plicitly his instructions. Some amusing stories could be told of the complications to which this arrangement gave rise, and of the security in which Mr. Chandler continued to exercise undiminished his influence over the policy of the paper. But this is not the place to narrate them. It should nevertheless be said, lest a false impression be derived from the last sentence, that the relations between Mr. Chandler and Mr. Goddard, whose amiable and gentle nature the older members of this Society will recall, were always agreeable, and their views on public questions rarely differed.

Thus, during a period of twenty years, while the "Advertiser" was among Boston newspapers the most conspicuous and influential leader of public opinion, Mr. Chandler was in a position, if not to dictate, at least to modify profoundly the policy of the paper on public questions. He was not a meddler. He did not annoy the editors by frequent contributions or by nagging criticisms. But I can testify from personal knowledge that his right to set forth his own views as the opinion of the journal was scrupulously respected when he chose to exercise it, and that his manuscript went to the composing-room unedited. Moreover, he was swift to praise. An inquiry of the editor as to the authorship of an article that pleased was followed by a note to the young writer, which he prized even if he could not make out every word of Mr. Chandler's difficult chirography.

In his personal dealings with clients and with those connected with the "Advertiser" his deafness was less of a handicap than might be supposed. Indeed, in some respects it gave him an advantage over his interlocutor. He was provided with a flexible tube a yard or more in length, having an ear-piece and a mouth-piece. He kept one end to his ear while asking questions and receiving the answers, but as soon as he knew all he wished to learn from the person who sat at the other end of the tube, he took both ends of it in one hand, and refused to observe even the most frantic motions of his hearer intended to signify a wish to take part in the conversation. He had the floor, and he held it. Even when the interview was at an end he did not offer the speaking end of the tube to the poor fellow who wished to say a word for himself. For of course interviews of this sort were usually occasions when he was giving a direction which admitted of no refusal, or

administering a reproof which could be very severe although never unkind.

He made effective use of his physical infirmity on many occasions in his practice before the courts. Many are the anecdotes of his skill in disregarding the warnings of a judge that he was transcending his rights as counsel, and of his refusal to hear more than he wished of the answers he had put to witnesses.

Although perhaps undue stress has been laid in this sketch upon his hidden influence as a power behind a public journal, he was pre-eminently a lawyer, and for many years maintained a position among the leaders of the Suffolk bar. In early life he resolved never to undertake criminal cases, and to that resolution he adhered.

One of the traits of Mr. Chandler which was known to his family and his intimate associates only, was a deeply religious nature. Not that he studiously concealed it or was ashamed of it; but he did not obtrude his religion, and those who had business dealings with him and encountered his strong personality had no reason to suspect the other side of his character. He left an unfinished account of his early years, and particularly of his college life, written evidently many years before he wrote the brief autobiography mentioned at the beginning of this sketch. In that manuscript he describes a religious "revival" that took place during his college course. He represents himself as totally unmoved by the sensational preaching and terrifying exhortations of those who conducted the revival. But he was led to make a close and calm study of religious matters, and accidentally he fell under the gentle influence of one who had accepted Emanuel Swedenborg as the expounder of a new faith. Mr. Chandler embraced the doctrines of Swedenborgianism at that time and cherished them to the end. Some of his letters to personal friends which are still preserved show how near he felt the spiritual world to be. The late Hon. Charles Theodore Russell has told in graceful and sympathetic words his experience, on a visit to Mr. Chandler's summer home in Brunswick, of the simple and sincere action of this masterful lawyer as priest in his own family. In 1867 he published anonymously a small volume on "Observations on the Authenticity of the Gospels," the reasoning of which displays all his acumen as a lawyer, and its tone is one of the deepest reverence.

It would not be easy to summarize briefly the qualities that made him so noteworthy a man. The word masterful, just used, goes a long way toward explaining his success and prominence in a city where at the beginning he had no friends, no acquaintances, no influence outside of himself, and to which he brought nothing but his brains, his will and his industry. But his inborn power of leadership was supplemented by many other qualities, without which he could not have attained the eminence he reached. Some of them were touched upon by his associates at the bar, at the memorial meeting held on June 7, 1889, in language which might seem extravagant to persons who did not know him. More than one of them bore testimony to his ability to see the fundamental principle of any question before him,- a faculty which has sometimes been termedhorse sense." "I think," said the late Judge E. Rockwood Hoar, "that Mr. Chandler in his prime was the best jury lawyer of the Commonwealth, with perhaps the exception, which everybody must recognize in that relation, of Mr. Choate utterly different, of course." The Hon. Charles Theodore Russell said that Mr. Chandler had "two qualities that made him an indomitable champion of a cause, and gave him the most formidable weapon in the armory of intellectual combat. He had an iron determination of will. When, after full deliberation upon a matter, he had made up his mind, he could not be moved. He might be ground to powder, but his purpose would abide. ... The other quality is ridicule, and Mr. Chandler was the king who wielded it." Other speakers referred to this power, by which in jury trials he often turned the position of opposing counsel. It was a part of his equipment of humor, his love of and power to perceive the humorous aspect of any situation, which helped to make him the most agreeable and vivacious of companions. Indeed he was noted as a raconteur who could bring out the humorous point of a story in such a way as to produce a hearty laugh, in which he joined with great gusto. Professor James B. Thayer put much in a few words when he said that Mr. Chandler brought to his chosen calling" a vigorous physical frame, energy, and a rugged courage, the sound principles and frugal and laborious habits of the old New England tradition, and an extraordinary sagacity, good sense, and power of influencing men." In short, as Judge Hoar said, “he was a

large man, physically, mentally, and in character throughout." And yet he, like almost every other of the speakers on that occasion, declared that he knew and loved him best as a friend. I wish to close this brief tribute to him with the same word. He was to me a wise counsellor who did not always approve my written words, but was always a kind and affectionate friend.

JANUARY MEETING, 1908.

THE stated meeting was held on Thursday, the 9th instant, at three o'clock, P. M.; the President in the chair.

The record of the December meeting was read and approved; and the Librarian read the list of donors to the Library since the last meeting.

The Cabinet-Keeper reported that the bust of George Bancroft, recently obtained for the Society, had been placed in the corridor on the upper landing.

Frederic Winthrop, of Hamilton, was elected a Resident Member, and John Bagnell Bury, of King's College, Cambridge, England, a Corresponding Member. Henry Adams, of Washington, D. C., on the Corresponding roll, was elected an Honorary Member.

SAMUEL S. SHAW presented a memoir of Henry G. Denny, which he had been appointed to prepare for publication in the Proceedings.

CHARLES C. SMITH presented a "Short Account" of the Society, and said:

At the Annual Meeting of this Society in 1882 Mr. Winsor, at that time the Corresponding Secretary, offered a vote "that the Treasurer [Mr. Smith] be requested to report to the Society, for printing in its Proceedings, a succinct historical sketch of the Society, which can also be annexed to the pamphlet containing the Act of Incorporation and By-Laws, the same to be sent to new members on their election." In compliance with this vote, which was referred to the Council with full power and by them adopted, I reported at the October meeting a "Short Account," afterward printed in a leaflet of three pages, and reprinted 2 in December, 1893, in the same form. As there are but few copies remaining of this leaflet, and as the conditions have greatly changed since it was first written, it has seemed to me desirable to revise the account and bring it down to the present time. I now respectfully submit it in a new draft, with only the necessary changes from the original sketch.

1 1 Proceedings, xix. 265, 390-392.

2 2 Proceedings, viii. 473.