tT«>r ^^0^ .^"^ . ^-^ "^ ^° "V ^^0^ V .^^'\ '-^P* /\ \W/ ^^^\ ., 1* .•■„«,•. -^ THE RHODE ISLAND SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE STEPHEN HOPKINS By Robert Perkins Brown WILLIAM ELLERY By Henry Robinson Palmer PROVIDENCE 19 13 Published by the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolution •u STEPHEN HOPKINS From the Tninibull picture of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, now in the possession of Yale University FOREWORD This brochure is presented by the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolution as a token of its deep gratitude to Stephen Hopkins and William Ellery, the Rhode Island signers of the Declaration of Independence. We seek to perpetuate their memory, not because they won the laurel chaplet on the fields of battle, but because for twenty years before the first gun was fired in the Revolution they fought the fight for the rights and liberties of the American colonies, and with others of like lojalty and power brought these colonies together into a close union, prepared by the fire and blood of armed conflict to be welded into a nation. Our organization is not established for self-aggrand- izement. We are members not in order to set our- selves apart as a peculiar class of noble ancestry, but to fix in the minds of future generations the deeds and memory of those who contributed to the success of the American Revolution. In honoring them we shall breed a higher sense of honor in ourselves. In con- templating their labors we shall feel impelled to con- tinue their efforts toward building a righteous nation- ality and shall consecrate ourselves anew to liberty and freedom and popular government among the peoples scattered over the face of the earth. R. P. B. Stephen Ibopfeins 1707*1785 In the effort to produce a pen picture of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence it seems quite considerate to avoid the use of superlatives and also to restrain that overweening local pride that mag- nifies the importance of its hero so that other men ap- pear insignificant in comparison with him, yet all men who are intimately acquainted with the incipi- ency, growth and consummation of a national spirit which developed and endowed with wisdom the institu- tions of our great republic must regard Stephen Hop- kins as one of its founders. As one of Rhode Island's representatives he attended the meeting at Albany in 1754 and assisted Benjamin Franklin in framing his plan of union which failed to find favor since the union was to be a creation of the English Parlia- ment, who were to appoint the President General. It was a resolution of the Providence Town Council, passed May 17, 1774, and addressed to the Rhode Island Legislature which called for an organized body of representatives for the col- r/1 H ^ *i ^ r X •^ T- %. 7; 3 IS ffi C r. ^ » 7n O V. •^ rr P5 ffi P r^ ;^ x ro p: c o ffi 3 C C T^ '"*'. CT- 2: 3- L/j 2 JC w 3 w y: H a rt ^ W C > a" d 2: n , ff STEPHEN HOPKINS onies to establish "the firmest union" and to take effect- ive steps to that end. On the 15th of June the Leg- islature passed resolutions urging a regular convention of representatives from all the colonies to form a firm and inviolable union, to obtain redress for grievances, and moreover to establish the rights and liberties of the colonies. Stephen Hopkins was a member of the Legislature and the leading citizen of the town, and had for twenty years been urging with his voice and pen this inviolable union which alone could protect the individual colonies and forge them into a nation. On the day of the passage of these resolutions the Legislature appointed Stephen Hopkins and Sam- uel Ward as their representatives at such a Con- gress, Thus Rhode Island was the first of the colonies to call together the first Continental Congress of 1774, which was the beginning of a series never since broken ; and she was the first to elect delegates to the same. To Stephen Hopkins must be attributed the resolu- tion and the call. To him also must be allowed in large measure the convictions which were stamped and left on the minds of the members of this Congress when it adjourned. He was sixty-seven years of age, when conflict is no longer alluring, yet he told the members of this Congress that "powder and ball will decide this question. The gun and bayonet alone will finish the contest in which we are engaged, and any of you who cannot bring your minds to this mode of ad- justing the question had better retire in time." Three weeks before the time that the next Congress met his prophecy was fulfilled, on the 19th of April, 1775, at Lexington. Paul Revere was present and listened to Mr. Hopkins's speech in Congress and Mr. William E. Foster, the accomplished author of the Historical THE RHODE ISLAND SIGNERS Tract on Stephen Hopkins, says it would be interest- ing to know whether Hopkins's words were ringing in the ears of Revere as he spurred his horse on his mid- night ride to Lexington. As a member of the Rhode Island committee of cor- respondence, Stephen Hopkins had long since become well and favorably known to the leading patriots of the other colonies, and when he met them at the first Continental Congress he measured fully up to them in ability, force and ringing patriotism, and was recog- nized as one of the foremost of that . immortal assem- blage. In the second Congress Mr. Hopkins was on the committee to report a plan for furnishing the col- onies with a naval armament and his brother Ezek Hopkins became the first Commodore in the Ameri- can navy. He also was foremost in establishing a national postal sA'stem as designed by William God- dard of Providence, and Benjamin Franklin was at once appointed Postmaster General of the colonies. Mr. Hopkins was twice elected as a delegate to Con- gress and was later offered the position again three times, but declined. His pamphlets, correspondence and later his personal contact with the foremost patriots of the colonies in Congress brought to him a very close relation with such men as Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, James Otis and man}' others whose watchword was "Liberty or death." This was the national as- pect of his life and labors, but the supreme test of a man's qualities must be made in his home surround- ings, in his native state and city. Mr. Hopkins was born at Providence March 7, 1707, and died July 13, 1785. His father was William Hop- kins and his mother was Ruth, daughter of Samuel Wilkinson, and through these parents he was related TABLET ON THE STEPHEN HOPKINS HOUSE Hopkins Street, Providence STEPHEN HOPKINS to those numerically and otherwise great tribes of Rhode Island freeholders, the Whipples, the Arnolds the Wilkinsons, the Hopkinses, the Smiths, and the Wickendens. At nineteen years of age he married Sarah Scott, great granddaughter of Richard Scott, who was one of the earliest members of the Society of Friends in Rhode Island. Some years after her death in May, 1755, he married Mrs. Anne Smith, and although his mother was a Quaker, now for the first time he connected himself formally with the So- ciety of Friends and became an intimate associate of Moses Brown and the other leaders of that faith. Mr, Hopkins had two daughters, Ruth, who died in early life, and Lydia, who married Captain Daniel Tilling- hast of Newport ; also five sons, Rufus, John, Silva- nus, Simon and George. Rufus went to sea, but later settled down to civil life, became a judge and was the only one to perpetuate the name of Hopkins. John followed the sea and died of smallpox at San Andre. Silvanus went to sea and was murdered by savages on the coast of the Island of St. Pierre. Simon died in his eighth year. George married, in 17T3, Ruth Smith, his father's stepdaughter. He was captain of a vessel which left Charleston, S. C, August 25, 1775, and was never heard from. Such is the tragic record of a seafaring New England family. Stephen Hopkins was a farmer's boy. Taken to Scit- uate in early life, he followed farming until, in 1742, he returned to Providence to live. He was also a surveyor, as his ancestors on both sides had been. In 1731 he was elected moderator of the Scituate town meeting and began a life of public service which con- tinued over 50 years. It was indeed public service, devoted to the welfare of his fellow citizens unselfishly, THE RHODE ISLAND SIGNERS with tact, energy and care of the smallest detail. All positions seemed to have been thrust upon him and his name appears at the head of nearly all of the com- mittees for public purposes, from the laying out of streets to arguing with the British Parliament. Sometimes he held a multiplicit}' of oiflices, as when he was a member of the First Continental Congress he was also a member of the Rhode Island Legislature and Chief Justice of the Superior Court. He was Chief Justice when in 1772 the British schooner Gas- pee was burned by a party from Providence, and when the British Government appointed a commission to ap- prehend the guilt}' ones and send them to England for trial he cut the wings of the commissioners by the announcement that he would, as he said, "neither apprehend by my own order, nor suffer any executive officer in the colony to do it, tor the purpose of transportation to England for trial." He was elected Governor of Rhode Island nine times (and served also, making a total of ten times, to fill the unexpired term of Governor Greene) between 1755 and 1768, when he withdrew for the sake of peace in the colony. For thirteen years he and Samuel Ward engaged in a most acrimonious and mercenary contest for the governorship. It is hard to detect any principle involved in their rivalry but ap- parently it was a sectional quarrel between rich and aristocratic Newport and the farmers and mechanics in the northern part of the state, Newport wishing to retain her position as capital of the state and ei'go de- manding a Newport Governor. That there was no lasting personal antipathy appears from the fact that Samuel Ward and Stephen Hopkins worked shoulder to shoulder in the Revolutionary cause and both went as •S; •y' -T- '-^ T.T r- -^ " " '^ »-> '^ %- '^ '\'' 'S "''^ ^ INSCRIPTION ON THE HOPKINS MONUMENT North Burying Ground. Providence o STEPHEN HOPKINS delegates to the First Continental Congress. Had Mr. Ward lived he would doubtless have been Mr. Hop- kins's co-signer of the Declaration of Independence, When Mr. Hopkins came to Piovidence he engaged in commerce, and it is said that his vessels visited ports all over the world. It was in this period that Provi- dence became a great commercial port, finally surpass- ing Newport. While Stephen Hopkins owned tracts of land in Scituate and was largely interested in shipping and also in an iron foundry where cannon were cast and implements of iron were made, yet he apparently never collected a large fortune. His public activities took too much of his time and energy to allow him to obtain more than a competency for himself. When he came to Providence in 1742 he built a small dwell- ing no better than any ordinary farmhouse, on the Town street, at the corner of Bank lane. This house was later moved up the lane near the original lo- cation of the Providence Bank, for which the lane was named, and the lane was afterwards re-named Hopkins street. The house is still standing. A side-light is thrown on the simple mode of life of Mr. Hopkins by the legend which has come down to us that when Washington in 1776 arrived at Providence, on his way from Cambridge to Long Island, the citizens of Providence decided he must stop with Stephen Hop- kins, but Mr. Hopkins was away attending Congress ; however, Ruth Hopkins, his daughter-in-law, said she would take care of him, and when the wealthier peo- ple began offering her fine china, glass and silverware with which to entertain the General more sumptuously, she rejected all proffers with the rather curt remark that what was good enough for Stephen Hopkins was THE RHODE ISLAND SIGNERS surely good enough for General Washington. Stephen Hopkins was a genuine Rhode Islander with a heritage of all that was best in the state. His great grandfather, Thomas Hopkins, probably came to Providence in 1 636. In 1 638 he received, in the assign- ment of the 54 lots, one near the present Williams street. His great grandfather on his mother's side was Rev. William Wickenden, a pastor of the First Baptist Church, who also received, in the assignment, a tract near Power street. While there were no schools within the reach of Stephen Hopkins, yet his cultured mother cared for his primary education and his maternal grandfather, Samuel Wilkinson, and his uncle in- structed him in mathematics, for which he had a de- cided aptitude. Thus he became an expert surveyor and was much employed in establishing private and public boundaries, which gave him a wide acquaint- ance through the State. His scientific attainments were utilized in the observations of the transit of Ve- nus which were made in Providence in 1769 and in which he took an active part. Two streets running off the Town street were named in honor of this event, Transit street and Planet street. But his active mind did not stop at science and its application. Books were exceedingh' rare, but his mother's father, Samuel Wilkinson, had married Plain Wickenden, daughter of the parson, and had acquired a small library of choice books which Ste- phen Hopkins eagerly read — doubtless Shakespeare, Milton, Spenser, Bunyan and Addison. His oppor- tunities were meagre but his desire for learning was unbounded and by his habits of close application to reading and study he made himself an educated man. Naturally he sought to give opportunity to STEPHEN HOPKINS others and was urgent for the establishment of schools. He was active in the founding of Brown University, then Rhode Island College, and was its first chancel- lor, holding that ofKce as long as he lived. He with some of his friends contributed the funds to send to England and obtain the books for a public library, which was eventualh' merged in the Providence Ath- enaeum. His public activities were so varied and his public duties so scrupulously executed that he hardly appears to have had any private life. He was a man of large mind and knew how to control men. In a State whose first settlers were people of the most heter- ogeneous modes of thought and where individualism to this day has been instinctive and inextinguishable, Stephen Hopkins's tact and sagacity united the peo- ple in projects of improvement and made him ever the controller of all issues. This genial, entertaining Quaker, attractive alike to young and old, became the first citizen of Rhode Island through his magnanimity, his devotion to duty and country, and his mild sway over the hearts of men. It has been stated that the two great Rhode Islanders of the Revolutionary period were Stephen Hopkins in civil life and Nathanael Greene in military life. The State of Rhode Island is proud to have him as one of her representatives in the group of immortal patriots who dared to sign the Declaration of Independence. When Trumbull painted his pic- ture of the signers of the Declaration he found that no portrait of any sort existed of Stephen Hopkins. He accordingly painted in the features of Mr. Hop- kins's eldest son Rufus, who is said to have closely resembled him, and we nmst be satisfied wdth an approach to verity. Robert Perkins Brown MilUani Eller^ 1727*1820 William Ellery of Newport, signer of the Declara- tion of Independence, was the second son of William Ellery of Bristol. It is believed that the first Ellery who settled in New England arrived on this side of the Atlantic shortly after the middle of the seventeenth century; and towards the end of that century one branch of the family was established at Bristol, where William Ellery the elder was born October 31, 1701. The elder Ellery was graduated at Harvard College in 1722 and became a well-to-do merchant of Newport. He served as Judge, Assistant and Deputy Governor, and appears to have been sincerely devoted to the causes of religion and patriotism. He died March 15, 1764, and was survived by several children. William Ellery the younger, the signer of the Declaration, was born at Newport, December 22, 1727, and, together with his elder brother, was sent to Harvard for his collegiate education. The date of his matriculation there is supposed to be 1743. Evi- WILLIAM ELLERY WILLIAM ELLERY dently he enjoyed to the full the oppoi'tunities afforded him for brisk and genial college companionship. One of his biographers tells us that ' 'little is known of his college life besides the frolics and jests in which he had his full share, and which he used to relate in a most diverting style." But it was by no means all play and no work at Cambridge, for he acquired there a substantial knowledge of classic authors which stood him in good stead his entire life and, indeed, furnished him to the end of his days with one of his chief recreations. He was always a great reader, both in Latin and in his own tongue. In his eighty- fourth year he wrote: "As to employment of time, I have experienced such instruction and delight in read- ing, and investigating truth, that I mean, as long as my mind is capable of bearing it, to keep it in exer- cise and doze as little as possible. Blessed be the man who invented printing. For this important art I am thankful to that glorious Being from Whom all our blessings flow." And as we shall see, on the day of his death, almost at the moment of dissolution, he sat upright in bed to read a cherished volume of Cicero. He received the degree of bachelor of arts from Har- vard in 1747. His continued interest in the college is indicated by the fact that he made a yearly pilgrim- age to Cambridge until he was eighty years of age — though it should be added that his interest in the town was not wholly academic. Prof. Edward T. Channing, one of his grandsons, tells us that "he was received into the excellent society of the place, where he became attached to the lady whom he afterwards married, and intimate with the family of Judge Trowbridge, her near connexion. The scenes of his early studies and first affection be- THE RHODE ISLAND SIGNERS came dearer to him with his years, whether as the wit- nesses of his blessings or afflictions. ' ' A characteristic incident bearing on his college friendships is recalled. Nearly a quarter of a century after he left Harvard he wrote to his former room-mate, Andrew Oliver of Sa- lem : "I have already about fifty subscribers to the proposals you sent me for the publication of your Essay on Comets, and hope to procure more. It would give me great pleasure to encourage genius in any gentleman ; especially in a gentleman with whom I once had the happiness to be intimately connected," How many of us in these hurried days of the twentieth century would personally solicit fifty of our acquaint- ances to purchase an abtruse pamphlet produced by a boyhood friend? One discovers, however, in study- ing the life of William Ellery that he had a large ca- pacity for disinterested service. Upon graduating from Harvard, Mr. Ellery made his home in Newport, where in a short time he brought his wife, who had been Ann Remington of Cambridge, daughter of Mr. Justice Remington of the Superior Court, and a descendant of Governors Dudley and Bradstreet. Mr. Channing has an interest- ing domestic story that is worth recalling for the in- sight it gives into Ellery 's character. There was a con- genial crowd of young fellows at Newport who spent their evenings cheerfully together instead of at home. Among them was the young college graduate, whose faithful wife, after the custom of the times, was wont to inscribe on the margin or blank lea^'es of the fam- ily almanac whatever events she considered noteworthy and memorable. One day, says his grandson, she "had recorded, as its most precious event, and with expressions of tenderness and gratitude, that her hus- WILLIAM ELLERY-S TRUNK THE GRAVE OF WILLIAM ELLERY WILLIAM ELLERY band had passed the evening with her and her chil- dren. " This pathetic entry fell under the husband's eye. He made no comment, but on "the same even- ing he returned to his usual haunt, and at once an- nounced to his friends that he had come to take his parting cup with them, and that, hereafter, he should seek his evening pleasure at home. Some disbelieved, others scoffed ; — could this be true of a man of his gayety and spirit? But their surprise and boister- ous ridicule he was prepared for, and, true to his pur- pose and word, he left them, and was ever after a thoroughly domestic man." Mrs. Ellery died at Cambridge September seventh, 1764, at the early age of thirty-nine; and fifty years later he said,. "You read, in the graveyard in Cambridge, the epitaph of your grandmother, a woman dear to me and to all who were acquainted with her. Alas ! I was too early deprived of her society." For a number of years Mr. Ellery was a merchant at Newport, and during a part of this time he served as naval officer of the colony. He was fond of gar- dening, which became a favorite occupation and di- version at a later period of his life. When he was past eighty he wrote, "I was among the first who fol- lowed the example that was set before us by some Eu- I'opean gardeners who were imported into the town when I was a young married man ; and, in consequence of our rival exertions, ten times as great a quantity of vegetables was raised upon the same quantity of ground annually as had ever been raised before." Three years after the death of his wife Mr. Ellery married a second time ; and three years later still, in 1770, he began the practice of law, having previously served as clerk of the Court of Common Pleas. He THE RHODE ISLAND SIGNERS secured considerable professional business, including cases from a number of the other colonies. During the British activities in and near New- port Mr. Ellery's house was burned in revenge for the share he took in the Colonial cause. The house in which he spent the latter portion of his life was a three-story structure of wood in the Colonial style, surmounted by a railing. It was purchased, April 23, 1799, from Asher and Mary Robbins, and remained in the Ellery family until March, 1905, when it was sold to Henry Clay An- thony, State senator from Portsmouth. Shortly af- terward, in 1906, it was torn down. This dignified Newport residence had a great kitchen with a large fireplace and oven. The dining room was wainscotted in hand-carved panels and con- tained a fireplace with a hand-carved mantelpiece, which boasted a Grecian border and fluted columns. The room also had inside shutters, corner posts and brass door knobs. The parlor, at the left of the front entrance, was similar to the dining room, but without wainscotting. Back of the parlor was Mr. Ellery's private room with a tiled fireplace and inside shutters. Here most of his extensive writing and reading were done. His bed room, in which he died, was directly over the parlor. In the rear of the house was a large garden with fruit trees of various sorts. It was in this old mansion that the Ellery Chapter of the Sons and Daughters of the Revolution of Newport was or- ganized. His mother was Elizabeth Almy. He had two brothers, Christopher and Benjamin, and one sister, Ann, who married Rev, John Burt of Bristol. He himself was the father of five children — Edward Trow- WILLIAM ELLEKVS HOUSE AT NEWPORT WILLIAM ELLERY bridge, Elizabeth (^Mrs. Francis Dana), Lucy (Mrs. William Channing, the mother of William Ellery Channing), Almy (Mrs. William Stedman of Boston), and William Ellery, Junior, in whose house, at the corner of Clarke and Truro streets, the First Unitarian Church of Newport was organized. Mr. Ellery's second wife, to whom he was married June 28, 1767, was Abigail Cary of Bristol, daughter of Colonel Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Wanton) Cary. She died July 27, 1793, aged 51. A story is told that illustrates his mild but effective methods of domestic discipline. One of his sons, on starting for school one day, left the door open, where- upon the father sent his colored servant, Arthur Flagg, to summon the boy home. "Father, did you want me.?" asked the boy when he returned. "Yes, my son," was the reply, "shut the door." Unfortunately Mr. Ellery late in life requested his friends to preserve none of his correspondence. There remain, however, certain letter books and five diaries minutely detailing his journeys in three succeesive years to and from Congress. His credentials to that body as a delegate from Rhode Island are dated May 4, 1776, the exact day upon which the colony proclaimed its independence of Great Britain, fore- stalling the national Declaration b}^ two months. He took his seat on the fourteenth of Ma}^ and on the fourth of Jul}" affixed his name to the immortal in- strument at Philadelphia. His habits of observation and philosophy are suggested by the fact that he stood by the side of the Secretary, Charles Thomson, during the proceedings, and noted the expression and manner of each member as he approached to place his name upon the roll. His grandson says that he THE RHODE ISLAND SIGNERS was accustomed to describe the scene with great spirit. During his term in Congress, of which he was a member from 1776 to 1786, except in 1780 and 1782, he was appointed to some of the most important com- mittees and took a frequent and influential part in debate. Shortly after his first election he was placed on the marine committee, as might have been ex- pected, considering the maritime prominence of New- port at this period. In 1779 he was chosen to the newh* constituted Board of Admiralty, with full over- sight of the naval and marine affairs of the nation. It consisted of but three commissioners from outside Congress and two from that body. So efficient was his service on this board that when he was temporarily retired from Congress in 1780 he was chosen one of the three other commissioners. In 1776 he was a member of the comniittees on the Treasury, for estab- lishing expresses, for providing relief for the wounded and disabled and for purchasing necessaries for the army. In 1779 he served on the committee on for- eign relations and in 1782 on the committee on pub- lic accounts. In 1785 "he advocated with great zeal, forensic eloquence and powerful logic the resolution of Mr. King for abolishing slavery in the United States." Congress in 1786 made him Commissioner of the Continental Loan Office for Rhode Island, and shortly afterwards he was chosen Chief Justice of Rhode Island, as Stephen Hopkins, his co-signer of the Declaration, had been chosen before him. In 1790 President Washington appointed him Collector of Customs at Newport, and that office he held for thirty years, until the day of his death. His diaries, heretofore referred to, are full of the agreeable quality of the man. He was a keen student HOPKINS MONUMENT North Burying Ground, Providence ELLERY BURIAL PLAT. NEWPORT William Ellerj's tomb is in the background with a horizontal stone WILLIAM ELLERY of his fellows, the possessor of a natural cheerfulness and wit that could sharpen into irony upon occasion. In Congress he was wont to be called upon in debate when the exigency demanded the exercise of this deli- cate talent. At Kingston on his waj' to the Capital in 1777 he notes the capitulation of Burgoyne: "This Day had a Confirmation of the glorious News of the Surrendry of the Col. of the Queens Light Dragoons with his whole army. Learn hence proud Mortals the ignominious end of the vain boaster." A half day's journey farther west he records : "After dinner rode to Tyler's which is now a private house op- posite to the Revd. Hart's Meeting House, drank a Dish of Coffee in the Evening and were waited upon by a good female Body, who was almost consumed with the Hysterics of Religion — VIDE Dr. Lardner's Credulity of the Gospel History." At Hartford he attended church : "In the afternoon heard Mr. Strong preach a good sermon, and most melodious Singing. The Psalmody was performed in all its parts, and Softness more than Loudness seemed to be the Aim of the Performers. In the evening waited upon Gov. Trumbull and was pleased to find so much Quickness of appre- hension in so old a Gentleman." At Litchfield he was entertained by General Wol- cott: "He had lately returned from the Northern Army, where he commanded a Number (300 I think) of Volunteers, which he had collected by his Influence. He gave us an account of the Sur- rendry of the menacing Meteor, which after a most portentous Glare had evaporated into Smoke." Detained on a later journey by a storm that had been brewing for a fortnight but amounted to little when it came, he is reminded of a story of the Rev. Dr. Phillips of Long Island : "This Mr. Phillips had been preaching in I know not and care not what Parish, and being much fatigued the Gent, with whom he dined, to refresh his spirits before dinner, presented him with a dram in a very small glass, observing at the same time THE RHODE ISLAND SIGNERS that the dram was 10 years old. The arch priest wittily pro- fessed that it was the least of its age that he had ever seen in his life." In the same entry we find a sprightly dissertation on laughter. He declares that Mrs, Emmons, his landlady, "is one of the most laughing creatures that I ever saw. She begins and ends everything she says, and she talks as much as most females, with a laugh which is in truth the silliest laugh that ever I heard." "He will not find fault with laughter however, though Solomon and Chesterfield have inveighed against it. He quotes Horace: Ride si sapis\^^ and he concludes: "The Spectator hath divided laughter into several species some of which he censures roundly; but doth not as I remember con- demn seasonable, gentle laughter. — Therefore my pleasant Land- lady, laugh on." On the fifteenth of February, 1820, Mr. Ellery rose as usual at his home in Newport and seated himself in the armless flag-bottom chair which he had used for half a century. He began to read Tulley's Offices in the original, using no glasses, though the print was small. To his physician, who had happened in and found him looking thin and pale, he said: "I am going off the stage of life, and it is a great blessing that I go free from sickness, pain and sorrow." As his weakncjss increased, he was assisted by his daugh- ter to his bed, where he sat upright and began to read Cicero de Officiis. A few moments later, without a struggle or other visible sign, he passed away as if entering on a peaceful sleep, his posture erect and the book still clasped in his hand. So at the age of ninety-two he died as calmly and cheerfully as he had lived — scholar, philosopher, pa- triot and friend. Henry Robinson Palmer •^ 1 ,.„_„ V-^^ V' *!.VL% ^ ^^^' if- • IS 2' ■* ^*'-v. o V .4> A <0' OOBBSBROS. •> -^ LIBRARY BINDING ^ ST. AUGUSTINE ^^^^ . ^A n« ^^'\ ,4^