400 



BIBLIOGKAPHY OF THE 



Pierson (A.)— Continued. 



to England from France, and shortly after was 

 arrested wlille in disguise on suspicion of being 

 a spy. His appearance was then described as 

 follows : " Hee has one or both legs crooked, a 

 proper, well-sett man, in a great light cockered 

 Perriwig, rough- visaged, having large haire on 

 his eyebrows, hollow-eyed, a little squinting or 

 a cast with his eye, full-faced about ye cheekes, 

 about 46 years of age, with a Black hatt and in 

 a straight boddy'd coate, cloath colar with 

 silver lace behind." In 1679 he engaged in a 

 conspiracy against the government, as well as 

 against Samuel Pepys and Sir ^^thony Deane, 

 both of whom he charged with treason. In 1682 

 he brutally killed a coachman in London, upon 

 some slight provocation, and was arrested and 

 held for trial. He made his escape, however, 

 and fled to Norway, where he remained until 

 1696, when he obtained a pardon from the king 

 and returned to England. His later history is 

 unknown, but his descendants are still living 

 on Long Island. 



It is probable that the altered title-page of 

 Piersou's catechism, with the words "Exam- 

 ined and approved by that Experienced Gen- 

 tleman (in the Indian Language) Captain John 

 Scot," was also one of his forgeries — a suppo- 

 sition which is strengthened by the above 

 sketch of his life. Dr. Trumbull was the first 

 to suggest that the.substitution of this spurious 

 title " may have been Scott's own device, to 

 give himself, in London, a certificate of position 

 and character, and perhaps add weight to his 

 statements in support of the title of the Narra- 

 ganselt proprietors and of his own claims to 

 lands for which he had procured deeds from 

 Indians on Long Island." 



Some j helps | for the | Indians | 



shewing them | How to improve their 

 natural Eeason, To know | the True 

 God, and the true Christian Religion. 



I 1. By leading them to see the 

 Divine Authority of the | Scriptures. 



I 2. By the Scriptures the Divine 

 Truths necessary to | Eternall Salva- 

 tion. I Undertaken | At the Motion, 

 and published by the Order of the 

 commis-- | sioners of the United Colo- 

 nies. 1 by Abraham Peirson. | Examined 

 and approved by Thomas Stanton In- 

 terpre- | ter-Generall to the United 

 Colonies for the Indian | Language, 

 and by some others of the most able | 

 Interpreters amongst us. | 



London, | Printed by M. Simmons, 

 1659. 



In A further accompt of the Progresse of 

 the gospel amongst the Indians in New-Eng- 

 land, pp. 22-35, London, 1659, 4°. (Congress, 

 Lenox.) See the facsimiles of the title-page 

 and of the first page of the text. 



Pierson (A.) — Continued. 



For a full description of the volume of which 

 this forms a part, see page 197 of this bibliog- 

 raphy. 



The portion of Pierson's catechism here 

 reprinted comprises the whole of the first six- 

 teen pages (signature A) of the original issue 

 of the edition of 1658, which also breaks off in 

 exactly the same place, with the catchword unk. 

 It is referred to as follows in the prefatory 

 epistle to the first part of the tract: "Two great 

 works we find here further undertaken in order 

 to that service. The one some helps and direc- 

 tions to the Indians how to improve their nat- 

 urall reason unto the knowledg of the true God. 

 The reason why there is so short and imperfect 

 a specimen given of it is, because the ships 

 came away from l^ew-England, before any more 

 of the Copy was wrought off from the presse." 



Some helps for the Indians : | a cate- 

 chism I in the language of the Quiripi 

 Indians | of New Haven colony, | by 

 the rev. Abraham Pierson. ( Reprinted 

 from the original edition, Cambridge, 

 1658. j With an introduction, | by J. 

 Hammond Trumbull. | From the collec- 

 tions of the Connecticut historical 

 society, vol. iii. | 



Hartford : | printed by M. H. Mallory 

 & CO. I 1873. 



Printed cover with brief title, inside title as 

 above verso " One Hundred Copies", introduc- 

 tory (containing a biographic sketch of the 

 author and a bibliographic account of the cate- 

 chism) pp. 3-11, reprint of the original title (from 

 the Lenox copy) verso blank 1 1. epistle "To 

 the Reader" p. 3, Indian title with interlinear 

 English translation p. 4, text in Indian and En- 

 glish interlinear (from a transcript of the Brit- 

 ish Museum copy collated witb the Lenox copy) 

 pp. 3-67, verso blank ; 2 fac-simile plates, one of 

 the title page and the other of page 4 (both from 

 the British Museum copy), 8°. 



Copies seen : Brinton, Eames, Pilling, Powell, 

 Trumbull. 



Quaritch, no. 12587, priced a copy 3Z. 3s. The 

 Brinley copy, no. 5692, s^ld for $4.75; the Mur- 

 phy copy, no. 1984, $5.75. Priced by (Quaritch, 

 no. 30088, 21. 2s., and in 1887, 11. 16s. 



The volume of "Collections " from which one 

 hundred copies of this catechism were sepa- 

 rately printed was entirely destroyed by fire at 

 a bindery in Hartford in 1873. 



Abraham Pierson — the name was so written 

 by himself and by his son — was born, probably, 

 in Yorkshire, England, about the year 1608. In 

 1632 he graduated at Tiinity College, Cam- 

 bridge, and, after being ordained a minister, 

 preached for a while at Newark, in the county 

 of Nottingham. He came to New England in 

 1639 or 1640, and on the 5th of September of the 

 latter year joined the church in Boston. At 

 that time a considerable number of the inhab- 



