week after week, for the pulpit, where his success would have been greater than it was except for the circumstance that many of his felicities of thought and expression could only be appreciated by scholars like himself.

Several of his hymns and other poems are not only exquisitely finished, but breathe a profoundly devotional spirit, and show that the author knew how to commune with God. In general society there was often a reserve upon him which some may have construed into coldness or indifference; but to his intimate friends his manner was singularly gentle and tender and affectionate. This made him very dear to them, and it makes his memory very dear to them.

Dr. LOTHROP also addressed the meeting, and the Resolution was unanimously adopted.

Dr. Hedge was appointed to prepare the Memoir of Dr. Frothingham for the Society's Proceedings.

The President presented a number of pamphlets from our Honorary Member, Count Circourt, containing articles written by him; namely, the numbers of the "Annales Franc-Comtoises," &c., for September and October, 1869, containing "Mémoires de Jules Chiflet, Abbé de Balerne "; the "Bibliothèque Universelle et Revue Suisse" for April, 1868, and July, 1869; the former containing an article entitled "Le Journal d'une Reine," being a notice of "Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands, from 1848 to 1861, edited by Arthur Helps. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1868"; the latter containing a review of a work entitled "Marie-Antoinette, Reine de France, par James de Chambrier, 2 vols. in 8vo. Neuchâtel, London, et Paris, Hachette, 1868"; and a pamphlet entitled "La Confédération Suisse. Paris: Charles Dounoil, Libraire-Editeur, 29 Rue Tournon, 1870." The President was requested to acknowledge the above.

The President also presented the Prospectus of the "Codex Diplomaticus Cavensis," a publication proposed to be made of one of the treasures of the monastery of La Cava, one of "the

once mighty and still splendid monasteries of the kingdom of Naples." The Prospectus was transmitted by Count Circourt, who says of these monasteries: "They have been threatened with dissolution; but, upon the unanimous voice of the literary world (Dean Stanley has been most active for their preservation), they have been spared, — not, indeed, as convents, but as repositories of the national archives and as literary institutions. Now, they do endeavor to publish the inedited and almost infinite riches of their archives. Nothing in the shape of ecclesiastical and canonic matters: the whole relates to the civil rights, the legislation (especially of the Lombard principalities), the general and provincial history, the commercial relations and connections with the Mussulman world during the Middle Ages. In a word, the mere reading of the Prospectus will convince you that no publication could be of more use to students than this one; but the editors must be helped. I wish greatly that, through your kind mediation, some of the great literary establishments of your country would subscribe to the Codex Cavensis. America has, of late, done wonders in founding universities and collecting libraries few better occasions can occur for enriching these recent and already opulent collections."

The President also read a letter from Mrs. Jules Marcou, of Paris, a grand-daughter of Dr. Jeremy Belknap, addressed to our Associate Mr. Ticknor, in which she speaks of an article in the Boston "Daily Advertiser" of the 12th of March last, on the subject of the "Boston Massacre," so called. In this article reference is made to the testimony of one Jeremiah Belknap, supposed by the writer to be the historian of that name, as to what was witnessed by him on that fatal evening of the 5th of March. Mrs. Marcou desired to correct this statement, saying that Dr. Belknap at this time was a settled minister at Dover, and that the person referred to was an uncle of the historian.

Mr. Deane read a letter from Judge Henry F. French, of

Concord, Mass., communicating the article referred to by Mrs. Marcou, of which he was the writer. In the article, mention is made of a William Merchant, one of the young men who was present at the affray on the evening of the 5th of March, as being of a well-known family in Boston, and as having descendants of great respectability, among whom was the wife of Judge French. A portrait of Merchant, painted in 1755-the family tradition says, by Copley-when the subject of it was a child, at the age of five years, is in the possession of Judge French.*

The President, referring to a discussion before the Society a few years since, as to whether persons said to have attained the age of one hundred years were really so old as alleged, read an account from the "New York Observer" of March 17th, of a banquet given on the 9th of March by General J. Watts De Peyster, of that city, to Captain F. Lahrbush, in honor of his one hundred and fifth birthday. General de Peyster gave a sketch of this wonderful man. The "Observer" says,

"He was born in England, March 9th, 1766. At the age of twenty-three he entered the British army. He was with Lord Nelson when Copenhagen was taken; he was in the battle of Jena; he saw the famous interview between Napoleon and Alexander, in 1807, at Tilsit, on the raft; he was shot in the leg at Valencia, in 1808; he was on the field at Corunna, where Sir John Moore was killed. At the battle of Busaco, in 1810, he was wounded in the head and left for dead on the battle-field. Afterwards he was in the army in South Africa, and for three months was one of the British guard over Napoleon, at St. Helena. In 1818, at the age of fifty-two, he sold out his commission in the army, and travelled extensively

• A second article written by Judge French, giving more full details of the genealogy of the Merchant family, appeared in the "Daily Advertiser" (Supplement) of May 12. In this he shows that the portrait was probably painted two years later than the date given above, the subject of it having been born April 13, 1752. The error detected by Mrs. Marcou, as to the identity of the Jeremiah Belknap mentioned in the former communication, is also corrected. - EDS.

over the world, coming to this country in 1848, and taking up his residence in this city, where he is enjoying the evening of his days. Thus his reminiscences go back through his own experience and those of intimates, to the days of Prince Eugene and Charles XII., the Hero of the North.' He was well acquainted with Blucher, who was a subaltern in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), in which Schwerin (companion in arms of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, and born in 1684) was a field-marshal. Thus from soldiers of high rank (whom he met in Prussia in 1806-7) he heard stories of the wars of the seventeenth century from the lips of conspicuous actors therein. And thus by eye and ear he has seen and heard the development of two centuries. It is wonderful to reflect that this man, moving intimately and daily among us, here present, drinking, eating, and conversing with us, conversed, ate, and drank with men who knew other men who could relate stories of their own adventures when this city was a mere Dutch trading-post, and at a date when the French had as yet only established military posts along the tidewaters of Canada.

He

"He is somewhat peculiar in his habits, rising at 3 o'clock, A.M., and taking a light breakfast; walking out at daylight, dining at 1, taking tea early and going to bed before 7 in the evening. His mental faculties are as bright as ever. hears acutely and has good eyesight. His memory, even of recent events, is excellent. He takes a deep interest in matters and things around him, and is a pleasant, genial companion. As he rose to leave the table, he said, 'God bless you, gentlemen; I hope to meet you often on these interesting occasions; ten years hence, I hope we will have had ten of these meetings.' He shook hands cordially with each guest, and walked off to his home as spry as any one of the company.

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Captain Lahrbush deserves to be mentioned among the most extraordinary examples of longevity, on record. His record is in itself remarkable, apart from his age; and this

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extension so far into the second century of life, with his faculties unimpaired, renders him perhaps the most remarkable instance of longevity now in the world." *

The business of the Annual Meeting was now taken up.

Mr. SOLOMON LINCOLN, from the Committee appointed to nominate a list of Officers of the Society, reported the following names; which were adopted by the Society: —

The Reports of the Standing Committee, the Librarian, the Cabinet-keeper, and the Treasurer were severally submitted and adopted; Mr. MASON, from the Committee on the Treasurer's account, having certified to its correctness.

*The above account had been sent to the President by the venerable Charles Cleveland of this city, who is himself ninety-eight years old.