NOTE.

The Fourth Volume of the New Series of Proceedings of the Ameri-

can Antiquarian Society, herewith presented, includes the proceedings

of four regular meetings, from October, 1885, to April, 1887, inclu-

sive. The stated meetings of the Council, held during the same time,

have fortunately been occupied only with routine matters and with

shaping the business of the meetings of the Society. The reports of the

Council contain, in addition to memorial notices of deceased members,

essays by the gentlemen charged with their preparation, upon subjects

of general interest. The Rev. Dr. Peabody treats, in his charming

manner, of the Fallacies of History. Mr. Samuel S. Green shows that

both Pilgrims and Puritans supported their ministers by voluntary

contributions; and this, too, largely from principle rather than from
convenience merely. Dr. Charles Deane refutes some broad charges
which have at various times been brought against Massachusetts in
the matter of the slave-trade. And in a discussion of the Great
Charitable Trusts of Great Britain, Mr. Charles A. Chase brings out
some facts about the origin as well as the financial condition of the
universities, the great schools, the hospitals and certain other trusts.
In the autumn of 1885 "Lechford's Note-book" was published as
Vol. VII. of the "Transactions." The history of this work, and the
manner in which it came into the Society's hands, are described by the
Rev. Dr. Hale on page 6, et seq. of the current volume.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Edward H. Thompson (U. S. Consul

at Merida, Yucatan), J. Evarts Greene, and Prof. Franklin B. Dexter

furnish elaborate papers, and Prof. Frederick W. Putnam and Andrew

McF. Davis make interesting communications. At the April, 1887,

meeting, President Hoar laid before the Society three manuscript let-

ters of Earl Percy, and read from Watterston's Gallery of American

Portraits a discriminating sketch of one of our former Presidents, the

Hon. John Davis.

The reports of the Treasurer, besides setting forth the income of

the invested funds, furnish a list of the investments with their par
and market values, and also the condition of the various funds as
affected by the income and expenditure. The resources of the Society
have been increased by the generous addition, by Stephen Salisbury,
Esq., of the sum of $5,000 to the building fund established and main-
tained by his honored father; and the Rev. Robert C. Waterston,

unable to attend one of the meetings, sent as his substitute the sum
of one hundred dollars "for the addition of any books to any depart-
ment of the library."

The maintenance and enlargement of the Library is the special
work of the Society, and the reports of the Librarian will show the
success which has been attained, through the thoughtfulness of friends
and with the limited means at our command.

The Index has been prepared by the Librarian and Mr. Reuben
Colton, his assistant.

THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION.

Page 140, line 10 from bottom, for 1776 read 1775.

Page 155, line 16 from bottom, for 1776 read 1775.

Page 196, line 10 of note, from bottom, for Niell read Neill.

Page 205, line 27, for Joseph Sewall read Judge Sewall.

Page 210, line 15 of note, for Judge Lowell read Judge Sewall.

Page 256, line 5, for Hurlbert read Herbert.

Page 311, line 13, for Lamson read Lampson.

Page 319, note 1, for Gould read Goold.

Page 349, line 12, for Gookins read Gookin. Same line, for Weld read Welde.

PROCEEDINGS.

ANNUAL MEETING, OCTOBER 21, 1885, AT THE HALL OF THE SOCIETY IN WORCESTER.

THE President, Hon. GEORGE F. HOAR, LL.D., in the chair.

The following members were present (the names being arranged in order of seniority of membership): George E. Ellis, Edward E. Hale, Charles Deane, George F. Hoar, William S. Barton, J. Hammond Trumbull, Andrew P. Peabody, George Chandler, Peter C. Bacon, Nathaniel Paine, Joseph Sargent, Stephen Salisbury, P. Emory Aldrich, Samuel A. Green, Elijah B. Stoddard, George S. Paine, Edward L. Davis, William A. Smith, Francis H. Dewey, James F. Hunnewell, John D. Washburn, Edward H. Hall, Reuben A. Guild, Charles C. Smith, Edmund M. Barton, Thomas L. Nelson, Lucius R. Paige, Charles A.Chase, Samuel S. Green, Justin Winsor, Henry W. Haynes, Edward I. Thomas, Frederick W. Putnam, Solomon Lincoln, Andrew McF. Davis, J. Evarts Greene, Henry S. Nourse, William B. Weeden, Daniel Merriman, Daniel C. Gilman, Reuben Colton, Robert N. Toppan, Henry H. Edes.

The Recording Secretary read the records of the last meeting, which were approved. The same officer communicated the recommendation by the Council of the following named gentlemen for membership in the Society :

Rev. GRINDALL REYNOLDS, A.M., of Concord, Mass.
EDWARD CHANNING, Ph.D., of Cambridge, Mass.

Each of these gentlemen was declared elected, a separate ballot having been taken on each name.

Rev. ANDREW P. PEABODY, D.D., read the report which had been prepared by him and adopted by the Council as a part of their report to the Society.

NATHANIEL PAINE, Esq., Treasurer, and Edmund M. BARTON, Esq., Librarian, read their reports.

All the above reports, as together constituting the Report of the Council, were accepted, and on motion of Prof. HENRY W. HAYNES referred to the Committee of Publication.

Rev. EDWARD E. HALE, D.D., in seconding the motion, said he had in his possession a copy of a letter from Washington, dated either at Valley Forge or Morristown, asking the result of a lottery drawing in Philadelphia, in which he held tickets. Sparks, in his life of Washington, omitted the sentence of the letter which referred to the lottery. Judge P. EMORY ALDRICH said, as to the connection of Washington or of Harvard College with a lottery, that a misapprehension seemed to exist. He said that an act only became a crime, or an offence, when it was prohibited. A lottery may be praiseworthy in a generation which has not reached a point which makes it a nuisance. The difference between a trespass and a crime is that the former is an injury to an individual, while the latter affects the public. When the lottery came to be treated as a crime it was because the manner of the drawing became an injury to the public. Judge ALDRICH said he could not see why any man, with any knowledge of criminal law, should hesitate for a moment to say that Washington or Harvard College, for a good purpose, established a lottery. It was no crime in a time when society had not risen to regard it as a crime. Librarian BARTON said a lottery was once projected by the Society, but was abandoned.

Hon. GEORGE F. HOAR, LL.D., was then elected President by ballot, and accepted the office. He said:

I thank you for this renewed honor. The opinion, expressed last year, that the interest of the Society requires a President who can give to its service more time than I can command has been confirmed by experience. But I will, if it be desired, perform the duties of the office as well as I can for another year. The Society was never more prosperous than to-day. But to maintain its rank among the learned associations of the country it needs some addition to its resources. The library depends almost wholly upon voluntary contribution for its increase. We cannot expect, now that so large a number of libraries are established all over the country, that ours will be so exclusively preferred as a depository for valuable material for history as it has been. It is to be desired that students who come here for special investigations may find in our library the means of making them complete. To this end we need a considerable fund for the purchase of books. The care of the library so enlarged, and the giving necessary aid and advice to persons who consult it will require all the time of our accomplished Librarian. Mr. BARTON'S unfailing courtesy and his great familiarity with the library have already largely increased its value to the public. A public library, nowadays, is not more than one half books to one half librarian.

We ought also to have in our service, if the Librarian and his assistants are engrossed by the care and increase of such collections as we need, some person who shall direct and pursue the original investigations for which, in part, the Society was established, -such a person as Mr. Haven was, such a person as George P. Marsh would have been, if he had lived to come home and pursue his studies in his old age. To a fund for the salary of a Secretary of Publication and Research should be added an increase of our present means for publication. Without something of this sort the Society cannot maintain its old place at the head of American institutions devoted to its special objects. It