grim Society on this interesting occasion, addressed them as follows:

'Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Pilgrim Society.-The celebration of this memorable day, which excites such just and general notice, could not fail to engage the attention of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Their pursuits are in unison with the objects of your association, and they cheerfully accept your invitation to this interesting festival. In behalf of that society, and as chairman of their committee, appointed for this purpose, it is my grateful office to present to you their congratulations, and to express their cordial sympathy in the sentiments of veneration which you so eminently cherish for the founders of our race.

With this manifestation of our fraternal regard, permit me, in their behalf, to request your acceptance of an entire copy of their collections. By these publications, many precious memorials of our ancestors have been rescued from oblivion, and we would wish them to find a place in the library of your institution.

'The annual celebrations of the landing of the fathers on this memorable ground, have been uniformly regarded with complacency. Statesmen, sages, and scholars, the busy and the contemplative, the aged and the young, all delight to participate in the pious recollections with which you are animated.

The toils and perils of suffering virtue-the objects and aims, the struggles and the rewards of the pilgrims, furnish a most instructive lesson, and are reviewed with tender emotions. In them the painter finds a subject for the happiest effort of his pencil-poetry offers her garland, and the sons of genius are emulous of your appointment to the principal performance of the day. This is no common holiday. On the present occasion, the completion of the second century since the landing of our fathers, the impressions habitually connected with your celebrations assume a deeper interest. Visitors from every direction repair to your respected residence, and many of the fair daughters of the land, regardless of the severity of the season, express a kindred spirit with the wives and daughters of the pilgrims, and unite in your reverential homage. Scenes, which are to you familiar, attract the attention of your guests. They gaze on the wintry wave which dashes on your shore, for there they seem to espy the approaching shallops; and on that shore they trace, in imagination, the footsteps of the unsheltered wanderers. They survey the streams, and drink at the springs which invited the weary exiies here to commence their settlement. They ascend the height, where yet are seen the outlines of the first footsteps of the Pilgrims, and their first place

of worship. There rest the remains of the departed worthies. No monument to their memory appears in the hallowed ground; but every heart erects a monument, while it dwells with holy musings on the life and death of the righteous, on the sure resurrection of the just.

It is a happy privilege to live to witness this day, and to unite with kindred minds in its services. To the Pilgrim Society is committed the dignified trust of perpetuating these filial observances. Under such auspices, we are assured that these annual solemnities will ever preserve their just and appropriate character. Most cordially, gentlemen, do we wish prosperity and honor to your institution.

'The purposes of its establishment are generous and elevated. They touch the heart, and open to the intellectual view the most impressive considerations; for truth, freedom, patriotism, social order, religion, all the lofty aims and characteristics of humanity, are associated with the objects of your society, and with the incidents which we are assembled to commemorate. Your recollections will attest that this is no exaggeration, and what we have this day heard affords abundant confirmation of the rich variety which the 'short and simple annals of the poor' can furnish for the exercise of intellectual energy and discriminating observation. We have witnessed the affecting and sublime reflection presented to a devout and benevolent mind, from the brief history of our ancestors; and the auspicious consequences, springing from the most humble beginnings, are consoling to every friend of man, and encouraging to the cause of truth and virtue.

'The stricken deer that left the herd were not destined to perish; the wilderness and the solitary place are glad for them, and the desert blossoms as the rose."

The Rev. Dr. Kendall, one of the trustees of the Pilgrim Society, by their request, and in their behalf, replied with great feeling and propriety. He spoke of the great respectability and utility of the Historical Society, by the instrumentality of which, so much that was important and interesting in the early history of the country, and particularly of the adventures and principles of the pilgrim fathers, was collected and preserved. In referring to the virtues and sufferings, the faith and piety of our fathers, he paid a just tribute to their precious memories; and expressed a hope, that these celebrations, devoted to the recollection of their services in the cause of religion and the rights of conscience, would have the happy effect of strengthening our love of pure and unadulterated christianity, and increasing our attachment to the correct principles, the moral habits,

and social virtues, the civil and religious institutions of the puritan founders of New England, to whose zeal and firmness and perseverance we owe so much.

The Hon. Mr. Lincoln, one of the vice-presidents, of the American Antiquarian Society, also offered congratulations to the members of the Pilgrim Society, and made the following address:

'MR. PRESIDENT,-The American Antiquarian Society, by their attending officers and members, beg to be indulged the pleasure of publicly proffering the most cordial congratulations to the Pilgrim Society, upon their organization, and upon the auspicious circumstances under which they are convened on this highly interesting occasion. The spot endeared by all the associated recollections of the first landing of our forefathers, is best consecrated to their fame, by the joyous commemoration of their valor and virtues, and a grateful recognition of the privations they patiently endured, and of the work they gloriously accomplished. Two centuries have now passed since in the rigor of an inclement season, in the desolation of a wilderness, amidst savages and beasts of prey, the tread of Christians impressed these shores with the first footsteps of civilization. The hazard in corporeal existence which they incurred, the struggle for self-preservation which they maintained, their undaunted energy in danger, their unbending integrity in temptation, their pious resignation in suffering, their fear and worship of God, and their regard for and love of each other, are themes, which on every occasion of remembrance, swell with enthusiastic admiration the hearts of their descendants. Forever cherished be these recollections! Forever honored be the names and characters of the pilgrims! On every recurring anniversary of their landing may this first scene of their trials and their sufferings, their conflicts and their endurance, be hallowed by the personal homage of those who are worthy to inherit the rich fruits of their triumph. May the Pilgrim Society eminently flourish, and with its success may public gratitude be excited towards all those enlightened, munificent and patriotic men whose merits and exertions the occasion has hitherto been had in honor, and who are now associated to make the record of that occasion permanent.'

By the request of the president, Mr. Secretary Bradford, a trustee of the Pilgrim Society addressed the officers and members of the Antiquarian Society, who were present, as a delegation specially appointed, and observed that the honorable notice taken of the Pilgrim Society, and the approbation expressed as to its views and objects, were highly gratifying to the

members of the association; that the generous congratulations, tendered on the occasion, were cordially reciprocated; that the best wishes of the friends of our forefathers attended the American Antiquarian Society for success in their honorable purposes and expressed a hope that the result of their several associations would be a more extensive and efficient sentiment in favor of the civil and religious institutions of our beloved country.

Mr. B's reply was made without opportunity for preparation. The above-mentioned societies had been invited by the Pilgrim Society to attend the celebration.

A splendid ball in the evening closed the festivities of this memorable day. The company was numerous beyond any ever recollected to have been convened in that place.

The hall was decorated with great taste, and the costume of the ladies was at once beautiful and uniform, as if there had been an understanding to avoid mere show and expense, and to study appropriate simplicity united with real elegance; and it was indeed a pleasant scene, where we might look around on a company of six hundred of different ages, among whom innocent mirth, and social feelings were so eminently prevalent. And it is highly satisfactory to reflect that the amusements, such as these, where excess is avoided and the more sober spirit sheds an influence to restrain all improper levity, are not incompatible with a love of genuine virtue and respect for the stern characters of our pious and venerated ancestors.

The inhabitants of this most ancient town in New England were highly gratified by the collection of respectable citizens from all parts of the state; and those who made this pleasant pilgrimage to the rock of our fathers were equally gratified by the attention, civility and hospitality shown them by the families residing on this consecrated spot. The object of the Pilgrim Society was highly approved, and many new members were added on the 22d inst.

Mr. Webster's Oration soon passed through three editions, and the generous spirited author would not appropriate any part of the profits of the copy right to himself, but presented it as a donation to the Pilgrim Society, by which one hundred dollars were added to its funds.

1821.-January 10. Expired in this town, the Hon. Joshua Thomas. He was born in 1751, and was descended from one of the most respectable families in the colony, his ancestor being William Thomas, of Marshfield, who was a particular friend of governor Winslow, and settled near him.

Judge Thomas was the son of Dr. William Thomas, an em

inent physician in this town, who lived to an advanced age. The following sketch of our distinguished townsman is taken from the Collections of the Historical Society, vol. x. 2d series.

'Mr. Thomas received his education at Harvard University, and was considered one of the first scholars in the large class of which he was a member. He was particularly distinguished for a flowing and elegant style of writing, and in subsequent periods of his life he gave repeated evidence of this happy talent. He was graduated in July, 1772. After passing a few months in teaching youth, (an employment in which, formerly, some of the best scholars in the state engaged for a short period, on leaving the university,) he gave his attention to theological studies, with a view to the clerical profession. But he was never employed in its public services. The political controversy with Great Britain, which was now becoming highly interesting and approaching to a crisis, seems to have engaged his chief attention, as it did that of other patriots of that eventful period. He was adjutant of a regiment of newly organized militia, raised in Plymouth county in the autumn of 1774; and, at their request he delivered a public address on the political state of the country, which was received with great approbation and applause.

'In April, 1775, soon after the battle of Lexington, Col. John Thomas, of Kingston, who had been an officer in 1758, raised a regiment, and marched, with others, to Roxbury. Here he acted for some months, as commander of the several regiments encamped at that place, with the rank of General, while Gen. Ward was commander in chief of the Massachusetts troops, until the arrival of General Washington, in July following, who had received a commission to command the American forces of all the colonies. Mr. Thomas was aid to General Thomas at this period, and for this campaign; and his intelligence and activity rendered him highly useful to the General, and the division under his command.

'In the same capacity he accompanied General Thomas, in the spring of 1776, to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, who was entrusted with the chief command of the American troops in that quarter. After a few months service on that expedition, General Thomas died, and the command devolved on General Schuyler, of New York. Major Thomas then left the army and returned to his native town where he engaged in the study of the law, and was occasionally employed by government in various agencies for the public service; but did not again go into the field.

In the year 1781, he was elected a representative from Ply