conscious of, but could not well decline it. A prepossession that one will do ill never fails to verify our fears; and accordingly I did ill enough, of which I had a due sense, and made suitable acknowledgments to my evil genius. Whilst I was in the paroxysm of my mortification, Mr. Sharpless, an ingenious portrait painter, sent me a note acquainting me, that he was making a collection of portraits of the most eminent and public characters in the United States, and requested to know when it would be convenient for me to sit to him. I really thought so meanly of myself, that I did not seem worthy to be hung up in a shoemaker's shop, under the last words and dying speech of Levi Ames, and nothing appeared to be wanting to my disgrace but suffering myself to be held up among the great worthies of America. Accordingly I sent my compliments to Mr. Sharpless, disclaiming all right of being ranked among the eminent and public characters, which he was collecting, and so refused sitting. The Chief Justice Dana afterwards called on me, and requested me to sit. Out of deference to him, I said, if it was his opinion that I ought, I would no longer decline. But, luckily, Mr. Sharpless never troubled me again with an invitation."*

In 1798, Judge Minot published a Continuation of the History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, from the year 1748, the period where Hutchinson's history terminates; and at the time of his death, a second volume of this work was ready for publication. He was one of the original founders of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and from its first organization was an active and useful member. In the various benevolent institutions of his native State, he took a prominent part. His address before the charitable Fire Society, delivered in May, 1795, is a fair interpretation of his senti.nents of benevolence, and the praise which his eulogists bestow on it, is alike worthy of it and himself. †

On the death of Washington, Judge Minot was selected to deliver a eulogy on that occasion before the inhabitants of Boston. He was then in ill health, and on that account declined to perform the task; but this availed him nothing. He was forced to accept. "They gave me ten days to prepare myself," he says: "What were my feelings in this short time? My only refuge was in an enthusiastic pursuit of my subject, which stimulated what little powers I possessed to their utmost exertion. A candor and mild expectation prevailed through all ranks of people, which encouraged me. A like kind of attentive silence enabled me to deliver myself so as to be heard. I sat down unconscious of the effect, feeling as though the music was at once playing the dirge of Washington's memory, and my own literary reputation. I was soon astonished at my good fortune: all praised me: a whole edition of my eulogy sold in a day. My friends are delighted; and although nearly exhausted by sickness, I am happy. Such was the successful issue of the most unpropitious undertaking that I ever engaged in." This was Judge Minot's last public effort. He died in the evening of the second day of January, 1802. Tributes of respect were offered to his memory, and the deepest regret prevailed in contemplation of the public loss.

*

EULOGY ON WASHINGTON.§

Our duty, my fellow-townsmen, on this distressing occasion, is dictated by the dignity and resplendent virtue of the beloved man whose death we deplore. We assemble to pay a debt to departed merit, a debt which we can only pay by the sincerity of our grief, and the respectful effusions of gratitude; for the highest eulogy left us to bestow upon our lamented Washington, is the strict narration of the truth;

* Massachusetts Historical Collections. Vol. 8, page 103. + See the Boston newspapers published soon after his decease.

and the loftiest character which we can assign to him, is the very display of himself. When ambition allies itself to guilt, when power

See An Address to the members of the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society, at their annual meeting, May 28th, 1802: by John Quincy Adams: Sullivan's Familiar Letters: Boston Columbian Centinel, of January 6th, 1802; and Massachusetts Historical Collections, vol. 8, pp. 86-109.

§ An Eulogy on George Washington, late Commander-in Chief of the armies of the United States of America, who died December 14th, 1799. Delivered before the inhabitants of the town of Boston, at the request of their committee, by George Richards Minot (on the 9th January, 1800).

tramples upon right, when victory triumphs of action, and his repose partook not of indoin blood, when piety sits clouded in supersti-lence. Amidst the honorable pursuits of agrition, when humility is affected by cunning, culture, he discharged various civil offices, unwhen patriotism is founded on selfishness; then til we find him rising amongst the patriots of let adulation spread her prostituted mantle, to our country, as a delegate from Virginia, in the screen the disgraces of her patrons, and amuse first American Congress. with the falsehoods of her imagination. But to our political Father, the faithful page of history is panegyric, and the happiness of his country is the monument of his fame.

Come, then, warriors, statesmen, philosophers, citizens! assemble around the tomb of this favorite son of virtue; with all the luxury of sorrow recollect the important events of his life, and partake of the greatest legacy which a mortal could bequeath you, in the contempla-Your hope was fixed on him. His command, tion of his example. Whilst we solemnize this act, his disembodied spirit, if it be permitted to retrace the scenes of its terrestrial existence, will smile with approbation on the instructive rite.

We shall ever remember the fifteenth day of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventyfive, when Providence directed to his appointment as the commander-in-chief of our revolutionary army. In this neighborhood he first drew his sword. Many of you, my fellowtownsmen, were then languishing under the fetters of tyranny, or were imprisoned within the joyless confines of your own habitations. independent of the resources of his own mind, afforded no ground for the support of your feelings. He had an army, brave indeed, but with little discipline; naked at the approach Your anniversaries have long honored the of winter; and almost subject to dissolution eleventh of February, one thousand seven hun- from temporary enlistments; a paymaster withdred and thirty-two, as the birthday of our illus-out money; a commissary struggling on the trious chief; and the parish of his own name in utmost stretch of credit. A veteran army lay Westmoreland County, in Virginia, boasts itself under his eye strongly fortified, regularly paid, the place of his nativity. But to souls like his, warmly clothed, and boasting its superiority to local restrictions are not attached. Where Lib-militia. Yet did his victorious sword relieve erty was, there would be his country. Happy for us, the Genius of Liberty, responsive to his affections, resolved that where Washington was, there also should be her abode.

Educated by private instruction, his virtue grew with his knowledge; and the useful branches of literature occupied the whole powers of his mind. Exemplary for solidity of thought, and chastity of morals, he was honored by the government of Virginia with an important mission, at an age when the levities of the human character seldom yield to the earliest operation of reason.

you, and save your city. Justly have you ascribed "your reinstatement to his wise arrangements, which compelled your invaders to adopt a less destructive policy than that which on other occasions they so wantonly practised.” Could our gratitude forget it, the heights around us bear the triumphant evidence of his conquest.

ment, suffering in the cause of freedom was a luxury, and every hour as it flew carried an offering to his country.

To trace this protection of our liberties through his unrivalled career, from his gloomy retreat through the Jerseys to his several victories and his splendid triumph at Yorktown, would be to narrate the varying history of our At the opening of the great war of encroach-revolution. To him, public labor was amusements upon our western frontiers, he was the bearer of the remonstrance to the French. Such was the address, fidelity, and perseverance, with which he executed this important trust, that he was honored at twenty-two years of age, with the command of a regiment raised by his province. His military talents were soon called to the test. At Redstone victory perched upon his standard, but with that volatility by which she tries the powers of her favorite heroes, she in a few months afterwards left him, by his own exertions, to save the honors of war for his little band, in an unequal, but well supported battle. In Braddock's slaughtered army, he was a witness to scenes of horror, which his caution, had it been adopted, would have prevented, and which his steady courage assisted much to retrieve. During the remainder of this war, he was employed in fortifying his native province, in arranging and perfecting its militia, and in checking the incursions of the enemy, until the crisis of the contest had passed in this country, when he resigned his command.

Retirement to him was only a different mode

As obedience to the voice of his oppressed fellow-citizens drew his sword on the approach of war, so at the declaration of peace, by the same respected voice he restored it to its scabbard. He left them his blessing and their liberties. O, Human Nature, how hast thou been traduced! With thee, has it been said, is essentially connected that lust of power which is insatiable; which restores not voluntarily what has been committed to its charge; which devours all rights, and resolves all laws into its own authority; which labors not for others, but seizes the fruits of their labors for itself; which breaks down all barriers of religion, society and nature that obstruct its course; now art thou vindicated! Here we behold thee allied to virtue, worn in the service of mankind, superior to the meanness of compensation, humbly hoping for the thanks of thy country alone, faithfully surrendering the sword, with which thou wast intrusted, and yielding up power with promptness and facility equalled

only by the diffidence and reluctance with which thou receivd'st it.

grateful now is the recollection, that with tears of joy you crowded to meet him in your streets, displaying the very insignia which you this day bear in mournful procession; and your children, bowing their heads with eager solicitude to attract his fatherly eye, received his pious blessing.

Did the occasion admit of it, how pleasing would be the review of his administration, as our supreme executive Magistrate! His talents and his virtues increased with his cares. His soul seemed not to bear the limits of office, a moment after the obligations of duty and patriotism withdrew their restraints from his universal love. When the misguided savages of the wilderness, after feeling his chastisement, had sued for peace, he seemed to labor for

Now, will the future inquirer say, this Hero has finished the task assigned him, the measure of his glory is full. A world is admitted to freedom-a nation's boon. Favored beyond the leader of Israel, not only with the prospect, but with the fruition of the promised blessing, he has retired, like that prince of meekness, to the Mount, whence he is to ascend, unseen by a weeping people, to the reward of all his labors. No, he is to live another life upon this globe; he is to reap a double harvest in the field of perennial honor. The people whom he has saved from external tyranny, suffer from the agitations of their own unsettled powers. The tree of liberty which he has planted, and so carefully guarded from the storms, now flour-their happiness as the common representative ishes beyond its strength, its lofty excrescences threaten to tear its less extended roots from the earth, and to prostrate it fruitless on the plain. But, he comes! In convention he presides over counsels, as in war he had led the battle. The constitution, like the rainbow after the flood, appears to us now just emerging from an overwhelming commotion; and we know the truth of the pledge from the sanction of his name.

The production was worthy of its authors, and of the magnanimous people whom it was intended to establish. You adopt it, you cherish it, and you resolve to transmit it, with the name of WASHINGTON, to the latest generation, who shall prove their just claim to such an illustrious descent.

Who was so worthy, as our great legislator, to direct the operations of a government which his counsels and his sword had labored to erect? By a unanimous suffrage he was invited to the exalted station of President of the United States. The call was too sacred to admit of doubt. It superseded the happiness of retirement, the demands of private interest, the sweet attractions of domestic society, and the hazard (forgive it, WASHINGTON! for thou wast mortal), the hazard of public reputation. Behold the man on this occasion so mighty in the eye of all the world, so humble in his own! He accepts the high appointment with such distrust of his natural endowments, with such diffidence in his capacity, as can be relieved only by his reliance on that Almighty Being, "who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect."

One of the earliest acts of his administration was that circular visit to transfuse his love, and receive the grateful benedictions of his loving countrymen, in which you, my fellow-townsmen, partook so liberal a share. What sensations rushed upon your minds, when you compared the dreadful aspect of your besieged city with its now smiling condition. The wellcultivated fields were screening from view the late terrific ramparts of the enemy, and the groans of the distressed had yielded to the busy noise of commerce and pleasure. How

of mankind. Insurrection was so struck at his countenance, that it fled from the shock of his arms. Intrigue attempted to entangle him in her poisonous web, but he burst it with gigantic strength, and crushed her labors. Anarchy looked out from her cavern, and was dashed into oblivion, as we trust, for ever. The nations of Europe saw the wisdom of our laws, the vigor of our measures, the justice of our policy, the firmness of our government, and acquiesced in the neutrality of our station.

When

The dangers of the Commonwealth having subsided at the close of his second administration, he felt himself justified, after dedicating forty-five years of his valuable life to her service, in withdrawing, to receive with resignation the great change of nature, which his age and his toils demonstrated to be near. he declined your future suffrages, he left you a legacy. What! like Cesar's to the Romans, money for your sports? Like Attalus, a kingdom for your tyrrany? No; he left you not such baubles, nor for such purposes. He left you the records of wisdom for your government; a mirror for the faithful representation to your own view, of yourselves, your weakness, your advantages, your dangers; a magnet which points to the secret mines and windings of party spirit, faction, foreign influence; a pillar to the unity of your republic; a band to inclose, conciliate and strengthen the whole of your wonderful and almost boundless communities. Read, preserve the sacred deposit; and, lest posterity should forget the truth of its maxims, engrave them on his tomb, that they may read them when they weep before it.

In his second resignation of power and the charms of office, the American leader appears superior to ancient or modern examples. Yet another grade was assigned to his virtue. Our national rights, so well defended at home, were invaded on the ocean. The alarm reaches his retreat; the honor of our Republic warms his heart; and he again accepts the sword for its defence from the hand of another, placed by the voice of the people in that supreme magistracy, which he alone had heretofore filled. With a less dignified soul, this official inferiority

might have availed to injure his country; but I can now beam from his countenance to animate he who could descend from the head of a nation your troops. Grateful Republicans! indeed you to discharge the minutest duties of a private weep not from selfishness. Afflicted with the citizen, was too great to allow the influence of thought of the blessings which he has showered etiquette to endanger the safety of the people. upon yourselves and your children, you would His condescension raises him above himself; his call him, could your voice be heard, from the spirit fires all ranks of men; he is overwhelmed closed mansions of the dead, again to receive with the gratitude and applause of an en- the tribute of your affection. You weep for raptured nation. her, whose tender participation in the anxieties of a husband relieved his cares, and protracted the invaluable life which love itself could no longer detain. Disconsolate woman! mourn not, for the faithful is gone to receive the reward of his uprightness. The whole desire of his heart, the whole pursuit of his labors has been the good of his fellow-men. Contrast him with those who have been raised by the empty, the criminal admiration of mankind, to the highest ranks in the Pantheon of fame. See one, instead of liberating and protecting, em

Whilst we confide in his arm, and are marshalling our warriors to march under his banners, the God of armies, whose counsels are beyond the scrutiny of man, prepares for us the test of our submission to his chastising rod. It is decreed that our Washington shall die, but that his death shall be worthy of his life. He is to die by the hand of Virtue. The rapid disease which is selected as the instrument of his dissolution, instantaneously seizes him. His humanity delays the immediate aid to which alone it may yield. Inconsolable Domestics!ployed in conquering and enslaving a world, and what storms would you not have braved, what hazards would you not have encountered, to save that life which was sacrificed to your comfort and safety! At length Science flies to save him. Alas! what avails its skill against the mandate of Heaven? It comes too late! It is finished.

Wonderful event! Greatness departs in glory, and envy is silent! All acknowledge him to be the first of citizens, and none feel hurt by his superiority. So impartial was he that none impeach his justice; so moderate, none complain of his power; so magnanimous, his conquered enemies applaud his humanity; so philanthropic, that neither color, nor climate, nor religion, nor politics could exclude the unfortunate from his succor. He had the habit of combining sentiment with action in such method and force, that he shed his benevolence on communities of men, with the same ease as the sudden impulse of momentary sensibility bestows it upon individuals. Unexampled virtue! allotted to its merited reward. Many founders of nations have been left to obtain from posterity that reputation which prejudice or bigotry has denied at their deaths. The tomb has been necessary to bury anger, petty interests and emulation, which barred our equitable judgment. But, in regard to this Sage, the gratitude of his country has been coexistent with his exertions. Time has not been required to remove him from our view, in order to magnify his exploits through the medium of fame; nor was it requisite that we should be deprived of the good he had done us, to entertain a just sense of its importance. Medals and statues have been decreed him when living, and your tears announce his greater triumph in your hearts, when dead. Disinterested love! What motives have you, freemen, for thus offering up your applause? He has now no shield to defend you from the invasions of your enemies; his head lies cold in the grave, and no counsel can arise from his lips. His eyes were closed by his own unshaken hand, and no smile

weeping that his guilty task could be continued no longer. Another retiring from the purple, not with the united blessings of all religious sects, but the bigoted persecutor of the only rational-a divine religion. See the master of so many crowns, after yielding them up for a convent, instead of interesting himself in the welfare of mankind to the hour of his departure, relapsing into the absurdities of monkish superstition: and another, whose ashes are scarcely cold, slaughtering the armies of half the nations of Europe, to extend the limits of an Electorate, with as much zeal as our departed hero labored to extend the limits of freedom, civilization and morals. When so much worth steps off from the stage of life, the weakness of our nature is the only apology for our tears. Such an exit is not death; it is the triumph of the just.

Sons of freedom! as you regard the memory of your ascended Chief, attend to the injunction of his will. Remember that it was not for you alone he labored. It was for your posterity also; it was for the human race. For you and for them he was first in building the noblest political system that adorns the world. It is an experiment to ascertain the nature of man; whether he be capable of freedom, or whether he must be led by the reins of tyranny; whether he be endowed with that moderation and understanding which checks the extreme indulgence of his will; and by allowing to others the same rational enjoyment with himself, forms the liberty of the whole upon the partial restraint of each individual; or whether he must go on attempting to follow the dictates of selfishness, and find his only restraint in a power which will establish itself independent of his consent, and make him its slave. Who of us can be supposed to be so lost to himself, so forgetful of his children, and so traitorous to the world, as to contemplate the overthrow of this magnificent temple of wisdom? No, my fellowtownsmen, whatever zeal may suddenly suggest, or apprehensions tempt us to suspect,

present political year, you, honorable magistrates and legislators, in this place solemnized the obsequies of the late excellent Governor of our Commonwealth, the much-respected Sumner. Thus pass away the wise, the virtuous, and the faithful; by an irrevocable decree, less unwelcome to them, as it respects themselves, than grievous to us. Their lives are long enough for their own glory, but, alas! still too necessary to their country's welfare. The experience, the learning, the genius, the various coincidence of circumstances, which are necessary to form that effulgence of character, by which they enlighten, polish, and direct society,

there lives not a man among us so depraved, | our happiness, is rational and just. Within the so cursed by Heaven. Shall it be said that the work of his hands, whom we this day almost adore; that the hope which he held out to the nations of the earth shall be frustrated by our divisions? To the honor of our country, not a man but answers-No: all, when rightly informed, wave their particular prejudices in support of the great pillar of our national Union. It is our pride; it was erected by our fathers; it is the standard of our defence. Let us, then, with a view of for ever maintaining it, banish all animosity, melt down all parties, wipe away all distinctions. Let us no longer designate men who have differed in sentiment, by odious epithets, mutually reflected and mutually disavow-fall to the lot of few. When such lamps are exed; but if a common name be wanted, let it be formed from his whom we seek to honor, and let it be used to denote good will to one another, respect to our constitution, fortitude to our enemies, love to our country, devotion to our God.

In the condolence of this day, we cannot fail to notice the honor which we feel by the presence of the fathers of the State. It was not unbecoming the dignity of office, on such an occasion, to suspend its occupations and join the general sorrow. To devote this portion of time to his memory who devoted a long life to

tinguished, we are happy if our darkness be transient. But in your wisdom, the people of our Commonwealth safely confide; nor, as members of our united country, do they mourn like those who are without hope; for although in the present gloom of our political hemisphere, their late ruling planet has travelled to the morning of another clime, yet its kindred luminary rises on the horizon, brilliant, steady, and propitious to direct their course. They lament that their beloved WASHINGTON sleeps in death; their consolation is, that his faithful brother, the vigilant ADAMS, survives.