In the Introductory Remarks to the first volume, he again says: "The editor has, with especial care, compared every word and letter of the printed copy with the written record, deeming exactness of the greatest importance in every particular, especially in orthography."

On the organization of the Public Library, he was chosen one of the Board of Trustees, which office he held until he became Mayor, a period of sixteen years; and he was also one of the Commissioners for the erection of the Library building in Boylston Street. As one of the Trustees, he was, from the first establishment of the Board, intrusted with the duty of making "all arrangements and regulations needful for circulating the books and using the Library," and he had therefore "the opportunity of originating from the very commencement the arrangement and working machinery of a large library." His views were embodied in a quarto volume of eighty pages, privately printed in 1856, under the title of " A Decimal System for the Arrangement and Administration of Libraries." This treatise, as he expressly states in the Preface, was "intended only to be descriptive of a system which the writer has introduced into the Public Library of the City of Boston, with the approbation of his co-laborers in the Board of Trustees, and which has been in practical operation there since the summer of 1852." It is divided into three parts, describing with great minuteness of detail the "arrangement of the library room and books," the "preparation of the library for use," and the "administration of the library." With some modifications, the system which it explains is still retained in the Public Library; but experience has since shown that some of the arrangements were not those best suited to the object in view. The volume was an important contribution to the literature of the subject, and it may still be consulted with profit.

In 1862 Dr. Shurtlef edited "A Literal Reprint of the Bay Psalm Book," prefixing a brief bibliographical notice, and bestowing on the revision of the proof-sheets the same unwearied labor which he had given to the Massachusetts and Plymouth Records. For the use of historical scholars the reprint is of scarcely less value than the original edition; and it is matter for regret that only fifty-six copies of the volume were printed.

During the next eight or nine years he printed nothing, except official documents, prepared while Mayor of the city, and occasional articles in the newspapers. But in 1871 he issued the most important of his original contributions to historical literature, "A Historical and Topographical Description of Boston." This is an octavo volume of upward of seven hundred pages, and is made up from a series of articles origi

nally published in one of the weekly newspapers, and printed in a more permanent form at the request of the City Council. In it the style is clear, vigorous, and manly; but there is often a want of dignity, and there are frequent repetitions, due, no doubt, to the manner in which the volume was prepared. Nowhere else, however, in any convenient and available form, can so much information be found in regard to the history and topography of Boston; and what is here published is less than a quarter part of the materials which Dr. Shurtleff had been accumulating for nearly forty years. In a minute and exact knowledge of the topography and history of Boston, he had no superior; and it will be a serious loss to historical literature if it shall be found that his manuscripts and his contributions to the newspapers are not in such a state as to permit of their collection into a volume for posthumous publication.

In every thing which related to his native city he took a deep interest. In addition to his connection with the Public Library, he was, from 1854 until his death, a member of the School Committee. At the municipal election in December, 1867, he was the Democratic candidate for Mayor, and was chosen by a plurality of 516 votes over the Republican candidate; in the following year he was re-elected by a plurality of 1,849 votes; and in 1869, having failed to obtain a nomination from his own. party, he secured so cordial a support from the citizens at large that his plurality over all the other candidates was 7,670 votes. There can be no better testimony as to the popular judgment of the manner in which he had discharged the duties of his office. At the close of his third year of service he declined a re-clection. His mayoralty was not brilliant, but it was marked by economy and by a close attention to the ordinary duties of the office. The most important events were the annexation of Roxbury and Dorchester, the laying out of Atlantic Avenue, and the widening of Hanover Street.

Dr. Shurtleff was elected a member of the Historical Society in March, 1847. From 1854 to 1860 he was Cabinet-keeper; from 1861 to 1864, Librarian; from 1852 to 1854, and from 1872 until his death, a member of the Standing Committee. He was also a member of the Committees for publishing the first and second volumes of the Fourth Series of the Collections. His only important contributions to the printed Proceedings were an Account of the Maps of Boston, presented at the meeting in June, 1862, with a supplemental note, presented in April, 1864; and some remarks on "Negro Election Day," at the meeting in May, 1873. He was also a member, and for many years one of the Council, of the American Antiquarian Society; a member, and at one time Librarian, of

the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; an Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of London; an Honorary or Corresponding Member of several of our sister Historical Societies; a member, and at different periods an officer, of many other literary or scientific associations; and, from 1854 until his death, Secretary of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College.

A ceaseless activity characterized his whole life. No man was more familiarly known in our streets; and probably no one in the community was connected with a greater number of organizations formed for either temporary or permanent objects. If the knowledge and activity which were dissipated in so many and so various directions could have been concentrated on a smaller range of interests, he would doubtless have left a more durable reputation. As it is, very little remains to justify to another generation the undisputed rank which he held as one of our most learned antiquaries, a man whose knowledge was minute, thorough, and exact, always ready, and always at the service of other inquirers pursuing similar investigations.

JANUARY MEETING, 1875.

A stated monthly meeting was held on the 14th instant, at 11 o'clock, A.M.; Vice-President ADAMS in the chair.

The Recording Secretary read the record of the preceding meeting.

The Librarian read his monthly list of donors to the Library. The Corresponding Secretary read a letter of acceptance from Mr. Charles C. Perkins.

The Chairman now alluded to the decease, since the last meeting, of a distinguished Resident Member, the Rev. James Walker, D.D., paying an appropriate tribute to his memory. He concluded by offering the following resolution from the Council:

Resolved, That this Society by the death of the Rev. James Walker, D.D., has lost one of its most revered associates. Eminent for his great learning, his profound wisdom, and his exalted moral worth, he had justly attained, at the close of a life of fourscore years, the reputation of a Christian philosopher. That in the high positions which he has filled he per

formed services which have been gratefully appreciated in this community.

Resolved, That the President be requested to appoint a member of the Society to write a Memoir of Dr. Walker for the Proceedings.

The Chairman now called upon Dr. ELLIS, who spoke as follows:

Dr. Walker has been a member of this Society nearly eighteen years. He was chosen into it on the same day on which De Tocqueville and Guizot, who has so recently preceded him in death, were elected Honorary Members. He was with us at the annual meeting preceding the last, his growing infirmities of late having put a bar on his frequent attendance. He contributed to our Proceedings the excellent Memoirs of Judge White and President Quincy; he took part in tributes to several of our associates as they passed away, and gave to the Society a fair share of the time and interest which he had to divide among many academic, literary, and benevolent trusts. He was a good and patient listener, too; no secondary excellence in a member of a society dealing but little with novel or exciting things. Most of us have known him in other scenes and relations of life. His great qualities of mind and his eminent virtues of character, his range of public services and his extended friendships, cemented by profound respect and gratitude, will assure for him multiplied and varied tributes, now that his work has ended. It is for us, in this our fellowship, devoted to historical and biographical studies, to make a respectful and affectionate recognition of him as lately our revered associate.

James Walker came of the substantial and sturdy yeoman stock which, emigrating from old England, rooted itself in this Bay Colony. His ancestor was in the first company of settlers. The family, through all its generations here, with a predominant element of farmers living on their own rural acres, thrifty and independent, has contributed to an extended region of our country a fair proportion of men eminent for talent and service. Of this stock was Timothy Walker, the first, and for fifty years the only, minister of the new wilderness settlement at Pennacook, Rumford, now Concord, N. H., whose daughter was the first wife of Count Rumford. Of the same stock were the late distinguished jurist, Judge Walker, of Ohio, and the mathematician and astronomer, the late Sears Cook Walker. The father of our associate, John Walker, was commissioned as a major-gencral in 1798, by President John Adams, and commanded our forces at Oxford, when hostil

ities were apprehended from the French. He lived in that part of the town of Woburn originally Charlestown, which he was mainly instrumental in having set off as a town by itself, as Burlington. Here Dr. Walker and one brother, the only children, were born. The mother, Lucy Johnson, was a descendant in the fourth generation from the famous Captain Elward Johnson, surveyor, military leader, chronicler, and, we must add, poet-laureate of the colony, the author of the Wonder-Working Providence of Zion's Saviour in New England."

One had not need to trace in Dr. Walker, as they spoke for themselves, those inherited traits and qualities, physical, moral, and intellectual, which he derived from a pure and sturdy lineage of frugal ways, careful thrift, and self-respecting manliness and integrity of principle. The tastes and inclinations which he early manifested secured for him, at the cost of efforts and sacrifices from himself and his father, the privileges of a preparatory and a college education. The somewhat exacting conditions on which he won these privileges prompted him to a lively sympathy with students whose carly lot was like his own. He retained through his long life, with all its honors and all its social surroundings, the simple tastes and habits, the plain ways of living, and the unworldly moderation which characterized his Puritan lineage. His native dignity dictated the degree of his conformity to all conventionalisms. His only form of self-indulgence was in the luxury of books. He was a faithful and an easy scholar, winning the first honors. The strength of his development and acquisitions through life was in moral and intellectual vigor, in logical power, and in acuteness of understanding. He had no musical ear, no artistic culture, and, perhaps, but moderate aesthetic appreciation. Had. he written poetry, it would not probably have been much better than that of his maternal ancestor. He never crossed the sea, and he made but scant excursions on the land. He loved the quiet, the occupations, and the regularity of home life.

There was granted to him a long life, and at its close a natural death, which he was prepared to meet with Christian fortitude and peace. His wife had preceded him by a few years, and he never was a father. He was ready to do the full work of a man in exacting professional service as soon as he reached his maturity, and he had the well-won privilege of a period of honored and happy retirement after he had passed the appointed span. For nearly twenty-two years the beloved pastor of a large Christian society; for sixteen years a professor, and for seven years President, of Harvard College; a preacher, meanwhile, of extraordinary power and popularity