Volume 1 — NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

The American Loyalists, or Biographical Sketches of Adherents to the British Crown in the War of the Revolution; alphabetically arranged; with a preliminary Historical Essay. By James Sabine. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown. MDCCCXLVII.

Mr. Sabine, it is believed, is a merchant at Eastport, Me., but still has been in the habit of composing for the press. He has written articles for the North American Review, and is the author of the Memoir of Commodore Preble in Prof. Sparks's American Biography.

The subject of his present work is both novel and interesting, and one upon which we are too ignorant. The most intelligent and best informed among us have but little knowledge of the names and characters of the Loyalists, or Tories of the Revolution, (probably twenty thousand in number,) and of the reasons which influenced, of the hopes and fears which agitated, and of the rewards or miseries which awaited them. Separated from their homes and kindred, outlaws, wanderers, and exiles, they have left but few memorials to their posterity. The difficult task of collecting and arranging fragmentary events and incidents relating to them, scattered here and there, we think the author has succeeded admirably in accomplishing. We find among the sketches, notices of many distinguished and influential men, and while some were notorious for their want of principle, there were many who, we cannot doubt, were true and honest in espousing the cause of the mother country. Then, though we cannot justify any, let us not censure all. "The winners in the Revolutionary strife are now twenty millions; and, strong, rich, and prosperous, can afford to speak of the losers in terms of moderation."

The Historical Essay, containing one hundred and fourteen pages, which precedes the "Biographical Sketches," indicates much acquaintance with the Revolution and its causes, and is very valuable and highly appropriate.

The work makes a handsome volume of 733 pages, and is well worthy of being perused, and of a place in the library of the historian.

A Genealogical and Biographical Sketch of the Name and Family of Stetson; from the year 1634 to the year 1847. By John Stetson Barry. "Virtus nobilitat omnia." Boston: Printed for the author by William A. Hall & Co. 1847.

The name of Stetson is spelt differently in old records; as Stitson, Sturtson, Studson, Stedson, Stutson, and Stetson. The last is the usual method of spelling the name, though some families spell it Stutson. The first of the name and the ancestor of all in this country was Robert Stetson, commonly called Cornet Robert, because he was Cornet of the first horse company raised in Plymouth colony, Ms., in the year 1658 or '9. He settled in Scituate, Ms., in the year 1634, but it is not known satisfactorily whence he originated, though tradition says he came from the county of Kent, England.

Among his descendants are many who have held offices of trust and responsibility, and who have stood high in public esteem.

The pamphlet contains 116 pages, and gives a pretty full account of the Stetson family. We hope it will be an additional incentive to others to prepare memorials of their ancestors.

An Oration delivered before the New England Society in the city of New York, December 22, 1846. By Charles W. Upham. New York: Published by John S. Taylor, Brick Church Chapel, 151 Nassau Street. 1847.

This is an excellent address, written in a clear, graceful, and forcible manner. After describing the influences, both in the Old World and in the New, which were at work, and the combination of which resulted in the advent of our fathers to these desert shores, the orator remarks upon the Puritans, and the chief elements of their character and the result of their labors. The blessings of a free government and religious liberty are largely descanted upon, and the address closes as follows: "If the sons of New England rear the school-house and the church wherever they select their homes; if they preserve the reliance upon their own individual energies, the love of knowledge, the trust in Providence, the spirit of patriotic faith and hope, which made its most barren regions blossom and become fruitful around their fathers, then will the glorious vision of those fathers be realized, and the Continent rejoice, in all its latitudes and from sea to sea, in the blessings of freedom and education, of peace and prosperity, of virtue and religion."

A Sermon preached at Northwood, N. H., March 12, 1847, on the death of Dea. Simon Batchelder. By Elliot C. Cogswell, Pastor of the Congregational Church. Published by request. Concord: Printed by Morrill, Silsby, & Co. 1847.

The text on which this discourse is founded is contained in Acts viii: 2. "And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him." It is divided into six heads. When the good man dies the people of God lose, 1. His society. 2. His sympathy. 3. His counsels. 4. His prayers. 5. His coöperation. 6. His admonitions. The subject is well treated, and the language affectionate and appropriate. Dea. Batchelder was born, March 5, 1758. He was the son of Davis Batchelder of Northampton, who moved to Northwood about 1770; who married, 1. Mary Taylor of Hampton, by whom he had four children; 2. Ruth Palmer; and 3. a Widow Marston; by whom, (the last two wives,) he had fourteen children, four of whom survive. Dea. Batchelder at the age of eighteen enlisted in the war of the Revolution, in 1776, and served in Capt. Adams's company and Col. Poor's regiment at Winter Hill in Charlestown, Newport, R. I., and Ticonderoga, N. Y. April 4, 1778, he married Rachel Johnson, daughter of Benjamin Johnson, with whom he lived about fifty-two years, she dying Jan. 5, 1830, aged 73. By her he had seven children, five of whom still survive. He died March 10, 1847, aged 89 years and 5 days.

A Discourse delivered before the Rhode Island Historical Society, on the evening of Wednesday, January 13, 1847. By Hon. Job Durfee, Chief-Justice of Rhode Island. Published at the request of the Society. Providence: Charles Burnett, Jr. 1847.

The subject of this discourse is "Rhode Island's Idea of Government." Judge Durfee speaks of the "origin of this idea—of the various forms which it took in its progress towards its realization in that state, in minds of much diversity of character and creed; and of that 'lively experiment,' which it subsequently held forth, that 'a most flourishing civil state may stand, and be best maintained, with a full liberty in religious concernments'—a liberty which implied an emancipation of reason from the thraldom of arbitrary authority, and the full freedom of inquiry in all matters of speculative faith."

Though to the founders of Rhode Island, and particularly to Roger Williams, belong the fame and glory of having realized this idea in the form of a civil government, they were by no means the first to maintain it. Long before the Reformation it originated among the Waldenses in the valleys of Piedmont, and by means of the crusade against them by Innocent III., it was spread far and wide. The Reformation and the coming of the Puritans to America tended to confirm it, but never was it fully realized till Roger Williams and his followers came to "the forest-shaded banks of the Mooshausic," and established a government on the principle that "the State has no right to interfere between conscience and God."

After dwelling largely on the early history and influence of Rhode Island, the author passes to the time of the Revolution. We find that this little state, though royally armed in her Charter, stood among the foremost in the great struggle for independence. She was the first to direct her officers to disregard the Stamp Act, and to assure them indemnity for so doing; the first to recommend the permanent establishment of a Continental Congress; the first to adopt the Articles of Confederation; the first to brave royalty in arms; the first to enact and declare independence; the first to establish a naval armament of her own; and the first to recommend to Congress the establishment of a Continental Navy. The oration closes with an eloquent appeal to preserve the history and early records of the State. Appended is a Poem by Sarah Helen Whitman, recited before the Rhode Island Historical Society, previous to the delivery of the address.

A Sketch of the History of Newbury, Newburyport, and West Newbury, from 1635 to 1845. By Joshua Coffin, A. B. S. H. S.

Boston: Published by Samuel G. Drake, No. 56 Cornhill. Printed by George Coolidge. 1845.

This is an exceedingly valuable and highly interesting work, and appears to have been written with great labor, and con amore. The author seems, as he says, "to have made a broad distinction between fact and tradition, and to have related nothing as fact, which he did not believe to be true." The representation of the character of the inhabitants of Newbury and their transactions, we think is accurately given, and seems to have been given "sine ira, sine studio." Copious extracts are made from the town records, and many from the church records, which latter exhibit more fully the peculiar traits of our ancestors.

The town of Newbury was originally one of the largest towns in the county, being about thirteen miles long, and about six miles broad in the widest place, and containing about thirty thousand acres, of which nearly two thousand were covered with water. In 1764 it was divided into two towns, Newbury and Newburyport, and in 1819 West Newbury was set off and incorporated as a separate town.

This volume is embellished with portraits of Dr. John Clarke, the physician in Newbury from 1637 to 1651, who died in Boston in 1664, aged 66, Chief-Justice Sewall, Rev. Mr. Whitefield, and Rev. Dr. Parish, and also with a map of the town and engravings of the old-town meeting-house which stood one hundred and six years, from 1700 to 1806, and of a house which "was infested with demons" in 1679, and where, "before the devil was chained up, the invisible hand did begin to put forth an astonishing visibility!" The Appendix, containing among other things a List of Grantees, and Genealogies of the First Settlers from 1635 to 1700, is a very important part of the work. The conclusion, comprising about fifty pages, is also valuable.

Brookline Jubilee. A Discourse delivered in Brookline, at the request of its Inhabitants, on 15 March, 1847, the day, which completed half a Century from his Ordination, by John Pierce, D. D., fifth minister of the first Congregational Church and Society in said town. Boston: James Munroe and Company. MDCCCXLVII.

The text on which this discourse is founded is in Psalm xxxvii: 25. "I have been young and now am old."

It is indeed pleasant in these "moving times," when ministers are not settled during even good behavior, but only so long as they please the fastidious taste of their people, to behold a pastor who has remained with his flock a long series of years, who stands among them, a relic of a former generation, to guide them by his counsels and guard them with his watchful care. It is alike honorable to the pastor and his people to meet in one common jubilee, to thank the bounteous Giver of all things for his mercies, and strengthen the ties which have so long bound them together. In the present case, however, not a church merely, but a whole town have united to honor one who may be regarded as their father, and whose name is identified with the town.

The sermon contains, as might be expected from Dr. Pierce, an immense amount of historical facts, some of them of a general, but most of them of a local character. The town of Brookline was incorporated Nov. 13, 1705, O. S., and the first Congregational church was gathered Oct. 26, 1717, O. S., of which Dr. Pierce is the fifth pastor. Since his settlement nearly all who were then around him have departed this life, while he, now enjoying a "green old age," stands almost alone. The discourse is very valuable for the history it contains, and is written in a candid and an affectionate manner. Appended is an exceedingly interesting account of the proceedings of the day, which was published in the Christian Register, and other papers in Boston. We regret that we have not room to insert extracts from it. Dr. Pierce will go down to the grave beloved and respected by all ministers and people who knew him, whether of his own or other denominations.

A Discourse on the Cambridge Church-Gathering in 1636; delivered in the First Church, on Sunday, February 22, 1846. By William Newell, Pastor of the First Church in Cambridge. Boston: James Munroe and Company. 1846.

The text is from Psalm xliv. 1-3. "We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days in the times of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedest them.... For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favor unto them."

This discourse contains an account of the formation of the church in Cambridge, and of some of the events preceding it, and brief notices of the principal actors. It contains also many other valuable facts. There is an appendix containing nineteen pages of great value, embracing among other things a list of the members of the church, "taken and registered in the 11 month, 1658," and brief genealogical notices of one hundred and seventeen individuals. In giving this sermon to the public, Mr. Newell has rendered an important service.