WHEREAS Academical Degrees were originally instituted for this Purpose, That Men, eminent for Knowledge, Wisdom and Virtue, who have highly merited of the Republick of Letters and the Commonwealth, should be rewarded with the Honor of these Laurels; there is the greatest Propriety in conferring such Honor on that very illustrious Gentleman, GEORGE WASHINGTON Esq; the accomplished General of the confederated Colonies in America; whose Knowledge and patriotic Ardor are manifest to all: Who, for his distinguished Virtues, both Civil and Military, in the first Place being elected by the Suffrages of the Virginians, one of their Delegates, exerted himself with Fidelity and singular Wisdom in the celebrated Congress of America, for the Defence of Liberty, when in the utmost Danger of being for ever lost, and for the Salvation of his Country; and then, at the earnest Request of that Grand Council of Patriots, without Hesitation, left all the Pleasures of his delightful Seat in Virginia, and the Affairs of his own Estate, that through all the Fatigues and Dangers of a Camp, without accepting any Reward, he might deliver New-England from the unjust and cruel Arms of Britain, and defend the other Colonies; and Who, by the most signal Smiles of Divine Providence on his Military Operations, drove the Fleet and Troops of the Enemy with disgraceful Precipitation from the Town of Boston, which for eleven Months had been shut up, fortified, and defended by a Garrison of above seven Thousand Regulars; so that the Inhabitants, who suffered a great Variety of Hardships and Cruelties while under the Power of their Oppressors, now rejoice in their Deliverance, the neighbouring Towns are freed from the Tumults of Arms, and our University has the agreeable Prospect of being restored to its antient Seat. Know ye therefore, that We, the President and Fellows of Harvard-College in Cambridge, (with the Consent of the Honored and Reverend Overseers of our Academy) have constituted and created the aforesaid Gentleman, GEORGE WASHINGTON, who merits the highest Honor, DOCTOR of LAWS, the Law of Nature and Nations, and the Civil Law; and have given and granted him at the same Time all Rights, Privileges, and Honors to the said Degree pertaining. In Testimony whereof, We have affixed the Common Seal of our University to these Letters, and subscribed them with our Hand writing this Third Day of April in the Year of our Lord one Thousand seven Hundred Seventy-six.1 The early numbers of the Almanac are not lacking in tributes of respect to "that very illustrious gentleman, George Washington, Esq.," as the translated diploma calls him. One of the most felicitous is incidental. It occurs in a kind of epigram addressed to those farmers who allow needless anxiety for state affairs to interfere with their more immediate concerns: ADVICE. To Country Politicians. Go weed your corn, and plow your land, Cast prejudice away ; To able heads leave state affairs, With politics ne'er break your sleep And WASHINGTON will take due care There is a briefer exhortation to a similar effect in the Farmer's Calendar for June, 1807: "Cut your clover; and mind your business." In 1820 the English traveller Hodgson was told by an 1 Albert Matthews, ibid.; printed also from the New-England Chronicle in J. T. Buckingham's Specimens of Newspaper Literature, Boston, 1850, I, 223-4. 2 Almanac for 1796. acquaintance "that much as General Washington rode and walked through the streets, during a residence of several years in Philadelphia, he seldom passed a window, without the party in the room rising to look at him, although they might have been in his company the hour before." Hodgson remarks that he had often heard the same thing from other Americans.1 Yet there were local functionaries who were greater than Washington, as was shown by an adventure that befell him in Connecticut on a Sunday in 1789. "The President," according to the Columbian Centinel, "on his return to New-York from his late tour, through Connecticut, having missed his way on Saturday, was obliged to ride a few miles on Sunday morning, in order to gain the town, at which he had previously proposed to have attended divine service. Before he arrived, however, he was met by a Tythingman, who commanding him to stop, demanded the occasion of his riding; and it was not until the President had informed him of every circumstance, and promised to go no further than the town intended, that the Tythingman would permit him to proceed on his journey." 2 A similar adventure is said to have befallen General William Eaton in the same State some years later. General Eaton, however, met the occasion with less repose. He had just returned from Africa after his famous march across the Desert of Barca and his capture of Derne in the war with Tripoli (1805), and was travelling in his carriage from Hartford to Boston. On his way through the parish of North Coventry, " as he neared the village church, his coachman was ordered to stop, with a threatened fine for journeying on the Sabbath. As soon as the old soldier 1 Adam Hodgson, Letters from North America, London, 1824, II, 18-19. 2 Columbian Centinel, December, 1789, as quoted by Henry M. Brooks, New-England Sunday, Boston, 1886, pp. 1-2. learned the cause of his detention, he thrust his head from a carriage window, and with a pistol in hand he exclaimed: 'Where is the man who stops my carriage? I don't care to shoot him, but I think I will!'" The tithingman is reported to have taken refuge in the church, and the general was allowed to proceed.1 1 Jeptha R. Simms, The Frontiersmen of New York, Albany, 1882, I, 481-2. T MUNCHAUSEN HE humor of hyperbole, as well as that of ironical understatement, is quite in accordance with the New England character. It would be strange, therefore, if our annual miscellany did not afford examples of the Munchausen style of anecdote. That which follows may be found in the Almanac for 1809: AMUSING. MR. THOMAS, We have frequently heard of the wonderful feats and extraordinary stories of Simonds, old Kidder, and Sam Hyde; but I believe neither of them have exceeded the following, related by G. H―ll, a mighty hunter, and known in that part of the country where he lived by the name of the VERMONT NIMROD. may serve to divert some of your evening readers. A. Z. It "I WAS once," said he, "passing down the banks of the Hudson in search of game, and suddenly heard a crackling on the opposite bank. Looking across the river, I saw a stately buck, and instantly drew up and let fly at him. That very moment a huge sturgeon leaped from the river in the direction of my piece. -The ball went through him, and passed on. I flung down my gun threw off my coat and hat, and swam for the floating fish, which, mounting, I towed to the bank and went to see what more my shot had done for me. I found the ball had passed through the heart of the deer, and struck into a hollow tree beyond; where the honey was running out like a river! I sprung round to find something to stop the hole with, and caught hold of a white rabbit It squeaked just like a stuck pig; so I thrash'd it away from me in a passion at the disappointment, and it went - |