account of only four-those made in the summers of 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1774. The journeys were usually performed in a sulky or chair, but sometimes on horseback. They were relieved by calls upon friends along the route, and by evening gatherings of members of the bar in the shire towns. The latter was always especially congenial to Mr. Adams. His diary says:

Many of these meetings were the most delightful entertainments I ever enjoyed. The spirit that reigned was that of solid sense, generosity, honor, and integrity; and the consequences were most happy, for the courts and the bar, instead of scenes of wrangling, chicanery, quibbling, and ill manners, were soon converted to order, decency, truth and candor. Judge Pratt was so delighted with these meetings and their effects, that when we all waited upon him to Dedham, on his way to New York, to take his seat as chief-justice of that state, he said to us, "Brethren, above all things, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together." Such interviews, as well as many other incidents of the circuit, at Kittery, York, and Falmouth, are repeatedly described by him. In colonial days, royalty reflected a pomp and circumstance upon the courts, which were in striking contrast to the simplicity of modern tribunals. The judges wore robes of scarlet, with large cambric bands and immense wigs, while the barristers had gowns, and also bands and tie wigs. As the judges approached the shire town, the sheriff met them with an escort and a flourish of trumpets; their arrival was announced by cannon, and the daily summons of the court, before bells were introduced, was by beating a drum. Mr. Adams gives the following account of the reception of the court in York county, in 1774:

When I got to the tavern on the eastern side of Piscataquis river, I found the sheriff of York and six of his deputies, all with gold-laced hats, ruffles, swords, and very gay clothes, and all likely young men, who had come out to that place, ten miles, to escort the court into town.

Mr. Adams found his frequent absences objectionable, as interrupting a regular course of thought and employment of time. "What plan of reading, or reflection, or business," he complains, writing in 1768, "can be pursued by a man who is now at Pownalborough, then at Martha's Vineyard, next at Boston, then at Taunton, presently at Barnstable, then at Concord, now at Salem, then at Cambridge, and afterward at Worcester ?

It is

a life of here and everywhere,' to use the the expression that is applied concerning Othello to Desdemona's father. Here, and

there, and everywhere,- a rambling, roving, vagrant, vagabond life; a wandering life.' How little did he then imagine that events were already in progress, which for nearly a coming generation would require his almost constant separation from the tranquil enjoyments of home!

The records of the courts, and his own diary, constitute the only memorials of Mr. Adams' visits to Maine. Many places described by him would now scarcely be recognized. Most of the old houses where he was hospitably entertained, have, with their generous owners, passed away. After the lapse of a century, what was once Pownalborough has changed less than any other locality which he mentions. All vestiges of the old fort have disappeared, and a few stones only mark the spot where once rose the church and the modest mansion of the village preacher; but the court house, retaining its exterior form and appearance, is still preserved. It is to be hoped that the good taste which has induced the present proprietor, a worthy descendant of one of the most prominent early settlers, to resist any attempt at modernization, may be transmitted to his posterity, and that the ancient edifice may long be spared.

LIST OF CASES in which the name of ADAMS appears as counsel between the years 1765 and 1775. Copied from the Minute Books of the Superior Court of Judicature.

At Falmouth for the Counties of Cumberland and Lincoln, on the fourth Tuesday of June, A. D., 1769. [June 27.]

Jos. HUTCHINGS, apt.,

Cushing and Adams,

V.

JOHN BOYNTON, aplee.

Sewall and Bradbury.

SYLV. GARDINER, apt.,

[Begun in 1767 but the name of Adams does not appear until 1769.]

WILLIAM PHILBROOK, apt. v. ELEAZER TYNG & al., aplees.

Adams & Wyer,

JAM. BOWDOIN, Esq., apt., v. Cushing & Adams,

Sewall & Livermore.

Bradbury & Putnam.

THOM. SPRINGER & al. aplees.

ABRAM OSGOOD, apt.

v.

MARY HOPE, Aplee.

Farnam & Adams,

Bradbury & Livermore.

PROPRS. OF YE KENEBECK PURCHASE apts. v. ABIEL LOVEJOY.

Myer & Adams,

Sewall & Bradbury.

At Falmouth, Tuesday next after fourth Tuesday of June [July 3],

Sewall,

WISCASSET PROPRS, plfs, v. PROPRS UND LAKE & CLARKE.

At Falmouth, June 30, 1772.

Adams.

At Falmouth, July 5, 1774.

ENOCH FREEMAN & al. apts, V. THEOP. BRADBURY, aplee.

According to the records the first term of the superior court of judicature for Lincoln county was held at Pownalborough on the "Second Tuesday next following the fourth Tuesday of June (July 11), 1786. Before that time the court was held at Falmouth, for the counties of Cumberland and Lincoln.

Hutchins v. Boynton (the first case where the name of Adams appears as counsel) was tried at the inferior court of common pleas held at Pownalborough, Lincoln county, on the first Tuesday of June, 1767, and was appealed to the superior court of judicature in the same year.

Gardiner v. Tyng was tried at Pownalborough in the same court (inferior court of common pleas) on the last Tuesday of September, 1766. Appealed as above.

REV. EUGENE VETROMILE.

A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND PHILOLOGIC LABORS.

BY HUBBARD WINSLOW BRYANT.

Read before the Maine Historical Society, December 21, 1883.

THE REV. EUGENE VETROMILE, a corresponding member of this Society, died on the 23d of August, 1881, in his native city of Gallipolis, Italy. In his death, the world at large has lost an eminent philologist and a devoted missionary. A brief sketch of his life and labors may be of interest to the members of this society. Eugene Vetromile was the son of Pietro Vetromile and Anthonia Margiotta, and was born in the ancient city of Gallipolis on the Gulf of Tarentum in Southern Italy, February 22, 1819. Gallipolis is an island and connected with the main land by a long bridge of many arches. The origin of this city is unknown, but it is said to have been built centuries before the foundation of Rome. Greek survivors of the Trojan war are said to have settled in this province, and to this day the Greek language is commonly spoken there. Father Vetromile himself had a sort of Greek-Italian accent which he was never able entirely to over

come.

There in his native province, and at Naples, the Father received his early education under the tutorship of the Reverend Doctors De Pace and Leopazzi, and was received into the society of Jesuits in 1840, and for several years he discharged the duties of professor, prefect or teacher.

I am informed by the Reverend Father Ciampi of Boston college, that he sailed in company with Father Vetromile from the port of Leghorn early in July, 1845, on board an American merchant vessel called "The Coosa." They entered the College of the Jesuit Fathers, at Georgetown, District of Columbia. Here Father Vetromile remained for three years to complete his studies in theology, and was ordained priest in 1848. His first labors were at Port Tobacco, Maryland, and in the college at Georgetown, near Washington, District of Columbia.