J. CARSON BREVOORT'S LIBRARY.

THIS Collection contains ten thousand volumes, of which nearly six thousand were brought together by the late Henry Brevoort, father of the present owner. The foundation of that portion of the library collected by Henry Brevoort was begun about 1810, by the purchase of such works as he desired to peruse, and they were gathered together as he read them. He rarely bought an article which was simply curious, but generally based his selections on the intrinsic merit of the work, or on the information contained in it, which might be useful for reference.

His library contained the principal classical authors who had written in English or French, or whose works had been translated into these languages, and included the works of the most esteemed historians, philosophers, poets or dramatists.

He attended lectures at the University of Edinburgh in 1812-13, and at that time became ac quainted with Sir Walter Scott, Wilson, Jeffrey,

and the other wits and learned men who formed the charmed circle in the midst of which the Great Unknown appeared as a star of the first magnitude.

Sir Walter had conceived the idea of writing some work requiring a full knowledge of early New England history, manners and customs, and an acquaintance with the traits and characteristics of the tribes of American Indians. With this end in view, he had collected a number of the curious narratives of the early settlers and travellers in that part of the American continent, and when he finally abandoned his purpose, he presented to Mr. Brevoort the most rare and curious of these books, among which were: Smith's Virginia; The Warres of New England; The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam; and others. Some of these volumes contain his autograph, and the note which accompanied them makes them doubly precious. He writes:

"DEAR SIR:-As the enclosed Tracts must have more interest for you than for any person of this country, you will do me great pleasure by accepting

them from

"Yours truly,

"Castle Street, Saturday."

"W. SCOTT.

The value of these tracts may be judged of when it is observed that one of the volumes contains the following folio pamphlets:

1. The Present State of New England, with Respect to the Indian War, &c. London, 1675, pp. 19. At page 12 of this narrative the following droll anecdote is given: "About the 15th of August [1675], Captain Mosely, with sixty men, met with a company, judged about three hundred Indians, in a plain place where few trees were, and on both sides. preparations were making for a battle; all being ready on both sides to fight, Captain Mosely plucked off his Periwig, and put it into his Breeches, because it should not hinder him in fighting. As soon as the Indians saw that, they fell a howling and yelling most hideously, and said, Umh, umh, me no stawmerre fight Engis mon, Engis mon got two hed, Engis mon got two hed; if me cut off one hed, he get noder, a put on beder as dis; with such like words in broken English, and away they all fled and could not be overtaken, nor seen any more afterwards."

2. A New and Further Narrative of the State of New England, Being a Continued Account of the Bloudy Indian- War, &c. London, 1676. and pp. 14.

Title

3. A True Account of the most Considerable Occurrences that have hapned in the Warre between the

English and the Indians in New-England, &c. London, 1676. Title and pp. 6. The above, with two others on the same subject, are reprinted in Drake's Indian Chronicle. Boston, 1836, 12mo.

Another volume contains some rare pamphlets in quarto, such as:

1. "A History of New England from 1628 to 1652. London, 1654." pp. 2, 236; said by Prince to have been written by Edward Johnson, of Woburn, N. E., but claimed by F. Gorges as his work.

2. A Brief History of the War with the Indians in New England, &c., by Increase Mather. London, 1676. pp. 6, 51, 8.

3. News from New-England, &c. London, 1676. pp. 1, 6.

4. A Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New-England, &c., by W. Hubbard. Boston, 1677. pp. 12, 132, 88, 12, map and license.

This volume has Scott's book-mark on the back, which was a portcullis, and the inscription, Clausus tutus ero, being the anagram of his name in Latin, UUalterus Scotus.

Still another volume contains the English edition of the curious pamphlet entitled, "A Short Story of the Rise, Reign, and Ruin of the Antinomians, Familists, and Libertines that Infected the Churches of New England, &c., &c. London, Tho. Park

hurst, 1692.

4to., pp. 18, 64. This edition was got up by Thos. Wilde, from the Boston one of 1644.

The last of Scott's Americana here noticeable is a copy of the New English Canaan, or New Ca naan. Containing an Abstract of New England, &c., &c., by Thomas Morton of Clifford's Inne, gent., upon tenne years knowledge and experiment of the Country. Amsterdam, 1637. 4to., pp. 188, and contents, pp. 4.

For an account of this "pestilent fellow and his book," as he is styled by Nathaniel Morton, see his New Englands Memorial, edition of Boston, 1826, p. 136; also a Review of it by the Rev. John Eliot, in the Monthly Anthology for June and July, 1810, and Duyckinck's Cyclopædia, I., 28.

Morton came out in the Charity, in 1625, with Captain Wollaston. He and his companions settled at Braintree, and gave it the name of Mount Wollaston, alias "Merry Mount," but the pilgrims, who rated Master Morton's character and deeds very low, called it Mount Dagon.

The incredible story told on page 108, gave rise to the lines in Hudibras; pt. 2, canto 2, 409:

"Our brethren of New England use

Choice malefactors to excuse,

And hang the guiltless in their stead," &c.