BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 FROM THE 
 
 SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 Hcnrg W. Sage 
 
 1 891 
 
 irii^iy.'^. ^ ^j//..flh. 
 
The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028859556 
 
AN ACCOUNT Olf 
 
 ABIMELECH GOODY 
 
 AND OTHER 
 
 CELEBRATED WRITERS 
 
 OF NEW YORK. 
 
QUERIES. 
 
 t 
 
 / 
 
 "AMATEUR," Babylon, Long Island. N. Y. : 
 " In rny JMn ill y of American books are four 
 works^^ffe a-uthorship of which is unknown to 
 me. Qfiii jou help me? The books are as fol- 
 lows^ '^'Vii Account of Abimelech Coody and 
 other^Celebrated Writers of New York, in a L,et- 
 t3r from a THaveler to his Friend in South Caro- 
 lina,' 1815, J^n pages; 'A Picture of New York 
 in 184e,'-»W»- York, 1S46; ' History of the United 
 States, or Uncle Philip's Conversations with the 
 Children About New York.' two volumes, New 
 York, ls:i5; and ' Tale's of the Good Woman, by 
 a Doubtful Gentleman,' Nsw York, 1829. What 
 is their value? " 
 
 .- The first of the four is by De Witt Clin- 
 lon. It is a satire on the literary charac- 
 ters of the time. " Abimelech Coody " was 
 the pseudonym of Gulian C. Verplanck. Dr. 
 Edward Rug'gJes, the artist, was tlie au- 
 thor of " A Picture of New Yorlt in 1846," 
 Dr. Francis L. Hawli.-? used " Uncle Pliilip " 
 as a pen nam«, and "A Doubtful Gentle- 
 man " was William L. Stone, journalist 
 and author, first Superintendent of Public 
 Schools in New York, and father of the 
 .present William L. Stone. De Witt Clin- 
 ton's pamphlet is rare and valuable. " Tales 
 of the Good Woman " is seldom seen, " A 
 Picture of New York in l.S+6 " has a value 
 of several dollars, but the " Uncle Philip " 
 book is almost worthless. 
 
AN ACCOUNT OF. 
 
 ABIMELECH GOODY 
 
 AND OTHEB 
 
 CELEBRATED WRITERS 
 
 OF NEW YOEK 
 
 IN A LETTER I'ROM A TRAVELLER 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS FRIEND IN SOUTH CAROLINA; 
 
 JAmJAEY, 1816. 
 
K . \£SnA( 
 
 REPEINTID 1864. 
 THIKTY-FITE COPIES. 
 
 Wo. y3. 
 
New York, January 11, 1815. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 Literary excellence Las its favourites whom it 
 selects to bless with its benign influence, and to 
 adorn with its highest honours. It is not confined 
 to a particular spot, nor is it bounded by degrees 
 of latitude. It wanders over the earth in search of 
 superior minds, and whenever it finds etherial in- 
 telligence, it applies the hand of cultivation, and 
 produces a harvest of instruction and amusement 
 for the benefit of mankind. In some favoured 
 places, nature seems to have put forth her utmost 
 strength, and to have produced prodigies of genius, 
 and miracles of learning ; and it has been remarked, 
 that after this she has been in a state of exhaustion 
 for a long period of time, and that her offspring are 
 correspondent. Athens was at one period, the 
 great school of philosophy and learning, Avhich 
 enlightened the human race. This intellectual 
 supremacy was after the lapse of many centuries, 
 transferred to Rome. After a long night, it was 
 revived under the Medici in Italy. In the reign of 
 Louis XIV of France and of Queen Anne of Great 
 Britain, constellations of great minds appeared re- 
 splendent in the literary heavens. Philadelphia has 
 
for a long time claimed to be the Athens of Ameri- 
 ca, Connecticut has also for many years arrogated 
 to herself similar honours. She has produced a 
 plentiful crop of poets, who have aspired to be wits 
 of the Western "World, and the venerable Morse 
 has not hesitated to award to her the palm of supe- 
 rior excellence. But while these Literary Colos- 
 suses were striving for pre-eminence, the star of 
 New York was seen in the distant horizon, illum- 
 inating as it ascended to the Meridian, and finally 
 astonishing the world by its superior lustre and 
 effulgence. Previous to my visit to this celebrated 
 city, fame had not been idle in trumpeting forth 
 the praises of its wits and literary worthies. My 
 expectations were raised to the highest pitch ; and 
 I fully anticipated in the feast of reason, and the 
 flow of soul, those intellectual pleasures which ele- 
 vate man in the scale of creation. Under this 
 impression, I entered this renowned Metropolis. 
 Now says I, I am on classic ground ; on ground 
 trodden by the Knickerbockers and Goodies, and 
 the far famed authors of the History of All Nations ; 
 of the Beau and the Salmagundi, and of the Ana- 
 lectic Magazine, and of the Magazine of Wonders. 
 Perhaps on this very spot, Coody cherished his 
 sublime ideas ; perhaps on this ground the great 
 poet who sung so melodiously the lay of the Scottish 
 Fiddle, courted the heavenly muse. And when I 
 
entered my chamber, may be, thought 1, this very 
 room has been visited by the great geniuses that 
 have produced the three great magazines, the Kew 
 York Magazine, the Analectic Magazine, and the 
 Magazine of "Wonders. If so, sacred be the place ! 
 may poetry deck, and eloquence adorn it with their 
 choicest flowers. I was so agitated with these 
 feelings that sleep was in a great degree a stranger 
 to my pillow. I was disturbed in my slumbers by 
 apparitions flitting before me, clothed in the cos- 
 tume of Apollo and the Muses. Goody approached 
 me in the darkness of night, surrounded with 
 haloes of glory. He was a tall man with an angelic 
 countenance ; the genius of symmetry had mould- 
 ed his limbs, and a more than mortal brightness 
 beamed fi'om his eyes of fire. As I reached forth 
 my hand to welcome the splendid vision, it vanished 
 from my embrace, and I woke in all the bitterness 
 of disappointment. 
 
 The next morning I sallied forth to gather intel- 
 ligence, and to see the literary wonders of the great 
 City. I went to the book stores and to the literary 
 rooms, and I even obtained introduction to some of 
 the celebrated authors. The result of my inquiries 
 I shall now communicate to you in as succinct a 
 form as possible. 
 
 I found that E"ew York formed in more respects 
 
than one, a singular exception to the general state 
 of things in America. Almost in every other place 
 men write for amusement, or for fame; but here 
 there are authors by profession, who make it a 
 business and a living. This profession is not exten- 
 sive, but it makes up in celerity its numerical defi- 
 ciencies. And its usefulness in course of time, will 
 render its votaries as acceptable to the public as 
 they now are to themselves. 
 
 At the head of the list is a venerable old gentle- 
 man from Scotland. He has published more books 
 than any other writer in ISfew York. His History 
 of Man and of All ISTations are curious, and are 
 pronounced by good judges to contain more solid 
 information than the History of ISTew York -by 
 Knickerbocker. His Mental Flower Garden is a 
 very agreeable present to young persons ; and his 
 Magazine of Wonders has a more extensive circula- 
 tion than any other periodical performance. This 
 worthy old gentleman sometimes sacrifices to the 
 muses, and indeed it is believed that the Lay of the 
 Scottish Fiddle owes some of its best lines to his 
 munificence. 
 
 The next writer is also from Scotland ; he is an 
 excellent classical scholar, and has published a 
 Latin Grammar, and some improved editions of the 
 School Classics. He has also been concerned in 
 
writing for Low's Encyclopedia. He has given to 
 the world four large octavoes on American Bio- 
 graphy ; has written a history of the Yellow Fever, 
 and lately edited the E^ew York Magazine. It is 
 to be regretted that he has retired altogether from 
 literary lucubrations, and has devoted himself to 
 the science of arms. 
 
 I have been introduced to a gentleman whose 
 original profession was that of an iron monger. 
 He has recently become a counsellor at law. I have 
 not heard of any original writings proceeding 
 from his pen, except a philippic against the celebrat- 
 ed orator Ogilvie, wherein he inveighs most severely 
 against Democracy, and lashes the Republican 
 party with more fury than Xerxes lashed the Hel- 
 lespont. His intimate friendship and relationship 
 with Abimelech Goody the Lady's Shoemaker, has 
 introduced him to the Society of the Cord wain ers; 
 in consequence of which he was appointed as one 
 of that body to deliver an Oration before the con- 
 gregated Patriotic Societies on the 4th of July, 
 which he performed as I am told to general satisfac- 
 tion. It has given me great regret that I have not 
 been able to procure a sight of this celebrated pro- 
 duction. On the same day a great statesman and 
 orator, Governeur Morris, delivered a speech before 
 the "Washington Benevolent Society. I have seen 
 
a very able criticism on the Cordwainer's Oration 
 attributed to the author himself, in which he has 
 instituted a comparison between it and the oration 
 of Mr. Morris. It is unnecessary to state that he 
 pronounces his to be as superior in genius and exe- 
 cution as it is in public spirit; and it instantly 
 reminded me of Plutarch's celebrated parallel 
 between Demosthenes and Cicero. 
 
 I have, indeed, heard it sneeringly objected to 
 his discourse that the scent of the original cask still 
 remained about the author, and that his ironmong- 
 ery education, like Sancho's key, which gave the 
 whole butt of wine a chalybeate taste, has infected 
 the purity of his style ; for that he has unwittingly 
 animated his countrymen by the sound of the kettle 
 instead of the drum, and has armed them with the 
 spade and the pick-aze, instead of the sword and the 
 musquet. 
 
 This gentleman has further distinguished himself 
 by translations from the French. It is to be regret- 
 ted that he is disqualified by the defect of his edu- 
 cation from drinking the Pierian springs of classic 
 lore. But he has endeavored to atone for his defi- 
 ciency by making great progress in Spanish and 
 High Dutch, and he and Coody by uniting their 
 legal honours have made one lawyer; so it is to be 
 hoped that by clubbing their attainments in Ian- 
 
9 
 
 guage, they may produce one acftomplialied scholar. 
 His face is rather vacant, but the interior of his 
 hslnds still display the marks of laborious contact 
 with hard substances. 
 
 Incongruous as the association between the culti- 
 vation of ironmongery and literature may appear, 
 yet it is no less true, that another celebrated author 
 by profession, was originally concerned in a hard- 
 ware store, and it is believed is still a sleeping part- 
 ner. He was also brought up to the law; but like 
 Blackstone and Jones he preferred the inspiration 
 of the muse to an intimate acquaintance with Brac- 
 ton and Fleta, Spelmau and Littleton : he has wisely 
 determined that another Ovid should not in another 
 Murray be lost: he has taken the jiroad which leads 
 to Mount Parnassus instead of following the drud- 
 gery of the law, and has become the salaried editor 
 of a Magazine. 
 
 Although his Salmagandi is upon a threadbare 
 plan yet its execution exhibits some strong traits of 
 humour, and some fine flashes of imagination. 
 The history of Ifew York by Knickerbocker, inde- 
 pendently of its broad hamour, is; really intolerable. 
 The heterogeneous and unnatural combination of 
 fiction and history is perfectly disgusting to good 
 taste. Such delineauaients; of human nature are 
 
 like likenesses in wax work; you. neither see the 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 chisel of PMdias, nor the pencil of Appelles; but 
 the rough delineations of the untutored savage. 
 The resemblance may be great, but it is nature 
 without life, character without expression, and it 
 exhibits art without exciting interest. In reading 
 such productions the mind is continually tortured 
 between the real and the fabulous, and they resem- 
 ble the works of the painter who should unite the 
 neck of a horse to a human head. 
 
 There is no doubt but that this gentlenaan pos- 
 sesses a rich imagination. He has however expen- 
 ded the energy of his mind in producing ridiculous 
 combinations, in hunting after quaint expressions, 
 and in plundering from the stores of Le Sage and 
 Cervantes, Eabelais and Scarron, Fielding and 
 SmoUet. As to real talent and learning his mind 
 is a tabula rasa; he cannot read any of the classics 
 in their original language; nor does he know the 
 first elements of any science. I have spent one 
 evening in his company, and I find him barren in 
 conversation, and very limited in information. His 
 physiognomy is intelligent, and I should upon the 
 whole, think favourably of him had he not attempt- 
 ed to play the Joe Miller at a great man's table. 
 
 Next to him may be ranked Dr. Henry, the 
 author of a ]^ew and Complete American Family 
 Herbal, illustrated with elegant engravings. Of 
 
11 
 
 this elaborate and highly scientific work, honorable 
 mention is made in that repository of sound criti- 
 cism, the Analectic Magazine. It appears that the 
 Doctor is a great traveller, and that he has been 
 thirty years a prisoner among the Creeks. His 
 mind is deeply stored with anecdote and lore, and 
 next to Goody he is the most splendid star in the 
 galaxy of 'New York Authors. 
 
 I have also seen a tall bow-bent young gentleman 
 who has attained universal reputation as a writer. 
 He is deeply read in the history of the heathen 
 gods, and this I believe is the full extent of his 
 classical knowledge. His late reply to 'Southey's 
 review of Inchiquin's Letters, is a well meant, 
 although not ably executed refutation of malignant 
 calumny. It was not necessary for him to exhibit 
 so much knowledge of mythology ; and when he 
 pronounced the philosopher, who 
 
 "Eripuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis" 
 as the Jupiter Tonans of this Western "World, he 
 certainly ruined his reputation as a man of discrimi- 
 nation and taste ; nor was it proper for him to make 
 a parade of learning which he never possessd, and 
 of books which he never saw. His affectation of 
 reading reminds me of Pope's lines in the Dunciad : 
 
 From me, what Virgil, Pliny may deny, 
 
 Manilius or Solinus shall supply. 
 
12 
 
 His parody on Scott is utterly destitute of the 
 spirit of poetry. When with his magic pen, he 
 converts inns into castles, tavern keepers into 
 barons bold, and rustic lasses into high born dam- 
 sels, we are reminded of the exploits of the knight 
 of the rueful countenance. 
 
 But let us ascend to superior characters. I 
 understand that the wits, of New York had estab- 
 lished a Button's Coffee House, in the celebrated 
 Mead House near the intersection of Pine and Wil- 
 liam streets, and I often attempted to gain admit- 
 tance into their sanctum sanctorum, but I unfortu- 
 nately never could succeed. This was a kind of lite 
 rary free masonry, which shut its doors against the 
 profane; but their enemies did not scruple to assert 
 that this exclusion was intended to conceal the 
 poverty of their knowledge, and their want of con- 
 versation talents, and at the same time to envelope 
 themselves in mysterious importance, and I have 
 heard them more than once compared to the Ugly 
 Club, which, as it is composed of the handsomest 
 young gentlemen in the city, so the Club of pro- 
 fessed wits is said to be made up of the greatest 
 dunces that could be selected. But I was determin- 
 ed not to make up a definite opinion until I could 
 gain access to the celebrated Abimeleeh Coody, and 
 after finding him as diflB.cull to approach as the phi- 
 
13 
 
 losopher of Ferneiy, I at length had. the pleasure of 
 seeing him. I was certainly struck with his singu- 
 lar appearance, and I immediately pronounced him 
 an extraordinary character. He arose from his 
 chair when I was announced, and did not approach 
 me in a direct line, but in a side-long way, or diago- 
 nally, or in a kind of echellon movement. This 
 immediately reminded me of Linnaeus' character of 
 a dog, which he says always inclines his tail to the 
 left. He held his head down, and did not look me 
 in the face. This T at first attributed to the diffi- 
 dence of a retired student, but I no sooner had a 
 full view of himj than I instantly saw 
 
 The Proud Pairnassian sneer, ' 
 
 The conscious simper and the jealous leer. 
 
 His whole person is squat and clumsy, and 
 reminds you of the figure called by children Hum- 
 py Bumpy on the wall. A nervous tremor was con- 
 centrated at the lower end of each nostril, which 
 must have arisen from his habitual sheefring and 
 carping at everything. If I had not entertained 
 an exalted idea of his intellect, I should have sup- 
 posed that his sensorium had been transferred from 
 his head to his nose, and I was often temptejdto 
 say, prithee, dont look with that violent and inflexi- 
 ble wise face, like Solomon at the dividing of the 
 child, in an old piece of tapestry. I found him dry 
 
14 
 
 and reserved : althougli perfectly polite I could not 
 allure Mm into conversation, and I therefore deter- 
 mined to look into his writings before I pronounced 
 him, 
 
 A wit with dunces; and a dunce with wits. 
 
 In the first place I was referred to an oration 
 before the "Washington Benevolent Society; this I 
 found like all other holiday political discourses, 
 common place, and virulent, without any solidity of 
 thought, or depth of research, and with very little 
 pretensions to eloquence. Besides, I could never 
 think a work like this a criterion by which to pro- 
 nounce upon the merits of a literary character. 
 
 I was next referred to the biographical works of 
 this great man ; he was described to me as a second 
 Plutarch or Johnson in Biography. With this 
 favorable impression I looked into several pieces in 
 the Analectic Magazine signed V, and I was much 
 disappointed to find that they were principally 
 stolen from Hardee and Eliot, and varnished up in 
 a new style, l^ow and then the author elaborates 
 a profound thought, but it has all the appearance 
 of hard labor, and like straining out the last dull 
 dropping of his sense. In some places he sins most 
 egregiously against grammar and style. Take for 
 instance, his life of Cadwalader Golden ; it opens in 
 the following pompous sentence : 
 
15 
 
 "There is nothing which can afford a more sure 
 indication of the growth of national feeling, and 
 the consequent formation of a more definite na- 
 tional character among us, than that curiosity and 
 interest which has been of late so strongly mani- 
 fested with respect to the history, anecdote, and 
 humble antiquities of our provincial annals." 
 
 We have heard of the annals of history, but nev- 
 er of the history of annals, and the anecdote of 
 annals is a still more rare occurence. Abimelech 
 Coody's Letter on Banks is also considered a great 
 performance ; and truly if it ever excites laughter, 
 it must be at the nonsense, not at the wit which it 
 contains. It is not enlivened with a single ray of 
 genius, or spark of wit, and the writer nfever more 
 egregiously mistook his talents, than supposihg 
 himself endowed with powers for satire. 
 
 I believe I have remarked upon all the works of 
 the imperial wit of New York, commenly called 
 Abimelech Coody, and I must candidly say, that I 
 never met with a man pretending to be a great lite- 
 rary character who has done so little either as, 
 respects the quality or the quantity of his perform- 
 ances. In justice to him however it must be admit- 
 ted that he possesses more knowledge than his, 
 brother wits, and this he may indeed have, and yet. 
 his acquisitions may be very scanty and limited^ 
 
16 
 
 It is believed that he. skims like a swallow over 
 the surface of scieuce, and that he may be, properly 
 arranged in that order of sciolists who, 
 
 " Commas and points they set exactly right, 
 And, twe,re a sin to rob them of their mite." 
 
 In order to have a full view of this great man, it 
 is necessary to state that he was bred a lawyer, but 
 his first grand exhibition in life was that of a rioter 
 in a church; that he personated a Lady's shoemak- 
 er; that he has finally settled down into a magazine 
 writer for money, and into a Captain of Sea Fenci- 
 bles for money ; and that he has become the head 
 of a political sect called the Goodies, of a hybrid 
 tuature, composed of the combined spawn of fede- 
 ralism and jacobinism, and gejierated in the ven-^ 
 omous passions of disappointment and revenge, 
 without any definite character; neither fish nor 
 flesh; bird nor beast; animal nor plant, bpt a non- 
 descript made up of 
 
 All monstroTjs, all prodigious things 
 Abominable, unutterable and worse thai) 
 Fable yet has feigned or Fear conceived; 
 Gorgons and Hydras and Chimeras dire. 
 
 This account indeed would be a very unfair sper 
 cimeu of the literature and talents of B"ew York. 
 It is but due to justice to state, that this city con? 
 tains in its bosom, men of as great attainments iij 
 
17 
 
 various knowledge, and of as higli professional 
 standing as any place in the world. Several of 
 those gentlemen have united into a society, called 
 the Historical, whose name describes its object; and 
 into another association, called the Literary and Philo- 
 sophical Society; similar establishments, as the last 
 exist in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Mssachusetts 
 and Connecticut, and in Massachusetts there is also 
 an Historical and Antiquarian Society, In order 
 to extend their usefulness and to acquire informa- 
 tion from distant parts, these associations frequently 
 admit distinguished persons from other States, as 
 honorary and corresponding members. They have 
 been all patronized by State governments, and some 
 of them have been favourably noticed by the gene- 
 ral government. They are proud monuments of 
 the zeal for knowledge and science which pervades 
 the CTnited States ; and the names of their founders 
 and patrons, will be transmitted with honour to 
 posterity. One would think that it would require 
 more than Corinthean brass to attack such institu- 
 tions with ridicule or with seriousness. They cer- 
 tainly accumulate many important facts, and furnish 
 the grounds of many useful inventions. They have 
 been encouraged in all enlightened countries, and 
 patronized by all patriotic governments. They 
 combine the most public spirited and best informed 
 
18 
 
 men of the nation, withont reference to party or 
 Beet; and at all events, they produce well meant, 
 and in most cases successfal attempts to enlighten 
 man, and to improve society. 
 
 The literary striplings of whom I have spoken, 
 have made an attack upon these institutions, in 
 their great work called the Analectic Magazine. 
 Without any comments on the modesty which dic- 
 tated this measure, and the matchless intrepidity 
 of face, which must distinguish such very young 
 and very ignorant men, in thus dashing their venom 
 in the faces of their superiors, it is sufficient to 
 remark that their comhined production is as 
 remarkable for its want of point, and dearth of 
 talent, as it is for its wanton abuse, and its flagitious 
 disregard of truth. The strength of the attack 
 and the burden of the song, consists in falsely rep- 
 resenting the institution of these associations, and 
 their distant extension, as the offspring of avidity 
 for literary honours ; not as the effect of a desire to 
 increase the stock of human knowledge. The 
 motives which produced this miserable abortion of 
 malignity, this fruit of dull heat, and sooterkin of 
 wit, are various and I shall briefly relate the pre- 
 dominant ones. 
 
 They had heard that some of the wits in England, 
 had attacked the Royal Society ; that Swift, Pope, 
 
19 
 
 and Arbuthnot, that illustrious triumvirate had 
 sometimes amused themselves with the Philoso- 
 phers of the day ; and that even one of them had 
 said, 
 
 "And shine in all the dignity of F. K. S." 
 
 Jifow as Swift, Pope and Arbuthnot, had attacked 
 the Philosophical Society of Great Britain, ergo, 
 Coody, Knickerbocker, and Scottish Fiddle ought 
 to attack the Philosophical Societies of the United 
 States. The wits of New York must do as the wits 
 of Great Britain had done before, or they would 
 not indicate their inherited blood, and would be 
 out of the right line of descent. It is impossible 
 that they can obtain distinction even if they gain 
 admittance into the learned associations; their 
 information is so scanty, and their intellects so fee- 
 ble, that it is utterly out of their power to pursue 
 any considerable train of investigation, or to arrive 
 at ady important scientific deductions. Of Coody it 
 may be said that he has a great appetite for learning, 
 without any digestion ; but the others have neither 
 appetite nor digestion. Like insects who buzz 
 about the lamp of. science, they may sometimes 
 obscure its rays by their puny wings, but they can 
 never increase its effulgence nor continue its lustre. 
 It is the invariable quality of little minds, to depre- 
 ciate that excellence which they cannot reach, and 
 
20 
 
 to destroy that superiority wliicli they cannot attain- 
 When Coody and his associates endeavour to attach 
 ridicule to knowledge, and to throw science in the 
 back ground, it is because they can never aspire to 
 any distinguished rank in the walks of literature. 
 They satirize literary titles because they are not so 
 honoured; and they abuse literary institutions, 
 because they are there exhibited in their diminutive 
 size. 
 
 With respect to Coody, I have recently had a 
 piece of information which will serve as an addi- 
 tional clue to his conduct. Avarice and revenge 
 appear to be two prominent traits in his character. 
 In Hall's Law Journal, vol. IV, I have met with a 
 charge of the honourable De Witt Clinton, Mayor 
 of the City of New York, in a case of a riot. It 
 appears that Coody and seven others, were indicted 
 for a riot in a church. The authorities of the Col- 
 lege had refused a degree to one of the students, 
 on account of contumacy. Coody and his associates 
 insisted that the degree should be conferred, and 
 they interrupted the exercises of the day, and crea- 
 ted a scene of confusion and uproar, which essen- 
 tially disturbed the solemnity and most flagrantly 
 violated the respect due to the holy place. The 
 Mayor in speaking of Coody's conduct, thus ex- 
 pressed himself: — He too must be regarded as one 
 
21 
 
 of the ringleaders of this disorder and disgrace. 
 It is difficult to speak in terms sufficiently strong, 
 of his reprehensible conduct. A young man of his 
 age to have the boldness to mount the stage, and 
 insolently demand of the Provost the causes of his 
 conduct; and then shaping himself into all the 
 importance of an umpire, to exclaim, "Mr. Max- 
 well must be supported. " And afterwards: to move 
 that the thanks of the meeting be given to Mr. 
 Maxwell, for his spirited defence of an injured man- 
 " evinces a matchles insolence." Coody was con, 
 victed and instead of being sent to prison as he 
 ought to have been, he was let off with a fine and a 
 severe reprimand. Since that time he has like 
 Hannibal on the altar, sworn revenge, and he regu- 
 lates his ideas of men and things by Mr. Clinton's 
 opinions, always exhibiting himself in opposition- 
 Mr. Clinton among his other great qualifications, is 
 distinguished for a marked devotion to science; 
 few men have read more and few men can claim 
 more Various and extensive knowledge; and the 
 bounties of nature have been improved by per- 
 severing and unremitting industry. It was natural 
 that such men should have high rank in literary 
 institutions ; and he was accordingly elected the first 
 President of the Literary and Philosophical Society 
 of New York. Coody of course points his ven- 
 omed arrows at that institution. 
 
22 
 
 The Royal Society has survived the satire of 
 Pope, and the wit of Butler, and it is to be hoped 
 that the literary institutions of America, will exist 
 and flourish when Ooody and Knickerbocker have 
 joined the Thersites of former times. We may 
 smile at the tricks of the monkey, the sallies of 
 the buffoon, and the repartees of the jester; but 
 we attach no solid respect to their exhibitions. A 
 sick lion may be kicked even by an ass ; but an 
 institution established upon the broad basis of pub- 
 lic utility, by honorable and high-minded men, for 
 the purpose of extending the empire of science, 
 can never experience the fate of Actseoii, and be 
 destroyed by puppies. 
 
 I am yours, with regard, 
 
 The Traveller, 
 
Cornell University Library 
 F 123V55 C641864 
 Account of Abimelech Copdv aritl o^ 
 
 "3 1924 028 859 556 
 olin wers