go near the heretic. On Sunday morning the Priest, (Bellami,) who is just from France and knows not a word of English, preached on the subject; said the Protestants were divided into hundreds of sects, used a corrupt and false Bible, and that no good Catholic would go. Frontis made his discourse almost entirely from Scripture quotations, using the Catholic authorized version of De Sacy. Twenty of the Catholics heard him. The next Sunday Bellami said it was a pack of lies, that he was un ministre de démon, and the like gentle expressions, and excommunicated five persons. In the evening, at vespers, he looked round, and saw one of these men in his usual place; he threw off his vestments, and called on the people to turn out the heretic. "Turn him out yourself," said a loud voice from the crowd. Two men pulled off their coats to assist the priest, but the culprit, who had hitherto requested them not to interrupt his devotions, put himself into an attitude of carnal defence, and threatened to knock down the first who should touch him. None ventured on so stubborn a heretic. This excommunication was done by order of the Bishop Richard, who lives at Detroit, is a Jesuit, and a member of Congress from that territory.

I find it rather difficult to obey you with regard to disbelieving all reports of the yellow fever. We have some stories quite plausible of the existence of that malady in your city. However, I trust it will prove false. There have certainly been several cases in New Jersey, and at Bristol. It requires, I believe, some rare symptoms to indicate yellow fever to your Board of Health.

CHAPTER IV.

LETTERS WHILE A LICENTIATE.

1825-1827.

NEW BRUNSWICK, October 19, 1825.' Where should I be but in New Brunswick? Here therefore I am, attending the meeting of the Synod of New Jersey, and enjoying the company of one or two friends. On returning home, I spent part of a day, and might spend many, in looking over the library of Professor Patton, which I had never before seen. In his own department, (languages,) his collection is su perior to any thing I ever saw. He has the best editions, ancient and modern, of all the classics; and every book which can be named affording any facility in these studies. I found there also a uniform edition of the whole range of Italian literature; and all the German writers of eminence. Among other curiosities which his residence in Europe enabled him to pick up, he showed me a Danté of A. D. 1497, and an immense work containing views of all the ancient ruins of Rome. His collection of Atlases and Plates is noble indeed. I went to Freehold on Saturday and preached twice. The only business of importance which has presented itself as yet to the Synod, is the case of two com plaints; one is from the congregation of Wall street, N. Y., against the Presbytery of Elizabethtown, who have refused to put their call into the hands of Dr. McDowell: another is the appeal of, who has been suspended from the ministry of the Gospel. 20th. Mr. Hamilton, of Newark, preached a very long ser mon last night upon Slavery.

1 Mr. Alexander was licensed as a probationer for the ministry, October 4, 1825, by the Presbytery of New Brunswick in session at the village of Cranbury. His trial-sermon was on John iii. 3. The first discourse, under his license, was preached in the lecture-room of the Cedar Street church, New York, on the 8th October, from Jeremiah ii. 19. On the next day, which was Sunday, he repeated the sermon in one of the churches of Brooklyn, and preached in the Cedar Street church from Galatians ii. 16.

HOME, November 14, 1825.

I am so shortly to bid adieu to Princeton that I am more sensible than ever of the pleasures it has afforded me as a home. Since I saw you, I have been called to preach every Lord's day; and as this has always been out of Princeton, it has laid me under the necessity of riding up and down continually. Brunswick detained me a willing prisoner during the session of Synod; thence I went to Freehold-Trenton-Lawrenceville-Cranbury -and have just arrived here, after riding in the face of a cold November storm.

From your letter, you seem to be truly alive in Philadelphia. Surely you have no excuse for not being orators, when so much eloquence is sounding in your ears. I have been introduced to a Dr. Barber, an Englishman; but as he is of II. M. navy, it cannot be the lecturer [on elocution] of whom you tell. Griscom, you remember, speaks at some length of Thelwall and his system. I have no faith in these systems-being of the creed "Orator nascitur" &c. The Seminary has commenced with more than a hundred students; among the rest a coloured man from Schenectady-a very sensible, genteel personage. Our Legislature gave me amusement while I was in Trenton. The motion for an adjourned" Setting" (so the mover proposed it) was lost. I saw Seixas and his [deaf and dumb] pupils there, seeking patronage. Some of our Princeton folks have petitioned for a bank. What next? The proposed canal [Delaware and Raritan] will come, it is thought, within a mile and a half of Princeton. We are pleased with the thought of being able then to get Lehigh coal, with less expense of transportation.

My departure towards Virginia is fixed (Deo volente) at the 1st December. I feel not a little anxious with regard to my future course Yet two things support me: 1st. I have devoted myself to a good work, and am willing to be spent in it. 2d. I am under the care of a merciful Providence, by which all things will be conducted aright. Something of my own insufficiency I feel deeply feel and sometimes am conscious of an ardent desire to live only for the work of Christ: but alas! my ordinary tempers and manners savour little of the cross. know the excellence of what I try to preach, and am ready at all hazards to proclaim it, and recommend it to others.

Yet I

BALTIMORE, December 5, 1825. The introduction you were so good as to give me to Mr. Laussat' has proved a source of much satisfaction: his company 1 Antony Laussat, then a student of law, and afterwards a member of

rendered agreeable the passage which would otherwise have bee almost insufferable. To him I refer you for all the curiosities of our journey, viz., the circus riders, the odd and ludicrous dis putes of the stage coach, the enlightened Senators, &c., &c., to the end of the chapter on steamboat adventures. On arriving here I went to Barnum's great establishment, which, extensive as i is, sinks to nothing in comparison with a new hotel which he is erecting, and which is larger than the New York City Hote After breakfast, I went to the house of the Rev. Mr. Nevins, He resides in a very large and handsome mansion in Belvidere street. No one could be more cordial and friendly than he has proved himself. On Sunday morning I heard Mr. Nevins preach, and there is no man living, whom, with my present knowledge of men, I should prefer to him as a preacher after my own heart. In the afternoon I filled his pulpit, and at night that of Dr. Glendy. At the latter place, I was pleased with discor ering, after sermon, Mr. Laussat. Had I discovered him before, I should have felt less at ease. Last night I was inveigled inte an address at the Monthly Concert of prayer. Baltimore sur passes my highest expectations. I looked for much splendour in this great emporium and thoroughfare, but so much elegance, and neatness, and commercial bustle, and public improvement, I was not prepared to find. And the people whom I have as yet seen, are in manners and kind attention, superior to any class of per sons I have ever known. There is something in the dialect of the Marylanders, especially as it flows from female lips, which is truly enchanting, being a golden mean between the curt and succinct enunciation (ut ita dicam) of the Yankee, and the fullmouthed rotundity and carelessness of the Virginian. It is worth your while to come to Baltimore, were it only to see painting by Paulin Guerin, presented to the Cathedral here by Louis XVIII. Nothing in the arts ever so transfixed me. the taking down Jesus from the cross. The Cathedral itself I take to be the noblest picce of ecclesiastical architecture in the United States. It has a noble simplicity of design which enables you at a coup d'ail to apprehend its vast expression of sublimity. It is filled with paintings. The Unitarian synagogue stands opposite is elegant. The Exchange contains a large hall or dome similar in its impression to the interior of Bank The Atheneum, Masonic Hall, Court House, Washington Mon

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the Philadelphia bar, but removed by death at an early period of what had already become a distinguished career. He died in 1833.

On Wednesday of the same week he preached in the lecture-room of the First Church, and on the following Lord's day twice in the Second Church, (Dr. Glendy's,) and once at the Orphan Asylum.

ument, and Monument in honour of the battle, &c., are all, in their several details, truly interesting public works. I am in suspense with respect to my movements; shall probably go to Washington next Monday, and thence on through Fredericksburg to Petersburg. Mr. Laussat kindly called, but I was so unfortunate as to be absent. If you write within a week, please to direct here, to the care of the Rev. Mr. Nevins.

PETERSBURG, December 23, 1825.

When I came into Virginia, it was with little notion of the manner in which my time would be engrossed by necessary business, and constant avocations. Scarcely had I reached this place, before I found myself under commands to hold forth at the rate of five or six times in the week; and in addition, there is hardly a day in which nine or ten hours are not taken up in giving and receiving visits; and these not your short, formal city calls; but bona fide visitations, a houseful at a time, enlivened by the peculiarly abundant good cheer of this bountiful land, and the copious flowing of rum toddy, and the like refections. Could you see me galloping in the neighbourhood upon a high-blooded horse, in company with fellow equestrians, and a carriage load of beauty and vivacity, you would declare that all the Virginian in me had been at once resuscitated and matured. Corn bread and bacon, oysters and hominy, and toddy, dining out every day, and tongue wagging every hour, have kept my blood well in motion. But you wish to hear something of the country. Petersburg, as you know, is the county seat of Dinwiddie, situated upon the river Appomatox. It is an old settlement encircled by hills on almost every side. Population 8,000, and thickly built upon very uneven ground. In external appearance it would strike you, like most Southern towns, as squalid and slovenly yet there are not a few very splendid mansions in this vicinity. The principal trade was once in tobacco; this has now been transferred to Richmond; and the markets here are chiefly stocked with cotton, which is becoming the staple article among planters here. As to society; I am free to declare, that I have never so enjoyed social and Christian intercourse in my life, as here. Without trying it, you can have no conception of what Southern hospitality means. After all my preparations and previous knowledge, I find myself daily surprised with the winning cordiality and kindness of the people. And this not merely in expression and words. Every house seems at once a home, and every individual devotes himself heartily and with manifest satisfaction to your service. If you look for splendour, you would be disappointed, except in the particulars of servants'