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 yard, 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 inodel 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 Wri tings 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 science 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. SONNETS 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, rare-ONE 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 this 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, TO THE MOCKING-BIRD. Wing'd mimic of the woods! thou motley fool! Who shall thy gay buffoonery describe? Thine ever ready notes of ridicule Pursue thy fellows still with jest and gibe. Wit, sophist, songster, YORICK of thy tribe, Thou sportive satirist of Nature's school; To thee the palm of scoffing we ascribe, Arch-mocker and mad Abbot of Misrule! For such thou art by day-but all night long Thou pour'st a soft, sweet, pensive, solemn strain, As if thou didst in this thy moonlight song Like to the melancholy JACQUES complain, Musing on falsehood, folly, vice, and wrong, And sighing for thy motley coat again. STANZAS. My life is like the summer rose That opens to the morning sky, Is scatter'd on the ground-to die! That trembles in the moon's pale ray, Its hold is frail-its date is brief, Restless and soon to pass away! Yet, ere that leaf shall fall and fade, The parent tree will mourn its shade, The winds bewail the leafless tree, But none shall breathe a sigh for me! My life is like the prints, which feet Have left on Tampa's desert strand; Soon as the rising tide shall beat, All trace will vanish from the sand; Yet, as if grieving to efface All vestige of the human race, On that lone shore loud moans the sea, But none, alas! shall mourn for me! JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER was born at Burlington, New Jersey, September 15, 1789. He was the descendant of an English family who settled at that place in 1679. His father, Judge William Cooper, was born in Pennsylvania, whither a portion of the family had removed, but in early life selected the old family home at Burlington as his residence. He was a man of high social position, and became possessed in 1785 of a large tract of land in the neighborhood of Otsego lake, in the State of New York. A settlement was formed to which he gave the name of Cooperstown, and in 1790 removed his family thither. He was the leading man of the place, and in 1795 and 1799 represented the district in Congress. It was in this frontier home surrounded by noble scenery, and a population composed of adventurous settlers, hardy trappers, and the remnant of the noble Indian tribes who were once sole lords of the domain, that the novelist passed his boyhood to his thirteenth year. It was a good school for his future calling. At the age mentioned he entered Yale College, where he remained three years, maintaining notwithstanding his youth a good position in his class, when he obtained a midshipman's commission and entered the navy. The six following years of his life were passed in that servios, and he was thus early and thoroughly familiarized with the second great field of his future literary career. In 1811 he resigned his commission, married Miss De Lancey, a member of an old and leading family of the State of New York, and sister to the present bishop of its western diocese, and settled down to a home life in the village of Mamaroneck, near the city of New York. It was not long after that, almost accidentally, his literary career commenced. He had been reading an English novel to his wife, when, on laying aside the book, he remarked that he believed that he could write a better story himself. He forthwith proceeded to test the matter, and produced Precaution. The manuscript was completed, he informs us, without any intention of publication. He was, however, induced by the advice of his wife, and his friend Charles Wilkes, in whom he placed great confidence, to issue the work. It appeared, sadly deformed by misprints. Precaution is a story on the old pattern of English rural life, the scene alternating between the hall, the parsonage, and other upper-class regions of a country town. A scene on the deck of a man-of-war, bringing her prizes into port, is almost the only indication of the writer's true strength. It is a respectable novel, offering little or no scope for comment, and was slightly valued then or afterwards by its author. In 1821 he published The Spy, a Tale of the Neutral Ground, a region familiar to him by his residence within its borders. Harvey Birch, the spy, is a portrait from life of a revolutionary patriot, who was willing to risk his life and to subject his character to temporary suspicion for the service of his country. He appears in the novel as a pedlar, with a keen eye to trade as well as the movements of the enemy. The claim of Enoch Crosby, a native of Danbury, who was employed in this manner in the war, to be the original of this character, has been set forth with much show of probability by a writer, Captain H. L. Barnum, in a small volume entitled The Spy Unmasked, containing an interesting biography, but the matter has never been definitively settled, Cooper leaving the subject in doubt in the preface to the revised edition of the novel in 1849. The rugged, hoinely worth of Harvey Birch, his native shrewdness combined with heroic boldness, which develops itself in deeds, not in the heroic speeches which an ordinary novelist would have placed in his mouth, the dignified presentation of Washington in the slight disguise of the assumed name of Harper, the spirit of the battle scenes and hairbreadth escapes which abound in the narrative, the pleasant and truthful home scenes of the country mansion, place the Spy in the foremost rank of fiction. Its patriotic theme, a novelty at the time in the works of American romance, aided the impression made by its intrinsic merits. It was followed, two years later, by The Pioneers; or, the Sources of the Susquehanna, a Descriptive Tale. In this the author drew on the early recollections of his life. He has described with minuteness the scenery which surrounded his father's residence, and probably some of its visitors and occupants. The best known character of the story is the world-renowned Leatherstocking, the noble pioneer, the chevalier of the woods. The author has aimed in this character at combining the heroic with the practical. Leather-stocking has the rude dialect of a backwoodsman, unformed, almost uneducated, by schools. He is before us in his native simplicity and native vigor, as free from the trickery of art as the trees which surround him. He was a new actor on the crowded stage of fiction, who at once commanded hearing and applause. The Pioneers well redeems its title of a descriptive tale, by its animated presentation of the vigorous and picturesque country life of its time and place, and its equally successful delineations of natural scenery. The Pilot, the first of the sea novels, next appeared. It originated from a conversation of the anthor with his friend Wilkes on the naval inaccuracies of the recently published novel of the Pirate. Cooper's attention thus drawn to this field of composition, he determined to see how far he could meet his own requirements. The work extended its writer's reputation, not only by showing the new field of which he was master, but by its evidences, surpassing any he had yet given, of power and energy. The ships, with whose fortunes we have to do in this story, interest us like creatures of flesh and blood. We watch the chase and the fight like those who have a personal interest in the conflict, as if ourselves a part of the crew, with life and honor in the issue. Long Tom Coffin is probably the most widely-known sailor character in existence. He is an example of the heroic in nction, like Leather-stocking losing not a whit of his individuality of body and mind in his nobleness of soul. Lionel Lincoln, the next novel, was a second attempt in the revolutionary field of the Spy, which did not share in treatment or reception with its success. It was followed in the same year by The Last of the Mohicans, a Narrative of 1757, in which we again meet Leather-stocking, in an early age of his career, and find the Indians, of whom we have had occasional glimpses in the Pioneers, in almost undisturbed possession of their huntinggrounds. In this story Cooper increased his hold on the young, the true public of the romantic novelist, by the spirit of his delineations of forest life. He has met objections which have been raised by maturer critics to his representations of the Aborigines in this and other works, in the following passage in the "Preface to the Leatherstocking Tales," published in 1850. It has been objected to these books that they give a more favorable picture of the red man than he deserves. The writer apprehends that much of this objection arises from the habits of those who have made it. One of his critics, on the appearance of the first work in which Indian character was portrayed, objected that its "characters were Indians of the school of Heckewelder, rather than of the school of nature." These words quite probably contain the substance of the true auswer to the objection. Heckewelder was an ardent, benevolent missionary, bent on the good of the red man, and seeing in him one who had the soul, reason, and characteristics of a fellow-being. The critic is understood to have been a very distinguished agent of the government, one very familiar with Indians, as they are seen at the councils to treat for the sale of their lands, where little or none of their domestic qualities come in play, and where indeed their evil passions are known to have the fullest scope. As just would it be to draw conclusions of the general state of American society from the scenes of the capital, as to suppose that the negotiating of one of these treaties is a fair picture of Indian life. It is the privilege of all writers of fiction, more particularly when their works aspire to the elevation of romances, to present the beau-ideal of their characters to the reader. This it is which constitutes poetry, and to suppose that the red man is to be represented only in the squalid misery or in the degraded moral state that certainly more or less belongs to his condition, is, we apprehend, taking a very narrow view of an author's privileges. Such criticism would have deprived the world of even Homer. In the same year Cooper visited Europe, having received a little before his departure the honor of a public dinner in the city of New York. He passed several years abroad, and was warmly welcomed in every country he visited, his works being already as well known, through translations, in foreign languages as in his own. He owed this wide-spread fame to his wisdom in the selection of topics. He was read by those who wished to learn something of the aboriginal and pioneer life of America, in the eyes of Europeans the characteristic features of the country; and it is a common remark of the educated class of German emigrants in this country, that they derived their first knowledge, and perhaps their first interest in their future home, from his pages. Cooper's literary activity was not impaired by his change of scene. He published in 1827 The Prairie. Leather-stocking reappears and closes his career in its pages. "Pressed upon by time, he has ceased to be the hunter and the warrior, and has become a trapper of the great West. The sound of the axe has driven him from his beloved forests to seek a refuge, by a species of desperate resignation, on the denuded plains that stretch to the Rocky Mountains. Here he passes the few closing years of his life, dying as he had lived, a philosopher of the wilderness, with few of the failings, none of the vices, and all the na |