occurred during Prof. Winthrop's professorship was made by the death of President Holyoke in June, 1769. Winthrop presided at commencement that year, and had he been a few years younger (he was then fifty-five) would doubtless have become president of the college. In a letter to Mr. Thomas Hollis, in England, under date of July 10, 1769, Dr. Andrew Eliot, a member of the corporation, remarks: "It is difficult to find one every way qualified to undertake such a task. Mr. Winthrop, Hollis Professor of Mathematics, will probably be the successor to Mr. Holyoke. His learning and abilities are unquestionable. He is older than we could wish, and is frequently taken off from business by bodily infirmities." The office was tendered to Prof. Winthrop, but he declined it. In 1774, when the chair was again vacant, it was offered to Winthrop a second time, and again declined.
The tide of discontent with the mother-country was now running high in the colonies, and Winthrop was clearly identified with the patriot cause. The Massachusetts Historical Society's Collections (Series V, vol. iv) contain a correspondence between the professor and John Adams. The letters cover a period within which occurred the battle of Bunker Hill, the evacuation of Boston, and the Declaration of Independence; and they show that Winthrop had a thorough understanding of public affairs, a fearless patriotism, and an eager desire for American independence. In 1773 he was elected to the Governor's Council, but, together with two other members, all having been opponents of the Government, he was negatived by Governor Gage, in compliance with a special mandate from the English ministry. Prof. Winthrop was chosen a delegate to the Provincial Congress in 1774, and in 1775 was finally admitted to a seat in the Council. About this time he was appointed Judge of Probate for Middlesex County, and held the office for the remaining years of his life. His death occurred in Cambridge, before the Revolutionary struggle was decided, on May 3, 1779.
The portrait which accompanies this sketch has been engraved from a photograph, furnished by Mr. Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., of a painting by Copley, which belonged to the late Colonel John Winthrop, of Louisiana, a great-grandson of the professor, and his last descendant in the male line.
