50 History of Hingham. 



land, France, and other foreign countries, and fell ill in London, 

 with a fatal disease. Mr. Colman possessed excellent abilities, 

 was very fascinating in person and manners, and is said to have 

 been more hospitably received by the aristocracy of England than 

 any other private American citizen. In a letter in the writer's 

 possession, he says : — 



a 



I have spent three days at the Duke of Richmond's, at Goodwood, 

 and have now promised positively that I will go to Gordon Castle in 

 September to spend at least a fortnight, when he says he will show me 

 the whole county." 



Lord Hatherton said of him in a letter to a friend in America, 

 after Mr. Colman's death : — 



" I never knew any foreigner so identified with us and our habits and 

 so entirely adopted by the country. And yet there was no lack of inde- 

 pendence of thought and action, and he avowed preference of most things 

 both in civil and social life in his owu country. Yet he was so candid 

 and true and honest, and so fond of those qualities in others, and with 

 great talents there was so charming a simplicity of character, that he won 

 on everybody he approached. There is no exaggeration in his printed 

 letters, in which he so often spoke of the innumerable solicitations he 

 received from persons in every part of England to visit them. All who 

 had once received him wished a repetition of the pleasure, and their report 

 caused him to be courted by others." 



A monument to his memory stands in Highgate Cemetery, 

 Middlesex, England, which was erected by order of and at the 

 expense of Lady Byron. 



Rev. Charles Brooks, the second minister, was born in Med- 

 ford, Oct. 30, 1795, and was a graduate of Harvard College in 

 1816. He was ordained pastor Jan. 17, 1821. 



The following is an extract from a " Memoir of the Rev. 

 Charles Brooks " by Hon. Solomon Lincoln : — 



" Upon his settlement Mr. Brooks entered at once upon active dutv» 

 engaging with great earnestness in all the measures which he thought 

 would be useful to his parish or the community. He established a 

 Sunday School in his society in 1822 ; a parish reading society ; and, 

 during the first year of his ministry, he wrote a Family Prayer Book, 

 intended for his people, which was afterwards published in Hingham. 

 Eighteen editions of it were issued, many having 4,000 copies each. 



" Mr. Brooks took an active interest in the Peace cause, he was an 

 ardent friend of the American Colonization Society, by his influence the 

 Savings Bank was established in Hingham, he was an early advocate of 

 the Temperance cause in the Old Colony, he was the first person to intro- 

 duce anthracite coal into Hingham, and he started the project of a line 

 of steamboats between Boston and Hingham. 



" Mr. Brooks was an early and constant friend of popular education, 

 serving as a member of the school committees of Hingham and Medford 

 for nearly forty years, and he was also a Trustee of Derby Academy. 



