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CHAPTER XVII.

BOOKS.

"Solomon saith truly, 'Of making many books, there is no end;' so insatiable is the thirst of men therein, as also endless is the desire of many in buying and reading them. Proportion an hour's meditation to an hour's reading of a staple author. This makes a man master of his learning. Books that stand thin on the shelves, yet so as the owner of them can bring forth every one of them into use, are better than far greater libraries." - FULLER'S Holy State.

I

CANNOT help contrasting the paucity of readable books in Newport in 1795, with the almost infinite supply at the present date.

The Redwood Library, now so plenteously endowed with every variety of elementary, entertaining, intellectual, and profound literature, had no attractions to the people generally seventy years ago. What books there were remaining after the American Revolution served only to interest a few seedy-looking students, who were seen, occasionally, wending their solitary way to academic shades. I recollect looking now and then into that sepulchre of folios and quartos (the octavos, and volumes of less dimen

sions, were mostly carried off by the English), shrouded with dust. It was only a brief look,

however. But now what a change from the dark, antique, dry, mystical past, to the bright, beautiful, and appealing present, when every order of mind may obtain food, easy or hard of digestion, according to its taste!

Many times I have found myself musing over the comparative scantiness of educational and literary means for mental culture when I was young; greatly wondering that so many men and women should have been so well instructed in the then existing schools. And this wonder was more strongly excited, when I remembered that the prominent tendency was to indulge the imagination, rather than instruct the reason. "Novel-reading," and that not uniformly of the purest type, constituted the mental enjoyment, not merely of the young and pleasureseeking, but quite a number of old ladies, whose, reading and knitting kept perfect time.

Mr. Richardson, the postmaster, and Mr. Wilder, an extensive bookseller and stationer, were the only dealers in novels and heart-rending romances, such, for instance, as Evelina, Ce

cilia, and Camilla, by Miss Burney; Sir Charles Grandison, Pamela, and Clarissa, by Richardson; Tom Jones, Jonathan Wild, Joseph Andrews, and The Miser, by Fielding; Roderick Random, Sir Launcelot Greaves, and Peregrine Pickle, by Smollett; Three Spaniards, Fatal Revenge, &c., &c.; Gil Blas, by Le Sage; Robinson Crusoe, by De Foe; The Arabian Nights' Entertainments, Vicar of Wakefield, Don Quixote, &c., &c. These constituted the light literature at that early time. The favorite female authors were Hannah More, Mrs. Barbauld, Miss Edgeworth, Miss Burney, Mrs. Steele, Mrs. Opie, and Mrs. Inchbald. The poets most read were Shakspeare, Milton, Spenser, Dryden, Goldsmith, Cowper, Pope, and Thomson; of historians, Hume, Gibbon, and Robertson; of essayists, Johnson, Addison, Steele, and McKenzie; of satirists, Swift, Cobbett, Barlow, &c., &c.

CHAPTER XVIII.

DISTINGUISHED MEN.

"Hundreds of names might be cited of men who have early determined to have some one distinct plan of life. From early manhood, they steadily pursued a settled object, and thus brought out their powers, and rose to distinction. Indeed, it would be hard to find a man really worthy of eminence, who had not earnestly directed his attention to one business or profession."

HON. WILLIAM ELLERY.—I had such

frequent intercourse with my venerated grandfather, and received from him so many lessons of wisdom, so many valuable hints, so much good advice, and such positive delight, that I should be false to my happiest recollections, were I to withhold them in this connection. I need say nothing of Mr. Ellery's public services. Are they not written in the archives of the nation? Is not his name conspicuous amongst the signers of the Declaration of Independence? Let me, then, very briefly narrate a few simple incidents indelibly stamped upon my memory during the period of adolescence. Mr. Ellery was a well-read lawyer; and,

upon his appointment to the collectorship of Newport by Washington, he proved himself in every respect equal to so responsible an office, which was renewed during the Presidency of the first Adams, of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, until his death, Feb. 15, 1820, at the age of ninety-two. His character commanded uniform respect. He required promptitude of those having business with him. Sometimes he felt annoyed at the careless posture and manner with which the customary oath was treated. Once when I was at the Custom House on the "Parade," a burly "skipper" came in, and expressed his wish to make an entry; and, whilst it was being prepared by the deputy, he lolled about and against the office desk, until the oath was ready to be administered to him; then the collector required him to take an erect posture in the centre of the room, and to hold up his right hand, whilst, in a clear voice, the solemn averment was made. I recollect witnessing, some years after this experience, a very different mode of procedure at the Custom House in Boston, when a distinguished importer of French goods made an entry, and the usual words,

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