No constitution of government ever received a more masterly and successful vindication. I know not, indeed, of any work on the principles of free government that is to be compared, in instruction and intrinsic value, to this small and unpretending volume of the Federalist; not even if we resort to Aristotle, Cicero, Machiavel, Montesquieu, Milton, Locke, or Burke. It is equally admirable in the depth of its wisdom, the comprehensiveness of its views, the sagacity of its reflections, and the fearlessness, patriotism, candour, simplicity, and elegance, with which its truths are uttered and recommended. Mr. Justice Story acted wisely in making the Federalist the basis of his Commentary. KENT, JAMES, 1826-54, Commentaries upon American Law.

His are easily distinguished by their superior comprehensiveness, practicalness, originality, and condensed and polished diction. GRISWOLD, RUFUS WILMOT, 1846, The Prose Writers of America, p. 91.

The Federalist originally appeared in the columns of the New York Daily Advertiser. The papers were collected and published in two neat duodecimo volumes, by J. & A. M'Lean, New York, 1788; another edition appeared during Hamilton's Lifetime, in 1802, from the press of George F. Hopkins, New York. The papers were also included in an edition of Hamilton's works, in three vols., by Williams & Whiting, New York, 1810. In 1818, an edition was published by Jacob Gideon at Washington, which embraced the revisions by Madison of his papers.-DUYCKINCK, EVERT A. AND GEORGE L., 1855-65-75, Cyclopædia of American Literature, ed. Simons, vol. 1, p. 439, note.

It was from him that the Federalist derived the weight and the power which commanded the careful attention of the country, and carried conviction to the great body of intelligent men in all parts of the Union.-CURTIS, GEORGE TICKNOR, 1855, History of the Origin, Formation and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, vol. 1, p. 417.

On the whole, the "Federalist" is a very remarkable instance of statesmanlike ability, in which a certain amount of pedantry and affectation may well be pardoned in consideration of the clearness with which the conditions of a great political crisis are appreciated. Hamilton, whose influence is most perceptible, was by far the ablest representative of what may be called the English theory of government in the United States; and took no inconsiderable share in carrying into. execution the plan which he had so ably defended. STEPHEN, LESLIE, 1876, History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, vol. II, p. 260.

These are, perhaps, the ablest political essays in the English language; and they are like some of the great speeches of Burke, in that they were intended to effect an immediate purpose only and yet have served ever since as a perpetual storehouse of political wisdom.-MATTHEWS, BRANDER, 1896, An Introduction to the Study of American Literature, p. 221.

The effect was immediate and far-reach

ing. The "Federalist" did more than any other writing to secure the adoption and support of the Constitution throughout the country. It is a profound disquisition on the principles of our government, and has since been quoted as of the highest authority on constitutional questions. But it is more than a political and controversial treatise. Its masterly style raises it to the rank of real literature. Most of the controversial writings of the Revolutionary Period have been forgotten. Having served their temporary purpose, they have been swept into oblivion. But the "Federalist" endures as one of the masterpieces of the human reason. sustained power is wonderful. The argument, clothed in elevated, strong, and sometimes eloquent language, moves forward with a mighty momentum that sweeps away everything before it. It is hardly surpassed in the literature of the world as a model of masterful popular reasoning. By this production Hamilton won for himself a foremost place in the literature of his time.-PAINTER, F. V. N., 1897, Introduction to American Literature, p. 87.

Its

As a series of formal essays, the "Federalist" groups itself roughly with the "Tatler," the "Spectator," and those numerous descendants of theirs which fill

the literary records of eighteenth-century England. It differs, however, from all these, in both substance and purpose. The "Tatler," the "Spectator," and their successors dealt with superficial matters in a spirit of literary amenity: the "Federalist" deals, in an argumentative spirit as earnest as that of any Puritan divine, with political principles paramount in our history; and it is so wisely thoughtful that one may almost declare it the permanent basis of sound thinking concerning American constitutional law. Like all the educated writing of the eighteenth century, too, it is phrased with a rhythmical balance and urbane polish which gave it claim to literary distinction. After all, however, one can hardly feel it much more significant in a history of pure letters than are the opinions in which a little later Judge Marshall and Judge Story developed and expounded the constitutional law which the "Federalist" commented on. Its true character appears when we remember the most important thing published in England during the same years,—the poetry of Robert Burns. The contrast between Burns and the "Federalist" tells the whole literary story. Just as in the seventeenth century the only serious literature of America was a phase of that half-historical, half-theological sort of work which had been a minor part of English literature generations before; so in the eighteenth century the chief product of American literature was an extremely ripe example of such political pamphleteering as in England had been a minor phase of letters during the period of Queen Anne. Pure letters in America were still to come.-WENDELL, BARRETT, 1900, A Literary History of America, p. 118.

GENERAL

That great man, whose remarkable career was finished at the point when most men are just ready for action, was a reader and inquirer in political economy in his twentieth year. In his twenty-fifth year, in such leisure as the camp of the Revolution afforded, he matured a scheme for a Bank of the United States, and became a correspondent of Morris on that subject. And, finally, at the age of thirty-four, he produced, as Secretary of the Treasury, his great reports on the Public Credit, on a National Bank, and on Manufactures, the most powerful and comprehensive

discussion of the national finances every made under our government, and the subject, it may be remembered, of one of Mr. Webster's noblest periods. Those reports bear the evidence throughout of much reading and reflection upon the experiences of nations, and of careful meditation on the speculations and theories of previous writers. Both the knowledge of

economic questions and the power of dealing with them exhibited by Hamilton in these discussions warrant us in setting him down as a writer who, under other conditions and freed from the pressure of public business, might have been expected to make some positive contribution to the development of economic theory. But his few crowded years left him little opportunity for such pursuits, and it would now be hard to say that he left any impression on the thought of the world, by his dealing with this subject. His reports have continued to be the arsenal from which the advocates of special measures have again and again drawn forth weapons now well worn; but systematic political economy cannot be said to owe to him any recognized principle, any discovery in method, or indeed any influence save the stimulus which his example must always afford to the student of financial history.-DUNBAR, CHARLES F., 1876, Economic Science in America, 1776-1876, North American Review, vol. 122, pp. 130, 131.

The greatness of his political has obscured the memory of his literary fame: he was one of the best writers of his time. He wrote in the periodic style, sonorous, often weighty and austere. He was only forty-seven when he died; yet his literary productions fill many volumes, his clear intelligence instructed his age. He helped to form the Constitution, and, although not pleased with some of its provisions, defended it in the "Federalist" with great force and propriety. His pen was never at rest; he spared few of his contemporaries; his integrity was undoubted, his patriotism sincere; his influence upon the fate of his country incalculable.-LAWRENCE, EUGENE, 1880, A Primer of American Literature, p. 42.

During our rapid advance in wealth and influence they [Hamilton's writings] have shown the adaptive power which belongs to principles rather than expedients. Their effect has been far-reaching and

permanent, and the memory of their author shall be as lasting as the Union which he helped to form.-LANG, PHILIP A., 1880, Alexander Hamilton, ed. Dodge, p. 112.

If we compare Hamilton with the other writers of that period when every distinguished man did more or less political writing, and when there was no other native literature, it is a simple matter to fix his position. He was easily first. Not only have his writings alone survived for the general reader out of the wilderness of essays and pamphlets of the last century on similar subjects, but the "Federalist" has become a text-book in America and an authority in Europe. Hamilton, in this capacity, will, however, bear a severer test, that of abstract merit. His writings deal exclusively with the great questions of that day, and have lost their living interest. Yet as specimens of political literature, as disquisitions on constitutions and the art of government, and as masterpieces of reasoning, they are not only the best produced here, but they will take high rank among the best efforts of other countries. One quality which raised Hamilton in this regard beyond his contemporaries on both sides of the Atlantic was his freedom from the didactic tone which so mars the writings of the latter half of the last century. His style was simple, nervous, and modern in feeling, and anyone who has tried to condense one of his arguments will appreciate the statement that the thought is compressed to the last point consistent with clearness. Yet forcible and convincing as all Hamilton's essays are, pure as is the style, and vigorous and rapid as is the flow of thought, they are hard reading. Admiring them as models in their way and as great intellectual efforts, one is forced to confess them dry to the last degree.—LODGE, HENRY CABOT, 1884, Studies in History, p. 168.

The writings of Hamilton, like those of nearly all the politicians whose names are here under consideration, had no real literary motive. They were produced in the course of the life of a statesman, and all, whether written with greater or less care, were designed to further the ends of statecraft or of political management.

. His rank as an author depends finally upon his contributions to "The Federalist"a weighty and potent book,

In the exposition of his views touching the several vast fields of thought here brought under consideration, constitutional law, municipal law, the long line. of colonial charters, colonial laws and precedents, international polity as affecting the chief nations of Christendom, justice in the abstract and justice in the concrete, human rights both natural and conventional, the physical and metaphysical conditions underlying the great conflict then impending, it must be confessed, that this beardless philosopher, this statesman not yet out of school, this military strategist scarcely rid of his roundabout, exhibits a range and precision of knowledge, a ripeness of judgment, a serenity, a justice, a massiveness both of thought and of style, which would perhaps make incredible the theory of his authorship of these pamphlets, were not this theory confirmed by his undoubted exhibition in other ways, at about the same period of his life, of the same astonishing qualities: as in his "Remarks on the Quebec Bill," published in 1775; in his letters under the signature of "Publius," published in 1778; in his essays over the signature of "The Continentalist," published in 1781; above all, in his personal letter to James Duane written in 1780, and containing a powerful statement of the defects of the articles of confederation, and an almost miraculous forecast of the very incidents and sequences of the process by which, some seven or eight years afterward, the articles of confederation were actually developed into the constitution of the United States.-TYLER, MOSES COIT, 1897, The Literary History of the American Revolution, 1763–1783, vol. 1, p. 390.

From his time to the present, in peace and war, notwithstanding temporary embarrassments and occasional panics, the finances of the government have been sound, and its obligations accepted wherever offered. In the long line of honest and able secretaries who have administered the treasury, Hamilton stands as the first and greatest financier.-GILMAN, DANIEL C., 1897, Library of the World's Best Literature, ed. Warner, vol. xii, p. 6895.

469

PERSONAL

A poetess and deplorable actress.WALPOLE, HORACE, 1748, To George Montagu, Sept. 3; Letters, ed. Cunningham, vol. II, p. 126.

He (Dr. Johnson) gave us an account of Mrs. Lennox. Her "Female Quixote" is very justly admired here. But Mrs. Thrale says that though her books are generally approved, nobody likes her. I find she, among others, waited on Dr. Johnson upon her commencing writing, and he told us. that at her request he carried her to Richardson. "Poor Charlotte Lennox!"' continued he. "When we came to the house she desired me to leave her; 'for,' says she, 'I am under great restraint in your presence; but if you leave me alone with Richardson, I'll give you a very good account of him;' however, I fear poor Charlotte was disappointed, for she gave me no account at all."-D'ARBLAY, MME. (FANNY BURNEY), 1778, Diary, Aug. 26.

Mrs. Lenox, a lady now well known in the literary world, had written a novel intitled, "The Life of Harriot Stuart," which in the spring of 1751, was ready for publication. One evening at the club, Johnson proposed to us the celebrating the birth of Mrs. Lenox's first literary child, as he called her book, by a whole night spent in festivity. Upon his mentioning it to me, I told him I had never sat up a whole night in my life; but he continuing to press me, and saying, that I should find great delight in it, I, as did all the rest of our company, consented. The place appointed was the Devil tavern, and

there, about the hour of eight, Mrs. Lenox and her husband, and a lady of her acquaintance, now living, as also the club, and friends to the number of near twenty, assembled. Our supper was elegant, and Johnson had directed that a magnificent hot apple-pie should make a part of it, and this he would have stuck with bay-leaves, because, forsooth, Mrs. Lenox was an authoress, and had written verses; and further, he had prepared for her a crown of laurel, with which, but not till he had invoked the muses by some ceremonies of his own invention, he encircled her brows. The night passed, as must be imagined, in pleasant conversation, and harmless mirth, intermingled at different periods with the refreshments of coffee and tea. About

five Johnson's face shone with meridian splendour, though his drink had been only lemonade; but the far greater part of us had deserted the colours of Bacchus, and were with difficulty, rallied to partake of a second refreshment of coffee, which was scarcely ended when the day began to dawn. This phenomenon began to put us in mind of our reckoning; but the waiters were all so overcome with sleep, that it was two hours before we could get a bill, and it was not till near eight that the creaking of the street-door gave the signal for our departure.-HAWKINS, SIR JOHN, 1787, Life of Samuel Johnson, p. 285.

GENERAL

On the evening of Saturday, May 15, he was in fine spirits at our Essex Head Club. He told us, "I dined yesterday at Mrs. Garrick's with Mrs. Carter, Miss Hannah