Pietas in Patriam; or, the Life of His Excellency, Sir William Phips, late Governour of New-England. 526 5-4 Remains of the Third Classis. With more punctual accounts of Mr. John Oxenbridge, Mr. Thomas Walley, MEMOIR OF COTTON MATHER, D.D., F.R.S. BY SAMUEL G. DRAKE, M.A. THE succession of eminent men by the name of MATHER, through a period of above one hundred years, was enough to make that name conspicuous for several ages or generations, after those who gave the impression had passed away. The subject of this notice, (though by no means the last of the Mathers,) was the last of the three great men of the name, who so indelibly impressed his fame upon the age in which he lived, that no length of time is likely to obliterate it; and it is worthy of remark, that the three Mathers should have followed each other in importance in unbroken. succession. Not that the successors were better men than their predecessor, but there seems to have been an accumulation of fame attached to each, something in proportion to the amount and number of their literary productions; for, while the first of the series, the Rev. RICHARD MATHER, published but very few works, perhaps not above eight or nine, yet there have not, probably, lived in New England to this day, any three men, of one name and family, who have been authors of an equal number of publications. Those of our author alone number three hundred and eighty-two.* It is not proposed to enter at all into an examination or exhibition of the religious views and theories of Dr. COTTON MATHER: those can be best understood by a perusal of his writings; while, at the same time, it is the duty of his biographer to rebuke those who, it is conceived, have calumniated him. It may be justly said of Cotton Mather, that he was one of the most remarkable men of the age in which he lived; not only remarkable on one, but on many accounts; and for none, perhaps, more than for hist wonderful precociousness, or the early intuitiveness of his mind. His memory was likewise very extraordinary. The acquirement of knowledge *Life by his son, Rev. Samuel Mather, D. D., who, in another place, says their number is three hundred and eighty-three. Even this is not quite all, as will be seen. Dr. Samuel Mather was an able and learned Divine, and his own published works are quite numerous. On the rebuilding of Faneuil Hall in Boston, a Charity Sermon was preached in it, March 6th, 1763, *for the relief of the poor," and D. Mather was appointed to deliver it.-News Letter, March 10th, 1763. XXX seems to have been with him accomplished almost without effort; and his writings show that they were generally drawn from the store-house of his mind, where, from reading and observation, they had been from time to time deposited. Authors who write from this source alone, are generally diffuse, and wanting in those very essential and minute particulars, which in these days constitute so important a part of every man's writings. His style is very peculiar; and no one who is acquainted with the writings. of the "famous Thomas Fuller," can hardly doubt that Cotton Mather attempted to make that writer's composition a model for his own. Still, he falls considerably short of Fuller in his attempts at witty conceits; in them the latter is always happy, while the former is seldom so. Yet it is believed that a volume might be made up from his writings, which would be well entitled "Curiosities and Singularities of Cotton Mather," equal, if not superior, in interest to any thing of the kind that has ever appeared. His ability for acquiring languages has probably been surpassed by but very few, and he is said to have been master of more languages than any other person in New England in his time. Of the Latin, especially, it must be confessed, he made a most pedantic use, bringing in passages from it at all times, as though every body understood it as well as himself. So far as it is now remembered, Dr. Douglass seems to have been the author of the fashion or practice, so much in vogue of late years, of reviling Cotton Mather. It has been carried to such an extreme in some quarters, that whoever presumes to mention his name, does it at the peril of coming in for a share of obloquy and abuse himself.* Some not only charge him with committing all sorts of errors and blunders, but they bring against him the more serious charge of misrepresenting matters of fact. Now, it would be well for those who bring those charges, to look carefully to their own works. It may be, if they cannot see any thing pedantic, puerile or false in them themselves, others may come in contact with errors even worse than those of stupidity. It is not to be denied that the mind of Dr. Mather was strangely and wonderfully constituted; and whoever shall undertake an analysis of it, will find a more difficult task, perhaps, than those have found, who content themselves with nothing further than vituperative denunciations upon the fruits of it. Literature owes a vast deal to Cotton Mather; especially for his historical and biographical works. Were these alone to be struck out of existence, it would make a void in these departments of our literature, that would probably confound many who affect to look upon them with contempt. Even Dr. Douglass, although he has written it down for truth, that, to point out all the errors in the MAGNALIA, would be to copy the whole book, is nevertheless, very much indebted to it for facts in many *The author (of the Magnalia) said, when writing his great work, that "he had no question but there would be some with hearts full of serpent and venom," who would "scourge him with scorpions" for the pains he had taken. |