libraries ; being a review of
some of the Reports of the British Parliament on this subject.
In this he showed his thorough acquaintance with the condi-
tion of libraries, both in this country and in Europe. A
curious piece of literary history is connected with this paper.
A few months after it was published, a volume of Chambers's
" Papers for the People " was issued in Edinburgh, containing
an article on " Public Libraries," which was made up of Mr.
Livermore's article, and another from the " North-American
Review," — written, I think, by George W. Greene, Esq., —
and a third from some other source ; and no acknowledgment
whatever was made by the Edinburgh publisher.

In 1850, Harvard College acknowledged Mr. Livermore's
claims to scholarship, by conferring upon him the degree of
Master of Arts. I remember, in a note I had from him at the
time, he pleasantly said he thought the degree of " D.D."
would have been more appropriate.

But Mr. Livermore's claims to be a member of this Histori-
cal Society were always made good. He had a love for our
early history, and had made a respectable collection of books
on this subject; and his library now contains them. He at
one time contemplated writing the history of his native town,
Cambridge, but rehnquished it on learning that our associate,
Mr. Paige, was engaged in that work.

You have referred. Sir, to Mr. Livermore's agency or inter-
vention in securing to us this noble library. Mr. Livermore
always disclaimed having suggested to Mr. Dowse such a dis-
position of his librarJ^ Perhaps he would have hesitated to

1865.] DEATH OF GEORGE LIVERMORE. 451

take the responsibility, under the circumstances, of directing
Mr. Dowse's mind in the matter. Mr. Dowse had had many-
plans concerning the disposition of his library, but could fix
on nothing. I once thought, — perhaps I was mistaken, — that
there was danger that his books would come to the hammer.
There will be no propriety, I think, in my now stating here,
that Mr. Dowse once offered to present his library to Mr.
Livermore. Mr. Livermore, of course, would not have ac-
cepted of it. He was not the person thus to have taken
advantage of the confidential relation between himself and
Mr. Dowse. To some persons of less honor or delicacy, it
might have been a temptation. I will relate some of the cir-
cumstances which led Mr. Dowse to select the Historical So-
ciety to be the recipient of his bounty.

In the latter part of June, 1856, the Historical Society, by
invitation of Mr. Livermore, held a special meeting at bis
house. It was in the season of strawberries, and gentlemen
who were present on that occasion will remember the bounti-
ful supply of that fruit which our host had provided for his
guests. We called it a " strawberry festival." The next
day, Mr. Livermore (as he was in the habit of doing almost
daily) called on Mr. Dowse, who was at that time very
feeble, and gave him some account of the meeting at his
house the evening before, telling him who were present,
&c., at the same time taking to him a dish of the strawberries.
Mr. Dowse was much interested in the account of the meet-
ing of the Historical Society, and he began to make further
inquiries respecting it. He had some general knowledge of
its character and position, and was, of course, personally
acquainted with many of its members. He probably saw that
it was as likely to be a permanent institution as any of the
literary bodies among us. Soon afterward, Mr. Dowse asked
Mr. Livermore if he thought the Historical Society would
accept of his library. He received encouragement that they
would. He wished to see a plan of their building, and the

452 MASSACHCSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Sept.

rooms they occupied ; and, when he had fully decided to offer
his library to the acceptance of the Society, Mr. Livermore
conferred with the President, and the matter was soon con-
summated. On the 3d of August, a special meeting of the
Society was called for congratulation and acknowledgment.
The obligation of this Society to Mr. Livermore, for the
liberal endowment made by him as trustee under Mr. Dowse's
will, has just been duly acknowledged by the President.

But, Sir, I must bring these desultory remarks to a close.
I can hardly realize that we shall never again see our friend
in his accustomed seat at our monthly meetings ; and I dare
not attempt to express my sense of our great loss. His was,
indeed, a noble nature. I sometimes felt that there was a
depth to it which I could not fathom, and a height I could
not reach. 1 never saw one who desired more to bring every
act of his life to the touchstone of conscience. The events
of the last four years brought out some traits of his charac-
ter into bold relief. He threw himself into the cause of the
Union with the greatest energy and zeal. If the occasion
had called for it, and his strength had permitted, he would not
have hesitated to shoulder his musket, and to go through the
battles of the Wilderness. His " Historical Research " was
prepared, I know, under the highest sense of duty.

The events which came so thickly upon us about the
time of the breaking-up of the rebellion, now so joyous
and then so sad, sounding the very depths of our natures,
were almost too much for the delicate organization of oiir
friend.

I saw Mr. Livermore during his last illness ; the last time,
a few weeks before he died. His mind was in a delightful
frame. I could not but feel, as I left his room, that it was
indeed " the chamber where the good man meets his fate."
He passed quietly away. A kind Providence granted to him
the blessing of euthanasia.

1865.] DEATH OF GEORGE LIVEEMOEE. 453

Mr. HiLLARD then spoke as follows : —

I suppose, that, with the exception of Mr. Deane, I am that
member of the Society whose acquaintance with our departed
friend is of the longest date. I began to know him at about
the same time that Mr. Deane did. Mr. Livermore was at that
time a young man, newly started in business, and beginning
the collection of that library which was to him through life
a source of such high pleasure. I remember well the visit to
Europe which has been alluded to. He was the bearer of a
letter of introduction from Mr. Sumner to a surviving mem-
ber of Mr. Eoscoe's family, by whom he was received with a
kindness due to his cultivation and attractive manners. He
spoke to me, upon his return, with peculiar animation of the
pleasure he had had in seeing the treasures of the Spencer
collection, under the guidance of Dr. Dibdin, and how much
the veteran bibliographer was surprised and gratified to learn
that here in this remote America we were familiar with his
name and writings.

What you have said, Mr. President, what Mr. Deane has
said, do no more than justice to Mr. Livermore's worth. I rec-
ognize no exaggeration anywhere. In looking back upon his
life and character, I see prominently in him the graces of pu-
rity, sweetness, refinement, gentleness, and disinterestedness.
There was something of feminine delicacy in his organiza-
tion and the nature of his tastes. He was born with the
appetites and the apprehension of a scholar. He loved his
books, and he read them carefully and conscientiously. All
his researches were conducted in a very thorough manner,
and guided by a genuine love of truth.

But Mr. Livermore was not merely a student, a scholar, a
lover of books, the collector of a large and precious library :
he was at once a man of business and a man of letters; a com-
bination not indeed peculiar to our country, but found here,
I think, in higher perfection than an