The  first  Jonathan  Hastings  is  the  same  to  whom  Gordon
attributes  the  origin  of  the  word  "  yankee."     He  says  :  —

"  It  was  a  cant,  favorite  word  with  Farmer  Jonathan  Hastings  of
Cambridge  about  1713.  Two  aged  ministers  who  were  at  the  College
in  that  town  have  told  me  they  rememliered  it  to  have  been  then
in  use  among  the  students,  but  had  no  recollection  of  it  before  that
period.  The  inventor  used  it  to  express  excellency.  A  Yankee
good  horse,  or  Yankee  good  cider,  and  the  like,  were  an  excellent
good  horse  and  excellent  cider.  The  students  used  to  hire  horses  of
him,  and  the  use  of  the  term  upon  all  occasions  led  them  to  adopt
it,  and  they  gave  him  the  name  of  Yankee  Jon."

Gordon  supposes  that  the  students,  upon  leaving  College,
circulated  the  name  through  the  country,  as  the  phrase  "  Hob-
son's  choice  "  was  established  by  the  students  at  Cambridge,  in
Old  England,  though  the  latter  derivation  is  disputed  by  Mr.
