sections of country tillage was comparatively abandoned, and the lands were laid down in grass. Hume mentions the fact that, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, a single proprietor, whose ancestor probably owned sheep in the ordinary proportion to the stock of a farm, had from twenty-five to thirty thousand head. In this revolution, which broke up old homesteads, and drove away the people, hundreds of names of places on the seaboard and in the interior were lost. There is something of the same policy now prevailing in Ireland, in consequence of acts of Parliament passed during the last thirty years, and in the extensive domains of the Duke of Sutherland in Scotland.

The death of J. Francis Fisher, Esq., of Philadelphia, came upou me unexpectedly. He was almost the last of a brilliant coterie of scholars and professional men, which, thirty years ago, made his native city a charming sojourn of those who delighted in letters and the arts. The graceful remarks of the President, and the well-weighed words of Mr. Hillard, show a just appreciation of his sterling worth. Perhaps, in connection with his membership of a historical body, it may not be out of place to say that he was a lineal descendant of MajorGeneral John Harrison, one of the judges of Charles the First. Sir Walter Scott was very fond of quoting, both in conversation and in print, Pepys's account of the execution of the General, and represented him in "Woodstock" and elsewhere as a butcher by trade, as does also Lord Braybrooke in his notes to Pepys; but Mr. Fisher peremptorily denied the truth of the statement, and showed, from authorities that seemed to be conclusive, that he was a prosperous farmer, and raised cattle and other animals as well, for the Smithfield market, and that this was his only connection with the breed of horned people. It is one of the singular coincidences that now and then flash upon us in the domestic annals of our country, that some of the families most highly distinguished by social, intellectual, and religious culture, on the banks of the Delaware and of the James, are sprung from the loins of one of the judges of Charles the First. To recur to the band of eminent men who flourished in Philadelphia the third of a century ago, and are now deceased, I cannot recall more than two who reached the age of eighty. Professor Tucker, who lived to the age of eighty-six nearly, and who died from an injury inflicted by the fall of a bale of cotton upon him in crossing the deck of a steamer, had not then made the city his winter residence. Mr. Duponceau reached eighty-four, and Professor Coxe ninety-one; but none came up to the mark of your patriarch, Josiah Quincy. One yet survives who has gone beyond it, and I sincerely trust that he may live yet longer to let us see the material of which the men of the past were made.

Among the brightest gems of the volume is the tract of Captain John Smith, entitled "New England's Trials," accompanied by your most instructive and appropriate remarks. I wish some separate copies had been struck off, in order to give this work of our common hero a free circulation among the people. But I have time only to say that, valuable as is each volume of 66 your Proceedings," its usefulness is more than quadrupled by the full and most faithful index at its close.

With the exception of the indices prepared by Dr. Allibone for the
Speeches of Mr. Everett and for the Life of Irving, I know nothing to
compare with it.
With great regard, I am very truly yours,

TO CHARLES DEANE, LL.D.,
Cambridge, Mass.

HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY.

P.S. I perceive that Mr. Whitmore alludes to the relationship of one branch of the Russells of Massachusetts as anterior to the date of the elevation of the Russells to the peerage. This may well be, as nearly all persons of the same name in England, whose names are not derived from places, or from the forest, or from trades and professions, usually are. But the Russells were eunobled as early as 1538. They derive their name from the color of red.

Professor WASHBURN spoke of a brief visit he had recently made to the Province of New Brunswick, and the cordial manner in which he had been received as a citizen of Massachusetts, towards whom he found a strong feeling of neighborly kindness and regard existing among the citizens of St. John and other considerable places. He ascribed this, in part, to the frequent intercourse which, of late years, had been increasing between the two, by the way of trade and travel, and, in part, to the number of families settled in New Brunswick, whose ancestors emigrated from Massachusetts. He was surprised to find these so numerous, and was much gratified to discover that, whatever feeling might once have been entertained of wrong or injury on the part of the emigrants who had been obliged to leave the State at the time of the war of the Revolution, it was no longer cherished. On the contrary, whenever they spoke of Massachusetts, it was with kind remembrances of it as having been the home of their ancestors. In Mr. Sabine's interesting volumes was a long and probably complete list of these families; and, while it would be in bad taste to speak personally of individuals to whose courtesy he was indebted for civilities, Mr. Washburn thought he might speak of two or three of these families, whose names were associated with our own local history, without doing violence to any proper reserve. General Hazen, of our Revolutionary army, had been a resident near St. John till he joined the American army, and members of his family were still found there. One of these was the Recorder of that city, and a grandson of the distinguished Colonel Murray, who formerly lived, in a somewhat baronial style, in Rutland, in Worcester County, and became a refugee at the breaking out of the Revolution. The grandson was kind enough to invite Mr. Washburn to visit his house, to see a por

trait of Colonel Murray, painted by Copley, which the original owner had been obliged to leave hanging in his parlor, when escaping from a threatened domiciliary visit of a body of volunteer troops, who, on finding he had escaped, manifested their disappointment by stabbing a couple of holes through the canvas with their bayonets, which are still visible.

Of the distinguished names associated with the history of both Massachusetts and New Brunswick, he would mention those of Putnam and Upham. James Putnam was of Worcester, a lawyer, and among his students was John Adams. He had no superior at the Massachusetts Bar. Joshua Upham was of Brookfield, and a prominent member of the same profession. Both, afterwards, were justices of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick. Putnam settled at Fredericton, Upham at St. John. A daughter of the latter became the wife of one of the present judges of the same court, and their son was now a prominent member of the bar of the province. A son of Judge Upham, having made his home in Massachusetts, had for many years been a distinguished member of this Society.

Mr. Washburn asked indulgence while he added a few words as to a settlement upon the St. John and Madawasca Rivers, through which he passed on his way from Fredericton to Canada. It extends from a few miles above Grand Falls in the St. John, into Canada, and consists, as he was told, of what were called the French Neutrals, the descendants of the Acadians who escaped from Nova Scotia in 1755, to avoid the cruel and barbarous expulsion and exile of that harmless people. The place to which they retreated was then far beyond any access by the ordinary modes of travel, and there they were suffered to grow and multiply undisturbed, for a half century or more, by any outside intruders, in a state of primitive simplicity, without recognizing any government but that of their priests, and answering in many respects to the description given by Mr. Longfellow and others of their habits of life in Grand Pré. Since the settlement of the boundary line between Maine and New Brunswick, they regard themselves as the citizens of the one or the other, as their villages lie upon one side or the other of that line, though chiefly within the latter province. They seem, however, to have undergone very little change from their primitive condition and habits of life. With the exception of a few ordinary artisans, they are all agriculturists, and their clothing is of domestic manufacture. After their crops are planted, they seem to have little or nothing to do till they are ready for harvesting; and scores of them may be seen, of a bright July afternoon, sitting idly in their cot

tage-doors, or in social conversation by the wayside. Their log houses seem to be running over with children, but he saw nothing which he supposed was a school-house. Their numbers. must be quite large, as their villages extend fifty or more miles, through the whole length of which one would rarely hear a word of English spoken. Marks of their devotion to the faith of their ancestors are to be seen every few miles along the highway which now unites New Brunswick with Canada, following the banks of the St. John and the Madawasca. This was one of the routes by which the rebels from the South, landing at St. John, made their way to Canada, many anecdotes of which are still repeated by the people along the way. He was struck with some surprise, upon entering a remarkably neat little parlor of a house kept as a hotel, to find its walls covered with rather rude pictures of saints and martyrs; and in the midst of these, and larger than a score of them, a lifesized lithograph head and bust of General Lee, in full regimentals. It looked a little incongruous, as the time has hardly yet arrived to canonize that distinguished gentleman. Mr. Washburn said he ought, perhaps, to apologize for having dwelt at such length upon what might seem the mere personal observation of a hasty traveller. But the opening of new lines of travel was rapidly changing the condition of these early settlements, and it seemed to him to be not wholly inappropriate to notice what was still to be seen among the descendants of that interesting people who first planted themselves upon the banks of the beautiful upper St. John, in the then unbroken wilderness of New Brunswick.

The Recording Secretary read a letter from our Corresponding Member, the Rev. Leonard Woods, D.D., in which he described the lamentable destruction of his valuable library by fire, in his house at Brunswick, Maine, on the 8th instant.

Mr. T. C. AMORY called the attention of the Society to the statues of Governor Winthrop and Samuel Adams now in preparation for the National Gallery at Washington. That of Governor Winthrop, which he had been permitted to see in the studio of the artist, Mr. Greenough, at Newport, promises to prove as great a success as is that of Dr. Franklin in front of the City Hall. That works of art even of this character are liable to destruction, is sadly proved by recent experience, and it seems well worth while to consider the expediency of having both the Winthrop and Adams repeated in bronze or marble, either at the cost of the City or State, to be retained here. At Washington they will be seen by visitors to the National Capitol, but not by

our own people. The value of statues in public places, in keeping us familiar with historical events in which the distinguished personages they represent participated, will be readily admitted. Under our republican system this is of especial importance; for upon these memories being kept fresh depends, in a measure, its preservation. It also behooves us to show due sensibility for public service by commemorative monuments, and Boston owes a debt unpaid to these great characters selected as representatives of Massachusetts in the past at the Capitol. Appropriate places can be assigned for both, and we trust in time room will also be found in our malls and squares for John Adams and James Otis, Hancock and Paul Revere; for Pepperell and Wolfe; for Dudley, Endicott, and Bradstreet; for William Blackstone; for Samoset, Hobomok, and Massasoit, and many more not yet sufficiently honored.

He made the suggestion of taking seasonable measures to procure duplicates for Boston of these statues for the National Gallery, on his own motion, and without consultation with the artist, committee, or representatives of the personages to be commemorated. Such a proposition could emanate only from the public; and as one of the public, believing it eminently worthy of consideration, he ventured to bring it to the notice of the Society, which had an especial interest in the increase and preservation of our State and National monuments. But this is with no view that the Society should take any formal action, but that its members who think well of the suggestion may, as individuals, further it, as they have opportunity.

SEPTEMBER MEETING, 1873.

A stated meeting was held on Thursday the 10th instant, at eleven o'clock, A.M.; the President in the chair.

The Recording Secretary read the records of the preceding meeting.

The Librarian read the list of donors to the Library for the past month.

The Corresponding Secretary read a letter of acceptance from Professor William Gammell, LL.D., of Providence, R.I., who was chosen a Corresponding Member at the last meeting.

The President read a letter from the Rev. Thomas Hill, of Portland, Me., saying that he had been a citizen of that State