1829.] INSOLVENTS. 85 posed of many of our most respectable citizens, including the machinery of this plane, by which the possibility of several heavy capitalists, together with several scientific any great injury in case the chain should break, or any gentlemen from Pennsylvania and elsewhere,and the of other part of the machinery give way, is prevented, ficers and directors of the canal company, the engineer, which deserves particular mention. This is a governor, canal commissioners, &c. Leaving the city (New York) which is so applied to the wheels that the moment their early on the bright and beautiful morning of the 13th velocity is unduly accelerated, large wedges drop upinst. after skimming briskly over the Newark meadows, on them instantly, and stop their motion. This contrito the delightful and thriving town whence they derive vance, and the self-acting water gate, is, in our opinion, their name, and traversing a portion of the canal banks proof that great ingenuity and ability have been embetween Newark and Bloomfield, we made our first ployed in the construction of this plane. Of these stop at the latter place to examine the inclined plane things, as well as of some other ingenious contrivances just completed near the village, and which the party connected with the machinery, we understand Mr. E. were to see in successful operation. There has been Morris, a young man, who was the Contractor by whom much scepticism upon the subject of inclined planes, the plane was erected, deserves the credit. and the fact having become known that the works here At the exhibition of which we are speaking, one of were to be set in motion, many hundred citizens, from the cars was loaded with twenty-five tons of stone; Newark and the surrounding neighborhood were collec- which, to prevent all question as to the quantity, had ted on the occasion to witness the experiment, which, been actually weighed with a pair of scales. On the as will be seen in the sequel, was equally successful and other car was a boat intended for passengers, which was satisfactory. therefore,only freighted with 15tons of stone. These cars, The plane overcomes an elevation of fifty-two feet. — with these loads, and really a multitude of people in the The rail-ways have an inclination of one foot in every boat, were passed over this plane of fifty-two feet lift, twelve-of course they are 624 feet in length. The in less than seven minutes. Nothing could be more per: plane is constructed on the balance principle-that is, fect or beautiful than the whole operation. It seemed a chain passes round a pulley wheel at the head of the to leave no doubt on the mind of any of the spectators plane, and a car, on which a boat and cargo is to be present, but that Fulton's prediction that planes would transported, is attached to the end of the chain. The ultimately supercede locks where high elevations are pulley-wheel, is connected with a water-wheel by a to be overcome, was about to be realized. common gearing, so that the motion may be instantly N. Y. Com. Adv. and easily reversed by throwing spur-wheels in and out of gear. The descending assists the ascending body, INSOLVENTS. just as the descending bucket in a well assists that which is ascending. And the water-wheel at the head Trades or occupations of 182 persons who applied at of the plane, (to continue the familiar comparison,) sup- the Insolvent Court of Philadelphia on the 24th of June. plies the place of the man at the crank of the wheel - These lists we consider useful, as exhibiting in some and as the man at the crank would have to hold back, if the descending bucket were the heaviest, so at the measure those branches of business which require such plane, if the descending boat is the most weighty, the relief. water wheel will be used to retard the motion, instead Occupations. No. Occupations. No. of propelling it. The trade from the summit level to Labourers... 1 Newark, will be chiefly a descending trade-that is, the Shoemakers. 15 Stone cutter. descending freights of coal, iron, ore, lumber, plaster, Carpenters. .1 agricultural produce, &c. ninety-nine times out of a Innkeepers.. 1 bundred, will be the heaviest. And in such cases no Merchants... ..7 Coach trimming manu, water will be used on the water-wheel. Mariners ...... ..6 facturer... In the attempts heretofore made to introduce the in- Weavers .6 Tin pedlar .1 clined plane on canals, the greatest difficulty has been Accountants .4 Brickmaker..... to pass the boat from the apex, or highest part of the Oystermen... ..4 Coachmaker.. plane, into the water of the upper level, or vice versa Tobacconists .4 Editor....... 1 from the water to the plane. Double plains have been Shopkeepers... .4 | Miller... 1 tried-that is, the plane from the lower level was carri- Bricklayers. .4 Architect.... ed up to some height above the water in the upper lev- Blacksmiths... 4 Stationer. el, and from the highest point a plane was made to de- From penitentiary. 4 Cooper. scend into the water of the upper level upon which the Traders .. Porter.. boat was to be launched, and to descend by gravity in- Manufacturers... .3 Gardener..... to the water. When a boat was to descend, she was to Comedians .3 Mason be drawn up by the machinery to the apex, and thence Carters...... .3 Tanner and Currier to descend to the lower level by her preponderance a- Watermen.. ..3 Sail maker ...... 1 lone or wiih the assistance of a water wheel. Another Taylors. .3 Harness maker mode which has been tried, is, to carrry the boat up in Attornies at Law... 3 Broker.. a moveable lock. Whatever difficulties these means Sugar refiners.. .2 Lamp maker.. presented seem entirely overcome by the very simple Whitesmiths.... .2 | Druggist machinery which we have been attempting in part to Coach drivers.... .2 Bran!&stampcutter. describe. There are two locks (or rather two half Hatters.... .2 Saddler... locks,) upon the inclined plane at its head. Into one Painters & Glaziers.. .2 Dyer...... of these locks the ascending boat is drawn by the pully- Teachers... 2 Baker... wheel, while the descending boat is leaving the other victuallers. .2 Cabinet maker. lock and descending to the lower level. When the as- Waiters.. Brush maker cending boat reaches the top of the plane, she is com- Uncertain.... Comb maker... 1 pletely in the lock, into which the water is let from the Wheel-wright.. .1 Upholsterer..... 1 upper level. And during the operation, by a most in- Grocer..... .1 Umbrellamaker. genious contrivance, as the water rushes in, it raises a Barber .1 Glass polisher.. gate behind the boat, closing the lock, which then fills Chemist. .1 | Gilder.... with water till it rises to a level with that of the upper Watchman .1 Turner.. 1 level. Chair maker. 1 The upper gates of the lock then open, and the boat Pocket book maker....1 proceeds on her voyage. There is a beautiful part of Shipwright ..... 1 182 3 a UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. William E. Horner, M. D. Adjunct Professor of Ana. At the annual Cammencement in the Arts, held July tomy. 31, 1829, in the Hall of the Musical Fund Society, the William P. Dewees, M. D. Adjunct Professor of Midfollowing degrees were conferred wifery. The degree of Bachelor of Arts on Edward A. Nassati, Samuel Jackson, M. D. Assistant to the Professor Joseph Wharton, William Delany, Adrian Vanderkemp, of the Institutes and Practice of Physick and Clinical Charles T. Potts, John Robertson, James C. Booth, Medicine. James L. Fisher, Clement Biddle, John B. Chapman, Professor of Botany.-Solomon W. Conrad. and William White. Rev. James Wiltbank, Master of the Eastern GransThe degree of Master of Arts on Robert B. Davidson- mar School.-John Sanderson, Master of the Western James P. Wilson, C. P, Bayard, Joseph Carson, Thomas Grammar School. M'Kinley, T. Latimer Bowie, James Nassau, and T. R. A. De Valville, Teacher of French.-Augustus Willis, Newbold. Teacher of Spanish. The degree of Doctor of Medicine on James M. Stew. Joseph Bullock, Master of Keble's Charity School. art, of Pennsylvania, and Washington Moorhead, of John M.Kinley, Master of the Boys Charity School Ohio; and the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine on Jane Knowles, Mistress of the Girls Charity School. Nathan Cole, of Burlington, New Jersey, and John This Institution had its origin in the establishment of Cooper, of Easton, Pennsylvania. an “ Academy and Charitable School,” located on the The bonorary degree of Master of Arts on Joseph Ro- west side of North Fourth street, between High (otherberts, of Philadelphia; and wise called Market) and Mulberry (otherwise called The degree of Doctor in Divinity on the Rev. Charles Arch) streets, to the trustees of which a charter was Williams, President of Baltimore College, in Maryland; granted by Thomas and Richard Penn, proprietaries of and the Rev. Eleazer T. Fitch, Professor of Divinity in the province of Pennsylvania, A. D. 1753. Yale College, in Connecticut. By charter from the same proprietaries, bearing date Previous to the commencement, the corner stone of June, 1755, the objects of the institution were rendered the new College Hall was laid with appropriate cere- more comprehensive, and the style became “The Col. monies, by the Right Rev. William White, D. D. Bishop lege, Academy, and Charitable School in the Province of Pennsylvania, and senior Trustee of the University; of Pennsylvania.” and an inscription in Latin, and in English, to the fol. This charter was annulled by act of Assembly of the lowing effect, with a list of graduates, was deposited in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, September, 1779, and the stone; an apposite address being delivered by Jo- the “Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania” inseph R. Ingersoll, Esq. one of the Trustees of the Uni- corporated. versity. In 1791 act was repealed by the State Assembly, “This writing is deposited to record the commencement and the “College, Academy, and Charitable Scbool” of a new building for the use of the Collegiate Depart. united to the University, under the style of “The Uniment of the University of Pennsylvania. versity of Pennsylvania.” Trustees of the University. The location was then changed from Fourth street to The Governor of the State, Peter S. Duponceau, South Ninth street,' west side, between Chestnut and High streets, to the house erected by the State of Pennex officio, President of LL. D. the Board, Nicholas Biddle, sylvania as a residence for the President of the United States, but never occupied for that purpose. An addition to that building was made for the use of D. D. the Medical Department. Edward Burd, Joseph Hopkinson, LL. D. The building referred to having been found unsuited William Rawle, LL. D. Joseph R. Ingersoll, to the use to which it had been applied, has been razed, Benjamin R. Morgan, Reverend Philip F. Mayer, a Medical Hall erected on the soutbern portion of the James Gibson, D. D. site, and on the northern portion a building for the Col. William Meredith, Rt. Rev. Henry U. Onder- stone, July 31, 1829. legiate Department commenced by laying this corner Benjamin Chew, donk, D. D. Reverend James P. Wilson, Robert Walsh, LL. D. President of the United States-Andrew Jackson. D. D. John C. Lowber, Vice President John C. Calhoun. Chief Justice-John Marshall. Shulze. Chief Justice- John B. Gibson. Mayor of the City of Philadelphia-Benjamin W. Richards. Rev. William H. De Lancey, D. D. Provost ard Pro- This building is to be erected under the superintend. fessor of Moral Philosophy. ence of William Strickiand, Architect; by John StruthRobert Adrain, LL. D. Vice Provost and Professor of ers, stone cutter; Daniel B. Groves, bricklayer; Juhri Mathematics. O'Neil, carpenter.” Reverend Samuel B. Wylie, D. D. Professor of Lan- This writing is accompanied by a list of the Profesguages. sors up to this date, the seal of the University, a copy Alexander Dallas Bache, Professor of Natural Philo. of the laws for the government of the College, a list of sophy and Chemistry. the students in January, 1829, and the address of the Rev. Edward Rutledge, Assistant Professor of Moral Provost at the opening of the College in September, Philosophy. 1828. Professors in the Medical Department. ADDRESS Philip Syng Physick, M. D. Professor of Anatomy. Delivered by Joseph R. Ingersoll, Esq. John Redman Coxe, M. D. Professor of Materia Med. Half a century has elapsed since the University of ica and Pharmacy. Pennsylvania received its charter. Nathaniel Chapman, M. D. Professor of the Institutes During a period so eventful in the history of a rising and Practice of Physick and Clinical Medicine. nation, the advancement of this branch of the institation Thomas C. James, M. D. Professor of Midwifery. has not kept pace with the growth of learning in the Robert Hare, M. D. Professor of Chemistry. republic, or the merited success of its sister depart. William Gibson, M. D. Professor of Surgery. ment. Endowed with sufficient liberality; scated in the 1829.) ROBERT PROUD. ST NOTICES OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF midst of a literary people, whose youth ardently seek instruction, and are eminently entitled to receive it; ROBERT PROUD, often under the guidance of learned and accomplished Author of the "History of Pennsyl'a"-by Charles Il'est Thomson. guardians; still the benefits derived from it have not been as extensive as its superintendents desired to make ( From the memoirs of the Penn. Hist. Soc.) them, or the advantages it enjoyed might have been Most of those great and admirable men who belonged espected to confer. The sphere of capacity has been to the patriarchal age of our country are now no more, wider Iban the sphere of usefulness. The Board of Trustees, deeply impressed with the ored and unsung.” and too many of them have gone to their rest "unhon Unambitious of fame or future reimportance and solemnity of the duties committed to nown, it is true of many of them, that they passed much their care, have been anxious to give full effect to all of their lives in retirement and seclusion. In the native their resources . They have accordingly used their most simplicity of their characters, they pursued the quiet strenuous exertions to call them forth into practical ac, path of unaspiring duty, and while they walked humbly tivity. They have revised the statutes, and renewed before God, and dealt justly with their fellow men, they and enlarged the scheme of education. They have in- asked not the idle breath of praise to give them a cevited the best and most experienced talents of the coun-lebrity, which they knew at best could be but vain and try, to preside over the different departments of instruc- evanescent. Among this unassuming class, perhaps one tion. of the most obscure and retiring was Robert Proud, the Hopes wbich were conceived from the well establish-only citizen of Pennsylvania who has ever honored her ed reputation of the Professors, have been realized in with a History, or attempted to give her a name among their ardent devotion and successful zeal. Public con- the nations. To the contemplation of some prominent fidence has not withheld its approbation, or refused to incidents of his retired life, we propose devoting a few sanction the course which has been pursued. Already pages. the classes have begun to fill.-Industry and talent in He was born, according to a memorandum of his early the instructors perceive that their rewards are gathering life which he has left, on the 10th day of May, 1728.round them, in the wider and wider diffusion of learn- His parents, William and Ann Proud, were at that time ing, in the increase of pupils whose present fidelity in residing in Yorkshire, England, at a farm-house called application, and ambition to excel, afford the safest Low Foxton, which was so named to distinguish it from pledge of ripe and accomplished scholarship. the adjoining farm of High Foxton, and which has long To these untiring efforts at improvement, an obstacle since been entirely demolished. It was situated about a has been presented in the imperfect arrangement of the mile distant from a small market-town called Yarm, on College buildings. The vast pile now nearly prostrate the river Tees, which forms part of the boundary_line with the ground, was designed by the munificence of between the counties of Yorkshire and Durham. From the State for the use of the head of the Federal Govern, his early years, he appears to have been studiously disment. Its spacious corridors and lofiy halls, were ill posed, or as he himself expresses it, “I had a sense of adapted to the abiding place of the Muses; and they too what is good and excellent, and of the contrary; and have yielded to the general resolution to improve. The have ever been, according to that sense, very desirous structure has been removed for the convenience of the of the best things; and therefore early, in my young public; and from the same motive, a position central to years, had a strong inclination for learning, virtue, and the population of the city has been retained, at no in- true wisdom, or improvement of mind and mental feliconsiderable sacrifice. It is now to become the site of city, before, or in preference to all mere worldly or inan edifice, whose simplicity will correspond with the ferior considerations; which I afterwards rejected on habits and occupations of its inmates, but whose sym- that account, when I was courted by them, and had it metry and taste, it is hoped, will not be unworthy of in my power to have appeared in a much superior chathe classic feeling which it is its main object to instil. racter and station in the world, than I am since known Should the desires of this great community permit to be in." and encourage the undertaking, the design is cherished The first step which he took in the path of learning of extending still further the plan of accommodation. was at the neighbouring village of Crathorn; where he Other buildings may be erected when other wants re- went to school, to acquire the rudiments of knowledge, quire them. Then, upon this foundation may arise a to a person of the name of Baxter. This circumstance, great institute, the source of instruction in every art as far as we are informed, presented, in itself, nothing and every science. In its diversified and comprehen- remarkable; but it is interesting, as being the outset of sive views, not only may polite learning be united with shat career, which afterwards stamped bis character,and the exact sciences and the philosophy of nature and of produced so powerful an influence over his fortunes. morals, but the mechanic arts may find a home, each When Robert was about five or six years of age, the department of professional knowledge may be attain- family removed from Foxton to a farm 15 or 20 miles ed, and all the modern tongues may be brought into distant, near the village of Thirsk, called Wood End, immediate comparison with the energetic diction of which had long been the seat and residence of the TalTacitus, and the prolific language of Sophocles and bots. Here he continued to reside until he was nearly Homer. grown up, when, induced by his desire for improve ment, he obtained permission to leave his paternal manAt a meeting of the Trustees held August 4th, 1829, sion, and took up his abode under the roof of one Dait was unanimously resolved vid Hall, at Skipton, in a distant part of the same counThat the Trustees have witnessed with great satisfac- ty of Yorkshire. Some depression of spirits, very natution the assiduity and zeal of the Provost, Vice Provost, ral to a young mind on its first departure from home, Professors, and Assistant Professor in the Department of | appears to have attended him in the prospect as well the Arts, during the time that has elapsed since their as the accomplishment of this journey; on which he was respective appointments. accompanied by his cousin Robert Proud, who afterThat the Trustees deem it expedient to express and wards became a preacher in the Society of Friends, and communicate to the officers of the Faculty a sense of visited America on a service of ministerial duty. confidence in their abilities and exertions, and a belief This David Hall was a member of the same society, that perseverance in the industry and devotion which and also a preacher in it;* and kept a boarding-school, they have manifested, will, with the aid of Providence, render the institution a public and a national benefit. *He was likewise a writer of some esteem in the soBy order of the Board, ciety, and after his death, some of his productions were WM. WHITE, Chairman. re-printed, and published in a small octavo volume, with Atteşt-James C. BIDDLE, Secretary. a sketch of his life written by himself. W a a in which he taught the Latin and Greek languages, and some other branches of learning. The subject of our present notice had no previous knowledge of him, excepting by name and character, but he was a man, it seems, of some literary reputation; and, as Proud says in his memorandum, "esteemed one of the most learned, reputable, and most worthy persons, then in that part of England." The preceptor and the pupil appear, however, to have been well pleased with each other; and a firm friendship was cemented between them, which continued unremitted until the death of Hall, till which time they maintained a correspondence in the Latin tongue. Robert remained in the house of his esteemed tutor at Skipton about four years, with great satisfaction and improvement. It was not his original intention to devote himself particularly to the languages, but merely to advance himself in some parts of mathematics, and enjoy the improving conversation of his instructor. By his persuasion, however, he applied himself to Latin and Greek, and soon made considerable proficiency. cumstances, he also discovered, were no small impediment to entering into the married state, a situation which, in his early years, he seems to have ardently desired, as conducing materially to the felicity of the hu man mind. But, like Moses on Mount Pisgah, he only perceived the excellency of the promised land, but was never permitted to obtain the possession. From the preceding remarks it will be inferred, that, during his residence in London, Robert Proud was in troduced into a very different rank of society, and moved in a much higher sphere, than that to which he had before been accustomed. It was his good fortune, which he acknowledges as a favour from the Divine hand, to receive from those with whom he then associated, the most respectful notice and attention, From the intimacy which he thus enjoyed with Dr. Fothergill and other celebrated members of the medical profession, he was induced to apply himself to the study of that science; and, having ample opportunity of obtaining the best information on subjects relating to it, he continued the pursuit for several years, with a success fully ade quate to his expectations. His views of the practice of physic were noble and exalted; and the same desire to labour for the benefit of mankind, which had stimulated him to exertion in his former employments, followed him into his present occupation, and urged him to pursue it with increased assiduity. But another change was now to be made, still more trying than the former, to a young and inexperienced mind. To London, that "resort and mart of all the earth, was the next remove, which he effected in the year 1750, being then about 21 years of age, taking with him a recommendation from his affectionate preceptor. After some time, by the influence of his kind friend and But there is a species of professional disgust, (I know relative, the illustrious Dr. John Fothergill, who, unlike not what else to term it,) which sometimes seizes upon some high professors of the present day, "was a great men of the strongest mind and most vigorous intellect, friend of learning, and a zealous promoter of true men- and throws, by its paralyzing influence, a pervading tal improvement, and a lover of all useful science,”(such spell over the whole of their future life. Our admired is Proud's eulogy,) he obtained an agreeable temporary countryman, the late Charles Brockden Brown, was an situation in the families of Sylvanus and Timothy Bevan. interesting instance of this singular malady. Few men, These gentlemen had an establishment in London; but perhaps, have had a fairer opportunity of rising to envi their country seat at Hackney, about two miles distance able reputation at the bar than he; and fewer still have from the city, was generally the place of Robert's resi- possessed abilities so adequate to enable them to ascend dence. In this retirement he first assumed the office of the steep of fame with ease and rapidity. To his ele a preceptor, occupying a considerable part of his time gant, powerful, and comprehensive mind, the law openin the tuition of the two young Bevans, sons of the last ed a field of active enterprise and tempting emolument; named gentleman. He took the opportunity, however, and for a time the race was promising. But ere the in his intervals of leisure, of cultivating his own improve- goal was fairly out of view, this malum magni animi ment in literature and science, in the hope that, at laid its withering grasp upon his energies, and he reti some future period, it might redound to his own advan- red in disgust from the ranks of legal competition. A tage, or at least enable him to become a useful member similar fate awaited the subject of our narrative. With of society. Amid all the ardour of study which he evin- the fairest prospect of success before him, he became ced, the desire to render his attainments subservient to dissatisfied with his situation. It exposed him, he rethe good of his fellow beings seemed to be a paramount marks, "to a very glaring view of the chief causes of consideration; and sometimes, as had before been hint- those diseases, (not to say vices,) which occasioned the ed, occasioned the neglect of his own immediate inter- greatest emolument to the profession of medicine;" and, He was now placed in a situation where he could upon this ground, (the solidity of which we leave othindulge this propensity; and his views were still intense-ers to determine,) his aversion to it became so insupely directed, as though he had prophetically foreseen his coming labors in the land of his adoption, not only to his "own future advantage; but also to that of others." He pursued knowledge, at this time, for its own sake; the amor literarum with which he was infected was a sublime hallucination, and taught him to look on pecuniary aggrandizement as mean and contemptible, or, in his own language, "as the most despicable of worldly objects." But he had occasion to regret in after life, with a feeling of blight and disappointment which usually attends such minds, his inattention to the good things of this world, & was obliged to acknowledge, that tho' "honour and fame from no condition rise," yet the circumstances in which we are placed in society do more or less intimately affect our happiness. A man of genius illy provided in this respect, must, generally speaking, either select his associates from among those who are beneath his level in intellect, or else experience much difficulty, as Proud did, in order to act in proper character, and maintain the standing his education would seem to demand. This, to a sensitive mind, would be equally trying on either side; and it will easily be conceived how deeply such an one must feel the deprivations of fortune, even though not subjected to "any immediate want or extraordinary necessity." Narrow cir ests. rable, that he at once abandoned the pursuit, and with it his country. For this last singular step we find it difficult to account. He gives no reason for it himself in the memorandum to which we have referred, excepting some vague idea that it was taken "on account of that satisfaction of mind which much acquaintance, popularity and fame, or the hurry of much employment, crowds and large cities seldom afford." It is not a little remarkable, that so important an action of his life should have a cause assigned for it so very unsatisfactory.* *There is a tradition abroad respecting his emigration from England, which it may not perhaps be amiss to mention, although, as far as we can learn, there is little warrant for its authenticity. He seldom or never spake on the subject, and has, consequently, left the matter open to conjecture. It is said that he had formed an attachment to a young lady of great beauty, to whom, if I am not mistaken,he was under engagement of marriage, which being broken off by the interference of royal gallantry, produced a disappointment, which is spoken of as the cause of his voluntary exile. This, however, it will be remembered is merely tradition. Another individual was well known at one time as having incurred a disappointment of the nature alluded to, and having 1829.] ROBERT PROUD. 89 On the the third day of January, 1759, Robert Proud left his own country under peculiar circumstances, with landed at Lewistown, in the state of Delaware,and three all those powerful attachments, not to say prejudices, days after arrived in Philadelphia. He left behind him which every true patriot should feel for his native land in England three brothers and two sisters, of whom lit--that so long as the colonies remained under the gov. tle is known. His parents, it appears, were yet living, ernment of the mother country, he seemed, in some at the time of his emigration, and, while they remained, measure, to retain a hold upon his birth place-that the it is said, he at one time thought of returning to his na- dismemberment of the colonies broke this tie, and total. tive land; but they, in the course of nature, were remo- ly severed him from the home of his affections. The ved-the auspicious season passed away-and his wish ardent spirits of the times; moreover, must be taken in was never accomplished. The first person with whom to consideration; the treasonable character which the he took up his residence after his arrival, was one Isaac contest was thought by many to present, must also be Greenleaf, at whose house, however, he remained but remembered; and combining these with those fierce a few months. He changed the place of his abode fre- and unfriendly passions, which a civil war invariably a quently during the first twenty years of his residence in wakens, we must forgive Proud, Englishman as he was Philadelphia and its neighborhood. During that time, by birth, and fretted as he had been by early disappoint he resided, at three different intervals, with his worthy ment and later misfortune, if he did prefer the land of friend Anthony Benezet; and he frequently spoke, with his nativity to the land of his adoption, and in that trygreat satisfaction, of the many pleasant hours he spent ing, and, in its results, glorious struggle, gave his full in the company of that estimable man, and those other and undivided heart and feelings to the furtherance of venerable characters who were accustomed to resort to the Tory interests. his humble dwelling.† Finally, however, in the autumn It is not a little singular, that, under this full tide of of 1779, he went to reside with Samuel Clark; in whose polical excitement against the colonies, the subject of family he continued, without intermission, during the our notice should have projected, and in a few years,abremainder of his life, a lapse of more than thirty years. solutely accomplished a History of Pennsylvania-the From the period of his arrival in America, his life as-only history of our state which has ever been attempt. sumed a monotonous aspect, very unfavorable to bio- | ed, and which is rendered more valuable on that ac graphical interest. Retired in his habits, he pursued count, than from any intrinsic merit it possesses. I do the noiseless tenor of his way," and seldom coming not say that it is valuable on that account only; for as a before the public eye, the memory of many of his days succinct collection of historical facts, it undoubtedly dehas gone down with him to the grave. Many years serves the most respectful attention; but its style is too previous, a public school or seminary had been estab- dry, and its diction too inelegant, ever to render it a clas lished by the Society of Friends, one department of sical work, or to enable it to stand before a more grace. which was appropriated to instruction in the classics; ful competitor. It is exactly that stately old-fashioned and in this school, about the year 1761, Proud took his article that its author himself was; only wanting the castation as teacher of the Greek and Latin languages. pacity which he possessed, by gentleness of tone or He continued in this situation until the commencement kindness of manner, to make itself agreeable. He deof the revolutionary war, when he relinquished the pre- serves, however, all reasonable credit for his perform. ceptorship, and engaged in an unfortunate mercantile ance-for it was a work of no small labour to collect the concern with his youngest brother, John Proud, who materials for such a book. He who has never undertawas then a resident in this country. Robert was an ar- ken so arduous a task, knows little of the persevering dent royalist: he could not for a moment entertain an patience it requires to get together into a congregated idea unfavorable to the success of the king's cause, and mass, to sort, select and arrange those "scattered frag made his calculations in business accordingly. The re- ments of broken" facts, which are the body and the essult proved adverse to his expectations and his hopes- sence of such a composition. The difficulty of discov the colonies became independent, and his commercial ering those who have the desired information, and the affairs went to ruin. His brother returned to England, still more insurmountable difficulty of inducing them to and Robert, at the close of the war, again resumed his communicate it, are enough to discourage any man, unschool. less he be endowed with more than common equanimity, from making so wearisome an attempt. In this view, Proud's volumes deserve our sincere commendation. He has acted in the arduous character of a pioneer-he has gone before, and gathered up the segregated mate. rials; and to the future historian he will at least serve as a land-mark, by which he may in some measure direct his course. The total discomfiture of the royal cause, to which his affections were so closely wedded, and the consequent failure of his own private fortunes, seemed to have soured his feelings towards the land of his adoption; and, although his ideas of prudence induced much taciturnity on the subject, yet he has occasionally expressed himself in rather unkindly terms towards this country, in some of the papers which he has left behind him. With regard, however, to his sentiments on this topic, it must be remembered, by way of extenuation, that he had had some acquaintance with Proud, it is supposed by the friends of the latter that the circumstance has thus been incorrectly imputed to him. There seems, nevertheless, to be some slight ground for the belief, that our historian did at one period suffer a similar discomfiture, but not with the person or in the manner generally reported. *Merely for the sake of correctness, it may be as well to observe, that he staid previously, for a day or two, at the house of his friend, Mordecai Yarnall, who was the companion of his voyage. †Proud used to compare Benezet's house to a ship's cabin, it being below the level of the ground, with descending steps to the door. This antiquated building stood in Chesnut street below Fourth, nearly opposite our present Post Office, and was removed in the year 1818, to make room for a more modern edifice, A sketch of it has been preserved by Roberts Vaux, Esq. VOL. IV. 12 I have said that, after his failure, Robert resumed the duties of a teacher. This was his element, and perhaps the sphere of his most extensive usefulness. He took great delight in the languages-was well acquainted with Latin and Greek, and had also a considerable knowledge of French and Hebrew. With the Latin he was so familiar, that he thought he could understand a subject better in that language than in his own. Under such competent government, the school necessarily flourished; and he had the satisfaction of sending forth from it many, who have since attained a high standing in society, and become ornaments to the circles in which they have moved. His manners as a teacher were mild, commanding and affectionate. I once heard a gentleman, who had been his pupil, speak with much satisfac tion of Proud's conduct towards him on leaving school. He entered with perfect freedom into familiar conversation, enquired with the most paternal anxiety respecting his prospects in life, with the greatest kindness of *Since the date of this memoir (1826) an History of Pennsylv'a has been published by T. F. Gordon, Esq. |