which the waters are poured, during the storms of the equinox, with a force that nothing can resist. True to his antecedents, Mr. Elliott wielded in 1851, in his letters of "Agricola," the same effective pen against secession which he had so energetically pointed in 1831 against nullification. SAMUEL JACKSON GARDNER. SAMUEL JACKSON GARDNER was born at Brookline, near Boston, Massachusetts, the ninth day of July, 1788; a descendant of one of the early settlers of the name in New England, and on the mother's side from Edward Jackson, who came from England in 1642. He was educated at Harvard; pursued the practice of the law for several years; was elected more than once to the legislature of his native state, but manifested an early repugnance to public life. Since, he has resided in New York and has been a frequent contributor and (during the absence of Mr. Kinney, its editor, in Europe) the efficient conductor of the Newark Daily Advertiser. His essays, with the signature of "Decius," chiefly appearing in that journal, and occasionally in the Literary World, are written with ease and ingenuity on miscellaneous subjects, political economy topics, the principles of government, literature, manners; sometimes in a serious and moral, at other times in a critical, satirical, humorous vein. He has also written some fugitive poetry. His writings, always anonymous, have never been collected into a volume. His son, Augustus K. Gardner, a physician in New York, is the author of a clever volume of sketches of Parisian life, published after a tour in France in 1848, with the title of Old Wine in New Bottles. He is also the author of several medical essays and tracts on civic hygiene. WILLIAM J. GRAYSON Was born in November, 1788, in Beaufort, S. C. His father, a descendant of one of the earliest settlers in that portion of the state in which the colonists under Sayle first landed, was an officer in the Continental army to the close of the Revolution. The son was educated at the South Carolina College; in 1813 was elected to the State House of Representatives, and was subsequently admitted to the bar at Charleston. In 1831 he was elected to the Senate of his state, and, in the controversy which then agitated the country on the subject of the tariff, took part with those who held that the reserved rights of the state gave it the power to determine when its grants for government to the federal authorities were violated, and how those violations should be arrested within its own limits. He was a temperate and moderate advocate of this view of the question in controversy, and never disposed to push it to the extreme of civil war, or a dissolution of the Union. In 1833 he was elected a member of Congress from the districts of Beaufort and Colleton, holding his seat for four years. In 1841 he was appointed collector of the port of Charleston by President Tyler, was re-appointed by President Polk, and removed by President Pierce from party considerations. In 1850, at the height of the secession agita tion, Mr. Grayson published in a pamphlet a Letter to Governor Seabrook, deprecating the threatened movement, and pointing out the greater evils of disunion. Mr. Grayson is a lover and cultivator of literature. He has been for some years an occasional contributor to the Southern Review, and a frequent writer in the daily press. In 1854 he published a didactic poem entitled The Hireling and the Slave, the object of which is to compare the condition and advantages of the negro in his state of servitude at the South, with the frequent condition of the pauper laborer of Europe. This, however, though it gives name to the poem, is not its entire argument. It contains also an idyllic picture of rural life at the South as shared by the negro in his participation of its sports and enjoyments. This is handled in a pleasing manner; as the author describes the fishing and hunting scenes of his native region bordering on the coast. An episode introduces a sketch of General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney on his retirement at his "island home." From the descriptive portions we select this picture of And with the sun, the fragrant offerings rise, There no proud temples to devotion rise, And elm and ash their blended arms entwine UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. The University of North Carolina was established by the Legislature of the state on the 11th of December, 1789. Forty of the most influential men of the state were incorporated as trustees, and held their first meeting in the town of Fayetteville in November of the next year, making it their earliest business to devise the means needful for the aupport of the Institution, and to determine upon a place for its location. Immediately after the University was chartered, the Legislature granted to the trustees all escheated property, and all arrearages due to the state from receiving officers of the late and present governments up to Jan. 1, 1783, which grant was afterwards extended to Dec. 1799, together with all moneys in executors' and administrators' hands unclaimed by legntees. The site of the University, after much deliberation, was fixed at Chapel Hill in the county of Orange, about twenty-eight miles west of Raleigh. This place is central to the territory and population of the state, and is unrivalled for the beauty of its situation on an elevated range of hills, the purity of its air, and the healthfulness of its climate. Great interest in the welfare and prospects of the infant Institution was manifested throughout the community, Generous individuals gave large sums of money and valuable tracts of land for its support; and the ladies of the two principal towns of Raleigh and Newbern presented it with mathematical instruments, pledging themselves never to be indifferent to its objects and interests. Many gentlemen gave valuable books for the library; and the Legislature from time to time increased and renewed its properties and privileges. The first college edifice being sufficiently completed in 1794 to accommodate students, its doors were opened and instruction commenced in February, 1795. The Rev. David Kerr, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, was the first professor, assisted in the preparatory department by Samuel A. Holmes. Shortly after, Charles W. Harris, a graduate of the College of New Jersey, was elected to the professorship of Mathematics, which chair he occupied for only one year. There was of necessity much to be done in devising, arranging, and carrying out the most practicable systems of instruction, and of prudential government-a work demanding mucli practical ability and unwavering devotion to the best interests of the University. At this early crisis, Mr. Joseph Caldwell, then a young man but twenty-three years of age, was introduced to the notice of the trustees, having already acquired a high reputation for talents, scholarship, and success, in teaching. This gentleman was born in Lamington, New Jersey, April 21, 1778; entered the college at Princeton at the age of fourteen, and was graduated in 1791, having the Salutatory Oration in Latin assigned him. Having served his alma mater with much reputation as Tutor for several years, he was in 1796 elected to the principal professorship in the University of N, C, Thenceforward the history of his life becomes the history of the Institution. For nearly forty years he devoted his best energies to the promotion of its interests, and the cause of education generally throughout the state of his adoption; and to his administrative skill and un tiring zeal, its present high position and prosperity are greatly owing. Under his care, the prospects of the University speedily brightened and flourished, and in 1804 the trustees signified their appreciation of his services by electing him president— the first who had filled that office. This chair he retained till the time of his death in 1835, with the exception of four years from 1812 to 1816, during which period he retired voluntarily to the professorship of Mathematics, for the sake of relief from cares and opportunity to prosecute the study of Theology. Meantime the presidential chair was filled by the Rev. Robert H. Chapman, D.D. Upon that gentleman's resignation in 1816, Mr. Caldwell was again elected to the presidency, at which time his alma mater conferred on him a Doctorate in Divinity, and he thenceforth took an elevated rank among scholars and divines of the Presbyterian church. From the time of Dr. Caldwell's first connexion with the University, almost everything of interest in its progress and government was submitted to his consideration. He alone digested and made practicable the various plans of particular instruction, of internal policy and discipline. He raised the grade of scholarship and re-arranged the curriculum so as to embrace a period of four years with the usual division of classes. The first anniversary Commencement was in 1798, with a graduating class of nine. The greatest good of the University, and indeed the general progress and intellectual improvement of the state, were ever the most engrossing objects of Dr. Caldwell's care; and with untiring perseverance and fidelity, he presented the claims of education to the community, and appealed to their liberality for its support. In 1821, the Board of Trustees was increased to sixty-five, the governor of the state being ex officio their President, and all vacancies occurring to be filled by a joint ballot of the two houses of Assernbly. The actual government of the University, however, is vested in an executive committee of seven of the trustees, with the governor always as their presiding officer. In 1824, Dr. Caldwell visited Europe for the purpose of increasing the Library, and forming cabinets, and procuring a very valuable philosophical apparatus constructed under his own inspection. To these has since been added a cabinet of minerals purchased in Vienna. On the death of Dr. Caldwell, January 28, 1835, for a few months the duties of the presidency were discharged by the senior professor, Dr. Mitchell, when the trustees elected to that office the Hon. David L. Swain, a native of Buncombe county, who, though comparatively a young man, had served the state with distinction in the Legislature and on the Superior Court bench, from which he was elected Governor for the years 1833, 34, '35. He entered on the office of the presidency of the University in January, 1836, and from that time to the present the Institution has been steadily advancing in reputation, influence, and numbers. It is a fortunate circumstance in the history of this University, that for a period of nearly sixty years its government has been administered by two incumbents both so well qualified for the office as Dr. Caldwell and Gov. Swain. The number of students having greatly increased, additions have from time to time been made in the means of accommodation and instruction, and to the Faculty. The college buildings are now six in number, located on a beautiful and commanding site, so as to form a hollow square, inclosing a large area or lawn surrounded by groves of native growth. The grounds are tastefully disposed and ornamented with choice shrubs and flowers, and the lawn slopes gradually from the buildings, several hundred yards, to the main street of the village of Chapel Hill. A hall has lately been erected for the reception of the University Library, liberal appropriations having been made for valuable additions. The two literary societies belonging to the students are also accommodated with imposing edifices; and the number of volumes in their libraries, and that of the University together, amounts to about fifteen thousand.* The The College students now (1855) number two hundred and eighty-one from fifteen different states in the Union, as ascertained by the last annual catalogue; the whole number of graduates since 1795 is eleven hundred and fifty-five. number of matriculates has been estimated to be nearly twice that of graduates. The executive Faculty number at present sixteen, of whom the senior professor, Dr. E. Mitchell, Professor of Chemistry, Geology, and Mineralogy, a native of Connecticut and graduate of Yale College, has been connected with the Institution for thirtyseven years; and Dr. Phillips, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, a native of Essex county, England, has filled his present chair for twenty-nine years. Professorships of Civil Engineering and of Agricultural Chemistry have lately been established. The Department of Law is under the charge of the Hon. William H. Battle, one of the judges of the Supreme Court, and a regular course of lectures on international and constitutional Law is delivered to the Senior undergraduates towards the close of their second term by the president. Our drawing of the College buildings and grounds has been kindly furnished by Miss Phillips, daughter of the venerable Mathematical professor of the Institution. In 1837, the Trustees, with a liberality at that time without example, authorized the Faculty to admit gratuitously to the advantages of the Institution, all young men of fair character and ability who are natives of the state, and unable to defray the expenses incident to a college education. About fifteen have annually availed themselves of this liberality, many of whom now occupy with honor places of trust among their fellow citizens. The number of Alumni who have attained distinction in public life will compare favorably with those who have gone forth from similar institutions in any part of the Union. At the last annual Commencement, six ex-Governors of this and other states were in the procession of the Alumni Association. Among numerous interesting incidents connected with the history of the University, which were presented in the course of a lecture delivered in the hall of the House of Commons since the beginning of the present session, it was remarked that among the alumni of the college were one of the late presidents, Polk, and one of the late vice-presidents of the United States, W. R. King; the present Secretary of the Navy, James C. Dobbin, and the Minister to France, John Y. Mason; the Governor, the Public Treasurer and Comptroller, two of the three Supreme and six of the seven Superior Court Judges, the Attorney-General, and nearly a fourth of the members of the General Assembly of the state of North Carolina. It is not less noticeable that among the distinguished clergymen of various denominations who received their academical training in these Halls, and who are at present prominently before the public, the institution can refer to one whose reputation is established at home and abroad as a model of pulpit eloquence-the Rev. Francis L. Hawks, and to five Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church, with which he is connected-J. H. Otey of Tennessee, Leonidas Polk of Arkansas, Cicero S. Hawks of Missouri, W. M. Green of Mississippi, Thomas F. Davis of South Carolina. WILLIAM JAY. WILLIAM JAY, the second son of Chief-justice Jay, was born June 16, 1789. He studied the classics with the Rev. Thomas Ellison of Albany, the early friend of Bishop Chase, and at New Haven with the Rev. Mr. Davis, afterwards President of Hamilton College. After completing his course at Yale in 1808, he read law at Albany in the office of Mr. John B. Henry, until compelled by an affection of the eyes to abandon study, he retired to his father's country-seat at Bedford, with whom he resided until the death of the latter in 1829, when he succeeded to the estate, which has since been his principal residence. In 1812 he married the daughter of John McVickar, a New York merchant. He was appointed First Judge of the County of Westchester by Governor Tompkins, and successively reappointed by Clinton, Marcy, and Van Buren. Judge Jay has throughout his life been a prominent opponent of slavery, and has, in this connexion, published numerous addresses and pamphlets, several of which have been collected by him in his Miscellaneous Writings on Slavery, published at Boston in 1854. He was one of the founders of the American Bible Society, has been President of the American Peace Society, is an active member of the Agricultural Society of Westchester, and of other associations of a similar character. In 1832 he published The Life and Writings of John Jay, in two volumes 8vo., a careful presentation of the career of his distinguished father with extracts from the correspondence and papers, which were bequeathed to the sons Peter A. and William Jay. John Jay, the son of William Jay, born June 23, 1817, a graduate of Columbia College in 1836, is the author of several pamphlets on the Slavery question, and on the right of the delegates of churches composed of colored persons to seats iu the convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of New York. RICHARD HENRY WILDE. THIS fine scholar and delicate poet, who shared the accomplishments of literature with the active pursuits of legal and political life, was born in the city of Dublin, September 24, 1789. His mother's family, the Newitts, were strong Royalists. One of them, his uncle John Newitt, had been settled in America, and on the breaking out of the Revolutionary war had sold his flour mills upon the Hudson and returned to Ireland. His father, Richard Wilde, was a hardware merchant in Dublin, who, when he had resolved to come to America, thinking it possible that he might not like the new country and would return, left his business unclosed in the hands of a partner. He arrived at Baltimore in January, 1797, in a ship which he had freighted with goods on a joint venture with the captain, who owned the vessel. On landing, ship and cargo were seized as the property of the captain, and Mr. Wilde recovered his interest only after a long and expensive litigation. In addition to this misfortune, the rebellion of 1798 broke out at this time, when his Dublin partner was convicted of high treason and the property in his hands confiscated. Not long after this Richard Wilde died in 1802. His widow, the following year, removed to Augusta, Georgia, where she opened a small store to supply the necessities of the family, in which her son, Richard Henry, attended as clerk during the day, while he actively pursued his studies at night. In 1806 Mrs. Wilde visited Ireland with the hope of recovering some portion of the large fortune of her husband, but returned unsuccessful the same year. She died in 1815, but a few months before her son was elected to Congress. It was to his mother that Wilde owed his early education, and from her he inherited his poetical talents. Many of her verses, remarkable for their vigor of thought and beauty of expression, are preserved among the papers of the family. Wilde early directed his attention to the law while assisting his mother in Augusta. Delicate in constitution he studied laboriously, and before the age of twenty, by his solitary exertions, had qualified himself for admission to the bar in South Carolina. That his mother might not be mortified at his defeat, if he failed, he presented himself at the Green Superior Court, where he successfully passed a rigorous examination by Justice Early in the March term of 1809. He soon took an active part in his profession, and was elected Attorney-General of the State. In 1815 he was elected to the national House of Representatives, where he served for a single term. He was again in Congress from 1828 to 1835, maintaining the position of an independent thinker, well fortified in his opinions, though speaking but seldom. His course on the Force Bill of Jackson's administration, which he opposed, and in which he differed from the views of his constituents, led to his withdrawal from Congress. private collection of the Grand Duke, a favor seldom granted to a stranger. The large number of his manuscript notes and extracts from the Laurentian, Magliabecchian, and the library of the Reformagione, show how indefatigably his studies were pursued. His curious search was at length rewarded by the discovery of a number of documents connected with the life and times of Dante which had previously escaped attention. He was enabled also to set on foot an investigation which resulted in the discovery of an original painting by Giotto, of the author of the Divina Commedia. Having learnt, on the authority of an old biographer of the poet, that Giotto had once painted a portrait of Dante on the wall of the chapel of the Bargello, he communicated the fact to Mr. G. A. Bezzi, when a subscription was taken up among their friends for its recovery. After a sufficient sum was collected to begin the work, permission was obtained from the government to remove the whitewash with which the walls were covered, when, after a labor of some months, two sides of the room having been previously examined, upon the third the portrait was discovered. The government then took the enterprise in hand and completed the undertaking. Mr. Wilde commenced a life of Dante, one volume only of which was written and which remains in manuscript. At Florence he had among his friends many of the most learned and distinguished men of the day, including Ciampi, Mannini, Capponi, Regio, and others. Besides his investigation in the literature of Dante he made a special study of the vexed question connected with the life of Tasso. The result of this he gave to the public on his return to America in his Conjectures and Researches concerning the Love, Madness, and Imprisonment of Torquato Tasso,* a work of diligent scholarship, in which the elaborate argument is enlivened by the elegance of the frequent original translations of the sonnets. In this he maintains the sanity of Tasso, and traces the progress of the intrigue with the Princess Leonora D'Este as the key of the poet's difficulties. Mr. Wilde removed to New Orleans, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1844, and on the organization of the Law Department of the University was appointed Professor of Common Law. He applied himself vigorously to the sciece of the civil law, became engaged in various important cases, and was rapidly acquiring a high position as a civilian at the time of his death, which occurred in the city of New Orleans, September 10, 1847. In addition to the writings which have been mentioned, Mr. Wilde wrote for the Southern Review an article on Petrarch, was an occasional contributor of verses to the magazines, and left numerous choice and valuable manuscripts unpublished. Among the latter are various minor poems, a distinct finished poem of some four cantos entitled Hesperia, and a collection of Italian lyrics, which were to have been accompanied with lives of the poets from whom they were translated. The translations are nearly complete. While abroad Mr. Wilde collected a large and Two vols. 12mo. New York: A. V. Blake. 1842. valuable library of books and MSS., principally relating to Italian literature, many of which have numerous marginal notes from his pen. A memoir (to be accompanied by a collection of the author's poems) is understood to be on the eve of publication, from the pen of his eldest son William C. Wilde, a gentleman of literary tastes and cultivation, eminently qualified to do justice to his father's memory. To another son, John P. Wilde, a lawyer of New Orleans, we are indebted in advance of this publication for the interesting and authentic details which we have given. These show a life of passionate earnestness, rising under great disadvantage to the honors of the most distinguished scholarship, and asserting an eminent position in public and professional life. In what was more peculiarly individual to the man, his exquisite tastes and sensibilities, the poetical extracts, the translations and original poems which we shall give, will speak for themselves. BONNETS TRANSLATED FROM TASSO. To the Duchess of Ferrara who appeared masked at a fête. On two Beautiful Ladies, one Gay and one Sad. I saw two ladies once-illustrious, rareONE a sad sun; her beauties at mid-day In clouds concealed; the OTHER, bright and gay, Gladdened, Aurora-like, earth, sea, and air; One hid her light, lest men should call her fair, And of her praises no reflected ray Suffered to cross her own celestial wayTo charm and to be charmed, the other's care; Yet thi her loveliness veiled not so well, But forth it broke. Nor could the other show All HERS, which wearied mirrors did not tell; Nor of this one could I be silent, though Bidden in ire-nor that one's triumphs swell, Since my tired verse, o'ertasked, refused to flow. To Alphonso, Duke of Ferrara. At thy loved name my voice grows loud and clear, Fluent my tongue, as thou art wise and strong, And soaring far above the clouds my song: But soon it droops, languid and faint to hear; And if thou conquerest not my fate, I fear, Invincible ALPHONSO! FATE ere long Will conquer me-freezing in DEATH my tongue But to die thus-with faith of dubious sound, |