He was very careful in his writings and really brooded over what he wrote. He would never let a book go to his publisher till the last moment, loath to let it leave his hands until he was perfectly satisfied that it was the best that he could do. He once said, in regard to his Continuity of Christian Thought, that, if he did it over again, he would bring out more prominently the work and influence of Clement of Alexandria.

His recognition as a scholar is attested by his receiving the degree of Doctor of Divinity, not only from Kenyon College, in 1878, as already noted, but also from Harvard in 1886 and from Yale in 1901.

It was in 1886 that he was elected a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, in which he took great interest, and of which he remained a member until his death. In 1897 he delivered before the Society an "Address on Philip Melanchthon; on the Occasion of the Four Hundredth Anniversary of his Birth." 1

Dr. Allen had a beautiful voice, clear, musical and expressive; it was a revelation to hear him read, especially the Psalms, the Prophets or the Gospels. Yet he was not an impressive preacher, not striking, nor emotional, nor hortatory, not nervous enough. As a teacher, however, his calm clear utterance and deep insight were most illuminating and inspiring to thought and life. Many a student would go out from a lecture all on fire with the interest of new perceptions and having received an almost startling revelation of the real meaning and far-reaching influence of some event or crisis in history. He taught his students how to think, how to know and assimilate truth. He had a true sympathy with, and thorough understanding of the immature, inexperienced and slow-moving mind of a young student. Sincere, patient, suggestive and inspiring, there was nothing narrow, petty or egotistical about him. Naturally his personal influence was very great. He personified, by his own example, the method of his teaching, clear, logical, rational and impartial. He was tolerant of others' faith, not because uncertain of or indifferent to his own, but because he so thoroughly understood theirs, and could put himself in their place and realize their point of view.

One of his maxims gives a key to much of his own successful

2 Proceedings, XI. 257.

interpretation of history: "Always find an adequate cause and a worthy explanation of every event or institution in history if you would really understand it."

His home life meant a great deal to him and was just the environment needed for the scholar and the teacher. Mrs. Allen was descended from a line of scholars on both her father's and her mother's side, and was always bright, intellectual and interesting, and her husband, her children and her home were always first in her thought and care. Dr. Allen was a quiet, reserved man in his tastes and manner of life, and Mrs. Allen was a sort of means of communication for him with the outside world, and he was well satisfied that it should be so. Their summer life at Boxford, where they had a charming old country house, was ideal. They had been married twenty years when she died, in 1892, an indescribable loss which he felt most keenly. One of his most spiritual and thoughtful courses of lectures entitled Religious Progress, the course of Yale Lectures delivered at New Haven in 1895, was published and dedicated to her memory the same year. The previous summer of 1894 he had spent in Edinburgh, and afterwards another year abroad in 1901-1902.

As the recognition of his ability as a historian grew and extended, he responded to many of the calls made upon him and greatly increased the sphere of his acquaintance and influence.

He inaugurated the Noble Lectures at Harvard in 1898; giving his lecture on "The Message of Christ to the Individual Man" in the course on "The Message of Christ to Mankind." He gave also the Dudleian Lecture at Harvard in 1904, on "The Roman Catholic Church." In addition to his continuous teaching at his own Theological Seminary at Cambridge, he gave regular courses at Radcliffe, at Harvard, and in 1905 at Chicago University. In 1907 he published a shorter Life of Phillips Brooks, in one volume, and, in the same year, Freedom in the Church, a scholarly, frank and clear discussion of modern theological problems, as interpreted in the light of history; a book which was widely circulated and aroused nearly as much interest and criticism as his Continuity of Christian Thought had done over twenty years before.

During the last few years he lived a very lonely life; his sons had gone out into the world, his close friends, Mulford and

Brooks, had passed into the great beyond, and he needed companionship and home. It was a great joy, and the promise of a new happiness, when he found these in Miss Pauline Cory Smith of Boston, whom he had long known and esteemed, to whom he was married in 1907. But his labor was nearly over, and after a short illness, he fell asleep, July 1st, 1908, in the Cambridge which he loved, and in the active service of the School where he had taught for over forty years.

Few men of this age have influenced more profoundly than he has done the thinking men of the religious world, not merely by his instructions to the students of an important theological school and in the largest universities of the country, but through his students, his lectures, his writings, his friendships and his life. He was a true prophet of the living God, and he did his part to help on the coming of the Kingdom of which he was a loyal subject, and whose principles, as revealed in history, he so well understood and so faithfully interpreted.1

1 A tender and appreciative tribute to Dr. Allen, his character and scholarship, was given in a sermon by his colleague, Professor Nash, at a Memorial Service held November 23, 1908, which was published by the School, together with the Service used on the occasion, prepared by the Rev. John W. Suter of the class of 1885.

A complete biographical memoir by the Rev. Dr. Charles L. Slattery, Rector of Grace Church, New York, will be published early in 1911.

THE

FEBRUARY MEETING

HE stated meeting was held on Thursday, the 9th instant, at three o'clock, P. M.; the first Vice-President, in the absence of the President, in the chair.

The record of the last meeting was read and approved; and the Librarian read the list of donors to the Library during the last month.

The Corresponding Secretary reported that letters accepting their election had been received from Henry Herbert Edes, as a Resident Member, and from Samuel Verplanck Hoffman, as a Corresponding Member.

The Cabinet-Keeper reported the gift, by Mrs. Francis B. Davis, of Plymouth, of three silver badges of Harvard College clubs, the Hasty Pudding Club, the Porcellian Club, and the M[onks] O[f] F[lagon], which were the property of the late William Nye Davis, of the Class of 1851, grandson of John Davis, a former president of this Society.

Dr. DE NORMANDIE submitted a memoir of Edward J. Young; Professor HAYNES, one of E. Winchester Donald; and the Editor, for Franklin B. Dexter, a Corresponding Member, one of Morton Dexter.

The EDITOR announced a gift from the PRESIDENT of ten interleaved almanacs, 1728-1778, belonging to Rev. William Smith, of Weymouth, and one, 1765, belonging to Dr. Cotton Tufts. These almanacs are in continuation of the twelve issues given by Mr. Adams to the Society in March, 1909, and printed in June of that year. The series thus comprises twenty almanacs of Rev. Mr. Smith and three of Dr. Cotton Tufts. The years covered in this second gift of the Smith almanacs are, 1728, 1759, 1761, 1762, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1771, 1777 and 1778. Also a gift of manuscripts by Mr. Henry Howell Williams Sigourney, of Milton. They relate to claims for damages to the property of Henry Howell Williams on Noddle's Island by

1 Proceedings, XLII. 171, 444.

the Provincial troops in May, 1775, and contain papers signed by Generals Ward and Putnam, Colonel Burbeck, William Tudor, Moses Gill and others.

Mr. CHANNING read the following paper:

COMMERCE DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH.

From a strictly military point of view the futility of the Revolution is easily apparent. On either side there were brilliant feats of arms, as the surprise at Trenton, the assault on Stony Point, and the concentration of the allied forces at Yorktown; some of Greene's operations in the South also are deserving of military remembrance. On the British side Sir William Howe's flank march in the Long Island campaign was planned and executed in a manner entirely worthy of him who seventeen years before had led the advance up the cliffs of the St. Lawrence to the capture of the guard at the head of the path that led from Wolfe's Cove toward the Plains of Abraham. The conception of the campaign against Philadelphia was bold in design and the operations at Brandywine were broadly conceived and well carried out. Ordinarily the Revolutionary War was conducted with torpor by both parties to it. Washington is occupied in writing letters to Congress, striving to gain soldiers, equipment and food. Every winter sees his army reduced to the dimensions of a bodyguard and held immovable in camp by its necessities. On the British side Howe is constantly delayed by the lack of troops or of essential supplies. The lack of effective transport facilities reduces both commanders to immobility. Washington's soldiers starve in the midst of plenty because there are not enough wagons to transport food to them. Before the war transport from one colony to another, and, indeed, from one part of one colony to another part of it, was almost entirely by water. It took time to provide wheeled vehicles, and draft animals were not plentiful. A comparative study of prices shows how inadequate were the means of distribution, even to the civil population within a radius of forty or fifty miles, and the requirements of thousands of men suddenly assembled in one region were beyond the power of the people to supply. As to the British, the case was even more complicated, for their soldiers had first of all to be