mathematics and some of its applications, the fine arts, and a liberal discussion of literature in its several departments of original composition, and in the advancement and study of the ancient and oriental and of the European languages. This formed but the first part of a contemplated work, the other three portions of which were to embrace Theology, Morals, and Religion, and to present "the great events in the Christian Church, in the Moral World, and in Political Principles and Establishments during the century," a comprehensive design which the author never carried out.

From 1805 to 1814 Dr. Miller was Corresponding Secretary to the New York Historical Society. He delivered before that body, A Discourse designed to Commemorate the Discovery of New York, September 4, 1809, being the completion of the second century since that event.*

In 1813 he published in an octavo volume of more than four hundred pages the Memoirs of his associate the Rev. Dr. John Rodgers, pastor of the Wall street and Brick Churches in New York.t It contains a narrative of the growth of the Presbyterian Church in New York, with much historical information of general interest expressed with elegance of style. Of the learning of the old school of clergymen in the country he says:

Many persons are apt to suppose that the race of divines who flourished in our country seventy or eighty years ago, though pious and excellent men, had a very scanty supply of books, and in many cases a still more scanty education, compared with the divines of later years, and especially of the present day. This opinion is not only erroneous but grossly so. Those venerable fathers of the American Church were more deeply learned than most of their sons. They read more, and thought more, than we are ready to imagine. The greater part of the books of ancient learning and ponderous erudition, which are now to be found on this side of the Atlantic, were imported and studied by those great and good men. Original works are actually in fewer hands, in our day, compared with the number of readers, than in theirs. They read solidly and deeply: we hurry over compends and indexes. They studied systematically as well as extensively; our reading is more desultory, as well as more superficial. We have more of the belles-lettres polish, but as biblical critics, and as profound theologians, we must undoubtedly yield to them the palm of excellence.

This is well said in reference to the labors of the old American fathers. It should be remembered that it was written in 1813, and that Dr. Miller lived to ee a new, thorough, and profound course of theological study established in the country.

In 1827 he published Letters on Clerical Manners and Habits; addressed to a Student in the

Colls. N. Y. Hist Soc. vol. 1.

+ John Rodgers, whose name is remembered with great respect in New York, was a native of Boston, Mass., born in 1727, of Irish parentage. He was a disciple of Whitefield as a youth, and was educated at the Academy of the Rev. Samuel Blair at Fog's Manor in Chester county, Pa. He was with Davies the preacher (afterwards President of Princeton) in Virginia. He came to New York in 1765. His degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred by the University of Edinburgh, through the agency of three distinguished persons. Whitefield sug gested the matter to Franklin, who obtained the favor through Dr. Robertson. In the Revolutionary war he was a correspondent of Washington. He died in New York, May 7, 1811, in his eighty-fourth year.

Theological Seminary at Princeton; in which he reviews the various positions of the clergyman; in his study, in society, his mode of writing, thinking, and conversation; in the economy of health, usefulness, reputation, and the preservation of a sound, judicious piety.

In 1840 Dr. Miller published his Memoir of the Rev. Charles Nisbet,* the first President of Dickinson College, whose acquaintance he had made in 1791, when he visited him at Carlisle to seek the opportunity of hearing his course of Theological Lectures, a genial specimen of biography, with much interest in the copious and interesting original material.

Edward Miller, the brother of the preceding, was born at Dover May 9, 1760. He was educated at the Academy at Newark in Delaware, conducted with eminent ability by two clergymen, Doctor Francis Allison and Alexander McDowell. He studied medicine at Dover with Dr. Charles Ridgely, and afterwards in 1781-2 in the Military hospital at Baskingridge, New Jersey. In the last year he embarked as surgeon in an armed ship bound for France, and in a year's absence acquired a knowledge of the French language. He returned to pursue his profession in Delaware, and in 1796 became a practitioner of medicine in New York, where he engaged with Dr. Mitchill and Dr. Elihu H. Smith in the publication of the first journal of the kind ever printed in the country, the Medical Repository, commenced in 1797. Its conductors were members of a "Friendly Club," which was a nucleus at its weekly receptions for the intellect of the city. Dunlap, who wrote an account of Miller,* has left a record of this social circle in New York, which also included, besides himself then Manager of the New York Theatre, James Kent then Recorder of the city, Anthony Bleecker the lawyer and master in chancery, Charles Brockden Brown, William Walton Woolsey, George Muirson Woolsey, John Wells the lawyer, William Johnson the Supreme Court reporter, and the Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller. Edward Miller died March 17, 1812.

His writings on medical topics, including his report on the yellow fever, were published in a volume. His medical reputation stood high, and his literary and social qualities endeared him to his friends.

DE WITT CLINTON.

THE name of Clinton has long been eminent in the annals of New York. George Clinton was the governor of the province from 1743 to 1758, and the name of his son, Sir Henry Clinton, is familiar to every reader of the history of the American Revolution.

These were, however, but distantly related to the family with whom we are concerned. The first who is mentioned of the direct ancestors of De Witt Clinton was William Clinton, an officer in the army of Charles the First. After the execution of that monarch he took refuge in the north of Ireland, where he died, leaving an orphan son, James, only two years of age.

His son, on arriving at man's estate, visited England for the purpose of endeavoring to recover his patrimony, which had been confiscated. He failed in this, but was successful in a suit of a matrimonial nature, as he returned home with a bride, Elizabeth, the daughter of a Captain Smith, formerly of Cromwell's army. Their son Charles, born in 1690, organized in 1729 a large body of emigrants, and sailed with them for America. They landed at Cape Cod. In 1731 Clinton purchased land in Ulster county, eight miles west of the Hudson, and built a house surrounded by a palisade to protect himself from the Indians. Here he resided until his death, November 19, 1773. He left four sons, Alexander, Charles, James, a brigadier-general in the Revolutionary army, who died in 1812, and George, also a brigadier-general in the army, and Governor of the State of New York, from the formation of the constitution in 1777 to 1795, and afterwards from 1801 to 1804. He was elected Vice-President of the United States in 1804, and died in that office, 1812.

De Witt Clinton, the son of General James Clinton and Mary De Witt, was born March 2, 1769, at his father's residence in Orange county, N. Y. He was prepared for college at the academy under the charge of Mr. John Addison at Kingston, almost the only school of eminence open in the state during the Revolution, entered the junior class of Columbia College in 1784, and was the first student received by that institution under its new organization after the war. He was one of the graduating class in 1786. Clinton studied law with Samuel Jones, and was admitted to the bar. He was shortly after appointed private secretary of his uncle, George Clinton, the governor of the state, and retained the office until a change of administration in 1795.

In 1797 he was elected a member of the house of assembly, in 1798 a state senator, and in 1801 a Senator of the United States. In 1803 he was chosen Mayor of the City of New York, and, with a single exception, annually re-elected until 1815. In 1817 he was elected Governor of the State of New York, and re-elected in 1820. In 1822 he declined again appearing as a candidate.

This un

In 1823, after the celebration at Albany of the completion of the great work with which his name is inseparably identified, he was removed from the office of canal commissioner. just and absurd proceeding aroused the feelings of the people of the state so warmly in his favor that he was elected governor of the state in 1824 by a majority of 20,000. He remained in office until his sudden death, February 11, 1828.

Clinton was an active promoter of the freeschool and other great educational movements of the state. He was also an influential member of the literary and scientific associations of his time, and a liberal promoter of the charitable institutions of the state and city. His occasional addresses before these institutions constitute his chief literary labors.

Clinton was Vice-President of the New York Historical Society from 1810 to 1817, and President from 1817 to 1820. He was always a great promoter of its interests. In 1811 he delivered his elaborate Discourse on the Iroquois, at an anhiversary meeting of that body. In 1814 he drew

up a memorial to the legislature in its behalf, in which he classified the history of the state under four periods: of the aborigines, the Dutch occupancy for about half a century, the English rule for more than a century, and the period since the Revolution, showing the measures necessary to be taken at each stage for the preservation of the national records. A grant was received in consequence from the legislature, which secured to the society means for the purchase of a large portion of its valuable library.

In the same year, 1814, he delivered his Introductory Discourse before the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York, of which he was president. It is an exhaustive scholar's review of the past and present state of literature and science, describing the impediments to their cultivation in the colony of New York under the general provincial influences, the population speaking a foreign language for a time; the confusion of the Revolution; the evils of party spirit afterwards, with the absence, in consequence of the industrial demands of the state, of a literary class by profession: while he finds new advantages in the freedom of the state, the growth of commerce, and a perpetual incentive to the excitement of genius in the pure and healthful climate. From these reflections he passes to the consideration of the peculiar objects of the Society, presenting the claims and opportunities of the studies of geology, zoology, botany, agriculture, and medicine. The notes and illustrations, which constitute three times the bulk of the text, are a repository of interesting and profitable reading on these various themes. In these matters Clinton was in earnest; and when the wags of the day, who opposed his politics, mixed up his literature and science with their ridicule, he showed that he was master of these lighter weapons as well. The satirists, who amused themselves with his grave, philosophical pursuits, were made to feel the edge of his wit and pleasantry.

In 1820 Clinton sketched the incidents of a tour to the west, along the line of the Erie canal, in a series of letters written in the character of an Irish gentleman travelling in America, which were published in the New York Statesman, and afterwards collected in a volume, in 1822, with the title, Letters on the Natural History and Internal Resources of the State of New York. They present a curious picture of the novel topics of interest at this recent period, in what is now, thanks to such laborers as Clinton, so well developed and thoroughly familiar a region. The freshness of his fancy, and activity of his mind, give a zest to his minute observations of natural scenery, climate, and productions, constantly enlivened by his ardent nationality, and taste for poetic and literary cultivation. The Letters of Hibernicus are genial and animated throughout, and well deserve to be annotated, and find a home, which would have been a consummation of the author's literary ambition, in the thousands of school-district libraries which now adorn his native state.

The Hon. W. W. Campbell has reprinted, in the Life and Writings of Clinton, his private journal of his exploration in 1810, in company with other commissioners, of the central portion of the state with reference to the proposed Erie canal. It is

free, and those remote were harassed with all kinds of exactions, borne down by the high hand of oppression, and under the subjection of a military despotism. The colonial system of modern times is equally calculated to build up the mother country on the depression of its colonies. That all their exports shall go to, and all their imports be derived from it, is the fundamental principle. Admitting occasional departures from this system, is it possible that an infant country, so bandaged and cramped, could attain to that maturity of growth, which is essential to the promotion and encouragement of literature? Accordingly we do not find in any colony of modern times any peculiar devotion to letters, or any extraordinary progress in the cultivation of the human mind. The most fertile soil-the most benign climate-all that nature can produce, and art can perfect, are incompetent to remove the benumbing effects which a provincial and dependent position operates upon the efforts of genius.

PARTIES-FROM THE LETTERS OF HIBERNICUS.

MY DEAR SIR,

Canandaigua, June, 1820.

my

In every country or village inn, the bar-room is the coffee room, exchange, or place of intelligence, where all the quidnuncs, newsmongers, and politicians of the district resort, and where strangers and travellers make their first entry. Neither my taste, my habits, nor my convenience will admit of gorgeous or showy equipments, and when I therefore take my seat in the caravanseras, there is nothing in appearance to attract particular attention. Many a person with whom I have held conversations, has undoubtedly forgotten the subject, as well as the company. In the desultory and rapid manner in which such conferences are generally managed, a stranger is liable to mistake names and titles of office. I have no doubt but this has been my case frequently: I may have styled a major a colonel, and a sheriff a judge, and if so, I assure you without the most distant idea of giving offence.

Curs'd be the verse however sweet they flow,
Which tends to make one worthy man my foe,
Give virtue scandal, innocence a fear,

Or from the meek-ey'd virgin draw a tear. Volney told me in Paris, that he travelled all over the west on foot. My countrymen, Dr. M'Nevin and Dr. Goldsmith, perambulated a great portion of Europe; and Wilson, the father of American Ornithology, was almost always a pedestrian traveller. How cautious ought people to be when in compay with strangers. I have heard folly from the mouths of lawgivers, and ribaldry in the conversations of the notables of the land. Unnoticed, unobserved, reclining on my chair in the bar-room, I have seen human nature without disguise-the artificial great man exhibiting his importance-the humble understrapper listening like a blacksmith to a tailor's news -the oracle of the place mounted on his tripod, and pronouncing his opinions with solemn gravity. O! if I had been recognised as a traveller from the eastern world-a keen observer of human nature— and a recorder of what I saw, I humbly hope that much nonsense would have been spared, and many improper exhibitions prevented; but then I would have seen man at a masquerade. I now derive light from my obscurity, and observe this world as it is. My plain dress, my moderate expenditures, my unobtrusive behaviour, avert particular remark. It is only in the society of such men as I meet with in this place, that I am considered as of the least importance. The prevalent conversations all over this federal republic, are on the subjects of political excitement. After some sage remarks on the weather, which compose the exordium of all conversations,

the man of America, like the man of Athens, asks, What news? It is needless to say, that I have steered entirely clear of political and theological strife. I hardly understand the nomenclature of parties. They are all republicans, and yet a portion of the people assume the title of republican, as an exclusive right, or patent monopoly. They are all federalists, that is, in favor of a general government and yet a party arrogate to themselves this appellation to the disparagement of the others. It is easy to see that the difference is nominal-that the whole controversy is about office, and that the country is constantly assailed by ambitious demagogues, for the purpose of gratifying their cupidity. It is a melancholy, but true reflection on human nature, that the smaller the difference the greater the animosity. Mole hills and rivulets become mountains and rivers. The Greek empire was ruined by two most inveterate factions, the Prasini and Vineti, which originated in the color of livery in equestrian races. The parties of Guelphs and Gibbelines, of Roundheads and Cavaliers, of Whigs and Tories, continued after all causes of difference were merged. I have often asked some of the leading politicians of this country, what constituted the real points of discrimination between the Republicans and Federalists, and I never could get a satisfactory answer. An artful man will lay hold of words if he cannot of things, in order to promote his views. The Jansenists and the Jesuits, the Nominalists and the Realists, the Sub-lapsarians, and the Supra-lapsarians, were in polemics what the party controversies of this people are in politics. If you place an ass at an equal distance between two bundles of hay, will he not remain there to all eternity? was a question solemnly propounded and gravely debated by the schoolmen. The motive to eat both, some contended, being equal, it was impossible for the animal to come to a conclusion. He would therefore remain in a state of inaction, for ever and for ever. This problem, so puzzling to scholastic philosophers, would at once be decided by the ass, and the experimentu. It is crucis would effectually silence every doubt. impossible for a man, however quietly disposed, to act the supposititious part of the scholastic ass, and remain neutral between the parties, or bundles of hay. He must in truth participate in one or in both, and as it respects any radical difference of principle, it is very immaterial which he selects. There are some pendulum politicians who are continually oscillating between parties, and these men, in endeavoring to expiate their former oppugnation by fiery zeal, are mere firebrands in society. order to cover their turpitude, they assume highsounding names, and are in verity political partizans, laying claim to be high-minded, and like Jupiter on Olympus, elevated above the atmosphere of common beings. And what adds infinitely to the force of these pretensions, is to find the most of these gentry to be the heroes of petty strife, and the leaders of village vexation, the fag ends of the learned professions, and the outcasts of reputable associations. I often think of the observations of the honest old traveller, Tournefort, when I see the inordinate violence of these high-minded gentlemen. "The Turk (says he), take 'em one with another, are much honester men than renegadoes; and perhaps it is out of contempt that they do not circumcise renegadoes; for they have a common saying, that a bad Christian will never make a good Turk."

LITERARY TASTE-FROM THE LETTERS OF HIBERNICUS.

MY DEAR SIR,

In

Western Region, August, 1820. The beauties of an American sky are frequently