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PROCEEDINGS
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Committee of l^ublicatfon.
EDWARD J. YOUNG.
CLEMENT HUGH HILL.
ALEXANDER McKENZIE.
I ' ■ - .J
^U 1:3 ", ^ -^ ^
V C rW'V-v r
PROCEEDINGS
P[a$s;icl]«seits historical ^ocictg.
Vol. XX.
1882-1883.
Pufaltsi^clJ nt tf)c (Cfjarge of tfjc ^cabotm JTunli.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
M.DCCC.LXXXIV.
University Press ;
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge-
PEEFATOEY NOTE.
1128351
This volume contains a record of the Proceedings of the
Massachusetts Historical Society from November,
1882, to December, 1883, inclusive ; the meetings in
July and August, as usual, having been omitted. The
earlier portion of the book was edited by Mr. Clement
Hugh Hill, who acted as Recording Secretary in the
absence of the late Mr. George Dexter.
During the past year the Society commemorated the
four hundredth anniversary of the birth of Luther; and
the public addresses on that occasion, which were issued
separately in pamphlet form, are printed in this volume.
There are also included here four Memoirs : that of
the Hon. Seth Ames, by E. Rock wood Hoar ; that of
George B. Emerson, LL.D., by Robert C. Waterston ;
that of George Ticknor, LL.D., by William W. Green-
ough ; and that of the Rev. Chandler Robbins, D.D., by
Charles C. Smith.
Ten illustrations accompany these pages, several of
which have been furnished without cost to the Society.
For the engraved likeness of Mr. Ticknor we are in-
debted to Mrs. Ticknor ; for that of Mr. Emerson, to R.
C. Waterston ; that of Dr. Robbins is a gift of Mrs.
Robbins; while Mr. Goodell has presented the facsimiles
VI PREFATORY NOTE.
of the early court seals of Massachusetts, and of the
Witchcraft Act of 1711. In addition to these, there
are maps of Rhode Island and the Carolina coast, a
heliotype of Lafayette, and a copy of an autograph
page of Irving.
The present volume, which is the twentieth, closes
the First Series of the Proceedings of the Society; and
a Consolidated Index to the whole is now in course of
preparation.
EDWARD J. YOUNG.
Cambeidge, March 28, 1884.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Prefatory Note v
List of Illustrations xiii
Officers elected April, 1883 xv
Resident Members xvi
Honorary and Corresponding Members xviii
Members deceased xx
NOVEMBER MEETING, 1882.
Minutes of the Tea Meetings in 1773, and other Papers relating
to the Town of Boston, communicated by Samuel A.
Grkkn ]
Bequest of the late William Winthrop 17
Remarks by Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., on William Winthrop 17
Account by Edward E. Hale of his Visit to Emmanuel Col-
lege, Cambridge, England 21
Description of the Cradock House in INIedford, by Thomas C.
Amort 24
Original Notes of Mr. Webster's Speech at Marshfield, presented
by Charles C. Smith 27
Letter of Sir Provo Wallis, communicated by George H.
Preble 29
Death of Mr. Old Tenor, communicated by Charles Deane . 30
Remarks by Mellen Chamberlain on Paper Money in the
Province 32
Memoir of the Hon. Seth Ames, by E. Rockwood Hoar . . 35
Vlll CONTENTS.
DECEMBER MEETING.
PAGB
Remarks by the President on procuring a copy of the Map of
Sebastian Cabot, and on Sir Walter Raleigh 37
Letter of Governor Winthrop 43
Gifts to the Society 45
Papers of Oxenbridge Thacher, presented by Miss E. S. Quincy 46
JANUARY MEETING, 1883.
Remarks by the President on the Raleigh Volume of Drawings 57
Account of Sir Christopher Gardiner, by Charles Francis
Adams, Jr 60
Paper on the Expedition under General Sullivan in 1779, by
Thomas C. Amory » 88
FEBRUARY MEETING.
Remarks of the President, suggested by his recent Tour in
England and France 95
Farrer's Map of Virginia, communicated by Justin Winsor . 102
Committee on Publication of the Sewall Correspondence . . . 1 04
Inquiry, by James Freeman Clarke, in regard to Persons
Burned or Gibbeted in Massachusetts 105
MARCH MEETING.
Remarks by the President announcing the Decease of the Hon.
Paul A. Chadbourne and Mr. Nathaniel Thayer .... 106
Tribute by George E. Ellis to Mr. Thayer 108
Tribute by Andrew P. Peabodt 110
History of Hardwick, presented by Lucius R. Paige . . . 112
Communication from Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., on Early
Portrait Painters in Boston 113
Paper by Abner C- Goodell, Jr., on the Murder of Captain
Codman 122
Paper by Abner C. Goodell, Jr., on the Provincial Seals used
in Massachusetts 157
CONTENTS. IX
ANNUAL MEETING, APRIL, 1883.
PAGE
Remarks by the President on the late John Richard Green,
and recent Gifts from Mrs. Ricliard Frothingham . . . 171
Communication from Charles Francis Adams, Jr., on the
Printing of Old Manuscripts 175
Remarks of Francis Parkman and Charles Deane . . . 183
Remarks by the President in regard to an account of Doro-
thea Scott 1 85
Heliotype of Cotton Mather exhibited by Justin WiNSOR . . 186
Will of George Smith, communicated by Charles Deane . . 187
The Cannon-ball in Brattle Street Church deposited by Abbott
Lawrence 189
Report of the Council 189
Report of the Librarian ............. 191
Report of tlie Cabinet-keeper 191
Report of the Treasurer 193
List of Officers elected 199
Votes of Thanks 199, 200
MAY MEETING.
Remarks by the President on presenting an Autograph Page
of Irving and a Letter of William Ellery 201
Committee to publish the Proceedings 204
Communication by Henry M. Dexter on the Printing of Old
Manuscripts . 204
Burial-ground Inscriptions prepared by Samuel A. Green . 209
Paper by Abner C. Goodell, Jr., on tlie Charges against
Samuel Adams 213
Remarks by Mellen Chamberlain on the Character of Samuel
Adams , 223
Memorials of Count Rumford exhibited by George E. Ellis . 226
The Word " Ra'th," discussed by Thomas W. Higginson . . 227
Some Historical Tracts described by Justin Winsor .... 229
Gifts to the Society 231
Memoir of George B. Emerson, LL.D., by Robert C. Water-
STON 232
CONTENTS.
JUNE MEETING.
PAGE
Remarks by the President, announcing the Death of Laboulaye 2 GO
Resolution offered by George E. Ellis, in regard to the Com-
memoration of Martin Luther 264
Communication by Lucius R. Paige respecting Marmaduke
Johnson 265
Announcement by Fitch Edward Oliver of the PubHcation
of Hutchinson's Diary 268
Battle between the Eoston and Berceau, communicated by Ellis
Ames , 269
Paper relating to the White Kennett Library, by Charles
Deane 274
Committee on publishing the Trumbull Papers 280
Communication by Abner C. Goodell, Jr., on the Trials of
the Witches in Massachusetts 280
SEPTEMBER MEETING.
Letter of Peleg W. Chandler about the Witch-trials . . . 327
Remarks by Abner C. Goodell, Jr 331
Remarks by William Everett 332
Paper by Andrkw P. Peabody on the Impeachment of the
Hon. John Pickering 333
Remarks by William Everett 337
Colonial State Papers, communicated by Charles Deaxe . . 338
OCTOBER MEETING.
Remarks by the President 342
Letter from Daniel Webster . , 343
Communication by Gf.orge E. Ellis, on the proposed Statue
of John Harvard 345
Remarks by Charles Deane 348
Remarks by the President 348
Committee for publishing the Washington Letters 350
Committee of Arrangements for the Luther Celebration . . . 350
CONTENTS. XI
NOVEMBER MEETING.
PAGE
Remarks by the President on the Death of the Hon. Gusta-
vus Vasa Fox 351
Remarks by Edward J. Young in reference to the Celebration
of the Birth of Martin Luther 355
The Greuze Portrait of Franklin, communicated by William
W. Greenough 359
Letters of John Adams, presented by Charles Francis Ad-
ams, Jr 360
Address by the President at the Four Hundredth Anniversary
of the Birth of Luther, in Arlington Street Church . . . 362
Commemorative Discourse by Fuederic H. Hedge .... 364
Memoir of George Ticknor, LL.D., by William W. Green-
ough 384
DECEMBER MEETING.
Remarks by the President 392
Communication from Peleg W. Chandler in regard to the
Witchcraft Trials 395
Gifts to the Society 400
Votes of Thanks 401
Remarks by Professor James Bryce 401
Map of the Carolina Coast, described by John T. Hassam . . 402
Memoir of the Rev. Chandler Robbins, D.D., by Charles C.
Smith 403
List of Donors to the Library 418
Index 421
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Portrait of George Ticknor Frontispiece
Portrait of Lafayette 101
Fac-simile of Seals of Massachusetts .... 158, 164
Fac-simile of Washington Irving's MS. of "• Life
OF Columbus" 201
Portrait of George B. Emerson 232
Fac-simile of the Act to Reverse the Attainders
FOR Witchcraft 285
Map of Rhode Island 350
Map of the Carolina Coast 402
Portrait op Chandler Robbins 410
OFFICERS
OF THE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Elected April 12, 1883.
Hon. ROBERT C. WINTHROP, LL.D Boston.
DicE-^restbcnts.
Rev. GEORGE E. ELLIS, LL.D Boston.
CHARLES DEANE, LL.D Cambridge.
Ilccorbing ^ecrdarg.
Rev. EDWARD J. YOUNG, A.M Cambridge.
Comsponbing ^tcrdarg.
JUSTIN WIXSOR, A.B Cambridge.
CHARLES C. SMITH, Esq Boston.
librarian.
Hon. SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D Boston.
Cabiitct-|lE£p£r.
FITCH EDWARD OLIVER, M.D Boston.
^ucutibt CommillcE of Ibc Council.
HENRY W. HAYNES, A.M Boston.
CHARLES F. ADAMS, Jr., A.B Quincy.
J. ELLIOT CABOT, LL.B Brookline.
JOHN T. MORSE, Jr., A.B Beverly.
CLEMENT HUGH HILL, A.M Boston.
[XV]
RESIDENT MEMBERS,
AT THE DATE OF THE PRINTING OF THIS BOOK, IN THE ORDER OF
THEIR ELECTION.
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, LL.D.
Hon. Charles Francis Adams, LL.D.
Rev. George E. Ellis, LL.D.
Hon. PelegW. Chandler, LL.D.
Rev. Lucius R. Paige, D.D.
John Langdon Sibley, A.M.
Henry Wheatland, M.D.
Charles Deane, LL.D.
Francis Parkman, LL.B.
Ellis Ames, A.B.
Rev. Samuel K. Lothi'op, D.D.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, LL.D.
Hon. Stephen Salisbury, LL.D.
Henry Austin Whitney, A.M.
Leverett Saltonstall, A.M.
Henry W. Torrey, LL.D.
Rev. Robert C. Waters ton, A. INI.
Thomas C. Amory, A.M.
Hon. 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, D.D.
Rev. Andrew P. Peabody, LL.D.
Hon. Horace Gray, LL.D.
Amos A. Lawrence, A.M.
Rev. Edwards A. Park, D.D.
Hon. Francis E. Parker, LL.B.
[xvi]
William H. Whitmore, A.M.
Hon. James Russell Lowell, D.C.L
Rev. Nicholas Hoppin, D.D.
Hon. William C. Endicott, LL.D.
Hon. E. Rockwood Hoar, LL.D.
Josiah P. Quincy, A.M.
Samuel Eliot, LL.D.
Henry G. Denny, A.M.
Charles C. Smith, Esq.
Hon. Geoi'ge S. Hale, A.B.
AVilliam S. Appleton, A.M.
Rev. Henry M. Dexter, D.D.
Hon. Theodore Lyman, S.B.
Abner C. GoodeU, Jr., A.M.
AVilliam Amory, A.M.
Edward D. Harris, Esq.
Augustus T. Perkins, A.M.
Hon. Mellen Chamberlain, LL.B.
Winslow Warren, LL.B.
Francis W. Palfrey, A.M.
Charles W. Eliot, LL.D.
William Gray, A.M.
Rev. Henry W. Foote, A.M.
Charles C. Perkins, A.M.
Charles F. Dunbar, A.B.
Hon. Charles Devens, LL.D.
Charles F. Adams, Jr., A.B.
William P. Uphain, A.B.
Fitch Edward Oliver, M.D.
RESIDENT MEMBERS.
xvn
William Everett, Ph.D.
George B. Chase, A.M.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Ph.D.
JohuT. Morse, Jr., A.B.
Justin Winsor, A.B.
J. Elliot Cabot, LL.B.
Henry Lee, A.M.
Gamaliel Bradford, A.B.
Rev. Edward J. Yomig, A.M.
Hon. John Lowell, LL.D.
Abbott Lawrence, A.M.
Rev. James Freeman Clarke, D.D.
Rev. Phillips Brooks, D.D.
William W. Greenough, A.B.
Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., A.M.
Henry W. Haynes, A.M.
Thomas W. Higginson, A.M.
Rev. Edward G. Porter, A.M.
John C. Ropes, LL.B.
Rev. Henfy F. Jenks, A.M.
Hon. Samuel C. Cobb.
Horace E. Scudder, A.M.
Rev. Edmund F. Slafter, A.M.
Stephen Salisbury, Jr., A.M.
John T. Hassam, A.M.
Rev. Alexander McKenzie, D.D.
John C. Phillips, A.B.
Ai'thur Lord, A.B.
Arthur B. Ellis, LL.B.
Hon. Henry Morris, LL.D.
Rear- Admiral Geo. H. Preble, U.S.N.
Clement Hugh Hill, A.M.
Frederick W. Putnam, A.M.
James M. Bugbee, Esq.
Hon. John D. Washburn, LL.B.
Rev. Egbert C. Smyth, D.D.
Francis A. Walker, LL.D.
Rev. Arthur L. Perry, LL.D.
Hon. John E. Sanford, A.M.
Uriel H. Crocker, LL.B.
Hon. Martin Brimmer, A.B.
HONORARY OR CORRESPONDING
MEMBERS,
ELECTED UNDER THE ORIGINAL ACT OF INCORPORATION, 1794, IN THE ORDER
OF THEIR ELECTION.
John Winthrop, Esq.
Rt. Rev. William B. Stevens, D.D.
E. George Squier, Esq.
Hon. George Bancroft, D.C.L.
J. Hammond Trumbull, LL.D.
James Eiker, Esq.
Henry Stevens, F.S.A.
Frederick Griffin, Esq.
Rev. Wm. S. Southgate, A.M.
John Gilmary Shea, LL.D.
Hon. John R. Bartlett, A.M.
HONORARY MEMBERS,
ELECTED SINCE THE PASSAGE OF THE ACT OF 1857.
M. Francois A. A. Mignet.
Leopold von Ranke.
James Antliony Froude, M.A.
Edward A. Freeman, D.C.L.
Rt. Rev. Lord A. C. Hervey, D.D.
Rev. Theodore D. Woolsey, D.D.
David Masson, LL.D.
Baron F. von Holtzendorff.
M. le comte de Paris,
[xviii]
Rev. William Stubbs, D.D.
Hon. William M. Evarts, LL.D.
Hon. Horatio Seymour, LL.D.
Theodor Mommsen.
M. le marquis de Rochambeau.
Hon. Elihu B. Washburne.
Prof. John R. Seeley, M.A.
William E. H. Lecky, LL.D.
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS,
ELECTED SINCE THE PASSAGE OF THE ACT OF 1857.
Benjamin F. French, Esq.
William H. Trescot, Esq.
J. Carson Brevoort, LL.D.
George H. Moore, LL.D.
W. Noel Sainsbury, Esq.
S. Austin Allibone, LL.D.
Henry T. Parker, A.M.
Benson J. Lossing, LL.D.
Lyman C. Draper, LL.D.
Rev. William G. Eliot, D.D.
Henry B. Dawson, Esq.
Goldwin Smith, D.C.L.
George T. Curtis, A.B.
Hon. John Meredith Read, A.M.
Joseph Jackson Howard, LL.D.
Richard Henry Major, F.S.A.
Rev. Edmond de Pressense, D.D.
Charles J. Stille, LL.D.
William W. Story, A.M.
M. Jules Marcou.
Thomas B. Akins, D.C.L.
M. Pierre Margry.
Charles J. Hoadly, A.M.
John Foster Kirk, Esq.
Benjamin Scott, F.R.A.S.
Hon. Charles H. Bell, LL.D.
Rev. William Barry, A.M.
Rev. Edward D. Neill, A.B.
William Gammell, LL.D.
Rev. Thomas Hill, LL.D.
Hon. Manning F. Force, LL.B.
Sir Bernard Burke, C.B., LL.D.
Samuel Rawson Gardiner, LL.D.
Hon. John Bigelow, A.B.
George William Curtis, LL.D.
Henry C. Lea, Esq.
Hubert H. Bancroft, A.M.
Rev. Richard S. Storrs, D.D.
M. Gustave Vapereau.
William F. Poole, LL.D.
Rev. E. Edwards Beardsley, D.D.
John Austin Stevens, A.B.
Joseph F. Loubat, LL.D.
Charles H. Hart, LL.B.
Rev. Moses Coit Tyler, LL.D.
Hermann von Hoist, Ph.D.
Franklin B. Dexter, A.M.
John M. Brown, A.M.
Hon. Andrew D. White, LL.D.
Prof. George W. Ranck.
James M. Le Moine, Esq.
Alfred Langdon Elwyn, M.D.
Rt. Hon. George O. Trevelyan, LL.D.
Plenry Adams, A.B.
Julius Dexter, A.B.
Prof. Henry M. Baird, D.D.
Gen. Henry B. Carrington, U.S.A.
Hon. William Wirt Henry.
M. le vicomte d'Haussonville.
Prof. William F. Allen, A.M.
James Bryce, D.C.L.
Rev. Charles R. Weld, B.D.
Prof. Herbert B. Adams, Ph.D.
Signor Coruelio Desimoni.
Gen. George W. Cullum, U.S.A.
[xix]
MEMBERS DECEASED.
Members who have died since the last volume of the Proceedings was issued, Dec. 16,
1882 ; or of whose death information has been received since that date.
Hon. Paul A. Chadbourne, LL.D.
Nathaniel Thayer, A.M.
Williams Latham, A.B.
Resident.
Rev. William S. Bartlet, A.M.
George Dexter, A.M.
Honorary and Corresponding.
Col. Joseph L. Chester, LL.D.
George Washington Greene, LL.D.
Rev. John R. Green, LL.D.
[XX]
M. Edouard Rene Ldfebre Labou-
laye, LL.D.
Hon. Gustavus V. Fox,
M. Henri Martin.
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
NOVEMBER MEETING, 1882.
THE regular monthly meeting of the Society was held at
the rooms in Tremont Street, Boston, on Thursday, the
9th instant, at 3 o'clock p.m. In the continued absence in
Europe of the President, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop,
the chair was taken by the senior Vice-President, Dr. George
E. Ellis.
The Recording Secretary read the record of the preceding
meeting, and it was accepted.
The Librarian presented the monthly list of donors to the
Library.
The Cabinet-keeper reported that the Winslow deposit of
portraits and other articles had been surrendered to Mr. Isaac
Winslow, of Hinghara, in accordance with the vote passed at
the last meeting. He had, by the authority of the Council,
caused an excellent copy of the portrait of Governor Edward
Winslow to be made by Mr. Edgar Parker for the Society's
Cabinet.
The Corresponding Secretary read a letter from Professor
James Bryce accepting his election as a Corresponding Mem-
ber.
Dr. Samuel A. Green communicated the following copies
of papers belonging to the Overseers of the Poor of the City
of Boston. They are here printed with the spelling modified
to conform with modern usage : —
Award in the case of Gibbons and Bendal.
Whereas there is certain difference concerning a warehouse, and
wharfage and other accounts, betwixt Major General Gibbons and
Edward Bendal, which is referred to the award of William Hibbins,
1
2 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
Esq., and Edward Hutchinson, and have bound themselves, each to
other, in one hundred pounds sterling to stand to their award ; we
having heard the same, do award as followeth: —
Imp'. That the warehouse, by the not payment of the first £10, is
forfeit into the Major General's hands, and therefore we award that
he shall peaceably, without molestation, enjoy the same.
2. That for the door into the cellar upon the west side of the house
in the lane betwixt Josh. Scotto's yard and the warehouse, shall be
taken away, and the ground where the stairs goes down to be filled up
and made firm at the charge of [the] Major General, to give free
passage to the wharf.
3. That Major General hath liberty of landing goods free of wharf-
age only against the end of his warehouse, where he maintains the
wharf, and if he lands any goods in any other j^lace of the wharf, he
is to pay wharfage.
4. That Major General is not to keep any vessels in the dock with-
out paying for the dockage, though against his own wharf, any longer
than for convenient time for landing of his goods out of the same
vessels.
5. That Major General Gibbons hath not liberty to let his goods lie
upon that ground against the end of his warehouse any longer than 24
hours at most after landing, but to keep it free for a passage, and for
any other to land goods on when he is not landing. Ed. Bendall, or
those appointed to take the wharfage, is to take wharfage there as well
as in any other place of the wharf upon all men but Major General
Gibbons.
6. For the accounts, w^e find Major General Gibbons in debt to Ed.
Bendal. by his own acknowledgment, £7 Is. 8|c?., besides the wine from
the Dutchman, which we find to be 58 ton, with the cumbering the
wharf, and the empty cask, 40/8 ; besides, we find divers other things,
for which we judge due to Ed. Bendal the sum of £3 3s. 4rf., for that
in all we award the Major General to pay Ed. Bendal, the sum of
£12 OS. Orf., and to perform all the other covenants as is above speci-
fied. In witness of this our award, we have set to our hands this 10,
9th mouth, 1649.
William Hibbins.
Ed. Hutchinson, Jr.
Sarah Browne bound apprentice.
Suffolk ss.
Sllisi 4(nt)cntitrc roxtncsiSctli that Thomas Walker, Bozoun Allen,
James Hill, John Marion, Sr., Obadiah Gill, Timotliy Thornton,
Ephraim Savage, Samuel Checkley, and Nathan! Williams, Select-
men for the time being of the town of Boston, in New England,
by and with the consent and approbation of Jeremiah Dummer and
Edward Bromfield, Esqs., two of their Majesties' justices of the
1882.] APPRENTICESHIP OF SABAH BEOWNE. 3
peace for the county of Suffolk aforesaid, ^at)£ put and bound forth
Sarah Browne, daughter of Sarah Browne, late of Boston aforesaid,
deceased (a poor child of the town of Boston aforesaid), apprentice
■ unto Timothy Winter, of Mendham,* in New England aforesaid, hus-
bandman, and with him, his executors, administrators (o?' assigns),
after the manner of an a2:)prentice, to dwell and serve from the fifth
day of January, one thousand six hundred ninety-three, or four, unto
the full end and term of nine years from thence next ensuing, and
fully to be complete and ended. During which said term with him
the said master, his executors, administrators (or assigns), faithfully
and obediently to serve in all lawful business and employment, and in
all things to behave herself honestly and orderly towards her said mas-
ter, his executors, administrators {or assigns), during all this term.
^nD the said Timothy Winter, for himself, his executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, doth hereby covenant, promise, grant, and agree to
and with the aforenamed Selectmen for the time being and their suc-
cessors in the same place and office, That he. the said Timothy Winter,
his executors, administrators, or assigns shall and will teach, or cause
the said apprentice to be taught to read, spin, knit, sew, and other
housewifery by the best ways he or they can. Jtrtt) also to find, pro-
vide for, and allow unto the said apprentice good and sufficient meat,
drink, apparel, washing, lodging, and all other necessaries, both in
sickness and in health during the said terra. Jlnt) at the end and
expiration thereof to give and deliver, or cause to be delivered, unto
the said apprentice two good suits of apparel for all parts of her body,
suitable for such an apprentice. En STcSttmonp toljcrcof, the said
parties to these presents have hereunto interchangeably set their hands
and seals the eighth day of January. Anno Domini one thousand six
hundred ninety and three, or four, and in the fifth year of the reign of
our Sovereign Lord and Lady, William and Alary, King and Queen of
England.
Signed, sealed, and delivered in Thomas Walker.
presence of us, the word assigns Bozou?; Allen.
erased in the eighth line, thirteenth James Hill.
line, and eleventh line before sign- John Makiox.
ing. Samuel Checklet.
Samtjel Bridge. Timothy Thornton.
Jno Marion, Jr. Ephraim Savage.
Recorded Jan. 1693/4.
Obadiah Gill.
Nathan"-.^ Williams.
* The name of the English town in SufEolk, for which our Mendon was
called, is so spelled. — Eds.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov-
Warrant for removal of Small-Pox Patient.
Suffolk ss. To the sheriff of the county of Suffolk or his deputy, or
constables of the town of Boston, or either of them. Greeting.
Whereas there is a man sick of the small-pox at the house of Widow
Paige at the north end of Boston, and in order to prevent the further
spreading of said distemper within the said town, These ai'e therefore
in her Majesty's name to will and require you, and every of you unto
whom these presents shall come, forthwith to aid and assist the Select-
men of the town of Boston, or any of them, in disposing and removing
the said Widow Paige, with her son, daughter, and maid, and cause
them and each of them to be carried down to Apjile Island, or any
other remote place of the town of Boston, as the said Selectmen shall
direct : And to impress men and boats, &c., as the occasion shall re-
quire. Hereof fail not ; and this shall be your warrant.
Given under our hands and seals ; dated at Boston the twentieth
day of June, in the first year of her Majesty's reign, Anno 1702.
Jer: Dumer, ) T ^•
T o /^ r Justices.
Jn° Clark, j
You are alike required to charge and command the said Widow Paige
and family to be and i-emain in said place they shall be placed in by the
Selectmen of said town, on their peril.*
Proposals to the inhahitants of the Town of Boston relating to the
Grammar Free School.
Whereas according to the information of some of the learned, who
have made observation of the easy and pleasant rules and methods used
in some schools in Europe, where scholars, perhaps within the compass
of one year, have attained to a competent proficiency, so as to be able
to read and discourse in Latin, and of themselves capable to make
considerable progress therein, and that according to the methods used
here, very many (perhaps hundreds) of boys in this town who by
their parents were never designed for a more liberal education, have
spent two, three, four years or more of their moi'e early days at the
Latin School, which hath proved of very little or no benefit as to their
after accomplishments ; . . •
It is therefore proposed to the Town that they would recommend it
to those gentlemen whom they shall choose as inspectors of the
schools, together with the ministers of the town, to consider whether
in this town (where the free school is maintained chiefly by a town
* This was an early case in the fifth visitation of this disease to Boston. It
began to spread in July and reached its maximum in December. About three
hundred people died of the disorder. See 1 Coll. vol. iv. p. 213. — Eds.
1882.] MEMORIAL OF COTTON MATHER. 5
rate on the inhabitants), that supposing the former and more tedious
and burthensome method may be thought the best for such as are de-
signed for scholars (which is by some questioned), yet for the salie and
benefit of others, wlio usually are the greater number by far in such
schools . . . whether it might not be advisable that some more easy
and delightful methods be there attended and put in practice, and to
signify to the Town their thoughts therein, in order to the encouraging
of the same.
March 10, 1710. Ordered by the Selectmen to be laid before the
Town.
Recommendation of Mr. John Barnard.
Boston, 17 5"?o , 1713.
Being informed that the Selectmen of Boston have made choice of
Mr. John Barnard (at this time of Salem) to be the master of the
New Grammar School in the north part of Boston, we do hereby
signify (from the character we have had of him) our acquiescence in
the choice, and approbation of it.
Increase Mather.
Cotton Mather.
Nehemiah Walter.
Thomas Bridge.
Benjamin Wadsworth.
Eben^^"^" Pemberton.
Benjamin Colman.*
A Memorial.
Boston, 24 4™"-, 1717.
Upon an uneasy experience of a grievous mispence of time which
we suffer in a long attendance at funerals (an occasion than which
there is none that more powerfully admonishes to a wise redeeming
of time), the ministers of this place have directed a Memorial to be
laid before the gentlemen who are the Selectmen of the city, ear-
nestly soliciting that they would please to revive a vigorous execution
of the town order already in force for the regulation of this matter,
or to take into their consideration what further provision may be made
for the prevention of so great an inconvenience.
Cotton Mather.
* At the town meetinc:, March, 1700, "some of the inhabitants of the north
end of tlie town stood up and requested tliat they might have the Uberty of a
free-school, for the teaching to write and cipher." Drake says that about 1712
a house was built where the Ehot School still stands. Mr. Barnard was a
graduate of Harvard College in 1709, and succeeded his father in the pastorate
of the First Church in Andover, April 8, 1719. — Eds.
6 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
Gentlemen, — These are to acquaint you that the forms in my
school is much out of repair, and that I am in great necessity of
shutters to my chamber windows. I am very much exposed for want
thereof, having at sundry times in the night had hirge brickbats thrown
into my room. I would tlierefore crave the favor of you to comply
with my request ; and in so doing you will much oblige
Your humble servant to command,
Jacob Sheafe.
Boston. Oct. 21, 1719.
To the inhabitants of the Town of Boston in toivi meeting assembled,
on JMarch 9, 1740.
The Petition of sundry of the inhabitants of said town showeth : —
That whereas the practice of shooting at pigeons from the tops of
the houses in the town is become very general, and is evidently
attended with many bad consequences, such as exposing the houses to
fire by the lighted wads falling on the shingles in a dry season, shoot-
ing through windows, and by the noise of the guns robbing the aged,
the sick, the weak, and infirm of the best part of their repose (as
likewise by consuming needlessly a great quantity of powder which
might be better employed), whereby the persons and substance of the
several inhabitants are very much endangered. Your petitioners
therefore pray that some method may be now undertaken to prevent
the like pernicious practice for the future.
Jas. Allen. John Gooch.
Thos. Bulfinch. Jas. Boutineau.
John Green. W=^ Davis.
John Indicott. Isaac White.
Thos. Aston. Jonathan Loring.
Benj!" Russell. Jos. Green.
John Pierce. Nath^ Cunningham.
Edw? Hutchinson. Joshua "Winsloav.
Hen. Frankland. Jn° Wheelwright.
And. Oliver. Nathan^ Balston.
Benj: Pollard. Corne. Waldo.
Isaac Winslow.
1882.]
BOUNDARIES OF ROXBURY AND BOSTON.
To the Gentlemen the Selectmen of the Toivn of Boston. The Peti-
tion of Abiah Holbrook, writing master, humbly showeth : —
That Mr. Vinal, your petitioner's usher, has signified to him his in-
tention to leave the school next week and remove to Newberry, and
that he has made known the same to the gentlemen th,e Selectmen.
As your petitioner will then be destitute of any help, and utterly
unable to tend so large a school alone, he humbly prays that the gen-
tlemen the Selectmen would be pleased to appoint another usher in
his room and stead.
And your petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray, &c.
Abiah Holbrook.*
Boston, Oct. 2, 1764.
Boundaries of Boston and Roxhury.
Pursuant to agreement, we, the subscribers, met at the time and
place appointed, and run the line, and renewed the ancient bound marks
between the town of Boston and the town of Roxbury, beginning at the
mouth of the creek, which opens into the bay leading to Cambridge,
and so goes as the creek runs, until it comes in a range with the fence
and trees which parts between John Richardson, Esq., late his land,
formerly Mr. Nathaniel Brewer's, and Sam! Welles, Esq.'s, land, for-
merly called Mr. Minot's, then across the street or highway, until it
comes to a large stone standing endway in the fence, and from thence
to a stumj) with a heap of stones about eighty feet from the highway,
and from thence straight to a little knoll on the edge of the creek, a
corner of the bounds where stands a stake marked B on the easterly
side and R on the westerly side ; and from thence easterly as the creek
runs till it comes to a small stake marked B on one side and R on the
other, in Colonel Lamb's dam ; and from thence as the creek runs into
the bay between Boston and Dorchester.
Dated the fifteenth day of October, Anno Domini, 1765,
Eben? Newell, ]
John Davis, | Selectmen
Sam't Sumner, \ of
Eleazer Weld, | Roxbury.
Aaron Davis, J
Joshua Henshaw,
Joseph Jackson,
Benj^. Austin,
Sajiuel Sewall,
John Ruddock,
John Hancock,
John Winslow,
Selectmen
of
Boston.
* Mr. Holbrook was master of the writing
school was estabUshed in 1717. — Eds.
school on the Common. That
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
[Nov.
To the Gentlemen^ Selectmen of the Town of Boston.
We, the subscribers, having children usually attending the North Latin
School, are so far from objecting to Mr. Nathan" Oliver as master of
said school, that we are desirous you would place him master over our
youth at said school. You will oblige
Your humble servants,
Boston, March 31, 1767.
There are but 24 par-
ents of youth attending
the North School when
opened. Five non-sub-
scribers have repeatedly
declared they should be
well satished with the
above said Mr. Oliver.
Thos Greenough & Son.
Elizabeth Pkitchard.
John Coppinger & Son.
Fran^ AYright.
Joseph Coolidge.
John Pulling.
George Bright.
Edward Procter.
Levi Jennings.
Stephen Nazro.
Samuel Harris.
(2 sons
named Allen)
Samuel Aves.
Paul Revere.
Ann Rea.
Samuel Checkley, Jr., having a son to send to North Latin School
this spring, signs himself satisfied with whatever master the Selectmen
shall be pleased to place there ; at the same time is ready to say that
he hath no objection against Mr. Oliver's being appointed, or any other
gentleman that he hath heard of.
Deposition of Tliomas Waterman, Jr.
I, Thomas Waterman, Jr., of Marshfield, in the county of Plymouth,
mariner, do testify and say that on Thursday, the ninth day of June
instant, I applied to John Comer, Esq., commander of his Majesty's
ship " Romney," then in the harbor of Boston, to obtain the release of
one Peter Vallings, who had been lately impressed on board said ship,
he, the said Comer, having at that time promised me to discharge the
said Peter provided I would bring him an able seaman in his stead. The
next day, after Captain Comer had promised me as above, I produced
on boai'd said ship one James Bolton, acknowledged to be an able seaman
by the said Captain Comer, and I told him I had paid four pounds five
shillings sterling to procure the man ; but Captain Comer utterly refused
to make the exchange as he had promised, saying he was my man
before. As I was coming over the ship's side, I asked Captain Comer
if I should leave said Bolton on board the ship, in hopes by that means
to obtain said Vallings's discharge. Captain Comer told me I should
not leave said Bolton on board his ship, and ordered me to take him
away with me, which I did.
1882.] BOSTON TOWN WATCH. 9
I further declare that, while I was on board said ship, the said Cap-
tain Comer expressed very high resentment against the town of Boston,
and said the town of Boston was governed by mobs that were damned
villains, and by the eternal God he would make their hearts ache before
he left, or before his ship left the place. And this he, the said Captain
Comer, declared in the same words, or in other words of the same pur-
port, divers times, and further saith not.
Thomas Waterman, Jr.
June 25, 1768.
Province of the Massachusetts Bat,
Suffolk ss. June 25, 1768.
Thomas Waterman, Jr., above named, made solemn oath to the truth
of the above written deposition before us.
S. Danforth, ) Justices of the Peace throughout
W. Brattle, y the said Produce.
Boston Town Watch.
Boston, Nov. 15, 1768.
A complaint from the town dock watch against the officers of the
regiments.
On Friday night, the fifth day of this instant, two of these officers
were passing by the watch-house, and the sentry at the door hailed
them. [Their] answer was, '• God damn you ; do you dare to hail a
[#o?-«] ? You have no right to hail an officer." We told him [we]
had a right to hail him, or his master, at that time of night, and have
an answer from him, which was past twelve o'clock.
Again, on Saturday night, the twelfth day of November, 1768, an
officer and one of the town inhabitants was passing by the watch-house,
and we hailed them. The young man answered, " A friend," and the
officer told him not to answer them. And the officer, swearing and
cursing to us, " We had no business to hail an officer," and said, " Do
you think to stand four regiments, God damn you ? We have four
regiments here, and we will burn you all to ashes in a moment's time.
We will send you all to hell and damnation in a minute " ; and [he]
drew his bayonet and stabbed it against the door, and said, "• God
damn you, come out here." What do you think to do with us ?
Times is not now as they have been.
his
Edward Irland. Edward x Sanders.
mark
James Pike. George Cheesman.
The watch finds ever since that the officers and soldiers are very
quiet and still. The duty of the town has been faithfully discharged
this month.
2
10 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
Our old number consists of six men : Edward Irland, Hugh
Taylor, Edward Sanders, Samuel Morgan, Jonathan Edmans, Jolm
Clough.
The addition being made to the watch, Dec. 19, 1774: Thomas
Pitcher, JNlichael Gary [?], Ralph Merging, Joseph Clough. And on
the 22d came two more : Benjamin Abrams [?], John Blight.
Boston, Dec. 28, 1774.
This is Edward Irland's return for the Dock Square watch. This
is to acquaint the Select gentlemen of the town that I find the town
inhabitants to be exceeding still and quiet within our rounds. Last
Saturday night, after twelve o'clock, I heard three or four men giving
out the time of the night by Mr. ScoUay's. The watch went out to
them, and asked them what right they had to give out the time of the
night, for we found them to be some of the men-of-war's officers, or
captains of the transports. Two of them had their small swords with
them, and they drew them both, and swore that if we would follow
them any further they would make use of them. I, finding these two
men that had the swords to be in liquor aud very hot-headed, the other
two that was with them desired them to be still aud quiet. The watch
could have taken them very easily, but I think that will not do exactly
in this difficult season.
Minutes of the Tea Meetings^ 1773.*
At an assembly of the ( people^ inhabitants of this and the neighbor-
ing towns, at Faneuil Hall, on Monday, 29 November, 1773, at 9 o'clock
A.M., on account of the arrival of the tea sent by the East India Com-
pany, 114 chests of which are now arrived in Captain Hall.
Upon a motion made. Voted, That the Hon. John Hancock, Esq., be
chosen Moderator. He being in expectation of being sent for by the
Governor and Council, he was excused from serving, and Jonathan
Williams, P^sq., was chosen Moderator of the meeting unanimously.
A motion made that as this town have determined at a late meeting
that they would, to the utmost of their power, prevent the landing of
the tea, that the question be put. Whether this body {he now) are
absolutely determined (to visit the landing and sale of the tea — that
* In printinsj these minutes, which are in the handwriting of William Cooper,
the Town Clerk, the spelling has been modified to conform witli modern usage.
There are many erasures and corrections in the original. These the editors
have thought it best to preserve, as they may show the lirst form in which the
people's votes took shape, and the subseqnent changes in their language. They
are here represented by the words printed in italics within parentheses. An
occasional word, in brackets, has been snpjilied to complete the sense.
Tlie newspapers of the time contain what may be considered official reports
of these meetings, prepared probably by Cooper from these notes, which pos-
sess interest as the original minutes, made at the time, of meetings of great
importance in the struggle for independence. — Eds.
1882.]
TEA MEETINGS. ' 11
the tea shall go to) that the tea shall be returned to the place from
whence it came, at all events. {And to put themselves upon a footing
with their enemies in the execution, case of opposition.) Passed iu the
affirmative unanimously.
Upon a motion made, Voted, That this meeting be immediately
adjourned to the Old South Meeting-house.
At the Old South Meeting-house, met according to adjournment. A
motion made and the question put, Whether {this Body will submit to
any duty being jjaid on the tea) it is not the fii-m resolution of this
meeting that the tea shall not only be sent back, but that it shall not
pay a duty. Passed unanimously in the affirmative.
A motion made, in order to give time to the consignees to consider
and deliberate, that the meeting be adjourned to three o'clock. And
the meeting was adjourned accordingly.
Monday, 29th, 3 o'clock p. m.
The inhabitants met according to adjournment.
A motion made and seconded, Whether this tea go back in the same
bottom ; and it passed unanimously in the affirmative, upon which Mr.
Rotch informed the Body he shall protest against this proceeding {from
a good to his interest).
A motion made and seconded that he enter this tea at his peril ; and
it passed unanimously in the affirmative.
A motion made and the question put, that Captain Hall be told that
he is not to suffer the tea to be landed on his peril. Passed iu the
affirmative.
A motion was made that there be a watch kept for the security of
Captain Hall's vessel and cargo ; and the c[uestion being put, passed in the
affirmative. Watch to consist of 25 men. Captain Procter, Captain of
Watch, Paul Reviere [Revere], Henry Bass, Moses Grant, Foster
Condy [?], Joseph Levering, Mr. John Lovel, Dr. Story, John Win-
throp, Thomas Chase, John Greenleaf, Benjamin Edes, Benjamin Alley,
Joseph Peirce, Junior, Joshua Pico, Captain Riordon [?], J. Henderson,
John Crowe, Josiah Wheeler {Shubael H. [?]), John McFadden {Henry),
Joseph Edwards. Captain has pitched upon Thomas Knox, Jon" Stod-
der, Robt. Hitchborn, Stephen Bruce {Henry).*
Voted, That when this meeting be adjourned {to Tuesday morning
. . .) the adjournment be to to-morrow morning, 9 o'clock.
It was {moved that the) observed to the Body {Town) that the Gov-
ernor had required {issued ord.) the justices to meet this night and use
their endeavors to suppress any riots that may happen this night, and
the question put. Whether it be not the sense of this meeting that the
Governor's conduct herein does not reflect greatly upon the people, and
is solely calculated to serve the views of Administration.
Adjourned to Tuesday morning, 9 o'clock.
* The first-named probably volunteered at the meeting. The last sentence
was added to the minutes at a later time. — Eds.
12 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
Inhabitants met according to adjournment, Tuesday morning, 9
o'clock.
A motion made, and Voted, That Mr. Belknap, who offered himself
for the purpose, go to Dorchester and acquaint Mr. William* Phillips,
of the Council there sitting, that his company is earnestly desired at this
meeting.
A letter from the tea-consignees to John Scollay, Esq., read.
A letter from Governor to 8. Greeuleaf, Esq., read. The sheriff is
charged with a message from Governor. Voted, to be read.
The message from Governor read and hissed.f
Voted, That the {question he) sheriff be desired to leave a copy of
the message.
Upon a motion made, the question was put, Whether the assembly
would dismiss tliemselves agreeable to his requirement. Passed in the
negative, N. C. {unanimously), and {then) was followed with a general
hiss.
A proposal of Mr. Copley % that in case he can prevail with the
Clarkes to come into this meeting, the question may be put. Whether
they come with safety, and remain so till they have returned and not
be hissed ; and the question being put, passed in the affirmative. Then
the question was put. Whether two hours shall be given Mr. Copley
and [to ?] make return ; passed in the affirmative at 12 o'clock.
Adjourned to 2 o'clock p. M.
Met according to adjournment, 3 o'clock p.3i.§
Voted, That Mr. Rotch and Captain Hall be desired to give their
attendance.
Votes respecting importing tea liable to an American duty, and the
shipmasters, subsided for the present.
Mr. Rotch appeared, and according to a motion made, the question
was put, Whether {he promises) it is the resolution of this Body, and
they do require that the tea brouglit by Captain Hall shall be returned
to England in the bottom in which it came ; passed in the affirmative
unanimously.
{He answers) Upon which he informed the town that he should
protest against the whole proceeding, as he had done {against) yester-
day('s) . As it is demanded of him, though an involuntary act {he is)
in him, he is yet under a {the) necessity {to compli/), and shall comply
with the demand.
A motion made, That Captain Hall be obliged not to aid or assist in
landing the tea, but {he is to) if he {carry) continues master will {enter)
carry it back ; who replied, he should comply.
* Samuel PliiUips was of the Coimcil tliis year. — Eds.
t The Governor's message, or prochxmation, and the letter to Mr. Scollay
(one of the Selectmen), were printed hi tlie newspapers of the day. — Eds.
J Jolin Shiijleton Copley, R. A., the celebrated painter, who married, in 17G9,
Susan, dauuhter of Richard Clarke, one of the consignees of tlie tea. — Eds.
§ The ne\vsi)aper reports give 2 o'clock as the hour of the af tenioou meeting,
according to the adjournment. — Eds.
1882.] TEA MEETINGS. 13
A motion made, and Voted, That Mr. Rowe (illegible), an owner of
one of the vessels expected with tea, be desired to attend immediately.
Also Voted, That Mr. Timraius, factor for Captain Coffin's brig.*
A motion made for watch this night, and voted, viz. : —
Mr. Elzekiel Cheever as Captain, Mr. Thomas Uran, Joseph Eyres,
William Dickman, William Sutton, Samuel Peck, Ebenezer Ayres,
Thomas Bolley, W. Elbersoii, John Rice, Benjamin Stevens, Joseph
Fourde, James Brewer, Obedl' [?] Curtis, Rufus Bent, George Ray,
William Clap, Heujamiu Ingerson, Nicholas Peirce, Adam Colson,
Thomas Tileston, Daniel Hewes, Richard Hunuewell, Adam Colson,
Nicholas Peirce.
Voted, That the gentlemen who watch this night be desired to make
out a list of the watch for next night, and so each watch another till
(for) the time of watching is over.
Voted, That in case the watch are molested (a signed) the town be
alarmed by the tolling of the bells, if in the night, if in the day by
ringing of bells.
Voted, That six persons be appointed who are used to horses, to be
in readiness to give an alarm (when) in the country towns when neces-
sary : W. Rogers, Jere. Belknap, Stephen Hall, Nathan! Cobbit,
Thomas Gooding, of Charlestown, Benjamin Wood, of Charlestown.
John Rowe, Esq., attended, and was informed that (Captain) Mr.
Rotch had engaged to carry the tea back which came in Captain Ilall ;
when Mr. Rowe told the Body that the ship expected was under Captain
Bruce's care, but that he would use his influence that it should go back ;
and in every thing comply with this Body, and that he will give advice
to this Body upon her first arrival.
Voted, That it is the sense of this Body that the votes relative to
Captain Hall's (Bruce's) vessel be passed for Captain Bruce.
Mr. Timmius attend[ed], and informed that Captain Coffin was owned
in Nantucket, but that he gives his honor that no tea shall be landed
while in his care, or touched by any one until the owner's arrival.
Voted, That [what] Mr. Timmins, as well as Mr. Rowe has said, is
satisfactory. Passed unanimously.
Mr. Copley attended, and declared he had been to the Castle, and
hoped if he had exceeded the time set he (may) hopes they will con-
sider the difficulty of a water passage may be his apology. He then
said he had endeavored to convince them f they might come with
safety, but (that) though they thought they might be safe, yet, seeing
the terms were such as to the tea as was out of their power, they
thought it best not to come ; but they renewed their proposal of storing
the tea, and submit the tea to the inspection of a committee ; and that
this was the sulDstance of what they offered, but could do no otherwise
without danger of their ruin ; and that as they had not been active in
introducing the tea, they should do nothing to obstruct the people in
their procedure with it.
* Be desired to attend. — Eds. t i- e. the consignees. — Eds.
14 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKTCAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
Question, Whether the (mes-) return made by Mr. Copley (is satis)
for the consignees be in the least degree satisfactory ; passed in the
negative unanimously.
Vote of thanks to Mr. Rowe for information.
Motion as to not importing tea. Voted, as by vpritten vote, No. 10 ;
passed in the affirmative.*
Voted, That this vote be printed by itself and sent to London, and
all the ports in this Province.
A motion made that there be fair drafts of the proceedings of this
meeting drawn, and sent to York and Philadelphia, and that there be
a committee for that purpose. Mr. Samuel Adams, Hon. .Colonel
Hancock, William Phillips, Esq., Mr. John Rowe, the Moderator, a
committee for that purpose.
Voted, That it is the determination of the Body, when any notice
by day or night is given of any molestation to the watch, that (loe
will . . . abide by our resolutions . . . ) they will immediately set
themselves to carry (our resolutions) their votes and resolutions into
execution at the risk of (life and estate) their lives and property.
Voted, That the Committee of Correspondence for this town be de-
sired to take care that every other {tea) vessel with tea that arrives,
have a proper watch appointed for such vessels.
Also Voted, That tliose persons who are desirous of making a part
of (the) these nightly watches (are) be desired to give in their names
at Edes & Gill's Pi-iuting Office.
Voted, That our brethren in the country be desired to (give) afford
us (oni-) their assistance upon the first notice given (ivhen such neces-
sity exists) that it may be wanted, especially upon the arrival of Cap-
tain Loring in Messrs. Clarkes' brigantine.
Voted, That the thanks of this Body be given to our brethren of the
country for their countenances in this assembly, and union with this
Body in this exigence of our affairs .f
* This vote, having probably been submitted in writing, does not appear in
these rougli minutes. We print it liere from tlie report of the proceedings of the
meeting in tlie " Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post Boy," Ko. 850, Nov.
2g-Dec. 6, 1773.
" Whereas a Number of Merchants in this Province have inadvertevtly imported Tea
from Great-Britain wlule it is subject to the Paijment of a Duty imposed upon it by an
Act of the British Parh anient for the Purpose of raising a Revenue in America, and
appr'opriaiinq the same ivithout the Consent of tliose ic/io are required topay^ it ;
" Resolved, Tliat in thus importing' said Tea, tliey have justly mcurrcd the
Displeasure of our Brethren in the otlier Colonies.
" Aiul Resolved further, Tliat if any Person or Persons shall hereafter import
Tea from Great-Britain, or if any Master or Masters of any Vessel or Vessels in
Great-Britain shall take the same on Board to he imported to this Place, until
the said unrighteous Act shall be repealed, he or they shall be deemed by this
Body an Enemy to his Country ; and we will prevent the Landing and Sale of
the same, and the Payment of any Duty thereon. And we will effect the Return
thereof to the Place from wlience it shall come."
t There are several interlineations in this vote, of no importance and perhaps
illegible. — Eds.
1882.]
TEA MEETINGS. 15
Voted, That the thanks of the meeting be given to Jonathan Wil-
liams, Esq., for his good service as Moderator,
Then it was Voted, Tliat the meeting be dissolved, and was
accordingly dissolved.
At a meeting of the people at the Old South Church, Dec. 14, 1773,
David Cheevers {Jejfries?), Esq., Moderator.
By motion, the proceedings of Plymouth on the late proceedings of
this Body were read.*
Mr. Cheevers, of Charlestown, not being to be found, Mr. Samuel
P. Savage chosen Moderator.
A letter from Mr. Timothy Prout to the Moderator read (No. l).t
Moved and Voted, That Mr. Rotch be sent for.
Motioned and seconded that Captain Bruce, who is present, be asked
whether he will demand a clearance, and if refused, whether he will
proceed on his voyage making a protest, answered : when all his
goods are out he will demand a clearance, but if refused he was liable
to be shot at by 32-pounders.
Mr. Rotch attended (owe? informed) and was required at his peril
to apply immediately to the (Custom-house for) Collector for a clear-
ance for his vessel, and that Benjamin Kent, Esq., Thomas Chase,
Mr. Sam. Adams, Dr. Young, Dr. Warren, ]\Ir. David Cheever,
(Jeffries ?) Captain Foster, Dr. Church, Mr. Thomas Crafts, Jr.,
Mr. Nathan^ Appleton [be a committee to go with him to the Col-
lector's] (Committee). Mr. Rotch, accompanied by the above com-
mittee, reported that he had waited on the Collector, and required a
clearance (order) as directed, and that the Collector answered he chose
to see the Comptroller, and that at 10 to-morrow morning he would
give an answer.
Moved, That the meeting be adjourned to Thursday next, 10
o'clock A.M. ; and that in the mean time the Committee wait upon the
Collector for his answer at the time appointed.
And the meeting was accordingly adjourned to 10 o'clock (at this
meeting-house).
Thursday, 16 December. The Body met by adjournment at the
Old South Meeting-house.
The Committee to wait on the Collector, Mr. Harrison, reported as
No. 2. [The Committee's report here follows.] $
A demand made by Mr. Rotch, owner of the ship " Dartmouth, " on
Mr. Harrison, Collector of the Customs, and what followed thereon,
Mr. Rotch made the demand in the following manner, viz. : —
" I am required and compelled at my peril by a Body of people as-
sembled at the Old South Meeting-house yesterday, where Mr. Samuel
Phillips Savage was President, to make a demand of you to give me
* The action of Plymouth is printed in full in the " Post Bov," No. 852,
Dec. 13-20, 1773. — Eds.
t We do not find Mr. Prout's letter. — Eds.
% We find this report in the handwriting of Thomas Chase, on a separate
paper, marked No. 2. — Eds.
16 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov
a clearance for the ship 'Dartmouth' for London, in the situation she
is now in, with the tea on board."
Upon which one of the Committee observed that they were present
by order of the Body only as witnesses of the before-mentioned de-
maud, and the answer that should be given.
Thereupon Mr. Harrison, the Collector, said to Mr. Rotch (Mr.
Hallowell, the Comptroller, being present), "Then it is you make the
demand ? " Mr. Rotcli answered, " Yes, I am compelled at my peril
to." Then Mr. Harrison said to Mr. Rotch, " Your ship ' Dartmouth'
entered with me tlie 30th November last, with dutiable articles on
board, for which the duties have not been paid. I cannot therefore
give you a clearance until she is discharged of those articles, consistent
with my duty."
Voted, That ]Mr. Rotch be sent for.
Preceedings of Lexington read.
A letter from Plymouth, informing of Messrs. Clarkes' vessel being
on board, was read.
Mr. Rotch attended, and was asked whether he would protest
against the Custom-house, and then demand a jiass for the Castle.
Motioned, That this Body expect that he immediately protest
against the Custom-house, and procure a pass of the Governor, and
that he this day proceed with the vessel for London.
He replied that he would not comply, because it was impracticable ;
and being again asked whether he would order his vessel to sail this
day, he replied he would not.
Mr. Rotch [was] desired to proceed in making protest and demand-
ing a pass.
Adjourned to 3 o'clock p.m.
Met per adjournment at 3 o'clock p.m.
Voted, That it is the sense of this Body that the (^introduction and
consumption) use of tea (in this Province was to be attended with the most
pernicious and disagreeable) is improper and pernicious.
Voted, That it is tlie opinion of this Body that every town in this
Province appoint a committee of inspection to prevent the accursed
tea [coming?] into any town in this Province.
Voted, upon a motion made, That it [is] the sense of this Body, to
decide [?] by the former resolution, that they will not suffer the landing
of the tea.
Mr. Rotch attended, and informed that he had demanded a pass for
his vessel of the Governor, who answered ( That he could not, con-
sistent v)ith his duty to the king or tlie laws — and his duty to the
king — git'ie him a pass; and that if he had a clearance he should
make no difference between tJiis and any other vessel), " He was
willing to grant any thing consistent with the laws and his duty to the
king, but that he could not give a [)ass unless the vessel was properly
qualified from the Custom-house, but that he should make no dis-
tinction between this and any other vessel, provided she was properly
cleared."
Mr. Rotch could not tarry, his protest not being finished, but in-
1882.] THE LATE WILLIAM WINTHKOP. 17
formed that he told the Governor of the steps he had [taken] and was
taking as to a protest.
Mr. Rotch was then asked whether he would send his vessel back
with the tea under her present circumstances. He answered that he
could not possibly comply, as he apprehended it would be to his ruin.
He was {then) further asked whether he would land the tea. He
answered he had no business with it unless he was properly called
upon to do it, when he should attempt a compliance for his own
security.
Voted, That this meeting be dissolved, and it was accordingly
dissolved.
The Treasuker announced the receipt of the bequest of
the late William Winthrop, Esq., and read the following
extract from that gentleman's will : —
" Eighthly. And after the decease of my said widow, and of the
whole of my aforenamed sisters and brothers, then for my above-named
Trustees, or the survivors or survivor of them ... to pay in legal
coin and currency of the United States the sum of three thousand
dollars to the Trustees or other lawful representatives of the Massachu-
setts Historical Society, established in Boston aforesaid in or about the
year 1780, and of which my great-uncle, the Hon. Judge James Win-
throp, was one of the eight original founders, and my said cousin and
kinsman, the Hon. Robert Charles Winthrop (one of my Trustees), has
been for many years past, and still is, its President, and of which same
Society I myself am an honorary member, which legacy and bequest I
make under special condition and obligation that the Trustees or repre-
sentatives of the said Society shall invest the capital so bequeathed in
any manner they deem most fitting and advantageous, and shall apply
and devote the whole of the accruing annual interest and profits to the
binding, for better preservation, of the valuable manuscripts and books
appertaining to the Society." . . .
The Treasurer then offered the following vote: —
Voted., That the sum of $3,000, received under the will of
the late William Winthrop, be set apart in accordance with
the terms of the bequest, as a binding fund, and be known
on the Treasurer's books as the William Winthrop Fund.
Mr. R. C. Winthrop, Jr., then said : —
Mr. President, — The gentleman who left us this legacy,
although a very distant kinsman, was a personal friend of
mine, and I am sure it would have particularly gratified him
to have a few words said about him when the sum was paid
us. It is true that a few words were said at the time of his
3
18 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
death, but that was nearly fourteen years ago, when there
was little probability that Ave should receive the money for
a much longer period ; and of the existing members of the
Society I doubt if more tlian half a dozen ever heard of such
a person, and I am perliaps the only one who was ever thrown
much with him. Three thousand dollars, in these days, may
not seem a large sum to make a speech about ; but it is proba-
bly three thousand times as much as this Society ever received
from a Corresponding Member before, and, in proportion to
the very moderate means of the giver, I incline to think it the
largest donation the Society ever received from any quarter.
He was originally named William Winthrop Andrews, a
younger son of Mr. James Andrews, in his day a well-known
merchant of Boston ; and his mother was a Miss Winthrop,
a granddaughter of that Professor John Winthrop, of Harvard
College, so eminent in the last century as a man of science
and stanch friend of liberty. Partly in order to distinguish
himself from other persons in this vicinity bearing the name
of William Andrews, and partly because of his great interest
in his mother's family, he early dropped the name of Andrews
and was known as William Winthrop for the remainder of
his life. The delicacy of his health, a taste for foreign travel,
and his subsequent marriage to an English lady, all combined
to fix him in Europe, where, so far back as the reign of
Andrew Jackson, he was made United States Consul in the
island of Malta. At every succeeding change of Administra-
tion there was always some patriot who conceived himself
entitled to a leading foreign mission, but who finally an-
nounced his readiness to accept even so insignificant a Con-
sulate as that of Malta. But when it was discovered that
the office generally cost Mr. Winthrop a good deal more than
he annually received in fees, he was allowed to remain un-
disturbed, and, at the time of his death, had held the post
some five and thirty years. During all that time I may safely
say that few Americans, however humble their station, ever
visited the island without becoming Mr. Winthrop's debtors
for many little acts of kindness or assistance. Although he
himself crossed the ocean rarely and for brief absences, he
always displayed an earnest interest in the welfare of his
countrymen and delighted in showing them any little atten-
tions in his power. He was not rich and made no pretence
to learning or accomplishment. He was simply an amiable,
genial, hospitable man, with a natural love for antiquarian
pursuits. A frequent contributor to " Notes and Queries,"
he served more than once on publishing committees of the
1882.] EEMARKS BY MR. R. C. WINTHROP, JR. 19
Camden Society, and was warmly interested in another Eng-
lish society, with the high-sounding name of the Order of
St. John of Jerusalem, and which was understood to busy
itself, not, as might be supposed, with the recovery of the
Holy Sepulchre, but with more practicable schemes of phi-
lanthropy and antiquarian research. To our own Society he
was early drawn by the fact, to which he alludes in his will,
that his great-uncle. Judge James Winthrop, was one of its
eight founders. Another great-uncle of his, the Hon. William
Winthrop, of Cambridge, for whom he was named, had also
been a Resident Member ; and he had a particular regard for
the President of this Society, whom he had known in boy-
hood. All this led him to become a diligent student of our
publications ; and whenever he picked up abroad a book, a
manuscript, or a pamphlet, which he thought might interest
us, he generally made haste to send it to our library, and, up
to the time of his death, had thus contributed nearly six hun-
dred bound volumes, besides many pamphlets. The island of
Malta, however, has never been a favorite field for the ac-
cumulation of material relating, however remotelj^ to New
England history ; and it must be confessed that some of these
donations are rather to be regarded as evidences of his good-
will than as additions to our historical treasures. In common
with many excellent persons, he was clearly of opinion that
the libraries of societies like this should be not merely the
repositories of what is valuable and rare, but may also be treated
as a sort of dust-bin into which every description of literary
rubbish may be shot with impunity. I well remember when,
about eighteen years ago, he shipped us a sea-chest contain-
ing 224 bound volumes of closely written Italian manuscript,
comprising the words — not the music — of no less than
1,567 Italian operas, strung together indiscriminately without
any definite arrangement, alphabetical, chronological, or other-
wise. A certain misgiving as to the appropriateness of this
offering would appear to have come over him, as he sub-
sequently wrote to express an entire willingness it should be
disposed of or exchanged. The Society, however, with its
customary benignity, preferred to place the volumes on its
shelves, and even passed a vote of thanks. I observe that
the lawyer who drew this will, or the lawyer's clerk who
copied it, speaks of Mr. Winthrop as an Honorary Member,
which he was not, and, as he was a modest man, would not
have felt that he had the slightest claim to be. He took a
pride, however, in being a Corresponding Member, — the only
one in nearly a century who, so far as I am aware, ever left
20 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
the Society a dollar, and I much fear that, in this respect,
he is likely long to remain unique.
Before I sit down, I should like to make sure that gentle-
men rightly apprehend the nature of this bequest. It was
not intended to be the nucleus of any General Binding Fund,
however desirable such a fund may be ; it is limited to certain
special purposes. The testator had upon his conscience the
fifteen hundred operas to which I have alluded, and he had
every reason to suppose other donors had been as indiscrimi-
nate and profuse as he. He was well aware of the temptation
which besets societies, as well as individuals, to bind, when
they can afford it, almost every thing, with the idea that a re-
mote posterity maybe eager to consult volumes which we our-
selves have neither leisure nor inclination to open. He fully
realized that the income of this little fund — and our Treas-
urer will be lucky if he gets $150 a year out of it — would be a
mere drop in the bucket if applied to dealing with the 60,000
unbound pamphlets we already have upstairs, and the 600,000
unbound pamphlets we are likely, at no distant period, to
possess, at the present rate of accumulation. In devising us
this legacy, subject to the life-estate of certain parties now
deceased, he was therefore careful to direct (and I quote his
exact language) that " the whole of the annual interest and
profits shall be applied and devoted to the binding, for better
preservation, of the valuable manuscripts and books appertain-
ing to the Society." I emphasize this word valuable because
I believe that, in so doing, I accord with the intentions of
the testator, who used it in an immediate, and not a prospect-
ive, sense, and did not contemplate that a penny of his money
should be devoted to binding any thing the value of which
should be only among the possibilities of a remote future.
His object was the preservation of what is really valuable and
interesting to us here to-day and what may become valuable
and interesting to our successors as the income shall gradually
accrue. I would not, for a moment, be understood to inti-
mate that there is the slightest danger that this income will
be knowingly misapplied ; but as librarians, who are prac-
tically irresponsible, succeed one another, the precise terms
of a will are often forgotten or misunderstood ; and therefore,
as I am one of the few surviving friends of this unique bene-
factor, I have thought it prudent to take this early opportu-
nity of entering a caveat. I beg, sir, to second Mr. Smith's
motion.
The vote was then adopted.
18S2.] EMMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 21
Frederick W. Putnam, Esq., the Curator of the Peabody
Museum of American Archceology and Ethnology at Cam-
bridge, and James M. Bugbee, Esq., of Boston, were elected
Resident Members.
The Hon. E. R. Hoar presented the Memoir he had been
appointed to prepare of the late Judge Ames, and it was
referred to the committee to be published in the Proceed-
ings.*
"Mr. E. E. Hale gave some account of a recent visit which
he had made to Emmanuel College, at Cambridge, England.
He said nothing could exceed the kind courtesy of the wel-
come given to him because he was a graduate of Harvard ;
and that any Harvard man would be gratified to know with
what interest the memory of John Harvard, the Master of
Arts of Emmanuel, was preserved in the halls of his Alma
Mater. Mr. Hale had examined, as many American gentle-
men had done, the copy made by Dr. Bennett of the Register
of Emmanuel of the beginning of the seventeenth century.
To American genealogists the names from that Register, pub-
lished below, may be of interest.
Dr. William Bennett was Fellow of Emmanuel at the time
he copied these Registers, and afterward Bishop of Cloyne.
Dr. Bennett had also copied, from a manuscript not now
preserved, the following letter from John Stoughton, written
in 1632, when he resigned his preferment at the parish of
Aller that he might go to London as a lecturer. The
letter has some interest in showing the temper of the time,
and the decided Puritan character of Emmanuel College then.
The relationship of John Stoughton to our Israel Stoughton
does not seem to be now known by the American descend-
ants of the latter : —
Letter of John Stoughton to the Blaster of Emmanuel College on
resigning Aller.
HoNOUKD Sir:
I sigiiifyd the last week to Mr. Foster, — being so straightend of
time that I could not write to yourself which I intended rather, —
that I have resigned my living the 18th of this month, And now I
have sent you a Certificate of the instrument of the resignation, that
you may have an authentieal ground to proceed to a new Choice and
Presentation.
There are two other instruments by me, one signifying that the
Resignation was admitted, and the other being an intimation to the
Patron of the present Vacancy, which I would have sent now if I had
* See below, page 35. — Eds.
22 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
met with a convenient Messenger, and will instantly, if it shall be
thought requisite. But I conceive them not of any necessity or use,
but that they would draw money from me to the officers, and brinf
them in fees. I was not willing to make any longer delay before I
resignd, seeing it pleasd God 1 found my health betterd here and
myself encouragd by some acceptance of my service : though I per-
ceived the Bishops unwillingness to my settling here expressed divers
ways. So that 1 can promise myself no great encouragement or quiet
from thence.*
But I have cast myself upon the providence of the Lord, and rec-
ommend the care of my Living to the wisdom and piety of my worthy
Patrons: reqesting only that you would be pleased to propound it to
my Successor and be a means that he may deal indifferently with me,
and in case there should fall any difference, as I hope none will, arbi-
trate the matter between us according to equity. I have parted with
greater means for lesser by half the value, with certaine for uncertaine,
as for other reasons so in truth the more willingly to accommodate the
coUege, with a possibility of preferring one of their company.
I have not dealt so warily as the World useth in such cases because
I know with whom I have to deal and presume I shall be met with a
mutual ingenuity. I recommend it wholly to your consideration hav-
ing had much experience both of the College in general whose loving
respect to me hath always exceeded the merit of so unworthy a Mem-
ber, and of yourself in particular, whose continued love to myself and
my Son, though I can do no more, yet I can do no less, than most
thankfully acknowledge : not ceasing to sollicit the Lord daily for a
rich blessing upon that place, and your government there, and all your
endeavours for the advancing of his own glory, and the good of his
church.
To his gracious protection I commit you and rest always
yours in the Lord to be commanded.
Jo: Stoughton.
Aldermanbcrt, Londox, Feb : 4, 1632.
To the Right Worshipful Dr. Sandcroft M\
of Emanuel College in Cambridge, These
Names copied from Dr. Bennett's copy of the Emmanuel Register.
1597, Oct. 12. Thomas Evered. Pensioner.
Again, April 12, [1598?] Thomas Everard. S[izar]. A.M. 1G04.
1603, April 23. Daniel Maud. [Sizar at Emmanuel.]
* T>T. Bennett adds in his copy of the letter above : —
"In fact, Stoughton, who was an active Puritan, had accepted a lectureship in
London to serve his party, and could not therefore e.xpect much countenance
from above. The turn of his letter shows the sentiments of tiie M''. at least,
and indeed the college in general, to agree with him, or that lie thought they
did." — E. E. H.
1882.] EMMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 23
1618. Freegift Tilden. Pensioner.
1619. May 22. Thos. Elyot. Sizar. [Took no degree.]
Jonathan Hutchinson. S[izar]. A.B. 1G25.
John Hutchinson. Pensioner. A.B. 1620.
1620. Sam. Johnson. S[izar]. A.B. 1623. A.M. 1628.
D.D. 164:1. Per lit. regias.
WilHam Bridge. Sizar. A.M. 1 626. Camb. Soc.
1622-23, Mar. 12. Thos. Dudley. Pensioner. A.B. 1626. A.M. 1630.
Sam. Briarlv. S[izar].
Perkins. [S].
1624. W" Perkins. Pensioner. A.B. 1624.
Nahum Wekl. S[izar]. A.M. 1631.
Sam. Dillingham. Pensioner. A.B. 1629. A.M. 1631.
1625. Saml. Elyat. P[ensioner]. A.M. 1633.
Hen. Dillingham. Pensioner. A.B. 1629. A.M. 1633.
1626. April 8. Samuel Bridge. P[ensioner]. A.M. 1633.
Forth Wintropp. P[ensioner].
Gil : Pickering. Fellow Commoner.
1626. Ambrose Salisbury. P[ensionerj. A.M. 1634.
William Perkins. Camb. Fellow. A.M. 1626.
1627, April 18. Ric. Saltinstall, F. C. York.
1627, Nov. 19. Jno. Harvard. Pensioner. Middlesex. A.M. 1635.
[Repeated as above next year. Observe Middlesex.]
William Hutchinson P[ensioner]. A.M. 1635.
1628, April 17. John Everard. Pensioner. A.B. Midsummer, 1631.
A.M. 1635.
John Harvard. Pensioner. A.M. 1635.
1629, Sept. 13. Theophilus Hutchinson. Pensioner. A.M. 1637.
Jan. 18. John Hale. Pensioner. Middlesex.
1632-33, Jan. 12. Ezekiel Cheever. Sizar. Middlesex.
1632. Jeremiah Horrocks. S[izar]. Was a very curious
astronomer.
1632, June 3. John Batchelor. Sizar. Oxford, A.M. 1634.
Richard Goodwin. Sizar. [Sussex.] A.M. 1639.
1636, April 22. W. Dillingham. Sizar. Northampton. Soc. Mag.
CoH. A.B. 1639. A.M. 1643. B.D. 1650. D.D.
1655. Resigned 1662.
1636, June 20. Howard Beecher. P[ensioner]. Bedf: A.M. 1643.
July 2. Henry Dunster. S[izar]. Lanc[ashire]. A.M. 1644.
1649, Jan. 8. Richard Kidder. Sizur. Sussex. Soc. A.B. 1-652.
A.M. 1656. D.D. 1689. Bishop of Bath.
William Dudley. Fellow Commoner. Northampton.
A.M. 1682. Per lit. regias., 1681. This was perhaps
when Charles the Second visited the University in
1681.
Mr. Hale read the following passage from a recent letter
from a Fellow of Emmanuel : —
24 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
" Here in Emmanuel we feel that our chief boast will be to have
sent out Mr. Harvard to the New World, as there is no knowing what
his foundation may not reach to, with the boundless resources of your
wonderful country. In 1884: we celebrate the tercentenary of our
foundation, and I hope we shall make it the occasion of a representa-
tive gathering from both sides of the Atlantic, and that you will
seize the opportunity of being present. No arrangements have yet
been made, but the date should be fixed so as to fit in with your
vacations. I suppose some time in August would be best. When you
come again you ought to look over the books of Sidney Sussex, as they
are an uuworked mine for the Puritan genealogist."
It may be of use to students attempting to unravel the
mysteries of John Harvard's birth, to observe that John Ha-
vard was one of the three "principal factors " chosen by the East
India Company at its first meeting in London, Nov. 18, 1600.
John Havard made one of the first voyages of that Company,
and, on the 20th of February, 1601, received £200 from the
Company. See Prince's Annals of E. India Company, i. 131,
and Calendar of State Paper Office, East Indies, at the, dates.
Mr. T. C. Amory called the attention of the Society to
the possibility of the Cradock house, at Medford, being demol-
ished, unless steps were taken to preserve it. The property,
consisting of five acres, was for sale. It was subject to a
mortgage of twenty-two hundred dollars, of which payment
was pressed. The price asked was five thousand dollars,
and thirty-five hundred has been offered. A committee has
been raised in Medford to collect subscriptions for its pur-
chase, to preserve it; and Captain Foster, one of the Select-
men, and the Representative elect of the town to the General
Court, a member of the committee, has already procured
more than fifteen hundred dollars, and has reason to believe
that at least the sum of two thousand dollars can be obtained
from Medford for the object. Subscriptions to the amount of
about four hundred dollars have been obtained in Boston
and other places. Application has been made to the owner,
who resides in the West, for a bond of the property ; and
Captain Foster feels confident that it will soon be received.
It is proposed that when sufficient subscriptions are pro-
cured to effect the object, the subscribers shall be called
together to determine what course shall be taken. It has
been suggested that, in the first instance, the property shall
be conveyed to trustees, who later, if so directed by the sub-
scribers, can convey it to the town of Medford, or to some
historical society, the building perhaps extended as it was
1882.] THE CEADOCK HOUSE AT MEDFORD. 25
originally, to be used as a cabinet for historical relics. It is
thonght the town of Medford may be willing to vote some
sufficient sum to complete the purchase if the area not covered
by the house be dedicated as a park. The janitor of the
neighboring schoolhouse might be required to occupy a room
or two as custodian of the building; or it might be let, as the
Warren Birthplace, in the Highlands, now is, the rent to
accumulate till the fund is large enough to meet the charges
and expense of repairs and alterations. It would be worth
while to change it back as nearly as possible to what it was
when originally constructed, with due regard to its future use.
The following description, drawn up by Mr. Amory soon
after his first visit to the house, may serve to show how large
a claim it has to be preserved : —
Whether the Minot house, at Dorchester, the stone house of the
Whitefields, at Guilford, Connecticut, the brick house of the Weeks
family, at Greenland, New Hampshire, or the Cradock, also of brick,
built about 1634, is best entitled to the distinction of being the most
ancient of our existing habitations, is often disputed and not easy to
decide.
The house of Governor Cradock, at Medford, has, we think, the
best claim. It has been but little altered, and is believed to remain
to-day nearly in the same condition as when first erected. What
alterations have been made are easily detected, and its present state
fully justifies what is claimeii for it by antiquaries, that if not the
oldest building in the country, it is certainly the oldest that retains its
original shape and arrangements. Its stone foundations, laid with
masterly precision, brick walls eighteen inches in thickness, solid and
substantial, its beams of oak, rafters and boards of the same material, —
are all calculated to render it almost indestructible. Its site is remote
from busy centres of trade ; and improvement, more fatal to ancient
editices tban time, has not come near to disturb it. It has always
been, and is likely to continue, sufficiently commodious to secure occu-
pants enlightened enough to treat it with tenderness, yet not to tempt
wealth to modernize and spoil.
It would be, to say the least, superfluous in this company of his-
torical students, conversant with every incident in our early annals, to
dwell on the circumstances under which it was erected. Whether
Matthew Cradock, the first Governor of the Massachusetts Company,
originated the idea of transferring the charter from London to the
Bay in October, 1629, or only acquiesced in the suggestion of his
associates, he cheerfully surrendered the chair to Winthrop, selected
to superintend the plantation. He continued one of the most zealous
in promoting its success, was one of the largest contributors to its
stock, and although his extensive business as a merchant, and his duty
later as a member from London in the Long Parliament, prevented his
coming over himself, there is evident proof that he at times entertained
4
26 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
such an intention. In the distribution of lands, thirty-five hundred
acres, which he described in his will as his .manor at Medford, were
allotted to hun, and he sent over servants and artisans to improve the
grant. Among the rest were many shipwrights, the Mystic, which
flows through the tract, offering then, as since, many advantages for
the building of ships, a powerful inducement with a merchant.
Portions of his grant were enclosed and stocked with cattle, which
it was his design eventually to park with deer. His first agent, Rat-
clifFe, provoking the censure of the magistrates for his unseemly
behavior, or, as has been often conjectured, from his attachment to the
Church, was banished in 1635, and went to Piscataqua. But of the
property which was near by the Ten Hills, the twelve-hundred-acre
lot of Winthrop's, the best of care was taken. This venerable man-
sion stands on a knoll of slight elevation, about a mile east of the house
of the Ten Hills, so called from that number of elevations iu view
from it.
The prospect from the roof of the Cradock house, if not so ex-
tensive, is still rural and attractive. Close by in front is the river,
down whose stream have glided, in virgin pride and beauty, many a
noble bark since the " Blessing of the Bay " first floated on its waters.
Around are fields and meadows, and in the rear the land rises into
hills which at no great distance form the horizon. In the midst of a
country beautifully diversified, studded with noble lakes and clothed
with primeval forests, near by the centre of busy life in Boston, the
place was happily selected for erecting such an abode as then consti-
tuted the charm of the mother country, and where Cradock himself
might well have taken refuge, if while he lived the course of affairs
had proved as disastrous as sometimes menaced.
The house, as it remains, is not large, measuring only forty -four feet
in front by thirty-two in depth, but it was no doubt surrounded by a
group of attached or outbuildings, for farm or domestic purposes.
The brick composing its walls were manufactured on the ground, and
well made, the vicinity abounding in suitable clay for the purpose, and
now one of the busiest and most productive centres of that branch of
industry, A band of masonry projects for ornament between the first
and second stories. On either side of the main door in front, towards
the south, are now two windows in each floor, besides circular port-
holes at either end, — those at the easterly end being closed up. The
windows on the lower floor in front would seem originally to have
been but one on each side of the door, a broad arch turned in the
brickwork indicating the lattice windows, of greater width than
height, customary in English houses of the period, and much more
picturesque, but less warm, than what are generally in use at present.
The roof is of double pitch, very steep to shed the snow, till it reaches
the bend ; the top, six feet on either side of the ridge-pole, being nearly
flat. The east wall has been wholly or in part rebuilt, and suggests
the probability of a wing on that side since demolished.
Above and below are four apartments, though the partition sepa-
rating the two on the ground floor to the east is modern. An
1882.] MR. Webster's speech at marshfield. 27
elegant staircase with rails and posts richly carved ascended to the
garret floor, and was only recently removed when the house was fitted
for two families. The interior walls, lined originally with wainscot
or hung with arras, are now plastered. The fireplaces, two in the
west end, and one in the east outer wall, are large ; that with its heavy
crane in the back room on the west side being very deep, as if for
boiling cattle feed. The port-holes mentioned in the front wall open
into closets, which are advanced out to the line of the chimney breasts.
The garret is one large apartment nearly sixteen feet high, the timber
and roof boards of oak, evidently part of the original structure.
Later another roof was added without removing that beneath. Cup-
boards are found in the brickwork for the safe deposit of valuable
articles. As Daniel, the son of Richard Russell, the progenitor of a
numerous race, long dwelt there, his silver plate, still in the family,
mar have been there concealed.
If time permitted I would gladly describe the old stone house at
Guilford, Connecticut; that of brick, at Greenland, which has always
been occupied by the family of its builder ; the Curtis, in Boston, of
which the same can be said ; and that at Woburn, where is to be
seen in place the original leaden sash with lozenge panes ; but I
must not linger.
It would be a serious loss to the public, present and future, to lose
this precious relic of the past. Some family of wealth should pur-
chase it and keep it from decay.
If none there be disposed, our antiquaries should contribute each
his mite to preserve to times remote this interesting monument of our
earliest settlement. The citizens of Medford and its government
should do their part.
Stanley Palace, one of the most ancient structures of English
Chester, is kept in its primitive state by a society of antiquaries. On
the Continent, Rheinstein and many other old places are put to the
use that has been proposed for this, as cabinets of ancient furniture
and fashions, or other mementos of the dead.
It may seem presumption in this new country to attach importance
to what is old, or compare our modest and comparatively modern
structures with those of Enghmd, where under the Plantageuets were
already twelve hundred castles, and whose vast cathedrals have for
centuries been the admiration of the world. If castles or palaces had
rarely been the early homes of the planters, many had been born and
bred in the granges and manor houses which, under Queen Elizabeth,
commodious and sightly, studded the land. Climate, differences of
social life, modified the form and arrangements of our domestic archi-
tecture, but the type followed by all who had means to select was, in
some measure at least, that of the land they had left.
Mr. Charles C. Smith presented the original notes or
brief used by Mr. Webster in the delivery of his speech at
Marshfield, in September, 1848. It will be remembered, Mr.
Smith said, that when General Taylor was nominated for the
28 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
Presidency by the Whig National Convention, Mr. Webster
was very much disappointed and dissatisfied, and for a time
the public felt great uncertainty as to what course he would
adopt. At length he was induced to make this speech about
two months before the election. It is the speech in which he
said that the nomination of General Taylor was " a nomina-
tion not fit to be made," and it fills about twenty-five pages
in Mr. Everett's edition of his Works. Mr. Webster spoke
in the open air, under an awning placed near the old Winslow
house ; and at the close of his speech he gave these notes to
one of the reporters, who afterward gave them to Mr. Smith
in return for some slight service to the reporter. The printed
speech follows the notes very closely. Mr. Smith also pre-
sented a copy of the phonographic report by Mr. Henry M.
Parkhurst, which appeared in the " Atlas" a few days after
the delivery of the speech, and which had always seemed to
him in some particulars more exact than the report printed
in Mr. Webster's Works : —
Three things. Three candidates.
In effect but two.
Gen. Taylor not satisfactory to Mass.
A military man.
His personal character and his politics.
Manner of his nomination.
Nominated as a Whig. Attacked in H. R.
Philadelphia. N. Y.
" Availability."
" Complete letter writer."
I think, on the whole, he is much safer than Gen, C. on the three
points.
Gen. Cass, danger. [ One word illegible.']
No peace with England.
Will follow Mr. Polk, &c.
Agsf. Wilmot. Will establish slavery in the Territories. [ One word
illegible.']
Mr. Van Euren.
Would be ludicrous for me to support him.
He has really been at the head of the slave party at the North.
His friends admitted Texas. Ohio. Pa. N. Y. Southern senators.
Dis. of Columbia.
The steady resisters of slavery are the WniGS alone.
Mr. V. Buren's friends gave him up for Polk.
Probably he i-emembers its " Doughfaces."
1882.]
LETTER FEOM SIR PROVO WALLIS. 29
The Platform.
No new Platform wanted.
The Whig Pktform broad enough.
What do seceding Whigs expect to accomplish?
In the Nation, President, Members of Congress.
In the State. Gov. Legislature.
Do we want any better ?
Are there in this Commonwealth any better free soil men than the
Wliigs ?
Who can place me on freer soil ?
It comes then to this. Shall it be Taylor or Cass ?
Qu. : History of concessions.
The late Act of Congress.
Till now, no North.
Pope.
1. Missouri Compromise.
2. Texas. Mr. Berrien's Resolution.
3. Treaty. Phila. Convention.
\_One word iUegihle.'\
Remark in Platform.
Rear- Admiral George H. Preble exhibited photographs
of Sir Provo Wallis, the last surviving officer of the " Shan-
non," and of Benjamin Trefethen, the last survivor of the
crew of the " Chesapeake." He read a letter from Sir Provo,
from which the followinsf extracts are taken : —
FUNTINGTON HOUSE, NEAR ChICHESTER,
Oct. 11, 1882.
. . . Daily on our way to Halifax* I used to sit a little while with
poor Ludlow, who upon one of my visits to him made the following
remark : '• Only think of the ditFerence between us : you are now in a
proud position ; I am but a poor prisoner ; nevertheless never was there
a fairer fight, and I should like you to know my opinion." He had
indeed a noble spirit, and we all mourned his death, which was quite
unexpected, as we all thought he was doing so well.
I will now pass to a pleasanter theme. It is one which I can never
forget : viz., in the course of my naval career, in the year 182G, when iu
command of H. M. S. ''Niemen," I spent a week or ten days at Boston,
where I received every mark of kindness from the " General in Com-
mand," Commodore Crane, and the inhabitants in general ; being
* Sir Provo Wallis, as senior officer not incapacitated during the action,
carried the " Shannon " and her prize to Halifax after the battle. — Eds.
30 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
invited to attend with my officers the review of the " Soul of Soldiery,"
and the march through the city, and afterward to the dinner, where I
had the pleasure of hearing the president, General Lyman, give the
health of my sovereign, and the band play " God save our king," fin-
ished by the American national air. . . .
Mr. Deane communicated, as a gift to the Society from
Miss E. S. Quincy, a printed broadside entitled, —
A Mournful Lmnentation for the sad and deplorable death of Mr. Old
Tenor, a native of New England, who, after a long confinement, hy
a deep and mortal wound which he received above twelve monthf
before, expired on the K>\st day of March, 1750.
Mr. Deane continued: This memorial of Provincial times
— 2i^eu df esprit by a wit of that day — was occasioned by a
law of the Province calling in all the paper issues by a cer-
tain fixed day, after which time it would cease as a currency.
Mr. Deane recalled to the members the fact of Thomas Hutch-
inson's opposition to the paper-money policy of the Province.
Hutchinson thoroughly understood the currency question, and
through his influence, when Speaker of the House, the money
due from Great Britain to the Colony on account of the
Cape Breton expenses was applied to the redemption of the
bills on account of whose legal death the monody which I
will now read was written : —
HE LIVED beloved AND DIED LAMENTED.
To the mournful tune of Chevy-Chace.
A doleful tale prepare to hear,
As ever yet was told ;
The like perhaps ne'er reached the ear
Of either young or old.
'T is of the sad and woful death
Of one of mighty fame,
Who lately hath resigned his breath :
Old Tenor was liis name.
In vain ten thousands intercede
To keep him from the grave;
In vain his many good works plead ;
Alas! they cannot save.
The powers decree, and die he must, —
It is the common lot, —
But his good deeds, when he '3 in dust.
Shall never be forgot.
1882.] DEATH OF OLD TENOR. 31
He made our wives and daughters fine,
And pleased every body ;
He gave the lich their costly wine,
The poor their flip and toddy.
The laborer he set to woi'k ;
In ease maintained the great;
He found us mutton, beef, and pork,
And every thing we eat.
To fruitful fields, by swift degrees.
He turned our desart land :
Where once nought stood but rocks and trees,
Now spacious cities stand.
He built us houses strong and high.
Of wood, and brick, and stone;
The furniture he did supply;
But now, alas ! he 's gone.
The merchants, too, those topping folks,
To him owe all their riches ;
Their ruffles, lace, and scarlet cloaks,
And eke their velvet breeches.
He launched their ships into the main.
To visit distant shores ;
And brought them back, full fraught with gain..
Which much increased their stores.
Led on by him our soldiers bold
Against the foe advance;
And took, in spite of wet and cold.
Strong Cape Brktox from France.
Who from that Fort the French did drive,
Shall he so soon be slain?
While they, alas ! remain alive.
Who gave it back again.
From house to house and place to place.
In paper doublet clad.
He passed ; and where he shewed his face
He made the heart full glad.
But cruel death, that spareth none.
Hath robbed us of him too;
Who thro' the land so long hath gone,
No longer now must go.
In Senate he, like Ccesar, fell.
Pierced thro' with many a wound,
He sank, ah, doleful tale to tell!
The members sitting round.
And ever since that fatal day.
Oh! had it never been,
Closely confined at home he lay,
And scarce was ever seen.
32 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
Until the last of j\Tarch, when he
Submitted unto fate:
In anno Regis twenty-three,
Aetatis forty-eight.*
Forever gloomy be that day,
When he gave up the ghost ;
For by his death, oh! who can say
What hath New England lost?
Then, good Old Tenor, fare thee well,
Since thou art dead and gone;
We mourn thy fate, e'en while we tell
The good things thou hast done.
Since the bright beams of yonder sun
Did on New England shine,
In all the land, there ne'er was known
A death so mourned as thine.
Of every rank are many seen,
Thy downfall to deplore;
For 't is well known that thou hast been
A friend to rich and poor.
We '11 o'er thee raise a Silver tomb,
Long may that tomb remain,
To bless our eyes for years to come,
But wishes, ah ! are vain.
And so God bless our noble State,
And save us all from harm,
And grant us food enough to eat.
And clothes to keep us warm.
Send us a lasting peace, and keep
The times from growing worse,
And let us all in safety sleep.
With Silver in our purse.
FINIS.
Sold at the Henrt and Grown in Cornhill, Boston ; Price, Three half
pence.
Judge Chamberlain said : In reading Governor Hutchin-
son's writings, both public and private, I liave noticed the
fact to which Mr. Deane liad alhided, — that his financial views
were sound ; but he was not the first of those in authority in
the Province wlio announced and most strenuously contended
for principles of finance which are to-day so generally ac-
cepted. Joseph Dudley and Samuel Sliute, both governors,
and John Read, an eminent attorney in the early part of the
last century, and in fact, tlie major part of the Council, seemed
to understand the effect of the issue of paper, or fiat, money
* Mr. Old Tenor was born in the year 1702. — Author's note.
1882.] PAPER MONEY IN THE PROVINCE. 33
quite as well as we understand it. From 1710, if not earlier,
to 1750, the Province was troubled with the same questions
which afflicted the whole country during the period which
preceded our resumption of specie payments. In the early
day, as in the later, there were two parties : one believing in
hard money, or in paper based on convertible property ; and
the other, that the credit of the Province was a sufficient basis
on which to issue as much paper money as was needed, and as
often. The first party was to be found chiefly in the larger
towns, embracing some of the principal men, and, as I have
said, the majority of the Council; and the second party then,
as lately, was largely made up of agriculturists, with a fair
sprinkling, as now, of popular demagogues who knew better.
The generation of which we are a part decided the ques-
tion, as we think, rightly ; and if so, then our ancestors
decided it wrongly, and their unhappy decision entailed
unnumbered woes on the Province for fifty years.
The difficulty originated as early as 1G90, when, to meet
in part the expenses of the expedition against Canada, the
Colony issued bills to the amount of <£7,000.
Every few years thereafter new issues were made, and the
income from imports and excise was relied upon to take up
these bills as they fell due ; but these proving inadequate, the
Province, instead of resorting to levies on the persons and
estates within its jurisdiction, emitted a series of new bills,
each of less value than its predecessor, though the General
Court endeavored to sustain their credit by making them legal
tender for public and private dues.
The controversy became greatly imbittered about 1715.
In 1711 bills to the amount of <£ 10,000 were issued to pay
the forces under General Hill and Admiral Walker in their
unsuccessful attack upon the French. To meet these and
other outstanding bills, the Assembly, a few years later, issued
Province bills to the amount of X 22,000, and granted that sura
to be levied by taxation for their redemption. These bills
went abroad, and were freel}^ taken on the faith of the acts
creating a fund for their redemption. But when the time
ajDproached for making the levy the Assembly voted to post-
pone it ; or at least, refused to act efficiently.
At the session which met 25 May, 1715, Dudley urged
the Assembly to keep public faith, and lay the necessary
taxes ; but they did nothing of the sort. Dudley got out of
patience at their inaction, and, calling the House into the
Council Chamber, told them that as " they had done little
or nothing for the good of the Province, and as the Houses
5
34 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [^'ov.
were distempered, he should raise them by a short proroga-
tion, hoping they would come together in better temper."
They reassembled July 20, and then began a contest in
which the popular party prevailed, notwithstanding the efforts
of Dudley and the major part of the Council to induce them
to keep the plighted faith of the Assemblies which had issued
the bills and agreed to pass the acts necessary to provide for
their redemption.
It became a chronic contest, running through many years
and successive administrations, as appears from the Journal,
which, in this respect, is not pleasant, though instructive,
reading.
As I have before said, it was substantially a contest be-
tween town and country. With the former were arrayed the
Governor, the Council, and men of capital ; and with the
latter, the country gentlemen and the impecunious, who, being
more numerous, succeeded in thwarting the efforts of their
opponents to lay the necessary taxes.
There is an interesting circumstance connected with this
controversy. When Dudley told the House that they had n't
done any thing, and thereupon prorogued them for a month,
they returned to their own chamber indignant, but powerless
from the prorogation.
However, they remained in session and considered his
Excellency's speech, and especially that part of it in which he
said " they had n't done any thing." As an answer to this
taunt they "did thereupon unanimously agree and conclude
to Print their Journal of the present Sessions, and Desired the
Representatives of Boston to take care that the same might
be Seasonably done ; and the Clerk to prepare a copy accord-
ingly."
Tliis is the origin of the printing of the Journal of the
House, which was afterwards continued, and for some time
under the care of the Boston members.
The original Journals appear to have been used for printer's
copy, and no longer exist in manuscript before 1780, with the
exception of the October session, 1776. Nor, I regret to add,
is there a perfect set of tliese printed Journals in any one
collection, perhaps not in all the collections in the State.
Of their value for historical purposes I have formed a very
high opinion. In many respects they are of more value than
the Journals of the General Court, which show results ; while
the Journals of tlie House disclose the temper of the popular
branch, and give the history of many abortive projects which
never reached the Journals of the General Court. They
are well worth reprinting.
1882.] MEMOIR OF THE HON. SETH AMES. 35
MEMOIR
OF THE
HON. SETH AMES.
BY E. E. HOAR.
Seth Ames, the sixth of the seven children of the eminent
lawyer, orator, and statesman, Fisher Ames, was born at
Declham, April 19, 1805, and died at Brooldine, Aug. 15,
1881. He was descended in the sixth generation from Rich-
ard Ames, of Bruton, Somersetshire, England, two of whose
sons came to New England as early as 1640. His mother
was Frances, daughter of Colonel John Worthington, of
Springfield. His earliest recollection was of the funeral of
his father, who died July 4, 1808.
From school at Dedhara he went to Phillips Academy in
Andover, from which he entered Harvard College in 1821.
In the winter of his Junior year he taught a school in Wes-
ton, and in the next winter one at Groton. His college chum
was Augustus H. Fiske, and they afterward married sisters,
the daughters of Captain Gamaliel Bradford, and descendants
from Governor Bradford. While in college, he held a re-
spectable rank in his class, and gained a first Bowdoin Prize
for an English Dissertation. Graduating in 1825, he studied
his profession in the Law School at Cambridge, and then for
a year in the office of George Bliss, of Springfield. In Jan-
uary, 1828, he entered tlie office of Lemuel Shaw, of Boston,
where he remained until he was admitted to the bar at Ded-
ham in September of the same year, and then opened an office
in Lowell. In 1830 he married Miss Margaret Bradford,
who was the mother of his six children, two of whom died
in infancy. She died in 1847.
He soon acquired a respectable and leading position at
the bar ; was for some time the partner of the Hon. Thomas
Hopkinson ; and possessed the confidence and respect of the
whole community in which he was established. He was a
Representative from Lowell to the General Court in 1832 ; an
36 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
Alderman of that city in 1836, 1837, and 1840 ; a Senator
from Middlesex County in 1841 ; and the City Solicitor of
Lowell from 1842 to 1849. In 1848 he travelled in Europe
for about five months.
In 1849 he was appointed Clerk of the Courts for ]\Iiddle-
sex. County; married, as his second wife, Abigail Fisher Dana,
daughter of the Rev. Samuel Dana, of Marblehead ; and
changed his residence from Lowell to Cambridge. He held
the office of Clerk for ten years, and discharged its duties
with an accuracy, courtesy, and fidelity, which made him a
universal favorite with the bench and the bar. During the
same period he was freqnently selected as an auditor and
referee, and in these capacities exhibited judicial qualities
which made his promotion to the bench desired and ap-
proved.
He was made an Associate Justice of the Superior Court
in 1859, Chief Justice of the same court in 1867, and was
commissioned as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial
Court on the 19th of January, 1869, which place he held until
broken health and the advancing infirmities of age induced
his resignation on the fifteenth day of January, 1881.
In 1854 he published the " Works of Fisher Ames, with
a Selection from his Speeches and Correspondence," in two
octavo volumes.
He was elected a member of the INIassachusetts Historical
Society, Dec. 8, 1864, and continued a member to his death.
After his elevation to the bench he removed iiis residence
from Cambridge to Brookline.
This brief outline contains the principal incidents of an
honorable, useful, and happy life. Firm, upright, and con-
scientious in the discliarge of duty, he M^as trusted by his
fellow-men, and no trust reposed in him was ever betrayed.
He was wholly without pretence or affectation, simple, direct,
and sincere. He had a refined taste and a singularly pure
and lucid use of the English language. He seemed to be
without ambition, valuing excellence and desert for their own
sake ; but with a modesty ever disposed to underrate his own
chiims to consideration. He had quick perceptions, and a
playful humor ; a cheei'ful, sunny temper, and a friendliness
which attracted friendsliip. And so lie filled out his long
life with service and kindliness, and passed away beloved by
his family and kindred, by neighbors and friends, and by the
Commonwealth to whose service he gave his best powers,
leaving behind him an unspotted memory of " sweetness and
lieht."
1882.] KEMAUKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 37
DECEMBER MEETING, 1882.
The stated meeting was held on Thursday, the 14th instant,
at 3 o'clock P.M. ; the President in the chair. There was a
large attendance of members to welcome Mr. Winthrop on
his return from an eight months' absence in Europe,
The record of the previous meeting was read and accepted.
The Librarian reported the monthly list of donors to the
Library. The gifts inchided the privately printed work of
an associate member, Mr. Williams Latham, " Epitaphs in
Old Bridgewater, Massachusetts."
The Cabinet-keeper reported the gifts to the Cabinet, and
also that the valuable collection of autographs given to the
Society by the children of Mrs. Grenville Temple Winthrop,
in June, 1879, and referred at that time to a committee for
examination and arrangement, was now returned, carefully
mounted and bound in seven thick volumes. The thanks of
the Society were voted to Judge Chamberlain, under whose
supervision the work had been performed, and that gentle-
man was requested to prepare an account of these autographs
for publication in the Proceedings.
The Corresponding Secretary reported that Messrs. Put-
nam and Bugbee had accepted their elections as Resident
Members.
The President then spoke as follows : —
I heartily wish. Gentlemen, that I could command any
adequate phrases at this moment for expressing how glad I
am, and how grateful to a kind Providence, in finding myself
once more at home, and once more in tliis long-accustomed
seat with so many familiar and friendly surroundings. I
have, indeed, seen much and enjoyed much since I left you
last March, — wonders of nature and of art, splendid cities,
glorious mountains, and illustrious men of more than one
land. Yet I can honestly say that, on my own account only,
I would wilHngly have foregone all such experiences, and that
no return could have been too early for my personal satisfac-
tion. An absence of eight full months, I need not say, has
made a considerable rent in the little remnant of life which
I can reasonably count upon. It has certainly cut the con-
tinuity of any historical pursuits in which I was engaged or
interested, and left it not altogether easy for me to gather up
38 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
the scattered or broken threads even for so informal an occa-
sion as this. But I will not appeal to your indulgence, as I
know it will be granted without being asked for.
Meantime, I rejoice to know that there has been no break
in the well-being of our old Society. It has been a great
pleasure to me to learn, from month to month, of its un-
diminished prosperity, and of its new volumes and serials ;
and I desire at once to return my thanks, and your thanks,
also, to our worthy Vice-President, Dr. Ellis, for his faithful
and felicitous occupancy of the chair. We have lost, indeed,
from our roll of Resident, or of Corresponding and Honorary,
Members, moi^e than one of those most loved and most hon-
ored by us all. I need not name them. They are fresh in all
our hearts and on all our lips, and the choicest tributes have
already been paid to their memories by those whose praises
they would most have prized, and who have hardly left one
appropriate or affectionate word to be added by others.
Notlung, certainly, could have been more exhaustive or more
exquisite than the notices of Emerson and Longfellow, by
some of their associates here. They have been read with
appreciation and admiration abroad, as well as at home, as I
have had the best opportunity of knowing. And hardly less
impressive or less touching were the tributes paid here and
elsewhere to the life and character of good Dr. Chandler
Robbins, so long one of our most devoted and effective work-
ers, and one whom no disabilities or infirmities could keep
away from our meetings to the last. As I look back upon
our Society, through more than a quarter of a century, to the
days when I succeeded Mr. Savage as President, the forms of
George Livermore and Richard Frothingham and Nathaniel
B. Shurtleff and Chandler Robbins — all now gone — rise at
once to my view, in company with at most two or three others
still spared to us, and whose modesty I will not wound by
naming them, as the little band to whose efforts we are most
indebted for whatever prosperity we have since enjoyed.
But I will not dwell longer on any thing sad or retrospec-
tive this afternoon. Let me rather turn at once to welcome
the new associates who have succeeded to so many vacant
chairs since I went away ; and let me express the confident
hope that they may fulfil all the promises which led to their
selection, and add new vigor to the ranks of our working-
members. Those ranks have long needed recruiting. We
can part, if in the providence of God it must be so, with our
philosophers and poets and orators, sacred or secular, much
as we may deplore their loss, and much as we may miss the
1882.] REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 39
prestige which their names have given to our rolls, and the
delight of their occasional participation in our proceedings ;
but the practical work of our Society must always have those
who are able and willing to perform it. Those we can never
spare. Nor ought we ever to be unmindful of so great a
need, in filling the places of those who pass away.
Turning abruptly now from this merely introductory mat-
ter, I hasten to refer briefly to one or two incidents of my
tour which are not without historical interest. And first, I
desire to express the special satisfaction I took in procuring, at
the request of Dr. Deane and Mr. Winsor, a perfect reproduc-
tion by photography of the old map in the National Library of
France, commonly known as the Map of Sebastian Cabot, and
which bears the date of 1544. A recent writer on " The Eng-
lish in America," Mr. J. A. Doyle, a Fellow of All-Souls,
Oxford, of whose volume I procured a copy just as I was leav-
ing. London, in his notice of Sebastian Cabot, says that " he
published maps and documents," but that they are now "un-
happily lost." In his appendix, however, he refers distinctly
to this map as attributed to Cabot, while he raises the question
whether the inscriptions could possibly have been written by
him. I do not propose to discuss this question. The first
copy of the map was presented here last month, or the month
before the last, in pieces, or, as the French style them, in
separate cliches^ and there is a copy here to-day made up and
mounted. It has been referred to a committee of experts,
and it will be for them to pronounce upon any disputed or
doubtful points. Meantime, I allude to the subject now only
for the purpose of putting on our records an acknowledgment
of the kind reception I met with at the Bibliotheque Nationale,
from M. Leopold Delisle, a member of the Institute, and
tlie Administrator General of the Library ; from M. Thiery,
the Custodian of the Prints, to whose department the old map
belongs ; and from M. Letort, to whom Dr. Deane had sent me
a letter. All these gentlemen manifested a cordial intei'est in
the work. As a part of the arrangement, two copies of the
mounted photograph were retained by the Library, agreeably
to the rules in all such cases; and thus it is pleasant to know
that, through our intervention, there will henceforth be some
assurance, that if any accident should happen to the precious
original, a perfect copy will be in the way of preservation on
both sides of the Atlantic. I must not fail, in this connec-
tion, to mention the name of M. Sauvanaud, the skilful
photographer, who took the greatest pains with the work, and
40 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
who counted the result as a signal triumph of his art. One
of the copies reserved for the Bibliotheque Nationale, as I
understood from M. Sauvanaud, was to be exhibited at some
public Exposition in Paris, as a sample of his most successful
j)hotography.
I turn, secondl}', to an interesting incident in connection
with the memory of the famous Sir Walter Raleigh. You
have not forgotten, I am sure, the leading part taken by this
Society in obtaining the necessary funds for a stained glass
window, commemorative of Sir Walter, in old St. Margaret's,
Westminster, where his remains, except the head, said to
have been kept by his wife till her death, were buried. More
than half the cost of that window came from Historical Soci-
eties and students of history in this country, in immediate
response to our appeal, and was remitted to England under
my own hand as your President. The rest of the contribu-
tion came also from Americans abroad or at home; and the
window, a very large and magnificent one, was thus received
and recognized as an American tribute to the great j^romoter
of American colonization. It happened, by a most fortunate
arrangement, and without any previous knowledge or antici-
pation on my part, that the unveiling of this window had been
fixed for one of the days included in my brief visit to Lon-
don ; and it has already been mentioned here, I believe, that
I was privileged to witness the unveiling, and to hear the
brilliant discourse of Canon Farrar, the Rector of St. Mar-
garet's, on Sunday, the 14tli of INIay last. Our associate
member, the American Minister, Mr. Lowell, was present also,
and had written these four lines of poetry which were
inscribed on the glass : —
" The New World's sons, from England's breasts we drew
Such milk as bids remember whence we came;
Proud of her Past, wherefrom our Present grew,
This Window we inscribe with Raleigh's name."
This inscription, with a photograph of the window, will be
found in the printed copy of Canon Farrar's sermon, of
which I sent a copy to our Library many weeks ago.
But this was not my only or most noteworthy association
with the memory of Sir Walter Raleigh during my recent
tour. On my return to London from the Continent in Octo-
ber last, when I had called to see our accomplished Cor-
responding Member, Mr. Henry Stevens, to make inquiries on
another subject, he at once referred to a communication of
1882.] EEMAEKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 41
mine to this Society in September, 1873, in which I had given
the speecli of Raleigh on the scaffold, as I had found it in an old
commonplace book of Governor Winthrop's father ; and he
added that he had recently discovered, among the manuscript
papers of the old astronomer and philosopher, Thomas Hariot,
or Harriote, who was a confidential friend of Sir Walter, and
had once resided in his family, a little writing which he be-
lieved to be the very Brief, or " Note of Remembrance,"
referred to in the reported speech, and which Raleigh must
have held in his hand on the scaffold. Mr. Stevens begged
me to accompany him to the British Museum, where the
papers of Hariot are carefully preserved, to see this Brief.
The day for our visit was fixed to suit my convenience, with-
out any reference to dates. We were readily admitted to the
Manuscript Department of the Museum, and the " Note of
Remembrance " was soon forthcoming. It is on a little slip
of Harlot's paper, " somewhat crumpled and soiled," and
plainly in his own handwriting. Mr. Stevens is engaged in
writing a Life of Hariot, of which I have seen a preparatory
proof-sheet as far along as the 138th page. In it he, of course,
includes an account of this " precious little waif," as he calls
it, and gives most cogent, if not positively conclusive, reasons
for believing that Hariot was with Raleigh in the Gate House
on the night before his execution, and took down these notes
from Sir Walter's own lips to aid him in recalling what he
most wished to say before he died. The Brief conforms so
nearly to the report of the speech, as we have it, as to give
strong confirmation to this idea ; and I could not help feeling
that I was looking on the very paper which poor Sir Walter
had held in his hand at the last moment before he laid his
head so bravely on the block. Before we had completed our
examination we discovered that, by a striking and wholly
accidental coincidence, the date of our visit to the Museum,
— 28th October — was the precise anniversary date of that
last night, after the trial and before the execution, during
which the Notes are believed to have been dictated and pre-
pared,— the night of Oct. 28, 1618.
I think we shall all hope that the Life of Hariot may not
much longer be delayed. He was certainly one of the most
remarkable men of his age. Hallam, in his "Introduction to
the Literature of Europe," speaks of him as having made
"the last great discovery in the pure science of algebra," and
gives countenance to the charge that the famous Descartes
had borrowed much from him without acknowledgment. It
will not be forgotten that in 1585 he was sent out to Virginia,
6
42 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
with Sir Richard Grenville, by Raleigh himself, and that his
account of that enterprise, dedicated to Sir Walter, is among
the most precious things in De Bry's Voyages. But his inti-
mate relations with Raleigh when he was writing the " His-
tory of the World," as a prisoner in the Tower, and while he
was preparing for death at the Gate House, are worthy of
more attention than they have yet received.
Meantime, I may add that Mr. Stevens is diligently en-
gaged with liis son in preparing the great collection of Frank-
lin Papers, which has been purchased by the United States,
and some of which I examined with deep interest.
I turn lastly. Gentlemen, to one more gleaning of my recent
tour, which has a more peculiarly New England and Mas-
sachusetts interest, and which I shall deal with very briefly,
I have here a certified cop3% from Her Majesty's Public
Record Office in London, of a letter dated " Boston, Massa-
chusetts, May 22, 1634," addressed " To his honorable friend
Sir Nathaniel Riche, Knight, at Warwick House in Holborne,
London," and signed, "• John Winthrop." It comes from the
Kimbolton Papers belonging to the Duke of Manchester,
who has recently deposited them for safe-keeping in the
Public Record Office. It was procured for me most kindly
by Mr. B. H. Beedham, of Ashfield House, near Kimbolton,
who is known to some of us by more than one interesting
antiquarian publication, and who is at this moment preparing
for the press an account of the Clergy of Essex County, Eng-
land, in 1603, from these same Kimbolton Papers. Mr.
Beedham obtained the obliging permission of the Duke of
Manchester to have this letter copied for me, to be printed at
my discretion. It presents a picture of the condition of things
here two hundred and forty-eight years ago, just four years
after the arrival of the Governor and Company with the Mas-
sachusetts Charter. I am not sure that there is any thing alto-
gether new in it, but that can be better decided when it has
been published in our Proceedings, and when our experts
have had an opportunity to examine it deliberately. It is, at
any rate, a contemporaneous account of our small beginnings
from the most authentic source.
Sir Nathaniel Rich, to whom the letter is addressed, was
a kinsman, as well as a very intimate friend, of Robert Rich,
the Earl of Warwick of that day, and, like the Earl, he
took an eager and active interest in American colonization.
Two months after the date of the letter, in July, 1634, we
find the following entry in Winthrop's " History of New Eng-
]882.] LETTER OF GOVERNOR WINTHROP. 43
land " : " Mr. "VVinthrop, the late Governour, received a letter
from the Earl of Warwick, wherein he congratulated the pros-
perity of our Plantations, and encouraged our proceedings,
and offered his help to further us." The Earl had nndoubt-
edly just read Winthrop's letter to his relative. Sir Nathaniel
was a zealous Puritan, and was said to have had great influence
over the young Sir Harry Vane, when he came over here in
1635, and became Governor of Massachusetts at twenty-four
years of age. He died about two years after this letter was
addressed to him, owing, as Matthew Cradock "feared," when
he announced the death to Winthrop in a letter from London,
to the immoderate use of *•' an Antimouiall Cupp," one of the
" Universal Medicines " of that day. I have observed within
a day or two that a manuscript Life of Sir Nathaniel Rich has
been presented to the New England Historic, Genealogical
Society by its author, Mr. G. D. Scull, to whom we have
heretofore been indebted for his interesting " Memoir and
Letters " of the young Captain Evelyn, of the " King's Own "
Regiment at Bunker Hill.
But the letter of Governor Winthrop shall now tell its own
story, and with it I will conclude all that I have to communi-
cate at this meeting : —
Kimbolton Papers.
N". 421.
WORTHYE S^/.
That you are pleased amonge y many & weighty imployments to
spende so many searious thoughts & good wishes upon us, & the works
of the Lorde in o'' hands, I must needs acknowledge it amonge other
the speciall favo''' of God towards us, & an undoubted testimony of
yo' sincere love towards us : w'''^ makes me the more carefull to satis-
fie yo" desire of being truely informed of o" estate (this beinge the first
safe menes of conveyance since I received yo''^ in October last) : you
may please therefore to understand that first, for the number of o"^ peo-
ple, we never took any surveigh of them, nor doe we intend it, except
inforced throughe urgent occasio (Davids example stickes somewhat
w"' us) but I esteeme them to be in all about 4000 : soules & upwarde :
in good healthe (for the most pte) & well provided of all necessaryes :
so as (throughe the Lords speciall providence) there hath not died
above 2 : or 3 : growne psous, & about so many children, all the last
yeare, it being verye rare to heare of any sicke of agues or other dis-
eases, nor have I knowne of any quartan ague amonge us since I came
into the countrye ; For our subsistence heere, the menes hetherto hath
bene the yearly accesse of new comers, who have supplied all o"" wants
for cattle, & the fruits of o'' labours as boorde, pale, smithes work &'':
if this should faile then have we other meanes w*^'^ may supple us, as
44 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
fishe, viz, cocld, basse & herringe, forw'^'' no place in the world exceeds
us, if we can compasse salt at a reasonable rate ; o' grounds likewise
are apt for hempe & flaxe & rape seeds & all sorts of roots, pumpins &
other fruits, w"'^ for tast & wholesoeiiesse far exceede the same in Eng-
lande, o'' grapes allso (wherew* the countrye abounds) afForde a good
harde wine. Our ploughes goe on w**^ good successe, we are like to
have 20 : at worke next 3'eare : o' lands are aptest for rye & oats. Our
winters are shai'pe & loiige, I may reckon 4: monthes for storering of
cattle, but we find no difference whither they be housed or goe abroad :
o'' sumers are somewhat more fervent in heat then in England. Our
civill goverm' is mixt: the freemen choose the magistrals everye yeare
(& for the present they have chosen Thos Dudly Esq"" Governo'') & at
4: Courts in the yeare 3 : out of cache towne (there being 8 in all) doe
assist the magistrats in making of lawes, imposing taxes, & dispos° of
lands : our Juries are chosen by the freemen of everye towne, our
churches are governed by Pastors, Teachers Ruling Elders & Dea-
cons, yet the power lies in the wholl Congregatio, & not in the Pres-
bitrye further then for order & precedencye. For the natives, they
are neere all ded of the Small Poxe, so as the Lord hath cleared o'
title to what we possesse. I shall now acquaint you w''' a sad accident
w*"'^ lately fell out between o'' neyghbo" of Plimouthe & some of the
Lorde Saye his servants at Pascot. Tiiej^ of P'° having engrossed all
the cheif places of trade in N : E : viz Kenebeck, Penobscott, Nari-
gancet & Conecticott, have erected tradinge houses in all of them. The
Lords pinace goeing w"^ 3 : men & a boy to trade at Kenebeck were
forbidden, & psisting in their purposs 2 : of the magistrats of PI : viz :
Jo : Alden & Jo : Howlande & about 9 : more, came up to them in
their pinace & sent 3 : men in a canoe to cutt the cables of the Pas :
pinace (her master one Hockin having given them provoking speeches)
& stood in their owne pinace w"" their peeces charged & ready to
shoote : after they had cutt one cable, Hockin came up, & asked them
if they ment to caste awaye his vessell &c. & svvare w^'all that he would
kill him that should come to cutt the other : Whereupon (the canoe
being driven away w"^ the strength of the streame), they tooke out him
that steered her & putt in another & sent them again to cutt the other
cable, w*^'' while one was doeing (for it was cutt) Hockin shott one of
them in the canoe dead, upon w*^"^ one of the PI : men out of their pin-
ace shott at Hockin & killed him upon the place, whereupon another
of Hockins company cominge up upon the decke one of the PI : men
asked Howland if he should kill him allso, but he forbade him saying
he feard there had been too many killed allreadye : the pinace beinge
then driven on shore & in danger, the PI : men saved her, & putt one
of tiieir owne men into her to carrye her homewards toward Pasc.
Upon the report of this we were muche greived, that suche an occasio
should be offered to o'' enemyes to reproache o'' professio : & that suche
an injurye should be offered to those hon''''^ pso .. who for love of us &
for furtherance of o' begings here had so farre e[ngaged] themselves
w"^ us, so as we wrote to them to knowe the truethe of the matter &
whither they would advowe it : the[y] wrote to us agaiue relatiuge the
1882.] GIFTS TO THE SOCIETY. 45
matter in effecte as I have expressed, w"" justificatio of the facte &*=
yet declaringe their sorrowe, that it had hapned so sadlye, otherwise
then they intendeii : but they did not doubt but their Grant would
beare them out ; upon this we refuse to holde comunio w"' them till
they give better satisfactio. & havinge the s*^ Alden before us, at a
gen Court, we tooke securitye of him for his forthcoming & wrote to
them what & wherefore we had doone it : & upon theire answeare,
that themselves would doe justice in the cause we remitted him to
them, as havinge no jurisdictio in it to trye it o'' selves. All that we
ayme at is that they may come to see their sinne & repente of it. W'^'^
if they shall doe, I would intreat you to intercede w* the Lords for
them, that the injurye & discourtesy may be passed by, upon suche
satisfactio as they can make. I can thinke of nothinge more at psent
to acquaint you w* ; so desiringe the continuance of yo'' care & prayers
for us, as we wish & rejoyce in the success of yo" like undertakings to
the Southward, I take leave & rest
Yo''.'* ever to be coinanded in the Lord
Jo : WlNTHROP.
Boston MassaciiTS N : E :
May 22. 1(334.
heere are 6 : shipps lately arrived w* passengers & cattle, most of
them came in 6 : weekes space, we have setled a plantatio 2<) : miles
to the northw'^, neere Merrimacke. Mf Parker is to be minister there.
(Address.) To his honor''is friend
S^ Natiian^^ Riciie
Knight at Warwick
Hovvse in Holborne
London
John D. Washburn, Esq., of Worcester, and Professor
Egbert C. Smyth, of Andover Theological Seminary, were
elected Resident Members.
Mr. WiNSOR. read a review of the first volume of the pro-
jected history of the Pacific coast, by Mr. Hubert H. Bancroft,
of San Francisco.
The President presented, for Mr. Charles S. Kendall, a
large daguerrotype of Daniel Webster, taken in 1851, for
My. John E. Kendall, then a resident of England. As Mr.
Webster died the following year, this is one of the last por-
traits of him taken from life. The thanks of the Society
were voted for this acceptable gift.
Mr. S. L. M. Barlow sent from New York, for the Lilirary,
several provincial tax lists, and a copy of Dr. Waterhouse's
History of " Kine Pox."
Dr. Ellis presented, in the name of Dr. Henry J. Bigelow,
some books and pamphlets from the library of the late Dr.
Jacob Bigelow.
46 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
A letter was read from Mr. Lowell, from London, calling
attention to the valuable collection of Parish Registers left by
Colonel Chester, and expressing a wish that the collection
might be secured for this country.
Miss E. S. Quincy presented, through Mr. Deane, a bundle
of papers of Oxenbridge Thacher. These were probably
found after Mr. Thacher's death, in 1765, by Josiah Quincy,
Jr., who had studied in his office, and who succeeded to his
business. A vote of thanks to Miss Quincy was passed for
her valuable gift.
The following papers have been selected from these for
printing. The first is tlie draft of a letter written by Thaclier
in 1762 to Benjamin Prat, Chief Justice of New York, and a
former member of the bar of Massachusetts. The second is
the draft of a petition to the King and Parliament, prepared
by him but not accepted.* And the third appears to be the
draft of a letter to the agent of the province in England : —
Oxenhridge Thacher to Benjamin Prat.
[1762.]
S« _
If I were writing to a gent" of your rank with whom I had less
acquaintance. I should think it necessary to apologize for leaving the
letter with which you were pleased to honour me so long unanswered.
To you it will be sufficient to say I reed it just before y^ superior court ;
& to that succeded Charlestowu inferior, to that Ipswich, & now our
own inferior court. You are well acquainted with this rotation, and
(as a lover of my country I say) I hope will soon return to it. Be
assured I do not flatter you at all, when I say that the expectation
of your return occasions great joy among all honest citizens, whose
further wish it also is y* your return may be in season y? \_illegible'\
month. In truth we have not such plenty of honest & able men among
us that we can spare those of this character to an ungratefull people
who know not how to prize or treat them. I want now to give you
a little sketch of y^ present state of our domestic politics, but as your
favoi-ite writer y? author of y? present state of Europe f says, speaking
of Poland, who can penetrate into y*: politics of a country y' hath no
politics. We seem to be in y' deep sleep or stupor y' Cicero describes
his country to be in a year or two before y! civil wars broke out. The
sea is perfectly calm & unagitated. Whether this profound (juiet be the
forerunner of a storm I leave to your judgment, &■ our brother K.'s t
prophetic spirit, to determine. I even hear y* y*: press now is under y*
dominion of our great meu, and y' those printers who owe their first
* See Hutchinson's " History of Massachusetts," vol. iii., p. 106; Palfrey's
"Compentlious History of New England," vol. iv., pp. 347, 348. — Eds.
t Jolin Canipl-ell, LL.D., died 1776. —Eds.
X Benjamin Kent. See Proceedings, vol. xix. p. 147, n. — Eds.
1882.] THE THACHER PAPERS. 47
subsistence & present greatness to y1 freedom of their press refuse to
admit any thing y^ suspect is not pleasing to our sovereign lords. I
will lay a guinea y* they are bound to y' in good behaviour, and y?
our sovereign lord y? kings attorney * hath threatened them w'?^ a
prosecution for some past freedoms. So y^ future silence is y^ price of
y^ pardon. You remember he loves, (as you use to express it,) to have
his rod over a man. What occasions y! most gaping of late, (we are
not awake enough to speak,) is a charter for a new college in y? county
of Hampshire. The monarch of y^ county,t (you know it was always
under regal governra*,) took great offence at his son's being placed some
years ago something lower in a class at our college than belitted y? son
of a king4 He therefore, & his privy council came down y*^ last Ses-
sions prepared with a peton to incorporate a college in y' county which
they modestly said was all they desired. § They wanted no money
from y? government to support it. A bill passed in yf house for this
* Edmund Trowbridge. — Eds.
t Professor A. L. Perry, of Williams College, lias pointed out to the editors that
tliis was Colonel Israel Williams, of Hatfield (H.C., 1727), who commanded one
of the Hampshire regiments during the French war, and was at this time a
member of the Council and a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was
first cousin of Colonel Epiiraim Williams, the founder of Williams College. He
was a loyalist and was appointed a mandamus councillor in 1774, but never
took the oath. "Though old and infirm," says Sabine, "he was visited by a
mob at night, taken from his house, carried several miles, and ])ut into a room
with a fire, when the doors and the top of the chimney were closed and he was
kept several hours in the smoke. On being released he was compelled to sign a
paper dictated by his tormentors. Tiie circumstance did not escape Trumbull's
caustic pen ; and he asks in ' McFingal,' —
" ' Have you made Murray look less big,
Or smoked old Williams to a Whig ? ' "
Colonel Williams died in 1788, aged seventy-nine. His manuscript papers are
in the Society's possession, and show his deep interest in the proposed Queen's
College. Amons them (ii. 177) is a draft of a charter by the Governor incorpo-
rating " Israel Williams, John Worthington, Oliver Partridge, Elijaii Williams,
Josiali Dwight, and Joseph Hawley, Esqs., and the Revs. Stephen Williams,
David Parsons, Jonathan Ashley, Timothy Woodbridge, Samuel Hopkins, and
John Hooker, ministers of the gospel,"' as President and Fellows of Queen's Col-
lege in New England. See " Williams Genealogy," p. 11)7 ; Sabine's " Loyalists,"
vol. ii pp. 435, 436 ; Quincy's " History of Harvard University," vol. ii. pp. 105-
112, 464-479 ; Peirce's do., p. 274 ; Tyler's " History of Amiierst College," p. 13.
— Eds.
t John Williams, the son referred to, graduated at Harvard in 1751, and is
placed in the catalogue, tlien disposed, not alphabetically, but by the social rank
of the members, fourteenth in a class of thirty-five. His brother William, who
graduated at Yale College in 1754, is fourth in a class of sixteen. — Eds.
§ From a letter from Williams to the Hon. William Smith, of New York,
afterward chief justice of that province, it appears that the first design was to
have a royal charter, but on learning " your opinion that 'a charter from Mr.
Bernard under the Massachusetts constitution would not be good,' we imme-
diately determined to press on a petition to the whole legislature. Accordingly
one was prepared. When I went to court, soon after, I waited upon Governor
Bernard and let him know our design, your opinion, and that Mr. Gridley was of
the same. He freely and fully went into a consideration of the affair and ex-
pressed himself entirely pleased with the proposal . . . but as to the charter he
was of opinion he had a right to give one as the king's representative, and that
it was a royal right reserved in the crown which by the charter the king had
48 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
purpose but was rejected at y* board. In y? situation the governor *
granted a charter himself by his own single authority. This alarmed
both houses ; they chose a committee to wait on yf governor, to desire
he would recall y? charter. At last y": overseers of our colle.iie waked
enough to have a meeting on yf subject. There it was y* your old fi'iend
Summa t was put to his trumps. You know he is y? idol of y? clergy :
you know also y? he is in a strict alliance, offensive & defensive, with
the monarch of ll[ampsliire] & his dominions. The only card he had to
play was to delay y": question. This he i)layed pretty dextrously. He
magnified y? abilities & y? interest of y? Hampshire members, intimated
it would be dangerous to offend them, suggested that measures should
be taken to quiet them & perswade y? to give up. In vain for at three
o'clock, (to which time from ten o'clock y? govern" & Summa had jDro-
longed y! debate,) it was voted to choose a committee to prepare rea-
sons against y*: s*? college. This was accordingly done, y^ remonstrance
prepared and preferred to y? governor, and he has given a gracious
answer promising to vacate y? charter, & I believe he will keep his
word ; for your honest old friend Lyman J assures us y* y? project is as
much disliked in Hampshire as it is here. Thus y? remonstrances of
his proper subjects, may reach y? ear of the monarch, and he may give
leave to yi gov'' to keep his word. I very often think of y! saying of
Nepos, prudentiam quondam esse divination em ; & with respect to you
we daily see many of your predictions accomplished respecting the
connections & discords of our politicians, corkusmen, plebeian tribunes,
&ca., &ca. Your old client & friend Palinurus, § he y* from handling y*
broad ax hath been called to guide y? helm of y? commonwealth, retains
his honesty & his usefulness. The gl' pays him great court, hath made
him a justice of y! quorum, consults him ab' arduous affairs of state, &
seems to retain him in his councils as a balance to Summa for whom
sound reason & discretion require him to find a balance if he does not
mean to be wholly weighed down himself. Now as to ovar own brother-
hood, I wish y? two sentences with which you took leave of us at Ded-
ham, had made a more durable impression, to wit let brotherly love
continue and forsake not y** assembling yourselves together &ca. || I
cannot be more explicit here. Fcstina, festina inquam. Come your-
self, & dispell all clouds, whatever other variant & inconsistent interest
& factions are among us. We shall unite on your return, & make you
y? head of y? union as you were y? former of it.
never given away." Williams Papers, vol. ii. p. 181. Dartmouth College and the
College of New Jersey were incorporated by charters issneil by the respective
Provincial Governors. Williams was greatly disappointed at what he regarded
as the timidity of the Governor. See his letter to Smith, supra. — Eds.
* Bernard. — Eds.
t Probably Tliomas Hutchinson, at this time Chief Justice and Lieutenant-
Governor. He was very intimate with Williams. — Eds.
t Phineas Lyman, of Northampton (Y.C., 1738), a prominent lawyer of
Western Massachusetts. He died in 1774. — Eds.
§ Perhaps Thomas Flucker, member of tlic Council, 1761-1768, wlio was
made a justice of the quorum, Nov. 12, 1761. In 1770 he became the last
Secretary of the Province, and, in 1774, a mandamus councillor. He died in
London in 1783. See Sabine's " Loyalists," vol. i. p. 428. — Eds.
II See Proceedings, vol. xix. p. 146. — Eds.
1882.] THE THACHEE, PAPERS. 49
Thaeh.er's Draft of an Address to the King and Parliament*
To the king's most excellent majesty, the (right honhle) Lords
spiritual & temporal, & the houble house of commons in Parliament
assembled. We your Majesty's most loyal & dutifull subjects, the
representatives of the province of the Massachusetts bay, beg leave to
address your Majesty, in your grand council of Parliament, humbly
trusting in y''. royal clemency & goodness, & encouraged thereto by
many statutes, {and) particularly that of first of William & Mary,
[St. 2] chapter [2], declaring it to be the right of the subject so to
petition.
It is now about one hundred & forty four years, since our ancestors
emigrating from great Britain, first began to plant & inhabit this your
Majesty's territory. The greater part of this time, they have been
encompassed by savage Indians, who spirited by the neighbouring
French, have been in almost {^'perpetuaVl) continual wars with us, and
have frequently desolated whole countries in one campaign.
Yet our ancestors and we have born this heavy weight, and the other
innumerable toils & hardships of colonizing. Nor have our efforts
been confined to meer defence : In former and in later times this
colony hath at it's own expence, fitted out armaments, by which the ter-
ritories of the enemies of the British empire have been subdued, and
those of your Majesty ( 's territory ?), besieged by your enemies, been
defended & secured.
We have been encouraged to undergo these great toils, by royal
charters of your Majesty's predecessors & the hopes of enlarging the
British empire, and of transmitting the sacred rights of British sub-
jects to our latest posterity. And of all your Majesty's subjects, none
more truly rejoice in beholding the British glory, raised to it's present
height than the inhabitants of this province who have chearfully con-
tributed their blood and treasure to {these great conquests) the acquisi-
tions of the late war.
We find ourselves at the happy conclusion of the war, by our great
exertions in it, involved in an heavy load of debt which it will take
us many years with all the resources in our power to clear ourselves
of.
{Here we must humbly observe to your Majesty^
That the sums annually required in the course of the late war being
much greater than could be raised on your Majesty's subjects in each
year : we were constantly obliged to borrow large sums at an high
interest, and to secure the payment thereof to the lenders, to anticipate
and mortgage the standing revenues of y*" government which consist
of a tax on all polls & all real and personal estates within the province,
an impost being certain duties on shipping, and an excise on all spiritu-
ous liquoi's.
* The erasures and corrections are printed in itaUcs in parentheses. — Eds.
7
50 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
We cannot therefore conceal our grief to find by a late statute, en-
titled an act for granting certain Duties in the British Colonies and
Phantations in America, &c, such duties laid & regulations estab-
lished as must not only deprive us of all these resources but must
finally destroy our trade, & as we humbly conceive deprive us of the
most essential rights of Britons.
[Possessed as ive have been with the utmost loyalty to your Majesty ;
and conscious to otirselves of none hut the most dutifuU sentiments of
our mother country ; we are greatly at a loss to conceive by what we
have demerited so much, as by one act, unrepresented and unheard, to he
thus disfranchised Sf ruiiied.)
The duties laid by the said act interfere with the impost & excise
acts, nor can we continue these if the said duties are exacted, (nor can)
and consequently the public security the creditors of this province
have, is thereby destroyed. {N^or will your Majesty's subjects here, after
their trade is so much hurthened by y" several regulations of the s''. act,
he able to raise the sums needfull by the poll tax. Whence we greatly
fear even a total banl-rujjtcy.)
Further the high Duty on Foreign sugar & molasses must soon
distroy our Trade to y" Foreign Islands, without which Branch of Com-
merce our Fislieries {must be destroyed) cannot be supported, and the
many other new regulations, introduced or new enforced by the said
act, must SO' abridge & discourage our trade, as that the province will
be utterly unable to pay its public debts ; whence must soon arise a
geneial bankruptcy, and whenever this happens the inhabitants of the
kingdom of great Britain will, we fear, be great sharers in our
calamity.
With respect to a general stamp {tax) duty, we beg leave to ob-
serve to your Majesty that in y! time of the late war, being driven by
want of money to every expedient, we in this province once made
such an act. But we found it so burthensome to your Majesty's sub-
jects, and it was so generally complained of, that it was laid aside &
hath never since been revived. The people of this province that are
distant from the metropolis, are settled in very sparse manner {none)
few contiguous, {nor have much occasion for y" instruments charged
with stamps.) When therefore they were obliged to make use of y'^
instruments charged with yf stamps, they must travel forty or fifty miles
or more, to get their instruments stamped {and many other income —
when y^ had performed f journey, perhaps y". minds of^ y" parties woidd
he changed 8^ there woidd he no occasion for tltem.) This was so heavy
a tax on the greater part of the i)rovince, as by universal consent, they
chose to borrow money on high interest, to submit to what we call a dry
tax, that is a tax on all real & personal estate, & on all polls ; and to
have this increased rather than be longer under so heavy a duty. ( Tiie
situation of this proi-ince is. in this respect, vastly different from that of
the Kingdom.) It was really estimated, that for every sixpence brought
into the treasury this way, the subject must pay eighteen pence. Be-
sides, it was found y* this tax lay heaviest on y* poorer sorts and those
least able to bear that or any other tax.
1882.] THE THACHER PAPERS. 51
( We must add that if these duties are laid on us, your Majesty's sub-
jects here will be unable to jyay the taxes of the government here or any
other taxes, the creditors of the governm)
We beg leave to add y' these duties, joined to the other fore men-
tioned will exhaust the province of all it's money, and it will be utterly
incapable of paying it's public debts, of bearing the charges of it's
domestic governm?, & the subjects here of paying y^ debts to yf
Majesty's subjects in great Britain.
But we nu;st further humbly represent to your Majesty that we
look upon those duties as a tax, and which we humbly apprehend, ought
not to be laid without the representatives of the people affected by
them.
We have learned from the laws of our mother country, and from
many the most public & solemn acts ; to consider y" rights of Britons
as sacred. .& inviolable. And we cannot conceive that the colonists
have forfeited them by their emigrating a thousand leagues, subduing
immense forests, filled with savage beasts & men, to the British
obedience, protecting at their own expence the British subjects at y'
great distance from the capital, & thereby enlarging the British empire
& commerce. Now we have ever supposed this to be one essential
right of British subjects, that they shall not be subjected to taxes
which, in person or by representative, they have no voice in laying. In
this conclusion we have been fortified by the practise of the English
Parliaments in former and later times, which have ever vindicated this
right, and have never laid any duty or tax on the subjects of Ireland,
though that hath ever been deemed & acknowlegeth itself to be a de-
pendent Kingdom.
May it please your Majesty
Your faithfull subjects in this province reap no other benefit from
the conquest & ceding of Canada, than the joy they have in behold-
ing the glories of your reign encreased : and the security, while that
country remains subject to your Majesty, from the bloody incursions of
an hostile power. Our commercial interests are no way benefitted
hereby, our lands are much fallen in y! value & we are even not so
able, {iior are loe so able) to bear our taxes (than) as if that were still
subject to y'' French.
We (must) beg leave to add that it is not only by the imposition of
these duties, that we apprehend our British rights affected : but also
in the powers therein given to courts of admiralty. We have been
taught to consider the privilege of being tried by juries as a most es-
sential British right, and the common law of England as the common
birthright of every subject. And we read in the British history, the
resentments of the high court of Parliament, as well as that of the
King's common law courts, whenever (that) the court of admiralty
hath attempted to enlarge it's jurisdiction, and to try matters that were
not of a maratime nature. ( We) The colonies have experienced much
of the arbitrary & oppressive nature of (that) Provincial courts of Ad-
miralty heretofore & of late (in f. province). Particularly in this,
the judg's (hath assumed to himself in some of them) have assumed to
52 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
themselves a fee of five per cent, on all seisures condemned, we know
not by what law or authority. Here is a perpetual incentive to con-
demn, {which hath never failed of it's effect) and {could) were your
Majesty and your high court of Parliament, {be well) fully informed
of the manifold grievances suffered by tlie colonists from these courts,
we cannot think we should be longer subjected to them {you would
subject even y^. greatest rebels to whom you had given their lives to
them.)
Besides, as there is a clause in this act, enabling the commanders of
the king's ships to seise and to carry the cause to any court of admi-
ralty that may be appointed for all America, we can really hold none
of our property secure. For if these new officers, who are not sup-
posed to be knowing in law, shall seise any of our goods the most
legally imported & subject to no kind of forfeiture, they may carry the
trial of the cause to a thousand miles distance, where the claimer for
mere want of ability cannot follow it. These officers are the more
formidable to us, by means of another clause in the said act, which
alters the law in America and indemnifieth these officers for seising,
however unjustly and how much soever the claimant hath expended in
defence of his property : whenever the judge of admiralty will certifie
that there was probable cause {cause which if we may judge of the
future by the past he will never fail to do.)
Thus, most gracious sovereign, we lay before your Majesty and your
grand council, our humble complaints, which we are constrained to do
from a principle of justice to our constituents & ourselves : and we
humbly entreat they may be favourably considered.
Our ancestors & we have been profuse of our blood and treasure
in the British cause, and we shall be ever ready to show on every
fitting occasion our warm attachment to your Majesty and the nation
under your happy government. {And could it possibly be that the
revenue could need our assistance ; we nor our constituents would desire
to withold it. But we must Sf ought to claim those.) Nor do we in the
least desire that any trade inconsist* with y" real good of the nation
should be in the least connived at or favored. But we must & ought
to claim those rights & privileges that being born Britons are inherent
to us.
Wherefore on the whole we humbly pray your Majesty, and your
high court of Parliament, will be pleased to consider the premises and
grant us relief therein.
Thacher's Draft of a Letter to the Provincial Agent in London.
Agreable to our commission from the two houses, copy whereof we
have sent you, we now forward the enclosed, which contains as briefly
as we could well draw it an account of the various exertions and ex-
pences of this province from it's first beginning to y^ present time. It
1882.J THE THACHER PAPERS. 53
will abundantly appear from it that this province hath had it's full
share of the burdens of the British empire, that by it's own representa-
tives it hath ever chearfully submitted to the heaviest taxes it was any
how capable of bearing. (^Whence we conceive it equitably fullovjs that
we do not need, in the new and extraordinary manner proposed, to have
our property taken from us for the support S)- security. It will we liope
be of use to you, if you should be culled upon by y". ministry to defend us
on this quarter.)
The province finds itself greatly exhausted by these exertions and
it will be with {great) the utmost difficulty we shall cleai the heavy
load of debt the last war has involved us in, though no new burdens
were brought upon us, and our trade were left to it's natural course.
But if the severe regulations of y? late act are continued and new taxes
laid on us, these will drain us of all our specie, the sinews of trade, and
otherwise so distress us that we shall neither be able to pay the public
debt we owe as a community, nor individuals what they owe to y'^ mer-
chants of great Britain, a general bankruptcy public and private must
ensue.
It is our desire that you should be furnished with every argument
that may (Jielp to ward off y'^ great ccdamity possess the ministry S^ the
parliament with) be of any service in an affair so interesting to (us)
y^ & all y^ colonies (cmd the two houses, not to say to y^ parent state all.
If you should be called upon to shoiv what y^. province hath done for y\
public service, the enclosed will furnish you with an answer. And we
doubt not you will make the best use of it.) And we greatly depend
upon your care & vigilance to make y'^ best & properest use of every
thing sent you
We are S"^
Yr most hble Serv*^
Enclosure.
1746. His late Majesty proposed an expedition against Canada,
with which y" province most readily complied, «& kept their
forces on foot all y*^ summer, & till sometime in November, be-
fore they had news that y*: expedition was laid aside. {It is
true the men were paid by the crown, but many expences loere
incurred by y" province in the cloathing S^c'^ which were loholly
lost to them.)
In the short interval of peace that followed the treaty of Aix
la chapelle, was perpetually interrupted by y® French making
new (exch) encroachments, building new forts, & surrounding
y* colonies on all sides So that in
1754. This province judged it necessary to raise, about 800 men,
(a good number of men) to be marched to the Eastward and
there to build a fort at about an [blank'] miles from the mouth
of Kennebeck river, in the Indian rout from Canada. The cost
of this expedition was thirteen thousand seven hundred &
eighty two pounds, four shillings and three pence proclamation
54 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
money, and the building and supplying the fort was six thou-
sand, five hundred & sixty seven pounds, eighteen shillings &
one penny.
1755. This province, with y? other new England governments &
New York, formed an expedition against crown point, com-
manded by S'' William Johnson. Then it was that y? memora-
ble battle was fought, near lake George, in which the French
general Dieskau was taken prisoner & y"^ French totally routed.
The cost of y" expedition to y** province, was one hundred &
four thousand, two hundred & fifty two pounds, sixteen shillings
& eleven pence. In y* same year, by forces chiefly raised in
y*^ Massaciiusetts, tlio' i)aid by the crown, foi't Beau sejour was
taken, and the French inhabitants of Nova Scotia were removed
and distributed among the (other) English colonies. This was
a most happy step [in the war as it was remo.) but it was a
source of great expence to y" province who, for sometime (bore)
at y? common expence, (then) supported those sent here, and
after they had resided here two or three years, parcelled them
out among the several towns in y^ province, and tliey have been
& still remain an heavy bill of charge to y*^ province.
1756. The next year, war being declared, the province hoped to
finish y^ work begun the last year, and raised a mighty arma-
ment, (which) commanded by general Winslow, which would
^^robably have subdued that fort if that gentleman had been
allowed to proceed with his army. But he was commanded, by
the King's general, to keep himself entrenched at lake George,
& act only on y*^ defensive. Tiie cost to y^ province y^ year was
ninet}' seven thousand, five hundred & eighty two pounds, one
shilling & eight pence.
1757. This year lord Loudon, intending only to act on the defensive
on y® continent, did not demand the same number of soldiers as
the last year. The number demanded were raised. The ex-
pence of those men, to y'' province, was sixty six thousand, two
hundred & one pounds, nineteen shillings & two pence. This
year Fort William Henry was taken by y^ French, & the alarm
given by that occasioned a march, of the militia of the province,
toward the Frontiers, which it was expected in y*^ insolence of
success, the French would have attacked. The cost of this
march was twelve thi>usand, nine hundred and eight pounds,
fifteen shillings & two pence.
1758. Letters from M'' Secretary Pitt were received the beginning
of y' year, whence the province hoi)ed for a vigorous campaign,
& thei-efore, straining their utmost ability, raised seven thousand
men for y^ service. The cost of this year was one hundred &
forty thousand, two hundred |)ounds.
1759. The war still continuing, they (raised more men) expended
yf year in men raised, the sum of one hundred, seventy three
thousand, five hundred & ninety pounds, four shillings & ten
pence.
1882.] THE THACHER PAPERS. 55
The next years 17 GO, 1761, 17G2, they raised the full numbers
required of them, and in the whole the cost of their expeditions,
from 1755 to 17G2, both inclusive, were nine hundred & forty three
thousand, eight hundred and thirty nine pounds, twelve shillings & nine
pence.
Besides this, the cost of scouting companies, from 1755 to 17G0, both
inclusive, was twenty seven thousand, four hundred and ninety six
pounds & seven pence.
Besides this, they built & maintained two armed vessels for protec-
tion of their trade, the cost whereof was thirty four thousand, seven
hundred & ninety five pounds, fourteen shillings & six pence.
These expences together make one million, thirty nine thousand,
three hundred & ninety pounds, five shillings & four pence.
It is to be observed here that these sums, being much greater than
could be raised on the peojile in one year, the province were obliged
annually to take up large sums on interest, & some years to anticipate
& mortgage the standing revenues of the government, for security to
y'' lenders.
The province do not forget, they remember, and acknowledge with
great gratitude, the many sums bestowed on them during the course of
y*^ war. Without these, it would have been absolutely impossible for
them {province) to have proceeded in y'' levies above one or two years.
But, notwithstanding these sums, tliey were, at y" conclusion of the war,
& still are, very much in debt ; & it will take them many years, with all
the resources in y'' power, to clear y^.'^ debts.
In the above estimate, the cost of many forts & garrisons on their
frontiers, are not included ; neither can any estimate be made of the
cost to individuals by the demand of personal service. For y*^ num-
bers raised in all these years, together being equal to the whole militia
list, it hath come to y? turn of every enlisted soldier in y'^ whole militia,
to serve once; and they who could not serve in person, which were much
y^ greater number, were obliged to hire others, at a great premium, in
their room.
And even now, the province having Indians on y^ frontiers, are
obliged to keep up respectable garrisons for y*^ defence of their infant
settlements, though y*^ Indians profess to be at peace, and we cannot
charge them with any inimical intentions.
Such is y® breif state of the services & exertions of y^ province since
it's beginnings. The sutn in y? country granted by y^ king of great
Britain to his subjects, & included also in grants made by y*^ French
king to his sul)jects, was, in y® very nick of time, settled by y? subjects
of the former ; & from small beginning, thro innumerable toils, hard-
ships & sutFerings, a rude desart is become a well peopled & fruitfull
plantation. From {their) it's first infancy to {the) it's present age of
puberty, this colony with {very little) no expence to y'' crown, hath
defended the territory granted to it, {hath always defended 4' secured)
hath ever been ready to afibrd it's utmost help, when the Kings ser-
vice called, hath actually made divers valuable conquests for the crown,
&, by it's great exertions & expences, has impoverished and enfeebled
56
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
[Dec.
itself, so as it will not in many yeai's recover the athletic state it was in
y* beginning of y*^ last French war.
It is not intended, {that) by any thing here said, to derogate from y!
merits of the other colonies. All have had their share in these great
conquests ; a defection in any one of them would have been fatal to yf
common cause. And without the joint & united vigor of the whole so
much could never have been accomplished as this age hath seen hap-
pily effected.
Nor do the Massachusetts desire to be distinguished from y^ other
colonies, by any new grants and indemnities, nor are seeking any fur-
ther rewards. They desire only that y*^ privileges of their ancestors,
purchased so dearly, and they have never forfeited, may be continued to
them. And being conscious to themselves of y*^ entire loyalty to his
most excelleut Majesty, & dutifull respects to y'' parent state, they trust
the wisdom & justice of y^ nation will leave them in possession of all
the rights privileges & immunities which y'^ subjects of great Britain
do & ought to enjoy.
Schedule attached to the above.
The Cost of the Several Expeditions viz*
1755 104252.16.11
1756 97582. 1. 8
1757 66201.19, 2
1758 140200.
1759 173590. 4.10
1760 185854.18.10
1761 86157.11. 4
1762 90000. 943839.12. 9
The Charge of building &, maintaining Two
Armed Vessells 34795.14. 6
The Alarm 12908.15. 2
The Kennebeck Expedition 13782. 4. 3
Fort Ilallifax buihP & supplies 6567.18. 1
Scouting Companies viz*
in 1755 4698. 6. 6
1756 7179.14. 8
1757 7680. 6. 3
1758 4004. 9. 7
1759 3118.18. 5
1760 814. 5. 2 27496. 0. 7
1039390. 5. 4
The Recordinc^ Secretary stated that he had received from
Captain G. V. Fox an official notice of his removal from the
Commonwealth, and the consequent termination of his mem-
bership.
1883.] EEMAKKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 57
JANUARY MEETING, 1883.
The regular meeting was held at the Society's rooms, on
Thursday, the 11th instant, at 3 o'clock p.m. ; the Presi-
dent, Mr. WiNTHROP, in the chair.
On the nomination of the Council, Mr. Clement Hugh
Hill was elected Recording Secretary during the absence of
Mr. Dexter, who had been obliged to leave Boston for the
winter, on account of his health.
The record of the previous meeting was read and accepted.
The Librarian read a list of the donors to the Library
during the last month. The gifts included one made by
Samuel T. Worcester and Frederick A. Worcester, brothers
and executors of the late Dr. Josepli E. Worcester, of seven
volumes of correspondence carried on by him in connec-
tion with the preparation and publication of his Dictionary
of the English Language, and covering a period of fifty
years.
The Corresponding Secretary reported that he had received
letters from Professor Smyth, of Andover, and Mr. John D.
Washburn, of Worcester, accepting their election as Resident
Members.
The President then said : —
The New Year, Gentlemen, has opened auspiciously for
us. We are all sorry, indeed, that the health of our valued
Recording Secretary has once more compelled him to quit
our service for a season, and to seek a milder climate for the
winter. But he has left behind him, as the fruit of his own
labors, in connection with those of his associates on the Pub-
lishing Committee, a new volume of Proceedings, bringing
down our printed records to the end of October last. That
volume contains the roll of a hundred living Resident jNIem-
bers, the full number to which we have limited ourselves,
and which, I heartily trust, may long remain unbroken.
Meantime, we have the promise this afternoon of a Paper
to which we shall all listen with the greatest interest, and of
which I am unwilling to delay the presentation by any pro-
tracted remarks of my own. I have a letter here, however,
to which I will make a brief allusion, before calling for com-
munications from others.
68 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETF. [Jan.
In my introductory remarks at the last meeting, I alluded
to an interesting visit which I paid to the British Museum
in October, in company with our Corresponding Member,
Mr. Henry Stevens, and to the " Note of Remembrance " of
Sir Walter Raleigh's speech on the scaffold, which we saw,
or thought we saw, among the papers of Thomas Harlot, the
great mathematician and philosopher.
While I w^as there with him, Mr. Stevens called my atten-
tion, also, to a remarkable volume in the celebrated Grenville
Library, which has a peculiar interest for Americans. It
was not one of the great collection of books presented or
bequeathed by Thomas Grenville to the British Museum,
but it has since been added to that collection, and is the only
volume which has ever been admitted to those shelves. It is
a volume of drawings and sketches, in water-colors, executed
by Captain John White, in Virginia, in 1585, when Raleigh
had sent out his friend, Thomas Harlot, with Sir Richard
Grenville, for the exploration of that region of the New
World ; and it is believed to be the original source from which
De Bry obtained the illustrations for his Voyages.
Mr. Stevens, by a ha])py chance, had found and secured
this volume, and had sold it, through the eminent librarian,
Panizzi, in 1866, to the British Museum, to be placed in the
Grenville Library. The volume is in jDerfect preservation,
and is in every way most interesting and attractive. It has
been seen by at least one of our number, and has been
noticed in this country, before now. Mr. Deane made a
brief reference to it in a communication to the American Anti-
quarian Society, on his return from Europe, in October, 1866.
And very recently, during my own absence, a few of the
drawings and illuvStrations have been reproduced in the New
York "Century Magazine" for November last. Mr. Stevens,
however, has written a somewhat detailed account of the
book, and his letter has reached me since our last meeting.
Even should it be found to contain but little in addition to
what some of our number already know, it may well serve to
secure a place in our records for an authentic description
of so unique and valuable a volume.
I submit it accordingly to our Publishing Committee for
such disposition as they may think fit : —
1883.]' THE EALEIGH VOLUME OF DRAWINGS. 59
4 Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, "W. C,
London, Dec. 9, lSti'2.
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Boston, U. S. : —
My dear Sir, — The title of the Raleigh volume of drawiugs in
water-colours executed by Captaiu Jolm White ,iu Virginia is — line
for line : —
1 nPHE pictures of sondiy things collected and counterfeited according
JL to the trutli in the Voyage made by S'' Walter Raleigh Knight,
for the discouery of La Vii-ginea. In the 27''.' yeare
of the most happie reigne of our Souereigue lady Queens
Elizabeth. And in the yeare of o' Lord God
1585.
There are in all 76 drawings, and are described as follows : —
2 Map of Virgiuea from C. de Florida (lat. 40'^; to Chesa-
peake Bay, Extending from Port Royal, anear to the
South Sea. [nearly like tlie map in De Bry F' 2.
3 Map of Raleigh's Virginia, up to Chesapeake Bay, north side,
like map in Part 1.
4 Map: " The xj of Male the Geuerall [Sir Richard Grenville]
in the Tyger arriued at St Johns J land where he fortified
in this manner, toke in fresh water and buylt a Pynnes.
And then departed from thence the xxiii of the same
monetli, 1585." [with a good portrait of the ship ' Tyyer.'
5 The form of a fort which was mad by Mr Rolfe Lane in a
part of St Johns Ilande neare cape ross where we took
in Salt the xxvj* of May 1585.
6 The manner of their fishing. De Bry, Part 1, Plate xiij.
7 Secoton. De Bry, Part 1, Plate 20.
8 The towne of Pomeiock and true forme of their howses couered
and enclosed some w"^ Matts. some with barcks of trees.
All compassed about with small poles stock thick together
iu stedd of a Wall. See Plate XIX.
9 The tombe of their Cherounes or cheife personages, their fleshe
cleane taken off' from the bones sane the skynn and heare
of their heade, w''' fiish is dried and enfolded in matts
laide at their feete ; thar bones also being made dry or
couered w*'' deare skynns not altering their forme, or pro-
portion. W^ith their Kywash, which is an Image of
Woode keeping the dead. XXII.
10 [The dane around the Posts, 14 persons & 3 iu the centre.
XVIII.
11 [Ten persons, men & women sitting round a fire. XVII.
11-^ The seething of their meate in Potts of earth. XV.
IP The broyling of ther fish ouer the flame of fire. De Bry
XIIII.
60 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
12 The manner of their attire and painting them selues when they
goe to their generall huntings or at their solemne feasts.
Bry III.
The man & feather just 9i inches tall, & the bow just 9^.
13 A Chiefe Herowans wyfe of Fomeoc and her daughter of the
age of 8 or 10 yeares. [8 inches tall.] De Bry N° VIII.
14 One of their Religious men. De Bry V. front view.
15 The wyfe of an Ilerowan of Pomeiooc [with her papoose on
her back. X.
16 The Flyer. De Bry XI. Praestigeator.
17 One of the wyues of Wyngyno.
18 The wyfe of an Hero wan of Secoton. IIII.
19 The aged man in his wynter garment. IX.
20 Their sitting at meate. XVI.
21 A chiefe Hero wan. VII.
22 Of Florida [Indian] Part 2. De Bry. Man.
23 Of Florida. Indian woman. „
24 to 28 5 Picts as engraved at end of Part I.
29 - 30 Greenland Man & woman. Frobishers.
31 -35 Turkish men & women.
36 - The Risinge of the Islandes of Dominica & Santicruse.
37 to 40=; 41 Botany — Plants.
42 - 57 Fish of many kinds.
58 - 65 Birds.
66 Butterfly.
67 3 flies, glowworm.
68-70 large torts, turtles.
71 Igwano. Some of these 3 fote long.
72 Allagatto, " this being but one moueth old was 3 fote 4 inches in
length, and lyue in water.
73 Scorpons (2).
73 -f- 3 Nos. in dupl. = 76 in all.
The volume is in the Grenville Library, No. 6837*.
I sold this collection in 1866 to Mr. Panizzi to be placed in the
Grenville Library, the only addition ever made to that library.
If you desire it I can supply you with the names of all the plants,
birds, and fish given on the drawings.
The volume is a good-sized folio, considerably larger than De Bry's
^'^^^■i^^- I am, Dear Sir,
Yours faithfully,
Henry Stevens.
After a few words from Mr. WiNSOR, the President theu
called for communications from Section 1, and
Mr. C. F. Adams, Jr., proceeded as follows : —
The episode of Sir Christopher Gardiner is one_ of the
puzzles of early New England history. In itself it is of no
1883.] SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER. . 61
great consequence ; for, though it seemed not impossible at
one juncture that it might seriously affect the course of
events in Massachusetts, nothing finally came of it. None the
less the episode remains suggestive, if only because it is inex-
plicable. Who the man was, and why or whence he came,
or whither he subsequently went, are mysteries unlikely
now to be ever wholly solved ; but he none the less stands
out in picturesque incongruity against the monotonous back-
ground of colonial life. It is somewhat as if one were sud-
denly to come across the portrait of a Cavalier by Vandyck
in the vestibule of a New England village church. As he
passes across the stage and mingles with the prosaic life of
the sea-board settlements, while the sea-board was still the
frontier, there is about the man a suggestion of the Spaniard
and the Jesuit. Accompanied always by his equally mysteri-
ous female companion, he seems to wear a slouched hat and
heavy cloak, beneath the folds of which last appears the long-
Spanish rapier. Such melodramatic personages are not com-
mon in Massachusetts history, and accordingly Sir Christopher
long since attracted the notice of the New England poets
and writers of fiction. Here were great possibilities. Miss
Sedgwick was the first to avail herself of them, for as early
as 1827 she introduced the knight, under the name of Sir
Philip Gardiner, into her novel of " Hope Leslie." He is the
walking villain of that now forgotten tale. The historian
Motley next tried his hand upon him in his story of " Merry-
mount," published in 1849. The same year Whittier inci-
dentally touched upon him in " Margaret Smith's Journal ";
and then Mr. John T. Adams, in 1856, went over the ground
once more in his " Knight of the Golden Melice." Finally,
in 1873, Longfellow put the " Rhyme of Sir Christopher
Gardiner" in the mouth of the Landlord as the last of the
" Tales of a Wayside Inn." Both Motley and Adams, as well
as Whittier and Longfellow, present the knight under his own
name, and, so to speak, in his proper person. They adhere
more or less to the record. Miss Sedgwick does not. But
they have all made somewhat droll work with the facts of
history; and, as the historians themselves have in this respect
not greatly bettered matters, it is the object of the jiresent
paper to put accurately in shape the little that is really known
of Gardiner, and what more may fairly be surmised.
He himself, it would seem, claimed to be descended of a
Gloucester family, and that his father was a brother of the
famous Stephen Gardyner, Bishop of Winchester and Lord
Chancellor of Queen Mary, — the bitter and able reactionist
62 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
whom Sbakspeare makes Henry VIIT. describe as a man of
" a cruel nature, and a bloody." * Though the Bishop and
Sir Christopher may well have been of the same famil}-, the
relationship certainly was not so close as that of uncle and
ne^jliew, insomuch as the knight could hardly have been born
earlier than 1580, and was probably born much later, while
the Bishop had died twenty-five years before that date, a man
of seventy-two. However related, Gardiner was evidently a
man of education and culture, who had seen a great deal of
the world and of men. Indeed, the story was tliat before his
coming to America he had been disinherited by his father
because of twenty-six years of absence in France, Italy, Ger-
many and Turkey.f If such was the case, he must in 1G30
have been hard on fifty years of age. During his wanderings
he seems to have picked up degrees of some khid at a univer-
sity, and, although originally a Protestant, he had formally
renounced his faith and become a member of the Church of
Rome. His title was of a doubtful character, for in one place
he is spoken of as a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, J having
received the honor at Jerusalem ; while in another it is as a
Knio-ht of the Golden Melice.§ But that he had a rioht to
some title would seem to be established by the fact that at a
later day he was referred to in official proceedings in England
as Sir Christopher Gardiner, Knight. ||
Whencesoever he may have received the title, he first sud-
denly appeared bearing it in America in the month ..of April,
1630,^ a few weeks before the arrival of Winthrop and his
company, and just six months before Boston was founded.
Why he came must be matter of surmise. He made a pre-
tence that he was weary of life in the Old World, and sought
* Henry VIII., act v., scene 2.
t Young's Cliron. of Mass., p. 335. Dudley's Letter to the Countess of
Lincoln.
I Bradford, p. 294. Winslow's Petition, Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc, vol. v. p. 133.
§ Winthrop, vol. i. p. *54. Mr. J. T. Adams suggests that this order derived
its name from the Greek MeXicraa, and that it was the equivalent of Honey-
Bee, the companions of the order wearing the Bee as a device or emblem con-
spicuously on their dress or arms (p. 43). Mr. K. C. Winthrop, in a paper read
before the Massachusetts Historical Society (Proceedings, vol. iv. pp. 125-121)) re-
jects this explanation, and derives the word used by Governor Winthrop in his
Journal from the French mi/ice. Mr. J. Hammond Trumbull, however, in a note
published in the " Historical Magazine " for 1864 (vol. viii. p. 75), shows that the
well-known papal order called Camlicre della Mtlizia Aureata was the one referred
to. The order of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is too well known to call for
mention; see Burke's "Orders of Knighthood," p. 347; Perrot's " Ordres de
Chevalerie," p. 147.
II Palfrey, vol. i. pp. 330, 365, n.
T[ Dudley in Young's Chron. of Mass., p. 333.
1883.] SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER. 63
now to hide himself in the wilderness, finding a subsistence as
best lie might.* In realit}- , there can be little if any doubt that
he was an emissary, or confidential agent rather, of Sir Ferdi-
nando Gorges. At this time, it will be remembered, the rela-
tions of Gorges and tlie jNIassachusetts Company were far
from friendly, and the latter had just then stolen a distinct
march on the former.
Ifc had come about in this way. In 1623, seven years before
tlie events now to be descrilied took place. Gorges, as the
directing spirit of the Council for New England, had sent his
son, Captain Robert Gorges, out to the Massachusetts Bay in
charge of a company which was to settle there. He had then
secured for this son the grant of a domain. This grant, like
all those made at that time in America, was royal in its mag-
nitude ; it covered, as nearly as its limits can now be fixed, a
tract just north of Boston, including the whole shore from
the mouth of the Charles to Lynn, and the interior as far
back as Concord and Sudbur3^t Captain Roljert Gorges
never himself took possession of this domain, but he had not
abandoned his claim to it. Subsequently, in 1628, the Coun-
cil for New England, with the assent of Sir Ferdinando Gor-
ges, granted to the Massachusetts Company the wliole region
between the Merrimack and the Charles. The Robert Gorges
concession lay within those limits, but Sir Ferdinando insisted
that the subsequent grant was made with a distinct saving of
all rights, vested under the prior one.J A question of title
involving some three hundred square miles in the heart of
the Company's territor}^ was thus raised.
Robert Gorges had died some years before, and whatever
estate had vested in him under his patent of 1622 passed to
his brother John. In January, 1629, wliile Winthrop was in
the midst of hi^ preparations for going out to Massachusetts,
this John Gorges executed two conveyances covering large
portions of the Robert Gorges claim, — one to Sir William
Brereton, and the other to John Oldham. The validity of
these conveyances the Massachusetts Company did not recog-
nize ; on the contrary, it secured the oj)inion of counsel that
the original concession to Robert Gorges was void, and, be-
sides this, went directly to the throne, and thence obtained,
in the form of the great charter of 1629, a royal confirmation
of its own grant.
It now became a question of actual possession. Gorges
* Bradford, p. 294. f Mem. Hist, of Boston, vol. i. pp. 73-76.
I 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. vi. p. 80.
64 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
claimed that he already had it through the presence on the
spot of Blackstone, Jeffreys, and others, " undertakers and
tenants," left there in 1624 by his brother. Captain Robert.*
The Massachusetts. Company, on the other hand, proceeded
to get it, by Imrrying out in>structions to Endicott, who was
at Salem, to forthwith " send forty or fifty persons to Matta-
chusetts Bay, to inhabit there." f He did as he Avas charged,
and the settlement of Charlestown in June, 1629, followed.
While this was doing, the Gorges party, full}' alive to the
necessities of the situation, had not been idle. The difficulty
with them was that they had no means. Tlieir grantee, Old-
ham, was giving the Company all the trouble lie could, nego-
tiating with them one day and threatening them the next, but
he was wholl}^ unable to raise the money necessary to enable
liim to fit put an expedition of his own. Under these circum-
stances, with the current of events running heavil}" against him,
it was obviously of great importance to Gorges that there
should be some one on the spot in New England competent
to represent his interests. Sir Christopher Gardiner would
seem to have been fixed upon as the best available person.
This is fairly to be inferred from those letters which Gorges
subsequently wrote to him explaining the course it was pro-
posed to take in the matter of the disputed title. $ At the
same time there is reason to suppose, as will presently be
seen, that Gardiner was himself at this juncture anxious
to be at a distance from English officers and English courts.
A temporary absence was in fact for him something more
than expedient, even though he had to sojourn in the wilder-
ness.
Having been selected as the Gorges representative, it
remained for Sir Christopher to find his way to New Eng-
land. He did not go alone, but was accompanied by a ser-
vant or two, and also, as Bradford informs us, by " a comly
yonge woman, whom he caled his cousin, but it was sus-
pected she (after the Italian raaner) Avas his concubine." In
other w^ords, Sir Christopher committed the folly of bringing
a mistress out into the wilderness with him, as part of his
following. The woman's name was Mary Grove, and of her
more Avill be heard presently.
As Gardiner and his party arrived in Massachusetts about
a month before Winthrop, — that is, during the last of April
or early in May, 1630, — they must have left England in
* Hazard, vol. i. p. 391. t Young's Cliron. of Mass., p. 160.
I Winthrop, vol. i. p. *57.
<
1883.] Sm CHEISTOPHEE, GARDINER. 65
January or February preceding.* As no vessel then sailed
for Massachusetts, they probably went out in some of the
fishing fleet which always started at that season of the .year,
or a little earlier, for the stations on the coast of Maine. This
was the way Phinehas Pratt was sent out by Weston in
1622 ; t and it was by way of these stations that Robert Gor-
ges had gone back to England in 1624. Arriving at Damaris-
cove or Monhegan in March or April, it would have taken Sir
Christopher some little time to reach the disputed territory.
It was Ma}^ probably, before he found himself in the Massa-
chusetts.
He seems to have gone at once to Boston Bay, cm the shores
of which he knew that Blackstone and Jeffreys, as well as
Thomas Morton, were living. With Morton, Avho had then
recently found his way back to Mount Wollaston, Sir Chris-
topher, if he was, indeed, an agent of Gorges, must have been
acquainted, for Morton was another agent of Gorges. J The
two could hardly have failed to meet in England in the sum-
mer of 1629, when both must have been in constant inter-
course witli Sir Ferdinando as to his New England projects.
During the next year they were certainly in correspondence
with him.§ When he reached his destination, therefore,
Gardiner would seem to have been among friends.
The place where he established himself cannot be identified.
Dudley simply sajs that it was seven miles from Boston, and
on a river. Savage infers that it was on the south side of the
Neponset,|| and in this he was probably correct. If Sir Chris-
topher did build a habitation on the south side of that river,
it was necessarily near its mouth, as he certainly would not
have gone far into the interior; and Dudley particularly says
that his dwelling was so placed that he could easily discover
any one crossing the river half a mile away. A short distance
only from its mouth the Neponset becomes narrow, and its
banks were in 1630, as they yet are, heavily wooded. The
probabilities, therefore, are that Sir Christopher established
himself on the borders of the old Massachusetts Fields in
* Scottow, in his "Narrative" (4 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iv. p. 293), says that
Gardiner " came over in the first Fleet " ; meaning, apparently, vpith Skelton and
Higginson, in 1629. This, however, does not agree with Dudley's statement
that Gardiner "arrived here a month hefore us"; and Scottow, besides being
otherwise unreliable, wrote in this case more than sixty years after the event,
and was less well informed in regard to it than we are now.
t 4 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iv. p. 478.
I New English Canaan, Prince Soc. ed., pp. 36-41.
§ Winthrop, vol. i. p. *57.
II lb., p. *55, n.
9
66 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
what is now North Quincy, within easy sight of the Neponset,
and separated from it only by the salt marshes which tliere
skirt the river line.* If he did so fix himself, he was in close
proximity not only to Morton, a mile and a half away at
Merrymount, bnt he was yet nearer to David Thompson's
widow, who, with her infant son and farm servants, lived
close by at Squantum, or on the island in the harbor wliich
still bears her hnsband's name.
If Gardiner thus took up his abode in May, it was some
nine or ten months before he was disturbed. Winthrop
arrived in June, and Morton of Merrymount was not arrested
and brought before the magistrates until September ; and it
was the end of the year before he was shipped away to Eng-
hmd in the " Handmaid." f Meanwhile the presence of
Gardiner could not but have atti'acted the notice of Winthrop
and his associates. He was clearly a gentleman and man of
the world, who claimed to be a knight; and here he was
living in the wilderness with a young woman, whom he called
his cousin. He evidently felt that it was incumbent upon
him to give some account of himself. Then it was that he
must have made, as Bradford says, "pretence of forsaking the
world," and professed his desire "to live a private life in a
godly course, not unwilling to put himself upon any mean
employments^ and take any pains for his living ; and some
time offered himself to join to the churches in sundry ])laces."
Neither his account of himself nor his professions could have
been wholly satisfactory to the magistrates. But they had
nothing against him, and would seem to have left him alone ;
though they probably sent out to England for inft)rmation.
Whether sent for or not, that information soon came ; and it
came in a very surprising shape. As Governor Dudley, with
a delightful non seqidtur, expresses it, they learned that Air.
Gardiner, as he calls him, "all this while was no Knight,
but instead thereof had two wives, now living at a house
in London."
Saving the knighthood, this, according to the evidence,
seemed to be the case. The facts had come to light in the
following manner. ij: One of the company's ships, the " Lion,"
of which Captain William Pierce was master, had returned to
. England from Salem in August, 1630. Captain Pierce may
* The site selected for Gardiner's house by Motley, in the first chapter of
"Merrymount," would seem to be on the beach of Dorchester Bay, opposite
Savin Ilill, and on what is now the Squantum road.
t New English Canaan, Prince Soc. ed., pp. 43-45.
X Dudley in Young's Chron. of Mass., p. 333.
1883.] SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER. 67
have carried back inquiries about Sir Christopher ; but whether
he did or not, while in London he got news of him through
Isaac Allerton, the agent of the Plymouth Colony in England.
It was to the effect that there were then two women in
London, each of whom claimed to be the mysterious knight's
lawfully married wife. Pierce and Allerton then saw the two
women together, and heard their stories. They were of a
somewhat startling character. The original wife, the senior
Lady Gardiner, so to speak, claimed to have been married
and deserted by her husband in Paris years before. Hearing
that he had again married "in England, she had, in September,
1630, come over to London in search of him. He, however,
had already taken himself off, and she found only the, junior
Lady Gardiner inquiring anxiously as to his whereabouts.
The story of the junior Lady Gardiner was even more lamen-
table. She had not only been betrayed and deserted, but
robbed ; and she produced an inventory, " comprising therein
many rich jewels, much plate, and costly service," which she
alleged Sir Christopher had made away with. While they are
represented as condoling with each other over their sad estate,
these two wives were in very different frames of mind in
respect to their husband. They both wanted to have him
sent back incontinently to England ; but, while the first wife
desired this only to the end that he might be converted from
his evil life, the second was disposed to be satisfied with
nothing less than his destruction ; and not his only, for her
wrath extended to the companion of Sir Christopher's flight.
Her she denounced by name as '' Mary Grove, affirming her
to be a known harlot,* whose sending back into Old England
she also desired, together with her husband." All this, at
the request of Captain Pierce and Mr. Allerton, the two
ladies reduced to writing in the form of letters to Governor
Winthrop, which Captain Pierce undertook to deliver when
he next went to New England.
The "Lion" set sail on the ^l^J^ <^f December, and anchored
in the Nantasket Roads on the ■f'^^ of February. The bay
was full of ice,t foi' that winter was one of unusual severity; J
but on the -^f^^ she had gotten up into the harbor as far as
Long Island, and Governor Winthrop went on board. The
letters from the Ladys Gardiner were, it is fair to presume,
among those then handed to him by Captain Pierce.
* On this point see, also, 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. viii. p. 320.
t Winthrop, vol. i. p. *4.3.
t Josselyn's Two Voyages, p. 253.
68 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
No immediate action was taken in the matter. Meanwhile,
besides Mr. Roger Williams, a " godly minister," and his wife,
there had come over in the " Lion " some score of passengers,
among whom the Gardiner scandal had naturally l)een more
or less discussed. It did not take long, therefore, for rumors
of impending trouble to reach Sir Christopher, and he made
a partial confession of guilt by taking measures accordingly.
He prepared for flight. Yet he did not at once take himself
off. Delay was, in fact, very important to him, for his only
escape lay through the wilderness, and it was still winter.
Every day brought the spring nearer. Fortunately for him
no formal session of the magistrates was held until the y^'lh of
March. Then at last the letters in relation to Gardiner were
brought up for action, and the records of Massachusetts con-
tain the following entry : —
" It is ordered that Sir Christopher Gardiner and Mr. Wright shall
be sent as prisoners into England by the ship ' Lyon,' now returning
thither."
Though this order was passed on what is now the 11th of
March, no steps seem to have been immediately taken toward
securing Gardiner. The " Lion " was not to sail for several
weeks, and it was apparently the middle of the month at
least, if not close to the end of it, before officers were sent to
take him and his female companion.
Forewarned was forearmed with Sir Christopher. If he
had not himself seen Morton in the stocks, he must during
the previous December have watched the sky red with the
flames of the burning house at Merrymount; for Merrymount
lay south of where he lived, just beyond the woods and creek,
and the harsh and summary disposition made of its owner was
fresh in his memory. So he was now keeping a sharp look-
out ; and when he saw those in search of him crossing the
Neponset and yet half a mile away, he put his compass in his
pocket, slung his gun over his back, and disappeared in the
woods.*
When the messengers reached the house, only Mary Grove
and the servants were to be found there. The former was
taken in charge and carried off to Boston, where she was
presently brought before the magistrates. She proved a very
unwilling witness, " impenitent and close," as Dudley ex-
presses it, "confessing no more than was wrested from her
by her own contradictions." She acknowledged that her
* Dudley in Young's Chron. of Mass., p. 334.
1883.] SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER. 69
name was Mary Grove, and told where her mother lived ; but
while she admitted that she and Sir Christopher had formerly
been Catholics, she insisted that they were now Protestants.
As to the two wives, she said that Gardiner " had [as he told
her] married a wife in his travels, from whom he was divorced,
and the woman long since dead" ; while, as to his title, she
took "him to be a knight, but never heard where he was
knighted.'' This was all that could be gotten from her, and
this did not amount to much. "So," as Dudley, with a touch
of grim humor, adds, " we have taken order to send her to
the two wives in Old England, to search her further." But
Mary Grove, as will presently be seen, was not destined to
return to England.
Meanwhile Sir Christopher had disappeared in the forests,
from the depths of which no tidings of him came. That even
now he was shrewdly suspected of being an emissary of Gor-
ges may fairly be inferred from Dudley's remark in his letter
to the Countess of Lincoln, which was written at just this
time and while Gardiner's whereabouts were yet unknown.
In that letter Dudley says that Sir Christopher " went his
way, as most men think, northwards, hoping to find some Eng-
lish there like to himself." In other words, it was assumed,
as a matter of course, that he would aim for the Gorges and
Mason settlement at Piscataqua, where he would find a refuge
among sympathizers. It was, however, further and charac-
teristically added by the harsh old Puritan, that, in all human
probability, "with hunger and cold [the fugitive] will perish
before he find the place he seeks."
There was considerable probability of such an ending of the
whole affair ; but the unexpected occurred. Sir Christopher
did not shape his course toward the north. On the contrary,
his plan was to penetrate the wilderness in a south-westerly
direction, and reach the Dutch settlement at Manhattan.*
The attempt was a desperate one. The distance to be trav-
ersed was over two hundred miles, and his way was to be
through a pathless wilderness, intersected by rivers both
broad and deep, and full of wellnigh impassable swamps. As
far as the Taunton River, some twenty or thirty miles from
his starting-point on the Neponset, he had little to fear from
the Indians, for this was the country of the Massachusetts
and the Pokanokets, and those two once powerful tribes had
a few years before been almost literally exterminated by the
great pestilence of 1616. Scarcely a skulking remnant of
* 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. viii. p. 320.
70 ]VIASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
them remained. Beyond the Taunton River, however, were
the Narragansetts, yet numerous and warhke ; and beyond
the Narragansetts were the still fiercer Pequots, Mohegans
and Mohawks. Sir Christopher, it is clear, soon realized the
difficulties of his undertaking. He seems to have made his
way some twenty miles, or two days' journey, and then given
up all immediate idea of going further. He had not yet got
to the Taunton River, and, though he was beyond the Massa-
chusetts jurisdiction, he was still within that of Plymouth.
That he should have paused there was natural enough, for it
was the end of the first stage of his journey. This was the
Namasket region,* often mentioned in the early annals of
Pljanouth and in the subsequent Indian wars. It lay at the
head of that series of lakes in South-eastern Massachusetts,
the beauties of which are still known to so few ; and here the
Indian trails from the interior and the Narragansett country
to the eastern sea-board converged in " the Namasket path."
This path, portions of which can yet be distinctly traced,
began at the little Indian village, which stood near the jjoint
where the Namasket River was crossed, and wound its devious
way from pond to spring through the hollows which lay among
the low, heavily wooded hills, until it opened out on the banks
of the Plymouth brook, fifteen miles away. Following this
path, Winslow and Stephen Hopkins had, in June, 1621, gone
on their first mission to Massasoit ; and later, in August of the
same year, Slandish had led over it the little war party which
rescued Squanto from the hands of " our bitter enemy," Cor-
bitant.
The road to Plymouth from the point he had now reached
was, therefore, open to Sir Christopher, and he could at any
time have traversed it in half a day. He showed no disposi-
tion to do so. Still he hesitated to plunge into the wilder-
ness beyond. During other seasons of the year the region
in which he was lurking might well have had attractions for
him. In it there were few Indians, and plenty of game.
The brawling river ran between swelling banks, as it flowed
from the broad Assowamset Porid, alive with fish. There
might be many a worse place for a summer's refuge. Tlie
difficulty was that the summer was still remote. The snow
of a severe Aviiiter must have remained deep under the cover
of the pine woods and on the north side of the hills. The
hollows and swales, thick with fallen trees, might afford some
shelter, and on a clear day the early spring sun doubtless shed
* Winthrop, vol. i. p. *55.
1883] SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER. 71
a sickl}^ warmth on the south hillsides ; but none the less, as,
chilled to the very marrow by the bleak, penetrating winds,
he crouched over his camp-fire or lay on the damp ground,
Gardiner must have had good cause to know that the New
England iMarch and April are not genial months.
As he was armed and a good sportsman, in woods full of
deer he was in small danger of starving. As to his safety,
though it is very probable that in the immensity of his soli-
tude he had many anxious thoughts on that score, yet the
Indians were few in number and broken in spirit. They
probably evinced no disposition to molest him ; and, as the
result showed, he was a man of desperate courage. In his
need of company he may even have sought them out. Yet
the situation could not last. Neither his annnunition nor his
clothing would suffice for evei', and he must either go forward
or go back. Ajjparentl}^ he could not make up his mind
wliich to do, and so perhaps it was well for him that the
Indians presently decided the point for him.
Of what now befell Sir Christopher we have two accounts,
which differ only in their details. One is given by William
Wood in his "New England's Prospect," the other by Gov-
ernor Bradford in his ^ Plimoth Plantation " ; and Bradford,
at least, is a writer on whose simple, sinewy English it is
scarcely less dangerous to try to improve than it would be to
try to improve on the English of John Bunyan. He there-
fore must tell the story in his own words : —
" The Indians came to the Governor liere, and told whei'e he [Sir
Christopher] was, and asked if they might kill him. lie told them
no, l)y no means; but if they could take him, and bring bim hither [to
Plymoutli] they should be paid for their pains. They said be had a
gun and a rapier, and be would kill them if they went about it ;
and the Massachusetts Indians said they miglit kill bim. But the
Governor [Bradford] told them, no; they should not kill liiiu, but
watch their opportunity and take bim. And so they did ; for wlien
they liglit of bim by a river-side, be got into a canoe to get from
them; and when they came near him, whilst be presented his piece at
them to keep them off, the stream carried the canoe against a rock,
and tumbled both bim and bis piece and rapier into the water. Yet
be got out ; and having a little dagger by his side, they durst not close
witli him, but getting long poles, they soon beat his dagger out of his
hand. So be was glad to yield, and they brought him to the Gov-
ernor. But bis bands and arms were swollen, and very sore with
the blows they bad given him. So be [Bradford] used him kindly,
and sent bim to a lodging where bis arms were bathed and anointed ;
and be was quickly well again, and blamed the Indians for beating
72 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
him so much. They said that they did but a little whip him with
sticks." *
This is the affair which Thomas Morton in his " New Ca-
naan" characteristically refers to as "a terrible skermish," in
which the savages "• had the worst of it " while Sir Christo-
pher "scaped well enough. "f He did escape ; but, brave as
he unquestionably was, Gardiner must liave drawn a deep
breath of relief at the outcome of his adventure. When,
after his despei'ate struggle for life, as he supposed, the dag-
ger was knocked out of his hand, he could, according to all
principles of Indian warfare, have looked forward to nothing
but death by torture. Tlien next to find himself safe at
Plymouth, kindly received and comfortably lodged, must
* Wood's account, written from hearsay and two or three years after the
event, is characteristic, and very similar to Bradford's. It is introduced into
his hook episodically, and to illustrate the readiness with which the Indians per-
formed any service the Englisli magistrates commanded of them : —
" A certaine man having layd himselfe open to the Kings lawes, fearing attach-
ment, conviction, and consequently execution, sequestred himselfe from the
honest societie of his neighhours, betaking himselfe unto the obscure thickets
of the wildernesse, where he lived for a time undiscovered,, till the Iiidimis who
leave no place unsearched for Deare, found out his hant, and having taken
notice by diverse discourses concerning him, how that it was the governors desire
to know where he was, they thought it a part of their service to certifie him
where he kept his rendevouzc, who thereupon desired if they could to direct
men to him for his attachment, but he had shifted his dwelling, and could not
be found for the present, yet he was after scene by other hidimis, but being
double pistold, and well sworded, they feared to approach so-neere him as to
grapple with him : wherefore they let him alone till iiis owne necessary busi-
nesse cast him upon them ; for having occasion to crosse over a river he came to
the side thereof, where was an Indian Cannoiv, in which the Indians were to crosse
the river themselves, he vauntingl}' (nmimanded waftage ; which they willingly
granted, but withall plotting how they might take him prisoner, which they
thus effected; having placed him in the midship of their ticklish wherrie, they
lanclieil forth into the deep, causing the capering Cannuw to cast out her com-
bersome ballast into the liquid water ; which swomme like a stone, and now the
water having dank't his pistols, and lost his Spanish progge in the bottome, the
Indians swomme him out by the chinne to the shore, where having dropt him-
selfe a little dry, he began to bluster out a storme of rebellious resistance, till
they becalmed his pelting chafe with their jielting of pibles at him. afterward
leading him as tliey list to the governour." New I'>ngland's Prospect, p. 62.
An apt illustration of the utter worthlessness of popular tradition as a basis
for historical statement is furnished by the following note in Whitney's " His-
tory of Quincy." Speaking of Miles Standish's breaking up of the Merry-
mount establishment in June, 1628, two years before Gardiner cauK' over, he
says: "There is a tradition that, at tlie time of this arrest of ilorton, one
Gardiner, who had been engaged with him in his hostile conduct to the other
settlements, fearing their vengeance, tied into the woods, and there got bewil-
dered in a swamp, and died ; from which circumstance the swamj) has lieen
called Gardiner's Swamp to this day." (p. 17, n.) Here is an historical basis of
fact for a tradition ; and yet every single detail of it is wrong, and the con-
clusion is misleading.
t New Canaan, p. 18-i.
1883.] SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER. 73
have seemed as queer a freak of fortune as an}^ in the whole
checkered life of that seventeenth-centuiy wanderer.
Governor Bradford at once notified Winthrop that Gardi-
ner was in custody, and Captain John Underhill and his
lieutenant, a son of Governor Dudley, were despatched by
Winthrop to bring liim back to Boston. This they did on
what is now the 14tli of May. Meanwhile Sir Christopher
had been very closelj^ watched at Plymouth, and among other
things a little note-book of his, '' that by accident had slipt
out of his pocket," was picked up and examined. It only
confirmed Mary Grove's statement that they had both been
Catholics, for in it was a memorandum of the day wlien
the knight had formally returned to the Romish Church.
Besides this, it contained references to the university in
which he had graduated, and the degrees he had received.
Information on all these points Bradford communicated to
Winthrop, " who tooke it very tliankfuly."
The 14th of May, therefore, found Sir Christopher back in
Boston, and virtually a prisoner there. But now that they
had him, the magistrates evidently did not know what to do
with him. The "Lion" had sailed for England on the 1st of
April. In sending him back to Boston, Bradford evidently
had expressed a hope that he would be treated with leniency,
and Winthrop made haste to assure his brother Governor in
reply that he had "never intended any hard measure." The
fact was that Gardiner had in America committed no crime,
unless, perchance, that of living with a woman not his wife ;
and, though there wei'e loose accusations of some criminal
conduct on his part in England, they were Avholly unsustained
by proof, and the magistrates had no evidence that any pro-
ceedings had been begun, or that any English warrant was
out against him. Certainly no such warrant had reached
them. Nevertheless Sir Christopher was a mysterious per-
sonage, whose presence in the Massachusetts Colony at that
time was well calculated to excite suspicion. The evidence
that he was a Catholic was regarded as very significant of
something ; though exactly what, the magistrates could not
make out. He was "a Snake which Lay Latent in the Ten-
der Grass,"* as the half-crazy Scottow phrased it sixty years
later, and Winthrop and the rest were evidently inclined
to believe that there was some deep plot afoot against the
"poore churches. here. '"t Accordingly, with finger on lip and
* 4 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iv. p. 293.
t Bradford, p. 2!)G.
10
74 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
air of profound est mystery, they went prying about in all
directions.
jMeanwhile there seems to have been no lack of courtesy
in tlieir treatment of tlie knight. They used him "accord-
ing to his qualitie " ; and that he was a man of quality, as the
term then went, and not a mere jackdaw in peacocks' feathers,
their treatment of Iiim seems to establish. The early settlers
of Massachusetts — the Winthrops, Endicotts and Salton-
stalls — knew a gentleman well enough when they met him,
for tlicy were gentlemen themselves. And now, though
doubtless Sir Christopher had to submit to long examinations
and rigid questioning before the council-board, not only was
he allowed to remain at large, but he was even treated with
marked consideration.
For instance, about six weeks after he was brought back
to Boston, in what was then the middle of June, a very severe
sentence was imposed on a man named Philip Ratcliff. The
case affords a good illustration of Puiitan criminal methods.
Ratcliff was a servant of Governor Cradock, who, having a
grant and interests in Massachusetts, had pei'sons in his em-
ploy to look after them. Among these was Ratcliff, — prob-
ably an ugly-tempered, half-crazy fellow of unbridled speech.
In any event, he got into trouble with his neighbors at
Salem, and especially with Endicott. Winthrop says that he
was convicted, ore tejius, of " most foul, scandalous invectives
against our churches and government." * His own account
of the matter was very different, and we get it through
Thomas Morton, who was afterward associated with him in
London. Morton says tliat certain members of the Salem
church, in prominent standing, tried to cozen Ratcliff in
trade, and refused to pay their just debts ; that thereupon
he, being sick at the time, and in sore need, impatiently ex-
claimed, "Are these your members? If they be all like
these, I believe the devil was the setter-up of their church.'" f
Whether this was or was not the whole extent of his offend-
ing, Ratcliff was in June arraigned before the magistrates,
and the record is that he was sentenced to " be whipped,
have his ears cut off, fined forty pounds, and banished out of
the limits of the jurisdiction."^ Winthrop adds that this
barbarous sentence, which subsequently occasioned much
scandal in England, " was presently executed." If, how-
ever, Morton is any authority on the point, — and here it may
* Winthrop, vol. i. p. * 5G. t New English Canaan, p. 109.
J liecords of Mass., vol. i. p. 88.
1883.] SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER. 75
be presumed he spoke for Ratcliff, — the punishment "was
stopped in part by Sir Christopher Gardiner (tlien present
at tlie execution), by expostulating with Master Temper well
[Winthrop], who was content, with that whipping and the
cutting of part of his ears, to send Innocence [Ratcliff j going ;
with the loss of all his goods to pay the fine imposed, and
perpetual banishment out of their lands of New Canaan,
in terrorem 'popuUr The incident, whether wholly true or
not, may l^e said to rest upon the authmity of Gardiner, who
had read Morton's book in manuscript,* and shows at least
that he coidd not complain of any lack of consideration
shown hira at tliis period in Boston.
Exactly how long Sir Christopher no^y remained in Massa-
chusetts does not appear, but it was until toward the end
of the summer which followed his capture at Namasket.
Nothing new was developed against him, and apparently the
two wives in London took no further steps toward securing
his return. Indeed, their sudden disappearance from the case
has a suspicious look. Nothing more is heard from them.
Meanwhile Gardiner made no pretence of friendliness to the
Massachusetts Bay Company ; on the contrary, he openly
declared himself an ill-wilier to their governraent.f It was
during this period probably that, " to solace himself," or, in
other words, to relieve his pent-up feelings, he composed and
wrote down in his " table-book " that sonnet, as Morton calls
it, which has been preserved to us in the " New English
Canaan." Morton farther says that he composed it " as a
testimony of his love toward them that were so ill affected
towards him," by " them " having reference to tlie Massacliu-
setts Bay Colony in general. '' The sonnet " in question reads
as follows, and is indicative of a queer sort of " love " : —
" Wolves in sheep's clothing, wliy will ye
Think to deceive God that doth see
Your simulated sanctity V
For my part, I do wish you could
Your own infirmities behold,
For then you would not be so bold.
Like Sophists, why will you dispute
"With wisdom so '? — You do confute
None but yourselves. For shame, be mute!
Lest great Jehovah, with his power,
Do come upon you in an hour
AVhen you least think, and you devour. "{
* This appears from the dedicatory verses to the New Canaan presently
quoted.
t Winthrop, vol. i. p. *57. | New English Canaan, p. 185.
76 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
Not only had Gardiner frankly confessed himself, in the
full spirit of tliis performance, to be no friend to the colony,
but towards the end of June all doubt as to his connection
with Gorges was dispelled, if indeed any doubt as to it had
before existed. At that time a boat made its appearance
from Piscataqua, bringing from Captain Neale, the Governor
there, a packet of letters for Sir Cliristopher, wliich was
placed in Winthrop's hands. These, being '-' directed to one
who was our prisoner," the Governor did not hesitate to
open, and from them he learned that vSir P~"erdinando was
still maturing plans to maintain his claim to the Robert
Gorges grant, and that Gardiner was his confidential agent.
Whether the letters thus made free with ever reached
the person for whom they were intended does not appear.
Whether they did or not made, however, little difference.
The political significance, so to speak, of Sir Christopher's
presence in New England was now apparent, and it must have
long before become clear to him that, so far as the Gorges
interests were concerned, nothing was to be gained by his re-
maining. Yet he seems to have been in no haste to go home.
It might apparently be inferred with at least an appearance
of reason that any private grounds he may have liad for
absenting himself from England had not 3'et been removed.
And now Mary Grove appears once more upon the scene.
This personage, no less than Sir Cliristo])her himself, has
been a veritable treasure-trove to the New England novelist.
In "Hope Leslie" slie is the natural child of an English
nobleman by a distinguished French actress, brouglit up
under the protection of her aunt. Lady Lunford. She is
called Roslin in her male and Rosa in her female attire, and
finall}^ in a paroxysm of jealous des])air, sets fire to a barrel
of gunpowder in a ship in Boston Harbor, and instantane-
ously "the hapless girl, — lier guilty destroyer, — liis vic-
tim, — the crew, — the vessel, sent to fragments, were hurled
into the air, and soon engulfed in the waves." Motley next,
after elaborately working her up through many cliapters of
"Merrymount" as the youthful Jasper, Sir Christopher's
cousin, finally presents her as Magdalen Groves, the beauti-
ful daughter of an Englisli clergyman. As such she was
betrothed to William Hlaekstone, " a woithy but eccentric
young man," and falls a victim to Sir Fulk de Gorges, for
such, it seems, was Gardiner's original name. Slie comes to
New England with him, and is there at last brought before
the magistrates in the manner described by Dudley. After
being questioned, she is put in friendly hands for a not un-
1883.] Sm CHRISTOPHER GARDINER. 77
kindly detention ; but, overwhelmed with despair, she escapes
from her guardians, and wandering aimlessly forth into a
December snow-stoi-m, she perishes miserably in the drifts :
so " the driving hurricane wrapped her as she slept in an icy
winding-sheet, and the wintry wind sounded her requiem in
the tossing pine branches." Mr, Adams, even more ambi-
tious than Motley, causes her, in his " Knight of the Golden
Melice," to masquerade in the wilderness under the names of
the Lady Geraldine and Sister Celestina, a secret emissary
of the Pope of Rome. Kinder, however, than Motley or
Miss Sedgwick, he sends her at last back to Europe in noble
company, and leaves her comfortably installed for life as the
abbess of St. Idlewhim, of the exact locality of which convent
we are left uninformed.
It would have been unnatural had the poets proved any
more fact-restrained than the novelists. Mr. Whittier ac-
cordingly represents Margaret Smith as being affected " even
unto tears " by the bundle of old letters, " stained and
smoked and mice-eaten," which are brought to her from the
recesses of an attic, one cloudy, wet day at Agamenticus.
From them she learned that Mary Grove was " a young
woman of quality from the North of England," whose course
of true love had run by no means smoothly. She had fol-
lowed Sir Christopher to New England, and he had procured
lodgings for her at Goodwife Nowell's house, at Agamenti-
cus, coming " only once to see her." Finally they took leave
of each other one evening on the roadside, and she came hcmie
"■ weeping and sobbing dolefully." Presently she followed
him to Boston, and " a great and cruel scandal did arise from
it, and he was looked upon as a man of evil life ; though,"
adds the sympathizing Margaret Smith, " I find nothing to
warrant such a notion, but mucli to the contrary thereof."
Wiser, however, in his generation than the novelists, the poet
in this case dismisses the knight and the lady by causing his
own heroine prudently to remark, — "What became of him
and the young woman, his cousin, in the end, I do not
learn." Mr. Longfellow, on the other hand, in his treatment
of the story, fairly revels in that glorious indifference to facts,
dates and seasons which from time immemorial has been the
poet's right. He depicts Sir Christopher as wearing, in 1631, a
" Prince Rupert hat with ostrich plume " ;
and then refers to Mary Grove as
" A little lady with golden hair,"
78 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, [Jan.
■whom " the marshal on his gallant steed, followed by all his
bailiffs bold," goes out to arrest. As there was no road to
the Neponset at that time, and as all we know of the arrest
is that the ofiicers attempting it went by water, it would thus
seem that they must have been a detachment of Governor
Winthrop's Horse-marines. The most surprising feature of
all in the aft'air was, however, that the " marshal " found the
" little lady," in the early days of March, and only six miles
from Boston, —
" Gathering, in the bright sunshine.
The sweet alyssum and columbine."
And this " little lady," he goes on to tell, was by the magis-
trates subsequently
" sent away in a ship that sailed
For merry England over the sea,
To the other two wives in the old countree."
But, while Mary Grove has thus been foolishness to the
novelist and the poet, to the antiquary and the historian both
she and Sir Ciiristopher have proved a stumbling-block.
Savage and Palfrey, for instance, not to speak of others,
though decidedly less imaginative than INIotley and Long-
fellow, are only in degree less incorrect. Savage, in his notes
to Winthrop, says : " Having extorted confession from this
paramour, [the magistrates] sent her for examination to
London, in the same ship with Saltonstall, Coddington and
Wilson." *' They did nothing of the kind. In making this
statement Savage carelessly followed the remark of Dudley,
already quoted from his letter to the Countess of Lincoln, to
the effect that order had been taken to send the woman back
to the two wives in Old England. But this order, if ever
made, certainly was not carried out. Saltonstall and the
others went out in the "'Lion," which sailed from Salem on
the 1st of April, while Gardiner was still lying concealed in
the Plymouth woods ; but Mary Grove did not go in her.
Palfrey is even more unfortunate in dealing Avitli Sir Christo-
pher than Savage was in disposing of Mary Grove. When it
comes to petty details it is impossible for tlie historian on the
large scale to be always accurate. Dr. Palfrey was a most
careful, conscientious writer, sparing himself 11,0 pains ; yet of
Sir Clu'istopher Gardiner he says : " The master of the ' Lion '
could not be persuaded to take charge of him, and it was
* Note to Winthrop, vol. i. p. * 54.
1883.] SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER. 79
some months longer before he conld be gotten rid of." *
Here are four errors in less than three lines. The case of
Gardiner is confounded with that of Morton, and the master
of the " Gift " with the master of the " Lion " ; the " Lion "
was five weeks on her voyage before Sir Christopher was
brought back to Boston, and we have Winthroi)'s authority
for saying that Gardiner never was "gotten rid of" at all,
but went away of his own free wdll.f
As a matter of history the fate of '' this Gardiner's wench,":|:
as another contemporaneous writer most disrespectfully calls
i\Liry Grove, is of no great moment. Nevertheless, for the
benefit of the future poet and novelist, it may be well once
for all to state the facts about her and Sir Christopher in all
their realistic hardness. There was little, so far as they are
known, of poetry or romance about them. If those facts are
beneath the notice of the historian, he can hereafter leave them
alone ; l)ut, if he does refer to them, he will at least have no
excuse for not referring to them correctly. For tlie actual
facts we are indebted to a letter from Thomas Wiggin, of
Piscataqua, to Emanuel Downing, of the Liner Temple,
London, Governor Winthrop's l)rother-in-law. This letter
was wiitten at Bristol, "the last of August, 1632." In" it
Wiggin says that during the summer of 1631, Thomas Pur-
chase, who had come over from England in 1624, and in 1628
had settled on the Androscoggin, within the limits of ^^'hat is
now the town of Brunswick, had occasion to be in Boston.
A man of good standing, it is possible that he came to
Massachusetts in search of a wife ; for, as will presently be
seen, marriageable women were then much sought after in
Maine. But whether he came on purpose to find a wife or
not, he seems to have fallen in with Mary Grove, and she,
notwithstanding the scandalous charges concerning her, and
the unexplained nature of her relations with Sir Christopher,
found favor in his eyes. Presently they were married, and
then he took her back to his home in Maine ; and not her
only, but Gardiner also. At the present time such a pro-
ceeding on the part of a bridegroom from the Eastward would
undoubtedly excite surprise. Jn the early days, liowever,
the absence of help-mates was so severely felt by the settlers
* New England, vol. i. p. -330.
t The really instructive feature in this matter is that Palfrey meant, appar-
ently, to correct Iliitchinson, who says that Gardiner " was sent home under
confinement" in the "Lyon" (Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 24); and in thus correct-
ing one error of his predecessor he makes or implies four new errors of his own.
t Wiggin's letter, next cited.
80 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jax.
of Maine, more hardy than refined, that, in 1665, the Royal
Commissioners, in tlieir official report to Sir Henry Bennet,
tlie Englisli Secretary of State, made tire following- remarka-
ble and, pei'haps, even offensive statement: "They [the Maine
plantations] are inhabited by the worst of men . . . for the
most part they are fishermen, and share in their wives as
they do in tlieir boats." * This otherwise than commendable
practice in domestic relations is here described as having
prevailed a third of a century after the Purchase marriage ;
it would be rash, therefore, to infer that a precedent for it
was in that case established. None the less it would seem
that either there must have been a very clear understanding
all round, or else Thomas Purchase had a soul above suspicion.
In any event, Sir Christopher, accompanying the newly mar-
ried pair, freely went his way to Maine, and professed, be-
sides, " much engagement for the great courtesy" with which
he had been treated in Boston. This seems to have been in
August, 1631.
Of him during- the months which now succeeded I find but
one trace, and that, it must be admitted, not a very knightly
one ; but then a companion of the brotherhood of the Order
of the Holy Sepulchre must in those early days have found
himself somewhat out of place on the Androscoggin. It was
winter, too, and the nights, as well as the knight, were doubt-
less very cold. This single foot-print of Sir Christopher as
a sojourner in Maine is preserved in the records of the first
General Court of that province, held at Saco, by "the Wor-
shipful Thomas Gorges," in 1640. The record reads as
follows : —
" Richard Tucker cometh into this Court and declareth that nine
j'ears since, or thereabouts, there came one Sir Christopher Gardiner
to the plaintiff in the name of the defendant, Thomas Purcliase,
and borrowed of him a warming-pan, which cost here in this country
12s. 6rf., which the defendant hath all this time and still doth wrong-
fully detain fcom the plaintiff. And also the said Sir Christopher did
six months after, or thereabouts, buy of the plaintiff a new fowling-
piece for 40s., which he promised to pay within a month after, which
money both for the warming-pan and the piece the plaintiff hath often-
times demanded of the defendant, who doth still refuse to pay the
same, to tiie damage of the plaintiff at least 5/. sterling, for which
tlie plaintiff commenceth his action of trespass in the case, against the
defendant in this court, and humbly desireth a legal hearing according
to law. T. Purcliase denies ever authorizing Sir C. Gardiner to l)uy
* Documents relating to Col. Hist, of New York, vol. iii. p. 101.
1883.] SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER. 81
any warming-pan or fowling-piece for him, etc. Verdict for the
plaintiff, £2 12s, Qd. for the two articles, 2c?. damages. 12s. 6o?.
costs of court," *
It would thus appear that the court held Thomas Purchase
responsible for the contracts of Sir Christopher during the
sojourn of the latter with him. Considering all the cir-
cumstances of the case, — the inclemency of the season and
the place, and the agency through which Sir Christopher's
couch had been widowed, — the intrinsic justice of the find-
ing is apparent. It may even, in those remote days and that
simple community, have been looked upon as a restitution
under some converse doctrine of ey-pres, which modern courts
have as yet failed to amplify. This episode of the warming-
pan has, however, up to the present time, inexplicably escaped
the notice of both poet and novelist. It will, of course, have
due prominence given to it hereafter. Meanwhile, it is of
interest to further note that, upon the death of Thomas Pur-
chase, thirty-seven years later, a warming-pan — in all human
probability the historical Gardiner warming-pan — was found
among his effects, and to this day stands duly inventoried as
part thereof.!
Gardiner appears to have remained at Brunswick all through
the winter of 1631-32, and far into the succeeding summer.
It was his second winter in New England ; and that he faced
it and went through it affords strong presumptive evidence
that he had very good reasons of his own for not going back
to England. It is true that he was then in Sir Ferdinando
Gorges's domain ; but there is no reason to suppose that he
was clothed with any authority there, and he certainly exer-
cised none. That he was to the last degree impecunious
may be inferred from the warming-pan episode. Whatever
objections existed to his going back to England in 1631, they
would seem to have been shortly after removed. Perhaps
one or both of his wives died ; or possibly he may have
effected a compromise with one, and a reconciliation with
the other. In any event, he is next heard of as landing in
Bristol, England, newly arrived from Maine, on the 15th of
August, 1632. He had been away from the Old World some
thirty months in all. He returned just in time to take part
in a most formidable attack on the Massachusetts Bay Com-
pany ; in fact, he may have been recalled for the very purpose
of having him take part in it. Morton and Ratcliff had pre-
* Folsoni's Hist, of Saco and Biddeford, p. 56 ; Wheeler's Brunswick, p. 794.
t Wheeler's Brunswick, p. 791.
11
82 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
ceded him to England, and had there for some time been in
close communication with Gorges and Captain John Mason,
who directed the assault. It was to be made before the
Privy Council, and looked to nothing less than the revocation
of the Company's charter. Whether recalled for the purpose
of taking part in these proceedings or not, Gardiner signalized
his arrival in Bristol by at once indulging in unstinted denun-
ciation of Governor Winthrop, the magistrates, and the peo-
ple generally of Massachusetts. He declared that they were
" traitors and rebels against his Majesty, with divers other
most scandalous and opprobrious speeches," dilating freely
on the wrongs he had himself suffered at their hands, even to
the extent of being " driven to swim for his life." Captain
Thomas Wiggin, of Piscataqua,* it has been seen, was then
* Tliis personage was one of the strong men of early New England history,
— a typical Puritan. The exact time of his coming over is not known, and very
possibly it was with Winthrop. In any event, he from the beginning stood
high, not only in Winthrop's confidence, but in that of Lord Say and Sele, Lord
Brooke, and other leaders of the Parliamentary party in England. Almost
immediately after the settlement at Boston was effected, questions of boun-
dary under the conflicting grants of the Council for New England began to
present tliemselves. (See "Lowell Institute Lectures of INIass. Hist. Soc," pp.
127-102.) Under one of these grants a settlement had already been effected at
Piscataqua, in New Hampshire. The Massachusetts Bay Company contended
that, under the proper construction of the charter of 1629, their boundary
reached a parallel of latitude drawn three miles above the most northerly point
on the Merrimack Eiver. This, of course, included the settlement on the
Piscataqua.
Either Captain Wiggin was sent to New Hampshire by the INIassachusetts
magistrates as a suitable person to look after their interests in that qunrter. or
he went there to explore the country with a view to its settlement. In October,
1631, he had certainly been there some time, and in correspondence with
Winthrop, for on the 22d of that month the latter received a letter from hira in
relation to the murder of Walter Bagnall by the Indians, at Richmond Island.
The next year (1632) Wiggin, who lived at Hilton Point, was in collision with
Captain Neale, the governor of the lower Plantation for the Laconia associates
(Mason and Gorges), on the question of jurisdiction. (Hubbard, p. 217.) Wig-
gin then, acting in concert with Winthrop, went out to England, and induced
certain leading men among the Puritans to buy up the so-called Hilton patent
of l()2!)-30. (Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., vol. xiv. pp. 364, 3G5.) It was while he was
in England on this business that Wiggin wrote the letter to Downing (3 Mass.
Hist. Coll., vol. iv. p. 320) referred to in the text. Keturning to New England
with reinforcements and supplies the next year, Wiggin landed at Salem, Oct.
10, 1633. He at once established himself with his people at Hilton's Point, or
Dover, where he was governor for a number of years. As such he exerted him-
self to bring the towns on the Piscataqua under the jurisdiction of Massachu-
setts, whichwas effected in 1041 and 1643. Captain Wiggin died in 1607 ; but
for over thirty years he was the mainstay of the pretensions of Massachusetts
Bay in the region of the Piscataqua. For fourteen years he held the office of
assistant to the Governor of Massachusetts Bay, and is said to have been the
only Piscataqua man ever chosen to that position. A strong Puritan and Com-
monwealth man, he passed his life among Episcopalians and royalists, in end-
less contention with thera. See " Jeuness's Notes on the First Planting of New
Hampshire," pp. 39-70.
1883.] SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER. 83
at Bristol. He at once wrote to Emanuel Downing, who
acted as an agent for the Massachusetts Company, the letter
already referred to. In this letter Wiggin advised Downing
of what Gardiner was saying, and suggested that some means
should be found " to stop this fellow's mouth." The story of
Gardiner's two wives was revived, and Downing was urged to
inform himself as to their whereabouts, with a view to pro-
ceeding against him for the crime of bigamy. Either the
women had never existed, or they could no longer be found,
or the evidence somehow broke down ; for though Sir Chris-
topher was the head and front of the proceedings which now
took place, nothing more seems to have been heard of his
marriages, either of that with her who wished to convert him,
or that with her who wished to destroy him.
The attack on the Massachusetts Colony was made on the
19th of December, 1632, and it was a formidable one. The
charter of 1629 — King Charles's charter, as it is called —
was the Magna Charta of Massachusetts. As such it is still
jealously preserved as the most precious archive of the Com-
monwealth. The Lords of the Privy Council were now
called upon to inquire into the methods through which the
charter had been obtained, as well as into the grave abuses
which had, as it was alleged, been subsequently practised
under it. Besides many injuries inflicted on individuals in
their property and persons, the Company was charged with
seditious and rebellious designs, subversive alike of sound
principles whether in church or in state. The various allega-
tions were based on the affidavits of three witnesses, — Thomas
Morton, Philip Ratclifl: and Sir Christopher Gardiner.
It would not be easy to exaggerate the alarm occasioned
by this move among the friends of the Company in England.
It was only exceeded by the alarm felt in New England when,
four months later, news of it had crossed the Atlantic. The
petition was referred to a committee of twelve Lords of the
Council for investigation and report, and this committee was
authorized to send for persons and papers. A long and
apparently angry hearing ensued, in which it may safely be
assumed that Sir Christopher Gardiner took a prominent
part. Doubtless he told to eager ears the story of his en-
counter with the savages ; while Morton described how he
was set in the stocks, and had his house burned down before
his eyes ; and Ratcliff excited murmurs of sympathy by show-
ing on his person the deep scars of lash and of knife. On
the other side, exerting themselves in the defence of their
84 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
associates, were Craclock and Saltonstall and Humfrey,
potently aided by Downing.*
The last-named, Winthrop says, was especially serviceable
in this emergency. It may well have been that he had access
to influential personages at court. Perhaps, also, he knew
exactly where to place those bribes which were then freely
taken by every one about the king. Only a little Avhile before,
Isaac Allerton, representing the poor Plymouth Colony, had
found that at Whitehall " many riddles must be resolved,
and many locks must be opened with the silver — nay, with
the golden — key." f Emanuel Downing may have under-
stood the skilful use of these keys ; but, whether he did or
not, this hearing before the committee of the Privy Council
was made to result disastrously for the complainants. That
it should have so resulted astonished every one at the time,
and Edward Howes even went so far as to say, in writing to
John Winthrop, Jr., that the friends of the colony would
have been " utterly overthrown had not God, as it were,
wrought a miraculous interference." J That secret influ-
ences were at work is plain, but what those influences were,
and who it was that wielded them, is still a mystery. Gorges
certainly was no mean antagonist at court. In that quarter
at least he thereafter never failed to carry every point. Per-
haps on this occasion he made the dangerous mistake of
underestimating his opponents, — as Morton subsequently
expressed it, he " effected the business but superficially. "§
Whatever the cause, he certainly did fail, and failed conspicu-
ously. The Committee presently reported against any inter-
ference with the Massachusetts Company. Nor was that all.
King Charles himself had evidently been labored with, and
by no means without effect. Giving an emphatic approval
to the report of the committee, he also threatened condign
punishment upon those '^ who did abuse his governor and
the plantation."
It was a great victory for the Company. And when in
May, 1633, information of it reached Governor Winthrop, he
at once sat down to communicate the glad tidings to Gov-
ernor Bradford; and he invited him to join "in a day of
thanksgiving to our merciful God, who, as he hath humbled
us by his late correction, so he hath lifted us up by an abun-
dant rejoicing in our deliverance out of so desperate a danger."
* Mem. Hist, of Boston, vol. i. p. 836; New English Canaan, Prince Soc. ed.,
pp. 49-53.
t Bradford, p. 251. t 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. ix. p. 253.
§ New English Canaan, Prince Soc. ed., pp. 61-64, 61.
1883.] SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER. 85
The result, he added, had fallen out " against all men's
expectations " ; and Bradford in his turn wrote * that " God
had prevented him," — meaning by " him " Sir Christopher
Gardiner.
At this point Gardiner finally disappears from sight. In
the letter to the younger Winthrop, just quoted, Howes had
expressed a confident hope that they would be able " to
pendere Gardiner ere long"; but as nothing further is heard
on that point it may fairly be inferred that this hope was
not realized. Like so many others, he owes his mention in
history to the fact that he came out to America in those very
early days when every individual counted ; and the moment
he returned to Europe he was merged again in the larger
volume of human life. All trace of him is lost. That he was
still in London in 1634 may be inferred from the fact that
Morton then wrote his " New English Canaan," the manuscript
of which was seen by Sir Christo[)her, who liked it so much
that he composed for it some more verses — this time of a
prefatory character — " in laudem auf.oris.'^ When, a few years
later, the "New Canaan" was printed at Amsterdam, these
verses, in company with all the rest of the copy, suffered
unmerciful treatment at the hands of the Dutch compositors
of Jacob Frederick Stam, the printer. Repunctuated and
emended, it would seem to read as follows : —
" This work a matchless mirror is, that shows
The humors of the .Separatist, and those
So truly personated by thy pen.
I was amaz'd to see 't ; herein all men
May plainly see, as in an interlude,
Each actor figure: and the scene well view'd
In comic, tragic, and in pastoral strife,
For tyth of mint and cummin, shows their life
Nothing but opposition 'gainst the right
Of sacred Majesty: men full of spite,
Goodness abusing, turning virtue out
Of doors to whipping, stocking, and full bent
To plotting mischief 'gainst the innocent,
Burning their houses, as if ordained by fate,
In spite of law, to be made ruinate.
This task is well performed, and patience be
Thy present comfort, and thy constancy
Thine honor; and this glass, where it shall come,
Shall sing thy praises to the day of doom."
These verses show that Gardiner when he wrote them was
acting in close sympathy with Morton and Gorges, and they
* Bradford, p. 295.
86 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
were then preparing their second and more carefully devised
assault on the Massachusetts charter. Into the details of this
assault it is not necessary to enter here ; they have been re-
counted elsewhere, and they fill a prominent page in the early
annals of New England.* There can be little doubt that in
February, 1634, Gardiner, again in company with Morton
and Ratcliff, appeared before the Lords of the Privy Council,
and repeated the story of his wrongs. Archbishop Laud now
sat at the head of the Council table, and it is unnecessary to
say that he lent a ready ear to all complaints against Puritans.
It was certainly so on this occasion, upon which, if we can
believe Thomas Morton, who alone has given us any account
of what took place, he soundly rated Cradock and Humfrey,
who again appeared for the Company. Indeed, when Cradock
told him that the charter had gone to America, the Arch-
bishop did not hesitate to call the former Governor of the
Company " an imposterous knave," and to sharply bid him to
send for it back at once. As for Ratcliff, he did not now lack
sympathizers, to all appearances not less able than they were
eager to do him justice. On the spot he was " comforted
with the cropping of Mr. Winthrop's ears." Morton, how-
ever, in his rambling account nowhere mentions Gardiner's
name, and it cannot be positively asserted that he took any
part in the proceedings. He may have died in the interval
between the time when he wrote the verses in praise of the
author of the " New Canaan," and the time of the hearing
before the Council ; or he may again have wandered away to
Jerusalem, or to Rome. At any rate, it is not certain that
he was present in the Council-chamber on Feb. 28, 1634, and
no further record of him has yet come to light. He simply
fades from view.
It only remains to say a word of the subsequent fate of the
companion of his earlier sojourn in Massachusetts, Mrs. Thomas
Purchase. This much consideration is certainly due her, for
perhaps no other female in American annals has appeared under
so man}^ names and in so many books. Roslin, Jasper, and
Magdalen Groves: the nameless "young woman of quality
from the North of England " ; Lady Geraldine, Sister Clem-
entina, and the " little lady with golden haii-," — figuring
before posterity under all these aliases, plain Mary Grove,
from Boirdly, in Salopshire, Enolancl,f has certainly enjoyed
a queer posthumous fate. Returning, however, to her life
* New English Canaan, Prince Soc. ed., pp. 53-G5.
t Dudley in Young's Chron. of Mass., p. 335.
1883.] SIR CHRISTOPHER GARDINER. 87
in the flesh, it would seem — for nothing certainly is known
of her — that, having safely outlived the dangerous period of
youthful life, she settled down to the somewhat hard-faring
every-day existence common to all those who at that early
time were fated to subdue the rugged coast of Maine.
Thomas Purchase, her husband, is described by Savage as
"an adventurer of good discretion and perseverance." Some
three or four localities in tlie town of Brunswick contend for
the honor of having been the place of his abode ; but, wher-
ever he lived, he was all his life engaged in the fur trade and
the salmon fishery. Josselyn also, in his '' Two Voyages," makes
mention of him as having undergone a somewhat remarkable
course of medical treatment, inasmuch as he "cured himself
of the sciatica with Bears-grease, keeping some of it continu-
ally in his groin." * He was twice married, his second wife
surviving him, though he is said to have arrived at the age
of one hundred and one 5^ears. His first wife, iMary, is
recorded as having died in Boston on the 7th of January,
1656 ; and it is not definitely known that by this marriage
there were any children. f Indeed, I find but one further
mention of her name; and that,| curiously enough, in connec-
tion, though in no way to her own discredit, with a wretched
case of maternal infanticide. This was in 1647, and she was
then apparently living at Brunswick.
It is fair to presume that the Mary Purchase who died in
Boston in 1656 was identical with the Mary Grove who had
been married there to Thomas Purchase twenty-five years
before. It is also to be hoped that her husband never had
occasion to repent his choice. He certainly entered into the
married state with his eyes open ; but beggars proverbially
cannot be choosers, and the exceeding straits to which the
earliest settlers of Maine were put in their search for wives
has already been perhaps more than sufficiently indicated.
But there were scandalous stories afloat about the ante-
nuptial life of other matrons in tliat neighborhood besides
Mistress Purchase ; and the husband of that lady, if he ever
experienced any misgivings on that score, would certainly
have found a sympathetic spiritual adviser in the Rev. Rich-
ard Gibson, the settled minister of his former home of Saco.
That gentleman also took unto himself a wife in 1638, and
shortly after, under date of Jan. 14, 1639, I find him writing
* Two Voyages, p. 02.
t A sufficient biographical ?ccount of Thomas Purchase can be found in
Wheeler's " Histor\' of Brunswick," pp. 788-797.
t 4 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. vii. p. 375.
88 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
as follows to Governor Winthrop at Boston ; and it is the
Christian spirit of the last lines of the extract which might
have been commended to Thomas Purchase, if he ever felt a
regret that he had interfered with Sir Christopher Gardiner's
domestic arrangements. Of his wife the Rev. Richard Gibson
wrote thus :* —
" By the providence of God and tlie counsel of friends, I have
lately married Mary, daughter of Mr. Thomas Lewis, of Saco. . . .
Howbeit, so it is for the present that some troublous spirits out of
misaffection, others, as is supposed, for hire, have cast an aspersion
upon her, and generally avouch that she so behaved herself in the ship
which brought her from England hither some two years ago that the
block was reeved at the mainyard to have ducked her, and that she
was kept close in the ship's cabin forty-eight hours for shelter and
rescue, which tends to her utter infamy, the grief of her friends, and
my very great infamy and hiuderance. . . .
" My humble suit unto your Worship is that you would please to
call before you [certain persons named] which came over in the ship
with her, and examine them of these things whereof she is accused,
and I humbly entreat that you would give a testimonial of these ex-
aminations. I married the maid upon long demurs by advice of friends,
and if these imputations be justly charged upon her, 1 shall reverence
God's afflicting hand, and possess myself in patience under God's
chastising."
Mr. T. C. Amory read the following paper on the exjte-
dition into the Indian country in Western New Yoik, under
General John Sullivan, in 1779 : —
At page 54 of the memoir of Sir John Johnson prefixed to
his "General Order Book" recently published, the author
charges the Americans with inhumanity, — with flaying and
scalping the Indians. If soldiers, in retaliation for the mas-
sacre of their countrymen, — the wholesale slaugliter of
women and children by the Iroquois and their allies, —
scalped or flayed their enemies, it was in rare instances. If
at all, it was doubtless when the victims were quite beyond
any consciousness of the indignity. It was certainly without
the sanction of their commanding officers, who took every
reasonable precaution to prevent irregularities ; and if, as
stated in the memoir, such instances occurred, to restrain them
would have been less easy after the treatment of Boyd.
No other harm was inflicted upon the Six Nations than the
destruction of their towns and crops, thus crippling their
* 5 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. i. p. 267.
188?,] GENERAL SULLIVAn's EXPEDITION IN 1779. 89
power of mischief by cutting off their supplies, and depriving
them of hiding-phices from which to molest the army. There
is good ground for believing that no other harm was ever
intended or desired, or was practicable, unless, in case of their
resistance, by the usual methods of civilized warfare. The
army of the Americans was too strong to be attacked in force,
and too skilfully guided and guarded to afford much chance
for an ambush.
The course pursued conformed to the specific instructions
of Washington, which General Sullivan carried with him on
the expedition, and which are now in my j)ossession. They
will be found in full at page 104 of the " Military Services of
Sullivan," published in 1868. They contain several passages
which Mr. Sparks for some reason omitted in his publication,
presumably, in part, in order that no reproach of inhumanity
mio'ht attach to the character of Washington. These instruc-
tions specifically direct that the destruction of the buildings
and harvests should be thorough, so as to discourage and
prevent the repetition of atrocities like those at Wyoming.
Washington wrote to Lafayette, Sept. 12, 1779, " that the
expedition must convince the Indians that their cruelties can-
not pass with impunity, and that they have been instigated
to arms and acts of barbarism by a nation unable to protect
them, and which have left them to that correction due to
their villany." On the 28th of the same month he wrote to
Colonel John Laurens: " By this time I expect General Sulli-
van will have completed the entire destruction of the whole
settlements of the Six Nations, excepting those of the Oneidas
and such other friendly towns as have merited a friendly
treatment."
The author of the memoir of Johnson considers the expe-
dition ill advised. Had he with candor and intelligence
studied the history of the war, or especially been familiar with
the operations of 1779, or had he read without preconceived
opinions the centennial addresses of a century later, he would
have discovered many other motives and reasons for the ex-
pedition into the country of the Iroquois, than simply to
punish or deter these marauders. He could not then have
failed to recognize the true explanation of the measures and
of the methods adopted, and the reasons for what was accom-
plished or left undone. Much may be surmised where no
written proof remains, and where the reasons were studiously
kept secret at the time to conceal the designs of the Ameri-
cans and to mislead the enemy. But the historical evidence
is full and explicit, and needs no aid from inference. While
12
90 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOllICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
the ostensible object was to protect the settlements from
Indian depredations, the ulterior end in view was the possible
invasion of Canada, and without any loss of time in prepara-
tion when the favorable moment arrived.
Early in 1779 Washington, in consultation with a com-
mittee of the Congress in Philadelpliia, agreed upon what
was thought to be the most judicious plan of operations for
the ensuing year. These were in part to protect the frontier
from the Indians, and likewise to make preparation, should
it become feasible later, for the combined attack witli France
upon Canada, or upon some other point more vulnerable, as
should then be determined. D'Estaing had left Boston the
previous December for the West Indies. He was expected
back with his fleet and army in the course of the summer.
But after an exhausting naval warfare, and one great victory
over Byron, he spent the remainder of his strength in his
disastrous siege of Savannah. Before his mischance became
known, reasonable hopes were entertained of his promised
co-operation witli Washington at the North. Some amends
were due for his abandonment of the siege of Newport tlie
August before, when two days' delay would have reduced the
place. While awaiting his arrival, no better employment
offered itself for a part of our forces than this expedition to
explore the Indian country, to train the officers to their duties,
and to inure the soldiers to privation and peril. Other objects
were to drive away or weaken the hostile Iroquois by destroy-
ing their strongholds and supplies, and thus clear the wa}^ for
what miofht follow if the attack on Canada should be the one
selected. The recent massacres had destroyed all just claim
to any more humane considerations so far as the tribes were
concerned.
Sullivan, appointed commander of the expedition, stayed
for a time at Easton, in Pennsylvania, engaged in organ-
izing his army and repairing the roads, and waiting for
orders and supplies. He entered the Indian country as
the crops were ripening, and when tlie season was too far
advanced to replant or rebuild. Joined b}^ General Clinton,
from the Hudson, the army, four thousand strong, marched
through the wilderness towards Buffalo and Niagara, travers-
ing eight or nine hundred miles in ninety days, reaching
Easton on their return near the end of October.
About the time when tliey were starting on this expedition,
D'Estaing left the West Indies, and, having been lepulsed
in October from Savannah, where he himself was badly
wounded, he sailed for France. That same month Lafayette
1883.] GENERAL SULLIVAN's EXPEDITION IN 1779. 91
arrived at Boston with the intelKgence that Rochambeaii would
come to America in the spring, with a more powerful force,
naval and military. This promise was made good ; and, fifteen
months later, the united forces under Washington and Roch-
ambeau compelled Cornwallis to surrender his army at York-
town, thus virtually ending the war, and establishing our
independence of the mother country.
No one can bear in mind these well-known events without
perceiving their bearing, so far as they had already occurred,
on the Indian expedition of 1779. Had that been organized
simply for a raid on the Six Nations, or merely to punish them
for their barbarities, it Avould have assumed a different form,
more like the expedition of Colonel Gansevoort against the
Hurons farther west. The actual intent being, without any
inhumanities, to overawe and intimidate the Indians, and to
make a general reconnoissance into the wilderness to pave the
way for future possible operations against Canada by the way
of Niagara, its purpose, course, and methods indicated con-
summate wisdom, — they deserve commendation, not reproach.
Its menace induced the Governor of Canada to call for rein-
forcements from Clinton, at New York, and so far to weaken
Clinton's army as to prevent his effecting much against Wash-
ington, or sending reinforcements to the South. The attack
on Savannah by D'Estaing, though unfortunate in other
respects, helped indirectly to the same end, so far as the main
army was concerned.
We do not understand that the biographer of Sir John
Johnson charges the commander of the army or his officers
with inhumanity. They were not responsible for orders, which
they simply obeyed. Nor could they be fairly held responsible
for the conduct of tlieir soldiers unless they neglected to
punish them according to the gravity of their offence. Nor
were they responsible for any want of wisdom in directing
such an expedition ; but for the reasons already suggested,
we think it was one of the many judicious and sensible
operations of the war. That it was wisely conducted was
the opinion of good judges at the time. Those command-
ing it did their best and effected all they were directed to
do. They would have been pleased, no doubt, to reduce
Niagara and annex Canada ; but with the forces tliey had,
with only enough provisions to go home on half allowance,
and with no cannon fit for a siege, this w^as impossible ; and
when on the 23d of October they reached Easton with a
loss of less than a hundred men, the country had reason to be
content.
92 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
We should not, out of sympathy for the Indians, be unjust
to the Revolution and its leaders. In order to retain its
hold on power in Parliament, each party in England, as it
gained the ascendency, sacrificed the colonies to home inter-
ests. Discontent and disaffection followed ; and recourse to
arms, as they grew in strength, was the duty of the colonists.
Employment of Hessians to subjugate them, and of Indians to
plunder and kill on their frontier, destroyed what remained
of loyalty to tiie mother country among the colonists. Indian
massacres instigated by British officers justified the invasion
of the Indian territory, and compelled resort to such warrant-
able measures as would gain our independence and render
it secure when attained. The Indians were driven into
Canada, and their settlements destroyed; and whatever rights
had vested before the peace in the crown then passed to
the new States.
' Massachusetts claimed under her original grants and char-
ter all the territory within her lines extended to the Pacific,
except where it was already occupied by Christian people.
Similar titles, that of Connecticut over portions of Pennsyl-
vania, for example, had already been recognized. Commis-
sioners were appointed by New York and Massachusetts to
advocate their respective claims before the Congress, one of
whom, on the part of Massachusetts, was James, the brother
of General Sullivan, and afterwards governor of this State.
He was also elected at the time one of her delegates in the
Congress, and he took a leading part in the settlement of the
controversy. Thirteen millions of acres were very nearly
equally divided between the parties, jurisdiction over the whole
being vested in New York. Tlie ten or twenty thousand Indi-
ans were granted ample indemnities, and suitable provision
made to protect them from imposition and encroachment.
Half a century later, when any sale was to be made by them of
their reserves on the share of Massachusetts, an agent was sent
by her to see that they received fair equivalents. They still
hold a remnant of their reserves, but a large portion of the
Indians who, before the War of Independence, ranged over
this vast area for game have gone to the West or into Canada.
And what was then a wilderness is now inhabited by two
millions of intelligent and industrious people.
Had the Six Nations remained undisturbed, any attack
upon Canada by the way of Niagara would have been
attended with many difficulties. It would have left the
gates open for the British troops to invade our settlements,
in case of disaster, by Lake Champlain or by the St. Lawrence.
1883.] GENERAL SULLIVAN's EXPEDITION IN 1779. 93
If justified by military necessity, it was equally warranted by
the course which the British and the Iroquois had pursued.
Wyoming and Cherry Valley, Fairfield, Norwalk, and New
Haven demanded reprisals. The States which had suffered
from these raids urged upon Congress measures of retaliation
to punish such atrocities and prevent them in future. This
feeling of resentment was still in full glow when the expe-
dition was ordered. What Washington directed and Sullivan
and Clinton executed, men all of whom were remarkable for
their humanity and justice, was but mild retribution for the
enormities which provoked and justified it. It was no pleas-
ant task, but the responsibilities they had assumed left them
no alternative.
Historians are apt to estimate the importance of military
operations by the bloodshed which marks their track. If the
expedition was signalized by no great battle, it was all the
more memorable. Had our Fabius rushed into conflicts
with the odds hopelessly against him, we should not have
gained our independence. It was this wisdom of Washington
and his associates in command that effected, by strategy and
judicious policy, more than the battle-field. When time grew
ripe they dealt the blow that made us an independent nation,
for they had wisely husbanded their strength. There is a
class of writers with imperfect information, who find fault
from a mistaken impression that such criticism reflects glory
on themselves.
The commander of the expedition resigned his commission
soon after its close, Avith his health broken down by the hard-
ships, which he shared with his army. He may not have
liked the service, or he may have felt hurt that there should
have been delay in giving the soldiers the equivalent for their
half rations which he had promised them. But it was by med-
ical advice, and because his health made it imperative, that he
sent in his resignation. He had been for more than six years
in the public service, most of the time in camp. In the Con-
tinental Congress in 1774, and at the removal of the powder
andarms from the fort at Portsmouth ; again in Congress in
1775, and at the siege of Boston; in command on the Canadian
frontier in 1776 ; at the battle of Long Island, where he and
his Brigadier, Lord Stirling, were taken prisoners ; in the
masterly movements of West Chester which drove Howe into
New York; at the battles of Trenton on Christmas night, of
Princeton in 1777, and of Staten Island, Brandywine, and
Germantown ; at Valley Forge ; at the siege of Newport in
1778, and in the Indian Campaign of 1779, — he had done his
94 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [Jan.
share in the War of Independence. And again in Congress
in 1780 and 1781 ; as attorney general, major general, and
chief magistrate of his State and then as federal judge there,
he continued till his death, in 1795, in the public service.
The Rev. Charles E,. Weld, B.D., and Professor Herbert
B. Adams, of Baltimore, were elected Corresponding Members
of the Society.
The President called attention to the presence at the
meeting of General Henry B. Carrington, U.S.A., a Corre-
sponding Member of the Society. General Carrington made
some interesting remarks in reply, in which he referred,
among other things, to a visit made by him, in company with
Washington Irving, to the site of the so-called Battle of
White Plains, in 1846.
1883.] REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 95
FEBRUARY MEETING, 1883.
The regular meeting was held in the Society's rooms, on
Thursday, the 8th instant, at 3 o'clock p.m. ; the Presi-
dent, Mr. WiNTHROP, in the chair.
The record of the last meeting was read and accepted.
The Librarian presented the report of gifts made to the
Library during the preceding month.
The Corresponding Secretary announced that he had re-
ceived letters from the Rev. Charles R. Weld and Professor
H. B. Adams, accepting their election as Corresponding
Members.
Mr. Slafter presented to the Library a Latin Bible printed
at Amsterdam in 1660, consisting of a translation of the Old
Testament made by Tremellius and Junius, bound up with
Beza's translation of the New Testament, and which had
belonged to several well-known persons, including Mather
Byles.
The President also presented a copy of the " History of
Augusta County, Virginia," by Mr. J. Lewis Peyton, and
then made the following remarks : —
My first duty this afternoon, Gentlemen, is to announce,
for formal entry on our records, the death of a valued Cor-
responding Member, Professor George Washington Greene,
LL.D., whose name has been on our roll for only five days
less than twenty years. He died at his home in East Green-
wich, Rhode Island, on the 2d instant, having been born on
the 8th of April, 1811, and having thus nearly completed the
seventy-second year of his age.
He was a man, as you all know, of extensive and varied
accomplishments. His protracted residence abroad, — from
1827 to 1847, — during eight years of which he was United
States Consul at Rome, — had rendered the languages and
literature of other lands, and especially of Italy, almost as
familiar to him as those of his own land. Immediately after
his return from Europe, in 1847, he was made Professor of
Modern Languages in Brown University, which he had left,
as an undergraduate, twenty years before, on account of ill
health. After five years of successful service in that sphere,
he spent thirteen or fourteen years in New York, as a teacher
9G MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
and a student of liistory. " A Short Histoiy of Rhode Island "
and an " Historical Review of the American Revolution " were
among the fruits of this period.
But his principal work, and that by which his name will be
longest remembered hereafter, was an elaborate and valuable
biography of his illustrious grandfather, — General Nathanael
Greene, — in three large volumes, published successively be-
tween 1867 and 1871. The dedication of that work to Loner-
fellow, in a brilliant letter recounting their early associations
in Naples, is one among many illustrations of the intimate
friendship and warm attachment which existed between them.
As long as Longfellow lived, Greene Avas one of his favorite
guests, often an inmate of his family circle, and, after infirm-
ities had begun to press heavily upon him, the suliject of a
touching tenderness. One can easily imagine that the loss of
such a friend as Longfellow had been to him, even though
wife and children and a venerable mother were still left,
may have quickened the approach of an end which has long
been anticipated by those who were in the way of observing
his condition.
He will be respectfully remembered by us all.
And now, before calling on the Section from which commu-
nications are first in order to-day, I will venture to occupy
a short time with a few jottings of recent journeyings, which,
while containing l)ut little that is new, may serve to put on
our records some facts of more or less historical interest.
I did not omit the opportunity, during my late tour, to visit
some of the places in England which are specially associated
with our earliest colonial history. Before going to London,
in April last, I found my way first to that little circle in York-
shire and Nottinghamshire, not far from Lincolnshire, on
which good Joseph Hunter, the antiquarian, of whom Dr.
Deane has written a memoir for us, so fitly inscribed the
legend, "Maximse gentis incunabula," and of which the little
market town of Bawtry is the centre. From Bawtry I drove
a mile or two to Austerfield, and visited tlie church in wliich,
according to the old parish records, still preserved, William
Bradford was baptized on the nineteenth day of March, 1589.
The church, a very small one, is in decent condition, and is
still used to some extent for public worship. A woodcut of it
is in the "Century" for January. But I was sorry to observe
that the old font from which Bradford was christened, and
which is said to have been used at one time as a liorse-trough
on a neighboring farm, is lying in a corner unmounted; while
1883.] REMAEKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 97
a modern substitute, of smaller dimensions and ordinary
quality, has usurped its place. The surroundings of the
church, too, and the access to it, are any thing but what they
should be. Very ill-looking buildings obstruct the view of
it from the road, and the door is approached by a lane which
suggests only the way to a barn. I could not help think-
ing that our numerous Pilgrim societies in all parts of the
country might well unite in an effort to render this ancient
edifice, associated with the infancy of one of the chief of
the Pilgrim Fathers, — their historian, and so long their
governor, — more sightly and. more accessible. I doubt not
that our friend Lord Houghton, who is the lord of the manor,
would readily give his assent, if nothing more, to any plan
for at least clearing away the rubbish which disfigures the
view, and for giving something of dignity to the outlook of a
building which New Englanders mast always regard with so
much interest. The old font, now that it has been rescued
from ignoble and profane uses, should certainly have a pedestal
and an inscription, and, if not restored to its original place,
should no longer be left on the floor, in an untidy corner.
From Aasterfield we drove along a few miles to Scrooby,
and saw the only fragments which remain of that " Manor of
the Bishops " in which Elder Brewster lived, and in which
the members of the church of which the sainted Robinson
was pastor, and which fled first to Leyden and thence to
Plymouth Rock, " ordinarily met on the Lord's Day." A
few bits of carved timber in a barn are about all that can
pretend to have belonged to that famous manor, formerly a
palace of the archbishops of York, in which Cardinal Wolsey
once found refuge, and which Henry VHL selected for a
resting-place during one of his royal progresses. But one or
two stately trees suggested a possibility that they might have
been witnesses of the devotions of Brewster and Robinson ;
and under their shade we rested our horses and refreshed
ourselves at midday. Some simple memorial, — a shaft, if not
a schoolhouse or a chapel, — erected by the sons and daughters
of New England, — as I ventured to say on the two hundred
and fiftieth anniversary of the landing at Plymouth, — might
well mark a spot on which our Pilgrim Fathers ordinarily
met for the worship of God before they fled to Holland, and
which no New Englander should cross the ocean without
visiting.
Coming down from those old abodes of Bradford and
Brewster, I stopped for a day or two at Cambridge, where,
somewhere within the shadows of Emmanuel or St. John's or
13
98 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
Trinity, on the 29th of August, 1629, Saltonstall and Dudley
and Isaac Johnson and John Winthrop and eight others
adopted and signed that memorable Agreement which led to
the successful plantation of Massachusetts; and from there,
by a natural sequence, crossed over to Groton, and visited
the place where Governor Winthrop dwelt before he pro-
ceeded to execute that Cambridge Agreement, and come
over to America. The outlines of the cellar of his house may
still be traced. The venerable mulberrj^-tree, the only sur-
vivor of his garden, is still propped up, and bears an occa-
sional berry. And the little Groton church, I am happy to
say, has of late been admirably cared for. The stucco or
plaster has been scraped off from the outer walls, and the
original rubble of which it was built uncovered ; the old
family tomb, in which the father and mother of the Governor
were buried, has been thoroughl}^ restored ; the brass which
had marked the burial-place of his grandfather has found fit
exhibition in the chancel ; and more than one memorial
window completes the story of those Avho were lords of the
manor and patrons of the living from the Reformation in Old
England until its legitimate fruit in the settlement of New
England.
But before completing this little circuit through the places
peculiarly associated with our Pilgrim and Puritan history,
I could not omit a brief stop at Boston, in Lincolnshire,
where, with Canon Blenhin, the genial and obliging vicar,
I spent an hour in the beautiful church of St. Botolph and
in the little chapel of John Cotton. I can add nothing in
regard to that church and chapel to what you all have seen
or heard. But there was one small brass, somewhat recently
placed on the inner walls of the church, which attracted ni}^
attention, and of whicli the verger was good enough to give
me a copy, or rubbing. It interested me both on account
of the man whom it commemorated and on account of the
striking and touching character of the inscription. The man
was the late Henry Hallam, the distinguished historian, a
former Honorary jNIember of this Society, a friend of Everett
and Ticknor, and whom I also had the privilege of knowhig
personally on my first visit to England. I shall not soon, if
ever, forget the charming breakfast which I enjoyed at his
own table on May Day, 1847, — nearly thirty-six years ago,
— in company with the Lyells, the Milmans, Dr. Joseph
Hunter, and others. Of that party I am the only survivor,
as I am of not a few other English entertainments of that
period. But the inscription, of which I obtained the copy,
1883.] REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT, 99
purports to come from Hallam's daughter. It sets forth his
claim to the remembrance of others, and her own aifection
for him, in brief and terse Latin, to which no translation can
do entire justice. It is as follows : —
AD MEMORIAM
HENRICI HALLAM
HISTORICI
QUI PRIMUS INTER RERUM ANGLICARUM SCRIPTORESJ
HANG Sllil LEGEM IMPOSUIT
UT TAMQUAM JUDEX IN TRIBUNALI SEDENS
SINE PARTIUM STUDIO VERUM RECTUMQUE DECERNERET.
PATREM OPTIMUM ATAVIS ORTUM BOSTONIENSIBUS
CUJUS MAGNUM APUD OMNES NOMEN IPSA DOMI ET IN SINU FOVK''
HOC ^RE INSIGNIRI VOI.UIT
FILIA.
" TO THE MEMORY OF
HENRY HALLAM,
HISTORIAN,
WHO FIRST AMONG WRITERS ON ENGLISH AFFAIRS
IMPOSED THIS LAW UPON HIMSELF,
THAT, AS A JUDGE SEATED UPON A TRIBUNAL,
WITHOUT REGARD TO PARTIES, HE WOULD DECIDE WHAT WAS
TRUE AND RIGHT.
HIS DAUGHTER
HAS DESIRED TO COMMEMORATE BY THIS BRASS
THE BEST OF FATHERS, SPRUNG FROM BOSTON ANCESTORS,
WHOSE NAME, GREAT AMONG ALL, SHE CHERISHES FONDLY AT
HOME AND IN HER OWN BOSOM."
The fact that Hallam's ancestors were of Boston, Lincoln-
shire, may be new to others, as it certainly was to myself.
His daughter was known as Mrs. Colonel Cator.
If I may trespass for a few moments longer on the time
which might be better occupied by others, I will venture to
cross the Channel, and allude to one or two pleasant ex-
periences in France.
It is a matter of interest, both historical and artistic, to
make note of any portraits of Washington which have not
before been described, or perhaps known to exist. During
my late absence, I passed two delightful days with our Hono-
rary Member, the Marquis de Rochambeau, at his chateau,
near Vendome. In one of his salons I found many relics of
the old Marquis, or Count, as he then was, of Yorktown
memory. The sword which he wore in America, his badge as
an honorary member of the Cincinnati, his baton as a Marshal
100 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
of France, with all his orders and decorations, were arranged
in a glass case for preservation and display; while a large
number of famil}' portraits, including of course one of him-
self, were hung upon the walls. On pedestals, in the corners
or at the sides, there were two beautifully wrought miniature
cannon, inscribed as having been presented to the widow of
the old Marquis by Louis XVIII., to take the place of the
two British cannon which Washington had presented to
Rochambeau after our victory at Yorktown, and which had
been seized, and probably recast, during the French Revolu-
tion. But upon being shown to my chamber, I found that
the room in which the old Marquis slept had been assigned
to me, with the original state-bed and much of the antique fur-
niture. On the table reposed the manuscript memoirs of the
Marquis, just as he had left them, and just as large portions,
if not the whole of tliem, have been published, beginning as
follows : "• Manuscript Memoirs, political and military, of
Marshal de Rochambeau, written with his own hand." They
were of course written in French, but the following transla-
tion of the first paragraph will serve to show the noble spirit
which dictated them : —
" Truth should be the basis of history. I am to write only that which
I have seen or known as certain. Tliere will be found some gaps in
the pictures I have drawn of the four grand wars in which I have had
a part in the course of my life. I preferred to he silent rather than
hazard any thing against tliat first principle of truth and of fidelity,
from which no one should ever depart who writes for posterity."
Meantime, between the windows there was a large portrait
which could not be mistaken. It was one of Peale's original
portraits of Washington, which Washington himself had pre-
sented to Rochambeau. It was not a full-length j)ortrait, like
that in the possession of Lord Albemarle, of which we have a
copy in our gallery, but was, I think, substantially the same
picture down to the knees, — a large square or three-quar-
ters portrait, in military costume, and with a cannon and
other military emblems in the background. It was in perfect
preservation, and is worthy of being included among the
most notable of the numberless portraits of the Father of his
Country.
Next to the portraits of Washington, those of Lafayette
may well be a subject of interest, in connection with our
Revolutionary history. The full-length portrait of him by
Ary Scheffer, taken just before his memorable visit to this
country in 1824, is familiar to us. More than one of these
Lakayettk in Virginia,
1 781.
1883.] EEMAKKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 101
admirable portraits by Scheffer may be seen on the walls of
the Lafayette family in France, and a duplicate original is in
the Representatives' Cliamber, at Washington, presented by
Scheffer himself.
Then we have in our own gallery the portrait of him, as
a young officer, painted for Mr. Jefferson at the time of
his first coming over here to take part in our Revolutionary
struggle.
But there is another sketch of him as a very young man,
portraying him as he stood at the head of the American
troops, during that Virginia campaign which he conducted
so skilfully in 1781, before Washington came to his aid,
and before the Siege of Yorktown was commenced. In this
sketch, he has a map in his liand, inscribed "• Map of Vir-
ginia," betokening the peculiar interest and pride which he
took in that campaign. It is an aquarelle, or water-color,
and belonged to Madame de Lafaj^ette, by whom it was
bequeathed to her daughter, Madame de Latour Maubourg,
and is now in Turin, in the possession of her granddaughter,
Madame la Baronne de Perron Saint Martin. It has always
been prized in the family as the one most resembling the
young hero at tlie time of the Virginia campaign.
A carefully taken photograph, improved by India iidv from
the original, was kindly given me by INIadame de Corcelle,
a granddaughter of Lafayette, while I Avas passing some
delightful days with her and M. de Corcelle, a former French
Ambassador at Rome, at Beau-fosse, in Normandy.
This little sketch might well be heliotyped for our vol-
umes, as furnishing an illustration of Lafayette in his earliest
maturit}', which is not only interesting in itself, but which
may be valuable to the sculptor who shall be selected here-
after to prepare a statue of him for some one of our pultlic
squares.
I may not forget, in this connection, a most agreeable visit
to La Grange, — the old residence of Lafayette in France, —
where the Count de Lasteyrie, his grandson, now a senator of
France, with his family, took pains to gratify my disposition
to see whatever was associated witli the life and memory of
the good Marquis. There w^as his library, just as he left
it, and, close at hand, the little room in which he read and wrote.
There were his farm books, in which, like Washington, he
made careful entries of Jigricultural operations and accounts,
almost to the last day of his life. And in the hall there were
two small cannon which had been presented to him by the city
of Paris, in August, 1830, and which had been rendered
102 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
doubly interesting by their recent rescue from the Prussian
soldiery through the heroism of the Countess de Lasteyrie.
But I may not dwell longer on these visits, or upon others
in France and in England, — visits to Chantilly and Hatfield
House, the sj)lendid seats of the Due d'Aumale and of the
Marquis of Salisbury, with their magnificent parks and ave-
nues, and with all their marvellous treasures of art and litera-
ture. I confine myself to those which had some peculiarl}^
American association or interest, worthy of mention in our
historical records.
Let me now hasten, without further delay, to call for com-
munications from the Second Section.
Mr. Deane read a paper on the " Old Patent of Connecti-
cut," so called, from the Earl of Warwick to Lord Saj'e and
Sele and others, of the year 1682, and read some extracts
from the recently recovered portions of the records of the
Council of New England, which he thought tended to deepen
the suspicion respecting this old patent.
Mr. WiNSOE, in haying a map on the table, said : —
This map appeared in, and is called for in the title of,
the third edition of Edward Williams's tract, " Virgo
Triumphans" (1650), which, under the changed title of
"Virginia in America Richly Valued," appeared in London
in 1651. The map is a curious instance of the kind of
geographical knowledge which either prevailed in England
in the middle of that century, or could be made credible.
The map is very rare, but is known in two states of the
plate, the first without a vignette portrait of Sir Francis
Drake, with fewer names, and with the inscription, Jolm
Farrcr collegit ; the second with the vignette, more names,
and the inscription altered to Domina Virgbna Farrer
collegit. Are to he sold hy I. Stephenson at y<^ Sunn heloiv
Ludgate, 1651. The title of the tract speaks of it as "a
compleat map of the country . . . and the west sea ;" and the
map itself bears for a title : " A mapp of Virginia discovered
to y^' hills, and in its Latt: From 55 deg: & A- neer Florida to
41. deg: bounds of new England." The hills are seen in a
range, running athwart the map (for the north is to the
right) and it may stand for the Appalachians seen from the
east, and for the Sieri-a Nevadas seen from the west, involving
a complete annihilation of the great JNIississippi Valley, if
nothing more, which, to be sure, Marquette had not yet dis-
1883.] FARREE's map of VIRGINIA. 108
covered, but which some geographers, certainly for a century,
had had due conception of, so far as it represented a great
breadth of the continent. This bringing of the two coasts of
America so near together as to be equally distant from each
other as the capes of the Chesapeake and Hudson's River are,
is the strange feature of the map ; and it is intensified by the
legend, which is placed upon the coast of the Pacific, called
" The Sea of China and the Indies," and which reads thus :
"Sir Francis Drake was on tins sea and landed An" 1577
[should be 1578] in 37 deg. where hee tooke Possession in the
name of Q. Eliza. Calling it new Albion. Whose happy
Shoers (in ten dayes march with 50 foote and 30 horsmen
from the head of leames River, over those hills and through
the rich adiacent vallyes, beautyfied with as proffitable rivers
which necessarily must run into y*' peacefull Indian sea) may
be discovered to the exceeding benefit of Great Brittain and
joye of all true English." And so the " James his river,"
" Yorke," " Toppehanak," and " Pataomak " are made to rise
on the eastern slope of these hills ; and so also does the Dela-
ware further north, and the rivers of " Rawliana," or North
Carolina. The Hudson is given a turn to the west and inter-
sects " Canada fl." [St. Lawrence] at " Beavar He," just west
of which is " a Mighty great Lake," opening into the Pacific ;
but the designer, as if he had a certain qualm of conscience, —
which does not always trouble our modern railway companies,
whose maps show their own road to be always the shortest
distance between two points, — intercepts the through flow
of the waters by a curious sort of land-biidge, enough to
indicate a certain indistinctness of conception.
It is difficult to conceive any Englishman, out of Bedlam,
holding these geographical views in 1651 ; but land companies
are proverbial for bright imaginations, and to reduce the con-
tinent to the width of a few hundred miles is one of their signal
feats. John Speed, the royal geographer, had this very year
produced his map of the world, in which an approximate idea
of the width of the continent was di.splayed, notwithstanding
the incomplete St. Lawrence and Hudson's Bay ; and a break
in the coast line of California pointed to an interior water-
shed of which no one yet knew anything.
But, as we have seen, there was a woman in the case ; and
we may readily pardon the sex's lightsome fancy, even if so
speculative a man as her father, John Farrer, of Ceding, in-
dorsed it ; and this Jolni Farrer is thought to be the author
of the tract, upon the title of which he got Williams to put
his initials, " E. W." Farrer seems to have had a disposition
104 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Feb.
to stalk under others' clothes, for, we have also seen, the first
state of this plate represented it as his work. He had
intended the map to make up a deficiency in the first edition
of the tract, which he thought needed some such exjwsi-
tion, — as it did with such geographical notions. Quaritch, a
few years ago, offered for sale a copy of this tract, with Farrer"s
notes, and inserted in it was what was claimed to be the origi-
nal drawing from which the map was engraved by John God-
dard.
I had long searched for the map (to which I liad found
references iii Neill's "-Virginia Company," p. 191 ; Huth Cata-
logue, V. p. 1595; Quaritch's Catalogue, No. 12,536; Major's
edition of Strachey's '•'• Virginia " ; Armstrong's paper on •' The
Site of Fort Nassau " ; while Force, who reprints an early edi-
tion of the tract, gives no clew to the map), when Professor
Gregory B. Keen, the Corresponding Secretary of the Penn-
sylvania Historical Society, drew my attention to a copy of it
owned by Mr. John Cadwalader, of Philadelphia, by whose
kind permission a tracing was made, as its condition did not
admit of a satisfactory photographic negative. The original
is lOJ X lof inches, and the present facsimile, by a photo-
electrotype process, is somewhat reduced.
Captain Gustavus V. Fox, of Washington, D. C, was elected
a Corresponding Member.
The President announced that the Council had appointed
Mr. Deane to be Chairman of the Committee on the Publica-
tion of the Trumbull Papers, in place of Mr. Winsor, who
asked to be excused from serving ; and Messrs. Whitmore, J. R.
Lowell, Hill, and A. B. Ellis, a Committee to superintend
the publication of the Sewall Correspondence.
Dr. James Fueeman Clarke read a note to the " Histori-
cal Sketch of Charlestown," printed in the Second Series of
the Society's Collections, vol. ii. p. 166, in Avhich an account
is given of the poisoning of Captain John Codman by three
negro servants in 1743, and which is as follows : —
"The servants were Mark, Phillis, and Phoebe, who were favorite
domestics. The man procured tlie drug, and the women administered
it. Mark was hanged, and Phillis was burnt at the usual place of
execution in Cambridge. Phoebe, who was said to have been the most
culpable, became evidence against the others. She was transported to
the West Indies. The body of Mark was suspended in irons on the
northerly side of Cambridge road, about a quarter of a mile above our
peninsula, and the gibbet remained till a short time before the Revo-
lution."
1883.] VOTE OF THANKS TO PUBLISHING COMMITTEE. 105
Dr. Clarke asked if the story was authentic, and if so,
whether there were any other instances of persons being
burned or gibbeted in Massachusetts.
Dr. Ellis thought the stor}^ was authentic, and he then
spoke of the pains taken to keep in remembrance any nnliappy
events in the history of New England, as compared with the
oblivion into which similar transactions were allowed to fall
elsewhere. He said that in the " Negro Plot " panics in New
York in 1712 and 1741 more lives were sacrificed than by the
witchcraft delusion in Massachusetts ; that fourteen persons
were burned and eighteen were hanged.
Dr. Paige said that Professor John Winthrop, of Harvard
College, mentions in his diary having witnessed the burning
of Phillis.
An interesting conversation followed, in which Messrs. Ellis,
Deane, Holmes, Paige, Haynes, and other members took part.
It was observed that the offence was petit treason, for which,
as well as for high treason, women were then punishable by
burning; and that the punishment in this case was not there-
fore, as had been asserted, an indignity inflicted because the
criminal was a negro slave. It was also said that Increase
Mather mentions the burning of a woman at Roxbury in
1681.*
The thanks of the Society were voted to Mr. Dexter and
the Committee on Publication for their services in preparing
the last volume of Proceedings.
* See f urtlier on this subject, Mr. Goodell's paper read at the March meeting,
post 122, — Eds.
I'A
106 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEiCAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
MARCH MEETING, 1883.
The regular meeting was held in the Society's rooms,
on Thursday afternoon, March 8, the President, the Hon.
RoBEiiT C. WiXTHROP, in the chair.
The record of the last meeting was read and approved.
The Librarian read a list of the donors to the Library dur-
ing the last month. The Cabinet-keeper stated the gifts to
the Cabinet.
The Corresponding Secretary reported that Captain G. V.
Fox, of Washington, D. C, had accepted his election as a
Corresponding Member.
The President, in announcing the deaths of two Resident
Members of the Society, Dr. Chadbourne and Mr. Thayer,
spoke as follows : —
We can hardly claim, Gentlemen, any primary or principal
part in the loss which has been sustained by our Common-
wealth and country, since our last meeting, in the death of
the Hon. Paul A. Chadbourne. Elected one of our Resident
Members as recently as June, 1880, liis name has been on our
roll for less than three years; and I believe that we have only
once enjoyed the satisfaction of welcoming him personally at
our meetings.
But we are not the less sensible, on that account, how
important a life has been prematurely closed, and how varied
and valuable have been his services to his fellow-men. With
no early advantages of family, fortune, or education, he had
earned a reputation for ability, energy, and learning, which
cannot soon be forgotten.
To have been selected as the successor of the accomplished
and venerable Mark Hopkins, as President of Williams Col-
lege, would alone have been a distinction of no common char-
acter. But his service in that sphere, for nearly ten years,
was only one of his many kindred services in the cause of edu-
cation, science, and religion. His name is associated also with
Madison University in Wisconsin, with Bowdoin College in
his native State of Maine, and with the Massachusetts Agri-
cultural College at Amherst, of which he was the President
at his deatli. The honorary degrees both of Doctor of Laws
and of Doctor of Divinity had been conferred upon him by
1883.] DEATHS OF DR. CHADBOURNE AND MR. THAYER. 107
these or other institutions, while a service of two or three
years in our State Senate had entitled him to the secular pre-
fix by which he is designated on our roll.
He died in New York, after a short illness, on the 2od of
February last, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, leaving a deep
sense of an unfinished career, from which much valuable fruit
might still have been confidently expected.
But death has come nearer home to us, Gentlemen, in the
departure of our Associate Member, Mr. Nathaniel Thayer,
who died yesterday morning, at his residence in this city, in
the seventy-fifth year of his age.
The son of one of the most distinguished Congregatioual
clergymen of Massachusetts, and the younger brother and
heir of one of the most eminent and successful bankers of our
city, Mr. Thayer had long ago estaljlished his own individual
title to be counted among the great financiers and benefactors
of Boston.
For many years a member of the corporation of Harvard
University, he was the founder of one of its most spacious
and costly halls, which will bear down his name, with those
of his father and brother, to a grateful posterity, and which
is only one of his numerous benefactions to that institution.
A close and constant friend of the late beloved Louis
Agassiz, he nobly volunteered to assume the whole expense
of his most interesting and important scientific exjDcdition to
Brazil.
More recentlv, in connection with our late valued associate,
Dr. Chandler Robbins, he was one of the foremost founders
and supporters of that Children's Hospital which has at
length obtained a permanent home, and of which he was the
President when he died.
But these constitute but a small part of his contributions
to the public welfare and to personal want; and I should be
in danger of doing injustice to his memory by any attempt,
on this occasion, to recall and enumerate the varied objects of
his bounty. The details of such a career must be left for the
formal memoir, for which it is our custom to provide.
Meantime his personal life and character have been known
to us all, and we can all bear witness to the virtues and excel-
lences which we have witnessed. Shut off for many months
from the occupations of business and from the intercourse of
friends by serious and exhausting illness, he bore his infirmi-
ties and sufferings with a brave and patient spirit, and awaited
that change which he and all around him had long antici-
108 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
pated, but which came at last so suddenly, with a Christian's
hope and faith in a blessed hereafter.
I am instructed by the Council to submit the following
Resolutions : —
Resolved, That the Massachusetts Historical Society have
heard with deep regret of the deaths of their distinguished
and respected associates, Hon. Paul Ansel Chadbourne and
Nathaniel Thayer, Esq., and that memoirs of tliem be pre-
pared for some future volume of our Proceedings.
Resolved, That the memoir of Mr. Thayer be committed to
Dr. George E. Ellis, and that of Dr. Chadbourne to Professor
Egbert C. Smyth.
Dr. George E. Ellis, in seconding the first Resolution,
said : —
It is with reason that this Society bears on its charter list,
of one hundred members, the names of men known and hon-
ored among us for other services than those of chroniclers of
past times or events, or of any form of authorship except that
of good deeds. Such were among its founders nearly a cen-
tury ago. Such have ever since been on its roll, as they are
to-day. The Society lives by and lives for all the means and
agents that foster intelligence, prosperity, patriotism, and all
benevolent objects in this community. It gladly welcomes
selected associates worthy and conspicuous in the manifold
forms of high service for passing years or for all time to come.
Those wlio write history, and those who do what will enter
into history, need not weigh together their respective claims
to meml)ership. Among those who have sat in these halls,
we recall the names of such as Perkins, Coolidge, Gardner,
Welles, Tudor, Lawrence, Sears, Brooks, Mason, E. B. Bige-
low, and others, whose works, other than those of research or
chronicling of the past, none the less are historical, because
of extended and permanent good.
Mr. Thayer had been a member of this Society for nine-
teen years. He certainly was not a familiar presence at our
monthly meetings, but he kept himself well informed of our
proceedings. In rare intervals of leisure from engrossing
business cares of his own and of others, there were no vol-
umes of which he so much enjoyed the perusal as those which
go from these halls. Had he had time or taste for the use of
his pen in narrative or history, he might have drawn from liis
own ledgers and letter-books a relation of the most authentic
1883.] DEATH OF MR. THAYER. 109
and extraordinary character of his own agency in the marvel-
lous development of intercommunication and traffic in the
middle and western sections of this country. Hazardous and
anxious contingencies came in with some of the complications
and fluctuations of these enterprises, but large success for
himself and for others crowned the results.
The best part of the record of every man's life is that of
what he has done for others. Our community has been
trained to stand in inquisition by the side of Death, which is
the great Probate Judge, as it takes the keys and searches the
safe and the pockets of every deceased rich man, to find out
what he has given away, and to whom. Mr. Thayer antici-
pated tliat inquisition. As soon as he realized the possession
of very large means, he once said to me in words so strong and
simple that they struck into my memory, "A power of money
has come to me. If it is to make me happy, it will be by en-
abling me to do good with it." The good he did with it was
most varied and comprehensive in object and method. It had
the largeness of the ocean in its patronage of the interests of
the highest sciences, and it ran into every stream and little
rill which feeds great charities or helps and cheers {jvivate
and unknown beneficiaries. A costly scientific expedition, a
munificently planned herbarium, a noble college hall, a stu-
dents' refectory, a town library building, a wliole ward of free
beds in more than one hospital, signalize a list of donations
from which probably not a single one of all our ingeniously
special benedictive and benevolent agencies is omitted. Many
who during his long debility were uncertain whether he still
survived, were assured of the fact by the recognition of his
generous response to some of the most recent appeals. The
papers of the day which announced his decease found his
name and gift on the last of them. He would wish the
privacies of his large kindness to remain so.
No tribute to Mr. Thayer, however brief or inadequate,
may omit connecting him with the beautiful Nashua valley
town of Lancaster, and with the grateful and affectionate
regard of all who dwell there. It was his birthplace, the
scene of a happy boyhood, held by him to be his real home,
for active work, rest, hospitality, and enjoyment for a great
part of each year. Highways, farms, church, library, burial-
ground, are all of them memorials of him. Filial veneration
for his father, so long the pastor of the whole town, was the
root of the bond which bound him there. The people in it
who were old when he was young, and their childi'en and
children's children, growing on with his own years, seemed to
110 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
him alike his father's parishioners. The farmers would come
to the walls and fences of the fields as he was driving h}' over
the old roads, welcoming his cheerful and kindly interest in
their work and crops. The Boston banker always appeared
at his best as tlie Lancaster farmer.
The Rev. Dr. Peabody then spoke as follows : —
Mr. President, — I cannot suffer the resolution before you
to pass without paying my heartjs if inadequate, tribute to
my dear friend, Mr. Thayer. I have never known a man who
more truly lived to do good. He coined his own happiness
from the happiness that he diffused. He seemed to assimilate
into the substance of his own joy all the joy he gave. Simple
in his tastes and habits, he sought and prized wealth, that
as employer, host, citizen, private and public benefactor, he
might make the most generous and liberal investments in
whatever could contribute to comfort, enjoyment, and well-
being, whether among those near him, or among those, how-
ever remote, whom his kindness could reach. I was his
almoner in one of the many fields of his generous care. I
furnished, at his no small cost, the dining hall, built almost
wholly at his charge nearly twenty years ago, designed to
board at the lowest possible rate such students of Harvard
College as could afford to pay no more. For twenty-one years
of active service in the college faculty, I gave in his behalf
whatever I saw fit to needy students, the only conditions
being that I should not use his name, and that I should never
leave a deserving applicant unaided. The subsidies thus be-
stowed amounted to many more thousands of dollars than the
years for which I was his agent in bestowing them. At the
same time there were always in college, students — sons of
clergymen with small salaries, of widows, of Lancaster men
— whom he supported entirely and with the most liberal pro-
vision. In his native town it is impossible to say in what
conceivable form his beneficence has not been felt alike in its
public institutions and in every home where there has been
want or distress. There are few persons in the town in need
of counsel, sympathy, or aid, who have not ample reason to
bless his memory, and there can hardly be a man, woman, or
child within its borders who is not to-day a sincere mourner.
From what has incidentall}^ come to my knowledge during
my long intimacy with him, I am led to regard his public
benefactions as but a small part of his charity. Far-off' kin-
dred, when in necessity or tribulation, have been counted by
1883.] DEATH OF MR. THAYER. Ill
bira as near relatives, and those of them who in their pros-
perity hardly knew him, have in their adversity been sought
out by him, and had his most assiduous ministries of merc3\
There have been constantly those who could on no pretext
Avhatever have laid claim to his bounty, whom he has relieved
as soon as he knew them to be impoverished or straitened. I
have made so many discoveries of this sort without any clew
from him, that I have come to consider it as hard to conceal
good deeds meant to be done in secret as it is to smother fire
with linen garments. He had ever the profound feeling that
his wealth was a stewardship for the service of God by serv-
ing man, and his aim was not to prepare for an account in
the far-off future, but day by day to render an account
worthy to be entered in the book of eternal remembrance.
With the munificence which has given him a justly hon-
ored name in our whole community, and far beyond it, we
who have known him cherish equally the memory of the
quiet, modest virtues, the gentle, lovely, winning traits of
character which made him unspeakably dear in the nearer
circles of kindred and friendship, and of the Christian faith
and principle which governed his active life, sustained him
in infirmity and suffering, and poured the light of the eternal
day on the death-shadow as it gathered over him.
The following letter was received from the Rev. Dr.
Lothrop : —
12 Chestnut Street, March 8, 1883.
My dear Mr. Winturop, — I am exceedingly sorry not to be
at the meeting of the Historical Society this afternoon, for as Mr.
Thayer's death will be noticed, I should be glad to embrace the ojipor-
tunity of saying a few words about one whom I have known for nearly
sixty-five years, whose memory will ever be pleasant to me, as to
many others, and whose life and character I hold in reverence, honor,
and gratitude ; but I feel that my first duty to-day is to be at my post
as a member of the Standiug Committee of the Massachusetts Society
of the Cincinnati, when at our dinner and adjourned meeting this
afternoon some important matters connected with our Centennial,
which occurs in May, 1883, may come up for conversation and dis-
cussion, and perhaps action. So please hold me excused.
Ever faithfully your;:,
S. K. Lothrop.
Hon. R. C. WiNTHROP,
President of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
The Resolutions were then unanimously adopted.
112 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
The following committees were appointed in view of the
approaching annual meeting : To nominate officers for the
ensuing year, Messrs. Lodge, A. T. Perkins, and Chase ; to
audit the Treasurer's account, Messrs. Cobb, Abbott Law-
rence, and Lyman.
Signor Cornelio Desimoni, Vice-President of the Histori-
cal Society at Genoa, Italy, was elected a Corresponding
Member of the Society.
The Rev. Dr. Paige, in presenting to the Society a copy
of his " History of Hardwick," said : —
Mr. President, — It may be remembered by some of the
gentlemen now present, that six years ago, on the eighth day
of March, on which day I attained the age of seventy-five
years, I presented a copy of my "History of Cambridge " as a
birthday offering. That work was undertaken as early as
1841, and this Societ3% at the suggestion of the venerable Dr.
Harris, kindly granted me permission to explore its treasures
before I was admitted to membership. I commenced my task
Avith earnestness and zeal, but not long afterwards I was
made to believe it was my duty to lay it aside for a season,
and to write a "Commentary on the New Testament." While
engaged on that long-continued labor, however, I embraced
every opportunity, here and elsewhere, to collect materials,
which, after many years, were arranged and combined ; and
the " History of Cambridge " was the result. My mind then
reverted to another work contemplated in my early days,
namely, a " History of Hardwick," my native town. To this
labor I devoted such strength and ability as remained to me,
and the History was substantially completed a year ago ; but
various obstacles hindered its publication until now. It af-
fords me great satisfaction, on the arrival of another birthday,
to lay this volume on the table. It contains the first literary
work projected by me, though it be the last which I have ac-
complished ; even as my Commentary was the last projected
and the first accomplished.
I have been a member of this Society almost fort}'- years,
having been admitted May 30, 1844. I regret that during
this long period I have contributed so little aid to the work
in which it is engaged ; but I rejoice in the belief that I am
not regarded as an altogether unprofitable associate.
And now, Mr. President, having probably accom})lished
literally ray last labor of any considerable importance, I have
a painful impression that I ought to resign my membership,
and give place to a younger and more active man. But I
1883.J EARLY PORTRAIT-PAINTERS IN BOSTON. 113
confess myself hardly equal to such an act of self-denial. I
am so selfish that I cannot yet quite resolve to surrender the
privilege of attending our stated meetings, and looking upon
the pleasant faces which surround this table, and listening to
the voices which have so long and so often both cheered and
instructed me. Under such circumstances, I hope to be par-
doned if I cling a little longer to my present position, which
affords me so much enjoyment in my old age.
The President, in reply, said that it was not usual to make
any foi-mal acknowledgment of presents from members to
the Library, but he was sure that, in this case, the Societ}^
would like to record a vote of thanks to Dr. Paige for his
gifts of his " History of Hard wick " to-day, and of his "History
of Cambiidge" six years ago. A vote of thanks proposed by
the President was unanimously adopted.
Communications from the Third Section having been called
for, Mr. R. C. Winthrop, Jr., said: —
I desire to call the attention of the Society to the present
state of the evidence upon the somewhat vexed question as
to how early in the Colonial period it can be proved that por-
traits were painted in Boston. It would be easy for me, or
any one else interested in the sul)ject, to appear here with a
long list of portraits fondly believed by their jDOSsessors to
date from the early Colonial period, and to many of which
interesting family traditions have become attached ; but we all
know how untrustworthy such traditions are. Our volumes
of Proceedings contain two formal communications on this
subject, — the first, by Mr. Whitmore, in 1866, entitled
"• Early Painters and Engravers of New England." He begins
by stating that "it has commonly been supposed that the earli-
est portraits painted in New England, except possibly a few
executed by amateurs, were those by Smibert," and he then
proceeds to show that there was at least one earlier resident
portrait-painter, namely, Peter Pelham, who was here some
years before Smibert. Mr. Whitmore gives no authority for
this implication that portraits anterior to Smibert and Pelham
were by " amateurs," and it was perhaps only a conjecture.
There is no difference that I am aware of between an ama-
teur and a professional artist, except tliat the one paints for
relaxation, and the other as a permanent or temporary means
of livelihood ; and when we consider what very busy lives
people led in Boston in the seventeenth century, it would
certainly seem more probable that, if any portraits were then
15
114 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mae.
painted here, the work was done rather for compensation than
for amusement.
The second communication on this subject was in 1867, and
entitled " The Alleged Portrait of Rev. John Wilson, with
some Notices of other Early Portraits." It was read by Mr.
Deane, but written by Dr. John Appleton, then Assistant-
Librarian of this Society. After seriously impeaching the
authenticity of the Wilson portrait. Dr. Appleton goes on to
say: " It appears to be conclusively established that there was
some one exercising the art of a ' limner ' in Boston before
1667, as appears from Cotton Mather s statement in relation
to Wilson." This statement was made in 1695, and, setting
aside any question of Cotton Mather's accuracy, Dr. Apple-
ton then proceeds to name four portraits which, after careful
investigation, are believed to have been painted in Boston
prior to 1680. They are —
1. The portrait of Dr. John Clark, belonging to this So-
ciety, by no means despicable as a work of art, and inscribed
" ^TATis suiE 66. ANN.suo.," at which time he is known
to have been living in Boston.
2. & 3. Two portraits of children named Gibbs, inscribed
with their ages and the date 1670, and which have continued
in possession of their descendants to the present time.
4. The portrait of Increase Mather, sent b}' him to his
brother Nathaniel, in Dublin, and acknowledged by the latter
in a letter dated March 2, 1680.
Besides these four cases, Dr. Appleton cites a letter written
by Nathaniel Mather to his brother Increase, in March, 1684,
introducing one Joseph Allen, who was about sailing for Bos-
ton, and describing him as one who "by his own ingenuity
and industry acquired good skill in watchmaking, clock-
making, graving, and liynning ; and his design in going to
New England is, that he is under a necessity of earning his
bread by practising his skill in some of those things." This
was clearly no amatear, but it has not yet been possible to
identif}^ any portraits which he painted here.
So far as I am aware, no new light was shed upon this sub-
ject until the publication of the second volume of Judge
Sewall's Diar}^, in which, at page 170, occurs the entry,
familiar, doubtless, to some of us : —
"Nov. 10, 1706. This morning, Tom Child the painter died.
" Tom Child had often painted Death,
But never to tlie Life before :
DoinGj it now, lie's out of Breath,
He paints it once and paints no more."
1883.] EARLY PORTRAIT-PAINTERS IN BOSTON. 115
The editors of Sewall state that in Child's will, dated in
1702, he is termed a painter-stainer, that Sewall's lines evi-
dently imply he was a portrait-painter, and they add, " Here
may be the long-sought-for artist who preceded Peter
Pelham."
Finally, there appeared a year ago the fourth and last
volume of the " Memorial History of Boston," the sixth
chapter of which is devoted to an article on " The Fine
Arts in Boston," by an accomplished gentleman and a partic-
ular friend of mine, among whose varied tastes antiquarian
research has never found a place, and who, I am firmly per-
suaded, knows no more about the Puritans than he does
about the Patagonians. Thus, the first page of an article
which subsequently becomes interesting and valuable has
apparently been evolved out of the writer's internal con-
sciousness, in disregard or ignorance of the record. With
one magisterial sweep of liis pen he extinguishes Dr. Cotton
Mather and his limner, Mr. William H. Whitmore and his
amateurs, Dr. John Appleton and his four authenticated
cases, Mr. Joseph Allen and Tom Child, — and he starts with
the uncompromising and emphatic statement that " not until
a hundred years after its foundation do we find any traces of
art in Boston." A few paragraphs farther along, while telling
his readers about John Smibert, a certain misgiving appears
to have seized him, and he inserts a sort of parenthetical
qualification that " perhaps Pelham may have done a few
heads," and that it is " not certain" there may not have been
other artists ; but he leaves the force of his original assertion
unimpaired, and it is evident that Mr. Winsor, the learned
editor of the Memorial History, perceived that his contribu-
tor was somewhat beyond his depth, as he came to his res-
cue in a footnote, — a cautious footnote, — in which he says
that there is " a surmise that one Tom Child was a still ear-
lier limner of features," and adds, " See also some notes on
presumably earlier portraits " in this Society's Proceedings
for 1867, to wit, Dr. Appleton's article. The average
general reader, however, pays little attention to footnotes,
and still less takes the trouble of verifying the references in
footnotes, so tliat, as I have reason to know, many persons
have unhesitatingly accepted the statement that for the first
hundred years not a trace of art can be found in Boston.
Well, sir, I can perfectly well understand that sceptical per-
sons — and scepticism is the fashion — may say, "Oh, we put
no faith in Cotton Mather ; we imagine Mr. Whitmore's ama-
teurs to have been as unreal as the ghost of Banquo ; as to
116 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
Dr. Appleton's cases, you cannot prove those dates on the
Clark and Gibbs portraits were not put on after the event ;
you cannot prove Dr. Increase Matlier did not go privately
to Europe, have himself painted, bring the portrait over Ijere
and send it back to his brother in Dublin ; you cannot
prove Joseph Allen ever handled a brush in Boston, or that
Tom Child was more than a sign-painter." I am free to con-
fess tliat we cannot now absolutely and conclusively prove
any one of these facts ; but so many fresh sources of informa-
tion develop themselves unexpectedly year by year, that I
by no means despair of not only gradually establishing the
accuracy of these instances, but of bringing to light many
others.
In the mean time, I desire to call the Society's attention to
a little bit of evidence on this subject contained in the very
last volume of the Society's Collections, — Part IV. of the
Winthrop Papers, — which came out only a few months ago.
The greater part of that volume is dry reading, and I dare
say the passage I am about to quote has escaped notice. It
is on page 600, in a letter from Wait Winthrop, then one of
the judges in Boston, to his elder brother, Fitz-John Win-
throp, at New London, in Connecticut. Under date of Oct.
31, 1691, he says: "If you could by a very careful hand,
send the little picture of my grandfather, put carefully up in
some little box, here is one would copy it for my cousin
Adam ; the great one here in the town-house had some dam-
age, especially in one of the eyes, and he desires to see that
[the little one]."
I may say, in explanation, that this " little picture " was a
miniature of Governor Winthrop the elder, which is still in
existence ; that the " great one in the town-house " was
evidently the portrait which has so long hung in the Sen-
ate-chamber of Massachusetts ; and that the copy then about
to be painted was in all probability the portrait now belonging
to the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, to which
it was given by a descendant of " cousin Adam," who was
Mr. Adam Winthrop, a merchant of Boston. The most
sceptical person will now not dispute that in 1691 there was
at least one gentleman in Boston who had a fancy for a por-
trait of his grandfather, who took some trouble to get it
painted, and who found an artist to do it. The date is not
as early as I wish it was, but it is between thirty and forty
years before the period assigned in the Memorial History to
the first trace of art in Boston, and it will be noticed that
the request is mentioned rather as a matter of course and not
1883.] EARLY PORTRAIT-PAINTERS IN BOSTON. 117*
as if the presence here of an artist were novel or unheard of.
I may add, that when the writer of that letter died (many
years later, it is true, but still long within the period in ques-
tion), an inventor}' of his personal effects shows "• eight pic-
tures," obviously portraits, in his house in Boston; and as he
died at a very advanced age, they had probably been long
in his possession. He was by no means the richest man in
town; and if he, in the latter part of the seventeenth century,
had eight portraits hanging on his walls, we may fairly sup-
pose other leading citizens had as man}', and that they were
all painted in England is most improbable.
I shall be very glad if gentlemen whose reading is more
extensive than mine will furnish other and earlier evidence
bearing upon this subject ; and if the Society will be patient
with me a few minutes longer, I should like to call attention
to one or two otiier passages in the article in the Memorial
History from which I have already quoted. The writer's
opening sentence is, "A Puritan society was not favorable to
art." There we are all agreed. I am not aware that art de-
veloped itself more rapidly in Virginia than in Massachusetts,
but the most ardent admirer of the New England Puritans
would not venture to claim tliem as art-patrons. The first two
lines of the sentence immediately following, however, caused
me to rub my eyes. It begins, "Men believing in a literal
interpretation of the Scriptures frowned on every thing like
graven images, and devoted themselves grimly to the work,"
and so forth. Taken in comiection with what follows about
there not being a trace of ait here for a hundred years, and
about portrait-painting being the first branch of art to spring up
in a young country, the writer is apparently under the impres-
sion that because the Puritans believed in a literal interpre-
tation of the Bible and abhorred stained glass and sculptured
stone in places of worship, as reminding them of the Church
of Rome whicli they hated and the church of Archbislio]3
Laud wliich they feared, that therefore a Puritan gentleman
would consider his grandmother's portrait a graven image,
and shudder at the thought of possessing a likeness of his
wife or daughter. Why, sir, many of us have visited the
National Portrait Gallery in London, and some, at least, of
the innumerable private collections scattered throughout the
lengtli and breadth of England, and we have seen hundreds
of portraits, representing not merely Puritan soldiers, states-
men, and divines, but private individuals of Puritan families,
male and female. I shall be happy to be corrected, but I
have never seen a jot or tittle of evidence to show that Oliver
118 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
Cromwell and John Milton were any less willing to have their
features transferred to canvas than King Charles I. or Lord
Clarendon was. The only difference I have ever been able to
perceive between a Puritan and a Cavalier portrait is, that
the former is ordinarily characterized by more sober apparel
and fewer accessories ; this, however, is not an invariable
rule, and perhaps the most liberal display of neck and bosom
I remember to have seen depicted was in a portrait of one
of Oliver Cromwell's daughters. Take the leading Puritans
who crossed the ocean to found these New England Colonies.
There is an original portrait of John Endicott, which has
always been in possession of his descendants ; there is a fine
portrait of Sir Richard Saltonstall, of which a copy hangs on
our staircase; I will not include the portraits of John Cotton,
Thomas Dudley, or Francis Higginson, as the authenticity
of all three has been disputed, but there is no doubt what-
ever about those of the two John Winthrops, of Sir Harry
Vane, of Winslow, Davenport, and others whom I will not
take up time b}^ mentioning. ,
One single quotation more. After stating that there was
not a trace of art for one hundred years, the writer goes on:
" By that time the severe race of Puritans had passed away,
the young Colony had prospered and drawn over from Eng-
land many who had less sad views of life, who saw no harm
in fine clothes, and hung on the walls of their houses a few
good pictures brought from their old homes." In other
words, we are asked to believe that not only were no portraits
painted here for a century, but tliat our ancestors were so
severe that it took them one hundred years to consent to
hang pictures l)rought from England on their walls, and that
all this time the portraits of the Fathers of New England
and their families were consigned to cellars and attics.
Doubtless there were some fanatics, — there are fanatics in
all parties and in all ages, — a sprinkling of men who could n't
afford family portraits themselves and so thought it wrong in
other people to have any, but that there was any wide-spread
prejudice against them I confidently deny. There is con-
temporary evidence that at Governor Winthrop's death, in
1649, at least one portrait (his own) was hanging in his prin-
cipal room, — it is almost certain there were others, — and
there is no reason to suppose his house differed materially
from the houses of other magistrates and elders.
Then, again, as to dress. An ingenuous and unsuspecting
reader, obtaining his or her first impressions of Puritan soci-
ety from this article, would suppose it took us here in Boston
1883.] EARLY PORTRAIT-PAINTERS IN BOSTON. 119
one hundred years to develop a taste for fine clothes ; whereas,
if the writer had taken the trouble to run his eye over Mr.
Scudder's admirable article in an earlier volume of this same
History, he would have seen that before our fathers had been
four years on this peninsula that taste became so strong it
had to be restrained by sumptuary laws ; and in 1651 it was
enacted that no woman not enjoying property to the value of
£200 should wear " lace, or tiffany hoods, or scarves," and
that no man worth less th.an that amount should wear gold
or silver lace on his coat, knotted ribbon at his knees, &c.
What the Puritans aimed at was not a general denunciation
of what we should consider very fine clothes indeed, but to
compel persons to dress according to their station in life, to
prevent servant-girls from aping their mistresses, and young
men from running up bills at their tailor's. And if any one
undertakes to reply that these sumptuary laws were intended
for what may be termed the outsiders in the INlassachusetts
Colony, and that the strictest Puritans delighted only in the
plainest and saddest-colored raiment, I would say that who-
ever will take the trouble to consult old inventories and mar-
riage settlements will find tlie evidence largely the other w"a3\
I will give an instance in my own family, simply because it is
alwaj's easier to quote one's own family, but I have no doubt
I could find similar instances in other families. In an inven-
tory of certain movables in Governor Winthrop's house in
Boston, at the time of his death, I find such items as these :
" Two tufted velvet jerkins," " one scarlet cap," " two satin
doublets," " one clothe of gold scarf," " two clothe of gold
belts," &c. If the present Governor of Massachusetts were to
walk down State Street in a scarlet cap, a tufted velvet jer-
kin, and a cloth-of-gold scarf, we should certainly consider
him a very un-Puritanical looking person ; yet this was appar-
ently Governor Winthrop's Sunday-best, — a man renowned
for the simplicity of his daily life, and a typical Puritan if
there ever was one.
I have detained the Society too long, and will only add
that my reason for dwelling so much upon the article in the
Memorial History is this. The forty-eight volumes of this
Society's Collections are, to all intents and purposes, for spe-
cial students. Setting aside the comic portions of Judge
Sewall's Diary, the general reading public takes no more
interest in them than in the sacred books of the Hindus ;
whereas the Memorial History of Boston is not merely a
great literary achievement and a monumental work of refer-
ence, but it has attracted the attention of thousands who
120 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
would be repelled b}^ a purely antiquarian publication. They
turn over its pages, look at the illustrations, read a little here
and there, often obtaining their first impressions of the sub-
ject, and it is very desirable such impressions should be well
founded. The exceptional interest in art now prevailing in
this neighborhood has caused this particular article to be,
perhaps, more read than any other in the whole four volumes,
and the passages to which I have called attention seem to me to
convey some very erroneous ideas of the early Colonial period.
Mr. Henry Lee then alluded to a portrait in his posses-
sion of Major Thomas Savage, who came to New England
from Taunton, Somersetshire, in 1635 and, so far as is known,
never revisited his native countr3\ It is a large three-quar-
ter portrait, with numerous accessories, and, in one corner,
a coat of arms and the inscription, " Anno 1679, .et 73."
A woodcut of it is given in the Memorial History of Boston,
vol. i. p. 318, and there can be no doubt it was painted here.
Mr. C. F. Adams, Jr., remarked, that in the old Adams
mansion at Quincy, now the summer residence of his father's
family, there were two very ancient oil-paintings, similar to
those of the Gibbs children, and probably by the same hand.
They came from the house at Mt. Wollaston, in Quincy,
which Colonel John Quincy built and lived in, and which,
abandoned as a dwelling-house early in the present century,
was demolished about thirty years ago. John Adams came
into possession of the property on the death of Norton Quincy,
the son of John Quincy, in 1801, and going there one claj^
some years later he found these pictures, then, like every
thing else about the house, in a very neglected condition.
He had them at once put into his carriage and took them
home. But no better care was taken of them in his house
than had been taken of them at Norton Quincy 's, and it was
probably some twenty-five years later that President J. Q.
Adams one day carelessly gave the better of the two pictures
to his daughter-in-law, the present Mrs. Charles Francis
Adams, who subsequently had it I'estored. The other picture,
then in a sadly damaged state, was not attended to until
about 1850.
The two apjjarently represent a raotlier and child ; the
picture of the child being a work of some merit, and in a fair
state of preservation. It represents an infant of two years
of age, full length and life size, standing on a white and
black checkered canvas carpet or painted floor, holding an
1883.] EATILY PORTRAIT-PAINTERS IN BOSTON. 121
apple in one hand, which it points at with the other. The
date is in the upper right-hand corner, and is apparently
1670. The other picture is very inferior. It represents a
young woman in a very stiff white dress, standing, and liold-
ing a folded fan in her hand. It is perfectly conventional
and uninteresting. There is no date. The two are unques-
tionably portraits of members of the Quincy family. John
Adams always asserted that the child's picture was a portrait
of Colonel John Quincy, and that the other was the portrait
of John Quincy's mother. She was a Shepard, daughter of
the Rev. Thomas Shepard, of Charlestown, and she married
Daniel Quincy, of Braintree, Nov. 9, 1082. The wedding
was marked by a terribly tragic incident, of which Sewall
gives an account (Coll. V. vol. vi. p. *18). In the midst of
the festivities, the bride's aunt, Mrs. Brattle, was taken ill
and died in her chair. " At length out of the kitchen we
carry the chair and her in it, into the wedding-hall', and after
a while lay the corpse of the dead aunt in the bride-bed. So
that now the strangeness and horror of the thinof filled the
-1.. ^
just now joyous house with ejulation. The bridegroom and
bride lie at Mr. Ayres, son-in-law to the deceased, going away
like persons put to flight in battle." There is also a mention
of this incident in a letter of Samuel Nowell to John Richards
of Nov. 9, 1682 (Coll. V. vol. i. p. 432).
John Quincy was not born until 1689. As already men-
tioned, the date on the picture of the child now looks like
1670. The old-fashioned way of forming the figures is, how-
ever, very deceptive, and it may be 1690. "It is either the
one or the other. The evidence of John Adams is tolerably
direct. He married John Quincy's granddaughter, and was
a frequent guest at his house. The two pictures were hang-
ing there at that time, and were comparatively new. John
Quincy could not but have known whose portraits the}^
were, especially if one of them represented his own baby-
hood. As he was born in 1689, the date of the painting
would be fixed for 1690, and not lt<70. It was from John
Quincy and his wife that John Adams undoubtedly got his
information, and the tradition of two hundred years is thus
handed down through only two lives. In any event, there
the two pictures are, and one of them is by no means bad as
a work of art. As bearing upon the query just raised by Mr.
Winthrop, tliere is no room at all for doubt that they were
painted in ]\Iassachusetts in the latter part of the seventeenth
century, and it is most reasonable to suppose that they were
the work of either Tom Child or Joseph Allen.
16
122 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
Mr. GOODELL spoke as follows : —
Mr. President, — I know nothing about the conversation at
our last meeting', concerning the execution of Mark and Phillis
in 1755, beyond what was reported in the newspapers, but,
as I minutely examined the records of the case several years
ago, and as I do not think that a full account of tins inter-
esting trial lias ever been published, I venture to call the
attention of the Society to the details of this — the only case
of petit treason, I believe, in the history of Massachusetts.
It is not surprising that the execution of a woman, by burn-
ing, so lately as wlien Shirley was governor, — a period when
the province had greatlj^ advanced in culture and refinement,
— should seem to any one incredible. Indeed, even so critical
and thorough a student of our provincial history as our late
distinguished associate, Dr. Palfrey, once wrote to me inqun--
ing if the rumor of such a proceeding had any foundation in
fact, and if so, whether the execution took place according to
law, or by the impidse of an infuriated mob. It gave me
great satisfaction to be able to settle his doubts on this subject
by referiing him to the records of the Superior Court of Judi-
cature, where the judgment, from which I shall presently read
to you, and a copy of which I sent to him, appears at length.
The subject is important at this day only as serving to de-
fine the nature of the "cruel and unusual punishments" pro-
hibited by the thirty-first article of the Declaration of Rights,
in our state Constitution, since this mode of punishment, hav-
ing continued after the adoption of the Constitution, cannot
have been considered by the frame rs of that instrument either
as " cruel " or " unusual" in the sense in which they used these
words.
The particulars of the crime for which the malefactors,
Mark and Phillis, were executed are brielly as follows : Cap-
tain John Codman, a thrifty saddler, sea-captain, and mer-
cliant, of Cliarlestown, was the owner of several slaves whom
he employed either as mechanics, common laborers, or house
servants. Three of the most trusted of these, Mark, Phillis,
and Phebe, — particularly Mark, — found the rigid discipline
of their master unendurable, and, after setting fire to his
workshop some six years before, hoping by the destruction
of this building to so embarrass him that he would be obliged
to sell them, they, in the year 1755, conspired to gain their
end by poisoning him to death.
In this confederacy some five or six negroes belonging to
other owners were more or less directly implicated. Mark,
1883.] THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAJST. 123
the leader, was able to read, and signed his examination, here-
after referred to, in a bold, legible hand. He professed to
have read the Bible through, in order to find if, in any wa}-,
his master could be killed without inducing guilt, and had
come to the conclusion that according to Scripture no sin would
be committed if the act could be accomplished without blood-
shed. It seems, moieover, to have been commonly believed
by the negroes that a Mr. Salmon had been poisoned to death
by one of his slaves, without discovery of the crime. So,
application was made by JMark, first to Kerr, the servant of
Dr. John Gibbons, and then to Robin, the servant of Dr. Wm.
Clarke, at tlie North End of Boston, for poison from their
masters' apothecary stores, which was to be administered by
the two women.
Essex, the servant of Thomas Powers, had also furnished
Mark with a quantity of " black lead " for the same purpose.
This was, unquestional)ly, not the harmless plumbago to wliich
that name is now usually given, but galena, or plumbum ni-
grum, a native sulphuret of lead, probably used for a glaze by
the potters of Charlestown.
Kerr declined to have any hand in the business; but Robin
twice obtained and delivered to Mark a quantity of arsenic, of
which the women, Phebe and Phillis, made a solution which
they kept secreted in a vial, and from time to time mixed with
the water-gruel and sago which they sometimes gave directly
to their victim to eat, and at other times prepared to be inno-
cently administered to him by one of his daughters. They also
mixed with his food some of the "black lead,"' which Phillis
seems to have thought was the efficient jioison, tliough it ap-
peared from the testimony that he was killed by the arsenic.
The crime was promptly traced home to the conspirators;
and on the second day of July, the day after Captain Cod-
man's death, a coroner's jury found that he died from poison
feloniously procured and administered by Mark. Ten days
later, Quaco, — the nominal husband of Phebe, and one of the
negroes implicated, — who was the servant of Mr, James Dal-
ton, of Boston, was examined before William Stoddard, a jus-
tice of the peace, and on the same day Robin was arrested
and committed to jail. The examination of Quaco was fol-
lowed by the examination of Mark, and of Phillis, later iii
the month. These last were taken before the Attorney-
General and Mr. Thaddens Mason.
At the term of the "Superiour Court of Judicature, Court
of Assize, and General Goal Delivery," held at Cambridge
on the second Tuesday of August following, the grand jury
124 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
found a true bill for petit treason against Phillis, and against
Mark and Robin as accessories before the fact. As this is the
only indictment for this offence known to have been found
in Massachusetts, and was drawn by that eminent lawyer,
Edmund Trowbridge, then Attorney-General, it is worthy of
being preserved in print, in connection with the coroner's ver-
dict and the examinations of the suspected parties, which are
as follows : —
[ Ob roller's Inquest.']
[Two-penny"]
stamp. J Middlesex ss.
An Inquisition Indented, Taken at Charlestowu Within tlie County
of Middlesex Aforesaid the Second day of July in the Twenty ninth
year of the Reign of our Lord George the Second by the Grace of
God, of Great Britain France and Ireland, King Defender of the
Faith &r, before John Remington Gentleman one of the Coroners of
our said Lord the King, Within the County of Middlesex Aforesaid;
upon view of the Body of John Codman of Charlestown Aforesaid
Gentleman then and there Being dead by the oaths of Josiah White-
more, Samuel Larkin, Samuel Larkin Junf Richard Deavens, AVilliam
Thompson, Nathaniel Brown, Samuel Kettle, .John Larkin, Thomas
Larkin, David Cheever, Barnabas Davis, Edward Goodwin, Benja-
min Brazier, Samuel Sprague, Richard Phillips, Samuel Heudley and
Michael Briiiden Good and Lawfull men of Charlestown Aforesaid
Witiiin the County Aforesaid ; Who being Charg'd and Sworn to In-
quire for our said Lord the King, When, and by What means, and how
the Said John Codman Came to his Death — upon their Oaths do Say
that the said John Codman Came to his deatli By Poison Procured by
his negro man servant Mark Which he took and Languishd untill the
first of Jidy Current and then died and so the Jurors Aforesaid upon
their oatlis do Say, that Aforesaid Mark in manner and Form Afore-
said, the Aforesaid John Codman then and there feloniously did Poison
against tlie peace of our Soverign Lord tlie King his Crown and
Dignity —
In Witness, Whereof, as Well I the Coroner Aforesaid, as the
Jurors Aforesaid, to this Inquisition have Interchangeably put our
hands and Seals, the day And year Abovesaid.
John Remington Coroner [Seal.]
Rich'^ Phillips [Seal.] Josiaii Whittemork [Seal.]
Sam^^ Kettell [Seal.] Sam^ Hendly [Seal.]
John Laukin [Seal] Micn^-'^ Buigden [Seal.]
Samuel Larkin Jn? [Seal.] Nath^^ Brown [Seal.]
William Thompson [Seal.] David Cheever [Seal.]
Thomas Larkin [Seal.] Sam^^ Larkin [Seal.]
Richard Devens [Seal.] Benjamin Brazier [Seal.]
Barnabas Davis [Seal.]
Samuell Sprague [Seal.]
Edw"^ Goodwin [Seal.]
1883.] THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 125
\_Examination of Qitaco.'\
On the 12'*^ July 1755. was Examined Quacoe a Negro man be-
longing to AF James Dalton of Boston Victuallei' He s'' Quacoe says
that some time the last winter one Kerr a Negro man belonging to
Doctr Jn° Gibbons came to the s'' Quacoe &, told him that Mark
belong? to M"' Codman had Been w'!^ him to get some Poyson and
the s"! Quaco says that Ker told him that Mark asked the s? Kerr
whither Phoebe had been w"' him for said Poyson. The said Quacoe
also says that he Spoke to Plnrbe M' Codman's negro woman whom he
called his Wife & told her not to be Concerned with Mark for tliat she
would be Brought into Trouble by him, for that Mark liad been w'.'' Kerr
Gibbons to get Poyson, & had askt s'^ Kerr whither Phrjcbe had not
been w"' him for s'' Poyson. Tlie s'* Quacoe also says that the above
discourse w"' Phoebe was when they were going to Bed the Saturday
night after the discourse had w* Kerr Gibbons. He also says that
he charged her not to be concerned wl"" Mark about Poyson on any
acco? whatever.
The above Examination Taken on the 12*!" Jidy 1755 at Boston
^^' W"^^ Stoddard / Pads
\_Mittimi(s against Rohm.'\
Suffolk ss :
To The Keeper of His Majestys Goal in Boston and to the Consta-
bles of Boston Greeting —
I herewitli Comit to you M"" ConstalJe Pattin the Body of
Robin a Negro man belonsing to Dl' William Clarke of the
North En<l of Boston, who is this day Chai-ged w"' being Concerned
in the Poysoning of the late M"' John Codman of Ciiarles Town
Deceased. Take Care of him and deliver him to The Keeper of His
Majestys Goal in Boston ; and you the s*^ Keeper are hereby Com-
manded to Receive the Body of the Said Robin and him Safely Keep
untill he shall be discharged by Due Course of Law,
Given under my hand and Seal at Boston the Twelfth day of July
anno Domini 1755 and in the Twenty ninth Year of the Kings
Reign.
W^ Stoddard, Just: Pads.
\^Examination of PhiUis.'\
MiDD^ ss :
The Examination of Phillis a negro Servant of John Codman late
of Charlstown deceased taken by Edmund Trowbridge and Thaddeus
Mason Esq" at Cambridge in the County of Middlesex the 26'.'^ Day
of July Anno Domini 1755. And y* 2*^ of Aug.' following —
126 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
Quesf^. Was Mr John Codman late of Charlstown deed, your
Master ?
Answ'\ Yes he was.
Qnes^ How long was you his servant ?
Answ''. He my said Master bought me when I was a little girl and
I continued his servant untill his Death.
Qiiest'\ Do you know of what sickness your said master died ?
Answer. I suppose he was poisoned.
Ques*. Do you know he was poisoned ?
Ansio'^. I do know he was poisoned.
Qnes*. What was he poisoned with ?
Ansiv''— It was with that bhick lead.
QuesK what black Lead is it you mean ?
Ansio'''. The Potter's Lead.
Qiies'. How do you know your s^ master was poisoned with that
Lead ?
Ansio'^. Mark got some of the said Potter's Lead from Essex Pow-
ers and my young mistress Molly found some of the same Lead in the
Porringer that my Master's Sagoe was in, he complain'd it was gritty ;
and that made Miss Molly look into the Porringer, and finding the
Lead there, she ask'd me what it was, I told her 1 did not know. — I
cleaned the Skillet the Sagoe was boiled in and found some of the
same stuff' in the bottom of the skillet that was in the bottom of the
Porringer. And presently after Mark was carried to Goal, Tom
brouglit a Paper of the Potter's Lead out of the Blacksmith's Shop,
whicli he said he found there; and I saw it and am sure it was the same
with that which Was in the bottom of the Porringer and the Skillet.
Quest. Do you know that any other Poison besides the Potter's
Lead was given to your s*^ master ?
Answ''. Yes.
QiU'St. What was it ?
Anstv''. It was Water which was poured out of a Yial,
Quest. How do you know that, that Water was Poison?
A)isw''. There was a White Powder in the Vial, which Sunk to the
Bottom of it. —
Quest. Do you know who put the Powder into the Vial ?
AnsiD^. I put tlie first Powder in.
Quest. Where did you get that Powder?
Answ''. Phebe gave it to me up in the Garret, the Sabbath Day
morning before the last Sacrament before my master dyed, and Phoebe
at tl)e same time told me Mark gave it to her.
QuesK What was the Powder in when Plioebe gave it you?
Answer. It was in a White Paper, fokled up Square, both ends being
turn'd up, & it was tyed with some Twine.
Quest. How much Powder was there in the Paper?
Answ''. There was a good deal of it I believe near an ounce.
Quest. Did you [)ut all that Powder into the Vial ?
Answ''. No, I put in but a little of it, only so much as lay on the
Point of a narrow Piece of flat Iron, with which I put it in, which Iron
1883.] THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 127
Mark made & gave it to me to give to Phebe, Mark gave me the s'^ Iron
the Saturday before the Sabbath afores'^. I ask'd him what it was for,
he would not tell me; he said Kobbin gave him one, and he had lost it ;
and that he himself went into the shop and made this. I gave the
s*^ Iron to Phoebe that same afternoon, in tlie Kitchen ; and the next
morning she gave it to me in the Garret, and Quaco was there with
her ; she whisper'd to me and told me to take the Paper of Powder
which was in the hollow over the Window, and the flat Jron whicli was
with it and put some of it into the Vial with the Iron which I did; and
she bid me put some water into it, but I did not ; but she afterwards
put some ill lierself, as she told me, and she put it into the Closet in the
Kitchen in a Corner beliind a black Jug; and the same Vial was kept
there untill my master dyed.
Quest. Had your Master any of that Water which was put into the
said Vial given to him?
Answ'''. Yes he had.
QiiesK How was it given to him ?
Answ^. It was poured into his barly Drink and into his Infusion,
and into his Chocalate, and into his Watergruel.
Quest. Who poured the Water out of the s'^ Vial into the Chocalate?
Answ''. Phoebe did, and Master afterwards eat it.
Quest. Who pour'd it into his barly Drink?
Answ''. I did it myself; I pour'd a drop out of the Vial into the
barly Drink, & I felt ugly, and pour'd the Water out of the mug again
olf from the Barly, and ]>ut clean Water into the mug again & cover'd
it over that it might boil quick.
Quest. Who pour'd the Water out of the Vial into the Infusion ?
Answ''. Phoebe did.
Quest. How do you know it?
Answ''. I came into the Kitchen and saw her do it.
Quest. Did your master drink the Infusion after that water was so
pour'd in ?
Answ''. lie drank one Tea Cup full of it.
Quest. How do you know that Phoebe poured any of the poisoned
Water out of the Vial into your Master's Chocalate ?
Answ''. She told me she had done it.
Quest. When did she tell you so ?
Answ''. That Same Day.
Quest. Was it before or after your Master eat that Chocalate that
the poison'd Water was pour'd into, that She told you so ?
Ans'W''. Before he eat it.
Quest. Did you see him eat that Chocalate ?
Ansiv''. Yes, I did, he eat it in the Kitchen on a little round Table.
Quest. Who put the Second Powder into the Vial ?
Ansiv''. Phoebe put it in ; I left Part of the Powder she gave me in
the Paper, and she afterwards put that into the Vial as she told me.
as I was in the cellar drawing some Cyder, I heard Phoebe tell Mark
that the Powder was all out, and all used up ;
Quest. W^hen was it that you heard Phoebe tell IMark so ?
128 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
Ansvf. The Wednesday before my master dyed.
Quest. Do you know of any moie Powder being got to give to your
master ?
Answer. Yes, but master never took any of it.
Quest. Who got this last Powder ?
Ansiv''. Mark got it.
Quest. What did lie do with it?
Ansuf. He gave it to me ; in our little House.
Quest. What Sort of Powder was it that Mark gave You ?
Answ''. I[t?] was white the same as the lirst.
Quest. What was it in ?
Answ''. In a Peice of Paper ; he had more of that Powder than he
gave me, it was in a Paper folded ujj in a long Square, he tore off Part
of that Paper, and put Some of the Powder into it, and gave it to me
and kept the rest himself, and at the same time that he gave it to me
he told me that Robbin said we were damn'd Fools we had not given
Master that first Powder at two Doses, for it wou'd have killed him,
and no Body would have known who hurt him, for it was enough to
kill the strongest man living ; upon which I ask'd Mark how he knew,
it would not have been found out, he said that Mr, Salmon's Negros
poison 'd him, and were never found out, but had got good masters, &
so miglit we.
Quest. What did you do with that Powder which Mark gave you ?
Ansiv^'. I put it into the Vial, & set it in the Same Place it was in
before, there was some of the first Powder & Water remaining in the
Vial when I put tliis last in.
Quest. Do you know that any of the Water that was in the Vial
after you put this last Powder in was given to your Master ?
Answ''. No, he never had a drop of it. The next Day after Master
died Mark came into the Closet where I was eating my Dinner and
ask'd me for that Bottle, I ask'd him what he wanted it for, and he
would not tell me, but iissisted upon having it, upon which I told him
that it was there behind the Jugg, and he took it and went directly
down to the Shop in the yard, and 1 never saw it afterwards 'till Justice
Mason shew it to me, on the Fast Day night.
Quest. Do you know where Mark got that Powder which he gave
to you ?
Ansiv''. He had it of Robbin, Doc'"" Clark's Negro ; that liv'd with
Mr. Vassall.
Quest. How do you know that INIark had that Powder of Robbin ?
Answ''. The Thursday night before my master died Mark told me
he was going over to Boston to Robbin to get some more Powder for
he sf Phcebe told him y' the other was all out; and Mark went over
to Boston, and return'd again about nine o'Clock ; and I ask'd Mark
if he had got it, and he told me no, he had not, but Robbin was to
bring it over the next night ; and between 8 & 9 o'Clock that next
niglit, a negro Fellow came to me in our Yard & ask'd me for Mark,
And I ask'd him his name but he would not tell me, and I said to
him, Countryman, if you'l tell me your name I'll call Mark, for I know
]883.] THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 129
where he is, but he would not, I then askt him if he was not
Robbin Vassall, (for I mistrusted it was he) and upon that he laughed
and said his name was not Robbin Vassall, but he came out of the
Country and wanted to see Mark very much about his Child ; and
upon my refusing to tell him where Mark was the negro went away
down to the Ferry, and I followed him at some distance & saw him go
into the Ferry ]>oat, and the Boat put off, with him in it. That same
Fryday, in the afternoon, Mark told me, if any Negro Fellow shou'd
come ; & say that he came out of the Country to call him, I ask'd
him what negro it was that he expected wou'd come ; lie told me it
was Robbin, and that he was to say that he came out of the Country
to speak with Mark about his Child, and bid me tell no Body
about it.
Quest. Do you know Robbin Dootr Clark's negro?
A?isw''. I do, and have known him for many years.
Quest. How then happen'd it that you cou'd not certainly tell
whether the negro afores*! that askt for Mark was Robbin or not?
Answ'^. Because it was dark. So dark I cou'd not see his Face so
as certainly to know him, but I am fully satisfyed it was Robbin.
Quest. What Reason have you to be satisfyed it was Robbin ?
Ansiv''. That same night I told Mark that a negro B^ellow had been
there and ask'd for him & wanted him, he ask'd me why I did not call
him, I told him our Folks called me and I could not, Mark told me
he was very Sorry I did not, and asked me if he gave me any Thing,
I told him he did not, he said he was very sorry he did not ; then 1
ask'd him who it was, and he said it was Robbin, and then he told me
that he thought Robbin & he had been playing blind-mans Buff, for
they had been over the Ferry twice that night and mist one another ;
and that Elij"^ Phipps & Timo Rand told him that a negro Fellow
had been over the F'erry to speak with him about his Child. And
then Mark told me he would the next Night go over to Robbin and
get some more of the same Powder, and would bring it over on the
Sabbath Day, & he went to Boston on the Saturday niglit, but did
not return till Monday morning, when he brought it and gave it to me
in the little House, as I told you before.
Quest. Did you see Robbin at Charlstown in the Time of your
master's sickness or about the Time of his Death ?
A71SW''. Yes, I saw him on y" Tuesday the Ship was launched,
when my master catch'd Mark buying Drink at M" Shearman's to treat
him with, & drove him away; and I saw him at Charlstown on the Sat-
urdaj^ after my Master was buried ; but I did not speak with him at
either of those Times. The Tuesday he was before our Shop Door, in
the Street, with Mark and had a Bag upon his shoulder ; and on the
Saturday in the afternoon I saw him going up the Street by our House,
while Phcebe and I were washing in the back yard ; I told Phoebe
there was Robbin a going along this minit, and she said is he? and
ask'd me what Cloaths he had on ; I told her he had a bluish Coat on
lined with a straw coloured or yellow lining and the CufTs open
& lined with the said Yellow lining, and that he had a black wigg on ;
17
130 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
and I told Phoebe I believed he was gone up to Mark to tell him not
to own that he had given any Thing to him, and Phoebe said she
believed so to; and I went into the street to the Pump with a Pail to
get some Water, designing to see whether he went that Way, and I
saw him go right up the main street, and I could see him as far up as
Mr. Eleazer Phillips's, and I did not see him afterwards. I never see
him with a Wigg on before, but as he went by us he look'd me full in
the Face and 1 knew it was Robbin. When I told Phoebe that
Robbin was going by, I thought she saw him, but she questioned
whether it was he, and I told her I was sure it was he, lor I had
known him ever since he was a boy, and I told her I would lay a
mug of Flip that it was he, but she wou'd not ; and then it was that I
told her I believed he was gone up to Mark &c.
Quest. Do you know what Powder that was which Mark & Phoebe
gave you, and you put into the Vial ?
Answ''. Mark told me it was Ratsbane, but I told Phoebe I be-
lieved Mark lied & that it was only burnt allom, for I told her, that
upon taking Ratsbane they would directly swell, and Master did not
swell ; and she said she believed so to.
Quest. How many Times was any of that Water, which was in the
Vial afores'\ put into your master's victuals ?
AnsiV. Not above Seven Times.
Quest. When was the first Time?
Answ''. The next Monday morning after Phoebe gave me the first
Powder, then it was put into his Chocalate, by Phccl)e. The next was
also put in to his Chocalate by Phoebe on the next Wednesday morning,
and I thinking she put in more than she should, told her her hand was
heavy, and there was no more put in, that, I know of till the next
Fryday, when Phoebe put some into his Chocalate, and my Master eat
the Chocalate all the three times aforesaid in the Kitchen, and I was
there & saw him ; The next was on the Saturday following, when I put
Some into his Watergruel, but I felt ugly and tln-ew it away, and made
some fresh, aud did not put any into that. The next was on the after-
noon of the same Saturday, I made him some more Watergruel &
pour'd some of the Water out of the Vial into it, and it turned yellow,
and Miss Betty, ask'd me what was the matter with the Watergruel
and I gave her'no answer; but that was thrown away, and more fresh
made, and Miss Molly was going to put the same Plumbs in again, and
Phoebe told her not to do it, but she had better put in some fresh
Plumbs, and she did ; and no Poison was put into that ; It was by
Phoebe's advice that I put it into the first this afternoon. And he had
no more, that I know of 'till tlie next Monday night, when Mark put
some of the Potter's Lead into Masters Sagoe.
Quest. How do you know that Mark put any of the Potter's Lead
into the Sagoe ?
Answer. When I went out of tlie Kitchen I left the Sagoe in the
little Iron Skillet on the Fire, and no body was in the Kitchen then,
but when I returned, Mark was Sitting on a Form in the Corner, and
I afterwards found Some of that Lead in the Skillet, aud neither
Phoebe nor I had any Such Lead.
1883.] THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 131
Quest. Do you know of any other Poison prepar'd for, or given to
your Master?
Answ''. No, I do not.
Quest. Wlio was it that first contrived the poisoning your Master
Codman ?
Answ''. It was Mark who first contrived it. He told Phoebe and I
that he had read the Bible through, and that it was no Sin to kill him
if they did not lay violent Hands on him So as to shed Blood, by
sticking or stabbing or cutting his Throat.
Quest. When was it that Mark first proposed the poisoning his
Master ?
Answ''. Some time last Winter ; he jiroposed it to Phoebe and I,
but we would not agree to it, and told him No Such Thing should be
done in the House ; This before my Master brought him home from
Boston.
Quest. Did he ever afterwards propose the poisoning his s*^ Master?
Answ^. Yes he did, a Week or a Fortnight after my Master brought
him home from Boston, he proposed it to me first, and I would not
agree to it, and then he proposed it to Phoebe.
Quet. What Reason did Mark give for poisoning his Master ?
Answ. He said he was uneasy and wanted to have another Master,
and he was concerned for Phoebe and I too.
Quest. Do you know how your Master's Work house that was
burnt down came on Fire ?
Answ^'. Yes I do.
Quest. How came it on fire ?
Ansiv''. I set it on fire, but it was thro' Mark's means, he gave me
no rest 'till I did it.
Quest. How did you Set your Master's Work House on fire ?
Answ''. I threw a Coal of Fire into some Shavings between the
Blacksmith's Shop & the Work House, and I went away & did not
see it kindle.
Quest. Who put the Shavings there ?
Answ''. ]\Iark did.
Ques* Was any Body concern'd in the burning the Work house
besides Mark and you ?
Ansio''. Yes, Phoebe knew about it as well as I.
Quest. Where was Phoebe & JMark when you put the Coal of Fire
into the Shavings ?
A71SW''. The were up Garret in bed.
Quest. Who first proposed the Setting the Workhouse on fire ? and
what reason was given for doing it ?
A7istv''. Mark first proposed it, to Phoebe and I; and the Reason he
gave us was that he wanted to get to Boston, and if all was burnt
down, he did not know what Master could do without selling us.
Quest. Why did you, when Phoebe pour'd Some of the Water out
of the Vial into the Chocalate tell her, " her hand was heavy ? "
Answ''. I thought she pour'd in too much, more than she should I
felt ugly and I wan't willing she shou'd put in so much and that he
132 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
should be kill'd so quick. Mark's orders were to give it in two Doses,
that was the Directions Robbin gave to Mark, as Mark told me, and
Mark Said Robbin told him there was no more taste in it than in Cold
Water.
Quest. Why did you not tell your Master or some of the Family
that Phoebe had poisoned the Chocalate, and thereby prevent your
Master's eating it ?
Answ''. I do not know why I did not tell.
The mark of X Phillis.
[^Examination of Mark."]
Middlesex ss :
The Examination of Mark a Negro Servant of John Codman late
of Charlstown deceased taken by Edmund Trowbridge & Thaddeus
Mason Esq" at Charlstown in the County of Middlesex the
Day of July Anno Dom : 1755.
Quest. What is your name ?
Answ''. Mark.
Quest. Are you a Servant or Freeman ?
Answ^. A Servant. Mf John Codman decf was my master.
Quest. How long was you his Servant?
Ansvf. For several Years before & untill his Death.
Quest. Do you know what occasion'd your s? Master's Death ?
Answ''. He was poisoned.
Q. What was he poisoned with ?
A. With Poison that came fi-om the Doctor's.
Q. What Doctor ?
Answ^. Docty Clark that lives at the North End of Boston.
Q. What sort of Poison was that?
A. It was a White Powder put up in a Paper.
Q. How do you know that that Powder came from Doctf Clark's ?
A. Robbin the Negro Fellow that belongs to Docty Clark gave it
to me.
Q. When & where did Robbin give you that Powder ?
An. A Week Day night, at his Master's Barn.
Qu. Was there any Person present with you when Robbin gave you
that Powder?
An. No. The first Time, the negro man his fellow Servant called
him out, it was in the Evening near 9 o'Clock.
Qu. How many Times had you such Powder of Robbin ?
An. Twice only.
Qu. When was the last Time you had any such Powder of him ?
An. The Sabbath Day night before my s*? Master died, in the Even-
ing after Candle Light.
1883.] THE MURDER OP CAPTAIN CODMAN. 133
Qu. Where was it you had this last Powder of him, and what was
it in?
An. He gave it to me in the same Barn, it was done up in a long
square in two Papers, the outtermost Paper was brown and the iner-
most Paper was White, as the other was.
Qu. What did Robbin give you these Powders for ?
An. To kill three Pigs belonging to Quaco as Phoebe told me.
Qu. How long ago was it Since Robbin gave you the first of these
Powders ?
An. I can't certainly tell.
Qu. Was it before Robbin «& you were together at John Harris
y^ Potters Work house?
Ans''. I think it was before.
Qu. How long before was it ?
Ans''. About a Week before.
Qu. Did you pay Robbin any Thing for these Powders ?
An. No. I did not.
Q. What did you do with them ?
Ans. Phoebe had the first ; and she sent Phillis for the second and
I gave it to her.
Qu. When & where did you give Phoebe the first Paper of that
Powder ?
An. In our Garret ; the same night I brought it over.
Qu. Was any Body there when you gave it to her ?
An. No.
Qu. What did she do with it ?
An. She took it & put it upon the Table.
Qu. Did you give her the whole of the Powder you had of Robbin
the first Time?
An. Yes. I gave her the Paper with all the Powder in it, as I
received it of Robbin.
Qu. Did you tell her what was in the Paper ?
An. No. She knew what was in it; for she told me what to get.
Qu. What did she tell you to get ?
An. Something to kill three Pigs.
Qu. Did Robbin give you any Directions how to use that Powder,
and tell you what Effect it would have ?
Ans. He told me to put it into about 2 Quarts of Swill or Indian
meal, and it would make 'em swell up.
Qu. Did you tell her how she must use the Powder? or what Effect
it would have ?
Answ''. yes I told her as Robbin told me.
Qu. Do you know whether she used that Powder or any Part of it?
Answ^. no otherwise than as Phoebe & Phillis told me Since my
master's Death.
Qu. Who did you give the Second Paper of Powder to?
An. To Phillis.
Qu. When & where did you give that Paper of Powder to Phillis ?
Ans. In the little House ; She came to empty a Pot over the
134 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
WharffS; and I gave it to her, The Monday before my s"? Master died,
after Breakfast in the Forenoon.
Qu : Did you then give her all the Powder you rec'f of Robbin the
Second Time ?
Ans. Yes. I took off the brown Paper and gave it to her in the
white Paper, tliat it was iu, when Robbin gave it to me.
Qu. What did she do with it ?
Ansiv''. She caried it into the House to Phoebe as Phillis told me,
She came to me & told me Phoebe sent her for that Thing that She
sent me for, and thereu[)on I gave Phillis tlie Paper.
Qa : How was your Master poisoned with these Powders ?
Answ^'. Phoebe & Phillis told me that they used them for that End.
Qu : When did they tell you this ?
Ansiif. The next Day after my master died.
Q : Were they together when tliey told you So ?
Answ''. No, Phillis told me of it first, and said that Phoebe used
all that I brought first, that Way ; and that the last was used so too by
her and Phoebe ; and tlien I went to Phoebe and ask'd her about it,
and She denyed it at first but when I told her that Phillis had told me
all about it, then she owned i't.
Ques\ Had you no Reason before your s*^ master dyed to think that
the Powders you liad of Robbin were given to your master or that he
was poison'd therewith ?
Ansiv''. No other Reason than hearing Phoebe the Saturday night
before master died ask Phillis, if she had given him enough, to which
she replyed, yes. I have given him enough, and will stick as close to
him as his shirt to his back ; but who she meant I did not then know,
nor untill after master died.
Quest. Was there no Discourse had between you Phoebe & Phillis
about getting more Poison, after you had the first, of Rol^bin ?
Ansiv. The Fryday befoi-e my master died Phoebe told me that she
had lost that stuff" that I had brought to her from Robbin, and desired
me to get her some more. I told her I wou'd when I went over to
Boston ; this was in the Forenoon, when she was washing in the back
yard.
Quest. Did you get her any more of Robbin?
Ans^'. Yes, and that was it which I gave to Phillis
Quest. When did you go over to get the last Poison ?
Ans. on the Saturday night before my master died ; I went over
after Sunset ; I went directly to Robbin ; & told him I wanted some
of tlie same I had of him before for that was lost, Robbin was then
at the Corner of his master's House out in the street, he told me he
could not get any then, but if I wou'd come on the Sabbath Day night
he would let me have some, and I went to him on the Sabbath Day
night after Candle Light, and he then gave it to me.
Quest. Was there any Body with you on the Saturday night when
you ask'd for the Poison, or do you know whether any Person saw you
«fe Robbin together that Evening?
Answ''. No, nobody was there, and I dont know that anj^ Body saw
us together that Evening.
1883.] THE MUEDEE, OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 135
Quest. How long was you with Robbiu at M"' Harris's Work
house ?
Ansiv'\ I made no tarry there, but left him at the Pot house, and he
and the young man that was with him followed me and overtook me a
little below Ml' Waite's Slaughter house; And they went with me into
the Lane leadinii' from the market Place to the long Wharffe near M?
Shearman's, while I went into M? Shearmans and got a mug of Toddy,
in the mug I brought from Mf Harris's Work house, and I carried it to
theua and they both drank with me.
Quest. Plad you any Discourse with Robbin in private or between
you and bim alone that Day?
Arisr. No, none at all.
Quest. Where did you drink the Toddy ?
Ansiv''. In the Lane afores*^.
Quest. Where did you all go after you drank ^the Toddy?
Ansio''. We all came away together & went thro' W. Sprague's
Yard & so thro' M? Silence Harris's yard & Pantry into the street,
and they went directly down to the Ferry and I went into my master's
Yard with the Pots I brought from the Potters Work house.
Quest. Did you then go with them to the Ferry or nearer to it than
your master's House ?
Answ''. No, I did not.
Quest. Did Robbin give you, or did you give Robbin any Thing
between the Time of your coming out of Mf Harris's Entry and his
going over the Ferry ?
Answ''. No, I did not give him any Thing neither did he give me
any Thing.
Quest. After you had parted with him when you came thro' the
Entry, did you call him back ?
Ansio''. No, I did not.
Quest. Did your master that Day forbid M''^ Shearman's letting you
have any more Drink ?
Answ''. Yes, my master told her not to sell any Drink to any of his
Servants.
Quest. Did Robbin know of it?
Ansiv''. Not that I know of; he see master go into M"".^ Shearman's
Shop, and pass'd by Robbin in the Lane as Robbin told me.
Quest. Did you ever apply to any body else, besides Robbin for
Poison ?
Ansiv''. No, only to Carr, Doctf Giil)bon's negro man, and then
Phosbe sent me for it. She had been with Carr before on the same
account, & he told her he cou'd not get iier any then, as she told me ;
Quest. Did you get any Poison of Carr ?
Ans'l No, he told me he wou'd not let me have any, untill he had
seen Quaco, and did not know whether he shou'd then or not, and I
never went to him afterwards.
Quest. Did you never ask Doct!' Rnnd's Cato for any Poison?
Ausw''. No, I do not know that I ever did, in the World.
Quest. Had you and Pha3be any Conversation together about your
136 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
master in or near your Blacksmith's Shop or in the yard the Mon-
day before your master died ?
Answ''. I had not, that I know of.
Quest. Did you that Day before Tom or any other of your master's
Servants say that you knew that your master would dye or utter any
Words to that effect ?
Answ''. No, I did not. The Day before master dyed, Phoebe came
into the Shop to dress Tom's Eye & got to dancing & mocking master
& shaking herself tfc acting as master did in the Bed ; And Tom said
he did not care, he hop'd he wou'd never get up again for his Eye's
sake, and Scipio was there at the same time and saw her.
Quest. Did you ever Say that your master had been offer'd £400
for you but wou'd not take it, and now he shou'd not have a farthing
or Words to that effect ?
Answ''. No I never said any such Thing. Mark.*
Quest. Did you ever tell Phoebe or Phillis that the Week before
your master dyed, that you went over the Ferry to see Robbin to get
some more Poison, and that he came over the Ferry in another Boat
and so you mist each other and that he Robbin pretended to the Ferry-
man that he was a Country negro and wanted to see you about your
Child, or Words to that Effect ?
Answ''. I never told them or either of them so.
Quest. How came that Viall buried near your Forge in the Black-
Smith's Shop, that you told M!' Kettell of, and he found there?
Answ''. I buried it there.
Quest. When did you bury it there ?
Answ''. In the afternoon of that Day that master dyed.
Quest. Where did you get that Vial ?
Answ''. I took it from Phillis that same Afternoon.
Quest. Did any body see you take it from hei- ?
Ansiv''. No. When I took it from Phillis she own'd that Phoebe
had given the first Poison that I brought to master; and that she and
Phoebe had given him all the Rest saving what was then in the Bottle,
and thereupon I went to Phoebe and charged her with it, she at first
deny'd it, but at last own'd it it and begg'd me to say nothing about it ;
I told her if I had known she wou'd have put it to that use I would
not have got it for her; then I call'd Pornpey to go down to the shop
with me for I wanted to speak with him, intending to shew him the
Vial, and he came into the shop but before I had an opportunity to
speak to him Ml" Kettell took me.
Quest. Where was the Vial when you talked with Phoebe as
a fores'^ ?
Answ''. I had it in my Pocket, and told her so, then I went into the
shop and buried it, then I went into the House immediately to call
Pompey to shew it to him.
* Mark signed his deposition here, and tlie entry, " continued," was made at
the end of the sheet ; the next sheet beginning, " Mark's Examination, con-
tinued."
1883.] THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 137
Quest. Why did you bury the Vial before you called Pompy ? or
shew it to any body ?
Answ'l I buried it because I did not want any body should see it
before I shewed it to him.
Quesf} Have you lately had any Potters powder'd Lead by you or
in your Possession ?
Answ''. Only that I had from Essex Powars ; which was as I sup-
pose ground to Powder.
Quest. When did you get that powder'd Lead of Essex ?
Ans'l I had it of him that Day I went there for six butter Pots,
which my master's son Isaac sent me for.
Quest. What did you get that Lead for ?
Answ^. To see if it would melt in our Fire, upon a Dispute between
Tom and I about it ; Tom said it would melt, and I told him I did not
believe it would ; I carried it home and laid it upon the Wall Plate in
the Blacksmith's shop, and I never moved it afterwards or thought
any Thing about it, 'till it was show'd to me by the Justice.
Quet. Do you know that any Part of that Lead you had of Essex
or any Lead like unto it was given to your master or put into his
Victuals or Drink ?
Answ''. I do not.
Quest. Do you know of any Proposal made of poisoning your
master ?
Ansio. No, I do not, nor ever heard any such Thing pi'oposed by
any Body.
Quest. Do you know of any Cushoe nuts being procured for that
Purpose ?
Ansiv^. No ; I have not seen a Cushoe nut since I have been in this
Country.
Quest. Do you know of any Copperas or Green stuff being provided
for that Purpose ?
Answ''. No I do not.
Quest. What Time on the Saturday before your master dyed was it
that you heard Phoebe ask Phillis, if she had given him enough, and
Phillis said she had, and would stick as close to him as his Shirt to his
Back ?
Answ''. In the afternoon about Dark; and before I went to Boston.
Quest. How came you, after you had heard this Talk between
Phcebe and Phillis, to get her s"? Phoebe more Poison ?
Answ''. I did not know what she meant by their Talk, nor who
they meant, by him.
Quest. Did you tell Carr that Phoebe sent you for that Poison
you applyed to him for?
AnsW. She did not tell me it was Poison, but told me to ask Carr
for that Thing he had promised her ; he said he knew what it was
and would not send it, 'till he had talked to Quaco, and did not
know that he should send it afterwards ; and I said no more to Carr
about it.
Quest. Did you ever ask Carr at any other Time for Poison ?
18
138 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
Ans"". No.
Quest Did you never ask him for something to Poison or kill a
Dog?
Answ''. No, not that I know of.
Quest. Was you ever bit by a Dog ?
Ans'w''. No. I never was.
Quest. Do you know any Thing more of your master's being poi-
soned than you have before related.''
Ans''. No, 1 do not.
Mark.
\_BIU of Indictment. '\
Middlesex ss. At His Majesties Superiour Court of Judicature Court
of Assize and General Goal Delivery held at Cam-
bridge in and for the County of Middlesex on the
first Tuesday of August in the Twenty ninth Year
of the Reign of George the Second by the Grace
of God of Great Britain France & Ireland King
Defender of the Faith &".
The Jurors for the said Lord the King upon their Oath present
That Phillis a Negro woman of Charlestown in the County of Mid-
dlesex Spinster Servant of John Codman late of Charlestown afore-
said Gentleman not having the Fear of God before her Eyes but of her
Malice forethought contriving to deprive the said John Codman her
said Master of his Life and him feloniously and Traiterously to kill and
murder, She the said Phillis on the thirtieth Day of June last at
Charlestown aforesaid in the Dwelling house of the said John there
did of her Malice forethought willfully feloniously and Traiterously
put a Deadly Poison called Arsenick into a Vial of water and thereby
did then and there Poison the same Water and that the said
Phillis knowing the Water aforesaid to be so poisoned did then and
there feloniously willfully traiterously and of her •Malice forethought
put one spoonfuU of the Same Water so poisoned into a Pint of the
Said John's Watergruel and thereby poison the Same Watei'gruel
And that the said Phillis did then and there of her malice forethought
feloniously willfully and traiterously in manner as aforesaid poison
the Watergruel aforesaid, with a felonious and Traiterous Intent and
Design that the said John her said master then being should then and
there eat the Same Watergruel so poisoned and thereby be jioisoned
killed & murdered And that one Elizabeth Codman not know-
ing the Watergruel aforesaid to be so poisoned then and there Inno-
cently gave the Same Watergruel so poisoned as aforesaid to the said
John to eat —
And that the said John then and there being the said Piiillis's Master
and beini; altoaether ignorant of the Waterirruel aforesaid's beinsr
1883.] THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. .139
poisoned as as* aforesaid and Suspecting no Evil did then and there eat
the same Watergruel so poisoned as aforesaid And that the said
Phillis then and there was feloniously and traiterously jii'esent with
the said Elizabeth & John knowing of and cousenthjg unto the said
Elizabeth's giving liim the said John the Watergruel aforesaid so
poisoned as aforesaid and liis eating the same as aforesaid And
that the said John by means of his eating the Watergruel aforesaid so
poisoned as aforesaid There Languished for the space of fifteen Hours
and then at Charlestown aforesaid Died of the Poison aforesaid given
him as aforesaid And So the Jurors aforesaid upon their Oath say
that the said Phillis did at Charlestown aforesaid of her malice
forethought in manner and form aforesaid willfully feloniously and
traiterously poison kill & murder the said John Codman her said
master against the Peace of the said Lord the King his Crowu &
Dignity.
And the Jurors aforesaid upon their Oath further present That
Mark a Negro man of Charlestown aforesaid Labourer and Servant of
the said John Codman. And Robbin a Negro man of Boston in the
County of Suffolk Labourer & Servant of John Clark of Boston afore-
said Apotliecary before the said Treason and murder aforesaid com-
mitted by the said Phillis in manner & form aforesaid did at Charles-
town aforesaid on the twentietli Day of June last of their malice
forethought (the said Mark then being Servant of the said John Cod-
man) feloniously & ti'aiterously advise & incite procure & abet the
said Phillis to do and commit the said Treason & Murder aforesaid
against the Peace of the said Lord the King his Crown and Dignity.
Ed3i Trowbkidge Atf 1^ Dom Reg''
This is a True Bill.
Caleb Dana foreman.
The case was tried, at the same term at which the parties
M^ere indicted, before Stephen Sewall, chief justice, and Ben-
jamin Lynde, John Gushing, and Chambers liussell, associate
justices, — all fairly read in the law, and the Chief Justice
eminent in his profession. Samuel Winthrop and Nathaniel
Hatch, jointly, were clerks of the court.f
Mark and Phillis were convicted, and sentence of death
was jDronounced upon them in strict conformity to the com-
mon law of England. On the 6th of September, a warrant
for their execution was issued, under the seal of the court,
* Sic.
t Tliis is assumed to be the case, since botli tliese clerks officially signed pa-
pers in this very case, thougii, from the loose custom which gradually obtained
with the clerks of our highest judicial court, of not recording their appointments,
it is impossible to verify this statement by the record. Samuel Tyley, Jr., and
Benjamin Rolfe were sworn in as joint clerks of this court, Feb. 2(3, 1718, and
Samuel Winthrop was clerk as early as June, 1745, and Nathaniel Hatch as
early as September, 1752.
140 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
commanding Richard Foster, Sheriff of Middlesex, to perform
the hist office of the hiw, on the 18th of the same month ; and
upon this warrant tlie sheriff made return upon the day of the
execution.
The subpoenas to the witnesses against the accused, the cap-
tion and conclusion of the record of the case, and the warrant
for the execution of the condemned are as follows: —
Province of thk ) George the Second by the Grace of God of Great
Massachu^setts Bay, \ Britain France Sf Ireland 'King Defender
^ ofy' Faith ^-f
ss.
To the Sheriff of our County of Middlesex his under
Sheriff or Deputy or to any Constable of the Town of
Charlestown within Said County, Greeting —
We Command you That you Sumon W™ Brattle Esqr Docter
Pinchin of Boston Joseph Rand Jun^ Hatter Bartholomew Powers
Isaac Rand Phisitiau W"' Kneland, Benj'? Codman Parnel Codman
Eliz*^ Codman Mary Codman Ann Codman Catherine Codman, Pom-
pey Thomas Cuifee and Scipeo negro servants that were Jno. Cod-
man Decf James Kittle W"' Foster Phisitian Essex Servant to
thomas powers Serv* of Dr. Rand Dinah Serv' of Rich^ Foster Esqr
Ruth Adams
To appear Befoi'e our Justices of our Superiour Court of Judicature
Court of Assize and General Goal Delivery now held at Cambridge
within & for said County tomorrow at Eight of y*^ Clock before noon
to give Such iLvidence in our Behalf (as you know) against Mark a
Ne";ro man & Phillis a Neo;ro woman both of Charlestown aforesaid —
Hereof fail not and so soon as may be make return of this Writ
with your Doings Therein into the same Court Witness Stephen
Sewall Esq. at Boston the sixth Day of August in the twenty ninth
year of our Reign Annoq. Domini 1755
Sam^ Winthrop Cler
[Endorsed Return.]
Middlesex ss. August 7, 1755
We have somoned the persons within named to appear & Give
Evidence at the time & place withiu mentioned.
James Kettell, Dept Sheriff,
& John Miller
Constabel.
1883.] THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 141
Province of the ) George the Second by the Grace of God of
Massachusetts Bay ss f Q^,^^^ Britain France ^ Ireland King
Defender of the Faith ^c.
To the Sheriff of our County of Suffolk his under Sheriff
or Deputy or any Constable of the Town of Boston in
s"^ County Greeting
We Command you that you Summon The Wife of Ichabod Jones
Eliz"^ Mercy Car, a negro man servant of John Gibbins Apothecary
Quaco the serv' of Dalton Quaco a Negro man belonging to mr
John White
To appear before our Justices of our Superiour Court of Judicature
Court of Assize & General Goal Delivery now holden at Cambridge
within and for said County Tomorrow morning at Eight of y'' Clock
before noon Then and there to give Such Evidence in our Behalf as
you know against Mark a Negro man & Phillis a Negro woman both
of Charlestown in our County of Middlesex —
Hereof Fail not and so soon as may be make Return of this Writ
with your Doings therein into the same Court
Witness Stephen Sewall Esq. at Boston the Sixth Day of August
in the twenty ninth year of our Reign Annoq, Domini 1755
Sam^ Winthrop Cler
[^Record of the Case.'\
Province of the ^ Anno Regni Regis Georgii secnndi Magnce
Massachusetts Bat > Britannice Francice Hibernice vicesimo-
MlDDLESEX SS. )
nono.
At his Majestys Superiour Court of Judicature Court of
Assize and General Goal Delivery began and held at
Cambridge within and for the County of Middlesex on
the first Tuesday of August Annoque Domini 1755 —
By the Hon°.''l« Stephen Sewall Esqf Chief Justice
Benjamin Lynde * ^
John Gushing & >- Esquires Justices
Chambers Russell )
* Judge Lvnde makes a memorandum of this triah and of the particulars of
the executions, in his diary under date of July 9, 1755. — Lynde Diaries (pri-
vately printed, 1880), p. 179. — Eds.
142 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
[After reciting the words of the iiidictment, the record proceeds as fol-
Imvs, being, as far as where the record of the trial and sentence begins,
an extension of a memorandum on the indictment 7\
Upon this Indictment the said Phillis was arraigned and upon her
arraio'nment pleaded not gnihy and for trial pntjierself upon God and
the Country and the said Mark was also arraigned upon this Indict-
ment and upon his ai-raignment pleaded not Guilty and for trial put
himself upon God and the Country, a Jury was thereupon Sworne to
try the issue Ml" John Miller Foreman and fellows who having fully
heared the Evidence went out to consider thereof and returned with
their verdicts and upon their oath's say'd that the said Thillis is Guilty,
and that the said Mai'k is Guilty, upon which the prisoners were re-
manded, and heing again brot and set to the Bar, the Kings Attorney
moved the Court that Judgment of Death might be given against
them,' whereupon they were asked by the chief Justice if they had
ought to say why Judgment of Death should not be given against them,
and having nothing material to ©ffer Judgment of Death was pro-
nounced against them by the chief Justice in the name of the Court
in form following that is to Say that the said Phillis go from hence to
the place where she came from, and from thence to the place of Execu-
tion & there be burnt to Death, and that the said Mark go from hence
to the place where he came from, and from thence be drawn to the
place of Execution and there be hanged by the neck until he be dead
and God Almighty have mercy upon their Souls. Ordered that these
Sentences be put into Execution upon thursday the eighth* day of
September next between the hours of one and five of the Clock in the
Afternoon.
Warrant issued Sep. 6. 1755.
[ Writ of execution, or death-ioarrantJ^
Province of the ') George the second by the Grace of God of
Massachusetts Bay J g^.^^^f Britain France and Ireland King
Middlesex ss. ) t\ j- i j> ,i n -.i c nn
Defender of the Faith Sf Q"
SEAL.
L
To Richard Foster Esqf Sheriff of our County of Mid-
dlesex in Said Province
Greeting
Whereas at our Superiour Court of Judicature Court of Assize and
General Goal Delivery begun and held at Cambridge within and for
the County of Middlesex on the first Tuesday of August last the Grand
Jurors for us for the Body of our said County of Middlesex did on
* An error. It should have been " eighteenth."
18S3.] THE MUEDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 143
their Oath Present Tliat Phillis a Negro woman of Charlestown in
the County of Middlesex Spinster Servant of John Codman hite of
Charlestown aforesaid Gentleman, not having the fear of God before
her Eyes, but of her malice forethought contriving to deprive the Said
John Codman her Said master of his life and him feloniously and
Traiterously to kill and murder, she the said Phillis on the thirteenth
day of June last at Charlestown aforesaid in the dwelling house of the
said John there did of her malice forethought willfully felloniously and
Traiterously put a Deadly Poison called Arsenick into a Vial of Water
and thereby did then and there Poison the same water — and That the
said Phillis knowing the water aforesaid to be so poisoned did then and
there feloniously willfully traiterously and of her malice forethought
put one spoonfull of the same water so poisoned into a pint of the said
John's watergruel and thereby poison the same watergruel — and that
the said Phillis did then and there of her malice forethought felloniously
willfully & traiterously in manner as aforesaid poison the watergruel
aforesaid, with a felonious and traiterous Intent and design that the
said John her said master then being should then and there eat the
Same Watergruel so poisoned and thereby be Poisoned killed and
murdered. And that one Elizabeth Codman not knowing the water-
gruel aforesaid to be so poisoned then find there Innocently gave the
Same Watergruel so poisoned as aforesaid to the Said John to eat, and
that the Said John then and there being the said Phillis^ master and
being altogether Ignorant of the watergruel aforesaid's being poisoned
as aforesaid and suspecting no Evil did then & there eat the same
watergruel so poisoned as aforesaid & that the said Phillis then and
there was feloniously and traiterously present with the said Elizabeth
& John knowing of & consenting unto the s'J Elizabeth's giving him
the said John the watergruel afores'i so poisoned as aforesaid & his
eating the same as aforesf And that the said John by means of his
eating the watergruel aforesaid so poisoned as aforesaid there Lan-
guished for the space of Fifteen hours & then at Charlestown aforesaid
died of the Poison afores?. given him as aforesaid — and so the Jurors
aforesaid upon their Oath said that the said Phillis did at Charlestown
aforesaid of her malice forethought in manner and form aforesaid will-
fully feloniously and traiterously poison kill & murder the said John
Codman her Said master against our Peace Crown & Dignity, and
The Jurors aforesaid upon their Oath further present That IMark a
Negroman of Charlestown aforesaid Labourer and Servant of the said
John Codman before the said Treason and murder aforesaid committed
by the said Phillis in manner and form aforesaid did at Charlestown
aforesaid on the twentieth day of June last of his malice forethought
(the said Mark then being Servant of the said John Codman) felloni-
ously & traiterously advise and incite procure & abet the Said Phillis
to do & commit the said Treason & murder aforesaid against our peace
crown & Dignity (as in Said Indictm* is at large Set forth) upon
which Indictment the said Phillis and ]Mark were Severally arraigned
and upon their arraignment Severally pleaded not Guiltv and for Tryal
put themselves on God and the Country, and Whereas the said l^hillis
144 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
& Mark at our Court aforesaid were each of them convict of the
crime respectively alledg'd to be committed by tbem as aforesaid by
the Verdict of twelve good & lawful men of our Said County and were
by the consideration of our Said Court adjudged to Suffer the Pains of
Death therefor ; as to us appears of Record Execution of which said
Sentence doth still remain to be done we command you therefore that
on Thursday the Eigliteenth day of September instant between the
hours of one & Five o'Clock in the day time you cause the said Phillis
tj) be drawn from our Goal in our County of Middlesex aforesaid
(where she now is) to the place of Execution and there be burnt to
Death & also that on the Same day between the hours of one & five of
the Clock in the day time you cause the Said Mark to be drawn from
our Goal in our County of Middlesex aforesaid (where he now is) to
the place of Execution & there be hanged up by the Neck until he be
dead, & for so doing this shall be your Sufficient Warrant — Hereof
fail not; and make Return of this writ with your doings therein into
the Clerks Office of our Said Court as soon as may be after you have
Executed the Same Witness Stephen Sewall Esqr at Boston the
sixth day of September in the Twenty ninth Year of our reign Annoque
Domini 1755 —
By Order of Court
Nathaniel Hatch Cler
Middlesex, ss — September the 18'.*^ 1755.
I Executed this warrant as above directed, by causing Phillis to be
burnt to Death, and Mark to be hang'd by the neck until he was dead,
between the hours of one and five a Clock of Said day —
Rich? Foster Sheriff
It is worthy of observation that no such process as a formal
warrant was required for a capital execution by the laws of
England. In the King's Bench, the prisoner was committed
to the custody of the marshal at the beginning of the trial,
and an award of judgment upon the record was all the au-
thority that that officer had for the execution. Formerly, it
was customary in courts of oyer and terminer, and of jail
delivery, to authorize the execution by a precept under the
hands and seals of tliree or more commissioners, of whom one,
at least, sliould be of the quorum ; but this custom had be-
come obsolete at the time of this trial, and only a calendar, or
abstract of the record, subscribed by the judge, was put into
the hands of the sheriff for this purpose ; and such is the
practice in England, I presume, to tills day.
Even Blackstone, who is so blind to many gross imperfec-
tions in the jurisprudence of his native country, is forced
to remark, in view of the looseness of procedure in capital
cases, —
1883.] THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 145
" It may certainly afford matter of speculation that in civil causes
there should be such a variety of writs of execution to recover a tri-
fling debt, issued in the king's name, and under the seal of the court,
without which the sheriff cannot legally stir one step ; and yet that the
execution of a man, the most important and terrible task of any, should
depend upon a marginal note." *
The courts and people of New England were always more
mindful of the sacredness of human life than those of other
nations, save, perhaps, the little community of the Nether-
lands. They also attached great importance to the formal
proceedings by which the ends of justice were reached in
criminal cases. This is well illustrated by an incident that is
recorded relative to the action of the judges of the Superior
Court of the Province when, after the conviction of Richard-
son for the murder of the boy Sneider, in 1770, it became evi-
dent to them that the cause of justice required that they should
intercede to ])revent his execution. They were long in doubt
as to the sufficiency of a pardon obtained from the crown
through the recommendation of the Lieutenant-Governor
upon their certificate of its propriety, the only evidence of
the pardon being its insertion in the Newgate Calendar.
Hutchinson relates that " they were at length satisfied ; and
the prisoner having been brought into court early in the
morning, when scarcely anybody but the officers of the court
were present, pleaded his Majesty's pardon, and was dis-
charged, and immediately absconded." f
But, to proceed with a definition of tlie crime committed by
these negroes, and a more particular account of the punish-
ment for petit treason : —
By the statute 25 Edw. III., this crime, which had had a
wider application, was restricted to three classes of cases: 1,
where a servant killed his master or mistress ; 2, where a
wife killed her husband ; 3, where a clergyman killed his
prelate, or the superior to whom he owed canonical obedi-
ence. The sentence in the case of a woman was, that she
be burned to death, and in the case of a man, that he be drawn
to the place of execution and there hanged by the neck until
he be dead.^ To mitigate the sufferings of felons at the
* Comm. book iv. ch. 32, p. 403. t Hist. Mass. Bay, vol. iii. p. 287, n.
t By Stat. 22 Hen. VIII. cli. 9, a person of either sex, who was convicted of
murdering another by poison, was to be boiled to death, and the offence was, by
the same act, declared high treason ; but this act was repealed by 1 Edw. VI. ch. 12,
after several executions under it, including that of Margaret Davy, wlio poisoned
her mistress. Though by the common law poisoning was deemed a most atro-
cious circumstance, it did not alter the punishment of the principal crime in-
volved. The law considered only the crime, and not the manner in which it was
committed. 19
146 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
stake, the executioner usually fastened one end of a cord to the
stake, and bringing this cord around the neck of the woman,
pulled it tightly the moment the torch was applied, and con-
tinued the strain until life was extinct, which, unless the cord
was sooner burnt asunder, generally happened before the con-
demned had suffered much from the intensity of the flames.
In cases of high treason, other barbarities were practised
upon the bodies of the criminals ; but these were frequently,
and in cases of persons of distinction, generally, remitted.
Indeed, even the hanging was dispensed with in these latter
cases ; and hence we read of the execution of great prisoners
of state, male and female, by beheading, which, strictly, is a
manner of death unknown to the laws of England, except as
an incident to the principal penalty by hanging or burning.
After the hanging, the body, according to rule, was to be cut
down (if possible, while yet alive), to be eviscerated, then be-
headed, and the trunk and limbs divided into four parts, to
be disposed of as the sovereign should order. B}^ special writ,
under the privy seal, all these circumstances, except decapita-
tion, were, as I have already said, usually omitted.
All male persons convicted whether of liigh treason or of
petit treason were, unless specially exempted in the manner
I have stated, draivn to the place of execution. This was
originally an ignominious incident of the terrible penalty, and
required that the criminal should be rudely pulled along over
the ground, behind a horse ; later, however, a hurdle or wicker
frame, or a sledge, — tliat is, as we call it, a sled, — was used,
either from motives of humanity, or in order to prolong the
life of the traitor through subsequent stages of the punish-
ment. Proi)erly, however, women were not to be drawn in
cases of petit treason* until 1790, after the repeal of the law
for burning, for which drawing and hanging were substituted.
Another incident to this punishment, though not peculiar
to it, since it applied to all atrocious felonies, was the gibbet-
ing, or hanging in chains. This was no part of the sentence,
but was performed in accordance with a special order or
direction of the court, given, probably, in most cases, ver-
bally to the sheriff. After execution, the body of the felon
* Hale, P. C, i. 382 ; ii. 397. Tliis was the better opinion, though tlie law
was uncertain. It will have been noticed that though tlie judgment against
Phillis was that she go to the place of execution, the warrant required tliat she
be drawn thither according to the practice in I'lngland, which, though sustained
by the current of authorities, is not sanctioned by the statutes referred to, nor
the cases cited by the commentators, and would have been challenged, proba-
bly, if the cruelties incident thereto had not become obsolete. Comp. Hale,
ut supra, with Staundf. 182; Lamb. Eiren., 570; 3 Inst. 211; Hawk. P. C, ii.
ch. 48, § 6 ; Black. Comra. iv. 204; and Hale, P. C, i. 351 ; ii. 399.
1883.] THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 147
was taken from the gallows and hung upon a gibbet conven-
iently near the place where the fact was committed, there
to remain, until, from the action of the elements, or the rav-
ages of birds of prey, it disappeared. Of the object of this
ghastly feature of capital punishment it is alleged, " besides
the terror of the example," " that it is a comfortable sight to
the friends and relations of the deceased " ; but the obvious-
ness of this reason is somewhat lessened by the doubt in which
we are left as to which deceased person, the criminal or his
victim, is referred to. In the case of Mark it is noticeable
that no sentence to the gibbet appears in the record, and I
have found no order for it, or mention of it, in the papers on
file.
Phillis and Mark were executed at the usual place of exe-
cution in Cambridge ; and the following account of the affair
is taken from the Boston " Evening Post," of Sept. 22,
1755: —
" Thursday last, in the Afternoon, Mark, a Negro Man, and Phillis,
a Negro Woman, both Servants to the late Capt. John Codman, of
Gharlestown, were executed at Cambridge, for poisoning their said
Master, as mentioned in this Paper some Weeks ago. The Fellow was
hanged, and the Woman burned at a Stake about Ten Yards distant
from the Gallows. They both confessed themselves guilty of the Crime
for which they suffered, acknowledged the Justice of their Sentence, and
died very penitent. After Execution, the Body of Mark was brought
down to Charlestoivn Common, and hanged in Chains, on a Gibbet
erected there for that Purpose."
Frothingham, in his " History of Charlestown," * quotes this
item from the " Post," and adds, from Dr. Josiah Bartlett's
account of Charlestown, f that " the place where Mark was
suspended in irons was on the northerly side of Cambridge
Road, about one fourth of a mile above our peninsula." He
also adds, from the same authority, that "Phebe, who was
the most culpable," became evidence against the others, and
that she was transported to the West Indies.
It is very likely that Phebe was transported, as described by
Dr. Bartlett, but there is nothing on record to show that she
was used as a principal witness. Indeed, tlie answers of
Phillis and Mark on their examination are mutually recrimi-
native, and amount to a plenary confession of the crime of
each. Besides, as neither the governor nor the court had any
* Page 264.
t 2 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. ii. p. 166, and note.
148 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
authority to grant a pardon for murder,* it is not likely that
any favor was shown to her in accordance with a promise
from either, nor is tliere any evidence that any lenity was
actually extended to her, except the negative circumstance
that she was not included in the indictment.
This completes the narrative of this remarkable case. The
body of Mark is said by Dr. Bartlett to have remained on the
gibbet '' until a short time before the Revolution." Certain
it is that when Dr. Caleb Rea passed through Charlestown on
the first day of June, 1758, on his way from Danvers to join
the regiment, of which he had been chosen surgeon, in the
expedition against Ticonderoga, he found the body hanging,
and, having examined it, recorded in his journal that " his
[Mark's] skin was but very little broken, although he had
hung there near three or four years." f
Finally, another patriot, — Paul Revere, — in describing
his famous ride on the 18th of April, 1775, on a still more
important errand, says, " After I had passed Charlestown
Neck, and got nearly opposite where Mark tvas hung in chains,
I saw two men on horseback under a tree," J &c. ; thus al-
luding to the site of the gibbet as a place well known at
that time, — as undoubtedly it was, to all the country round.
I have said that this is the only case of petit treason to be
found in our records. There was, indeed, an earlier case in
which the penalty of death by burning was inflicted ; but in
regard to that case there is no suggestion anywhere to my
knowledge that the crime of petit treason had been commit-
ted, nor any allegation to that effect in the charge or indict-
ment, nor even a hint that any life was lost by the misconduct
of the condemned. § This was the case of Maria, a negress,
* See Hutchinson's Hist. Mass. Bay, vol. iii. p. 287, n. Instances of par-
dons and reprieves occur in our juilicial history, but they were invariably granted
in tlie name of the king, by the coinmander-in-chief ; and, if for a graver offence
than manslaughter, it seems to have been understood that a pardon was not to
be granted without previous express directions from the king. This was in
compliance with a clause in the royal instructions, issued to all the governors,
by which they were enjoined not to remit any fines or forfeitures above £10 in
amount, or to dispose of esclieats, without the royal sanction ; forfeiture of
lands and chattels being a consequence of attainder upon conviction of the higher
class of felonies. Tiie commission to Andros expressly excepted treason and
murder from the offences which he was authorized to pardon.
t Hist. Coll. Essex Inst., vol. xviii. p. 88, n.
t Letter of Colonel Revere to Cor. Sec. of Mass. Hist. Soc, ,Tan. 1, 1798 :
1 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. v. p. 107.
§ Although tlie record contains no allegation of loss of life, Increase Mather
states in his diary, under date of Sept. 22, 1681, that a child was burnt to death
in one of the houses set on fire by this negress. Even if this were true, it is not
probable that the relation of master and servant subsisted between the deceased
and Maria, and neither this relation, nor the fact of treason, is averred in the
indictment. See Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc, vol. iii. p. 320.
1883.] THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 149
who was executed at Roxbury in 1681. Perhaps it will be
well to give the story of this case as it appears on the records
of the Court of Assistants.*
" Marja f Negro Servant to Joshua Lambe of Roxbury in the
County of Suffolk in New England being presented by the Grand Jury
was Indicted by the name of Maija Negro ibr no' hauing the feare of
God before hir eyes & being Instigated by the divil at or upon the
eleventh Day of July last in the night did wittingly willingly & fello-
niously set on tier the dwelling house of Thomas Swann of sd Roxbury
by taking a coale from vnder a still & carrjed it into another Roome
and layd it on floore neere the doore & presently went & crept into a
hole at a back doore of thy master Lambs house & set it on fier also
taking a Hue coale betweene two chips & carried it into the chimbe'' by
which also it was Consumed as by y'' Confession will appeare Contrary
to the peace of our Soueraigne Lord the king his croune & dignity
the lawes of this Jurisdiction in that Case made & prouided title firing
of houses = The prisoner at the barr pleaded & acknowledged hirselfe
to be Guilty of ye fact. And accordingly the nex' day being Again
brought to the Barr had sentenc of death pronnonc't ag' hir by the
Honno''''' Gouno! that she should Goe from tlie barr to the prison
whenc she came & thence to the place of execution & there be burn'=
Y^ lord be mercifuU to thy Soule sd y^ Gov."
The case was capital under the act referred to in the record.
The act reads as follows : —
. „ And if any person of the age aforesaid, flG years
Burning Houses. i n i n p ^ ii- • i n ■ ■ ^
and upwards] shall alter the publication hereoi, wittingly
and willingly, and felloniously, set on fire any Dwelling House, Meeting
House, Sloi'e House, or shall in like manner, set on fire any out-House,
Barn, Stable, Leanto, Stack of Hay, Corn or Wood, or any thing of like
nature, whereby any Dicelling House, Meeting House or Store House
Cometh to be burnt, the party or parties vehemently suspected thereof,
shall be apprehended by Warrant from one or more of the Magistrates,
and committed to Prison, there to remain without Baile, till
'^^' ^ ' the next Court of Assistants, who upon legal conviction
by due proof, or confession of the Crime, shall adjudge such person or
persons to be put to death, and to forfeit so much of his Lands, Goods
or Chattels, as shall make full satisfaction, to the party or parties
damnified. [1652.] %
It will be observed that the law prescribes no such punish-
ment as was ordered by the Assistants, and how the court
* Boston, Sept. 6, 1681.
t I liave followed Secretary Rawson in his peculiar use of the letter j. See
many similar instances in tlie Mass. Colony Records.
X Mass. Colony Laws, ed. 1672, p. 52.
150 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
were satisfied of the legality of their sentence is to me inex-
plicable, except upon the possible claim that they might right-
fully exercise the expansive discretion which they applied to
the case of the first Quakers, and so supply a deficiency in the
ordinances of the General Court, by administering the lex
talionis* in this particular instance as a necessary terror to
evil-doers.
The public opinion which permitted the colonial magistrates
to exercise, unchallenged, a discretion not given to them by
positive law, as in this case and that of the first Quakers, and
in the instance of their conviction of a capital crime, of Tom,
the Indian, in 1674, f of whose guilt the jury were doubtful,
cannot be deemed to have enlarged their authority, by cus-
tom, without a perversion of language and a disregard of
fundamental distinctions relative to the nature and source of
la W.J
Two other negroes who were suspected of complicity
with Maria were ordered to be transported. The record is
as follows : —
" Chessaieer ne- Cliessaleer negro servant to Tho. Walker brickmaker
gro' Sentence " qq^ j^ Qoale Oil suspitioii of Joyiiiiig w"" Marja Negro in
Burning of D'' Swans' & Lambs houses in Rox-
bury in July last The Court on Consideration of the
* Exodus xxi. 25. " In all criniinall offences, where the law hath prescribed
no certaine penaltie, tlie judges have power to inflict penalties, according- to the
rule of God's word." — Declaration of the General Court : Hutch. Coll. Papers,
p. 207. And see the first article of the Colonial " Liberties," in Mass. Hist.
Coll., vol. viii. p. 216.
t Records of the Court of Assistants, 1674, p. 14.
I By the stat. 8 Hen. VI. ch. 0, tlie burning of houses, after a threat to do
so if money be not paid, &c., was made high treason, and the incendiary suffered
as any other traitor; that is, if a woman, slie was burned to death. But this
statute was repealed in the reign of Edward VI., as regards the treason, and the
offence remained felony as at tlie common law, and punishable by hanging only.
Tiiat mistaken notions as to the nature of penalties to be inHicted in crimi-
nal cases, and as to the authority of the bench to impose unusual punishments,
were not solely entertained in this distant colony, and among men not bred to
the law, may be shown by many instances in the English law books. One of
the most notable is Sir Edw. Coke's reference to the case of Peter Burchet, a
prisoner in the Tower, — who slew his keeper with a billet of wood, which drew
blood, — as an authority for inflicting the additional punishment of cutting off the
hand (under the stat. 33 Hen. VIII ) in tlie case of murder perpetrated in the
king's i)alace, when attended witii bloodshed. In Elderton's case. Chief Justice
Holt, whose habits of thorough research were not less renuirkable than his abso-
lute fairness and honesty, said, " I have searched for the case cited [as Jones's
case] about killing a man in tlie Tower. It is Biirdelt and Muskett's case. Being
dissatisfied with my Lord Coke's report of it, therefore I sent for the record, . . .
and there is judgment of death given, but no judgment that his right hand should
be cut off. It is indeed so related in Stowe's Chronicle, and in fact his liand was
cut off, but there was no judgment for it." Compare 3 Inst., ch. 05 (p. 140 1)
with 2 Ld. Ilayra., 978, 982.
1583.] THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 151
Case Judged it meet to orde"' that he be kept in prison
till his master send him out of the country & then dis-
chardg y*" charges of Imprisonment wch if he refuse to doe
aboue one moneth the country Tresurer is to see it donue
& when y*" chardges be defravd to returne the ouerplus to
y'' sd Walker
James Pember- '^^^^ ^^^^ Judgment & sentenc was declard against
touf negro Jame** Pembe''ton's negro in all re.-pects as ag' Chessaleer
sentence ^^^^.^ ^^;, *
Still another negro was convicted, at the same term of the
court, of the crime of arson, and ordered to be hanged, and
afterwards consumed to ashes in the same fire with Maria, as
appears by the following record : —
"Jack negro servant to M"" Samuel Woolcot of Weath-
e''sfield thou art Jndicted by the name of Jack Negro for
no* hauing the feare of God before thy eyes being Insti-
gated by the Divill did at or upon the foureteenth day of
July last 1G81 wittingly & felloniously sett on tier Leif-
tenat W" Clark s house in North Hampton, by taking a Jack negro jn-
brand of fier from the hearth and swinging it vp & doune tenc*^
for to find victualls as by his confession may Appeare Con-
trary to the peace of on"' Soueraigne Lord the King his
Croune & dignity the lawes of God & of this Jurisdiction
in that case made & prouided title firing of houses page
(52) to wch Jndictment at the barr he pleaded not Guilty^
& Atfirmd he would be trjed by God & the Country and
after his Confessions &c were read to him & his ownig
thereof were Comitted to the Jury who brought him in
Guilty and the nex' day had his sentence pronounct agt
him by the Gouernor that he should goe from the barr to
the place whence he came & there be hang*^ by the neck
till he be dead & then taken doune & burnt to Ashes in the
fier w* Marja Negro = The Lord be mercifull to thy soule
sajd the Gouerno'' " f
There was some excuse for the latter part of this sentence,
for since the offence was an atrocious felony, such as in Eng-
land would subject the offender to an infamous punishment,
it seemed proper to attach something more of ignominy to his
sentence than the mere execution by hanging.
Our forefathers of the colonial period regarded the jNIosaic
law as of too sacred obligation to be impaired in the least de-
* Record of the Court of Assistants, ubi supra, pp. 138, 139.
t Ibid.
152 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
gree ; much more to be expressly contravened by the courts
of justice in respect to the command, —
" And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and lie be to
be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain
all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bui'y him that day ;
(for he that is hanged is accursed of God ; ) that thy land be uot
defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance." *
— they, therefore, by an ordinance passed in 1641, had re-
quired that the body of every executed criminal should be
buried within twelve hours after death, except in cases of
anatomy, which prevented the possibility of lianging- in chains
after the English fashion ; and the only way in wliich the}'-
could set a mark of infamy upon the deceased criminal, with-
out a breach of the colonial ordinance as well as of the divine
law, was to burn the body.f
But this tendency to a strict adherence to the laws of
Israel disappeared early in the provincial period, under the
operation of the same causes whicli led to the abandonment
of those rugged metaphrases of the Psalms of David, and of
the song of Deborah and Barak, &c., contained in the Bay
Psalm-Book, for the smoother though less literal version of
Tate and Brady and the presumptuous " Imitations " of Dr.
Watts. When, therefore, under the new charter the offence
called for it according to the custom of England, the gibbet
was erected ; and though the occasions for its employment
were very rare, the report of sundry instances of its use has
come down to us, as in the case of the pirates whose bodies
hung in chains, from time to time, on the now vanished Bird
Island in Boston Harbor, a locality as near the place where the
fact was committed as could conveniently be used. I confess I
find it impossible to understand whence the provincial judges
claimed to derive their authority for ordering the bodies of
criminals to be hung in chains. We have seen that, even
if our fathers brought with them the right to exercise this
authority, they soon enacted provisions entirely inconsistent
with the practice ; and I am not aware of any subsequent act
of parliament, extending to the Colonies, that restored the
* Deut. xxi. 22, 23.
t The ordinary punishment for all capital felonies durin<; the colonial re'tjime
seems to have been simply hane;ing. Heretics and witches were subjected to no
severer ])enalty ; and in 167-t, Kobert Driver, who was convicted of murdering
his master, Robert Williams of Piscataqua, and who thus incurred tlic penalty
for' petit treason, was sentenced to be " hanged by the neck until he be dead."
— See Records of the Court of Assistants.
1883.] THE MUKDEK OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 153
authority ; and certainly there was no law of the Province to
that effect.
1 ought not to dismiss this subject without adding some-
thing to the brief allusion alread}^ made to the comparative
mildness of the laws of Massachusetts in respect to capital
punishment. The execution of Mark and Phillis took place
just about the time that Blackstone was delivering his lectures
at Oxford, which have since given him an enduring and world-
wide fame as a commentator on the laws of England. This
elegant defender and apologist for English hiAvs and customs,
in his commentaries, admits, seemingly with reluctance and
regret, that there then existed on the statute-books of Eng-
land no less than one hundred and sixty capital offences. At
that time the number of capital offences in Massachusetts was
less than one-tenth this number, if we exclude those made so
by the acts relating to military offenders in actual service, and
felonies on the high seas, and a few others, which, like the
latter, were created by including among capital crhues certain
offences which, though theretofore exempt from the death
penalty by special circumstances and technical rules, had
always been capitall}^ punished when committed under other
and not less justifiable circumstances.
Said Isaac Backus, whom I find to be a very trustworthy
authority, in a letter to this Society, under date of Feb. 20,
179J:, " There has not been any person hanged in Plymouth
County for above these sixty years past." * More than a
century earlier, John Dunton mentions a sermon of Mather's,
preached at the execution of " Morgan, the only person exe-
cuted in that country [Massachusetts] for near seven years." f
He must, however, I think, have forgotten the case of Maria,
the negro woman.
Again, when the English riot act (1 Geo. I. stat. 2. ch. 5)
was substantially adopted by the Province in 1751, the legis-
lature studiously avoided the harshness of the former act by
substituting forfeiture of lands and chattels, and whipping
and imprisonment, for the death penalty. |
In 1761 Governor Bernard vainly labored with his utmost
zeal to secure the passage of an act or acts making it felony,
without benefit of clergy, to forge public and private secu-
rities or vouchers for money, or to coin or counterfeit the cur-
* 1 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iii. p. 152.
t Ibid., 2d series, vol. ii. p. 102.
t Compare provincial statute 1750-51, ch. 17 (Prov. Laws, vol. iii. p. 510),
with tlie act of parliament referred to.
20
154 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
rent money of tlie Province. He sent a special message upon
the subject to the Assembly, in which he stated : —
" 111 regard to the popular prejudices against capital punishments
which have hitherto prevailed in this country, I shall only say that at
present they are very ill-timed. Whilst the people of .this country
lived from hand to mouth, and had very little wealth but what was con-
fined among themselves, a simple system of laws miglit be projDcr, and
capital punishments might iu a great measure be avoided; but when by
the acquisition, diffusion, and general intercourse of wealth, the temp-
tations to fraud are abundantly increased, the terrors of it must be
also proportionably enlarged ; otherwise if, through, a false tenderness
for wicked men, the laws should not be sufficient to protect the prop-
erty of the honest and industrious, the rights of the latter are given up
to the former, and the undue mercy shown to the one becomes a real
injury to the other. To instance this, I need only say that I have no
doubt but that if these crimes had been capital some years ago, and
usually punished as such, they would not have been committed at all
at the present time."
The Governor's opinion, however, was not borne out by the
experience of the British government in its dealings with
crime. There, it was made a capital felony to steal in a dwell-
ing-house to the amount of 40.s'., or, privately, in a shop, goods
to the value of 5s., or to counterfeit stamps that were used
for tlie sale of perfumery, or such as were used for the certifi-
cates of hair-powder ; and yet, notwithstanding this severity,
all who considered the subject thoughtfully found that the
increase of capital crimes more than kept pace with the in-
crease of laws creating them ; and this became so alarmingly
evident that at length the conservative opposition to reform
was overborne, and S^r Samuel Romilly and his coadjutors
began those changes which liave continued in the same direc-
tion to the present day. Before the reform was established,
however, executions became so frequent that it was not un-
common for citizens to avoid certain parts of London and its
environs on account of the intolerable odor, there, of decay-
ing human bodies, hung in chains by the highways and before
the doors of citizens.
Still the judges rode their circuits, leaving briefly minuted
" calendars " in the hands of the executioners, who erected
close behind them the gallows and the gibbet as monuments
of their dispensation of "justice." Barristers bandied repar-
tees and cracked jokes over good dinners, and Serjeants hob-
nobbed with their brethren of the bench and of the coif,
apparently unconcerned at the responsible part they were
1883.] THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN CODMAN. 155
enacting in this awful drama ; while the poor rabble put on
their best attire on the days of execution, and liberally patron-
ized the venders of cakes and ale who, near the gallows,
erected booths as on other gala days, — many of the s])ecta-
tors, no doubt, thinking that it would not be so bad a tiling,
after all, if it came their tuiii next to better their desperate
condition by swinging on the newly contrived gallows, on
which ten criminals eould be hanged together.*
Alas ! well may we ask with astonishment if it is possible
that such a state of society really existed in the England of
Hannah More, of Sir William Jones and Edmund Burke, —
the land throughout which the Weslej^s were preaching and
singing to eager multitudes of the free grace and abounding
mercy of God ; where the pious Cowper was pleading for the
relief of " insolvent innocence," and Clarkson and Wilberforce
and Granville Sharp were rousing the public mind to the
evils of slavery in distant colonies !
The case of petit treason which we have been considering
occuri'ed nine years before Beccaria startled all Europe with
" the code of humanity," — his treatise on crimes and punish-
ments ; yet had he known of our experience in this Province,
he could have pointed to Massachusetts as the strongest practi-
cal illusti'ation of the truth of liis theory, that it is not neces-
sary to multiply extreme penalties in order to prevent crime,
but that we are to look for the amelioration of manners and
the diminution of public and private wrongs to the mental
and moral education, of the people rather than to the terrors
of the law.
In 1777, when the Revolutionary War was beginning to
assume its gravest aspect, and when the hopes of traitors
were reviving, the barbarous incidents of the punishment for
treason were abolished l)y the legislature of Massachusetts,
and this crime was made punishable simply by hanging.
Eight years later the distinction between petit treason and
murder was abolished, — an improvement of the criminal code
in which we were followed by Great Britain five years later
still.f
* See a picture of the new gallows, in the illustrated " Newgate Calendar."
t The Massachusetts act is as follows : —
" AVhereas it does not appear reasonable any longer to continue the distinc-
tion between the crimes of murder and petit treason :
" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court
assembled, and by the authority of the same, Tliat from and after the passing
of this act, in all cases wherein heretofore any person or persons would have
been deemed or taken to have committed the crime of petit treason, such per-
son or persons shall be deemed and taken to have committed the crime of mur-
156 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
So that it was possible that our good city of Boston might
have been disgraced by one of tliese horrible executions as
late as 1785, and that a delicate woman could, with all the
solemnity of legal forms, have been publicl}^ burned to death
at Tyburn as late as 1790.
In point of fact such executions occurred in England long
after the burning of Phillis. A memorable case is that of
Anne Beddingfield, who was burned for petit treason at
Rushmore, near Ipswich, in 1763.
In 1813 tlie last of the minor infamous punishments, such
as whipping, branding, the stocks, the pillory, cutting off ears,
slitting noses, boring tongues, &c., were abolished in this
Commonwealth.
As for hanging in chains, I cannot find when the custom was
discontinued in Massachusetts. I do not remember to have
read of an instance of this kind since the adoption of the
Constitution, though I have made no special search for such
an instance. Some of my hearers may be able to refer me
definitely to the time and reason of the change.
In England, by the stat. 25 Geo. II , ch. 35 (1752), which
was three years before the execution at Cambridge, provision
was made that hanging in chains should be included in the
sentence to be pronounced l)y the court against all persons
convicted of murder, and that the sentence should be exe-
cuted on the next day but one after it was pronounced. This
was changed by the stat. 9 Geo. IV., ch. 31, so as to give the
court a discretion to order hanging in chains or dissection ;
and the next year this act was extended to Ireland. By the
stat. 2 & 3 Wm. IV., ch. 75, the court was authorized to order
the body to be hung in chains or buried; and, finally, by the
stat. 4 & 5 of Wm.^IV., ch. 26 (July 25, 1834), all laws re-
quiring bodies to be hung in chains were repealed.
No such sudden punishment as that prescribed b}'' the act
of parliament of the 25 Geo. II., could be legally inflicted
here, — at least during the colonial period ; for the colonial
ordinance of 1641 required that four daj^s at least should
intervene between judgment and execution.
The only barbarous treatment of the bodies of criminals
authorized by law in Massachusetts since the adoption of the
Constitution, that I am aware of, Avas prescribed by the act of
1784, to discourage the practice of duelling, which revived
some of the provisions of a law of the Province, passed in
der onl.y, and indicted and prosecuted to final judgment accnrdinjily • and the
same piini.sliment only sliall be inflicted as in the case of murder. -^ [Tiiis act
passed J7flreA 16, 1785.] "
1883.] PROVINCIAL SEALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 157
1728, denying duellists the right to be buried in a coffin, and
requiring the coroner or executioner to see that their bodies
be interred near the place of execution, or in the public
highway, with a stake driven through them.*
Now, happily, capital punishment is restricted in this Com-
monwealth and in England to two offences only ; and while,
here, even high treason is punishable simply by imprisonment,
in England, strong efforts have been repeatedly made, and
recently with a fair prospect of ultimate success, to induce
parliament to imitate our example and take away the death
penalty from this the highest crime known to the common
law.
Mr. Jenks exhibited a contemporary broadside ballad on
the execution of these slaves, belonging to the Bostonian
Society, whose officers had kindly lent it to him for this
purpose.
Mr. WiNSOR presented one of a few copies of an engraving
of a new map of New Sweden made by Professor Gregory B.
Keen, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, who
has compiled it from material in the archives at Stockholm,
and from local remains on the Delaware. It is a much more
accuiate presentation of the geography of the Swedes' colony
on the Delaware than any ever before made.
Mr. GoODELL, in presenting to the members photo-litho-
graphs of the court seals used in Massachusetts during the
provincial period, made the following remarks: f —
No attempt is known to have been made to preserve the
shapes and devices of the seals of the colonial and ])rovineial
courts of justice. As the use of such seals was made imper-
ative by law, and as they were essential to the proper au-
thentication of writs and other processes, they are of such
importance, both juridically and historicall}', as to make the
labor of restoring them profitable, as well as deeply interest-
ing, and to entitle a full and exact account of them to an
honorable place in our Proceedings.
Whether the account which follows, and the accompanying
lithographs, are thus deserving, depends upon the degree of
thoroughness and accuracy attained by the author in his in-
vestigations, and also upon his skill — as a tyro, rather than
* Compare act of June 30, 1784, with Prov. Stat. 1728-29, ch. 15 : Prov.
Laws, vol. ii. p. 516.
t The Society is indebted to Mr. Goodell for the photo-lithographs of these
seals here inserted. — Eds.
158 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
an amateur — in the art of pen-and-ink drawing. Of these
others must judge.
Of tlie original stamps, or mounted dies, used by the clerks
to impress these seals, only four are known to be in existence ;
namely, those of the Superior Court of Judicature, of the com-
mon-law county-courts of Plymouth and Essex, and of the
Probate Court of Plymouth Couuty. The Essex county-
courts seal dates back, certainly, to the time of Andros, as
appears by its impression in wax on the original printed writs
of capias and summons returnable to the Inferior Court of
Common Pleas for that county in 1G87.
No. 1 of the accompanying lithographic representations of
seals is, as the abbreviated Latin inscription signifies,* the
seal of the Superior Court of Judicature already referred to.
This court was first erected by the act of Nov. 25, 1692,f but,
having ceased to exist by reason of the disallowance of this
act, by the Privy Council, $ it was revived, and continued to
the end of the May session of the General Court of 1697, by
the act of Oct. 3, 1696, § when it was reconstituted under the
name of the "Superiour Court of Judicature, Court of Assize,
and General Goal Delivery." This last act,j| and the reviving
act of 1696, were disallowed by the Privj" Council, Nov. 24,
1698. Upon receiving notice of this last disallowance. Gov-
ernor Bellomont, eaily in the May session of tlie General Court
of 1699, urged the Assembly to take immediate steps to re-
establish the court, and, accordingly, another act was passed^
erecting a court with tlie same title. Thus organized, it con-
tinued in existence until the adoption of the Constitution.
The jurisdiction of the Superior Court was coextensive
with the territorj^ of the Province, and it had " cognizance of
all pleas, real, personal, or mixt, as well all pleas of the Crown,
and all matters relating to the conservation of the peace and
punishment of offenders, as civil causes, or actions between
party and party, and between his Majesty and any of his sub-
jects, whether the same do concern the realty and relate to
any right of freehold and inheritance, or whether tlie same do
concern the personalty and relate to matter of debt, contract,
damage, or personal injury ; and also all mixt actions which
concern both realty and personalty brought before them by
* Si//il!trm Cnrifr Siipei-ioris ex Frortncia Massachusetts-Bat/, ]Vova: Ancjlm.
t l()l)2-3, cli. 33, § 6 : Province Laws, vol. i. p. 73.
t Aug. 22, 1695. The date of the letter communicating official notice of the
disallowance is Dec. 2B, 1695.
§ Province Laws, 1696, ch. 5.
II llnd., 1097, ch. 9. 1[ Ibid., 1699-1700, ch. 3.
1883.] PROVINCIAL SEALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 159
appeal, review, writ of error, or otherwise, as the law directs;
and, generally, of all other matters, as fully and amply, to all
intents and purposes, whatsoever, as the courts of King's
Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer within his majesty's
kingdom of England have or ought to have." *
AH these acts required that all the processes and writs of
the court should issue out of the clerk's office, either "• under
the seal of said office " or " under the seal of said court."
Accordingly, we find that a seal of the design here depicted
was used from the first organization of the court until the
period of the Revolution, when it was discontinued, and other
miscellaneous devices were used ; such as an antique head,
and, occasionally, what appears to be the head of Charles
Townshend, and, again, the arms of the Cushings, and of
other families, and St. George and the Dragon, — ver}^ similar
to, if not identical with, the seal shown in No. 23, — tliough
this last device does not appear to have been used after the
Declaration of Independence. The use of these miscellaneous
seals was continued until about 1785, when the present seal,
— issuing from a cloud, a hand holding a pair of scales in
equipoise, with the motto, " Nidli 7iegabimus, nuUi vendemus
jiistitiatn,''^ — appears to have been adopted, although I have
been unable to find any record of its adoption. f
I have mentioned the fact that the original seal of the Supe-
rior Court is still in existence. Of this fact I was not aware
until after my drawings had gone to the lithographer, when,
while conversing upon the general subject of court seals, in
the presence of Mr. John Ward Dean, that modest and accom-
plished antiquary put into my hands the veritable original,
wliich had been intrusted to his keeping by an officer of the
Dorchester Antiquarian Society, which is the owner or depos-
itary of this interesting treasure. The mingled emotions of
surprise, delight, and veneration with which I regarded this
almost miraculously preserved relic of provincial times — the
faint and broken impressions of which I had for more than
twenty years made the subject of desultorj^ but deeply curious
study with a view to its pei'fect restoration — can be better
* Province Laws, 1699-1700, ch. 3, § 1.
t I found in the possession of the late Geo. W. Jenks, clerk of the courts for
Nantucket, an ancient die, — wliich had been recut on the back, for a notary pub-
lic, — bearing the device of an Indian facing to the right and holding a bow, with
the inscription, " S. J. Court. Massaciiu.setts." This suggested the interesting
inquiry, which I am unable to answer, whether or not such a seal was adopted
by the Supreme Judicial Court before the present seal. A careful, though not
exhaustive, search among the files of this court has disclosed no evidence of its
use.
160 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
imagined than described. This was the seal that — through
what unknown vicissitudes during nearly two centuries —
had come to ray hand from the hand of Jonathan EUatson,
the first clerk. With this instrument the first original pro-
cess that issued fi'om the Superior Court was sealed, and this
identical seal was impressed upon the Writs of Assistance.
Stoughton, the first chief justice in tlie days of William and
Mar}^ and Peter Oliver, the last chief justice under George
III., have looked down upon this bit of wood and silver in
the hands of the earlier or later clerks ; and so, doubtless,
have good old Samuel Sewall, and his nephew, Stephen, and
the two Lyndes, — father and son, — and the learned Edmund
Trowbridge and William Gushing. Newton and BuUivant,
no doubt, and Overing and Auchmuty, Read and Pratt, Jer-
emy Gridley and James Otis, John Adams and Josiah Quincy,
have toyed with this same little instrument while chatting
with the clerks or nervously addressing the court. And yet,
after more than a century of disuse, and after the fact of its
ever having existed is so far forgotten that not even a tradi-
tion of its use lingers in the clerk's oifice or is known to a
judge upon the bench, it is here* before us, of the same mate-
rials, and substanrially as it appeared when the judges ap-
pointed by Sir William Phips first opened court in Boston.
The device is a portcullis, with chains appendant.!
No. 2 is the first seal of the Gourt of Vice- Admiralty estab-
lished for the district of Boston. It bears the date. May 1,
1716, and from the interior inscription, which appears to be an
abbreviation of '•'•per curiam^'" it was probably designed by
the court, which modestly adopted as its device one of the
three anchors on the seal of the High Gonrt of Admiralty in
England.
* The original seal was produced at this meeting, and handed around for
examination.
t This device, which is strictly heraldic, was adopted by Henry VII. in token
of his descent from the lioiise of Beaufort, on wlioseescntcheon it was originally
borne. He added tlie motto. Altera secnn'tas, "implying that, as a portcullis is
an additional defence to a gate, so iiis descent from the Beanfort family [wliich
is traceable to John of Gaunt] afforded liim an additional title to tlie crown."
From tlie time of Elizabeth — if not from tliat of the first of the Tudors — it has
been the principal badge on the collar of SS worn by the Lords Chancellors and
Lords Chief Justices of England. The identical collar worn by Sir Edward Coke,
and bearing this badge, was in the possession of Mr. Justice Coleridge as lately
as 187G. In pictures of the High Court of Chancery and Court of King's Bench
of the time of Henry VI., or earlier, preserved in illuminated MSS., the justices,
though clad in scarlet robes and the coif, do not wear collars, nor is tlie port-
cullis represented in the escutcheons on the walls of the court-rooms. Sir
Tliomas More, who was appointed Lord Chancellor in 1530, and whose portrait
was painted by Holbein, is represented as wearing the collar containing this
badge.
1883.] PROVINCIAL SEALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. IGl
No. 3 is the seal of the Supreme Court of Probate, and is
Teniiirka'ble as the first use, on a court seal in Massachusetts, of
the figure of Justice, or of the scales. By the Province char-
ter the Governor and Council were empowered to '" doe exe-
cute or performe all tliat is necessarj' for the Probate of Wills
Granting of Administracons for touching or concerning any
Interest or Estate which any person or persons shall have
within our said Province or Territory." For a short time
after the charter went into operation the Governor and Coun-
cil exercised probate jurisdiction for the entire Province ; but
on the 18th of June, 1692, judges and registers of probate
were appointed for tlie four principal counties, Suffolk, Essex,
Middlesex, and Hampshire, without any enabling act of the
legislature, but by a delegation of judicial functions, according
to the civil law, the rules of which were followed in the ec-
clesiastical courts. This delegation of judicial functions was
continued during the provincial period until probate courts
were established in all the counties, and recognized by the
legislature in numerous acts enlarging or defining their juris-
diction, establishing the fees of their judges and registers, and
providing for the security of heirs, distributees, and creditors,
and for the faithful performance of duty by executors, admin-
istrators, and other appointees of these courts.
That these inferior ecclesiastical tribunals were supposed to
authenticate their peculiar processes by official seals, appears
not only from the actual practice of these courts, but also
from the act of Nov. 1, 1692, for the punishment of criminal
offenders,* which exempted judges and registers of probate
from liability to conviction of forgery for innocently affixing
" their seal of office " to any forged will. Of these seals par-
ticular details will be given hereafter.
Appeals from the probate courts lay to the Governor and
Council as the Supreme Court of Probate, which, after the
establishment of the county tribunals, retained, or rather
exercised, only this appellate jurisdiction. No attempt
seems to have been made by the Governor and Council to
separate the performance of their judicial functions from
their ordinary transactions in their executive capacity until
Feb. 9, 1760, when, at the instance of Governor Pownall,
who prepared and laid before the Council an elaborate ac-
count of their probate jurisdiction,! they formally organized
* Province Laws, 1692-03, cli. 18, § 8.
t See this message of Governor Pownall's, printed in Appendix III. to
Quincy's Mass. Reports, p. 573.
21
162 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
a Supreme Court of Probate, and adopted the seal here
depicted.*
No. 4. This most interesting seal is remarkable as being the
first seal ever adopted by a judicial court in Massachusetts.
It was designed in 1680, f to be used on the probate letters
issued from the Suffolk County-Court, and in 1692 was adopted
as the seal of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and the
Court of General Sessions of the Peace for that county. The
only impressions of this seal that I have discovered being
upon paper, over a wafer, and either lightly made, or else
much affected by time, I had great difficulty, in making it
out. However, by comparing many impressions, I was, for-
tunately, able to ascertain, with sufficient accuracy, even the
most obscure details of the device and inscription.
No. 5 is the seal of the Probate Court for Suffolk County,
as shown by the legend, in abbreviated Latin. :j: Seventy -two
diiferent impressions of this seal, selected from files contained
in more than fifty-six hundred envelopes, were carefully
studied and compared in order to accurately ascertain the
details of the device and the surrounding inscription. The
swan is an ancient heraldic royal device used even by Ed-
ward riL, but chiefly by the Henrys, IV. and V., who derived
it from the Bohuns. No special reason for its adoption here
has been discovered.
No. 6 is the seal of the common-law courts of Essex County,
and is a monogram for "• Essex." Over the monogram is a
legless bird, and beneath it a fleur-de-lys, each between two
* " Ordered, likewise, that there be a seal provided and appropriated to the
use of this court." — Order in Council: Ibid.
t I must acknowledge my indebtedness to John CofRn Jones Brown, Esq., for
this important item. Since the meeting at which the accompanying litliographs
were exhibited, Mr. Brown referred me to the following entry in the Records
of the County Court : " At a County Court, held at Boston, 25 January, A°.
1680 [-1] Present, S^ Bradstreet, Esqr., Govr,
Wm. Stodghtox "^
Joseph Dudley
Hump". Davie
John Richards
Samuel Nowell
John Hull
Ordered, that the Gierke provide a Seale for the Courts use to annex to pro-
bate of wills and grants of Adm°™ the circumference thereof to bee the same of a
Shilling and a Ship engraven thereon with this inscription Sigillum Comitatus
SUFFOLCI.E."
Mr. Brown also called my attention to the resemblance between this seal and
the Admiralty seal of Boston, in Lincolnshire, Eng., the device on which he has
incorporated in the seal which he ingeniously designed for the Bostonian
Society.
I Si(/il.lum Comitatus Suffolrim, in Nova Amelia, de Prohatione Testa mentorum : —
The seal of the Probate of Wills for the County of Suffolk in New England.
■ Esq''
1883.] PROVINCIAL SEALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 163
groups of dots, which may have been intended for roses or,
possibly, estoiles. This ancient seal, which, as I have already
said, is still in existence, though somewhat changed by wear
and occasional recutting, is now used as the seal of the Board
of County Commissioners, which succeeds to the administrative
functions of the old Court of Sessions. It was originally de-
signed for the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, as has already
been said. Later, it was impressed upon the subpoenas and
other processes issued by Stephen Sewall, clerk of the Special
Court of Oyer and Terminer, before which the persons accused
of witchcraft were tried in 1692 ; although the warrant for
the execution of Bridget Bishop — and, perhaps, all the other
"death-warrants" — was sealed with the private arms of
Stoughton, the chief justice.
Upon the establishment of the Court of Common Pleas and
Court of Sessions, in 1692, it was adopted b}^ them, and con-
tinued in use as the seal of those courts until they were
abolished.
No. 7 is the seal of the Probate Court for Essex County,
and was adopted at the time of the establishment of the court.
The device — a lion rampant — still appears on the seal of
that court, though, since the Revolution, the legend " County
of Essex " has been substituted for the Latin inscription of
the original seal.
No. 8 is the seal of the common-law courts of Middlesex
County. The admirable condition in which the files of the
Inferior Court of Common Pleas and of the Court of Ses-
sions for that county are kept enables us easily to trace the
use of this seal back to 1692-93, but the loss of the more an-
cient files of the County Court leaves us in doubt as to its
earlier use. Samuel Phips, the first clerk under the Charter,
occasionally sealed warrants and subpoeuas of the Court of
Sessions with a stamp on which his initials were cut enclosed
in a circle.
In the seal here depicted the illiterate seal-cutter omitted a
" d " in " Middlesex," and evidently intended "' Registry "
by the anomalous word " Regisley."
No. 9 is the seal of the Probate Court for Middlesex County.
A naturalist would hardly be able to classify the bird here
represented. The device intended was, undoubtedly, in the
language of the heralds, " a pelican vulning herself." The
absence in this case of the characteristic pouch of the pelican
is not more remarkable than the absence of one of the two
legs characteristic of all perfect birds. If the "gouts" of
blood that are represented as falling from her self-inflicted
164 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
wounds were nourishinc^ her brood around her, she would be
described by the heralds as " in her piety," and the appro-
priateness of this device, for a probate court, might then be
more apparent ; but it is difficult to understand why the
attention of the afflicted petitioners to tlie Probate Court of
Middlesex should have been officially called to this example
of wanton self-injur3^
No. 10 is the seal of the common-law courts of Plymouth
County. It is still preserved by the Clerk of the Courts,
though not in use. This is fortunate, since the ancient files
of the clerk's office were recently almost totally destroyed by
fire. On a few of the scattered papers of early date that were
saved from the fire, I was, by the kindness of their possessors,
enabled to discover the impression of this seal, and to observe
that it has undergone but very slight change since 1692.
No. 11 is the seal of the Probate Court for Plymouth County.
As the legend implies, the person here represented as kneel-
ing is the " relicta,'' or widow. She holds in her left hand the
extended hand of her " orphan " child, and in her right hand,
what — tliough it more nearly resembles a fan, or bunch of
cigars — must have been intended to represent a petition to
tlie judge. The antique costume of these figures is noticeable,
and might be referred to a period much earlier than the date
of the establishment of the Probate Court in this county ; I
have not, however, found an instance of the use of this seal
before 1707. It was probably adopted by the first judge of
this court, about 1702, and is still in the custody of the Reg-
ister of Probate. The present seal of the same court exhibits
the same legend and device, though the latter, aesthetically,
is much improved.
No. 12 is the seal of the common-law courts of Bristol
County. It bears date 1687, which, no doubt, is the date of
its adoption, although the first instance of its use on record is
Nov. 28, 1689, while Stephen Burton was clerk. Like the
other county seals herein described, it was used for the Infe-
rior Court of Common Pleas and Court of General Sessions
of the Peace, until they were superseded by the Circuit
Court of Common Pleas.
No. 13 is the Probate Court seal of Bristol County. This
drawing was made from nine fragmentary impressions on wax,
discovered in a careful search through more than twenty-eight
hundred different envelopes of the filed papers of this court.
The results of this careful scrutiny left nothing for conjecture
except the first three lettei's of the word " county," which
were not on either of the frasfments found. No instance of
1883.] PROVINCIAL SEALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 165
the use of this seal lias been discovered before 1755, and from
the comparatively modern appearance of the letters of the in-
scription, as well as from the neatness of the workmanship, I
should suppose it to be not older than 1750,
This seal evidently represents a probate couit in session.
The judge, wearing a curled wig, sits at the left, in his gown
and bands, holding a book or paper in his left hand, which he
keeps open with his right hand, while on his left, and behind
a table, sits the register. On this table is an inkstand in
which a quill-pen stands upright. Another pen, and a book
or fold of paper, lie before the register, whose left arm is ex-
tended upon the table while with his right hand he is pass-
ing to the judge a folded letter. In the background, between
the judge and the register, is a Doric column or pilaster, and
between this and the judge is a casement, or window, with
lozenge-shaped panes. A parquetry floor extends from the
edge of the table-cloth — which hangs in folds nearly to the
floor — to the extreme front of the foreground. The whole
design presents a curious and interesting picture of what may
be fairly considered an actual scene in New England in the
middle of the eighteenth century, or earlier.
There was considerable irregularity in the use of seals in
the Probate Court of Bristol before and after the earliest
known instance of the employment of the seal here depicted.
Other seals were used by the same ofiicers who used this seal.
Thus, Judge Blagrove, — 1729-44, — or his register, Stephen
Paine, used a shield, with an inscribed heart nearly filling the
field, and an estoile of eight points, or rays, for a crest ; and
Judge Leonard, or his son, the register of the same name,
after 1747, used different armorial devices, — sometimes a
double-headed eagle, displayed, and sometimes a lion ram-
pant, with his name, '" George Leonard," circumscribed ; he
also used a small seal rejiresenting a lymphad, or other vessel,
opposite a port flanked with towers, and superscribed, '"Porto
Bello."
No. 14 is the seal of the common-law courts of Worcester
County. A seal of substantially the same design is still used
by the County Commissioners, and is known as the county
seal. An enlarged representation of it hangs on the wall of
the law library in Worcester. It continued to be used for the
Inferior Court of Common Pleas and Court of Sessions from
1731, when the county was established, until those courts
were superseded ; and some of the best impressions of it
may be seen on writs filed in the clerk's office in the years
l«i2-15.
166 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
No. 15 is the seal of the Probate Court of Worcester
County. The bird here intended I conceive to be a turkey,
though neither nature nor the heralds have anywhere pro-
duced its archetype. The peculiar fitness of this device as
an emblem for this county and court is not obvious on its
face, nor have I been able to discover any further facts relat-
ing to its adoption, than that it was used by the first appointed
officers of the Probate Court. After the Revolution it was
disused, and has long been forgotten by the probate officers
and even by the antiquaries.
No. 16, as appears by the inscription,* is, strictly, the seal
of the Probate Court for Hampshire County, — which origi-
nally included Berkshire, Hampden, and Franklin, — but it
appears to have been, also, the only seal used by the Inferior
Court of Common Pleas and of the Court of Sessions for that
large territory. It dates back, undoubtedl}^ to 1692, when the
Probate Court in Hampshire County was first established.
No. 17 was dravvn from a fragment of what is supposed to
have been the original Proliate Court seal of Nantucket
County. Of the impressions of this seal, — all of which are
indistinct and fragmentary, — it is possible that the more per-
fect ones may have been made by applying the seal twice, so
as to partly overhiy a former impression, thus rendering the
inscription more obscure, and producing the appearance of
four arch-diadems wliere only two should appear. In 1715,
while this seal was in use, and while James Coffin was judge
and Eleazer Folger was acting as register, I find used as a
seal, an impression of arms which appear to be a chief, in-
dented, and a chevron. Just before the Revolution, and
later, another seal, not infrequently used, was a crest, — a
wy vern, or cockatrice ; more probably the latter. This last-
mentioned seal was used while Grafton Gardner was judge
and Frederick Folger was register. In 1771, under the same
judge and register, the device of St. George and the Dragon
(No. 2o) was also used in a few instances.
No seal for the common-law courts seems to liave been spe-
cially adopted in Nantucket ; it is certain that the files saved
from the lire of July, 1816, show no such seal ; and the sup-
position is confirmed by the practice, since 1800, of sealing
the writs of the Inferior Courts of Common Pleas with the
reverse of a cent, or with any other coin or instrument that
could be conveniently employed for that purjwse.
No. 18 is the seal of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas
* SiijiUam, Comiluttis Ilamptoniai, de Prohatione Teslamentorum.
1883.] PROVINCIAL SEALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 1G7
and Court of General Sessions of the Peace for Cumberland
County, which was set off from the County of York in 1760,*
and, with the parent county and the county of Lincoln, re-
mained a part of Massachusetts until Maine was admitted into
the Union as a sovereign State in 1820. This seal continued
in use after Maine became a State, and it is yet the county
seal.
Unfortunately, the great fire in Portland in July, IStiG,
which destroyed the court-house, consumed all the files and
records of the probate office, which was, too confidently,
deemed fire-proof. I have not yet been able to leain fiom
any other source whether or not there was a probate seal from
the establishment of the court, which is as old as the county.
The earliest impression of a seal of this court that has come
to my notice is of comparatively I'ecent date, and nearly re-
sembles, except in point of size, the seal now in use. The de-
vice is an urn surrounded by an inner inscription, " ^quitar
SuPERSTiTiBUS," and an outer inscription, '•' Cumberland
Prorate Court." At least three distinct seals, substan-
tially identical in design, have been successively used by this
court ; but the first of' these has not been traced back further
than thirty years. |
No. 19 is all that I have been able to make out of the seal
of the courts of Lincoln County, which was set off from York
County in 1760, by the act above mentioned. At first, no seal
was specially adopted for any of these courts ; but, at a Court
of Sessions held at Pownalborough, June 1, 1762, the follow-
ing order was passed: "Ordered that a seal presented by
Samuel Denn3% Esq., the Motto whereof being a cup and
three mullets, being the lawfttl Coat of Arms of the said Den-
ny's Family, with the said Denny's name, at large, in the
verge thereof, be accepted, and that it be established to be
the common Seal of this Court." J
Denny was, at that time, chief justice of the Inferior Court
of Common Pleas for the county, and William Cushing —
afterwards distinguished, successively, as a justice and chief
justice of the Superior Court of Judicature of the Province,
and chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of the State,
* June '21: Province Laws, 1760-61, cli. 7.
t I have seen a letter of ailministration and a letter of guardianship granted
in 1797, when William Gorhani was juilue and Samuel Freeman was register,
both of which letters bear the impression of seal No. 18; and I have not yet
seen a paper of earlier date than these, that was issued by the Court of Probate
for this county.
I Sessions Records, Lincoln County, vol. i., p. 17. I find no confirmation
of the claim of this family to these arms.
168 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
of Massachusetts, and a justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States — was jadge of probate. Jonathan Bowman,
at that time clerk of the courts and register of prohate, used
this seal alike in common-law and probate proceedings ; and
his successors continued the practice certainly as late as the
beginning of the Revolution.
A seal much used on writs and probate papers in Lincoln
County, before the adoption of the Denny arms, was the head
of one of the Georges, — a seal occasionally used officialljs and
sometimes on bonds and deeds, in other counties. This
device is shown in No. 2J:, and it is not unlikely that seals
bearing this royal likeness were to be had of the stationers or
haberdashers of that period.
Nos. 20, 21, and 22 are seals formerly in use in Barnstable
County.
All the court and probate files of this county were lost in
the fire which consumed the court-house at Barnstable on the
night of Oct. 22, 1827. Fortunately, however, most of the
books of probate records were saved, and in the first volume
of these, Barnabas Lothrop, the first judge of probate for this
county, not only made the first record of a letter testamen-
tary,* but aSixed his seal thereto in wax. This impression
is shown in No. 22. No. 20 was used by Nathaniel Otis
while he was clerk, in 1729, as the seal of the Inferior Court
of Common Pleas. No. 21 was used from 1730 to 1750, while
John Sturgis was clerk. This last may have been used as
the initial letter for Barnstable, or for Bourne — members of
that family having held either one or more of the olfices of the
Common Pleas or Probate Courts during this period. On
the whole, the indications are that no particular seal for
either of the courts of Barnstable County was adopted during
the provincial period.
In Dukes County I find occasionally used as the seal of the
Probate Court an intricate monogram, the faint and imper-
fect impressions of which I have been unable to decipher. f
In 1715 the initials " B. S." occur, being evidently those of
Benjamin Skiffe, who was then judge of probate. Later, I
find a mitre sometimes used, and sometimes two keys crossed
saltierwise, among the miscellaneous devices appearing upon
the papers of the Probate Court ; but no evidence that a seal
was specially adopted for any of the courts.
York County seems also to have been without a regular
* Will of Edniond Hawes, Sept. 2, 1093.
t This may liave been .1 double monoti^ram for "J. Atliearn," — Jabez Athearn
having been for many years register of the court.
1883.] PROVINCIAL SEALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 169
court seal for either of its courts. Very earl}', an obscure
monogram was used on the writs of the Inferior Court of
Common Pleas ; and the impression of a seal, still more ob-
scure, but whicli may possibly have been the same, is found
on a few early probate papers. Finally, the common-law
courts seem to have adopted the device — shown in No. 23
— of St. George and the Dragon. This continued in use cer-
tainl}^ as late as 1820.
The seal last described was occasionally used by the pro-
bate officers in 1731, and again ten years later. Towards the
end of the term of Charles Frost, who was register of probate
from 1700 to 1733, a small double monogram of his initials,
"C. F." was used, and occasionally a rudely cut crest, —
a stag, lodged. Simon Frost, while register, — 1744-66, —
also used a seal bearing only his initials, rudely cut. Under
Judge Jeremiah Moulton, however, — 1746-65, — which
covered most of the time during which Simon Frost was reg-
ister, the seal most commonly used appears to have been a
fesse ; in the chief, two swords crossed, saltier-wise, and in
the base a mullet: crest, a mullet. I have not ascertained to
what family these arms, which are very neatly and artistically
cut on the seal in question, belong. This seal continued to
be used occasionally on probate papers as late as 1821. In
1776, under Judge John Bradbury, a bird — perhaps a dove or
a raven, and, apparently, a crest — was sometimes used. While
David Sewall was register, the full arms of the Sewalls — a
chevron between three bees : crest, a bee, — were used under
Judge John Hill ; and the crest, simply, under Judge Joseph
Simpson, in 1779. It appears from the foregoing that the
register, rather than the judge, ajopointed the seal of the
court.
In the County of Berkshire, which, as has been said, was
set off from Hampshire in 1761, no seal seems to have been
regularly adopted by either of the county courts. Among the
miscellaneous devices used in sealing the letters of the Probate
Court from 1773 to 1784 was one that appears to have been
the original corporate seal of Princeton College, New Jersey.
Private coats of arms were also used for the same purpose then
and earlier.
Although it is not my purpose at this time to describe seals
that were not in use before the adoption of the State Consti-
tution, I will so far overstep my proposed limits as to observe
here that the first seal used in Berkshire County v/as the pro-
bate seal, which appears to have been adopted about 1797,
and which continued in use until 1811 or 1812. It bore sub-
22
170 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [Mar.
stantiall}" the same device as that upon the State seal, with an
inscription showing that it was the seal of the Probate Court.
This was superseded by another seal, which ^rst appears in
1813, on which are represented two figures; one evidently
meant for the judge of probate sitting in a round-backed
chair, and the other, a small boy standing before the judge,
whose left hand is laid tenderly upon the boy's head, while
his right clasps tlie boy's left liand. It is inscribed, " Seal of
the Court of Probate, Berkshire," with an inner inscription
of " Mass." on a scroll above the judge's head. This seal,
liaving been broken, was repaired, when the «eal-cutter took
the liberty to substitute a straight-posted chair for the judge's
seat, and to make other slight clianges in the design.
A regular seal for the common-law courts of Berkshire seems
to have been first used at the June Term of the Inferior Court
of Common Pleas in 1801; and it probably continued to be
used by that court and the Court of Sessions until the estab-
lishment of the Circuit Courts of Common Pleas. The device
on this seal was an awkward figure of " Justice," with her
head extending into the verge of the seal, holding a sword in
her right hand and a pair of scales, equipoised, in her left
hand. The inscription is, SiG. Com. Pleas. Berk^ Mass.
1883.] ANNUAL MEETING. 171
ANNUAL MEETING, APRIL, 1883.
The Annual Meeting was held on Thursday, April 12, r.t 3
o'clock P.M. ; the President, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop,
in the chair.
The Recording Secretary jiro temjyore read the record of the
last meeting, which was approved.
The Librarian and Cabinet-keeper reported the gifts to the
Society's collections during the last month. Among them
was a sketch of Massachusett or Arrow-head Hill in its former
state, from Miss E. S. Quincy.
The President then spoke as follows : —
I have been reminded. Gentlemen, and it may be inter-
esting for us ail to remember to-day, that this is the fiftieth
anniversary of our original occupation of this building as a
Society.
At the Annual Meeting in April, 1833, the Treasurer, who
was then our late President, Hon. James Savage, reported
that, between the 6th of November and the lltli of April,
he had received from subscriptions the full sum of $5,000,
" to assist in obtaining the secure and convenient situation
in which the Society now is assembled." Tliese words of
Mr. Savage, "in which the Society now is assembled," leave
no doubt that the Annual Meeting of 1833 was held, and
held for the first time, in this building. The Annual Meetinsj-
of that year, under the By-laws as then existing, fell on the
25th of April, thirteen days later in the month than it has
come under our present rules this year, but that can hardly
change the anniversary character of this occasion.
The list of subscribers, as reported by Mr. Savage at that
meeting, is printed in the earliest volume of our Proceedings.
It contains the names of no less than sixty -four of the prin-
cipal citizens of Boston and its vicinity, who united in con-
tributing sums from |10 up to -^300 in making up the amount
required for the purchase of a small part of this building, of
which we now own the whole, though still subject to a con-
siderable mortgage.
Of those subscribers many more than half were not mem-
bers of the Society ; for our Society was then limited by
its charter to sixty resident members in all. Not one of the
subscribers is now living. Nor, indeed, is there a single
member of the Society of that day now left. The present
senior member of the Society, by date of election, — as I have
172 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [April,
the best reason for remembering, — was chosen in 1839, six
years later. Judge Davis was then, in 1833, the President ;
Mr. Savage the Treasurer ; the Rev. Dr. Charles Lowell the
Corresponding Secretary, having just succeeded the Rev. Dr.
Abiel Holmes in that office; while Dr. Gamaliel Bradford had
succeeded Dr. Lowell as Recording Secretary ; and Joseph
Willard had become Librarian, in place of James Bowdoin,
who had recently died.
Those were our days of small things. Seventeen members
only were present at that Annual Meeting, fifty years ago, and
that was an exceptionally large attendance for the period. A
stated assessment of $2 per annum on each member, and an
occasional extra assessment of $1.50, were the principal
resources of our treasury, in connection with the sales of our
published volumes of Collections.
But I will not dwell longer on these anniversary reminis-
cences. I have said enough to justify me in congratulating
you on the improved condition in which we find ourselves
to-day, and in giving expression to our hearty acknowledg-
ments to God and man for the prosperity in which we enter
upon another j'ear, — the fifty-first since we began to occupy
this building, the ninety-second since our Society was origi-
nally founded.
We have special cause for satisfaction and gratitude on this
occasion, in a birthday -gift, if I may so style it, which I shall
presently announce. Before doing so, however, I must not
fail to notice briefly the death of one of our most distinguished
foreign Corresponding Members.
The London " Punch," which is hardly more notable for its
telling, though sometimes truculent, jests upon the living, than
for its occasional poetic tributes to the distinguished dead,
devotes a conspicuous corner, in its number for March 17, to
the following brief but comprehensive and just impromptu : —
"John Richard Green,
Author of ' A Short History of the English People,'
Died at Mentone, March 8, 1883,
at the age of 45.
" Enough for one brief life, tlie toil, the glory,
So to have told our stirring English story
That ears of Englishmen most gladly listen,
That eyes of English youth will glow and glisten.
Yet all must grieve, gay stripling or grave sage.
Robbed by o'er-hasty Death of many a noble page."
You will all agree with me. Gentlemen, that not English-
men only have gladly listened to that stirring English story,
1883.] THE LATE JOHN EICHAED GREEN. 173
and that not Englishmen only will grieve for the early death
of its accomplished author. Nowhere have his volumes
been more highly appreciated than in our own land. Eng-
lish history, as far as he told it, almost to the very end of
his four volumes, is, after all, only the introduction to our
own history ; and no English historian has been more gen-
erally accurate, just, and respectful in his treatment of the
American colonies than he has been. I had some most
agreeal)le personal experience of his eagerness to correct any
mistakes he had made in his work, when it was originally
published in a single volume. A note to me dated July
11, 1875, — which I shall preserve with the autographs of
Hallam and Macaulay, — speaks of his being at the very
moment engaged in revising his work for a library edition,
and welcomes every suggestion of mistake. "It will be," he
says, "a reprint, but with large additions and (I am sorry
to, have to confess it) the correction of a great many very
careless blunders." Not many English historians, or Ameri-
can ones either, have been so honorably ready to confess or
correct their blunders, and his example in this respect is as
wholesome as it is rare. But he had larger claims on the
respect and admiration of all who are interested in historical
studies. He was a faithful, conscientious, dis2:)assionate stu-
dent, — working on hopefully and unweariedly under the
greatest discouragements of failing health, — who combined a
marvellous fondness and faculty for research, with a singular
luminousness and felicity of diction and description, and who
rendered history readable, attractive, and popular, without
sacrificing truth either to prejudice or to the picturesque.
In this respect he may almost be said to have created a new
era in historical literature. He certainly has furnished a
model which it is to be hoped will find many followers at
home and abroad.
For some years a resident fellow of Oxford, and afterward
a parish priest of the English church, he had acquired the
warm regard and confidence of such men as the late lamented
Archbishop Tait, who made him for a time his librarian at
Lambeth, and of the admirable Dean Stanle3% who spoke to
me of him once with the warmest personal interest and affec-
tion. Meantime, he dedicates his volumes to his " two dear
friends, Edward Augustus Freeman and William Stubbs,"
whom he was proud to recognize as "his masters in the study
of English history." With such masters he could not fail in
whatever pertained to the most diligent and devoted investi-
gation. He had recently published a very careful and com-
174 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [April,
pact little account of what he entitled " The Making of
England," and he has left in the hands of the publishers an
almost completed sequel to that volume, under the proposed
title of the "Conquest of England.'' What treasures might
we not have hoped for, had his life been spared !
He was elected a Corresponding Member of this Societ}^ in
November, 1876, and his letter of acceptance was announced
at our Annual Meeting in 1877. We shall all sympathize with
our English friends in their grief at his early death, counting
it one of the greatest losses which the historical literature of
the English language could have sustained.
I turn lastly to the more welcome privilege of informing the
Society of a substantial contribution to our funds. I can tell
its story in no way so appropriate as by reading the following
letter which reached me a few days ago : —
Boston, March 23, 1883.
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop,
President of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Dear Sir, — You know how my dear husband, the late Richard
Frothingham, to the very last, Vahied his connection with the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society, and how many of its members were his old
and dear friends.
To his memory, and to aid the Society in extending its honorable
work, I give the Massachusetts Historical Society the enclosed certifi-
cates of Stock, and also the plates of my husband's historical works :
" Siege of Boston," " Life and Times of Joseph Warren," and " Rise
of the Republic."
With great respect,
Vrtlena Frothingham.
The certificate of stock enclosed in this letter covers a round
sum of $3,000 at the least; while the plates, besides being
interesting memorials of our late valued associate, may be of
considerable pecuniary aid to us from time to time. But the
gift will be valued by us all far above any moneyed equiva-
lent, from its associations with one whom we all esteemed and
respected so highly, and whose name has so many titles to our
affectionate remembrance. As one of our most devoted and
loyal members, and our faitliful Treasurer for thirty years,
and still more as one who will always be looked to as an
authority on some of the most interesting and important
scenes in our State and country, he has secured for liimself
an enviable place on our records and in our hearts. In turn-
ing over, within a few days past, some letters from Wasliing-
1883.] THE FEINTING OF OLD MANUSCRIPTS. 175
ton Irving, in connection with the recent commemoration of
his centennial birthday, I found him writing to me in 1853,
while he was ensjao-ed on his own admirable " Life of Wash-
iiiGfton ' : '^I have heretofore consulted Frothincrham's ' His-
tory of the Siege of Boston,' about which you speak. It
merits the character you gave it, as being the best thing
written about the Bunker Hill period." Thirty years have
passed away, but I remember, as if it were yesterday, how
greatly gratified our friend was, when I read Irving's letter to
him at the time. Nothing need be added to such praise from
such a source.
Let me only submit the following Resolution, under the
authority and instruction of the Council : —
Resolved, That the best thanks of the Massachusetts His-
torical Society be presented to Mrs. Richard Frothingham for
her generous gift of three thousand dollars to our funds,
together with the stereotype plates of the " Siege of Boston,"
the " Life and Times of Joseph Warren," and the " Rise of
the Republic"; and that the Treasurer be instructed to enter
and keep the account of this gift as " The Richard Frothing-
ham Fund," and so to employ the interest of said fund, by
accumulation for a time or otherwise, under the direction
and at the discretion of the Council as to them shall seem best
for the welfare of the Society, and for doing honor to the
memory of an associate so highly valued and regretted by
us all.
The Resolution was unanimously adopted.
A serial of the Proceedings of the Society, containing those
of the meetings from November, 1882, to January, 1883,
inclusive, was laid on the table.
Mr. C. F. Adams, Jr., of the First Section, read the follow-
ing paper : —
Our friend and Associate Member, Dr. Samuel A. Green,
has recently printed a small pamphlet entitled "Groton in the
Witchcraft Times." It is one of several extremely interest-
ing publications on the early history of his native place which
the Doctor has brought out, and is only meant for private
circulation. He has been kind enough to give a copy to me.
Under these circumstances I do not propose to publicly look
this gift horse in the mouth to any considerable extent. In-
deed, I could not do so with a result otherwise than agreeable
to him. His historical, like his physical, shoulders, are, how-
176 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [April,
ever, broad enough, and his thoroughness of antiquarian
researcii is sufficiently conceded, to enable him to bear with
good nature a little very mild criticism ; and so, with his
full knowledge and ready assent obtained in advance, I pro-
pose to call attention to one marked feature in his pamphlet
which fails to command my respect, and for which, I think,
this Society is largely responsible. As a Society, which ought
to know better, we have, in my opinion, set a very bad ex-
ample ; and Dr. Green has followed it.
I refer to our practice of reproducing in type, when we
print seventeenth and eighteenth century manuscripts, the
short-hand abbreviations then so much in use in writing. Dr.
Green's pamphlet is, of course, largely made up of extracts
from the old records. Accordingly, with infinite trouble to
himself and to the printer, he has carefully reproduced the
manuscript hieroglyphic &'s and the y'^'^and the y''^ and the
w°'^ and the w^^'^ and the w'^^'^ and the y^^'^, and pty for party,
and j)cured for procured, and |)tic : for particular, and pson
for person, and fro for from, and re'''^ for read, and p^ents for
parents, and so on to the end of the whole familiar chapter.
Now I am quite aware that this affectation, as I must call it,
did not originate with, nor has it been peculiar to, the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society. On the contrary, I admit at once
that there is what is called the highest authority for it. But
I do not propose to enter into what might perhaps be called
the bibliog]"aphy of the practice. It is sufficient for my pur-
pose tliat we, as a Society, have lent our countenance to it,
and given it such a degree of authority as we can confer.
It seems to me, therefoie, time for some one to place on file
here a very decided, though, of course, an entirely respectful
protest against the whole thing. To my mind it has been
carried altogether too far. To use a social expression now
much in vogue, it is not good form ; it is more than that, it
is very bad form.
What, then, is the idea at the bottom of this practice, which
every one will at once admit imposes a heavy additional labor
on the editor, with a result at once vexatious to the composi-
tor and disagreeable to the reader ? The idea, I take it, is to
secure fidelity to the text. We wish to reprint what was
written exactly as it stands. Very good! — For the moment
I pass over the fact that in so doing we simply out-Herod
Herod, and produce a result in print such as was never seen
in the years when the manuscript we are printing from was
written. I pass this over for the moment, and now suggest
that if absolute fidelity of reproduction is the object in view,
1883.] THE PRINTING OF OLD MANUSCRIPTS. 177
we are, in taking the course we do, illogical, behind the
times, and inconsistent. We make a great parade of repro-
ducing, and yet we do not reproduce. We flourish in type
an imitation, which after all is no imitation, of abbreviations
which the older time never used, except in manuscript. If
we are so anxious for absolute fidelity, we ought to go a
great way furtlier than this. We ought to throw type aside,
and, by means of the various photographic processes now in
familiar use, bring out exact reproductions of the writings
before us.
But it is said that it is not safe to allow any discretion to
an editor. The moment he ceases to mechanically reju'oduce,
there is no telling what he may be up to. Very good ! — in
that case bring in the camera, and trust him not at all. Re-
produce exactly. Then at last we shall have, not the editor's
abbreviated rendering in type of some wholly dissimilar ab-
breviations in writing, but the original abbreviations, and
every one may deci[)her them for himself — if he can. And
here at last the situation becomes absurd. The abbrevia-
tions we so carefully reproduce in type, because no one
can he safely trusted to render them into words, are simply
rough short-hand, — symbols once used by every one, and
then, and now, known by every one to represent certain more
common words, or parts of words. Some old writers carried
the practice further. Pepys, for instance, wrote his diary
wholly in a short-hand of his own. To be consistent, then,
and wholly faithful to our text, we ought to print Pepys in
typecast to correspond, — just as they did the "■Massachu-
setts Records." In that shape, though unreadable, it would
be an absolutely accurate, and so altogether commendable,
reproduction, judged by our standards. But the advocates of
exact reproduction at once say, " Oh, that would be absurd.
Of course, where the abbreviation cannot be rendered in
type, or is uncommon, it must be deciphered." In other
words, where the abbreviations are common to every one,
have in them nothing characteristic, or peculiar, either of the
time or the individual, there we jealously reproduce them ;
where, as in the case of Pepys, they are unusual and have
an individual significance, they are not repi'oduced. So we
reproduce hieroglyphics just so long as they have no possible
significance, and stop reproducing them the moment they
may have a significance.
But, so far as fidelity in true reproduction goes, the argu-
ment is all the other way, — it is dead against us. Simplicity
is a great aid to accuracy. Every experienced editor knows
23
178 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [April,
that each unaccustomed form opens a door through Avhich
errors are sure to creep in. Besides, we as a people are not
good at this sort oi" thing, — we are naturally the reverse of
imitative. The Chinese would do it much better than we.
Yet take the Chinese, and see how even their imitative fac-
ulty increases the chance of error. It is well known that if
a sailor in China orders a pair of trousers from a native tailor,
and sends lihn an old worn-out garment as a pattern, he will
in due time receive a new garment exactly resembling the old,
even to the rent in the seat and tlie patch on each knee.
Now it is apparent at once that imitating this complication of
rents and patches involves in itself a certain amount of error.
It would at least be much easier to make a garment like the
original trousers before they were patched. So with our
publications. Yet we are notoriously less skilful at exact
reproduction than the Chinese ; except when, as I have sug-
gested, we call in mechanical processes to assist ; and that, I
think, we shall all agree would, in the case of Pej)ys at least,
prove altogether too much of a good thing.
But, after all, what does this practice which I have been
criticising result in ? There is one thing it most emphatically
does not result in. It does not result in books which bear
even a remote typographical resemblance to the l)Ooks printed
at the times when the manuscripts we are pubHshing were
written. Take those books and look at them. I have one of
them in my hand from the library of President J. Q. Adams.
He picked it up in Europe about eighty 3'ears ago, giving for
it probably a few shillings. A precisely similar volume brought
in 187y, at the Brinley sale, $410. In this one cover are three
seventeenth-century books, — the "New English Canaan," the
"New England's Prospect," and the " Wonder- Working
Providence." Each of these bears a different imprint. They
were published at distinct times. In this volume I look in
vain for "y"' " and "y* " and " y^ " and all the other abbrevi-
ations with which doubtless the manuscript copy from which
the books were set up was full, but which the compositor,
as a matter of course, disregarded, giving the full words.
Yet these volumes are alive with the peculiarities and quaint-
nesses of the time. The spelling, the use of capitals, the
punctuation, all have the seventeenth-century stamp. To the
antiquarian, this is pleasant. It is genuine. Our labored
reproduction is not genuine. It is, as I have said, an affecta-
tion. As antiquai'ies we have not been content with that
amount of antiqueness which belonged- to antii^uity, but in
our zeal we have manufactured a modern antiquity all our
1883.] THE FEINTING OF OLD MANUSCRIPTS. 179
own. In it we revel. From its great altitude we look down
with contempt on the editors, proof-readers, and compositors
of the past, who did n't know how to follow their own copy.
We have changed all that. Nevertheless, I very confidently
assert that our imitation of the antique, though it may be
an improvement on the real thing, yet bears no resemblance
to it. It is a discovery. We have a clear right to a patent
on it. . But then we ought to confine it to modern authors.
It is altogether too bad to inflict it on the old chroniclers.
Take Bradford, for instance. His English is unsurpassed for
simplicity, purity, and that strength wliich is so near allied to
pathos. As a seventeenth-century writer he deserves to rank
with Bunyan and Clarendon. Why have we not put him in
the typographical dress which Bunyan and Clarendon wear ?
Imagine Christian going down into the deep river in a cloud
of y®'* and y*^'* ! Conceive of the noble character of Hampden
printed like our " Massachusetts Records," half in short-hand !
So far from giving a seventeenth-century flavor or appear-
ance to our edition of the " Plimouth Plantation," the repro-
ducing in it of the manuscript y'''* and y'''^ and &'s is a positive
annoyance to every one really accustomed to the reading of
books which were printed in Bradford's time. I say this
with perfect freedom here ; which of course I should not do,
did I not know that my friend Mr. Deane fully agrees in the
opinion. I have long been urging him to bring out a new
edition of the book, with which his name should stand always
inseparabl}^ connected ; and I have urged it not only that
we may have a more copious annotation, but also because I
want to see Bradford's English in a real seventeenth-century
dress.
Let us, then, do either the one or the other of two things,
— either reproduce the old manuscripts as manuscripts, or
print them as books. There is no use in trying to be more
ancient than the ancients were themselves, — more Arabian
than Arabia. To do otherwise is very much as if we were to
reproduce, or try to reproduce, some ancient wine, — the sack,
for instance, of Falstaff's day, — and insist upon having in the
bottle all the grape-seeds, and skins, and bits of stem and pulp,
and tlien, as we gulped the vile decoction down, Ave solemnly
smacked our lips and tried to make believe we liked it, and
really did persuade ourselves that Falstaff drank such stuff
as tliat. He did nothing of the sort. Neither did Bradford
or Winthrop ever read in print such things as we with infinite
pains now set before ourselves with the names of their con-
temporaries attached.
180 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Apuil,
Having said thus much, I shall venture to suggest what
seem to me a few correct jjvinciplcs of anti([uarian editing. I
think it is an art, and quiie a fiwe one. The first thing to he
considered, however, is, — For whom are you editing ? If you
are editing Shakespeare or Bunyan in a popular edition, it is
one thing; if you are editing a seventeenth-century book for a
few students of seventeenth-century literature, it is a wholly
different thing. In the first case, you should modernize every
thing, — spelling, capitals, punctuation, typograi)hy, — leaving
only the seventeenth-century words in a modern dress. That
is what your reader requires in order to enable him to get at
his author. That which gives a distinct added flavor to a
scholar, merely distracts the ordinary, average reader's atten-
tion and annoys him. Contrary to an opinion I have some-
times heard ex|)ressed, I hold, therefore, that Dr. Young was
clearly right when he modernized Winslow, Bradford, Dud-
ley, Shepard, and the rest in his "Chronicles of the Pilgrims'"
and of " Massachusetts." He showed that he knew what he
was about. He wanted to popularize the writings of those
men, — to bring them directly home to their descendants.
He preserved, therefore, only their words. He did as would
be done in a popular edition of Shakespeare or Milton or
Bunyan. The only mistake he made Avas in the arbitrary
way in which he divided his authors into chapters of his
(Young's) '^ Chronicles."
This is one distinct form of editing. It is the most gener-
ally useful form, but it is not that form which is ada[)ted to
the most highly educated taste. There is something lost in
it. The other form of editing is the editing for the scholarly
few, — that editing which is the chief business of this Society,
and which includes, more particularly, the materials of his-
tory. To this very different rules should, in my opinion,
apply ; and on this point 1 do not wish to be misunderstood.
In publishing these materials of history it is most desirable to
preserve whatever may be in them characteristic not only of
the time, but of the individual. Some things are character-
istic to the last degree, but we cannot rejjroduce them, —
handwriting, for instance. Spelling and the use of capi-
tals again are characteristic, not only of tlie time but of
the individual, and these I would most carefully preserve.
They have an historical value. Let me illustrate what I
mean. Captain John Underbill is, as we all know, a nota-
ble character in early New England history. We have
read of his shortcomings and blubbering penitence. Here
is an extract from a letter of his in the Winthrop Papers
1883.]
THE PRINTING OF OLD MANUSCRIPTS.
181
(4 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. vii. p. 178), which shows what I
mean : —
HOXNORED IN THE LoRD, —
Youer sileuc one more admirse me.
I youse cliiiriclian plaj-nnes. I know
you loLie it. Silenc cannot reduce
the hart of youer love, brother: I
would the rio^litchous would smite
me, espeschali youer slfe and the
honnored Depoti to whom I also
dereckt this letter, together with
youer honnored slfe. Jesos Christ
did wayt: and God his Father did
dig and telfe bout the barren fig-
tre, before he would cast it of: I
would to God you would tender my
soule so as to youse playnnes to me.
I wrot you both, but now answer:
and I here I am dayli abused by
malischous tongse: John Baker I
here hath rot to the honnored
depoti, how as I was dronck and
like to be cild, and both falc. . . .
Honored in the Lord, —
Your silence once more admires me.
I use Christian plainness. I know
you love it. Silence cannot reduce
the heart of your love, brotlier: I
would the righteous would smite
me, especially yourself and the hon-
ored Deputy, to whom I also direct
this letter, together with your hon-
ored self. Jesus Christ did wait:
and God, his Father, did dig and
delve about the barren fig-tree, be-
fore he would cast it off: I would
to God you would tender my soul so
as to use plainness to me. I wiote
you both, but no answer: and I
hear I am daily abused by malicious
tongues: -John Baker, I hear, hath
wrote to the honored deputy, how as
I was drunk and like to have been
killed, and both false. . . .
No one can help seeing that the modernizing of this highly
characteristic effusion completely emasculates it. In the first
column we get a real "glimpse of illiterate, canting John Un-
derhill : in the second column he has vanished. In printing
these historical documents, therefore, I would carefully })re-
serve, so far as type can preserve, everything in this way
characteristic. Short-hand abbreviations were, however, pe-
culiar to no writer in the seventeenth century, nor in print are
they characteristic of that time. Y" meant, tlien as now, sim-
ply a printed the^ and i/' meant that; and cf meant and in their
manuscript, as it does in ours. To reproduce this short-hand
in type gives a false impression that the abbreviations were
peculiar to the persons whose writings we are printing, and
were not common to them with others whose writings were
published when they lived. Such was not the case.
But there are other works of the past, besides tlie raw ma-
terial of history, which we have occasion from time to time to
reproduce. I have myself recently been engaged in editing a
reprint of the "New English Canaan," which indeed diew
my attention to this subject. This is a book of a class. Its
whole flavor is found in its antiquity. As a modern produc-
tion it would be unworthy of notice. It never can be gen-
erally read ; modernized it would be simply ludicrous. The
typography of the past, in which books of this class should
182 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [April,
appear, is as distinct and well marked as was its architecture.
It can be as correctly imitated.
This is what, in rare editions, should be jealously preserved,
— this complexion, as it were, of the period to which the
book belongs. It includes spelling and the use of capitals,
punctuation, where not an error of the press or misleading,
initial letters and those queer scrolls at the beginning and
end of chapters, disused letters and figures, and, in short, those
many other things much more familiar to our friend, Mr. John
Wilson, than to any of us. But let me recur to Bradford
again as an example. " The Plimouth Plantation " is not
material of history. It is history itself, and histor^^ of a very
high order ; an order quite as high a,s Clarendon. It is the
first of New England classics. It should be edited as such.
Of the edition we now have, bearing Mr. Deane's name, no
one who has used it can speak, save with the utmost respect.
Saving only the vexatious abbreviations, — the y*''% the w'^'^'^,
the w'^'^ and the y*'''% — I would not have it other than it is, so
far as Bradford's text is concerned. The notes are admirable
so far as they go ; but they go just far enough to make the
investigator wish that they were twice as numerous, and more
than twice as long. In this edition Ave have Bradford's man-
uscript reproduced, as nearly as it can be reproduced in type.
What we now need is something more than this. We want
Bradford in the printed dress of his time and his contempora-
ries, — the dress of Shakespeare and Milton and Clarendon
and Bunyan. In letters and documents, as I halve said, strict
fidelity to manuscript copy is very well, though even there it
can be carried to fanaticism. When, however, it comes to
reproducing what may be called the literary remains of our
ancestors, I respectfully submit that in the matter of abbrevi-
ations and short-hand hieroglyphics at least we should deal
with them as their contemporaries were dealt with, and as we
deal with ourselves. If we, as many of us do, write jf for
and, we do not expect it to be so set down in type. So with
them, I hope that at some future time we shall consent to let-
ting them appear in the decent and proper apparel that their
neighbors wore when they went into type, and no longer
insist upon dragging them before the public in what might
not inaptly be called the nightgown and drawers of their
manuscript.
Mr. Adams's paper gave rise to a very interesting conver-
sation, in which several members took part.
Dr. Everett expressed his absolute and unqualified assent
1883.] THE PRINTING OF OLD MANUSCRIPTS. 183
to Mr. Adams's statement. Illiterate persons in the seven-
teenth centurj' should have their blunders corrected as well
as those in the nineteenth, Avhen they come to press.
Mr. Paekman said : —
I must differ from the views of Mr. Adams and Mr. Ever-
ett. A document will sometimes tell almost as much by its
manner as its matter. In mending its style and orthography,
or even its grammar, one may rob it of its characteristic ex-
pression till it ceases to mark the individuality of the writer,
or the nature of his antecedents and surroundings. I lately
read extracts from the diary of John Win slow, in 1755, as
given in Haliburton's ''Nova Scotia," reduced to correct and
decorous English. They told certain facts, but gave no par-
ticular impression of the man. Then I read the same pas-
sages in the original manuscript ; and here I found Winslow
himself, a distinct and living personality. It is the same with
passages from the letters of Governor Dinwiddle, as printed
in the notes to the writings of Washington and as written in
his own letter-book. The former are good English without
character ; the latter are bad English with a great deal of
character. The blunders themselves have meaning ; for the
writer was a blunderer, and should appear as such, if he is to
appear truly. Innumerable examples of the same sort might
be given. I speak, of course, of documents ^jrinted for the
use of historical students, and not for the general reader.
Mr. Adams and Mr. Everett Avould adopt the middle cour.se
of partially correcting the style of the old writer, so as to
make him appear as it is presumed he would have appeared
if he had put his own words into print. This is trusting a
great deal to the judgment of an editor. Not all editors have
judgment, nor do they all have the necessary knowledge and
training, nor are they all free from crotchets and prejudice.
The old writer himself, with all his faults, will be the safer
guide. The modern editor, in trying to improve him, may
throw false lights on his testimony or rob it of true ones.
Mr. Deane said : —
I agree substantially with what Mr. Adams has said, in
condemning our methods of reproducing in type the signs and '
abbreviated words used by writers in manuscript two or three
hundred years ago; and I should probably go farther than he
has gone in claiming for an editor the exercise of a more
radical power in adapting such material to the use of modern
184 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL -SOCIETY. [April,
readers. Yet the subject is not without its embarrassments.
He has referred for ilhistration to Bradford's History, the
copy of wliicli was made in Enghmd. I directed that an
exact transcript of that manuscript should be made, being
very desirous to secure a correct text. On receiving it I
found that it not only abounded in abbreviated words, but
that many words, as spelled out by the writer, were spelled
quite differently from any examples to be found in printing-
offices in England in Bradford's time. Bradford had a spell-
ing of his own. To words of a Latin origin, that came into
our language through the French, he would give a French
termination ; but his peculiarities were not confined to Avords
such as these. If I had attempted to spell out Bradford's
abbreviations I might have been at a loss in some instances,
though I a2)prehend not many, to know how to spell them,
that is to !say, to know how Bradford would have si)elled
them. In some manuscripts tlie difficidty here would be
serious, as it involves the question how to deal with the
writings of ignorant and illiterate persons.
I had some thoughts of putting Bradford into a modern
dress as Mr. Savage had done with Wintlirop, and I some-
times wish I had done so, as these signs and abbreviations,
united to Bradford's various orthography, have become very
offensive to my taste. But other considerations then pre-
vailed Avith me, and the manuscript Avas Avholly reproduced
as nearl}^ as modern type, some thirty years ago, Avould do it.
The only liberties I took Avith the text Avere in punctuation
and capitalization, as stated in the preface. The copyist had
not preserved the characteristics of the original in the use of
the u's and v's.
But Mr. Adams is not quite correct in supposing that such
abbreviations as he speaks of Avere not represented in-type in
books of Bradford's time. I have volumes printed both before
and after Bi'adford's emigration to Holland, some in black-
letter and some in Roman tj-pe, where these abbreviated
words, marked Avith circumflexes and dashes, abound, and
Avhere the y'"% y'^'% and y™"* are found on nearly every page.
There Avottld seem to be no other way to treat old manu-
scripts but to print them literatim, as manuscript, or to put
them into modern orthography. This practically differs but
little from the spelling of the best printing-offices of tAvo
htmdred years ago, but it has the great advantage of being
more uniform. The spelling of the printing-offices of Brad-
ford's lime Avas not uniform; the same Avord would sometimes
be spelled in different Avays on the same page. I admit that
1883.] ME. scull's ACCOUNT OF DOROTHEA SCOTT. 185
the y*'% &c., might have been abolished without any more
radical change, to advantage, and without seriously infringing
upon tlie rule here laid down.
Mr. Adams would retain the spelling of Bradford except as
to his abbreviations, and yet he would print him as Clarendon
and Bunyan are printed, which would involve a change in the
spelling of words in nearl}^ every line of Bradford's History.
There can of course be no difference of opinion as to the
duty of an editor to retain the language, that is, the words,
of a writer, however awkward the form may be in which they
are preserved.
Dr. Green also made some observations on the subject, in
which he took substantially the same view as Mr. Parkman.
He said that the practice of tlie Society was the same as that
of the Camden and Hakluyt Societies of London, and of the
Government of Great Britain.
The President, in presenting a pamphlet to the Society,
said : —
Mr. G. D. Scull, now residing in England, and whose
memoir of the young Captain Evelyn is well remembered,
has sent me for our Library a privatel}^ printed account of
" Dorothea Scott, otherwise Gotherson and Hoghen," who
was one of the victims, as he says in his preface, " of that
most unscrupulous and plotting adventurer, Colonel John
Scott." And in his letter to me, Mr. Scull says that he has
written for publication, by the New York Historical Society
next year, '" The Life and Adventures of the Arch-scoundrel
John Scott, who made and marred a little of the early Colo-
nial History of America, — notably the Atherton Company in
Rhode Island."
I observe in the Dorothea Scott pamphlet, which I now lay
on the table, a letter of Katharine Scott to the second Gov-
ernor Winthrop, which J\L'. Scull must have found in one of
our volumes of Winthrop Papers. Katharine was a sister of
Mrs. Hutchinson, and the original of this letter is among my
own family manuscripts. Colonel John Scott was the sub-
ject of elaborate dealing by our associate, the late Colonel
Aspinwall, in connection with what is called the Narragan-
sett Patent. His paper will be found in the Proceedings of
June, LS62,* and exhibits a mingled romance and rascality in
Scott's career, which might well entitle him to such a memoir
* Vol. vi. p. 4L— Eds.
186 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [April,
as we have lately had of Sh^ Christopher Gardiner. I find a
few letters or copies of letters of Scott's among my unpub-
lished Winthrop papers, but I am not sure that they add
any thing to what Colonel Aspinwall's paper contains. Dr.
Deane, to whom the Narragansett Patent and the Atherton
Company and the notorious Colonel John Scott are familiar
themes, shall examine them at his leisure and pleasure.
There is also a long account of Scott in a note of Dr.
Palfrey's second volume of the " History of New England." *
Mr. WiNSOR, referring to the paper of Mr. R. C. Win-
throp, Jr., on early portrait-painters in Boston, read at the last
meeting,! laid on the table a heliotype, somewhat reduced,
of an india-ink drawing, subscribed The Rev'd Dr. Cotton
Mather, f Sarah Moorhead, whicli he had found since
the last meeting, in the College Librar}^ at Cambridge. It
was laid away among some old maps, with some of Pelham's
prints of the Boston ministers, and other engravings, and
there is no record of its history. Mr. Sibley, the former
librarian, has no recollection of ever having seen it. The
drawing is evidently contemporary work, and the " limning "
is not bad, showing a hand equal to a bold and somewhat
vigorous sketch, of which we may yet find other traces.
There is in the rooms of the Antiquarian Society at Worces-
ter an oil-painting, supposed to be the work of Pelham, and
a mezzotint engraving by Pelham is marked as following a
picture painted from life. This engraving resembles the
painting at Worcester, and evidently follows it. A like
resemblance belongs to this drawing, but the features are
strono'er in the drawinc;' than they are in the enoravino;.
The i'ramework of the engraving is different from that which
surrounds the drawing. It is not unlikely that the drawing
was made from the painting to guide Pelham in engraving
the plate, which represents Mather at the age of sixt3--five in
1727. The Rev. Mr. Moorhead, the first minister of the
Federal Street Meeting-house, is said to have married an
English lady, named Sarah, not long before this date ; and it
is possible that this Sarah Moorhead was the maker of this
drawing.
Mr. Deane spoke of having communicated to the Societj'^
several years ago a copy of tlie last will of Captain John
Smith, of Virginia and New England memory, which had
been sent to him from London by Mr. Henry Adams, and
* Page 5Gi. — Eds. t Ante, p. 113. — Eds.
1883.] WILL OF GEORGE SMITH. 187
was printed in the Society's Proceedings for January, 1867 ;*
also, that a brief extract from the will of John Smith's father,
George Smith, of Willoughby, co. Lincoln, was printed in
a note at the same place. Mr. Deane now connnunicated a
copy of the will of George Smith, in full, sent to him by Mr.
Alexander Brown, of Nelson County, Virginia, recently pro-
cured from the District Registry at Lincoln, dated oO March,
1596, and proved 2 April, the same year, with liberty to pub-
lish it if desired. It was an interesting document from its
antiquity, aside from its association with the more famous son
who is mentioned in it as " mine eldest son." It would be
seen that George Smith was a tenant of Lord Willoughby,
and that his "ferme," which he bequeaths to his wife dur-
ing her widowhood, was held " by coppie of Court scrowle,"
which was an estate known as " copyhold." '•'• Copyhold
tenures, as Sir Edward Coke observes, although very meanly
descended, yet come of an ancient house. . . . Copyholders
are in truth no other but villeins, who, by a long series of
immemorial encroachments on the lord, have at last estab-
lished a customary right to those estates, which before were
held absolutely at the lord's will." (2 Bl. 91, 95.)
Will of George Smith.
In the name of God. Amen. In the thyrtyth day of IMarche A
thowsand five hundreth & ninety six I George Smith of Willonghbie
juxta Alford on Marisco in the Countie of Lincohje beiiige of good &
perfect memorie I thank God for it thoughe in bodie weake & payned
doe ordeyne & make this my kisfc Will & Testamentt in manner &
forme followiuge Fyrst I bequeathe my Soule into the mercifull hands
of thalmightie God in the mediation of Jesus Chryst myne alone &
all sufficieutt Savio'" & my bodie to be burred within Willoughbie
Churche Itm I give to Lincoln Minster vi'' Itm to y** poore of y'^
foresaide Willoughbie iii^ iiii'^ I geve to the Right Honorable my Lord
Willouglibie under whome I have many yeares lived as his poor tennant
as a token of my dewtifull good will the best of my two yeare old Colte
Jtm I give & bequeathe unto Alice my Wife y'^ Ferme wOh I now
dwell on well I houlde by Coppie of Court scrowle as the graunt of
ye Right Honorable my aforsaide good Lordduringe her widdow hoode
according to y^ custome of his Lordeshippe manner of Willoughbie &
if it shall please God y' my saide Wyfe doe marry agayne & take a
second husband then my will is y* my saide ferme shall come to John
Smyth my eldest sonne whome I chardge & comand to honoure & love
my foresaide good Lord Willoughbie dureinge his lyfe Itm [I] geve
to Alice Smyth my Wife tenne pounds of good & lawful! currant mony
* Vol. ix. p. 451. — Eds.
188 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [April
of England to be paide unto her att ye quarter of a yeares end next
after my deathe Itm 1 will & bequeath unto ye saide Alice my Wyf'e a
bedsteade in y'' first cliamb wt*" a fether bedd A Coveringe A paire of
Lynne sheets one blauckett a bowlster wth pillow «fc pillow boarde Itm
I geve to Alice Smyth my daughter tenn pounde of good & lawfull eur-
reut monies of England wth a bedsteade in the parlor & a fetlier bedd a
coveringe & a blanckett A paire of lynne sheets «fe a paire of hempen
sheets wth boulster pillow & pillow board Itni I geve to the said Alice
my daughter halfe of all my peuter & brasse And if ye said Alice my
daughter doe dye before y*" age of eighteene yeares 1 will that all her
parte and portoii as well of money as of other thhigs be equally devided
betweene myne Executors Itm I geve & bequeathe to Eob' Smyth
my kyusman tfourty shillings of good & lawfull current money of Eng-
land to be given him wthin one half yeare next after my death Itin
I geve to John Smyth mine eldest sonne & to ye heires of his bodie
lawfully begotten Seaven acres of pasture lyeinge w'hin y^ teriitorie of
Charleton Magne Itm I geve to Francis Smyth my younger sonne &
to the heires of his bodie lawfully begotten my tw'o tenements & one
little Close in a certeyn streete in Louthe called Westgate And if y*
saide Francis dye wMiout hyers of his bodie lawfully begotten I will
that y" saide tenements & close remaine to my saide sonne John Smyth
and his hyers of his bodie lawfully begotten All the rest of my goods
Dott yett given nor bequeathed as well moveable as unmoveable my
debts paied & my bodie honestly brought to y'' grounde I will shall
equally be devided betwixt my saide two sonnes John Smyth & Fran-
cis Smith whome I make the Executors of this my last Will & Testa-
ment and I hartely & earnestly entreate my good frends George
Mettham to be y*" supvisor of this my last Will & TestiYit to whome I
geve in consideration of bis paynes x' Witnesses to this last Will &
testam' — Thomas Scarboroughe and Bartholomew Lawrence.
Proved at Lincoln on the twenty second day of April 1596 by
George Metham the Supvisor named in the Will.*
Mr. Deane also presented to the Cabinet of the Society, in
the name of Mr. Charles W. Folsom, of Cambridge, a helio-
type copy of an engraved portrait of Washington, inscribed
"B. Blyth del." and "J.Norman, sculp"; also, " Taken from
an original picture in possession of his Ex^^ Gov- Hancock.
Published by John Coles, Boston, March 26"\ 178:^." The
original engraving, from which the heliotype is taken, belongs
to the family of Mr. Folsom, or more properly to his mother,
and came to her from her grandfather, Mr. McKean, of
Boston, It is believed to be nnique.
* This office copy was " extracted from the District Eegistry attaclicd to
the Probate Division of tlie High Court of Justice at Lincoln," and is here
printed according to tlie original orthography. — Eds.
1883.] REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 189
Mr. Abbott Lawrence, in behalf of the proprietors of
the Brattle Street Church, deposited with the Society the
well-known cannon-ball which was formerly embedded in the
wall of the old church edifice in Brattle Street, and also
the Bibles and hymn-books used in the pulpit of that ancient
New England parish, the custody of which the Society
accepted.
The business of the Annual Meeting was then taken up.
The reports of the Council, prepared by Mr. Lodge, of the
Librarian, Cabinet-keeper, and Treasurer, were presented and
accepted. The Treasurer's report, with that of tlie Auditing
Committee attached, was printed. These reports are as
follows : —
Report of the Council.
The reports of the Treasurer and of the other officers show
that the Society continues to be prosperous. The debt is
diminisln'ng, there is a consequent increase of our resources,
and the Library is growing and becoming constantly more
valuable. The unusual number of eleven deaths among our
immediate members, which made such a sad feature in the
Council's report for the year 1881, has not been repeated.
We have lost during the past year four Resident Members :
Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the most distinguished names
in American literature, famous and admired on both sides of
the Atlantic ; Dr. Chandler Robbins, a scholar and a student
of our local history, for seven years our Recording and for
thirteen years our Corresponding Secretary; and Dr. Paul A.
Chadbourne, ex-president of Williams College, and Mr. Na-
thaniel Thayer, whose deaths were announced at tlie last
meeting. Two of our Honorary Members have died within the
year, — the Hon. George P. Marsh and Frederic de Peyster ;
and from our list of Corresponding Members we have lost
Colonel Joseph L. Chester, George Washington Greene, and
the Rev. Jolni Richard Green, the brilliant historian of the
" English People," cut off in the midst of his labors and before
he had passed his forty-fifth year. Six Resident Members
have been elected during the year: Clement Hugh Hill,
Admiral George H. Preble, Frederick W. Putnam, James M.
Bugbee, John D. Washburn, and Professor Egbert C. Smyth.
Professor James Bryce, of London, the Rev. Charles R. Weld
and Mr. Herbert B. Adams, of Baltimore, and Signor Cornelio
Desimoni, of Genoa, have been added to the roll of Corre-
sponding Members ; while Mr. W. E. H. Lecky, the eminent
190 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [April,
English historian, has been chosen an Honorary Member of
the Society. The Hon. G. V. Fox resigned his resident
membership and has since been elected a Corresponding
Member. Two vacancies now exist in our list of liesident
Members.
During a large part of the year we had to regret the
absence of our President, whose place was so well and so
acceptably filled by our Vice-President, Dr. Ellis. j\Ir. Win-
throp returned in November last, bringing with him a most
interesting letter from JohnWinthrop, discovered among the
Kimbolton manuscripts, and with a fund of pleasant reminis-
cences, some of which have fortunately found an appropriate
place in our Proceedings.
The Society has published during the year another volume
of Winthrop Papers, making the eighth volume in the
fifth series of the Collections, and the nineteenth volume of
Proceedings.
The members of the Society have not been idle in their
individual capacity. During the year have appeared: "The
lied Man and the White j\Ian in North America," a large and
important work, by Dr. Ellis ; a careful and valuable history
of Hard wick, by Dr. Paige ; an interesting collection of
" Epitaphs in Old Bridgewater," a labor of love which we owe
to Mr. Willianis Latham ; the Carlyle and Emerson corre-
spondence, excellently edited by ]Mr. Norton ; the " Life of
Thomas Jefferson," a strong, spirited, and suggestive study,
the last contribution of Mr. Morse to the " American States-
man " series, of which he is the editor ; an interesting chapter
in the history of Groton in the witchcraft times, by Dr.
Green ; a very picturesque account of a typical New England
career in the address on Thomas Crane, delivered at Quincy
by Mr. Charles Francis Adams, Jr. ; a valuable comparative
study of the eloquence of Daniel Webster, by Judge Cham-
berlain ; and a careful article on Massachusetts for the " En-
cyclopaedia Britannica," by our Corresponding Secretary, Mr.
Winsor. This list indicates an active and productive interest
in our history among our members, and promises a future of
continued usefulness to the Society.
It is with great regret that we announce the resignation of
our Recording Secretary, Mr. Dexter, on account of ill-
health. He carries with him the gratitwde of the Society for
his valuable services, their sympathy for the cause of his
withdrawal, and their best wishes for his speedy and perma-
nent recovery.
In conclusion, the Executive Committee of the Council
1883.] REPORT OP THE CABINET-KEEPER. 191
have only to congratulate the Society on its prosperity and
its prospects, and upon the generous gift just received from
the widow of our valued associate, Richard Frothingham.
H. C. Lodge, Chairman.
Report of the Librarian.
During the year there have been added to the Library : —
Books 506
Pamphlets 1,912
Unbound volumes of newspapers 10
Broadsides 25
Maps 11
Volumes of manuscripts 10
In all 2,474
Of the books added, 428 have been given, 68 have been
bought, and 10 obtained by exchange. (3f the pamphlets
added, 1,839 have been given, 59 have been bought, and
14 procured by exchange.
The Library now contains, it is estimated, about 28,286
volumes ; including files of bound newspapers, the bound
manuscripts, and the Dowse collection. The number of
pamphlets is about 61,500.
Mr. Amos A. Lawrence has given 24 volumes and 9 pam-
phlets relating to the Great Rebellion.
There have been bought, with the income of the Savage
Fund, 67 volumes and 59 pamphlets.
During the year there have been taken from the Library
104 volumes and 10 pamphlets, all of which have been re-
turned.
Respectfully submitted,
Samuel A. Green, Librarian.
Boston, April 12, 1883.
Report of the Cabinet-keeper.
During the past year there have been 18 donations to the
Cabinet, most of which were noted at the time of presenta-
tion. Among these may be especially mentioned 7 volumes
of autographs, — the gift of the late Mrs. Grenville T. Win-
throp, — and a copy of Stuart's portrait of General David
192 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [April,
Cobb, by Harding, deposited here in 1854, and in January
last presented to the Society by Robert T. Paine, Esq., of
BrookHne.
We have to-day also the historical cannon-ball for so many
years embedded in the western wall of the Brattle Street
Church, now deposited in the Cabinet by that Society ; also
the old Bibles and hymn-books used by the pastor.
There will hereafter be missed from our collection of paint-
ings the Winslow portraits, deposited here more than fifty
years ago, and which were reclaimed by the Winslow heirs,
and restored to them in October last. They are seven in
number, including the Governors Edward and Josiah Wins-
low. These now hang in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth. With the
portraits were also restored the Winslow arms, and the sword
of General John Winslow. Before surrendering these, per-
mission was asked and granted for a cop}^ of the portrait of
Governor Edward Winslow, and a faithful copy was made by
Mr. Edgar Parker, of Boston, which now hangs over the door
of entrance to these rooms.
Early in the summer, application was made by the Bosto-
nian Society for a temporary loan of the portraits of the Pro-
vincial governors, the speaker's desk, the Indian vane, and
the painting of the Old State House, for the adornment of
their rooms at the time of their formal opening. These were
returned uninjured in September.
During the summer, the portraits of Dr. Chauncy, Gov-
ernor Strong, Governor Endicott, Major Robert Pike, Benja-
min Pollard, and that of Christopher Columbus were carefully
cleansed and repaired by Mr. D. D. Sinclair.
A new mahogany case has been procured for the Cabinet,
which will contain the coins and most of the engravings
belonging to it.
The Catalogue of the Cabinet, begun two years ago, is not
yet finished. The first portion, however, compiising the paint-
ings, is to-day upon the table. Of such a remarkable medley
of articles, — the accumulation of nearly a hundred years, — a
correct and properly arranged catalogue necessarily involves
much time and labor, but it is hoped, when comi)leted, will
not be without value, if only as a table of reference.
All which is respectfully submitted,
F. E. Oliver, Cabinet-keeper,
April 12, 1883.
1883.] REPORT OF THE TREASURER. 193
Report of the Treasurer.
In compliance with the requirements of the By-laws,
Chapter VII., Article 1, the Treasurer respectfully submits
his Annual Report made up to March 31, 1883.
During the year the Society has received two important
gifts. On the 13th of October the sum of three thousand dol-
lars in cash was paid over to the Treasurer, under the will of
the late William Winthrop, for many years a Corresponding
Member. This bequest was specially intended as a binding
fund, and, in accordance with a vote passed at the November
meeting, it will be known as the William Winthrop Fund.
The principal has been temporarily invested in the build-
ing ; and interest at the rate of six j)er cent per annum will be
credited to the income account.
A few months later the widow of our late valued associate,
the Hon. Richard Frothingham, intimated her intention of
making a substantial gift to the Society ; and on the 23d of
March the Treasurer received a certificate of stock in the
Union Stock Yard and Transit Company, of Chicago, of the
market value of about three thousand dollars, and a delivery
of the stereotype plates of " The Siege of Boston," " The
Life of Joseph Warren," and " The Rise of the Republic."
No conditions accompany this generous gift ; but the Treas-
urer respectfully recommends that the sum of three thousand
dollars be set apart as a permanent fund, to be called, in rec-
ognition of Mr. Frothingham's long and valuable services, the
Richard Frothingham Fund, and that the income only be
appropriated from time to time by the Council to such uses
as shall in their judgment best promote the objects for which
the Society was founded.
The other funds held by the Treasurer are the following : —
I. The Appleton Fund, which was created Nov. 18, 1854,
by the gift to the Society, from the executors of the will of the
late Samuel Appleton, of stocks of the appraised value of ten
thousand dollars. These stocks were subsequently sold for
$12,203, at which sum the fund now stands. Interest, at the
rate of six per cent per annum, is computed on that amount,
and is chargeable on the real estate. The income is applica-
ble to ""the procuring, preserving, preparation, and publication
of historical papers." The unexpended balance of income
now on hand, and the income for the ensuing year will be
available toward the publication of the Pickering Papers.
II. The Massachusetts Historical Trust-Fund,
which now stands, with the accumulated income, at $10,000.
25
194 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [April,
This fund originated in a gift of two thousand dollars from
the late Hon. David Sears, presented Oct. 15, 1855, and
accepted by the Society, Nov. 8, 1855. On Dec. 26, 1866, it
was increased by a gift of five hundred dollars from Mr. Sears,
and another of the same amount from our late associate, Mr.
Nathaniel Thayer. The income can be appropriated only in
accordance with the directions in Mr. Sears's declaration of
trust in the printed Proceedings for November, 1855. Inter-
est, at the rate of six per cent per annum, is chargeable on
the real estate of the Society. The balance of income which
was not added to the principal of the fund has been appropri-
ated toward the publication of the Trumbull Papers.
III. The Dowse Fund, which was given to the Society
by the executors of the will of the late Thomas Dowse, April
9, 1857, for the " safe keeping " of the Dowse Library. It
amounts to 810,000, and is a* charge on the real estate.
IV. The Peabody Fund, which was presented by the late
George Peabody, in a letter dated Jan. 1, 1867, and now
amounting to $22,123. It is invested in the seven per cent
bonds of the Boston and Albany Railroad Co., and a deposit
in the Suffolk Savings Bank ; and the income is only avail-
able for the publication and illustration of the Society's Pro-
ceedings and Memoirs, and for the preservation of the Society's
Historical Portraits.
V. The Savage Fund, whicli was a bequest from the late
Hon. James Savage, received in June, 1873, and now standing
on the books at the sum of $5,295. It is invested in the bonds
of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad Co.,
and in the stock of the Boston Gas-Light Co. The income
is to be used for the increase of the Society's Library.
VI. The Erastus B. Bigelow^ Fund, Mdiich was given in
February, 1881, by Mrs. Helen Bigelow Merriman, in recog-
nition of her father's interest in the work of the Societ}^
The original sum was one thousand dollars ; but the interest
up to this date having been added to the principal, it now
stands at $1,132.61. There is no restriction as to the use to
be made of this fund.
VII. The General Fund, which now amounts to $3,550,
and represents a legacy of two thousand dollars from the
late Henry Harris, received in July, 1867, a legacy of one
thousand dollars from the late George Bemis, received in
March, 1879, three commutation fees of one hundred and
fifty dollars each, and a gift of one hundi'ed dollars from our
late distinguished associate, Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is
invested in a bond of the Quincy and Palmyra Railroad Co.,
1883.] EEPORT OF THE TREASURER. 195
for one thousand dollars, and a bond of the Hannibal and
St. Joseph Railroad Co., also for one thousand dollars. Fif-
teen hundred and fifty dollars have been paid from it toward
the reduction of the mortgage debt ; and this sum is an incum-
brance on the real estate of the Society.
The following abstracts and the trial balance show the
present condition of the several accounts : —
CASH ACCOUNT.
1882. °^^"'-
March 31. To balance on hand $703.02
1883.
March 31. To receipts as follows : —
General Account 11,887.72
Income of Peabody Fund 1,470.00
Income of Savage Fund 350.00
Interest, Sinking Fund 29.09
William Winthrop Fund 3,000.00
. $17,439.83
March 31. To balance brought down $1,589.44
joco CREDITS.
March 31. By payments as follows: —
Reduction of mortgage debt $8,000.00
Income of Peabody Fund 1,169.93
Income of Savage Fund 299.59
Income of Appleton Fund 179.10
General Account 6,201.77
By balance on hand 1,589.44
$17,439.83
GENERAL ACCOUNT.
1883. ^^^"«-
March 31. To sundry payments : —
J. A. Henshaw, salary .'?1,200.00
J. H. Tuttle, salary 1,075.00
Interest on mortgage 1,905.00
Part of cost of Sewall Papers, Vol. Ill 899.61
Printing, stationery, and postage 204.93
Fuel and light 198.65
Binding 23.32
Care of fire, «5;c 353.67
Miscellaneous expenses and repairs 341.59
Income of Appleton Fund 732.18
Income of Massachusetts Historical Trust-Fund . . 574.97
Income of Dowse Fund 600.00
Income of E. B. Bigelow Fund 64.11
Sinking Fund 2,000.00
To balance to new account 5,674..35
$15,847..38
196 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [April,
1882. CREDITS.
March 31. By balance on hand $3,359.66
1883.
March 31. By sundry receipts : —
Rent of Building 9,000.00
Income of General Fund 160.00
Interest 75.86
Income of Dowse Fund 600.00
Admission Fees 175.00
Assessments 960.00
Sales of publications, &c » . . 1,516.86
$15,847.38
March 31. By balance brought down $5,674.35
Income of Appleton Fund.
1882. ^^^"«-
March 31. To balance against the account $280.44
1883.
March 31. „ copying Pickering Manuscripts 179.10
„ balance carried forward 272.64
$732.18
CREDITS.
1883.
March 31. By one year's interest on $12,203 principal . ..... $732.18
March 31. By balance brought down $272.64
Income of Massachusetts Historical Trust-Fund.
1882. ^=^"''
Oct. 1. To amount carried to Mass. Historical Trust- Fund . . . $7,000.00
1883.
March 31. „ balance carried forward 157.87
$7,157.87
CREDITS.
1882.
March 31. By amount brought forward $6,582.90
Sept. 1. „ one year's interest on $3,000 principal 180.00
„ one year's interest on accrued interest ...... 394.97
$7,157.87
1883.
March 31. By balance brought down $157.87
Income of Dowse Fund.
1883. ^'^''"'•
March 31. To amount placed to credit of General Account . . . . $600.00
1883 CREDITS.
March 81. By one year's interest on $10,000 principal .... $600.00
1883.] REPORT OF THE TREASURER. 197
Income of Peabody Fund.
DEBITS.
1882.
March 31. To balance brought forward $328.22
1883.
March 31. „ amount paid for printing, binding, preservation of
historical portraits, &c 1,169.93
$1,498.15
March 31. To balance brought down $28.15
CREDITS.
1883.
March 31. By one year's interest on railroad bonds $1,470.00
„ balance to new account 28.15
$1,498.15
Income of Savage Fund.
DEBITS.
1882.
March 31. To balance brought forward $99.38
1883.
March 31. To amount paid for books 299.59
" $398.97
March 31. To balance brought down $48.97
CREDITS.
1883.
March 31. By dividends on gas stock $50.00
„ interest on railroad bonds 300.00
„ balance to new account 48.97
$.398.97
Sinking Fund.
DEBITS.
1883.
Jan. 17. To amount applied to reduction of mortgage $2,029.09
CREDITS.
1882.
Oct. 1. By amount transferred from the General Account .... $2,000.00
1883.
Jan. 17. „ „ interest received 29.09
12,029.09
198
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [April,
TRIAL BALANCE.
DEBITS.
^^^}- , $1,589.44
Keal Lstate 1Q3 239 19
Investments .'.".*;■. 4^6,538.91
Income of Savage Fund 48.97
Income of Peabody Fund 28^15
$151,485.66
CREDITS.
Notes Payable $25,000.00
Building Account 53,077.19
Appleton Fund 12 203.00
Dowse Fund ,"..'.' Ioio0o!o0
Massachusetts Historical Trust-Fund 10,000.00
Peabody Fund 22123.00
Savage Fund 5^295.00
Erastus B. Bigelow Fund 1,132.61
William Winthrop Fund sioOO.OO
General Fund 3,'550'00
Income of Massachusetts Historical Trust-Fund 157.87
Income of Appleton Fund 272.64
General Account 5,674.35
$151,485.66
The real estate is subject to the following incumbrances, —
the balance of the mortgage note ($25,000), tlie principal of
the Appleton Fund ($12,203), of the Massachusetts Histori-
cal Trust-Fund ($10,000), of the Dowse Fund (810,000), of
the Era.stus B. Bigelow Fund ($1,132.61), and of the William
Winthrop Fund ($3,000) and a part of the principal of the
General Fund ($1,550), making in the aggregate, $62,885.01,
against $67,404.40 last year.
Charles C. Smith,
Treasurer.
Boston, March 31, 1883.
Report of the Auditing Committee.
Tlie undersigned, a Committee appointed to examine the
accounts of the Treasurer of tlie Massachusetts Historical
Society, as made up to March 31, 1883, have attended to
their duty, and report that they find them correctly kept and
properly vouched ; that the securities held by him for the
several funds correspond with the statements in his Annual
1883.] LIST OF OFFICERS. 199
Report ; that tlie balance of cash on hand is satisfactorily
accounted for ; and that the Trial Balance is accurately taken
from the Ledoer.
Samuel C. Cobb, , ^
Abbott Lawrence, ^ <^ommMee.
Boston, April 9, 1883.
Mr. Lodge, from the Committee to nominate ofiBcers for
the ensuing year, reported the following list, which, on a
ballot, was unanimously elected : —
Prtsident.
Hon. ROBERT C. WINTHROP, LL.D Boston.
Vice-Presidents.
Rev. GEORGE E. ELLIS, D.D Boston.
CHARLES DEANE, LL.D Cajibkidge.
Recording Secretary.
Rev. EDWARD J. YOUNG, A.M Cambridge.
Corresponding Secretary.
JUSTIN WINSOR, A.B Cambridge.
Ti'easurer.
CHARLES C. SMITH, Esq Bosto.n.
Librarian.
Hon. SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D Boston.
Cabinet-keejier.
FITCH EDWARD OLIVER, M.D Boston.
Executive Committee of the Council.
HEXRY W. HA^T^ES, A.M Boston
CHAKLES F. ADAMS, Jr., A.B .... ■ •
J. EF.LIOT CAHOT, LL.B .' .' Beookline!
JOHN T. MORSE, Jr., A.B Bevehiy
CLEMENT HUGH HILL, A.M .' .' , Boston.
On motion of Mr. Lodge,
Voted, That the best thanks of the Society be given to Mr.
Dexter and Mr. Hill for their valuable services in the office
of Recording Secretary.
200 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [April,
On motion of Judge Chamberlain, the thanks of the
Society were voted to Messrs. Lodge and Brooks, the retiring
members of the Executive Committee.
On motion of Mr. Smith, the appointment of a Committee
on Publication of the Proceedings was postponed till the next
meeting.
^n
AUTOGRAPH PAGE OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT OF THE LIFE AND VOYAGES
OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, BY WASHINGTON IRVING. PRESENTED BY
HIS NEPHEW SANDERS IRVING, ESQ.
^t-C^tty
't^Vi^.dK,
*4>:as^ 2^
-^^^i-^-^-V
1883.] MAY MEETING. 201
MAY MEETING, 1883.
The stated meeting was held on Thursday, the 10th
instant, at 3 o'clock p.m. ; the President, the Hon. Robert
C. WiNTHROP, in the chair.
The Recording Secretary read the record of the previous
meeting, which was accepted.
The Librarian reported the list of donors to the Library
during the last month.
The Corresponding Secretary communicated a- letter from
Signor Cornelio Desiraoni, Vice-President of the Historical
Society at Genoa, Italy, accepting his election as Correspond-
ing Member.
The President then said : —
^ During my recent visit to Washington, my friend and rela-
tive, Mr. Sanders Irving, with whom I was staying, happened
to mention that he had a considerable part of the original
autograph manuscript of the "Life of Columbus," by his
uncle, Washington Irving. Had I found, on examining the
pages, that the collection was complete, I should have urged
its being bound up and preserved as a precious memoiial of
the illustrious author. One of these days, wlien his relatives
were willing to part with it, it would have found a fit place
among the choicest treasures of some one of our great pub-
lic libraries. But as so many pages were already missing,
I gladly accepted one of them as a gift to our Autograph
Cabinet. It contains a passage from the sixth chapter, book
fifth, of the " Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus,"
in which his reception by the Spanish Court at Barcelona,
after his first landing in the New World, is brilliantly de-
scribed. As the preface to this work is dated at Madrid in
1827, this autograph page must have been written at least
fifty-six years ago. It displays the extreme care and neat-
ness with which Washington Irving prepared his manuscript
for the press, showing but few interlineations or erasures. It
might well be heliotyped for the next volume of our Proceed-
ings. Irving was .born on the 3d of April, 1783, and the
centennial anniversary of his birthday was duly commemo-
rated at Tarrytown last month. As the illustrious biographer
of Columbus and of Washington, his name must always have
a proud place in American literature.
26
202 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [MaT,
While I am on the subject of autographs, I may take the
opportunity of presenting an interesting original letter of one
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, — William
Ellery, of Rhode Island. He was born in Newport, Dec. 22,
1727 ; was graduated at Harvard University r\ 1747 ; was a
member of Congress from 1776 to 1786 ; and died on the 15th
of February, 1820, at ninety-tliree years of age. This letter
bears date February, 1806, when he was ceventy-nine. It is
addressed to a young son, who had doubtless been christened
after a then recent colonial governor of Rhode Island, from
whom he was descended. It is strikingly characteristic of
the man and of the times, and may well find a place in our
Proceedings. A " Life of William Ellery " is found in the
sixtli volume of Sparks's " American Biography," written by
his relative, Edward Tyrrel Channing, the brother of the
great preacher who bore the name of William Ellery. Some
of us have pleasant remembrances of the biographer, as our
Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, and the corrector and
criticiser of our themes at Harvard. We should hardly dare
to criticise anything of his. Yet I cannot but observe that
his biography gives little or no- account of the family of Wil-
liam Ellery, and leaves us wholly in the dark as to the young
son to whom this entertaining letter was addressed.*
Let me add that the letter was given to me by my valued
friend and classmate, Dr. Henry I. Bowditch, in whose name
I venture to present it to the Societ3^ As an autograph let-
ter of one of the signers of the Declaration, it has a special
interest and value.
I will detain you. Gentlemen, but a few moments longer
before calling for communications from others. I have re-
ceived a letter from our Corresponding Member, Professor
Henry M. Baird, of New York, the historian of the Hugue-
nots, on the subject of a monument to the famous Gaspard de
Coligny, the most illustrious victim of the Massacre of St.
Bartiiolomew, in 1572. Coligny made one or two unsuccess-
ful efforts, I believe, to colonize the coast of South Carolina,
and the banks of St. John's River in Florida, with fugitive
Protestants, and might thus have a local claim to be remem-
bered on this side of the ocean. But it is as the hero and
martyr of a world-wide cause that lie is now to be commem-
* Goortje Wanton Ellery, the youngest son of the sic;ner, born at Newport,
24 Deceini)er, 178!), and died tiiere 20 January, 1867, aged seventy-seven. He
was a faithful officer in the Newport Custoni-House for fifty years, and was
held in high esteem for his sound judgment and strict integrity.
1883.] LETTER OF WILLIAM ELLERY. 203
orated, more than three centuries after his assassination.
It is certainly a most striking illustration of the growing
respect for the rights of conscience in France, that Roman
Catholics and Protestants are alike included in the list of
eminent men by whom tliis monument has been projected,
and that the French government has not only granted an
admirable site for the statue, between the Oratoire du
Louvre and the Arcades of the Rue de Rivoli, but has offered
to contribute one third of the cost after the other two tiiirds
have been raised by private subscription. Twenty thousand
dollars will be the cost of the whole work, of which more
than five thousand have been secured. Professor Baird would
gladly be the medium of any American contributions to the
monument, which the descendants of Huguenots or others
may be disposed to make.
Autograph Letter of William EUenj, of Rhode Ixland, one of the Signers of
the Declaration of Independence.
Deak Wanton ^^^yi-onr Febr^ _ 1806.
I have received a letter from M!' Updike dated February 24'!^ inclos-
ing your letter, I presume written about the same time ; for it bore no
date.
In it you write thus " there was a man came from Sea to Wickford
with the small pox " this is not properly expressed. It would have
been shorter and better to have written, about two or three weeks ago
a man came from sea to Wickford with the small pox. I am glad that
you have had the Kine-Pox which has been proved to be a security
against the Small Pox. The people in Wickford, and every where
else would do well to be inoculated for the Kine-Pox ; which I believe
has in no instance proved mortal. ' I hope the Bank will succeed and
that Wickford may flourish. Could not Capt. Barney procure a cargo
or freight at Wickford ?
You have gone through INIurray's Grammar twice, and are now
perusing it a third time. How do you proceed in Arithmetic ? Are
you not almost master of it ? When you have obtained a sufficient
knowledge of it, I wish you to enter upon Geography and the Mathe-
matics. Attend to your hand writing. It is too stiff, and looks as if
you wrote with contracted fingers. I believe you do not hold your pen
properly. If you do not you will never write easily and swiftly. Ob-
serve how those who write handsomly hold their jiens, and imitate
them. I am glad to find that there is only one word spelt wrong in
your letter, and that is the omission of h in the word through. When
you write but on one page fold your letter as I have done this ; but
if you prefer your present mode, take care to make the margin broad
enough to receive the wafer without touching the writinir.
Last Monday night Genl Washington's birth day was celebrated
here by an elegant and brilliant ball. The Saturday preceding was
204 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
his birthday ; but the ball was put off 'till Monday ; that they might
not encroach upon the Sabbath.
I intend that you shall learn to dance ; for I wish you may move
easily and handsomly, as well as write so ; and as Pojoe says, they
move easiest who have learn 'd to dance-
Gracefulness in all our actions is becoming and recommendatory.
Affectation is worse than clumsiness. I have lamented that I never
learned enough of dancing, and bowing, to know how to enter, and
leave a room gracefully ; not because I was from ignorance of dancing
unqualified to take the floor in a ball room.
Mr Addison in his character of Marcia, in his Cato's Tragedy men-
tions as an ornament, that " Grace was in all her steps." You have
acted, I believe, a part in that Tragedy and will recollect that part of
the description of her I have noticed.
You my, dear Son, will have soon to act a part on the theatre of the
world, and I hope you will act it well ; for there the honour lies. To
do this it is essentially necessary that you should be honest, diligent,
and virtuous, and pious. I say jjious, because piety requires, and secures
both virtue and diligence. God grant that you may be possessed of
a good heart, and of all useful knowledge. We are all as well as
usual. My humour has not left me ; but I hope it will when the
weather grows warm.
My regards to M" Barney, and to all who live in her house.
I am affectionately
yrs -^M Ellery.
The folding I proposed for a letter
written on one page will not answer
for one written on two, therefore I
shall fold this as usual.
The Recording Secretary and Mr. C. H. Hill and Dr. A.
McKenzie were appointed a committee to publish the Pro-
ceedings.
General Francis A. Walker, of Boston, and Professor
Arthur L. Perry, of Williams College, were unanimously
elected Resident Members of the Society.
The Rev. Dr. Dexter then made the following remarks : —
I am not able to agree with our respected associate, Mr.
Adams, in his contention that this Society ought to give to
the public in modern form the ancient manuscripts which it
prints;* and, as time failed last month for full discussion, I
ask leave to-day to read what, if possible, I would then have
said on that subject.
This Society sets before itself as the constituency for whose
benefit it especially labors, in the first place, intelligent and
* Ante, p. 175. — Ens.
1883.] THE FEINTING OF OLD MANUSCRIPTS. 205
cultivated people ; and, in the second place, pre-eminently,
such intelligent and cultivated people as are interested in his-
torical literature, and addicted to historical studies. We do
not publish primarily for circulating libraries ; nor, indeed,
so much for amj who read, as for those who write history.
It being granted that we have in possession letters, jour-
nals, and miscellaneous manuscripts adapted to throw light
'upon historical questions, it seems to be obvious that the
first choice of most students of such matters would be, if
possible, to have access to those manuscripts themselves.
But this must involve much trouble for them, and could not
be without a risk unwise for us. Publication in some form,
therefore, becomes expedient. The highest ideal of such
publication would be through photo-lithography of the manu-
scripts, or some equivalent process oi facsimile^ which, should
present them to the public desiring them in such shape as to
be, to all intents and purposes, indistinguishable fi'om the
originals. But this involves an expenditure seldom justifia-
ble, where possible. The next best thing, I maintain, is the
rendition of such manuscripts through type, as nearly as may
be in their exact form. This requires, of course, work more
costly than ordinary, because the printed pages must accu-
rately represent the written ones in all details of contraction,
misspelling, false punctuation, and the like. Yet it is in
this manner entirely possible to place in the hands of investi-
gators the materials of history in a form as serviceably accu-
rate as the original, and more useful, because more easily read.
Thus, to refer to a publication on which Mr. Adams remarked,
the student who has before him our much-honored associate,
Dr. Green's, reproduction in type of the " Early Records of
Groton, Massachusetts," is at least as well off for accuracy as,
and much better off for comfort than, if the original •' Indian
Roll" were itself open on his table. This, because Dr.
Green's editing employed its skill in exactly reproducing,
and not in translating or embellishing the record.
There can, of course, be no objection that he who edits
such a manuscript so published, should accompany it with
every critical and explanatory suggestion which his general
skill in such matters, and his special familiarity with the
document in hand, may prompt. Indeed, it is much to be
desired that he should do so ; provided always he be careful
to illustrate, and never to supersede, his original. In that
case the student who looks to such a work for light is to a
degree as well off as if the original were before him with the
accomplished editor looking over his shoulder to interpret its
206 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAl, SOCIETY. [May,
doubtful passages and illustrate its obscure references. No
doubt the experience of every person who has had much
occasion to examine ancient and obscure records has led him
to be always grateful for all good editing, yet to esteem that
editing alwaj's best which leaves in his possession the mate-
rial for personal judgment as to all the doubtful matters of
the case.
Nothing, for example, is more common in ancient manu-
scripts than a hiatus — sometimes valde dejiendus — at the
end of a line where the ink is faded, or at the top or bottom
corner of a page where the paper is torn or worn, and the
only clew to the missing part of the sense lies in the connec-
tion ; a clew almost sure to take a different aspect with dif-
ferent minds. Or part of a word is obscured by an opaque
ink-blot, or has been eaten out by a worm, or burned out by
a spark from a pipe ; leaving the sense of the passage to
determine whether the writer intended, for example, —
cala [bash], or cala [boose], or cala [mar], or cala [mine], or
cala [mint], or cala [mist], or cala [mite], or cala [mus], or
cala [mity]. I would rather take my chances with the word
reproduced as it stands, than to have anybody's conjectural
reading, without that Oi:)portunity. And I judge others by
myself.
To the case of proper names these remarks particularly
apply, because the clew there becomes often faint and dubi-
ous ; while one proper name may be as good as another for
the stop-gap, — if not a great deal better. I need only refer
to an illustration within the cognizance of many of the ex-
perts of our own number, where long, if not high, debate
took place over the question of the correct reading of the sig-
nature of a certain letter. Colonel Chester would have edited
it as beyond all question Slayney. Mr. King, of the Essex
Archaeological Society, pronounced it Stvayney, with possibili-
ties for Slayney. The best expert in the British Museum
made it Slayney. Our honored President at first thought it
to be Stanley or Stainly ; but subsequently, in view of the
indorsement of his renowned ancestor on the letter, judged it
more likely to be Ashley. And the autographic j)uzzle was
solved at last by Mr. Appleton, who. through the evidence of
the crest on the seal, settled it to be Ashley. Now I maintain
that, in a matter of any particular importance, the printing of
such a document should be accompanied by the facsimile of a
word so dubious, as oifering the only feasible method of per-
forming our duty of honest reproduction toward those treas-
ures of the past of which we may be custodians.
1883.] THE PRINTING OF OLD MANUSCRIPTS. 207
It may, indeed, be pleaded that these are exceptional cases,
and that, were exact reprint granted to be a duty in such
instances, the wisdom of perpetually reproducing mere me-
chanical contractions, such as y* for " that," y'' for " the," j^
for '• then," y°^ for " them," w*'^ for " with," and the like, —
which disfigure the printed page and stumble the common
reader, without in any degree modifying the sense, — would
not be thereby established. To this I think there are, fairly,
two answers. In the first place, it is of great consequence
for any editor who has a reputation to gain, and of greater
consequence to a Society like this which has a reputation to
maintain, and the best historical interests of the community
to promote, to have one fixed rule for work, and to have that
rule the best. If that rule be one of absolute, all-inclusive,
scrupulous, never-varying, and never-wearying accuracy of
reproduction — nearest approach possible to facsimile — the
world knows what to expect, and will govern itself accord-
ingly. But the moment tliat rule is relaxed, and made toler-
ant of exceptions, confidence is at an end, because in no case
can it be exactly known how far such exceptions have been
carried. Editors do not live forever. And tastes drift. To-
day we shall have all such contractions spelled out fully,
according to the usage — so far as there was any usage — of
their time ; to-morrow we shall have them emaciated if not
emasculated, after the manner of Dr. Webster ; and the next
day we shall have them expurgated according to the per-
fumed propriety which may then prevail, or fo7iografied into
barbarism itself. And nobody ever knows which is which.
In the second place, all contractions, misspellings, coarse-
nesses, and what not, are a part of the verisimilitude of
the writer and his surroundings and his times. They every
one help us sharply to see him as he was, and his conditions
as they were ; instead of dimly discerning all through the haze
of modern improvements, as they were not. It aids us to
comprehend the hard times which our fathers joyfully en-
dured, when we see their words so jammed together ns to
extrude every possible letter, in order, when paper was worth
its weight in coin, and scarce at that, to compress into a
square inch the substance of a page. I have a manuscript
sermon of Dr. Bellamy — and I make no doubt that when he
preached it, it held out to the entire content of his congrega-
tion — whiqh is written on two leaves, both of which might
lie together on the palm of my hand and hardly jut over on
either side. It is worth something to him who wants to
understand the " true inwardness " of New England history
208 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
to be able to know, by Dr. Green's help, that a man who was
enough of a man to be town-clerk — and, after the minister,
possibly chief scholar — of a thriving Massachusetts town, as
late as 1700, spelt "hog" and '^ legally " with an e, and
" rest " with an a ; the more when put with the fact that the
Hon. Samuel Sewall of this town, graduate of Harvard,
jurist, and author, was spelling in that same year " entombed "
without a 6, " weather " without an a, " private " without an
g, and " porridge " M'ithout a c?. I fail to see why, on grounds
of truth or taste, it is more to be justified that the letters and
papers of George Washington be edited into a style more
polished than he actually wrote, than that Stuart or Trum-
bull should have painted the paterpatrial eyes or nose other
than they were, to please some supposed demand of later
times.
But it is said, further, that our fathers did not i^rint in this
way ; that when their manuscript went into type the con-
tractions expanded into full-fledged words, and that therefore
we should print their manuscripts as they were in the habit
of doing.
I think this averment as to their habit is something stronger
than the facts will warrant. Taking down from my shelves
without other selection than that of date, at intervals of a
decade, five vollimes of nearly the same size, for the half-cen-
tury from 1570 to 1610 inclusive, I find on opening them —
and I open them also at random — that I count in 1570
eighty-eight contractions on a single page ; in 1580, four ;
in 1590, twenty-one ; in 1600, twenty-three ; and in 1610,
sixteen.
But whatever our fathers may have done when they pre-
pared their matter for the press, or printed it, clearly the vast
majority of their manuscripts which have come to our hands,
and which we put into type, was never intended by its au-
thors for such use. It consists of individual and family letters,
personal journals, and private records of many sorts, which
those who wrote them never for one moment imagined would
reappear in the glory of type to satisfy the thirst for knowl-
edge of future generations. Why, then, are we not bound to
deal so justly by them as to let the world see them in their
literary undress? Who would not rather meet Sir Philip
Sidney, Shakspeare, John Milton, or Vandyck in doublet,
jerkin, and trunk hose, than dowdyfied into a "dude"; or
even disennobled in the most costly and courtly trousers,
swallow-tails, and stove-pipe hats of our time ?
I only add, in closing, that the same principles, as it seems
1883.] BURIAL-GROUND INSCRIPTIONS. 209
to rae, apply with like force to the reprint of an ancient book.
Grant that it be crammed with errors of the press, and that
its punctuation sometimes runs wild, I contend that the
function of reprinting is not that of revam[)ing. Books so
scarce that only two or three, or eight, or ten copies are
known, are practically as inaccessible as manuscripts, and
often need to be reproduced for the general good. But that
reproduction should aim, as its highest function, to put the
old hook just as it is, and not a new book founded on the old,
into the hands of the student. And if there be portions
which are obscured by obvious errors of the press to that
degree that more than one interpretation becomes possible ;
what is wanted is not that the editor should oracularly settle
which is the true sense to the exclusion of all others, but that
he aid his readers toward a wise choice between such senses
as may in reason be admissible.
And, as to the modernizing of antique spelling and ancient
style in reprinting an historical classic, I submit that whoever
compares, page by page and line by line, even so well done a
work as Dr. Young's " Chronicles of the Pilgrims " with its
originals, will find in slight omissions and errors, and now and
then perhaps a mistake involving possible misrepresentation
of the exact intent of the writers, frequent occasion to wish
that Dr. Young had been content to give us Bradford and
Winslow minutely and exactly as they were, and not as he
thought they ought to be.
Dr. Green, who was Mayor of Boston last year, presented
copies of the inscriptions on the bronze tablets recently placed
on the gates of the older burial-grounds in the city. He said
that the first public suggestion of such memorials came from
Alderman Stebbins, who introduced the order passed at a
meeting of the Board of Aldermen, on Nov. 3, 1879 ; but it
appears from the Proceedings (xvii. 132) that at least two
months before this, Mr. Winthrop had suggested placing an
inscribed tablet on the King's Chapel burial-ground. This
order authorized the Mayor to place suitable tablets at tlie
entrance of certain burial-o-rounds, Qivino- the names of said
grounds, the dates of their establishment as well as the names
of some of the most prominent pei'sons buried therein ; but
for some reason it was never carried out. Last year, on Jan-
uary 23, Alderman Stebbins introduced a similar order, and
in compliance with it Dr. Green prepared the following in-
scriptions for the tablets, which have now been set up : —
27
210 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
KING'S CHAPEL BURIAL GROUND
1630
Here were buried
GOVERNORS OF MASSACHUSETTS
John Wintlirop 1649, John Endecott 1665,
John Leverett 1679, William Shirley 1771 ;
LIEUT. GOVERNORS OF MASSACHUSETTS
William Phillips ia27, Thomas Lindall Winthrop 1841 ;
GOVERNORS OF CONNECTICUT
John Wiuthrop 1G76, Fitz-Johu Winthrop 1707 ;
JUDGES OF MASSACHUSETTS
Wait Still Winthrop 1717, Adam Winthrop 1743,
Oliver Wendell 1818, Thomas Dawes 1825;
MINISTERS OF BOSTON
John Cotton 1652, John Davenport 1670,
John Oxenbridge 1674, Thomas Bridge 1715.
KING'S CHAPEL BURIAL GROUND
1630
Here were buried
Jacob Sheafe 1658, John Winslow 1674,
Mary Chilton 1679,
a passenger in the Mayflower
and wife of John Winslow,
Major Thomas Savage 1682,
Lady Andros 1688,
Captain Roger Clap 1690, Thomas Brattle 1713,
Professor John Winthrop 1776,
James Lloyd 1831, Charles Bnlfinch 1844.
1883.]
BURIAL-GROUND INSCRIPTIONS.
211
COPP'S HILL BURIAL GROUND
1659
Increase Mather 1723,
Samuel Mather 1785,
Thomas Lake,
John Phillips,
Here were buried
MINISTERS
Cotton Mather 1728,
Andrew Eliot 1778 ;
and
David Copp,
Anthony Haywood,
and others of the early inhabitants
of Boston.
Nicholas Upshall,
John Clarke,
On this ground were planted
the British Batteries
which destroyed the Village of Charlestown
during the Battle of Bunker Hill,
June 17, 1775.
GRANARY BURIAL GROUND
1660
Within this ground are buried
John Hancock, Samuel Adams,
and Robert Treat Paine,
Signers of the Declaration of Independence ;
GOVERNORS
Richard Bellingham, William Dummer,
James Bowdoin, Increase Sumner,
James Sullivan and Christopher Gore ;
Lieut. Governor Thomas Gushing ;
Chief Justice Samuel Sewall ;
Ministers John Baily, Samuel Willard,
Jeremy Belknap and John Lathrop.
212 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
GRANARY BURIAL GROUND
1660
Within this ground are buried
The victims of the Boston Massacre,
March 5, 1770.
Josiah Franklin and wife,
(Parents of Benjamin Franklin)
Peter Faneuil, Paul Revere;
and
John Phillips,
First Mayor of Boston.
ROXBURY BURIAL GROUND
Here were buried
GOVERNORS
Thomas Dudley 1653, Joseph Dudley 1720;
Chief Justice Paul Dudley 1752, Col. William Dudley 1743;
MINISTERS
John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians, 1690.
Thomas Walter 1725, Nehemiah Walter 1750,
Oliver Peabody 1752, Amos Adams 1775,
Eliphalet Porter 1833;
and
Benjamin Tompson, Schoolmaster and Physician, 1714.
1883.] CHARGES AGAINST SAMUEL ADAMS. 213
DORCHESTER BURSAL GROUND
Here were buried
GOVERNORS
William Stoughton 1701, William Taller 1732;
MINISTERS
Eichard Mather 1669, Josiah Flint 1680,
John Danforth 1730, Jonathan Bowman 1775,
Moses Everett 1813, Thaddeus Mason Harris 1842;
Major Gen. Humphrey Atherton 1661,
William Pole, Schoolmaster, 1674,
John Foster, First Printer of Boston, 1681,
Isaac Royal 1739, James Blake, Annalist, 1750,
and Ebenezer Clapp 1881.
Mr. A. C. GoODELL, Jr., followed with this paper: —
History scarcely shows a character of such mark, less sor-
did and less selfishly ambitions than Samnel Adams ; and his
example of claiming nothing for himself seems to have been
taken as a justification of the indifference which has suffered
the events of his early life to pass into oblivion, and of the cool
presumption with which he has been stripped of his laurels to
crown others. It was, therefore, with a profound sense of
gratitude to the author that, nearly ninety years after the
Declaration of Independence, those who felt the importance
of an extended memoir of Adams received from the press the
first comprehensive biography of him who did more than any
other one man to foster the idea of national supremacy in the
Colonies. Nor w^as this feeling of gratitude weakened by the
deplorable deficiency of this biography in tliose interesting
personal minutic© which it was hoped that private correspond-
ence and family tradition would have supplied. It was a
cause for thankfulness, rather, that so much had been res-
cued from oblivion.
As the distance of the author from the town and province
records, and from the libraries of Boston, in which are pre-
214 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
served man}^ rare and unique memorials of the revolutionary
era, immensely increased the difficulty of compilation, those
interested in this biography have been proportionably appre-
ciative of the patient toil which, with a devotion almost filial,
he bestowed upon his three volumes. This appreciation can-
not be better manifested than by contributing for the perfect-
ing of the book (or of another that may grow out of it)
whatever comes to our knowledge that may enlarge the
narrative or correct an error.
In this spirit I call your attention to some memoranda
from the public records that will correct the following pas-
sage in the author's note on page 38 of the first volume.
The author says : —
" Examination of every statute upon the subject from the earliest
time under the Province Charter of 1 692, down to 1785, will show
that no sureties were ever required of tax-collectors by any law of
the Province during that period. It is quite certain that neither
Samuel Adams nor any other collector of taxes of his time, either in
Boston or in any other town of the Province, ever gave sureties or
surety for the performance of the duty of collector. Bonds'by collec-
tors of taxes, with sureties, are of much later origin. The stringent
provisions of law during that period to urge collectors of taxes up to
a punctual and vigorous execution of their duties, by necessary impli-
cation show that they had no sureties, «fec."
Now, as I shall presently show, this explicit and reiterated
assertion that Samuel Adams gave no bond as collector is
wholly wrong ; and the strangest feature of this earnest
denial is not that it could have been conclusively rebutted
by a brief examination of the town clerk's- files in the City
Hall, but that it was entirely unnecessary to the general
proposition which he was endeavoring to maintain, — that the
charge of defalcation made against Adams in the third vol-
ume of Hutchinson's History, and to which I shall hereafter
refer more particularl}^ is without foundation.
Having had occasion recently to inquire into the circum-
stances that led to the passage, in 1769, of "An Act to enable
Robert Pierpont to collect the taxes uncollected by Samuel
Adams, late collector of taxes for the town of Boston," * I
found that though there seems, indeed, to have been no law
of the Province expressly requiring such security, it had been
the custom from a very early period for collectors of taxes
in Boston, as often as they were chosen, to give bond, with
* 1769-70, chap. 3 : Province Laws, vol. v. p. 27.
1883.] CHAEGES AGAINST SAIVIUEL ADAMS. 215
sureties, to the town treasurer, for the faithful performance
of their duty ; and that Adams, notwithstanding the state-
ment of his biographer that he first appeared in public life as
a collector of taxes, in 1764, held that office from 1756 to
1764, inclusive, and gave a new bond every year during that
period. Adams's last bond, given in 1764, a copy of which
I have in my possession,* was in the penalty of <£5,000, and,
thereon, Robert Pierpont and Benjamin Hallowell were sure-
ties. In 1765 he was again chosen collector, but did not
accept the trust ; and the next September he was elected a
representative to the General Court, from the town of Bos-
ton. Tliis was the beginning of his legislative career, upon
which he entered only about a month before the act of Par-
liament, known as the Stamp-Act, was appointed to go into
operation.
* The following is a literal transcript of this bond : —
ISnoto all iflcn bg tljcse ^Sresrnts that we Samuel Adams Gentleman, Ben-
jamin Hallowell Esq. Hubert Pierpont Gentleman all of Boston in the County
of yuffoik and Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New ICnj^land are held and
stand firmly bound and obliged unto David Jeffries of Boston aforesaid Gen-
tleman & Treasurer of said Town in the full and just sum of Five Thousand
Pounds Lawful Money of said Province to be paid unto the said David Jeffries
Treasurer as aforesaid or to his successors in said Office to the true payment
whereof we bind ourselves our Heirs Executors and Administrators Jointly and
Severailj', firmly by these Presents. Sealed with our Seals, Dated the '2H'^
Day of November Anno Domini One Tliousand Seven Hundred and sixty-four,
and in the Fifth Year of His Majestys Ueign.
2^1)0 Contlttton of the above written Obligation is such that whereas the
Town of Boston at a regtdar Meeting of the Freeliolders and Inliabitants of said
Town on the Twelfth Day of March last did Elect and Ciioose the above
bounden Samuel Adams to Collect all such Kates Assessments and Sums of
Money as siiall or may be committed to him to Collect of the Inhabitants of the
Inhabitants [Sic] of tlio Town of Boston aforesaid witliin the present Year,
which OfHce of Collector aforesaid he the said Samuel Adams hath accepted,
and to the faithful discharge and execution thereof been duly sworn.
M SThrrrfarc the said Samuel Adams shall well and faithfully Collect and
Levy all such Kates Assessments Taxes Sum and Sums of INIoney as shall be
laid and Assessed on the Inhabitants of said Town of Boston for their Town
Country and Province Tax, and for which he shall have sufhcient Warrant ac-
cording to Law, and sliall do and render a true and faithful account thereof and
pay in the same to the Treasurer of said Town County and Province for the
time being or his Successors in that Office according to tiie direction To him
given in tiie Warrant made out or that shall be made out and committed to
him, and also according to the Vote of the said Town relating to the Time
allowed for the Collecting and paying in the same, and all without fraud, then
the aforevvritten Obligation to be void, but in default thereof to remain in full
force and virtue.
Signed Sealed & Deliver'd in presence of
by M? Adams & Pierpont Sam^- Adams seal
Timothy Kneeland Benj* Hallowell seal
Fra"* Skinner RobT Pierpont seal
Rebecca Hallowell | ^^^ ^^ Hallowell
Martha Hallowell
216 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
It appears that, at the expiration of Adams's term of office,
there remained, of the taxes committed to him for several
years, a considerable sum uncollected and unpaid to the town
and province treasurers. No authority was given b}- law to
collectors to transmit their lists to their successors for col-
lection ; and, except in case of the death of a collector, there
was no legal way to avoid responsibility for the whole
amount of taxes committed for collection (less the abate-
ments regularly made) except by the interposition of the
Legislature. But Adams's constituents, who comprised a
majority of the legal voters at the town meetings, deemed it
proper that, in the pursuit of his important labors as a repre-
sentative, he should not be burdened with the additional and
harassing duty of collectiug arrears of taxes ; especiallj^ as
the law exempting representatives from compulsory service
as collectors seemed to imply that the duties of the two
offices might be incompatible. Accordingly, at a town meet-
ing held March 13, 17G9, the inhabitants voted to relieve Mr.
Adams from further duty as collector, and chose Robert
Pierpont, one of his sureties, in liis place, and, at the same
tin)e, voted to apply to the Legislature for a confirmation of
this proceeding. The result was the enactment of the statute
of which I have spoken. The passage in Hutchinson's His-
tory in regard to Adams's services as collector, to which I
have alluded, and which Mr. Wells's note was written to
controvert, runs thus : —
" He was afterwards a collector of taxes for the town of Boston and
made defalcation, which caused an additional tax upon the iuhabitants."
And, in another place, —
" The benefit to the town from his defence of their liberties he
supposed an equivalent to his arrears as their collector ; and the pre-
vailing" principle of the party, that the end justilied the means, proba-
bly quieted the remorse he must have I'elt, from robbina; men of
their characters, and injuring them more than if he had robbed them
of their estate." *
This charge of defalcation is a grave one ; and if deserved
in this case it is unfortunate for the historian's reputation for
candor that he has not supported his charge by a statement
of particulars.
As the case appears upon the record, no defalcation or
* Hist. Mass., vol. iii. pp. 274, 275.
1883.] CHAKGES AGAINST SAMUEL ADAMS. 217
other delinquency is sliown, in the sense of embezzlement or
failure to account for all the sums collected. It does, indeed,
appear that not all the assessments committed to Adams for
collection were collected ; but it by no means follows that
this failure was the result of collusion or negligence.
The period through which Adams served as collector was
one of unexampled pecuniary distress to the people of the
Province, and of Boston in particular. Circumstances more
trying to a collector of taxes who was possessed of humane
feelings, and was at the same time impressed with a sense of
the importance of a faithful performance of his trust, are
hardly conceivable ; nor, when we consider the financial con-
dition of the people of Boston at that time, is it surprising
that the town records show that none of the tax-collectors of
Boston during this period were able fully to collect the
assessments committed to them.
Hostilities with the French, which continued for full seven
years of this period, had not only enormously increased the
public taxes, but, by reason of the incident embargoes, and
captures of our shipping by the enemy, foreign and coast-
wise commerce was greatly interrupted, and serious injury
was wrought to the fisheries. So, since by the policy of the
Board of Trade manufactures had been systematically dis-
couraged, the people were left to depend upon agriculture as
the foundation of their subsistence, and as the principal source
of whatever profit it was possible to make above a bare living.
During this period, too, the stringent measures adopted by
the Legislature for closing the affairs of the Land Bank dis-
tressed many of the more considerable of the debtor class,
and brought financial embarrassment and ruin to themselves
and to their principal creditors. In the midst of these
adversities the great fire of 1760 occurred^ in Boston, by
which nearly one tenth of the town was destroyed, and the
number of dependent poor was greatly increased. Again, in
1764, before the benefits arising from the remittances received
from England, for reimbursing part of the expenses of the
war, had been diffused among all classes, the small-pox,
which had been constantly dreaded and never fully eradi-
cated, broke out with alarming violence in Boston. Numbers
of tlie inhabitants fled from this pestilence to the neighboi'ing
towns, there to remain until they could return without danger
from contagion, or sought a permanent refuge in distant
places beyond the reach of the tax-gatherer.
The importance of the events just referred to, as bearing
upon the question of Mr. Adams's fidelity as a collector, is
28
218 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
vastly increased when it is remembered that, until the pas-
sage of the provincial statute of 1763,* the law not only
restricted the collector, in enforcing his collections, to the
single process of distress, but left him remediless in the cases
especially provided for by that statute. Indeed, as will
presently appear, that statute was enacted to provide for the
difficulties which the collectors of taxes in Boston encoun-
tered during the period we are considering. To crown the
list of discouraging circumstances that beset the unfortunate
collectors at this time, the parliamentary Stamp-Act, which
was to take effect in November, 1765, — years before all the
arrears of taxes were collected, — rendered it impossible,
until its repeal, for a collector of taxes to take a valid bond,
or to give a sufficient deed of conveyance of land sold by him
for taxes ; since the person appointed stamp commissioner
refused the office and no stamps were issued.
During the time of Adams's service as collector it was twice
found necessary to pass acts for the relief of bankrupts,! or
to secure to creditors the property of insolvent or absconding
debtors. The lists of debtors proceeded against under those
acts, as shown in the notes appended to the respective chap-
ters in the new edition of the Province Laws, illustrate forci-
bly, both in the proportion of debtors belonging to Boston —
being about two fifths of the one hundred and thirty-five
persons against whom warrants were issued under the later
act — and in the character and standing of the debtors, the
severity of the injury inflicted on the merchants and business
men of Boston, by the causes I have enumerated.
The rates of compensation to collectors in Boston had
varied in different years from three to twelve per cent of the
amount collected ; and the collectors had more than once ap-
pealed to the town for a more generous, allowance. During
Adams's time the collectors had twice agreed to an equal
division of the total percentage allowed to them, and this
subject of compensation and the difficulty of collecting seem
to have much occupied the minds of tax-payers and collec-
tors, and even the post of tax-collector seems to have been
generally considered as undesirable and unremunerative.^
At the town meeting at which Adams declined a re-elec-
* 1763-64, chap. 18 : Province Laws, vol. iv. p. 668.
t 1757-58, chap. 12, and 1764-65, cliap. 35.
t Many other instances of " defective collectors " appear in the records about
this period. And a little later there were instances, also, of actual defalcation
and absconding, calling for legislative interference, but not in behalf of the
defaulters. See 1770-71, chap. 19, and 1772-73, chap. 22.
1883.] CHARGES AGAINST SAMUEL ADAMS. 219
tion, a committee was chosen to examine the state of the
treasury, and report. This measure was evidently aimed
against the dehnquent collectors ; and there is ground for the
suspicion that some of Adams's political opponents took this
means to find- a pretext for defeating him as a candidate for
the Legislature; since, the year before, he had lodged with
the selectmen, to be by them laid before the town, a full and
particular statement of all uncollected taxes for every year
in which he had held the office. The report of this com-
mittee was made on the 14th of May, and showed that there
were in the collectors' hands of town and province rates,
including assessments not yet due, X18,12(3 distributed among
the collectors as follows: John Ruddock, Esq., XI, 400; Mr.
Samuel Adams, X8,000 ; Mr. Jonathan Payson, X3,326 ; Mr.
Sampson Salter, X2,440 ; Mr. John Grant, <£2,960. The com-
mittee urged the expediency of a prompt collection of these
amounts so as to enable the selectmen and overseers of the
poor to make cash purchases, and to leave a considerable sur-
plus in the treasury for future necessities, thereby allowing
of a large reduction in the amount to be raised by taxation
the next year.
At the March meeting in 1767, a committee appointed,
upon the petition of Joseph Green and ten other inhabitants,
to make the necessary inquiries of the province, county, and
town treasurers, reported the amounts overdue from the
several collectors to the respective treasurers for the years
1763 and 1764; by which Adams appears to have been in-
debted ,£4,029 7s. 9ld. It was thereupon voted to put his
bond in suit. A vote was passed at the same time to sue the
bond of John Ruddock, but this was subsequently recon-
sidered. The suits, however, were not to be prosecuted
until May 20, 1767, " unless the bondsmen should desire it."
Before May it seems that Mr. Adams had somewhat reduced
his indebtedness.
The suit was brought in the Court of Common Pleas, by
James Otis, attorney for David Jeffries, the town treasurer.
The writ bears date, June 26, 1767, and was returnable at the
July term. The declaration was in a simple form of debt on
the bond. The defendant appeared and put in the following
plea : —
" And the said Samuel reserving to himself ye privilege of waiving
this plea and pleading anew at the court above for Issue pleads that
he has fully comply'd with the condition of the obliga sued on and of
this puts himself &c. Sam'' Swift."
220 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
To those who are not famihar with the technicalities of
law-pleadings it ma}^ be well to say that the declaration hav-
ing contained a profert of the bond ; that is, an offer to pro-
duce it, the defendant should, regularly, have prayed " oyer,"
or, in other words, have asked that the condition of the bond
be read to him, as was the ancient practice ; but, at the time
of this suit, the rule was for the defendant to set forth the
condition of the bond from a copy furnished to him by the
plaintiff, or, more commonly, from his own knowledge of it,
and then allege such facts as would show that there was no
cause of action against him. His plea was, therefore, irregu-
lar ; and Otis, thereupon, demurred, as follows : —
" And the s*^ David consenting says that the plea afores"? in manner
afores*^ is insufficient and prays judgment for the money sued for and
for his costs. J. Otis."
The defendant joined in this demurrer, and the court over-
ruled it.
it would be interesting to know upon what ground the
court thus gave judgment for the defendant. As demurrers
are dilatory pleas, the court may have deferred to an under-
standing between the parties that the case should go up to
the Superior Court, on appeal, in this manner, to gain time
for the defendant ; and this surmise is rather confirmed by
the fact that the sureties were not joined as defendants.
However this may be, an appeal was taken, on which the
plaintiff recognized to prosecute. Judgment appears to have
been rendered in the appellate court against the defendant at
the first term, for the whole penalty of the bond ; but execu-
tion did not issue until March 8, 1768, and then for £1,463
3s. lOd. debt, exclusive of costs of suit, taxed at =£4 8s. 6d.,
that being the actual balance found due on accounting with
the town treasurer. Six days after the issue of this execu-
tion, a town meeting was held, in which it was voted to
allow Mr. Adams "six months' further time to collect his
outstanding debts that he may be enabled tliereby to com-
pleat the obligation of his bond." A movement was imme-
diately made l)y Mr. Adams's opponents to have this vote
reconsidered ; and, upon a petition therefor signed by Foster
Hutchinson and nineteen others, a to\yn meeting was called
for that purpose, to be held March 22 ; but at this meeting
the town refused to reconsider the vote, " by a great majority."
At this meeting, also, Mr. Adams informed the inhabitants
that he would, at the expiration of the additional time
1883.] CHARGES AGAINST SAMUEL ADAMS. 221
allowed him by their vote, " lay a state of his affairs before
the town."
Upon this vote of the town, the town treasurer ordered the
execution to be returned in no part satisfied, which the
sheriff did, accordingly, and no alias was issued until JNlarch
8, 1769. In 'the mean time the province treasurer issued a
warrant of distress against Adams ; and the town, at their
meeting on the 22d of March, appointed a committee to wait
upon him and entreat liim to stay execution on the warrant,
for six months, which he declined to do in a letter concluding
thus : —
" I can appeal to Mr. Adams that I have treated him with fjreat
tenderness and delicacy. But as I have delivered to Mr. Sheriff an
execution against him, by order of the General Court, I do not think
it prudent, nor safe for me, to give Mr. Greenleaf any particular direc-
tions concerning it. He no doubt knows his duty ; if he fails in the
execution of it he alone is accountable. H. Gray.
Tkeasbs Office March, 23, 1768.
To the Committee."
No special order of the General Court to this effect, it may
be said in passing, has been discovered ; and hence it is sup-
posed that the treasurer referred to the general laws upon
the subject of enforcing payments from collectors.
The alias execution was issued, as we have seen, March 8,
17G9 ; and, at a town meeting Iteldonthe 13th of that month,
the following proceedings appear to have taken place : —
" The Petition of M^ Samuel Adams a late Collector of Taxes set-
ting forth ' That he has exhibited a List of his outstanding Taxes to
the Selectmen to be laid before the Town ; and also a state of his Ac-
compts praying that upon his paying the Balance thereof, the Town
would order him a final discharge ; and at the same iNIeeting make
choice of a suitable Person to receive said List, and Collect the said
Outstanding Taxes, or otherwise to act upon his Petition as to the
Town shall seem meet' was again read according to order, & after a
full and long debate had thereon ; it was moved & the Question
accordingly put — That a Committee be appointed to take M": Adams's
Petition into Consideration, and Report as soon as may be ; which
passed in the Negative — Also moved that the List of Outstanding
Taxes exhibited by sjiid M"; Adams to the Selectmen be read in this
Meeting ; which Question being put — passed in the Negative — Then
a Motion was made and seconded, that the Prayer of the Petition be
granted, and that a Person be now chosen to receive the said List,
and Collect the Outstanding Taxes, and the Question being accordingly
put — passed in the Affirmative by a very great majority —
222 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
" The Town then by a full Vote made choice of M^ Robert Pier-
pont to receive the aforesaid List and Collect the Outstanding Taxes
"Voted that the Selectmen be and hereby are appointed a Committee
to Petition the General Court at the next Session thereof praying for
a conformation of the choice now made of M^ Robert Pierpont, and
that he may be impowered to Collect all such Taxes as have been at
any time committed to the said IVP Samuel Adams to Collect and now
remains Outstanding; the said Pierpont to be accountable to the Town
for such Sums as he shall Collect." *
The Legislature thereupon passed the act, the title of
which I have already given, ratifying these proceedings,
which act, probably, also, had the effect of staying proceed-
ings against Adams upon the warrant of distress issued by
the province treasurer.
I have alluded to the act of 1763, and promised some
further remarks upon it. The circumstances which led to
the passage of this act are as follows : —
A suit at law having been brought by John Ruddock for
the collection of a tax committed to him as collector, the
Superior Court, in 1763, for the first time, decided that such
an action would not lie, inasmuch as the law had given a
remedy by distress. This case is reported in Quincy's Reports
(p. 58), and the same point has been twice decided in the
same manner by our Supreme Judicial Court,f which holds
that the remedy provided by statute excludes all others.
The rational ground for this opinion would seem to be not so
much an objection to the multiplication of remedies, as the
fact that a warrant of distress is itself an execution as potent
and convenient as any equivalent process that would follow
the judgment of a court.
This decision of the Superior Court seems to have alarmed
the collectors of Boston ; and accordingly we find that a bill
was introduced in the Legislature of 1763-64 J giving consta-
bles and collectors the option of proceeding either upon dis-
traint or by action-at-law, in the collection of taxes. The
consideration of this act having been postponed to a subse-
quent session, a meeting was called in Faneuil Hall, " to take
the sense of" the town upon the measure. At this meeting,
which was adjourned from the 6th to the 21st of September,
1763, this bill was not approved ; but a committee which had
been appointed previous to the adjournment, and of which
* Boston Town Eecords, vol. v. (1767-74), p. 126.
t 6 Mass. 44, and 8 Met. 393.
t May Session; June 15, General Court Records, vol. xxv. p. 76.
1883.] CHARGES AGAINST SAMUEL ADAMS. 223
John Avery was chairman, having heard the collectors,
examined into their difficulties in collecting the taxes, and
considered " in what instances it may be expedient to enable
the collectors to sue at Common Law," &c., reported four
particulars, to which two additional clauses were added by
the meeting, — the whole agreeing, substantially, with the
provisions of the bill which was afterwards enacted. Briefly,
this act conferred the power of proceeding by action-at-law
(1) against trustees of insolvent and absconding debtors ;
(2) against the representatives of deceased delinquent tax-
payers; (3) against persons removing to, and becoming inhab-
itants of, other towns, after being rated ; (4) against the
husbands of women marrying after being assessed ; (5) against
tax-payers remaining delinquent after the collector or consta-
ble had paid over his whole rate to the respective treasurers.
These provisions are interesting as indicating some of the
difficulties, unforeseen by the framers of the tax-acts, and
perhaps suggested by the astuteness of counsel, which the col-
lectors of taxes encountered before the passage of this act.
Upon a review of what I have presented, it seems evident
that the persistent purpose of the inhabitants of Boston to
protect Mr. Adams from the extreme operation of the laws
against defective collectors, — a purpose of which the act con-
firming the choice of Robert Pierpont as his successor was
the final manifestation ; their election of him to the House
of Representatives, while proceedings against him as collector
were pending ; his poverty, and his reputation for inflexi-
ble integrity, even among his political enemies, are all incon-
sistent with the charge against him clearly implied in the
words used by Hutchinson ; and it is only an act of justice to
his memory to say, that neither the historian nor the contem-
porary records furnish any evidence to rebut the presumption
that Mr. Adams's ill success as a collector was excusable, if
not unavoidable.*
At the conclusion of the reading of this paper, Judge
Chamberlain rose and said : —
While listening to the interesting paper just read, it has
occurred to me that Hutchinson's language was susceptible of
an interpretation which is consistent with admitted facts, and,
if accepted, would at the same time leave the character of
* I make no account of Gordon's statement ; for however well-intentioned
and careful that writer may usually have heen, in this instance he only echoed
the partisan cry, which the records sufficiently confute.
224 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mat,
Samuel Adams cleared from the charge of dishonest appropri-
ation of public money, and vindicate the truthfulness and
candor of the historian.
Hutcliinson's character as an historian was as high as his
reputation as a patriot was low ; while Adams's standing as
a business man was as low as his eminence as a patriot was
high.
The passage from Hutchinson is as follows : " He was after-
wards a collector of taxes for the town of Boston, and made
defalcation, which caused an additional tax upon the inhabi-
tants." We should remember that Hutchinson is not respon-
sible for the odious significance which the word defalcation
has acquired in these latter days. It does not necessarily
import a misuse of money : that is not its primary, nor even
its secondary meaning. He does not say, nor do 1 think he
meant to say, that Samuel Adams collected taxes and put
them in his pocket. The defalcation was in not collecting
them ; which is quite another matter, though doubtless a seri-
ous neglect of dut3% resulting in the same loss to the inhab-
itants as if he had collected and misappropriated the taxes.
A collector of taxes was under heavy responsibilities, but
his powers were commensurate. Besides giving bond with
sureties and making oath for the faithful performance of his
duties as a collector, he was charged with the aggregate
amount of taxes assessed upon the persons and estates named
in his warrant; and the onl}' wa}- he could be relieved from
personal liability was, either to collect the taxes and pay them
into the treasury, or cause them to be abated.
But there was nothing peculiar in Samuel Adams's respon-
sibility. He shared it in common with all collectors of taxes
in the Province ; and as we hear of no final complaint in
respect to the other four collectors in Boston holding office
at the same time, it is fair to presume that they found no in-
su])erable obstacles to the performance of the duties of their
office, thus avoiding personal liability and public scandal.
But if his responsibilities Avere onerous, he had ample
powers enabling him to discharge them. Armed with his
tax-warrant, without judgment of court he could seize, sell,
and convey real and personal estate, subject to tax, for uni)aid
taxes; and I presume he could follow, arrest, and imprison
those delinquent in the payment of personal taxes. If so,
such taking of the body was payment of the tax debt, as in
other cases, and satisfied the warrant.
Our associate finds some excuse for Adams's defalcation in
the collection of taxes, in the depressed state of trade, the
1883.] CHARGES AGAINST SAMUEL ADAMS. 225
prevalence of the small-pox, and the losses occasioned by the
extraordinary fire in 1760. Whatever validity there may be
in these considerations, tliey make no more for Samuel Adams
than for his four associate collectors in Boston, who, in the
more diligent prosecution of their work, found no occasion to
plead them.
It is certain that Samuel Adams was very largely in arrears
in the collection of the taxes committed to him. For this he
was sued, and the judgment of the court was against him.
The report of a committee of his fellow-citizens, presumably
not unfriendly, shows the same thing. The same inference
must be drawn from Adams's petition for relief, and the final
action of the town thereon. But nothing that can be regarded
as conclusive evidence has reached us that Samuel Adams
ever appropriated to his own use a dollar of the town's money.
Nor does Hutchinson, if I read him correctly, accuse him of
that. Hutchinson was a very careful historian, not only with
respect to his facts, but also as to his phrases. But since this
question has been reopened, perhaps it ought not to be passed
over without mention that Gordon, writing not remotely from
the period, expressly makes the graver charge ; and there are
some circumstances indicating that even Adams's friends
feared that he was as careless of the public money as of his
own.
Samuel Adams had great virtues, but he was not a good
collector of taxes. He was not even a good man of business.
Neither in the Provincial Assembly nor in the Continental
Congress did he shine as a practical legislator. His crude
notions as to maintaining the army and conducting the war
gave Washington infinite trouble ; and when he became
governor, he did not administer his office particularly well.
That anybody should ever have thought to make Samuel
Adams a collector of taxes is a marvel. His hatred of taxes
was not so much a conviction as an instinct. Apart from his
unbusiness-like habits, he was about as well fitted to collect
taxes as Garrison to personally conduct a coffle, or Andrew to
work a guillotine.
Samuel Adams has come down to us as an incorruptible
patriot and honest man, and such doubtless will ever be his
character in history. With his zeal, his courage, and his
constancy, he became the greatest single personal force in
bringing on and maintaining the struggle for independence.
But he could not collect taxes. He tried, but without suc-
cess. His distaste for the work, his unfitness for it, his com-
plete absorption in other matters of transcendent importance,
29
226 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mat,
led him to neglect, or, as Hutchinson more accurately says,
to make defalcation in the performance of the duties of his
office.*
Dr. Ellis then spoke as follows : —
After the separation of Count Rumford from his second
wife, the widow of the eminent chemist, Lavoisier, the Count
found relief from this infelicitous marriage by another domes-
tic arrangement, in his house at Auteuil, where he died, Aug.
21, 1814. Soon after his decease there was born to him a
son, who, under the surname of Lefevre, was an accomplished
gentleman, and an officer of rank and distinction in the
French army. He was killed at Sebastopol. He left a son
named Josej^h Amedie Lefevre. The Countess llumford, the
only legitimate child of her father, having returned to this
country after his death, died Dec. 2, 1852, in her seventy-
ninth year, at her birtli-place in Concord, New Hampshire.
She left a handsome legacy to her nepliew, coupled with the
condition, readily complied with, that he should take the name
of Joseph Amedie Rumford. He also is known as an officer
of rank and distinction in the Fi'ench army. I have had the
pleasure for several years of a correspondence with him begun
by himself. In a letter recently received from him, he writes
that, unskilled as he is in our tongue, he has toiled throngh
the pages of my not small book on the Indians, with tlie help
of a dictionary, as he had previously done with the JMemoir
of his grandfather.
Accompanying his last letter, he gives me a singular token
of his kindness, by sending me, what I should think he would
have been unwilling to part with, three souvenirs of liis
grandfather, which I have in my hand and will pass lound
for inspection. It may be that sometime they will find a
deposit in our cabinets. They are: —
1. The plaque of decoration of a Count of the Holy Roman
Empire, given to Count Rumford b}' the Elector of Bavaria.
* That tlie foregoing construction of Hutchinson's language is not fanciful,
appears when we consider the connection in which lie uses the same terms, in his
message to the House, Jul}' 14, 1772 : —
"If, when j'ou declare that the Assemblies, ever since the chai'ter, have made
an adequate provision for the support of the Governor, you intend a provision
suitable to the dignity of his station, and' not merely such, as in the judgment
of the House, the particular merits of the Governor might require, you will not
be able to maintain your assertion ; on the contrary, it evidently appears, that
in some instances the support of tlie Governor has been delayed until he has
complied with the measures of the Assembly, and in others, defalcations hare been
made from it, in order to effect the same purpose." — Speeches of the Governors of
Massachusetts (edited by Alden Bradford), Boston, 1818, p. 335.
1883.] THE WOED " EA'tH." 227
It is an eight-pointed star of fine gold spangles, containing
within a Maltese cross, the arras of which are inscribed with
the legend, Pi'o — Fide — Regc - ^ Lege.
2. An original portrait of the Count, in sepia, upon velvet,
taken shortly before his death, and given by the Countess
Sarah to his son.
3. The case of mathematical instruments used by the
Count, — pencil, dividers, scale, &c. These are of the finest
workmanship, and admirably preserved, considering that they
may date back a hundred years. The case bears on a silver
plate the initial letters, B. T., — Benjamin Thompson.
Mr. HiGGiNSON called the attention of the Society to a
curious little unpublished poem, found upon the fly-leaf of a
journal kept by the Rev. Peter Thacher of Milton, Massa-
chusetts, and beginning March 1, 1682. The lines are in the
handwriting of Mr. Thacher, and are followed by the note,
" Y^ were made by my Dear Father 1662 " ; the father thus
designated being the Rev. Thomas Thacher of the Old South
Church, Boston, 1620-70. The chief interest of the little
poem lies in the fact that it gives three instances of the em-
ployment of a certain word now obsolete, and not employed,
so far as is known, by any other American writer. The
verses are as follows, verbatim et literatim : —
" RA'tH EC'h llEAPETH.
" Rath Each good reapeth holy diligence
first Christ to git y° prudent Innocence
Then learning Sage to understand a right
Fi'oni blackest darknesse what the clearest light
Ra'th preacheth hee y» lives to god betimes
Preserv'd by Grace yet keeps himselfe from Crimes
Be y" thy study y my Son and thou
With Grace & Glory crown'd slialt have thy Brovr."
Mr. Higginson remarked that tlie English of the early Puri-
tan writers in America was a very interesting subject, Avhich
had as yet been very inadequately treated. The word rath or
rathe (he said) is an unexceptionable English word, meaning
simply "soon" or " early," and being the obsolete positive
of which only the familiar comparative survives in rather. It
is used by Langland and by Wiclif ; appears in Chaucer's
" Shipmanne's Tale," —
" What aileth you so rathe for to arise " ;
in Spenser's "Faerie Queene," —
228 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
" Too rathe cut off by practise criminell " ;
and in Milton's " Lycidas," —
" Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,"
this phrase having been borrowed by him, as has been sug-
gested, from an obscure poem in " Enghmd's Helicon," —
" And made the rathe and timely primrose grow."
It was thus a familiar word down to 1662, when the muse
of the Rev. Thomas Thacher employed it. Among modern
English poets it has been rarely used, though it is to be found
in Tennyson, in " In Memoriam," cviii. ; and those who have
followed the unhappy career of Hartley Coleridge will vecall
the plaintive confession, —
" A rathe December blights my early May."
It is also probable that we have this word preserved to us in
the pears called rare-ripe [rathe-ripe ?J which mature early.
It is to be noticed that in all these cases the word rathe is
used in its simplest sense, with no tinge of metaphor; while
in Mr. Thacher's use of it there is a farther suggestion of ex-
cellence or preference. " Rath each good reapeth " means
that diligence reapeth early ; "Ra'th preacheth he," that is, he
preacheth early. This use of the word to imply preferable-
ness gives us a key to the similar transfer of meaning in the
case of the word rather. This too was at first used in a lit-
eral sense. When Spenser says in his " Shepheard's Calendar "
(February), —
" The rather lambs bene starved with cold,"
he means the earlier lambs, using the word in a literal sense,
now lost. Our Puritan poet shows us how the transition was
made to the figurative sense, and thus illustrates the evolu-
tion of a word.
Another circumstance is finally to be noticed, which may
have a bearing on this historical process. In two cases out
of three the word, as written by Mr. Thacher the younger,
is not rathe or rath., but roith. It was suggested to him (Mr.
Higginson), by high authority, Mr. Richard Grant White,
that this apostrophe may mark the transitional stage of the
word from rathe to rath; the apostrophe denoting the elision
of the e, but having slipped into the wrong place. He justly
1883.] SOME HISTORICAL TRACTS. 229
points out that this awkwardness in using the apostrophe was
not then uncommon; and we have, curiously enough, another
instance of this in the very next word of the title, where the
writer, wishing to mark the elision of the letter a from each,
writes it ec'Ji instead of e'ch. It would be interesting to hear
of any other instance of the emploj'ment of the word rathe or
rath by any early American writer.
Mr. WiNSOR gave a description of a book containing sev-
eral tracts which were all published in 1624, and the book is
marked " Thomas Prince his book," in the well-known hand
of that collector. The binding is of Prince's time, and the
clipping of Prince's notes in the margins shows it to have
been bound after he had made his annotations. The tracts
are six in number, but only two (Nos. 1 and 4) are of interest
for students of American history.
I. " Good News from New England. . . . By E. W." The
only other copies known to me of this tract by Edward Wins-
low (" so Purchas says," as Prince adds in a manuscript
note) are two in the Carter-Brown Library at Providence
(one with an additional paragraph in the titlepage, making
mention of a " brief Relation," which appears at the end of
the book), one in Mr. Deane's collection at Caral)ridge, and
one in the Dowse Library of this Society. The Aspinwall
Catalogue shows a copy which may be at present in the Bar-
low Library in New York. A copy once in Harvard College
Library is no longer to be found. It was from this copy
that Dr. Young printed in his " Chronicles of the Pilgrims."
Prince has carefully read the present copy, annotating it or
making catch-marks throughout, several times citing Bradford
and Morton, and once pointing out the printer's error as com-
pared with a passage in John Smith. On a fly-leaf he has a
long note, in which, after collating Bradfoixl and Morton, he
says : "' By which it seems he [^Winslow] must have left Lon-
don in the beginning of February, and must have printed his
relation there between the end of October, 1623, and the end
of January, 1623-4; and I know it isthe custom of the Lon-
don printers to begin the year on their books at Michaelmas, '
so that after Sept. 29, 1623, they will date them at the bot-
tom of the titlepage, 1624." The titlepage bears an early
autograph of " John Adams."
On the reverse of the title is this certificate : —
At a Court of Commissioners for settlinGT, adjustinsj, and determining
the boundary of the Colony of Rhode Island, eastward towards the prov-
ince of the Massachusetts Bay, This book was produced in Court by the
230 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
ageuts of the Province to the end they miglit give several passages therein
contained as evidence; but the agent for the Colony opposed, and the
Court I'ejected the same. Dated at the Court of Commissioners sitting in
Providence in the Colony of Rhode Island, the twenty-third day of June,
Anno Dom. 1741.
Attest: William Ballad.
It was perhaps through the borrowing for this purpose that
this volume became separated from the rest of the Prince
Library, now in the Boston Public Library. Prince, how-
ever, is known to have sold some of his books. Cf. Mass.
Hist. Soc. Proc, vol. xvii. p. 174.
IL '' Votivae Angliae, or The Desires and Wishes of Eng-
land, contayned in a Patheticall Discourse presented to the
King on JNew-Yeares Day last, wherein are unfolded . . .
reasons to persuade his majestie to drawe his Roj'all swoid
for the restoring of the Pallatynat and Electorat to his sonne
in law. . . . Written by S. R. N. I, Printed at Vtrecht,
MDCXXIIIL"
II L " The Saint's Advantage ... a Sermon preached at
the Haii'e the 18 of May. By John Wing, an unworthy min-
ister of the Gospell and Pastour to the English Church at
Flushing in Zealand . . . London . . . 1624."
Prince says in a note : " This Wing was Pastor of the Eng-
lisli Puritan Chh. at Middleborrough in Zeeland, whose widow
bro't her children to Sandwich in New England, w? after-
wards turned Quakers, & from w™ the Wings at Sandwich,
Wareham, Rochester, and Dartmoutli are derived."
IV. "-A plaine Pathway to Plantations . . . With certaine
motives for a present Plantation in Newfoundland above the
rest. . . . By Richard Eburne of Hengstridge in the Countie
of Somerset. Printed by G. P. for John Marriot, 1624."
It is divided into three parts, each with a separate title ;
but the paging is continuous. The second part is dedicated
to Sir George Calvert, who in 1620 had bought the south-
eastern peninsula of Newfoundland, and in 1623 had received
a patent of it under the name of Avalon, — a patent later the
model of that of Maryland.
There is a copy of this tract in the Carter-Brown Library ;
and anotlier belongs to John Holmes, Esq., of Cambridge.
Sabin only mentions the Carter-Brown copy, and calls it a
volume of great rarity.
V. " The new art of lying, covered by Jesuites under the
vaile of Equivocation, discovered and disproved by Henry
Mason. London . . ; 1624."
The autograph of Rowland Cotton is on the titlepage.
1883.]
THE ROYAL ARMS. 231
VI. " The Foot out of the Snare : with a detection of sun-
dry late practices and impostures of the priests and Jesuits
in England. Whereunto is added a Catalogue of such bookes
as in this author's knowledge have been vented within two
yeeres last past in London Ijy the Priests and their agents.
By John Gee ... of Exon Colledge in Oxford. At London,
. . . 1624."
Mr. Winsor said that the book belonged to the Adams
Library in Quincy ; and was brought to his attention by Mr.
Charles Francis Adams, Jr.
Mr. Slafter exhibited a photographic copy of the Royal
Arms, which, before the American Revolution, were in the
Council Chamber of the Old State House. On the evacu-
ation of Boston in March, 1776, these Arms appear to have
taken their departure with the British troops. They remained
in Halifax, Nova Scotia, some time, but in 1785 they were
sent to St. John, New Brunswick, where they were first put
up in a temporary church building, in which the courts held
their sessions, the business of the town was transacted, and
on Sundays the service of the English Church was performed.
On the completion of the then new Trinity Church in 1791,
they were removed to the new edifice, where they remained
till the great fire in 1877, when they were rescued while the
church was in flames. They are now re-established in the
new Trinity Church recently erected in St. John.
A letter from Mr. William B. Earle, addressed to the So-
ciety, and relating to certain statements concerning the
Quakers in the eighteenth volume of the Proceedings, was
referred to the committee on the publication of the Pro-
ceedings.
Mr. "Deane presented in the name of Mr. Heniy Clay
Short, of Boston, a policy of insurance issued in 1798 by the
Massachusetts Fire Insurance Company, the earliest (1795)
incorporated insurance company in the State. The policy was
ornamented with a finely engraved view of State Street, which
included an excellent picture of the Old State House, and
other buildings. One side of the street is represented as in
flames, with fire-engines playing upon tliem, — an imaginary
scene, and a fit device for an insurance company to bear on
its policies.
A memoir of the late George B. Emerson, which had been
prepared at the request of the Society by the Rev. R. C.
Waterston, was announced by Mr. Deane as ready for the
press.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [May,
MEMOIR
OF
GEORGE BARRELL EMERSON, LL.D.
BY ROBERT C. WATERSTON.
In the town of Wells, Maine (then a part of Massachu-
setts), Sept. 12, 1797, George B. Emerson was born ; and in
March, 1881, at the house of his son-in-law, Hon. John
Lowell, at Chestnut Hill, Brookline, he died, at the advanced
age of eighty-four. His father was an able physician, a
graduate of Harvard, a man of uncommon ability, with schol-
arly tastes and acquirements. Beloved and respected, he
not only had a wide professional practice, but he made the
schools a special object of his care. In the choice and
appointment of teachers he was consulted, and as a visitor
of the district schools his face was familiar, while his counsel
and encoui'agement were always welcome. He had the i-ight
word both for parents and pupik, and exerted a beneficent
influence wherever he went. Mr. Emerson's grandfather
was a clergyman in Hollis, New Hampshire, and he not only
was a very acceptable preacher, but he was widely known
through all the county of Hillsborough for the pre-eminent
skill with which he fitted young men for college. Thus the
rare gift of teaching seemed to have been transmitted from
generation to generation. As an inherited quality it had
come down from father to son, not evidently wearing itself
out, but gaining, with time, fresh impulse and inspiration.
Mr. Emerson's boyhood had nothing in it of special excite-
ment. He was contented and happy with the simplest meth-
od of life. Quiet in his manners, he was at the same time
deeply in earnest. He had the most beautiful balance of
character. There never appeared to be with him any great
effort in acquiring knowledge, and when acquired it seemed
to form a natural part of himself and had no tendency to be
forgotten.
:/3. /^■''^'f'^'^
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEORGE B. EMERSON. 233
Let us look at the school-room. The building was such as
is generally used for a common country school. It pretended
to nothing more. It had the advantage of the watchful care
of his father, Dr. Samuel Emerson, who, if the windows were
broken or clapboards torn away, would at once send and have
them repaired, so that there was not the disgrace of unreason-
able dilapidation. But in justice it must be said that the
teaching and discipline within the school always held the
place of supreme importance. Only in the winter months did
George attend school. In the summer he worked upon his
father's farm and in the garden. At first thought, this may
appear to have been a serious privation. Perhaps to many
young people it would have proved so ; but George always
accounted this arrangement a piece of great good fortune. It
gave him that out-of-door life, the benefit of which he felt
through all his after years.
He worked with constant diligence, — sowing the early
seed, watching each stage of growth, and gathering the au-
tumnal harvest. Work on the farm he liked, and never grew
weary of it. Every implement used he became thoroughly
acquainted with. His own conviction was, tliat active life
under the open sky tended to quicken his powers of observa-
tion, and was the best possible experience for him to have
gone through. The most fragile plant he studied with un-
wearied care, and not a tree of the forest escaped his notice.
The oak, the beech, the maple, the pine, the spruce, the
hemlock, all won his attention, and revealed to him some
secret law of their being.
Preparatory to his presenting himself at Cambridge, he
attended for a time the Dummer Academy at Byfield, where
he devoted himself to Latin and Greek. Any additional
preparation for college was made at home, under the care of
his father. In 1813 he entered Harvard, and commenced his
college life. Among his classmates were George Bancroft,
Caleb Gushing, S. J. May, S. E. Sewall, and Stephen Salis-
bury. At that time President Kirkland was at the head of
the college, Edward Everett was tutor in Latin, Professor
Farrar was liead of the mathematical department, while Dr.
Hedge, Dr. Henry Ware, and George Ticknor held responsi-
ble positions. Such men could not but give life to the whole
university.
Two letters have been received from those who were prom-
inent in his class, — one from the Hon. Stephen Salisbury,
and the other from George Bancroft, the historian. Mr.
Salisbury writes : —
30
234 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [May,
" My own rooms at Cambridge were at a distance from the college,
which prevented that frequent intercourse which we might otherwise
have enjoyed.
" We were therefore at that time not intimate, but when we did
meet, it was always pleasantly. Our mature friendship sprang up in
the last quarter of his life, rebuking the common notion that tlie hap-
piness of love is the privilege of the young. ... I can remember, but
I cannot describe, the pleasure I had in Mr. Emerson's society and in
his cori-espondence. That the enjoyment was nmtual is proved, not
only by his cordial welcome, but more tenderly and unequivocally by
the neatly kept tile of my occasional and not frequent letters which his
daughter sent me after his decease.
" Such personal reminiscences as you ask will not be desired. You
know, and can learn, all the particulars of his life. You appreciate and
love his genial and wholesome character, and you will give us a memoir
in which the old and the young will find pleasure and instruction."
Mr. Bancroft says : —
No. 1023 H Street, Washington, D. C.
18tli May, 1882.
Mt dear Sir, — George B. Emerson, of my class in Harvard, was
so industrious, and so exact in the discharge of all his duties, that there
is no story to tell about him. He was very sweet and amiable ; always
cheerful, and very industrious ; so regular that he was distinguished
from others of his family name as Pater Emerson. I remember that
at one time he gave great attention to mathematics, and at all times to
the study of Greek ; having done as much or more than any one of us,
in reading not only what was required, but a good deal more in the
historians, especially Herodotus. I remember nothing of him that
was not jiure and ingenuous. He was one of our best scholars, and so
far as I know never had the slightest jar with any one member of the
class in the whole period of our course. I have tasked my memory
for incidents, but were I to write a much longer letter, I should only
nave to repeat what I have already said, under dift'erent forms.
Yours truly,
Geo. Bancroft.
To the Eev. R. C. Waterston, Boston.
These letters from his old classmates are proof of the re-
spect and affection in which he was held. Indeed, it may well
be said that the affectionate respect extended towards him
was universal. It was seen thi'oughout the whole college life.
The })resident, professors, and students all united in this feel-
ing, and it evidently continued to the end of his career with-
out abatement. That which moulded him into such a noble
manhood, giving to him maturity of judgment, imi)arting an
elevated tone to every thought, was not the college text-
books, whether Latin or Greek ; it was the spirit which ani-
1883.] MEMOm OF GEOEGE B. EMERSON. 235
mated the whole body both of professors and students. Recall,
for a moment, Ku-kland and Bovvditch, Ticknor and Norton,
Hedge and Ware, Frisbie and Farrar, Gushing and Everett,
Salisbniy and Bancroft. Can any one think of such a com-
pany of men, and not feel their quickening power? Stimu-
lated by com{)anionshi{) like this, the only real troul)le was
that the miud found little opportunity for rest. Mr. Emerson
attempted to make four hours' sleep balance twenty hours
given to work. As the result of this overdoing and wrong-
doing, first the eyes gave out, and he became nearly blind ;
then the whole physical system broke down, and he was forced
to go home and put himself under his father's professional
care. He was reading Xenophon and Herodotus, Hesiod
and Pliny and Cicero ; and yet the time came when the over-
taxed eyes were obliged to cease working. Having read all
Homer except the last book of the Odyssey, worn out by
over-exertion, he sank midway. He knew then, full well,
that he had been unfaitliful to that sound sense which gener-
ally governed his actions. " My only consolation," he writes,
"in regard to this misfortune, was that it gave me time to
mature my acquaintance with my college friends. The most
important of the many advantages of a college education is
the opportunity of becoming well acquainted witli persons of
one's own age. and of forming intimacies with the best and
most congenial."
Wliile at Cambridge, he was appointed Tutor in Mathe-
matics and Natural Philosophy. Professor Farrar held, at
that time, the chief position in this department. " His lec-
tures," writes Mr. Emerson, " on Natural Philoso})hy and
Astronomy I have never known surpassed or equalled."
During the college vacations, Mr. Emerson taught school,
in accordance with the general custom. In tlie Sophomore
year he was not well enough to teach. In the Junior year
he took a school situated near the saw-mills at Saco, where he
was called to govern as rude and boisterous a set of young
people as could well be found. He speaks of a flame which
one day burst from the windows of the old school-house, and
in iialf an hour there was nothing left but a handful of ashes.
In the Senior year he kept a school for ten or twelve weeks
at Bolton, where he found pupils wholly to his taste, who
made excellent progress and were worthy of all commenda-
tion.
Such was his early experience in school-teaching. He had
just graduated from Harvard when he received a letter from
President Kirkland, offering him the position of master in an
236 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
excellent private school recently established in Lancaster,
Massachusetts, of which Jared Sparks had been the first
teacher. The offer was accepted ; and after what he had gone
through in those district schools, scattered over the country,
which, during the winter vacations, had been under his care,
it was a new aspect of life to find himself in the beautiful vil-
lage of Lancaster, and to enter upon a school whose arrange-
ments were w^ell ordered. The academy had been established
through the generous efforts of Richard J, Cleveland and
the friends who united with him. At that time the number
of pupils was limited to twenty-five, and the salary was five
hundred dollars a year. He became so popular a teacher, and
had so remarkable a gift in the management of boys, that
applications became numerous, and the attendance increased
to forty-two members. Here he continued for two years ;
but at length, overtaxed by constant exertion, his health
grew feeble, and he considered it wisest to accept an invita-
tion he had received to become tutor in the mathematical
dejvartment of Harvard College.
His next experience as an instructor wfis as head master of
the English Classical School, or, as it is now called, the Eng-
lish High School. The establishment of such a school had
long been felt as a necessit}^ Judge Shaw and others asso-
ciated with him I'esolved upon a plan by which a school should
be founded, combining many advantages and privileges, which
would be the crowning achievement of our whole public-
school system. In this work they had the approbation and
assistance of Josiah Quincy and other j)rominent men, who
determined to leave nothing undone to effect this purpose.
The school, with its past history of fifty years, may well be
left to speak for itself. The whole community bears testi-
mony to its worth. The design of its founders has been most
successfully carried out. Mr. Emerson, the first teacher, im-
parted the right impulse. He appealed wisely and success-
fully to high motives. He addressed the most generous
sentiments. He thought, at every step, as much of character
as of intellect. " Strive not," he said to his pupils, ^ to sur-
pass each other, — strive rather to surpass yourselves." From
that day the work has been carried onward. Mr. Emerson
left his impress upon the scliool. For two years he here
taught, when lie was urged with reiterated importunity to
open a private school in the city for young ladies ; and in
April, 1823, this school, with thirty-two pupils, was duly
opened, — a number which never grew less. The school was
acknowledged by all to be unusually attractive. It had in
236 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
excellent private school recently established in Lancaster,
Massachusetts, of whicli Jared )Sj)arks had been the first
teacher. The offer was accepted ; and after what he had gone
through in those district schools, scattered over the country,
which, during the winter vacations, had been under his care,
it Avas a new aspect of life to find himself in the beautiful vil-
lage of Lancaster, and to enter upon a school whose arrange-
ments were well ordered. The academy had been established
through the generous efforts of Richard J. Cleveland and
the friends who united with him. At that time the number
of pupils was limited to twenty-five, and the salary was five
hundred dollars a year. He became so popular a teacher, and
had so remarkable a gift in the management of boj's, that
applications became numerous, and the attendance increased
to forty-two members. Here he continued for two years ;
but at length, overtaxed by constant exertion, his health
grew feeble, and he considered it wisest to accept an invita-
tion he had received to become tutor in the mathematical
dejiartment of Harvard College.
His Tiext experience as an instructor was as head master of
the English Classical School, or, as it is now called, the Eng-
lish High School. The establishment of such a school had
long been felt as a necessity. Judge Shaw and others asso-
ciated with him resolved upon a plan by which a school should
be founded, combining many advantages and privileges, which
would be the crowning achievement of our whole public-
school system. In this w^ork they had the approbation and
assistance of Josiah Quincy and other prominent men, who
determined to leave nothing undone to effect this purpose.
The school, with its past history of fifty years, may well be
left to speak for itself. The whole community bears testi-
mony to its worth. The design of its founders has been most
successfully carried out. Mr. Emerson, the first teacher, im-
parted the right impulse. He appealed wisely and success-
fully to high motives. He addressed the most generous
sentiments. He thought, at every step, as much of character
as of intellect. " Strive not,"' lie said to his pupils, " to sur-
pass each other, — strive rather to surpass yourselves." From
that da}^ the work has been carried onward. Mr. Emerson
left liis impress upon the school. For two years he here
taught, when he was urged with reiterated importunity to
open a private school in the city for j^oung ladies ; and in
April, 1823, this school, with thirty-two pupils, was duly
opened, — a number which never grew less. The school was
acknowledged by all to be unusually attractive. It had in
(p. ^lee^nun-cAyf
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEORGE B. EMERSON. 237
it nothing superficial. It rested neither upon formalism nor
routine. Its aim was thought and discipline ; while, in im-
parting knowledge, it sought to lay also the foundations of
a characier which would result in a worthy life, here and a
blessed immortality hereafter. In his efforts as a teacher
he aimed, under all circumstances, to develop that which was
noblest, truest, and best.
But it was not simply as a teacher, or in the school-room,
that Mr. Emerson exerted his power. Wherever a company
of intelligent men were desirous to disseminate truth, he was
ready to bear his part, whether they moved together as a body
or acted as individuals. Difficulties never intimidated him.
Many of the ablest societies in our community owe their use-
fulness, if not even their existence, to him. In the works of
nature he everywhere beheld the proofs of a Supreme Intelli-
gence, and was grateful if he could in any degree be to others
the interpreter of the divine tliought. He felt that the All-
creative Mind was forever diffusing light, and that the finite
mind, moved by a kindred spirit, may, according to its ability,
unite in the same work.
One of the societies he was instrumental in forming was
the Boston Mechanics' Institution, the object of which was
mutual instruction in the sciences, as connected with the
mechanic arts. This was in 1827. Dr. Bowditch was its first
President. Judge Story was one of the early lecturers.
Daniel Webster delivered an introductory address, after which
George B. Emerson followed with a course of six lectures.
Webster impressively says : —
" God seems to have proposed his material universe as a standing,
perpetual study to his intelligent creatures ; where, ever learning, they
can yet never learn all; and if that material universe shall last till man
shall have discovered all that ia now unknown, but which, by the pro-
gressive improvement of his faculties, he is capable of knowing, it will
remain through a duration beyond humau measurement, and beyond
human comprehension."
The lectures that followed were an able exposition of the
same great thought.
Through the efforts of Mr. Emerson, in 1830, an association
of teachers and friends of education was formed, to take into
consideration the condition of the schools, and to consult
upon the best means adapted to promote their improvement.
This became known as the American Institute of Instruction.
It was voted that a memorial should be prepared by hiui and
placed in the hands of the Governor, with the request that
238 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
it should be brought before the Legislature. In compliance
with this vote an elaborate paper was prepared, so clear in
its statements, so convincing in its appeals, so strong in its
arguments, that both the Senate and the House of Representa-
tives put aside for the time all other business, and determined
to go thoroughly into this subject. To make this work more
effectual, a Board of Education was formed, and the Presi-
dent of the Senate, Horace Mann, who was acknowledged
to be the ablest member in either branch of the Legislature,
resigned his position in the Senate, and was unanimously
chosen Secretary of the Board, that he might devote his whole
attention to the educational interests of the State. One of
the results was the establishment of normal schools, in which
Mr. Emerson felt a deep interest, always being present when
he could render service, if other duties rendered it possilDle.
These schools have now become intimately associated with
Lexington, Newton, and Bridgewater, and an efficient body
of teachers has received therein such a thorough education
as has fitted them in the best possible manner for their
important work.
It is interesting to observe how the threads in the web of
life are, from time to time, taken up. Mr. Emerson's old
friend, Edward Everett, who at college was tutor in Latin,
and with whom he enjoyed personal friendship, now, as Gov-
ernor of the Commonwealth, received his memorial, entering
heartily into his plans, considering how they should best be
presented to the Legislature, and how they could be made
productive of the most desirable results.
About three years after leaving Cambridge, Mr. Emerson
took a pedestrian journey to the White Mountains in company
with several of his old college companions. His descriptions
of this excursion are graphic. He climbed to the topmost
summit of the mountains, where, as yet, no place of shelter
had been erected, and where, as he writes, " all was savage
and wild and desolate, as it was left by the hand of its Cre-
ator."
In 1874 he gave an address before the Society of Natural
History, on Louis Agassiz, which was a worthy tribute to
that remarkable man, whom he had known intimately for
twenty-seven years, and for Avhom lie cherished a strong
affection. The day following, he was requested by Mr. Bouvd,
the President of the Society, to furnish a copy of the remarks
for the press. Fearing that what he had said was not worthy
the subject, and that he had not done justice to his distin-
guished friend, he begged to be excused from printing his
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEORGE B. EMERSON. 239
remarks. In the following letter he frankly expressed his
views, showing the modest estimate with whieli he looked
npon his own work.
No. 3 Pemberton Square, Jan. 7, 1874.
Rev. R. C. Waterstox.
My dear Friend, — I listened with great interest and satisfac-
tion to every thing that was said last evening by our President, Mr.
Bouve, and especially by you, — to all except what was said by my-
self. That seemed very poor. Now, will you not divest yourself of
the kind partiality which I know you have always felt towards me, so
far as to say frankly whether what I read would not better be for-
gotten than printed ?
Youi's truly,
George B. Emerson.
Why should every poor thing which is honestly said, be printed ?
Speaking of Agassiz, he says : —
" I found him the wisest, the most thoroughly well informed and
communicative, the most warm-hearted, and the most modest man of
science with whom, personally or by his works, I had ever become
acquainted. The strong 'im|)ression he made on me was made on
almost all who ever listened to or even met him. Jt is not surprisino-
that the news of the death of Agassiz caused a throb of anouish in
millions of hearts. Such a death is a loss to mankind. We shall see
his benignant face and hear his winning voice no more ; but we have
before us his example and his works. Let us dwell, for a few moments,
on some features in his life and character as an inspiration and a guide.
What a change has taken place in the whole civilized world, and espe-
cially in this country, in men's estimation of the value and interest of
natural history and the great work of teaching ! To whom is that chano^e
more due than to Agassiz ?
" He was endowed by nature with extraordinary gifts. His fasci-
nating eye, his genial smile, his kindliness and ready sympathy, his
generous earnestness, his simplicity and absence of pretension, his
transparent sincerity, — these account for his natural eloquence and
persuasiveness of speech, his influence as a man, and his attraction
and power as a teacher.
"Agassiz's universality of study and thought suggests a precious
lesson. It is never safe to give one's self entirely to one study or to
one course of thought. The full power of the mind cannot be so
developed. Nature is infinite; and a small part of one kingdom cannot
be understood, however carefully studied, without some knowledge of
the rest. Neither must a man allow himself to be a mere naturalist.
Every man ought to seek to form for himself, for his own hapj^ness
and enjoyment, the highest character for intelligence, and for just and
generous feeling, of which he is capable. He is not a mere student of
240 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
a department of nature. He is a man ; he must make himself a wise,
generous, and well-informed man, able to sympathize with all that is
most beautiful in nature and art, and best in society. It wnuld be a
poor, dull world if all men of talent were to educate themselves to be
mere ai-tisaus, mere politicians, or mere naturalists.
'' Agassiz took a large, comprehensive view of the whole field of
natural history. His thorough education and intimate acquaintance
with the works of the highest men in several walks made it possible
for him to do it, and he then fixed on certain departments, and for the
time he gave himself entirely to one."
What Mr. Emerson says of Agassiz as a teacher is equally
true of himself.
"His example has been inestimable: showing the importance of the
best and largest possible preparation ; teaching by things really exist-
ing and not by books ; opening the eye to the richness and beauty of
nature; showing that there is no spot, from the barren sea-beach to the
top of the inountain, which does not present objects attractive to the
youngest beginner, and worthy of and rewarding the careful considera-
tion of the highest intellect."
At different periods Mr. Emerson gave lectures upon topics
connected with education. These were published and widely
circulated. He discoursed in 1831, before the American
Institute, upon Female Education ; and in 1842 he took
for his subject Moral Education. These addresses are
full of profound thought and the most elevated sentiment.
In their style they are transparent as crystal ; and to this
day they can hardly be said to have been outgrown in the
many changes of over half a century. In 1831 he published,
in company with the Hon. William Sullivan, a volume entitled
"The Political Class-Book," giving a statement of the origin,
nature, and use of political power. For this Mr. Emerson
prepared a valuable paper upon Studies for Practical Men.
In 1869, at the request of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, he gave a lecture on Education in Massachusetts,
its Legislation and History, — full of important suggestion and
valuable facts. In 1878 he republished a series of papers,
which had been first printed in the " Journal of Education,"
entitled "Reminiscences of an Old Teacher." These gave, in
an interesting manner, many facts connected with liis life.
In 1830 a number of gentlemen interested in scientific
pursuits formed the Natural History Society. This has since
become one of the most useful and popular institutions in our
community. The early meetings were held at the ofiice of
1883. J MEMOIR OF GEORGE B. EMERSON. 241
Dr. Walter Channing, Theophiliis Parsons acting as Secre-
tary. Dr. Benjamin D. Greene was the first President, while
Dr. Hayward, Dr. Ware, Dr. Greenwood, Dr. Jackson, and
Dr. Augustus A. Gould were among the efficient members.
In 1837 Mr. George B. Emerson was elected President, which
office he held for six years. AVhile the Society was under
his charge, it was concluded that a botanical and zoological
survey should be made of the whole State, to supplement the
geological survey by Professor Hitchcock, which had been
authorized by the Legislature the year previous. The shells,
insects, fishes, reptiles, and birds, together with the plants
and trees of the Commonwealth, were to be fully investigated.
Edward Everett, the Governor at that time, appointed INIr.
Emerson Chairman of the Commission, making him responsible
for the various departments. Among the gentlemen to whom
the different subjects were referred were Dr. Harris, Dr. Au-
gustus Gould, Dr. Storer, Rev. W. B. O. Peabody, of Spring-
field, and Professor Chester Dewey, of the Berkshire Medical
Institute, — ^all able men and in every way competent for the
important work ; while their elaborate reports were not only
considered valuable at the time when they were made, but
are held to this day as authority upon the subjects of wdiich
tliey treat.
These surveys, made through the suggestion of the Natural
History Society, and under the auspices of the Legislature,
were of practical value in promoting the material interests of
the State, and they gave a fresh impulse through the com-
munity to the study of natural science. The changes which
have taken place in the scientific world since the formation
of the Natural History Society have been very remarka-
ble. Tastes which were confined to a few, now extensively
prevail, and the various fields open for investigation have
been both widened and enriched by the knowledge which
has been acquired. Geology, almost within the memory of
living persons, could hardly be called a science, — now it
rivals astronomy in the grandeur of its facts ; while astron-
omy, opening into infinitude, sees all space kindling with
innumerable stars, and even the dim-floating nebula, which
to the unaided eye appears but a luminous mist, resolves
itself into planets and satellites and revolving systems of
worlds. Chemistry has also made extraordinary progress,
and laid society everywhere under obligation for what it has
achieved ; while botany, that fascinating study, which even
now numbers the species of plants by hundreds of thousands,
is constantly enlarging its boundaries, exciting the mind to
31
242 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
fresh wonder by the wayside and in the forest, along the
borders of brooks and rivers, and on the mountain-tops where
the delicate alpine plants delight to find a home.
Mr. Emerson, with his broad sympathy, could not pass by
any of the sciences with indifferende. His heart was large
enough to embrace them all. They eacli had their peculiar
interests. To his mind the kingdoms of nature blended the
one with the other ; and the more largely his knowledge was
extended, the greater was the satisfaction gained. Thus, as
he watched at night the brilliant constellations in the over-
arching sky, he recalled in thought his astronomical studies
at Cambridge, and declared that nothing gave him so much
real pleasure ; and that he never looked up into the heavens
without experiencing a joy which no other object afforded.
Still, life is too short, and the faculties of man too limited,
to enable any one to grasp the whole domain of nature or
to master completely the entire realm of knowledge. Cir-
cumstances have their inevitable influence, and as a general
rule some one department of study will gain a preference.
Hence, from various causes botanical researches occupied
much of Ml-. Emerson's time and thought. The trees, shrubs,
plants, and flowers of New England held a prominent place
in his mind. At one period of his life the professorship of
Natural History and the direction of the Botanical Garden
at Cambridge, in connection with Harvard University, were
offered to him, showing how fully his tastes were understood
and his acquirements recognized.
Though he declined this ])rofessorship, the love of nature
tenaciously clung to liim. His thoughts went back to the old
homestead, and to the time when he worked in his father's
garden and on the farm.. Trees and flowers were the study
of his childhood, and they continued to be his delight through
advancing years. "Cherish," said Schiller, "the dreams of
thy youth." It was just those dreams which Mr. Emerson
did cherish. His sincerest pleasure was in direct inter-
course with nature. The fields and the forests had ever
for him an inexhaustible beauty ; but such was his natural
taste for scientific exactness, that he was constantly busy in
the pursuit of facts, and indefatigable in tracing every step
in the whole chain of evidence in his original investigations.
Cherishing this spirit, the universe to him was never dis-
jointed and purposeless. On the contrary, he found com-
pleteness and harmony everywhere. The external world, as
he looked upon it, appeared like an illuminated missal. Often
he seemed to be reading — as in a living epistle — messages
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEOEGE B. EMERSON. 243
from God. As he traced the hxw of development through seed
and bud and plant, he was brought face to face with that
Divine Intelligence which is alike the creative spring and
living soul of the universe. Such, indeed, were the dreams
of his youth, — dreams to which he had been ceaselessly true,
and which he devoutly cherished in the maturity of age.
And now that he has departed, how beautiful is the thought
that liis memory will be ever associated with the loveliest
objects in nature !
Familiar as Mr. Emerson was with both the agricultural
and botanical products of New England, he could not be
satisfied with any thing which might even appear as super-
ficial. He therefore devoted ten and twelve weeks through
nine successive summers to explorations over the whole
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, from the hills of Berk-
shire to Martha's Vineyard, and from the banks of the
Merrimac to the shores of Narragansett Bay, while he pene-
trated through all the adjoining States and left nothing
undone which might add to the value of liis investigations.
The full report published by order of the Legislature in
1846, was widely welcomed, and after the lapse of a quarter
of a century it still retains its popularity ; while the recog-
nition of its literary merit and its substantial worth will cause
it to be handed down from one generation to another. And
this may be true even though other able reports should be
written to meet progressive requirements.
One of the last labors of Mr. Emerson's life was carefully
to revise the whole work, sparing no expense to have its*
information complete down to that time, and its illustrations
such as should reflect honor upon the country. These vol-
umes, for exactness of knowledge, thoroughness of detail, per-
fection of typographical finish, artistic skill and consummate
genius in the illustrative drawings, with a j)erfect adaptation
to the purpose for which the book was prepared, render the
whole work a fitting monument to the memory of the writer.
We remember well an incident that occurred at the time of
Mr. Emerson's researches. The trees of New England was
the subject of conversation ; a theme which with him never
became exhausted. He called attention to Spenser's "Faerie
Queene," and then turned the conversation upon Henry
Hallam, whose truthfulness in matters of criticism was gener-
ally beyond question. He now invited our thought to Spenser
as referred to by Hallam in his "Introduction to the Litera-
ture of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth
Centuries," and cited the following words by Hallam :
244 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [May,
" Spenser seems to have been sometimes deficient in one
attribute of a great poet, — the continual reference to the
truth of nature. This objection is true of the stanza enumer-
ating as many kinds of trees as the poet could call to mind
in the description of a forest." Hallam then quotes the
entire stanza, beginning, —
" The sailing pine, the cedar proud and tall,
The vine-prop elm, the poplar never dry."
" Every one knows," he says, " that a natural forest never
contains such a variety of species ; and never could such a
medley as Spenser has brought together from all soils and
climates long exist, even if planted by the hands of man."
Mr. Emerson was familiar with a natural forest within a
few miles of Boston, where every tree named by Spenser
stands both firm and in good condition. In Europe all these
trees might not be found in near companionship ; but in New
England they illustrate the poet and verify his truth. If
Henry Hallam had been here, it might have impressed him
strangely, and his superfluous comment on Spenser could
have been spared.
Mr. Thomas T. Bouve, President of the Society of Natural
History, in paying a just tribute to Mr. Emerson, dwells
upon his services rendered to the State, and among these,
speaks of the exceeding value of his botanical labors. He
writes : —
" The Report is not only admirable in its scientific features, but
is most charming from a literary point of view. It takes one out with
the writer into the fields and woods, and makes the reader at once
the interested student and the personal friend, so to speak, of the tree
or shrub which the writer may be describing at the time."
Mr. Emerson's remarks upon our forests, their uses, and
the importance of their preservation, are of peculiar interest
and value, especially at this time, Avhen often, through culpa-
ble neglect and carelessness, thousands of acres are swept
away by fires, covering with desolation vast regions of coun-
try. Wholly aside from the attractive beauty of our forests,
they have an immense effect upon soil and climate and atmos-
phere. Their influence upon the electric forces, and the
amount of rain-falls, affecting seriously brooks and rivers, is
far beyond the general estimation. All that Mr. Emerson says
under this head is of incalculable importance, and fortunate
will it be for the country if his words of warning are heeded.
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEORGE B. EMERSON. 245
In the spacious building of the Society of Natural History
one of the leading attractions is the Botanical Department,
containing over fifty thousand specimens. Mr. Emerson
contributed to this collection not only valuable botanical
works, but a complete set of the illustrations from the last
edition of his work. These were selected from the best
impressions, and appropriately framed. In this hall and
gallery Mr. Edward T. Bouve has arranged several hundred
admirable specimens of the wood, the leaves, the flowers,
and the fruits of New England. Nothing can surpass the
skill and taste manifested throughout the whole arrangement.
The fibres and tissues and whole structure may here be seen.
Transverse sections of each tree are given. Here the methods
of growth may be traced and individual peculiarities exam-
ined, and each student may pursue his investigations to the
greatest possible advantage. The delight which Mr. Emer-
son's extended Report awakened, led, as one of its results,
to the careful gathering of these specimens, and to their ex-
quisite preparation and careful scientific arrangement. The
sections of wood are so artistically cut and polished, that the
internal structure becomes, as it were, transparent, through
this lifelike presentation. This collection, embracing even
now nearly every plant and tree of New England, in the
order in which i\Ir. Emerson describes them, is in itself one
of the most beautiful tributes any book could receive. The
following letters from the father and son will add whatever
further information may be needed ; wliile they also prove
the deep gratification thus imparted to Mr. Emerson, and the
heartiness of his thanks for what had been done.
Boston, Jan. 28, 1882.
My dear Mr. Waterston, — Father tells me that you desire to
know the connection which Mr. George B. Emerson had with the col-
lection, at the rooms of the Society of Natural History, of the speci-
mens representing the woody plants of New England. In order to
give you a just idea of the matter, I shall have to go back some time,
and say that a number of years ago father sniro'ested to me the collec-
tion, and preparation for a cabinet, of the woods of the Massachusetts
trees and shrubs. This suggestion I at once commenced to act upon ;
and, taking Mr. Emerson's most delightful Report for a text-book,
I soon found myself deeply interested in making a full collection, not
only of the woods of different trees, but of every thing necessary to
the foundation of a complete herbarium ; that is, of course, the leaves,
flowers, and fruit of the various species.
I began to do this for myself, but father soon spoke of something
that he wished might be done for the Society, in a way that was, I
246 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
think, novel in this country ; that is, the ari'angement of an herbarium
to comprise the woody plants of New England, so that they might be
seen and studied by visitors to the Museum, in exhibition cases like
the other collections.
In accordance with his desire I immediately began work upon such
a collection in connection with the preparation of the woods themselves,
and have for the past few years been engaged, as time allowed, iu
gathering through the summer, and arranging and mounting under
glass in winter, such specimens as I have been able to obtain.
Father early told Mr. Emerson of what had been done, informing
him of my strong desire to illustrate, so to speak, his '■' Report on the
Trees and Shrubs," which I have always looked upon as one of the
most charming of books ; and Mv. Emerson was very much gratified,
both that the collection vras being made, and that it had reference to
his own work so nearly. He spoke to me with great warmth on the
subject whenever it was my good fortune to meet him, and testified in
another way his interest by sending to the Society, to be placed with
this collection, a set of the superb illustrations to his new edition of
the "• Trees and Shrubs."
It was his earnest desire that I should be able to finish the collec-
tion while he was yet living, so that he could see it done ; but, alas! it
was not possible. My time is closely occupied, and I have been lat-
terly less able to give attention to this work than it was in my power
to do some years since. Besides this, the specimens necessary to the
completion of the collection are rare ones, many of them Alpine species
not easily obtainable. I am unwilling to put specimens on exhibition
unless I have collected and studied them out myself, thereby feeling
secure of there being no mistake as to identity.
Something, however, is being done every year, and I hope that the
collectiou may be completed within a reasonable time.
So ftir as this work at the Society may be deemed of value the
credit belongs largely, if indirectly, to Mr. Emerson, through the
inspiration derived from his book ; and to my lather is due the fact of
there being such a collection at the Museum, both through his desire
expressed to me at first, and through the continual incitement of that
interest, that aid, and that coraiianionship in rambles after specimens
and in investigations, which has been and is more delightful to me
thiiu I am able to express.
With great respect and very great regard.
Yours truly,
Edwakd T. Bouve.
Boston, Feb. 3, 1882.
My dear Mr. Waterston, — I do not know that I can add any
thing to what has been expressed in the accomjianying letter, which will
be of service to you, beyond stating that our dear departed friend
manifested to me very strongly his delight in knowing of the work
upon which my son was engaged. I had the pleasure of first taking
him to the room where the collectiou was placed on exhibition, and of
1883.]
MEMOIR OF GEORGE B. EMERSON. 247
stating to liim that though it was intended to embrace all New Eng-
land species, yet my sou and myself had been led to its formation by
the desire to have his grand work on the " Trees and Shrubs of
Massachusetts " illustrated by natural specimens, so that students of
that work would be aided thereby.
After hearing my remarks, and quietly examining the collection, as
we were descending the stairs leading to tlie main hall he suddenly
stopped, and turning to me very warmly and with much emotion, said,
"Why, I never had so great a compliment paid me." I think I quote
his very words. That he felt strongly all he expressed, I am sure ; and
it is a o-reat pleasure to me to know that the work of my son contrib-
uted so materially to his happiness even for a brief period.
That he continued to appreciate what was doing and had been done,
was shown, I think, by his inviting me to come to his house and desig-
nate what botanical works from his libi-aiy would be serviceable to the
Society, and by the subsequent presentation of the same.
The donation was of great value.
If what my son or myself has expressed is found of use to you in
the memorial upon which you are engaged, we shall both be delighted.
And now, my dear sir, with assurances of great respect and esteem,
I sign myself, as ever,
Your friend,
Thomas T. Bouve.
In a letter from Mr. Horace W. S. Cleveland,* of Chicago,
is the following statement respecting Mr. Emerson, — a de-
scription which brings him very vividly before us, and shows
how strong was the personal attaclnnent which grew up
between himself and the friends he most valued.
" Mr, Emerson's friendship with my parents began in Lancaster,
where a school had been established in which my father was greatly
interested. Having been requested to select a teacher, he applied to
his friend President Kirkland, of Harvard University, who recom-
mended Mr, George B. Emerson. At his home in Boston, I was
always sure of a cordial welcome ; and when at a distarice, he never
failed to keep up an occasional correspondence, manifesting always a
warm interest in my affairs, and ready at all times to give me the
aid of friendly counsel, which his wisdom and experience rendered
most valuable.
* Mr. Horace W. S. Cleveland was the son of Captain Ricliard J. Cleveland,
whose energy of character was made known by his interesting " Narrative of
Voyages anil Commercial Enterprises," published many years ago. Mr. Horace
W. S. Cleveland is widely known as Director in tiie Adornment of Public
Grounds in Chicago and other cities. He is the author of a treatise on Forest
Culture, and has written ably and earnestly on the preservation of our fast-
disappearing forests. Other publications on kindred subjects he has given to
the public, of great interest and importance.
248 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
" One of my earliest works at that period was designing a j^lan for
a tract of land belonging to him in Winthrop, Massachusetts. 1 well
remember my keen sense of pleasure at his expression of satisfaction
with the result.
" As I grew up, Mr. Emerson's kindness was paternal, especially
during the frequent absence of my parents. In after years, when I had
a farm near Burlington, New Jersey, he paid us a delightful visit.
Most heartily he entered into all my plans and theories of horticulture,
and was specially interested in examining the trees in that section of
the country. Several very fine tulip-trees excited his admiration, as
did also the liquid-amber tree, which grows there in great perfection.
There was a magnihcent hemlock on my farm, seventy feet in height
and a dense mass of evergreen foliage. Mr. Emerson visited that tree
daily, examining it on all sides, declaring it to be the finest specimen
of hemlock he had ever seen, and affirming that it was worth a
journej^ from Massachusetts to visit it. . . .
" During the years that followed, his friendly interest continued
undiminished ; and after my removal to the West, and especially while
I was engaged on the construction of the South Pai'k, at Chicago, he
entered into the spirit of the objects I was trying to achieve, as if
they had been his own conceptions.
" He twice visited me during that period, and the last time under
circumstances of peculiar interest. He was witliin a few months of
eighty years of age. He spent several hours inspecting what had
been done and in discussing my future plans. It was a rare oppor-
tunity to converse with one who was familiar enough with tbrestry to
grasp the conception of future results. He entered into my ideas of
possibilities where eveiy thing had to be created out of a nearly level
prairie. . . .
" A new bond of friendship seemed to exist between us in the sym-
pathy of our tastes for natural beauty, and the study of the laws of
growth. His letters to me were full of suggestive matter, evincing
the closeness of his observation and the justice of his conclusions ; but
all those letters, together with a beautifully bound copy which he sent
me of his ' Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts,' were among the
treasures which I lost in the Chicago tire. . . .
" Devoting myself, as I have done, to the profession of landscape
gardening, Mr. Emerson's interest in my work was throughout of
great aid and encouragement. When we finally parted, 1 took my
leave of him with the conviction that it was my last farewell on earth,
but grateful for the benediction of one so well prepared for heaven. . . .
'' In regard to Mr. Emerson's work on the ' Trees and Shrubs of
Massachusetts,' I have no doubt that it has exerted a wide-spread
influence. Judging of its effect upon myself, I cannot but believe that
kindred impressions must have been shared by very many readers.
To me it was a revelation which led me to look upon trees with a
degree of sympathy which might almost be termed affection. Perhaps
the descriptions came home to me Avith the more force, from the fact
of my natural love, and life-long familiarity with our native forests.
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEORGE B. EMERSON. 249
Entirely independent of its scientific value, there is a permanent and
pervading interest in what Mr. Emerson lias written. Its perusal has
always with me the same refreshing and soothing effect which the
forest itself inspires. There is an influence upon the mind like that
exquisite melody which may be deeply felt, while tlie source of its
power may be indescribable. Shakespeare speaks of finding ' tono-ues
in trees ' ; and it is this very language of nature which the writer has
caught, the whole tendency of which is to bring the entire mind into
harmony with nature itself."
The last and perfected edition of Mr. Emerson's work on the
" Trees and Shrnbs of Massachusetts " was dedicated to Pro-
fessor Asa Gray, Late President of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences. Professor Gray, in a tribute to his friend
at a meeting- of the Academy, May, 1881, said that the vol-
ume by Mr. Emerson in connection with the geological
survey of the Commonwealth is to be counted " among the
best fruits of that survey."
He then associates Dr. Jacob Bigelow with Mr. Emerson,
and says : —
" The two classics of New England botany are Dr. Bigelow's well-
known ' Flora ' and Mr. Emerson's treatise on the ' Trees and Shrubs
of Massachusetts,' both side issues from active professional life ; both
unusually successful in the combination of popular witli scientific
treatment of their subjects, and in the extent of their influence in
this community, as also in the appreciation accorded to them by
scientific men."
Alluding to the progress which had been made in the
natural sciences during Mr. Emerson's hfetime, the deeper
and larger questions which had been dealt with by new
methods and exacter researches. Professor Gray adds : —
" To the advance that has been made within the last forty years
and more, Mr. Emerson's helping hand and his weighty influence have
largely contributed."
From so exact a scholar, and one of such unquestioned
authority, no added couimendation is needed.
Soon after the new building connected with the Society of
Natural History had been completed, and the dedicatory ser-
vices had taken place, a new proposition was brought forward.
The purpose_ was publicly urged to luake this institution
more emphatically an educational power in the community.
There were members of the Society, among whom was Mr.
32
250 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
George B. Emerson, who were not satisfied that these rare
collections should be left to yield only a momentary gratifica-
tion, to be considered as mere curiosities for the entertain-
ment of a passing hour. They felt rather that they should
be studied as tlie monuments of past ages, the authentic
record of a world's history ; that teachers especially should
have here every opportunity for stud}^ ; and that lectures
from the ablest men should aid their investigations, present-
ing every advantage by which their pupils should receive the
benefit.
This movement led to a series of lectures b}' eminent men
of science, who, aided by tlie invaluable specimens here
arranged, were listened to with profound interest by more
than six hundred teachers ; and one may realize how wide
must have been the influence thus exerted, when it is remem-
bered that twenty-seven thousand children were under the
daily care of the teachers thus assembled.
Professors Jeffries Wyman, William B. Rogers, Augustus
A. Gould, Asa Gray, were among those who lectured ; and at
the introductory meeting the Governor of the Commonwealth,
John A. Andrew ; the Maj^or of the City, F. W. Lincoln ;
and President Hill, of Harvard University, made impressive
remarks. The ablest scientific men in the country gave to
this movement their moi^t cordial support. It is a great satis-
faction to know that the effort made at that time exerts an
unabated influence to this day. It was the inauguration of a
new instrumentality, and the interest deepens as time goes
by. So strong is the conviction of its utility, and the demand
for instruction is so great, that a portion of the Lowell Fund
has been generously appropriated to carry on the work.
Mr. Emerson had the strongest sympathy with the whole
movement. He took part in the introductory meeting. His
letter accepting the invitation is so cordial and modest, that it
seems like hearing his voice once more to read it.
3 Pemberton Square, March 16, 1865.
Rev. R. C. Waterston.
My dear Sik, — Your very kind note of the 12th came to rae
yesterday.
In behalf of the teachers, whose ekier brother I am, I thank you
for the interest you have shown in them, and at the same time I would
thank you for doing so much to bring the subject of Natural History
prominently forward as something to be thought of by teachers. I
believe that one of the defects of teaching at present is in the neglect
of it.
The programme of lectures is excellent ; indeed, it could not be im-
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEORGE B. EMERSON. 251
proved. The rich aud accurate stores of knowledge of Wyman and
Gould, and the ready eloquence of Rogers, give promise of very
attractive aud valuable lectures. I have never heard Mr. Scudiler.
I shall endeavor to be present at the phice and hour you indicate,
and mean to come prepai-ed to speak if it should seem desirable. My
organ of language is so poor, that I always find it better to say nothing,
if others cau be persuaded to speak upon the subject I have been
revolving ; especially if I can have an opportunity of suggesting
thoughts in conversation.
Very truly yours,
Geo. B. Emerson.
Mr. Emerson's convictions in regard to the teaching of
Natural History will find best expression through his own
words .- —
" The relation between the mind of man and the universe m which
he is placed by the Creator of both, is established for wise purposes,
which it becomes us to inquire into and reverence. «The volume of
natux'e, with its infinite variety, is spread out before the opening eye,
every page teeming with interest, inviting and rewarding inquiry.
Every object is full of beauty, every sound has an echo in the heart of
a child. Its simplest elements are level with the meanest capacity,
and can be grasped by the weakest hand ; wliile its exhaustless abun-
dance fills the most mature mind and taxes the strongest."
And then, not willing to confine either himself or others to
any narrow field of inquiry, he adds : —
" Study plants, birds, shells, rocks, any thing that is God's work-
manshi]). Do not for a moment think that the study of his works,
pursued in a right spirit, can fail to bring you nearer to Him."
These lectures, commenced by the Society of Natural His-
tory eighteen years ago, with the apprehension on the part
of many that they would probably endure but for a very
brief period, never, in fact, have been so prosperous as at
present : and now that so large a number of able teachers
give practical evidence of their attractive power, it is doubly
pleasant to recall Mr. Emerson's interest in their inaugura-
tion, and the earnest manner in which he gave them both his
sympathy and support.
The world upon which George B. Emerson entered in
1797 can hardly be considered the same as that from which
he departed in 1881, so vast and rapid had been the advance-
ment in nearly every phase of society. During this period
252 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
a nobler type of civilization was developing itself. An un-
precedented activity was perceptible on every side. Hardly
a day elapsed without some scientific or mechanical discovery.
The realms of space were penetrated. The most complex
elements were analyzed. The upheavals of remotest epochs
were read in the formation of the planet, while the kingdoms
of nature, througli every clime, revealed their secret laws.
The seed scattered by master minds had taken root and was
fast making visible its results. New forms of industry were
springing into being, and the forces of the material creation
were rendering cheerful obedience to the will of man. Oceans
and continents were becoming more and more closely inter-
woven, while electric thought, annihilating space, encircled
the globe. To-day the farmer in his field gathers his harvest
by machinery, the housewife by her fireside has ways once
unknown of replenishing her wardi'obe, while the printing-
press scatters its products like snow-flakes over the nations.
Mr. Emerson's life, arching over more than eighty 3'ears of
the nineteenth century, led him to see changes such as the
world had never witnessed before. Under all these influ-
ences his career shaped itself. His thoughts in no small
degree were thus marked and moulded, and his whole life
and character received a coloring from the peculiar incidents
through which he passed. Not that he was the passive
creature of external circumstances ; but with his sympathetic
and receptive nature he was alive to influences, and from the
nobler tendencies of his being he assimilated what was best.
That which was elevating and enduring became his nutri-
ment, and was converted into individual life and creative
energy. He looked upon living thought from wliatever quar-
ter it came, studied it, opened his heart to it, and made it
his own ; yet he both reflected and acted for himself. When
he studied trees or flowers it was to the forest and the hill-
side he went. If at midnight he was still engrossed over
Xenophon and Herodotus and the Odyssey. — depriving him-
self of sleep and rest, — it was to embody that fresh knowl-
edge and power which should aid in the work of progress both
individually and socially. The impulse of the century stirred
him, and he in turn sought to extend and multipl}' that
impulse over his time. A century which for mental activity
and scientific acliievement has never been surpassed, found
in him a worthy recipient and a faithful promoter.
He felt that no privilege could be greater tlian to participate
in such experiences. The love of knowledge blazed within
him like an inextiuGfuishable flame whereat he would allow
1883.]
MEMOIR OF GEORGE B. EMERSON. 253
all others to light their tapers or kindle their fire. This was
a predominating passion ; but wliatever information he ac-
quired he was eager to put to a generous use. To gain and
to impart, were ruling principles of his life. Two things to
him had a sacred import: to learn and to teach, — to learn all
that was true and good, and to impart as much of it as might
be in his power. Quiet in his manners, considerate and well-
balanced, he united untiring industry with an absolute devo-
tion to duty.
To instruct was a natural impulse of his being. He was
a born teacher. There seemed to him no higher sphere or
holier vocation than that which enabled him to enlighten
and elevate the minds of others. Thus for more than forty
years did he devote himself faithfully to his great work.
In no merely artificial manner was that labor performed.
Not the written rules of text-books were his arbitrary guide.
His knowledge was full of life. Mind communed with
mind Enthusiasm was kindled, awakening at the time,
and leaving behind it, an indescribable charm. He called
forth that true sympathy which binds heart to heart, and
which, amid all after changes, is never forgotten. In a com-
munity familiar with the best teachers he was second to none.
Gentle and true in all he said and did, it was not simply what
he taught, but what he was, that gave him his exalted
position. There was a calm dignity which made his presence
attractive, while his evident sincerity commanded confidence
and respect. His pupils became, in after life, scattered widely
over this country and in Europe, and we believe not one was
ever known to speak of him without lasting gratitude and
unqualified affection.
To other teachers and to the public generally his words
upon the subject of education always carried great weight
and were received with peculiar respect. His labors in this
way were constant and varied, and it would be difficult to
estimate the good that must thus have been accomplished.
One great means of influence which he possessed, was the
leading minds that were naturally drawn to liim, by whom
and through whom he, almost unconsciously to themselves, ex-
erted power. Men of the highest culture, citizens of the most
responsible positions, prized his companionship. Probably in
no community could a larger circle of influential persons be
found than in that section of the country where he lesided, —
those who by their active philanthropy and judicious be-
nevolence labored willingly for the public good. With all
such generous and noble-hearted citizens Mr. Emerson was
254 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
a special favorite. They desired his sympathy, sought his
counsel, and were eager for his co-operation ; and no one was
more ready to give both time and effort, or to devote them
more wisely, than he.
After Mr. Emerson had taught school for more than forty
years, his friends persuaded him that he needed rest, and that
he ought to visit Europe. INIany of his tastes pointed in that
direction. His familiarity with history, science, and litera-
ture must have given, through all his journeyings, a fresh im-
pulse to his mind ; while his intimacy with both tlie ancient
and modern languages enabled him to converse freely every-
where with men of letters, the artist and the artisan. Eng-
land, France, Germany, Italy, were to him all crowded with
interest. We remember meeting him in the midst of these
attractions and rejoicing at the vigor of his thought. In Paris
he gave us an account of his visit to Rome. We recall the
fact that he dwelt particularly upon the Forum and the
Colosseum, describing the plants and flowers he had gathered
there, counting as high as three hundred. Other collections
he had made from the Campagna and the Palace of the
Caesars. Four pleasant months were passed in Rome, wan-
dering through galleries, clambering over ruins, penetrating
catacombs, musing in St. Peter's, and searching through the
untold wonders of the Eternal City. At Naples he ascended
Vesuvius, looked down into its burning crater, and off over
its incomparable view, — a scene which seemed like some spell
of enchantment. He visited Pgestum, and beheld the temples
which had met the storms of twenty centuries; and he found
his way through Etruscan towns which have stood for ages,
and where the wild flowers awakened his admiration. He
would fill his carriage with plants and vines, that he might
have an opportunity, on returning to his rooms, of examining
them more at leisure. In the different countries he visited,
such w^as his familiarity with the languages spoken, and so
readily did he adapt himself to the manners and customs of
the people, that they considered him as one of themselves,
and almost forgot that he was a foreigner.
In visiting Germany he gave minute examination to the
schools, watching every step taken, .whether b}' teachers or
pupils, day after day, and often from morning to night. As
one result, he was satisfied that the schools in New England
had no reason to shrink from a comparison with them.
He returned from his foreign travels with a strengthened
determination to make himself useful to others. That he
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEORGE B. EMERSON. 255
was true to this purpose, all will testify who knew him. To
do good seemed to be with him even more profoundlj^ than
ever a prevailing motive.
In 1870 Mr. Emerson, in company with Dr. Jacob Bigelow,
then in his eighty-third year, visited the Pacific coast.
In their youth, the Mississippi River might well have
appeared almost beyond reach ; now it was but as a starting-
point. Then the Rocky Mountains seemed inaccessible as
the Himalaya ; now, as their dark sides were lifted against
the sky, the railroad could be seen winding over them.
Here, after leaving Cheyenne, high up among the mountains,
at least seven thousand feet, is the plateau known as Laramie
Plain. It is a little curious that the number of flowering-
plants here is recorded as three hundred distinct varieties, —
exactly the number Mr. Emerson had found in the Colosseum
on his visit to Italy. What possible contrast could be greater
than the two scenes, — their aspect, history, and associations!
From thence the travellers went to Salt Lake City and the
Mormon Tabernacle. They visited Council Bluffs, Echo
Canyon, crossing the Alkali Plains. They ascended the
Sierra Nevada and passed down the western slope. They
were at San Francisco, Calistoga Springs, Sacramento, and
Copperopolis. They studied the characteristic features of
the redwood-trees and the Sequoia gigantea. It is difficult
to comprehend what must have been the impression made
upon minds like theirs by objects so novel and on so vast a
scale. They reached home without an accident.
Without dwelling, at present, upon the Civil War, which
formed so momentous an event during the latter part of Mr.
Emerson's life, we will ask attention to but one movement
'which was most beneficent in its results, and in which he was
actively engaged. From the very beginning of the war large
numbers who liad been slaves were thrown out of employment
and needed both advice and instruction. Promptly through
the whole North and West, associations were formed for the
aid and direction of the freedmen. Many persons, both male
and female, volunteered as teachers, ready to leave their homes
and endure any hardships if they could be of service. The
chief object of the Educational Commission was the indus-
trial, social, intellectual, moral, and religious improvement
of persons released from slavery in the course of the war
for the Union. Mr. Emerson was from the commencement
of this movement intimately associated with it. He held
256 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May,
the responsible position of Chairman of the Committee on
Teachers, and in his reports he expresses his views upon the
duties before them, and the result of what had been done.
He states that "the blacks upon many of the plantations had
been deserted by their former masters, and were without con-
trol or guidance. No system or order had yet been intro-
duced into their habits or their methods of labor. The life
of dependence which they had so long led had unfitted them
for the time, with few exception's, for independent action on
their own account."
Both at Port Royal and the Sea Islands the work of in-
struction was carried on systematically and extensively, and
with most gratifying success. At Port Royal Mr. Edward
L. Pierce (since so well known on both sides of the Atlantic
by his biography of Charles Sumner) acted as superintendent,
with thirty-one teachers. Every thing was done which an
enlightened policy and humane feeling could dictate. Other
teachers were soon sent, making the number at Port Royal
seventy-two. From two to three thousand children received
instruction in the schools. Teachers were also at work in
Fortress Monroe, at Washington and Alexandria, and other
places. The number of persons ready and anxious to engage
in this woi'k was very great. Mr. Emerson states in his
report that hundreds of letters had been received, many
from persons of the highest qualifications, desirous to labor
in so interesting a field, and willing to endure personal hard-
ships and to make any sacrifice. " It was soon apparent,"
he writes, " as had already been anticipated, that the in-
struction most needed by the blacks was not in the knowl-
edge of school-books, but in that which should lead them
to appreciate the advantage of civilized life, to relinquish the
habits and customs of slavery, and to learn the duties and
responsibilities of free men." *
In the work in which Mr. Emerson was actively engaged,
more than a tliousand teachers were em[)loyeil throughout
the South, imparting instruction to over one hundred thou-
sand persons, both 3'oung and old.
During the memorable period of Mr. Emerson's life, may it
not justly be said, that he witnessed, if not the formation of a
national literature, the preliminary steps to such a desirable
consummation? In the days of his early j^outh, and even in
his advancing manhood, neaily all books printed or read in
America were written by authors associated with other coun-
tries. Even the books that were written here, were for the
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEORGE B. EMERSOJf. 257
most part modelled upon foreign standards. The leading
minds of other lands were naturally the guides of our intel-
lectual life. History, biography, poetry and prose, and all
the different phases of literature, came to us as a matter of
course from beyond the Atlantic. The time had not yet come
for an original growth. Tlie Reformation, the Revival of
Learning, the "golden age " of Elizabeth, the men of sci-
ence and philosophy, were our rich and abundant resources.
With such treasures within reach, it was a temptation to
reproduce rather than to create. Through all nature there are
separate stages of growth. Each period in a country's history
has its own work. First are the pioneers, by whom forests are
to be felled and lands cleared and cultivated ; tlien comes
the promotion of social order and the development of civil
institutions ; then every variety of manual labor, agriculture,
traffic, commerce ; then the great questions of human rights,
with the struggle for progress and freedom. These are prac-
tical problems to be solved, and for the time are su[»reme.
Native authorship with original strength and vigor, kindling
with individual genius, will ripen in due time. Tbere is a
fitting season for preparation. One period becomes the
essential precursor of that which follows. Down to the
opening of the nineteenth century there was in this country
all that answered the immediate want. But with the increase
of intellectual activity came a new development of original
power, a freshness of imagery, strength of thought, masterly
methods of presentation, and the undeniable impress of
creative genius ; not simply a transplanting from other lands,
but the adoption from various literatures of whatever ele-
ments are best, with a new spirit sujieradded, embracing in
its comprehensiveness both depth and breadth, breathing the
aroma of the woods, and reflecting, through all, the life and
spirit of the time. Mr. William CuUen Bryant as late as
1817, when Mr. Emerson was twenty years of age, in referring
to the prominent American poets of that day, names, in all
honesty, Dwight, Barlow, Trumbull, Humphreys, Clifton, and
Honey wood ; and he speaks of a Dr. Ladd of Rhode Island,
wlio was much celebrated in his time for poetical talent.
Contrast this poetical literature with what has since become
familiar to every mind, through the productions of Bryant,
Dana, Longfellow, Lowell, Wliittier, and Holmes, and many
others whose writings are now as well known beyond the
sea as in our own land. We will not venture to expatiate
upon this theme. Neither need we speak of Washington
Irving, or Ralph Waldo Emerson, or Nathaniel Hawthorne,
33
258 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May
unsurpassed in their way ; or of historians like Sparks, and
Prescott, and Motley, and Bancroft, all of whom, during the
life we are considering, did a marvellous work in perfecting
the literature of their country and time, and stamping it with
a national character.
It is understood to have been through Mr. Emerson's in-
fluence that his friend, Mr. James Arnold, of New Bedford,
left the munificent bequest upon which the Arnold Arbore-
tum at Cambridge is founded.
In 1859 Mr. Emerson received from Harvard University
the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was early elected a mem-
ber of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which
through many years he continued a valued associate.
We have traced his career through one of the most event-
ful periods of liistory, and have seen that he did his part to
secure, both to the individual and to society, the advantage
of positive knowledge. He united in all his studies an un-
wavering love of truth, with quiet self-control, and conscien-
tious fidelity.
After a life crowded with usefulness, George B. Emerson
died March 4, 1881, at the advanced age of eighty-four. He
had passed through experiences of sorrow in the death of those
very dear to him, but he had met bereavement with a firm
trust. Never was his mind darkened oi' imbittered by grief ;
rather by such discipline was his faith strengthened, and his
whole nature brought into closer communion with Heaven.
Thus advancing years, if they brought incidental feebleness,
brought also accumulated blessings, while he had
" That which should accompany old age,
As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends."
Those who through his active life had stood by his side
as companions and co-workers felt deeply his loss ; while the
young, who had been taught b}^ his wisdom, dwelt fondly upon
his memory, always cherishing a sense of profound indebted-
ness and grateful affection.
Through his whole life had been seen the attractiveness of
truth. With clear perceptions and calm judgment he had
been faithful to his highest convictions. Sincere in his good-
ness, each duty had been fulfilled with undeviating integrity.
Thus even to his last days he was tranquil and happy. The
kind Providence that had watched over him through all his
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEORGE B. EMERSON. 259
pilgrimage was still with him to smooth his pathway, showing
him, at times, visions of his celestial home. With brightest
anticipation did he pass into the glorious future : —
'• His riper age
Marked with some act of goodness every day ;
And, watched by eyes that loved him, calm and sage,
Faded his late declining years away.
Cheerful he gave his being up, and went
To share the holy rest that waits a life well spent."
260 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
JUNE MEETING, 1883.
The last regular meeting before the summer recess was
held on Thursday, the 14th instant, at 3 o'clock p.m. ; the
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop in the chair.
The record of the preceding meeting, read by the Record-
ing Secretar}^ was approved.
The additions to the Library during the past month were
reported by the Librarian.
It was announced by the Corresponding Secretary that let-
ters had been received from General F. A. Walker and Pro-
fessor A. L. Perry, accepting membership.
The President then addressed the Society as follows : —
The month which has elapsed. Gentlemen, since we last
met has been fruitful of historical and biographical publica-
tions, in which, though not the immediate productions of our
own Society, we gladly recognize the labors of more than one
of our members. I may mention the vigorous Biography of
Webster, by Mr. Cabot Lodge, and the masterly Memoir of
Thomas Morton of Merry Mount, with his " New English
Canaan," by Mr. Charles Francis Adams, Jr., published so
beautifully by the Prince Society. This very morning, too, I
received at Brookline, by favor of Mr. Winsor, some of the
first pages of " The Narrative and Critical History of Amer-
ica," which promise the early appearance of that elaborate
work, in which so many of our number are associated as
fellow-laborers.
Since our last monthly meeting, the death of our distin-
guished foreign Honorary Member, Laboulaye, lias been
announced by ocean telegram, and subsequently by formal
communication from his family addressed to this Society. It
occurred on the 25th of May last. He was born in Paris on
the 18th of January, 1811, and he had thus entered on the
seventy-third year of his age. Of humble parentage, and
following for some years the mechanical profession of a type-
founder, his mind was early turned to questions of law and
of liberty, and he suddenly appeared as the author of an
elaborate History of Landed Property in Europe from the
time of Constantine to the present day. This work, was pub-
1883.] EEMAKKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 261
lislied in 1839, when he was but twenty-eight years of age,
and while lie was still engaged in a mechanical calling. It
was followed in 1842 by a Memoir of Savigny, the eminent
Prussian jurist, and in 1843 by a volume of Researches into
the Civil and Political Condition of Woman from the days
of ancient Rome. Two years afterwards he published an
Essay on the Criminal Law of Rome, in special re'gard to the
jesponsibility of Magistrates.
More than one of these works received the crowning recoo--
nition of the Institute of France, and in 1845 he was chosen
a member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres,
on whose roll his name stood second in seniority at the time
of his death.
From this period his reputation Avas established both in
literature and in law; and in 1849 he was elected Professor of
Comparative Legislation in the College of France. His atten-
tion was now soon turned to our own country. In 1854 he
published an Essay on the Life and Teachings of Channing,
as an introduction to his translation of Channing's Moral and
Social Writings ; and in the next year he pubtished a trans-
lation of Channing's writings on Slavery, with a Study of his
own on Slavery in the United States. In 1855, also, appeared
the first of three volumes of his " Political History of the
United States from 1620 to 1783," the third volume of which
was printed in 1866. In 1866-67 he published a translation
of the Memoirs and Correspondence of Franklin, together
with Franklin's Essays on Moral and Political Economy.
Meantime he had become deeply interested in the rise and
progress of the Southern Rebellion, and was an earnest advo-
cate of the Union cause. In 1862 he published a formal ex-
position of his views of the causes of our Civil War, under the
title of " The United States and France." His little volume,
too, of " Paris in America," published soon afterwards, under
a partly fictitious name, attracted great attention on both sides
of the ocean, ran through many editions in Paris, and was
translated and printed at New York.
Laboulaye was thus_ everywhere known as foremost in
France _ among the friends of our country and its Union, at
the period of our great struggle. And he continued to man-
ifest his warm interest in our institutions and welfare to the
last, — omitting no opportunity, in his lectures at the College
of France, of which he was the director at his death, to do
justice to our earlier and our later history, and to hold up
our example to the study and imitation of French Repub-
licans.
262 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,
Accordingly, in 1878, when the Grand Exposition was held
at the Trocadero in Paris, to commemorate the Centennial of
the Treaty of Alliance between our two countries, he became
President of the Franco-American Commission for presenting
to the United States the gigantic statue of " Liberty enlight-
ening the World," which is now awaiting the preparation of
its pedestal on Bedloe's Island in the harbor of New York.
I have here a formal diploma or certificate, setting fortk
the proposed gift of this wonderful statue, kindly given me,
while I was lately in Paris, by the accomplished designer and
sculptor of the work, M. Bartholdi. It reads substantially as
follows : —
"The Colossal Statue of Liberty will be finished in 1883, and is to
be erected on a monumental base on Bedloe's Island in the splendid
harbor of New York. It will illustrate the fraternity of our two
nations, as formerly, a hundred years ago, in the cause of American
Independence.
" It has received the support and contributions of 181 French towns
or cities through their municipal councils, of 40 ' Conseils Generaux,'
of 10 Chambers of Commerce of the most important Cities, and of
100,000 subscribers. The people of the United States will compre-
hend the sentiment which has inspired this grand manifestation."
It bears tlie facsimile signatures of the Commission, with
that of Laboulaye as President.
And here is an autograph note of Laboulaj^e himself, written
from Versailles, where he resided in the summer, apologizing
for not coming to Paris, to unite with Bartholdi the sculptor,
and with M. Hemi Martin the historian, — also a member
of the Commission, and one of our warmest friends, — in
accompanying me, as they most kindly did, to see the statue.
The note has some interesting allusions to himself and to
our country, and I give it in a free translation : —
Versailles, 10 October, 1882.
Dear M. Winthrop, — I regret extremely not to be able to join
in doing you the honors of the statue of Liberty. But I feel heavily
the weight of threescore and ten, and am suflering from une maladie
de cceur, which confines me to my apartments, to my great sorrow.
I received and read with great pleasure your Yorktown Discourse, and
was particularly impressed with your remarks about free schools, — a
question of great interest for us in France, for we are making doubtful
progress at this moment. We rely on the omnipotence of the State,
but understand nothing of self-government or self-help. We have
great need of being Americanized on this point.
I have read repeatedly your excellent Biography of John Win-
1S83.] LETTER FROM M. LABOULAYE. 263
throp, and have intended to make an abridgment of it in a small vol-
ume for purposes of education in France. Ikit infirmities have come
upon me, and I am no longer capable of continuous labor, at least for
the present.
I thank you heartily for the engraved portrait, which I shall pre-
serve preciously. In exchange I can send you only a very old photo-
graph of myself, taken seventeen years ajjo, when my hair was still
black. This picture, which is now but half like me, has at least the
interest of representing me at the time I was defending your Union
cause against the secession of the South.
Accept, dear Sir, all my acknowledgments, and believe me always,
I pray you, one of your devoted friends.
Ed. Laboulate.
P. S. Men of my age have been brought up with the portrait of
Lafayette which you possess at Washington. Those who never saw
the General, know him only by the engraving of this portrait ; but, for
myself, I saw him many times, and can bear witness to its perfect
tidelity to the original.
Of M. Laboulaye's relations to the public affairs and polit-
ical parties of his own country, I need say little here. He
was repeatedly unsuccessful as a candidate for the National
Assembly, but was elected in 1871, became Chairman of the
Committee on the Higher Education, and in 1875 was the
Secretarv and Reporter of the Grand Committee of Thirty
on the Republican Constitution of France. He was always
a Republican ; though not without some of those conserva-
tive views which subjected him to the suspicion of thorough-
going radicals, and which cost him somewhat of the popularity
which he coveted and at one time enjoyed. He was a Sena-
tor at his death, as well as the Director of the College of
'ranee.
M. Laboulaye was elected an Honorary Member of this
Society in December, 1863, and his name has thus been on
our rolls for nearly twenty years. We should all be unwilling
to have it disappear without some words of well-merited
eulogy.
His memory, indeed, cannot fail to be long and warmly
cherished by Americans, not merely as an eminent historian
and publicist, but as one of the most intelligent and earnest
sympathizers with our country in its maintenance of free
institutions and in its great struggle for the preservation of
the Union.
I will detain you. Gentlemen, but a moment more before
calling for communications from others. I have here a letter
'364 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
from the United States Consul at Dresden, Mr. Jos. T. Mason,
announcing the discovery there, in private hands, of an orig-
inal portrait of Franklin, by the celebrated French artist,
Duplessis. He states that it may be purchased for 6,000
marks, which would be about $1,500. From the photogra]:)h
which accompanies the communication, I should not doubt
its being an original Duplessis, and a very fine one, in perfect
preservation. He sends a similar communication to the
rennsylvania Historical Society, and to the Corcoran Gal-
lery, at Washington.
Our own Society has no means applicable to such a pur-
chase, and we have already in Boston, at our Public Library,
two very fine original portraits of Franklin, — one by Duples-
sis, the gift of the late Mr. Edward Brooks ; and tlie other
by Greuze, I think, given by FiankHn himself to Mr. Oswald,
who signed the Preliminary Treaty of Peace in 1782, and
presented to the Library by the late Mr. Gardner Brewer.
We have, also, in our Boston Athenaeum, what purports to
be an original portrait of Fi'ankHn by Greuze. There is, too,
an original crayon of Franklin by Greuze, in the family of
the late Mr. James Lawrence.
But this portrait at Dresden is a highly interesting one,
and the communication of our Consul may well find a place
in our records.
It would be a most desirable acquisition for the State De-
partment at Washington, where there is a gallery of our
American diplomatists, and would form a fit frontispiece for
the great Stevens Collection of Franklin Papers, which has
recently been j)urchased by the Government.
Dr. Ellis remarked as follows : —
The tenth day of November next will complete four cen-
turies since the birth of Martin Luther. The signal influence
of his life and career, among the most effective forces Avorking
tlirougli Christendom in that extended period of time, will
find fitting recognition and observance in various parts of
Europe. His own father-land, rightfully taking the lead in
grateful and elaborate offices of commemoration, will stir
sympathetic observances among all the most adv.anced peoples
on continent or island. On this northern half of the then
New World — wliich, at tlie era of the birth of the great re-
former, was veiled in darkness soon to be irradiated — there
are millions of our race who will not be content with any
merely responsive echo of foreign notes. It is eminently
1883.] MAKMADUKE JOHNSON. 265
fitting that this Society, the oldest in the country in its special
objects, should take not only a leading, but a prompting part,
in promoting and securing such a recognition of that l)irth-
day as is in perfect harmony with our aims, — secular indeed,
but not oblivious of higher interests. It offers us the broad-
est and most comprehensive themes and aspects, political,
intellectual, philosophical, ecclesiastical, and popular.
Happily we have with us one who was for many years our
associate in this Society, and a Professor in the University, —
a German scholar, profoundly versed in the literature, the
philosophy, the history, science, art, and broadest culture of the
birth-land of Luther ; and who is gifted with especial talents,
with breadth of tliought, and compass of view, for a brilliant
rehearsal of his career, and of his place in the world's his-
tory and in the higher development of humanity. I would
therefore propose to the Society the following motion : —
That we invite Dr. Frederic H. Hedge to prepare an address
for delivery in some public hall in this city, on the 10th of
November next, commemorative of the life, the career, and
the influence of Martin Lnther.
That the officers of this Society be a committee to make all
the proper arrangements for the occasion.
The Resolution was adopted.
Dr. Paige made the following communication: —
Although Stephen Day was recognized by the General
Court, Dec. 10, 1641, as " the first that set upon printing,"
yet Thomas, in his "• History of Printing," says that Marma-
duke Johnson, who came here about twent}' years later, was
probabl}^ the first thoroughly instructed printer in New Eng-
land. "Articles of Agreement" were "indented, made, con-
cluded, and agreed upon, the one and twentieth day of April
in the year of our Lord God 1660, between the President and
Society for Propagation of the Gospel in New England, on
the one part, and Marmaduke Johnson, citizen and stationer,
of London, on the other part," providing that said Johnson,
for a specified consideration, should " pass and go over unto
Boston in New England," and " serve the said President and
Society and their successors ... in the Art of a Printer, for
tlie printing of the Bible in the Indian language, and such
other books as he shall be directed to print, for and during,
the term of three years," <fec.* He was described bj^ Eliot as
* Mass. Archives, x. 205.
34
266 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,
" an able and useful man in the press ; " yet the current of
his life did not run smoothly. In April, 1662, he was con-
victed by the County Court of " obtaining the affections of
the daughter of Ens. Samuel Green, without the knowledoe
or consent of said Samuel Green," for which offence he was
fined five pounds ; '' and for his presumptuous and wicked
attempt of marriage, having by his own confession a wife in
England," it was ordered " that he return with the first
opportunity that he may to his wife, on penalty of twenty
pounds, to be forfeited and paid to the Count}^ Treasurer."*
Instead of returning to his Avife, which perhaps he regarded
as the more severe penalty, he engaged to serve the Society
another year, having apparently been discharged for idleness
and neglect of duty. In October, 1663, the penalty was
exacted by the court, and he was compelled to give bond,
with sureties, in the sum of forty pounds, that he would
" depart this jurisdiction according to the order of Court
within six weeks time next ensuing, or by Christopher Clark's
ship, now bound for England." f
He did not depart, however, and it does not appear what
further action was had by the County Court, as the records
of that court for the next eight years were destroyed by fire.
But from another source it is learned that the General Court
interposed in behalf of the unfortunate printer. At the
session commencing Oct. 20, 1663, the following order was
adopted : —
" Upon perusal of the Commissioners' letters to [from ?] the honor-
able Corporation in England, and Mr. Elliot's motion touching Mar-
maduke Johnson, printer, informing that the said Corporation have
contracted with the said Johnson for one year, expiring in August
next, it is hereby ordered, that there be a suspension of the execution
of an order of the last County Court of Middlesex, for one year, en-
joining the said Johnson to return to England to his wife, whom he
allegeth is diseased [deceased?] and may have opportunity in the inter-
val to produce full certificate thereof." t
He remained here eleven years longer, earning a precarious
livelihood, until he died, Dec. 25, 1671. His wife, Ruth,
daughter of Christopher Cane, whom he married April 28,
1670, survived him about two years.
So much may be gleaned from documents heretofore
printed. In exploring the treasures in the Middlesex County
* Middlesex Court T^ecords. t Ibid.
t Mass. Colony Records, v. 93.
1883.] LETTER FEOM THOMAS JOHNSON. 267
Clerk's Office, I found a manuscript letter, in the files of Octo-
ber, lOGo, addressed to Marmaduke Johnson by his brother,
Thomas Johnson, which seemed worthy of being rescued from
oblivion. It indicates a principal cause of Marmaduke's
downfall, and the intervention of his brother and of the
Apostle Eliot, as guardian angels, to save him from utter ruin.
I am by no means confident that it should be published ; but
the copy will at least be more accessible in our Library than
the original is on the musty files of the court, where it has
already slumbered more tiian two centuries. I preserve the
orthography of the letter, which compares favorably with the
average style in vogue two hundred years ago. I will read
one or two extracts from it : — -
Feb. 27, 1G6|.
Loving Brother, — I find by your many letters tliat you much
blame me in my remissness of not writing unto you, which I must con-
fess in some part I am guilty of ; but I was so much troubled about
that lewd woman, once your wife, that I did vow not to write till I
heard better news of you ; and this ray resolution was backt with an
invective Letter from Mr. Green, which I herewith send you: I had
thought that Mary Cooks Deposition, Mr. Traceys Testimony, and
my verbal expressions to INIr. Broadstreet, had been sutHcient to sat-
istie that scruple ; but I perceive by your Letters it is not. Brother,
you must know this, that your being absent was the onely cause of your
not being descharged from her, for such a thing could not be done by
Proxy. . . . Brother, I should not here write so much, but to satisfie
those persons that are so envious against you, whom they are I know
not. Li my former Letter I confess I did intimate my dislike of too
forward proceedings in that business of Mr. Greens daughter (because
of your wife) a person perhaps that I shall never have the happiness
to see ; but your high character of her hath made me render you (as
to myself) less blameable in the desiring of so worthy a maid : But
before 1 go any further, I must needs intreat you to remember my
kind respects unto her, and if I were certain of your mutual respect
again, I should present her with a token worthy of acceptance. Your
wife being dead, and you free, perhaps there may be an agreement
with Mr. Green and you, and you settle there to your hearts content.
Since my former writing I have gained a result from the Cor-
poration and they are willing that you should continue there a year
longer, and according as they hear of your civil carriage you may
be settled there. They gave me order to invite you to be more circum-
spect in your ways, and to regain your credit, and they will do what
lies in them for your good : This the Honorable Mr. Boyle, Governor,
Sir Laurence Rlomfield, and Mr. Ashurst, with several others told me.
Therefore Brother, pray you be careful, and let there be no enmity
betwixt Mr. Green and you. for they take any misdemeanor against
him as done to themselves : Mr. Elliots Letter prevailed much on your
268 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL, SOCIETY. [JuxE,
behalf, and Mr. Boyl wisht me to write to you to return Mr. Elliot
humble thanks for his love, and for you to make good that character
which he gave of you.
You must not take it amiss that I did not accept your Bill of
Exchange of ten pounds, for I was not certain that they would pay
me any money. You see the date of my Letter in February in order
to send, but I could come to no conclusion till the 9th of April : They
do intend you shall take your Salary yourself, and so by that means I
shall be taken off of a great deal of trouble: Their Letters (T sup-
pose) will speak as much. The other enclosed makes mention that ray
mother is dead. She died upon the oOth of January 1G6H. I am
fearful that the ships will be gone, and therefore I conclude with my
prayers to God for you and rest your loving Brother,
T5 A 1A ir^r^o Tno. Johnson.
Keed-lane, Apr. 10, IboS.
In a long postscrij^t the writer exhorts his brother to be
more economical in his expenses, to " become a new man and
demean" himself "civilly without any difference with Green."
He adds this suggestion : "• I should think now by a friendly
complyance with Green, you might (giving him some allow-
ance) gain the Government of the Printing-house into your
own hands, for I hear he is ancient and hath a good place in
another way. Brother, know this, by force you can never
do it; but rather may by policy."
Dr. Oliver stated that, in the preface to the third volume
of Hutchinson's " History of Massachusetts Bay," the editor,
after apologizing for his meagre notice of the author's personal
history, alludes to certain papers in his possession belonging
to the Hutchinson Manuscripts which are known to relate
more or less directly to the life and administration of Governor
Hutchinson, and to the prominent events of the later years of
our Provincial period. Tliese papers, as they contain much
of a personal nature, seemed to come rather within the prov-
ince of the biographer ; and the editor therefore limits him-
self in his brief sketch to the leading events of the Governor's
history, and reserves " many and curious details " (I quote
his words) for future publication, trusting to the historical
zeal of those who may succeed him, or with whom the papers
may be intrusted. After the death of the editor these manu-
scripts passed into other hands, and finally into tlie possession
of his cousin, Mr. Peter O. Hutchinson, of Sidmouth, a
great-grandson of Governor Hutchinson, and from whom it
will be remembered the missing pages of Hubbard's History
were obtained a few years ago. After a correspondence
with him some time since, with regard to their publication,
1883.] Hutchinson's diaey. 269
he kindly consented to undertake the work of their revision,
and for more than a year past has been engaged in preparing
them for the press.
Perhaps the most important and attractive of these manu-
scripts is that containing Governor Hutcliinson's Diary. This
commences on the day of his departure from Boston, June 1,
177-t, and closes in May, 1780, a few days before his death,
covering a period of about six years. It records Parliamentary
debates and conversations with the more prominent public
men of that day, contains comments on the events of the
American War, and touches on a variety of matters of special
interest to American readers. Among the earlier entries
is tlie conversation with the King, immediately on his arri-
val in England, which appeared a few years ago in our Pro-
ceedings.
Besides the Diary are various memoranda and letters of
Governor Hutchinson, the earliest bearing date 1741, the year
of his visit to England. There are also letters of Lieutenant-
Governor Andrew Oliver and General Gage, to friends in
England, on political topics, in which are allusions to the
abstracted letters, the duel between Whately and Temple
growing out of that transaction, the destruction of the tea,
and so forth. With these are two or three contemporaneous
diaries, furnishing all together abundant material, it is esti-
mated, for three printed volumes, — a valuable accession, it
is believed, to the liistorical literature of the Revolutionary
period.
It is the present intention of Mr. Hutchinson, who ex-
presses much interest in all that relates to our Revolutionary
histor}^ to publish one volume during the coming season, to
be followed by two others, should he meet with reasonable
encouragement. This volume will contain not far from six
hundred pages, and I am informed will, in general style
and appearance, resemble the third volume of Hutchinson's
History.
This, it is believed, is the first announcement of the publica-
tion, in this country or in England ; and it seemed fitting that
it should be made to our Society, which is ray apology for
having brought forward the matter at this time.
A subscription paper for the purpose of encouraging this
publication was laid on the table, and several names were
entered upon it.
Mr. Ellis Ames presented, in behalf of Amos R. Little, of
Philadelphia, a grandson of Commodore Little, the original
270 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [June,
log-book of the United States Frigate " Boston," during her
cruise when she engaged with and captured the French
national ship "Le Berceau," on the 12th and 13th October,
1800 ; also Commodore Little's "• West India Pilot " during
that cruise ; also the Commodore's certificate of membersliip
of St. Andrew Lodge of Free Masons of Boston, in 1779,
with his signature thereon, as the certificate itself recites is
required by the By-Laws of the Lodge.
Mr. Ames continued: —
Captain George Little, of the United States Navy, was born
at Marshfield, in the County of Plymouth and State of Mas^sa-
chusetts, April 10, 1754, aiid died there, July 22, 1809. He
was first-lieutenant under Captain John P^oster Williams, of
the Massachusetts ship-of-war " Protector," of 26 guns, when
in June, 1779, the "Protector " encountered the British ship-
of-war " Admiral Duff," of 36 guns, off Newfoundland. The
action was close and hard fought, and was terminated in about
an hour, by the " Admiral Duff" taking fire and blowing up.
Captain Little was afterwards appointed to the command of
the "• Winthrop," another Massachusetts ship-of-war ; and
with that ship he captured a British ship-of-war which lay at
anchor near Castine, under the cover of the guns of the Brit-
ish post there, by running his ship alongside the Biitish ship
in the night, and boarding that ship and working it out to
sea under a severe fire from the shore batteries, and taking
the British ship as prize safely to Boston.
At the peace in October, 1783, Massachusetts no longer
required a navy, and its naval officers were discharged ; but a
war between the United States and France, in 1799 and 1800,
brought Captain Little into public life again, and he was
commissioned a captain of the United States Navy by Presi-
dent Adams, in 1799, and was assigned to the command of
the frigate " Boston," of 32 guns, which was built under the
Act of Congress of 1798, and was presented to the Govern-
ment of the United States by citizens of Boston.* The letters
of President Adams to Captain Little in selecting his lieu-
tenants, and otherwise facilitating Captain Little in getting
him off as quickly as possible on his cruise with the frigate
"Boston," with the original commission of Captain Little by
President Adams, are preserved by Mr. Amos R. Little, of
Pliiladelphia, a grandson of Commodore Little. How long
before Oct. 1, 1800, the United States frigate " Boston," with
* See Memorial History of Boston, vol. iii. p. 335.
1S83.] BATTLE BETWEEN THE BOSTON AND BERCEAU. 271
Captain Little, put to sea on its cruise, we are not able
to say, as some part of the log-book has been torn off; but
on Oct. 12 and 13, 1800, he fell in with and captured the
French national ship " Le Bercea,u," 748 miles east of Bos-
ton, longitude 52° 56', — as seen by the log-book of the dates
of Oct. 12, 13, and 14, 1800, of which a copy is as follows, to
wit : —
" On board the United States frigate ' Boston,' of 32 guns, George
Little, Esq., commander. Sunday, the 12th of October, 180U. Ditf.
hit. 1° 14'; long. 22"" 56'. First part, these 24 hours liglit winds,
fair weather ; all hands washing. Middle part, pleasant weather,
moderate breezes. At G a.m. discovered two sail in the w.n.w., o or
6 leagues distance. Made sail and gave chase. At 8 a.m. discovered
them to be vessels of war, — one a ship, the other a schooner. The
ship bore away before the wind, and set steering sails before and aloft.
The schooner hauled her wind to the northward. I, Hiuling it impos-
sible to take both of them, bore away after the ship, and set every yard
of canvas in chase of her. Pleasant weather.
" On board the United States frigate ' Boston,' of 32 guns, George
Little, Esq., commander. Monday, the 13th October, 1800. Merid.
distance 748 miles east of Boston, long. 52° 56'. At meridian the
chase bore s.w., distance about 3 leagues. At 4 p.m. the ship was
clear for action. At half-past 4 p.m. hoisted our colors and gave the
chase a shot from the bow-gun. She hoisted French colors, and fired
a gun to windward, and began to shorten sail for action. At fifteen
minutes before 5 p.m. came up with the ship, hailed her, and ordered
him to strike his colors to the United States Hag. The captain replied
that his colors were too well made fast to haul down. The artion
immediately commenced, and lasted till 24 minutes past 5 p.m. The
sails and rigging of both ships being much shattered, it was im[)ossibIe
to work either ship ; in consequence of which we drifted too far apart
for our shot to do execution. I then ordered all hands to be employed
repairing the rigging to commence the action again. At 9 p.m. the
action recommenced, which lasted till twenty minutes past 10 p.m., when
her fore and maintop masts were shot away. She then struck her
colors to the ' Boston,' and not long after her fore and maintop masts
went over the side, which I was sorry to see. Pleasant weather.
"Frigate 'Boston,' U, S. Navy, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 1800. Long.
53° 21', lat. 20° 48'. This ship proved to be the French national ship
' Le Berceau,' mounting 24 guns on deck, 22 long E'rench nines and
2 twelve-pounders, and 230 men, commanded by Louis Andre Senes,
a post-captain from Cayenne, on a cruise. Employed getting one hun-
dred and seventeen prisoners on hoard the ' Boston.' Found on mus-
tering the ship's company that we had seven men killed and eight
wounded. All hands employed re]3airing the rigging on board the
' Boston,' and clearing the wreck on board the ' Berceau.' I find the
' Berceau ' lost, killed in the action, 34 men, and 18 wounded."
272 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [June,
After the 14th of October, 1800, the log-book says the crew
of the "Boston" are kept employed repairing damages on both
vessels, the " Berceau " being in tow. Under the date of Fri-
day, Oct. 24, 1800, the log-book says : —
"At half-past 10 a.m. saw a sail liearing n.w. ; made sail and gave
chase. At meridian came up with the chase. 'Slie proved to be a brig
from New London, bound to Barbadoes. Paroled the captain of the
' Berceau ' and the purser, and sent them in the New London brig."
Under date of Tuesday, Oct. 28, 1800, the log-book says:
" A heavy sea running parted the cable that we were tow-
ing the 'Berceau' with." On the 29th of October: "Tow
out of sight, so tired three cannon, a signal for the 'Ber-
ceau ' ; lioisted two lights to repeat the signal." On the
30th of October: "At 8 A.M. took the prize in tow." The
" Boston " kept the " Berceau " in tow up to Tuesday, Nov.
11, when they reached port, long. 68 and lat. 42° 32'. The
next log commences with a cruise dating March 4, 1801.
The writer attended tlie Supreme Judicial Court at Ply-
mouth, May Term, 1842, held by Hon. Lemuel Shaw, Chief
Justice. The Clerk of the Court, on calling the jury for
trials, called out upon the second jury " Edward P. Little, of
Marshfield," and upon the return of the second jury, after
retiring to choose a foreman, Edward P. Little was elected
foreman, and took his seat as such. At the full dinner-table,
at 1 P.M. the same day. Chief Justice Shaw announced, to
the great amusement of those present, that he Avell remem-
bered when he first saw the foreman of the second jury, and
then said that in the fall of 1800, notice having been given
that Commodore Little, of the LTnited States frigate "Bos-
ton," would come to the wharf with the French frigat^j
" Berceau," then recently captured by the " Boston." in a
naval engagement at sea ; he attended, and beheld the now
foreman of the second jury on the quarter-deck of the
" Boston," in a showy dress, with epaulettes on his shoul-
ders, twelve years of age, the son of Commodore Little,
commander of the frigate " Boston."
Commodore Preble, of the LTnited States Navy, was a
lieutenant under Commodore Little when the latter was
commander of the " Winthrop," and led the boarders in the
midnight capture of the British ship-of-war near Castine,
hereinbefore mentioned. Commodore Little greatly admired
Commodore Preble, and named this son after him. Edward
P. Little, the son, was a midshipman at the age of about
1883.] BATTLE BETWEEN THE BOSTON AND BERCEAU. 273
twelve years, on board the frigate " Boston." By the
death of his father in 1809, and his marriage to a lady of
the Society of Friends, or Quakers, his course of life was
changed, and from being an officer of the navy he became a
Quaker, and he always afterwards dressed as a member of
the Society of Friends. He many years represented the town
of Marshfield in the General Court, until he was elected
to Congress for the district in which Marshfield is situated.
In the few last years of his life he resided in Lynn, where
he died about the year 1874, aged eighty-four years, and
was buried beside his father. Commodore Little, with other
members of the family, in the family burial lot in Marshfield.
Durino; the enscasrement between the " Boston " and the
" Berceau," which lasted about three hours, his business
was, as he informed the writer, to carry cartridges to a
cannon on the quarter-deck of the " Boston," and upon
the surrender of the " Berceau " he was sent by his father
on board of that vessel, to receive the surrender, with the
assistance of a good boatman. About three quarters of an
hour had elapsed from the time of the surrender to his
going on board the " Berceau," and what was his aston-
ishment to find that the " Berceau" — which had been raked
fore and aft by the " Boston " just before she struck her flag,
during the attempt of the " Berceau " to board the " Boston"
— was washed up so nicely that not a particle of blood
could be seen, and the killed had been thrown overboard,
and the wounded also, as he assured the writer, the cause
being assigned that they had on board the " Berceau " no
place or accommodation whatever to take care of the
wounded.
The father of Captain George Little was Lemuel Little,
and his mother Penelope Fames ; his grandfather was John
Little, and his grandmother Constant Fobes, who was a
daughter of Lieutenant William Fobes. It is very gratifying
to find that Commodore George Little was a great-grandson
of Lieutenant WilHam Fobes. The word "lieutenant,"
before the name of William Fobes, becomes magnified when
we learn that William Fobes was the lieutenant to the
famous warrior, Captain Benjamin Church, and that he was
second in command to Captain Church during King Philip's
war. Of herculean strength and wonderful dexterity and
agility. Lieutenant William Fobes was with Captain Church
in all his battles, and slew the Indians that chose to encounter
him in hand-to-hand fight, as was the case on several occa-
sions. Captain Church and Lieutenant Fobes were greatly
35
274 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [JuxE,
attached to each other. They were brothers-in-law, and
sons-in-law of Constant Southworth. After Philip's Avar
they both moved to and settled in Little Compton, which
was set off from Massachusetts and annexed to Rhode Island
in 1746, on the occasion of the settlement of the boundary
line between Massachusetts and Rhode Island ; and Captain
Church, dying in 1718, was buried beside Lieutenant Fobes,
who died in 1712, as will be seen on examination of their
grave-stones in the burying-ground of Little Compton. Lieu-
tenant William Fobes was son of John Fobes of West
Bridgewater, and of his wife, Constant Mitchell, a sister of
Experience Mitchell, one of the forefathers, who came over
in the third ship, the " Anne." Lieutenant Fobes had a
brother Joshua, who was slain at the disastrous battle with
the Indians at Abbott's Run, so called, in Attleborouoh, in
1676, when our forces were commanded by Captain Michael
Pierce, of Scituate. The family of Little, descended from
Lieutenant William Fobes, often named sons after him, and
Commodore Little's youngest brother was named William
Fobes Little, in remembrance of his great-grandfather.
Mr. Deane then said : —
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts was incorporated June 16, 1701. The field of its
operations was principally in America. At a meeting of the
Society on the 17th of April, 1713, Dr. White Kennett,
Dean, subsequently Bishop, of Peterborough, laid before it a
catalogue of books, papers, and writings, which he had col-
lected, relating to the country and affairs of America, and
which he designed to give for the perpetual use and service
of the corporation, as soon as a convenient place should be
provided for them. Of this catalogue the Society caused
two hundred and fifty copies to be printed at its own charge.
This catalogue of books, entitled " Bibliothecse Americance
Primordia," is well known to American bibliographers.
I made inquiry many years ago respecting this remark-
able collection of books, known as the White Kennett Li-
brary, but without avail. I. really did not know of the
present condition or location of the Society to which the
collection had been given, and there seems to have been an
impression of late that the books never came into its pos-
session. Indeed, a distinguished American bibliographer,
residing in London, Mr. Henry Stevens, whose vigilance few
things escape, has recently said that, as Dr. Kennett " only
1883.] THE WHITE KENNETT LIBRARY. 275
offered to give his American collection to the Societ}'- in case
they would provide suitable rooms for it," and as the Society-
did not compl}^ with these terms, "the books were dispersed."*
The fact, however, that the Society accepted the condi-
tion named, that a repository for the books was provided,
and that the books were received by the Society from the
donor, is well established. The office of the Society at present
is at No. 19 Delahay Street, Westminster, and I have recently
received from the secretary, the Rev. Henry W. Tucker, sev-
eral extracts from its early records and reports, showing these
facts.
As I have said, the gift of Dr. Kennett was included in
a catalogue which he laid before the Society in manuscript,
and which they caused to be printed, with an appendix,
including such books as came in while the catalogue was
printing. The catalogue numbered 275 pages, besides a full
index. To the casual observer this catalogue would be
deceptive as to the number of books which it contained.
There were indeed but few of them. The method pursued
of analyzing the contents of volumes like Hakluyt, Purchas,
Churchill, and many others, consumed a large space, greatly
beyond what would be required for the simple titles of the
books themselves. Then there were many sheets and half-
sheets, or broadsides, and pamphlets and manuscripts of a few
pages each, all spread out on the pages of the catalogue.
Dr. Kennett gave these books and papers as " an attempt
towards the foundation of an American Library," to aid the
cause of the Society, in the confident hope that others inter-
ested in the work would add to tbeir number. Indeed, some
of the volumes presented bad been the gifts of others through
Dr. Kennett, and he himself subsequently made additions to
the original donation.
The books, though few in number, were of the most inter-
esting character, and many of them would to-day be called,
by book-dealers and book-fanciers, " excessively rare." In
this regard the White Kennett Catalogue is a choice volume
to possess. It is probable that the collection never largely
increased, and it would seem to be quite certain that the
Library — if so small a number of books may be called a
library — does not now contain all the books included in the
catalogue as laid before the Society by Dr. Kennett in 1713.
The secretary of the Society has kindly responded to my call
for information respecting this collection. He says : " The
* Henry Stevens's Historical Collections, Part I. p. 142, 1881.
276 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuxE,
collection known as the White Kennett Library now (1883)
in the possession of the Society numbers about 330. Of these,
120 have White Kennett's ncme written (probably by his
own hand) on the titlepage, and over 50 can be identified
in the printed catalogue, ' American Library ' (Bibliothecse
Americanse Primordia)." To my inquir}^ if the Library now
contained all or either of certain volumes, — some twenty in
number, the titles of which I copied from the catalogue and
sent to him, — he replied that he could not identify any of
them among the White Kennett books.*
The first intimation I had that the White Kennett Library,
or any portion of it, had a local habitation at the present day,
was from a memorandum sent to me last year by the Rev.
B. F. De Costa of New York, describing a copy of Thomas
Morton's "New English Canaan," which had the unique title-
page, bearing the name of a London publisher, Charles
Greene, instead of the usual Amsterdam title. This unique
title had appeared in the White Kennett Catalogue at page
77, and the imprint had been copied for Mr. De Costa, by
the secretary of the Society, from the rare little volume itself.
This showed that at least one of the White Kennett books
was in possession of the Society to which the collection had
been given. My curiosity — which was equally shared by
Mr. Winsor, the Librarian at Harvard — was thus excited to
know if others might not be there also, and we resolved to
follow up the clew here given. I accordingly wrote to our
President, Mr. Winthrop, then in London, giving him the
points of our inquiry, and suggesting that he should improve
an hour of leisure in making a tour of investigation to No.
19 Delahay Street, Westminster, said by Mr. De Costa to be
the headquarters of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts. With his usual promptness, and
with a real interest in the subject of our inquiry, he under-
took the mission, and in a postscript to a letter from Lon-
don, Oct. 16, 1882, he writes: —
* The following is the list I sent him from the Wkite Kennett Catalogue :
"North- West Fox," 1635; "New Englands Prospect," 1635; " Kelation of tlie
Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation," &c., 1622, known as
Mourt's Relation; " Purchas his Pilgrinies," 1625, and the "Pilgrimage," 1626;
"The Planter's Plea," 1630; " The Mapp and Description of New England," by
Sir William Alexander, 1630; Lechford's "Plain Dealing," 1642; Erondelle's
"Novo Francia," 1600, a partial translation of L'Escarbot ; "Virginia Richly
Valued." 1609; "Novo Britannia," 1609; " De Novo Orbe," 1612 ; Drake's
" World Encompassed," 1628 ; " New England's Jonah cast up in London," 1647 ;
" The Bloiidy Tennent," &c., by John Cotton, 1647 ; " The Simple Cobler of
Agga warn," 1647; "New English Canaan," Amsterdam, 1637, with the usual
titlepage.
1883.] THE WHITE KEKNETT LIBRARY. 277
" After spending half an hour tliis afternoon with Canon Farrar, I
drove in a heavy rain to 19 Delahay Street, found the Rev. Henry W.
Tucker, read your letter to him, and came away wiser than I went.
Tlie old Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts,
founded in 1701, is in active opei-atioii. We owe to it all the English
chapels which we travellers have found so welcome on Sundays in all
parts of the Continent. It has just published a little account of ' The
Results of One Hundred and Eiglity Years of Work.' Mr. Tucker
handed me the copy of the ' New English Canaan,' and I thought what
mv old ancestor would have said at tiuding one of his descendants
poring over the work of his old raaligner. The Society has but one
copy of the work, and that has not a printed date on its titlepage; only
1 632 written where the date should be.* It was one of White Ken-
nett's books, and in their library are three or four hundred more of
Kennett's books. I could not see them, owing to their rooms having
been thrown into confusion by the taking down of an adjoining wall.
Mr. Tucker, the secretary, promises to reply at any time to any
* I liad made special mention, in my letter to Mr. Winthrop, of tliis interest-
ing volume with the unique titlepage, as its existence had long been a subject
of controversy, and as it had furnislied a clew to the existence of the Wliite
Kennett Library itself. Morton's book was printed in Holland, and all the
copies known — but this one, whicii is entered at page 77 on White Kennett's cata-
logue — bear this imprint: " Printed at Amsterdam, By Jacob Frederick Stam.
In the Yeare 1037." The book, however, was entered in the Stationers' Register,
London, Nov. 18, 163o, as " a booke called New Englamis Canaan, composed in
3 bookes &c. by Thomas Mooreton," and in the name of Charles Greene as pub-
lisiier. Tlie only copy known having a titlepage with Greene's name on it as
publisiier, is this one in tiie White Kennett I/ibrary. It has no printed date,
but " 1032 " has been written in, probably, the secretary says, by White Ken-
nett himself, whose name is on the titlepage. The rest of the title corresponds
to tlie Amsterdam title. The te.xt of the book throughout is the same. The
written date is, of course, an error, ami the book was entered at the Stationers
before it was ready for the press. ( Winsor's Harvard Library Bulletin for
January, 1879, pp. 44, 45 ; Narrative and Critical History of America, iii. 54.)
This White Kennett copy was not correctly entered in the catalogue, and
Peter Force was led astray by following it in reprinting the book in vol. ii. of
his collection of tracts, as the original which he used wanted the titlepage. I
now give the title as copied for me from the original tract : —
"New English Canaan, | or 1 New Canaan. | Containing an Abstract of New
England. | Composed in three Bookes. | The first Booke setting forth the origi-
nall of the Natives, tiieir | Manners and Customs, together with their tractable
Nature j and Love towards the English. | The Second Booke setting forth the
naturrall Indowrnents of | the Countrie, and what staple commodities it | yeeld-
eth. I The Third Booke setting forth what people are planted there, | tiieir pros-
perity, what remarkable accidents have happened since | the first planting of
it; together with their Tenents, | and practice of their Churcli. | Written hy
Thomas Morton of Cliffords Inne, Gent, ujion | ten Yeers knowledge and ex-
periment of the Countrie. | Printed for Charles Greene, and are sold in Pauls |
Church-yard."
Tlie language of this title, except the imprint, corresponds witli the Amster-
dam title ; and the words in the corresponding lines are .nrraiiged very nearly
the same. A comparison can now very easily be made. The ornaments before
the imprint are (|uite unlike.
The Amsterdam titlepage, also in the Kennett Catnlogue, was more correctly
given. Force could have procured a correct transcript of that from a copy of
the original tract in Harvard College Library. {Supp. Cat. of H. U. 1834, p. 164.)
278 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuXE,
further inquiries relative to the library which you or I might address
to him."
As has already been seen, I availed myself of the privilege
of asking for further information regarding the White Ken-
nett hihr-dvy. Here follow several abstracts of the Annual
Reports and citations from the Journal of the Societj-, sent
to me by the secretarj' : —
A minister of the Society has collected between two and three hun-
dred tracts relating to the country and affairs of America, and is ready
to present them for the perpetual use and benefit of the Society, as
soon as they shall please to order some convenient place for the recej?-
tion and custody of them ... A convenient place for the Society to
meet in, and a receptacle for the books [to be considered]. (From
abstracts of proceedings of the Society for 1711-12, 1712-13, appended
to Bp. Moore's sermon, London, llVi, p. 52.)
Some other presents have been made to the . . . Society, especially
in books, towards furnishing a convenient library. For on April 13,
1713, a member (Dr. Kennett, Dean of Peterborough) laid before the
Society a catalogue of some books, papers, and v/ritings relating to the
country and affairs of America, which he designed to give freely to
the perpetual use and service of the corporation as soon as a conven-
ient place should be provided for them ; of which catalogue two hun-
dred and fifty copies were ordered to be printed for the service and at
the charge of the Society, which have accordingly been printed for Mr.
John Churchill under the title " Bibliotheca3 Americana^ Primordia.
An attempt towards laying the foundation of an American Library, in
sevei-al books, papers, and writings humbly given to the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. . . . By a member of
the said Society.'' 4to. 1713. The impression had been published
before this time, but that it waits fo"r the despatch of an index of the
matters, persons, and places contained in the preceding catalogue.
This honest design has already brought in some worthy persons to
promote it. On April 17, 1713, General Nicholson delivered to the
same member the sum of five guineas towards the buying of some
books for the said intended library ; . • . the compiler of the said cat-
alogue received several books which are inserted, with the names of
the respective donors of them = . . and undoubtedly many libei'al
additions of this kind will be made to our public library . . . not
only by the members, but even by strangers and foreigners, as soon as
upon publication of the catalogue they find what books and f»apers are
wanting. {From abstracts, as above, for 1712-13, appended to Dr.
Stanhope's sermon, London, 1714, pp. 25, 26.)
In the mention of books the riglit hand must be allowed to the
head-stone, newly laid for a foundation of a missionary library at
home as the gift of the Rev. Dr. Kennett, with the assistance of
some friends, and promised in the last year's account. . . . Of tins good
foundation work the Society has expressed their sense in these words :
1883.] THE WHITE KENNETT LIBRARY. 279
" Agreed that the thanks of the Society be given to the Dean of Peter-
borougli for such his great and useful benefaction, and for his great
pains in drawing a catalogue." . . . And 't is hojied that a suitable
receptacle will be now found for them, and benefactions of that nature,
— some such like being already devoted. {From abstracts, as above,
for 1713-14, appended to Bp. Ash's sermon, London, 1715, pp. 31—
33.)
Four hundred copies of the " American Library " ordei-ed. {Jour-
nal, iii. 26, Jan. 21, 1714-15.)
Agreed that it be referred to the standing committee to consider of
and appoint Rules and Orders for the preservation of the books given
by the Dean of Peterborough towards laying the foundation of an
American Library, and likewise whether it may not be convenient
for the secretary or his assistant to reside in the Society's Chambers
in Lincoln's Lin ; and also that it be referred to the committee to give
directions for removing the Society's books and papers thitlier. {Jour-
nal, iii. 79, Sept. 16, 1715.)
Reported from the committee that they had prepared Rules and
Orders for the preservation of the books and papers given by the Dean
of Peterborough, &c., for the service of the Society, which were now
read and agreed to. The committee likewise reported that the So-
ciety's chambers in Lincoln's Inn were convenient for the residence of
the secretary or his assistant, that Mr. Taylor had declined it, and they
proposed that the assistant, Mr. Moore, should live there, and that
part of his duties should be to look after the Dean of Peterborough's
donation of books, "after they shall be brought thither," according to
orders relating thereto : and that he should give a security to the
Society to the value of £50 for the safe custody of the Society's books
and papers. The assistant made some objections to the proposals,
which were to be considered. {Journal, iii. 82, 83, Sept. 30. 1715.)
Arrangements made for continuing meetings in Lambeth Palace
Library, and the idea of taking extra charal)ers at Lincoln's Inn, given
uji. {Journal, iii. 84, 94, Oct. 7 and 21, 1715.)
The Rev. Mr. Shute acquainting the Board that being removed
from London house he has not conveniency for the custody of the
Society's books which were left in his hands — agreed that he be
desired to deliver them to the master of the Charterhouse or to the
secretary. {Journal, iv. 74, Nov. 6, 1719.)
Referred to the auditors to consider of a proper place for the keep-
ing of the Society's books and papers, for the repositing the library
given by the Lord Bishop of Peterborough, and for the secretary to
transact the business of the Society. . . . The sum of £6 pr ann.
allowed to the lilirary-keeper at St. Martin's for coals, candles, &c.
{Journal, iv. 88, 89, May 20, 1726.)
Tlie secretary acquainted the Board that he hath taken the house
in Warwick Court for the Society, at £55 pr ann. from Lady Day
last. Agreed, that Mr. Weston be desired to pi-epare a lease, &c. . . .
Ordered, that the secretary provide presses for the Society's books and
papers, and furniture for the committee room, and that he wait upon
280 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
the Lord Bishop of Peterborough for the books given by his lords^hip
to the Society, as soon as the presses are ready. {Journal, iv. 122,
April 21, 1727.)
The Lord Bishop of Peterborough acquainted the Board that he
hath a collection of several more books which he makes a present of
to the Society, to be added to the former libi-ary. Agreed, that the
thanks of the Society be given to his lordship for the said benefaction,
and ordered that the Secretary attend his lordship to receive the same.
{Journal, iv. 144, Oct. 20, 1727.)
Messrs. Deane, Winsor, and Lord were appointed a com-
mittee to publish a volume of the Tj-umbiill Papers, the
committee previously appointed having been dissolved.*
Mr. GooDELL then read tlie following paper: —
The hour is late, but the interest and the importance of the
subject which I invite you to join me in considering for a few
minutes, are such that I am sure you will excuse me for taking
this last opportunity, before our vacation, to present it.
At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian Soci-
ety, last October, our corresponding associate, Mr. Geoi'ge H.
Moore, read an elaborate paper upon some features of the
History of Witchcraft in Massachusetts,^ leading to the fol-
lowing conclusions : first, that Hutchinson, Chalmers, and
others who have followed them, are wrong in asserting that
at the time of the indictments for witchcraft, in 1692, there
was no law of the colony or province in force, against witch-
craft ; second, that the often-repeated statement that no law-
yer was engaged in the proceedings, is equally erroneous ;
third, that the act reversing " the several convictions, judg-
ments, and attainders against the pei'sons executed, and sev-
eral wiio were condemned but not executed," which has been
frequently referred to as having been passed by the general
court, never became a law ; and, fourth, that the several
attempts by the legislature, to make adequate pecuniary com-
pensation to the persons attainted, in the trials for \Aitchcraft,
or to their representatives, appear to have been abortive ; or,
to quote the concluding paragraph of his appendix, '•' 'the cry
of the long-oppressed sufferers,' seems to have been istifled :
at any rate, it was heard no more in the high places of legis-
lation."
If either of these conclusions is unsound, it cannot be too
promptly challenged, for I think it will not be denied that
* See vol. xix. pp. 251, 279 ; ante, p.
t Proc. Am. Antiq. Soc, p. 162 et seq
101. — Eds.
1883.] WITCH-TKIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 281
few persons, living or dead, have studied the history of the
early legislation of Massachusetts more assiduously and in-
telligently than Mr. Moore, that his knowledge of our
legislative bibliography is unsurpassed, and that, prima facie,
his statements relating thereto deserve implicit credit. I
confess that I entirely agree with liim in his first and second
conclusions, and I acknowledge my obligation to him for thus
venturing to correct what seem to me to be important errors;
but from his third and fourth conclusions, most reluctantly, I
feel it my duty to express dissent, to which I am compelled,
in part, by a consideration of facts not referred to either in
his article or in the appendix ; and the chief purpose of what
1 shall now offer is to give my reasons for this dissent.
Moreover, while I concur in Mr. Moore's opinion that the
colony law against witchcraft was in force in 161)2,* I never-
theless deem it due to Hutchinson to admit that there are,
in a certain aspect, fairly, two sides to the question ; and
that the opinion he expresses coincides with that of most of
the legal minds of his day, as well as with the views of the
advisers of the crown to whom were submitted the acts of
the first provincial legislature. And, again, with all defer-
ence to Mr. Moore, it does not seem to me to be necessary to
argue from general principles that the laws of the colony
survived the constitutional and administrative changes be-
tween the time of the forfeiture of the colonial charter and
the organization of the provincial government ; for we have
in the commissions and ordinances of Dudley and Andros, and
in the declaration of the subsequent revolutionary govern-
ment, — which was substantially ratified by tlie letter of King
William, — successive express sanctions of all former legisla-
tion not repugnant to the laws of England. f Even the prov-
ince charter, which, it is true, does not, in express terms,
ratify or continue former laws, does so, impliedly, in the clause
relating to taxes, which are therein directed to be disposed of
"according to such acts as are, or shall be, in force witliin our
said Province."
We are, therefore, I think, saved the labor of nice inquiry
into the validity of the judgment against the chai'ter, on quo
ivarranto, and into the legal effect of political revolution upon
the municipal laws, and even into the question of how far the
judicial pi'oceedings against the persons accused of witch-
craft were justified by the common law, since, under all
administrations, the only colony laws abrogated — except
* See Appendix A., infra. t Ibid.
36
282 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuNE,
such as were expressly repealed — were those that were re-
pugnant to the laws of England, in which class the colonial
act against witchcraft was not properly included.
Now this question of repugnancy, as I understand it, should
be the only point of divergence between those who, with
Hutchinson, affirm that this law of the colony was obsolete,
and those who, with Mr. Moore,. declare that it was in force.
I repeat, therefore, tliat I coincide with Mr. Moore, not be-
cause this law was a part of the municipal code which, on
general principles, survived all perturbations of the state, but
because I fail to see that there was an essential repugnancy
between the colonial and parliamentary acts. The statute of
1 James I. ch. 12, it is true, contained a clause saving her
dower to the widow, and the inheritance to the heir, for
the want of which, ostensibly, the provincial act of Dec. 14,
1692,* — which was intended to follow, substantially, the
English statute, — was rejected by the privy council; but this
clause would have been superfluous in the piovincial act,
inasmuch as the " Act setting forth General Privileges,"
passed Oct. 13, 1692, to which Mr. Moore refers, had
already provided that " all lands and heritages within this
province shall be free from all . . . escheats and forfeitures
upon the death of parents or ancestors, natural, casual, or
judicial, and that forever, except in cases of high treason." f
Taking the husband to be the ancestor, that is, the antecessor^
of the widow, this would have saved her dower, as well as
the inheritance. In this view of the case, the reasons alleged
hy the privy council for rejecting the act are insufficient.
It is to be observed that the '•'repugnancy " which — though
in this instance consisting only in a variance between the pro-
vincial act and the parliamentary model — was deemed fatal,
was not assigned as a reason for disallowing the clause against
witchcraft in the act of Oct. 29, 1692,^ which was copied
verbatim from the old law of the colony. Witchcraft was
felony by the statute of James, and though the pretended
practice of some forms of it was visited with less seveie pen-
* 1092-93, chap. 40, and note.
t 16'.l'2-98, cliap. 11. This provision was, substantially, the tentti article of
the colonial declaration of rights, or Body of Liberties of 1641 (see Mass. Hist.
Coll., ;5d series, vol. viii. p. 218), and was continued under the title "l^ands " in
the editions of the colony laws of 1600 and 1672, with a slight verbal change.
It differed from the provincial act mainly in extending the exem])tion from
forfeiture, to the case of treason. It may be questioned if this exemption did
not render the colonial ordinance " repugnant to the laws of England " within
the meaning of tiie charter; since the eficct of it was to deprive the crown, in a
part of its (iominions, of a most ancient and important branch of revenue.
\ 1692-U3, chap. 19.
1883.] WITCH-TEIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 283
alties in England than in this province, it is far from clear
that, therefore, the statutes denouncing these severer penalties
were " repugnant " to the act of James, according to the
obvious purport of that word in the charter. If difference in
degree or kind of punishment constitutes a fatal repugnance,
what shall be said of the generality of the punitive laws of
the province, which were notoriously at variance with the
barbarous criminal legislation of the mother country ? There
seems to be no reason why repugnancy may not consist in
falling below as well as in exceeding the standard ; and yet
this objection was never made, on that account, to any act
of our provincial legislature.
The objection to the provincial statute of December 14,
appears to have been to its want of substantial conformit}'" to
all the provisions of the original pattern. This objection was
special, and did not extend beyond the particular act in ques-
tion. The objections to the earlier act, of October 29, were
twofold: first, that the crime was too indefinitely stated; and,
second, that, contrary to the common law, the offence was
made capital; and this — notwithstanding that the usual pur-
pose of statutory enactment is to change the common law —
was the only repugnance suggested. It seems to have been
agreed among the court lawyers of that period that, to avoid
repugnancy, an act of the provincial legislature against witch-
craft should either strictly define the offence and treat it as
a misdemeanor, according to the common law, or, if it declared
the offence capital, that it.should conform substantially to all
the provisions of the existing act of parliament. However
ingenious and satisfactory their reasons for this conclusion
may have been deemed one or two centuries ago, these reasons
will hardly prove convincing to the modern mind, whether
lay or professional, accustomed to interpret words according
to their intended purport rather than according to any literal
or technical construction that may be put upon them.
As to the second conclusion, Mr. Moore has done no more
than justice to the character of Newton as a lawyer, and has
sufficiently refuted the statement that lawyers had nothing
to do with the witch-trials. If he had gone further, and ac-
corded to Stoughton extraordinary attainments in legal learn-
ing, he would, I think, have been fully sustained by what the
records of our early legislation and jurisprudence attest of
this singularly able man, who, notwithstanding the character
which has been given to him of an " atrabilious old bachelor,"
seems not to have neglected that "jealous mistress" — the
common law — who, it is said, "must lie alone." It is true
234 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
that he, as well as Dudley and Sewall, was bred a clergj^man ;
but those who imagine that the study of divinity unfits the
student for forensic, legislative, or magisterial duties are to be
reminded that the legal is but a lay branch of the clerical
profession from which it sprung ; and that the secularizing of
jurisprudence is a work of modern times, not yet completed.
If divines sometimes took to the law, lawyers, from time
immemorial, quite as often dabbled in divinity, and that not
alone in Doctors-Commons. Even Checkley, the apothecary,
has had notable successors in the office of attorney-gen-
eral, who would have shown less skill in deahng with the
novel and pei'plexing difficulties of that office, and certainly
not a better understanding than he manifested of the criminal
law as then generally administered.
To mention the special profession of an individual or class
as necessarily a disqualification for efficient service in a differ-
ent capacity comes very near to sneering. The proper course
would be to compare the career of the person ciiticised, by
the standard of that of others in the same employment ; and
in that case, I think, the three magistrates I have named,
each of whom acceptably held the post — either in Massachu-
setts or New York — of chief justice of the highest judicial
court, will compare favorably, in respect to all those acquire-
ments necessary to the proper conduct of trials and the
administering of forensic justice, as well as to the manage-
ment of the liigher affairs of state, with, at least, the average
benchers of the inns of court in the days of William and
Anne. Upon Stoughton, especially, fell the responsible task
not only of piloting tlie ship of state, just launched under the
new charter, and of acting as the legal adviser of a govei'uor
confessedly dependent upon him for all knowledge of the law
and of legal })rocedure,* but of devising a system of judica-
ture and forms of judicial proceedings that have continued
substantially unchanged for nearl}^ two centuries. f The
regret which some — in consequence of the representations of
late writers upon the witch-trials — may have been led to
feel that those trials had not been conducted by lawyers, is
not warranted by the disclosures of the records of the tribu-
* See extract from Phips's letter to Nottingham, Feb. 20, 1(302 : Trov. Laws,
vol. i. p. 107.
t See the laws passed in Stonsjhton's administration, passim. He was during
this time, also, cliief justice of the Superior Court of Judicature, and Judge of
Probate for Suffolk, whence issued all the precedents of probate forms. Un-
doubtedly he received assistance from others; but there is merit in knowing
how to select good advisers.
JQ
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284 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
that he, as well as Dudley and Sewall, was bred a clergyman ;
but those who imagine that the study of divinity unfits the
student for forensic, legislative, or magisterial duties are to be
reminded that the legal is but a lay branch of the clerical
profession from which it sprung ; and that the secularizing of
jurisprudence is a work of modern times, not yet completed.
If divines sometimes took to the law, lawyers, from time
immemorial, quite as often dabbled in divinity, and that not
alone in Doctors-Commons. Even Checkley, the apothecarj-,
has had notable successors in the office of attorney-gen-
eral, who would have sliown less skill in deahng with the
novel and pei'plexing difficulties of that office, and certainly
not a better understanding than he manifested of tlie criminal
law as then generally administered.
To mention the special profession of an individual or class
as necessarily a disqualification for efficient service in a differ-
ent capacity comes very near to sneering. The proper course
would be to compare the career of the person criticised, by
the standard of that of others in the same employment ; and
in that case, I think, the three magistrates I have named,
each of whom acceptably held the post — either in Massachu-
setts or New York — of chief justice of the highest judicial
court, will compare favorably, in respect to all those acquire-
ments necessary to the proper conduct of trials and the
administering of forensic justice, as well as to the manage-
ment of the liigher affairs of state, with, at least, the average
benchers of the inns of court in the days of William and
Anne. Upon Stoughton, especially, fell the responsiljle task
not only of piloting the sliip of state, just launched under the
new charter, and of acting as the legal adviser of a governor
confessedly dependent upon him for all knowledge of the law
and of legal procedure,* but of devising a system of judica-
ture and forms of judicial proceedings that have continued
substantially unchanged for nearly two centuries. f The
regret which some — in consequence of the representations of
late writers upon the witch-trials — may have been led to
feel that those trials had not been conducted bj^ lawyers, is
not warranted by the disclosures of the records of the tribu-
* See extract from Phips's letter to Nottingham, Feb. 20, 1G02 : Trov. Laws,
vol. i. p. 107.
t See the laws passed in Stonghton's ndministration, passim. He was during
this time, also, elnef justice of tlie Superior Court of Judicature, and Judge of
Probate for Suffiilk, whence issued all tlie precedents of probate forms. Un-
doubtedly he received assistance from others; but there is merit in knowing
how to select good advisers.
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1883.] WITCH-TRIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 28o
nals of England or her colonies, if it springs from the belief
that a more humane and rational course of procedure might,
in that case, have been expected.
Against Mr. Moore's third conclusion, I not only assert
confidently that the act for reversing attainders was actually
passed, but I offer to the Society, for our Proceedings, the
use of heliotype plates of the act itself, printed, in 1713, by
" B. Green, Printer to Plis Excellency the Governour and
Council."
As I am partly responsible for Mr. Moore's opinion that
this act was never passed, and as he has not traced the prog-
ress of the attempts that were made to enact it, which he
supposes to have been abortive, I will endeavor to give, in
full, from the records, the legislative proceedings for compen-
sating the sufferers, and to follow the progress of this act
from the inceptive petition to its final passage.
From a word and figure, cancelled in the following petition,
it appears that it was prepared to be presented at the October
session, 1708 ; and, by another cancelled word, it appears
that the petitioners were not all willing to profess their belief
that the judges and jurors did what they thought was right,
in that " hour of Darkness." The petition was presented to
the Council, in the May session of 1709, and is as follows: —
"To his Excelency the Gouenor and y® Honarable Counsell and
Genarall Asembly for y" Prouince of ye Massatusetts Bay iu New
May 23tli '
England Conuen,d at Boston Oetobor - 1709
The Humble Adress and motion of Seueral of y^ Inhabitants of y^
sd Prouince some of which had their near Relations Either Parents
or others who suffered Death in y^ Dark and Dollful times y* past
ouer this prouince in y® Year 1692 under y" suposition and in y*
Gloumy Day by some (thought prou,d) of Being Guilty of wiclicraft
w*^"^ we haue all y" Reson in y® world to hope and beleiue they were
Inocent off. and others of us y'- Either our selues or some of our Rela-
tions haue Been Imprison'd impared and Blasted in our Reputations
and Estates by Reson of y^ same, its not our Intent Neither Do we
Reflect on y" Judges or Jurors Concern- in those SorrowfuU tryals
whome we hope - and Bol o iuo Did y' w''^' they thought was Right in y'
hour of Darkness, but y' w'^'' we moue and pray for is y' You Would
Pleas to pass some sutable Act as in Your Wisdom You may think
meet and proper y* shall (so far as may be) Restore y'= Reputations to
y® Posterity of y* sutFurers and Remunerate them as to what they
haue been Damnified in their Estates therby we Do not Without
Pernors and greif Recount these sorrowfull things But we Humbly
Conceiue y' we are Bound in Consieuce and Duty to god and to our-
286
MASSACHTJSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
[June,
selues Relatiues and posterity and Country Humbly to make this
Motion praying God to Direct You in this and all Your Weighty
Consultations. —
"We subscribe Your sorrowfull and Distrest
Supliants
Philip English
John Tarbell
John Parker
Joseph Parker
John Johnson
Francis Faulkner
IsACK Estey sen
Beniamix Procter
John Procter
Thorndik Procter
George Jacobs
William buckly
lOHN NURS
Isaac Estey
Joseph esty
SAMUEL nurS
Be-'^iamin Niirs
John preston
SAMUEL XuRS iu
William Pusell
Francis Nurs
Georg Nurs "*
The following votes were thereupon passed : —
Petition of
Isaac Easty &c
Order thereon.
Bill for Reversing
attaiudis for
Witchcraft.
"Thursday June 9, 1709. . . . Upon Reading a Peti-
tion of Isaac Easty John Nurse &c in Behalf of them-
selves & divers others, w^ho them selves or their Relations
were prosecuted in the Time of the Witchcraft in 1692,
Praying to be restored to their Reputation, And to be
Remunerated what they have been damaged in their
Estates ;
Ordered that a Bill be brought in for Restoring them
accordingly.'' f
"FrjTday, June 10, 1709. ... A Bill to Reverse the
Attainders of several Persons for Witchcraft. Read
three several Times Debated & Pass'd : — Tiie Names
of the Persons to be inserted by the Agreement of both
Houses." t
What debates ensued upon the introduction of this subject
can only be imagined. It is to be inferred that the feeling in
the Council that the attainders should be reversed, and some
pecuniary reparation made to the sufferers or their represent-
atives, was general. Stoughton, who never repented of his
connection with the trials, had been dead eight years ; and
the Mathers, though still professing unshaken belief in de-
monology, had long adopted the prevalent opinion that the
Devil could assume the shape of innocence, and they had not
withstood the reaction, which had become almost universal,
in favor of some, if not all, of the accused ; and their opin-
* Mass. Archives, cxxxv. p. 125.
t Council Records, vol. viii. p. 454. These records are improperly marked
" General Court Records, " but tliey are, strictly, the legislative records of the
governor and council. The series referred to is that belonging to the State
Library except when otherwise designated.
I Ibid., pp. 454, 455.
1883.] WITCH-TKIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 287
ions, though not so authoritative as formerly, were still of
great weight even in "high places."
The bill that was reported, or " brought in " under the
order just mentioned, was, undoubtedly, identical with the
act which was finally passed, except that it did not contain
the names of the persons attainted. Having reached this stage
it seems to have been dropped, for the session ; but, from the
, following entry, it appears that it was revived at the October
session, and sent to the representatives, for their concur-
rence : —
"Wednesday, Nov. 9, 1709. ... A Bill pass'd at the Session of
this Court in May last for Reversing the Attainders of ... . Ar-
raign'd & Convicted of Witchcraft, was again Read Voted to be
Revived & sent down for Concurrence." *
What followed the passage of this vote, during that year,
appears only in the vote of Oct. 27, 1711, hereafter given ;
for the House, at that time, did not print its journals, and
there is no other known record of the separate doings of the
representatives. In the vote referred to, the bill is declared
to have been passed to its engrossment by the House in 1709 ;
but Avhether at the October or February session does not
appear: probably at the former. During the first session of
the next year the bill thus passed by the House reappears
in the Council, and the following entry shows that, with it,
the House sent up an order for a joint committee to complete
the bill by inserting the names of the persons attainted, and
to ascertain and report what money should be allowed to
them or to their respective representatives in compensation
for their losses in the witchcraft persecutions, and that this
committee was appointed : —
" Tuesday, June 27, 1710. ... A Bill pass'd in both Houses for
Reversing the Attainders of Persons condemned for Witchcraft in
the Year 1692 : left Blank for Inserting the Names of the several
Persons;
Voted a Concurrence with the Representatives on the following
Order annex'd thereto ; viz, — Ordered that John Burrill. Nehemiah
Jewett Esq";" & M"" James Barns with such as the Hon*'!'' Board shall
appoint be a Committee to Inquire into the Names to he inserted into
the Bill, & what Damages they sustained by their Prosecutions &
make Report to this Court ; And John Appleton & Thomas Noyes
Esq" nominated to be of the s** Comm"'^" f
* Coinicil Eecords, vol. viii. p. 508.
t Ihid., vol. ix. p. 49. In this instance I have copier! from tlie series in the
Secretary's Oflttce ; the entry there being more complete and evidently more
correct.
288 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
No further traces of the bill have been found in the records,
until the fifth legislative session of the next year, when the
following entry occurs : —
"Oct. 27, 1711. A Bill for reversing the Attainders of George
Burroughs & others for Witchcraft, pass'cl by the General Assembly
at their Sessions 1709, to be Eugross'd ; & a Committee to consider the
Names of Persons to be inserted, & upon their Report now inserted,
was again read & Pass'd to be engross'd." *
This bill had been kept alive by virtue of a general order
passed the last day of the second session of 1711 continuing
all unfinished business to the fall session. It was now again
passed to be engrossed in its complete form.
Let us now inquire into the doings of the committee to
whom the bill was intrusted by the vote of June 27, 1710.
After notice to the petitioners and all others supposed to
be i]iterested, this committee me^ at Pratt's Tavern in Salem,
on tlie 13th of September following their appointment,! and
seem to have found the business of preparing a list of
the names of the persons attainted and of ascertaining the
amount of compensation that would be satisfactory to the
claimants, so far advanced that they were able to agree upon
and sign a re[)ort the next day.^ This report is the same
that was accepted by the General Court in October, 1711,
after slumbering somewhere for more than a year.
An examination of the court files, at Salem, furnishes a
probable explanation of this expedition on the part of the
committee. Soon after their report was accepted, INIajor
Stephen Sewall, who had been the clerk of the Special Court
of Oyer and Terminer, and who still continued to hold the
office of clerk of the courts in Essex County, was appointed,
by a large majority of the claimants to whom damages were
awarded, to act for them in the business of collecting the
same from the province trcasurer.§ Nothing is more likely
than that he, having the custody of the records of the court,
and, doubtless, well remembering the persons and circum-
stances connected with the trials, had not only solicited the
appointment of attorney, but had been active in helping
* Council Records, vol. ix. p. 136.
t Their original report bears date Sept. 14, 1710, but the record gives it one
year later, wliich was but little more than one montli before it was acted upon
by the General Court, Tiie former, however, is undoubtedly tlie correct date.
t See Appendix D. The original report, printed in Mr. Moore's appendix,
does not show the recorded signature of Dudley approving of the resolve.
§ See Appendix B.
1883.] WITCH-TRIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 289
along the suit for redress, from the beginning, and had thus
been able to prepare and lay before the committee the list,
which, coming from so trustworthy a source, and not being
objected to, was adopted by them without further inquiry.
This attorneyship of Major Sewall was not perfoi-med gra-
tuitously ; and the emoluments arising from it were, no
doubt, a tempting inducement to one who got his living,
largely, from official fees established upon a more moderate
scale.
It is not a little surprising to find after the agitation of
this subject before the legislature had continued so long, and
after the committee had had such ample opportunity, both
as to time and evidence, that the names of seven persons
clearly within the intention of the act, were overlooked and
omitted. Some of them probably had not retained the
services of the clerk ; and the committee ascertained their
names when it was too late to secure for them the benefit of
the act, and a share in the appropriation ; but the omission
of others requires further explanation than the records
furnish.*
The committee marshalled the claimants into three ckisses :
first, the representatives of those who were executed ; second,
those who were condemned but not executed ; and, third,
those who suffered imprisonment but were not condemned. f
To the first two classes they awarded the full sum finally
claimed by each. The amounts reported were, to be sure, in
some instances, somewhat less than the statement of loss first
exhibited by the claimants ; but, upon conference with the
committee, the respective demands, it appears, were " mod-
erated," to the mutual satisfaction of the claimants and the
committee. I The claims of the third class were wholly re-
jected, as not being within the purview of the order of the
General Court. The demand of Philip English, who suffered
enormous damage, but whose claim for compensation rested
* Tlie names omitted are Bridget Bishop, Susanna Martin, Alice Parker,
Ann Pudeator, Wilmot Head, Margaret Scott and Elizabeth Johnson, Junior.
Abigail Faulkner, Sarah Wardwell, and lOlizabeth Procter had already been
exonerated by the act of 1708, which Mr. Moore has given us in full, and accu-
rately collated, in his Appendix. The reasons for including either of them in
the present act are not obvious. Mrs. Wardwell's son Samuel applied to have
her name inserted, but I have discovered no such effort in behalf of Mrs. Proc-
ter. Mr. Upham does not incluile Klizabeth Johnson's name among those that
were omitted ; but she was attainted, and formally applied to the committee
for the benefit of the act. Her petition, however, came too late. Her attainder
therefore still remains unreversed. See note t p. 291, infm.
+ See Appendix (L
X See Appendix D.
37
290 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [June,
upon peculiar grounds, hereafter explained, was not passed
upon by the committee, but reserved for the future considera-
tion of the General Court.*
We have now reached the record of the passage of the bill
to be enacted, which is as follows: —
"Nov. 2, 1711. The engross'd Bill to reverse the Attenders of
George Borroughs & others for Witchcraft ; Pass'd in the House of
Represeut^*:' Read & Concur'd to be Enacted." f
Here we encounter a doubt which cannot be wholly re-
moved without reference to external evidence. While the
record is express as to the enactment, it does not show tliat
the bill was signed by the governor. Did the governor sIqu
the bill?
I have acknowledged my share of responsibility for INIr.
Moore's conclusion that the act for reversing attainders, &c.,
never became a law ; J I did so, inasmuch as the absence of
the title of this act from the edition of the Province Laws
now being printed by the State was, I am informed, regarded
by him as a conclusive confirmation of the result of his
inquiries upon the subject in other directions. The story of
this omission is as follows : —
The care of compiling and editing the materials collected
by the Commissioners on the Province Laws was, by the in-
dulgence of my learned associate, intrusted solely to me,
who alone am responsible for whatever avoidable errors the
work contains. When, in the course of this labor, I reached
the year 1711, I found the titles of several acts recorded in
the legislative records of the Council as passed that year,
Avhich did not appear, from any evidence immediately accessi-
ble, to have been signed by the governor and sealed with the
province seal. I, therefore, in a note.§ ventured to express
the opinion that probably they were never enacted. But,
before the book liad gone to the bindery, I received from Mr.
Sainsbury, who previously had searched the Public Record
Office in vain for any evidence of the passage of these acts,
copies of three of them, which will be found in the postscript
appended to the volume alluded to ; and a fourth act, com-
pleting the list, was generously furnished the Commissioners
by Mr. Moore, to whom they are indebted not only for ready
* See p. 294, infra, and Appendix C.
t C(Mincil Kec'ords, vol. ix. p. 140.
% Siipni, p. 285.
§ Trovince Laws, vol. i. p. G86.
1883.] WITCH-TRIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 291
assistance on all occasions, but for the most hearty and appre-
ciative encouragement. It is in view of these facts tliat I
claim a share in whatever censure that indefatigable scholar
may have incurred by relying too implicitly upon my incau-
tious expressions.
The copy of the printed act for reversing the attainders,
which is beUeved to be unique, is not the only evidence, be-
sides the entry last quoted from the records, of the passage of
the act : for the record further shows that Dudley consented
to the vote accepting the report of the names to be inserted in
the act. * As this report supplied all that was wanting to make
the bill, which had passed the several stages of legislation,
complete and ready for the executive approval, it is not
unlikely that the secretary of the province, in making up his
records, supposed that this minute of the governor's assent
to it was tantamount to the special entry of consent which
was generally, but not always, written either immediately
after the record of tiie vote of the passage of the bill to be
enacted, or with the list of approved acts sometimes placed
at the end of the record of the session. f
This act having been passed and the required sum appro-
priated, a warrant in due form, for drawing tlie money from
the treasury, was issued by the secretary and signed by the
governor, December 17, 1711. J
In regard to the fourth and final conclusion which Mr.
Moore apparently draws from his examination of the sub-
ject, it seems to me that he has overlooked the fact that the
''payments of money" which, he says, " appear to have been
made to various parties interested," — amounting in the
whole to the very considerable sum of £578 12s., — were
not accepted merely as a compromise of larger claims, but
were intended to be a fair equivalent for the forfeitures,
fines, and amercements of those who were attainted ; and
that the amounts were amicably ascertained and fully agreed
to, as such, upon a conference between the claimants and the
* Council Records, vol. ix. p. 134. And see Appendix D^ infra.
t As furtlier evidence tliat the act was passed, we have the declaration to
that effect of tliose who united in appointing Stephen Sewall to collect the com-
pensation awarded to them by the committee, in 1711 (Appendix B), and also
their request tiiat he procure a copy of the act. From this copy, which is in
the liandwriting of secretary Addinj^ton, or one of the clerks in his office, and
whicli — agreeing almost exactly witii the act as printed in 1713 — still remains
on the court tiles at Salem, Woodward had the impression made to which Mr.
Moore alludes.
X A copy of this original warrant, in the handwriting of Stephen Sewall,
remains on the court files at Salem, and is given in Appendix E.
292 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
committee.* The attainders appearing to have been un-
founded, and the proceedings thereupon unjust to the accused,
it was a noble and generous act of the legislature, however
long j)Ostponed, to restore the whole of what, though forci-
bly taken from the accused, had enured to the crown, for the
use of the province, under the forms of law, and in strict
accordance with the established practice in cases of felony,
and for which, therefore, the petitioners had no legal re-
dress. The amount thus repaid from the public treasury
exceeded one fortieth of the province tax for the previous
year, which, itself, was one of a series of necessary exactions
unusually burdensome on account of the extraordinary ex-
penses of Queen Anne's war in which the province took so
important a part.f
Our sympathy for the sufferers should not lead us into
the opposite injustice of condemning the legislature for not
laying upon the people — those who were opposed to, as well
as those who incited and approved of, the proceedings at
Salem — a pecuniary burden which it had no moral right
to impose. Even in the present enlightened age no legisla-
ture in Christendom would for a moment lend a favorable
ear to the supplications for pecuniary redress, of persons who
had been legally imprisoned on criminal cliarges, and subse-
quently acquitted, or discharged as innocent. And however
much we may wish that all the unhappy victims of that terri-
ble infatuation had received ample recompense for loss of
time and property, to say nothing of mental and physical
suffering, and the social deprivations attending virtual out-
* Tlie book of records of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, if there ever
was one, is not known to be in existence. In sncli a book, or the minutes or
docket tliereof, we siiouid expect to find the originals of the estreats of fines,
forfeitures, &c. It is possible that the estreats may be preserved elsewhere;
but I have not seen them, and therefore assume that the amounts of damages
found by the committee substantially agree with the amount found by the
judicial authorities, upon proper inquiry in each case of attainder. See Ap-
pendix C.
t This grant to the sufferers was not the only pecuniary burden to which
the public was subjected by this expensive folly. Tlie records of the Superior
Court contain an order passed at a session held, by adjournment at Salem,
Dec. 12, 1092, a])proving of a schedule of expenses amounting to £1.30 Os. lid.,
and ordering the court of sessions to lay an assessment therefor upon the county,
which was done accordingly. Copies of the schedule and of tiie order to
the court of sessions remain on the court files at Salem, and have Ijeen printed
by Woodward. In addition to this sum to be assessed, two grants were made
by the legislature in 1092, — one of £40 to Stephen Sewall, the clerk of the
Court of Oyer and Terminer, for necessary charges of the court, and another to
Mrs. Mary Gedney, innkeeper, for entertainment of the magistrates, jurors,
and officers of the court. These, with the later grants to English and Rich, and
the expenses of the various legislative committees, amount to a total of £1046
7a-. 2d.
1883.] WITCH-TRIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 293
lawry, and however hard it mav seem that the petitioners
shoukl have been denied, there can be no question that the
course of the committee, with regard to tlie rejected claims,
was in precise accordance with the universal practice of the
present day.
That the committee performed their duty hastily and per-
functorily appears by the omission, from the act for revers-
ing the attainders, of the names of some of the principal
sufferers, as already noticed. It is further shown by other
circumstances, — notably by their failure to ascertain tiie
Christian name of Goodwife Corey, which appears in the files
of the court, and which was known to her husband's children,
who were among the petitioners for redress. Through the
negligence of the committee in another particular, Thomas
Rich became a supplicant to the legislature for compensation,
as late as 1723, as Mr. Moore has shown in the carefully col-
lated extracts from the records, which he has printed in the
appendix to his article. Rich was the only surviving son of
Goodwife Corey by a former husband ; and the Corey family
who received compensation in 1711 were not her children,
but the children of Giles Corey by a former wife, or wives.
When, therefore, upon the petition of Rich, these facts were
made plain to the legislature, years afterwards, the House of
Representatives, anxious to do equal justice to all for whom
compensation was intended, made him a grant of £50, as
the proper representative of this unfortunate woman ; and
this grant does not appear to be less than he claimed or
expected.
The descendants of George Burroughs, however, whose
supplementary memorial Mr. Moore also prints, had no
pro[)er claim. The legislature, in 1711, awarded to the
widow and other representatives of that excellent and truly
pious victim of superstition, the sum of £50 — that being
the entire amount of their own estimate of their dii-ect dam-
age, and all they asked for. This was apportioned among
them, at the time, evidently to the satisfaction of all, as the
receipts on file show.* It is not too harsh to say that it was
the duty of the committee, in 1750. to report against reconsid-
ering a claim thus fairly settled, and the reopening of wliich
* There was some dispute between tlie children of tlie former wives of Bur-
rouirhs and liis widow — who had been married to one Hall and took lier own
child with her to her new home — as to the equity of tlie apportionment, but
the dispute seems to have been ended by the final awnrd of the eommittee.
See the receipts in Appendix F, from tiie court files in Salem, — inaccurately
printed by Woodward.
294 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
would have furnished a precedent for a general and formid-
able assault upon the province treasury.*
The failure of the committee to report any allowance, in the
cases of Bridget Bishop and Elizabeth Johnson, which were
clearly brought to their notice, is unaccountable. Whatever
may have been their reasons for the omission, however, the
fault is not chargeable to the province, or to the legislature,
as a body.f It nowhere appears that the claim of any alleged
sufferer was unheeded by the general court down to the time
of the last application in the enlightened period of the admin-
istration of Shirley and Phips.|
Philip English's case has been mentioned as exception al.§
I have said tliat the committee did not include his claim
among those adjusted by them, but referred his application to
the special consideration of the general court. || As compen-
sation for the damage suffered by him, the legislature voted
him, as late as Nov. 10, 1718, the sum of £200 in full satis-
faction.^ From the schedule of losses presented by him to
* The memorialists were probably encouraged by the spirit of liberality, not
to say extravagance, prevailing in tnuse Husli times when the ruinous collapse of
an inflated paper currency had been prevented by large remittances of silver
from England in reimbursement of the expenses of the operations against Cape
Breton. I will add as an item of possible interest, in this ccninection, that while
neither the records nor the papers preserved in the court files show how Tliomas
Newman, Abiah Holbrook, and Elias Thomas — the memorialists in 1749 — were
descended from their abused ancestor, there is little doubt that Thomas was the
son of Peter Thomas, who married Elizabetli, the daughter of Rev. George Bur-
roughs, and was, therefore, the uncle of Isaiah Thomas, the founder of the
American Antiquarian Society.
t It does not appear that claims presented in 1711, on account of any
other sufferers, were rejected. The claim of Edward Bishop, who estimated his
total damage — remote and consequential, as well as direct — at .£100, was
classed by the committee with those of" persons imprisoned and not condemned,"
which, as has been said, were wliolly excluded. It is jiossible that none of his
wife's property was forfeited, which would account for the fact that no compen-
sation was awarded to lier representatives. This may also have been the case
with Elizabeth Johnson, junior, wiiose brother Francis was a petitioner ; but that
these and so many others were onutted from the act seems insutliciently ex-
plained by the supposition that they were forgotten. See ante, note * p. 2y9.
X Notwithstanding the intimation by Oldmixon which Mr. JNIoore has quoted,
that the province was beginning, as late as 1741, to repair the " mistake" of
10'J2, and Hutchinson's insinuation that sufficient compensation was not made
(1st ed., vol. ii. p. (52, n.), Chalmers, with greater show of reason, on the ver}'
page from which Mr. Moore quotes his statement that there existed no law in
Massachusetts for putting supposed witches to death, remarks : " The Assembly,
however, did justice to the colony and to individuals when at the distance of
twenty years it granted to the defendants [descendants "?] of the innocent sufferers
a compensation for the loss of their estates ; since they coidd not restore the
lives which the present frenzy had taken away." — Coll. N. Y. HisL. Soc,
vol. i. p. 111.
§ See mite, p. 289. II See Appendix C.
T[ I refer, for this and the subsequent proceedings of the Assembly upon appli-
cations for compensation, to the carefully collated extracts from the records, in the
appendix to Mr. Moore's article-
1883.] WITCH-TRIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 295
the committee, at Salem, it appears that they amounted to
XII80 2s., on account of what he " had seized, taken away,
lost and embezzled" while he was in prison and during his
flight, exclusive of the value of household goods and other
chattels of which he was desjioiled, and which he could not
specify. As, after his arrest, lie had been admitted to bail in
the sum of X4000, and as neither he nor his wife was con-
victed, he claimed tiiat whatever property was sequestrated
by the sheriff was unlawfully taken.*
It is difficult if not impossible at this day, owing to the
scandalous condition into which the records and files of the
ancient courts in Suifolk have fallen, and in which tliey are
still suffered to remain, to ascertain what proceedings, if any,
-were had against English on account of his flight, or what
was the condition of the bond he gave for his liberation; but
the law, loose and uncertain as it was, in most matters re-
lating to proceedings against felons, seems, at that time, to
have been so far settled as to have justified him in holding
the sheriff accountable, as a trespasser, to tiie extent of his
interference with the goods of the fugitive, beyond wdiat was
necessary to inventory them, before the flight was judicially
ascertained ; while, on the other hand, it is equally clear that
the flight — the fact being established by verdict of tlie jury
of the court of oyer and terminer — wi'ought an absolute
forfeiture of all his personal estate. f This was the penalty
for fleeing from justice, which was itself an offence, and the
forfeiture incurred thereby was not to be remitted nor the
forfeited goods restored, even if the defendant should be fully
acquitted of the principal charge ; nor could the verdict be
reversed or set aside in any subsequent proceeding, except for
error of law.
English seems to have been advised that some of the
sheriff's doings were illegal; for he brought suit against him
for seizing a cow and five swine, in August, 1692, laying his
damage at fifteen pounds.:]: In this action he was nonsuited,
but upon what ground it does not appear ; and thereupon he
appealed to the Superior Court next to be held in Essex.
Before this court sat, Corwin died, and the case seems to have
proceeded no further, although, according to his own declara-
tion, he received sixty pounds from Corwin's administratrix. §
English in his application for compensation alleges that the
* See liis schedules of losses, and petition, in Mass. Archives, cxxxv. p. 127.
t .3 Inst, -iia; Hawk. P. C, ii. chap. 0, §§ 27, 54; Black. Comm., iv. 387.
I See Appendix G, and note | on the ne.xt i)age.
§ Note II on the next page. Mass. Arciiives, cxxxv. p. 127.
296 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
articles scheduled by him were " seized and taken away
chiefly by the sheriff and his under officers " ; * but it is evi-
dent from the records of certain suits successfully prosecuted
by him against sundry of his neighbors, for helping themselves
to his property during his absence, that the officers of the law
were not the only trespassers upon the goods of the fugitive
merchant-!
It would be interesting to learn why English, in his suit
against the sheriff, did not claim heavier damages, — whether
he was precluded by the certainty that the sheriff had a good
defence, in that his proceedings except in the small matter
sued for were strictly legal, or whether it was impossible to
prove the larger trespass by sufficient evidence, or whether
there was no prospect of recovering any considerable sum-
on account of the defendant's poverty. :|: The pursuit of this
inquiry, however, even if there were any hope of a satisfac-
tory result, must be deferred until the files of the Superior
Court are accessible.
It is certain that in the suit above mentioned English had
Cor win arrested and conunitted to jail on mesne process, §
and that the entire personal estate of the latter which came
to the hands of his administratrix fell short of one hundred and
forty pounds. II Hence it may be reasonably inferred that the
sheriff had not enriched himself out of the spoil of his neigh-
* Mass. Archives, ut supra.
t Englisli V. Pinsent, ex'x, and English v. Robinson, in I. C. C. P., Essex,
Mareli T. IGiKi, and also upon appeal in S. C. J.
I It is said that English sued Corwin for =£1500. Whether this report is from
tradition, or from a wrong reading of the record of tlie case above described, is
uncertain. No entry of such an action has been discovered.
It may be well here to explain another feature of this miserable business, which
seems not to have been clearly understood. Mr. Uphani has commented with
severity (See Hist Salem Witchcraft, vol. ii. p. 472) on the action of the Superior
Court at the May term, 1604, at Ipswich, in granting Corwin a formal discharge
from all liability for his official conduct; but this proceeding was in strict com-
pliance with the requirement of the act of Nov. 17, 169o, "for passing sheriff's
accompts " (1693-94, chap. 2: Province Laws, vol. i. p. 127), and was only a
quietus tlie date of which, for the want of a general statute of limitations, the
legislature had fixed as the beginning of a limited period within which suits
against sheriffs should be brought, and was not intended as a bar to any
action commenced within two years thereafter.
§ See the constable's return, on tlie writ. Appendix G.
II Essex Probate files. Corwin's widow and administratrix twice prayed the
judge of probate for an extension of time for rendering her account, alleging
that there remained due £60 3s., which nearly corresponds with the sum that
English admits be received from her. There is a tradition, wiiich appears trust-
wortliy, that, after his death, Corwin's relatives feared tiiat English would liter-
ally "take the body " of the deceased, according to the precei)t of the court;
and that therefore his remains were privately interred in the cellar of his dwell-
ing house, and reinterred, later, in his garden. The site of his tomb or grave
can at this day be determined by record evidence.
18S3.] WITCH-TRIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 297
bors, — a conclusion which is confirmed by the finding of the
court, upon the settlement of his official accounts, that there
remained due to him, in 1693, a balance of £67 Qs. 4d*
Whether Corvvin was a trespasser, or proceeded strictly
according to law, it is clear that the province was equitably
accountable to English for no more than it was pecuniarily
benefited by his misfijrtune. If the sheriff's proceedings were
unlawful, then he was personally and solely answerable. If
his proceedings were legal, then only so much of the value of
the forfeited goods as was realized upon their sale at public
auction, according to law, enured to the public benefit ; and
it does not appear, and we certainly are not justified in as-
suming, tiiat this exceeded or even equalled the £200 which
were eventually ordered to be paid to him. Evidence is not
wanting to the effect that there was great depreciation of
value upon forced sales of the goods of the sufferers. The
children of Giles Corey touchingly complain of having been
obliged " to sell creatures and other things for a little more
than half the worth of them," in order to get money to pay
the sheriff, " and to maintaine our father and mother in
prison." f
But I proceed to another topic not discussed by Mr. Moore.
As we have thus far scrutinized certain criticisms affecting
the legality of some of the proceedings of the first Special
Court of Oyer and Terminer of 1692, I may perhaps be
excused for not omitting to consider another very grave, and
now very important, statement impugning the validity of the
court itself, repeatedly made, without contradiction, during
the last forty or fifty years, by persons whose opinions are
entitled to the highest respect.
Originally induced to doubt the legality of the court by
Hutchinson's remark that, —
"By the charter, the general assembly are to constitute courts of
justice, and the governor with the advice of council is to nominate and
appoint judges, connnissioners of oyer and terminer, &c. ; but whether
the governor, with advice of council, can constitute a court of over and
terminer, without authority for that purpose derived from the general
assembly, has been made a question,"
most recent writers upon the subject have outstripped him Ity
declaring, unequivocally, that this court was illegal, because
* S. C. J., Es^ex, Mny T. 1094, and see note J on p. 290, s'ipra.
t Mass. Archives, cxxxv. IGl, and Hist. Coll. Essex Inst. i. p. 56.
38
298 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
it was not authorized by the Assembly.* I am constrained to
believe that these writers are wrong, and that the doubt
which Hutchinson records, but to which he is careful not
to lend the sanction of his own approval, is entirely un-
founded.
The unanimity of these writers is not more remarkable
than the fact that the lawyers among them are the most
positive and emphatic in their expressions as to the invalid-
ity of the commission under which the court was organized
and proceeded to judgment in those memorable trials. Thus,
Cluindler declares that tliis court was, " beyond all question,
an illegal tribunal, because the governor had no shadow of
authority to constitute it ; " and Washburn, that it " acted
without any valid authority, and perpetrated by its punish-
ments a series of judicial murders without a parallel in
American History." And yet these confident and unquali-
fied assertions are made notwithstanding the province charter
explicitly declares : —
" And Wee doe fui-ther Grant and Ordeyne that it shall and may
be lawfull for the said Governour with tlie advire and consent of the
Councill or Assistants from time to time to nominate and appoint
Judges Comhiissioners of Oyer and Terminer Sheriffs Provosts Mar-
shalls Justices of the Peace and other Otficers to our Councill and
Courts of Justice belonging. "
On a casual reading of the charter no difficulty is perceived
in apprehending the meaning of this clause. There is no
inherent ambiguity and no necessary conflict with the subse-
quent clause which provides for the establishment of courts
of justice.!
* Compare Hutchinson, Hist. Mass. Bay, 1st cd., ii. p. 48, with Bancroft, Ilist.
U. S., 1st ed., iii. p. 88 [1840] ; Washburn, Juil. Hist. Mass., 141 [1^40] ; Quincy,
Hist. Ilarv. Univ., 1. 179 [1840]; Chandler, Criminal Trials, i. U2 [1844] ; Hil-
dreth, Hist. U. S., ii. 150, 157 [1849-56] ; Palfrey, Hist. N. E., iv. 105 [1875].
See also the more cautious statement of Upham, Hist. Salem Witchcraft, ii. 1251,
252 [1807].
t " And wee doe of our further Grace certaine knowledge and meer mocon
Grant Establish and Ordaine for Vs our heires and Successors that the great
and Generall Court or Assembly of our said Province or Territory for the time
being Convened as aforesaid shall for ever have full Power and Authority to
Erect and Constitute Judicatories and Courts of Record or other Courts to be
held in the name of Vs Our heires and Successors for tlie Hearing Trying and
Determining of all ninnner of Crimes Offences Pleas Processes Plaints Accons
Matters Causes and things whatsoever ariseing or happening within Our said
Province or Territory or between i)ersons Inhnbiting or resi<leing there whether
the same be Criminall or Civill and whether the said Crimes be Capitall or not
Ca])itall and whether the said Pleas be Peal personall or mixt and for the
awarding and makeing out of Execution thereupon."
1883.] WITCH-TEIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 299
The executive appointments authorized by this clause are
those of, fivst, judges of the courts ; second, commissioners
of oyer and terminer ; third, sheriffs ; fourth, prov(jsts ; tilth,
marshals ; sixth, justices of the peace ; seventh, other officers
belonging to the council ; eighth, other officers belonging to
the courts of justice.
It is true that under this clause it belonged exclusively to
the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the
council, to appoint the judges and other officers of courts
alread}^ erected by the legislature ; but the issuing a commis-
sion of oyer and terminer by the executive alone, is not
inconsistent with the full exercise of the functions of the
general court, unless we assume that the issuing such a com-
mission comprises the "erecting and constituting" of a court,
within the meaning of the charter, which could only be done
by the legislature.*
This assumption, it seems to me, is based upon a false
theory. This theory not only implies that there is a conflict
between two perfectly consistent clauses of the charter, but
it cannot be maintained either as being sanctioned by the
usage of this province, — which, beginning with the first ad-
ministration under the charter, was invariably the opposite,
— or by the authority of English law; and must not, there-
fore, be supposed to have been entertained by the framers of
the charter, who were English lawyers, and undoubtedly
meant to be understood here, as they would be understood
in England.
It will be remembered that in England judges are ap-
pointed by the king, as the fountain of justice, in four ways;
1, by writ; 2, by patent; 3, by commission; and 4, by
charter.! By the first method, the chief justice of the King's
* In England the distinction between courts held under commissions of oyer
and terminer, and the establislied courts at Westminster was fundamental, and
well understood. Thus Fitzherbert says, " The writ of oyer and terminer
should not properly be called a writ; but it is a commission directed unto
certain persons when a great assembly, insurrection, or a heinous misdemeanor
or trespass is committed and done in any place. In sucli case it is the manner
and usage to make a commission of oner and terminer, to hear and determine
such misbehaviour," &c. (F. N. B., 110, B.) — and Hawkins, "It seems to be
agreed, tliat where a statute prohibits a tiling, and doth not appoint in wiiat
court itsiiall be punisiied, tlie offender may be indicted before justices of oyer
and terminer, because the king hath a prerogative of suing in" what court' he
will. But it hath been adjudged, that if such statute appoint that tiie offence
shall be determined in tlie king's courts of record, it can be proceeded against
only in one of tiie courts of Westminster Hall ; because those being tlie liighest
courts of record, shall be irjtended to be only spoken of secundum excellent iam." —
PI. Crown, ii. 33.
t Hale's Analysis of the Law, 19.
300 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
Bench,* and by the second, the ordinary judges of the estab-
lished courts at Westminster are appointed ; by the third,
justices of oyer and terminer, jail delivery, assize and nisi
prius receive their appointment ; and by the fourth are con-
stituted the judges in courts of corporations and inferior
courts.
Under the last of these forms, namely, by charter, the courts
of this province were indirectly brought into being; for the
charter of the province is their ultimate foundation. By the
third method, namely, by commission, courts of oyer and
terminer were, immemorially, appointed in England; and this
form of appointment, ratified b}^ innumerable statutes and in-
variable practice, was as much a part of the law of England
as any fundamental personal right that can be mentioned.
Parliament had, from time to time, designated from what
class the commissioners should be selected, but the right of
nominating and appointing belonged solely to the king, or his
chancellor — usually by commission, out of chancery, under the
great seal. Now it is important to observe that the forms of
the commissions or writs appointing commissioners of oyer
and terminer were established by long usage, and could not
be changed except by act of parliament. These forms declare
the purpose of the commission, define the duties of the jus-
tices or commissioners, and fix the time and place for holding
court, f and the law required obedience from the people and
the proper local officers to all precepts legally issued and to
all rules and orders lawfully promulgated by the commission-
ers for the furtherance of their duties under these commis-
sions. There was, therefore, in the issuing of a regular
conunission of oyer and terminer, absolutely nothing for the
legislature to do, even if legislative interference were deemed
technically essential, except to declare that the exigency call-
ing for the issuance of a commission had arisen ; and even
tliis might be deemed an encroachment upon the preroga-
tive. $ When, however, it happened that new emergencies
arose for which the common law had made no adequate pro-
vision, the king was powerless to })roceed without tlie aid of
parliament, and the latter in that case might, if it saw fit,
* See Life of Sir Matthew Hale, in preface to his Hist, of . Eng. Law, xl. ;
and also Lord Mansfield's resignation of the chief-justiceship. — Annual Register
for 1788, p. 24L
t The only form of a coriimission of oyer and terminer that has been dis-
covered in the records of the province or of the provincial courts is that issued
in 1008, for tlie trial of Jacob Smith. See Appendix H.
} Hawk., P. C. ii., chaps. 1 and 5, §§ I. Stat. 27 Hen. VIII., chap. 24.
1883.] WITCH-TRIALS IX MASSACHUSETTS. 301
grant authority for the issuing of special commissions of oyer
and terminer, to be conducted under such regulations as the
parliament might j^rescribe, but still to be issued under the
royal seal, to contain all necessary and proper instructions
agreeable to law and be directed to such justices as the king
should appoint.*
Now this time-honored authority to issue commissions of
oyer and terminer is evidently what was intended by the king
to be delegated, in the charter, to his representative, the
governor, in the clause empowering liim to nominate and
appoint commissioners of oyer and terminer.
Besides the general commissions of oyer and terminer
under which, together with the four other commissions, —
of the peace, jail-delivery, assize and nisi pr-ius, — the king's
judges always conducted the business of their circuits (and
besides, a great number of other commissions to which fur-
ther allusion is not necessary here), it was the immemorial
practice, sanctioned by many statutes ancient and modern, ■
to issue special commissions to hear and determine enor-
mous crimes, where justice could not be effectually and
promptly administered through the ordinary tribunals, in
their regular sessions. f These, however, were to con-
form strictly to the ancient precedents, and could be su-
perseded J if it should appear that the offences to be tried
under them were not sufficientl}^ heinous ; and the right of
appointing the justices in these as well as other commissions
belonged to the crown not only by a constitutional provision
of the common law, but by solemn and express declaration of
parliament. §
Nor was this power of appointment a menace to the liber-
ties of the subject, since at these courts not only the attend-
ance of grand and petit juries was secured, but it was an
established princi[)le that the king could not, without the aid
of parliament, grant any new commission whatsoever that
was not warranted by ancient precedent, however necessary
it might seem ; and, as all judges derived their authority from
* An instance of extraordinary special commission of this description was
that issued under 19 Geo. II. c. i», for tlie trial of tiie Scottish rebels in 1740, the
proceedings of which were made the basis of Sir Michael Foster's Report and
Discourses on Crown Law.
t 4 Inst. chap, xxviii. ; Black. Conim. iv. 271.
I The form of this supersedeas may be seen in the Register, pp. 124, 125,
and Prynne, in his Animadversions on the Fourth part of Coke's Institute
(p. 148), gives the record of another, (uino 14 Ed. III.
§ 27 Hen. VIII., chap. 24.
302 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
the crown, by some commission authorized by law, so they
must exercise it in a legal manner.*
By the Statute of Westminster, the second (A.D. 1285), f
while " the judges of either bench, and justices in eyre," were
the only justices eligible to appointment upon general com-
missions of oyer and terminer, a wider range was allowed in
the selection of special commissioners, on account of the sup-
posed urgency of the cases in which their commissions were
issued ; and by subsequent statutes, justices of the peace, who,
by their ordinary commissions had cognizance of felonies,:):
were enabled to sit on these commissions " with others, the
most worthy, of the county." §
Such was the state of the English law at the time the
province charter was granted, and these, it must be assumed,
were the principles upon which corresponding tribunals were
to be established in this province. In England, however, the
king had authority to issue commissions of jail delivery, of
assize, and of nisi p7'ius. as well as those of justices of the
peace || and of oyer and terminer; but the governor's authority
to issue commissions was, by the charter, limited to the two
classes last named. Hence, whenever, in this province, it
became necessary to appoint commissioners of oyer and ter-
miner, with extraordinary powers, — for instance, to clear
* Hawk., P. C. ii. chap. 1, §§ 8, 9. Moreover, courts of oyer and terminer
were suspended or superseded whenever the justices of the King's Bencli lield
assizes in the same county — Hale, P. C. 2, p. 4; Hawk., P. C. li., chap. 5, § 3.
As the Superior Court of Judicature of this province had all the authority of
the court of King's Bench it would, unquestionably, have ousted the courts of
oj'er and terminer of all jurisdiction whenever it should happen that the two
tribunals snt simultaneously in the same county.
t 18 Ed. I., chap. 2U. t Lamb. Eirenareha (ed. 1610), 553.
§ 42 Ed. III., chap. 4.
II Justices of the peace were judges of record, and held courts of common-
law jurisdiction in the establishment of which it cannot be supposed and will not
be claimed that any legislative action was necessary. The exclusive right of the
governor and council to appoint these justices is clear and unquestionable, and
if the clause in the charter conferring authority upon the legislature to erect
judicatories and courts of record is to have the interpretation contended for by
those who claim that it deprives the executive of all jjower to eonstitute in any
manner a judicial tribunal capable of action, it follows that in this province,
commissions of justices of the peace were, of themselves, of no more force than
blank parchment. Such a construction nullifies the authority clearly intended
to be conferred upon the executive by the charter, and involves the absurditj- of
granting a ])ower and at tlie same time defeating the exercise of it ; for justices
of tlie peace, by virtue of their commissions alone, were not merely conservators
of the peace, but magistrates whose judicial functions, inseparable from tlieir
office, were various, important, and well defined by the common law. The
legislature might have enlarged or diminished their jurisdiction, or, perhaps,
have transferred the whole of it to another tribimal ; but, until such legislative
action, it cannot be imagined how they could legitimately have borne the title
and yet not have had the authority which went with it.
1883.] WITCH-TRIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 30S
the jails, or to try an indictment found by another tribunal,
or to hear and determine offences not cognizable by them at
tlie common law, — the legislature supplied the executive dis-
ability by an enabling act ; and instances of tliis kind will be
presently considered.
Of course this discussion is strictly confined to the common-
law tribunals, and therefore what I have said about the limit
of executive authority under the charter does not apply to
those courts which derived their functions from the civil law ;
for it will not be contended that either our probate courts,
which rest upon no other foundation than a delegation of
authority from the governor, as the supreme ordinary, with-
out any enabling, act of the legislature, or the courts of
admiralty, the establishment of which was, in tlie charter,
specially reserved to the crown, were illegally constituted,
and their proceedings void.
On referring to the judicial records, as far l)ack even as the
time of Andros, we find that courts of oyer and terminer, after
the English models, were held in Massachusetts for the trial
of felonies as a matter of course ; * and, after the establishment
of government under the charter, that there were no less than
fourteen such courts, f of which eight were constituted by the
governor's commission as special courts, in accordance with
the ordinary English precedents, and without any authority
from the legislature. Two of these eight commissions were
issued in 1692, and the last in 1713.
Of the remaining six courts of oyer and terminer held
during the provincial period, two were held by virtue of the
act of 1696 against ])iracy and robbing upon the sea ; J which,
being for the punishment of offences not cognizal»le at the
common law, and therefore not comprehended in any estab-
lished form of commission, required the sanction of the legis-
lature. Of the rest of these six commissions, the first § was
* Superior Court records. t Appendix I.
t Province Laws, 1696, cliap. 4. This was, substantially, a re-enactment of
the act of parliament 27 Hen. VIII., chap. 4, which allowed offences previously
exclu.sively cognizable by the courts of admiralty to be tried by commissioners
of oyer and terminer and a jury. If the act of parliament extended to this prov-
ince, the offender, to get the benefit of it, must needs be carrieil to England for
trial in some shire of the realm. The province law gave him the same privi-
lege here. The counsel for Ansel Nickerson who was tried for his life before a
court of admiralty in Boston in 1760, claimed the right to be tried by a jury; but
from the confused and incomplete accounts of that trial, it is impossible to deter-
mine whether the right was claimed under this act or upon other grounds.
John Adams had "half a mind to undertake " the publication of the record of
that case. It is to be regretted that his " mind " was thus divided — See his
Diary, Dec. 23, 1769.
§ Province Laws, 1718-19, chap. 19.
304 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
issued for the trial of an offender already imprisoned upon an
indictment returnable before the Superior Court, and whose
case, tlierefore, could not come under the jurisdiction of a
court constituted by the ordinary commission, which conferred
no authority to demand from the clerk of another tribunal,
the indictment in his custody. In this case, also, as well as
in the three cases that remain to be considered, the alleged
offenders had been duly committed to jail, and therefore it
became necessary for the legislature to enlarge the power of
the commissioners so as to enable them to bring these offend-
ers before them. It is noticeable that while the preamble of
each of these acts recites that the case ought, '' as the law
stands, to be tried by a special court of assize," they agree in
expressly declaring that " a court of oyer and terminer have
and can exercise the same jurisdiction and authority in all
capital offences."
An examination of all the legislation respecting courts of
oyer and terminer throughout the provincial period, shows
that there was never an attempt by the assembly to formally
establish such a tribunal. The acts amounted only to an
authorization, or, at most, to a fiat., that commissions should
issue ; but the form of the commission and the particular
directions to the justices were left to the governor in each
case, in accordance with, or in analogy to, the usual common-
law precedents. Indeed, any legislative act establishing a
special court of oyer and terminer according to the common
law would amount to no more than a mere fiat, since the
commission to tlie justices must, necessarily, conform to
established precedents. Such an act would not only be
superfluous, but irregular, because the power intended to be
conferred thereby liad already been, more authoritatively, and
quite as clearly, given by the charter ; and the legislature
would transcend its proper functions in attempting either to
reinforce or detract from the fundamental law.*
The issuing of commissions of oyer and terminer having
been found inexpedient, — less, probably, on account of diffi-
culty in securing proper persons off the bench of the Superior
Court than on account of the want of system in conducting
the proceedings and preserving the records of these extraordi-
nary courts, the extra expense wliich they occasioned, and
the perplexities involved in harmonizing their operations with
those of tlie regular judicatories established by statute, —
* See observations of the Privy Council on the provincial act of 1692-93,
chap. 9. — Province Laws, i. p. 37, note.
1883.] WITCH-TRIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 305
and, nevertheless, it being evident that some means should
be provided for bringing offenders to justice in the long vaca-
tions of the Superior Court,* — the legislature, in 1713,
passed the " Act for holding Special Courts of Assize and
General Goal Delivery." f
By this act it was made lawful for the governor, by and
with the advice and consent of the council, upon any such
extraordinary occasion or emergency as would justify the
appointing of a commission of oyer and terminer, to issue " a
precept directed to the justices of the court of assize and
general goal delivery," requiring them to hold a special court
of assize and general jail delivery.
Although after the passage of this act no commission of
oyer and terminer seems to liave been issued without the
concurrence of the General Court, it is by no means cer-
tain that this act suspended or superseded the authority-
conferred on the governor by the charter. This act was
so loosely drawn that when a special session under it was
ordered to be held at York, Feb. 22, 1749, | the only two
justices who were able to reach the place at the appointed
time found not only that they had no authority to adjourn
the court until a quorum should arrive, but that the act
had given to the court thus appointed a new name, by
which, it might be claimed, a new tribunal had been estab-
lished independent of the Superior Court ; in which case its
organization was imperfect in some essential particulars. The
case for which this court was appointed was afterwards tried
at a stated term of the Superior Court in the same county, §
and the law was amended by the passage of the later " Act
for holding a Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize
and General Goal Delivery at other times than those already
appointed by law." ||
I conclude my reference to the provincial statutes upon this
subject by adding that the court of oyer and terminer author-
ized to be appointed by the " Act against Jesuits and Popish
Priests"^ affords only additional proof of what I have herein
* In some counties, the sessions of the Superior Court were, for years,
entirely discontinued ; and tlie stated terms in most counties were held but once
or twice a vear.
t 1713-14, chap. 5.
J Mass. Archives, vols. xxxi. p. 690, and xxxii. p. 1.
§ The King v. Obadiah Albee, York, June T. 1750. Benjamin Le Dite was
tried in the same county as accessory, June, 1751. — Records of S. C. J., 1750-
61, fols. 31 and 237.
II Province Laws, 1750-51, chap. 13.
1 Ibid., 1700-1701, chap. 1.
39
306 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuxE,
maintained. The offence denounced by that act was created
by it, and was therefore cognizable by commissioners of oyer
and terminer, by virtue of this statute onl}^ and not at com-
mon law. Here, moreover, it appears that the autliority to
issue the commission was again given in general terms, and the
details were left to the executive to arrange, in analogy to the
regular precedents. And I will add, further, that, at the time
of the enactment of the statute for passing of sheriffs' accounts,
to which I have referred in another connection,* and which
was a standing law of the province for regulating the estreats
of all fines, &c., in any " special court of oyer and terminer,"
&c., only two such courts had been appointed — one of which
was the tribunal for trying the persons accused of witchcraft —
and that the commissions, in both instances, were issued by
the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the coun-
cil, and without the concurrence of the legislature.
Upon the familiar facts which I have thus minutely re-
viewed, and for the reasons I have given, I think it must be
conceded that the authority of Phips to appoint the commis-
sion, in 1692, which has such a deplorable record, is fully
vindicated by the express language of the charter, by the
invariable practice of the executive department of the prov-
ince, and by the constant connivance of the legislature, —
which, in an act that continued in force as late as 1775, f
established the secretary's fee for writing and sealing such
commissions at 6s. 8c?. each. The court thus constituted had,
by the common law, all necessary power to issue venires for
grand and petit jurors — to be drawn and returned according
to the colonial laws then in force ; to proceed to inquire, hear
and determine, according to the precept of the commission ; to
compel tlie attendance of witnesses, and to administer the
necessary oaths to them and to the jurors and officers of the
court ; to take testimony ; to ascertain and decree forfeitures
and to impose fines and amercements ; and, finally, to pass
sentence of death.
There remain, therefore, for consideration only two ques-
tions : first, were the persons appointed, legally eligible? and,
second, did the exigency, according to established rules, jus-
tify the issuing of a special commission ?
Happily we are freed from all doubt as to the qualifications
of the judges. By an inspection of the records of the execu-
tive council, it appears that tliey were all members of that
board, and that besides the evidence of superior fitness mani-
* See note | p. 296, ante. t Province Laws, 1772-73, chap. 42.
1883.] WITCH-TKIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 307
fest in their holding this high position, to which they were
called by royal favor, the name of each of them had, previous
to their appointment npon this tribunal, been ordered to be
inserted in all commissions of the peace, as a justice of the
peace and of the quorum in his own county.*
As to the urgency of the occasion which, it was claimed,
demanded this exercise of executive authority, I submit that
charity and common sense alike require that the action of the
governor and his advisers should be judged by contemporary
standards, and not according to the high scale of modern
science, and the fine humanit}^ of modern dealings with crime ;
and, further, that an error of discretion, however gross, if the
mistaken action did not transcend the limits of the agent's
authority, cannot invalidate the act.
The determining of the existence of the emergency for a
special commission of oyer and terminer, it must be admitted,
was the exclusive province of the executive at that time, and
not ours of to-day ; and, assuming that the act was done in
good faith, the actors are not amenable to posterity for any
fault more censurable than an error of judgment. But did
they err in judgment ? I think not. Our fathers believed
the Sacred Scriptures, literally ; and the human statutes
against witchcraft were, according to their belief, specially
and peculiarly reinforced by the divine command, " Thou
shalt not suffer a witch to live." All the old lawyers had
placed this "horrible and detestable" crime next after treason,
and at the head of the list of felonies. Here, in 1692, the
clamor against alleged witches, which even the reverend
clergy were active in fomenting, was loud and pervading.
The jails were overflowing with the accused, and with the
witnesses against them, — some of whom had been incarcerated
for months, — and new members of the diabolical confederacy
were daily being discovered.
The charter did not require that a general court should be
held the first year,t and, until it was convened, there could
be no establishment of regular judicatories. No adequate pro-
vision was made by law for reimbursing the marshals and
jail-keepers their expenses in supporting poor prisoners in
their custod}^ ; and the charge of maintaining those who
belonged to families not indigent was ruinous to their
estates, and burdensome in the extreme to their friends and
relatives who were called upon to visit them in prison — often
* Vol. ii. p. 175.
t Hutchinson's Hist. Mass. Bay, 1st ed., ii. pp. 14, 15.
308 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuXE,
remote from their homes — and to advance the means of min-
istering to their wants. It was not likely that any legislative
provision would be made before the approach of winter, and
it seemed probable that no place of confinement could be
found sufficient to contain the multitude that would be held
for trial by that time.* The offence being fully recognized by
the law, and the charges legally and formally made, with what
fairness can it be averred that under such circumstances the
appointing of a special commission, to release the prisoners,
by acquittal or conviction, was hasty and ill-advised ? Speak-
ing from the standpoint of 1692, I think I am not rash in
venturing the opinion that the authorities were more properly
chargeable with hesitancy and delay than with precipitation ;
and that if, between the date of the charter and the assem-
bling of the general court, there was no law against felony,
and no possible tribunal for redressing public wrongs, the
good people of this comparatively enlightened province Avere
in a condition of anarcliy as unfortunate as the assertion of
its ever having existed is preposterous. Sucli a state of affairs
is inconceivable in any communit}' of Englishmen outside of
bedlam.
T think it will be difficult, upon the most minute and thor-
ough examination of this subject, to discover that I have
omitted any fact that may furnish sufficient grounds for the
doubt which Hutchinson started. I say started, for it is
remarkable that neither Oldmixon, Douglass, Neal, Burke,
nor Chalmers gives any hint that the special court at Salem
was irregular, — and Chalmers, certainly, if the court had not
been legally constituted, would not have failed to animadvert
upon the gross blunder of Phips and his advisers.
I trust I do not offend when I say, what I hope to be able
to show conclusively on some other occasion, that Hutchin-
son, who was not altogether free from the imperfection to
which the most careful are liable, of sometimes misrepresent-
ing facts, was, also, astute in the discovery of legal novelties
that will not stand the test of critical examination. Though
not regularly bred to the law, his reading of legal authorities
was extensive and critical, but his perceptions were, if sharp,
too narrow. He misstated the laws of the colony, both in his
* " May 27 [June 6, N. S.j, 1692. Upon consideration that there are many
Criminal Offenders now in Custody, some whereof iiave lyen long & many in-
conveniences attending the thronging of the Goals at this hot season of the
year ; there being no .Judicatories or Courts of Justice yet Establisheil." — Pre-
amble to the order for the Court of Oyer and Terminer: Executive Records of
the Council, vol. ii. p. 176.
1883.] WITCH-TEIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 309
history and as a public officer, when he had no excuse for
error ; and, towards the end of his official career, while he
was steadfast in liis intention to support the prerogative at
all hazards, he was, in his disputes with the popular party,
and in the opinions which he officially expressed, oftener
wrong than right on matters of law. If he really enter-
tained the doubt which, from the importance it derives
through his mention of it, has been fostered and strength-
ened until it has ripened into assurance, he was evidently
mistaken. It is more likely, however, that the passage in his
history, upon which a modern judgment has been founded
disparaging the able men to whose management the govern-
ment of the province was, at first, confided, was prompted by
his recollection of some of those subtile criticisms to which
the clauses in the charter relating to the establishment of
courts and the appointment of judges were subjected, in the
disputes that were renewed upon the choice of a successor
to Attorney-General Overing, during the period with which
the second volume of his history closes. That controversy
was carried on with great zeal and acuteness, not to say
acrimony, and doubtless left a lasting impression.*
I close with some reflections suggested by the solemn trag-
edy of 1692, and the comments and censures of those who
have written upon this instructive pas.sage in our annals. I
cannot conceive why men should ever willingly misrepresent,
suppress, or forget any of the incidents of an event so impor-
tant. History, if it is, as is said, philosophy teaching by
examples, needs to have its practical expositions freed from
all error, and clear as noonday even to their remotest and
minutest details. Otherwise the lesson may be profitless ;
for the slightest departure from truth in one particular may
open wide an inevitable channel of error. And it is neither
philosophical nor profitable, it seems to me, to be sedulously
searching for some individual or class upon whom to fasten
the responsibility for the errors and wrong-doings of a whole
people. Lawyers and laymen, as well as clergymen, were
equally under the influence of the superstitious terrors of that
day of darkness and delusion. This common responsibility of
* Tliere can be little doubt tliat tbe views wliicli Pownall expressed in his
"Administration of the Colonies" (p. 72, et serj.) were imbibed throutih his in-
terest in these discussions. He says (p. 75) that it is "a maxim universally
maintained by the colonists, that no court can be erected but by act of legisla-
ture"; but the context clearly shows that the courts here intended are fixed and
established judicatories, and that he had no reference to commissions of oyer
and terminer.
310 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
all classes of the community is not, however, to be equally
apportioned ; for the educated men who directed the public
mind, controlled public affairs, established the courts, and
administered the Uiws, made, by accepting their high posts, a
virtual profession of superior qualifications for instructing
and governing, and they are, therefore, justly held to stricter
accountability and to a larger share of blame. There were,
indeed, a few that were not deluded ; but those who were
thus happily distinguished from the mass were not confined
to any particular rank or calling.
Besides the important aid which the details of this sad
story afford in the investigation of those obscure laws of
psychology which science is just beginning to undei'stand,
the chief lesson that the story teaches, as I api^rehend, is not
that one class of society is less to be trusted than another,
but that superstition should neither be sanctioned by the law,
nor permitted by legal authority to take the least aggressive
action against any individual. This experience of our fathers
teaches us that the legitimate province of government is full
large when confined to the practical affairs of real life, and
that the functions of the magistracy can never be properly
directed against evils which only affect the moral and s^^irit-
ual welfare of individuals, or which are purely imaginary and
subjective.
The tiagedy of 1692 was the last exhibition of the kind
possible in Massachusetts ; and in this we were happier than
most, if not all, other Christian communities. Out of that
dark and terrible ordeal we emerged into a new existence.
From the year 1692 dates the rise of a healthy scepticism on
the sul)ject of demonology, and the decline of the prestige of
the clergy who habitually denounced those that dared to
doubt its reality. Thenceforth men began to indulge less
exclusively in the contemplation of the supernatural, and to
turn their attention more and more to the practical affairs of
life. Yet such was the persistency of the ideas which had
dominated the human mind for centuries, that, whatever
speculations of incredulity even the educated classes may
have favorably entertained in private, few dared openly to
express their utter disbelief in demonology for more than
a century later. Our charity for the mistakes of our ances-
tors should be greatly increased by the reflection that though,
fortunately, our statute books and court records have not
been blemished by acts of persecution touching the recent
endemic of spiritualism, we of this generation have, in the
spread of that infatuation, had ample opportunity to see
1883.] WITCH-TRIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 311
repeated, and to observe the contagion of, the " phenomena "
of witchcraft, dissociated from diabolism and so disguised as
to fascinate and convince minds which we had supposed were
unsusceptible of such irrational influences, and proof against
deception.
APPENDIX.
A.
The first council summoned by Andros ordered proclamation to be
made continuing all civil officers, and declaring that " the laws not
repugnant to the laws of England in the several colonies should be
obsei'ved during His Excellency's pleasure." This appears in a frag-
ment of the original record still remaining in the secretary's office
(also printed in Mass. Hist. Coll. 2d series, vol. viii.) although in the
copy which was transcribed for the Commonwealth from the state
papers of England the clause relating to continuing the laws is omitted.
By a subsequent proclamation (Mar. 8, 168G-7), all laws "not repuo--
nant to the laws of England, his majesty's commission for government,
and indulgence in matters of religion, nor any law or order not already
passed by the governor and council," were confirmed and continued.
Under Dudley, former civil officers were temporarily continued in their
places, the laws were revised, as if of force, and tlie judgments of the
colonial courts affirmed, on scire facias, in the newly a[)pointed tribu-
nals. — Compare executive records of the council, vol. ii. pp. 23, 34, 51,
et seq., with Mass. Archives, cx«:vi. pp. 272, 273.
The statute of 1 James I., chap. 12, was enacted before the settle-
ment of the Massachusetts Bay, and, according to the rule that Eng-
lish emigrants carry the law with them, it would have been effectual
here, if it had not been superseded by the colonial ordinance upon the
same subject, which was borrowed from the Mosaic law. Newton,
who was appointed at the organization of the court of Oyer and Termi-
ner to act as prosecuting attorney, seems to have followed the English
precedents of indictments under the act of James ; and the allegations
in the indictments drawn by him conclude " against the form of the
statute," &G., although he generally omits to describe the particular
statute, as is done in the English precedents (compare the indictments
against Bridget Bishop, et a/, with the precedent in Lambard's Eire-
narcha — ed. of 1610 — for killing a man by witchcraft) ; but Checkley
— who was chosen attorney-general June 14, 1689, although he did
not succeed Newton in the prosecution of the alleged witches until
312
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
[June,
July 26, 1692 — seems to have treated the offence as a violation of
the colony law; and his indictments conclude, "against the laws in
that case made and provided." — See Mass. Archives, cxxxv. p. 101,
and elsewhere.
Lambard, evidently, did not deem it important to furnish any form
of indictment for a capital offence under the act of James, except
where the practice of diabolical acts had caused death ; the offence
described in the only other precedent given by him — that for bewitch-
ing a horse — not being capital. 3 Inst. 46. None of the indictments
before the Special Court of Oyer and Terminer contain the allegation
of killing by witchcraft, and yet all were tried as capital offences, which,
however, they would have been, according to the form of the allega-
tions, either under the English statute, or the law of the colony.
B.
(Power of attorney to Stephen Sewall.)
Whereas we the Subscribers are Informed that His Excellency the
Governour : Honourable Council, and Generall assembly of this Prov-
ince have been pleased to hear Our Supplication and answer our
Prayer in passing an act in favour of us respecting our Reputations
and Estates ; Which we humbly and gratefully acknowledge.
And inasmuch as it would be Chargeable and Troublesome for all or
many of us to goe to Boston on this affair : — Wherefore we have and
do Authorize, and Request our Trusty Freind the Worshipfull Stephen
Sewall Esqr :
To procure us a Coppy of the said act, and to doe what may be
further proper and necessary for the reception of what is allowed us
and to take and receive the same for us and to Transact any other
Thing referring to the Premises on our Behalf that may be requisite or
Convenient. —
Essex December 1711
John Eames in behalf of
his mother Rebecca Eames
Abigail Faulkner
Samuel Preston on behalf
of his wife Sarah Preston.
Samuel Osgood on behalf
of his mother Mary Osgood
Nathaniel Dane
Joseph Wilson
Samuel Wardwell
John Wright
Charles Burroughs
John Barker
Lawrence Lacy
Abraham Foster
. eldest '""^
John Parker
Joseph Parker
John Marston
Thomas Carrier
John Frie
Mary Post
^ y* sons of
V-Mary Parker
) deceased
1883.]
WITCH-TRIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS.
313
Ebenezer Barker
Francis Johnson on behalf
of his mother, Brother &
Sister Elizabeth.
Joseph Emerson on behalf
of his wife martha Emerson
of Haverhill
Ephraim Willdes
John: Johnson in behalf of his
mother Rebecca Johnson & his
sister
William Barker sen""
Gorge Jacob on behalf of
his father who suffer''
Thorndik Procter on behalf
of his Father. John Procter
who suffered
aboues'f
Beniamin Procter son of the
John Moulton on behalf of his wife
Elizabeth the daughter : of Giles Coree
who suferd
Robert Pease on behalf of his wife
Annies King on behalf of heir mother
Doarcas hoare
Willern town
Samuel nurs
Jacob Estei
Edward Bishop. — Witchcraft Papers in Clerk's Office,
Essex, vol. ii. 64.
{Letter of Nehemiah Jewett to Stephen Seivall, with list of claims.)
Mr Sewall & Hon^d freind
S"' Respects .gmised yo''s I receiued p yo"" Son bearing date y*' 27""
of this Instant mo'!" & according to yo'' desire I haue drawne out y''
names & Sums (of y" Respectiue Sufferers) y' y^ petitioiie''s
prayd for.
If of those executed
Elizabeth How ; Mary & Abigail her daughters prayd for
Georg Jacobs. Georg Jacobs his son prayd ^ : . . .
Sarah Wild. Ephraim Wild her son prayd for . . .
Mary Easty. Isaack Easty her husband pr'^ ^^ . . .
Mary Parker Joseph & Jn° Parker her Sons pr'^ ^^
M'' Georg Burroughs. Charles Burroughs his son pr'' ^
P^lizabeth Core. & Martha y" wife of Jn° Molton he pr''
Rebecca Nurse. Samuell Nurse her Son pr*^ "^ . . .
Jn° Willard. Majeret Towne his relict pr"^ ^ ...
Sarah Good. William Good her husband pr'^ '^ . . .
^lartha Carried Thomas Carriar her husband pr*^ ^
40
12
7i)
14
20
08
50
21
25
20
30
07
314
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
[JUXE,
Samuell Wardell. Executed & his wife Sarah Condemn*
Samuell Warden their Son. pr<i ^ 36.15.0
John Procter. Ju° & Thorndick his sous pr"^ ^ . . . . 150 . .
j)sons Condemned & not Executed
M" Mary Bradbury Henry & Sam! True her sons pr"^ f . 020 . .
Abigail Faulkner for her & her children pr*^ ^ . . . . 020 .0.0
Abigail Hobs. William Hobs her Father pr"? ^ 10" . . 010 . .
Ann Foster. Abraham Foster her son pr** "^ 006 .10 .
Rebeccah Eames prayes ^ 010 . .
Dorcas King alius whore pr'' "^^ 021 .13 .
Mary Post prayes %^ 008.14.0
Mary Lacy. Lawrence her husband pr* ^ 0:08 .10 .
Elizabeth Procter & il find their names amongst y" aboue
Elizabeth Johnson f condemned ^sons & no sum put to them
|)sons Imprison*^, & not Condemned petitioned for Allowances for
their Imprisoum* charges &":
Sarah Buckley & Mary Witredg for so much they pay*^ . 15-0-0
John Johnson for Rebecca his wife & daughter . . . . 6-0-4
Capt Osgoods wife Mary 5-7-4
Sarah Cole for hers 6 -10 -
Edward Bishoji petitions for 100-0-0
Jn! Barker ^# Marya Barker his daughters expences he
p*! for her 03-15-10
Rob Pease f his 13-3-0
Nath! Dane — ? his 4-13-0
Ju! Fry 1?! his 4-17-4
Joseph Wilson ^ his 4-15 - 4
Jn° Wright — ^ his 0-4-0
Mercy Woodell y" wife of Jn? Wright for hers . . . . 5-4-0
Jn'^ Barker prayes for his Br" W™ Barkers 3-11-0
Lawreuc Lasy for his daughter Mary 3-0-4
Jn^ Marston ^ his wife
Ebenezer Barker for his wife
Francis Johnson for his wife then Sarah Hawks
Francis Johnson for his mother
& for his Sister Elizabeth
2-14-0
5-7-4
5-4-0
7-12-0
3-00-0
Ips. 28. 9- 1711.
Totall 796 -18 -
besides M"' English his demaunds Left to y*^ Courts Consideration &
determination.
gr yor ]\j;ost humble servant.
Neh : Jewet — Jbid., 67.
1883.] WITCH-TRIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 315
D.
(^Report of the committee on claims of sufferers.)
Oct. 26, 1711. . . . Report of the Committee appoiuted, Relating
to the Affair of Witchcraft in the Year 1G9-2, Viz,
We whose Names are subscribed in Obedience to your Honours Act
at a Court held the last of May 1710, for our hiserting the Names of
the several Persons who were condemned for Witchcraft in the year
1692, & of the Damages they sustained by their Prosecution; Being
met at Salem, for the Ends aforesaid the 13'.'' Septem": 1710, .Upon
Examination of the Records of the several Persons condemned.
Humbly offer to your Honours the Names as follows, to be inserted
for the Reversing their Attainders ; — Elizabeth How, George Jacob,
Mary Easty, Mary Parker, M": George Burroughs, Gyles Cory & Wife,
Rebecca Nurse, John Willard, Sarah Good, Martha Carrier, Samuel
Wardel, John Procter, Sarah Wild, Mary Bradbury Abigail Falkner
Abigail Hobbs Ann Foster, Rebecca Earns, Dorcas Hoar, Mary Post,
Mary Lacy:
Aud having heard the several Demands of the Damages of the
aforesaid Persons & those in their behalf ; & upon Conference have so
moderated their respective Demands, that We doubt not but they will
be readily complied with by your Honours.
Which respective Demands are as follows
Elizabeth How, Twelve Pounds ; George Jacob, Seventy nine
Pounds; Mary Easty, Twenty Pounds ; Mary Parker, Eight Pounds,
Mf George Burroughs, Fifty Pounds, Gyles Core & Martha Core
his Wife, Twenty one Pounds ; Rebecca Nurse Twenty five Pounds,
John Willard, Twenty Pounds, Sarah Good, Thirty Pounds Martha
Carrier, Seven Pounds six shillings, Samuel Wardell & Sarah his
Wife, Thirty six Pounds fifteen shillings ; John Proctor & . . .
Proctor his Wife, One hundred «& fifty Pounds, Sarah Wilde, Four-
teen Pounds ; M''^ Mary Bradbury, Twenty Pounds ; Abigail Faulk-
ner, Twenty Pounds ; Abigail llobbs. Ten Pounds ; Ann Foster, Six
Pounds ten shillings ; Rebecca Earns, Ten Pounds ; Dorcas Hoar,
Twenty one Pounds seventeen shillings ; Mary Post Eight Pounds
fourteen shillings; Mary Lacey Eight Pounds ten shillings: — The
Whole amounting unto Five Hundred & seventy eight Pounds, &
twelve shillings. —
(Sign'd)
Jn? Appleton Thomas Noyes John Burrill Nehem ^. Jewett.
Salem, Septem^ 14. 1711.
Read & Accepted in the House of Represent^'' Signed John Burrill
Speakr
Read & Concur'd in Council ; Consented to J Dudley.
— Council Records, vol. ix, p. 134.
316
MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY.
[June,
E.
( Copy of the warrant for payment of claims.)
By His Excellency the Gouernor
Whereas ye Generall Assembly in their last Session accepted y^
report of their comitte appointed to consider of y^ Damages Sustained
by Sundry persons prosecuted for Witchcraft in y*^ year 1692 Viz'.
£ s d.
£ s. d.
To Elizabeth How
12 - 0-0
John Procter & w:
ife 150 - 0-0
George Jacobs
79-0-0
Sarah Wild
014 -0-0
Mary Eastey
20-0-0
Mary Bradbury
20-0-0
Mary Parker
08-0-0
Abigail Faulkner
20-0-0
Geoi'ge Burroughs
50-0-0
Abigail Hobbs
10 - -0
Giles corey & wife
21-0-0
Anne Foster
6 -10 -0
Rebeccah Kurse
25-0-0
Rebeccah Eames
10- 0-0
John Willard
20 - -0
Dorcas Hoar
21 -17-0
Sarah Good
30 - -0
Mary Post
8-14-0
Martha Currier
7 -0-0
Mary Lacey
8 -10 -0
^omnt^l lA/ Q T*/"! nri^ 1 1 Jir Tm+-/~i
36-15-0
OciUlUcl VV tlIUVVt/11 Of
9fiQ .1 1 .()()
309 -01 -00
309 - 1 -00
578-12-00
The whole amounting vnto Five hundred Seventy Eight poundes &
Twelue Shillings.
I doe by & with the advice & consent of Her Maj"'^' council
hereby order you to pay y*' aboue Suin of fine hundred Seuenty Eight
poundes & Twelue shillings to Stephen Sewall Esqr. who together
with y'' Gentlemen of y® Comitte that Estimated and Reported y®
Said Damages are desired & directed to distribute y*^ Same in pro-
portion as aboue to Such of y* Said persons as are Lining & to those
that legaly represent them that are dead according as y'^ law directs
for which this Shall be your Warrant —
Giuen vnder my hand at Boston
To M' Treasurer Taylor
By order of y^ Gouerno' & Council
Is'^ Addington Secr'^.
Vera copia.
the 17 day of December 1711.
J: Dudley
Witchcraft Papers, ut supra, 64.
1883.]
WITCH-TEIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS.
317
(^Receipts of claimants for compensation.)
"Whereas His Excellency the Governour & Generall Court haue
been pleased to grant to y'^ persons who were Sufferers in y" year
1692 Some considerable alowance towards restitut-on with respect to
what they Suffered m their Estates at that Sorrowfull time & haue
alsoe appointed a Comitte Viz John Appleton Esqf Thomas Noyes
Esq"; John Burrel Esq'' Nehemiah Jewett & Stephen Sewall to dis-
tribute y*-' Same to & Amongst y'' parties concern'd as will by y'^ records
& Coui-t orders May appear. Now Know yee that wee the Subscribers
herevnto being Either y*^ proper parties or Such as represent them or
haue full power & Authority fi'om them to Receiue thier parts & Shares
doe acknowledge to Haue Receiued of & from y*^ s'^ Comitte y** Sever-
all Sums Set against our respective Names in full of our parts «fe Shares
of y® money afores'^ & Sucli of vs as haue orders from some of y*^ par-
ties concerned to receiue their parts & Shares doe a vouch them to be
real & good So that for whomsoeuer wee take vpons vs to Receiue
any Such Sum wee doe obleige oursel[ues] to Indemnify y*' Said
Comitte to all Intents construcons & purposes wee Say Receiued this
iDtii Day of February Anno Dom 17|.V & in y"' Tenth year of
4 14
4 14
6 10
Abram How For Mary
& Abigail How
Ephraim Roberdes for ]
James Martha and
Sarah How children
of John How J
marke of
Abraham A Foster for
mother
marke
Abraham A Foster for
Mary Lacey by order
Samuel Wardel
Benia Putnam for Sa-
rah Good
marko of
William W Towne for
wife widow of Wil- ^6128
lard
Isaac Estey 2 9 forselfe
John Estey 2 9 for Mary Post
William Cleves 110 for M.
Carrier.
Received as on y* foregoing side.
8
10
15
30
John Ames Ten pounds
by ord'' of his mother on
file
Ephraim Wiles
Abigail Faulkner
marke of
George Geo rg Jacobs
marke of
Anne ^ An- ]
drew^s 23 i
John Foster 08 7 f
Charge 01 13 oj
John King for him-
self and Sister
Reed
marke
Christopher ^ Read
maried Eliz, Hoar
marke
Joana ^ Green
Joseph Parker
Joseph Parker
Joseph Parker
10
14
20
46
79
8
8 14
7 6
318 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
£ s. d.
Samuel Nurs for himselfe &, John Nurse & John Tarbell ")
Kebeccah Preston William Russell Martha Bowden & (-21 14
Francis Nurse j
marke
Elizizabeth p Richards alias Procter
marke
Benjam. 9£ Procter
Ebenezer Bancraft for Martha Procter
William Procter
John Procter
Thorndik Procter
In behalf of my self and Joseph Procter and Abigill Procter and
Mary Procter and my sister Elizabeth Very
marke
Sarah Munion * -^ alias Procter
marke
Elizabeth + Procter
Charles Burrough for my self and for Jeremiah Burrough and Rebekah
£ s. d.
Fowle HanahFox Elizabeth Thomas 4 2 .0 each of us — 20 10
John Appleton Rec'' for G" Burrough y*^ sume of fFore pounds & two
shill!
marke
23^ Abigail (^ Hoar ^
„arke both |- 20 4
Rebeccah \j Hoar )
"PpI-i 9 ^ marke of
1711 William X Hobbs 9 15
for his Sister Abigail Hobbs 4 2
Cha 10
10
marke
Leonard 9s^ Slue for selfe & sister Rachel — 10 ^^•
marke
Mary "2? Pittman alias Hoar
Rec'* as afores*^ „ ,
£ s. ".
for George Abbot & Hanah his wife daughter of Mary Eastey 2 9
March 4 1711 by yr written order forty nine shillings
John farnaum
March 5 Rec*^ for my selfe forty nine shillings 2 9
Jacob Esti.
s. d.
March 6 1711 Receiud for my selfe three pounds 4 & 6 for my owne
Share
marke
Received for our daughter Margaret Willard Hanah x Willard
* This word is doubtful.
1883.] WITCH-TEIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 319
Received Ap' — — — three pounds four shillings 6*^
marke
William Xj Towne
marke
Margaret /\ Towne wife of y'' S*^ W" Towne
Rec'^ for my daughter Mary Burroughs four pounds in full for her
Share
marke
,_ v-T- Hall alias
^^^^^X Burroughs
Mar. 22. Receiued for my Selfe Ten poundes
1 /y 1 1 marke of
^'t2 Mart X Hall, a^i'as Burroughs
Aprill 5, 1712. Reed of Stephen Sewall as aforesd G 9
marke
JONA [J WiLLARD.
May 1, 1712 Reed on behalfe of my wife Deborah How two pounds
seuen shilling in full
Isaac How
Reed for Benj Nurse fifty four shillings & 6'?
May 12, 1712 Samuel Nurs
Reed for my selfe y^ subscriber & for my Bro'' in Law Peter Thomas
in right of Elizabeth his wife and my Sister Ilanah fFox wife of M'
Jabez ffox & Rebecca fowles four pounds ten shillings
George Burrougs
Receiued for my Bro'' Jeremiah Burroughs & my selfe Two pounds
nue shillings ^
Charles Burrough
Newbury — May 22, 1712
Reced for & in behalfe of my wife Jane True & Mary Stanian
daughters of Mary Bradbury & for John Buss & Eliz"^ Buss Cliil-
dren of Elizabeth Buss, y^ Suih of nine poundes fifteen shillings
^ me
Henry True.
May 22"^ 1712 Reced for my Brethren & Sisters being Six of vs in
Number Children of Judah Moodey one of y" daughters of y'' aforesd
Mary Bradbury Deed, thre pounds five shill.
Caleb Moody.
May 22"^ 1712 Reed for my Sister Anne Allen & my selfe Children
of Wymond Bradbery Deed three pounds fine Shillings '^ me
Wymond Bradbdrt
320 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [JuxE,
Rece^ for my Two Brothers William Bradbury & Jacob
p ' o li- r Three pounds fiue Shillings in full
■^ me Thomas Bradbury
July 27, 1712 Reed, on y''acc° afores^ Eleuen pounds fiue Shillings, for
my ijart Reed in full ^^^^^
Samuel X Procter
Sep"^ 3"^ 1712 Receiue*^ for my Brother Joshua & my selfe 4 18
which 1 iugage to produce his receipe for & send to Sewall
Benjamin Estie
Sep. 3'^ 1712. Reced for my Sister Sarah Giles forty shillings which
I jjromise to send her receipt for
Benjamin Estie
Nou"". 28, 1712. Rec*^ for Joseph Estie & by his written order Forty
nine shillings
John Commings —
Witchcraft Pape7's, at sujjra. 65.
G.
( Copy of the wi'it in English v. Coricin, and of the return thereon.)
Essex ss.
William the third by y*^ Grace of God of England Scotland France
and Ireland Knifir defender of the faith &c.
To y* Sheriffe of our County of Essex or deputy or Con-
stable of Salem Greetinsf.
Wee Comand you to attach y'' Goods or Estate of Capt George
Corwine of Salem Mercht. to y^ value of fifteen poundes & for want
thereof you are to take y'^ body of y* said Corwine if he May be found
in your precinct & him safely keep so that you have him before Our
Justices of Our Inferior Court of Pleas to be holden at Ipswich for
Our s*^ Countey on y*^ last Tuesday of March next Ensuing Then &
There to Answere to Philip English of Salem Mercht in an action of
y® Case for that ye said Corwine did by himselfe or by others Im-
ployed by him take & driue away from or near about y*" dwelling
house of y" sd English in Salem a Certain Cow with bobb Tail, darke
couloured & fiue Swine, viz. a large Sow & four shoats y^ sd Eng-
lishes without his leaue or lycense sometime in August 1G92, and doth
yet detain y* Same though demand hath been made for them which is
1883.] WITCH-TRIALS IX MASSACHUSETTS. 321
to y" plaintiffs damage seuen pounds money as Shall then and there
apeare with damages & haue you then there this writt
Witness Bartholmew Gedney EsqJ' in Salem, This 20"" Day of Feb-
ruary lG'J5-6 & in y" Eigth yeare of Our Reigne
Steph Sewall
Cleris —
in per su ent to this war rant i haue for want of the goods seased
the bodye of the with in mention ued capteu georg Cor wing and
deliuered or committed him to natthanniel shar[) of salem y*^ gold
kepper* P"'ebruary thies 26, lG9o-G and gaue him a coppye of thies
writ.
this is a true re turn atest
John wood avell
constable
of Salem. — Files of Inferior
C. C. Pleas, Essex Co., Mar. 7, 1696.
H.
(^Record of a court of oyer and terminer 1698.)
Hereunder is given the entire record of tlie first special court of
oyer and terminer under the act against piracy and robbing upon the
sea : —
At a Court of Oyer and Terminer holden at Boston January the
Eighteenth. 1698. Annoq H R" Gidielmi Tertii nunc Anglics S^c
Decimo, pursuant to his Maj'"*^ Commission, following —
William the Third by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland,
France and Ireland, Defender of the ffaith &c —
To our Trusty and wellbloved Thomas Danforth, Wait Winthrop,
Elisha Cooke & Sam" Sewall Esq'^t
Greeting ; Whereas by Law it is provided, That all Treasons, ffelo-
nies, Roberies and Confederacies, committed in or upon the Sea, shall
be enquired, tryed, heard, determined and Judged in such Countys &
places as shall be Limited by Commission or Commissions to be
* Jail-keeper.
t The following memorandum appears in the margin of the record : —
January 7'*' 1698-9 M"'. Elisha Cooke having been last Thursday appointed
Clerk of the Court of Oyer & Terminer to I'e held the 18"' Instant had his Oath
given iiim this day in the presence of Elisha Cooke Esq'' his Father & Sam"
Sewall Justices of s"* Court —
41
322 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JuXE,
directed for the same, in like manner & form as if such Offence or
Offences had been committed or doue in or upon the Land, and after
the common course of the Laws, used for Treasons, ffelonies, Rober-
ies, Murthers and Confederacies, done and committed upon the Land.
Know yee tliat, wee have assigned you or any Three of you (whereof
either of you tlie beforenamed Thomas Danforth, and Wait Wiiithrop
wee will to be one) our Justices, for this Time to enquh'e by the Oaths
of Good and Lawful! men Inhabitants of our County of 8utfolke within
our Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New Flnglaud, and by
other ways, Meanes and Methods by which the Triitli of the INIatter
may be the better known, of all ffelonies, Roblieries and confederacies
committed in or upon the Sea by one Jacob Smith of Boston, within
our County of Suffolke afores*^ Marriner. And therefore Wee command
you That at Boston afores**, at a certain day before the Twenty third
of January next comeing, which you or three of you (whereof either
of you the before named Thomas Danforth & Wait Winthrop Wee
will to be one) shall appoint for that purpose, you diligently make
Enquiry upon the premisses, and all and Singular the premisses hear
and determine, and do and accomplish those things in forme afores*^
thereupon, which unto Justice appertaiueth to be done, according to
Law, and such Order, process, Judgm' & Execution to be used, had
done or Made to and against the beforenamed Jacob Smith so being
Indicted and found, as against Traytors, ffelons & Murderers for
Treason, ffelony Robbery, Murther or such other offences done upon
the Land, as by the Law of Our Province aforesd is accustomed,
Saving unto us, Our Amerciaments, and other things to Us thereupon
belonging. Also Wee Command you that at the place aforesaid, and
day wiiich you or Three of you as aforesd shall appoint, you cause to
become before you or three of you as aforesaid Such and so many
Good and Lawful! Men of Our County aforesaid by whome tlie Truth
of the Matter may be the better known and Enquired. In Testimony
whereof Wee have caused the publick Seal of our Province of the
Massachusetts Bay aforesd to be hereunto affixed.
Witness William Stoughton Esq'' our Lieuftenant Governour and
Commander in Cliief in and over our said province, at Boston tlie
Twenty Second day of December in the Tenth Year of our Reign
Aiiiio^ Domini. 1698.
By Order of his honour the
Lieutenant Governour W*' Stoughton —
with the advice and consent
of the Council.
Is- Addington Secry.
Sealed with the province Seal —
By Vertue of the above written Commission, the Justices appoint
Wednesday the Eighteenth of January 1698; and accordingly on said
Day the Justices did meet, the Commission being read at the opening
of the court ; The Grand Jury being legaly chosen according to the
1883.] WITCH-TRTALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 323
Tenure of the Commission were Impanneld and Sworne, whose names
were these that follow, viz'.
Nathaniell Williams Foreman —
John Wing.
James Hill.
Jose|)h Bridgham.
Bozoone Allen.
William Welsted.
John Smith.
Joshuah Hemmenway.
John Mayo.
Jacob Hewings.
John Capen
Richard E vines
Thomas Metcalf
Sam" Guild.
Thomas Swift
James Brackett.
Dependance French —
Then Proclomation was made that if any person or persons could
Inform the Justices of the s'^ Court, the Kings Attouruey General, or
the Grand Inquest of any Murtlier, Felony, Roberie or Confederacie
done and committed by one Jacob Smith, who stands bound by way of
Recognizance to appear at this Court to answer what should be ob-
jected against him the s'^ Jacob Smith on his Majesties Behalf for
committing Piracy and Robbing upon the Sea. — No one appearing to
declare any thing against the above s'^ Jacob .Smith, The Attourney-
General gave a Bill of Indictment to the Grand Jury against the
aboves"* Jacob Smith, which was as follows.
Province of the Massachcsetts Bay
In New England Soffolke ss :
At a Court of Oyer & Terminer holden in Boston in y"
County of Suffolke in the Province of the Massachusetts
Bay in New England, upon Wednesday the Eighteenth
of January In the Tenth Year of the Reign of William
the Third by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland,
France & Ireland, King Defend' of the faith &c Anno^
Dom: 1698.
The Jurors for our Sover^ Lord the King upon their Oaths do
present
That Jacob Smith of Boston in the County of Suffolke afores"^
Marriner sometime in the year of our Lord one Thousand, Six hundred
ninety Six, being in and belonging unto a Barg or Smal Ship whereof
one ffarrer was Master or Commander together with several
men more to the number of Thirty or forty (to the Jurors unknown)
324 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOIIICAL SOCIETY. [June,
upon the high Sea, upon or near the coast of East India, or Madigas-
car, u|)on the Subjects of the great Mogull, iu Amity with our Soverg
Lord King WiUiaai tiiat now is, in the peace of God then and there
being, wiih force and Arms a violent Assault did make, and them in
great feare of their Lives did putt, and them wickedly, Mallitiously,
felloniously and Piratically did Robb, and from them of their Goods
and Chatties, That is to say in money of the Coynes of Several Princes
& Nation?, Bullion and Gold to the value of two Thousand pounds, of
the Currant money of this Province numbred then and there found,
did take and carry away Against the peace of our Sov"" Lord the King
his Crowne & dignity, and the Laws & Stattutes in Such Case made
and provided
The Grand Jury went out to consider of s*^ Indictment, and Re-
turnd their Verdict thereon Ignoramus, Signed by Nathl Williams
forem : It is therefore Considered by the Court that the sd Jacob
Smith be and hereby is discharged from his Bonds, paying Charges of
prosecution. — Records of Superior Court of Judicature, 168G-1700,
p. 223.
L
(^List of commissions of oyer and terminer issued during the provincial
period.)
The following is a list of all commissions of oyer and terminer
known to have been issued under the provincial government. The
date prefixed to each entry is the date of the order in council, and
the volume and page referred to are of the executive records of the
Council.
May 27, 1G92. To enquire of hear and determine for this time,
according to the law, & custom of England, and of this their majesties'
province, all and all manner of crimes and ottences had, made, done
or perpetrated within the counties of Suffolk, Essex, Middlesex, and of
either of them : — William Stoughton, John Richards, Nathaniel
Saltonstall, Wait Winthrop, Bartholomew Gedney, Samuel Sewall,
John ITathorne, Jonathan Corwin and Peter Sergeant, commissioners ;
Stephen Sewall, clerk ; and Thomas Newton attorney for tlie crown
(July 26, he was succeeded by Anthony Checkley). — ii. p. 176.
Oct. 22, 1692. To enquire of hear and determine, for this time, all
and all manner of felonies, murders, homicides, manslaughters, and
other offences, done and perpetrated within the county of York : —
Francis Ilooke, Charles Frost, Samuel Wheelwright and Thomas
Newton, commissioners. — Ibid., p. 196.
1883.] WITCH-TRIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 325
Oct. 10, 1696. For the trial of four Iiulians accused of murder
near Ilatiield, in the county of Hampshire : — John Pynchou, Samuel
Partridge, Aaron Cooke, Joseph Uawley and Joseph Parsons, com-
missioners. — Ibid., p. 419.
Oct. 14, 1G97. For the trial of an Indian at Nantucket, accused of
murder: — John Tliacher, John Gardner, Matthew Mayhew, Stephen
Skiffe and Jonathan Sparrow, commissioners. — Ibid., p. 501.
Dec. 22, 1698. For the trial, at Boston, of Jacob Smith, for piracy
and robbing upon the sea : — Thomas Danforth, Wait Winthrop,
Elisha Cooke and Samuel Sewall (the justices of the Superior Court)
commissioners. — Ibid., p. 569. See provincial stat. 1696, chap. 4.
Nov. 23, 1703. For the trial, at Salem, of IMamoosin, an Indian
accused of murder: — John Hathorue, William Browne, Jonathan
Corwin, Benjamin Browne, and John Higginson, commissioners. —
iii. p. 494.
June 15, 1704. For the trial, at Nantucket, of an Indian, for mur-
der: — John Gardner, James Coffin, Thomas Mayhew, Benjamin Skiffe,
and William Gaj^er, commissioners. — iv. p. 30.
Nov. 8, 1707. For the trial, at Kittery, of Joseph Gunnison for
the killing of Grace Wentworth : * — Joseph Hammond, Ichabod
Plaisted, John Plaisted, William Pepperrell, John Wheelwright, John
Hill, and Lewis Bane, commissioners. — Ibid., p. 479.
Mar. 7, 1711-12. For the trial of Joseph Swaddell, commander of
the ship Lake Frigate, of London, for the murder of John Johnston,
one of his sailors : — Wait Winthrop, Samuel Sewall, John Hathorne,
Jonathan Corwin and Elisha Hutchinson, commissioners. — v. p. 526.
June 5, 1713. For the trial, at Barnstable, of two Indians for
capital offences committed in the county of Barnstable : — Nathaniel
Thomas, John Otis, James Warren and John Gorham, commissioners.
— vi. p. 44.
Dec. 3, 1718. For the trial, at Northampton, of Ovid Ruchbrock,
for counterfeiting : — Samuel Partridge, John Pynchon, Joseph Par-
sons, Samuel Porter and John Stoddard, commissioners. — vi. p. 631.
See act of 1718-19, chap. 19. •
July 8, 1742. For the trial, at Nantucket, of Plarry Jude, an
Indian, for murder: — John Cushhig, Zaccheus Mayhew, Sylvanus
Bourne and Enoch Coffin, commissioners. — x. p. 644. See act 1742-
43, chap. 9.
June 23, 1743. For the trial, at Nantucket, of Simeon Howsean
[Simon Hew], an Indian, " and any other capital offences": — John
* See The Wentworth Genealogy, vol. i. p. 238.
326 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June,
Gushing, Sylvanus Bourne, Zaccheus Maybew, Enoch Coffin and John
Otis, commissioners. — xi. p. 54. See act 1743-44, chap. 6.
Aug. 9, 1746. For the trial, at Nantucket, of Jeremy Jude, an
Indian, for murder: — John Cusliing, Sylvanus Bourne, Zaccheus
Mayhew, Enoch Coffin and John Otis, commissioners. — Ibid.^ p. 652.
See act 1746-47, chap. 7.
It was voted that the Society adjourn until next Septem-
ber, authority being reserved for the President and Secretary
to call a special meeting at any time during the vacation, if
one is deemed necessary.
1883.] SEPTEMBER MEETING. 327
SEPTEMBER MEETING, 1883.
The monthly meetings, which had been discontinued during
the summer, were resumed on Thursday, the 13th instant. In
the absence of other officers, Mr. Deane, Vice-President,
occupied the chair. In opening the meeting he congratulated
the Society that the vacation had passed without the loss of
a single name from either the resident or honorary roll of
members.
The Recording Secretary read the report of the last meet-
ing, and it was accepted.
The Librarian announced the accessions to the Library.
The Corresponding Secretary communicated a plan for the
preparation of an official history of the United States, in com-
memoration of the completion of the first century of the gov-
ernment under the Constitution. To carry out this plan, a
bill was introduced into the Senate of the United States which
provided that such a Centennial History should be published
by the government at an expense not exceeding one hundred
thousand dollars. The bill was referred to the Committee on
Education and Labor, and on March 2, 1883, they reported it
back without recommendation, but with a statement in its
support which had been read before them by Dr. Franklin B.
Hough. This gentleman now wrote to the Massachusetts
Historical Society, requesting them to take the matter into
consideration, and, if they approved, to express their approba-
tion in such terms as they might deem proper for submission
to a committee of Congress before whom the subject may
come at its next session. The papers were referred to
Messrs. Hill, Green, and Chamberlain, for their judgment and
report.
Dr. Greex called attention to a volume which had been
bought from the Savage Fund, which was entitled " Letters
from General Washington to General Lleath." It appeared
to be an original work ; but it was, in fact, a copy of the
Heath Papers, which were published in the fourth volume of
the fifth series of the Society's Collections, with a new title-
page, and engravings of Washington and Heath inserted.
The Chairman introduced the subjoined letter from the
Hon. Peleg W. Chandler : —
328 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Sept.
Brunsavick, Maine, Aug. 24, 1883.
Charles Deane, Esq., LL.D.
My dear Sir, — Your favor of the 9th iust. reached me at my
summer resideuce here when I was pressed with so many engagements
that I could not give it immediate attention. It is only this day that
I have found time to consider the subject of your note, and will now
give you in brief my impressions.
You remind me that I once wrote about the witch-trials at Salem,
and that I said, as well as Emory Washburn in his " Judicial History of
Massachusetts," that the court established by Governor Phips — the
Oyer and Terminer for the trial of the accused — was illegal. You
say that Mr. A. C Goodell read a paper at the last meeting of the
Historical Society, in which he takes the ground that Phips and his
council had full authority by the charter to issue the writ for the Oyer
and Terminer. You say that you had some question about it, which
you presented to Mr. Goodell afterwards, and to which he has replied
in some letters which you send me to read.
If it were proper, I should be tempted to plead the statute of limita-
tions for any error in a statement made by me more than forty years
ago, and which has never been questioned until recently, so far as I
know. But I suppose the legal maxim, nullum tempus occvrrit regi,
is ap})licable to all historic and literary works, and an author may at
any time be called on to defend them if living, or to suflTer in reputa-
tion if dead. .
You do not send me the paper read by Mr. Goodell to the Historical
Society, which I regret, although I gather from his letters the scope of
his ingenious argument.*
Governor Phips, in erecting a tribunal at Salem in 1G92, professed
to act under the authority of the second charter. That instrument
provides (1) for the erection of legal tribunals, and (2) for the appoint-
ment of judges and other otRcers of the courts.
The Great and General Court, it says, " shall forever have full
power and authority to erect and constitute judicatories and courts of
record or other courts . . . for the hearing, trying, and determining of
all manner of crimes, offences, pleas, processes, plaints, actions, matters,
causes, and things whatsoever, arising or happening within our said
province or territory; or between persons inhabiting or residing there,
whether the same be criminal or civil, and whether the said crimes be
capital or not capital."
It would be ditlicult to construct a sentence giving more complete
authority in the premises or more effectually excluding the conclusion
that any power in this respect was intended to be conferred upon any-
body else, unless the same were plainly expressed in the form of some
limitation or reservation.
* Mr. Goodell's argument, relating to tlie Oyer and Terminer Court of 1692,
was only briefly stated in liis ]iaper as read before tlie Society at the June meet-
ing, but was brouglit out in liis subsequent letters to jMr. Deane here referred
to. Mr. Goodell lias more fully elaborated the subject in the preceding pages.
— Eds.
1883.] LETTER FROM HON. P. W. CHANDLER. 329
Then, secondly, as to the officers of these tribunals, the charter pro-
vides that "it shall and may be lawful for the said governor, with the
advice and consent of the council, from time to time to nominate and
appoint judges, commissioners of oyer and terminer, slieriflfs, provosts,
marshals, justices of the j^eace, and other officers to our council and
courts of justice belonging." Certainly it would be hard to express
more concisely and clearly the duties of the Great and General Court
to erect tribunals of justice, civil and criminal, and of the Governor
and Council to appoint the necessary officers to carry on the maehin^y
of these courts.
Now, Governor Phips undertook to erect a tribunal called Oyer and
Terminer for the witchcraft business, and also to appoint the judges or
commissioners. To be sure, this was all done in one writ or order; but
this makes it none the less a violation of the charter, the clear intent
of which was to keep the powers and duties entirely separate of estab-
lishing courts and of appointing judges.
Mr. Goodell's discussion of the phrase "Oyer and Terminer" strikes
me as more ingenious than sound. The term has been variously used,
but in general means a class of courts of original criminal jurisdiction
of the highest sort. " In English practice, a Commission of O^er and
Terminer is a commission under the king's great seal, dii'ected to certain
persons among whom two common-law judges are usually appointed,
empowering them to hear and determine treasons, felonies, robberies,
murders, and criminal offences in general."
This the king could do in one writ or commission, hut he never gave
any such authority to the governor of Massachusetts, and none such
could be inferred. This doctrine is maintained by the ablest writers
on the subject. Hutchinson — a man of enlarged and liberal views,
thoroughly conservative but eminently fair and judicial, who wrote
about seventy years after these events, and who had been himself at
the head of the judiciary — expresses himself with characteristic cau-
tion, but leaves no doubt as to his opinion. Dr. Palfrey is very em-
phatic upon the point; and the same may be said of Emory Washburn,
who was undoubtedly more thoroughly imlnted with the spirit of
colonial legislation and more completely understood the legal history
of the Commonwealth than any man of the age. The same ground
is taken by Ilildreth, Bancroft, and notably by President Quincy in
his " History of Harvard University." It is also a significant i•^ci that
the special tribunal at Salem was swept away by an Act of the General
Court constituting a regular trilnuial of supreme jurisdiction, of which
Stoughton himself was made the chief justice and lost his temper at
an early session because he could not influence that court as he had the
previous one.
The precise phraseology of this Act I cannot give, but am quite cer-
tain that its effect was as above expressed, although I believe the
governor, who was alarmed at the proceedings of his own tribunal,
asserted that he abolished that court himself. If he had authority to
create the tribunal, how could the Great and General Court destroy
it, even indirectly ? No one will deny that the act of the Great and
42
330 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Sept.
General Court in erecting a tribunal having jurisdiction of witchcraft
and other criminal offences was authorized by the charter. But if
the governor might also create a court for the trial of " all manner
of crimes and offences " in the county of Essex, and call it " Commis-
sioners of Oyer and Terminer," it might have led to a direct conflict
of authority in a mattei- of the utmost importance. Certainly such a
power might have been so exercised as to completely nullify the au-
thority and duty of the Great and General Court "to erect and consti-
tufe judicatories and courts of record and other courts" for the trial of
'• all manner of crimes, offences, pleas, processes, plaints, actions, mat-
ters, causes, and things whatsoever." The charter, as it seems to me,
is liable to no such criticism.
In regard to these witchcraft proceedings two things ought always
to be kept in mind. First, that the people of Massachusetts were in
no way responsible for the Oyer and Terminer proceedings. The com-
missioners were set at work by a governor appointed by the king, —
a dull and narrow man who was greatly under the meanest influences,
and was especially controlled by the master spirit of evil and hate
whom he created chief justice. Secondly, this tribunal was entirely
composed of laymen ; not a lawyer Avas upon the bench. Its pro-
ceediiigs were absurd and outrageous throughout. All sensible rules of
evidence were ignored. There never weie in any community, where
the English common law was the citizen's birthright, such cruel and
wanton violations of right, such absolute denials of justice, as at
Salem in 1692. The witch-trials in England were bad enough, but
there was nothing like ours in this fatal year. The chief justice, and
chief prosecutor as well in this horrible business, was educated as a
clei'gyman. He was narrow, hard, cruel, and able. "Terrible as"
the literal " hell " in which he fully believed, he never repented ; and
while the comparatively insignificant and gentler Sewall publicly con-
fessed his fault, and during all his remaining life humbly sought
forgiveness for the part he took in this business ; while the jurors
signed and cii'culated a humble and solemn declaration of regret lor the
part they h;;d borne in these trials ; and while the government of the
province felt, with the people, that the anger of a just God was upon
them, and a proclamation was issued for a fast on the 14th of January,
1796, — Stoughton braved it out to the last. Earnest men have some-
times had a certain satisfaction in the feeling, that, if the future sul-
phurous state in which he believed does exist, he has found it, and is
more comfortable there than he would be anywhere else in the universe
of a just and merciful God.
The portrait of this man adorns the walls of the iTniversity, and one
of the most conspicuous halls is called after his name. Is it the only
instance in which it would be well to hang out a sign with the signifi-
cant words, — Pkcunia non olkt?
I am, my dear Sir,
Faithfully yours,
P. W. Chandler.
1883.] REMARKS BY MR. A. C. GOODELL. 331
After the reading of tliis letter, Mr. Goodell, having been
called upon, remarked that he was not unconscious of his
temerity — if he might describe it by so strong a word — in
venturing to question the opinion which had been so authori-
tatively and unanimously given by those who are recognized
as the best authorities upon the question of the legality of the
Court of Oyer and Terminer of 1692.
The letter of the distinguished lawyer which has just been
read contains all the argument that has been offered in sup-
port of the pie vailing view ; and yet it leaves untouched
several important points which seem conclusive against that
opinion. For instance, to begin with the last objection, that
if, by the charter, the Court of O^'er and Terminer could be
estaljlished by the governor with the advice of the council
and be abolished by the General Court, there was an irrecon-
cilable conflict of functions in two of the departments of
government. This difficulty, however, is entirely removed,
when we remember that in England commissions of oyer and
terminer are suspended or superseded whenever the regular
assizes are held within the same county, and that, by analogy,
the sessions of the Superior Court of Judicature, Court of
Assize and General Gaol Delivery, here, would undoubtedly
have the same effect, since the act establishing that court con-
ferred upon it all the authority of the King's Bench in Eng-
land. Mr. Goodell called attention to the fact that justices
of the peace were appointed by the governor with the advice
of the council, without the co-operation of the legislature ;
and yet these magistrates had high judicial powei's, either
singly or in their sessions, and their tribunals were among the
most ancient courts of record. Now, if the concurrence of
the legislature was necessary to give these magistrates judi-
cial powers, their commissions alone were mere blanks, and
their offices only a name, which cannot for a moment be
supposed.
Mr. Goodell concluded by saying that he knew of no reason
why commissions of oyer and terminer might not have been
issued at any time during the provincial period ; that they
were, in fact, issued as late as 1746, and that the legislature
never interfered or co-operated except when it was necessary
to give the commissioners jurisdiction over offences not cog-
nizable by them at the common law, or by the letter of the
charter; and that even in these instances the act of the legis-
lature was a mere fiat to the executive, to proceed in the
exti'aordinary emergency provided for as in tlie case of an
ordinary and regular proceeding. He asked how the fiat of
332 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [Sept.
the legislature could add any force to the express authority
of the charter? or how the General Court, if it had the exclu-
sive power claimed for it, could in any emergency delegate to
the governor and council its constitutional authority, without
an infraction of the charter?
These and other considerations, as would appear in the
report of his remarks at the June meeting, obliged him to
declare that he was not convinced that the court was illegal;
but on the contrary he found no difficulty either in the lan-
guage of the charter or in the principles of the common law
and practice in England, from time immemorial, in coming to
the opposite conclusion.
Dr. Everett stated his belief that Mr. Goodell's view was
correct, and that Dr. Palfrey and others had been misled by
their warm attachment to republican and American ideas,
which led them to see tyrannical encroachments of the execu-
tive in acts that were harmless and legitimate. The cliarter
intended, doubtless, to produce a kind of reflection of the
English Constitution, — the General Court reflecting Parlia-
ment, and the Governor and Council representing the King
in Council. Now in the reign of William and Mary the
King in Council was expected, as the executive, the gov-
ernment, to do many things that our theories reject as en-
croaching on popular rights. A king was considered derelict
to duty and faineant, who did not really govern. The
appointment of special commissioners of oyer and terminer
and gaol delivery, when a sudden appearance of high crimes
called for special and prompt trials, was a regular and recog-
nized part of the executive authority. Such an extraordinary
outbreak of crime was held to have taken place at Salem ; it
would have been an ordinary constitutional proceeding in
England to send down a special commission, by the king's
appointment, to hear and determine, and the idea of calling
on Parliament to appoint such a court would have been
unheard of. Such special commissions have been in use in
very recent times, as at the Bristol Riots in 1831, and Erost's
trial for high treason in 18J:0. They are usually, but not
necessarily, composed of the judges of the land.
It is a well-known theory of English law that the judges
are the king's judges, and dispense justice in his name, as if
he himself were in court ; and even if the charter gave co-
ordinate power to the General Court to appoint the regular
tribunals, no publicist of William and Mary's reign could
imagine it took away from the king — or his deputy — his
1883. J IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGE PICKERING. 333
undoubted prerogative of appointing special commissions of
oyer and terminer when needed.
The witchcraft trials of 1692 were no liarsher or more
unfair to the accused than the state trials of Charles II. and
James II. 's reign. Chief Justice Holt, the first who broke
down the delusion of witchcraft by dicta from the bench, was
the first to introduce a milder and fairer method in all trials.
No one need be troubled about accepting the bounty of
Governor Stoughton in the shape of a building, as Old
Stoughton Hall was destroyed long ago, and the present build-
ing was raised by that most objectionable method, a lottery.
Mr. Hill said that, at Mr. Deane's reciuest, he had exam-
ined the papers referred to in Mr. Chandler's letter, and,
while not prepared to say that the commission was legal, the
question seemed to him to be a more doubtful one than Mr.
Chandler regarded it, and that, in the light of English prece-
dents, a strong argument could be made in defence of the
legality of Governor Phips's action.
Mr. A, B. Ellis presented two photographs of John Cot-
ton's pulpit in St. Botolph's Church in Boston, Lincolnshire,
England.
Dr. Peabody read the following paper : —
In 1828 I first became a resident of Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, which was virtually my home till 1860, though
my residence was intermittent from 1830 to 1833. Among
the names with which I early became familiar was that of
Hon. John Pickering, who was removed by impeachment
from the office of District Judge of the United States Court
early in Jefferson's administration, and whose death shortly
followed his removal. I was intimate with not a few of his
coevals and with ver}' many of his contemporaries. He was
always spoken of as not only the foremost man of his State
and time as a lawyer and a jurist, but as pre-eminent in all
qualities a[)pertaining to a good citizen and a Christian gen-
tleman. I can say with confidence that there was no name
of his time held in equal honor with his in the memory of the
community. I became acquainted with all of his then sur-
viving children, and with three of them was on terms of close
intimacy during the residue of their lives. I heard from them
many details of their father's domestic habits and character,
indicating a rare " beauty of holiness" in his home relations
and intercourse. His successor was living, during the early
part of my residence in Portsmouth, in a state of senile
334 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Sept.
dementia, utterly incapable of duty, yet receiving his full
salary. What his merits were I need not say ; but he
still rested under the stigma and obloquy incurred by his
agency in Judge Pickering's removal, and the feehng was
much more general than the beUef that be Was suffering a
special retribution for the wrong by which he had come into
office. ThTB truth was, that Judge Pickering had become
insane some two or three years before his death. The fact of
his insanity was as well known and recognized in Portsmouth
as that of his existence. His family gave notice of that fact at
Washington, and supposed that such a statement was a suffi-
cient answer to the charges made against him of malfeasance
in office. Removal from office on political grounds was a new
policy, of which there had been but few instances, and none
by the process of impeachment. It was then a long way,
about twelve days' journey, from Portsmouth to Washington ;
the making a crime of insanity Avas not thought of as even
possible ; and tlie friends of the venerable victim deemed it un-
necessary to send special witnesses in a case so plain, until it
was too late to avert the sentence of the Senate. I can assert
with absolute certainty that in New Hampshire traditions
there was never any other version of the story, or an}^ dissent
from the veneration in which Judge Pickering's memor}^ was
held by men of all parties.
I was startled not long since by reading in the very ad-
mirable Life of Jefferson, by our associate, John T. Morse, Jr.,
the following statement : —
" His [Jefferson's] first experiment [in reforming the judiciary] was
certainly made in corpore vilL He sent to the Representatives a
special message concerning the shortcomings and vices of Pickering
of New Hampshire, Judge of the District Court, a worthless fellow
morally and mentally. Pickering was at once impeached hefore the
Senate hy order of the House, was found guilty and removed, the
Federal Senators doing themselves little credit by voting in favor of so
wretched a creature."
Mr. Morse was certainly justified in his version of the case
by the notice of it in Randall's Life of Jefferson, in which,
however, there are specifications of misconduct which have
no moral or judicial bearing, but are merely such indecorous
acts as betoken incipient insanity ; and it is expressly stated
that " his [Pickering's] son petitioned for a delay, on the
ground that his father had been insane for upwards of two
years, and still continued so, and that he was too feeble to
be brought to Washinsjton."
1883,] IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGE PICKERING. 335
Of the case as it actually stood, probably no contemporary
testimony can be adduced so thoroughly authentic as that
contained in the Life of William Plumer, who was in the
United States Senate at the time of Pickering's impeachment.
His diary and correspondence during the whole of his public
life were full, and minute in detail ; and his Life by his son
— as, having compared it with transcripts from the father's
papers, I am able to testify — was prepared with the most
conscientious fidelity, and, as regards public affairs, is but an
abridgment of the father's more copious narrative. This
Memoir (pp. 272-274) gives the following statement : —
" The House of Representatives had, at the previous session, voted
to impeach John Pickering, District Judge of New Hampshire, and
the case now came on for trial before the Senate. The hypochondria,
as it was called in 1794, of Judge Pickering, had in 1803 been
developed into a condition, bodily and mental, which rendered him
incompetent to the discharge of his official duties. How to get rid of
him was now the question. The Constitution knows no mode of re-
moving a judge except by ' impeachment for high crimes and mis-
demeanors.' That his mental powers were impaired or deranged, no
one doubted. The New Hampshire senators were both examined as
witnesses, and testified to the high moral worth of the Judge, so long
as he retained the use of his reason. Under these circumstances it was
with difficulty that a sufficient number of votes could be obtained to
convict him. The Federal members were all opposed to the impeach-
ment, and three of the Republicans absented themselves. The final vote
was, yeas, 19; nays, 7; and he was accordingly removed. The case
was a difficult one, in every aspect. Pickering's removal was desirable ;
but to make insanity a misdemeanor was to confound all distinctions of
law and justice, and to convert the constitutional provision of impeach-
ment for crime into an unconstitutional mode of removal from office
without crime, thus changing the tenor of judicial office from 'good
behavior' to that of the good pleasure of Congress. The success of
this impeachment furnished a new proof of the ease with which con-
stitutional provisions are made to yield to the supposed necessities of
the public service, and to the interests, often urgent, of party leaders.
In this case, it gave the administration an opportunity of rewarding
partisan services with the spoils of office. John S. Sherburne, Jona-
than Steele, Michael McCleary, and Richard Cutts Shannon were
the principal witnesses against Pickering. Sherburne was appointed
Judge; Steele, District- Attorney ; McCleary, Marshal and Shannon,
Clerk of the Court. Steele, expecting to have been Judge, refused to
accept his appointment, assigning as the reason bis agency in the
removal of Pickering."
It will be seen from this narrative that the witnesses all
received their witness-fees ; and as for Steele's magnanimity
336 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Sept.
in declining the proffered judgeship, all that can be said
is, that at that period Portsmouth was the seat of a very-
extensive foreign commerce and great business activity, that
the business of the District Court was therefore of large
amount, and that the fees of the District-Attorney must havij
been considerably in advance of the Judge's salary.
As an additional testimonial to the high position and sub-
stantial merit of Judge Pickering, I add the following notice
of him in the " Annals of Portsmouth," by Nathaniel Adams,
who was Clerk of the Superior Court of New Hampshire, or
Supreme Court, as it was subsequently called, from its es-
tablishment till his death in 1829, and who was second to
no man of his time in extent and accuracy> of historical
knowledge as to his own town and State. tJnder the year
1805, Mr. Adams writes (pp. 332-334) : —
" The Honorable John Pickering, LL.D., died on Thursday, the 13th
day of April, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. Mr. Pickering was
born in Newiugton, and was fitted for college by the Rev. Joseph
Adams, minister of that place. He was graduated at Harvard College
in 1761, and at first turned his attention to divinity, but afterwards
applied himself to the study of law. He was admitted to the bar, and
o^iened an office at Greenland, but shortly after removed to this town,
and soon distinguished himself as an advocate and counsellor. In
his early age he became a professor of religion, and was ' remarkably
exemplary in all the walks of private, social, and public life.' The
wardens and vestry of Trinity Church, in Boston, invited him to
settle there as a colleague with the Rev. Dr. Walter, but he declined
accepting the invitation ; preferring the profession of the law, in
which he was already established. He supposed it would afford him
as ample a field for the exercise of his talents, and give him as good
an opportunity of promoting the cause of justice and humanity, as he
should have in the ministry. He was candid and liberal in his prac-
tice, and faithful to his clients. He never refused to espouse the cause
of the injured, notwithstanding in many instances he had no prospect
of pecuniary reward. Always endeavoring to promote the cause of
justice, he was considered an ornament to the bar. Conscious of tlie
rectitude of his own intentions, he was slow to suspect others of being
influenced by improper motives. 'His temper was placid, his manners
gentle, his disposition kind and benevolent, his habits social. In con-
versation he was pleasant, instructive, and entertaining, and in his
expressions remarkably chaste and elegant.' Although abounding in
wit, he never indulged it to excite any unpleasant emotions in the
bosoms of his friends. He was an honorary member of the IMassachu-
setts Humane Society, and of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences ; and the Government of Dartmouth College conferred on
him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
1883.] IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGE PICKEEING. 337
"The confidence placed in him by his fellow-citizens appears by
their frequently electing him to some of the most important offices in
their power to bestow. He was a delegate from this town to the con-
vention for forming the State Constitution, which was adopted in 1783,
and was a vety influential member. The public are indebted to him'
for many important articles in that instrument.
" He was likewise a delegate to the convention of this State, which
adopted the Constitution of the United States, in 1788. His eloquence
and powers of reasoning probably had great effect in procuring its
adoption. For several years he held a seat in the legislature ot^ the
State, either as a representative of this town, a counsellor for the
county, or senator for the district. In each of these offices his only
object was to promote the public good, and his skill in jurisprudence
enabled him to discern it. After the adoption of the Federal Consti-
tution, Governor Langdon. who was elected a senator of the United
States,_ resigned his office of Chief Magistrate of the State ; Mr.
Pickering, as senior senator, presided the remainder of the year. In
1790 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Sujierior Court of Judica-
ture, which office he held until the year 1795, when he was appointed
Judge of the District Court of New Hampshire. His great leo-al
knowledge, his integrity, and eminent abilities, qualified him for these
judicial offi.-es. But alas ! the most brilliant talents are obscured
when reason is dethroned. A few years previous to his decease his
rational faculties became impaired, and mental derangement succeeded.
While laboring under this afflicting dispensation of Providence, he
was removed from office ; notwithstanding the .principles of law do
not hold a person amenable for his conduct when deprived of his
reason. ' During his last confinement he had some lucid intervals, and
at such times he invariably expressed his firm belief in the Christian
religion, the fullest confidence in a future state, and his hope of happi-
ness through the Redeemer.' "
_ Mr. Morse kiiully promises to make the needed correction
in the future editions of his book which will undoubtedly be
required; but as the readers of the first edition will probably
see no other, it seems fitting, aud is certainly due to the many
descendants of Judge Pickering, tliat the correction shotdd
be made thus early, and placed where it may be permanently
accessible.
Dr. Everett called attention to the fact that Dr. Peabody's
position about Judge Pickering's insanity and the unfairness
of his trial Avas fully substantiated in the Diary of John
Quiiicy Adams, one of the senators who sat upon the 'im-
peachment. Mr. Adams writes with regard to it: —
•• The most persevering and determined opposition is made against
hearing evidence and counsel to prove the man insane, — only from the
43
338 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Sept.
fear that if the insanity should be proved, he cannot be convicted of
Itiyli crimes and misdemeanors by acts of decisive madness. . . . Mr.
Jackson was for hearing none of these pretences of insanity, because
they might prevent us from getting rid of the man," (voh i. p. 299).
Mr. Adams proposed, in a letter to Timothy Pickering,
that the minority should refuse to ansv^^er the question oi guilty
or not guilty^ and should offer a statement of reasons for this
course, the first of which is the following : —
" Because the allegations contained in the petition of Jacob S.
Pickering, son of tlie said John Pickering, and supported by the depo-
sitions of Samuel Tenney, a member of the House of Representatives
of the United States, of Ammi Cutter, of Joshua Brackett [physicians
of eminence] , of Edward St. Loe Livermore, and of Geoige Sullivan
[two of the foremost members of the New Hampshire Bar] , and fur-
ther confirmed bv circumstances within the personal knowledge of
Simeon Olcott and William Plumer, two of us, who deposed to the same
in this court, we think there is the highest probability that the said
John Pickering was, at the time when the offences alleged in the
said articles of impeachment are stated to have been committed, and
for some time before, and ever since, has been, and still is, insane, his
mind wholly deranged, deprived of the exercise of judgment and the
faculties of reason, and as such incapable of committing a crime, and
not amenable ior his actions to any judicial tribunal,' (pp. 305,306).
Mr. Adams's closing remarks on the case are as follows: —
" On the impeachment of Mr. Pickering there are two remarks
which have impressed themselves on my mind with peculiar force, —
the subserviency of the Senate, even when acting as a Judicial Court,
to a few leading members of the House of Representatives, and the
principle assumed, though not yet openly avowed, that by the tenure of
good behavior is meant an active, continual, and unerring execution of
office. So that insanity, sickness, any trivial error of conduct in a
judge, must be construed into misdemeanors, punishable by impeach-
ment," (pp. 309, 310).
Mr. Lee desired to be excused from serving on the com-
mittee for publishing a volume of Washington's letters;* and
tlie Chairman spoke of those which are included among the
Trumbull Papers, and related the circumstances under which
these came into possession of the Society.
The Chairman also communicated the following papers from
the State Paper Office in London, relating to the early colonies
in New England.
* See vol. xviii. p. 288. — Eds.
1883.] COLONIAL STATE PAPERS. 339
State Papers, Colonial, Vol. 2, No. 32. 1623, June 26. (Conway Papers) draft.
Sec. Comoay to the Lord President of York.
Right honorable, — I am commanded by his Majesty to acquaint
your Lordship with the good judgment his Majesty makes of the
undertaking in New England and more particularly of ine plantation
intended in those parts by his servant M' Christopher Levett one of
the Council for the settling out of that plantation where he hath one
design that is generally honorable to the nation, and to the particular
County and City of York, intending to build a city and call it by the
name of York. This application of his whole design to the particular
County of York deserves a particular contribution of favour towards
this so noteable a good work. His suit is that he might have Adven-
turers to join with him to set forth fifty men with fifty others that he
intends to carry over. And that such as shall be unwilling to adven-
ture may nevertheless be moved to contribute towards the building of
a fort which he intends_to make for the preservation of those that are
to depend upon him, and to secure the plantation. His Majesty's
request therefore to your Lordship is that you will employ your indus-
try and your judicious mediation between the gentlemen of that county
and M"' Levett. And by all fair persuasions to win from the country
some assistance upon such conditions, as may be just and suitable with
his reputation ; which favour his Majesty will acknowledge as done at
his request. And I am glad of this opportunity to do this gentleman
a good office, and to present ray service to your Lordship with that
affection and respect which becomes
Your Lordship's humble servant
Edw. Conway.
Greenwich, 26 June, 1623.
(Indorsed) June 26, 1623.
Lord President of York.
State Papers, Colonial, Vol. 4. Feb. 11, 1628. (Sign Manual, Vol. V. Car. I., No. 1.)
Charles R.
Charles by the grace of God King of England, Scotland, France and
Ireland defender of the faith &c.
To all to whom these presents shall come Greeting :
Whereas we have been informed that in respect of the differences
between us and the Kings of Spain and France, divers of our loving
subjects as well such as are adventurers in the plantation of New Kng-
land, in America, as such as are well inclined to become adventurers
there, are so much deterred and discouraged both from proceeding with
what is begun and what is by them intended, that except some special
care be now taken, and some present means raised for the securing of
the fishing there, and tlie safety of those coasts from foreign enemies,
they which have already adventured in that plantation are likely to
340 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Sept.
withdraw their estates and people from time to time and those that
happily may desire to adventure themselves and fortunes in the same
are by this means altogether discouraged and disabled to proceed in
their intention. And whereas our many urgent occasions do at this
present so far engage us for the necessary defence of these our realms
and dominions as we cannot in due time give any assistance, or provide
for the securing of those remote parts with such succour and relief as
may prove requisite in a case of that importance, wiiereby that planta-
tion so happily begun and likely to prove so advantHgeous and profit-
able to us and our subjects in regard of tlie many commodities and
merchandize thence to be had, and the store of timber there growing,
very necessary for the provision of shipping for the defence of our
kingdoms, is likely to be utterly lost and abandoned to the dishonour
of us and our nation and the advantage and encouragement of our
enemies. And whereas we have been informed that our well beloved
subject Captain Christopher Levett, being one of the Council for the
said plantation, and well knowing the said country and the harbours
of the same, and the strength and disposition of the Indians inhabiting
in that country, hath undertaken and offered to add unto his former
adventure there all his estate, and to go in person thither, and by God's
assistance either to secure the planters from enemies, keep the posses-
sion of the said country on our behalf and secure the fishing for our
English ships or else to expose his life and means to the uttermost peril
in that service, upon which his generous and free offer we have thought
fit, by the advice of our privy Council, and appointed him to be gov-
ernor for us in those parts. And because the charge in preparing, fur-
nishing and setting forth of ships for the service at the first will be very
great so as without the help and assistance of others (well wishers of
those plantations) these designs cannot be so well accomplished as we
desire ; now know ye that we out of the love and affection which we
bear to works of this nature and especially for the propagation of the
true religion which by this means may be effected by converting those
ignorant people to Christianity, have thought fit by the advice of our
Privy Council to commend this so pious a work to the consideration
and assistance of all our loving and well disposed subjects, not doubting
but they (well weighing the necessity of this work and considering the
present troubles of these times) will be ready and willing to yield such
assistance to the same by their voluntary contribution, towards the
effecting thereof, as may in some measure help to defray the present
charge now to be dispended for tlie accomplishing thereof for the
honour and safety of this kingdom and the upholding of the said
plantation ;
AVherefore our will and pleasure is and we do by these presents will
require and command all and singular Archbishops, Bishops, Arch-
deacons and Deans, within their several dioceses and jurisdictions, that
forthwith upon sight of these our letters patents they command and
cause the same or the true brief thereof to be read and published in all
the several parish churches of and within their several dioceses pre-
cincts and jurisdictions, and that the churchwardens of every several
1883.] COLONIAL STATE PAPERS. 341
parish shall gather and collect all such sum and sums of money as shall
be freely and voluntarily given and contributed to the purposes afore-
said, and the same being gathered and collected, forthwith to pay and
deliver over unto the said Captain Christopher Levett or to such person
or persons as shall be by him in vrriting under his hand and seal
thereunto authorised and appointed, whom we do think most fit in
regard of his said employment to be trusted with the disposing of the
same. In witness whereof we have caused these our letters to be made
patents for the space of one whole year next ensueing the date of these
presents to endure. Witness &c.
May it please your most excellent Majesty :
This containeth your Majesty's grant for a general and free contri-
bution to be collected of such of your Majesty's subjects as shall be
thereunto willing for the maintenance of the plantation of New England,
and to be jiaid to Captain Christopher Levett whom your Majesty is
pleased to trust therewith in respect of your Majesty's resolution to
appoint him governor there.
And is done by order from the Council Board signified by S'' Wil-
liam Beecher.
R. Heath.
Ex per K. Heath.
(Indorsed) February 1627
Exp' apud Westm'' undecinio die
Februarij, Anno 11. li. Oaroli tercio
J. Woodward
Dep^ Maij
A new serial number of the Proceedings was laid tipon the
table by the Recording Secretary at this meeting.
342 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Oct.
OCTOBER MEETING, 1883.
The stated meeting was held at the rooms of the Society
on Thursday, the 11th instant ; the President, tlie Hun.
Robert C. Winthrop, in the chair.
The Recording Secretary read his report of the hxst meet-
ing, which was approved.
The Librarian presented the list of gifts to the Library
during the preceding month.
The President then made the following remarks : —
A succession of engagements and absences from home,
Gentlemen, has deprived me of all opportunity of preparing
any formal communication for this meeting, and I mast be
pardoned for the most cursory introduction of some facts,
papers, and volumes which might merit more deliberate atten-
tion. One word, in the tirst place, on longevity. The public
attention seems often called of late to the great age which
has been attained by individuals more or less distinguished.
A dinner was given on the 22d of September to Hon. Marshall
P. Wilder, the worthy President of the Historic, Genealogical
Society, in honor of his eighty-fifth birthday; and the eighty-
third birthday of Bancroft, the Historian, was fitly remem-
bered on the 3d of this month. Meantime, Daniel Simpson,
the veteran drummer, whose beat was familiar to me almost
from my earliest childhood, daring the last war with Enghind,
was the subject of complimentary visits on the 29th of Sep-
tember, on his ninety-third birthday.
But I have just returned from the Triennial Convention of
the Episcopal Church, where a portion of the opening services
were read by the presiding Bishop, Benjamin B. Smith, D.D.,
wlio had been al)le to go on from New York to Philadelphia,
to take part in this Convention, in his ninetieth year.
All these are well-authenticated cases of advanced age
combined with activity and vigor. But when I was at
Lenox last month, I drove over to Lebanon, and saw, at the
Shaker settlement, a venerable woman, bearing the name of
"• Sister Polly," who walked to the door with very little aid,
who purported to have readied her one hundred and seventli
year, and who looked as if she might last many years more.
The Shaker records are said to contain ample evidence of her
having been brought there by her parents when she was five
1883.] LETTER FROM DANIEL WEBSTER. S43
or six years old, more than a linndred years ago. I could not
altogether credit it, but those who have seen the Westminster
Abbey gravestone on which it is recorded that Thomas Parr
lived to the age of one hundred and fifty-two, will not easily
be staggered by a woman claiming to be only one hundred
and seven.
I may mention that during my recent absence in Pennsyl-
vania I attended service at the old church at Radnor, called
St. David's, which was built one hundred and seventy years
ago, and on which Longfellow wrote some of his charming
lines. In the churchyard I saw the little monument to
Anthony Wayne, — "Mad Anthony," as he was called, the
hero of Stony Point, on the Hudson, in 1779, who was present
at Yorktown, who served in the Pennsylvania Convention
which ratified the Constitution of the United States, and who
died^, as commander-in-chief of the United States army, in
1796. His grandfather Anthony, who commanded a squadron
of dragoons under William of' Orange, at the battle of the
Boyne, and who came over to Pennsylvania in 1722, was also
buried in the same old Welsh village churchyard, in 1736.
I pass now to one or two interesting papers, which have
been communicated to me for the Society's archives. Here is
a letter from Joseph P. Smith, Esq., of Philadelphia, which
will tell its own story : —
No. 23.3 South Fourth Street,
Ti T3 ^ „. _ Philadelphia, June 21, 1883.
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Boston, Mass.
Dear Sir, — The enclosed letter of Hon. Daniel Webster, written
in 1828, to Robert Lewis (the nephew, and for many years the private
secretary of General Wasliington), relative to the medals sent by Gen-
eral Lafayette to the former general, was presented to me some time
since by the only surviving daughter of Mr. Lewis.
As I have understood that these medals are now in the possession
of the Massachusetts Historic:d Society, of which you are the honored
President, I thought that this letter might prove interesting to them,
and beg leave, therefore, to tender it for their acceptance, to%e depos-
ited among the archives of the Society.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Joseph P. Smith.
The letter from Mr. Webster is as follows : —
Washington, April 9, 1828.
Sir, — You have done me a great fix vor, which I beg leave grate-
fully to acknowledge, by your letter of the 7th instant, respecting the
344 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OcT.
medals which belonged to General "Washington. So authentic an
account of them, by a connection of the family and a gentleman of vour
reputation and character, will render the cabinet an interesting object
to all who venerate the memorj' of your illustrious relation.
Praying you to accept the assurances of my regard,
I am, very truly, your obliged, humble servant,
Daniel Webster.
Robert Lewis, Esq., Fredericksburg, Va.
This letter is signed by Mr. Webster, and franked b}^ Lini
as a United States Senator, but is written by another hand.
It has a heavy black seal, and bears date soon after the death
of his first wife. It may well take its [)lace in our Cabiiiet in
connection with the Washington Medals, to which it relates,
and which were given to us by the late Mr. Peter Harvey.
Here, next, is the faire part announcing the death of
our late Honorary Member, M. Edouard Rene Lefebre de
Laboulaye, sent to us by his family, of whom an account is
given in the paper, which gives also all the offices and titles
of M. Laboulaye, including his honorary membership of our
Society. The death of Laboulaye was noticed at our June
meeting, and this paper has since been duly acknowledged.
I have now a little paragraph from a Paris Correspondent
of the London " Times," dated some months ago, and sent to
me by our Corresponding Member, Mr. Henry T. Parker,
which contains an interesting statement wliich may be new to
us all : —
" M. Doniol has been reading, in instalments, before the Academy
of Moral and Political Sciences, a paper on French intervention in the
American War of Independence, according to which the Comte de
Broglie, the present duke's ancestor, aspired to the command of the
American forces, and to eventual presidency or kingship of the States.
His agent, Kalb, had at last to assure him that the scheme was im-
practicable, and would be glaringly unjust to Washington. It would
be curious to speculate on the difference it might have made, both to
American and French history, had the Broglies, originally of Italian
extraction, become American citizens or potentates."
And now I liave a communication from ottr associate. Rev.
Edward E. Hale, on the subject of a Catalogue of Papers
relating to our Country in the Archives of France, by Mr.
B. F. Stevens, of London. If theie be no ol)jection, this letter
may lie safely referred to the Council for any action they
may think wise.
1883.] STATUE OF JOHN HARVARD. 345
I come next to an interesting volume, which was given to
me to place in our Library, while at Philadelphia a few days
ago, by our Corresponding Member, Dr. Alfred Langdon-
Elwyn, " The Autobiography of Charles Biddle, Vice-Presi-
dent of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania,
1745-1821." It has, in the appendix, some notable letters in
regard to the duel between Burr and Alexander Hamilton.
Before concluding these desultory remarks, I may not omit
to sav a word of the two new volumes of the " History of the
Civil War," by our Honorary Member, the Comte de Paris.
They are the fifth and sixth in the French edition, and con-
tain the history of the war for the whole year 1863, embracing
Chancellorsville, Vicksburg, Oak Hill, Gettysburg, and other
memorable conflicts. My own copy was a personal gift from
the distinguished author; but the complete History, either in
French or English, will doubtless find a place in our Library,
and the two volumes now published will not fail to add
greatly to the reputation of their author. They exhibit most
careful research, and abound in picturesque details and felici-
tous narrative.
Dr. Ellis spoke as follows in regard to the proposed
statue of John Harvard at Cambridge : —
As was announced at the last Commencement, Harvard
College is to receive the valuable gift of a statue commemo-
rative of the honored man whose name it bears. The gift is
from a generous benefactor. General Samuel J. Bridge, an
adopted alumnus of the college. A very exacting demand is
to be made upon the genius and skill of the artist, who is to
represent in bronze the form and lineaments of a young
scholar of whose personal appearance we have no representa-
tion, relic, or even description. The work must be wholly
ideal, guided by a few suggestive hints, all of which are in
harmony with grace, delicacy, dignity, and reverential regard.
The occasion renews the sense of regret, so often realized and
expressed in scholarly circles, that a secrecy and silence as yet
unpenetrated and unvoiced cover the whole life history, in the
mother country, of him who planted learning in the New
England wilderness. We know> neither his birthtime, nor
birthplace, nor lineage, nor parentage. His name appears on
the entry book at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1628.
He was matriculated there as pensioner, — that is, one who
can pay his own charges, — July 7, 1631. The signature for
his bachelor's degree is dated 1631, and that for his master's
44
346 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Oct.
degree, 1635. There all we know of John Harvard in Eng-
land stops. He is called " Reverend " here, and was known
as a preacher. But we are in ignorance whether he had been
episcopally ordained in England, and there is no record of his
ordination, as a dissenting teacher, there or here. The artist
would know the number of his years. We cannot tell them.
All tliat we have to guide us is that, supposing him to have
been of the average age of twenty on taking his bachelor's
degree, he would have been twenty-seven at his death here.
Milton, who was born in 1608, was matriculated at the same
university, though at another college, — Christ's, — which he
entered in 1621, at the age of sixteen. But he did not reach
a degree. The statue of Harvard might well represent him
in the loose robe and hood of a master of arts. But if he
shared the Puritan scruples of his time as to " clerical habits,"
the Geneva costume would be more appropriate. We do not
know at what port of exit, in what vessel, at what date, or
with what companionship. Harvard embarked for this coun-
try, nor the time of his arrival. His presence here is first
recognized by his admission as an inliabitant of Charlestown,
Aug. 1, 1637, and as " sometimes minister of God's ^^•ord " in
that town, assisting Mr. Symmes, the pastor of Charlestown
Church, of which Harvard and his wife were admitted mem-
bers. He received grants of land from the town, and on
April 26, 1638, was on a committee " to consider of some
things tending towards a body of laws." The site of the
house which he built is known. Judge Sewall speaks of
lodging in a chamber of it, Jan. 26, 1697. It was probably
burned in the battle, June 17, 1775. Harvard died of con-
sumption, in Charlestown, Sept. 12 (o. s., Sept. 22, n. s.),
1638, only a little more than a year after the fii'st mention
of his presence in New England. By a nuncupative will, of
which there is no record or administration, he is said to
have left all his librarj^ and "half of his estate, being £800,"
to the college, which the court had two years previous voted
to establish at the " New Town," afterwards called Cam-
bridge. Such is the ambiguity of language that it seems
impossible to decide whether the whole or the half of his
estate was =£800. Nor do the accounts and receipts of the
bursars of the college satisfactorily settle the doubt. If
Harvard was possessed of £1600, it was a very large estate
for those days. Probably it was invested in England, caus-
ing delayed and fragmentary returns. I once heard it sug-
gested by a friend, sensitive about the rights of women and
wives, that Harvard could be commended only with some
1883.] STATUE OF JOHN HARVARD. , 347
qualifications for his munificence, even if shown in phinting
a college in a wilderness, inasmuch as -he left a youiig widow
in a strange land with only one half of his estate. Tliat
widow, whose maiden name was Ann Sadler, would appear
to have married, within eight months after her first hus-
band's death, without children, Rev. Thomas Allen, who
became minister of Charlestown Church in lH-i9. She
j)robal)ly became by him the mother of four daughters and
cue son before she gave place to a second wife, the widow
of General Sedgwick. Money values two and a half cen-
turies ago were five or six times those recognized by us.
Presiilent Quincy states the number of l)ooks in Harvard's
Library, from the list in the college archives, as two hun-
dred and sixty volumes, rich in the best works of classical
and other literature. Another account puts the number at
three hundred and twenty volumes. All but a single volume
were burned in the destruction of Harvard Hall, in 17G4.
Though many of John Harvard's contemporaries — who,
though he had been so short a time in the country, must
have known something of his personal history — speak
gratefully of his generous gift, not one of them has left for
us the slightest information of facts which we should be
glad to know of this youthful, delicate scholar, fading away
of consumption early in the second autumn of his exile.
In that precious relic of the press called "• New England's
First Fruits," printed in London, 1643, we read that while
the colonists in Boston were earnestly intent in their first
struggles to make provision for learning and to avert an
illiterate ministry, " it pleased God to stir up the heart of
one Mr. Harvarcl (a godly gentleman and a lover of learning
there living among us) to give the one half of his estate, it
being in all about £1700, towards the erecting of a college,
and all his library." While the descendants of large numbers
of the earliest New England colonists, whose genealogies have
an interest only for their own families, have easily traced
their localities and lineage in the mother country, all efforts —
and they have been many and earnest — spent upon the sub-
ject of my remarks have wholly failed of rewarding results.
Your predecessor in the chair, Mr. President, the keen, saga-
cious, and unwearied Mr. Savage, — our chief in the labors of
research, — failed to accomplish in the case of Harvard what
he did for so many other of our worthies. We recall the
fervor of his utterance here when he spoke, as he has pub-
lished in print, to the effect that he would give a guinea for
each word, or a hundred dollars for each of five lines, of
348 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Oct.
information about John Harvard in England. It may have
been that Harvard embarked from some port in Holland, as
did so many coming to New England when the English ports
were closed. If the name were Harward, instead of Har-
vard, we might find help in the fact tliat there is, and for
more than three centuries has been, a family of the former
name at Hayne, in the parish of Plympton, England. There is
necessarily much that is unsatisfactory in a wholly idealized
representation by art of an historical person of whose form,
features, and lineaments there are no certifications. But the
few facts which I have given as certified concerning Harvard
are certainly helpful to the artist. It is hardly to l)e expected
that any porti'ait of Harvard will be recovered, if any such
exists. A symbol eminently appropriate for adorning the
pedestal of the proposed statue, to be planted at the cloister
end of Memorial Hall in the Delta, may be found in putting
side by side the seal of Emmanuel College, and that most
felicitously chosen of all like devices, the three open books
and the Veritas of Harvard. The pupil of the one institution
was the founder of the other, transferring learning from its
foreign home to this once wilderness scene.
Mr. Deane said that he had had several interviews with
the artist, Mr. French, on the subject of the costume for the
John Harvard statue, and, from some representations of the
dress worn by Puritan clergymen of the time, which they had
examined, he thought that a definite idea of an appropriate
costume might be formed. It was understood that Harvard
was a clergyman educated at Cambridge, and, following as he
did the fortunes of other clergymen who came to Massachu-
setts in the early period, he would be likely to be a Puritan
of their stamp, — that is to say, not a Separatist. Pictui-es
represent the Puritan minister of that day as wearing a some-
what closely fitting cloak, covering perhaps a cassock, with a
broad linen collar and a skull-cap. The narrow bands and
the wig came in later. No mistake could be made in the
garment worn over the lower })art of the body.
Other remarks respecting the true representation of the
statue were made by Messrs. Lyman, T. C. Amory, A. T.
Perkins, and Haynes.
The President then proceeded substantially as follows: —
I am by no means disposed to prolong this discussion, or to
suggest any opposition to what has been proposed in honor of
John Harvard. Yet to my own mind there is a question
1883.]
STATUE OF JOHX HARVARD. 349
behind all the points which have been mooted, and that is,
how far encouragement should be given to the fabrication of
statues of persons long dead, of whom tliere is no likeness,
and of whose appearance there is no record or remembrance.
It is easy enough, perhaps, in such cases to decide on mat-
ters of costume. No great mistake, certainly, could be made
in o-iving John Harvard the collegiate or the clerical dress of
the early Puritan period. But as to his features, his limbs,
his stature, his expression, there is absolutely nothing to guide
us. It must be altogether a fancy sketch, •' a counterfeit
presentment," — to use Shakespeare's phrase, — and in more
senses of the word than one.
I confess it seems to me that such attempts to make por-
trait statues of those of whom there are not only no portraits,
but no records or recollections, are of very doubtful desira-
bleness. Such a course tends to the confusing and confound-
ing of historical truth, and leaves posterity unable to decide
wi'iat is authentic and what is mere invention. The young
Harvard has every claim to a statue ; but it is a part of his
history, and characteristic, if I may so speak, of his retiring
disposition and quiet life, that there is no description or pic-
ture of him left. It seems to me of very questionable expe-
diency to get up a fictitious likeness of him and make up a
figure according to our ideas of the man.
I know that such things have been done both in marble and
on canvas; sometimes honestly, and sometimes for purposes of
imposture. There is a fine statue of Roger Williams at the
Capitol in Washington, which is very interesting as a work of
art. It looks like a 3''oung John Bunyan. But there is not a
particle of authority for any part of it. It might be a little
awkward, to say the least, if one of these days a likeness or
verbal description of Roger Williams should be discovered,
and it should prove to be totally different from the portrait
statue which had been set up for him in the gallery of the
nation !
It may seem hard that there should be no portraits or
statues of those benefactors or illustrious men wlio may have
died long ago without leaving any likeness. But there are
other sorts of commemoration. There are tablets, monuments,
memorial windows, halls, and chapels. In this very case and
for this precise corridor, what could be better, or more effec-
tive, than a Muse of History, of classic model, holding in her
hand a tablet inscribed with the name of John Harvard, set-
ting forth his munificent bequest, distinctly stating that no
authentic likeness of his form or features has been found, but
adding that the whole University would forever portray the
350 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [OCT.
liberality and elevation of his young heart, and challenge for
his memory the undying gratitude of posterit}^ ?
Something of this kind would seem to me a thousand-fold
better than attempting to conjure up a likeness, and thus to
give a new example of a sort of mythical statues.
In regard to the precise amount of Harvard's bequest, I
may recall the fact, that among the " Addenda" at the end
of the second volume of Savage's Winthrop, in a list of the
various donations to the Colony, the Governor says as fol-
lows: "Mr. Harvard gave to the college about ^800." This
would seem to remove all doubt, if there were any.
My. Hill reported from the committee to whom the sub-
ject had been referred, that it was not expedient for the Soci-
ety to take any action in regard to the publication I)}' the
Government of an official history of the United States, which
was contemplated.
The Rev. Mr. Jenks was added to the committee for pub-
lishing a volume of the Washington Letters, and Mr. Warren
was nominated as its chairman.
The President announced that the Council had decided that
the exercises in commemoration of the four-hundredth anniver-
sary of the birth of Luther should be held in Arlington Sti'eet
Church, on Saturday, November 10, at three o'clock, and that
Dr. F. H. Hedge would deliver the oration, and Dr. Phillips
Brooks would be invited to offer prayer. Messrs. Young,
Smith, and Haynes were appointed a committee of arrange-
ments.
Dr. Green proposed that a map of Rhode Island, showing
the English and American lines during the siege of Newport
in 1778, should be reproduced \\\ facsimile for the Society;
and accordingly it was referred to the Committee on pub-
lishing the Proceedings. He also presented photographs of
eleven old maps and fortifications of Boston and its neighbor-
hood, the originals of which are in London. One of these is
taken from a map of Boston Harbor made in the year 1711,
and intended, doubtless, to represent Sir Hovenden Walker's
fleet in the summer of 1711 on its way to attack Quebec.
Another represents a large part of Eastern Massachusetts,
including portions of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and
Connecticut, and was made about the middle of the last
century. A third shows Boston audits neighborhood, with
the fortifications, during its siege, in the Revolution. There
are also views of Boston and Castle William from different
points.
1883.] REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 351
NOVEMBER MEETING, 1883.
The regular meeting was held, as usual, on Thursday, the
8th instant, at 3 o'clock p.m. ; the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop
in the chair.
The report of the last meeting by the Recording Secretary
was read and accepted.
The list of additions to the Library was submitted by the
Librarian.
The President then said : —
The month which has elapsed. Gentlemen, since our last
meeting, has been specially marked by the grand Centennial
Celebration at Newburgh, New York, commemorating the
closing events of the American Revolution. The card of
invitation, which I was compelled to decline, specified on its
face four principal events : " Washington refusing the Crown,
May 22, 1782 " ; " Washington's Reply to the Newburgh
Letters, March 15, 1783 '' ; " Washington's Proclamation of
Peace to the Army, April 18, 1783 " ; " Army disbanded by
Order of Congress, Oct. 18, 1783."
This latter date was adopted for the celebration. The
Army, as a matter of fact, was not disbanded until the 3d of
November ; but the Order of Congress, for its disbandment on
that day, bears date the 18th of October, which mio-ht fairly,
therefore, be taken for the commemoration. Brilliant ora-
tions were delivered by Senator Bayard, of Delaware, and by
our Honorary Member, i\Ir. Evarts, of Nev.^ York ; and New-
burgh was the scene of imposing displays on tlie land and on
the river, military and naval, by order of the National Govern-
ment. And there ends, as we may all be glnd, the seem-
ingly endless series of the Centennials of the Revolution.
During this same month several historical publications
have been sent to me, or have been brought to my notice, on
which I will say but a word or two. I will not put the mod-
esty of my friend, our Librarian, to the blush, by any detailed
reference to his new volume, " Groton during the Indian
Wars." But so careful and valuable a contribution to the
local history of our State may well be the subject of grateful
acknowledofment.
^ A more comprehensive volume has come to me under the
title of a " History of the American People," by Arthur
352 MASSACHUSETTS HTSTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
Gilman, M.A. The volume has been rendered attractive
by its meclianical execution, as well as by its copious illus-
trations ; and the cursory reading- of some of its pages made
me regret that I had not leisure, at present, for going through
with them all deliberately. The special points set forth in
its preface, as those on vvhicli exceptional pains have been
bestowed, are full of interest, and will richly reward the study
of the reader.
I wish I felt more at liberty to allude to a third volume,
not yet published, but of which I have had tlie privilege of a
private view, under the title of " New England Episodes,"
by our associate, C. F. Adams, Jr. I do not feel competent
to pronounce upon it critically. But I have read the largest
half of its 455 pages with great admiration, and intend to
read the rest without delay, if the author will kindly indulge
me with a little more time. It seems to me to be a very
valuable contribution to New England history, — not free,
certainly, from strictures on men and on measures with which
we may not all agree, — but abounding in evidences of care-
ful research, discriminating judgment, pungent criticism, and
powerful narrative. I cannot doubt that it will at no very
distant day find its way to the public eye, and afford as much
pleasure to others as it has to myself.
I will allude to but one other volume, and I owe special
obligations to my friend, our Corresponding Secretary, for
calling my attention to it. It is, " The Expansion of Eng-
land," in " two courses of lectures, by our Honorary Member,
John Robert Seeley, Regius Professor of Modern History in
the University of Cambridge, England, the well-known author
of " Ecee Homo." Of the two courses of lectures I have had
time as yet to read only one. But that has been enough to
impress me with the broad and masterly character of Pro-
fessor Seeley's treatment of history, and of the specific inter-
est and value of these lectures. The lecture on the " Old
Colonial System," followed immediately by that on the
" Effect of the New World on the Old," will" be found very
instructive and suggestive reading for Americans as well as
Englishmen.
'^ The United States," says he, "have solved a problem
substantially similar to that which our old colonial sj'stem
could not solve, by showing how a State may throw off a
constant stream of emigration, how from a fringe of settle-
ment on the Atlantic a whole continent as far as the Pacific
may be peopled, and yet the doubt never arise whether those
remote settlements will not soon claim their independence,
1883.] REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 353
or whether they will bear to be taxed for the benefit of the
whole."
"Perhaps," he says, "it is not till the time of the Spanish
Armada (1588) that the New World begins in any percepti-
ble degree to react upon the Old. Eut from this time forward
European affairs begin to be controlled by two great causes
at once, namely, the Reformation and the New World ; and of
these the Reformation acts with diminishing force, and the
New World has more and more influence."
But the most striking part of these lectures relates to the
mode of teaching history, of studying historj', and of writing-
history. " I am often told," he says, in conclusion of the
whole matter, " by those who, like myself, study the question
how history should be taught, ' Oh, you must before all things
make it interesting.' . . . By interesting they mean romantic,
poetical, surprising. I do not try to make history interesting
in this sense, because I have found that it cannot be done
without adulterating history and mixing it with falsehood.
. . . And therefore, when I meet a person who does not find
history interesting, it does not occur to me to alter history, —
I try to alter him."
The volume is certainly well worth the most careful perusal.
But I turn to graver topics.
While at New York, a week or ten days ago, I heard with
deep regret, as I am sure you all did, of the death of the
Hon. Gustavus Vasa Fox, who was elected a Resident
Member of this Society in December, 1877, and whose name
within the last year or two, owing to his removal from the
State, had Ijeen transferred to our Corresponding roll. Born
in Saugus, Massachusetts, on the 13th of June, 1821, he had
only reached his sixty-third year, and his physical vigor
seemed to give promise of many more years of usefulness and
honor. He was a man of great intelligence, accomplishments,
and ability. No one rendered more valuable services to the
Navy and to the whole Country, during the late civil war,
than he did, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He had been
previously employed by the Government in connection with
an attempt to provision Fort Sumter. The attempt failed ;
but President Lincoln, who had known all the circumstances
of the case, wrote to him at once, not only exonerating him from
all responsibility for the failure, but adding these unqualified
words : " For a daring and dangerous enterprise of a similar
character, you would to-day be tlie man, of all my acquaint-
ances, whom I would select." This letter of May 1, 1861,
will be found printed in our volume of Proceedings for 1878.
45
354 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [jSI^ov.
Not long after it was written, Mr. Fox was appointed by
President Lincoln Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and con-
tinued in that office until the close of the Avar. Educated as
a midshipman, and having been in the naval service for nine-
teen years, he brought experience as well as energy to the
department, and co-operated most efficiently with President
Lincoln, with Secretary Welles, with Farragut, and others,
in all that was done.
I recall with interest my drive with Secretary Welles, Cap-
tain Fox, and Governor Clifford, at the funeral of Admiral
Farragut at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, when Captain Fox
was full of striking reminiscences of the Admiral and of the
scenes in which he had been the leader, as we followed his
remains to the grave. I recall, too, the emphatic testimony
which Farragut had frequently borne, in casual conversations
with myself, to the valuable services of Fox. Nor can I for-
get the privilege which I enjoj'ed at Washington, two or three
years ago, in being among his invited guests at a brilliant
banquet which he gave on the occasion of the unveiling of a
statue of Farragut at the Capitol, when the members of the
Cabinet and all our naval celebrities were gathered around
him, and when all seemed glad of tlie opportunity of uniting
their liomage for the memory of our grand Admiral with
their tokens of respect for one who had been so prominently
associated wdth him during the war.
Captain Fox was never, I think, quite satisfied that justice
had been accorded either to himself or to the Navy for wliat
they had done during the w^ar. We all remember the earnest
protest which he made in a public letter against the omission
of all recognition of our naval heroes in the groups on the
bas-reliefs of the monument on Boston Common. A printed
copy of that protest, if I mistake not, will be found inscribed
by himself in a copy of the memorial of that monument, de-
posited in our own Library. He felt deeply and justly that
the figures of Admiral Davis and other Massachusetts Naval
Officers, if not of liimself, might well have found a place on
those bas-reliefs, instead of some of those who had been arbi-
trarily selected for this distinction.
The last services of Captain Fox as Assistant Secretary of
the Navy were in bearing to the Emperor of Russia, in 1866,
the congratulations of our Government on the Emperor's
escape from assassination. A richly illustrated volume, pub-
lished on his return, contains a brilliant account of his mission
and of the honors which were paid to Admiral Farragut and
himself by the Imperial Court of Russia.
1883.] REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 355
Since his retirement from the service of the country, Cap-
tain Fox has been mainly employed in connection with some
of our manufacturing establishments at Lowell. The ill-
health of his wife — a daughter of the late Mr. Justice
Woodbury — had compelled him to pass much of his time at
Nassau and in Washington. But wherever he was, his mind
was actively engaged in matters of science and history. As
a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club, he wrote an
elaborate paper on the " Carroll County Kearsarge Mountain"
of New Hampshire. More recently he had contributed to the
Report of the_ United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for
1880, a most instructive and exhaustive "Attempt," as it is
styled, " to solve the Problem of the first Landing-place of
Columbus in the New World," published only during the very
last year.
_ He was a man of earnest convictions, of the highest integ-
rity, and of untiring investigation and labor; and his loss, at so
early an age, cannot fail to be sincerely deplored by us all.
I would gladly conclude these introductory remarks here.
But the journals of this morning inform us, I am sorry to say,
that our Resident roll has sustained a loss which claims an
expression of our regret. Mr. Williams Latham, of Bridge-
water, died on Tuesday last, at the age, as it is stated, of
eighty years and two days. We had hardly thought him so
old a man, as he came in and went out among us so firmly
and punctually, — even, I tiiink, to our very last meetincr.
He was elected a Resident Member of our Society in May
18.39, and had thus been associated with usfor nearly a quarter
ot a century, and he had won our warm regard and respect.
His contributions to local history had been considerable ; but
1 luiist leave all notice of his life and character to others.
ihe Councd have mstructed me to submit the following
resolution : — °
Eesolved That this Society has heard with sincere regret
ot the death of our venerable associate, Williams Latham,
Esq., and that Mr. Ellis Ames be requested to prepare a
Memoir of him for our Proceedings.
Mr. Young, in behalf of the committee of arrangements
lor the celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of the
birth of Luther, made the following remarks: —
I wish that we might have been able to procure for the
approaching commemoration copies of three portraits of Lu-
■856 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
ther, which represent him at the three great epochs of hiis
life- One of these gives a likeness of him as a monk, wear-
ing a cowl, and with sliaven head. Another portrays him as
Squire George, with black beard and florid face, disguised in
the suit of a knight, — a complete contrast to the other. A
third painting is that with which we are all familiar, which
represents hiin as the grave and dignified reformer. So
different are these three portraitures, that they hardly seem
to delineate the same person.
I should be glad, also, if we could have obtained a picture
of the Augustinian cloister at Erfurt, before it was destroyed
by fire in 1872, where Friar Martin said his first mass and
underwent his severe monastic discipline, and gained that
ex[)erience and knowledge which enabled him to take up his
pen against the Papal Church. As a companion-piece to this,
I should Hke to have had a representation of the old castle of
the Wartburg, as it stands in the most romantic part of the
Thuringian forest, whither Luther was conveyed for safety,
after tlie Diet at Worms, by order of the Elector of Saxony,
and where he passed ten months in that asylum which he
called his " Patmos." No scenes which I have ever visited
have awakened more thrilling emotions than the cell in which
he did penance as a priest, and the chamber in which he
translated the New Testament, while visited by the Evil One.
Since it has been impossible to find in this country these
views, however, it may be interesting for the members of
the Society to see a copy of l^uther's famous tract, which I
brought many years ago from Germany, and which is entitled
" Against the Papacy at Rome, founded by the Devil. Wit-
tenl)erg, 1545." It is printed in Old German, and in black
letter; and on the titlepage is an extraordinary picture of the
Pope going down into the jaws of hell, while demons on all
sides are punching and jeering at him. Nothing better at-
tests the fearless, defiant spirit of the author, than that he
dared to put such a frontispiece to his treatise, which in the
plainest terms attacks and confutes the pretensions of the
Papacy. I will read one or two passages from this Avork, as I
am not aware that it has ever been translated. It begins by
speaking of the Holy Father as the "• Most Hellish Father,"
and he is uniformly addressed in it as " Your Hellishness,"
instead of " Your Holiness." After arraigning him through
several pages for denying the right of the Emperor to call a
National Council, and for assuming that he alone has au-
thority to regulate all matters relating to faith and practice,
Luther proceeds : —
1883.] LUTHER AGAINST THE POPE. 357
" Does any one now think that 1 am indulging my own pleasure iu
employing these sarcastic, choleric, caustic words against the Pope ?
Good Heavens ! I am altogether too feeble to ridicule the Pope. He
has ridiculed the world for more than six hundred years, and laughed
in his sleeve at its ruin of body and soul, welfare and honor. And he
still does not cease and cannot cease, for, as St. Peter calls him he is
; an unceasing, restless, incorrigible sinner ' {' P^Karairavarov a^aprtas,
incessatnlem, inquietum, mcorrigibiliter peccatorem. 2 Peter ii. 14)
No one could believe what an abomination the Papacy is. A Christian
must have no small capacity, to be able to comprehend it. God him-
self must ridicule it in the fire of hell ; and our Lord Christ, as St.
Paul says (2 Thessalonians ii. 8), must slay it with the breath of his
mouth, and destroy it by his glorious coming. I ridicule it with my
weak sarcasm simply for this reason, that tliose who are now livin^r
and who shall come after us may know what I think of the Pope the
accursed Anti-Christ ; and if any one will be a Christian, let him be
warned from such an abomination."
In the closing parao-raph of the book he denounces bitterly
the head ot the Church, and thus concludes : —
" But I must stop here. God willing, T will do better in another
little book. Should r die,* however, God grant that another may
make one a thousand fold more severe. For the
devilish Papacy is the greatest curse
on earth, and the worst which
all the devils with all their
power could contrive.
God help us.
Amen."
These words may seem to us violent and excessive ; but
we must bear in mind the monstrous abuses which had been
sanctioned by the Vatican ; the edict of excommunication
which It had issued against Luther ; f and that he was, as he
declared, - rough, boisterous, stormy, and altogether warlike,
born to fight innumerable devils and monsters, to remove
stumps and stones, to cut down thistles and thorns, and to
clear the wild woods."
His private correspondence with his family and friends, how-
ever, reveals another side of his character. His tender epistles
to his wife, which were the spontaneous utterance of his heart,
in the midst of his fierce conflicts, evince his gentle and affec-
* Luther rlied in tlie following year, Feb. 18, 154G.
t " Bulla Leonis X. contra errores Miirt. Lutheri, 17 Kalen. Julii MDXX
" Ad versus execrabilem Antichristi Bullam, Martinus Lutherus,' L Decem-
bris, Anno MUXX.
358 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
tionate disposition. His letter to his dear boy, beginning with
" Mercy and peace in Christ, my darling son," and describing
a delightful garden in which were a great many children who
had beautiful horses with golden bridles and silver saddles,
was written in 1530, during the proceedings of the Diet at
Augsburg, where the Confession of Faith, prepared by Me-
lanchthon and approved by Luther, was submitted by the Prot-
estant princes. A similar tender and loving spirit pervades
the charming Christmas carol which he composed for his little
Hans, and which is sung on every Christmas morning from
the dome of the Kreuzkirche in Dresden, as well as in many
Sunday-schools on both sides of the Atlantic.
Among the eminent services rendei'ed by Luther, it must
not be forgotten that he translated the entire Bible alone,
and into such pure and idiomatic speech that it has become a
classic. He wrote also several commentaries on the Scriptures,
and his complete works in German and Latin comprise in one
edition twenty-four quarto volumes, and in another more than
a hundred octavo volumes.
In one of the churches in the university town of Halle, there
is a medallion head of the Reformer, inscribed "Sanctus Doctor
M. Lutherus, Propheta Germanise." But he was not merely a
prophet ; he was a poet, scholar, theologian, preacher, states-
man, as well as a man of affairs, and he belongs not simply to
his own fatherland, but to all Protestant Christendom.
There are four great personages, connected with the past,
whose names still meet and impress the traveller everywhere
throughout Northern Germany. They are Napoleon, Fred-
erick the Great, Gustavus Adolphus, and Martin Luther. It
is a testimony to the power and greatness of the last-named,
that, distinguished as are the other three, his fame and worth
do not shrink in comparison with theirs. Which one of
them will have such universal and grateful recognition on
the four hundredth anniversary of his birthday ? The hum-
ble miner's son, who was born on St. Martin s eve, and who
became the leader of one of the most important movements
of human history, will be forever remembered as having con-
tributed more than any other individual to the civil and
religious liberty of modern times.
Dr. Clarke quoted Dr. Gottheil, the rabbi of Temple
Emanuel in New York, as saying that Luther, though not a
thorough Hebrew scholar, had an instinctive divining power
for interpreting the Old Testament.
Judge CHAMBERLAm remarked that in the Boston Public
1883.] THE GREUZE PORTRAIT OF FRANKLIN. 359
Library there was a volume of Luther with his autograph
in it.
Mr. Greenough presented a memoir of the late George
Ticknor, which he had been appointed to prepare. He then
spoke as follows in regard to the Greuze Portrait of Franklin
in the Boston Public Library : —
In the year 1872 Mr. Gardner Brewer gave to the Boston
Library a portrait of Franklin by Greuze. To the letter of
presentation was added a note from the Hon. Ciiarles Sumner,
giving such information as he possessed relative to the owner-
ship of the portrait by the grand-nephew of Mr. Oswald, the
English Commissioner who had negotiated with Franklin the
provisional articles of the 30th November, 1782, acknowledg-
ing the independence of the United States. It is claimed that
the portrait was presented by Franklin to Mr. Oswald in
token of friendship.
The first English mention in print of the picture seems to
have been prepared by Sir George Cornwall Lewis for the
"Edinburgh Review" in 1854.
No reference has yet been found, in any of Franklin's writ-
ings as yet printed, of a sitting to Greuze.
Under these conditions it is not surprising that suspicions
should have arisen as to the authenticity of any portrait.
Contemporary French history, however, throws some light
upon the question. In the very curious and comprehensive
" Memoires Secrets pour servir a I'histoire de la Republique
de lettres en France," there are three pa-isages which give
dates and facts of a portrait l)y Greuze. Under date of the
30th June, 1777 (vol. x.), is found the following statement:
" M. Greuze, an excellent painter of character heads, has
secured that of Franklin, of which the rough draught has
been shown. It exhibits much resemblance as well as
character."
A further trace of the portrait appears on the date of the
25th July. It is said that "M. Greuze lias finished a portrait
of Franklin which is to be engraved. M. Elie de Beaumont,
the advocate celebrated for his eloquence, for his acuteness,
and for a romantic spirit, has already obtained it for his collec-
tion, to be placed among other ancient and modern great men ;
and he has written the following inscription to be placed
below the picture : —
' Alfcerius orbis vindex — utriusque lumen.' "
It appears, however, that the artist temporarily retained
360 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
the portrait in his possession, for on the 30th September it
is stated that ''M. Greuze, who has not for a long time shown
anything at the Salon, has opened an exhibition at home, to
which the public are admitted. The portrait of Franklin is
especially noticeable. It is easy to see that this personage has
excited the painter's imagination. It would be difficult to
find a head with a more characteristic expression. We there
see kindliness hai)pily allied to high spirit ; an equal love of
humanity and hatred of tyranny."
The inference from these extracts would indicate the possi-
bility of at least two portraits by Greuze of Franklin, — one
alleged to be the property of M. EHe de Beaumont; the other,
an original or copy belonging to Mr. Oswald, perhaps five or
six years later.*
Mr. C. F. Adams, Jr., presented to the Society two letters
of President John Adams : —
Grosvenor Square Aug. 27, 1787.
Dear Sir, — You mention to Mrs. Adams a piece of Land adjoin-
ing to me of 56 acres at £'25 an acre: but are at a Loss, whetlier it
will be for my Interest to purchase it, as you are not informed of my
Views, &c. My View is to lay fast liold of the Town of Braintree,
and embrace it with both my arms and all my might, there to live —
there to die — there to lay my Bones — and there to plant one of my
Sons in the Profession of the Law and the Practice of Agriculture,
like his Father. To this End I wish to purchase as much land there,
as my utmost forces will allow, that I may have Farm enough to
amuse me and employ me as long as I live, that I may not rust alive.
You will therefore oblige me very much if you will purchase that
Piece of Land, and every other that adjoins upon me, which is offered
to sale, at what you shall judge an advantageous Price, especially Salt
Marsh and Wood land. I know very well, that I could employ my
little Modicum of Means more profitably — But in no way so much to
my Taste and humour — or so much for my Health and Happiness.
To the Publik I have been long enough a Slave, and to little enough
Profit. In other words, I have made more than my share of Sacri-
fices. Had I followed my own Business with as much Attention and
Industry as I have those of the Publick, I could have owned the whole
Town of Braintree at this hour, or the Value of it, for what I know,
* Since the above was written, I find three other portraits of Franklin
attributed to Greuze : —
1. One which was seen by our President, said to have been given by Frank-
lin to the famous traveller, Denon. (See Proceedings for November, 1876,
p. IGl.)
2. An oil painting in the possession of the Boston Athenjeum.
3. A fine crayon purchased by James Lawrence, Esq., at the sale of the San
Donato pictures in Paris, in the year 1869.
1883.] LETTERS OF JOHN ADAMS. 361
without running one risque. Now I must be content to be poor, and
my Children too, unless they should have more Wisdom than I have
had. If I serve the Publick in future it must be in Retu'ement, and
in my own Way, with the feeble share of Forces that remain to me,
and the short Period of time : for you will remember I am not a
Child, nor a Youth, nor a middle-aged Man, nor has my Carcass or
my Spirit been spared for old age.
My dear Love to all our good Friends, and believe me ever yours,
John Adams.
The Hon. Cotton Tufts, Esq.
Washington Deer. 26, 1800.
Dear Sir, — I have yours of the 2*^. Before this you have seen
the Treaty with France. The full assurance of your Newspapers has
been wholly disappointed. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Burr have equal
numbers — 73. Which will be Chief? I shall be in Quincy as early
in the Spring as the Roads and Weather will permit. The only
Question remaining with me is what I shall do with myself ? Some-
thing I must do, or Ennui will rain upon me in Bucketts. A French-
man would say Ennui pleuvra a grosses gouttes. Will Books and
Farms answer the evil ? I must go out on a morning and evening
and fodder my Cattle, I believe, and take a Walk every noon to
Pennshill — Pother in my garden among the fruit Trees and Cucum-
bers, and phmt a Potatoe yard with my own hand. If I had money
enough to spend upon my farms I might find Employment enough.
But wliat shall I do for that ? Shall I go to the Bar again ? I have
forgotten all my Law and lost my organs of Speech ; and- besides that
have given my books away. If I had them, I might possibly educate
a young Gentleman or two for the Profession.
With hearty Love and Friendship to you and your family, I am
John Adams.
The Hon. Cotton Tufts, Esq.
Colonel Carrington, being called upon by the President,
expressed his interest hi what was goino- on in Palestine and
the East, and spoke of a discovery which, it was said, had just
been made in Egypt, where the English had excavated a large
area, within which had been found buildings of brick, made
with straw and without straw; and it was thought that this
place might be the veritable Succoth from which the Hebrews
made their exodus.
A new serial number, including tlie proceedings for Octo-
ber, was laid on the table by the Recording Secretary ; and
the Society adjourned to meet at 3 o'clock on Saturday, in
Arlington Street Church, for the commemoration of Martin
Luther.
46
362 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Xov.
A large congregation filled the church on the observance
of the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of Luther.
The meeting was opened with prayer by the Rev. Phillips
Brooks, D.D. The Rev. Louis B. Schwarz then read, in the
original German, Luther's hymn, " Ein feste Burg ist unser
Gott," after which the English translation, by Dr. F. H.
Hedge, was sung by the choir. The Hon. Robert C. Win-
THROP, who presided, then delivered the following introduc-
tory address : —
We are here, ladies and gentlemen, on this tenth day of
November, in the year of our Lord 1883, under the auspices
of the old Massachusetts Historical Society, to commemorate
the four hundredth anniversary of tlie birtliday of one of the
greatest figures of modern history, — I might almost have said
the very greatest.
Certainly, my friends, it may well be doubted whether,
since the birth of that blessed Saviour, from whose nativity
the years of our Christian calendar take their date, — as if
there were no time worthy of being calculated or counted
until Christ brought life and immortality to light, — it may
well be doubted, I s'dj, whether, since the incarnation of our
Lord and the miraculous ministry of his great apostles, any
one man has exerted so pervading and so powerful an influ-
ence on the condition and welfare of the liuman race as that
son of a humble miner, who drew his first breath in the little
German village of Eisleben'four hundred years ago to-day.
The late eminent philosopher and diplomatist. Baron von
Bunsen, spoke for all Germany in pronouncing Luther em-
phatically and unqualifiedl}^ " the greatest hero of Christen-
dom since the apostles." England might bave been heard,
two centuries and a half earlier, through the voice of John
Milton, — no mean jtidge of human greatness, — speaking of
him as one "whom God made choice of, before others, to be
of highest eminence and power in reforming the Church."
And, within a few months past, the historian Froude has
said : " Had there been no Luther, the English, American,
and German peoples would be thinking differently, would be
acting differently, and would be altogether different men
and women from what they are at this moment."
We do not forget, and Froude did not forget, that when
Luther was born our Western Hemisphere was an unknown
and undiscovered region of the earth. There was no America,
North, South, or Central, on the map of the world at tliat day.
Columbus and Vespucius, indeed, were already mature men,
1883.] Ai^NIVERSAEY OF THE BIRTH OF LUTHEE. 863
and Sebastian Cabot was six or seven years old. But nine
years were still to elapse before Columl)US landed at San Sal-
vador or Samana, and five more years before Jobn Cabot and
his son Sebastian discovered the North American conrnient ;
while two more years still remained before Americas Ves-
pncins reached South America, and afforded the pretext for
p-ivino' his name to the whole New World.
That whole New World for another full century was with-
out civilized Christian occupation. Not, indeed, till sixty-one
years after Luther's death was the earliest English settlement
at Jamestown; not till seventy-four years after his death was
the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth ; not till eighty-four
years aftei^his death was the founding of Boston and Massa-
chusetts. Even St. Augustine, the first permanent Christian
settlement in what is now our Country, dates from 1565, while
Luther died in 1546. And yet, as I need not say, in the face
of all these facts and figures, we are here to-day to recognize
Martin Luther as, beyond all other men, the instrument of
God in giving the impulse, by thought, word, and act, to that
woild-wide movement which' resulted not merely in the refor-
mation of Europe, but in all that we Americans now enjoy,
and all that we rejoice in being. Pilgrim and Puritan, Cava-
lier and Roundhead, Huguenot and Quaker, yes, and Roman
Catholic also, consciously or unconsciously, all alike felt that
imi)ulse, and "American colonization and the American Revo-
lution were among its results.
The venerable Emperor William, at the recent unveiling
of the great Germania statue, opened a speech, as remarkable
for condensed and comprehensive brevity and felicity as that of
Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, with these words : " When
Providence desires to signify its will with regard to mighty
events upon the earth, it selects the time, countries, and in-
struments to accomplish its purpose." Those words belonged
pre-eminently to the great Luther monument at Worms, the
grandest monument in Europe, and which appeals to the ad-
miration and sympathy of all who behold it, of whatever
nation or tongue.
No local or limited celebrity, certainly, is sufficient for
Luther, or commensurate with his fame. Not as a wonderful
German, though he was the most wonderful of all Germans ;
not as the antagonist of Leo X. or of Charles V. ; not as nailing
theses to a church door, or burning a Papal bull at Wittenberg;
not as braving an imperial diet at Worms ; not even, only, as
translating the Holy Scriptures at the Wartburg, and opening
the Bible to all who had eyes to read it, — though that is
364 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
glory enough for any man ; — not for all or any of these char-
acteristic incidents in his career, do we come to commemorate
his birtlida}'. Still less do we come to indorse all his pe-
culiarities of doctrine or all his violences of diction. No
sectarian, or even merely Protestant, views enter into this
commemoration.
But we come as students of history, and in just recognition
of historical truth, to hail the advent, and do grateful homage
to the memory, and listen to the inspiring story, of a mighty
instrument of God in awakening and rousing and reforming
the world for all time and for all places beneath the sun ; a
man of indomitable courage and of unwavering faith in Christ,,
who kindled a flame of spiritual liberty never to be extin-
guished, but which is to burn brighter and brighter until the
perfect day.
But it is not for me, my friends, to dwell on these topics.
I am here only, as president of this Society, to present to you
the chosen orator of the occasion ; and I can do so in no
more just or felicitous terms than those of my friend, Dr.
George E. Ellis, who, in originally proposing this commemo-
ration, said as follows: "Happily we have one with us who
was for many years our associate in this Society, and a pro-
fessor in the University, a German scholar, profoundly versed
in the literature, the philosophy, the history, science, art, and
broadest culture of the birth-land of Luther, and wlio is
gifted witli especial talents, witli breadth of thought and
compass of view, for a biilliant rehearsal of his career, and of
his pUice ill the world's history and in the higher development
of humanity."
I have now the privilege of calling on the Rev. Dr. Frederic
Henry Hedge.
Dr. Hedge rose, and spoke for nearly an hour and a half,
without manuscript or notes, as follows : —
The power which presides over human destiny and shapes
the processes of history is wont to conceal its ulterior purpose
from the agents it employs, who, while pursuing tlieir spe-
cial aims and fulfilling their appointed tasks, are, unknown to
themselves, initiating a new era, founding a new world.
Such significance attaches to the name of Luther, one of
that select band of providential men who stand conspicuous
among their contemporaries as makers of history. For the
Protestant Reformation which he inaugurated is very imper-
fectly apprehended if construed solely as a schism in the
1883.] LUTHER AND HIS WORK, 865
Church, a new departure in religion. In a larger view, it was
our modern world, with its social developments, its liberties,
its science, its new conditions of being, evolving itself from
the old.
It would be claiming too much to assume that all of good
which distinguishes these latter centuries from mediaeval
time is wholly due to that one event; that humanity would
have made no progress in science and the arts of life but for
Luther and his work. Other, contemporary agencies, inde-
pendent of the rupture with Rome, — the printing-press, the
revival of letters, the discovery of a new continent, and other
geographical and astronomical findings, — have had their share
in the regeneration of secular life.
But this we may safely assert : that the dearest goods of our
estate — civil independence, spiritual emancipation, individ-
ual scope, the large room, the unbound thought, the free pen,
whatever is most characteristic of this New England of our
inheritance — we owe to the Saxon reformer in whose name
we are here to-day.
A compatriot of Luther, the critic-poet Lessing, has made
us familiar with the idea of an Education of the Human Race.
Vico had previously afi&rmed a law of historic development,
and inferred from that law a progressive improvement of man's
estate. Lessing supplemented the New Science of Vico with
a more distinct recognition of divine agency and an educating
purpose in the method of history. But Lessing confined his
view of divine education to the truths of religion. For these
the school is the Church. But religion is only one side of
human nature. Man as a denizen of this earthly world has
secuhir interests and a secular calling which may, in some
future synthesis, be found to be the necessary complement of
the spiritual, — the other pole of the same social whole, —
but meanwhile require for their right development and full
satisfaction another school, co-ordinate with but independent
of the Church. That school is the nation.
Now the nation, in the ages following the decline of Rome,
had had no proper status in Christian history. There were
peoples — Italian, French, English, German — distributed in
territorial groups, but no nation, no polity conterminous with
the territorial limits of each countr}^ compacted and confined
by those limits, having its own independent sovereign head.
France, Germany, England, were mere geographical expres-
sions. The peoples inhabiting these countries had a common
head in the Bishop of Rome, whose power might be checked
by the rival German Empire when the emperor was a man of
366 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
force, a veritable ruler of men, and the papal incnmbent an
imbecile, but who, on the whole, was acknowledged supreme.
Europe was ecclesiastically one ; and the ecclesiastical over-
ruled, absorbed, the civil.
But already, before the birth of Luther, from the dawn
of the fourteenth century, the civil power had begun to dis-
engage itself from the spiritual. The peoples here and there
had consolidated into nations. Philip of France had defied
the Pope of his day, and hurled him from his throne. The
Golden Bull had made the German Empire independent of
papal dictation in the choice of its incumbents. Meanwliile
the Babylonish Captivity and subsequent dyarchy in the pon-
tifiicate had sapped the prestige of the Roman see. As we
enter the fifteenth centur}^, we find the principle of nation-
ality formally recognized by the Church. At the Council of
Constance, the assembly decided to vote by nations instead
of dioceses, each nation having a distinct voice. Then it ap-
peared that the nation had become a reality and a power in
Christendom.
Another century was needed to break the chain which
bound in ecclesiastical dependence on Rome the nations espe-
cially charged with the conduct of mankind. And a man
was needed who had known from personal experience the
stress of that chain, and whose moral convictions were too
exigent to allow of compliance and complicity with manifest
falsehood and deadly wrong. To ecclesiastical severance
succeeded political. To Martin Luther, above all men, we
Anglo-Americans are indebted for national independence and
mental freedom.
It is from this point of view, and not as a teacher of relig-
ious truth, that he claims our interest. As a theologian, as a
thinker, he has taught us httle. Men of inferior note have
contributed vastly more to theological enlightenment and the
science of religion. Intellectually narrow, theologically bound
and seeking to bind, his work was larger than his vision and
better than his aim. The value of his thought is inconsid-
erable ; the value of his deed as a providential liberator of
thought is bej^ond computation.
The world has no prevision of its heroes. Nature gives
no warning when a great man is born. Had any soothsayer
undertaken to point out, among the children cast upon the
world in electoral Saxony on the 10th of November, 1483, the
one who would shake Christendom to its centre, this peasant
babe, just arrived in the cottage of Hans Luther at Eisleben,
might have been the last on whom his prophecy would have
1883.] LUTHER AND HIS WORK. 367
fallen. The great man is unpredictable ; but reflection finds
in the birth of Luther a peculiar fitness of place and time.
Fitness of place, inasmuch as Frederick the Wise, Elector of
Saxony, his native prince and patron, was probably the only
one among the potentates of that day who, from sympathy and
force of character, possessed the will and the ability to shield
the reformer from prelatical wiles and the wrath of Rome ;
Fitness of time, — a generation had scarcely gone by since the
newly invented printing-press had issued its first Bible ; and
during the very year of this nativity, in 1483, Christopher'
Columbus was making his first appeals for royal aid in real-
izing his dream of a western hemis{)here hidden from European
ken behind the waves of the Atlantic, where the Protestant
principle, born of Luther, was destined to find its most con-
genial soil and to yield its consummate fruit.
More important than fitness of time and place is the adap-
tation of the man to his appointed work. There is an easy,
levelling theory, held by some, that men are the product of
their time, great actors the necessary product of extraordinary
circumstances ; that Caesar and Mohammed and Napoleon,
had they not lived precisely when they did, would have plod-
ded through life and slipped into their graves without a
record ; and that, on the other hand, quite ordinary men, if
thrown upon the times in which those heroes lived, would
have done as they did and accomplished the same results, —
would have overthrown the Roman aristocracy, abolished
idolatry, and brought order out of chaotic revolution.
But man and history are not, I think, to be construed so.
There is a law which adapts the man to his time. The work
to be done is not laid upon a chance individual ; the availing
of the crisis is not left to one who happens to be on the spot ;
but from the foundation of the world the man was selected
to stand just there, and to do just that. The opportunity
does not make the man, but finds him. He is the providen-
tial man ; all the past is in him, all the future is to flow from
liim.
What native qualifications did Luther bring to his work ?
First of all, his sturdy Saxon nature. The Saxons are Ger-
mans of the Germans, and Luther was a Saxon of the Saxons ;
reverend, patient, laborious, with quite an exceptional power
of work and capacity of endurance ; sim})le, humble ; no
visionary, no dreamer of dreams, but cautious, conservative,
incorruptibly honest, true to the heart's core ; above all, cour-
ageous, firm, easily led when conscience seconded the lead-
ing, impossible to drive when conscience opposed, ecstatically
368 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, [Nov.
devout, tender, loving, — a strange compound of feminine soft-
ness and adamantine inflexibility. Contemporary observers
noticed in the eyes of the man, dark, flashing, an expression
which they termed demonic. It is the expression of one
susceptible of supernatural impulsion, — of being seized and
borne on by a power which exceeds his conscious volition.
In tliis connection I have to speak of one property in Luther
which especially distinguishes spiritual heroes, — the gift of
faith. The ages which preceded his coming have been called
" the ages of faith." The term is a misnomer if understood
in any otlier sense than that of blind acquiescence in external
authorit}^ unquestioning submission to the dictum of the
Church. Tliis is not faith, but the want of it, mental inaction,
absence of independent vision. Faith is essentially active, a
positive, aggressive force ; not a granter of current proposi-
tions, but a maker of propositions, of dispensations, of new
ages.
Faith is not a constitutional endowment; there is no lot or
tumulus assigned to it among the hillocks of tlie brain. It is
not a talent connate with him who has it, and growing with
his growth, but a gift of the Spirit, communicated to such as
are charged with a providential mission to their fellow-men.
It is the seal of their indenture, the test of their calling. In
other words, faith is inspiration ; it is the subjective side of
that incalculable force of which inspiration is the objective.
So much faith, so much inspiration, so much of Deity.
Inspiration is in no man a constant quantity. In Luther it
appears unequal, intermittent ; ebb and flood, but always, in
the supreme crises of his history, answering to liis need ; a
master force, an ecstasy of vision and of daring ; lifting him
clean out of himself, or rather eliciting, bringing to the sur-
face, and forcing into action the deeper, latent self of the man,
against all the monitions not only of prudence, but of conscience
as well. The voice of worldly prudence is soon silenced by
earnest souls inteiit on noble enterprises of uncertain issue.
What reformer of traditional wrongs has not been met by
the warning, " That way danger lies " ? But in Luther we
have the rarer phenomenon of conscience itself overcome by
faith. We have the amazing spectacle of a righteous man
defying his own conscience in obedience to a higher duty than
conscience knew. For conscience is the pupil of custom, the
slave of tradition, bound by ■ prescription ; the safeguard of
the weak, but, it may be, an oifence to the strong; wanting
initiative ; unable of itself to lift itself to new perceptions and
new requirements, whereby " enterprises of great pith and
1883.] LUTHER AND HIS "WORK. 869
moment" "their currents turn awry, and lose the name of ac-
tion." Conscience has to be new-born when a new dispensa-
tion is given to the world. It was only thus that Christianity
through Paul could disengage itself from Judaism, which had
the old conscience on its side.
In Luther faith was stronger than conscience. Had it not
been so, we should not be here to-day to celebrate his name.
Of all his trials in those years of conflict, which issued in final
separation from Rome, the struggle with conscience was the
sorest. However strong his personal conviction that indul-
gences bought with money could not save from the penalties
of sin, that the sale of them was a grievous wrong, to declare
that conviction, to act upon it, was to pit himself against the
head of the Church, to whom he owed unconditional alle-
giance. It was revolt against legitimate authority, a violation
of his priestly vows. So conscience pleaded. But Luther's
better moments set aside these scruples, regarding them, as
he did all that contradicted his strong intent, as suggestions
of the Devil. " How," whispered Satan, "if your doctrine be
erroneous, — if all this confusion has been stirred up without
just cause ? How dare you preach what no one has ventured
for so many centuries?"
Over all these intrusive voices admonishing, " You must
not," a voice more imperative called to him, " You must ; "
and a valor above all martial daring responded, " I will."
Here is where a higher power comes in to reinforce the hu-
man. When valor in a righteous cause rises to that pitch, it
draws Heaven to its side; it engages Omnipotence to back it.
Our knowledge of Luther's history is derived in great part
from his own reminiscences and confessions.
His boyhood was deeply shadowed by the sternness of do-
mestic discipline. Severely and even cruelly chastised by con-
scientious but misjudging parents, more careful to inspire
fear than to clierish filial love, he contracted a shyness and
timidity which kept back for years the free development of
a noble nature. At school it was still worse: the business
of education was then conceived as a species of rhabdomancy,
a divining by means of the rod the hidden treasures of the
boyish mind. He cannot forget, in after years, that fifteen
times in one day the rod, in liis case, was so applied. " The
teachers in those days," he says, " were tyrants and execu-
tioners ; the school, a prison and a hell."
At a more advanced school in Eisenach, where the sons of
the poor supported themselves by singing before the doors of
wealthy citizens, who responded with the fragments of their
47
370 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
abundance, a noble lady, Dame Ursula Cotta, impressed by
the fervor and vocal skill of the lad, gave him a daily seat at
her table, and with it his first introduction to polite society, —
a privilege which went far to compensate the adverse influ-
ences of his earlier years.
At the age of eighteen he entered the University of Erfurt,
then the foremost seminary in Germany, the resort of stu-
dents from all parts of the land. The improved finances of
his father sufficed to defray the cost of board and books.
He elected for himself the department of philosophy, then
embracing, together with logic, metaphysie, and rhetoric, the
study of the classics, which the recent revival of letters had
brought into vogue. The Latin classics became his familiar
friends, and are not unfrequently quoted in his writings.
He made good use of the golden years, and received in d'ue
order, with higli distinction, the degrees of bachelor and of
master of arts.
With all this rich culture and the new ideas with which it
flooded his mind, it does not appear that any doubt had been
awakened in him of the truth of the old religion. He was
still a devout Catholic ; he still prayed to the saints as the
proper helpers in time of need. When accidentally wounded
by the sword which according to student fashion he wore at
his side, lying, as he thought, at the point of death, he in-
voked not God, but tlie Virgin, for aid. " Mar}^ help ! " was
his cry.
He was destined by his fatlier for the legal profession. It
was the readiest road to wealth and power. Accordingly, he
applied himself with all diligence to the study of law, and
had fitted himself for the exercise of that calling, wdien sud-
denly, in a company of friends assembled for social entertain-
ment, he announced his intention to quit the world and
embrace the monastic life. Tliey expressed their astonish-
ment at this decision, and endeavored to dissuade him from
such a course. In vain they urged him to reconsider his pur-
pose. " Farewell ! " he said. " We part to meet no more."
What was it that caused this change in Luther's plan of
life ? To account for a turn apparently so abrupt, it must
be remembered that his religion hitherto, the fruit of his
early training, had been a religion of fear. He had been
taught to believe in an angry God, and the innate, deep cor-
ruption of human nature. He was conscious of no crime ;
no youthful indiscretions, even, could he charge himself with ;
but morbid self-scrutiny presented him utterly sinful and
corrupt. Only a life of good works could ator.e for that
1883.] LUTHER AND HIS WORK. 371
corruption. Such a life the monastic, with its renunciations,
its prayers and fastings and self-torture, was then believed to
be, — a life well pleasing in the sight of God, the surest way
of escape from final perdition. Exceptional virtue tended
in that direction. To be a monk was to flee from wrath and
attain to holiness and heaven.
All this had lain dimly, half consciously, in Luther's mind,
not ripened into purpose. The purpose was precipitated
by a searching experience. Walking one day in the neigh-
borhood of Erfurt, he was overtaken by a terrific thunder-
storm. The lightning struck the ground at his feet. Falling
on his knees, he invoked, in his terror, the intercession of
St. Anna, and vowed, if life were spared, to become a monk.
Restored to his senses, he regretted the rash vow. His
riper reason in after years convinced him that a vow ejacu-
lated in a moment of terror imposed no moral obligation ;
but his uninstructed conscience could not then but regard it as
binding. In spite of the just and angry remonstrances of
his father, who saw with dismay his cherished plan defeated,
the hard-earned money spent on his boy's education expended
in vain, he sought and gained achnission to the brotherhood
and cloisters of St. Augustine at Erfurt.
His novitiate was burdened with cruel trials. The hardest
and most repulsive offices were laid upon the new-comer,
whose superiors delighted to mortify the master of arts with
disgusting tasks. To the stern routine of cloister discipline
he added self-imposed severities, more frequent fastings and
watchings, undermining his health, endangering life. Harder
to bear than all these were his inward conflicts, — fears and
fightings, agonizing self-accusations, doubts of salvation,
apprehensions of irrevocable doom. He sought to conquer
heaven by mortification of the flesh, and despaired of the
result. Finally, encouraged by Staupitz, the vicar-general
of the order, and guided by his own study of the new-found
Scriptures, he came to perceive that heaven is not to be won
in that way. Following the lead of St. Paul and Augustine,
he reached the conclusion which formed thenceforth the
staple of his theology and the point of departure in his con-
troversy with Rome, — the sufficiency of divine grace, and
justification by his faith.
In the second year of his monastic life he was ordained
priest, and in the year following promoted to the chair of
theology in the new University of Wittenberg, where he
soon became famous as a preacher.
In 1511 he was sent on a mission to Rome, in company
372 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
with a brother monk. When he came within sight of the
city he fell upon his knees and saluted it: "Hail, holy Rome,
thrice consecrated by the blood of the martyrs ! " Arrived
within the walls, the honest German was inexpressibly
shocked by what he found in the capital of Christendom, —
open infidelity, audacious falsehood, mockery of sacred things,
rampant licentiousness, abominations incredible. The Rome
of Julius II. was the Roma ■rediviva of Caligula and Nero, —
pagan in spirit, pagan in morals, a sink of iniquity. It was
well that Luther had personal experience of all this ; the
remembrance of it served to lighten the struggle with con-
science, when called to contend against papal authority.
But then such contest never entered his mind : lie was still
a loyal son of the Church. He might mourn her corruption,
but would not question her infallibility. Like other pilgrims
zealous of good works, he climbed on his knees the twenty-
eight steps of the Santa Scala. While engaged in that pen-
ance there flashed on his mind, like a revelation from heaven,
declaring the futility of such observances, the saying of the
prophet, " The just shall live by his faith."
Returned to Wittenberg, he was urged by Staupitz to
stud}^ for the last and highest academic honor, that of doctor
of philosophy. The already overtasked preacher shrank from
this new labor. '^ Herr Staupitz," he said, "it will be the
death of me." " All right," answered Staupitz. " Our Lord
carries on extensive operations ; he has need of clever men
above. If you die you will be one of his councillors in
heaven."
I now come to the turning-point in Luther's life, — the
controversy with Rome on the subject of indulgences, which
ended in the schism known as the Protestant Reformation.
Leo X., in the year 1516, ostensibly in the interest of a
new church of St. Peter in Rome, sent forth a bull according
absolution from the penalties of sin to all who should pur-
chase the indulgences offered for sale by his commissioners.
Indulgence, according to the theory of the Church, was dis-
pensation from the penance otherwise required for priestly
absolution. It was not pretended that priestly absolution
secured divine forgiveness and eternal salvation. It was
absolution from temporal penalties due to the Church ; but
popular superstition identified the one with the other. More-
over, it was held that the supererogatory merits of Christ
an<l the saints were available for the use of sinners. They
constituted a treasury confided to the Church, whose saving
virtue the head of the church could dispense at discretion.
]883.] LUTHER AND HIS WORK. 373
111 this case the application of that fund was measured by
pecuniary equivalents. Christ had said, " How hardly shall
they that have riches enter the kingdom of heaven." Leo
said in effect, " How easily may they that have riches enter
the kingdom of heaven," since they have the quid pro quo.
For the poor it was not so easy ; and tliis was one aspect of
the case which stimulated the opposition of Luther. Peni-
tence was nominally required of the sinner, but proofs of
penitence were not exacted. Practically, the indulgence
meant impunity for sin. A more complete travesty of the
gospel — laugh'able, if not so impious — could hardly be con-
ceived. The faithful themselves were shocked by the shame-
less realism which characterized the proclamations of the
German commissioner, Tetzel.
Luther wrote a respectful letter to the Archbishop of
Mainz, praying him to put a stop to the scandal ; little
dreaming that the prelate had a pecuniary interest in the
business, having bargained for half the profits of the sale as
the price of his sanction of the same. Other dignitaries to
whom he appealed refused to interfere. As a last resource,
by way of appeal to the Christian conscience, on the 31st of
October, 1517, he nailed his famous ninety-five tlieses to
the door of the church of All Saints. These were not dog-
matic assertions, but propositions to be debated by any so
inclined. Nevertheless, the practical interpretation put upon
them was the author's repudiation of indulgences, and, by
implication, his arraignment of the source from which thej^
emanated.
It is doubtful if Luther apprehended the full significance
of the step he had taken. He did not then dream of seces-
sion from the Church. He was more astonished than grati-
fied wlien he learned that his theses and other utterances of
like import had, within the space of fourteen days, pervaded
German}", and that he had become the eye-mark of Chris-
tendom. More than once before the final irrevocable act he
seems to have regretted his initiative, and though he would
not retract he would fain have sunk out of sight.
But fortunately for the cause, Tetzel, bafiied in his designs
on Luther's congregation, attacked him with such abusive
virulence and extravagant assertions of papal authority that
Luther was provoked to rejoin with more decisive declarations.
The controversy reached the ear of the Pope, who inclined
at first to regard it as a local quarrel, which would soon
sul)side, but was finally persuaded to despatch a summons
requiring Luther to appear in Rome within sixty days, to be
374 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
tried for heresy. Rome might summon, but Luther knew
too well the probable result of such a trial to think of obey-
ing the summons. The spiritual power might issue its
mandates, but the temporal power was needed to execute
its behests. Would the temporal, in this case, co-operate
with the spiritual ? There had been a time when no German
potentate would have hesitated to surrender a heretic. But
Germany was getting tired of Roman dictation and ultra-
montane insolence. Tiie German pvinces were getting im-
patient of the constant drain on their exchequer by a foreign
power. Irrespective of the right or wrong of his position,
theologically considered, the question of Luther's extradi-
tion was one of submission to authority long felt to be
oppressive. Only personal enemies, like Eck and Emser
and Tetzel, would have him sent to Rome. Miltitz, who
had been deputed to deal with him. confessed that an army
of twenty-five thousand men would not be sufficient to take
him across the Alps, so widespread and so powerfully em-
bodied was the feeling in his favor. The Ritter class, com-
prising men like Franz von Sickingen and Ulrich von Hutten,
were on his side ; so were the humanists, apostles of the
new culture, which opposed itself to the old mediaeval scho-
lasticism. The Emperor Maximilian would have tlie case
tried on German soil. Conspicuous above all, liis chief de-
fender, was Luther's own sovereign, the Elector of Saxony,
Frederick the Wise. Humanly speaking, but for him the
Reformation would have been crushed at the start, and its
autlior with it. Frederick was not at this time a convert to
Luther's doctrine, but insisted that his subject should not be
condemned until tried by competent judges and refuted on
scriptural grounds. He occupied the foremost place among
the princes of Germany. On the death of Maximilian, 1519,
he was regent of the empire, and had the chief voice in the
election of the new emperor. Without his consent and co-
operation it was impossible for Luther's enemies to get pos-
session of his person. For this purj)Ose, Leo X., then Pope,
wrote a flattering letter, accompanied by tlie coveted gift of
the " golden rose," supreme token of pontifical good-will.
"This rose," wrote Leo, "steeped in a holy chrism, sprinkled
with sweet-smelling musk, consecrated by apostolic blessing,
symbol of a sublime mystery, — may its heavenly odor pene-
trate the heart of our beloved son, and dispose him to comply
with our request."
The request was not complied with, but by way of alter-
native it was proposed that Luther should be tried by a
1883.] LUTHER AND HIS WORK. 875
papal commissioner in Germany. So Leo despatched for that
purpose the. Cardinal de Vio, of Gaeta, his plenipotentiary,
commonly known as Cajetan. A conference was held at
Augsburg, which, owing to the legate's passionate insistence
on unconditional retractation, served but to widen the breach.
The efforts of Miltitz, another appointed mediator, met with
no better success.
Meanwhile Luther had advanced with rapid and enormous
strides in the line of divergence from the Catholic Church.
The study of the Scriptures had convinced him that the pri-
macy of the Roman bishop had no legitimate foundation.
The work of Lauren tins Valla, exposing the fiction of Con-
stantine's pretended donation of temporal sovereignty in
Rome, had opened his eyes to other falsehoods. He pro-
claiuied his conclusions, writing and publishing in Latin and
German with incredible diligence. His Address to the
Christian Nobility of the German Nation, concerning the
Melioration of the Christian State, the most important of his
publications, anticipates nearly all the points of the Protestant
reform, and many which were not accomplished in Luther's
day. The writing spread and sped through every province
of Germany, as if borne on the wings of the wind. An edi-
tion of four thousand copies was exhausted in a few days.
It was the Magna Charta of a new ecclesiastical state.
But now the thunderbolt was launched which, his adver-
saries trusted, should smite the heretic to death and scatter
all his following. On the IGth of June, 1520, Leo issued a
bull condemning Luther's writings, commanding that they
be publicly burned wherever found, and that their author,
unless within the space of sixty days he recanted his errors,
allowing sixty more for the tidings of his recantation to reach
Rome, should be seized and delivered up for the punishment
due to a refractory heretic. All magistrates and all citizens
were required, on pain of ecclesiastical penalty, to aid in
arresting him and his followers and sending them to Rome.
The papal legates, Aleander and Caraccioli, were appointed
bearers of a missive from the Pope to Duke Frederick, com-
manding him to have the writings of Luther burned, and
either to execute judgment on the heretic himself, or else to
deliver him up to the pa})al tribunal. The Elector replied
that he had no part in Luther's movement, but that his wiit-
ino-s must be refuted before he would order their burning;
that their author had been condemned unheard ; that his
case must be tried by impartial judges in some place where it
should be safe for him to appear in person.
376 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
Miltitz persuaded Luther, as a last resource, to write to
the Pope a conciliatory letter, disavowing all personal hos-
tility and expressing due reverence for his Holiness. He
did write. But such a letter ! An audacious satire, which,
under cover of personal respect and good- will, compassion-
ates the Pope as "a sheep among wolves," and characterizes
the papal court as " viler than Sodom or Gomorrah."
When the bull reached Wittenberg it was treated by
Luther and his friends with all the respect which it seemed
to them to deserve. On the 10th of December, 1520, a large
concourse of students and citizens assembled in the open
space before the Elster gate ; a pile was erected and fired by
a resident graduate of the university, and on it Luther with
his own hands solemnly burned the bull and the papal de-
cretals, amid applause which, like the "embattled farmers'"
shot at Concord in 1775, was "'• heard round the world."
So the last tie was severed which bound Luther to Rome,
After that contumacious act there was no retreat or possibil-
ity of pacification.
But though Luther had done with Rome, Rome had not yet
done with him. When Leo found that he could not wrest the
heretic from the guardianship of Frederick, he had recourse
to imperial aid. The newly elected emperor, Charles V., a
youtli of twenty-one, in whose blood were blended three
royal lines of devoted friends of the Church, might l)e ex-
pected to render prompt obedience to its head. But Charles
was unwilling to break with Frederick, to whom he was
chiefly indebted for his election. He would not, if he could,
compel him to send Luther a prisoner to Rome. He chose
to have him tried in his own court, and only v/hen proved by
such trial an irreclaimable heretic to surrender him as such.
An imperial Diet was about to be held at the city of
Worms. Thither Cliarles desired the Elector to bring the
refractory monk. Frederick declined the office ; but Luther
declared that if the emperor summoned him he would obey
the summons as the call of God. To his friend Spalatin,
who advised his refusal, he wrote that he would go to Worms
if there were as many devils opposed to him as there were
tiles on the roofs of the houses.
The summons came, accompanied by an imperial safe-con-
duct covering the journey to and from the place of trial.
Luther complied ; he had no fear that Charles would repeat
the treachery of Sigismund, which had blasted that name
with eternal infamy and incarnadined Bohemia with atoning
blood. The journey was one triumphal progress ; in every
1883.] LUTHER AND HIS WORK. 377
city ovations, not unmingled with cautions and regrets. He
arrived in the morning of the 16th of April, 15'21, The
warder on the tower announced witli the blast of a trumpet
his approach. The citizens left their breakfasts to witness
the entry. Preceded by the imperial herald and followed by
a long cavalcade, the stranger was escorted to the quarters
assigned him. Alighting from his carriage, he looked round
upon the multitude and said, '' God will be with me." It
was then that Aleander, the papal legate, remarked the de-
monic glance of his eye. People of all classes visited him in
his lodgings.
On the following day he was called to the episcopal palace,
and made his first appearance before tlie Diet. A pile of
books was placed before him. '' Are these your writings ? "
The titles were called for, and Luther acknowledged them to
be his. Would he retract the opinions expressed in them, or
did he still maintain them? He begged time for consideration ;
it was a question of faith, of the welfare of souls, of the word
of God. A day for deliberation was allowed him, and he was
remanded to his lodgings. On the way the people shouted
applause, and a voice exclaimed, " Blessed is the womb that
bare thee! " But the impression made on the court was not
favorable. He had not shown the front that was expected
of him. He had seemed timid, irresolute. The emperor re-
marked, " That man would never make a heretic of me."
His self-communings in the interim, and his prayer, which
has come down to us, show how deeply he felt the import of
the crisis; how " the fire burned," as he mused of its probable
issue, knowing that the time was at hand when he might be
called to seal his testimony with his blood.
" Ah, God, thou my God ! stand' by me against the reason
and the wisdom of all the world ! Thou must do it ; it is
not my cause, but thine. For my own person, I have noth-
ing to do with these great lords of the earth. Gladly would
I have quiet days and be unperplexed. But thine is the
catise ; it is just and eternal. Stand by me, thou eternal
God ! I contide in no man. Hast thou not chosen me for
this purpose, I ask thee ? But I know of a surety that
thou hast chosen me."
On the 18th he was summoned for the second time, and
the question of the previous day was renewed. He ex-
plained at length, first in Latin, then in German, that his
writings were of various import : those which treated of
moral topics the papists themselves would not condemn ;
those which disputed papal authority and those addressed to
48
378 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
private individuals, although the language might be more
violent than was seemly, he could not in conscience revoke.
Unless he were refuted from the Scriptures, he must abide
by his opinions. He was told that the court was not there
to discuss his opinions ; they had been already condemned by
the Council of Constance. Finall}^ the question narrowed
itself to this: Did he believe that councils could err? More
specifically. Did he believe the Council of Constance had
erred ? Luther appreciated the import of the question. He
knew that his answer would alienate some who had thus far
befriended him. For however they might doubt the infalli-
bility of the Pope, they all believed councils to be infallible.
But he did not hesitate. " I do so believe." The fatal
word was spoken. The emperor said, "It is enough, the
hearing is concluded."
The shades of evening had gathered over the assembly.
To the friends of Luther they might seem to forebode the
impending close of his earthly day. Then, suddenly, he
uttered with a loud voice, in his native idiom, those words
which Germany will remember while the city of Worms has
one stone left upon another, or the river that laves her shall
find its way to the German Oqean : " Hier steh'ich, icli kann
nicht anders ; Gott hilf mir ! Amen ! "
By the light of blazing torches the culprit was conducted
from the council chamber, the Spanish courtiers hissing as he
went, while among the Germans many a heart no doubt beat
high in response to that brave ultimatum of their fellow-
countryman.
Witii the consent of the empei'or further negotiations were
attempted in private, and Luther found it far more difficult
to resist the kindly solicitations of friends and peacemakers
than to brave the threats of his enemies. But he did resist ;
the trial was ended. The great ones of the earth had as-
sailed a poor monk, now with menace, now with entreaty, and
found him inflexible.
" The tide of pomp
That beats upon the high shore of this world ' '
had broken powerless against the stern resolve of a single
breast.
The curtain falls ; when next it rises we are in the Wart-
burg, the ancestral castle of the counts of Thiiringen, where
St. Elizabeth, the fairest figure in the Roman calendar, dis-
pensed the benefactions and bore the heavy burden of her
tragic life. The emperor, true to his promise, had arranged
1883.] LUTHER AND HIS WORK. 379
for the safe return of Luther to Wittenberg, declaring, how-
ever, that, once returned, he would deal with him as a her-
etic. At the instigation, perhaps, of Frederick, the protecting
escort was assailed on the way, and put to tliglit by an armed
troop. Luther was taken captive, and borne in secret to the
Wartburg, where, disguised as a knight, he might elude the
pursuit of his enemies. While theie he occupied himself
with writing, and among other labors prepared his best and
priceless gift to his countr}', his translation of tlie New Tes-
tament, afterward supplemented by his version of the Old.
A word here respecting the merits of Luther as a writer.
His compatriots have claimed for him the inestimable service
of founder of the German language. He gave by his writings
to the New High German, then competing with other dialects,
a currency which has made it ever since, with slight changes,
the language of German literature, the language in which
Kant reasoned and Goethe sang. His style is not elegant, but
charged with a rugged force, a robust simplicity, which
makes for itself a straight path to the soul of the reader.
His words were said to be " half battles ;" call them rather
whole victories, for they conquered Germany. ' The first con-
dition of national unity is unity of speech. In this sense
Luther did more for the unification of Germany than any of
her sons, from Henry the Fowler to Bismarck. "We con-
ceded," says Gervinus, " to no metropolis, to no learned soci-
ety, the honor of fixing our language, but to the man who
better than any other could hit the hearty, healthy tone of the
people. No dictionary of an academy was to be the canon of
our tongue, but that book by which modern humanity is
schooled and formed, and which in Germany, through Luther,
has become, as nowhere else, a people's book."
Returning to Wittenberg, when change of circumstance
permitted him to do so with safety, he applied himself with
boundless energy to the work of constructing a new, reformed
church to replace the old ; preaching daily in one or another
city, writing and publishing incessantly, instituting public
schools, arranging a new service in German as substitute
for the Latin mass, compiling a catechism (a model in its
kind), a hj-mnal, and other appurtenances of worship. And,
like the Israelites on their return from Babylon, wdiile build-
ing the new temple with one hand, he fought witli the other,
contending against Miinzer, Carlstadt, the mystics, the icono-
clasts, the anabaptists ; often, it must be confessed, with un-
reasonable, intolerant wrath, spurning all that would not
square with his theology, as when he rejected the fellowship
380 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Xov.
of the Swiss, who denied the Real Presence in the eucharist.
When tlie fury of the Peasants' War was desolating Germany,
he wiekled a martial pen against both parties ; arraigning the
nobles for tlieir cruel oppressions, reproving the peasants for
attempting to overcome evil with greater evil.
His reform embraced, along with other departures from
the old regime, the abolition of enforced celibacy of the priest-
hood. He believed the family life to be the true life for cleric
as well as lay. He advised the reformed clergy to take to
themselves wives, and in 1525, in the forty-third year of his
age, he encouraged the practice by his example. He married
Catherine von Bora, an escaped nun, for whom he had pre-
viously endeavored to find another husband. She was one of
the many who had been placed in convents against their will,
and forced to take the veil. It was no romantic attachment
which induced Luther to take this step, l)ut partly the feeling
that the preacher's practice should square with his teaching,
and partly an earnest desire to gratify his father, whose will
he had so cruelly traversed \ti becoming' a monk. To marry
was to violate his monastic vow ; but he had long since con-
vinced himself that a vow made in ignorance, under extreme
pressure, was not morally binding.
Pleasing pictures of Luther's domestic life are given us by
contemporary witnesses, and the reports of his table talk. In
the bosom of his family he found an asylum from the wearing
labors and never-endii^g conflicts of his riper years. There he
shows himself the tender father, the trusting and devoted
husband, the open-handed, gay, and entertaining host. His
Katchen proved in every respect an all-sufficient helpmeet.
And it needed her skilful economy and creative thrift to coun-
terbalance his inconsiderate and boundless generosity. For
never was one more indifferent to the things of this world,
more sublimely careless of the morrow.
The remaining years of Luther's life were deeply involved
in the fortunes of the Reformation, its struggles and its tri-
umphs, its still advancing steps in spite of opposition from
without and dissensions within. They developed no new
features, while they added intensity to some of the old, no-
tably to liis old impatience of falsehood and contradiction.
They exhibit him still toiling and teeming, praying, agonizing,
stimulating, instructing, encouraging ; often prostrate with
bodily disease and intense suffering ; and still, amid all disap-
pointments, tribulations, and tortures, breasting and buffeting
Avith high-hearted valor the adverse tide which often threat-
ened to overwhelm him.
1883.] LUTHER AND HIS WORK. 381
Thus laboring, loving, suffering, exulting, he reached his
sixty-fourth year, and died on the 18th of February, 1546.
The last words he uttered expressed unshaken confidence in
his doctrine, triumphant faith in his cause.
By a fit coincidence death overtook hira in Eisleben, the
place of his birth, where he had been tarrying on a journey
connected with affairs of the Church.
The Count Mansfeld, who with his noble wife had minis-
tered to Luther in his last illness, desired that his mortal re-
mains should be interred in his domain ; but the Elector,
now John Frederick, claimed them for the city of Wittenberg,
and sent a depLi.tation to take them in charge. In Halle, on
the way, memorial services were held, in which the university
and the magnates of the city took part. In all the towns
through whicli the procession passed the bells were rung, and
the inhabitants thronged to pay their respects to the great
deceased. In Wittenberg a military cortege accompanied
the procession to the church of the electoral palace, where
the obsequies were celebrated with imposing demonstrations,
and a mourning city sent forth its population to escort the
body to the grave.
In the year following, the Emperor Charles, having taken
the Elector prisoner, stood as victor beside that grave. The
Duke of Alva urged that the bones of the lieretic should be
exhumed and publicly burned; but Charles refused. ''Let
him rest ; he has found his judge. I war not with the dead."
I have presented our hero in his character of reformer. I
could wish, if time permitted, to exhibit him in other aspects
of biograplncal interest. I would like to speak of him as
a poet, author of hymns, into which he threw the fervor and
swing of his impetuous soul ; as a musical composer, render-
ing in that capacity effective aid to the choral service of his
church. I would like to speak of him as a humoi'ist and
satirist, exhibiting the playfulness and pungency of Erasmus
without his cynicism ; as a lover of nature, antici[)ating our
own age in his admiring sympathj^ with the beauties of earth
and sky ; as the first naturalist of his day, a close observer of
the habits of vegetable and animal life ; as a leader in the
way of tenderness for the brute creation. I would like also,
in the spirit of impartial justice, to speak of his faults and in-
firmities, in which Lessing rejoiced, as showing him not too
far removed from the level of our common humanity.
But these are points on whicli I am not permitted to dwell.
That phase of his life which gives to the name of Luther its
world-historic significance is comprised in the period extend-
382 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
ing from the year 1517 to the year 1529 ; from the posting of
the ninet3'-five theses to the Diet of Spires, from whose decis-
ions German princes, dissenting, received the name of Protes-
tants, and which, followed by the league of Smalcald, assured
the success of his cause.
And now, in brief, what was that cause ? The Protestant
Reformation, I have said, is not to be regarded as a mere
theological or ecclesiastical movement, however Luther may
have meant it as such. In a larger view, it was secular
emancipation, deliverance of the nations that embraced it from
an irresponsible theocracy, whose main interest was the con-
solidation and perpetuation of its own dominion.
A true theocracy must always be the ideal of society ; that
is, a social order in which God as revealed in the moral law
shall be practically recognized, inspiring and shaping the
polity of nations. All the Utopias from Plato down are
schemes for the realization of that ideal. But the attempt to
ground theocracy on sacerdotalism has always proved and
must always prove a failure. The tendency of sacerdotalism
is to separate sanctity from righteousness. It invests an order
of men with a power irrespective of character ; a power whose
strength lies in the ignorance of those on whom it is exercised ;
a power which may be, and often, no doubt, is, exercised for
good, but which, in the nature of man and of things, is liable
to such abuses as that against which Luther contended, when
priestly absolution was affirmed to be indispensable to salva-
tion, and absolution was venal, when impunity for sin was
offered for sale, when the alternative of heaven or hell was a
question of mone3^
It is not my purpose to impugn the Church of Rome as at
present administered, subject to the checks of modern enlight-
enment and the criticism of dissenting communions. But I
cannot doubt that if Rome could recover the hegemony which
Luther overthrew, could once regain the entire control of the
nations, the same iniquities, the same abominations, which
characterized the ancient rule would reappear. The theory
of the Church of Rome is fatally adverse to the best interests
of humanity, light, liberty, progress. That theory makes a
human individual the rightful lord of the earth, all potentates
and powers beside his rightful subjects.
Infallible the latest council has declared him. Infallible !
The assertion is an insult to reason. Nay, more, it is blas-
phemy, when we think of the attribute of Deity vested in a
Boniface VIII., an Alexander VI., a John XXIIL Lifallible ?
No! forever no ! Fallible, as human nature must always be.
1883.]
LUTHER AND HIS "WORK. 383
Honor and everlasting thanks to the man who broke for
us the spell of papal autocracy ; who rescued a portion, at
least, of the Christian world from the paralyzing grasp of a
power more to be dreaded than any temporal despotism, — a
power which rules by seducing the will, by capturing the
conscience of its subjects, — the bondage of the soul ! Luthei
alone, of all the men whom history names, by faith and couiv
age, by all his endowments, — ay, and by all liis limitations,
— was fitted to accomplish that saving work, — a work whose
full import he could not know, whose far-reaching conse^
quences he had not divined. They shape our life. Modern
civilization, liberty, science, social progress, attest the world-
wide scope of the Protestant reform, whose principles are in-
dependent thought, freedom from ecclesiastical thrall, defiance
of consecrated wrong. Of him it may be said, in a truer sense
than the poet clahus for the architects of mediaeval minsters,
" He builded better than he knew." Our age still oljeys the
law of that movement whose van he led, and the latest age will
bear its impress. Here, amid the phantasms that crowd the
stage of human history, was a grave reality, a piece of solid
nature, a man whom it is impossible to imagine not to have
been ; to strike whose name and function from the record of
his time would be to despoil the centuries following of gains
that enrich the annals of mankind.
Honor to the man whose timely revolt checked the prog-
ress of triumphant wrong ; who wrested the heritage of God
from sacerdotal hands, defying the traditions of immemorial
time! He taught us little in the way of theological lore-,
what we prize in him is not the teacher, but the doer, the
man. His theology is outgrown, a thing of the past, but the
spirit in which he wrought is immortal ; that spirit is ever-
more the renewer and saviour of the world.
The exercises were concluded by the Rev. Henry M. Dex-
ter, D.D., who pronounced the benediction.
384 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Xov.
MEMOIR
OP
GEORGE TICKNOR, LL.D.
BY WILLIAM W. GREENOUGH.
When a man goes down to his grave full of years and full
of honors, — years reasonably attained by a prudent, pure, and
systematic life, — honors the result of high character, eminent
literary attainments, successful authorship, and practical de-
votion to the spread of knowledge, it is important to the
community with whom he lived, and to the large circle of
friends l>eyond, that a full history of the man should be
printed for general information and instruction. Such a
memoir has been published of George Ticknor. The present
sketch can add but little of value to what has already ap-
peared before the public, and must necessarily be limited to
a rapid summary of the events of his life, of the value of
the work jjerformed by him, and of the impressions and effects
produced by a character whose outlines were so clearly cut
and distinctly defined.
Born in Boston, on the 1st of August, 1791, the only child
of Elisha and Elizabeth (Billings) Ticknor, he attended no
school in his early youth, having had the great advantage of
receiving instruction from his father, who also fitted him for
college. His scholastic education began at Dartmouth iu
1805, and continued in Boston after graduation until he was
admitted to the Boston bar in 1813. The profession of the
law was relinquished by him during tlie next year, when he
determined to devote himself to a literary life, and to go to
Germany, for the purpose of laying a general foundation
upon which his future studies were to be built. In 1815 he
settled himself in Gottingen, where he worked for twelve
hours a da}' for the greater part of eighteen months, studying
five languages, attending lectures in Theology, Natural His-
tory, the Fine Arts, Statistics, and the Spirit of the Times.
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEORGE TICKNOR. 385
After finishing these courses of study, he travelled in
Europe, employing some time in Paris and in Rome and in
Madrid on special subjects, until he returned home in 1819.
In August of that year he entered upon the duties of the
Professorship of Modern Languages and Belles-Lettres at
Harvard College, which for sixteen years he filled with emi-
nent success, till the year 1835. During this year he went
abroad again and travelled, accompanied by his famil}^ till
June, 1838. After his return he began in 1839 the great
literary labor of his life, the " History of Spanish Literature,"
for which he had already collected the materials, and which
he completed in 1849. In 1851 he assisted in the first defi-
nite movement toward the foundation of the Public Library
of the city of Boston, was elected a member of the first Board
of Trustees, in 1852, and continued a member until 1866,
having been chosen President in January, 1865, upon the
death of Mr. Edward Everett. The fifteen months from
June, 1856, to September, 1857, were spent among tlie book-
marts of Europe, at his own expense, for the benefit of the
Library. In 1859 he began the biography of his friend,
William H. Prescott, which was published in January, 1864.
He was elected a member of the Massachusetts Historical
Societ}^ in 1833, and continued in fellowship nearly thirty-
eight years. He died at his residence in Park Street, Boston,
on the 26th January, 1871, aged seventy-nine j^ears.
This brief statement of the years of the life of an American
scholar gives but little impression of the results accomplished
in a long period of activity, industry, and devotion to his
pursuits, and to the diffusion of knowledge among men. Of
vigorous brain, indefatigable in work, active in all his inter-
ests, his energies were directed and controlled by an honest
singleness of purpose. He pursued the object in view with a
tenacity of application, with a thoroughness of research, and
with a mastery of details which could hardly fail of success.
Frank, open, true, and loyal, his sympathies with humanity
were large, but never ostentatiously expressed. He delighted
to assist by well-considered advice, and from the store of his
valuable library, every seeker of knowledge who applied to
him for assistance. Said the sensitive and refined Hawthorne :
" Certainly he is a fine example of a generous, principled
scholar, anxious to assist the human intellect in its efforts
and researches."
When to these characteristics were added an unusually
broad and cultivated intellect, a wide scholarship, including
an extended knowledge of ancient and modern literature,
49
386 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [Xov.
and a judicial familiarity with the politics of the United
States as well as of civilized Europe, refreshed and stimulated
by intercourse and correspondence with many of the leading
scholars and statesmen of both continents, it may reasonably
be understood why his name became respected wherever
known. These results were the natural product of his intel-
lectual training and of the earnestness of his character, — a
combination of efficient talent, high moral purpose, and a
vigorous will. From his first determination to devote his life
to general culture and scholarship, including the clear inten-
tion of using these acquirements in the service of his fellow-
men, he pursued with methodical habit the course which he
had marked out. The educational facilities afforded in his
native country being insufficient for a proper preparation, he
looked to the German university system as affording such
groundwork as the necessities of scholarly cultivation, of a fit
standard of attainment, and of a literary judgment, demanded.
Of the Americans who went to Europe to complete their
studies after the Napoleonic wars were finished, few could
have been better selected to produce a favorable impression
upon the higher intellectual classes than George Ticknor,
Edward Everett, and Joseph G. Cogswell. They may fairly
be said to have opened the way for the generous recognition
accorded to large numbers of our cultivated fellow-citizens
who have studied and travelled in Europe in the last sixty
years.
Mr. Ticknor's letters and diary bear ample evidence of the
kind reception which he met from distinguished Europeans,
and of the hospitalities offered to him by the leading authors
and statesmen ; and deservedly so, for the reputation of
American character and civilization suffered nothing at his
hands, and it was seen that the word " gentleman " means
the same thing in Europe and this country.
On his return home in 1819, lie at once began active work
in entering upon the duties of the Smith Professorship of the
Modern Languages and Literature, and the College Professor-
ship of Belles-Lettres, which he filled with distinguished abil-
ity and with great benefit to the institution for sixteen j-ears.
The work which he laid out for himself in these two depart-
ments raised the character and reputation of the College.
His lectures were models of clearness and of exhaustive
acquaintance with their subjects, and were received with
much interest by the classes for whose immediate benefit they
were given, and a portion also afterward by intelligent audi-
ences in Boston.
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEORGE TICKNOR. 387
But his zeal for proper instruction was not confined to
his own department. Appreciating fully the inefficiency of
the college courses in giving an education fitted to be the
groundwork upon which professional studies should be
based, he zealously undertook " to secure the changes re-
quired to make the College an institution for the highest
education attainable with such means and resources as it had
at command." In this attempt he had the sympathy and
assistance of leading scholars and men of eminence, outside
of the government of the college organization. That it
failed of full success is surprising, when the simplicity of the
principle of the plan was understood ; namely, that the in-
structor should teach, as well as hear, lessons from text-books.
But the seed then sown by the printed explanations of the
proposed system bore full and ample fruit in later years.
Many of the recommendations of Mr. Ticknor's printed
pamphlet have since been adopted.
Although Mr. Ticknor began to acquaint himself with the
Spanish language before visiting Spain in the year 1818, the
opportunity had not been afforded him to study it critically.
From this period dates the real preparation for his great work,
the " History of Spanish Literature." The materials were
gradually and carefully gathered till the actual composition
was begun in 1839. Besides his own notes, this collection
included the possession of a remarkable Spanish library of his
own, embracing also copious extracts from manuscripts and
rare volumes not to be purchased in the book-marts, — a
library ranking high in comparison with similar European col-
lections in the possession of Great Britain and Austria, and
containing volumes not to be found in any single collection
in Spain.*
The work had been undertaken by him with a larger and
wider scope than had hitherto been within the purview
of writers of literary history. In a letter to Sir Charles
Lj^ell (Memoir, vol. ii. p. 253) he says: "I have prepared
my book as much for general readers as for scholars. For a
great many years I have been persuaded that literary history
ought not to be confined to persons of tasteful scholarship,
but should be made, like civil history, to give a knowledge
of the character of the people to which it relates.'" To an-
other friend he writes : " My book is an attempt to make
literary history useful as general reading to a people like the
* This library was left by will to the Boston Public Library, and a full and
scholarly catalogue was printed in the year 1879.
388 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Xov.
American, by connecting it with the history of civilization
and manners in the country to which it relates." The design
and expectation were realized. The work is not only in-
valuable to the Spanish scholar, but of great interest to the
general reader.
The subject was new and peculiar. Of the foremost Span-
ish authors there were but few besides Cervantes and Cal-
deron that possessed European celebrity. Only specialists,
small in number, were familiar with other important names
in the literary development of the marked characteristics of
this peninsula. Of the wealth, value, and scope of the host
of writers who had illustrated that grand old language by
their various works, the world at large was profoundly
ignorant. No other literature was more pervaded by a na-
tional coloring, arising from the peculiar formation and his-
tory of a proud and powerful race. The history of Spain
during the best age of her literature had been the glory and
the shame of Europe, — glorious in the spread of iier wealth
and power by her conquests in the Old and New World, and
shameful for the barbarities and religious intolerance which
accompanied the spread of her empire.
Mr. Ticknor's book, published in 1849, received immediate
praise and recognition in Spain, Germany, and France. It
was translated by eminent scholars into the languages of
these countries, and became an authorit}* for students and
readers. In the English language its popularity was indi-
cated by the remarkable extent of its sale.
In 1864 was published the life of his friend William H.
Prescott, upon which he had been engaged for the previous five
years. It was a work of love, and its measure may be taken
in his own words. "It is a great pleasure to me that the
view I have given of my friend — I mean the view of him as
greater and better than his books — is so generally accej^ted,
as I understand that it is ; " and this he said without under-
valuing his friend's historical labors.
Among the most noted and useful events of his life was his
connection with, and services to, the Public Library of his
native city from 1852 to 1866. Acceptable as were the dona-
tions, he did not present to it the first volumes of the collec-
tion, nor did he give the first money to be funded for its use.
His relations to the institution were more largely valuable
than such books or money. The report of the Trustees for
1852 made known to the community tlie principle upon which
it was proposed to base the new enterprise, and this portion
of the report was the work of his brain and his hand. From
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEORGE TICKNOR. 389
its influence proceeded the large donations of Mr. Bates,
Mr, Lawrence, and Mr. Phillips.
He may be said to have breathed into this new institution
tlie breath of life. The experiment of a great free lending
library had been then untried in the world. Its success has,
wonderfully surpassed the moderate expectations of its early
friends. To-day, after more than thirty years, it still stands at
the head of cognate institutions, with the most valuable collec-
tion of books, useful to the largest number of people, a hbrary
for all classes and all degrees of intelligence, and increasing in
value and importance year by year. No monument was bet-
ter buihled, and none more worthy of escaping the ravages of
time. The wise and prudent and systematic gathering of the
popular and Bates Hall libraries for the first few years of
their existence, greatly due to Mr. Ticknor's devoted labors,
laid a broad foundation for the future to be built upon on the
same princi[)les whicli gave it its successful start. The great
mass of the people to whom the books have been freely loaned
have responded nobly to the trust placed in them. So long
as the institution shall endure, the inhabitants of Boston
should respect the memory of the man to whom more than to
any one else the grandeur and liberality of the enterprise were
due.
In pevsonal association with Mr. Ticknor, the first attribute
of character noticed by a sti-anger was his apparent absolute
independence. The precision and directness of his thought
oftentimes made themselves known in abruptness of expres-
sion. Whatever his opinions were, there was no hesitation in
their full avowal, whenever asked, or on appropriate occasion.
His observations at once impressed the hearers by their sin-
cerity, force, and clearness. He left no doubt in any mind
as to where he stood in sentiment, opinion, or movement.
This characteristic was of large consequence to those who
sought his advice. His varied experience in life, his strong
common-sense, his acute perception of character, and his
absolute hatred of every form of deception, made his counsel
of controlling interest to the young, — so many of whom asked
and were benefited by his advice. Easily accessible to all,
his judgment was frequently desired and received by those
who had no possible claim upon his busy hours.
His freedom of action, aided by his hospitable intent, gave
to the social gatherings at his house a widely different asj^ect
from the usual collections of society people. Among those
well known and familiar were to be seen faces unfamiliar and
unknown, — scholars, students, scientists, and other persons
390 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Nov.
of merit, who were makino" their way by conscientious effort
to public consideration. They there obtained a recognition
at once gratifying and encouraging.
With the characteristics ah'eady described, it is not sur-
prising that he was possessed of persuasive and eloquent
speech. He had none of the transcendental qualities which
without clear thought make language only a misty approach
to the idea to be presented. His was no " vespertina ratio,"
no twilight knowledge through which one dimly groped for
the meaning of sentences. His language was as precise as
his thoughts were direct; while to this was added a thorough
and accurate mastery of the subject which was the matter of
his discourse, — a discourse delivered in what may justly
be called classical English, glowing with the conviction of
truth and sincerity, so that he easily held his audience by the
power of his eloquence ; presented, too, in a form which his
audience did not forget. There was no sham brilliancy of
fireworks, .of which the flash only could be remembered
afterward.
As he had, beside these gifts, a memory retentive of every
incident of the associations among which he had lived, with
a large experience of men and manners, it need hardly be
said that he possessed conversational power of unusual bril-
liancy. In the most cultivated society of his native city,
which contained among his contemporaries such accomplished
talkers as Edward Everett, Francis C. Gray, and William H.
Prescott, he had no suj)erior, if an equal. The testimony of
Miss Edgeworth on this point is worth quoting : —
" I have been acquainted, and I may say intimately, with
some of the most distinguished literary persons in Great
Britain, France, and Switzerland, and have seen and heard
all those distinguished for conversational talents, — Talley-
rand, Dumont, Mackintosh, Romilly, Dugald Stewart, Erskine,
Sir Walter Scott, Sydney Smith, and Mr. Sharpe, the fash-
ionable dinner-lions of London. I have passed days in the
country houses and in the domestic intimacy of some of them ;
and after all, I can, with strict truth, assure you that Mv.
Ticknor's conversation appeared to me fully on an equality
with the most admired, in happy, apposite readiness of recol-
lection and application of knowledge, in stores of anecdote
and in ease in producing them, and in depth of reflection not
inferior to those whom we have been accustomed to consider
our deepest thinkers."
His whole life, so far as is permitted to earthly conditions,
was honorably consistent, from the dawning of manhood till
1883.] MEMOIR OF GEOEGE TICKNOR. 391
death ended the scene. From human misfortunes and house-
hold griefs the lot of humanity did not spare him. When
the dread hour came, it found him not unprepared. He had
calmly and thoughtfully arranged for his departure, leaving
nothing uncared for wliich he desired to determine definitely,
with no present or impending business unsettled, and with
no questions to arise as to what his intentions were ; so
that, so far as human thought and action and prevision were
concerned, he died when his well-rounded life was complete,
and his work was finished.
392 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [Dec.
DECEMBER MEETING, 1883.
The monthly meeting was held in the Dowse Library on
Thursday afternoon, the 13tli instant; the Hon. Robert C.
WiXTHROP occupying the chair.
The record of the previous meeting was read by the Sec-
retary and was approved.
The donations to the Library for the past month were re-
ported by the Librarian.
The President then spoke as follows : —
I was congratulating you, Gentlemen, at our last meeting,
that with the great celebration at Newburgh the series of
Revolutionary Centennials had come to an end. But I reck-
oned without my host. Only a da}^ or two later an invitation
came for the Society as well as myself to attend the ceremo-
nies on the one hundredth anniversary of the evacuation of
New York. As that anniversary came upon Sunday, the cele-
bration was held on the 2(3th of November, and seems to have
been the occasion of as brilliant and imposing a spectacle as
the unfortunate weather would allow. I returned to the
Committee a grateful acknowledgment of the invitation with
which we were favored, and I now present the letter to be
placed on our files.
Meeting our associate and friend, Mr. Robert Bennett
Forbes, casually in a horse-car a few days ago, he mentioned
that he had applied to our Librarian for the loan of the
model, given by himself to our Cabinet some years ago, of
the " Midas," — the first American steamer which passed
the Cape of Good Hope, — for the purpose of illustrating
a lecture which he is to deliver to-morrow evening at the
I 
