during fourteen years of which he was the Presidenthe is justly entitled to our grateful recollections on these occasions, at which he has so often presided, to the pleasure and delight of our associates and their guests.

Instituted under such favorable auspices, these festivals have always been honored by the presence and participation of those high in official station, and eminent for their learning, eloquence or public services; and we are happy to greet with a cordial welcome so many of them on this occasion.

It is also with heartfelt pleasure that on this, as on several previous festivals, we welcome those whose gentle sympathy and cheerful smiles, like sunbeams, light the rough and stormy pathways of our life. Welcome, most welcome is woman's presence here!

To our distinguished honorary members, to all our guests and friends, we bid a hearty welcome. We welcome them here in Faneuil Hall, the memories of which are closely entwined with those of our Association.

There, in yonder niche, is the marble bust of the revolutionary patriot and President, JOHN ADAMS, the first honorary member elected by this Association.

Here, on the right and left, are the lineaments of JOHN HANCOCK and SAMUEL ADAMS, the friends and compatriots of REVERE.

And there, standing in all the majesty of conscious

power, bearing on his matchless brow the seal of genius and eloquence, is the Senator of Massachu

setts, the Defender of the Union, the statesman of America,—he whose transcendent talents have shed a lustre on the page of our history, and whose revered name on the roll of our honorary members we cherish with pride and affectionate remembrance. Ever green may his memory live in our hearts, and may his lessons of wisdom and patriotism be honored and cherished while our country holds her place among the nations of the earth.

On these occasions, surrounded as we are with friends and festivity, - breathing the perfume of flowers, and listening to the thrilling tones of language or of music, we are apt to yield to the fascinations of the hour, and forget those to whose exertions we are indebted for many of the blessings we enjoy.

Let not this be our reproach; but let us with grateful hearts review the Past, — reflect upon the Present, -and with hope and confidence look towards the Future.

For more than fourscore years has Providence smiled upon our course, and spread golden prosperity around our path. Prudence has insured success, and wealth has laid her tribute at our feet. But it is not worldly wealth that should excite our pride; it is the bright catalogue of noble men which is found recorded on the

roll of our Association - men distinguished alike for their fervent patriotism, and for their mechanical skill and integrity.

Foremost among these stands out in bold relief our first President, PAUL REVERE. Skilful as an artizan,— enthusiastic as a patriot, the gold which he worked with his hands was but the semblance of the purity of his heart and the sterling patriotism which characterized his life. The spirit of liberty he had inherited as a Huguenot, made him the able coadjutor of ADAMS, and OTIS, and HANCOCK, in their resistance to tyrannical legislation, and inspired him to become the daring leader of the "Boston Tea Party," which, in the disguise of Indians, practically annulled the "Stamp Act," by destroying the first cargo which bore the obnoxious seal of despotic power. Active and energetic, he exhibited a versatility of talent peculiarly adapted to the times. In 1756, at the age of twenty-one, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant of Artillery in the military demonstration against the French at Crown Point. The next year he returned to Boston, and pursued his trade with diligence and success. But his public spirit never tired, or was at rest. As an engraver, he used his art to excite the public mind by bold caricatures of subservient officials, and arbitrary acts of parliament,- to fan the flame of popular indignation by vivid pictures of the slaughter of the citizens at the King Street mas

sacre, and to make the bills of paper money authorized by the Assembly of Massachusetts, to carry on the struggle for freedom. He was the confidential messenger from the Provincial to the Continental Congress, the trusty spy upon the movements of the British troops in Boston, a Lieutenant Colonel of a volunteer regiment for the defence of the State, and held many other positions of trial and trust during the war; in all of which his energy, courage, sagacity and skill were equal to all emergencies, and his heart and hand were ever ready and devoted to the cause of American liberty and independence.

I have here in my hand a little piece of rough, thick, paper dingy, soiled, torn and almost illegible. It is one of those bills to which I have just alluded, as having been designed, engraved and printed by the hands of PAUL REVERE. Upon one side is inscribed the following:

Colony of the Massachusetts Bay.

No. 688.

Aug 18, 1775.

The pofsefsor of this Bill shall be paid by the Treasurer of this Colony, Five Shillings, lawful money, by the 18th Day of Aug 1778, which Bill shall be received for the aforesaid sum in all payments at the Treasury, and for all other payments, by order of the General Assembly. S. DEXTER. Committee, Jos. WARREN. MOSES GILL.

On the other side of this bill is the figure of a patriot, with a drawn sword in his right hand, and a

scroll, with the words "Magna Charta," in his left. Around him are the words "Five Shillings. Issued in Defence of American Liberty," and the motto of our state: "Ense petit placidam, sub libertate quietam.”

Intrinsically, this is insignificant and worthless; but how valuable and interesting is it to us, as a relic of the past! The past! how often does it float before our mental vision, like the dim, undefined pictures of the phantasmagoria! but how real,-how, as if by magic, is it quickened into life, by the presence of a relic of the time or the event! How wonderful is this association of certain objects with certain events! A rude brick from the ruins of Babylon or Nineveh,—a fragment from the Pyramids, or the Parthenon,-like a talisman of the genii, will transport us back to the time of their primal splendor, glory, and renown.

Such a talisman is this little scrap of paper, with its date, "August 18, 1775." As we look upon it, how many circumstances in the early history of our country, and stirring scenes in the trying times of our fathers, are presented to our view? On the 19th of April, but four months previous, the first blood of the revolution was shed, and "the curtain rose on that mighty drama in the world's history, of which the quiet villages of Lexington and Concord were the appointed theatre." Two months later, on the 17th of June, the

*Edward Everett.