ty. He says, "In the list of men capable of
bearing arms, at Plymouth, in 1643, occurs the name of 'Abraham
Pearse, the Black-moore,' from which we infer ... that Negroes were
not dispensed from military service in that colony" (History of New
England, vol. ii. p. 30, note). This single case is borne down by the
laws and usages of the colonists on this subject. Negroes as a class
were absolutely excluded from the military service, from the
commencement of the colony down to the war with Great Britain.

[338] Slavery in Mass., Appendix, p. 243.

[339] Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. viii. 3d Series, p. 336.

[340] Lyman's Report, 1822.

[341] Mather's Magnalia, Book III., p. 207. Compare also p. 209.

[342] Elliott's New-England Hist., vol. ii. p. 165.

[343] Mr. Palfrey comes again with his single and exceptional case,
asking us to infer a rule therefrom. See History of New England, note,
p. 30.

[344] Chief-Justice Parker, in Andover vs. Canton, 13 Mass. p. 550.

[345] Slavery in Mass., p. 62.

[346] Mott's Sketches, p. 17.

[347] At the early age of sixteen, in the year 1770, Phillis was
baptized into the membership of the society worshipping in the "Old
South Meeting-House." The gifted, eloquent, and noble Dr. Sewall was
the pastor. This was an exception to the rule, that slaves were not
baptized into the Church.

[348] All writers I have seen on this subject--and I think I have seen
all--leave the impression that Miss Wheatley's poems were first
published in London. This is not true. The first published poems from
her pen were issued in Boston in 1770. But it was a mere pamphlet
edition, and has long since perished.

[349] All the historians but Sparks omit the given name of Peters. It
was John.

[350] The date usually given for her death is 1780, while her age is
fixed at twenty-six. The best authority gives the dates above, and I
think they are correct.

[351] "Her correspondence was sought, and it extended to persons of
distinction even in England, among whom may be named the Countess of
Huntingdon, Whitefield, and the Earl of Dartmouth."--SPARKS'S
_Washington_, vol. iii. p. 298, note.

[352] Sparks's Washington, vol iii. p. 299, note.

[353] This destroys the last hope I have nursed for nearly six years
that the poem might yet come to light. Somehow I had overlooked this
note.

[354] Sparks's Washington, vol iii. p. 288.

[355] Ibid., vol. iii. pp. 297, 298.

[356] Armistead's A Tribute to