[Who are these like stars appearing] (Bentley)

Composer: William Bentley

William Bentley (June 22, 1759, Boston, Massachusetts – December 29, 1819, Salem, Massachusetts) was minister, scholar, columnist, and diarist. His ancestors were early Puritan settlers to New England. He lived with his grandfather, William Paine, a well-to-do landowner, who sent him to North Writing School at the age of six, where he studied Latin and Greek. At the age of fourteen, his grandfather enrolled him in Harvard University. After graduating, he taught at Boston Latin School North Writing School, and then became a Greek and Latin tutor at Harvard University while attending graduate classes in theology. He was one of the first New England minister to profess unitarian beliefs and was a close friend of James Freeman, the first mini… Go to person page >