his death happened on the 31st of July, 1653, at Roxbury, where he was honorably interred. One of the ministers of the coun[try] honored him with a small parcel of verses, both Latin and English, in remembrance of his stedfast adherence to the truth in the dangerous time of error, when many were ready to turn aside therefrom.

(Indorsed,)

"THE LIFE OF THOMAS DUDLEY,

SEVERAL TIMES GOVERNOR OF

MASSACHUSETTS COLONY OF NEW ENGLAND."

In presenting these papers to the Society, Mr. Dudley stated that his family were once in possession of other papers which had been borrowed from time to time by persons professing an interest in antiquarian pursuits; and, he feared, had never been returned. The most of these now presented to the Society had only recently been recovered, after having been long missing.

Voted, That the thanks of the Society be presented to Mr. H. A. S. D. Dudley, for the very valuable donation made by him this day to the Library and Cabinet of the Society.

FEBRUARY MEETING.

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

In the absence of Mr. DEANE, who was detained by illness, Mr. SMITH was appointed Recording Secretary pro tempore, and read the record of the last meeting.

The Librarian announced the list of donors to the Library during the last month.

The Corresponding Secretary read a letter of acceptance from Pierre Margry, of Paris.

The President read the following letter from our associate, Mr. Norton, relative to the photographic copies of three letters of Columbus presented at the last meeting:

Hon. ROBERT C. WINTHROP, President of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. DEAR SIR,I had the pleasure of sending to you a few days since photographic copies of three autograph letters of Columbus, the originals of which are in possession of the Municipality of Genoa. I beg you to do me the favor to offer the photographs to the Historical Society in my name. I obtained them during a recent visit to Genoa, at the palace of the Municipality, where, through the kindness of Signor De Simoni, Capo Ufficio al Municipio, I had opportunity to see the originals, as well as the book made by order of Columbus, containing copies of diplomas, patents, and privileges granted to him, to which he refers in two of the letters. The volume is in perfect preservation, and still remains "in una sacca di cordovano colorato, con la sua serratura d'argento."

The story of this interesting volume is told, and its contents are printed, in the well-known work entitled Codice Columbo Americano, printed at Genoa, in 1823, in 4to. An English translation of this work was published, if I am not mistaken, in London; and I think that the library of the Historical Society must contain a copy of the original or the translation.* In this work two of the letters of which I have sent you the photographic copies, are engraved in fac-simile, the two addressed to Niccolò Oderigo, ambassador of Genoa at the Spanish Court.

I also send to you a little volume printed at Milan in 1863, entitled "Lettere Autografe di Cristoforo Colombo, nuovamente stampate." This is of some interest as containing a reprint, asserted to be the first (see p. 66), of the original Spanish text of the letter of Columbus to Rafaele Saxis, announcing his discovery of the New World. The facsimiles of the woodcuts that adorned the edition of 1493 give to this reprint a special value. †

The title of the English translation of the work referred to is, "Memorials of Columbus; or A Collection of Authentic Documents of that Celebrated Navigator," &c. "Preceded by a Memoir of his Life & Discoveries," &c. London: Treuttell and Wurtz, Treuttell, jun. and Richter, 30 Soho Square. 1823."-EDs.

↑ See "Proceedings" for August, 1865, for a notice of the original edition of this letter, in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, of which a reprint is given in the volume here presented to the Society by Mr. Norton. The letter is not the one addressed to Saxis, but that to Luis De Santangel. — EDS.

I shall be much pleased if, during my stay in Italy, which will probably be prolonged for some months, at least, I can be of service to our Society, or to any of its members, in their historical pursuits.

With my best wishes for the prosperity of the Society during the coming year, and to yourself personally,

I am, dear sir, very truly yours,

CHARLES ELIOT NORTON.

The President also read the letter below, from our venerable Honorary member, Horace Binney, to Hugh Blair Grigsby, which had been sent to him by Mr. Grigsby:

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 6, 1870.

DEAR SIR,-A kind Providence has brought me to and beyond the day of the month and the age, to which you have been so kind as to refer by anticipation.

Your most agreeable letter has by its very accurate recapitulation, refreshed my memory as to nearly all the great public events of my life, in which, however, I have had little part personally. I may have seen some or all of the eminent men whom you name as actors in the Revolution of 1776, and survived the Treaty of Peace in 1783, a few years; but the freshest of these recollections is of Washington, who during nearly all the years of his Presidency, and at the end of it, occupied a house on Market Street, almost opposite to the residence of my mother, on the same street. I saw the great man last in 1798, when a student of law in my nineteenth year, when he came to Philadelphia to concert measures in regard to the provisional army, which was raised to meet our angry relations with France. My own first achievement in public life was the walking as one of the Philadelphia Academy boys, in the Federal Procession of 4 July, 1788, to celebrate the adoption of the Constitution, which had then been sanctioned by ten States. Perhaps that march to Bush Hill has contributed to make me a very strong Constitutionalist ever since.

What a review you have made for me, and what a happy memory you have, to retain remarkable events and transactions in your view! As you have retraced them to me, so have I been enabled to recall them, dates and all. But many of them sleep with me until so recalled, and I believe that, without exception, I concur in your view of all of them, and of their bearing on your great conclusion, and in that conclusion also, as in your inferences generally, that no Anglo-Saxon

people ever enjoyed such a long term of peace, prosperity, and honor, as our country enjoyed from 1783, the date of the Treaty of Peace, to 1860. I shall preserve your letter, as the best summary or précis, as the French call it, of the events, political and social, which have occurred in the Christian era, to substantiate the preference due to our institutions, that can be made.

I thank you especially for your felicitations upon my arrival at the age, the rather unusual age, of ninety. Mine has been a life of health, not much abused, nor yet very carefully nurtured, but having the root of a very good constitution, passed in wholesome country air and exercise from eight to eighteen nearly, and all the rest in this city. I am devoutly thankful to God for his many mercies to me; and have a strong sense of the kindness of friends who sympathize with me in my present capacity to enjoy life.

Let me not fail to tell you that your letter to the Massachusetts Historical Society* has given me great pleasure, as it must have given to the members of the body, as it ought to give to all Bostonians. My Boston half-blood makes me sure of this.

With great respect and regard, I remain your obliged and obedient HOR. BINNEY.

servant,

HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY, Esq., Charlotte Court-House, Va.

Thomas Carlyle was chosen an Honorary Member.

Mr. J. P. QUINCY presented a fragment of a letter relating to the battle of Bunker Hill, remarking as follows:

A

"I present to the Society the first sheet of a letter giving a contemporary account of the Battle of Bunker Hill. second sheet, which must have borne the name of the person addressed and the signature of the writer, is unhappily wanting. There can be little doubt, however, that the letter was addressed to Jeremiah Powell, the President of the Massachusetts Senate at the time of the Revolution. It seems to have been written by a citizen of Newburyport, who had just returned from visiting Mr. Powell at his estate in North Yarmouth. The letter was given to me by Miss E. S. Quincy, who received it, among other manuscripts that had belonged to Mr. Powell, from the late John Bromfield, of Boston. It is not unlikely

See "Proceedings" for June, 1869. — - EDS.

that the writer was his father, the brother-in-law of Mr. Powell, John Bromfield, of Newburyport."

The letter is as follows:

NEWBURY PORT, 21 June, 1775.

We had a hot, dirty, disagreeable jaunt home. The horse almost gave out. We took our rout over Webster's Point, which is by far the best road, & so escap'd Salisbury Sands. Do you take the same in future. Experience we shall always find the best school m [master]. I have now the pleasure to tell you, I found all friends well, & in pretty good spirits, also that the news we heard on Sunday is not so bad as represented.

It seems a body of our men (the number uncertain, say from 500 to 1000 men) Fryday last took possession of Bunker's Hill, entrench'd that night, & the next morning got up five pieces of artillery. Mr. Cartwright was on the Hill Saturday morning & says the men work'd exceeding hard all night & no refreshment had been sent them of any kind; that they were almost suffocated with dust & choak'd for want of liquor. They expected to have been releiv'd early in the morning, but no releave came, & to add to their distresses they found the Regulars prepareing to pay them a visit, & the boats hurrying about with great velocity. Immediate notice was sent to head-quarters that our enemies were in motion. General Ward order'd without delay several regiments down to their assistance, & the two companies belonging to this town, among the rest, viz., Mess" Lunt's & Perkins's; as the latter rec. orders first he march'd down with all possible expedition & found the Regulars had landed and our people on the hill actually engag'd. Nevertheless he bravely march'd to their assistance, & was of eminent service. He fired away all his cartridges, & haveing some loose powder in his pocket, he was oblig'd to strip & tare off some part of his shirt to make wadding of, & when he had fir'd all his powder he retreated without hat or wigg, & almost naked.

away

Stephen Jenkins behav'd with equal valor, & got himself much honor, as did Lieut. Whittemore, who got a flesh wound in his thigh. Another man in the same company kill'd two Regulars at one shott. They were both in pursuit of one of our men to take him prisoner, but death instantly seized them. Two are kill'd out of Perkins's Company, & nine wounded (not dangerously). The name of one kill'd is Norton, I can't learn who the other is. Lunt's company did not get up time enough to do much execution, & retreated again, haveing only one man wounded. Mr. Little, of Turky Hill (who I have heard is lately