1726 October 27 (Thursday). Mr. Thatcher[1] of Milton preach’d the Lecture, on Ps. 63.5. I was after Lecture with Mr. Byles,[2] and very well Satisfy’d with his Improvements especially in Poetry. Deacon Coffin[3] of Newbury was at My Father’s. My very Good Friend Mr. Isaac Greenwood[4] returned from England about a Week or Ten Dayes Since and was now in Town; but all My Diligence and Eagerness could not bring me to a Light of him. It was Windy and Cold I declin’d returning back upon my Journey as I had proposed. I bought Dr. Mather’s Christian Philosopher,[5] Sermons on Prayer with a Pamphlet or Two, of Mr. Gerrish.[6]
[1]Reverend Peter Thacher (Harvard 1671), minister of Milton. Sibley, II, 370-379.
[2]Mather Byles of Boston.
[3]Deacon Nathaniel Coffin, also the town clerk of Newbury for nearly 40 years. John J. Cumer, Ould Newbury: Historical and Biographical Sketches (Boston, 1896), pp. 170-1
[4](Harvard 1721). Classmate of Parkman and later the first Hllis Professor of Mathematics at Harvard College. Sibley, VI, 471-482.
[5]Cotton Mather, The Christian Philosopher: a collection of the best discoveries in Nature, with religious improvements (Boston, 1721)
[6]Samuel Gerrish, town clerk of Boston, and a well-known bookseller.