PREFACE.

    This volume contains the Transactions of the Society, in continuation of Volume VI., at fourteen meetings, and a portion of the record of three meetings of the Council, — from April, 1900, to April, 1902, both inclusive. Two of these meetings were Memorial meetings, — one for President Wheelwright, the other for Vice-President Thayer. There will also be found in the following pages tributes to Governor Wolcott, Professor Everett, and Henry Williams; and Memoirs of Edward Griffin Porter, by Samuel Swett Green; of Robert Noxon Toppan, by Andrew Mcfarland Davis; and of Charles Carroll Everett, by Ephraim Emerton, each accompanied by a portrait.

    Among the more important communications are those on Captain Thomas Preston and the Boston Massacre, including documents and details little known to historians, on the term Brother Jonathan, and on the term Indian Summer, by Mr. Matthews; two unpublished Diaries and correspondence of Washington, by Mr. Ford; four unpublished letters of Governor John Winthrop the elder, and an unpublished letter and Report on the condition of the Massachusetts Colony about 1639 by the Reverend Edmund Browne, by Mr. Gay; on an excursion on the Middlesex Canal by Daniel Webster and others in the summer of 1817, and on Professor John Winthrop, the first recipient from Harvard College of the degree of Doctor of Laws, by Mr. Edes; a sketch of Edward Rawson, by our late associate, Mr. Toppan; a Journal kept by Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Vose on the expedition against Canada in 1776, by Mr. Henry, W. Cunningham; and extracts from the Journal and papers of Governor Henry Hamilton, by Mr. Lane.

    The most important communication, however, is Mr. Gay’s letter of 6 March, 1902, in which he generously offered to bear the cost of transcribing the early Records of Harvard College and of printing so much as will make one volume of our Collections.

    For the portrait of Montcalm, which is now engraved for the first time from the fine original, the Society is indebted to its owner, Mr. Slade. The plate of Professor Winthrop was given by Mr. Edes; and the Plan which accompanies the Vose Journal was furnished by Mr. Cunningham. The Society is also indebted to Mr. Henry Parkman for permission to engrave Stuart’s portrait of Mr. Webster, painted immediately after the latter’s removal from Portsmouth to Boston in 1816, which Jonathan Mason pronounced “the most intellectual head of Webster ever painted.” Most of the plates which illustrate this book have been engraved expressly for it by Mr. Elson.

    In the issue of the previous Volumes of our Publications, and of the Serials, there has been a delay much to be regretted, but under the circumstances unavoidable. All the editing was necessarily done by members of the Committee of Publication, and mainly by a single member, — busy men, in the midst of their other engrossing occupations. A more hampering difficulty still was our limited Publication Funds, which made prompt and frequent issue impossible. It is safe to say, however, that the high character of our Publications has been maintained, not only without impairment but rather with steady advancement.

    Through the generosity of members and friends our Publication Funds have recently been so far increased as to justify the employment of a salaried Editor, who has been appointed within the year, and thereby to insure the prompt distribution of our Volumes and Serials hereafter, and the maintenance of our former standard.

    Volumes II. and IV., which are to contain Collections, are in preparation; and it is expected that Volume VIII., which will contain the Transactions in continuation of the present volume, will be issued shortly.

    For the Committee of Publication,

    John Noble,

    Chairman.

    Boston, August, 1905.