ton Mather had read
it, or a copy of a portion of it, when he wrote his "Magnalia." Governor
Hutchinson had it when he published the second volume of his history in
1767. From that time it disappeared from the knowledge of everybody on
this side of the water. All our historians speak of it as lost, and can
only guess what had been its fate. Some persons suspected that it was
destroyed when Governor Hutchinson's house was sacked in 1765, others
that it was carried off by some officer or soldier when Boston was
evacuated by the British army in 1776.

In 1844 Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, afterward Bishop of
Winchester, one of the brightest of men, published one of the dullest
and stupidest of books. It is entitled "The History of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in America." It contained extracts from manuscripts
which he said he had discovered in the library of the Bishop of London
at Fulham. The book attracted no attention here until, about twelve
years later, in 1855, John Wingate Thornton, whom many of us remember as
an accomplished antiquary and a delightful gentleman, happened to pick
up a copy of it while he was lounging in Burnham's book store. He read
the bishop's quotations, and carried the book to his office, where he
left it for his friend, Mr. Barry, who was then writing his "History of
Massachusetts," with passages marked, and with a note which is not
preserved, but which, according to his memory, suggested that the
passages must have come from Bradford's long-lost history. That is the
claim for Mr. Thornton. On the other hand, it is claimed by Mr. Barry
that there was nothing of that kind expressed in Mr. Thornton's note,
but in reading the book when he got it an hour or so later, the thought
struck him for the first time that the clew had been found to the
precious book which had been lost so long. He at once repaired to
Charles Deane, then and ever since, down to his death, as President
Eliot felicitously styled him, "the master of historical investigators
in this country." Mr. Deane saw the importance of the discovery. He
communicated at once with Joseph Hunter, an eminent English scholar.
Hunter was high authority on all matters connected with the settlement
of New England. He visited the palace at Fulham, and established beyond
question the identity of the manuscript with Governor Bradford's
history, an original letter of Governor Bradford having been sent over
for comparison of handwriting.