transported the customs and institutions of their native province. It possessed a population of some six hundred plain and industrious people, among whom were a few to whom superior advantages had given a much higher than the average culture.

At the northerly end of the village stood the modest gambrel roofed house of the town minister, who, from the inception of the settlement, had been not only the spiritual, but, in public affairs, the temporal guide of his people.

Near him resided his son, like himself a graduate of Harvard, and at this time in the prime of manhood, and active in public and private business.

At the other extremity of the hamlet there had lived, until near this time, another man of prominence and next in conse quence to the minister, Colonel Benjamin Rolfe, the largest landed proprietor of the township. In 1764 he had erected upon his ample estate, near the Merrimack, the finest mansion in the upper section of the province. To this imposing residence, when sixty years of age, and tired of his long bachelorhood, he had conducted the eldest daughter of his pastor and there set up his household gods.

When, however, two years had passed, Mrs. Rolfe found herself a widow, and, with an infant son, possessor of the largest estate in Concord.

It was in such a community that Thompson was introduced in 1772. He was only nineteen years old, but his manly bearing and unusual intelligence gave him a maturity beyond his years. Soon this accomplished school master was no longer a stranger, but a genial friend to all and a welcome guest at every board.

It was natural, when time had in some degree assuaged her grief and graded her weeds to lighter shades, that Mrs. Rolfe, a fair widow of thirty or thereabouts, should find the ample apartments of her mansion somewhat lonely, and that the occasional visits of the agreeable teacher should become pleasing to her.

It was, too, just as natural that the fair features of the widow, and perhaps those also of her fair estate, should seem pleasing to him. We can anticipate the sequel. In the autumn of 1772 the sweet relict of the stern old Colonel laid aside the insignia of her mourning and became Mrs. Thompson.

Relinquishing now his school the young husband became a gentleman farmer. He studied the theory of agriculture in its various branches; he made a careful and exact plan of his homestead; he imported choicest seeds from England and seemed determined to introduce a practice of husbandry superior to any before seen in the valley of the Merrimack.

Old Hesiod and the sweet poet of Mantua have rehearsed to us in glowing verse the pleasures of a rural life, but they have sung of none more delightful than those of an American farmer in good old provincial times, possessed of far extending acres, plenty of faithful men to do his bidding and a pretty wife to pay all his bills.

But the pleasures of such a life turned not Thompson from his cherished course, and he was careful to so adjust his business as to secure to himself ample time for study and scientific investigation.

Soon after his marriage he visited Portsmouth, the provincial capital, where he met the Governor and was introduced to the fashionable circles of the town. This acquaintance with Gov. Wentworth soon grew to an intimate friendship, resulting in considerable personal intercourse and an interesting correspondence.

The royal governor evidently not only liked his new friend, but appreciated his capacity and promising influence in the province. As a testimonial of his high regard he conferred upon him a commission of Major of the Second Regiment of the New Hampshire Militia; in doing which he disregarded the expectations of several deserving individuals who were generally allowed to have superior claims to the position.

The acceptance of this commission occasioned much jealousy and rendered Major Thompson very unpopular, in the military circles of the province. When, therefore, a few years later he was slow to join in the popular demonstrations against the British government, he became a suspected person and was accused of hostility to the popular cause. Insults were offered

him, and at length personal injury was threatened.

Finding vain all protestations of his innocence of the offences alleged against him, he withdrew from Concord in the summer of 1774 to his mother's house in Woburn.

When in the spring following it became evident that the difficulties between England and her American colonies could be settled only by an appeal to arms, Major Thompson offered his services to his country and sought a position in her army. But the same embittered jealousies and suspicions which had driven him from New Hampshire now assailed him in Massachusetts and thwarted his every effort for employment in the patriot service. It availed him nothing that repeated trials before regular tribunals failed to establish in a single instance his hostility to the popular cause.

After more than a year of fruitless efforts to allay the bitter hostilities waged against him, disgusted with the persistent hate of his enemies, chagrined at the timidity of his friends, in sadness and with reluctance he left the lines of the American army, which he would have gladly joined, and passed within those of the British forces at Boston; affording thereby one of those numerous instances in which intense zeal for the popular cause deprived our country, at this critical time, of the services of a valuable man and drove him to the ranks of its enemies.

We have thus dwelt at considerable length upon the first twenty two years of Major Thompson's life, because they are prophetic of his whole subsequent career. From the ambition, magnetic address, intense love of science, natural sagacity, and unwearied application, during this period developed, came in after years, much of the glory that will adorn his name forever.

He continued in Boston during the winter of 1775-76, and upon its evacuation by the English forces, the following spring, was sent to London as a bearer of dispatches detailing to the British ministry the circumstances attending this discouraging

movement.

It is rare that such an errand is productive of the personal preferment of the party discharging it. But the truth of the great dramatist's oft quoted remark that "there is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at its flood leads on to fortune," was signally illustrated on this occasion.

Upon his arrival in London, Thompson was received by Lord George Germaine, then Secretary of State of the American Colonies, with distinguished kindness. He was able, doubtless, or thought to be so by the blundering Secretary, to

furnish information of value to the royal cause.

His graceful port and pleasing manner may also have done much to recommend him. At all events he was deemed a valuable man whose services were worth securing.

A position in the Foreign Office was accordingly given him. This brought him in constant communication with his chief. The acquaintance thus formed ripened into an intimate friendship; Thompson associating with Lord Germaine upon terms the most familiar; visiting him at his lodgings and dining with him almost daily.

There is abundant evidence that he discharged with fidelity the duties assigned him, and rendered important services to the English government in various ways. These were rewarded by his advancement to the important positions of Under Secretary of State, Secretary of Georgia, and Lieut. Colonel Commandant of Dragoons, in New York.

Official duties, however, occupied but a part of his time. The scientific taste that we have seen so strong in him at home, had followed him abroad and he availed himself of such opportunities as occurred for their indulgence. But it is characteristic of Thompson that from the very first he sought science, not for itself alone, but as a means for the accomplishment of important ends.

He soon attracted the notice of the English Navy by suggest ing valuable improvements in their signal service; and of the Army and Navy both, by his investigations and discoveries in Gunnery.

He also made himself known to the scientific circles of London by an able paper upon the cohesive powers of different bodies. This was addressed to Sir Joseph Banks, at that time President of the Royal Society, and led to a favorable introduction of him to its fraternity of which he was elected a Fellow in 1779.

We are surprised, perhaps, at the high position so soon attained by this young man of twenty seven; after a residence in London of four or five years only at farthest. Yet so important ere long became his influence in the American Department that he was deemed, by applicants for state patronage, their most promising avenue to the governmental ear.

His

exaltation became at length a source of embarassment to him on this very account, and exposed him to serious complaints by disappointed applicants.

The journal of Judge Curwen, of Salem, an exiled loyalist and an applicant for royal favor, is an evidence of this fact. Says the needy Judge:

"May 24th, 1781. Went early in order to be at Mr. Benjamin Thompson's in time, and, being a little before, heard he had not returned from Lord George Germaine's, where he always breakfasts, dines, and sups, so great a favorite is he. He received me [upon his return] in a friendly manner, taking me by the hand, * * * and promised to remember and serve me in the way I proposed."

Two months and a half later the disappointed Judge makes another entry:

"After one hour's waiting called on Mr. Thompson in the Plantation office. He seemed inclined to shorten the interview, received me with a courtier's smile, rather uncommunicative and dry. * * *This, my first, will be my last attempt to gain advantages from a courtier of whom I have never entertained favorable impressions."

Thompson was in London from the spring of 1776 to the autumn of 1781. He went there a very young man, a stranger and an exile, without friends and poor. By his own unaided efforts he rose to high position and he became the associate of nobles and the companion of savants.

But the foundations of such a life are quite often insecure ones. The capitulation of Yorktown was to the English ministry a terrible blow. Thompson saw at a glance that a near consequence of this must be the resignation of his chief and his own withdrawal from the Plantation office. With him promptness of action was as marked a characteristic as keen sagacity. Resigning his secretaryship he obtained orders to return to his native land and assume command of his regiment of dragoons.

Stress of weather drove the fleet, with which he embarked, to Charleston, South Carolina. Detained there for several months he betook himself as soon as possible to his troops on Long Island, and received from the hand of Prince William Henry, afterwards King William the Fourth, his regimental colors.

But the war was now virtually closed, and little opportunity afforded for any exercise of the military talents he undoubtedly