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G

HISTORY OF BOSTON,

THE

Metropolis of Massachusetts,

FROM ITS

ORIGIN TO THE PRESENT PERIOD;

WITH SOME

ACCOUNT OF THE ENVIRONS.

BY CALEB H. SNOW, M. D.

Mons Idæus ubi et gentis cunabula nostræ.-Virgil.

[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small]

PUBLISHED BY ABEL BOWEN, No. 2, CONGRESS-SQUARE,

CONGRESS-STREET.

1828.

10343.11

US13173.5

HARVARD
COLLEGE
LIBRARY

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT:
District Clerk's Office.

BE it remembered, that on the twenty eighth day of November, A. D. 1825, in the fiftieth year of the Independence of the United States of America, ABEL BOWEN, of the said District, has deposited in this Office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the words following, to wit:

A HISTORY of BOSTON, the Metropolis of Massachusetts; from its origin to the present period. With so ne account of the Environs By CALEB H. SNOW, M. D. Mons Idæus ubi et gentis cunabula nostræ.-Virgil. Embellished with Engravings.

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, “An act for the encourage. ment of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also to an act, entitled, " An act supplementary to an Act, entitled an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times the ein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other prints." JOHN W. DAVIS, Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.

PREFACE.

THIS edition of the History of Boston comprises the text and notes of the first, with some corrections and additions to bring the account of the City down to the present time. The reader may expect to find in it some notice of the persecutions, which drove the first settlers of New-England from their native country, and some brief sketches of the settlements that were made or attempted to be made, in various parts of the United States, before the arrival of Governor Winthrop and the company under him, which laid the foundation of Boston. There taking up our subject, I have endeavoured to select from the mass of records, which numerous hands have left to us, those facts which appear to have excited any great or lasting interest among the inhabitants of this metropolis; such especially as exhibit most strongly the esprit du corps which has rendered them illustrious for their devotion to the cause of humanity, of learning, and of civil and religious liberty.

In my own mind our history divides itself into six principal epochs; the first terminating with the deaths of Winthrop and Cotton; the second, with the loss of the old charter and the reception of the new, in 1692; the third, at the arrival of Gov. Bernard, in 1760; the fourth, with the war of the Revolution, in 1783; the fifth, with the adoption of the city charter; and the events that have occurred since that period constituting the sixth and last. On each of these epochs I have bestowed a share of

attention, sufficient, I trust, to make the volume somewhat instructive to many and somewhat entertaining to all.

"Vouchsafe to those that have not read the story,

That I may prompt them; and of such as have

I humbly pray them to admit the excuse
Of time, of numbers, and due course of things,
Which cannot in their huge and proper life
Be here presented."

It was my aim in composing this work, that it should be minutely accurate and scrupulously correct, and I therefore almost invariably adopted the words of the recorder or cotemporary historian, and gave most of my descriptions precisely as I found them, whenever I could ascertain their correctness. To this cir cumstance, the great variety in the style of the language which is employed, may in some measure be imputed: and the reader can easily distinguish, without more marks of quotation, whatever is mine. The emendations, which my friends have proposed, are made either in the body of the work or in the notes to the articles in the index. The plan I have pursued comports best with the circumstances under which the present edition is published, and also with that I have in view, should the public patronage call for another in my day. In the mean time, I shall feel myself under obligation to all who may take interest enough in the work, to furnish information, which may contribute to its improvement in any respect.

Boston, November, 30, 1827.

CALEB H. SNOW.

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