The COLLECTIONS OF THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, volume x. initial article of this volume, is a biographical sketch of Hon. Hugh Blair Grigsby, occupying twenty-seven pages. The remainder of the volume is taken up with the proceedings of the Virginia Federal constitution of 1788. Historically the volume is a valuable one. MEMOIRS OF THE LONG ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, volume III. The entire volume is devoted to the campaigns around New York and Brooklyn in 1776, and forms a very interesting account of the early campaigns of the war for independence. EDITORIAL ITEMS. A private letter, with permission of the writer, is printed from Rev. John O. Fiske, D.D., of Bath. We are very sure that from a writer so wellinformed and so genial, our able contributors, Messrs. Elwell and Deane, will pardon the bluntness of his contradictions. HON. GEORGE F. TALBOT, PORTLAND, ME. BATH, April 18, 1890. My Dear and Honored Classmate and Friend:- With the garrulousness of an old man who has little to do beside coughing, I desire in a gossipy way to congratulate you on the very interesting matter of your second quarterly number of historical collections. I have read them all with pleasure. But in the atrabiliousness of an old anatomy, struggling and groaning under mortal disease, I desire permission to say that I am moved with intense choler against Mr. Elwell for presuming to say in his valuable notice of Governor Lincoln " Seventy-four years ago, when as yet no voice had been raised against slavery in this land, and to doubt its sacredness was the one unpardonable crime"; page 132. At Why, what does this biographer mean? Old Doctor Sam. Hopkins of Newport, Rhode Island, published a strong sermon against the sin of slaveholding in 1776. The Quakers from their very origin, and in this country in 1688, openly and earnestly denounced slavery, and petitioned our first Congress against it. Five times before 1808 the Presbyterian General Assembly denounced the sin of slavery in good set terms. the very first meeting of the Methodist General Conference in 1784, similar testimony was unanimously given, and orders were passed that ministers holding slaves should be expelled! Before the revolution Virginia petitioned Parliament that no more slaves should be sent into the colony. In 1787 slavery was excluded, by vote of Congress, from the northwest territory. Mr. Jefferson, who voted for that ordinance, trembled when he remembered that God was just," etc., etc., etc. What does Brother Elwell mean? 66 So I would have told Llewellyn Deane, whose sketch of his father is so valuable, that there never was a prominent lawyer in this state named John Orr. It was Benjamin of Topsham and Brunswick whom he should have named. Our old friend, Cyrus Woodman, is well discussed. But enough. I wish it were in my power to get up to some of the Historical Society meetings and to Portland. Affectionately yours, DANFORTH'S DEED TO THE TOWN OF YORK. "But there is very grave doubt whether there ever was, in fact, any such deed. It is not recorded chronologically; nor is it revealed by a search of the present imperfect index to the deeds still tolerated in use by York County; the present town clerk knows nothing of it; it is not mentioned by either Sullivan or Williamson. Who ever saw it ? Who made the above alleged abstract from it? It is, of course, possible that such a deed was executed to trustees for the town, as alleged, and that it may have been destroyed with the other papers in the Indian raid of 1692, without having gone upon the county records; but, even in that case, it is very peculiar that it was not known to Sullivan or Williamson, or at any rate, not considered worthy of mention by them.” Ante pp. 222, 223. The writer of the query referred to had the good fortune, while searching the indices of the Massachusetts Historical Society's Proceedings (x-164) to find that David Sewall, who was for many years town clerk of York, had made and presented to the above Society copies of various papers of historical importance, and that among these papers was a copy of the above deed which purported to be "copied from the Record in York Town Book 500 &c." On visiting Boston and making examination of Mr. Sewall's copies, this copy was found, and the librarian of that Society, Hon. Samuel A. Green, courteously promised to either furnish a copy for publication in the Maine Historical Society's Collections and Proceedings, or to make the paper the subject of a communication, so that in some way it might become available. This copy is embodied in Dr. Green's communication, as printed in the Proceedings of the Meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, held April 10, 1890. W. M. S. No proceedings of the Maine Historical Society appear in this volume. The next in order for publication are the proceedings in honor of Professor Packard, too long for the space allowed in the present number, but too interesting to be abbreviated or partly printed. They will appear in the October issue. SINCE the issue of our last quarterly number the Maine Historical Society has suffered a severe loss in the death of one of its most efficient members, Hon. William Goold of Windham. He was a most indefatigable explorer among all the accessible materials of our state and national history, a copious and facile writer, whose many and important papers have enriched our collections, and a punctual attendant of all the meetings of the Society. It will be difficult to find in our membership the man, who will take up the pen he has laid down, and carry on the work in which he took so delighted an interest. More formal and complete notice of his character and work will appear later in our publications. JAMES TIFT CHAMPLIN, D. D., LL. D. Read before the Maine Historical Society, February 20, 1890. BY HENRY S. BURRAGE, d.d. BROWNING sings of One who never turned his back, but marched breast forward, Such a man, in any sphere of life, will have a place among those who bring things to pass, and who in consequence, sooner or later, are deemed worthy of Honor and reverence, and the good repute That follows faithful service as its fruit. Such a man was James Tift Champlin, the sixth president of Colby University. He was a son of John and Martha (Armstrong) Champlin, and was born in Colchester, Connecticut, June 9, 1811. Soon after his birth his parents removed to Lebanon in the same state, where he spent his boyhood and youth on his father's farm. The desire for a collegiate training at length took possession of him, and in the autumn of 1828, when a little more than seventeen years of age, he repaired to Colchester Academy, where he entered upon a course of preparation for college under Preceptor Otis. His studies were continued at Plainfield Academy, under Preceptor Witter. In September, 1830, he was admitted to the Freshman class in Brown University. Dr. Wayland had entered upon his duties. as president of the University in February, 1827, and his strong personality made an abiding impression upon the young student. "I greatly admired the man," was his testimony in his later years, "and received a great impulse from his life, his teachings, and especially from his sermons in the church, and his short, pithy addresses to the students in the chapel." At the graduation of his class in 1834, he delivered an oration on "The Phi |