as member of the Senate of New York, so greatly benefited the cause of education by his successful advocacy of the Cornell University, and is also well known for his literary productions, has given to large classes in this university courses of lectures on history, the professorship of which he has held in this university for several years. Prof. James C. Watson, now director of the observatory and professor of astronomy; Prof. De Volsen Wood, who has charge of the school of engineering, and other members of the faculty, are frequent contributors to the periodicals devoted to the sciences in which they are respectively interested.

The department of medicine and surgery in this university has been of late the most largely attended medical college in this country. The provision made for it, in buildings and material, is ample. The faculty are numerous, and four lectures are given daily, with frequent examinations of the students, from the first of October to the last of March. The number of students has for several years ranged from three to four hundred and upward.

The department of law was opened in 1860, and has steadily increased in attendance. The course of study embraces two years (like the medical department), from the first of October to the last of March, and by lectures, examinations, moot-courts, the use of the library, &c., it aims to prepare the students for the practice of law in any part of the country.

The whole number of students in the university, in 1865, was nine hundred and fifty-three, of whom two hundred and seventy-nine were in the department of science, literature, and the arts; four hundred and fourteen in the department of medicine and surgery, and two hundred and sixty in the department of law.

THE REDWOOD LIBRARY, NEWPORT, R. I.
Vol. I., p. 285, 286,]

We have to record a gratifying progress in the prosperity of this old and favorite institution. As early as 1834, efforts were made to induce the proprietors to increase the number of shares as well as to popularize the library, by having lectures delivered under its auspices, and by having it open daily instead of twice a week as heretofore. In 1847, as another movement in the same direction, the hundredth anniversary of the formation of the library was celebrated by the delivering an oration from the Hon. Wm. Hunter, and a poem, "Aquidneck," by the Rev. C. T. Brooks. But it was not till 1854 and 1855 that the spell of the old traditionary belief that the founder of the library had limited the number of members to one hundred was broken. In 1854 the president was authorized to sell fifty new shares, and in the following year a committee recommended the sale of four hundred at twenty-five dollars a share, a measure which was not, however, carried into effect till the fall of 1858, at which time a fund of ten thousand dollars had been thus secured. Of this sum between three and four thousand were expended on books, and the remainder was devoted to an enlargement of the building, under the architectural direction of Mr. George Snell, of Boston, which was completed in July, 1859. The addition to the old building was so made as

not to impair its original simplicity. The two wings, originally extending only a third of the length, were carried the whole way, and a hall fifty feet long, twenty-eight wide, and nineteen high, was joined crosswise to the rear, the old façade on that end being transferred to the south end of the new building.

One great inducement to the making of these changes had been the long-expressed desire of the artist, Charles B. King, a native of Newport, to leave the library his large collection of pictures, of which, soon after the above enlargement, he presented eighty-six, and at his death, in 1862, bequeathed the remainder, together with many rare books on art, and property amounting to ten thousand dollars. The library has also recently received a bequest of ten thousand dollars from Dr. William J. Walker.

A new building is greatly needed to be devoted to works of art; and a valuable collection of sculpture, recently given by Edward King, Esq. (Paul Aker's "Dying Gladiator" being one of the pieces), is waiting for room to contain it. In the present building shelf-room for books is extensively encroached upon by the museum of pictures,

The present contents of the library are 14,000 books, and 3,000 pamphlets. The number of proprietors is advancing from 300 to 350. The president is Hon. George S. King, and the librarian B. H. Rhoades. For several winters courses of lectures have been delivered in the library rooms or under the name of the association.

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
[Vol. II., pp. 737–740.]

It is generally known that much diversity of opinion originally existed with respect to the employment of the Smithsonian fund, and, among other objects, the foundation of a great national library was regarded with favor by several eminent men. In opposition to this, it was contended that a library is principally of local influence, while it is evident from the terms of the will, for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men," as well as from what is known of the life of the testator, that Smithson intended to establish a cosmopolitan institution for advancing science, and for diffusing a knowledge of the discoveries which might be made by means of his bequest. The latter interpretation of the will now receives the general approval of literary and scientific men in every part of the civilized world.

Fortunately for the interests of science, and as if with the sense that, among so many instrumentalities of human culture as presented themselves, no small discretion must be left to the regents of adapting their policy, within certain limits, to progressive views and contingent advantages, the act of incorporation authorized them to make such disposal of any moneys arising from the interest of the fund, and not otherwise specifically appropriated, "as they shall deem best suited for the promotion of the purpose of the testator." Hence the plan adopted in 1847, as before noticed, of dividing the income equally between the active operations and the museum and library, gave way in 1855 to a resolution, "that hereafter the annual appro

life, coeval with the nation, has a peculiar historical interest. For five years preceding his death he was the oldest surviving alumnus of Harvard College, having graduated with the highest honors in 1790. The previous enumeration of his writings has shown his devotion to historical studies. In addition to the works from his pen already mentioned, he published, in 1845, a Memoir of James Graham, prefatory to that author's "History of the United States;" and in 1847, The Journal of Major Samuel Shaw, the first American Consul at Canton, with a Life of the Author, a work pronounced by Mr. Everett "a highly interesting contribution to the history both of the Revolution and of American commerce, and a just tribute to the memory of a man of sterling merit." This was followed, in 1852, by The Municipal History of the Town and City of Boston during Two Centuries, a work which grew out of a discourse delivered at the second centennial anniversary of the city. In this the author has given an account of the improvements carried on during his own mayoralty. In 1858, when he was in his eightyseventh year, Mr. Quincy published in an octavo volume The Life of John Quincy Adams, in which it was his object "to narrate the political life of Mr. Adams from his published works, from authentic unpublished materials and personal acquaintance, and in this way to make him the expositor of his own motives, principles, and character, in the spirit neither of criticism "A difficult and delicate task," nor eulogy." adds Mr. Everett, "which was performed by the venerable author with signal success." agricultural pamphlet of Essays on the Soiling of Cattle, issued in 1859, completes the list of his publications. The record shows that his mental activity was continued to the last.

An

The Massachusetts Historical Society, of which Mr. Quincy had been a member for sixty-eight

years, in common with other institutions with which he had been connected, paid signal honors to his memory. The president of the society, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, paid a deserved tribute to the public and private virtues of the man, closing with this happy anecdote of his last days: Not many months ago," said he, "and when he was on the eve of his ninety

second birthday, I met him at the Cambridge Observatory, coming to visit the institution which had been a special object of his interest and of his bounty, and to take a last look, as he said, at the great revealer of the stars. Still later, I found him in his own library, reading Thucydides, and applying the matchless periods of Pericles to the dangers of our dear land, and to the heroic deaths of so many of our brave young men. Nothing seemed wanting to complete the picture of such an old age as was described by the great Roman orator, and exemplified by the great Roman censor."

The

Rev. Dr. Ellis, on the same occasion, added another pleasing incident to this picture. "He lived," says he, "at last, for simple rest, and musing on the gleanings of thought from his last readings of his favorite moralists and philosophers, Cicero and Lord Bacon; trusting his memory and his spirit for diviner nutriment. To the end he read and wrote; and, because

they were the last transcript from his pen, he has enhanced the sweet and gracious piety of the lines of Addison, which he copied as his hand was losing its cunning :—

'When all thy mercies, O my God!
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I'm lost
In wonder, love, and praise.''

Mr. Richard H. Dana, Jr., following Edward Everett, who briefly reviewed Mr. Quincy's writings, commented on his character as an "heroic, lofty gentleman." "Thackeray," he remarked, "says that the 'grand manner' has gone out. It had not gone out with us while Mr. Quincy lived. A boy at school, when he came to Cambridge, I met a man in the street, who, I felt sure from his style, must be Mr. Quincy, and raised my hat to him, and received a most gracious bow in return. It was he;. and he could be recognized anywhere, by any one on the lookout for a high character among the highest."*

JAMES WADDEL ALEXANDER.

[Vol. I., p. 615.]

The Rev. Dr. James W. Alexander, the eldest son of Dr. Archibald Alexander, was born at the residence of his maternal grandfather, the Rev. the present site of Gordonsville, March 13, 1804. James Waddel, on an estate called Hopewell, near Philadelphia, and remained there, as we have A few years later, in 1807, his father removed to stated in the notice of his life, till the organiza1812, when he entered upon his duties as profes tion of the Princeton Theological Seminary, in sor in that institution. The early years of his son James were passed with the family at Phila delphia and Princeton. He was, of course, well educated, a happy temperament and keen susceptibility to literary impressions seconding his favorable opportunities of instruction. At Philadelphia he was initiated into the elements of the Latin language at the school of James Ross, a noted instructor of the time. Young Alexander entered the freshman class of the

College of New Jersey in 1817, and graduated

there in 1820. A series of letters commencing mainly written by him to his friend, the Rev. at this period, and continuing for forty years, Dr. John Hall, carefully arranged, and accompanied by occasional brief annotations, supplies a most interesting narrative of his literary and theological career. The outline is simple. After leaving the college he entered the theological seminary at Princeton, where he continued till 1824, when he accepted a tutorship of mathe matics in the College of New Jersey, the duties of which he discharged for a year. He was then licensed for the ministry, entered upon pastoral duties in Charlotte County, Virginia, and subse quently at Trenton, New Jersey, where he passed three years, from 1829 to 1832, was temporarily engaged in 1833 as editor of the Presbyterian,

* Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, July 14, 1864.

+ Forty Years' Familiar Letters of James W. Alexander, D. D constituting, with the notes, a memoir of his life. Edited by the surviving correspondent, John Hall, D. D 2 vula 810 Scribner, 1860.

and in the following year accepted the appointment of Professor of Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres in the College of New Jersey. He filled this office, for which he was admirably fitted by his tastes and learned acquisitions, for eleven years, relinquishing the position in 1844 to become pastor of the Duane Street Church in New York, He was occupied with this ministry till 1849, when he was called to succeed the venerable Dr. Miller at the Princeton Seminary as Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government. Two years were passed at this post, succeeded by a visit to Europe, in which he travelled in Great Britain, France, and Switzerland. On his return he became pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church at New York, and, with the interval of a brief second tour in Europe in 1857, was diligently employed in the clerical relation till his death, which took place while on a summer journey, at the White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, July 31, 1859.

In our previous notice, we have spoken of several of Dr. Alexander's chief publications, to the list of which is to be added a volume of Discourses on Common Topics of Christian Faith and Practice, published in 1858-an admirable exhibition in earnestness, candor, simplicity, and a scholar's eloquence, of the Christian labors of the author. Dr. Alexander also published a volume entitled Sacramental Discourses. We should also mention a continued series of juvenile works, written for and published by the American Sunday School Union. It is an excellent proof of the fine quality of the author's disposition, that his profounder studies never alienated him from communication with the simple minds of children. One of his little series, The Infant's Library, is a curiosity among productions of this kind, "consisting," says his biographer, Dr. Hall, "of twenty-four of the smallest size in which any thing in the shape of a book can be printed, and in the smallest language."

The letters of Dr. Alexander, of which we have spoken, are written in an unaffected, lively, sketchy manner, and present topics and opinions of permanent literary or social interest on every page. Their value to the young student is great; they exhibit the steps by which the scholar and divine ascended to an eminence in learning ́and piety; the facts of the day, as they are occasionally noted, show the observation of a sym'pathetic spectator, while the sentiment of the whole is animated by a kindly glow of humor.

A collection should be made of Dr. Alexander's occasional contributions to newspapers and 'periodicals, for which he was always a diligent writer. Numerous references to them will be found in the "Letters" and Dr. Hall's memoir, commencing with "Student's Notes" furnished to Walsh's National Gazette in 1824, and continued in the Newark Daily Advertiser, the Biblical Repertory, and other publications. These essays were ever on topics of permanent literary interest. Their good sense, pointed style, playful wit, and refined learning, would secure them a welcome from the cultivated reader.

A series of Sermons on Faith, which Dr. Alexander had nearly ready for the press at the time of his decease, has since been published in a duodecimo volume.

JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER,

A younger brother of the preceding, was born in Philadelphia in 1809, and was educated at the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, graduating in 1826, with a remarkable reputation for scholarship and his ready acquisition of learned languages. In April, 1828, we find this note of his early literary progress in a letter of his brother, James W. Alexander, to Dr. Hall: “Addison has just completed the Koran in Arabic (he completed his nineteenth year this month), a work which few have attempted in America. He has added Spanish and Italian to his list of languages."

After pursuing his studies for four years in private-his home, where he was surrounded by the learned members of his family, was in itself a college-he was, in 1830, appointed Adjunct Professor of Ancient Languages and Literature in the College of New Jersey, a position which he occupied till 1833. He now continued his theological and other studies with his accustomed perseverance and depth of research, and in 1838, having previously assisted Dr. Hodge in his department of Oriental and Biblical Literature in the Princeton Theological Seminary, was appointed Professor of Biblical Criticism and Ecclesiastical History in that institution. He continued professor at the seminary from this time till his death, which occurred suddenly, a few weeks after the decease of his brother, James W. Alexander, in the summer of 1859. The writings of Dr. Alexander include A Translation and Commentary on the Psalms, 3 vols. 12mo; A Critical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah, 2 vols. 8vo; also commentaries on Mark and the Acts, and a volume on primitive church government. He also contributed various papers to the Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review. Since his death a commentary on Matthew, which he left in manuscript, has been published, together with two volumes of sermons. It is understood that Dr. Alexander left a manuscript diary, or record of his studies for a series of years, a species of literary autobiography, which it is expected will be given to the public, with other memoranda of his extraordinary intellectual career.

CLEMENT C. MOORE.

[Vol. I., pp. 662, 663.]

Dr. Moore resigned his professorship in the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, New York, in the summer of 1850, when he was appointed Emeritus Professor of Oriental and Greek Literature. In the same year he published (Appletons, New York) a duodecimo volume, entitled George Castriot, surnamed Scanderbeg, King of Albania. This was an abridgment or condensation of the old English translation, published in 1596, of Jacques Lavardin's "Historie" of that celebrated warrior enemy of the Turks. Dr. Moore had been led to this work by reading Knolles's History of the Turks, which he procured at the instigation of Dr. Johnson's encomium of the book in the Rambler. He condensed the memoir of Scanderbeg by various omissions of unimportant narratives, and changed "the uncouth, antiquated language of the old English translation to a more modern style."

Two pampnlets are extant, published by Dr. Moore in his early years: Observations upon Certain Passages in Mr. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, which appear to have a tendency to subcert religion and establish a false philosophy (New York, 1804, 8vo, pp. 32); and A Letter to Samuel Osgood, Esq., occasioned by his Letter upon the Subject of Episcopacy; addressed to a Young Gentleman of this City, by Philalethes (New York, 1807, 8vo, pp. 14).

Dr. Moore continued to reside in New York; but passed his time in the summer at a residence in Newport, which he purchased in 1851. His death occurred at the latter place, July 10,

1863.

The lesson of the amiable life and character of this accomplished Christian gentleman is happily expressed in one of the resolutions passed by the faculty of the General Theological Seminary, which he had served as a professor for nearly thirty years, and endowed with a munificent grant of land. "We recognize in him," is its language, "one whom God had blessed with selecter gifts; warm-hearted in friendship, genial in society, kindly and considerate to all; possessed of fine literary tastes, poetic instincts and expressiveness, and of cheerful humor withal; at the same time well accomplished in severer studies and resolute for more laborious undertakings, as his learned works in Hebrew graminar and lexicography distinctly testify."

JOSEPH TINKER BUCKINGHAM.

[Vol. II., pp. 19, 20.]

This venerable journalist passed his last years in retirement, occasionally sending a contribution to the newspapers when he drew upon the reminiscences of his long literary career. He died at Boston, in his eighty-second year, April 11, 1861. The following finely-turned sketch of his character, published in the Boston Transcript, is from the pen of the Rev. N. L. Frothingham: "He was made up of strong elements. All his points pronounced themselves keenly. His temper was fervid, and his resolution indomitable. He certainly was not of a meek or quiet spirit. He therefore suffered in the estimation of those who looked at him only from afar and on the outside, and so set him down as a hard, cynical, and choleric man. But he was called to trials that would have ruffled a serener nature; and had battles to fight for which the appropriate accompaniment was not a melody but a cry.' But the main currents of his will were benevolent. * * He has lived out all his days. Within a few months, in his sick-chamber, he conceived the idea of a new paper, of which he was to be the editor. He even went so far as to write the prospectus, and was scarcely dissuaded from the hardy enterprise. He adhered closely to life. He would not lose,

* *

Though full of pain, this intellectual being.' More than at any views that could be presented to him of the future existence, he shuddered at the idea of falling into naught.' This vexed world, now ended for him, was ended mercifully. He literally bowed his head, as if in acquiescence, and slept into death."

The

No adequate memoir has yet appeared of his career, which is well worthy of being written of with minuteness, for it would embrace a great part of the political, literary, and social history of America, with much of interest relating to the sarans and statesmen with whom he freely mingled in the French capital. chronicle, which he kept up with great industry in the latter years of his life, of English and French art, books, and public affairs, in his correspondence with American newspapers, was ever read by his countrymen with interest. with a vast array of facts, was frequently disIt was always painstaking and elaborate, and, tinguished by its philosophical spirit.

says a

Mr. Walsh continued those literary labors, to which he was ardently devoted, to the last days of his life. His love of letters kept him company to the end. "Apt, quick, inquiring, eager, omnivorous in his mental appetite,' newspaper obituary, "for years his frail body seemed to be kept alive by his active, zestful intellect." In another tributeo f the kind, Mr. William Henry Fry celebrates an amiable trait of character in "his readiness to advance young men. No petty jealousy ever stopped him from seeing and exciting talent in every form. His judicious literary criticism was, as I can well attest, never wanting to the tyro, nor any other means of success which he could point out."*

THOMAS HART BENTON.

[Vol. II., pp. 48-45.]

Two years after his retirement from the United States Senate, in 1850, Mr. Benton was returned by his constituency in Missouri to the House of Representatives. He distinguished himself in that body by his debates in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, as a violation of the Missouri Compromise, and his services were appreciated by the country; but owing to the divided condition of parties in his own State, he was thrown out in the next election of members for Congress. His vigorous canvass of the State as candidate for Governor, in 1856, will be long remembered. He was defeated, but his speeches were read, and their influence on behalf of the Union felt, throughout the whole country. In the same year he supported Mr. Buchanan for the Presidency, in opposition to his own son-in-law, Colonel Fremont.

The short remainder of his life was mainly passed in the preparation of a series of historical records, which, in addition to his Thirty Years' View of the Senate, will remain a lasting monument of his devotion to the politics of his country. The first volume of his Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, carefully digested from Gales and Seaton's Annals of Congress, from their register of debates, and from the officially reported debates, by

Letter to the New York Tribune, dated Philadelphia, March 1, 1859.