Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/290

254 and who wished to obtain a renewal of their former charter from the king.&rdquo; At the time of Mr. Mather's visit in England the Revolution had placed William and Mary on the throne. Mr. Mather had frequent interviews with King William and his ministers, in which he asked the restoration of the former charter with enlargements. When this was found impossible, he procured a new charter under which the united colonies of Massachusetts bay and Plymouth lived down to the time of the American Revolution. Owing to his efforts, the Plymouth colony was prevented from being annexed to New York. So great was the confidence that was reposed in him by the king that he was allowed to name the governor, lieutenant-governor, and first board of council to be appointed by the king. He arrived in Boston in May, 1692, and the speaker of the general assembly, in the name of the representatives, returned him thanks for his faithful endeavors to serve the colony. In the same year Harvard gave him the degree of D. D., the first that was conferred in this country.

There was opposition to the new charter on the ground that it contained restrictions not in the old charter. Mr. Mather lost some of his friends among those who insisted upon popular rights, but he was sustained by the more conservative. President Quincy declared that his policy was mainly successful and that his conduct entitled him to unqualified approbation. The election of John Leverett as president of Harvard in 1708 was brought about by Gov. Joseph Dudley. There is no doubt that this election was distasteful to Mr. Mather, and he has been charged with seeking the place for himself or for his son Cotton. He addressed a spicy letter to Gov. Dudley which has been made the basis of considerable criticism by President Quincy and others. But a study of the character of Dudley shows that his connection with Andros was such as to be a cause of uneasiness to Mr. Mather and his friends. Gov. Hutchinson says of Dudley: &ldquo;Ambition was his ruling passion, and perhaps, like Cæsar, he had rather be the first man in New England than the second in Old.&rdquo; It would seem that Mr. Mather was justified in feeling grieved at the influence that Dudley had obtained in the colony, and especially in the affairs of Harvard. That Mr. Mather was influential in affairs of state is proved from another source. In the year 1700 the Earl of Bellomont wrote from New York to the lords of trade in London to the effect that Sir Henry Ashurst, along with Mr. Mather, had &ldquo;got Sir William Phipps made governor of New England.&rdquo; During the four years that he remained in England in the service of the colony he worked without any charge. &ldquo;I never demanded,&rdquo; wrote he, &ldquo;the least farthing as a recompense for the time I spent, and I procured donations to the province and the college at least 900 more than all the expenses of my agency came to.&rdquo; Dr. Mather married, in 1662, Maria, daughter of John Cotton, by whom he had seven daughters and three sons. Mrs. Mather died in 1714, and he took for his second wife Anna, daughter of Capt. Thomas Lake, and widow of Rev. John Cotton, of New Hampshire, a grandson of his first wife's father. Dr. Mather's publications number 136. Many of these were preserved in the collection of George Brinley, of Hartford, Conn., which was sold in New York city in 1879. The Antiquarian society at Worcester, Mass., has probably the largest number of his works that have been gathered in any one place. Among his books are &ldquo;The Life and Death of Rev. Richard Mather&rdquo; (1670); &ldquo;Important Truths about Conversion&rdquo; (1674); &ldquo;A Discourse

concerning Baptism and the Consociation of Churches&rdquo; (1675); &ldquo;A History of the War with the Indians&rdquo; (1676; reprinted, with notes and an introduction by Samuel G. Drake, Boston, 1862); &ldquo;A Relation of Troubles of New England from the Indians&rdquo; (1677; with notes and introduction by Samuel G. Drake, Boston, 1864); &ldquo;Cometographia, or a Discourse concerning Comets&rdquo; (1683); &ldquo;Remarkable Providences&rdquo; (1684; republished, with an introduction by George Offer, London, 1856); &ldquo;Several Papers relating to the State of New England&rdquo; (1690); and &ldquo;Dying Pastor's Legacy&rdquo; (1722). See Joseph Sabin's &ldquo;Dictionary of Works relating to America&rdquo; (New York, 1867). His life was written by his son Cotton (Boston, 1724). &mdash; Richard's grandson, Samuel, clergyman, eldest son of Timothy Mather, clergyman, b. in Dorchester, Mass., 5 July, 1650; d. in Windsor, Conn., 18 March, 1728, took honors at Harvard in 1671, and was ordained pastor of the Congregational church in Windsor, Conn., in 1682. This church had removed from Dorchester to Windsor, and was in a weak state when he took charge as its third minister and brought unity and prosperity. He was one of the trustees of Yale from 1700 till 1724, and published several religious books, among them &ldquo;The Dead Faith,&rdquo; and &ldquo;On renouncing our Righteousness.&rdquo; &mdash; Increase's son, Cotton, clergyman, b. in Boston, 12 Feb., 1663; d. there, 13 Feb., 1728, was graduated at Harvard in 1678, when scarcely sixteen years of age. An impediment in his speech was apparently an obstacle to his becoming a minister of the gospel, but he cured his habit of stammering by prolonging his syllables as in singing. His speech being perfected, he renewed his theological studies, and began to preach before he was eighteen years old. In 1685 he was ordained colleague pastor of the North church in Boston, in connection with his father, and his life ministry was spent in that pulpit. One of the earliest developments of his character was his desire to be useful. To this end he devised a plan of voluntary associations, in every neighborhood, to watch and suppress all evils. He wrote and published much against intemperance, established at his own expense a school for colored children in Boston, advised the christianizing of negroes, devoted his energies to the benefit of the seamen, and fostered with zealous care the introduction of inoculation. To assist in this work, as well as in the duties of a faithful pastor, he prepared a series of questions for every day in the week, which he asked of himself year after year. As the outcome of these endeavors he compiled a small book, &ldquo;Essays to do Good&rdquo; (1710; new ed., Glasgow, 1838), which is better known than any of the other 381 volumes that he wrote, In a letter to Cotton Mather's son, Samuel, dated Passy, France, 10 Nov., 1779, Benjamin Franklin said, &ldquo;Permit me to mention one little instance which, though it relates to myself, will not be quite uninteresting to you. When I was a boy I met with a book entitled &lsquo;Essays to do Good,&rsquo; which I think was written by your father. It had been so