ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES. 



129 



Eliot (J.) — Continued. 



lessons of one syllable begin on the verso of 

 the third leaf and end on the verso of the 

 fourth, followed on the same page by short 

 reading lessons, which end on the verso of the 

 fifth leaf. "The first reading lesson," Dr. 

 Trumbull remarks, "tells us (in Indian) what 

 was the course of instruction in the Indian 

 schools." It says: ""Wise doing to read Cate- 

 chism. First, read Primer. Next, read Re- 

 pentance Calling (i. e. Baxter's Call). Then 

 read Bible." " The Lords Prayer," in English, 

 fills the recto of the sixth leaf, with the same in 

 Indian on the verso. The Lord's Prayer ex- 

 pounded, in questions and answers, begins on 

 the recto of the seventh leaf and ends ou the 

 verso of the ninth, " The Ancient Creed," in 

 English, begins on the verso of the ninth leaf, 

 and ends on the recto of the tenth. The same 

 in Indian begins on the recto of the tenth leaf 

 and ends on the recto of the eleventh. The 

 Creed expounded, in questions and answers, 

 begins on the recto of the eleventh leaf, and 

 ends on the verso. The recto of the twelfth 

 leaf begins with the "Degrees of Christian 

 Duties for several estates, collected out of the 

 holy Scripture," which end on the recto of the 

 twenty-fourth leaf (B8). "The large Cate- 

 chism," in six chapters, with the caption " Cat- 

 echizaonk," begins on the recto of the twenty- 

 fourth leaf and ends on the recto of the fifty- 

 eighth (DIO). The Ten Commandments are 

 included in the second chapter. "A short Cat- 

 echism," wdth th^ caption "Peamesik Kate- 

 chizaonk," begins on the! recto of the fifty- 

 eighth leaf and ends ou the verso of the fifty- 

 ninth with "Finis." "The Numeral Letters 

 and Figures, which serve for the ready finding 

 of any Chapter, Psalm and Verse in the Bible, 

 or elsewliere," in roman and arable, from 1 to 

 150, with their names in English, fill the next 

 six pages, beginning on the recto of the six- 

 tieth leaf and ending on the verso of the sixty- 

 second. " The Names and Order of the Books 

 of the Old and New Testament," in English, 

 begin on the recto of the sixty-third leaf and 

 end on the verso with "Finis." The sixty- 

 fourth leaf, verso blank, contains on the recto 

 the same cut of the royal arms that appears on 

 the first leaf. 



The text is in Indian throughout, the only 

 portions in English being the title, the Lord's 

 Prayer, the Ancient Creed, the introductory 

 heading to the "Degrees of Christian Duties," 

 the running headings to the pages, and the lists 

 of numerals and books of the bible at the end. 

 The only copy 1 nown is in the library of the 

 University of Edinburgh. It bears an inscrip- 

 tion on the blank leaf: "Gifted to the Library 

 by Mr Jo. kirton, Aprile 19, 1675." The above 

 title is from a photographic fac-simile, liere- 

 with rep rodiiced, which was furnished me by th e 

 librarian, the late Dr. John Small. The colla- 

 tion and description of the contents have been 

 made from Dr. Small's reprint, which is an ex- 

 act reproduction of the original work, page for 

 page and line for line. 



ALG 9 



Eliot (J.) — Continued. 



[The Indian primer. 



Cambridge: printed by Samuel Green. 

 1687?] 



On the 29th of August, 1686, Mr. Eliot wrote 

 to the Hon. Kobert Boyle: "My humble re- 

 quest to your honour is, that we may again re- 

 impose the primer and catechism ; for though 

 the last impression be not quite spent, yet 

 quickly they will ; and I am old, ready to be 

 gone, and desire to leave as many books as I 

 can." 



In the library of the Massachusetts Histo- 

 rical Society is a copy of Eliot's primer, in the 

 Massachusetts Indian language, supposed to 

 be unique, which may be of this edition. It is 

 without title, name of place or printer, and also 

 without date, but appears to have been com- 

 plete in forty leaves, signatures A, B, C, D, and 

 E in eights. Size of the leaf, 3^ inches high by 

 nearly 2J inches wide. In contents it seems to 

 agree closely with the edition of 1669, as far as 

 it goes, for the "Degrees of Christian Duties" 

 and the names of the books of the bible are 

 omitted. The additions comprise a few refer- 

 ences to bible texts under sooieof the answers. 

 The first six leaves and the recto of the seventh 

 are unpaged, but on the verso of the latter the 

 "flumbering begins withl, and continues in that 

 order, the odd numbers on the left-hand side 

 and the even numbers on the right, to the verso 

 of the thirty-seventh leaf, which is marked 61, 

 and followed by five more pages unnumbered. 

 The first signature (marked A) is complete, and 

 contains on the recto of the first leaf, instead 

 of a title, merely the following bible text in five 

 lines between two horizontal rules, the whole 

 surrounded by a border composed of acorn- 

 shaped and other ornaments, similar to the bor- 

 der around the title of the Indian bible of 1685: 

 Prov. 22. 6. I Nehtuhpeh peisses ut | mayut ne 

 woh ayont kah | kehchisuit matta pish | wun- 

 nukkodtumuoon. See the fac-simile. The 

 lower part of this leaf is slightly imperfect. 

 On the blank verso was written, according to 

 Dr. Trumbull, in the hand of Rev. Thomas 

 Prince : " Mr. B. Green says, composed by Mr. 

 Eliot, & Print'i atCamb.ab' 1684." The only 

 parts of the inscription now to be seen are the 

 words: " Prin"* at Camb ab' 1684." The recto 

 of the second leaf, which has a border of small 

 fleur-de-lis shaped ornaments, contains three 

 alphabets, small, capital, and italic, follDwed by 

 the five . " Unnont waash " or vowels, and the 

 nine "Neesontoo waash "or diphthongs. Seethe 

 fac-simile. The verso of this leaf and the recto 

 of the third contain spelling lessons of one syl- 

 lable, with short reading lessons on the verso 

 of the third leaf. These lessons contain the 

 references to Baxter's CaK and the bible, which 

 are mentioned in the note to the primer of 

 1669. "The Lords Prayer," in English above 

 and in Indian below, fills the recto of the fourth 

 leaf. The Lord's Prayer expounded, in ques- 

 tions and answers, begins on the verso of the> 



