England. A letter giving an account of this voyage and describing the country visited, was first printed in Italian in 1556. It was embraced in a collection of voyages published by Giovanni (or Giambattista) Ramusio, a distinguished Italian author, Secretary of the Council of Venice, ambassador and traveller, who died in 1557. This letter described a voyage along the Atlantic coast from latitude 31° to 50°. Accepted as authentic, as the relation of an actual voyage of discovery, it has formed a part of early history, unquestioned in its genuineness, for a period of more than three hundred years, and Verrazano has been spoken of by all historians as the earliest French explorer of our coast, and possibly the first to enter New York bay. In 1863 the late Mr. Buckingham Smith, while U. S. Consul to one of the ports near Madrid, and while engaged in investigations concerning early Spanish voyages to America, the results of which were published after his death in the elegant edition of his Relation of Cabeca de Vaca;" discovered in the Spanish archives documents, which led him to hold serious doubts as to the authenticity of this narrative generally attributed to Verrazano. The results of his inquiries were embodied by Mr. Smith in a paper read before the New York Historical Society in 1864, and printed in that year. This was followed in 1871 by a paper read before the American Geographical Society by Mr. J. Carson Brevoort, who took the opposite view of the subject, maintaining the genuineness of the Verrazano letter, and defending its authority with great skill, learning and ingenuity. Four years later the Hon. Henry C. Murphy, in a work devoted to the Voyage of Verrazano [New York, 1875, 8vo. pp. 198], gave his reasons for believing the letter a fabrication "introduced by Ramusio into his collection without proper scrutiny." This fraudulent or spurious letter is by no one of these learned investigators attributed to Verrazano, but to some one of his countrymen anxious to secure for Italy the glory more credibly belonging to Estevan Gomez, a Portuguese, who went as chief pilot with Magellan and has the credit of visiting the coast of Carolina in 1525. The above named monographs were reviewed in the REGISTER [Vol XXX. p. 130] for January, 1876, by the Rev. Edmund F. Slafter, in which the various points brought under discussion to prove the spurious nature of the letter, were very understandingly stated, and the conclusions of Mr. Murphy emphatically endorsed. At this point in the controversy regarding the authenticity of the Verrazano letter, the author of the elaborate monograph under notice came forward with a modest little sixteen page tract, so small as to have hardly been noticed but by the most painstaking reader and collector, entitled Verrazano: A Motion for the Stay of Judgment, reprinted from the columns of a local newspaper, and published anonymously. From that time (1876), Mr. De Costa seems to have made this letter and voyage the subject of prolonged special investigation and study-not only by an examination of all sources of information in our own country, but by a diligent study of the treasures of foreign archives. As in his "Stay of Judgment" Mr. De Costa brings an acute insight and rare knowledge of early American explorations to bear upon the subject, showing the weaknesses of the charges made against the letter, so in this last and more full examination does he carry out in the minutest detail the careful scrutiny of the unprejudiced, impartial historian, but a historian who thoroughly believes in the true theory of his case. making up this unique volume are as follows: I. The Letter of Verrazano; II. The Voyage of Verrazano; III. The Verrazano Map: IV. The Globe of Vipius. They have previously appeared in the pages of the Magazine of American History, and are therefore well known to historical students, who will doubly prize them in the completed form in which they now appear. We need not go over in detail the ground traversed. It is sufficient to say that each chapter displays the ripe scholarship, patient investigation, faithfulness to detail, and abundant fairness and impartiality which have ever characterized whatever Mr. De Costa has trusted to public judgment. If all cannot agree with him that the voyage, and letter, and map, are fully established and vindicated as historic realities, severally supported as true after the severest tests, we are sure no unprejudiced, intelligent reader who has carefully followed Mr. De Costa through pages so abundantly fortified by ample historic illus tration and reference, but will say he has made out a wonderfully strong case, one which is an honor to historic inquiry, and upon which he may safely rest his claims to high recognition as a judicious, painstaking, careful and accurate interpreter of difficult historical problems.

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The essays

Much may be said in praise of the attractive style in which the work is issued, and the interesting illustrations that embellish it. The paper is heavy, the margin liberal, the edges uncut. There are two portraits, four large maps, a map of the Vlpius globe of 1542, and five smaller illustrations (maps, autographs, inscriptions,

etc.) in the text. The larger illustrations are very finely executed, and add greatly to the value of the work. As an Introduction we have a Bibliography of Verrazano, which gives a very satisfactory resume of the entire controversy, with complete references to all that has been published from 1556 to 1881. It may be explained that in transcribing the title we use the date of the regular title-page (1880) rather than that of the cover, which is 1881, though as matter of fact we believe the work was not issued until 1882.

By Samuel L. Boardman, Esq., of Augusta, Me.

Memorial of Henry Wolcott, one of the first Settlers of Windsor, Connecticut, and of some of his Descendants. By SAMUEL WOLCOTT. Printed for Private Distribution. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph and Company. 1881. 4to. pp. xviii.+439.

One of the most sumptuous volumes to be found in the department of American family history and genealogy, is the Wolcott Memorial. The chief facts pertaining to the origin of the volume are as follows. Many years since, J. Huntington Wolcott of Boston, Frederick H. Wolcott of New York city, and Charles M. Wolcott of Fishkill, N. Y. (brothers, and sons of Judge Frederick Wolcott, formerly of Litchfield, Conn.), commissioned their kinsman, George Gibbs, Esq., of New York city, to prepare a work of this general character. He had commenced the task, had gathered to a considerable extent the materials to form a book, when, removing to Oregon, the editorial care of the compilation was passed over to Rev. Samuel Wolcott, D.D., now of Cleveland, Ohio. He had previously been the helper of Mr. Gibbs in the gathering of the family records, and understood thoroughly the purposes and aims of the proposed volume. After many years from the inception of the enterprise, the work now appears in such solid richness of paper, letter-press, family engravings and binding as makes it a delight to the eye and the mind. The delay has given time for the gradual embellishment and correction of the text, until the work is in all respects as nearly perfect as time, money, artistic skill and scholarship could make it. Only 300 copies of the book were published, and none of these were for sale. About sixty of them have been given to the leading public libraries of the country, and the others were set apart for individuals, generally of the family kindred.

The work is very properly called a Memorial. It is not designed to be a full genealogy of the Wolcott family in America, and yet it is quite largely genealogical, and the lines which are traced are given with great exactness and care. Nor is it designed to contain a complete and continuous family history. Some of the prominent members of the family, men who have honorably filled high public stations, have their records presented with a good degree of fullness. Though the book is of large and generous proportions, yet the field to be traversed was so extended that the narrative had, of necessity, to be limited and fragmentary.

Henry Wolcott, the carliest American ancestor of the family, was one of the chief men of the Warham and Maverick company that came to the Massachusetts Bay in the opening summer of 1630, and established itself first at Dorchester. The spot is yet pointed out in Dorchester where Henry Wolcott had his home during the few years of his stay in that town. In 1635 the purpose was formed for the removal of the company from Dorchester to Windsor, Connecticut, and during that and the following year this purpose was carried into effect. This company numbered many honorable men, but no one among them was of higher family rank, according to English ideas of dignity, than Henry Wolcott. Better, however, than mere rank was his truly noble christian character, making him worthy to be the father of a high, strong, manly race. The generations from this founder which have trod the American soil through the two hundred and fifty years that have now passed, have retained to a remarkable degree the strength, the dignity and force which characterized their early progenitors.

A most notable man of this stock in the early years, was Roger Wolcott, born in 1679, son of Simon and Martha (Pitkin) Wolcott, and grandson of the founder. Simon Wolcott with his large family moved from the west to the east side of Connecticut River, afterwards the town of East Windsor, in 1680, when the boy Roger was only a year old. Here every thing was new. For some years after this there was no school or church on this territory, and the child grew to be a youth without ever attending school a day in his life. Yet such were the home influences and such the native force and genius of the boy, that he rose by degrees to be one of the most conspicuous figures on the New England stage. Beginning with the humble but hon

orable office of selectman, he passed on rapidly to be justice of the peace; representative to the General Assembly; commissary of the Connecticut stores in the expedition against Canada in 1711; member of the Governor's Council; Judge of the County Court; one of the Judges of the Superior Court; Deputy Governor of the Colony of Connecticut; Chief Justice of the Superior Court; commander of the Connecticut troops in the expedition against Cape Breton in 1745, when he received his commission as Major General of the Army; and last of all he was chosen Colonial Governor in 1750, in his seventy-second year. Yet this man, passing through this long gradation of offices and honors, was, in no sense, an office seeker, but rather a humble and devout christian, loving retirement and religious meditation; rejoicing when the day at last came that he could lay aside these public trusts and enjoy the quiet of his home. Withal he was a writer upon the public topics of that day, and one of the subjects which engaged his pen was a plea for the liberty of the Congregational Churches as against the oppressive features of the Saybrook Platform. Moreover, he was a poet of no mean parts for that period. He wrote poems, long and short, in which he showed that his ear was attuned to numbers. He died at the great age of eighty-nine.

We have dwelt somewhat at length upon this man, for we regard him as one of the most remarkable personages of the early New England generations.

He was not only great in himself, but he was the father of a noted family. Among his sons were Oliver Wolcott, member of the Continental Congress, and signer of the Declaration, as also Governor of Connecticut; Erastus Wolcott, Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut, and Brigadier General in the War of the Revolution; and Alexander Wolcott, a distinguished physician and surgeon, prominent by his services in the revolutionary army. One of the daughters, Ursula Wolcott, married Matthew Griswold, Governor of Connecticut, and a son of hers was Roger Griswold, also Governor of the state, besides filling almost every high public office in the gift of the people.

Coming down to later generations, we have a second Oliver Wolcott, son of the first, Governor of the state, member of Congress, &c. The youngest brother of the last named was Judge Frederick Wolcott, who died at Litchfield, Conn., in 1837, father of the three honorable gentlemen through whose munificence we have the beautiful volume before us. We might mention other distinguished names, but we must forbear. Enough has been said to show that this is not a work of vainglory, but is the record of a family which, by its distinguished merits, is worthy of this rich setting.

The ancestral home of this family for several generations was, as already implied, at East Windsor. Ct., chiefly in that part of the town now known as South Windsor. The first Oliver Wolcott, son of Gov. Roger, removed to Litchfield, Conn., after he came to man's estate, and several of the honored persons mentioned in the foregoing narrative, belong, by birth and education, to Litchfield. During this present century the name has gone out, both from East Windsor and Litchfield, in various directions and to distant parts of the country.

It is a noticeable fact that while the Ellsworth family constituted the most honored household in that part of the ancient Windsor lying upon the west side of the Connecticut River, the Wolcott family held that position on the east side, where it was, for many years, intimately associated with the Rev. Timothy Edwards and his large family, including his illustrious son Jonathan. Gov. Roger Wolcott and his children were parishioners of Mr. Edwards, and were among the most devout and church-going people of his large flock.

By the Rev. Increase N. Tarbox, D.D., of Newton, Mass.

The Horticulture of Boston and Vicinity. By MARSHALL P. WILDER. Boston: Tolman & White, Printers. 1881. 8vo. pp. 85. Privately Printed.

The long life of our venerable president has been marked through its whole course by a series of good works, the one following the other as year succeeded year; but it will be difficult to point out anything that he has done where he has more successfully combined the utile with the dulce, than he has in his late work entitled The Horticulture of Boston and the Vicinity; written for the "Memorial History of Boston."

Here he has furnished us with a chronological list of all the gardeners and of all the gardens from Governor Endicot down, including so many famous names that one is inclined to disbelieve the oft-repeated assertion as to the starched and crabbed

Winthrop, Blackstone, Dudley, Sewall, Hutchinson and Bowdoin, were all lovers and cultivators of choice fruits and flowers, and after them comes a long list of names that have been household words for the last four generations in and around Boston. It is fortunate also that we have ocular demonstration of the truth of what we read, for Smibert, Blackburn and Copley were all lovers of fruit and flowers, and frequently introduced them into the portraits of the beauties of their times.

The whole book, to those of us who remember vividly some of the best gardens of fifty years ago, is most interesting, and to future horticulturists will be of inestimable value. The style, too, is redolent with the freshness of the early summer morning, the beautiful sky, the velvet grass, the glint of running water, the growing fruits, and the enchanting flowers, are here brought before us as the work of a brain that has a vital enthusiasm for them, and that has worked for and among them with a real labor of love.

I fancy many of us rise from the perusal of this work feeling as the poet Marvill did when he says

66

Ripe apples drop about my head,

The luscious clusters of the vine

Upon my mouth do crush their wine.
The nectarine and curious peach
Into my hands themselves do reach.
Stumbling on melons as I pass,

Insnared with flowers I fall on grass."

By Augustus T. Perkins, A.M., of Boston.

Chicago Antiquities, Comprising original Relations, Letters and Notes pertaining to Early Chicago. Embellished with Views, Portraits, Autographs, &c. By HENRY HURLBUT. Chicago: Printed for the Author. 1881. 8vo. pp. 673. Price, $7.50. Address Miss Hattie Hurlbut, 44 So. Ann Street, Chicago, Ill.

The title " Antiquities" seems strange enough when we remember that it applies to a city whose most remote antiquity is covered by a century, and our surprise broadens to a smile when we pass to the first illustration, which is no less than the picture of Mrs. Whistler, a venerable and sprightly lady of 88 years, who was still living (1875) in Newport, Kentucky. Mrs. W. was born in Salem, Mass., in 1787. Her maiden name was Julia Ferson. She married, in 1802, Lieut. William Whistler, of the U. S. Army, and when in 1803 his father, Capt. John Whistler, was sent with his company to build a fort (Fort Dearborn) on the present site of Chicago, the young bride of sixteen years accompanied the soldier-pioneers and was thus one of the first founders and settlers. A picture of Lieut. Whistler follows on next page, and a short sketch of the Whistler family, preceded however by a few Extracts of the early laws of the City, and a City Register and Business Direc tory for 1839" forms a fitting prelude to the whole work. The author clearly states in the Introduction that he intends the "* compilation of a series of pamphlets relating to the early history of Chicago," and his whole work is so far from the usual stereotyped form of histories, and so almost audaciously unique in style and arrangement, that you must stop from time to time and remember that it is made in the west, and compiled with true western freedom, in order to appreciate its excellent points. A vast number of old MSS. Schedules, Lists of Names, Autographs, Sketches of eminent Men and their families, Celebrated Indians, their Wars and Treaties, Portraits, Maps and Plates, all which, connected with a racy, running commentary from a free and easy pen, make up the body of the work, and furnish one of the most entertaining and at the same time valuable historical books yet published. It is executed in the best style of typographical art; and best of all, this great storehouse of historical and genealogical information is rendered readily available by an excellent index, the lack of which has spoiled so many otherwise really valuable works.

By the Rev. George M. Bodge, of Dorchester, Mass.

Princeton Theological Seminary General Catalogue, 1881. Trenton, N. J.: William S. Sharp, Printer and Stereotyper. 1881. Royal 8vo. pp. 330.

The Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, is only three or four years younger than that at Andover. The whole number of candidates for the ministry who have pursued their studies at this institution since its commencement in 1812, has been 3464. To compass such a multitude of men, telling the places and dates of their birth, the collèges where they were graduated, their previous oc

cupations, their subsequent places of settlement, their honorary degrees and the names of the colleges that conferred them, the dates and places of death for such as are deceased-this is a task of the most enormous proportions. Yet this is what is attempted in this weighty compend, and successfully accomplished._Not that everything is absolutely perfect. It is impossible that it should be so. But the work is so grand in its proportions, and so full and accurate in its details, that its issue marks, in some sense, a new era in the way of catalogue making. There are some new features in this work. As it was deemed desirable to present the names of all who have been connected with the institution-even those whose stay was very short-the date pointing to each man is not the date of his graduation, but of his entrance or matriculation. The length of time each one was severally connected with the seminary, and whether or not he was graduated, is briefly indicated in the course of his record.

We have had excellent general catalogues of some of our seminaries before this. The Divinity School of New Haven published one several years ago, remarkably full and accurate. The Union Theological Seminary in New York city has furnished one of a high order. Andover has had a creditable Triennial Catalogue in years past, and will have a far better one, it is to be hoped, when its present enterprise in this line is completed. Auburn Seminary in New York is also at work upon one that will, without doubt, do honor to its compilers. The Hartford Theological Seminary has just issued a very good General Catalogue. But, at this writing, it must be conceded that this catalogue of Princeton bears the palm. And we can say this without saying that the system on which it is constructed is better than others. Upon this point we confess to some doubts; while we cannot doubt as to the immense industry and patience by which this work has been done, nor its exceeding value to all who are engaged in lines of ecclesiastical investigation. By the Rev. Increase N. Tarbox, D.D., of Newton.

Foxborough's Official Centennial Record, Saturday, June 29, 1878. Published by authority of the Town Centennial Committee. 1879. 8vo. pp. 248.

The town of Foxborough completed, June 29, 1878, one hundred years of its municipal life. It is eminently appropriate and fitting that the words spoken on that day should be preserved in a permanent form. The volume before us not only serves as a souvenir of that interesting event, but furnishes material which will some time be a basis for a good town history. Many valuable facts in regard to the past are bere brought together, and much information hinted at, which can be developed and enlarged upon in after time.

་་

This publication contains an account of the preliminary steps taken by the committee to render the celebration a success. The names of the various sub-committees, the order of exercises, and a full account of all the incidents and accidents of the occasion. From the historical address of the Hon. E. P. Carpenter we learn that the modern town of Foxboro' was carved from the towns of Wrentham, Walpole, Stoughton and Stoughtonham, in earlier days the southerly division of the South Precinct of Dorchester. The struggles of the early settlers to provide religious and secular education are duly noted. The early land grants are defined, and the gradual growth of its industries and manufactures vividly portrayed. The poet of the day, the Rev. J. T. Pettee, of West Meriden, Conn., gave a pleasing narration, in easy, flowing style, of local events, and the poem is well worth reading, as Horace would say, ten times repeated." Within the covers of this book is an address, delivered in 1877, by the gentleman who gave the historical address, in which the record of the soldiers during the Revolution is displayed, and historic and traditionary light thrown where darkness before existed; also a list of those who fought for their country in the late rebellion is added. Unfortunately no map or index is issued with this book-sad omissions, but there are illustrations which will preserve the form of many an old-time building, and the face of Charles James Fox, for whom the town was named, has been given a prominent place in the book.

By Daniel T. V. Huntoon, Esq., of Canton, Mass.

Annals of King's Chapel, from the Puritan Age of New England to the Present Day. By HENRY WILDER FOOTE. In Two Volumes. Volume I. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1882. 8vo. pp. xviii.+551.

"This work," the Rev. Mr. Foote informs us in his preface, "owes its origin to