state."

graph:

Just preceding this notice is the following para

The unlucky transactions of the last week are so variously related, that we shall not at present undertake to give any particular account thereof.

The "unlucky transactions" here alluded to, it will be perceived, were the battles at Lexington and Concord. With that declaration the publication of the Post was suspended and never revived.

THOMAS FLEET, the second of the name, and the senior partner in the house of T. &. J. Fleet, was born April 10, 1732, and died, single, March 16, 1797, aged 65 years. JOHN, the other partner, was born September 25, 1734, and died March 6, 1806, aged 711⁄2 years. He had a son, Thomas, who was a printer, and connected in the business with his father, but gave it up soon after his father died. He died a bachelor, in 1827, about 59 years of age. These Fleets, father, sons, conducted the printing business, through a period of seventy-five years, in the building before mentioned, at the corner of Washington and Waterstreets. The estate is still in possession of the heirs.

and grandson,

When they discontinued the publication of the Evening Post, the Fleets pursued their business of printing in all other respects, and executed a large share of the job work of the town. At one time they did all the printing required for the General Court, and County and Town officers, and acquired what was considered a

*This John Fleet had also a son John, who was graduated at Harvard College in 1786, was a respectable physician in Boston, and died unmarried, in January 1813, aged 47. He had also three daughters, two of whom were married to Ephraim Eliot, -long known as a respectable apothecary in Hanover-street: — the other, born April 5, 1772, is still (1850) living, enjoying, as many of the Fleet family had before enjoyed, an old age of unblessed celibacy.

handsome property. They were also employed to print most of the valuable works, which were published during the War, and a few years that immediately succeeded it. The first edition of Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts was printed at their press. In 1779,

they published the first number of the "Pocket Almanack and Fleet's Annual Register," which was continued annually, and met with extensive sales, till the year 1801, when it passed into the hands of Manning & Loring and John West.

Soon after the evacuation of Boston by the British troops, the Fleets removed the sign of the "Crown and Heart," which had been erected by their father, and put in its place the "Bible and Heart; " and this remained on the building, till the final relinquishment of their business, and the removal of the family, in 1808. Many persons expressed a desire that it should be preserved, but it was found to be much weather-beaten and decayed, and fell to pieces in the hands of the workmen who removed it.

THE first number of this paper was issued in October, 1734, by Ellis Huske, who had just been appointed postmaster of Boston. No printer's name appeared in the imprint, during its whole existence, which was about twenty years. The latest number that is preserved in the Historical Library, was published in December, 1754, in which there is no notice of any intended discontinuance. Mr. Thomas thinks the publication was continued till some time in 1755. The character of this paper did not differ essentially from that of its predecessors, the News-Letter and the Gazette. It was simply a weekly issue of extracts from English papers, and a few articles of intelligence, concerning trade and navigation, and a brief notice of the common occurrences of the week. It does not appear that Huske became

involved in any controversy with his cotemporaries of the press, or in any exciting disputes that might have existed in regard to matters of public interest. The paper has no pretension to a literary character, and had rarely a contribution from a correspondent.

In relation to the personal history of Huske, I have not been able to discover any thing more than what is stated by Mr. Thomas. "He was afterward appointed deputy-postmaster-general for the Colonies. He had a son, bred a merchant in Boston, who was afterward a member of the British Parliament. He was superseded in the department of the post-office by Franklin and Hunter."

The devices at the head of this paper were the same as those used in the first Boston Gazette, viz. the Ship on the left of the title, and the Post-Boy on the right. The Post-Boy was also used by Green & Russell, when they began the Weekly Advertiser.

THE first number of this paper was published in Boston, January 4, 1748, by Rogers & Fowle. It was printed on a half-sheet of crown size, two pages folio; the head embellished with a cut, the device of which Mr. Thomas thus explains:-" Britannia liberating a bird, confined by a cord to the arms of France. Britannia is represented sitting; the arms of France lying on the ground before her; the bird is on the wing, but being impeded by the cord, one end of which is fastened to the arms of France and the other to the bird, Britannia is in the act of cutting the cord with a pair of shears, that the bird may escape."

The opening address it will be seen, is written in a better style, than had been usual in that department of the newspaper press: