bute Downing, a puritan divine. This error is probably chargeable to honest Anthony Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses.

Another mistake is found in the famous Andrew Marvell. Among his works is "A seasonable argument to persuade all the grand juries of England to petition for a new parliament; or a list of the principal laborers in the great design of popery and arbitrary power, who have betrayed their country to the conspirators, and bargained with them to maintain a standing army in England, under the command of the bigotted popish [Duke] who by the assistance of the L.L's [Lord Lauderdale's] Scotch army, the forces in Ireland, and those in France, hopes to bring all back to Rome" Amsterdam, 1677. This curious tract contains a list of the members of the commons, arranged under the several counties in alphabetical order, with some account of the rewards to each for his service to the court. Our son of the first days at Harvard College is thus mentioned: "Northumberland. Morpeth. Sir George Downing, a poor child, bred upon charity; like Judas, betrayed his master. What then can his country expect? He drew and advised the oath of renouncing the king's family, and took it first himself. For his honesty, fidelity, &c. rewarded by his majesty with 80,000 pounds at least, and is a commissioner of the customs, the house bell to cal! the courtiers to vote at six o'clock at night, an Exchequer teller."

Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses, Vol. II. 27, in the account of Calybute Downing LL. D. who died 1644, says, "This Dr. Cal. Downing was father to a son of his own temper named George, a sider with all times and changes, well skilled in the common cant, and a preacher sometimes to boot, a man of note in Oliver's days, as having been by him sent resident to the Lord's States General of the United Provinces, a soldier in Scotland, and at length ScoutMaster General there, and a burgess for several corporations in that kingdom, in parliaments that began there in 1654 and 56. Upon a foresight of his majesty King Charles II. his restoration, he wheeled about, took all opportunities to show his loyalty, was elected burgess for Morpeth in Northumberland, to serve in that parliament begun at Westminister, 8th May, 1661, was about that time sent envoy extraordinary into Holland, where to show his zeal and love for his majesty, he seized on three regicides at Delft named John Barkstead, John Okey, and Miles Corbet, whom he forthwith sent into England to receive the reward of the gallows. Afterwards being made secretary to the treasury and one of his

majesty's commissioners of the customs, was by the name of Sir George Downing of East Hatley in Cambridgeshire, Knight, created a baronet on the first of July 1663." In the same Vol. p. 758-9, Wood repeats the story of Sir George's service in seizing the regicides at an alehouse in Delft in the beginning of March, 1661, and in conclusion quotes the passage above from Marvell.

Now we know, that, being son of Emanuel Downing, and nephew of Governor Winthrop, he was not a poor child, bred upon charity, as the indignation of Marvell represents. However undeserving of approbation his political character may be, which is fairly represented, I imagine, by Hutchinson I. p. 107, in the most amusing note of his history, his powers of rendering himself useful by aptitude for affairs of state, and great assiduity in business, could alone gain him the high employments which Oliver Cromwell bestowed. He was employed in negotiations with the Duke of Savoy in 1653, and at home in business of the army, and was specially chosen member of parliament in 1656 for the protector's purposes, from the Scotch borough of Haddington in Scotland under Monk's instructions. But his great services for Oliver and the succeeding brief administrations was as minister in Holland, 1657-8, very abundant evidence of which is in Thurloe's State Papers, especially Vol. VII.

By the recently published Memoirs of Pepys, who was in Downing's office, at first, as a clerk, it appears that in the anarchy of 1659 the crafty politician was at home, near the Exchequer; and went over, in the most important juncture, end of January, 1660, to wait for events at the Hague. He was knighted a week before the restoration. Of the arrest of the regicides, Pepys writes in his Diary, 1662, March 12, "this morning we had news, that Sir G. Downing (like a perfidious rogue, though the action is good and of service to the king, yet he cannot with a good conscience do it) hath taken Okey, Corbet, and Barkstead at Delft in Holland, and sent them home in the Blackmore. Sir W. Penn, talking to me this afternoon of what a strange thing it is for Downing to do this, he told me of a speech he made to the Lord's States of Holland, telling them to their faces that he observed that he was not received with the respect and observance that he was when he came from the traitor and rebel Cromwell; by whom, I am sure, he hath got all he hath in the world, and they know it too." Vol. I. pp. 134-5. He adds, under the date of 17th, mentioning the arrival of the prisoners, "the captain tells me, the Dutch were a good

while before they could be persuaded to let them go, they being taken prisoners in their land. But Sir G. Downing would not be answered so; though all the world takes notice of him for a most ungrateful villain for his pains."

Pepys, probably, knew Downing's origin, but his noble editor, Lord Braybrooke has repeated the story about Cal. Downing being his father. We need not be surprised at this, for Hutchinson has not given any genealogy, and a relative of Downing, the late William Winthrop of Cambridge, in his catalogue of Harvard College, MS. belonging to the Historical Society, prolongs the delusion of Wood.

I may be excused for extending this note by farther extracts from one who knew him so well as Pepys: "1667, May 27. The new commissioners of the treasury have chosen Sir G. Downing for their secretary; and I think in my conscience they have done a great thing in it; for he is active and a man of business, and values himself upon having of things do well under his hand; so that I am mightily pleased in their choice." Vol. II. p. 58.

"1668, December 27. Met with Sir G. Downing, and walked with him an hour talking of business, and how the late war was managed, there being nobody to take care of it; and he telling, when he was in Holland, what he offered the king to do if he might have power, and then upon the least word, perhaps of a woman, to the king, he was contradicted again, and particularly to the loss of all that we lost in Guinea. He told me that he had so good spies, that he hath had the keys taken out of De Witt's pocket when he was abed, and his closet opened and papers brought to him and left in his hands for an hour, and carried back and laid in the place again, and the keys put into his pocket again. He says he hath always had their most private debates, that have been but between two or three of the chief of them, brought to him in an hour after, and an hour after that hath sent word thereof to the king." Vol. II. p. 291.

A note to Bliss's edition of Wood mentions an epithalamium in 1654, in nuptias viri vere honoratissimi Georgii Downingi, campo exploratoris generalissimi, &c. et vere nobilissimæ Franciscæ Howardi equitis aurati et sororis illustrissimi Caroli Howardi de Naworth in Com. Cumbræi, &c. This marriage probably extended his influence very much. His son, Sir George, married Catharine, eldest daughter of James, Earl of Salisbury. Their son, Sir George, grandson of the youth mentioned in our text, was in three

different parliaments, 1710, 1713, and 1727, and dying in 1747 without issue, left the most splendid perpetuation of his name, by a bequest for the foundation of a college at Cambridge, incorporated in 1800, by the name of Downing College, on a more liberal foundation than any other at that renowned university. See Dyer's History of the University of Cambridge, Vol. II. 440-447. The amount of the bequest is now valued at more than 150,000 pounds.

Our Governor Bradstreet married a sister of Downing, and kept up a correspondence with him. But in our country, which harboured and favored three of the regicides so many years, he, who betrayed, or at least seized in a foreign land, three others, with one of whom he had served, could hardly expect greater favour than such conduct deserves. [Winthrop's Journal, by Mr. Savage, II.

pp. 240-243, note.]

3. John Bulkley. He was son of the Rev. Peter Bulkley, D. D., the first minister of Concord, Massachusetts, who was of a very reputable family, and had been much esteemed for his learning and piety in England. After having taken his degree at Harvard College he went to England, and was a settled minister at Fordham, in Essex; from whence he was ejected in 1662, retired to Wapping, in London, and practised physic with success. — [Hutchinson's Hist. I. p. 111.; Farmer's Hist. Coll. II. p. 184, and Genealogical Register, art. Bulkley; Shattuck's History of Concord.]

4. Wlliam Hubbard. In the book of "Wonder-working Providences," mention is made of William Hubbard, one of the representatives in the General Court, from the town of Ipswich. It is said, he was among the most able speakers in the assembly 1637. One gentleman from Salem was allowed to be more fluent, but none more solid and argumentative. This gentleman is supposed to have been father to the subject of this article, who was teacher of the church in Ipswich till his death. The year of his ordination I have never been able to obtain; the records of the church of Ipswich not being preserved. His gravestone is not to be found, and none of the present generation can recollect much about him. The oldest men in the town, who tell of those former divines that were contemporary, such as Rogers, Norton, Cobbet, &c., whose manner of preaching they have heard their fathers describe, have no impressions made upon their minds of the character of Mr. Hubbard, who certainly was for many years the most eminent minister in the county of Essex; equal to any in the province for learning and candour, and superior to all his contemporaries as a writer. Per

haps he was not so fervent a preacher as some. He might want a voice and manner, or that animation in the pulpit which some preachers have, and which will be more talked of, than the still sound of wisdom. Or perhaps he lived too long for his reputation. When a man's life is cut short in the midst of his days and usefulness, the excellencies of his name and character are the subjects of remark for many generations. If another continues to old age, and mental imbecilities succeed the more vigorous intellect, he is remembered only in the last stage of life, and he drops into the grave without emotions of sorrow. His name is seldom mentioned in the neighbourhood where he dwelt; but those at a distance, who have heard of his fame when he appeared upon the stage with engaging virtue, or read his works with delight, wish to know what were the more minute parts of his character.

Whether these observations apply generally or not, they certainly apply to the subject of this memoir. He has been quoted by all who give accounts of New-England, but few, very few notices of him are in the records of the town, where he spent his days.*

In the year 1676 Mr. Hubbard preached the election sermon, which is among the very good ones published during that century. He was one of the seventeen ministers who bore testimony against the old church in Boston, when they settled Mr. Davenport; also, when the General Assembly approved of the act of the First Church, and censured the proceedings of the Third Church, commonly called the Old South. The division excited upon this occasion interested the passions of the people at large, so as to give a new complexion to publick affairs. Most of the deputies, who had so severely censured the brethren who built the Old South church, for their spirit of innovation, and leaving the good old path of their fathers, were left out, and new members chosen. The town of Ipswich took an active part in this matter; and Mr. Hubbard's influence had considerable effect upon their proceedings.

In 1682, Mr. Hubbard is brought to view as the historian of Massachusetts. He received some reward from the public for his useful work. The following vote is copied from the records of the General Court, October 11.

"Whereas it hath been thought necessary and a duty incumbent upon us, to take due notice of all occurrences and passages of God's providence towards the people of this jurisdiction, since their

* See Mr. Frisbie's Letters, Hist. Coll. X. p. 35.