28 LIBRARIANS OF HARVARD COLLEGE.
use, which Sewall declared was both bad and out of print. The new grammar was published in 1763, and reprinted in 1802 and again in 1812. In a copy of the first edition, now in the Library, is a manuscript letter from Sewall to Rev. Richard Gray, D.D., of Hinton in Northamptonshire, England, upon whose work the grammar is in part founded. In asking him to accept a copy of the book, Sewall calls his attention to the fire which destroyed the Library in 1764, and encloses the broadside account of it reprinted from the Massachusetts Gazette of 2 February, 1764; he begs him "to adorn the public library of our academy" with his works and to use his influence with his learned friends for similar gifts; and in a closing apology for the boldness of the request he adds, "what I have ventured to request is in behalf of literature, whose advancement is the common utility." The letter, of course, was written after Sewall's Librarianship, but it serves as an illustration of the efforts of the friends and officers of the College to build up again the Library.
AUTHORITIES : Edwards, Writings, 1853, ii. 209-210. Essex Inst., Hist. collections, xxv. 125. Quincy, Hist, of Harvard, 1840, ii. 130-131, 264-265, 496-497, 590. Salisbury, Family memorials, 1885, pp. 179-180.
1763-1767.
Andrew Eliot, son of Rev. Andrew Eliot, D.D., and Elizabeth Langdon, was born in Boston 11 January, 1743. His father was a prominent preacher who at one time declined the presidency of Harvard. Andrew, the son, graduated in 1762, receiving later his A.M., and the same degree (honorary) from Yale in 1774. He was appointed butler of the College 21 June, 1763, and 12 September, 1763, the Corporation voted :
"That Sr Eliot the Butler (for want of some other suitable Person) have the Care of the Library for the Present, & to be allow'd for it @ the Rate of six Pounds ****what is this?***** Annum."
At this time the Library numbered about 5000 volumes, given by members of the Hollis family, and by the many benefactors throughout England and New England who for one reason or another were interested in the College.
On the night of 24 January, 1764, Harvard Hall, containing the Library and philosophical apparatus, caught fire "in the middle of a very tempestuous night." A beam under the hearth in the Library, becoming heated by the fire which had been built for a sitting of the General Court in the room, broke out in flames and the building was destroyed. About one hundred books were saved, including one from Rev. John Harvard's library. Great as the loss was felt to be, the public spirit of the time went far toward furnishing the College with a Library equal to the former one. In November, 1765, Mr. Eliot was allowed ₤20 " for reducing the Books of the new Library into alphabetical Order." 12 December, 1765, the Corporation adopted new laws* for the Library which materially increased the Librarian's duties; the salary was raised to ₤60 and Eliot was reelected for a term of three years. In 1766 the new Harvard Hall was completed ; the Library occupied the upper room at the western end, and the philosophical apparatus the eastern room.
In May, 1767, he was elected tutor, but chose "rather to continue The Librarian"; in July, however, he accepted the tutorship, a position which he kept until 1774. For the -last two years of his term he was also a fellow.
On the 22d of June, 1774, he was ordained minister at Fairfield, Conn., where he remained until his death, 26 October, 1805. When the town was burned by General Tryon in 1779 Mr. Eliot's house and library were destroyed, although orders had been given to spare them. He married Mary, daughter of Hon. Joseph Pynchon, and left seven children.
"His acquaintance with general science, urbanity, friendly and social affections, concili- ated the esteem of all ranks," wrote the Rev. James Dana. He was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a corresponding member of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
AUTHORITIES : Eliot, Geneal. of Eliot Family, 1854, p. 171. Mass. hist. soc. Collections, x. 188-189; 2d series, i. 228. Sprague, Annals Amer. pulpit, 1857, i. 420.
1767-1768.
Jonathan Moore was born at Oxford, Mass., 7 July, 1739, the son of Captain Elijah and Dorothy (Learned) Moore. The.father was for twenty-five years an inn-keeper of the town and a public spirited citizen. Jonathan graduated at Harvard in 1761, and obtained his A.M. in three years. He taught Greek and Hebrew for a time, and received from Yale an honorary A.M. in 1765. In September, 1767, he became Librarian at Harvard, but at the end of the college year accepted a call to the church at Rochester (now Marion) Mass., where he was ordained 7 September, 1768. On the 13th of October following he married Susanna Parkman. He soon had many warm followers in his ministry but his changing theological views at last caused his separation from the church in 1792. A number of his parishioners withdrew with him and held services together for several years at his
- See Appendix III.
