weeping. It was his practice to write his sermons twice over, "and in a fair long hand." His utterance was free and clear; his memory very tenacious, and never known to fail him. He was particularly watchful over the members of his church; very attentive, and full of consolation to the sick; and careful to prevent and check any disorders or irregularities among the people of his charge. He used his influence to have such persons allowed to keep places of public entertainment, as would maintain good regulations and correct manners in their houses. And when he saw from his study window, "any town dwellers tippling at the tavern, he would go over and chide them away." While young, and afterwards, he devoted some portion of his time to astronomical pursuits, and published almanacks for several years. Those from 1646 to 1649, inclusive, I have seen, and some of them are valuable for the chronological tables at the end. These tables were consulted and cited by Mr. Prince in his NewEngland Chronology. Mr. Danforth published an account of the comet which appeared in 1664, with a brief theological application. He contends that a comet is a heavenly body, moving according to defined laws, and that its appearance is portentous. His other publications are, the Election sermon in 1670, entitled a recognition of New-England's errand into the wilderness, from Matt. xi. 7--9, 4to. pp. 24; and the Cry of Sodom inquired into, upon occasion of the arraignment and condemnation of Benjamin Goad, for his prodigious villany, 4to pp. 30, 1674. Several specimens of his poetry are found in his almanacks. They appear to be more tuneful than the verses of some of his contemporaries. One of his sons wrote poetry, and several, in the collateral branches of the family, appear to have been similarly gifted.

(1) Mr. Danforth died of a fever of six days continuance, on the 19 November, 1674, aged 48 years. Such was his peace in his departure, that Mr. Eliot his colleague, used to say, "my brother

(1) The following, presumed to be a specimen of Rev. Samuel Danforth's Poetry, is copied from his Almanack for 1648.

"Awake yee westerne Nymphs, arise and sing :
And with fresh tunes salute your welcome spring.
Behold a choyce, a rare and pleasant plant,
Which nothing but its parallell doth want.
"Twas but a tender slip a while agoe,
About twice ten years or a little moe,
But now 'tis grown unto such comely state,
That one would think't an Olive tree or Date.
A skilfull Husbandman he was who brought
This matchless plant from far, and here hath sought
A place to set it in and for it's sake,
The wildernes a pleasant land doth make.
And with a tender care it setts and dresses,
Digs round about it, waters, dungs and blesses.
And, that it may fruit forth in season bring,
Doth lop and cut, and prune it every spring.
Bright Phoebus casts his silver sparkling ray,
Upon this thriving plant both night and day.
And with a pleasant aspect smiles upon
The tender buds and blooms that hang thereon.
The lofty skyes their christall drops bestow;
Which cause the plant to flourish and to grow.
The radiant Star is in it's Horoscope,

And there 'twill raigne and rule for aye, we hope.
At this tree's roots Astraa sits and sings

And waters it, whence upright JUSTICE springs.
Which yearly shoots forth Lawes and Libertyes,
That no mans Will or Wit may tyrannize.
Those birds of prey, who sometime have opprest
And stain'd the country with their filthy nest,
Justice abhors; and one day hopes to finde
A way to make all promise-breakers grinde.
On this tree's top hangs pleasant LIBERTY,
Not seen in Austria, France, Spain, Italy.'
Some fling their swords at it, their caps some cast
In Britain 'twill not downe, it hangs so fast.
A loosnes (true) it breeds (Galen ne'er saw)
Alas! the reason is, men eat it raw.
True Liberty's there ripe, where all confes

Danforth made the most glorious end I ever saw." Dr. C. Mather gives him the following epitaph:

"Non dubium est, quin eo verit, quo stella eunt,
"Danforthus, qui stellis semper se associavit."

They may do what they will but wickednes.
PEACE is another fruit; which this tree bears,
The chiefest garland that this Country wears.
Which over all house-tops, townes, fields doth spread,
And stuffs the pillow for each weary head.
It bloom'd in Europe once, but now 'tis gon :
And's glad to find a desart-mansion.
Thousands to buye it with their blood have fought
But cannot finde it; we ha't here for nought.
In times of yore, (some say, it is no ly)
There was a tree that brought forth UNITY.
It grew a little while, a year or twain,

But since 'twas nipt, 't hath scarce been seen again,
'Till some here sought it, and they finde it now
With trembling for to hang on every bough.
At this faire fruit, no wonder, if they shall
Be cudgells flung sometimes, but 'twill not fall.
Forsaken TRUTH, Times daughter, groweth here,
(More pretious fruit, what tree did ever beare ?).
Whose pleasant sight aloft hath many fed,
And what falls down knocks Error on the head.
Blinde Novio. sayes, that nothing here is true,
Because (thinks he) no old thing can be new.
Alas poor smoaky Times, that can't yet see,
Where Truth doth grow, on this or on that Tree.
Few think, who only hear, but doe not see,
That PLENTY groweth much upon this tree.
That since the mighty COW her crown hath lost,
In every place shee's made to rule the rost

That heaps of Wheat, Pork, Bisket, Beef and Beer,
Masts, Pipe-staves, Fish should store both farre and neer:
Which fetch in Wines, Cloth, Sweets and good Tobac—
O be contented then, ye cannot lack.

Of late from this tree's root within the ground

Rich MINES branch out, Iron and Lead are found,

Better than Peru's gold or Mexico's

Which cannot weapon us against our foes,

Nor make us howes, nor siths, nor plough-shares mend ;
Without which tools mens honest lives would end.
Some silver-mine, if any here doe wish,
They it may finde i' th' bellyes of our fish.
But lest this Olive plant in time should wither,

Mr. Danforth married in 1651, a daughter of Rev. John Wilson, of Boston. After his death, she married Mr. Ruck of Boston, where she died 13 September, 1713, in her 81st year. By her, Mr. D. had 12 children, of whom Samuel, the first born, died in 1653, and the next three died in 1659. John, the fifth child, born 8 November, 1660, graduated at Harvard in 1677, was the minister of Dorchester. Samuel, the 2d. of the name, born 18 December, 1666, graduated at Harvard 1683, was the minister of Taunton. (See 1677 and 1683.) His daughter Mary became the 2d. wife of Hon. Edward Bromfield, 4 June, 1683, and they lived together fifty-one years. Edmund Bromfield, their son, born Nov. 1695, was an eminent merchant in Boston, and father of Edward Bromfield, who was graduated at Harvard in 1742. Another daughter of Mr. D. died 26 October, 1672. Mr. D. had two brothers, Thomas and Jonathan, the first of whom was deputy-governor, and judge of the superior court of Massachusetts. Mather, Magnalia, i. 286. ii. 20, 23, 48-54. Allen, Amer. Biog. Dict. 323. Eliot, N. E. Biog. Dict. Sullivan, Hist. Maine, 385. Hist. Memoir Billerica, 14. Pemberton, MS. Chronology,

And so its fruit and glory end togither,

The prudent Husband-men are pleased to spare
No work or paines, no labour, cost or care,

A NURSERY to plant, with tender sprigs,

Young shoots and sprouts, small branches, slips and twigs:
Whence timely may arise a good supply
In room of sage and aged ones that dye.

The wildest SHRUBS, that forrest ever bare,
Of late into this Olive grafted are,
Welcome poor natives from your salvage fold.
Your hopes we prize above all Western gold.

Your pray❜rs, tears, knowledge, labours promise much,
Wo, if you be not, as you promise, such.
Sprout forth, poor sprigs, that all the world may ring
How Heathen shrubs kisse Jesus for their King."

13. JOHN ALLIN was probably among those "sent hither from England" to obtain an education. He may have been son of Rev. John Allin of Surslingham, in the county of Norfolk, who made a donation of £25 to the treasury of the Massachusetts colony in 1635. Soon after taking his Bachelor's degree, he went to England, became a minister, and was settled at GreatYarmouth, in Norfolk, where, according to W. Winthrop, Esq., he died of the plague in 1665. Gov. Hutchinson informs us that he had friends in Suffolk. Johnson, Hist. N. E. 165. Hutchinson, Hist. Mass. i. 107. Addenda in Winthrop, ii. 342.

1644.

1645.

14. JOHN OLIVER, son of Elder Thomas Oliver, was a native of England, and born about the în year 1616. His father came to New-England in 1631, with six sons, and settled in Boston, where he was an elder of the First Church, and died in 1657. John was one of the eldest sons, and was admitted freeman of the Massachusetts colony, 13 May, 1640. He was about twenty-nine years of age when he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. While a member of college, he had probably given considerable attention to the study of divinity, and had he lived, would have chosen this as his profession, and been settled as à pastor over some of the New-England churches. But he was destined to a short career, being seized with a malignant fever the next spring after he received his degree, which caused his death on the 12 April, 1646, in the 30th year of his age. Gov. Winthrop calls him, "a gracious young man, an expert soldier, an excellent sur

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