With the army he became a great favorite, particularly with the officers of distinction. General Washington admired him both for his talents and his usefulness in the army. Besides benefitting the soldiers in a religious point, he infused ardor among them by his patriotic songs which were published and circulated through the country. The one commencing thus: "Columbia Columbia! to glory arise, The Queen of the world and Child of the Skies," was sufficient in itself to kindle enthusiasm in a soldier's heart and urge him forward to victory. On repairing to Northampton his duties there became threefold. He superintended the farm which belonged to his mother, preached on the Sabbath, and established a school in his native town, which acquired great celebrity throughout the country. While a resident of Northampton he was twice a member of the Legislature at Boston, and was earnestly solicited by many to devote himself to public life. He refused the offer of becoming a member of the Continental Congress, and turned his attention to his clerical profession, which better accorded with his desire of doing good. In November, 1783, he was ordained pastor of a church in Fairfield, Connecticut, where he continued to preach till the year 1795, when on the death of President Stiles, he was chosen to succeed him in the Presidency of Yale College. This was an era in the history of the institution. No man could have been better qualified for the station. More than twenty years before, he had shown himself eminently fitted to manage students in college, and he had now added to experience the dignity of age and had acquired a reputation which had spread over this country and a portion of Europe. At the time he came to the Presidency, Yale college was not in a flourishing condition. There was a lack of funds to carry it forward successfully and the number of students was quite small. The college laws were anti-American, and ill adapted to the liberal spirit which should characterize free institutions. Infidelity prevailed to a great extent among the members of college, and had become alinost as popular as it was in the heart of France. A change, however, in each particular, was soon effected by the great ability of Dr. Dwight. His eloquence before the Legislature was effective in procuring money from the State; his wide-spread popularity increased the number of students from one hundred to three hundred; his force of argument drove infidelity from the University; his skill and judgment wrought out a code of laws which were both efficient and satisfactory in producing general harmony throughout the insti tution. Previous to his accession to the office of President, there were great dissentions existing between the different classes, and an almost insurmountable distance between the officers of College and the students. Freshmen were literally "hewers of wood and drawers of water" for honorable seniors, while seniors themselves were treated more like school boys than like gentlemen. The new system of discipline, adopted by Dr. Dwight, banished this species of serfdom, and urbanity of manners became general among officers and students. As an instructor he was clear, thorough and practical. He did not confine himself to the text books used in college, but embellished his subject with emanations from his own genius. His anecdotes and illustrations, threw a charm around the most abstruse and dry subjects, such as logic and metaphysics, which lured the student into admiration of them. He encouraged forensic discussion, by proposing questions upon which he often gave eloquent decisions, fortified by powerful argument. It is remarked by Professor Silliman that he discharged the duties of four offices, either of which is ordinarily considered as sufficient to engross the time and talents of one man. He was charged with the genera! superintendence and responsibility constituting the appropriate duties of the Presidency; he instructed the Senior class in their peculiar studies, but on a much more enlarged plan than his predecessors; he voluntarily discharged to a great extent, the duties of a Professor of Belles Lettres and oratory; and was charged also with those of a Professor of Theology." The same writer remarks that "it was never any part of his plan merely to discharge his duty he did it with his whole mind and heart; and thought nothing adequately done, till all was done that the case admitted of. Till the increase of professorships rendered it unnecessary, he heard the Senior class recite twice as often as had been customary, and on most occasions his recitations were of double the length that would have been required." The amount of labor which he performed is truly astonishing. Besides teaching through the week, he also preached two sermons on each Sabbath. Writing, with him, seemed rather a relaxation than a burden. He could dictate to his amanuensis with freedom and at the same time be carrying on a cheerful train of conversation with his friends. Owing to the weakness of his eyes he was obliged to refrain from reading as far as possible, and to employ others to read for him. Notwithstanding his manifold duties in College and the difficulties with which he was obliged to contend on account of his impaired sight, he was familiar with nearly every valuable publication, and left behind him writings, of his own, sufficient to fill twelve or more large octavo volumes. His vacations were usually spent in travelling and the whole of his time was occupied in the closest observation and in a most useful manner. In fact not an hour passed, except the time for sleep, in which he did not give or receive some useful information. As an author, Dr. Dwight is favorably known, not only in America but throughout Europe. His theological works are of standard excellence, and probably the best which he wrote, as they are more elaborately finished. His "Travels" contain a vast amount of historic material, both interesting and useful. He describes men and manners in an easy and agreeable style which always pleases. His poems, though perhaps not of the first order, are yet of great merit. His subjects are grave and stately, and treated with solemnity. The "Conquest of Canaan," written for the most part in his minority, was well spoken of by Cowper, who remarked in a letter to a friend in America, that he was highly entertained by reading it. The poems of Dr. Dwight would form an interesting volume, and doubtless well pay the publisher for bringing them before the public in a neat form. Dr. Dwight was a man of fine social qualities, dignified bearing and graceful manners. He knew how to accommodate himself to the various kinds of society in which he happened to be thrown. All who knew him respected and loved him. The death of Dr. Dwight, which occurred on the 11th of January, 1817, was felt as a public calamity. The stores in New Haven were closed on the day of the funeral, and general sorrow prevailed throughout the country. All felt that not only a great but a good man had fallen, one whose influence for more than forty years had been potent in disseminating good and dispelling evil. He died as he had lived, calm and composed, leaving behind him the impress of his greatness and his goodness, to be reflected in others. A SONG FOR SPRING. BY LILY GRAHAM. Joy through all the happy woodlands! Rustling in the blossoming trees, Borne along the distant echoes, All the earth is clothed with beauty, All the air is filled with music, With the birds' triumphant strains, THE PRINCESS, A Medley: by ALFRED TENNYSON. Boston, 1848. Tennyson's May Queen, wedded to Dempster's music, has made the poet's name familiar to every one. His other writings are not as well known, at least in this country. "The Princess," his last, will, we trust, win for him a wider and greater reputation than he has yet gained. Though it cannot be ranked in the first class of poems, still it is full of beauties, both of thought and of expression; and, what is still better, it contains a very excellent moral. It is written in blank verse; not the verse of Wordsworth, or of Cowper, or of Young, or of Milton; but one peculiar to our author. Aiming apparently at conciseness, he is sometimes obscure and often abrupt; somewhat as an English Tacitus might be. it might puzzle one, for a moment, to understand the meaning of the following sentence: "Dare we dream of that,' I asked, 'Which wrought us, as the workman and his work, Or the italicised words in this: Some cowled and some bare-headed, on they came, Thus It often needs a reperusal of a sentence to comprehend its construction. Nominatives are at one end; verbs at another, if anywhere; and disjointed clauses perplex the reader. Yet with these blemishes there are many beautiful and melodious lines, showing the skillful artist-" jewels," to use his own words, which will "On the forefinger of all Time Sparkle forever " We hardly understand why the poem is called a medley. It is a single tale, with a short prologue, which by giving it the character of an extemporaneous effort of the fancy, excuses any little inconsistencies or anachronisms. A party of college students are spending a vacation with one of their number at his father's country seat. It is a holiday to the tenants and they have filled the lawns. "Babies rolled about Like tumbled fruit in grass; and men and maids Struck up with Soldier-Laddie, and overhead The broad ambrosial aisles of lofty lime Made noise with bees and breeze from end to end." The students with Lilia, their host's sister, "A rosebud set with little wilful thorns, have assembled in the old Abbey ruins; and there, after some |