the latitude and longitude of any particular point, is of less object after the neighborhood has been built up, and especially where few have occasion to visit it who are not inhabitants. When the order of streets has become sufficiently familiar to require no further aid from alphabet or numbers, were the choice quite free from any pre-existing bias, all would probably prefer to have their dwellings upon streets bearing names more significant. A judicious selection, uniting euphony with agreeable and especially historical associations, would tend, among other things, to render the place more attractive, and consequently to enhance the value of the property. There are at South Boston nearly twenty streets which might derive an advantage from a change in this respect. The proprietors are, however, to be consulted; they have a vested interest in what time has sanctioned; and, unless three-fourths or four-fifths of the abutters requested it, the municipal authorities would be hardly justified in exercising the powers which by law are lodged with them.

Besides our streets, the costly and spacious edifices erected for the purposes of public instruction furnish appropriate monuments to the great and good. We have been long accustomed to dedicate to this use our grammar-schools. The primaries now designated by their localities (with the single exception of that on Sheafe Street, called after Joseph W. Ingraham, for his valuable services in the Primary-school Board) might well be made to pay tribute to any of our fellowcitizens whose public career or benefactions are entitled to acknowledgment. Of our twenty large grammar-schools, the Phillips, Quincy, Wells, Lyman, Chapman, Brimmer, Bigelow, and Lincoln bear the names of former mayors. That of Otis was attached to one formerly established on Lancaster Street; and that of Smith, from Abiel Smith, who left a fund to the city for the education of colored children, to one on Joy Street. Neither of these two last-mentioned buildings are longer in use for their original purpose, although

the latter still is occupied for intermediate classes. The Mayhew School was so named for one of the earliest apostles of Liberty on this continent; the Dwight and Lawrence, for eminent contributors to the cause of education. Bowditch, Bowdoin, Everett, Franklin, Hancock, and Winthrop, are indissolubly connected with memories as perennial as civilization. A school-building that stood on the site of the Winthrop was called the Johnson, after the husband of the Lady Arbella, in whose honor the City Hall was, when first erected, denominated Johnson Hall; and one on Cooper Street, now used for an armory, was in former days known as the Endicott.

For the mass of men, these are still but names. To the historical student, they serve to recall the eminent characters who have given them distinction. There will always be enough to cherish the memory of such as have been permitted in their day and generation to be of service to society. Their public career, the events of their private and social life, their form and features, happily transmitted on the canvas of Smibert and Johnson, of Copley and Stuart, are familiar as if they were still present amongst us. For their descendants, their virtues and usefulness offer illustrious examples for emulation, and are an ever-flowing source of pride and satisfaction. The public at large recognize that one most important element of their own dignity and consequence as a community consists in the renown of these ancient worthies.

If more regard might have been paid by the first inhabitants to the width and directness of their public highways, there are reasons sufficiently obvious why this was hardly to be expected. The property in the lands, vested by patent in the colony, was, from time to time, transferred by the acts or orders of the Legislature to the several towns, in frequent instances, on the condition that settlements should be made, or a minister supported. The selectmen deputed to manage town-affairs made grants by vote to the freemen as claims were presented. Great latitude was allowed for individual

selection. Building-lots were located for their proximity to friends or relations, to springs of water, or from other similar considerations; and the travelled road was determined by the convenience of the immediate neighborhood. In 1639, an act of the Legislature required record to be made of "all men's houses and lands;" and the Book of Possessions, or our Domesday Book, was in consequence prepared. The phraseology generally used in this ancient record for distinguishing the several highways and byways, on which the grants were bounded, indicate how little attention had been paid to the laying-out of streets.

It is somewhat remarkable that no map of Boston, either engraved or in manuscript, more ancient than that of Captain John Bonner, of 1722, is known to exist. Diligent search has been made at the State House, City Hall, Registry of Deeds, and in the archives of the Society, and inquiry amongst those most likely to be informed, but without success. The map of Bonner was reprinted, probably from the same plate, in 1733, 1743, and 1769; and re-engraved, under the superintendence of Mr. Stephen P. Fuller, from the copy of 1722, in 1835. A copy of this reprint is now added to our archives, with the successive changes from 1722 to 1769 delineated in red, blue, and green. Quite recently, a complete index has been prepared by Mr. Lincoln, with an average of six cross-references each of the more than six thousand plans of different portions of the city which from time to time, in single estates or extensive tracts, have been recorded or deposited in copy or original in the Registry. Were a plan of the town made up from the descriptions in the Book of Possessions, it would be curious as an historical relic, as also useful in the examination of titles. We believe, that, at a future day, the preparation of a complete index to the first two hundred volumes of the Registry, uniform with that from 1800 to 1854, would be an expense justified by the importance of the work; and the printing of our town-records, or the earlier volumes, as often recom

mended by our antiquarians, if at some more auspicious period it should be accomplished, will throw much light upon the antiquities of Boston.

We call the attention of the Society to the following letter of Mr. Smith, which, in connection with the list attached, prepared by our associate Dr. Shurtleff, seems to us to embrace in full the history of the maps of Boston:

BOSTON, June 10, 1862.

DEAR SIR,The earliest engraved plan of the city is undoubtedly that published by Captain John Bonner in 1722, and of which at least two editions were subsequently published by others. There is, I believe, but one copy of the original in existence; and that was preserved evidently by having been pasted upon a board, thus escaping the usual fate of such old documents; viz., being torn up for waste paper. It had been for some years in the possession of the late Mr. William Taylor, surveyor; and probably remains yet in his family. When it was brought to me in 1835, the paper had nearly all absolutely rotted away, so that the ink of the lines stood out in relief on its surface.

A survey made in the latter part of the last century by Osgood Carleton is the first of which we have any positive knowledge. I have an impression that it was engraved upon nearly the same scale as the present City Map, though comprehending only the city proper; as neither South Boston nor East Boston were then thought of.

There is in the office of the Overseers of the Poor a Directory for 1809, with a plan, which, as it does not seem to be from Bonner's, must, I think, have been from Carleton's, and engraved by Mr. Joseph Callender; which seems to have been used with various alterations and improvements till 1826, when a new one, engraved evidently by Mr. Hazen Morse, takes its place. This was probably copied from my plate hereafter spoken of. In the Directory for 1838, a new map appears, engraved by Morse & Tuttle: not from a new survey, however; for there had been none. Since that time, others have been engraved for that work, but none of them from new surveys.

John G. Hales made a new survey of the city about 1811. His drawing laid down every house, designating whether of brick or stone or of wood. This was engraved about that time by Mr. Thomas Wightman. Only one edition, if I remember right, was published; as

it was found that the corrections required by the changes in buildings would be so troublesome, that the probable demand would not warrant the expense. A large drawing by Mr. Hales, purporting to be from an original survey, is in the public archives at the State House; but its date I do not know. It has never been engraved.

In the year 1823-4, I, with my then partner, the late Mr. William B. Annin, engraved, from a survey by Mr. Hales, a map of the city, which is still in use. We published an edition at the time but the sale was slow; and, so far as I recollect, there was no other till the plate came into my hands in 1837. Since that time, a carefully revised edition has been issued about every three years, -the last in 1859 or 1860, I think; since when, illness has prevented me, as yet, from preparing another.

About 1836, Mr. George Boynton engraved a plan of the city, I believe, from a drawing by the late Alonzo Lewis, of Lynn. This plate he afterwards sold; but it has never been published. It shows the city proper, with South Boston and East Boston in their correct relative positions; and, although the scale is necessarily small, makes a rather large plate. Mr. Boynton also engraved, about 1845, another drawing of Mr. Lewis's, on the same plan, but smaller; which is now the property of Mr. Dutton, bookseller, in Washington Street.

I believe, sir, that I have now enumerated every plan of the city ever engraved, except small ones intended for special purposes; and, in connection with the subject, allow me to say, that in my opinion, if the city could be induced to order the engraving of South Boston and East Boston, so that impressions might be transferred to stone, placing those portions of the city in their correct position as regards the city proper, a map might be thus formed of great utility for city purposes certainly, though perhaps rather too large for general ones.

May I ask the favor, that you will present to the Historical Society, in my name, the accompanying copies of my map (last edition), also a copy of Bonner's Map, and the original drawing of the modern map by Mr. John G. Hales? I am sorry to say that a set of copies of all my editions, which I had reserved for the Society, has been mislaid in some inexplicable way: but I cannot believe it has been destroyed; and, should I have the good fortune to recover it, will send it to you at once. Among the articles to be presented is a set of my views of Beacon Hill in its original state, and when its crest was in process of removal. — I remain very respectfully your obedient servant, GEO. G. SMITH. THOMAS C. AMORY, Jun., Esq.