visiting stranger, and his letters of introduction were letters of credit current at sterling rates in the marts of learning. As an historian he was exact, sincere, and impartial, free from passion, unbiassed by interest, and ever faithful to the truth. His mind was a capacious reservoir upon which many drew without stint, but so redundant was the everflowing fountain of his knowledge that none could perceive the extent of their drafts. He aided the investigations of a Bancroft or a college undergraduate with equal affability. Both men and women turned to him with instinctive confidence, and old and young alike rejoiced in his companionship. He was so punctual in his attendance upon every function of this Society that his absence to-night is sad evidence of his death, but to the eye of faith his spirit is in our midst.

The request of the Council has imposed on me the mournful duty of preparing an address commemorative of his life and services as our librarian. It is with a heavy heart and a trembling hand that I attempt the task, for I knew him well, and loved him as deeply and as truly as one man can ever love another. Sir Philip Sidney once said, "A friend should be one in whose understanding and virtue we can equally confide, and whose opinion we can value at once for its justness and its sincerity." Dr. Stone filled the measure of these words and more. His purity, his unselfishness, his heartiness, his gentleness, and his manliness gave such an inward grace to the soul that it was an inspiration to be close to him. Nothing is more common than to talk of a friend; nothing more difficult than to find one; nothing more rare than to receive day by day the ripest fruits of trust, security, and mutual joys.

Frederick Dawson Stone was born in the city of Philadelphia on the 8th of April, 1841. The family of Stone, or

Stones, as it was always written in England, belonged to an old Cheshire stock, and occupied the manor of Hereford. His grandfather, Charles Stones, who married Margaret Steele, a daughter of George Steele, of Taed Hall, near Barthomley Church, in Cheshire, resided in Liverpool, but in the year 1795 emigrated with his family to America, and arrived in Philadelphia after a voyage of sixty days. He died of yellow fever on the 10th of August, 1798, and was buried in the present Logan Square, then the yellow fever burying-ground. He had four daughters and two sons, of whom John Stone, born on the 3d of October, 1786, was the father of our friend. John Stone was twice married: his first wife was Elizabeth Newton, by whom he had six children; his second wife was Mary McMahon, the widow of Lieutenant Thomas McMahon, and daughter of Robert Whittle and Ann Whetstone, of Germantown. Of this second marriage Frederick D. Stone was the youngest child.

John Stone was a well-known and prosperous merchant, the founder of the wholesale millinery house of John Stone & Sons, which existed until 1876. Among his intimate friends was Bridport, the engraver, from whose conversation and instruction young Stone derived much of that taste for portraits and engravings which was a ruling passion of his life. The fondness of the boy for books, and especially for those relating to the history of Philadelphia, was early manifested. At the age of ten years, having read his elder brother's copy of Watson's "Annals," he requested a copy for himself as a Christmas present, and, having received it, cast toys and games aside until he had committed almost every page to memory, and had walked in imagination the streets of old Philadelphia. His entire education was received in the Union Academy, at the corner of Eleventh and

Market Streets, and later at No. 5 South Fifteenth Street, conducted by Thomas D. James, as principal, and described in the circular, which has survived the waste of boyish days, as "a School of Thorough Instructions, Pure Associations, and Kindly Affections." After being well drilled in all the elements of education, he entered upon the extended courses of the upper classes, including all the branches usually taught in the most approved high schools, and all the classical authors usually read in preparation for the University, while at the same time the elementary and English branches were never laid aside. Lectures on Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and Natural Science were regularly delivered, while much attention was given to composition and ready delivery, and opportunities were given for declamation before enlightened audiences." French and German were also added, though in these our pupil attained no lasting proficiency.

Among his school-fellows was the late William John Potts, whose biographer he was destined to be. During his school-boy days he wrote verses, but none of his effusions have been preserved. In speaking in later days of the poetical talents of a friend, he admits, "We all did it; we could not help it. It was in the air, and we took it as we did the measles." At the age of sixteen, during the summer of 1857, he became the president of the Ephrata Dramatic Association, organized by himself and Howard Roberts, the sculptor, Samuel C. Konigmacher, William Prichett Cresson, the artist, and others. They adopted a formal set of rules, one of which was that "each officer has his one and only duty to perform, and no interference allowed." It is noteworthy that fines were imposed on officers and actors for absence, and that young Stone was the only one who escaped fining. Unfortunately, no record was

kept of their performances. No doubt they were entertaining to themselves and to their parents, but Mr. Stone, so far as is known, never displayed histrionic talents.

On the 8th of February, 1859, he lost his father, and leaving school on the 30th of March, he sailed from New York on the steamship "Asia," bound for Liverpool, where he arrived on the 10th of April, and remained abroad until the following January, the only experience which he enjoyed of foreign travel. The voyage was without incident, and the time passed slowly. He met no one of his own age except one C. H., "whom I voted a stick. I spent most of the time reading or looking at the gentlemen play shuffleboard and cards. On fine nights I used to go on deck, and on a bright, starlight night it was a beautiful sight. One most splendid night we passed a large sailing packet under full sail, and went so close that we could see the lights in the cabin and the people on her decks with the greatest ease. On stormy days I used to sit in the cabin reading, but on fine ones my favorite place was to lie in the sun just back of the pilot-house, or at the stern of the ship."

The fragment of a journal from which I have quoted unfortunately terminates with the outward voyage; but I have heard from Dr. Stone's own lips an interesting account of his journey. Two scenes dwelt in his memory,—the departure from Vienna of the Austrian army just prior to the battle of Magenta, and the triumphant return of Louis Napoleon to Paris after the peace of Villafranca, and the presence of the little Prince Imperial, then three years old, at the head of the French army. He visited the great silk, velvet, lace, and millinery establishments of Paris, Brussels, Antwerp, and Berlin with his elder brother Henry, then purchasing agent of the Philadelphia house; but although

he thus acquired a knowledge of stuffs and fabrics, yet to him it was at best a sorry occupation. He sighed for his books, his pictures, and his day-dreams, while talking of artificial flowers and ribbons. I have heard him express in strong terms his disapproval of any effort to compel a boy to follow a calling against his natural bent, even though the inclination was not in the direction of profit or emolument.

At no time was he a mere bookworm. He took a wholesome delight in athletic sports and the charm of woods and fields. He revelled in the life of Stock-Grange, a large estate of six hundred acres in Chester County, Pennsylvania, purchased in 1805 by his great-uncle, John D. Steele, from the heirs of General Richard Humpton, an interesting spot, planted with trees and shrubs brought from the old home in England. A jog-trot on a plough-horse with jingling chains, a moonlight ride in a hay wagon, a swim in the milldam, gigging for eels or fishing for bass in the Brandywine, the undulating motion of cradling wheat in the thirty-acre lot, whittling whistles, flying kites, or a romping game in the backyard of the fine old house in Pine Street,-these the sports of his boyhood and early manhood I have heard him dwell upon with as much delight at fifty as though he were a youth of fifteen. He never lost this love of nature. I have climbed the hills and explored the forests of Southwestern New Hampshire in his company, and his talk was as stimulating as the mountain air and as unsullied as the streams which sparkled beside us.

On his return from Europe, in the early part of 1860, he entered the business house established by his father, and remained in it until the retirement of his brothers, in 1876, although he was at no time a member of the firm. At the breaking out of the Civil War he joined a military com