surviving friends. His personal qualities have been well portrayed by one of his nearest friends in a sketch written just after his death, but not hitherto published, and which I am permitted to use.

Mr. Winthrop says,

"Few persons will be more missed from the daily walks of life than this esteemed and venerated gentleman. Though he had reached the advanced age of eighty-three years, he had retained a full measure of his characteristic activity of mind and body until a very recent period, and but a few weeks had elapsed since he was to be found at his customary haunts on the Exchange. Everybody was glad to meet him there, for he had a kind word for everybody. Nor did he confine himself to kind words. If an obliging act was within his power, he was always sure to do it. One was in danger of forgetting that he was no longer young, so ready and eager was he to anticipate the wishes of a friend in rendering any service that could be suggested. Indeed, he knew little of old age, except from the experience it had brought him; his heart was always young, and his interest in the daily current of events lost nothing of its freshness to the end of his life. He was eminently a man of 'cheerful yesterdays and confident to-morrows.' 'A man of hope, and forward-looking mind, Even to the last.'

Yet he did not forget that he had passed the allotted term of human life, and was not unmindful of the great account which was soon to be rendered.

"Mr. Davis entered life with slight advantages of fortune, but it would be difficult to name a man who had been happier in his social relations. Beyond any one of his time he had enjoyed the friendship and intimacy of our most distinguished men. He was on terms of familiar intercourse successively with Fisher Ames and George Cabot, with John Quincy Adams, Josiah Quincy, Harrison Gray Otis, and Daniel Webster. Nor was his acquaintance limited to those of our own neighborhood. Strangers of distinction were rarely without a letter to Mr. Davis, and were always sure of receiving from him the kindest attention, and of being introduced by him to the most agreeable hospitalities. His memory was thus stored with personal anecdotes and pleasant reminiscences of many of the most interesting characters in our more

Hon. Robert C. Winthrop.

recent history, and he was rarely without agreeable occasions of relating them. He took an early and active interest in the encouragement of American art. He was the friend of Stuart and Allston and Sully, of Greenough and Powers and Clevenger; and not a few young artists of less celebrity have owed to him the earliest opportunities of exercising their profession. Though not wealthy himself, he knew how to bring deserving merit to the notice of those that were, and many an order for a bust or a portrait which has brought hope, and perhaps bread, to some discouraged and destitute artist, has had its origin in his thoughtful and timely suggestions.

"Mr. Davis, like his venerated brother, the late Mr. Justice Davis, had a passion for every thing of an historical or antiquarian character. Born in Plymouth, he was never tired of visiting the Rock, and of exploring the footsteps of those who first trod it. Indeed, whatever related to American History, Colonial or Revolutionary, he was eager to hear and see and understand; and, though neither a student nor a writer himself, he often helped those who were writers or students to facts, or anecdotes, or papers, or memorials, which might have been looked for in vain anywhere else. His service to the Massachusetts Historical Society, as one of their most attentive members, and as their Cabinet-keeper for a long course of years, will doubtless secure for him the customary tribute in their 'Proceedings,' as they have secured for him the cordial regard and esteem of all his associates. Mr. Davis was repeatedly one of the representatives of Boston in the State Legislature, and for several years he held the post of Naval Officer in the Boston Custom House. But he sought no distinction in public life. His disposition was for the social circle, where his tastes and his temper eminently qualified him to shine. His genial good-nature, his benevolent spirit, his peculiar faculty of gathering up whatever was most interesting or agreeable to those with whom he was associated, his quick appreciation of whatever was curious or novel, his kind, cordial, cheerful manners, all conspired to make him the selected and solicited guest of every company, and the welcome visitor of every household. "His long life was not unclouded by afflictions. He was called to bear blows which would have broken any less buoyant spirit than his own. Two sons his only children who had given the best promise of success in their respective professions; one of them second to no one of his age in early scholarship were cut off before him. But with the aid of an affectionate and devoted wife, he bore up bravely beneath these bitter disappointments, and was soon the same cheerful

old man ;-happy, at least, in making others happy. Sinking at last, under no very protracted disease, he has left a memory which will be cherished in many hearts, as that of a tried, trusty, affectionate friend, whom all would have gladly held back yet longer from the grave, to cheer and brighten the pathway of life."

To the above just and discriminating portraiture, I will only add some lines upon the same subject, which appeared in print soon after his death, and which are understood to be from the pen of Hon. George Lunt.

I. P. D.

Ah, kind and good old man!

Whose life, a golden chain

Of links, still brightening, ran

Through more than fourscore years,

In long-descending train,

Ripened by sun and rain,

So the full shock should garnered be, and vain
Were our superfluous tears.

Yet, though we may not grieve

For him, who waited but the Master's call,

How oft, at morn, and noon, and social eve,

By genial board, or in the festal hall,

Shall busy fancy weave

Sweet, sad memorials of thy decent form,

Who knew life's sunny hours, and felt its storm,

Saw human nature's every side, and still

Who thought and spoke no ill?

The cordial grasp of an unsullied hand,

The cheerful aspect and the beaming eye;

Those silvery locks that crowned a forehead bland
With human sympathy;

The feeling heart, quick thought and earnest mind,
The true, soft accents from thy lips that fell, ·
Where shall we look to find

In soul so gentle left behind?
Dear, kind old man, farewell!

JUNE MEETING.

The stated monthly meeting of the Society was held this day, Thursday, 10th of June, by invitation of the President, with the concurrence of the Standing Committee, at his house in Brookline, at half-past four o'clock, P.M.

The Recording Secretary read the record of the last meeting. The Librarian announced the gifts to the Library the past month.

The Corresponding Secretary read a letter of acceptance from the Rev. Edmund de Pressensé, of Paris.

The President then spoke as follows:

*

You will not expect from me, gentlemen, any formal words of welcome on this occasion; but I cannot omit to remind you that meetings of this kind have repeatedly been held in former years, and I hope this may not be the last of them. We had a most memorable meeting at the house of our lamented associate, George Livermore, in Cambridge, on the 26th of June, 1856. It would not be difficult to trace to that meeting the inspiration which resulted, soon afterwards, in our possession of the Dowse Library; and I believe Mr. Deane has so traced it in the Memoir of his friend, which forms so interesting a feature of our new volume of "Proceedings." During the summer of 1858, we held two such meetings; one of them at the historic residence of Longfellow at Cambridge, and the other at the charming cottage of the late Frederic Tudor at Nahant. Not a few of those who were present on those occasions are no more; but others have succeeded to their places, as still others will succeed to ours; and I trust that an occasional social meeting in the country will long be something more than a tradition in our annals.

* See the Memoir as separately printed, at pages 45-47.

We are here, to-day, at what was known to the settlers of Massachusetts by the repulsive name of "Muddy River," and of which the first historical account is thus given by Governor Winthrop in his journal:

"August 30, 1632.-Notice being given of ten Sagamores and many Indians assembled at Muddy River, the Governor sent Captain Underhill with twenty musketeers, to discover, &c.; but at Roxbury they heard they were broke up."

I will not take up your time in dwelling on the old associa tions of the place; but will content myself with reminding you that a succinct and excellent account of this locality is to be found, where so many other good things are also to be found, in our own "Historical Collections." In the second volume of the second series, printed in 1814, may be read an historical sketch of Brookline, "extracted from a discourse delivered there on the 24th of November, 1805, the day which completed a century from the incorporation of the town," by one whom so many of us remember with respect and affection, the genial, warm-hearted, and excellent Dr. John Pierce, "the fifth minister of Brookline," and a most active and valuable member of our Society.

In turning over the pages of that sketch, which, among other matters, contains a list of those who had been educated at Harvard University from Brookline, I observed but one name which I knew to be the name of a living man, and of which the notice is as follows:

"Thomas Aspinwall, A.M., son of the Hon. William Aspinwall, Esq. For several years he was a lawyer in Boston. He is now a colonel in the United-States Army."

I need not say that this is our honored first Vice-President, of whom the description was true in 1814, when the sketch was revised for our " Collections," but of whom more might be said now than it would be quite fair to say before his face. I am sure we all feel that in having him here with us this afternoon, we have the best and fittest representative of old Brookline, yes, of