"MY DEARLY BELOVED SON:- -I do usually begin and end my letters with that which I would have the alpha and omega of all thy thoughts and endeavors, viz., the blessing of the Almighty to be upon thee, not after the common valuation of God's blessings, like the warming of the Sun to a hale, stirring body, but that blessing which faith finds in the sweet promises of God and his free favor, whereby the soul hath a place of joy and refuge in all storms of adversity. I beseech the Lord to open thine eyes, that thou mayest see the riches of His grace, which will abate the account of all earthly vanities; and if it please Him to give thee once a taste of the sweetness of the true wisdom, which is from above, it will season thy studies and give a new temper to thy soul. Remember, therefore, what the wisest saith, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Lay this foundation and thou shalt be wise indeed."

Such was the career and such the character of Governor Winthrop, and I need add nothing more, I am persuaded, to show that his name is worthy of being given to your school. And now, my young friends, it is for you, in your turn, to decide whether the school shall be worthy of the name. No names, however distinguished; no buildings, however convenient or costly; no committees, however enlightened and vigilant; no instructors, however accomplished and devoted, can make a good school, without the hearty co-operation and willing compliance and faithful study of the scholars. Let me conclude, then, by expressing the hope that you will not be unmindful of your opportunities, that you will not be unmindful of the example of him by whose name you are to be designated; and that by your diligence, your good conduct, your fidelity to your duties, your reverence for the laws of God and of man, and your observance of the lessons of your instructors, you may strive to render the Winthrop School as much a model school in its internal condition and discipline, as it certainly seems to be in its external structure and arrangement. And may the blessing of Heaven be upon your efforts!

14

THE DEATH OF ABBOTT LAWRENCE.

A SPEECH MADE AT FANEUIL HALL, 20 AUGUST, 1855.

I AM sensible, Mr. President and fellow-citizens, how little can be said, and how little can be listened to, with any satisfaction, at an hour of so much general sorrow as the present. But I could not resist the impulse to be here with you this morning; — and, being here, I trust I may be pardoned, as one of those who have had the privilege of being associated with Mr. Lawrence in many public and private relations, as well as in immediate compliance with the request of those by whom this meeting has been arranged,—for adding a very few words to what has been already so well said.

The protracted illness of Mr. Lawrence has in some measure prepared us all for the blow which has at last fallen. But I cannot help feeling to-day, as I felt many weeks ago, when it was first announced to us that he had been struck down by a sudden and serious illness, that Boston has hardly another life of equal value to lose. I might say, not another. Yes, strange as it may seem, when we reflect that within the remembrance of yourself, Mr. President, and of others whom I see around me, he entered Boston a poor lad from the country, "bringing his bundle under his arm, with less than three dollars in his pocket, and that was his fortune" -I use the words of his late excellent and lamented brother-strange as it may seem, it is not too much to say now, that take him in all his relations, commercial, political and social, together, he had become, at the hour of his death, the most important person in our community.

His enterprise, his liberality, his wealth, his influence, his public and private example, his Christian character, all conspired to render him a peculiar and signal blessing to our city, and one

which could not have been taken away from us at any time, and more especially, when so many years of usefulness might still have been hoped and expected for him, without exciting the deepest emotions of sorrow. No, I do not misinterpret this throng of quivering lips and moistened eyes. We all experience to-day, sir, a sense of personal bereavement. We all feel that we have lost a friend; a friend never wanting to any occasion where good words, or good deeds, where a warm heart or an open hand, could be of service. Not the merchants and manufacturers only are called to mourn one of their best advisers and most valued associates. The moral, the religious, the charitable, the literary and scientific institutions of our city and State, the neighboring University, our own public schools, have lost one of their noblest benefactors. The whole country has lost a citizen of earnest, eminent, intelligent and comprehensive patriotism, who has rendered her no ordinary service in the national councils at home,I followed him there, sir, and know how difficult it was for anybody to fill his place, who has represented her worthily and admirably as an Ambassador abroad, and to whom she might still have looked in the thick-coming exigencies of the future, for filling the very highest places in her gift.

His name was a tower of strength to every good cause, and it was never given to a bad one. His noble bearing and genial presence seemed the very embodiment of an enlarged and enlightened public spirit. If some one of the gifted artists of our land should desire hereafter to personify, on the breathing canvas or in the living marble, the mingled dignity and energy, the blended benevolence, generosity, and enterprise which have characterized the good Boston merchant for so many generations past, I know not how he could ever do so more successfully than by portraying the very form which has just been laid low, and by moulding the very lineaments upon which death has now set its seal. I cannot think of him, as he was among us but yesterday, without recalling the beautiful words of Edmund Burke in reference to his friend Sir George Saville: "When an act of great and signal humanity was to be done, and done with all the weight and authority that belonged to it, this community could cast its eyes on none but him."

Let us rejoice, fellow-citizens, even in this hour of affliction, that he was ours so long. Let us thank God, as we bend over his honored dust, for having given us such a man, and let us not murmur that in His own good time He has taken him back to Himself. Such a man can never be wholly lost to us. His example remains. His noble acts survive him. His memory will be among the cherished treasures of all our hearts. Of such as him we may say with the poet,

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY.

AN ADDRESS AT THE LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF BOSTON, 17 SEPTEMBER, 1855.

WE are here, Mr. Mayor, gentlemen of the City Council, and fellow-citizens, to lay the Corner Stone of a Building for the Public Library of the City of Boston. We have come to take the first formal step towards making permanent provision for an Institution, which we believe is to exert a most important and powerful influence upon the character of our community,so long as our community shall have a character among men.

By a more than fortunate coincidence, we have been able to select for this purpose the 225th anniversary of the day, which has become associated, in New England History, with the original foundation of our City. On this day, just two centuries and a quarter ago, at a Court of Assistants of the Massachusetts Company, held at Charlestown (Governor Winthrop in the chair), it was "Ordered, That Trimountaine shall be called BOSTON."

I know not how a nobler Commemoration of our Municipal Birthday could have been devised than that in which we are engaged, or one calculated to invest it with a more enduring charm in the hearts of future generations. Certainly, no Birthday Offering could easily have been arranged, more welcome to a venerated mother, or more worthy of grateful and affectionate children, than the Institution which is here to be established.

It is fit, my friends, that such a transaction, on such a day, should be marked by something of public and solemn ceremonial. It is fit, that the voice of Prayer should be lifted up at such an hour and in such a connection, and that songs of Praise should flow forth from the lips and from the hearts of these