work of Adams had been completed. He had been the ideal representative of the town-meeting system, the extreme defender of the “natural” rights of man, and the irrepressible advocate of independence. His work during the Revolution was less noteworthy, and was at times open to criticism. Thus, he was one of the strongest supporters of the committee system of national administration, and one of those who delayed unnecessarily and unfortunately the organization of executive departments under single heads. In the politics of his native State he always took an active and effective interest. He was one of the committee which prepared the present constitution of the State, the only constitution of the revolutionary period still in force. He served on the executive council of the State, was for several years lieutenant-governor, and three times was elected governor. He was considered an opponent of the federal constitution in 1788, but on his finally giving his voice in favor of adoption, with the proposal of amendments, its ratification was assured. He died in Boston, October 2, 1803. For his biography consult: W. V. Wells (3 volumes, Boston, 1865); J. K. Hosmer (Boston, 1885).
ADAMS, Sarah Fuller Flower (1805-48). An English poetess. She was born at Great Harlow, Essex, and married William Bridges Adams in 1834. Her longest work is Vivia Perpetua, A Dramatic Poem (1841), having as its subject the early life of the Christians. It is a noble lyrical drama. Vivia's monologue on forswearing Jupiter is especially impressive. Mrs. Adams was the author of several beautiful hymns, among which are “Nearer, my God, to Thee” and “He sendeth sun, He sendeth shower.” She was a Unitarian.
ADAMS, Suzanne (1873—). An American lyric soprano. She was born in Cambridge, Mass., November 28, 1873. She studied with Marchesi in Paris, and made her début at the Paris Opera in 1894 as Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. She remained at the Opera three years, then went to Nice. In the summer of 1898 she appeared at Covent Garden, London, and during the season of 1898-99 at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. In 1898 she was married to Leo Stern, the violoncellist. She has sung Juliette, Marguerite, Gilda, Queen in Les Huguenots, Queen of the Night in the Magic Flute, Mimi, Micaela, and other soprano rôles. Her voice is of beautiful quality and great compass, but is rather slender.
ADAMS, Thomas. An English preacher in the early part of the seventeenth century, called by Southey “the prose Shakespeare of Puritan theologians . . . scarcely inferior to Fuller in wit or to Taylor in fancy.” He was minister at Willington, Wingrave, and London, and “observant chaplain” to Sir Henry Montague, the lord chief justice. Adams was a Puritan within the Church of England, as distinguished from the nonconformist Puritans who left the church. He published a large number of sermons, the quaint titles of two of which are: Heaven and Earth Reconciled, and The Devil's Banquet. It is likely that John Bunyan read and was influenced by these writings. They have been republished in Nichol's Puritan Divines (3 volumes, 1862).
ADAMS, William (?1575-?1620). The first Englishman in Japan, whose romantic story is
closely connected with the opening of that empire. He was born in Kent, near the mouth of the Thames. Having entered the service of some Dutch merchants, he sailed, in 1598, for the east, from the Texel, as the chief pilot of a fleet of five small ships. After a severe voyage, the Charity, in which Adams was sailing, anchored off the coast of Bungo (Kiushiu). Iyéyasu had recently come to power, and Adams, after a brief imprisonment, was taken into his favor and employed in the government service, to its great advantage. He built vessels and gave helpful information in respect to the intrigues of the Spanish and Portuguese. At a later day he received the revenues of the village Hémi, near Yokosuka, the modern imperial dockyard in Yeddo Bay. In 1613, the Clove, an English ship, brought other Englishmen to Firando, and, with Adams, they proceeded to establish a factory, of which Richard Cocks was chief. In 1616 Iyéyasu died and foreigners soon fell into disfavor. Not being allowed to return to his wife and children in England, Adams married a Japanese wife, and their descendants are still living. He died May 16, 1620, and was buried on a hill above Hémi-Mura, where his tomb and that of his Japanese wife were discovered in 1872 by James Walter, an American. A street in Yedo was named after him, and a celebration is still held in his honor. Letters of Adams may be found in Purchas his Pilgrimes, and in the publications of the Hakluyt Society. Consult: The Diary of Richard Cocks, 1615-22 (London, 1883); Hildreth, Japan as It Was and Is (Boston, 1855); and Griffis, The Mikado's Empire (New York, 1876).
ADAMS, William (1814-48). An English allegorist. He was educated at Eton and at Merton College, Oxford, where he became tutor and fellow in 1837. Appointed vicar of St. Peter's-in-the-East, Oxford, in 1840, he resigned because of his ill health, and passed the last four years of his life at Bonchurch, Isle of Wight. Adams was the author of several popular religious allegories, most of which were written during the years when he was slowly dying. They comprise Silvio, The Shadow of the Cross, Fall of Crœsus, The Old Man's Home, and the King's Messengers. They are all of interest, and the Old Man's Home is likely long to survive, because of its natural grace and charm. Adams is also the author of a boy's story entitled Cherry Stones, reprints of which are still frequent.
ADAMS, William (1807-80). An American Presbyterian clergyman. He was born at Colchester, Conn., graduated at Yale in 1827, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1830. He became pastor of the Congregational church, Brighton, Mass., in 1831, and of the Broome Street Presbyterian church in New York City in 1834 (out of which the Madison Square Presbyterian church was formed in 1853), and there he ministered till in 1873 he became president of Union Theological Seminary (New York) and professor of sacred rhetoric. He died at Orange Mountain, N. J., August 31, 1880. He was moderator of the New School Presbyterian General Assembly in 1852. He published several volumes of discourses.
ADAMS, William Davenport (1851-1904). An English journalist and author, the son of W. H. Davenport Adams. He was educated at Edinburgh University and began newspaper
