Book Notices.

[July,

dent in the county of Cork. He was one of the six members for Ireland returned to the first Commonwealth Parliament in 1653, called the Little Parliament. He was elected by the people of Kinsale, and represented a large district in Munster. He also sat as one of the twenty-nine members for Ireland in the Parliament of 1654.

"Living among the Irish, he had as usual learned to love them. He had appreciated that hearty, affectionately loyal race of men, who seem to be fresh from nature's hand, and to belong to an earlier and uncorrupted world. His land hunger had been appeased. He was possessed of considerable estates. of a country that had escaped the feudal yoke." He had tasted the free gaiety

The passage and events of two centuries have not mended matters; for instance, Mr. Prendergast quotes the "Times" of May 10th, 1859, that "six hundred years ago we found the native Irish murdering and pillaging, burning towns *

we

wish of course the animal could be tamed and kept at home; but it is no use wishing when a whole race has an innate taste for conspiracy and murder," to which he replies that" the Irish, to use the words of an old divine, have ever lacked gall to supply a wholesome animosity to the eternal enemies and revilers of their name and nation." What encouragement does the Past offer to the Future of Ireland? We extract one or two pages relating to New England, which may account for the disappearance of some families whose names are not on our records of mortality. "One of the earliest efforts of the government towards replanting the parts reserved to themselves was, to turn towards the lately expatriated English in America. In the early part of the year 1651, when the country, by their own description to the Council of the State, was a scene of unparalleled waste and ruin, the Commissioners for Ireland affectionately urged Mr. Harrison, then a Minister of the Gospel in New England, to come over to Ireland, which he would find experimentally was a comfortable seed plot (so they said) for his labors. On his return to New England, it was hoped he might encourage those whose hearts the Lord should stir up to look back again towards their native country, to return and plant in Ireland. There they should have freedom of worship, and the (mundane) advantages of convenient lands, fit for husbandry, in healthful air, near to maritime towns or secure places, with such encouragement from the state as should demonstrate that it was their chief care to plant Ireland with a godly seed and generation. come; but some movement appears to have been made towards a plantation from Mr. Harrison was unable to America, as proposals were received in January, 1655, for the planting of the town of Sligo and lands thereabouts, with families from New England; and lands on the mile line, together with the two little islands called Oyster Island and Congy Island (containing about 200 acres), were leased for one year from the 10th of April, 1655, for the use of such English families as should come from New England in America, in order to their transplantation."

Interesting particulars of the Protector's schemes for colonizing from New England, in which Daniel Gookin of Massachusetts, nephew of Sir Vincent Gookin, was a principal actor, may be found in the Register for 1847.

"In 1656, several families arriving from New England at Limerick, had the excise of tobacco brought with them for the use of themselves and families remitted; and other families in May and July of that year, who had come over from New England to plant, were received as tenants of state lands near Garristown, in the county of Dublin, about fifteen miles north of the capital.* And who knows but the time may yet come for the government of England to turn to the lately expatriated nation of Irish, which peoples the northern, southern and western States of America, and the more distant territories of Australia, and invite them to look back again towards their native country,' by changing the policy of near seven hundred years, and framing laws to promote the acquisition of Irish lands, not by English capitalists, but by the sons of Ireland?

"Were

Were some court to be again erected for the sale of lands in Ireland, offering as many millions of acres as were set up by the late Encumbered Estates Court, and were due security given to the Irish, the Irish would probably be seen hastening in fleets over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, armed with American and Australian gold, to purchase back the land of their fathers. For there be many who (like Doe

* Order on the petition of John Stone to become tenant for the state for 40 or 50 acres at Garristown, he being desirous to settle himself with the families that came over from New England to plant in this country, 5th May, 1656.

Order to let to John Barker (late come from New England, and now desirous to plant here) 30 acres of the lands of Garristown, for the term of one year, paying only contribution for the same, in case they find the said Barker is willing to inhabit the same, and not to assign it to another. Council Chamber, Dublin, 3014 July, 1656.

1867.]

Book Notices.

tor Petty) had rather live on their ancient patrimonies near home, enjoy their old tried friends, and breathe their native air, than to cross oceans and pass to new climates, and have a partnership in the rich mines of Potosi."

Such a happy turn of the tide is not indicated by the statistics of emigration, nor rendered probable by the Fenian farce.

J. W. T.

History of the Town of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusells, from its first Settlement. By BENJAMIN HOBART, A.M. Boston: T. H. Carter and Son. 1866.

We learn from the Preface to this work that in 1859 its author wrote, by request of the editor, a series of historical letters to the Abington Standard. By the solicitation of his friends, and the general interest felt by his fellow citizens, the author was induced to undertake their publication in a more permanent form, with such additions as suggested themselves, the result being, in the volume before us, a valuable addition to the local Histories with which this section of Massachusetts has been peculiarly favored.

Beginning with a description of the natural features of the town, and an account of the changes in its population since 1726, Mr. Hobart gives us two interesting chapters on the public schools, and an essay upon the condition of Agriculture in the past and present. The two chapters devoted to the schools of the town contain a novel and important feature-a list of the names and ages of all the scholars, being in number upwards of two thousand.

In ecclesiastical history this volume is remarkably complete, seventy-five pages being filled with the history of the different religious societies. The History proper concludes with several biographical sketches, and a brief account of the part taken by Abington in the late civil war, and is followed by an Appendix of 110 pages, devoted to the genealogies of the principal families.

Upon this part of the book the author has evidently bestowed much labor-so much, indeed, that we are reluctant to notice any of its imperfections. Its execution is very uneven, some families being assigned many pages of valuable statistics, while to others is given scarcely a passing notice, and many of the resident families are entirely omitted. We regret that the author has not given us, what should form the largest part of every town history, as it certainly is the most important, a full record of every family which has ever made the town a place of permanent residence. Most of the genealogies in this book are mere outlines, or if more particular, are confined to a single branch of a family.

The general appearance of the book is excellent. Beautifully illustrated with 27 full page pictures by Kilburn, and handsomely printed by the University Press, it indicates good taste on the part of the publishers, and generous enterprise on the part of the author. It would be unjust, in conclusion, not to state that we learn from the legend beneath a very good portrait on steel which forms the frontispiece of the book, that Mr. Hobart has now reached the age of eighty-four, a fact which will readily excuse the few imperfections which appear in his work, and render doubly creditable its many excellent features.

.C.

The Autobiography of Levi Hutchins: with a Preface, Notes, and Ad"As sweats are good for a man's denda. BY HIS YOUNGEST SON. body, if a man comes well out of them, so afflictions are good for the soul, if a man comes well out of them."-John Mason. [Private edition.] Cambridge: Printed at the Riverside Press. MDCCCLXV.

Levi Hutchins, the subject of this memoir, was, as we learn from the preface, the son of Gordon and Dolly (Stone) Hutchins, of Harvard, Mass.; grandson of William and Bethia (Carleton) Hutchins, of Bradford, Mass., and great-grandson of John and Elizabeth Hutchins, of Bradford.

Interesting as it would be to follow him through the various stages of student at Andover, apprentice to Simon Willard, clock-maker in Concord, N.H. and farmer, it is the genealogies in this book which chiefly attract our attention.

In the preface, Mr. Hutchins gives us a mass of genealogical information relating to the name of Hutchins, compiled from Savage and other authorities, while nearly every marriage which is mentioned in the book, furnishes the text for a note filled with original and valuable statistics. Indeed, this book might properly be called a

Genealogy of the Descendants of Gordon Hutchins, for either in the text or in the notes we find complete records, not only of his lineal descendants, but also of many kindred families. Among the families of whom we find particular mention, are those of Ladd, Hannaford, Cooledge and Lund.

A passable portrait of Mr. Hutchins serves as frontispiece to the book, which contains also several neatly executed autographs. A note with which the book concludes should by no means be omitted here. After reading it, we regard with renewed pleasure the pages which record the industrious God-fearing life of the father, edited with conscientious fidelity by the son. It runs as follows:-"The setting of the types, and the press-work, or printing of this book, were performed by its author, principally evenings, after doing his regular day's work of ten hours."

The small edition of this book is now nearly exhausted. The remaining copies can be obtained of the author, Mr. Samuel Hutchins, Riverside, Cambridge, Mass.

C.

An Oration, delivered at Bolton, Mass., December 20, 1866, at the Dedication of the Tablets, erected in the Town Hall, to commemorate the Deceased Volunteers of the Town in the War of the Great Rebellion. By Dr. GEORGE B. LORING, of Salem. Together with an Appendix containing the other Exercises of the occasion. Clinton: 1867. 8vo. pp. 43.

The Address by Dr. Loring is a vigorous, scholarly, patriotic production, highly appropriate to the occasion; simply and pathetically expressed. The opening address by the President of the evening, S. H. Howe, Esq., is brief and to the point. The reading of the biographical notices of the deceased soldiers of Bolton, by Richard S. Edes, a former pastor and now the worthy Town Clerk of Bolton, one of whose sons died at Chattanooga, in the service, must have drawn tears from many eyes. Their names are recorded on the marble tablets of the town, most fittingly and well, but their memories are more deeply engraven on the fleshly tablets of mourning and bereaved hearts. The twenty-one thus recorded are as follows:-Charles E. Fry, George B. Cook, Thomas Whitman, Thomas Hastings, Albert Clay Houghton, Geo. Herbert Stone, John B. Stanley, Ezra Crocker, Charles Gilbert Wheeler, Josiah Houghton, Franklin Farnsworth, Elijah H. Woodbury, Rolla Nicholas, George W. Pratt, Edward Louis Edes, Edwin Kilburn Holt, Abel James Collins, Geo. Corser, Edwin Barnes, Stephen H. Hunting, Thornton Hayden. The notices by Mr. Edes appear in the pamphlet, as also an ode by Mrs. Mary D. Whitney, of Boston, and a poem by Amos W. Collins, father of the above named Abel James Collins, who died at Andersonville, Nov. 5th, 1864.

The published proceedings at similar commemorations in our Commonwealth and throughout our country, are well worthy of general preservation.

History of Easthampton, its settlement and growth, its material, educa tional and religious interests; together with a Genealogical Record of its original Families. By PAYSON W. LYMAN. By PAYSON W. LYMAN. Northampton: Trum1866. 12mo. pp. 192. Appendix, pp. 2.

bull & Gerr.

1866.

We have read this brief, but well written history of one of our most beautiful and romantic rural towns, with peculiar pleasure, and sincerely congratulate the young author on his success in setting the deeds of the former generations forth in such distinct relief, and animating dull historic fact with such appropriate coloring, shape and form. Though dates are freely given, we should have been pleased to have seen more reference to authorities, and still more copious extracts from the archives of the town; an index, too, of names and places would have added materially to the value of the work. The omission of Massachusetts on the title page was doubtless an oversight and may be rectified in the next edition, but

"Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see,

Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be."

With these few drawbacks, the history is an honor to the writer and the town; and we trust that, remunerated as he deserves to be for this effort, he will continue in the history of some other place, to rescue the evanescent memorials of the past from oblivion, and thus bring the example of the good and great of other days to bear upon the destiny of the present and the coming generations.

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