Qass. Book £jA3 e.«f y z. r ^: '" ' ^i #lir CmniSiirlir^f i»$iir iSTtito. By rifOMAS C. AJ/OA'l BOSTON: JAMES 1{. OSGOOD cS: ("O., 124 THKMONT STHKKT Late Ticknor & Fields, ami Fields, Osgood & Co. 1871. )1M / OLD CAMBRIDGE AND NKW. BY THOMAS C. AMORY Reprinted from the New-Esglasd IIistorical and Qen'eai.ocical Registcd fur July, ISTl. With Additions. BOSTON: JAMES K. OSGOOD & CO., 124 TKEMO.NT STREET. Lnte Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, 0.=good L Co. 1S71. V/t-^O^r '\' Entered, according to act of Congress, in the j-ear 1871, Br Thomas C. Amort, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at \Tashington. g g ttTM maikMv^i^ David Clapp & Son, Printers. PREFACE. This brk-t" .-ketch (»!' :i few amoii!^ the incindniljle anti<|uitlcs of CainbrldLTc was puhlijlied in the July nuinbcr of the New-Eiiijhind Historical and (Jenealoirical lieirister. Fnder the impression that it nitiy possess some interest for a wider cirele than the readers of that Journal, with the consent of the editor it is now issued in a separate form. Some few additional ])arti(.'nlars which have since been col- lected or which it seemed desirable to mention with a view to obtain- ing; more full information with repird to them for future use, have been appended. Circumstances altogether accidental first attracted the attention of the writer to the l)y-^fones of Xew-Enifland. Beinir in some respects favorablv [daced for the study of the sul)Ject, he listened rather to his own taste and inclination than to the sui;i;cstion forced constantly upon his mind that there were other antiquarians in the community far better (|ualitied than himself to do it justice. He is not unmindful of what they liave accouiplished, or many more who have already finished their course. He realizes that their abundant knowledge and superior abilitv have only been restrained by innate modesty and conscien- tious thorouiihness from the field uj>on which he has ventured. Nothing indeed but the profoundest conviction that valuable information with regard to former days is constantly passing out of mind which future generations will be glad to possess and which no one else shows any disposition to preserve, could make him l)old enough to brave the censure of the critical in lending a helj>ing hand to rescue it from oblivion. All are ready to admit that private life, with its varied interests and j)ursuits, is an im|>ortant subject for studv, notof c, forty years after the founder's death. !!Many of the above circumstances connected with Harvard were already known, others due to subse(pient investigation. All told, they fell far short of what it was desirable to be able to tell of one whose bequest indicated so en- lightened a sense of the value of learning, and whose name was destined to be inseparably connected with the college. His parentage, the early incidents of his life, what prompted him to come to America, any other details to fill up the bare outline we possessed of his existence, it was our task to ascertain. Sixteen humlred pounds was in those days an inheritance suinciently consideralile when united with a liberal education to indicate a social position of which some trace shoultl have been left ; and we indnlgi-d the over sanguine ex[)ectation. as it [)roved, that our inquiries would Ix; attended with success. A month earlier, after a pilgrimage at sunset to the tomb of Shakspeare, 1 had read to my companions, in the White Horse ])arlor at StratfordHUi- Avon, Irving's ex(piisite cliapters, and early next morning, from the elevated terrace of Charlcote Park, watched the gambols of the deer, of that very herd from which Shakspeare had shot his Imek. as they trouped with giMci'ful sweep about the large, square, red-brick turreted Elizabethan mansion of the Lucy's. After visiting Warwick and Kenilworth and the many marvels of that historic neighborhood, we reached Oxford in the early ev'ening to revel in its magnilicent walls and towers stecpt tl in the moon- light. .Vgain a month later 1 was to behold jNIelrose and Aldiotsford under the same luminary, and now in its light the venerable forms of the halls and colleges of Cambridge revealed their beaulifid pioportioii>; a-^ we roamed through its streets. It was indei-d u scene to be rememliered. and b OLD CAMBRIDGE A]S[D NEW. as the silver chimes broke in music on the balmy air of the quiet summer night, both my companion and myself were too full of the genius of the spot not to be moved. The ensuing days were devoted to our search. But vacation had emptied the colleges of both students and fellows. Profound stillness reigned supreme about the cloisters and those magnificent quadrangles, which impress Americans the more that our climate with its heavy snows and extreme heat in summer little favors this mode of construction. We visited, in the course of our pilgrimage, the seventeen different colleges, from Peter's of 1284 to Downing's of this nineteenth century, delighted with their nobly proportioned refectories and combination rooms, where the fellows take their wine and walnuts after their repasts in hall, libraries lined with quaint old oaken book-cases and ancient volumes, chapels most of them of moderate di- mensions, a few more magnificent if not equalling King's, with its fretted roof and painted glass. Everj'where the eye ranged from one object of beauty to another, impressed but never sated, every step jiresenting something more beautiful yet for admiration. Pictures and statues of familiar worthies, win- dows richly dight with designs, devotional or symbolical, in exquisite tint and tone, shedding their dim religious light on oaken wainscot and marble floor, delicate carvings in wood by Gibbons, elsewhere to be found but nowhere more airy and fanciful than at Cambridge, specimens of the oldest writings extant, in good preservation, as also manuscripts of Bacon, Milton, JVewton, with the sense that here have moved and worked hosts of famous men whose names are fiimiliar as household words, the very communion of genius, combined to render a visit to their shrine a blessed pilgrimage. Among the great numbers of separate edifices, ecclesiastical and collegiate, filling the place, the number of very venerable structures is not large and is constantly diminishing, giving way to new ranges of buildings or to new stone walls modernizing the old ones. But still there were here and there remains of mediasval architecture in battlements and towers and richly mul- iioned windows, possessed of beauty not alone because strange and ancient, from historic or other associations, but from varied symmetry and combina- tion of delicate elaboration with broad masses and rude material. It is not to be denied that time, with its weather stains, crumbled lines, its moss and lich- ens, its mantling ivy which has a peculiar lustre and luxuriance in the humid atmosphere of England, has a potent spell of its own, but still besides are found at every turn in gatehouses and cloisters, buttress and battlement, marks of that taste which in the days of Plantagenet and Tudor monarchs erected for divine worship, conventual or collegiate uses, edifices never since surpassed in power to please the eye or kindle the imagination. Oxford and Cam-bridge dispute the palm of anf iquity, not on]y as seats of Jearning, both tracing back to the wvy dawn of Christianity on the isLuid, OLD CAMIUJIDGE AM) NEW 9 Itut as to wliicli possesses the oUlest colk-ge. It is well known that before the thirteenth century the students lived in liostels, as. they were called, the n-liij^ious houses receiving a few pupils, class rooms Ibr the most part being hired of the inhabitants. Oxford clainjs University, IJaliol and Merton as earlier than any Cambridge foundation entitled to the name of college, but this pretension is not allowed by her rival, who on her part insists that St. John's Hospital and IMichael House possessed ecpial if not higlu-r claims to priority. I'eter's is generally conceded by Thomas Fuller and George Dyer, the best authorities, as the earliest Cambridge college, and this was founded by Hugh de IJalstan, in 127I-«S|. Little is left of its original buildings. The next in date is Clare, which the Lady Elizabeth de Clare, granddaughter of Edward I., actuated, to use her own language, by a desire for the extension of every branch of learning, that there may no longer remain an excuse for ignorance, and to create a firmer and closer union among mankind l)y the civilizing elfects of indulgence in liberal study, at the re(piest of Ivichard of Badow, in Essex, founded about the middle of the fourteenth century. Its buildings are all modern, but finely situated near King's Chapel, its beautiful gardens extending across the Cam. It would be of course presumption, as ■well as apart from our piirpose, to attempt to describe in these few pages the infinitely varied oiijects of interest that engaged our attention. We did our work thoroughly and well, and not one of the many colleges we visited but presented, in ancient edifices, works of art or literary treasures, something for admiration or to be remembered. Pembroke, the creation of the wife widowed at her nuptials, was the college home of Spencer; Jesus, of Craumer and our John Eliot; King's, designed by the facile and unfortunate Henry \T. for the training of England's statesmen, as Eton to be their cradle, of Walsingham ami AValpole, of our John Cotton, John ^Vinlhrop and Charles Chauney. Ko one who has seen can ever forget the latter's noble chapel, with long- drawn aisle and fretted vault, and light, religious but not dim the day we saw it, streaming through bible stories, transfigured, as it were, in ehastein-d tints and gract'ful form, upon the dozen richly dight and maiiy-muUionetl windows on either side. Nor could we fiil to view with j)leasure the niediaval courts of Queen's, Joint foundatii>u of York aiul Lancaster, of Henry's Margaret and Edward's tpieeu, where Erasnuis passed seven >tuilious vears, and Thomas Fuller learned the cloistere well. We visited, too, the two-fohl gifts of another noble lady. ^Margaret Tudor, who. though herself by right a queen and progenitrix of monarchs bv the score, preferred to a throne a privaf(^ station ; St. John's, with its handsome courts, its towers, and its library buys ;dio\c the C.im, ami Christ's in whose pleasant ^fniJi ns "Miltmi CimI tlif \iv;( il llri's of -ii!,'; \\liiih are to burn on forever. 10 OLD CAMBRIDGE AND NEW. We visited Trinity, with its superb gateway and courts, one of them more spacious than any college's in Europe, flanked by buildings. of many styles and uses, but blending into one harmonious whole — its historic chambers decked with the lineaments of gifted men who garnered there the strength with which to win on other fields the laurels nowhere else more cherished. Here once moved and thought, Bacon, Herbert, Cowley, Dryden, Newton, and hosts of later celebrities, among them Byron, Crabbe, Macaulay, Tennyson, and chief among the treasures of the noble library are manuscripts of some of them religiously jireserved. Neither Bennet nor Maudlin, neither Cats, nor Corjjus, were overlooked in our wanderings, nor Sydney Sussex, planted by. the aunt alike of Sir Philip Sydney and of Robert Dudley, the alma mater of that rough soldiei" and statesman, Cromwell, nor Caius, with its gates of humility and virtue leading to that of honor. An appointment a later day carried us to Emmanuel to consult on the si^ecial object of our mission with the senior fellow in residence, whom we found in gown and slippers at his morning tea, in apartments as attractive as can be conceived for bachelor enjoyment. Three rooms connected, and filled to overflowing with heaps of books and all sorts of comfortable chairs and tables, and other appliances for study or indulgence, commanded through the ojien windows broad sweeps of verdure, flowers of gayest tints, steeped in the sunshine. He told us all he knew, whicli was not much, and put us in the way of seeing what of note his college oflered, from the many graduates among our New-England settlers possessed for us of peculiar interest. I hardly dare repeat the oft-told tale of Fuller, connected with its founder, lest it be too familiar, but it is apposite in showing what direct descent is to be traced of our Cambridge from her English namesake. Sir Walter Mildmay educated himself at Christ's, and then holding a financial office under government visited Queen Elizabeth soon after founding his college, and upon her saying she had heard he had erected a puritan foundation, replied it was far from him to countenance anything contrary to her established laws, but that he had set an acorn which when it became an oak God only knew what would be its fruit. It soon overshadowed all other colleges in learning, for one half their masters, when Fuller wrote, had been its pupils. Certainly the character of our New-England plantations was strongly tinctured and tempered by its puritan leaven, for besides Harvard — Hooker, Shepherd, Blackstone, Ward, Stone, AVhitney and Dunster were educated within its walls, and John Cotton held one of its fellowships. It suff^ered a reaction later, becoming puseyistic in religion, tory in politics. It is worthy of note that Downing, the last Cambridge college, erected in 182'), should have had for its founder Sir Gcorire Dowiiiiiiii- (';iiiil>iit]i,n' in the first class that giiuhiatc'fl. JJiit what espc'cially cliarms the stiaiiift r arc; the ixroumls attached to the colleges. Downing, the youngest of the sisterhood, has an area of thirty acres. But however limited the space, the most is made of it. Art and nature for ceiitiiries have heen busily at work with results a jierfect marvel. (Jreater lunnidity of climate, and winters neither so severe nor protracted, give an immeasurahle advantage, hut taste for hortitiilturc, with lalioi- ni(ir(! economical, skill more widely ditlused, render possible what is far less ])ra«tical)le with us. Labyrinths, seri)entine walks that make of a few acres an apparently boundless domain, lawns ever verdant, parterres ever in bloom, stately avenues and patches of water, present at every turn new combinations. Then the river, spanned by graceful arches, meanders lovingly amongst these old palaces of learning, coying with the enanulied sward, refleeting the ipiivering foliage. It is not possible, in .sudi a j)ara, tlie year before the Society for Propagating the Gospel erected this edifice, at a cost of four hundred pounds. It l)eint a fitting place for a monument to the apostle Kliot. 'riic nerd had long l)een felt for a suital)le alxule for tlie jtresidents. Dunster and C'hauncy had provided for themsi-lves. AVhere Hoar. Oakes and litigers dwelt does not appear, but neither Increase Mather, 108.3-1701, nor Sannud A\'illard residetl at Cambridge. They were pastors of churches in lioston. and there made their home. Levcrett, 17Ul-172r), had been a tutor and possi])ly had his own dwelling. "When "Wadsworth, 17'2^)-17'S7, was chosen, the general court appropriated one thousand pounds for a presidential mansion, which was occupied by him; Ilolyoke, 1737-1770; Locke, 1770- 177;5 ; Langdon, 1774-1780 ; Jos. AVillard, 1781-1804 ; Webber, 1 805-1 8 1 ( • ; Kirkland, 1810-1828; Quincy, 1829-1845; Everett, 1845-1 84'J ; Sparks and Dr. AValker had houses of their own ; and Felton was the first to occupy that erected out of a fund given for the purpose by Peter C. Brooks. Tliis presidential mansion, slightly changed at different periods but still a stately edifice, having served its purpose for a century and a quarter, is now known as the "Wadsworth house from its first occupant, and used for students. Attached to it formerly was a wing, in which the President had his ollice, and where he administered i)rivates anil reprimands to the refractory. Farther along at the corner stood the clinrcli, wliere w«'re held commencements and other solenmities, Tiiis has been removed and its successor is on the other side of the avi-nue. Twenty years after the presidential mansion was built, Holdeu Chapel, north of Harvard, was erected by the family of Saiimel Holden, who hatl been governor of the Bank of England. After long serving its purpose in ministering to the needs of the soul, assigned to the medical department, it was used for explaining the mechanism of the body. The college grew in numl)ers and in wants, and in I7'il a ni-w building, 3 14 OLD CAMBRIDGE AND NEW. at right angles with and north of Harvard, was erected and called Ilollis, in honor of a family seven of whom from Thomas down had been liberal benefictors. It was of 'the same material and dimensions, but less decorated, than either Massachusetts or Harvard. Just as it was ready for occupation, Harvard, then used by the General Court, as smallpox was prevailing in Boston, caught fire in the chapel, one stormy night in winter, and the students being away, though governor, council and representatives worked hard to save it, it was too late, when discovered, to be extinguished. In it perished a wealth of precious books and pictures. Governor Bernard the same year laid the corner-stone of the present Harvard, endeared to cotemporary graduates by the wise and witty things they have heard within its walls. Trenching, at every word, on what is generally familiar, we simply will remind our readers of the flight of students and professors, with their books? to Concord and Andover, when Boston was besieged, and how returning they found the buildings not improved by military occupation. Stoughton, never strongly built, had become dilapidated, and being dangerous in 1780 it was necessary to remove it. Its walls, according .to one authority, were sprung by the earthquake in 1755 ; or, if we believe another, having been long out of plumb, were righted by the shock. The j^resent Stoughton, on a line with Hollis, was built in 1805, and Holworthy in 1813, after Sir Matthew, who in 1680 gave the college its then largest donation of the seventeenth century, of one thousand pounds. Neither Stoughton nor Holworthy cost more than twenty-four thousand dollars. Hardly had the latter been completed, when the foundation was laid of University Hall, for chapel commons and reci- tations. It was of larger dimensions, and the material, instead of wood or brick as in the earlier edifices, was granite. In some slight measure it rose above their severe simplicity, its broad flight of steps, now removed, and handsome pilasters giving it an air of modest elegance. Dnring the last fifty years the college, expanding into a university, and losing its sectarian cliai'acter,' hundreds of its children enriching her in their lifetime, or remembering her in their wills, her hundred thousand dollars in 1797 of property increased nearly forty -fold, edifices for all her various de- partments have gone up rapidly. Theology and law are conveniently lodged, the former in 1826 in Divinity Hall, in the groves to the north of the college yard, the latter in 1832 in Dane near Massachusetts. Gore Hall, for the Library, in 1839, with buttresses and pinnacles, was the earliest attempt at architectural splendor, and since, with the 6xception of Appleton Chapel slightly adorned, they have resumed their characteristic plainness. The Observatory in 1846, Scientific Hall in 1848, Boylston in 1858, Gray in 1868, Thayer in 1870, and the Agassiz Museum, are all well fitted for their purposes. The most has been made of the means appropriated, but they have been constructed with reference to rigid economy rather than any OLD fAMIUniXil': AND XKW. 15 Oilier pniiciple of hi'auty timii :i(la])t:iti()ii. Two nioro lialU an- soon to be erected, jfeiierous gilts of" wealtliy citizciis of Bostt)ii, that tif William F. AVeld (111 a line with University, that of Nathan Matthews opposite. It is to bo hoped they will keep as nnich in advance of former models as the Thayer and Gray. When com[)leted, the Imildinifs in the yard will form another (piadrangle of five or six hnndred feet by nearly two, the Chapel and Libra- rv standing outside of it to the cast. Another building, Ilolyoke House, one hundred feet sfpiare, for dormitories, restaurants, and business purposes, is being built at the corner of IlarvanI and Ilolyoke streets. It is refresh- ing to think that in the Memorial Hall, to cost nearly one-third us much as all the other buildings together, we shall have one grand oditice to gratify our taste, to vie in magnilieenee and architectural beauty with those at the seats of learning abroad. We should be sorry to see buildings of excessive ornamentation, florid and Haunting, easting into painful contrast the homeliness of those we have loved so long. IJut it is true economy in building for the public, or the ages, to keep well abreast or in advance of existing tastes. Architecture as a fine art, in America, is making rapid strides, and no where has a better field for the exercise of genius than in college buildings. Our good old ugliness i)roduccd no doubt as ripe scholarship, but the constant jiresencc of graceful forms, of the grand and glorious in this noble art has a happy a-sthetic infiuence on youthful minds, when forming, satisfying the natural craving for what is beautiful. Straight lines and plane surfaces may be less expensive than curves and arches; bays and oriels, mullions and pinnacles, may not quicken the intellectual faculties, but all shapes and colors that awaken sensibility educate the a'stljetic nature, refine taste and increase happiness. Heretofore the pressing needs of the present have precluded any prepara- tion for those of the future. But the rich collections and cabinets of Cam- bridge will gradually attract there students of every science and art, and it behooves the gentle mother to spread her lap and give them welcome. The college yard of twenty-two acres, the botanic garden of seven, with the rest of her territory in Cambridge, docs not exceed forty-eight acres, and wise forecast demands that whatever else can upon any contingency be h.-reaftcr needed, by purchase, gift or berpiest, should sooner or later vest in tin; ciillege. Families and individuals come and pass; the college lives through centuries. If as |tivscnt eililices decay, if as the value of modern estates enhances, arrangements could now be made that whatever is available should finally vest in the corporation, it would work no prejudice to pn-stnt proprietors or their descendants. If Mount Auburn, which with all its bcautv as a cemetery, ns art has crowilcd out nature, ha'; ab-e.idy lo-t soni.-- thiiig of its primitive charm, if the beaulifid woo«ls near Fresh Fond could 16 OLD CAMBRIDGE AND NEW. have been seasonably secured, precious opportunities would not liave been lost ; but much remains which may still be saved. Ten years ago the two Cambridges with similar areas had nearly the same population, not far from thirty thousand. Ours has now over forty, of whom little more than one are connected with the colleges for eight in theirs. We have more universities in this country, and more students distributed among them ; but with our growth and increasing enlightenment our Cambridge may have, before many years, as many on her rolls. This and the rapid enhance- ment of values should be an additional incentive with our alumni to in- crease its funds that seasonable purchases may be made for future wants. The government have not been idle. They have this year added to their domains the Holmes estate of five acres and a third, and in conjunction with the committee on Memorial Hall purchased the Jarvis field of five more on Everett, Oxford and Jarvis streets, for a play-ground, in the place of the Delta which has been appropriated as a site for the hall. Mr. Longfellow and others las't year presented the college with seventy acres of marsh land on the Brighton side of the Charles, to be used as gardens, public walks, or orna- mental pleasure grounds, and for buildings not inconsistent with such use, Avhen the land is filled up to a proper level. This will not be difficult, as the Albany Railroad is near by. If ever the additional territory should be secured for the college, those who come after us may see all along the river, the tide perhaps in jiart shut out, shady avenues, and pleasure grounds like those of England's Cambridge — walks shielded from the noonday, where scholars,- fond of the beautiful in nature, may gajn additional strength and vigor for mind and body by healthy exercise. The appropriation of a portion of the Bussey farm at AVest Roxbury, left for the purpose, to an agricultural school, to be forthwith instituted, with the botanical department and garden, should sujiply all • shrubs and trees for ornament at little cost. Judiciously selected and placed, if of no immediate advantage, they will keep pace in their growth with the colleges and reach their prime when wanted. Much as we might wish that the edifices of our own alma mater compared more favorably with those of her prototype across the sea, this was hardly to be expected. The circumstances out of which grew the splendid struc- tures of Oxford and Cambridge, in the mother land, essentially differed from any ever known in America. In feudal times and countries, wealth centred in kings and nobles. Through their religious zeal, partaking quite* as much of superstition as genuine piety, or from their necessities proceed- ing from over and profuse expenditure which the priests had the means to relieve, ecclesiastical and monastic institutions gradually absorbed a large share of the land and other property, "whilst the masses, uneducated and little skilled in handicraft, were content to toil for the scantiest wages which per- ()i,i> (AMiJiMDdi: AM) m:\\ . 17 iiiittcd tliein t(» subsist. Siiperl) catlicilrals, raisid at vast cost, ami wliidi arc still the ailiuiration oi' tiie world, excited cnmlutioii, ami many of the most Ijcautiful l>iiil, was j)ublished after his death in is.'!.!, ably edited by John I'ickcring ; and in Josiah (^nincy, its jiresideiit, who, in IS I'*, publi>hi'd in two volumes his admirable hi>torv. liesides these elal)()rate productions, Hon. Samuel \. Kliot, its former treasurer, published in IS IS a l)ricf >ketch of the college. It is understood there is in prej)aration a history of Cambridge by Kev. Lucius R. Paige, D.I)., which will soon be ready for publication. IJev. 'Mr. Iloppin of Christ Church has |)rinted a history of his [)arish ; and in vol. vii. of the iirst series of the Mass. Historical Collections is an account of Cambridge, by the Kev. Abiel Holmes, and in vol. V. of the same series, page 2.">(>, a history of Newton, in earlv times part of the same municipality with Cambridge. liut comparatively a small portion remains of the original area of the town, Nowton, Brighton and Arlington having been set oil", and but a few small patches of territory added. Kvc:i down to the midille of the last century, the more easterly portion, where now its habitations are most crowded, consisted mainly of three large farms. That of LiiMit-( »ov. Sjiencer I'hips, eventual heir of Sir ^Villiam who raised out of the dt-pths of the ocean three hundred thousand pounds of coin from a sunken treasun- ship, comprised thrci^ hundred and sevi-nty-live acres, divided, when he died in 17."t7, aniiing his fnur dauglitns, wlio nianird lJi«-li;ird Lccluin re. .lohn Vas-;all. .loscph Ivce and Andri-w lloardman. The estates nt' Thomas Sodcn and Ralph Inman, together nearly as extensive, covered what is now the Port. The N'assall estates and those ufOlixer, I.tcbnicrc. Lie. H:islin::s 18 OLD CAMBRIDGE AND NEW. and Brattle, Wyetli and Stone, occupied much of the territory west of tlie colleges, as the former did those to the east, leaving little space for their ex- pansion or other inhabitants. The land was not of much value. The orchards were celebrated and yielded large quantities of excellent fruit, and the extensive marshes heavy crops of salt ha}"-. In 1630 it had been determined to establish the capital at Kewtown, as Cambridge was then called. The frame of Winthrop's house was raised there'; but taken down upon assurances of Chickatawbut that the colonists would not be molested b}^ the Indians if at Boston, it was removed to a site near the Old South. Thomas Dudley, somewhat ])rovoked at this defection, persevered and erected his own dwelling on what was afterwards Water Street, at the end of Marsh Lane. It was not far from the present college enclosures and near the ferry, which was a little below where in 16'JO was erected the Cambridge Great Bridge. Entrenchments and jialisades were proposed to enclose one thousand acres, part of the lines, seventy years since, still to be distinguished on the north side of the common. As the travel to Boston was either over the Charlestown ferry or by the great bridge throu"h Brighton over Roxbury Neck, a distance of about eight miles, this controlled in some measure the early settlement. It was not till after the construction of West Boston bridge, 1790, and Craigie's, a year or two later, that the large farms were broken up and streets laid out. In 1800, seventy- three acres of the Soden farm were sold for a small price to Judge Francis Dana, whose spacious and costly mansion, then still in possession of his family, was destroyed by fire, 1834. Our space forbids any full account of the many interesting specimens of ancient domestic architecture in Cambridge that remain. Yet as the natural process of decay, conflagrations and the march of improvement are constant- ly reducing their number, some brief description of a few of the older mansions may not be out of place. The first object of any interest in approaching the colleges from Boston, to the right of the main street, and some rods distant from it, is a large imposing structure, of a peculiarly venerable appearance, commonly known as the head-quarters of General Putnam. Here Old Put, as he is irreverently called, resided during the siege of Boston, 1775-6, his battery, consisting of the big gun that took a load of powder to fire it off and finally burst during the operation, being a mile or two off on the shore. The house was at that time of some antiquity, having been erected about half a century earlier. It was long the residence of Ralph Inman, a gen- tleman of fortune, born in 1713, and who died there in 1788, having however during the revolution been a refugee loyalist. His son George, II. C. 1772, was an officer in the F)i'iti8li army, nnd his daughter married Captain Linzee of its navy. In the hurry of departure, not realizing that instead of a few OLD CAMIJllIDGK AM) NKW. 19 tlays or wci-ks, In- was to lie iiiaiiy years altsciit, ^Ir. Tiiiiiaii left liis house uilli all its costly iileiiishiiii;, liis stahK-s amply iiidvidtd with horsis ami haiiiisoiiio (MjiiijiagL'S. The p-nVral, in takiiii; jiossc'ssioii of the |iiriiiis<'s for liis hcad-cinartcrs, consitlcroil tlu'so not unnaturally as part of tlitir appen- dages, and ^Irs. Putnam took her airings in the family eoaeh. The >eleet- men, provoked at this by them unwarranted appropriation nt' eonfiseated jnoperty, had the presumption, when slic was some distance from home, to compel her to alight. The general was not of a temjier to submit very meekly to such an ailront, and his indignation was expressed with suHic.ient force to have become historical. As when the house was erected there was no bridge towards Boston, and there were eonsetjuently ft'w buildings where now exists a dense pojjuhi- tion, it stood in tlie midst of an extensive domain of woods and lields, of which, until (juite recently- six acres still remained attached to the mansion. Three stories iu height, it has a stately appearance, from it5 great size and fair proportions. The rooms are low, the i»rojecting beams and doors of the oldest style of panel work indicating the early period of its construction. Towards Inman street an outer door leaetli Tvii:Lr, and left in IG-SO one of the lar. Tlair four sisters married Nath- aniel Oliver, John Eyre.AVait AVinthrop. .loseph l'ars<)Hs,.Toliii Mico. William the IJrigadier, only son of William the minister, much distingui>lied in puhlic life, and an overseer of the college, was the father of the loyalist who gradu- ated there in 17 GO. From the connection of his honored progenitors with llar\ai'd t'ollegi' it was natural for him, during his eight years residence in England, to visit her seats of learning, and he certainly acquired there or at liome a remarkal)le fondness for horticulture. Ilis spacious grounds, extending to the river Charles, abounded in Howers and fruits. lie planted a long walk of trees for the especial benefit of the students, where they might take their exercise sheltered from the sun, and erected a bathing-house on the river for their accommodation and instruction in swinuning, several of them having then recently perished from ignorance of that useful art. In the grounds behind liis house was a small pond, shaded by willows and stocked with lish. He was devoted to every good work, contrii)uting largely to the wants of the poor and needy, the sick and the sulh-ring, and he left in his will to the friend above mentioned, who wi'ote an cloipient ol»ituary of him when he died, a portrait of the "Man of Ross," whose examitle he emulated, and which is still carefully preserved. Charles river, fed by numl)erless smaller streams and an extensive water shed, in Medway, about twenty miles from IJoston, has already acquired considerable volume. It makes a long circuit, dividing its waters in Dedhaui to liel|)form the Neponset, which enters the bay at the southeily extremity of what was Dorchesttn*, now part of Boston, while its main branch, passing by the l'p]»er and Lower Falls in Newton, enters Waltham where its power is used for milling purposes, and separating Watertown and lirighton be- comes the boundary of Cambridge at Mt. Auburn. Its earlier course ex- hibits stretches of more '[licturesque beauty, but even where it runs by Caml)ridge and its shoi'es are disfigured by wharves and industrial estab- lishments, the tide ebbs and flows and broad marshes spread o'ut on either side, it presents at many points scenes that are pleasing, that from liivti- side bri, conveyed it to his brother Ilemy, with the furnitnre, diaise, four-wlieeled chaise, two bay stone horses, two black geldings, and oilier things pleasant to possess. The land embraced an area of seven acres, besides thirty acres of pasture on the south baidc of the river. Henry married, ill 1 7 H, Penelope Hoy all of ^Icdford. In 17 17 he pnnhased of his brother, the Sanuiel Bell estate, adjoining his own, and afterward'^ another acre was added on the west side of the road. All this property, except the thirty-acre lot, forms 'part of the present estate. Henry piiig rooms on the second floor eorrespond in nninln'r ami arrangement with liie parlors below, preserving, in their ancient [»anelling, doors and 26 OLD CAMBRIDGE AND NEW. sashes, even more obvious marks of eld. Several of tlie rooms down stairs are panelled, and the chimney-places are of the liberal size that were usual when walnut and hickory were customary fuel. Outside, towards the river, the elevation is broken into two projections with the conservatory between them, the sky line boldly defined by two gables only partially conqealed by the wing. All about the house are large trees of great age, besides lilacs and other shrubs, gnarled and mossy, which tell clearly enough how many generations have passed away since they were planted. On the other side of the road from Mr. Batchelder's is the well known man- sion of Mr. Longfellow, known as the Craigie House, a«d also as General Washington's headquarters. It was erected in 1759 by Col. John Vassall, grandson of Leonard and son of that John who sold to his brother Henry the house just described. It may be safely Said that no dwelling in New-England of its date remains, more spacious or elegant than this. It stands back one hundred and fifty feet from the road, and is surrounded by large open spaces on either side, that to the north being of several acree in extent. The shade trees are elms of the noblest, and there are other sorts including fruit trees* and ornamental shrubs in great variety. The front, stately, of graceful pro- portions and harmonious decoration, is a pleasure to behold. On either side run broad and well-sheltered piazzas, the front including them being over eighty feet. The door is massive, and its ponderous fastenings and brasses the same as when Washington made it his home in the memorable Avinter of 75. The hall, twelve feet in breadth, contains the broad square staircase with landings, to which poetic genius has given a special association with the fiither of his country. The drawing-room is of great height for the period, some twenty feet in either dimension, wainscoted in panels elaborately carved, the mantel with Corinthian pilasters on either side. In it hangs a fine painting, by Copley, of the second Sir William Pepperell and his sister as children. ■ Across the entry from this apartment is the study, a bright, sunny room, and behind it the library of noble proportio;is, thirty feet in length, with columns diversify- in o- the longer side opposite the windows. Between this and the dining-room, which is nearly as handsome an apartment, rises another principal staircase as broad and as much decorated as that in the front hall. Beneath, the cellar walls are of special stability, a portion of them in handsome brickwork, which seem of date more recent than the rest Col. Yassall having left it, the house for nine months that the siege of Boston lasted was the abode of Washington. From it were addressed those admirable letters which organized rebellion into successful revolution. There <^>-athered his generals in council, there came to confer with him the patriot leaders belongiiig to the legislative body at Watcrtown, and within i(s spacious OLD CAMinUDGi: AND \EW. 27 npnrtinciits oocnrrrifrn]ilifrs Iiavc" wortliily iiairat*-*!. After (Ik- war, tlio property was sold to Xatliauicl Tracy, of >."ewl)uryport, who conveyed it to Tlioinas Russell in 17S('., and iu I7'J;3 it linally passed to Andrew Craigie, who long dwelt there, and ill whose time it consisted of nearly two hundred acres. J\Ir. Craigie mar- ried the daughter of Rev. Bezaleel Shaw, II. C. 17G2, settled at Nantucket, a near relative of the late Chief Justii-e. He jiossessed a handsiunc estate, and was fond of display. He purchased the handsome equipage and ftnir fine horses, which had been the property of the Duke of Kent when in Roston, and was exclusive enough in his habits to provoke the ill-will ^if his neighbors. When he built an iee-eellar with a summer-house over it, near the site of the present Observatory, and extensive green-houses, they prog- nosticated no good could come to one who Hew in the face of Providence, spiting the snnuner with his ice and the winter with his flowers. He was liberal in his hospitality, and his widow, who long made the house her homo after his death, maintained its character. It was ut ditterent times the resi- dence of Edward Everett, .Tared Sparks, and of Joseph Worcester, the distin- guished lexicographer, but for the la^t (juarter of a century it has been the abode of one who. renowned as he is in letters, has also won laurels to bo cherished in the atl'ectionate regard of his countrymen. I'nder its roof have been composed most of those excpiisite productions of his genius which have made him famous over the world, and which in all time nuist invest his abode with associations not likely to fade. Farther up Rrattle street than the Longfellow mansion already described, are several other handsome dwellings mentioned by the Rareness Riedesel in her memoirs. She says there were, before the war, seven families con- nected by relationship or who lived in great intimacy, who had here flirms. gardens and splendid mansions, and not far oft" 6rchar(ls ; and the buildings were a quarter of a mile distant from each other. The owners were in the liabit of assembling every afternoon in one or other of their houses, and of diverting themselves with music or dancing. They lived in allluence, in "ood humor and without care, until the war dispersed tlicm and trausfoi'med all these houses into solitary abodes. When, after her husband was wounded in 177.Sat Saratoga, she came with Rurgoyne's army, which had been there surrendered, to Canil»ritlge, where it was placed in cantonments, she occupied the house then nearest the Tiongfellow mansion, which was built about 17()0 l)y Richard Lechmcre. He was son of Thomas, brother of Lord Nicholas Lechnwrc, an eminent lawyer, who dinl in 17:*7. Thomas was here as early as ]~'2'2, standing in that year sponsor at the baptism of an ancestral namesake, and married a daughter of Wait Winthrop. Lechniere, who before the war conveyed the estate to Jonathan Sewall, attorney-general of the province, is believed to 28 OLD CAMBRIDGE AND NEW. have resided subsequently in the house on Tremont street, next to where the Albion stands, and which Cooper has introduced etFectively into his novel of Lionel Lincoln. The parties to this conve3''ance of the Cambridge property will recall the well known suit brought by Sewall in 1769 against Lechmere, in favor of a slave demanding his freedom, and which was decided in fiiyor of the negro. The case is often claimed to have been the first in which the question was definitively settled, abolishing slavery in Massachu- setts, although historically it existed a few years later. Sewall, H. C. 1748, married Esther, daughter of the fourth Edmund Quincy and sister of Mrs. Governor Hancock. . He was, as well as Lechmere, a refugee loyalist, and appointed by the crown judge of admiralty for Nova Scotia and New- Brunswick, died at St. John's in 1796. The house was later occupied by one of. the best of men, Mr. Joseph Foster, as the writer, wdio on Sundays often dined with him when in college, would be ungrateful not to remember. The first Mrs. Foster was daughter of John Cutler, the pojmlar grand master of the masons, who as sucli officiated at the funeral solemnities in Boston, when Washington died, in 1799. She was one of a numerous family noted for personal attractions largely represented in their descendants. The second, when he married her, was the widowed mother of the late William D. Sohier, long a prominent leader of the Suffolk bar, and well remembered for his professional attain- ments, practical sagacity, ready wit and kind heart. Mr. Foster had several brothers, one of whom, Bossinger, occupied the Batchelder mansion. A dau^diter of William married Harrison Gray Otis, nephew of James, both as preeminent for eloquence as the former for the elegance of his manners and social graces ; her two sisters were successively wives of Col. Apthorp, and their brothers were William, Leonard and Chai'les, the latter of whom at the ao-e of eifht-seven is the only' survivor. Thus widely connected and universal- ly beloved, a large circle of later generations more or less entitled grew up to call Mr. Foster by the endearing appellation suggested by their degree of affi- nity, one which is more than usually significant where the sentiment as in his case was of such affectionate respect. The liouse in his time was especially attractive from his cordial welcome and pleasant ways, and one to many of a"-reeable associations and frequent resort. It was a large and i-oomy structure, possessing no peculiar feature for remark ; but when fiung wide open in the summer noon-day, the air laden with fragrance from field and garden, hum of insect and song of bird, its fair proportions, simple grace and exquisite order and freshness coml)ined to render it a fitting abode for the genial host and hostess who dispensed its hospitalities. Its ancient memories were carefully cherished, and on a window pane was to be seen an inscrij)tion with a diamond by Baroness Eiedesel, when slie was its occupant. These several dwellings, occupied by members of the English establish- OLD CAMBRIDGE AND NEW. 29 nicnt and attendants of Christ Clmrdi, wore known as Cliurdi Kuw. Tradi- tion informs us that at eacli of tlieni annually were pven social entertain- ments to the president, professors and tutors of the eolh-^e, and this from a sense of propriety rather than eoiiifeniality or inelination, for the rest of the year they lived among themselves or witii their aecjuaintances and kinsfolk from other places. They were men of education and large fortune. Pro- ductive plantations in the "West Indies contrilmted to the princely revenues of some of them, others were costly in lands or other property nearer home. Their houses abounded in rich plate, valuable paintings and furniture of the best, their shelves were laden with books, capacious and well arranged wine cellars denote their abounding hospitality, the long distances and scanty l)ublic conveyances would compel the inference, if tradition were wanting, that their stables were well stocked with the best of steeds. Close by Charles river and Fresh pond, Mt. Auburn with its forests near at hand and the country beyond of great picturesque beauty, tlieir lot was indeed cast iu pleasant places. They were all akin. Oliver had married Col. Vassall's sister, Vassall had married his. The mother of Col. Vassall, Mrs. Lee, and i\Irs. Lechmero were sisters, daughters of Lt.-Gov. Spencer Phips. Hon. David Phips, who lived where later William AVinthrop erected the handsome house now standing e;ist of the Apthorp mansion, was their brother. The wife of George Ivuggles was Leonard Vassall's daughter, and aunt of "Col. John. Ruggles sold his estate to Mrs. Faycrweather in 1774 for two thousand pounds, taking for half the purchase money the Leonard Vassall estate on Sunuuer Street iu Boston, which had descended to her from her father, Thomas Hubbard. The estates of Lee and Mrs. Henry Vassall were not confiscated in the war, but John Vassall's, Sewall's and Oliver's were all forfeited. Brattle's was se- questered but restored. Tliis pleasant circle of refined enjoyment thus came to an end, and not one single descendant of their names remains in America. Some of them survived to an advanced age, Lee dying iu 1802 at ninety- three ; Phips at eighty-seven ; Lechmere, who greatly regretted having left America, iu 1814 at the same age ; and Oliver in 1815 at eighty-two, the two last in Bristol, England. The reader is already familiar with the Brat- tle, A'assall and Lechmere mansions. Some mention should be made of two more before wo close. The mansion next west of the Lechmere house was the residence of Judge Leo, and down to 18G0 l)elonged to one of his family. If has the reputation of being the oldest })uilding in Cambridge certainly, dating much earlier than any other of equal note still remaining in anything approaching its pristine condition. Its foundations and mason work are cemented with clay, and this confirms' the popular belief that it was erected before the days of Charles the Second, for lime came in this neighborhood into use for mortar at a later 5 30 OLD CAMBRIDGE AND NEW. period, clay mixecl^with pulverized oyster shells being previously used instead. Its oak. timbers, where exposed to view, present the same indications of extreme age as those in the cellar of the Edmund Quincy house in Quincy, now occupied by Mr. Butler. Although more elegant than the houses of the same period in Ipswich, it has to them many points of resemblance. The central chimney, twelve feet in either direction, is built on the natiiral surface of the ground, cellars being excavated on either side, one of them hav- ing a sub-cellar for fruit. The rooms are ari'anged in the same mode around the chimney, which thus afforded spacious fire-places to the drawing room on one side, to the keeping room on the other, and to what was origi- nally the kitchen, but now a handsome dining room, in the rear. -The house is over sixty feet front, and the parlors and rooms over them would be twenty by twenty-six were it not that in many of them, as in the Ipswich houses, a portion of the end six feet in breadth opposite the fire jjlaces was partitioned off, in the keeping room for a study, in the cham- bers above for bed or dressing rooms, the window between either shut off by a glass door or set as it were in a recess. The object was protection against the cold. All the heat radiating from the centre stack, the portion of the rooms farthest removed, the end wall being imperfectly sealed and windows not very tight, would have lost its warmth with the thermometer below zero, but for this shield. The drawing room, however, jireserves all its plenitude of size, and appears the larger for its low ceilings, across which and around which extend engaged beams. Tlie jiaper hangings, as in other apartments, are in designs of former days, landscape and buildings, men and beasts, like those of the Lee house in Marblehead and probably as ancient, those having been placed there under the King. Out of the drawing room, as in all the better houses of two centuries ago, opened a door into the kitchen and another into a sleeping room of handsome proportions, and between them was an enclosed staircase and door towards the stables. The main staircase in the front hall opposite the principal door of entrance leads up in front of the chimney stack, and is of easy ascent and handsome construction. The hall projects beyond the front of the house, as in the "VVaterhouse and Holmes mansions on the common and in the old Dunster house formerly on Harvard street, windows on either side of the porch so formed affording light and contributing to cheerfulness. The windows are peculiar, of great breadth for the height, indeed nearly squai-e, and in their original state were no doubt glazed in lozenge panes set in leaden lattices. The floors are not all level. This would seem the effect of age, were it not that in other ancient houses it was evidently from design. At Little Harbor in the Wentworth, and in the Barrell house at York, some of the principal rooms vary in level several feet. There is a step down into the dining-room in this house from the drawing room, and its floor is an inch OLD CAMHKIDCK AM) NKW :ji or more above that of the hall. Bosiilcs the two nii,'ht.s of stair> iiKiitioiicil, there is another from a hall leadiiij; out of the kec'i)iii<; room. Above are severat pleasant sleeping rooms on two floors, liaik of those on the upper formerly ran a gallery, sixty feet by twelve or fifteen, now divided into chambers. In its furniture there is a happy combination of modern with ancient; one delightful apartment, with its superb four-i)oster, decorated cabinets and hangings like tapestry, its small dressing rooms par- titioned oft", being peculiarly attractive. The great lire places have disap- peared, and modern simplicity eschews the gorgeous attire of richly tinted satins and velvets ablaze with gold lace and paste diamonds then in vogue ; but no one can visit one of these old mansions in a good state of preserva- tion, permitted by the good taste of its occupants to retain the character- istics of the olden time, without observing at every tin-n some peculiarity, not oidy to attract attention but to raise a doubt whether the arts of life a5 they advance are altogether improvements. Sittiiiir a few afternoons since in its deliirhtful drawing-room, with the amiable hostess of the mansion, she mentioned several traditions connected with the house. Among others, she described the incidents of a festal occasion a century ago in that very apartment, related to her by- a maiden lady long since passed away at an advanced age. It was perhaps rash to promise to put it into print, but promises the least reasonable should lie respected. The lady said that the occupants of this aristocratic fpiarter made it their especial pride and boast that they had no work to do. and entertained little respect for those that had. As the daughter of the ]iresi- dent of the college, however, an exception was made in her favor, and she was in her girlhood invited to a June festivity at Judge Lee's. It was a strawberry party, that fruit being then raised on these places in great pro- fusion and of rare excellence. The company assembled early in the after- noon in ci^stly apparel, and their manners excessively polite were much more formal and ceremonious than anything we know. Eating and driidving then constituted a principal part of social entertaiimients, and there was a cease- less rouyd of waiters loaded with jellies and creams and other pleasant contrivances, with wine and lemonade, of which it was considered good breeding liberally (o partake. Conversation or social interchange appeared Mtiiieuhat secondarv to tin- duly of refreshment, and when ample justice had been done to this ambulatory repast, as of which Baroness Riedesel tells us. The estate extended to Fresh pund. and also it is believed to the river, and consisting of good soil was well cultivated and productive. In the rear of the mansion were clustered every variety of subordinate building and t»llicc esse:itial t ) an extensive farm, when persons of means killed their 32 OLD CAMBRIDGE AND NEW. own mutton, made their cider and beer, and wove their own cloth. These buildino-s being in a decayed condition wlien the present occupant entered into possession, were removed. A century ago the house stood remote from any other, evidently in its day, as it is even now, a dwelling of unusual elegance, and than which when erected there could have been few out of the larger towns superior in the province. If not substantially rebuilt when Judge Lee purchased it, in 1758, it was probably altered and improved by him. Much of the finish dates from that period. He bought it of Faith, widow of Cornelius Waldo, to whom it was conveyed in 1733 by Dr. Henry Hooper, son of Richard, also a physician, settled in Watertown. Of the family who for more than a century were proprietors of this intei'esting relic of the past, and many of whom have been generous contributors to the college and other public objects, some brief account may not be out of j^lace. Thomas Lee, father of the Judge, died in 1766, at the age of ninety -three, having in his long and useful life as a builder of ships and in commerce in Boston accumulated a large estate. His name, formerly inscribed over one of its library alcoves, indicated that he had been a benefactor of the college, where his sons graduated, Thomas in 1722, and Joseph in 1729. Gov. Phips, whose daughter Joseph married, died in 1757, and her inheritance united with his own made them rich. He was much esteemed and popular, but his appointment by the crown in 1774 to the council contrary to the provisions of the provincial charter created some prejudice against him, and with his neighbor Oliver he was mobbed. He found it prudent to leave Cambridge, and went first to Philadelphia and subsequently to New-Jersey, but having influential friends among the patriots, his property was not con- fiscated and he soon returned and resumed jiossession. Having no children he built a house to the left of his own for his nephew Thomas, to whom he , left the Cambridge estate, and whose daughter, Mrs. Carpenter, still owned part of it with the mansion down to 1860. Another daughter was the second wife of Dr. Watcrhouse, and his son .George Gardner Lee, H. C. 1792, who died in 1816, was an ofiicer in our navy. The widow of George, daughter of Dr. Sawyer of Newburyport, was the well known authercss of the Three Experiments of Living' and other popular works. Joseph, the other nephew of the Judge, married the sister of George Cabot, and left six sons, Joseph, Nathaniel, George, Thomus, Hfuiy and Francis, besides daughters, one the first wife of Judge Jackson, and tux) never married. Henry, an eminent and much respected merchant, was the well known writer on political economy, the friend and correspondent of Tooke, Cobden and Ricardo, McCullock and numerous other l^iglish statis- ticians. Thomas, who married the sister of the saintly Buckminster, also a distinguished authoress, was a benefactor of Harvard. He adorned our Commonwealth Avenue Mall with a fine granite statue of Alexander Ham- OLD CAMHUIDflE AM) NEW. 33 iltoii, by IviiiiiiuT, and our i)iil)Iic garden with a nioniiintMit. tlie joint pio- duction of Ward and \'an Brunt, representing the Gornl .Samaritan, in conunoinoration of the discovery of ana-sthetics. Itsoliject was to preserve the credit of this ahnost u|iparallek(l blessing to humanity, to the city of many notions, where it justly belongs, though Edinburgli hiys claim for the late Sir James Simpson to tlie api)lication later of chloroform as a sub- stitute for etlier. Approaching Mt. Auburn, altout a mile in distance fmm the collffres, where Brattle street, after many l)entls to avoid formerly existing marshes, and Mt. Aul)urn running nearer the river bound it on either side, stands Elmvvood, the birth-place and pi-esent abode of James Russell Tvowell. His name is sufficiently well known in the world of letters to recall that broad and brimming tide of sense and humor, which in prose and verse has charm- ed and refreshed for a generation all who speak our language. Our best and earliest satii-ist, his shafts have never been steeped in venom or in the gall of bitterness; but winged with motlicaments jdeasant anngfellow in the professorship of literature, and with its whole range familiar, genial and friendly, excelling in strength mental and Ixxlily, conscientious of labor and always ahead of bis work, he ranks high as an author, teacher anonal merit, and possessed of this delightful home al)ounding in books and works of art, it would seem, if any one, he ought to Ije content. But our obje<.'t is not to pay tribute to his genius but to that of his ]Flacp, which has memories to be preserved. Tlie house wasei'ectetl about 17 (in liy Thomas Oliver, the htst provincial Lieut.-Governor. Oliver, not of the family of that name most distingyished in our history, was born in Dorclu-ster in 1733, and graduating at Harvard in 1753 married, as vra have already stated, Elizabeth, the sister of ]Major John Vassall, who built the Ivongfellow mansion. Possessed of a handsome fortune and a gentleman of excellent (jualitios, he was much belo\ed and respected, ])ut as a mandamus councillor provoked the resi-ntment (»f the patriots. September 2, 177-1, tliev >ur- roundeil his house, thousands in number, one (piarter part of them arn«-d, de- manding his resignation. Nothing dauute'-\ there has existed no other regulation with regard to dress, but that students on certain special occasions shall wear a black coat and a black hat or cap. Any attempt to relate the history of the numerous n-bellions which have occurred at Cambridge would be out of place. There formerly existed a chronic antagonism between the government and students, breaking out ou 40 OLD ca:mbiiidge and neav. the slightest pretext into overt act. The members of some years were so numerously sentenced to expulsion as to be called, like those of 1807, 1822, 1836, rebellion classes. One recent cause of disturbance was the objection- able practice of hazing, by which freshmen were subjected to drenching, smoking out and various other annoyances. As the average age becomes more advanced and the rules more sensible, whatever is unreasonable or opposed to fairness and propriety dies out. Fights between students and townsmen, provoked by the former, took place very regularly on muster days and at similar gatherings, one being remembered as hite as 1834. The prowess displayed by particular combatants in such encounters was often made the theme of their own self-adulation or that of their admirers. In England's Cambridge visitors gaze in chapel and hall on relics of silver and gold, votive offerings of eld. On the Harvard roll of donations are tankards and cups presented by the filial piety of her children. From less care, more frequent use, fire or other vicissitudes, many of these have dis- appeared. But the old arm chair in which all the presidents since Holyoke have sat at commencement, is extant, and one book that Harvard gave. There have besides accumulated numerous superb portraits of ancient worthies, benefactors and others, now in INlassachusetts, by and bv to adorn Memorial Hall. Collegp: Clubs and Associations. Societies, more or less secret in their initiations and proceedings, abound at most of our American seats of learning, and Cambridge is no exception to the rule. Some of them are for literary improvement, some purely for social intercourse, generally both objects being united. No tradition is known to exist of any such association at Harvard earlier than the Institute of 1770, a literary and social association still in existence. It has its rooms in Hollis, assigned by the government, and is composed of members taken from the Sophomore class, about one half their number being selected. The In- stitute has manifested at different periods very different degrees of vitality. Its original object was literary, but its debates are now less frequent. The D. K. E. consists of thirty-five members, and is a secret societ}', to which belong members of the Freshman and Sophomore classes. The exercises with which it entertains itself are literary and social in character, and it is one of the most popular, being composed of the most prominent and popular students. From these two societies are selected, for the most part, the candidates for the Hasty Puddings. The next in order to the Institute, as respects the date of its organization, is the Porcellian Club, established in 1791, Avith which, forty years later, was consolidated another, called the Knights of the Square Table, for similar objects, and consisting generally of the same members. Their collections of books were originally kept in the rooms of their respective libraiians, but two years after their union, in 1833, rooms were rented on Harvard Square. Their library rapidly augmenting in numbers and value, from the generosity of their members, is now estimated at more than twelve thousand Avell selected volumes. The members — about ten from each of the two higher classes — make its club room their frequent resort for conversation or social recreation. Their chief dignitary is a grand master selected from the graduates, and a deputy from the senior class presides over their meetings. The Hasty Puddings, ranking high in scholarship, and mainly devoted to AFTKU-OI-KAMNGS. •11 mental iruprovenient, liave liad the same rooms in the upper part of Stoujuh- ton for many years. Here are lieKl rej^ular monthly meetinirs for literary exercises and dramatic j)erformaiices, in which they excel. Their meetinfis close with a repast of mush or hasty pudilinj,', made of Indian meal hoiled, and for those who prefer it, also fried, which is made palatable hy molasses or milk. In the strawberry season, that fruit is substituted. They have a lil)rarv of about four thousand volumes, whi<-h contains some rare books. Tht! society is among the most venerable of the 1 larvard clubs, datini,' back to 17l).'>. Its records are. accordini,' to all repoits, very auuisinj,'. Member- ship is sought with avidity, notwithstanding initiations the reverse of agree- al)le. It is said some seventy-four ])ages of prose, and several hundred lines (if verse are often required of the acolyte. During his jieriod of probation, from ^londay to Friday, he is in charge of ollicials, except when at recita- tion, at meals, or in bed, and he is compelled to go about to them at a run, speaking to no one. "What are called the greek letter societies, of which there are several, are most of them of too recent an origin or of too evanescent a character for more than a passing allusion. Tlie O. K., in existence as early as 1S.5U, meets once a fortnight for chat and cortee. The Aljdia Delta is composed of seniors and juniors taken from the D. K. E., and has its monthly meet- ings. The Psi l'i)silon, Zeta Phi and Pi Eta, are mystic syml)ols of clubs, with various objects, literary, social and convivial, ujx)!! whose jirivacy we have no ri'dit to intrude. The Signet, consisting of menibers of the senior (hiss, is, it is presumed, somewhat of the same description. llie Everett Athena-um, now in its fourth year, is of a ditferent character, and from its life and spirit has given a new stimulus to the rest. The memljers are chosen in the sophomore year. Mr. "Wakefield, whose generous donation of one hundred thousand dollars for a dormitory back of Gore Hall has just l)een announced, has given recently to this club, five thousand dollars for its library, for which it is understood a building is soon to be erected. There have existed from time to time scientific associations at Cambridge, such as the Kumford Chemical, to which was assigned a room in -the base- ment of Massachusetts ; the Herinetick, also for the study of chemistry, merged in 1823 in the American Institute ; the Eranetic of 1820, devoted to • matiiematics, and the Harvard Natural History Society. A Radical Club discusses social science. There are two musical associations of considerable antiipiity, the Pierian Sodality for instrumental, the Glee Club for vocal music ; and as many if not more religious, such as the Christian Prctliren among the Orthodox, and St. Pauls among the Episcopalians. The Phi Beta Kappa is an association the qualilication for which is scholarship, the best twenty-five, formerly the best sixteen, scholars being selected from each class, part in the junior and part in the senior year. Others are added from graduates at their ammal stated meeting on the Thursday following commencement, on which occasion they have an oration and poem generally of distinguished excellence, and dine together in the college hall. The Harvard "Washington Corps was not the first military organization attached to Harvard College. Another earlier was established in 1700, with the motto, (am Marti quam 3/ercurio. Its last commander was Solomon A'ose, of the class of 17«7. Under its latter name it was revived in 1811, by Gov. Gerry, and became one of the best drilled companies in the State. 42 OLD CAMBRIDGE AND NEAV. Its armory was in the fifth story of liollis. At first only seniors and juniors belonged to it, but from 1825 all the classes. Its guns having been thrown out of the windows and damaged in the rebellion oi 1834, it was disbanded. One of the most amusing and clever organizations of any college was the Med. Facs. of Cambridge, started in 1818, and which flourished for many years, brimming over with wit and fun. It frequently attracted the atten- tion of the government, who, upon second thought, concluded not to sup- press it. It eventually exceeded the bounds of moderation, and being judged too disorderly and uproarious for longer toleration, in 183-4 it was tempo- rarily broken up, some of its record-books, though fortunately not all of them, being burnt in presence of the faculty. Again in 18 GO this society Avas suppressed, and its records were destroyed by the college government. Its catalogues, iDublished in 1824, 1827, 1830 and 1833, burlesques on the triennial, are very entertaining, and though containing many happy hits at passing celebrities, they are not often illnatured. It was again revived, and is still believed to exist, though shorn of its original brightness. The Navy Club dates back to 1786, and consisted of members of the senior class, who had no parts assigned them at commencement. It was a sort of protest against the distinction to their prejudice, and an intimation that they were not cast down by this humiliation. Its Lord High Admiral was selected by his predecessor, from those ranging lowest in scholarship, but most distinguished for their mother wit and natural cleverness. Pie chose his subordinates, and it was their custom in grotesque dresses to march through the streets and grounds, saluting the several buildings and ofiicials with groans. Towards commencement their proceedings closed with an ex- cursion down the harbor, sometimes extended as far as Cape Cod, whence, after a clam bake or mammoth chowder, they returned the third day. Its organization and modes of procedure have been somewhat fitful, and un- dergone, from time to time, many modifications. Its last procession made its appearance in 1846, and its last excursion down the harbor was in 1851. Ancient Dwellings. It was matter of doulit with President Sparks and some later authorities, whether Putnam, during the siege of Boston in the revolutionary war, had his headquarters in the. Inman house. That this mansion was his residence and that of Mrs. Putnam is believed to be too well authenticated for dispute. IJut it is said that the office duties of his command were performed in a small hip-roofed house standing within the last half century on Dana Hill. As his family were with liim in camp, it is quite probable that for the multifarious affairs connected with the service he may have had accommo- dations near by his own abode, where his aids and other offifcers of his staff had their quarters and the routine business of the post was transacted. Numerous other houses besides those we have ventured to describe, or to which allusion has been made, are scattered about Cambridge, bearing un- mistakable indications of extreme old age. Others, decked externally with the embellishments of modern modes, betray within marks of the far distant period in which they were constructed. Many of them may still possess a history, could we discover it, but for the most part this has passed with the memory of their inmates into oblivion. Were we familiar with the vicissi- tudes that have chanced beneath their roofs, we should find ample food for wisdom and instruction, while the story of a few of them might sound Ai Ti:u-(.i.r:A\ixGS. 43 too much like romance to he hchcved. Even wliere no stirrinrj incidents have (listurhed the even tenor of existence, anion;; the innumeral)le caravan that in the centuries have come and gone, tliere has heon no douht variety enough. IJriiles in their closets, widows in their weeds, patriarchs hy winter hearths living on recollection, youth taking their departure in pur- suit of fortune or glory, how many now in their prime in the full flush of manhood would have especial interest in those forgotten memories could they hut he revived ! Whoever indeetl takes into view what a single human life actually signi- fies, or is sulliciently courageous to group the incidents of his own, will admit that occurrences seemingly trivial are often the reverse. Happiness and adversity assume diverse forms, and the heart may sound all the family Mrs. Wells is a dauijlitor. On either sitlc of the fireplaee are (i(('[) recesses, through that on th*; right a door opening into the sjiaeious dining- room beyond. The panelled wood work round the room has this pemliaritv, that it extends some live feet from the ground. Deep low window seats, eomfortably cushioned, afford pleasant glimpses of the foliage of many varieties around. On the doors are brasses of the most brilliant lustre, from the Hancock House on Beacon HiU. Back of tlie drawing and opposite the dining room is another large apart- ment with an agreeable outlook over the grounds. In it stands the table on which General Lee signed his surrender at Appomattox Court House. It had been manufactured by a soldier out of a deal box sent from the Sani- tary to camp with supplies, and varnished makes a very handsome article of furniture. It was used in his tent, by Gen. Griflin, iu command of the division to which the soldier belonged, serving double duty for daily repasts and literary work. Being at hand when needed for that most auspicious event in the history of our republic, which put an end, we hope forever, to civil strife, the table has acquired a value as a relic not likely to grow less. The rooms above on two lloors are large and cheery, retaining whatever was elegant in the fashion of old, the only peculiarity of construction being tliat instead of window seats as below, the panelling rises to form before the windows shelves for jilants or .similar purposes. On the third lloor tlic rooms look particularly spacious fiom their low stud, a tall man not being able more than to stand erect beneath the beams, Init they are very cosy and pleasant to behold, and when the early sun ^xiurs in through the many win to enter, contrast with the airy and elegant staircase and hall which appear to date from a much later period. The Apthorp and AVilliam Wintlirop houses should also have been described.