County ten; to pay the charges of imprisonment; and to remain a close prisoner during the pleasure of the Court. Few inventions have, I think, been more worthy of the Devil, than this.
MINISTER HOOKER'S CHRISTIANITY.
The following anecdote, transmitted among his descendants, is in several particulars strongly expressive of his character. In the latter part of autumn Mr. Hooker, being suddenly awakened by an unusual noise, thought he heard a person in his cellar. He immediately arose, dressed himself, and went silently to the foot of the cellar stairs. There he saw a man with a candle in his hand, taking pork out of the barrel. When he had taken out the last piece, Mr. Hooker, accosting him pleasantly, said, "Neighbor, you act unfairly; you ought to leave a part for me." Thunderstruck at being detected, especially at being detected by so awful a witness, the culprit fell at his feet, condemned himself for his wickedness, and implored his pardon. Mr. Hooker cheerfully forgave him and concealed his crime, but forced him to carry half the pork to his own house.
[A noted popular Song, written while Dwight was an Army Chaplain, 1777–78.—From Kettell's "Specimens.” 1829.]
OLUMBIA, Columbia, to glory arise,
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies!
Thy genius commands thee; with rapture behold,
While ages on ages thy splendors unfold.
Thy reign is the last, and the noblest of time,
Most fruitful thy soil, most inviting thy clime;
Let the crimes of the east ne'er encrimson thy name,
Be freedom, and science, and virtue thy fame.
To conquest and slaughter let Europe aspire;
Whelm nations in blood, and wrap cities in fire;
Thy heroes the rights of mankind shall defend,
And triumph pursue them, and glory attend.
A world is thy realm: for a world be thy laws,
Enlarged as thine empire, and just as thy cause;
On Freedom's broad basis, that empire shall rise,
Extend with the main, and dissolve with the skies.
Fair Science her gates to thy sons shall unbar,
And the east see thy morn hide the beams of her star.
New bards, and new sages, unrivalled shall soar
To fame unextinguished, when time is no more;
To thee, the last refuge of virtue designed,
Shall fly from all nations the best of mankind;
Here, grateful to heaven, with transport shall bring
Their incense, more fragrant than odors of spring.
Nor less shall thy fair ones to glory ascend,
And genius and beauty in harmony blend;
The graces of form shall awake pure desire,
And the charms of the soul ever cherish the fire;
Their sweetness unmingled, their manners refined,
And virtue's bright image, instamped on the mind,
With peace and soft rapture shall teach life to glow,
And light up a smile in the aspect of woe.
Thy fleets to all regions thy power shall display,
The nations admire, and the ocean obey;
Each shore to thy glory its tribute unfold,
And the east and the south yield their spices and gold.
As the day-spring unbounded, thy splendor shall flow,
And earth's little kingdoms before thee shall bow:
While the ensigns of union, in triumph unfurled,
Hush the tumult of war, and give peace to the world.
Thus, as down a lone valley, with cedars o'erspread,
From war's dread confusion I pensively strayed—
The gloom from the face of fair heaven retired;
The winds ceased to murmur; the thunders expired;
Perfumes, as of Eden, flowed sweetly along,
And a voice, as of angels, enchantingly sung:
"Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies."
THE BURNING OF FAIRFIELD.
OW Night, of all her stars forlorn,
Majestic up the sky was borne.
A cloud immense her misty car,
Slow-sliding through the burdened air;
Her wreath of yew; a cypress wand
Uplifted by her magic hand;
Pale, shrouded fears her awful train,
And spectres gliding on the plain:
While Horror, o'er the sable world,
His ensigns through the expanse unfurled.
When lo! the southern skies around
Expanded wide with turrets crowned;
With umbered skirts, with wary gleam,
Uprose an awful ridge of flame,
Shed far its dreary lustre round
And dimly streaked the twilight ground.
Dark clouds with many a dismal stain
Hung hovering o'er the gleaming main;
While deep the distant, hollow roar
Waved echoing from the illumined shore;
And from each heaven-directed spire
Climbed bending pyramids of fire.
Meantime, a storm in western skies,
Thick, heavy, vast, began to rise,
Rolled swift on burdened winds along,
And brooded o'er the plundering throng,
In deeper night the heavens arrayed
And stretched its pall of boundless shade.
Forth shot the fierce and lurid flame
(The world, dim-rising in the beam),
Lessened the conflagrative spires,
And blended with their light its fires.
Again new darkness spread the main,
The splendors brightening rose again.
The thunder with earth-rending sound
Shook every vale and hill around;
While at each pause with solemn voice
The murmuring flames prolonged the noise.
It seemed the final day was come,
The day of earth's protracted doom;
The Archangel's voice began to call
The nations of this guilty ball:
The hills to cleave, the skies to rend,
Tumultuous elements to blend;
And Heaven, in pomp tremendous, came
To light the last, funereal flame.
[The Triumph of Infidelity. 1788.]
HERE smiled the smooth Divine, unused to wound
The sinner's heart, with hell's alarming sound.
No terrors on his gentle tongue attend;
No grating truths the nicest ear offend.
That strange new-birth, that methodistic grace,
Nor in his heart nor sermons found a place.
Plato's fine tales he clumsily retold,
Trite, fireside, moral seesaws, dull as old;
His Christ and Bible placed at good remove,
Guilt hell-deserving, and forgiving love.
'Twas best, he said, mankind should cease to sin:
Good fame required it; so did peace within.
Their honors, well he knew, would ne'er be driven;
But hoped they still would please to go to heaven.
Each week he paid his visitation dues;
Coaxed, jested, laughed; rehearsed the private news;
Smoked with each goody, thought her cheese excelled;
Her pipe he lighted, and her baby held.
Or placed in some great town, with lacquered shoes,
Trim wig, and trimmer gown, and glistening hose,
He bowed, talked politics, learned manners mild;
Most meekly questioned, and most smoothly smiled;
At rich men's jests laughed loud, their stories praised;
Their wives' new patterns gazed, and gazed, and gazed;
Most daintily on pampered turkeys dined;
Nor shrunk with fasting, nor with study pined:
Yet from their churches saw his brethren driven,
Who thundered truth, and spoke the voice of heaven,
Chilled trembling guilt, in Satan's headlong path,
Charmed the feet back, and roused the ear of death.
"Let fools," he cried, "starve on, while prudent I
Snug in my nest shall live, and snug shall die."
BORN in New York, N. Y., 1752. DIED at Tomhanick, near Albany, N. Y., 1783.
["On seeing Miss S. T. E. crossing the Hudson."-The Posthumous Works of Ann Eliza Bleecker. 1793.]
[The Life of Gouverneur Morris. By Jared Sparks. 1832.]
1Ο determine who should be appointed Minister either of the Finances, of War, of the Marine, or of Foreign Affairs, may be difficult; but it may not be so difficult to determine the qualities requisite for each of these departments, and having thereby established a rule, the proper persons will be more easily ascertained. These qualities will be classed under the different heads of genius, temper, knowledge, education, principles, manners, and circumstances.
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