whilst the thunder has rolled and the lightning flashed around him, has exulted in the view of nature moving forth in her majesty. The untaught sailor boy, listlessly harkening to the idle ripple of the midnight wave, when on a sudden he has thought upon the unfathomable abyss beneath him, and the wide waste of waters around him, and the infinite expanse above him, has enjoyed to the full the emotion of sublimity, whilst his inmost soul has trembled at the vastness of its own conceptions. But why need I multiply illustrations from nature? Who does not recollect the emotion he has felt, whilst surveying aught, in the material world, of terror or of vastness?

And this sensation is not produced by grandeur in material objects alone. It is also excited on most of those occasions in which we see man tasking, to the uttermost, the energies of his intellectual or moral nature. Through the long lapse of centuries, who, without emotion, has read of LEONIDAS and his three hundred's throwing themselves as a barrier before the myriads of Xerxes, and contending unto death for the liberties of Greece!

But we need not turn to classic story to find all that is great in human action; we find it in our own times, and in the history of our own country. Who is there of us that even in the nursery has not felt his spirit stir within him, when with child-like wonder he has listened to the story of WASHINGTON? And although the terms of the narrative were scarcely intelligible, yet the young soul kindled at the thought of one man's working out the deliverance of a nation. And as our understanding, strengthened by age, was at last able to grasp the detail of this transaction, we saw that our infantile conceptions had fallen far short of its grandeur. if an American citizen ever exults in the contemplation of all that is sublime in human enterprise, it is when, bringing to mind the men who first conceived the idea of this nation's independence, he beholds them estimating the power of her oppressor, the resources of her citizens, deciding in their collected might that this nation should be free, and through the long years of trial that ensued, never blenching from their purpose, but freely redeeming the pledge which they had given, to consecrate to it, "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor."

Patriots have toil'd, and in their country's cause
Bled nobly, and their deeds, as they deserve,
Receive proud recompense. We give in charge
Their names to the sweet lyre. The historic muse,
Proud of her treasure, marches with it down
To latest times; and sculpture in her turn
Gives bond, in stone and ever during brass,
To guard them and immortalize her trust.

It will not be doubted that in such actions as these, there is much which may be truly called the moral sublime. If, then, we should attentively consider them, we might perhaps ascertain what must be the elements of that enterprise, which may lay claim to this high appellation. It cannot be expected that on this occasion, we should analyze them critically. It will, however, we think, be found, upon examination, that to that enterprise alone has been awarded the meed of sublimity, of which the OBJECT Was vast, the ACCOMPLISHMENT arduous, and the MEANS to be employed simple but efficient. Were not the object vast, it could not arrest our attention. Were not its accomplishment arduous, none of the nobler energies of man being tasked in its execution, we should see nothing to admire. Were not the means to that accomplishment simple, our whole conception being vague, the impression would be feeble. Were they not efficient, the in

tensest exertion could only terminate in failure and disgrace.

And here we may remark, that wherever these elements have combined in any undertaking, public sentiment has generally united in pronouncing it sublime, and history has recorded its achievements among the noblest proofs of the dignity of man. Malice may for a while have frowned, and interest opposed; men who could neither grasp what was vast, nor feel what was morally great, may have ridiculed. But all this has soon passed away. Human nature is not to be changed by the opposition of interest, or the laugh of folly. There is still enough of dignity in man to respect what is great, and to venerate what is benevolent. The cause of man has at last gained the suffrages of man. It has advanced steadily onward, and left ridicule to wonder at the impotence of its shaft, and malice to weep over the inefficacy of its hate.

And we bless God that it is so. It is cheering to observe, that amidst so much that is debasing, there is still something that is ennobling in the character of man. It is delightful to know, that there are times when his morally bedimmed eye beams keen with honor;" that there is yet a redeeming spirit within, which exults in enterprises of great pith and moment. We love our race the better for every such fact we discover concerning it, and bow with more reverence to the dignity of human nature. We rejoice that, shattered as has been the edifice, there yet may be discovered, now and then, a massive pillar, and, here and there, a well turned arch, which remind us of the symmetry of its former proportions, and the perfection of its original structure.

Having paid this our honest tribute to the dignity of man, we must pause, to lament over somewhat which reminds us of any thing other than his dignity. Whilst the general assertion is true, that he is awake to all that is sublime in nature, and much that is sublime in morals, there is reason to believe that there is a single class of objects, whose contemplation thrills all heaven with rapture, at which he can gaze unmelted and unmoved. The pen of inspiration has recorded, that the cross of Christ, whose mysteries the angels desire to look into, was to the tasteful and erudite Greek, foolishness. And we fear that cases very analogous to this may be witnessed at the present day. But why, my hearers, should it be so? Why should so vast a dissimilarity of moral taste exist between seraphs who bow before the throne, and men who dwell upon the footstool? Why is it, that the man, whose soul swells with ecstacy whilst viewing the innumerable suns of midnight, feels no emotion of sublimity, when thinking of their Creator? Why is it, that an enterprise of patriotism presents itself to his imagination beaming with celestial beauty, whilst the enterprise of redeeming love is without form or comeliness? Why should the noblest undertaking of mercy, if it only combine among its essential elements the distinctive principles of the gospel, become at once stale, flat, and unprofitable? When there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, why is it that the enterprise of proclaiming peace on earth, and good will to man, fraught, as it would seem, with more than angelic benignity, should to many of our fellow-men appear worthy of nothing better than neglect or obloquy?

The reason for all this we shall not on this occasion pretend to assign. We have time only to express our regret that such should be the fact. Confining ourselves therefore to the bearing which this moral bias has upon the missionary cause, it is with pain we are obligel to believe, that there is a large and most respectable portion of our fellow-citizens,

for many of whom we entertain every sentiment of personal esteem, and to whose opinions on most other subjects we bow with unfeigned deference, who look with perfect apathy upon the present system of exertions for evangelizing the heathen; and we have been greatly misinformed, if there be not another, though a very different class, who consider these exertions a subject for ridicule. Perhaps it may tend somewhat to arouse the apathy of the one party, as well as to moderate the contempt of the other, if we can show that this very missionary cause combines within itself the elements of all that is sublime in human purpose, nay, combines them in n loftier perfection than any other enterprise, which was ever linked with the destinies of man. show this, will be our design; and in prosecuting it, we shall direct your attention to the GRANDEUR OF THE OBJECT; the ARDUOUSNESS OF ITS EXECUTION; and the NATURE OF THE MEANS on which we rely for

success.

To

When Dr. Samuel Miller published his Retrospect of the Eighteenth Century, in 1803, he remarked, that "there was by no means a general taste for literature in Rhode Island;" but this position is not confirmed by the College annals. Previously to that time it had educated many distinguished persons of the state, and taking its whole career, including the liberality of its home founders, it has contributed its full quota to the American records of this kind. Among its early graduates we read the names of Paul Allen, Tristam Burgess, Henry Wheaton, James Tallmadge,

William Hunter. Two of its old Professors or

Instructors deserve special notice, Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse and the Hon. Asher Robbins.

Benjamin Waterhouse was born in Newport, Rhode Island. His father, a Presbyterian, adopted Quakerism, and the son was brought up in the principles of that sect, which he never closely followed. He was a pupil of Dr. Fothergill, in London, and received his medical degree at Leyden. From 1783, for thirty years, he was Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Harvard. From 1782 to 1795, he was a member of the Board of Fellows of Rhode Island College, and in 1784 was elected Professor of Natural History. He delivered at this time, in the state-house at

Providence, the first course of lectures upon that science ever given in the United States. He was the author of an octavo volume on the Junius question, supporting the authorship of Lord Chatham. He died at Cambridge in 1846.

Asher Robbins was tutor from 1783 to 1790. He was a native of Connecticut, and a graduate of Yale in 1782. After resigning his tutorship, during which he had become a thorough proficient in the classics, he studied law with AttorneyGeneral Channing, of Newport, and established himself there in that profession. His reputation for familiarity with Greek was widely extended among scholars. He died in February, 1845.

The name of the late Professor William Giles Goddard is prominent in the annals of the Institution. He was of an old Connecticut family of worth and public spirit. His father, William Goddard, was long connected with the press.* The son was born in Rhode Island, and was educated at Brown University, developing a taste for polite literature which was not checked by a partial study of the law. In 1814, he purchased the Rhode-Island American, a Federal paper at Providence, and was its editor for eleven years. In 1825, he received his appointment as Professor of Moral Philosophy and Metaphysics in the College, the style of the Professorship being changed, in 1834, to that of Belles-Lettres. Ill-health compelled his resignation in 1842. He died suddenly, February 16, 1846, at the age of fifty-two. His published writings, apart from his political versity Phi Beta Kappa Address on "The Value and other newspaper topics, are his Brown Uniof Liberal Studies," his sketch of the first President Manning, an Address on the Death of William Henry Harrison, and a Discourse on the Change of the Civil Government of Rhode Island in 1843.

He established the first newspaper in Providence, the Gazette, in 1762. He was also associated with Parker's Gazette in New York, and commenced the publication of the Pennsyl vania Chronicle, in Philadelphia, in 1767. In 1778, he started the Maryland Journal, which he published till 1792. He was a Whig in the Revolution. After the Revolution he retired to Rhode Island. He died at Providence in 1817, in his seventyeighth year.-Prof. W. Gammell, in Updike's Hist. of Narragansett Church, 156.

Associated with Professor Goddard in the date of his appointment, in much of his academical career, was Professor Romeo Elton, D.D., who was at the head of the department of ancient languages and literature. He was a native of Connecticut, and became a graduate of the University in 1812. He was settled for several years as a clergyman of the Baptist denomination in Newport, R. I., and in 1825 was appointed to the professorship. Before entering on its duties he spent two years in Europe, especially in Germany and Italy. He continued in the college till 1843, when he resigned, and has since resided in Exeter, England, in retirement from active pursuits. His published works, besides several sermons, are Callender's Century Sermon, edited with copious notes, and biographical sketches; the Works of President Maxcy, with an Introductory Memoir; and more recently a Biographical Sketch of Roger Williams, which was first published in England.

Since 1844 Professor John L. Lincoln has been at the head of the department of the Latin language and literature. He was born in Boston, and early trained at its celebrated Latin school. He became a graduate of the University in 1836, and after holding the office of tutor for two years, passed a considerable period at the universities of Berlin, Heidelberg, and Halle, in Germany, and on his return in 1844 was appointed to the professorship he now fills. His published works, in addition to numerous articles in reviews, are an edition of Selections from Liry's Roman History, with English notes, and an edition of the Works of Horace, both of which are extensively used and in high repute.

Professor William Gammell was a graduate of the class of 1831, and was soon afterwards appointed to the Latin tutorship. In 1835 he was appointed instructor in the department of rhetoric, and was promoted to the professorship in that department in 1836, a post which he continued to occupy till 1850, when he was appointed to the professorship of History and Political Economy, which he now holds. He has published, besides numerous articles in reviews, an Address before the Rhode Island Historical Society on the occasion of the Opening of its Cabinet; Life of Roger Williams, first printed in Sparks's American Biography, Second Series; Life of Governor Samuel Ward, also in Sparks's Second Series; and a History of American Baptist Missions.

The library of this institution, now a munificent collection, dates mainly since the Revolution, at the period immediately following which its interests were maintained by the gifts and personal exertions of John Brown, the brother of Nicholas, whose donations we have mentioned. Some thirteen hundred volumes were bequeathed in 1818 by an English Baptist clergyman, the Rev. William Richards, of Lynn, a native of Wales, who gave his library to the college, after assuring himself of its liberal constitution. He was the author of a History of Lynn, in England, a Review of Noble's Cromwell Memoirs, and a Dictionary of Welsh and English. His library, thus given to the college, contained a number of Welsh books, many illustrating the History and Antiquities of England and Wales, and two or three hundred bound volumes of rare pamphlets. ConVOL. I.-34

stant donations were now heaped upon the college shelves from various sources, including a collection of gifts brought by Professor Elton from Europe. The Hon. Theron Metcalf, of Boston, gave a valuable series of fifty volumes of Ordination Sermons, which he had specially collected. In 1853 there were in the library more than thirtyfive hundred pamphlets bound and catalogued, an important provision in public collections often neglected. In 1831 Nicholas Brown laid the foundation of the present library fund by a gift of ten thousand dollars. The institution has now a permanent fund of twenty-five thousand dollars, the interest of which, applied to the increase of the library, has stored it with many of the most costly and valuable books to be found in the country. A special collection of the Church Fathers and writers of the Reformation period was added to the library in 1847, at an expense of two thousand dollars, obtained at the suggestion of the Rev. Samuel Osgood. The gathering of American historical materials has also been faithfully pursued. A liberal policy is pursued in the conduct of the library. Reuben Aldridge Guild is the present librarian (in 1855), having succeeded Charles C. Jewett, in 1848.*

By the Triennial Catalogue of the University of 1852, it appears that the whole number of graduates to that time was 1784, of whom 1173 were living. Of these 477 pursued divinity, of whom 325 were living.

JOSIAS LYNDON ARNOLD.

The

JOSIAS LYNDON, the son of Dr. Jonathan Arnold, was born in Providence in the year 1765. family removed soon after to St. Johnsbury, Vt. Arnold entered Dartmouth College; on the completion of his course taught school for a few months in Plainfield, Conn., and then commenced the study of the law in Providence. He was admitted to practice, but instead of pursuing his profession, accepted the office of tutor at Brown University. On his father's death in 1792, he removed to St. Johnsbury, where he married Miss Perkinson, March, 1795, and died after a ten-weeks' illness on the 7th June, 1796.

His poems were collected after his death in a small volume, with a biographical preface signed James Burrell, jun. The editor has performed his duties carelessly, as he has included a poem entitled The Dying Indian, which is to be found in Freneau's Poems, ed. 1795, p. 59. The remaining contents of the volume consist of translations and imitations of Horace, one of which is in the style of Sternhold and Hopkins.

It was published in the "Dartmouth Eagle," accompanied by a note.

MR. DUNIAM,

I am an admirer of the simplicity of Sternhold and Hopkins; and am happy to find that, even in this enlightened age, those venerable bards of antiquity have not only ambitious imitators, but even formidable rivals. If the following translation has any claim to excellence in this neat style, you are

Mr. Jewett's Smithsonian Report of the U. S. Public Libraries (1850) contains a full notice of the University Libraries, pp. 58-01. See also its history in the preface to its catalogue.

Or eke eternity.

Sublimer-O far more sublime,

Than pyramids full high,

That stretch their tops, and all upon
Fair Egypt's plain do lie.

Not Boreas, from out the north

Rude rushing all so bold,

Nor rain, nor wind, that round doth roar,
Nor age that's yet untold:

Nor yet of time, full swift that flies,
The tooth devour shall never;
For stand shall this same monument,
Like rocks and mountains, ever.
This PART of ME survive shall still,
And stay behind for aye;
The OTHER- -Proserpine I ween

Right soon will drag away.

These are followed by a number of short poems descriptive of scenery, a humorous eclogue, and a few songs. The topics are almost entirely American, and drawn from the writer's own observation. They are to be regarded as the recreations of a youthful scholar, the light in which their author held them; as he before his death contemplated their publication under the title of the Prelusions of Áli,-an anagrammatic transposition of his initials.

ODE TO CONNECTICUT RIVER.

On thy lov'd banks, sweet river, free
From worldly care and vanity,
I could my every hour confine,
And think true happiness was mine.
Sweet river, in thy gentle stream
Myriads of finny beings swim:
The watchful trout with speckled pride;
The perch, the dace in silvered príde;
The princely salmon, sturgeon brave,
And lamprey, emblem of the knave.
Beneath thy banks, thy shades among,
The muses, mistresses of song,
Delight to sit, to tune the lyre,
And fan the heav'n-descended fire.

Here nymphs dwell, fraught with every grace,
The faultless form, the sparkling face,

The generous breast, by virtue form'd,

With innocence, with friendship warm'd;

Of feelings tender as the dove,
And yielding to the voice of love.
Happiest of all the happy swains
Are those who till thy fertile plains;
With freedom, peace, and plenty crown'd,
They see the varying year go round.
But, more than all, there Fanny dwells,
For whom, departing from their cells,
The muses wreaths of laurel twine,
And bind around her brows divine;

For whom the dryads of the woods,
For whom the nereidas of the floods,
Those as for Dian fam'd of old,
These as for Thetis reverence hold;
With whom, if I could live and die,
With joy I'd live, and die with joy,

SONG.

Tune "Social Fire."

Of Nancy's charms I fain would sing,
More lovely than the blooming spring,
The nymph of my desire,
Whom heaven grant to cheer my cot,
And make me bless my happy lot,
Around a social fire.

While others barter bliss for gain,
And wear a slavish golden chain,
To wealth I'll not aspire;

I ask enough to live at ease,

To give the poor-my friends to please,
And keep a social fire.

When sets the sun in western sky,
How pleasing from the world to fly,
And to my cot retire;

To find me there a cheerful wife,
And hear the children's playful strife,
Around the social fire.

Such joys as these he never knows,
Who leads a life of dull repose--

Joys that can never tire;
Heaven grant me soon this blissful state,
Then will I hail my happy fate,
And bless my social fire.

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

THE founder of this college was Dr. Eleazer Wheelock, whose name it might more properly bear than that of the English statesman which is attached to it. The college grew out of an earlier school, the history of which is peculiar. In 1743, when the Rev, Mr. Wheelock, a native of Windham, Connecticut, a descendant of an eminent ecclesiastical family in New England, and a distinguished student of Yale, where he had taken the first Berkeley premium, had become settled as a devoted minister in Lebanon, Ct, he took some pupils under his charge according to the custom of the times, among whom was the young Mohegan Indian, Samson Occom. His success in the education of this native scholar induced him to form the plan of an Indian Missionary School, to raise up Indian teachers. Other pupils from the Delaware tribe came in. The attention of benevolent individuals was excited; and in 1754, Joshua Moor, a farmer in Mansfield, gave a house and two acres of land adjacent to Wheelock's residence for the purposes of the school, and the institution, which soon increased the number of its pupils, became known as Moor's Indian Charity School. Occom collected funds in England, which were deposited with a board of trustees, of which Lord Dartmouth, one of the subscribers, was President. The success of the school in the collection of pupils induced Dr. Wheelock to seek another location nearer to the native tribes to be benefited. Various offers were made him of situations at Albany, in Berkshire, Mass., and elsewhere; and it was finally determined to establish the school in the western part of New Hampshire, Governor Wentworth granted a charter in 1769.

in which the institution was called a college. This new organization led to opposition from the trustees of the school fund; but it was found that the existence of the two could be kept distinct, though they are now established under the direction of the same board of trustees. Lord Dartmouth gave name to the college to which, from his interest in the school, he was opposed. Governor Wentworth was the warm friend of the new college, which received grants of land, and was located at Hanover near the Connecticut river.

Eleazer Wheelock.

In 1770, Dr. Wheelock, approaching the age of sixty, left Lebanon, and commenced his new work in the wilderness. His family and the students at first lived in log huts on the clearing. The Memoirs of Dr. Wheelock give an interesting sketch of the novelties of the college life. Upon a circular area of six acres the pines were felled, and in all directions covered the ground to the height of about five feet. One of these was two hundred and seventy feet in height. Paths of communication were cut through them. The lofty tops of the surrounding forests were often seen bending before the northern tempest, while the air below was still and piercing. The snow lay four feet in depth between four and five months. The sun was invisible by reason of the trees, until risen many degrees above the horizon. In this secluded retreat and in these humble dwellings, this enterprising colony passed a long and dreary winter. The students pursued their studies with diligence; contentment and peace were not interrupted, even by murmurers.* A two-story college was erected, and in 1771 four students graduated, one of whom was John Wheelock, son of the first, and the future President of the College. Another was Levi Frisbie, father of the poet, and himself a writer of verses, in some of which he has celebrated the peculiar circumstances in which his Alma Mater was founded.

"Forlorn thus youthful Dartmouth trembling stood,
Surrounded with inhospitable wood:
No silken furs on her soft limbs to spread,
No dome to screen her fair, defenceless head;
On every side she cast her wishful eyes,

Memoirs of the Rev. E'eazer Wheelock, Founder of Dartmouth, by MClure and Elijah Parish, 1511.

Then humbly rais'd them to the pitying skies..
Thence grace divine beheld her tender care,
And bowed an ear, propitious to her prayer.
Soon chang'd the scene; the prospect shines more
fair;

Joy lights all faces with a cheerful air;
The buildings rise, the work appears alive,
Pale fear expires, and languid hopes revive.
Calm solitude, to liberal science kind,
Sheds her soft influence on the studious mind;
Afflictions stand aloof; the heavenly powers
Drop needful blessings in abundant showers.*

After ten years' government of the college the first president, Wheelock, died in 1779, aged sixty-eight. He was succeeded in the college government by his son John Wheelock, who was educated at Hanover, one of the first fruits of the college, and had been a tutor till the breaking out of the Revolution, when he led an active military life with Stark and Gates till his father's death recalled him from the army. In 1782 he was sent by the trustees to Europe for the collection of funds and the promotion of the college interests, which had not escaped the depression of the war. He carried with him letters from Washington, who had known and esteemed him as a Revolutionary officer, from the French Minister Luzerne to the Count de Vergennes. Arriving in France, Dr. Franklin and John Adams gave him introductions to the Netherlands, where a considerable sum of money was given by the Prince of Orange and others. In England he arranged the interrupted funds of the school-foundation, procured philosophical instruments and other valuable donations, and on his return to America, after suffering in a severe storm on the banks of Newfoundland, was wrecked on Cape Cod, barely escaping with life to the shore. The college property coming afterwards was saved. Dr. Wheelock's exertions were next directed to the erection of a college edifice by the further collection of funds and other co-operation, for which the institution was greatly indebted to him. He also discharged the duties of professor of history. After thirty-six years' occupancy of his position his connexion with the institution was violently closed.

The college was managed by a body of trustees, created by the charter, who filled vacancies in their number. In 1815 they drew attention upon themselves by an act memorable not only in its immediate but in its ultimate consequences, as affecting the position of the college and determining a great question of legal and constitutional right. Differences in the college with the trustees, and questions of religious opinion, led them in that year to remove Dr. Wheelock from the presidency. A large portion of the public affected to be outraged at the proceeding. Governor William Plummer invited the attention of the state logislature to the subject, who, asserting their claim to alter or amend a charter of which they were the guardians, in

From a poem "On the Rise and Progress of Moor's Indian Charity School (now incorporated with Dartmouth College) its removal and settlement in Hanover, and the founding a Church in the same, by one of Dr. Wheelock's pupils, educated in said school, and now a member of said college, preparing for a mission among the Indians." It is printed in the notes to M'Clure and Parish's Memoirs of Wheelock.