waiting to be called and was just beginning to fear delay in the summons. He lived at last for simple rest, and musing on the gleanings of thought from his last readings of his favorite moralist and philosophers, Cicero and Lord Bacon, trusting his memory and his spirit for diviner nutriment. To the end he read and wrote. And because they were the last transcript from his pen he has enhanced the sweet and gracious piety of the lines of Addison, which he copied as his hand was losing its cunning:

"When all thy meacies, O my God,

My rising soul surveysTransported with the view, I'm lost In wonder, love and praise!" Dying in Quincy, receiving funeral honors in Boston, borne to his grave through Cambridge, and resting now on the slope of Havard Hill in Mount Auburn, we may share his own strong hope of immortality, and believe that his life is rounded by something better than a sleep.

The Rev. Dr. Ellis, from the Standing Committee, offered the following resolutions :

Resolved, That in the death of Josiah Quincy-whose name has stood on our roll 68 years, and for the last seventeen years has led the list of our members, this society shares in an especial manner in the feelings which have been manifested through our whole community. We hon. ored him for the highest private virtues and for very many services to the public in the long succession and the large variety of the offices which he filled, and the trusts which he discharged. We recognized in him a combination of the noblest principles which we venerate in the fathers of the commonwealth, and the elder patriots of the land who were also his friends. His lofty integrity, his large and wise public spirit, the utility of his enterprises and the practical benefits which are now enjoyed by us as their re sults, will assure to his name and memory enduring honors. Resolved, That the President be requested to name one of our associates to prepare the usual memoir.

Mr. Everett in rising to second the resolutions of Dr. Ellis, said

I have been requested, Mr. President, by the Standing Committee, to second the resolutions offered by Dr. Ellis, and I do it with the greatest pleasure, although his carefully prepared, just, and eloquent analysis of President Quincy's character and your own pertinent, feeling, and most impressive address have left me little to say. An opportunity will perhaps be afforded me next week of paying a tribute to his memory in another place; but I must ask your indulgence for a few moments at this time, to give utterance to the feelings which we all share, and which have been so eloquently expressed by the gentlemen who have preceded me.

You have, Mr. President, justly intimated the reasons for which President Quincy's decease should be noticed in the most respectful manner within these walls. He became a member of our Society in early life, and was considerably our Senior associate. He took a lively interest in the Society, and missed no opportunity of promoting its welfare, attending its meetings occasionally down to the last months of his protracted life. Besides this, he coöperated with the Society in its appropriate labors, enriching the literature of the

country with a series of historical works of high and recognized value, two of them prepared at the instance of the Society. Still more, sir, it may be truly said, that he not only wrote history, but made it, in the sphere (and that a most diversified and elevated sphere) in which he moved, exhibiting through life those marked qualities, which, by sympathy, infuse moral strength into a community, and animate other men to the efforts, by which individuals and nations obtain an honorable place in the annals of mankind.

I have said, sir, that President Quincy's historical works had a high recognized value, and most certainly if his vigorous intellect, methodical studies, his untiring industry, and his great facility of labor had borne no other fruit, the series of his historical publications would have given him, though not a man of letters by profession, a most respectable place among American authors. With the exception of Congressional speeches and occasional essays on the topics of the day, his first work of considerable compass was prompted at once by filial affection and patriotic duty, I mean the Memoir of his honored Father, one of the most distinguished of those, referred to by you, sir, who prepared the minds of their countrymen for the Revolution. He had the kindness to afford me an opportunity of perusing it in manuscript. It was appropriately published in 1825, at the close of the first half century. It contained the journals and copies of some of the letters of the lamented subject of the memoir, especially those written during his short visit to England in 17745-the last year of his life-and I can truly say that there is no volume, which to the present day I read with equal interest for the events of that memorable year, as contemplated by an eye-witness and such an eye witness-in England. He had the inestimable privilege of hearing the two speeches made by Lord Chatham, on the 20th January, 1775, declared by his son, William Pitt, "to be surely the two finest speeches ever made, unless by himself." Of these speeches Mr. Quincy made a full report from memory, and a few notes he was able to take at the time. It is in some parts evidently a more accurate report than that published by Dodsley in 1779, after Lord Chatham's death, from notes by Hugh Boyd. Portions of Mr. Quincy's report were published in Gordon's letters on the Revolution, Mr. Quincy's papers having been placed in his hands while composing that work. The last entry in Mr. Quincy's journal is Had great satisfaction in reading my report of the debates in the House of Lords to one or two friends who heard them. They thought them exceedingly correct, and were amazed at the blunders, omissions, and misrepresentations of the printed accounts." President Quincy's memoir of his Father, also contains the journal of a visit made by him to Charleston, S. C., in 1773, and which is of extreme interest. This youthful patriot, as you have stated, sir, died on the return voyage from Europe, and within sight of the granite cliffs of New England; young in years alone, mature in

When

wisdom, patriotism, and public service. we reflect that he was taken from the country, at the age of 31, we cannot suppress the thought, that a gracious compensation was designed by Providence, in prolonging the years of the son to thrice that duration.

The History of the University is next in order of time, as it is the most voluminous and elaborate of President Quincy's works. It was suggested by the duty, which devolved upon him, on the memorable occasion of the second centennial anniversary of the institution. It was obviously, on the part of the President, a work at once of affection and duty. It embodies all those portions of the records of the University, which throw light on its general history, on its feeble but hopeful beginnings; its gradual development in the succeeding generations and in the last century; its rapid expansion in the present century. It exhibits the noble steadiness, with which Old Harvard has maintained itself through the storms of two centuries, and its reactive influence on the public opinion of the country. Especial pains was taken by President Quincy to do justice to the characters of the distinguished benefactors and patrons of the College, from the ever memorable Harvard to the present day. These and other pertinent and kindred topics are treated in his history in an appropriate detail, according to their respective interest and importance, in a clear and vigorous, and when the topic admitted, eloquent style of idiomatic English; the whole forminga repository which, next to the original records themselves, will constitute the standard authority for the history of the Institution, till its prosperous growth as we may hope through two more centuries shall require other volumes and other dutiful pens to record its multiplied benefactors, its extended usefullness, and ever growing honors.

President Quincy's next historical work of considerable compass, in the order of publication was the history of the town and city of Boston. Like the history of the University, this work grew out of an anniversary discourse, viz.: that which he delivered at the Second Centennial anniversary of the City. Suspended during his Presidency at Cambridge, its preparation was resumed immediately upon his resignation of that high trust. This History, like that of the College, was truly a labor of love. The family of President Quincy had been identified with Boston from the foundation, His ancestor came over with John Cotton; and the position of his descendants had been maintained in honor and influence, through all the succeeding generations. His father had taken an active part in all the memorable occurrences, which had turned the eyes of the civilized world on Boston after the passage of the stamp act; the President himself, born and bred in Boston, had represented her in the State Legislature and in Congress; and in the infancy of the new civic organization he had served her at the head of its municipality for six years. Thus was he em

inently a Bostonian of the Bostonians. The chief part of the work is naturally devoted to an account of the writer's administration, and of the series of measures relative to its public buildings, its markets, the elemosynary establishments, the fire department, the schools, and other municipal interests in which the public spirit, the executive ability, and moral courage displayed by Mayor Quincy cannot fail to awaken at once the admiration and gratitude of the citizens of Boston.

In 1845 appeared the revised edition of Graham's History of the United States. It was published under the superintendence of a committee of the Historical Society, consisting of President Quincy and two or three other respected members. The first volume of this work contained a memoir of James Graham, prepared in compliance with a resolution of the society by Mr. Quincy, and embodying all that is personally known of a writer who cherished a warm and consistent affection for this country, and did more than any other foreigner to extend the knowledge of it abroad.

In 1847, and being then at the advanced age of 75, Mr. Quincy, at the request of the late Mr. R. G. Shaw, prepared for publication the journals of their kinsman, Major Samuel Shaw, with a memoir of his life. This most excellent gentleman not only served with great credit through the whole revolutionary war, receiving at its close an emphatic testimonial from Washington, but he sailed in the vessel which opened the trade to China, as the agent of an association of capitalists formed for that purpose, and was appointed last American Consul to Canton, under the old confederation, and afterwards by President Washington. President Quincy's Memoir is a highly interesting contribution to the history both of the Revolution and of American commerce; a just tribute to the memory of a man of sterling merit, and well worthy the pen of the distinguished wri

ter.

The year 1847 was signalized by the death of John Quincy Adams, at the post of duty and in the capital of the United States. He was the distant relative, the neighbor, the contemporary, the confidential friend of Mr. Quincy, and at the request of our Society the duty of paying the last tribute of respect to the memory of the illustrious departed, devolved on him. He readily accepted the trust, and instead of confining himself within the limits of a memoir of ordinary length, he drew up a volume of more than 400 pages, embracing a comprehensive history of the life and services of Mr. Adams. The work did not make its appearance till the year 1858, and when the venerable author was now in his 87th year. I recollect no other instance in this country of so large a work from a person so far stricken in years; but I perceive in it no abatement of intellectual power. In a modest prefatory note, it is stated to be the object of the writer, to narrate the political life of Mr. Adams from his published works, from authentic unpublished materials, and personal ac

quaintance; and in this way to make him the expositor of his own motives, principles, and character, in the spirit neither of criticism nor eulogy. This difficult and delicate task was performed by the venerable author with signal success, and with this the series of his elaborate historical efforts closes. I need not say that with his other occasional literary labors,-several of which, such as the history of the Boston Athenaeum, which I ought to have included in the series, were of a nature to require no little time and research in their preparation;-they form what would, in almost any case, be considered the life, work of an industrious man. But still his retirement from the Presidency of Harvard at the age of 73, Mr. Quincy's literary labors must have been all prepared in the brief intervals of leisure allowed by engrossing official duties and cares. While therefore they would have given him an enviable reputation, had he been exclusively or even mainly a man of letters, it must be remembered that in his case the writer was overshadowed by the active relations-Political, Judicial, Municipal, and Academic-in which he stood to his day and generation. On these I need not attempt to dwell, but when we consider that Mr. Quincy was for years, and with a brilliant reputation both for business and debate, the representative of Boston, both in the State Legislature and in Congress,an acknowledged leader of the political party to which he belonged; that as a Judge, his term of office though short was signalized by a most memorable decision, relative to the law of libel; that as Mayor of Boston for six years-an office assumed under all the difficulties of the transition state to which Dr. Ellis has alluded, his administration was distinguished for the most imporant improvements and reforms; and lastly that, with great acceptance and public favor, he presided over the oldest Literary Institution in the country, bringing to the arduous and responsible station a variety of qualifications, administrative and literary, intellectual and moral, rarely if ever combined in one man, and most certainly never surpassed; and that having in an advanced but vigorous age become emeritus in this long and honorable career, instead of indulging in the repose conceded to the decline of life, he continued for 20 years, by word and deed, to perform all the duties of an active patriot, vigilant for the public weal, jealous for the public honor, and full of courage and confidence in the darkest hours of the present tremendous struggle, adding finally to all his other titles of respect and honor the authority, which length of years attended with virtue and wisdom can alone confer, we must all feel, we do all feel, as we gather round the grave of President Quincy, that we have lost our FIRST

CITIZEN.

Mr. Everett was followed by the Hon. Richard H. Dana, jr., who gave a discriminating analysis of Mr. Quincy's noble character.

The meeting was then dissolved.

Miscellany.

MILITARY HISTORY OF MAINE IN THE WAR.-Mr. Wm. E. S. Whitman of Augusta, is engaged in writing a history of what Maine has done in the war for the Union. He is assisted by Mr. Chas. H. True. The work will number some five hundred pages, octavo, and will be published by Mr. Nelson Dingley, Jr., of Lewiston. It will be got up in fine style, handsomely illustrated with steel portraits of eminent Maine officers, and will contain a faithful history of every corps that has gone from this State to battle for the maintenance of the Government. The work has the approval of the Governor and Adjutant General.

ANDREWS' HAWAIIAN DICTIONARY.-The Sandwich Island Friend says: "We are glad to annonnce that the publicaion of Andrews' Hawaiian Dictionary has been commenced. It will appear in large octavo form, and contain from five to six hundred pages. This will be a national work, in the success of which all the friends of the Hawaiians will rejoice. From the South Seas we learn that a dictionary of the language of Western Polynesia, including the New Hebrides, has been commenced by the Rev. Mr. Geddie, the missionary from Nova Scotia.

M. W. Montgomery, Esq., is engaged on a history of Jay County, Indiana. It will be accompanied with a map and appropriate illustrations. The War History is to be as complete as possible. The edition is to be limited. Application for copies should be made to Hon. J. M. Hayes, Jay Court House, Ind.

SAUNDERS, OTLEY AND CO. are preparing for publication a history of the careers of the two famous Confederate vessels, the Sumter and the Alabama, compiled from the private journals of Capt. Semmes while in command of the vessels, and from a mass of letters and other documents.

A copy of Columbus' first letter in Spanish has been found in the Ambrosian library in Milan, printed in 1493. In our number for September we will give a particular description of this pamphlet, hitherto unknown.

THE POPHAM COLONY.- Arrangements have been made for the Celebration of the Founding of this First European Colony on the main-land of New England. The Commemoration will be held at Bath, in City Hall, August 29th. The Hon. Judge Bourne of Kennebunk, has consented to deliver the Address, and other arrangements are to be made to give additional interest to this historical occasion.