In 1853, Mr. Gray was induced, as he himself declared, and as we have no reason to doubt was the fact, by a sense of duty, and by a desire to serve his Heavenly Master, to undertake a mission of one year to the newly established Únitarian Church in San Francisco. It must have cost him a severe struggle to absent himself from the comforts and attractions of a pleasant home, and a large and lovely family, for so long a period. It was an act of self-denial which many could not understand, and which some even ventured to speak of with disapprobation. The motives which led to it have been questioned; but if lips sealed by the sacred secrecy of confidence could make public all they might wish to declare, we are sure that no act of Mr. Gray's life would be regarded as more honorable to his character, both as a minister and a parent. Soon after his return from California, he asked and obtained a dismission from the church which he had served for about fifteen years, and accepted an appointment as Secretary and Agent of the SundaySchool Society. With the prospect of this new field of Christian service opening attractively before him, and while preparing himself for its duties, he was attacked by a painful and incurable disease. Trouble in other and most distressing forms came upon him in its company. The last remains of a once ample fortune, which had for several years been fast diminishing, through no extravagance or fault of his own, were at length entirely snatched away, just as he was expecting the hour when his children should be left fatherless. Such trials have often broken the stoutest hearts and distracted the strongest minds. The perfect composure and steadiness with which he passed through this fiery ordeal show the superior strength, nay, the heroism, of his faith. It is a subject upon which we can hardly venture to say a word, and yet concerning which it would be almost criminal to be altogether silent. He uttered no complaint, he was never heard to breathe a murmur. He made all necessary arrangements which the emergency demanded, in consultation with that nearest earthly friend, whose spirit was as brave and patient and trustful as his own, and then, dismissing all earthly anxieties, prepared himself, with her constant aid and the gracious help of Heaven, to depart in peace. And he did depart in peace; committing his soul to the keeping of the Saviour in whose service he had spent his life, and commending his family to the care of that faithful Providence which has never suffered the righteous to be forsaken, nor his seed to beg their bread. JAMES BROWN, Esq. DIED, at his residence in West Cambridge, on Saturday, March 10, JAMES BROWN, Esq., of the firm of Messrs. Little, Brown, and Company, of this city. In common with the large number of those in our community who are the lovers of good literature and the grateful admirers of its intelligent patrons, we have deeply lamented the death of this excellent and noble-hearted man. We might, indeed, claim to mourn his loss with a more especial sense of sorrow, because an intimate acquaintance of years and a generous share in his kind offices had drawn to him our highest regard. Mr. Brown served in the noblest of all trades, and he served with a spirit which ennobled it and himself. He realized to us the highest conception we had formed of the character of a generous fosterer of literature from the pages of Nichols, Dibdin, D'Israeli, Sismondi, or Roscoe. His appreciation of a good book was shown even in the way in which he looked at it and touched it. In his early youth, under the straits of a lot which warned him that his prosperity in life would depend upon his own efforts, he enjoyed the mental pleasures whose materials he has since so richly afforded to thousands of readers. Mr. Brown was born in Acton, in this State, on the 19th of May, 1800. As we have already intimated, he was cast upon the necessity of self-dependence, and was the builder of his own fortune. Industriously, faithfully, honestly, was it won, and through every stage of its accumulation, as well as when it was consummated, was it shared with a most ungrudging and liberal-hearted generosity, with friends, poor students, authors, and fellow-creatures. In his youth and early manhood, Mr. Brown found a home in Cambridge, and there began his acquaintance with a circle of literary men, which finally enlarged, till he became himself a conspicuous and an honored centre of it. In his earnest desire to share the advantages of a liberal culture, and with an early predilection for the Christian ministry, he felt compelled by a spirit of independence to decline some proffered aid, because trammelled with the condition that he should pledge himself to Calvinistic views. Those views he could not accept, either in youth or manhood. Yet he was a man of profound religious sentiment, earnest, sincere, believing, and pure in his convictions and aims, and as he was generous in all his other relations, so was he as a parishioner and as a member of the Unitarian church in the pleasant town of his residence. Ministers in the enjoyment of his friendly offices and hospitalities always felt as if they were in company with one of the most favored and large-minded of their own brotherhood. His own pastor, and the predecessors of that pastor, Damon, Ware, and Brown, regarded him as a most constant friend, as well as a munificent supporter, of religious institutions. Within the last few years, the interests of literature have been advanced throughout our country, and especially in this immediate community, to a degree of prosperity and importance of which those who have not carefully observed the facts can have but a most imperfect idea. The amount of capital invested in the business, the number and excellence of works by our own authors, the republication, in an elegant form, of the most valuable of the English classics, are tokens that, within a score of years, every branch of mental culture has been ministered to by the enterprise and the wisdom of a class of men who are real benefactors of the community. The consent of all who are competent judges in the case is, that Mr. Brown was the chief in this honorable fraternity. By his frequent visits abroad, his excellent taste, his lavish liberality, his sympathy with scholars and literary men, his own interest in historical, biographical, and scientific studies and in the fine arts, and by the whole constitution of his character and temperament, he had gradually secured to himself a reputation for knowledge and judgment such as very few possess. His valuable presents and legacies to the Boston Athenæum, the College Library, and the City Library of Cambridge, will perpetuate his memory in the places where he would most gladly be remembered, as well as through the same instrumentalities of good literature in dealing with which he led so devoted and useful a life. VOL. LVIII.—4TH S. VOL. XXIII. NO. III. 42 Mr. Brown's traits of personal character were of the most winning and engaging sort. He was one of the most simple, unpretending, and frank persons with whom we have ever been conversant. A quiet, manly dignity, a genial, hearty spirit, united with a love of humor and a relish for innocent pleasure, marked him as a true-souled man and a delightful companion. As might be inferred from his own modesty and unassuming nature, he had a great dislike of all arrogant pretensions in others. He was a steadfast friend. He took a high delight in making others participants in all that he himself enjoyed. We ask ourselves the question, Who, of all among our circle of literary, professional, and philanthropic friends, has set in motion and kept in motion more means of service to the highest interests and the purest pleasures of this community? And we answer, with a deep feeling of respect for his memory, We know of no one who has done more. All that we have here written, and much more, stands attested by a simple reference to the tokens of respect manifested towards this good man when the last office was to be performed for him. His funeral was appointed in the middle of one of our busy week-days, from his saddened dwelling in a suburb, and under one of the most piercing and disagreeable of our spring east winds, and there was no public call or concert among his friends for attendance upon his obsequies. Yet the dwelling was thronged by a company of eminent, honored, and influential persons, whose presence alone would have been a most respectful tribute even to cold mortal ashes, but whose deep sense of bereavement and whose spontaneous manifestations of regard and sorrow needed no other interpretation than was found in the occasion which had drawn them around the bier of an upright, a respected, and a beloved Christian man. ERRATA. On page 11, line 32, for a row read rows. On page 188, the extract from an article by De Gerando should bear date July 17 instead of April 21. The intended extract under the latter date was omitted for the sake of condensation. The extract given is from an article published in the National on July 17, on the return of De Gerando from Paris, and may as well be omitted by the reader. On page 202, the notes at the bottom of the page should be omitted. INDEX. A. Adams, Rev. Dr. Nehemiah, his Altar at Home, The, noticed, 458. Arius and Athanasius, Article on the Art, the Aristocracy of, 251. 293. B. - Caswall, Rev. Henry, his Western Coleridge, S. T., his Pretentious and Cosas de España, noticed, 471. - tament Readings, noticed, 152. D. De Gerando, Auguste, Three Arti- - Visits Transylvania, 11- Resi- Downing, A. J., his Treatise on - E. - Its Literary Organs, 319- Rev- - Gilfillan, George, on Coleridge, no- Gospels, Internal Evidence of the Grande, Giovanni, The Sinner, his Greeley, Horace, his Life, by James - H. Hale, Rev. E. E., his Kansas and Fairy Queen, noticed, 161. |