157 



were easily taken by the hand. We learn by the news- 

 papers that specimens of this bird were found at Lowell, 

 Dracut, Lawrence, Haverhill, Gloucester, Rockport, Sud- 

 bury, Concord and many other localities. This little bird 

 known to the mariners as the "Greenland Dove," from 

 its quaint resemblance to that family of birds, is a dweller 

 in the Arctic Circle, seldom proceeding far from those 

 desolate and glacial regions except when accidentally 

 driven by severe storms. Occasionally, specimens are 

 found on the coast in the wintry season. It may be con- 

 sidered a rare occurrence to observe them in such num- 

 bers and extending over so large a territory. 



Mr. A. C. Goodell, Jr., gave a sketch of the progress 

 of legislation, through the period between the arrival of 

 the charter of the province of Massachusetts Bay, in 

 1692, and the adoption of the Constitution in 1780. 



After briefly alluding to the colonial charter, and the 

 laws and jurisprudence of the colony, and recalling the 

 prominent political events of that period as described by 

 Mr. Upham in his address to the Institute at the meeting of 

 April 5, 1869, he proceeded to show that a great change, 

 both in laws and manners, took place here shortly after 

 the new charter went into operation. Then fashions in 

 dress began to be copied from the French; music began 

 to be cultivated ; domestic comforts and luxuries were in- 

 creased ; assemblies for secular purposes and amusements 

 were more open and frequent ; the barriers of rank were 

 broken ; the current secular literature of England began 

 to receive general attention ; newspapers appeared, and 

 the printing press was put to more general use. The pub- 

 lic mind be^an to lose something of the absoAing interest 

 it had formerly manifested in theological speculations, 

 and was turned to the consideration of the problems of 



