285.8 B925L

ed.2

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by

TICKNOR, REED, AND FIELDS,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

THURSTON, TORRY, AND EMERSON, PRINTERS.

PREFAСЕ.

It may very naturally be asked, Why, if the lives of the persons whose memoirs are contained in the following pages possessed an interest for the community, the silence of nearly forty years should have remained undisturbed upon their memory? On the other hand, it may be asked, Why are the seals now broken, and the veil of domestic privacy withdrawn which concealed features composed in the unchangeable beauty of death? The history of the book is simply this. About fourteen months ago, I was requested, by a gentleman well known to the literary and religious public, Rev. Dr. Sprague of Albany, to furnish some recollections of my father and brother for a work which he is preparing for the press, Annals of the American Pulpit, or Biographical Notices of Eminent American Clergymen of various Denominations.'

In recurring for that purpose to letters and papers which had fallen into my possession as the hearts