ught the same careful preparation into all branches
of his daily occupations that we find in his published work. In addition
to his theological studies, which were naturally absorbing, and his
historical research, he was thoroughly conversant with polite
literature. At his death his library, which he had deposited in the
belfry of the Old South Church, said to be his study, remained there
intact and undisturbed for seventeen years. The books were on shelves,
the manuscripts and maps in boxes and barrels. At the breaking out of
the Revolutionary war they were still left where Mr. Prince placed them,
though the old meeting-house became the camping ground of British
soldiery. Pews and pulpit were burnt, to enable the riding school--which
the soldiers inaugurated--a better opportunity for its operations. Gov.
Winthrop's old residence, next door to the church, opposite the foot of
School street, which had been used some time as a parsonage, fell a
victim to the lawlessness of the soldiers, who used the beams and
rafters of this memento of the earliest Puritan days for firewood, while
many of Mr. Prince's books and manuscripts were immolated on the same
altar. It has been suggested that some were taken by the spectators who
thronged to witness the exhibitions, as manuscripts known to have
belonged to this library were found--so the catalogue states--as remote
as in a grocer's shop in Nova Scotia. It would be difficult to
conjecture which would have caused the greater grief to Mr. Prince,--the
desecration of the church, whose construction had been a daily delight,
and where he had earnestly labored for so many years, or the sacrifice
of a portion of the results of the patient toil of a lifetime. This
material, however, which was consigned to the flames, would have been of
great benefit to historical societies, who now treasure the minutest
facts that bear upon our past history. In 1814, when society had
recovered its equilibrium, and began to feel a dawning pride in the
great achievement that made of the colonies a free and independent
nation, an interest naturally increased in those things that pertained
to their earliest chronicles. The Historical Society looked over the
books and pamphlets belonging to Mr. Prince, removing the historical
portion to their rooms, while the ecclesiastical was sent to the house
of the pastor of the Old South. In 1860 it was considered desirable to
place them all together in the Public Library of