matured, and the spirits of just men are made perfect. These advantages may be derived from the volume of Biography now before us. It comprises a sketch of the principal persons, who have appeared in our country since the time of its discovery, in a form adapted to general and convenient use. This was a desideratum. The American Biography, judiciously projected, and, as far as it proceeded, ably executed, by Dr. BELKNAP, was entirely a different work. It began with the earliest adventurers and other eminent men, and was proceeding in chronological order, with all the minuteness of history. Neither that order, however, could be perfectly observed, on account of deficiency of materials; nor was the work itself extended to a lower date than A. D. 1611, where it closed with the characof HUDSON. Why is not this noWhy is not this noble design prosecuted? A valuable collection of materials is procured, and partially arranged; a specimen of workmanship is given which no artist need blush to regard as a model; and yet this gallery of national portraits remains incomplete. Have we no scholars? or are they "reposing in the easy chair of Atticus ?" * The present work is an alphabetical compendium of American Biography. It comprises in one volume what, on Dr. Belkuap's plan, would require a series of volumes, beyond the common ability of our countrymen to purchase, and their leisure to peruse. It will give the reader a general idea of the men, who have borne the most conspic See observations prefixed to Vol. II. of American Biography. uous part in laying the foundations of empire in this western world, and who have contributed most to its stability and happiness. It will present to him the enterprising navigator, the daring warrior, the zealous patriot, the penetrating statesman, the learned scholar, the able theologian, the faithful minister, the exemplary Christian. an introduction to such company he will hardly fail to grow wiser and better. He will be entertained and instructed; and, if he selects from all whatsoever things are excellent, and moulds them into his own temper and manners, principles and life, he will be improved in mental excellence and in moral worth. By For such The difficulties attending this original compilation are well stated in its Preface; and they certainly claim for the author, if not absolution for errors, indulgence for defects. "A new and untrodden field was to be explored." It has certainly been explored with diligence, and, we think, with success. an undertaking the literary leisure of the author, and his access to our most valuable libraries, gave him some advantages, which he might never afterward have possessed; and for the good improvement, which he has made of them, he deserves well of his country. With this general expression of approbation we might dismiss the work, and leave it to the ordeal of public opinion; but what appeared to us incorrect in narration, erroneous in sentiment, or faulty in style, ought not to be suppressed. ADAMS (SAMUEL), governor of Massachusetts. The selec tion of four of his associates in the declaration of independence, from "a host of worthies," thus left in the shade, will by some be thought invidious; by others perhaps partial. Other observations in this article, we think, savor too much of the political partisan. The nature and design of our work, however, forbid particular remarks on this subject. "Attempts" Mr. A. says, "were probably made by the British to bribe Mr. Adams." We doubt that probability. What is quoted from governor Hutchinson does not show it; and, had it been a fact, is it probable that Mr. Adams would have lived until upwards of fourscore years of age, and never have divulged it? ARNOLD (BENEDICT). We question whether this infamous name deserves a place in a work, designed to commemorate the characters of eminent men ; Quique sui memores alios fecere merendo. The distinguished valor of Arnold, and his early and active services in the cause of his country, demand our admiration and applause; but his defection and treachery ought perhaps to exclude him from the company of those patriots and heroes, who, when living, would have disdained him as an associate. The answer of an American prisoner toArnold's question, What the Americans would do with him, were they to get him in their power, furnishes a good hint for the proper treatment of this arch traitor: "They would take the leg, said he, that was wounded in the attack on Quebec, and bury it with the honors of war; and the rest of your body they would hang in gibbets." The author has indeed aimed at this distributive justice. His con cluding remarks on this article are discriminating and useful. But, after all, Arnold is exalted; and the spectator, seeing him on an eminence, with his cockade, epaulets, and sword, accompanied by the first men of the country, does not once imagine that he is brought forth for execution. BRAINERD (DAVID). This man, eminently distinguished as an enlightened, zealous, and faithful missionary among the Indians, was, while a member of college, "misled by an intemperate zeal, and was guilty of indiscretions." Supposing himself, like some other young and inexperienced converts, capable of discerning the spirits of men, he expressed his belief, that one of the tutors of college was destitute of religion. On conviction of this fault, he was required to make a public confession in the hall. "Brainerd thought," as collegians are apt to think about requiring testimony, and submiting to discipline, 66 that it was unjust to extort from friends what he had uttered in conversation, and that the punishment was too severe. refused to make the confession, and as he had been guilty of going to a separate meeting after prohibition by the authority of college, he was expelled." "The expulsion," subjoins the biographer, was perhaps necessary, as things existed; but in the circumstances which led to it there appears a strong disposition to hunt up offences against the new lights, as those who were attached to the preaching of Messrs. Whitefield and Tennent As he 66 were then called. It was not so strange that a young man should have been indiscreet, as that he should confess himself to have been so." Our conclusion from the facts here stated, had we known no other, would have been the reverse of that of the biographer. The offence against the tutor was a gross one; and yet the offender refus. ed to make confession of it. To this first offence he added another, more daring and flagrant. In disregard, if not in defiance, of "a prohibition by the authority of college," he went to a separatical meeting. If such contempt of the government of colleges, and such violations of their laws, were tolerated with impunity, parietal tutors would require additional auxiliaries; and Proctors could never become authors. The truth is, Mr. B. said of Mr. Whittelsey, "He has no more grace than that chair ;" and yet, to our knowledge, this graceless tutor was a learned, pious, fervent, and exemplary minister of Christ, who died in a good old age, full of faith and hope, and the tears of an affectionate people watered his grave. We wonder not, that care was taken to exclude from the school of the prophets" the fanaticism of the new lights, which was a real opprobrium to the "divine philosophy" of the gospel. The cause of evangelical truth and piety gains nothing by a connivance at the faults of its friends. We doubt not, Mr. B. "verily thought" himself in no great degree criminal; but we verily think him to have been highly culpable, and his punishment just. BROCK (JOHN). Remarka ble correspondences between providential events and the prayers of good men, ought to be piously observed ; but it seems a bold interpretation of Providence, to affirm that the poor man who lost his fishing boat, recovered it "in answer to the earnest prayer" of Mr. Brock. The coincidence may have occurred; but neither facts, nor inferences, which rest on the authority of Cotton Mather, where especially there is any thing of the marvellous, can be always absolutely admitted. CLAP (THOMAS), president of Yale College. "By some means he acquired a prejudice against Mr. Whitefield." The means by which this prejudice was acquired are not mysterious. They are plainly shown in the work under review, article WHITEFIELD. "In the early periods of his life, he [Mr. W.] was guilty in some instances of unchar. itableness and indiscretion." This is the true reason, why, on his first visit to New-England, many of the most respectable ministers of our country acquir. ed a prejudice, or unfavorable prepossession, against him. He corrected his indiscretions, "confessed his fault," became more catholic, and "learned better manners as he went along;" and was accordingly treated afterward with the attention and respect to which his eminent character became entitled. TAPPAN (DAVID, D.D). Justice is essentially done to this excellent man by the biographer, from whose sketch it will readi. an a ly be perceived that he was preeminent as a minister, as a theological professor, and as Christian. "It has been thought however," he observes, "that his usefulness to the cause of divine truth might have been increased, if he had dwelt upon the distinguishing doctrines of the gospel, which he believed, with more frequency and with greater perspicuity and fulness, and if in some instances he had been less careful to accommodate himself to opinions, which he disapproved, and to prejudices, which he thought pernicious." Bywhom has "it been thought," that this man, so distinguished for his simplicity and godly sincerity, was chargeable with such unhallowed conformity to evil world? To opinions, which he disapproved, if they were but of doubtful disputation, and to prejudices, which he thought unreasonable, if they were but consistent with real goodness, he did indeed accommodate himself; and this was one of the loveliest traits of his character. It was an accommodation, which the lessons of the gospel required and which christian philanthropy dictated. It was such an accommodation, as the apostle Paul exemplified, when he became all things to all men, that he might by all means save some. That he was careful to accommodate himself to opinions which he seriously disapproved, and to prejudices, which he really thought pernicious, we believe to be an unsupported im. putation. The manner of his ministry, as well as of his life, is well known. No contemporary minister, perhaps, was more uniformly and decidedly If evangelical in his ministry, than Dr. Tappan. He was a remark. able example, in these degenerate days, of that method of preaching, of which the apostles gave a primitive pattern, when, instead of handling the word of God deceitfully, they by manifestation of the truth commended themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. it has been thought, that he was culpably accommodating in what he deemed momentous, we believe it to be a rare if not a solitary opinion. The idea was taken by the biographer from anonymous "Sketches of the life and character of Dr. Tappan." The author of those Sketches, however, was less positive in his stricture, than the copyist. His language is "It is doubted, whether he uniformly showed in what high estimation he held the distinguishing doctrines of the gospel." "If he ever gave occasion to say, that he did not express the truths, which he embraced, with sufficient perspicuity and fulness; if, in some instances, he was too careful to accommodate himself to opinions, which he disapproved, and to prejudices, which he believed pernicious; it was no greater failing, than has, alas, been found in the best of mortals." The insinuation is indeed strong, but there is no affirmation. This anonymous and hypothetical paragraph is raised by the biographer into the rank of legitimate authority and historical verity. This is to reverse the method of an exact historian, who, instead of exalting hypotheses to facts, often depresses assumed facts to hypotheses, In that rank ought this passage to have been quietly left. Nor ought the following testimony of the writer of the Sketches to have been omitted, which we believe to be literally exact, and which will be thought by many to be an essential vindication of the Professor: "After all, it was manifest, that he made evangelical religion the sum and centre of his preaching." It is but just to the memory of this good man, to subjoin his own sentiments on the very subject in question, delivered on a solemn occasion,* and conscientiously regarded, we doubt not, in his own public ministry. In answer to the question, What course shall ministers take to vindicate their injured profession, and to maintain and promote the declining interests of religion?" he says, 66 In the candid opinion of the preacher, the surest path to these objects is a clear and lively exhibition of the gospel in its full orbed lustre, in all its interesting doctrines, duties, and sanctions, in their public ministrations, enforced by a strong and unceasing display of its excellent spirit in their private deportment. Such an exhibition seems the most promising method to leave on the consciences of their hearers a serious sense of the divine glory and infinite importance of christianity; and to impress surrounding infidels with its transcendent superiority to their boasted schemes of natural religion or human philosophy. But if the public defenders of the gospel studiously accommodate its principles to the boasted but perverted reason and liberality of an unbelieving and *Before the Annual Convention of ministers, 1797. licentious age; will they not hold up the christian revelation to the view of infidels as a very uncertain and unimportant sys. tem, and give them room to suspect that even its learned and professional advocates are secretly ashamed of some of its evident and distinguishing features?" We have observed the follow. ing Errors. ABBOT (HULL) died, not in 1782, but in 1774. BROOKS (ELEAZER) is con founded, in one instance, with another officer of that name. It was not he, who was "in the second action near Stillwater, Oct. 7, 1777;" but, we presume, it was general JOHN BROOKS of Medford. To him, we suppose, judge Marshall refers, in his Life of Washington; in which case, the statement of Mr. A. is incor. rect, and the authority misapplied. CLARKE (JOHN, D. D.) was ordained, not in 1788, but in 1778. CUSHING (JACOB, D. D.) preached the sermon on the death of Rev. Joseph Jackson, not in 1776, but in 1796. LIVINGSTON (WILLIAM, LL. D). The review of the mili tary operations in North Amer. ica from 1753 to 1756, concern. ing which the Editors of the Historical Collections observe, that, "it is said to have been written by Mr. Livingston, in conjunction with his friends W. Smith and Scott," is affirmed by Mr. Allen to have been written by them. We have been assured by a lit. erary gentleman of Philadelphia, that the review was not written by them. LOGAN (JAMES). His transla tion of Cicero de Senectute in |