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Likewise our Revd brother m' Joh: Philips wth his wife ppounding divers reasons of yr intended departure & returne to England for ye satisfaction of ye church therin & further advise about yo same ye church though divers were unsatisfied in his reasons yet yeilded consent to his depture as appere in other notes to yt effect. & he tooke ship 26th 8m0 1641 1

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Two references to Phillips in contemporary writings may be mentioned: Lechford in his Plain Dealing, the preface of which was written in 1641, speaks of two ministers at Dedham, "master Phillips out of office" and "master Allen Pastor or Teacher;" we find his name signed to a "Declaration of Ministers of Massachusetts," dated at Roxbury, September 23, 1640, with that of Allin, Shepard, Weld, and others.2

The reforms begun in England by the Long Parliament in 1640 stopped the immigration to our shores, and the tide set the other way. New England men, including many of the early graduates of Harvard College, in the following years sought service in the country which their fathers had long since left. Phillips returned to his old parish at Wrentham, now under new and more congenial conditions. On June 12, 1643, he was chosen a member of the famous Westminster Assembly, gathered to give advice to Parliament on matters of religion. Mrs. Ames's son William, who graduated from Harvard in 1645, soon returned to England to become co-pastor with his uncle John Phillips; and the parish had the benefit of the pastorate of the uncle until his death on February 2, 1660.

come,

Mr. EDES referred to the early setting apart by the Dedham Church of "every fifth day of the week" for a meeting of those who "affected church communion or pleased to ," and remarked that the Thursday lecture, which for more than two centuries played a prominent part in the religious life of Boston, has been commemorated, and in a way continued, by the First Church in Boston, which annually holds a vesper service on Thursday afternoons from Thanksgiving until Easter.

1 Dedham Records, ii. 37.

2 5 Massachusetts Historical Collections, i. 490.

P. 208, above.

A

MARCH MEETING, 1914

STATED MEETING of the Society was held at the house of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, No. 28 Newbury Street, Boston, on Thursday, 26 March, 1914, at three o'clock in the afternoon, JOHN TROWBRIDGE, S.D., in the chair.

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

The CHAIRMAN announced the death at West Point, on the 16th instant, of EDWARD SINGLETON HOLDEN, a Corresponding Member.

On behalf of Mr. ALBERT MATTHEWS the following paper was read:

TEACHING OF FRENCH AT HARVARD COLLEGE

BEFORE 1750

But

Objection will perhaps be taken to this title, and a reader may be inclined to say that this paper should have been reduced to eight words namely, "French was not taught at Harvard before 1750." For it was not, if by teaching French is meant that French was a recognized part of the College curriculum. though French was not taught at Harvard by a regularly appointed instructor until 1787, nevertheless before 1750 permission had been granted to at least two persons and probably to a third person to give instruction in French to such students as desired it. The subject is, however, a very obscure one, and the present paper pretends to be nothing more than a series of notes.

At a recent meeting 1 it was stated that the first pamphlet on the French language to be published in this country was Thomas Blair's Some Short and Easy Rules Teaching The true Pronunciation of the

1 P. 119 note 1, above.

French Language, printed at Boston in 1720.1 The dedication to this reads as follows:

SIR,

To the Reverend

John Leverett,

The very worthy President of Harvard College

at Cambridge in New England.

THE following Pages containing a Method, consisting of many concise and easy Rules, for the attaining to the true Pronunciation of the French Language (extracted from the best Grammars, and from my own Experience) I humbly submit to your Censure. I most humbly submit it to you Sir, Whom all the World allow to be so great a Master of Learning, so well vers'd in all the solid and curious Parts of Erudition.

SIR, It is no small Pleasure to me, that I have this publick Opportunity of rendering you those Thanks, which are deservedly due to the Favour you have granted me, in permitting me to instruct in the French Language some of those Young Gentlemen who are (happily) under your Care.

SIR, the Language of Versailles is look'd upon as a distinguishing Ornament in all the Courts of Europe.

I'M sure it is no small Accomplishment to a Gentleman, and may be of very great Service to those whose Interests or Inclinations may induce them to travel.

IF I may be any ways Instrumental in serving those Gentlemen whom (by your Favour) I instruct, it will be a great pleasure to

SIR
Your devoted

and very humble Servant,

Tho: Blair.

When Blair began to teach, and for how long a period he taught, it is impossible to say, since the Corporation Records and the Overseers' Records are silent and Blair's pamphlet is our only source of information in regard to the episode. The only copy of the pamphlet which I have seen, owned by the Massachusetts Historical Society, has written in ink on the title-page "Sam' Barrett." If this is the autograph of the Rev. Samuel Barrett who graduated in 1721, it is possible that the pamphlet had been used as a text-book. Nor do

1 It contains 16 pages: Title-page, 1 leaf; Dedication, pp. i-ii; Text, pp. 1-12. The Colophon reads: "Boston: Printed by S. Kneeland, MDCCXX."

we know with certainty exactly who Thomas Blair was, but perhaps he was the Scotchman 1 of that name of whom we learn something in the Diary of the Rev. William Homes of Chilmark:

A list of ye grown persons that have died in this town since I came to it . . . 1723 8ber 27 Thomas Blair died . 1723. 8ber 27. .. This

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night about 10 of the clock Thomas Blair departed this life. He had gone some time ago to the Jarsies and came home with a fever and ague upon him.2

3

If this was the Thomas Blair who wrote the pamphlet, then he must have abandoned teaching French to the students within three years. For a decade thereafter there is no further allusion to the teaching of French at Harvard, but the Quinquennial Catalogue informs us that from 1733 to 1735 French was taught by an instructor whose name is given as "M. Longloisserie," and it is stated that he was one of those Instructors "not regularly appointed, but persons permitted by the Corporation to teach such students as so desired" (p. 45). This introduces us to an interesting character who has hitherto eluded identification. His name, which naturally occurs in various forms, was unquestionably Louis Langloiserie. Our knowledge of this gentleman begins, curiously enough, with a note on the title-page of an edition of the Bible, printed in London in 1723, as follows: "Louis Langloiserie est parti de Canada pour la Nouvelle York l'année 1725.” ↑

1 C. E. Banks, History of Martha's Vineyard, ii, Annals of Chilmark, p. 69 note 3.

2 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, xlviii. 451, 1. 158. Blair was a very unusual name in New England in the early days, and the passages quoted in the text are, I think, the only references before 1800 to a Thomas Blair to be found in the Register.

This statement needs modification, since Langloiserie's permission to teach was granted not by the Corporation but by the President and Tutors. See also p. 225 note 2, below. Also, Blair's permission was granted by the President alone.

4 This Bible at one time belonged to Richard Dana, who graduated in 1718, then to his son Francis Dana, who graduated in 1762, and is now owned by their descendant Mr. Richard H. Dana of Cambridge, who has no idea how the note came to be in it. The note is not in the hand of Richard or Francis Dana, but may be in that of Langloiserie, who possibly owned the Bible and sold it to Richard Dana. For information in regard to the Bible, I am indebted to the late William H. Tillinghast, to whom I communicated in 1911 my identification of "M. Longloisserie" as Louis Langloiserie, and to Miss Elizabeth E. Dana of Cambridge.

Langloiserie belonged to a family that had made its appearance in Canada in the seventeenth century, and upon his arrival in New York in 1725 was apparently thirty years old. That he had then embraced Protestantism, or did so shortly afterwards, may be assumed from what we hear about him later on. On June 17, 1726, there was passed "An Act to entitle Lovis Hector Piot De Langloiserie to the Sole Fishery of Porpoises in the Province of New York during the Term of Ten Years."2 Whether he actually entered upon this undertaking is not known, but if he did he must soon have 1 Tanguay (Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles Canadiennes, i. 488: cf. vi. 375) says: 1691, (15 août) Sorel.

I. — PIOT DIT L'ANGLOISERIE, CHARLES-GASPARD, capitaine, chevalier de St. Louis, b 1655 fils de Martin et d'Anne Petit, de Haniou, évêche de Chartres; s 21 fév. 1715, dans l'église, à Québec.

...

DU GUÉ, Marie-Thérèse,
Louis-Hector, b 3 avril 1695.

b 7 et s 25 janv. 1705.

...

2 This reads in part as follows:

Louis, b 7 Sept. 1697.-... Louis,

WHEREAS the Fishery of Porpoises will tend to the Benefit of Trade in this Colony and enable the Inhabitants thereof to make Considerable returns for Great Britain by their own Industry.

AND WHEREAS the said Lovis Hector Piot De Langloiserie by his Petition to the General Assembly of this Colony, has Set forth that by an Exact observation of the Methods Used and Practiced in other Countrys, he has obtained a perfect knowledge of Catching and Taking Porpoises in an Effectual manner. .. BE it therefore Enacted . . . That no Person or Persons whatsoever from and after the Publication of this Act, shall Undertake or presume to Carry on the ffishery of Porpoises in the Same manner and Methods as the said Petitioner shall make Use off, in the Seas Harbours, Rivers and other Waters within this Colony for and during the Term of Ten Years, but he the said Lovis Hector Piot De Langloiserie . . . ALWAYS PROVIDED . . . That in Case the Said Lovis Hector Piot De Langloiserie . . . do not within the time of Eighteen Months from the Publication hereof, put the said taking and Catching of Porpoises in Effectual practice and Execution or that he . . . Shall afterwards Discontinue the Same for the Space of Two wholl Summer Seasons during the Continuation of this Act, Then it Shall and may be Lawfull for any other Person or Persons to Undertake and Carry on the said Fishery (Colonial Laws of New York, ii. 311-312).

Cf. New York Colonial Documents, v. 783, ix. 829, 832; Journal of the Legislative Council of the Colony of New York, i. 536; Journal of the Votes and Proceedings of the General Assembly of New York (1764), i. 531, 531-532, 532, 544 (April 8, 13, 14, 15, 19, June 17, 1726). In 1714 Garret De Graeuw had been granted a similar privilege, but for seven years (Colonial Laws of New York, i. 839-840).

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