He had, at one time, a remarkably stupid, and literal, Irish girl, as a domestic. With a look and voice of terror, he said to her, in haste--"_Go and say to your mistress, Dr. Byles has put an end to himself_." The girl flew up stairs, and, with a face of horror, exclaimed, at the top of her lungs--"_Dr. Byles has put an end to himself!_" The astonished wife and daughters rushed into the parlor--and there was the doctor, calmly walking about, with a part of a cow's tail, that he had picked up, in the street, tied to his coat, or cassock, behind. From the time of the stamp act, in 1765, to the period of the revolution, the cry had been repeated, in every form of phraseology, that our _grievances_ should be _redressed_. One fine morning, when the multitude had gathered on the Common, to see a regiment of red coats, paraded there, who had recently arrived--"_Well_," said the doctor, gazing at the spectacle, "_I think we can no longer complain_, that our _grievances_ are not _red dressed_." "_True_," said one of the laughers, who were standing near, "_but you have two ds, Dr. Byles_." "_To be sure, sir, I have_," the doctor instantly replied, "I had them from _Aberdeen_, in 1765." These pleasantries will, probably, survive "THE CONFLAGRATION." Had not this eccentric man possessed some very excellent and amiable qualities, he could not have maintained his clerical relation to the Hollis-Street Church and Society, for three and forty years, from 1733 to 1776; and have separated from them, at last, for political considerations alone. Had his talents and his influence been greater than they were, the peculiarities, to which I have alluded, would have been a theme, for deeper deprecation. The eccentricities of eminent men are mischievous, in the ratio of their eminence; for thousands, who cannot rival their excellencies, are often the successful imitators of their peculiarities and follies. I never sympathized with that worthy, old lady, who became satisfied, that Dr. Beecher was a terrible hypocrite, and without a spark of vital religion, because she saw him, from her window, on the Lord's day, in his back yard, gymnasticising, on a pole, in the intermission season; and thereby invigorating his powers, for the due performance of the evening services. Yet, as character is power, and as the children of this generation have a devilish pleasure in detecting inconsistencies, between the practice and the profession of the children of light--it is ever to be deplored, that clergymen should hazard one iota of their clerical respectability, for the love of fun; and it speaks marvels, for the moral and religious worth of Mather Byles, and for the forbearance, intelligence, and discrimination of his parishioners, that, for three-and-forty years, he maintained his ministerial position, in their midst, cutting such wild, unpriestly capers, and giving utterance to such amusing fooleries, from morning to night. No. XCV.