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 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, | 
 
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 SELF TAUGHT MEN 
 
 WITH AN 
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 
 
 BY B. B. EDWARDS., 
 
 Per angusta ad augusta. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PERKINS & MARVIN, 114, WASHINGTON STREET. 
 
 1832. 
 
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1832, 
 
 By Perkins & Marvin, 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page, 
 
 Advertisement, iv 
 
 Introductory Essay, v 
 
 Biographical Sketches, 
 
 Roger Sherman, 1 
 
 Professor Heyne, . . • 13 
 
 Stephen Duck, . 19 
 
 John Jones, 23 
 
 William Whipple, 27 
 
 Eli Whitney, 30 
 
 Alexander Murray, 33 
 
 Stephen Hopkins, 4^ 
 
 Professor Lee, 48 
 
 William Gifford, 54 
 
 John M'Lean, 64 
 
 Thomas Baldwin, . . . 69 
 
 David Rittenhouse, 78 
 
 Samuel Huntington, 91 
 
 William Edwards, 95 
 
 Robert Bloomfield, 101 
 
 Thomas Scott, 108 
 
 LoTT Gary, 126 
 
 John Opie, 136 
 
 Nathaniel Smith, 146 
 
 John Godfrey Von Herder, 149 
 
 Giovanni Battista Belzoni, 153 
 
 Jonas King, 159 
 
 Isaac Milner, 171 
 
 William Caxton, 177 
 
 Richard Baxter, 185 
 
 Arthur Young, 196 
 
 Humphrey Davy, 202 
 
 Adam Clarke, 215 
 
 Charles G. Haines, 219 
 
 Henry Clay, 224 
 
 Carsten NiebuhR; 232 
 
 James Ferguson, 251 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The materials of this volume were derived from a great 
 variety of sources. The writer is indebted for some facts 
 to correspondence. In other cases, he has obtained infor- 
 mation by personal inquiry. He acknowledges himself to 
 be under particular obligation to the publications of the 
 British Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. 
 Some of the series of their publications have not been re- 
 published in this country. In many cases he has altered 
 and abridged the memoirs of different individuals to suit 
 his purpose. In general, where any important sentiment 
 is given in the words of the author, the usual marks of 
 quotation are inserted. In the mere narration of facts, 
 this was not thought to be necessary, except in instances 
 of auto-biography. Whatever phraseology was found to 
 -be objectionable on the score of morality, or of good taste, 
 has been carefully expunged. Every article, written or 
 abridged, has been given to the printer in manuscript. 
 
 The great object of the writer has been to furnish en- 
 couragement to a very large and a very deserving class of 
 young men in this country, who are endeavoring to rise 
 to respectability and usefulness, by their own efforts and 
 resources. At the same time, he trusts he has said 
 nothing in disparagement of our public institutions, and 
 of a regular course of education. 
 
 Should this volume be favorably received, it will be suc- 
 ceeded by another on a similar plan. 
 
 Boston y February^ 1833. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 
 
 The future history of the United States is a subject 
 of deep interest. We are come to a very important 
 period in our course. The strength of our pohtical 
 system is beginning to be tried. The tendencies of 
 our institutions are becoming apparent. The elements, 
 which form a general national character, are combining 
 and coalescing. It is emphatically a day of trial. 
 Every thing is subjected to a rigid scrutiny. Merely 
 prescriptive rights are abandoned. Reliance upon 
 authority is given up. Such being the condition of 
 the country, it is not an inappropriate question. What 
 is to be done ? There are local divisions, civil strifes, 
 rival religious denominations, great questions pending 
 in political economy, interesting relations with other 
 portions of the world, and boundless resources for 
 good or evil. What then are the duties which devolve 
 on the American citizen ? 
 
 It is very obvious, in the first place, that in the 
 passion for novelty and change, we are to see that we 
 do not give up anything which is truly valuable. We 
 
VI 
 
 ought to remain firm on those great principles of 
 politics and education, morals and religion, which have 
 been tried, and have aiot been found wanting. There 
 is little danger in this country of a too pertinacious 
 attachment to old systems. The hazard is all on the 
 other side. The love of innovation is vastly an 
 overmatch for a blind regard to authority and antiquity. 
 In detaching ourselves from what is absurd and erro- 
 neous in former opinions, we shall, without great 
 circumspection, abandon the true wath the false, and 
 shall soon find ourselves on an unknown sea, without 
 any experience from the past, or guide for the future. 
 As an instance in point, I might allude to the excessive 
 simphfication in books of education, reHeving the 
 student from the necessity of patient attention, and of 
 thorough and discriminating habits of thought. 
 
 Another duty of great importance is, to induce a 
 more fervent and general co-operation of the advocates 
 of sound principles, in the diffusion of their opinions. 
 There is little concentrated sympathy and fellow feeling 
 among the friends of man. They have not learned 
 the power of associated effort. They do not act in 
 masses. This trait in our character is principally 
 owing to two reasons. We have no capital city. We 
 have no acknowledged metropolis of letters or influence. 
 There is no London, to wdiich all the provincial towns 
 wiUingly bow in homage. The tendency of our 
 republican institutions Is such, also, as to prevent 
 an embodied and powerful action of the friends of 
 virtue. Our freedom of thought and Independence of 
 character we sometimes carry to an extreme. We 
 are better as private citizens than as members of a 
 
vu 
 
 commonwealth. It is not true that the state of public 
 morals and virtue is as elevated as that of the indi- 
 viduals who compose a community. We do that in a 
 collective capacity, which we should not dare to do as 
 friends or neighbors. Conscience, and the faith of 
 solemn compact, are often voted away, when personal 
 honor, or a mere verbal engagement are sacredly 
 remembered and redeemed. When a great principle 
 is at stake, we must learn to dismiss all minor differ- 
 ences, to forget all local attachments, to abjure utterly 
 every selfish consideration. What is a party, what 
 is a religious denomination, when a fundamental law of 
 right or justice is at issue ? 
 
 Intimately connected with the preceding remark, is 
 the undoubted truth, that questions of political economy 
 are to be viewed far more than they have been in this 
 country, in connection with the operations of the 
 providence of God. What volumes of ingenious 
 speculation have been wasted in this captivating 
 science, simply because the authors did not, or would 
 not, look at the arrangements of the Power that ruleth 
 over all. It is not pretended but that there are great 
 and intrinsic difficulties in shaping a system of com- 
 mercial intercourse, among the different parts of this 
 country, and between the United States and foreign 
 nations. Still it may be safely asserted, that one half 
 of the vexation and trouble which have been experi- 
 enced, would have been avoided, if our legislators 
 were all Christian economists. The Author of nature, 
 and of nations, did not leave the great subjects of 
 internal or inter-national commerce, in such profound 
 doubt and mystery as is now thrown around them. 
 
This leads me to remark that we are called to the 
 work of educating an innumerable multitude of minds. 
 Popular instruction, in its most comprehensive import, 
 is to be the theme of absorbing interest. Connected 
 with this subject, are questions of very wide applica- 
 tion, which have been hardly considered yet. We are 
 to provide means for extending the benefits of educa- 
 tion to the extremities of society, to a scattered and 
 ever emigrating population. We are to devise the 
 best methods for combining legislative supervision and 
 patronage, with private munificence. The philosophy 
 of education is to be studied and taught as a practical 
 science. Books, in all the departments of education, 
 are to be written by those who are intimately ac- 
 quainted with the laws of the human mind. In short, 
 a vast population are not only to have instruction com- 
 municated to them, but are to be inured to habits of 
 self-education, and to be intrusted w^ith the power of 
 elevating themselves indefinitely in the scale of im- 
 provement. 
 
 Once more, a national Christian literature is to be 
 created in this country. There is a period, or there 
 are periods, in the history of every nation, when the 
 great currents of thought receive their direction, when 
 the organs of intellectual life begin to move. Of what 
 immense benefit had it been to England in all subse- 
 quent ages, if her Elizabethan era had been a Christian 
 era ; if the great men who then toiled in the fields of 
 knowledge, had all been Boyles and Miltons. How 
 different would have been the destiny of France, if 
 her literary men of the age of Louis XIV., had all 
 been Pascals and Fenelons ; if that gorgeous con- 
 
XI 
 
 stellatlon of intellect, had been tempered with the mild 
 beams of Christianity. How bright would have been 
 the pages of her now blood-stained history. The 
 great lesson which these facts teach us, is to seize the 
 favorable moment — to pre-occupy the ground. Our 
 state of probation, in this respect, is not past. With 
 a few exceptions, we have now no literature. We 
 have nothing which can be called -a National Litera- 
 ture. It is yet to be created. Those great control- 
 ling influences, which lift themselves into the upper 
 firmament of thought, which are like the" polar light, 
 always visible, and always to be regarded, are yet to 
 be' collected together. Though there are scattered 
 rays of light every where ; yet they have not been 
 concentrated into reigning and radiant orbs. The 
 fourth day is not come. A great object, therefore, an 
 ultimate object, to be kept in view in this country, 
 now and forever, is the highest possible cultivation of 
 science and literature in connection ivith religion. It 
 is an object vast enough for the concentration of every 
 energy, physical, and mental, and moral, which God 
 has given to us. Here may be exhibited a vigor of 
 intellect, a purity of taste, a strength and fervor of 
 religious feeling, all in delightful combination, such as 
 the old world has never yet seen. Now is the time. 
 We have separation enough from the other continents. 
 We have ample sphere. We have no need to engrave 
 our discoveries on columns of stone, to be wearily 
 deciphered by some subsequent age. We may spread 
 them out before a great people. We may write them 
 on ten thousand living and breathing hearts. 
 
 Another very important object is, to turn to the 
 
xu 
 
 best account the triumphs of the Christian religion, 
 which so mark the years that are now passing over 
 us in this country. These exhibitions of the grace 
 and power of the Redeeming Saviour, may be attended 
 with vast collateral benefits, if they are regarded with 
 that importance which they deserve. When the 
 powers of the world to come are visible, when there 
 is an awakened and tender conscience and clearness 
 of perception, when men feel deeply that they are 
 spiritual and immortal beings, then is a most favorable 
 time to make sure of other great interests. The moral 
 sense may be brought to bear on the whole circle of 
 duties. Liberality of feeling and comprehensiveness 
 of mind may be successfully inculcated. The indi- 
 viduals in question, may learn to look on themselves 
 as the subjects of a new and glorious economy, where 
 they can breathe a fresher air, and obtain occasional 
 glimpses of the higher abodes, where dwell their elder 
 and more favored brethren. The simple personal 
 safety of an individual, is not the only or the great 
 object in view, in these days of the Redeemer's vic- 
 tories. Why should not the sphere of human sym- 
 pathy be enlarged ? Why should not fresh charms be 
 thrown over the whole aspect of human society ? 
 Why should not the genial influence pervade all the 
 intercourse of men ? Why should not revivals of 
 Christianity exert a strong influence on the purity of 
 civil elections, on the sacredness of judicial proceed- 
 ings, on the contracts of commerce, and on the dura- 
 bility of a republican government ? The genuineness of 
 that religion may well be questioned, which does not 
 moderate the heat of party zeal, which does not diffuse 
 
XIU 
 
 itself into all the departments of civil life, in short, 
 which does not make men real philanthropists, pure 
 and incorruptible patriots. 
 
 But in order to fulfil these great trusts, and to ac- 
 compHsh these high purposes, we must bring some 
 new powers into the field. An hitherto unknown 
 agency must be employed. All the ordinary and 
 accustomed means of changing public opinion, are not 
 sufficient. We have not men enough of the proper 
 description in this country. A new order of culti- 
 vated intellect is greatly needed. A limited number 
 of eminent scholars, such as Alexandria, and Athens, 
 and London in the days of Anne, contained, is not 
 demanded. A multitude of learned men in the 
 abstract sciences, such as Paris and some of the Ger- 
 man cities embrace, would not accomplish the work. 
 Neither would the parish schools and universities of 
 Scotland supply the deficiency. They nurture meta- 
 physical acumen, and strength of reasoning, indeed, 
 but frequently at the expense of benevolent feeling and 
 religious principle. Neither are the excellent common 
 school systems of the northern States of this country, 
 however great the blessings which they diffiise, equal 
 to the enterprize to be accomplished. 
 
 A class of men, which will be fully adequate to 
 the exigency, may be found in great numbers in 
 this country. They compose the young men who have 
 vigor of body, great strength and firmness of char- 
 acter, an ardent desire to acquire knowledge, a dispo- 
 sition to employ their powers in the diffusion of know- 
 ledge, with little or no pecuniary resources. They 
 constitute a portion of the members of our colleges. 
 
XIV 
 
 Probably from fifty to seventy-five thousand of this 
 class of young men, are pursuing, with various interest, 
 the study of the sciences and of literature at the lyce- 
 ums, which are happily extending into all parts of the 
 country. Several thousand more are engaged in a 
 course of study, which is habitually connected with 
 manual labor. A still smaller class, but amounting to 
 nearly two thousand, are under the patronage of various 
 societies for the promotion of ministerial education. 
 So that in all the classes enumerated, there is, doubt- 
 less, at least one hundred thousand young men, in the 
 United States, who are in a course of self-education. 
 
 In this description of young men, there are materials 
 of great value, which may be fashioned and moulded for 
 important public service. No other nation on earth is 
 possessed of such a treasure. This country is compara- 
 tively new. There is not, as in Europe, a multitude 
 of large estates which can furnish abundant means of 
 education to the sons of a family. The population in 
 many parts of the land, is migratory also. Of course, 
 the ancient seats of learning are left behind. Oppor- 
 tunities for a finished education cannot be obtained for 
 many years after the first settlement of a country. 
 Besides, the population increases with such rapidity, 
 that all the ordinary means for providing facilities for 
 thorough mental discipline, are entirely inadequate. 
 Such being the condition of things in this country, it 
 follows almost of consequence, that there w^ill be a 
 class of men such as I have described — of firm nerve — 
 of aspiring hope — of powerful understanding, but not 
 in possession of the means of pursuing an uninter- 
 rupted course of mental improvement. If they have 
 
XV 
 
 the benefit of teachers, it is only at intervals. If 
 taught at all, they must in a great measure teach 
 themselves. They are compelled to rely on their own 
 resources. That this class of young men is large, and 
 capable of conferring great benefits on the country, no 
 one can doubt. 
 
 They possess some peculiar advantages over all 
 other classes of men. They have confidence in their 
 own powder. Whatever of character they possess has 
 been tried in the school of severe discipline. They 
 have breasted the billows, in a great measure, alone. 
 Others have had their doubts resolved by teachers. 
 In the final resort, they have depended on foreign and 
 auxihary aid. Their own powers have been tasked 
 for a wdiile, but the last w^eight has been lifted up by 
 the shoulders of others. A clearer eye has penetrated 
 the dark cloud for them. It is sometimes the fact, 
 that an individual who has been taught by others, has 
 more confidence in the opinion of every one else, than 
 in his own. As a direct consequence, he is wavering, 
 timid, pliable. His character is not compacted and 
 assimilated, but yielding and capricious. His useful- 
 ness is of course greatly diminished. But the men, 
 of -whom I speak, have measured their powers. They 
 have depended very little on extraneous aid. 
 
 Another attribute of this class of individuals is inde- 
 pendence of purpose. They are accustomed to form 
 opinions according to the decisions of their own judg- 
 ments. They are like that description of lawyers, who 
 have deeply studied the elementary principles of their 
 profession, w^ho have followed out these principles into 
 all their ramifications, and who come to conclusions. 
 
XVI 
 
 which are, in a great measure, irrespective of par- 
 ticular facts — facts which may coincide, or may 
 not, with an original principle. Such lawyers are in- 
 dependent, in a great degree, of precedents, or of the 
 opinion of courts. By severe thought, and well-di- 
 rected study, they have formed an independent habit 
 of judgment. Such is the fact with those individuals 
 who ha\^e been self-instructers. They may err in 
 opinion, and their purposes may be formed on insuf- 
 ficient grounds ; but they are not accustomed to bow 
 to human authority, nor yield their free agency at the 
 call of party or sect. 
 
 Many of this class have, moreover, an invincible 
 perseverance. The resoluteness with which they re- 
 solve, has a counterpart in the untiring execution of 
 their schemes. Difficulties only excite a more ardent 
 desire to overcome them. Defeat awakens new 
 courage. Affliction nourishes hope. Disappointment 
 is the parent and precursor of success. A resolu- 
 tion so strong is sometimes formed, that it seems to 
 enter into the nature of the soul itself. It swallows up 
 the whole man, and produces a firmness of determina- 
 tion, an iron obstinacy of pursuit, which nothing but 
 death can break down* 
 
 I have seen an individual commence a course of 
 preparatory studies for a liberal education. Weakness 
 of sight compelled him to suspend his labors. After 
 a season of relaxation he resumed his books, but the 
 recurrence of the same disorder induced him to aban- 
 don the pursuit. He then assumed the duties of a 
 merchant's clerk ; but the same inexorable necessity 
 followed him. He entered into the engagements of a 
 
XVll 
 
 third profession, with as little success as before. But 
 he was not discouraged. An unconquerable deter- 
 mination took possession of his soul, that, come what 
 would, he would not despair. In the merciful provi- 
 dence of that Being who " helps those who help them- 
 selves," he was directed to the manufacturing of a cer- 
 tain article which was new in that part of the United 
 States, and his labors were rewarded with entire suc- 
 cess. In a few years, he became one of the most 
 affluent individuals in his vicinity. 
 
 The following facts in relation to a gentleman, 
 who is now a distinguished professor in one of 
 the American colleges, will afford an excellent illus- 
 tration for my purpose. The father of the individual 
 alluded to, was a poor but intelligent man, gave 
 his children a good common education, and also to 
 some extent the privileges of an academy, which was 
 situated in his native town. The occupation of the 
 son was that of husbandry, especially during the sum- 
 mer months, being employed by some neighboring 
 farmer, as his father did not own a farm. Early in 
 life he acquired a taste for mathematics, and never 
 afterwards did he advance so rapidly in geometry 
 and the kindred studies, in the same number of hours' 
 application to them, as in the evening after ten or 
 twelve hours of hard labor in the field. Having 
 obtained permission to see some of the astronomical 
 instruments belonging to the academy, he became 
 particularly attached to practical astronomy, though 
 he could gain access only to elementary books. 
 Having made an observation upon an eclipse of the 
 sun, for the purpose of determining the longitude of 
 c 
 
XVIU 
 
 the place, he commenced the work of resolving the 
 problem with only the general directions and tables in 
 the common books of navigation ; and although it 
 cost him several months of severe study, he succeeded 
 in obtaining a correct result, except the errors of the 
 lunar tables. He did not engage in the study of 
 Latin and Greek, until after he had been interested 
 several years in mathematics, and then, mainly because 
 he found that he could not otherwise become a teacher. 
 While occupied in these studies, he supported himself 
 in part by occasionally surveying land, and in part by 
 undertaking the business of a carpenter, having dis- 
 covered that this art depended on a few simple 
 mathematical principles, easily applied. The object 
 which he now had in view, was to prepare himself to 
 enter Harvard college two or three years in advance. 
 He was for the most part his own instructer. The 
 minister of the parish rendered him some assistance ; 
 but the whole amount of his recitations in Latin, 
 Greek, Hebrew, French, philosophy, chemistry, and 
 natural history, during the whole course of his life 
 thus far, has not been greater than the recitations in 
 college for six months. Having looked forward with 
 much pleasure to the privileges of a college, and 
 having been nearly prepared to enter a junior class, 
 a sudden termination was put to his literary efforts by 
 the failure of his eyes, in consequence of applying too 
 closely to the study of the Greek language, during a 
 feeble state of health. For the following year, he 
 was compelled to abandon reading and study almost 
 wholly ; and from that time to the present — a period 
 of sixteen years — he has rarely been able to read 
 
XIX 
 
 steadily, for one hour, without experiencing much and 
 often severe pain in his eyes, sometimes threaten- 
 ing apoplexy. This affliction, though highly benefi- 
 cial in its moral influence, was apparently fatal to all 
 his literary plans, yet he could not quite abandon 
 them. In order to obtain a subsistence, he soon 
 after accepted the office of a deputy or assistant to 
 the sheriff of the county. Feeling confident that he 
 must entirely renounce the idea of obtaining a sub- 
 sistence by literary efforts, and seeing nothing before 
 him but a life of servile labor, he was induced to 
 write and publish a dramatic performance of con- 
 siderable length, with the hope that it would excite 
 some interest in his favor, wherever his lot might fall. 
 The composition, though bearing the marks of inex- 
 perience, contains some passages of true poetic feeling, 
 expressed in powerful language. Soon after this 
 event, he was very unexpectedly invited to teach 
 the academy in his native village. To acquit him- 
 self in this new sphere of duty, he made great 
 efforts. He now gave particular attention to classical 
 literature. Finding that his health had suffered se- 
 verely from previous efforts, and from the conse- 
 quences of the dreadful despondency through which 
 he had passed, he was compelled to abandon mathe- 
 matical and astronomical studies, though it was a most 
 painful sacrifice. Providence, however, furnished a 
 delightful substitute. Natural history then first at- 
 tracted his attention, and he soon found that he could 
 pursue this study, without injury to his eyes, and with 
 benefit to his health, in the intervals of severer en- 
 gagements. These pursuits introduced him to the 
 
XX 
 
 acquaintance of a number of distinguished gentlemen, 
 in various parts of the country, who rendered him 
 very valuable assistance. About this time, the honor- 
 ary degree of Master of Arts was conferred on him 
 by Yale college. The only pecuniary aid which he 
 ever received, during the course of his education, was 
 ten or twelve dollars. Notwithstanding, when he en- 
 tered on his professional duties, he had obtained a 
 respectable library, and was free from debt. He is 
 now in a station of great usefulness, and has accom- 
 plished several undertakings, which have conferred 
 lasting benefits on the country. In the two words, 
 INDUSTRY and perseverance, is contained the secret 
 of these results. With whatever original powers the 
 Creator may have endowed him, they would have 
 availed him nothing without an unbending resolution, 
 and severe and unremitted application. His history 
 affords a remarkable instance of the energy of a self 
 taught man. Those events, in the providence of God, 
 which w^ould have presented insurmountable obstacles 
 to other individuals, were only an excitement to him 
 to urge, w^ith fresh impulse, his onward course. 
 
 Another characteristic of self taught men, is, that 
 they commonly devote themselves to some important 
 practical object. They do not waste their power in 
 pursuing trifles. They do not generally engage in 
 the departments of criticism and metaphysics, which 
 are rewarded with little practical result. It is those, 
 who have ample means of subsistence and support, 
 who are beguiled into merely speculative regions, or 
 who devote themselves to undertakings of moderate or 
 of doubtful utility. The case is different with those 
 
XXI 
 
 who are dependent on their own efforts for every- 
 thing. The first direction of their minds is not so 
 much to the sciences as to the arts. Carpentry in 
 various forms, surveying of land, the manufacture of 
 machinery, the construction of hydrauhc engines, 
 originally offering themselves to their notice, gave a 
 shape to their whole subsequent life. It is to be 
 attributed to this fact, doubtless, that self taught men 
 are distinguished for invention in the arts. Their 
 necesshies have given a readiness to their minds, ena- 
 bling them to seize on those combinations of thought, 
 from which discoveries of great importance have 
 sometimes followed. They have also that power of 
 patient application, which is alike important to dis- 
 covery. Causes, however, exist, in this description of 
 men, unfavorable to the developement of new truths 
 in the abstract sciences. 
 
 Self taught men have also the faculty of clearly com- 
 municating their knowledge to others. In this respect, 
 they make excellent teachers. They have worked 
 their own way up the steeps of knowledge, and they 
 can point out the path in which they came. Their 
 attention was not absorbed by the movements of their 
 guide, for they had none. The various objects which 
 they met, they clearly marked and defined. Whatever 
 were the general principles which they adopted, they 
 were not taken upon trust, but were well considered. 
 These individuals may not be able to explain their 
 progress logically, or scientifically, but they can do it 
 intelligently and to good purpose. They have also, 
 in a striking degree, the ability to employ familiar 
 illustrations. For the sake of throwing light upon 
 c * 
 
xxu 
 
 their course, they have not searched for the images 
 of poetry, nor listened to the personifications of the 
 orator ; they have collected the apposite and graphic 
 illustrations and facts, which common people can ap- 
 prehend and relish, and which are gathered from the 
 rocks and the fields, and from all the incidents of 
 ordinary life. Arthur Young, the self taught English 
 agriculturist, was distinguished as an instructer, in- 
 somuch, that La Fayette, and the Russian prince 
 Galitzin, and the Russian emperor himself, intrusted 
 lads to his guidance and care. No treatise on as- 
 tronomy has ever been so popular, and deservedly too, 
 among all descriptions of learners, as that of James 
 Ferguson, who discovered some of the principles of 
 mechanics before he knew that any treatise had been 
 written on the subject. Sir Humphrey Davy was, 
 perhaps, the most popular lecturer, who ever addressed 
 a British audience. This was owing not more to the 
 enthusiasm of his character, and his perfect knowledge 
 of his subject, than to the clearness of his expositions, 
 and the transparency and beauty of his illustrations. 
 
 There are, notwithstanding these various excellen- 
 cies, several acknowledged deficiencies of character. 
 There are blemishes, both of an intellectual and moral 
 kind, which are almost inseparable from a plan of self 
 education, and which are worthy of distinct considera- 
 tion. 
 
 One of the most manifest defects is, want of com- 
 prehensiveness of mind. The special advantage of a 
 teacher is, to point out the connections among the 
 different arts and sciences, their relative importance, 
 
xxm 
 
 the natural order of studying them, and the evils of a 
 disproportionate attention to any one of them. The 
 general directions of a judicious teacher are invaluable. 
 They are like a drawing of the heavens to direct the 
 course of the youthful observer among the millions of 
 stars. But a student, without the instructions of an 
 experienced guide, will be liable to seize at once upon 
 the parts of a subject, or upon the middle of a treatise, 
 without ever having surveyed his ground, or marked 
 its general bearings. He will thus expend his labor 
 at unimportant points, or in a disproportionate degree. 
 There will be little symmetry and scientific method in 
 his studies. His labors will resemble those of a me- 
 chanic, who should place a well-finished door or- 
 window in the side of an old and dilapidated dwelling. 
 He has an accurate acquaintance with one branch of 
 a subject, while all around it is in disorder and de- 
 formity. And here it is not to be supposed that he 
 will gain a more thorough knowledge of a specific topic, 
 in consequence of giving an exclusive attention to it ; 
 and that this will atone for the loss of a general acquaint- 
 ance with the subject. The study of Webber's trigo- 
 nometry will furnish as much discipline for the mind, 
 if the student, before he commences his investigation, 
 knows the general relations of the mathematical sci- 
 ences, as if he had no such general knowledge. A 
 greater amount of mental discipline can be acquired, 
 by studying the sciences in their natural, scientific 
 order, than by attending to them exclusively and at 
 random. A self taught man is frequently attached, 
 with a kind of favoritism, to a particular study. It 
 absorbs his whole attention, and all other arts or sci- 
 
XXIV 
 
 ences are proportionably undervalued and slighted. 
 The distinguished painter, Hogarth, affected to despise 
 literature, and indeed every species of mental cuhi- 
 vation, except the knowledge of the art of painting ; 
 and he even professed himself to have little or no 
 acquaintance with anything else. The celebrated, 
 self taught anatomist. Dr. John Hunter, was almost 
 entirely ignorant of all learning, even with that con- 
 nected with his own profession. It has been asserted, 
 that it not unfrequently happened, that upon commit- 
 nicating a supposed discovery of his own to some 
 one of his more erudite friends, he had the mortifica- 
 tion to learn that the same thing had already been 
 discovered by some other well known anatomist. 
 Michael Angelo could scarcely spell his name cor- 
 rectly. Benjamin AVest, the president of the Royal 
 Academy for almost thirty years, never attained to a 
 style of ordinary correctness in his orthography. The 
 disadvantages of the want of an early education, can 
 never, indeed, be entirely overcome. There will 
 always be lingering traces of the deficiency. It is 
 like the acquisition of the pronunciation of a foreign 
 language at a late period in life. The nice peculiari- 
 ties and shades of sound cannot, by any effort, be 
 acquired. 
 
 Self taught men are specially liable to an exclusive 
 attachment to pursuits, which are obviously and im- 
 mediately practical. There seems to be a general 
 impression, that poetry, and the kindred branches of 
 literature, furnish little else but amusement, and if 
 read at all, can afford materials for recreation 
 only in the intervals of imperious duty. The ten- 
 
XXV 
 
 dency to judge in this manner can be accounted for, 
 without any difficuhy, from the circumstances in which 
 self educated men are placed, but the effects are very 
 pernicious. Poetry, in its best sense, is altogether a 
 practical study. Its influence upon the whole mind 
 of a reader, is, in the highest degree, favorable. As 
 history is said to be philosophy teaching by example, 
 so poetry is philosophy teaching by music. It is good 
 sense, pouring itself out in sweet sounds. It is power- 
 ful thought, uttering itself in the voices of angels. A 
 true poet is a philosopher. Mihon, and Wordsworth, 
 and Coleridge, understand the phenomena of the 
 human mind, as well as Malebranche, or Reid, or 
 Brown. They have the same capacities of wide gen- 
 eralization, and accurate analysis, and faithful exposi- 
 tion. To read such poets, is as directly conducive to 
 usefulness, as it is to read the ablest metaphysical 
 treatise. We cannot avoid regretting that a man 
 like Dr. Franklin, w^as not conversant with the best 
 poets. It would have been no injury to his usefulness 
 as a profound observer of human manners. Common 
 sense and the loftiest imagination are perfectly coinci- 
 dent. The same man may condense his ideas into 
 epigrams and proverbs, or pour them out in strains of 
 the most vigorous and harmonious versification. It is 
 recorded of him who " spake three thousand proverbs, 
 that his songs were a thousand and five." He that 
 was wiser than all the children of men, who so con- 
 densed and embodied his thoughts as to make nearly 
 every word instinct with sentiment, could delightfully 
 sing, " the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, 
 the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing 
 
XXVI 
 
 of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard 
 in the land." If Benjamin West had read Chaucer, 
 and Spenser, and Mihon, it would not have subtracted 
 in the least from his enthusiasm for his favorite art, 
 while, in a thousand ways, it would have aided his 
 power of conceiving and of delineating on the can- 
 vass, the varieties of human character. It would also 
 have relieved the " American" president of the Royal 
 Academy, of the charge of being an illiterate man. John 
 Opie, and professor Heyne, and Sir Humphrey Davy, 
 showed their good sense in nothing more than by an 
 earnest attention to various branches of literature and 
 science. It is not pretended that every man ought to 
 attempt to become an universal scholar ; but that the 
 highest excellence in any one pursuit, is inconsistent 
 with entire ignorance of science and literature gener- 
 all}^ Self educated men are peculiarly exposed to 
 danger from this quarter ; and instead of banishing 
 w^orks of taste and imagination from the farm-house, 
 and the lyceum, and the manual labor school, they 
 are the very productions which ought to meet with a 
 welcome reception. It has been said that very few, if 
 any, discoveries in the abstract sciences, have ever been 
 made by men who have instructed themselves ; that 
 the general advancement of knowledge is almost en- 
 tirely to be ascribed to men who have received a 
 regular education. The labors of Franklin, Ritten- 
 house, and others, may furnish some exceptions to 
 this remark. Nevertheless, it is generally true, that 
 prior to a particular discovery, an individual must 
 take a wide, general survey of the fields of knowledge, 
 else he may fondly imagine that he has elicited some 
 
xxvu 
 
 new truth, which may at length appear to have been 
 long before discovered and classified. Original con- 
 ception, and inventive genius, are in perfect harmony 
 with extensive acquisitions. He, who would advance 
 in any department of knowledge, must know what 
 others have done before him. Instead of decrying 
 the models of taste and genius of other ages and 
 countries, it is the wisdom of every man to study them 
 patiently and thoroughly. This is not a degrading 
 subjection to other minds, which will cramp or annihi- 
 late genius. If ever there was an original author, it 
 was John Milton — he who " chose early and began 
 late." But who does not know that Paradise Lost is 
 the spoils of all times and of all countries. If ever 
 there was an universal plunderer, if ever there was a 
 boundless plagiary, it was this same John Milton. He 
 searched the Jewish records, and the Christian 
 economy. He opened the Talmud, and he perused 
 the Koran. He revelled in the fields of Achaia, and 
 on the hill-sides of Judea. He listened to the sweet 
 music under Italian skies, and to the awful prophecies 
 of the Druids. He drank alike of the Eurotas, and 
 of that " stream which flows fast by the oracle of 
 God." 
 
 Another evil to which men of this class are liable 
 is, what may be expressed by the term rigidness of 
 character. They sometimes acquire a fierceness of 
 independence, an extreme hardihood of spirit, which 
 nearly destroys their social sympathies, and greatly 
 subtracts from their usefulness. They were them- 
 selves nursed in winds and storms. They trampled 
 the most formidable difficulties under their feet, and 
 
XXVlll 
 
 smote into the dust every enemy, which rose up 
 against them. Some of them seemed to triumph over 
 physical impossibilities, and to make the loss of one 
 faculty or sense, the stimulus to push their remaining 
 powers to the ultimate limit of perfection. Hence 
 they infer that this same fortitude and fearlessness 
 belongs, or should belong, to every other human 
 being. Finding a deficiency of these stern qualities, 
 they consider it as an offence almost unpardonable. 
 They do not have compassion on the erring and igno- 
 rant. They do not make sufficient allowance for 
 human infirmity. They do not recollect, perhaps, 
 those favorable conjunctures in the providence of God, 
 of which they took advantage, and which may not fall 
 to the lot of others. Those, who have amassed large 
 estates, by vigorous personal effort, are sometimes 
 disposed to carry habits of economy to absolute 
 avarice. Misers are frequently found among this 
 class of men. What is won with hardship is held 
 with a tenacious grasp. Fortunes thus acquired will 
 not be dissipated, at least till the second generation ; 
 a generation which knows not the habits of their 
 fathers. An individual, who has become affluent by 
 his own exertions, may acquire habits of genuine 
 philanthropy, and in that case, is entitled to greater 
 commendation, in consequence of the difficulties 
 which he has overcome ; still there is ground to 
 apprehend that his charities will be confined to one or 
 two favorite channels, and that, in the multiplicity of 
 the smaller incidents and occasions of life, he will be 
 far from exhibiting genuine greatness of soul, or 
 real philanthropy of feeling. From the very nature 
 
XXIX 
 
 of the case, he will be disposed to ascribe an undue 
 importance to the various contrivances and systems, 
 which are intended to enable an individual, without 
 pecuniary resources, to rise, by personal exertion, to 
 spheres of usefulness and honor. 
 
 Intimately connected with the deficiency of charac- 
 ter just described, is the habit of over-estimating per- 
 sonal or other attainments. Self-confidence is fre- 
 quently carried too far. A great change in external cir- 
 cumstances, is always attended with imminent danger 
 in the subject of it. Elevate a servant to a throne, 
 impart at once large literary treasures to an ignorant 
 and obscure individual, fill the house of the poor man 
 with wealth ; and you take a most effectual way to 
 imbue them with the spirit of arrogance and vanity. 
 Julius Caesar Scaliger, the great critic, was a self 
 taught man, but guilty of the most excessive affectation 
 and pride. He was contented to be called Bordoni, 
 and the son of a minature painter, till he was nearly 
 fifty years old. He then composed an elaborate me- 
 moir of his own life, in which he pretended that he 
 was the last surviving descendant of a princely house 
 of Verona. Bandinelli. an Italian sculptor, the son of 
 a goldsmith, and a grandson of a common coal-man, 
 having in the course of his life acquired great wealth, 
 and having been created a knight by Charles V., is said 
 to have repeatedly changed his name, in order to hide 
 his parentage ; and to have fixed at last upon that by 
 which he is generally known, in order that he might 
 appear to have sprung from a noble family. A similar 
 anxiety to secure to himself the reputation of a name, 
 
 D 
 
XXX 
 
 was manifested by the great Spanish dramatist, Lopez 
 de Vega. 
 
 One of the especial benefits of a regular education, 
 is to wear away or cut off these excrescences of char- 
 acter. It is exceedingly difficult for an individual to 
 retain in quiet possession, within the walls of a college, 
 a great amount of self-conceit or vanity. He comes 
 into contact with rough corners. He is speedily in 
 collision with flint. Powerful minds will meet in fierce 
 competition, and sad will be his lot who brings into 
 debate an unusual share of self-importance. College 
 is a great leveher. Hence it is, that in the last 
 sessions of a collegiate course, the real advance can 
 be measured by contrasting the accompanying modesty 
 and docility, with the opposite qualities, which are 
 frequently visible at the earlier periods. At college, 
 an individual will be compelled to learn what his 
 real talents and attainments are. There is scarcely 
 the possibiHty of deceiving several keen-eyed equals. 
 There is very rarely an undue degree of sympathy or 
 compassion in a class-mate. But in the case of an 
 individual, who has educated himself, there is no class 
 of men any where in his neighborhood with which he 
 can compare himself. He grows up alone. An innate 
 vigor is the sap which nourishes him. All the indi- 
 viduals of his acquaintance are, perhaps, clearly his 
 inferiors. At the same time, his injudicious relatives 
 may administer large draughts of flattery to his lips, 
 till he becomes exceedingly wise in his own sight, 
 and the wonder of the age which has produced him. 
 As correctives of this very obvious evil, our public 
 
XXXI 
 
 institutions are admirably adapted, and are, in fact, 
 indispensable. 
 
 To the numerous class of young men, in the United 
 States, who are mainly dependent on their own re- 
 sources for knowledge, or respectability, one of the most 
 important counsels of wisdom, which can be address- 
 ed, is, STUDY YOUR OWN CHARACTER AND PROSPECT^. 
 
 If you are just emerging from obscurity, and breathing 
 the fresh air of an emancipated mind, and thirsting for 
 improvement, and occasionally catching some gleams 
 of light from that undiscovered land of promise, which 
 Hes in the distant horizon ; let not your fancy, nor your 
 exched feelings, lead you captive. Be calm and con- 
 siderate. A wrong step now may blast your hopes 
 forever. An imperfect estimate of the deficiencies of 
 your character, may impede your course through your 
 whole subsequent life. Be willing to know all the wrong 
 habits which you have cherished, and all the w^eak- 
 nesses of your mind. Study your excellencies also, 
 so that you may not cultivate them disproportionately, 
 nor yield to the influence of depression or despair, 
 when you are tempted to place too low an estimate on 
 your powers or acquirements. Be solicitous especially 
 to understand what your physical constitution is, so 
 that you may make it subservient, from the beginning, 
 to the most perfect action of mind and heart, so that 
 all your capacities, intellectual and moral, may be 
 safely, and to the highest degree, developed. If there 
 is an individual of your acquaintance, who knows your 
 past history, and your mind, and who has gone through 
 the course which you are commencing, let it be your 
 
xxxu 
 
 object to gain from him a faithful analysis of your 
 character, and an accurate chart of that path, of alter- 
 nate storm and sunshine, which lies before you. If 
 possible, find an experienced friend, who has an en- 
 larged mind and a hberal heart, and who has no exclusive 
 and favorite study or system of his own. ' The coun- 
 sels of such a guide will be inestimable. Next to the 
 blessing of the Almighty, they will ensure success. 
 When all this is done, form a calm and deliberate de- 
 termination that you will take that path, come what 
 may, which will secure your highest happiness and 
 usefulness. Nourish that inflexible, that iron deter- 
 mination in your heart, without which nothing will be 
 achieved. 
 
 In the second place you will have occasion to 
 guard against underrating knowledge. Learning, if it 
 be thoroughly apprehended and digested, cannot be 
 too highly esteemed. Mere acquisition of facts, in- 
 deed, without analysis and reflection, is positively 
 injurious to the mind. Reading, unattended with con- 
 templation, will produce habits of affectation and pe- 
 dantry. Nevertheless, those, who are most exposed 
 in this respect, are men of literary leisure, or scholars 
 by profession. You are liable to fall into the opposite 
 error. Compelled by your circumstances to think, 
 relying on the native resources of your own mind, you 
 will learn to look disparagingly on the scholar of 
 comprehensive and ample attainment. But extensive 
 acquisitions are perfectly consistent with profound orig- 
 inal investigation. Reading the thoughts of others, 
 will often awaken interesting and valuable trains of 
 reflection. An active mind will assimilate, or correct, 
 
XXXIU 
 
 or transform the views of the author whom he is read- 
 ing. The very abihty to peruse certain books, impUes 
 that the reader himself has powers of reflection and 
 arrangement. 
 
 Again, want of immediate success at the commence- 
 ment of your studies, will, without great care, weaken 
 your resolution, and interrupt your efforts. You have, 
 perhaps, come from the toils of a shop or farm, to 
 the hall of science, and to the pursuhs of the scholar. 
 Habits of close investigation cannot be acquired in 
 a day. A wandering mind cannot be fixed without 
 painful effort. Associations acquired in pursuits alien 
 , from science and taste, cannot be changed at the mere 
 bidding of the will. Those lands of beauty and joy, 
 which shall at length open to your view, are at the 
 commencement of your course, shrouded in impene- 
 trable clouds. Algebra and Plato are invested with 
 their full charms only to the practised eye, and to the 
 disciplined intellect. You need to fortify your mind 
 with the strong convictions of duty. Barkening 
 invariably to the decisions of an enlightened con- 
 science, and to the dictates of sound reason, you will 
 at length find that the path of enlarged thought, and 
 of cultivated feeling, and of refined taste, is the path 
 of pleasure. 
 
 You will be under the necessity, moreover, of ren- 
 dering all your efforts at manual labor, and in procur- 
 ing a supply for your physical wants, subservient to a 
 certain purpose — advancement in mental and moral 
 power. They must be means, not an end. If you 
 are preparing for either of the learned professions, or 
 to influence public opinion in any way, you must make 
 
 D* 
 
XXXIV 
 
 all things subordinate to your purpose. It is not your 
 object to become an ingenious mechanic, an efficient 
 merchant, or a practical farmer. Some individuals, 
 who are in a course of education, take more pleasure 
 in the shop or on the farm, than in the study, and are 
 more solicitous to be accounted skilful workmen than 
 powerfid scholars. It is the grand design, or it ought 
 to be, of all manual labor academies, to promote men- 
 tal and moral improvement. The connection between 
 the system of bodily exercise, in all hs details, and 
 literary progress, should be manifest and prominent. 
 The high cultivation and valuable products of a farm, 
 or a garden, should not be the boast of these institu- 
 tions. They are but minor and secondary matters. 
 It is the bearing of these things on the developement 
 of the mind, and of the heart, which should arrest the 
 attention and be rewarded with the encouragement of 
 every observer. If this object is overlooked, or mani- 
 festly neglected, manual labor schools will be an utter 
 failure, and there will be an universal return to the 
 old systems of mere literary study, without any atten- 
 tion to the physical wants. These schools, to be suc- 
 cessful, must furnish better scholars than any others — 
 men of more vigorous understanding, and of more 
 mental discipline. Bodies of perfect symmetry, and of 
 gigantic muscular strength, are worthless in themselves 
 alone. This is a subject of great practical importance. 
 If these institutions fail on any one point, it will be on 
 this ; and for a very obvious reason. It is important 
 to direct public attention prominently to the physical 
 part of the arrangements, or that wherein the institu- 
 tion differs from those conducted on the former plan, 
 
XXXV 
 
 in order to secure a sufficient amount of public patron- 
 age. Consequently the principal interest of the com- 
 munity will be concentrated upon that which is ob- 
 viously of secondary importance. Besides, every in- 
 dividual who engages in physical exercise of any kind, 
 must feel a considerable degree of attachment to this 
 exercise, if he designs to derive from it material ben- 
 efit. This attachment, by a very common law of the 
 human mind, may increase and become the master 
 passion of his soul. 
 
 In regard to such individuals, in the class of self 
 taught men, who devote their attention to any of the 
 mechanic arts, or to either of the departments in com- 
 mon life and business, though their particular pursuit 
 is to engross their chief attention, yet it is of great 
 importance that they become thoroughly acquainted 
 with the principles of their trade, and with the reasons 
 of the rules, according to which they daily practice. 
 They should throw as much mind as possible into all 
 which they undertake. The perfection of machinery, 
 and the excellence of soils, are not the only object of 
 inquiry. The thorough acquaintance with the philoso- 
 phy of the art, the means of its advancement, and the 
 ways in which it can confer the greatest possible 
 benefits on mankind — these are the topics which will 
 command the attention of an individual, in proportion 
 as his views are expanded, and his feelings benevolent. 
 No inconsiderable number of self taught men have, in 
 this way, conferred invaluable benefits upon mankind. 
 Watt, Fulton, Whitney, Franklin, and Davy, will be 
 dear and cherished names, ages hence. 
 
XXXVl 
 
 Another class of individuals to whom I have allud- 
 ed, are pursuing a partial course, of self education at 
 lyceums. They can devote to literary and scientific 
 pursuits, only a limited portion of time, perhaps simply 
 the evenings of the winter months. By associating 
 all the young men and others in the town, and statedly 
 meeting for the consideration and discussion of impor- 
 tant subjects, very great benefits may be derived, pro- 
 vided the association can be made to exist for a suffi- 
 cient length of time. It needs a principle of vitality. 
 To secure any great degree of usefulness, permanence 
 must be given to it. It is a voluntary association in 
 the strictest sense of the term. But no object of 
 much importance can be secured, without the feeling 
 of responsibleness, or accountability in some of the 
 individuals concerned. A few lectures on the com- 
 mon and familiar topics of science, or on matters of 
 local history, will be of little service. There must be 
 a plan to secure a permanent and enduring interest. 
 As many individuals as possible must be brought into 
 fervent co-operation. New arrangements of subjects 
 must be occasionally adopted. Foreign aid, whenever 
 practicable, must be secured. A well chosen and 
 constantly accumulating library must be obtained. 
 And what is, perhaps, of greater importance than any 
 thing else, all the members must have something to 
 do. Personal participation is the great secret of ex- 
 citing and maintaining a permanent interest in an un- 
 dertaking. 
 
 To the individual who will even cursorily look at 
 the state of this country, or the history of individual 
 men, in comparison with the history or condition of 
 
XXXVII 
 
 any other country, it must appear strikingly obvious, 
 that never were circumstances more favorable than 
 among us for the developement and employment of 
 mind. In this country, character and influence can 
 be gained by vigorous, individual effort. The whole 
 community are the spectators and judges of the ad- 
 vancement of every individual. No iron hand grasps 
 a man as soon as he steps into the world, and shrivels 
 him up, while another rises simply because he is kept 
 down. No class in the community are raised by the 
 condition of their birth, or by such adventitious cir- 
 cumstances, above one half the minds around them. 
 Free and fresh as the air which he breathes, each 
 individual may start in the career of improvement. 
 Nearly all the circumstances which are calculated to 
 depress and dishearten, arise from extreme poverty 
 and a very obscure parentage and birth-place, or else 
 from personal considerations. But nothing short of 
 absolute impossibility, in the providence of God, ought 
 to deter any one from engaging in the pursuit of 
 knowledge. Obstacles of fearful magnitude, and of 
 almost every description, have been overcome in innu- 
 merable instances. 
 
 Have you been deprived of one of your senses ? 
 Not a few have vanquished this impediment. The 
 instance of Mr. Nelson, the late learned and classical 
 professor in Rutgers college. New Jersey, as detailed 
 by Prof. McVicar, in his Life of Griffin, is admirably 
 in point. Total blindness, after a long, gradual ad- 
 vance, came upon him about his twentieth year, when 
 terminating his college course. It found him poor, 
 and left him to all appearance both penniless and 
 
XXXVlll 
 
 wretched, with two sisters to maintain, without money, 
 without friends, without a profession, and without sight. 
 Under such an accumulation of griefs, most minds 
 would have sunk, but with him it was otherwise. At 
 all times proud and resolute, his spirit rose at once 
 into what might be called a fierceness of independence. 
 He resolved within himself to be indebted for support 
 to no hand but his own. His classical education, 
 which from his feeble vision had been necessarily 
 imperfect, he now determined to complete, and imme- 
 diately entered upon the apparently hopeless task, with 
 a view to fit himself as a teacher of youth. He in- 
 structed his sisters in the pronunciation of Greek and 
 Latin, and employed one or other constantly in the 
 task of reading aloud to him the classics usually taught 
 in the schools. A naturally faithful memory, spurred 
 on by such strong excitement, performed its oft-re- 
 peated miracles 5 and in a space of time incredibly 
 short, he became master of their contents, even to the 
 minutest points of critical reading. On a certain occa- 
 sion, a dispute having arisen between Mr. Nelson, and 
 the classical professor of the college, as to the con- 
 struction of a passage in Virgil, from which his stu- 
 dents were reading, the professor appealed to the 
 circumstance of a comma in the sentence, as con- 
 clusive of the question. " True," said Mr. Nelson, 
 coloring with strong emotion ; " but permit me to ob- 
 serve," added he, turning his sightless eye-balls to- 
 wards the book which he held in his hand, " that in 
 my Heyne edition, it is a colon, and not a comma." 
 He soon established a school for classical education. 
 The novelty and boldness of the attempt attracted 
 
XXXIX 
 
 general attention ; the lofty confidence he displayed in 
 himself, excited respect ; and soon his untiring assi- 
 duity, his real knowledge, and a burning zeal, which, 
 knowing no bounds in his devotion to his scholars, 
 awakened somewhat of a corresponding spirit in their 
 minds, completed the conquest. His reputation spread 
 daily, scholars flocked to him in crowds, and in a few 
 years, he found himself in the enjoyment of an in- 
 come superior to that of any coHege patronage in the 
 United States. Fernandez Navarete, a distinguished 
 Spanish painter, was seized with an illness, when only 
 two years old, which left him deaf and dumb for life. 
 Yet, in this state, he displayed from his infancy the 
 strongest passion for drawing, covering the walls of the 
 apartments with pictures of all sorts of objects, per- 
 formed with charcoal ; and having afterwards studied 
 under Titian, he became eventually one of the great- 
 est artists of his age. He could both read and write, 
 and even possessed considerable learning. Nicholas 
 Saunderson, one of the illustrious men who has filled the 
 chair of Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cam- 
 bridge, when only two years old was deprived, by 
 small-pox, not only of his sight, but of his eyes them- 
 selves, which were destroyed by abscess. He was 
 sent to the school at Penniston, early in life, and soon 
 distinguished himself by his proficiency in Greek and 
 Latin. He acquired so great a familiarity with the 
 Greek language, as to be in the habit of having the 
 works written in it, read to him — and following the 
 meaning of the author as if the composition had been 
 in English ; while he showed his perfect mastery over 
 the Latin, on many occasions in the course of his life, 
 
xl 
 
 by both dictating and speaking it with the utmost 
 fluency and command of expression. In 1728, he 
 was created Doctor of Laws, on a visit of George 
 II. to the university of Cambridge, on which occasion 
 he dehvered a Latin oration of distinguished eloquence. 
 He published an able and well known treatise on 
 Algebra, a work on Fluxions, and a Latin commen- 
 tary on Sir Isaac Newton's Principia. His senses of 
 
 hearins: and touch were carried to almost incredible 
 
 o 
 
 perfection. The celebrated mathematician, Euler, 
 was struck with blindness in his fifty-ninth year, his 
 sight having fallen a sacrifice to his indefatigable ap- 
 plication. He had literally written and calculated 
 himself blind. Yet, after this calamity, he continued 
 to calculate and to dictate books, at least, if not to 
 write them, as actively as ever. His Elements of 
 Algebra, a work which has been translated into every 
 language of Europe, was dictated by him when blind, 
 to an amanuensis. He published twenty-nine volumes 
 quarto in the Latin language alone. The mere cata- 
 logue of his published works extends to fifty printed 
 pages. At his death, he left about a hundred memoirs 
 ready for the press. 
 
 Have you wasted the early part of life, and are you 
 now compelled to commence, if at all, a course of 
 self education in the later period of youth or in middle 
 age ? Let not this circumstance, in the least degree, 
 weaken your resolution. Numerous are the instances 
 in which this difficulty has been overcome. Cato, 
 the celebrated Roman censor, showed his force of 
 character very strikingly, by learning the Greek lan- 
 guage, in his old age. At that time, the study of this 
 
xli 
 
 tongue was very rare at Rome ; — and the circumstance 
 renders the determination of Cato, and his success, the 
 more remarkable. It was the first foreign language 
 also, which he had acquired. Alfred the Great, of 
 England, had reached his twelfth year before he had 
 even learned his alphabet. An interesting anecdote 
 is told of the occasion on which he was first prompted 
 to apply himself to books. His mother, it seems, had 
 shown him and his brothers a small volume, illuminated 
 or adorned, in different places, with colored letters, 
 and such other embellishments, as was then the 
 fashion. Seeing it excite the admiration of the chil- 
 dren, she promised that she would give it to him who 
 would first learn to read it. Alfred, though the 
 youngest, was the only one who had spirit to attempt 
 to gain the prize on such conditions, at least it was he 
 who actually won it ; for he immediately, as we are 
 told, went and procured a teacher for himself, and, in 
 a very short time was able to claim the promised re- 
 ward. When he came to the throne, notwithstand- 
 ing all his public duties and cares, and a tormenting 
 disease, which scarcely ever left him a moment of 
 rest, it was his custom, day and night, to employ his 
 whole leisure time, either in reading books himself, 
 or in hearing them read by others. He, however, 
 reached his thirty-ninth year before he began to 
 attempt translating any thing from the Latin tongue. 
 The French dramatist, Moliere, could only read 
 and write very indifferently when he was fourteen 
 years of age. Dr. Carter, the father of the celebrated 
 Miss Carter, had been originally intended for a grazier, 
 and did not begin his studies till the age of nineteen or 
 
xlii 
 
 twenty. He eventually, however, became a distin- 
 guished scholar ; and gave his daughters a learned 
 education. Joannes Pierius Valerianus was fifteen 
 years old before he began to learn to read ; his pa- 
 rents, indeed, having been so poor, that he was obliged 
 to commence life as a domestic servant. He became 
 one of the most elegant scholars of his time. Van 
 den Vondel, an honored name in Dutch poetry, and 
 the author of works, which fill nine quarto volumes, 
 did not commence learning Latin till his twenty-sixth 
 year, and Greek not till some years afterwards. Like 
 many others of the literati of Holland, he began life 
 as a commercial man, and originally kept a hosier's 
 shop at Amsterdam ; but he gave up the business to 
 his wife, when he commenced his career as an author. 
 He died in extreme old age, after having occupied, 
 during a great part of his life, the very highest place 
 in the literature of his country. John Ogilby, the well 
 known translator of Homer, was originally a dancing 
 master. He had apprenticed himself to that profes- 
 sion, on finding himself reduced to depend on his own 
 resources, in consequence of the imprisonment of his 
 father for debt. Having been prospered in this pur- 
 suit, he was very soon able to release his father, much 
 to his credit, with the first money which he procured. 
 When he had fairly established himself in Dublin, the 
 rebellion of 1641 commenced, and not only swept away 
 all his little property, but repeatedly put even his life in 
 jeopardy. He at last found his way back to London, 
 in a state of complete destitution ; notwithstanding he 
 had never received any regular education, he had be- 
 fore this made a few attempts at verse-making, and in 
 
xllii 
 
 his extremity he bethought him of turning his talent in 
 this way to some account. He immediately com- 
 menced his studies, which he was enabled to pursue 
 chiefly through the liberal assistance of some members 
 of the university of Cambridge ; and although then 
 considerably above forty years of age, he made such 
 progress in Latin, that he was soon considered able to 
 undertake a poetical translation of Virgil. This work 
 made its appearance in the year 1650. A second 
 edition of it was printed a few years afterwards, with 
 great pomp of typography and embellishments. Such 
 was its success, that the industrious translator actually 
 proceeded, although now in his fifty-fourth year, to 
 commence the study of Greek, in order that he might 
 match his version of the ^neid by others of the Iliad 
 and Odyssey. In due time both appeared. In 1666, 
 he was left, by the great fire of London, once more 
 entirely destitute. With unconquerable courage and 
 perseverance, however, he re-built his house and re- 
 established his j^rinting press. He was now appointed 
 cosmographer and geographical printer to Charles II. 
 He died at the age of seventy-six years. In the United 
 States, there have been numerous instances of great 
 success in professional pursuits, which the individuals 
 in question did not assume till a very late period in 
 life. An eminent clergyman in a New England city, 
 toiled in one of the most laborious mechanical pro- 
 fessions, till he w^as far in advance of that age when 
 study is generally commenced. He then pursued a 
 regular academical and theological education, almost 
 wholly dependent on his own resources. A gentle- 
 man, who is now at the head of one of the most 
 
xliv 
 
 flourishing of the American colleges, was employed on 
 a farm as a hired laborer, till he was beyond that 
 period when most students have completed their colle- 
 giate education. The sudden rise of the waters of a 
 neighboring river, which prevented him from proceeding 
 to commence his labors on another farm, was the event, 
 in the providence of God, which determined him to 
 begin his preparation for college. A number of addi- 
 tional striking instances will be found in the course of 
 this volume. A great amount of mind, and of use- 
 fulness, is undoubtedly wasted, by the belief that little 
 can be accomplished, if an individual has suffered the 
 first thirty years of his life to pass without improve- 
 ment. Is it not an erroneous idea, that a man has 
 reached the meridian of his usefulness, and the matu- 
 rity of his powers, at the age of thirty-five or forty 
 years ? What necessity exists for prescribing a limit 
 to the onward progress of the mind ? Why set up a 
 bound at a particular time of life more than at another 
 time ? Is there not a large number of men, in this 
 country, whose history would prove the contrary doc- 
 trine, who have actually exhibited more vigor of intel- 
 lect at fifty years of age, than at forty ? There are 
 instances among the venerable dead, where the imagi- 
 nation even gathered fresh power to the close of a 
 long life. That a majority of facts show that maturity 
 of intellect is attained at the age of thirty-five years, 
 is unquestionably owing, in some degree at least, to 
 the influence of the opinion itself. It has operated as 
 a discouragement to effort. 
 
 Once more — are you called to struggle with the diffi- 
 culties arising from obscure parentage and depressing 
 
xlv 
 
 poverty ? Here multitudes have obtained most honor- 
 able triumphs, and have apparently risen in the scale 
 of honor and usefulness in proportion to the depth 
 of the penury or degradation of their origin. La- 
 place, a celebrated French mathematician and astron- 
 omer, and whom Dr. Brewster supposes posterity will 
 rank next after Sir Isaac Newton, was the son of a 
 farmer in Normandy. The American translator of his 
 great work, the Mecanique Celeste, and who has added 
 a commentary in which the amount of matter is much 
 greater than in the original work, while the calculations 
 are so happily elucidated, that a student moderately 
 versed in mathematics, may follow the great astrono- 
 mer with pleasure to his beautiful results — is entirely 
 a self taught man. A distinguished benefactor of one 
 of our principal theological seminaries, has risen from 
 extreme poverty to the possession of great wealth and 
 respectability. The same was the fact also with a for- 
 mer lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, who, in the 
 days of his highest prosperity, had none of that pride 
 of fortune, and haughtiness of demeanor, which are 
 sometimes consequent upon the unexpected acquisition 
 of a large estate. Several of the most useful and re- 
 spected citizens of the capital of New England, in the 
 early part of their life, were entirely destitute of all 
 resources, except the strength of their own unconquer- 
 able resolution, and the favor of Providence. The 
 celebrated German metaphysical philosopher, Kant, 
 was the son of a harness maker, who lived in the 
 suburbs of his native city, Konigsberg. He had 
 hardly arrived at the age of manhood before he lost 
 both his parents, who had never been able to afford 
 
xlvi 
 
 him much pecuniary assistance. His own industry 
 and economy, together with some assistance which he 
 received from his relatives, enabled him to continue 
 his studies. His application was uncommonly great, 
 and the results of it, numerous and extraordinary. 
 He published a work on the Universal Natural History 
 and Theory of the Heavens, or an Essay on the Con- 
 stitution and Mechanical System of the whole Globe, 
 according to the Newtonian system. In this treatise 
 he anticipated several of the discoveries of the astro- 
 nomer Herschel. His principal metaphysical work, 
 the " Critique of Pure Reason," produced an aston- 
 ishing sensation through all Germany. He was ap- 
 pointed, in 1778, professor of logic and metaphysics 
 in the university of Konigsberg. James Logan, the 
 friend of William Penn, and for some time chief jus- 
 tice and governor of Pennsylvania, was early in life 
 apprenticed to a linen-draper. Previously to his thir- 
 teenth year, he had studied the Latin, Greek, and He- 
 brew languages. In the sixteenth year of his age, 
 having happily met with a small book on mathematics, 
 he made himself master of it without any manner of 
 instruction. Having, also, further improved himself 
 in Greek and Hebrew, he acquired the French, Italian 
 and Spanish languages. Like William Penn, he was 
 a warm and efficient friend of the Indians. He was a 
 man of uncommon wisdom, moderation, prudence, of 
 unblemished morals, and inflexible integrity. Lomono- 
 sofF, the father of Russian literature, was descended 
 from a poor family in the government of Archangel. 
 His father was a fisherman, whom he assisted in his 
 labors for the support of his family. In winter, a 
 
xlvii 
 
 clergyman taught him to read. A poetical spirit and 
 a love of knowledge were awakened in the boy, by 
 the singing of the psalms at church, and the reading of 
 the Bible. Without having received any instruction, 
 he conceived the plan of celebrating the wonders of 
 creation, and the great deeds of Peter 1., in songs sim- 
 ilar to those of David. He died in 1765. The Rus- 
 sian academy have published his works in six volumes, 
 quarto. He wrote several treatises on grammar, his- 
 tory, mineralogy, and chemistry, besides some of the 
 best poetry in the language. Winckelman, one of the 
 most distinguished writers on classic antiquities and 
 the fine arts, which modern times have produced, was 
 the son of a shoemaker. His father, after vainly en- 
 deavoring, for some time, at the expense of many 
 sacrifices, to give him a learned education, was at last 
 obliged, from age and ill health, to retire to an hospi- 
 tal, where he was, in his turn, supported for several 
 years in part by the labors of his son, who, aided by the 
 kindness of the professors, continued to keep himself 
 at college, chiefly by teaching some of his younger 
 and less advanced fellow students. Bartholomew 
 Arnigio, an Italian poet, of considerable eminence, who 
 lived in the sixteenth century, followed his father's 
 trade of a blacksmith, till he was eighteen years old, 
 when he began, of his own accord, to apply to his 
 studies ; and by availing himself of the aid sometimes 
 of one friend, and sometimes of another, prepared 
 himself at last for entering the university of Padua. 
 Examples of this description it is unnecessary to mul- 
 tiply. The records of all the learned professions will 
 show many instances admirably in point. Every legis- 
 
xlviii 
 
 lative hall would furnish marked and illustrious speci- 
 mens. The last degree of penury, the most abject 
 occupations of life, have not presented an insurmount- 
 able obstacle to improvement. The aspiring mind will 
 pass over or break dow^n every impediment. Prisons 
 cannot chain it. Dungeons cannot immure it. Rack- 
 ing pains cannot palsy its energy. Opposition will 
 only nurture hs powers. The Pilgrim's Progress was 
 written by a tinker in prison ; the Saint's Rest, on a 
 bed of excruciating pain ; the Apology for the Free- 
 dom of the Press, and the Sermons upon Modern Infi- 
 delity, in the intervals of one of the fiercest diseases 
 which ever preys upon man. Pascal, that sublime and 
 universal genius, equally at home in the most accurate 
 analysis, and in the widest generalization, was visited 
 with an inexorable malady during the greater part of 
 his Hfe. Dr. Watts, the sweet psalmist of ages yet to 
 come, was as weak in body, as he was clear and povv- 
 ful in intellect. On some occasions, it would seem, 
 that the mind is conscious of its own independence, 
 and asserts its distinct and unfettered existence amidst 
 the severest ills which can befal its frail and dying 
 companion. 
 
 It is worthy of deep and careful consideration, 
 whether our country does not demand a new and 
 higher order of intellect, and whether the class, whose 
 character I have been considering, cannot furnish a 
 vast amount of materials. It is not piety alone which 
 is needed, nor strength of body, nor vigor of mind, 
 nor firmness of character, nor purity of taste ; but all 
 these united. Ought not this subject to awaken the 
 
xlix 
 
 attention of our most philanthropic and gifted minds? 
 Ought not social libraries to be collected with this 
 main purpose — to furnish stimulants to call forth all 
 possible native talents and hidden energies ? Should 
 not the lyceum lay hold of this subject in every village 
 in our land ? Ought not the systems of discipline and 
 instruction at all our colleges, to be framed, and to be 
 administered, with a distinct and declared regard to 
 the benefits which self taught genius, wath the super- 
 added effects of thorough instruction, can confer upon 
 the millions of our country ? Every parent, and every 
 instructer, should employ special means to bring his 
 children or his pupils into such circumstances, and 
 place in their way such books and other means, as 
 will develope the original tendencies of their minds, 
 and lead them into the path of high attainment and 
 usefulness. Every educated man is under great re- 
 sponsibilities to bring into the light and to cherish all 
 the talent, which may be concealed in his neighbor- 
 hood. Genius lies buried on our mountains and in 
 our vallies. Vast treasures of thought, of noble feeling, 
 of pure and generous aspirations, and of moral and 
 religious worth, exist unknown — are never called forth 
 to adorn human nature, and to bless and save mankind. 
 Shall not an effort now be made to bring into action all 
 the available intellect and piety in the country ? In the 
 lapse of a few years, more than one hundred millions 
 of human beings, on this continent, will speak the 
 English language. To provide intellectual and moral 
 sustenance for such an amazing population, requires 
 an enlargement of thought, and an expansiveness of 
 philanthropy, such as has never yet been exhibited on 
 
1 
 
 our earth. One division of this country is as large 
 as that realm over which Augustus Csesar swayed 
 his sceptre, and which Hannibal tried in vain to 
 conquer. What immense tides of immortal life are 
 to sweep over this country, into the gulf of eter- 
 nity. We are called to think and to act on a grander 
 scale than ever fell to the lot of man. This nation 
 needs what was conferred on Solomon, " wisdom and 
 understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, 
 even as the sand that is on the sea-shore." How 
 pitiable and how deplorable are all the contests be- 
 tween political parties, and benevolent societies, and 
 religious denominations. While thus contending with 
 one another, we are losing forever the favorable 
 moment for effort; and we are preparing to have 
 heaped upon our heads the curses of an unnumbered 
 posterity. We are the representatives of milHons. 
 We are acting for masses of human beings. To live 
 simply as individuals, or as insulated beings, is a great 
 error, and a serious injustice to our posterity. We 
 must take our stand on fundamental principles. We 
 must set those great wheels in motion, which, in their 
 revolution, are to spread light, and hfe, and joy 
 through the land. While we place our whole depen- 
 dence on the goodness and the grace of the Ruler of 
 the universe, we must act as those who recollect their 
 origin at the Plymouth rock, and from Saxon ancestry, 
 and who are conscious of the high destiny to which 
 Providence calls them. 
 
 Let us come up to our great and most interesting 
 work. Let us lift our eyes on the fields, boundless in 
 extent, and white already to the harvest. Here in 
 
li 
 
 this age, here in this new world, let the tide of igno- 
 rance be stayed ; let the great mass of American sen- 
 timent be thoroughly purified ; let human nature as- 
 sume its renovated form ; let the flame of human 
 intellect rise, and sweetly mingle with the source of 
 all mental light and beauty ; let our character and 
 labors be such, that we shall send forward to the most 
 distant posterity, a strong and steady light. We must 
 take no middle ground. We must bring to the great 
 work of illuminating this country, and of blessing 
 mankind, every capability of mind, and of heart, 
 which we possess — every possibility of the power, 
 which God has given to us. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 ROGER SHERMAN. 
 
 " The self-taught Sherman urged his reasons clear." — Humphrey's Poems. 
 
 Roger Sherman was born at Newton, Massachusetts, 
 April 19, 1721. His great grandfather, Captain John 
 Sherman, came from Dedham, in England, to Watertown, 
 Massachusetts, about the year 1635. His grandfather, 
 William Sherman, was a farmer, in moderate circumstan- 
 ces. In 1723, the family removed from Newton to 
 Stoughton. Of the childhood and early youth of 
 Sherman, little is known. He received no other educa- 
 tion than the ordinary country schools, in Massachusetts, 
 at that time, afforded. He was neither assisted by a 
 public education, nor by private tuition. All the valuable 
 attainments, which he exhibited in his future career, were 
 the result of his own vigorous efforts. By his ardent thirst 
 for knowledge, and his indefatigable industry, he attained 
 a very commendable acquaintance with general science, 
 the system of logic, geography, mathematics, the general 
 principles of history, philosophy, theology, and particularly 
 law, and politics. He was early apprenticed to a shoe- 
 maker, and he continued to pursue that occupation for 
 some time after he was twenty-two years of age. It is 
 recorded of him, that he was accustomed to sit at his 
 1 
 
3 ROGER SHERMAN. 
 
 work with a book before him, devoting to study every 
 moment that his eyes could be spared from the occupation 
 in which he was engaged. During the revolutionary war, 
 Mr. Sherman was placed on a committee of congress, 
 to examine certain army accounts, among which, was a 
 contract for the supply of shoes. He informed the com- 
 mittee that the public had been defrauded, and that the 
 charges were exorbitant, which he proved, by specifying 
 the cost of the leather, and other materials, and of the 
 workmanship. The minuteness with which this was 
 done, exciting some surprise, he informed the committee 
 that he was by trade a shoemaker, and knew the value of 
 every article. He was sometimes accused, but without 
 justice, of being vain of the obscurity of his origin. From 
 the distinguished eminence which he reached, he probably 
 contemplated, with satisfaction, that force of mind, and 
 that industry, which enabled him to overcome all the 
 obstacles which encompassed his path. For the gratifica- 
 ^tion, arising from such a contemplation, no one will be 
 disposed to censure him. 
 
 When he was nineteen years of age, his father died. 
 His eldest brother having previously removed to New 
 Milford, in Connecticut, the principal charge of the family 
 devolved on him. At this early period of life, the care of 
 a mother, who lived to a great age, and the education of a 
 numerous family of brothers and sisters, brought into 
 grateful exercise his warm, filial, and fraternal affections. 
 The assistance subsequently aiforded by him, to two of 
 his younger brothers, enabled them to obtain the inesti- 
 mable advantages of a public education. He continued 
 to reside at Stoughton, about three years after the death 
 of his father, principally employed in the cultivation of 
 the farm, and in otherwise providing for the maintenance 
 of the family. Before he was twenty-one, he made a 
 public profession of religion. He thus laid the foundation 
 
ROGER SHERMAN. 3 
 
 of his character in piety. That unbending integrity, 
 which has almost made his name synonymous with virtue 
 itself, was acquired in the school of Christ and his apostles. 
 Mr. Sherman used to remark to his family, that before he 
 had attained the age of twenty-one years, he had learned 
 to control and govern his passions. His success in these 
 efforts, he attributed, in a considerable degree to Dr. 
 Watts's excellent treatise on this subject. His passions 
 were naturally strong, but he had brought them under 
 subjection to such a degree, that he appeared to be 
 habitually calm and sedate, mild and agreeable. All his 
 actions seem to have been preceded by a rigorous self- 
 examination, and the answering of the secret interroga- 
 tories, What is right 1 What course ought I to pursue 1 
 He never propounded to himself the questions, Will it be 
 popular? How will it affect my interest? Hence his 
 reputation for integrity was never questioned. 
 
 In 1743, he removed with the family to New Milford, a 
 town near New Haven, Connecticut. He performed the 
 journey on foot, taking care to have his shoe-maker's tools 
 also transported. He there commenced business as a coun- 
 try merchant, and opened a store in conjunction with his 
 elder brother, which he continued till after his admission 
 to the bar in 1754. He discontinued his trade as a shoe- 
 maker at the time this connection was formed. In 1745, 
 he was appointed surveyor of lands for the county in which 
 he resided. Astronomical calculations of as early date as 
 1748, have been discovered among his papers. They 
 were made by him for an almanac, then published in New 
 York, and which he continued to supply for several suc- 
 cessive years. 
 
 About this time a providential circumstance led him to 
 aspire after a higher station in life. He was requested by 
 a friend to seek for him legal advice in a neighboring 
 town. To prevent embarrassment and secure the accu- 
 
4 ROGER SHERMAN. 
 
 rate representation of the case, he committed it to paper 
 as well as he could, before he left home. In stating the 
 facts, the lawyer observed that Mr. Sherman frequently- 
 recurred to a manuscript which he held in his hand. As 
 it w^as necessary to make an application, by w'ay of peti- 
 tion, to the proper tribunal, he desired the paper to be left 
 in his hands, provided it contained a statement of the case 
 from w^hich a petition might be framed. Mr. Sherman 
 reluctantly consented, telling him that it was merely a 
 memorandum drawn up by himself for his own conve- 
 nience. The lawyer, after reading it, remarked, with an 
 expression of surprise, that, with a few alterations in form, 
 it was equal to any petition which he could have prepared 
 himself, and that no other was requisite. Having then 
 made some inquiries relative to Mr. Sherman's situation 
 and prospects in life, he advised him to devote his attention 
 to the study of the law. But his circumstances and duties 
 did not permit him, at once, to follow this counsel. The 
 numerous family, which the recent death of his father had 
 made, in a considerable degree, dependent on him for 
 support and education, required his constant exertions in 
 other employments. But the intimation which he there 
 received, that his mind was fitted to higher pursuits, no 
 doubt induced him at that early period of life, to devote 
 his leisure moments to those studies which led him to 
 honor and distinguished usefulness. 
 
 At the age of twenty-eight years, he was married to 
 Miss Elizabeth Hartwell, of Stoughton, Massachusetts, by 
 whom he had seven children. She died in October, 1760. 
 Two of his children died in New Milford, and two after 
 his removal to New Haven. In 1763, he was married to 
 Miss Rebecca Prescott, of Danvers, Massachusetts, by 
 whom he had eight children. 
 
 In May, 1759, he was appointed one of the justices of 
 the court of common pleas for the county. He was, for 
 
ROGER SHERMAN. 5 
 
 many years, the treasurer of Yale College. From that 
 institution he received the honorary degree of master of 
 arts. After success, in some measure, had crowned his 
 efforts, he still continued to apply himself to his studies, 
 with the most unremitted diligence. Encouragement, 
 instead of elating him, only prompted him to greater 
 effort. In the profession which he had chosen, perhaps 
 more than in any other, men are compelled to rely on their 
 own resources. Such is the competition, so constant is 
 the collision of various minds, that ignorance and incom- 
 petency will surely be detected and exposed. 
 
 In 1766, he was appointed a judge of the superior 
 court of Connecticut. In the same year he was chosen 
 an assistant, or member of the upper house of the legisla- 
 ture. The first office he sustained for twenty-three years, 
 the last for nineteen years ; after which a law was enacted 
 rendering the two offices incompatible, and he chose to 
 continue in the office of judge. It is uniformly acknow- 
 ledged, by those who witnessed his conduct and abilities 
 on the bench, that he discovered in the application of the 
 principles of law, and the rules of evidence to the cases 
 before him, the same sagacity that distinguished him as a 
 legislator. His legal opinions were received with great 
 deference by the profession, and their correctness was 
 almost universally acknowledged. During the last four 
 years, in which he was judge, the late Chief Justice Ells- 
 worth was an associate judge of the same court ; and from 
 the period of his appointment, in 1785, until the death of 
 Mr. Sherman, a close intimacy subsisted between them. 
 The elder president Adams remarks, that it is praise 
 enough to say that Mr. Ellsworth told me that he had made 
 Mr. Sherman his model in his youth. Indeed, I never 
 knew two men more alike, except that the Chief Justice 
 had the advantage of a liberal education, and somewhat 
 more extensive reading. 
 1* 
 
6 ROGER SHERMAN. 
 
 The period of our revolutionary struggle now drew near, 
 Roger Sherman, as it might have been expected, was one 
 of the few, who from the commencement of hostilities, 
 foresaw what would be the probable issue. He engaged 
 in the defence of our liberties, with the deliberate firmness 
 of an experienced statesman, conscious of the magnitude 
 of the undertaking, and sagacious in devising the means 
 for successful opposition. 
 
 In August, 1774, Mr. Sherman, in conjunction with 
 Joseph Trumbull, Eliphalet Dyer, and Silas Deane, was 
 nominated delegate to the General Congress of the 
 colonies. He was present at the opening of the first 
 congress. He continued a member of this body for the 
 long period of nineteen years, (till his death in 1793,) 
 whenever the law, requiring a rotation in office, admitted it. 
 
 In his new post of duty, he soon acquired distinguished 
 reputation. Others were more admired for popular elo- 
 quence, but in that assembly of great men, there was no 
 one whose judgment was more respected, or whose opin- 
 ions were more influential. His venerable appearance, his 
 republican simplicity, the inflexibility of his principles, 
 and the decisive weight of his character, commanded 
 universal homage. In the fatiguing and very arduous 
 business of committees, he was indefatigable. He was 
 always thorough in his investigations, and all his proceed- 
 ings were marked by system. Among the principal com- 
 mittees of which Mr. Sherman was a member, were those 
 to prepare instructions for the army in Canada ; to establish 
 regulations in regard to the trade of the United Colonies ; 
 to regulate the currency of the country; to furnish supplies 
 for the army ; to devise ways and means for providing ten 
 millions of dollars for the expenses of the current year ; 
 to concert a plan of military operations for the campaign 
 of 1776 ; to prepare and digest a form of confederation ; 
 and to repair to head quarters at New York, and examine 
 into the state of the army. 
 
ROGER SHERMAN. 7 
 
 On the 11th of June, 1776, in conjunction with John 
 Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert 
 R. Livingston, Mr. Sherman was appointed on the 
 Committee to prepare the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence. The committee was elected by ballot. The 
 Declaration, as it is well known, was written by Jefferson. 
 What amount of influence was exerted by Sherman in 
 carrying the measure through the congress, is not certainly 
 known. The records of the proceedings of that illustrious 
 assembly are very imperfect. John Adams says of him, 
 that he was " one of the soundest and strongest pillars of 
 the revolution." 
 
 While he was performing the most indefatigable labors 
 in congress, he devoted unremitting attention to duties at 
 home. During the war, he was a member of the gover- 
 nor's council of safety. In 1784, he was elected mayor 
 of New Haven, an office which he continued to hold dur- 
 ing the remainder of his life. About the close of the war, 
 the legislature of Connecticut assigned to a committee 01 
 two, the arduous service of revising the laws of the State. 
 Mr. Sherman was one of this committee. In 1787, he 
 was appointed, in conjunction with Dr. Samuel Johnson, 
 and Mr. Ellsworth, a delegate to the General Convention, 
 to form the constitution of the United States. Among his 
 manuscripts a paper has been found, containing a series ot 
 propositions prepared by him for the amendment of the 
 old articles of confederation, the greater part of which are 
 incorporated, in substance, in the new constitution. In 
 the debates in that convention, Mr. Sherman bore a con- 
 spicuous part. In a letter to Gen. Floyd, soon after, he 
 says, " Perhaps a better constitution could not be made 
 upon mere speculation. If upon experience, it should be 
 found to be deficient, it provides an easy and peaceable 
 mode of making amendments. But, if the constitution 
 should be adopted, and the several States choose some of 
 
3 ROGER SHERMAN. 
 
 their wisest and best men, from time to time, to administer 
 the government, I believe it will not want any amendment. 
 I hope that kind Providence, which guarded these States^ 
 through a dangerous and distressing war, to peace and 
 liberty, will still watch over them and guide them in the 
 way of safety." 
 
 His exertions in procuring the ratification of the con- 
 stitution in Connecticut, were conspicuous and successful. 
 He published a series of papers over the signature of 
 " Citizen," which Mr. Ellsworth says, materially influ- 
 enced the public mind in favor of its adoption. After the 
 ratification of the constitution, he was immediately elected 
 a representative of the State in congress. Though ap- 
 proaching the seventieth year of his age, he yet took a 
 prominent part in the great topics of discussion, which 
 came before Congress. 
 
 On the 11th of February, 1790, the Quakers presented 
 an address to the house on the subject of the " licentious 
 wickedness of the African trade for slaves." A long and 
 violent debate occurred on the propriety of its being refer- 
 red to a committee. Some of the southern members 
 opposed it with great vehemence and acrimony. Mr. 
 Scott, of Pennsylvania, replied, in an eloquent appeal to the 
 justice and humanity of the house. Mr. Sherman, perceiv- 
 ing that opposition would merely serve to inflame the 
 already highly excited feelings of members, with his usual 
 calmness, remarked that it was probable the committee 
 would understand their business, and they might, perhaps, 
 bring in such a report as would be satisfactory to gentle- 
 men on both sides of the house. Mr. Sherman and his 
 colleagues were triumphant : forty-three members voting 
 in favor of the commitment of the memorial, and eleven in 
 opposition. 
 
 Mr. Sherman uniformly opposed the amendments to the 
 constitution, which were at various times submitted to the 
 
ROGER SHERMAN. 9 
 
 house. *'I do not suppose," said he, ''the constitution 
 to be perfect, nor do I imagine, if congress and all the 
 legislatures on the continent, were to revise it, that their 
 labors would perfect it." He maintained that the more 
 important objects of government ought first to be attended 
 to ; that the executive portion of it needed organization, 
 as well as the business of the revenue and judiciary. 
 
 In 1791, a vacancy having occurred in the senate of the 
 United States, he was elected to fill that elevated station. 
 
 On the 23d of July, 1793, this great and excellent man 
 was gathered to his fathers, in the seventy-third year of 
 his age. He died in full possession of all his powers, both 
 of mind and of body. 
 
 The most interesting lesson which the life of Mr. Sher- 
 man teaches us, is the paramount importance of religious 
 principle. His undeviating political integrity was not the 
 result of mere patriotism, or philanthropy. He revolved 
 in a higher orbit. The volume which he consulted more 
 than any other was the Bible. It was his custom to pur- 
 chase a copy of the Scriptures at the commencement of 
 every session of congress, to peruse it daily, and to pre- 
 sent it to one of his children on his return. To his 
 familiar acquaintance with this blessed book, much of that 
 extraordinary sagacity which he uniformly exhibited, is to 
 be attributed. The second President Edwards used to 
 call him his " great and good friend, senator Sherman," 
 and acknowledged, that, in the general course of a Ion cf 
 and intimate acquaintance, he was materially assisted by 
 his observations on the principal subjects of doctrinal and 
 practical divinity. *' He was not ashamed," says Dr. 
 Edwards, " to befriend religion, to appear openly on the 
 Lord's side, or to avow and defend the peculiar doctrines 
 of grace. He was exemplary in attending all the institu- 
 tions of the gospel, in the practice of virtue in general, 
 and in showing himself friendly to all good men. With 
 
£0 ROGER SHERMAN. 
 
 all his elevation and all his honors, he was not at all lifted 
 up, but appeared perfectly unmoved." 
 
 " That he was generous and ready to communicate, I 
 can testify from my own experience. He was ready to 
 bear his part of the expense of those designs, public and 
 private, which he esteemed useful ; and he was given to 
 hospitality." What an example is here presented for the 
 youthful lawyer and statesman. Would he rise to the 
 most distinguished usefulness, would he bequeath a char- 
 acter and an influence to posterity " above all Greek or 
 Roman fame," let him, like Roger Sherman, lay the 
 foundations in the fear of God, and in obedience to the 
 gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Another most important practical lesson which we 
 derive from the life of Mr. Sherman, is the value of habits 
 of study and meditation. He was not only distinguished 
 for integrity, but for accurate knowledge of history, and 
 of human nature — the combined fruit of reading and 
 reflection. *' He was capable of deep and long investiga- 
 tion. While others, weary of a short attention to business, 
 were relaxing themselves in thoughtless inattention, or 
 dissipation, he was employed in prosecuting the same 
 business, either by revolving it in his mind, and ripening 
 his own thoughts upon it, or in conferring with others." 
 While laboriously engaged in the public duties of his sta- 
 tion he had, every day, a season for private study and 
 meditation. 
 
 The testimonials to his extraordinary worth have been 
 singularly marked and unanimous. 
 
 Among his correspondents were Drs. Johnson, (of Strat- 
 ford,) Edwards, Hopkins, Trumbull, Presidents Dickinson 
 and Witherspoon. Fisher Ames was accustomed to ex- 
 press his opinion by saying, " That if he happened to be 
 out of his seat, [in congress,] when a subject was dis- 
 
ROGER SHERMAN. J J 
 
 cussed, and came in when the question was about to be 
 taken, he always felt safe, in voting as Mr. Sherman did, 
 for he ahoays voted right." Dr. Dwight, while instruct- 
 ing the senior class at Yale College, observed, that Mr. 
 Sherman was remarkable for not speaking in debate, with- 
 out suggesting something new and important. Washing- 
 ton uniformly treated Mr. Sherman with great respect and 
 attention. Mr. Macon, a distinguished senator of the 
 United States, once remarked to the Hon. William Reed, 
 of Marblehead, that " Roger Sherman had more common 
 sense than any man he ever knew." The late Rev. Dr. 
 Spring, of Newburyport, was returning from the south, 
 while congress was in session at Philadelphia. Mr. Jef- 
 ferson accompanied him to the hall, and designated seve- 
 ral distinguished members of that body ; in the course of 
 this polite attention, he pointed in a certain direction, and 
 exclaimed, " That is Mr. Sherman, of Connecticut, a 
 man who never said a foolish thing in his life." Mr. 
 Sherman was never removed from a single office, except 
 by promotion, or by act of the legislature requiring a 
 rotation, or rendering the offices incompatible with each 
 other. Nor, with the restrictions alluded to, did he ever 
 fail in his re-election to any situation, to which he had 
 been once elected, excepting that of representative of 
 New Haven, in the legislature of the State : — which office, 
 at that period, was constantly fluctuating. 
 
 In closing this biographical sketch, it is proper to add 
 that Mr. Sherman, in his person, was considerably above 
 the common stature ; his form was erect and well propor- 
 tioned, his complexion fair, and his countenance manly 
 and agreeable. In the relations of husband, father, and 
 friend, he was uniformly kind and faithful. He was 
 naturally modest ; and this disposition, increased, perhaps, 
 by the deficiencies of early education, often wore the 
 appearance of bashfulness and reserve. In conversation 
 
13 ROGER SHERMAN. 
 
 relating to matters of importance, he was free and com- 
 municative. 
 
 The legacy, which Mr. Sherman has bequeathed to his 
 countrymen, is indeed invaluable. The Romans never 
 ceased to mention with inexpressible gratitude the hero- 
 ism, magnanimity, contentment, disinterestedness, and 
 noble public services of him, who was called from the 
 plough to the dictator's chair. His example was a light 
 to all the subsequent ages. So among the galaxy of great 
 men, who shine along the tracts of our past history, we 
 can scarcely refer to one, save Washington, whose glory 
 will be more steady and unfading than that of Roger 
 Sherman. 
 
HEYNE OF GOTTINGEN. 
 
 Christian Gottlob Heyne, a distinguished scholar, 
 was born Sept. 25, 1729, at Chemnitz, in Saxony, whither 
 his father, a poor linen weaver, had fled from Silesia on 
 account of religious persecutions. The family were often 
 reduced to the miseries of the lowest indigence. In the 
 Memoirs of his own life, Heyne says, " Want was the 
 earliest companion of my childhood. I well remember 
 the painful impressions made on my mind by witnessing 
 the distress of my mother when without food for her 
 children. How often have I seen her, on a Saturday 
 evening, weeping and wringing her hands, as she returned 
 home from an unsuccessful effort to sell the goods which 
 the daily and nightly toil of my father had manufactured." 
 His parents sent him to a child's school in the suburbs of 
 the small town of Chemnitz. He soon exhibited an 
 uncommon desire of acquiring information. He made so 
 rapid a progress in the humble branches of knowledge 
 taught in the school, that, before he had completed his 
 tenth year, he was paying a portion of his school fees by 
 teaching a little girl, the daughter of a wealthy neighbor, 
 to read and write. Having learned everything comprised 
 in the usual course of the school, he felt a strong desire to 
 learn Latin. A son of the schoolmaster, who had studied 
 at Leipsic, was willing to teach him at the rate of four- 
 pence a week ; but the difficulty of paying so large a fee 
 3 
 
14 PROFESSOR HEYNE. 
 
 seemed quite insurmountable. One day he was sent to 
 his godfather, who was a baker, in pretty good circum- 
 stances, for a loaf. As he went along he pondered sor- 
 rowfully on the great object of his wishes, and entered 
 the shop in tears. The good-tempered baker, on learning 
 the cause of his grief, undertook to pay the required fee 
 for him, at which Heyne tells us, he was perfectly intoxi- 
 cated with joy ; and as he ran, all ragged and barefoot, 
 through the streets, tossing the loaf in the air, it slipped 
 from his hands and rolled into the gutter. This accident, 
 and a sharp reprimand from his parents, who could ill 
 afford such a loss, brought him to his senses. He con- 
 tinued his lessons for about two years, when his teacher 
 acknowledged that he had taught him all, which he him- 
 self knew. At this time, his father was anxious that he 
 should adopt some trade, but Heyne felt an invincible 
 desire to pursue his education. He had another godfather, 
 who was a clergyman, in the neighborhood ; and this per- 
 son, on receiving the most flattering accounts of Heyne 
 from his last master, agreed to be at the expense of send- 
 ing him to the principal seminary of his native town of 
 Chemnitz. His new patron, however, doled out his 
 bounty, with the most scrupulous parsimony ; and Heyne, 
 without the necessary books of his own, was often obliged 
 to borrow those of his companions, and to copy them over 
 for his own use. At last he obtained the situation of tutor 
 to the son of one of the citizens; and this for a short time 
 rendered his condition more comfortable. But the period 
 was come when, if he was to proceed in the career which 
 he had chosen, it was necessary for him to enter the 
 university ; and he resolved to go to Leipsic. He arrived, 
 accordingly, in that city, with only about four shillings in 
 his pocket, and nothing more to depend upon, except the 
 small assistance, which he might receive from his god- 
 father, who had promised to continue his bounty. He 
 
PROFESSOR HEYNE. 15 
 
 had to wait, however, so long, for his expected supplies 
 from this source, which came accompanied with much 
 grudging and reproach when they did make their appear- 
 ance, that, destitute both of money and books, he would 
 even have been without bread too, had it not been for the 
 compassion of the rnaid-servant of the house where he 
 lodged. " What sustained my courage in these circum- 
 stances," he remarks, " was neither ambition, nor pre- 
 sumption, nor even the hope of one day taking my place 
 among the learned. The stimulus, which incessantly 
 spurred me on, was the feeling of the humiliation of my 
 condition — the shame with which I shrank from the 
 thought of that degradation which the want of a good 
 education would impose on me — above all the determined 
 resolution of battling courageously with fortune. I was 
 resolved to try whether, although she had thrown me 
 among the dust, I should not be able to rise up by the 
 vigor of my own efforts." His ardor for study only grew 
 the greater as his difficulties increased. For six months 
 he only allowed himself two nights' sleep in the week ; 
 and yet all the while his godfather scarcely ever wrote to 
 him but to inveigh against his indolence, — often actually 
 addressing his letters on the outside " To 31. Hei/ne, 
 Idler, at Leipsic." 
 
 In the mean time, while his distress was becoming, 
 every day, more intolerable, he was offered by one of the 
 professors, the situation of a tutor in a family at Magde- 
 burg. Desirable as the appointment would have been, in 
 every other respect, it would have removed him from the 
 scene of his studies, and he declined it. He resolved to 
 remain in the midst of all his miseries at Leipsic. Through 
 the favor of Providence, he was in a few weeks recom- 
 pensed for this sacrifice. The same professor procured 
 for him a situation in the university similar to the one he 
 had refused in Magdeburg. This, of course, relieved, for 
 
16 PROFESSOR HEYNE. 
 
 a time, his pecuniary wants ; but still the ardor with which 
 he pursued his studies continued so great, that at last it 
 brought on a dangerous illness, which obliged him to 
 resign his situation, and very soon completely exhausted 
 his trifling resources, so that on his recovery he found 
 himself as poor and destitute as ever. In this extremity, 
 a copy of Latin verses, which he had written, having 
 attracted the attention of one of the Saxon ministers, he 
 was induced by the advice of his friends, to set out for 
 the court at Dresden, where it was expected that this 
 patronage would make his fortune ; but he was doomed 
 only to new disappointments. After having borrowed 
 money to pay the expenses of his journey, all he obtained 
 from the courtier was a few vague promises, which ended 
 in nothing. He was obliged, eventually, after having sold 
 his books, to accept the place of copyist in the library of 
 the Count de Bruhl, with the miserable annual salary of 
 seventy-five dollars. But he had not been idle at Leipsic. 
 He had listened, with great benefit, to the lectures of 
 Ernesti on the principles of interpretation ; to some 
 valuable archselogical and antiquarian lectures ; and to the 
 eloquent disquisitions of Bach on Roman antiquities and 
 jurisprudence. At Dresden, besides performing the duties 
 of his situation, he found time to do a little work for the 
 booksellers. For a learned and excellent edition of the 
 Latin poet, Tibullus, he received one hundred crowns. 
 In this way he contrived to live, a few years, all the while 
 studying hard, and thinking himself amply compensated 
 for the hardships of his lot, by the opportunities which he 
 enjoyed of pursuing his favorite researches, in a city, so rich 
 in collections of books and antiquities as Dresden. After 
 he had held his situation in the library for above two years, 
 his salary was doubled ; but before he derived any benefit 
 from the augmentation, the seven years' war had com- 
 menced. Saxony was overrun by the forces of Frederick 
 
PROFESSOR HEYNE. 17 
 
 the Great, and Heyne's place, and the library itself to 
 which it was attached, were swept away at the same time. 
 He was obliged to fly from Dresden, and wandered about, 
 for a long time, without employment. At last he was 
 received into a family in Wittenberg ; but in a short time, 
 the progress of the war drove him from this asylum, also, 
 and he returned to Dresden, where he still had a few 
 articles of furniture, which he had purchased with the 
 little money which he had saved while he held his place 
 in the library. He arrived just in time to witness the 
 bombardment of that capital, in the conflagration of which 
 his furniture perished, as well as some property which he 
 had brought with him from Wittenberg, belonging to a 
 lady, one of the family in whose house he had lived. For 
 this lady he had formed an attachment during his resi- 
 dence there. Thus left, both of them without a shilling, 
 the young persons determined to share each others' des- 
 tiny, and they were accordingly united. By the exertions 
 of some common friends, a retreat was procured for Heyne 
 and his wife in the establishment of a M. de Leoben, 
 where he spent some years, during which his time was 
 chiefly occupied in the management of that gentleman's 
 property. 
 
 But Providence was now about to visit him with the 
 smiles of prosperity. In 1703, he returned to Dresden. 
 Some time before this the Professorship of Eloquence in the 
 University of Gottingen had become vacant by the death 
 of John Mathias Gessner. The chair had been offered, 
 in the first instance, to David Ruhnken, one of the first 
 scholars of the age, who declined, however, to leave the 
 University of Leyden, where he had lately succeeded the 
 eminent Hemsterhuis as professor of Greek. But hap- 
 pily, Ruhnken had seen the edition of Tibullus, and 
 another of Epictetus, which Heyne had some time pre- 
 viously published. Ruhnken ventured to suggest to the 
 2* 
 
18 PROFESSOR HEYNE. 
 
 Hanoverian minister the extraordinary merits of Heyne, 
 and he was accordingly nominated to the professorship. 
 He was soon after appointed first librarian and counsellor. 
 To discharge the functions of these posts required the 
 most multiplied labors. He says of himself, with great 
 candor, that, " till he was professor, he never learned the 
 art it was his duty to teach." But he soon made himself 
 at home in his new duties. By his lectures ; by his con- 
 nection with the Royal Society, founded at Gottingen by 
 Haller ; by his indefatigable participation in the Gottingen 
 Literary Gazette ; by the direction of the Philological 
 Seminary, which, under his guidance, was a nursery of 
 genuine philology, and has given to the schools of Germany 
 a great number of good teachers ; by all this, together 
 with his editions and commentaries on classic authors, 
 Heyne has deserved the reputation of being one of the 
 most distinguished teachers and scholars, which the literary 
 world has seen. The centre of his activity was the poetic 
 department of classical literature. His principal work, 
 which employed him for eighteen years, was his unfinished 
 edition of Homer. He brought the library of Gottingen 
 to such excellence, that it is regarded as the first in 
 Europe, because all the departments are methodically 
 filled. Not merely the fame of his great learning, but 
 the weight of his character, and the propriety and delicacy 
 of his deportment, procured him the acquaintance of the 
 most eminent men of his time. George Forster, Huber, 
 and Heeren became his sons-in-law. In dangerous times, 
 the influence which he acquired, and his approved upright- 
 ness and wisdom, were of great service to the university. 
 By his efforts the university and city were spared the 
 necessity of affording quarters to the soldiery, while the 
 French had possession of Hanover, from 1804 to 1805. 
 
 An attack of apoplexy terminated his life, on the 14th 
 of July, 1802. He was in the eighty-third year of 
 his age. 
 
STEPHEN DUCK. 
 
 An uneducated Poet. 
 
 Stephen Duck was born at Great Charlton, a little 
 village in Wiltshire, England, in the beginning of the last 
 century. Plis parents were in the lowest rank of life ; 
 and as it was his hard hap to be complained of by the vil- 
 lage school master for " taking his learning too fast, even 
 faster than it could be bestowed upon him," his poor 
 mother took him from school and set him to the plough, 
 " lest he should become too fine a gentleman for the 
 family that produced him." Being from his fourteenth 
 year wholly engaged in the lowest and hardest employ- 
 ments of a country life, Stephen forgot almost all the 
 arithmetic which he had learnt at school, and this made 
 him uneasy, for he had a certain longing after knowledge. 
 But he had no time to spare, no books, and no money to 
 purchase any. Thus situated he worked extra hours, 
 and so obtained extra payment, which having so earned 
 he might fairly appropriate to the meritorious object of 
 improving himself So he first bought a book of vulgar 
 arithmetic, then one of decimals, and a third upon mensu- 
 ration ; and these he studied in those hours which could 
 be spared from sleep, after the labors of the day. At 
 length, one of his acquaintance, who had been two or 
 three years in service in London, came to reside at Charl- 
 ton, and brought with him a few books, which, being fond 
 
20 STEPHEN DUCK. 
 
 of reading, he had purchased in the great city. With 
 him Stephen became intimate, and they used to read 
 together, and talk over the points which they were thus 
 led to think on. This was the greatest happiness of his 
 life. Their minds were their own, neither improved nor 
 spoiled by laying in a stock of learning. They were, 
 perhaps, equally well inclined to learn; both struggling 
 for a little knowledge ; and like a couple of rowers on the 
 same bottom, while they were only striving, perhaps, 
 which should outdo his companion, they were really each 
 helping the other, and driving the boat on the faster. 
 
 " Perhaps you would be willing to know what books 
 their little library consisted of Milton, the Spectator, and 
 Telemachus, with another piece by the same hand, (the 
 Demonstration of the Being of a God,) and Addison's 
 Defence of Christianity. They had an English Diction- 
 ary, and a sort of English Grammar ; an Ovid, of long 
 standing with them, and a Bysshe's Art of Poetry, of later 
 acquisition ; Seneca's Morals made the name of L'Estrange 
 dear to them ; and, as I imagine, might occasion their 
 getting his Josephus, in folio, which was the largest pur- 
 chase in their collection. They had one volume of 
 Shakespeare, with seven of his plays in it. Besides these, 
 Stephen had read a few other books. Stephen," con- 
 tinues Spence, " has delighted, as far back as I can 
 remember, in verses, and in singing. He speaks of 
 strange emotions that he has felt on the top-performances 
 of the little choir of songsters in a country chancel ; and 
 mentions of his first hearing of an organ as a remarkable 
 epocha in his life." 
 
 Paradise Lost carried with it no doubt a strong recom- 
 mendation in its subject, but it perplexed him, and he 
 read it twice or thrice with a dictionary, studying it as a 
 studious youth goes through a Greek or Latin author. 
 The Spectator, too, which he said improved his under- 
 
STEPHEN DUCK. 21 
 
 Standing more than anything, taught him to appreciate 
 some of the merits of that poem, and Spence says he 
 could point out particular beauties, which required a 
 "good keen eye to discover." He frequently took a 
 volume of the Spectator with him to his work, and labored 
 harder than any one else, like a man engaged to work by 
 the piece, that he might honestly get half an hour, for 
 reading one of the numbers ; but by sitting down at such 
 times incautiously, in the sweat of his brow, he injured 
 his health. He now began to write verses, when a young 
 Oxonian, Stanley by name, sent for him, and was so well 
 satisfied with his conversation, as to desire that he would 
 write to him a letter in verse. This accordingly Stephen 
 did, much to the satisfaction of Stanley. He soon after 
 composed "The Thresher's Labor," which is written with 
 great fidelity, and many passages with considerable power. 
 He began now to be so much talked of, that some knavish 
 bookseller issued, for his own advantage, a collection of 
 his verses, with what Stephen calls a very false account of 
 the author, and a fictitious portrait of him, wherein he is 
 represented with Milton in one hand, and a flail in the 
 other, coming from the barn towards a table, on which 
 pen, ink, and paper are lying ; pigs, poultry, and reapers 
 making up the rural accompaniments. But the Thresh- 
 er's Labor had found its way to the Hon. Mrs. Clayton, a 
 lady, who was about the queen's person ; she showed it to 
 the queen, and Caroline, with characteristic goodness, 
 patronized the humble poet. He was invited to Windsor, 
 by her desire, that he might be introduced to her; she 
 settled thirty pounds a year upon him, made him one of 
 the yeomen of the guards, and soon afterwards gave him 
 the appointment of keeper of her select library, at Rich- 
 mond, where he had apartments assigned to him, and was 
 encouraged to pursue his studies so as to qualify himself 
 for ordination in the Established Church. A volume of 
 
23 STEPHEN DUCK. 
 
 his verses was now published by subscription. Having 
 obtained orders, he was preferred to the living of Byfleet, 
 in Surrey. His character, his inclination, and his abilities 
 were alike suited to that way of life ; and he is said to 
 have been much followed as a preacher, not only while 
 novelty and his reputation were likely to attract congrega- 
 tions, but as long as he lived. 
 
 His end was an unhappy one ; he became insane, threw 
 himself into the water, near Reading, in 1756, and was 
 drowned. 
 
JOHN JONES. 
 
 In 18*27, the poet laureate, Robert Southey, while 
 visiting with his family the springs at Harrowgate, Eng- 
 land, received a letter from an individual, who signed 
 himself John Jones. In this letter he says that he is a 
 poor, humble, uneducated domestic, who having strung 
 together a few pieces in verse, would be happy in the pos- 
 session of the poet's opinion of them. The following lines 
 were sent as a specimen. 
 
 THE RED-BREAST. 
 
 Sweet social bird with breast of red, 
 How prone 's my heart to favor thee ! 
 
 Thy look oblique, thy prying head, 
 Thy gentle affability. 
 
 Thy cheerful song in winter's cold, 
 
 And, when no other lay is heard, 
 Thy visits paid to young and old, 
 
 Where fear appals each other bird. 
 
 Thy friendly heart, thy nature mild, 
 
 Thy meekness and docility, 
 Creep to the love of man and child, 
 
 And win thine own felicity. 
 
24 JOHN JONES. 
 
 The gleanings of the sumptuous board, 
 Conveyed by some indulgent fair, 
 
 Are in a nook of safety stored. 
 
 And not dispensed till thou art there. 
 
 In stately hall, and rustic dome. 
 The gaily robed and homely poor. 
 
 Will watch the hour when thou shalt come. 
 And bid thee welcome to the door. 
 
 The herdsman on the upland hill. 
 The ploughman in the hamlet near, 
 
 Are prone thy little paunch to fill, 
 And pleased thy little psalm to hear. 
 
 The woodman seated on a log, 
 
 His meal divides atween the three. 
 
 And now himself and now his dog. 
 And now he casts a crumb to thee. 
 
 For thee a feast the school-boy strews. 
 At noontide, when the form's forsook ; 
 
 A worm to thee the delver throws, 
 And angler, when he baits his hook. 
 
 At tents, where tawny gipsies dwell, 
 In woods where hunters chase the hind. 
 
 And at the hermit's lonely cell. 
 
 Dost thou some crumbs of comfort find. 
 
 Nor are thy little wants forgot. 
 In beggar's hut or Crispin's stall ; 
 
 The miser only feeds thee not, 
 Who suffers ne'er a crumb to fall. 
 
 The youth, who strays with dark design, 
 To make each well-stored nest a prey, 
 
 If dusky hues denote them thine. 
 Will draw his pilfering hand away. 
 
JOHN JONES. 25 
 
 The finch a spangled robe may wear, 
 
 The nightingale delightful sing, 
 The lark ascend most high in air, 
 
 The swallow fly most swift on wing. 
 
 The peacock's plumes in pride may swell, 
 
 The parrot prate eternally, 
 But yet no bird man loves so well, 
 
 As thou with thy simplicity. 
 
 Southey read this poem to his party. They were 
 pleased with the natural images and the natural feelings, 
 which they exhibit, and a favorable answer was returned. 
 The manuscripts of the poet were soon sent to Mr. 
 Southey, from which he has published selections. 
 
 John Jones was born in 1774, in Newland, Gloucester- 
 shire. His father was a gardener. His mother kept a 
 small shop in the village. John learnt his letters of an old 
 woman. The only person in the village who taught 
 writing at that time, was an old man, by trade a stone 
 cutter, and he only on winter evenings, after his return 
 from his daily labor. " To him," says John, '' I went the 
 best part of two winters, and that was the finishing of my 
 education. At the age of ten I was engaged to drive 
 plough at the 'squire's and at different places, and con- 
 tinued that kind of employment for four years ; and up to 
 this period, I do not recollect to have read in any book 
 but the Psalter and Testament, and sometimes a chapter 
 in the Bible, by reading verses alternately with other boys. 
 I was very fond of reading stories, and was often affected 
 to tears by them. In a family in which I was a servant, 
 for some years, I had to lay the cloth for dinner, and to 
 place everything in readiness by the time my master came 
 home ; this I used to do an hour or two before the neces- 
 sary time, for there was a book-case in the dining-room, 
 which was left open, and by this means I was enabled to 
 3 
 
26 JOHN JONES. 
 
 spend many a delightful hour at it. When I could not 
 be in the dining-room, I read in the Bible below stairs, 
 and, I believe, went regularly through it ; but the history 
 of Joseph, Ruth, and some other parts, pleasing me most, 
 I read those passages many times over. I have seldom 
 sat down to study anything, for in many instances when 
 I have done so, a ring at the bell, or a knock at the door, 
 or something or other, would disturb me, and not wishing 
 to be seen, I used frequently either to crumple my paper 
 up in my pocket, or take the trouble to lock it up, and be- 
 fore I could arrange it again, I was often again disturbed ; 
 from this I got into the habit of trusting entirely to my 
 memory, and most of my little pieces have been completed 
 and borne in mind for weeks before I have committed 
 them to paper ; from this I am led to believe that there 
 are but few situations in life in which attempts of the kind 
 may not be made under less discouraging circumstances. 
 It affords me some little gratification to think that in the 
 few families I have served, I have lived respected, for in 
 none do I remember of ever having been accused of an 
 immoral action, nor, with all my propensity to rhyme, 
 have I been charged with a neglect of duty." 
 
WILLIAM WHIPPLE. 
 
 The father of Whipple was a native of Ipswich, Massa- 
 chusetts, and was bred a maltster. He was also, for some 
 time, engaged in sea-faring pursuits. He married Mary, 
 the eldest daughter of Robert Cutt. She was a lady of 
 excellent sense, and of many pleasing accomplishments. 
 William Whipple was born in Kittery, Maine, in the 
 year 1730. He received his education in one of the public 
 schools in that town, where he was taught reading, writing, 
 arithmetic, and navigation. When this deficient course 
 of education was completed, he left school, and immedi- 
 ately embarked on board of a merchant vessel, for the 
 purpose of commencing his destined profession as a sailor. 
 Before he was twenty-one years of age, he obtained the com- 
 mand of a vessel, and performed a number of voyages 
 to Europe, and the West Indies. He was afterwards en- 
 gaged in the infamous slave traffic. This circumstance in 
 his life admits of no justification. The fact that good men 
 formerly participated in it, only proves how much avarice 
 hardens the human heart, and sears the natural conscience. 
 In 1759, Mr. Whipple abandoned the sea, and engaged 
 in mercantile business for some time, with his brother 
 Joseph. He married his cousin, Catharine Moffat, daugh- 
 ter of John Moffat, Esq. a merchant of Portsmouth. At 
 an early period of the revolutionary contest, Mr. Whipple 
 
28 WILLIAM WtllPPLE. 
 
 took a decided part in favor of the colonies, and in oppo- 
 sition to the claims of the parent country. So much con- 
 fidence was placed in his integrity and firmness, that his 
 fellow citizens frequently placed him in highly important 
 offices. In January, 1775, he was chosen one of the 
 representatives of Portsmouth, to the provincial congress, 
 which met at Exeter. By that body he was elected one 
 of the provincial committee of safety. In 1776, he was 
 chosen a delegate to the General Congress, which met at 
 Philadelphia. He continued to be re-elected for the three 
 following years. This appointment gave Mr. Whipple the 
 opportunity to record his name among the memorable list 
 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The 
 cabin boy, who, thirty years before had looked forward to 
 the command of a vessel, as the consummation of his 
 hopes, now stood among a band of patriots, more illustrious 
 than any which the world had yet seen. He was consid- 
 ered a very useful and active member. In the business of 
 committees he displayed a most commendable degree of 
 perseverance, ability, and application. In 1777, when 
 Burgoyne was rapidly advancing from Canada, the assem- 
 bly of New Hampshire was convened, and more decisive 
 measures were adopted to defend the country. Two 
 brigades were formed ; the command of one of which was 
 given to Gen. Stark, and of the other to Whipple. Whip- 
 ple was present with his brigade at the battles of Stillwater 
 and Saratoga. He was one of the commissioners appoint- 
 ed by Gates to treat with Burgoyne, and was afterwards 
 selected to conduct the British troops to Boston. 
 
 He was accompanied on this expedition by a negro ser- 
 vant named Prince, whom he had imported from Africa. 
 On his way to the army, he told his servant that if they 
 should be called into action, he expected that he would be- 
 have like a man of courage. Prince replied, " Sir, I have 
 no inducement to fight ; but if I had ray liberty I would 
 
WILLIAM WHIPPLE. 29 
 
 endeavor to defend it to the last drop of my blood." The 
 general emancipated him upon the spot. In 1778, he 
 accompanied Gen. Sullivan in his expedition to Rhode 
 Island. For more than two years he was receiver of 
 finance, a most arduous and responsible office under 
 Robert Morris. About this period, Gen. Whipple began 
 to be afflicted with severe strictures in the breast, which 
 compelled him to decline any further military command. 
 In 1782, he was appointed one of the judges of the supe- 
 rior court of New Hampshire, in which office he continued 
 till his death. In November, 1785, he expired, in conse- 
 quence of an ossification of the heart. He was in the 
 fifty-fifth year of his age. 
 
 On the whole, he seems to have been a very useful 
 man in a period abounding in distinguished talent. 
 The variety of offices which he filled with propriety and 
 ability, is not a little remarkable. Master of a vessel — 
 merchant — leader of militia-men — an interpreter of the 
 old confederation and of the laws of his native State, and 
 a committee-man in congress. He had but little education 
 in the schools. He taught 7ii?nsclf. His powers of 
 observation on men and things, were turned to the best 
 account. In his manners, Gen. Whipple was courteous 
 and affable, and he appears to have possessed an estimable 
 character for integrity, and general morality. 
 
ELI WHITNEY 
 
 Mr. Whitney is well known as the inventor of the 
 machine for cleansing upland cotton from its seeds — a 
 machine, which has accomplished a great revolution in the 
 agriculture and commerce of the United States. Before 
 the invention of this machine, the seeds of the upland cot- 
 ton were picked out with the hand ; and to cleanse a pound 
 was esteemed a laborious day's work. Upland cotton was 
 not, therefore, cultivated for exportation. This machine 
 enables one person to cleanse one thousand pounds, in a 
 day, with great ease. The consequence has been that 
 the cultivation of cotton has been introduced into all the 
 southern States. In 1790, the quantity exported from 
 the United States was only 100,000 pounds. In 1829, 
 the value of the exports in cotton was $22,487,229. 
 Cotton is now the staple production of the United States. 
 If we should look at these facts in their bearing on the 
 value of lands and slaves in the southern States, upon our 
 rank as a maritime nation, upon the amount of the national 
 revenue, and upon the various interests connected with 
 them, perhaps it would appear that no invention ever pro- 
 duced such an astonishing change. A judge of the 
 supreme court of the United States declared on the bench, 
 that the benefit derived from Mr. Whitney's invention is 
 to be estimated only by hundreds of millions of dollars. 
 
ELI WHITNEY. 31 
 
 When we look at the fact that the culture of the cotton 
 plant will occupy vast regions, on this, and on other conti- 
 nents, where it has not yet been introduced , it will appear that 
 Mr. Whitney was a distinguished benefactor of mankind, 
 and that his name will be honorably associated with those 
 of Watt, Arkwright, Fulton, and Davy. 
 
 He was distinguished on all occasions for his inventive 
 genius. He established a manufactory of fire-arms, near 
 the boundary of New Haven, Connecticut, when he himself 
 had no experience in the business, and when all the work- 
 men employed in the art were wholly unacquainted with 
 it ; none of them ever having wrought at any branch of 
 the business. Under these circumstances, says Dr. 
 Dwight, he was necessitated to adopt methods of his own ; 
 and, as skilful artists were not to be obtained, to devise a 
 system, in which the more faithful and correct operations 
 of machinery should supply the want of experience in the 
 workmen. Hence modes of working iron, steel, and other 
 metals, have been introduced, which are new and peculiar, 
 and which have been found to be practically and eminently 
 useful. Although his manufactory was a private concern, 
 he enjoyed for twenty-six years, the uniform patronage of 
 the national government, as well as several of the indivi- 
 dual States. Everything was planned and executed upon 
 the strictest principles of mathematical and mechanical 
 science. 
 
 Though Mr. Whitney had a public education in Yale 
 College, yet his eminent usefulness is to be mainly 
 attributed to his own unwearied industry and unconquer- 
 able energy. 
 
 Most happily also, in all the relations of life he was an 
 eminent pattern for imitation. In the community to which 
 he belonged, he scarcely left behind him an individual 
 more admired and beloved. He was ever active in pro- 
 moting learning and the arts, and in forwarding every ob- 
 
32 ELI WHITNEY. 
 
 ject which Avas calculated to benefit or adorn society. In 
 the full maturity of his powers, Mr. Whitney was cut olF 
 on the 8th of January, 1825, at New Haven, Ct. aged 
 60. He endured the disorders of the dreadful disease, 
 which terminated his life, with astonishing fortitude and 
 equanimity. He gave himself to his Maker, with unre- 
 served confidence, committing to his care those who were 
 dear to him as his own life, trusting for pardon and 
 acceptance in the merits and sacrifice of the Great Re- 
 deemer. 
 
AL.EXANDER MURRAY. 
 
 Alexander Murray, was born in the parish of Min- 
 nigaff, in the shire of Kircudbright, Scotland, on the 
 twenty-second of October, 1775. His father was, at tliis 
 time, nearly seventy years of age, and had been a shepherd 
 all his life, as his own father, and probably his ancestors, 
 for many generations had been. Alexander's mother, 
 was also the daughter of a shepherd, and was the old 
 man's second wife ; several sons, whom he had by a 
 former marriage, being all brought up to the same primi- 
 tive occupation. His father died in 1797, at the age of 
 ninety-one. He seems to have been possessed of con- 
 siderable natural sagacity, and of some learning. 
 
 Alexander received his first lessons in reading, from his 
 father. " The old man," he tells us, " bought him a 
 catechism, (which, in Scotland, is generally printed with 
 a copy of the alphabet in large type prefixed ;) but as it 
 was too good a book, for me to handle, at all times, it was 
 generally locked up, and my father, throughout the winter, 
 drew the figures of the letters to me, in his icrittcn hand, 
 on the board of an old icool card, with the black end of 
 an extinguished heather stem or root snatched from the 
 fire. I soon learned all the alphabet in this form, and 
 became writer as well as reader. I wrought with the 
 board and brand continually. Then the catechism was pre- 
 
34 ALEXANDER MURRAY. ' 
 
 sented, and in a month or two, I could read the easier parts 
 of it. I daily amused myself with copying, as above, the 
 printed letters. In May, 1782, my father gave me a small 
 psalm book, for which I totally abandoned the catechism. 
 I soon got many psalms by memory, and longed for a new 
 book. Here difficulties rose. The Bible, used every night 
 in the family, I was not permitted to touch. The rest of 
 the books were put up in chests. I at length got a New 
 Testament, and read the historical parts with great 
 curiosity and ardor. But I longed to read the Bible, 
 Vv'hich seemed to me a much more pleasant book ; and I 
 actually went to a place where I knew an old loose- 
 leaved Bible lay, and carried it away in piece-meal. I 
 perfectly remember the strange pleasure I felt in reading 
 the histories of Abraham and David. I liked mournful 
 narratives ; and greatly admired Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and 
 the Lamentations. I pored on these pieces of the Bible 
 in secret for many months, but I durst not show them 
 openly : and as I read constantly and remembered well, I 
 soon astonished all our honest neighbors with the large 
 passages of Scripture, which I repeated before them. I 
 have forgot too much of my biblical knowledge, but I can 
 still rehearse all the names of the patriarchs from Adam 
 to Christ, and various other narratives seldom committed 
 to memory." 
 
 His father's whole property consisted only of two or 
 three scores of sheep, and four muirland cows. '' He had 
 no debts and no money." As all his other sons were 
 shepherds, it was with him a matter of course that Alex- 
 ander should be brought up the same way ; and accordingly 
 as soon as he had strength for anything, that is, when he 
 was about seven or eight years of age, he was sent to the 
 hills with the sheep. He however gave no promise of 
 being a good shepherd, and he was often blamed by his 
 father as lazy and useless. He was not stout, and he was 
 
ALEXANDER MURRAY. 35 
 
 near-sighted, which his father did not know. " Besides," 
 says he, *' I was sedentary, indolent, and given to books 
 and writing on boards with coals." But his father was 
 too poor to send him to school, his attendance upon which, 
 indeed, was scarcely practicable, unless he boarded in 
 the village, from which their cottage was five or six miles 
 distant. About this time a brother of his mother's, who 
 had made a little money, came to pay them a visit ; and 
 hearing such accounts of the genius of his nephew, whose 
 fame was now the discourse of the whole glen, offered to 
 be at the expense of boarding him for a short time in New 
 Galloway, and keeping him at school there. As he tells 
 us himself, he made at first, a somewhat awkward figure 
 on this new scene. " My pronunciation was laughed at, 
 and my whole speech was a subject of fun. But I soon 
 gained impudence ; and before vacation in August, I 
 often stood dux of the Bible class. I was in the mean 
 time taught to write copies, and use paper and ink. But 
 I both wrote and printed, that is, imitated printed letters, 
 when out of school." 
 
 His attendance at school, however, had scarcely lasted 
 for three months, when he fell into bad health, and was 
 obliged to return home. For nearly five years after this, 
 he was left again to be his own instructer, with no assist- 
 ance whatever from any one. He soon recovered his 
 health, but during the long period we have mentioned, 
 he looked in vain for the means of again pursuing his 
 studies under the advantages which he had for a short 
 time enjoyed. As soon as he became sufficiently well, he 
 was put to his old employment of assisting the rest of the 
 family as a shepherd-boy. '^ I was still," says he, " at- 
 tached to reading, printing of words, and getting by heart, 
 ballads, of which I procured several. 
 
 About this time and for years after, I spent every six- 
 pence, that friends or strangers gave me, on ballads and 
 
36 ALEXANDER MURRAY. 
 
 penny histories. I carried bundles of these in my pockets, 
 and read them when sent to look for cattle on the banks 
 of Loche Greanoch, and on the wild hills in its neighbor- 
 hood." And thus passed away about three years of his life. 
 All this time the Bible and these ballads seem to have 
 formed almost his only reading ; yet even with this scanty 
 library he contrived to acquire, among the simple inhabi- 
 tants of the glen, a reputation for unrivalled erudition. 
 *' My fame for reading and a memory, was loud, and seve- 
 ral said that I was a ' living miracle.' I puzzled the 
 honest elders of the church with recitals of Scripture, and 
 discourses about Jerusalem, &c." Towards the close of 
 the year 1787, he borrowed from a friend L'Estrange's 
 translation of Josephus, and Salmon's Geographical Gram- 
 mar. This last work had no little share in directing the 
 studies of his future life. '' I got immense benefit from 
 Salmon's book. It gave me an idea of geography and 
 universal history, and I actually recollect at this time 
 almost everything which it contains." 
 
 A grammar of geography was almost the first thing 
 which James Ferguson studied ; although the minds of 
 the two students, differing as they did in original charac- 
 ter, were attracted by different parts of their common 
 manual ; the one pondering its description of the artificial 
 sphere, the other musing over its accounts of foreign 
 lands, and of the history and languages of nations inhab- 
 iting them. Murray, however, learned also to copy the 
 maps which he found in the book ; and, indeed, carried 
 the study of practical geography so far, as to make similar 
 delineations of his native glen, and its neighborhood. 
 
 He was now twelve years of age ; and as there seemed 
 to be no likelihood that he would ever be able to gain his 
 bread as a shepherd, his parents were probably anxious 
 that he should attempt something in another way to help 
 to maintain himself. 
 
ALEXANDER MURRAY. 37 
 
 Accordingly, in the latter part of the year 1787, he 
 engaged as teacher in the families of two of the neighbor- 
 ing farmers ; for his services in which capacity, through- 
 out the winter, he was remunerated with the sum of six- 
 teen shillings ! He had probably, however, his board free 
 in addition to his salary, of which he immediately laid out 
 a part in the purchase of books. One of these was Cock- 
 er's arithmetic, " the plainest," says he, " of all books, 
 from which, in two or three months, I learned the four 
 principal rules of arithmetic, and even advanced to the 
 Rule of Three, with no additional assistance, except the 
 use of an old copy-book of examples made by some boy at 
 school, and a few verbal directions from my brother Rob- 
 ert, the only one of all my father's sons, by his first mar- 
 riage, that remained with us." He borrowed, about the 
 same time, some old magazine from a country acquain- 
 tance. " My memory now," says he, " contained a very 
 large mass of historical facts and ballad poetry, which I 
 repeated with pleasure to myself, and the astonished ap- 
 probation of the peasants around me." 
 
 At last, his father having been employed to herd on 
 another farm, which brought them nearer the village, 
 Alexander was once more permitted to go to school at 
 Minnigaff, for three days in the week. " I made the 
 most," says he, " of these days ; I came about an hour 
 before the school met ; I pored on my arithmetic in which 
 I am still a proficient ; and I regularly opened and read 
 all the English books, such as the * Spectator,' ' World,' 
 &/C. brought by the children to school. I seldom joined 
 in any play at the usual hours, but read constantly." 
 This second period of his attendance at school, however, 
 did not last so long as the former. It terminated at the 
 autumn vacation, that is to say, in about six weeks. In 
 1790, he again attended school, during summer, for about 
 three months and a half. It seems to have been about 
 4 
 
3S ALEXANDER MURRAY. 
 
 this time that his taste for learning foreign languages first 
 began to develope itself, having been excited by the study 
 of Salmon's Geography. " I had," he writes, " in 1787, 
 and 1788, often admired and mused on the specimens 
 of the Lord's Prayer, in every language, found in Salmon's 
 Grammar. I had read in the magazines and Spectator, 
 that Homer, Virgil, Milton, Shakespeare and Newton, were 
 the greatest of mankind. I had been early informed, by 
 some elders, and good religious people, that Hebrew was 
 the first language. In 1789, at Drigmore, an old woman, 
 who lived near, showed me her Psalm-book, which was 
 printed with a large type, had notes on each page, and, 
 likewise, what I discovered to be the Hebrew alphabet, 
 marked, letter after letter, in the ] 19th Psalm. I took 
 a copy of these letters, by printing them off in my old way, 
 and kept them." Meantime, as he still entertained the 
 notion of going out as a clerk to the West Indies, he took 
 advantage of a few leisure weeks to begin the study of 
 the French language. He used to remain in school, dur- 
 ing the middle of the day, while his companions were at 
 play, and compare together the dijEferent grammars used 
 in the class. 
 
 ** About the 15th of June," says he, *' Kerr, one of my 
 class fellows, told me that he had once learned Latin for 
 a fortnight, but had not liked it, and still had the Rudi- 
 ments beside him. I said, Do lend me them. I wish to 
 see what the nouns and verbs are like, and whether they 
 resemble our French. He gave me the book. I exam- 
 ined it for four or five days, and found that the nouns had 
 changes on the last syllables, and looked very singular. 
 I used to repeat a lesson from the French Rudiments every 
 forenoon in school. On the morning of the midsummer 
 fair of Newton Stewart, I set out for school, and acciden- 
 tally put into my pocket the Latin Grammar instead of the 
 French Rudiments. On an ordinary day, Mr. Cramond 
 
ALEXANDER MURRAY. 39 
 
 would have chid me for this ; but on that festive morning 
 he was melloio^ and in excellent spirits — a state not good 
 for a teacher, but always desired in him by me, for then 
 he was very communicative. With great glee, he replied, 
 when I told him my mistake and showed him the 
 Rudiments, ' 'Gad, Sandy, I shall try thee with Latin ;' 
 and accordingly read over to me no less than two of the 
 declensions. It was his custom with me to permit me to 
 get as long lessons as I pleased, and never to fetter me 
 by joining me to a class. There was, at that time, in the 
 school, a class of four boys, advanced as far as the pro- 
 nouns in Latin Grammar. They ridiculed my separated 
 condition. But before the vacation in August, I had 
 reached the end of the Rudiments, knew a good deal 
 more than they, by reading at home the notes on the foot 
 of each page, and was so greatly improved in French, 
 that I could read almost any French book at opening of 
 it. I compared French and Latin, and riveted the words 
 of both in my memory by this practice. When proceeding 
 with the Latin verbs, I often sat in the school all mid-day, 
 and pored on the page of Robert Cooper's (another of his 
 schoolfellows) Greek Grammar — the only one I had ever 
 seen. He was then reading Livy, and learning Greek. 
 By help of his book I mastered the letters, but I saw the 
 sense of the Latin rules, in a very indistinct manner. 
 Some boy lent me an old Corderius, and a friend made 
 me a present of Eutropius. There was a copy of Eutro- 
 pius in the school, which had a literal translation. I 
 studied this last with great attention, and compared the 
 English and Latin. When my lesson was prepared, I 
 always made an excursion into the rest of every book ; 
 and my books were not like those of other schoolboys, 
 opened only in one place, and where the lesson lay." 
 
 All this was the work of about two months and a half 
 before the vacation and a fortnight after it. During the 
 
40 ALEXANDER MURRAY. 
 
 winter he employed every spare moment in pondering upon 
 some Latin books. "I literally read," says he, " Ains- 
 worth's Dictionary throughout. My method was to re- 
 volve the leaves of the letter A, to notice all the principal 
 words and their Greek synonymes, not omitting a glance 
 at the Hebrew ; to do the same by B, and so on through 
 the book. I then returned from X and Z, to A ; and in 
 these winter months I amassed a large stock of Latin and 
 Greek vocables. From this exercise I took to Eutropius, 
 Ovid, and Caesar, or at times, to Ruddiman's Grammar. 
 Here I got another book, which from that time has influ- 
 enced and inflamed my imagination. This was Paradise 
 Lost, of which I had heard, and which I was eager to see. 
 I cannot describe the ardor, or various feelings, with 
 which I read, studied, and admired this Jirst-rate work. 
 I found it as difficult to understand as Latin, and soon 
 saw that it required to be parsed^ like that language. I 
 account my first acquaintance with Paradise Lost an era 
 in my reading." The next summer was spent still more 
 laboriously than the preceding. He again attended 
 school, where he found a class reading Ovid, Caesar, and 
 Virgil. " I laughed," says he, " at the difficulty with 
 which they prepared their lessons ; and often obliged 
 them by reading them over to assist the work of prepa- 
 ration." He employed his time at home in almost inces- 
 sant study. "My practice was," he remarks, " to lay 
 down a new and difficult book after it had wearied me ; 
 to take up another, then a third, and to resume this rota- 
 tion frequently and laboriously. I always strove to seize 
 the sense ; but when I supposed that 1 had succeeded, I 
 did not weary myself with analyzing every sentence." 
 Having introduced himself to Mr. Maitland, the clergyman 
 of the parish, by writing letters to him in Latin and Greek, 
 he obtained from that gentleman a number of classical 
 books, which he read with great diligence. He was soon 
 
ALEXANDER MURRAY. 41 
 
 SO privileged as to obtain a copy of a Hebrew Grammar, 
 and of the Hebrew Bible. " I made good use," says he, 
 "of this loan ; I read the Bible throughout, and many 
 passages and books of it a number of times." It would 
 appear, that he had actually made himself familiar, and 
 that chiefly by his own unassisted exertions, with the 
 French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, and perused 
 several of the principal authors in all of them, \vithin about 
 a year and a half from the time when they were all en- 
 tirely unknown to him ; for it was at the end of May, 1790, 
 that he commenced, as we have seen, the study of French ; 
 and all this work had been done by the end of November, 
 in the year following. There is not, perhaps, on record, 
 a more extraordinary instance of youthful ardor and per- 
 severance. It may serve to show what is possible to be 
 accomplished. 
 
 He was again engaged in teaching during the winter, 
 and received, as he states, for his labors, about thirty-five 
 or forty shillings. Every spare hour was devoted to the 
 study of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and French. In the sum- 
 mer of 1792, he returned to school, for the last time. The 
 different periods of his school attendance, added together, 
 make about thirteen months, scattered over the space of 
 nearly eight years. Having obtained a copy of Bailey's 
 Dictionary, he found in it the Anglo-Saxon alphabet, and 
 many words in the same dialect. This was his introduc- 
 tion to the study of the northern languages. He also 
 made himself acquainted with many Welsh phrases, from 
 a small religious treatise in the language, without any dic- 
 tionary or grammar. This was done by minute observa- 
 tion and comparison of words, terminations, and phrases. 
 He also made himself acquainted with the Arabic, and 
 Abyssinian alphabets. He was also guilty of writing 
 several thousand lines of an epic poem, *' which was 
 not without obligations to Ossian, Milton, and Homer." 
 4* ' 
 
42 ALEXANDER MURRAY, 
 
 Before he completed the seventh book, he threw the un- 
 finished epic into the fire. 
 
 Murray was now in his nineteenth year. His most in- 
 timate school companion had gone to the university, for 
 which, no doubt, Murray felt that he was far better quali- 
 fied, if his utter want of resources had not opposed an in- 
 surmountable barrier. He had happened to purchase a 
 volume of the manuscript lectures of a German professor, 
 on Roman literature, written in Latin. Having trans- 
 lated these lectures, he carried his translation to Dumfries, 
 but neither of the two booksellers would print them. He 
 then concluded to print some poems by subscription. 
 From this design he was fortunately induced to depart, by 
 the advice of the celebrated Robert Burns. " Burns," 
 says he, " treated me with great kindness, and told me if 
 I could get out to college without publishing my poems, 
 it would be much better, as my taste was young, and not 
 formed, and I should be ashamed of my productions, when 
 I could write and judge better." 
 
 It so happened, that there was, in the neighborhood, an 
 itinerant tea-merchant, by the name of M'Harg, who knew 
 Murray well, and had formed so high an idea of his genius 
 and learning, that he was in the habit of sounding his 
 fame wherever he went. Among others to whom he spoke 
 of him, was Mr. James Kinnear, of Edinburgh, then a 
 journeyman printer in the king's printing office. Mr. 
 Kinnear, with a zeal which does him great credit, imme- 
 diately suggested that Murray should transmit an account 
 of himself, and some evidences of his attainments, to Edin- 
 burgh, which he undertook to lay before some of the 
 literary men of that city. This plan was adopted ; Murray 
 was examined by the Principal, and several of the Profes- 
 sors. He so surprised them by the extent and accuracy of 
 his acquaintance with the languages, that measures for his 
 admission to the university, and his maintenance, were 
 
ALEXANDER MURRAY. 43 
 
 immediately taken. These arrangements were principally 
 effected by the exertions of Principal Baird. His ardent 
 and most efficient patronage of one, thus recommended to 
 him only by his deserts, and his need of patronage, entitles 
 him to the lasting gratitude of all the friends of learning. 
 Murray was, indeed, soon able to support himself All 
 his difficulties may be said to have been over as soon as 
 he found his way to the university. 
 
 For the next ten or twelve years of his life, he resided 
 principally at Edinburgh. No man, that ever lived, proba- 
 bly, not excepting Sir William Jones himself, has 'prose- 
 cuted the study of languages to such an extent as Murray. 
 By the end of his short life, scarcely one of the oriental 
 or northern tongues remained uninvestigated by him, so 
 far as any sources for acquiring a knowledge of them were 
 accessible. Of the six or seven dialects of the Abyssinian 
 or Ethiopic language, in particular, he made himself much 
 more completely master, than any European had been 
 before. This led to his being selected by the booksellers, 
 in 1802, to prepare an edition of Bruce's Travels, which 
 appeared in 1S05, in seven volumes octavo, and at once 
 placed him in the first rank of the oriental scholars of the 
 age. In 1806, he left Edinburgh, in order to officiate as 
 clergyman in the parish of Urr, in Dumfrieshire. All his 
 leisure moments were devoted to the composition of his 
 stupendous work on the languages of Europe. 
 
 In 1812, the professorship of oriental languages in the 
 university of Edinburgh, became vacant. Mr. Murray's 
 friends immediately seized the opportunity of endeavoring 
 to obtain for him the situation, of all others, which he 
 seemed destined to fill. The contest was eventually car- 
 ried on between Murray and a single opponent. The 
 result was very doubtful, as the election depended on the 
 town council, a corporate body of thirty-three individuals. 
 Extraordinary exertions were made by the friends of both 
 
44 ALEXANDER MURRAY. 
 
 candidates. Mr. Salt, the distinguished ofientalist, stated 
 that Mr. Murray was the only man in the British Domin- 
 ions, in his opinion, capable of translating an Ethiopic 
 letter, which he had brought into the country. Among 
 those who exerted themselves in his behalf, were Dr. James 
 Gregory, Professors Leslie, Playfair, Dugald Stewart, Mr. 
 Jeffrey, Sir Walter Scott, &c. Well was Mr. Murray 
 entitled to say, before he learnt the result of the election, 
 *' If the efforts of my friends have been exerted for an un- 
 successful candidate, they will not be forgotten, for we 
 have perished in light." He was elected by a majority of 
 two votes. On the 31st of October, Mr. Murray entered 
 on the discharge of his duties, though alas, near the grave. 
 His excessive labors had prostrated his strength. On the 
 13th of April he retired to the bed from which he never 
 rose ; before the close of another day, he was among the 
 dead. He was in the thirty-eighth year of his age. 
 
 His History of European Languages, though left by him 
 in a very imperfect state, is still a splendid monument of 
 his ingenuity and erudition. 
 
STEPHEN HOPKINS, 
 
 Stephen Hopkins was born in that part of the then 
 town of Providence, R. I., which now forms the town of 
 Scituate, on the seventh of March, 1707. His great- 
 grandfather, Thomas Hopkins, was one of the primitive 
 settlers of Providence. With the first dawnings of active 
 hfe, Stephen Hopkins was esteemed for his worth, and his 
 regular and useful habits. As an evidence of the propriety 
 of his conduct when only nineteen years of age, his father 
 gave him a deed of gift for seventy acres of land, and his 
 grandfather bestowed on his •' loving grandson," an addi- 
 tional tract of ninety acres. He received nothing more 
 than a plain country education, by which he acquired an 
 excellent knowledge of penmanship, and became conversant 
 in the practical branches of the mathematics, particularly 
 surveying. Being the son of a farmer, he continued the 
 occupation of his father, after the death of the latter, and, 
 in 1731, increased his estate in Scituate, by the purchase 
 of adjoining lands. He continued this mode of life until 
 his removal to Providence, in 1748, when he sold his 
 farm, and built a mansion in that town, in which he con- 
 tinued to reside until his death. 
 
 In March, 1731-2, Mr. Hopkins made his first appear- 
 ance in the public service in the humble station of town- 
 clerk of Scituate, from which he rose through almost every 
 
46 STEPHEN HOPKINS. 
 
 gradation of office to the highest dignity of the State. In 
 May, 1739, he was appointed chief justice of the court of 
 common pleas. He was extensively employed, till an 
 advanced age, in the business of surveying lands. The 
 nicety of his calculations is attested by the following cir- 
 cumstances. In taking the survey of a tract of land, he 
 passed over a plain thickly set with shrubbery. Soon after, 
 he found that his watch, which cost twenty-five guineas 
 in London, was missing. Supposing that the chain had 
 become entangled in the bushes, and the watch thereby 
 pulled from his pocket, he set the course back, and found 
 it hanging on a bush. 
 
 In May, 1751, he was appointed, for the fourteenth 
 time, a representative in the assembly. In May, 1756, 
 he was chosen Governor of the State, and continued to 
 occupy this station, at intervals, for seven years. 
 
 In 1767, when the politics of the colony were carried 
 to a great excess, Mr. Hopkins magnanimously retired 
 from his office, and a third person was elected. By this 
 measure harmony was, in a great degree, restored. 
 
 When the difficulties between the colonies and Great 
 Britain began to grow alarming. Gov. Hopkins took an 
 active, early, and determined part in favor of the colonies. 
 In August, 1774, in connection with the Hon. Samuel 
 Ward, he was appointed to represent Rhode Island, in 
 the general congress. 
 
 In the same year, Mr. Hopkins was a member of the 
 assembly of the State. Principally by his influence and 
 exertions, an act was passed, prohibiting the importation 
 of negroes into the colony. In the year before, he eman- 
 cipated a number of people of color, whom he had held 
 as slaves. 
 
 In May, 1776, Mr. Hopkins was, for the third time, 
 elected to congress. His name is attached to the Decla- 
 ration of Independence. Plis signature indicates, on the 
 
STEPHEN HOPKINS. 47 
 
 parchment, a very tremulous hand, and is in perfect con- 
 trast to that of the President, John Hancock ; this was 
 caused by a nervous affection, with which he had been 
 for many years afflicted, and which compelled him, when 
 he wrote at all, to guide his right hand with his left. He 
 discharged his public duties with great ability and faithful- 
 ness. Mr. Hopkins was one of those strong-minded men, 
 who, by indefatigable personal effort, overcome the defi- 
 ciencies of early education. A common country school, 
 at that period, afforded little more than a knowledge of 
 reading and writing. Upon this foundation, Mr. Hopkins 
 established a character for literature. It is stated that he 
 perused the whole of the great collection of ancient and 
 modern history, compiled about a half century since, by 
 some distinguished scholars in Europe, and that he also 
 read Thurtow's collection of State Papers. As an instance 
 of the retentiveness of his memory, it is mentioned that 
 Mr. Hopkins, on one occasion, sat down and made out his 
 account, as the owner of a vessel, without any reference 
 whatever to his books, though many small items were 
 necessarily included. He was esteemed as an excellent 
 mathematician. He was one of the principal observers, 
 on the celebrated transit of Venus, over the Sun's disc, in 
 June, 1769. He was a member of the American Philo- 
 sophical Society, and, for many years, chancellor of the 
 College of Rhode Island. 
 
 In his personal and domestic character, he was an em-' 
 inent pattern of kindness and affability. A visit, which 
 Gen. Washington made, unattended, to Gov. Hopkins, is 
 stated, by a living witness, to have strongly exhibited the 
 simple, easy, and artless manners of those illustrious men. 
 Mr. Hopkins died calmly, on the 13th of July, 1785, in 
 the 79th year of his age. 
 
PROFESSOR L.EE, 
 
 Of the attainments and character of this extraordinary 
 man, we can furnish but a very imperfect outline. Even 
 the year of his birth we have not been able to ascertain. 
 His native place is Longnor, a small village, eight miles 
 from Shrewsbury, England. The only education which 
 he received was that of a village school, where nothing 
 more was taught than reading, writing, and arithmetic. 
 This school he left at twelve years of age, to learn the 
 trade of a carpenter and builder, under the care of an in- 
 genious and respectable relative, Mr. Alderman Lee, of 
 Shrewsbury. Here he underwent great hardships. It 
 was not till he was about seventeen years of age that he 
 first conceived the idea of studying a foreign language. 
 His application to the Latin tongue, the first which he 
 acquired, originated in his inability to understand that 
 language, as quoted in English authors. Poverty ob- 
 structed his progress, but did not prevent it. A thirst for 
 information created economy ; and out of the scanty pit- 
 tance of his weekly earnings, he purchased, at a book 
 stall, a volume, which, when read, was exchanged for 
 another; and, so by degrees, he advanced in knowledge. 
 Oppressed with cares, without any living assistant what- 
 ever, without much stimulus either from hope or fear, 
 seeking concealment rather than the smile of approbation, 
 
PROFESSOR LEE. 49 
 
 and very scantily supplied with the necessary materials, 
 he still pressed on in his course. He had not the privilege 
 of balancing between reading and relaxation: he had to 
 pass from bodily fatigue to mental exertion. During six 
 years, previous to his twenty-fifth year, he omitted none of 
 the hours usually appropriated to manual labor ; he retired 
 to rest, regularly, at 10 o'clock at night. He also suf- 
 fered, during this time, from a disorder in his eyes. As 
 his wages increased, and thereby his abilities to make 
 larger purchases, he attended to the Greek, Hebrew, 
 Chaldee, and Syriac tongues. The loss, by fire, of the 
 tools of his trade, blasted his earthly prospects in that 
 direction, and led him to consider how far his literary 
 acquirements might be employed for the support of him- 
 self, and of the partner, whom he had recently married. 
 His situation being made known to the Reverend Arch- 
 deacon Corbett, of Shrevv^sbury, that liberal and enlight- 
 ened clergyman afforded him, not only immediate aid, but 
 a happier introduction to his favorite pursuits. He now 
 exchanged his carpenter's shop for the superintendency of 
 a charity school. Here, however, his hours were not 
 much more at his own disposal. It was about this time 
 that that well known and highly respected oriental scholar, 
 Dr. Jonathan Scott, Persian Secretary to Hastings, 
 Governor General of India, furnished Mr. Lee with an 
 Arabic Grammar, and he had then, for the first time in 
 his life, the pleasure of conversing upon the study in which 
 he was engaged ; and it is to this auspicious circumstance, 
 improved, as it was, by the wonderful proficiency of ]Mr. 
 Lee, on the one hand, (for in a few months, he was capa- 
 ble of reading, writing, and composing in both Arabic and 
 Persic,) and to the unremitting kindness of Dr. Scott, on 
 the other, that we may attribute Mr. Lee's subsequent 
 engagement with the Church Missionary Society, as 
 Orientalist, his admission at dueen's College, Cambridge, 
 5 
 
50 PROFESSOR LEE. 
 
 and his ordination as a minister of the Established Church. 
 At the age of thirty-one years, fourteeen from the time he 
 had opened a Latin Grammar, he had actually himself 
 taught seventeen different languages ; viz. Latin, Greek, 
 Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Samaritan, Arabic, Persic, 
 Hindostanee, French, German, Italian, Ethiopic, Coptic, 
 Malay, Sanscrit, and Bengalee. When Mr. Lee entered 
 at Cambridge, he was unacquainted with the mathematics; 
 but in one fortnight, he qualified himself to attend a class 
 which had gone through several books in Euclid ; and he 
 soon after discovered an error, in the Spherical Trigonom- 
 etry, usually bound up with Simpson's Euclid, the four- 
 teenth proposition of which Mr. Lee disproved. Simpson's 
 Edition of Euclid is a text book at both Universities, and 
 is the only one usually put into the hands of students, and 
 to which the lectures of the tutors apply. Before he went 
 to college he was conversant with the works of Plato, 
 had made translations into English blank verse from the 
 works of Boethius ; and he went through the Golden 
 Verses, bearing the name of Pythagoras. He contented 
 himself with a competent knowledge of mathematics, lest 
 further attention to that seducing science should interfere 
 with those studies in which the highest interests of man- 
 kind are involved. He has exhibited a most laudable 
 desire to know the word of God himself, and to impart 
 it to others. The following are some of his efforts for the 
 spiritual good of mankind. 
 
 The Syriac New Testament, edited by Mr. Lee, and 
 published, is not a continuation of that begun by Dr. 
 Buchanan ; but an entire new work, for which Mr. Lee 
 collated three ancient Syrian MSS., the Syrian Commen- 
 tary of Syrius, and the texts of Ridley, Jones, and Wet- 
 stein. 
 
 An edition of the Malay New Testament, from the 
 
PROFESSOR LEE. 51 
 
 Dutch edition of 1733 ; the Old Testament has since 
 been published. 
 
 An enlarged and corrected edition of Mr. Martyn's 
 Hindostanee Prayer Book, in conjunction with Mr. 
 Corrie. 
 
 A Tract translated into Persian and Arabic, and 
 printed, entitled *' The way of Truth and Life," for the 
 use of Mohammedans. 
 
 A Malay Tract, for the London Missionary Society ; 
 and some Tracts in Hindostanee, for the Society for 
 instructing the Lascars. 
 
 A Tract in Arabic, on the new system of education, 
 written by Dr. Bell, and first translated by Michael Sabag, 
 for the Baron de Sacy of Paris. 
 
 Dr. Scott having translated the service for Christmas 
 day from the Prayer Book of the Church of England, into 
 Persic, Mr. Lee has added to it the rest of the Liturgy. 
 
 A new Translation of the Old Testament into Persian, 
 in conjunction with Mirza Khaleel. 
 
 An Hindostanee New Testament. 
 
 He was some time since preparing an Ethiopic Bible 
 and other works. Mr. Lee has also made a new fount of 
 letter for Hindostanee and Persian printing ; and a new 
 fount for an edition of the Syriac Old Testament, for 
 which he collated nine ancient MSS. and one ancient 
 commentary. He has also published in Persian and Eng- 
 lish the whole controversy of Mr. Martyn with the Per- 
 sian literati, with considerable additions of his own. 
 
 On a certain occasion, a Memoir of Mr. Henry Kirke 
 White was lent to him ; Mr. Lee returned it shortly after 
 with a Latin Poem in praise of Mr. White, a dialogue in 
 Greek on the Christian religion, and a pious effusion in 
 Hebrew ; all compiled by himself, when he was upon per- 
 
52 PROFESSOR LEE. 
 
 manent duty as a member of the local militia for the 
 county. He taught himself to play upon the flute, with 
 almost intuitive readiness. When the Shrewsbury volun- 
 teers were raised, he qualified himself, with almost equal 
 readiness, to be one of their military band, all which time 
 he was a member of a ringing society, and also gave lec- 
 tures upon Gothic architecture. He was no sooner in 
 holy orders than he accepted invitations to preach to the 
 largest congregations. He manifested in the pulpit the 
 ease and self-possession of one long used to the station. 
 Notwithstanding these high attainments, he is a very 
 humble and unassuming man. The resources of his 
 mind are unapparent till called out. He does not seek 
 refined society, but mingles in it, when invited, without 
 effort or embarrassment; and without losing any of his 
 humility, sustains his place in it with ease and inde- 
 pendence. His sermons are said to exhibit an air of 
 logical dryness, unfavorable to the unction which should 
 pervade pulpit exercises. 
 
 Sometime in the year 1819, on the resignation of Rev. 
 J. Palmer, Mr. Lee was elected Professor of Arabic in 
 the University of Cambridge, and not having been at col- 
 lege the usual time for taking the degree requisite to 
 standing for the chair, a grace passed the senate of the 
 University to supplicate for a mandamus, which was 
 granted by his Majesty. Most honorable and ample testi- 
 monials were given by Lord Teignmouth, Dr. Scott, 
 Mohammed Sheeraz, a learned Persian, Alexander Nicol, 
 librarian of the Bodleian library, Oxford, Mirza Khaleel, 
 a learned Persian, Dr. Wilkins, of the East India-house 
 Library, and others. Mr, Lee has lately been chosen to 
 succeed Dr. Lloyd, as Regius Professor of Hebrew at 
 Cambridge. He has published one edition of an Hebrew 
 Grammar, and has another in the press, as also an Hebrew 
 
PROFESSOR LEE. 53 
 
 Lexicon. A work on the interpretation of Scripture gene- 
 rally, and of prophecy in particular, has lately appeared 
 from his pen. He has issued a prospectus of an extensive 
 course of lectures on Hebrew Literature and Philology. 
 
 5* 
 
WILLIAM GIFFORD. 
 
 William Gifford was born in Ashburton, Devonshire, 
 England, in April, 1757. His father was a seaman, and 
 was, for some time, engaged in the service of his country, 
 as the second in command of a large armed transport. 
 His manner of life was very dissipated. An attempt to 
 excite a riot in a Methodist chapel was the occasion of 
 his being compelled to flee from the country. His mother 
 was the daughter of a carpenter. Her resources were 
 very scanty. They arose from the rent of three or four 
 small fields, which had belonged to her husband's father. 
 *' With these, however," says Gifford, " she did what she 
 could for me ; and as soon as I was old enough to be 
 trusted out of her sight, sent me to a schoolmistress of 
 the name of Parret, from whom, in due time, I learned to 
 read. I cannot boast much of my acquisitions at this 
 school ; they consisted merely of the contents of the 
 ' Child's Spelling Book ;' but from my mother, who had 
 stored up the literature of a country town, which about 
 half a century ago, amounted to little more than what was 
 disseminated by itinerant ballad singers, or rather readers, 
 I had acquired much curious knowledge of Catskin, and 
 the Golden Bull, and the Bloody Gardener, and many 
 other histories equally instructive and amusing." Young 
 Gifford's father returned from sea in 1764. He had 
 
WILLIAM GIFFORD. 55 
 
 acquired considerable property, but his habits of dissipation 
 were such that he soon lost nearly the whole of it. He 
 commenced business as a glazier and house-painter. Wil- 
 liam, now about eight years old, was put to a free school, to 
 learn to read and write and cypher. Here he continued 
 three years, " making most wretched progress," when his 
 father fell sick and died. He died of a ruined constitution, 
 induced by habits of drinking. Unfortunately, the mother 
 of William, in order to support her two children, deter- 
 mined to prosecute her husband's business ; for which 
 purpose she engaged a couple of journeymen, who, finding 
 her ignorant of every part of it, wasted her property and 
 embezzled her money. What the consequence of this 
 double fraud would have been, there is no opportunity of 
 knowing, as, in somewhat less than a twelvemonth, she 
 followed her husband to the grave. *' She was," says her 
 affectionate son, " an excellent woman, bore my father's 
 infirmities with patience and good humor, loved her chil- 
 dren dearly, and died at last, exhausted with anxiety and 
 grief, more on their account than on her own." 
 
 " I was not quite thirteen when this happened ; my little 
 brother was hardly two ; and we had not a relation nor a 
 friend in the world." His brother was now sent to the 
 work-house, and he was himself taken home to the house 
 of a person named Carlile, who was his godfather, and 
 had seized upon whatever his mother had left, under the 
 pretence of repaying himself for money which he had ad- 
 vanced to her. By this person, William, who had before 
 learned reading, writing, and a little arithmetic, was sent 
 again to school, and was beginning to make considerable 
 progress in the last branch of study ; but in about three 
 months his patron grew tired of the expense, and took 
 him home with the view of employing him as a ploughboy. 
 An injury, however, which he had received some years 
 before, on his breast, was found to unfit him for this species 
 
56 WILLIAM GIFFORD. 
 
 of labor ; and it was next resolved that he should be sent 
 out to Newfoundland, to assist in a storehouse. But upon 
 being presented to the person who had agreed to fit him 
 out, he was declared to be *' too small" — and this scheme 
 had also to be abandoned. " My godfather," says he, 
 " had now humbler views for me, and I had little heart 
 to resist anything. He proposed to send me on board 
 one of the Torbay fishing boats. I ventured, how- 
 ever, to remonstrate against this, and the matter was 
 compromised, by my consenting to go on board a coaster. 
 A coaster was speedily found for me at Brixham, and 
 thither I went, when a little more than thirteen," 
 
 In this vessel he remained for nearly a twelvemonth. 
 " It will be easily conceived," he remarks, " that my life 
 was a life of hardship. I was not only a ship-boy on the 
 ' high and giddy mast,' but also in the cabin, where every 
 menial office fell to my lot ; yet, if I was restless and dis- 
 contented, I can safely say it was not so much on account 
 of this, as of my being precluded from all possibility of 
 reading ; as my master did not possess, nor do I recollect 
 seeing, during the whole time of my abode with him, a 
 single book of any description, except the ' Coasting Pilot.' " 
 
 While in this humble situation, however, and seeming 
 to himself almost an outcast from the world, he was not 
 altoo-ether forgotten. He had broken off all connection 
 with Ashburton, and where his godfather lived ; but the 
 '* women of Brixham," says he, " who travelled to Ash- 
 burton twice a week with fish, and who had known my 
 parents, did not see me without kind concern, running 
 about the beach in a ragged jacket and trowsers." They 
 often mentioned him to their acquaintances at Ashburton, 
 and the tale excited so much commiseration in the place, 
 that his godfather at last found himself obliged to send 
 for him home. At this time he wanted some months of 
 fourteen. 
 
WILLIAM GIFFORD. 57 
 
 '' After the holidays," continues the narrative, " I re- 
 turned to my darling pursuit — arithmetic ; my progress 
 was now so rapid, that in a few months I was at the head 
 of the school, and qualified to assist my master, Mr. E. 
 Furlong, on any extraordinary occasion. As he usually 
 gave me a trifle, at such times, it raised a thought in me 
 that, by engaging with him as a regular assistant, and un- 
 dertaking the instruction of a few evening scholars, I might, 
 with a little additional aid, be enabled to support myself. 
 I had besides another object in view. Mr. Hugh Smerdon, 
 my first master, was now grown old and infirm ; it seemed 
 unlikely that he should hold out above three or four years ; 
 and I fondly flattered myself that, notwithstanding my 
 youth, I might possibly be appointed to succeed him. I 
 was in my fifteenth year when I built these castles; a storm, 
 however, was collecting, which unexpectedly burst upon 
 me, and swept them all away. 
 
 " On mentioning my little plan to Carlile, he treated it 
 with the utmost contempt ; and told me, in his turn, that, 
 as I had learned enough, and more than enough at school, 
 he must be considered as having fairly discharged his 
 duty (so indeed he had) ; he added, that he had been ne- 
 gociating with his cousin, a shoemaker of some respecta- 
 bility, who had liberally agreed to take me without fee, as 
 an apprentice. I was so shocked at this intelligence, that 
 I did not remonstrate ; but went in sullenness and silence, 
 to my new master, to whom, on the 1st of January, 1772, 
 I was bound till I should attain the age of twenty-one." 
 
 Up to this period his reading had been very limited ; the 
 only books he had perused, beside the Bible, with which 
 he was well acquainted, having been a black letter romance 
 called Parismus and Parisaienes, a few old magazines, and 
 the Imitation of Thomas a Kempis. " As I hated my 
 new profession," he continues, *' with a perfect hatred, T 
 made no progress in it, and was consequently little 
 
58 WILLIAM GIFFORD. 
 
 regarded in the family, of which I sank, by degrees, into 
 the common drudge ; this did not much disquiet me, for 
 my spirits were now humbled. I did not, however, quite 
 resign my hope of one day succeeding to Mr. Hugh Smer- 
 don, and therefore secretly prosecuted my favorite study, 
 at every interval of leisure. These intervals were not very 
 frequent ; and when the use I made of them was found out, 
 they were rendered still less so. I could not guess the 
 motives for this at first, but at length I discovered that my 
 master destined his youngest son for the situation to which 
 I aspired. 
 
 " I possessed, at this time, but one book in the world ; it 
 was a treatise on algebra, given to me by a young woman 
 who had found it in a lodging-house. I considered it as a 
 treasure ; but it was a treasure locked up ; for it supposed 
 the reader to be well acquainted with simple equations, 
 and I knew nothing of the matter. My master's son had 
 purchased ' Fenning's Introduction ;' this was precisely 
 what I wanted — but he carefully concealed it from me, and 
 I was indebted to chance alone for stumbling upon his 
 hiding place. I sat up for the greatest part of several nights 
 successively, and, before that he suspected that his treatise 
 was discovered, had completely mastered it ; I could now 
 enter upon my own, and that carried me pretty far into the 
 science. This was not done without difficulty. I had not 
 a farthing on earth, nor a friend to give me one ; pen, ink, 
 and paper, therefore, (in despite of the flippant remark of 
 Lord Or ford,) were for the most part as completely out of 
 my reach, as a crown and sceptre. There was, indeed, a 
 resource ; but the utmost caution and secrecy were neces- 
 sary in applying to it. I beat out pieces of leather as 
 smooth as possible, and wrought my problems on them 
 with a blunted awl ; for the rest, my memory was tena- 
 cious, and I could multiply and divide by it to a great 
 extent." 
 
WILLIAM GIFFORD. 5Q 
 
 No situation, it is obvious, could be more unfavorable 
 for study than this ; and yet vi^e see how the eager student 
 succeeded in triumphing over its disadvantages, contriving 
 to write and calculate even without paper, pens, or ink, 
 by the aid of a piece of leather and a blunted awl. Where 
 there is a strong determination to attain an object, it is 
 generally sufficient of itself to create the means ; and 
 almost any means are sufficient. 
 
 At last, however, GiffiDrd obtained some alleviation of 
 his extreme poverty. He had scarcely, he tells us, known 
 poetry even by name, when some verses, composed by 
 one of his acquaintances, tempted him to try what he 
 could do in the same style, and he succeeded in producing 
 a few rhymes. As successive little incidents inspired his 
 humble muse, he produced several more compositions of a 
 similar description, till he had collected about a dozen of 
 them. " Certainly," says he, " nothing on earth was ever 
 so deplorable ;" but such as they were, they procured him 
 not a little fame among his associates, and he began at 
 last to be invited to repeat them in other circles. *' The 
 repetitions of which I speak," he continues, " were always 
 attended with applause, and sometimes with favors more 
 substantial ; little collections were now and then made, 
 and I have received sixpence in an evening. To one 
 who had long lived in the absolute want of money, such a 
 resource seemed a Peruvian mine. I furnished myself, 
 by degrees, with paper, &c. and what was of more impor- 
 tance, with books of geometry, and of the higher branches 
 of algebra, which I cautiously concealed. Poetry, even 
 at this time, was no amusement of mine ; it was subser- 
 vient to other purposes ; and I only had recourse to it 
 when I wanted money for my mathematical pursuits." 
 
 But even this resource was soon taken from him. His 
 master, having heard of his verse-making, was so incensed 
 both at what he deemed the idleness of the occupation, 
 
60 WILLIAM GIFFORD. 
 
 and especially at some satirical allusions to himself, or his 
 customers, upon which the young poet had unwisely ven- 
 tured, that he seized and carried away all his books and 
 papers, and even prohibited him, in the strictest manner, 
 from ever again repeating a line of his compositions. This 
 severe stroke was followed by another, which reduced him 
 to utter despair. The master of the free school, to which 
 he had never given up the hope of succeeding, died, and 
 another person was appointed to the situation, not much 
 older than Gifford, and who, he says, was certainly not so 
 well qualified for it as himself " I look back," he pro- 
 ceeds, " on that part of my life which immediately followed 
 this event, with little satisfaction ; it was a period of gloom 
 and savage unsociability ; by degrees I sunk into a kind 
 of corporeal torpor ; or, if roused into activity by the spirit 
 of youth, wasted the exertion in splenetic and vexatious 
 tricks, which alienated the few acquaintances, which com- 
 passion had yet left me." 
 
 His discontent and peevishness seem, however, to have 
 gradually given way to the natural buoyancy of his dispo- 
 sition ; some evidences of kindly feeling from those 
 around him tended a good deal to dispel his gloom ; and, 
 especially, as the term of his apprenticeship drew towards 
 a close, his former aspirations and hopes began to return 
 to him. He had spent, however, nearly six years at his 
 uncongenial employment before any decided prospect of 
 deliverance opened before him. *' In this humble and 
 obscure state," says he, " poor beyond the common lot, 
 yet flattering my ambition with day-dreams which perhaps 
 would never have been realized, I was found, in the 
 twentieth year of my age, by Mr. William Cookesley — a 
 name never to be pronounced by me without veneration. 
 The lamentable doggerel which I have already mentioned, 
 and which had passed from mouth to mouth among people 
 of my own degree had, by some accident or other, reached 
 
WILLIAM GIFFORD. gl 
 
 his ear, and given him a curiosity to inquire after the 
 author." Mr. Cookesley, who was a surgeon, and not 
 rich, having learnt Gifford's history from himself, became 
 so much interested in his favor, that he determined to 
 rescue him from his obscurity. 
 
 " The plan," says Gilford, " that occurred to him was 
 naturally that which had so often suggested itself to me. 
 There were, indeed, several obstacles to be overcome. 
 My hand-writing was bad, and my language very incorrect ; 
 but nothing could slacken the zeal of this excellent man. 
 He procured a few of my poor attempts at rhyme, dispersed 
 them among his friends and acquaintance, and, when my 
 name was become somewhat familiar to them, set on foot 
 a subscription for my relief. I still preserve the original 
 paper ; its title was not very magnificent, though it ex- 
 ceeded the most sanguine wishes of my heart. It ran 
 thus : ' A subscription for purchasing the remainder of 
 the time of William Gifford, and for enabling him to im- 
 prove himself in writing and English grammar.' Few 
 contributed more than five shillings, and none went be- 
 yond ten and sixpence, — enough was however collected 
 to free me from my apprenticeship, (the sum my master 
 received was six pounds,) and maintaining me for a few 
 months, during which I assiduously attended the Rev. 
 Thomas Smerdon." 
 
 The difficulties of the poor scholar were now over, for 
 his patrons were so much pleased with the progress he 
 made during this short period, that upon its expiration they 
 renewed their bounty, and maintained him at school for 
 another year. " Such liberality," he remarks, '' was not 
 lost upon me ; I grew anxious to make the best return in 
 my power, and I redoubled my diligence. Now that I am 
 sunk into indolence, I look back with some degree of 
 scepticism to the exertions of that period." In two years 
 and two months from what he calls the day of his emanci- 
 6 
 
62 WILLIAM GIFFORD. 
 
 pation, he was pronounced by his master to be fit for the 
 university ; and a small office having been obtained for him, 
 by Mr. Cookesley's exertions at Oxford, he was entered of 
 Exeter college, that gentleman undertaking to provide the 
 additional means necessary to enable him to live till he 
 should take his degree. Mr. GifTord's first patron died be- 
 fore his protege had time to fulfil the good man's fond an- 
 ticipations of his future celebrity ; but he afterwards found 
 in Lord Grosvenor, another much more able friend, though 
 it was impossible that any other man could have shown 
 more zeal in advancing his interests. A long and prosper- 
 ous life was an ample compensation for the toils and hard- 
 ships of his youth. While at the university, he undertook 
 a poetical translation of the satires of Juvenal, but which 
 was not published till several years afterwards. It is highly 
 creditable to his ability as a satirist and critic. After leav- 
 ing Oxford, he travelled on the continent for some years, 
 with Lord Belgrave. On his return, he settled in London, 
 and devoted himself to literary pursuits. In 1791 , he pub- 
 lished The Baviad, a poetical satire ; and, in 1794, The 
 Maeviad, a severe animadversion on the degraded state of 
 the drama. These works were virulent and coarse, but 
 display much critical power. In 1797, he became editor 
 of the Anti-Jacobin newspaper. He soon published an 
 edition of the plays of Massinger ; afterwards the plays of 
 Ben Jonson, Ford, and Shirley, — all accompanied with 
 notes, and with the lives of the dramatists. In 1809, he 
 commenced the publication of the Quarterly Review, in 
 opposition to the Edinburgh. He conducted it till 1824, 
 when the infirmities of age compelled him to retire. He 
 was the writer of many of the articles in this Review, and 
 generally performed his work with great judgment and 
 ability. He seems, however, to have been wanting in 
 candor and liberal feeling. Probably the circumstances 
 of his early youth, as well as his connection with the tory- 
 
WILLIAM GIFFORD. 63 
 
 party in politics, and the high church-party in religion, 
 will account for the harshness and ungenerousness of some 
 articles, which appeared in his Review, in relation to the 
 United States. If he had kind feelings, they certainly for- 
 sook him when the religion and literature of this country 
 came before his consideration. Mr. Gifford was thoroughly 
 a literary man. Besides the works already mentioned, he 
 was author of a translation of the Satires of Persius. He 
 enjoyed an annuity from Lord Grosvenor, and held the 
 office of paymaster of the board of gentlemen-pensioners, 
 with a salary of ^300 a year. He was also, for a time, 
 comptroller of the lottery, with a salary of =£600 a year. 
 His death took place at his residence near London, 
 December 31, 1826, and he was interred on the 8th of 
 January following, in Westminster Abbey. He had no 
 family. He left the greater part of his fortune to the 
 son of his first kind and most disinterested patron, Mr. 
 Cookesley. 
 
JOHN M'L.EA]V. 
 
 John M'Lean was born in Somerset County, in the 
 State of New Jersey, on the 11th of March, 1785. Dur- 
 ing his childhood, his father removed to the vicinity of 
 Lexington, in Kentucky, where he remained till he pur- 
 chased a tract of land in the Miami country, which he 
 first occupied in 1797. He continues to reside on the 
 same farm, now brought by the progress of improvement 
 within the limits of the State of Ohio. The restricted 
 pecuniary means of Mr. M'Lean, prevented him from con- 
 ferring on his sons the advantages of a classical education, 
 even if there had been seminaries for imparting such in- 
 struction in those distant settlements. His sons could 
 partake only of the inferior education to be derived from 
 the common schools in the country. In these schools, John 
 M'Lean, the subject of this notice, distinguished himself 
 from the earliest period of his career. He always occu- 
 pied the first place in his class, and as a pupil, was noticed 
 for the firmness of purpose, which has so strongly marked 
 his subsequent life. 
 
 He continued on his father's farm, engaged in the hon- 
 orable and invigorating labors of an husbandman, until 
 1802. Becoming desirous of enlarging the stores of his 
 knowledge, he left his farm and his father's house, and 
 commenced the study of the Latin language, and other 
 
JUDGE M'LEAN. (55 
 
 branches of liberal learning, under the care of two gentle- 
 men in the neighborhood, well qualified to superintend his 
 education. 
 
 In 1804, he entered the office of general Cane, the 
 clerk of the courts in Cincinnati. During three years, he 
 here availed himself of every opportunity of improvement. 
 In this office he began the study of the law, under the care 
 of Arthur St. Clair, son of the unfortunate general of the 
 same name, and a gentleman of eminent legal, attainments. 
 Aware that the means of acquiring knowledge had been 
 restricted in the first part of his life, young M'Lean now 
 resolved to achieve all that untiring diligence could ac- 
 complish, to place himself on an equality, in point of infor- 
 mation, with those who had possessed advantages superior 
 to his own. His mental applifltion was severe and unin- 
 termitted. That no time might be lost, he limited his 
 hours of sleep and relaxation to the smallest demands of 
 nature. His assiduity was well rewarded. In 1807, he 
 commenced the practice of law. At that time there were 
 several gentlemen at the bar, of considerable distinc- 
 tion. Mr. M'Lean soon gained an established reputation, 
 and with it extensive business, which he maintained 
 amidst powerful competition. By the efforts of his own 
 unassisted powers, he soon rose to public notoriety and 
 usefulness. 
 
 In 1812, at the age of twenty-seven years, he was se- 
 lected as a candidate for Congress, in the district in 
 which he resided, and which included Cincinnati. He 
 was elected by more than double the number of votes given 
 to two other citizens, who were supported against him. 
 He took his seat in Congress, in the summer session suc- 
 ceeding the declaration of war. It was an era of deep in- 
 terest, demanding great wisdom and energy in the conduct 
 of public affiiirs. A system of revenue was adopted, and 
 various other subjects of great moment were acted upon. 
 6* 
 
66 JUDGE M'LEAN. 
 
 JMr. M'Lean was young and inexperienced, and showed 
 his good sense, by avoiding to take part in the debates, 
 preferring to enlarge his knowledge by listening to the 
 arguments of mature statesmen. He uniformly gave his 
 support to the administration, as was the case with nearly 
 all the other members from the West. The first impor- 
 tant measure, of which he was a public advocate, was a 
 bill to compensate those individuals who lost their property, 
 which was employed in the public service, at Detroit. He 
 was also author of the measure which placed the widows 
 of the officers and soldiers who fell in battle, on the half 
 pay pension list for five years. The benefits of this humane 
 act were extensively felt by a class of persons whose be- 
 reaved condition deeply excited the public sympathies. 
 Mr. M'Lean thence for wild took a prominent position in 
 the various discussions on the policy of the war, support- 
 ing the administration with great steadiness and vigor. 
 
 He was a member of the committee on " Foreign Rela- 
 tions," and also of that on " Public Lands." While at 
 Washington, he had much local business of his constitu- 
 ents to transact, which was incident to the state of the 
 conflict v*'ith Great Britain. His first period of duty in 
 the House of Representatives having closed, he was re- 
 elected by the unanimous vote of the district. No one 
 was named as his opponent. It is a most honorable fact, 
 and one which cannot be very often adduced in regard to 
 the objects of public favor, that not the slightest censure 
 was ever attached to the public or private character of 
 Mr. M'Lean. During the session of the Legislature of 
 Ohio, in 1814 — 15, he was strongly urged to become a 
 candidate for the Senate of the United States, but declined. 
 At the next session of the Legislature of Ohio, he yielded 
 to the wishes of his friends, and was unanimously elected 
 a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State. 
 
 During six years, he discharged the arduous duties of 
 
JUDGE M'LEAN. 67 
 
 his high office in such a manner as to give general satis- 
 faction to the people. In the autumn of 1822, Judo-e 
 M'Lean, without his solicitation or knowledge, was nomi- 
 nated by President Monroe, Commissioner of the Land 
 Office, which appointment he was induced to accept after 
 considerable hesitation. In the summer of 1823, he 
 was named Post Master General — a department which was 
 at that time overwhelmed with debt. It was truly a Her- 
 culean task to re-organize it. Judge M'Lean entered, 
 however, with confidence, upon his difficult work. He 
 brought an energy, a moral courage, and an industry to 
 his duties, which have rarely ever been equalled. Hardly 
 any public officer has acquired so high a reputation by the 
 faithful and rigidly impartial manner in which he performed 
 his duties. During the three years preceding his appoint- 
 ment, the receipts of the post office fell short of the 
 expenditure, two hundred and sixty-two thousand eight 
 hundred and twenty-one dollars ; and for the year imme- 
 diately preceding, fifty-five thousand one hundred and forty 
 dollars. He remained in office until 1829, during which 
 period he increased the annual revenue more than half a 
 million of dollars, and nearly doubled the amount of the 
 transportation of the mail, by stage-coaches, throughout 
 the United States. No officer of our government ever 
 devoted himself more faithfully to his duties, and very few 
 individuals are capable of undergoing the amount of labor 
 to which he subjected himself He infused life through 
 the vast extent, and multifarious departments of the post 
 office. Every grievance was sure to meet with an im- 
 partial hearing, and if well-founded, with speedy redress. 
 His intercourse with the various subordinate officers of his 
 department, was marked with a truly Spartan frankness 
 and honesty. He left no one to mistake his meaning. 
 His maxim was, that nothing should be considered as 
 finished, while anything remained undone. A deep im- 
 
(38 JUDGE M'LEAN. 
 
 pression of the sterling qualities of his character was made 
 on the whole country by his renovation of the post office 
 department. He continued to exercise the functions of 
 Post Master General, during the administration of Mr. 
 Adams. General Jackson, soon after his election, nomi- 
 nated Mr. M'Lean to the office of an Associate Justice of 
 the Supreme Court of the United States. It is understood 
 that he fills this office with much propriety. He has lately 
 declined being considered as a candidate for the Presi- 
 dency of the United States. 
 
 It is a gratifying circumstance, that Judge M'Lean has 
 uniformly shown that he is actuated by high moral consid- 
 erations, and that he is not ashamed to avow his attach- 
 ment to that religion which so many statesmen abjure or 
 neglect. ^ 
 
THOMAS BAL-DWIN. 
 
 Among the most numerous and prosperous of the Chris- 
 tian denominations in this country, are the Calvinistic 
 Baptists. In numerical strength, they are superior to any 
 other division of the Church, with the exception of the 
 Methodists. Their growth, especially in some of the more 
 recently settled portions of the country, has been extremely 
 rapid. This prosperity has been owing very much to the 
 energy and wisdom of a few individuals. The Baptists 
 have not, to a great extent, placed their reliance upon asso- 
 ciated effort. Their organization, as a denomination, is 
 far less complete than that of any other. Their churches 
 have exhibited, perhaps, more conspicuously even than 
 the Congregational, the republican, or rather democratic 
 principles of equality of rights, and community of privileges. 
 Such a state of things is eminently calculated to bring out 
 individual eifort, to cherish and develope personal char- 
 acter. Men must have a rallying point. Scattered talent 
 must have a place of convergence. Nothing important can 
 be accomplished in morals and religion, any more than in 
 war and politics, without leaders. If there be no organi- 
 zation on which to recline, some master-spirit will arise. 
 If there be no marshalled host, the people will flock to 
 David in the wilderness. If there be no college or theo- 
 logical seminary to concentrate public attention, and dis- 
 
70 THOMAS BALDWIN. 
 
 cipline collected talent, some patriarch will draw around 
 his tent the sons of science, or the disciples of Jesus. 
 
 Such have been, in the Baptist community, Williams, 
 Backus, Stillman, and Baldwin. With great and striking 
 difference as to talent and acquirement, each of those men 
 attained a distinguished rank, and exerted an extensive 
 and an enduring influence. Upon each devolved the care, 
 not simply of a church or congregation, but, in an impor- 
 tant sense, the care of all the churches in the connection. 
 With no theological seminary, and with not more than one 
 college, the three last named, particularly, labored to sup- 
 ply, so far as unwearied personal effort could do it, the 
 acknowledged deficiency. 
 
 Thomas Baldwin was born in Bozrah, in the State of 
 Connecticut, December 23, 1753, and was the only son of 
 Thomas and Mary Baldwin, both natives of the same 
 place. Of the early history of his family, but little is 
 known. It may, however, be observed, that his father 
 was attached to the military service, and rose to distinc- 
 tion in the then colonial army. He died while his son 
 was a youth. His mother was a woman of talent and 
 piety, and to her faithful and affectionate instructions, her 
 son was greatly indebted. 
 
 Not much is known of his early history. The traits of 
 character for which he was in manhood remarkable, 
 were, however, very early developed. From infancy his 
 temper was noticed for its unruffled serenity. His mother 
 used to observe that she never knew him, but in a single 
 instance, to betray any signs of impatience ; and when, on 
 this occasion, she expressed her surprise, he instantly 
 replied, " Mother, I am not angry." 
 
 He very early discovered a taste for reading. Not only 
 did he devote every leisure moment to the improvement of 
 his mind, but also consecrated to this object the hours of 
 labor. Whenever his employments were of such a nature 
 
THOMAS BALDWIN. 7| 
 
 that one of his hands was disengaged, it was occupied 
 with a book. By these habits of incessant appHcation, he 
 very early acquired a stock of valuable though miscella- 
 neous information, which, combined with strong powers 
 of original thinking, seemed in youth to mark him out for 
 distinguished usefulness. 
 
 At this time the advantages of education were much 
 less extensively enjoyed in New England, than at present. 
 Schools were very rare, and the general modes of instruc- 
 tion palpably defective. As a proof of this, it need only be 
 remarked, that when Mr. Baldwin removed to Canaan, New 
 Hampshire, where he afterwards resided, he was generally 
 selected on the Sabbath, to read a sermon to the people, 
 who assembled for public worship, because he was the 
 only young man in the town who was sufficiently educated 
 to perform this service acceptably. The mention of this 
 fact is sufficient to show how strong must be his early bias 
 towards intellectual improvement. 
 
 When Mr. Baldwin was about sixteen years of age, his 
 mother, who was now a second time married to a very 
 worthy and pious man, by the name of Eames, removed to 
 Canaan, in the State of New Hampshire. He removed 
 with the family ; and this became for several years the 
 place of his residence. In September, 1775, he was mar- 
 ried to Miss Ruth Huntington, of Norwich, Connecticut. 
 Before he was thirty years of age, Mr. Baldwin was elected 
 to represent the town of Canaan, in the General Court of 
 the State. To this office he was repeatedly re-elected. 
 
 In the year 1780, an interesting change took place in 
 the character of Mr. Baldwin. After a season of deep 
 religious anxiety, he was enabled joyfully to devote himself 
 to the service of his Redeemer. His views of truth were 
 clear and impressive. His sense of the evil of sin, and of 
 the purity of God's law, were such as to lead him to 
 deep humiliation, and to an entire and cordial reliance on 
 
72 THOMAS BALDWIN. 
 
 the mediation and atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 Of this period of mental solicitude, Mr. Baldwin has left 
 an interesting and particular memoir. Mr. Baldwin was 
 educated in the principles of the Congregationalists, but 
 about this time, after much deliberation, he united himself 
 to the Baptists. He was ordained as an evangelist, in 
 June, 1783. The following extracts from his journal, 
 show his spirit and manner of life. " I continued my 
 labors with the church in Canaan seven years, during 
 which time, though principally at home on the Sabbath, I 
 spent much of the intervening time in visiting and preach- 
 ing in the destitute parts of the surrounding country. 
 There were few towns wathin the space of fifty miles round, 
 in which I did not occasionally preach. In this warfare 
 I went chiefly at my own charges. Some few churches, 
 how^ever, which I visited by appointment of the Associa- 
 tion, made me some compensation, and some individuals 
 made me small presents ; but I do not recollect, that dur- 
 ing the whole of this period, in all my journeyings, I ever 
 received a public contribution. My mode of travelling 
 was on horseback. In pursuing my appointments, I had 
 often to climb the ragged mountain, and descend the deep 
 ravine. These exchanges, from rocky steeps to dismal 
 swamps, were far from unfrequent at that early period 
 of the settlement of this part of our country. The roads 
 are since so improved, that it would be difficult to persuade 
 the traveller, now-a-days, that they had ever been as bad 
 as the early settlers represent. 
 
 •'The people were not, however, so much wanting in 
 kindness, as in the means of assisting a travelling min- 
 ister. As for silver and gold, the greater part of them had 
 none. The cause of this scarcity of money arose from 
 the peculiar circumstances of the times. At the close of 
 the revolutionary war, the continental currency, which 
 had before depreciated to almost nothing, ceased. The 
 
THOMAS BALDWIN. 73 
 
 little silver that remained in the coffers of the rich, was 
 with much reluctance permitted to be drawn from its long 
 sequestered concealment. It hence often happened that 
 the travelling preacher must either beg or go hungry, if he 
 happened to travel where he was not known." On one oc- 
 casion, in March, 1790, Mr. Baldwin was called to visit a 
 remote part of New Hampshire, about one hundred miles 
 distant, to assist in the establishment of a church. He left 
 home with only a few shillings, but before the first night 
 the whole was lost. The journey was chiefly through a 
 wilderness, with a few log cottages to relieve the solitude 
 of the gloomy forest. The snow was more than three 
 feet deep, and the travelling was consequently very difficult 
 and dangerous. At length Mr. Baldwin and his friends 
 reached home in safety, after having subsisted on such 
 casual entertainment as they could procure in the wil- 
 derness. 
 
 During the seven years which he passed in Canaan, the 
 whole of his salary would not average /or?y dollars a year. 
 " Hence," says Mr. Baldwin, '' I may say with the apostle, 
 ' These hands have ministered to my necessities, and 
 those that were with me.' I would have gladly devoted 
 myself wholly to the work of the ministry, could I have 
 seen any way in which my family might have been sup- 
 ported." 
 
 In the year 1790, Mr. Baldwin received an unanimous 
 invitation to settle in the ministry, from Sturbridge, Mass., 
 Hampton, Conn,, and from the second Baptist Church in 
 Boston. He was installed over the latter church, in No- 
 vember, 1790. 
 
 This removal brought him into an almost entirely new 
 sphere of action. From the frontier settlements of New 
 Hampshire, he was removed to the, centre of polished and 
 literary society in New England, and placed by the side 
 of such men as the Rev. Drs. Lathrop, Eliot, Howard, 
 
74 THOMAS BALDWIN. 
 
 Belknap, and Thacher, of the Congregational Church, 
 and of the excellent Dr. Stillman, of the first Baptist 
 Church ; several of whom were eminent and finished clas- 
 sical scholars. The pulpits of Boston were perhaps never 
 more ably filled. 
 
 These circumstances added a powerful stimulus to Mr. 
 Baldwin's efforts, and in fact, created a new era in his life. 
 His early advantages for education, as has been seen, were 
 but scanty. Constant labor had left him but little oppor- 
 tunity to improve them. He was now thirty-eight years of 
 age ; a time of life beyond which men do not generally 
 make great advancement in knowledge. Says his biog- 
 rapher, " All the resources upon which, depending on the 
 grace of God, he could rely, in this arduous situation, were 
 sincere desires to be useful, native vigor of mind, a fixed 
 resolution to prepare himself for the duties to which 
 Providence called him, a considerable store of sound re- 
 flection on theology, and knowledge of human nature." 
 He saw his deficiencies, and gave himself to his work 
 with great and unrelaxing diligence. He commenced a 
 course of judicious theological and critical study, which 
 enabled him better to serve the church in the pulpit, and 
 more extensively to illustrate and defend her doctrines 
 from the press. The standard of preaching rose in his 
 own denomination, every where around him. He assisted 
 his young brethren in their attempts to acquire the advan- 
 tages of education. He set before them an example of 
 simple, unaffected piety. In 1803, Mr. Baldwin com- 
 menced the publication of the Massachusetts Baptist 
 Magazine, (afterwards the American Baptist Magazine.) 
 From its commencement to the year 1817, he was its 
 sole editor, and from 1817, to his death, he was the 
 senior editor. For many years this was the only Baptist 
 religious periodical in America. To its influence, and to 
 the labors of Mr. Baldwin, by its means, may be ascribed, 
 
THOMAS BALDWIN. 75 
 
 in a considerable degree, the progress which has been made 
 in his own denomination, in acquaintance with each other, 
 in missionary enterprise, and in religious knowledge. In 
 1802, he was appointed to deliver the annual sermon be- 
 fore the Legislature of the Commonwealth, on the day of 
 General Election. Three editions of this discourse were 
 published. It was pronounced by the American Review, 
 an able and interesting sermon. In 1803, Union College 
 at Schenectady, N. Y. conferred on Mr. Baldwin, the 
 honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity. He was a trustee, 
 and afterwards a fellow of Brown University, at Providence, 
 R. I., a trustee of the Columbian College, at Washington, 
 D. C, and of Waterville College, in Maine. He w^as also 
 President, at the time of his death, of the Baptist Board of 
 Managers for Foreign Missions. He was a member of 
 the convention for amending the constitution of the Com- 
 monwealth of Massachusetts, in the year 182 J . He occa- 
 sionally addressed the convention with ability and effect. 
 
 Dr. Baldwin died suddenly at Waterville, Maine, Au- 
 gust 29, 1825, whither he had gone to attend the annual 
 commencement of the college. His remains were brought 
 to Boston, and interred with every mark of respect and 
 veneration. He had been aware, for some time, that he 
 was drawing near to the grave. " Dr. Baldwin," remarks 
 his biographer, '^ was not afraid to die. His faith was 
 firm, his hope was unclouded. Like the sun at his setting, 
 what was wanting in meridian splendor, was more than 
 supplied by the mild radiance on which the eye delighted 
 to dwell, and which threw abroad its rich and mellowed 
 glories more profusely, the nearer it approached to the 
 moment of its departure." 
 
 The number of Dr. Baldwin's publications, besides his 
 numerous contributions to periodical works, amounted to 
 thirty-seven. Most of them were single occasional ser- 
 mons. As a proof of the extent of his labors, it is men- 
 
76 THOMAS BALDWIN. 
 
 tioned that the number of individuals whom he had 
 baptized in Boston and other places, amounted to seven 
 hundred and eighty-eight. The number of marriages 
 which he solemnized in Boston, was two thousand six 
 hundred and sixty-one. 
 
 Much of the excellence of Dr. Baldwin's character, is 
 doubtless to be attributed to the circumstances in which 
 he was thrown, in the providence of God. His residence 
 in the wilds of New Hampshire, imparted an energy and 
 decision to his character which never forsook him. The 
 circle of clergymen with whom he associated in the me- 
 tropolis of New England, would naturally tend to correct 
 his taste, and enlarge his views. Still it was his own 
 patient, self-denying, vigorous effort, which principally, 
 under God, was the cause of his eminent usefulness. His 
 various controversies sharpened and invigorated his reason- 
 ing powers, but they did not create or essentially modify 
 those powers. 
 
 It is a most interesting fact in the history of Dr. Baldwin, 
 that he almost commenced anew his literary life at the 
 age of thirty-eight. His success furnishes strong encour- 
 agement to that class in the community, whose early edu- 
 cation has been neglected, and who find themselves, in 
 middle life, in a state of comparative and humiliating 
 ignorance. It is never too late to read ; it is never too late 
 to think. It is always a duty and a privilege to cultivate 
 those noble powers of reasoning and judgment, which our 
 benevolent Creator has given to us. Why may not the 
 intellect be kept burning brightly to the last moment of 
 life ? Why may not the stores of knowledge be enlarged 
 beyond the age of sixty ? Why may not even the imagi- 
 nation retain, up to the farthest limit of human existence, 
 the freshness and vigor of earlier flights ? Why may not 
 the soul spring into a renovated and immortal life, with 
 unimpaired and un wasted energies ? Is not much of that 
 
THOMAS BALDWIN. 77 
 
 senility in intellect, which we frequently observe in old 
 age, to be attributed, not to the constitution of the mind, 
 not to any law of the Creator, but to habits of bodily 
 indulgence ; because the individual quietly acquiesced in 
 what he ought to have vigorously met and vanquished 1 
 because he tamely submitted to the suggestions of indo- 
 lence, or to the seductive charms of domestic life ? Why 
 not approach the territories of death, as Dr. Dwight and 
 Robert Hall did, with firm step, with clear-sighted vision, 
 with intelligent humble faith, and with intellect too strong 
 and elastic for the frail earthly tenement any longer to 
 imprison. 
 
DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 
 
 See the sage Rittenhouse, with ardent eye, 
 
 Lift the long tube and pierce the starry sky ; 
 
 Clear in his view the circling systems roll, 
 
 And broader splendors gild the central pole. 
 
 He marks what laws the eccentric wanderers bind, 
 
 Copies creation in his forming mind. 
 
 And bids, beneath his hand in semblance rise, 
 
 With mimic orbs, the labors of the skies. 
 
 Vision of Columbus. 
 
 David R^ittenhouse was born near Germantown, 
 Pennsylvania, April 8th, 1732. The family originally 
 came from Guelderland, a province in Holland. They 
 settled in the State of New York, while it was a 
 Dutch colony, and were the first who engaged in the 
 manufacture of paper in this country. The father of 
 David Rittenhouse abandoned the occupation of a paper- 
 maker, when about twenty-nine years of age, and com- 
 menced the business of a farmer, on a piece of land which 
 he had purchased in the township of Norriton, about 
 twenty miles from the city of Philadelphia. It seems that 
 he very early designed his son for this useful and respec- 
 table employment. Accordingly, as soon as the boy 
 arrived at a sufficient age to assist in conducting the affairs 
 of the farm, he was occupied as an husbandman. This 
 kind of occupation appears to have commenced at an early 
 
DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 79 
 
 period of his life. About the fourteenth year of his ao-e 
 he was employed in ploughing in his father's fields. His 
 brother Benjamin relates, that while David was thus en- 
 gaged at the plough, he, (the informant,) then a young boy, 
 was frequently sent to call him to his meals ; at which 
 times he repeatedly observed, that not only the fences at 
 the head of many of the furrows, but even his ploughs and 
 its handles, were covered over with chalked 'numerical 
 figures. Astronomy was a favorite pursuit. He also ap- 
 plied himself industriously to the study of optics, the me- 
 chanical powers, &&C. without the advantages of the least 
 instruction. About the seventeenth year of his age, he 
 made a wooden clock, of very ingenious workmanship ; 
 and soon after, he constructed one of the same materials 
 that compose the common four-and-twenty hour clock, and 
 upon the same principles. He had, much earlier in life, 
 exhibited proofs of his mechanical genius, by making, 
 when only seven or eight years old, a complete water-mill 
 in miniature. 
 
 With many valuable traits of character, old Mr. Ritten- 
 house had no claims to what is termed genius. Hence he 
 did not properly appreciate the early specimens of talent 
 which appeared in his son David. He was, for some time, 
 opposed to the young man's earnest desire to renounce 
 agricultural employments, for the purpose of devoting him- 
 self altogether, to philosophical pursuits, in connection 
 with some such mechanical profession as might best com- 
 port with useful objects of natural philosophy, and be most 
 likely, at the same time, to afford him the means of a com- 
 fortable subsistence. At length, however, the father 
 yielded his own inclinations, in order to gratify what was 
 manifestly the irresistible impulse of his son's genius. He 
 supplied him with money to purchase, in Philadelphia, such 
 tools as were more immediately necessary for commencing 
 the clock-making business, which the son then adopted as 
 
80 DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 
 
 his profession. About the same time, young Mr. Ritten- 
 house erected, on the side of a public road and on his 
 father's land, in the township of Norriton, a small but 
 commodious workshop ; and, after having made many 
 implements of the trade with his own hands, to supply the 
 deficiency in his purchased stock, he set out in good ear- 
 nest, as a clock and mathematical instrument maker. 
 From the age of eighteen or nineteen to twenty-five, Mr. 
 Rittenhouse applied himself unremittingly, both to his 
 trade and his studies. Employed throughout the day in 
 his attention to the former, he devoted much of his nights 
 to the latter. Indeed, he deprived himself of the necessary 
 hours of rest ; for it was his almost invariable practice, to 
 sit up at his books, until midnight, sometimes much later. 
 
 When Mr. Rittenhouse's father established his residence 
 at Norriton, and during the minority of the son, there 
 were no schools in the vicinity at which anything more 
 was taught, than reading and writing in the English lan- 
 guage, and the simplest rules of arithmetic. Young Rit- 
 tenhouse's school education was therefore necessarily 
 bounded by very narrow limits. He was in truth taught 
 nothing beyond those very circumscribed studies, which 
 have been named, prior to his nineteenth year. The zeal 
 with which he pursued his studies will be seen from the 
 following extract of a letter, written in September, 1756, 
 being then little more than twenty-four years of age. " I 
 have not health for a soldier," (the country was then en- 
 gaged in war,) " and as I have no expectation of serving 
 my country in that way, I am spending my time in the old 
 trifling manner, and am so taken with optics, that I do not 
 know whether, if the enemy should invade this part of the 
 country, as Archimedes was slain while making geomet- 
 rical figures on the sand, so I should die making a 
 telescope." 
 
 An incident now occurred which served to make known 
 
DAVID RITTENHOUSE. gl 
 
 more extensively, the extraordinary genius of Rittenhouse. 
 His mother had two brothers, David and Lewis WilHams 
 (or William), both of whom died in their minority. David, 
 the elder of these, pursued the trade of a carpenter, or 
 joiner. Though, like his nephew and namesake, he was 
 almost wholly an uneducated youth, he also, like him, 
 early discovered an unusual genius and strength of mind. 
 After the death of this young man, on opening a chest 
 containing the implements of his trade, which was depos- 
 ited at Mr. M. Rittenhouse's, (in whose family it is pre- 
 sumed he dwelt,) a few elementary books, treating of 
 arithmetic and geometry, were found in it. With these, 
 there were various calculations and other papers, in man- 
 uscript ; all the productions of David Williams himself, 
 and such as indicated not only an uncommon genius, but 
 an active spirit of philosopbical research. To this humble 
 yet valuable coffer of his deceased uncle, Rittenhouse 
 had free access, while yet a very young boy. He often 
 spoke of this acquisition as a treasure, inasmuch as the 
 instruments belonging to his uncle, afforded him the means 
 of gratifying and exercising his mechanical genius, while 
 the books and manuscripts early led his mind to those con- 
 genial pursuits in mathematical and astronomical science, 
 w'hich were ever the favorite objects of his studies. This 
 circumstance, probably, occurred before his twelfth year. 
 " It was during the residence of Rittenhouse with his 
 father at Norriton," says his eulogist, Dr. Rush, " that he 
 made himself master of Sir Isaac Newton's Principia, 
 which he read in the English translation of Mr. Motte. 
 It was here, likewise, that he became acquainted with 
 the science of fluxions ; of which sublime invention, he 
 believed himself for a while to be the author, nor did he 
 know for some years afterwards, that a contest had been 
 carried on between Sir Isaac Newton and Leibnitz, for 
 the honor of that great and useful discovery." Mr. Rit- 
 
82 DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 
 
 tenhouse's early zeal in his practical researches into astron- 
 omy, prompted him to desire the greatest possible accuracy 
 in the construction of time-pieces adapted to astronomical 
 purposes ; and uniting, as he did, operative skill with a 
 thorough knowledge of the principles upon which their 
 construction depends, he was enabled, by his own me- 
 chanical ingenuity, to gain a near approach to the perfec- 
 tion to which the pendulum-chronometer may be brought. 
 
 ** There is nothing peculiar in the mechanism of this time- 
 piece, which requires to be mentioned, except the pendu- 
 lum ; especially the apparatus for counteracting the effects 
 of temperature. For this purpose, there is fastened on the 
 pendulum-rod (which is of iron or steel) a glass tube about 
 thirty-six inches long ; bent in the middle into two parallel 
 branches, at the distance of about an inch from each other ; 
 the bend being placed downwards, immediately above the 
 bob of the pendulum. The tube is open at one end, and 
 closed at the other ; the arm which is closed at the top is 
 filled, within about two inches of the lower end or bend, 
 with alcohol, and the rest of the tube, within about one 
 half of an inch of the upper extremity, or open end, with 
 mercury ; a few inches of the tube, at this extremity, being 
 about twice the width of the rest of the tube. 
 
 " Now when the heat of the air increases, it will expand 
 the pendulum-rod ; and would thus lower the centre of 
 oscillation, and cause the clock to go slower ; but this 
 offect is completely counteracted, by the expansion of the 
 alcohol chiefly, and of the mercury in part; which equally 
 raises the centre of oscillation, and thus preserves an equa- 
 ble motion in all the variable temperatures of the atmos- 
 phere." 
 
 The great accuracy and exquisite workmanship dis- 
 played in every thing belonging to the profession which 
 Mr. Rittenhouse pursued, that came through his hands, 
 soon became extensively kno\\\n, in that portion of the 
 
DAVID RITTENHOUSE. §3 
 
 United States where he lived. This knowledge of his 
 mechanical abilities, assisted by the reputation which he 
 had already acquired as a mathematician and astronomer, 
 in a short time procured him the friendship and patronage 
 of some eminent scientific men. In mechanics he was 
 entirely self-taught. He never received the least instruc- 
 tion from any person, in any mechanic art whatever. If 
 he were to be considered merely as an excellent artist, in 
 an occupation intimately connected with the science of 
 mechanics, untutored as he was in any art or science, he 
 would deservedly be deemed an extraordinary man. 
 
 In the bosom of his father's family he long continued to 
 enjoy the tranquil scenes of rural life, amidst the society of 
 an amiable and very intelligent family circle, and surrounded 
 by many estimable neighbors, by whom he was both loved 
 and respected. His chief occupation was that of the pro- 
 fession which he had chosen, but the occasional intervals 
 of leisure from his business, which his assistant workmen 
 enabled him to obtain, he devoted to philosophical and 
 abstract studies. 
 
 In February, 1766, Mr. Rittenhouse was married to 
 Miss Eleanor Colston, the daughter of a respectable mem- 
 ber of the Society of Friends, who lived in the neighbor- 
 hood. After her death he married Miss Hannah Jacobs. 
 
 In the year 1767, among other things, he contrived and 
 made a very ingenious thermometer, constructed on the 
 principle of the expansion and contraction of metals by 
 heat and cold, respectively. This instrument had, under 
 glass, a face upon which was a graduated semi-circle ; 
 the degrees of heat and cold corresponded with those of 
 Fahrenheit's thermometer ; and these were also corres- 
 pondingly designated by an index moving on the centre of 
 the arch. Its square, or rather parallelogramical form, its 
 flatness and thinness, and its small size, together with its 
 not being liable to the least sensible injury or irregularity. 
 
84 DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 
 
 from any position in which it might be placed, rendered it 
 a very convenient thermometer to be carried in the pocket. 
 
 About this time Mr. Rittenhouse made a very ingenious 
 orrery. Though no description in words, can give an 
 adequate idea, yet we subjoin a part of the philosopher's 
 ov/n account of it. " This machine is intended to have 
 three foces, standing perpendicular to the horizon ; that 
 in the front to be four feet square, made of sheet brass, 
 curiously polished, silvered, and painted, in proper places, 
 and otherwise properly ornamented. From the centre 
 arises an axis, to support a gilded brass ball, intended to 
 represent the sun. Round this ball move others, made of 
 brass or ivory, to represent the planets. They are to move 
 in elliptical orbits, having the central ball in one focus ; 
 and their motions to be sometimes swifter, and sometimes 
 slower, as nearly according to the true law of an equable 
 description of areas as possible, without too great a com- 
 plication of wheel work. The orbit of each planet is like- 
 wise to be properly inclined to those of the others ; and 
 their aphelia and nodes justly placed ; and their velocities 
 so accurately adjusted, as not to differ sensibly from the 
 tables of astronomy in some thousands of years. 
 
 " For the greater beauty of the instrument, the balls 
 representing the planets are to be of considerable bigness ; 
 but so contrived that they may be taken off at pleasure, 
 and others, much smaller, and fitter for some purposes, put 
 in their places. 
 
 " When the machine is put in motion, by the turning 
 of a winch, there are three indexes which point out the 
 hour of the day, the day of the month, and the year an- 
 swering to that situation of the heavenly bodies which is 
 there represented ; and so continually, for a period of 
 five thousand years, either forwards or backwards. 
 
 *' The two lesser faces are four feet in height, and two 
 feet three inches in breadth. One of them will exhibit all 
 
DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 85 
 
 the appearances of Jupiter and his satellites, their eclipses, 
 transits, and inclinations ; likewise all the appearances of 
 Saturn, with his ring and satellites. And the other will 
 represent all the phenomena of the moon, particularly, the 
 exact time, quantity, and duration of her eclipses, — and 
 those of the sun occasioned by her interposition ; with a 
 most curious contrivance for exhibiting the appearance of 
 a solar eclipse, at any particular place on the earth, like- 
 wise the true place of the moon in the signs, with her 
 latitude, and the place of her apogee in the nodes ; the 
 sun's declination, equation of time, &c. It must be un- 
 derstood that all these motions are to correspond exactly 
 with the celestial motions ; and not to differ several de- 
 grees from the truth, in a few revolutions, as is common in 
 orreries." 
 
 Some general idea, perhaps, of this instrument, may be 
 derived from the preceding description ; at least it will 
 afford sufficient evidence of the extraordinary philosophical 
 and mechanical powers of Rittenhouse. 
 
 Another most important service, which he rendered for 
 the world, was the observation of the transit of Venus 
 over the sun's disc, which took place on the third of June, 
 1769. There had been but one of these transits of Venus 
 over the sun, during the course of about one hundred and 
 thirty years preceding that of 1769 ; and, for upwards of 
 seven centuries, antecedently to the commencement of 
 that period, the same planet had passed over the sun's 
 disc no more than thirteen times. The next transit of 
 Venus will take place on the 8th of December, 1874, 
 which, but few if any persons, then on the stage of life, 
 will have an opportunity of observing. From 1874, 
 down to the 14th of June, A. D. 2984, inclusively, — a 
 period of upwards of eleven centuries, — the same planet 
 will pass over the sun's disc only eighteen times. 
 
 The great use of the observation of the transit of Venus 
 8 
 
86 DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 
 
 is to determine the sun's parallax.* Only two of these 
 phenomena had been ohserimd since the creation of the 
 world, and the first had been seen by only two persons — 
 Jeremiah Horrox and William Crabtree, two Englishmen. 
 As the time approached when this extraordinary phenom- 
 enon was to manifest itself, the public expectation and 
 anxiety were greatly excited. The American Philosophi- 
 cal Society appointed thirteen gentlemen, to be distributed 
 into three committees, for the purpose of making observa- 
 tions. Rev. Dr. Ewing had the principal direction of the 
 observatory in the city of Philadelphia ; Mr. Owen Biddle 
 had the charge of superintending the observations at Cape 
 Henlopen, and Mr. Rittenhouse those at Norriton, near 
 his own residence, on an elevated piece of ground, com- 
 manding a good range of horizontal view. It was com- 
 pletely furnished with the necessary instruments, owing 
 very much to the liberality of some scientific gentlemen in 
 England. 
 
 '* We are naturally led," says Dr. Rush, in hiseulogium, 
 " to take a view of our philosopher, with his associates, in 
 their preparations to observe a phenomenon, which had 
 never been seen but twice before by any inhabitant of our 
 earth, which would never be seen again by any person 
 then living, and on which depended very important astro- 
 nomical consequences. The night before the long ex- 
 pected day, was probably passed in a degree of solicitude 
 which precluded sleep. How great must have been their 
 joy, when they beheld the morning sun ; and the ' whole 
 horizon without a cloud,' for such is the description of the 
 
 * A parallax denotes a change of the apparent place of any heavenly 
 body, caused by being seen from different points of view ; or it is the 
 difference between the true and apparent distance of any heavenly 
 body from the zenith. The fixed stars are so remote as to have no 
 sensible parallax ; and even the sun and all the primary planets, ex- 
 cept Mars and Venus when nearest the earth, are at so great dis- 
 tances from the earth, that their parallax is too small to be observed. 
 
DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 87 
 
 day, given by Mr. Rittenhoiise, in his report to Dr. Smith. 
 In pensive silence and trembling anxiety, they waited for 
 the predicted moment of observation ; it came, — and 
 brought with it all that had been wished for, and expected, 
 by those who saw it. In our philosopher, in the instant 
 of one of the contacts of the planet with the sun, there 
 was an emotion of delight so exquisite and powerful, as to 
 induce fainting ; — such was the extent of that pleasure, 
 which attends the discovery or first perception of truth." 
 
 The observations of Mr. Rittenhouse were received 
 with great favor by the whole philosophical world. Mr. 
 Ludlam, one of the vice presidents of the Philosophical 
 Society of London, and an eminent astronomer, thus writes, 
 '' No astronomers could better deserve all possible encour- 
 agement ; whether we consider their care and diligence in 
 making their observations, their fidelity in relating what 
 was done, or the clearness and accuracy of their reasoning 
 on this curious and difficult subject. The more I read 
 the transactions of your Society, (the American Philosoph- 
 ical,) the more I honor and esteem the members of it. 
 There is not another Society in the world, that can boast 
 of a me^nber such as Mr. Rittenhouse ; theorist enough 
 to encounter the problems of determining, from a few ob- 
 servations, the orbit of a comet ; and also mechanic 
 enough to make, with his own hands, an equal-altitude 
 instrument, a transit-telescope, and a time-piece. I wish I 
 was near enough to see his mechanical apparatus. I find 
 he is engaged in making a curious orrery." 
 
 Dr. Maskelyne, Astronomer Royal at Greenwich, says, 
 the " Pennsylvania Observations of the transit were excel- 
 lent and complete, and do honor to the gentlemen who 
 made them, and those who promoted the undertaking." 
 Dr. Wrangel, an eminent and learned Swedish clergyman, 
 speaking of the Transactions of the American Philosophi- 
 cal Society, says, " Your accurate observations of the 
 
88 DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 
 
 transit of Venus, have given infinite satisfaction to our 
 Swedish astronomers." 
 
 On the 9th of November following, Mr. Rittenhouse, 
 in connection with several others, observed a transit of 
 Mercury over the sun's disc. 
 
 In the autumn of 1770, Mr. Rittenhouse removed with 
 his family to the city of Philadelphia. 
 
 A new phenomenon in the heavens soon after engaged 
 his attention ; this was the comet which appeared in June 
 and July, 1770. *' Herewith I send you," says Mr. Rit- 
 tenhouse, writing to Dr. Smith, " the fruit of three or four 
 days' labor, during which I have covered many sheets, 
 and literally drained my ink-stand several times." In 
 another letter he remarks, " I told you that some intricate 
 calculation, or other, always takes up my idle hours, (he 
 seems to have considered all his hours ' idle' ones which 
 were not taken up in some manual employment,) that I 
 cannot find time to write to my friends as often as I could 
 wish ; a new object has lately engrossed my attention. 
 The comet which appeared a few weeks since was so very 
 extraordinary, that I could not forbear tracing it in all its 
 wanderings, and endeavoring to reduce that motion to 
 order and regularity which seemed void of any. This, I 
 think, I have accomplished, so far as to be able to com- 
 pute its visible place for any given time ; and I can assure 
 you that the account from York, of its having been seen 
 again near the place where it first appeared, is a mistake. 
 Nor is Mr. Winthrop of Boston happier, in supposing that 
 it yet crosses the meridian, every day, between twelve and 
 one o'clock, that it has already passed its peripelion, and 
 that it may, perhaps, again emerge from the southern hori- 
 zon. This comet is now to be looked for nowhere but a 
 little to the north of, and very near to the ecliptic. It 
 rises now a little before day-break ; and will continue to 
 rise sooner and sooner every morning." 
 
DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 89 
 
 In March, 1771, the Legislature of Pennsylvania bore 
 the following honorable testimony to the worth of Mr. Rit- 
 tenhouse. 
 
 " The members of assembly, having viewed the orrery 
 constructed by Mr. David Rittenhouse, a native of this 
 province, and being of opinion that it greatly exceeds all 
 others hitherto constructed, in demonstrating the true 
 situations of the celestial bodies, their magnitudes, motions, 
 distances, periods, eclipses, and order, upon the principles 
 of the Newtonian system ; 
 
 '' Resolved ^ That the sum of three hundred pounds be 
 given to Mr. Rittenhouse, as a testimony of the high sense, 
 which this house entertain of his mathematical genius and 
 mechanical abilities, in constructing the said orrery." 
 
 In January, 1771, Mr. Rittenhouse was elected one of 
 the Secretaries of the American Philosophical Society. 
 In 1789, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was con- 
 ferred upon Mr. Rittenhouse by the college of New Jer- 
 sey. In January, 1791, on the death of Dr. Franklin, Dr. 
 Rittenhouse was, with great unanimity, elected President 
 of the American Philosophical Society. In 1795, he was 
 elected a member of the Royal Society of London. This 
 high honor had been previously conferred upon only three 
 or four Americans. 
 
 But he did not live long to enjoy his distinguished 
 honors. Soon after his entrance upon the sixty-fifth year 
 of his age, in June, 1796, he died. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green, being pastor of the con- 
 gregation in which Dr. Rittenhouse had often attended 
 divine worship during the latter years of his life, pro- 
 nounced an appropriate address at his interment. " This," 
 says Dr. Green, " is emphatically the tomb of genius and 
 science. Their child, their martyr is here deposited, — 
 and their friends will make his eulogy in tears. I stand 
 not here to pronounce it ; the thought that engrosses my 
 
90 DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 
 
 mind is this ; how much more clear and impressive must 
 be tlie views, which the late spiritual inhabitant of that 
 lifeless corpse now possesses of God, — of his infinite 
 existence, of his adorable attributes, and of that eternal 
 blaze of glory which emanates from Him, — than when she 
 was blinded by her vail of flesh ! Accustomed as she was 
 to penetrate far into the universe, — far as corporeal or 
 mental vision here can reach, — still what new and exten- 
 sive scenes of wonder have opened on her eyes, enlight- 
 ened and invigorated by death ! The discoveries of Rit- 
 TENHOUSE, since he died, have already been more, and 
 greater, than while he lived. Yes, and could he address 
 us from the spiritual world, his language would be — 
 
 'All, all on earth is shadow, all beyond 
 Is substance. — ' " 
 
 In a conversation with the Rev. Dr, Sproat, Dr. Ritten- 
 house, a short time before his death, declared that " he 
 could with truth say, that ever since he had examined 
 Christianity and thought upon the subject, he was a firm 
 believer in it ; and that he expected salvation only in the 
 way of the gospel." He had not attached himself to any 
 particular church. The members of his family were 
 mostly of the Society of Friends. In the last years of his 
 life he read many books on natural and revealed religion. 
 He was much pleased with the " Thoughts of Pascal." 
 
 He was a very modest and unassuming man, and in 
 this strikingly resembled Sir Isaac Newton, for whose 
 character and works, he had the highest veneration. His 
 usefulness, though great, was considerably circumscribed 
 by his want of an early education. In consequence of 
 this, he felt an unbecoming diflidence in his own powers, 
 and failed to commit his discoveries and thoughts to writ- 
 ing, which, in a published form, would, doubtless, have 
 eminently increased his useftdness, and the honor of the 
 country, which gave him birth. 
 
SAMUEL HUNTINGTON. 
 
 Samuel HuNTiNGTaN was born in Windham, in the 
 State of Connecticut, on the third day of July, 1732. The 
 family of Huntingtons emigrated into' this country, at an 
 early period. Nathaniel Huntington, the father of Samuel, 
 was a plain but estimable man, who followed the occupa- 
 tion of farming, in the town of Windham. His wife was 
 distinguished for piety and native talent, and their nume- 
 rous children, of whom three devoted themselves to the 
 Christian ministry, were endued with an unusual share of 
 mental vigor. Samuel, however, did not participate in the 
 invaluable benefits, which a collegiate education conferred 
 upon his brothers. Being the eldest son, he was destined 
 to pursue the humble but honorable course of his father — 
 the cultivation of the soil. His opportunities of acquiring 
 knowledge were extremely limited, and he received no 
 other education than the common schools of Connecticut 
 at that time afforded. He was gifted, however, with a 
 fine understanding, and with a strong taste for mental im- 
 provement. He employed all his leisure hours in reading 
 and study. But even in this limited and imperfect course, 
 he was compelled to struggle with great difficulties. Books 
 were then exceedingly rare. We, who live in the nine- 
 teenth century, can hardly conceive the extent of the des- 
 titution of books, which prevailed even in the time of the 
 
92 SAMUEL HUNTINGTON. 
 
 revolutionary war. The whole library, of which some 
 most respectable families were possessed, consisted of a 
 Psalter, one large Bible, and two or three of smaller size, 
 Dil worth's Spelling-Book, an Almanac, and perhaps one 
 volume of the Berry Street (London) Sermons. Some 
 families contrived to obtain a few additional works, but 
 the scarcity, every where, was very great. A curious proof 
 of this is found in the life of President Edwards, in which 
 he acknowledges repeatedly his great obligations to his 
 foreign correspondents for books and pamphlets, which 
 would not now be considered worth a transmission over 
 the Atlantic. Social or public libraries were almost un- 
 known, especially in the smaller towns. 
 
 The labors of the farm, which young Huntington con- 
 tinued to perform, until the twenty-second year of his age, 
 necessarily occupied the greater portion of his time, yet 
 his strong mind and unwearied industry enabled him to 
 acquire considerable scientific information upon various 
 subjects. At the age of twenty-two years, when he aban- 
 doned his agricultural pursuits, to engage in the study of 
 the law, he had acquired, principally from his own unas- 
 sisted exertions, an excellent common education. He 
 attained considerable acquaintance with the Latin lan- 
 guage. It does not appear that he directed his attention 
 to any other foreign tongue. 
 
 He early manifested a strong desire to study the legal 
 profession. He resolved " to thread the maze of the law," 
 with no other guide than his own judgment and persever- 
 ance, and to attain to distinguished usefulness by industry 
 and self-denial. It is probable that the method adopted 
 by him arose from pecuniary difficulties. He did not 
 attempt to seek the benefits of legal tuition in the office of 
 a lawyer, but borrowed the necessary books from Colonel 
 Jedidiah Elderkin, a member of the profession, residing 
 in Norwich. Having attained a competent knowledge of 
 
SAMUEL HUINTINGTON. 93 
 
 the general principles of law, he commenced his profes- 
 sional career in the town of Windham. In 17G0, he re- 
 moved to Norwich. His reputation as an advocate and a 
 man of talents, was soon established. Aided by a candid 
 and deliberate manner, which appeared in some degree 
 constitutional, few lawyers commanded a more extensive 
 practice. He was known to be a man of good sense, in- 
 tegrity, and punctuality. In 1774, Mr. Huntington was 
 appointed an Associate Judge of the Superior Court. In 
 1775, in conjunction with Roger Sherman, Titus Hosmer, 
 Oliver Wolcott, and William Williams, Mr. Huntington 
 took his seat in the General Congress. In July, 1776, he 
 affixed his name to the immortal instrument, which de- 
 clared our independence. 
 
 He retained his seat in Congress, till 1780. His stern 
 integrity, and inflexible patriotism, rendered him a promi- 
 nent member, and attracted a large portion of the current 
 business of the house, especially that w^hich was assigned 
 to committees. On the 28th of September, 1779, on 
 the resignation of John Jay, Mr. Huntington was chosen 
 to the highest civil dignity of the country — that of Presi- 
 dent of Congress. In 1781, he declined are-appointment 
 on account of ill health. He then resumed his judicial 
 functions in the Supreme Court of Connecticut. In 1 783, 
 he again took his seat in Congress. In 1784, he was 
 appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Connec- 
 ticut. He presided on the bench with great ability, in- 
 tegrity, and reputation. In 1786, he succeeded Governor 
 Griswold, as Chief Magistrate of the State, and continued 
 to be re-elected, with singular unanimity, till his death. 
 
 He closed his life at Norwich, on the 5th of January, 
 1796, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. His death was 
 tranquil and exemplary, and his religious confidence gen- 
 erally firm and unwavering. 
 
 For many years he had been a professor of religion, and 
 
94 SAMUEL HUNTINGTON. 
 
 appeared to derive great delight from the doctrines and 
 ordinances of the gospel. When the congregation, with 
 which he worshipped, was destitute of preaching, he offi- 
 ciated as a reader and conductor of the services. 
 
 Perhaps no man ever possessed greater mildness and 
 equanimity, than Governor Huntington. A living witness 
 attests, that during a residence of twenty-four years in his 
 family, he never, in a single instance, exhibited the slight- 
 est symptom of anger, nor spoke one word calculated to 
 wound the feelings of another, or to injure an absent per- 
 son. Notwithstanding his elevation, he had none of that 
 false pride, which dignity and honors are so apt to create. 
 After performing the business of his office, and instructing 
 numerous students in the principles of law, he was accus- 
 tomed, if any garden or household utensils had been bro- 
 ken, to repair them wdth his own hands ; and rather than 
 require the attendance of a servant for any trivial services, 
 he would perform them himself Being a man of great 
 simplicity and plainness of manners, he maintained that 
 it was a public duty to exhibit such an example as might, 
 so far as his individual efforts could avail, counteract the 
 spirit of extravagance, which had begun to appear. He 
 was very economical, though not parsimonious, in his per- 
 sonal habits and domestic arrangements. His distin- 
 guishing characteristics, both in conversation and in 
 epistolary correspondence, were brevity and caution. 
 
 In 17G'2, he was married to Miss Martha Devotion, a 
 daughter of the very respectable clergyman of the town of 
 Windham. Having no children of their own, they adopted 
 two children of their brother's, the Rev. Joseph Hunting- 
 ton. The late Samuel Huntington, Governor of Ohio, 
 and Mrs. Griffin, the lady of the venerable President of 
 Williams College, were the individuals who supplied the 
 deficiency in his family, and were privileged with his 
 excellent example and instructions. 
 
WILLIAM EDWARDS. 
 
 William Edwards, the celebrated Welsh engineer, 
 was born in 1719, in the parish of Eglwysan, in Glamor- 
 ganshire. He lost his father, who was a farmer, when he 
 was only two years old ; but his mother continued to hold 
 the farm, and was, in this manner, enabled to bring up 
 her family, consisting of two other sons and a daughter, 
 besides William, who was the youngest. Her other sons, 
 indeed, were soon old enough to take the chief part of her 
 charge from her hands. William was taught, in the mean 
 time, to read and write Welsh ; and this was all the edu- 
 cation which he seems to have received. When about 
 the age of fifteen, he first began to employ himself in 
 repairing the stone fences on the farm ; and in this hum- 
 ble species of masonry he soon acquired uncommon 
 expertness. The excellent work he made, and the des- 
 patch with which he finished it, at last attracted the notice 
 of the neighboring farmers ; and they advised his brothers 
 to keep him at this business, and to let him employ his 
 skill, when wanted, on other farms, as well as their own. 
 After this he was for some time constantly engaged ; and 
 he regularly added his earnings to the common stock of 
 the family. 
 
 Hitherto, the only sort of building, which he had prac- 
 tised, or had seen practised, was merely stone-masonry 
 
96 WILLIAM EDWARDS. 
 
 without mortar. But at length it happened that some ma- 
 sons came to the parish to erect a shed, for shoeing horses, 
 near a smith's shop. WilUam contemplated the operations 
 of these architects with the liveliest interest, and he used 
 to stand by them for hours while they were at work, taking 
 note of every movement which they made. A circum- 
 stance, which at once struck him, was that they used a 
 different description of hammer from what he had been 
 accustomed to employ ; and perceiving its superiority, he 
 immediately procured one of the same kind, for himself 
 With this he found he could build his walls both more 
 rapidly and more neatly than he had been wont to do. 
 But it was not long after he had, for the first time in his 
 life, an opportunity of seeing how houses were erected, 
 that he undertook to build one himself. It was a work- 
 shop for a neighbor ; and he performed his task in such a 
 manner as gained him great applause. Very soon after 
 this, he was employed to erect a mill, by which he still 
 further increased his reputation. He was now accounted 
 the best workman in that part of the country, and being 
 highly esteemed for integrity and fidelity to his engage- 
 ments, as well as for his skill, he had as much employ- 
 ment in his line of a common builder as he could under- 
 take. In his twenty-seventh year, however, he was in- 
 duced to engage in an enterprize of a much more difficult 
 and important character than anything which he had 
 hitherto attempted. Through his native parish runs a 
 river called the Taff, which flows into the estuary of the 
 Severn. It was proposed to throw a bridge over this river 
 at a particular spot, where it crossed the line of an in- 
 tended road ; but to this design difliculties of a somewhat 
 formidable nature presented themselves, owing both to 
 the great breadth of the water, and the frequent swell- 
 ings to which it was subject. Mountains, covered with 
 wood, rose to a considerable height, from both its banks ; 
 
WILLIAM EDWARDS. 97 
 
 which first attracted and detained every approaching cloud, 
 and then sent down its contents in torrents into the river. 
 Edwards, however, undertook the task of constructing the 
 proposed bridge, though it was the first work of the kind 
 in which he had ever engaged. Accordingly, in the year 
 1746, he set to work ; and in due time, completed a very 
 light and elegant bridge, of three arches, which, notwith- 
 standing that it was the work of both an entirely self-taught, 
 and an equally untravelled artist, was acknowledged to be 
 superior to anything of the kind in Wales. So far his 
 success had been as perfect as anything which could be 
 desired. But his undertaking was far from being yet 
 finished. He had both through himself and his friends 
 given security that the work should stand for seven years ; 
 and for the first two and a half .years of this term, all went 
 on well. There then occurred a flood of extraordinary 
 magnitude ; not only the torrents came down from the 
 mountains, in their accustomed channels, but they brought 
 along with them trees of the largest size, which they had 
 torn up by the roots ; and these, detained as they floated 
 along by the middle piers of the new bridge, formed a dam 
 there ; the waters accumulating behind, at length burst 
 from their confinement, and swept away the whole struc- 
 ture. This was no light misfortune in every way to poor 
 Edwards; but he did not suffer himself to be disheartened 
 by it, and he immediately proceeded as his contract bound 
 him to do, to the erection of another bridge. He now 
 determined, however, to span the whole width of the river, 
 by a single arch of the unexampled magnitude of one hun- 
 dred and forty feet from pier to pier. He finished the 
 erection of this stupendous arch in 1751, and had only to 
 add the parapets, when he was doomed once more to be- 
 hold his bridge sink into the water over which he had 
 raised it, the extraordinary weight of the masonry having 
 forced up the key-stones, and, of course, at once deprived 
 9 
 
98 WILLIAM EDWARDS. 
 
 the arch of what sustained its equipoise. Heavy as was 
 this second disappointment to the hopes of the young 
 architect, it did not shake his courage any more than the 
 former had done. The reconstruction of his bridge, for 
 the third time, was immediately begun with unabated spirit 
 and confidence. Still determined to adhere to his last 
 plan of a single arch, he had now thought of an ingenious 
 contrivance for diminishing the enormous weight which 
 had formerly forced the key-stone out of its place. In 
 each of the large masses of masonry, called the haunches 
 of the bridge, being the parts immediately above the two 
 extremities of the arch, he opened three cylindrical holes, 
 which not only relieved the central part of the structure 
 from all over-pressure, but greatly improved its general 
 appearance in point of lightness and elegance. This 
 bridge was finished in 1755 ; the whole undertaking hav- 
 ing occupied the architect about nine years in all ; and it 
 has stood ever since. 
 
 This bridge, at the time of its erection, was the largest 
 stone-arch known to exist in the world. Since that time, 
 stone arches of extraordinary dimensions have been built — 
 such as the five arches composing the splendid Pont de 
 Neuilly over the Seine near Paris, the span of each of which 
 is a hundred and twenty-eight feet— the island bridge 
 over the Liffey, near Dublin, which is a single arch of a 
 hundred and six feet in width— the bridge over the Tees, at 
 Winston, in Yorkshire, which is also a single arch of a hun- 
 dred and eight feet nine inches in width, and which was 
 built by John Johnson, a common mason, at a cost of only 
 five hundred pounds — and the nine elliptical arches, each 
 of a hundred and twenty feet span, forming the magnificent 
 Waterloo bridge, over the Thames, at London. A bridge 
 is now building at Chester, which is the largest single arch 
 in the world, being two hundred feet span. 
 
 At Bishop's Wearmouth, in the county of Durham, there 
 
WILLIAM EDWARDS. 99 
 
 is a cast iron bridge, over the river Wear, the chord of 
 the arch of which is two hundred and forty feet long. 
 The Southwark or Trafalgar bridge, ~over the Thames at 
 London is, at present, the finest iron bridge in the world. 
 It consists of three arches. The chord of the middle arch 
 is two hundred and forty feet long. There is a timber 
 bridge over the Delaware, near Trenton, in New Jersey, 
 which is the segment of a circle three hundred and forty-five 
 feet in diameter. The timber bridge over the Schuylkill, 
 at Philadelphia, is of the extraordinary span of three hun- 
 dred and forty feet. The bridge over the Piscataqua, near 
 Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is the segment of a circle 
 six hundred feet in diameter. 
 
 The bridge, built by Edwards over the Taff, buttressed 
 as it is at each extremity by lofty mountains, while the 
 water flows in full tide beneath it, at the distance of thirty- 
 five feet, presents an aspect very striking and magnificent. 
 
 This bridge spread the fame of Edwards over all the 
 country. He afterwards built many bridges in South 
 Wales, having their arches formed of segments of much 
 larger circles, and consequently much more convenient. 
 He found his way to this improvement entirely by his own 
 experience and sagacity ; as indeed he may be said to 
 have done in regard to all the knowledge which he pos- 
 sessed in his art. Even his principles of common masonry, 
 he used himself to declare, he had learned chiefly from 
 his studies among the ruins of an old-gothic castle in his 
 native parish. 
 
 Edwards was likewise a farmer, to the end of his days. 
 Such, moreover, was his unwearied activity that, not satisfied 
 with his week-day labors in these two capacities, he also 
 oflSciated on the Sabbath as pastor to an Independent con- 
 gregation, having been regularly ordained to that office 
 when he was about thirty years of age, and holding it till 
 his death. He accepted the usual salary from his congre- 
 
100 WILLIAM EDWARDS. 
 
 gation, considering it right that they should support their 
 minister ; but instead of putting the money into his own 
 pocket, he returned it all, and often much more, in charity 
 to the poor. He always preached in Welsh, though early 
 in life he had made himself acquainted with the English 
 language, having acquired it under the tuition of a blind 
 ^ old schoolmaster, in whose house he once lodged for a 
 short time, while doing some work at the county town of 
 Cardiff. In this effort he showed all his characteristic 
 assiduity. 
 
 He died in 1789, in the 70th year of his age. His 
 eldest son David, became also an eminent architect and 
 bridge-builder, though he had no other instruction in his 
 profession, than what his father had given him. David's 
 eldest son also inherited the genius of his father and grand- 
 father. 
 
KOBERT BLOOMFIELD. 
 
 Robert Bloomfield, the author of the ' Farmer's Boy,' 
 was born in 17(56, at a small village in Suffolk, England. 
 His father died before Robert was a year old. His mother 
 was left with the charge of five other children. In these 
 circumstances, in order to obtain a maintenance for her- 
 self and her family, she opened a school, and, of course, 
 taught her own children the elements of reading, along 
 with those of her neighbors. The only school education 
 which Robert ever received, in addition to what his mother 
 gave him, was two or three months instruction in writing 
 at a school in the town of Ixworth. At the time when he 
 was sent to this seminary, he was in his seventh year ; 
 and he was taken away so soon in consequence of the 
 second marriage of his mother. Her new husband, proba- 
 bly, did not choose to be at any expense in educating the 
 children of his predecessor. 
 
 We have no account in what manner Robert spent his 
 time from his seventh to his eleventh year ; but at this age 
 he was taken into the service of a brother of his mother, a 
 Mr. Austin, who was a respectable farmer on the lands of 
 the duke of Grafton. His uncle treated him exactly as he 
 did his other servants, but that was kindly, and just as he 
 treated his own sons. Robert, like all the rest of the 
 household, labored as hard as he was able ; but on the 
 9* 
 
102 ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. 
 
 Other hand, he was comfortably fed and lodged, although 
 his board seems to have been all he received for his work. 
 His mother undertook to provide him with the few clothes 
 which he needed, and this was more than she well knew 
 how to do. Indeed she found so much difficulty in fulfill- 
 ing her engagement, that she at length wrote to two of her 
 eldest sons, who were employed in London as shoemakers, 
 requesting them to assist her, by tr}^ing to do something 
 for their brother, who '' was so small of his age," she 
 added, " that Mr. Austin said that he was not likely to be 
 able to get his living by hard labor." To this application 
 her son George wrote- in reply, that if she would let Robert 
 come to town, he would teach him to make shoes, and his 
 other brother, Nathaniel, would clothe him. The anxious 
 and affectionate mother assented to this proposal ; but she 
 could not be satisfied without accompanying her son to 
 the metropolis, and puttings him herself into his brother's 
 hands. " She charged me," writes Mr. George Bloom- 
 field, " as I valued a mother's blessing, to watch over him, 
 to set good examples for him, and never to forget that he 
 had lost his father." 
 
 When Robert came to London he was in his fifteenth 
 year. What acquaintance he had with books, at this time, 
 is not stated, but it- must have been extremely scanty. 
 We find no notice, indeed, of his having been in the habit 
 of reading at all, while he was with Mr. Austin. The 
 place in which the boy was received by his two brothers, 
 was a garret in a Court in Bell Alley, Coleman Street, 
 where they had two turn-up beds, and five of them worked 
 together. " As we were all single men," says George, 
 *' lodgers at a shilling per week each, our beds were coarse, 
 and all things far from being clean and snug, like what 
 Robert had left at Sapiston. Robert was our man to 
 fetch all things to hand. At noon he brought our dinners 
 from the cook's shop; and any one of our fellow workmen. 
 
ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. X03 
 
 that wanted to have anything brought in, would send Rob- 
 ert, and assist in his work, and teach him for a recom- 
 pense for his trouble. Every day when the boy from the 
 public house came for the pewter pots, and to learn what 
 porter was wanted, he always brought the yesterday's 
 newspaper. The reading of this newspaper, we had been 
 used to take by turns ; but after Robert came, he mostly 
 read for us, because his time was of the least value." 
 The writer goes on to state, that in this his occupation of 
 reader of the newspapers, Robert frequently met with words 
 which were new to him, and which he did not understand, 
 a circumstance of which he often complained. So one 
 day his brother, happening to see, on a book-stall, a 
 small English dictionary, which had been very ill used, 
 bought it for him, for four-pence. This volume was to 
 Robert a valuable treasure ; and by consulting and study- 
 ing it, he soon learned to comprehend perfectly, what- 
 ever he read. The pronunciation of some of the hard 
 words, however, caused him much trouble ; but by an 
 auspicious circumstance he was at length put into the way 
 of having his difficulties here also considerably diminished. 
 One Sabbath evening, he and his brother chanced to walk 
 into a dissenting meeting-house in the Old Jewry, where 
 an individual of great popularity and talent was delivering 
 a discourse. This was Mr. Fawcet. His manner was 
 highly rhetorical. Robert was so much struck by his 
 oratory, that from this time, he made a point of regularly 
 attending the chapel every Sabbath evening. In addition 
 to the higher improvement of Mr. Fawcet's discourses, he 
 learnt from him the proper accentuation of difficult words, 
 which he had little chance of hearing pronounced else- 
 where. He also accompanied his brother sometimes, 
 though not often, to a debating society. Besides the 
 newspapers, too, he at this time read aloud to his brothers 
 and their fellow workmen several books of considerable 
 
104 ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. 
 
 extent — a history of England, British traveller, and a 
 geography — a sixpenny number of each of which in folio, 
 they took in every week. Robert spent in this way about 
 as many hours every week in reading, as boys generally 
 do in play. 
 
 These studies, even though somewhat reluctantly applied 
 to by Robert, doubtless had considerable effect in augment- 
 ing the boy's knowledge, and otherwise enlarging his 
 mind. But it was a work different from any of those 
 which have been mentioned, which first awakened his 
 literary genius. " I at this time," says Mr. George Bloom- 
 field, " read the London Magazine, and in that work about 
 two sheets were set apart for a Review. Robert seemed 
 always eager to read this Review. Here he could see what 
 the literary men were doing, and learn how to judge of the 
 merits of the works which came out ; and I observed that 
 he always looked at the poet's corner. One day he re- 
 peated a song which he composed to an old tune. I was 
 much surprised that he should make so smooth verses ; so I 
 persuaded him to try whether the editor of our paper would 
 give them a place in the poet's corner. He succeeded, 
 and they were printed. After this, Bloomfield contributed 
 other pieces to the same publication into which his verses 
 had been admitted ; and under the impulse of its newly 
 kindled excitement, his mind would seem to have suddenly 
 made a start forwards, which could not escape the obser- 
 vation of his associates. His brother and fellow workmen 
 in the garret, began to get instruction from him. Shortly 
 after, upon removing to other lodgings, they found them- 
 selves in the same apartment with a singular character ; a 
 person named.James Kay, a native of Dundee. He was 
 a middle aged man, and of a good understanding. He 
 had many books, and some which he did not value ; such 
 as The Seasons, Paradise Lost, and some novels. These 
 books he lent to Robert, who spent all his leisure hours 
 
ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. 105 
 
 in reading Tiie Seasons. In this book he took great de- 
 light. This first inspired him, in all probability, with the 
 thought of composing a long poem on rural subjects. 
 The design was also favored, in some degree, by a visit of 
 two months, which he was induced to pay about this time 
 to his native district. On this occasion, his old master, 
 Mr. Austin, kindly invited him to make his house his 
 home ; and the opportunity he thus had of reviewing, with 
 a more informed eye, the scenes in which he had spent his 
 early years, could hardly fail to act, with a powerful effect, 
 in exciting his imagination. It was at last arranged that 
 he should be taken as an apprentice by his brother's land- 
 lord, who was a freeman of the city ; and he returned to 
 London. He was at this time eighteen years of age. It 
 was not intended that his master should ever avail himself 
 of the power which the indentures gave him, and he be- 
 haved in this matter very honorably. Robert, in two 
 years more, learnt to work very expertly at the shoe- 
 making business. For some years after this, his literary 
 performances seem to have amounted merely to a few 
 effusions in verse, which he used generally to transmit in 
 letters to his brother, who had now gone to live at Bury 
 St. Edmunds, in his native county. Meanwhile he studied 
 music, and became a good player on the violin. 
 
 About this time he was married, and hired a room in the 
 second story of a house in Coleman Street. The landlord 
 gave him leave to work at his trade in the light garret two 
 pair of stairs higher. 
 
 It was while he sat plying his trade in the garret, in Bell 
 Alley, with six or seven other workmen around him, that 
 Bloomfield composed the work which first made his talents 
 generally known, and for which principally he continues 
 to be remembered, — his ' Farmer's Boy.' It is a very in- 
 teresting fact, that, notwithstanding the many elements of 
 disturbance and interruption in the midst of which the 
 
X06 ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. 
 
 author must, in such a situation, have had to proceed 
 through his task, nearly the half of this poem was com- 
 pleted before he committed a line of it to paper. This is 
 an uncommon instance both of memory and of self-abstrac- 
 tion. His feat, on this occasion, appears to have amounted 
 to the composing and recollecting of nearly six hundred 
 lines, without the aid of any record ; the production of 
 all this poetry, in the circumstances which have been 
 mentioned, perhaps deserves to be accounted a still more 
 wonderful achievement than its retention. 
 
 When the ' Farmer's Boy' was finished, in April, 1788, 
 it was submitted to several booksellers and other persons 
 in London, none of whom, however, probably took the 
 trouble of even examining the unrecommended production. 
 At last, in November of the same year, it was forwarded 
 by Mr. George Bloomfield to the late Mr. Capel Lofft, who 
 then resided on his estate in the immediate neighborhood 
 of the poet's birth place. The poem was accompanied by 
 a letter containing the narrative of the author's life. In- 
 duced, probably in part, to look into the manuscript by the 
 circumstance of its being a production of a native of 
 Suffolk, Mr. Lofft soon found the work to be well deserv- 
 ing of attention on its own account. He immediately 
 entered into correspondence with the author ; and the 
 result was the publication of the poem, in the month of 
 March, 1800, after a few provincialisms and grammatical 
 errors, by which it was disfigured, had been corrected. It 
 immediately became very popular, owing in part, doubtless, 
 to the extraordinary circumstances in which it was pro- 
 duced, but very much to its intrinsic merits. Within the 
 first three years after its appearance, seven editions, com- 
 prising in all twenty-six thousand copies, had been printed ; 
 and new impressions have since been repeatedly called for. 
 It was early translated into French, and Italian, and a part 
 of it into Latin. " It derives its principal value from its 
 
ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. 
 
 107 
 
 strict adherence to truth and nature. The writer, in fact, 
 has drawn his own portrait in the ' Farmer's Boy,' and 
 described the scenes and events which he actually wit- 
 nessed. Hence, there is a degree of spirit and originality 
 in the poem which renders it very pleasing. The versifi- 
 cation is uncommonly smooth and correct." Bloomfield 
 also wrote a volume entitled * Wild Flowers,' which was 
 well received, and was not unworthy of his reputation. 
 His latest work, ' Hazlewood Hall,' a village drama, does 
 not possess much merit. Bloomfield was patronized by 
 the duke of Grafton, who bestowed on him a small annuity, 
 and made him an under sealer in the seal office. It is 
 gratifying to know that those excellent and affectionate 
 relations, his mother and brother, both lived to witness the 
 prosperity of him who had been to each, in other days, 
 the object of so much anxious care. It was the dearest of 
 the poet's gratifications, when his book was printed, to 
 present a copy of it to his mother, to whom upon that oc- 
 casion, he had it in his power, for the first time, to pay a 
 visit, after twelve years' absence from his native village. 
 
 His situation in the seal office he was forced to resign, 
 on account of ill health. He then worked again at his 
 trade as a shoe-maker, and employed himself in construct- 
 ing yEolian harps. Engaging in the book-trade, he be- 
 came a bankrupt, and, in the latter part of his life, was 
 afflicted with violent head-aches, and became nearly blind. 
 His death took place on the 19th of August, 1823, in the 
 fifty-eighth year of his age. 
 
THOMAS SCOTT. 
 
 It is not our object to write the life, or even to abridge 
 the interesting Memoir of this venerated man. We shall 
 simply collect such facts as bear on the design of our pre- 
 sent undertaking, incorporating such remarks as may 
 seem timely and important. 
 
 " My father," says Dr. Scott " was a grazier, a man of 
 a small and feeble body, but of uncommon energy of mind 
 and vigor of intellect ; by which he surmounted, in no 
 common degree, the almost total want of education. His 
 circumstances were very narrow, and for many years he 
 struggled with urgent difficulties. But he rose above 
 them, and, though never affluent, his credit was supported, 
 and he lived in more comfortable circumstances to the age 
 of seventy-six years. He had thirteen children, ten of 
 whom lived to maturity ; and my eldest brother was twenty- 
 three years older than my youngest sister. Having been 
 taught, principally by my mother, to read fluently and to 
 spell accurately, I learned the first elements of Latin at 
 Burgh, two miles off, at a school to which, for a while, I 
 went as a day scholar. But at eight years of age I was 
 sent to Bennington, a village about four miles north of 
 Boston, where my father had a grazing farm, that I might 
 attend a school in the parish kept by a clergyman. Here 
 I continued about two years ; and, in addition to writing, 
 
THOMAS SCOTT. 109 
 
 and the first rudiments of arithmetic, I learned a little 
 Latin, at my master's desire, who thought he saw in me 
 a turn for that kind of learning. He had, as I recollect, 
 no other Latin scholar." 
 
 About this time his eldest brother, who was a surgeon 
 in the navy, died. "My father," continues the narrative, 
 ^* felt this event, as, in every way, a most heavy affliction. 
 He determined, however, if possible, to have a son in the 
 medical profession ; and, as I was thought of the proper age, 
 and seemed capable of readily learning Latin, I was selected. 
 From this time my attention was almost entirely directed 
 to that language ; and, at different places, I got a superfi- 
 cial knowledge of several books generally read at schools ; 
 which gave the appearance of far greater proficiency than 
 I had actually made. At ten years of age I was sent to 
 Scorton, where my brother had been before me ; and 
 there I remained five years, without returning home, or 
 seeing any relation or acquaintance. The whole expense 
 of boarding and clothing me amounted to =£14 a year ; 
 two guineas were paid for teaching, books being found ; 
 there were some extra charges for writing, arithmetic, and 
 French, and some expenses for medical assistance ; but I 
 have often heard my father mention that I cost him =£17 
 a year for five years. I think he must have underrated 
 the sum, but I am fully satisfied that .£100 more than 
 covered all the charges of the five years ; and this was 
 all the cost of my education. 
 
 " The Rev. John Noble was head-master of the school 
 at Scorton. He had been, in his day, indisputably, an 
 able teacher of the learned languages : but at this time he 
 was old and lethargic ; and, though still assiduous, was 
 most grossly imposed upon by the boys, and by none 
 more than by myself. When I arrived at Scorton, I was 
 asked what Latin books I had read ; and my answer in- 
 duced the usher to overrate my proficiency, and to place 
 10 
 
110 THOMAS SCOTT. 
 
 me in a class much beyond my superficial attainments. 
 This, however, stimulated me to close application, and it 
 was not very long before I overtook my class-mates, and 
 with ease accompanied them. Had I then, been again 
 pushed forward, I might have been excited to persevering 
 diligence ; but as I could appear with laudable credit, 
 without much application ; partly by actual proficiency, 
 and partly by imposing on Mr. Noble, under whose care 
 I now came ; my love of play, and my scarcity of money 
 for self-indulgent expenses, induced me to divide a great 
 proportion of my time between diversion and helping other 
 boys in their exercises, for a very scanty remuneration, 
 which I lost in gaming, or squandered in gratifying my 
 appetite. One thing is remarkable, considering what has 
 since taken place, that, while I could translate Latin into 
 English, or English into Latin, perhaps more readily and 
 correctly than any other boy in the school, I never could 
 compose themes. I absolutely seemed to have no ideas, 
 when set to work of this kind, either then or for some 
 years afterwards ; and was even greatly at a loss to write 
 a common letter. As for verses, I never wrote any ex- 
 cept nonsense verses, of one kind or othor ; which has 
 perhaps been the case also of many more prolific versifiers. 
 God had not made me a poet, and I am very thankful that 
 I never attempted to make myself one." 
 
 Soon after leaving school, he was bound apprentice to a 
 surgeon and apothecary at Alford, about eight miles from 
 Braytofi, his father's residence. His master, it appears, 
 was entirely unprincipled, and young Scott followed 
 closely in his steps. At the end of two months, he was 
 sent home in deep disgrace for gross misconduct. Though 
 this was a severe mortification to his father and to the 
 whole family, yet the course pursued towards him seems 
 to have been unjustifiably severe, and even cruel. 
 
 *' Immediately on my return home," continues Mr, 
 
THOMAS SCOTT. IJl 
 
 Scott, " I was set to do, as well as I could, the most la- 
 borious and dirty parts of the work belonging to a gra- 
 zier. On this I entered at the beginning of winter ; and 
 as much of my father's farm consisted of low land, which 
 was often flooded, I was introduced to scenes of hardship, 
 and exposed to many dangers from wet and cold, for 
 which my previous habits had not prepared me. In con- 
 sequence I was frequently ill, and, at length, suffered 
 such repeated and obstinate maladies that my life was 
 more than once despaired of. Yet a kind of indignant, 
 proud self-revenge, kept me from complaining of hardship; 
 though of reproach and even of reproof, I was impatient 
 to the greatest degree of irascibility. After a few un- 
 successful attempts, my father gave up all thoughts of 
 placing me out in any other way ; and for above nine years 
 I was nearly as entire a drudge as any servant or laborer 
 in his employ ; and almost as little known beyond the 
 circle of immediate neighbors. My occupation was gene- 
 rally about the cattle, and particularly in the spring season. 
 In this service I learned habits of hardiness in encounter- 
 ing all sorts of weather, (for the worse the weather, the 
 more needful it was that I should be with the sheep,) 
 which have since proved useful to me ; and though I was 
 not kept from learning many vices, I was out of the way 
 of acquiring habits of ease and indulgence, as I should 
 otherwise, probably, have done. My situation, however, 
 led me to associate with persons of the lowest station of 
 life, and wholly destitute of religious principle — in all 
 ranks the grand corrective, and in this rank almost the 
 sole restraint upon character and manners. These per- 
 sons tried to please me with flatteries, and to inflame still 
 more the indignancy of spirit with which I rebelled against 
 the supposed degradation that I suffered." 
 
 Still he entertained thoughts of the University and of 
 the clerical profession. He fondly cherished the hope of 
 
112 THOMAS SCOTT. 
 
 one day rising fron the degradation to which he was con- 
 demned. Hence, in some of the winter evenings he used 
 to read whatever books he could procure. But strange 
 to say, his father, though himself a studious and inquisitive 
 man, was wholly opposed to the gratification of the literary 
 propensity of his son, judging it to be wholly inconsistent 
 with diligence in his business. He used to say frequently 
 that he foresaw that his son would come to be a charge 
 to the parish. 
 
 This conduct of his father greatly strengthened him to 
 spend his leisure time from home, and often in low and 
 abandoned company. Another impediment was the almost 
 entire want of books. A few torn Latin books, a small 
 imperfect Dictionary, and an Eton fareek Grammar, com- 
 posed his whole stock in the languages. 
 
 Mr. Scott had only one surviving brother, and he was 
 well situated on a farm. His father was far advanced in 
 life, and not of a strong constitution. It was generally 
 supposed that Thomas would succeed to the estate. " But 
 at length," says the narrative, " it was discovered that 
 the lease of this farm was left by will to ray brother; and 
 that I was merely to be under-tenant to him for some 
 marsh-grazing lands, which were without a house, and on 
 which I knew a family could not be decently maintained. 
 On this discovery, I determined to make some effort to 
 extricate myself; and I only waited for an opportunity to 
 declare my determination. Without delay my Greek 
 Grammar was studied through and through; and I made 
 what use I could of my Latin books ; my father, in the 
 mean time, expressing his astonishment at my conduct. 
 
 " At length, in April, 1772, in almost the worst manner 
 possible, after a long wet day of incessant fatigue, I 
 deemed myself, and perhaps with justice, to be causelessly 
 and severely blamed, and I gave full vent to my indignant 
 passions ; and throwing aside my shepherd's frock, de- 
 
THOMAS SCOTT. II3 
 
 dared my purpose no more to resume it. That night I 
 lodged at my brother's, at a little distance ; but, in the 
 morning, I considered that a large flock of sheep had no 
 one to look after them, who was competent to the task ; 
 I therefore returned and did what was needful ; and then 
 set off for Boston, where a clergyman resided, with whom 
 I had contracted some acquaintance, by conversing with 
 him on common matters, when he came to do duty in my 
 brother's village, and took refreshments at his house. 
 
 " To this clergyman I opened my mind with hesitancy 
 and trepidation ; and nothing could exceed his astonish- 
 ment when he heard my purpose of attempting to obtain 
 orders. He knew me only as a shepherd, somewhat more 
 conversable, perhaps, than others in that station, and im- 
 mediately asked, ' Do you know anything of Latin and 
 Greek?' I told him I had received an education, but that 
 for almost ten years, I had not seen a Greek book, ex- 
 cept the Grammar. He instantly took down a Greek 
 Testament, and put it into my hands ; and without diffi- 
 culty I read several verses, giving both the Latin and 
 English rendering of them, according to the custom of our 
 school. On this, having strongly expressed his surprise, 
 he said, * Our visitation will be next week ; the arch- 
 deacon. Dr. Gordon, will be here ; and if you will be in 
 the town I will mention you to him, and induce him, if I 
 can, to send for you.' This being settled, I returned 
 immediately to my father for the intervening days; know- 
 ing how much, at that season, he wanted my help, for 
 services which he could no longer perform himself, and 
 was not accustomed to entrust to servants." 
 
 In a letter to his sisters, which he wrote about this time, 
 
 he says, " My aunt Wayet endeavored to rally me out of 
 
 my scheme, but I must own I thought her arguments 
 
 weak. She urged the ridicule which poo?- parsons meet 
 
 10* 
 
114 THOMAS SCOTT. 
 
 with ; but surely, those who ridicule any one on account of 
 his poverty, if he behaves in a manner worthy of his situa- 
 tion, are themselves persons whose opinion I despise. She 
 said she would not be of any profession, unless at the head 
 of it ; but this can be no rule for general practice, as some 
 must be subordinate. She mentioned my not being 
 brought up in a regular manner ; but it is the end, not the 
 means, which is of the greatest consequence ; and if a 
 man be qualified, it matters not where he procured his 
 qualifications. It sometimes humbles my vanity to hear 
 them all account of me as one of the lowest order of the pro- 
 fession, not only in point of fortune, but also in other par- 
 ticulars. If I know myself, I am not deficient in abilities, 
 though I am in the art of rendering them conspicuous ; 
 my vanity prompts me to say, that I am not without hopes 
 of making friends in this way of life, as I shall be more 
 conversant with men of letters, who are the companions I 
 most delight in, and for whose company I shall spare no 
 pains to qualify myself But let my condition in life be 
 what it will, I will endeavor to suit myself to it. Pray 
 heaven preserve me independent on any other for a liveli- 
 hood, and I ask no more. The happiest hours I have ever 
 spent, have been in your company, and the greatest reluc- 
 tance I feel at this change of my situation is, the being 
 separated from a set of sisters, for whom I have the most 
 sincere regard. 
 
 " At the appointed time," continues the narrative, " I 
 returned to Boston, where my family was well known, and 
 readily found access to the archdeacon, who was also ex- 
 amining chaplain to the Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Green. 
 Before him I repeated, in another part of the Greek Tes- 
 tament, what I had done at the clergyman's house ; and 
 was asked many questions, which I answered without the 
 least disguise. The archdeacon concluded the interview, 
 
THOMAS SCOTT. 115 
 
 by asuring me that he would state my case to the bishop, 
 and saying that he thought it probable his lordship would 
 ordain me. 
 
 " Thus encouraged, I expended all the little money 
 which I could raise, on books ; went to live at Boston ; 
 and applied diligently to study — especially to improve my 
 knowledge of the Greek Testament, (the Gospels in par- 
 ticular,) and to recover, or rather to acquire the ability of 
 composing in Latin. I had now for some years been 
 ready in expressing my thoughts, and had even been, in 
 some instances, a writer in newspapers and magazines. 
 I daily, therefore, wrote in Latin, on texts of Scripture, a 
 sort of short sermons, which my friend, the clergyman, 
 revised ; and, in return, I afforded him very seasonable 
 and welcome assistance in a grammar school which he 
 taught." 
 
 His first attempt to gain ordination was, however, un- 
 successful. His papers had not reached the ordaining 
 bishop in season, and other circumstances were unsatis- 
 factory. This repulse induced in the bosom of the appli- 
 cant, a kind of despair. The bishop had said that he 
 should probably admit him at the next ordination, pro- 
 vided he would procure his father's consent to the measure, 
 and a letter from any beneficed clergyman in the neigh- 
 borhood. But he was not personally known to half a 
 dozen clergymen of the description required ; and his at- 
 tempt was utterly reprobated by every one of them as in a 
 high degree presumptuous. He was now in the twenty- 
 sixth year of his age, wholly without the prospect of a de- 
 cent subsistence, and to complete the appalling prospect, 
 his father was most decidedly set against the design. 
 
 But an energy, such as Thomas Scott had, could not be 
 repressed. The fire, which was burning in his bosom, no 
 adverse circumstances could extinsjuish. He had made 
 
116 THOMAS SCOTT. 
 
 up his mind to accomplish the work, and it would seem 
 that no human power could stay him. 
 
 He travelled to his home from London, by a circuitous 
 route, and a great part of the way on foot, and the rest in 
 various vehicles. At length he reached Braytoft, after 
 walking twenty miles in the forenoon ; having dined, and 
 divested himself of his clerical dress, he resumed his shep- 
 herd's clothes, and in the afternoon, sheared eleven large 
 sheep ! 
 
 " This, however," he observes, " was my last labor of 
 the kind. My attempt to obtain orders had been- widely 
 made known in the neighborhood, even much beyond the 
 sphere of my personal acquaintance ; and it had excited 
 much attention and astonishment, with no small degree of 
 ridicule. This raised the spirit of my relations ; and the 
 sentiment expressed by my brother, was that of the other 
 branches of the family. * I wish,' said he, * my brother 
 had not made the attempt ; but I cannot bear to have it 
 said, that one of our name undertook what he was unable 
 to accomplish.' 
 
 " In consequence of this sensation, my brother and all 
 my sisters met by appointment at my father's house ; and, 
 with my mother, urged it in the most earnest manner, as 
 his indispensable duty, either to consent to my ordination, 
 or to fix me on a farm on my own account. I appre- 
 hend it was clearly foreseen what his concession would be, 
 if he could be induced to concede at all ; and accordingly, 
 after much debate, he gave his consent in writing to my 
 entering into orders. 
 
 " As the difficulty, which I regarded as insuperable, 
 was in a most unexpected manner, surmounted ; and my 
 hopes reviving, I was prepared to struggle over other ob- 
 stacles, if possible. Despairing of obtaining a letter to the 
 bishop from any of the beneficed clergymen, to whom, as 
 
THOMAS SCOTT. 117 
 
 living within a few miles, I was in some degree known, I 
 applied, without delay, to the vicar of Boston, Dr. Calthorp, 
 who was well acquainted with my mother and her family, 
 though he had seldom, if ever, seen me, till I met the 
 archdeacon at his house. He behaved in the most candid 
 manner ; yet as a truly conscientious man, (which I be- 
 lieve he really was,) he said justly, that he could not sign 
 my testimonial, or state anything concerning me from his 
 own knowledge, except for the short time which had passed 
 since I first came to his house ; but that he could give a 
 favorable account as to that time ; and if I could procure 
 attestations from any respectable persons, though not cler- 
 gymen, he would transmit them with his own letter to the 
 bishop. Thus encouraged, I went again to reside at 
 Boston, where I applied diligently to my studies ; but I 
 was greatly frowned on by many of my relations ; and I 
 frequently heard the laugh of the boys, as I walked about 
 the street in a brown coat, and with lank hair, pointing 
 me out as the ' parson !' — if this were a species of persecu- 
 tion, it was certainly not for C/u'ist's sake, or for right- 
 eousness^ sake, for I was estranged from both at this 
 time." 
 
 It is proper here to remark, that however valuable the 
 traits of character were, which were exhibited by Mr. 
 Scott, it is evident, and it is what he many times, and sor- 
 rowfully acknowledged in subsequent life, that he had not 
 that character which is essential in the Christian ministry. 
 He approached this sacred work as he- would have ap- 
 proached either of the other professions. No spirit can be 
 more foreign from the ministry of reconciliation than am- 
 bition, or disappointed pride, or that zeal which is enkin- 
 dled by a sense of degradation, and a desire to rise supe- 
 rior to our fellow creatures, in order to show them the 
 strength of our character, and the energy of our pur- 
 pose. The Great Shepherd was meek and lowly, and 
 
118 THOMAS SCOTT. 
 
 those only are accepted by him, who are willing to 
 tread in his steps. 
 
 ** At the ensuing ordination, I was admitted a candi- 
 date," continues Mr. Scott, " without objection, and was 
 examined at Buckden, by Dr. Gordon. After examina- 
 tion on other matters, he asked me numerous questions 
 concerning the nature of miracles; how real miracles 
 might be distinguished from counterfeit ones ; and how 
 they proved the truth of the doctrine in support of which 
 they were wrought. This was, indeed, almost the only 
 theological topic which I had studied with any tolerable 
 attention. He, however, perceived that I began to be 
 alarmed, and kindly said, * You need not be uneasy ; I 
 only wished to try of what you were capable ; and I per- 
 ceive that Christianity has got an able advocate in you.' 
 I could not find myself at liberty to suppress this remark- 
 able attestation, which is, I believe, expressed exactly in 
 the words he used ; but had he known either my creed, 
 and the state of my heart at that time, or whither my sub- 
 sequent inquiries would ultimately lead me, I am persuaded 
 he would not have spoken as he did." 
 
 Mr. Scott, immediately after his ordination, entered on 
 his duties as a curate for Stoke, and for Weston Under- 
 wood, in Buckinghamshire. " No sooner," says Mr. 
 Scott, " was I fixed in a curacy, than with close applica- 
 tion I sat down to the study of the learned languages, and 
 such other subjects as I considered most needful in order 
 to lay the foundation of my future advancement. I spared 
 no pains, I shunned, as much as I well could, all acquaint- 
 ance and diversions, and retrenched from my usual hours of 
 sleep, that I might keep more closely to this business." 
 
 In a period of nine months he read through the entire 
 works of Josephus in the original Greek. In a letter to 
 one of his sisters, dated September 18, 1773, he remarks, 
 *' I have, for some time, pursued my studies with assiduity. 
 
THOMAS SCOTT. hq 
 
 but I have only lately got to pursue them with method. 
 I am now about three hours in the day engaged in Hebrew. 
 The books 1 use are a Hebrew Bible, Grammars, and 
 Lexicons, the noted Septuagint, or Greek translation, and 
 a Commentary. I began at the first chapter of Genesis, 
 and I intend to go through the whole Bible in that man- 
 ner. You will see the manifold advantages of thus read- 
 ing the Scriptures. The original text, a Greek translation 
 two thousand years old and above, our translation, and 
 comments, read carefully, and compared together word 
 by word, cannot fail to give a deep insight into the sense 
 of the Scriptures ; and at the same time, two languages 
 are unitedly improving. The same I am doing in the 
 Greek and profane history. I am reading old Herodotus, 
 in the original, in Latin, and in English. For each book 
 read, whether ancient or modern history, I have my maps 
 laid before me, and trace each incident by the map ; and 
 in some degree also fix the chronology. So that the lan- 
 guages seem my principal study ; history, geography, and 
 chronology, go hand in hand. Neither is logic neglected. 
 I find my taste for study grow every day. I only fear I 
 shall be like the miser, too covetous. In fact I really 
 grudge every hour that I employ otherwise. Others go 
 out by choice, and stay at home by constraint ; but I 
 never stay at home by constraint, and go out because it is 
 necessary. In every other expense I am grown a miser ; 
 I take every method to save, but here I am prodigal. No 
 cost do I in the least grudge, to procure advantageous 
 methods of pursuing my studies. Of the Hebrew, some 
 twenty weeks ago I knew not a letter ; and I have now 
 read through one hundred and nineteen of the Psalms, and 
 twenty-three chapters of Genesis ; and commonly now read 
 two chapters in the time above mentioned, tracing every 
 word to its original, unfolding every verbal difiiculty." 
 At the same time the more appropriate duties of his 
 
120 THOMAS SCOTT. 
 
 calling were not neglected. He generally wrote two ser- 
 mons in a week, and, in one instance, in the course of 
 three weeks, wrote seven sermons, each thirty-five minutes 
 long. 
 
 For a few of the following years, Mr. Scott was em- 
 ployed on subjects of an exclusively religious nature, and 
 deeply affecting his personal feelings and character. At 
 length he became established in the liopes of the gospel of 
 Christ, and thenceforward his path was illuminated v/ith 
 the light of eternal life. But there was no change in the 
 vigor of his mind, and the unconquerable perseverance of 
 his character. His reading became as various as he had 
 the opportunity of making it. No book that furnished 
 knowledge, Vv'hich might be turned to account, was unin- 
 teresting to him. As an example, he read repeatedly Mr. 
 Henry Thornton's work on Paper Credit, having in some 
 measure been prepared for the subject, by his former 
 study of Locke's Treatises on Money, iSz.c. At a much 
 later period also he felt himself deeply interested in read- 
 ing the Greek Tragedia is, and other classic authors, with 
 his pupils. He earnestly desired to see the branches of 
 literature rendered subservient to religion ; and thought 
 that, while too much perhaps, was published directly 
 upon theological subjects, there was a lamentable defi- 
 ciency of literary works conducted upon sound Christian 
 principles. 
 
 The following extract exhibits an interesting trait in his 
 character. " After I had written my sermons for the 
 Sunday, I, for a long time, constantly rea^ them to my 
 wife before they were preached. At her instmce, I 
 altered many things, especially in exchanging words, 
 unintelligible to laborers and lace-makers, for simpler 
 language." 
 
 Between the year 1807, ard 1S14, Dr. Scott was the 
 tutor of persons preparing to go out as missionaiies, under 
 
THOMAS SCOTT. 121 
 
 the Church Missionary Society. The individuals who 
 came under his instruction, were in general German 
 Lutheran clergymen. All of them went forth as mis- 
 sionaries into the heathen world ; and most of them are 
 now usefully emplofed in that character. The progress 
 which they made in their studies was highly creditable, 
 in some instances remarkable. " With all my other en- 
 gagements," says Dr. Scott, " I am actually, in addition 
 to what I before taught the missionaries, reading Susoo 
 and Arabic with them. The former we have mastered 
 without difficulty, so far as the printed books go ; and 
 hope soon to begin translating some chapters into the lan- 
 guage. But, as to the latter, we make little progress ; yet 
 so far, that I have no doubt of being able to read the Koran 
 with them, should they continue here. It is in itself a 
 most difficult language, but my knowledge of the Hebrew 
 gives me an advantage." 
 
 This labor was accomplished when Dr. Scott was more 
 than sixti/ years old.' Perhaps there is hardly on record an 
 instance of more vigorous application to the study of very 
 difficult languages, — the student threescore years old, and 
 suffering severely from chronic complaints. It is one of 
 the proofs (would that they were far more numerous) 
 of a successful effort to withstand the effects of age. The 
 Hebrew, likewise, which was his auxiliary on this occa- 
 sion, had been entirely resumed, and almost learned since 
 his fifty-third year. 
 
 The history of the life of Dr. Scott teaches us a num- 
 ber of important lessons. It shows us that a resolute heart 
 can vanquish many difficulties. Dr. Scott had a great 
 variety of depressing and adverse circumstances with 
 which to meet. He had strong and ungovernable pas- 
 sions. He was compelled to spend some of the best years 
 of his life in an employment most uncongenial to mental 
 improvement. He had very little of the ease and leisure 
 11 
 
123 THOMAS SCOTT. 
 
 and delightful associations and poetry of a shepherd's life. 
 He had the storms, the incessant anxiety, and the exhaust- 
 ing labors of the occupation. He fed his flocks, not 
 among the green hills and vallies, but in low, marshy 
 regions, altogether unfriendly to intellectual effort. He 
 had also the disheartening remembrance of an early failure 
 constantly before his mind. Of this failure his own mis- 
 conduct too, was a principal cause. His father, with 
 many valuable qualities, was stern and inexorable. His 
 son had commenced an honorable profession, and had been 
 disgraced, and he determined to keep hiai henceforward 
 in a condition where neither his good nor bad conduct 
 would be known, where at least the pride of the family 
 would not again be wounded. Dr. Scott had also a rough 
 and unpolished exterior. He had native vigor of mind, 
 but little that was prepossessing in his first appearance, 
 even after a long and familiar intercourse with enlight- 
 ened society. But he urged his way over all these diffi- 
 culties. The number of obstacles only called forth a more 
 determined energy. He set his face forward, and all the 
 appalling forms of discouragement could not divert him. 
 Victory over one enemy gave him additional power to 
 attack another. A servile employment, degraded com- 
 panions, the pertinacious opposition of a father, the goad- 
 ing recollection of the past, a forbidding personal exterior, 
 severe bodily infirmity, advancing age, the pressure of 
 domestic duties, a miserable stipend for support — all, all 
 could not dampen that ardor w^hich engrossed and fired 
 his soul. 
 
 Another valuable lesson, which we are taught by Dr. 
 Scott's history, is that the highest possible motives of ac- 
 tion, a regard to the will of our Maker, and the well being 
 of mankind, are, at least, as operative and influential as 
 any selfish and personal considerations. In the com- 
 mencement of his intellectual career. Dr. Scott was labor- 
 
THOMAS SCOTT. 123 
 
 ing for himself. Personal aggrandizement was the prize 
 which he set before him, and which fixed his eye, quick- 
 ened his step, filled his mind. But ere long the current of 
 his desires was changed. The emotions and purposes 
 which had gone abroad only to bring back to himself a 
 fresh harvest of applause and reputation, went outward to 
 the ends of the earth, and upward to the throne of God. 
 Personal ambition gave place to the most expansive be- 
 nevolence. Instead of living for himself and for his own 
 times, he lived for other and future ages. But this change 
 did not repress the ardor of his soul. It did not freeze up 
 the living current there. He was as avaricious of time, 
 when that time was devoted to the interests of his Re- 
 deemer, as when it was employed in gathering tributes 
 of human admiration. He grappled as strongly and as 
 perseveringly with the difficulties of a foreign language, 
 when the hope of heaven and the honor of his Saviour 
 were before his eye, as when splendid church preferment, 
 or literary reputation were the idols to which he bowed in 
 worship. This fact is one of great interest. It shows 
 that the highest developement of the intellectual powers 
 is in perfect accordance with the most disinterested and 
 godlike benevolence, that human duty and human interest 
 are perfectly coincident. 
 
 Dr. Scott furnishes a most remarkable instance of severe 
 mental application till the very close of life. Amidst the 
 pressure of disease, and of pain, which were almost unin- 
 termitted, his mind maintained a very vigorous and healthy 
 action. At the age of seventy-tioo years, he remarks, " I 
 never studied each day more hours than I now do. Never 
 was a manufactory more full of constant employment than 
 our house ; five proof sheets of my Commentary a week to 
 correct, and as many sheets of copy (quarto) to prepare. '' 
 For about forty-six years he studied eight, ten, and some- 
 times fourteen hours a day. After thirty-three years' labor 
 
124 THOMAS SCOTT. 
 
 bestowed on his Commentary of the Scriptures, he was as 
 assiduous in correcting and improving it as ever. The 
 marginal references cost him seven years of hard labor. 
 When seventy years old, he engaged in a controversy with 
 a Jew on the fundamental questions in dispute between 
 the Jews and Christians, and produced an original and 
 highly interesting work in defence of the Christian faith. 
 At the age of sixty, a period at which it would generally 
 be thought impracticable to acquire a foreign tongue. Dr. 
 Scott studied Arabic and Susoo — the latter an African 
 dialect, and both exceedingly difficult languages to be mas- 
 tered. We rejoice in this instance of a man bearing fruit 
 in old age, triumphing over the pains and weakness of 
 mortality, and retaining full mental power to the last mo- 
 ment of life. It shows what is possible to be done in 
 numerous other cases. Many individuals intend to be 
 useless, intend to gather themselves into a corner in in- 
 glorious ease, if God sees fit to spare their life beyond the 
 age of threescore years. Dr. Scott reasoned and acted 
 differently. His sun was almost as bright at setting, as 
 in the morning or at the meridian. It sent forth the same 
 powerful heat, and the same mild and steady light. 
 
 It is also very gratifying to see that the unconquerable 
 energy and noble aim of this self-taught man, were not in 
 vain. AH this energy was expended on praiseworthy 
 objects. He labored not for the sake of showing his de- 
 cision of character, but of doing good with it. If he 
 wasted little intellect by idleness, he wasted as little by 
 misapplication. He brought the whole of his judgment, 
 and discrimination, and strong sense, and fearless piety, 
 and unsleeping mental power, to the promotion of human 
 happiness. He was certainly one of the most useful men 
 who ever lived. 
 
 The sale of his works, of plain didactic theology, during 
 his life time, amounted to two hundred thousand pounds 
 
THOMAS SCOTT. 125 
 
 Sterling. Probably an equal sum has been expended for 
 these same works since his death. Of his Commentary 
 on the Scriptures, not less than thirty-Jive thousand copies 
 have been sold in the United States alone, at a sum of at 
 least seven hundred thousand dollars. Two stereotype 
 editions of it have been published. The work is now, at 
 the distance of thirty years from its publication, as popu- 
 lar and acceptable to the religious public as ever. The 
 ANNUAL SALE is now, in this country, not less than fifteen 
 hundred copies. What an amount of good has been ac- 
 complished by a single effort of this entirely self-taught 
 man. At least one hundred thousand families gathering 
 their views of the meaning of the Christian revelation from 
 the comments of a single mind. This already amazing 
 amount of good, is but a tithe of what will yet be seen. 
 Wherever, on all the continents of this earth, the English 
 language shall be spoken, and the English Bible shall be 
 found, there the name of Thomas Scott will be hailed 
 as one of the most important benefactors of mankind. 
 
 11 
 
LOTT GARY. 
 
 Oh Afric ! what has been ihy crime ! 
 
 That thus like Eden's fratricide, 
 A mark is set upon thy cHme, 
 
 And every brother shuns thy side. 
 Yet are thy wrongs, thou long distrest, 
 
 Thy burden, by the world unweighed. 
 Safe in that unforgetful breast 
 
 Where all the wrongs of earth are laid. 
 The sun upon thy forehead frowned, 
 
 But man more cruel far than he, 
 Dark fetters on thy spirit bound. 
 
 Look to the mansion of the free I 
 Look to that realm where chains unbind 
 
 Where powerless falls the threatening rod. 
 And where the patient sufferers find, 
 
 A friend, a father in their God. 
 
 3Irs. Sigoumey. 
 
 Some events, which have recently taken place in thi& 
 country, have given a fresh interest to the cause of African 
 Colonization. In the county of Southampton, Virginia, 
 about sixty white persons fell victims in a negro insurrec- 
 tion, which occurred during the summer of 1831. A very 
 serious alarm has been communicated in consequence to 
 various portions of the southern country, and many appre- 
 hensions have been entertained of the repetition of similar 
 tragedies. A practical, though fearful proof, has thus 
 been given to the people of the United States, of the evil 
 of the slave system. The danger has been shown to be 
 real. It is no fictitious terror which has led the inhabi- 
 tants of Virginia to consider more maturely and earnestly 
 |,he plans of the American Colonization Society. Some- 
 
LOTT GARY. 127 
 
 thing must be done. An outlet for a part of the colored 
 population must be provided at all hazards. By the late 
 awful events, the providence of God is speaking to us 
 most distinctly to weigh well this subject, and to act 
 promptly in regard to it. 
 
 It seems to us that the American Colonization Society 
 has now come to a most important period of its history — 
 when a great movement can and ought to be made on- 
 ward — when, to fulfil the palpable indications of Provi- 
 dence, it should lay aside all hindrances, and proceed to 
 its great work with all the promptitude and wisdom possi- 
 ble. Such a course would furnish the best of all argu- 
 ments wherewith to meet the numerous opposers of the 
 Society. Plant on the African coast high and broad 
 monuments of the feasibility of colonization. Erect along 
 all the shore living confutations of the calumnies and of 
 the grave objections which have been urged against this 
 infant enterprise. Show practically that the well-being of 
 the free-colored population of this country is one great 
 object of the scheme, that when the African steps upon 
 the Liberian shore, he is elevated in the scale of being, and 
 rises into the dignity of true freedom. Write the eulogy 
 of the Society in Africa, on her shores, in her spreading 
 commerce, up her long rivers. When the voice of igno- 
 rance or ill-will assails this noble enterprize, let a thou- 
 sand happy voices come over the Atlantic and deny the 
 charge. 
 
 We do not ourselves place much confidence in the op- 
 position or the indifference which is manifested towards 
 the Colonization Society. It is not a selfish cold hearted 
 policy, designed to remove the colored people against their 
 inclinations and interest. It is an enterprise conceived in 
 the most exalted benevolence, and in the most comprehen- 
 siveregards to the interests of mankind. It is not a plan of 
 the North or the South. It looks to the well being of two 
 
128 LOTT GARY. 
 
 whole continents. In lawful and proper ways it would 
 purify this land from a fearful and blighting curse. It 
 would help to pour the light of eternal life on the whole of 
 forlorn and lost Africa. 
 
 Looking at the principal friends of the American 
 Colonization Society, we see no reason to impugn 
 their motives. Were not Harper, and Caldwell, and 
 Fitzhugh, men of sagacious mind, and of most expansive 
 charity. Did not pity, real pity for the woes of the 
 African race, fill the bosom of Mills, and Ashmun, and 
 Sessions, and Randall, and Anderson ? To call in ques- 
 tion the benevolence of such men, does nothing more than 
 to bring into doubt that of the objector. Examine the 
 public documents, try the public measures of the Society 
 with the most rigid scrutiny, and /they will not be found 
 wanting. Equally without foundation is the objection 
 urged against the unhealthiness of the African climate. 
 Not one half the mortality has been experienced at Liberia, 
 which ravaged and almost desolated the early colonies of 
 Virginia, New Plymouth, and Massachusetts. Let the 
 forest be levelled, and pure air circulate, let all the marshes 
 and stagnant waters be drained, let all the colonists avoid 
 unnecessary exposure and fatigue, and let them utterly 
 abandon all use of ardent spirits, and other stimulants, 
 and we should hear little more of the mortality of Liberia. 
 Temperate men can live and do live at Havana, at Ba- 
 tavia, at Calcutta, and at any other alledged unhealthy spot 
 on the globe. Those places are the graves of Europeans, 
 because a miserable police and intemperance have made 
 them to be so. To these causes we unhesitatingly ascribe 
 the greater part of the mortality which has prevailed at 
 Liberia. Remove the cause and the effect will cease. 
 
 The plan of colonizing the colored people is not a chi- 
 merical one. There are abundant means for this purpose. 
 An appropriation of one million of dollars annually to this 
 
LOTT GARY. 
 
 129 
 
 purpose, would transport such a number as would speedily 
 accomplish the great work. This country will speedily 
 be free from the public debt. She has several hundred mil- 
 lions of acres of land at her disposal. How perfectly 
 within the compass of her ability to assist in the deliver- 
 ance and return of the African race. The right constitu- 
 tionally to render this assistance will hardly be denied, 
 after the Indian precedent which has been given, after 
 the liberal and lavish offers, which have been made, to 
 induce the aboriginal inhabitants of this country to remove 
 to an El Dorado in the wilderness. 
 
 The great, the fundamental difficulty, want of intellec- 
 tual and moral preparation in the colored people, is not an 
 insuperable one. There has been, indeed, a long process 
 of degradation. Servile habits have been worn into the 
 soul. The intellect of the Africans has been muffled and 
 bandaged by law. Still they have minds. The spark of 
 immortal life has been kindled in them by their beneficent 
 Creator. They have the immaterial, responsible, expansive, 
 ever aspiring principle. Remove the pressure of adverse 
 circumstances, lay before them the proper motives, and 
 they will spring into the path which leads to honor, and 
 knowledge, and glory. The Creator has not doomed one 
 portion of his intellectual offspring to everlasting seclusion 
 from improvement. He has not buried them in one vast 
 grave where the light of truth and joy and immortal hope 
 will never reach them. Africa has had an Hanno, an 
 Hannibal, a Juba, a Cyprian, an Augustine. Did not 
 Africaner, who has been termed the South African Bona- 
 parte, exhibit noble traits of character ? Has not slavery 
 itself furnished specimens of genius which would have 
 done honor to the native hills and pure air of freedom? 
 Who has not heard of the generous and affectionate strains 
 of the self-taught Phillis Wheatley ; of the noble spirit of 
 
130 LOTT GARY. 
 
 Citizen Granville of Hayti, and of the magnanimity of 
 Prince Abdul Rahahhman. 
 
 In the year 1739, and for several years afterwards, 
 Benjamin Banneker, a colored man of Maryland, furnished 
 the public with an almanac, which was extensively circu- 
 lated through the Southern States. He was a self-taught 
 astronomer, and his calculations were so thorough and 
 exact, as to excite the approbation and patronage of such 
 men as Pitt, Fox, Wilberforce, and other eminent men, 
 by whom the work was produced in the British House of 
 Commons, as an argument in favor of the mental cultiva- 
 tion of colored people, and of their liberation from their 
 wretched thraldom. 
 
 Another interesting instance of self-taught African 
 genius, was Lott Cary* He was born a slave in 
 Charles City County, about thirty mi)es below Richmond, 
 Virginia, on the estate of Mr. William A. Christian. His 
 father was a pious and much respected member of the 
 Baptist Church, and his mother, though she made no pub- 
 lic profession of religion, died, giving evidence that she 
 relied for salvation upon the merits of the Son of God. 
 He was their only child, and though he had no early in- 
 struction from books, the admonitions and prayers of illit- 
 erate parents may have laid the foundations of his future 
 usefulness. In 1804, he was sent to Richmond, and 
 hired out by the year as a common laborer, at the Shockoe 
 warehouse. A strong desire to be able to read, was ex- 
 cited in his mind, by a sermon which he heard, and which 
 related to our Lord's interview with Nicodemus ; and hav- 
 ing obtained a Testament, he commenced learning his 
 letters, by trying to read the chapter in which this inter- 
 view is recorded. He was occasionally instructed by 
 young gentlemen at the warehouse, though he never 
 attended a regular school. In a little time he was able to 
 
LOTT GARY. 131 
 
 read, and also to write so as to make dray tickets, and 
 superintend the shipping of tobacco. Shortly after the 
 death of his first wife, in 1813, he ransomed himself and 
 two children for $850, a sum which he had obtained by 
 his singular ability and fidelity in managing the concerns 
 of the tobacco w^arehouse. Of the real value of his ser- 
 vices there, it has been remarked, '' no one but a dealer 
 in tobacco can form an idea." Notwithstanding the hun- 
 dreds of hogsheads, which were committed to his charge, 
 he could produce any one the moment it was called for ; 
 and the shipments were made with a promptness and cor- 
 rectness, such as no person, white or colored, has equalled 
 in the same situation. The last year in which he re- 
 mained in the warehouse his salary was $800. For his 
 ability in his work he was highly esteemed and frequently 
 rewarded by the merchant with a five dollar bank note. 
 He was also allowed to sell, for his own benefit, many 
 small parcels of damaged tobacco. It was by saving the 
 little sums obtained in this way, with the aid of subscrip- 
 tions by the merchants to whose interests he had been 
 attentive, that he was enabled to purchase the freedom of 
 his family. When the colonists were fitted out for Africa, 
 he was enabled to bear a considerable part of his own 
 expenses. He also purchased a house and some land in 
 Richmond. It is said that while employed at the ware- 
 house, he often devoted his leisure time to reading, and 
 that a gentleman, on one occasion, taking up a book 
 which he had left for a few moments, found it to be 
 " Smith's Wealth of Nations." He remained, for some 
 years, after his removal to Richmond, entirely regardless 
 of religion, and much addicted to profane and vicious 
 habits. But God was pleased to convince him of the 
 guilt and misery of a sinful state, and in 1807, he publicly 
 professed his faith in the Saviour, and became a member 
 of the Baptist church. Soon after this period, he com- 
 
133 LOTT GARY. 
 
 menced the practice of conducting the services at reli- 
 gious meetings. Though he had scarcely any knowledge 
 of books, and but little -acquaintance with mankind, he 
 would frequently exhibit a boldness of thought, and a 
 strength of intellect which no acquirement could have 
 ever given him. A distinguished minister of the Presby- 
 terian church made the following remark. " A sermon, 
 which I heard from Mr. Gary, shortly before he sailed 
 for Africa, was the best extemporaneous sermon, which I 
 ever heard. It contained very original and impressive 
 thoughts, some of which are distinct in my memory, and 
 never can be forgotten." The following sentences form 
 the closing part of an extemporaneous address which he 
 uttered on the eve of his departure. " I am about to leave 
 you ; and expect to see your faces no more. I long to 
 preach to the poor Africans the way of life and salvation. 
 I do not know what may befal me, or whether I may find 
 a grave in the ocean, or among the savage men, or more 
 savage wild beasts on the coast of Africa; nor am I 
 anxious what may become of me. I feel it my duty to 
 go ; and I very much fear that many of those, who preach 
 the gospel in this country, will blush when the Saviour 
 calls them to give an account of their labors in his cause, 
 and tells them, ' I commanded you to go into all the 
 world, and preach the gospel to every creature,' and (with 
 the most forcible emphasis he exclaimed) the Saviour 
 may ask. Where have you been ? What have you been 
 doing? Have you endeavored to the utmost of your 
 ability to fulfil the commands I gave you; or have you 
 sought your own gratification and your own ease, regard- 
 less of my commands ?" 
 
 As early as the year 18i5, he began to feel special in- 
 terest in the cause of African missions, and contributed, 
 probably, more than any other person, in giving origin and 
 character to the African Missionary Society, established 
 
LOTT GARY. 133 
 
 during that year in Richmond, and which has, for thirteen 
 years, collected for the cause of missions in Africa, from one 
 hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars. Ilis benevolence 
 was practical, and whenever, and wherever good objects 
 were to be effected, he was ready to lend his aid. 
 
 Mr. Cary was among the earliest emigrants to Africa. 
 Here he saw before him a wide and interesting field, de- 
 manding various and powerful talents, and the most de- 
 voted piety. His intellectual ability, firmness of purpose, 
 unbending integrity, correct judgment, and disinterested 
 benevolence, soon placed him in a conspicuous station, and 
 gave him wide and commanding influence. Though 
 naturally diffident and retiring, his worth was too evident, 
 to allow of his remaining in obscurity. It is well known 
 that great difficulties were encountered in founding a set- 
 tlement at Cape Montserado. So appalling were the cir- 
 cumstances of the first settlers, that soon after they had 
 taken possession, it was proposed that they should remove 
 to Sierra Leone. The resolution of Mr. Cary to remain 
 was not to be shaken, and his decision had no small effect 
 towards inducing others to imitate his example. In the 
 event, they suffered severely. More than eight hundred 
 natives attacked them in November, 1822, but were re- 
 pulsed ; and a few weeks after, a body of fifteen hundred 
 attacked them again at day-break ; several of the colonists 
 were killed and wounded ; but with only thirty-seven 
 effective men and boys, and the aid of their six pounder, 
 they again achieved a victory over the natives. In these 
 scenes Mr. Cary necessarily bore a conspicuous part. In 
 one of his letters he remarks, that like the Jews in rebuild- 
 ing their city, they had to toil with their arms beside 
 them, and rest uport their arms every night ; but he de- 
 clared after this, in the most emphatic terms, that " there 
 never had been an hour or a minute, no, not even when the 
 12 
 
134 LOTT GARY. 
 
 balls were flying around his head, when he could wish 
 himself back to America again." 
 
 The peculiar exposure of the early emigrants, the scan- 
 tiness of their supplies, and the want of adequate medical 
 attentions, subjected them to severe and complicated suf- 
 ferings. To relieve, if possible, these sufferings, Mr. 
 Cary obtained all the information in his power, concerning 
 the diseases of the climate, and the proper remedies. He 
 made liberal sacrifices of his property, in behalf of the 
 poor and distressed ; and devoted his time almost exclu- 
 sively to the relief of the destitute, the sick, and the af- 
 flicted. His services as physician to the colony were 
 invaluable ; and were, for a long time, rendered without 
 hope of reward. But amid his multiplied cares and efforts 
 for the colony, he never forgot or neglected to promote 
 the objects of the African Missionary Society, to which he 
 had long cherished and evinced the strongest attachment. 
 Most earnestly did he seek access to the native tribes, and 
 endeavor to instruct them in the doctrines and duties of 
 that religion, which had proved so powerful and precious 
 in his own case. Many of his last and most anxious 
 thoughts were directed to the establishment of native 
 schools in the interior. One such school, distant seventy 
 miles from Monrovia, and of great promise, was established 
 through his agency, about a year before his death, and 
 patronized and superintended by him till that mournful 
 event. 
 
 In September, 1826, Mr. Cary was elected Vice Agent 
 of the Colony, and discharged the duties of that important 
 office till his death. In his good sense, moral worth, de- 
 cision, and public spirit, Mr. Ashmun, the Agent, had the 
 most entire confidence. Hence, when compelled to leave 
 the colony, he committed the administration of affairs into 
 the hands of the Vice Agent, in the full belief that no in- 
 
LOTT GARY. 135 
 
 terest would be betrayed, and no duty neglected. The 
 conduct of Mr. Cary, while for six months he stood at 
 the head of the colony, added to his previously high rep- 
 utation. 
 
 On the evening of the 8th of November, 1828, while 
 Mr. Cary, and several others, were engaged in making 
 cartridges in the old agency house at Monrovia, in prepa- 
 ration to defend the rights of the colony against a slave- 
 trader, a candle appears to have been accidentally over- 
 turned, which caught some loose powder, and almost 
 instantaneously reached the entire ammunition, producing 
 an explosion, which resulted in the death of eight persons. 
 Mr. Cary survived for two days. 
 
 '* The features and complexion of Mr. Gary's character 
 were altogether African. He was diffident, and showed 
 no disposition to push himself into notice. His words 
 were simple, few, direct, and appropriate. His conversa- 
 tion indicated rapidity and clearness of thought, and an 
 ability to comprehend the great principles of religion and 
 government. 
 
 *' To found a Christian colony, which might prove a 
 blessed asylum to his degraded brethren in America, and 
 enlighten and regenerate Africa, was an object with which 
 no temporal good, not even life could be compared. The 
 strongest sympathies of his nature were excited in behalf 
 of his unfortunate people, and the divine promise cheered 
 and encouraged him in his labors for their improvement 
 and salvation. His record is on high. His memorial 
 shall never perish. It shall stand in clearer light, when 
 every chain is broken, and Christianity shall have assumed 
 her sway over the millions of Africa." 
 
JOHN OPIE. 
 
 John Opie was born in the parish of St. Agnes, about 
 seven miles from Truro, in the county of Cornwall, 
 England, in 1761. His father and grandfather were car- 
 penters. John appears to have been regarded among his 
 rustic companions as a kind of parochial wonder from his 
 early years. At the age of twelve, he had mastered 
 Euclid, and was considered so skilful in arithmetic and 
 penmanship, that he commenced an evening school for 
 the instruction of the peasants of the parish of St. Agnes. 
 His father, a plain mechanic, seems to have misunderstood 
 all these indications of mental superiority, and wished 
 him to leave the pen for the plane and saw ; and it would 
 appear that his paternal desires were for some time obeyed, 
 for John, at least accompanied his father to his work ; 
 but this was when he was very young, and it seems 
 probable that he disliked the business, since his father 
 had to chastise him for making ludicrous drawings^ with 
 red chalk, on the deals which were planed for use. 
 
 His love of art came upon him early. When he was 
 ten years old, he saw Mark Oates, an elder companion, 
 and afterwards captain of marines, draw a butterfly ; he 
 looked anxiously on, and exclaimed, "I think I can draw 
 a butterfly as well as Mark Oates :" he took a pencil, 
 tried, succeeded, and ran breathless home to tell his 
 
JOHN OPIE. 137 
 
 mother what he had done. Soon afterward he saw a 
 picture of a farmyard in a house in Truro where his 
 father was at work ; he looked and looked — went away — 
 returned again and looked — and seemed unwilling to be 
 out of sight of this prodigy. For this forwardness, his 
 father gave him a sharp chastisement — but the lady of the 
 house interposed, and gave the boy another sight of the 
 picture. On returning home, he procured cloth and colors, 
 and made a copy of the painting, from memory alone. He 
 likewise attempted original delineation from life; and, by 
 degrees, hung the humble dwelling round with likenesses 
 of his relatives and companions, much to the pleasure of 
 his uncle, a man with sense and knowledge above his 
 condition, but greatly to the vexation of his father, who 
 could not comprehend the merit of such an idle trade. 
 
 He was employed for some time, in the family of Dr. 
 Wolcot, the satirist, as a menial servant. How long he 
 remained in that employment is not known. He com- 
 menced portrait painting, by profession, very early in life. 
 He used to wander from town to town in quest of employ- 
 ment. " One of these expeditions," says his biographer, 
 " was to Padstow, whither he set forward, dressed as usual 
 in a boy's plain short jacket, and carrying with him all 
 proper apparatus for portrait painting. Here, among 
 others, he painted the whole household of the ancient and 
 respectable family of Prideaux, even to the dogs and cats 
 of the family. He remained so long absent from home, 
 that some uneasiness began to arise on his account, but it 
 was dissipated by his returning, dressed in a handsome 
 coat, with very long skirts, laced ruffles, and silk stockings. 
 On seeing his mother he ran to her, and taking out of his 
 pocket twenty guineas which he had earned by his pencil, 
 he desired her to keep them, adding that in future he 
 should maintain himself" 
 
 For his mother, he always entertained the deepest af- 
 12* 
 
1:38 JOHN OPIE. 
 
 fection — and neither agfe nor the pressure of worldly busi- 
 ness diminished his enthusiasm in the least. He loved 
 to speak of the mildness of her nature and the tenderness 
 of her heart — of her love of truth and her maternal cir- 
 cumspection. He delighted to recal her epithets of fond- 
 ness, and relate how she watched over him when a boy, 
 and warmed his gloves and great coat in the winter morn- 
 ings, on his departure for school. This good woman lived 
 to the age of ninety-two, enjoyed the fame of her son, and 
 was gladdened with his bounty. 
 
 Of those early efforts, good judges have spoken with 
 much approbation ; they were deficient in grace, but true 
 to nature, and remarkable for their fidelity of resemblance. 
 He painted with small pencils, and finished more highly 
 than when his hand had attained more mastery. His 
 usual price, when he was sixteen years of age, was seven 
 shillings and sixpence for a portrait. But of all the works, 
 which he painted in those probationary days, that which 
 won the admiration of the good people of Truro most, 
 was a parrot walking down his perch ; all the living parrots 
 that saw it, acknowledged the resemblance. So much was 
 he charmed with the pursuit and his prospects, that when 
 Wolcot asked him how he liked painting, " Better," he 
 answered, " than bread and meat." 
 
 In the twentieth year of his age he went to London, 
 and under the patronage of Wolcot, at first excited great 
 attention. Of his success, Northcote gives the following 
 account. " The novelty and originality of manner in his 
 pictures, added to his great abilities, drew an universal 
 attention from the connoisseurs, and he was immediately 
 surrounded and employed by all the principal nobility of 
 England. When he ceased, and that was soon, to be a 
 novelty, the capricious public left him in disgust. They 
 now looked out for his defects alone — and he became, in 
 his turn, totally neglected and forgotten ; and, instead of 
 
JOHN OPIE. 139 
 
 being the sole object of public attention, and havino- the 
 street where he lived so crowded with coaches of the 
 nobility as to become a real nuisance to the neighborhood, 
 ' so,' as he jestingly observed to me, ' that he thought he 
 must place cannon at the door to keep the multitude off 
 from it,' he now found himself as entirely deserted as if 
 his house had been infected with the plague. Such is 
 the world !" His popularity, however, continued rather 
 longer than this description would seem to imply. When 
 the wonder of the town began to abate, the country came 
 gaping in; and ere he had wearied both, he had aug- 
 mented the original thirty guineas with which he com- 
 menced the adventure, to a very comfortable sum ; had 
 furnished a house in Orange Court, Leicester Fields. 
 The first use which he made of his success, was to spread 
 comfort around his mother ; and then he proceeded with 
 his works and studies like one resolved to deserve the 
 distinction which he had obtained. His own strong 
 natural sense, and powers of observation, enabled him to 
 lift the vail which the ignorant admiration of the multi- 
 tude had thrown over his defects ; he saw where he was 
 weak — and labored most diligently to improve himself 
 His progress was great — and visible to all, save the leaders 
 of taste and fashion. When his works were crude and 
 unstudied, their applause was deafening : when they were 
 ^such as really merited a place in public galleries, the 
 world, resolved not to be infatuated twice with the same 
 object, paid them a cold, or at least, a very moderate at- 
 tention. " Reynolds," it has been remarked, '• is the 
 only eminent painter who has been able to charm back 
 the public to himself after they were tired of him." The 
 somewhat rough and unaccommodating manners of Opie 
 were in his way ; it requires delicate feet to tread the path 
 of portraiture; and we must remember that he was a 
 peasant, unacquainted with the elegance of learning, and 
 
140 JOHN OPIE. 
 
 unpolished by intercourse with the courtesies and ameni- 
 ties of polite life. He was thrown into the drawing-room, 
 rough and rude as he came from the hills of Cornwall, 
 and had to acquit himself as well as he could. 
 
 He divided his time between his profession and the 
 cultivation of his mind. He was conscious of his defec- 
 tive education ; and, like Reynolds, desired to repair it, 
 by mingling in the company of men of learning and talent, 
 and by the careful perusal of the noblest writers. " Such 
 were the powers of his memory, that he remembered all he 
 had read. Milton, Shakespeare, Dryden, Pope, Gray, 
 Cowper, Butler, Burke, and Dr. Johnson, he might, to use 
 a familiar expression, be said to know by heart." A man 
 of powerful understanding and ready apprehension, *' who 
 remembered all he read," and who had nine of the great- 
 est and most voluminous of our authors by heart, could 
 never be at any loss in company, if he had tolerable skill 
 in using his stores. To his intellectual vigor we have 
 strong testimony. " Mr. Opie," said Home Tooke, 
 " crowds more wisdom into a few words than almost any 
 man I ever knew — he speaks as it were in axioms, and 
 what he observes is worthy to be remembered." " Had 
 Mr. Opie turned his powers of mind," says Sir James 
 Mackintosh, " to the study of philosophy, he would have 
 been one of the first philosophers of the age. I was never 
 more struck than with his original manner of thinking and 
 expressing himself in conversation ; and had he written 
 on the subject, he would, perhaps, have thrown more light 
 on the philosophy of his art than any man living." 
 
 The chief excellence of Opie lies in portrait painting. 
 He has great vigor, breadth, and natural force of character. 
 His portrait of Charles Fox has been justly commended, 
 nor does the circumstance of his having completed the 
 likeness from the bust by Nollekens, as related by Smith, 
 diminish his merit. 
 
JOHN OPIE. 141 
 
 When Fox, who sat opposite to Opie at the Academy 
 dinner given in the exhibition-room, heard the general 
 applause which his portrait obtained, he remembered that 
 he had given him less of his time than the painter had re- 
 quested, and said across the table, " There, Mr. Opie, you 
 see I was right ; every body thinks it could not be better. 
 Now, if I had minded you, and consented to sit again, 
 you most probably would have spoiled the picture." 
 
 " He painted what he saw," says West, '' in the most 
 masterly manner, and he varied little from it. He saw 
 nature in one point more distinctly and forcibly than any 
 painter who ever lived. The truth of color as conveyed 
 to the eye through the atmosphere, by which the distance 
 of every object is ascertained, was never better expressed 
 than by him. He distinctly represented local color in all 
 its various tones and proportions, whether in light or in 
 shadow, with a perfect uniformity of imitation. Other 
 painters frequently made two separate colors of objects in 
 light and in shade, — Opie never. With him no color — 
 whether white, black, primary, or compound — ever, in 
 any situation, lost its respective hue." 
 
 His works were not the offspring of random fits of 
 labor, after long indulgence in idleness, they were the 
 fruit of daily toil, in which every hour had its allotted task. 
 " He was always in his painting room," says his wife, 
 Amelia Opie, " by half past eight in winter, and by eight 
 o'clock in summer; and there he generally remained, 
 closely engaged in painting, till half past four in winter, 
 -i.nd till five in summer. Nor did he allow himself to be 
 idle when he had no pictures bespoken, and as he never 
 let his execution rust for want of practice, he, in that 
 case, either sketched out designs for historical or fancy 
 pictures, or endeavored, by working on an unfinished pic- 
 ture of me, to improve himself by incessant practice in 
 that difficult branch of art, female portraiture. Neither 
 
142 JOHN OPIE. 
 
 did he suffer his exertions to be paralyzed by neglect the 
 most unexpected, and disappointment the most unde- 
 served." 
 
 " During the nine years that I was his wife," says Mrs. 
 Opie, " I never saw him satisfied with any one of his pro- 
 ductions ; and often, very often^ have I seen him enter my 
 sitting room, and, in an agony of despondence throw 
 himself on the sofa, and exclaim, ' I am the most stupid of 
 created beings, and I never, never shall be a painter as long 
 as I live.' He used to study at Somerset House, where the 
 pictures were hung up, with more persevering attention 
 and thirst for improvement than was ever exhibited per- 
 haps by the lowest student in the schools, and on his 
 return, I never heard him expatiate on his own excel- 
 lencies, but sorrowfully dwell on his own defects." 
 
 When Henry Fuseli was made keeper of the Royal 
 Academy, Opie was elected to the professorship of paint- 
 ing. He gave four lectures, which contain many discrim- 
 inating remarks, and valuable thoughts, though they are 
 deficient in deep discernment, and an original grasp of 
 mind. The following passage embodies important hints, 
 not only for young artists, but for every young man, who 
 is aspiring to usefulness in any situation of life. 
 
 ** Impressed as I am at the present moment, with a full 
 conviction of the difficulties attendant on the practice of 
 painting, I cannot but feel it also my duty to caution every 
 one who hears me, against entering into it from improper 
 motives, and with inadequate views of the subject ; as 
 they will thereby only run a risk of entailing misery and 
 disgrace on themselves and their connections during the 
 rest of their lives. Should any student therefore happen 
 to be present, who. has taken up the art on the supposition 
 of finding it an easy and amusing employment — any one 
 who has been sent into the academy by his friends, in 
 the idea that he may cheaply acquire an honorable and 
 
JOHN OPIE. 143 
 
 profitable profession — any one who has mistaken a petty 
 kind of imitative monkey talent for genius — any one who 
 hopes by it to get rid of what he thinks a more vulgar or 
 disagreeable situation, to escape confinement at the counter 
 or desk — any one urged merely by vanity or interest, or, 
 in short, impelled by any consideration but a real and un- 
 conquerable passion for excellence ; let him drop it at 
 once, and avoid these walls and every thing connected 
 with them, as he would the pestilence ; for if he have not 
 this unquestionable liking, in addition to all the requisites 
 above enumerated, he may pine in indigence, or pass 
 through life as a hackney likeness-taker, a copier, a draw- 
 ing-master, or pattern drawer to young ladies, or he may 
 turn picture cleaner, and help time to destroy excellencies 
 which he cannot rival, but he must never hope to be in 
 the proper sense of the word, a painter. 
 
 " He, who wishes to be a painter, must overlook no 
 kind of knowledge. He must range deserts and moun- 
 tains for images, picture upon his mind every tree of the 
 forest and flower of the valley, observe the crags of the 
 rock and the pinnacles of the palace, follow the windings 
 of the rivulet, and watch the changes of the clouds ; in 
 short, all nature, savage or civilized, animate or inani- 
 mate, the plants of the garden, the animals of the wood, 
 the minerals of the mountains, and the motions of the sky, 
 must undergo his examination. Whatever is great, what- 
 ever is beautiful, whatever is interesting, and whatever is 
 dreadful, must be familiar to his imagination, and concur 
 to store his mind with an inexhaustible variety of ideas 
 ready for association on every possible occasion, to em- 
 bellish sentiment and to give eifect to truth. It is more- 
 over absolutely necessary that then the epitome of all — his 
 principal subject and his judge — should become a par- 
 ticular object of his investigation ; he must be acquainted 
 with all that is characteristic and beautiful, both in regard 
 
144 JOHN OPIE. 
 
 to his mental and bodily endowments ; must study their 
 analogies and learn how far moral and physical excellence 
 are connected and dependent one on the other. He must 
 farther observe the power of the passions in all their com- 
 binations, and trace their changes as modified by constitu- 
 tion, or by the accidental influences of climate or custom, 
 from the sprightliness of infancy to the despondency of 
 decrepitude ; he must be familiar with all the modes of life, 
 and above all, endeavor to discriminate the essential from 
 the accidental, to divest himself of the prejudices of his 
 own age and country, and, disregarding temporary fashions 
 and local taste, learn to see nature and beauty in the ab- 
 stract, and rise to general and transcendental truth, which 
 will always be the same." 
 
 These are noble sentences, and worthy of the regard of 
 those who paint the mind, who are employed in intellec- 
 tual portraiture, and whose work is to survive all material 
 fabrics. 
 
 Opie died on Thursday, the 9th of April, 1807. Dur- 
 ing his sickness he imagined himself to be occupied in 
 his favorite pursuit, and continued painting in idea till 
 death interposed. He was interred in St. Paul's Cathedral, 
 near Sir Joshua Reynolds. '* In person," says Allan 
 Cunningham, from whom we have compiled the preceding 
 biography, '' Opie looked like an inspired peasant. Even 
 in his more courtly days there was a country air about 
 him, and he was abrupt in his language and careless in 
 his dress, without being conscious of either. His looks 
 savored of melancholy ; some have said of moroseness. 
 The portrait which he has left of himself, shows a noble 
 forehead and an intellectual eye. There are few who 
 cannot feel his talents, and all must admire his fortitude. 
 He came coarse and uneducated from the country into 
 the polished circles of London ; was caressed, invited, 
 praised, and patronized for one little year or so, and then 
 
JOHN OPIE. 145 
 
 the giddy tide of fashion receded ; but he was not left a 
 wreck. He had that strength of mind which triumphs 
 over despair. He estimated the patronage of fickle igno- 
 rance at what it was worth, and lived to invest his name 
 with a brighter as well as a steadier halo, than that of 
 fashionable wonders. 
 
 13 
 
JVATHANIEL. SMITH. 
 
 Nathaniel Smith was born at Woodbury, in the 
 State of Connecticut, on the 6th of January, 1762. He 
 was destitute of the means of an early education, and 
 while yet a youth was actively and successfully engaged 
 in pursuits, in which he discovered such discretion and 
 strength of intellect, as promised future eminence. An 
 incident of no great importance in itself, induced him to 
 enter upon the study of the profession of law. Having 
 engaged in this pursuit, he persevered in it with surpris- 
 ing constancy of purpose, unappalled by difficulties, 
 which ordinary minds would have deemed entirely insur- 
 mountable. He studied under the direction of the cele- 
 brated Judge, Tapping Reeve, of Litchfield, founder of 
 the law school in that place, and the sound and enlight- 
 ened guide of many young men, who have become eminent 
 in their profession. Probably no individual who has lived 
 in this country, has done so much as Judge Reeve, in 
 implanting in the breasts of lawyers, the great principles 
 of morality and religion. 
 
 Mr. Smith entered the office of Judge Reeve about the 
 close of the war of the revolution, and such was his 
 progress as to afford proof of the soundness of his judg- 
 ment in the choice of his profession. In 1787, he was 
 admitted to the bar, and his first efforts showed a mind of 
 a superior order. Though surrounded by powerful com- 
 
NATHANIEL SMITH. 147 
 
 petitors, he soon rose to distinction, and was pronounced 
 an able advocate. 
 
 In 1795, Yale College bestowed on him the honorary 
 degree of Master of Arts, and in the same year, he was 
 chosen representative in the Congress of the United States, 
 where he continued four years. On his declining a third 
 election to Congress, he was chosen a member of the 
 Upper House, (or Senate,) of his native State, in which 
 office he was continued, by annual election, for several 
 years. In these various stations, he acquired great respect 
 for his manly eloquence, for his firmness, his political 
 integrity, and his comprehensive views. In October, 
 1806, he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court. 
 This place he accepted at a great pecuniary sacrifice, as 
 thereby he relinquished his lucrative and extensive pro- 
 fessional employments. He remained in this important 
 office until May, 1819. Not having had the advantages 
 of early instruction and discipline, his style and manner 
 of speaking showed nothing of the polished refinement of 
 the scholar, but it manifested that which is of far greater 
 value, a mind thoroughly disciplined, acquainted with the 
 subjects on which it was occupied, and intensely engaged 
 in convincing the understandings of his hearers. In his 
 arguments at the bar, in his speeches before deliberative 
 assemblies, and in his opinions on the bench, he discussed 
 nothing but the merits of the question, and here he always 
 appeared, as in truth he was, an able man. His language 
 was not classical, but appropriate — his eloquence was not 
 ornamented but powerful — it fixed attention, and produced 
 conviction. He never sought to display quahties which 
 he did not possess. He reasoned according to the strict 
 rules of logic, without ever having studied them — he 
 spoke well without any theoretical knowledge of the arts 
 of the rhetorician. To a mind naturally strong and 
 thoroughly disciplined, he added so much knowledge of 
 
148 NATHANIEL SMITH. 
 
 the technicalities and forms of the law, as enabled him to 
 discern the nature of the questions submitted to him, and 
 with the aid of his own resources, to decide correctly in 
 cases of doubt and difficulty. To obstacles, which could 
 be overcome, he never yielded. The powers of his mind 
 rose with every difficulty, which he had to encounter, and 
 he appeared to be the strongest when sustaining the 
 heaviest weight. 
 
 Judge Smith was never a skeptic in religion. He 
 always entertained great regard for Christianity. He had, 
 notwithstanding, doubts respecting the reality of that 
 change which is produced in the hearts of men, by the 
 influence of the Spirit of God. At length, at the age of 
 forty-six years, in the full possession of his understanding, 
 and at a time when his imagination would not lead hira 
 astray, and in the hour of calm and deliberate reflection, 
 he believed that such a change was produced in his own 
 bosom. Under its influence he afterwards lived. His 
 religious impressions were kept, for a time, entirely con- 
 cealed, even from his most intimate friends. This pro- 
 ceeded, as it is supposed, from an excessive delicacy, as 
 well as from a mistaken sense of duty. Placed as he was 
 in an high and responsible office, and fearing that in his 
 situation, an avowal of his faith in Christ, might be at- 
 tributed to improper motives, he retained his feelings 
 within his own breast. When his situation in relation to 
 the public became such as to prevent any misconstruction 
 of his motives, he hesitated no longer to profess his belief 
 in religious truth, and his high hopes growing out of it. 
 His trust in the merits and grace of the Redeemer of men, 
 cheered and supported him during the remainder of his 
 days. 
 
 He died in calm and blessed expectation of eternal 
 life, at Woodbury, on the 9th of March, 1822, in the 
 sixty-first year of his age. 
 
JOHN GODFREY VON HERDER. 
 
 This distinguished author was born on the 25th of 
 August, 1744, at Mohrangen, a small town in Eastern 
 Prussia^ where his father taught a school for girls. His 
 early education was not favorable to the developement of 
 his faculties. His father confined his reading to a very 
 few books, but his love of learning was so strong, as to 
 lead him to prosecute his studies in secret. The clergy- 
 man of the place employed the boy as a copyist, and soon 
 discovered his talents, and allowed him to participate in 
 the lessons in Latin and Greek, which he gave his own 
 children. At this time, young Herder suffered from a 
 serious disease of the eyes, which was the occasion of 
 his becoming better known to a Russian surgeon, who 
 lived in the clergyman's house, and who was struck with 
 the engaging manners, and pleasing appearance of the 
 youth. He offered to take Herder with him to Konigs- 
 berg and to Petersburg, and to teach him surgery gra- 
 tuitously. Herder, who had no hopes of being able to 
 follow his inclinations, left his native city, in 1762 ; but, 
 in Konigsberg, he fainted at the first dissection at which 
 he was present. He now resolved to study theology. 
 Some gentlemen to whom he became known, and who 
 immediately interested themselves in his favor, procured 
 him an appointment in Frederic's College, where he was, 
 
 la* 
 
150 JOHN GODFREY VON HERDER. 
 
 at first tutor to some scholars, and, at a later period^ 
 instructer in the first philosophical, and in the second 
 Latin class, which lefi; him time to study. During this 
 period he became known to the celebrated Kant, who 
 permitted him to hear all his lectures gratuitously. He 
 formed a more intimate acquaintance with Hamann. His 
 unrelaxing diligence penetrated the most various branches 
 of science, theology, philosophy, philology, natural and 
 civil history, and politics. In 1764, he was appointed an 
 assistant teacher at the cathedral school of Riga, with 
 which office, that of a preacher was connected. His 
 pupils in school, as well as his hearers at church, were 
 enthusiastically attached to him, so much that it was 
 thought necessary to give him. a more spacious church. 
 His sermons were distinguished by simplicity, united with 
 a sincere devotion to evangelical truth and original in- 
 vestigation. While on a visit to Strasburg, in 1767, he 
 was invited to become court-preacher, superintendent and 
 consistorial counsellor, at Biickeburg, whither he pro- 
 ceeded in 1771. He soon made himself known as a dis- 
 tinguished theologian, and, in 1775, was offered a profes- 
 sorship at Gottingen, which he, however, did not accept 
 immediately, because the king had not confirmed his ap- 
 pointment unconditionally ; and, contrary to custom, he 
 was expected to undergo a kind of examination. But, 
 being married. Herder did not feel at liberty to decline 
 the appointment. On the very day when he had resolved 
 to go to Gottingen, he received an invitation to become 
 court preacher, general superintendent and consistorial 
 counsellor at Weimar. This appointment was through 
 the influence of Gothe. He arrived at Weimar in October, 
 1776. It was at the time when the duke Augustus and 
 the princess Amelia had collected many of the most dis- 
 tinguished German literati at their court. Weimar was 
 greatly benefited by Herder's labors as a pulpit orator. 
 
JOHN GODFREY VON HERDER 151 
 
 inspector of the schools of the country, the patron of merit 
 and founder of many excellent institutions. In 1801, he 
 was made president of the high consistory, a place never 
 before given to a person not of the nobility. Herder was 
 subsequently made a nobleman by the elector of Bavaria. 
 He says himself that he accepted the rank for the sake of 
 his children. Herder died, on the 18th of December, 
 1803. Germany is deeply indebted to him for his valuable 
 works in almost every branch of literature, and few authors 
 have had a greater influence upon the public taste in that 
 country. His works were published in forty-five octavo 
 volumes, in 1806. Aiiother edition is now publishing in 
 sixty small volumes. As a theologian. Herder contributed 
 to a better understanding of the historical and antiquarian 
 parts of the Old Testament. " In early years," says Her- 
 der, '* when the fields of knowledge lay before me, with 
 all the glow of a morning sun, from which the meridian 
 sun of life takes, away so much of the charm, the idea 
 often recurred to my mind, whether, like other great sub- 
 jects of thought, each of which has its philosophy and 
 science, that subject also, which lies nearest to our hearts, 
 — the history of mankind, viewed as a whole — might not 
 also have its philosophy and science, ^^very thing re- 
 minded me of this idea — metaphysics aad morals, natural 
 philosophy and natural history, lastly, and most powerfully, 
 religion." This is the key to Herder's life. The object 
 of his investigations v^as to find the point from which he 
 might calmly survey every thing, and see how all things 
 converge. *' It is," says Frederic Schlegel, " the very 
 perception and feeling of the poetical, in the character of 
 natural legends, which forms the most distinguishing 
 feature in the genius of Herder. He has an energy of 
 fancy by which he is enabled to transport himself into the 
 spirit and poetry of every age and people. The poetry of 
 the Hebrews was that which most delighted him. He 
 
152 JOHN GODFREY VON HERDER. 
 
 may be called the mythologist of German literature, on 
 account of this gift, this universal feeling of the spirit of 
 antiquity. His power of entering into all the shapes and 
 manifestations of fancy, implies in himself a very high 
 degree of imagination. His mind seems to have been 
 cast in so universal a mould, that he might have attained 
 to equal eminence, either as a poet or philosopher." 
 
 Notwithstanding his genius, Herder had great difficulties 
 to surmount — want of early education and encouragement 
 — poverty — and a serious and lasting disease of the eyes. 
 He was a most laborious and indefatigable student. He did 
 not attempt to arrive at truth by metaphysical speculation, 
 but by observation, by the constant study of nature and the 
 mind, in all its works, in the arts, law, language, religion, 
 medicine, poetry, &c. 
 
 In 1819, the grand duke of Weimar ordered a tablet of 
 cast iron to be placed on his grave, with the inscription, 
 Licht, Licbe, Lehen. Light, Love, Life. 
 
GIOVANNI BATTISTA BELZONI. 
 
 This enterprising traveller was born at Padua, Italy, in 
 1778, where his father was a barber. The family, how- 
 ever, had belonged originally to Rome ; and it is related 
 that Belzoni, when only thirteen years of age, betrayed 
 his disposition for travelling, by setting out one day 
 along with his younger brother to make his way to that 
 city, which he had long been haunted with a passionate 
 desire to see, from hearing his parents so often speak of it. 
 The failing strength and courage of his brother, however, 
 forced him to relinquish this expedition, after they had 
 proceeded as far as the Appenines; and he returned to 
 assist his father once more in his shop, as he had already, 
 for some time, been doing. But when he was three 
 years older, nothing could detain him any longer in his 
 native place ; and he again took the road to Rome, which 
 he now actually reached. It is said that on his first 
 arrival in this capital, he applied himself to the acquire- 
 ment of a knowledge of the art of constructing machines 
 for the conveyance and raising of water, with the view 
 probably of obtaining a livelihood by the exhibition of 
 curious or amusing experiments in that department of 
 physics. It is certain, however, that he eventually adopted 
 the profession of a monk. The arrival of Bonaparte in 
 Italy, in 1800, brought him the opportunity, which he 
 
154 GIOVANNI BATTISTA BELZONI. 
 
 embraced, of throwing off his monastic habit, being, by 
 this time, heartily tired of the idleness and obscurity to 
 which it consigned him. He then pursued, for some time, 
 a wandering life, having, in the first instance, returned to 
 his native town, and then proceeded in quest of employ- 
 ment to Holland, from whence, in about a year afterwards, 
 he came back to Italy. By this time he had attained so 
 uncommon a height, with strength proportioned to it, that 
 he was an object of wonder whenever l>e was seen. It 
 was probably with the expectation of being able to turn 
 these personal advantages to account, that he determined, 
 in 1803, to go over to England. On arriving there, ac- 
 cordingly, he first attempted to gain a maintenance by 
 walking over the country exhibiting hydraulic experiments, 
 and feats of muscular strength ; and accompanied by his 
 wife, an Englishwoman whom he had married soon after 
 his arrival, he visited with this object all the principal towns 
 both of Great Britain and Ireland. He continued for about 
 nine years in England. In 1812, he sailed with his wife 
 for Lisbon. After spending some time in that city, he pro- 
 ceeded to Madrid, where he attracted considerable attention 
 by his performances. From Spain he went to Malta ; and 
 here, it is supposed, the idea first suggested itself to him of 
 passing over to Egypt, as others of his countrymen had 
 already done, and offering his services to the Pacha, the 
 active and enterprising Mohammed Ali. Accordingly, 
 carrying with him a recommendation from a Maltese agent 
 of the Pacha's, he proceeded, still accompanied by his wife, 
 to Cairo. On presenting himself to Ali, he was immediately 
 engaged, on the strength of his professed skill in hydraulics, 
 to construct a machine for watering some pleasure gardens 
 at Soubra, on the Nile. This undertaking, it is said, he 
 accomplished to the Pacha's satisfaction ; but an accident 
 having occurred to one of the persons looking on, at the 
 first trial of the machine, the Turkish superstition, under 
 
GIOVANNI BATTISTA BELZONI. 155 
 
 the notion that what had happened was a bad omen, 
 would not suffer the use of it to be continued. Belzoni 
 was once more thrown on his own resources, probably as 
 much at a loss as ever, what course to adopt. 
 
 At this time, the late Mr. Salt, the learned orientalist, 
 was English Consul in Egypt, and embracing the oppor- 
 tunity which his situation afforded him, was actively 
 employed in investigating and making collections of the 
 remains of antiquity with which that country abounded. 
 For this purpose he kept several agents in his employ- 
 ment, whose business it was to make researches, in all 
 directions, after interesting objects of this description. 
 To Mr. Salt, Belzoni now offered his services in this 
 capacity, and he was immediately employed, by that 
 gentleman, in an affair of considerable difficulty — the re- 
 moving and transporting to Alexandria of the colossal 
 granite bust of Memnon, which lay buried in the sands 
 near Thebes. The manner in which Belzoni accom- 
 plished this, his first enterprise in his new line of pursuit, 
 at once established his character for energy and intelli- 
 gence. Dressing himself as a Turk, he proceeded to the 
 spot, and there half persuaded and half terrified the peas- 
 antry into giving him the requisite assistance in excavat- 
 ing and embarking the statue, till he had at last the satis- 
 faction of seeing it safely deposited in the boat intended 
 for its conveyance down the Nile. It reached England-, 
 and was placed in the British Museum. 
 
 Belzoni had now found his proper sphere, and hence- 
 forward his whole soul was engaged in the work of explor- 
 ing the wonderful country in which he was, in search of 
 the monuments of its ancient arts and greatness. In this 
 occupation he was constantly employed, sometimes in the 
 service of Mr. Salt, and sometimes on his own account. 
 The energy and perseverance of character which he ex- 
 hibited, were truly astonishing. In despite of innumerable 
 
156 GIOVANNI BATTISTA BELZONI. 
 
 obstacles, partly of a physical nature, and partly arising 
 from the opposition of the natives, he at last succeeded in 
 penetrating into the interior of the temple of Ihamboul, in 
 Upper Egypt, which was so enveloped in sand, that only 
 its summit was visible. On returning from this expedi- 
 tion, he next undertook a journey to the Valley of Bebanel 
 Malonk, beyond Thebes, where, from a slight inspection 
 on a former occasion of the rocky sides of the hills, he had 
 been led to suspect that many tombs of the old inhabitants 
 would be found concealed in them. For some time he 
 searched in vain in all directions for any indication of 
 what he had expected to find, till at last his attention was 
 turned to a small fissure in the rock, which presented to 
 his experienced eye something like the traces of human 
 labor. He put forward his hand to examine it, when the 
 stones, on his touching them, tumbled down, and discovered 
 to him the entrance to a long passage, having its sides 
 ornamented with sculpture and paintings. He at once 
 entered the cavern, proceeded forward, and, after over- 
 leaping several obstacles, found himself in a sepulchral 
 chamber, in the centre of which stood an alabaster sarco- 
 phagus, covered with sculptures. He afterwards exam- 
 ined this sarcophagus, and with immense labor, took 
 exact copies of the drawings, consisting of nearly a thou- 
 sand figures, and the hieroglyphic inscriptions, amounting 
 to more than five hundred, which he found on the walls of 
 the tomb. It was from these copies that Belzoni formed 
 the representation or model of this tomb, which he after- 
 wards exhibited in London and Paris. 
 
 On returning to Cairo from this great discovery, he im- 
 mediately engaged in anew investigation, which conducted 
 him to another perhaps still more interesting. 
 
 He determined to make an attempt to penetrate into 
 one of the pyramids. At length in the pyramid called 
 Cephrenes, he discovered the entrance to a passage, which 
 
GIOVANNI BATTISTA BELZONI. 157 
 
 led him into the centre of the structure. Here he found 
 a sepulchral chamber, with a sarcophagus in the middle of 
 it, containing the bones of a bull — a discovery, which has 
 been considered as proving that these immense edifices 
 were in reality erected by the superstition of the old Egyp- 
 tians, for no other purpose than to serve each as a sepulchre 
 for one of their brute divinities. 
 
 Encouraged by the splendid success which attended his 
 efforts, and which had made his name famous in all parts 
 of the literary world, Belzoni engaged in various other 
 enterprises of a similar character. He also made several 
 journeys in the remote parts of Egypt, and into the adjoin- 
 ing regions of Africa. He set sail for Europe in Septem- 
 ber, 1819. The first place which he visited was his 
 native city, from which he had been absent nearly twenty 
 years. He presented to the Paduans two lion-headed 
 granite statues, which were placed in a conspicuous situa- 
 tion in the palace of Justice. A medal was at the same 
 time struck in honor of the giver, on which were inscribed 
 his name and a recital of his exploits. From Italy Belzoni 
 hastened to England, where the rumor of his discoveries 
 had already excited a greater interest than in any other 
 country. In 1820, an account of his travels and dis- 
 coveries appeared in a quarto volume, with another volume 
 of plates, in folio. It soon passed through three editions, 
 while translations of it into French and Italian appeared 
 at Paris and Milan. After this, Belzoni visited succes- 
 sively, France, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark. Return- 
 ing to England he undertook, under the auspices of gov- 
 ernment, the perilous attempt of penetrating into central 
 Africa. Proceeding to Tangiers he went from thence to 
 Fez. Unexpected difficulties prevented his advancing in 
 that direction. On this disappointment, he sailed for 
 Madeira, and from thence, in October, 1S23, he set out 
 for the mouth of the river Benin, on the western coast of 
 14 
 
258 GIOVANNI BATTISTA BELZONI. 
 
 Africa, with the intention of making his way to the in- 
 terior from that point. A malady, however, attacked him 
 almost as soon as he stepped his foot on shore. He ex- 
 pired at Gato, on the 3d of December, 1823. His remains 
 were interred on the shore, under a plane tree. An in- 
 scription in English was afterwards placed over his grave. ■ 
 
JONAS KING. 
 
 While the tribute of admiration is readily awarded to 
 such men as Park, and Ledyard, and Belzoni, who have 
 manifested an unconquerable perseverance, and a noble 
 enthusiasm, and enlargement of views, in. extending the 
 boundaries of science, and geographical discovery, there 
 is still another class of men worthy of more exalted honor. 
 We should be among the last to disparage the efforts of 
 such men as we have named. We consider them as bene- 
 factors of mankind. We rejoice that, they could break 
 away from the call of avarice, from the syren voice of plea- 
 sure, and from the powerful attractions of home and native 
 land, and spend their days in travelling through savage 
 deserts, encountering the fierce suns of the tropics, and 
 still fiercer men. We should rejoice to visit the grave of 
 Belzoni, and remove the rubbish which time, or the hand 
 of the Bedouin, may have gathered around his tomb. The 
 names of Hornemann, and Salt, and Clapperton, and 
 Parry, are not to be named lightly. They accomplished 
 very much for the cause of science, and indirectly for the 
 moral and spiritual emancipation of our race. Most of 
 them were cut down early, but they did not fall into an 
 untimely, much less into a dishonorable grave. Their 
 names will be mentione4 with respect in every future age 
 of the world. 
 
160 JONAS KING. 
 
 Notwithstanding, we are called to contemplate a higher 
 species of excellence, a more noble disinterestedness, a 
 more enduring renown. Men have gone into all the world 
 to do good ; not to explore pyramids, nor to measure 
 obelisks, nor to watch the cjianges of heavenly bodies, but 
 to sympathize in human calamity, to give to benighted 
 men the lamp of eternal life, to extend the reign of civili- 
 zation and of the Christian faith ; not to send back pol- 
 ished vases, and granite statues, and classic fragments, but 
 the report of nations saved, the joy of redeemed men, and 
 the assured promise of still more glorious achievements. 
 These men have not despised science, and have not been 
 unmindful of classic recollections. Still they went for a 
 higher purpose. They devoted themselves to a more self- 
 denying work. A nobler enthusiasm filled their souls, a 
 richer treasure freighted their ships. They carried with 
 them the hopes of heaven. They travelled for eternity. 
 Many of them fell in the first onset, but their ashes rest in 
 hope, and angels guard their repose. 
 
 Among the most honored names in this class of the ben- 
 efactors of man, is that of Jonas King. In delineating a 
 few of the incidents in his eventful life, we are sure that 
 the consideration that we may be advancing that cause to 
 which he has devoted his days, will apologise for what 
 in other circumstances might seem inconsiderate, or in- 
 expedient. His name is public property. It is a part of 
 his means of doing good. 
 
 Jonas King was born in 1793, at Hawley, a town in 
 the western part of the county of Franklin, in the State of 
 Massachusetts. His parents are worthy and estimable 
 people, but were entirely unable to assist their son to ob- 
 tain the advantages of education. It seems from the fact 
 which ^ve are about to relate, that he was not in circum- 
 stances, in his native town, to acquire that common school 
 learning which is the rich legacy of nearly all the children 
 
JONAS KING. iQi 
 
 of New England. In December, 1807, William H. May- 
 nard, Esq. was engaged in instructing a school in Plain- 
 field, a town adjacent to Hawley. One cold morning, on 
 entering his school-room, Mr. Maynard observed a boy 
 that he had not seen before, sitting on one of the benches. 
 The lad soon made known his errand to his inslructer. 
 He was fifteen years old ; his parents lived seven miles dis- 
 tant ; he wanted an education, and had come from home 
 on foot, that morning, to see if Mr. Maynard could help 
 him contrive how to obtain it. Mr. Maynard asked him if 
 he had any acquaintances in the place, who would assist 
 him in acquiring an education ? No. Can your parents 
 render any assistance ? No. Have you any friends who 
 will help you ? No. Well, how do you expect to obtain 
 an education ? I don't know, but I thought I would come 
 and see you. Mr. Maynard told him to remain that day, 
 and he would see what could be done. He discovered 
 that young King was possessed of good sense, but of no 
 uncommon brilliancy. He was particularly struck with 
 the cool and resolute manner in which he undertook to 
 conquer difficulties, which would have intimidated com- 
 mon minds. In the course of the day, Mr. Maynard made 
 provision for having him boarded, through the winter, in 
 the family with himself, the lad paying for his services by 
 manual labor. He gave himself diligently to study, in 
 which he made commendable, but not rapid proficiency, 
 embracing every opportunity of reading and conversation 
 for obtaining knowledge ; and thus he spent the winter. 
 
 The necessary preparation for college was acquired, we 
 believe, under the tuition of the Rev. Jeremiah HalIock,of 
 Plainfield. To this gentleman's faithful care and thorough 
 instruction, a large portion of the young men who acquir- 
 ed a liberal education for thirty years past, in the western 
 counties of Massachusetts and in the adjoining por- 
 tions of New York and Vermont, are greatly indebted. 
 14* 
 
162 JONAS KING. 
 
 A majority of a number of the classes, who have been edu- 
 ca'ted at Williams College, pursued their classical, prepara- 
 tory studies at Plainfield, and departed, in a body, to their 
 collegiate residence, with the truly patriarchal benedictions 
 of their venerated instructer. 
 
 After spending the usual time, of four years, at Williams 
 College, Mr. King graduated, in 1816. The class with 
 which he was connected, was highly respectable, both in 
 numbers and talents. To Mr. King, at commencement, 
 was assigned one of the principal appointments — the 
 philosophical oration. For means of pecuniary support, 
 he was almost wholly dependant on his own vigorous 
 efforts, in teaching school, and in other ways. By the 
 recommendation of the Rev. President Moore, which was 
 very full in regard to all points, Mr. King was admitted 
 to the patronage of the American Education Society, 
 being the sixth on a list which now numbers more than 
 fourteen hundred. The amount of assistance, however, 
 which he received, was very limited, as the resources of 
 the society wer€, at that time, small, and his collegiate 
 course terminated soon after he received the first appropria- 
 tion. On leaving Williams College, he repaired to the The- 
 ological Seminary, at Andover, to avail himself of the in- 
 valuable opportunities which are there enjoyed, in the study 
 of the oriental languages. He left the seminary, after com- 
 pleting the full course, in 1819. Of his classmates, six are 
 missionaries, and two are presidents of colleges. At the 
 foundation of the new college in Amherst, in 1821, Mr. 
 King was immediately named as professor of the Oriental 
 Languages and Literature. A part of the intervening time 
 between the close of his residence at Andover, and this ap- 
 pointment, was passed in missionary labors in the south- 
 ern States. Feeling his need of more ample preparation 
 to discharge the duties of his professorship, he concluded 
 to visit France, and avail himself of the eminent advan- 
 
JONAS KING. 163 
 
 tages which the French capital holds out for oriental 
 studies. His expenses were defrayed by the hands of gen- 
 erous private friendship. After residing some time in 
 Paris, news was received of the death of the Rev. Levi 
 Parsons, a distinguished missionary of the American 
 Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in Palestine, 
 His only associate, the Rev. Pliny Fisk, in consequence 
 of the bereavement, greatly needed a fellow-laborer, who, 
 with a knowledge of Arabic and other languages, could 
 accompany him in his contemplated journies, preparatory 
 to the establishment of the mission with which he was 
 connected. Having received an intimation that Mr. King 
 might be induced to offer his services for a limited period, 
 he wrote to him immediately, earnestly requesting that 
 some arrangement might be made to that effect. Mr. 
 King immediately endeavored to ascertain the path of 
 duty ; and with the advice of his intimate and valuable 
 friend, S. V. S. Wilder, Esq., an American merchant, 
 then residing in Paris, concluded to offer his services for 
 three years. Mr. Wilder generously offered $100 a year 
 for the time specified ; and two other gentlemen made, 
 liberal donations towards defraying the necessary expenses. 
 In referring to the dangers, to which he might be exposed, 
 by travelling in unhealthy climates, and by other causes, 
 Mr. King observes, " Here, (at Paris,) I see around me, 
 with crippled limbs and scarred bodies, men, who risked 
 their lives at Jena, and Marengo, at Austerlitz, and 
 Waterloo, to gain a little perishable glory, and shall not I 
 risk as much in the cause of the Prince of Peace, who 
 gives to all his faithful followers the high prize of immortal 
 glory, and joys inconceivable ? " 
 
 On Monday, September 30, 1822, Mr. King left Paris 
 for Marseilles. He passed through Fontainbleau, Fontenay, 
 Lyons, Nismes, &c. We copy a few extracts from his 
 very interesting journals. " On the first of October, awoke 
 
164 JONAS KING. 
 
 in the morning, just as the twilight appeared. I had rode 
 all night. When I had fallen asleep, it was rainy, dark, 
 and cheerless. But the rain was now past, and the clouds 
 were all dispersed, except a light, fleecy girdle, hanging 
 round the horizon, above which, in the east, the morning 
 star seemed to twinkle with uncommon beauty ; and in 
 the west, the moon, just past the full, was looking mildly 
 down upon the Loire, whose waters faintly reflected her 
 light, as they glided silently along, at the foot of the 
 elevation on which I stood. As daylight increased, cul- 
 tivated hills, beautiful vineyards, and fertile plains, rose to 
 my view, and presented one of the most lovely scenes, 
 I had ever witnessed." 
 
 At Lyons Mr. King remarks, " My emotions were in- 
 describable. I stood on a spot where the Romans had 
 once resided ; where their emperors had lived, and 
 erected magnificent temples to their idols ; where Han- 
 nibal and Csesar, with their conquering armies, had passed 
 along; where hordes of Saracens had spread their deso- 
 lations ; and where Pothinus, and Irenaeus, with nineteen 
 thousand followers, took their flight to glory, amid the 
 flames of persecution. I followed them, in my imagina- 
 tion, through their last conflict, till I saw them bowing 
 before the throne of God, and joining in ascriptions of 
 praise to the Lamb that was slain." 
 
 On the 28th of October, while sailing out of the 
 harbor of Marseilles, Mr. King exclaims, " I could not 
 but feel some emotions on leaving a country, where I had 
 spent one of the most interesting years of my life. 
 
 '' Land of science and of sin, of gaiety and pleasure ! I 
 bid thee farewell. The sun shines brightly on thy beau- 
 tiful fields ; the mild gales breathe softly on thy enchant- 
 ing hills ; and along the borders of thy streams, in the 
 midst of vines and olives lie scattered the cottages of 
 peasants, and the mansions of nobles. Thou hast, within 
 
JONAS KING. 165 
 
 thy bosom, all that can gratify genius, and taste, and sense. 
 O when shall the spirit of Massillon rest upon thy priests ! 
 When shall the light of millennial glory dawn upon thy 
 population ! With fervent prayers for thy prosperity, I 
 bid thee farewell." 
 
 On the 2d of November, Mr. King reached Malta, and 
 was warmly welcomed by the missionaries, Messrs. Fisk 
 and Temple. On the 10th of January, 1823, Mr. King, 
 in company with Messrs. Fisk and Wolff, reached Alex- 
 andria in Egypt. In this city they were actively employed 
 about ten days, when they departed for Rosetta and 
 Cairo. In the course of their travels through this land 
 of " signs and wonders," they took occasion to visit 
 many specimens of ancient art and science. In describ- 
 ing the antiquities of Gornon, near the '' hundred gated" 
 Thebes, the travellers remark : " The principal room in 
 the tomb visited by Belzoni, was fifty feet by thirty. 
 Here, when the tomb was opened, was a sarcophagus of 
 alabaster, which has been removed to London, and is now 
 in the museum. Adjoining this is a room thirty feet 
 square, on three sides of which is a projection which 
 forms a kind of table. All the walls of the rooms and of 
 the passages are covered with hieroglyphics of the finest 
 kind. In one place are portrayed priests, dressed in 
 white, handling serpents; in another, persons offering 
 sacrifices ; in a third, a company of prisoners ; in a fourth, 
 dead bodies, &c. All these apartments are cut out 
 of the solid rock. How much labor to prepare a tomb for 
 one man." 
 
 After visiting many other interesting spots, the travellers 
 returned to Cairo. The time, which they spent in Egypt, 
 was about three months. In connection with Mr. Wolff, 
 they preached the gospel in English, French, German, 
 Italian, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic ; distributed about 
 nine hundred copies of the Bible or parts of it, in twelve 
 languages ; and nearly three thousand tracts. 
 
166 JONAS KING. 
 
 On the 7th of April, 1823, Mr. King, after suffering 
 severely from the scorching winds of the desert, and from 
 the want of water, reached the " promised land." We 
 extract a few paragraphs in regard to the journey. 
 
 *' After some refreshment, we took a Persian Testa- 
 ment, and Genesis in Arabic, and went to Hadgi Moham- 
 med, the Dervish. We sat down with him on his blanket 
 spread on the sand, with the sun beating on our heads, 
 and then showed him our books. He reads well in 
 Persian and Arabic. Of the other Dervishes, not one 
 knows how to read. While we were reading with him, 
 most of the Dervishes, and several Turks and Armenians, 
 gathered around and listened. Mohammed read in Gene- 
 sis, and said that it was very good. Another Turk then 
 took it and read that God rested on the seventh day, and 
 remarked angrily, that it was infidelity to say that God 
 rested. Mr. Wolff tried to explain, but to no purpose, till 
 he said he had given such a book to the Mufti of Jerusalem, 
 who said it was good. This argument silenced him at 
 once. We gave the book of Genesis to Mohammed. 
 While we were sitting with him, Elias, the Maronite, be- 
 gan to beat his mother, because she did not cook his 
 victuals as he wished. Mr. Wolff went to him and re- 
 proved him severely for such conduct. The Turks said 
 tauntmghj^ ' He is a Christian.' We were glad they heard 
 Mr. Wolff's admonition, in which he showed them how 
 inconsistent his behavior was with the spirit of the gospel. 
 The unnatural man at length relented, and went to his 
 mother and kissed her hand in token of acknowledgement. 
 Towards evening, two Turks had a dispute, which finally 
 led to blows. Hadgi Ibrahim interfered, and, by loud 
 words, and a few blows, settled the quarrel. After this, 
 the Dervish Mustapha became very angry with his ass, 
 and, like Balaam, fell to beating him, and concluded by 
 calling him a Jeic.'' 
 
JONAS KING. 1(57 
 
 On the 14th of March, the travellers experienced a 
 strong scorching wind from the south east. The air 
 seemed as if it issued from the mouth of an oven. Many 
 of the Arabs bound a handkerchief over their mouths and 
 noses, as a defence against it. The thermometer in their 
 tent was at 99°. The wind sometimes blew the sand over 
 the hills like snow in a storm. 
 
 About 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the 25th of April, 
 they " stood within the gates of Jerusalem." " The scenes 
 and events of four thousand years," say they, " rushed 
 upon our minds; events in which Heaven, and Earth, and 
 Hell, had felt the deepest interest. This was the place 
 selected by the Almighty for his dwelling, and here his 
 glory was rendered visible. This was the perfection of 
 beauty and the glory of all lands. Here David sat and 
 tuned his harp, and sung the praises of Jehovah. Hither 
 the tribes came up to worship. Here enraptured prophets 
 saw bright visions of the world above, and received mes- 
 sages from on high for guilty man. Here our Lord and 
 Saviour came in the form of a servant, and groaned, and 
 wept, and poured out his soul unto death, for the redemp- 
 tion of man." 
 
 While resident in this country, Mr. King visited the 
 principal towns, and objects of curiosity in Palestine, re- 
 sided, some time, for the purpose of acquiring Arabic, at 
 a monastery on Mount Lebanon, and performed various 
 tours in the surrounding regions of Syria, and the ancient 
 Phoenicia. 
 
 On the 26th of September, 1825, three years after leav- 
 ing Paris, Mr. King finally departed from the Holy Land, 
 proceeded to Tarsus, the birth-place of Paul, and from 
 thence travelled by land to Smyrna, where he arrived on 
 the 23d of December, eighty-nine days after leaving his 
 brethren in Syria. At Smyrna he remained till the 15th 
 of June, 1826, in the study of modern Greek, and then 
 
168 JONAS KING. 
 
 passed by land to the sea of Marmora, and across that sea 
 to Constantinople. "While in this city," Mr. King re- 
 marks, " I viewed the place from the tower of Pera. The 
 prospect is enchanting. Hills and vallies covered with 
 the habitations of 600,000 souls ; the mighty domes and 
 lofty minarets of mosques ; the palace of the sultan, en- 
 circled with gardens, beautiful as Eden ; the waters of the 
 Bosphorus, and the sea of Marmora, dividing the continent 
 of Europe and Asia, and whitened with sails ; and lofty 
 mountains, among which is Olympus, with everlasting 
 snows upon his hoary head ; all combine to present a 
 view, perhaps unequalled for beauty and grandeur, in any 
 part of the world." 
 
 While in Syria, Mr. King published a Farewell Letter, 
 having special reference to the Armenian population. 
 This letter being translated into Turkish, with considera- 
 ble additions, by Mr. Goodell, found its way to Constan- 
 tinople, and produced a very great excitement among 
 the hundred thousand Armenians in that capital. A 
 council of the clergy and laity was immediately held, and 
 after much discussion it was resolved, that until twenty- 
 five years be expired, no individual be allowed to become 
 a monk, or priest, that no boys nor women be permitted 
 to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and that if men go, 
 they be not allowed to remain more than four days in 
 Jerusalem, that all the former priests, deacons, and 
 bishops, in the convent at Jerusalem, be required to leave 
 immediately." 
 
 Mr. King returned by water to Smyrna, in July. In 
 August he went on board the United States' ship Erie, 
 bound to Mahon, in Minorca, and touched at Tripoli 
 and Algiers in Africa, on his way to that port. From 
 thence he proceeded to Spain, France, and England, 
 making some stay in the two latter countries. 
 
 To provide for the wants of the Armenian population. 
 
JONAS KING. 169 
 
 Mr. King secured donations in France and England, to 
 the amount of about eight hundred dollars, with which he 
 purchased fonts of Armenian and Arabic types. Among 
 the contributors were some of the most distinguished bene- 
 factors and philanthropists of the age. A printing press, 
 for the Armenian language, was forwarded to Malta about 
 the same time. 
 
 Mr. King arrived in his native country on the 4th of 
 September, 1827. During six or eight months subsequent, 
 he was employed on agencies, in the northern and middle 
 States, in behalf of the missionary cause. Having been 
 invited by a number of friends, to proceed to Greece in 
 one of the vessels, which was to carry out supplies to the 
 afflicted inhabitants of that country, he resigned his pro- 
 fessorship of the Oriental languages in Amherst college, 
 and early in June, 1828, embarked at New York, for 
 Greece. He arrived at Paros on the 26th of July, and 
 was cordially welcomed by the Greek government. Since 
 that time he has been very actively engaged, in connection 
 with his lady, a native Greek, in establishing schools, in 
 circulating tracts, and diffusing, in various ways, the 
 principles of knowledge and of Christianity. His labors 
 are attended with very marked and encouraging success. 
 He has again become connected with the American Board 
 of Missions. 
 
 We close this brief memoir with a letter from Mr. King, 
 as honorable to his feelings as it was gratifying to the gen- 
 tlemen connected with the Society to whom it was ad- 
 dressed. 
 
 '' Tenos, (Greece,) "Zlth Mmj, 1830. 
 
 " In the year of 1816, as near as I recollect, just as I 
 
 was about finishing my collegiate studies, I received from 
 
 the American Education Society a donation of fifty dollars ; 
 
 and though it was not expected, as I suppose, by the 
 
 15 
 
170 JONAS KING. 
 
 Society, that I should ever refund that sum, and though, 
 since the refunding system has been adopted, it is the 
 custom of the Society, as I am informed, with regard to 
 that system, to make an exception in favor of missionaries, 
 still I am happy to return the above mentioned sum, with 
 the interest, which, by this time nearly equals the prin- 
 cipal ; and I therefore send you one hundred dollars, which 
 I wish you to accept as payment for the fifty dollars, which 
 I received about fourteen years ago. It is not long, since 
 I have had it in my power to remit this sum, which I hope 
 may be the means of aiding some one more worthy than 
 myself." 
 
ISAAC MILNER. 
 
 This distinguished mathematician, and exemplary- 
 divine, was born in the neighborhood of Leeds, England, 
 in the year 1751. His father was a man of strong under- 
 standing, who, having felt, in his own case, the want of a 
 good education, formed an early resolution to remedy that 
 defect in his children, as far as in him lay. Accordingly, 
 Isaac, the youngest, was sent, at six years of age, with his 
 brother Joseph, to the grammar school of his native town, 
 where he made a very rapid progress in classical learning. 
 Just as he was entering upon the study of the Greek lan- 
 guage, however, in his tenth year, the death of his father, 
 who had been unfortunate in business, and had suffered 
 materially in his circumstances from the incidents of the 
 rebellion of 1745, blighted all his prospects of a literary 
 education ; his mother being under the painful necessity of 
 taking him from school, and placing him in a situation in 
 Leeds, in which he would have an opportunity of learning 
 several branches of the woolen manufacture. His father 
 had been a master-weaver, and when he fell into difficul- 
 ties, his sons, lads as they were, rose up early, and sat up 
 late, to contribute, by the produceof their spinning-wheels, 
 to the support of the family ; which was placed in such 
 straitened circumstances, that Joseph, requiring a Greek 
 book, while at school, to enable him to pass into a higher 
 
172 ' ISAAC MILNER. 
 
 class, his father sent it home, one Saturday night, instead 
 of a joint of meat, for their Sunda3''s dinner, not having 
 the means of procuring both. When his death deprived 
 his wife and children of the material advantage of his 
 assistance, Joseph, during the intervals of school, and 
 Isaac, before he went to his work as an apprentice, and 
 after he came home from it, rising in winter, many hours 
 before day-break, and working by candle-light, plied the 
 shuttle incessantly, for the better support of their mother, 
 left in an ill state of health, to get a scanty living by the 
 labor of her hands. Isaac remained with his master for 
 several years, until his brother Joseph, (who from the hum- 
 ble station of chapel clerk of Catharine Hall, Cambridge, 
 in which capacity, supported by several admirers of his 
 extraordinary learning in Leeds, he entered that university, 
 soon after the death of his father, had become head-master 
 of the grammar school, and afterwards lecturer of the 
 principal church in Hull,) from an income of ^200 a year, 
 generously resolved to take upon himself the charge of his 
 education for the church. Before, however, he had him 
 removed to Hull, he commissioned a clergyman at Leeds 
 to ascertain what were his attainments. The degree of 
 knowledge, which he had acquired, the accuracy of his 
 ideas, and the astonishing command of language, which he 
 possessed, fully satisfied him of the competency of the lad 
 for the situation in which it was intended to place him. A 
 few days after, at the age of seventeen, he left Leeds and 
 the occupation of a weaver, for his brother's dwelling, and 
 the more congenial pursuits of a literary life. Though 
 still but a boy, he was found to have been so well grounded 
 in the classics by Moore, the usher of the grammar-school 
 at Leeds, as to be able to render material assistance to his 
 brother, in teaching the lower boys of his crowded classes. 
 Whilst not thus engaged, he pursued his own studies, with 
 his wonted diligence, and soon became a complete and 
 
ISAAC MILNER. I73 
 
 accomplished classic. In mathematics, also, his attain- 
 ments must also at this time have been considerable, as his 
 brother, whose pre-eminence, as a scholar, lay not in these 
 pursuits, on the occurrence of any algebraical difficulty, 
 was in the habit of sending to him for its solution. Having 
 thus redoubled his diligence, to make up for the time he 
 had lost, — well prepared by a most laborious and success- 
 ful, if not a long course of study, aided by natural talents 
 of unusual depth and splendor, to make a conspicuous 
 figure at the university — he was entered a sizar, (an indi- 
 gent student supported by benefactions called exhibitions,) 
 at Queen's college, Cambridge, in the year 1770, where he 
 greatly distinguished himself by his learning and applica- 
 tion. He took his bachelor's degree in 1774, when he 
 attained the high honor of being at once the senior wrangler 
 of his year, and the first Smith's prize-man. So strongly, 
 indeed, was his superiority over all his competitors marked, 
 on this occasion, that contrary to the usual practice, it was 
 deemed right, by the examiners, to interpose a blank space 
 between them, and he was honored with the designation 
 of Incomparabilis, a distinction which has never been 
 conferred, but in one other instance. Nor was his learn- 
 ing confined to mathematics, for he was not less eminent 
 in other walks of science and literature. In theology, we 
 learn from Bishop Watson, that he was so deeply read, that 
 when he kept his act, the divinity school was thronged 
 with auditors ; and their curiosity was amply gratified by 
 listening to what the prelate terms a " real academical 
 entertainment." The circumstance of these disputations 
 being held in Latin, proves also that Milner must have 
 made great progress in classical knowledge. 
 
 In the following year, Mr. Milner was elected a fellow 
 of his college. In 1783 and in 1785, he acted as mode- 
 rator in the schools; was nominated, in 1782, one of the 
 proctors, and in 1783, a taxor of the university. In the 
 15* 
 
174 ISAAC MILNER. 
 
 latter year, also, he was chosen to be the first Jacksonian 
 professor of natural and experimental philosophy and 
 chemistry, in which sciences he had previously given 
 several courses of public lectures in the university, with 
 great acceptance. 
 
 Whilst at college, he formed an intimacy with Mr. 
 Wilberforce, whom he is said to have been instrumental in 
 bringing to the decided adoption of those views of religion, 
 which he has since so steadily maintained, and adorned 
 by a consistent life. By his means, Mr. Milner was intro- 
 duced to the acquaintance of Mr. Pitt ; and in the year 
 1787, these three eminent men set out together on a tour 
 to the continent, in which they had not proceeded far 
 before Mr. Pitt was recalled home in consequence of some 
 change in the ministry, which led to his elevation to the 
 premiership. His companions accompanied him to Eng- 
 land, where their friendship continued uninterrupted till 
 the death of Mr. Pitt, and afterwards of Mr. Milner. 
 
 In the following year, 1788, Mr. Milner was elected 
 president of the college, to which, as a student, he had 
 been so bright an ornament, and about the same time, took 
 his degree of doctor in divinity. 
 
 For some years previously, the college, which had been 
 the asylum of Erasmus, was rapidly declining in its repu- 
 tation for learning and discipline ; but from the moment of 
 his assuming the reins of its government, he labored inde- 
 fatigably and successfully to restore its ancient character 
 for both. He introduced into its fellowships men, eminent 
 for their talents at other colleges. It specially became 
 celebrated, during his presidency, for the number of pious 
 young men, who studied there for the Christian ministry, 
 and who are now some of the most popular and zealous 
 clergymen of the establishment. Dr. Milner aided the 
 cause of learning, in no slight degree, by giving a strong 
 impulse to the study of mathematics, and the various 
 
ISAAC MILNER. 175 
 
 branches of experimental philosophy. In 1791, he was 
 raised to the deanery of Carlisle. 
 
 In 1798, he was placed in the chair of the Lucasian 
 professor of mathematics, a situation worth about .£350 a 
 year, which had been successively filled by Isaac Barrow, 
 Sir Isaac Newton, Whiston, Saunderson, Colson, and 
 Waring, the most eminent mathematicians of their day. 
 He twice served the office of vice chancellor of the univer- 
 sity. As an author, he is advantageously known by the 
 life of his brother Joseph ; by strictures on some of the 
 publications of Dr. Herbert Marsh, — a most masterly 
 defence of the Bible Society ; by a continuation of the 
 Church History begun by his brother; and by papers con- 
 tributed to the Transactions of the Royal Society, of which 
 he was a fellow. 
 
 He died at the house of his friend, Mr. Wilberforce, in 
 London, on the first of April, 1821, in the seventieth year 
 of his age. He left the world in humble hope of eternal 
 life, through the mediation and merits of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 " In intellectual endowment," says his biographer, 
 (supposed to be Mr. Wilberforce,) "Isaac Milner was 
 unquestionably one of the first men of his day. He posses- 
 sed prodigious powers of understanding. As a mathemati- 
 cian, he was one of the first, if not the very first of his age. 
 He had also a great partiality for mechanics; and, spend- 
 ing most of his leisure, during the life-time of his brother, 
 at Hull, his lodgings there were a complete workshop, 
 filled with all kinds of carpenter's and turner's tools. There 
 he was accustomed daily to relax his mind from the fatigues 
 of study by some manual labor ; and so much was he in- 
 terested in these pursuits, that his lathe, and appendages 
 for turning, were not only extremely curious, but very 
 expensive, having cost him no less a sum than one hun- 
 dred and forty guineas. He had also a very ingenious 
 
176 ISAAC MILNEK. 
 
 machine, partly of his own invention, which formed, and 
 poUshed at the same time, watch wheels, of every descrip- 
 tion, with the utmost possible exactness." 
 
 Humility was a very striking feature in his character. 
 Never, at any period of his life, was he ashamed of his 
 former lowly station ; and after he had become the head 
 of a college, a dignified member of the clerical order, and 
 had proved himself one of the first scholars in the country, 
 whenever he passed through Leeds, as he generally did on 
 his journeys to the North, he never failed to visit the 
 obscure friends of his boyish days, and by his well-timed 
 acts of generosity towards them, often did he " deliver the 
 poor and fatherless, and cause the widow's heart to sing 
 for joy." Isaac Milner, the poor fatherless weaver, and 
 the very reverend Isaac Milner, president of Queen's 
 college, Lucasian professor of mathematics, and dean of 
 Carlisle, rich in this world's goods,* as well as in literary 
 fame, never wore even the semblance of two different 
 men. Through life, he manifested in his deportment, the 
 unaffected simplicity of manners, and aff'ability of disposi- 
 tion, appropriate to his early station in society, but not less 
 adorning the high sphere, in which, by the providence of 
 God, he afterwards was called to move. 
 
 * Notwithstanding his great liberality, he accumulated from the 
 savings of his preferments a fortune of from fifty to sixty thousand 
 pounds. 
 
WILL.IA3I CAXTOJV. 
 
 ^' The ease, which we now find in providing and dis- 
 persing, what number of copies of books we please, by 
 means of the press," says Dr. Middleton, in his Free 
 Inquiry, " makes us apt to imagine, without considering 
 the matter, that the pubhcation of books was the same easy 
 affair in all former times as in the present. But the case 
 was quite different. For, when there were no books in 
 the world, but what were written out by hand with great 
 labor and expense, the method of publishing them was 
 necessarily very slow, and the price very dear ; so that the 
 rich only and curious would be disposed or able to pur- 
 chase them ; and to such also, it was often difficult to pro- 
 cure them, or to know even where they were to be bought." 
 
 Of the truth of these remarks of Dr. Middleton, a great 
 variety of facts might be brought forward in proof In 
 1299, the bishop of Winchester borrowed a Bible in two 
 volumes folio, from a convent in that city, giving a bond, 
 drawn up in the most formal and solemn manner, for its 
 due return. This Bible had been given to the convent by 
 a former bishop, and in consideration of this gift, and one 
 hundred marks, the monks founded a daily mass for the 
 soul of the donor. In the same century, several Latin 
 Bibles were given to the university of Oxford, on condi- 
 tion that the students, who read them, should deposit a 
 
178 WILLIAM CAXTON. 
 
 cautionary pledge. And even after manuscripts were 
 multiplied, by the invention of linen paper, it was enacted 
 by the statutes of St. Mary's college, at Oxford, in 1446, 
 that, '' no scholar shall occupy a book in the library above 
 one hour, or two hours at most, lest others should be hin- 
 dered from the use of the same." Money was often lent 
 on the deposit of a book ; and there were public chests in 
 the universities, and other seminaries, in which the books 
 so deposited were kept. They were often particularly 
 named and described in wills — generally left to a relative 
 or friend, in fee, and for the term of his life, and afterwards 
 to the library of some religious house. " When a book 
 was bought," observes Mr. Warton, " the affair was of so 
 much importance, that it was customary to assemble persons 
 of consequence and character, and to make a formal re- 
 cord that they were present on the occasion." The same 
 author adds, " Even so late as the year 1471, when Louis 
 XL of France borrowed the works of the Arabian physi- 
 cian, Rhasis, from the faculty of medicine at Paris, he not 
 only deposited, by way of a pledge, a valuable plate, but 
 was obliged to procure a nobleman to join with him as 
 party in a deed, by which he bound himself to return it 
 under a considerable forfeiture." Long and violent alter- 
 cations, and even lawsuits, sometimes took place, in conse- 
 quence of the disputed property of a book. 
 
 Books were so scarce in Spain in the tenth century, 
 that several monasteries had among them only one 
 copy of the Bible, one of Jerome's Epistles, and one of 
 several other religious books. There are some curious 
 instances given by Lupus, abbot of Ferrieris, of the 
 extreme scarcity of classical manuscripts in the middle of 
 the ninth century. He was much devoted to literature ; 
 and, from his letters, appears to have been indefatigable in 
 his endeavors to find out such manuscripts, in order to 
 borrow and copy them. In a letter to the pope, he earn- 
 
WILLIAM CAXTON. 179 
 
 estly requests of him a copy of Quinctilian, and of a treatise 
 of Cicero ; for, he adds, though we have some fragments 
 of them, a complete copy is not to be found in France. 
 In two other of his letters, he requests of a brother abbot, 
 the loan of several manuscripts, which he assures him shall 
 be copied and returned as soon as possible by a faithful 
 messenger. Another time he sent a special messenger to 
 borrow a manuscript, promising that he would take very 
 great care of it, and return it by a safe opportunity, and 
 requesting the person who lent it to him, if he were asked 
 to whom he had lent it, to reply, to some near relations of 
 his own, who had been very urgent to borrow it. Another 
 manuscript, which he seems to have prized much, and a 
 loan of which had been so frequently requested, that he 
 thought of banishing it somewhere, that it might not be 
 destroyed or lost, he tells a friend he may perhaps lend 
 him when he comes to see him, but that he will not trust 
 it to the messenger who had been sent for it, though a 
 monk, and trust-worthy, because he was travelling on foot. 
 Respecting the price of manuscript books, we are not in 
 the possession of many facts. Plato paid a hundred minae, 
 equal to .£375, for three small treatises by Philolaus, the 
 Pythagorean. After the death of Speusippus, Plato's dis- 
 ciple, his books, few in number, were purchased by Aris- 
 totle, for about ^675. It is said that St. Jerome nearly 
 ruined himself by the purchase of religious works alone. 
 Persons of moderate fortune could not afford the means 
 of procuring them, nor the rich even without the sacri- 
 fice of some luxuries. The mere money, which was 
 paid for them in the dark ages, whenever a person distin- 
 guished himself for his love of literature, was seldom the 
 sole or the principal expense. It was often necessary to 
 send to a great distance, and to spend much time in find- 
 ing out where they were. In the ninth century, an Eng- 
 lish bishop was obliged to make five journeys to Rome, 
 
180 WILLIAM CAXTON. 
 
 principally in order to purchase books ; for one of his 
 books thus procured, Alfred gave him an estate of eight 
 hides of land, or as much land as eight ploughs could till. 
 About the period of the invention of cotton paper, 1 174, 
 the homilies of St. Bede, and St. Augustine's Psalter, were 
 bought by a prior in Winchester, from the monks of Dor- 
 chester, in Oxfordshire, for twelve measures of barley, and 
 a pall, richly embroidered in silver. Stow informs us that 
 in 1274, a Bible, in nine volumes, fairly written, with a 
 gloss or comment, sold for fifty marks, or <£33 6s. 8d. 
 About this time, the price of wheat averaged 35. 4d. a 
 quarter; a laborer's wages were l^d. a day; a harvest 
 man's, 2d. In a blank page of Comestor's Scholastic 
 History, deposited in the British museum, it is stated that 
 this manuscript was taken from the king of France, at the 
 battle of Poictiers. It was afterwards purchased by the 
 earl of Salisbury for a hundred marks, or £66 135. M. It 
 was directed, by the last will of his countess, to be sold 
 for forty livres. At this time the king's surgeon's pay was 
 ^5 135. 4d. per annum, and one shilling a day besides. 
 Master carpenters had four pence a day ; their servants 
 two pence. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, 
 some books were bequeathed to Merton college, Oxford, 
 of which the following are the names and valuation. A 
 Scholastic History, twenty shillings ; a Concordance, ten 
 shillings ; the four greater prophets, with glosses, five shil- 
 lings ; a Psalter, with glosses, ten shillings ; St. Austin on 
 Genesis, ten shillings. About the year 1400, a copy of 
 the Roman de la Ron was sold before the palace gate, at 
 Paris, for ^33 6s. 6d. The countess of Anjou paid, for a 
 copy of the homilies of Bishop Haiman, two hundred 
 sheep, five quarters of wheat, five quarters of barley, and 
 five quarters of millet. On the conquest of Paris, in 1425, 
 the duke of Bedford sent the royal library to England. It 
 consisted of only eight hundred and fifty-three volumes, 
 
WILLIAM CAXTON. IQX 
 
 but it was valued at more than two thousand, two hundred 
 pounds sterhng. Further facts, of a similar character, will 
 be found in the life of the individual, to which we now 
 proceed. 
 
 William Caxton was born in the Weald of Kent, 
 England, about the year 1413. At this period, learning 
 of all kinds was in a much more depressed state in Eng- 
 land, than in most of the continental countries, in con- 
 sequence principally of the civil war in which the nation 
 was embroiled, the habits of restlessness thus produced, 
 and the constant pre-occupation of the time and thoughts 
 of men in promoting the cause they espoused, and in pro- 
 tecting their lives and property. Under these circum- 
 stances, the most plain and common education was often 
 neglected. Caxton's parents, however, performed their 
 duty to him. " I am bounden," says he, ''to pray for my 
 father and mother, that, in my youth, sent me to school, 
 by which, by the sufferance of God, I get my living, I hope 
 truly." When he was about fifteen or sixteen, he was put 
 apprentice to William Large, a mercer of London, and 
 afterwards mayor. The name mercer, was given at this 
 time, to general merchants, trading in all kinds of goods. 
 After he had served his apprenticeship, Caxton took up 
 his freedom in the mercer's company, and became a citizen 
 of London. Some subsequent years he spent in travelling 
 in various countries on the continent of Europe. In 1464, 
 he was appointed ambassador to the court of the duke of 
 Burgundy. During his residence in the Low Countries, 
 he acquired or perfected his knowledge of the French 
 language, gained some knowledge of Flemish or Dutch, 
 imbibed a taste for literature and romance, and, at 
 great expense, made himself master of the art of printing. 
 About 1472, Caxton returned to England, and introduced, 
 in all probability, the art of printing into that country. 
 The common opinion is, that the * Game of Chess' was the 
 16 
 
182 WILLIAM CAXTON. 
 
 first book printed by Caxton, though Mr. Dibdin thinks 
 that the ' Romance of Jason' was printed before it. Cax- 
 ton was most indefatigable in cultivating his art. Besides 
 the labor necessarily attached to his press, he translated 
 not fewer than five thousand closely printed folio pages, 
 though well stricken in years. The productions of his 
 press amount to sixty-four. In 1480, he published his 
 Chronicle, and his Description of Britain, which is usually 
 subjoined to it. These were very popular, having been 
 reprinted four times in this century, and seven times in the 
 sixteenth century. 
 
 *' After divers works," says he, " made, translated, and 
 achieved, having no work in hand, I, sitting in my study, 
 where as lay many divers pamphlets and books, it hap- 
 pened that to my hand came a little book, in French, which 
 late was translated out of Latin, by some noble clerk of 
 France, which book is named ' Eneid,' as made in Latin 
 by that noble person and great clerk, Virgil, which book I 
 saw over and read therein. (He then describes the con- 
 tents.) In which book I had great pleasure, by cause of 
 the fair and honest terms and words, in French, which I 
 never saw tofore like, ne none so pleasant, ne so well 
 ordered ; which book as me seemed should be much requi- 
 site to noble men to see, as well for the eloquence as histo- 
 ries ; and when I had advised me in this said book, I 
 deliberated, and concluded to translate it into English, and 
 forthwith took a pen and ink, and wrote a leaf or twain, 
 which I oversaw again, to correct it ; and when I saw 
 the fair and strange terms therein, I doubted that it should 
 not please some gentlemen, which late blamed me, saying, 
 that in my former translations, I had over curious terms, 
 which, could not be understood of common people ; and 
 desired me to use old and homely terms in my translations ; 
 and fain would I satisfy every man, and so to do, took an 
 old book, and read therein ; and certainly the English 
 
WILLIAM CAXTON. ]g3 
 
 was so rude and broad, that I could not well understand 
 it; and also, my Lord Abbot, of Westminster, did do show 
 to me late certain evidences, written in old English, for to 
 reduce it into our English now used ; and certainly it was 
 written in such wise, that was more like to Dutch than to 
 English. I could not reduce, nor bring it to be under- 
 standen. Certainly the language now used varieth far 
 from that which was used and spoken when I was born ; 
 for we. Englishmen, been born under the domination of 
 the moon, which is never at rest, but ever wavering. The 
 most quantity of the people understand not Latin, nor 
 French, in this realm of England." 
 
 Caxton seems to have been much puzzled and perplexed 
 about the language he should use in his translations ; for, 
 while some advised him to use old and homely terms, 
 others, " honest and great clerks," he adds, "have been with 
 me, and desired me to write the most curious terms that 1 
 could find — and thus betwixt plain, rude, and curious, I 
 stand abashed." 
 
 Among the books which Caxton published, were two 
 editions of Chaucer's Tales. He seems to have had a 
 veneration for the memory of this poet, and to have formed, 
 with sound judgment and good taste, a most correct and 
 precise estimate of the peculiar merits of his poetry. As a 
 proof of the former we may mention, that Caxton, at his 
 own expense, procured a long epitaph to be written in 
 honor of Chaucer, which was hung on a pillar near the 
 poet's grave, in Westminster Abbey. The following 
 remarks of Caxton show that he was able thoroughly to 
 relish the merits and beauties of Chaucer's poetry. 
 
 " We ought to give a singular laud unto that noble and 
 great philosopher, Geoffrey Chaucer, the which, for his or- 
 nate writings in our tongue, may well have the name of a lau- 
 reate poet. For, tofore that he embellished and ornated and 
 made fair our English, in this realm was had rude speech 
 
184 WILLIAM CAXTON. 
 
 and incongruous, as yet appeareth by old books, which, at 
 this day, ought not to have place, ne be compared among 
 unto his beauteous volumes and ornate writings, of whom 
 he made many books and treatises of many a noble history, 
 as well in metre as in rhyme and prose ; and then so 
 craftily made, that he comprehended his matters in short, 
 quid', and high sentences, eschciving perplexity ; casting 
 away the chaff of superjluity , and shoiuing the picked grain 
 of sentence, uttered hy crafty and sugared eloquence. In 
 all his works he excelleth, in mine opinion, all other wri- 
 ters in our English, for he writeth no void words, but all 
 his matter is full of high and quick sentence, to whom 
 ought to be given laud and praise for his noble making 
 and writing." 
 
 Caxton died in 1490-1, was buried in St. Margaret's, 
 and left some books to that church. " His character," says 
 his biographer, " may be collected from the account we 
 have given of his labors. He was possessed of good sense 
 and sound judgment ; steady, persevering, active, zealous, 
 and liberal in his services for that important art which he 
 introduced into England ; laboring not only as printer, but 
 as translator and editor." 
 
RICHARD BAXTER. 
 
 Richard Baxter was born on the 12th of November, 
 1615, at Rowton, in Shropshire, England. Here he spent, 
 with his grandfather, the first ten years of his life. His 
 father was a freeholder, and possessed of a moderate estate ; 
 but having been addicted to gaming in his youth, his 
 property became so deeply involved, that much care and 
 frugality were required to disencumber it at a future period 
 of his life. He became a pious man about the time of 
 the birth of Richard. To him the lad was indebted for 
 his first religious instructions. There must have been 
 in Richard, when a child, some striking indications of 
 religious feeling, for his father remarked to Dr. Bates, 
 that he would even then reprove the improper conduct of 
 other children, to the astonishment of those who heard 
 him. Baxter's early impressions and convictions, though 
 often like the morning cloud and early dew, were never 
 entirely dissipated, but at last fully established themselves 
 in a permanent influence on his character. His early 
 education was very imperfectly conducted. From six to 
 ten years of age, he was under the four successive curates 
 of the parish, two of whom never preached, and the two, 
 who had the most learning of the four, drank themselves 
 to beggary, and then left the place. At the age of ten, 
 he was removed to his father's house, where Sir William 
 16* 
 
Ig5 RICHARD BAXTER. 
 
 Rogers, a blind old man, was parson. One of his curates, 
 who had succeeded a person who was driven away on 
 being discovered to have officiated under forged orders, 
 was Baxter's principal schoolmaster. This man had been 
 a lawyer's clerk, but hard drinking drove him from that 
 profession, and he turned curate for a piece of bread. He 
 preached only once in Baxter's time, and then was drunk 1 
 From such men what instruction could be expected ! 
 How wretched must the state of the country have been, 
 when they could be tolerated either as teachers or min- 
 isters ! His next instructer, who loved him much, he tells 
 us was a grave and eminent man, and expected to be 
 made a bishop. He also, however, disappointed him ; 
 for during no less than two years, he never instructed him 
 one hour ; but spent his time, for the most part, in talking 
 against the Puritans. In his study, he remembered to 
 have seen no Greek book but the New Testament ; the 
 only father was Augustine de Civitate Dei ; there were a 
 few common modern English works, and for the most of 
 the year, the priest studied Bishop Andrews' Sermons. 
 Of Mr. John Owen, master of the free school at Wroxeter, 
 he speaks more respectfully. To him he was chiefly in- 
 debted for his classical instruction. He seems to have 
 been a respectable man, and under him, Baxter had for 
 his schoolfellows the two sons of Sir Richard Newport, 
 (one of whom became Lord Newport,) and Dr. Richard 
 Allestree, who afterward was Regius professor of divinity 
 at Oxford, and provost of Eton college. When fitted for 
 the university, his master recommended that, instead of 
 being sent to it, he should be put under the tuition of Mr. 
 Richard Wickstead, chaplain to the council at Ludlow, 
 who was allowed by the king to have a single pupil. But 
 he also neglected his trust. The only advantage young 
 Baxter had with him, was the enjoyment of time and books. 
 " Considering the great neglect," says Mr. Orme, his 
 
RICHARD BAXTER. 187 
 
 biographer, "^ of suitable and regular instruction, which 
 Baxter experienced in his youth, it is wonderful that he 
 ever rose to eminence. Such disadvantages are very 
 rarely altogether conquered. But the strength of his 
 genius, the ardor of his mind, and the power of his reli- 
 gious principles, compensated for minor defects, subdued 
 every difficulty, and bore down, with irresistible energy, 
 every obstacle that had been placed in his way." 
 
 During his short residence at Ludlow castle, Baxter 
 made a narrow escape from acquiring a taste for gaming, 
 of which he gives a curious account. The best gamester 
 in the house undertook to teach him to play. The first or 
 second game was so nearly lost by Baxter, that his oppo- 
 nent betted a hundred to one against him, laying down 
 ten shillings to his sixpence. lie told him there was no 
 possibility of his winning, but by getting one cast of the 
 dice very often. No sooner was the money down, than 
 Baxter had every cast which he wished ; so that before a 
 person could go three or four times round the room, the 
 game was won. This so astonished him that he believed 
 the devil had the command of the dice, and did it to entice 
 him to play ; in consequence of which he returned the 
 ten shillings, and resolved never to play more. Whatever 
 may be thought of the fact, or of Baxter's reasoning on it, 
 the result to him was important and beneficial. 
 
 On returning from Ludlow castle to his father's house, 
 he found his old schoolmaster, Owen, dying of a consump- 
 tion. At the request of Lord Newport, he took charge of 
 the school till it should appear whether the master would 
 die or recover. Li about a quarter of a year, his death 
 relieved Baxter from this office, and as he had determined 
 to enter the ministry, he placed himself under Mr. Francis 
 Garbet, then minister of Wroxeter, for further instruction 
 in theology. With him he read logic about a month, but 
 was seriously and long interrupted, by symptoms of that 
 
188 RICHARD BAXTER. 
 
 complaint which attended him to his grave. He was at- 
 tacked by a violent cough, with spitting of blood, and 
 other indications of consumption. The broken state of 
 his health, the irregularity of his teacher, and his want of 
 an university education, materially injured his learning 
 and occasioned lasting regrets. He never acquired any 
 great knowledge of the learned languages. Of Hebrew 
 he scarcely knew anything ; his acquaintance with Greek 
 was not profound ; and even in Latin, as his works show, 
 he must be regarded by a scholar as little better than a 
 barbarian. Of mathematics he knew nothing and never 
 had a taste for them. Of logic and metaphysics he was 
 a devoted admirer, and to them he dedicated his labor 
 and delight. Definitions and distinctions were in a man- 
 ner his occupation ; the quod sit, the quid sit, and quofu- 
 plex — modes, consequences, and adjuncts, were his vocab- 
 ulary. He never thought he understood anything till he 
 could anatomize it, and see the parts distinctly ; and cer- 
 tainly, very few have handled the knife more dexterously, 
 or to so great an extent. His love of the niceties of meta- 
 physical disquisition plunged him very early into the study 
 of controversial divinity. The schoolmen were the objects 
 of his admiration. Aquinas, Scotus, Durandus, Ockham, 
 and their disciples, were the teachers from whom he ac- 
 quired no small portion of that acuteness for which he 
 became so distinguished as a disputer, and of that logo- 
 machy by which most of his writings are deformed. 
 
 " Early education," says Mr. Orme, "exerts a prodigious 
 power over the future pursuits and habits of the individual. 
 Its imperfections or peculiarities will generally appear, if 
 he attempt to make any figure in the literary or scientific 
 world. The advantages of a university or academical 
 education will never be despised, except by him who 
 never enjoyed them, or who affects to be superior to 
 their necessity. It cannot be denied, however, that some 
 
RICHARD BAXTER. Jgg 
 
 of our eminent men, in all departments and professions, 
 never enjoyed these early advantages." 
 
 Among these was Richard Baxter. In answer to a 
 letter of Anthony Wood, inquiring whether he was an 
 Oxonian, he replied with dignified simplicity, " As to my- 
 self, my faults are no disgrace to any university, for I was 
 of none ; I have little but what I had out of books, and 
 inconsiderable helps of country tutors. Weakness and 
 pain helped me to study how to die ; that set me on study- 
 ing how to live ; and that on studying the doctrine from 
 which I must fetch my motives and comforts. Beginning 
 with -necessities, I proceeded by degrees, and now am 
 going to see that for which I have lived and studied." 
 
 The defects of early education Baxter made up by 
 greater ardor of application and energy of purpose. He 
 never attained the elegant refinements of classical litera- 
 ture, but in all the substantial attainments of sound learn- 
 ing he excelled most of his contemporaries. The regrets 
 which he felt, at an early period, that his scholarship was 
 not more eminent, he thus expresses ; 
 
 " Thy methods cross my ways ; my young desire 
 To academic glory did aspire. 
 Fain I'd have sat in such a nurse's lap, 
 Where I might long have had a sluggard's nap ; 
 Or have been dandled on her reverend knees. 
 And known by honored titles and degrees ; 
 And there have spent the flower of my days 
 In soaring in the air of human praise. 
 Yea, and I thought it needful to thy ends. 
 To make the prejudiced world my friends ; 
 That so my praise might go before thy grace. 
 Preparing men thy messages to embrace ; 
 Also my work and office to adorn. 
 And to avoid profane contempt and scorn. 
 But these were not thy thoughts ; thou didst foresee 
 That such a course would not be best for me. 
 Thou mad'st me know that man's contempt and scorn, 
 Is such a cross as must be daily borne." 
 
190 RICHARD BAXTER. 
 
 The principal scene of Baxter's pastoral labors was 
 Kidderminster. Here he resided about fourteen years, 
 and his labors were attended with remarkable success. 
 " It was a great advantage to me," says Baxter, " that 
 my neighbors were of such a trade, as allowed them time 
 to read or talk of holy things. For the town liveth upon 
 the weaving of Kidderminster stuffs ; and as they stand 
 in their looms, the men can set a book before them, or 
 edify one another ; whereas ploughmen, and many others, 
 are so wearied, or continually employed, either in the 
 labors or the cares of their callings, that it is a great im- 
 pediment to their salvation. Freeholders and tradesmen 
 are the strength of religion and civility in the land ; and 
 gentlemen and beggars, and servile tenants, are the 
 strength of iniquity. Though among these sorts, there 
 are some also that are good and just, as among the other 
 there are many bad. And their constant converse and 
 traffic with London, doth much promote civility and piety 
 among tradesmen. 
 
 " Another furtherance of my work, was the books 
 which I wrote and gave away among them. Of some 
 small books I gave each family one, which came to about 
 eight hundred ; and of the larger, I gave fewer ; and every 
 family that was poor, and had not a Bible, I gave a Bible 
 to. I had found myself the benefit of reading to be so 
 great, that I could not but think it would be profitable to 
 others. 
 
 " God made use of my practice of physic among them 
 also as a very great advantage to my ministry ; for they 
 that cared not for their souls, did love their lives, and care 
 for their bodies ; and by this, they were made almost as 
 obversant, as a tenant is of his landlord. Sometimes I 
 could see before me in the church, a very considerable 
 part of the congregation, whose lives God had made me a 
 means to save, or to recover their health : and doing it 
 
RICHARD BAXTER. igj 
 
 for nothing, so obliged them that they would readily hear 
 me. Another help to my success, was the small relief 
 which my low estate enabled me to afford the poor ; though 
 the place was reckoned at near two hundred pounds per 
 annum, there came but ninety pounds, and sometimes 
 but eighty pounds to me. Beside which, some years I 
 had sixty, or eighty pounds a year of the booksellers 
 for my books ; which little dispersed among them, much 
 reconciled them to the doctrine that I taught. I took 
 the aptest of their children from the school, and sent 
 divers of them to the universities ; where for eight pounds 
 a year, or ten, at most, by the help of my friends, I main- 
 tained them. Some of them are honest, able ministers, 
 now cast out with their brethren ; but, two or three having 
 no other way to live, turned great conformists, and are 
 preachers now. In giving the little I had, I did not 
 inquire whether they were good or bad, if they asked 
 relief; for the bad had souls and bodies that needed charity 
 most. And this truth I will speak to the encouragement 
 of the charitable, that what little money I have now by 
 me, I got it almost all, I scarce know how, at that time 
 when I gave most, and since I have had less opportunity 
 of giving, I have had less increase. 
 
 " My public preaching met with an attentive, diligent 
 auditory. Having broke over the brunt of the opposition 
 of the rabble before the wars, I found them afterwards 
 tractable and unprejudiced. Before I entered into the 
 ministry, God blessed my private conference to the con- 
 version of some, who remain firm and eminent in holi- 
 ness to this day ; but then, and in the beginning of my 
 ministry, I was wont to number them as jewels ; but since 
 then I could not keep any number of them. The congre- 
 gation was usually full, so that we were fain to build five 
 galleries after my coming thither ; the church itself being 
 very capacious, and the most commodious and convenient 
 
192 RICHARD BAXTER. 
 
 that ever I was in. Our private meetings, also, were 
 full. On the Lord's days there was no disorder to 
 be seen in the streets : but you might hear a hundred 
 families singing psalms and repeating sermons as you 
 passed through them. In a word, when I came thither 
 first, there was about one family in a street that wor- 
 shipped God and called on his name, and when I came 
 away, there were some streets where there was not one 
 poor family in the side that did not so ; and that did not 
 by professing serious godliness, give us hopes of their sin- 
 cerity. And in those families which were the worst, being 
 inns and alehouses, usually some persons in each house 
 did seem to be religious. Though our administration of 
 the Lord's supper was so ordered as displeased many, and 
 the far greater part kept away, we had six hundred that 
 were communicants ; of whom there were not twelve that 
 I had not good hopes of as to their sincerity." 
 
 In accounting for these signal and blessed effects of his 
 ministry, his biographer remarks with great justice, that 
 '* Baxter never spoke like a man who was indifferent 
 whether his audience felt what he said, or considered him 
 in earnest on the subject. His eye, his action, his every 
 word, were expressive of deep and impassioned earnest- 
 ness, that his hearers might be saved. His was eloquence 
 of the highest order ; not the eloquence of nicely selected 
 words, — or the felicitous combination of terms and phrases, 
 — or the music of exquisitely balanced periods, (though 
 these properties are frequently to be found in Baxter's dis- 
 courses ;) but the eloquence of the most important truths, 
 vividly apprehended, and energetically delivered. It was 
 the eloquence of a soul burning with ardent devotion to 
 God, and inspired with the deepest compassion for men ; 
 on whom the powers of the worlds of darkness and light, 
 exercised their mighty influence ; and spoke through his 
 utterances, all that was tremendous in warning, and all 
 
RICHARD BAXTER. 193 
 
 that was delightful in invitation and love. The gaining 
 of souls to Christ was the only object for which he lived. 
 Hence, amidst the seeming variety of his pursuits and en- 
 gagements, there was a perfect harmony of design. His 
 ruling and controlling principle was the love of his Master, 
 producing the desire of a full and faithful discharge of his 
 duty, as his approved minister. This was the centre 
 around which every thing moved, and by which every 
 thing in his circumstances and character was attracted or 
 repelled. This gave unity to all his plans, and constituted 
 the moral force of all his actions. 
 
 Baxter died December 8, 1691. He left the world in 
 joyful assurance of entering into the Saints' Everlasting 
 Rest. During his sickness, when the question was asked, 
 How he did ? his reply was, Almost well. 
 
 In reviewing the life of this extraordinary man, we see 
 what powerful and numerous difficulties a resolute mind 
 can overcome. Baxter, during his whole life, might be 
 almost said to die daily. Hardly ever was such a mind 
 connected with so frail an earthly lodging place. He 
 was the sport of medical treatment and experiment. At 
 about fourteen years of age he was seized with the small 
 pox, and soon after, by improper exposure to the cold, he 
 was affected by violent catarrh and cough. This was 
 continued for about two years, and was followed by spit- 
 ting of blood and other phthisical symptoms. One physi- 
 cian prescribed one mode of cure, and another a different 
 one ; till, from first to last, he had the advice of no less 
 than thirty-six professors of the healing art. He was dis- 
 eased literally from head to foot ; his stomach acidulous ; 
 violent rheumatic headaches ; prodigious bleedings at the 
 nose ; his blood so thin and acrid that it oozed out from 
 the points of his fingers, and often kept them raw and 
 bloody. His physicians called it hypochondria. He hira- 
 17 
 
194 RICHARD BAXTER. 
 
 self considered it to be premature old age, so that at twenty 
 he had the symptoms, in addition of disease, of fourscore. 
 He was certainly one of the most diseased and afflicted 
 men that ever reached the ordinary limits of human life. 
 How, in such circumstances, he was capable of making 
 the exertions which he almost incessantly made, appears 
 not a little mysterious. 
 
 Baxter lived also in one of the most stormy periods of 
 English history. Men were bound, and in *' deaths oft," for 
 conscience' sake. For preaching the truth, as they honestly 
 believed it to be, no less than two thousand ministers were 
 on one occasion ejected from their pulpits. Civil wars 
 raged with fearful violence, and many were the men whose 
 hands were imbrued in fraternal blood. Baxter was in all 
 these tumultuous scenes ; now in the army of the Protec- 
 tor : now showing his dexterity in logical warfare before 
 councils and synods ; now in prison, and now in his pulpit 
 at Kidderminster. In short he lived at the time of Selden, 
 and Milton, and Hampden, and Pym, — at the time of the 
 breaking up of the dark ages, after old systems were over- 
 thrown, and when all was in confusion and uncertainty. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, his labors were prodigious. 
 The works of Bishop Hall amount to ten volumes octavo ; 
 Lightfoot's extend to thirteen ; Jeremy Taylor's to fifteen ; 
 Dr. Goodwin's to twenty ; Dr. Owen's to twenty-eight ; 
 while Richard Baxter's works, if printed in a uniform 
 edition, could not be comprised in less.'ithan sixty volumes, 
 making at least thirty-five thousand closely printed octavo 
 pages. At the same time, his labors as a minister, and 
 his engagements in the public business of his times, 
 formed his chief employment for many years, so that he 
 speaks of writing but as a kind of recreation from more 
 severe duties. The subjects on which he wrote embrace 
 the whole range of theology, in all the parts of which he 
 
RICHARD BAXTER. 195 
 
 seems to have been nearly equally at home. Doctrinal, 
 practical, casuistical, and polemical, all occupied his 
 thoughts, and engaged his pen. 
 
 '' His inquiries ranged, and his writings extended from 
 the profoundest and most abstruse speculations on the 
 divine decrees, the constitution of man, and the origin of 
 evil, to the simplest truths adapted to the infant mind. 
 Baxter appears to have read every thing relating to his 
 own profession, and to have remembered all which he 
 read. The fathers and schoolmen, the doctors and re- 
 formers of all ages and countries, seem to have been as 
 familiar to him as his native tongue. He rarely makes a 
 parade of his knowledge, but he never fails to convince 
 you that he was well acquainted with most which had been 
 written on the subjects which he discusses." 
 
ARTHUR YOUNG. 
 
 This celebrated agriculturist was a younger son of the 
 Rev. Arthur Young, D. D., prebendary of Canterbury, and 
 was born on the 17th of March, 1741, at Bradfield Hall, 
 Suffolk, England. Dr. Young, not being able to provide 
 very liberally for his younger children, designed Arthur 
 for trade, and accordingly apprenticed him to a wine mer- 
 chant, at Lynn, in Norfolk ; but the lad having evinced 
 an early attachment to agricultural pursuits, on his father's 
 death, in 1761, returned home, and managed the farm at 
 Bradfield, for the benefit of his widowed mother and her 
 family. He left his maternal roof in 1767, having during 
 his five years' farming kept a register of his experiments, 
 which formed the basis of his ' Course of Experimental 
 Agriculture,' published anonymously in 1770, and which 
 was well received by practical farmers, though it w^as 
 rather too highly colored. On quitting home he hired a 
 farm in Essex, but after six months' trial', he was obliged 
 to relinquish it for want of funds. He at last fixed him- 
 self near North Mimms, in Hertfordshire, where he con- 
 tinued for about nine years, repeating his experiments on 
 lands not very favorable to them, and, like many other 
 ingenious speculatists, losing his money nearly as often as 
 he made the attempt. So warmly, however, was he at- 
 tached to his favorite pursuits, that he determined to pro- 
 
ARTHUR YOUNG. 197 
 
 mote and recommend them by his pen, and before he 
 had completed his thirtieth year, published several works 
 for the improvement of agriculture, particularly his * Far- 
 mer's Letters,' ' Rural Economy,' and * Tours through 
 the Southern, Northern, and Eastern parts of England :' 
 all of them replete with useful information. During his 
 visit to the North of England, an opportunity was afforded 
 him of rendering essential service to a most extraordinary 
 self-taught agriculturist, in humble life, a miner at Svvinton, 
 named James Crofts, who, by the almost incredible devo- 
 tion of twenty hours a day to hard labor, had, with his 
 own hands, reclaimed ten acres of moor land, on which he 
 kept three milch cows, an heifer, and a galloway. To en- 
 courage such a rare instance of industry and application 
 in the lower orders, Mr. Young set on foot a subscription 
 for the benefit of this humble, but most valuable member 
 of society, the produce of which freed him from his sub- 
 terranean employment, and enabled him to direct his 
 attention exclusively to the improvement of waste lands, 
 an occupation for which he had, under every possible dis- 
 advantage, evinced an extraordinary adaptation of untu- 
 tored genius. 
 
 The tour of Mr. Young occupied six months ; the in- 
 formation and incidents of which were collected, and pub- 
 lished in four octavo volumes. He soon after printed an 
 * Essay on Swine,' to which the gold medal of the Society 
 for the Encouragement of Arts was awarded. In 1770, 
 he gave to the world a very valuable treatise, called ' The 
 Farmer's Guide in hiring and stocking farms ;' and so in- 
 defatigable did he pursue his favorite object, that in the 
 summer of 1770, he made his tour through the eastern 
 counties of England, in continuance of his plan, imper- 
 fectly as he had then formed it, of an agricultural survey 
 of England. The observations made during this journey 
 were published in May, 1771, and it is no small proof of 
 17* 
 
198 ARTHUR YOUNG. 
 
 their author's industry, that they were printed so soon, as 
 in the course of the year 1770, (half of which at least was 
 spent in travelHng,) and of the spring of 1771. In this 
 short period he must have found time to print and pubhsh 
 his ' Farmer's Guide,' in two volumes octavo; his ' East- 
 ern Tour' in four ; ' Rural Economy ' in one ; a second 
 volume of the ' Farmer's Letters ;' and a ' Course of Ex- 
 perimental Agriculture,' in two volumes quarto, besides 
 superintending through the press the second edition of his 
 ' Northern Tour,' in four volumes octavo. With so much 
 to do, in so short a space of time, what wonder that Mr. 
 Young should not have performed every thing vrhich he 
 undertook equally well. He wrote his books too fast, and 
 was too prone to substitute speculations for facts. After 
 the death of his mother, he entered on the possession of 
 the family estate, which he continued to cultivate during 
 the remainder of his life. In addition to the works which 
 have been named, he wrote a very sensible pamphlet on 
 the Expediency of a Free Exportation of Corn ; Proposals 
 to the Legislature for Numbering the People ; Observations 
 on the present state of the Waste Lands of the kingdom ; 
 an Essay on the Culture of Cole-seed, for feeding sheep 
 and cattle, for which the gold medal of the Society for the 
 Encouragement of the Arts was, for the second time, 
 awarded him ; and a Political Arithmetic. His reputation 
 was soon widely spread abroad. By order of the empress 
 Catharine, his agricultural tours were translated into the 
 Russian lano-uase. At the same time, she sent several 
 young Russians to the author, to learn the system of Eng- 
 lish agriculture, under his immediate superintendence. 
 Prince Potemkin speedily sent two others, and his exam- 
 ple was soon followed by the Marquis de la Fayette. Mr. 
 Young's tour through Ireland, published in 17S0, and 
 vThich contains a mass of valuable facts and observations, 
 is characterized by Maria Edge worth '' as the most faith- 
 
ARTHUR YOUNG. I99 
 
 ful portrait of the inhabitants of Ireland, to whom it ren- 
 dered essential service by giving to other nations, and 
 more especially to the English, a more correct notion than 
 they had hitherto entertained of their character, customs, 
 and manners." 
 
 In 1784, this indefatigable writer commenced his 
 ' Annals of Agriculture,' a periodical publication, con- 
 tinued monthly until the close of his life, when it amounted 
 to forty-five octavo volumes, forming a rich collection of 
 facts, essays, and communications, on every question of 
 agriculture and political economy. For a long time, 
 however, this work was more laborious than successful, 
 doing little, if anything, beyond paying its expenses, tind 
 averaging, when the -fifteenth volume was completed, a 
 sale of only three hundred and fifty copies of each num- 
 ber. This want of patronage, the disadvantage of a pro- 
 vincial press, misunderstandings with one publisher, the 
 failure of another, £'3o0 in the editor's debt, and a 
 variety of untoward accidents, not unfrequently falling to 
 the lot of authors and editors, considerably damped Mr. 
 Young's expectations from a work, to which he had looked 
 forward for posthumous reputation. But that reputation 
 was not so long delayed ; and with it the sale of his work, 
 and consequently its profits gradually increased. For the 
 information contained in this truly valuable miscellany, he 
 had the honor of receiving the approbation and personal 
 thanks of George III. when he one day met Mr. Young on 
 the terrace at AVindsor. So deep an interest did the 
 venerable monarch take in the success of a work, of whose 
 merit no one was more competent to judge, that he shortly 
 after sent its editor some communications, in the form of 
 letters, which were inserted in the Annals, under the sig- 
 nature of Ralph Robinson. In 1787, 1788, and 1789, 
 Mr. Young performed three tours in France, and pub- 
 lished the result of his observations in two quarto volumes. 
 
200 ARTHUR YOUNG. 
 
 which were favorably received. As a proof of his energy, 
 it is stated that he performed his second journey on the 
 back of a horse, wall-eyed, and well nigh blind, without 
 surtout or saddle-bags, and met, as might be expected 
 from such an equipment for a three months' trip, with 
 several adventures not unworthy the knight-errantry of 
 Hudibras, or Don Quixote to perform, or the genius of 
 Cervantes or Butler to celebrate. 
 
 On the formation of the Agricultural Board, Mr. Young 
 became its Secretary, and performed the duties of his 
 office till his death, with great zeal and fidelity. He con- 
 tinued from time to time, to survey several of the counties 
 of England, of which surveys he published detailed re- 
 ports. To his very last days his attachment to his early 
 pursuits continued ; and at the time of his death, he was 
 preparing for the press the result of his agricultural experi- 
 ments and observations during a period of fifty years. 
 
 Mr. Young was a man of strong understanding, of a 
 vio-orous mind, and of warm feelings ; a most diligent 
 student, yet disposed to think for himself He was ex- 
 tremely temperate in his habits ; ardent and indefatigable 
 in his pursuits ; and diligent and laborious in a degree 
 seldom equalled. Through the whole course of his life, 
 he was a very early riser, and continued this practice even 
 after blindness made him dependant on others for the 
 prosecution of his studies. His firmness was great ; but 
 to a man of his sanguine disposition, the continual obstruc- 
 tion to his pursuits, produced by his want of sight, (a 
 calamity, which afflicted him after 1811, till his death,) 
 could scarcely have been borne with patience, had it not 
 been for the influences of religion, whose benign operation 
 was never more triumphantly displayed. A most impor- 
 tant change in his principles and character, took place in 
 the year 1797 ; when the death of his youngest daughter, 
 to whom he had been most tenderly attached, first led him 
 
ARTHUR YOUNG. OQl 
 
 to apply to that only true source of consolation over which 
 the world has no power. During the former fifty-six 
 years of his life, while most subjects of importance had, at 
 one time or other, engaged his attention, the most impor- 
 tant of all, religion, had scarcely occupied a thought. He 
 was not, indeed, an avowed skeptic ; but his mind was so 
 uninstructed, and his heart so unconcerned, in all that 
 respected religion, that, as he used often afterwards to 
 declare, and deeply to lament, he was little better than 
 a heathen. The diligence with which he thenceforth 
 discharged his official duties, prosecuted his studies, and 
 continued his favorite pursuits was, however, in no 
 degree, abated, but the motive was wholly changed. 
 He was now actuated by a desire to please God, and 
 by a wish, in his fear, to do good to men. A very 
 large proportion of his property was devoted to the re- 
 lief of the distressed. The poor peasantry around his 
 estate ever looked up to him as a father and a friend. To 
 enable him to give more to the poor, he lived with sim- 
 plicity and moderation, without ostentation, though with 
 much hospitality, no man having a warmer heart towards 
 his friends, or giving them a kindlier welcome at his 
 cheerful board. His early opposition to the slave-trade 
 evinced that he was a friend to the whole brotherhood of 
 man. He died on the 20th of February, 1820. The 
 disease, which terminated his mortal existence, was an ex- 
 tremely painful one ; but in the most excruciating bodily 
 agony, his patience and resignation were exemplarily 
 manifested. 
 
HUMPHREY DAVY. 
 
 Humphrey Davy was born in 1778, at Penzance, in 
 Cornwall, England. His father followed the profession of 
 a carver in wood, in that town, where many of his perform- 
 ances are still to be seen in the houses of the inhabitants. 
 All that we are told of Davy's school education is, that he 
 was taught the rudiments of classical learning at a semi- 
 nary in Trurot Ke was then placed, by his father, with an 
 apothecary and surgeon in his native place. But instead 
 of attending to his profession, he spent his time, either in 
 rambling about the country, or in experimenting in his 
 master's garret, sometimes to the no small danger of the 
 whole establishment. The physician and Davy at last 
 agreed to part. 
 
 When rather more than fourteen years old, he was placed 
 as pupil with another surgeon, residing in Penzance ; but 
 it does not appear that his second master had much more 
 success than his first in attempting to give him a liking 
 for the medical profession. The future philosopher, how- 
 ever, had already begun to devote himself, of his own ac- 
 cord, to those sciences in which he afterwards so greatly 
 distinguished himself; and proceeding upon a plan of 
 study which he had laid down for himself, he had, by the 
 time he was eighteen years old, obtained a thorough know- 
 ledge of the rudiments of natural philosophy and chemistry. 
 
HUMPHREY DAVY. 093 
 
 as well as made some proficiency in botany, anatomy, and 
 geometry. The subject of metaphysics, it is stated, was 
 also embraced in his reading at this period. 
 
 But chemistry was the science to which, of all others, 
 he gave himself with the greatest ardor ; and, even in this 
 early stage of his researches, he seems to have looked for- 
 ward to reputation from his labors in this department. 
 ** How often," said he, in the latter period of his life, 
 " have I wandered about those rocks in search after new 
 minerals, and, when tired, sat down upon those crags, and 
 exercised my fancy in anticipations of future renown." 
 The peculiar features of this part of the country doubtless 
 contributed not a little to give his genius the direction it 
 took. The mineral riches concealed under the soil formed 
 alone a world of curious investigation. The rocky coast 
 presented a geological structure of inexhaustible interest. 
 Even the various productions cast ashore by the sea, were 
 continually affording new materials of examination to his 
 inquisitive and reflecting mind. The first original experi- 
 ment, it is related, in which he engaged, had for its object 
 to ascertain the nature of the air contained in the bladders 
 of sea-weed. At this time, he had no other laboratory 
 than what he contrived to furnish for himself, by the as- 
 sistance of his master's phials and gallipots, the pots and 
 pans used in the kitchen, and such other utensils as acci- 
 dent threw in his way. These he converted, with great 
 ingenuity, to his own purposes. On one occasion, how- 
 ever, he accounted himself particularly fortunate in a 
 prize which he made. This was a case of surgical instru- 
 ments with which he was presented by the surgeon of a 
 French vessel that had been wrecked on the coast, to 
 whom he had done some kind offices. Examining his 
 treasure with eagerness, Davy soon perceived the valuable 
 aid he might derive in his philosophical experiments from 
 some of the articles. One of the principal of them was, 
 
204 HUMPHREY DAVY. 
 
 in no long time, converted into a tolerable air-pump. The 
 proper use of the instruments was, of course, as little 
 thought of by their new possessor as that of his master's 
 gallipots which he was wont to carry up to his garret. 
 Davy's subsequent success as an experimentalist, was 
 owing, in no small degree, to the necessity he was placed 
 under, in his earliest researches, of exercising his skill and 
 ingenuity in this manner. " Had he," remarks his biog- 
 rapher, " been supplied, in the couimencement of his ca- 
 reer, with all those appliances, w^hich he enjoyed at a later 
 period, it is more than probable that he might have never 
 acquired that wonderful tact of manipulation, that ability 
 of suggesting expedients, and of contriving apparatus so 
 as to meet and surmount the difficulties, which must con- 
 stantly arise, during the progress of the philosopher through 
 the unbeaten tracks and unexplored regions of science. 
 In this art, Davy certainly stands unrivalled; and, like 
 his prototype, Scheele, he was unquestionably indebted 
 for his address to the circumstances, which have been 
 alluded to. There was never, perhaps, a more striking 
 exemplification of the adage, that "necessity is the parent 
 of invention." 
 
 Davy first pursued his chemical studies, without teacher 
 or guide, in the manner which has been described, and 
 aided only by the most scanty and rude apparatus. When 
 still a lad, however, he was fortunate in becoming ac- 
 quainted with Mr. Gregory Watt, son of the celebrated 
 James Watt. This gentleman, having come to reside at 
 Penzance for the benefit of his health, lodged with Mrs. 
 Davy, and soon discovered the talent of her son. The 
 scientific knowledge of Mr. Watt, gave an accurate direc- 
 tion to the studies of the young chemist, and excited him 
 to a systematic perseverance in his favorite pursuit. He 
 was also providentially introduced to the notice of Mr. 
 Davies Gilbert, since President of the Royal Society. 
 
HUMPHREY DAVY. 205 
 
 The boy, we are told, was leaning on the gate of his 
 father's house, when Mr. Gilbert passed, accompanied by 
 some friends, one of whom remarked, that there was young 
 Davy, who was so much attached to chemistry. The 
 mention of chemistry immediately fixed Mr. Gilbert's 
 attention ; he entered into conversation with the young 
 man, and, speedily becoming convinced of his extraor- 
 dinary talents and acquirements, offered him the use of 
 his library, and whatever other assistance he might require 
 for the pursuit of his studies. Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Watt, 
 soon after this, introduced Davy to the celebrated Dr. 
 Beddoes, who had just established at Bristol what he 
 called his Pneumatic Institution, for investigating the 
 medical properties of the different gases. Davy, who 
 was now In his nineteenth year, had for some time been 
 thinking of picoceeding to Edinburgh, in order to pursue 
 a regular course of medical education ; but Dr. Beddoes, 
 who had been greatly struck by different proofs which 
 he had given of his talents, and especially by an essay in 
 which he propounded an original tVory of light and heat, 
 having offered him the superintendence of his new institu- 
 tion, he at once accepted the invitation. " The young 
 philosopher," remarks a biographer, " was now fairly en- 
 tered on his proper path, and, from this period, we may 
 consider him as having escaped from the disadvantages of 
 his early lot. But it was while he was yet poor and un- 
 known, that he made those acquirements, which both 
 obtained for him the notice of his efficient patrons, and 
 fitted him for the situation in which they placed him. 
 His having attracted the attention of Mr. Gilbert, as he 
 stood at his father's gate, may be called a happy incident 
 in the providence of God ; but it was one that never would 
 have happened had it not been for the proficiency he had 
 already made in science by his own endeavors. He had 
 this opportunity of emerging from obscurity ; but had he 
 18 
 
206 HUMPHREY DAVY. 
 
 not previously labored in the cultivation of his mind as he 
 had done, it would have been no opportunity at all." 
 
 The experiments conducted by Davy, and under his 
 direction, at the Bristol Institution, were soon rewarded 
 by important results ; and of these, Davy, when he had 
 just completed his twenty-first year, published an account, 
 under the title of * Researches Chemical and Philosophical, 
 chiefly concerning Nitrous Oxide, and its respiration.' 
 In this publication, the singularly intoxicating effects 
 produced by the breathing of nitrous oxide, were first 
 announced. This annunciation excited considerable sen- 
 sation in the scientific world, and at once made Davy 
 generally known as a most ingenious and philosophic 
 experimentalist. He was, in consequence, soon after its 
 appearance, invited to fill the chemical chair of the Royal 
 Institution, then newly established. When he commenced 
 his lectures, he was scarcely twenty-two years of age ; but 
 never was success in such an undertaking more marked 
 and gratifying. He soon saw his lecture rooms crowded, 
 day after day, by all that was most distinguished in the 
 rank and intellect of the metropolis ; and his striking and 
 beautiful elucidations of every subject that came under his 
 review rivetted, often to breathlessness, the attention of 
 his splendid auditory. The year after his appointment to 
 this situation he was elected professor of chemistry to 
 the Board of Agriculture ; and he greatly distinguished 
 himself by the lectures which for ten successive sessions, 
 he delivered in this character. They were published in 
 1813, at the request of the Board. In 1806, he was 
 chosen to deliver the Bakerian lecture before the Society ; 
 and he performed the same task for several successive 
 years. Many of his most brilliant discoveries were an- 
 nounced in these discourses. In 1812, he received the 
 honor of knighthood from the Prince Regent, being the 
 first person on whom his Royal Highness conferred that 
 
HUMPHREY DAVY. 207 
 
 dignity. Two days after, he married a lady of consider- 
 able fortune. In 1813, he was elected a corresponding 
 member of the French Institute. He was created a 
 baronet in 1818. In 1820, he was chosen a foreign asso- 
 ciate of the Royal Academy of Sciences, at Paris, on the 
 death of the illustrious Watt. He had been, for some 
 time. Secretary of the Royal Society ; and on the death 
 of Sir Joseph Banks, in 1820, he was, by an unanimous 
 vote, raised to the presidency of that learned body — an 
 office which he held till he was obliged to retire, on ac- 
 count of ill health, in 1827, when his friend and first 
 patron, Mr. Davies Gilbert, was chosen to succeed him. 
 Little, we may suppose, did either of the two anticipate, 
 when they first met, thirty years before, at the gate of Mrs. 
 Davy, that they would thus stand successively, and in this 
 order, at the head of the most distinguished scientific asso- 
 ciation ia England. 
 
 The first memoir by Davy, which was read before the 
 Royal Society, was presented by him in 1801. It an- 
 nounced a new theory, which is now generally received, 
 of the galvanic influence, or the extraordinary effect pro- 
 duced by two metals in contact with each other, when 
 applied to the muscle even of a dead animal, which the 
 Italian professor, Galvani, had discovered. It was sup- 
 posed both by Galvani and his countryman Volta, who 
 also distinguished himself in the investigation of this curi- 
 ous subject, that the effect in question was an electrical 
 phenomenon — whence galvanism used to be called animal 
 electricity ; but Davy showed, by many ingenious experi- 
 ments, that, in order to produce it, the metals in fact un- 
 derwent certain chemical changes. Indeed, he proved 
 that the effect followed when only one metal was employed, 
 provided the requisite change was by any means brought 
 about on it, as, for example, by the interposition between 
 two plates of it, of a fluid calculated to act upon its sur- 
 
208 HUMPHREY DAVY. 
 
 face in a certain manner. In his Bakerian lecture for 
 1806, he carried the examination of this subject to a much 
 greater length, and astonished the scientific world by the 
 announcement of a multitude of the most extraordinary 
 results, from the application of the galvanic energy to the 
 composition and decomposition of various chemical sub- 
 stances. From these experiments he arrived at the con- 
 clusion, that the power called chemical affinity was in 
 truth identical with that of electricity. Hence the crea- 
 tion of a new science, now commonly known by the name 
 of Electro Chemistry, being that which regards the sup- 
 posed action of electricity in the production of chemical 
 changes. The discourse, in which these discoveries were 
 unfolded, was crowned by the French Institute with their 
 first prize, by a decision which reflects immortal honor 
 upon that illustrious body ; who thus forgot not only all 
 feelings of mutual jealousy, but even the peculiar and ex- 
 traordinary hostility produced by the war, which then 
 raged between the two countries, in their admiration of 
 genius, and their zeal for the interests of philosophy. 
 
 In the interesting and extraordinary nature of its an- 
 nouncements, the Bakerian lecture, of 1807, was as splen- 
 did a production as that of the former year. There are 
 certain substances, as the reader is aware, known in 
 chemistry by the name of alkalis, of which potash and 
 soda are the principal. These substances, chemists had 
 hitherto in vain, exhausted their ingenuity, and the re- 
 sources of their art, in endeavoring to decompose. The 
 only substance possessing alkaline properties, the compo- 
 sition of which had been ascertained, was ammonia, which 
 is a gas, and is therefore called a volatile alkali ; and this 
 having been found to be a compound of certain proportions 
 of hydrogen and nitrogen, an opinion generally prevailed 
 that hydrogen would be found to be also a chief ingre- 
 dient of the Jixed alkalis. Davy determined, if possible, 
 
HUMPHREY DAVY. 209 
 
 to ascertain this point, and engaged in the investigation 
 with great hopes of success, from the surpassing powers 
 of decomposition which he had found to belong to his new 
 agent, the galvanic influence. The manner in which he 
 pursued this object, is among the most interesting speci- 
 mens of scientific investigation on record. One of the 
 most important of the laws of galvanic decomposition, 
 which he had previously discovered, was, that, when any 
 substance was subjected to this species of action, its 
 oxygen (an ingredient which nearly all substances contain) 
 was developed at what is called the positive end or pole of 
 the current of electricity, while, whenever any hydrogen 
 or inflammable matter was present, it uniformly appeared 
 at the opposite or negative pole. Proceeding upon 
 this principle, therefore, Davy commenced his work with 
 a fixed alkali ; and at first submitted it, dissolved in water, 
 to the galvanic action. The result, however, was, that 
 the water alone was decomposed, nothing being disen- 
 gaged by the experiment but oxygen and hydrogen, the 
 ingredients of that fluid, which passed off as usual, the 
 former at the positive, the latter at the negative pole. In 
 his subsequent experiments, therefore, Davy proceeded 
 without water, employing potash in a state of fusion ; and, 
 having guarded the process from every other disturbing 
 cause that presented itself, by a variety of ingenious ar- 
 rangements, he had at last the satisfaction of seeing the 
 oxygen gas developed, as before, at the positively electri- 
 fied surface of the alkali, while, at the same time, on the 
 other side, small globules of matter were disengaged, hav- 
 ing all the appearances of a metal. The long agitated 
 question was now determined ; the base ofthe fixed alkalis 
 was clearly metallic. To ascertain the qualities of the 
 metallic residue which he had thus obtained from the pot- 
 ash, was Davy's next object. From its great attraction 
 for oxygen, it almost immediately, when exposed to the 
 18* 
 
210 HUMPHREY DAVY. 
 
 atmosphere, became an alkali again, by uniting with that 
 ingredient ; and at first it seemed on this account hardly 
 possible to obtain a sufficient quantity of it for examina- 
 tion. But at last Davy thought of pouring over it a thin 
 coating of the mineral fluid called naphtha, which both 
 preserved it from communication with the air, and, being- 
 transparent, allowed it to be examined. 
 
 But there was another course of investigation, into 
 which this philosopher entered, which resulted in a prac- 
 tical discovery of high importance. This was the con- 
 trivance of the safety lamp. In coal mines, frequent 
 explosions had been caused by the Jire-damp or inflamma- 
 ble gas, which is found in many parts of them. By a 
 series of experiments, Davy found that this dangerous gas, 
 which was known to be nothing more than the hydrogen 
 of the chemists, had its explosive tendencies very much 
 restrained by being mixed with a small quantity of car- 
 bonic acid, and nitrogen (the ingredient which along with 
 oxygen, forms atmospheric air) ; and that, moreover, if it 
 did explode, when so mixed, the explosion would not pass 
 through apertures less than one seventh of an inch in 
 diameter. Proceeding, therefore, upon these ascertained 
 facts, he contrived his safety lamp. It consists of a small 
 light, fixed in a cylindrical vessel, which is every where 
 air-tight, except in the bottom, and which is formed of 
 fine wire-gauze, and in the upper part, where there is a 
 chimney for carrying off the foul air. The air admitted 
 through the gauze, suffices to keep up the flame ; Vv'hich, 
 in its combustion, produces enough of carbonic acid and 
 nitrogen to prevent the fire-damp, when inflamed within 
 the cylinder, from communicating the explosion to what 
 is without. The heretofore destructive element, thus 
 caught and detained, is therefore not only rendered harm- 
 less, but actually itself helps to furnish the miner with 
 light, the whole of the interior of the cylinder being filled 
 
HUMPHREY DAVY. OJi 
 
 with a steady green flame, arising from the combustion of 
 the hydrogen, which has been admitted to contact with 
 the heat, but cannot carry back the inflammation it has re- 
 ceived to the general volume without. Armed wqth this 
 admirable protection, therefore, the miner advances without 
 risk, and with suflicient light to enable him to work, into 
 recesses which formerly he would not have dared to enter. 
 The safety lamp has already been the means of saving 
 many lives, and has enabled extensive mines, or portions of 
 mines, to be wrought, which, but for its assistance, must 
 have remained unproductive. The coal owners of the 
 northern districts, in 1817, invited Sir Humphrey to a 
 public dinner, and presented him with a service of plate 
 of the value of .£2,000, in testimony of what they felt to 
 be the merit of this invention. 
 
 " The transformations of chemistry," remarks Mr. John 
 F. W. Herschel, " by which we are enabled to convert the 
 most apparently useless materials into important objects in 
 the arts, are opening up to us, every day, sources of wealth 
 and convenience of which former ages had no idea, and 
 which have been pure gifts of science to man. Every de- 
 partment of art has felt their influence, and new instances 
 are continually occurring, of the unlimited resources which 
 this wonderful science developes in the most sterile parts 
 of nature. Not to mention the impulse which its progress 
 has given to a host of other sciences ; what strange and 
 unexpected results has it not brought to light in its appli- 
 cation to some of the most common objects ! Who, for 
 instance, would have conceived that linen rags were capa- 
 ble of producing more than their awn iveight of sugar, by 
 the simple agency of one of the cheapest and most abun- 
 dant acids? — that dry bones could be a magazine of nutri- 
 ment, capable of preservation for years, and ready to yield 
 up their sustenance in the form best adapted to the sup- 
 port of life, on the application of that powerful agent, 
 
213 HUMPHREY DAVY. 
 
 steam, which enters so largely into all our processes, or of 
 an acid at once cheap and durable ? — that saw-dust is sus- 
 ceptible of conversion into a substance bearing no remote 
 analogy to bread ; and though certainly less palatable than 
 that of flour, yet no way disagreeable ; and both whole- 
 some and digestible, as well as highly nutritive. What 
 economy in all processes where chemical agents are em- 
 ployed, is introduced by the exact knowledge of the pro- 
 portions in which natural elements unite, and their mutual 
 powers of displacing each other ! What perfection in all 
 the arts where fire is employed, either in its more violent 
 applications, (as, for instance in the smelting of metals by 
 the introduction of well-adapted fluxes, whereby we obtain 
 the whole produce of the ore in its purest state,) or in its 
 milder forms, as in sugar refining (the whole modern prac- 
 tice of which depends on a curious and delicate remark of 
 a late eminent scientific chemist on the nice adjustment 
 of temperature at which the crystalization of syrup takes 
 place) ; and a thousand other arts, which it would be 
 tedious to mention." 
 
 We have not space to enumerate many other splendid 
 discoveries of this great philosopher. In 18'37, his health 
 had become so poor, that he found it necessary to seek 
 relaxation from his engagements, and accordingly resigned 
 the presidency of the Royal Society. Immediately after 
 this, he proceeded to the continent. During his absence 
 from England, he still continued his chemical researches, 
 the results of which he communicated in several papers to 
 the Royal Society. He also, notwithstanding his increas- 
 ing weakness and suff*erings, employed his leisure in lite- 
 rary composition on other subjects, an evidence of which 
 appeared in his * Salmonia,' a treatise on fly-fishing, which 
 he published in 1828. This little book is full of just and 
 pleasing descriptions of some of the phenomena of nature, 
 and is imbued with an amiable and contented spirit. His 
 
HUMPHREY DAVY. 213 
 
 active mind, indeed, continued, as it would seem, to exert 
 itself to the last, almost with as unwearied ardor as ever. 
 Besides the volume which we have just mentioned, another 
 work, entitled 'The Last Days of a Philosopher,' which he 
 also wrote during this period, has been given to the world 
 since his death. He died at Geneva, on the 30th of May, 
 1829. He had only arrived in that city the day before ; 
 and having been attacked by an apoplexy after he had 
 gone to bed, expired at an early hour in the morning. 
 
 " No better evidence," says his biographer, " can be 
 desired than that which we have in the history of Davy, 
 that a long life is not necessary to enable an individual to 
 make extraordinary progress in any intellectual pursuit to 
 which he will devote himself with all his heart and strength. 
 This eminent person was, indeed, early in the arena where 
 he won his distinction ; and the fact, as we have already 
 remarked, is a proof how diligently he must have exercised 
 his mental faculties during the few years that elapsed 
 between his boyhood, and his first appearance before the 
 public. Although, during this time, he had scarcely any 
 one to guide his studies, or even to cheer him onward, yet, 
 notwithstanding that, he had taken his place among the 
 known chemists of the age, almost before he was twenty- 
 one. The whole of his brilliant career in that character, 
 embracing so many experiments, so many literary produc- 
 tions, and so many splendid and valuable discoveries, 
 extended only over a space not quite thirty years. He had 
 not completed his fifty-first year when he died. Nor was 
 Davy merely a man of science. His general acquirements 
 were diversified and extensive. He was familiar with the 
 principal continental languages, and wrote his own with 
 an eloquence not usually found in scientific works. All 
 his writings, indeed, show the scholar, and the lover of 
 elegant literature, as well as the ingenious and accom- 
 plished philosopher. Like almost all those, who have 
 
214 HUMPHREY DAVY. 
 
 greatly distinguished themselves in the world of intellect, 
 he selected his one favorite path, and persevered in it with 
 great energy ; while he nevertheless revered wisdom and 
 genius in all their manifestations." 
 
 Of the religious opinions and feelings of Sir Humphrey 
 Davy we know very little. The following striking sentence 
 is found in one of his moral works. " I envy," says he, 
 ''^no quality of the mind or intellect in others ; not genius, 
 power, wit, or fancy ; but if I could choose what would be 
 most delightful, and I believe most useful to me, I should 
 prefer ajirm religious belief to every other blessing." 
 
ADAM CLARKE. 
 
 We suppose that no one will deny to Dr. Clarke the 
 claim of great and multifarious learning, and of most 
 patient and unwearied industry in whatever he undertakes. 
 The soundness of his judgment, the clearness of his per- 
 ceptions, and the strength of his reasoning powers, may not 
 be in very high estimation. The truth of some of the reli- 
 gious doctrines which he maintains, may be questioned in 
 many of the divisions of the Christian church ; yet the high 
 characteristics of energy, perseverance, supreme devotion 
 to one great object, all will cheerfully unite in awarding to 
 him. He is unquestionably the most learned man who 
 has ever been connected with the Methodist Episcopal 
 church. 
 
 Adam Clarke was born at Magherafelt, about 30 miles 
 from the city of Londonderry, Ireland, in the year 1763. 
 His father was a member of a respectable English family. 
 His mother was of Scottish descent. Reduced fortunes were 
 the reasons of their removing to Ireland. His parents 
 were pious and intelligent people. As soon as he could 
 well be taught anything, he was instructed to fear and love 
 the God and Father of all, and to worship him in spirit 
 and truth, through the only Mediator. The religious 
 principles, thus early implanted, expanded and strength- 
 ened as he advanced in years. His father being diligently 
 
216 ADAM CLARKE. 
 
 engaged from day to day in his occupations as a farmer, 
 had not, perhaps, discerned in his son any peculiar predi- 
 lection for learning. Had this been the case, it is very 
 probable, that he would not have cherished it, but that he 
 would have judged it most prudent to turn the attention of 
 his son towards trade and commerce. Though he was 
 able to have imparted to him a sound and mature educa- 
 tion, he withheld the boon in a great measure, partly from 
 his circumstances and prospects in life, and partly because 
 he foresaw that his agricultural cares would too frequently 
 engage his time, as well as divide the attention of his pupil, 
 to too great a degree, to anticipate any early proficiency in 
 learning. 
 
 Having designed his son for trade, Mr. Clarke placed 
 him under the care of Mr. Bennett, an extensive linen 
 manufacturer in the neighborhood. The lad had either 
 no power, or no disposition to throw any obstacles in the 
 way of a connection which his father evidently desired, 
 and to which, perhaps, he himself thought he should be 
 able to reconcile himself But whether he betrayed his 
 aversion to manual labor, or whether he discovered his 
 strong desire for study, it was soon perceived that he was 
 very much dissatisfied. Accordingly, a separation took 
 place between him and his master, alike honorable to all 
 the parties concerned. Mr. Bennett continued till his 
 death, a steady friend and correspondent of INIr. Clarke. 
 About this time the founder of Methodism, the Rev. John 
 Wesley, was active in his inquiries after pious and prom- 
 ising young men, to assist him in the work of the ministry. 
 Adam Clarke was pointed out to him as a youth of promise, 
 by an individual who had become acquainted with his 
 talents. Mr. Wesley had sometime before founded a 
 school at Kings wood, near Bristol, for the education of the 
 sons of preachers. After a short correspondence, young 
 Clarke was sent to this school. Unhappily, the treatment, , 
 
ADAM CLARKE. 217 
 
 which he received from the master, was harsh and violent. 
 Some have supposed it to have arisen out of a determina- 
 tion on the part of the pupil to apply himself to the acqui- 
 sition of more extensive knowledge than the system or 
 resources of that seminary contemplated. It was during 
 this trying period, that he laid the foundation of that pro- 
 Ibund acquaintance with the Hebrew language, to which 
 he ultimately attained. At an early age, he took for his 
 motto, " through desire, a man, having separated himself, 
 seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom." Mr. Wes- 
 ley soon after arrived at Kingswood, and the pains and 
 fears of Mr. Clarke were dispersed. That acute observer 
 perceived and estimated the excellence of his persecuted 
 protege, and in a short time adjudged him to be worthy to 
 undertake the labors of an evangelical itineracy. Mr. 
 Clarke entered on his public work in 1782. Several cir- 
 cumstances combined to render him a preacher of the high- 
 est popularity among the Methodists, and of the greatest 
 usefulness in extending the influence, and exalting the 
 character of the denomination. 
 
 Dr. Clarke has been an example of temperance and per- 
 severing industry. " Rising early, and late taking rest, 
 avoiding all visits of ceremony, and journeys of mere plea- 
 sure and recreation, restricting himself to the most whole- 
 some diet and temperate beverage, not allowing unneces- 
 sary intrusion on his time ; — these have been among the 
 means by which he has at once performed so much impor- 
 tant duty, acquired such a store of knowledge, and retained 
 so unusual a portion of sound and vigorous health." Dr. 
 Clarke applied himself to the study of languages for the 
 purpose of assisting the British and Foreign Bible Society. 
 His principal work is his Commentary on the Old and New 
 Testament. Whatever may be said of its doctrines, its 
 criticisms, and its interpretations, no one can deny that it 
 19 
 
218 ADAM CLARKE. 
 
 exhibits an uncommon display of ingenuity and industry, 
 and a vast accumulation of learning. 
 
 Dr. Clarke now resides at Eastcote, in the vicinity of 
 London. So far as his increasing infirmities and impaired 
 sight will allow, he takes his accustomed share of labor 
 with his brethren. He has an interesting little museum, 
 and an extensive and very valuable library, which is espe- 
 cially rich in oriental literature. 
 
CHARLES G. HAINES. 
 
 Charles G. Haines was born at Canterbury, in the 
 State of New Hampshire, about the year 1793. His father 
 was a respectable farmer, in humble circumstances, but 
 endowed with a vigorous mind. His energetic habits of 
 thought doubtless exerted great influence on the mind of 
 his son, by calling its powers into activity at an early age, 
 and thus, in some measure, compensated for the absence 
 of those opportunities of education, which the limited 
 means of the family put beyond their reach. Charles 
 passed the years of his boyhood in his father's house, 
 laboring on the farm in the summer, and attending the 
 village school in the winter. It is probable that this mode 
 of life did not please him, and that a restless spirit induced 
 him to seek some other employment of a less humble 
 character. About the age of fourteen years, he obtained 
 the situation of a clerk in the office of Col. Philip Carri- 
 gain, at that time secretary of the State of New Hamp, 
 shire. While a mere copyist in the office of tiiis gentle- 
 man, his desire to be distinguished in every occupition in 
 whioh he was engaged, showed itself in the acquisition of 
 a beautiful hand-writing — an attainment upon which no 
 intelligent man will place a low es^timate. On the appoint- 
 ment of Col. Carrigain to prepare a map of the State, and 
 his consequent resignation of his office of secretary, young 
 
220 CHARLES G, HAINES. 
 
 Haines, partly by his own exertions, and partly by the 
 assistance of his friends, prepared himself for college, and 
 was admitted to the institution in Middlebury, Vermont, in 
 1812. He passed through the usual course with credit, 
 and in 1816, received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 
 consequence of unremitted application, his health had 
 become feeble, and he was induced to undertake a journey 
 on horseback. On this occasion, he first visited the city 
 of New York. He continued his journey as far as Pitts- 
 burgh, in Pennsylvania. He returned to Vermont, in 
 much better health, and commenced the study of law in 
 the office of the Hon. Horatio Seymour, of Middlebury. 
 He also engaged in the task of assisting in the editorship 
 of one of the principal political journals of the State, proba- 
 bly from want of other means of subsistence. In 1818, Mr. 
 Haines removed to the, city of New York, and entered the 
 law office of Pierre C. Van Wyck, Esq. He soon took an 
 active part in the local politics of the State, and was 
 appointed private secretary to governor Clinton. Yet so 
 great was his address, or so happy was his disposition, that 
 he was beloved by all parties for his generous feelings and 
 polite deportment. During the first year of his residence 
 in New York, Mr. Haines produced a pamphlet, in which 
 he took an elaborate review of the probable expense and 
 advantages of the great western canal. Soon after, he 
 produced a larger work on the same subject, in which he 
 displays great research and industry. After this, he 
 secluded himself almost entirely from society, and applied 
 himself closely to professional studies. Few men labor 
 more assiduously than Mr. Haines did for three years after 
 his admission to the bar, and until attacked by the disease 
 which proved fatal to him. Besides attending to his busi- 
 ness as a lawyer, he uniformly devoted three hours in a 
 day to reading law, and spent his nights, till a very late 
 hour, in the study of history and political science. It was 
 
CHARLES G. HAINES. 221 
 
 his habit to make copious abstracts of the books which he 
 read, to which he added numerous notes of his own. He 
 was not an exact, practical lawyer. While he was famil- 
 iar with the general doctrines of the law, he devoted his 
 earnest attention to questions involving the principles of 
 our federal and state constitutions. It was therefore in 
 the courts of the United States, where all the important 
 doctrines regarding our national compact are agitated and 
 determined, that Mr. Haines desired to appear. His 
 studies had a constant tendency to this object. Among 
 his manuscripts, there is a minute analysis of the " Feder- 
 alist," besides several volumes filled with quotations, and 
 occasionally with complete abstracts of works on kindred 
 subjects. The first question in which he was concerned 
 before the Supreme Court of the United States, was one 
 involving the constitutionality of the state bankrupt laws. 
 On its decision depended the fortune of thousands of indi- 
 viduals, and the title to millions of property. Mr. Henry 
 Clay and Mr. David B. Ogden, were his senior counsel, 
 and Mr. Webster and Mr. Wheaton were the opposing 
 counsel. The impression made by Haines on his learned 
 auditors was favorable. The argument for the constitu- 
 tionality of the state bankrupt laws was the fruit of long 
 and laborious preparation. It was afterwards printed, and 
 does great credit to his industry, learning, and good sense. 
 His legal talents were never fully tested. His early edu- 
 cation had been hurried and deficient. His powers of 
 thought had never been tasked by rigorous trains of math- 
 ematical and metapliysical reasoning. His mind had 
 never been disciplined to that severity and exactness of 
 thought, which go to form a truly able lawyer. Yet his 
 mental processes were just, rapid, and vigorous, and even 
 when competing with men of the highest legal attain- 
 ments, his previous diligent preparation, made him always 
 respectable. Mr. Haines was frequently called upon to 
 19* 
 
222 CHARLES G. HAINES. 
 
 address public assemblies upon various topics which for 
 the moment interested the community. He freely lent his 
 aid to the various institutions of charity and reform, giving 
 to Ihem liberally his time, his money, and his labor. In 
 general, he wrote out the substance of his intended speech 
 at length. As the views which he took of his subject were 
 large, his efforts of this kind never disappointed public 
 expectation, and were frequently honorable to his talents, 
 as well as to his good feelings. Among the topics of this 
 nature, on which he wrote and spoke with effect, were 
 " Pauperism," and the " Penitentiary system." His useful 
 exertions for the cause of humanity in relation to these 
 subjects will long be remembered with gratitude. 
 
 In the political struggles of the State, Mr. Haines was 
 very active. In 1S25, governor Clinton nominated him 
 adjutant general of the militia of the State, an office which 
 he did not live to assume. The labors, in which he was 
 engaged, were too severe for bis physical strength. 
 Intense study and continued sedentary habits were grad- 
 ually making fatal inroads upon a constitution originally 
 aood, and which had been sustained thus far by a life of 
 the strictest temperance. His friends often warned him 
 against the effects of midnight study and neglect of exer- 
 cise, but he used to reply that he did not require any relax- 
 ation. Their fears were too soon realized. He lingered 
 till the third of July, 1825, when he expired at the age of 
 thirty-two years. His funeral took place on the sixth of 
 July, and was attended by an immense concourse of citi- 
 zens. 
 
 " His devotion to politics," remarks his biographer, 
 *' was almost a passi>:)n, and if talent may be estimated by 
 success, he was well adapted for political life. Certain it 
 is, that he seized with uncommon tact upon those circum- 
 stances which industry and zeal could render favorable ; 
 and as he conciliated every man whom he approached, he 
 
CHARLES G. HAINES. 223 
 
 accomplished as much by his personal influence, as by his 
 writings. There was, besides, in him an enthusiasm, 
 which believed nothing impossible ; and to such an one, 
 obstacles are toys, and victory a pastime. More than all, 
 and united with all, he possessed an indefatigable, system- 
 atic industry, the great secret of all acquisitions. Those 
 who have the originality to conceive great designs, are not 
 found in general, to possess the practical talent of devel- 
 oping their utility, and carrying them into execution. Mr. 
 Haines had the sagacity to seize on the best conceptions 
 of other men, the diligence to gather important facts and 
 circumstances in their support, and the activity and energy 
 to turn them to practical account." 
 
 Mr. Haines is a remarkable instance of what the unaid- 
 ed efforts of one man may accomplish. He came to the 
 city of New York, a poor and friendless stranger, and in 
 the short space of seven years, he surrounded himself with 
 numerous and valuable friends, acquired considerable rep- 
 utation as a scholar, a politician, and a writer, and rose to 
 one of the highest offices in the gift of the state govern- 
 ment. His social and private character was exemplary, 
 though his constitutional ardor sometimes triumphed over 
 his judgment. 
 
HENRY CLAY. 
 
 In giving some facts in the life of this distinguished 
 individual, we have but one object in view ; and that is to 
 show what can be accomplished by native resources of 
 mind, unaided by the fostering care of guides and teachers. 
 Mr. Clay has undoubtedly strong original powers, an intu- 
 itive genius, rapid perceptions, and a vigorous imagination. 
 He has also been placed in circumstances which compelled 
 him to act. Still he is a self-taught man. To collegiate 
 discipline, and academic guidance, he is not in the least 
 indebted for his extraordinary attainments. Far beyond 
 many, also, who have educated themselves, he has the 
 graces and delicacies, which are generally acquired only 
 in the halls consecrated to study. He has not only the 
 enthusiasm and wildness of a Kentuckian, but the beauty 
 and gracefulness of classic lands. He has the strong, 
 native sense of a backwoodsman, combined with the amen- 
 ity and polish which are acquired in the ancient seats of 
 learning. We regard this as a striking and most valuable 
 fact. Mr. Clay will exert, doubtless, considerable influ- 
 ence in future time, and after his death, as a model of 
 oratory. The events of his life, the circumstances in 
 which he has been placed, as well as the native qualities 
 of his mind, naturally point him out as an attractive exam- 
 ple for the youthful heart to dwell upon. The generosity, 
 the frankness, the enthusiasm of his character will win 
 
HENRY CLAY. 225 
 
 their way, where simple, solid, sterling excellence would 
 find no place. Mr. Clay has been the warm and eloquent 
 advocate of the independence of the new Southern Repub- 
 lics, and of eaiancipated Greece. With two or three ex- 
 ceptions, he has manifested himself to be superior to local 
 views, and temporary interests, and to be actuated by a 
 high regard for the welfare of the whole country, and of 
 future times. 
 
 Henky Clay was born in Hanover County, in the State 
 of Virginia, on the 12th of April, 1777. His father, a 
 clergyman of considerable talent and high respectability, 
 died while Henry was yet a child. At an early age, the 
 ^lad, having a common school education, was placed in the 
 office of Mr. Tinsley, clerk of the high court of chancery, 
 at Richmond, Virginia. In this situation, he met occa- 
 sionally with the distinguished men of the State ; and at 
 length, by his amiable deportment, and his striking dis- 
 plays of intellect, attracted the attention, and gained the 
 friendship of chancellor Wythe, and governor Brooke^ who, 
 by their joint advice, persuaded him, at the age of nine- 
 teen, to undertake the study of the law. To this pursuit 
 he applied himself with great industry and ardor. Soon 
 after being admitted to practice, in the twenty-first year of 
 his age, he removed to Lexington, in the State of Ken- 
 tucky. Instead of entering immediately upon his profes- 
 sional course, he still confined himself to his legal studies, 
 with the determination of making himself thoroughly mas- 
 ter of the great principles of law, before he assumed the 
 responsibility of practice. In taking this course, he showed 
 a remarkable indication of good sense and of sound judg- 
 ment, especially as there were many things in the circum- 
 stances of a new country calculated to excite and call 
 forth, prematurely, his distinguished powers. He wisely 
 laid the foundation, deep and broad, on which he was to 
 build his superstructure of reputation and usefulness. Up 
 
226 HENRY CLAY. 
 
 to this period, he had never made an effort at public speak- 
 ing, and was wholly unconscious of his own oratorical pow- 
 ers ; although, it is said, that his style of conversation, was 
 universally admired by his associates for its extreme cor- 
 rectness and elegance. The first exhibition of his powers 
 of extemporaneous eloquence was made under peculiar cir- 
 cumstances. Soon after his removal to Lexington, he 
 joined a debating society in that place, but continued, for 
 some weeks, to attend its meetings, without offering to take 
 part in its discussions. On one occasion, however, when 
 the vote on an interesting question, which had been the 
 subject of debate, was about to be taken, Mr. Clay 
 remarked, in a low but audible whisper, that the subject 
 did not appear to him to have been exhausted. This 
 remark was overheard by several of the members, who, 
 from their high opinion of his powers, had long wished to 
 persuade him to participate in the debates of the society, and 
 they addressed the chairman simultaneously, *' Do not put 
 the question yet, Mr. Clay will speak." The attention of 
 the society was now, of course, directed to Mr. Clay, who, 
 not having sufficient confidence to resist the appeal, arose 
 under extraordinary embarrassment, and commenced his 
 speech by saying, " Gentlcmin of the jury.'' The mem- 
 bers of the society were unwilling to increase his agitation 
 by seeming to take notice of his mistake, and he repeated 
 it several times, in a stammering tone, till, at length, he 
 gradually gained confidence from his own efforts, and, 
 finally, concentrating all his vigorous and disciplined pow- 
 ers upon the subject in debate, he surprised his audience 
 with a beauty and compass of voice, an exuberance of elo- 
 quence, and a force of argument worthy of a veteran ora- 
 tor. His reputation as a speaker, was at once established. 
 He immediately became a leading champion in all the 
 debates of the society. It is very evident from this cir- 
 cumstance, that Mr. Clay had well employed his time 
 
HENRY CLAY. 227 
 
 previously. He did not depend upon his genius alone, but 
 upon the results of patient reading and consecutive think- 
 ing. The Lexington bar was at that time, undoubtedly, 
 the ablest in the western country, consisting of George 
 Nicholas, John Breckinridge, James Brown, James 
 Hughes, William Murray, and other eminent men. Not- 
 withstanding the number, experience, and strength of 
 these competitors, Mr. Clay soon came to be intrusted 
 with more suits than any rival practitioner. Though well 
 acquainted with the law, during the early years of his prac- 
 tice, he was not, in this respect, distinguished beyond 
 some of his competitors. In legal science he had superi- 
 ors, but, in eloquence and persuasion, none. Though 
 capable of applying the abstract principles of law with 
 great ingenuity and force, his genius was still better 
 adapted to discussions, in which the natural powers of 
 intellect were principally called into exercise. The com- 
 mencement of Mr. Clay's political life may be dated as far 
 back as the year 1797. The people of Kentucky were 
 about to call a convention to frame a new constitution for 
 the State ; and one feature of the plan, which had been 
 submitted to them, was a provision for the final emancipa- 
 tion of the slave population. The strongest prejudices of 
 a majority of the people in every part of the State were 
 arrayed against the measure. Mr. Clay was aware of this 
 fact, but his sentiments and feelings were on the side of 
 emancipation ; and, without taking a moment's heed to his 
 popularity, he entered into the defence of his favorite pol- 
 icy, with all the unquenchable ardor of his nature. His 
 vigorous pen was busy in the public journals, and his elo- 
 quent voice was raised in almost every assemblage, in 
 favor of the election of men to the convention, who would 
 contend for the extinction of slavery. The struggle was 
 a fierce one ; but the advocates of slavery prevailed, and 
 the young champion of liberty and equal rights, who had 
 
228 HENRY CLAY. 
 
 made the friends of slavery tremble for their ancient 
 prerogatives, became unpopular on account of the part 
 which he had acted. The true principles of slavery were 
 not then understood. The idea of emancipation was new. 
 It alarmed the prejudices of the multitude, and Mr. Clay's 
 powerful vindications of it, were regarded by many rather 
 as the brilliant but wayward efforts of a young votary of 
 ambition, than as the results of a calm and deliberate con- 
 viction of right. But his sincerity in opposing negro servi- 
 tude has been manifested, with one or two exceptions, in all 
 his public acts. Very frequently when a colored man 
 brought an action at law for his liberty, Mr. Clay volun- 
 teered his services as advocate, and, it is said, never 
 failed to obtain a decision in his client's favor. 
 
 The subsequent career of Mr. Clay, is well known. He 
 has now, for the third time, a seat in the Senate of the 
 United States. On the first day of his appearance, as a 
 member of the House of Representatives, in 1812, he was 
 appointed speaker by a vote of nearly two to one, over two 
 opposing candidates. To this office he was uniformly 
 re-elected so long as he continued a member. During all 
 this period, including seasons of unprecedented political 
 strife, not one of his decisions was ever reversed, on an 
 appeal from the chair, notwithstanding the energy with 
 which he always exerted his authority. Mr. Clay was one 
 of the commissioners, who negotiated ths treaty of peace 
 between the United States and Great Britain in 1814. 
 He performed the duties of secretary of state, during the 
 administration of Mr. Adams, from 1825 to 1829. He 
 has thus been connected with nearly all the great political 
 questions, which have agitated the people of this country 
 for the last thirty years. Hardly any individual has 
 exerted a more extensive influence. Of some of his public 
 efforts, and of the measures which he has advocated, there 
 are different views, according to the circumstances in 
 
HENRY CLAY. ^9 
 
 which different individuals may have been placed. No 
 one will deny to him, however, the possession of most dis- 
 tinguished gifts of nature, and of education. We deeply 
 regret that he has sadly tarnished his character by having 
 been repeatedly concerned in duelling. The wretched 
 apologies, which his biographer attempts to make for him, 
 are not deserving the slightest consideration. There is 
 a stain affixed to his character which time will never wash 
 out. As in the instance of Colonel Hamilton, Mr. Clay 
 furnishes a most melancholy proof that conscience, judg- 
 ment, and all the better feelings of the heart, may be 
 sacrificed on the shrine of honor, or rather of dishonor 
 and cowardice. 
 
 We are glad that Mr. Clay has expressed himself 
 so unequivocally and so nobly in behalf of the desolate 
 and outcast Indians and Africans. He thus speaks of 
 the American Colonization Society. " Let us not be dis- 
 heartened by the little which has been accomplished in 
 the brief space of thirteen years, or by the magnitude and 
 difficulties of the splendid undertaking. In the execution 
 of vast schemes, which affect the happiness and the con- 
 dition of a large portion of the habitable globe, time is 
 necessary, which, in the estimation of mortals, may appear 
 of long duration, but which, in the eyes of Providence, or 
 in the computation of the periods of national existence, is 
 short and fleeting. How long was it after Romulus and 
 Remus laid the scanty foundations of their little state, 
 within the contracted limits of the peninsula of Italy, 
 before imperial Rome burst forth in all its astonishing 
 splendor — the acknowledged mistress of the world ! Ages 
 rolled away before Carthage, and other colonies of the 
 olden time, shone out in all their commercial and military 
 glory. Centuries have elapsed since our forefathers, in the 
 morasses of James river, and on the rock of Plymouth, 
 began the work of founding this republic, yet in its infancy. 
 20 
 
230 HENRY CLAY. 
 
 Eighteen hundred years have rolled away since the awful 
 sacrifice of our blessed Redeemer upon the mount of Cal- 
 vary, and more than half mankind continue to deny his 
 mission and his word ! 
 
 " We may boldly challenge the annals of human nature 
 for the record of any human plan for the melioration of 
 the condition, or the advancement of our race, which 
 promises more unmixed good in comprehensive benevo- 
 lence than that of the Colonization Society, if carried into 
 full operation. Its benevolent purposes are not confined 
 to the limits of one continent, nor to the prosperity of a 
 solitary race. They embrace the two largest portions of 
 the earth, with the peace and happiness of both descrip- 
 tions of their present inhabitants and the countless millions 
 of their posterity. The colonists, reared in the bosom of 
 this republic, with a knowledge of the blessings which 
 liberty imparts, although now unable to share them, will 
 carry a recollection of them to benighted Africa, and light 
 up, in time, her immense territory. And may we not 
 indulge the hope, that, in a period of time, not surpassing in 
 duration that of our own colonial and national existence, we 
 shall behold a confederation of republican states, on the 
 western shores of Africa, with their congress and their 
 annual legislatures, thundering forth in behalf of the rights 
 of man, and causing tyrants to tremble on their thrones. 
 Confiding in the approving judgment of Divine Provi- 
 dence, and conscious of the benevolence and purity of our 
 intentions, we may fearlessly advance in our great work. 
 And when we shall, as soon we must, be translated 
 from this into another existence, is the hope presumptuous, 
 that we shall then behold the common Father of the white 
 and the black, the Ruler of the universe, cast His all- 
 seeing eye upon civilized and regenerated Africa — its 
 cultivated fields — its coasts studded with numerous cities, 
 and adorned with temples dedicated to the religion of His 
 
HENRY CLAY. 231 
 
 Redeeming Son — its far famed Niger, and all its great 
 rivers lined with flourishing villages, and navigated by that 
 wonderful power which American genius first applied ; 
 and that, after dwelling with satisfaction upon the glorious 
 spectacle, he will deign to look with approbation upon us, 
 His humble instruments, who have contributed to pro- 
 duce it," 
 
CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 
 
 Carsten Niebuhr was born, on the 17th of March, 
 1733, in Hadeln, then belonging to the province of Fries- 
 land, Denmark, but since united with the kingdom of 
 Hanover, Germany. He lost his mother before he was six 
 weeks old. He grew up under the care of a step-mother 
 in his father's house, where his way of life and employ- 
 ments, as well as his education, were those common to the 
 peasant boys of his country. It was, probably, owing to his 
 own eager desire for knowledge, that his father was induced, 
 only with a view of his being somewhat better instructed 
 than a common peasant, to send him to the grammar 
 school in Otterndorf, whence he afterwards went to that at 
 Altenbruch. But the removal of the schoolmaster of the 
 place, and the prejudices of the guardians, (for his father 
 had died in the interval,) put an end to his school-studies 
 before he had gone far enough even to have them suffi- 
 ciently impressed on his memory, to be of any service to 
 him, when he afterwards resumed them. The division of 
 his father's property between the surviving children, had 
 left him, instead of the farm which had been so long the 
 hereditary possession of the family, only a very small capi- 
 tal, quite inadequate to the purchase of any land for him- 
 self; and necessity would have led him to acquire knowl- 
 edge, as a means of subsistence, even if he had been of a 
 
CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 333 
 
 character to endure to live without education, and without 
 employment. He was obliged, however, to content himself 
 with such accomplishments as were attainable without 
 school-learning ; he, therefore, for a year, pursued music 
 with great zeal, and learned to play on several instruments 
 with a view to earn his living as an organist. As this 
 employment, likewise, did not meet the approbation of his 
 guardians, his maternal uncle took him home to his own 
 house, where he passed about four years, during which his 
 life was once more completely that of a peasant. The 
 older he grew, however, the less could he endure the void 
 and dulness of this way of life, which can only be relieved,, 
 either, as in old times, by a share in the general delibera- 
 tion on the affairs of the community, and by cheerfulness 
 and merriment, or, as is the case with the English farmer, 
 by a participation in the advantages of education and 
 literary amusement. He felt an irresistible impulse to 
 learn, to employ himself, and to render himself generally 
 useful. 
 
 The providential circumstances which determine the 
 course of life of distinguished men, deserve to be remem- 
 bered. In the highest degree providential was that which 
 gave to Niebuhr the direction which he thenceforth fol- 
 lowed, until it led him to become one of the most eminent 
 travellers of modern times, A law suit had arisen concern- 
 ing the superficial contents of a farm, which could only be 
 decided by measurement, and as there was no land surveyor 
 in Hadeln, the parties were obliged to send for one to 
 another place. Niebuhr felt for the honor of his native 
 district with all the warmth of old times, and this occurrence 
 appeared to him disgraceful to it. He could now fulfil a 
 duty towards his country by learning the neglected art, 
 which at the same time, furnished him with an occupation 
 and an object such as he desired. Learning that instruc- 
 tion in practical geometry was to be had in Bremen, he 
 20* 
 
234 CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 
 
 immediately, on arriving at age, repaired to that city. 
 This plan was frustrated ; the teacher upon whom he 
 depended was dead; but he did not disdain the instruc- 
 tions of a humble practitioner of the art. He, however, 
 would be obliged to lodge and board in his house, and 
 here the bashful, strictly decorous, and self-distrusting 
 young peasant, found two town-bred young ladies, sisters 
 of his intended teacher, whose attentions appeared to him 
 so singular that he quickly took his departure. He now 
 turned his eyes towards Hamburgh, but there he was 
 destined again to experience disappointment, and to have 
 his perseverance put to the test. 
 
 He had passed his two and twentieth year when he went 
 to Hamburgh to avail himself of Succow's instructions in 
 mathematics, and, without any false shame on account of 
 his age, to begin his school-studies anew, his income was 
 not sufficient to maintain him even with that rigid economy 
 which was natural to him. He determined, however, to 
 spend just so much of his small capital as would enable 
 him to accomplish his end. He arrived at Hamburgh in 
 the summer of the year, 1755. But just at this time, 
 Succow was called to Jena ; the mathematical chair 
 was not filled till Biisch was appointed to it. The severest 
 application to private instruction was, therefore, necessary 
 to make the lessons at the gymanasium (or public school) 
 intelligible or profitable to him. A countryman of his, 
 named Witke, who, at that time, lived at Hamburgh as 
 candidate for holy orders, and who afterwards died at 
 Otterndorf, where he was pastor, gave him this private 
 instruction with true cordiality and friendship. Niebuhr 
 always spoke of him as the person who laid the founda- 
 tion of his education, and, as such, honored and loved 
 him, with sincere affection. Notwithstanding his uncom- 
 mon exertions, and the strength both of his body and mind, 
 twenty months (eight of which were passed in merely 
 
CARSTEN NIEBUHR, 235 
 
 preparatory studies, for the Latin tongue was almost en- 
 tirely unknown to him) were quite insufficient for one, 
 who began to learn so late in life, to acquire that amount 
 of knowledge, which more favored youths bring with them 
 to the university. Among other things thus unavoidably 
 neglected was Greek, of which he always greatly lamented 
 the want. Under Biisch he had begun to learn mathe- 
 matics. He was the earliest and most distinguished of 
 all his pupils, and in subsequent life, became his most 
 intimate friend. To stop in the middle of any undertak- 
 ing was thoroughly repugnant to his whole character. He 
 had gone to Hamburgh solely with a view to acquire a 
 knowledge of geometry, and of some things commonly 
 taught in the schools ; but as soon as he had become ac- 
 quainted with the sciences, he could not rest till he was 
 able to embrace them in all their extent and depth. In 
 the spring of 1757, he repaired to Gottingen. The mathe- 
 matics continued to be his favorite study. He was now 
 more than ever compelled, by the diminution of his little 
 substance, to aim at some employment by which he could 
 maintain himself, and to which his studies would lead. 
 This he now looked to in the Hanoverian engineer corps, 
 in which (as was the case in nearly the whole military 
 service of Germany) men of efficient mathematical attain- 
 ments were extremely rare. There he might hope to obtain 
 by merit, a competent support. He studied with the steadi- 
 ness which a fixed, simple, and prudent plan of life en- 
 sures, from the spring of J 757, for more than a year, 
 undisturbed by the war, which frequently raged around 
 Gottingen. At this time he recollected that an endow- 
 ment, or fund for exhibitions, existed at this university, 
 and begged his friend to ascertain whether it was only for 
 poor students in the strict sense of the term ; or whether 
 it was endowed without that limitation, '' as a means of 
 persevering in the study of something useful and impor- 
 
236 CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 
 
 tant. In this case alone could he allow himself to apply 
 for it." He received it and appropriated it entirely to the 
 purchase of instruments. 
 
 At this period, Frederick the Fifth reigned in Denmark 
 in enviable tranquillity. Louis the Fourteenth's memory 
 still shone throughout Europe, vi^ith all that false glitter, 
 which had hung around his name, during his life, and he 
 was well known to be the model after which the ministers 
 of the Danish monarch, endeavored, as far as it was com- 
 patible with the character of a peaceful king, to form 
 their sovereign. Seldom, however, have the aims of min- 
 isters been less liable to reproach than were those of the 
 then baron J. H. E. Bernstorf ; and among all the states- 
 men of the continent, there was not, perhaps, one of his 
 time, so well informed, so noble minded, and so intelli- 
 gent. The extraordinary and beneficent qualities and en- 
 dowments of the second count Bernstorf, will be remem- 
 bered by a grateful nation, since what he effected remains 
 indestructible, and forms the sole basis for future reforms 
 and improvements. Posterity will perhaps mention, as 
 among the noblest actions of his uncle, J. H, E. Bernstorf, 
 the emancipation of his serfs, or the slaves of the soil ; the 
 leisure, which he insured to Klopstock, and the scientific 
 expedition which he sent into Arabia. This enterprise 
 was originally owing to Michaelis, who. had represented to 
 the minister of state that many elucidations of the Old 
 Testament might be obtained by personal observation and 
 inquiry in Arabia, which might be regarded as hitherto 
 untrodden by European feet. The original idea in the 
 mind of the author extended no farther than this ; that a 
 single traveller, an oriental scholar out of his own school, 
 should be sent by way of India to Yemen ; a plan which 
 would then have caused the undertaking to end in nothing, 
 even supposing the traveller ever to have found his way 
 back. Happily Bernstorf immediately perceived the de- 
 
CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 337 
 
 fectiveness of the plan, and replied to it by a proposal to 
 render the mission far more extensive in objects and out- 
 fit. As Bernstorf took up the project with all the vivacity 
 and liberality for which he was so remarkable, and fully 
 empowered Michaelis to propose an oriental scholar to 
 him, it might have been expected that Michaelis would 
 have named the man who, among all his contemporaries, 
 was unrivalled for his knowledge of the Arabic language, 
 and, as all Germany knew, was fighting inch by inch with 
 starvation, — Reiske, — whom, moreover, Michaelis had 
 known from the time he was at school. But instead of 
 Reiske, he recommended a pupil of his own, Von Haven, 
 whose acquirements must, at that time, have been those of 
 a mere school-boy, since a two years' residence at Rome, 
 (whither he went to prepare himself under the Maronites,) 
 and even the journey itself, never raised them above the 
 meanest mediocrity. Michaelis was also commissioned by 
 Bernstorf to propose the mathematicians and natural 
 historians. For the choice of these men, Michaelis ap- 
 plied to Kastner, one of the Gottingen Society of Sciences, 
 of which he was then director. A student of Hanover, 
 Bolzing, at first accepted the proposal, but after a short 
 time withdrew his promise. Kastner next proposed 
 Niebuhr. One day in the summer of 175S, on his way 
 from a meeting of the Society, to which he had just pro- 
 posed Niebuhr, he walked into his room. " Have you a 
 mind to go to Arabia," said he. " Why not, if any body 
 will pay my expenses," answered Niebuhr, whom nothing 
 bound to his home, and who had an unbounded desire for 
 seeing the w^orld. " The king of Denmark," replied 
 Kastner, " will pay your expenses." He then explained 
 the project and its origin. Niebuhr's resolution was taken 
 in a moment, so far as his own inclination was concerned. 
 But as he thought very humbly of himself, and most rev- 
 erentially of science and of the truly instructed, he de- 
 
238 CARSTEN NIEBUHK, 
 
 spaired of his own ability and power of being useful. On 
 this head, however, Kastner set him at ease by the promise 
 of a long term of preparation, which he might employ 
 chiefly under Mayer, in astronomy, and by the assurance 
 that, with his determined industry and perseverance, the 
 allotted time would be fully sufficient. The same evening, 
 Niebuhr, who wanted nothing to fix his resolution but 
 Mayer's promise to instruct him in astronomy, called on 
 the philosopher. Mayer, who was not so sanguine a man 
 as Kastner, cautioned him against a determination which, 
 with his character, would be irrevocable ; while he knew 
 not the dangers and fatigues, which he was about to brave. 
 He, however, promised the desired instruction. Michaelis, 
 whom he visited the following day, probably saw that 
 there was levity and precipitation in so prompt a resolu- 
 tion, and pressed upon him to delay a week to reconsider 
 the matter. It passed, but Niebuhr did not trouble him- 
 self with any further deliberation on a subject upon which 
 his mind was already thoroughly resolved, and Michaelis 
 now regarded the engagement as definitively accepted. His 
 conditions were, a year and a hialf for preparation ; and 
 during this period, the same salary as Von Haven received. 
 Bernstorf assented to this arrangement without the slightest 
 hesitation. Niebuhr now lived solely for his object. He 
 pursued his studies in pure mathematics, perfected himself 
 in drawing, and sought to acquire such historical informa- 
 tion as was attainable with that degree of learning which 
 he had so lately and so imperfectly acquired, wuthout neg- 
 lecting his more immediate objects. He cultivated prac- 
 tical mechanics, with a view of acquiring greater dexXerity 
 in handling his instruments, and in various manual opera- 
 tions, the acquirement and practice of which in Europe, 
 except for those whose business they are, is but a waste 
 of time. His attention was, however, principally occupied 
 by the private lessons of Michaelis in the Arabic language, 
 
CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 239 
 
 and of Mayer in astronomy. These he remembered with 
 very different feelings. For the grammatical study of lan- 
 guages in general he had but little talent or inclination. 
 At the end of a few months he gave up this course of in- 
 struction. 
 
 Tobias Mayer was undoubtedly one of the first astrono- 
 mers and mathematicians of his time. The results of his 
 labors consist principally of a catalogue of 992 stars, and 
 his famous lunar and solar tables. His valuable theory of 
 the moon, and the laborious calculation of these tables, 
 together with the invention of Hadley's quadrant, in 1731, 
 enabled Maskelyne to bring into general use the method 
 of discovering the longitude by observing the distance of 
 the moon from the sun, and certain fixed stars, called the 
 lunar method. Mayer's zeal for teaching his pupil was as 
 great as Niebuhr's for learning of him. Among all the men 
 with whom he became acquainted in the course of his 
 long life, there was none whom he so loved and honored 
 as Mayer ; and the most intimate friendship subsisted be- 
 tween them. He retained an ardent attachment to 
 Mayer's memory up to the most advanced age, and he 
 hardly ever received from Providence any greater gratifi- 
 cation than that of hearing that his first lunar observations 
 reached his beloved teacher on his death-bed, before con- 
 sciousness had left him, and had cheered and animated 
 his last moments ; and that these observations had decided 
 the giving the English premium, offered for the discovery 
 of the longitude, to the widow of the man to whom he felt 
 that he was indebted for his acquirements in this branch 
 of science. Mayer, on his part, had no more earnest 
 solicitude than to educate a pupil who would apply his 
 method of determining the longitude, and his, at that time, 
 unprinted lunar tables, of which Niebuhr made a copy. 
 Mayer interested himself in the outfit of Niebuhr's jour- 
 ney, so entirely as if it had been his own personal affair, 
 
240 CARSTKN NIEBUHR. 
 
 that he divided his quadrants with his own hands. The 
 accuracy of this labor of friendship was proved by the ob- 
 servations which were made with it. About the time of 
 commencing his journey, Niebuhr was appointed lieuten- 
 ant of engineers, a circumstance which only deserves 
 notice for the sake of a letter which places his modesty 
 and judgment in the most amiable light. " He was," as 
 he wrote to a friend, " led to think of a title for himself, 
 by Von Haven's appointment to a professorship in the 
 university of Copenhagen. A similar one had been offered 
 to him, but he held himself unworthy of it. The one 
 which he had received, appeared to him more suitable. 
 He might have had that of captain, if he had asked for it ; 
 but that, for a young man, would have been too much. 
 As a lieutenant, it W'Ould be highly creditable to him to 
 make valuable observations ; but as professor, he should 
 feel it disgraceful not to have sufficiently explored the 
 depths of mathematical science." He had at that time no 
 other plan than that of living in his native country, after 
 the accomplishment of his mission, on the pension which 
 was assigned to him. 
 
 The party consisted of Von Haven, already mentioned ; 
 Forskaal, in many respects, eminently qualified for the 
 undertaking ; Cramer, a physician, a most unfortunate 
 choice ; Bauernfeind, a draughtsman, a respectable artist, 
 but intem.perate ; and Niebuhr. On the 10th of March, 
 1761, the travellers left the Elsineur roads for the Medi- 
 terranean. The voyage was a pleasant one to Niebuhr. 
 He endeavored to make himself acquainted with the con- 
 struction of the ship, and he exercised himself daily in 
 nautical and astronomical observations, which procured 
 him the satisfaction of being regarded by the officers as an 
 active and useful member of their company. Mayer, in 
 the instructions which he gave to Niebuhr, had constantly 
 kept in view that his pupil would be placed in situations 
 
CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 241 
 
 in which it would be absolutely necessary for him to be 
 able to rely upon himself, and where he could not hope 
 for the slightest assistance or support. He had taught 
 him entirely himself, and encouraged him with the assur- 
 ance that an active and clear-sighted man is generally 
 able to discover means to overcome the obstacles which 
 may oppose him. His method of teaching, which was 
 entirely practical, was chiefly this. He first described to 
 his pupil the object of the observation and the method of 
 using the instruments. He then left him without any 
 assistance, to try how far he could proceed in his observa- 
 tion and calculation, and desired him to tell him, when he 
 came to any insurmountable difficulty. He was obliged 
 to describe exactly how far he had gone on well, and 
 where his progress had been stopped, and then Mayer 
 assisted him. 
 
 A stay of some weeks at Marseilles, and of a shorter 
 time at Malta, procured a very agreeable recreation to the 
 party. The scientific enterprize was known throughout 
 Europe, and we should find it difficult now, to picture to 
 ourselves the universal interest in its success, which en- 
 sured to the travellers the most cordial reception and the 
 most respectful attentions. It was an enterprize conso- 
 nant with the spirit of the times, and in no manner 
 solitary or strange. Asia was become an object of interest 
 to Europeans, from the war, which the two great mari- 
 time powers were then waging in India. England began 
 to send out ships to circumnavigate the globe. It was 
 just that period of general satisfaction and delight in 
 science and literature, in which mankind believed that 
 they had found the road that must inevitably lead to rapid 
 advances in knowledge and improvements ; men of letters 
 enjoyed great consideration ; and the interest of science 
 and of its followers were generally regarded as among the 
 most important in which mankind could be engaged, 
 21 
 
242 CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 
 
 From Malta, the expedition proceeded to the Darda- 
 nelles. In the Archipelago, Niebuhr was attacked with 
 the dysentery, and was near dying. He recovered his 
 health at Constantinople, but so slowly, that at the expira- 
 tion of two months from the beginning of his illness, he 
 had scarcely made sufficient progress to go on board a 
 vessel bound for Alexandria, without manifest danger. In 
 Egypt, the party remained a whole year, in which time 
 Niebuhr, in company with Von Haven, and Forskaal, 
 visited Mount Sinai. During their stay in Egypt, Niebuhr 
 determined the longitude of Alexandria, Kahira, Raschid, 
 and Damietta, by means of numerous lunar observations, 
 with an accuracy, which the astronomers of Bonaparte's 
 expedition, to their great surprise, found fully equal to 
 their own. The following is the description of the outfit 
 of himself and his companions for their expedition to 
 Mount Sinai. " We had made careful provision for every 
 thing which we thought necessary for the journey before 
 us. We had abundance of eatables, a tent, and beds. 
 Most of the utensils carried on expeditions in these 
 countries, have been described and drawn by other travel- 
 lers ; and indeed some of them are so convenient, that 
 they might be introduced into European armies with signal 
 advantage. Our little kitchen apparatus was of copper, 
 well tinned inside and outside. Our butter we carried in 
 a sort of pitcher, made of thick leather. Table cloths 
 we did not want. A large round piece of leather was 
 our table. This had iron rings attached to its edge, 
 throuo^h which a cord was passed. After dinner it was 
 drawn up, slung over a camel, and thus served the double 
 office of a table and a bag. Our coffee cups (saucers we 
 had none) were carried in a wooden box covered with 
 leather, and wax candles in a similar box, enclosed in a 
 leathern bag. In the lid of this box was a tube, which was 
 our candlestick. Salt, pepper, and spice, we also kept in 
 
CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 243 
 
 a little wooden box, with several lids screwed one over 
 another.- Instead of glasses we had little copper cups, 
 beautifully tinned within and without. Our lanthorns 
 were of linen, and could be folded together like the little 
 paper lanthorns which children make in Europe, only that 
 ours had covers and bottoms of iron. Each of us was fur- 
 nished with a water pitcher of thick leather, out of which 
 we drank ; and as we sometimes found no water for two 
 or three days, we carried a good many goat skins filled 
 with it. We also took two large stone water jars with us, 
 that we might be able to carry water ourselves on the 
 journey from Suez to Djidda. Our wine we kept in large 
 glass flasks, each holding twenty of our bottles. These 
 vessels appeared to us the best for the purpose ; but when 
 a camel falls, or runs against another with his load, they 
 easily break, and therefore goat skins are better for the 
 purpose. The hides, which are used to contain water, 
 have the hair on the outside ; but those for wine have it on 
 the inside, and are so well pitched, that the liquor acquires 
 no bad taste." 
 
 In this journey, Niebuhr made astronomical and geo- 
 graphical observations as often as possible. Out of these 
 laborious investigations grew the chart of the Red sea, 
 which, considering the circumstances under which it was 
 made, was a masterly work. Von Haven died about the 
 end of May, 1763. Niebuhr was again attacked by dys- 
 entery, and was saved only by the greatest care and tem- 
 perance. The climate and numerous annoyances which 
 Forskaal had partly brought upon himself, and partly 
 aggravated through his caprice, brought on a bilious dis- 
 order, of which he died at Jerim, on the 1 1th of July, 
 1763. Mokha, situated in the arid desert of Tehama, is, 
 during summer, a horrible residence, and but few days 
 elapsed before the surviving travellers and their servant 
 were attacked wuth the fever of the climate. Bauern=' 
 
244 CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 
 
 feind and the servant, died at sea. Cramer reached Bom- 
 bay, languished for some months, and died. Niebuhr ivas 
 saved hy that extreme abstemiousness loJiich renders a 
 tropical climate as little dangerous to the Eurnpeans as to 
 natives. While he was laboring under the dysentery, the 
 physician had told him to abstain from meat, and to eat 
 nothing but bread and a sort of rice soup. This regimen 
 cured his illness. At the end of several weeks, the phy- 
 sician learned with astonishment, that Niebuhr was 
 patiently continuing a diet by means of which few Euro- 
 peans could be induced to purchase their lives, even when 
 laboring under dangerous illness. The reception which 
 Niebuhr met with from the English at Bombay, was ex- 
 tremely cordial. In Egypt he had first learned to delight 
 in the society of Englishmen ; and there was laid the 
 foundation for that mutual attachment which ever after 
 continued uninterrupted. There he learned the English 
 language. He also made a copy of his journal, and sent 
 it through London to Denmark. After a stay of fourteen 
 months he left Bombay, visited Mascat, and made himself 
 acquainted with the state of the remarkable province of 
 Oman. He then proceeded to Shiraz and Persepolis. 
 The last night of his journey to Persepolis was perfectly 
 sleepless. The picture of these ruins remained during 
 his whole life indelibly engraven on his mind. They ap- 
 peared to him the crown and glory of all which he had 
 seen. He passed between three and four weeks amidst 
 them in the desert, in unremitting labor, measuring and 
 drawing the fragments. From Shiraz he crossed the 
 Persian gulf to Bassora. In Persia he collected his- 
 torical documents concerning the fate of this unfortunate 
 country, from the death of Nadir Shah up to his own 
 times. From Bassora he proceeded through Bagdad and 
 Mosul to Haleb. He was now perfectly at home ; since 
 he had been alone, he had been at liberty to conform. 
 
CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 245 
 
 without molestation, to oriental manners and customs. 
 He was also in as good health as at any period of his life. 
 An opportunity of going to Jaffa tempted him to visit 
 Palestine. After that, he explored Lesser Asia, and 
 reached Constantinople, on the 20th of February, 1767. 
 After having spent five months in that city, he passed over 
 Turkey in Europe to Poland, and in November reached 
 Copenhagen. He was received by the court, by the min- 
 isters, and by the men of science, with the greatest dis- 
 tinction. Bernstorf, particularly, loaded him with marks 
 of his esteem. The whole expense of the expedition was 
 but c£3,780 sterling. It would necessarily have been 
 much greater had not Niebuhr been the sole survivor for 
 nearly the whole of the last four years ; but although the 
 sources of expense were thus greatly diminished, they 
 * were still more so by his scrupulous integrity ; not only in 
 avoiding every outlay not essential to the object, but in 
 paying out of his private pocket for every thing which 
 could be regarded as a personal expense. He was now 
 employed for some time in arranging his materials and 
 preparing his journal for publication. He met in this un- 
 dertaking with almost innumerable difficulties, owing to 
 his want of an early literary education, to his extreme 
 modesty, to the removal of his patron, Count Bernstorf, 
 and to the unprovoked hostility of some of the literati of 
 the country. In 1773, he was married to a daughter of 
 the physician, Blumenberg. They had two children, a 
 daughter, and B. G. Niebuhr, the illustrious author of the 
 most learned and valuable history of Rome which has 
 been written. 
 
 Niebuhr soon took up his abode at Meldorf, having had 
 the office of secretary of the district given to him by the 
 government. A part of his time was employed on his 
 farm. He also found great satisfaction in the company of 
 Boie, the governor of the district. Meanwhile his chil^ 
 21* 
 
246 CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 
 
 dren grew to an age to require instruction. This he gave 
 them himself. " He instructed both of us," says his son, 
 "in geography, and related to us many passages of history. 
 He taught me English and French ; better, at any rate, 
 than they would have been taught by any one else in such 
 a place ; and something of mathematics, in which he 
 would have proceeded much farther, had not want of zeal 
 and desire in me unfortunately destroyed all his pleasure 
 in the occupation. One thing was indeed characteristic 
 of his whole system of teaching ; as he had no idea how 
 any one could have knowledge of any kind placed before 
 him, and not seize it with the greatest delight and avidity, 
 and hold to it with the steadiest perseverance, he became 
 disinclined to teach, whenever we appeared inattentive or 
 reluctant to learn. As the first instructions I received in 
 Latin before I had the happiness to become a scholar of 
 the learned and excellent Jager, were very defective ; he 
 helped me, and read with me Csesar's Commentaries. 
 Here, again, the peculiar bent of his mind showed itself; 
 he always called my attention much more strongly to the 
 geography than to the history. The map of ancient Gaul 
 by D'Anville, for whom he had the greatest reverence, 
 always lay before us. I was obliged to look out every 
 place as it occurred, and to tell its exact situation. His 
 instructions had no pretension to be grammatical ; — his 
 knowledge of the language, so far as it went, was gained 
 entirely by reading, and by looking at it as a whole. He 
 was of opinion that a man did not deserve to learn what 
 he had not principally worked out for himself; and that a 
 teacher should be only a helper to assist the pupil out of 
 otherwise inexplicable difficulties. From these causes his 
 attempts to teach me Arabic, when he had already not 
 that facility in speaking it without which it is impossible 
 to dispense with grammatical instruction, to his disappoint- 
 ment and my shame, did not succeed. When I after- 
 
CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 247 
 
 wards taught it myself, and sent him translations from it, 
 he was greatly delighted. I have the most lively recol- 
 lections of many descriptions of the structure of the uni- 
 verse, and accounts of eastern countries, which he used 
 to tell me, instead of fairy tales, when he took me on his 
 knee before I went to bed. I recollect too, that on the 
 Christmas eve of my tenth year, by way of making the 
 day one of peculiar solemnity and rejoicing to me, he 
 went to a beautiful chest, containing his manuscripts, 
 which was regarded by us children, and indeed by the 
 whole household, as a sort of ark of the covenant, took 
 out the papers relating to Africa, and read to me from 
 them. He had taught me to draw maps, and with his 
 encouragement and assistance I soon produced maps of 
 Habbesh and Sudan. I could not make him a more wel- 
 come birth-day present, than a sketch of the geography of 
 eastern countries, or translations from voyages and travels, 
 executed as might be expected from a child. He had 
 originally no stronger desire than that I might be his suc- 
 cessor as a traveller in the East. But the influence of a 
 very tender and anxious mother, upon my physical training 
 and constitution, thwarted his plan almost as soon as it 
 was formed. In consequence of her opposition, ray father 
 afterwards gave up all thoughts of it." 
 
 Niebuhr had the satisfaction to find that his merits as 
 a traveller were more and more appreciated. His works 
 were very popular in England, The crown prince of 
 Denmark also showed him distinguished favor. In 1802, 
 he was appointed foreign member of the French National 
 Institute. In his various labors he was indefatigable. In 
 his 71st and 72d years, he toiled through a great part of 
 the night. Nor did his indefatigable zeal relax even when 
 his eyes began to fail. The consequences of this night- 
 work were irremediable and fatal. In a short time he 
 could no longer see to read, and for writing he required 
 
248 CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 
 
 an extraordinary quantity of light, and even then the lines 
 were often intermingled. His wife, after many years 
 of suffering, died in 1807. His daughter, and the wid- 
 owed sister of his wife, who had lived with the family for 
 twelve years, could now devote themselves wholly to ren- 
 dering him the assistance of which he stood in so much 
 need. Ev^ery thing was read aloud to him. The conver- 
 sation of Gloyer, his successor as secretary of the district, 
 revived to his mind's eye many a faded or vanished pic- 
 ture of the East, and the books which this invaluable 
 friend read aloud to him, and the circumstances, which he 
 related, put him in possession of the works and statements 
 of more recent travellers. This was without comparison 
 one of his highest enjoyments. " When 1 related to him," 
 says his son, " the descriptions of any traveller newly re- 
 turned from the East, or gave him in my letters any ac- 
 counts of travels not known on the continent, his whole 
 being seemed reanimated, and he dictated answers, which 
 showed that his mental vision was vivid and powerful as 
 ever. It was still more remarkable that these new facts 
 imprinted themselves on his mind with all the depth and 
 sharpness with which objects are stamj>ed on a youthful 
 memory, and so remained up to the time of his death. 
 He combined them with what he had himself observed and 
 experienced. 
 
 "In the autumn of 1814," continues his son, "his 
 appearance was calculated to leave a delightful picture in 
 the mind. All his features, as well as his extinguished 
 eyes, were the expression of the extreme and exhausted 
 old age of an extraordinarily robust nature ; — it was impos- 
 sible to behold a more venerable sight. So venerable was 
 it, that a Cossack who entered, an unbidden guest, into 
 the chamber where he sat with his silver locks uncovered, 
 was so struck with it, that he manifested the greatest rev- 
 erence for him, and a sincere and cordial interest for the 
 
CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 049 
 
 whole household. His sweetness of temper was unaltera- 
 ble, though he often expressed his desire to go to his final 
 home, since all which he had desired to live for had been 
 accomplished. A numerous, and as yet unbroken flimily 
 circle was assembled around him, and every day in which 
 he was not assailed by some peculiar indisposition, he 
 conversed with cheerfulness and cordial enjoyment on the 
 happy change which had taken place in public affairs. 
 We found it very delightful to engage him in continued 
 recitals of his travels, which he now related with peculiar 
 fulness and vivacity. In this manner he spoke once, and 
 in great detail, of Persepolis, and described the walls on 
 which he had found the inscriptions and bas-reliefs, exactly 
 as one would describe those of a building visited within a 
 few days and familiarly known. We could not conceal 
 our astonishment. He replied, that as he lay in bed, all 
 visible objects shut out, the pictures of what he had be- 
 held in the East continually floated before his mind's eye, 
 so that it was no wonder he could speak of them as if he 
 had seen them yesterday. With like vividness was the 
 deep intense sky of Asia, \vith its brilliant and twinkling 
 host of stars which he had so often gazed at by night, or 
 its lofty vault of blue by day, reflected, in the hours of still- 
 ness and darkness, on his inmost soul ; and this was his 
 greatest enjoyment." 
 
 Towards evening, on the 26th of April, 1815, some one 
 read to him as usual, while he asked questions which showed 
 perfect apprehension and intelligence. He then sunk into 
 a slumber and departed without a struggle. A concourse 
 of people from all parts of the country attended his body 
 to the grave. The funeral was solemnized with all the 
 honors which respect and affection can pay. He had 
 attained the age of eighty-two. He was extremely frugal. 
 Economy had become a habit with him in early life. As 
 a peasant lad he drank nothing but water and milk ; and 
 
250 CARSTEN NEEBUHR. 
 
 at a latel- period he deviated from this simple diet, only in 
 compliance with the custom of others, with which he every 
 where made it a rule to conform, and he then drank an 
 extremely small quantity of wine. He had no favorite 
 dishes but the peasant fare of his native land. " At the 
 highest point of elevation," says his biographer, '' to which 
 he attained, favored by his prince, respected and admired 
 by the learned and eminent of all countries, it was his 
 pride that he was born a peasant of Free Friesland. His 
 manners never lost the simplicity, nor his morals the purity 
 of that singular and estimable class of men. If ever there 
 lived a man who might safely and reasonably be held up 
 to the people as an object of imitation, it was Carsten 
 Niebuhr. Not only was he a poor man, — an orphan, — 
 born in a remote part of a remote province, far from all 
 those facilities for acquiring knowledge, which in this age 
 and country are poured out before the feet of the people ; 
 he was not even gifted in any extraordinary way by nature. 
 He was in no sense of the word a genii(s. He had no 
 imagination. His power of acquiring does not seem to 
 have been extraordinarily rapid, nor his memory singularly 
 retentive. In all cases where the force of that will, at 
 once steady and ardent, which enabled him to master his 
 favorite studies, was not brought to bear, his progress was 
 slow and inconsiderable. It is not therefore in any sup- 
 posed intellectual advantages that we must look for the 
 causes of his rise to eminence. They are to be found 
 rather in the moral qualities which distinguished him, 
 qualities attainable in a greater or less degree by men of 
 the humblest rank, of the most lowly intellect, the least 
 favored by situation or connection. He possessed, in an 
 eminent degree, the distinguishing virtues of his country, 
 sincerity, unadulterated and fiiithful love of truth, and 
 honesty. The zeal with which he gave himself to a pur- 
 suit which might enable him to be useful to his native 
 
CARSTEN NIEBUHR. 251 
 
 district ; the total absence of vanity which characterized 
 the whole course of his studies and of his journeyings ; — 
 the simplicity of his narrative, in which no more of him- 
 self and his individual feelings appears than is just neces- 
 sary to keep up the thread of the story ; — the rigorous 
 accuracy and anxiety after truth for which his travels have 
 ever been and still remain pre-eminently distinguished 
 among all who proceeded, and all who have followed him 
 on the same ground, afford ample evidence of the single- 
 ness and the steadiness of the motives which actuated 
 him. The punctilious honor which marked his disburse- 
 ment of the funds intrusted to his care by the Danish 
 government ; — the exactness with which he abstained 
 from applying a farthing of this money to any object which 
 could be considered by others, or which his own more 
 fastidious delicacy could regard, as a personal grati- 
 fication. 
 
 '* His self-command was perfect. He could abstain from 
 what was agreeable, and do what was disagreeable to him. 
 He was conscientious, sober, temperate even to abstemious- 
 ness, laborious and persevering ; neither discouraged nor 
 elated by the incidents which he must have known were 
 inseparable from the career which he had chosen." 
 
JAMES FERGUSON. 
 
 James Ferguson was born in the year 1710, a few 
 miles from the village of Keith, in Banffshire, Scotland. 
 His parents, as he informs us, were in the humblest con- 
 dition of life, (his father being merely a day-laborer,) 
 honest and religious. It was his father's practice to teach 
 his children himself to read and write, as they succes- 
 sively reached what he deemed the proper age ; but James 
 was too impatient to wait till his regular turn came. 
 While his father was teaching one of his elder brothers, 
 James was secretly occupied in listening to what was 
 going on ; and, as soon as he was left alone, used to get 
 hold of the book and labor diligently in endeavoring to 
 master the lesson which he had thus gone over. Being 
 ashamed, as he says, to let his father know in what man- 
 ner he was engaged, he was accustomed to apply to an 
 old woman, who lived in a neighboring cottage, to solve 
 his difficulties. In this way he actually learned to read 
 tolerably well before his father had any suspicion that he 
 knew his letters. His "father, at last, very much to his 
 surprise, detected him, one day, reading by himself, and 
 thus discovered his secret. When he was about seven or 
 eight years of age, a simple incident occurred, which 
 seems to have given his mind its first bias to what became 
 afterwards its favorite kind of pursuit. The roof of the 
 
JAMES FERGUSON. 253 
 
 cottage having partly fallen in, his father, in order to raise 
 it again, applied a beam to it, resting on a prop in the 
 manner of a lever, and was thus enabled, with compara- 
 tive ease, to produce what seemed to his son quite a stu- 
 pendous effect. This circumstance set our young philoso- 
 pher thinking ; and after a while it occurred to him that 
 his father, in using the beam, had applied his strength to 
 its extremity, and this, he immediately concluded, was an 
 important circumstance in the matter. He proceeded to 
 verify his notion by experiment ; and having made several 
 levers which he called bars, soon not only found that he 
 was right in his conjecture, as to the importance of apply- 
 ing the moving force at the point most distant from the 
 fulcrum, but discovered the rule or law of the machine, 
 namely, that the effect of any form or weight made to bear 
 upon it, is always exactly proportioned to the distance of 
 the point on which it rests from the fulcrum. " I then," 
 says he, " thought that it was a great pity, that by means 
 of this bar, a weight could be raised but a very little way. 
 On this, I soon imagined that by pulling round a wheel, 
 the weight might be raised to any height, by tying a rope 
 to the weight, and winding a rope round the axle of the 
 wheel ; and that the power gained must be just as great 
 as the wheel was broader than the axle was thick ; and 
 found it to be exactly so, by hanging one weight to a 
 rope put round the wheel, and another to the rope that 
 coiled round the axle." The child had thus, it will be 
 observed, actually discovered two of the most important 
 elementary truths in mechanics — the lever, and the wheel 
 and axle ; he afterwards hit upon others ; and, all the 
 while, he had not only possessed neither book nor teacher 
 to assist him, but was without any other tools than a sim- 
 ple turning lathe of his father's, and a little knife where- 
 with to fashion his blocks and wheels, and the other con- 
 22 
 
254 JAMES FERGUSON. 
 
 trivances which he needed for his experiments. After 
 having made liis discoveries, however, he next, he tells us, 
 proceeded to write an account of them ; thinking his little 
 work, which contained sketches of the different machines 
 drawn with a pen, to be the first treatise ever composed of 
 the sort. When, some time after, a gentleman showed 
 him the whole in a printed book, although he found that 
 he had been anticipated in his inventions, he was much 
 pleased, as he was w'ell entitled to be, on thus perceiving 
 that his unaided genius had already carried him so far 
 into what was acknowledged to be the region of true phi- 
 losophy. Ferguson was employed in some of his early 
 years as a keeper of sheep, in the employment of a small 
 farmer in the neighborhood of his native place. He was 
 sent to this occupation, he tells us, as being of a weak 
 body ; and while his flock was feeding around him, he 
 used to busy himself in making models of mills, spinning 
 wheels, &/C. during the day, and in studying the stars at 
 night, like his predecessors of Chaldea. When a little 
 older, he went into the service of another farmer, a respec- 
 table man called James Glashan, whose name well de- 
 serves to be remembered. After the labors of the day, 
 young Ferguson used to go at night to the fields, with a 
 blanket about him and a lighted candle, and there, laying 
 himself down on his back; pursued for long hours, his 
 observations on the heavenly bodies. " I used to stretch," 
 says he, " a thread with small beads on it, at arms-length, 
 between my eye and the stars ; sliding the beads upon it, 
 till they hid such and such stars from my eye, in order to 
 take their apparent distances from one another ; and then 
 laying a thread down on the paper, I marked the stars 
 thereon by the beads. My master at first laughed at me ; 
 but when I explained my meaning to him, he encouraged 
 me to go on ; and, that I might make fair copies in the 
 
JAMES FERGUSON. 255 
 
 day time of what I had done in the night, he often worked 
 for me himself. 1 shall always have a respect for the 
 memory of that man." 
 
 Having been employed by his master to carry a message 
 to Mr. Gilchrist, the minister of Keith, he took with him 
 the drawings he had been making, and showed them to 
 that gentleman. Mr. Gilchrist upon this put a map into 
 his hands, and having supplied him with compasses, ruler, 
 pens, ink, and paper, desired him to take it home with 
 him, and bring back a copy of it. " For this pleasant 
 employment," says he, " my master gave me more time 
 than I could reasonably expect ; and often took the thresh- 
 ing flail out of my hands, and worked himself, while I sat 
 by him in the barn, busy with my compasses, ruler, and 
 pen." Having finished his map, Ferguson carried it to 
 Mr. Gilchrist's, and there he met Mr. Grant, of Achoy- 
 namey, who offered to take him into his house, and make 
 his butler give him lessons. ** I told Squire Grant," says 
 he, " that I should rejoice to be at his house, as soon as 
 the time was expired for which I was engaged with my 
 present master. He very politely offered to put one in my 
 place, but this I declined." When the period in question 
 arrived, accordingly he went to Mr. Grant's, being now in 
 his twentieth year. Here he found both a good friend 
 and a very extraordinary man, in Cantley the butler, who 
 had first fixed his attention, by a sun dial, which he hap- 
 pened to be engaged in painting, on the village school 
 house, as Ferguson was passing along the road, on his 
 second visit to Mr. Gilchrist. Dialling, however, was only 
 one of the many accomplishments of this learned butler, 
 who, Ferguson assures us, was profoundly conversant both 
 with arithmetic and mathematics, played on every known 
 musical instrument except the harp, understood Latin, 
 French, and Greek, and could also prescribe for diseases. 
 These multifarious attainments he owed entirely to him- 
 
256 JAMES FERGUSON. 
 
 self, and to the God of nature. From this person Fer- 
 guson received instructions in decimal fractions and 
 algebra, having already made himself master of vulgar 
 arithmetic, by the assistance of books. Just as he was 
 about, however, to begin geometry, Cantley left his place 
 for another in the establishment of the Earl of Fife, and 
 his pupil thereupon determined to return home to his father. 
 Cantley, on parting with him, had made him a present 
 of a copy of Gordon's Geographical Grammar. The book 
 contains a description of an artificial globe, which is not, 
 however, illustrated by any figure. Nevertheless, " from 
 this description," says Ferguson, " I made a globe in 
 three weeks at my father's house, having turned the ball 
 thereof out of a piece of wood ; which ball I covered with 
 paper, and delineated a map of the world upon it ; made 
 the meridian ring and horizon of wood, covered them with 
 paper, and graduated them ; and was happy to find that 
 by my globe, which was the first I ever saw, I could solve 
 the problems." 
 
 For some time after this, he was very unfortunate. 
 Finding that it would not do to remain idle at home, he 
 engaged in the service of a miller in the neighborhood, 
 who, feeling, probably, that he could trust to the honesty 
 and capacity of his servant, soon began to spend all his 
 own time in the ale-house, and to leave poor Ferguson at 
 home, not only with every thing to do, but with very fre- 
 quently nothing to eat. A little oat-meal, mixed with 
 cold water, was often, he tells us, all he was allowed. 
 Yet in this situation he remained a year, and then re- 
 turned to his father's house, very much weaker for his 
 want of food. His next master was a Dr. Young, who 
 having induced him to enter his service by a promise to 
 instruct him in medicine, not only broke his engagement 
 as to this point, but used him in other respects so tyran- 
 nically, that, although engaged for half a year, he found he 
 
JAMES FERGUSON. 257 
 
 could not remain beyond the first quarter, at the expira- 
 tion of which, accordingly, he came away without receiv- 
 ing any wages, having " wrought for the last fortnight," 
 says he, " as much as possible, with one hand, and even 
 when 1 could not lift the other from my side." This was 
 in consequence of a severe hurt he had received, to which 
 the doctor was too busy to attend, and by which he was 
 confined to his bed two months after his return home. Re- 
 duced as he was, however, by exhaustion and actual pain, 
 he could not be idle. " In order," says he, " to amuse 
 myself in this low state, I made a wooden clock, the frame 
 of which was also of wood, and it kept time pretty well. 
 The bell on which the hammer struck the hours, was the 
 neck of a broken bottle." A short time after this, when 
 he had recovered his health, he gave a still more extraor- 
 dinary proof of his ingenuity, and the fertility of his re- 
 sources for mechanical invention, by actually constructing 
 a time-piece, or watch, moved by a spring. " Having 
 then," he remarks, " no idea how any time-piece could go 
 but by a weight and a line, I wondered how aVatch copld 
 go in all positions ; and was sorry that I never thought of 
 asking Mr. Cantley, who could have very easily informed 
 me. But happening one day to see a gentleman ride by 
 my father's house, (which was close by a public road,) I 
 asked him what o'clock it then was ? He looked at his 
 watch and told me. As he did that with so much good 
 nature, I begged of him to show me the inside of the 
 watch ; and though he was an entire stranger, he imme- 
 diately opened the watch, and put it into my hands. I 
 saw the spring box, with part of the chain round it ; and 
 asked him what it was that made the box turn round ? 
 He told me that it was turned round by a steel-spring 
 within it. Having then never seen any other spring than 
 that of my father's gun-locks, I asked how a spring within 
 a box, could turn the box so often round as to wind all 
 
258 JAMES FERGUSON. 
 
 the chain upon it? He answered that the spring was long 
 and thin ; that one end of it was fastened to the axis of 
 the box, and the other end to the inside of the box ; that 
 the axis was fixed, and the box was loose upon it. I told 
 him that I did not yet thoroughly understand the matter. 
 ' Well my lad,' says he, ' take a long, thin piece of 
 whale-bone ; hold one end of it fast between your finger 
 and thumb, and wind it round your finger; it will then 
 endeavor to unwind itself; and if you fix the other end of 
 it to the inside of a small hoop, and leave it to itself, it will 
 turn the hoop round and round, and wind up a thread tied 
 to the outside of the hoop.' J thanked the gentleman, and 
 told him that I understood the thing very w^ell. I then 
 tried to make a watch with wooden wheels, and made the 
 spring of whalebone ; but found that I could not make 
 the wheel go when the balance was put on ; because the 
 teeth of the wheels w^ere rather too weak to bear the force 
 of a spring sufficient to move the balance ; although the 
 wheels would run fast enough when the balance was taken 
 off. I enclosed the whole in a wooden case, very little 
 larger than a breakfast tea cup ; but a clumsy neighbor 
 one day looking at my watch, happened to let it fall, and 
 turning hastily about to pick it up, set his foot upon it, 
 and crushed it all to pieces ; which so provoked my father, 
 that he was almost ready to beat the man, and discouraged 
 me so much, that I never attempted to make another such 
 machine again, especially as I was thoroughly convinced 
 I could never make one that would be of any real use." 
 
 " What a vivid picture is this," says his biographer, 
 in the Library of Entertaining Knowledge, *' of an inge- 
 nious mind thirsting for knowledge ! and who is there, 
 too, that does not envy the pleasure that must have been 
 felt by the courteous and intelligent stranger by whom the 
 young mechanician was carried over his first great diffi- 
 culty, if he had ever chanced to learn how greatly his 
 
JAMES FERGUSON. 059 
 
 unknown questioner had profited from their brief inter- 
 view ! That stranger might probably have read the above 
 narrative, as given to the world by Ferguson, after the 
 talents, which this little incident probably contributed to 
 develope, had raised him from his obscurity to a distin- 
 guished place among the philosphers of his age; and if he 
 did not know this, he must have felt that encouragement 
 in well doing which a benevolent man may alvv'ays gather, 
 either from the positive effects of acts of kindness upon 
 others, or their influence upon his own heart. Civility, 
 charity, generosity, may sometimes meet an ill return, 
 but one person must be benefitted by their exercise ; the 
 kind heart has its own abundant reward, whatever be the 
 gratitude or ingratitude of others. The case of Ferguson 
 shows that the seed does not always fall on an unkindly 
 soil." 
 
 Ferguson lived for many years in Edinburgh, engaged 
 in drawing pictures, and in various astronomical pursuits. 
 Among other things, he discovered by himself the cause 
 of eclipses, and drew up a scheme for showing the motions 
 and places of the sun and moon in the ecliptic on each day 
 of the year, perpetually. He also made an orrery, with- 
 out ever having seen the internal construction of any one. 
 In the course of his life he made eight orreries, the last 
 six of which were all unlike each other. Having written 
 a proof of a new astronomical truth which had occurred 
 to him, namely, that the moon must move always in a 
 path concave to the sun, he showed his proposition and 
 its demonstration to Mr. Folkes, the president of the 
 Royal Society of London, who thereupon took him the 
 same evening to the meeting of that learned body. This 
 had the effect of bringing him immediately into notice. 
 He soon after published his first work, * A Dissertation on 
 the Phenomena of the Harvest Moon,' with the descrip- 
 tion of a new orrery, having four wheels. It was followed 
 
312 JAMES FERGUSON. 
 
 by various other publications, most of which became very 
 popular. In 1748, he began to give public lectures. 
 Among his occasional auditors was George III., then a 
 boy. In 1763, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal 
 Society, the usual fees being remitted, as had been done in 
 the cases of Newton and Thomas Simpson. He died in 
 1776, having acquired a distinguished reputation both at 
 home and abroad. 
 
I 
 
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