ter of the man, or familiar with the details of this important battle, fought wholly by Arnold's division, can doubt his active participation in it. Indeed his absence from it when neither sick nor under arrest would be simply incredible. To suppose that this hard fought action, well planned by an enemy handled by skilful generals and led by Burgoyne in person, was successfully carried on until darkness brought it to a close, by troops without a leader, or concert of action, is preposterous. Upon this point the writer has justice and truth on his side, and to Arnold and his troops the credit of this achievement properly belongs. To him, indeed, rather than to Gates, who as the commander in chief bore off the honors, the success of this decisive campaign seems justly attributable.

Foremost among the causes assigned for Arnold's defection was the dilatory action of Congress, who had been slow to accord him his proper rank, and who hesitated to allow his pecuniary claims. That body was no doubt influenced by the unfavorable reports generally prevalent respecting his integrity, while the voluminous accounts presented by him for settlement contained so many extras and charges in his own favor of a dubious and manifestly unreasonable character, that it bore the appearance of an impudent attempt to overreach and defraud the public. So apparent was this that the next time the question of his rank came up after this exposure, it was decided against him three to one. His brilliant conduct at Saratoga, however, had procured him his full rank, dating from Feb. 17, 1777, nearly three years before his treasonable attempt-thus removing this cause of irritation.

His subsequent career of extravagance in Philadelphia compelled him to have recourse to oppressive and illegal acts to enable him to sustain it. This led to a court-martial, whose light sentence of a reprimand was delicately and with all possible forbearance administered by Washington. This reprimand, added to the injustice with which Congress had treated him, his present biographer tells us, rankled and irritated until it poisoned, drove him to desperation, and opened the way for the commission of his crime." Unfortunately for this theory, it is certain that Arnold had been in secret correspondence with the enemy for nearly a year before the sentence of the court had been pronounced. We have a simpler theory to propound. It is this: He wanted money; he was sensitive and high-spirited, notwithstanding his utter want of principle, and was no doubt keenly alive to the disrepute his avaricious and oppressive conduct had brought upon him, and to procure money, to avenge himself upon his enemies in Congress, and at the same time to ingratiate himself with the British government, he took the fatal step, alas! made all too easy by the marriage he had contracted while in Philadelphia with the daughter of an influential loyalist.

Yet the writer of the volume tells us Arnold was a "patriot," and this statement reappears in a variety of forms. Such a sad misuse of the word is inexcusable. If Arnold who sold his country was a patriot, what was Washington? We have hitherto supposed a patriot to be a man who made sacrifices for his country, not one who offered her up as a sacrifice on the altar of his vengeful spirit. The soldier who,ill fed, ill clad, and worse paid," served in the ranks until the independence of his country was secured, and who, when disbanded, had nothing but his rags and his wounds, or perhaps a broken constitution to show as his recompensesuch is the view we have been accustomed to take of what constituted a patriot in the " days that tried men's souls." It goes without saying that Benedict Arnold is the last man to whom we should accord that honorable appellative.

F. S. DRAKE. Bulletin of the Boston Public Library. January-October, 1879. [Large 8vo.pp. 1-143.] Harvard University-Library Bulletin. Nos. 1-13. 1875-1879. [Svo. pp.1-378.] The bulletins of the Boston Public Library, of which the numbers noted above are the beginning of volume 4th, are widely known among students, readers and librarians, for the valuable bibliographical information which they contain, and which render full sets of them so useful to librarians and those who have much to do with books. The lists of accessions are enriched by many helpful notes which give in brief the contents of important works, and are of great assistance to readers; while the supplementary matter is of much general interest and value in a literary, historical and biographical point of view. In the numbers of the past year, besides quarterly lists of new books added to the library, there are bibliographical articles on the Indian Question, the Bibliography of Mental Philosophy, the Renaissance in France and Italy, the Chinese in America; and what will be especially valuable to

students of local history and genealogy, lists of references to published genealogies, local histories containing genealogical matter, and a list of American newspapers of the last century. The work is carefully edited, and deserves to be prized by students of bibliography.

The publication of the Bulletin of Harvard University Library was commenced in Dec. 1875, the design being to have the numbers appear quarterly. The numbers 1-5 contain simply lists of accessions, each number being paged independently. With the issue of the number for Dec 1, 1877, Mr. Justin Winsor, the new librarian of Harvard, assumed the editorship, and with this issue the paging of the numbers began to be made consecutively. In the next succeeding issue, No. 6, Mr. Winsor commenced the publication of a Supplement, containing bibliographical notes, lists and references, which had given the Bulletin of the Boston Public Library, while under his charge, so well deserved a reputation; and these lists have been continued and have embraced much rare, curious and important information in regard to the many special collections in the University library. We enumerate a few of the more noteworthy: Bibliography of the books and manuscripts left to the library by the late Hon. Charles Sumner, 27 pages; Calendar of the Lee Manuscripts deposited in the library, 18 pages; Lists of the several editions of the life and works of Michelangelo, 8 pages; Bibliography of the carlier editions of Shakspeare's Poems, 7 pages; Lists of works relating to the Fioras of different countries, 10 pages; Editions of the works of J. O. Hallowell-Phillips, 13 pages; with references to works on American history, the Pilgrims at Plymouth, the Council of New England, 1620-35, the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1630, the Antinomian Controversy in New England 1632, and a list of works in Analytic Geometry, by Prof. J. M. Pierce. The above lists when completed are to be issued in independent form as ** Bibliographical Contributions of the Library of Harvard University." Mr. Winsor is one of the most accomplished bibliographers in the country, and his careful editing is manifest upon every page of these several issues. SAMUEL L. BOARDMAN.

New Hampshire without Provincial Government, 1689-90; an Historical Sketch. By CHARLES W. TUTTLE Cambridge: University Press, John Wilson & Son. 1880. [8vo. pp. 12. With a heliotype facsimile. Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society for October, 1879. 50 copies printed.] Mr. Tuttle is one of the most indefatigable and successful investigators of New England history, and the pamphlet before us furnishes new evidence of the keenness and arder of his research. This historical sketch covers a period of eleven months, during which New Hampshire had no colonial or provincial government. The overthrow of the government of Sir Edmund Andros, April 18, 1689, left New Hampshire, as it did the other New England provinces and colonies, without a government. Dr. Belknap, who has touched but lightly upon the public affairs of New Hampshire during this period, has fallen into some errors, which the author corrects.

Some years ago Mr. Tuttle came into possession of a valuable original document, showing a form of government adopted by a convention of delegates from all the towns, held in Portsmouth, January 24, 1689-90. This led him to investigate the history of that period. An inspection of the archives of New Hampshire, Massachusetts. Connecticut and Rhode Island, resulted in several interesting discoveries in New England history.

Among other things, it appears, what no writer seems to have suspected, that the old confederation of the colonies was revived in 1689; that New Hampshire was admitted to the confederacy and sent a commissioner; and that force of circumstances compelled Massachusetts even to invite Rhode Island, which had been refused admission to the old confederacy, to join them, but this she declined. William Vaughan was the commissioner sent from New Hampshire.

Mr. Tuttle gives the details of the various struggles of the people of New Hampshire to form a government, and the reason of their failure; for their fortune led them to a final annexation to Massachusetts, March 19, 1690.

It may be mentioned that Mr. Tuttle has fixed the date of the attack on Oyster River in 1689, and that he corrects Mather by giving the true name of the captain who pursued the Indians. J. W. DEAN.

Brief Memoir of Dr. George H. Gay, H. C. 1812. By C. D. BRADLEE, H. C. 1852. [Boston:] 1879. [8vo. pp. 6.]

This is a beautiful tribute to the memory of an ab'e surgeon, conscientiously devoted to his profession, by one who knew him intimately.

J. W. D.

Historical Address. By GEORGE W. RANCK. At the Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of Lexington, Kentucky. Lexington, Ky. Transylvania Printing and Publishing Company. 1879. [8vo. pp. 11.]

....

The address was delivered in Morrison Chapel, Lexington, April 2, 1879, just one hundred years after the first permanent settlement was made. Some of the settlers had camped upon the spot four years previous, June 5, 1775. This was a few weeks after the battle of Lexington was fought, and "in honor of that glorious field," they gave it its present name. Here," says the author, "in the heart of a Virginia wilderness, and by Kentucky pioneers, was erected the first monument ever raised on this continent to the first dead of the American Revolution."

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Mr. Ranck is the secretary of the Kentucky Historical Society and the author of the History of Lexington, published in 1872. He has also edited the poems of Theodore O'Hara, author of "The Bivouac of the Dead." The address is able and eloquent.

J. W. D.

An Account of the Early Land-Grants of Groton, Massachusetts. By SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D. Groton: 1879. [8vo. pp. 58.]

This is another valuable addition to the materials for the history of Groton, which Dr. Green has given to the public. He had before furnished us with the epitaphs and the early records of Groton, and he now prints a verbatim copy of the landgrants of the seventeenth century recorded in the town books. Like the records before noticed (ante, xxxiii. 454), the original from which the land-grants are copied is in a very dilapidated condition, much worn and very hard to decipher.

J. W. D.

Reminiscences of James C. Ayer and the Town of Ayer. Undertake what you can accomplish, and accomplish what you undertake."-James C. Ayer. By CHARLES COWLEY, Author of Leaves from a Lawyer's Life Afloat and Ashore," "History of Lowell,' Famous Divorces of all Ages," etc. Printed by the Penhallow Printing Company, No. 12 Middle Street, Lowell, Mass. [1879. 8vo. pp. 156. Price $1.25 in cloth, or $1 in paper. For sale by the printers, Lowell, and by Lee & Shepard and B. B. Russell, Boston, Mass.]

The substance of these reminiscences was "read by the author at the tenth annual meeting of the Old Residents' Historical Association,' held in Lowell, May 8, 1879," and repeated to the public at the request of prominent citizens, Wednesday evening, July 9, 1879, in Huntington Hall, Lowell. They were so well received that the author has been encouraged to add to and print them. Such works have great value as contributions to local and personal history.

James Cook Ayer, the subject of this work, was born in that part of Groton, Ct., now Ledyard, May 5, 1818, and died in Winchendon, Mass., July 3, 1878, aged 60, having by a successful business career, in which he showed enterprise and sagacity, accumulated a fortune. Ilis medicines have made his name familiar throughout the country.

TheReminiscences of the Town of Ayer, "-which town was named in honor of James C. Ayer, and received liberal donations from him,-are, like the rest of the volume, interesting and valuable.

J. W. D.

The American Antiquarian. A Quarterly Journal devoted to Early American History, Ethnology and Archæology. Edited by Rev. STEPHEN D. PEET, Clinton, Wisconsin. Published by Jackson & Morse, Chicago, Ill. 1879. [8vo. Published quarterly. Price $3 a year.]

A Comparison between the Archeology of Europe and America. By Rev. STEPHEN D. PEET. Read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at the Session held at Buffalo, August 22, 1876. Reprinted from the American Antiquarian for April, 1879. [Chicago: 1879. 8vo. pp. 14.}

The first number of the American Antiquarian was issued in April, 1878, and was noticed in the REGISTER for that year. The number for July, August and September, 1879, being the commencement of the second volume, is now before us, increased in size to 88 pages, and filled with valuable matter upon the special subjects to which the periodical is devoted. We are glad to have so good evidence that the work is meeting with success.

The Rev. Mr. Peet's comparison of Archæology in Europe and Amercia is an able paper on an important subject.

J. W. D.

Indian Massacre at Fox Point, in Newington. By CHARLES W. TUTTLE. [1879. 8vo. pp. 6. 25 copies reprinted from the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society for June, 1879.]

Fox Point, in Newington, N. H., was part of Dover, when this alleged massacre took place, May 28, 1690. Mr. Tuttle,-versed in New Hampshire history, touching which his keen and thorough research is fast accumulating most valuable results, became suspicious that there was no such massacre. Patient examination found that the story originally appeared in a loose statement by Cotton Mather, probably based on a hasty letter from William Vaughan, which letter was written on a story brought into Portsmouth by a frightened fugitive. The letter had no confirmation. Not a family on the ground has a tradition of the loss of an ancestor at that time. No local, probate, or other record shows the disappearance of citizens. The extant diaries, military or otherwise, do not allude to it. And, most of all, Rev. John Pike, in whose own parish this territory lay, and who kept a minute diary of weather, events, accidents, deaths, Indian troubles and the like,-and who was at that very date only four miles distant,-makes not the slightest allusion to any such affair. It is hard to give up our pet massacres; but we give up this one, , and place it with George Washington's little hatchet and the Wheelwright Deed. A. HI. QUINT. History of Ancient Woodbury, Connecticut, from the first Indian Deed in 1659 to 1879, including the present towns of Washington, Southbury, Bethlehem, Roxbury, and a part of Orford and Middlebury, containing the genealogical statistics of the same, and of ancient Stratford from 1639 to 1728. By WILLIAM COTHREN. Vol. III. Woodbury, Conn.: Published by William Cothren. 1879. [8vo. pp. 707.] The first volume of this history was published in 1854, and was noticed in the April number of the REGISTER of that year. The second volume was published in 1872, and noticed in the REGISTER for October of that year. The third volume, just from the press, is given up almost wholly to the genealogical statistics of this ancient town; it contains the births, marriages and deaths of Woodbury from 1679 to 1879, the baptisms from 1670 to 1813; the births, marriages and deaths of Washington from 1742 to 1878; the births, marriages and deaths of Southbury from 1731 to 1879; the births of Bethlehem from 1841 to 1879, the marriages and deaths from 1740 to 1878; the births of Roxbury from 1852 to 1879, the marriages and deaths from 1744 to 1879; a list of the public officials of the town, members of Congress, judges, senators, &c. As the first settlers of Woodbury came principally from Stratford, Conn., the author has inserted all the recorded births, marriages and deaths on the Stratford records from its settlement in 1639 to 1728. This latter feature adds very much to the value of the work from a genealogical point of view. Mr. Cothren states that since he issued his two former volumes, he has been overwhelmed by a multitude of letters, increasing in number with the passing years, making inquiries after genealogical information not contained in those volumes. On account of the pressure of these inquiries upon the compiler having become so great, he was in some sense compelled to publish this volume as a personal relief from the labor of continual searches of the records to answer the questions of correspondents." Now he can reply to his correspondents," Behold! I have written it all in a book; purchase and search for yourselves."

We regard this last volume of the author as a monument of patient industry, and the preparation of it must have involved a large amount of time and labor in copying so many names and dates, and it must be of great value to those who are engaged in historical and genealogical researches. As materials for the history of Connecticut families these pages are of great value, and whoever has occasion to examine them will feel grateful that they have been made accessible in a printed form. As the book is to be used principally as one of reference, we regard it as a public misfortune that there could not have been found in this large town a person of sufficient leisure to have prepared a good index of names. W. S. ALLEN.

The History of Warner, N. H., for one hundred and forty-four years, from 1735 to 1879. By WALTER HARRIMAN. Concord, N. H.: Printed by the Republican Press. 1879. [8vo. pp. 581.]

The town of Warner is in Merrimack county, some fifteen miles northwest of Concord. It was settled by emigrants from Amesbury, Mass., and was called New Amesbury. Its present name probably was taken in honor of Col. Seth Warner, of Bennington, Vt.

The volume contains 581 pages, divided into 36 chapters, and is adorned with twenty-six illustrations-the frontispiece bearing an excellent steel plate of the compiler, the others being mainly heliotypes.

In the preface the author says:" I have made this work not a genealogical register, but a history of the town." With much painstaking he has gathered up the records and the traditions and preserved them in this goodly sized volume as a labor of love, and at his own cost. The narrative is easy, plain and concise. The subject demanded no effort at rhetoric, for the town is purely agricultural, the soil granitic, the inhabitants plain farmers. No great event has ever occurred within the town, but it has raised men, and, although the compiler has aimed mainly at preserving the annals, he has also made it a history of individuals-one of much value to the future genealogist.

The concluding chapter is upon the "boundaries of New Hampshire”—an address delivered at Canterbury, N. H., May 3, 1878. It has a legitimate place in the volume, from the fact that the proprietors of the town, in common with other towns west of the Merrimack river, were greatly perplexed by the question of boundary, and dominion between New Hampshire, New York, and the Masonian proprietors.

The volume only lacks an index to make it complete. The thanks of the community are due to Governor Harriman for thus rescuing at his own cost the records of the town from oblivion. C. C. COFFIN.

History of Seymour, Connecticut, with Biographies and Genealogies. By W. C. SHARPE. Record Print: Seymour, Conn. 1879. [8vo. pp. 244, with portraits and illustrations. Price $2.25; by mail, $2.38.]

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The town of Seymour dates its incorporation from the year 1850, having formerly been a part of the old township of Derby, which had previously been reduced from its original limits by the setting off of the town of Oxford in 1741. In 1878 Mr. Sharpe, the editor of the Seymour Record, issued a volume of 148 pages, entitled Seymour and Vicinity;" and he had previously, in 1874, published a little work on the Sharpe Family of England and America, from 1580 to 1870"-showing himself by these works to have been greatly interested in matters pertaining to local history and genealogy. The present volume contains all the contents of the firstmentioned work, with the addition of much genealogical and biographical information. The matter is somewhat miscellaneous and disconnected in arrangement, explained in part from the fact that the articles first appeared in the columns of Mr. Sharpe's paper, some of which appear here in the double-column form in which they were originally printed, although the most of them have been re-set. This somewhat unmethodical arrangement of the subjects treated, and the presence of matters which should have properly found a place in a Directory, give the impression that the title of the volume would have been better as Collections towards a history of the town, rather than the history itself. Still the work is a most creditable one, as the incidents of early and later history, the part taken by its citizens in the Revolution and the civil war, accounts of its manufacturing and other industries, and biographical sketches of prominent personages, are all faithfully given. The genealogical portion comprises fifty-two pages, and there is an exhaustive and thoroughly prepared index of twelve pages.

S. L. B.

The Voice as a Musical Instrument; with Medical Hints as to its Proper Training and Culture. By CHARLES H. STANLEY DAVIS, M.D. Boston: Published by Oliver Ditson & Co. [1879. 12mo. pp. 41.]

This pamphlet treats of a subject in which a large portion of the community feel an interest. The author states in his preface that it is “the result of a somewhat extensive experience with the laryngoscope and the treatment of diseases of the throat, and more especially the hygienic, dietetic and medical management of the singing voice." Much information found here will be useful to singers and to those who have the training of the voices of the young.

J. W. D.

Memorial Services of Commemoration Day, held in Canton, May 30, 1879, under the Auspices of the Revere Encampment, Post 94, Grand Army of the Republic. Boston William Bense, Printer, 35 Congress Street. 1879. [8vo. pp. 22.] The address at the services to which this pamphlet is devoted, was by Samuel B. Noyes, Esq., of Canton. It is printed here in full, and ably reviews the services of the soldiers of Canton in the late civil war, and the patriotic services of American citizens of all nationalities.

J. W. D.