his people lived west of the Green and a central site was desired. He said also that he would have liked his church to have the name of St. Stephen's, because John Davenport was the Vicar of St. Stephen's, London, but Bishop Brownell bore the name of Thomas and liked to have the last church which he consecrated bear that name also. There is also a tradition worth preserving, that one bright woman said that it was called St. Thomas's because at the beginning the undertaking seemed so doubtful.

The year 1859 saw him elected to the Standing Committee of the Diocese, the Bishop's Council of advice, wherein he was to serve the Diocese to the end of his life. He now became associated with men somewhat older than himself, whose names were the outstanding names in the Diocese for many years, Dr. Meade of Norwalk, Dr. Clark of Waterbury, Dr. Hallam of New London, Dr. Goodwin of Middletown.

This fifth decade of Dr. Beardsley's life, his first in New Haven, saw him firmly established as a man of large influence in the community and state, greatly honored and respected, his parish strong and vigorous, and the new church built. He had come into the city and, with a little company of plain people, between two strong parishes, he had made a place for himself and for them. Dr. Cooke had gone from St. Paul's and Dr. Littlejohn would soon go, and 1859 would see the long rectorship of Dr. Croswell at Trinity end. And Dr. Beardsley would remain for thirty years longer, the oldest of the city rectors, declining to consider calls to other parishes and to the presidency of a college. And a large place had come to him in the Diocese as we have seen, although he was not in agreement with much of the policy of the decade, although men older than himself were counted as in supreme command. All kinds of offices and responsibilities came to Dr. Beardsley unsought, because his character commanded complete respect and because his good judgment was trusted.

We pass now to the seventh decade of the century, the sixth of Dr. Beardsley's life, the second of his work in New Haven. The work which marked this decade was his historical writing, the preparation and publication of his books. You will remem

ber that during these years the work of preaching and parochial administration, with the payment for the church and its adornment, went on. His interest in Trinity College and Diocesan affairs did not slacken. But he turned his thoughts and studies and reading in such hours as he could command to searching out the beginning and the history of the Church which he loved so well, in Connecticut. As I said at first, he was very fond of his state and of all that pertained to its history. Stratford had been the place where the Episcopal Church in Connecticut had its beginning, and one of Dr. Beardsley's ancestors had been closely associated with Dr. Johnson. It was natural for him to be interested in Stratford and Dr. Johnson, and all the traditions of the place.

He was fond of writing historical sermons and lectures and was frequently called upon to give them in connection with anniversaries of Trinity College, the Diocesan School, our old parishes and his own work. A series of parochial lectures in his own church led to the making of his History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, his first considerable literary work. The last of the sixteen lectures was given on the first Sunday in April 1865, and they were soon in the hands of the publisher,all being settled in a visit to the Riverside press at Cambridge in August. The copy for the second volume was sent in January 1868, and a second edition of the first volume was published in connection with it.

The "History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut" will always be counted a valuable contribution to American historical literature. Dr. Beardsley took up the work of writing it with great love for the subject and enthusiasm. It was a labor of love with him. The period was not so far away as to prevent free access to original sources, the use of town records and parish registers, and traditions not made doubtful by age. No attempt was made to write in a rhetorical or popular style, but the story of the early struggles, the growth of the Church, its ruin in the War of Independence, its later prosperity, was told in a straightforward and clear and incisive way. Very interest

ing men came into the history and were given their just places. Old controversies were described but not revived.

Dr. Beardsley was very painstaking and careful in the statement of his facts. Much time was spent and much correspondence carried on for the sake of accuracy. He left nothing uncertain, nothing in doubt which time and patience could clear

Those who have used the work of Dr. Beardsley or have worked along the same line after him have been greatly impressed with his correctness. A reference to Dr. Beardsley for authority has always been counted sufficient. The world grows larger, and Connecticut, whether in church or state, in industry or political life, is not so large a part of it as formerly, but we at least preserve the pleasing delusion of the continued importance of the Commonwealth and of everything belonging to it.

We will think of the special work by which Dr. Beardsley is to be remembered, in the decade ending in 1870, in addition to the care of his parish and many and important Diocesan duties, as the writing of the History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. In the next period, or decade, from 1870 to 1880, from about the sixtieth year of his life, we reach new literary activity, new honors in the Church and enlarged influence. He was coming to be one of the older men in the Diocese and in the midst of many changes giving the sense of stability. Some of the men who had overshadowed him in influence were removed by death. His was now experience, ripened by age and by association with many men and many movements. He was taking a unique place as an adviser and counsellor in many

matters.

Dr. Beardsley had never made many breaks in his work for holidays or vacations. He labored quietly and steadily and was not nervous nor easily disturbed.

The wear and tear of life

were not as great then as now and parish life and work were simpler. Preaching, study, the ordinary ministry among the people, were forms of activity which he enjoyed. Nearly every year saw him for a little time upon the hills in Fairfield County, renewing and recalling the scenes of his early life about the old

home. He went as far as Niagara and into Canada.

But in 1870 he crossed the ocean, being absent from home from July to November. The great delight in that journey was the opportunity to visit places which interested him by reason of their religious and historical associations. In England and Scotland he was following the steps of men whose lives and work in Connecticut he had been tracing with keenest interest. In Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and in London, he found shrines to which he was a reverent and devout pilgrim. He came back to be welcomed most heartily on Thanksgiving Day, 1870, having satisfied some long-cherished desires, mind and memory stored with new associations which would make all the rest of his life richer. I think the one place to which he went with keenest interest was Aberdeen, where Bishop Seabury was consecrated. His history had made him known across the sea and he met, to count henceforth as personal friends, many men whom he was most glad to know.

In 1868, Dr. Beardsley was elected a member of the General Convention, the triennial assembly which is the highest legislative body of the Episcopal Church, made up of the House of Bishops, forming the Upper House, and the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies consisting of four of each order from each Diocese. He sat in eight conventions and was the presiding officer of the Lower House in 1880 and 1883, the highest honor of the kind which comes to a Presbyter. Dr. Beardsley was never, in any body with which he was connected, disposed to speak frequently. But he was always on the most important committees and a man of large influence.

The writing of his history opened the way for further writing of the same kind, and made it certain that he would go on. In the preface of his next book, the life of Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson, he said that in writing his history he "fell upon original sources of information, which seemed never to have been carefully explored." He had come into possession of materials or into the knowledge of where they were to be found, and he naturally desired to use them.

In his journal, in March 1869, he recorded a visit to Stratford to make a selection of manuscripts preparatory to writing a life of Dr. Johnson. A little more than a year later he wrote to Professor Fraser, of the University of Edinburgh, with whom he was in correspondence concerning Bishop Berkeley, that he was at work upon the life of Dr. Johnson and hoped to have it ready at the end of the year. But as we have seen, the second half of this year of 1870 was spent in Great Britain and the life of Dr. Samuel Johnson, commonly thought of as the Father of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, also the first president of King's College, now Columbia University, cost him more than three years of work and did not appear until 1873. I must only take time to speak of this biography of Dr. Johnson as full of interest, as telling an entirely new story of the life of one of Connecticut's worthies, as marked by Dr. Beardsley's good sense, accuracy and straightforward manner of writing.

In a letter to Professor Fraser, Dr. Beardsley said of this Life of Dr. Johnson: "Though the work has cost many hours of weary labour, it has been written con amore and whatever reception it meets with from men of letters, I shall not regret that it was undertaken." In a letter to his publishers, Dr. Beardsley wrote of having peculiar interest in Dr. Johnson as a pioneer in this country, in the cause of Christian education and philosophy, and adds that he was the first one to teach here the Copernican system of astronomy, Yale College and the Pope. being agreed in teaching that the sun moves around the earth.

Dr. Beardsley had a very high appreciation of Dr. Johnson's ability, and thought his fame had been somewhat overshadowed by the great and deserved reputation of his son, William Samuel Johnson. Columbia College very graciously and very properly recognized the service of the biographer of her first president, by conferring upon him the degree of LL.D. in 1874. The book also passed in this first year of its publication to a second

edition.

The Life of William Samuel Johnson was then written and published in 1876. Dr. Beardsley found in him one of Connecticut's greatest sons, whose life and public services deserved