influence for protesting against the holding of Africans in slavery, and for pleading earnestly in their behalf. As a commissioner of the Society in England for aiding in the conversion of the Aborigines, he was very zealously interested in that work. His letters contain much information about the men and the means employed in it.

The following selections are made mainly in a chronological order. I do not know what were the relations between the parties which justified the writing of the following rebuke, but its directness and force make it worthy of a perusal :

To Goodman James Barber, Taylor at Dorchester in the way to Milton, February 20, 1689–90.

GOODMAN Barber, I perceive your aged Father is dissatisfied with some carriage of yours towards him, in withholding from him the price of his Labour, & not performing for him that which he expected upon his being invited to your house, as he alleges. Now being desirous that a good Understanding may be recovered & maintained between Father & Son, I would have you come to my house, next Tuesday morning by half an hour after Eight precisely; that so you may have opportunity to hear your Father, & make answer face to face. Only prepare yourself to do it calmly, & with all dutiful Respect to him who by God's Providence gave you a being fitted with suitable Organs to move & speak. Your loving friend,

S. SEWALL.

The following letter has been copied as giving evidence of the efforts of Judge Sewall, after his visit to England, to discover, what has not since been disclosed, something of the personal history of the first white inhabitant of Boston, whom the Judge calls John, instead of William, Blackston.

To Mr. Burbank.

BOSTON, N. E., June 6, 1694.

SIR, I am obliged by yours of the 24th of Nov. 1690. A neighbour of mine, Mr. Saunders, intending to go to Rumsey, please to accept of this (though late) return. I was at Oxford, in company of Mr. Mather, and were favoured by Dr. Gilbert & Mr. Dawson of Abbington, who had been formerly Fellow of Maudlin College, as I take it, with a sight of the Colledges, Halls, Schools, & Theatre. At New Colledge, & everywhere met with a candid Reception. One of the great things wherein Oxford seems to excell Cambridge is the publick Library. And then Cambridge situation is so flat that the River looks almost as much like a pond or lake, as like a River. But the Reuenues are the life of all; for what signefy good Rooms, without good Tutors, Books & Bread? The next Lord's day after the Corronation,

I heard a sermon at St. Mary's. The Preacher seemed to be a person of sense, but not for King William. I am a lover of Musick to a fault; yet I was uneasy there; & the justling out the Institution of singing Psalms by the boisterous Organ is that can never be answered to the great Master of Religious Ceremonies. Twere a kindness if he that stands up like a Scare Crow to mock the Psalm, would spare his pains. We are here pretty well at quiet by land; but infested with Robers by The inclosed gives you an account of the murder, or martyrdom shall I say, of a very worthy Minister [Mr. Shubael Dummer, York] my Mother's cousin German, & many Christians, men, women, & children. I would intreat you to examine your records for one Mr. John (sic) Blackston, who is said to be a master of Arts in your university; send me word if you find it so, his Colledge, & years of taking his Degree, & whether one Rogers were not contemporary. You may look before the year 1628, & need not look after. Said Blackston was the first Englishman that ever dwelt upon our Boston Peninsula, which I am a little fond of.

sea.

Another letter to "Mr. Burbank the Son," dated July 22, 1695, adds to the foregoing:

We are grievously oppressed by our French & Pagan enemies by Land & Sea. Our Blood & Estates are running out apace. As several Captives escaped inform us, our Heads are set at a certain Rate by the Governour of Quebec, as foreskins of the Philistines were of old. God will in his time confound all the worshippers of graven Images. [Repeats the request about Blackston, and adds:] If there be any Charge I will reimburse you.

It would seem from the following that a Fellow and President of Harvard College in the olden time was, not dunned, but asked more than once to repay some borrowed money:

To Mr. John Leverett, Fellow of Harvard College, in Cambridge. [1695.]

SIR, Duning 18 heterogeneous to my Temper, & therefore would not have it expected of me. I owe Money, & must receive in order to pay. The last of your Bonds became due the 20th of October last. I want you to adjust the Balance & hope you will at the same time clear the score. Your Tenement flourishes, & I am of Opinion twill not be convenient to delay any longer upon the prospect of a fitter season.

These further letters must certainly refer to a later debt:

To Mr. Leverett.

Dec 4, 1718. with up

REV'D SIR, I have a very considerable Account to make Mr. Simon Stoddard, Treasurer of the Trustees, [of the Society for

Evangelizing the Indians] & he calls upon me to do it. For this end I greatly want the Hundred pounds I lent you Aug 12, 1715, which you promised to pay by the Ninth of December next following. I pray you therefore that it may be paid at or before the Ninth of this inst. December without fail. Whatsoever may be due to you from the Trustees, there is more than enough in the Treasury to discharge it. I am, Sir, your friend & most humble Serv S. S.

REVEREND SIR, - I have heard nothing from you since my sending to you the above written. Pray Sir, let the Answer now be in a speedy performance of your Promise, which I have under your hand. I find it too burdensome to me to have great Accounts ly open & unsettled. It is Necessary that they be finished in order to my obtaining an Acquitance. Non respondêre est contemnere. Sir, your real friend & most humble

BOSTON; Feby. 17, 1718-19.

Serv

S. S.

Gave this to Col. Spencer Phips, Monday, Feb. 23 to give to the President.

The Nestor of our Society, its late venerable Ex-President, Mr. Savage, once said, in the earnestness of his filial gratitude as an alumnus of Harvard, that he would give a guinea for each single word of information - what we have being so meagre about the personal history of the honored and revered founder of the College. It would seem by the following extract from Judge Sewall's Journal under date, that he shared the same venerating love. If the house referred to were standing at the time of the Revolution, it of course was consumed when Charlestown was burned by the shells thrown from Copp's Hill by Burgoyne and Clinton. Perhaps local antiquaries may be able to identify the site of the dwelling.

January 26, 1696-97.- I lodged at Charlestown at Mrs. Shepards, who tells me Mr. Harvard built that house. I lay in the Chamber next the Street. As I lay awake past midnight, in my Meditation, I was affected to consider how long agoe God had made provision for my comfortable Lodging that night: seeing that was Mr. Harvard's house. And that led me to think of Heaven, the House not made with hands, which God for many Thousands of years had been storing with the richest furniture (Saints that are from time to time placed there) & that I had some hopes of being entertained in this Magnificent, Convenient Palace, every way fitted & furnished. These Thoughts were very refreshing to me.

The parental wisdom and affection which dictated the following letter had an effect of securing for the Judge, as a son-inlaw, Mr. Grove Hirst, married Oct. 18, 1700.

ELIZABETH,

BOSTON, October 26, 1699.

- Mr. Hirst waits on you once more to see if you can bid him welcom. It ought to be seriously considered, that your drawing back from him after all that has passed between you, will be to your Prejudice; & will tend to discourage persons of worth from making their Court to you. And you had need well to consider whether you be able to bear his final Leaving of you, howsoever it may seem gratefull to you at present. When persons come towards us, we are apt to look upon the Undesirable Circumstances mostly, and thereupon to shun them. But when persons retire from us for good & all, we are in danger of looking only on that which is desirable in them, to our wofull Disquiet. Whereas tis the property of a good Balance to turn where the most weight is, though there be some also in the other scale. I do not see but the Match is well liked by judicious persons, & such as are your cordial friends, & mine also.

Yet notwithstanding, if you find in yourself, an imoveable, incurable Aversion from him, & cañot love & honour & obey him, I shall say no more, nor give you any further trouble in this matter. It had better be off than on. So, praying God to pardon us, & pity our Undeserving, & to direct & strengthen & settle you in making a right Judgement, I take leave, who am, Dear Child,

Your mother remembers to you.

Your loving

FATHER.

There is much matter in this brief epistle to his son's Pas

tor:

To Mr. Nehemiah Walter [of Roxbury].

Dec 16, 1708.

SIR, -I thank you for coming to Town yesterday to follow my little Grandson to his Long Home. I thank you for bearing me company as far as you can in the fashion of your Head Dress. The Truth is, a Great Person has furnished me with Perukes, gratis, these Two & Fifty Years, & I cânt yet find in my heart to go to another. I look upon you now as the Pastor of my Son & Daughter, & pray you to buy yourself & Mrs. Walter a pair of Gloves with the enclosed Arabian piece of Gold. Desiring your Prayers for me & mine, I take Leave, &c. S. S.

The reference to Hugh Peter in the following has interest: -

To Mr. Joseph Thomson [of Salem].

Jan'y 18, 1703-4.

SIR, I have yours of the 9th June in behalf of Mrs. Barker. My dear & only surviving Brother, Major Stephen Sewall, served his Time at Salem, & is well acquainted with the Affairs of that place; & is Clerk of the Inferiour Court. The last time he was in Town, he discoursed with me about Mrs. Barker's Demands: and seemed Confident that if Pleas that may be made from the Attainder of Mr. Hugh

Peters be provided against, she must obtain. If it please God to continue me in the Station I am in at present, as there is Opportunity, I hope I shall maintain a vigorous Impartiality in the Case, & your Lines will help to awaken me thereunto. The Memory of Mr. Peters is still set by in Salem. Mr. Jonathan Corwin, one of the Council, tells me he was baptized by him.

I am, Sir, your obliged Friend, & humble Servant

S. S.

In the preceding letter to Mr. Burbank, the Judge describes himself as 66 a lover of music to a fault." The discomfiture referred to in the following must have been painful to him:

1705. Sixth day, Dec 28. (At a Thanksgiving at Mr. Belcher's house for the preservation of his Son,) Mr. Pemberton prays excellently, & Mr. Willard preaches from Ps. 66, 20, very excellently. Spake to me to set the Tune; I intended Windsor, & fell into High Dutch, & then essaying to set another Tune, went into a Key much too high. So I prayed Mr. White to set it, which he did well, Litchf. Tune. The Lord humble me & Instruct me that I should be occasion of any Interruption in the Worship of God. Had a very good Dinner at three Tables. Had the Meeting, & few else except Relations in Town, & me. The Lord accept his Thank-Offering.

Notwithstanding his failure on this occasion, the Judge was generally ready to exercise his gift in setting the tune, or starting the pitch for a Psalm. The exercise formed a part of the frequent meetings additional to those of the sanctuary, held at his own house, and at the houses of his friends and kinsfolk, on the occurrence of days of Fast and Thanksgiving, Births, Weddings, and Funerals. References to these are thickly spread over his Journals. They give evidence of the earnest devoutness, and of the habitual piety, of a layman who fell not one whit behind the honored and learned ministers around him, in the Puritan thoroughness of his religious and Scriptural culture. The poverty and rudeness of the appliances for sacred melody in his day, the paucity of the tunes, and the harshness of the metrical versions which they accompanied, made the fervor of spirit in which they were sung an all-essential condition for the tolerance of this part of divine worship. If organs, "boisterous," as the Judge declared those to be which he had heard in England, were capable of consciousness, they would no doubt have fully reciprocated the Puritan antipathy at being used in their service.

The following beautiful letter is self-explanatory: