PREFACE.

In view of the great variety of subjects introduced into this work, and the almost impossibility of producing a publication of this kind without errors and imperfections, it is with a degree of diffidence that it is laid before the public. This is felt in an especial manner when the author considers who will be his readers. A traveller in foreign places may make statements at random, in order to finish up his picture, which may pass for truth, when there is no one at hand who is able to correct his errors. This publication will come before persons many of whom have better means of information, and more knowledge on some subjects introduced, than can be reasonably expected from the author of this work.

Massachusetts may justly claim an elevated rank among the states of this Union. She is the "mother state" of New England, and the birthplace of American freedom. A nobler ancestry no people ever yet possessed. "The Puritans (says a celebrated foreign writer, in no wise partial to them) were the most remarkable body of men, perhaps, which the world has ever produced. They were men whose minds had derived a peculiar character from the daily contemplation of superior beings and eternal interests. Not content with acknowledging in general terms an overruling providence, they habitually ascribed every event to the will of the Great Being, for whose power nothing was too vast, for whose inspection, nothing was too minute. To know him, to serve him, to enjoy him, was with them the great end of existence. They rejected with contempt the ceremonious homage which other sects substituted for the homage of the soul.-On the rich and the eloquent, on nobles and priests, they looked down with contempt; for they esteemed themselves rich in a more precious treasure, and eloquent in a more sublime language;-nobles by the right of an earlier creation, and priests by the imposition of a mightier hand." Let those who sneer at such an ances try go back to the titled robbers of the middle ages, and claim affinity, if they will, with those felons of the human race, who fatten on the sweat and blood of suffering humanity.

Travellers who have heard of the "cold and sterile soil of New England" are surprised on finding it the "Garden of the United States." On every hand he sees smiling and prosperous villages, and, to a very great extent, the appearance of public and private happiness. To whatever cause blind politicians may ascribe this, it is because "the Pilgrim spirit has not fled." Under no other system but Christianity does true liberty exist, or are human rights properly respected. By it, the existence of man is invested with dignity and importance; by this levelling and exalting system every human being, in whatever circumstances of degradation he may be placed, stands on an equality with the mightiest potentate of earth, and to his fate is attached a mysterious and inconceivable importance.

To the various gentlemen, throughout the commonwealth, who have furnished information for the work, the author would here return his grateful acknowledgments, particularly to the venerable T. M. Harris, D. D., librarian of the Historical Society, and to Maturin L. Fisher, Esq., formerly librarian, and also to Samuel F. Haven, Esq., the present librarian of the American Antiquarian Society, for their readiness to afford every facility in their power in accomplishing the object of the work. The statements respecting the business done in each town were copied from the "Statistical Tables," published by the state in 1837. With regard to the title, it being somewhat similar to that of the volumes published by the Historical Society, it was, at first, not thought advisable to adopt the one now selected; upon further reflection, however, as the work could not, with propriety, be called a History of Massachusetts, but is properly a collection of materials; and as the title is in fact different from the volumes above men. uoned, it is believed that no just grounds of complaint are given by adopting the present title of the book.

In giving the ecclesiastical history of the several towns, it may perhaps be thought, by some, that an undue prominence is given to the Congregational denomination. In reference to this, it is to be remembered they are the most ancient, as well as most numerous, denomination in the commonwealth; that almost all the town histories which have appeared have been written by clergymen of that order; and of course it is to be expected that the religious history of their own denomination would receive their first attention. In this publication, impartiality has been attempted; and whenever authentic accounts of other denominations have been obtained they have been inserted. Owing to prescribed limits, there has been an absolute necessity of being brief on many subjects of importance: many things have been omitted which it was desirable to have inserted. There are materials enough to have extended this publication far beyond its present limits; but to have extended it to more than one volume would have rendered it too expensive for general circulation.

The drawings for the numerous engravings interspersed throughout the book were, with few exceptions, taken on the spot by the author of this work. Before deciding upon the correctness of these representations, he wishes his readers to remember that the appearance of any place will vary considerably as it is viewed from different points; thus a north view will appear quite different from one taken at the south. A person not being used to see a place from the point from which the drawing is made, it may not at the first sight be readily recognised. Before any view is condemned as being incorrect, it will be necessary, in order to form a correct judgment, to stand on the place from whence the drawing was made.

In giving notices of distinguished individuals, a limited number only could be inserted. In some instances the information respecting some towns may have been defective. The history of some important towns may apparently not have received that attention to which they are entitled. This is owing to two principal reasons: one is the failure to obtain the desired information after the attempt was made; the other is the fact, that of some important places but little can be said which would be of general interest. Amid such a number of names, dates, &c., it is probable some mistakes may have occurred. A certain writer defines all history to be merely " an approximation towards truth." Though this humiliating statement cannot be fully allowed, yet, when the imperfection of every thing human is considered, it cannot be denied but that it may have some foundation in truth.

APRIL, 1839.

J. W. B.