the college by the legislature. In the meantime the succession of Principals had included, after Dr. McDowell, the Rev. Drs. Bethel Judd, Henry Lyon Davis, and William Rafferty. In 1881, about the time of the revival of the college affairs, the Rev. Dr. Hector Humphreys, the present incumbent, was elected Principal. The classes increased, new accommodation was required, and in 1835 a new college building was erected; an historical address being delivered at the ceremony of laying the corner-stone by John Johnson, one of the Visitors and Governors, who thus alluded to some of the advantages and associations of the site :-"If education is to be fostered in Mary

St. John's College, Maryland.

land as its importance demands, no location more favorable for its cultivation could be selected than this. The building now existing, and that in the course of construction, are seated in a plain of great extent and unrivalled beauty. The climate of the place is unsurpassed for salubrity, and whilst the moral contamination incident to the vicinity of a large town is not to be dreaded, the presence of the seat of Government is full of advantages. Everything conspires to render St. John's a favorite of the State. It was built up by the purchasers of our freedom whilst the storms of the Revolution were yet rocking the battlements of the Republic. It has enrolled among its alumni some of the brightest ornaments of the nation, and continued its usefulness to the last, though frowned upon and discouraged by the parent which created it. It is endeared by its origin; venerable for its age; illustrious for the great minds nurtured within its walls, and entitled to our gratitude for yet striving to do good.”

During the administration of Dr. Humphreys the prosperity of the college, in the number of students, has greatly increased. New departments of study have been opened, and new Professorships and college buildings projected.

C. 8. RAFINESQUE.

C. S. RAFINESQUE was born, he informs us at the outset of his Life of Travels and Researches, at Galata, a suburb of Constantinople, in 1784. His father was a Levant merchant from Marseilles. While an infant he was taken to that city by sea, and says that it was owing to this early voyage that he was ever after exempt from sea-sickness. In his seventh year his father went to China, and on his return ran into Philadelphia to escape the English cruisers, where he died of

yellow fever in 1793. Meanwhile the mother, terrified at the sans-culottes, removed with her children to Leghorn. After passing several years: in various cities in the north of Italy, he was sent to the United States in 1802, with his brother. He landed at Philadelphia, visited Bartram and others naturalists, his botanical tastes having already de veloped themselves, and travelled a little in Pennsylvania and Delaware. He returned to Leghorn with a large stock of specimens in March, 1805, and in May of the same year sailed for Sicily, where he passed ten years in "residence and travels," engaged partly in botany, and partly in merchandise, during which he published a work, The Analysis of Nature, in the French language. In 1815 he sailed for New York, but was ship wrecked on the Long Island coast. "I lost," he says, "everything, my fortune, my share of the cargo, my collections and labors for twenty years past, my books, my manuscripts, my drawings, even my clothes all that I possessed, except some scattered funds, and the insurance ordered in England for one third the value of my goods. The ship was a total wreck, and finally righted and sunk, after throwing up the confined air of the hold by an explosion."

He made his way to New York and presented himself to Dr. Mitchill, who introduced him to friends, and obtained a place for him as tutor to the family of Mr. Livingston on the Hudson. In 1818 he made a tour to the West, leaving the stage at Lancaster "to cross the Alleghanies on foot, as every botanist ought." He floated down the Ohio in an ark to Louisville, where he received an invitation to become Professor of Botany at Transylvania University, Lexington. After returning to Philadelphia to close his business affairs he removed to Lexington, and appears to have obtained the professorship, and performed its duties for some time. He still, however, con tinued his travels, lectured in various places, and endeavored to start a magazine and a botanic garden, but without success in either case. He finally established himself in Philadelphia, where he published The Atlantic Journal and Friend of Knowledge, a Cyclopedic Journal and Review. The first number is dated "Spring of 1832," and forms an octavo of thirty-six pages. "This jour nal," says the prospectus, "shall contain every thing calculated to enlighten, instruct, and im prove the mind." But eight numbers appeared. In 1836 he published Life of Travels and Researches, a brief narrative, furnishing little more than an itinerary of the places he visited during his almost uninterrupted peregrinations. In addition to these works he published several volumes on botany. Rafinesque died at Philadelphia, September 18, 1842.

DANIEL DRAKE-BENJAMIN DRAKE/TSWA DANIEL DRAKE was born at Plainfield, New Jersey, October 20, 1785; was taken while quite a youth to Mason county, Kentucky, and was brought up there. When a young man he went to Cincinnati, and studied medicine at the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, became a practitioner of medicine at Cincinnati, and attained high eminence in his profession. He was a professor and teacher of the medical science for the greater part of his life

completed the round of studies at thirteen; when his youth led to a further course of study at Princeton, where, after two years and a half, he took his degree with distinguished honor, at a

U Bidcele

remarkably early age, in 1801. He then studied law in Philadelphia for three years, when his father's friend, General Armstrong, receiving the appointment of Minister to France, he embarked with him as his secretary, and resided till 1807 in Europe. They were the days of the Empire. At this time the payment of the indemnity for injuries to American commerce was going on, and young Biddle, at the age of eighteen, managed the details of the disbursements with the veterans of the French bureau. Leaving the legation he travelled through the greater part of the continent, and arriving in England, became secretary to Monroe, then minister at London. On a visit to Cambridge, the story is told of his delighting Monroe by the exhibition of his knowledge of modern Greek, picked up on his tour to the Mediterranean, when, in company with the English scholars, some question arose relating to the present dialect, with which they were unacquainted.

On his return to America in 1807 he engaged in the practice of the law, and filled up a portion of his time with literary pursuits. He became associated in the editorship of the Port Folio in 1813, and wrote much for it at different times. His papers on the Fine Arts, biographical and critical on the old masters, are written with elegance, and show a discriminating taste. He also penned various literary trifles, and wrote occasional verses, with the taste of the scholar and humorist. Among these light effusions a burlesque criticism of the nursery lines on Jack and Gill is a very pleasant specimen of his abilities in a line which the example of Canning and others has given something of a classic flavor.

When Lewis and Clarke were preparing the history of their American Exploration, the death of Lewis occurred suddenly, and the materials of the work were placed in the hands of Biddle, who wrote the narrative, and induced Jefferson to pen the preliminary memoir of Lewis. It was simply conducted through the press by Paul Allen, to whom the stipulated compensation was generously transferred; when the political engagements of Biddle rendered his further attention to it impracticable. He was in the State Legislature in 1810, advocating a system of popular education with views in advance of his times. It was not till 1836 that his ideas were carried out by legislative enactment. When the question of the renewal of the Charter of the old United States Bank was discussed in the session of 1811, he spoke in defence of the Institution in a speech which was widely circulated at the time, and gained the distinguished approval of Chief-justice Marshall.

From the Legislature he retired to his studies and agriculture, always a favorite pursuit with him. When the second war with England broke out, he was elected to the State Senate. He was now one of seven brothers, all his father's family

engaged in the service of the country-in the navy, the army, and the militia. When the land was threatened with invasion, he proposed vigorous measures for the military defence of the State, which were in progress of discussion when peace intervened. At the close of the war, he met the attacks upon the Constitution of the Hartford Convention, by a Report on the questions at issue, adopted in the Pennsylvania Legislature. In the successive elections of 1818 and 1820, he received a large vote for Congress from the democratic party, but was defeated.

In 1819 he became director of the Bank of the United States, which was to exercise so unhappy an influence over his future career, on the nomination of President Monroe; who about the same time assigned to him the work, under a resolution of Congress, of collecting the laws and regulations of foreign countries relative to commerce, money, weights, and measures. These be arranged in an octavo volume, The Commercial Digest.

In 1823, on the retirement of Langdon Cheves from the Presidency of the Bank, he was elected his successor. His measures in the conduct of the institution belong to the financial and political history of the country. The veto of Jackson closed the affairs of the bank in 1836. The new state institution bearing the same name was immediately organized with Biddle at its head. He held the post for three years, till March, 1839. The failure of the bank took place in 1841. The loss was tremendous, and Biddle was personally visited as the cause of the disaster. He defended his course in a series of letters, and kept up his interest in public affairs, but death was busy at his heart; and not long after, the 26th February, 1844, at his residence of Andalusia on the Delaware, he died from a dropsical suffusion of that organ, having just completed his fifty-fourth year. He had entered upon active life early, and performed the work of three score and ten.

In addition to the pursuits already mentioned, requiring so large an amount of political force and sagacity, Biddle had distinguished himself through life by his tastes for literature. He delivered a eulogium on Jefferson before the Philosophical Society, and an Address on the Duties of the American to the Alumni of his college at Princeton. As a public speaker, he was polished and effective.

GARDINER SPRING.

GARDINER SPRING was born at Newburyport, Massachusetts, February 24, 1785. He was the son of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Spring, one of the Chaplains of the Revolutionary Army, who accompanied Arnold in his attack on Quebec in 1775, and carried Burr, when wounded, off the field in his arms.

The son was prepared for college in the grammar-school of his native town, and under a private tutor in the office of Chief Justice Parsons. He entered Yale College, and delivered the valedictory oration at the conclusion of his course in 1805. After studying law in the office of Judge Daggett at New Haven, a po

Memoir by R. T. Conrad in the National Portrait Gallery, vol. iv. Ed. 1854.

tion of his time being occupied in teaching, he passed fifteen months in the island of Bermuda, where he established an English school. On his return he was admitted to the bar in December, 1808. He commenced the profession with good prospect of success, but was induced soon after, by the advice of his father and the effect of a sermon of the Rev. Dr. John M. Mason, from the text "To the poor the gospel is preached," to study theology. After a year passed at Andover, he was licensed to preach towards the close of 1809. In June, 1810, he accepted a call to the Brick church in the city of New York, where he has since remained, unmoved by invitations to the presidencies of Hamilton and Dartmouth Colleges, maintaining during nearly half a century a position as one of the most popular preachers and esteemed divines of the metropolis. He has for many years commemorated his long pastorate by an anniversary discourse.

Dr. Spring is the author of several works which have been published in uniform style, and now extend to eighteen octavo volumes. They have grown out of his duties as a pastor, and consist for the most part of courses of lectures on the duties and advantages of the Christian career. The edition of his works now in course of publication, embraces The Attraction of the Cross, designed to illustrate the leading Truths, Obligations, and Hopes of Christianity; The MercySeat, Thoughts suggested by the Lord's Prayer; First Things, A Series of Lectures on the Great Facts and Moral Lessons first revealed to Mankind; The Glory of Christ, Illustrated in his Character and History, including the Last Things of His Mediatorial Government; The Power of the Pulpit, or, Plain Thoughts addressed to Christian Ministers and those who hear them, on the influence of a Preached Gospel; Short Sermons for the People, being a Series of short Discourses of a highly practical character; The Obligations of the World to the Bible; Miscellanies, including the Author's "Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character," Church in the Wilderness," &c., &c. The Contrast, in press.

"The

These volumes have passed through several editions, and have been in part reprinted and translated in Europe, and are held in well deserved repute.

In 1849 he published Memoirs of the late Hannah L. Murray, a lady of New York, distinguished in the wide circle of her friends for her benevolence and intellectual acquirements. She translated, with the aid of her sister, the whole of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, and many of the odes of Anacreon, into English verse, and was the author of a poem of five thousand lines in blank verse entitled The Restoration of Israel, an abstract of which, with other unpublished productions, is given by her biographer.

Dr. Spring is an eloquent, energetic preacher; his style direct and manly. As a characteristic specimen of his manner we give a passage from his volume, The Glory of Christ.

66

46

and interested the multitude. He never preached to empty synagogues; and when he occupied the market or the mountain side, they were not hundreds that listened to his voice, but thousands. It is recorded of him, that "his fame went throughout all Syria;" and that there followed him great multitudes of people from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan." On that memorable day when he went from the Mount of Olives to Judea, "a great multitude spread their garments in the way, and others cut down branches from the trees," and all cried "Hosannah to the Son of David!" After he uttered the parable of the vineyard, the rulers "sought to lay hold of him, but feared the people.' When he returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, there went out a fame of him throughout all the region round about," and he "was glorified of all, and great multitudes came together to hear him." So much was he, for the time, the idol of the people, that the chief priests and Pharisees were alarmed at his popularity, and said among themselves, "If we let him then alone, all men will believe on him; behold, the world is gone after him." He was the man of the people, and advocated the cause of the people. We are told that "the common people heard him gladly." He was no respecter of persons." He was the preacher to man, as man. He never passed the door of poverty, and was not ashamed to be called "the friend of publicans and sinners." His gospel was and is the great and only bond of brotherhood; nor was there then, nor is there now, any other universal brotherhood, than that which consists in love and loyalty to him. He was the only safe reformer the world has seen, because he so well understood the checks and balances by which the masses are governed. His preaching, like his character, bold and uncompromising as it was, was also in the highest degree conservative. He taught new truths, and he was the great vindicator of those that were old. All these things made him a most impressive, powerful, and attractive preacher. His very instructiveness, prudence, and boldness, interested the people. They respected him for his acquaintance with the truth, and honored his discretion and fearlessness in proclaiming it. This is human nature; men love to be thus instructed; they come to the house of God for that purpose. A vapid and vapory preacher may entertain them for the hour; a smooth and flattering preacher may amuse them; a mere denunciatory preacher may produce a transient excitement; but such is the power of conscience, and such the power of God and the wants of men that, though their hearts naturally hate God's truth, they will crowd the sanctuaries where it is instructively and fearlessly, and discreetly urged, while ignorance, and error, and a coward preacher, put forth their

voice to the listless and the few

ANDREWS NORTON.

ANDREWS NORTON was of the family of the celebrated John Norton of Ipswich, of the old age of Puritan divinity. He was born at Hingham, Mass., the last day of the year 1786. Fond of books from a child, at the age of eighteen he had completed his course at Harvard, where he remained a resident graduate, pursuing a course of literary and theological study. In October, 1809, he was appointed tutor in Bowdoin College. At the end of the year he returned to Cambridge, where in 1811 he was chosen tutor in mathematics in his college, where he remained till 1812, when he engaged in the conduct of The General Repository, a periodical work on the side of the

new liberal school, as it was called, which took position at Harvard shortly after the beginning of the century. He had previously written for the Literary Miscellany, published at Cambridge, in 1804-5, several reviews and brief poetical translations, and had been a frequent contributor to the Monthly Anthology.

Andrews Norton

From 1813 to 1821 he was college librarian. In the former year he also commenced the course of instruction through which he gained his greatest distinction in his entrance upon the lectureship of Biblical Criticism and Interpretation, under the bequest of the Hon. Samuel Dexter, in which Buckminster and Channing were his predecessors. He discharged this duty till a similar professorship was created in 1819, when he became the new incumbent, holding the office till 1830. He then resigned it with the reputation of having performed its offices with industry, selfreliance, and a happy method of statement. He had in the meanwhile published several works. In 1814 he edited the Miscellaneous Writings of his friend Charles Eliot, whose early death he sincerely lamented, and in 1823 published a similar memoir of another friend and associate, the poet and professor Levi Frisbie. He wrote several tracts on the affairs of the college in 1824-5. At this time he was a contributor to the Christian Disciple of several articles on theological topics. In 1826 he edited an edition of the poems of Mrs. Hemans, of whom he was an earnest admirer, and in the following year in a visit to England was rewarded with her friendship in a personal acquaintance. In 1833 he published a theological treatise, A Statement of Reasons for not believing the Doctrines of Trinitarians concerning the nature of God and the person of Christ. In 1832-1 he edited, in connexion with his friend Charles Folsom, a quarterly publication, The Select Journal of Foreign Periodical Literature, which contained, among other original articles from his pen, papers on Goethe and Hamilton's Men and Manners in America.

In 1837 appeared the first volume of the most important of his publications, the Genuineness of the Gospel, followed by the second and third in 1844. It is devoted to the external historical evidence, and maintains a high character among theologians for its scholarship, and the pure medium of reasoning and style through which its researches are conveyed. He had also prepared a new translation of the Gospels, with critical and explanatory notes, which he left at the time of his death ready for the press. Besides these writings Mr. Norton was a frequent contributor to the Christian Examiner of articles on religious topics and others of a general literary interest, on the poetry of Mrs. Hemans and Pollok's Course of Time. He wrote for the North American Review on Franklin, Byron, Ware's Letters from Palmyra, and the Memoir of Mrs. Grant of Laggan.

His poems were few, but choicely expressed; and have been constant favorites with the public. They are the best indications of his temper, and

of the fine devotional mood which pervades his writings.

Professor Norton died at Newport, which he had chosen for his residence in the failing health of his last years, Sunday evening, September 18, 1852.*

SCENE AFTER A SUMMER SHOWER.

The rain is o'er. How dense and bright
Yon pearly clouds reposing lie!
Cloud above cloud, a glorious sight,
Contrasting with the dark blue sky!

In grateful silence, earth receives

The general blessing; fresh and fair,
Each flower expands its little leaves,
As glad the common joy to share.
The softened sunbeams pour around
A fairy light, uncertain, pale;
The wind flows cool; the scented ground
Is breathing odors on the gale.
Mid yon rich clouds' voluptuous pile,
Methinks some spirit of the air
Might rest, to gaze below awhile,

Then turn to bathe and revel there.
The sun breaks forth; from off the scene
Its floating veil of mist is flung;
And all the wilderness of green

With trembling drops of light is hung.
Now gaze on Nature-yet the same-
Glowing with life, by breezes fanned,
Luxuriant, lovely, as she came,

Fresh in her youth, from God's own hand. Hear the rich music of that voice,

Which sounds from all below, above; She calls her children to rejoice,

And round them throws her arms of love. Drink in her influence; low-born care, And all the train of mean desire, Refuse to breathe this holy air,

And 'mid this living light expire.

ON LISTENING TO A CRICKET.

I love, thou little chirping thing,
To hear thy melancholy noise;
Though thou to Fancy's ear may sing
Of summer past and fading joys.
Thou canst not now drink dew from flowers.
Nor sport along the traveller's path,
But, through the winter's weary hours,
Shalt warm thee at my lonely hearth.
And when my lamp's decaying beam

But dimly shows the lettered page,
Rich with some ancient poet's dream,
Or wisdom of a purer age,—
Then will I listen to thy sound,

And, musing o'er the embers pale,
With whitening ashes strewed around,
The forms of memory unveil;
Recall the many-colored dreams,
That Fancy fondly weaves for youth,
When all the bright illusion seems
The pictured promises of truth;
Perchance, observe the fitful light,
And its faint flashes round the room,
And think some pleasures, feebly bright,
May lighten thus life's varied gloom.

We have followed closely in this account the authentie narrative article, published after Professor Norton's death, in the Christian Examiner for November, 1853.