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SPECIMENS 



NEWSPAPER LITERATURE: 



PERSONAL MEMOIRS, ANECDOTES, 



REMINISCENCES. 



JOSEPfi T. BUCKINGHAM. 



VOL. L 



J B O S T O N : 
REDDING AND COMPANY. 
1852. 

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9 







Entered according rfti Art of ^^nnffromrnn the year 1860, by Josefh T. 
Buckingham, in the Clerk^s Office of the Distrift Court of the District 
of Massachusetts. 






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ALL PRINTERS 



CONDUCTORS OF THE NEWSPAPER PRESS, 

WHO BNTKRTAIIT 

▲ TBUB BS6ABD FOB THB DIGNITY OF THBIB PBOFBSSIOK, 

AND ▲ 

DISPOSITION TO BENDBB IT ▲ BLBSSINO TO HUMANITY 

▲S WKLL AS 

▲ 80UBCB OF PBOFIT TO THBMSBLYESy 

THESE VOLUMES 

▲RB 
BBSPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, 

BT THBIB 

FRIEND AND FELLOW-LABORER, 

J. T. B. 



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PREFACE. 



The nature of the contents of these voltmies is so. dis- 
tinctly described in the title-page, that a preface may be 
thought rather superfluous than needful. It is not my 
purpose to forestall objection, to deprecate criticism, or 
to offer apology for defect. 

Some of the " specimens," here exHbited, were pre- 
served during an apprenticeship from 1795 to 1800 ; 
others, occasionally, in subsequent years. When solicited 
by my friends, the publishers, to write a book of reminis- 
eences, I bethought me of my juvenile repository ; and, 
on looking it through, it occurred to me that some of its 
materials, — with an accompaniment of memoirs, anec- 
dotes, and scraps of history, to point out their origin, and, 
when practicable, identify their authors, — might meet 
with a degree of favor, sufEicient to indemnify the expense 
of publication. ^^ On this hint " I went to work, and 
here is the product of my labor. 

To the History of Printing, by the late Isaiah Thomas, 
Esq. I am indebted for many — though not all — the 
items of personal history of the earliest printers. I know 
not that those facts can be obtained from any other source. 
Mr. Thomas's work is not now to be found in the literary 



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Yl PHEFAOB. 

market ; — it is entirely out of print. . In what I have 
drawn from it, his own language has been freely pre- 
served ; but seldom, if ever, without some kind of refer- 
ence acknowledging the obligation. 

For most of that, which relates to the history of Thomas 
Fleet and his descendants, my acknowledgement is due 
to John F. Eliot, of Boston, a branch of that stock by 
the maternal line, and, like his venerable father, the late 
Dr. Ephraim Eliot, a studious preserver of interesting 
and curious morsels of antiquity. 

The relatives of the late Benjamin Russell politely 
&vored me with liie examination of all the manuscript 
papers he left at his decease. But from these little 
could be extracted to aid in the compo»tion of a memdr, 
worthy of the subject. They were chiefly letters on 
business affairs, that possessed no interest for general 
readers. From the papers of one, who had, for many 
years, been intimately connected with some of the most 
celet»«ted statesmen and pditicians of Massachusetts, it 
was expected that there would remain some tokens 
of correspondence on matters of public concern ; but 
Botibmg of tibis description was discovered. A short mem* 
orandum, on a piece of paper not larger than one of these 
pagee, stating the name and occupation of his father, the 
time of his own birth, and the number and names of his 
brothers and sisters, is all the information derived from 
these papers. I am indebted to Henry Famum, Esq. of 
Boston, — long the familiar friend of Mr. Russell, — for 
sugges&ms that have been useful in compiling th« 
memoir ; and to the Bev. Dr. Jenks of Boston, f(»r his 
courteous criticiflm and kind approbation of my perform- 
ance. My acquaintance with Mr. Russell began in 1802, 



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PRBFAOE. TU 

and most of I2ie aaecdoied related of him I have heard 
repeatedly from his own lips. It is regretted that he did 
not occupy some of the latter years of his life in writing 
a history of Immdf and hds times. He was frequently 
requested to do this, as frequently resolved that he would 
do it, but died and left no record, hut what is contidned 
in the Centinel. That is his auto-bk>graphy — a mirror, 
in which, only, a reflection of his character should be 
sought, and in which, only, it will be found. 

To the Librarians of ihe Antiquarian Society, the Mas- 
sachusetts Historical Society, the Boston Athenaeum, and 
of Harvard College, my thanks are due for the privilege of 
examining the files of newspapers in the libraries of those 
institutions respectively. These have been referred to, 
chiefly, to verify dates and to confirm impressions on the 
tablet of memory. 

A large portion of this woric consists of extracts, which 
required but little exertion to select and arrange in their 
present connection, — an employment more pleasant than 
irksome. But the personal notices, meagre and imper- 
feet as they are, have not been compiled without labor 
and vexation. This portion has been tedious and discour- 
a^g. Many fruitless inquiries have been made — many 
letters have been written, which produced no satisfactory 
answers. I have been anxious to present more partic«- 
lars cf the lives and actions of several persons than I have 
been able to obtain. In respect to some, who have 
deceased within a few years, and who are still remem- 
bered, I have not been successful in learning, even 
from their nearest relatives, any more of their history 
than the places and times of their respective births and 
deaths. 



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Till PRE7ACB. 

I like the plan of this work, — and I make no apology, 
nor ask pardon, for the conceitedness of the declaration. 
If it cotdd be extended so as to embrace sketches and 
specimens of ail the prominent newspapers, printers, and 
editors, that have put in their claim to public favor in 
tiiese United States, — and which are entitled to such a 
memorial, — I cannot resist the belief that it would be 
"instructive, useful, and entertaining." But such a 
field of labor would require an industrious and patient 
gleaner, — elastic of nerve, redolent of ambition, instinct 
with courage, and confident of coming years. Such a 
work would fill more volumes than would be read. The 
world itself would hardly contain the books. 

The limits, to which, by an arrangement with the pub- 
lisher, the contents of these volumes were circumscribed, 
have necessarily confined the selections of specimens to 
New-Eqgland (except in one or two instances) and chiefly 
to Massachusetts, and precluded all notices of publica- 
tions that have had their origin since the commencement 
of the present century. Materials for a third volume, 
embracing matters of more recent date, and which excited 
some interest at the time of their occurrence, are on hand ; 
but it is not desirable that the public should be burdened 
witii uncalled-for details. And even if the publication 
Ediould be demanded, a willing compliance with the call 
may be defeated by an event, to which all are sub- 
ject, — an event which matf happen TO-MOKaow, — which 
mtut happen soon. 

These volumes make no pretensions to a high literary 
character. They are the production of one, who had no 
advantages of education, but such as were supplied by 
the district schools m Connecticut, more than sixty years 



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PREFACE. IX 

ago, and before he was ten years old. For all else of 
literarj qualification^ he is indebted only to his 0¥m un- 
aided efforts. The printing-ofiSce was his academy, and 
he has no diploma from any other TJniversiiy than that, of 
which Gutenberg, Laurentius, and Faust, were the found- 
ers. J. T. B. 



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CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 



PAOS 

Thb BoBTOir Nbwb-Lbttbb 4 

Thb Boston Gazette. Bbookbs's 44 

The Nbw-Enolani> Coubant 49 

The New-England Weekly Joubnal 89 

The Weekly Beheabsal 112 

The Boston Evbnino Post 129 

The Boston Weekly Post-Boy 154 

The Independent Adyebtiseb 156 

The Boston Gazette. Eneeland & Gbbbn'b . .163 

The Boston Gazette. Edes & Gill's 165 

The Boston Weekly Adyebtiseb 206 

The Boston Chboniolb . .212 

The Essex Gazette 217 

The New-Enoland Chbonigle 220 

The Massaohusetts Gazette 227 

The Massachusetts Spy 229 

The Constitutional Coubant 246 

The Independent Chboniclb 248 

The Pennsylvania Joubnal 288 

The Essex Joubnal 298 

The Independent Ledobb 304 

The Continental Joubnax. 308 

The Connecticut Joubnal and New-Haven Post-Boy . 313 

The New-London Gazette 316 

The Hebald or Fbeedom . 321 



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XU CONTENTS. 



APPENDIX. 



PAOB 

James Pbakklin's Impsisonmsnt 337 

Letters of Bey. S. Petess 339 

Benjamin Edes . 347 

Leonabd Woscebtbs 347 

Index to Vol. 1 345 



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SPECIMENS 



NEWSPAPER LITERATURE. 



The first atternpt to set up a newspaper, in North- 
America, — so far as can be ascertained from existing 
records, or from tradition, — was made in Boston, in the 
year one thousand six hundred and ninety. Of the 
paper then issued only one copy is known to be in ex- 
istence ; and that copy is deposited in the State Paper 
Office in London, where it has been seen and examined 
by the Rev. Joseph B. Felt, the Librarian of the Massa- 
chusetts Historical Society. 

Number 1 of this paper, and probably the only number 
ever published, is dated September 25, 1690. It is a small 
sheet, of four quarto pages, — one of which is blank, — 
and contains a record of passing occurrences, foreign and 
domestic. Immediately on its publication, it was noticed 
by the legislative authorities. Four days after, they spoke 
of it as a pamphlet ; stated that it came out contrary to 
law, and contained " reflections of a very high nature." 
They strictly forbade " any thing in print, without license 
first obtained from those appointed by the government to 

VOL. I. 1 

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2 SPECIMENS OF 

grant the same." It was printed by Richard Pierce for 
Benjamin Harris.* 

Richard Pierce, the reputed printer of this newspaper, 
is said by Mr. Thomas to have been the fifth person 
who carried on the printing business in Boston. Where 
he learned the art is not known; but, as there was a 
printer of that name in London in 1679, it is thought 
not improbable that he emigrated to this country, and 
set up his press in Boston, and was identical with the 
Richard Pierce, whose name appears in the imprint 
of the newspaper, that is in the London State Paper 
Office. 

Benjamin Harris, whose name is given as that of the 
proprietor of this first newspaper, had a printing-house in 
Boston, and printed chiefly for booksellers. In 1692 
and 1694, he printed the Acts and Laws of Massachu- 
setts, and, according to the imprint, was " Printer to his 
Excellency the Goveraour and Council." He was from 
London, and returned to that place about the year 1694. 
Both before and after his emigration to this country, 
he had a bookstore in London. Dunton, an English book- 
seller, who had been in Boston, in his " Life and Errors," 
printed in London, in 1705, says of Benjamin Har- 
ris, — " He was a brisk asserter of English liberties, and 
once printed a book with that very title. He sold a 
Protestant Petition in King Charles's reign, for which he 
was fined five pounds; and he was once set in the 
pillory, but his wife (like a kind Rib) stood by him to 
defend her husband against the mob. After this (having 
a deal of mercury in his natural temper) he traveled to 

•See Felt's History of Salem, vol. i. 



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NEWSPAPER LITERATURE. 3 

New-England, where he followed bookselling, and then 
coffee-selling, and then printing, but continued Ben 
Harris still, and is now both bookseller and printer in 
Grace Church Street, as we find by Am London Post ; 
so that his conversation is general (but never imperti- 
nent) and his wit pliable to all inventions. But yet his 
vanity, if he has ^ny, gives no alloy to his wit, and is no 
more than might justly spring from conscious virtue ; 
and I do him but justice in this part of his character, for 
in once traveling with him from Bury Fair, I found him 
to be the most ingenious and innocent companion, that I 
had ever met with." * 

Harris's commission to print the Laws was placed 
on the page opposite to the title, in the words following : 

By his Excellency. — I order Benjamin Harris to print the Acts 
and Laws made by the Great and General Court, or Assembly of Then: 
Majesties Province of Massachiisetts-Bay in New-England, that we the 
People may be informed thereof. 

William Phippb. 

Boston, December 16, 1692. 

* History of Printing, vol. i. 287-9. 



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THE BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 



The first newspaper established in North-America, 
was the Boston News-Letter, the first number of which 
appeared on Monday, April 24, 1704. It was a half 
sheet of paper, in size about twelve inches by eight ; 
made up in two pages folio, with two columns on each 
page. Under the title, which 'is in Roman letters of 
the .size called, by printers, French Canon, are the words 
" printed by authority," in Old English, or Black let- 
ter. The imprint is " Boston ; Printed by B. Green, 
Sold by Nicholas Boone, at his Shop near the Old Meet- 
ing-House." From the annexed advertisement, — the 
only one which the paper contains, — it is safe to infer 
that the proprietor was John Campbell : — 

This News-Letter is to be continned Weekly ; and all Persons who 
have any Houses, Lands, Tenements, Farms, Ships, Vessels, Goods, 
Wares, or Merchandizes, &c. to be Sold, or Let ; or Servants Run-away, 
or Goods Stole or Lost ; may have the same inserted at a Beasonable 
Kate, from Tivdve Pence, to Five Shillings, and not to exceed : Who 
may agree with John Campbd Postmaster of Boston. 

All Persons in Town and Country may have said News-Letter every 
Week, Yearly, upon reasonable terms, agreeing ^mtixJohn Campbd, Post- 
master for the same. 



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BOSTON NEWS-LETTER* 5 

From its commencement to November 3, 1707, the 

News-Letter was printed by Bartholomew Green. From 
that date to October 2, 1711, it was "Prmted by John 
ABen in Pudding-Lane.* And Sold at the Post-Office 
in Cornhill." At that time, the post-office and Allen's 
printing-office were destroyed by fire, and the paper was 
again printed by B. Green, "for John Campbell, Post- 
master," till the end of the year 1722. 

Of the personal history of John Campbell, I am not 
aware that any thing is known, except that he " was a 
Scotchman, a bookseller, and postmaster in Boston." 
If his literary accomplishments should be estimated by 
the evidence furnished in the columns of his paper, 
they were not of a high order. The contents of the 
News-Letter, during the whole of his proprietorship, are 
chiefly extracts from London papers. The little, that has 
the appearance of having been written by the editor, is 
clumsily composed, with no regard to punctuation or 
grammatical construction. His own advertisements con- 
cerning the business relations between him and his cus- 
tomers form the principal portion of all, that may be 
considered as original matter. The extracts, which fol- 
low, taken almost at random are specimens of the style 
of his composition. 

During the several years from its commencement, it 
is evident, from Campbell's frequent and importunate 
calls upon the public, that the News-Letter had but 
feeble support, and limited circulation. The following 
advertisement is taken from the paper of May 12, 1707, 
more than three years after the publication was begun : — 

^'Now DevoDihire-street. 
1* 

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O BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 

At the perswasion of seyeral Gentlemen, MerchantB and others, both 
in this and the Neighbouring Provinces, who are sensible of the want of 
this Publick Letter of Intelligence for both Foreign and Domestic 
Occurrences ; the Undertaker has once more attempted to Print the 
same in hopes that all Persons who loves a Publick Good wiU one way 
or other put to their helping hand, to Promote and Support it, that thd 
same may not only be carryed on a fourth year, but also continued for 
the future. 

And all Persons in Town and Country who have a mind to encourage 
the same, may have the said Letter of LitelUgence etery Week by tha 
year upon reasonable Terms, agreeing with John Campbell Post-master 
of Boston. 

'Tis taken for granted that all such who had this Letter of Intelligence 
list year, and have not forbid the same, will be still willing to take it at 
the Price which others give : If any are of a contrary mind, let them 
signify it, and we shall forbear sending it to them. 

The Undertaker has also been advised to carry on the Occurrences 
where they were left off, and 'tis hoped that fourteen days will retrieve 
the same. 

At the close of the fourth year, Campbell repeated his 
appeal to the public in more importunate terms than 
before. " All Persons in Town and Country," who had 
not already paid for the fourth year, were desired " to 
pay or send it in : with their resolution if they would 
have it continued and proceeded in for a fifth year, (Life 
permitted :) though there has not as yet appeared a 
competent number to take it annually so as to enable 
the Undertaker to carry it on effectually ; yet he is still 
willing to proceed with it, if those gentlemen that have 
the last year lent their helping hand to support it, con- 
tinue still of the same mind another year, in hopes that 
those who have been backward to promote such a Pub- 
lick Good will at last set in with it." 

In January, 1719, Campbell proposed publishing his 
paper on a whole sheet, " because," as he said, he found 
it impossible, " with half a sheet a week to carry on all 



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JOHN CAMPBELL. 7 

the Publick NewB of Europe." The project does not 
seem to have fulfilled his expectations ; for, a few months 
afterwards, he again laid his grievances before the public, 
in language, which could leave no doubt that he was suf- 
fering sore disappointment : — 

The Undertaker of this News-Letter, the 12th Jannary last being the 
Second Week of this Currant Years Intelligence gave then Intimation 
- that after 14 (now upwards of 15) years experience, it was impossible 
with half a Sheet a Week to carry on all the Publick Occurrences of 
Europe, with those of this, our Neighbouring Provinces, and the West 
Indies. To make up which Deficiency, and the News Newer and more 
acceptable, he has since Printed every other Week a Sheet, whereby 
that which seem'd Old in the former half Sheets, becomes New now by 
&e Sheet, which is easy to be seen by any One who will be at the pains 
to trace back former years, and even this time 12 Months, we were then 
13 Months behind with the Foreign News beyond Great Britain, and 
now less than Five Months, so that by the Sheet we have retrieved about 
8 mpnths since January last, and any One that has the News-Letter 
•ince that time, to January next (life permitted) will be accommodated 
with all the News of Europe, &c. contained in the Publick Prints of 
London that are needful for to be known in these Parts. And in regard 
the Undertaker had not suitable encouragement, even to Print half a 
Sheet Weekly, seeing that he cannot vend 300 at an Impression, tho* 
some ignorantly concludes he Sells upwards of a Thousand ; far less is 
he able to Print a Sheet every other Week, without an Addition of 4, 6, 
or 8 Shillings a Year, as every one thinks fit to give payable Quarterly, 
which will only help to pay for Press and Paper, giving his Labour for 
nothing. And considering the great Chai^ he is at for several Setts of 
Publick Prints, by sundry Vessels from London, with the Price of Press, 
Paper, Labour, carrying out the News Papers, and his own Trouble, in 
collecting and composing, &c. It is afforded by the Year, or by the 
Piece or Pi^>er, including the difierenoe of money far cheaper than in 
England, where they Sell several Hundreds nay Thousands of Copies 
to a very small number vended here. Such therefore as have not 
ahready paid for the half Year past the last Monday of June, are hereby 
desired to send or pay in the same to John Campbell at his House in 
Comhili, Boston. August 10, 1719. 

It does not appear that Campbell was relieved of his 
embarrassments by these urgent representations of his 



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8 BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 

discouraging circumstances. About this time a new 
postmaster was appointed, who, in December, 1719, 
began the publication of another paper. Campbell was 
much annoyed by his removal from office, and perhaps 
equally so by the setting up of a rival newspaper. He 
again addressed his customers, stating that he began his 
" Publick Letter of Intelligence near upon sixteen years 
ago, and ever since continued Weekly with Universal Ap- 
probation," &c., " for the Interest and advantage of the 
Post-Office, Gentlemen, Merchants and others, both in 
Town and Country ; and preventing a great many false 
Reports." In a similar style he continued to address 
the public, two or three times a year, as long as he re- 
mained proprietor of the News-Letter. 

The establishment of a third newspaper, — The New- 
England Courant, by James Franklin, in 1721, — was 
another annoyance to Campbell, and produced a " paper 
war," which lasted as long as he was connected with 
the News-Letter. In his address to the public, Frank- 
lin, it seems, intimated that the News-Letter was " a dull 
vehicle of intelligence." The imputation roused Camp- 
bell's temper, and imparted a spark or two of vitality to 
his paper. He defended himself against Franklin's 
charge in this wise, in the News-Letter of August 14 : — 

D:^ On Monday last the 7th Currant, came forth a Third Newspaper 
in this Town, Entitaled, The New England Courant, by Homo rum unius 
Negotii ; Or, Jack of all Trades, and it would seem. Good at none ; 
giving some very, very fix)thy fiilsome Account of himself, but lest the 
continuance of that style should offend his readers ; wherein with sub- 
mission (I speak for the Publisher of this Intelligence, whose endeav- 
ours has always been to give no offence, not meddling with things out 
of his Province.) The said Jack promises in pretence of Friendship 
to the other News Publishers to amend like soure Ale in Summer, 
Reflecting too, too much that my performances are now and then, very, 



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JOHN CAMPBELL. 9 

yerj Dull, Misrepresentmg mj candid endearoun (according to die 
Talent of my Capacity and Education ; not soaring above my Sphere) 
in giving a true and genuine account of all Matters of Fact, both For- 
eign and Domestick, as comes any way well Attested, for these Seven- 
teen Tears & an half past It is often observed, a bright Morning is 
succeeded by a dark Rainy Day, and so much Mercury in the beginning 
may end in Alhum Grcecum. And seeing our New Gentleman seems to 
be a Scholar of Academical Learning, (which I pretend not to, the 
more my unhappiness ; and too late to say, O mihi pnxteritos referat si 
Jupiter Armos) and better qualified to perform a work of this Nature, 
fbr want whereof out of a Design for publick good made me at first at 
the Sollicitation of several Gentlemen, Merchants, and Others, come 
into it, according to the Proverb, thinking that half a Loafe was better 
than no Bread ; often wishing and desiring in Print that such a one 
would undertake it, and then no one should sooner come into it and 
pay more Yearly to carry it on than this Publisher, and none appearing 
then, nor since, (others being judges) to excell him in their perform- 
ances, made him to continue. And our New Publisher being a Scholler 
and Master, he should (me thinks) have given us (whom he terms low, 
flat and dull) Admonition and told one and the other wherein our Dul- 
ness lay, (that we might be better Proficients for the future. Whither 
in reading, hearing, or pains taking, to write, gather, collect and insert 
the Publick Occurrences) before publick Censure, and a good example 
to copy and write after, and not tell us and the World at his first setting 
out, that he'll be like us in doing as we have done. Turpe est Doctori 
cum culpa redarguit ipsum. And now all my Latin being spent except- 
ing what I design always to remember Nemo sine crimine vivit. I pro- 
mise for my part so soon as he or any Scholler will Undertake my hitherto 
Task, and Endeavours, giving proof that he will ndk be very, very Dull, 
I shall not only desisf for his Advantage, but also so far as capable 
Assist such a good Scribe. 

It is to be regretted that the early numbers of Frank- 
lin's paper are not to be found, and that no trace can be 
discovered of either the address, which called forth the 
defence of Campbell, or Franklin's reply, which appeared 
in the Courant of the next week. That his reply was 
caustic and severe is evident from Campbell's rejoinder, 
which came out in the News-Letter of August 28, as 
follows : — 



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10 BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 

D:^ J. C. to Jack Dnllman aendeth Greeting. 

Sir, What you call a Satyrical Advertisement was a just Yindica- 
tion of my News-Letter, from some unfair Reflections, in your Introduc- 
tion to your first Courant ; Your reply in hobling Verse, had they more 
Reason and less Railing might possibly have inclined me to think you 
was some Man of great Learning, or as you please to Word it, a 
Meikle Man ; but Railery is the talent of a mean Spirit, and not to be 
returned by me. In honour to the Muses I dare not acknowledge your 
Poem to be from Parnassus ; but as a little before the Composure you 
had been Rakeing in the Dunghill, its more probable the corrupt Steams 
got into your Brains, and your Dullcold Skul precipitate them into Ri- 
baldry. I observe you are not always the same, your History of Inocu- 
lation intends the Publick Good,* but your Letter to Mr- Compton and 
Rhyme to me smell more of the Ale Tub than the Lamp.* I do not 
envy your skill in Anatomy, and your accurate discovery of the GhJl 
Bladder, nor your Greography of the DunghiU (natale solum.) You say 
your Ale grows better, but have a care you do not Bottle it too New, 
Lest the Bottles fly and wet your Toyes. You say you are the Wise- 
man, and his Advice is, Prov. xxvi. Ver. 4 Answer not a fool according 
to Jus folly, lest thou be like unto him. And not very disagreeable to what 
I learned when a School Boy. 

Contra verbosos, noli contendere verbis. 

Against a man of wind spend not thy Breath. 
Therefore I conclude with Verbum Sapienti, 

TuHus est, igiturjictis contendere verbis, 

Qfiam pugnare manu Yale. 

Since like the Indian Natives, you DeUght, 
to Murder in the Dark, eshun and fly the light, 

Farewel.. 

This qi^rrel, in which the ill-teraper was probably all 
on one side, and the laughter and fun on the other, doubt- 
less added popularity to both papers. A certain portion 
of readers have always appeared to enjoy the quarrels 
of editors. That the public read with avidity, — some- 
times with insatiable greediness, — the controversies, 
which happen among the conductors of newspapers, at 
the present day, is a fact too notorious to need any 

* The Courant strongly opposed inoculating for the small pox. 



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JOHN CAMPBELL. 11 

illustrative evidence. The propensity was, probably, no 
weaker in the days of Campbell and Franklin. 

While this controversy continued, which was about 
two months, Campbell issued a whole sheet every week, 
after which the News-Letter was reduced to its original 
dimensions. The nick-name. Jack Dullman, was proba- 
bly used by Campbell as a retort upon Franklin, for say- 
ing that the News-Letter was " dull, very dull." 

The files of the News-Letter, down to the end of the 
year 1722, — when Bartholomew Green became its pro- 
prietor, — are very imperfect. The most complete, that 
I have been able to find, are those in the Library of the 
.Massachusetts Historical Society, — and these are all 
bound in two volumes, — embracing not half the num- 
bers for the years previous to 1720. It is not probable 
that the missing numbers differ essentially in the charac- 
ter of their contents from those, which are preserved. 
Extracts from English papers are the principal material. 
It was undoubtedly the intention of Campbell to present 
a connected narrative of the most important political 
events in Europe ; and this intention he apparently ful- 
filled, as far as the limits of his paper allowed. The 
intercourse between this country and Europe not being 
carried on with much regularity, the intelligence was 
seldom imparted to his readers, till some months after 
the transactions, that formed its basis. The first number 
of the paper, April 24, 1704, contained accounts of the 
movements of the Jacobites in Scotland, in November, 
1703, and the speech of Queen Anne to Parliament, in 
relation to the designs of the Pretender, delivered Decem- 
ber 17, 1703. The narrative of the wars in Europe during 
the reign of Anne, and loyal addresses irom various cities, 

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12 BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 

boroughs, and corporations, with her " most gracious " 
replies, are prominent articles in many numbers of the 
paper. Indeed, almost every important state paper, 
issued by the government of Great-Britain, may be found 
in the News-Letter. 

The domestic affairs of the colonies occupy but a 
small space. Arrivals and clearances at the principal 
ports, and the " remarkable occurrences " of the times, 
are generally comprised in a few lines. Occasionally, 
however, we find an incident related in a style adapted 
to gratify the lovers of the marvelous. The two, which 
follow, are presumed to be the composition of the editor, 
and to exemplify a remark before made concerning his 
literary acquirements. The first is from the News- 
Letter of May 8, 1704 : — 

Piscataqua^ April 29. By Letters thence, acquainted, that on Frydaj 
the 28, four Indians Seized a Servant Maid of Richard Waldron% Esq. 
at Cocheco^ who went about 150 yards from the Grarrison to a Spring, 
for a Jugg of Water, about half an hour after Sun down : Supposed to 
be the same Indians that did the mischief mentioned in my last, upon 
Nathanad Header and Edtoard Taylor : They askt her many Questions ; 
Viz — Whither there was not a French Shallop put on Shoar in New- 
England in a Storm? And what was become of the Frenchmen? 
Whither or not we had any Forces going out against the French? 
What number of Souldiers was in the Gfirrison ? What Mr. WcUdron 
had been doing In his Field all day ? What he designed to do with 
that new Timber hal'd to the side of his House ? They told her that 
they had lyen near his House all that day, and a week before to wait to 
catch him, whom they saw to pass over his Boom towards Capt. Greer- 
ishes two Houses, by Sun-set; and that they might take him on his 
return, they had crept down to the foot of the Boom, as near as possi- 
ble : at which time the Maid came along, and were forced to take her, 
otherwise they must have been discovered : They told her also that they 
had been so near him in the Field, that one of them had cock'd his Gun 
at him, and going to discharge, another perswaded him to forbear, he 
would presently have a better Shot at him : They likewise told her 
'twas never the near for him to build his New Fortifications round hia 



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JOBN CABffPBELL. 13 

House, for thej would certainlj take him, and that 'twere in Yain for 
him to Plant his New Orchard in his Field, for he should neither eat the 
apples, nor drink the Cyder, for that they wonld have him hy & hy, and 
roast him, and She should see it In the Interim Mr. Waldron coming 
oyer the Boom ; the Watchman on the Top of his House, not knowing 
who it was, call'd out, Stand; which the Indians hearing, being fright- 
ened ran all away, one stept back and with the head of his Hatchet, 
knock't the Girl down, and left her for Dead, who lay in the Spot two 
Hours, till being found wanting, was enquired after and searched for at 
the spring, where she was found, a little come to her self; hope she may 
do well, for her skull is not broke. Thus Mr. Wcddrm narrowly 
escaped. 

A manuscript note, attached to this article, says, — 
" This was a story invented by the girl to conceal her 
staying too long at the spring with a young man." This 
note appears to be in the hand-writing of the late Rev. 
Dr. Eliot, by whose family the volume of the News- 
Lefter, now before me, was presented to the Library of 
the Historical Society. 

Here follows a recital of " moving accidents, by flood 
and field," which appears to be an editorial composition, 
standing under *^ Boston, May 15." 

On the 11. Currant Arriyed Mr. Jacob FawU of MaH)l€head, at Ston- 
ingUmm, in a smaU Sloop, about 22 days from Cttraao : he was lately an 
Apprentice to Mr. Bvlfinch Sadl-maker of Boston; went out some 12 
Months ago, in one Beddinton from Rhode-Island^ for Curaao^ in order 
to go a Privateering when they came there : the Govemour broke their 
measures, the men Shipt themselves some one way and some another, 
his Lot was to go on board a Dutch man, bound for to trade with the 
Spaniards, in a Ketch of 10 Guns. A Spaniard met them, kill'd the 
Dutch Lieutenant The Master, Merchant and others upon it jumpt 
into the hole, before the Spaniard so much as boarded them ; and if 
they had fought need not have been taken. When they were canyed 
into New Spain, where he was about 9 Months, all the men were sent to 
the Mines, he being Sick was spared ; and when somewhat recovered, 
the Govemour of the place, wanting a Sute of Sails to be made for a 
Sloop, hearing he was a Sail-maker, put him to make them ; for which 
he had a very small reward, a bit of Meat the breadth of a mans Finger, 
3 



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14 BOSTON NEWS-LETTEIU 

and a little Cassadctr bread, his chief Diet while in N. Spain was Oys- 
ters. . A Trader being bound along the Coast wanted a hand, came to 
the Govemour to desire the English man, and promised to return him 
again, when he came back ; 't was granted : So Mr. Fowle went along 
with him, and coming into a certain Port where a French man of War 
laj ; he went on board, and met another English man, to whom he said, 
that if he wotdd go along with him, he wotdd come for him in the Night, 
and would carry him off, 't was agreed, the other shotdd be in the Lyon 
in the head, and he should come with his Canoo, and take him in ; and 
they two should knock the Spaniards of the Barque alongo in the head, 
and come away with her, and accordingly he took the Canoo in the 
night, when the Spaniard was asleep, and put in her two Guns, two 
Cutlaces and 2 Pistols, took the Ancient for a Sayl and Sails to the 
Man of War \ the Watch on board was too quick-sighted for him, espied 
'em, and was forced to paddle back again with all his might, put the 
Ancient in his place. The Spaniards still asleep knew nothing of it. 
In some short time afterwards, the Spaniards going all ashore leaying 
him and a Spanish Indian on board, he stept and unloos'd the Sails of 
the Barque alongo, told the Indian if he would go along with him might 
go & should fare well, he said still no no, & went to take up a Hand- 
spoke to knock out Mr. FoioUi's brains, in the interim Mr. FowU ixifit up 
his heels & threw him Over-board, & put to sea ; the Spaniards on Shoar 
Man'd their Canoo to overtake him, came up with him : The Boat- 
swain first put his hand upon the Barque-alongo, & Mr. Fawle stab'd 
him and he fell backwards, the Captain seemg that, said, put off; the 
Port fired several shot at him, some whereof came thro' his Sayls. 
They also Man'd a Parriagur alter him, & pursued him about 8 hours 
till midnight ; but having a fair wind, in about two days, got safe into 
Curaao about 70 Leagues distant from the Port in New Spam he came 
from, having on Board about 19000 of Cocoa: The Lieut Gov. of 
Curasao forgave him the Custom of it, saying he well deserved it He 
sold his vessel & Cargo there : And bought the Sloop in which he came 
home in ; he met with a violent Storm the 4 mstant He says that of 
late the Spaniards kill all the Englisk they take, but saves the Dutch 
alive. 

The News-Letter of June 5 contains Governor Dud- 
ley's Proclamation, requiring all officers, citizens, &c., 
" of Her Majesty's Loving Subjects," to apprehend and 
seize certain Pirates. Captain Quelch, the commander 
of a brigantine, had committed a piracy on a Portuguese 



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JOHN CAMPBELL. 15 

merchantman, and, with several of his crew, was then 
in custody in Boston. More of the crew were after- 
wards taken at Gloucester and the Isle of Shoals. 
Quelch, with six of his men, was tried at Boston, and 
all were convicted and sentenced to be hung. A sheet, 
which appears to have been printed as a supplement to 
the News-Letter, contains " An account of the Behaviour 
and last Dying Speeches of John Quelch, John Lam- 
bert, Christopher Scudamore, John Miller, Eramus 
Peterson and Peter Roach, the six Pirates that were 
executed on Charles River, Boston side, on Friday, 
June 30th, 1704." The account states that the minis- 
ters of the town had used more than ordinary endeavors 
to instruct the prisoners and bring them to repentance. 
"There were sermons preached in their hearing every 
day — and prayers daily made with them. And they 
were catechised and had occasional exhortations." It 
further states that, on the morning of the execution, 
" they were guarded from the prison in Boston by forty 
musketeers, constables of the town, the provost marshal, 
and his officers, &c., with two ministers, who took great 
pains to prepare them for the last article of their lives. 
Being allowed to walk on foot through the town to 
Scarlett's Wharf; where the Silver oar being carried 
before them ; they were conveyed by water to the place 
of execution," &c. The " exhortations to the malefac- 
tors " and the prayer made by one of the ministers, after 
the pirates were on the scaflTold, " as near as it could be 
taken in^writing in the great crowd," fill near half of 
the paper. On 'going up the stage, Quelch said to one 
of the ministers, " I am not afraid of death. I am not 
afraid of the gallows : but I am afraid of what follows. 

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16 BOSTON NEWS-LETTEB. 

I am afraid of a great God and a judgment to come." 
But, says the narrative, ^< be afterwards seemed to brave 
it out too mucb against tbat fear." He pulled off bis 
bat and bowed to tbe spectators, and said, " I desure to 
be informed for wbat I am bere." Wben Lambert was 
warning tbe spectators to beware of bad company, 
" Quelcb joining," they said, " they should also take 
care bow they brought money into New England to be 
hanged for it." Peterson " cryed of injustice," and told 
the executioner, " he was a very strong man, and prayed 
to be put out of misery as soon as possible." Tbe next 
paper states that ^< as they had led a wicked and vicious 
life, so to appearance, they dyed very obdurately and 
impenitently, hardened in their sins." 

There are not, generally, more than two or three 
advertisements in each paper. Some of them are amus- 
ing from the quaintness of their style, or from the kind 
of articles advertised for sale. The following are speci- 
mens : — 

A Certain Person has Two or Three Hundred Pounds to let at Inter- 
est, for good Security ; Inquiry at the Post-office In OomhiUj Boston^ and 
know further. 

A Strong Lusty white Servant Maids' Time for ahout three years 
and a half, fit for any Household Serrice, to be disposed of by Mr. John 
Edicardsj Goldsmith in ComhlU, Boston. 

By OrcUroftlte Post Master Generalof 
North-America. 
These are to give Notice^ That on Monday Night the SixA of this Instant 
December, The Western Post between Boston and New- York, sets out once 
a Fortnight the Three Winter Months of December, January and February, 
and to go Alternately from Boston to Saybrook and Hartford, to Exchange 
the Mayle of Letters with the New- York Ryder, the First Turn for Say- 
Brook, to meet the New- York Ryder on Saturday Night £^6 11th Currant. 
And the Second TWn he sets out at Boston, on Monday Night the 20th 



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JOHN CAMPBELL. 17 

Currant to meet the New- York JByder at Hartford on Saturday Night the 
2&ih Currant^ to Exchange Mayles, 

And all Persons that sends Letters from Boston to Connecticat, from 
and ctfter the I9th Instant^ are herdy Notified^ first to pay the Portage on 
the same. 

These are to desire a certain woman that convey'd away a piece of fine 
Lace of Fourteen Shillings per yard from a Shop in Boston about Three 
Months ago to return the same. 

And of another that conveyed away a piece Fine Calico under her 
Byding-hood some time since Satisfaction is Demanded, or else they 
may expect to be publickly exposed. 

From these it appears that the mystery of shop-lifting 
was not unknown here in former times. * One class of 
advertisements was too common to be viewed at the 
present day, without regret and mortification. For 
example : — 

A Negro man, a negro woman, and a negro Girl about 16 years old 
to be sold : Inquire at the Post-office in Comhill, Boston, and know 
farther. 

Many of the historical facts, that form the basis of 
European history, during the reigns of Queen Anne and 
George I., may be read in the Boston News-Letter. 
Several papers are filled with the despatches of the 
Duke of Marlborough. The funeral ceremonies of 
Anne, as^ observed at Portsmouth, Salem, and Boston, 
and the celebration of the accession of George, are 
described in a style of exquisite loyalty. 

It is presumed that Campbell received but little, if 
any, aid in the management of his paper. The earliest 
communication I have seen, worthy of notice, is the 
following, published April 18, 1721. The article, to 
which it is a reply, I have not been able to find. 
2* 



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18 BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 

The Conntry-Maa's Answer, to a Letter Intitiiled, The Digbreued 
State of the Town of Boston considered, 

sm, 

I Beceiyed your Letter, and shall draw up an Answer to it at 
large, when I have a little Leisure from my Husbandry, and have 
inquired into the Truth of matters of Fact ; for I must needs tell you, 
we have a great many Lyes of late Years, and generally about this 
Season of the Year, sent up from Boston^ and with great Industry spread 
among us, with respect to the State of Management of our Publick 
Aifairs and especially a New Govemour being expected ; and therefore 
you must Excuse us if we don't believe every thing that you send us, 
either in Writing or Messages. 

I am truly sorry for your distressing and thretening Circumstances 
in Boston, tho' I must needs say, it is no more than I have for some 
time been afraid of, when I have seen your sumptuous Buildings, your 
gallant Furniture, your Costly Clothing, and the profuseness of your 
Tables, and the great and scandalous Expence at Taverns, besides a 
great deal of other Extravagance ; I have been always afraid what the 
Consequence of these things would be ; and we are told that not only 
the Government, but the Ministers of your Town have with all Faith- 
fulness and Seriousness warned you hereof. We think it very strange 
in the Country, that when the General Assembly have framed Laws, 
for the good of the Community and even for the Ease of Debtors to 
prevent their Oppression, that any private Person should Arraign the 
Wisdom and even the Justice of the Legislature, this is such a practice 
as never was attempted before, and we suppose will not be counte- 
nanced. 

As to Silver and Gold we never had much of it in the Country ; but 
we can very well remember, that before we had Paper Money, there was 
a sufficiency of it Currant in the Country ; and as the Bills of Credit, 
came in and multiplied, the Silver ceased and was gone ; and of all 
Men, you in Boston, especially the Merchants, should be silent as to that 
matter, for you have shipped it off, and yet now complain of the want 
of it. 

As to the Publick Loans or Bank as you call it, all the World knows 
that the General Assembly, especially the Couutiy part had never 
thought of or consented to it, had it not been on the great Sollicitation 
and pressing Importunity of the Trading part; and yet now you 
Arraign their Wisdom and even their Goodness, this must be lookt on 
as high Ingratitude. We are very much suiprized, you should Bake 
into the Ashes of the Private Bank Projection, that has been buried so 
many Years; you cannot but remember that not only the General 



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JOHN CAlfPBKLL. 19 

Assemblj, upon the most mature deliberatioii, solemnly protested 
against any such tiling ; bat even yonr own Town of Bogton, at such a 
Meeting as we understand thej scarce ever had before, by a great 
Majority utterly refused it. It is too large a Field to enter upon in a 
short Letter, to recite the endless Mischiefs and Confusion that Projec- 
tion would have involVd us in ; and we and our Posterity shall have 
reason to be thankful, that we were delivered from it. 

As to your Project of Building of Bridges, Fortifications and other- 
ways of laying out Money, one would not think by this Paragraph of 
your Letter, that your Circumstances were so Distressing as you pre- 
tend to. 

We understand the Proyince is now in Debt, 1.60000 and yon would 
have it run 1.100000 more in Debt, and say it will be for our Adyan- 
tage. 

This is what we cannot Comprehend. It should seem to us not only 
just to pay our Debts ; but even Wise and Prudent for the Country to 
dear the old Score, before we begin a new one j and I suppose it will 
be very difficult to perswade the Government into any such Projection : 
If the Building a Bridge to Charistown be of such weighty profit, I 
believe the Country would rather private Persons should undertake, 
and run the Risque, and have the Benefits, than involve the Govern- 
ment in so chargable and dangerous a thing, and which is thought by 
some Impracticable. 

Tour Advice as to setting up and encouraging Manufactures we very 
much approve of; and you may depend upon it, we in the Country 
shall, with the Favour of GOD raise our own Provisions, and wear 
Clothing of our own making as far as possible and live out of Debt 

I am much mistaken if His ExceDency the Govemour and Council 
give you any Thanks for these few Sugar Plumbs you are pleased to 
sweeten them with, when you so much afiront them in their Publick 
Administration. 

As to your Advice about the choice of our Representatives, which 
seems the main Spring and design of your Letter, we shall endeavour 
to choose Men of a Publick Spirit that understand and design the good 
of the Country in General, Men of good Substance and Interest in the 
Country, Men well affected to our great Master King GEORGE, the 
Religion Government and Liberties of New-England^ Men that will take 
care to ease the Debts of the Province ; and not run us further into 
Debt, Men of Virtue and Peaceable Dispositions ; and we earnestly 
hope your People in Boston will make the same choice, that so we may 
have a good and wise Election, and a Peaceable and happy Session, and 
the General Assembly have the Divine Conduct and Blessing on all 



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20 BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 

their ArduonB Affairs ; and the whole Coimtrj he under the Protection 
and Encouragement they Enjoy leading qniet and peaceable lives in 
all Godliness and Honesty. 

And lam 

SIR 

yonr assured Eriend. 

As a memorial of the pious liberality of the age, the 
following communication from a gentleman of Providence 
is not destitute of interest : — 



THESE are to give Notice, That whereas there are in the Colony of 
Khode-Island Providence Plantations, sundry Congregations of Differ- 
ent Perswasions, besides the Church of England, and a Congregational 
Meeting-House at New-Port: Several well-disposed Inhabitants of 
Providence (differing in their Opinions from the rest of their Neigh- 
bours in that great Town; being a thorow fair to the Neighbouring 
Colonies, where Travellers often lodge on the Lord's Day) and not 
being able of themselves, to build a Meeting-House, for GOD'S Wor- 
ship to be performed in, by an Orthodox Minister of the Congrega- 
tional or Presbiterian Perswasion, both for their own and Strangers 
accommodation, A Gentleman of the said Town and Perswasion (with 
the Advice and Consent of the others, and Approbation of sundry 
Able, Pious and Grave Ministers of the Province of the Massachusetts 
Bay) took upon himself the Toil and Labour of going from place to 
place, both in this Province and Rhode-Island Government, to gather 
and collect every Pious Soul's Voluntary Contributions, in order to 
forward so good and Christian a Work ; which thro' Mercy {Imus Deo) 
has been so far advanced and accomplished by John Hogh Physician of 
the said Town, that on Wednesday the fifth of this Instant September ; 
the said Meeting-House was Amicably Raised there, for which the said 
Hogle hereby desires in his own and the others Names, to render many 
Thanks to the Honourable and Worthy Gentlemen and other Pious 
People, that by their Charity lent their helping Hand, so far as to ena- 
ble him and them to Effect and Perform this good piece of Service, for 
the frirther advancing, promoting, and enlarging of the glorious Gospel 
and Kingdom of our Dear Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST. 

In 172] y there was great excitement in Boston, on 
account of the small-pox, and the attempt to introduce 



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JOHN CAMFBELL. 21 

the practice of inoculation. " At a town-meeting, held on 
the fourth of November, it was voted, That whosoever 
shall come into this town of Boston from any other 
town presumptuously, to bring the sroall-pox on him or 
herself, or be inoculated, shall be forthwith sent to the 
hospital or pest-house, unless they see cause to depart to 
their own homes ; — or if any person be found in town 
under that operation, which may be an occasion of con- 
tinuing a malignant infection, and increasing it amongst 
us, that they be removed immediately, lest by allowing 
this practice, the town be made an hospital for that 
which may prove worse than the small-pox, which hath 
already put so many into mourning. And that the jus- 
tices and selectmen be desired to put the method above 
said into practice, without delay, as the law directs." 

The Rev. Increase Mather and his son, the Rev. 
Cotton Mather, were in favor of inoculation. Franklin 
and the correspondents of the Courant opposed it, and 
assailed those clergymen, in that paper, with merciless 
ridicule. The following communication in the News- 
Letter of August 28, two weeks after the first number 
of the Courant was published, was attributed to Cotton 
Mather, and probably not without reason : — 



To the AiOhor of the Boston NewB-Letter. 
SIR, 

For Pnblick Use, we desire the favour of you to give this a place 
in your Intelligencer, Bemembering that some Weeks past, you enter- 
tained your Spaders with a sad Account of a scandalous Club, set up 
in London ; to Insult the most sacred Principles of the Christian Reli- 
gion, tending to corrupt the Minds and Morals of the People ; Against 
whom the King in Council gave strict Command and Orders for dis- 
covering, prosecuting and severely punishing any that are found guilty 
of such Impieties. 



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22 BOSTON NSWS-LETTEB. 

And for a Lamentation to onr amazement (notwithstanding of 
GOD'S hand against us, in His Visitation of the Small-Pox in Boston, 
and the threatening Aspect of the Wet- Weather) we find a Notorious, 
Scandalous Paper, called the Chwant^ full freighted with Nonsense, 
Unmanliness, Bailery, Prophaneness, Immorality, Arrogance, Calum- 
nies, Lyes, Contradictions, and what not, all tending to Quarrels and 
Divisions, and to Debauch and Corrupt the Minds and Manners of 
New-England. And what likewise troubles us is, That it goes Currant 
among the People, that the Practitioners of Physick in Boston, who 
exert themselves in discovering the evil of Inoctdation and its Tenden- 
cies (several of whom we know to be Grentlemen by Birth, Education, 
Probity and Good Manners, that abhors any ill Action) are said esteemed 
and reputed to be the Authors of that Flagitious and Wicked Paper ; 
who we hope and trust will clear themselves off and from the Imputa- 
tion, else People will take it for granted, they are a New Club set up in 
New-England, like to that in our Mother England, whom we sincerely 
and heartily admonish warn and advise, not only to remember Lot's 
Wife ; but also what befell several of the Club in England j (which we 
forbear to name) lest their Bands be made strong, and a worse thing 
befall them. 

And will oblige them who are. 

Your Friends and WeU- 
Wiskers to our Country and 
aU Good Men, 

Among the advertisements in the News-Letter of 
November 21, is the following : — 

To prevent wrong Representations that may be made of a late Atofid and 
Tremendous Occurrence faUen out in Boston, it was thought fit to give this 
true and short Account of it. 

At the House of the Reverend Dr. Cotton Mather, there lodged his 
Einsman, a worthy Minister under the SmaU-Pox, received and man- 
aged in the way of Inoculation. Towards Three of the Clock in the 
Night, as it grew towards the Morning of I^iesday the Fourteenth of 
this Instant November, some unknown Hands threw a Fired Granado 
into the Chamber of the Sick Gentleman : The weight whereof alone, 
if it had fallen upon the Head of the Patient (which it seemed aimed 
at) would have been enough to have done part of the Business designed. 
But the Granado was charged with Combustible matter, and in such a 
manner, that upon its going off, it must probably have killed the Per- 
sons in the Room, and would have certainly fired the Chamber & soon 



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BABTHOLOMEW GREEN. S3 

have laid die House in Ashes, which has appeared Inoontettible to tihem 
that have since Examined it Bat the Meiafhl Froyidence of GOD so 
ordered it, that the Granado passing through the Window, had by the 
Iron in the Middle of the Casement, snch a Tom given to it, that in 
falling on the Moor, the Fired Wild-Fire in the Fuse was silently sha- 
ken ont some Distance from the Shell, and burned out upon the Floor, 
without firing the Granado. When the Granado was taken up, there 
was found a Paper so tied with Thread about the Fuse, that it might 
outlive the breaking of the Shell ; wherein were these Words : COT- 
TON MATHER. I was once one of your Meeting : Bui the Ouned Lye 

you told of — You know who, made me leave You^ You Dog^ 

And Damn You, IwQl Inoculate You with this, with a Pox ta You, This 
is the Sum of the Matter, without any Remarks upon it 

At the end of the year 1722, Campbell gave up his 

property in the News-Letter to Green, — as appears by 

the following advertisement, published in the paper of 

December 31. 

^ji^lf These are to give Notice, That Mr. Campbell, Designing not to 
Publish any more News-Letters, after this Monday the 3l8t Currant, 
Bartholomew Green the Printer thereof for these 18 Years past, having 
had Experience of his Practice therein; intends (Life permitted) to 
carry on the same, (using his Method on the Arrival of Vessels from 
Great Britain, &c., to give a Summary of the most Remarkable Occur- 
rences of Europe, and afterwards the Thread of the News,) provided he 
can have due Encouragement by competent Numbers taking it by the 
Year, so as to enable him to defray the necessary Charges. And all 
those who have a Mind (either in Town or Country) to Promote and 
Encourage the Continuation of the abovesaid Intelligence, are hereby 
desired to Agree with the said Green, either by "Word or Writing ; who 
may have it on reasonable Terms, left at any House in Town, Sealed or 
Unsealed. 

This notice was republished the next week, with 

this addition : — 

TTds being the first of a New Year, it is sent at Present to such as bespoke 
the PtMisherfor it, and those who had it last year from Mr. Campbell, who 
if any of them are not tpilling it should be continued to them, are hereby 
desired to return this, 

Bartholomew Green began his career, as publisher and 
editor of the News-Letter, with an intention of making 



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r 



24 BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 

it a correct source of intelligence, and of giving it a 
moral and religious character. His third number, January 
21 9 has the following notice on the first column : 

An Advertisement from, the Publisher, 
It being my Besira to make this as profitable and entertaining to the 
good people of this conntry as I can, I propose to give not (mly the 
most material articles of intelligence, both foreign and domestic, which 
concern the political state of the world ; but also because this is a coun- 
try, that has yet, through the mercy of God, many people in it, that 
have the State of religion in the world very much at heart, and would 
be glad, if they knew how to order their prayers and praises to the 
Great God thereupon, I shall endeavour, now and then, to insert an 
article upon the state of religion. I shall, therefore, from time to time, 
wait upon such as I may know to cultivate a correspondence with the 
most eminent persons in several nations, who may please to commu- 
nicate to me, and thereby to the public, such things as all good men 
cannot but receive with satisfaction. 

Agreeably to this declaration, several succeeding 
papers contained a column, selected from various publi- 
cations, of matter concerning the State of Religion. 
On the seventh of March, following, he repeated his 
intention, somewhat more at large, as follows : = — 

C:^ The design of this paper is not merely to amuse the reader : 
much less to gratify any ill tempers by reproach or ridicule, to promote 
contention, or espouse any party among us. The publisher, on the 
contrary, laments our dangerous and unhappy divisions ; and he would 
always approve himself as a peaceable friend and servant to all, and 
unkind to none ; n^Mrould he ever render evil for evil, either by action, 
speaking, or writing. I He longs for the blissful times, when wars shaU 
cease to the ends of tiie earth. He would rather endeavor his utmost 
to advance an universal concord and harmony ; were it not for fear of 
adding oil to the flames ; and he remembers the fable, which shows him 
the danger of interceding between fierce and contending enemies. The 
publisher would therefore strive to oblige all his readers by publishing 
those transactions, that have no relation to any of our quarrels, and 
may be equally entertaining to the greatest adversaries. For this end 
he proposes to extend his paper to The History of Nature among ttSy as 



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BABTHOLOMEW GREEN. 25 

wen as of Political and Foreign Affairs. And agreeable to this design, 
he desires all ingenious gentlemen, in every part of the country, to 
communicate the remarkable things they observe ; and he desires them 
to send their accounts post-free, and nothing but what they assuredly 
know ; and they shall be very gratefully received and published . That 
so this paper may in some degree serve for the Philosophical TranBoc- 
Horn of New-EngUmdj as well as for a political history ; and the things 
worthy of recording in this, as well as other parts of the world, may 
not proceed to sink into eternal oblivion, as they have done in all the 
past ages of the aboriginal and ancient inhabitants. 

Green seldom recorded any remarkable occurrence 
that he did not accompany the narration with some 
reflections of a moral or religious character ; as in the 
two following articles : — 

Boston, Feb, 25. Yesterday, being the LorcPs-Day, the Water flowed 
over our WharflFs and into our streets to a very surprizing height. They 
say the< Tide rose 20 Inches higher than ever was known before. The 
Storm was very strong at North-Eaat. The many great Wharffsj which 
since the last overflowing Tydes have been run out into the Harbour, 
and fill'd so great a part of the Bason, have methinks contributed some- 
thing not inconsiderable to the rise of the Water upon us. But if it be 
found that in other Places distant from us, and where no such reason as 
this here given can have place, the waters have now risen in like pro- 
portion as they did with us ; then we must attribute very little to the 
reason above suggested. The loss and damage sustained is very great, 
and the little Image of an Inundation which we had, look'd very dread- 
ful. It had been a great favour to the toum, if upon the flrst Hising of 
the waters in the Streets, which hapn'd in the time of the Fore-noon 
Service, some discreet Persons had in a grave and prudent manner 
inform'd some or other of the Congregations of it; that such whose 
Houses & Stores lay most exposed might have repair'd timely to them. 
The reason in this case seems the same as if there had been a Fire in 
the Town. Let us fear the GOD of Heaven, who made the sea and the 
dry land, who commandeth ^ raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the 
UKtves / who ruleth the raging of the sea, and when the waves thereof arise. 
He stiUeth them. 

Boston, Oct. 29, 1730. 

Last Thursday evening we had the most surprizing appearance of 
the Aurora Borealis, as 'tis thought was ever beheld here. At first it 



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26 BOSTON NEWS-LETTEB. 

appeared with the Northern Twilight, a bright flame in the northern 
quarter of the horizon. About half an hour past seyen, there shot up a 
stream which collected into a body, and seemed to hang over us like a 
cloud of fire. This lasted a few minutes, when it grew fainter till it 
disappeared : But still the light in the North continued so bright, that 
one might see to read in some large print About nine o'clock, it 
increased again, and the Heavens here and there grew luminous and 
red. At twenty-four minutes after nine, a light was observed gathering 
in the N. E. which moving slowly to the East, began to glow very fierce. 
It rose leisurely, and at last crowded into a centre near the Zenith, 
whence in a few minutes it branched out all over the northern half of 
the hemisphere, in the florid and sparkling colors of many rainbows. 
It contiimed for about a quarter of an hour, shifting its form and colors, 
and then by degrees grew fainter, till it quite vanished. For the remain- 
der of the night, a settled lustre dawned round the northern edges of the 
hemisphere, which kept flashing at intervals, till it was lost in the mom> 
ing light This should lead our thoughts to the contemplation of that 
awful night, when, the Heavens being on fire^ shall he dissolved^ and the 
dements shaU mdt with fervent heat ; when our blessed Sayiob shaU 
descend in flaming fire, in the clouds of heaven, with power and great s^ary. 

Green conducted the News-Letter with discretion, and 
with a disposition to be impartial, conciliating and hon- 
est, that renders his memory venerable. The consum- 
mation of his labors and his life is thus announced in 
the News-Letter of January 4, 1733 : — 

On Thursday last, being Dec. 28th, deceased here, after a long and 
painful langnishment of a sore that broke inwards, Mr. Bartholomew 
Green, one of the deacons of the South Church ; who has been the 
principal Printer of this town and country near forty years. He died 
in the 67th year of his age ; being bom at Cambridge, Oct 12, 1666 ; 
and was here very decently interred on the 2d current 

His father was Capt Samuel Green, the famous Printer of Cam- 
bridge; who arrived with Governor Winthrop in 1630. He came in 
the same ship with the Honorable Thomas Dudley, Esq., and used to 
tell lus children, that upon their first coming ashore, both he and several 
others were for some time glad to lodge in empty casks, to shelter them 
from the weather, for want of housing. This Capt Green was a com- 
mission officer of the military company at Cambridge, who chose him 
for above sixty years together, and he died there, Jan. 1, 1701 — ^2, aged 



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JOHN DBAPER. 27 

87, bighlj esteemed and beloved, both for piety and a martial genius. 
He took sQcb great delight in the military exercise, that the arriyal of 
their training-days would always raise his joy and spirit ; and when he 
was grown so aged that he could not walk, he would be carried out in 
his chair into the field, to view and order his company. He had nine- 
teen children, eight by his first wife, and eleven by his second, who was 
a daughter of the venerable Elder Clarke, of Cambridge : of which 
eleven children there is this remarkable ; that, though two died young, 
yet of the other nine, there died not one for fifty-two years ; the first 
breach being made about a year and a half ago. 

This Mr. Green, whose loss we deplore, first set up his press with his 
father in Cambridge, and afterwards removed to Boston, where, on 
Sept 16, 1690, soon after he was first married, his press and letters, 
which were then esteemed the best that had been in the country, were 
consumed by a fire that began in the neighborhood : upon which he 
returned to Cambridge, and there continued till the winter 1692,3; 
when he came back to Boston ; where he has been Printer to the Gov- 
ernor and Council for near forty years, and of the Boston News-Letter 
(excepting a small intermission) from its beginning : And for his par- 
ticular character — as the author of the Weekly Journal has very justly 
observed, " He was a person generally known and esteemed among us, 
as a very humble and exemplary Christian, one who had much of that 
primitive Christianity in him, which has always been the distinguishing 
glory of New-England." We may further remember his eminency 
for a strict observing the Sabbath ; his household piety ; his keeping 
dose and diligent to the work of his calling ; his meek and peaceable 
spirit ; his caution of publishing any thing ofiensive, light, or hurtful ; 
and his tender sympathy to the poor and afflicted. He began to be 
pious in the days of his youth ; and he would always speak of the 
wonderfol spirit of piety that then prevailed in the land, with a singular 
pleasure. 

The same paper contains the advertisement of John 
Draper, — the son-in-law of Green, — informing the 
public, that the News-Letler would be carried on and 
sent out every week on Thursday morning, as usual ; — 
that care would be constantly taken to insert therein all 
the most remarkable occurrences, both foreign and 
domestic, that come to hand well attested ; — that all 
communications from the reverend ministers, or other 
gentlemen, would be thankfully received ; — and that it 

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28 BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 

would be his endeavor to render the paper as informing 
and entertaining as possible, to the satisfaction of all 
who may encourage it. 

Under the hands of Draper, the News-Letter main- 
tained the respectable character it had acquired while in 
the care of Green. The selections from foreign journals 
were copious and interesting ; and his own summary of 
passing events, under the Boston head, was as full, prob- 
ably, as circumstances and material permitted. Com- 
munications were not frequent ; but there is one, which 
occupies about five pages of the News-Letter, in five or 
six successive numbers, and affords an evidence of the 
veneration, which, at that day, was attached to the New- 
England version of the Psalms. It is a criticism on the 
version of Tate and Brady, which, it seems, had just 
then, — in 1739, — made its appearance in Boston. 
The critic is, occasionally, quite severe upon those two 
Poets, and adduces various passages, to show that their 
version is an essential depavtore from the simplicity, and 
often from the meaning, of the original. In their ver- 
sion of Psalm VI. they use the phrase *^ a wretch for- 
lorn." The critic says, — " 1. There is nothing of this, 
either in the original or the English Psalter. 2. 'Tis a 
low expression ; and, to add a low one, is less allowable. 
But 3, what I am most concerned for is, that 'twill be 
apt to make our children think of the line in their vuU 
gar petiy-song, so much like it — This is the maiden all 
forlorn^ fcc." 

The following lines of Tate and Brady, — 

No longer let the wicked Vaunt^ 

And proudly boasting say, 
jTiwA, God regards not what we do — 

give the critic an opportunity to make the following 

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RICHARD DRAPER. 29 

remarks, the propriety of which will encounter no objec- 
tion : — 

Vauni is a word so antiquated, that there are not ten in fifty, that 
know what it means. It might have been well enough used a hundred 
years ago, when our New-England Psalm Book was composed ; but is 
too old-fashioned to put into a new performance, for the use of a com- 
mon auditory in the present age. Besides, what difference is there 
between vaunting and proudly boasting f [as it is in the originaL] It is 
perfectly tautologous. 

But to hear a man cry Tush, in a prayer to God, yon would think 
him extreamly impolite, or vain, or beside himself. How much more 
oddly will this sound in the midst of the devotions of a great assembly ? 
To hear them, both men and women, singing T-u-u-u-sh, whether Tre- 
ble, Base, or Tenor ; 'twill be difficult for the more lively part of the 
congregation to keep from smiling. And the idea this raises in me is so 
disagreeable, that I should not wonder if this were called the Tush 
Version. 



Draper published the News-Letter till near the close of 
the year 1762. The paper of December 2, announces 
that, on the Monday preceding, he died after a slow and 
hectic disorder, having just entered the 61st year of his 
age. The notice adds, — '< By his industry, fidelity, and 
prudence in his business, he rendered himself very- 
agreeable to the public. His charity and benevolence ; 
his pleasant and sociable turn of mind ; his tender affec- 
tion as a husband and parent ; his piety and devotion to 
his Maker, has made his death as sensibly felt by his 
friends and relations, as his life is worthy imitation." 
^ The same paper informs the public that the business 
of the late publisher devolved upon Richard Draper, 
son of the deceased. The title was changed to The 
Boston Weekly News-Letter and New-England Chron- 
icle, The next year it was again changed to The 
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter. The 
3* 



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30 BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 

proprietor took into partnership a kinsman, -^ Samuel 
Draper, — and the imprint announced that the paper 
was "Published by Richard Draper, Printer to the 
Governor and Council, and by Samuel Draper, at their 
Printing-Office in Newbury-street." Samuel Draper 
died, in March, 1769, and the paper was again con- 
ducted by Richard Draper alone. 

In May, 1768, the News-Letter and a paper published 
by Green 8c Russell, called the Boston Post Boy and 
Advertiser, were united, as official organs of the govern- 
ment, under the title of the Massachusetts Gazette. 
The business was so arranged, that each paper was still 
a separate publication, belonging exclusively to its pro- 
prietor. The News-Letter was published on Thursday 
and the Post-Boy on Monday, Each paper was equally 
divided in two parts, — one half bearing its proper title, 
and the other half of both papers was called the Mas- 
sachusetts Gazette, " published by authority." This half 
of both papers contained the acts and proceedings of 
government, and the matter was nearly identical in both ; 
while the contents of the other half were varied accord- 
ing to the fancy and mterest of the respective proprie- 
tors. This mode of publication was discontinued in 
September, 1769, and Draper resumed the former title, 
— Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News- 
Letter.* 

After the discontinuance of this " Adam and Eve 
paper," as Draper called it, he published the News-Let- 
ter alone, till May, 1774. During this period, it was 
well supplied with communications by able writers, who 

♦ Sec History of Printing, vol. iL 207 - 209. 



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RICHARD DRAPER. 31 

adhered to the administratioD, and opposed the Whigs 
with the best arguments they could produce, — not 
unfrequently in sober earnest, but as often by efiiisions 
of wanton ridicule or cold-hearted bitterness. The pro- 
ceedings of public meetings were usually published, 
without doubt as a measure of policy, to keep the 
friends of the government informed of the movements of 
the Whigs, In the paper of June 4, 1765, are the 
Instructions voted by the town of Worcester to Joshua 
Bigelow, their representative in the General Court, 
then sitting in Boston. These Instructions require of 
the Representative that he should use his influence to 
maintain and continue that harmony and good will 
between Great-Britain and this province, that may be 
most conducive to the prosperity of each, and suffer no 
innoyations or encroachments on our chartered rights : — 
That he should use his influence to obtain a law to put 
an end to that unchristian and impolitic practice of 
making slaves of the human species^ and that he give 
his vote for none to serve in His Majesty's Council, who 
will use their influence against such a law: — That he 
should use his influence to establish the Fee Table on 
principles more agreeable to the rules of justice : — That 
he should use his endeavors " to relieve the people of 
this province from the great burden of supporting Latin 
Grammar Schools, whereby they are prevented from 
attaining such a degree of English learning as is neces- 
sary to retain the freedom of any state " : — That he 
should make diligent inquiry into the cause of the neglect 
of the militia of the province : — And, lastly, that he 
should "take special care of the LIBERTY of the 
PRESS." 



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32 BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 

No opposition to the Stamp Act was made by Dra- 
per. The officers of the government were sustained 
and encouraged, both in the News-Letter and the 
Gazette. The intelligence of the repeal of the act was 
received in Boston, on the 16th of May, 1766. The 
following account of the reception was given in the 
Gazette, and is substantially the same as that, which 
appeared in the other papers : — 

Friday last, to the inexpressible joy of all, we received by Capt. 
Coffin the important news of the repeal of the Stamp Act ; * ♦ ♦ 
upon which the bells in the town were set a ringing, the ships in the har- 
bor displayed their colors, guns were discharged in different parts of 
the town, and in the evening were several bonfires. According to a 
previous vote of the town, the Selectmen met in the afternoon at Fan- 
ueil Hall, and appointed Monday last for a day of general rejoicings on 
that happy occasion. The morning was nshered in with mnsic, ringing 
of bells, and the discharge of cannon, the ships in the harbor and many 
of the houses in town being adorned with colors. — Joy smiled in every 
countenance, Benevolence, Gratitude, and Content seemed the com- 
panions of all. By the generosity of some gentlemen, remarkable for 
their humanity and patriotism, our Gaol was freed of debtors. At one 
o'clock the castle and batteries and train of artillery fired a royal salute, 
and the afternoon was spent in mirth and jollity. In the evening the 
whole town was beautifully illuminated : On the common the Sons of 
Liberty erected a magnificent pyramid, illuminated with two hundred 
and eighty lamps, the four upper stories of which were ornamented with 
the figures of their Majesties, and fourteen of the worthy Patriots, who 
have distinguished themselves by their love of liberty. The following 
lines were on the four sides of the next apartment, which referred to 
the emblematical figures on the lower story, the whole supported by a 
large baae of the Doric order : 

O Thou, whom next to Heaven we most revere, 

Fair LIBERTY ! thou lovely goddess, hear I 

Have we not woo*d thee, won thee, held thee long, 

Lain in thy lap, and melted on thy tongue ; 

Through death and danger's rugged path pursued, 

And led thee smiling to this SOLITUDE ; 

Hid thee within our heart's most golden cell. 

And braved the Powers of Earth and Powers of Hell ; 



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RICHARD DRAPER. 33 

GODDESS ! we cannot part, thou must not fly — 
Be Slaves — we dare to scorn it — dare to die — 

While clanking chains and cones shall salute 
Thine ears, remorseless G — ^le, thine O B— e ; 
To yon, hlest PATRIOTS ! we our cause submit, 
Illustrious Camden, Britain's guardian Pitt ] 
Recede not, frown not, rather let us be 
Deprived of Being, than of LIBERTY. 
Let Fraud or Malice blacken all our crimes, 
Ko disaffection stains these peaceful climes ; 
O save us, shield us from impending woes, 
The foes of Britain only are our foes. 

Boast, foul Oppression ! boast thy transient reign, 
While honest FREEDOM struggles with the chain ; 
But know the Sons of Virtue, hardy, brave, 
Disdain to lose through mean despair to save ; 
Aroused in thunder, awful they appear. 
With proud Deliverance stalking in their rear ; 
While tyrant foes, their pallid fears betray. 
Shrink from their arms, and ^ve their vengeance way : 
See in the unequal war oppressors fall. 
The hate, contempt, and endless cnrse of alL 

Our FAITH approved, our LIBERTY restored, 
Our hearts bend grateful to our sovereign lord : 
Hail, Darling Monarch I by this act endeared, 
Our firm affections are thy best reward. 
Should Britain's self against herself divide, 
And hostile armies frown on either side, — 
Should hosts rebellious shake our Brunswick's throne, 
And, as they dared thy parent, dare thy son, 
To this asylum stretch tiiy happy wing. 
And we'll contend who best shall love our KING. 

Meetings of ladies were frequently held in the prin- 
cipal towns of Massachusetts, at which resolutions were 
adopted, expressing a determination to wear no articles 
of dress of British manufacture In reference to such 



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34 BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 

resolutions, one of Draper's correspondents indulged his 
wit in the following attempt at ridicule : 

TO THE LADIES. 

Young Ladies in town and those that live round, 
Let a Mend at this season advise yon ; 
Since money 's so scarce, and times growing worse, 
Strange things may soon hap and surprize yon : 

First, then, throw aside yoor top knots of pride : 
Wear none but your own country linen : 
Of economy boast, let your pride be the most 
To show clothes of your own make and spinning. 

What if homespun they say is not quite so gay 
As brocades, yet be not in a passion, 
For when once it is known this is much worn In town, 
One and all will cry out — 'Tis the fietshion ! 

And, as one, all agree, that youll not married be 
To such as wiQ wear London factory. 
But at first sight refuse, tell 'em such you will choose 
As encourage our own manufactory. 

No more ribbons wear, nor in rich silks appear ; 
Loye your country much better than fine things ; 
Begin without passion, 't will soon be the fashion 
To grace your smooth locks with a twine string. 

Throw aside your Bohea and your Green Hyson tea. 
And ail things, with a new-fashion duty ; 
Procure a good store of the choice Labradore, 
For therell soon be enough here to suit yon. 

These do without fear, and to all you'll appear 

Fair, charming, true, lovely, and clever ; 

Though the times remain darkish, young men may be sparkish, 

And love you much stronger than ever. 

Then make yourselves easy, for no one will teaze ye, 
Nor tax you, if chancing to sneer 
At the sense-ridden tools, who think us all fools ; 
But they'll find the reverse far and near. 



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RICHARD DRAPER. 35 

It would be unpardonable to pass over, without trans- 
cribing the following, — which presents the odious vice of 
drunkenness in its true light : — 

EPITAPH. 

Temperate Beadeb, — This Tomb thon majest approach without 
yeneration, and this Inscription peruse without pity for the subject of it ; 
for here are only confined from the air, which they would pollute, and 
from the sight, which they would offend, the odious corrupted remains 
of one of the most ignoble of suicides, & sot; of one, who, neither 
induced by external solicitation nor encouraged by example, nor allured 
by social conversation, equally foolish as flagitious, adopted the enor- 
mity of excessive drinking, without one palliating plea ; and, resigning 
to others the apologies for and the pleasures of debauchery, such as 
they are, unnaturally habituated himself to sullen, soUtary, joyless inebri- 
ation. With imagined privacy, he persisted in swallowing spiritons 
poison to his health, intellects and humanity, tQl he became the wretched 
object of detestation, or of contempt, till reduced to such difficulties of 
misery, as to be indebted for the last mitigation of his pain to the 
causes which produced it, — to causes which he acknowledged, and 
which he execrated as fatal, while he continued them to the hour in 
which they proved so. Art thou inquisitive for his motives, however 
inexcusable, to an indulgence so destructive, be assured they were no 
better than the preposterous desires of expediting the lapse of that time, 
which he had not the resolution to improve, and of reconciling himself 
to that obscurity, from which he had not the industry to emerge. By 
his life, which was unhappy without consolation ; by his death, which 
was early but unlamented, be once more admonished to reject the vicious 
insinuations of idleness ; be, if possible, usefully diligent ; or, at least, 
having nothing to do, resist the temptation to do what may be worse than 
nothing. 

From the News-Letter of March, 1769: — 

Adyebtibement. The Bell Cart will go through Boston before the 
end of next month, to collect Bags for the Paper-Mill at Milton, when 
all people that will encourage the Paper Manufactory, may dispose of 
them. They are taken in at Mr. Caleb Davis's Shop, at the Fortifica- 
tion ; Mr. Andrew Gillespie's, near Dr. Clark's ; Mr. Andras Bandalis, 
near Phillips's Wharf; and Mr. John Boies's in Long Lane; Mr. 
Frothingham's in Charlestown; Mr. Williams's in Marblehead; Mr. 



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36 BOSTON NEWS-LETTEB. 

Edson's in Salem ; Mr. John Hairis's in Newboiy ; Mr. Duuel IB'owle's 
in Fortsmonth ] and at the Faper-Mill in Milton. 

Rixgs are as beauties, which concealed lie. 
But when in Paper , how it charms the eye : 
Pray save your Rags, new heavHes to discover, 
For Paper truly , every one '« a lover : 
By the Pen and Press such knowledge is displayed, 
As woidd'nt exist, if Paper woa not made. 
Wisdom of things, mysterious, divine. 
Illustriously doth on Paper shine. 

Two numbers only of the News-Letter, published 
during the siege, have T been able to find. One of 
them is the publication of November 16, 1775. It is a 
small half sheet, one side of which is nearly filled with 
the proclamations of General Howe. The first is " A 
Proclamation for suppressing Rebellion and Sedition," 
calling upon " all officers, civil as well as military, and 
all other obedient and loyal subjects, to use their utmost 
endeavors, to withstand and suppress rebellion, and to 
disclose and make known all treasons and traitorous con- 
spiracies, which they shall know," &c., " within any of 
the Colonies or Plantations in North America." 

The second recommended that the inhabitants of the 
town of Boston " immediately associate themselves, to 
be formed into companies, under proper officers, selected 
by me, from among the associates, to be solely employed 
within the precincts of the town," for the " preservation 
of order and good government within the town." The 
association was to " be opened in the Council Chamber, 
under the direction of the Honorable Peter Oliver, Fos^ 
ter Hutchinson, and William Brovm, Esquires, on Mon- 
day, the thirtieth day of October, and continued for four 
days, that no one may plead ignorance of the same." 



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RICHARD DRAPER* 37 

All persons, so associating, and able to discharge the 
duty required of them, were to be " properly armed, and 
to have an allowance of fuel and provision, equal to 
what was issued to His Majesty's troops within the gar- 
rison/' 

A third proclamation prohibited all masters of vessels 
arriving in the harbor of Boston, not under the immedi- 
ate command of Sir Samuel Graves, from landing their 
cargoes, without permission, and prohibited all outward 
bound masters of vessels from attempting to go to sea, 
without first giving an exact account of their cargoes. 
Disobedience of this order was to be punished with 
imprisonment. 

A fourth proclamation, dated the sixth of November, 
omitting the descriptive titles and offices of General 
Howe, is as follows : — 

WHEREAS the present and approaching distresses of many of the 
inhabitants in the town of Boston, from the scarcity and high prices of 
provisions, fuel, and other necessary articles of life, can only be avoided, 
fay permitting them to go where they may hope to procure easier means 
of subsistence : 

NOTICE is hereby given that all those, suffering under the above- 
mentioned circumstances, who chuse to depart the town, may give in 
their names to Captain James Urquhart, Town Major, before Thurs- 
day, twelve o'clock of the ninth instant, specifying their Names, Abodes, 
Number and Names of those in Family, Effects, &c., that Passes may 
be made out, conformable to regulations abeady established. 

Given at Head Qaariers, ^. 

The other number of the News-Letter, mentioned 
above, was published on the 22d of February, 1776, It 
affi)rds pretty strong evidence of the disposition of the 
Tory troops and the Tory citizens to indulge in fix)Iic- 
some dissipation, to ridicule the patriotism of the Whigs, 
and to abuse and calumniate the leading men of ^the 
Whig party. The first article in the paper is a notice 

VOL. I. 4 

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38 BOSTON N£WS*LETTER. 

that " the fourth subscription ball at Coucert-Hall is to 

be held on the 29th instant, 1776." This is followed 

by another special notice, as follows : — 

MASQUERADE. 
On Monday, the 11th of March will be given at Concert-Hall, a 
SuBSCBiPTiON Masked Ball. By the sixth of March a Number of 
Different Masks will be prepared, and sold by almost all the Milliners 
and Mantua Makers in Town. 

Under the Boston head, the editor says, — "We hear 
ten Capital Cooks are already engaged in preparing sup- 
per for the Masquerade, which is to be the most brilliant 
Thing ever seen in America/' This was, probably, the 
last of a series of entertainments, — insulting to the suf- 
fering inhabitants of Boston, — as the town was evacu- 
ated by the British troops a few days afterward, and 
occupied by General Washington and the American 
Army. 

The following article, in the same paper, is introduced 
by its author, as "An Epilogue to the many tragic 
scenes recorded in the weekly publications ; '' and is 
given as a companion to "the Prologue to a tragedy 
acted in Boston," which appeared in the News-Letter of 
the eighth : — 

The SOLILOQUT 

OF 

The Boston TREE of LIBERTY, 
Ab tiiey were cutting it down, 1776. 
And mnst I die ? — but why complain ? 
Complaints and murmerings are in vain : 
Tis but the lot of beast and man, 
And die we must, do what we can. 
My ancestors for centuries stood 
The pride and honor of the wood ; 
A royal race, a chosen band. 
The ornaments of Shawmut land. 
For centuries they yearly shed, 
The leafy honors of their head \ 

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BICHARD DRAPER* 39 

At each retnrmng spring reTiy'd 
Their wonted Tigor, grew and tiiriy'd : 
Of wintry blasts they stood the shock. 
The tempests as they rag'd, they'd mock ; 
The nide attacks of winds which blew 
They faced them all and healthier grew, 
Th' imcaltnr'd Indian, nature's care, 
Did often to their shades repair 
Himself to cool and to refresh. 
Regaling on the fish and flesh 
Which natore generously gave. 
Free from the cheat of cultur'd knave, 
Here he enjo/d his simple fare, 
Enjoy'd his sleep, nnpress'd by care, 
'Till European strangers came 
With stealth, and robb'd him of his game ; 
He hunted beasts — they hunted men. 
He fled and ne'er retum'd again. 

How happy is the IndiarCs lot ! 
Few cares he knows, they soon forgot : 
No Av'rice with her griping paw, 
No worries from the dogs of law ; 
In friendship such as nature grants. 
He liyes, and yery few his wants : 
Grateful on nature's bounty looks. 
Quenches his thirst at nature's brooks. 

My parent dy'd when nature bid, 
I spread my grandeur in his stead. 
'Twas when that civil creature, man, 
Undviliz'd fair nature's plan. 
To flourish then it was my luck 
When dvil folks at nothing stuck. 
But would in mobs collect together, 
And nought went down but tar and feather ; 
Ah, me I unhappy ! — 'twas my fate, 
T* outlive the ruin of the state. 

Tis true I flourished many a year, 
And spread my branches full and &ir: 
My body large and hale and plump. 
Fair all around from top to stump, 
'nu that fierce creature huge of size. 
With hundred heads and saucer eyes, 



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40 BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 

Christened by name of Liberty^ 
Repair'd with boisterons croadB to me, 
And for their god ihej chose a tree. 

'Twas then I first knew what was pain. 
First knew that godliness was gain : 
Under my shade my votaries met, 
In weather cold, hot, dry or wet — 
With flaming zeal they throng'd my body 
Inspired with rum and gin and toddy : 
On me they hung a jockey's boot. 
And gather'd thick about my root ; 
They stifled me with sweat and stench, 
And from me did my branches wrench ; 
A massy pole they then erected. 
And with a rebel standard decked it, 
To make the rabble gape and stare, 
Fling up their caps and roar and swear. 
The pole it gall'd my body sore, 
Chaff 'd off my bark, — my branches tore. 
A copper plate they nail'd fast to me. 
And * ♦ * * right through me.* 
My juices by such, usage thickened 
The circulation stop'd, I sicken'd. 
My branches they decayed apace, 
I found rd almost ran my race. 
Should soon be forc'd, as mankind must. 
To lay my honors in the dust 

Thanks to the hand that cuts me down. 
Thanks to the axe that lops my crown : 
The path of vice I never trod, 
I boast, I liv'd the people's god. 

My trunk, may 't be to fuel tnm'd 
By HowB, be honored to be bum'd 
That I to him may warmth impart. 
Who oft himself *s wann'd many a heart 

If ever there should be a shoot, 
Spring from my venerable root. 
Prevent, oh heav'n ! it ne'er may see, 
Such savage times of liberty : 

* Tkt words here wanting have been obliterated by the wear of the paper. 



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RICHARD DRAPER. 41 

May it Uto long to see those times 
When justice dares to punish crimes ; 
When Geobob may see his laws regarded, 
And feel his virtaes all rewarded : 
live to mle over subjects loyal 
And liye revered, respected by alL 
Still in his sphere of virtne move, 
And feel returns of filial love j 
Trample rebellion under foot, 
And crush the monster, branch and root ; 
Quell IhflerSy Cades and Massiandlos 
Who sweat at puffing treason's bellows. 
From giving shades to mobs I go, 
Their future shades are Guides hdow. 

But the most atrociously malignant article, that I have 

found in the News-Letter, is the following, taken, it is 

said, from the London Gazetteer, of September 20, but 

written, unquestionably, as the signature indicates, by a 

Boston Tory : — 

In the beginning of August, a King's ship at Rhode-Island intercept- 
ed a large packet of letters designed for tiie rebel Army. 

Three of these letters were printed by order of the Admiral. The 
first of these letters, addressed to General Washington, is exceedingly 
curious. We are informed by it that the rebels are but indifierent sol- 
diers ; lliat they are very deficient in stores \ and in particular, that they 
had not one engineer. 

Whatever the pious Mr. Benjamin Harrison, one of the Virginia 
delegates, may say of the intentions of Capt. Meredith, it is certain he 
attempted to murder Lord Dunmore, by firing at the boat, in which his 
Lordship escaped. 

The moral and yirtuons Mr. Benjamin Harrison exhibits to us a strik- 
ing picture of American hypocrisy and impiety ; for, whilst he and his 
rebel brethren of the Congress are incessantly clamoringt ♦ * * * 
# # * to conduct them to victory, he is at the same time debavclUng 
all Hie pretty girls in his neighborhood, on purpose to raise a squadron 
of whores to keep his old General warm during his winter quarters. 

The second letter is from another of the rebel Congress, Mr. John 
Adams, a delegate from Massachusetts. He, good soul, makes his wife 
bis confidant, and speaks with great vexation of mind of the fidgets, 

t Part of a line worn off by a fold in the paper. 
4* 



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43 BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. 

whims, caprices, yanity, snpentition, and irritabilitj of his brethren 
the wise men of America assembled together in Congress. 

The third letter is from the same hand to Colonel Warren, President 
of the Massachnsetts Congress. In the beginning of his letter he 
severely, but justly remarks on the weakness of Hancock, the President of 
the wise men ; and honestly confesses that all of them are so confonnd- 
ed with bnsiness in which they have involved themselves, that they 
hardly know what they are doing, or what to do. It is, doubtless, a 
puzzling affair to establish a treasury without any money. As he be- 
gan with criticism, he finishes in the same stile. Warren had written 
to him the same oddities of General Lee ; to which the Braintree Law- 
yer replies, that the old General is a queer creature, and advises his 
friend to love the General's dogs. 

It has become fashionable in America for the Saints to have their 
procurers and their Dalilahs. Whilst the General is fighting the Lord's 
battles in Massachusetts, his procurer, the holy Mr. Benjamin Harrison^ 
is Jitting pretty little Kate, his washerwoman's daughter, for the Lord's 
General. Even Hancock, who presides over and directs the collective 
wisdom and virtue of all America, travels with a vestal in his train. 
He himself can never JU her for the General, though pious Benjamin, 
the procurer-general to the Congress, may. 

A BOSTON SAINT. 

Richard Draper continued the sole proprietor and 
conductor of the News-Letter till May, 1774, and devot* 
ed it to the maintenance of the British sovereignty, and 
the defence of all the proceedings of the British troops 
in Boston. In that month, he took in John Boyle as a 
partner. Boyle was a native of Marblehead, and served 
an apprenticeship to the printing business under Green 
b Russell. This partnership was of short duration. 
Draper died on the sixth of June following. Margaret, 
his widow, in partnership with Boyle, carried on the 
business for a few months, when Boyle, finding ht9 con- 
nection with a Tory newspaper not quite pleasant to 
himself nor agreeable to his friends, left the concern. 
His place in the firm was supplied by the admissicm of 
John Howe, as a partner, by whom the paper was con- 



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JOHN HOWE. 43 

ducted, till the town was evacuated by the British troops, 
in March, 1776. With the termination of the siege, 
the News-Letter was discontinued, and never after 
revived. It was the only paper printed in Boston 
during the siege. It was publbhed, without mterrup- 
tion, for a period of seventy-two years. 

Before he became connected with Draper,- Boyle had 
a printing-o£Sce of his own. He began business, as a 
printer and bookseller, and published a few books. 
When he retired from the partnership, he resumed the 
business of printing and bookselling, but soon after sold 
his printing materials, and confined himself entirely to 
the sellmg of books and stationery. He kept, from the 
commencement of business on his own account to the 
close of his life, in Marlboro'-street, a few doors north of 
Bromfield-street. He died in 1819. 

John Howe was a native of Boston, and there served 
an apprenticeship to a printer. ^'His father was a 
tradesman, and kept in Marshall's-Iane." "^ He was 
quite a young man, when he connected himself with the 
News-Letter. He, with his partner, Mrs. Draper, left 
Boston with the British troops, and went with them to 
Halifax, where he printed a newspaper, and was printer 
to the government. He also had an office of some 
emolument, and was connected with the colonial admin- 
istration. He died about the year 1820. 

Margaret Draper remained but a short time in Halifax. 
She went thence to England, and received a pension 
from the British government, and enjoyed it till her 
death, which happened since the beginning of the pres- 
ent century. 

* Hiftory of Printiog, t6L i. 3M. 

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44 




THE BOSTON GAZETTE. 



In the year 1719, William Brooker was appointed 
Postmaster of Boston. On the 21st of December he 
published the first number of a paper, entitled The Bos- 
ton Gazette, and to the title was added, " Published by 
Authority." The head was decorated with two cuts, a 
copy of one of which is here given ; — the other was the 
representation of a ship under fall sail. A notice on the 
first page, dated at the Post-Office, says, — " The pub- 
lishing of this paper has been in compliance with the 
desires of several of the merchants and others of this 
town, as also at the repeated instances of those people 
that live remote fix)m home, who have been prevented 
from havmg their News Paper sent them by the Post, 
ever since Mr. Campbell was removed from being Post- 
master." From which, it is presumed that Campbell 
was so angry at his removal, that he refused to supply 
his customers by the mails. The character and style of 



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KNEELiiND ANB G&EEN. 45 

Campbell's reply may be inferred from the rejoinder of 
Brooker, which appeared on the 11th of January : — 

The good mannen and caation that has been observed in writing this 
paper, 'twas hoped would have prevented any occasion for controTcrsies 
of this kind ; but finding a rerj particular advertisement published hj 
Mr. Campbell in his Boston News-Letter of the 4th current, lays me 
under an absolute necessity of giving the following answer thereunto. 

Mr. Campbell begins in saying, The Nameless Author — Intimatmg 
as if the npt mentioning the author's name was a fault : But if he will 
look over ^e papers wrote in England, (such as the London Grazette, 
Postman, and other papers of reputation) he will find their authors so. 
As &is part of his advertisement is not very material, I shall say no 
more thereon j but proceed to matters of more moment Mr. Camp- 
bell seems somewhat displeased that the author says he was removed 
from being Postmaster. I do hereby declare I was the person that 
wrote the said Preamble, as he calls it; and think I could not have 
given his being turned out a softer epithet. And to convince him (and 
all mankind) that it was so, I shall give the following demonstrations 
of it. 

Many months before John Hamilton, Esq. Deputy-Postmaster-Gen- 
eral of North-America displaced the said Campbell, he received letters 
from the secretary of the Bight Honorable the Postmaster-General of 
Great Britain, &c. that there had been several complaints made against 
him, and therefore the removal of him from being Postmaster was 
thought necessary. Mr. Hamilton for some time delayed it, 'till on the 
I3th of September, 1718, he appointed me to succeed him, with the 
same salary and other just allowances, according to the establishment of 
the office ; and if Mr. Campbell had any other, they were both unjust 
and unwairantable, and he ought not to mention them. As soon as I 
was put in possession of the office, Mr. Hamilton wrote a letter to the 
Right Honorable the Postmaster-General, acquainting him that he had 
removed Mr. Campbell and appointed me in his room. 

Mr. Campbell goes on : saying, I was auperaeded by Mr, Muagrave 
from England, To make him appear also mistaken in this point : Mr. 
Hamilton not displacing him as soon as was expected, the Bight Hon- 
orable the Postmaster-General appointed Mr. Phillip Musgrave, by their 
deputation dated June 27, 1718, to be their Deputy-Postmaster of Bos- 
ton ; and in a letter brought by him from the Bight Honorable the Post- 
master-General to John Hamilton, Esq. mention is made, that for the 
many complaints that were made against Mr. Campbell, they had thought 
it fit to remove him, and appoint Mr. Musgrave in his stead, who was 



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46 BOSTON GAZETTl:. 

nominated Postmaster of Boston almost three months before I succeed- 
ed Mr. Campbell, which has obliged me to make it appear that he was 
either removed^ turned out^ disjdacedj or superseded. 

The last thing I am to speak to, is, Mr. Campbell says, it is amiss to 
r^)resent that people remote Jiave been prevfnted from having the News-Par 
jTer. J[dD pray he will again read over my introduction, and then he 
wilt^lf^ there is no word there advanced that will admit of such an 
interpretation. 

There is nothing herein contained but what is unqaestionaJbly true; 
therefore I shall take my leave of him, wishing him all desirable success 
in his agreeable News-Letter, assuring him I have neither capacity nor in- 
clination to answer any more of his like Advertisements. 

With the office of postmaster, the Boston Gazette 
passed into the possession of Philip Musgrave, a few 
weeks after its first publication. In 1726, it went into 
the hands of another postmaster, Thomas Lewis, and 
the next year, it became the property of a third post- 
master, Henry Marshall. It was printed for him till his 
death, in 1732. John Boydell succeeded Marshall in 
the post-office, and kept possession of the Gazette, till 
he died in December, 1739. It was printed for his heirs 
till October, 1741, when it was purchased by Kneeland 
and Green, and mcorporated with the New-England 
Weekly Journal. The publication, under the title of 
The Boston Gazette and Weekly Journal, was continued 
by them till the dissolution of their partnership, in 1752, 
twenty-five years after the first publication of the 
Journal. 

A few months after the discontinuance of this paper, 
and the dissolution of the partnership of Kneeland & 
Green, Kneeland issued another paper, under the title of 
The Boston Gazette, or Weekly Advertiser. The first 
number was published, January 3, 1753. It was print- 
ed in the quarto form, on the type that had been used 
for the Gazette and Journal, and was spoken of in the 



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JOHN BOTDELL, B. 6BEEN, JUN. 47 

opening advertisement, as a continuation of that paper. 
Kneeland did not put his name in the imprint till the 
second year of its publication, and at the end of that 
year, the publication ceased, on account of the provin- 
cial stamp-act, and was never revived. 

Of the four postmasters, who in succession were pro- 
prietors of the Boston Gazette, I have obtained no 
information of the first three, but what is embraced in 
the preceding brief and barren sketch. Of the fourth, 
there is the following notice in the Gazette of Decem- 
ber 17, 1739; — 

On Tuesday last, died here, in the forty-ninth year of his age, John 
Boydell, Esq. late publisher of this paper, and sometime deputy-post- 
master within this and the three neighboring govemments : than whom 
none ever lived in this province more generally esteemed and beloved, 
as an honest worthy man, by persons of all ranks, persuasions and par- 
ties, or was more lamented as such at his death. He first came over 
from England into this country in the year 1716, secretary to the late 
worthy Governor Shute, and register of the court of vice-admiralty for 
this Province, New-Hampshire, and Khode-Island ; after which he was 
appointed register of the court of probate of wills, &c. for the county 
of Suffolk, and naval officer for the port of Boston ; all which offices 
he discharged with such singular diligence, integrity, and goodness, that 
this community never lost a more usefcd and valuable member, than he 
was in his degree and station. 

While the Gazette was in the possession of Brooker, 
its first proprietor, it was printed by James Franklin. 
Musgrave employed Samuel Kneeland, who printed it 
till Marshall took possession of it. He employed Bar- 
tholomew Green, jun., as the printer, who printed it 
till the death of Marshall. It was then printed by 
Kneeland 8z; Green for Boydell and his heirs. Bartholo- 
mew Green, jun. removed to Halifax in 1751, intend- 
ing to establish a press in that place, and died there, a 
few weeks after his arrival, aged fifty-two years. 



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48 BOSTON GAZETTE. 

Samuel Kneeland, the ancient and respectable printer, 
whose name occurs so often in this article, was born in 
Boston, and served an apprenticeship with Bartholomew 
Green. He printed the Gazette till some time in 1727, 
when, on the appointment of a new postmaster, the 
printing of that paper passed into the hands of Bartholo- 
mew Green, jun. Kneeland then began the publication of 
the New-England Weekly Journal, on his own account, 
and, a few months after, formed a partnership with Timo- 
thy Green.^ He then opened a bookstore, and the 
printing of the Journal was conducted by Green. He 
gave up the bookstore after a few years, and returned 
to the printing-house. This partnership continued about 
twenty-five years, when it was dissolved, and Kneeland 
continued the business alone with his accustomed activity. 
He was a long time printer to the Governor and Coun- 
cil, and, for several years, printed the laws and journals 
of the House of Representatives. He published many 
books on religious subjects, and some political pamphlets. 
He was a member of the Old South Church, and a man 
of great piety and benevolence. He died, December 
14, 1769, aged seventy-three years, and left four sons, 
all of whom were printers. The Evening Post of 
December 18, in an obituary notice, says, — " He sus- 
tained the character of an upright man and a good Chris- 
tian, and as such, was universally esteemed. He con- 
tinued in business, till, through age and bodily infirmities, 
he was obliged to quit it. His funeral was very respect- 
fully attended on Saturday evening last." 

• Son of Timothy Green, who removed from Boston to New-London, in 17S2, and 
was the first printer in Connecticut. When the partnership of Kneeland is Green 
was dissolved in 1752, Green joined his father, and assumed the management of his 
business, at New>London. 



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THE NEW -ENGLAND COURANT. 



This was the third newspaper established in Boston. 
The first number was published on Monday, August 17, 
1721, by James Franklin. The only copies of it, that 
I have been able to find, — except a very few fugitive 
sheets, — are in the library of the Massachusetts Histor- 
ical Society. They are all bound in one volume, and 
the file is far from being perfect. The first paper in the 
volume is No. 17, dated November 27, 1721, and the 
last is No. 252, published on Saturday, June 4, 1726.* 

The government of the province and its principal 
agents, the clergy, and various individuals, were at- 
tacked in the Courant, by the editor and his correspond- 
ents, without much regard to public or personal char- 
acter. Such attacks were replied to in the News-Letter 
and Gazette. The controversy with the clergy seems 
to have grown out of a difference of opinion respectmg 
the practice of inoculation for the Small Pox — a prac- 

• Tbi* mast be the same file as that, which Mr. Thomas ased in compiling his 
History. He says, yol. ii. p. aoi, '* I have a file of the New England Courant for 
the first two years of its publication, with the ezcepti(« of the first sixteen num- 
bers, whicli are wanting " 

5 

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50 NEW-ENGLAND COURANT. 

tice, which the Courant violently opposed, both by 
serious argument, and by ridicule. The Mathers, — 
father and son, — were lampooned by the writers in the 
Courant, in language not always the most decent, and 
which would not be tolerated at the present day. 

The Courant, No. 17, has a string of syllogisms, of 
which the following are a part, " m answer to a late 
piece in favor of Inoculation, entitled Several Reawnsy 
&c." * These syllogisms, the writer says, " prove that 
inoculating the Small-Pox is a lawful and successful 
practice, and not only so, but a duty. Made plain and 
familiar to the meanest capacity, but withal so strong as 
to convince all gainsayers, but such as want a purge of 
AcZfeJorc." 

Argwnent 1. A method of prerentiiig death, which / have read Is 
used in Smyrna and Constantinople with success, is not only lawful but 
a duty. But I have read that, at Smyrna and Constantinople, inoculat- 
ing the small-pox is practised with success. Therefore^ *Tis not only 
lawful but a duty to practise it. 

Arg, 2. A practice that the king and prince and most eminent phy- 
sicians in London and Dublin, and elsewhere, have declared their 
approbation of, is not only lawful but a duty. But, Such eminent per- 
sons have declared their approbation of inoculating the small-pox. 
Therefore^ It is not only lawful but a duty, &c. 

# # # # # # #.# 

Arg. 6. A method of preyenting death, which Dr. I e M ^r 

and his son, and several other ministers say is the right way^ is not only 

lawful but a duty. But^ Dr. I o M ^r and his son, &c. do say 

that inoculation is the right way. Therefore^ Inoculation is not only 
lawful but a duty. 

Arg. 7. A method of preventing death, which he who comes into, 
must believe. That it is not his duty to stay tiU God send the sickness on 
him in the common uxiy, because then it mU he too late; such a method is 



* This " piece " was a pamphlet entitled " Several Reasons, proving that 
Inoculating or Transplanting the Small-Pox is a lawful Practice, and that it baa 
been blessed by GOD for the saving of many a Life. By Increase Mather, D. D." 



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JAMES FRANKLIN. 51 

not only lawful but a duty. But, He who comes into the method of 
inoculation, mu£t believe, That it is not his duty to stay till God send the 
sickness on him in the common way, because then it will he too late to seek 
rdief. Therefore, Inoculation is both lawful and a duty. 

INFEBENCEB. 

I. Many, who don't use inoculation, are in had terms with the sixth 
commandment, 

II. They who call inoculation the work of the DevUf &c. are guilty of 
a shocking blasphemy. 

In his Courant of December 4, Franklin says : — 

About three weeks since a certain gentleman stopt me in the street, 
and with an air of great displeasure attacked me with words to this 
effect : — You make it your business in the paper called the Courant, to 
viUi/y and abuse the Ministers of this town. There are many curses which 
await those that do so. The Lord unll smite through the loins of them that 
rise up against the Levites. I would have you consider of it. I have no 
more to say to you. This heinous charge and heavy curse would have 
been more surprising to me, if it had not come from one who is ever as 
groundless in his invectives as in his panegyrics. # # # But this 
gentleman has endeavored to make me an object of pukiic odium, for no 
other reason than my publishing an answer to a piece in the Gazette of 
Oct 30, wherein the greatest part of the town are represented as un- 
accountable liars and self-destroyers for opposing the practice of inocu- 
lation. I speak not only my own opinion in this, but that of the town 
in general, who were so exasperated, that, at a town-meeting soon after, 
they mored, that a conmiittee might be appointed to find out the 
author ; but the moderator telling them that he believed it was not their 
province to inquire into the matter, and that besides the difficulty of 
finding out the author, the piece was too scandalous to deserve their 
notice, they were persuaded to desist 

At the close of another column of his justification, 
Franklin says, — The Courant was never designed for a 
party paper — that Inoculators and Anti-Inoculators 
were welcome to speak their minds in it — that what 
his own sentiments are concerning inoculation can be 
of no consequence to any body — " But if the gentle- 
man above-mentioned, or those influenced by him, think 
themselves wronged at any time, and will not be at the 



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52 NEW-ENGLAND COURANT. 

pains to defend themselves, thejr may treat me as they 
please ; I shall not give myself nor the town any further 
trouble in my defence." 

The same paper contains a letter signed " Castalio," 
requesting " the author of the New-England Courant " 
to publish " the words that were spoken to Young Frank- 
lin the Printer, Nov. 13, 1721, (of which there have 
been many lies raised as the manner of them is on all 
occasions,) " as follows : — 

" Young man : You entertain, and no doubt yon think you edify, the 
public with a weekly paper called the Courant The plain design of 
your paper is to banter and abuse the ministers of God, and, if you can, 
to defeat all the good effects of their ministry on the minds of the peo> 
pie. You may do well to remember that it is a passage, in the blessing 
on the tribe of Levi, Smite through ike loins of them that rise against him^ 
and of them tluxt hate him, I would have you to know that the faithful 
ministers of Christ in this place, are as honest and useM men as the 
ancient Levites were j and, if you resolve to go on in serving their 
great adversary as you do, you must expect the consequences." 

The reason of this faithful admonition was, because the practice of 
supporting and publishing every week a libel, on purpose to lessen and 
blacken and burlesque the viituous and principal ministers of religion 
in a country, and render all the services of their ministry despicable, 
and even detestable to the people, is a wickedness that was never known 
before^ in any country. Christian, Turkish, or Pagan, on the face of the 
earth, and some good men are afraid it may provoke Heaven to deal 
with this place, in some regards, as never any place has yet been dealt 
withal, and a charity to this young man and his accomplices might ren- 
der such a warning proper for them. 

In his reply, Franklin says, the best friend he had in 
the world could not have done more to clear up his repu- 
tation, and he closes with the following, which he quotes 
from a London paper : — 

Thus P— sts, by strict rules, 

Maybe called the edge-tools, 

WMch the people, poor foois^ 

Are forbidden to touch : 



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JAMES FRANKLIN. 53 

Be a yillain, a traitor, 

Affront your Creator, 

Or glory in Satire, 
It safer is, much : 

Nay, be lewd, drunk, or swear. 

Proud, covetous as they're 

Ton may 'scape the holy snare ; 
But if a P ot once you have thoroughly vext 
He'll stick by you closer than e'er to his text: 
Tou're plagued for 't in this world, and d d in the next 

Other correspondents of the Courant attacked the 
publisher of the Gazette and his Cambridge correspond- 
ent; both of them were challenged to give the names of 
the persons pointed at as a Hell-Fire Club, on pain of 
being " branded with infamy, and suffering the utmost 
rigor that the law could inflict." Dr. Mather openly- 
denounced the Courant, in an address to the public, 
published in the Gazette of Jan. 29, of which the fol- 
lowing is a copy, and, as nearly as possible, a typograph- 
ical transcript : — 

Advice to the PvUtHick from Dr. Increase Mather. Whereas a wicked 
Libel called the New England Courant^ has represented me as one among 
the Supporters of it ; I do hereby declare, that altho' I had paid for two 
or three of them, I then, (before the last Courant was published) sent 
him word I was extreandy offended with it ! In special, because in one 
of his VUe Courants he insinuates, l^t if the Ministers of God approve of 
a thing, it is a Sign it is of the Devil ; which is a horrid liiing to be relat- 
ed ! And altho' in one of the Courants it is declared, that the London 
Mercury Sept 16, 1721, affirms that Great Numbers of Persons in the 
City and Suburbs are under the Liocnlation of the Small Pox ; In his 
next Courant he asserts, that it was some Busy InocukUor, that imposed 
on the PubUck in saying so ; Whereas I myself saw and read those words 
in the London Mercury : And he doth frequently abuse the Ministers of 
Beligion, and many other worthy Persons in a manner, which is intol- 
erable. For these and such like Reasons I signified to the Printer, that 
I would have no more of their Wicked Courants. I that have known 
what New-England was from the Beginning, cannot but be troubled to 
Bee the Degeneracy of this Place. I can well remember when the Civil 
5» 



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54 NEW*ENOLAin> COUIULNT. 

Govemment would have taken an effectual Goone to suppress such a 
Cursed Libd I which if it be not done I am afraid that some Awfid 
Judgment will come upon this Land, and the Wrath of God mU arisey 
andthere will be no Remedy. 

I cannot but pity poor Franldm^ who tho' bat a Young Man it may be 
Speedily he must appear before the Judgment Seat of God, and what 
answer will he give for printing things so yile and abominable ? And I 
cannot but Advise the Supporters (^ this Courant to consider the 
Consequences of being Partaken m other Mens SinSj and no more Coun- 
tenance such a Wicked Paper. 

To this Franklin made a reply in the Courant of 

Feb. 5, which occupies more than half of the paper. 

After a few introductory remarks upon the indulgence 

of intemperate zeal, he says : — 

A furious pretended zeal, which only regards matters of opinion, has 
been improved against myself with a design to destroy my reputation 
and interest amongst those who are strangers to my person : and that 
this design might be the better carried on, some persons have been so 
undutifid to the Reverend Br. Increase Mather, as to persuade him to 
fix his name to an advertisement in the last week's News-Letter and 
Gazette, wherein the mildest appellation I meet with is that of a wicked 
and cursed Libeller. This charge I now lie under from the oldest min- 
ister in the Country, and in order to clear myself, I shall first give an 
account of the first cause of the difference between us. 

He then proceeds to state that a grandson of Dr. 
Mather (Mather Byles) brought him an account of the 
success of inoculation in London, which he said his 
grandfather wished to have inserted in the Courant, and 
that he had copied it himself from the London Mercury. 
Franklin inserted the article, but on examining the paper 
referred to, he found that there was an essential differ- 
ence between the original and the copy. He asserted 
in his next paper that the article was not to be found in 
the London Mercury. "Here (says he) our young 
spark was detected in a downright falsehood, and lost 
his credit with Couranto." He then considers the Doc- 



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JAMES FRANKLIN. 55 

tor's advertisement, first observing that those who took 
advantage of his creditors to deceive the world, are 
those who now call him a cursed libeller : — 

The Doctor first endeavors to clear himself of the imputation of 
being one among the supporters of the Conrant, bat at the same time 
acknowledges that he had paid me for two or three oi them. He might 
as well have said he had paid me for many more, as to have put me to 
the trouble of proving it. Whethw he remembers it or no, his grand- 
son Byles, by his order desired me to set him down as a customer some 
time ago ; but upon the appearance of a letter in the Courant, wherein 
a certain clergyman was touched upon, he dropt it as a subscriber, but 
sent his grandson almost every week for a considerable time to buy 
them ; by which method he paid more for the papers, and was more a 
supporter of it, than if his name had been continued on the list. At 
length, being weary of sending, he became a subscriber again, and ex- 
pressed no dislike of the paper till after Mr. Musgrave had published 
his grandson's Letter in the Gazette of Jan. 15. So that he both had 
and paid me for one paper after that which he so much dislikes. The 
truth of this I am ready to disclose upon oath against the testimony of 
all the men in the country — and that he has been a subscriber and 
supporter of the paper, the following Letter under his own hand will 
sufficiently prove : — 

" Mr PraMin, I had thoughts of taking your Conrant (upon trial) 
finr a quarter of a year ; but I shall not now. Lione of your Conranti 
you have said that if the Ministers of God are for a things it is a sign it is 
from the DevUy and have dealt very fidsely about the London Mercury. 
For these and other reasons, I shall NO MORE be concerned with you. 
Your well-wishing, but grieved Mend, 

L Matheb. 

Frankim goes on to exonerate himself from each of 
the Doctor's charges, in detail, and commences as fol- 
lows : — 

The Doctor's great age, his exemplary piety, and the consideration of 
his being imposed on by others, would have prevented my making any 
xemaxks on his advertisement, if my own character had not been inti- 
mately omcemed in it. 

I would likewise advise tiie enemies of the Courant not to publish 
any thing more against it, unless they axe willing to have it continued. 
What they have abeady done has been resented by the Town so much 



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56 NEW-ENGLAND COURANT. 

to my adyantage, iSbat above forty persons have sabscribed for the 
Conrant since the first of January, many of whom were before subscrib- 
ers to the other papers : And, by one Advertisement more, the Anti- 
Couranters will be in great danger of adding forty more to my list 
before the first of March. 

P. S. In a Pamphlet lately published, under color of vindicating^ 
the Ministers, I find all persons are again advised not to countenance 
the Courant ; and those who do so are threatened with severe judge- 
ments fix>m Heaven. I shall take notice of what concerns myself in 
my next, if a profane Son of Corah, a Child of the Old Serpent, &c. 
may be allowed to defend himself. 

Agreeably to his promise, in his next paper Franklin 
defended himself and his correspondents against the 
charges in the Pamphlet, as follows : — 

Bfinovat pristina bella, 

'Tis the misfortune of many a good man, to construe all that is said 
against his opinion (in matters of indifference) to be against religion, 
which is in effect to derive it from the power and pleasure of men; and 
ends (in its consequences) to destroy all religion, and to bring men at 
last to no religion. 'Tis a sure pledge of Atheism ; for let men once be 
condemned as irreligious for opposing only the humors of those who 
profess religion, they will naturally be tempted to say. That religion is 
nothing but humor, Religion derives its authority from Grod alone, and 
will not be kept up in the consciences of men by any human Power. 

If the author of a late Pamphlet (published under pretence of vindi- 
cating the Ministers) had turned his thoughts this way, he would never 
have ¥nx>te a thing so much to the dishonor of Grod, the discredit of our 
holy religion and the ministers of it But he has thrown a praise in his 
own face till he is blind to his own failings ; and (to speak like him- 
self) quarrels with his neighbors because they do not look &ad think 
just as he would have them. He calls myself and several others. Pro- 
fane Sons of Corah, Children of the (M Serpent, Abjects, daringly profane^ 
&c. ; and without proving any thing criminal against us, eamestlg calls 
on his dear friends and neighbors to depart from the tents of these wicked 
men, lest they perish with them. 

If the Courant is indeed notoriously prostituted to a Hellish servitude, 
(as he insinuates, p. 3) then there is reason for this advice to his friends ; 
but what he recites from No. 23, (which he takes to be the worst 
charge against the ministers, by distinguishing the words in black letter) 
will no ways prove it The words he recites are, Most of the ministers 



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JAMES F&ANKLIN. 57 

an fir it, and that induces me 1o think it is firm the Devil; bat he pur- 
posely omits the latter part of the sentence, viz. For he often makes use 
of ffoodmen as instruments to obtrude his delusions on the world* 

By this onfair way of writing, we may persnade those who are 
strangers to this gentleman that he often speaks blasphemy in the pnl- 
pit — as thns — I with some others go to hear him, and he mentions 
that place of Scripture, The fool hath said in Ms heart, there is no God — 
we (designing to rain his reputation, and the success of his ministry) 
publish it to the world that he said. There uxu no God. But there has 
been nothing of this nature in the Courant, and until there is, let him 
reserve his cruel inyectires for those who deserre them, (if such there 
be, which I much question,) otherwise, his warning of sinners will be 
labor in txxtn, and in preaching the Gospel, he will spend his strength for 
naught. 

These things considered, let any one judge, whether the author of this 
Pamphlet has not done more towards making the ministers cfesptoo&^e 
ofuf detestable to their people, than any thing in the Courant, which he 
calls a scandalous libd. I doubt not but it would-grieve him to hear, that 
his abusing his neighbors under color of religion, has been such a stum- 
bling-block to some, that they were eren tempted to think religion to be 
nothing but a cheat or contrivance, imposed on the world upon politic 
grounds : But this I assure him I hare often heard of late ; and this, if 
any thing, will persuade me to be silent to any other pieces of this 
nature published against me, unless the authors first endeavor to prove 
what they assert, before they pronounce judgement against me as a 
Castavxsy, which if they had done, the Town would more easily have 
believed 2l false and groundless report, lately raised to my disadvantage. 

It was reported by some of Franklin's opponents that 

his paper was " carried on by a Hell-Fire Club, with a 

Non-Juror at the head of them." If the Mathers did 

not originate the story, it seems they gave it currency. 

In the paper of January 22, 1722, Franklin notices this 

and some other attacks of his adversaries, and adds, — 

These, with many other endeavors, proceeding from an arbitrary and 
selfish temper, have been attended with their hearty curses on the 
Conrant and its publisher ; bat all to no purpose ; for, as a Connecticut 
trader once said of his onions, The more they are cursed, the mow they 
grow. Notwithstanding which, a young scribbling coUegian,'*^' who has 

• Mather Bylei. 



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58 NEW-ENGLAND GOURANT. 

just learning enough to make a fool of himself, has taken it in his head 
to put a atop to this wickedness^ (as he calls it) hj a letter in the last 
week's Grazette. Poor Boj! When your letter comes to be seen in 
other countries, (under the umbrage of authority) what indeed wiU they 
think of New-England ! They will certainly conclude, There is bloody 
fishing for nonsense at Cambridge, and sad work at the College. The 
young wretch, wh«n he calls those who wrote the several pieces in the 
Courant the Hell-Fire Club of Boston, and finds a god£Either for them, 
(which, by the way, is a Hellish mockery of the ordinance of baptism, 
as administered by the Church of England,) and tells us. That all the 
supporters oj the paper vnll be looked upon as destroyers of the rdigion of the 
country, and enemies to thefaithfid ministers of it, little thinks what a cruel 
reflection he throws on his reverend grandfather, who was then and for 
some time before, a subscriber for the paper. 
* * « * * 

It is a pleasure to me, that I never inserted any thing in the Courant, 
which chaiged any man, or society of men, with being guilty of the 
crimes, which were peculiar to the Hell-Fire Club in London, and 
which the devils themselves are not capable of p^petrating. And 
whether Mr. M o * or his young champion know it or no 'tis looked 
upon as a gross reflection on the government; that they should be told 
of a Hell-Fire Club in Boston (in a paper published by authority) and not 
use their endeavors to discover who they are, in order to punish them. 

In the same paper, one of the correspondents of the 
Courant addresses a letter to Musgrave, from which 'the 
following is an extract : — 

To the Gazetteer. 

HaU's Coffee House, Jan. 20, 1722. 
Old Muss, 

I am not a little concerned at the loss you weekly sustain 
of customers, by your encouraging a certain paper called the Courant. 
It seems you gave the occasion of its first appearance in this town, by 
publishing a ministerial inoculation letter, which has been a fund of good* 
diversion for some months past. You still continue, from time to time,, 
to afford the Couranteer opportunities of answering as agreeably. Pray, 
unless you go shares with Couranto, consult your own interest more. 
In quality of Postmaster, you have the best opportunity to excel, and 

• Muagrave, the Postmaster, proprietor, and publisher of the Boston Gazette, the 
official paper of the goverumeiu. 



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JAMES FRANKLIN. 59 

recommend your paper by the freshest and best intelligences, foreign 
and domestic : As Avthority News- Writer^ let the spare places in yonr 
paper be filled with Speeches, Addresses, Proclamations, and other pub- 
lic notifications: but, above all, let the seat of the Mnses be sacred. 
May nothing that is wicked, false, dull, or childish, be said to come 
from our Alma mater Cantabrigia ; from thence we expect solid sense 
and bright wit 

In the same paper, in which the preceding defence 
was published, Franklin inserted the following account 
of the Hell-Fire Club, from a London paper, which he 
states, he had then "just received from a Gentleman, 
who, by his office, is obliged to make inquiry, whether 
any of His Majesty's subjects here are guilty of the like 
horrid impieties, as has been insinuated of late by the 
sworn enemies of the Courant. " He hoped that its 
publication would do some justice to the country and 
conclude the quarrel, in which he was engaged : — 

The Hell-Fire Club consisted of about forty persons of both sexes ; 
fifteen of them were said to be ladies of considerable quality. They 
blasphemously assumed to themselves the tremendous names of God 
the Father, Grod the Son, God the Holy Ghost, St John the Baptist, 
tiie Prophets Enoch, Elijah, Elisha, Samuel, Jeremiah, Joshua, Isaiah, 
the Twelve Patriarchs, Moses, Aaron, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary 
Magdalen, St. Martha, King Daniel, the Twelve Apostles, and Joseph 
the Father of Jesus. 

The parts acted by the Demi Red Dragon Club, were Beelzebub 
King of Hell, Old Pluto, the Old Devil, Old JEacus, the Young Devil, 
the Serpent, Lady Envy, Lady Malice, Proserpina Queen of Hell, the 
Three Fatal Sisters. 

The parts acted by the Sulphur Club were Sodom and Gomorrah, 
Pride, Lust, Anger, Bevenge, Polygamy, Incest, Adultery, Fornication, 
Self-Defiler, &c. 

Under these distinctions did they abuse all piety, and ridicule the 
attributes and perfections of the Blessed Trinity, in a manner very unfit 
to be related. 

Their chief place of rendezvous was sometimes in Conduit-street, 
near Hanover Square, or else at a house in Westminster, or at Somer- 
set-House, where they erected an altar dedicated to the Devil, having 



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60 N£W-£NGLAND COU&ANT. 

two devils on the frame thereof They nsnallj set loimd an oval table, 
and each having assumed snch names as above-mentioned, began with 
an impious health to the Devil. 

Four of these daring wretches were ('tis to be feared) cut off in the 
midst of their impieties hj tiie hand of divine vengeance. Two of them 
in a debauch at Somerset-House on the Lord's daj, who caused music 
to be played to them in time of divine service, and persons who there 
drunk a most blasphemous health, died the same evening, and the other 
soon after. A young lady, who, as 'tis said, called herself the Blessed 
Yiigin, died in the flower of her youth. The other, a woman of dis- 
tinction, died at dinner. 

These impious cabals soon reached the ears of his most sacred Majes- 
ty, who, out of tender regard to the Spiritual wel£fire of his people, 
ordered his ministers of state to take proper methods to suppress such 
detestable practices j whereupon an order of council was issued out for 
that purpose. 

The controversy was kept up for some weeks longer, 
but both parties at length seemed to be tired of the 
game. Franklin published two or three Dialogues be- 
tween a Clergyman and a Layman, in which, of course, 
the Layman had the best of the argument. He pub- 
lished also a mock advertisement of a doctor, who could 
cure all sorts of disorders, and cautioned the public to 
beware of quacks. The fictitious doctor tells of various 
miraculous cures, but in a style that cannot be repeated, 
and calls loudly for patients that are for inoculation. 
There were also two or three articles written in the 
" Mundungian Language," said to be for the benefit of 
" Harfet Colegy^ who " strive in vain, or are too lazy, 
to learn the other learned iongues.^^ 

Mr. Thomas says, — " Among the reasons which in- 
duced Franklin to publish the Courant, probably one, 
which was not the least considerable, was grounded on 
the circumstance of the publisher of the Gazette having 
taken the printing of it from him, and given it to another 



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JAMES FRANKLIN. 61 

printer. He warmly attacked Musgrave, the publisher 
of the Gazette, in some of the first numbers of the 
Courant, and endeavored to have him turned out of 
office." The first allusion to Musgrave, which I find in 
the Cout^nt, is in Number 23, which contains a letter, 
signed << Lucillus," questioning him as to certain omis- 
mons of official dutj in the delivery of letters, — whether 
he does not give people great reason to suspect his hon- 
esty, by concealing letters, which have money enclosed 
in them, — and " whether so many letters taken out of 
the office opened, ought always to be attributed to the 
badness of the sealing-wax." The writer thus continues 
the attack : — 

The old proTerb, Be not a bakery if your head he made of butter^ is veiy 
■ applicable to yourself. We all know yon have a soft head, which can- 
not long endure the fire of your own kindling among the pepple : They 
are resolved to use their utmost endeavors to get you removed ^ which 
if they do, your head will be in great danger of melting. 

A famous title now you boast on — 

P 8t-M 1 of the town of B ^n; 

But when your unctuous head is lost, 

You will become a MASTER-Post. 

How will you look at Cambridge Baoes, 

'Mongst idle fops and gaping asses ? 

You, not the least of all the crew, 

Will be exposed to laughter too ; 

Nay, it will frighten all beholders, 

To see your head run down your shoulders ; 

Yet this will be your fatal end, 

Unless you timely do amend. 

Think of this, and quench the fire. 

I am, Sir, 

Your obedient servant. 

There were many other communications of a similar 
tone, and occasionally a squib from Franklin himselfi 
6 

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62 NEW-ENGLAND COURANT. 

but they probably had no effect in hastening the removal 
of Musgrave. 

As the controversy concerning the small-pox subsided, 
a series of articles was^egun in the Courant, by a 
writer, or writers, who adopted the style of a female and 
the signature of "Silence Dogood." The first two 
numbers give an account of the birth, parentage, educa- 
tion, marriage, and widowhood of Mrs. Dogood. In the 
third she states her object in writing these essays, and 
the fourth is the Dream, which follows : — 

I fancied I was trayeling over pleasant and delightfiil fields and 
meadows, and throogh many small countiy towns and villages ; and, as 
I passed along, all places resounded with the fame of the Temple of 
LEARNING : Every peasant, who had wherewithal, was proposing to 
send one of his children at least to this famous place ; and in this case 
most of them consulted their own purses instead of their children's ca- 
pacities. So that I observed a great many, yea, the most part of those 
who were traveling thither, were little better than blockheads and 
dunces. Alas! Alas! 

At length I entered upon a spacious plain, in the midst of which was 
erected a large and stately edifice : It was to this that a great company 
of youths from all parts of the country were going; so stepping in 
among the crowd, I passed on with them, and presently arrived at the 
gate. 

The passage was kept bj two sturdy porters, named Riches and Pov- 
ertyy and the latter obstinately refused to give entrance to any who had 
not first gained the favor of the former ; so that I observed many, who 
came even to the very gate, were obliged to travel back again as igno- 
rant as they came, for want of the necessary qualification. However, 
as a spectator I gained admittance, and with the rest entered directly 
into the temple. 

In the middle of the great hall stood a stately and magnificent throne, 
which was ascended by two high and difficult steps. On the top of it 
sat Leabning, in awful state. She was appareled wholly in black, and 
surroimded almost on every side with innumerable volumes in all lan- 
guages. She seemed very busily employed in writing something on 
half a sheet of paper, and, upon inquiry, I understood she was prepar- 
ing a paper, called The New-England Courant. On her right hand sat 
English^ with a pleasant, smiling countenance, and handsomely attired ; 



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JAMES FRANKLIN. 63 

and on her left were seated several antique figures, with their foces 
veiled. I was considerablj pnzzled to guess who thej were, until one 
informed me (who stood behind me) that those figures on the left hand 
were Latin, Greek, Hebrew, &c. and that they were very much reserved, 
and seldom or never unveiled their fades here, and then to few or none, 
though most of those who have in this place acquired so much learning 
as to distinguish them from English, pretended to an intimate acquaint- 
ance with them. I then enquired of him, what could be the reason 
why they continued veiled, in this place espedally ? He pointed to thfe 
foot of the throne, where I saw Idleness, attended with Ignorance, and 
these (he informed me) first veiled them, and will keep them so. 

Now I observed the whole tribe who entered into the temple with mo 
began to cHmb the throne ; but the work proving troublesome and diffi- 
cult to most of them, they withdrew their hands from the plough, and 
contented themselves to sit at the foot with Madam Idleness and her 
maid Ignorance, until those who were assisted by diligence and a double 
temper had well nigh got up the first step : But the time drawing nigh 
in which they could no way avoid ascending, they were fain to crave 
the assistance of those who had got up before them, and who, for the 
reward, perhaps, of a pint of mUk, or a piece ofplumb<ake, lent the lub- 
bers a hand, and sat them, in the eye of the world upon a level with 
themselves. 

The other step being in the same manner ascended, and the usual 
ceremonies at an end, every beetle-skull seemed well satisfied with his 
own portion of learning, though perhaps he were ^enjust ba ignorant as 
ever. And now the time of their departure being come, they marched 
out of doors to make room for another company, who waited for en- 
trance : and I, having seen all that was to be seen, quitted the hall, like- 
wise, and went to make my observations on those who were just gone 
out before me. 

Some, I perceived, took to merchandizing, others to traveling, some 
to one thing, some to another, and some to nothing ; and many of these, 
henceforth, for want of patrimony, lived as poor as church mice, being 
unable to dig and ashamed to beg, and to live by their wits it was impos- 
sible. But the most part of the crowd went along a large beaten path 
which led to a temple at the further end of the plain, called. The Tern- 
fie of Theology. The business of those, who were employed in this 
temple, being laborious and painful, I wondered exceedingly to see so 
many go towards it ; but while I was pondering this matter in my mind, 
I spied Pecufda behind a curtain, beckoning to them with her hand, 
which sight immediately satisfied me for whose sake it was, that a great 
part of them, (I will not say all) traveled that road. In this temple I 



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64 NEW-BNOLAND COUBAMT. 

saw notliiBg w<M*ti[i mentioning) except the ambitioiis and fimndiilent 
oontrivances ci PlagiMs, who (notwithstanding he had been seyerelj' 
reprehended for such practices before) was diligentlj transcribing some 
eloquent paragraphs ont of TiUotson's Works, &c. to embellish his own. 

Now I bethought myself in my sleep, that it was time to be at home ; 
and, as I DEUicied I was trayeling back thither, I reflected in mj mhid on 
the extreme foUj of those parents, who, blind to their children's dull- 
ness, and insensible of the solidly of their sknlls, becanse thej think 
their purses can afford it, will needs send them to the Temple of Learn- 
ing, where, for want of a suitable genius, thej learn little more thaa 
now to carry themselyes handsomely, and enter a room genteelly^ 
(which might as well be acquired at a dancing school,) and from whence 
they return, after abundance of trouble and charge, as great blockheads 
as ever, only more proud and self-concdted. 

While I was in the midst of these unpleasant reflections, Cleriau, 
(who, with a book in his hand was walking under the trees) accidentally 
awaked me ; to him I related my dream, with all its particulars, and he, 
without much study presently interpreted it, assuring me, 2%at it 
teas a livebf rqtresentation of Kajryass Collxqe, et cetera. 

The essajs of Mrs. Dogood were on various subjects, 
and of very unequal merit in composition. They were 
doubtless the work of different hands, though I think 
chiefly from the pen of Benjamin Franklin. Here fol- 
lows an extract from No. VII. : — 

There has lately appeared among us a most excellent piece of Poetry^ 
entltuled. An Ekgy upon tie much lamented Death of Mrs, 2i£ehUabdl 
Kitdf wife of Mr, John KiteR of Salem, &c. It may justly be said in Ita 
praise, without flattery to the author, that it is the most extraordinary 
piece, that eyer was wrote in New-England. The language is so soft 
and easy, the expression so moving and pathetic ; but, above all, the 
verse and numbers so charming and natural, that it is almost beyond 
comparison. I find no English author, ancient or modem, whose ele- 
gies may be compared with this, in respect to the elegance of style, or 
smoothness of rhyme ; and, for the affecting part, I will leave your 
readers to judge, if they ever read any lines, that would sooner make 
them draw their breath and sigh, if not shed tears, than these fol- 
lowing : — 

Come let us mourn, for toe have lost a wife, a daughter, and a sister^ 
Who has htdy taken flight, and greatly we have mist her, 
« « # # * 



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JAMES FRANKLIN. 65 

Some little time before she yielded her breath. 

She 8aid,In^er shall hear one sermon more on earth. 

She kist her husband some little time before she expired, 

Then leaned her head the piUow on, just out of breath and tired. 

I should be very much straitened for room, if I should attempt to 
discorer even half the excellences of this Elegy, which are obvious to 
me. Yet I cannot omit one observation, which is, that the author has, 
(to his honor) invented a new species of poetry, which wants a name, 
and was never before known. His muse scorns to be confined to the old 
measures and limits, or to observe the dull rules of critics ; — 
Nor Bapin gives her rules to fly, nor 
Purcell notes to sing. 

Now 'tis pity that such an excellent piece should not be dignified with 
a particular name ; and, seeing it cannot justly be called either Epic, 
Sapphic, Lyric, or Pindaric, nor any other name yet invented, I presume 
it may, (in honor and remembrance of the dead) be called the EjtdUc. 

" Mrs. Dogood " continued to furnish a column or two 
at a time till near the close of the year 1722. The last 
of her essays contains some wholesome admonition con- 
cerning drunkenness, from which the following is an 
extract : — 

I cannot pretend to account for the different effects of liquor on per- 
sons of different dispositions, who are guilty of excess in the use of it. 
'Tis strange' to see men of a regular conversation become rakish and 
profane when intoxicated with dj^nk, and yet more surprizing to observe, 
that some, who appear to be the most profligate wretches when sober, 
become mighty religious in their cups, and will then, and at no other 
time address their Maker, but when they are destitute of reason, and 
actually affronting him. Some shrink in the melting, and others swell 
to such an unusual bulk in their imaginations, that they can in an in- 
stant imderstand all arts and sciences, by the liberal education of a 
little vivifying Punch, or a sufficient quantity of other vivifying liquor. 

And as the effects of liquor are various, so are the characters given 
to its devourers. It argues some shame in the drunkards themselves, in 
that they have invented numberless words and phrases to cover their 
folly, whose proper significations are harmless, or have no signification 
at aU. They are seldom known to be drunk, though they are very often 
Boozey, Cozey, Tipsy, Foa^d, Merry, Mdlow, Fuddled, Groatable, Confound- 

6» 



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66 NEW«ENOLAND COURANT. 

ee% ad. See ttoo moonSj are Among ike PhUestineSy In a very good humor ^ 
See the sun, or T%e nm has tihone upon them ; tiiey Clip the lan^s English^ 
are Almost frozey Feverish^ In their attitudes, Pretty vfeU entered, &c In 
short, eyery day produces some new word or phrase, which might be 
added to the yocabnlary of the tipplers ; but I have chose to mention 
these few, because if, at any time, a man of sobriety and temperance 
happens to cut himsdf confoundedly, or is almost froze, or feverish, or acd- 
V, dentally sees the sun, &c. he may escape the imputation of being drunks 
A ^ ^ when his misfortune comes to be related. 

>)f^ The Courant of July 16, (No. 50) has the foUowbg 

article : — * 



And then, after they had anathematized and cursed a man to the 
Devil, and the Devil did not or would not take him, then to make the Sheriff 
and the Jayhr to take the DemJ^s leavings. Postscript to Hickeringill*s 
Sermon on the Horrid Sin of Man-Catching, page 39. 

I can compare the following letter to nothing else but the pelting a 
criminal with rotten eggs, while he is sufiering the law ; and, after asking 
my reader's pardon, I shall offer it to them as such; at the same time 
desiring the writers of it to bear with patience the unwelcome news of 
my enlargement And, as I never published any thing with a design to 
affront the Grovemment, so I promise to proceed with the like caution, 
as long as I have the liberty granted me of following my business. 
A Letterto Couranto from one of his most eminent friends, on the joyful 
news of his imprisonment. 
Thrust into the Grate by an unknown Hand. 
Unhappy Man, 

The crimes you have been guilty of are so numerous and heinous, 
that we think no punishment severe enough to be inflicted on you. 

* This aitide, as will be perceived, was written after Franklin's release firom 
prison. The Oritra pf Cbimal, by which he was arrested and imprisoned, are 
given at length in Mr. Thomas's History, voL ii. p. 217-330. Mr. Thomas says : 
*< Franklin was imprisoned four weeks in the common gaol." This is probably 
correct, but I find no account of his arrest in the Courant, nor is the time of his 
'* enlargement " stated in any other place, that I can discover, than the introduc- 
tory paragraph in the extract here g^ven. 

In a note to page 218, vol. ii. Mr. Thomas says,-~ ** No. 68 has this advertise- 
ment. * This paper (No. fi2) begins the fifth quarter, and those that have not 
paid for THE LASH are desired to send their money, or pay it to the bearer.' " 
There are two rather singular mistakes in this note. It is No. 53— not S3— 
which contains the advertisement in question. But the word «« lash," which Mr. 
Thomas has printed in capitals, is not in it. The word is hut — and the call is to 
those, that have not paid for the Uh quarter. In the eopy now before me, which 



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JAMES FRANKLIN. 67 

The manifest design of yonr paper is to abuse oar rev«rend Cleigj, 
and reproach our learned Tonth, to reyile the GoTemment, and disaffect 
the people to the present administration, which we are snre, any man 
may^ and every man aught to be easy tmder. 
OBare Courcmto! 

We justly triumph in your righteous fate, 

Ton impious wretch, that lashed both church and state, 

Father of discord, maker of diyision, 

Broacher of strife, and sower of sedition, 

Fomenter of contention and debate, 

And feuds in family, in church and state. 

What 1 such a scoundrel rascal take in hand 

To banish vice, and to reform our land. 

Boldly to reprimand our rererend seers, 

And lug our Ghostly Fathers by the ears ; 

To tax our learned Youth with want of Knowledge, 

And impudently satirize our College; 

To load our pious Judges with disgrace. 

And fault our Rulers to their very face 1 

Oh, scoundrel wretch ! Tour yile Courant has spread 

Its poison far and wide ! No matter you were dead, 

And your Courants all burnt, that have such discord bred. 

Tour scandalous defamatory libel 

Is praised and prized by some above the Bible, 

And more devoutly read ; But yet we dare aver, 

It does more hurt than famine, plague, and war. 

And do you think a jail too bad for you, 

And all the rest of your seditious crew? 

Why do you pine so, and your speech so falter, 

Tou impious wretch, when you deserve a halter. 

Or, in a stinking jail to lie and rot ? 

Nor should good people pity you a jot. 

Fellow 1 be easy, cease your grumbling din. 

For better men before you have been in ; 

By H— 11-b— m Revol — on married there, 

Nor did they grumble, languish, or despaur. 

Marry, good Sir 1 a jful me think*s too good 

For you, and others of the factious brood ; 

I presume U the copy that Mr. Thomas had when he wrote, some person has 
made a blot on the final letter of the word,— apparently with a pen — with an 
intent perhaps to make the C resemble an k. But the attempt was abortive and is 
easily 4i 



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68 NEW-ENGLAND COURANT. 

We hope to see 7011 on a gibbet dangle, 

With all the meddling crew, that come to wrangle. 

In his remarks upon this congratulatory epistle^ Frank- 
lin makes a quotation from a speech of Mr. Atstabie to 
the House of Lords, and concludes bj saying — ^^ It 
was no mitigation of my punishment, to think that better 
men than myself had been in prison before me. I know 
the late Governor Dudley was confined in the time of 
the Revolution; but I never could perceive that the* 
gaol stank a whit the less for him." * 

It does not appear that these proceedings had any 
effect in checking the freedom, with which Franklb and 
his correspondents chose to comment on public men and 
measures. The paper of July 30th is occupied almost 
entirely with a chapter of Magna Charta^ and the com- 
ments of a correspondent, intended to show the illegality 
of the proceedings of the government. Almost every 
paper, for several weeks, contained remarks that irritated, 
— and'^obably were intended to irritate, — those in 
authority, by raising a laugh at their expense. One of 
the^^keenest articles of this sort is the following : — 

j^."* To the Author of the New-England Courant. 

*'<l!^ . The following Lines were occasioned by some unusnal proceedings 
on a certain side of the Atlantic, which may perhaps be remembered by 
some yet living in that country, and elsewhere ; I shall therefore offer 
them to yon without any farther explanation ; and remain, 
Su-, 

Your humble Servant, 

DIG. BUKLESQUE. 
A tract of land, of yast extent, 
For want of Christian Settlement, 

• What Franklin was imprisoned for, does not distinctly appear. The Resolvo 
of the Coondl, that " no such weekly paper be hereafter prmted or published with- 
out the same be first perused and allowed by the Secretary," was passed on the 



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JAMES FRANKLIN. 69 

Lay long o'emm with woods and trees, 
And barbarous tribes of Salyages. 

At length a mighty Prince of Europe, 
Whom Proyidence it seems did stir up 
T* enlarge his power and territories, 
(If we may credit ancient stories) 
Sent o^er a number of his subjects, 
Some who were filled with rambling projects. 
And some indeed came out of consdenoe, 
To settle in this oountry long since. 

Through various forms of govenmient 
They passed, till many years were spent 5 
But always used (to blind tiie people,) 
To join the ^ate unto the steeple ; 
And those who left the State f th' hirdi, 
Would cry, The danger q/ the Chtarck! 
Till some o' the Clergy and the College, 
Declared against the sin of knowledge; 
And truly ^tis a fatal omen, 
When knowledge, which belongs to no men 
But to the Clergy and the Judges, 
Gets in the heads of common drudges. 

But time at last had brought to light 
A Painter, who, in bladL and white, 
Would every roguish face discover^ 
And send them all the oountry over; 
And every face, in every town. 
Had scores of knaves to call't his own: 
Whether he drew by art, or blunder'd 
Each knavish fece would fit a hundred: 
And what betrayed the slQy asses, 
They could not help comparing faees. 
Kay, once (wherever it was he aim'd) 
He drew a face th' whole Senate claim'd ; 
But though they knew the face was true, 
They stormed to see 't exposed to view. 

ffth of July. Only one paper was iuned aAer that date belore that, in which he 
announces his " enlargement ; " so that, if he were in prison four weeks, as Mr. 
Thomas states, he must have beat plaeed there before the passage of the Resolve 
in Council. 



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70 NEW-ENGLAND COUBANT. 

Look je ! (says one) This saacj yillain 1 
We *re all in the compass of a shilling ! 
I wonder how the rascal draws us, 
And in so small a compass stows tis. 
Here, Bumbo, go and call this Fainter ; 
We 'U make him know how he dnrst yentore 
To post ns up all o'er the coimtiy. 
We ha* n't been served so aU this cent'ry. 

The Fainter went when he was sent for, 
But knew not what it was he went for : 
And, Bumbo having oped the door. 
He entered in and scraped the floor. 

A Senator, as grave as aged, 
Whose looks some punishment presaged, 
Stood up, and having scratched his head, 
Unto the Fainter thus he said ; — 
" We have a picture lately sent us, 
Wherein you truly represent us ; 
But pray, of whom had you the draught 
To copy fipom ? " The Fainter laughed ; 
But having recomposed his visage, 
Quoth he — " It ne'er was known in this age, 
For us to tell whose draughts we use 
When we your worships' heads compose : 
And since you own the draught is true, 
*Tis needless to inquire who 
It was that drew it in the first place : 
The country knows it is a just face." 

A Copper-Smith, (one of the Senate) 
Stood up and cried, "But this day se'ennight, 
No mortal man knew what we acted, 
Or how our heads were then compacted : 
How then could any foreign hand 
(As by the draught we imderstand) 
Braw us so true at such a distance ? 
It seems to me an inconsistence. 
This Fainter is a saucy elf; 
I b'lieve he drew us first himself." 

" It matters not by whom you were drawn," 
Says the Fainter, " since your worships are drawn 



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JAMES FlUNKLIN. 71 

But if 80 great a fault it is 
To paint your worship's sacred phiz, 
Some crime (as from your hearts it passes, 
flies out and spreads upon your faces) 
You are afraid should thus he shown. 
And to your injured country known. 
You own yourselves the draught is true, 
And yet can hlame the Fainter too. 
So homely dames with ragged faces. 
Lay all the fault upon their glasses." 

At this the Senate grew incensed, 
And sullen looks around commenced. 
The Fainter, for his sin so yile. 
Was ordered to withdraw awhile ; 
Meanwhile, to work in him repentance. 
They drew at lai^ the following sentence : 

The Sentence of the Senate. 

r tht Senate, in the monthof . WHEREAS, 

Cf late appeared among us there has 
A Painter, who in factious pieces. 
Does represent our sacred faces ; 
And though his vile seditious practice. 
We own hut too, too often faxt is, 
His crime has on rebellion bordered ; 
And therefore, by ourselves 'tis ORDERED : 
That Bumbo shjoU forthwith with him go, 
And put him dose into the Limbo, 
There to remain, for his transgression. 
Until the ending of this 

The writers in the Courant frequently amused them- 
selves and the readers of the paper with criticisms on 
the elegiac poetry^ in which the press seems to have 
been prolific. " Hypercriticus," in the paper of Novem- 
ber 12, says, " Of all the different species of poetry now 
in use, I find the Funeral Elegy to be the most univer- 
sally admired and used in New-England. There is 
scarce a plough-jogger or country cobler that has read 
our Psalms, and can make two lines jingle, who has not, 



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72 N£W-£NGLAND COURANT. 

once in his life at least, exercised his talent in this way. 
Nor is there one country house in fifty, which has not 
its walls garnished with half a score of this sort of Po- 
ems, (if they may be so called,) which praise the dead 
to tJie life, and enumerate all their excellencies, gifts and 
graces." He then proceeds to review " Two late Ele- 
gies : " — 

The first is written hj the Beverend Mr. Maestus Composnit, J. D. Y. 
I>. M DorcestricBy which is the name he commonlj signs his perform- 
ances of that nature with. It is an Elegy (or rather Satire) on Mr. 
Samuel Topliffi one of the ruling elders of the first church in Dorches- 
ter. In the former part he smartlj satirizes the Church of England, 
cuts down Episcopacy, and entertains us with an historic account of 
Bishop Laud's Persecution and the settlement of New-England ; and, 
in the latter he plentifully burlesques the memory of the deceased. * 
* * * 

In Seculars had foresight good, 

And well his business understood. 

In ciyil, militaiy stations, 

Some years he served his generation ; 

Then nine years in the Deaoonship, 

Twenty-one in the Eldership. 

Able for counsel and advice. 

By long experience made wise. 

Could form a speech extempore 

With notable dexteritle, 

And bring about his argument, 

To win his hewers good consent, 

Obtaming guidance from above, 

Knew when to stop and when to move ; 

Could act, retract, sail, row, and steer. 

Sheer off from rocks with prudent fear. 
Having thus burlesqued the Bev. Lay Elder, he presents us with an 
ample muster-roll of shining heroes, his predecessors. And here he 
wisely makes choice of double rhymes, as the most agreeable by fiar to 
eelebrate their immortal memory — 

Bright Withington and abinmg Minot, 
And radiant Humfrey, (names that die not,) 
Rare Blake, and two choice Claps, who stood 
Sin's foes, but friends to all that 's good. 



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JAMCS FJUNKLIK. tS 

This way of marshaliiig heroes (eidier living or dead) is very com- 
mon with our writers of elegy. I could giye many instances, had I 
time ; but the two following shall suffice for the present. The first is 
taken from an Elegy on Ichabod Flaisted, Esq. and runs thus, — 

Ichabod gone ! not all our glory gone ? 

William, Charles, Lewis, Abraham, Elisha, Joseph, John. 

The other is from an Elegy on the Bey. Mr. Holyoke. 

That godly man, John Holyoke, 

We are bereft of thee, 
And also Deacon John Hitchcock, 

Japhet Chapen, all three. 

* * * * # 

An eclipse of the sun happened on the S7th of No- 
vember. A few weeks previous, Thomas Robie of 
Harvard College,* published a calculation concerning it, 
which probably excited considerable curiosity. One of 
the wits of the Courant, in the paper succeeding the 
eclipse, wrote the following : — 

I will not be so impertinent as to tell the world of the great eclipse of 
the sun on Tuesday last. There were too many spectators there to 
make it now a piece of public news. The hills and turrets were crowd- 
ed with gaping planet-peepers, among whom was the author of the 
following lines, who, to catch the first appearance, was strained on tip- 
toe, almost to the cracking of his ham-strings, on the snowy top of a 
high building, where the Spirit of Versification seized him yiolently, 
and would not leare him, till he had railed at the moon in the following 
manner : — 

How now, proud Queen I what dost thou, strutting here, 
On Day's bright hill ? Away to your dark sphere. 
And don't presume t' invade great Phoebus' right ; 
To him belongs the Day^ to you the Night, . 

* ThomaB Robie, fellow of Harvard College, was graduated, A. T). 1706 ; iiutmct- 
ed a class from 1714 to 1723 ; he then studied physic. He was eminent as a mathe- 
matician, and a handsome writer ; specimens of his scientific abilities, and his man. 
ner of composing, may be found scattered in the magazines and newspapers during 
twenty years of the eighteenth century ; particularly a letter to the public, concern- 
ing a very remarkable eclipse of the san, November 37, 1729. EUntU Biog, 
DieL 

VOL. I. 7 

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74 NEW-ENGLAND COURANT. 

Besides, mnch better does your orb appear, 
Wben farthest from his dazzling beams 7011 are. 
You with the clouds have an agreement made. 
To clothe the Sun in black, the Earih with shade. 
Ha, ha ! 'tis as you spite. What have we done. 
That you should rob us of three haurs^ Sun f 
If in the midst of Summer's melting heat. 
Between the Sun and us you *ad chose a seat, 
We 'ad paid you thanks : But now to interpose. 
When we with northern blasts are almost froze, 
Is hardly fan:. For this, before 'tis noon, 
You shall surrender up th' invaded throne. 
Though of the Sun the start you 'ave slily stole. 
Hell first arrive, and seize the shining goal. 
Drive on, bright King of day ! pursue the race ; 
Huzza ! he gains upon the moon apace I 
And soon will leave her at his shining heels ; 
Bless me ! how nimbly roll his chariot wheels ! 
The rapid steeds race up th' ethereal road, 
Bejoidngiy. Stand by, yon saucy Cloud ; 
Let 's see fair play. Come, Boreas, with your train. 
Drive each intruder off th' encumbered plain. 
'Tis done : And now they've come in open view, 
And swift as nimble Time their course pursue. 
And now th' ambitious Moon is out of sight, 
> Victorious Sol, come cheer us with your light. 

Here the rhyming spirit left him in the lurch ; and therefore he en- 
treats the reader to trust him for the rest, till the next visible eclipse. 

On the 1 4th of January, Franklin published the fol- 
lowing article : — 

— In the wicked there's no vice. 
Of which the saints have not a spice ; 
And yet that thing that's pious in 
The one, in t'other is a sin. 
Is't not ridiculous and nonsense, 
A saint should be a slave to conscience ? Hud, 
To the Author of the New-England Courant. 
Sib, 

It is an observation no less true than soirowfdl, which some have 
made, that there are many persons who seem to be more than ordinary 



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JAMES FRANKLIN. 75 

rdigums^ but yet are on seyeral accounts worsfe by far than those who 
pretend t& no religion at all. 

This sort of men would fain be thought to have arrived at an elevated 
pitch of sanctity^ and outstript their neighbors in the externals of reli- 
gion, while (without regard to real virtue and goodness) they do put on 
the outward farm^ as a cloak to cover their wicked practices and designs. 
These, many times, have the fairest outside of any men. They have 
lihe blaze of a high profession^ when x>erhaps they are blacker than a coal 
within. If we observe them in their conversation with men we shall 
ever find them seemingly rdigious, full of pious expressions and more than 
ordinary prone to fall into serious discourse, without any regard to the 
lime, place or company they are in : Whereas (every thing being beau- 
tiful in its season) it must be acknowledged that such discourse is not 
expedient at aU times. Or, if we view them in their families, we shall 
find them nothing but devotion and religion there. So if we observe 
them on the Sabbath, they are wonderful strict and zealous in the sane- 
tification of that; and, it may be, are exact observers of the evening 
before and after it *, or, trace them to the solemn assemblies, and who is 
there so devout and attentive as they 1 Nay, sometimes they discover 
8uch distorted faces, and awkward gestures, as render them ridiculous. 
But yet, these very men are often found to be the -greatest cheats ima- 
ginable ; they will dissemble and Zie, snujffle and whiffle : and, if it be pos- 
sible, they will overreach and defraud all who deal with them. Indeed 
all their fine pretences to religion are only to qualify them to act their 
villany the more securely: For when they have once gained a great 
reputation for piety ^ and are cried up by their neighbors for eminent 
saints, every one will be ready to trust to their honesty in any affair what- 
soever ; though they seldom fail to trick and bite them, as a reward for 
their credulity and good opinion. 

This sort of saints, if they do but perform a few duties to God 
Almighty in a hypocritical manner, they fondly think it will serve to 
sanctify their viUany and give them a license to cut their neighbor's 
throats, i. e. to cheat him as often as they have opportunity : And, no 
doubt, had they the advantage in their hands, they would, like Judas, 
sell their Lord and Master for thirty pieces of silver, if not for half that 
value. 

It is far worse dealing with such religious hypocrites than with the 
most arrant knave in the world ; and if a man is nicked by a notorious 
rogue, it does not vex him half so much as to be cheated under pretence 
of religion. 

Whenever these men are striking a bargain, or making any kind of 
agreement, with what abundance of pious cant and paUaver will they do 



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76 NEW-ENGLAND COURANT. 

it? and all that they may have the better opportnnity to cheat their 
neighbor; and if they can obtain any advantage of him, they will not 
foil to improve it to the uttermost. Thus, sometimes when they have 
made a firm bargain for some commodity or other, and the money tob^ 
paid on receiving it, if the buyer delay his coming for it for a day or 
two, and they have a prospect of getting more, they will advance ten or 
twenty shillings on the price, and exact it of him. Or when accounts 
(perhaps of laborers) are carried in to them, they will cut off a consid- 
erable part, which is as justly due as the rest Or if they have made a 
bargain with any, which proves very hard, and he apply himself to them 
for abatement and relief, none can be obtained: The law cannot help 
him, and if he put it to their conscience, why they have none, or one that 
ia seared vnth hot iron, DonH tell me, (they say,) a bargain is a bargain ; 
You should have looked to that before; I canH help it now. Indeed it were 
impossible to enumerate the many tricks and artifices, which such hypo- 
critical zealots improve, to defraud and overreach those they deal with. 
And though they are very sly and cunning in their wickedness, yet they 
are often detected : Oportet mendacem esse memoram. A liar (and they 
that will cheat will lie) had need have a good memory, lest he contradict 
and discover himself. And when they are found out, they never want fair 
words and fine pretences to excuse themselves. They will often varnish 
their roguery with a text of scripture, and allege, that if they are not 
prudent and provident in looking to themselves, they shall be worse than 
if\fidds. 

But how unaccountable is it, that men who profess the Christian reli- 
gion should do those things, which many Turks and Heathens would 
blush to mention ! Certainly a deceived heart hath turned them oxide, and 
they are flattering themselves in their own eyes, until their iniquity is found 
to be hateful. Whatever high pretences such men make, and boast of 
their assurances of Heaven, verily they have neither part nor lot in that 
matter; for the great St Paul has told us, that tJte UNRIGHTEOUS 
shall not inherit the kingdom of GOD. 

For my own part, when I find a man full of religious cant and pel- 
laver, I presently suspect him to be a knave. Beligion is, indeed, the 
principal thing; but too much of it is worse than none at all. The 
world abounds witli knaves and villains ] but, of all knaves, the religious 
knave is the worst ; and villanies acted under the doak of religion are 
the most execrable. Moral honesty, though it will not of itself carry a 
man to heaven, yet I am sure there is no going thither without it. And 
however such men, of whom I have been speaking, may palliate their 
wickedaess, they will find that pMcans and harlots wHl enter tins kingdom 
<^ heaven before themsdves. 



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JAMES FRANKLIN. 77 

Bat, are there such men as these in TECEE, O New-England! 
Heaven forbid there' should be any : But, alas ! it is to be feared the 
number is not small. A few such men have given cause to strangers 
(who have been, bit by them) to complain of us greatly. Give me an 
honest man (say some) fir all a rdigious man ! A distinction which, I 
confess, I never heard before. The whole country suffers for the villan- 
ies of a few such wolves in sheep's clothing, and we are all represented 
as a pack of knaves and hypocrites for their sake. 

Moreover, religion itself suffers extremely by the dishonest practices 
of those who profess it Their cheating tricks have a tendency to harden 
such as are disaffected to religion, in their infidelity, and strengthen 
their prejudices against it Why, say they, such and such religious men 
will lie^ cheat and defraud^ for all Uieir high profession ; and so they 
presently conclude, that religion itself is nothing but a cunningly devised 
faJble^ a trick of state invented to keep men in awe. 

This is a Lamentation^ and shall he for a Lamentation. 

A second communication in the same paper speaks of 
the dangers to be apprehended from the contentions and 
divisions, that exist among the people, and accuses them 
of having " sinned away one of the most extensive 
blessings " they were ever " possessed of" — alluding to 
the sudden departure of Governor Shute, who, on the 
first day of that month, had sailed for England. A 
third communication refers also to the " extraordinary 
manner of Governor Shute's absenting himself from the 
government," and says it is naturally concluded, that any 
Governor departing from a government tvith so much 
privacy and displeasure^ cavHt reasonably be supposed to 
promote the interest of that government, when he arrives 
at the British Court. The writer proposes that " two 
persons, born among us, of known abilities and address, 
be, as soon as possible, sent to the Court of Great- 
Britain, there to vindicate the proceedings of the Hon- 
orable House of Representatives, from time to time, 
since the misunderstandings that have arisen between that 
honorable House and Governor Shute." He concludes 
7? 



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78 NEW-INOLAND COURANT. 

with the following <' Quere, Whether (pursuant to the 
charter) the ministers of this province ought now to praj 
for Samuel Shute, Esq. as our immediate Governor, and, 
at the same time, pray for the Lieutenant-Governor as 
commander-in-chief? Or, Whether their praying for his 
success in his voyage, if he designs to hurt the province, 
(as some suppose) be not in effect to pray for our 
destruction ? " 

The day on which these articles appeared, the follow- 
ing proceedings were had in the General Court : — 

In Counca, Jan. 14, 1722. 

Whereas the paper, called the New-England Coorant, of this da/s 
date, contains many passages, in which the Holy Scriptnres are per- 
verted, and the Civil Grovemment, Ministers, and People of this Prov- 
ince highly reflected on, 

Ordered^ That William Tailer, Samuel Sewell, and Penn Townsend^ 
Esqrs. with such as the Honorable Honse of Representatives shall join, 
he a committee to consider and report what is proper for this Oonrt to 
do thereon. 

This order was sent to the House of Representatives 

and was concurred in. The following Report was made 

by the Committee, and adopted by both branches of the 

government : — 

The Committee appointed to consider of the paper called. The 
New-England Courant, published Monday the fourteenth current, ara 
humbly of opinion that the tendency of the said paper is to mock religion, 
and bring it into contempt, that the Holy Scriptures are therein pro- 
fanely abused, that the revered and faithful ministers of the gospel are 
injuriously reflected on. His Majesty's Government affronted, and the 
peace and good order of His Majesty's subjects of this Province dis- 
turbed, by the said Courant ; and for precaution of the like offence for 
the future, the Committee humbly propose^ That James Franklin, the 
printer and publisher thereof^ be strictly forbidden by this Court to print 
or publish the New-England Courant, or any other pamphlet or paper 
of the like nature, except it be first supervised by the Secretary of 
this Province; and the Justices of His Majesty's Sessions of the 
Fteoe for the County of Suffolk, at their next a^ourmnent, be di- 



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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 79 

rected to take soHicieiit bonds of the said Emnklin, tor Twelve Montfai 
time. 

Franklin's next paper after the publication of this 
order contained an article, purporting to be the advice of 
a correspondent, and pointing out a line of conduct for 
him, as the publisher of a paper, that should secure him 
thereafter against any annoyances from the government. 
In reality, the piece was a satire upon the government, 
and all who were opposed to the Courant, — quite as 
severe as what he had before published. The Courant 
of February 1 1 was issued in the name of Benjamin 
Franklin,* who thus introduces himself to the public : — 

The late publisher of this paper, finding so many inconyeniences would 
arise by his carrying the manuscripts and public news to be supervised 
by the Secretary, as to render his carrying it on unprofitable, has 
entirely dropt the undertaking. The present publisher having re- 
ceived the following piece, desires the readers to accept of it as a 
pre&ce to what they may hereafter meet with in this paper. 
Non ego mordaci distrinxi Carmine quenquam, 
Nulla venenato Litera mista joco est 
Long has the Press groaned in bringing forth an hateful brood of 
party pamphlets, malicious scribbles, and billingsgate ribaldry. The 
rancor and bitterness it has unhappily infused into men's minds, and to 
what a degree it has soured and leavened the tempers of persons formerly 
esteemed some of the most sweet and affable, is too well known here to 
need any further proof or representation of the matter. 

No generous and impartial person, then, can blame the present under- 
taking, which is designed purely for the diversion and merriment of the 
reader. Pieces of pleasancy and mirth have a secret charm in tfaem to 

* Franklin wu not inclined to subject hie paper to licensers of the press, and be 
was unwilling to stop tbe publication of it ; but he dared not proceed In defiance 
of the order of the Legislature. The Club wished for the continuance of the 
paper; and a consultation on the subject was holden in Franklin's printing-bouse, 
tbe resolt of which was, that, to evade the order of the Legislature, tbe New* 
England Cotmnt sboulU, in future, be published by Benjamin Franklin, then an 
aM^rMtice to Jamea. • • • The Courant was published in tbe name of Ben- 
jamin Franklin, for more than three yeara ; and, probably until its publication 
ceased ; but it appears, from Dr. Franklin's Life, that he did not remain for a long 
time wUb his brother after tbe Courant began to be printed In his name. 

Tk9m»»*s BUlterfi 9f Printing, rol. 1. p. 310. 



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80 NEW-ENGLAND COUKANT. 

allay tlie heats and tumors of our- spirits, and to make a man forget his 
restless resentments. They have a strange power in them to hush dis- 
orders of the soul, and reduce us to a serene and placid state of mind. 

The main design of this weekly paper will be to entertain the town 
with the most comical and diverting incidents of human life, which, in 
so large a place as Boston, will not fail of a universal exemplification : 
Nor shaU we be wanting to fill up these papers with a grateful inter - 
spersion of more serious morals, which may be drawn from the most 
ludicrous and odd parts of life. 

As for the author, that is the next question. But though we profess 
ourselves ready to oblige the ingenious and courteous reader with most 
sorts of intelligence, yet here we beg a reserve. Nor will it be of any 
advantage either to them or to the writers, that their names should be 
published ; and therefore in this matter we desire the favor of you to 
suffer us to hold our tongues : which though at this time of day it may 
sound like a very uncommon request, yet it proceeds from the very 
hearts of your humble sei-vants. 

By this time the reader perceives that more than one are engaged in 
the present undertaking. Yet there is one person, an inhabitant of this 
town of Boston, whom we honor as a doctor in the ciiair, or a perpetual 
dictator. 

The society had designed to present the public with his effigies, but 
that the Limner, to whom he was presented for a draught of his coun- 
tenance, descried (and this he is ready to offer upon oath) nineteen fea- 
tures in his face, more than he ever beheld in any human visage before; 
which so raised the price of his picture, that our master himself forbid 
the extravagance of coming up to it. And then, besides, the Limner 
objected a schism in his face, which split it from his forehead in a straight 
line down to his chin, in such sort, that Mr. Painter protests it is a 
double face, and he'll have four pounds for the portraiture. However, 
though his double face has spoilt us of a pretty picture, yet we all re- 
joiced to see Old James in our company. There is no man in Boston 
better qualified than Old Janus for a Couranteer^ or, if you please, an 
Observatory being a man of such remarkable op^tcs as to look two ways at 
once. 

As for his morals, he is a cheerly Christian, as the country phrase ex- 
presses it A man of good temper, courteous deportment, sound judge- 
ment, a mortal hater of nonsense, foppery, formality, and endless cere- 
mony. As for his Club, they aim at no greater happiness or honor, than 
the public be made to know, that it is the utmost of their ambition to 
attend upon and do all imaginable good offices to good Old Janus the 
Couranteer, who is and always will be the reader's humble servant. 

P. S. Gentle Reader, we design never to let a paper pass without a 

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BENJAMIN rRANIXIK. 81 

Latin motto if we can possibly pick one up, which eainea a chann in it 
to the vulgar, and the learned admire the pleasure of construing. We 
should have obliged the world with a Greek scrap or two, but the printer 
has no types, and therefore we entreat the candid reader not to impute 
the defect to our ignorance, for our doct(M: can say all the Greek letters 
by heart. 

These papers were continued, with hardly any inter- 
ruption, for two years, or more. Many of them are 
exceedingly well written, exposing the follies of the day 
and descanting with the utmost freedom on politics, reli- 
gion, and literature. Some of the criticisms on what 
was then popular poetry abound in wit and sarcasm. 
To oblige the readers of the Courant, Old Janus, in that 
paper of August 26, 1723, copied the following from 
the News-Letter of the preceding week : — * 

AD BEGEM. 

To fix the Law» and Limits of these Cohntes, 

My humble Muse to BoycU GEOBGE now flies. 

Live, Mighty King! all Protestants do 'pray, 

This New World, too, under your feet I lay ; 

May Peace & Plenty, in your Kingdoms ! Triumph Round ; 

To increase your Grandeur I yet more worlds be found j 

And to your Crlories I Let there be no bound. 
At Boston in America, the first of August: Spoken Extempore by 
John Winthrop, Esq ; before his Honour the Lieut Goyemour and in the 
presence of diyers Gentlemen and Ladies, and several of the Clergy ; 
being the happy Accession of his Sacred Boyal Majesty King GEOBGE 
to the Imperial Throne of Great Britain, 

On the publication of this one of Janus's correspond- 
ents wrote : — 

To the worshipfol John Wintkrop Esq ; on his inimitable Genius to 
Extempore Poetry. 
Hail Bard Seraphic ! tell what generous fire 
8o suddenly thy genius did inspire 
Ex tempore Great George to compliment, 

* Tke typognpliy ud panctaattoo an ten preserved. 



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82 NEW-ENGLAND COUBAllT. 

And with him andiscoyered worlds present, 
Worlds never known before, worlds old and new, 
Reserved till now to be found out by you, 
The people's customs and (the clergy's grace,) 
The fashion of their bodies and their face, 
Describe to us ; and also let us know 
If they are made like us from top to toe. 
And in their faces' centre if their noses grow. 
-And if as big as yOurs or if they're less, 
Ingeniously for once the truth confess. 
If there's a symmetry in all their parts, 
And if they're famous for poetic arts ; 
If not, Great Sir^ Fd have you there retire 
And with you take each member of your quire, 
There you may live in grandeur, pomp and state. 
And doubtless you'll be made a Poet LoMreat. hie Cecinit 
Philo Poesis Extemporarii. 

In 1725, the contributions of the correspondents of 
Old Janus were less frequent, and their places in the 
Courant were supplied with selections from London 
papers and other popular publications. The Life of 
Jonathan Wild, the famous thief-taker, who was execut- 
ed in London some time in that year, was published in 
the Courant, — a portion in each number, from the first 
of October to the end of the year. 

The following communication appears, April 30, 
1726 ; and, is the last original article to be found in the 
volume from which these extracts have been taken : — 

To the Worshipfid Master JANUS. 

Cambridge, April 25, 1726. 
Sib, 
The poetic performances which some times bloom in your paper, 
not only afford a rich entertainment to those of a fine and delicate im- 
agination, but may, by their heat and influence, call forth from the womb 
of some great and hidden genius some pieces of inestimable value, of 
which the public might otherwise have been deprived. 

What advantage such pieces may have been to the author of the fol- 
lowing translation, is beyond my power at present to determine. But 



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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 83 

the commendation which the public hath paid to the last piece of poetrj 
inserted in the Courant has encouraged me to publish this beautiful 
Ode ; with some assurance, that if the reception is but correspondent 
to the merit of the performance, it will obtain a considerable applause ; 
at least with those who have any acquaintance with the charms of the 
original. Yours, &c. 

Horace, Ode the XVI. Lib II. To Grosphus. 
Through all mankind impatient ardors reign. 
To live a life of ease secure from pain j 
The sailor, on the -3Egean billows tost, 
By gloomy clouds the Moon's fair lustre lost. 
And stars no more seen with their radiant fires 
To guide th* uncertain ship, soft rest desires. 
In feats of war, the furious Thracians skilled. 
And Medes, with whi2zing deaths to win the field, 
With thirsty soul, O Grosphus ! Ease explore, 
More worth than shining beds of yellow ore, 
Or purple garments stained with Tyrian dies 
Which gems enlighten, as the stars the skies. 
Not sums immense, which greedy avarice heaps. 
Nor honor's greedy train, which o'er the vulgar sweeps, 
Can soothe the cares which haunt a monarch's breast, 
And flying round the court his thoughts molest. 
Happy the man, the breathings of whose mind 
Are in the circle of his power confined ; 
Whose sleep no fears disturb, his life no care, 
But at his table dines on homely fare j 
And from the sordid lust of riches free. 
From his clear thought all brooding sorrows flee. 
Condemn'd to breathe on Earth a narrow space 
We many things and mighty projects chase : 
To foreign realms, self-banished from our own. 
With anxious speed from pressing griefs we run : 
In vain our haste, while in the conscious soul 
The angry gods their killing horrors roll. 
A guilty gloom hangs hovering o'er the ships. 
And in the minds of running squadrons leaps. 
Pursuing cares bound swifter than the deer. 
Chased by the bloody hounds and trembling fear, 
On the fleet pinions of the eastern wind, 
Which veil the sun, and leave the hours behind : 
While swift as light the clouds impetuous fly, 



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84 NEW-ENOLAKD C0I7&AKT* 

And spread with sack-dotih all die azure sky. 
With eager joy lef s grasp the present hour, 
And leaye the future, placed beyond our power. 
Let smiles with gentle breezes soothe the tide 
Of swelling grief, and restless fears subside, 
Since yarious pleasures join to make us blest, 
Denied from some, we'll liye upon the rest 
Achilles, though with fame immortal crowned, 
Death's fatal shaft stretched prostrate on the ground: 
And Tithon, who a longer age obtains, 
Yet loathes a life curst with perpetual pains, 
And, mad with fury, gnaws his endless chains. 
Perhaps on me the smiling hours bestow 
The pleasures which my friend will never know. 
What though a hundred flocks your fields adorn, 
And bowing heads salute the rising mom ; 
Though flying steeds before your chariot spring. 
And in your ears the shrieking axils ring : 
Though robes twice in the Tyrian tincture laid. 
Around you their majestic honors spread: 
On me the Fates with partial bounty shine, 
And spin the thread of life more soft and fine. 
SmaU is my house, surrounded with the shades 
Of gloomy forests and delightful glades. 
Where all the Nine my ravished breast inspire 
And light with flames of their poetic fire. 
Here raised above the world, my lofty eyes 
View the low Vulgar, and their gaze despise. 

The following scraps of news and advertisements, 

will be sufficient to give an idea of the style in which 

such matters were clad, a century and a quarter ago, 

and with them our extracts from the Courant will 

close : — 

Boston^ Feb. 1. They write from Plymouth, that an extraordinary 
event has lately happened in that neighborhood, in which, some say, 
the Devil and the man of the house are very much to blame. The man, 
it seems, would now and then in a frolic call upon the Devil to come 
down the chimney ; and some little time after the last invitation, the 
good wife's pudding turned black in the boiling, which she attributed to 
the Devil's descending the chimney, and getting into the pot, upon her 



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BKKJAMIlf FRANKLIN. 05 

hnsbaad^s repeated wishes for him. Great numbers of people hare been 
to view the padding, and to inqnire into the ciicomstances ; and most 
of them agree that a sadden change most be prodaced by a pretemata- 
ral power. Bat some good Hoosewives of a chymical turn assign a 
nataral caase for it. However, 'tis thought, it will have this good effect 
apon the man that he will no more be so free with the Devil in his 
cups, lest his Satanic Majesty should a^in unluckily tumble into the 
pot. 

Newbury, June 14. — A serpent was killed here this week, about two 
foot long, with two perfect heads, one at each end ; in each head were 
two eyes and a mouth, and in each month a forked sting, both which he 
thrust out at the same time with equal fierceness. The manner of his 
defence was, raising up his heads about two inches from the ground ; 
he always kept one directed towards his adversary, thrusting out both 
his stings at once. The lad that killed him affirmed that when he was 
running, if his motion was obstructed one way, he would run directly 
the contrary way and never turn his body. One head was something 
bigger than the other, and from the biggest to the other his body was 
somewhat taper-wise, but in a far less proportion than in common 
snakes. I the subscriber with several others saw the said serpent just 
after he was killed, and can testify to all above-written, except his mo- 
tions described by the lad, who only saw him alive. 

NatL Coffin, 

Boston, Aug. 10. We are advised from Eastham, that Mr. Israel Cole 
of that place, lately died worth lOOOOZ. 2000 of which he left to four 
grandchildren, and 8000 to his only son of the same name, who in re- 
turn for his father's extraordinary frugality in his life, and good will at 
his death, ordered the most magnificent interment for him that has been 
known in New-England ; which was performed in the following manner. 
The corpse being inclosed in a beautifril coffin, was decently laid in a 
sled, and drawn to the grave by a yoke of oxen ; who notwithstanding 
they supplied the place of porters and pall-bearers, and had neither 
gloves, scarves nor rings for their trouble, yet 'tis not doubted but this 
neglect is entirely owing to the traders in these parts, who deal in such 
funeral ornaments as are fit only for human bodies. The Hear attended 
the funeral without any thing of mourning appaiel, which must be 
attributed to a generoos scorn of the deceitfal pomp and glory of hypo- 
critical mourners, and not to any narrowness of spirit in him, whose 
spacious soul extends to the utmost bounds of hk land, and to the very 
bottom of hiB chests. 

8 



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86 NEW-ENGLANB COURANT. 

THB BPITAPH. 

Here lies old Cole ; but how or why- 
He lived, or how he came to die, 
His son and heir may but declare it, 
Who's doubly blessed with father's spirit ; 
And who, whene'er he comes to breathe all 
His useless breath away, and leave all 
To such another son and heir. 
He may be thrown — but God knows where ; 
Perhaps in some black chymist's dark hole. 
Where out of wood he extracts charcoal 
Boston, Sept. 16. Last week a Council of Churches was held at the 
South Part of Brantrey, to regulate the Disorders occasioned by Regu- 
lar Singing in that place, Mr. Nile, the minister having suspended seven 
or eight of the Church for persisting in their Singing by Rule, contrary 
(as he apprehended) to the result of a former Council; but by this 
Council the suspended Brethren are restored to Communion, their Sus- 
pension declared unjust, and the Congregation ordered to sing by Rote 
and by Rule alternately, for the Satisfaction of both parties. 

Boston, Decemb. 9. We have advice from the South Part of Bran- 
trey, that on Sunday the First Instant, Mr. Niles the Minister of that 
Place, performed the Duties of the Day at his Dwelling House, among 
those of his Congregation who are opposers of Regular Singing. The 
Regular Singers met together at the Meeting House, and sent for Mr. 
Niles, who refused to come unless they would first promise not to sing 
Regularly J whereupon they concluded to edify themselves by the 
Assistance of one of the Deacons, who at their Desire prayed with 
them, read a Sermon, &c. 

Boston, Sept. 25. They write from Marblehead, that on Monday the 
15th inst a fanner about two miles from that town, hearing a noise 
among his swine, run out and discovered a Bear making off the ground 
on his hind legs, having the good man's Sow hugged up in his fore 
paws. They soon dispatched the Bear, in hopes of relieving the Sow ; 
but it proved too late, for the Bear had broke her back, and squeezed 
her to death. The sow is supposed to be about 200 weight. The Bear 
weighed 50 pounds a quarter when dressed. 

'Tis thought that not less than 20 Bears have been killed in about a 
week's time within two miles of Boston. Two have been killed below 
the Castle, as they were swimming from one island to another, and one 
attempted to' board a boat out in the bay, but the men defended them- 
selves so well with the boat-hook and oars, that they put out her eyes, 



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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 87 

and then killed her. On Tuesday last, two were killed at Dorchester, 
one of which w;eighed 60 pounds a quarter. We hear from Providence 
that the bears appear yery thick in those parts. 

Boston, Oct. 23. On Tuesday last there was a general Training at 
Charlestown, where 6 companies of Foot and 2 Troop of Horse were 
mustered and exercised, much to the satisfaction of a great number of 
spectators, who discovered a far greater degree of the Military spirit 
than in our Boston Militia, particularly by one company, commonly 
called Charlestown Wood Men, who appeared in their regimental 
apparel ; that is to say, their hats were all bound with white paper, and 
some of them had blue stockings worked with white. 

Oct. 30. A lad of about 17 years of age, having lately enticed 3 
children, all about 3 or 4 years of age, into by places of the town, bar- 
barously whipt them, and ('tis thought) otherways abominably abused 
them, was this week accidentally discovered by one of the children as 
he passed along the street, and committed to Bridewell, where he con- 
fest he whipt them, but said he could not tell for what. 

Feb. 26, 1726. The Lad (mentioned in one of our former papers) 
who barbarously whipped several children, being found guilty at our 
Superior Court, this week received sentence to be whipped 39 lashes at 
the Cart's Tail, 12 at the gallows, 13 at the head of Summer-street, and 
13 below the Town-House, and to be committed to Bridewell for six 
months. 

Boston^ March 26. We are at present amused with a very odd story 
firom Martha's Vineyard, which, however, is affirmed for a truth by 
some persons lately come from thence, viz. That at a certain house in 
Edgar Town, a plain Indian pudding being put into the pot and boiled 
the usual time, it came out of a blood-red color, to the great surprize of 
the whole family. The cause of this great alteration in the pudding is 
not yet known, though it has been matter of great speculation in the 
neighborhood. 
Advertisement. 

If there be any person that has imposed his surreptitious Digits or 
Bubonic ApthaJins, on the Globular Botuudity of an Hatt, tinctured 
with Nigridity, let him convey his Intelligencies to the Preconic Poten- 
tate, where the sonorous Jar of his Tintinnabular Instroment, by a 
tremulous Perversion of the Minute ^real Particles, affecting the 
Auricular Organs, make an Impression on the Cerebral Part of his 
Microcosm ; and he shall receive a Fremeial Donation adapted to the 
Magnitude of the Benefit, whether the Hat has titillated his Manual 
nerves, or only stmck the Capilliments of his Optic Nerve. 



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88 NEW-ENOLAND COURANT. 

Just pubiished, and Soid by the Printer hereof, 
*^* Hoop-Pbtticoatb Amugned and Condemned, hy ike light of 
Nature, and Law of God. Price 3d. 

Advertisement, There has been preparing, and is now published, and 
to be sold by Samuel Gerrish, bookseller in Comhill, Boston, A collec- 
tion of PsALH Tunes in three Farts, Treble, Mediae and Bass, 28 
consisting of 74 lines, or common Tunes, and ten more consisting of 
8 lines, or double Tunes. Printed from a Copper-Hate, most curiously 
and correctly engraved, and in a page fit to be bound up with the com- 
mon Psalm Books. Persons may have PsaJm Books with these Tunes 
bound, for 5s. 6d. a piece, or the Tunes single for 3s. a Set. And by 
ihe Doz. with usual and proper Abatements, and cheaper stQl by the 100. 

It is stated by Mr. Thomas that the publication of the 
Courant ceased in the beginning of the year 1727. 
James Franklin, at a subsequent period, removed to 
Newport, R, I. and established a paper there, — the 
iSrst in that colony. 

It is presumed that none of the names of the writers 
for the Courant are known at the present day, except 
that of Benjamin Franklin, and his whole history is as 
familiar to most readers as household words. His auto* 
biography is one of the most delightful narratives that 
the press has ever sent forth to the world. It has 
been re-written for various publications, and published, 
times almost innumerable, with additions, embellishments, 
and commentaries. His name has been rendered im- 
mortal by his private virtues, and his public services, 
and sheds a splendor around the typographic art, of 
which every printer makes a boast, while he feels that 
he is in some degree a partaker in the honor conferred 
on bis profession by Franklin. 



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THE NEW -ENGLAND WEEKLY JOURNAL. 



The first number of this paper was published on Mon- 
day, March 20, 1727. The imprint was — " BOSTON : 
Printed by S. KNEELAND, at the Printing-House in 
Queen-Street, where Advertisements are taken in." It 
was a half sheet of fools-cap, two pages, with two col- 
umns in a page, printed chiefly in Brevier type. The 
opening address of the publisher was set in Pica Italic, 
beginning with a four-line letter, and read thus : — 

It would be needless to mention here the particular Reasons for Pub- 
lishing this Paper; and will be sufficient to say, That the Design of it is, 
with Fidelity and Method to Entertain the Fublick every Monday with 
a Collection of the most Remarkable Occurrences of Europe^ with a 
particular Regard from time to time to the present Circumstances of the 
Pnblick Affairs, whether of Church or State. And to render this 
Paper more Acceptable to its Readers, immediate care will be taken 
(and a considerable progress is herein already made) to settle a Corre- 
spondence with the most knowing and ingenious Gentlemen in the several 
noted Towns in this and the Neighbour-Provinces, who may take par- 
ticular Care seasonably to Collect and send what may be remarkable 
in their Town or Towns adjacent worthy of the Publick View ; whether 
of Remarkable Judgments, or Singular Mercies, more private or public; 
Preservations & Deliverances by Sea or Land: together with some 
other Pieces of History of our own, &c. that may be profitable & en- 
tertaining both to the Christian and Historian. It is likewise intended 
to insert in this Paper a Weekly Account of the Number of Persons 
Buried, & Baptised, in the Town of Boston : With several other Things 
that at present can only be thought of, that may be of Service to the 
8* 

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90 K£W-£NGLAKD WEEKLT JOUBNAL. 

Pnblick : And special care will be taken that nothing contrary thereto 
shall be inserted. 

Those Gentlemen therefore whether in Town or Country, who are 
inclined to Encourage and take this Paper, may have it left at their 
Houses in the Town of Boston or Charlestown, or sealed up, Directed 
and Convey'd as they shall Order, giving Notice at the Printing-Honse 
in Queen-Street Boston. 

The Price of this Paper to those that live in the Town will be Sixteen 
Shillings per year, and Twenty Shillings if Seal'd, &c. and to be paid 
Quarterly. 

D:^ This may serve as a Notification, that a Select number of Gen- 
tlemen, who have had the happiness of a liberal Education, and some 
of them considerably improv'd by their Travels into distant Countries ; 
are now concerting some regular Schemes for the Entertainment of the 
ingenious Reader, and the Encouragement of Wit and Politeness j and 
may in a very short time, open upon the Public in a variety of pleasing 
and profitable Speculations. 

This address is followed by sundry articles under the 
head of " Foreign Afiairs," taken from the London 
Journal of October 15, 1726, — five months earlier than 
the date of the Weekly Journal. Then follows entries 
and clearances at the custom-houses in Philadelphia, 
New- York, Salem, and New-Hampshire, — an account 
of the annual town-meetmg in Boston for the election of 
municipal officers, — a paragraph of news from the 
West-Indies, — Burials and Baptisms in the town of 
Boston, — entries and clearances at the Boston customr 
house, — and sundry articles of intelligence, communi- 
cated, apparently, by the ^' knowing and ingenious gen- 
tlemen " mentioned in the introductory address. Three 
short advertisements fill up the remainder of the sheet. 
The first, a sale of household furniture at public ven- 
due, — the second, "a conveni^it piece of land for a 
house lot " — the third, — 

*^* James Lubbock Chocolate-Grinder, Liying near Mr. Colman^s 
Meeting House in Boston, sells the best Chocolate by Wholesale and 

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SAMUEL KNEELAND. 91 

Betail at the lowest Prices : He also takes in CocoarNnts to grind with 
expedition, at six pence per pound. 

This sheet was probably issued as a specimen of what 
the publisher intended to present to the public, — the 
next sheet, issued March 27, being " Number I. " and 
the numbers then following in regular order. 

In the third number of the Journal, April 10, (which 
is a whole sheet of four folio pages,) is the first of a 
series of essays which were continued to the end of the 
year. There is no title to these essays. To each of 
them is prefixed a motto, usually taken from a Latin 
Poet. The introductory paper, which here follows, is 
not inferior in easy and quiet humor to those, in which 
Steele, Addison, and Mackenzie introduced themselves 
to the readers of the Tattler, Spectator, and Mirror : — • 
NO. I. 

Sunt quibus in piures jus est tmnsire fiffums, 
Ovid. Met 

An ingenions Author has observed, that a Header seldom pemses a 
Book with Pleasure, *till he has a tolerable notion of the Physiognomy 
of the Author, the Year of his Birth, and his manner of living, with 
several other Particulars of the like Nature, very necessary to the right 
understanding his Works. This Humour I find not a little remarkable 
in my own Countrymen, who since the Advertisement which I lately 
published, have been very busy in their conjectures at my Name, the 
place of my Abode, and my Circumstances of Life. Many have sup- 
posed me to be a certain young Grentleman, who has given the Town 
several beautiful Pieces of Poetry: Though others say I am lately 
arrived from England^ accomplished in Mathematical lieaming. I have 
been frequently reported to wear a Band, and as often represented as a 
Merchant, wrapt up in a CaUimanco Night-Grown, and seated very con- 
veniently in a Compting-House. Sometimes I have been dispatched to 
Cambridge under Form of a Scholar, while some have not scrupled to 
divest me of all these my Dignities, and dap me into the Habit of an 
old Almanac-Maker. 

To rectify the Judgment of my Beaders in this important matter, 
aad to sooth the Curiosity of these inquisitive Gentlemen, I shall here 

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92 NEW-ENGLAND WEEKLY JOURNAL. 

give them a brief Account of myself, without Prejudice or Partiality. 
I was bom in the Year 1666, in a small Cottage at Scdenij which is the 
principal Reason, as I have been apt to imagine, that People have 
sometimes suspected me for a Conjuror. Though when I have often 
examined myself in that Particular, I have thought, as far as I know 
of my own Heart, that I have looked like another Christian. But as 
this is a Case of Conscience, fitter to be decided by Divines and others 
skilled in those Affairs, than by me ^who am but a simple Lay-man, I 
shall refer it to their Consideration, and at present dismiss it. How- 
ever I may possibly in the course of this Work, from Time to Time, 
offer to the World, such Reasons as incline me to the negative side of 
the Question, that I am no Wizard : But that being only my own pri- 
vate Opinion, I shall not presume to palm it upon others. 

The most remarkable Passage of my Childhood, was, a wonderful 
Talent I had to imitate any thing that I saw or heard. I could grunt 
like a Hog, roar like a Lion, or bellow like a Bull. I was once very 
near being worried by a pack of rascally Dogs, who took me for a Fox, 
I deceived their Ears with so natural a Squeal : And I was a particular 
Favorite of all the Hens in the Neiborhood, I rivaled the Cock with a 
Crow so very exquisite & inimitable. I will add, for the Satisfaction 
and Emolument of my Enemies, that when I Hoot they would infalli- 
bly take me for an ' Owl ; as also on occasion I can Bray so very ad- 
vantagiously, that few Asses can go beyond me. 

Nay to such a Perfection am I arrived in the Art of Mimickry, that 
I am able not only to take any sound that I hear, but I have a Faculty 
of looking like any Body I think fit. There is no Person that ever I 
have seen but I can immediately throw all his Features into my Face, 
assume his air and monopolize his whole Countenance. I remember 
when I was a School-Boy my Master once gave me an unlucky Rap on 
my Pate, for a Fault committed by Giles Horror ^ whose Visage I had at 
that time unfortunately put on. Esau Absent may remember me to this 
day, if he be living, how his mother took me for him, when I marched off 
in Triumph, with a huge Limch of Bread and Butter, that was just 
spread for Esau^s Dinner. I am the moi*e large on this part of my 
character, because it is in a great measure, the Ground-work of these 
Lucubrations, inasmuch as I intend frequently to write in Quality of an 
Imitator. My way of bantering a Folly shall be to represent it as in a 
Glass, and I shall make it Ridiculous by exposing it just as it is. If I 
criticise upon any incorrect Performances, my Readers must not wonder 
if my Criticism is incorrect ; As on the other Hand, If I have occasion 
to commend any beautiful or sublime Production, I shall endeavor to 
write in the Spirit of such an^ Author. Tho* as to this last Point, I 



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SAMUEL KNEELAND. 93 

must acknowledge, I am very much afraid I shall fail ! For to eonfess 
a secret wMeh I desire may go no further, I find I can wilh much more 
Ease & Facility, tread in the Steps of a ffrvh-street or hombastidk Writer, 
than of one whose Compositions are finished with Purity and Elo- 
quence. I own it is a considerable Grief to me to reflect how much 
more able I am to follow People in their Infirmities than in their good 
Examples ; and with what dexterity I can write Improbabilities and 
Ck»ntradictions, when I am obliged to take such pains to attain to any 
tolerable degree of Propriety & Exactness. This reduces my Capacity 
for Imitation to the xmcomfortable Diminution of Apishness & Buf- 
fbonery ; so that I have often with great shame of Heart, secretly com- 
pared myself to a Moiikxy, Those who have given us accounts of the 
^(u£-Indies tell us of a certain Bird there, which its Fellow-Inhabitants 
call the Mock-Bird. This Gentleman in Feathers, is remarkable for hav- 
ing no Note of his own, but is beholden to every Sound he hears for 
his Accent. The Bustling of the Leaves on the Trees, the Billing of 
Brooks, the Noise of the several Beasts, the Songs of other Birds, or 
the Words of Men, are alike to him ; and he repeats them all with equal 
Nicety and Art. I cannot but look upon myself, as having a remote 
Affinity to that Bird, in that I can pretend to no Fund of good sense 
in my Mind, but must be obliged perpetually to one Author or another 
for Patterns to copy after, or else I must e'en be contented to hold my 
Tongue. 

I have now finished two momentous Articles, viz. my Age & my 
Aspect to which I have added the Tongue of my Voice. It remainsv 
Ihat I say something of my present Condition, and this I shall do, (as 
an ingenious Author whom I am now imitating has admirably expressed 
it) in a very dear and concise manner. But first I must acquaint my 
Headers with some former Parts of my Life, without which my History 
will be very imperfect and incomplete. 

Know then that when I was Three Years old, I was sent to School 
to a Mistress, where I learned to read with great Expedition & Dis- 
patch *, for which Beason, in my Fifth Tear, I was taken away and put 
to a Writing-Master. In my seventh Year I could flourish a tolerable 
Hand, and began my Grammar. By that time I was Fourteen, I was 
a considerable Proficient in the Latin & Grreek Languages and was ad- 
mitted into Harvard CoUege. 1 staid a member of that learned Body 
Ibe usual Time, and then entered upon my Travels to China, Japan, & 
Bantam, in the latter of which I continued several Years Fellow of a So- 
ciety of Braclimans, from whom I learned many curious Secrets, which 
it may be I shall in some of my subsequent Entertainments communi- 
cate to the Fablick. It was in tliese my Peregrinations, that I used every 



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94 NEW-ENGLAND WEEKLT JOURNAL. 

Week to note down, in a Book which I ProTided for that Pmpose, a]l 
those things that I met with, and thonght worthy Remark. From which 
Origin my Paper deiires its Title, for heing so used to the Name, I 
could think of nothing more readily than. The Wbbklt Joubnal. 

I must not omit one old Stroke of my Character, which seems to be 
peculiar to my self; that, though I out-stripped all my Sodales in every 
other Study, I could never attain to any tolerable understanding in 
Arethmetick. While I was at School I remember I was not able by 
any methods I could make use of, to lay three Figures together, and 
compute what would be the Total : Unless they happened to be three 
Unites, and then I took care to bear in mind, that my Master often told 
me they would amount to just 3. Indeed I am at Present a better Mas- 
ter of numbers than so, having by many Years dose Application, joyned 
with the Instructions and Assistances of the Brachmans arrived as far 
in that Science, as Addition of Money, which is no little consolation to 
me in this my declining Old Age. And as this is a Subject upon which 
I have of late years delighted much to dwell upon, I shall acquaint my 
Readers, that I am a very Rich Old Fellow, hale and fresh, in the Six- 
tieth Spring of my Life. In the richest Tiller of my Chest, in all 
humane Probability, there cannot be less than One Pound Thirteen 
Shillings & Seven Pence Half-Penny. This I am the more willing to 
make known (tho' otherwise I love to keep my own Council in these 
matters of money ^ ever since I once had two pence stole from me, when I 
unadvisedly mentioned where I had hid it) But at present, I say, I am 
the more forward to tell (and indeed I love to repeat it) that I am a 
wealthy old Curmudgeon, because I hope the Publick will pay a suita- 
ble Deference to my Speculations when they know how rich the Author 
is : As well in that it will convince them that I do not write for the 
Lucre of Gain, (as some well express it) and as also in that money 
always commands Respect. 

There is one Question more that waits for a Solution ; and that is 
concerning my Name. But here now is the Unhappiness 1 1 have, through 
the Infinnity of Old Age, entirely forgot all about it ; so that Posterity 
must e'en be content to know that the Author of the Weekly Journal 
had a name once, tho' perhaps neither they nor I will ever be able to 
invent what it wafl. However, for the further Satisfaction of the 
World, I shall allow People in their Letters to me, to dignify & distin- 
guish me by what Title they please ; and if any of them should be so 
happy as to hit my true name, as soon as l once hear it again, I shall 
remember it, and I shall accordingly make use of it for the future. 
This Invitation I am sensible will be the Occasion of a variety of 
pleasant Appellations, with which my ingenious Correspondents will be 



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SAMUEL KNEELAHD. 95 

apt to ahew their Parts upon me. One will address his Epistle, To the 
Worthy Mr. Thomas Fool. Another will compliment me with the 
Denomination of the Honourable Squire Nonsense. I shall be sainted 
by a third, These for Honest Jack Blunderbuss : While a fourth 
superscribes his Letter, HimJbly Present, To the Bight WorshipfiM Sir 
Jahes Numscull, Knt, But these things I shaU bear with a great 
deal of Resignation and Patience, and shall not only pardon mj hu- 
mourous Coirespondents of this Kind, but so long as men are thus 
Witty, shall not fall to gire them all reasonable Encouragement. 

P. S. Those Gentlemen or Ladies who will do me the Honour to 
write to me, and by that means contribute to the Embellishment of my 
Journal, are desired to direct their Letters, till I can think of my true 
name, (unless they are disposed to be more than ordinary Witty and 
Satyrical) To PROTEUS ECHO, Esq, at Mr. Samuel EheelaruTs in 
Queen Street, Post Paid. E. 

In his next paper the writer proceeds, agreeably to 
the example of his great prototypes of the Tattler and 
Spectator, — then in the height of their popularity, — to 
give an account of the members of " the Society." 
The members, at a formal meeting, were ordered to put 
on their best countenances, and to form themselves into a 
semi-circle, fronting the limner, who was seated at a con- 
venient distance, and thus sketched their portraits : — 

The Person that was opposite to me, and seem'd to demand the ear- 
liest Notice, was the Honourable Charles Gravdy, Esq ; a Gentleman of 
most remarkable Figure and Majesty, and for that Reason has the Hon- 
our of the Chair and is every way qualified to Adorn it. He has been 
for many years a Merchant of considerable Eminence in the Province 
of Massachusetts, and has traded for many Thousand of Pounds in WU 
and Eloquence, and all sorts of the richest Styles and Figures, that are of 
such use in the Commonwealth of Letters ; And could never be persuad- 
ed to venture his Merchandize abroad, upon any other Bottom than 
tbat of Good Sense ; for which Reason he has in all his Adventures 
succeeded to Admiration. He is of all our Society, the best acquainted 
with the various Humours and Passions of Mankind, and can only by 
the Light of the Face, very often discover the secret motions and Pro- 
pensity of the Heart ; so that it is sometimes veiy dangerous being in 
his Company. I was once resolved, if it were possible, to deceive him, 
and had by a great deal of Subtilty, spread an artificial Melancholy 



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96 NEW-EKGULND WEEKLY JOUBNAL. 

over my whole Coantenance, while my hreast was labouring with some 
comical Idea (which himself was the occasion of) and ready to Inxrst 
into Laughter. The Squire gave me but one half Glance from his left 
Eye, and discovered the Dissimulation, to my Surprize and Confusion. 
He seldom speaks 'but at the Decision of some warm and tedious 
Debate, at which Time he has it in his Power to Command the Affeo- 
tions of his little Auditory at his Pleasure. There is something so 
peculiar and astonishing in his Countenance, that a Lady, as it is 
reported, was so unfortunate as to fall into sudden Labour at the Sight 
of him, as he happened accidentally to stalk by her Window. If at 
any Time the Society have started some merry and ridiculous subject, 
and happen at his Appearance to be all upon the Grin ; his Presence 
will in an Instant strike out every Wrinkle, and awe them into the 
strictest Gravity and Composure. And when we are disposed to be 
dull and heavy, as is too common, he can by the Magick of a certaia 
Figure, throw us into a kind of Convulsion, and keep us upon the 
Titter and Shake, for the half Hour together. In short, there is no 
resisting his Aspect nor Eloquence. 

At the right hand of Squire Gravdy^ sits Mr. TimoOiy Ekmt, who 
lives some distance from the Town of Boston, but is, notwithstanding, 
very constant in his attendance at our Meetiags. He is a Person of 
great plainness of Aspect, Speech, and Behaviour, and has such an 
Aversion to Bombastick-writing, that he Will not allow of any thing 
that is Gay or Fantastical, in his House or Apparel. His Horse for its 
Poverty and the Length of its Tail, is admirably calculated for the 
Surinam-Marketf upon which he rides to Town once every Week, and 
very often brings his Wallet baUanced with two Bottles of Milk, to de- 
fray his necessary Expenses. His Peniwigg has been out of the Curl, 
ever since the Revolution, and his Dagger and Doublet are supposed to 
be the rarest Pieces of Antiquity in the Country. As for his Intellectu- 
als, they are by Beason of Age, and an unlucky stroke which he re- 
ceived in a certain place in his Infancy, very much out of Bepair at this 
Time : However, he has Soul enough left him to master the whole 
Mathematicks ; and if it had not been for this Accident, he would 
doubtless have stood the fairest of any of his Contempory's to have 
found out the Philosopher' a-Stone, 

Next follows my dear Friend and old Ccfflapanion, the famous Mr. 
Christopher Careless^ an Inhabitant of Boston, and one who has by a dose 
and vigorous Application to Business, sunk a very plentiful Patrimony, 
and reduced his Fortune to a Level with his Ambition. He has of all 
Men living the most passionate Thirst after agreeable Society, and 
Conversation : And yet has the wondeifiil Faculty of retiring when he 



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SAMUEL KKEELANB. 97 

is in the best of Componj : For let the Society be ever so doselj en- 
gaged in Fursnits of the greatest Importance, his Soul win in Spite of 
all the Temptations which are before him, sink down into his Bodj, as 
a Candle into the Sod^et, and he hears no more of die Disconrse than if 
he was absent : And yet he is always ready with an answer to every 
Question which he did not hear. This Person is, notwithstanding, of 
singular Advantage to our Society : He dives into himself for all those 
Treasures of Knowledge with which he is so wonderfully furnished, 
and he can, when he is much provoked, fetch out of his own Mine, such 
excellent Maxims and Observations, as are not to be found in any 
other SoiL He seems to be the favourite and darling of Nature, and 
receives at the first Hand, all those Intellectual Blessings which others 
are forced to endeavour after by a long and painful Disquisition. To 
conclude. He is a man of great Goodness of Temper when he is well 
pleased, and let him be kept from strong Liquor, and there is not a 
more sober temperate Person in the whole Neighborhood. 

One of this Association happens to be Mr. Will. Bitterly^ a Man that 
trades with the Stars, and has been all his Life a Fortune-Teller. He 
is descended in a direct line (tho* I have forgot the number of Genera- 
tions) from old Diogenes the Father of the CynickSy and is pretty much 
like him in Temper & Complection. This Person has taken up a Res- 
olution against Matrimony, by reason of several threatening Lines and 
Ctoseea in the Palms of his Hands, which he supposes portend domes- 
tick Jangles and Disasters. I have been credibly informed, that he has 
foretold many extraordinary Events as soon as they have come to pass, 
and once I remember, his warning a Company of very hopefal Strip- 
lings, against the Danger of being fddled, when there appeared to be 
no other Symptoms of the Catastrophe, than a large Bowl, very briskly 
sailing round the Table ; What it contained, I do not pretend to de- 
termine, but that very Night according to the Prediction, they were all 
nnhappfly Cast-away, and some of them very much Damaged. There 
are now entered down in the Minutes of our Society several of his 
Prognostications of which we expect a punctual and speedy Accom- 
plishment : And he has very lately ventured to Prophesy something 
that relates to this Paper, viz. That some of the finest, most elegant 
and sublime Pieces that may shine out in the leaves of these Lucubra- 
tions, will certainly meet with very cold and indifferent Keception, and 
that all the low and grovelling Performances (if diere should be any) 
will consequently meet with universal Applause. I shall therefore cal- 
culate some of my Speculations to the taste of the Populace, and 
would not by any means have the Publick suppose that it is for want of 
Ability, that I am now and then very dull, tho' that possibly may be 
the very Beaeon. 9 



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98 NEW-ENGLAND WEEKLY JOURNAL. ^ 

And now comes the wonderful Mr. Honeysudde^ the Blossom of onr 
Society, and the beautiful Ornament of Litterature ; a Person of most 
extravagant Imagination, and one who lives perpetually upon Tropes 
and Similes. In his common Conversation, he talks in Metaphor and 
Hyperbole, and his very Gesture is AUegoricaL He has a lofty and 
poetical Countenance, which perfectly Bhimes with his Grenius : AjA 
his Fancy is like a wide and magnificent Room, that is hung with a 
confused variety of Landskips, of his own making, and his Judgment 
can hardly give its Approbation to any thing, that does not border upon 
the Sublime. He has a tall and towering Spirit, that scorns to be 
chain'd to the Laws of Mortality ; and will very often start away in a 
visionary Excursion to the distant Parts of the Universe. He has con- 
tracted an intimate Acquaintance with all the Planetary Worlds, and 
can give a very romantick Account of the different Species of its num- 
berless Inhabitants, Customs and Constitutions. By the Assistance of 
his natural & acquired Endowments, he is such a Master at Versifica- 
tion that one of his acquaintance has offered a considerable Wager 
upon his Faculty, against the great LAW, and even Dr. H R 

himself, and tho' I dare not rise to such a Height in my Opinion of his 
Capacity, yet I cannot but think he deserves the next Place to these 
wonderful Authors. He has attained to a considerable Perfection in 
the Art of Painting, and has given some incontestible Proofe of his 
Improvement ; Having obliged our Club-Room, with the Draught of a 
Beau, a clown and a Coquet ; and in Pursuance of a late Vote of our 
Society, is now taking the Phisiognomy of what we call a Critick. 

I might add the Character of Two Divines who sometimes do us the 
Honour to sit with us half an Hour, and improve us with their Excel- 
lent Conversation ; But these Gentlemen are above the reach of my 
Pen to do them Justice. Their Lives are regular and Exemplary; 
their Learning Solid and Profound, and in the Pulpit, they command 
the Attention of their Audience with the Gracefulness of their Air, the 
Musick of their Voice, and the noble Majesty of their Eloquence. 
These Gentlemen will have no inconsiderable Hand in these Weekly 
Entertainments. M. 

The third number of these Essays is a " Criticism 

upon Nonsense," which bestows some wholesome ridicule 

upon the false taste, that was thought to prevail among 

the writers of that period. One of those writers, " Mr. 

George Brimstone by Name," is thus described : — 

Mr. Brimstone, as to his exterior Figure, is one of the portliest Mor- 
tals that have flourished in our World, since Goliak overtop'd the 



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SAMUEL KNEELJLND. 99 

PhUistian Army. He is, moderately speaking, Nine Foot high, and 
Four in Diameter. His Voice is not unlike the Roar and Rapidity of 
a Torrent foaming down a Mountain, and reverberated among the 
neighboring Rocks. The hurry of Vociferation in which he drives 
along in the Heat of an Argument, imitates the Thunder of a Cart- 
load of Stones poured out upon a pavement. He was educated in a 
Ship of war, and one would imagine he learnt the Notes of his Gamut, 
from the various Whistlings of a Tempest thro' the Rigging of his 
Vessel. I was once so unadvised as to offer my Dissent from one of 
his Opinions ; but I had better have held my Tongue : He turned upon 
me, and rung me such a peal of Eloquence, that had I not made off 
with the greatest Precipitation, would have gone near to have stun'd, 
and made me Deaf all my Days. Nay, I have cause to think my Hear- 
ing has been never the better for it to this Moment. 

This is a short Description of his external Accomplishments ; as to 
the Qualifications of his Mind, they will be best perceived, by a Trans- 
cript I shall here make, from an Oration he composed in Praise of 
Beacon-Hill, 1 must inform my Readers, that it was conceived as he 
stood upon the Summit of that little Mount, one Training Day, when, 
as he has since owned to me, the Drums and Musquets assisted his 
Inspiration, and augmented and deepened the Rumbling of his Periods 
It begins in the following manner — 

The gloriously-transcendent, and highly-exalted Precipice, from 
which the sonorous Accents of my Lungs resound with repeated Echoes, 
is so pompous, magnificent, illustrious, and loftily-towering, that, as I 
twirl around my arm with the artful flourish of an Orator, I seem to 
feel my Knuckles rebound from the blue Vault of Heaven, which just 
arches over my Head, I stand upon an amazing Eminence that heaves 
itself up, on both sides steep and stupendous 1 high and horrendous I 
The spiry Teneriffe, the unshaken Atlas, or Olympus divine and celes- 
tial, when compared to this prodigious mountain, sink to Sands, and 
dwindle to Atoms. It is deep-rooted in its ever-during Foundations, 
firm as the Earth, lasting as the Sun, immovable as the Pillars of Na- 
ture 1 I behold from this awful and astonishing Situation, the concave 
Expanse of uncreated Space, stretch itself above, and the Land and 
Ocean below, spreading an Infinitude of Extension all about me. But 
what daring Tropes and flaming Metaphors shall I select, O asphing 
Beacon ! to celebrate Thee with a suitable Grandeur, or lift Thee to 
a becoming Dignity 1 How does it shoot up its inconceivable Pinnacle 
into the superior Regions, and blend itself with the cerulian circumam- 
bient Ether 1 It mocks the fiercest Efforts of our most piercing Sight 
to reach to its impenetrable Sublimities. It looks down upon the di- 



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100 NEW-EN6LANB WXEKLT JOUBNAL. 

minishM Spheres ; ^e fixt Stars twincle ftt animmeasiiraUe Pistaaoe 
beneath it, while the Planets roll away unpen^iyed, in a vast, a fathom- 
less Profound I * * * * 

The writer proceeds to give an account of Mr. Brim- 
stone's Poem on Love, addressed to his Mistress, in 
which, in fifty-six lines, there were three Cdestiabf 
eight Immortals, eleven Unboundedsy six Everlastings^ 
four Eternities, and thirteen Infinities ; besides Bellow^ 
ingSy RavingSy TellingSy Horrorsy TerribHes^ Mackets, 
Hubbtihsy and ClutteringSy without number. But the 
gentleman's Poetical Description of a Game at Push 
Pin, was considered his master-apiece. This poem be- 
gan thus : — 

Eage, fire and fiuy in my bosom roll, 
And all the gods rush headlong on my souL 

The pins are likened to two comets, enlightening the 

boundless deserts of the skies with a bloody glare ; and 

their first encounter was a? if the two continents came 

in contact and produced a direful concussion in the 

midst of the briny Atlantic. The poem concluded with 

the following Lines : — 

The Bars of Brass, harsh-crashing, loud resound, 
And jarring Discords rend th' astonished ground. 
80 when aloft dire Hurricanes arise, 
And with horrendonns shatterings burst the skies, 
Dread ghastly Terrors drive along in crowds. 
And hideous Thunder howls amongst the Clouds ; 
Eternal Whirlwinds on the Ocean roar. 
Infinite E^lhquakes rock the bounding shore. 

Most of the human passions, virtues aud vices, are 
subjects of discussion in the following numbers, treated 
with becoming earnestness ; the more harmless follies of 
the day are tquched with the pencil of levity. It is said 
^at these essays were written by three different persons, 



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SAMUEL KNE£LAND. 101 

but it is not possible now to identify the several writers. 
Judge Danforth, the Rev. Mather By les, and the Rev, 
Thomas Prince, were undoubtedly contributors to the 
Journal. Tradition affirms that most of the poetical 
contributions were from the pen of Dr. Byles. The 
thirty-first number was written soon after the great 
Earthquake. Fear is the subject of discussion, and the 
writer attempts to show that " Fear always rises in pro- 
portion to the worth and excellence of what it is proba- 
ble we shall part with ; " and as nothing is more dear 
than life, it is thence concluded that the terror inspired 
by the earthquake was a natural emotion : — 

When the Earth rambles under us, and begins to wave and qniver, 
where shall we run for Refuge and Safety? To our Habitations? 
They feel the same trembling and convulsion with the Earth. Shall 
we run out into our Streets ? The Earth may gape under, or our 
Houses tumble over us. If we ascend the tops of Hills, the Earth- 
quake is there, and the Mmntains skip and leap like Lambs ; either that 
part under our Feet may open and so ingulph us, or the whole of them 
may sink down tiU their Tops are lower than the Valleys which before 
lay at their feet- If we imagine to fly to the Waters, Flames may 
belch out of the Sea and make a speedy consumption of us, or our 
Foundation may fail us before we can get thither. So that, upon all 
accounts, an Earthquake leaves us the least Security of our Lives of 
any one temporal Judgment. If an Earthquake be caus'd by impris- 
on'd Wind, which wanting Vent, rushes with a bellowing Roar under 
the Earth, and heaves up the Ground into Trembles, it must give us an 
a-nmaiTig Horror to think this Subterranean Vapour must break out 
somewhere or other, and that we don't know but it may rush out under 
our Feet, and bury us all in one prodigious Chasm. If it be caused by 
Fires, which bum under us, and run in Rivers of Flame, which threaten 
to blaze out in the most dreadful Eruptions ; it must fearfully surprize 
to think how the outward Convex Earth which is our present Founda- 
tion, is only an Arch, which as it were hangs over a fiery Sea ; and 
that if it should once cave in, we should &11 into a Boiling and Sul- 
phnrious Lake. 

It is the Sentiment of the best modem Philosophers, that the Earth 
is oontiniially sapt and undermined by Fire ; and its Vitals bumt with 
9* 

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102 NEW-ENGLAND WJCEKLT JOURNAL. 

an hectick Fever, so that it is giadnally preparing for the final Confla- 
gration, when its extreme Surface will at last share the Fate that is now 
suffered by its Entrails. Doubtless those burning Mountains which 
throw out*of their Cayems perpetual Flames and Cinder, and some- 
times vomit Rivers of melted materials, have nnmerous Sources from 
all parts of this Globe, which still supply them with fresh and eternal 
Recruits. So that an Earthquake must needs give us some natural 
Expectation and Image of those last tremendous Convulsions when 
this large and spadous Arch which is stretch'd over the Hollow that is 
under it, shall descend down with a mighty noise, and the Waves of 
Fire breaking out, shall boil over it. 

This essay closes with the following Hymn : — 
The GOD of Tempest. 
I. 

Thy. dreadful Paw*r, Almighty GOD 

Thy Works to speak conspire ; 
This Earth declares thy Fame abroad, 

With Water, An:, and Fire. 

^' 

At thy Cgmmand in glaring Streaks, 

The ruddy Lightning flies j 
Xioud Thunder the Creation shakes, 

And rapid Tempests rise. 

m. 

The gathering Glooms obscure the Day, 

And shed a solemn Night ; 
And now the heav'nly Engines play. 

And shoot devouring Xdght. 
IV. 
Th* attending Sea thy will performs. 

Waves tumble to the shore. 
And toss and foam amid the Storms, 

And dash, and rage, and roar. 
V. 
The Earth and all her trembling Hills 

Thy marching Footsteps own : * 
A shud'ring Fear her Entrails fills. 

Her hideous Caverns groan. 
VI. 
My GOD, when Terrors thickest thwng,— 

Thro' all t^ mighty i^pace. 



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K< ■ 



SAMUXI. KNUaBLAND* 

And ratding ThimdeiB loar along, 
And bloody Jiightnings blaze : 
VII. 

When wild Confusion wrecks the Air, 
And Tempests rend the Skies, 

Whilst blended Bain, Clouds, and Eue 
In harsh disorder rise ; 

ym. 

Amid the Hurricane I '11 stand, 

And strike a tuneful Song ; 
My Harp all-trembling in my hand, , 

And all inspired my Tongue. 

IX. 

1 11 shout aloud, Ye Thunders ! roll, 

And shake the sullen Sky; 
Tour sounding Voice from Pole to Pole 

In angry murmurs try. 

X. 

Thou Sun 1 retire, refuse thy Light, 

And let thy Beams decay : 
Y^ Lightnings ! flash along the Night, 

And dart a dreadful Day. 

XI. 

Let the Earth totter on her Base, 
• Clouds Hear'n's wide Arch deform ; 
Blow, all ye Winds, from ev*ry place, 
And breathe the idnal Storm. 

xn. 

O JESUS, haste the Glorious Day, 
When thou shalt come in Flame, 

And bum the Earth, and waste the Sea, 
And break all Nature's Frame. 

xm. 

Come quickly, Blessed Hope I appear, 

Bid thy swift Chariot fly; 
Let Angels tell thy coming near, 

And snatch me to the sky. 
XIV. 
Around thy wheels, in the glad Throng, 

I 'd bear a joyful part*, 



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104 NEW-ENGLAND WEEKLY JOURNAL. 

AU Hallelajah on my Tongae, 
All Rapture in my Heart. 

Six Stanzas of this poem are introduced by Dr. Bel- 
knap into his collection of " Sacred Poetry," and are 
there attributed to Dr. Byles as the author. 

There is one Poem inserted among these papers which 
is announced as the production of " Mr. Byles.'* It is 
" on the Death of King George I., and Accession of 
King George II.'' It is a pretty good specimen of the 
style of " Mr. Brimstone," which had been ridiculed in 
a previous paper. After a column of most extravagant 
personal compliment, and inflated description of the con- 
dition of England under the reign of the first George, 
the Poet exclaims — 

But Oh 1 at once the heaVnly scenes decay, 
And all the gandy yisions fade away ; 
Se dies — my muse, the dismal sound forbear ; 
In ey'ry eye debates the falling tear ; 
A thousand passions o*er my bosom roll, 
Swell in my heart, and shock my inmost soul : 
He dies — Let nature own the direful blow. 
Sigh, all ye winds ; with tears ye rivers flow j 
Let the wide ocean, loud in anguish, roar ; 
And tides of grief pour plenteous on the shore ; 
No more the spring shall bloom or morning rise, 
But night eternal wrap the sable skies. 

Yet the spring did bloom, and the morning did rise ; 

for the Poet) after a transition of six lines declares, 

"The first revives within the second George," and 

adds — 

Ey'n our far shores confess the high delight, 
Where the faint sun rolls down the golden light ; 
The daring billows leap along the main. 
Proud of the extent of George's happy reign j 
Applauding thunders shake the air around. 
Waves shout to wayes, and rocks to rocks resound ; 



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SAMITEL KITEELAND. 105 

Each human hteaat glows with resistleas fire, 
And eVry Angel strikes his sounding lyre. 

O live, auspicious Prince, live radiant Queen, 
Long let your influence gHd Ijhe glorious scene, 
And your fair Offspring, form'd for high command, 
Flourish, ye blooming Honours of the land : 
But when from the dim courts below you fly, 
To the bright regions of the upper sky, 
Where trees of life by living rivUets teem 
Wave their tall heads, and paint the running stream 
May round your heads crowns flash, celestial, bright, * 

In another essay, (No. xxxiii.) there is a paraphrase 

of the Hundred and Fourth Psalm, in heroiq verse, 

which is rather dull and prosaic, though the versification 

is smoothe and not ungraceful* The foUoyv^ing are the 

concluding lines : — 

Joyful, my GOD, my pious Song I *11 raise, 

Whilst vital Spirits down their circling maze. 

To thee I '11 sing, till to the Realms of Light 

My Soul with winged speed directs her flight. 

There shall my Raptures no deception know. 

But to duration's endless Ages glow. 

Mean time my GOD shall every Thou^t employ, 

My sorrow sweeten, and inspire my joy. 

Whilst on the Wicked His Almighty ire 

Shall rain a deluge of consuming fire ; 

My Soul thy Name with inmost ardour bless, 

You numerous Worlds your gratefiil Songs express ! 

Several of these essays were republished in 1807 and 
1808, in the Emerald, a literary paper, published in 
Boston. In placing the first number before the readers 
of the Emerald, the editor said, — " If the appetites of 
general readers be not entirely vitiated by the literary 
whip-syllabub, which is served up in the trash publica- 
tions of the present time, they must relish the solid fare, 
on which our ancestors regaled." In a subsequent pa- 

• Tbree linei are ten nnAj obli^rated from the Joomal. * 



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106 NEW-ENGLAND WEEKLT JOURNAL. 

per, the editor remarked of these essays — "They 
appear to have been extremely popular, when first pub- 
lished, and we should be proud, at this day, of being, in 
the least degree, instrumental m arresting their flight to 
the gulph of oblivion. They carty internal evidence to 
prove themselves the production of some well bred 
scholar, whether of Oxford or Cambridge is of little 
moment. Some of them are not inferior to the numbers 
of the Spectator ; and their writer seems to follow, and 
not mb longo intervaUo, the footsteps of Addison. * 
* * * The extensive familiarity with classical litera- 
ture, which these productions discover, is perhaps such 
as to render it highly probable, that they originated with 
some English gentleman of education, then resident here. 
The diction is pure, the humor chaste, and the morality 
sound." 

In the seventy-first number of the Journal there is a 
" Congratulatory Poem," addressed to Governor Burnet, 
who had then just taken possession of the government of 
Massachusetts, by appointment from the king of Great- 
Britain. It is highly charged with adulation, and con- 
tains more flattery than poetry. For example, — 

Bnt now, O Massachusetts, now rejoice ! 
And Thou, blest Boston, lift thy cheerfnl Voice ! 
For he, who long before had fill'd our Hearts, 
Now to our longing Eyes Himself imparts : 
He, he is come to be our Country's Prop ; 
Greater than Fame, and better far than Hope. 
« * * * # 

While tender Infants smile to see his Face, 
The Aged gravely celebrate his Praise. 
Transports and Joys shine in each Face confest, 
While Expectation fills each heaving Breast. 
But while Priest, Senate, and the Throng express 
* XJnited Joy, great Sir, can we do less ? 

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SAMUEL KNEELAND. 107 

From Castle William then a Velcome take : 
'Tis giv'n ! — what Noise our thandring Cannons, make ! 
*Tis nought ! — For should we forth our Kaptures sing, 
Wide round the World the rast Report would ring. 

The readers of the History of Massachusetts, will not 
need to be informed that Governor Burnet did not quite 
accomplish all the anticipations of the Poet. He began 
his administration by quarreling with the Representatives 
of the People, and closed it at his death, with no testi- 
monials of their love or respect. The poem was un- 
doubtedly written by Dr. Byles. 

In January, 1729, — the third year of its existence, 
— the Journal was supplied with another series of ori- 
ginal essays, which extended to eighteen numbers. Mr. 
Thomas says, they " were supposed by some to have 
been principally composed by Governor Burnet ; as they 
began thb January after his arrival at Boston, and ceased 
a few weeks before his death." These essays are writ- 
ten in a good style, and may properly claim the charac- 
ter of " moral and entertaining," but they want the 
attractive sprightliness that gave popularity to those of 
Proteus Echo. 

About the close of the year 1741, this paper was 
incorporated with the Boston Gazette, and published by 
Kneeland fc Green, under the title of the "Boston 
Gazette and Weekly Journal." The publication was 
discontinued in 1752, — twenty-five years after the first 
publication of the Journal.* 

In the Journal of January 8, 1728, is the following 
account of the celebration of the king's birth-day at 
Bath, England : — 
At four o'clock in the morning the Bells struck out, a Bonfire was 
«See p. 46. 



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108 NEW-ENGLAND WEEKLY JOURNAL. 

lighted, and a whole Ox set a roastLng, with a Quantitj of liquor, and 
Huzza's to His Majesty's Health : At 6 the Drums heat the Tonng 
Gentlemen Yolnntiers to arms ; hy 8 one Hundred and Sixty assem- 
bled themselres together at the Colonel's House ; by 10 they were ready 
to march, but first eyery man drank a Glass of Brandy to his Majesty's 
Health; the officers were extreamly rich in their Apparel, Velret, 
Embroidery, Gold and Silver Lace ; the men with fine Caps, Cockades, 
Holland Shirts, Silver and Gold Ribbons, Shonlder-Enots, fine Searlet 
Cloth Breeches richly laid, white Stockings, red Tops to their Shoes ; 
the Slings to their Pieces had this Motto, God save King George the 
Second : By 12 they marched through the best part of the Town, with 
two Sword-Bearers, a Sett of Morris-Dancers, and Martial Musick be- 
fore them ; then came to the Market-Place, where they drew up in order 
for Fire ; Wine was brought, and every Officer chai^'d his Glass ; the 
King, Queen and Royal Family went round distinct, with a Volley at 
each health; the Glasses were thrown over their Heads, and in other 
Parts of the Town they did the same; then Captain Goulding repeated 
this Verse Ex tempore : 

In spite of Legions of Infernal Devils bdow, 
7b y» Powers aJbove^ Suprecan Divine^ 

Let George in the Center our Standard be, 
And his Queen the Great Caroline. 
One Colonel Edward Collins that keeps the White Hart inn, & Capt 
Thomas Goulding Jeweller in the Walks, Capt James Warriner Book- 
seller in the Walks, Lieut. Collins Wallen, Draper in the Church- Yard 
Lieut. Taylor Sword-Cutler in the Church- Yard, and three more young 
Gentlemen of the Town-Officers, which makes 8 in number, that gave 
the Ox and all the Charges thereto : They drew to the Beef when 
roasting, with Handfuls of Silver each Officer, and obliged the Cook to 
stuff it into the Shoulders and Keck ; and Capt. Goulding, Jeweller, 
stuffed above an Hundred true Stones into the Buttocks of the Ox, 
several Diamonds, Rubles, Saphires, Emeralds, Gramets, Ametthysts 
aaid Topasses. At two the Ox was ready brought to the Table, put 
into a Dish 12 Foot long and 6 wide, made on purpose : They din'd 
in the public Market-House ; but the Stuffing made the Mob so furious 
that they flung themselves over the Heads of the Officers, into the Dish 
and stood over their Shoes in Gravy, and one was stuff 'd into the Belly 
of the Ox, and almost stifled with Heat and Fat ; the Grease flew about 
to that Degree, which made the Officers quit the Table, or all their 
Cloaths must have been spoil'd ; they stopt and look'd on their Pro- 
oeedings tin Three, then they all march'd to the Colonel's, and staid till 
Four ; they went out again on their Procession ; at Five the Candles 



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MATHER BTLES. 109 

began to light; at 6 the Town was illuminated ; they beat into the 
Colonel's Quarters near Seven, with Huzzas, King George for Ever I 
where there was great Quantities of Wine and Beer drank to his 
Majesty's Health, and all his loving Subjects in his extended Domin- 
ioiis; at Eleven the Drums beat Go to Bed Tom, and all departed in 
Peace after Pleasure. 

Of the Rev. Mather Byles, one of the most prolific 
writers for the Journal, the history is generally known* 
He was born in Boston, March 26, 1706. His father 
was an English emigrant, and died soon after the birth of 
the son. His mother was the daughter of the Rev. In- 
crease Mather* He graduated at Harvard College, in 
1725, and was ordained pastor of the church in Hollis- 
street, Boston, December 20, 1733. He was strongly 
attached to the royal government, at the beginning of the 
Revolution, on which account he was separated from his 
pastoral charge, in 1776. In May, 1777, he was form- 
ally denounced, in town-meeting, as a Tory, and was 
obliged to enter into bonds to appear at a public trial. 
He was pronounced guilty, and sentenced to confinement 
on board a guard-ship, and, with his family, to be sent to 
England ; but this sentence, — at least, the latter part of 
it, — was not executed. He died in 1783, of a paralysis, 
which had afflicted him for some years. He made great 
pretensions to the character of a wit, and almost innu- 
merable puns have been attributed to him. His literary 
talents gained him some reputation in England. That 
he understood the arts of flattery is evident firom the fol- 
lowing letter : — 

To Mb. ALEXAOT)ER POPE. - 

New-England, Boston, Oct. 7, 1727. 
Sir, 

Yon are doubtless wondering at the novelty of an epistle from 
the remote shores where this dates its origin ; as well as from bo obscure 
a hand as that which subscribes it Bat what comer of the earth so 
VOL. I. 10 

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]10 NEW-ENGLAND WEEKLY JOUBNAL. 

secret, as not to have heard the fame of Mr. Pope ? Or who so retired 
as not to be acquainted with his admirable compositions, or so stupid as 
not to be ravished with them ? 

Fame, after a man is dead, has been bj some ingenious writers com- 
pared to an applause in some distant region. If this be a just simili- 
tude, you may take the pleasure of an admired name in America, and 
of spreading a transport over the face of a New World : By which you 
may, in some measure, imagine the renown, in which your name will 
flourish many ages to come, and anticipate a thousand years of futurity. 

To let you see a litde of the reputation which you bear in these un- 
known climates, and the improvements we are making under your 
auspicious influences, in the polite studies of the Muses, I transmit to 
you the enclosed Poems^ Assuring myself, though not of the appro- 
bation of your judgement, vet of the excuse and lenity of that candw 
which is for ever inseparable from a great genius. But notwithstanding 
all these representations of your goodness, which my imagination is 
able to form, I find it very difficult to suppress the struggle of passions 
which swells my breast, while I am writing a letter to so great a man. 
I am at once urged by a generous ambition to be known to you ; and 
forbid by a trembling consciousness of my own unworthiness and ob- 
scurity Prompted by desire, flushed with hope, or appalled with con- 
cern, I add to the incorrectness which I would now most of all wish to 
escape. In short, Sir, when I approach you it is with a real awe and 
reverence, like that, which you have so humorously described in the 
Guardian upon dedications. 

How often have I been soothed and charmed with the ever blooming 
landscapes of your Windsor Forest? And how does my very soul 
melt away, at the soft complaint of the languishing Eloisa ? How fre- 
quently has the Bape of the Lock conmianded the various passions of 
my mind : Provoked laughter ; breathed a tranquillity j or inspired a 
transport ! And how often have I been raised, and borne away by the 
resistless fire of the Iliad, as it glows in your immortal translation 1 

Permit me, Sir, to conclude my letter with asking the favor of a few 
lines from the hand which has blest the world with such divine produc- 
tions. If you thus honor me, assure yourself the joys you will produce 
in me, will be inferior to none but the poetic rapture of your own 
breast. Perhaps you will be disposed to write, when I confess, that I 
have a more superstitious ardor to see a word written by your pen, 
than ever Tom Folio in the Tatler, to see a simile of Virgil with that 
advantage. 

I am, Sir, your great admirer, and 

most obedient humble Servant, Mathsb ByIiBB. 



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THOMAS PRINCE. Ill 

To this letter, Pope wrote an answer, composed in 
terms of extravagant compliment, which Byles was fond 
of exhibiting on every practicable occasion. Among 
other ironical expressions. Pope said, it had been long 
supposed that the Muses had deserted the British empire, 
but the reception of this book of Poems had relieved 
him of his sorrow, for it was evident they had only emi- 
grated to the colonies.* 

The Rev. Thomas Prince is supposed to have been a 
contributor to the Journal, and to have given efficient 
aid to the publisher by enlightened and friendly counsel. 
This gentleman was a native of Middleborough, in the 
county of Plymouth. He was a graduate of Harvard 
College. Having spent several years in traveling in 
Europe, he arrived in Boston, in 1717, and was, the 
next year, ordained pastor of the Old South Church. 
He published a great number of sermons and tracts, but 
is now, chiefly known by his Chronological History of 
New-England, — a work of great value, as far as it was 
completed, which was brought down only to 1633. He 
was an ardent friend and zealous supporter of the Rev. 
George Whitefield. He died October 22, 1758, in the 
seventy-second year of his age. 

• Tbis unecdote I bad fiom tbe Bev. Jobn Clioti n. D. 



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THE WEEKLY REHEARSAL. 



This was the fifth newspaper established in Boston. 
The first number of it was published on Monday, Sep- 
tember 27, 173 1 ," by J. Draper, for the author." * Its 
author was Jeremy [or Jeremiah] Griolet, a young man 
of fine literary acquirements. " For the first six weeks, 
mottoes in Latin, from the classics, were inserted after 
the title," and every succeeding paper had a new motto. 
" For the first six months, with very few exceptions, a 
moral or entertaining essay was weekly published, which 
usually filled more than half the paper." f These were 
mostly original, and were supposed to be the productions 
of Gridley {ilone. The following modest introductory 
article fills the entire first page of the first paper : — 

There is nothing of greater disservice to any writer, than to appear 
in public under too forward and sanguine an expectation : For either 
he must elevate himself to the fondness of his reader's fancy, or both 
of them are respectively dissatisfied, — the reader by a disappointment, 
and the writer by a cold reception. To prevent therefore any incon- 

*Iii miMt of th« newipapen printed in Um earty put of the laat eentuiy, the 
word '* author" was used to designate the •dUorixt publisher. All eommonica* 
tions are addreaeed "To the author of the Couiant,"— •* To the author of tha 
Behearaal," See. 

tThomaa's Hlstorj of Printing. 



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JEAEMT 6RIDI.CT. 113 

▼enience of this natare, I shall here enter into the design of the present 
undertaking, and delineate the idea I would have every reader conceive 
of it 

As to the reasons that have engaged me in it, several I find have 
been assigned, all which I leave in the same uncertainty and suspense, 
since there is no necessity of declaring upon motives, where the pro- 
duction is to be usefal or entertainiDg. And to be so as far as possible 
is the professed intention of this paper; an intention that takes in a 
wide extent and variety of subjects. For what is there either in Art, 
or Nature, or History, not to be accommodated in this view ? The 
minutest things, when set in a due light, and represented in apt words, 
will divert, and the greatest are entertaining of themselves. The na- 
ture of this design then is confined to no particular argument, and in 
fact will be circumscribed by nothing but discretion, duty, and good 
manners. These are the fences and boundaries I would think myself 
obliged never to transgress ; for however uneasy a dissolute and licen- 
tious pen might be under these limitations, yet without them there is 
certainly no real pleasure in any action of life, and with them there is 
room for the widest range of thought, and the freest excursions of 
fancy. Boom enough, every one will be ready to admit, but where 
shall we find the powers to traverse and cultivate it ? Where the man 
equal to it ? This is a hard, unnecessary question. I need not go very 
far to say where he is not, neither is there any need of proceeding 
farther to show where he is. For without any pretensions to genius, or 
universal capacity, an indifferent hand may be allowed, once in seven 
days, to publish a Behearsal, and perhaps to entertain. A Hehearsal, 
what can we suppose it, but in the general course to be derivative ? and 
what an infinity of soxux^es have we to derive from ? The ancient are 
yet living, and many of these later ages will ^rever live with them. 
They are too pure to displease, too numerous to fail us. And is it im- 
possible for an industrious hand to give them a different course ? May 
he not be usefiil to the public, by directing them where they will be 
valued, and where otherwise perhaps they would not have been en- 
joyed ? This is all the vanity that can be imputed to the publisher of 
a Rehearsal ; for as the paper takes its name, the readers should form 
their opinion from the general design. lam well aware of the exceed- 
ing and almost insuperable difficulty of being an original in this know- 
ing and polite age ; for besides the fertile comprehensive genius that 
Nature must bestow, how many other qualities are requisite to form a 
good and just writer ? Easiness of mind and a competent fortune are 
indispensably necessary; for how can wit and humor be employed by a 
man in want ? How can the arrangement of ideas be attended to by 
10* 



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114 I WEEKLY BEHEARSAL. 

him whose affairs are in oonfanon ? Trayel aod the most refined oon- 
yersation are to be added to these accomplishments : And beyond these, 
it were easy to select many others, that enter the character of an original 
author, and discountenance those who want them from any pretences 
to it I would therefore decline this path, and presume no fiuther than 
Mr. Locke has suggested every man may, without any the least imputa- 
tion of yanity. " Since no one (says that great author) sees all, and 
we generally hare different prospects of the same things, according to 
our different positions to it, — it is not incongruoua to think, nor be- 
neath any man to try, whether another may not have notions of things, 
which have escaped him, and which his reason would make use of, if 
they come into his mind.'' These views and attributes we apprehend 
things in, are infinitely diversified by the particular circumstances of 
persons. And there is, I am persuaded, scarce any man of the least 
observation and remark, who has not been entertained with appropriate 
cast of thought, and turn of humor, even where he least expected it. 
Should I ever, therefore, even venture beyond the limits of a Rehearsal^ 
this would be my plea and vindication : and should I fail in the at- 
tempt, what a great pleasure and obligation would it be, for some of 
my better readers to imitate the example of the Oxford scliolar, who, 
although he had acquired an excellent hand at music, yet afterwards, 
fiilling into melancholy, grew averse to it, and would not be prevailed 
upon by his friends to touch it They had but one way to excite him, 
and that, for some unskillful hand to take his violin and scrape upon 
it He would then immediately snatch it from him, and in a kind of 
resentment, give it the utmost elegance of sound and harmony. 

What has been hitherto sud, considers this paper only in the essi^ 
kind and a speculative view ; which is but one half the design. For it 
Ss intended to be a narrative of whatever shall occur in Commerce in 
the Civil or Learned World, as far as it deserves our attention, and 
comes within notice. It will be the endeavor of the publisher to pro- 
cure the best intelligence, and to digest it in the most suitable method. 
He would aim to give this sheet all the variety and aspects it is capa- 
ble of receiving ; for, upon looking over a list of the subscribers, he 
finds names of every quality, and presumes there are tastes of every 
degree to be pleased. He owns himself under indelible obligations to 
the gentlemen that have advanced and fiivored the design, and would 
not question their continuance, till it deserves their disesteem, and be- 
comes an opiate, by having too great an infusion of the poppy. 

Some of the essays in the succeeding numbers of the 
Rehearsal are written with ease and sprightliness, and 



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JEREMT OBIDLET. 115 

are good specimens of the kind of writing that was 
made popular by the influence of the Tattler^ Guardian, 
and Spectator. It is not, however, always easy to dis- 
tinguish the original pieces from those that are selected* 
Many of them bear so near a resemblance in style and 
structure to those of Steele and Addison, as to lead the 
reader, at first view, to think he has seen them before. 
Here is a part of a paper on the prevailing fashions, 
which seemed familiar to the ear when first read, but I 
am not able to decide upon its originality : — 

The love of noyelty is the parent of Fashion, and as the fancy sick- 
ens with one image, it longs for another. This is the cause of the 
continued revolutions of habit and behavior, and why we are so indus- 
trious in pursuing the change. This makes Fashion so uniyersally fol- 
lowed, and is the true reason why the awkwardest people are as fond 
of this folly as the genteelest, who give a grace to every thing they 
wear. . . , *Tis plain that every novelty is not beauty, and that it re- 
quires great elegance of taste and truth of judgement to determine the 
modes of dress } that every one should consult the particular turn of 
their own manner in their choice, and be well convinced of its pro- 
priety before they ventured to set the world an example. But, as this 
is very seldom found, I shall content myself with recommending it 
only, and make the present entertainment a mere register of the fash- 
ions that are, by turns, in vogue, with a hint or two at the characters of 
the inventers. 

I shall not busy myself with the ladies' shoes and stockings at all ; 
but I can't so easily pass over the Hoop^ when *tis in my way, and 
therefore I must beg pardon of my fair readers, if I begin my attack 
here. 'Tis now some years since this remarkable fashion made a figure 
in the world, and from its first beginning divided the public opinion as 
to its convenience and beauty. For my part, I was always willing to 
indulge it, under some restrictions : that is to say, if 'tis not a rival to 
the dome of St. Paul's, to incumber the way, or a tub for the residence 
of a new Diogenes : if it does not eclipse too much beauty above, or 
discover too much below. In short, I am for living in peace, and I am 
afraid a fine lady, with too much liberty in this particular, would ren- 
der my own imagination an enemy to my repose. 

# * * * * 

The FarUdngaUy aooording to Beveral pajntings, and even history 

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116 WEEKLT REHEARSAL. 

itself, is as old as Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory, though 'tis 
impossible it had its original in the same manner with the Hoop 
and was worn as universally ; but the prudes of our days revived it in 
stark opposition to that fashion, and boasted that while they were in that 
circle they were secure from temptation ; .nay some of them have pre- 
sumed to say it gave them all the chastity of that heroic Princess, who 
died as she had lived, a Virgin, after so many years of trial. 

The Stay is a part of modern dress that I have an invincible aver- 
sion to, as giving a stiffiiess to the whole frame, which is void of aU 
grace, and an enemy to beauty ; but as I would not offend the ladies by 
absolutely condemning what they are fond of. Til recall my censure, 
and only observe that this female armor is changing mode continually, 
and favors or distresses the enemy according to the humor of the 
wearer ; sometimes the Stomacher almost rises to the chin, and a Mod- 
esty-Bit serves the purpose of a ruff; at other times 'tis so complaisant 
as not to reach half way, and the Modesty is but a transparent show to 
the beauties imdemeath ; the first may give passion too great a license, 
and the last may be an injury to nature ; for which reason I recommend 
a medium. Coquettes are the encouragers of one and Prudes of the 
other. 

I have no objections to make to the Tippet; it may be made an ele- 
gant and beautiful ornament. Jp. winter the sable is wonderfully 
graceful and a fine help to the complexion ; in summer the colors and 
compositions are to be adapted with judgement, neither dull without 
fancy, nor gaudy without beauty. I have seen too many of the last, 
but, as I believe them to be the first trial of a child's genius in such 
performances, I only give this hint for their amendment. 

As the Breast Knot allows a good deal of ingenuity in the delicate 
choice of colors and disposition of figure, I think it may be indulged, 
but very sparingly, and rather with a negligence than the least aficcta- 
tion. It seems there is a fashion even in the colors of ribands, and I 
have observed a beautiful purple to be lately the general mode ; but 
'tis not the beauty of the color that recommends it so much as the sym- 
bol it is said to bear. 

I come now to the Head-Dress^ the very highest point of female ele- 
gance *, and here I find such a variety of modes, such a medley of 
decoration, that 'tis hard to know where to fix ; lace and cambrlck, 
gauze and fringe, feathers and ribands, create such a confusion, occa- 
sion such frequent changes, that it defies art, judgement, or taste, to 
recommend them to any standard, or reduce them to any order. That 
ornament of the hair, which is styled the Homs^ and has been in vogue 



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JEREMY GRIBLET. 117 

SO long, was certainl j first calculated bj some good-natnred lady to keep 
her spouse in countenance. 

The Hat and Pervhey which has been some time made part of a 
lady's riding equipage, is such an odd kind of affectation, that I hardly 
know under what species to range it ; ^ such an enemy to female 
beauty, 'tis so foreign to every amiable grace, it adds such a masculine 
fierceness to the figure, and such a boldness to every feature, that 
neither decency nor elegance can justify it 

The Biding Habit simply, with the black velvet cap and white 
feather, is, in my opinion, the most elegant dress that belongs to a 
lady's wardrobe ; there is a grace and gentility in it that all other dresses 
want; it displays the shape and turn of the body to great advantage," 
and betrays a negligence that is perfectly agreeable. This Cushion waa 
certainly invented by a woman of taste, and I am pleased to see the 
ladies in general so well reconciled to it. It argues something like 
good sense in their dioice still remaining, and she, who makes her 
whole actions most conformable to that standard, will always be most 
secure of conquests and reputation. ■ 

This produced, in the next Rehearsal, a retort from a 

female correspondent, who said : — 

You seem to blame us for our innovations and fleeting fancy in 
dress, which you are most notoriously guilty of, who esteem yourselves 
tiie mighty y toise, and head of the species. Therefore I think it highly 
necessary that you show us the example first, and begin the reformation 
among your selves, if you intend your observations shall have any 
with us. I leave the world to judge whether our petticoat resembles 
the dome of St Paul's nearer than you in your long coats do the Mon- 
ument, or (not to borrow similes from abroad) our Beacon. You com- 
plain of our masculine appearance in our riding habit, and indeed we 
think it is but reasonable that we should make reprisals upon you, for 
the invasion of our dress and figure, and the advances you make in 
effeminacy, and your degeneracy from the figure of man. Can there 
be a more ridiculous appearance than to see a smart fellow within the 
compass of five feet immersed in a huge long coat to his heds, with cuffs 
to the arm-pitSf the shoulders and breast fenced against the inclemencies 
of the weather (with as much care as a wet nurse) by a monstrous cape^ 
or rather short cloaks shoe toes pointed to the heavens in inutation of the 
Laplanders, with bw^des of a harness size ? I confess the Beaux with 
their toupee wigs make us extremely merry ; and frequently put me in 
mind of my fkvorite monkey, botli in figure and apishness, and were it 



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118 WEEKLY REHEARSAL. 

not for a reverse of drcmnstance, I should be apt to mistake it for Fag, 
and treat him with the same familiarity. 

The essay here annexed has two or three expressions, 
which the taste of the present age may condemn as in- 
delicate, but I have presumed to transcribe it without 
abridgement : — 

Naturam expeUca fwria licet, usque recurret. 

Horace. 

There is an old Heathen story, that Promethens, who was a potter 
in Greece, took a frolic to tnm all the clay in his shop into men and 
women, separatmg the fine from the coarse, in order to distinguish the 
sexes. The males were formed of a mixture, Uue red, as being of the 
toughest consistence, fitter for creatures destined for hardships, labor, 
and difficult enterprizes ; the females were moulded out of the most 
refined stuff, much of the like substance with China Ware, transparent 
and brittle, designing them mostly for show and beauty. By the 
transparency he intended the men might see so plainly through them, 
that they should not be capable of hypocrisy, falsehood, or intrigue, 
and by their brittleness he taught them they were to be handled with a 
tenderness suitable to their delicacy of constitution. 

It was pleasant enough to see with what contrivance and order he 
disposed of his journeymen in their several apartments, and how 
judiciously he assigned to each of them his work, according to his 
natural capacity and talents, so that every member and part of the hu- 
man frame was finished with the utmost exactness and beauty. 

In one chamber you might see a Leg-shaper; in another a SkuU- 
roller; in a third an Arm-stretcher; in a fourth a GtU-tvinder; for each 
workman was disdnguished by a proper term of art, such as a Knuclde- 
turner J Tooth- Grinder ^ RUhcoopery Musde-maker^ Tendon-drawer, Paunch- 
blower f Vein-brancher, and such like. But Prometheus Ai/nseZ/'made the 
^es, the earSy and the heart; which, because of their nice and intricate 
structure, were chiefly the business of a master-workman. Besides this, 
he completed the whole by fitting and joining the several parts together 
according to the best symmetry and proportion. The statues are now 
upon their legs. Life^ the chief ingredient, is wanting. Prometheus 
takes a ferula in his hand, (a reed of the island of Chios, having an oil 
pith) steals up the back stairs to ApoUo's lodgings, lights it clandes- 
tinely at the chariot of the Sun ; so down he creeps upon his tip-toes 
to his warehouse, and, in a very few minutes, by an application of the 
flame to the nostrils of his da^ images, sets them all a stalking and 



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JEREMY GRIOLET. 119 

staring through one another, bat entirely insensible of what they were 
doing. They looked so like the latter end of a Lord Mayor's feast, he 
ooold not bear the sight of them. He saw it was absolutely neeessary 
to give them Passions^ or Life would be an insipid thing : and so, from 
the superabundance of them in other animals, he culls out enough for 
his purpose, which he blended and tempered so well before infusion, 
that his men and women became the most amiable creatures that 
thought can conceive. 

Love was then like a pure vestal flame, not made up of sudden joy, 
transports and extasies, but constant, friendly, and benevolent 

Anger did not appear horrid and frightful by turbulent emotions of 
the breast and distortions of the face; but preserved a dignity of 
resentment in the countenance, commanding a reverential awe in the 
offender. 

Fear did not in the least encroach upon the bounds of Fortitude, by 
a slavish dejection of spirits, nor was it ever seen upon any occasion, 
but as a monitor, to prevent the doing of any action, which might be 
attended with disgrace or repentance. 

Li the same manner was every passion and appetite under the best 
regulation and dominion of reason. The world would have been a 
most delightfril scene, had people continued in this situation ; but, alas ! 
there can be no happiness here without a mixture of misery. 

Prometheus is apprehended for his theft and presumption, bound fast 
in chains to a rock, with a vulture to prey upon his liver. His jour- 
neymen get drunk for joy. They were now their own masters ; during 
which interval they fall to man-and-woman-making, with excessive pre^ 
dpitation and hurry. Now you might see a small head set upon a pair 
of broad shoulders ; a nose, too long, too short, too thick, too small, or 
awry on the face ; a large heavy carcase reared upon a small pair of 
spindle shanks, by which means they become bandy ; a long chin to a 
short face ; one arm longer than the other ; eyes too big for their sock- 
ets ; mouth three times too wide or too narrow ; every part and limb 
almost chosen and put together at random. But to conclude the farce, 
when they came to passion-work, instead of blending and tempering 
them in true proportion, they took fr^m the worst of animals, simply 
and by guess. To one was given the rage and friry of a wolf; hence 
came a most virulent, persecuting, malicious villain ; from whom has de- 
scended those boisterous and outrageous pests of society, who are every 
day disturbing our peace, — the only blessing we can enjoy upon earth. 
To another, the poison and rancor of a toad ; from whom sprang the 
revengefrd, who, upon the least touch of offence, are ever upon . the 
watch, to ruin the inadvertent. To another, the subtlety and cunning 



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120 WEEKLY BEHEABSAL. 

of a fox ; from irhom we trace the polidcian, who turns all tilie motumt 
of his soul to sedacing, betraying, surpming, fair promises with fotU 
intentumg, perpehud stratagems to his own advoKtaqe^ f nder the specious ap- 
pearance of the public good. To another, the alertncds of a monkej: 
He begat a large BeuiuIj of jibbers, buffoons and mimics ; these are a 
nmnerons breed, and dispersed oyer the &oe of the whole earth. The 
chief business of their lives is to make people laugh at one another, 
and not to spare even their nearest friends, who, while ^ej are copying 
the imperfections of others, come to be originals. You may distingnish 
this happy race by their hawk-noses, ooe eye less than f other, and a 
perpetual sneer, which, by repeated habit, becomes inseparaUe from 
tiieir faces. To another, the pride of a peacock: He turns bean, 
•titches all the tins^ about him that he can, hangs a tail to his head, 
and so walks through the world. To another, the gluttony, laainesa, 
and luxury of a hog : From him descend all whose chief exercise con- 
sists ht eating and drinking. They are easily distinguished by the 
plumpness and rotundity of their dewlap, and torosiijf of their necks and 
hreastSf and the prominence of their abdomen. Numberless axe the in- 
stances that might be given of the predominance of brutes, thus occa- 
sioned in men *, but I hasten to give a summary account of the animals 
chiefly chosen by these journeymen, to give proper accomplishments to 
the other sex, viz. Gats, Ferrets, Weasels, Vipers, Magpies, Geese, 
Wagtails, Rats, Stoats, Rattle-snakes, Wasps, Hornets, and some few 
others. It is needless to inform the reader what qualities were infused 
from these, when he can behold them so plainly in one half or more of 
his female acquaintance. 

Upon the whole I shall make this remark, that the handy work of 
Prometheus and their progeny are to be distinguished, with the greatest 
ease, from that of his journeymen ; his being all humane, benevolent, 
easy, affable, good-humored, charitable, and friendly: whereas, those of 
his journeymen are cruel, malicious, turbulent, morose, ill-natured, 
snarling, quarrelsome, pragmatical, covetous, and inhuman, which we 
daily experience among the great vulgar and the small, nor can all the 
power of art or education entirely wash away the dirt of the journey- 
man's palm, or quite abolish or restrain that exuberance of wrong pas- 
sions, which are owing to Uie cause already assigned. 

Four of this series of essays in the Rehearsal are 
occupied with a discussion upon the frauds and delusions, 
to which mankind are subjected, by natural causes or by 
the deceptions of the artful and hypocritical ; and in 



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JEREMT GKIDLET. 121 

attemptiDg to remove the popular impressions and fears 
of spirits, apparitions, and witches ; a subject suggested, 
no doubt, by the proceedings in relation to witchcraft, 
which, about that time, were carried on with a perti- 
nacity and apparent sincerity, that have been the aston- 
ishment of all the succeeding generations. The style 
and mode of treating this subject will be sufficiently 
shown in the extracts that follow : — 

* * * We are not, and we cannot be, sure that there are not other 
beings, who are inhabitants of the air or ether, with bodies suited 
to and nourished by these thin elements, and perhaps with senses and 
feculties superior to us ; for the works of Almighty God are as infinite 
as is his power to do them ; and 'tis paying a greater deference to him, 
and haying higher conceptions of his omnipotence, to suppose that he 
saw all things which have been, are, or ever shall be, at one view, and 
formed the whole system of nature with such exquisite contrivance and 
infinite wisdom as by its own energy and intrinsic powers, to produce 
all the effects and operations which we daily see, feel, and admire ; than 
to believe him to be often interposing to alter and amend his own work, 
which was undoubtedly perfect at first, though in the pursuit of his 
eternal decrees, and in the course, progress, and unbroken chain of his 
original system, he seems to us, sometimes, to act occasionally when in 
compliance to our weak comprehensions, and in condescension to our 
low capacities, he speaks and appears to act after the manner of men* 
We have not faculties to see or know things as they are in themselves, 
but only in such lights as our Creator pleases to represent them to us ; 
He has given us talents suited to our wants and to understand his will, 
and obey it ; and here is our ne plus ultra. We may be very sure that we 
are not obliged to know what 'tis beyond our power to know; but all 
ffuch things are as nonentities to us. 

Whenever therefore we hear of or see any surprizing appearances or 
•vents in nature, which we cannot trace and connect to their immediate 
causes, we are not to oaU in supernatural powers, and interest heaven 
or hell in the solution to save our credit and cover our own folly, when 
there are so few things in the world we know any thing of, and of these 
few we know but very little. We are not to measure the works of God 
by our scanty capacities ; and believe that he miraculously interposes a|k 
the course of human affairs, but when he pleases to intimate to us, that 
he intends to do so ; much less ought we to introduce demons into hia 

11 

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122 ' WEEKLY REHEARSAL. 

fystem of the unirenei unless as objects or iiistnunents, and execution, 
ers of his yengeance ; but not to intrude into his goyemment of the 
world, to trepan and mislesid his creatures, and to thwart and oppose 
himself; and eyery now and anon, to cut the chain, stop the wheels, 
and interrupt tiie course of his Froyidence. 

* « « « * 

Which of our senses does not often deceiye us? Strangling, or 
strong pressure of the ejes, causes all things to appear on fire ; of the 
ears, makes us hear noises ; straight things, in the water, appear crook- 
ed ; bodies, by reflection or refraction, appear otherwise and in other 
places, than they are in Nature. All things appear yellow to men in 
the jaundice ; and to those in calentures, the sea appears like a green 
meadow, and, if not restrained, they will leap into it Melancholy and 
enthusiastic persons fancy themselyes to be glass bottles, kniyes, and 
tankards ; madmen often belieye themselyes gods or princes, and almost 

always see spirits The frame and contexture of our 

bodies betrays us to these delusions. For as all objects and images 
from without are let in upon the mind by the windows or conduits of 
the senses, and the mind afterwards ranges, methodizes, operates, and 
reasons upon them ; so it can only work upon such materials as it re- 
ceiyes, and consequently when the organs of sensation are wrong-framed 
in their original contexture, or deprayed after by sickness or accidents, 
the mind must be misled toe, and often mistake appearances for real 
beings : When the spies, scouts, and out-guards are seized, corrupted, 
or decayed, the intelligence will be fallacious or none at aU. 

* * # * * 

Our present workers or seers of miracles neyer tell us any thing worUi 
knowing ; and we haye no other eyidence that they are seen or done, 
but the yeracity of those who tell them, who may be deceiyed themselyes, 
or inyent lies to deceiye others. The proof ought alwa3rs to be equal to 
the importance of the thing to be belieyed j for, when it is more likely 
that a man should tell a lie, or be deceiyed, than that a strange pheno- 
menon should be true, methinks there should be no difficulty to determine 
on which side of the question we should giye our assent. 

If one or two men affirm they saw another leap twenty yards at one 
leap, no one will doubt but they are liars ; but if they testify that they 
saw a goblin with saucer eyes and cloyen feet, in a church yard, leap 
oyer the tower, all the town is in a fright, and few of them wUl yentnre 
to walk abroad in a dark night. Sometimes these phantoms appear to 
one who is in company with others, and no one can see them but him- 
self ; and yet all the rest are terrified at his relation, without reasoning 
that they haye the same, or better faculties of seeing than he has ; and 



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J£B£MT GRU>L£T. 123 

therefore that his organs must be indisposed, or that he designs to im- 
pose upon them ; but it passes for a miracle, and then all doubts are 
solved and all inquiries at an end. All men believe most of these stories 
to be false, and yet almost all believe some of them to be true, upon no 
better evidence than they reject the rest The next story of an old 
woman inhabiting a cat, or flying in the air upon a broomstick, sets 
them a staring, and puts their incredulity to a non plus. We often hear 
of a spirit appearing to discover a silver spoon, a purse of hidden 
money, or perhaps a private murder ; but we are never told of a tyrant, 
who by private murder has slaughtered thousands, and by public 
butcheries destroyed millions, ever dragged out of his court by good or 
evil spirits, as a terror to such monsters ; such an instance would con- 
vince all mankind ; and if Almighty God thought fit to work by such 
engines, and intended that we should believe in them or any of them, it 
is impossible to believe but he would take the properest methods to gain 
our assent 

. From what I have said, and much more which might be said, I think 
I may with great assurance conclude, that these capricious and fantas- 
tical beings are not suffered to interfere and mingle with human affairs, 
only to mislead men, and interrupt them in the pursuit of their duty ; 
nor can Lsee any foundation in nature, reason, or Scripture, to believe 
there are any such as they are usually represented to us, which neither 
agree and keep up to the characters, dignity, and excellence of good 
angels, or the sagacity, use, and office of bad ones. When are we com- 
manded to believe that the Devil plays hide-and-seek here on earth ; 
that he is permitted to run up and down and divert himself by seducing 
Ignorant men and women *, killing pigs, or making them miscarry ; 
entering into cats, and making noises, and playing monkey-tricks in 
church-yards and empty houses, or any where else on earth, but in 
empty heads ? 

****** 

Methinks the advocates for Satan's empire here on earth are not very 
consistent with themselves ; and in the works tliey attribute to him do 
not credit enough to his abilities and power. .... They give him 
a power to do miracles ; make him prince of the air, lord of the hiilden 
minerals, wise, rich, and powerful; as well as false, treacherous, and 
wicked ; and are foolish and presumptuous enough to bring him upon 
the stage as a rival for empire with the Almighty, but at the same time 
put a fooVs coat and cap upon him. His skill has hitherto gone no 
farther than to cram pins down children's throats, and throw them into 
fits -, to turn wort, to kill pigs, to sell wind, (dog-cheap too ; ) to put out 
candles, or to make half blind people see two at once ; to help hares to 



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124 WSEKLT REHEARSAL. 

run away from dogs; .... and such like feats of knlgfat-errantiy 
And what is yet worse, I cannot find in these last eighteen hundred 
yean, that, with all his cnnning, he has invented one new trick, bat goes 
on in the same dull road ; for there is scarce a story told of a spirit or a 
witch, who has played pranks in the next parish, but we have the same 
story, or one very like it, in Cicero's Tract, de Divwatione. 

He always plays at small games, and lives mostly upon neck-beef. 
His intrigues are all with old women, and when he has gained his ends 
of them, feeds them only with bread and water, and gives t^em but a 
groat in their pocket to bay tobacco ; which, in my mind is very ongaL 
lant, not to say niggardly and angeneroos in so great a potentate, who 
has all the riches of the hidden world within his dominions. I cannot 
find in all my reading, that he has expended as mach in five hundred 
years last past, as would have carried one election. 

Methinks, he might have learnt a little more wit from his fiuthM 
emissaries here on earth, who throw and scatter about money as if there 
was never to be an end of it ; and get him more votaries in a week than 
he can purchase for himself in a century, and put him to not a penny 
charge neither ; for they buy people with their own money : But to keep 
such a clatter and coil about an old woman, and then leave her to be 
hanged that he may get her into his clutches a month sooner, is very 
nngratefol ; and, as I conceive, wholly unsuitable to a person of his 
rank and figure. 

I should have imagined, that it would have been more agreeable to 
the wisdom and cunning always attributed to him, in imitation of his 
betters, to have opened his purse-strings, and have purchased people of 
more importance, and who could do him more real service. I fancy that 
I know some of them, who would be ready to take his money, if they 
knew where he was to be spoken with ; and who are men of nice honor, 
and would not betray or break their word with him, whatever they may 
do with their countrymen. Besides, I conceive, it is very impolitic in 
one of his sagacity and in one who has so many able ministers in his own 
dominions, and elsewhere, to act so incautious a part It is very well 
known, a plot discovered, or a rebellion quelled, gives new credit and 
reputation to the conquerors, who always make use of them to settle 
their own empire, effectually to subdue their enemies, to lessen their 
powers, and to force them for the most part to change sides ; and, in fact, 
one witch hanged or burnt, makes old Beelzebub a great many adversa- 
ries, and frightens thousands from having any more to do with him. 

Por these reasons I doubt he is shrewdly belied by those from whom 
he might expect better usage ; and that all the stories commonly told 
•boat, aad believed concerning, him, are invented and credited by such 



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JEftEMT GRIDLET. 125 

only as haye much less wit or not more honesty than himself. To enter 
into a detail of them is endless, as well as nnnecessaiy for my pur- 
pose. 

An essay on Liberty and Toleration concludes with 

these very just remarks : — 

Ferverseness and obstinacy are generally charged upon those that re- 
fuse a compliance in all schemes. This may not be true, even where 
the scheme is most unexceptionable ; but they are for the most part 
drawn up in words and forms so liable to dispute, and take in so many 
and xmnecessary points, which are all equally prescribed under the same 
sanctions with the plainest and most important parts ; and without giv- 
ing assent to all and every particular, how near so ever a man may 
approach towards it, there is no coming in honestly ; that what is called 
stubbornness is frequently nothing else but the most unbiassed integrity, 
and a more awful sense and reverence of truth than the greatest part of 
men have. And in all instances of non-compliance to a man's evident 
disadvantage in several considerable respects, 'tis fair presumption that 
he is a person of probity and conscience, though he may lie under an 
unfortunate mistake. 

The following Lines in the Rehearsal of December 
13, were inserted at the request of a friend, and said to 
be the production of a young gentleman in the country : 

ON A LADY, SINGING. 

Whilst Celia sings, let no intruding breath 
Deform the air ; ye winds, grow calm as death. 
On silken wings, ye whispering zephyrs fly. 
And in soft murmurs steal along the sky, 
Soft as the murmurs of a virgin's sigh. 
Close in the deep recesses of my breast. 
Those deep recesses, where she reigns confest. 
Let every traitor passion lie confined ; 
Let Love himself seem banished from my mind. 
Let every sigh be hushed ; for should my sighs 
Burst forth, and in rebellious murmurs rise, 
My sighs with noise the solemn scene would fill 
And breathe a storm, though all the winds were stilL 
In vain, ye gales, your silken plumes display. 
In silence rise, in silence melt away. 
Soft as the voice, and gentle as the lay. 
11* 

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126 WSEKLT KEHEAB8AL. 

Strange power of harmoiij 1 whose eSLvtr soand 

Can chann so sweetly, and so sweetly wound. 

Transported with the notes, that pierce our ear, 

Onr raptured souls exulting spring to hear. 

My raptured soul would soar with every strain, 

But ibAt thy eyes command it back again. 

To raise our powers with heavenly notes is thine. 

To bid our grosser parts to soul refine ; 

'Tis thine, fair Maid, with gentle warbling airs, 

To soothe our passions, and beguile all cares. 

All — but the cares of love ; these still arise, 

Heave in our breasts, and wanton in our eyes. 

Assisted by thy breath, the flames aspire, 

Glow with new rage, and blaze with double fire. 

Thus darts in venom steeped with barbarous skill, 

Wing certain fiite, with two-fold anguish kill. 

Kone but the Father of the gods, and you 

Could dart a flame so bright and killing too. 

Swift as Jove*s lightning flies each fatal sound, 

And, like Jove*s lightning, kills without a wound. 

The muse invoked in elegiac strains 

Soft waifoling, strings the lyre to ease our pains. 

How soft, ye strains I and soothe her savage mind ; 

O leam to charm the nymph, who charms mankind. 

In vain, alas I the muse and treacherous lyre 

Torment onr flames and face the raging fire ; 

Whilst you, like Echo, with so sweet a sound, 

Repeat our strains. . . . Our strains increase the wound. 

Think, then, thou Fairest of the fairer train ! 

What &tal beauties arm thy face and mein ; 

Whose veiy voice can lasting flame inspire, 

We think *tis atr, but ah ! we feel 'tis Jire. 

The original essays of the editor of the Rehearsal 
were discontinued before the close of the first year. It 
became then a mere record of the passing events of the 
day. In 1733, Thomas Fleet who had, for some time, 
been the printer, and was interested in the publication, 
became the sole proprietor. In announcing the new 
arrangement to the public, he declared himself of no 



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JEBEMT 6RIDLCY. 127 

party, and invited '^ all gentlemen of leisure and ca* 
pacitjy inclined on either side, to write any thing of a 
political nature, that tends to enlighten and serve the 
pu\)lic, to communicate their productions, provided they 
are not over long, and confined within modesty and good 
manners ; for all possible care will be taken that nothing 
contrary to these shall ever be here published." 

Of Jeremy Gridley, the projector, author and proprietor 
of the Rehearsal, the Rev. Dr. Eliot says, in his Bio- 
graphical Dictionary, — " He was Attorney-General of 
the province, member of the General Court, Colonel 
of the first regiment of Militia, President of the Marine 
Society, and Grand Master of Freemasons. In 1725, 
he took his degree at Cambridge ; was assistant in the 
Grammar School in Boston, and a preacher of the Gos- 
pel ; but soon turned his attention to the law, and 
became one of the most eminent of the profession. In 
1732, he was editor of a newspaper called the Rehearsal, 
and filled the first page with an essay, either moral or 
critical, besides writing political paragraphs. His man- 
ner of writing is handsome, and his speculations ingen- 
ious. At the bar his speech was rough, his manner 
hesitating, but energetic, and his words forcible by a 
peculiar emphasis. His opinion was always given, even 
to the judges, with a magisterial air ; his legal knowledge 
was unquestionable. He was on the side of the Whigs ; 
and, in the House of Representatives, where he was a 
member some years from Brookline, he opposed the 
measures of Great-Britain ; but in a question on search- 
warrants, his speech as Attorney-General, contains senti- 
ments incompatible with freedom, which was confuted 
by Otis. ... He died poor, because he despised 



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128 WEEKLY REHEARSAL. 

wealth." He died in Boston^ September 7, 1767. The 

Gazette and News-Letter of the 17th of that month has 

the following " Extempore Lines " on his death : — 

Of parts and learning, wit and worth possessed, 
Gridley shone forth, conspicnons o*er the rest ; 
In native powers robust, and smit with fame, 
The genius brightened and the spark took flame ; 
Nature and Science wove the laurel crown, 
Ambitious, each alike conferred renown. 

High in the dignity and strength of thought, 
The maze of knowledge sedulous he sought, 
With mind superior studied and retained, 
And Life and Property by Law sustained. 

Generous and free, his tiberal hand he spread, 
The oppressed relieved, and for the needy plead ; 
Awake to friendship, with the ties of blood ; 
His heart expanded and his soul overflowed. 

Social in converse, in the Senate brave, 
Gray e'en with dignity, with wisdom grave ; 
Long to his country and to courts endeared, 
The Judges honored and the Bar revered. 

Best, peaceful Shade ! innoxious, as thy walk, 
May Slander babble, and may Censure talk. 
Ne'er on thy memory Envy cast a blot, 
But human frailties in thy worth foigot 



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THE BOSTON EVENING POST. 



In the Rehearsal of August 14, 1735, Thomas Fleet, 
then its sole proprietor, gave notice that, for the future, 
he should print it every Monday evening, — instead of 
Monday morning, as it had previously been published : 
But the next Monday, instead of the Rehearsal, he 
issued a paper with the title of The Boston Evening 
Post, — in every thing except the title, a fac simile of 
The Rehearsal. It Vas numbered 202, — the last 
number of the Rehearsal having been 201 ; but, in 
order to break off the apparent continuity of connection 
between the two papers, and to destroy their identity, 
the second number of the Evening Post was marked 
Number 2, and all succeeding issues followed in their 
proper numerical order. 

The Evening Post soon became the most popular of 
the Boston newspapers. Fleet was a man of considera- 
ble talent, and often afforded specimens of his wit and 
humor in editorial paragraphs and advertisements. It 
does not appear, from the files of his paper, that he 
took a very decided part in the political or religious con- 
troversies of the day. Writeis of entirely different 



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130 BOSTON EVENING POST. 

views, on topics, which agitated the public mind, made 
use of his columns, without stint, and, sometimes, with 
little regard to decency. They indulged, occasionally, 
in language, which, now, would subject a printer to se- 
vere public censure, if not to the action of a grand jury. 
Public sentiment, in regard to the newspaper press, has 
undergone an essential revolution, since that period. 
The following is a copy of the proceedings of the Gov- 
ernor and Council of Massachusetts, concerning a para- 
graph, published by Fleet, on the eighth of March, 
1741 : — 

At a Council, held at the Council Chamber in Boston, npon Tuesday 
the 9th daj of March, 1741. 

Whereas there is published in the weekly paper called the Boston 
Evening Post of yesterday's date, a paragraph in the following words : 
** Last Saturday Capt. Gibbs arrived here from Madeira, who informs us, 
that before he left that Island, Capt Dandridge, in one of His Majes- 
ty's ships of forty guns, came in there from England, and gave an 
account, that the Parliament had called for all the Papers relating to 
the War, and 'twas expected the Right Hon. Sir Robert Walpole 
would be taken into custody in a very few days. Capt. Dandridge was 
going upon the Virginia station to relieve the valiant and vigilant Knight 
there, almost worn out in the service of his country, and for which he 
has a chance to be rewarded with a FlagP Which paragraph contains a 
scandalous and libelous Reflection upon his Majesty's Administration, 
and may tend very much to inflame the minds of his Majesty's subjects 
here and disaifect them to his Government ; 

Therefore, Ordered^ That the Attorney-General do, as soon as may 
be, file an Information against Thomas Eleet, the Publisher of the said 
Paper, in his Majesty's Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize 
and General Gaol Delivery, in order to his being prosecuted for his said 
ofience, as Law and Justice requires. W. Shislbt. 

Copy Examined, per J. Willard, Sec. 

How this affair ended, is not known. Mr. Thomas 
thinks that no prosecution took place, " as Fleet pro- 
cured five respectable persons to testify to the truth of 
the contents of the paragraph." 



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THOMAS FLEET. 131 

Several of the Boston newspapers had been printed 
for postmasters, and very little printing had been execut- 
ed by printers on their own account. To these cir- 
cumstances allusion is made in the following editorial in 
the Post, No. 50 : — 

We have lately received fix)m an intelligent and wortihy friend in a 
neighboring Groverament, to the Southward of us, the following re- 
markable Piece of News, which we beg our Headers Patience to hear, 
viz. That the Printer there gets a great deal of money, has Twenty 
Shillings for every Advertisement published in his News-Paper, calls Ua 
Fools for working for nothing, and has lately purchased an Estate of 
Fomieen Hundred Pounds Value. We should be heartily glad (had we 
Cause for it) to return our Friend a like surprizing account of the 
Printers Prosperity here. But alas ! the reverse of our Brother's Cir- 
cumstances seems hereditary to Us: It is well known we are the most 
humble, self-denying Set of Mortals (we wish we could say Men) 
breathing ; for where there is a Penny to be got, we readily resign it up 
to those who are no Ways related to the Business, nor have any Pre- 
tence or Claim to the Advantages of it. And whoever has observed 
our Conduct hitherto, has Reason enough to think, that we hold it a 
mortal Crime to make any other Use of our Brains and Hands than 
barely to help us 

To purchase homely Fare, and fresh small Beer, 
(Hard Fate indeed, we can't have better Cheer,) 
And buy a new Blue Apron once a Year. 
But as we propose in a short Time to publish a Dissertation upon the 
mean and hankie state of the Printers of this Town, we shall say no 
more at present upon this important Subject, and humbly ask Pardon 
for so lai^ a Digression. Only we would inform, that in this most 
necessary Work we are promised the Assistance of a worthy Friend 
and able Casuist, who says he doubts not but that he shall easily make 
it appear, even to the Satisfaction of the Printers themselves, that they 
may be as good Christians, as usefol Neighbors, and as legal Subjects, 
altho' they should sometimes feed upon Beef and Pudding, as they 
have hitherto approved themselves by their most rigid abstemious way 
of living. 

Here are some of Fleet's advertisements : — 
To be sold by the Printer of this paper, the very best Negro Woman 
in this Town, who has had the small pox and the measles -, is as hearty 
as a Hone, as brisk as a Bird, and will work like a Beaver. 



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132 BOSTON STENING POST. 

To be sold hj the Printer of this Paper, a Negro man, about thirty 
years old, who can do both Town and Country Business yery well, but 
will suit the Country best, where they have not so many Dram Shops 
as we have in Boston. He has work*d at the Printing Business fifteen 
or sixteen years ; can handle Ax, Saw, Spade, Hoe, or other Instru- 
ment of Husbandry as well as most men, and values himself, and is 
yalued by others, for his Skill in Cookery and making of Soap. 

O:^ A Certain Person in this Town wants to buy a good easy and gen- 
tle Horse, that will go in a Chaise. Whoever has got one to dispose of 
is desired to inform the Printer, who will direct him to a chap. 

Ct^ The Subscribers for this Paper, (especially those at a Distance) 
who are shamefully in Airear ibr it, would do well (methinks) to re- 
member those Apostolical Injunctions, Rom. xiii. 7, 8. Bender therefore 
to aU their dues; — and Owe no man any thing. — It is wonderful to ob- 
serve, that while we hear so much about a great Revival of Religion in 
the Land; there is yet so little Begard had to Justice and Common Honf 
eehfl Smety ^ej ate AbommaUe Good Works I 

In the Post of March 30, 1741, a correspondent in- 
formed the editor that on the preceding evening he had 
the curiosity to attend the lecture of Mr. John Pres- 
byter, [the Rev. John Morehead, pastor of the Presby- 
terian Church, in Federal-street,] where, instead of the 
Gospel of peace and love, he heard the most violent 
rant, the most angry and ill-natured invectives, that he 
bad ever heard in his life. ^' Mr. Presbyter was ex*^ 
pounding the second chapter of Solomon's Song, and 
when he came to the 15th verse, — ^TaJce tu the foxes ^ 
ike Hide foxes, that spoil our vines,* &c. — having 
worked up to a proper temper of rage and fury, he fell 
foul of Wesley's Sermon on Free Grace, [then lately 
printed by Fleet,] calling it a bundle of the vilest here* 
sies, and declaring that it ought to be burnt by the com- 
mon hangman ; and having dismissed the author, he 
bawled against the printer, in a most hideous manner, 
denouncing the judgements of God against him, calling 



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THOMAS FLEST. 133 

him a mercenary little fox^ that worked for hire ; and 
last of all, brought in the poor printing-press, as a vile 
and wicked creature, a dangerous engine, a sink of sedi- 
tion, error, and heresy, and advised the magistrates to 
have it put down," &c. To this Fleet published a 
reply, that filled more than a column of his paper, — - 
rather sarcastic in its tone, and not very complimentary 
to his reverend opponent. " For my part (he said) as 
I have often declared, so I do again declare, that I am of 
DO party, but act purely as a printer, and would as soon 
serve one side as the other. I printed Mr. Wesley's 
Sermon, not because I liked it, but because several gen- 
tlemen of leambg and good sense (who I think have as 
good a right to be gratified as other people) desired to 
have it printed, and I had a prospect of getting a penny 
by it, as I have by all that I print, having no other way 
to support my family, and to pay what the Church and 
State expect fjx>m me : And I cannot see with what 
front Mr. Presbyter could charge my working for hire as 
a crime, when I never yet heard that he served his peo- 
ple gratis. ... Of all the books of controversy, that I 
have ever read, (and I have read some,) I never met 
with one that blamed the printers. The great Dr. Ed- 
wards, who, for his knack at finding fault, might have 
claimed the office of Accuser^Oeneral of all EuropCy 
and made as free with authors as any man ever did, and 
for aught I know, has censured more than Mr. Presbyter 
ever read, never, that I can find, meddled with the 
printers : and it is but of late, that some weak men 
have thought it the safest and easiest way to answer 
books, and prejudice people against authors and printers, 
to whiter against them in chimney corners, or declaim 
IS 

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134 BOSTON BYENINO POST. 

in more public and exalted places, where none may with 
safety oppose them, or speak in their own defence." * * * 

After much more in a similar strain, Fleet closed with 
a ^^ P. S. I am just now told that Mr. Presbyter's rail- 
ing fit is not gone off yet : This is just as I expected : 
For, as I know the man, I'd have laid Jive pounds to a 
pipe of tobaccoy that Nature would be too strong for 
Prudence, However, FU own I was mistaken in this ; 
I did not expect he would have profaned any part of the 
Sabbath with his wild and uncharitable ranty as be did 
yesterday, when I am told he had no more mercy on the 
poor printers than a sow would have had on a tailor. O 
Monstrum Horrendum ! to use a barbarous Latin scrap 
of his own. To have done, I advise all good folks that 
have soreheads or thin skulls, to play at cudgels as little 
as possible ; and such as are troubled with sore shins, to 
beware of a foot-ball." 

The ministers and the printers of Boston were often 
engaged m disputes, if they were not in a state of con- 
tinual warfare. In December, 1742, Fleet said, — " We 
are credibly informed that an eminent minister of this 
town has lately warned his people against reading of 
pamphlets and newspapei*s, wherein are contained reli- 
gious controversies. This seems a bold stroke, and a 
considerable step (if the advice should be regarded) 
towards that state of ignorance, in which, it seems, some 
folks would willingly see the body of this people envel- 
oped. The next stroke may probably be at the Liberty 
of the Press. And what a fine introduction this will be 
to Poperyy we leave our readers to judge. However, 
we cannot forbear saying, that however desirous some 
men may be of having the sole direction of our con- 



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THOMAS FLEKT. 135 

sciences, and that we should believe aU that tJiey say, 
and nothing else, yet there is reason to suspect, from 
the squabbles and contentions observable among them- 
selves at this day, that there are but few men in these 
parts of the world, whose dictates are mfallible. 
Here is one of his humorous editorials : — 

Last Wednesdaj was published, (in a half sheet in octayo) a Paper, 
called the Boston Weekly Magazine^ containing some pieces from the 
Magazines formerly printed in London, a Poem to a political Ladj, an 
Ode by Mr. Addison, a short article of news from this paper and an- 
other from the Post-Boy, the Boston entries, and two Advertisements. 
And, on Saturday, another Paper made its appearance among us, enti- 
tled, The Christian History; containing (besides the Title Page and a 
long advertisement) some extracts from a printed pamphlet just arrived 
from Scotland. Both Papers are designed to come oat weekly. The 
first offers Boom for Disputes on both sides, (which is fair enough,) so 
that our Beligious Controversies are more likely to increase than sub- 
side. The last seems a Party Paper, and design'd only for the use of 
speckd Friends, it being with great Difficulty that we could obtain one, 
they refrising (for some Time) to sell 'em, either at the Printer's or at 
the Publishing-ofRce but on Conditions too hard to be complied with by 
many, who were yet desirous to see the Specimen. 

The sudden Appearance of these two Papers, without the previous 
Proposals for Encouragement, must needs* be very mortifying to the 
Bev. Grentleman, who, more than a year ago published Proposals for 
printing a weekly Casuistical Paper, but has not yet found sufficient 
Encouragement to begin it. And, as we are now favoured with a 
Paper every day, except Friday, (which, by the way, is said to be a very 
unludiy Day to go to Sea, make Soap, or begin any other important 
Business on) it behoves the Gentleman to bestir himself, lest some 
other Person, out of pure Love to his Country, should put out a Paper on 
that Day, and thereby he be utterly excluded. 

The appearance of the Rev. George Whitefield in 
Boston, caused a great " stir " among the people. The 
clergy were much divided in their opinions regarding 
biro. Some of them invited him to their pulpits to preach 
and to assist in the administration of the sacrament of 
the supper; while others endeavored to stay the pro- 
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136 BOSTON XTExmro post. 

gress of an entbusiasm, that seemed to threaten the over- 
throw of some of the established congregational churches. 
Fleet, himself, was evidently opposed to Whitefield, and 
looked upon him and his followers as enthusiasts and 
bigots, or something worse ; but a large portion of the 
Evening Post, during the interval between Whitefield's 
first and second visits, was occupied with the communi- 
cations of those who chose to defend, as well as those 
who opposed him. These two parties ridiculed and 
abused each other without remorse. Whitefield's second 
visit to Boston was in 1744. He was attacked and 
defended not only in the newspapers, but in pamphlets. 
The Rev. Thomas Foxcraft, senior pastor of the First 
Church in Boston, wrote and published a labored 
" Apology in Behalf of the Rev. Mr. Whitefield," &c. 
which was followed by a number of very severe pieces 
in reply in the Evening Post. The Rev. William 
Hobby of Reading published " A Defence of the Itine- 
rancy and Conduct of the Rev. Mr. Whitefield," which 
subjected him to numerous attacks, some seriously indig- 
nant, and some sarcastically ludicrous. Fleet published 
and advertised for sale, " A Sprig of Birch for Billyh b 
Breech — a Letter to the Rev. William Hobby, &c. 
' Judgements are prepared for scomers, and stripes for 
the back of fools J '' The Rev. Mr. Gee of Boston, 
published in the Boston Gazette an account of a con- 
versation he had held with Fleet in relation to something 
he had published about Whitefield. Fleet replied in his 
own paper, in an article of great severity, and with a 
boldness which showed that he was not much afraid of 
his spiritual antagonist. The following "is the concluding 
paragraph : .^ 



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THOMAS FLEET. 137 

It is in yain, Sir, for men to call npon ihe goyemment to protect their 
characters, while they take so little care of 'em themselres, or to com- 
plain of calnmnj and slander, when their own actions are the greatest 
enemies to their reputation ; or to seek sanctuary in the ministerial 
office, when they hardly eyer discharge any part of the ministerial func- 
tion. Snflfer me, therefore, as a friend, to advise yon, Sir, .... 
to study to be quiety and do your own bunness^ and in every thing to behave 
as the Gospel requires yon should; then will you be honored and 
respected by all men, and by none more than your very humble servant, 

Thomas Fket. 

Two letters appeared in this paper, signed " Deborah 

Sheannan," — probably written by Fleet, — from which 

the following paragraphs are extracts : — 

Dear Mr. Whitefield, 

For since there are so many folks about you, 
that I can*t come to talk with you, I must write to you. I am glad you 
are come back ; I wanted to see your dear self again, as well as to hear 
you preach. And besides I wanted you to come to stop the mouths of 
the wicked opposers, who say you were glad to get out of the way, that 
you might not be obliged to take notice of the two wicked letters that 
were published about you. Dear Sir, do own you an't a churchman, 
but are turned dissenter, and then all the long letter will come to nothing. 
You know. Sir, there is no harm in changing, when a body sees a reason 
for it. You must do something about it, for a good many of your 
friends are disturbed at it. O how bold have the opposers been since 
you have been gone. Almost every day something or other has been 

printed about you Ay, and the bold creatures no longer 

conceal themselves, but put their names to what they write: Besides 
the letter-learned Babbies of Cambridge, (and you know that sort of 
people have always been against yoij in every part of the world,) eight 
and twenty ministers have signed a paper against you. Dear Sir, the 
Philistines have come out of their lurking-holes, and set the battle in 

array against the people of Israel What names have 

they not called you ? . . . . Some of them are wicked enough to 
laugh at your sermons, and say you told us with much gravity, that ' 
Jacol^s ladder had got two ends to it. Just so they served dear Mr. 
Moorh— d, but for all that he keeps his lectures up yet Ah, dear Sir, 

don't mind their laughing Do, dear Sir, let us have a 

Journal of your last Journey, for I long to know what passed upon 
every spot of ground, where dear Mr. Whitefield trod. 

13 • 

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138 BOSTON STENINO POST. 

Welcome once more, dear Mr. Whitefield. It is quite time for yon 
to come back again. Your cause suffered very much by your absence. 
We have had fine work here since you have been gone. Kezt time 
you go away, do leave things in better hands than Mr. M->— d's, to 
keep up your morning lectures, and Mr. H ^by's to write in vindica- 
tion of your Itinerancy, They have both of them come off badly. A» 
to Mr. M-— — d, indeed, Sir, he woVt do. It is not worth one's while 
to get up early for him. He talks along so fluently and uses so many 
hard words, that I really believe he is a very learned man ; but some- 
thing or other is the matter ; when meeting is done, a body can't tell 
one word he has been saying. Your other assistant, poor Mr. H-— *-by, 
what work they have made of him ! They have whipped him to some 
tune. They call it only a twig^ but it falls so heavy, that I should take 
it for a stick as thick as my arm. But what frets one the most is that 
every body says it is no more than he deserves. I had like to have for- 
got dear Mr. F. j he has 4one all he could for you. But Heaven grant 
he may write no more Apologies, I am sure the women have no reason 
to thank him. If what he has wrote be true, there is no safety in matri' 
mont/y especially for Sailor's wives. Their husbands may have sweet- 
hearts at every port they go to. He has been sadly handled by a man 
with three or four names. 

Dear Mr. Whitefield, what have you been doing ever since you have 
been gone ? O why won't you let us know I What spiritual battles 
have you fought? What victories have you won? What towns, 
churches, and pulpits have you entered triumphantly against opposers ? 
Ah, Sir, you were quite wrong in leaving off your Jour- 
nals. I did not think you would let your opposers laugh you out of 
any thing. For want of leaving us something to read and talk about, 
your name has been hardly mentioned except among a few choice 
friends, any more than if you had never been in the country. .... 
Ah, Sir, you had better have wrote Journals^ and talked of the ministers 
as you used to do, for I do assure you one great reason why we thought 
you the best minister in the world, was because you had persuaded us 
that most others were good for nothing. Now you are come back, I 
hope you will set all to rights. O how tedious have been the hours of 
your absence ! how long your delay 1 how dull all the preaching I have 
heard! 

Now the gentle zephyrs unbind the earth from winter's icy chains, 
the fields resume their cheerful dress, and all nature begins to look 
lovely. Now you need not regard the opposition made to your being 
admitted into pulpits. To no purpose are they shut against you, while 
the fields are open. There unconfined by walls, you may make your 



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THOlfAS ri^EET. 139 

charming voice roll over the wide extent, wbile pmtlliiig Eeho, enamored 
miiSb. it, delights to repeat it from ererj rising gronnd. O how do the 
sweet sounds enter deep into our hearts ! how do tfaey soften our affec- 
tions and make as all tenderness 1 Ah I they may call it enthusiasm, 
ihej may call it quietismy ihey maj call it whuat they wilL They that 
never felt it, can't tell how channing it is to be Inlled hito sach a sweet 

insensibility, snch a languid indolence Come, then, dear 

Mr. Whitefield, come away into the fields. Delay not oar joys any 
longer. That I mayn't be any hindrance, I will break off my tattling, 
and subscribe once more, dear Mr. Whitefield, your humble servant. 

Deb, Shearman, 
April 3, 1745. 

The Rev. Dr. Chauncey, the colleague of Mr. Fox- 
croft, wrote a pamphlet, entitled << Seasonable Thoughts 
on the State of Religion in New-England/' which, 
judging from the notices of it in the newspapers, was 
intended to allay the ill feelings that pervaded the com- 
munity. Some one addressed to him, through the Even- 
ing Post, a poetical epistle, beginning, — 

Ber. Sir, 

While you are boldly set in Troth's defence, 
And trae religion join to solid sense, 
Pardon a Muse, who, with her infant lays. 
Dares to offend, by lisping in your praise ; 
That dares to interrupt that sacred pen 
That yindjcates the laws of Qod and men ; 
And since you will engage in Virtue's cause, 
Learn to forgive, and bear mankind's applause. 

Go on. Sir; still Religion's cause maintain. 
Fear not the weak or wicked to restrain ; 
No wonder such your steady zeal oppose. 
Since Truth and Beason are their greatest foes. 
Go on, regardless, Sir, of what they say, 
Tour part is still to pity and to pray. 
Let them curse on ; with bitter censures rail ; 
Such angry curses never can prevail : 
Their willful ignorance with candor view; 
Where there are Damds ihere 11 be ShimeU too. 

And ending, — 



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140 BOSTON BTENING POST. 

Maj yon possess your wonted calm of mind, 
Tour nniyersal love for all mankind ; 
May godlike charity inspire your breast; 
Still may you entertain that heavenly guest, 
Foretasting the delights of saints above, 
Whei^ all eternity is filled with love ; 
That so, when all tihings else shall fade away, 
Tour sun may shine with everlasting day. 
Many shall then surround the throne of God, 
Arriving there in paths which yon have trod. 
Blessing their Savior for his tender care, 
In lending such a guide to lead them there. 

The great Comet of 1744, was thus noticed bj 

Fleet : — 

The Comet now rises about five o'clock in the morning, and appears 
veiy large and bright, and, of late, it has been seen with its lucid train, 
in die day-time, notwithstanding the lustre of the Sun. This uncom- 
mon appearance gives much uneasiness to timorous people, especially 
women, who will needs have it that it portends some dreadful judge- 
ments to this our land : And if, from the apprehension of deserved 
judgements, we should be induced to abate of our present pride, extrav- 
agance, &c. and should become more humble, peaceable, and charita- 
ble, honest and just, industrious and frugal, there will be reason to think 
that the Comet is the most profitable Itinerant Preacher, and friendly 
I9EW LIGHT, that has yet appeared among us. 

The same paper contains the following Poem, stated 
to have been published the week before, with a curious 
cut, representing the Comet, the Sun, &c. and to be sold 
by the booksellers, price four-pence : — 

THE COMET: A POEM. 
Descend, Urania, and inspire my verse ; 
I raise my song to sing your kindred stars ; 
I aim to rove where glittering Comets stray. 
Trace the bright wanderers through the ethereal way. 

See, heavenly Muse, view with attentive eyes. 
The ruddy wonder of the evening skies ! 
From star to star, the burning ruin rolls. 
Beams through the ether, and alarms the poles. 
Around the earth, the wondering nations gaze 
On the dire terrors of the lengthened blaze, 



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THOMAS FLEET. 141 

While, trailifig on, tliey dream its s}>aitii]ig hsir 
Shakes famine, earthqaake, pestilence, and war : 
Bltisions vain ! remote from hmnan things, 
Where other planets roll in other rings, 
It travels vast, and all aronnd proclaims 
A world in chaos, or an earth in flames. 

So through the ether swept the ancient earth, 
Ere time, and forms, and heanty first had hirth ; 
Unshaped and void, through space immense it roamed, 
TiU spake the God, — and Eden instant hloomed. 

What nun, what confusion might he hurled, 
By such a ball upon our guilty world I 
Witness, ye waves, which in the deluge spread. 
Whelmed o'er the earth, and stretched the nations dead. 
Down heaven's high steep, wide>spread, the steaming train 
Rushed on the fields, and poured the floods of rain : 
The dark abyss, attracted into day. 
Gushed o'er the mountain tops, and roared away 5 
The tossed ark, tottering, through its fabric shook, 
Involved in clouds and darkness, foam and smoke, 
By tempests plunged along from steep to steep. 
Bounds to the clouds, or dashes down the deep. 
Ye angels \ guard her through the stormy scene, 
Till the gay rainbow arch the heavens serene. 

But, O my Muse I swift must the time come on, 
When, fresh inspired, and fervid from the sun. 
The flagrant stranger shapes a different path, 
And from its annual orbit drags the earth. 
Ye fancy, mortals I distant as ye are, 
All calm and placid round the sailing star. 
In gentle rays serenely gleams the head. 
And easy lustre through the train is spread : 
Ah I ye perceive not what loud tumult reigns 
Through the hot regions of its wild domains ; 
What hideous thunder the wild ether shocks, 
Of tumbling mountains, and of crashing rocks : 
Fierce seas of flame beat round the burning shores, 
And every tempest raves, and every furnace roars. 
To this devoted earth it marches on. 
And midnight blazes with the ^are of noon : 
Big and more big, it arches all the air, 
A vault of fluid brass the skies appear, 



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142 BOSTON EVENING POST. 

From their foundations where they ancient stood, 
Down rush the mountains in a flaming flood : 
The minerals pour their melted bowels out, 
The rocks run down, the flying rivers spout; 
The earth dissolves through its disjointed frame, 
Its clouds all lighten, and its ^tnas flame : 
The sea exhales, and in long volumes hurled, 
Follows the wandering globe from world to world ; 
Now at the sun it glows, now steers its flight 
Through the cold deserts of eternal night. 
Warns every creature through its trackless road, 
The fate of sinners and the wrath of GOD. 

No wonder that " timorous people, and especially 
women," were frightened out of their wits, if they read 
much of such sublime nonsense as this poem. 

In 1748, during the war between England and Spain, 
a Spanish ship, captured by an English cruiser, was sent 
into Boston. Among other articles in the captured 
vessel, were several bales of Bulls or Indulgencies, issued 
by the Pope, and printed on one side of a small sheet. 
Fleet purchased a large quantity of them at a low price, 
and printed songs and ballads on the back of them. In 
the Evening Post he advertised them, as follows : — 
" Choice Pennsylvania Tobacco Paper to be sold by the 
Publisher of this Paper, at the Heart and Crown ; where 
may also be had the BULLS or Indulgencies of the 
present Pope Urban VIII. either by the single Bull, 
Quire, or Ream, at a much cheaper Rate than they can 
be purchased of the French or Spanish Priests, and yet 
will be warranted to be of the same Advantage to the 
Possessors." 

Thomas Fleet, the proprietor and editor of the 
Evening Post, died on the twenty-first of July, 1758, 
having nearly completed seventy-three years of age. 



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THOMAS FLEET. 143 

He was the son of Thomas Fleet, of Tillstock, in the 
county of Shropshue, England, and was bom in that 
place, on the eighth of September, 1685. He served 
an apprenticeship to the printing business at Bristol, and 
worked as a journeyman in that place. While he was 
employed there in that capacity, the notorious Dr. 
Sacheverell passed through Bristol, on his " tour of tri- 
umph,'' after having undergone his sentence of suspen- 
sion from the performance of his clerical functions. The 
Doctor was carried in the procession on men's shoulders, 
amidst the waving of flags, the display of handkerchiefs, 
and the shouts and huzzas of the populace. As the 
procession approached the house where Fleet was at 
work, he, (though he felt no interest in the afiair,) in 
mere sport, hung a halter on a pole and waved it from a 
window. This was considered as a signal of contempt, 
and caused an attack on the house. Stones and other 
tnissiles were hurled at the windows ; the doors were 
broken in, and search was made for the offender, — who, 
in the mean time, had gone to the top of the house, and 
passing from the roof of one house to another, at length 
descended into an unfrequented street, and made his 
escape. He absented himself for some time. Supposing 
that his offence might be forgotten, he returned to his 
employment, but found that he was still likely to get 
into trouble. He thought that his personal safety re- 
quired that he should emigrate ; and, accordingly, he 
went on board a vessel bound to America, and landed 
in Boston, in 1712. 

Soon after his arrival. Fleet opened a printing-house 
in Pudding-lane, (now Devonshire-street,) and carried 
on the printing of ballads, pamphlets, and small books 



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144 BOSTON ETEHIirG POST. 

for children. He was industrious and frugal, and 
acquired property. In 1731, he rented a new brick 
building, on the northerly comer of Water-street and 
Comhill, (now Washington-street,) which he afterwards 
purchased, and in which he spent the remainder of his 
life. The price he paid for this estate was about 
$2200 ! The house was spacious, and afibrded rooms 
sufficioit for the accommodation of his family, and for 
the transaction of his business. To his occupation as a 
printer and bookseller, he added that of an auctioneer, 
— of which he gave notice in the News-Letter of March 
7, 1731, as follows : — 

This is to giye Notice to aU Gendemen, Merchants, Sbopkeepen and 
otheiB, that Tkimo» Fleet of Boston, Printer, (who foimerly kept hia 
Printing House in Padding Iiane but is now removed into Comhill at 
llie sign of the Heart 4r Oroton, near the lower end of School Street) is 
willing to undertake the Sale of Books, Household Goods, Wearing 
Apparel, or any other Merchandize, by Vendue, or Auction. The said 
Fleet having a large & commodious fVont Chamber fit for this Business^ 
and a Talent well known and approved, doubts not of giving entire 
Satisfaction to such as may employ him in it; he hereby engaging to 
make it appear that this Service may be performed with more Conven- 
ience and less Charge at a private House well situated, than at a Tav- 
ern. And for farther Encouragement, said Fleet promises to make up 
Aocompts with the Owners of the Goods Sold by him, in a few Bays 
after the sale thereof. 

The following anecdote, — related by Mr. Thomas, 
-—if true, proves that Fleet would not lose a joke, 
though he might enjoy it at the expense of the feelings 
of others : — " The members of his family, though 
worthy and good people, were not remarkable ibr per- 
sonal beauty, and he sometimes indulged in a joke at 
their expense. He once invited a friend to dine with 
him on PotUs, — a kind of fish, of which he knew the 
gentlemjm wa3 remarkably fond. When the dinner 



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THOMAS Ain> JOHN FLEET. 



145 



Appeared, the guest remarked that the Pouts were want* 
ing. " Q no, (said Fleet,) only look at my wife and 
daughters ! " * 

On the death of Fleet, he was succeeded by his sons 
Thomas and John, who had learned the printing business 
of him. They formed a partnership, which continued 
till the death of Thomas, in March, 1797. They were 
bom in Boston, and received a common school educa- 
tion. They were skillful and correct printers, and were 
much respected as good citizens, and men of integrity 
and punctuality in all their dealings. 

On assuming the proprietorship of the Evening Post, 
T. & J. Fleet introduced at the head a cut representing 
the sign, which their father had placed over his door : f 




* At his death, Fleet left a widow, three sons, and two daaghtera. One son and 
the daughters were never married. The first son, William, was a sea-captain and 
merchant, and died in 1787, leaving children ; — one of whom was married to 
Andrew Oliver, a hatter, of Boston. She was the mother of William Oliver, late 
of Dorchester, merchant, who left all his property, ~ more than $ 11§,000,— after 
the death of two sisters, to the Asyliim for the Blind and the MasMchufletts G«ii> 
eral Hospital. 

fThia cat remained at the head of the paper till the publication was discontinued 
in April, 1775. The sign was afterwards changed to Ihe Bible and Heart: — a sign 
well remembered by many persons now living. 

VOL. I. 13 



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146 BOSTON EVENING POST. 

The paper was conducted on the principles establbhed 
by the father ; and through the exciting period, in which 
it was in possession of the sons, maintained its character 
as an independent joumaL The political communica- 
tions were numerous, and both Whigs and Tories seemed 
privileged to lash each other in its columns. The Tories 
took advantage of the privilege to abuse the writers in 
Edes and Gill's Boston Gazette, to an extent that was 
hardly to have been expected, if the Fleets were in full 
communion with the Whig party. There is, however, 
no partiality to the Tories discoverable in their editorial 
notices of the stirring incidents that marked the few 
years immediately preceding the Revolution. 

A correspondent of the Post, August 22, 1768, says 
the following song was much in vogue, and was heard 
resounding in almost all companies in town, and by way 
of eminence was called "The Libertt Song.'* He 
requests its publication, " for the benefit of the whole 
continent of America : " — * 

To the Tune of Hearts of Oak, 

Come join hand in hand, brave AmericanB all, 
And rouse yonr bold hearts at fair Liberty's call ; 
Ko tyrannoTis acts shall suppress your just claim, 
Or stain with dishonor America's name. 
In Freedom we 're bora, and in Freedom we 11 lire ; 
Our purses are ready. 
Steady, Friends, steady. 
Not as Slaves, but as Freemen, our money we 11 give. 

Our worthy Forefathers — let 's give them a cheer — 
To climates unknown did courageously steer ; 

• This 0ODg was written )>y Jofen Oi^skinson, of Peniiflylvania, the author of the 
celebrated Farmer's Letters. It was first published Id the Boston Gazette, July 18, 
1766. 8ee Tudor*t Ltfe qf James Otis, p. 333, and Appendix, p. 501. 



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• THOMAS AND JOHN FLEET. 147 

Through oceans to deserts for Freedom they caime, 
And, dying, bequeathed us their freedom and fame : 
In Freedom we 're bom, &c. 

Their generous bosoms all dangers despised. 
So highly, so wisely, their birthrights they prized j 
We 'U keep what they gave — we will piously keep, 
Nor finstrate their toils on the land or the deep. 
In Freedom we 're bom, &c. 

The Tree their own hands had to Liberty reared 
They lived to behold growing strong and revered ; 
With transport they cried, — " Now our wishes we gain, 
For our children shall gather the fruits of our pain.** 
In Freedom we 're bom, &c. 

Swarms of placemen and pensioners soon will appear, 
Like locusts deforming the charms of the year ; 
Suns vainly will rise, showers vainly descend. 
If t06 are to drudge for what others will qtend. 
* In Freedom we 're bom, &c. 

Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all; 
By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall ; 
In so righteous a cause let us hope to succeed, 
For Heaven approves of each generous deed. 
In Freedom we 're bom, &c 

All age§ shall speak, with amaze and applause, 
Of the courage we '11 show in support of our laws ; 
To DIE we can bear — but to serve we disdain^ 
For shame is to Freemen more dreadful than pain* 
In Freedom we 're bom, &c. 

This bumper I crown for our Sovereign's health. 
And this for Britannia's glory and wealth ; 
That wealth and that glory immortal may be, 
H she\& but y tuf , and we are but free. 
In Freedom we 're bom, &c. 

A few weeks after the publication of this Song, the 

following Parody appeared in the Post — but whether 

inserted by request of those, who approved its temper 

and style, or to expose that temper to the indignation of 

the Whigs, does not appear. 



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148 BOSTON EYENING POST. • 

A PARODY 

Upon a well-known Libebtt Song. 
[Said to be in great vogue at a certain Fortress, where it was composed.]* 
Come shake your dull noddles, ye Pumpkins, and bawl, 
And own that you're mad at fair Liberty's call ] 
No scandalous conduct can add to your shame, 
Condemned to dishonor, inherit the fame. 

In Folly you're bom, and in Folly youll live, 
To madness stLU ready, 
And stupidly steady, 

Not as men, but as monkeys, the tokens yon give. 
Your grandsire, Old Satan, now give him a cheer. 
Would act like yourselves, and as wildly would steer; 
So great an example in prospect still keep. 
Whilst you are alive. Old Belza may sleep. 

In Folly you're bom, &c 
Such villains, such rascals all dangers despise. 
And stick not at mobbing when mischief's the prize ; 
They burst through all barriers, and piously keep 
Such chattels and goods the vile rascals can sweep. 

In Folly you're bom, &c. 
The Tree, which the wisdom of Justice hath reared. 
Should be stout for their use, and by no means be spared; 
When fuddled with rum the mad sots to restrain. 
Sure Tyburn will sober the wretches again. 

In Folly you're bom, &c. 
Your brats and your hunters by no means forget, 
But feather your nests, for they're bare enough yet ; 

« This Parody wm alio pobliabed in the Boston Gazette, Sept. 96, 1768, — intro- 
daeed by the following notice : ^- Last Taesday, the following Song made its 

appearance ttmn a garret at Castle W m." Immediately following it is the 

following Letter: 

Castle William, Boston Haibor, Sept. 85, 1768. 
Messienrs Edes «c Cai, 

Having been told that yoo intended to pobliib a Song in yonr Newspaper, called 
a Parody on the Song of Liberty, under my name as the Author of It, I think 
proper to forewarn you from publishing such a falsity, or any other thing under 
my name, without my authority ; and if you persist in doing it in this, or any 
other instance, it shall be at your perii. I am. Your humble Serr't, 

HxR. HuTTOir. 

The editon add in a note — As we have never published any thing, and never 
intend to, under the name, much less under the Authobitt of Mr. HutUm, we 
slHHild liave been glad, if he iiad explained his idea of the word persiat. 



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THOMAS AMB JOHN FLEIET. 1.49 

From the insolent rich sure the poor knave may steal, 
Who ne*er in his life knew the scent of a meal. 

In Folly you*re bom, &c 
When in yonr own cellars you've quaffed a regale, 
Then drive, tug and stink, the next house to assail ; 
For short is yonr harvest, nor long shall you know, 
The pleasure of reaping what other men sow. 

In Folly you're bom, &c. 
Then plunder, my lads, for when red coats appear, 
You'll melt, like the locust when winter is near; 
Gold vainly will glow, Silver vainly will shine, 
But, £uth, you must skulk, you no more shall purloin. 

In Folly you're bom, &c. 
Then nod your poor numskulls, ye Pumpkins, and bawl. 
The De'il take such rascals, fools, whoresons, and all ; 
Your cursed old trade of purloining must cease. 
The dread and the curse of all order and peace. 

In Folly you're bom, &c. 
AU ages shall speak with contempt and amaze, 
Of the vilest banditti that swarmed in these days ; 
In defiance of halters, of whips, and of chains. 
The rogues would run riot, — fools for their pains. 

In Folly you're bom, &c. 
Gulp down your last dram, for the gallows now groans. 
And over depressed her lost empire bemoans ; 
While we quite transported and happy shall be. 
From mobs, knaves, and villains, protected and free. 

In Folly you're bom, &c. 

The Post of the next week contained 
THE PARODY PABODIZED. 
Or the Massachusbttb Liberty Sono. 

Come swallow your bumpers, ye Tories ! and roar, 
That the Sons of fair Freedom are hampered once more ; 
But know, no such Juries our spirits can tame. 
Nor a host of oppressors shall smother the flame. 
In Freedom we're bom, and, like sons of the brave, 
Will never surrender, 
But swear to defend her, 
And scorn to survive, if unable to save. 
13* 



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150 BOSTON EVEKING POST. 

Our gnmdflireB, blest heroes ! well give them a tear, 
Nor snlly their honors by stooping to fear; 
' Through deaths and through dangers their trophies they won ; 
We dare be their rivals, nor will be ontdone. 

In Freedom, &c 
Let tyrants and minions presume to despise, 
Encroach oh oar rights, and make Freedom their prise, 
The fruits of their rapine they never shall keep ; 
Though vengeance may nod, yet how short is her sleep I 

In Freedom, &c. 
The Tree, which proud Haman for Mordecai reared. 
Stands recorded, that Virtue endangered is spared ; 
That rogues whom no bands and no laws can restrain. 
Must be stript of their honors, and humbled again. 

In Freedom, && 
Our wives and our babes, still protected, shall know. 
Those who dare to be free, shall forever be so ; 
On these arms and these breasts they may safely rely. 
For in Freedom well live, or like heroes we'll die, 

In Freedom, &c. 
Ye insolent tyrants ! who wish to enthrall, 
Ye minions, ye placemen, pimps, pensioners, all ; 
How short is your triumph ! how feeble your trust ! 
Your honors must wither, and nod to the dust 

In Freedom, &c. 
When oppressed and reproached, our King we implore, 
Still firmly persuaded our rights he'll restore ; 
When our hearts beat to arms to defend a just right. 
Our monarch rules there, and forbids us to fight. 

In Freedom, &c. 

Not the glitter of arms, nor the dread of a fray. 
Could make us submit to their chains for a day ; 
Withheld by afiection, on Britons we call, — 
Prevent the fierce conflict which threatens your fall. 

In Freedom, &c. 
All ages shall speak with amaze and applause. 
On the prudence we show in support of our cause ; 
Assured of our safety, a Brunswick still reigns. 
Whose free loyal subjects are strangers to chains. 

In Freedom, &c. 



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THOMAS AND JOHN FLEET. 151 

Then join hand in hand, brave AmericaoB all 1 
To be free is to liye ; to be slaves is to fall ; 
Has the land such a dastard, as scorns not a lord, 
Who dreads not a fetter much more than a sword I 
In Freedom we're bom, and, like sons of the brave, 
Will never surrender, 
But swear to defend her. 
And scorn to survive if unable to save. 

The practice of publishing for writers on both sides of 
the great question which then agitated the whole country, 
was persisted in, but evidently created dissatisfaction 
among the Whigs. In the paper of the 10th of March, 
1775, the following notice was published : — 

Whereas it hath been hinted in several letters lately received from 
England, that one or more printers of the public newspapers in the 
principal towns in America are hired, or rather bribed, (from a fund said 
to be established for that use) for the vile purpose of publishing pieces 
in their respective papers tending to favor despodsm and the present 
arbitrary and t3rranmcal proceedings of the ministry relative to Amer- 
ica ; The publishers of the Boston Evening Post (whose papers have 
always been conducted with the utmost freedom and impartiality) do, 
for themselves, thus publicly declare, that no application has ever been 
made to them to prostitute their paper to such a base and mean purpose ; 
and should they hereafter be applied to for that design, they shall 
despise' the offer and those who make it, with the greatest contempt ; 
not but that Iheir paper shall, as usual, be open for the insertion of all 
pieces that shall tend to amuse or instruct, or to the promoting of useful 
knowledge and the general good of mankind, as they themselves (who 
are the sole directors and proprietors thereof) shall think prudent, 
profitable, or entertaining to their numerous readers. 

This proclamation of neutrality was unavailing, but 
tended to increase rather than diminish the discontent of 
the public. In a few weeks after, viz. on the 24th 
of April, the Post contained the following notice : — 
" The Printers of the Boston Evening Post hereby in- 
form the Town that they shall desist publishing the 
papers after this day, till matters are in a more settled 



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152 BOSTON EYEmNG POST. 

State." Just preceding this notice is the following para- 
graph : — 

The unlucky transacdonB of the last week are so yariously related, 
that we shall not at present undertake to give any particular acconnt 
thereof. 

The " unlucky transactions " here alluded to, it will 
be perceived, were the battles at Lexington and Con- 
cord. With that declaration the publication of the Post 
was suspended and never revived. 

Thomas Fleet, the second of the name, and the 
senior partner in the house of T. &. J. Fleet, was bom 
April 10, 1732, and died, single, March 16, 1797, aged 
65 years. John, the other partner, was born September 
25, 1734, and died March 6, 1806, aged 71J years.* 
He had a son, Thomas, who was a printer, and con- 
nected in the business with his father, but gave it up 
soon after his father died. He died a bachelor, in 1827, 
about 59 years of age. These Fleets, — father, sons, 
and grandson, — conducted the printing business, through 
a period of seventy-five years, in the building before 
mentioned, at the comer of Washington and Water- 
streets. The estate ig still in possession of the heirs. 

When they discontinued the publication of the Eve- 
ning Post, the Fleets pursued their business of printing 
in all other respects, and executed a large share of the 
joh work of the town. At one time they did all the 
printing required for the General Court, and County and 
Town officers, and acquired what was considered a 

*Thl8 John Fleet had alio a eon John, who was graduated at Harvard College 
in 1786, — was a respectable physician in Boston, and died unmarried, in Janu< 
ary 1813, aged 47. He had also three daughters, two of whom were married to 
Ephralm Eliot, — long known a8 a respectable apothecary in Hanover-street : — 
the other, bom April 5, 1773, is still (1850) living, enjoying, aa many of the Fleet 
family had before enjoyed, an old age of unblessed celibacy. 



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THOMAS AND JOHK FLEET. 153 

handsome property. They were also employed to print 
most of the valuable works, which were published dur- 
ing the War, and a few years that immediately suc- 
ceeded it. The first edition of Hutchinson's History of 
Massachusetts was printed at their press. In 1779, 
they published the first number of the " Pocket Alma- 
nack and Fleet's Annual Register," which was con- 
tinued annually, and met with extensive sales, till the 
year 1801, when it passed into the hands of Manning 
& Loring and John West. 

Soon after the evacuation of Boston by the British 
troops, the Fleets removed the sign of the " Crown and 
Heart," which had been erected by their father, and put 
in its place the '^ Bible and Heart ; " and this remained 
on the building, till the final relinquishment of their 
business, and the removal of the family, in 1808. Many 
persons expressed a desire that it should be preserved, 
but it was found to be much weather-beaten and de- 
cayed, and fell to pieces in the hands of the workmen 
who removed it. 



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THE BOSTON WEEKLY POST-BOY. 



The first number of this paper was issued in October, 
1734, by Ellis Huske, who had just been appointed post- 
master of Boston. No printer's name appeared in the 
imprint, during its whole existence, which was about 
twenty years. The latest number that is preserved in 
the Historical Library, was published in December, 
1754, in which there is no notice of any intended dis- 
continuance. Mr. Thomas thinks the publication was 
continued till some time in 1755. The character of 
this paper did not differ essentially from that of its pre- 
decessors, — the News-Letter and the Gazette. It was 
simply a weekly issue of extracts from English papers, 
and a few articles of intelligence, concerning trade and 
navigation, and a brief notice of the common occurrences 
of the week. It does not appear that Huske became 

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ELLIS HUSKE. 155 

involved in any controversy with his cotemporaries of 
the press, or in any exciting disputes that might have 
existed in regard to matters of public interest. The 
paper has no pretension to a literary character, and had 
rarely a contribution from a correspondent. 

In relation to the personal history of Huske, I have 
not been able to discover any thing more than what is 
stated by Mr. Thomas. " He was afterward appointed 
deputy-postmaster-general for the Colonies. He had a 
son, bred a merchant in Boston, who was afterward a 
member of the British Parliament. He was superseded 
in the department of the post-office by Franklin and 
Hunter." 

The devices at the head of this paper were the same 
as those used in the first Boston Gazette, viz. the Ship 
on the left of the title, and the Post-Boy on the right. 
The Post-Boy was also used by Green & Russell; when 
they began the Weekly Advertiser. 



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THE INDEPENDENT ADVERTISER. 



The first number of this paper was published in Bos- 
ton, January 4, 1748, by Rogers & Fowle. It was 
printed on a half-sheet of crown size, two pages folio ; — 
the head embellished with a cut, the device of which 
Mr. Thomas thus explains : — " Britannia liberating a 
bird, confined by a cord to the arms of France. Bri- 
tannia is represented sitting ; the arms of France lying on 
the ground before her ; the bird is on the wing, but 
being impeded by the cord, one end of which is fastened 
to the arms of France and the other to the bird, Bri- 
tannia is in the act of cutting the cord with a pair of 
shears, that the bird may escape." 

The opening address it will be seen, is written in a 
better style, than had been usual in that department of 
the newspaper press : — 



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BOGERS AND FOWLE. 157 

ITie PvBLiBHBSS to the Beaberb. 
Gbntlbhen. 

Upon the encouragement we hare already received, and agreeable to 
our printed proposals, The Independent Advertiser now makes its en- 
trance into the world, and as it will doubtless be expected upon its first 
appearance that we should more fully explain our design and show 
what the public may expect from it, we would accordingly observe. That 
we shall by no means endeavor to recommend this our paper by depre- 
dating the merit of other performances of the same kind, neither would 
we flatter the expectations of the Public by any pompous promises 
which we may not be likely to fulfil ; but this our Readers may depend 
upon ; that we shall take the utmost care to procure the freshest and 
best intelligence, and publish it in such order, as that every reader may 
have the clearest and most perfect understanding of it; and for the ben- 
efit of those who are unacquainted with the geography of foreign parts, 
we may insert such descriptions as may enlighten them therein. But 
as we cannot expect to gratify our inquisitive customers with a constant 
supply of news, (especially in this barren season,) we propose occasion- 
ally to insert such valuable extracts from our most celebrated writers, 
which may be most likely to improve or entertain our readers. And 
as our present political state affords matter for a variety of thoughts, of 
peculiar importance to the people of New England, we propose to 
insert every thing of that nature that may be pertinently and decently 
wrote. For ourselves, we declare we are of no party, neither shall we 
promote the private and narrow designs of any such. We are ourselves 
free, and our paper shall be free, — free as the constitution we enjoy, — 
free to truth, good manners and good sense, and at the same time fi^e 
from all licentious reflections, insolence and abuse. Whatsoever may 
be adapted to state and defend the rights and liberties of mankind, to 
advance useful knowledge and the cause of virtue, to improve the trade, 
the manufactures and the Husbandry of the country, whatever may 
tend to inspire this people with a just and proper sense of their own 
condition, to point out to them their true interest, and rouse them to 
pursue it; as also any piece of wit and humor, shall at all times find 
(free of charge) a most welcome reception. And although we do not 
altogether depend upon the casual benevolence of the public to supply 
this paper, yet we will thankfully receive every thing from every quarter 
conducing to the good of the public and our general design. 

The Advertiser was devoted chiefly to politics. Most 
of the essays, which were ably written, were contribut- 
ed by a society of gentlemen, associated for that pur- 
14 



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158 INDEPENDENT ADTERTISER. 

pose, among whom the inflexible Whig, Samuel Adams, 
was prominent and influential. 

Rogers & Fowle, the publishers of this paper, formed 
a partnership in 1742, and carried on the printing busi- 
ness on a scale somewhat larger than any of their pre- 
decessors or cotemporaries. They issued a number of 
volumes, which were neatly and accurately printed, — 
chiefly on their own account. In 1743, they published 
the first number of the American Magazine, — in its 
execution equal to that of the English periodicals, — 
which was continued three years. They were excellent 
workmen. They manufactured ink for their own works, 
and are supposed to be the first printers in America, who 
were successful in that branch of domestic manufacture. 
They printed an edition of two thousand copies of the 
New Testament for Daniel Henchman, — the first im- 
pression of that book in English, which had issued from 
an American press. In 1750, about two years from the 
commencement of the publication of the Independent 
Advertiser, Rogers & Fowle dissolved their partnership, 
and the Advertiser was discontinued. 

Gamaliei:4 Rogers served his apprenticeship with 
Bartholomew Green, senior. He began business as a 
printer, in 1723, and printed chiefly for the booksellers. 
After the dissolution of his partnership with Fowle, he 
opened a printing-house at the westerly part of the town, 
and wrought at his profession, in a small way for two or 
three years, when his house was burned, and his press 
and most of his types destroyed. His property being 
chiefly lost, he gave up business as a printer. Dejected 
and broken in spirit, at an advanced period of life, he 
opened a shop near the Old South meeting-house, where 

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DANIEL FOWLS. 159 

he supported his family by retailing groceries in small 
quantities, and selling a few pamphlets, — the remnants 
of the stock accumulated in more prosperous days. " He 
was an industrious, sensible, amiable man, and a good 
Christian." Soon after the battle of Bunker-Hill, in 
1775, when Boston was in possession of the British 
troops, and besieged by the provincial army, Rogers 
obtained permission of the British commander to leave 
the place. He removed to Ipswich, in the county of 
Essex, and died there, in the autumn of that year, aged 
seventy years. 

Daniel Fowle, the junior partner in the firm of Rogers 
& Fowle, was bom in Charlestown, and served his 
apprenticeship with Samuel Kneeland. He began busi- 
ness as a printer on his own account, in 1740. Soon 
after his separation from Rogers, in 1750, he opened a 
printing-office in Ann-street, where he kept a small col- 
lection of books for sale, and printed a number of pam- 
phlets. In July, 1755, a pamphlet made its appearance 
in Boston, of which Fowle was suspected to be the 
printer, and on that suspicion was subjected to severe 
treatment. The pamphlet was entitled " The Monster 
of Monsters : a true and faithful Narrative of a most 
remarkable phenomenon lately seen in this Metropolis ; 
to the great Surprize and Terror of His Majesty's good 
Subjects ; humbly dedicated to all the Virtuosi of New- 
England : By Thomas Thumb, Esq." This allegorical 
monster appears to have been an excise law, which was 
on its passage through the House of Representatives. 
It was said to have made its first appearance in an 
Assembly of Matrons, where it was received with great 
favor, and great pains taken to make others admire it. 



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160 DANI£L^ FOWLS. 

A number of speeches were reported mi having been 
made by the principal ladies of the assembly ; but 
whether the speeches bore any resemblance to the dis- 
cussions in the House of Representatives, is quite doubt- 
ful. But the House chose to make an application of 
the remarks to several of its members, and 

Resolved, That the pamphlet entitled Tlie Monster of MonsierSy is a 
false, scandalous label, reflecting upon the proceedings of the House 
in general, and on many worthy members in particular, in breach of the 
privileges thereof. 

Ordered, That the said pamphlet be burnt by the hands of the com- 
mon Hangman, below the Court-House in King-street, Boston, and 
that the Messenger of the House see the same carried into execution. 

Resolved, That the Messenger of the House do forthwith take into 
custody Baniel Fowle of Boston, Printer, who, they are informed was 
concerned in printing and publishing the said pamphlet, and that ihfi 
Speaker issue his warrant for that purpose. 

In pursuance of the Speaker's warrant, on the 24th 
of October, while he was at his dinner, Fowle was 
arrested, taken to the House, and examined, after an 
hour's confinement in the lobby. In a pamphlet, entitled, 
" A Total Eclipse of Liberty," written and published 
by Fowle, in the latter part of the year 1755, he gives 
the following account of his examination : — 

After proper compliments before that Grand Assembly, I was inter- 
rogated in the following manner, by Mr. Speaker, viz. Do you know oity 
thing of the printing of this ? After looking it over some time, I said it 
was not of my printing, neither had I any such letters in my print-house. 
After some considerable pause, and the gentlemen looking at one 
another, I was asked, Whaher I knew any Hang relating to said book 9 I 
then desired the opinion of the House, Whether I must answer to that 
question. But notwithstanding this reasonable request, there was no 
vote passed, that I could perceive, except three or four gentlemen said, 
Yes, Yes, very earnestly : Upon which I ii^oimed them I could not say, 
I had no concern; for, as I heard there was such a pamphlet to sell, I 
had bought two dozen, and sold them out of my shop, and should not 
thought any harm, if I had sold a hundred of them. This broi^ht on 



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DANIEL FOWLE. 161 

the following qnestioxifl and answers, Tiz. Who did you buy them off I 
replied, they were sent, I thought, by a young man, but could not tell 
bis name. Who did he live with f I then again desired the opinion of 
fhe House, Whether I was obliged to tell who I bought of? Three or 
four again rose up, and said, I must. Upon which I said I beUeved the 
young man lived with Mr. Royal Tyler. It was then demanded. 
Whether I had any conversation with him about them f I replied, I believe 
I might in the same manner as I had with many others, not that I 
imagined him the author, nor any other person, for I never agreed with 
any person about the printing of it, neither was it ever offered to me. 
I was then asked, Whether any of my hands assisted in the doing of it f 
I believe my Negro might, as he sometimes worked for my brother. I 
was then queried, WhetJter my brother 7iad any help f I said. No. Then 
a gentleman said, Somebody must help him, for one could not print alone* 
As this was what I never knew before, I replied, one could print, and I 
could do five hundred with my own hands. I was next questioned. 
Whether lever saw any of it while printing f As I was determined to 
show no contempt of authority, I acknowledged I had seen some of it 
printing off, as printers transiently go into one another's houses. Whose 
house was it? I think it was my brother's. What is his name f 
Zechariah. Where does he live? Down Cross-street. One gentleman 
stood up and said, Some time ago I said 1 bought but two dozen, afterwards / 
bought a hundred; to which I replied, I would have bought a hundred if I 
could have sold them. Another then stood up, and said, before I had time 
to answer. You do not know when tou lib : Upon which I said, 
Begging your pardon, Sir, I know when I lie, and what a lie is, as well 
as yourself: to which there was no reply. 

Fowle was then again locked up for three hours in 
the upper chamber of the Court-house. He was then 
taken down and re-examined, and repeated what he had 
said before. He was locked up in the garret, a third 
time, and kept there till between nine and ten o'clock, 
when he was removed to the ga61. According to his 
account he was treated with great harshness and inde- 
cency* On the 28th, he was taken to the House of 
Representatives and reprimanded by the Speaker, and 
an order was issued for his discharge on his paying the 
costs. Not complying with the condition he was returned 
14 • 

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163 DANIEL FOWLE. 

to the gaol. The next day he received information that 
his wife had been suffering under violent agitation on 
account of his confinement, and was pronounced in a 
dangerous condition by a doctor. He sent a message to 
the House of Representatives, asking to be permitted to 
go home to his wife, and promising to be ready to wait 
on them when they should have occasion for him. He 
was accordingly discharged, and no further proceedings 
were had in the matter. 

Royal Tyler was arrested and taken before the House, 
but declined to answer any interrogatories. He was 
committed for contempt, but was released on a promise 
to appear when called for. 

The treatment he received from the government in- 
duced Fowle to leave Massachusetts, and establish a 
printing-office in Portsmouth, N. H. In the following 
year, 1756, he commenced the publication of the New- 
Hampshire Gazette. He was the first printer that set- 
tled in that state. He was appointed printer to the gov- 
ernment, and continued in business, till his death, which 
happened in June, 1787, at the age of seventy-two. 

The Negro, mentioned by Fowle in his examination, 
was called Primus. Mr. Thomas says, — - " He was an 
African. I well remember him; he worked at press, 
with or without an assistant ; he continued to do press- 
work, until prevented by age. He went to Portsmouth 
with his master, and there died, being more than ninety 
years of age ; about fifty of which he was a press-man.'^ 



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THE BOSTON GAZETTE, OR WEEKLY 
ADVERTISER. 



After the dissolution of the partnership of Kneeland 
& Green, Kneeland began the publication of a new 
paper, with the title of the Boston Gazette, or Weekly- 
Advertiser. The 6rst number was issued January 3, 
1753, and was avowedly a continuation of the old Bos- 
ton Gazette and Weekly Journal. It was printed on a 
half sheet of crown quarto. The title was embellished 
with a cut, which had been originally intended to illus- 
trate one of iEsop's Fables ; but after the first year, it 
was exchanged for that which stands at the head of this 
article. This was better executed than any cut that had 
before appeared in any newspaper. During the first 
year, no name of printer or publisher appeared in the 
imprint. At the close of that year Kneeland inserted 
his name, as printer. The paper was handsomely print- 



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164 



BOSTON GAZETTE, OR WEEKLY ADVERTISER* 



ed. It contained nothing original except occasionally a 
paragraph of intelligence. It was discontinued in March, 
1755, on account, as was stated, of the provincial stamp 
act, and was immediately succeeded by Edes & Gill's 
Boston Gazette. 




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THE BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRY 
JOURNAL. 



On the seventh of April, 1755, — one week after S. 
Kneeland relinquished the publication of his '^ Boston 
Gazette, or Weekly Advertiser," — a third newspaper, 
bearing the title of the Boston Gazette, was published 
by Edes & Gill. It was a crown half sheet, printed in 
two pages, folio. When it first appeared, its head was 
decorated with two cuts, one of which was the same 
that Kneeland had used for his Gazette ; the other was 
that, which embellished the title of Rogers & Fowle's 
Independent Advertiser. The title of the paper stood 
between these two cuts. About the year 1760, both 
these devices were laid aside, and that, which appears 
at the head of this article, was adopted, and was con- 
tinued as part of the title as long as the paper was pub- 
lished. This device, according to Mr. Thomas, repre- 



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166 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL. 

sents Minerva (instead of Britannia) seated before a 
pedestaly on which is a cage; Minerva holds a spear 
surmounted with the cap of liberty in her left hand, and, 
with her right opens the cage, and liberates the bird, 
which is represented as flying towards a tree that stands 
at some distance from a city. At the time of this 
change, the form of the paper was enlarged, and it was 
printed on a whole demy sheet, and the typography un- 
derwent some improvements. 

The establishment of this Gazette was an important 
event among the memorable circumstances and incidents, 
which preceded the Revolution. The office of its pub- 
lication became the habitual resort of the most distin- 
guished political writers of that period. Some of them 
had been correspondents of the Independent Advertiser. 
James Otis, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Joseph 
Warren, Thomas Gushing, John Adams, and Josiah 
Quincy, jun. inflexible advocates of civil, political, and 
religious liberty, were the moving spirits at these meet- 
ings ; and there is no doubt, that many of the measures 
of opposition to the acts of the British Parliament for 
taxing the Colonies, which produced the Declaration of 
Independence and resulted in the complete separation of 
the Colonies from the parent country, originated in the 
deliberations of this association of patriots and statesmen. 
Edes and Gill were men of bold and fearless hearts, of 
good reputation as private citizetis, and unwavering in 
their opposition to the policy of the government. Sup- 
ported and encouraged, as they were, by writers of the 
first talent and respectability, the Gazette soon became 
the organ of the Whigs, and gained extensive circulation* 
Every innovation upon the chartered privileges of the 



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EDES AND GILL. 167 

Colonies was examined, reviewed, reprobated, and con- 
demned, with a freedom which knew no fear, and a severity 
which despised all control. No press in the country 
exerted a more powerful influence over the feelings, 
opinions, and conduct of the people. 

The measures of the provincial government furnished 
a long catalogue of grievances, on which the writers for 
the Gazette were wont to make their comments, even 
from the 6rst publication of the paper; and the warmth, 
with which they began, increased with every succeeding 
act of oppression, — the Stamp Act, the Massacre, the 
Tea Tax, and the closing of the port of Boston, — to 
the highest pitch of indignation. The proceedings of 
town-meetings, of committees, and of individuals, con- 
cerned in opposing the arbitrary measures of the govern- 
ment are detailed in the Gazette, and impart an interest 
to its columns, which will not be subdued till the events 
themselves shall be forgotten. The Boston Massacre, 
which took place on the evening of the Fifth of March, 
1770, is minutely narrated in the Gazette of the twelfth ; 
and this narrative has always been deemed faithful and 
authentic. As it was an event that could not be fore- 
seen, the public could not be prepared for it by any 
warning voice from the press, as in the case of the Stamp 
Act ; and such was the horrible nature of the transaction, 
— involving the certainty of a judicial trial for assassina- 
tion — that the press preserved an almost total silence after 
the tragedy was performed. Little concerning it can be 
found in any of the papers of the day, until after the 
trial. The result of the trial was not universally satis- 
factory. From an occasional remark in the Gazette, it 
may be inferred that the editors would have been better 

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168 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL. 

pleased, had the verdict been otherwise than it was. A 
writer under the signature of " Vindex," published a 
series of articles, reviewing the arguments of counsel and 
the decisions of the Court, and tending to show that the 
verdict was not such as the testimony in the case would 
have justified. That John Adams and Josiah Quincy 
engaged in the defence of the soldiers, who were indicted 
for the murder, was evidently much regretted by many 
of their friends, as well as by a large portion of the 
people. 

The anniversary of the massacre was marked, in Bos- 
ton, by the observance of solemn ceremonies, and an 
oration for several succeeding years. On the evening 
of the anniversary in 1771, a pageant was exhibited, 
which is thus noticed in the Gazette : — 

Tuesday last was the Anniyersary of the neyer-to-be-forgotten Fifth 
of March, 1770, when Messieurs Gray^ Maverick^ Ccddivellj Carr, and 
Aitucks were inhumanly murdered by a Party of Soldiers of the XXTXth 
Begiment in King-Street : — The Bells of the several Congregational 
Meeting-Houses were tolled from XII o'clock at Noon till I : — In the 
Eyening there was a very striking Exhibition at the BweUing-House of 
Mr. PAUL BEVERE, fronting the Old North Square. — At one of 
the Chamber- Windows was the appearance of the Ghost of the unfor- 
tunate young Seider, with one of his Fingers in the Wound, endeavor- 
ing to stop the Blood issuing therefrom : Near him his Friends weep^ 
ing : And at a small distance a monumental Obelisk, with his Bust in 
Front : — On the Front of the Pedestal, were the Names of those killed 
on the Fifdi of March : Underneath the following Lines, 

Seider's pale Ghost fresh Ueeding stands^ 
And Vengeance for Ids Death demands. 

In the next Window were represented the Soldiers drawn up, firing 
at the People assembled before them — the Dead on the Ground — and 
the Wounded falling, with the Blood running in Streams from their 
Wounds: Over which was wrote Foul Plat. In the third Window 
was the Figure of a Woman, representing America, sitting on the 
Stump of a Tree, with a Staff in her Hand, and the Cap of Libertj 



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EUES AND GILL. 169 

on the Top thereof, — one Foot on the Head of a Grenadier lying 
prostrate grasping a Serpent — Her Finger pointing to the Tragedy. 

The whole was so well execnted, that the Spectators, which amounted 
to many Thousands, were struck with solemn Silence, and their Coun- 
tenances cova^d with a melancholy Gloom. At nine o'clock the Bells 
tolled a doleful Feal, until Ten ; when the Exhibition was withdrawn, 
and the People retired to their respectiye Habitations. 

Another subject of great and permanent interest among 
the people of Boston during this period of general ex- 
citement and irritation, was the tax upon Tea, and the 
proceedings of the town in reference thereto. The 
Gazette has a full account of the various town-meetings, 
and the correspondence between several committees 
appointed at those meetings and the persons, to whom the 
Teas, then on board certain ships in the harbor, were 
consigned. The Destruction of the Tea — a world- 
renowned exploit, — is thus recorded in the Gazette of 
December 20, 1773 : — 

On Tuesday last the body of the people of this and all the adjacent 
towns, and others from the distance of twenty miles, assembled at the 
Old South meeting-house, to inquire the reason of the delay in sending 
the ship Dartmouth, with the East-India Tea, back to London ; and 
having found that the owner had not taken the necessary steps for that 
purpose, they enjoined him at his peril to demand of the collector of 
the customs a clearance of the ship, and appointed a committee of ten 
to see it performed : after which they adjourned to the Thursday fol- 
lowing, ten o'clock. They then met, and being informed by Mr. Rotch, 
that a clearance was refused him, they enjoined him immediately to 
enter a protest and apply to the Goremor for a passport by the castle, 
and adjourned again till three o'clock for the same day. At which 
time they again met, and after waiting tiU near sunset, Mr. Rotch came 
in and informed them that he had accordingly entered his protest and 
waited on the Goyemor for a pass, but his excellency told him he could 
not consistent with his duty grant it until his vessel was qualified. The 
people finding all their efibrts to preserve the property of the East-India 
Company and return it safely to London, frustrated by the tea con- 
signees, the collector of the customs, and the Governor of the Province, 
DiSBOLVXD their meeting. — But, bbhold what followed I A number 



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170 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL. 

of brave and resolute men, determined to do all in their power to saTO 
their country from the ruin which their enemies had plotted, in less 
than four hours, emptied every chest of tea overboard the three ships 
commanded by Captains Hull, Bruce, and Coffin, amounting to 348 
chests, into the Sea 1 1 without the least damage done to the ships or 
any other property. The masters and owners are well pleased that 
their ships are thus cleared ; and the people are almost universally con- 
gratulating each other on this happy event 

The state of public feeling, in regard to the use of 
Tea, is truly illustrated in the annexed article, from the 
Gazette of September 5, 1784, — evidently the com- 
position of one of the editors : — 

About ten days since, there came a villanous pedlar to a store in 
Leominster, who, upon examination was found to have a quantity of 
the destructive and detestable weed, Tea — which he asserted he had 
brought with him in a late foreign voyage, and pretended he waa carry- 
ing it home to his dear wife; but it seems he had not the greatest 
regard and affection for her, by his giving her poison. — However, he 
offered his Tea for sale, thinking the store-keeper to be an enemy to 
his country; but, to his great sorrow, he soon found it was not so ; for, 
by this time, the shop was well stored with true Whigs, (a most respect- 
able assortment,) who, it seems, were privately invited there by the 
store-keeper ; at First sight, struck a horrid damp on the Tea-Merchant, 
and perhaps caused as violent an agitation in his knees, as ever was in 
those of Belshazzar ; so that he cried for quarter, begging they would 
not clothe him in the modem dress, the weather being excessively hot 
The Whigs granted his petition, but repeatedly exhorted him to reform, 
and be no longer an enemy to himself and country; — and finally they 
made him these very friendly proposals, which were as follows, that 
he should either immediately bum that Tea, at his own cost, or at 
theirs, or have it taken by force and consumed ; the former of which he 
readily agreed to, by burning the Tea. He then departed, heartily 
thftTiking them for their kindness and benevolence toward him. 

But lenity cannot, must not be exercised towards these enemies much 
longer ; — it is to be feared the direfiil period is at hand, when the Sons 
of Liberty will be boimd in duty, both to God and themselves, to hang, 
drown, or otherwise demolish these execrable villains from the face of 
the earth, that posterity may enjoy a peaceful and happy land, preserved 
&om utter ruin by the noble efforts of ^Freedom's Sons. Oh ! that the 
refulgent rays of liberty might penetrate the transparent skulls of those 
abandoned few, who are ever plotting their country's ruin. 



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EBES AND GILL. 171 

During the administration of Governor Hutchinson, 
frequent and almost constant attacks were made upon it 
by the editors or correspondents of the Gazette. His 
speeches and messages to the General Court were 
reviewed and censured with freedom, and frequently in 
severe and indignant language. A writer under the 
signature of " Lucius " addressed to him a series of let- 
ters, of which the following, — being No. H. — is a 
specimen : — 

To Mb. Hutohinsok. 

I have again perased your letters, and am constrained to revisit 70a. 
Being unused to claim audience of the Greats you will pardon my ability 
to attemper my awkward but honest salutations to the elegant organs of 
the courtier. Your repeated injimctions of secrecy to your confidential 
correspondents, evidence you to be perfectly callous to the feelings of 
humanity. Those who shrink not at guilt frequently recoil at shame. 
The most finished profligate is more appalled at the hazard of detec- 
tion, than in the perpetration of the grossest enormities. Influenced as 
I am by that first great duty of every citizen to drag to light the con- 
spirators against the public safety, I feel some r^ret to wound a sensi- 
bility so tremblingly alive. I could applaud you, could I hush my 
conscience to a dead sleep, with less reluctance than I now censure you. 
Were I not thoroughly persuaded your conspiracies tend to the ruin of 
my country, you might glut your unsated ambition, and cram your 
avarice to bursting, sooner than provoke my indignation. 

The iniquitous measures concerted by you and the junto of enemies 
to the peace and welfare of the colony, have steadily received all that 
encouragement and support, which your native cunning, specious ad- 
dress, and extensive popularity could afford them. The natural weight 
of family interest, joined to the adventitious aid of exterior circum- 
stances, and that fertile source of corruption, titular dignities^ which yoa 
have managed like a skillful gambler, have preponderated in the ad- 
verse scale, by the foxil revolt of the natural guardians of the rights of 
the people. The infamous monopoly of the (Offices of government in 
your family, has served to render the most of them of some signifi- 
cance : Others have been elevated in the true policy of a Roman pre- 
fect, from the very dregs of mankind: So far from being distinguished 
by their natural or acquired excellences, they are rather remarkable for 
a gross defect of education and onderstandiDg : These have been 



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172 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL. 

modestly denominated the better sort of people. I affect not to despise 
any man, but detest the motive of snatching a rascal from the dunghill, 
thongh, by arts the most contemptible, he may have acquired a casual 
opulence, and introduce him to rank and place, to abet the designs of a 
traitor. Men of such characters, so unaccountably distinguished by 
you, to be sure, could not be ungrateful ; they must of necessity adopt 
the sentiments, and concur in the measures, of a person of your reputed 
wisdom, from whom they live, more, and have their political being ; the 
dread of being consigned to their primitiye nothingness, should they be 
possessed of one spark of virtue, would prevent their acting counter to 
your sovereign dictates. Could they be supposed to court disgrace by 
an heroic act of self-denial, you had another tenure to secure obedience 
by your assurance, that thetf wodd certainly meet with favor and encowr- 
agement. 

In your own person you exhibit a shining example of the corrupt 
traffic of the times ; you have received a noble compensation for your 
pliability. If you are become a pack-horse of tyranny, you bound over 
us with glittering trappings. I cannot but admire the fertility of your 
genius ; rich in expedients, you could ever bend your interpretations to 
the temper of your masters: ministerial mandates operate in your 
hands with an energy uncontrollable : Bight, justice, private judgement 
and public convenience, have ever been annihilated at the fiat of a pri- 
vate instruction ; yet by the strange struggle of a political Pilate, you 
have affected to wash your hands of the guilt of pairicide. But have 
you not gone beyond your tether. Sir ? In the career of success, you 
have failed to consider the times might alter still. As you have pro- 
ceeded too far to retreat without covering yourself with disgrace, perse- 
vere, I charge you. Let us not arraign you of want of fortitude or con- 
sistency ; blush only in secret, if conscience, awakened, denies you re- 
pose \ laugh at that bugbear of the sordid and timorous ; despise the 
frowns of the virtuous, the curses of the multitude; preserve what? 
Conscience placated, honor unimpeached, integrity untainted, or your 
country unthralled ? No, Sir; preserve your place. 

Tou insist, there must be an abridgement of what are called English Lib- 
erties ; you wish to see a further restraint of Liberty in the Colony : for 
what reason, Sir ? Because your misrepresentations would fail of their 
designed effect, without the total ruin of the colony ? Let me challenge 
you in the face of Heaven, What right has the colony justly forfeited ? 
What claim has she not justly made ? Do not reason and equity forbid 
us to pay submission to such acts and regulations, which, so far from 
being beneficial, are grievous and unconstitutional ? Are we indulged 
in the personal security of British subjects ? No ! Is acquired property 



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EDE8 AND GILL. 173 

ours bj any certain tennre ? No. Are not our daims of charter-riglitB 
deemed nugatory, insolent, and contumacious? Yes. One question 
more I must be indulged in, — What must be the opinion of your vir- 
tue and honesty, among your confidential correspondents, when they 
consider you as a natire American so solicitous to abridge the liberties 
of your countrymen? What must be the resentments of your feUow- 
citizens respecting the man, whom they have peculiarly caressed, hon- 
ored, and promoted ? Tou have intended the colonies irreparable mis- 
chief, by inculcating that narrow and diabolical maxim, that a colony, 
distant from, ihe parent state, cannot possibly enjoy aU the liberty of the pa- 
rent state. You refer, probably, to the colonies of Rome, the fruits of 
conquest : Do not the circumstances of these colonies materially differ 
from those ? Pray inform me, What is the bond of our subjection ? 
Those colonies were harassed by other Bernards and other Hutchin- 
sons. They finally revolted ; and, after tearing the empire to pieces by 
intestine broils, Rome, the mistress of the universe, gave up the ghost ; 
and bequeaths a wiser lesson to Britain than that of the sage Mr. 
Hutchinson, quoted above. Through your machinations, and those of 
your great antetype Bernard, this colony has suffered violence ; even at 
this period, power has no barrier in America. A tyrant. Sir, can make 
no atonement for reducing subjects to slavery. Power, once perverted 
to the radical injury of a state, becomes too poor to make them com- 
pensation, and must and will be checked, whenever time and abilities 
present a favorable opportunity. To this dilemma your wicked coun- 
sels have reduced the nation : they certainly foresee that civil discord 
must eventually purchase what is unreasonably withheld from unavail- 
ing petitions. Lucius. 

The letters, alluded to at the beginning of the prece- 
ding address to the Governor, were written by him to a 
member of the British cabinet, m the year 1772, The 
originals were obtained by Dr. Franklin, and sent to 
Massachusetts, to a member of the General Court, who 
presented them to that body. The doors leading to the 
galleries of the House of Representatives were closed 
while the letters were read. The House immediately 
voted, '< That the tendency and design of said letters 
was to subvert the constitution of this government, and 
to introduce arbitrary power mto the provinces." The 

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174 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL. 

next day the Goveraor sent a message to the House, 
stating that he had been informed of their vote, and 
denying that he had ever written any public or private 
letter with such an intention, or that could have any 
such effect. He demanded a transcript of their pro- 
ceedings, and information as to the letters referred to. 
The demand was complied with, and another message 
was transmitted to the House, in which he endeavored 
to exculpate himself from the imputation implied in the 
vote of the House ; but the attempt was ineffectual and 
the treachery of the Governor became apparent. The 
matter was discussed in the House, and, on the 15th of 
June, that body passed, by a very large majority, a set 
of Resolutions, the last of which was — " That this 
House is bound in duty to the King and their constitu- 
ents, humbly to remonstrate to his Majesty the conduct 
of his excellency Thomas Hutchinson, Esq. Governor, 
and the honorable Andrew Oliver, Esq. Lieutenant- 
Governor of this Province ; and to pray that his Majesty 
would be pleased to remove them for ever from the gov- 
ernment thereof." The House immediately appointed 
the Speaker, and Messrs. Adams, Hancock, Hawley, and 
Leonard, a committee to carry the resolution into effect.* 
I have not been able to ascertain at what time John 
Adams began to write for the Boston Gazette. It is 
probable that many of the communications, animadvert- 
ing on the arbitrary proceedings of the ministry, and of 
their agents in the colonies, and published under differ- 
ent signatures, were his productions. A controversy 

* A ftdl and interesting liiatory of proceeAingB and events conneeted wi(b the 
transmission and receipt of tliese Letters, may be found in Sparks's £.(/% and Writ' 
ingt 4f BBf^amin Franklin, vol.^iv. p. 414. 



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EDES AND GILL. 175 

arose between him and William Brattle, of Cambridge, 
concerning the appointment and salaries of Judges, 
which was published in the Gazette. The articles writ- 
ten by Mr. Adams, in this controversy, are signed with 
bis name. It was in January, 1775, that Mr. Adams 
begian to publish in the Gazette the celebrated series of 
papers, under the signature of " Novanqlus." These 
were occasioned by a series signed " Massac husetten- 
SIS," written by Jonathan Sewall — an eminent lawyer, 
who abandoned his country and her cause, and went to 
England in 1775. " He and John Adams were bosom 
friends. He attempted to dissuade Mr. Adams from 
attendmg the first continental congress; and it was in 
reply to his arguments, and as they walked on the Great 
Hill at Portland, that Adams used the memorable words : 
< The die is now cast ; I have now passed the Rubicon ; 
swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish with my 
country is my unalterable determination.' They parted 
and met no more, until Sewall came to America in 1788. 
The one, the high-souled, the lion-hearted Adams, had 
a country, and a free country ; the eloquent and gifted 
Sewall lived and died a colonist." * 

Mr. Adams addressed his communications '< To the 
Inhabitants of the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay," and 
promises, in his introductory paper, to accompany his 
antagonist, in his '^ ingenious labors to convince the peo- 
ple that the system of colony administration, which has 
been pursued for ten or twelve years, is a wise, righteous, 
and humane plan ; that Sir Francis Bernard and Mr. 
Hutchinson, are their best friends ; and that those gen- 
tlemen in this and the other cobnies, who have been in 

*Snbine'a JImeriean LoyalisiSt p. 609. 

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176 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTBY JOUBNAL. 

opposition to it, are from ignorance, error, or fiom worse 
and baser causes, your worst enemies." Massachusettensis 
had pledged himself to ** avoid personal reflections, but 
to penetrate the arcana, and expose the wretched policy 
of the Whigs." " I, on my part," says Novanglus, 
" may, perhaps, in a course of papers, penetrate arcana, 
too; — show the wicked policy of the Tories — trace 
their plan from its first rude sketches to its present com- 
plete draught; — show that it has been much longer in 
contemplation, than is generally known — who were the 
• first in it — their views, motives, and secret springs of 
action, — and the means they have employed. This 
will necessarily bring before your eyes many characters, 
livbg and dead. From such a research and detail of 
facts, it will clearly appear who were the aggressors, and 
who have acted on the defensive, from first to last — who 
are still struggling, at the expense of their ease, health, 
peace, wealth, and preferment, against the encroach- 
ments of the Tories on their country, — and who are 
determined to continue to struggle, at much greater haz- 
ards still, and, like the Prince of Orange, resolve never 
to see its entire subjection to arbitrary power, but rather 
to die fighting against it, in the last ditch." This series 
of papers was continued for several months, — occupy- 
ing a large portion of the Gazette, not unfrequendy two 
or three pages at a time. They were received and 
approved, everywhere, by the Whigs ; admired for the 
manly freedom and energy of their style, the clearness 
of the writer's reasoning, the pertinence of his reflections, 
and the indisputable facts and testimonies, on which his 
arguments were founded. They placed the grounds and 
progress of the controversy in the fairest point of view, 

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EDES AND OILIi. 177 

and detected the base arts and false glosses, by which 
the principles and conduct of the Whigs had been mis- 
represented. 

One of the most bold, powerful, and eloquent, of the 
fearless patriots, who wrote for the Gazette, was Josiah 
Quincy, jun. This gentleman, — bom in 1744, and 
graduated at Harvard College in 1763, — published in 
the Gazette of September 28, 1767, an article signed 
"Hyperion," which was followed by a second piece 
under the same signature, on the 5th of October. He 
was their only in the twenty-fourth year of his age, and 
had just commenced the practice of the law in his native 
town of Boston. The following sentences are extracted 
lirom the first of these articles : — 

'Tifl a political maxim, that all goyernment tends to despotism, and, 
like the human frame, brings, at its birth, the latent seed, which finally 
shall destroy the constitation. This is a melancholy truth — but such 
is the lot of humanity. The art of an ingenious physician may, indeed, 
for a time, illnde the desperate poison, the skill of an able patriot may 
prolong, for a while, the political existence of a state ; bat the constitu- 
tion still hastens, with increasing velocity, to inevitable death. This 
truth is founded in nature : Experience, has, in every age, verified this 
maxim of politics, and the approaching fate of our mother country shall 
but confirm the observation. 

An insatiable appetite, an enormous thirst of despotic sway, is a 
threatening symptom and sure presage of the final catastrophe of the 
constitutional system. A desire of absolute government prompts to the 
extension of legal authority, and states, like men, are precipitated head- 
long, by a boundless ambition, from the giddy precipice of power into 
the gulf of ruin and destruction. O Britain ! hold thy cruel hand ! sus- 
pend the bloody sword an instant, and while, with an outstretched arm, 
thou art forcing from thy injured colonies one right after another, — 
while, even now, thou art making the desperate pass, which stabs the 
very vitals of thy duldren, reflect, one single moment, upon the unnatu- 
ral, the brutal action. But if the dismal scene of wo, — thy sons and 
daughters weltering in their infant blood, touch not thy adamantine 
heart, look back to distant ages, and see the rise and fall of ancient 
kingdoms I Behold their fate, and learn thine own 1 . . . . 

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178 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL. 

The powers of the human mind were never made for milimited juris- 
diction over the extensive realms of science, neither was the sceptre of 
civil society formed for arbitrary and universal empire. The political 
like the animal body is in the best healtb, while the original constitution 
is kept pure and undebauched. 

The second communication of " Hyperion," published 
in the Gazette of October 5, 1767, here follows entire. 
The motto, it will be perceived, is a string of quotations 
from Shakspeare, with slight variations, to adapt the sen- 
timent to the time and the occasion. This seems to 
have been a common practice with Mr. Quincy. The 
mottoes to many of his subsequent contributions to the 
Gazette, are thus constructed. " His compositions, dur- 
ing this period, prove that he was extensively conversant 
with the best writers of the French and English schools. 
Above all, the genius of Shakspeare seems to have led 
captive his youthful imagination. In his writings, quo- 
tations, or forms of expression modeled upon those of 
that author, perpetually recur. There still exists among 
his papers a manuscript of the date of 1762, he then 
being in the junior class of the college, of seventy closely 
and minutely written quarto pages of extracts from 
that writer." * 

Are we unpregnant of our cause ? 

Can we do nothing, no, not for our country, 

Upon whose property and most dear life 

A yile defeat is made ? Are we all cowards ? 

It cannot be 

But we are pigeon-livered, and lack gall 

To make oppression bitter, or, ere this, 

We should have fatted all the region kites 

With the offal of these slaves. Bloody villains ! 

Eemorseless, treacherous, kindless villains ! 

O vengeance ! 

O all you host of heaven ! O earth I What else ? 

*See ** Memoir of Josiak Qttiney, jvn., by bis Son, Josiah Qiiincy," page 7. 

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EDES AND GILL. 179 

And shaU I couple HeU? Ofiel Hold, hold, my heart ! 
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, 
But bear me stiffly up. Can I forget thee ? 

my poor countiyi while memory holds a seat 
In this distracted globe, I will remember thee ! 
Yea, from ^e table of my memory, 

1 '11 wipe away all trivial, fond records, 

All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, 

That Youth and observation copied there. 

And thy commandments all alone shall live 

Within the book and volume of my brain. 

Unmixed with baser matter : — Yes, by Heaven ! 
When I reflect upon the exalted character of the ancient Britons, 
when I call to mind the fortitude of our illustrious predecessors, when 
my memory retraces the noble struggles of the late memorable period; 
when from these reflections a very natural transition is made, and I 
contemplate the gloomy aspect of the present day, my feeling heart is 
alternately torn with doubt and hope, despondency and terror. Can 
the true, generous magnanimity of Britbh heroes be entirely lost in 
their degenerate progeny ? Is the Genius of Liberty, whose breath, but 
a few days since, inflamed our bosoms with a celestial ardor, fled for- 
ever ? Is the spirit of the prophets departed from among us, that our 
enemies should become triumphant, and those, who seek our destruction, 
should rejoice ? Or does the Lion o& the wood but sleep, that when he 
is roused from his slumbers, the roaring of his mouth and the flame of 
his nostrils may be the more terrible ? O ye ravenous blood-hounds ! 
who eager stand, with wide-expanded jaws, to seize your prey, to you 2 
call, but with no friendly voice. Have you not seen the young laon of 
the forest enraged ? have you not heard the thunder of his voice ? have 
you not beheld the lightning of his eye ? — Come not too near his sacred 
retreat ; disturb not his peaceful repose ; tempt not his wrath, lest he 
gnash his teeth with indignation, lest he tear you in pieces in the frenzy 
of his passion, and give your flesh to the birds of the air, and your bones 
to the wild beasts of the field. 

An attentive observer of the deportment of some particular persons, 
in this metropolis, would be apt to imagine that the grand point was 
gained j the people entirely broken to the Yoke ; all America subjugat- 
ed to bondage. Does the baleful blast of calamity blow upon our 
land ? — See these accursed betrayers of their native soil snuff with joy 
the tainted gale. Does the herald of report sound forth the doom of a 
sister colony ? — See these vipers of our bosom swell with triumph ; see 
them, even now, devouring, in imagination, the vitals of their country, 



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180 BOSTON: GAZETTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL. 

and anticipate the riotous feast they expect shortly to make npon the 
blood and treasure of their fellow-citizens -, and, as if already they had 
fattened and grown wanton upon the spoils of the land, see them toss 
the head of insolence, pnt on the haughty air of contemptuous disdain, 
and insultingly display their lordships and dominions, their potentates 
and powers ; nay, they dare to tell us, our only hope is to crouch and 
cowl under the iron rod, and kiss the sceptre of oppression. Precious 
sample of the meek and lowly temper of those, who are destined to be 
our imperious lords and masters ! 

Be not deceived, my countrymen, by these renal hirelings, these 
mercenary tools of power. Let them not cajole you by their subtleties 
into submission, or frighten you by their raporings into compliance. 
Should some wretched minion, who would palm himself as "a true Pch- 
triotj" endeavor to flatter you into ^ moderation and prudence," tell him 
that calmness and deliberation are to guide the judgement ; courage and 
intrepidity are to command in action. Should he tell us to ^^^ perceive 
our inability to oppose the Mother Country ^^^ — we boldly answer, that, in 
defence of our civil and religious rights, we dare to oppose the world; 
that, with the Grod of armies on our side, even the God, who fought our 
Fathers' battles, we fear not the hour of trial -, though the host of our 
enemies should cover the field like locusts, and set their armies in 
dreadful array against us, yet the sword of the Lord and of Gideon shall 
prevail. — But, "at£»y with pditical enthusiasm!" If this, thou Blas- 
phemer, is enthusiasm, then will we live and die enthusiasts. 

"If tou abb aogbibved," says the "True Patriot," ^^ strive by aU 
prudent means to obtain redress" — Go, thou dastard 1 Get thee home! 
A rank adulterer riots in thy bed, a brutal ravisher deflowers thy only 
daughter, a barbarous villain now lifts the murderous hand, and stabs 
thy tender infant to the heart. See the sapphire current trickling from 
the wound, and the dear boy, as he now gasps his last, cries out for the 
mifian's mercy. Go I thou wretch I be calm, and soothe the frenzy of 
thy soul into tame moderation ; — Gro 1 Doubt the injuries you feel; — 
Go 1 question with the assassin of thy wrongs; — and when, insultingly, 
he brandishes the fatal dagger, reeking with thy infant's gore, nay, holds 
the crimson^inged point to thy own bosom, and bids defiance to thy ut- 
most rage, then, in the very instant of tumultuous fury, — Go! Let 
even thy coward soul boast, if it can, of " prudence, calmness, and ddSber* 
atUm." 

Put, thou abandoned caitiff 1 Desist thy vile but impotent attempts 
to lure my fellow-countrymen to the hidden snare. Thy blandishments 
will not &8cinate our eyes, neither do thy threats of a " halter** intimi* 
date u. For, under God, we are determined, that, wheresoever, when- 



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KBE8 AND GILL* 181 

soever, or howBoever we shall be called to make onr exit, we wil} die 
free men. And well do we know, that all the regalia of death cannot 
dignify a villain's past life, nor diminish the ignominy with which a 
slare shall qtdt his existence; neither can it taint the unblemished 
honor of a son of freedom, though he should make his departure on the 
already-prepared gibbet, or be dragged to the new-erected scaffold 
fbr execution. With the plaudit of conscience he will go off the stage ; 
the crown of joy and immortality shall be his reward ; the history of 
his life, his children shall venerate ; the virtues of their sire shall excite 
their emulation. 

Hear me, thou Po^tbe-Traitor, and all ye despicable tribe of great 
and petty villains I Display not too soon your ** haker^ fire, andjhggot f^ 
quaff not our blood before your time, lest your eagerness to anticipate 
IbrestaU the delights of fruition. 

My much respected countrymen! Be not terrified by the threats 
and vaunting of your sworn foes : For, even in our times, we have 
seen the finger of the Lord ; and we have heard with our ears, and onr 
fitthers have told us, the great things which God did for them in their 
day ; how he delivered them, in the howling wilderness, out of the paw 
<^ the Lion, and out of the paw of the bear ; how, with an outstretched 
hand, he led them through the dreary desert, giving them the manna of 
heaven for food, and the water out of the rock for them to drink ; how 
he miraculously preserved his chosen people from tempest, fire, sword, 
and famine, and put all their lurking and insidious enemies to fiight 
Surely, his ear is not heavy, that he cannot hear, nor his arm shortened, 
that he cannot save. — Did he not plant us with his own hand ? Hath 
he not nourished and brought us up as children ? Surely, he wiU not, 
now, altogether cast us off 1 If we seek him, he will be found of us ; 
while we serve him, he wiU never forsake us. And, if our God be for 
us, who shall be against us ? Though our enemies should be as the 
Termin of the field, or as the insects of the air, yet will I not be dis- 
mayed; for the breath of his mouth shall scatter them abroad, the 
power of his strength shall confound and overwhelm them with mighly 
destruction. HYPERION. 

The agreement, entered into by most of the Boston 

merchants, to discontinue the importation of British 

goods, was greatly annoying to the Tories. A writer in 

the Boston Chronicle, who adopted the signature of <' a 

Bostonian," was illiberal and abusive, and endeavored to 

divert public attention from matters of geo^ral mooieiit 

VOL. I. 16 



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BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL. 

to the concerns of individuals. Mr. Quincy published 
in the Gazette of February 12 and 26, 1770, two arti- 
cles, signed " an Independant," in reply to " Bostonian." 
In the first of these, the following paragraphs occur : — 

A writer, who sets oat, with tdling vta that "^ our attention has long 
been engrossed mtfi wild chimeras" carries " a tide-page, that speaks 
the natnre of a yolume." Tho'objects that have attracted our eyes, as 
well as the hearts of all North-America, need no further elnddatioa to 
show their value and importance. If there is any " charm," that is like 
to ensnare ns, — any "fascination," that should be dispelled, it is the 
" £EUKanating charm " of imitating the enticing luxuries of those, who 
riot on the toil of others; — a greater danger, a danger, that is alarm- 
ing, in proportion as it is not generally perceired. A great danger of 
the present day is, that we should be allured by the affluence and splen- 
dor of the creatures, among us, who are insinuating their poison, by in- 
creasing their connections, and corrupting the minds of the young and 
Wiwaiy, with flattering expectations of eating idle bread. 



**If I ask, (says the Bostonian,) an advocate for the non-importation 
agreement, what end it is to answer, I am told it is to bring about a 
BEFEAL of the revenue laws." But, by the gentleman's leave, I, who 
am an advocate for the same agreement, would make a very different 
answer. I believe, if those laws are never repealed, it will be happy 
for my country; and therefore, as a good citizen, I wish for their con- 
tinuance From a conviction in my own mind, that America 

IS now the slave of Britain ; fh>m a sense that we are every day, more 
and more, in danger of an increase of our burdens, and a fastment of 
our shackles, I wish to see my countrymen break off — off for 
etebI — all social intercourse with those, whose commerce contam- 
inates, whose luxuries poison, whose avarice is insatiable, and whose 
unnatural oppressions are not to be borne. That Americans wlU know 
their rights, that they will resume, assert, and defend them, are matters, 
of which I harbor no doubt Whether the arts of polict, or the arts 
of iiwr, will decide the contest, are problems we will solve at a more 
convenient season. He, whose heart is enamored with the refinements 
of political artifice and finesse, will seek one mode ot relief; <~ he, 
whose heart is free, honest, and intrepid, will pursue another, a bolder 
and more noble mode of redress. This reply is so mtelligible, that it 
' ( no comment for explanation. 



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EDES AND GILL,. 183 

The Gazette of August 6, 1770, contains another of 
Mr. Quincy's communications, signed " An Old Man," 
in which he says : — "A wise people will inquire 
thoroughly into every scheme proposed for their adop- 
tion, and when its baneful or salutary effect is discerned, 
will be inflexible in their resolutions. A nation would 
be mad, indeed, should they see, as in the meridian sun, 
a design to enslave them, and, after a feeble opposition, 
be cajoled or bullied into timid acquiescence. But their 
conduct would be singularly infamous and deplorable, 
should they tamely surrender their birthrights to pimps, 
parasites, and harpies, when their solemn protestations of 
resistance, to their hearts' blood, had been registered in 
the records of eternity. Dead, also, must they be to 
every moral sentiment, should they be actuated to com- 
mit the most atrocious crime by a fondness and precipi- 
tude to imitate the perfidy of others. Surely, it is to 
good men and Christians a strange doctrine, that the 
villany of one part of society, is a sanction for the 
wickedness of the residue. Men, who have a genuine 
attachment to their most important concernments, will 
examine what is their duty, and what the Lord their God 
requireth of them ; and then will walk as a well- 
informed conscience shall dictate. On such men alone, 
under God, do we depend ; — on those, who, despising the 
disingenuity of fraudulent subterfuge, will persevere, 
with untainted probity, to the end. 

"We have been verging, an unexpected length of 
time, to that trying period, which is to delineate, and 
mark for ever, our true characters. If we are blind, we 
shall surely be deluded i if discerning, we shall escape 
the snare. If we are pusillanimous wretches, we may 



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184 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTaT JOURNAL. 

be easily frightened ; if brave, our courage, vigor, and 
stability will accumulate strength by opposition. And 
let those, who fear the wants arising from loss of trade, 
remember the toils and labors of their forefathers, and 
blush when they repine at fancied miseries. If it did 
not move our derision, it would excite the sharpest anger, 
to hear the difficulties we now sustam, mentioned with a 
complaining regret. Good God ! Consider my fellow- 
citizens, what you are struggling for — consider what 
you oppose, and what you seek ! In defending your fair 
inheritance, it is impossible for you to suffer half the 
pains and sorrows your pious ancestors bore, in the ar- 
duous acquisition.'' 

Mr. Quincy continued to write for the Gazette, adopt- 
ing various signatures, as fancy or circumstances might 
induce him to change. Many of his productions it 
would be difficult to identify. In the Gazette of No- 
vember 23, 1771, there is a piece signed " Hyperion/' 
which, from the style, as well as from the fact that he had 
formerly written under the same signature, may be attri- 
buted to Mr. Quincy. It is addressed <' To the man, 
whom Conscience forbids to style my Governor." The 
annexed paragraph is a specimen of its serious admoni- 
tion: — 

Are riches the desire of jonr eyes ? In the right hand of wisdom 
and yirtne are riches, yea, durable riches and pleasures forevennore. 
Does power inflame your ambition t Consider yon can be bat a sub- 
ordinate ruler j you must please a master, or be at last " dismissed and 
punished,** let the denunciation seem as grating to yon as it will ; and 
who so great, so powerful, or so honorable a master, as the King of kings, 
who requires you, on pain of his highest displeasure, to gOTem this great 
people as one that must give an account 1 The meanest peasant is as 
much the darling of heaven as the finest courtier. Is a good conscience 
a most cordial companion through life, and a comforting stay to the 



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EDES AND GILL. 185 

soul, when, sablnnary things receding, the diyikitt enlarge npon the 
mind 1 This is only to be maintained in doing unto others^ as, by change 
of circnmstances, yon wish them to do unto you. A timely check to the 
rabies dominandt^ which early infected your mind, would have secured 
you all these. But, alas ! such a conquest as this was too hard for a 
stripUng, who early confessed he had sucked prerogative miOc^ and ob- 
served it would never be good times tiU the landed interest was got into few 
hands. 

An article signed " Calisthenes," in the Gazette of 
February 10, 1772, was written by Mr. Quincy. It is a 
severe and bitter rebuke to the Judges of the Supreme 
Court, for postponing the sentence of the law upon a 
criminal, who had been legally convicted of murder. 
The delay of judgement and execution is attributed to 
political favoritism. The criminal had then been in 
gaol twenty-two months. " Twenty-two months im- 
prisonment for a capital crime, (says Calisthenes,) in a 
tormenting suspense between life and death, is what no 
man, undeserving of death, ought to bear. Either the 
laws want mending, or the ministers of justice want 
something else. ... Is Richardson kept in gaol in 
order to recommend him to mercy ? The honor of ma- 
gistracy ought openly to avow it ; — the wisdom of 
recommenders ought to justify it. A secret^ cunning-- 
like conduct, in persons of judicial characters, is base, 
odious, and execrable. It is base, because little : odious, 
because wicked : execrable, because destructive of social 
security and happiness. . . . Prisoners have their 
rights, as well as other men. Complaint is the pre- 
ROOATiVE of the INJURED. No ord^ of men are too 
high to be called upon, — too honest to exclude suspi- 
cion, — too pure to be tempted, — too powerful to be 
amesned to the tribunal of the public, and punished by — 
the people. Remember this important truth : What 
16 • 

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186 BOSTON OAZSTTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL. 

is law for a Richardion^ is law for a Sidnet* If op- 
pression is warranted by law, the Patriot is much more 
likely to fall a victim, than the pimp and pander. Hamp- 
DENS will stain the scaffold with blood, while a robber or 
murderer finds a city of refuge. No tyranny so severe^ 
none so intolerabk, none so dangerous, none so remedir 
less, as that of Executive Courts." 

In the Gazette of June 7, 1772, is the first of a se- 
ries of papers by Mr. Quincy, under the signature of 
** Marchmont Nedham." It begins as follows : — 
" The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field." 
I scarce ever inspected the face of Mr. H. [Hntchinson] or considered 
his conduct in pablic and private life, but some passage of my beloved 
Milton came to my mind: And however ^^doubtfid or eqmvocal^^ his be- 
havior may appear to the guUable and gaping^ he is easily kenned and 
seen tfarough by the sagacious and penetrating. Woridly policy and 
serpentine insinuation have, in general, been his characteristics. These 
have so often served his turn, and a dolt must become so considerable 
an adult by practice, that when he obviously stumbles out of his com- 
mon track, I suspect he is ridden by a nqiemnntmted driver, or urged on 
by one, who has been a blunderer from, the beginning. 

The act of Governor Hutchinson, which was the 
occasion of the attack upon him in this paper, was his 
convening the General Court at Cambridge instead of 
Boston, under pretence that << it was, in many respects, 
very inconvenient for the sitting to be held in Boston." 
The House pf Representatives had earnestly requested 
*^ a removal to Boston, as a matter of the greatest public 
advantage." 

Several messages passed, on this occasion between the 
House of Representatives and the Governor. In one of 
them tlie Governor said — "I must govern myself by 
the measure not of your understanding but my own. 
What appears to you to be sufficiently plain, appears to 

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EDES AND GILL. 187 

me to be doubtful and equivocal. So in compljing with 
your desire, founded upon this among other reasons, I 
should or should not conform to the instructions of the 
King, whose servant I am. As reserved as you have 
been in your answer to my message, I will be unre- 
served and open with you. Whilst you dispute the au- 
thority by which I at first removed the court from Bos- 
ton, I do not intend to carry it thither again." 

<<Lelius," a writer in the Massachusetts Gazette, 
(which was the official organ of the Governor) under- 
took to defend the Governor, and complained that he 
was assailed in the << language of a porter ; " to which 
" Nedham " replies, — " This writer ought to know that 
propriety of language must be determined by a joint 
consideration of the sentiment to be conveyed, the per- 
son addressed, and him, who is spoken of. Now, when 
the sentiment of the heart is justly abhorrent of the tur- 
pitude of the culprit, the language of the lips ought to 
be expressive of the feelings. Hence it is becoming the 
man, who acts from principle, to treat all villains with 
words and actions correspondent to their crimes. This 
alone ought to silence one half the clamors made about 
civility and politeness to dignified knaves and robbers. 
Fact is a test of just sentiment. Truth is an eternal 
standard of propriety in language.'' 

The following is from a subsequent, number of these 
essays : — 

An elevated oppressor may make a trade for life of his oppression, 
and there may he none fonnd to detect, or of ahility to pnnish : he may, 
hy hetraying the interests of a single town, make his way to a station 
more fitted for the destmction of a province : the fall of a provincie 
may give a rise sufficient for accomplishing the sacrifice of a new 
world: the reign of a tyrant — (shame to the morals and virtue of 

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188 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL. 

man 1 ) — is seldom thought a time for complaint, conyiction, or punish- 
ment Thousands become interested to obej; thousands to serve; 
thousands to protect : the few discern, the many gaze, and the tamest 
tremble : The deceivers and deceived, the oppressors and the oppressed, 
make so great a part of the community, that the wise and good, the 
noble and brave, are often crushed and overwhelmed in the general ca- 
lamity. Every sensible man knows that this is not a time to review or 
display in a true light, Mr. Hutchinson's whole conduct Our business 
is to take such parts of his administration, as we may treat with wisdom 
and safety ; to form a proper estimate of the man from his more open 
operations, and draw that usejvl knowledge, which may serve to coim- 
teract or defeat his more secret, hut not less dangerous and desperate mach- 
inations. 

I have known this gentleman a selectman of the town, a representa- 
tive, and a counselor. I have seen him sit in judgement, heard his 
speeches and his charges, and have now lived to see him in the chair of 
government I have attended and marked him, and think I Icnow him. 
As an individual^ having never received any private injury from him, I 
bear him no enmity. As far as he is an adversary of my native country, 
I am his foe. Disappointed ambition (of which we have sometimes 
heard) has not moved me ; for I never had an ambition, which Mr. H. 
had an opportunity to gratify; and, at my present time of life, and 
health, I ought to feel no higher ambition, than that of fulfilling the 
more important duties. Being advanced in age and infirmity, I wish 
to see my country free and happy ; that my children may partake as 
fair an inheritance as I have received. These and similar motives 
actuate me in my present works, and, I hope, will lead me to those pur- 
suits and labors, which may render the small residue of my days profit- 
able to my species, to whom I bear much affection. 

Believe me, my countrymen, that a love to the human race is amoral 
and religious duty. It is a great, and too successful, art, whicJi is often 
practised, to disseminate an aversion of man to man. More of this 
seed is sown, and more evils spring from it, than is generally appre- 
hended. Disimion inevitably succeeds this aversion, till the divided 
many fall an easy prey to the contracted ^ew. For this infernal purpose, 
the execrable Walpolb propagated his accursed maxim — "Eybrt 
MAN HAS HIS psiCE.*' For similar purposes the servile imitators of 
that odious prostitute have continued to inculcate like principles and 
doctrines ; and, whether caroled at a noisy riot or retailed in Draper's 
paper, the same object is still ultimately in view, — To destroy all faith 
and confidence among men, that the subtle and rapacious may sooner 
subjugate the poor and innocent This is the true leading plan of the rich 



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EPES AND GILL. 189 

and powerful;— a plan, that levels rirtae with yioe, beneyolence with 
selfishness, and all that is good and great with all which is vile and 
despicable. To oppose a project so pregnant of every moral and polit- 
ical evil, is a common duty. He, who sneers at all public virtue, and 
denies or ridicules the supposed existence of all affection for mankind, 
betrays that tnipitnde of heart, which characterized Satan in the garden 
of Eden: — he ought to be avoided as a pestilence. Cultivate an 
affection for each other, and for the world ; and let this love be fervent, 
and it will do mighty works. Oppose with bitterness all, who go about 
to disunite the members of that great body — the mui^titude. I bless 
GOD that, in early youth, I considered all men as my brethren : and 
now, in the decline of life, if I have one prominent desire, next to the 
plaudit of my Cbeator and my conscience, it is, that of having tbb 
MASY to carige and caU me blessed. 

In the Gazette of December 20, is the first number of a 
series entitled "Nedham's Remembrancer," intended as a 
supplement to the papers already noticed. This was a 
few days after the destruction of the tea in the harbor. 
In allusion to that proceeding, the writer says — " The 
PEOPLE have been mild and considerate ; they have been 
temperate and patient. When their mildness was called 
timidity, and their consideration want of courage, they 
did not cease to reason and entreat. When their tem- 
perance was treated with insult, and their patience with 
contempt, they felt the injury, though they stayed their 
vengeance. When the situation of public affairs called 
them to resolve upon their danger and duty, they were 
unanimous and determined ; and when the exigency of 
the times increased, and resolutions alone were vain, they 
proceeded to action with order and discretion ; and exe- 
cuted the only remaining dutj/y without unnecessary out- 
rage and intemperate revenge." 

The same paper contains the publishers' account of 
the throwing overboard of the tea. After a brief re- 
capitulation of the proceedings at the several town-meet- 



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190 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL. 

ings, at which every possible endeavor to induce the 
consignees to take the teas back to London had been 
made, the record proceeds — " The people, finding all 
their effi)rts to preserve the property of the East-India 
Company and return it safely to London, frustrated by 
the consignees, the collector of the customs, and the 
governor of the province, dissolved their meeting. — 
But, BEHOLD what followed ! A number of brave and 
resolute men, determined to do all in their power to save 
their country from the ruin, which their enemies had 
plotted, in less than four hours, emptied every chest of 
Tea on board the three ships commanded by Captains 
Hall, Bruce, and Coffin, amounting to 324 chests, into 
the sea ! ! without the least damage done to the ships or 
any other property. The masters and owners are well 
pleased that their ships are thus cleared ; and the peo- 
ple are almost universally congratulating each other on 
this happy event." 

This series of " Nedham's Remembrancer," extended 
to seven numbers. The following are disconnected ex- 
tracts : — 



Think on thy country, 



And die in terror of thy gttUtiness, 
Politically speaking, the crime of betraying one's country is — the 
unpardonable sin. No gailt more deeply poisons the heart and embit- 
ters reflection. What pangs must swell the breast of a man, in the 
dose of life, who looks back and sees himself laboring to abridge the 
liberties of his country, enslaving its inhabitants, and procuring the 
introduction of troops, which insult the civil magistrate, and shed the 
blood of his brethren ? What and how exquisite must be his feelings, 
when he hears young and old imprecate vengeance on his hoary head, 
and sees his name and progeny blasted with execrations and infamy 1 

Jan, 10, 1774. 

Meet it is I here set down. 

That one may smiUf and smile and be a yillais ! 

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EDES AND GILL. 191 

And, with this visage, sugar o*er 

The Devil himself. 
Subterfuge and evasion are the true characteristics of a little mind ; 
and so are falsehood and cowardice. Such artifices are but temporary 
expedients which great souls scorn to use ; like base coin they may pass 
currently with the ignorant and incautious for a time, but the cheat is 
soon discovered, and the impostor is punished and remains infamous 
for life. Thus he, who practises the low arts of political cunning, will, 
in the end, be detected, and sink into contempt, unless his crimes and 
his station consign him to an exemplary punishment and everlasting 
infSuny. Jan. 17, 1774. 

These objurgatory passages are introductory to ani- 
madversions on the conduct of Governor Hutchinson, 
most tremendously severe and biting. That, which fol- 
lows, is the conclusion of the whole series : — 

Thus have I considered Mr. Hutchinson as degrading the highest 
station in the law to the lowest office of the inquisition; as descending 
from the rank of chief justice to that of a common infoemeb : 
an informer against " particular persons and the province in general : " 
— yes, — the dark assassin of private characters and his native coun- 

TBT. 

Convinced, as I am, that Governor Hutchinson, in defiance of every 
principle of right, every sentiment of honor and gratitude ; convinced, 
I say, that he is the first, the most malignant and insatiable enemy of 
my country ; — that he is the chief author and supporter of the severest 
calainities under which this people labor ; — convinced that he has done 
more general mischiefs, and committed greater public crimes, than his 
life can repair or his death satisfy ; — and that he is the man^ against 
whom the blood of my slaughtered brethren cries from the ground ; I 
have, and shall, as strength is given me, pursue him. And if, at this 
time of life, I am too dd for an avenger of blood, I am also too 
young to desert the service of my country. But it may be profitable 
now to leave him to the reflections (^ his own conscience —the anguish 
of a departing spirit And if he be not speedily called to the great bar 
of the universe, peradventure I shall once more call him — but with no 
Jriendly voice — to the highest, the most terrible, tribunal on earth ; — 
the tribunal of his injured countrymen. 

Addressing to the contemplations of his pillow, I dose, for tiie pres- 
ent, with the words of a fevorite author :-<- 



xT 



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192 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTBT JOURNAL. 

You hare lived long enough; your wag of Ufi 
Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf, 
And that which should accompany old age, 
As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends, 
You must not look to hare : But, in their stead, 

CUBSBS, BOTH LOUD AJSTD DSSP. 

MaBCHMONT NSDHAIC. 

This is supposed to be the last article written by Mr. 
Quiocy, for publication. He went to England, soon 
after, on account of ill health. In March, 1775, he set 
out on his return. " On the 20th of April, within sight 
of that beloved country, which he was not permitted to 
reach, he expired. A few hours after his death, the 
ship, with his lifeless remains, entered the harbor of 
Gloucester, Cape Ann." * 

The writers for the Gazette, for several years which 
preceded the beginning of the Revolutionary War, were 
numerous, bold, fearless, and patriotic. Several volumes 
might be filled with their productions, — inculcating the 
principles of civil and religious freedom, and exposing 
the hypocrisy and knavery of their rulers, and the agents 
of the government. One united spirit of hostility to the 
arbitrary exercise of power and prerogative pervaded 
their minds, and each seemed strengthened and invigo- 
rated by contact with another. It is to be lamented 
that so few of these interesting and important papers can 
now be appropriately assigned to their respective au- 
thors. If the writers of the papers signed " Vindex," 
" A Military Countryman," ** A Bostonian," (Letters to 
Sir Francis Bernard,) " Candidus," " Fervidus," &c., 
could now be ascertained, their names might pass to pos- 

• Ibinoir of Joitah Ooinflj, Jaa., hj JxmUh Quinej, p. 348. 



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EDES AND GILL. 193 

terity with honors like those attached to the names of 
Otis,* Quincy, and the Adamses. 

The closing of the harbor of Boston, by an act of the 
British Parliament known as The Boston Port Bill, 
furnished the writers in the Gazette with a subject for many 
columns of animadversion, and they availed themselves 
of the opportunity to address their countrymen in lan- 
guage, that could not fail to stir up all the spirit of 
patriotism. 

In May, 1774, Governor Hutchinson was superseded 
by General Gage, and an attempt was made by Parlia- 
ment to change the organization of the government of 
the province. The act provided that the counselors — 
twenty-eight in number — hitherto chosen by the General 
Court — should thereafter be appointed by the king. 
This act excited such general and violent opposition, 
that many of the counselors, thus appointed, resigned, or 
declined to accept the office. The proceedings of the 
inhabitants of several towns in the county of Worcester, 
assembled at Rutland, will give an idea of the prevalent 
feeling on this subject. It is stated in the Gazette of 
September 5, that the assembly was composed of up- 
wards of a thousand persons, who intended to wait on 
John Murray, Esq. of Rutland, " in order to converse 
with him upon his new and unconstitutional appointment 
and acceptance as a counselor," but to their disappoint- 
ment, they found that on the preceding evening he had 
been apprized of their intention, and had absconded 

* Altboagh it is known that Otis was a freqiient writer for the newspapers, and 
one of the most ardent Whigs of his day, I believe that no one has attempted to 
ldenti(jf the articles that came fl'oni his pen, except a few in the early volumes of 
the Gazette, which are signed with his name. Many of the Massachusetts State 
Fapen were of his composition. Bee 7Vior'« Ltfe of Otis, 

17 

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194 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRT JOURNAL. 

from his dwelling. The people retired, after directing a 

committee to leave the following notice with his family : 

To John Murray, Eaq. 

Rudaad, Augwt 27, 1774. 
Sis, 

As you have proved yourself to be an open enemy to this pro- 
vince by your late conduct in general, and in particular in accepting the 
late appointment as an unconstitutional counselor; in consequence 
whereof a large number of men from several towns are assembled, who 
are fully determined to prevent your holding said office as Counselor, 
at the risque of our lives and fortunes ; and not finding yon at home, 
think proper to propose to your serious consideration the following, viz. 
That you make an immediate resignation of your office as a Counselor. 
Your compliance as above, published in each of the Boston News- 
prints by the Tenth Day of September next, will save the People of 
this County the Trouble of waiting on you immediately afterwards. 
In the name and Behalf of the whole Assembly now present 

WILLARD MOORE, 
Chairman of a Committee 

chosen for the Purpoees cforetaid. 

It is not known whether Mr. Murray complied with 
the requisition, nor do I find any account of further pro- 
ceedings in his case : But several of the Counselors 
did resign their offices, and gave public notice of their 
resignation, after the following fashion : — 

Sturhridffe, August 25, 1774. 
Whereas I, Abijah Willabd of Lancaster, have been appointed by 
mandamus a Counselor for this province, and have without due Con- 
sideration taken the Oath, do now freely and solemnly declare that I 
am heartily sorry that I have taken the said Oath, and do hereby sol- 
emnly and in good faith promise and engage that I will not sit or act 
in said Council, nor in any other that shall be appointed in such man- 
ner and form ; but that I will, as much as in me lies, maintain the 
Charter Rights and liberties of this Province, and do hereby ask for- 
giveness of all the honest, worthy Gentlemen that I have offended by 
taking the abovesaid Oath, and desire this may be inserted in the public 
Prints. 

Witness my Hand, 

ABUAH WILLARD. 



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EDES AND GILL. 195 

Many of the Sheriffs and their Deputies refused to 
perform the duties of their respective offices, and Jurors 
in several counties refused to he sworn ; hut a notice in 
detail of their resignations, protests, and recantations, 
and prayers to be forgiven, would be sufficient to form a 
separate history. The number of those, who solicited 
from their fellow-citizens forgiveness for having signed a 
complimentary address to Governor Hutchinson on his 
leaving the country was not inconsiderable. A single 
specimen must suffice : — 

To ihe PUBLIC. 

Amidst the yarious enjoTments of Hnman Life, none affords me 
greater satisfaction than the Society and Esteem of my Fellow-Men, 
which I find I have in a great measure lost, by signing an Address to 
the late Governor Hutchinson : And had I the least suspicion that the 
said Address would have given such general Discontent, it should not 
have had my name to it. I am heartily sorry for the offence it has 
occasioned, and I do hereby renounce said Address in all Respects, and 
beg the Forgiveness of the Public, and to be reinstated in their Favor, 
assuring them that none shall be foremost in the Defence of the Liber- 
ties and Privileges of their Country, both civil and religious, than their 
humble servant, JOHN WEBB. 

MarUehead, Sept, 4. 

All these things prepared the people for open and 
organized resistance to the acts of the British Govern- 
ment. The General Court met at Salem on the 5th of 
October, agreeably to a writ issued by the Governor, 
and after waiting two days without receiving any com- 
munication from him, resolved itself into a Provincial 
Congress, and adjourned to meet in Concord on the lltb 
of the same month. The proceedings of this body, 
which are given at large in the Gazette, are full of inter- 
est, and should be studied by every one who seeks for 



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196 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTBT JOURNAL. 

an acquaintance with the political and civil history of 
the country. 

In the Spring of 1775, the town of Boston being in 
possession of the British troops, Edes contrived to evade 
the vigilance of their guards, and went to Watertown, 
with an old press and one or two imperfect founts of 
type. Here he continued to print the Boston Gazette. 
Owing to the difficulty of procuring paper and ink, of a 
decent quality, the paper, during the whole period of its 
publication in this place, was but a poor specimen of 
printing. The Provincial Congress was then sitting at 
Watertown ; and the Gazette is chiefly filled with the 
proceedings of that body, and of the Continental Con- 
gress, which was sitting at Philadelphia. 

Soon after the evacuation of Boston by the British 
troops, Edes returned to the town. The partnership of 
Edes & Gill was dissolved, and the Gazette was con- 
tinued 4)y Edes and his two sons, Benjamin and Peter. 
He persevered in his patriotic career, with all the talent 
he possessed, and with as much ardor as ever. But the 
number of his contributors was much diminished, and 
those, which remained, lacked the brilliancy, the elo- 
quence, and the fire, which gave character and energy 
to the productions of Otis, Quincy, Warren, and the 
Adamses. By a violent and ruffianly assault, Otis had 
been disabled from writing ; Quincy had fallen a pre- 
mature victim to disease ; Warren had been sacrificed on 
Bunker-Hill; John Adams was busy in the public ser- 
vice, and Samuel Adams, if he continued to write for 
the press, — as he doubtless did, though probably less 
frequently than formerly, — was much and laboriously 
engaged in the performance of duties devolved upon him 



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EDES AND SONS. 197 

by the state. Though the Gazette was occasionally 
enriched by powerful communications, it was not what 
it had been. During the Revolutionary War its conduct- 
ors were faithful and prompt in collecting and publishing 
intelligence, and the Gazette may now be examined with 
advantage by all, who wish to read a narrative of the 
stirring events of tliat period in its freshest and most 
touching aspect. 

The General Court, at its winter session in 1785, 
passed an act laying a duty of " two thirds of a penny *' 
on every newspaper and almanack that might be pub- 
lished. It excited strong opposition. The name of 
Stamp Act was offensive to the people. Edes came out 
boldly in opposition to the measure. At the succeeding 
session the act was so modified as to lay the tax on 
advertisements. This gave no better satisfaction than 
the original law, and a writer in the Gazette, under 
the signature of "The Printer's Friend," sustained 
the opposition with considerable force of argument. 
Here is one of Edes's articles, which evinces rather an 
mgenious mode of evading the penalty of the law : — 

The sixteenth article of our Bill of Rights says " The Liberty of the 
Press is essential to the security of Freedom in a State : It ought not 
therefore to be restrained in this commonwealth.'' 

While the papers of the other states ore crowded with advertisements, 
{free of duty) those of this state are almost destitute thereof; which 
justly occasions the oppressed printers of those shackled presses to 
make their separate ccHnplaints, as many do, owing to their being pro- 
hibited advertising in their own papers their own Books and Stationery 
without incurring a penalty therefor. We, for the same reason that our 
brother Typographers use, forbear publishing that BiUes, Testaments, 
Psaltersy SpdUng-Books, Primers, Almanacks, ^. besides Stationery and 
all kinds of Blanks, may be had at No. 4^ ComhilL 

The duty on advertisements also prevents our publishing that we 
have lately reprinted an excellent moral Disconrse, entitled, **The 
17* 

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193 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL. 

Shortness and Afflictions of Human Life illustrated," for the price of 
said book being but eight pence, it will take away the profits of too 
many ; and perhaps encourage government to continue this burthen." 

From the first of July, 1794, till its discontinuance, 
the Gazette was published by Benjamin Edes, senior, 
alone, both sons having previously left the concern. 
The day of its popularity, and, consequently, that of its 
prosperity, was past. Differences of opinion, concern-^ 
ing public measures, had weakened old associations and 
contributed to the organization of new parties. Edes 
and some of his correspondents were opposed to the 
constitution for the United States, as prepared by the 
Convention- of 1787, and expressed their disapprobation 
of some of its features, in terms of great bitterness ; and 
when it was finally adopted, the federal administration 
was treated with contumely and abuse. They were 
ardent friends of the French Revolution, and justified, 
to the fullest extent, most of the proceedings of whatever 
party gained or held ascendency in Paris. Thus they 
became identified with the Jacobin societies, that were 
formed in our country ; and as their sympathies for 
France were excited, their animosity to England gained 
strength. The Federalists, — then the dominant party 
in the United States, — or, at least in New-England, — 
were accused of subserviency to Great-Britain, and ingrat- 
itude towards France. The policy of the federal ad- 
ministration was condemned ; and though Washington 
and his acts were spoken of with some degree of defer- 
ence, — apparently with unwilling respect, — Adams 
and Hamilton were treated with savage ferocity, as 
aristocrats and monarchists. The funding system was 
the constant theme of abuse, from those who believed, 

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BENJAHIN EDES. 199 

or pretended to believe, that the goTernment was in the 
hands of men, who were willing to sacrifice public honor 
and public faith to private speculation and emolument. 

Jay's treaty was another topic of angry discussion be- 
tween the federal and republican parties. Edes and his 
assistants opposed it with all the vigor and vituperation 
that political ferocity could invent or exercise. But in 
all this, the Gazette was only playing a second part. 
The Chronicle was the accredited organ of the Repub- 
lican, or anti-federal party, and had the aid of several 
writers of great ability, among whom was one, — Ben- 
jamin Austin, jun. — who, as a popular writer, was equal 
to any one that ever undertook to support and vindicate 
that party. Several attempts were made by Edes and 
his Sons, — by appeals to public sympathy and justice, 
— to keep up the credit of the Gazette, and to secure a 
larger share of the public favor; but without effect. 
The symptoms of poverty, which were exhibited in the 
mechanical execution, — to say nothing of the decay of 
intellectual power, plainly discernible in the original 
matter, — foretold the fate that awaited it, and the ab- 
sence of any redeeming attribute in its conductors. 

What, in its years of decline, the Boston Gazette 
wanted of that soberness and dignity, that might have 
rendered its old age useful and respectable, was made up 
in querulous complainings and bitter and vulgar person- 
ality. No distinguished Federalist escaped the abuse, 
which was rendered contemptible by its grossness and 
vulgarity. In 1794-5, a series of papers, entitled " A 
Review of the Jacobiniad," appeared in the Federal 
Orrery. The authorship of these papers was attributed 
to the Rev. J. S. J. Gardiner, then the assistant minis- 
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200 BOSTON GAZETTE ANB COUNTRT JOURNAL. 

ter of Trinity Church. Assuming for a fact that Mr. 
Gardiner was the real author, he became an object on 
which whole columns of personal abuse were poured. 
The persons who were the subjects of satire in the Ja- 
cobiniad, had, in truth, great provocation, — for, it must 
be confessed, they were lampooned without mercy, — 
and, in return, they and their political associates availed 
themselves of the barrenness of the Boston Gazette, to 
repay their obligation with a liberal usury. Mr. Gardi- 
ner was called a " sycophant," a " scoundrel," " the su- 
percilious and bombastic curate," a "journeyman 
reader," a " desperado," and other names of reproach, 
too numerous to be repeated ; and was accused of more 
sins than are forbidden in the Decalogue. The reader, 
who wishes to see what flowers were gathered in the 
fields of Billingsgate to embellish these out-pourings of 
gall, is referred to the early numbers of the Gazette of 
1795. 

The evidences of poverty and destitution excited 
less resentment than compassion, for the old veteran of 
the revolutionary press. One of his touching appeals to 
the sympathy of the public, was noticed by a corre- 
spondent of the Orrery, who proposed a plan for his re- 
lief, — '^suggested by a genuine gratitude to Mr. Edes 
for his past devotedness to his country, and a sensibility 
to bis present distress." As the age of Mr. Edes was 
believed to incapacitate him for the active duties required 
of an editor of a newspaper, the proposal was that " a 
subscription be opened for him, of one dollar and fifty 
cents each subscriber, annually, during Mr. Edes's life," 
not to enable him to carry on the Gazette, but " bot- 
tomed on the consideration of his long, faithful, and im- 



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BENJAlilN EDES. 201 

portant devotion to the cause of his country, in her most 
arduous and perilous times. From some inquiry, that I 
have made, (the writer adds,) I am confident that this 
town will give an example of at least four hundred vol- 
untary subscribers. With such a merited and generous 
benefit on his last exhibition, this distinguished typo- 
graphic supporter of the political drama may retire from 
the stage, and, from behind the scenes, review with sat- 
isfaction his own performances ; and, commensurate with 
his existence, enjoy the life-supporting plaudits of a 
numerous, grateful, and admiring auditory." 

It is presumed that neither Edes's appeals to the pub- 
lic, nor the suggestions of the writer in the Orrery, pro* 
duced any effect ; for, on the first day of January, 1797, 
he again solicited attention to his forlorn condition, as 
follows : — 

The aged editor of the Gazettb to the Public. 
A few years since, the misfortunes and necessities of my family in- 
duced me to throw myself on the benevolence of that Public, to which, 
as an editor of a paper, I have for upwards of forty-one years been a 
faithful servant, as far as my abilities and the purity of my principles 
would enable me. I wish not to boast, but a consciousness of the 
integrity of my motives, and the conspicuous part, which I took in 
those perilous times, when not only Liberty but Life, were suspended 
on the issue, justify me, at this late period of my existence, in glokt- 
isot in those duties, which as a citizen I was called on to peiform. The 
Boston Gazette was both the Herald and the Centinel, in the days of 
0x18, Hancock, the Adamseb, Warben, &c. while contending against 
Britain ! when their declaratory act was expressive of the disposition of 
that arrogant nation, when they assumed a right to " tax us in all cases 
whatsoever I ** when the streets of Boston were crimsoned with the 
blood of our slaughtered citizens ! At these all-trying periods, did you, 
my fellow-citizens, ever find the Boston Gazette deficient in a manly 
and energetic remonstrance against these horrid and cruel impositions ? 
Did an Otis at that time seek in vain to declare his principles through 
this channel ? — or did Warren unnerve himadf or the cause of freedom^ 
by straiDS of submission^ through this conveyaaoe ? — No, feliow-dtizens ; 

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203 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRT JOURNAL. 

the Gazette of Edes & Gill, was always subsenrient to the cause of 
Freedom, and this was the clabion, which announced through the 
continent the sentiments of your Patriots. Soon expecting to quit this 
world, for the mansions of those, where honesty and integrity will be 
rewarded, by the Supreme Buler of the Universe, I shall submit the 
following simple statement of my determination and situation, and 
tben resign myself to that fate which Providence may allot me in my 
retirement — conscious, however, that I have served my country with 
faithfulness, and the most disinterested zeal, I cannot but observe with 
regret, that thousands have become enriched by a base speadatum on 
those services which have impoverished me and many others. 

tt^ The aged Editor of the Gazette presents the compliments of the 
Season to his generous Benefactors, and invites all those who have any 
demands on him, to call and receive their dues : He likewise requests 
those of his Customers, who are two, three, and more years in debt, to 
dischai^ their arrears, as he finds it impossible to live upon the wind, 
ftnd promises equally uncertain. By the indulgence of Providence he 
is determined to complete the 42d year of publication, which will end 
the last of March ensuing, (and which is longer than any Printer in the 
United States ever did before, only one excepted) after which time he 
shall discontinue its publication, unless he meets with greater encour- 
agement than he has had for more than two years past The former 
number of subscribers to the Gazette (in times which tried men's souls, 
and bodies too) were upwards of Two Thousand ; near three fourths of 
which are no more. But being now reduced to 400, and not advertise- 
ments enough Weekly to procure Paper, he is necessitated to relinquish 
publishing it any longer than the Time before mentioned. 

BENJAMIN EDES. 

These pathetic calls on the public produced no effect- 
ual relief. The subscribers diminished almost daily in 
numbers, and those, who remained, were actuated chiefly 
by motives of compassion and benevolence. The pub- 
lication of the Gazette was continued to September 17, 
1798, the close of the forty-third year of its existence. 
The paper of that date thus announces its last appear- 
ance, in the farewell address of its editor : — 
Ct^ The EDITOR'S Fakbwbll. 

The Editor of the Boston Gazette after repeated attempts to prose- 
cute his professional occupation, in the declining period of his Ufe, is at 



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BENJAMIN EOES. 203 

length obliged to relinqmsh his exertions, and to retire to those melan- 
choij paths of domestic embarrassmentSy to which misfortane has con- 
signed him. 

While thus passing the gloomy valley of old age and ii\furmiiy, his 
consolation still rests on that staff, which can support a mind oon- 
scioos of its own rectitude ; and though he often feels the thorns and 
briers on the road, goading him in his passage, yet he patiently suffers 
under these afflictions, hoping that ere long he shall arriye at that peace- 
ful abode, " where the weary ajre at rest." 

During upwards of forty-three years of hard labor in that "abt 
WHICH SUPPORTS ALL ABTS," he has Uniformly attempted to vindicate 
the Rights of his Countbt. He early made himself conspicuous as 
the Kourge of UfrarUs — His press was the asylum of the distressed — 
through thai medium an injured people could ever express their wrongs, 
or plan measures for their deliverance. At that afflictinq Crisis, 
when America lay groaning under the innumerable tortures of a re- 
lentless nation, the Boston Gazette was employed as the HkbaTiD to 
sound the alarm through the most remote parts of the Continent. 

The Patriots of our Country, at those " times which tried metCs sods^ 
were constantly assembled within the confines of his office, and their 
manuscripts were displayed as with a Telegraph, in legible duurac- 
ters, within the columns of his periodical publications. 

Adams, Hancock, Warren, with a train of co-patriots, were his 
chosen intimates ; under their guidance and direction, he stood on the 
Watch Tower, and, like a faithful Soldier in the cause of Freedom, 
ever held himself ready, and willing, to fall or rise with the ruin or 
happiness of his country. 

But, alas ! the cause of Liberty is not always the channel of pre- 
ferment or pecuniary reward. The little property which he acquired 
has long since fell a sacrifice ; — the paper-evidences of his services were 
soon consumed by their rapid depreciation, and the cares of a numerous 
family were too powerful to be resisted, though he fed them with prop- 
erty at Jmtr shillings and sixpence in the paund^ which he faithfully and 
industriously earned at twenty shillings. 

However, it is beneath a patriot to mourn his own misfortunes. The 
Independence of America being obtained, he enjoys the pleasing 
contemplation, that the same virtuous sentiments which led to the aogiutst- 
tion will not cease to operate for its continuance — That his fellow- 
citizens will ever revere the first principles of the Revolution ; and 
it is his earnest prayer to Heaven, that the rising generation will 
remember the exertions of their fathers, in opposing the lawless 
attempts of Britain for theur subjugation. 



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204 BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTRY JOURNAL. 

Let the citizens of America retbbeitcb thbhbeltes.' Let them 
strive to maintain the bepublican principles of their own Constitn- 
tion ; and while practising these duties, we may trust to the guardian 
Angel, which has conducted us through dangers, the most alarming 
and distressing. 

And now, my Fellow-Citizens, I bid you FAREWELL ! Maintain 
TOUR Virtue — cherish tour Liberties — and may the Al- 
MiGHTT protect and defend you. B. Edes. 

Boston, Sept 17, 1798 — and in the Forty-fourth Year of the Jndqoend- 
ence of Hie BOSTON GAZETTE. 

Benjamin Edes, the senior partner of the firm of 
Edes & Gill, was born in Charlestown in 1723. I have 
not been able to obtain any account of his apprentice- 
ship or education. His learning was probably acquired 
at the common schools in Charlestown or Boston, ex- 
cept that, which experience and the native energies of 
his mind enabled him to obtain. He began business in 
Boston, in company with John Gill, in 1755. The 
partnership continued twenty years. He was a man of 
untiring industry and perseverance. When the Revo- 
lutionary War began he had accumulated a handsome 
property, which, if he had been less indulgent to his 
patriotic propensities, might have afforded him a compe- 
tent support to the end of his life. He was ever ready 
to contribute to the necessities of individuals and to the 
requirements of the public. What he had preserved 
during the war, was lost at its close, by the depreciation 
of the paper currency. After he gave up the publica- 
tion of the Gazette, he continued to work at his business, 
whenever he could procure employment in the way of 
jobbing. He had several daughters depending for sub- 
sistence on the scanty income derived from this precari- 
ous source. In the beginning of the year 1800, his old 
and worn-out types and press were in a small wooden 



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BENJAMIN KDES. 205 

building on the westerly side of Eilby street, in a cham- 
ber over a tin-plate-worker's shop. He removed the mis- 
erable remains of founts of letter, on which had been 
impressed some of the finest patriotic productions, to a 
house in Temple-street, in which he lived. In 1801, 1 
had occasion to call on him, at his printing-room, and 
found him at work on a small job at the case, while an 
elderly female (probably one of his daughters) was at 
the press, striking off shop-bills. The venerable form 
of the old man, setting types " with spectacles on nose," 
and the singular sight of a woman, beating and putting 
at the press, together with the aspect of destitution, that 
pervaded the whole apartment, presented a scene well 
adapted to excite sympathy, and to make an impression 
on the mind, which the vicissitudes of fifty years have 
not effaced. At length the infirmities of age overcame 
his physical powers, and the curse of poverty lay heavily 
on his spirit. Oppressed with years and sickness, neg- 
lected and forgotten by those, who enjoyed the blessings 
he had helped to secure, he died in December, 1803, at 
the age of eighty years. 



18 



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THE BOSTON WEEKLY ADVERTISER. 



The first number of this paper was published, August 

22, 1757, by Green & Russell. At the head of the 

first column is the following : — 

The Pbinters to the PUBLIC. 
Gentlemen, 

Agreeable to onr Printed Proposals, Published some Tune since, 
The first Number of the Weekly Advertiser, now makes its Appearance, 
And as the Continuation of it will greatly depend on the favorable 
Keception it meets with from the Public, We shall use our utmost En- 
deavors to collect from Time to Time, the newest and best Intelligence, 
both Poreign and Domestic : and shall always be obliged to any Gen- 
tlemen, that will favor us with Pieces of Speculation, provided they 
are wrote in a manner consistent with Decency and Public Peace. It 
being our only Intention, as far as lies in our Power, to promote 
Knowledge, Vertue, and innocent Amusement 

The invitation to gentlemen to favor the publishers 
with " Pieces of Speculation " does not appear to have 
produced many original contributions. For the first 
r 

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GREEN ASD RUSSELL. 307 

year of the publication, the paper is entirely barren of 
any thing of a literary character. It is well filled, bow- 
ever, with foreign and domestic intelligence, selected 
from other papers. Its advertisements are numerous. 
August 14, 1758, the publishers have a short advertise- 
ment of their own, stating that — "This Paper [No. 
62.] finishes one Year, since the Boston Weekly Ad" 
vertUer was first printed, .... which is mention'd 
not to cheer those, [in this publick Manner,] who en- 
couraged the publishing it at first, but to return our 
Thanks to them; and at the same Time to inform 
them, That the good Reception it has met with from the 
Publick, is a great Inducement to its Continuance ; and 
will lay us under still further obligations," &c. 

At the close of the second year, the title of this 
paper was changed to "Green & Russell's Post-Boy 
and Advertiser," with the devices of the ship and Post- 
Boy; and at a subsequent period it was again enti- 
tled "The Massachusetts Gazette, and Post-Boy and 
Advertiser." When it took the last title, a cut represent- 
ing the king's arms was placed in the centre. Its circu- 
lation, it is said, was never extensive. The files show 
that it was not distinguished for original essays or edito- 
rial speculations. The printers were appointed printers 
to the British Commissioners, and, of course, they be- 
came the advocates of the measures of the British admin- 
istration. In 1768, it was united with the News-Letter, 
and was announced as " Published by Authority." • In 
September, 1769, the four-sided association of News- 
Letter, AdverBser, Post-Boy, and Gazette, was dis- 
solvedj and Green &, Russell continued to publish a 

•SaepaftdO. 



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208 BOSTON WEEKLY ADVERTISER. 

paper, with three of the titles, namely, <' The Massa- 
chusetts Gazette, and Boston Post-Boy, and Advertiser,^' 
retainbg the cut of the king's anns at the head. In 
April, 1773, they gave up the printing and publishing of 
the paper to Mills b Hicks, who continued it with re-' 
newed spirit, under the patronage and encouragement of 
the officers of the crown. Several good writers in favor 
of the government became its supporters, and gave it 
additional attraction. The publication was continued till 
after the beginning of the war in 1775, when it ceased, 
after an existence of about eighteen years. 

In the month of December, 1757, Richard Draper 
and Edes & Gill had a dispute about the publishing of 
an Almanack, which they carried on in the Weekly Ad- 
vertiser, though both the belligerents were themselves 
Printers of papers. The controversy was begun in the 
Advertiser by Draper, who accused Edes b Gill of pirat- 
ing the copy ; and advertised the public, '< That the al- 
manacks from the original copy purchased of Dr. Ames," 
were sold by certain printers and booksellers whom he 
named. He also stated that in the '^ pirated Alma- 
nack, Inferior Courty Newbury ^ was omitted'' in its 
proper place. To this Edes b Gill replied, acquainting 
the public " that said Inferior Court at Newbury, (which 
they had since put in its place,) was omitted in near one 
thousand copies," which they had received of Draper, 
** and said to be printed from the original." In their 
turn they accuse Draper of selling to them incorrect 
almanacks, and then '< cautioning the public not to buy 
copies printed from tlie same, though exactly agreea- 
ble." This produced a long rejoinder from Draper, in 
which, to clear himself fjx>m the charge of selling false 



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GREEN AND RUSdELL. S09 

copies to Edes & Gill, he charged them with taking,-— 
in their impatience to get a copy, — an unfair method to 
obtain it, namely, " by means of their book-keeper." 
The next week Edes & Gill retorted with some tartness, 
and affirmed that they had no book-keeper ; and added 
that Mr. Draper " might as well claim the property of 
printing the Testament, Psalter, or Primer, as to charge 
them with piracy." To the bottom of their advertise- 
ment. Green & Russell added a note, hoping that, as 
their readers were pretty well acquainted with the dis- 
putes between Mr. Draper and Messrs. Edes tz Gill, 
concerning Dr. Ames's almanack, they hoped the par- 
ties would forbear troubling the public any more through 
the Advertiser with what so little concerned them. This 
did not, however, silence the rival printers of the alma- 
nack. Draper came out, in the next paper, with a longer 
and more angry advertisement, concluding with a promise 
to trouble the editor no further with the dispute. Edes 
b Gill next published nearly a column, ridiculing their 
antagonist rather sharply, and criticizing his language as 
ungrammatical, high-flown, full of blunders, be. ; and 
concluded by promising '^ to pay him ten Spanish Mexi- 
can mitt'd Dollars y^' if he would produce any evidence 
to prove his charge against them of unfairness in obtain- 
ing their copy of the Almanack. Draper made a short 
response in the next paper, accusing Edes b Gill of de- 
ceit, in garbling one of his sentences, and choosing ^< not 
to claim their offered reward to evidence their conduct 
to be bad." He concluded with a quotation from Pope, 
describing those whom '^ Nature meant but fools : " and 
here the controversy ended in the Advertiser. 

John Green, one of the printers of the Weekly Ad- 
18» 

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SIO BOSTON W£EKLT ADTZRTISEIU * 

vertiser, was thQ son of Bartholomew Green, jun. He 
was born in Boston, and served bis apprenticesbip with 
John Draper. Joseph Russell, the other partner in the 
firm of Green b Russell, was also bom in Boston. He 
served his apprenticeship with Daniel Fowle. The 
partnership was formed in 1755. A few years after- 
ward, Russell opened an auction office, the profits of 
which were shared by the firm. Green managed the 
printing-office, and Russell took charge of the auction 
room. By their industry in the two occupations they 
acquired a handsome property. 

'< Green became interested in the Independent Chron- 
icle published by Powars b Willis, but his name did 
not appear in the imprint. He was a man of steady 
habits, true to bis engagements and well respected. He 
died in November 1787, aged sixty years. He had no 
children. He was, I believe, the last of the descendants 
of Samuel Green of Cambridge, who printed in Mas- 
sachusetts." * 

" Russell was a good workman in the printing busi* 
ness ; but his talents were more particularly adapted to 
the duties of an auctioneer. He soon arrived at celeb* 
rity in this line, and had more employment in it than any 
other person in Boston. When his partnership with 
Green was dissolved, he formed a connection with Sam- 
uel Clap, and this company, under the firm of Russell 
& Clap, continued the business of auctioneers, till the 
death of Russell," which happened in November, 1795, 
when he was in the sixty-second year of his age. " Rus- 
sell was full of life, very facetious and witty, but atten»> 
tive to his concerns. Few men had more friends, or 
were more esteemed. He acquired considerable prop- 

• Htetury of Prlatfng , vol. 1. 848. 

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MILLS AlTD HICKS. 211 

erty, but did not hoard up his wealth, for benevolence 
was one of his virtues." * 

Nathaniel Mills was bom in the neighborhood of 
Boston, and learned the art of printing of John Fleming. 
He was a sensible, genteel young man, and had the 
principal charge of the printing of the Gazette and Post- 
Boy. John Hicks was born in Cambridge, and learned 
his trade of Green & Russell. Before entering into 
partnership with Mills, he was supposed to be a zealous 
Whig. He was reputed to have been one of the young 
men, who had an affray with some British soldiers, 
which led to the memorable massacre of the Fifth of 
March, 1770. His father was one of the first men, who 
fell on the Nineteenth of April, 1776 ; — being one of 
the foremost to fly to arms, to attack the detachment of 
British troops, on their return from Concord to Boston, 
Notwithstanding this sacrifice of his father in the cause 
of his country, the younger Hicks adhered to the British, 
and remained with the royal army, and supported its 
cause as a printer, till peace was concluded and the 
independence of the country acknowledged by Great 
Britsrin. He followed the army, or went with it, to 
Halifax, and having acquired wealth, he returned to 
Massachusetts, purchased a farm at Newton, in the 
county of Middlesex, and resided on it till his death. 

The partnership of Mills &, Hicks, was not dbsolved 
till 1783. For a while they kept a stationery store in 
New- York, and executed printing for the royal army 
and navy. They were also connected with Alexander 
and James Robertson in the publication of the Royal 
American Gazette in that city. 

•Hiftonr of PriBtinff, toL i. 340. 

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THE BOSTON CHRONICLE. 



On the twenty-first of December, 1767, Mein & 
Fleming began the publication of The Boston Chronicle* 
It was printed on a whole sheet, in quarto, on a new 
and handsome type, and, in its mechanical execution, 
far surpassed any paper that had appeared before it, in 
New-England. The price was six shillings and eight 
pence a year, — a very low price, for a paper containing 
such an amount of matter. There were but few adver- 
tisements, and but little space was occupied in detailing 
the ordinary intelligence of the week. The contents 
were, chiefly, selected from foreign papers, and fix)m the 
works of popular English authors. In the first volume 
were published essays of some of the best prose writers, 
CoUins's Oriental Eclogues, Shenstone's Pastorals, and 
some of Goldsmith's poetry ; copious extracts fixim the 
writings of John Wilkes ; and from the Pennsylvania 
papers, the celebrated " Farmer's Letters." The taste 
and judgement, exhibited in the management of the pa« 
per, its handsome appearance, and the convenience of 
its form for preservation, immediately attracted the favor- 
able notice of the public, and secured a respectable and 



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MKXN AND FLEMINO. S13 

unexpected number of subscribers. In the third num« 

ber is the following notice : — 

We are aoxry that we cannot senre the gentlemen, who, dnring the 
course of the last week, sent ns their subscriptions for the Chronicle, 
with the first and second papers ; although we printed near three hun- 
dred more than were engaged of the first number, they were all disposed 
of in a few dajrs. We have printed an additional quantity of this paper, 
number three, and at the end of the year, our subscribers who hare been 
disappointed, may depend on being supplied with the two first papers, 
as we shall then reprint them. 

At the close of the year^ in an advertbement, pro- 
posing to enlarge the Chronicle, and introduce sundry 
changes in the selection and arrangement of the matter, 
the publishers say, — 

We have been blamed by some, for not publishing their essays on 
Liberty ; and also by many, who have sent us pieces in support of pre- 
rogatiye : The reason they were not inserted, was, that they tended 
more to traduce private characters than to serve the cause, which the 
Authors wrote in favor of. We will always, when any dispute claims 
fi;eneral attention, give both sides of the question, if they can be obtained : 
But will never print any piece that may injure the characters of indi- 
Tlduais ; this we can with justice say, we have always avoided, and 
shall continue to do so. 

The form of the Chronicle was then changed to folio* 
It had been published weekly on Monday, during its 
first year ; it was now published on Mondays and Thurs- 
days, and was the first paper published twice a week in 
New-England. ^< Before the close of the second year 
of publication, its publisher, Mein, engaged in a political 
warfare with those, who were in opposition to the meas- 
ures of the British admmistration. In the Chronicle, he 
abused numbers of the most respectable Whigs in Bos- 
ton, and he was charged with msulting the populace. 
To avoid the eflTects of popular resentment, it became 
necessary for him to leave the country. Fleming con- 



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214 BOSTOK CHBOKlCLi:. 

tinued the Chronicle, during the absence of Mein, in the 
name of the firm ; but it had falien into disrepute, and 
its subscribers, in rapid succession, withdrew their names. 
Many supposed that Mein was privately assisted by the 
agents of government, and several circumstances ren- 
dered this opinion probable. But when the paper lost 
its subscribers, it could neither be profitable to its pub- 
lishers, nor answer the design of its supporters. Its 
publication, therefore, ceased on the 25th of June, 
1770.*'* On this occasion, the subscribers and the 
public were thus addressed : — 

*^* The Printers of the Boston Chronicle return thanks to the gen- 
tlemen, who have so long favored them with their subscriptions, and 
now inform them that, as the Chronicle, in the present state of affairs, 
cannot be carried on, either for their entertainment or the emolument of 
the Printers, it will be discontinued for some time. 

John Mein, the senior partner in the firm of Mein & 
Fleming, was bom in Scotland, where he received a 
good education, and was bred to the business of a book- 
seller. He came to Boston from Glasgow, in 1764, in 
company with Robert Sandeman, f — a kinsman of whom 
was, for a short time, in partnership with Mein, in the 
bookselling business. When this partnership was dis- 
solved, Mein entered more largely into business as a 
bookseller, and connected with it a circulating library. 
His advertisements frequently occupy near a page in the 
Chronicle. When he left the country for England, he 
engaged as a writer against the Colonies, and in the pay 
of the ministry. It is not known that he ever returned. 

* History of Printing, vol ii. 347. 

t This Robert Sandeman waa a theological and controvenial writer of consid- 
erable notoriety. He was the founder of a religious sect, known by the name of 
Sandemaniana, which was, at one time, respectably numerous in Boston, and yet 
rarvivM in two or three bighly lespectobto IkmlliM. 



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MEIN AND FI^KIUNO* 215 

Perhaps do man incurred the displeasure of the Whigs 
to a greater degree than John Mein. On the fifth of 
November, 1769, as was customary then in New-Eng- 
land, many persons amused themselves and the public 
by carrying, through the streets, effigies, representing the 
Pope and the Devil ; and, on this occasion, these effigies 
were accompanied by others, representing Mein and his 
servant. On the right side of Mein was a label, bear- 
ing the following inscription : — 

I nsiilting Wretch, we 11 him expose — 

*er the whole world his deeds disclose ; 
H ell now gapes wide to take him in ; 

N ow he is ripe — O lump of Sin ! 
M ean is the man — M — ^n is his name ; 
£ nongh he 's spread his hellish fame -, 

1 nfemal furies hurl his soul, 

N ine million times, from pole to pole ! 

Labels on the left side, were of a similar character, 

and addressed to Tories in general. On the lantern, 

that illuminated the group, was the following : — 

Here stands the Devil for a show, 

With the In — ^p — ^rs, in a row. 

All bound to Hell, and that we know. 

Gro M — n, laden deep with curses on thy head, 

To some dark comer of the world repair, 
Where the bright sun no pleasant beams can shed, 

And spend thy life in horror and despair. 

John Fleming, the other partner in the firm of Mein 
60 Fleming, was also a Scotchman, and arrived in Bos- 
ton, also, in 1764. He was bred a printer. After 
forming a connection with Mein, he made a voyage to 
Scotland, where he purchased materials and engaged 
workmen for executing printing on a scale rather exten- 
sive for that period. Fleming had not rendered himself 
80 obnoxious to popular resentment, as his partner had, 

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316 BOSTON CHBONICLE. 

andy after the discontinuance of the Chronicle^ he print- 
ed books on bis own account, and continued in Boston 
till 1773, when he sold hb printing materials, and went 
to England with his family. At a later period, he visit- 
ed this country as an agent for a commercial house. 
Afterwards he resided in France and died there, since 
the year 1800. 



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THE ESSEX GAZETTE. 



In 1768, on the second of Angus t, Samuel Hall is- 
sued, in Salem, the first number of a paper, called The 
Essex Gazette. The head was decorated with the cut 
here given, but I find no explanation of the device. 
This was the first newspaper printed in Salem. After 
publishing the paper three or four years. Hall took his 
brother, Ebenezer, into partnership, and the paper was 
published by them in Salem, till 1775. It was well con- 
ducted, and ably supported the cause of the people 
agamst the unjust measures of the British Parliament. 

In the second number of the Gazette there is a piece, 
addressed to the Inhabitants of Salem, purporting to be 
written by a female, who '' was married to an amazing 
great whig ; " and this husband of hers, she says^ " sbce 
these Liberty times began, has been so excessive fond of 

VOL. I. 19 



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318 THE ESSEX GAZETTE. 

his new mistress, Liberty, that he will not let any body 
under hb roof enjoy one spice of it ; no, not even in 
thinkings much less in ^eaJcingJ' The writer, — of 
course, a decided Tory, — called on her fellow-citizens to 
keep quiet and peaceable, and submit to lawful author- 
ity, to avoid all exciting company, and all conversation, 
that should lead to jealousy and suspicion,'^ &c. &c. 
This was answered in the next paper, in a severe but 
sober manner. At the head of the communication is a 
note by the Editor, saying, -^ " Any disputes among us, 
especially at this time, must be attended with conse- 
quences prejudicial to the community ; and it is disa- 
greeable to the Printer hereof to continue them in this 
paper; but, as a Lover of Peace has begun them, 
thinking, no doubt, that these differences will be happier 
and more speedily terminated, by means of each party's 
publishing their sentiments, no one, it is presumed, will 
object to both parties being heard." 

The contributions to the Gazette, by whig writers, 
were numerous, and some of them were written with 
great force. The Editor made judicious selections from 
the writings of Whigs in other papers, and his own para- 
graphs were the exponents of pure whig sentiments. 
But his paper was not devoted entirely to news and 
politics. Wit and humor, morals and religion, had a 
place in his columns. The annexed article was sent by 
a correspondent, with a request that it should be inserted, 
but whether it were origmal or not the contributor does 
not say : — 

Thb Lite op the Happy Man. 

The happy man was bom in the city of Regeneration, in the parish of 
UqpentmcerunUhLife, He was educated in the Sehooi of Obedience, and 



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SAMUEL AND EBENEZER HALL. 219 

lives now in Perseverance. He works at the trade of DtHgence^ notwith- 
standing he has a large estate in the county of Christian Qmtentmerd; 
and, many times, does jobs of Setf-Denial, He wears the plain garment 
of Humility^ and has a better suit to pat on, when he goes to Court, 
called the Robe of ChMs Righteousness. He often walks in the yalley 
of Sdf'Abasement, and sometimes climbs the mountain of Spiritual- 
Mlndedness. He breakfasts every morning upon SpiritwdrPrayer, and 
sups every evening on the same ; has meat to eat, that the world knows 
nothing of, and his drink is the sincere MUk of the Word. Thus happy 
he lives and happy he dies. 

Happy is he, who has the Gospel submission in his will, due order in 
his affections, sound peace in his conscience, sanctifying grace in his 
soul, and divinity in his breast, true humility in his heart, the Bedeem- 
er's yoke on his neck, a vara world under his feet, and a crown of glory 
over his head. Happy is the life of such a one ! In order to attain 
which, pray fervently, believe firmly, wait patiently, toork abundantly, 
live holy, die daily, watch your heart, guide your senses, redeem time, 
love Christ, and long for glory. 

The following, from a Marblebead correspondent, is of 
a different character, but not without a moral : — 
Thb Nassd Truth. 
Were ^Fortune more civil, and business more brisk. 
My Horse not so frantic, or subject to frisk, 
Should I chance to set eye on a pretty young Lass, 
Not too fond of dear self, nor too oft at her glass ; 
Not a foe to good-humor, diversion and glee, 
Not a slave to her pleasures, regardless of me; 
In deportment so easy; her bosom, beside. 
The mansion of goodness, unsullied by pride ; 
A lover of neatness *, to virtue inclined ; 
Of a sweet disposition, and generous mind ; 
A friend of the Muses, yet no learned thing. 
Or a wit, to provoke me, and kiUingly sting ; 
But so friendly and social, so warm and so gay, 
Ab to cheer up my heart, and enliven each day; 
Could I find such a fair one, though Hobby should prance, 
And kick up his heels, or commence a new dance ; 
"With whip, bit, and spur, Pd incessantly trouble. 
Till Hob. should leave flouncing, and Carry us double; 
Once mounted, a fig for aU care and all sorrow. 
We'd be happy to-day, and as happy to-morrow : 



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S20 NEW-ENOLANB CHRONICLE* 

l^oiild Hobby's dear burthen too ponderous grow. 
Kind Prudence would teaoh us the means how to go ; 
Should Fortune prore trickish and tumble us o'er, 
Ten thousand, Dear Girl, hare been served so before. 
Take Courage, mj Charmer, we'd mount him again; 
Bide slowly the mountain, but galley the plain ; 
Teetit-^, teOii-up^ we'd tilt it along, 
And eheer up our souls with a glass and a song. 
What matters it, Sweeting, if others ride single, 
With horses more sprightly, and purses that jingle, — 
At night, I am sure, at the Inn nigh the Vale, 
Though driyen by storms, or a sweet pleasant gale, 
We shall stiU be m-m, not a stirer in pocket. 
Like a taper burnt out, or a muff in Uie socket. 

In the summer of 1775, by the advice of many mem- 
bers of the General Court, and other respectable gentle- 
men of the Whig party, the proprietors of the Gazette 
removed from Salem, to Cambridge, with their printing 
apparatus, and continued the publication, under the 

title of 

THE NEW-ENGLAND CHRONICLE, 

OB 

THE WEEKLY GAZETTE. 
The printing-office was in Stoughton Hall. The first 
number of the paper printed in Cambridge, was issued 
on the tenth of August. It contained essays from Lon- 
don papers,* a patriotic article from the Connecticut 
Courant, interesting articles of intelligence, and more 
than a page of advertisements, — chiefly from Boston 
customers. It bad also an interesting Letter from Gen- 
eral Washington to certain independent military compa- 
nies in Virginia.* Subsequent papers contain full ac- 
counts of the proceedings of the Continental Congress, 
then sitting at Philadelphia, and of patriotic assemblies 
in several of the colonies. A review of General Bur- 
goyne's Defence of his treatment of General Lee, signed 

« See Spwks*s Waabington, voL UL p. 4. 

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SAMUEL AND EBENEZER HALL. ^ 221 

" An Old Man," and dated " From my Cottage near 
Boston," which appeared in the Gazette, is an argument, 
that would not discredit the best political writer of that 
or any other age ; and it was doubtless written by one 
of that glorious company of Whigs, that had filled the 
Boston Gazette with their patriotic essays. From the 
number and character of the articles concerning the 
condition of the Colonies, and the relations between 
them and the " mother country," it cannot be doubted 
that this paper had a powerful influence in awakening 
and sustaining among the people the spirit of resistance 
to the parliamentary edicts. Many of these produc- 
tions, — enough to fill several volumes, — are worthy of 
republication, and ought to be preserved in a more con- 
venient and enduring form than that, in which they are 
now to be found. 

The following verses, suggested by the Battle of 
Bunker-Hill and the burning of Charlestown, appeared 
in one of the early numbers of the Chronicle. They 
have not quite so much poetry as patriotism ; but will 
serve to illustrate the prevalent feelings of the people, in 
that painful day of gloom and apprehension : — 

Palmyra's prospect, with her tumbling walls, 

Huge piles of rain, heaped on every side, 
!From each beholder tears of pity calls, — 

Sad monnments, extending far and wide : — 

Yet far more dismal to the Patriot's eye 

The dear remains of Charlestown*s former brow. 

Behind whose walls did hundred warriors die, 
And Britain's centre felt the fatal blow. 

To see a town so elegantly formed, 
Such buildings, graced with every curious art, 

Spoiled in a moment, on a sudden stormed, 
Must fill with indignation every heart. 

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NEW-KNOLAND CHBONICLE. 

But when WB fi«d the reasons of her fate 

To be but trifling— Trifling, did I say? 
For being noble, daring to be great, 

Nor calmly yielding to tyrannic sway : — 
To see the relics of that once famed place, 

Pointing to Heaven, as 'twere, in ardent cry, 
By lawless Power robbed of eveiy grace. 

Yet calling bolts of vengeance from on high : — 
To find, I say, such dealings with mankind. 

To see those BcyaX Bathers planted near, ^ 
More glorious buildings taming into wind, 

And loth to mingle with the common air ;— 
Whilst such chastisements, coming from a state. 

Who calls herself our parent, nurse and friend. 
Must rouse each soul, that 's noble, frtink and great, — 

Must urge us on, our lives and all to spend. 
O spot, once graceful, but, alas ! no more ; 

Till signs shall end, and Time itself shall cease ; 
Thy name shall live, and on Fame's pinion soar, 

To mark grim blackness on Great-Britain's fiice. 

Nor shall the blood of heroes, on the plain. 

Who nobly fell that day in Freedom's cause, 
Lie unrevenged, though with thy thousands slain, 

Whilst there's a king, who fears nor minds thy laws. 
Shall Cain, who madly spilt his brother's blood, 

Receive such curses from the God of all ? 
Is not that Sovereign still as just and good, 

To hear the cries of children, when &ey fall ? 
Yes ! there's a God, whose laws are still the same. 

Whose years are endless, and whose power is great : 
He is our God ; Jehovah is his name. 

With him we trust our sore oppresseii state. 
When he shall rise, ( Britain, dread the day, 

Nor can I stretch the period of thy fate ^ 
What heart of steel, what tyrant there shall sway 

A throne, that's sinking by oppression's weight ! 
Thy crimes, O North ! shall then like spectres stand, 

Nor Charlestown hindmost in the ghostly roll, 
And faithless Gage, who gave the dread command, 

Shall find due torments gnaw upon his soul. 



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SAHXTEL AND EBENEZEB HALL. 223 

Yeft, in tiiis woild, we tnist ihose ills so diead, 
Which fill the nation with such matchless woes, 

Shall fall with double vengeance onthjhead, 
Nor 'scape those minions which thy court compose. 

The Chronicle of February 22, 1776, announced the 
death of Ebenezer Hall, in the twenty-seventh year of 
his age, and states that he survived his wife only six 
weeks. He was taught the printing business by his 
brother, Samuel. He was a good printer, a man of amia- 
ble disposition, agreeable manners, and correct princi- 
ples. The same paper makes an apology for the omis- 
sion of one week's publication, as the other partner had 
been seized with a violent sickness, just after his brother's 
illness commenced. 

Immediately after the publication of April 4, the 
printing materials were removed to Boston, and placed 
in a building in School-street, next door to the " Oliver 
Cromwell Tavern." The last number printed at Cam- 
bridge contained a copy of the diploma, which the Cor- 
poration of Harvard College had, on the day preceding, 
given to General Washington. It is an interestmg doc- 
ument, printed both in Latin and English — the English 
version here follows : — 

The Corporation of HABVARD COLLEGE in Cambridge, in New- 
England, to all the Faithful in Christ, to whom these Presents shall 
come, 

GREETING, 

Whereas Academical Degrees were originally instituted for this Pur- 
pose, That men eminent for Knowledge, Wisdom, and Virtue, who 
have higblj merited of the Republic of Letters and of the Common- 
Wealth, should be rewarded with the Honors of these Laurels; there is 
the greatest Propriety in conferring such Honor on that very illustrious 
Gentleman, GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esq.; the accomplished 
General of the confederated Colonies in America, whose Knowledge 



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224 NEW*EN6LAND CHBONICLE. 

and patriotic Ardor are manifest to all : Who, for his distingnialied 
Virtue, both Ciyil and Militarj, in the first Place, being elected by the 
Suffrages of the Yirginians, one of their Delegates, exerted himself 
with Fidelity and singular Wisdom in the celebrated Congress of Amer- 
tea, for the Defence of Liberty, when in the utmost Danger of being 
for ever lost, and for the Salvation of his Country; and then, at the 
earnest Re()uest of that Grand Council of Patriots, without Hesitation, 
left all the Pleasures of his delightful Seat in Virginia, and the Affairs 
of his own Estate, that through all the Fatigues and Dangers of a 
Camp, without accepting any Keward, he might deliver New-England 
from the unjust and cruel Arms of Britain, and defend the other Col- 
onies ; and who, by the most signal Smiles of Divine Providence on 
his Military Operations, drove the Fleet and Troops of the Enemy with 
disgraceful Precipitation from the Town of Boston, which, for Eleven 
Months had been shut up, fortified and defended by a Grarrison of above 
Seven Thousand Regulars; So that the Inhabitants, who suffered a 
great variety of Hardships and Cruelties while under the Power of the 
Oppressors, now rejoice in their Deliverance, and the neighboring 
Towns are freed from the Tumult of Arms, and our UniverBity has the 
agreeable Prospect of being restored to its antient Seat. 

Know ye therefore, that We, the President and Fellows of Harvard 
College in Cambridge, (with the Consent of the Honored and Reverend 
Overseers of our Academy) have constituted and created the aforesaid 
Gentleman, GEORGE WASHINGTON, who merits the highest 
Honor, Doctob of Laws, the Law of Nature and Nations, and the 
Civil Law ; and have given and granted unto him at the same Time all 
Bights, Privileges, and Honors to the said Degree pertaining. 

In Testimony whereof, We have affixed the Seal of our University 
to these Letters, and subscribed with our Hand writing this Third Day 
of April in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and 
Seventy-six. 

SAMUEL LANGDON, S. T. D. Prases. 

NATHANAEL APPLETON, S. T. D. 
JOHANNES WINTHROP, Math, et Phil. P. 

HoLLL.D. 
ANDREAS ELIOT, S. T. D. }. Socii. 

SAMUEL COOPER, S. T. D. 
JOHANNES WADSWORTH,Log.etEth.Pre. 

Thesaurarius. , 

The removal to Boston occasioned a suspension of the 
Chronicle for two weeks. It appeared then without its 
second title. When he had published seven numbers in 



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SAMUEL HALL. 225 

Boston, Hall sold the whole concern to Edward Eveleth 
Powars and Nathaniel Willis. He took leave of the 
public in a short and respectful note, presenting " his 
thanks to all, who had favored him with their custom, 
and thereby enabled him to continue the publication of 
his paper." 

Not long after this disposition of his property, Hall 
returned to Salem, where in October, 1781, he began 
the publication of a new paper, called 

THE SALEM GAZETTE.* 

This publication he continued till near the end of the 
year 1785, when he again removed to Boston. The 
reasons for this removal are given in the Gazette of 
November 15, with the frankness and modesty, which 
were well-known traits in the character of Samuel Hall. 
" The printer hereof (he said) has found, by a careful 
examination, that the tax upon newspaper advertise- 
ments has, in conjunction with the decline of trade, op- 
erated so injuriously as to deprive him of nearly three 
quarters of that branch of his business ; and he con- 
ceives it to be his duty not to suffer so great a diminu- 
tion in his living, without, at least, attempting to repair 
it. For this purpose he has consulted such, in whose 
friendship he can fully confide, and they have unani- 
mously advised his removal to Boston." He further 
stated that he felt impelled to this step, with a view of 
extending his business, and of avoiding the extraordinary 

* This wafl ttae second paper printed In Salem, with the title of Balem Oaxette. 
Mary Crouch, the widow of Samuel Crouch, who had printed a paper in Charles- 
ton, S. C. removed from that place to Salem, in 1780, with the press and types 
that had belonged to her husband, and, in January 1781, issued the first number 
of the Salem Gazette and General Advertiser. Thirty-four numbers only wera 
published. 



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226 SALEH GAZETTE. . 

expense attending the carrying it on in Salem, — alluding 
to the difficulty of procuring the latest news, and of dis-i 
tributing his paper when it was printed. " No reasona- 
ble person (he added) who has a tolerable acquaintance 
wuth the business, and wishes that it might not be crushed, 
can desire that, in addition to this, it should be burthened 
with a heavy governmental tax." ' " He proposes to 
publish his first paper in Boston on Monday, the 28th 
inst.'* " His good friends and customers in this towu 
[Salem] are requested to consider this step as dictated 
by what he conceives to be a just regard to his interest, 
and in compliance with the unanimous advice of his 
nearest connections. He will always endeavor, in his 
publications, as opportunity presents, to promote the in- 
terest and reputation of the town of Salem, to which he 
shall ever consider himself as under very great obliga- 
tions." 

The act laying a duty on advertisements, went into 
operation on the second of August,' preceding. In the 
Gazette of that day. Hall announced the fact, and ad- 
ded, — " No printer can now advertise, even in his own 
paper, any books or pieces of piety or devotion, not ex- 
cepting the Holt Bible, without paying a heavy tax 
for it. How this accords with His Excellency's late 
* Proclamation for the encouragement of Piety, Virtue, 
Education, and Manners,^ let the framers of the act de- 
termine." "Were it not for 'the tax upon advertising 
good booJcs^ the Printer hereof would inform the Public, 
that he has just published * Extracts from Dr. Priest- 
ley's Catechism,' which he sells at five coppers single, 
and two shillings the dozen." About a fortnight after, 
the following communication appeared : — 



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SAMUEL HALL. 227 

To iht Printer of the ScUem Gazette. 
I hear ihat yoa hare for sale Br. Watts's Imitation of the Psalms of 
David, corrected and enlarged, with a Collection of Hymns, in one toI- 
ume ; — that the Psalms, locally appropriated in the Doctor's version, 
have been altered by Mr. Joel Barlow, of Hartford, and the whole ap- 
plied to the state of the Christian Church in general ; — and that, by a 
Law, lately passed, which, like the Stamp Act, is of extmction truly 
British, you are restrained from advertising them, unless you pay a 
heavy tax for it. As several of my neighbors, as well as myself, are in 
want of this valuable book, I hope you will not fail of supplying us. 

J. R. 

Agreeably to his notice, on Monday, the 28th of 
November, Hall sent out, from his printing-office in 
Boston the first of his proposed paper, under the title of 
THE MASSACHUSETTS GAZETTE, 

which he conducted alone, till June, 1787, when he 
took, as a partner, J. WincoU Allen, a young man who 
had been some time employed in the office. In Sep- 
tember following, he sold out his right in the paper to 
Allen,* and confined himself to the printing and sale of 
small books, blanks, pamphlets, &c. at a store which he 
had rented in State-street, on the north side of the state- 
house. At a later period, he opened a book and sta- 
tionery store, at No. 53, Comhill. In 1789, he printed 
a newspaper in the French language, for Joseph Nan- 
crede, a French emigrant, who kept a bookstore in 
Marlboro'-street, nearly opposite the site of the Marlboro' 
hotel, and received pupils for instruction in French. 
This paper was given up at the end of six months. Mr. 
Hall carried on, — extensively for those days, — the 
printing and publishing of small books, embellished with 
cuts, and published some octavo and duodecimo volumes. 

* The paper was, protiably, diacontlnaed looii after it went into Allen*i poMea- 
aion. Only a few numben, with AIlen*a imprint, are to be found. 

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228 SAMUEL HALL. 

He had almost the whole sale of blanks for legal instru- 
ments, for the county of Suffolk and Middlesex, and, 
for several years had the printing of all the blanks used 
in the custom house m Boston. In 1805, he sold his 
whole establishment, — printing materials, books, blanks, 
&c. — to Lincoln & Edmands, and retired from business. 
Samuel Hall was bom in Medford, Massachusetts, 
and served an apprenticeship with an uncle, Daniel 
Fowle, of Portsmouth, N. H. At the age of twenty- 
one, he went into partnership with Ann Franklin, the 
widow of James Franklin, at Newport, R. I. In 1768, 
he left Newport, and opened a printing-office m Salem, 
— as has been already stated. He died on the tenth of 
October, 1807, aged sixty-seven years. He was re^ 
spected by every one who knew him, as a just, an up- 
right, and a religious man. He was an excellent printer, 
as many of hb publications, still extant, abundantly tes«- 
tify. The country had no firmer friend, in the gloomiest 
period of its history, as well as in the days of its young 
and increasing prosperity, than Samuel Hall. 

The sweet remembrance of the just 
Shall flourish when he sleeps in dust 



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THE MASSACHUSETTS SPY. 



Isaiah Thomas, the original projector, one of the 
original proprietors, and afterwards, for many years, the 
sole owner of the Massachusetts Spy, was bom in Bos- 
ton, on the nineteenth of January, 1749. His ances- 
tors, who were of good repute, emigrated from England, 
and settled near Boston, soon after the foundation of the 
town. His father, Moses Thomas, was soldier, mariner, 
trader, and farmer, at different periods. After losing, by a 
series of unfortunate circumstances, a generous patrimony, 
he died in North Carolina, about the year 1752, leaving 
in Boston a widow in a destitute condition, with five 
children. Isaiah was the youngest of these, and when 
six y^ars old, was apprenticed to Zechariah Fowle, — a 
printer of pamphlets, ballads, tracts, hand-bills, &c. 
He was employed m setting types, for which purpose 
he was placed on a bench eighteen inches high, and 
extending the whole length of a double frame, which 
contained cases of Roman and Italic letter. His first 
essay with the composing stick was on a ballad, entitled 
*' The Lawyer's Pedigree ; " the types were of the size 
called Double Pica. 
20 

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230 ISAIAH THOMAS. 

Thomas remained with Fowle eleven years, when 
they disagreed and separated. He went directly to 
Halifax, Nova Scotia, intending to go thence to Eng- 
land, for the purpose of improvement in his profession. 
This intention was defeated by want of means to defray 
expenses. He remained in Halifax seven months, in 
the office of the Halifax Gazette. The printer of this 
paper, whose name was Henry, was not a very skilful - 
mechanic. He is represented as being indolent and 
inattentive to his business. From this man Thomas 
accepted an oflfer of board for his services, and the sole 
management of the Gazette devolved upon him. While 
he was thus employed, certain paragraphs appeared in 
the Gazette, which gave offence to the government of 
the province. Henry was admonished, and threatened 
with a prosecution, but was let off with an apology. 
An effigy of the stamp-master was exhibited, and some 
other proceedings took place, which were called sedi- 
tious, in which, it was supposed Thomas had some 
agency. An attempt was made to intimidate him, but 
it proved unsuccessful. He, however, deemed it pru- 
dent to leave the place. 

From Halifax, Thomas went to Portsmouth, N. H. 
in March, 1767, and worked some time in the printing- 
offices of Daniel Fowle and Russell & Furber. In 
July he returned to Boston, and was employed several 
months in the office of his old master, Zechariah Fowle. 
Afterwards he went to North Carolina, with an intention 
of carrying on the printing business at Wilmington ; but, 
after a series of embarrassing incidents, he relinquished 
his purpose ; and, with a second resolution to visit Eng- 
land, he entered as a steward on board a ship bound to 



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ISAIAH THOMAS. 231 

the West-Indies, intending to go thence to London. 
After performing duty on* hoard for ten days, he changed 
his views, and went to Charleston, S. C. Here he was 
employed for a period of two years, in a printing-office. 
In 1770, he returned to Boston, and entered into part- 
nership with his former master, Fowle. In July, they 
issued the first number of a small newspaper, called 
The Massachusetts Spy, It was generally printed on 
a quarter of a sheet, (but occasionally on a half sheet 
of four quarto pages,) and on a Long Primer type. 
Their address to the public was simply a few common- 
place promises to take great care in collecting the fresh- 
est and most authentic intelligence, the material transac- 
tions of the town and province, &;c. &lc. 

The first number of the Spy was distributed, gratui- 
tously, to the inhabitants of Boston and the vicinity. 
The publishers proposed to continue it, thrice a week, 
on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, The second 
number was published on the second day of August, and 
it was thenceforward issued three times a week, agreeably 
to their proposals, for three months. At the end of that 
time, their partnership was dissolved, and the publica- 
tion was continued by Thomas, twice a week, for three 
months longer. Encouraged by his success, he enter- 
tained the project of publishing a larger paper than had 
then been undertaken in New-England ; and, on the 
seventh of March, 1771, he published the Spy on a 
whole sheet, royal size, folio, four pages. To the title 
he added, — "A weekly political and commercial pa- 
per ; Open to all parties, but influenced by none,'* He 
considered this as a new publication, and called it No. 1. 
The title, Massachusetts Spy, was in large German text. 



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232 ' MASSACHUSETTS SPT. 

engraved on type metal, and stood between two cuts, ■ 




that on the left representing the goddess of Liberty ; — 
that on the right representing two infants, selecting flow- 
ers from a basket. The publication day was Thursday. 
When the first paper in this new form was published, 
the subscribers did not amount to two hundred. After 
the first week they increased, almost daily, and, at the 
end of two years the subscription-list was larger than 
that of any of its competitors. It was well supplied 
with political essays, adapted particularly to the taste 
and disposition of that class of citizens, who had com- 
posed the majority of its subscribers, when it was pub- 
lished in the smaller and cheaper form. For a few 
weeks, some communications were sent in by writers, 
who supported the proceedings of the government ; but 
those on the other side were more numerous ; and, not- 
withstanding the readiness, with which he published 
articles prepared by the friends of the ruling powers, it 
was well known that Thomas's political partialities were 
all on the side of the Whigs. It was not long before 
all the tory writers denounced the paper, and all the 



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ISAIAH THOMAS. 



• 233 



subscribers, who adhered to the government party, with- 
drew their support. The Spy was then devoted entirely 
to the cause of the Whigs, and the Whigs gave it a cor- 
dial and generous support. Many attempts were made 
to annoy the publisher, but without effect. He contin- 
ued to publish, boldly, and to defy all tory opposition, 
though he was frequently threatened with personal vio- 
lence. To indicate his resolution to uphold the cause 
of the Whigs, he added, as a motto, to the head of his 
paper, the well known lines from Addison's Cato, — 

Do thoa, great Liberty, inspire our souls, 
And make our lives in thy possession happy, 
Or our deaths glorious in thy just defence 1 

In October, 1772, the words " Thomas's Boston 
Journal," were added to the title of the Spy. 

Various attempts were made to injure the circulation 
and usefulness of the Spy, and to annoy its editor in the 
pursuit of his profession. Among other pitiful and pal- 
try acts of the Tories to this effect, was their refusal to 
permit him to obtain from the custom-house an account 
of the arrivals and clearances at the port of Boston, — 
an act, which produced the following Card in the Spy : — 

To THE PuBHO. A Tyrant may be justly compared to a Polypus, 
of which the smallest portion broken off becomes almost immediately 
as big, as yoracious, and as deformed a thingy as the original ; entan- 
gling, plaguing, and engulphing every thing within its reach and power. 
How applicable this may be to our petty lordsj the custom-house officers, 
every one is left to judge, after being informed that thet, to discourage 
this paper, as they phrase it, have denied this Press the Ship List, 
notwithstanding, according to the title, pieces from ail sides have been 
inserted in it. The Printer conceives himself in no wise to blame if 
the Court side are now at a loss for writers, it being his province only to 
publish. 

In a postscript, it was added that the Shipping List 
20 • 

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234 MASSACHUSETTS SPT. 

had been " refused by a Brother Typo, influenced by his 
ma$ter$ at the custom-house." 

This produced a note from Richard Draper, the print- 
er of the Massachusetts Gazette and News-Letter, in 
which ^he acknowledged that he refused to furnish the 
Shipping List for the Spy, under the influence of the 
custom-house officers ; and charged Thomas with having 
altered his publication day, for the purpose of injuring 
the Gazette. In his reply, Thomas justified the change 
he had adopted, and added, — " The judicious public 
will determine for themselves whether your respectable 
characters or their invaluable rights and privileges be 
most worthy of their attention, and, undoubtedly afford 
their countenance and patronage accordingly." 

Draper continued to pour out his tory invective, and 
several other measures were adopted by his friends and 
supporters to crush the Printer of the Spy. One of the 
mean attempts of Governor Hutchinson, to deprive him 
of a job, is thus noticed by Thomas : — 

" If thine enemy hunger, feed him." If thy (supposed) enemy hun- 
ger, 8TASVE him, is the pontifical language of a man in power, of whose 
piety and yirtue we have lately had such blustering accounts. 

The generality of the people in this town, and some persons of dis- 
tinction in Cambridge, know very well what pains have been taken by a 
man, whom we could not more disgrace than by saying, Ihat he is, and 

how he became, the g of this p e,* to bring on 

innocent man, and even offering to assist in this diabolical work ; Long 
ago would I have stopped the Press, could I but hare persuaded the 

t to have joined with me," we are told, were the words of 

his X The effecting this, no doubt, would haye been 

productire of an infernal pleasure ; and most likely, his } 

would, as Milton expresses it, hare " Grinned horribly a ghastly smile ! " 
The mean and low attempts of this great man to get a small job, that 
came unsought for, out of the hands of the Printer hereof, and put it 

• Goyernor of this prorlnca. 

t ConnclL % BzoeUeBcy. 



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ISAIAH THOMAS. 235 

into the hands of a tool of his, needs bat to be told, to make it appear 
that he is a Tyrant in the Abstbact. 

Draper continued his attacks upon the Spy, several of 

which Thomas suffered to pass unnoticed. At length, 

his patience appears to have become exhausted, and he 

gave out his intention of having no more to do in the 

quarrel, in this manner : — 

To Mr. KiCHABD Dbapeb. 
Recollecting Sir ! 

If yonr customers are satisfied to maintain a weekly 
newspaper, sacred to the ebullitions of your envy and private resent- 
ment, I have nothing to say in the affair. But though I might perfectly 
equal you in random invective, I have not the ambition to conceit my 
performances would add any thing considerable to the entertainment of 
my generous encouragers j whom I wish to divert in a much more 
agreeable manner, than by any thing which can arise from the uninter- 
esting squabbles of Mr. E. Draper and I. Thomas. 

Among the contributors to the Spy, were several 
powerful writers. A series of numbers, entitled The 
Centinel, begun soon after the publication of the paper 
in its new form, exposed, in a powerful style, the injust- 
ice of the acts of Parliament, and stated the grievances 
that the people suffered. The series extended to more 
than forty numbers. The motto to the first was. 

The child, that is unborn, will rue 
The hunting of that day, — 

from the ballad of Chevy Chase. A writer, under the 
signature of Leonidas, endeavored to stir up the spirit of 
the people, and skilfully controverted the essays written 
for the tory papers. But the boldest writer for the 
Whigs, was Mucins Scaevola. In one of his communi- 
cations, he proved, by quotations from the records of the 
Council, that Mr. Oliver, the Lieutenant-Governor, then 
" stood recorded as a perjured traitor." In the next paper 
he attacked Governor Hutchinson, and undertook to 



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236 MASSACHUSETTS SFT. 

show that Hutchinson was not the legal goveraor of the 
province, but a usurper, — that " he ought to be dis- 
missed and punished as a usurper, — and that the Coun- 
cil, according to charter, should take upon themselves 
the government of the Province." For the publishing 
of this article, the attorney-general was ordered to prose- 
cute the printer for a libel ; but the Grand Jury refused 
to indict him. Mucius Scaevola continued to write and 
Thomas to publish. 

In July, 1774, during the operation of the Boston 
Port Bill, and soon after the landing of four regiments 
of British soldiers, with a train of artillery, the Spy 
appeared with a new political device at its head, repre- 
senting a snake and a dragon. The dragon represented 
Great Britain, and the snake the Colonies. The snake 
was divided mto nine parts : the head was one part, and 
under it were the letters N. E. denoting New-England ; 
the second part, N. Y. for New- York ; the third N. J. 
for New-Jersey; the fourth P* for Pennsylvania; the 
fifth M. for Maryland ; the sixth V. for Virginia ; the 
seventh N. C. for North Carolina; the eighth S. C. 
for South Carolina; and the ninth part for Georgia. 
This device extended across the entire width of the 
page, and over it, in large capitals was the motto, 
"Join ob die."* 

Having rendered himself peculiarly obnoxious to the 
resentment of the Tories, and being openly threatened 
with violence by some of the British soldiery, Thomas 
thought that hb personal safety demanded that he should 



• Thlt devke was not entirely original with Thomas. The snake, divided, 
with the motto, was first published in an anonymous paper, called tlie Constitu- 
tional Cottimnt, said to have b^pn printed at Burlington, New-Jeisey, in 1768. See 
page 945. 



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ISAIAH THOMAS. 237 

leave Boston. Accordingly, a few days previous to the 
affiiir at Lexington, he packed up his press and a por- 
tion of his types, and sent them by night, across the 
river to Charlestown, — whence they were conveyed to 
Worcester. The press and types constituted the whole 
of the property, saved firom the proceeds of five years of 
labor ; the remainder was destroyed or carried away by 
the followers and adherents of the royal army when it 
left the town. 

On the night of the eighteenth of April, Thomas was 
concerned with Paul Revere and others in giving inform- 
ation that the British troops were crossing Charles 
River, with the supposed intention of destroying the 
military stores, that had been collected by the provmcial 
authorities at Concord. At day-break, the next day he 
joined the provincial militia at Lexington, to oppose the 
progress of the British troops. The next day he pro- 
ceeded to Worcester, and prepared to publish his paper 
at that place. 

On the third of May, — four weeks after the publica- 
tion had been suspended in Boston, — the Spy was pre- 
sented to the public in Worcester. This was the first 
printing that was executed in any inland town in New- 
England. It was now entitled "The Massachusetts 
Spy: Or, An American Oracle of Liberty.'* Over the 
title was the motto, — " Americans ! — Liberty or Death ! 
— Join or Die !" 

The first number published at Worcester was mtro- 
duced by the following brief notice to the Public : — 

The good people of this county, at a meetiiig some time since, voted 
to encourage the establishment of a Printing-Office in this place. In 
consequence thereof, application was made to me, then in Boston, to 



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238 MASSACHUSETTS SPT. 

issue proposals for publishing a weeklj Newspaper in this town, to be 
entitled, The Wobcebter Gazette, or American Oracle of Liberty. 
This I accordingly did ; Since that time, things have worn a different 
face in onr distressed capital, and it was thought highly necessary that 
I should remoye my printing materials from Boston to this place, and 
instead of publishing the intended Worcester Gazette, &c continue the 
publication of the well-known Massachusetts Spy, or Thomas's Boston 
Journal : I accordingly removed my printing ^itensils from Boston on 
the memorable nineteenth of April, 1775, which will be remembered in 
future as the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington. I intend pub- 
lishing this paper regularly every Wednesday, and have made an alter- 
ation in the title, in order to take in part of that intended for the 
Gazette. 

I beg the assistance of all the friends to our righteous cause to circu- 
late this paper. They may rely that the utmost of my poor endeavors 
shall be used to maintain those rights and privileges, for which we and 
our Fathers have bled ! and that all possible care shall be taken to pro- 
cure the most interesting and authentic intelligence. 

I am the Public's most obedient Servant, 
Isaiah Thomas. 

In the Spy of May 31, 1776, Thomas gave notice 
that he proposed to remove to Boston, — urged his cus- 
tomers to settle as soon as possible, — and said he was 
willing to do all in his power, towards continuing a 
printing-office in Worcester. He added, " If a sufficient 
number of subscribers appear, to continue to support the 
publication of a newspaper in this town, a Press, in all 
probability will be continued, and a public paper regu- 
larly printed each week after the handbill is out." 

The next number of the Spy was published on the 
twenty-first of June, following, by William Stearns and 
Daniel Bigelow, under a lease from the proprietor. 
They adopted a new motto ; — " Undaunted by Tyrants, 
we will die or be free." After a suitable explanation 
touching their business arrangements, they say, — 

The liberty and free exercise of the Press, is the greatest temporal 
safeguard of the State. It aasists the civil magistrate in wielding the 



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STEARNS AND B1Q£L0W. 239 

sword of justice — holds up to public view the vicious, in their truly 
odious colors — and " is a praise and encouragemeut to them that do 
well." It detects political impostors, and is a terrifi^ourge to tyrants. 
None can notoriously transgress the line of duty, wU^ may not be 
hereby subjected to public contempt and ignominy. It is one grand 
mean of promoting public virtue. It conveys knowledge to mankind, 
by acquainting them with the state of the community to which they 
belong, whereby they are better able to regulate their police t~- to sup- 
ply its defects, or lop off its excrescences. It serves to increase the 
majesty of the people, by giving them understanding in the times, and 
conveying to them " the knowledge of what Israel ought to do.** In 
fine, it is capable of being made the source of general literature. 

Daniel Bigelow was bom in Worcester, April 27, 
1752, and graduated at Harvard College in 1775. After 
surrendering the Spy to its proprietor, in 1777, he began 
the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar in 
1780. He opened an office in Petersham, represented 
that town in the General Court from 1790 to 1795, was 
a member of the executive council in 1801, and was 
some time county attorney. He died at Petersham, 
November 5, 1806.* 

William Stearns was a native of Lunenburg, in the 
county of Worcester, and graduated at Harvard College 
in 1770. He studied divinity, and preached for a short 
time, but was not settled as a clergyman. He then de- 
voted himself to the profession of the law, and was 
admitted to practice in December, 1776. He opened 
an office in Worcester, and his professional business was 
considerable, till his early death, in 1784.f 

These gentlemen conducted the Spy one year. It 
was then leased, for another year, to Anthony Haswell. 
These two years, — or a part of them, — were spent by 
Thomas in Boston and Salem. In the place last men- 

* Lincololi flifltory of WorcMter, p. 96S. f Ibid. p. 838. 



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240 



MASSACHUSETTS SPT. 



tioned, it was his intention to carry on the business of 
printing ; but not succeeding according to hb wishes, he 
sold the materials he had carried there, returned to 
Worcester, and resumed the publication t)f the Spy, with 
« new motto, — " Unanimity at Home, and Bravery and 
Perseverance in the Field, will secure the Independence 
of America." 

In 1781, the Spy was greatly improved in its paper and 
typography, with an engraved title, and these two devices 
at its head, — the design of which would hardly be un- 
derstood, without the explanation given by Thomas : — 





The device on the left is a figure representing America, an Indian, 
holding the cap of Liberty on a stafif with the left hand, and, in the 
right, a spear, aimed at the British Lion, which appears attacking her 
from the opposite shore. That on the right is a chain of thirteen links, 
with a star in each link, representing the onion of the thirteen States : 
the chain is placed in a circular form, leaving an opening for the arms of 
France, to which the ends of the chain are attached. Above the arms 
are two hands dasped, and, directly over them a sword, with its hilt 
resting on the clasped hands. 

The title now was " Thomas's Massachusetts Spy ; or 

the Worcester Gazette," with the motto, — "The noble 

Efforts of a Virtuous, Free, and United People, shall 

extirpate Tyranny, and establish Liberty and Peace." 



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ISAIAH THOMAS. 241 

At the conclusion of the war of the Revolution, the 
paper was enlarged, each page containing five columns, 
and printed on new types. The motto was again 
changed to " Noscere res humanas est Hominis — Know- 
ledge of the World is essentially necessary for every 
Man." The Spy was well conducted, and filled with 
excellent matter. Besides selections of news and com- 
munications on interesting subjects, the whole of Rob- 
ertson's History of America, Gordon's History of the 
Revolution, and large extracts from Guthrie's Geogra- 
phy and other British publications, enriched its pages, 
and rendered it more valuable than any other paper pub- 
lished in Massachusetts. A series of essays entitled the 
Worcester Speculator, appeared weekly. These were 
furnished by a society of gentlemen in the county of 
Worcester, of whom the Rev. Dr. Fiske of Brookfield 
was one. The numbers, written by him, together with 
some other pieces of his ccnnposition, were afterwards 
printed in two duodecimo volumes, entitled " The Moral 
Monitor." 

Occasional improvements were made in the mechan- 
ical appearance and in the literary character of the Spy, 
until March, 1786, when the proprietor suddenly sus- 
pended the publication, and issued a few numbers of a 
periodical, which he called the " Worcester Magazine," — 
intended as a substitute for the Spy, — but the attempt 
was not successful. The avowed reason for suspending 
the publication of the Spy, was the tax laid on " licensed 
vellum, parchment, and paper," by the Legislature of 
Massachusetts, passed m March, 1785. This act im- 
posed a duty of two thirds of a penny on newspapers 
and a penny on almanacks, which were to be stamped. 

21 

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242 MASSACHUSETTS SPT. 

It was extremely unpopular. It was to take effeot oa 
the first day of July next after its passage ; but the op- 
position to it was so extensive and determined^ that, at 
the next session of the Legislature, in June, 1785, it 
was repealed. But another act was passed, which im- 
posed a duty on all advertisements, printed in the news- 
papers. This was no less offensive than the former act ; 
and was considered by the Printers as a greater griev- 
ance, — "a shackle, which no legislature but ours, 
either in British or United America, have laid on the 
Press, which, when free, is the acknowledged great bul- 
wark of Liberty, and the boast of a Free and Independ- 
ent People." * The Spy of March 30, 1786, has the 
following article, in large and imposing type : — 

Extra Infirmaiion. Beai! 

THE MA.8SACHUSBTT8 SPY (which it is acknowledged has heen of 
very essential service to the cause of the United States, and to this 
Commonwealth in particular, before, at, and since the late Kevolntion) 
is now langnishing with a dangenus Wounds given it by the Legislature 
of MassachtisettSf on the second day of Jnlj last, ^1mlble and united 
application has been made for a particular kind of Court Plaister^ which 
could speedily have wrought a Cure; but as that Power ^ only, whogare 
the Wound^ could apply the Bemedy with effect, it could not be ob- 
tained I The wound grows worse daily — Mortification has taken place, 
and in all probability will soon prove fatal to the existence of that Old 
PiMick Servant I — " Alas, pock SPY ! " 

Gentle Reader, if thou hast a benevolent heart, thy compassion will 
be moved, when thou art informed that the Wound given was as unjust 
as it was unmerited — it was given at a time when this faithful Servant 
of the Publick, after having fought the battles of its country, was 
sounding forth her Praise — endeavoring to clear her from the Asper- 
sions thrown upon her by her enemies, and diligently watching their 
motions. 

Generous Reader, the services rendered by the Spt to the Publick, 
were not for the sake of sordid gain, but from Principle: — The only 
Reward for fifteen years hard duty was this inhuman attack upoii its 

* Mum. Spjr, Sept. 99, 178S. 



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ISAIAH THOMAS, JUN. 243 

existlince ! and the existence of all its near Relations, the whole Family 
of Gazettes in this Commonwealth. 

During the suspension of the publication, Thomas was 
engaged in the publishing and selling of books, and in 
making additions to his printing apparatus. On the se- 
cond day of April, 1788, the Spy reappeared, with the 
following salutatory : — 

The Printer has the happiness of once more presenting to the Pah- 
lick, the MA.SS1.CHU8ETTS Spt, or the Worcesteb Gazette, which 
at length is restored to its Qmstitutional Liberty, (thanks to our present 
Legislature,) after a suspension of two years. Heaven grant that the 
FREEDOM of tjhe PRESS, on which depends the FREEDOM of the 
PEOPLE, may, in the United States, ever he guarded with a watchful 
eye, and defended fix)m Shackles of every form and shape, until the 
trump of the celestial messenger shall announce the final dissolution of 
all things. 

The Spy was an advocate for the constitution of the 
United States, and joined with most other papers in their 
rejoicings when that instrument was adopted, and went 
into operation. Its editor was strenuous in favor of 
the introduction and use of titles. For a year or two 
after the organization of the Federal government, it sel- 
dom spoke of the President but as ^^ His Highness, 
George Washington," or " His Highness the President- 
General," &c. Mr. Thomas was connected with the 
Spy, till the year 1801. In 1792 it purported to be 
" printed by Isaiah Thomas and Leonard Worcester ; " — 
in 1793, " for Isaiah Thomas and Leonard Worcester, 
by Leonard Worcester ; " — in 1794, " by Leonard Wor- 
cester, for Isaiah Thomas;" — in 1801, "by Isaiah 
Thomas, jun. for Isaiah Thomas & Son ; " — and after- 
wards, " by and for Isaiah Thomas, jun." The name 
of the senior never afterward appeared in connection 
with the ownership of the paper. 



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S44 MASSACHUSETTS SPT. 

About the year 1814, Waiiam Manning, of Bo^n, 
became the publisher of the Spy, " for Isaiah Thomas, 
jun." A few years after, the establishment was sold to 
John Milton Earle, by whom it is still owned and pub- 
lished. It is the oldest newspaper in Massachusetts. 

Previous to his relinquishing the Spy to his son, Mr. 
Thomas had extended his business relations to several 
places. He was the senior partner in the house of 
Thomas & Andrews in Boston, which .carried on the 
business of printing and bookselling for many years sub- 
sequent to 1788. The Massachusetts Magazine, a 
monthly periodical, was published by them from the com- 
mencement of their partnership till 1795. In 1793, he 
set up a press, published a paper, and opened a book- 
store at Walpole, N. H. in connection with David Car- 
lisle, one of his freed apprentices, a native of Walpole 
In connection with another of his apprentices he estab- 
lished a paper at Brookfield, in the county of Worcester. 
He also had business connections at Albany, Baltimore, 
and Newburyport. Among the most important works, 
which came from his press at Worcester, was an edition 
of the Bible in folio, with plates ; an edition in quarto, 
with a concordance ; another edition in octavo, and a 
fourth in duodecimo. The types for this edition were 
kept standing, and were afterwards transferred to the 
office of Thomas & Andrews, in Boston. 

In 1810, Mr. Thomas published his History of Print- 
ing, in two volumes octavo, — a work of great labor, 
and which will give him an undisputed claim to the re- 
gard of posterity. He was the founder of the American 
Antiquarian Society, to which he bequeathed his valua- 
ble Library and a building for its accommodation. He 



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ISAIAH THOMAS, JUN. 245 

also^ave to the county of Worcester the land, on which 
a Court-House was erected, and to the town he made 
many donations of great value. From Dartmouth Col- 
lege he received the honorary degree of Master of Arts, 
and that of Doctor of Laws from Alleghany College. 
He was a member of the Historical Societies of Massa- 
chusetts and New- York, and of various other Philosoph- 
ical, Literary, Humane, Charitable, and Typographic 
Societies. In Freemasonry he filled the highest and 
most honored stations of the institution, and probably 
presided on, or was present at, more public conventions, 
dedications, installations, and festivals, than any other 
individual of the fraternity. He was President of the 
Antiquarian Society from its foundation to his decease. 
He was appointed a Justice of the Court of Sessions in 
1812, but never legally qualified himself to perform the 
duties of the office, and, it is believed, never took a seat 
on the bench. 

Mr. Thomas died at his residence in Worcester, on 
the fourth of April, 1831, at the age of eighty-two 
years, and his remains were deposited in a tomb, which 
he had erected many years before, as their intended 
place of rest. " His memory will be kept green, when 
the recollection of other eminent citizens shall have 
passed in oblivion. His reputation, in future time, will 
rest, as a patriot, on the manly independence, which 
gave, — through the initiatory stages and progress of the 
Revolution, — the strong influence of the press he di- 
rected, to the cause of freedom, when royal flattery 
would have seduced, and the power of government sub- 
dued its action." • 

* LineoIn*8 History of Worcester, p. 294. 
21 • 

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246 



MASSACHUSETTS SPY. 



The Constitutional Courant, referred to in the 
preceding account of the Spy, page 236, purports to be 
" Printed by Andrew Marvel, at the sign of the Bribe 
refused, on Constitution HDl, North-America," and is 
dated "Saturday, September 21, 1765." It has for a 
motto, " Containing matters interesting to Liberty y and 
nowise repugnant to Loyalty." It is a half sheet of me- 
dium size. In the centre of the title is the annexed 
device : — 




JOIN or DIE 

A large number of copies of this paper were secretly 
transmitted to New- York, and there sold by hawkers and 
pedlers, employed for the purpose. Mr. Thomas says 
it was printed at Burlington, and the copy now before 
me, which belongs to the library of Harvard College, 
has " Burlington, N. J." written under the words " Con- 
stitution Hill." The same copy has, under the name 
" Andrew Marvel," in the same hand, the words " pseu- 
donyme Wm. Goddard." This copy was presented to 
the College by the heirs of the late Rev. James Free- 
man, D. D. ; but these explanations are not in his hand- 
writing. Mr. Thomas, probably, had not a copy of the 



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ISAIAH THOMAS. 247 

paper before him, when he wrote his account of it ; for 
he calls it the Constitutional Gazette. He says, — It 
excited some commotion in New- York, and was taken 
notice of by the government. A council was called, 
and holden at the Fort in that city, but as no discovery 
was made of the author or printer, nothing. was done. 
One of the council demanded of a hawker named Sam- 
uel Sweeney "where that incendiary paper was print- 
ed ? " Sweeney, as he had been instructed, answered, 
"At Peter Hassenclever's iron works, please your honor." 
Peter Hassenclever was a wealthy German, well known 
as the owner of extensive iron works in New-Jersey. 
Afterward, other publications of a like kind, frequently 
appeared with an imprint — " Printed at Peter Hassen- 
clever's iron works." Only one number of theConstitu- 
ticinal Gazette [Courant,] was published ; a continuance 
of it was never intended. It was printed by William 
Goddard, at Parker's printing house at Burlington, — 
Goddard having previously obtained Parker's permission 
occasionally to use his press.* 

This paper contained but two articles, beside the ad- 
dress of the fictitious Andrew Marvel. 

*Hi«tot7 of PrintiDf, vol. iL p. aS28. 



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THE INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE. 



In the early part of the summer of 1776, Powars & 
Willis, having purchased the New-England Chronicle of 
Samuel Hall, presented themselves to the public as edi- 
tors and proprietors of the paper, saymg, — "As we 
shall, besides inserting all the most material advices, 
both foreign and domestic, endeavor to select such pieces 
of speculation as will best tend to encourage virtue and 
good order in society, and particularly such as may 
inspire all orders of men with a true spirit of resolution 
and heroism, in support of our invaluable rights and lib- 



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POWARS AND WILLIS. 249 

erties, we hope to be favored with the custom of all the 
late and present subscribers of this paper. They may be 
assured^ that the character it has hitherto sustained in 
exposing, condemning, and execrating the Jesuitical and 
infernal machinations of Tories and tyrants, and in ren- 
dering praise and honor to the manly and virtuous sup- 
porters of the GLORIOUS CAUSE OP America, we shall, 
with assiduity and zeal, endeavor to persevere." To 
the extent of their ability, these editors were faithful'to 
their engagements, and never faltered in condemning and 
opposing all, who were supposed to entertain any affec- 
tion for the British government. Their paper was an 
important auxiliary in promoting and sustaining the cause 
of the country. 

' Until November, 1776, they made no change in the 
title of the paper. In that month, they made sundry 
typographical improvements, gave it the name of " Inde- 
pendent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser," and deco- 
rated the head with the device, which is given above. 
Independence had been declared, and the war with 
Great Britain had begun in good earnest. All the inci- 
dents of the conflict were regularly detailed, and fre- 
quently accompanied with remarks, indicating entire 
devotion to political national independence, and a firm 
resolution to support the position assumed by the Conti- 
nental Congress. They were occasionally aided by cor- 
respondents. Samuel Adams, and John Hancock, and 
other prominent Whigs, were among the contributors to 
the columns of the Chronicle. One of their correspond- 
ents sent for publication the following verses, which he 
said had just fallen into his hands. The author's name 
is not given. They are a parody on a well-known Song, 
that was popular before the breaking out of the war : — 

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250 INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE. 

In a mouldering cave, where the oppressdd retreat, 

Columbia sat, wasted with care; 
She wept for her Warren — exclaimed against Fate, 

And gave herself up to despair. 
The walls of her cell she had sculptured around, 

With the form of her favorite son, 
And even the dust, as it laj on the ground, 

Expressed the high deeds he had done. 
The sire of the gods, from his crystalline throne. 

Beheld the disconsolate dame ; 
, And, moved at her tears, he sent Mercury down. 

And these were the tidings that came: — 
" Columbia, forbear ! not a sigh to alloy. 

For thy Warren, so justly beloved ; 
Thy griefs shall be changed into triumphs of joy, 

Thy Warren 's not dead, but removed. 
" The sons of the earth, the proud giants of old. 

Have broke fix>m their darksome abode; 
And this is the news — for in heaven it is told — 

They are marching to war with the gods. 
A council was held in the chambers of Jove, 

And this was the final decree. 
That Warren should soar to the armies above— 

And the charge was entrusted to me. 
" To Bunker's tall heights with the orders I flew j 

He begged for a moment's delay ; 
Like Wolfe, cried, — • Forbear ! let me victory hear. 

And then thy commands Til obey ! ' 
He spake — with a film I encompassed his eyes. 

And bore him away in an urn, 
Lest the fondness he felt for the heroes he left 

Should tempt him again to return.'* 

At the beginning of the year 1777 the Chronicle thus 
saluted the public : — 

The Printers and publishers of the Independent Chronicle and Uni- 
versal Advertiser, (to keep pace with others of their profession of more 
ancient standing) beg leave, through this channel, to congratulate their 
customers on the arrival of the New Year, — being the first that has 
rolled over since their publication. 

At the same time that they welcome in the New Year, they cannot 
pass over, in silent forgetfulness, the cruel, ip1ititth|.p treatment, that 
America has experienced, during a series of months, without mention- 



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POWARS ANB WILLIS. 251 

ing the desolating conflagration of Charlestown, Falmouth, Norfolk, 
&c. from those, whom she once embraced as her bosom friends ; and 
whose interest would, to this day, have been considered as inseparably 
connected with her own, had not a sincere love to America, in general, 
and the great and good law of self-preservation, dictated a total separa- 
tion : Which the Grand Council of these Confederated States, in their 
Wisdom, have seen fit for ever to dissolve. 

That America may prove victorious, and all, who have spirit, resolu- 
tion, fortitude, and virtue, sufficient to assert her much injured (thoug^ 
glorious) cause, obtain what the whole collective wisdom of these States 
say they have an " unalienable right " to, viz. ^ Peace, Libebtt, and 
Safety," is the ardent wish of the Public's much obliged, and most 
devoted, humble servants, The Pbintbbs, &c. 

Powars & Willis published the Chronicle till near the 
close of the war of the Revolution. The Rev. William 
Gordon, one of the ministers of Roxbury, wrote for it a 
great number of communications, on the subject of gov- 
ernment, intended chiefly to enlighten the people in re- 
gard to the nature and effects of the constitution of 
Massachusetts, — a draft of which had been reported by 
the convention called for that purpose. He also wrote 
other articles, in aid of the Colonies against the Parlia- 
ment.* 

After Powars left the concern, the Chronicle was pub- 
lished by Willis alone, till the fii-st of January, 1784, 
when it passed from his possession to the hands of 
Thomas Adams and John Nourse. 

Edwabd Eveleth Powars, the senior partner in 

* Dr. Gordon wu a nativo of Hertfordshiro, and, early In life, waa gettlad aa 
paator of a large independent cburcb at Ipawlch, in England. It it said that hia 
partiality for America caoaed bins to emigrate to tbit country, in 1770. Ue waa 
wltled over the third pariih In Roxbary, to 1779. He tooli an active part in publie 
measttree, during the war, and waa choeen chaplain to the Provincial Congreaa of 
Maasacbuaetta. Afler the war, he returned to hia native country, and publiabed 
hit Hiatory of the American Bevolution, — a work:, which bad occupied hia atten- 
tion for aome yeara, and for the compoaition of which be bad the advantage of eon- 
anlting the recorda of Congreaa, and of reading the lettera of Waahington, Gatea, 
Greene, Lincoln, and otbera. Qe^JUlenU Biograpkical Dietianary, 



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352 INDEPENDENT CHBONICLE. 

the firm of Powars & Willis, was, I believe, a native of 
Boston or Charlestown, He had been the printer of a 
paper before he joined Willis in the purchase of the 
Chronicle. After he left that paper he was connected 
with several others, none of which had the good fortune 
to gain extensive circulation, or to afford much profit to 
^he publisher. One of these, called the American Her- 
ald, he published in Boston, for six or seven years, pre- 
vious to 1788, when he removed to Worcester, and con- 
tinued the publication, under the title of the American 
Herald and Worcester Recorder. It was discontinued 
in about two years. I became acquainted with him in 
1803, when he was at work as a compositor in the office 
of Samuel Etheridge, in Charlestown. Afterwards he 
held the office of Messenger to the Governor and Coun- 
cil of the Commonwealth. At a later period, he was a 
traveling bookseller, and died on one of his expeditions 
in the Western States. 

Nathaniel Willis, mentioned above as the partner 
of Powars, was a native of Boston, and learned the 
trade of a printer in the celebrated house of Green & 
Russell. After disposing of his interest in the Chroni- 
cle, at the close of the year 1793, he removed to Win- 
chester, Virginia, and published a paper there, for a short 
time. He then removed to Shepardstown, where he 
also published a paper, and thence to Martinsburg, in 
which place he published a small paper, called the 
Potomac Guardian. His next, and, I believe, his last 
removal was to Chilicothe, in Ohio, — then the North- 
western Territory. There he printed the Scioto Gazette, 
which was the official paper of the territorial government, 
and probably the only paper printed within its limits. 



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NATHANIEL WILLIS. 253 

He purchased and cultivated a farm, near Chilicotbe, on . 
which he ended his days. He was the father of Nathan- 
iel Willis, — well kpown as the publisher of the Boston 
Recorder, — and the grandfather of Nathaniel P. Willis, 
one of the present editors of the Home Journal, in New- 
York, — whom merely to name is sufficient to awaken a 
sentiment of esteem and admiration for one of the most 
agreeable prose-writers, that our country has produced, 
and a poet, whose numbers will live to delight a future 
age, and place him m the foremost rank of those, who 
have invested wit with modesty and decorum, and added 
grace and innocence to the refinements of fashion. 

About the time when the treaty of 1783 with Great- 
Britain wag a subject of general interest, attempts were 
made in the Legislature of Massachusetts to restore the 
Tories, who had left the country, to their original rights. 
The writers in the Chronicle were zealous opponents of 
this plan. As an illustration of the temper and tone of 
their writings, take the following, from the Chronicle of 
May 22, 1783 : — 

A3 Hannibal swore never to be at peace with tibe Bomaas, so let 
every Whig swear — by the abhorrence of Slavery — by liberty and re- 
ligion — by the shades of those departed friends who have fallen in 
battle — by the ghosts of those of our brethren who have been destroyed 
on board of prison-ships and in loathsome dungeons — by the names of 
a Hayne and other virtnous citizens whose lives have been wantonly 
destroyed — by every thing that a freeman holds dear, — never to be at 
peace with those fiends the Befrigees, whose thefts, murders, and trea- 
sons have filled tiie cup of wo ; but show the world that we prefer war, 
with all its direful calamities, to giving those fell destroyers of the 
human species a residence among us. We have crimsoned the earth 
with our blood to purchase peace, — therefore are determined to enjoy 
harmony, uninterrupted with the contaminating breath of a Tory. 

When Adams & Nourse took possession of the Chron- 
icle, in 1783, they published a rery short address to the 

VOL. I. 22 

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254 INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE. 

public, soliciting a continuance *' of such speculations, 
as shall be adapted to promote the liberty of our country, 
and the general welfare of mankind." With many oth- 
ers, they took a decided stand against the Society of 
Cincmnati. One of their correspondents said, March, 
1784, — "The institution of Cincinnati b concerted to 
establish a complete and perpetual personal distinction 
between the numerous military dignitaries of their cor- 
poration and the whole remaining body of the people, 
who will be styled Plebeians through the community." 
In a note on this aiticle the editors said, — ^^ If the order 
of Cincinnati should appear to be fraught with danger to 
the exalted rights of human nature, tending rapidly to 
the introduction of an American nobility, as has been 
publicly affirmed, and not gainsaid, — such a military 
nobility, as plagued and domineered over Europe for 
centuries, — or if it tends to introduce even the mildest 
nobility, smce nobility itself is reprobated by these con- 
federated republican states^ is it not the duty of legislat- 
ors, governors, and magistrates, and their Electors, 
by all judicious and proper means in their power, to 
prevent such an institution from acquiring any degree of 
strength or influence in this free commonwealth ? ^ 

In the course of this year, Adams & Nourse were 
appointed "Printers to the General Court," and the 
Chronicle became the official paper of the government. 
Some typographical improvements were made; and the 
old device, at the head, gave place to a new one, which, 
with the explanation given of it, in the technical lan- 
guage of the sublime science of heraldry , here follows : — 

* In 1784, the town of Cambridge, by a formal vote in town-meeting, inetracted 
ibeir lepittMntative in tbe GepenI Cottrt to uw iiie endeaYon |o eaoM t|ie Sodetj 
of Cincinnati to be anppreMed. 

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ADAMS AND NOURSE. 235 




Explanation of the Dbyiob for the Anns of the Commonwealth 
of Massackusetts. 

SAPPHIRE, an Indian dressed in his Shirt and Mogginsins, belted 
proper ; in his right Hand a Bow, Topaz ; in his left an Arrow, its 
Point towards the Base of the Second; on the dexter side of the 
Indian's Head, a Star, Peabl, for one of the United States of America : 
Crest, on a Wreath a dexter Arm, doathed and raffled proper, grasp- 
ing a broad Sword, the Pommel and Hilt Topaz, with this motto, 
Ensepetit pUscidam sub Libertate Quiekm. 

At the same time, the motto, — "Truth its guide, 
Liberty its object,'' — was adopted, and continued as 
long as the paper was published. 

The Chronicle now assumed an important stand, both 
as a political and commercial joumaL Parties had not 
then taken the names, by which they were afterwards 
distinctly known, nor had the people in general adopted 
the peculiar principles, partialities, and prejudices, which 
afterwards constituted the creeds of the two great an- 
tagonbtic divisions of Republicans and Federalists. 
But it is easy to perceive, in the columns of the Chron- 
icle, that its editors and correspondents had a strong and 
emphatic affection for France, as the ally and friend of 



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256 INBEPENBSNT CHRONICLE. 

America, and an equally forcible and overpowering 
hatred of Great-Britain. It was not, however, till the 
Constitution of the United States was adopted, and the 
Federal Government began its operations, that the divid- 
ing line was dbtinctly drawn, and every man's political 
allegiance was known from the plainness and freedom 
with which he avowed his opinbns concerning the con- 
duct of those two foreign powers, and his character, as a 
Federalist or Republican, was determined accordingly. 

The partnership of Adams & Nourse continued till 
January, 1790, when it was dissolved by the death of 
Nourse. Adams continued the publication of the Chron- 
icle, as sole editor and proprietor, till some time in 1793, 
when he formed a partnership with Isaac Larkb. From 
this time the Chronicle was published twice a week, on 
Monday and Thursday, and was the second semi-weekly 
paper published in New-England. The partnership of 
Adams & Larkin was dissolved by the death of Larkin, 
in December, 1797, and Adams was again left as the 
only known proprietor and editor of the paper. Larkin 
was born in Charlestown, and was educated to the pro- 
fession of a printer. He was a brother of Ebenezer 
Larkin, a respectable publisher and booksdler in Boston. 
His character was that of an amiable and intelligent 
gentleman, a good printer, and a faithful friend. 

In 1798, the editor of the Chronicle and his corre- 
spondents opposed with great vehemence the ^^ alien and 
sedition laws," so called, passed, during that year, by 
Congress, in consequence of which the editor was pros- 
ecuted, under the provisions of the sedition act, and 
arraigned before the Federal Circuit Court, charged 
with sundry libelous and seditious publicati<His. In an- 

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THOMAS ADAMS. 257 

nouncing the fact, Mr. Adams said, — <^ Every remark 
on this important business will be deferred, till after the 
trial, finding ourselves too independent in principle to 
attempt to prepossess the public mind on this interesting 
question. The citizens of the United States may rest 
assured that the Chronicle, ever attached to a republican 
system of government, will always support the Rights 
OF THE People, agreeably to the sacred Charter of the 
Constitution." The arraignment of the editor was at 
the session of the Court in October, 1798 ; the trial 
was continued to the next term, to be held in June, 
1799. The result will be seen in the sequel. 

In the beginning of the year 1799, certain resolutions 
of the Legislature of Virginia, denying the constitution- 
ality of the alien and sedition laws, which had been 
passed by Congress the preceding year, were transmitted 
to the Governor of Massachusetts, and by him laid be- 
fore the Legislature for its action. The Chronicle had 
taken a determined stand against both these laws, and 
was bold and vehement in its opposition. The Legis- 
lature passed a " declaration," prepared by a joint com- 
mittee, affirming the constitutionality of the laws, and, 
of course, disapproving of the Virginia Resolutions. 
This official declaration was published in the Chronicle 
of February 18. In the same paper, in the editorial 
department, appeared the following article : — 

Historical Facts. A correspondent obsenres, that, on the last 
Wednesday in May, 1798, the Commonwealth of Massachnsetts was a 
'Tree, sovereign, and independent State, in all matters not specially com- 
mitted to the Continental Govemment ; and, in proof of it, appeals to 
the affidavits of about two hundred respectable witnesses, who made 
oath to the fact, as well as to the opinion that the Commonwealth 
" ought to be " so, in order to the admission of the witnesses to a seat 
in the Legislature of the Commonwealth. 
S3* 

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358 INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE. 

A qaestion being started by the Legidatnre of Virginia, ivfaellier IhB 
fovereignty of the mdiyidnal gtates was not invaded bj certain acts of 
Congress, which the state of Virginia deems nnconstitntional ; a ma- 
jority of the same witnesses, quoted in the preceding paragraph, dis- 
claim for themselTes, as members of the Legislature of MassachnseUB, 
and deny to all other States in the Union, any right to doade on ike con- 
stkutumaUhf of any acta of Congress, 

As it is difficult for common capadtaes to oonceire of a sovereignty so 
situated ihat the sovereign shall have no right to decide on any invasion of 
his constUutiottal powers, it is hoped, for the convenience of those tender 
consciences, who may hereafter be called npon to swear allegiance to 
the State, that some gentleman, skilled in Federal logic, will show how 
tiie oath of allegiance is to be understood, that every man may be so 
guarded and informed, as not to invite the Deily to witness a falsehood. 

In the same paper was the following, alluding to the 
speech of one of the Senators from Berkshire : — 

Mr. Bacon's speech in the Massachusetts Senate, on the Virginia 
Besolutions, has been read with delight by all true Republicans, and 
will always stand as a monument of his firmness, patriotism, and integ- 
rity. The following lines of the Jacobin Milton come near to the 
point: — 

** — So spake the Senator, faithful found 

Among the faithless, fiuthful only he ; 

Among innumerable £alse unmoved. 

Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified ; 

Nor number nor example with him wrought 

To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind. 

Though single.'' 

These articles were viewed as libels on the Legisla- 
ture, and the Grand Jury for the county of Su£blk found 
a bill of indictment against Abijah Adams,''^ the person 
employed as clerk and book-keeper in the office of the 
Chronicle. The trial came on before the Supreme 
Court, on the first of March. It was conducted by the 
attorney-general for the Commonwealth, James Sullivan, 

*It do60 not appear that Thomas Adaou, who was the editor and osteiwibly the 
proprietor of the Chronicle, was indicted for this libel. I have not been aMe to 
obtahi any explanation of this singular Act. 



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THOMAS ADAM8. 259 

who zealously upheld the doctrine of libels according 
to the common law of England. The doctrine was 
agreed to by the court. Benjamin Whitman and George 
Blake, in behalf of the defendant, contended that the 
common law was inconsistent with the republican prin- 
ciples avowed in the constitution of Massachusetts, and 
inapplicable to the nature and genius of the government. 
The evidence fully proved that Adams was the book- 
keeper for the editor^ and generally delivered out the 
papers to the customers. The plea urged by the prose- 
cutor was, that, as he delivered the papers, he was so 
far the principal, and guilty of publishing. The jury 
returned a verdict in these express words. That Mr. 
Abijah Adams was guilty of publishing only ; — which 
under the direction of the Court was reduced to the 
customary form. Mr. Adams was sentenced to thirty 
days imprisonment in the county gaol, to pay the costs 
of prosecution, and to find sureties, in the sum of five 
hundred dollars, for his good behavior for one year. He 
was immediately taken to the gaol, and passed the period 
of his imprisonment " with that resignation and fortitude, 
which becomes a man who can appeal to his conscience 
for the rectitude of his conduct." 

The paper which announces the imprisonment of Mr. 
Adams, says, — " CT* The Patrons of the Chronicle 
may still depend on the regular supply of their papers. 
The Editor is on the bed of languishment, and the Book- 
keeper in prison, yet the cause of liberty will be sup- 
ported amid these distressing circumstances." During 
the confinement of Mr. Adams, he was visited by many 
respectable citizens, who felt an interest for the cause, 
in which he suffered ; and among them was the venera- 

9 

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V 



360 INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE. 

ble proscribed patriot, Samuel Adams. He was dis- 
charged from prison on the 24th of April, and, in the 
Chronicle of 4he next day, returned '^ his thanks to bis 
numerous inends for their attention and kindness to him 
during hb confinement ; " and assured them " that the 
Liberties and Constitution of the country would ever be 
the objects contemplated in the prosecution of the Chron- 
icle." His release from prison was announced, editors 
ally, as follows : — 

Testerday Mr. Abijah Adams was dischaiged from his imprisoimient, 
after partaking of an adequate proportion of his " Ivrtk-right^ bj a con- 
finement of thirty days under the operation <^ the Common Law of 
England.* 

An elaborate review of the trial of Mr. Adams, em- 
bracing arguments in opposition to the principles laid 
down by the Court, — written, it has been said, by Mr. 
George Blake, — was published in the Chronicle, occu- 
py- pying several columns of each successive publication, 
from the eighth to the twenty-ninth of April, inclusive. 
Thomas Adams, the editor and proprietor of the 
Chronicle, had long been laboring under severe indispo- 
sition, and such was the nature of his physical disorder, 
that he relinquished all hope of recovery, and, on the 
first of May, 1799, disposed of all his interest in the 
Chronicle, to James White, a respectable and well known 
bookseller, whose store was in the same building with 
the Chronicle office, and was for many years designated, 
— and is still remembered by many, — by the sign of 
** Franklin's Head." In announcing his proprietorship, 
Mr. White (who was a Federalist) said, — he would 
** aim to have the paper conducted with decency and 

* Judge Dana, in bii charge to the Jury, ptonoanced tlie oonunon law of England 
to be the blrtb-rlgtat of a? ery American. 

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EBEN£ZER RH0ADE8. 36l 

fairness ''—that "without making pompous promises 
for the variety and excellence of matter " it should con- 
tain^ he would " leave it with the public to determine 
whether * Truth is its guide and Liberty its object/ and 
to give it such support as it may justly merit." 

Ebenezer Rhoades, a young man, who served an 
apprenticeship with Samuel Hall, and who had been 
employed as foreman, by Thomas Adams during his 
sickness, was engaged as the editor and printer of the 
Chronicle for the new proprietor, Mr. White. He 
opened his career in this new responsibility, with an Ad- 
dress to the Patrons of the Chronicle, from which the 
following b an extract : — 

The great first principles of civil liberty are, that aU legislative power 
proceeds fix)m the people; — that they have a right to inquire into 
the official conduct of their substitutes, the rulers; — to censure public 
measures when found to be wrong, and to use constitutional means to 
remove those, who violate the confidence reposed in them. These prin- 
ciples require, that there should be a public and free examination of 
the doings of the government Information on these subjects cannot 
be generally disseminated, but through the medium of newspapers. It 
is, therefore, necessary to the existence of civil liberty, that these should 
be open to writers, who discuss freely public measures, and even cen- 
sure them when &ulty. Under this impression, the editor solicits his 
republican friends to enrich the Chronicle with remarks on the adminis- 
tration of the government of our country. It is presumed the friends 
of the present system will not object to this. It is certain they ought 
not to do so ; for poor indeed must that cause be, which cannot bear an 
examination. As long as truth and decency are not violated — and 
these shall ever be held most sacred — the editor will not fear the noisy 
railings of zealots in party, who wish to deprive their antagonists of a 
fiur hearing. On the contrary, as the pboplb are to exercise their sove- 
reignty in judging the conduct of their rulers, he will never lead them 
to condemn without a fair hearing ; and giving fall opportunity to all 
of defending the conduct of the administration before the impartial and 
just tribunal of public opinion. Pieces written in justification of the 
government, therefbre, will not be refused admittance. It is hoped, 
hofweTor, th«t such pieces will oontaiii reasoniiig instead of invectiye ; 

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INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE. 

and will answer <ihe objections made against the administration, rather 
than exclaim Jacobin and IVaitor. In short, it is the intent of the editor 
to belong to no party ; to content himself with doing the duties of an 
editor, without abusing the public, by garbling and misrepresenting for 
party purposes. Men of opposite opinions may here express them, and 
the public shall weigh their merits. By hearing both sides, the people 
will be able to get at the truth, and form a righteous judgement. 

With respect to intelligence, the editor can only pledge himself for 
diligence, and presenting facts impartially to the public, as early as 
possible. He will aim to state, truly, the interesting events of Europe, 
whetiier they enliven or blast the laurels of France or of Britain. The 
American mind is to be informed of facts, and not to be deluded by fic- 
tion. If victoiy shall continue still constant to the French, and mon- 
archies be still changed to republics, the advocates for kingly power 
ought not to censure the newspaper that informs them of it ; and if the 
British lion is again to become rampant, and disquiet the world with 
his roarings, those, who have depended on seeing mankind enlightened 
and enfranchised by the French Revolution, ought to receive the story 
of their disappointment with the magnanimity of patriotism, and not 
criminate the newspaper which publishes it. 

The paper, which contained this address of the new 
editor, announced the death of ^< Capt. Thomas Adams, 
late editor of the Chronicle, in the forty-second year of 
his age." During his confinement, and at his death, 
Mr. Adams was under bonds to appear at the United 
States Court, then to be held in June, to answer for 
certain publications, that were made while he was con- 
fined to his sick room. A few days before his death, a 
physician, appointed by the Court and accompanied by 
an officer, to examine into the state of his health, reported 
that his condition would not admit of his appearance in 
Court. Heaven canceled the obligation and removed 
him from all responsibility to earthly tribunals. " The 
character of Mr. Adams, notwithstanding the malignity 
of party spirit, could never be impeached. His honor 
and integrity, benevolence and affability, as a citizen and 
friend, were never called in question by the most impla- 



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JAMES WHITE. 263 

cable of his enemies. Some, who had experienced his 
charity, may have demonstrated their ingratitude by their 
subsequent conduct, but, as a Christian and a brother, 
he forgave them. During his confinement, he ever ex- 
pressed his warm attachment to the liberties of his coun- 
try. The principles advocated in the Chronicle he often 
dwelt upon with the most pleasing satbfaction, and 
seemed to feel a consolation in his dying moments, that 
his Press had been devoted to the propagation of those 
sentiments, which had a tendency to promote the bless- 
ings of peace and independence." * 

The connection of Mr. White with the Chronicle 
continued only one year. On relinquishing the proprie- 
torship, in May, 1800, he explained to the public the 
nature and cause of his connection with the paper, in an 
Address, which for its candor and frankness, and the 
pleasant style, characteristic of the author's general good 
nature and gentlemanly deportment in all his transac- 
tions, is worth transcribing : — 

When the subscriber became the proprietor of the Independent 
Chronicle, he had two inducements to make the purchase. One, That 
the late proprietor, who was anxious for the future wellfare of his fiim- 
Uy, might ascertain the situation, in which he should leave them. The 
other — That the paper should be carried on so impartially as that men 
of opposite opinions might haye an opportunity of expressing them ; 
and the public be enabled to decide upon their merits. With these 
yiews the purchase was made. But many, who approved of them, 
doubted whether a paper could be supported upon the plan suggested. 
However difficult or novel it might appear, believing the principle just, 
. the subscriber was determined to make the attempt, and hazard the 
issue. He engaged Mr. Rhoades as publisher, and enjoined on him a 
strict adherence to the plan ; — which was to give intelligence as he re- 
ceived it, and not to abuse the public by garbling and misrepresenting 
for party purposes ; to endeavor, in the strictest sense, to make ^ Truth 

•Independent Cbionide, Haj 16, 1799. 

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264 INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE. 

hi« Guide," and not to TioUte it to oblige, nor withhold it through fear of 
offending, anyone: — to support acts of justice, and reprobate eyery 
unjust measure, without regarding the individual or nation, from whom 
it might proceed — not to become the tool of domestic or foreign, but 
to endeavor to harmonize and make every American a friend to his own, 
country. To this manner of conducting a paper no objection could be 
made ; for, if it did not succeed, no loss could accrue to the Printer, as 
the expenses were entirely at the risk of, and paid by, the Proprietor. 
A paper like this, must, from the nature of it, contain various senti- 
ments ; but when any have advanced opinions contrary to those of oth- 
ers, it has been open for writers on both sides to disci^s the subject 
frurly. If any have neglected the opportunity, it is their own fault, and 
the Editor ought not to be censured : he made the paper free ground for 
those who chose to advance with small arms, or more weighty pieces. 
The parties engaged have sometimes been bomb-proof, although at- 
tacked with solid arguments. They have often smoked their antag- 
onists — have frequently made random shots — and sometimes true fires. 
Some of the pieces have been raised rather too high, and now and then, 
either by frequent firing or bad ammunition, have become a little foul, 
and required sponging before they could be brought into fair action. 

One year has now elapsed, since Mr. Rhoades undertook to publish 
the Chronicle on this impartial plan. The experiment has been fairly 
tried and has so far succeeded, as to have obtained a respectable list of 
subscribers, fully sufficient to make it an object to continue it ; but the 
profits not being the principal object of the Subscriber in becoming the 
Proprietor, and his engagements in business being such as makes it not 
only Ycry inconvenient, but out of his power to pay attention to a paper, 
he has for some time determined to dispose of the property, whenever 
he could realize the first cost, and find a purchaser, who would under- 
take to conduct the press on the present plan. With this intention, Mr. 
Eben. Rhoades and Mr. Abijah Adams have made the purchase, and 
become the Proprietors. The next paper will be published by and for 
them. Mr. Adams has been in the ofiice for ten years. Mr. Rhoades 
has been the Editor for twelve months. They well know the reception 
the paper has met with at different periods, and can judge <^ the effects 
both of Good Custom and Common Law; and certainly will find it for 
their interest to secure the one and avoid the other. It is therefore pre- 
sumed that they will continue to be impartial ; to merit and receive the 
support of the present customers. . . J. WHITE. 

The next number of the Chronicle contained the 
salutatory address of the new proprietors, — written with 



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ABIJAH ADAMS. 265 

commendable brevity. After declaring that, "with as 
much correctness as they are able to command " in the 
management of the paper " Truth shall still be its Guide, 
Liberty its Object," they add the following sentiments 
with marks of quotation : — " Every departure from 
truth is pernicious. Impartiality should be a perpetual 
attribute of the press. Neither ftar on the one side, 
nor the ho'pt of reward on the other, should intimidate or 
influence its inquiries. It should neither be bribed to 
lavish unmerited applause, nor menaced into silence. 
The usefulness of periodical publications depends upon 
their steady adherence to rectitude. The moment cor- 
rupt or foreign considerations are suffered to bias or stain 
their pages, they become injurious to the general interests 
of society." 

Abijah Adams died on the I8th of May, 1816, aged 
sixty-two years. He was a native of Boston, and was bred 
to the trade of a tailor — a business, which he could not 
have pursued many years, as he was a clerk in the 
Chronicle office some time before the death of his brother, 
Thomas Adams. The following obituary notice, from 
the Chronicle, probably does no more than justice to his 
character : — 

On his sepulchre may be inscribed, Here lie the remains of an honest 
man. In the present state of society it is not from ** high life '* that 
"high characters are drawn." The man, who discharges his duty as a 
patriot, a parent, and a friend, is entitled to a enloginm. Mr. Adams, in 
domestic life, was exemplary ; in his friendship, nndeviating ; and, as a 
member of society, possessed those amiable qualities, which must erer 
endear him in the memory of his fellow-citizens. Mr. Adams, for many 
years, had been the senior editor of the Chronicle, and was ever de- 
sirous to conduct his paper with that propriety, which the tongue of 
calumny cannot depreciate, though often aimed to detract He was 
not so much concerned in the editorial department, as to make him 
responsible for every publication offered him ; he pursued his business 
23 

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266 INDEPENBENT CHRONICLE. 

with that drcumspection as not to excite party prejudices, but to give 
publicity to principles calculated to elucidate political subjects, as they 
occasionally rose in our national controyersies. Examination was the 
object contempb&ted, and though he finequently suffered persecution as 
an editor, yet the energies of his pursuits nerer fiiiled him. He sus- 
tained his misfortunes with a dignity becoming a Chiistian and a 
patriot. 

After the death of Adams, the paper was carried on 
by the surviving partner for himself and the heirs of 
Adams, till the summer of 1819, when the Chronicle 
was sold to Davis C. Ballard, (a son of Mrs. Adams 
by a previous marriage) and Edmund Wright, Jun. pub- 
lishers and editors of the Boston Patriot. It was united 
with that paper, and thenceforth ceased to exist as a 
separate publication. 

Ebenezer Rhoades was a native of Boston, the son 
of Jacob Rhoades, long known and celebrated as a ship- 
builder. He served an apprenticeship as a printer with 
Samuel Hall. Though connected with a paper, which 
often poured out gall and wormwood on its political op- 
ponents, his deportment in private life was remarkable 
for its suavity and gentleness ; and, in his social inter- 
course, he knew no difference between a Republican and 
a Federalist. He died in August, 1819, about a year 
after he sold his interest in the Chronicle. The follow- 
ing lines, which appeared in the Chronicle and Patriot, 
present a well-deserved tribute to his memory : — 

If for the hero tears are shed, 

And laurels spring above his head, 

Who sought, through blood, a deathless name. 

And sacrificed his life to Fame — 

For thee shall fairer flowerets bloom, 

And shed their incense on thj tomb, 

F&iBNDBHip shall cull the unfading wreath, 

For him who sleeps in peace beneatih — 



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EBENEZER RHOAOES. 267 

Wliile weeping Loyb, with mounifiil grace, 
Shall there the hallowed token place, 
And o'er the hnmble mound shall bend, 
To mourn tiie husband, parent, friend. 

Ere yet had gently closed tiiine eyes, 
Ere yet thy spirit sought the skies, 
Full many a heart, with feeling fraught. 
On thee ha^ turned the anxious thought, 
And, as was breathed the silent prayer. 
It found in Heayen a record there. 

Now peals the deep-toned funeral knell ! •— 

'Tis done 1 — Lamented shade, fabbwell I 

That soul which cheered us while on earth. 

Springs to the region of its birth — « 

Its path of duty, faithful trod, 

Shines in the Pabadisb of God. Lothaik. 

For a period of near thirty years, the Chronicle was 
the principal organ, in New-England, of a large and 
powerful political party. Of this party, the great orig- 
inal, head, and leader in the Vhiony was Thomas Jeffer- 
son. In the foremost rank in the party in MassachU'- 
setts^ stood that unwavering and consistent patriot, Sam- 
uel Adams. After the close of the revolutionary war, 
many of those, who had been the correspondents of the 
Chronicle, discontinued their contributions, and for three 
or four years the paper was almost barren of original 
discussion upon political affairs. When, from experience, 
the people discovered the fact that the Articles of Con- 
federation of the United Colonies but imperfectly an- 
swered the purposes of a permanent government for the 
Union, and the idea of forming a Constitution began to 
assume an mteresting aspect, one of the most popular 
and influential writers, which, after Otis, Adams, and 
Quincy, — had undertaken to direct the public mind, 
chose the Chronicle as the vehicle of his political corn- 
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368 INDSPENBENT CHRONICLE. 

-jnunicatioDS. Of this writer, who filled so large a space 
in the public vision, and who probably wrote more for 
the newspapers than any other man, not an editor or 
proprietor of a paper, it seems to be proper to give 
something more than a mere passing mention of his 
name. 

Benjamin Austin, Jun. was bom in Boston in the 
year 1752« He was the youngest son of Benjamin 
Austin, and was connected, on the mother's side, with 
the Waldo family, — formerly among the most influential 
and wealthy merchants of the province. 

Befijamin, the father, was one of the firm of Box &, 
Austin, doing business largely as merchants, especially 
in the importation of cordage, and other articles for pur- 
poses of navigation, most of which were then procured 
from abroad. He had enjoyed good opportunities for 
education, had visited England in his younger days with 
.uncommon advantages, had been there introduced to the 
early firiends of America, and had brought home and re- 
tained those principles of freedom and civil liberty, 
which form so conspicuous a feature in the writings of 
his son. He took an active part in public affairs ; — 
was repeatedly a member of the executive council of 
the province, until negatived by the Governor; — was 
one of the selectmen of the town of Boston, at the 
commencement of the siege, — and suffered severely 
in his property, during the military occupation of the 
town. He died on the 14th of March, 1806, in the 
ninetieth year of his age. Some there are, who still 
remember him as one of the Patriarchs of the ante- 
revolutionary age, all of whom have disappeared under 
the inexorable decrees of Time. His upright and ven- 

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BENJAMIN AUSTIN, JUN. 269 

erable form, the large white wig, scarlet roquelot, and 
gold-headed cane, were the personification of the man- 
ners and dress of a period in our history as a people, 
which may be studied with profit and satisfaction. 

Benjamin, the son, had no other education than such 
as was to be acquired in the public and private institu- 
tions of the town, which, even then, were not without 
distinction. After the preliminary studies, which these 
schools enabled him to procure, he was placed in the 
mercantile establishment of his uncles, the Waldos, and 
remained with them during the usual term of appren- 
ticeship. In their service he was also occupied some time 
afterwards, and in the mean time, he made one or more 
voyages to Europe and the West-Indies. It was during 
his connection with the Waldos, that he made his first 
attempt as a political writer. The act of Parliament, of 
1767, imposing taxes on the Colonies, struck directly 
upon the business, in which those gentlemen were en- 
gaged. In the year following, the act was carried into 
operation in the case of a vessel belonging to Mr. 
Hancock, on which occasion the public mind was strongly 
excited, and the persons of the officers of the crown 
were assaulted, and their property destroyed. Soon 
afterwards, two regiments of British soldiers arrived and 
were encamped in the town. 

During the excitement of this period, an article ap- 
peared in one of the newspapers, which attracted the 
attention of Samuel Adams, and his associates, who held 
frequent meetings in a small wooden building in Milk- 
street, then occupied by Samuel Shed. Mr. Shed kept 
a respectable grocery store in the front and lived with his 
family in the rear. His inner parlor was well known as 
23* 

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370 iia>EPEia>ENT chronicle. 

the place where these leaders of the opposition to Brit- 
ish tyranny congregated. There it was, that the first 
idea of Independence suggested itself to these men. 
There it was, that the freedom of the country firom the 
British yoke was conceived by the little band of noble 
spirits, that boldly pushed forward to accomplish it. 

Mr. Adams and his colleagues were astonished at the 
energy and boldness of this article, and wondered the 
more that it had been written and published without 
their previous assent. Who was this new and unknown 
ally ? They sent for the printer. He was unable to in- 
form them. He had received it anonymously, and could 
give no indication of the author. It was followed by 
others of equal ability. But the secret, though care* 
fully kept from the public, and especially from the cus- 
tom-house commissioners, was not long undiscovered by 
this conclave of Patriots. They soon ascertained that 
the writer was Benjamin Austin, Jun. and under their 
direction, the pen of this young man was repeatedly 
employed to aid their plans."*^ 

The Revolution broke up the business of the Waldos. 
I have not been able to obtain any precbe bformaticm 
of Mr. Austin's employment during the period, which 
followed their embarrassments, but am inclined to believe 
that he was engaged with them in the arrangement and 
settlement of their, widely-extended afiairs. In 1784, 
he was in England, making preparations for a mercantile 
partnership with his only brother, then just formed, 

* This anecdote was related by Mr. Austin himielf to the gentleman, to whom 
I am Indebted for it. I am not able to state in what paper these articles ap- 
peared,— though it was doubtless Edes Ac Gill's Boston Gazette, as the other pub- 
lishers were extremely cautious of inserting articles tliat might subject them to 
the resentment of the officers of government. 



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BENJAMIN AUSTIN, JUN. S71 

under the firm of Jonathan L. & Benjamin Austin, and 
which was continued through the greater part of his life. 
In addition to their commercial transactions, this firm was 
engaged for some years in the manufacture of cordage, 
having extensive works for this pupose, at the foot of 
Beacon Hill. 

It was soon after this, that Mr. Austin became a steady 
correspondent of the Chronicle. The financial affairs 
of the country, the embarrassments of trade, the excess* 
ive importations of British goods by British agents, and 
many other causes of public excitement, afforded him 
subjects for comment. While the Constitution of the 
United States was a subject of interesting discussion, liis 
pen was not inactive; and when that instrument wa3 
submitted to the people for their decision, he reviewed 
some of its features, with expressions of distrust that 
they would prove too aristocratical in their results, and 
lead to the creation of privileged orders, that might be 
destructive of the liberties of the people. 

Mr. Austin was several times a member of the Legis- 
lature, both as a representative of the town of Boston, 
and as a Senator from the county of Suffolk. In 1801, 
he was appointed by Mr. Jefferson, then President of the 
United States, to the ofQce of Commissioner of Loans, — 
an office, which he held many years, and the duties of 
which he discharged with distinguished talent and fidel- 
ity. He was twice elected a member of the Board of 
Selectmen of Boston. It was soon after his second 
election to that office, that he died, on the 4th of May, 
1820, in the 69th year of his age. 

The personal and private character of Mr. Austin 
was much misunderstood, — and, perhaps, often mis- 

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272 INDEPENBENT CHBONICLE. 

represented, — in consequence of the violent political 
passions, which agitated the public nund, during many 
years of his life. He was an ardent advocate of the 
political principles of Thomas JelSTerson, and a conscien- 
tious defender of popular rights. This attachment to 
Jefferson brought him in conflict with the leading Feder- 
alists of his day, and rendered him an object of vitupera- 
tion and wrath. But, whatever may have been said of 
him, by those who were opposed to him in politics, and 
however severely he may have handled those, whom hd 
thought pursuing a course inconsistent with the honor and 
prosperity of the country, he was exemplary in all the 
relations of social life, — a good neighbor, a kind friend, 
a pleasant and agreeable companion. He was a man of 
considerable wit and humor. Sometimes he ridiculed 
his political opponents with great effect. His conversa- 
tion was remarkable for its good-natured tone, and 
though his remarks were occasionally spiced with a little 
sarcasm, they were not tinctured with offensive bitter- 
ness. He was unmercifully lampooned in the federal 
newspapers, and his personal appearance was carica- 
tured in a work called a " Review of the Jacobiniad.'* 
But I believe he never sought legal redress for any of the 
multifarious libels, that he endured from political oppo- 
nents. 

The Chronicle was indebted, mainly, to Mr. Austin 
for its influence and success. His contributions were 
entirely gratuitous. He lived at the comer of Hancock 
and Cambridge-streets, and transacted business in State- 
street or on Long Wharf. It was his ordinary custom, 
while on his way from his residence to his place of busi- 
ness, to stop at the Chronicle office, — to have a chat 

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BENJAMIN AUSTIN, JUN. 373 

with the editors, and to write a paragraph, — perhaps 
an essay, — for the paper. The office was also fre- 
quented by several of the prominent men of the party, to 
which he belonged. Frequently, while they were in 
earnest conversation, Mr.- Austin would write paragraph 
after paragraph, uninterrupted by the conversation and 
often joining in it. He often wrote articles of consider- 
able length, in such circumstances, on the back of a hand- 
bill or on any scrap of paper that first fell in his way. 
For twenty years, at least, hardly a number of the 
Chronicle was issued, that did not contain something 
from the pen of Mr. Austin. His style was vigorous 
and clear, and though he wrote with great rapidity, and 
seldom revised what he had written, his sentences are in 
general, symmetrically constructed, and seldom (though 
still too often) disfigured by the interpolation of foreign 
words and phrases ; — a species of affectation, which fire- 
quently disgraces the composition of many, who make 
high pretensions to scholarship. I believe he never at- 
tempted to conceal the origin of any thing, which he 
wrote, though innumerable paragraphs were published 
without a signature. But his longer and more important 
contributions are signed " Honestus " and " Old South." 
So numerous were his writings under the first of these 
signatures, and so well was he known as the writer, that 
he was as firequently spoken of by the newspaper epi- 
thet as by his real name. It passed into a by-word 
among his political opponents, on the Exchange, and in 
the public streets. The essays of Honestus were begun 
in March, 1786. The first number was entitled '^ Some 
Observations on the Practice of the Law, offered for the 
Berious consideration of the Legislature ; " and this sub- 
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374 IND£PENDEirr CHRONICLK. 

ject was pursued through a loug series of communica- 
tions, which very naturally produced essays of an op- 
posite character, some of which were published in the 
Chronicle, but they were chiefly in the Centinel. The 
following lines stand as a motto to the first essay of 
Honestus : — 

When will BeneTolenoe the Lawyer warm ? 

Or when plain Honesty the Courtier charm ? 

How flames mj Mood, indignant at the thought 

That Laws are bartered ; human Passions bought I 

That men no more the soft; sensations feel, 

And gold — cursed gold, -^ the bosom turns to steel. 

In 1798, Mr. Austin wrote several articles under this 
same signature, in defence of the policy of President 
Adams, who, it will be remembered, entertained views 
somewhat different firom those of Alexander Hamilton 
and other Federalists, in relation to a war with France. 
For this he was assailed by writers in the federal papers, 
but by none other with quite so much vulgarity as one 
in the Mercury, who began his attack in this fashion : — 

" HONESTUS " —A hungry, lean-faced fellow, 
A mere anatomy, a rope-maker, 
Anenyious, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch; 
This living dead man, this incessant scribe, 
Forsooth, took on him as a chronicler. 
And, with no &ce, out-facing federal foes, 
Cries out. They are possessed. 

Who would have thought it? Honestus is again in print This 
abominable booby has not yet learnt that he is uniTersally despised, and 
his doings and looks are alike sickening 

The rest need not be quoted. A portion of the essays 
signed '< Old South " were republished m 1803, in an 
octavo volume of more than three hundred pages. In 
an introductory number, he refers to the town-meetings, 



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BENJAMIN AUSTIN, JUN. 275 

which had been held in the Old South Meeting-house, 
when the merits of the British treaty of 1794 were the 
subject of discussion, and adds, — " To commemorate this 
important era, the signature of Old South is now taken." 
The contents of this volume, — if now read, — will 
excite sentiments very different from those, with which 
their first publication was received. Readers of this and 
future generations, who have taken, or may take, the 
character of Mr. Austin, from traditionary report, or 
from the efiiisions of newspaper writers of the period, 
in which he lived and wrote, will probably be surprised 
to find nothing that is inconsistent with public order or 
private morality — no single line or sentiment, in viola- 
tion of the duties of a Christian or an honest man. In 
his Prefatory Address, he remarks : — 

Harmony, peace and moderation depend on the body of republican 
citizens^ acting upon one consolidated principle in support of the const!- 
tntion and laws of the goyemment. An union of republicans and 
monarchists can never be expected; an union with those who advocate 
unnecessary taxes and those who are opposed to them, is chimerical ; 
an union of those, who use scurrility and defamation, with those, who 
substantiate their measures by reason and sound policy, is reversing 
every logical decision j an union with friends of order and the revilers 
of an administration, which inculcates peace abroad and harmony at 
home, is as impossible as a cordiality between God and mammon. The 
union sought after depends on the candid deliberation of the weU- 
disposed citizens, whose happiness is involved in the permanency of a 
wise and economical administration. An union of this kind may be 
effected ; as we have reason to think that many honest men have been 
in opposition, from the arts and intrigues of such classes as are above- 
described; and we charitably hope, a pre-eminent character,'*^ now in 
retirement, is convinced that he was deceived by them, who pretended 
the highest friendship towards him. We ever Tfdsh to revere his chai^ 
acter^or the peart he took during our revolutiofi; and we pray God that his 
last days may be employed in exposmg those culprits, who pretend to 
venerate him, while diey eulogise the man,t who attempted to blast fail 
name with infamy and reproach. 

* Jobn Adams. f Alenndar Hamilton. 

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276 nmspsNDENT chronicle. 

Taking this gioimd, the antlior has considered the Tarions suhjects 
contemplated. He has noticed eyeiy indiyidaal in his political charac- 
ter. As priyate men, he estimates them in proportion to their social vir- 
tnes, and does not wish to inyalidate whatever may be essential to their 
moral rectitude. He acknowledges to have written with freedom ; bat 
the controversy of the present day, as connected with the iutnre happi- 
ness of our common country, demands an unequivocal investigation of 
men and measures. He is willing to stand the test of principles ; and, 
for this purpose only, has he consented to give his name as a voucher 
for the sincerity of his observations. 

The cause of real, und^filed religion, as inculcated in the Gospel, he is 
ever desirous to espouse ; and if any remarks on its professors appear 
pungent, it is for the sole purpose of discriminating between piety and 
hypocrisy. Neither would he uncharitably condemn all such men as 
differ from him, as hypocrites or apostates; yet the severity and in- 
decency, with which some have replied to his remarks, justify him in 
administering the tartar of retaiiation. 

Those, who wish to be more particularly informed of 
the character of Mr. Austin's intellectual capacities, the 
power of his political prejudices and predilections, and 
the motives, by which he was animated as a writer, will 
do well to consult his published writings, — but an in- 
considerable part of which are contained in the volume 
here referred to. 

In 1806, an incident of a most extraordinary and agi- 
tating nature occurred, in the fatal consequences of 
which Mr. Austin and his family were deeply and pain- 
i^Uy involved. The fever of political animosity was at 
its height. Each political party projected a celebration 
of the 4th of July. The Federalists held their festival 
in Fanueil Hall ; the Republicans had theirs on Copp's 
Hill. The entertainment was provided for the Republi- 
cans, by a man who kept a tavern in Charlestown ; that 
for the Federalists by the man who kept the public 
house, known as Concert Hall. A few days after the 
celebration, rumors were circulated about the town that 
the Republicans had a difficulty in settling their account 

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BENJAMIN AUSTIN, JUN. 277 

with the contractor for their dinner, and this rumor was 
accompanied with reproachful comments in the federal 
papers. As an offset, it was stated in the Chronicle 
that the tavern-keeper, who supplied the entertainment 
for their party, was paid, and that " a receipt in full 
could be produced for every roinutiaB furnished on that 
occasion," and added, " Let the federal gentry produce 
a receipt in foil for their entertainment." This was fol- 
lowed up by paragraphs and communications, by both 
parties, of a character highly irritating, and tending to 
exasperate passions, that were easily inflamed. The 
persons more immediately concerned in carrying on this 
unfortunate controversy were Mr. Austin, who waa 
chairman of the republican conomittee, and Thomas 
O. Selfridge, who was one of the most active members 
of the federal party. A controversy had arisen between 
the federal committee and some of the persons, who 
contracted for the entertainment. Mr. Selfridge had 
been employed, professionally, to adjust the difference, 
and this gave to Mr. Austin occasion for some offensive 
remarks. On the fourth of August, the following notice 
appeared conspicuously in the Boston Gazette : — 
AUSTIN POSTED. 

BENJAMnr AvsTiK, Loan-0£Scer, having acknowledged that he has 
drcnlated an infamous falsehood concerning my professional conduct, 
in a certain case, and having refused to give the satisfaction due to a 
gentleman in similar cases : — I hereby publish said Austin as a COW- 
ARD, a LIAB, and a SCOUNDBEL; and if the said Austin has the 
effipontery to deny any part of the charge, he shall be silenced by the 
most irrefragable proof. THOMAS O. SELFRIDGE. 

P. S. The yarious editors in the United States are requested to insert 
the abore notice in their journals j and their bills shall be paid to their 
rwpeetiTe agents in this town. 

The Chronicle and Gazette being issued on the same 
24 

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278 INDEPENDENT CH&ONICLE. 

morning, a considerable number of copies of tbe Chron- 
icle bad passed tbrougb tbe press, before tbe Gazette 
was seen by Mr. Austin. A part of tbe edition of tbe 
Chronicle contained the following : — 

Considering it derogatory to enter into a newspaper controversy with, 
one jT. 0, SdJHdge^ in reply to his insolent and FALSE publication in 
the Gazette of this day ; if any gendeman is desux>a8 to know the facts 
on which his impertinence is founded, any information will be given by 
me on the subject BENJAMTNT AUSTIN. 

Boston, Aug. 4. 

D:^ Those who publish Selfridge*s statement are requested to insert 
the above, and they shall be paid on presenting their bills. 

About one o'clock of tbe day, on which these publi- 
cations appeared, Charles, a son of Mr. Austin, and Mr. 
Selfridge met on tbe side-walk, on the south side of 
State-street, not far from the comer of Congress-street. 
No person was near enough to hear any words that 
might have passed between them. In less than a min- 
ute after they met, Selfridge was seen to draw a pistol 
fix)m his pocket, and discharge it at Austin. Austin 
instantly struck Selfridge, — or at him, — with a small 
stick be bad in bis band, and fell from the side-path on 
to the pavement, and, without speaking, expired, — tbe 
blood gushing from his moutb. The ball bad entered 
bis breast, just below tbe left pap, and passed through the 
body. This sad and agonizing event, the judicial pro- 
ceedings, which followed, and tbe acquittal of the man, 
whom tbe jury of inquest charged with murder, bad a deep 
and painful influence on the after-life of Mr. Austin. The 
expressions of sympathy were many and sincere, even 
from political adversaries. Whatever provocation might 
have been given by tbe bitterness of political contro- 
versy, it is certain that none, but tbe most implacably 



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BENJAMIN AUSTIN, JUN. 279 

vindictive, could fail to be softened by a knowledge of 
the agony of this tremendous infliction, and by the suf- 
fering it carried into the midst of a family, which his 
domestic habits and attachments had made the centre of 
all his affections* 

Charles Austin was in the nineteenth year of his age. 
He was a member of the Senior class of Harvard Col- 
lege. He acquired the rudiments of a collegiate educa- 
tion at Phillips Academy, in Andover, and had frequently 
received from the instructers in that institution, as well 
as those at Harvard, testimonials of approbation. The 
Faculty of the College had assigned to him one of the 
highest parts in the exercises of the Commencement, 
that was then soon to follow. His friends looked for- 
ward to that day; with pleasing anticipations of a per- 
formance, that would justify the estimate they had formed 
of his talents and principles. , He died by the hand of 
violence, in the midst of his hopes. His funeral was 
attended by a long procession of citizens of Boston and 
the neighboring towns.* The pall was supported, and 
the corpse preceded, by the Senior class of Harvard 
College, and followed, immediately after the relatives, 
by the President, Professors, and Tutors of that institu- 
tion. 

For many weeks succeeding this tragedy, the Chroni- 
cle poured out its anathemas on the Federalists, whom it 
charged with art, intrigue, and deception, and a desire 
to stifle all investigation of their measures, even by the 
use of the pistol. The '< Reflections " of the editors, 
and the communications of correspondents, were not 
adapted to allay excitement. The federal papers of 

• See Indepeodeot Cluronlcle, Anguat 7 and 11, 1806. 

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280 INBEPEITPSNT CHRONICLS. 

Boston maintained a general sUence in relation to the 
subject ; but numerous letters, written from Boston, were 
published in other places, and tended to provoke a con- 
tinuance of the animadversions of the Chronicle. The 
charge of Chief Justice Parsons to the Grand Jury, at the 
commencement of the term of the Court when Selfridge 
was to be tried, occasioned elaborate comments in the 
Chronicle, many of which bore evident marks of legal 
knowledge in the writer, and practical investigation of the 
laws concerning murder, manslaughter, and homicide. 
The reader who may wish to examine the articles relating 
to these exciting transactions, may gratify his curiosity by 
consultbg the columns of the Chronicle, for several 
months succeeding the beginnbg of August, 1806. 

During some of the later years of his life, — after 
the asperities of political hostility had, in some measure, 
become softened, and the federal party had dissolved its 
organization, — Mr. Austin continued to indulge his dis- 
position to write for newspapers, and wrote several col- 
umns of criticism on the theatre — exposing what he 
thought the immoralities, vulgarities, and absurdities of 
the stage. Though amusing enough, and not always 
unworthy of the consideration of the reflecting philoso- 
pher and moralist, these essays added nothing to his rep- 
utation as a writer. Literary reputation, indeed, he 
never coveted. The field of politics was that, in which 
it seemed he was created to labor, and in that field he 
had ample employment. 

There were other writers of considerable notoriety, 
who contributed political communications, — among 
whom were Perez Morton, afterwards the attorney- 
general of the Commonwealth, and Dr. Charles Jarvis. 



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INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE. 381 

The last-named gentleman was often a representative 
from Boston in the General Court, before the federal 
party gained the entire ascendency. He was celebrated 
for his oratorical powers, which were really of a high 
order. I am not able to identify the writings of either 
of these gentlemen, nor those of numerous others, who 
frequented the office of the Chronicle, and aided the 
editor in his labors. 

From an obituary notice in the Chronicle of Septem- 
ber 24, 1798, it appears that Thomas Greenleaf had at 
some time been employed as editor or assistant editor of 
the paper. It is there said, — "He was a steady, uni- 
form, zealous supporter of the Rights of Humanity ; a 
warm friend to civil and religious liberty, unawed by 
persecution or prosecution, both of which it has, not un- 
frequently, been his lot to experience. He loved his 
country ; and if, at any time, as Editor of this paper, he 
dipped his pen in gall, and exercised it with unusual 
severity, it was occasioned by that strong abhorrence he 
felt against political apostacy, and the fervor of his 
wishes to preserve the Constitution firom encroachment.'' 

Though the leading traits in the character of the 
Chronicle were of a strong political complexion, yet 
there are many evidences that the conductors, — at least, 
from the time of Adams & Nourse, — were not deficient 
in literary taste. Their selections of poetry, which often 
occupied an appropriate comer, were frequently of a 
higher character than ordinary. The origin of the piece 
which follows, is unknown. It is introduced by a note, 
saying it was suggested by a passage in Edwards's His- 
tory of the West Indies, which describes the once cele- 
brated " Obi," — a farrago, composed of blood, feathers, 
24* 

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282 INDSPENOENT CHBONICLE. 

parroU' beaks, broken bottles, grave dirt, rum, and egg 
shells. By the proper mixture of these ingredients, the 
negroes imagined they could elSTect the destruction of 
their enemies : — 

THE mCGRO INCANTATION. 

Hail I ye sacred horrors, hail 1 

Which, brooding o'er this lonely vale, 

Swell the heart, impearl the eye. 

And raise the rapt soul to the sky. 

Hail 1 spirits of the swarthy dead, 

Who flitting through the dreary shade. 

To rouse your sons to vengeance fell, 

Nightly raise the troublous yell 1 
Hail I Minister of 111, whose iron power 

Pervades resistless earth, and sea, and air. 
Shed all thy influence on this solemn hour, 

When we with magic rites the white man's doom prepare. 

Thus Congo spoke, " what time the moon, 

** Biding in her highest noon,** 

New beamed upon the sable crowd. 

Now vanished in the thickening doud. 

' Twas silence all — with frantic look. 

His spells the hoary wizard took ; 

Bending o'er the quivering flame. 

Convulsion shook his giant frame ; 
Close and more close the shuddering captives throng, 

With breath repressed, and straining eye they wait. 
When midst the plantains bursts the awfrd song, 

The words of mystic might, that seal their tyrant's fete. 

Haste! the magick shreds prepare — 

Thus the white man's corse we tear, 

liO 1 feathers from the raven's plume, 

That croaks our proud oppressor's doom. 

Now to aid the potent spell, ' 

Crush we next the brittle shell — 

Fearful omen to the foe, 

Look ! the blanched bones we throw. 
From mouldering graves we stole this hallowed earth, 

Which mixed with blood, winds up the mystic chann ; 
Wide yawns the grave for all of northern birth, 

And soon shall smoke with blood each sable warrior's 



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INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE. 283 

Hark ! the pealing thunders roll, 

Grateful to the troabled soul. 

Seel the gleamj lightnings play, 

To point you to your destined prey, 

Hence ! with silent foot and flow, 

And sudden strike l2ie deadly blow: 

Your foes, the balmy shade beneath, 

lie locked in sleep — their sleep is death ! 
Go I let the memory of the smarting throng 

Outlead the pity that would prompt to save ; 
Go let llie oppressor's contumelious wrong. 

Twice nerve the hero's arm, and make the coward braye. 

Of the origmdl political poetry the following specimen 
must suffice. It was written at Suffield, Conn, and pro- 
posed as a Psalm for the Fast Day, appomted by the 
President of the United States, to be observed in the 
beginning of May, 1798. It will be perceived that it is 
a parody on Dr. Watts's version : — 

PSALM FOB THE FEDERAL FAST. 
To the tune of the 148th Psalm. 

Ys federal States combine, 

In solemn Fast and Prayer; 
And urge the powers divine 
To drive us into war ; 
With voices strong, On pension list 

Each Federalist Begin the song. 

Thy voice, O Pickering, raise. 
And Wolcott join the song ; 
Sing to Britannia's praise. 
Let Jay the strain prolong ; 
Your ancient friend. In this dark hour 
Ye men in power. With zeal defend. 

The British Empire, lo 1 

In matchless order stands, 
Or moves, when bid to go 
By Guelph's supreme commands ; 
He sends his fleet, In reverence low 

And France must bow At George's feet 



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384 INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE. 

For bribery moved their whed* 

Through many ages past, 
And each his word fulfils 
While cash and credit last 
In different wajs Yon hope the fame 

Yonr works proclaim ; Yon so mnch praise. 
Let all the well-bork race 
With SIMPLE MEN unite, 
Three frigates cleave the seas 
And haughty Frenchmen fight ; 
Both sea and shore And still display 

Their tribute pay, Our wondrous power. 

Ye Cleigy, on this day 
On Politics discourse, 
And when ye rise to pray, 
Both France and Frenchmen cnrse ; 
For you Ve a right Exhort and teach 

To pray and preach, Mankind to fight 
Ye funding gentry, join 
In Hamiltonian choir, 
And all your strength combine 
To blow the warlike fa^ : 
Our debt will then That when we Ve peace 

So much increase. We '11 fund again. 

. Ye Federal Judges, too, 
Devoutly pray for war ; 
You Ve little now to do 
In distributing Law. 
Kor let the dream Make yon forget 

Of power and state The power supreme. 

Let Hartford wits proceed 

To sing John Adams' praise, 
Canaan's poets feed 
Shall high his honours raise ; 
Then will the song And through the air 

Join well with prayer ; Waft smooth along. 
Let all the States attend. 
At this his solemn call. 
To curse their ancient friend 
And bless our rulers all : 
For this' the day, Through the whole land 

That, heart and hand. For WAB we praj. 



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INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE. 285 

The following piece is said to be the production of '^ a 
minor." As poetry, it may not survive the test of severe 
criticism ; but as a specimen of juvenile composition, 
imbued with moral sentiment, it may be worthy of repub- 
lication in this place : — 

MEDITATIONS AND VISION OF CASSEM. 
A MOBAL TALE. 

To give mj mind a short reprieve, 
I passed a pleasant smxmier's eye, 

On Lima's western hill. 
AboTe mj head, thro' space profound, 
The stars, like diamonds, twinkled round, 
Whose reyolutions know no bound, 

Bat the Eternal will. 
The moon, with solemn pomp, had spread, 
Her silver brightness, ihroiigh the shade. 

I viewed the landscape o'er. 
Here, the whole town lies sunk in sleep ; 
There, rugged deserts vast and deep ; 
While waves, beneath the mountains creep. 

And nod against the shore. 
I felt a transport, more refined. 
Than can be fel£, but by a mind 

Free from a guilty stain ; 
And as I melted with delight,* 
Imagination took her flight, 
And left the gloomy shades of night. 

To seek the Elysian plain : 
Methought I saw, the happy few, 
Searching the depths of nature too, 

But with enlarged ken ; 
(Said I) Oh Cassem ! do not these, 
Indulge the same propensities, 
Bo they not search Infinities, 

And contemplate, like men 1 
Their faith to ample vision flows ; 
They view the systems, that compose 

The umyersal frame j 



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386 INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE. 

Here, the first stan, like raiu, appear, 
And spread their inflaence far and near, 
While their respectiye planets, here. 

Wheel round in liquid flame. 
Thus musing, I myself forgot; 
But now a philosophic thought, 

Perplexed my troubled breast; 
I started back, but how, (said I,) 
Can immateriality, . 
Possess a sensual quality? 

Or, how is void imprest ? 
Can they see yerdure, without eyes ? 
Or, hear the music of the skies. 

Without the ears of men? 
Spices, in vain, perfume the air, 
If smelling be extinguished there ; 
And, without taste, the trees would bear 

Their blushing fruit in yain. 
As thus I sat, confhs'd with doubt, 
I chanced to turn my eyes about. 

And saw a form diyine ; 
Celestial loye dawn'd in his face ; 
A yoice of majesty, and grace. 
Commanded me t' approach the place ; 

My willing feet incline. 
' Cassem I (said he) draw near, attend, 

* I am the Genius your friend : 

* No more perplex thy mind ; 
' Of what ayail is it to thee, 

* To know how they converse, or see ? 
' Cease, llien, thy curiosity, 

' For God is wise and kind. 
' Oh Cassem I be assured of this, 

* However formed, their happiness 

Exceeds a glimmering thought ; 

* Body and soul shall reunite, 

' Dust shall revive, forever bright 
' And vigorous, as morning light, 

* Without a guilty spot 

' Inquire no more, how this shall be ; 
' Go to the Persian looms, and see 

* The litde shining worm; 



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INDEPENDENT CHBONICLE. 387 

* He winds the nest, wherein he lies, 

* Completes his work, contracts, and dies ; 
' Yet yon behold this insect rise, 

* A most surprizing form. 

* It was a worm, despised and slow ; 
' On gilded wings, it flatters now, 

* A little kind of bird ; 

' How much improyM is its dress, 
' Adorned, in all its loveliness, 

* While every gem, with readiness, 

* Its native tint conferred, 
' Here, yon behold, in miniature, 

' The glories of that wondrous hour; 
' Let this inspire thy heart : 

* Cassem ! regard the specimen ; 

* Thy dust shall be inspired again, 

' And ever shine ; hope humbly then, 

* But study to depart.' 

Here, ceased the heavenly messenger, 
When 1q ! the music of the air 

Filled me with sweet surprize. 
Anon, the Qenius soared away. 
And, as I traced his wondrous way, 
I turned, and saw the dawning day. 

Smile in the eastern skies. 

The • Chronicle was a zealous advocate and sturdy 
supporter of the war of 1812, 



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THE PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL. 



William Bradford, the grandson of that William 
Bradford, who was the first person that followed the 
business of printing in Pennsylvania, was born in New- 
York. He was adopted by an uncle, — Andrew Brad- 
ford, — who, having no children of his own, educated 
him as his son, and instructed him in the art of printing. 
In 1741, he visited England, and returned in 1742, 
with printing materials and a stock of books, and imme- 
diately began business as a printer and bookseller. In 
December of that year, he began the publication of a 
newspaper, under the title of The Pennsylvania Journal, 
which was continued by him and his successors for more 
than sixty years. 

This paper was devoted to the cause of freedom from 
the dominion of Great Britain. The only volume of it, 
which I have seen, embraces the publication from Jan- 
uary 3, 1765, to December 25, 1766 — a period of 
great interest in the history of our country. Among 
other articles of importance, is the discussion concerning 
<< the appointment of Mr. Franklin as agent for the 
Province." It may not be generally known, that 
Franklin was suspected by some persons, of advising to 
the enactment of the Stamp Act. The Journal of Jan- 
uary 10, 1765, contains a letter from John Hughes, de- 

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WILLIAM BRABFORD. 289 

fending Franklin against the remarks of an anonymous 
writer in a former paper. The annexed extract from 
this article may serve as a specimen of the style of the 
writer, who was, afterwards, appointed commissioner of 
stamps for the province of Pennsylvania, and was active 
in carrying the act into effect : — 

Permit me to whisper one piece of adrice in your ear. Tell your 
friends, that their money, their offices and pride seem to have effected 
their senses, that they whose originals are like the fountains of the Nile 
unknown, ought to treat with tenderness and caution, the honest trades- 
men and mechanics of Philadelphia, many of whom are on a level 
with, if not greatly superior, to themselves with respect to family, for- 
tune, understanding and merit. Let them know that they have heen 
out in their policy, when they instructed you to endeavour to ridicule 
me on account of my having heen once a tradesman. For if it he dis- 
graceful to he an honest farmer or mechanic^ I glory in my disgrace. 
Tell them that the wealth, strength, liberty and prosperity of the 
province are owing to the labour, industry, vigilance, and steadiness of 
these men, and these chiefly. And tell them seriously one thing more, 
that should another occasion be given, their own origins shall be traced 
as far as they can be discovered. Where perhaps we shall find some at 
the petty work of filing the brazen wire and forming the heads of pins; 
others at the laborious toil of plying the oars of an univielded flat; others 
at pushing the atol and drawing the waxen thread through the greasy 
leather, or as your present Poet Laureat has formerly observed 

'* Ih)m patching shoes have rose to patch the state ; " 

others with difficulty emerging from the disabled state of Bankruptcy ; 
and others .... but I forbear the ignominious and infamous part of Ihe 
catalogue, l^othing shall prevail on me, but the highest aggravation, 
to famish the characters of the living with the crimes of the dead. 
Know this that merit is the only true nobility 

" A wit 's a feather and a chief's a rod, 

" An honest man 's the noblest work of GodJ* 

' And that this nobility is as often to be found among the honest Farm- 
ers, Mechanics, and Tradesmen of Pennsylvania, as among those who 
affect the character of gentlemen, and assume the airs of quality. But if 
you dare not be thus free with them for fear of losing your bread, de- 
sist however from ridicoling mankind, on accoimt of their trades and 

VOL. I. 25 



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290 PENNSTLYANI A JOURNAL. 

occapatioiiB, lest you gnaw a file wfaieh will render jou toothless, and 
incapable of biting forever. 

Hughes was a Tory and a hypocrite as is manifest 
from several of his letters to the commissioner of the 
stamp-office in London^ published in the Journal of 
September 4, 1766. 

The Journal of October 31, 1765, has its pages 
enclosed in broad black lines, with the picture of a skull 
and bones, a spade and pick-axe, and other emblems of 
mortality, over the title ; under the title is printed in large 
type : — 

EXPIRING : In Hopes of a Besorrection to Lifb again. 

At the head of the first column is a notice from the 
editor, saying, — " I am sorry to be obliged to acquaint 
my readers, that, as the Stamp act is feared to be obliga- 
tory upon us after the First of November evening, (the 
fatal To-morrow,) the Publisher, unable to bear the 
Burthen, has thought it expedient to stop awhile, in 
order to deliberate, whether any methods can be found 
to elude the chains forged for us, and escape the insup- 
portable Slavery ; which, it is hoped, from the just repre- 
sentations now made against this Act, may be effected. 
Meanwhile I must earnestly request every iqdividual of 
my Subscribers, that they would immediately discharge 
their respective arrears, that I may be able, not only to 
support myself durinfg the Interval, but be the better 
prepared to proceed again with the paper, whenever an 
opening for that purpose appears, which I hope will be 
soon. William Bradford." 

Running along the border of the first page is the fol- 
lowing : — 

Adieu, adieu, to the LIB£BTT of the PRESS. 



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WILLIAM BRADFORD. 291 

At the foot of the last column of the third page are 
the words, " Farewell LIBERTY." At the foot of the 
third column of the fourth page, is a cut representing 
a coffin, underneath which is the inscription : — 

The last Eemains of 

The PENNSYXVAIJIA JOURNAL, 

Which departed this Life, the 31st of October, 1765, 

Of a Stamp in her Vitals, 

Aged 23 Years. 

It seems, however, that the publication was not dis- 
continued. The next paper is destitute of the title, and 
in its place are the words, " No Stamp-Paper to be had." 
In the next succeeding publication, the title is restored, 
and remains unchanged, except by the addition of a 
very handsome device, representing an open volume, on 
which appears the word Journal ; underneath the vol- 
ume is a ship under sail ; the volume is supported by two 
figures, one, a female representing Fame with her trumpet, 
the other an aboriginal American, with his bow and arrows. 

Accompanying the first publication in January, 1766, 
are the following verses, printed on a quarter of a sheet 
of writing paper, and which are the earliest that I have 
met with in this department of Newspaper Literature : — 

THE NEW -YEAR VERSES 

OP 

THE printer's LADS, WHO CARRY 

THB 

PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL 

To the Customers. 

Philadelphia, Jakujlbt 1st, 1776. 

She comes I She comes I — I hear the festive Sound, 
The Goddess comes ! — Let Hills and Vales resound! 
Before her Car the white-wing'd Minutes flj, 
And Light unbars the Portals of the Sky. 



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292 PENNSTLYANIA JOURNAL. 

Old PhednUf rolling ap the eastern Way, 
Exultant leads the rosy-feator'd Day, 
While grim-ey'd Darkness, from Nighf s sable Bear 
Retiring, scowls npon the new-bom Tear. 

Then Fancy, haste, and with thee bring along. 
To grace the Scene, Apollo's tanefol Throng. 
Fair C7»o, haste, our eager Souls inspire, 
And shake soft Music from your dulcet Lyre. 
*Ti8 done : — And lo where springs the Fount of Day, 
The blooming Sisters wing their orient Way. 
'* Hoarse DeUnoare the joyful Tidings brings, 
"And all his Swans, transported, dap their Wings." 

No more stem War, exulting in her SUdn, 
Horrific stalks along the gory Plain. 
PecuXf blue-ey'd Goddess, gave the mild Command, 
And bade Destroction hold his rathless Hand. 
Contending Nations heard the powerful Word, 
And all obedient sheath'd the reeky Sword I 
Ton wilder'd Scenes where oft at Midnight drear, 
The gloomy Savage roam'd devoid of Fear, 
Beligion there shall build her radiant Shrine, 
And Science blossom to the latest Time. 
There too at Eve, along the dewy Grove, 
Shall future Popes and future MUUms rove. 
Ohio's Banks, where gentle Braddock fell, 
Ko more shall learn th' infernal savage Tell ; 
No more its Streams, deep-dy'd with Warrior's Gore, 
Shall roll their crimson Billows from the Shore. 
. In after Times, some venerable Seer 
Shall tell his hapless Story with a Tear ; 
How there, the Wound unable to sustain, 
He, undistinguish'd, join'd th' uncoffin'd Slain. 

Charm'd into Peace, within the breezy Shade, 
The painted Boy shall woo his nut-brown Maid. 
His melting Tale shall soothe her list'ning Ear, 
Ajidfrom her bosom force the tender Tear, 
^e too when Evening hushes aU the Plain, 
■W^^T^^ "^ ^ -^* ^«' f-thful Swain, 



W{*k;« *i. ^ '"'^* ^^^ laiuuui idwain. 



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WILLIAM AND THOMAS BRADFORD. 293 

The rising Blush Loye's conscioiis Pow'r shall own, 
And speak a Passion to the Maid unknown. 

But ah} my Muse ! — what sudden Horrors rise ! 
The smiling Prospect swims before my Eyes I 
What boding Sadness checks my lingering Mihd ! 
I hear a Voice in each low Gust of Wind. 
'Tis he ! 'tis he ! Oh hide the dreadful Scene, 
Bise, Mountains, rise, and boundless Worlds between ! 
Tis he, whom late in Victory array'd. 
We hail'd triumphant in the peacefcd Shade 1 * 
As lost in Thought, along Ontario's Shore, 
The Indian Sage new Wonders shall explore, 
His gentle Form shall startle on his View, 
And all his throbbing Soul shall bleed anew. 
O sacred Shade ! if yet thou deign'st to hear. 
Forgive this rude involuntary Tear ; 
And as bright-mounted on the Wings of Day, 
Thou rid'st sublime along th' empyreal Way, 
When War arous'd leads on his hardy Train, 
And all the Battle gleams along the Plain, 
Then let thy Guardian- Spirit hover nigh, 
And teach to conquer, or, untam'd, to die. 

In September, this year, Bradford took into partner- 
ship his son, Thomas Bradford, and the Journal was 
thenceforth published by William and Thomas Bradford. 

The Journal of September 4, 1766, is nearly filled 
with letters from John Hughes (before mentioned) to 
the Commissioner of the Stamp-office in London, from 
which it is manifest that he was a Tory and a hypocrite. 
He complained, in the next paper, that some anony- 
mous persons, with a view of hurting his reputation, 
and serving their purpose at the approaching election, 
(Hughes was a member of the Legislature) had furnished 
copies of these letters, which were not genuine, &c. 
He pronounced them forgeries, and commenced an action 

* General Bourust. 
26* 



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294 PENVSTLTAiriA JOUBNAL. 

against the printers, as he said, *< in order to do himself 
justice." 

To this notice, the editors annexed an* article written 
with dignified manliness and courtesy, but with becom- 
ing severity against Hughes, whose notice they called a 
'< fresh instance of his regard to the Liberties of his 
fellow-subjects, in his impotent but ill-natured attempt 
against the Liberty of the Press." They proceed to 
say : -.— 

His suing the Printers of the Peimsylyama Journal, for printixig an 
exact copy of his own letters, is no more than the ill-judged effect of 
that insatiahle passion which he has, to trample npon the most sacred 
Bights and Privileges of British subjects in America. The letters 
themselves, which are bat the history of his own conduct for a consid- 
erable time past, plainly discover how heartiiy and passionately he 
wished for^the favourable opportunity which would put it into the 
power of this excellent patriot, to execute the detestable STAMP ACT, 
which no American can mention without abhorrence, and to reduce the 
free bom Sons of Britain to a state of the most wretched slavery. 
What else can be the meaning of his barefaced Falsehood, in represent- 
ing North- America as in a state of absolute rebellion against the best of 
Kings, and in using all his feeble endeavours to excite his Majesty and 
his Ministers to send over an armed force to quell us, as he modestly 
terms it ? But such is his insensibility to aU the dictates of l^onouror 
publick Virtue, that to compleat his character, he would now attempt 
to demolish the Liberty of the Press, that invaluable privilege of a free 
people ', because through that channel his hidden arts axe brought to 
Light. 

'Tis but a piece of justice to the public, to let them know his last 
effort to prop his sinking character, which has long laboured under vio- 
lent suspicions. He procured a writ for the printers of his letters, on 
Saturday last, which was executed by the Sheriff on Monday morning 
following ; as twelve hundred pounds damages were marked upon the 
writ, the printers sent him a notice about 12 o^dock, to appear before a 
Magistrate to shew cause of action ; but he refused to appear. At 4 
o^clock, the same afternoon, they sent him another notice, to appear for 
the same purpose at 10 o'clock the next day, and informed him, that 
unless he appeared, they would move for a discharge from the arrest. 
But such was the consciousness of his guilt, that he refused again to 



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WILLIAM AND THOMAS BRADFORD. 295 

appear, and as he coald not be compelled hj law to shew cause of action, 
the arrest was accordingly dischai^d. We are only the printers of a 
free and impartial paper, and we challenge Mr. Hughes and the world, 
to convict US of partiality in this respect, or of even an inclination to 
restrain the freedom of the press in any instance. We can appeal to 
North-America not only for our impartiality as printers, but also for 
the great adrantages derived to us very lately from the unrestrained 
liberty, which every Briton claims of communicating his sentiments to 
the public thro' the channel of the press. What would have become of 
the liberties of the British Colonies in North- America, if Mr. Hughes's 
calls on Great Britain had been heard, to restrain the printers herefrom 
publishing what he is pleased to stile inflammatory pieces^ and if every 
prostitute scribbler, and enemy to his country had been suffered, with- 
out control from the pens of true patriots, to rack their distempered 
brains, to find out arguments to gull a free-bom people into a tame 
submission to perpetual slavery, and to impose their flimsy cobwebs 
upon us, instead of solid and substantial reasoning ? To the freedom 
of the press In America we may in a great measure attribute the con- 
tinuance of those inherent and constitutional privileges, w^ch we yet 
enjoy and which every Briton, who is not inslaved to private or party 
interests, prefers to his life. We cannot therefore doubt, but that the 
happiness, which now reigns through all the British plantations, will 
inspire every friend of his country with an honest and generous indig- 
nation against the wretch that would attempt to enslave his countrymen 
by restraints on the press. 

We would now inform the publick, that the letters of Mr.* Galloway 
and Mr. Hughes, which we printed in our last week's paper, were trans- 
mitted to Philadelphia, by Capt. Sparks, from a gentleman in London 
of character and integrity, who is a friend of North- America, and never 
was accounted capable of imposing upon the publick. They were pub- 
licky seen and read in the Coffee-Houses in London by great numbers, 
were laid before the Parliament, and are copied verbatim in their 
Books. They came as genuine into our hands, as such we laid them 
before the publick, and such, we have it in our power to prove them. 
But were there no other evidences of his writing the letters we printed, 
there may be sufficient Proofs of the Fact taken from the very letters 
themselves, to shew them the genuine Productions of Us accurate 
pen. — Let not Mr. Hughes therefore think that his weak and faint 
denial of the Genuineness of the Letters will pass with the impartial 
world, as sufficient to overthrow such a Variety and Strength of Evi- 
dence, as the Public is already possessed of against him. Let him 
reconcile the assurances he has given to the Commissioners of the 



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296 PENNSTLYANIA JOUBNAL. 

Stamp-office, tto A« toould faithfiiUif execute the ttamjhcffice when tttcould 
be in his power, with his foil resignation of it which he made to the 
public, before he can expect to be belieyed in any matter bj his fellow- 
citizens. WiLLiAH & Thomas Bbadvobd. 

Subsequent papers contain " An E^say towards dis- 
covering the Authors and Promoters of the memorable 
Stamp Act, written by a gentleman in London to his 
friend in Philadelphia," in which the writer endeavors to 
prove that Dr. Franklin was guilty of duplicity in rela- 
tion to the passage of that act ; that in his intercourse 
with the British ministry, he approved and commended 
the measure, while, to the American people, he professed 
to oppose it ; that he had nothing else m view, than to 
obtain a change in the government of Pennsylvania, and 
get himself placed at the head of it ; and thus, grossly 
betraying his constituents, he could not be safely trusted 
as their agent.* 

William Bradford was one of the first persons in 
the city of Philadelphia, to oppose the Stamp Act, and 
entertained uncompromising hostility to all the succeed- 
ing measures of the British government, in relation to 
the Colonies. He took arms in an early stage of the 
Revolutionary war: and although he had reached the 
age, at which the law exempts men from military ser- 
vice, he encountered the fatigues of a winter campaign, 
and performed duty as a major in the militia, in the 
memorable battle of Trenton. He shared the honors 
of the day at Princeton, and returned Colonel of the 
regiment, of which he went out Major. He was at Fort 
Mifflin when it was attacked by the Hessians, and in 
several other engagements. A few days before the 

• These changes are refuted in Sparks's Life of Fraoklin, " Contiooatioo,** 
chap. iv. 



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WILLIAM AND THOMAS BRADFORD. 297 

British troops took possession of Philadelphia, he was 
entrusted by the Governor with the command of the 
city, and the care of removing the stores. Having per- 
formed this service, he left the city as the enemy was 
entering it, and went to Fort Mifflin, where he remained 
till that fortress was evacuated. From that time, he 
remamed at Trenton, till the British army left Philadel- 
phia. He then returned to the city, and re-opened his 
printing-office, and resumed the publication of his paper, 
which had been suspended while the city was in the 
possession of the enemy. He returned from the hazards 
of public service with a broken constitution and depre- 
ciated property. A few years after he had an attack of 
paralysis, which ultimately proved fatal. Bradford 
complied, literally, with a resolve of the early Revo- 
lutionists, " to risk his life and fortune for the preserva- 
tion of the liberties of his country." After the peace 
was established, he consoled himself under his misfor- 
tunes ; and in his solitary hours, reflected with pleasure, 
that he had done all in his power to secure, for his 
country, a name among independent nations ; and he 
frequently said to hb children, <^ though I bequeath 
you no estate, I leave you in the enjoyment of lib- 
erty."* 

• Thomas'i History of FrintiDg, vol. ii. pp. 50,51. 



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THE ESSEX JOURNAL. 



A PAPER entitled ''The Essex Journal, and Merri- 
mack Packet ; Or the Massachusetts and New-Hamp- 
shire General Advertiser," was published in Newbury- 
port. " It was issued from the press, December 4, 1773, 
by Isaiah Thomas, printed on a crown sheet folio, equal in 
size to most of the papers then publbhed in Boston. 
At first its day of publication was Saturday, afterward 
Wednesday. Two cuts were in the title ; one, the left, 
representing the arms of the Province, that on the right, 
a ship under sail. Imprint, — * Newbury-Port : Printed 
by Isaiah Thomas and Henry Walter Tinges, in King- 
street, opposite the Rev. Mr. Parsons's Meeting-house,' 
&c. Thomas was the proprietor of the Journal ; he 
lived in Boston, and there published the Massachusetts 
Spy. Tinges, as a partner in the Journal, managed the 
concerns of it. Before the expiration of a year, Thomas 
sold his right in the paper to Ezra Lunt ; and, about 
two years after, Lunt sold to John Mycall. Tinges 
was a partner to both ; but to the latter only for about 
six months, when the partnership was dissolved, and 
Mycall became the sole publisher of the Essex Journal, 
— the publication of which he continued many years." 

Thus far the history of this paper is given by Mr. 
Thomas, and nothing can be added, except a few speci- 



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JOHN MTCALL. 299 

mens of the composition of its editors and their corre- 
spondents. The first article in the first number is an ad- 
dress to the Public, signed Isaiah Thomas, stating, that, — 
" Many respectable Gentlemen, Friends to Literature, 
having expressed their earnest desire that a PRINT- 
ING-OFFICE might be established in this populous 
Town, the Inhabitants in general being sensible of the 
great Want thereof, and the Patronage and Assistance 
they have kindly promised to give, has encouraged me 
to procure the necessary Apparatus for carrying on the 
Printing Business, and OPENING here; and ani- 
mates me to hope that every PUBLIC SPIRITED 
GENTLEMAN, in this and the Places adjacent, will 
promote so useful an Undertaking." 

This is followed by the conditions op which the paper 
was proposed to be published, aAd more than two col- 
umns of remarks on " the great utility of a Printing- 
Press," and the circulation pf newspapers ; and an ex- 
position of what the publishers considered to be their 
duty, and the principles by which they intended to gov- 
ern their conduct. They promised, when political dis- 
putes ran high, readers might depend on hearing both 
sides of the question^ " with the greatest impartiality." 

In the second number they returned their "sincere 
thanks to those gentlemen and ladies, who, by their 
encouragement, had so far assisted them, that Number 
11. of the E^sex Journal, makes its appearance," and, in 
the form, customary at that day, solicited fiirther aid. 

The first original articles are a couple of coipmunica- 
tions, ironically describing the advantages of patronizing 
"the much injured Lady TEA," about whom the 
world made such a bustle. These articles produced 



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300 ESSEX JOURNAL. 

Others, but none of them had a superabundance of wit 
or hunoiory though some of them discovered a spice of 
ill-nature in the writers. The following verses, — which 
have been frequently published, — appear in the Journal 
of March 16, 1774, as original : — 

A PROPER SUBJECT OF MEDITATION TO SMOKERS OF TOBACCO. 
In Two Parts. 

FIB8T. 

This Indian weed, now withered quite, 
Though green at noon, cut down at night, 

Shows thy decay : • 

All flesh is hay : 
Thus think and smoke Tobacco. 
The Pipe, so lily like and weak. 
Does thus thy mortal state bespeak ; 

Thou 'rt even such, 

Grone with a touch ; 
Thus think and smoke Tobacco. 
And when the smoke ascends on high, 
Then thou behold'st the yanity 

Of worldly stuff 

Gone with a puff; 
Thus think and smoke Tobacco. 
And when the Pipe grows foul within 
Think on thy soul, defiled with sin j 

For then the fire 

It does require; 
Thus tibjnk and smoke Tobacco. 

. PAST II. 

Was this small plant for thee cut down ; 
So was the Plant of great renown, 

Which Mercy sends 

if'or nobl«r ends : 
Thns think and smoke Tpbacco. 
Dpth juice medicinal proceed 
From such a naughty foreign weed ? 

Then what 's the power 

Of Jesse's flower? 
Thus think and smoke Tobacco. 



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JOHN MTCALL. 301 

The promise, like the Pipe, inlays, 
And, by the mouth of faith, conyeys 

What virtue flows 

From Sharon's Bose : 
Thus think and smoke Tobacco. 

In yain the enlightened Pipe you blow; 
Your pains in outward means are so: 

Till heavenly fire 

Your heart inspire : 
Thus think and smoke Tobacco. 
The smoke, like burning incense towers : 
60 should a praying heart of yours, 

With ardent cries. 

Surmount the skies : 
Thus think and smoke Tobacco. 

The communication, that follows, is an exponent of 
opinions that were prevalent a century ago in New-Eng- 
land. Some parts of the censure may pass for sound 
doctrine at this time, or at all times ; but there are some 
among us, who will hardly subscribe to the whole of it, 
— especially those who repudiate the writer's notion, 
that ^' submission to the male sex is an indispensable part 
of the female character *' : — 

ME88B8. PrINTBBS, 

There are several vices, to which the female world are, (I wish I 
oouM not with justice say) generally prone ; if you will let them know 
what they are, you will oblige, &c. 

1. Vanity. This vice is, if possible, more absurd in woman kind 
than in the other sex. Men have bodily strength, authority, learning, 
and such like pretences for puffing themselves up with pride. But 
woman's only peculiar boast is beauty. For virtue and good sense are 
never the subjects of vanity. There is no endowment of less conse- 
quence than elegance of form and outside. A mass of flesh and blood, 
humors and impurities, covered over with a well colored skin, is the 
definition of beauty. Whether is this more properly a matter of vanity 
or mortification? Were it incomparably more excellent than it is, 
nothing can be more absurd than to be proud of what one has no man- 
ner of hand in getting,, but is whoUj the gift of Heaven. A woman 
26 



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303 £SSEX JOURNAL. 

may as well be proud of the lilies of the field, or the tulips of the gar- 
den, as her own face ; thej are both the work of the same hand — 
equally out of human power to give or to preserve ; equally trifling and 
despicable, when compared with what is substantially excellent ; equally 
frail and perishing. 

2. Affectation is a yice, capable of disgracing beauty, worse than 
pimples or the small pox. I have often seen ladies in assemblies and 
public places, of the most exquisite forms, render themselves, by affec- 
tation and visible conceit, too odious to be looked at without disgust, 
who, by a modest and truly female behavior, might have commanded 
the admiration of every eye. But I shall say less upon this head, in 
consideration that it is (generally speaking) to our sex that female 
affectation is to be charged. A woman cannot, indeed, become com- 
pletely foolish or vicious without our assistance. 

3. Talkativeness. This, in either sex, is generally a proof of vanity 
or folly ; but is in woman kind, especially in company with men, and, 
above all, with men of understanding and learning, wholly out of 
character, and particularly disagreeable to people of sense. If we 
appeal either to reason, scripture, or universal consent, we shall find a 
degree of submission to the male sex, to be an indispensable part of the 
female character : And, to set up for an equality with the sex, to which 
nature has given the advantage, and formed for authority and action, is 
opposing Nature, — which is never done innocently. 

4. Dress, Too great delight in dress and finery, by the expense of 
time and money, which they occasion in some instances, to a degree 
beyond all bounds of decency and common sense, tends naturally to 
sink a woman to the lowest pitch of contempt, amongst all those of 
either sex, who have capacity enough to put two thoughts together. A 
creature, who spends its whole time in dressing, prating, gaming, and 
gadding, is a being, — originally indeed of the rational make, but who 
has sunk itself beneath its rank, and is to be considered at present, as 
nearly on a level with the monkey species. 

If this should have the desired effect, you may possibly, in some 
future paper, hear more from A Friend to the Public. 

Newbury-Port, April 4, 1774. 

Whether this lecture had the " desired effect " or not, 
is not to be ascertained fVom the very imperfect file of 
the Journal, 

While Tinges was connected with this paper, it was 
well conducted, and was the channel, through which 



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TINGES, LUNT AND MTCALL. 303 

some able writers communicated with the public. After 
it fell into the hands of Mycall, the writers, who had 
aided the former editor, seemed to abandon it altogether. 
The files in my possession, are very imperfect ; and it is 
rare to meet with an editorial paragraph of any merit, or 
a communication worthy of notice. 

Of those, who were connected with the Journal as 
editors, little is known. Thomas Tinges was a printer, 
and served his apprenticeship, in part, with Fleming, 
and the rest with Thomas, He was a native of Boston. 
From Newburyport, he went to Baltimore, and thence 
to sea ; but it is not known that he ever returned. 

Ezra Lunt was a native of Newburyport, and was 
the proprietor of a line of stages, when he became a 
partner with Tinges. He knew nothing, previously, of 
the printing business, and probably acquired no know- 
ledge of it during the short time he was connected with 
the Journal. During the Revolutionary war, he entered 
the army, and afterward removed to Ohio. 

John Mycall was not educated as a printer. He 
was an Englishman by birth, and kept a school in New- 
buryport before he purchased the Journal. He published 
the paper about twenty years ; afterwards purchased and 
resided on a farm in the county of Worcester. From 
thence he removed to Cambridge, where he died about 
the year 1836. 



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THE INDEPENDENT LEDGER 

AND 

AMERICAN ADVERTISER. 



On Monday, June 15, 1778, Draper & Folsom laid 
before the public the first number of a paper with this 
title, in the centre of which was this device : — 




Under the device was the motto, ^^ AH hands with one 
inflamed and enlightened Heart." 

It was proposed to continue the publication on Mon- 
days, in accordance with the wishes of " many gentle- 
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DRAPER AND FOLSOM. 305 

men," there being two on Thursday. In a very respect- 
ful and modest address the publishers said, — <<We 
mean not to raise and deceive the expectations of the 
public, by pompous pretensions; but we dare to pro- 
mise that we will spare no pains or cost to procure the 
freshest advices from Europe and all parts of America, 
which we will deliver to the public in a faithful manner 
and clear arrangement ; doing every thing in our power 

to render this paper both useful and entertaining 

We are young beginners, and hope for the candor and 
countenance of the community," &>c. &c. 

As might be supposed, from the device and motto at 
the head of the paper, the publishers were pure Whigs. 
There is very little of their own composition in their 
columns, but what there is, indicates their entire devo- 
tion to the independence of the Colonies. Their selec- 
tions were made from the best sources, and many of the 
original communications, are productions worthy of the 
times, and of the character, which the publishers pro- 
fessed to maintain. 

In one of the early numbers of the Ledger, the 
annexed article appears as a communication : — 

MeSSBS. DbAPEB & FOLSOM, 

I am no great writer or talker, but have an opportunity of seeing 
much, and now and then give out a watchword for the safety of my 
neighbors. Formerly, the first military word given to the soldiers at 
their exercise, was, Take Heed I afterwards, it was changed to Hiaoe a 
Care t now, it is. Attention ! I see no difference in the sense, but, not 
to be out of the fashion, I will take the last. 

Attention ! my fellow-citizens, — to your ndera of every order j for, 
if you do not attend to them, they will attend to themsdves, and not to 
you. No free people ever long preserved their liberty and happiness, 
without watching those, who held the reins of government. 

Attention I — to the men, that handle public money, either for civil 
or military service ; for the gridiron, over which it is told, often enriches 
26* 

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306 THE INDEPENDENT LEDGER. 

indiyiduals to lihe impoTerishment and nun of ihe community, fiiany 
think, perhaps, that paper money is not so apt to slip through as dollars 
were ; bat they are mistaken j some men can dcnMe their money, and 
slide it through a chink where a dollar would not enter. 

Attentiob" 1 — to the form of government you may adopt ; for, if 
you do not look to that, posterity will lock back upon you with corses, 
and all the world will hok upon you as a pack of fools, who have thrown 
away the fairest opportunity, which any people ever had to secure their 
own liberty and happiness. Look then, that rotation in office be not 
left out of your constitution.* It was desigjiedly omitted in that, lately 
proposed, though wisely adopted by Congress, and almost all the other 
states. A few men, continued in the most important places, for a suc- 
cession of years, may so extend their connections and influence, as to 
become reaUy^ though not openly^ masters of the State. 

Attbktiok 1 — to the accumulatim of offices on one man. Nothing 
is more unreasonable in itself, nothing more contrary to the genius of a 
free government, than that one, equally well qualified, should have no 
public employment, while others have more than they can properbf 
attend to. In the last case, they, who confer them, want wisdom; they, 
who accept them, want modesty. 

Attention 1 — to the army of your enemies in every quarter; for, be 
.assured, whether you watch Mem or not, they watch yoa^ and would be 
glad, in some place or other, to catch you nappiny. 

Attention I — to your oivn army, that it be well filled up ; well fed, 
well clothed, well paid j and then, that the capable, the active, the brave, 
be at least wdl honored; and the incapable, negligent, and cowardly, be 
loell despised. But watch, with all your eyes, that, in no place, and 
upon no occasion, the military encroach upon the civil power. 

Attention 1 — to your naval affairs, and in what manner they are 
conducted, from the highest to the lowest department. Observe with 
what expedition your ships are fitted out; when they sail; with what 
capacity their commanders and officers behave ; what service they per- 
form in proportion to their force ; and what public rewards and punish- 
ments are dispensed according to their different behavior. Let those be 
extolled even to the stars, who support the honor of your flag, your new 
constellation, the thirteen stars ; and those, who stain it, be overwhelmed 
with confusion, and sink into darkness. 

Attbhtion! — to your commissaries of prisoners, that they treat the 
unfortunate men under their care with iJl the humanity and indulgence, 

* Tbis was written while the Constitntion of the Commonwealth wu under 
contideratloa. 



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DBAPER AND FOLSOM. J307 

consiBtent with the public safety, and no mere ; that the prisoners, we 
have, be faithfolly exchanged for the redemption of our brethren ; that 
no clandestine trade with our enemies be carried on in onr flags, &c. and 
nothing done, that may wear the least appearance of a secret bargain, 
between a British officer, tory merchant, or mercenary Whig, and an 
American commissary. 

Attention! — to British commissaries, British insinuations, and 
British arts ; and take care that their gold he not more fatal to you than 
their lead. The last has slain its thousands, the first may purchase 
chains for millions. Observe where it is like to go ] mark its effects in 
every order; and let the sovereign remedy be ever kept, a wakeful 
attention in the body of the people. No people, in their senses, would re- 
fuse a good peace ; but, take care, that, in the shape of peace, you do 
not embrace the most miserable bondage, and without a remedy. 

Attention! — to the freedom of the Press. Some people, who 
have talked for it, who have wrote for it, may, upon a change of situa- 
tion, be ready to wince at it. This shows the constant necessity fdr it. 
Never let the Fress be over-awed, either by public or private persons. 
Only let truth and decency be preserved, and then, my Countrymen, 
speak freely, write freely, of aU men and of all measures. If you at- 
tend to this, and some other things I have hinted at, you will secure aJUy 
that is worth your ^tteNtum. Bob Centinbl. 

The latest number of this paper, which I have seen 
IS dated December 29, 1783. Whether it was con- 
tinued to a later period I have not been able to ascertain. 
No notice is given in that paper of any proposed dis- 
continuance. A few weeks before that date, the name 
of Draper is dropped from the imprint, and the remain- 
ing numbers appear in the name of John W. Folsom, 
only. 

Folsom had a printing-office and bookstore in Union- 
street. The building was burned, and most of his 
property destroyed in 1797, He was the first Secretary 
of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, 
and some time Secretary of the Board of Health in 
Boston. 



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THE CONTINENTAL JOURNAL 

AKD 

WEEKLY ADVERTISER. 



The partnership of Edes & Gill having been dissolved 
and the Boston Gazette remaining the property of Edes, 
Gill began the publication of a new paper, on the 30th 
of May, 1776, under the title of the Continental Jour- 
nal and Weekly Advertiser, In a brief and modest 
address to the public, he said he had complied with the 
solicitation of his friends, in proposing to furnish the 
public with a newspaper of intelligence every Thursday, 
provided it should meet with their approbation and en- 
couragement. He chose ^' to omit all pompous repre- 
sentations and promises respecting his intended publica- 
tion, and only engaged his utmost fidelity in collecting 
and printing the newest and best accounts of things 
that could be obtained, and gratefully to accept and 
insert any original pieces that are decent and worthy the 
public notice." The motto of the paper was " 03* The 
entire prosperity of every state depends upon the disci- 
pline of its armies. King of Prussia.^^ , 

In the way of news, the Journal was well conducted. 
All important state papers, whether emanating from the 
Continental Congress, or from state conventions and 

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JOHN GILL. 309 

legislatures^ were promptly laid before the public. 
There is very little in the files of the Journal, that ap- 
pears to have been written by the editor. There are 
numerous original communications, such as the public 
afiairs naturally called forth. Useful and judicious se- 
lections from English papers and books were often 
inserted. The whole of Robertson's History of Amer- 
ica was published during the years 1784 and 1785. 
Gill was a sound Whig, but, it was said, he did not 
possess the political tact and energy, that characterized 
his former partner, Edes, and which had raised the repu- 
tation of the Boston Gazette. He was industrious, con- 
stantly in the printing-office working at the case or press, 
as occasions might demand. 

John Gill was bom in Charlestoavn, served a regular 
apprenticeship in Boston with Samuel Kneeland, and 
married one of Kneeland's daughters. He was a brother 
of Moses Gill, — who, after the Revolution, was several 
years Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts. When 
Edes removed to Watertown, during the siege, — a» 
has been related, — Gill remained in Boston, but ^^ did no 
business, and thought it prudent to confine himself to his 
own house. He had, fortunately, acquired a competency 
for the support of his family under that trial." He con- 
tinued the publication of the Continental Journal till 
some time in the year 1785, when he sold the right of 
it to J. D. Griffith. He died on the 25th of August, 
1785. The Journal which announced his death, says, 
— "Capt. John Gill, for disseminating principles de- 
structive of tyranny, suflTered during the siege of this 
town, in 1775, what many other printers were threat- 
ened with, a cruel imprisonment He, however, was so 

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310 CONTINENTAL JOURNAL. 

fortunate as to survive the conflict ; but had the mortifi- 
cation, lately, of seeing the press ready to be shackled 
by a 9tamp acty fabricated in his native state ; he, there- 
fore resigned his business, not choosing to submit to a 
measure, which Britain artfully adopted as the founda- 
tion of her intended tyranny in America." * 

In one of the early numbers of the Journal is a Song, 
called " The Soldier's Sentimental Toast," a few stan- 
zas of which are annexed. From the date, it may be 
inferred that the Song was taken from a New- York 
paper : — 

Come, ye yaliant Sons of Thnnder, 

Crush to death your haughty foes ; 
Bunt their slavish bands asunder, 

Till no Tory dare oppose. 

Haughty tyrants fain would rule us, 

With an absolute control ; 
But they never thus shall fool us, 

Cries the brave, the martial soul. 

'Tis for right we are contending, — 

Children, sweethearts, wives, and friends ; 

And our holy faith defending 
From delusion, which impends. 

* * * * 

O the happy scene before us I 

Happy, who in battle dies ! 
See his spirit rise victorious,— 

Angels guard it through the skies. 

*Bee Thomas*! History of PrintlDg, vol. I 345. The only file of the Contiiiental 
Journal, that I have seen, is In the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 
It it complete to the end of the year 1784, and contains no number later than that 
date. Whether the " cruel imprisonment,*' mentioned in the extract from the 
Journal means any thing more than what is stated by Mr. Thomas, that Gill 
«< thought it prudent to confine himself to his own house,** I am not able to aseer- 
tain. 



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JOHN GILL. 311 

Happy, living, — happy, dying— 

If we live, onr rights we gain ; 
If we die, our souls, when flying. 

Fly from slavery, grief, and pain. 

Shall we then behave like dastards ? 

Shall we yield in such a cause ? 
To be duped by tyrants* bastards ? 

No, — forbid it. Nature's laws. 

No, my boys, we 11 act like heroes, 

Order, right, and truth maintain. 
And convince these modem Neroes 

That we '11 fight, nor fight in vain. 

So we shall regain our freedom. 

And, in freedom, freely Uve ; 
Grant our alms to those, who need 'em, — 

What is right we 11 freely give. 

To conclude — Let 's fill our glasses, — 

Drink a health to soldiers brave ; 
Leave to chains those impious asses, 

Who their country would enslave. 

Health to every valiant soldier; 

Health to those, who lead their bands ; 
May their boldness, waxing bolder, 

Crush their foes beneath their hands. 

New-Yorh, May 21, 1776. 

A Poem, written by Thomas Dawes, on the death of 
James Otis, who was killed by lightning, at Andover, in 
1783, was originally published in the Continental Jour- 
nal. The following are the opening and concluding 
lines of this Poem : — 

When flushed with conquest and elate with pride, 
Britannia's monarch Heaven's high will defied, 
And, bent on blood, by lust of rule inclined 
With odious chains to vex the freebom mind, — 
On these young shores set up unjust command, 
And spread the slaves of office round the land ; 



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312 CONTINXNTAJL JOUBNAL. 

Then Otis rose, and, great in patriot lame, 
To listening crowds resistance dared proclaim. 
From soul to sonl the bright idea ran. 
The fire of freedom flew from man to man ; 
His pen, like Sydney's, made the doctrine known, 
His tongue, like Tnlly's shook a tyrant's throne : 
Then men grew bold, and, in the public eye. 
The right diyine of monarchs dared to try ; 
light shone on all, despotic darkness fled, 
And, for a sentimenty* a nation bled. 
***** 

Hark ! the deep thunders echo round the skies I 
On wings of flame the eternal errand flies ; 
One chosen charitable bolt is sped, 
And Otis mingles with the glorious dead. 

• ** Notaiation witboot representation.** 



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THE CONNECTICUT JOURNAL, 



NEW-HAVEN POST-BOY. 



The first number of this paper was published in 
October, 1767, by Thomas and Samuel Green, and Was 
continued by them till February, 1799. They were 
grandsons of the first Timothy Green of New-London, 
and were bom in that place. In 1775, the second title 
of the paper was dropped. Samuel Green died in 
1799, and the publication was continued by Thomas 
Green and Son, till 1809, when it passed into the posses- 
sion of other proprietors. It bad previously undergone 
many changes in size and typography ; and since that 
period has changed owners, I believe, more than once, 
and, in size and mechanical execution, has corresponded 
with the improvements that have taken place in cotem- 
porary journals. 

A few numbers of this paper are In the library of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society. The earliest is No. 
17, dated February 12, 1768 : and the latest is No. 
806, April 10, 1783. Some of these fugitives are sheets 
smaller than common letter-paper ; others are respecta- 
ble demy. That it was not a source of great wealth to 
the proprietors, previous to the Revolution, may be con- 
27 

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314 CONNECTICUT JOURNAL. 

eluded from a Notice, in the paper of April 12, 1773, 
which says, — " The Printers are sorry, they can with 
truth inform the public, that they have not, for thb year 
past, received from all the customers for this Journal, so 
much money as they have expended for the blank paper, 
on which it has been printed ; and that they shall be 
under the necessity of reducing it to its original size and 
price, unless subscribers for it are more punctual in their 
payments. The next week's paper, (No. 286,) com- 
pletes one year since its enlargement, and to which time 
all those, who are indebted, (whose accounts are of more 
than one year's standing) are earnestly requested to make 
immediate payment to the Printers." 

From the small number of the papers to which I have 
had access, copious extracts, as specimens of the talent 
of its editor and contributors, cannot be expected. The 
editors were Whigs, and the original political matter is 
strongly impregnated with whig principle. The annexed 
Song is apparently original : — 

THE EABLY EISER. 

The man, who, at day-breaking, breaks off his rest, 
And, in spite of its softness, leaps out of his nest, 
Still finds to his comfort, in all sorts of weather. 
His head clear aa crystal, his heart light as feather, 
Derry down, &c. 

If the clouds be dispersed, and th' horizon show fair, 
With what pleasure abroad he breathes the fresh air 1 
But if rainy or dull, how sincere his enjoyment 
In following, at home, his lawful employment I 

When breakfast time comes, you may see him at board, 

Regaling on whatever his house will afford ; 

For nought to his stomach goes ever amiss. 

Be it roast, baked, or boiled, or fowl, flesh, or fish. 



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CONNECTICUT JOURNAL. 315 

With choicest of all earthly blessings abounding, 
A soundness of body, a mind that is sound in, 
Through life's shifting scenes, whether serious or gay, 
His part of the drama he with spirit can play. 

No sickness comes near him, nor vapor, nor spleen, 
With nights all refreshing, with days all serene. 
His years roll along as a stiU summer wave, 
Till, like well-ripened fruit, he drops into the grave. 



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THE NEW-LONDON GAZETTE. 



This was the second paper printed in New-London, 
and was first issued in November, 1763. The printer 
was Timothy Green, the third printer of that name in 
that place. It was a sheet of the foolscap size, four 
pages, folio. At first it had a cut of the king's arms at 
the head; but this was banished in December, 1773, 
and the title was altered to Connecticut Gazette. Thirty 
years after its first appearance, the paper was enlarged 
to a royal sheet; and about the same time, its original 
proprietor resigned it to the hands of his son, Samuel 
Green, in whose possession it remained for many years. 

My earliest recollections of newspapers are those of 
the Connecticut Gazette. It was in that paper that I 
first saw the picture of a ship, and that was one which 
stood at the head of AUen*s Marine List. There I 
read the debates on the Federal Constitution, the ac- 
counts of Shays's Rebellion, the beginning of the French 
Revolution, and the beheading of Louis XVI. But that, 
which made the strongest and ineffaceable impression, 
was the trial of Warren Hastings, and the narration of the 
atrocities he perpetrated in India. The remonstrance of 
the wife of Almas Ali Cawn, addressed to that robber 
and murderer, had a most powerful effect on my imagina- 
tion, and a term of more than sixty years is not suffi- 
cient to wear it out. 

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TIMOTHT OBEEN* 317 

Some good writers appear to have aided in conducting 
the Gazette, during the years that preceded the passage 
of the Stamp Act, and the progress of the Revolution. 
One of their communications here follows, published in 
1765 : — 

.... Qiuid mm Mortalia Pectora corns 
Auri sacra Fames, Virgil. 

Since the late Impositions on the American Colonies by the Parlia- 
ment of Great-Britain, our Papers have been filled with woefiil Ex- 
clamations against Slavery and arbitrary power. One wonld have 
thought, by this mighty outcry, that all America, to a Man, had a noble 
Sense of Freedom, and would risque their Lives and Fortunes in the 
Defence of it. Had this been really the Spirit of the Colonies, they 
would have deserved Commiseration and Belief 

Nothing can fiU a generous Breast with greater Indignation than to 
see a free, brave, and virtuous People unjustly sunk and debased by 
Tyranny and Oppression. But who can pity the heartless Wretches 
whose only Fortitude is in the Tongue and Pen ? If we may judge of 
the whole by those who have been already tampered with, the Colonies 
are now ripe for Slavery and incapable of freedom. 

Have three hundred Pounds a Year, or even a more trifling Consid« 
eration, been found sufficient to debauch from their Interest tiiose who 
have been intrusted with the most important Concerns by the Colonies ? 
If so, O Britain ! heap on your Burthens without Fear of Disturbance. 
We shall bear your Yoke as tamely as the overloaded Ass. If we 
bray with the Pain, we shall not have the Heart to throw off the Load, 
or spurn the Bider. Have many already become the Tools of your 
Oppression ? and are Numbers now cringing to become the Tools of 
those Tools, to slay their wretched Brethren? 'Tis impossible! 
But alas I if so, who could have thought it ! . . . . Those who 
lately set themselves up for Patriots and boasted a generous Love 
for their Country, are they now suing (O Disgrace to humanity!) 
are thet now creeping after the Profits of collecting the Un- 
ijgfateous American Stamp Duty 1 If this is credible, what may we not 
believe ? Where are the Mercenary Publicans who delight in Nothing 
BO much as the dearest Blood of their Country ? Will the Cries of 
your despairing, dying Brethren be Music pleasing to your Ears ? If 
so, go on, bend the Knee to your Master Horseleach, and beg a share 
in the Pillage of your Country. — No, you'll say, IdonH ddight in the 
Bmn of my Country, but, since ^tis decreed she must fall, who can blame me 
fir taking a Part in the Plunder f Tenderly said ! why did you not 
27 • 



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318 NEW^LOHDON OASCTTE. 

nduir atLj^-^I/myfiaher mmi dte, wkocan acamme as defective mJSiaL 
Dutjfy in becoming liis Executioner y that eo much of the Estate, at least, ae 
goes to ike Hangman^ may he retained in the Family. 

Never pretend, whoever yon are, that freely undertake to put in Exe- 
eution a Law prejudicial to your Country, that you have the least Spark 
of Affection for her. Rather own you would gladly see her in Flames, 
if you might be allowed to pillage with Impunity. 

But had you not rather these Duties should be collected by your Brethren, 
than by Foreigners f No I vile Miscreant ! indeed we had not The 
same rapacious and base Spirit which prompted you to undertake the 
ignominious Task, will urge you on to every cruel and oppressive Mea- 
sure. You will serve to put us continually in Mind of our abject Con- 
dition. A Foreigner we could more cheerfully endure, because he 
might be supposed not to feel our Distresses; but for one of our 
Fellow Slaves^ who equally shares in our Fains, to rise up and beg the 
Favour of inflicting them, is intolerable. The only Advantage that 
can be hoped for from this is, that it will rouse the most indolent of us 
to a Sense of our Slavery, and make us use our strongest Efforts to be 
free. Some, I hope there are, notwithstanding your base Defection, 
that feel the Patriotic Flame, glowing in their Bosoms, and would 
esteem it glorious to die for their country ! From such as these you are 
to expect perpetual Opposition. ^These are Men whose Existence and 
Importance does not depend on Gold. When, therefore, you have pil- 
laged from them their Estates, they will still live and blast your wicked 
Designs, by all law/id Means. You are to look for Nothing but the 
Hatred and Detestation of all the Good and Virtuous. And as you 
live on the Distresses, you will inherit the Curses of Widows and Or- 
phans. The present Generation will treat you as the Authors of their 
Misery, and Posterity will pursue your Memory with the most terrible 
Imprecations. CATO. 

There is a small collection of stray numbers of the 
Connecticut Gazette in the library of the Massachusetts 
Historical Society, reaching from its beginning to 1783. 
They are all in one Yolume. They are chiefly filled 
with communications in favor of the freedom of the 
country from British misrule, — many of them original, 
and many from the Boston Gazette, and other whig 
journals. The editor appears to have taken great inter- 
est in all the patriotic proceedings in Massachusetts, and 



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TIMOTflT 6RCBN. 819 

to have felt much sympathy with the Bostonians during 
the Siege of their town by the British army. The Song 
annexed appeared as original in the Gazette of February 
23, 1 776, The sentiment is a sufficient apology for the 
defects in the poetry : — 

Smile, Massachusetts, smile ; 

Thy virtue still outbraves 

The frowns of Britain's isle, 

And rage of home-bom slaves. 
Thy free-bom sons disdain their ease, 
When purchased by their liberties. 

Thy Genius, once the pride 

Of Britain's ancient isle, 

Brought o'er the raging tide. 

By our forefather's toil ; 
In spite of N — th's despotic power, 
Shines glorious on this western shore. 

In Hancock's generous mind 

Awakes the noble strife, 

Which so conspicu(ftis shined 

In gallant Sydney's life : 
While in its cause the hero bled, 
Immortal honors crowned his head. 

Let zeal your breasts inspire ; 

Let wisdom guide your plans ; 

'Tis not your cause entire 

On doubtful conflict hangs : 
The fate of this vast continent. 
And unborn millions share th' event. 

To close the gloomy scenes 

Of this alarming day, 

A happy union reigns 

Through wide America, 
While awful Wisdom hourly waits 
To adorn the councils of her states. 

Brave Washington arrives. 

Arrayed in warlike &me ; — 

(While in his soul revives 

Great Marlboro*8 martial flame ] ) 



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320 NEW-LOmOON OAZXTTE. 

To lead your oonqneriiig annies on 
To lastiiig gloiy and renown. 
To aid tiie glorious cause 
Experienced Lee is come, 
Renowned in foreign wan, 
A patriot at home. 
While valiant Putnam's wariike deeds 
Amongst the ibe a terror spreads. 
Let Britons proudly boast 
" That their two thousand slayes 
Can drive our numerous host 
And make us all their slaves." 
While twice six thousand quake with fear, 
Nor dare without their lines appear. 
Kind Heaven has deigned to own 
Our bold resistance just ; 
Since murderous G — e beg^ 
The bloody carnage first, 
Near ten to one has been their cost, 
For each American we We lost. 
Stand firm in you^ defence, 
Like Sons of Freedom fight : 
Your haughty foes convince 
That you '11 maintain your right. 
Defiance bid to tyranf s frown. 
And glory will your valor crown. 



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THE HEBALD OF FREEDOM, 

AND THB 

FEDERAL ADVERTISER- 



On the fifteenth of September, 1788, Edmund Free- 
man and LoRiNG Andrews, issued a paper in Boston, 
with the title recited above. It was published twice a 
week, on Monday and Thursday. In the centre of the 
head was a cut, on which Justice, Wisdom, Liberty, and 
Fortitude were represented by four standing figures, each 
holding its appropriate emblem. The first number con* 
tains no exposition of the editor's principles, nor any 
notice of the intended mode of publication. The second 
number has a note of five or six lines, containing a re- 
quest of '' such of their patrons, as can make it con- 
venient, to advance a quarter or half a year's pay ; — if 
they can do this, without detriment to themselves, they 
will confer a great obligation on the editors." .The 
paper was well supplied with original communications, 
on morals and manners, religion and politics. It was 
the intention of the editors that it should be an impartial 
journal, and their intention seems to have been perma- 
nently adhered to. Political affairs were discussed with 
freedom, by their correspondents ; and so far as the pri- 
vate views of the editors are developed, there b no 

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322 THE HEBALD OF FBEEBOM. 

indication of strong personal prejudices or affections in 
regard to candidates for political offices. The editorial 
paragraphs, — quite numerous, but always brief, — are 
more in the style of a scholar than those of most of the 
cotemporary papers. 

In the political contest, which took place just before 
the annual election of Governor, in 1788, between the 
friends of Hancock and Bowdoin, the rival candidates, 
most of the writers for the Herald were in favor of Han- 
cock. ^* Laco,'' a writer in the Centinel, who had attacked 
him with some acrimony of temper, was treated by them 
with little courtesy ; and the editor of the" Centinel 
came in for a share of their rebuke, for the indulgence 
he had shown to hb correspondent. He and they were 
lampooned after this fashion : — 

To the PuUic, and AU whom it may Concern, 

Whereas, WE, Laco & Company, alias, S H , T 

P , and J W ,* have undertaken to vilify the charac- 
ter of Mr. H. ; though, in the beginning, our materials consisted of a 
laige number of lies, vulgar epithets, and abusive language, yet they 
are all expended ; ^ WE,*' with all our ingenuity and invention, can- 
not find wherewith to proceed : — " We " hereby promise to reward any 
person or persons, who can supply us with any or all of them — the 
more infamous and notorious they are, the laiger will be the gratuity 
— for further particulars, inquire of our trusty and well-beloved S 
H , in Federal-street, where they will be thankfully received, or 
of the ^ uninfluenced " and impartial Editor of the Centinel, at the head 
of Black Sam's Alley. Laco & Co. 

Some of the articles in defence of Hancock, against 
the charges, and innuendoes of the correspondents of 
the Centinel, were written in a more dignified manner. 

A series of essays appeared in this paper, under the 

• Btaptaen Higgiiiion, Theopbilus Ptawni, and JamM Wairen, were nippoMd to 
be Ute writen against Govemor Hancock in tlie Centinel. 



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FKEfiMAN AND ANDREWS. 323 

title of <^ How to make an Apple Pudding, being a 
curious, elaborate, and sublime Dissertation, never before 
published, by Yankee Doodle, Esq." The aim of the 
writer appears to have been to satirize some of the pre- 
vailing follies of the time ; but the pungency of his sat- 
ire has been lost with the knowledge of its subjects. In 
one of the early numbers are two or three letters, said 
to have been written by a young lady, who, not long 
before, had committed suicide, under circumstances, 
which produced intense agitation in the fashionable cir- 
cles of Boston, and which laid the foundation of a novel 
entitled " The Power of Sympathy, or the Triumph of 
Nature." This "novel founded in truth," was no 
sooner announced as published, than an attempt was 
made to suppress it, by purchasing and destroying all 
the copies that could be found. Few, if any, are now 
in existence. 

At the end of the first year, the name of Loring An- 
drews disappeared in the imprint of the Herald, and the 
publication was carried on by Edmund Freeman alone. 

In February, 1790, the following article appeared in 
the Herald : — 

From a Correspondent, 

^ While the curiosity of the public is excited by the professed reform- 
ation in the law practice, — while the enemies of the lawyers wait 
with anxious expectation the result, — it may not be improper to turn 
our attention to the character of the gentieman from whom the pro- 
fessed reformation originates. The tongue is an unruly evil, full of 
deadly poison ; it cannot be tamed ; it sets on fire the whole course of 
nature, and is " set on fire of hell." This saying of the Apostie James, 
is peculiarly applicable to this gentieman, the virulence of whose tongue 
none can escape, no, not even the dead. His malicious disposition is 
such, that he cannot pass in silence the memory of his deceased father, 
but treats his character with such abusive and scurrilous language, as 



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824 THE HERALD OF FREEDOM. 

would strike even a Mrage with honor and amiiiement A wife fimr- 
dered by his crnelty, receives not a tear from his humanity ; and even 
her friends, who are supposed to mourn her loss, are the subjects of his 
unnatural and inhuman reflections. A daughter, whose innocence and 
modest appearance, one would think, were sufficient to disarm a mffiaa, 
and arrest from the most virulent tongue its stings, cannot escape his bar- 
barity ; but even in company, and before strangers, receives from her un- 
natural father such odious and shocking epithets, as would hardly be 
thought to proceed from the mouth of a madman. His turbulent iempet 
knows no rest ; troubles and tempests have attended him wherever he has 
resided ; and indeed it is impossible in any place, which is so unfortunate 
as to have him for an inhabitant, to be at peace. Prejudice, upon which 
he has expatiated so largely, never appeared in a greater degree or more 
striking manner, than in this man. Prejudice against quietness and peace 
— prejudice against sobriety and temperance — prejudice against every 
one, who appears to differ from him in his opinion, who opposes his 
injudicious schemes, or who stands in the way of his importance ; in 
shost, prefudice against every body and every thing, that is good, and 
in favor of every thing that is bad. His prejudice is likewise very liable 
to change. While in Europe and St. Kjtt's, we may, from his present 
conduct, fairly conclude, that his prejudice was very violent against 
New-England^ and as violent in favor of Old-England, or rather WesA- 
India, Immediately upon his arrival in America, we find all his praise 
lavished upon the former, and nothing belonging to the latter escaped 
his virulence. His whole soul is so bound up in New-England, that he 
keeps it in his head, and at his side, by night and by day, and not a mo- 
ment are his thoughts turned from it to the contemplation of other ob- 
jects. Even on the Lord^s Dag, his God receives no part of his adora- 
tion, but the spirit of New-England rises so high as to remove the centre 
of gravity ; and, as second cousin to the Meet Lady, ihe iniquities of his 
brethren and grievances of the people stream from his mouth, in pUnti- 
fid effusion. This, my fellow-citizens, is the man, who proposed to alter 
the present method of Law Practice, and redress your grievances. 
Can you bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? Can the fig-tree bear 
olive berries, or the vine figs ? So neither can the same fountain send 
forth salt water and fresh. Whoso curseth his father, his lamp shall be 
put out in utter darkness I 

I shall make no apology for this piece; the gentleman himself has 
told us, that a reverence for the dead ought not to tie the tongue, nor 
ought the pen of the historian ; and certainly a reverence for the charac- 
ter of the living, who have rendered themselves infamous by their con- 
duct, ought not to have this effect. 



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BoxmnD r&BKM Air. SsES 

Very soon after the appearance of this article, John 
Gardiner, a representatiire in the Legislature, from the 
town of PownalbcNTough, entered a complaint against 
Freeman finr the publication of a libel, and a warrant for 
his airest was granted by Thomas Crafts, a justice of the 
peace. Gardiner, on hb part, conducted the examina- 
tioii himself* Harrison G« Otis and R. G« Amory were 
tMMinsel for Fteeman. He was bound m a penalty of 
two hundred pounds, with two sureties in one hundred 
pounds each, hr his appearance at the next term of the 
Supreme Court. Gardiner recognised in the sum of one 
hundred pounds, to appear and prosecute his complaint 
at the same court. ^ 

The trial eame on m February, 1791. Gardiner 
asked leave of the court to assist the attorney-general 
in the management of the piosecutbn. The altomey- 
general, X*- James Suiliymn, Esq. *^^ said he thought the 
request a very improper one. He was, himself, the 
common medium of all prosecntkms on the part of the 
government, and the present case was the fini of ike 
Jcindf which had happened in this country. It was an 
arduous and difficult task to draw the proper line between 
the Ubertff and the ticentiausnu$ of the press. It was a 
matter of vast importance, in which the government, as 
wdl as every class of citizens, was concerned. He was 
appointed by the goveminent to conduct all causes, in 
which the comtnonwealth was concerned ; and, as this 
was such a cause, he should not commit the manage-* 
ncot of it to Mr. Gardmer, or any other man. Gardiner 
still urged his request; but after consultation, the court 
determined to proceed in the usual planner, and directed 
the attorney-general to go on with the prosecution. 

VOL. I. 28 

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896 HBRAUi or rasKDOM. 

The fiicC o( the paUication hj Freeman was proved 
by witnesses, who bought the paper. Two witnesses 
testified that they went to Freeman's office with Grardiner, 
who accosted the printer, in substance thus: — ^'How 
dared you, Sir, to assert in your paper of yesterday, that 
I had murdered the most excell^it woman that ever 
liyed ? " That the printer replied, — '' I do not know 
that I did any such thing." That Gardiner then read 
to the printer the supposed libel, particularly that part 
where it says, ' a wife murdered by his cruelty,' &c. and 
asked, ** Pray Sir, what did you mean by murdered by 
my cruelty ? " "I suppose," said the printer, " by your 
severe usage. It was brought to me by a person about 
twenty*five or twenty-six years of age, — whom I told, 
if I was called upon, I must look to, and through him 
trace up the author. I don't say he was the author." 
Gardiner then said he would trace up the author, if posm- 
ble, and see the infamous villain in the pillory. 

Two witnesses were examined for the defence. One 
of them testified. That Gardiner told Freeman, when he 
applied to him for one of his speeches, that ^' he had 
given Mr. Russell, the printer of the Centinel, the ex- 
clusive privilege of printing all hb observations, refer- 
ences, &c. as delivered by him in the Legislature, upon 
the express condition that he should publish every thing 
that came fiom the black birds, however stMjUty it might 
be, agabst the ffum and the measures.'* Another testified, 
<< That Gardiner told him, that he had engaged all his 
speeches and writings to the printer of the Centinel, upon 
condition that he published every thingy which might be 
brought against him." 



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JOHK HOWKLL. 327 

This trial, — the first trial for a libel in the courts of 
Massachusetts, — was pretty fully reported in the Inde- 
pendent Chronicle, where the reader, who wishes to see 
the arguments of the attorney-general for the prosecution, 
and of Messrs. Otis and Amory for the defendant, y/ 
together with the charge of the Chief Justice, may find 
them. The jury brought in a verdict, — Nor Guilty. 

About two months after this trial, Freeman took leave 
of the public, in a very brief acknowledgement for favors 
received, and stating that the right and title of the pa- 
per were transferred to John Howell, whom he recom- 
mended as worthy of support. Howell began his career 
with a suitable address, m which he said,— ^ <^ The mean, 
through which the editor will seek the flattering reward 
of public approbation, will be — preserving inviolate the 
laws of decency and truth — exercisbg the fullest 
impartiality and most extensive candor — and sedulously 
gleaning, from the fruitful harvest of Politics and Com- 
merce, the earliest, most interesting, and best authenticat- 
ed intelligence." In just three months, Howell pub- 
Ibhed his btention of changing the name of his paper, 
in the following nonsensical and bombastical language : — 

The Herald of Freedom, oonsdons that she is now bat dost, and 
feeling her dusolntion daily approaching, hereby declares, that she diet 
UieraUy from a typical disease ; and though she must submit, in common 
with the element of which she is composed, to the general laws of mor. 
tality, jet for a few dajs she sleeps in hope of a joyful resurrection ; 
the fruition of which shaU clothe her in the bright and stable rays of 
information, entertainment, and intelligence. 

The trance of business, like that of life, though it may suspend 
awhile the operations of her activity, yet by opening a second morning 
to her being, will discover new objects of interest, pursuit, and ambi- 
tion; and, like the benighted traveler, who, having passed the rocks, 
waves, and precipices of life without a guide, will secure herself in the 
haven, where industry and attention can alone find rest. 



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HERALD <Ur FmSB901f. 

TU F^Uic ave nair Mpectftilly ia^med, ibai TMm ^ixfvr win dix 
TO-DAT, and that, on Friday next, like the Phoenix fix>m hen: ashes, mU 
arise the Abgub, to view with his hundred eyes, the literary, political, 
eommwdal, aad agricaleand interastt of thia great westeni hemi- 
sphflsra. Thus, variona as his attwitigps, wil^ we tmst, be the fiwwiltiea qf 
his entertainment; and haying already so liberally experienced die 
patronage of a discerning pablic, under another name, win in future be 
•s sedulous la iWs endearora of merit, as Hnnf hare already been Ubend 
ui the booAtiea of bestowijig % 

The paper, which contamed thb absurd attempt at 
jEne wiiUngy was, of course, the last number of the 
Herald of Freedom. A paper called the Argus, was 
afterwards published bj Edward Evelelh Powarsi, but 
whether Howell was connected with it or not, does not 
appear from anj of the numbem, which I have seen. 

EiHiUND FiasEMAN, oiie of the first publishers of the 
Herald of Freedom, was a native of Sandwich, Mass. 
and was educated a printer. After he relinqnished the 
publication of tUs paper he was connected with a raaga- 
aine, and, I believe, with another newspaper, in Boston. 

LomiNo Andrews was a native of Hingham, Mass. 
and was also bred to the printing business. After he 
left Freeman, he published a paper at Stocklvidge, in the 
eountj of Berkshire, called the Western Star. At one 
time be was editor of the Albany Centinel, and was 
printer to the state. Subsequently he went to Charieston, 
S. C. and there established the Charleston Courier. He 
died in that city, s^bout the year 1807. 



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THE HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE. 



By the advice and encouragement of a number of 
gentlemen of Hampshire county, William Butler set up 
a printing-office in Northampton, and issued the first 
number of the Hampshire Gazette, on the sixth of Sep- 
tember, 1786. It was while the insurgent Shays and 
his companions, Day, Parsons, and others, were doing 
their utmost to stop the operations of the courts of jus- 
tice in Massachusetts. Conventions had been held at 
sundry places in the county, at which resolutions, ex- 
pressmg the supposed grievances of the people, had 
been adopted. A convention at Hatfield was composed 
of delegates firom fifty towns. This convention issued 
a manifesto, in which seventeen distinct articles stated as 
many causes of dissatisfaction. A paper was printed at 
Springfield; but the county then stretched across the 
state trom north to south, and intelligence, by means of 
the press, was not very rapidly communicated. To sup- 
ply this deficiency, and to support the government 
agamst the insurrectionary plans of Shays and his associ- 
ates, was the chief motive, that led to the establishment 
of the Hampshire Gazette. Among the writers, who 
immediately came forward in opposition to the insurgents, 
were the Rev. Joseph Lyman, of Hatfield, who wrote 
a series of articles, signed ^^ An Old Republican," and 

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HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE. 

Caleb Strong, of Northampton. The venerable Major 
Hawley, then near the close of life, was also a contribu- 
tor. These, with others less known, kept the Gazette, 
for some time, nearly filled with articles, the object of 
which was to allay popular excitement, by exposbg the 
schemes of demagogues, and recommending more peace- 
ful measures to procure the redress of grievances. 

I am not able to identify the communications of Ca- 
leb Strong ; but there are many essays in the Gazette, 
which for political wisdom, sound morals, and irrefutably 
argument, are worthy of his pen, and would not discredit 
his fame as a patriot, a statesman, a laiwyer, oi: a 
Christian. Dr. layman wrote» as he always preachedi 
with great plainness and simplicity, and often with ekn 
quence. In one of his essays, he closies hi& argument 
against mobs, in the language, which follows, after quot** 
ing an appropriate passage of scripture concerning ^' tl^ 
flying roll " : — 

Leaving this diyine denimciaiion to the sober refl6Ctio& of those mili- 
tary officers, who were active in tbe lale tumidt, left me observe, tihail 
mobs never did anj good to the cause which they intended to support 
Their natural operation is to make the hand of power more weighty 
and severe ; when continued, they produce perplexities and animosities 
among friends and bretiiren ; they raise sad contentiona ; they frequently 
issue in bloodshed, and murder, and executions. When most success- 
ful, the page of history tells us, that popular insurrections, after lament- 
able devastation, end in the utter subversion of the people's liberties, and 
the bloody tyranny of one man,— * an event, by which the whole com- 
munity is rendered certainly and irretrievably wretched. But, resting 
upon the divine compassion, we presage more joyful events for a peo* 
pie, although ungrateful, whom he can so easily fit for his astonishing 
goodness. Tokens for good do even now daily arise. The people ba- 
gin to be sensible of their privileges and happy security under the gov- 
ernment. I see the honest, the brave, the stable yeomanry of this 
ancient and laige county, who from then: love of rest, have too easily 
been lulled asleep in perUoos times, — I see them mb (^» their eyelids 



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WILLIAM BWTLKK. 331 

to discoTcr their iimttinwii danger. la deteftali(m of viofeBiit measures, 
I hear them saj, This govermneot, so nwreasoaably atlaeked, is cub 
gOTermnent We wiU have neither king; nor tyrant I see them smite 
their hands npon their thighs and aaj, Bj the grace of Heayen, oar 
government, bought for onr children with our blood, shall be protecfed 
from the dishonest artijQlces of fraud, and the violence of fell ambition. 
With them, nnder an indulgent Heaven, the issue rests, — whether 
we shall be virtuous, free and happy *, or whether, driven into tyranny 
by the stoims of anarchy and confosion, we &11, degraded and vile, 
slavish and enslaved; — whether we shall reign kings in our own gov- 
ernment, or like Issachar, be as the strong ass, croudiiDg down between 
two burdens. To those, who have be^i seduced from their duty and 
happiness, I give this fiiendly and MtfaM caution, which I wish them 
timely to remember, — That whils; Juamcs sas upabkn feet, 

BHE HAS IRON HANDS. 

The Gazette was pot entirely devoted to the suppres- 
sion of complaint and insurrection. Essays on morals 
and religion occasionally appeared, and, some times, an 
original piece of wit and humor diversified its sober 
countenance. Of the latter description is the following, 
which might stand by the side of Peter Pindar's best 
stories, without unfavorable Qompari3on : — 

THE PARSON AND WIDOW. 

A worthy, pious clergyman of late, 
Who ranked it with his gospel labora 
To guard his flod^ and visit oft his neighbors; *-r 

(A practice now grown something out of date ; ) 

Gk>od fitithfal map, with unremitting zeal, 

From house to house would daily go ; 
Eager his Master's duty to fhlfiU, 

And coriops bis pi^ri^hioners to know. 

Full oft the cot of wretehedness he sought, 
Where death or pa^e disease had brought distress^ 

With many a balmy consolation fraught. 
To cheer the widow and the fotherless. 

Abroad, o'er mug of cider or his pipe, 
Would he inculcate lessoni moral ; 



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332 HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE. 

f 

From misery's cheek the tear of anguish wqw, 
Decide a cause, or terminate a qoaneL 

One day, on his important chaige intent, 
His mind to unburthen and his maw to feast, 

To a poor widow's house the Parson went, 
Whose spouse had recently deceased. 

John to a small estate was rightful heir, 

Bat lired an idle, dissipated life; 
Wonld fight, get drank, and raye, and swear, 

Abase his family and maol his wife ; 
Indulged his vices, till his all was spent, 
Got drunk, and died a vile impenitent 

Down sat his reverence and began his theme — 
" Afflictions, woman, spring not from the dust j 

Our life 's a vapor — 'tis an airy dream; 
Death is the lot of all, but God is just 

*' Your husband 's gone, alas ! we know not where ; 

The yawning grave doth every man await; 
Fray, can you tell me, did he not despair? 

Was he concerned about ]nsjuture state f " 

'* Future estate ! " exclaimed poor Joan, * 
With squeaking tone ; 

Then wiped her eyes and sighed ; 
" Future estate I why^ ducky man^ he W nomy 

He spent it long enough be/ore he died! " 

William Butler, the original proprietor and editor 
of the Hampshire Gazette, was a man of correct princi- 
ples and habits, an unwavering supporter of order, liberty 
and law. He was one of the most industrious of men. 
All his available means he used to extend his business, 
and carried on book-printing and book-binding as well 
as a newspaper. He also erected a paper-mill, where 
he manufactured paper for his own accommodation, and 
more than he used at his own press. Soon after the 
close of the war of 1812, he sold the Gazette; and, 
being much afflicted with chronic rheumatism, retired 



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WII.LIAM BUTLER. 333 

from active business, with a decent competency, but 
without the affluence, which thousands enjoy, who never 
practised a tithe of economy and industry Uke his. 

The Gazette has passed through the hands of several 
persons, and is now in possession of William A. Hawley . 
It is the oldest paper in Massachusetts, except the 
Massachusetts Spy. 



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EXETER FEDERAL MISCELLANY. 



In the' latter part of the year 1798, a paper bearing 
this title was published at Exeter, N. H. hj Henry 
Ranlet. I have only two numbers of it, and am unin- 
formed as to the length of its existence. It was printed 
on a royal sheet, and, though the two numbers contain 
nothing that give any indications of original talent in the 
editorial department, the selections of political articles 
are sufficient to justify the propriety of the title. The 
paper of Febniary 13, 1799, has the Song hereto 
annexed, which it is stated, editorially, <^ was composed 
by an undergraduate of Dartmouth College. Notwith- 
standing some little deficiencies in point of language, it 
discovers enough of poetic, as well as patriotic, fire, to 
entitle it to publication '' : — 

THE TIMES. 
Beneath the soft shade of the clustering vine, 

With the branch of the olive, — of yirtne the wages, 
Where laurels with roses and myrtle entwine, 
Columbians have flourished, -^ the choicest of ages : 
Bound Liberty's throne, 
Her heroes have grown, 
And to the wide universe ever have shown. 
That nier to a tyrant shall patriots faUf 
While PhcBbus his chariot impels round the ball. 

Dark glooms the grim tempest of havoc and war, 
The thunder of tyranny shakes the wide ocean ; 



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HENRT RANLET. 335 

War wftTM the red flag of fi^ carnage from £ur; 
But fireemen, undaunted, behold the commotion: 
Each, finn to his post, 
To resist the mad host, 
Besolve all assailants to driye from the coast: 
To the Marine of no tyrant, ^. 

The spirit of Liberty flashes around, 

Brave heroes assemble, while danger approaches ; 
Of trumpet and drum boldlj march to the sound, 
To meet the proud foe, whose ambition encroaches : 
Determined to stand, 
And shield their blest land, 
Or leave their dead bodies to bleach on the strand ; 
To the shrine of no tyrant, ^a. 

Proud Gallia may boast the extent of her sway. 
Show cities in ashes and kingdoms subjected ; 
Point to Holland enfranchised, make Venice obey, 
Boast of kingdoms and empires, when plundered, protected: 
Of their fate we *11 beware ; 
Our rights we 'U declare. 
And unitedly look up to heaven, and swear. 
That nier to a tyrant, ffx. 

When the gauntlet of power was by tyranny thrown. 

When Slaveiy threatened, and iVeedom lay bleeding, 
Americans made the fair jewel their own. 
To hand it, unblemished, to ages succeeding. 
Proud Britain, in vain. 
Had bridged o'er the main. 
Intending to rivet harsh Slavery's chain. 
To the shrine of no tyrant, ^. 

^ How vain the attempt of the minions of pride. 

With the engines of death, to appall our firm nation ! 
Not all Europe's cohorts, to Britain allied. 
Could have driven Americans from their fixed station. 
Like a mount, to the flood, 
Great Washington stood. 
And rolled back the foe in a torrent of blood. 
To the shrine of no tyrant, 4rc. 

Again, when the clarion of War spreads alarm. 
From the venerable Mount comes the Patriot hoary. 



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EX£TEB. rXSKEAL lfESCEI.I.ANY. 

To shield FrMdom^l witan and templef teoOL faami. 
And nifle Aem, tablbae, to the foauiiit of gloiy. 
Though silvered wkh nge, 
When Jacobins z«ge, 
He comes, like a tempest, iktir force to engi^ : 
To the shrine of no tyrant^ %^. 

ItGdst Faction enkindled, just bunting to flame, 
See Adams, like AHm, onr glory snpporling; 
While the foes of oar freedooi, encrimsoaed intii efasme, 
Seecoeewn the nadimbUe, wfaoee smiles Itey *!« been courting: 
Then, Adams our goide, 
In him we 11 confide, 
Amd safe o'er (lie whhipools of Faction we *H lide : 
Andn^ertotheahrineo/ai^toMiwiMJtM 
TVhSe Phabut his chariot impels round the balL 



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APPENDIX TO VOL. I. 



JAMES FRANKLESPS IMPBISONMENT. 

In a note, page 68, it is said, " What Franklin was 
imprisoned for does not distinctly appear." Since that 
part of the volume was printed, the Hon. Edwakd 
Eterett has furnished me with an explanation of this 
obscure point in the history of Franklin, which he 
obtained by consulting the manuscript records of the 
General Court, for the month of June 1733, and which 
is here abridged : -— 

In the Courant of June 11^ 1732, there was an arti- 
cle, dated Newport, R. I. June 7, cotitaining an account 
of the appearance of a pirate off Block Island, and of 
the prompt steps taken at Newport to send out two ves- 
sels to cruise against him. The article concludes with 
this remark : — ^' We are advised from Boston that the 
government of the Massachusetts are fitting out a ship to 
go after the pirates, to be commanded by Captain Peter 
Papillon, and ^iis thought he imU sail sometime this 
month J wind and weather permittingJ^ The insinuation 
of tardmess, in the conclusion of the pretended article 
finom Rhode-Island, seems to have been taken as an 
affiont to the government. On the 12th of June, the 
day succeeding the publication, the council had the 
Courant before them, and apprehending that a para- 

VOL. I. 29 

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338 APPENDIX. 

graph therein^ said to be written from Rhode-Island, 
contams matter of reflection on this government, 

" Ordered, That the publisher of said paper, be forthwith sent for to 
answer for the same, and accordingly James Franklyn, of Boston, 
printer, was sent for, examined, and owned that he had published the 
said paper.'* 

The council, having had consideration of the para- 
graph relating to the fitting out of a ship to proceed 
against the pirates, " resolved that the said paragraph 
is a high affront to this government." The sheriff of 
the county of Suffolk was forthwith ordered to commit, 
to the gaol in Boston, the body of Franklin, and the 
order was immediately executed. 

The records of the General Court contain the follow- 
ing entry the next week : — 

" In Council, 20th June, 1722, a petition of James Eranklyn, printer, 
humbly shewing, that he is truly sensible and heartily sorry for the 
offence he has giyen to this court in the late Courant, relating to the 
fitting out of a ship by the government, and truly acknowledges his 
inadvertency and folly therein in affronting the government, as also his 
indiscretion and indecency when before the court, for all which he 
intreats the court's forgiveness, and praying a discharge from the stone 
prison where he is confined by order of the court, and that he may have 
the liberty of the yard, he being much indisposed and suffering in his 
health by the said confinement; a certificate of Dr. Zabdiel Boylston 
being offered with the said petition. 

" In the House of Representatives, read, and 

" Votedj that James fVanklyn, now a prisoner in the stone gaol, may 
have the liberty of the prison house and yard, upon his giving security 
for his faithful abiding there. 

" In Council, read and concurred ; consented to. 

"Sahuel Shutb." 

It is rather lingular that Mr. Thomas should hmve 
overlooked these documents in his examination of the 
colonial records. He has transferred to his History the 
following records, which may be interesting to the reader, 



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APPENDIX. 389 

as an elucidation of this part of the History of the New- 
England Courant : — 

"In Coundl July 5tih, 1722," 

"Whereas in the Paper called the New-England Cowrant printed 
Weekly by James Franklin, many passages have been published boldly 
reflecting on His Majesty's Government and on the Administration of 
it in this Province, the Ministry, Churches and College ; and it very 
often contains Paragraphs that tend to fill the Readers* minds with 
yanity to the Dishonor of God, and disservice of Grood Men. 

" Resolved, that no such Weekly Paper be hereafter Printed or Pub- 
lished without the same be first perused and allowed by the Secretary, 
as has been usual. And that the said Franklin give Security before 
the Justices of the Superior Court in the Sum of 100/. to be of the 
good Behaviour to the End of the next Fall Sessions of this Court 
Sent down for Concurrence." 

" Read and Non-concurred." 

LETTERS FROM REV. S. PETERS. 
Page 195. 

The proceedings of the Provincial Congress pub- 
lished in the Boston Gazette, embrace some interesting 
papers, and among them are the following Letters,— 
which were read in the congress, — from the Rev. Sam- 
uel Peters, minister of an Episcopal Church at Hebron, 
Connecticut : — 

Dear Mother, Boston, September 28, 1774. 

I am yet well, and doing business for my intended route ; I hear 
that a mob was gathered for me the day after I left Hebron ; what they 
have done, I cannot yet find out As Jonathan will be obliged to attend 
at New Haven when the assembly sits, I desire him to let Mr. Jarvis, 
Andrews, Hubbard, &c. collect all facts touching mobs and insults 
offered the clergy of our church or her ministers, likewise to send me a 
copy of the clergy's petition to Governor Trumbull, and what he said 
in answer. If Jonathan is hurt, or my house hurt or damage done, let 
tiiat be transmitted me within fourteen days, or after that send those 
accounts to the care of Mr. Rice Williams, a woollen-draper in Lon- 
don. I am in high spirits. I should be happy if my friends and rela- 
tions at Hebron were provided for at these bad times, when things are 
growing worse. Six regiments are coming over from England and 
sundry men-of-war; so soon as they come, hanging work will go on. 



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840 iJPPKllDIX. 

alKd deBtnustioa will attend^t the ie»»p<Mt towns; ihe lintel ^rinkM 
on the side-post will preserye the' faithfoL I wish Hannah to take 
some papers ?^ch she and I laid away, and bring them to me : she 
knows where thej be ; or bum them, if this letter appears to be opened 
before it is opened by yon. Mr. Beebe and Mr. Daniel Jones, Mr. War- 
SMi and Griffidi of Millington, mnst dntw up a narradve of their snf- 
foriri^s, and snck words as OA. Spencer, &e. have spoke by way of 
encouragement to mobs, and let Dr. Beebe send the same to me, to 
liie care of Mr. Thomas Brown, mrachant in Boston. 

To dU Rev, Dr, Auehmuly of New-York. 

Boston, October 1, 1774. 
Key. Sir, 

The riots and mobs, that hare attended me and my house, set on 
by the G of Connecticut, haye compelled me to take up my abode 

here ; and the clexgy of Conuecticut must fiill a sacrifice, with the seyeral 
churches, yery soon, to the rage of the Puritan mobility, if the old ser- 
pent, that dragon, is not bound. Yesterday I waited on his excellency 
Hie admiral, &c. Dr. Caner, Mr. Trothbeck, Dr. Byles, &c. I am soon 
to sail for England. I shall stand in need of your letters, and the let- 
ters of the deigy of ^ew-York. Direct to Mr. Bice WilUams, wool- 
len-draper in London, where I shall put up at Judge Auchmuty wiU 
do all that is reasonable for their neighboring charter ; necessity calls 
for such fnendahip, as the head is sick and heart faint, and spiritual 
Iniquity rides in high places; halberts, pistols, and swords; see the 
proclamation I sent you by my nephew, on their pious Sabbath day, 
the 4th of last mon&, when the preachers and magistrates left their 
pulpits, &c for the gun and drum, and set off for Boston, cursing the 
King and Lord Korth, General Gage, the bishops and theur cursed 
curates, and the church of [England ; and for my telling the church people 
not to take up arms, &c it being high treason, &c. The sons of liberty 
haye almost killed one of my church, tarred and feathered two, abused 
others, and on the 6th day, destroyed my windows, — and rent my 
clothes, eyen my gown, ^. crying out, down with the church, the rags 
of popery, &c. Their rebellion is obyious, and treason is common, 
and robbery is their daily deyotion. The bounds of New Ywk may 
directly extend to Connecticnt Biyer, Boston meet them, and Kew- 
Hampshire take the proyince of Maine, Bhode-Island be swallowed up 
as Dathan. Fray lose no time, nor fear worse times than attend. 

Bey. Sir, Your yeiy humble senrant, 
To Dr. Auchmuty, Kew-York. Samuel Petxbs. 

P. 8. I wrote the clergy of Connecticnt; the letters may be inter- 
cepted ; pray acquaint Mr. Dibble, fte. 



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APFfiNfDIX. 341 

BENJAMIN EBES. 

Page 197. 

The editors of the Centinel haviog been threatened 
with personal violence, in consequence of a publication 
concerning a club, called Sans Soudy Edes published 
the following remarks, which illustrate his boldness in 
defence of the liberty of the press, even when that lib- 
erty was invaded by an attack on a political opponent : — 

D:^ The attack made upon the printers of the Centinel on Satarday 
last, by a namber of wdl-hnoum persons, ought to excite the serious 
attention of all those, who duly regard the bulwark of our liberties, 
The Freedom of the Fbess. If a printer, for advertising that he 
intends to publish a certain book for the information, or merely the 
amusement or innocent diversion of his fellow-citizens, is to be beset 
and abused by a set of club-men, because the title-page does not hap- 
pen to hit their taste, we may take a farewell of our independence, 
which we have gloriously obtained, not without great expense of our 
treasure, and the loss of some of our best blood. A wound in so ten- 
der a point must surely prove fatal ! Should the government appoint 
licensers of the Press, it would give just cause of offence. What right, 
then, has any set of men to forbid the printing a book, till it has had 
their imprimatur, or to punish a printer with club-law, for advertising 
it ? The institution of a society under the name of Sans Souci, or 
jFVee and Easy, has raised the apprehensions as well as curiosity of 
many men of sober sentiments in this community, and such a manner 
of defending it does not tend to diminish their apprehensions. But 
since this mode has been taken for its defence, it concerns the Public to 
inquire into its nature and design ; — that, if it be innocent, it may have 
the 'common protection; but if it tends to promote gaming, idleness, 
and dissipation, it may be, as it ought, discotmtenauced and sup- 
pressed. 

LEONAKD WORCESTER. 

Bee page 243. 

As the name of Mr. Worcester does not appear in the 

Spy, after the year 1794, it is presumed that he then 

retired from the business of printing, and began a course 

of study preparatory to entering on the profession of a 

29* 



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34S 

clergyman. Where or with ^om, he pursued bis 
studies^ I am not informed. He began preaching in the 
course of two or three jeats after dissolving his ccHinec- 
tion with Isaiah Thomas, and was ordained pastor of a 
church at Peacham, in Vermont, previous to the year 
1799. A near relative of Mr. Worcestw, has oblig- 
ingly permitted me to copy a part .of a letter from him 
to his father, written while he was an apprentice to Mr. 
Thomas, which beautifully illustrates his chaiacter as a 
pure-minded and most conscientious man. It will be 
perceived that his purpose of becoming a preacher of the 
gospel was formed several years before it became pracU* 
cable to put it in execution. His remarks concerning 
the business, in which he was then laboring, will be 
interesting to printers, and must be acknowledged to be 
as applicable to the mode of carrying on the business now 
as they were in 1787. 

Woneiter, SepUmi!^ IS^A, 1787. 
Honored Sir, 

The many proofs which I have received of your affection for me, 
excites in my breast the warmest sentiments of gratitude. But when I 
shall be able to make any other compensation for your numerous favors, 
is known only to Him who reads the pages of futurity. But, it is my 
fervent prayer, that my conduct in life, and that of all those who have 
had the happiness to derive their existence from so kind a Pjorent, may 
ever be such, as in some measure to reward the assiduity with which 
you have labored to promote our happiness; — and while many other 
parents have the unhappiness of seeing their children sacrifice their 
interest, happiness, and even their lives in the pursuit of those pleasures 
which finally end in irretrievable ruin, may you hiive the solid satisfac- 
tion of seeing yours walking in the paths of virtue, and seeking a crown 
of immortal glory — that in the decline of life, you may reflect with 
pleasure on the prospect there may then be of each of your children's 
being useful members of society, — amd when yon shsU be brought to 
the closing scene oi this transitory existence, may the hopes of meeting 
your family in a future and happy world, enable you to meet with calm- 
ness and serenity the messenger of death, and welcome his approach. 



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Jj»r me to alter my oourae of W<^ tnoA 4eteniuii6 upo^lbUowiBg aadr 
gtlior ocenpfttion tbim the oiie X £iQ fA pre^nt, wiih^i^t Uying tlie mat- 
ter before jOQ, and asking yoiur ad^ce» ypu might justly d^em an un- 
gvatefrd piece of oonduot. I ^hall ther^Qie, honored bit, lay my mind 
f^pen to yo^ wi& freedom, and aak yo^r fioeadly adrioe. Ppr me to 
f^Uow the printing bnsiness any logger t|iim necee«ity QbUges me, there 
appears to be but little enco1lrageme^t. You are sensiUe that the 
coiBt attending setting it up so a£ to follow it with any advantage to 
mj^fy or uselulpess to othess, must , be yeity considarable. And it is a 
]brade which, of all others, requires money to cany it on. Your cir- 
oumstances are such, as to put it out of your power to afford me miich 
assistance, nor can Treasonably expect it of you — journeymen's wages 
at this business are very low, and journeymen numerous, and daily 
increasing. Nor do I think that master printers are so fayorable to 
them as in justice they ought to be, for they will sooner take apprentices 
to do their work, than employ journeymen— and if printers increase 
as fast for a few years to come aa they do at present, they will not, 
many of them, procure a subsistence by their trade. Besides, there are 
printing-offices already established in almost every populous town in this 
part of the country. These, sir, are circwnstances which I consider as 
very discouraging — and I doubt not but you will view them in the 
same light. 

I suppose you wHl by this time be ready to inquire what other occu- 
pation will be more agreeable to my inclinations ? I almost blush to 
mention it, even to the tenderest of parents. But you will pardon me, 
sir, when I inform you that I shall not presume to do any thing con- 
cerning this matter, without your consent. From my childhood my 
inclioation has led me to desire that I might one day become a preacher 
of the gospel. These desires I have been obliged to suppress, because 
I knew you could not give me a liberal education. And I believe I 
should wholly have conquered them, if persons of my acquaintance 
had not repeatedly informed me that it was their expectation that this 
would be ^e case. What led them to form this opinion, I cannot tell. 
Sure I am that I gave them no intimations of any such thing in any of 
my conversations. It being frequently mentioned to me, awakened the 
desire that it should be so. And my brother Noah's informing me that 
it was his opinion that this would be the case, when I saw him last, has 
kindled these desires into a flame. And upon the whole, I want no- 
thing but your approbation to detennine upon it. If I gain that, I shall 
endeavor to improve myself in writing and arithmetic, so as to be able 
to take the charge of a school for some time afcer I have done living 
here, where I shall probably be able to pursue the necessary studies, 



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344 APPENDIX. 

wiHi greater assiduity tiiaa I can to oontimie at Ibis bnainefls. I hope 
joa will advise with caution, remembering that the future usefiihiess 
and happiness of your son depends in a great measure upon your de- 
dsion. Peihaps you will think that if I now alter my course, I shaU 
lose the time which I have spent in acquiring a superficial knowledge of 
this business. But unless you consider that I have had greater adran- 
tages of gaining knowledge here than I should have had in most other 
places, that objection will not need an answer. Possibly, if you should 
approve the design, I might persuade Mr. Thomas to give me up the 
bond for my last year, or a part of it at least You will please to give 
me a plain and full answer, by the first opportunity. * * * 
I am your most dutiful son, 

Lbonabd Wobcbstbb. 
Noah Wobobbtbr, Esq. 

The writer of this admirable letter was connected 
with the church in Peacham, Vermont, more than fifty 
years. He died at a very advanced age, respected and 
regretted by all that knew him. 



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INDEX TO VOL I. 



Adams, Abgah. trial 6>r a libel, 298— 
his death and cbacader, 2^. 

Adams, John, 166, 174, 196,— ooa* 
trovemy with BratUe, 175. 

Adams d^Laridn, 256. 

Adams ^ Noune, 253-256. 
r\ Adams, Samuel, 166 - 196. 

Adams, Thomas, 256 - 260. 

Alien, John, 5. 

Allen, J. WincoII, 227. 

American Herald, 252. 

American Oracle of Liberty, 237. 

Andrews. Loriog, 321. 

Aurora fiorealis, 25. 
.'TN Austin, Besjumin, jun., 268-280. 

Austin, Charles, 278. 

Advertiser, American, 904, 

Federal, 321. 

Independent, 156. 

Universal, 248. 

Weekly, 308. 



Bacon, Jobp, senator, 858. 

Ballard, Davis C, 266. 

Bears, killed at MarbJehead and in 

Boston harbor, 86. 
Bigelow, Daniel, 239. 
Bigelow, Joshua, 31. 
Bitterly, Will. 97. 
Blunt, Timothy, 98. 
Boone, Nicholas, 4. 
Boston Chronicle, 212. 
Boston Evening Post, 120- 153. 
Boston Gazette, Brooker's, 44. 

Kneeland de Green's, 46. 

Edes & Gill»s, 165-202. 

8. Kneeland's, 163. 

Boston Massacre, 167. 

Boston Port Bill, 193, 236. 

Boston Saint, letters of, 41. 

Boston Weekly Advertiser, 200. 

Boston Weekly Post-Boy, 154. 

Boy whipped at the cart's tail, 87. 

BoydeU,Jlohn,46. 

Boyle. John, 42. 

Bradford, WilUam dc Thomas, 288. 



Brattle, William, 175. 

Brimstone, Georgie, 98. 

Brooker, William, 44. 

Bunker Hill, battle of, and veiaes on, 
221. 

Brantrey, prooeediogi in the xshuvch 
of, 86. 

Burgoyne, defence of Gen. Lee, 220. 

Burnet, Governor, 106. 

Butler, WUIiam, 329, 332. 

Byies, Rev. Mather, 54, 101, 104, /> 
105 — his hvmn on tempest, 102 — 
verses on tne death of George I., 
104 — on the accesaion of George 
XL, 104 — on the arrival of Gov- 
ernor Burnet, 106 — letter to Pope, 
109— obituary notice, 109. 

Burlesque on the Council, 68. 

Burlesque advertisement, 87. 

Calisthenes, by J. Quincy, Jan., 105. 

Campbell, John, 4-23 — personal r^ 
history, 5 — appeals to the public. 
7, 8 — quarrel with Franklin, S - 10 
—"style of writing, 12, 13— adver- 
tisements; 16, 17. 

Cassim, vision of, 285. 

Castalio, letter to J. Franklin, 52. 

Chailestown, burning of, 221. 

Chauncey, Rev. Dr, 139. 

Chronicle, Boston, 212. 

Chronicle, Independent, 248-267. 

Chronksle, New-England, 220-224. 

Cincinnati, 254. 

Cole, Israel, obituary and epitaph, 

Connectusut Gaaette, 316. 
Connecticut Journal, 313. 
Constitutional Courant, 246. 
Continental Journal, 308. 
Courant, New-£ngland, 40-86 — 

editorialparagrai^, 64-68. 
Cuahing, Thomas, 166. 

Danforth, Judge, 101. 
Dawes, Thomas, 311. 



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346 



INDEX. 



0eTil, setring into a pot, 84. 
Dogood, Mrs. Silence, 62, 64, 65. 
Draper & Folsom, 904. 
Draper, John, 27-29. 
Draper, Marsaret, 42, 43. 
/:v Draper, RicEard, 29— his death, 42 
— qaarrel with Edes & Gill, 208. 
Dadley, Gk>vemor, proclamation, 14. 
DimtoD, an English bookseller, 2. 

Eariy Riser, 314. 

Eclipse of Liberty, 160. 

EcMpee of the sun, 73. 

Edes & Gill, 165-196. 

Edes, Benjamin, 196 — his evasion 
of the stamp-act, 197 — appeals to 
the pablic, 196 — farewell address, 
202— life and character, 204 — 
death, 205, 341. 

Edes, Benjamin, Jan., 196. 

Edes, Peter, 196. 

Elegy on Mrs. MehitaUe Kittd, 75. 

Emerald, 105. 

Epitaph on a drunkard, 35. 

Essex Gazette, 217. 

Essex Journal, 299. 

Etheridge, Samuel, 252. 

Evening Post, Boston, 129 - 153. 

Fashions, 115. 

Federal Advertiser, 320. 

Federal Miscellany, 334. 

Felt, Rev. Joseph B., 1. 
r\ Fleet, Thomas, 126, 129-145 — in- 
formation against, 130— editorials, 
131, 135, 140— advertisements, 131, 
132, 142, 144— controversy with 
Rev. J. Morehead, 132 — contro- 
versy with Rev. Mr. Gee. 136 — 
notices of his life and death, 142 - 
145. 

Fleet, Thomas Sg John, 145 - 153. 

Fleming, John. 215. 

Fowle, Daniel, 159 — arrested by 
order of General Court, 160 — re- 
moval to Portsmouth, 162. 

Fowle, Zechariah, 161, 229. 

Fowle, Jacob, adventures, 13. 

Foxcroft, Rev. Thomas, 136. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 64 — address to 
the public, 79 — writings in the 
Courant, 64, 88. 
/7\ Franklin, James, 8, 49 — controversy 
with the Mathers, 50-59 — impris- 
onment. 66 — lamentation, 74 — 
removal to Newport, 88 — widow 
of, 228. 

Frauds and delusions, 121 - 125. 

Freeman, Edmund, 321. 



Freeman, Rev. James, 246. 

Gazette,Bo6ton, 44, 46, 163, 165- 204. 
£8sex, 217. 



Massachusetts, 30, 227. 

Salem, 225. 

Weekly, 220. 

Worcester, 240. 

Gardiner, John, 325. 

Gardiner, Rev. J. S. J. 199. 

Gee, Rev. Mr. 136. 

Gill. John, 308. 

Goddard, William, 246. 

Goidon, Rev. William, 251. 

Gravely, Charles, 95. 

Graves, Sir Samuel, 37. 

Grreen, Bartholomew, 5 — miblisher 
and editor of the News-Letter, 23 
— notices to customers, 24 — edi- 
torials, 25 — obituary notice, 26. 

Green, Bartholomew, jun. 48. 

Green 6c Russell, 206. 

Green, John, 209. 

Green, Samuel, 26. 

Green, Thomas & Samuel, 313. 

Green, Timothy, 48, 313, 316. 

Greenleaf, Thomas, 281. 

Gridley, Jeremy, 112 — essavs in the f^ 
Rehearsal, lid -125 — character, 
127 — verses on his death, 128. 

Hall, Ebenezer, 217, 223. 

Hall, Samuel, 217-228 — removal /7\ 
from Salem to Cambridge, 220 — 
to Boston, 223 — to Salem, 225— 
to Boston, 226- birth place, death, 
and character, 228. 

Hampshire Gazette, 329. 

Hancock, John, 166. 

Happy man, 218. 

Harris, Benjamin, 2 — printer of laws, 
3. 

Hassendever, Peter, 247. 

Hell-Fire Club, 59, 63. 

Herald of Freedom, 321. 

Hicks, John, 211. 

Hobby, Rev. William, 136. 

Honestus, 274. 

Honeysuckle, Mr. 98. 

Horace, translation of, 83. 

Hoop Petticoats, 88. 

Howe, General, Proclamations, 36. 

Howe, John, 43. 

Howell, John, 327. 

Huske, Ellis, 154. 

Hughes, John, 289, 293. 

Hutchinson, Governor, 171, 174, 186» 
187, 191, 193, 234, 235. 

Hutton, Henry, 148. 



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INDEX. 



347 



Hypeicriticus, 71. 
Hyperion, 177, 178. 

Independent Advertiser, 156 - 158. 
Independent Chronicle, 248-287. 
Independent Ledger, 304. 
Indian Pudding, 87. 
Inoculators, 51. 

Jacobiniad, 199. 
Janus, Old, 81, 82. 
Jarvis, Dr. Charles, 280. 
Join or die, 236, 246. 
Journal, Continental, 308. 

New-England Weekly, 89- 

111. 

Qountry, 165. 

Pennsylvania, 288 - 297. 

King's birth-day, 107. 

Kneeland & Green, 46, 47, 107, 163. 

Eneeland, Samuel, 47, 89. 

Ladies, meetings of^ 33 

Laco and Co., 322. 

Lelius, conmiunication, 187. 

Lee, General Burgoyne's defence of, 

220. 
Letter from a c<^tryman to the 

town of Boston, 18 — to Couranto 

on his imprisonment, 66. 
Lewis, Thomas, 46. 
Liberty Song, 146 — parody on, 148. 
Lubbuck, James, 90. 
Lucius, letter to Gov. Hutchinson, 

171. 
Lunt, Ezra, 298, 303. 
Lyman, Rev. Joseph, 329. 

Manning, William, 244. 

Marchmont, Nedham, 186. 

Marshall, £fenry, 46. 

Marvel, Andrew, 246. 

Martha's Vineyard, 87. 

Masquerade, So. 

Massachusettensis, 175. 

Massachusetts Gazette, 29, 187, 207, 
227. 

Massachusetts Spy, 229, 247 — re- 
moval to Worcester, 237 — publi- 
cation suspended, 242. 

Massacre, Boston, 167 — anniversary 
of, 168. 

Mather, Increase and Cotton, 21, 23, 
50 — advice to the public, 53 — 
letter to Franklin, 55. 

Mein & Fleming, 212. 

Mein, John, 214. 

Mills & Hicks, 208. 



Mills, Nathaniel, 211. 
Monster of Monsters, 160. 
Morton, Perez, 280. 
Murray. John, 193. 
Musgrave, Phillip, 46, 58, 61. 
Mucius Scsevola, 235. 
MycaU, John, 298, 303. 



Naked Truth, verses on, 219. 
Nancrede, Joseph, 227. 
Nedham's Remembrancer, 189 - 192. 
Negro incantation, 282. 
New-England Courant, 49-88. 
New-England Chronicle, 220. 
New-England Weekly Journal, 89 - 

111. 
New-Haven Post-Boy, 313. 
New-London Gazette, 316. 
News-Letter,4-43. 
Niles, Mr. minister of Braintree, 86. 
Novanglus, 175. 

Old Man, communication, 183. 

Old South, 175. 

Oliver, Andrew, lieutenant-governor, 

174, 235. 
Oliver Cromwell tavern, 223. 
Otis, James, 166, 311. 

Papal Bulls, 142. 
Paper rags, call for, 35. 
Parody on the Liberty Song, 148. 
Parody parodized, 149. 
Parson and Widow, 331. 
Pedlar, selling tea, 170. 
Pensylvania Journal, 288-297. 
Peters, Rev. Samuel, 339. 
Pierce, Richard, 2. 
Pirates, execution of^ 14 - 16. 
Piscataqua, curious account from, 12. 
Post, Boston Evening, 129- 153. 
Post-Boy and Adveru'ser, 207. 
Post-Boy, Boston Weekly. 154. 
Post-Boy, Green & Russeirs, 30. 
Potomac Guardian, 252. 
Powars 6c Willis, 225. 248, 251. 
Powars, Edward Eveleth, 251. 
Power of sympathy, 323. 
Primus, negroj>ressman, 162. 
Prince, Rev. Thomas, 107, 111. 
Prometheus, story of, 118. 
Proteus Echo, 91, 95, 101. 
Psalm for Fast-day, 283. 
Psahn tunes, 88. 

Quincy, Josiah, jun. 177 - 192. /^ 

Rags, advertisement for, 35. 
Ranlet, Henry, 334. 



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INDEX. 



Bebeanal, Weekhr, 119-128. 

Revere, Pflnl, 16$ 237. 

Rhoades, Ebenezer, 261, 264 — « death) 

266. 
Robie, Thomas, 73. 
Rogers de Fowle, ld& 1S6, 
Rogers, Gamaliel, 158. 
Russell 6c Clap, 210. 



Russell, Joseph, 210. 
Rutland, whif pro( 
town of, 193. 



proeeedmgs in the 

Salem Gaaette, 225. 

SaodeisoD, Robert, 214. 

Seioto Ghizette, 292. 

Selfridge, T. O. 277. 

Serpent with two heads, 89. 

Sewall, Jonathan, 179. 

Shays, Daniel, 329. 

Shearman, Deborah, letter to Geone 

Whitefield, 137. 
Singing at Braintree, 86. 
Shute, Qovemor, 77. 
SmaUPojE,49.94. 
Smoken of tobacea 309. 
Soldier's sentimental toast, 810. 
Soliloquy of the Liberty lYee, 38. 
Steams, William, 239. 
Stamp Act, 32, 167. 
Strong, Caleb, 330. 
Sun, great eclipse of, 73. 
Sweeny, Samuel, 247. 

Tate and Brady, criticism on their 
version of the Psahns, 28. 

Tee, destruction of, 169. 
^ Thomas, Isaiah, 220 -245*- appren- 
ticeship, 229— affair at Halifhx, 
230 ^employed in Charleston, S. 
C, 281 — return to Bbston, 231 — 
penecqt^d by fcne^ 233 — cootio- 



versy with Draper, 284 — renovd 
to Worcester. 237 — bnsiaesB con- 
nections, 244 — his works, 244 — 
founder of the American Antiqniip 
rian Society, 244 — death and oUi- 
uary notice, 245. 

Thomas, Isaiah, jun., 243. 

Tide, remarkable, 29. 

Times, 334. 

Tinges, Henry Walter, 296; 303. 

Tyler, Royal, 161, 162. 

Verscai on the Cometf 78— ott a La^ 
dy singing, 125— On the death of 
J; Gridlev, 128 — to the Rev. 
Charles Chaunoeyj 130 — on the 
burning of Charlestown, 221 —oa 
General Warren, 290 — on the 
New Year 291 — to smokers, 300. 

Virginia Resolutionsi 297. 

Warren, Gen. Joseph, 290. 
Washington, G^rge, diploma from 

Harvard College, 223. 
Webb, John, recantation, 199. 
Weekly Advertiser, 267. 
Weekly Journal, 89. 
Weekly Post-Bc^ 194. 
Weekly ReheaiX, 112-128. 
White, James, 260, 263. 
Whitefield, Rev. George, 111, 139. 
Willard, Abijah, recantation, 194. 
Willis, Nathaniel, 2S3. 
Willis, N. P. 253. 
Winthrop, John, 81. 
Worcester Ghixette, 240. 
Worcester, Leonard^ 243, 341 
Worcester Magasine, 241. 
Worcester, instructions of the town 

to her Representative, 31. 
Wright, Edmund, jun. 266. 



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