of the printing-press and the materials of the printing-office of the Massachusetts Spy, a decided Whig paper, conducted by Isaiah Thomas, founder of the American Antiquarian Society, incorporated in 1812. They were conveyed across Charles River to Lechmere Point, thence to Worcester, and deposited in the dwelling-house of Col. Bigelow, where the operations of this patriot paper were boldly executed. During the Revolution, many towns voted that they would have no slaves; and it is related of Col. Bigelow, that, when solicited to make sale of a slave whom he owned, he replied that, "while fighting for liberty, he would never be guilty of selling slaves." Col. Bigelow, then a major, was captured in the attack on Quebec, when Montgomery was killed. In 1777 he became a colonel in the continental army, and assisted in the capture of Burgoyne. He was active at Saratoga, Valley Forge, and West Point. After the war, he was appointed to the command of the national arsenal at Springfield, and died March 31, 1790, aged 51. Hon. Timothy Bigelow, the second son of six children, was born at Worcester, April 30, 1767. His elementary education was at the public school of his native town; but the perils of the war suspending school operations, he entered the office of Thomas' Spy, where he was occupied during two years, in which period Benjamin Russell was also employed in the same office. In 1778 he became a pupil of Rev. Joseph Pope, of Spencer, and was finally prepared for college under the care of Hon. Samuel Dexter. He graduated at Harvard College in 1786, and on commencement day he took part in a forensic dispute, whether religious disputation promotes the interest of true piety. Mr. Bigelow engaged in the study of law, under the guidance of Levi Lincoln, senior, at Worcester. Previous to entering college, he first engaged in classical studies under the care of Benjamin, son of Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, of Hingham. Among his fellow-companions preparing for the bar, were Judge Edward Bangs, Joseph Dennie, the essayist, and Theophilus Wheeler. The insurrection of Shays occurring in 1786, these young patriots threw aside Blackstone and the dry study of law, and shouldered their muskets, and marched to Petersham as volunteers, to thwart the treasonable designs of the reckless rebels, who were soon defeated. In 1789 Mr. Bigelow entered on the practice of law at Groton, in Massachusetts. In 1806 he removed to Medford, and practised law in Boston. He was of the State Legislature during more than twenty years. He was Speaker of the House during eleven years. He was a State Senator during four years, and of the Executive Council during two years. In the popular period of Freemasonry, Mr. Bigelow presided during two triennial terms at the head of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts; and, in that capacity, with a splendid escort of craftsmen, in the year 1808, made a journey to Portland, for the instalment of officers of the Grand Lodge of Maine. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and vice-president of the American Antiquarian Society. He was an originator of the institution of Middlesex Husbandmen. His devoted taste for horticulture prompted him to adopt a tasteful plan of ornamental gardening around his mansion at Medford, which his social spirit made the seat of hospitality, and where were exhibited domestic virtues rendering his society as desirable as his public career was eminent. He was profoundly endowed with a knowledge of theology, and was so well versed in Greek and Hebrew as to easily read the Scriptures in the original languages. In a period of political excitement, when an anonymous writer in Dr. Park's Repertory was pouring out his political philippics, inflaming the whole State, Mr. Bigelow, having a great desire to know who he was, proceeded to the printing-office, where he remarked that he was somewhat familiar with case-work, and requested leave to try his hand; on which, some manuscript copy was passed to him, when, seizing the composing-stick, he set up several lines, and immediately recognizing the hand-writing as that of the famous John Lowell, he quitted the office, rejoiced at the discovery. There are those living who remember the eminent position sustained by Mr. Bigelow, both in law and politics. They have not forgotten the manly dignity which he sustained in presiding over the Legislature of the State; nor of his remarkable memory, which enabled him to call all the seven hundred members of that house by name, on the second day after they had assembled; nor the unexampled influence which he exercised over that body during sessions of intense political excitement. They may be able to repeat a few of his brilliant sayings and admirable repartees; but this is all that can now be related of his wit, which ever shone at the bar and in the halls of legislation, and enlivened the social banquet, for which he was not excelled by any of his associates, of whom were Strong, Gore, Dexter, and Otis. A few printed orations are all that inform the present day of the clear reason, strong logic, and fervid eloquence, which marked the advocate and the politician, and which rendered his control over juries and popular gatherings almost unbounded. His exordium on the immortality of the soul, in his oration on Samuel Dana, is worthy of a divine. It should be stated, moreover, that several of his speeches and reports are to be found in the papers of the day, and may still be read by men of taste with applause who embrace his political views, and with veneration by his opponents. Some of those who loved him best can declare how honorable was his legal and political course, and how scrupulous he was in observing the duties of religion. But these memorials are all that can be gathered of this eminent civilian; and before many of these have faded away, a learned scion of the stock, the Rev. Dr. Bigelow, would perform a great public service by gathering memoirs and remains of his venerated father, embracing orations, political speeches, and legal arguments that he has delivered, to be published in a permanent form. Mr. Bigelow was a ready speaker, and during a practice of thirtytwo years he argued more cases than any one of the profession in New England. Possessing rare wit, as we have said, and force of argument, with fluent narrative powers, his society was endeared to all that knew him. His figure was tall, and courtesy graced his manners. He was an ardent friend of the old Federal party. His oration for the Washington Benevolent Society is one of the best specimens of political spirit in that burning period. He was an honored member of the greatly-defamed Hartford Convention. May our country ever have such men as Cabot, Otis, Bliss, Dane, Prescott, and Bigelow,— not forgetting Baylies, Thomas, Waldo, Lyman, Wilde, and Longfellow! The gathering of this venerable convocation was the principal means of hastening the peace with Great Britain, and the contest advanced the glory of the nation. Mr. Bigelow married Lucy, daughter of Judge Oliver Prescott, of Groton, September, 1791. His children were, Katharine, who married Hon. Abbott Lawrence, minister at the court of St. James. Rev. Dr. Andrew, formerly of Medford and Taunton, minister at large for Boston, and author of Leaves of a Journal in North Britain and Ireland, also Notes of Travels in Sicily and Malta; whose life of philanthropy will sweeten his last days. Hon. John Prescott, formerly Secretary of State, of the Executive Council, and Mayor of Boston, elected in 1849. When at the festival in Faneuil Hall, on the centennial celebration of the settlement of Boston, September 17, 1830, Mayor Bigelow gave the forthcoming sentiment: "The two most celebrated cradles in history,- the cradle of Hercules, and this old Cradle of Liberty: Both memorable for the energy of their infant occupants in resisting the emissaries of oppression." Edward, a brother beloved, who died in 1838; Francis, a merchant of Boston; and two daughters, one of whom married Henry Stevens, Esq., a merchant of New York. Hon. Timothy Bigelow died in Medford, May 18, 1821. JOHN DAVIS. FEB. 19, 1800. EULOGY ON WASHINGTON. FOR THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. WAS born at Plymouth, Jan. 25, 1761. Graduated at Harvard College in 1781; and when he took his degree, his theme was a poem on "Commencement." He became teacher in the family of Gen. Joseph Otis, a brother of the patriot. He prepared for the bar under the direction of Benjamin, a son of General Benjamin Lincoln, and completed under Oakes Angier, Esq., of Bridgewater. He married Ellen Watson, June 7, 1786, and was elected as a delegate to the convention on the adoption of the federal constitution in 1788, and last of the survivors. Was a senator for Plymouth county in 1795, and a Comptroller of the United States Treasury in 1795. Was appointed by Washington U. S. District Attorney for Massachusetts. In 1801 he was appointed by President Adams a judge of the U. S. District Court for this State. Was counsellor of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and member of that institution, and of the Massachusetts Historical Society, from their foundation. Judge Davis was treasurer of Harvard University, member of the corporation and board of overseers of that college, and member of the N. E. Genealogical Historical Society. He was also a delegate to the Massachusetts convention on revising the State constitution, in 1820. He devised the city seal, with this inscription, adopted by Boston on its incorporation, Feb. 23, 1822: "As with our fathers, so may God be with us." Judge Davis resigned his station as district judge of U. S. Court, July, 1841, on which occasion he said to the court, "It is painful to employ the solemn word dissolved. Our official connection will cease; but reciprocal esteem and good-will will, I trust, remain in continued exercise." Judge Davis was present at the festival in Faneuil Hall on the centennial celebration of the settlement of Boston, on which occasion he advanced the following sentiment, "History and poetry,— Blackstone's spring and the Pierian spring: "To keep the Pilgrims' memory green,' Boston is satisfied." This occurred after the delivery of the oration by Quincy, and the poem by Sprague. Judge Davis was one of the most profound antiquarians in New England. His learned notes to Morton's New England Memorial have done more to incite research into the history of the Pilgrim Fathers than any other work. It created a new era in antiquarian lore; and, had he possessed the active vigor of Camden of Old England, he would have been his rival in New England. On the occasion of a dinner party, at which Judge Story and others eminent in the legal profession were present, the conversation turned upon the comparative advantages of the different periods of life. Some preferred for enjoyment youth and manhood; others ascribed more satisfactions to old age. When the opinion of Judge Davis was asked, he said, with his usual calm simplicity of manner, "In the warm season of the year, it is my delight to be in the country; and, every pleasant evening while I am there, I love to sit at the window, and look upon some beautiful trees which grow near my house. The murmuring of the wind through the branches, the gentle play of the leaves, and the flickering of light upon them when the moon is up, fill me with indescribable pleasure. As the autumn comes on, I feel very sad to see these leaves falling, one by one; but when they are all gone, I find that they were only a screen before my eyes; for I experience a new and higher satisfaction, as I gaze through the naked branches at the glorious stars beyond." The following version of Judge Davis' sentiment on the autumn of life, is from the hand of Allen C. Spooner, Esq.: "Before my door, in summer's heat, Proudly the elms their branches spread ; Cool verdure sprang beneath my feet, Joyful I passed the sultry hours, |