on the list of freemen in Plymouth County in 1636 and on the list of those able to bear arms in Plymouth in 1643. He was deacon of the First Church of Plymouth and a member of the first representative Assembly of the Colony, convened at Plymouth, June 4, 1639. He married November 4, 1639, Alice, daughter of Edmund Freeman, one of the most important of the founders of Sandwich. By her he had six children; Elizabeth, John, Samuel, Thomas, Joseph and Mercy, all born in Plymouth, where she died April 24, 1651. That same year he moved to Boston, where he married (3-10-1651) Mary, sister of our earliest William Greenough and widow of Bezaleel Payton. They had children, born in Boston, William, Nathaniel, Hannah, Benjamin and Rebecca. He died August 24, 1658, and she died October 21, 1675. Several years ago his gravestone was found in digging up the street near the Old State House and it now stands in King's Chapel Burial Ground. How it came to be where it was found is not known. His residence in Boston was on North Center Street, sometimes called Paddy's Lane. All his children were alive, except Joseph, who died in infancy, when he made his will a few days before his death, and were named in that instrument and in addition Sarah and Mary Payton, children of his second wife by her former marriage.1 In 1652 he was a member of the Artillery Company, and in 1656-7-8 a selectman of Boston. Under date of 1658 Nathaniel Morton in his New England's Memorial has a long account of him, showing that he was a man of much importance in the communities in which he lived.

Thomas Davis was an innkeeper and a son of William Davis, an apothecary in Boston and one of the executors of Paddy's will. Thomas Davis married Hannah, daughter of President John Leverett, whose mother was Sarah Payton, daughter of William Paddy's second wife by her former marriage. Elizabeth, daughter of Governor John Leverett, married Dr. Elisha Cooke of Boston in June, 1668. This may account for the name Cooke on the inside of the front cover. The monograms I have been unable to decipher.

Dr. CHARLES L. NICHOLS made some remarks on the copy of the Bible used at the inaugurations of Presidents

1 Paddy's will is printed in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, viii. 355.

Washington and Harding, and pointed out some errors of statement concerning the volume, its imprint, and illustrations, which have recently appeared in the public prints.

Mr. ALBERT MATTHEWS made some remarks on the early seals of Harvard College, and then read a paper entitled "Christo et Ecclesiæ," written by Mr. Clifford B. Clapp of the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Gabriel, California.1

1 This paper will be printed later in our Transactions.

A

APRIL MEETING, 1921

STATED MEETING of the Society was held, at the invitation of Mr. Henry Herbert Edes, at No. 62 Buckingham Street, Cambridge, on Wednesday, 27 April, 1921, at eight o'clock in the evening, the President, FRED NORRIS ROBINSON, Ph.D., in the chair.

The Records of the last Stated Meeting were read and approved.

The PRESIDENT appointed the following Committees in anticipation of the Annual Meeting:

To nominate candidates for the several offices, Messrs. M. A. DE WOLFE HOWE, MORRIS GRAY, and PERCIVAL MERRITT.

To examine the Treasurer's Accounts, Messrs. JOHN ELIOT THAYER and JOHN LOWELL.

Mr. WILLIAM BRADFORD HOMER DOwSE of Sherborn was elected a Resident Member.

Mr. HAROLD MURDOCK read the following paper:

EARL PERCY'S RETREAT TO BOSTON ON THE
NINETEENTH OF APRIL, 1775

The Battle of the 19th of April, 1775, may be divided into three distinct periods. The first has to do with the night march of Colonel Smith's detachment of Grenadiers and Light Infantry and culminates at daybreak on Lexington Common, where the troops in pursuance of orders to surround and disarm the fleeing minutemen delivered an unauthorized and fatal fire. The second period carries us to Concord and back to Lexington and includes the skirmish at the North Bridge, the destruction of military stores in the village, Captain Parsons' march and safe return from the house of Colonel Barrett, and the beginning of the running fight so stoutly maintained throughout the afternoon by the fast gathering minute

men. The third and last period concerns Earl Percy, his arrival at Lexington with the First Brigade, his rescue of Smith's demoralized command at that place, and his conduct of the return march to Boston. It is this final phase of the battle that we are to review.

It was nearly half-past two in the afternoon when Smith's detachment re-entered Lexington on its return from Concord. As the harried soldiery streamed confusedly into the village they were held to a semblance of military order only by the desperate exertions of the officers. All faith had been lost in the oft-repeated assurance that reinforcements were on their way from Boston. The men were worn down with heat and fatigue, and their ammunition was shot away. With only their bayonets to depend upon, with the bullets of unseen enemies stinging them to death, it was only a question of time, of minutes rather than hours, until a surrender or general disintegration must have occurred. Smith had just received a painful wound and we must assume that Pitcairn had taken over the active command. I fancy that I can see the Major here and there in the midst of this confusion, active and resourceful always, a buoyant influence despite the forebodings that chill his heart-among the wounded and faint-hearted full of bluff courage and cheer, but where panic or insubordination threaten, cursing with a fervor that tends to relegate his exploits of the morning to the level of a tame rehearsal. Now he sees again, close at hand, the meeting-house of the Rev. Jonas Clark, and hears the first glad shout, then the wild cheer from a hundred throats, a cheer that in a moment is rolling all up and down the stricken column. As the air throbs with the glad tumult, the word passes from mouth to mouth that help is close at hand. Weariness and wounds are for the moment forgotten. The hostile fire drops to a mere patter like the passing of a summer shower.1 The gathering stillness oppresses strangely and once again there is heard the tread of marching feet, the creaking of belts, and the rattle of side arms. Then the Major sees through haggard and bloodshot eyes the cause both of the tumult and the stillness, a scarlet line that stretches its imposing length along the rising land in front,

1 "As soon as the Grenadiers & Light Infantry perceived the 1st Brigade drawn up for their support, they shouted repeatedly, and the firing ceased for a short time" (Diary of Lieut. Frederick Mackenzie, in 2 Proceedings Massachusetts Historical Society, v. 392).