BENJAMIN THOMPSON. Now, this faint semblance of his life complete; The following are from the volume collected by the author: ON THE DEATH OF THE REV. ME. GEORGE WHITEFIELD, 1770. Hail, happy saint, on thine immortal throne Behold the prophet in his tow'ring flight! He charg'd its youth that ev'ry grace divine "Take him, ye wretched, for your only good, Wash'd in the fountain of redeeming blood, You shall be sons, and kings, and priests to God." Great Countess,* we Americans revere But, tho' arrested by the hand of death, A FAREWELL то AMERICA. To Mrs. Susanna Wright. I. Adieu, New England's smiling meads Adieu, the flow'ry plain; I leave thine op'ning charms, O spring, And tempt the roaring main. IL In vain for me the flow'rets rise, And boast their gaudy pride, While here beneath the northern skies I mourn for health deny'd. The Countess of Huntingdon, to whom Mr. Whitefield was Chaplain. BETTER known by his title of Count Rumford, was a native of Woburn, Massachusetts. He was born March 26, 1753. After receiving a commonschool education, he was placed with a physician, Dr. Hay. He indicated an aptness for the mechanic arts, amusing himself by making surgical instruments, and afterwards, when employed as a clerk in a store, by manufacturing fireworks, the latter experiment leading to an explosion by which he was severely burned, and for a time deprived of sight. He showed little taste for business pursuits. He attended the course of philosophical lectures established at Cambridge about 1769, as a charity scholar, walking nine iniles and back every day for the sake of the instruction and pleasure they afforded him. Benya Thompson In 1772 he engaged in school-keeping in Bradford, Massachusetts, and soon after at Rumford, now Concord, N. H., where he improved his circumstances by marrying a widow, Mrs. Rolfe. He was with the American army at Lexington, and at Cambridge on the arrival of Washington as commander-in-chief, but afterwards became identified with the royalist side. He sailed for England in January, 1776. After a residence of several years in that country, where he became known as a scientific man, and held a post in the office of the department of American affairs, he was sent, near the close of the war, to New York, where he raised a regiment of dragoons and became a lieutenant-colonel. In 1784 he returned to England, and was knighted by George III. In consequence of his scientific reputation, he received an invitation from the Bavarian government to remove to that country. He accepted the proposal, and resided for some years in Munich, where he introduced several reforms in the police service. One of his most successful efforts was in the treatment of the beggars, with whom the streets of Munich were infested. On a given day, sallying out with a proper military force, he swept these vagrants from the streets, and by establishing houses of industry, brought many of them to adopt thrifty habits. He was made a Count by the Elector Palatine, the title Rumford being his own selection, in compliment to his former residence, and received decorations from many of the courts of Europe. Visiting England, he projected the Royal Institution, and suggested Humphrey Davy, then but twenty-two, as the head of its chemical department. In 1802, he went to Paris, and married a second wife, the widow of Lavoisier, from whom he was soon separated. In the enjoyment of a pension from the King of Bavaria, he resided at Auteuil, near Paris, till his death, August 20, 1814. His funeral oration before the Institute was delivered by Cuvier.† His first, "whom he appears to have deserted, died in New Hampshire, in 1792."-Sabine's American Loyalists, 644. An elegant and expensive marble monument was erected in the English garden at Munich, during Count Rumford's absence from Bavaria, bearing the following inscription in German: Stay, wanderer. At the creative fiat of Charles Theodore And on the opposite side: To him who rooted out the greatest of public evils, idleness and mendicity; Relieved and instructed the poor, and founded many institutions for the educating of our youth. By his will he bequeathed one thousand dollars annually, and the reversion of other sums, to the "University of Cambridge, in the State of Massachusetts, in North America, for the purpose of founding, under the direction and management of the Corporation, Overseers, and Government of that University, a new Institution and Professorship, in order to teach, by regular courses of academical and public lectures, accompanied with proper experiments, the utility of the physical and mathematical sciences, for the improvement of the useful arts, and for the extension of the industry, prosperity, happiness, and well-being of society." In December, 1816, the Rumford Professorship was established in Harvard University, and Dr. Jacob Bigelow appointed the first professor. In his Inaugural, after reviewing the progress of physical science, and the advantages of New England culture, he pronounced a judicious eulogy on the founder, with this general summary of his various philosophical improvements in private and political economy: "In the prosecution of them he was led to the observation of many curious phenomena of light and caloric, with which the world has been made acquainted. The application of these to use, and the various contrivances he originated, to increase the convenience, economy, and comforts of living, have given a character to his writings, and are everywhere associated with his name. His pursuits might even be embodied into a science, for their object is everywhere known; a science conversant with a multiplicity of details, but possessing unity of design; a science humble in the sphere of its operations, but noble in its ultimate destiny; a science which every man must practise, but which philosophers and philanthropists must extend; one, which should it ever demand a definition, would be found to be the science of clothing, of warming, and of nourishing mankind." His daughter, by permission of the King of Bavaria, bore the title Countess of Rumford. She came to America after her father's death, and lived at Concord, where she died in 1852. Her will secured the fine estate on which she resided to the purposes of an asylum for indigent children. His Essays, Political, Economical, and Philosophical,* were published in London, and were reprinted in Boston, in 1798. The several chapters, which are somewhat curiously arranged, cover a wide sphere of philanthropy. There are speculations and calculations on the treatment of beggars, in which he gives an account of his experiences in Munich, of the foundation and regulation of the Houses of Industry established under his direction, the improvement wrought in morals Go, wanderer, and strive to equal him in genius and activity, and us in gratitude. * Essays, Political, Economical, and Philosophical. By Benjamin Count of Rumford, Knight of the Orders of the White Eagle, and St. Stanislaus; Chamberlain, Privy Counsellor of State, and Lieutenant-General in the Service of his Most Serene Highness the Elector Palatine, Reigning Duke of Bavaric; Colonel of his Regiment of Artillery, and Commander in Chief of the General Staff of his Army; F.R.S. Acad. R. Hiber. Berol. Elec. Boico. Falat. et Amer. Soc. The first American, from the Third London Edition Boston: Printed by Manning & Loring, for David West, March, 1798. DAVID HUMPHREYS. and manners of the paupers by the kind treatment they received. A large space is devoted to a discussion of cheap food, one of the chapters on this subject being headed, "Of the Pleasure of Eating, and of the means that may be employed for increasing it." Joel Barlow, in the Mountains of Savoy, when he retired for a while from the luxuries of Paris, wrote a poem for the consolation of his frugal countrymen at home, on the joys and associations As a pendant to that quaint of Hasty Pudding. production, the reader may desire to possess himself of Count Rumford's scientific handling of the same article: In regard to the most advantageous method of using Indian Corn as food, I would strongly recommend, particularly when it is employed for feeding the poor, a dish made of it that is in the highest estimation throughout America, and which is really very good, and very nourishing. This is called hasty-pudding; and it is made in the following manner: A quantity of water, proportioned to the quantity of hasty-pudding intended to be made, is put over the fire in an open iron pot, or kettle, and a proper quantity of salt for seasoning the pudding being previously dissolved in the water, Indian meal is stirred into it, by little and little, with a wooden spoon with a long handle, while the water goes on to be heated and made to boil; great care being taken to put in the meal by very small quantities, and by sifting it slowly through the fingers of the left hand, and stirring the water about very briskly at the same time with the wooden spoon, with the right hand, to mix the meal with the water in such a manner as to prevent lumps being formed. The meal should be added so slowly, that, when the water is brought to boil, the mass should not be thicker than water-gruel, and half an hour more, at least, should be employed to add the additional quantity of meal necessary for bringing the pudding to be of the proper consistency; during which time it should be stirred about continually, and kept conThe method of determining when stantly boiling. the pudding has acquired the proper consistency is this; the wooden spoon used for stirring it being placed upright in the middle of the kettle, if it falls down, more meal must be added; but if the pudding is sufficiently thick and adhesive to support it in a vertical position, it is declared to be proof; and no more meal is added. If the boiling, instead of being continued only half an hour, be prolonged to three quarters of an hour, or an hour, the pudding will be considerably improved by this prolongation. This hasty-pudding, when done, may be eaten in various ways. It may be put, while hot, by spoonfuls into a bowl of milk, and eaten with the milk with a spoon, in lieu of bread; and used in this way it is remarkably palatable. It may likewise be eaten, while hot, with a sauce composed of butter and brown sugar, or butter and molasses, with or without a few drops of vinegar; and however people who have not been accustomed to this American cookery may be prejudiced against it, they will find upon trial that it makes a most excellent dish, and one which never fails to be much liked by those who are accustomed to it. The universal fondness of Americans for it proves that it must have some merit; for in a country which produces all the delicacies of the table in the greatest abundance, it is not to be supposed that a whole nation should have a taste so depraved as to give a decided preference to any particular species of food which has not something to recommend it. The manner in which hasty-pudding is eaten with sauce. Fireplaces and chimneys are one of his important topics, and a volume is in great part devoted to the construction of cooking apparatus, illustrated with diagrams and engravings. The style of these essays is plain but clear. His suggestions are extremely valuable, and anticipate many of the ideas of Soyer and other authors on dietetics of the present day. DAVID HUMPHREYS. DAVID HUMPHREYS, a soldier of the Revolution, With what high chiefs I play'd my early part, To Putnam, Humphreys showed his gratitude by * An Essay on the Life of the Honorable Major-General Israel Putnam: addressed to the State Society of the CincinIn the dedication to Colonel Wadsworth, nati in Connecticut. which is dated Mount Vernon, in Virginia, June 4, 1788, the anthor says, "the inclosed manuscript justly claims indulgence for its venial errors, as it is the first effort in biography that has been made on this continent." Colonel Humphrey's for gets the labors of the Mathers in this line. domestic intimacy with Washington, Humphreys, in his Mount Vernon, an Ode, has left a grateful reminiscence. Indeed, in his verses the reader is never long out of sight of Washington. His gratitude never tires of expressing itself, and this is a most amiable feature of his character. The man was formed for friendship. His countenance is full of benevolence, which in his long bachelor days before he married Miss Bulkley, an English lady of wealth at Lisbon, when he was about forty-five-overflowed in kind remembrances of his associates. In a pleasant poetical epistle written to a young lady in Boston, and dated at New Haven in 1780, he celebrates a sleigh-ride journey which brought him among his friends in Connecticut. Some days elaps'd, I jogg'd quite brave on Or how much glee those laughters yield one, My friendship for that spotless man ; Whom, though the world does not yet know it, Great nature form'd her loftiest poet. But Dwight was absent at North-Hampton, During his war scenes he had written his Address to the Armies of the United States of America in 1782, when he was encamped at Peekskill, and the foe was in possession of New York and Charleston. In this address he refers to President Davies's celebrated early prophecy of the greatness of Washington in Virginia, in the old French war. Oh! raised by heaven to save th' invaded state, So spake the sage long since thy future fate.* His battle-pieces are in an animated style, and that he could fight as well as write, is witnessed by the sword which Congress voted him for his bravery at the siege of Yorktown, of the standards taken at which place he was the honored bearer to the government. His poem, the Address, was translated into French by the accomplished courtier and soldier of the early period of the war, the Marquis de Chastellux. From the pictures of war in this production, the death * Ante, p. 271. "This memorable event, his presenting the standards, was painted by a Danish artist, when the poet and soldier was in Europe, between 1784 and 1786, as Secretary of Legation to Mr. Jefferson."-Dunlap's Am. Theatre, p. 89. Marquis de Chastellux to Franklin, Paris, June 21, 1786."When you were in France, there was no need praising the Americans. We had only to say, look, here is their representative. But however worthily your place may have since been filled, it is not unreasonable to arouse anew the interest of a kind-hearted but thoughtless nation, and to fix, from time to time, its attention upon the great event to which it has had the happiness of contributing. Such has been my motive in translating Colonel Humphreys's poem. My success has fully equalled, and even surpassed, my expectation. Not only has the public received the work with favor, but it has succeeded perfectly at court, especially with the king and queen, who have praised it highly. "I have taken more pains to render my work an agreeable one to read, than to make it an exact and faithful translation." -Sparks's Works of Franklin, x. 268. D Humphreys tary of Legation, sailed for Europe with Jefferson then proceeding to join his fellow commissioners, Franklin and Adams, in Paris. The vessel, the Courrier de l'Europe, left Boston in July, and Kosciusko was one of the passengers. Humphreys, always ready with his verses for the occasion, wrote on board ship a poetical epistle of the voyage to his friend Dr. Dwight, in which he celebrates Our Polish friend, whose name still sounds so hard. The description of the cabin scenery would appear to have anticipated the glories of a Collins steamer. See the great cabin nigh, its doors unfold, Showing how a little elegance may be more profitable to a man with a faculty of being pleased, than a great display to a dull observer. Facts are so sumptuous now, on a voyage to Liverpool, that there is no room left for the imagination, and the man who should write verses about plush or gilded carving would be justly accounted a snob. Dwight met this epistle by another dated Greenfield, the next year, in which he takes a higher strain of eloquence, and cautions his friend against the seductions of Europe. His picture of the Travelled Ape in this production, is one of the most vigorous passages of American satire. A Poem on the Happiness of America, addressed to the Citizens of the United States, was written by Humphreys during his residence abroad, and is the longest of his productions, extending to more than a thousand lines. It puts Washington's Farewell to the Army in verse, celebrates the purity and simplicity of American life, glances at the men of the old Continental Congress. His list'ning sons the sire shall oft remind, What parent sages first in Congress join'd; The faithful Hancock grac'd that early scene, Great Washington appear'd in godlike mien, Jay, Laurens, Clinton, skill'd in ruling men, And he, who earlier, held the farmer's pen. 'Twas Lee, illustrious at the father's head, The daring way to independence led. The self-taught Sherman urg'd his reasons clear, And all the Livingstons to freedom dear; What countless names in fair procession throng, With Rutledge, Johnson, Nash demand the song! And urges a naval crusade against the Algerines, in those days the tyrants of the sea, and concluding poetically, and prophetically as it turned out when Decatur took hold of them, with a brilliant triumph over those marauders. In Humphreys's volume of 1804, the copy of this poem is set down as the tenth edition. Several of its topics are again handled in the author's Poem on the Future Glory of the United States of America ; indeed a certain monotony of subjects and treatment runs through all his verses. He had little variety in thought or execution. Humphreys returned in 1786 to Connecticut, where he was elected to the State Legislature, appointed to the command of a regiment for the western service, and where he joined his poetical friends in the composition of the Anarchiad.* We next find him on his second residence at Mount Vernon, about this time employing his leisure in translating, or, as his title-page calls it, "imitating" from the French of M. de Mierre, a tragedy (with a very happy ending) entitled, The Widow of Malabar, which was acted by Hallam's old American Company at Philadelphia, in 1790. It is a showy sketch of a play for stage purposes, full of intensity in italics, and shrieks ascending to small pica capitals. The lady, having just buried a husband whom she never loved, is about to be sacrificed, according to the custom of the country, on the funeral pile. The young Brahmin whom the high priest, in a brief summary stage style, orders to look to the performance of the ceremony, turns out her brother, which is crisis number one: then there is opportunely an invading army on hand, with one of whose officers the lady had once been in love when travelling from the Ganges. The preparation goes on with passionate arguments and expostulations touching the rite pro and con. The widow is at the pile, which she has ascended, when at the last moment for interruption the French general steps in to the rescue, and the curtain falls, but not until a very As the chief hand In this production was borne by Hopkins, we have placed our account of it in our notice of him. clever epilogue written by the author of M'Fingal She views with equal eye, sublime o'er all, And now a husband dead-and now a goose. Mrs. Henry, who recited the prologue, ha! a word to the men, which marks the time. Your vict'ries won-your revolution ended- women! Humphreys also wrote a comedy, which he failed in his attempts to get upon the stage. Dunlap, who saw the author and the play in Boston in 1805, relates how Humphreys endeavored to persuade the manager, Bernard, to bring it out, how "it was extremely unlike those comedies Bernard owed his fame to, and repaid by imparting the vivifying influence of his art,' and how "the wary comedian heard the poet read, drank his Madeira, said 'very well' now and then-but never brought out the play." In 1794 Humphreys was appointed the first American ambassador to Lisbon,* where he resided for six years till 1797, when he became * Of Humphreys's diplomatic business the author of M'Fingal has some pleasant raillery in a letter to Oliver Wolcott, dated Hartford, December 9, 1789:-" Pray, congratulate Colonel Humphreys, in my name, on his late promotion in the diplomatic line. If I understand the matter rightly, he holds the same post which Crispe promised George in the Vicar of Wakefield. You remember Crispe told him there was an embassy talked of from the Synod of Pennsylvania to the Chickasaw Indians, and he would use his interest to get him appointed secretary. Tell him not to be discouraged too much at his want of success. The President has tried him on M'Gillivray first, and he did not suit the skull of the savage, but we cannot argue from that circumstance that he could not fit as easy as a full-bottomed wig upon the fat-headed, sot-headed, and crazyheaded sovereigns of Europe. Tell him this story also for his comfort, and to encourage his hopes of speedy employment: A king being angry with an ambassador, asked hiri whether his master had no wise men at court, and was therefore obliged to send him a fool? 'Sire,' said the other, my master has many wise men about his court, but he conceived me the most proper ambassador to your Majesty. Upon this principle I am in daily expectation of hearing that he is appointed minister plenipo. to George, Louis, or the stadtholder."-Gibbs's Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and John Adams. |