It was on a visit to Boston, that Miss Adams first saw Mr Buckminster. He was then at college, and about sixteen years old. Those who knew him will not think her description of him an exaggerated one. ‘He had then,’ she said, ‘the bloom of health on his cheek, and the fire of genius in his eye. I did not know from which world he came, whether from heaven or earth.’ Though so young, he entered fully into her character; and before they parted, he gave her a short, but comprehensive sketch of the state of literature in France and Germany. After he became the Pastor of Brattle street Church, he, with Mr Higginson, and Mr Shaw the active founder of the Atheneum, proposed to Miss Adams, who, from an enfeebled constitution, had begun to grow infirm, to remove to Boston; at the same time procuring for her, through the liberal subscription of a few gentlemen, an annuity for life. She had then commenced her History of the Jews; and nothing could have been more favorable to its progress, or to her own ease of mind, than this benevolent arrangement. She could never speak of her benefactors without deep emotion. From the Rev. Mr Buckminster she received the most judicious, and extensive assistance. She was in the habit of visiting him in his study, and had his permission to come when she pleased, to sit and read there as long as she pleased, or take any book home and use it like her own. Perhaps people are never perfectly easy with each other, till they feel at liberty to be silent in each other’s society. It was stipulated between them, that neither party should be obliged to talk. But her own language will best describe her feelings. ‘Mr Buckminster would sometimes read for hours without speaking. But, occasionally, flashes of genius would break forth in some short observation, or sudden remark, which electrified me. I never could have gone on with my history, without the use of his library. I was indebted to him for a new interest in life. He introduced me to a valuable circle of friends; and it was through him that I became acquainted with Mrs Dearborn, whose kindness and attention to me have been unceasing. His character was the perfection of humanity. His intellectual powers were highly cultivated and ennobled. Yet even the astonishing vigor and brightness of his intellect were outdone by the goodness of his heart. ‘No thought within his generous mind had birth, But what he might have own’d to heaven and earth.’ Mr Buckminster assisted Miss Adams’s researches, and procured information for her, relative to the Jews. He took a warm interest in this oppressed people, and often prayed for them during communion service, in the same language in which Jesus had prayed for them. ‘Father, forgive them! for they know not what they do.’ For about two years after the removal of Miss Adams to Boston, she enjoyed this intercourse, visiting his study with the utmost freedom.