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SEPTEMBER MEETING, 1880.

The stated meeting was held this day, September 9th, at 3 o'clock P.M.; the President, Mr. WINTHROP, in the chair. The record of the last meeting was read and approved.

The Librarian read the list of donors to the Library. Among the gifts were a few leaves of the Diary of Judge Sewall for the spring of 1702, presented by Dr. J. S: H. Fogg of South Boston. This fragment covers a period not embraced in the manuscripts already in the possession of the Society, and was referred to the committee on the Sewall Papers for examination.

The Corresponding Secretary reported that President Chadbourne and Mr. John C. Ropes had accepted their election as Resident Members.

The Hon. Zachariah Allen of Rhode Island was elected a Corresponding Member.

The President then spoke as follows:

Soon after we had adjourned in June last for our summer vacation, an interesting and valuable addition to our Library was received from our foreign Corresponding Member, W. Noël Sainsbury, Esq., of Her Majesty's Public Record Office in London, to which I take pleasure in calling your attention. this afternoon. It is a very large volume, entitled "Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, 1661-1668." The last volume of this important series, which Mr. Sainsbury also presented to our Library, ended with the year 1660. The present volume continues the Calendar to the close of 1668, and contains no less than 1.911 abstracts of colonial documents for those eight years. Not a few of the documents relate to Massachusetts and to other parts of New England. Many more of them relate to the other co-existing colonies on the American Continent. Mr. Sainsbury has shown himself a most careful and diligent laborer in the preparation of these Calendars, and has earned a grateful acknowledgment from all students of early American history. Edited and published by him, under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, with the sanction of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, and printed sumptuously at the cost of the British Government, this Calendar cannot fail to renew our impressions of

the recent liberality of that Government in opening its historical treasures to the public and putting them in a form for general and convenient consultation. Such calendars inform us not only what is to be found in those venerable British archives, but what is not to be found there, and thus save a world of pains in searching for things which have no existence or no record. There has not yet been time for any of us to examine this large volume with sufficient care for ascertaining what new materials it may afford for Massachusetts or American history; but our friend Mr. Deane will doubtless soon take it in hand, and nothing will elude his vigilant and experienced eye.

Meantime, there is an elaborate preface, of eighty-three pages, by Mr. Sainsbury himself, which calls attention to many interesting items, and presents a valuable historical summary of the contents of the volume. You will all unite, I am sure, in authorizing me to return something more than a mere formal acknowledgment of this gift, and to assure our obliging and accomplished Corresponding Member of our grateful appreciation of his work.

Another present to our Library, more recently received, calls for special notice. It is a History of the United States, from the earliest period to the present day, in the French language, and in two volumes, printed by Didier & Co., publishers to the French Academy. It is sent to us by the author, M. Frederick Nolte of Paris. It will remain on our table for the present, and may form an interesting subject of examination. Meantime, the thanks of the Society will be duly returned for so acceptable a gift.

It will not be forgotten that at our last meeting I called attention to a subscription which had been commenced for a proposed American Memorial to Sir Walter Raleigh, to be placed in the Church of St. Margaret, Westminster, under the auspices, and by the invitation, of Canon Farrar, the distinguished rector of that old historic church. The paper when sent to me contained already five subscriptions of £20 each by American gentlemen, headed by my friend, Russell Sturgis, Esq., of the house of Baring Brothers & Co.

At my suggestion our Society added another £20 to the subscription, and I was requested to invite the co-operation of other American Historical Societies, and of individuals who might take an interest in such a Memorial.

During this summer season, other Historical Societies, like our own, have been in a state of suspended animation, and their members have been scattered at the sea-coast or in

the mountains. There has thus been no opportunity of appealing to many of them.

I am happy to say, however, that the Pennsylvania Society and the American Antiquarian Society have added £20 each; the Virginia Society and the North Carolina Society have also united with us. In all, there have been about £210 subscribed. We require as much more, at the least, for the completion of the work. It would be safer to fix the sum required at £500.

I have some promises outstanding, from other Societies, which I trust will be fulfilled, and we can afford to wait another month before pronouncing on the success or failure of the plan. I shall be glad of the assistance of any who may take an interest in its success.

We have lost since our last adjournment one of our most distinguished American Honorary Members. The Rev. Barnas Sears, D.D., died at Saratoga Springs, New York, on the 6th of July last. He was originally elected a Corresponding Member of this Society in 1869, and was afterward transferred to our Honorary roll. He was born in Sandisfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, on the 19th of November, 1802, and was thus in the 78th year of his age. But until a very recent period, he had exhibited none of the infirmities. of advancing years, and as lately as our October meeting in 1878, less than two years ago, he was with us here in full enjoyment of health and vigor, and gave us a brief but most interesting account of his acquaintance with Humboldt and the great Hebraist, Gesenius, and the eminent Professors Böck and Hermann, while pursuing his studies in Berlin and at the Universities of Halle and Leipsic in 1834 and 1835. He had previously, in 1825, been graduated at Brown University, and had then pursued his theological studies at the Newton Baptist Seminary in our own State.

Dr. Sears commenced his career, as a clergyman, as pastor of the First Baptist Church at Hartford, Connecticut, but after two years became a professor in the institution now known as Madison University, at Hamilton, New York. He left that position for the pursuit of his studies in Germany, and on his return became a professor, and not long afterward, the president, of the Newton Theological Seminary. In 1848 he succeeded the late Horace Mann as Secretary of the Board of Education of Massachusetts, an office which he filled with signal ability for six or seven years. In 1855 he was called to succeed the eminent Dr. Francis Wayland as president of

Brown University, and continued to hold that office until 1867. That was the year in which George Peabody established his great Trust for Southern Education, and when the Trustees were so fortunate as to secure the services of Dr. Sears, as their General Agent. As Chairman of the Board, I have been in the most intimate communication and correspondence with him during the more than twelve years last past, and have been a witness to his indefatigable and most successful labors in that field. I reserve any detailed reference to those labors for the annual meeting of the Trustees in February next. It is enough for me here to express my deep sense of the fidelity and value of his services, in the cause to which he had thus devoted the remainder of his life. He removed his residence at once to Staunton, Virginia, where he could be in more immediate communication with the people whose schools he was henceforth to superintend, and where he won the confidence, respect, and affection of all with whom he was brought into connection or counsel. His death has called out the warmest expressions of regret and sorrow in all parts of the South.

Dr. Sears had published not a few interesting and valuable volumes. A German Grammar of Nohden's was his earliest publication. It was followed, in 1844, by a treatise, giving an account of the mode of teaching Latin in the Prussian schools. Soon afterward came a collection of Martin Luther's Essays in German, with notes of his own. An admirable Life of Luther by him, which has been translated into many foreign languages, was published in 1850. He was afterward associated with the late President Felton in publishing a volume of Essays on Ancient Literature and Art, in defence of the Classics. His improved edition of Roget's Thesaurus in 1854 is, perhaps, more familiar to us all than any of his other works. His very last effort was in preparing a Semi-Centennial Address for the American Institute of Instruction at their late meeting at Saratoga Springs. He was taken ill a few weeks before the meeting was to be held, and was recommended to try the effect of the Springs for his relief. But he reached there only to die. The address, however, containing his views of "Educational Progress in the United States during the Last Fifty Years," had been completed before he left home, and was read to the assembled Institute, on the day after his death, by our excellent VicePresident, Dr. George E. Ellis. Dr. Ellis, at my request, had most kindly been a constant visitor to Dr. Sears, during his stay at Saratoga, and rendered services of the greatest

value to him and his family. He learned to appreciate, as I had long done, the noble character and rich accomplishments of Dr. Sears, and to sympathize with me in his loss.

The remains of Dr. Sears were brought to Brookline, and after interesting services at the Baptist church, were buried in the family tomb of his wife on the 9th of July.

We have all observed the accounts of the sad disaster which has recently befallen a very eminent German historian, Theodor Mommsen, whose whole library and precious manuscripts were destroyed by fire. The sympathies of the literary world have been strongly excited in his behalf, and proposals of many kinds have been made in Europe for his relief. He is understood to have declined any pecuniary contribution, and it is added that the insurance on his library will replace it, so far as it is possible to replace it. I have thought that we might well show our sense of his affliction, by placing his name on our Honorary roll, and by accompanying the diploma with any volumes of our publications which might possibly have an interest for him.

The nomination of Prof. Theodor Mommsen of Berlin, as an Honorary Member, was reported from the Council.

Mr. DEANE communicated copies of a number of additional letters of Dr. Belknap to Ebenezer Hazard, sent to him by Mr. Willis P. Hazard, grandson of Dr. Belknap's correspondent, since the publication by the Society of the Belknap and Hazard letters. These he thought might be deposited in the Society's archives, and be included at some future day in a new edition of these letters, should it be called for.

Mr. DEANE read some extracts from a letter of Washington to Richard Henry Lee, dated "Camp at Cambridge, Aug. 29, 1775," which extracts were not included in the same letter as published by Mr. Sparks in the third volume of Washington's Writings, at page 68. The extracts were copied from the original letter in the possession of a descendant of Mr. Lee, and sent, several years ago, to our Associate, Mr. Whitmore.

Mr. WINSOR read from the proof-sheets of the first volume of "The Memorial History of Boston," a poem on the visit of Samuel Shattuck to Governor Endicott, written by Mr. Whittier, which led to some discussion as to the historical accuracy of Mr. Whittier's description.

A Memoir of Sylvester Judd, by Mr. Deane, one of George Sumner, by Mr. Waterston, and one of Edmund H. Sears, by Dr. Robbins, were then presented.

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