and would-be student, who was wont to hide himself away with his books, and on one occasion constructed a retreat in a thicket of alder bushes, to which he resorted, with his silent companions, daily for many months without detection. At the end of three years his father consented to a change, and placed him in a store; but this was still more repugnant to his tastes than the farm. A printing-office was next tried, where it was supposed his interest in books would be satisfied. While he was employed in learning his new trade, a gentleman who had noticed his literary readiness, suggested to him to write balThe lads on certain quack doctors in the town. success which followed the production of these satires so elated him, that he shot at higher game in the person of the celebrated divine, Dr. Hopkins, minister at Newport. The doctor did not relish the proceeding, complained to the father of his assailant, and the incident led to his withIn his next drawal from the printing-office. change he was allowed to follow the bent of his inclination, which was to become a physician, and was placed in the charge of Dr. Isaac Senter. This gentleman sympathized with the literary tastes of his pupil, and rendered him good service by lending him books, and directing his classical as well as medical studies. During the four years thus passed, most of his poems were written. Many of them were addressed, under the signature of Arouet, to Amanda, a name by which he designated a young lady to whom he was attached. She was a young orphan heiress, and her guardians are charged, by the writer of the poet's biography prefixed to the collection of his works in 1832, with throwing obstacles in the way of the union for the purpose of keeping the Incrative management of her estate in their own hands, as the trust was stipulated to terminate with the marriage of their ward. The lady favored him if the guardians did not, and they were privately engaged. In 1783, General Greene, the revolutionary hero, returned to Newport, and becoming acquainted with Ladd, who had just completed his medical education, recommended him, to try his fortune at the south. In pursuance of the advice, he removed to Charleston, with letters of introduction from his distinguished friend, and was Here he soon engaged in extensive practice. also became a contributor to the public press, and published, among other articles, a criticism on Dr. Johnson, in which he exposes many of the doctor's weak points, a daring literary venture at that period. In 1785 he was appointed, by Governor Moultrie, fourth of July orator at the second celebration of the day in Charleston, the first there, or in any part, it is said, of the country, having been observed in 1778 by an address by Dr. Ramsay. In November, 1786, a political controversy in the newspapers in which he was engaged, led to a challenge from his opponent, which he felt forced, by the false public sentiment prevalent in the community, to accept. He threw away his fire, but received a wound from his antagonist which put an end to his life at the age of twenty-two. His literary remains were collected by his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Haskins, of Rhode Island, and published, with a sketch of the author's life, by W. B. Chittenden, in 1832, forty-six years after his death. They consist of the poems to Amanda of which we have spoken, and a number of verses on patriotic and occasional topics. AN INVOCATION TO THE ALMIGHTY. WRITTEN AT THE AGE My God! the Father of mankind, I ask not titles, wealth, or state, ODE TO RETIREMENT. Hail, sweet retirement! hail! And bear the soul away from scenery of wo In the country, we repair; There, AMANDA, we might walk, For why should doves have more delight. There the pride of genius blooms, Hail, sweet retirement! hail! To smooth the tide of passions frail, And bear the soul away from scenery of wo. SAMUEL LATHAM MITCHILL. FEW men have made a more varied and useful employment of their abilities and acquirements than this pioneer in American scientific research. Samuel L. Mitchill was born in North Hempstead, Queens County, Long Island, August 20, 1764.. He was the third son of a Quaker farmer, and would probably have received few of the advantages of early education but for the kindness of his maternal uncle, Dr. Samuel Latham, of the same village. He was placed by this relative under the instruction of Dr. Leonard Cutting, a graduate of Cambridge (England), and received a good classical education. He afterwards studied medicine with Dr. Lathain, and in 1780 removed to New York, to receive the instructions of Dr. Bard of that city. In 1783 he went to the celebrated school of Edinburgh, to complete his studies. Here he remained nearly four years, the contemporary at the University of Thomas Addis Emmet and Sir James Mackintosh, enjoying the After re best intellectual society of the city. ceiving his diploma, he made a pedestrian tour through a part of England with his friend William Dunlap, and then returned to his native country. In He next devoted some time to legal and political study under the direction of Robert Yates, Chief Justice of the State of New York. In consequence of this connexion he was appointed (his first public trust) one of the Commissioners to treat with the Iroquois for a cession of territory, and was present at the council held at Fort Stanwix in 1788. In 1790 he was elected a representative of his native county of Queens in the Legislature of the State of New York. 1792 he received the appointment of professor of chemistry, naturál history, and philosophy, in Columbia College. He introduced into his instruction, for the first time in the United States, the new nomenclature of Lavoisier, but with a dissent from some of the principles of that philosopher. This exception involved him in a controversy with Dr. Priestley, which was conducted with such courtesy and mutual respect that it led to the warm personal friendship of the combatants. Dr. Mitchill's next public service was the establishment, in 1793-4, in connexion with Chancellor Livingston and Simeon De Witt, of the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Manufactures, and the Useful Arts. He delivered the first public address before this body, and in 1796 made his report on the Mineralogy of the State of New York. This was the first work of the kind undertaken in the United States, and secured its author a wide reputation in Europe as well as his own country. It is published in the first volume of the Medical Repository, a periodical which was commenced in 1797 by Dr. It was a scientific and literary, as well as medical periodical, and was published in quarterly numbers. On the 23d of June, 1799, Dr. Mitchill was married to Mrs. Catharine Cock, daughter of Samuel Akerly. After this event, by which he became possessed of an ample fortune, he devoted himself entirely to scientific and public occupations. In 1807, on the organization of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the City of New York, he was appointed its first professor of chemistry, an office which his political duties compelled him to decline, he having been elected in 1800 a member of the House of Representatives, and in 1804 of the Senate of the United States. After the expiration of his term, in 1809, he was re-elected to the House. He subsequently accepted a professorship of botany and materia medica, on the re-organization of the institution in 1820, and discharged its duties until 1826, when, in consequence of difficulties with the trustees, the entire body of professors resigned. In addition to the literary, scientific, and political labors we have mentioned, Dr. Mitchill was an active member of most of the learned societies of Europe and America. Numerous papers by They His elaborate History of the Botanical Writers of America may be found in the collections of the New York Historical Society. His valuable work on the Fishes of New York, the scientific speciality for which he is particularly held in repute, was printed, with illustrations, in the Transactions of the New York Literary and Philosophical Society. Declaration, the nation puts at defiance the power that neither pities nor forgives." The Tammany address pretends to furnish a biography of that worthy, who appears to have been an Indian St. Patrick. It contains an oration purporting to be delivered by the chief, which we annex, with a preliminary passage explaining the circumstances. The doctor occasionally addressed a few verses to his wife, embellished the album of a lady petitioner, or translated some Latin, Greek, or Italian poem which attracted his fancy. He was a fluent speaker, possessed a pleasant vein of humor, and presided over the Sour Krout or addressed the Turtle Club, associations formed for the indulgence of gastronomy and hilarity, with the sathe acceptability as the Senate or hall of science. He was fond of society, and was at all times ready to receive and answer scientific inquiries. His suavity was often mistaken for acquiescence. His hospitality to new ideas as well as new comers occasionally led him into mistakes; though his patient attention to the plans of theorizers was often construed into and reported as an acquiescence in views which he was far from adopting. The doctor was too prominent an object to escape the shafts of the wits of the day, and they were not at all backward in availing themselves of the opportunity. He probably enjoyed the jokes of the Croakers and Fanny, as well as the rest of the town, and sometimes, as in the case of his early faith in steam navigation,* had the satisfaction of seeing time turn the laugh on his oppo nents. An idea which Mitchill at one time advocated with considerable ingenuity, was a new name for the country. Of this there is a record in a production in 1804, attributed to his pen-An Address to the Fredes or People of the United States, on the 28th anniversary of their independence. A parenthesis on the title-page of this brief pamphlet further explains the designation. “The modern and appropriate name of the people of the United States is Fredes or Fredonians, as the geographical name of their country is Fredon or Fredonia, and their relations are expressed by the terms Fredonian or Fredish." The address is in verse, and celebrates the blessings enjoyed by America in the fruits of its Revolution, the establishment of the Constitution, and the general progress of civilization, particularly in the extension of lighthouses and the post-office. The idea of Mitchill was to provide a peculiar designation, a national name for the people of the United States. Apa In addition to these scientific productions, Dr. Mitchill was the author of an address delivered at the old Presbyterian Church in Wall street, May 12, 1795, before the Tammany Society or Columbian Order, containing a semi-fanciful, semi-historical account of the famous Indian chief, the patron saint of the organization; and of funeral discourses in honor of Jefferson, Thomas Addis Emmet, De Witt Clinton, and Dr. Bard. In the progress of the discourse on Jefferson, helachian, Alleghanian, and other terms have been has a happy remark on the Declaration of Independence: "For sententious brevity, strong expression, and orderly disposition of the topics, the reading of it always brings to my mind that incomparable performance, the Litany of the Christian Church. In this, miserable sinners invoke the Father of Heaven; in that, suffering subjects submit facts to a candid world. In the latter, the One in Three is entreated to spare from all evil and mischief those who have been redeemed; in the former, a worldly prince, for a continuance of cruelties, is denounced as a tyrant and unfit to be the ruler of a free people. In the Litany, the church supplicates blessings and coinforts from a being willing to grant them; in the also projected to meet the same supposed want; and a few years since there was a debate on the topic in the New York Historical Society; but if ever the matter was seriously thought of it has quite rapidly been rendered unnecessary by the growth of the country, in filling up to so great an extent the geographical limits of the appellation now universally awarded of American. Mitchill, who, like father Shandy, had a theory of names, was ingenious in hitting upon Fredonia, a term suggestive at once of a generous idea, and of such * Mitchill was a warm and influential advocate, in the Legislature, in the face of much ridicule and opposition, of the act passed in 1798, which conferred on Livingston and Fulton the exclusive right to navigate the waters of New York by steam. readily grammatical adaptation as a noun and adjective in Frede and Fredish.* One of the social gatherings of the doctor's day was styled the Krout Club. It was composed of descendants of the original settlers of the city of New York, who met together to eat a dinner "after the manner of the ancients" of Holland. Cabbage in various culinary forms was a leading ingredient of the feast, and it was customary, after the election of a presiding officer, to crown him with a cabbage head neatly scooped out, and place on his shoulders a mantle composed of the leaves of the same respected esculent. Dr. Mitchill accepted an invitation, on one occasion, in 1822, to one of these dinners, and being chosen Grand Krout, delivered the following address, while arrayed in the insignia of his office, harmonizing happily with the sportive character of the occasion: This association owes its origin to our venerable and festive ancestry. The cabbage is its emblem, and a good symbol it is. The Bourbons displayed their exalted lily, and the Bonapartes their humble violet. The pine tree gave character to the money coined before the revolution in Massachusetts, and the white rose and red rose distinguished the parties of York and Lancaster as they formerly existed in England. The Scotch are proud of their thistle, the Irish of their shamrock, and the Welsh of their leek. The virtues of the cabbage surpass all these, and are worthy of the highest eulogium. The plant belongs to the natural family of the antiscorbutics. It is capable of purifying the blood, and of rectifying the humors. Whether eaten raw or boiled, or after preparation in our excellent way of Sour Krout, the article is worthy of particular commendation. The sherris-sack celebrated by Falstaff is, notwithstanding its extraordinary virtues, far inferior to Krout. I recommend to all Scurvy fellows, wherever they may be, a course of this sovereign remedy to make them sound and whole. Great exertions are made by gardeners and farmers to cultivate the precious vegetable in large quantity and of good quality. Their industry is stimulated by the premiums of patriotic societies. They do well in granting such premiums. Its nutritious and succulent leaves increase the cow's measure of milk; which when mingled with eggs gives us custards, with isinglass regales us with blanc mange, and when converted into butter ministers to our taste and luxury in an hundred ways. Best member in the family of Brassica! salubrious is the employment and sweet the reward of rearing thee, of tending thee and preparing thee for the mouth and the stomach! Moral, and sober, and industrious are the persons who are devoted to thee! Thou impartest strength to the muscles, sensibility to the nerves, and integrity to the brain. The social principle is safe in thy keeping. Thy constitution is such that ardent and intoxicating drink cannot be prepared from thee. Thou sustainest without exhausting, and invigoratest without depression. Thy votaries here present give evidence in their looks and conduct, how admirably * A year or two later, in 1806, Fessenden, in the notes to his Mobocracy, has this repudiation of the term: "Fredonia is a cant phrase, which certain small poets or prosaic scribblers, we forget which, would have us adopt as an appellation to designate the United States of America. At a time like this, when misrule and licentiousness are the order of the day, there can be but little propriety in coining new phrases to enrich the vocabulary of sedition." thou conducest to innocent recreation and to festive joy. Thy name has been abused, as if to cabbage were to pilfer or steal. I repel with indignation this attempt to sully thy fame. Dr. Mitchill also addressed the Turtle Club, an association of the "solid men of the city, who assembled in a grove at Hoboken to increase their solidity by a plentiful repast on the aldermanic dainty. After a learned, scientific, and classical dissertation on the testudo, natural, military, and mythological, he continues: With so many excellent and memorable qualities, it is by no means a circumstance of marvel, that the name of a feathered favorite should have been transferred to this amphibious creature. The resident of the groves, where the leafy foresters stand close enough to exclude piercing sunshine, and where the domestic locust trees (robinia), limetrees (tilia), and tulip trees (liriodendron), stretch out their arms as it were to welcome those exotics the poplars from the Po, and the willows from the Euphrates, to become joint tenants with them, the Dove has been obliged to surrender a part of her title, and by an odd perversion of language, the Turtle means the cooing bird of Fredonia, and also the four-footed reptile of Bahama. From the extraordinary and multifarious functions of this oviparous quadruped, a riddle was composed by the witty Symposius, propounding the question whether that living existence was a beast, a fish, or a harp, as you may read in his collection of enigmas. After a statement of these particulars, I feel more than ordinary satisfaction in observing that some of the nations of the south regard the green tortoise as a sacred object; a peculiar gift of the Great Master of Breath. Certain of them have proceeded so far under this persuasion, as to denominate him the Fish of God, or, in the dialect of the French colonists, Poisson de Dieu. The correct and honest indigenes ascribe to the soup, or in other words the decoction of its flesh, swallowed after a venomous draught has been received into the stomach, the most astonishing effects as an antidote or counter poison. What more shall I say on this head? Why, truly, that this exquisite preparation surpasses all the other compounds of the kitchen and the shop. Perhaps there is no other known that possesses in so eminent a degree the properties both of food and medicine. It is an aliment of the most palatable and nutritious kind; so elaborated by coction in the cauldron, that very little digestion in the stomach is necessary. It assimilates with our nature, and becomes part and parcel of our living frame more readily than almost any other substance; subduing crudities, rendering the humors bland, and promoting good humor and hilarity to an extraordinary degree. It begets amenity and suavity of temper. It diminishes the proneness to give and to take offence, and I proclaim the information to the universe that no quarrel between the members has ever arisen upon this hallowed spot, rendering a settlement necessary by single combat. Nor are its virtues less prominent as a prophylactic, or preventer of disease. Come hither, all ye lean and tabid sufferers! Ye who are wasted by atrophy and emaciation! and ye who are lingering with hectic fever and king's evil! Approach, I say, and receive the benefit of a panacea incomparably better than the boasted balsams which occupy columns of the gazettes. Invitation is hereby in like manner given to all who are in jeopardy from malignant disorders, whether engendered from morbid distemperature within the system, or through a sickly commixture of the atmospheric elements, or by the introduction of a virus from a foreign place. Know, ye supporters of imported contagion in the yellow fever, that the tropical latitudes, which are accused of sending us the bane, must be allowed the credit of forwarding likewise the remedy. It has been regretted by some persons of taste, that the Tortoise, like the turtle, is not furnished with wings; those nimble members, which convert a child into a Cupid, a horse into a Pegasus, a personified breeze into a Zephyr, and loose words into a compact sentence.* The fancy of the poet and the colouring of the painter may, however, supply this defect. Imagination may thus be strengthened to conceive how the supporter of men and things shall soar from the element on which he has floated time immemorial, and give us a flight through space, combining the velocity of a meteor with the eccentricity of a comet, or transporting the whole of his ponderous charge in a way that the ingenious and inventive Greeks never comprehended, to the region of perfect beatitude. The most celebrated of Dr. Mitchill's poetical productions are his translations of the third and fifth of the Piscatory Eclogues (five in number) of Sannazarius, a Neapolitan pastoral poet of the age of Leo X. De Witt Clinton, in a note to his address before the Literary and Philosophical Society, gives the first of these as a "literary curiosity" of interest in connexion with the Doctor's investigations on ichthyology, and follows with the second, as "procured from Dr. Mitchill by the editor." The first is a dialogue between Celadon, Mopsus, Chronus, and Iolas, four fishermen, who extol the charms of their mistresses, Chloris and Nisa, by similes drawn from their occupation. In the second, the punishment inflicted by an enchantress, Herpylis, upon Moon, a faithless swain who had deserted a maiden and thus driven her mad, and the passion of Thelgon for the unpitying nymph Galatea, are dwelt upon. Similes like the following hit Mitchill's fancy:With weeping dewy wet this spunge appears; Oh sea-grown spunge imbibe my copious tears; And as thy thirsty pores the drops inhale, May'st thou ungrateful Moon's breast assail. Revolve, thou wheel, my bands pursue your race, And whirl, O spindle, with a hurried pace. Revolve, thou wheel, my bands pursue your race, And whirl, O spindle, with a hurried pace. In the following poems he has also shown his affection for his favorite sciences. ELEGY ON A SHELL-THE NAUTILUS. I saw thee, beauteous form, As late I walked the oceanic strand, And as my curiosity was warm, I took thee in my hand. Soon I discovered, a terrific storm, Which nothing human could command, Had robbed thee of thy life and cast thee on the sand. * Έπεα Πτερόεντα, winged words. Thou wast a house with many chambers fraught, To suit the owner's taste and sovereign will With guiding oars and elevated sail, eye, To thee allied is many a splendid shell, PYTHAGORAS AND SAPPHO, OR THE DIAMOND AND THE ROSE Long time ago, 'tis well expressed, This question artfully addressed To beauteous Sappho's ear: "When hence thou shalt be forced to flee, By transmigration's power, Wouldst thou indeed prefer to be A jewel or a flower?" The Lesbian maid these words returned "For gems my taste has never burned, "The glittering stones, though rich and are, No animation know, While vegetables fine and fair With vital action glow. "The senseless gem no pleasure moves, But flowers enjoy their gentle loves, "Then when I shall surmount," she criel, Oh! let me not be petrified, But wear a living form. "Those matchless rays the diamond shows, That I may dwell within the rose And make its blossoms mine." One of the doctor's literary amusements was the preparation of a pamphlet of eight pages, bearing the title, "Some of the Memorable Events |