The history of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts, By a committee of the Dorchester antiquarian and historical society ...

HISTORY OF DORCHESTER. 477
Compend of History, Woodbridge's Geography and
Atlas, Daboll's Arithmetic, Colburn's Arithmetic,
Walker's Dictionary, Pierpont's Readers, and other
books, were brought into use.
In the year 1832, there was a new selection made
by the school committee, and, from time to time
since, various books have been introduced, as they
were considered needed. Prominent among these,
have been the works of Mess. Swan, Emerson and
Greenleaf.
Cooper's Thesaurus Romanae et Britannicse (the
old Latin Dictionary, folio, referred to on page 259)
was presented to the Dorchester school by Rev.
Richard Mather. With the exception of the titlepage, which is gone, the book is still in a good condition, like the one in the Boston Athenaeum, printed in London in 1578, though evidently not of the
same edition. By a memorandum on the margin of
one of the leaves, it appears to have been presented
to the school in 1669. Four editions of this work
have been issued. The first, in 1565; the same, reprinted in 1573, 1578, 1584. It is probable that eight
or nine successive generations of children and youth
have taken "fruit and commoditte," as the author
expresses it, from this identical book. "A studious
yong man," he continues, " with small paines, by
the helpe of this booke may gather to himself goode
furniture both of wordes and approued phrases and
fashions of speaking for any thing, that he shall
eyther write or speake of, and so make vnto his vse,
as it were a common place booke for such a purpose.;" so that those disposed may " by their owne
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