A Gazetteer of Massachusetts, containing Descriptions of all the Counties, Towns, and Districts of the Commonwealth; and also, of its principal Mountains, Rivers, Capes, Bays, Harbors, Islands, and Fashionable Resorts. To which are added Statistical Accounts of its Agriculture, Commerce, and Manufactures; with a great variety of useful Information. By John Hayward, Author of the "New England Gazetteer," "Book of Religions," &c. Boston: John Hayward. 1846.
This is decidedly a valuable work. The name of the author alone would guarantee an elaborate, and, so far as within his ability, a strictly accurate publication. It presents Massachusetts in a statistical, historical, and topographical light, and is filled with such matter as would be deeply interesting to the antiquary, and the man of business, indeed to all in Massachusetts who take any pleasure in knowing the condition and prosperity of their own state. It is a work useful for reference in regard to education, internal improvements, matters of commercial importance—and may be regarded as a universal Gazetteer. We cheerfully commend it to the patronage of the public.
Epitaphs from the Old Burying-Ground in Cambridge. With Notes, by William Thaddeus Harris, Junior Sophister in Harvard College. Cambridge: Published by John Owen.
It has been, and still is, the disposition of the public, to regard the resting-places of the deceased with aversion, rather than with pleasurable interest. This we think should not be the case. "Forget not the faithful dead" is worthy to be inscribed at the entrance of every cemetery, and these, instead of being permitted to run to waste, should be adorned, and made pleasing to the sight. Thus the grave may be divested of its gloom, and the graveyard, now an object of terror, may become frequented as a place for calm, serious, and profitable meditation.
In this volume a complete transcript is made of the epitaphs in the burying-ground, from 1653 to the year 1800; but in the years succeeding 1800, with a few exceptions, the names only of those, to whose memory monuments have been erected, are given. In addition to these, which are 670 in number, there are brief notices of many, whose monumental inscriptions are given. A table, also, of the deaths of many, whose monuments have crumbled to dust, or whose remains were deposited in tombs, is appended. It is a volume of 192 pages, octavo, printed at the University press, and must be interesting to those who delight in curious and antiquated matters. We hope others will be induced to prepare like collections from those spots where,
"Each in his narrow cell forever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."
The author is a son of Thaddeus William Harris. M. D., Librarian of the University, and grandson of the late Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, D. D., of Dorchester. We may at some future time make extracts from the work.