hat day. It was last kept by James Walker, and its name
changed to the Middlesex House. It was destroyed by the great fire of
August 28, 1835.

Robbin's Tavern stood on the west side of City square and south-east
corner of Harvard street. It was built in 1796, and stood directly in
the rear of the site of the Three Cranes Tavern, before alluded to. It
was demolished in 1816, and the Charlestown Town Hall erected upon its
site, which, in turn, was demolished in 1868 to make room for the City
Hall.

Ireland's Tavern was built in 1797, and stood on the north side of
Cambridge street, near the Lowell Railroad bridge.

Yoelin's Tavern was built in 1798, and stood on the east side of City
square and north-west corner of Chamber street. It was first occupied as
a tavern in 1821, and was destroyed by the great fire before alluded to.
The first meeting of the proprietors of Warren bridge was held there in
1828.

Copp's Tavern was built in 1799, and stood on the south side of City
square, near the corner of Bow street. The building, which had ceased
for some years to be occupied as a tavern, was demolished in 1866 to
make room for the Waverley House.

"_Sic transit gloria mundi_." Thus have disappeared from time to time,
with but few exceptions, the taverns, inns, and coffee-houses of the
Town of Boston, while the bodily forms of those who took their ease in
them have long since crumbled into dust. We will now resign to the pen
of the local historian of a century hence to describe the mammoth
hostelries of the City of Boston, which have arisen since the era of
railways, steamships, electric telegraphs, ocean cables, telephones,
electric lights, and other modern developments of science and art.

* * * * *

EDITOR'S TABLE.

A correspondent asks in connection with an article in the May number on
"Town and City Histories," in which was incidentally mentioned the
government of Western towns by trustees, the following question: "Can
you tell me where I can find that government treated of; also, that of
towns in the Middle and Southern States?" The question is a hard one to
answer. Of the town meeting, that peculiarly New England institution,
much has been written; but about the local forms of government prevalent
in the States between the Hudson and the Pacific Ocean very little has
found its way into print. The local historians seem to take it for
granted that all these things are understood