Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871,

BY ELIZABETH L. STOW.

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PRINTED BY

SNOW & FARNHAM,

PROVIDENCE, r. 1.

This New Edition of the Memoir of Dr. Stow

IS DEDICATED

TO THE MEMORY OF

MRS. ELIZABETH L. STOW,

THE BELOVED WIFE,

AND ΤΟ

MISS MATILDA D. STOW,

THE AFFECTIONATE DAUGHTER

OF

BARON STOW.

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PREFACE.

THIS volume is a compilation. The editor has endeavored to make such a selection from the mass of materials placed in his hands as, in his judgment, will interest the largest number of readers. In the journal of Dr. Stow there is an entry which has been kept constantly in mind in the preparation of this Memoir. It bears the date of October 3, 1829.

"Reading memoir of Legh Richmond, by Grimshawe. The compiler shows himself too much. A biographer should leave his biography to be executed by another."

Scrupulous care has been taken to bring out in ful! relief the man whose life we have tried to portray, letting him speak to us in his journal and correspondence, and through the activities of a long, laborious, and successful professional life. A feeling of continual regret has followed the editor, through his whole work, that he has been obliged to omit so many things that he would gladly have laid before his readers, and which, he doubts not, they would have read with pleasure.

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Restricted, however, as he was, to one volume, and therefore obliged to say all he wished to say within what appeared to him to be such narrow limits, he has sacrificed his personal wishes to the suggestions of the publishers of the book.

Special thanks are due to the friends of Dr. Stow who have prepared the delightful reminiscences which will be found in this volume. Nor would it be just to omit to notice the excellent service performed by Rev. S. F. Smith, D. D., whose good taste in the selections made from the very voluminous journal of Dr. Stow entitles him to our warmest praise. No one more deeply regrets than does the editor that Dr. Smith was unable, on account of impaired health, to complete the work, upon the performance of which he entered soon after the decease of Dr. Stow. May the divine blessing accompany the publication of this volume, with all its imperfections, leading all its readers to adore that grace which wrought so wonderfully in fitting him whose character it delineates to perform such blessed service in the church of the living God.

PROVIDENCE, R. I., March 1, 1871.

J. C. S.

The Memoir of Dr. Stow, has, for some time, been out of print. This new, illustrated edition, is commended to the kind regards of all who revere the memory of a servant of Christ, who, though dead, continues to live in the results of the work he did, and in the trains of holy influences he set in motion, which remain to this day, and will remain for years to come.

PROVIDENCE, R. I., January 15, 1894.

J. C. S.