THE LIFE
OF
JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER, D.D.




LIFE OF J. ADDISON ALEXANDER, D.D.,
BY
REV. H. C. ALEXANDER.
2 vols. cr. 8vo. $5 00.
yWORKS OF J.,ADDISON,/LEXANDER.
Sermons (with portrait), new and cheaper edition, 2 vols. in one,...... $2 50
Acts (Commentary)............................. 2 vols. 12mo.  4 00
Isaiah'       (abridged)......................2  "     4 00
Mark      ".................................1         "         2  00
Matthew  "............................... 1     "         2 00
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Forty Years' Correspondence with a Friend. New and
cheaper edition................................ 2 vols. in one, $2 50
Alexander, Archibald, Life of (Portrait)......................, 1 vol. 2 25
Christian Faith and Practice (Discourses).................... 2 00
Consolation (Discourses)......... -.   -.-.. 1 "   2 00
Faith (Discourses).,.....................                     1 "   2 00
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Thesae wor,. sen.t ptosf.-paid, u2po~n recei.pt of their prVipe by the JPnlishesls.








...            X0....>..y
Cab 




THE LIFE
JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER, D.D.,
PrOFESSOR IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY.
BY
HENRY CARRINGTON ALEXANDER.
VOLUME I.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER & COMPANY.
1870.




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869,
BY CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.




PREFACE.
I SHALL make no apology for writing the LIFE OF
JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER. If the facts recorded in
these volumes be not a sufficient justification, there could
be no other. Why the duty has been devolved on his
nephew rather than upon some one else, is a question
which need not be discussed here.  It is enough to say
that the work was undertaken not at his own instance
but in compliance with the wishes of the surviving members of the family.
The task, though a grateful, has been an arduous one.
The thing aimed at has been not so much any mere literary excellence as an array of competent and incontrovertible testimony. The career of a quiet student affords
small material in the way of biographic incident, but it is
hoped that the remarkable private and domestic character,
and personal traits and idiosyncrasies, of the subject of these
memoirs, have not been lost sight of in the attempt to portray his life as a recluse scholar, as a teacher, as a minister
of thre Word, and as an author.
The present biographer is indebted to so many sources,
and especially to so many individual friends, for much of
the substance of his narrative as well as for much that is
valuable and entertaining in the way of criticism, description, and illustrative remark and anecdote, that he finds
himself unable to make particular acknowledgments to
them all, or even to cite every one of his authorities by
name. In most cases he has done so, in the body of the
two volumes which are now respectfully offered to the




Vi                   PREFACE.
candid judgment of his readers. Where nothing is said to
the contrary, it will be right to infer that any matter incorporated in the words of another was contributed originally to this work. Sometimes the language is much stronger
than he should have dared to use himself, but is retained as
showing his uncle's rare gift of inspiring his pupils with
enthusiastic, if extravagant, admiration.
To the rule of making no specific acknowledgments of
personal obligation in the Preface, there must, however,
be one signal exception; and that is in the case of a surviving brother of the deceased, and the editor of several of
his posthumous volumes, the Rev. Samuel D. Alexander,
D. D., of New York. Indeed so large and important has
been Dr. Alexander's share in these labours, that it is only
because of his earnest protestation, and inflexible purpose
to the contrary, that his name is not associated with that
of the nominal author upon the title-page. The first rough
draught of the narrative was prepared by him, from the
journals of his lamented brother, and his subsequent toils
and efforts bearing in one way or other upon the book as
it is now presented, have been excessive and invaluable.
I may add that the reader will not stray far from the truth,
if he will bear in mind that while we have both worked in
the quarry and upon the block, the work of my relative
and coadjutor has been mainly though by no means exclusively in the quarry, and my own principally upon the
block, though also very extensively in the quarry. Each
of us has exercised the powers of the veto and of elimination, though the pesent writer has reserved to himself the
power of decisive choice in the few cases where there has
been a fixed difference of opinion between us. Where the
opinions of the subject of this memoir are given without
comment, it is not to be taken for granted that they are
also those of his biographer.
We have discovered with regret that many errors have




PREFACE.                     Vii
crept into the printing that could not be indicated within
the ordinary limits of a table of errata. Some of these are
trivial or will at once be detected as typographical mistakes, but others for which we equally repudiate the
responsibility are more serious, or of such a nature as to
baffle all curiosity as to their precise extent and origin.
Under these circumstances we throw ourselves upon the
mercy of those of our readers who, having suffered themselves in like manner and from the same cause, will, we
trust, regard our frailty and unavoidable misfortune with
indulgence.  The writing of this work was not commenced
until after the late war; and though the printing began as
far back as November 1868, the publication has been delayed until the present moment for reasons which we the
editors could neither remove nor modify. Some of these
reasons might also be pleaded in extenuation of the manner in which the volumes are now put before the public. It is true the copy as furnished to the printer was in
a state not at all unlike that of the leaves of the Delphic
siby]. But, to borrow a caveat from the Preface of " Alexander on Isaiah," " instead of resorting to the usual apologies of distance from the press and inexperience in the
business, or appealing to the fact that the sheets could be
subjected only once " to our revision, we prefer to commit
onrselves'to the generosity of those who are willing to believe that in spite of present appearances we have made
every reasonable effort to secure accuracy. For the foot
notes that are given without signature, I am, except in
one * instance, myself responsible.
May the Lord make this account of the life of one of
his devoted servants, instrumental to the promotion of his
own glory!
Ei. C. A.
* The foot-note at the bottom of p. 45, should have been under the signature, " R. B."








CONTENTS.
CHAPTER  I.
Parentage.-The Mother.-The Father.-The Old Pine Street Church.-James
Alexander.-Lombard Street.-Old Philadelphians. — Germantown.-James
Ross.-Anecdotes of Addison.-Princeton. —Thbe College.-Nassau Hall.Revolutionary Incidents.-Thirst for Knowledge.-Love of Books.-Rapid
Growth. —Beginnings in Latin.-Introduction to Hebrew.-Other Oriental
Languages.-Princeton under Dr. Green. —Passion for Music.-European
and American Choirs.-Influence of this Taste on his Sermons.-Imagination and Fancy.-Intellectual Amusements.-The Boyish Orator.-Facetious
Turn. —First Efforts at Verse.-Early Poetical Ventures.-Early Attempts
at Rhyming. —Poetical Talents.-Early Teachers.-Jemmy Hamilton.Salmon Strong.-Horace S. Pratt.-Classical School.-Robert Baird.Talent for Writing.-Great Industry.-Facsimile of Arabic.-At School.Trenton Reminiscences.-Traits of Character.-Personal Appearance.Mr. King's Recollections.-Humorous Writing.-" The Medley."-Original
Composition.-Stony Brook.-M-r. Baird.-Edward Irving.-James.-Appointed Tutor.-Characteristics.-Visits Philadelphia...........  Page 1
CHAPTER  II.
Dr. Lindsley.-His Pupils.-Power of Memory.-Princeton of 1824.-College
Curriculum.-Old Commencement.-Princeton Society and Celebrities.Mr. Janvier.-The McCarriers.-Jemmy McCarrier. —Mr. Alexander in
College.-His Speeches.-At College.-Habits and Appearance.-Quickness
of Parts.-Many-sided Character.-Judge Napton.-Early Taste for Literature.-Moral Habits.-Highly Gifted.-Character of his Mind.-Equality
of his Faculties.-College Club.-G. W. Bolling.-Valedictory.-Clerk of
Common Council.-First Letter.-Letters Received.-Visits Long Branch.
-Letter of Mrs. Graham.-Mr. McCall.-His Scholarship............ 61
CHAPTER  III.
Declines the Tutorship.-Charles Campbell.-Testimony of Professor Hart.Philological Society.-Love for English Classics.-The Patriot.-Persian
Poets.-Oriental Scenes.-Persian Legends.-Persian Mind. —Persian Mythology.-Poet's' Paradise.-Literary Caprices.-Imitation of Johnson.



X                           CONTENTS.
Arabian  Nights.-Articles signed Trochilus.-Commencement, 1827.Alumni Association.-Foreign News.-" The Sea."-Critique on Shelley.Party Politics.-Puzzling Leader of August, 1827.-Writing of Fiction.Jewess of Damascus.-The Emporium.-Estimate of Time.-Reading Homer.-Early Letter.-When Written.-Admiration of Hebrew. —Italian
and  Spanish  Studies.-Tears of Esau.-Monthly Magazine.-Writing
Verses.-Dr. Snowden. —His Letters.-Monthly Magazine.-Persia and the
East.-Fall of Ispahan. —A Vision of Greece.-English Poets.-Change of
Studies.................................................  Page 96
CHAPTER IV.
Journal.-Daily Studies. —English Reading.-Early Criticism.-Studies for the
Month.-Studies for the Week.-Quarterly Retrospect.-Varied Reading.Philological Society formed.-Scenery of Princeton.-Devoted to his
Books.-Nucleus of a Library.-Begins Chinese.-Retrospect of the Year.
-Memoranda of Dr. Rice.-Old Black and Peter Arun.-Their Characteristics.-Johnson, Crow, Lane.-Reading for the Day.-Aristophanes and
Shakespeare.-English Metaphysics.-Brown's Lectures.-Dante and Spenser.-Scott's Napoleon.-Scott's Style.-Persian New Testament.-Greek
Writers.-Letter from his Brother.-Scott's Napoleon.-Estimate of Xcnophon.-Hearing Sermons.-Joseph Sandford.-R.ecollections of Dr. Rice.Visit to New York..............................................146
CHAPTER V.
Rezeau Brown.-Visits New Haven.-Seeking thle Ministry.-In Philadelphia.
-Failing Health.-His Death.-Traits of Character.-Lines on his Death.
-Their Character.-About the Geography.-Daily Study.-Pope.-Biblical
Repertory.-The Repertory.-Change of Plan.-Its Writers.-The Druses.
-Extracts.-Study of Arabic.-An Old Tradition.-Study of Arabic.-Robert Walsh.-Opinions of him.-Walsh in Paris.-Recollections of Dr.
Jones.-An Incident.-Contributions.-Letter to Dr. Hall.- Article on
Coffee....................................................... 182
CHAPTER VI.
Becomes a Teacher.-The East.-Early Dreams.-Study of Greek.-Remarkable Letter.-Greek Grammar.-Hellenistic Studies. —Purity of Life.-Conversion.-Diary of Experience.-Comfort in the Bible.-Light in Darkness.
-Confessions.-Experimental Journal............................ 212
CHAPTER  VII.
Entrance upon his Professorship.-Progress in Studies.-Subjects of Study.Pursuing tHebrew.-Leading Characteristics.-In the Class.-Mr. George




CONTENTS.                             Xi
Leyburn.-Articles Written.-Parke Godwin, Esq.-Studies of the Year.Turkisha Language. - Burlesque Writing. - Metaphysics. - Grammatical
Studies.-Journal.-Religious Experience.-The Two Brothers. —His Reading.-He Loves the Bible.-Temptation.-Daily Reading.-Letter to Mr.
Hall................................................   Page  242
CHAPTER  VIII.
Oriental Preferences.-The Koran.-Mohammedanism.-The False Prophet.The Perspicuous Book.-The Study of Arabic.-Foreign Grammars.-Familiarlty with Current Arabic.-Henry Vethake.-College Manners.-Anec
dotes. —Public Prayers.-Modesty and Skill as a Teacher.-The Trenton
Pastor.-Newspaper Scribblings.-Progress in Studies............ 265
CHAPTER IX.
Sails from New York.-Ship Samson. —English Stage Coach.-Portsmouth to
London.-House of Commons.-Edward Irving.-His Church.-" Tongues."
-Coach-ride from Oxford.-Dashing Coachman.-Visits Prof. Lee.-Lafayette.-A Visit.-Religious Service.-Travelling Companions.-Letter.Singing School.-Swiss Songs.-Visits Merle.-Letter Finished.-Verses
Written  at Turin.-Poem.-Travelling. Companions.-Journey.-On to
Rome. —ia Cassia.-Thoughts of Home.-Leaves Rome.-New Chair in
the College.-Tholuck. —Von Gerlach.-Daily Life in Germany.-Professor
Pott.-Contribution of Professor Sears.-Walk with Tholuck. —Anecdotes.
-Tholuck's Estimate of Alexander.-Anecdote of Louis von Gerlach.Karl Ritter and Hengstenberg.-Neander and Schleiermacher.-Visits Neander.-Bopp, Rheinwald and Nitzsch.-Reminiscences by Dr. Samuel Miller.-Paris and Princeton Habits Contrasted....................... 283
CHAPTER X.
The New Professor.-Severity in the Class-room.-Growth in Gentleness.-Dr.
Lyon's Recollections.-Manners in his Study.-Power of Sarcasm.-Literary Recreations.-Knowledge of European Politics. —The Literary Association.-Repertory Articles.-Evening Diversions.-Colloquy with Three
Bishops. —Remarks of Dr. Scott.-Dr. Hilyer.-Studies of the Brothers.Bearing in his Private Classes. —Testimony of Professor Hart.-Tribute by
Dr. Wilson.-Biblical and Oriental Labours.-Plan of Study. —His New
Chair.-Messianic Interpretation.-English Reviews.-Miscellaneous Reading.-Bible Study...........................             332
CHAPTER XI.,Old and New School.-Scripture Reading.-Professorship Declined.-Dean
Swift. —Mr. James Alexander. —Dr. Archibald Alexander. —His Preaching.




Xii                         CONTENTS.
-Private Classes.-Personal Traits. —Bearing towards his Class. —Sharp
Censure.-Conversation.-Observer of Men.-Dr. Hall.-Correspondence.Arabic Letter.-Prayers.-A  Specimen.-Resolutions.-Estimate of his
Prayers.-Prayers before Lecture......................... Page 358
CHAPTER  XIT.
Discursive Reading.-Quarterly Review. —Dr. Ramsey.-Abhorrence of Drones.
-Gentleness.-Interest in his Class. —Oral Expositions.-Massive Intellect.
— Impetuous Feelings.-Current Stories. —Offensive Manners.-Effects of the
Weather.-Art Napoleon.-Private Pupils. —Rhyming Letter.-Travelling.
-Teaching under Difficulties. -Writing Letters.-Alphabets.-Correspondence.-Seeking Books.....................................380
CHAPTER  XIII.
Personal Appearance.-Social Intercourse.-High Pressure Teaching.-Hard
Study.-Stolid Students.-Assembly of 1837.-A Latin Tense. —Picture of
Princeton. —Contributions to the Papers. —Letters to a Pupil.-True Happiness.-Isaiah begun.-The Doomed Man. —When Written.-Parallel Bible.-Letters to Dr. Hall.-First Efforts in Pulpit.-Experiments with his
Class.-Questions in the Class.-Methods of Study.-With his Private
Class.-Bible Studies.-A Poem  Suggested.-A Sermon.-Princeton Re.
view.-A  Letter.-Philosophical Club.-Curious  Incident.-Missionary
Herald.-Diary.-A Sermon.-Exegetical Study.-A Candidate. —Beggars.
-Growth in Grace.-Scripture Reading.......................... 402
CHAPTER XIV.
As a Preacher. —Dr. Ramsey's Estimate.-First Sermon. —Diversity of Methods.
-True Eloquence.-Travelling.-Preaching.-Views of the Disruption.-In
Boston.-Dr. Hodge's Estimate.-Letters to a Boy.-Day-Book.-Writing
Sermons.-Journal.-An Elocutionist.-Dr. Abel Stevens.-Style of Preaching.-Invitations to Preach.-Installation.-Inaugural.-A Sermon.-Manner of Preaching.-Writing Sermons.-Not dependent on Notes.-Scripture
Study.-Cicero.-Talk of the Brothers.-His Ordination............. 439
CHAPTER XV.
Presbyterial Examination.-Joseph John Gurney.-Little George.-Dr. Jacobus.
-Power over the Class.-First Thoughts of Isaiah.-Isaiah.-Hebrew Text.
-Princeton.-Preaching.-As a Teacher.-His Audience Moved......468




THE LIFE
OF THE
REV. JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER, D.D.
CHAPTER I.
JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER, the subject of this
memoir, was the third son of the late Archibald Alexander,
D. D., of Princeton, and was born in the city of Philadelphia,
on the 24th day of April, 1809. Of his father I need not speak.
His mother was the daughter of the Rev. James Waddel, of
Louisa and of Hanover Presbytery, who is still spoken of in
Virginia and elsewhere as the "Blind Preacher," and whose
name is preserved in the well-known essay of MIr. Wirt in the
British Spy. The late Governor Barbour was wont to speak
of him as the most eloquent man he ever heard, with the
single exception of Patrick Henry, Mrs. Alexander was a
beautiful and lovely girl, apd was comely and fascinating
almost to the day of her death.  The portrait by Mooney,
which is in the possession of the family, is very like her. She
had dark liquid eyes, and her face wore a look of repose,
benevolence, good sense, and sometimes, when animated in conversation, of gentle raillery and humour.  Her sensibility
was extreme and tremulous. She had a sweet gayety of spirits, shaded at times by a pensive melancholy. She was, in
every acceptation of the word, devotedly pious. iler labo.
rious readings to her aged and sightless father had injured
her own vision. She loved her Saviour, and the house,
1




2                          PARENTAGE.                            ~1809.
people, works, and word of her God. She was fond of religious books. No one could take a more unaffected pleasure
in the writings of Flavel, Bates, and other non-conformists.
It was her study to do good, and to make her home and the
home of her husband and children cheerful and happy; nor
did any one ever succeed better in such an attempt. Though
naturally diffident and very sensitive, she loved company,
and when she  pleased  was  one  of the  most entertaining
persons in the world. Her children were all proudly attached
to her, and her son Addison not only loved but admired her
above all living women.* There was an indescribable charm
* The testimony of one of Addison's teachers on this point is exceedingly
just and valuable. It is contained in a letter from the Rev. Dr. R. Baird to
the Presbyterian, which he wrote at Yonkers, N. Y., May 12, 1860.
" I may remark, in passing, that few men in our country or any other, had
greater advantages for the acquisition of knowledge and the formation of Welldeveloped characters, than the sons of the late Dr. Archibald Alexander. Their
mother was a daughter of the celebrated Dr. Waddel of Virginia, of whose
eloquence William Wirt has given such a glowing description in his British
Spy, and possessed much of her father's character and strength of mind. She
was a woman of excellent judgment, well-cultivated intellect, most amiable disposition, much decision of character, sincere piety, and even in old age retained
much of the beauty of her youth, and of those pleasant and winning manners
which are better than beauty, Well qualified as she was to adorn any circle
of society in which she might have moved, she devoted herself with most unremitting care to the training of her children, rightly believing that this was the
first and great duty which she owed to the Saviour and to them. Her delightful influence greatly contributed to make home the most pleasant place in the
world to them. The company, too, of an accomplished and affectionate sister,
and often that of most agreeable female relatives from the Old Dominion, as
well as of friends from Philadelphia, where their father had been pastor of a
church during several years, contributed to make the house of their parents all
that could be desired. I have sometimes thought that it was almost too
pleasant; on any other principle it is hard to account for the fact that so many
of them have remained unmarried.
" The influence of their father was not les3 happy and effective than that of
their excellent mother on all these sons. Dr. Alexander was a kind father, but
not too indulgent. At all times he lived on terms of great intimacy with them,
and sometimes, especially in his younger life, would take part in their youthful




.ET. 1.]                 THE MOTHER.                             3
about her voice and manner, and she had a fine and cultivated
understanding.
It is impossible to exaggerate the influence of such a
mother upon the mind and character of her children. In appearance, and many habits and traits of character and intellect,
Addison was like the Alexanders, and especially like his father;
but in many particulars of mind and disposition he was, to use
the language of another who is not a resident of Staunton and
not related to the family, "his grandfather's son (Jamnes Waddel)." He was still more his mother's son; though in after
years he grew to be more and more in person, if not in temperament, like his father and one or two of his father's sisters.
The commentator on Isaiah had the most exalted notion of
his mother's rare powers as an interpreter of Scripture. He
preferred her plain, unaided judgments to the opinions of all
the Fathers and Councils. It would be hard to find a more
passionately devoted son. He has been heard to expatiate
with delight on the soft attractions and ingratiating charm of
her society. His eve would sometimes kindle, and his voice
become tender, when he was on this theme.  She was equally
wrapt up in her famous son. But if she indulged him it was
in reason, and with a wise consideration of the future. The
truth was, from the very beginning the boy needed little
guidance and little correction. Even his profound, sagacious
father, that thoughtful and  patient student of mental and
sports with evident gratification to himself as well as to them. I often had occasion to call upon him in his study at night, and frequently found some of the
smaller boys about him, reading or amusing themselves; and he told me that
it never interfered with his studies. They had free access to his library, which
was large, and, as they grew up, to the libraries of the Institutions in Princeton. And as all the sons received a classical education, and graduated at the
College of that place, they had abundant advantages for becoming well-instructed men. The daily converse with their parents did much to create and
increase the love of knowledge for which they became so much distinguished.
I have been told by the late James W. Alexander, that he had heard at his
father's table very many of the most important things which he ever learned.
Th9 advantages of growing up under such an influence, and in the midst of so
many incentives to the acquisition of knowledge, cannot be overrated."




4                     TIIE FATHER.                    [1809.
spiritual phenomena, though ever on the alert as regarded acts
of disobedience, like the father of Pascal left his son pretty
much to his own bent. His discipline was suggestive, rather
than strictly coercive. He saw clearly from the first that Addison was to be his own master. The fruits of this training
are now evident in the life and fame of the great Biblical
scholar. We cannot but rejoice that his powers were not too
much restrained in infancy and youth, but were allowed to
develop themselves in the natural ways. There are few cases
in which such a course would be wise; but this was one of
them.
His ancestry was Scotch-Irish, and as much of the manly
and racy vigour of his mind, and bold intrepidity as well as
honest frankness of his temper, are traceable to this sturdy
stock, I think it well to say a word or two about the emigration to this country from the North of Ireland.* Many of
these stout Presbyterians went to the Great Valley, and laid
the foundations of civil and religious liberty in Virginia.
These reputable settlers had been taught to thirst for the best
literature of the age. Their earliest predilections were for the
union of regulated freedom and sound learning. Their descendants followed in their footsteps.  "Reasons might be
given why the sons of Scottish settlers in Ulster, more than
any others of the British isles, should come to this country;
impelled by the same causes which drove the Huguenot and
the Palatine. During their sojourn in Ireland, they had never
lost one Scottish peculiarity of mind or dialect. They came
ready to coalesce with the Puritan sons of men who had sometimes fought, and sometimes suffered with their fathers. A
common creed and common purpose knit them together in asserting the consecration of science and letters to the church." t
The catalogue of Princeton College shows that no other race
added so many to the names of her alumni. With some ex* See the account by Dr. A. Alexander, in his biography by his son, p. 2.
t Address at Centennial Celebration of the College by Rev. J. W. Alexander, D.D. This address has never been published.




ET. 3.]    THE OLD PINE STREET CHURCH.               5
ceptions, the founders of the college were of this stock, and
mingled cordially with their brethren of English descent.
"Carolina, East Jersey and Maryland received these exiles,
panting from persecution, as early as 1679. They spread
themselves over the Great Valley, a hardy, athletic, shrewd,
inquisitive, and remarkably persistent race." *  This was the
stock from which Archibald, and James, and Addison Alexander sprung.
Dr. Alexander removed to Philadelphia in the winter of
1806-1807, and became the pastor of the Third Presbyterian
Church, now known as the old Pine street Church. His eldest
son speaks of having had a few dim recollections of Prince Edward, and clearly remembered the old prayer-room of Hampden Sidney College. He also had some faint remembrance of
the journey to Philadelphia.  His first bright reminiscences
were connected with a house in Pine street, just opposite St.
Peter's churchyard.  This was the first house occupied by his
father. He calls to mind his surprise at the burial of several
persons with military honours, and wondered, as children will,
why they should fire guns over the grave.  He says that in
the spring the rank grass, interspersed with buttercups and
dandelions, made the churchyard a delightful spot. lie was
afterwards told by his mother that he was a stubborn and ungovernable child. He was once taken home by her and corrected for playing with a little girl in church-he never repeated the offence. An old Bible lay in the pastor's pew,
which the little urchins used to tear up and twist into " earticklers," which they profanely used during prayers. He well
remembered the singing of James McGathery, who was precentor, and the acerbity of David Allen, the old Scotch sexton,
and the goats which used to browse in the churchyard.  A
very excellent Quaker lady named Price lived next to them in
Pine street, who was very kind to James and used to encourage him to get upon a table and preach, which he was accustomed to do with much applause.  An old family servant
* Ibid.




6                 JAMES ALEXANDER.                 C1813.
named Daphne, once a slave in Virginia, who returned to the
Valley after receiving her freedom, and who lived to a great
age, was full of anecdotes relating to these juvenile exploits.
Shle could tell them long after she had forgotten nearly every
thing else. Mrs. Price was still living in 1829, and spoke of
James as "a very pious child."  He was however too much
given to imitate the clerical actions of his father, and was
once chastised for solemnly pouring water on a little chair and
uttering the formula of baptism. Once during the prevalence
of a thunder-storm, he said to his brother or his nurse that it
was " God talking," and even undertook to tell what He was
saying; for which he afterwards had some twinges.
The cries of the man who sold clams and oysters were
matters of deep interest in those days. Even Addison could
also recall the song of the little chimney sweeps.  The nurse
used to take the older boys to a cake shop in the vicinity, and
the eldest of them in his simplicity thought that what they
got upon trust they got for nothing.
The next house in which they lived was on the south side
of Lombard street, between Second and Third streets. It was
used in 1828 as a " finding store " for shoemakers. One of the
boys remembered being taken thither in a coach, but none of
the circumstances attending the removal.  This must have
been in 1808, and consequently before the birth of Addison,
which occurred the following spring.  This event was distinctly remembered by his brother James, who was moved by
it to tears. He says it gave him much pain, and in the tenderness of his heart he wept to think that he should be supplanted in the affections of his parents.  Little did he know
the joy lie was to take in his new brother.
The late Dr. Addison Waddel, afterwards of Staunton,
Virginia, his mother's brother, was at that time living with
Dr. Alexander. Here it was that James began to study the
Latin grammar, reciting it to his father, and he long afterwards
regretted his " wicked craft " in peeping over his shoulder at
the book. The study fronted the street, on the first floor, with
a little window opening upon the stairway, through which the




AET. 4.1           LOMBARD STREET.
boys used to look in upon marriages which sometimes took
place there. These were the days of the first stir in America
about Bible Societies, and the Philadelphia pastor used to give
Bibles to poor people. In the little court behind the house
was an arbour covered with a grape-vine, and some little beds
of flowers. Long afterwards Dr. James W. Alexander could
scarcely ever see a pink without thinking of Lombard street.
It was, he says, with an indescribable pensive satisfaction that
he. looked back upon those days of comparative innocence.
He scarcely ever went to bed without talking to his mother
about the unpardonable sin; which he stood in daily fear of
committing. There were no Sunday Schools then, but he remembered going every Saturday afternoon to Pine street
Church to be catechised. Almost every day he went to Second street, to the house of Mr. John Steele, who having no
children of his own was very kind to him. He was an Irishman, and a brother of the Rev. Robert Steele of Abingdon,
Pa., and the Rev. Samuel Steele of Kentucky. Here the little
visitor used to read the Pilgrim's Progress, and the Olney
Hymns, which he always held in high affection. On his seventh birthday his father presented him with Day's Sanford and
MIerton, telling him that he was " now a youtlh, and must begin
to prepare for manhood." This somewhat singular advice
was heeded. The lad was fond of reading, and used to pace
the floor for hours. He fairly gorged the English classics, and
in course of time not a few of the Latin ones, especially the
poets.  He used to say that he had read the whole college
course in Latin, and possibly in Greek, before he was matriculated. He recollected well that Dr. James P. Wilson of the
First Church, told him that he was "a little peripatetic philosopher."  This habit of pacing his study floor he kept up
through life. He went to his first school about 1810-1811. It
was under the charge of Madamn  Thomson, as the scholars
called her, on the north side of Lombard street, below Third.
He never could remember learning to read and write, nor did
he ever have any distinct impressions about beginning Latin.
About the time of the birth of his brother Addison, i. e., in




8               OLD PHILADELPHIIANS.               1813.
April, 1809, he began to go to the school of a BIr. Littell,
and retained a disagreeable remembrance of "the squalid
and dark appearance of the room," and the tricks which
the rude boys used to play upon him, who, taking advantage
of his smallness and timidity, appear to have fagged him
dreadfully. His principal reminiscences of Lombard street
were the marriages which took place in his father's study, his
frequent visits to the market, the book-binder's, and the flour
shop, the song of the oysterman, which I have often heard him
sing, and the books given him by his friends.
The family next removed to Fourth street below Lombard,
west side, next door but one to Gaskill street. "And here,"
he records, " a crowd of early impressions contend for precedence." There he began to remember his father's preaching,
the people that used to visit them, and the tradesmen with
whom they had dealings. The house was occupied at a later
day by a Major Linnard. In the neighbourhood was a chocolate factory in which James took much interest, and a gilder's
shop, out of the windows of which were thrown the little red
books in which gold-foil is kept. The little fragments of the
precious metal he accounted a great prize. The coup d'oeil of
a print-shop two doors off from his father's house remained in
his memory. Near them on Gaskill street was a mustard factory. His father's study was here the front room on the second story, and in it were spent some of his son's happiest
hours. His father used to give him, on slips of paper, a text
for every day; and these, when a certain number had been
learned, he would redeem with small gifts of money. Dr.
Alexander, with several others of the city clergy, took lessons
in Hebrew about this time from one H'orwitz, a Jew, who afterwards fell into some degree of disrepute.
The family commonly spent their summers at Germantown, six or seven miles out of town, where they hired a small
house for the season. This captivating region, as it is now,
of suburban drives and cottages, of green and shadowed
lawns, and clambering exotics, was already beautiful, though
plain and little celebrated. Old Dr. Blair was then alive, and




AIT. 4.]             GERMANTOWN.                       9
James Alexander was often at his house. The Rev. MIr. Dunn
was the Presbyterian minister, and his son James's intimate
friend. One of his little Philadelphia comrades was Silas, a
brother of the late George Potts, D.D., of New York. One
day an English missionary was addressing a large number
of children, of whom he would collect hundreds, upon the
journeys of St. Paul, and particularly his imprisonment at
Antioch. Having finished his "preachment," he began to
catechise the boys and girls on what they had heard. Among
other questions, he proposed this, "Who was Silas's companion? "  George Potts answered with a very loud voice" James Alexander, sir,"-to the great amusement of the congregation.
During all the time of their living in Philadelphia, so far as
he can recollect, he was constant in the performance of the
duty of secret prayer, had a very tender conscience, and was
often exercised about the concerns of his soul. He was pleased
at the thought that he should one day be a preacher, and once
wrote a sermon, part of which was recovered and held in trust
for him by one of his aunts.
He went to school, while they lived in Fourth street, to a
Mr. McCleese, who had nearly 100 pupils, and used the ferule
in Lombard street, the north side. Here he was taught reading, writing, &c. In Germantown he was put under the care
of a Miss Hotchkiss, and all that he could remember was that
he once was made to wear the fool's cap, with bells, and that
he used to write in Carver's copy-books.
His first Latin teacher was the Rev. Samuel B. Hare, in
after days his predecessor in Trenton, and then President of
Dickinson College. HIe next went to the noted James Ross,
author of the Latin grammar, whom he pronounced " an Orbilius in severity, but a most accurate scholar of the old British school." The famous pedagogue was wont to call his little
pupil, "Alexander Magnus," in allusion to his diminutive size.
Ross scourged the elder scholars unmercifully, but James must
have pleased him, either by his deportment or his recitations,
for the crabbed master always treated him with positive affec



10                    JAMES ROSS.                      1813.
tion. Years after, he sent his old pupil, who was by this time
a well-known clergyman, Stockius's Greek Lexicon, with a
kind inscription, which was doubtless not in the vulgar tongue.
Dr. James Alexander had no recollection of the sermons he
heard in Philadelphia, except one from his father in commemoration of the burning of the theatre in Richmond, which was
printed, and from  which extracts were taken by his biographer. Once, indeed, he went with Martha Jones, a negro
servant, to St. Thomas's African Episcopal Church; where,
and, as I believe, for the only time in his life, he saw the rite
of confirmation solemnized by Bishop White.  His father, he
says, sometimes took him (I presume on week days) to the
Romish chapels; and he retained a lively impression of the
music, vestments, incense, holy water, * &c.
It is now high time we were inquiring about the early life
of Addison, who at the latest date involved in the preceding
narrative was little more than a mere babe.
Addison was a little Hercules, even in his cradle. There
was never a moment's doubt as to. the boy's capacity, and it
was always evident that he was destined, if he lived, for something great. He was regarded as a prodigy before he left his
nurse's arms; but the accounts of his very early days are, as
nsual in such cases, provokingly slight and fragmentary.
When but a few months old, at a time when infants of the
common order manifest scarcely any signs of intelligence, I am
informed his perceptions were singularly quick, and his evident
appreciation of what was said to him was truly wonderful.
The materials out of which the story of his childhood will have
to be made up are too meagre to afford much satisfaction to
those who are curious in such matters, and may perhaps not
be thought to bear out the impression produced upon the
minds of all who came in contact with this remarkable boy,
that he was gifted from the first with faculties of the highest
* These particulars of the Philadelphia life are for the most part abridged
from a manuscript by Dr. James W. Alexander, entitled " Recollections of my
Early Life." The language is largely though not exclusively his own.




ET. 4.]        ANECDOTES OF ADDISON.                 11
order, and that those faculties were already well developed
at an astonishingly early period. Whatever may be the judgment of the reader as to the inferences to be drawn from the
particular facts about to be recited, there can be no question
in any reasonable mind that considers the unanimity of the
witnesses who speak of this period, or that duly reflects upon
the degree of mental advancement implied in the diaries of a
somewhat later period, that the boy Addison was worthy of
being mentioned among les enfans celebres.
The few anecdotes which are preserved of this period will
doubtless interest some on account of their unquestioned authenticity. They also shed some light on the character and
disposition of the man, which were in many respects, and more
than is usually the case, the same with those of the boy.
When he was still in the arms of his nurse, his mother was
in the habit of saying to him, " Addison, say your prayers: "
upon which he would shut his eyes, place the palms of his
hands together, and look up with an appearance of solemn
reverence.
When he was about two years old, his father read one
morning, at the daily worship of the family, the eleventh chapter of the Evangelist John, in which the account is given of
the raising of Lazarus. Addison seemed to have listened attentively to the narrative, and in the course of the morning,
when but one person was in the room, was observed to take
a small book from the table and place it in a corner on the
floor, and after standing over it for a short time, was heard to
say in a load voice, "' Lazarus, come forth: " immediately after
which he placed the book on end.
On one occasion he was sent by his mother to carry to his
father's study a manuscript in which she had been placing a
stitch. On leaving the study he turned round to make a bow
(which was an accomplishment that had been lately taught
him), but stepped too far back and fell a short distance down
the staircase, which was immediately at the study door, and
fractured his collar-bone. His brother James, who was then a
little boy of seven, was immediately despatched for the late




12             ANECDOTES OF ADDISON.               [1813.
Dr. John Dorsey, at that time rising into eminence as a surgeon,
who promptly repaired to his assistance, reduced the firacture,
and secured the arm to the breast in many folds of linen, secuncdum artem. While his arm was thus confined, Addison indulged
in much of that playful humour which in after life so distinguished him in the family.
At the age of four years he removed with his father's family
to Princeton, which was destined to be the spot of his life-long
residence, the place of his early education, the field, more than
any other, upon which, in after years, he was to deploy his
splendid abilities, and which was to be the theatre of his extraordinary labours and hard-earned unregarded fame. It was
here too that his body was to rest in hope.
He was at this time a gentle, retiring, observing, thoughtful
child-full of animal spirits and genuine humour; the delight
of the household, the astonishment and despair of his little
school-fellows; invariably attracting the notice of every visitor by the sparkle of his wit, and the originality of his remarks.
There is to some minds a strange beguiling pleasure in the
attempt to trace out the localities which have been the home of
men of worth or talents. Princeton is ten miles from the State
capital, in Mercer county, and lies embosomed in a very lovely
region, of late years made more pleasing and fragrant than
ever before. It is the centre of a wide circumference of champaign country, broken in the rear of the town by abrupt rocky
barriers, and terminated in the extreme distance on several
sides by a faint wavy line of blue hills, which sometimes shine
with a light as soft as that of Pentelicus, but are often nearly
invisible. The level fields and graceful laps of tilled surface
composing this fine prospect show every token of thrift, plenty,
and the most careful husbandry. The whole is dotted over
with snug homesteads and orchards, and intersected with neat
fences. Red and white cattle are everywhere to be seen
browsing upon the close-cut pastures. Through the midst of
plain, grove, green protuberance and meadow, the landscape is
streaked by the sinuous current of Stony Brook, or as it is




zAT. 4.]              PRINCETON.                     13
known at one romantic spot, Pretty Brook, a stream of pellucid
brightness when not troubled by rains, and that, as it glides
within its tortuous avenue of tall trees, whispers to itself legends of Revolutionary battle.
From the heart of the town itself there are a number of inviting views commanded by those buildings which are favourably situated. One of the best of these cheered the eyes of
Dr. Archibald Alexander for forty years, as he sat in his study
wrapt in thought but now and then darted glances of admiration through his south window.  Another broad and grateful
prospect enlivens both sides of the main thoroughfare where,
after penetrating the town, it goes on easterly towards Kingston.
Still another of these refreshing pastoral landscapes, though
in some particulars the same with one of those just mentioned,
is thus described by Professor James Alexander in his unpublished journal for Saturday the 19th of May, 1838. Alluding
to his keen enjoyment that year of "the placid rapture of
spring," he writes as follows: "From my south study window
the prospect is delightful; hill, forest, field and orchard —it
only lacks mountain and water.  In the background, Rocky
Hill begins to show a feathery green upon its thickest forest.
On this side and next to it stripes of green grainfields; and
still farther hitherward, as the ground slopes down toward the
large and lovely orchard just in the richest bloom!"
The street which passes in front of the College branches
some hundreds of yards beyond it to the west into two beautiful village roads, which for years have been studded with
dwellings and gardens. On one of these is Morven, the seat
of the Stocktons, adorned with the oldest of elms, catalpas, and
walnuts, and on the other, under its own ample summer shade,
is the Theological Seminary. Between the two lie the Lenox
Library, the beautified grounds of the late John R. Thomson,
Esq., and the green turf and trim hemlock hedges of Professor Wm. Henry Green  while far to the west and some distance
beyond the borough limits are the delightful groves, parterres,
and winding walks and drives of Judge Richard S. Field.




14                      THE COLLEGE.                         ~1813.
Of course this description belongs to the town and its environs of to-day, not in all the particulars mentioned, to the
surroundings of President Green.
If Princeton cannot lav claim to the rows of mighty elms
which have thrown their immemorial charm over New Haven,
it has nevertheless an abundant shadow not only from the
elm but from the maple, the sugar maple, the paper mulberry,
the buttonwood, and the weeping-willow, with here and there
a forlorn relic in the shape of a half-extinct Lombardy poplar.
In June and July the place is now fairly embowered in foliage.
Its College lawns are not greatly surpassed in New England.
Its public buildings are picturesque, and on every account well
deserving of attention at the hands of the antiquary and the
scholar. Its libraries are important and costly. Its literary
and theological name has long been honoured on both sides of
the Atlantic. It can show an imposing catalogue of Alumni,
and can count among its nursing fathers not only men like
Dickinson, Burr, Davies, Finley, and Green, grave masters as
these were of the old-time piety, learning and eloquence, but
"that prodigy of metaphysical acumen, Jonathan Edwards,"*
that intellectual giant and almost universal genius, Witherspoon, and that scholar of magnificent and princely gentlemanhood, Samuel Stanhope Smith.t
The town of Princeton is intimately connected with the
Revolutionary  Annals.   The President, Dr. Witherspoon,
who for obvious reasons was regarded with a peculiar enmity
by the Royal army, fled from his country home at Tusculum,
e Robert Hall in the Sermon on Modern Infidelity.
t SAMUEL STANHOPE SMITH.-" A little later, we who first saw these shades
in 1812, recall the venerable form of the President, as he laid aside his symbols
of learned rule; beautiful and lordly in his decay, unsurpassed in our [memory] for perfect gracefulness and a stateliness which had lost all that was once
[considered] as pomp. He crept to the retirement where he renewed his [early
love] of classical [studies] with two beloved grandsons, one of whom has been
for twenty years in Peru. And we, my beloved coevals, of 1819, joined in the
concourse which followed the remains to the cemetery, where you have seen his
tomb which you have visited."-Centennial Address, 1847.




LET. 4.]                  NASSAU  HALL.                             15
" taking only a wagon-load of his effects, and driving his stock
befbre him." Onthe 22dof July, of the same year, two stories
of the college were full of Hessian soldiers. On the 1st of Jan.,
1777, Ilawhood's brigade were  quartered  in Nassau Hall,*
and made their barracks in the dormitories, using the basement for their stables.  Nor is this believed to be the first
instance of such outrages. The college lawn is said to have
been covered with their crimson uniforms.  Washington, as
all the world knows, retreated from  Trenton, on January the
2d. A little after sunrise, he exposed himself before the lines
at Stony Brook. This was the commencement of the battle
of Princeton.  The Hessians in the college building ran out
tumultuously at the front doorways, on the approach of the
American troops, and fell back to NTew Brunswick. The mark
of a ball from one of the American cannon was at one time
to be seen'near the projection of the old Hall.' Another
cannon ball entered a window, and struck the portrait of
* Nassau Hall. This was the name suggested for the old college building
by Governor Belcher, under whose fostering care it was erected. His words are
still preserved. The original thought was to call it Belcher Hall. The worthy
Governor seems to have been also the first to suggest, and in this very letter to
the trustees, in 1756, the motto of the Cliosophic Society. " I take a particular
grateful notice of the respect and honour you are desirous of doing me and my
family, in calling the edifice lately erected in Princeton by the name of BelcherHall; but you will be so good as to excuse me, while I absolutely decline such
an honour, for I have always been very fond of the motto of a late great personage, Prodesse quam conspici. But I must not leave this head without asking
the favour of your naming the present building Nassau Hall; and this I hope
you will take as a further instance of my real regard to the future welfare and
interest of the college, as it will express the honour we retain, in this remote
part of the globe, to the immortal memory of the glorious king William the
Third, who was a branch of the illustrious house of NASsAU. * * * * And
who, for the better establishment of the true religion and English liberty,
brought forward an act in the British Parliament, for securing the Crown of
Great Britain to the present royal family, whereby we now become happy
under the best of kings, in the full enjoyment of English liberty and prosperity.
And God Almighty grant, we may never want a sovereign from his loins to
sway the British sceptre in righteousness."-Extracted from a slip of an old
newspaper, which is made use of in the Centennial Address.




16             REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS.               ~1813
George II., tearing it from the frame, which has since been
graced by Peale's full-length of Washington, and the death
of Mercer.  A  mess of the 40th regiment of British had
ordered a breakfast in the President's house, and were just
sitting down to it when the firing began. That breakfast was
eaten with appetite by the American officers. The college
became a hospital for the wounded, and so continued to be
for six or eight months. During these bewildering changes,
the old Hall was sadly knocked to pieces. Every perishable
part of the structure was destroyed. "The wood-work was
used for fuel, and the apparatus, including Rittenhouse's
orrery, was demolished or injured." There is still in the
space to the rear of the old college, and in the very centre
of the enclosure formed by the ancient edifice and the new
buildings, a thirty-two pounder left by the British in their
fright, which was abandoned by Washington " on account of
its carriage being broken." There is, of course, a legend connected with this old piece.
The Continental troops occupied the college as barracks
till about the fifteenth of June of the same year, and as an
hospital, from the first of October till the twenty-third of
November of the year following. The church was repeatedly
desecrated, being occupied continually "by every party passing."
After this, Dr. Witherspoon granted two rooms to the
tailors of the Jersey Brigade.  The grant expired, or the
tailors yielded their claim, some time in April, 1780. "The
college was entirely disbanded, and all regular business was
interrupted for two or three years." * The Congress met in
Princeton in 1783. A letter from the Rev. Ashbel Green,
D. D. (afterwards President of the College), to his father, dated
Nassau Hall, 5th of July, 1783, gives a bright and cheerfuhl
glimpse of the place as it was at that day.  "The face of things
is inconceivably altered in Princeton within a fortnight.
From a little obscure village we have become the capital of
* In the above narrative I have made free use of the Centennial Address,
and other sources of information.




AET. 4.1       REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS.                 17
America. Instead of almost total silence in the town, nothing
is to be seen or heard but the passing and rattling of wagons,
coaches, and chairs, the crying about of pine-apples, oranges,
lemons, and every luxurious article both foreign and domestic."
The Congress papers, which had all been lodged in college,
amounted to about five or seven wagon-load. The members
sat from 11 to 3. The day before, he had had " the honour of
delivering a declamation before them on the dangers and
advantages of Republican government." After which he
received an invitation to dine with them. "Dinner began
about 6 o'clock. It was a public occasion-d-ll the Congress,
foreign ministers, and gentlemen, with the faculty of the college, and some gentlemen of the town, to the amount of 70 or
80, were present." In the evening sky-rockets and a variety
of fireworks were displayed, and were repeated on the evening
of the day on which he wrote. At one o'clock a salute of
thirteen guns was fired in the front Campus. After dinner
the President gave out as many toasts, each of which was
accompanied by a discharge of artillery.  "I retired to my
chamber about 9 o'clock." *
One of the matters that was engaging the attention of
this important body,was a proposal from a gentleman of Virvinia to exhibit "a method of working a boat of twenty tons
burden by the force of machines, with only one man, without sails, against the tide, so that it shall run eight miles in
an hour; with the tide twelve miles in an hour."
Princeton, on account of its salubrious air, has been happily styled the Montpellier of America.t  It is the seat of one
of the oldest institutions of academic learning in the country,
and also of the most celebrated of the distinctively Presbyterian schools of theology. In addition to the charm of the landscape gardening, and of the surrounding scenery of nature, it
could always boast a considerable number of highly cultivated
* Culled from a slip of the "Daily News," which is given entire in the
Centennial Address.
t By Dr. Witherspoon. See Life of Dr. Archibald Alexander, p. 385.




18             THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE.               L8151.
men and women and attractive households. But the noblest
part of Princeton, after all, as many love to think, lies sleeping in its venerable graveyard, where, enclosed within massive
walls and shadowed by giant trees, repose the ashes of nearly
all the former college Presidents, and of Dod and other college professors; as well as Samuel Miller, Archibald Alexander, James Waddel Alexander, and now, amidst the verdure
of nine years, of Joseph Addison Alexander, of the Theological Seminary. Whatever may happen to the rest of Princeton, it may be safely said of the old cemetery on Witherspoon street, that it will continue to grow green with precious
and hallowed remembrances, even'as now, "incontaminatis
honoribus refulget."
After the removal to Princeton, Addison made brave advances. His proficiency in study, and the ease and exactness
with which he mastered the elements of knowledge, were
almost incredible. It is impossible to point to the time when
he did not know his letters. He soon learned to read, under
the tuition of a young lady then resident in the family, who
has since that time been made a widow, and is believed to be
now living in Texas. Once possessed of this delightful and
invaluable art, his appetite for books became perfectly insatiable. He was never at rest. His thirst for knowledge was
unquenchable and constant. He hungered after his intellectual pabulum as a carnivorous animal hungers after his prey.
His eyes never wearied in the attempt to decypher unaccustomed characters. The strangeness of a foreign language
was no invincible obstacle in his path. He would get hold of
an old grammar, or part of a grammar, or else make one for
himself that would answer for the nonce; he would disinter
from a heap of waste paper and forgotten volumes some venerable dictionary, with the back gone and many of the leaves
torn out or hopelessly defaced, or in lieu of that he would
store his mind with the new vocabulary as he went along.
In this way he soon learned to knock a language to pieces,
resolve it into its structural parts, and examine its hidden
machinery; and all this he did with a vehemence of impulse




AET. 6.]            LOVE OF BOOKS.                   19
and a rapidity of work that must have been very startling to
the other boys, and was sufficiently surprising to all who were
in any measure acquainted with his habits. But most of these
efforts were put forth in solitude, and he did not care to speak
of them to a living soul. Some of the facts here mentioned
did not come to light till long afterwards.
He was at this time, in all strictness of speech, what is
called an omnivorous reader. He read literally every thing
that fell in his way. This was one of his characteristics in
after-life. Though he often checked himself in the indulgence
of a taste for general literature, the propensity was always
strong. Though he had habituated himself to the most severe and rigid courses of study, he did not disdain to read
the. smallest newspaper, or even the almanac. I have often
heard him say, in response to a question about some particular book of travels, then just out, that " all books of travel
were interesting to him."  Though at all times a recluse, supposed to be conversant only with what was in books, the saying of Terence was applicable to him, and not only in regard
to books, but in reference to every thing else, humani nihil
alienum. He would look out of his open window, as he gaily
turned the huge leaves of his folios at Princeton, and see more
of human nature in an hour than some men would see in a
twelvemonth. But I am anticipating.
At the time I speak of, there were in the garret in his
father's house certain old worthless books, that had been
thrown away with other rubbish, and had many of them
passed entirely out of recollection. There.the boyish scholar
would sit for hours together devouring the contents of these
volumes. Among the works thus read was an old romance
called "The Midnight Bell," a book full of horrors and
mysteries. He used often to speak with zest in after years, of
the terror with which he gloated over the dark and bloody
revelations of this story, in the silence, solitude, and gloom of
that unfinished and unfurnished attic.
There was an odd mingling in him of the solitary and social
tendencies. From early childhood he showed a disposition to




20                  RAPID GROWTH.                  [181.
communicate his stores of knowledge to others. When about
six years old, it was his daily custom to repair after the
evening meal to the kitchen, and read aloud to an aged black
woman who was cook in the family, from Bunyan's Pilgrim's
Progress, stopping every now and then to explain and comment as he went along. This may be said to have been his
first exegetical exercise, as well as his coup d'essai as an extemporaneous orator; and visitors were sometimes taken to
the door which separated the kitchen from the apartments of
the family, and would stand there, as if riveted to the spot,
listening to the boy-interpreter, amazed at the display of so
wonderful a talent for language and exposition in a mere child.
At a period somewhat later he became possessed of a copy
of Miss Edgeworth's Tales of Fashionable Life, and growing deeply interested in them, he was not satisfied until he
had read them aloud to another old black woman, who had
succeeded his first pupil in the culinary department of the
household.
His advancement in learning was now progressively rapid.
It seems to have resembled the quick but regular and healthy
buddiing-out of vernal plants during a favourable season. It
was no hot-house vegetation that- was thus maturing. There
was no forcing of the natural processes. The ripening change
that was going on was normal-spontaneous-joyous-and at
the same time uninterrupted and sure. The growth of the
human mind is always a surprising and edifying study. The
process is carried on while men sleep. There is something
apparently automatic about it. The seed cometh up of itself;
the observer knoweth not how. The movement is conducted
through a variety of stages, " first the blade-then the earafter that the full corn in the ear." Great geniuses do not seem
to be exempt from this universal law. The mightiest scholars
have had to begin with the alphabet. Pascal rediscovers
without assistance, and in childhood, the mysteries of geometry, but he has to proceed like other mortals, step by step
from the definitions; and his attainments are' successive, and
in the order prescribed by the experience of ages as a neces



ET. 6.]          BEGINNINGS IN LATIN.                 21
sity of the human intellect. But in the case of these penetrating and comprehensive minds the rate of progress is
increased indefinitely, and the results are sometimes so marvellous as to appear incredible. Such an one was Joseph
Addison Alexander. As soon as he was able to understand
the meaning of English words his father began to teach him
Latin. His habit was to write out for him each day a number
of Latin words on a slip of paper, with the meanings in English, and make him commit them to memory. The same plan
was pursued with his other sons, and subsequently with his
grandsons. It was not long before Addison had thus committed a thousand of these Latin vocables. In due course of
time the number had amounted to many thousands. This was
the foundation of that enormous vocabulary which was afterwards to be of such incalculable service to the commentator
on Isaiah, on the Psalms, on the Acts, on Mark, and on Matthew, and the remote origin of that classical scholarship which
shines with no dim or uncertain lustre in every page of his
somewhat voluminous writings. -It is instructive to notice
here that the same method precisely of commencing the acquisition of a new language was followed by the polyglot-Cardinal Mezzofanti,* who afterwards so much excited his marvelling curiosity.t
The chosen playmate and most intimate friend of James
Alexander, was Edward Kirk, now the Rev. Edward N. Kirk,
D. D., of Boston. Dr. Kirk has "no distinct recollections of
Addison beyond some very minor points." His shyness and
quietness, his studiousness and gentleness, embrace the substance of his image as it hangs on the walls of his fancy.
"The only external fact I can recall, is his walking about
while James and I were playing; he with a little card in his
hand, on which his father had printed a list of Latin words
with their English equivalents, to be committed to memory."
Thus it was that the happy linguist began to train that quick
* See his Life, by President Russell, of Maynooth.
f In one of his later letters to his brother James, he pronounces the Italian
linguist " a marvel."




22             INTRODUCTION TO HEBREW.               [1819.
and retentive faculty, which in later life enabled him to call
up at will almost any thing he had ever treasured in his mind.
It is easy to picture the stout little fellow, with his bright
affectionate face, and cheeks like lady-apples, and his alternate
fits of studious abstraction and uncontrollable liveliness. He
was the delight and pride of the house.
But the young scholar was now to enter a new and boundless field for his exertions. He was to break the lock from
the Semitic tongues, and to obtain an easy mastery over
several of the languages of the Orient. As soon as he was
six years old, or thereabouts, his father wrote out for him in
the same manner as before, the Hebrew alphabet, of which
the little philologist soon possessed himself, and thus laid the
groundwork of his subsequent proficiency in that and kindred
languages. At a somewhat later period, the same kind and
capable hand prepared for him a Hebrew grammar, adapted
to his years, which manuscript was carefully preserved by the
youthful Hebraist, and was in his possession at the time of
his death. That old manuscript Hebrew grammar, in the wellknown handwriting of Dr. Archibald Alexander, is now one
of the family treasures. The title-page of that grammar is now
before me, and reads as follows:
"HEBREW GRAMMAR,
WITH THE POINTS,
Translated from Leusden's
Compend of Buxtorf,
FOR JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER.
Princeton, New Jersey,
A. D. 1819."
This date furnishes us with pretty exact information as to
the time when he commenced the regular study of Hebrew.
It was when he was just ten years old. He could read the
letters almost as soon as he could read English. What extraordinary advances he afterwards made, in this and cognate
languages, we shall presently have occasion to notice.




ET. 10.]       OTHER ORIENTAL LANGUAGES.                    23
Little Addison taught himself to write, and was able to do
so before the family were aware of it. He soon acquired that
firm, beautiful hand, with which his friends are so familiar.
An extract from a letter fiom  his father, to his aunt, Mrs.
Graham, dated July 22, 1817, gives an exact -view of what he
was at this time:
" Addison is also learning Latin, and greatly exceeds all our other
children in capacity. He does not equal James in quickness, nor William in memory; but in the clearness of his ideas, and his steady attention to whatever he undertakes to study, he is greatly superior to
them bothl. He has written several poems, but they are not worth
sending so far."
The following account*by one who was the teacher who
prepared him for college, is almost literally correct, but Addison began Hebrew and Arabic, and perhaps Persian and
Syriac, at least two years before the date of his connection
with that gentleman as a pupil:
"Whilst pursuing his studies with me, Addison (or"'Addy,'as the
boys called him) commenced studying by himself the Hebrew language,
and had made considerable progress in the Arabic before he entered
College. I am not aware that he had at that early period of his life
done much with the modern languages. In after years his acquisitions
of both ancient and modern languages included nearly every one that
is really worth learning. The Hebrew, with the cognate languages
and dialects, he mastered when he was quite a young man. French,
German, Italian, and other modern languages he next learned, including even the Turkish. The last languages which he acquired were the
Danish and Coptic.  What is wonderful about his linguistic attainments, they were in many cases made purely for the sake of the literature, (poetry, &c.,) which they contained."
This is an anticipation of disclosures that will be more
fully made in the sequel.
For the sake of giving a glimpse of what was going on at
Princeton about this time, I insert here the following extracts
of a letter from  Dr. Archibald Alexander to one of his wife's
relatives in Virginia, which was written when Addison was
* In the Presbyterian of November 5th, 1853.




24            PRINCETON UNDER DR. GREEN.                 as1s
ten years and one month old, and which has never before
been published. The whole letter exhibits much of the shrewd
discernment of human nature, and knowledge of what was
passing around him, which so distinguished this venerable
man, and contributed so much to his character for wisdom.
We may also see in this simple and homely letter the traces
of his amiable feeling towards all, and of his affectionate disposition towards those with whom he was nearly connected.
":PRINCETON, May 26th, 1819.
"Dear
"Yours was received the day before yesterday. Since I wrote
before, nothing worthy of notice has occurred among us. Mr. Menteith arrived here last evening, on his way home from a long Southern
tour, which he took to solicit money for building a church in Detroit.
Mr. Rice and his wife are in Philadelphia, but I have not been there,
nor do I expect to go there, as I understand that they will not extend
their visit to this place. Mr. Rice is the Moderator of the General Assembly, and preached an admired Missionary sermon last Sunday evening. Dr. Hill and Mr. Wilson of Fredericksburg were also there.
" I have this morning seen a letter from Armstrong. He appears
much engaged in his work, and very much pleased. He says he would
not exchange his situation as a poor missionary at present, for the best
congregation in the land. Peters has gone to the Northeast. Hunter
is licensed and preaching in this State, under the commission of the
Female Missionary Society of this town.
" The Seminary, for the last week, has been nearly deserted. Pierce,
Wisner, and Davies were the only persons seen about it. Wisner is a
fine fellow.
"William * has entered the Sophomore class half advanced. I had
no idea that he would be admitted, but he insisted on trying, and
waited nearly three days to be examined. I neither went with him nor
sent note or message to the faculty; but when he was introduced he
acquitted himself in a way so masterly that Dr. Green was delighted,
and told him he had never admitted any one with more pleasure in his
life, and spoke of his elegant examination to the gentlemen who were
in his house."
Addison's early education was almost entirely domestic,
* His second son.




'ET. 10.]         PASSION FOR MUSIC.                 25
for though before entering college he attended a variety of
schools, in which all the usual branches were taught, he was
up to the time of his entering these schools under the sole
tuition of his father, to whom he owed more, even in the way
of mere learning, than to any other living man. Nor is it too
much to say, that at the time he entered the first of these
schools, Addison if judged by the ordinary standard had already " received his education." This is a somewhat precarious assertion, but I hope to be able to show in the sequel, that
at the time Addison entered school he was in point of scholarship in advance of many when they leave college, and are said
to be " educated men."
It is difficult to say, we can only reasonably conjecture,
in what relative order his remarkable powers first gave evidence of their existence, or what was the secret history of
their successive or simultaneous appearances and steady and
symmetrical development. He early showed a love of, and a
taste and talent for music, and had he devoted himself to the
cultivation of this gift, it is the opinion of one who was fully
acquainted with the facts at the time, a contemporary and
chosen play-mate, and who is himself by no means insensible
to the " concord of sweet sounds," that he would have become
as eminent in this department as he was in that to which he
applied himself. This is saying a great deal. The expert
commentator had certainly a fine ear for music.
There had long been lying about his father's house an old
bamboo cane or staff. This staff was hollow, and had been
perforated with holes as a flute. It also had a coarse common
key. When about ten years old he took up this old cane flute,
and upon it began to play. He studied and copied music, and
learned it systematically. After practising for some time in
this way, he was presented with a small octave flute, which
after a few years was succeeded by a large one.
He became a proficient on the instrument, and for many
years the use of the flute was his favourite recreation.
One of my first recollections is seeing him with a yellow
flute in his hand or at his lips. He often played in my hear2




26         EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN CHOIRS.            (1819.
ing, during my early boyhood, but it was for his own amusement, not mine. He preferred being alone on these occasions,
and then I dare say his delectation was often great. He rendered simple and melodious airs with what afterwards struck
me as perfect accuracy and much sweetness. I never heard
him attempt any thing hard, but on the other hand I never
heard him attempt any thing which he did not execute with
consummate ease. His brother James was himself a delightful amateur flute-player. I never heard the two brothers playing in the same room.
Among the pieces thus melodiously rendered by the
younger brother, was an affecting air which I shall always
associate with an Arabic song, about a rose, which he was
accustomed to sing to it. His voice was a high tenor, and
plaintively sweet without being strong. He was fond of singing hymns, understood the mystery of "notes," and once
pointed out to me a new tune, which has rung in my ears
ever since. I also remember his song of the scales * and one
of the tunes sung by his ghosts.t His European journals are
full of allusions to the chants and chorals and masses he went
to hear, but in these foreign diaries (which were designed to
be a mere record of facts) he has, for the most part, sedulously suppressed all outbursts of feeling. When he was in
the mood for it, he would talk with enthusiasm of music he
had listened to with rapture in London, in the chapels of the
English Universities, in Strasbourg, in Berlin, in Rome. He
heard a boy at Cambridge who " had a voice like an an angel."
But of all he ever heard he spoke with greatest admiration
of the effect of a great number of priests' voices, accompanied
by the organ, that on one occasion almost overpowered him,
if I mistake not, at Rome. He sometimes affected to know
nothing, and care nothing about music. This was his humour.
He despised the poor American imitations of the Old-World
ritualism. He had a certain Aesthetic sympathy with the gorgeous cathedral service of the Old World. For the florid
* A pretty tune bringing in the eight notes.
t These ghosts were characters in some of his stories.




AET. 10.] INFLUENCE OF THIS TASTE ON HIS SERMONS.    27
and effeminate church music of the New World he had none.
He loved the plain old tunes, and regarded the old-fashioned
congregational psalm-singing as the true way to worship
God. He was sometimes irritated by the fastidious pertinacity of choirs, and never could understand the importance
of "having the hymns."  Yet he never failed in courtesy
towards the musical gentlemen who solicited this slight but
sometimes annoying compliance. He would say goodnaturedly enough that the choristers who were most particular
about " having the hymns" could do best without them, and
that he had noticed that the singing was always better where
the hymns were not given. He probably meant in this delicate way to express a preference for the time-honoured tunes
which are so apt to be lost sight of in the prevailing lust for
novelty and for music such as is heard on week-days in the
theatre or at the opera-house.
Some of the most impassioned pages in his printed sermons are strongly coloured by his native fondness for sweet
voices and majestic harmonies. His unprinted sermons contain, perhaps, an equal quantity of this sort of writing, in
which (especially near the close of the discourse), as by an
accumulation of all his gifts and attainments toward a common centre, he makes painting, architecture, music, poetry,
learning, genius-all he knew, all he imagined, all he felt, all
he was, do tribute to the cross of Christ, or else shed a blaze
of light on the joys or sorrows, the terrors or the glories of
the eternal world. He exulted in the deep, mysterious, yet
glorious organ-tones of the Revelation, reverberating as from
afar with the roll of tumultuous waters. He actually
seemed to have caught the sound of the "harpers harping
with their harps," and the swelling cadence of that song,
which peals like successive strokes of thunder through the
Apocalypse, "Alleluia, for the Lord, God, omnipotent
reigneth."
His imagination was from the first rich and vivid, and
it is hardly a figure of speech to say that in his solitary hours
he erected many an airy castle in the clouds, fought many a




28               IMAGINATION' AND FANCY.                  [1819.
visionary fight, and attended many an illustrious but unreal
audience on cloth-of-gold. There can be no doubt whatever, from the weight of authentic tradition on this subject,
that as a boy Addison was a true child of genius, a dreamer
of chivalrous and stately dreams, a hearer of voices and a
beholder of faces and actions such as can be conjured up by
no sorcery of earthly enchantment. He thus created for himself an imaginary world in whose fantastic but exquisite and
varied enjoyments he continually revelled. The love of the
preternatural and the intellectual exerted a joint sovereignty
over his childish feelings. He could say with Shelley *:
"While yet a boy, I sought for ghosts, and sped
Through many a listening chamber, cave and ruin,
And starlit wood, with fearful steps pursuing
Hopes of high talk with the departed dead."
But in all this there does not seem to have been a particle
of what is called absence of mind.f These reveries, if such
they could be called, were indulged in solitude-never in the
company of others. Moreover, during their continuance, the
mind was ever present and intensely active. Sometimes,
especially as he grew older, the imaginary scene merely
afforded field and play to his common sense —his ingenuityhis laughing wit and humour-the heartiness and vivacity of
his animal spirits. This was his sport-his recreation. For
he too had his hours of mental relaxation, though he spent
them very differently from his fellows of his own age. It
was characteristic of him that he found pleasure in what
would have been to others nothing but toil. With him duty
and satisfaction ran in couples. As a lad at school, he seems
to have been nearly always in good spirits.  He made every
thing around him conducive to his enjoyment, and while unremittingly engaged in the pursuit of knowledge, was as bright,
joyous, and perfectly happy a boy as the sun ever shone on.
* Hymn to Intellectual Beauty.
t This is in some measure an inference from his later life. He was the
least absent-minded man I ever knew, and has scourged this infirmity in his
discourse on the text, " Watch."




ACT. 10.]     INTELLECTUAL AMUSEMENTS.               29
Solomon tells the sluggard to go to the ant, for a lesson
in diligence, and the improvident man to go to the bee for a
lesson in wisdom.  This wonderful boy probably stood in
little need of instruction from these sources, but there was
another species of animals, the fowls, to which he loved to
repair for his diversion. A large number of chickens on the
place were called into requisition to minister to his enjoyment.
He gave to each a name, and organized them into a "chickencollege." * He arranged them in classes, and printed in his
fair round hand a catalogue of the matriculates. He also
devised, and issued in the same way, a curriculum of study
which they were supposed to be pursuing. He conducted
imaginary examinations, and published the names of those
who were proficient in each department. He would announce
public exercises-oratorical exhibitions, &c., prepare bills of
the same, and publish accounts of the performances. He would
announce annual commencements, put forth programmes,
and give reports of what occurred on these festive occasions. In all this there was the same completeness of plan
and the same scrupulous nicety and finish of detail, which
marked every thing he ever did. In this innocent way would
he spend hours of leisure which most boys would have devoted
to pure idleness or even mischief. In company with the
brother immediately older than himself, he would on holidays
or when not engaged in study, go to a- room where they would
not be interrupted, or to a secluded part of the grounds, and
would there organize with him a sort of moot-court, (the two
acting alternately as judge and advocate,) and would imagine
causes, civil and criminal, argue cases, harangue and charge
unseen juries, and render verdicts, or give judicial opinions.
A favourite amusement was indicting and trying a black boy
named Ned, a servant in the family. Sometimes they would
erect themselves into a congress and declaim on topics of
public interest, and in this way entire mornings and after
noons were not unfrequently consumed, the sessions sometimes
* He afterwards amused some of his little friends among the children in
the same way.




30               THE BOYISH ORATOR.                 [1820.
lasting uninterruptedly for many successive hours. The usual
arena for these intellectual contests was a chosen place at the
back of the garden. Here they would resort and " speechify "
till the sun had visibly and greatly changed its place in the
heavens. These legal and senatorial efforts were no ignoble
training for a life of oratory. The brother * who shared with
the soi-disant advocate and politician in these entertainments,
testifies that any readiness in public speaking, any knack of
prompt reply, any appearance of self-possession in embarrassing circumstances, and any facility in adapting words, acts,
and circumstances to the occasion, and pressing them into his
service, which have stood him in stead during a long and
active professional and public life, he ascribes to these early
intellectual and forensic efforts, taken up, as they were, at the
time as a mere matter of amusement. Sometimes the two
boys, both of them being gifted with remarkable powers of
memory and-fluency, would personate the different professions
and callings in life; they would be lawyers, doctors, merchants,
mechanics, officers civil and military, etc., etc., and would
carry on dialogues, sometimes grave, sometimes gay, for hours.
It was to be expected that one so richly endowed with
poetic faculties, and poetic tastes and sympathies, and so
richly stored with the proper material for poetic composition,
should turn his attention to the subject of verse and rhythm,
and even put forth early essays in this style. Such we find
to be the case. His earliest effort in metre is a piece composed
in 1816,when he was about seven years old. It is an imaginative flourish on " the Seasons," and is not devoid of a certain exc ellence. The melody is perfect, and some of the epithets are
happy. This was immediately followed by one on the Yellow
Fever, and is marked by the same well-defined rhythmical
structure which is conspicuous in his later effusions, and in
some degree the same masterly command of language which
could at all times bend the simplest words to the exigencies
of the most measured cadence. This trait is singularly exemplified in some powerful lines entitled " Monosyllabics."
* The Hon. W. C. Alexander.




JET. 1L]           FACETIOUS TURN.                   31
Yet he now and then indulged in children's games, perhaps
for the amusement of others, though they were never of the
ordinary kind, and always gave evidence of humour and originality. Mrs. Alexander, one day hearing a noise made by
some children up stairs, as if applauding or laughing obstreperously, went up to see what it was. "She found in the room
Addison and a parcel of children. In one corner of the room
a counterpane suspended, formed a curtain. Mrs. A. peeping
behind the curtain, discovered a small boy dressed up in red
flannel, monkey-fashion, and seated. It thus proved to be a
monkey-show, and Addison was the showman." *
But in general it was true that he found his chief pleasure
in pursuing mental or manual diversions, and none at all in the
favourite sports of boys, in which a good deal of exciting
bodily exercise is called into play. He dwelt alone. He
looked out of his studious window with a kind of speculative
interest upon the green where the lads of his own age and
" set " were hard at work flying the kite or scampering after
the ball; but he was not of them. His joys were of another
realm.
Mr. Alexander, through life, took a strange pleasure in noticing people that had any laughable peculiarities, whether of
looks or manner, or as evinced by some absurd remark. He
would bring up these things years after, and would turn their
comical speeches into household proverbs, or would bring the
tears into his eyes as he rehearsed their little adventures.
Mr. Charles Campbell apprises me of the fact that a lady
of Staunton, Virginia, now deceased, once gave his mother,
Mrs. Campbell, an account of a, very odd-looking and pompous
little preacher, before unknown, who in these days visited Dr.
Alexander and staid all night. " He was of an outre appearance, looking like some kind of queer bird, rara avis in terrra.
He was quite conceited withal, and had a way of asserting
trite truth in a very emphatic tone, e. g. straightening himself
* This incident has been preserved by the venerable Mrs. Campbell, of
Petersburg, Virginia.




32               FIRST  EFFORTS AT VERSE.                     [1819.
up he would exclaim ore rotundo,' Dr. Alexander, I am firmly
of the opinion that mankind by nature are totally depraved.'
This eccentric little minister had the manner of a bantam
cock. Towards bed-time, becoming uneasy lest the stranger
should tarry all night, one of the boys inquired whether if he
did, he would sleep in his bed? to which Addison replied,'No, he will roost on the tester.' At prayers the stranger
officiated, and happened to read the CII. Psalm:'By reason
of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin. I
am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the
desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop.' When he read these ornithological verses, it was with
difficulty that the ladies could repress their risibilities."
I give below extracts from another piece which he wrote
about the same time.  It is certainly good, to be the production of a very little boy:
I "THE PARRICIDE.
" Ah! who is that with glittering blade,
Standing beneath the elm-tree shade,
The tear-drop glistening in his eye,
His bosom heaving with a sigh.
Why does he turn and fearful start,
And lay his hand upon his heart;
Why does he start with conscious guilt,
And grasp his sabre's shining hilt?
He turns and rushes to the tide,
And cries-' I am a parricide!'
But who comes there?'Tis Osman dire,
His bosom burns with generous ire,
Juan to desperation driven,
One poisoned arrow from the seven,
His quiver held one poisoned dart,
Drew forth and hurled at Osman's heart.
False to its aim the arrow fell,




hET. 10.]         EARLY  POETICAL  VENTURES.                         33
But human tongue can never tell
The rage that flashed from Juan's eyes
When he perceived he'd lost his prize.
Another dart to end the strife
He hurled;-rit took brave Osman's life."
The two following pieces were written in his eleventh year.
They both exhibit a marked increase in the poetic power, but
are chiefly interesting as shedding a curious light on the character and extent of his childish studies.  The first is entitled" SOLITUDE.
"Now in the eastern sky the cheering light
Dispels the dark and gloomy shades of night;
And while the lowing of the kine is heard,
And the sweet warbling of the songster bird;
Where from afar the stately river flows,
In whose bright stream the sportive goldfish goes;
Where the thick trees afford a safe retreat,
From public eye and summer's scorching heat;
There let me sit and sweetly meditate,
Far from the gleam of wealth and pomp of state.
And while I listen to that murmuring rill
Which pours its waters down the neighbouring hill,
I can despise the pride and pomp of kings,
And all the glory wealth or power brings.
Here in deep solitude remote from noise,
From the world's bustle, idleness and toys,
Here I can look upon the world's vast plain,
And all her domes and citadels disdain."
The next, which was was written in the same year, affords
us a pleasing glimpse of the boyish studentr and a charming
picture of his early recreations. It is entitled"THE PLEASURES OF STUDY.
"The setting sun's resplendent shining ray
Illumes the West and brings the end of day;
And now across the mirthful village green,
Returning school-boys with their books are seen;
Who, wearied with the duties of the school,
Rejoice to enjoy the summer evening cool.
2*




34             EARLY  ATTEMPTS AT  RHYMING.                      a1819.
The beggars also wander thro' the street,
Entreating charity of all they meet;
Now learned men, philosophers profound,
In gloomy silence meditate around;
Now the poor peasant with his little store,
Returns with pleasure to his cottage door,
The rich upon their couches slothful roll,
With ease of limb, but restlessness of soul;
They still are restless when the glorious sun
His daily course through the broad heavens has run;
No rankling care afflicts the poor man's breast,
Who with a conscience light retires to rest.
Now o'er his books the studious scholar pores,
Nor hears the creaking of the opening doors;
Nor sees the visitors until they place
Their unwelcome forms before his studious face.
By him the wars of ancient Greece are seen,
While others sport upon the village green;
And while he dwells on Plato's flowing words,
He knows the pleasure study deep affords;
The Spartan chiefs and Athens' mighty son,
Who conquered on the plains of Marathon,
Pharsalia slow now rises to his view,
And all the millions Julius Caesar slew;
Nor sleeps great Pompey nor Mark Antony's shade,
Who on the field of battle dead were laid.
He sees them all in fancy and he knows
When brave Camillus into splendour rose;
He feels the terrours of the Trojan crew,
Whom on the waves relentless Juno threw;
He hears the clamour rising to the skies
When haughty Taurus from the battle flies;
Loud cries of victory he hears,
And clamour bursts upon his startled ears;
He sees the young Julius clad in arms,
Resolved t' avenge his country's woeful harms;
He sees the place where noble Paris lies,
And hears the groans with which that hero dies;
And when from these reluctantly he goes,
To enjoy the time allotted for repose,
The shade of many a mighty hero seems,
To speak and hover round him in his dreams."




,AT. 10.]         POETICAL TALENTS.                  35
Some of these youthful attempts were copied into a little
book in a fair copper-plate hand, by one of his instructors,
and carefully preserved by his mother. This book I have
seen. The pieces which I have inserted are not given so
much for their intrinsic value, as to show the versatility of
his parts and his early taste for -versification, as well as to
exhibit the maturity of his thoughts, his correct view of
human life, and his ardent but already ripe and discriminating
love for books, and what books contain. Literature was even
at this early date beginning to afford a field for his indefatigable intellect and boundless ambition. It is not to be denied
that his scholarship and general intelligence were at this time
far in advance of his poetical talents. Many bright boys,
such as Chatterton, Pope, and Kirk White, may have excelled
these efforts in rhyme and metre at the same tender age. But
these precocious versifiers were much inferior to the boy Addison Alexander in several other and more important particulars.
Junctures, however, were to arise; themes were to be presented; culture of a special kind was to be gained; that were
soon to lead to results even in the domain of poetry that could
not have been anticipated from these first crude attempts.
Qualities as yet almost unsuspected in this boy were presently to spring into existence, or burst into exuberance, that
were one day to astonish and delight the admirers of prodigal
genius.
It would certainly require sharp penetration to detect the
author of the " Doomed Mlan," the noble lines on the Rhine,
and on the Mediterranean, the sweet verses on the " Fatherless
Girl," the powerful stanzas entitled "Be still, and know that
I am God," and the exquisite fragment on the theme "He is
Arisen from the Dead, He is not Here "-in "The Parricide"
or even in the " Pleasures of Study."
He never referred himself to these boyish efforts except
with a sort of good-natured, laughing malice. He always spoke
contemptuously of immature essays of this kind, and I have
heard him say that in his opinion one secret of Cowper's extraordinary success as a poet was that he never let the world




36                EARLY TEACHERS.                 $1819.
see any of his "juvenile poems." One reason, perhaps, why
these boyish effusions in verse fail to show Addison Alexander
in his strength, is that after his very first ventures in this line
he threw himself with his whole soul into the pursuit of classical and oriental learning; which for many years afterwards
was to engage his highest powers, and to take up almost his
whole time.
And yet if, when we compare him with his own later self,
and with a few surprising genuises, his talent at this time for
making verses may not strike one as very singular or wonderful; if we compare him with the majority of clever boys, it
will appear to have been by no means inconsiderable. There
is certainly promise in some of these nervous and sonorous
couplets of greater things to come. If; as Wordsworth says,
" the boy is father of the man," we may hope for fine poems
from this sagacious judgment and glowing fancy when they
shall have become matured and chastened. Nor shall we be
disappointed in this expectation. Though the cloud is as yet
no bigger than a man's hand, a storm of verse is brewing:
" poetica surgit tempestas."
From this point onward, there are few traces of that imperfection or crudity which is naturally associated with the
period of youth. His mental development was now so rapid
that in a very short time from the date of these little juvenile
poems, Addison, though in years still almost a child, was in
power of thought and range of information a full-grown man,
and in some respects a man, too, of extraordinary ability.
We have seen that he began the study of Latin at a very
early age, and had even commenced the study of Hebrew.
He had also entered upon a course in Greek, Exactly when
he began Greek I have been unable to find out. It remains to
be said, however, that he had been some time reading Latin and
even Hebrew before he ever began to go to school. His first
teacher out of the family was named James Hamilton, and was
known generally as Jemmy Hamilton.
The Rev. George Burrowes, D. D., now professor at Easton,
tells me he has often heard Mr. Hamilton "speak with pride




AET. 10.]         JEMMY HAMILTON.                    37
of his connection with Dr. Addison Alexander, as his teacher
in the early stage of the Latin; and mention that with such
facility did he even then-a small, chubby, rosy-cheeked boy,
pick up the language, that the perfect mastery of the lessons
of his class in Historia Sacra, seemed to him a mere childish
diversion."
Hamilton was a mall of no ordinary ability; a ripe scholar,
and a teacher of great merit. He was a native of Princeton,
and was graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1814.
After his graduation, he became an assistant teacher in the
Princeton Academy, of which his brother-in-law, the Rev.
Jared L. Fyler, was the principal. On the removal of Mr.
Fyler from Princeton, Mr. Hamilton established a school there,
which he conducted with distinguished success for -many years.
Among his pupils were the three oldest sons of Dr. Alexander,
and the Rev. Edward N. Kirk, D. D., of Boston.
Mr. Tyler having opened a private school at Trenton, Mr.
Hamilton joined him there as an assistant, and succeeded to
the management and control of the school, on the removal of
Mr. Fyler to Mississippi.
On the appointment of the Rev. Philip Lindsley, D. D., to
the presidency of the University of Nashville, he took Mr.
Hamilton with him as a Professor of Mathamatics. This position he is said to have filled with signal ability. After a few
years he resigned his chair, returned to New Jersey, and reopened his school in Trenton; but after a time he gave it up
and resumed his professorship at Nashville, where he died of
cholera during the epidemic of 1849.  Mr. Hamilton was,
according to the standard of that day, a scholar of rare and
varied attainments, and while thoroughly grounded in the
languages, was eminently distinguished as a mathematician.
He was by nature exceedingly diffident and retiring, and this
prevented his filling that space in the public eye which was
occupied by men of humbler talents and more slender acquirements.
It was under Hamilton that Addison probably received
his best schooling in the mathematics. This and the kindred




38                 SALMON STRONG.                 r1818-19.
sciences was one of the few branches of study which he did
not continue to prosecute with avidity in after life. There is
no conclusive evidence, however, that his powers were not
equally adapted to the class, or rather classes of studies he
actually pursued, and to the regular demonstrations of geometry, or even the refined methods of the modern analysis. He
was always quick at figures, and was in the habit, at least
when travelling, of keeping accurate accounts. I have never
detected any error in any of his calculations. He divided (as
we shall presently see) the first honours of his class in college, and mathematics, though not carried to the lengths
that are now familiar to our American students, yet formed
an essential part of the course. There can be little doubt that
his superb analytical discussions, his rare faculty of generalization, his exact habits as an observer, and his prodigious
memory, might have placed him in the front rank of physicists
or astronomers, had he chosen to devote himself heart and
soul to these pursuits. It was his tastes rather than his abilities
that pointed in another direction. Aside, moreover, from his
natural turn or inclination for the study of languages, and the
burning zeal with which he loved to ransack the treasures of
ancient and modern-of oriental and occidental literature, the
time was now at hand when a figure typical of the ignorance
and sin that are in the world, and of the struggles of mankind
after light, and hope and consolation that are only to be
found in the Bible, was to stand before him in his dreams,
and cry " Come over into Macedonia and help us."
I cannot fix the date precisely, but about the year 1817 or
1818, the Rev. Dr. Lindsley, then Vice-President and Professor of Languages in the College of New Jersey, opened in
Princeton a select classical school for the preparation of young
men fbr college. At the head of this school was placed Mr.
Salmon Strong, of New York, and the school was visited, and
the classes were examined once a week by Dr. Lindsley. Mr.
Strong had been a student of the Theological Seminary, and
was a graduate of Hamilton College. He had the reputation
of being a gocd scholar and an experienced and successful




ET. 9-10.]        HORACE S. PRATT.                  39
teacher, a reputation which he fully sustained while in connection with Dr. Lindsley. He afterwards became the principal of an academy at Aurora, New York.
This school was attended by Addison and one of his
brothers, as long as it was kept up. His next instructor was
I-Iorace S. Pratt, of Connecticut. Mr. Pratt, like Mr. Strong,
was a student of the Seminary, and was a graduate of Yale
College. He taught privately a few boys, and among them
the subject of this Memoir. This was in 1818 and 1819. Mr.
Pratt was settled as a pastor at St. Mary's, Georgia, and afterwards, I think, became a Professor in the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. The tuition under Hamilton was in
1816 and 1817. Addison, therefore, must have studied under
Hamilton, when a boy of seven or eight, and under Strong
and Pratt, when a boy of nine or ten years old. It was partly
under the stimulus of these studies that he wrote the verses
which have already been given.
His mind was now daily expanding to the sun and breeze
of ancient learning; and he was soon to make his first acquaintance with the tongues of modern Europe, for which he
continued through life to entertain an extraordinary fondness.
In the autumn of 1819, there came to Princeton as a theological student, a gentleman by the name of Robert Baird.
At the instance of one of the professors, he spent some time
daily in giving instruction to the young. lIe first taught in a
private family in or near the village, and then in his room in
the Seminary. Some time during the summer of 1821, Mr.
Baird formed an acquaintance and pretty close intimacy with
the eldest son of Dr. Archibald Alexander, who read French
for a while with the ardent divinity student. How it was at
this time, I do not know, but in after life French was to' MIr.
Baird as familiar and as easy as his mother tongue. At the
same time he had an hour in the afternoon every day in Greek
with the brothers William and Addison, at his own room in
the seminary building, the former of the two boys being at
the time in question twelve, and the latter fourteen. In the
autumn of 1821, Mr. Baird succeeded Mr. Breckinridge as




40                  CLASSICAL SCHOOL.                   s1821.
tutor in the college, and saw the older of the two boys enter
as a sophomore. The younger joined a class of private scholars formed by Mr. Baird, but taught by two other theological
students.
In the autumn of the year 1822, a new academy was established in Princeton of which the now celebrated Robert Baird
became the principal. Mr. Baird was from Pennsylvania, and a
graduate of Jefferson College. He had been, as we have seen,
a student of the Theological Seminary at Princeton, and also a
tutor in the College of New Jersey. Mr. Baird was already
somewhat famous for the accuracy and extent of his scholarship, and for his success as a teacher, and in this new undertaking, succeeded in imparting an extraordinary degree of
ardour to his pupils. Among his first scholars was Addison
Alexander. In addition to his regular lessons, which were
always perfectly prepared, Addison here devoted himself with
renewed assiduity to general literature. He established and
edited a newspaper, which was beautifully printed * with a
pen, and of which, I am assured, the contents would have
done no discredit to his mature manhood. He united with
several others in founding a literary society in the Academy,
and devoted himself to it with wonderful relish and enthusiasm.
In conjunction with the Hon. William Barclay Napton, the
late Chief-Justice of the State of Missouri, he opened a mootcourt in which causes were argued with technical propriety
and elaborate skill. Minutes of this court were regularly kept,
in which the arguments and decisions were duly recorded.
Among the other pupils of Mr. Baird at this time, were
Mr. William  King, of Savannah, now of Marietta, Georgia,
an intimate friend both of Mr. Alexander and Judge Napton,
and Mr. David Comfort, formerly of New Jersey, and now of
Charlotte County Virginia.
* Dr. Alexander had much of Porson's love for calligraphy, and often
amused himself with what might have seemed to some a frivolous eye to the
appearance of his manuscript. We shall have abundant testimonies as we go
on to his success in this particular. Even in these small matters, it might be
said of him that he touched nothing that he did not adorn.




AET. 12.]             ROBERT BAIRD.                       41
The circumstances under which Mr. Baird came to be one
of Addison's teachers are recounted in an obituary notice
of the latter, in the Presbyterian, in which Mr. Baird says:
"When I entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, in the
autumn of 1819, I was encouraged by the late Dr. Archibald Alexander to devote two or three hours daily to giving instruction; and
this I did throughout the entire course; first in a private family, then
for a year and a half in my room in the Seminary to a son and nephew
of the late Dr. Green, then President of the College, and lastly as a
tutor in the College. In the summer of the second year [1821] I became somewhat intimately acquainted with the late Rev. Dr. James
W. Alexander, who, having graduated the autumn previous, was
devoting himself to historical and general studies, under his honoured
father's direction. He came often to see me, for the purpose of reading French, to which language I had given some attention. During
that summer, at the request of their father, I undertook to give some
lessons in Greek to Addison and William Alexander, and for that purpose they came every afternoon to my room for an hour. The
former was then twelve years old, the latter fourteen.
"In the autumn of 1821 I took the place of the late Dr. John
Breckinridge as a tutor in Princeton College; William entered the
Sophomore class that autumn, and was no more under my instruction;
but Addison joined a class of boys which I formed, but not being able
to teach them on account of the tutorship, I committed them to two
fellow-students in the Theological Seminary. In the autumn of 1822,
leaving the tutorship, and having completed the course of studies
in the Seminary, I took charge of a classical school in Princeton,
which I conducted till the spring of 1828, when, for want of sufficient
health, I gave it up for an active course of life, which, under one form
or other, I have pursued ever since. Addison entered the school at
the outset, and continued in it till the age of fifteen, when he entered
(in the autumn of 1824) the junior class in the college. His brother
Archibald entered the school at a later day, and remained in it till he
entered College."
Ne-ver was a sensitive and bashful man more misjudged
than was Addison Alexander.  From  the first he was shy
reserved and diffident; not diffident perhaps of his abilities or acquirements, but unwilling and almost incapable of
showing them off. It is interesting to know that his early




42                 TALENT FOR WRITING.                     1821.
efforts in declamation, like those of Demosthenes and WVebster, were failures. Yet he afterwards excelled most of his
mates in the gift and art of oratory. On these points his
preceptor continues:
" When Addison came under my instruction he was a short and
stout boy, possessing fine health and a fine flow of spirits, but exceedingly diffident. IHis first attempts at speaking before the school were
about as unpromising as can well be imagined. He was so diffident
that he could scarcely get on at all; and yet when he left the school
to enter the College, at the age of little more than fifteen, he had grown
very much, and was a graceful and effective speaker. And when he
graduated, two years later, he was a very fine speaker-finer, I think,
than he was in the later periods of his life. I do not believe that he
ever got rid of the extreme diffidence which characterized his youth.
It was, undoubtedly, the principal cause of his strong repugnance to
going freely into society. It combined with his delight in study to
make him more of a recluse than his friends desired him to be." *
Perhaps no one was more struck with his cleverness and
versatility than the head of the Academy himself.  The " compositions" of his round-faced little scholar greatly and especially attracted him. On this point he says:
"At that early period he displayed much talent for writing. At
twelve o'clock every day it was my custom to require two of the
boys to read each a sketch of one of the deities of the Roman and
Greek mythology, or of some of the heroes or authors of ancient or
modern times, or of some country, or of some portion of history.
The epitomes which he produced were always excellent. Even then,
I may add, he had a great fondness for writing stories for the small
boys, in which he displayed great tact as well as taste. A fondness
for this sort of amusement he retained, I believe, to his dying daypassing from the gravest and severest studies with the most extraordinary ease to the writing of pleasant and interesting stories, and pieces
of poetry for youthful minds. He began also at that time to be an
editor. He established a weekly journal, writing every word in such
a way as wonderfully to resemble printing. I have forgotten the name
of his periodical; but I remember that an opposition paper soon
appeared, and as might be expected, it was not very long before I had
* Dr. Baird, in the Presbyterian.




XET. 14.]            GREAT INDUSTRY.                       43
to suppress both-the first and second'warniLg' which I gave only
provoking both editors to say some very bold things, things which
encroached too much on my magisterial prerogatives."*
In a letter to Mrs. Graham, dated July 22, 1823, Dr. Alexander refers to Addison's extraordinary industry, his Homeric
studies, his penchant for the law, his aversion to teaching, his
joy at finding some Persian manuscript, and his admiration
for Sir William Jones. The greatness and goodness of Jones
always seemed to exert an influence on him whenever he had
occasion to go to him for pleasure or instruction.  "Addison is
at home, not loitering, but engaged fourteen hours of the day in
hard study. He read five books of Homer in one week, and
is going through the Odyssey as well as the Iliad. Unless the
grace of God should prevent, the law will probably be his
profession. He is fond of legal disquisitions.  But I never
heard him express an opinion on the subject of a profession.
To teaching he has a strong aversion, which is the case with
all my children. Addison has found two old Persian manuscripts in the College Library, and the very sight of them
gives him pleasure. I can see very plainly that his admiration of Sir William  Jones influences him  in all his literary
pursuits."
An interesting relic of this period is given below, which
bears this inscription:
"An Arabic translation of the title-page of'Waverley,' by Jos.
A. Alexander.
"Princeton, August 20, 1822."
The facsimile of a page of original Arabic, composed and
written by a boy of thirteen, will be regarded as a literary
curiosity.
There is another specimen of this kind of the same date,
and his journals of subsequent years are full of this flexible
but difficult character. There are also letters of his extant
*The reader will be amused by comparing this account of the suppression of the weekly paper with that given in these pages by Mr. King.




44            FACSIMILE OF ARABIC.                (1823.
written partly in this tongue. But the fragment here given
is, not only from its early origin and its occasion, but also
from its subject, probably the most singular memorial of his
oriental studies.
$%
o',~ J.'.,1
J CJJ4
His o ld t e,  ird,   t hs hd 
His old teacher, Dr. Baird, has put his hand to the discrim



BAT. 14.]                  AT SCHOOL.                           45
inating judgment of his early powers as a linguist, which I
give below:
" I cannot say that he was remarkably accurate in his knowledge
of the Latin and Greek languages when he first came to me, although
he had read nearly every author that was required for entrance into
the Freshman class. But such was his progress in two or three years
that he became a remarkably fine scholar, entered the College with
high reputation, and took the first honours of the Institution.* I have
never seen a better classical scholar at the age of fifteen than he was.
Nor was his knowledge of mathematics much inferior to that of the
Latin and Greek languages. He wrote Latin, both in prose and verse,
with great ease and purity. Many of his imitations of the Odes of
Horace were admirable. Towards the end of his course in the Academy he could read with ease several pages of Herodotus or Thucydides,
or two hundred lines of Homer in an hour.
" During almost all his course with me he taught for nearly an hour
every morning and afternoon one of the lower classes, and he did it well.
He was a great favorite with the boys. He was sure to have a crowd
around him, if he came half an hour or more before the school opened.
On these occasions his diffidence always left him. He was the masterspirit in the Literary Society of the Academy, as well as in the MootCourt, which the boys held once a week, where he was sure to be eminent, whether he acted the part of the judge or that of the advocate."
As to his disposition to stick to his books, and his geniality
of feeling, he adds the following handsome testimony:
" For reasons which I have stated, Dr. Joseph Addison Alexander
was never fond of going into society; but he was far from being of a
morose disposition. On the contrary, his feelings were genial, and his
attachments were sincere and enduring. His delight was in his books,
and in the society of his intimate friends. But he had neither time nor
inclination to go into company."
* Several of those who were fellow-students of Addison in the Academy
have become men of more than ordinary usefulness and distinction. One of
them, who is now Judge Napton, of the Supreme Court of Missouri, was his
classmate both in the Academy and the College, and shared with him the highest honours of the class in both. It was impossible to determine which of
them was the better scholar. Judge Napton may have his equal in the knowledge of law, but I am sure that he has no superior, either in legal or classical
attainments, in all the Wcst.




46              TRENTON REMINISCENCES.               [l823.
I might add almost indefinitely to the testimonies already
given. A few more may be appended here. Dr. George M.
Maclean, the brother of the President, and, as I have reason to
remember, a skillful and accomplished physician, writes as
follows:
"I remember him as a boy of unusually great promise, one far in
advance of those of his years in attainments. He associated but little
with other boys."
This was when he was a school-boy, say of ten or twelve.
I also feel at liberty to mention the name of James Ewing,
Esq., of Trenton, who carried off the highest honours of the
class of 1823, and who does not hesitate to express himself in
similar terms. He has told me that though he saw little of
Addison in those days, he remembers distinctly that his extraordinary promise as a scholar was matter of general talk in
Princeton. He says he was exceedingly fleshy, mrith a face
that bloomed with health and high spirits. A venerable lady
living in the same town (Trenton), who is now upwards of
eighty, and long a valued friend of the family, confirms
both of these statements, and adds that she recollects one
occasion in particular, on which his father called Addison
up to his knee and made him recite Latin words to her.
This was when he was a very little boy. The same lady
also recalls to mind a meal that she once took in his house
after his father's death, and how singularly charming and
entertaining he was.
Mr. Comfort, who is himself a teacher of many years
standing, has informed me that Addison's recitations at thist
time were faultless, and that his manner of making them was
very similar to his manner in after life when lecturing or preaching without notes. He says, that his fluency of speech, and
unerring accuracy of expression, were quite as remarkable at
this, as at any later period. He would pour out his words
with vehemence and rapidity, in a sort of clear, steady, and
voluble torrent. He always got a perfect mark. His habits
of solitary study and segregation from the mass of his




ET. 14]         TRAITS OF CHARACTER.                 47
fellows, were already formed. His gentleness, liveliness, and
sparkling wit and humour, when in a happy frame of mind
and in society he loved, were just as conspicuous as afterwards. He also occasionally exhibited the same high-toned
firmness and frankness of character which, in some of its manifestations, always excited wonder if not resentment among
those who did not know him thoroughly. Just here I will say,
that in my opinion he was one of the most intrepidly honest,
as well as, when so disposed, one of the most open-hearted and
generous-hearted of men. The brother who sat by his side at
Mr. Baird's school, testifies that Addison was then, as he was always, noted for his singular truthfulness. This was a remarkable trait in his disposition. The brother to whom I refer
never knew him flinch from telling the plain truth about any
thing. This peculiarity characterized him throughout life, and
was one cause of his giving offence sometimes. He " came
right out with a thing," as we say, where many would have
smoothed or softened a little, at the expense of strict veracity.
He seems to have held to the opinion once advanced by John
Randolph of Roanoke (but now not much in vogue), that
candour is as great an ornament in a man, as modesty is in a
woman. He never learned, and certainly never practised the
wiles of small dissimulation which, though undoubtedly repugnant to the strict Bible standard, are not flatly condemned,
but are rather tolerated, if they are not expressly sanctioned
by the canons of the world. He was indeed a stranger to
many of the arts of society which are unquestionably innocent;
but there was a fount of native politeness in his heart, and no
high-bred courtier ever knew better how to charm. His eye
had a merry twinkle that is indescribable, and that resembled
bright sunshine glancing over blue seas. His cheek was fair
and rosy; his head was too broad and massive for the impression of simple elegance, but his features were delicately regular, and his face was round and decidedly comely. His hair
was dark brown- chestnut brown, and thin; his lip was
chiselled like a piece of statuary, and expressed decision and
resolve; it was like the lip of Bonaparte. His head was




48              PERSONAL APPEARANCE.               (1823.
large and broad, beyond almost any thing I ever saw in a person of his height; and yet it was not at all too large for his
body, and was perfectly well balanced. His brow would
have served a sculptor for a model of Jupiter. I doubt
whether Webster or Cuvier had a much larger brain. His
stature was below rather than above the medium, yet his bulk
would always impress one as being very great. His tendency
was always to corpulency. His figure and head have reminded many of Napoleon. His face was certainly like the
Napoleon at Fontainebleau of Paul de la Roche. It had the
same air of concentrated passion in repose, though it had nothing of that look of fiery and intrepid gloom. His countenance
was like a clear sky that might one day rock with whirlwind.
When he laughed, there was a fine union in his face of masculine genius and child-like mirth. This picture is of course
taken at a later period, but it corresponds in general with the
accounts of his boyhood.
One of his school-fellows says he distinctly remembers how
" Addison" looked as he sat in the school-room wrapt up in
his cloak, and mentions his fleshy person, ruddy cheek, and
twinkling eye. The brother who studied with him says that,
as when he had his father for a master, Addison while under
these new preceptors never engaged in ordinary boys' sports.
Even his plays partook of an intellectual character; they
were, for the most part, legal, forensic, or political combats,
such as holding courts, having mock trials, editing newspapers, etc.
It gives me pleasure to insert here several large extracts
from a letter I have lately received from his school-mate and
early friend, Mr. King.  Mr. King, writing from Marietta,
Georgia, says:
"You have greatly contributed to my gratification, in putting upon me the task of communicating to you my recollections of the youthful days of my highly esteemed friend, the
late Rev. J. Addison Alexander; thus bringing afresh to my
memory the pleasures of my boyish days, and my intimate
associations with one so much beloved; but a lapse of over




AET. 14]     IMR. KING S RECOLLECTIONS.               49
forty years has damped the ardor of youth, and put memory
at fault. None however of my early friends have left more
durable and pleasant impressions upon my memory, or which
I have cherished with more care.
"My acquaintance with Addison was formed early in the
year 1823, when I attended the Princeton Academy, then
in the charge of Mr. Robert Baird; and I continued in personal intimate association with him until the fall of the
year 1824, when these relations were interrupted by my
return to the South. I never saw him but once afterwards.
We regularly corresponded for many years. His last letter
to me was written about two years before his death. He
was near two years my junior, but was then well grown,
having indeed nearly attained his full height, with an excess
of flesh; weighing, I think, over a hundred and fifty pounds.
Though very fleshy, he was always quick and sprightly. He
had at this time a round red face, with brilliant and mischievous eyes, that were nearly always full of fun. Among
strangers (whose presence he avoided as much as possible)
he was very quiet and reserved, but so observing that their
peculiarities supplied him with a stock of amusing comments
for the gratification of his friends. With his intimate friends
(very few in number) he was a most incessant talker, and
so abounding in life, wit, and humour, that he was generally
allowed to occupy as much of the time as he desired. His
sarcasm was often of the most caustic nature; kind-hearted
as he was, his best friends were often made to feel the
severity of his wit.  His life and buoyancy when in the
society of his chosen companions was extraordinary; but the
sudden appearance of a stranger as suddenly transformed
him into a serious, silent boy, exhibiting all the modesty
of a girl, but giving full employment to his eyes and ears.
He realized, in a certain sense, the old figment of the duality
of the soul.  He seemed to possess two different natures.
To one person, he appeared a boy of unbounded life and conversational powers, to another his character seemed thought,
ful and silent. HeI never betrayed any malicious feelings nor
2




50            MR. KING S RECOLLECTIONS.            ~1823.
immoral tendencies. As a boy, his disposition for placing
persons and things in a ridiculous attitude was extreme,
and his powers in this direction were seldom equalled. His
most valued associates enjoyed no privilege in this respect;
yet this strange treatment of those he really loved sprung
from pure vivacity of mind, untinctured with any bitterness
of feeling.  He was a hard student then, as in after life,
seldom wasting any time."  Mr. King says that Addison
" was fond of long walks in the country with one companion,
and that he was generally the one to enjoy the pleasant
walks with him, often to a distance of two or three miles
from the town."  He adds that "during those long walks
his tongue was kept as active as his body. He had acquired
a large stock of knowledge even in those early years of his
life. He was then considered a fine Arabic scholar, and perfectly at home in the Latin and Greek languages. His general
reading was extensive, and he seldom forgot any thing he
read, heard, or saw, and was very quick in bringing into use
the stock lie had thus stored in his remarkable memory.
His compositions for school were written in the finest style,
and were remarkably interesting."  Many of these, says Mr.
King, "I had taken possession of, and retained to read and
re-read in my after-years for the gratification of myself and
my friends. So valued were these remains of his boyish effusions, that they, with his many letters written in his early and
later years, were carefully preserved by me; and they would
now be a treasure to you. But they are all gone; not a
single one is left to me. His piece for a school exercise, on
the'Wandering Baboon,' an extravaganza founded on the
supposed escape of such an animal from a menagerie in
Princeton, exhibited the greatest talent as a descriptive
writer, and the greatest powers of wit and satire.  The
young humourist represented the creature as roving over
the Rocky hills lying north of the town, much to the dismay of the honest country folk who inhabit that serrated
ridge. Another piece in which he had collected together to
convey his ideas all the difficult and unused words in our




JT. 14.3              HUMOUROUS WRITING.                           51
language, was a model of his skill, although each word was
properly used and carefully read.* From his hearers generally, his ideas, as expressed in this remarkable effort, were as
* These feats in English composition were always favourite diversions with
Dr. Addison Alexander. The Princeton Magazine is full of his Essays of this
character, but some of the most astonishing among them have never seen the
light. This periodical also contains specimens of his humourous pieces in other
styles. The ingenuity, scholarship, and wit that were put to the stretch in
these amusing exercises seemed to be inexhaustible. The variety of styles in
which this comic humour was indulged was without known limit. Scarcely two
of these pieces are composed on the same principle.  I shall have occasion to
refer to this subject again in other connections.  I need only point now to such
articles in the Princeton Magazine as the one on " Economy of Thought," the
one on " Economy of Words," those on "Freedom of Speech," and those entitled " Correspondence of the Princeton Magazine," "Counsellor Phillips," " Gentlemanly," "Ham and Eggs: A Plea for Silent Legislation," " Mother Country
and Father-Land: A Dialogue," " Nil Admirari," "Westminster and Washington," "School of Legislation," "Some People," " Something New," " Utilitarian
Poetry," "The Tailors' Strike: An Humble Attempt at The Newest French
Style of Romantic Fiction," " The King's English," by "Miss Mary," and
"The Riches of the English Language."  These are some of the most striking.
The last contains a composition that almost meets the conditions of Mr. King's
description of the one which excited the laughter of the boys at Princeton. It
is made up of words all of which are (or were) to be found in Webster's Dictionary; "' although," observes the writer, " some, I regret to say, are marked
as obsolete."
" During, a short outlope, which I took one rafty morning, in my olitory
fell, to discover the ubication of a vespiary which annoyed me, I saw a tall,
wandy, losel lungis, in a leasy roquelaur, thridding my gate, and knabbing a
jannock which I had just before inchested in my pantry. From his xanthic
colour I took him for a Zambo poller who had sometimes shaved me. As it
was gang week, I thought he might be maunding, and would willingly have
given him a manchet; but I was not such a hoddy-doddy as to suffer every
patibulary querry to go digitigrade about my house and grounds. I mounted.ny horse, which I had left to gise on a seavy eyot in the neighboring beck
during my grassation, and pursued him, but he seized a clevy and tried to
blench the horse's chaufin and to hase him back into the fell. Failing in this,
he began to accoy me, and begged me to employ him as an abacist, pretending
he had served as a lancepesade of infantry in Hayti. But I snebbed and gouged
him, and not wishing the affair to be known to the neighbouring clerisy, who
were already not a little roiled by some things I had said too overlashingly, I
let the lown go shot-free, and went home rather lateward, feeling very hebete




52                      44 THE MEDLEY.                       [1823.
much concealed as if it had been written in an unknown
tongue; still its reading afforded an immense amount of
mirth to his hearers, ignorant as they were from the beginning to the end of the novel recitation as to the meaning
embodied in the rapidly uttered and enigmatical syllables
that saluted their ears.
"His chief, if not his only intimate companions of that
time were Judge Napton and myself, boys of near the same
age, and having much congeniality of feeling and opinions.
For a long time the three issued from the Academy a weekly
manuscript paper entitled the'MIedley,' which received an
extensive circulation, being often carried over into New York
and Philadelphia. This paper afforded much entertainment
to the readers, and much intellectual profit to the editors.
This journal was suppressed  by Mr. Baird, the Principal
of the Academy, whose order conveying the injunction was
the occasion of serious murmurs and discontent among his
pupils. He was willing that the good should be lost rather
than hazard an apprehended evil. Sometimes the wit and
satire were too scathing; the students of the academy, the
community, and sometimes the opinions and doings of our
highly-esteemed teacher, though the names of the parties satirized were never mentioned, were the subject of that paper's
comments. Addison was the chief contributor to its columns.
In the debating Society of the Academy he took little interest.  He performed his part, but more as a duty than a pleasure.  He manifested very little desire for argument or discusand curst; but after eating a chewet and drinking a few mozers of perkin, I
slumped into the quag and slept till morning."
The " Fandango of Osiris," " An Oriental Tale," &c., are in the same general character, though each of these absurd effusions is marked by its own native and incomparable peculiarities. A friend has called my attention to the
striking resemblance of some of these to some of Swift's humourous pieces.
The point is well taken. The likeness in some respects is apparent; yet in others
the spontaneous effusions of which I have been speaking are without a parallel
in the whole range of English Literature. One is a little reminded at times
of Rabelais or Le Sage.




JET. 14i]       ORIGINAL COMPOSITION.                53
sion, but generally he brought into exercise his masterly
power of destroying the force of his opponent's argument by
wit and burlesque. Young Napton's talent was of a different
order. Although a hard student and good scholar, his general
reading was less, and his memory more like that of other
men.".Mr. King, however, was under the impression that
Judge Napton's thinking powers and argumentative skill
were superior at that time to those of his friend. This, if
true, would be no derogation from his talents.
Mr. King concludes his interesting letter as follows: "In
the days of Addison's boyhood, his subsequent greatness was
shadowed forth; he was as remarkable as a boy as he afterwards became remarkable as a man. God in his wisdom has
cut him down in the prime of life, and in the midst of usefulness; but he had even then attained in knowledge, the position of old age in other learned men."
Whenever any thing was to be done in the way of rapid
original composition, and the dull or lazy fellow on whom the
task had been imposed could not or would not do it; whenever a boy wanted to astonish his teacher and companions
with an uncommonly huinourous or florid oration-something
quite out of the usual line-recourse was had at once to Addison. He was easy and accommodating in his disposition, and
always willing to help a classmate out of the slough. One of
his school-fellows has told me that from the very beginning,
the precocious linguist and satirist gave him the sense of inexhaustible capacity for every species of writing. He said the
quick and exact mathematician, the young master of Latin and
Greek, and English, the blue-eyed lover of the Arabic and
Persian, seemed to be up to any thing, and always ready for a
good practical joke. He was a round-bodied, merry, rather
silent, shrewd, accurate, kind-hearted, startling, comical lad.
His complexion was white and red, and his plump figure
threatened trouble on the score of too much flesh.
" Did I ever mention to you," asks a friend, " having heard
of Addison's writing speeches for older boys, while he was
quite a junior pupil in the old Princeton Academy on the hill,




54                     STONY BROOK.                       [1821.
near MIr. John Potter's?  The older boys were required, on
set occasions, perhaps at the close of the sessions, to deliver
original speeches before public audiences. While Addison
was a mere boy, I think not more than thirteen years old, he
would write speeches for his seniors which would' bring down
the house.' You and I can understand how he would appreciate such a joke; and how much better than most boys, or
men either, he could keep such a secret."
He always entertained an affection for the umbrageous
solitudes of Stony Brook. The memory of green woods and
silver streams as a part, and a most delightful one, of the
scenery of his school-boy recreations, was always cherished by
him.  O that I knew how to tell how he wandered in the summer afternoons under the spreading branches of the elm and
the chestnut; and how, perhaps, like his brother James, he
cut letters in the beech or aspen!
One day long afterwards he wrote in his journal, " walked
to Stony Brook," and then appended the lines given below,
and which were " composed while walking, 1N-ov. 5, 1853."
They may chance to strike some as being pretty, and are
undoubtedly of biographical interest. They throw an additional ray here and there upon his boyish fancies and ambition,
and the mental struggle it must have cost him, with his sense
of rare powers and precocious acquisitions, to give up his early
dreams of fame in the world of letters, and perhaps of active
exploit. They also show how much he loved the place and
associations of his childhood.
"Dear Princeton! What a volume is contained
In that one word! How many memories,
Both sweet and sad, come pouring out of it,
As from an ancient spring, long choked or dry,
But now reopened with a sudden burst
And gush of waters. Oh beloved home
Of my long lost, irrevocable youth!
Even in sleep, when I revisit thee,
I cease to be my present self-I grow
Preposterously young-I am a boy,
A wild, ambitious, visionary boy,




~T. 12.                MiR. BAIRD.                      55
Dreaming the old dreams all alive with hopes
Long dead and buried, till I start awake
And know them to be phantoms. How much more
When in reality I travel back
To these familiar places, does my life
Go backwards too! "
After finally establishing the academy and bringing it to a
high state of prosperity, Mr. Baird, in the spring of 1828,
gave it up and sought a renewal of health in the more active
pursuits in which he spent the remainder of his life. Mr.
Baird was in many and perhaps all respects the best of Addison's teachers before he entered college.*  This estimable gentleman afterwards married a MIiss Dubuchin, the daughter of
a French emigree, and French and perhaps one or more of the
modern languages were spoken fieely in his family. Two of
his sons, when many years had rolled by, became pupils of
Dr. Addison Alexander, then professor in the Theological
Seminary, and it was evident that the kindly and admiring
feeling with which he regarded them, was not due alone to
their acknowledged excellence as men and students, but in
part also to old recollections. Dr. Baird was a frequent
guest of Dr. Archibald Alexander, and the master and pupil
of former days spent many a long hour together conversing
upon topics of common interest.
For several weeks in the month of February, 1824, the
elder brother was engaged in the study of German, with Mr.
Zadig, a native of Silesia, who had relinquished the Jewish
religion, and been baptized. This was the beginning of an
acquaintance with the language, which was afterwards a great
delight to the American student, and enabled him to read,
write, sing, and speak it admirably. At this time he paid little attention to French, though acquainted with it. The
Christian Advocate about this date published a communication upon the Praise of God, from the pen of the same young
scholar writing under the signature of Cyprian. He also contributed for the January number of the American Monthly
* At a later date he prepared another of Dr. Alexander's sons for Nassau Hall.




56                  EDWARD IRVING.                  [1824.
Magazine, a poetical address to the New Year, under the
same nom de plume. He was much interested in current literature, and suffered nothing of value to escape his eye or comment. The winter was the most extraordinary for mildness
of temperature that had ever been experienced in Princeton.
Every thing was sheeted in ice. This did not prevent his
fancy from roaming in the fields of English poetry and over
the objects of the American landscape. "Our forests and
mountains," he writes to Dr. Hall, "and waters, surely furnish
scenes second to none that European poets and romancers have
hackneyed, and our mighty works of nature might, I should
suppose, inspire a feeling as ethereal as ever prompted the
Theban Pindar." 
Edward Irving, whom Addison was presently to see and
hear in his own chapel, was now just rising into fame in Scotland. At the close of a warm but careful panegyric of his
ability as a writer, the eldest of the Alexander brothers remarked in his adversaria, "One cannot help regretting that
a man who possesses so great a share of originality and
poetic inspiration, and who might be so powerful in a natural
path of composition, should wander off into this uncouth, untrodden region, and put on the manacles of an abolished style.
Eloquence, and power, and imaginative soaring are compatible
with the simplest, chastest style, and the most strict obeisance
to the canons of right criticism, as may be seen in the single
instance of Robert HIall."
The vernal season was not much advanced before the writer
of this critique, disgusted with the results of a mere discursive
reading of the classics, had resolved to enter upon the regular
perusal of the principal Greek and Latin writers of antiquity,
pursuing the method laid down by Le Clerc, of taking them in
chronological order. -In the course of time he thus accomplished all of the principal Latin writers of the classic eras and
many of the Church fathers. He also read many of the Greek
writers. He at first did not scrutinize the text with the eye
of a critical grammarian, but read as he would English, for
* Fam. Letters I., p. 36.




ZT. 15.3                JAMES.                       57
recreation, and improvement in taste. He was already an
exact linguist. His task for March 3d was in Homer and
Plautus.
A few days after I find this entry: " Spent last evening at
Dr. Lindsley's, where as usual I was very kindly and agreeably entertained. The Professor, as he is wont to do, descanted
upon the superiority of the ancients to the moderns, and urged
many weighty arguments to prove that literature was more
generally diffused among the Greeks than among any modern
people. Gained much useful information." Every glimpse
of this great and good man ought to be prized by the men
of this day, who owe so much to his labors.
Mr. James Alexander (whose brother Addison was now a
lad of not quite fifteen, and on the verge of college) wrote
frequently at this period for Walsh's Gazette and the American
Monthly Magazine, and he was in no lack of letters containing flattering allusions to these articles. He was much given
to visiting the theological students at their rooms, and found
himself constrained to adopt a resolution of greater temperance if not of total abstinence in this respect. The social
tendencies of Addison were not so overbearing. It required
no formal regulation or conscious purpose, to cause him to
keep his room. In after days the elder brother was constantly
making and breaking resolutions to " go abroad."  He found
that in his case solitude tended to produce hypochondria.
I find him engaged during these days on Plautus, Terence,
Homer, certain works in French, Turretin, Pictet, Hodgson's
Travels, Marcus Antoninus, Leighton, etc. He wrote at the
time, that he never expected to find studies more congenial to
his taste and inclinations than those in which the Seminary
students were then engaged, especially that of Didactic Theology.
On the night of the 11th of April, he had the pleasure of
hearing Mr. George Bush, afterwards so famous first as a
Scripture Commentator and then as a writer upon Swedenborg. Mr. Bush had not very long before left the Seminary, where up to that time he had been pursuing his theo



58                APPOINTED TUTOR.                 [182.
logical studies. The sermon was an admirable one, "rich in
original and important matter, adorned with striking illustrations, and remarkable for the uncommon force of language."
Mr. Bush sometimes reminded his friend of Chalmers in the
novelty of his thoughts, and the powerful mode he had of
expressing them. The next morning he woke up to find himself appointed tutor in the College of New Jersey, by the
Board of Trustees, who were then sitting. This excited his
wonder, and aroused some apprehension; but he accepted the
proffered chair (or footstool), and on the twenty-first of May
sat down where he had never expected to be situated in that
capacity, a tutor of the college, and occupant ex ofcio of No.
25 Nassau Hall. His first care was mathematics; afterwards
he was placed over the Latin and Greek classes.
James was young, and exceedingly sensitive, and at this
time a little shamefaced. HIe was one of the most mercurial
of men. He was often deeply despondent, but just as often
carried away with high spirits. IIe was prepared for many
mortifications and trials.  He dreaded among other things
having to confront the whole body of students upon the stage,
and to pass through their ranks, and head them in entering the
Refectory. "My youth," he writes, " is likely to call forth the
disrespect and presumption of some, and the exercise of that
authority'Which I am called upon to assume must gain me the
ill-will and ill offices of those who are its objects. Yet this is
the tax which every man must pay, who is so happy as to
aim at the welfare of his fellow-creatures." HIe fbund his
position an easier one than he supposed. A fellow-student
of his brother Addison, and pupil of the young-looking, but
extremely dignified mathematical tutor, tells me that he
vividly remembers Mr. James Alexander's spare person and
deep black eye, and how he would draw himself up and place
a visible constraint upon his mobile features when any thing
of a laughable nature occurred. His hair and his complexion
were both uncommonly dark. His head was high, and somewhat narrow, and his face long and oval. His temples were
finely moulded, and were unusually bare. The expression of




zET. 15.]           CHARACTERISTICS.                    59
his countenance was frank, noble, generous, intellectual, and
in a singular degree captivating and engaging. It was forever changing with his changing feelings. He always stood
upon his native dignity, and seldom or never had cause to
administer a reproof for misconduct. The classical felicity of
his taste and of his diction were subjects of marvel. His
piety was as evident as it was unobtrusive. He was eminently
popular, without once letting down the bars of discipline.
By many, he was beloved with an extraordinary affection;
by some with an almost passionate devotion. These remarks
apply particularly to the time during which he occupied the
chair of a professor, but are not false in their reference to the
period of his tutorship.  On May 22d he writes, "Made my
first attempt to-day at hearing a recitation. The Sophomores
recited to me in Algebra.  Was astonished at nothing so
much to-day, as the self-possession which I was enabled to
exercise Aro'ov Oeov. My room is an agreeable one; my
accommodations delightful; the fare in the Refectory excellent; the students, hitherto, complying, and all things ordered
in a way to suit my wishes."
He resolves about this time to give one-tenth of his salary
($300) for charitable institutions.  He was always open-handed
in his expenditures of every sort for the poor, and for sufferers
of every description. It was never hard to persuade him that
the money solicited was needed, and would be well bestowed.
The text-book in college was Bonnycastle's Algebra. His
taste for this study had been marked, and obtained public
notice when he was a student. His enthusiasm on the subject
is very much in character.
"That the pursuit is delightful I have the experience of this day to
prove: amid all the difficulties of this morning's toil, the delight
occasioned by the sudden flashing of the truth or relation anxiously
sought is transporting. The ecstacies of Pythagoras and the abstraction of Archimedes excite my wonder no longer."
During one of his vacations he visited Philadelphia, in
hopes of invigorating his health; and there partook of the
delightful hospitality of Mrs. Hall, the mother of the friend




60                VISITS PHILADELPHIA.                 [1824.
whom he had known from boyhood and with whom he continued to correspond for forty years. While in the city he
yielded himself up too much, he thought, to the attractions
of gay company and of seductive letters. He frequented the
shops of the booksellers; saw all the new prints; gazed with
delight upon the clean and lively streets and the decorated
windows; listened to much good music fiom sweet instruments and yet sweeter voices; tasted all the joy of friendship,
and felt the glow of what is judged to be innocent hilarity.
He returned to his quiet room in college to experience a painful reaction in his sensibilities. His conscience smote him on
the score of worldly conformity. He became greatly revived
in his religious ardour, and much exercised for the spiritual
welfare of the students. On one occasion at a prayer-meeting his feelings overcame him, and he "burst into a profusion of tears."
A severe attack of sickness, which befell the older brother
in this year, occasioned a letter of mock condolence from
Addison in Latin hexameters, four verses of which are here
given, which breathe an affectionate spirit and shed a twinkle
of humour.
"Crede mihi, juvenis docilis, me maxime tradet
Audire aegrotum esse virum, tam longe celebrem.
Pulveribus (quid tu Anglice vocas?) te cumulArint,
Et medicus, veneranda materque, AnEliza, niger Ned."
The piece will be found complete in the Familiar Letters.
These comic effusions were often made the channel of true
and even tender regard, as any one can see was the case in the
present instance. The two boys were attached to one another with a devotion that is rare even among brothers, and
that continued through life. There is a sense in which it
might be said that Addison had no friend but James. When
James died, Addison was restless and inconsolable, and soon
after followed him to heaven.




CHAPTER II.
THE College of New Jersey was at this time under the
Presidency of Dr. Carnahan, during whose administration it
enjoyed a high measure of prosperity. Dr. Ashbel Green had
but lately retired from the post. As a President he had been
both feared and honoured.  In the instructions of his department, Dr. Green had succeeded in reviving the traditions of a
Witherspoon and a Smith.  None could question his attainments in theology and the kindred sciences, and all without
exception acknowledged and venerated his exalted character.
He was moreover the master of a grave and sonorous eloquence. Dr. Green was the last of the old school of Presidents, of whom Burr, Davies, Finley, Witherspoon and Smith
had been, with Dickinson, the first of the series, the models
in a former generation. The lamented Carnahan was the connecting link between the old school and the new.  The recent
retirement of President Maclean marks another era like that
of the retirement of Finley. The Vice-President and Professor
of Languages was the Rev. Philip Lindsley, D.D., whose collected works have recently been published; * a man of rare
scholarship and of the ripest classical culture. It may be
safely averred, that this country has not often seen the equal
of Dr. Lindsley as a student and teacher of the Greek and Latin
tongues, and as a man imbued with the living spirit of arntiquity. He was a suggestive scholar rather than a mere drillmaster, and was one of those instructors whose main forte
* "The Works of Philip Lindsley, D. D., formerly Vice-President and President Elect of the College of New Jersey, Princeton; and late President of the
University of Nashville, Tennessee. Edited by LeRoy J. Halsey, D. D., Professor in the Theological Seminary of the Northwest. 3 volumes. Philadelphia: J. P. Lippincott & Co., 1866."




62                  DR. LINDSLEY.                  [1824.
seemed to lie in bringing out what is in the best men. A
greatly honoured clergyman of the Episcopal Church in Virginia is my authority for saying that, while he was at Princeton, Dr. Lindsley was of invaluable aid to those students who
knew how to use him. He distrusted his own administrative
talents, which were not believed by the young men to be very
(considerable. In this impression the young men were probably mistaken. Dr. Lindsley was sensitively modest, and at
that time had not been tried. He also laboured under the delusion that he could not preach. In both capacities, that of a
teacher and that of a minister of the word, he afterwards
showed himself to be a master.
His life, as one of his most accomplished pupils and most
ardent and grateful admirers has said, was preeminently that
of an instructor and educator of youth. He set about the
work of self-culture before he was thirteen, and left the College
of New Jersey as a graduate before he was nineteen. He
began the work of teacher as an humble usher in an academy,
and then filled successively the posts of tutor, professor, vicepresident, and president of a college. All his writings and
most of his discourses have a bearing on the work of education. This was his meat and drink. The University of Nashville is his noble monument; but nobler than all is the long
race of his pupils who have risen to eminence through his
instrumentality. The range of' his reading was so great, that
there was scarcely a topic of interest on which he was not
extensively and even profoundly informed. IIe was an accomplished theoretical statesman, versed in the sciences of government, finance and political economy, and in all questions
touching public morals, the administration of justice, and civil
or religious liberty. His knowledge of the classics was almost
unequalled in his day. His acquaintance with the Belles Lettres of various languages seemed unlimited, and his love of
literature was a passion. His administrative and executive
ability is thought by those who knew him in the West, to have
been of the highest order. He distrusted himself in the pulpit,
and preferred the position of a hearer; yet his biographer, Dr.




AET. 15.]            HIIS PUPILS.                    63
Halsey, does not doubt that " the grand element of his power
and of' his success was his magnificent preaching."
He has left important monuments in his published writings,
but, as one of his pupils,* who seems animated by a spirit of
filial enthusiasm, well says, while these "show the brilliancy
of his genius, the peculiarities of his mind, the ardour of his
nature, and the depth and earnestness of his spirit, his nobler
works,-' living epistles, known and read of all men,' are his
two-thousand pupils, who, in all spheres of active usefulness,
have been perpetuating his influence; and having received
from his generous hand the lighted torch of knowledge, they
have handed it to the generation now succeeding, and thus
the blazing link, growing brighter as years pass, shall continue
to descend as an heirloom of priceless value." * * * Among
these pupils were the Alexander brothers, who never ceased
to speak of their old preceptor in terms of cordial regard and
sincere veneration. Such men as Dr. Philip Lindsley are
blessings to the church and to the world. They can never be
forgotten by those who prize the fruits of piety and sound
learning. Their jewels they have left as a legacy behind them,
in the persons of those who have received their impress, and
are animated by their unearthly sentiments. By these their
living memorials they will be remembered and honoured by
children's children, when the titled desolators of history shall
be mentioned only to be execrated. It is pleasant to know
that Princeton was graced at this particular epoch with several
literary clubs or debating societies, the meetings of which
proved highly interesting to the youthful contestants. Chief
among these, in the estimation of the young people generally,
were the Round Table and the Chironomian. The question
before the Round Table one night was, " Ought religion to be
supported by law?" M3r. James Alexander advocated the
affirmative, and was gratified to find that he had more freedom
than formerly in speaking extempore. The question before
the Theological Society of the Seminary, the week previous,
* Chancellor Waddel, in the Southern Presbyterian Review.




64                POWER OF MEMORY.                  [1824.
was upon the propriety of instrumental music in churches.
MIr. James Alexander defended the negative.
The elder brother of the two Alexanders was still in the
seminary, and refers in his diary about this time to " my friend
Bethune," who seems to have been a fellow-student. They
were fast friends through life. This was the celebrated orator,
debater, poet, rhetorician, lecturer, preacher, the Rev. George
W. Bethune, D. D., afterwards of Brooklyn, N. Y.
The name of this genial clergyman brings up an anecdote,
which I may as well tell here. The minute history of these
past times soon fades out, and the old inscriptions on the
palimpsest are not often restored. Sometimes, it is true, the
labours of some Pepys, or Evelyn, are brought to light, and
the magical hieroglyphics start out once more before us in
all their former significance. Dr. Archibald Alexander was
always himself a firm believer in the doctrine, and was accustomed to impress it upon the minds of his classes at Princeton, which has since been illustrated in so solemn a manner by
De Quincey and Coleridge, that we never forget any thing: in
other words, that there is an important sense in which there
is no such thing as forgetting. The word forget, as has so
often been said before, is obviously ambiguous, being the
opposite of remember as well as of recollect. The doctrine in
question is that though we fail to recollect many things, and
though there is the greatest diversity among different minds
as regards the power of recollection, we never forget in the
sense of failing to remember or hold in memory. The hidden
tablets still retain the traces that have been originally imprinted
on them; and in the moments that precede death (or what
would have proved to be death but for the interposition of
Providence) these traces have been known to flash out upon
the startled conscience with instantaneous rapidity, and with
the most perfect and terrible distinctness, so as apparently to
afford to the soul a sudden and comprehensive view of all that
it had ever known. Dr. Alexander had been lecturing on this
subject one day to his theological pupils, and the young men
had repaired to the Seminary Refectory to get dinner, when




JT. 15.]          PRINCETON OF 1824.                 65
the conversation at table fell upon the topic that had been
presented to them in the class-room that morning. One of
the students was noted for a disposition to call in question
the conclusions of his preceptor, and on the occasion to which
I now refer boldly proclaimed his dissent from the position
that had been cautiously taken by his venerable instructor.
"I know," said he, "there are some things I have totally forgotten, and shall never be able to recall!" Dr. Bethune, who
was a student at Princeton at the time, and who was also
boarding at the Refectory, a man through life distinguished
for his sparkling wit and repartee, immediately threw the
table into roars of laughter by crying out in his comical
way, "Name one of them, Sir!'"  I give this anecdote on
the authority of the Rev. James W. Alexander, from whose
lips I heard it.
The Princeton of 1824 contained a number of well-known
families and many interesting people, besides one or two justly
distinguished public men. Dr. Carnahan, as I have stated,
was President of the College when Addison Alexander entered
it as a student. The Rev. Luther Halsey was Professor of
Chemistry and Natural Philosophy; Dr. Maclean of Mathematics, and my informant * thinks of Latin (temporarily supplying the vacancy occasioned by the removal of Lindsley to
Nashville); and Robert B. Patton of Greek and Belles Lettres.
The latter is considered to have been a fine Greek scholar, and
a gentleman of cultivated taste and manners, though in
wretched health. The tutors were, Messrs. Lowry, Talmadge
and Aikman; but with these neither Mr. Alexander nor any
of his classmates had any thing to do; he and Mr. Napton
having entered Juniors. The standard of scholarship in the
ancient languages (at least before MIr. Patton's advent) was
greatly below that which my informant found subsequently at
the University of Virginia; and none of the modern languages
were taught. "The old routine," he says, "or curriculum
then prevailing in the Northern Colleges was not designed for
* Judge Napton.




66                   COLLEGE  CURRICULUM.                         [18s24.
the attainment of the abstruse or profound depths or heights
of science, or for its application to practical use, nor even for a
scholastic and critical knowledge of Latin and Greek.* Grammars and dictionaries, those helps to the youthful traveller up
the steep," were very imperfect, he thinks, as compared with
the Zumpts, Madvigs, Buttmanns, Matthiaes, etc., since introduced; "and the classics were still read in the old Delphine
editions with side-notes and ordo in Latin, and foot-notes to
point out the most attractive passages." He is not clear, however, that any greater proficiency is attained under the new
system  of adjuncts than under the old, rugged and rough as it
was. The inquisitive and ambitious student will, he thinks,
attain his end under either-perhaps more thoroughly under
the first, "as people learn more of a country over which they
travel on foot, than those who pass through it in railroad
cars. "
The following picture of the old Commencements cannot be
spared: " Commencement was a great day in Princeton in old
times-it may be yet-but my conjecture is, that along with
* The Centennial Address has this allusion to the same subject: " The curriculum has been perpetually enlarged, with the increase of knowledge in the
world....   The earliest period of our history was before the very rise of
certain great sciences in their present form."... And a little before this
occurs the following: " Sound methods of instruction, rather old than new,
have continued through every stage." The earlier Presidents had all been
learned men, in the most exact as well as the most enlarged sense. Their scholarship, though it could not boast the exquisite finish of Oxford or Cambridge,
was of the type then prevailing in the great universities of England. None of
the first batch of Presidents occupied the seat long. But Dr. Witherspoon in
his twenty-six years of administration stamped a new character on the instructions of the college. To him must be ascribed the introduction of the Edinburgh course. Much of this influence had worn out at the period during which
Mr. Alexander was a student, and had again and yet again to be renewed and
extended. The genuine learning of Dr. Lindsley was of the old school, and his
removal from Princeton was a misfortune that for the time seemed irreparable.
Nor were there wanting other men of commanding talents in the faculty at this
period. But it cannot be asserted with too much emphasis that the future interpreter owed little to his professional teachers. He was an original genius
and "a self-made man."




AET. 15.]             OLD  COMMENCEMENT.                          67
other old-fashioned institutions and customs, it has gone to
the' tomb of the Capulets.' On this day, during my time, all
the surrounding  country was (as Mr. C. J. Ingersoll would
have said) ejaculated into the village, and such rows of wagons, booths, stalls, tents; such huge piles of melons (out of
season); such barrels of cider (a choice beverage in New Jersey); and such a concourse of people of every variety of shade
and conformation, physically, morally and intellectually, could
be seen nowhere else."   He remembers especially the brilliancy of the fire-works and the illuminated College edifice at
night, which were the admiration of the youthful spectators.
" Then there was the regular anniversary ball at Joline's tavern, who was successor to and perhaps once the rival of the
famous English publican, George Folct, whose sign of the Red
Lion was still swinging between two posts in my days, though
probably of ante-Revolutionary origin. This ball attracted all
the 6lite of the village, and some additions from the fashionable circles of the two great cities lying on either side of it;
and  the  mnusic  was by the  famous Philadelphia  band of
Johnson."
In regard to Princeton society, male and female, outside of
the two great schools of theology and literature, the same
writer says, " The Stocktons were the leading family of the
place.  At their head, in'24, was Richard Stockton,* a great
* Whose father, Richard Stockton (the grandfather of the Commodore), was
a Judge of the Supreme Court, a member of the Continental Congress, " an ardent
defender of liberty," and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In this
cause he suffered the loss of his estate and library, and personal imprisonment
in New York. He died at Morven, at the age of fifty. This was in 1781. He
had been a trustee and warm friend of the college as well as of its great founders. Of Richard Stockton (the father of the Commodore) " it is enough to say
that, among the members of a bar which holds its place with any in America,
he maintained by common consent the unrivalled precedence."  " He was long
the honour of Princeton, and a guardian of the college. His voice of eloquent
argument and lofty invective was heard in Congress; and he sent five sons to
the college, of whom one is now in a distant ocean on the service of his country."-Centennial Address, i847. Richard Stockton, the father of the late
Commodore Robert F. Stockton of the Old Navy, died in 1'779, the same year




68                  PRINCETON SOCIETY                     [1824.
lawyer, as I have heard and do not doubt; having read his
argument in a celebrated and very important case that went
up from  New Jersey to the Supreme Court of the United
States, involving the title of one Love to a large landed estate
abandoned by him when the secession of the Colonies from
Great Britain occurred.  Mr. S.'s practice was chiefly in
Trenton and Philadelphia.  He was a large man, of rather
In wieldly dimensions, bordering on extreme obesity, incapable of much locomotion on foot, and therefore I presume,
was seldom seen in the village adjoining which was his residence."  He does not remember to have seen Mr. Stockton
more than once or twice, and one of these occasions was indelibly impressed on his recollection by an interview which he
witnessed bet.ween Mr. Stockton and Charles Fenton Mercer
of Virginia, who had been appointed to deliver a discourse before the two literary Societies of the College. There was a
mixture of the grand and grotesque about the scene.  " They
met in the Hall, where the Trustees, Professors, students and
other spectators had previously assembled, and it was rather
ludicrous to observe the extreme difficulty which Mr. Stockton
had in responding with corresponding civilities to the multiplied bows with which Mercer greeted him-the latter being
a small and flexible person, of rather French manners, and
both gentlemen of the old school, which exacted more ceremony than modern times tolerate."
The writer, after speaking of Mfr. Stockton's gallant son,
the Commodore, goes on to mention the Craigs and Potters,
Thomsons and Fields, families which still have their representatives in Princeton, "and the Bayards, a family of historic
fame both in Delaware and New Jersey."  "Mrs. Maclean,
the mother of the late President,* and sister of Commodore
with President Witherspoon, who had shortly before given up his house on the
College grounds to his son-in-law Dr. S. Stanhope Smith, and removed to the
place still known as Tusculum.
* Of John Maclean, the father of the President, the Centennial Address says,
"A name beloved in the recollections of every student, during the 17 years of
his residence; a scholar, a benignant friend, a wise preceptor; one of the earli



ET. 15.]               AND  CELEBRITIES.                       69
Bainbridge, a naval officer of great distinction in the war of
1812, was also there receiving friends and strangers with indiscriminate hospitality, and with  her lived  her daughter,
Miary, the gentlest of her sex, a model of every female excellence, and esteemed by rich and poor, high and low."
My informant * then goes on to say that "near by lived
the two daughters of Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith, ci-clevant
President of the College, Mrs. Salomans and Mrs. Pintard,
the former with two attractive daughters, one of whom married my friend and school-fellow, Alfred A. Woodhull.  Conspicuous among the fashionable ladies of the place were the
Passages (of French extraction, as I infer from  the name);
the Thomases, one of whom  married  Mr. Alston of South
Carolina, and the other Gen. Lytle of Cincinnati, at one time
a prominent Congressman from  that district; the Whites;
the Renshaws, daughters of Commodore Renshaw; the MIorfords, daughters of an old Revolutionary soldier who was
postmaster, one of whom  married a McCormick of Winchester, Va.; and I may add, a daughter of President Carnahan
who married Mr. McDonald."
Among the professional characters of the day, besides some
that have been named, he remembers "'the three lawyers,
Green, Bayard, and Hamilton; a younger lawyer of ability,
but indolent, named ~Walter Skelton; the Van Cleves, the
father an eminent physician,-one of the sons, Horatio, now in
the U. S. army; the Woodhulls, the father being minister of
the parish, and the oldest son, John, becoming distinguished
est to explode the Priestleyan bubble of phlogiston, and to introduce the new
chemical revelations of Lavoisier." Dr. Ashbel Green, the former President,
was also living, though he had perhaps already removed to Philadelphia. Dr.
Carnahan succeeded him before the time of Addison's entrance as a student.
"The time has not come to write of living greatness and goodness. Otherwise
we might dwell on the ten years' toil of President Green, whom we hoped to
meet, but whom the weight of six and eighty years presses so heavily that he
cannot revisit the spot where, years ago, he pronounced the valedictory in the
presence of Washington, and received his personal applause."-Dr. J. W. Alexander, Centennial Address, 1847.
* I have made free use of Judge Napton's own words.




70                         MR. JANVIER.                           [1824.
in his profession of medicine; the Wilsons, Jolines, &c. Voila
tout! " *
* One of the most remarkable men in Princeton at the time was undoubtedly
a coach-painter named Francis D. Janvier, who is fully described in the fifteenth
chapter of the American Mechanic (see pp. 80, 85), under the style of August.
This admirable person deserves mention by the side of such men as Pendrill,
Bloomfield, and Ferguson. The author introduces his description with the following lines from Wordsworth.
* * * "Strongest minds
Are often those of whom the noisy world
Hears least; else surely this man had not left
His graces unrevealed and unproclaimed.
But as the mind was filled with inward light,
So not without distinction had he lived,
Beloved and honoured-far as he was known.
And something that may serve to set in view
The feeling pleasures of his loneliness,
His observations, and the thoughts his mind
Had dealt with-I will here record."
After a little further prefacing, the account runs on thus: "It is now more
than twenty-three years since I became acquainted with a coach-painter in a village
of New Jersey. At that time he occupied a very small shop adjacent to a large
building which was used by the coach-maker.  Even in early youth I was led
to observe something in the manner and countenance of this man, indicative of
superior reflection. I shall conceal his name under that of AUGUST, which will
point him out to many who knew him. As I advanced in life, I gained access
to his painting-room and his dwelling; and as he was particularly kind to young
persons, I passed in his company some of the pleasantest hours which it is my
fortune to remember. August was then in the prime of life, and his character
and habits were fully unfolded. In looking back upon the acquaintances of
many years, I can declare with sincerity, that I have never known a more accomplished man. In his trade he was exemplary and approved. His taste led
him to make excursions beyond the sphere of his daily work; and I call to
mind a number of portraits and fancy-pieces which ornamented his own house
and the apartments of his friends. I am not prepared to say, however, that he
was eminent as an artist. But there were various other walks of life in which
he was a master. He was fond of reading to a degree which wholly interfered
with the care of his business and his health. Indeed he was a devourer of
books. Attached to his easel one was sure to find an open volume; and sometimes he caused a favourite boy to read aloud while he was grinding his colours.
I well remember that, on a certain day when he had to walk five miles to do a
piece of work, he travelled the whole distance book in hand; it was a quarto
volume of Hobhouse's Travels. There was nothing in the whole circle of
English literature, so far as it is traversed by most professed scholars, with




JET. 15.]                  MR. JANVIER.                             71
Among the oddities of the place were the brothers Jemmy
which August was not familiar. He had made himself master of the French
language, spoke it with some facility, and had perused its chief treasures.
Among other evidences of his application, he put into my hand a laborious
translation from the French, of a work by Leatude detailing the events of his
long and cruel imprisonment; a narrative not unlike that of Baron Trenck."
* * * "I have vividly before my mind the scene when August was busy
with his palette, in a rude loft, and a litttle boy seated on a work-bench was
pouring into his delighted ear the early fictions of the author of Waverley.
Sir Walter himself would have been repaid by the spectacle.
"' Such tastes and habits gave a richness to his mind, and a refinement to his
manners. August was fully suited to mingle with any group of scientific or
literary men. His love of talk was unbounded, and his hilarity most genial. I
remember no acquaintance whose discourse was so stimulating or instructive.
Many an hour of summer days I whiled away in his shop, listening to the sentiment, humour, and wit, which would have graced any company I ever met.
All this was without a trace of self-conceit or arrogance. His conversation was
the easy overflowing of a full mind. It was always animated, and always arch:
there was a twinkle of unutterable mirth in his expressive eye, which won regard and awakened expectation.
" August was a musician. This delightful art had been his solace from childhood. He played on several instruments, but the clarionet was that of which
he had the greatest mastery. Often have I heard its clear melodious tones for
successive hours on a summer evening. He seemed to use it as the outlet for
those musings which found no vent among his ordinary associations; for most
of his performances were voluntaries and fitful capriccios. Yet he was a sightsinger, and read even intricate music with ease. It was one of his whims to
have a number of flageolets, lessening by degrees until the smallest was a mere
bird-pipe, with the ventages almost too near together for adult fingers. Such
is the power of association, that to this day I sometimes amuse myself with that
feeblest of all instruments, a French flageolet, in affectionate recollection of
poor August.
" I have heard that he sometimes wrote verses, but have never been so fortunate as to alight on any specimen. August was a man of poetic tendencies,
living habitually above the influences of a sordid world, and seeking his pleasures in a region beyond the visible horizon of daily scenes. In this connexion,
I ought with great seriousness to mention, that during the years of my acquaintance with him, he was an open professor of Christian faith, which he exemplified by a life of purity, patience, and benevolence. His family was a religious household. When he came to enter the valley of poignant trial with
which his life terminated, he is said to have evinced great joyfulness of confidence in the propitiation and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ."




72                       THE  McOCARRIERS.                          r1824.
and Joe McCarrier,* the college servants. The subjoined account of Jemlny is from  the pen of Dr. James W. Alexander,
and was written while he was himself a tutor, and  living in
Nassau Hall. Addison had not then entered the institution,
but soon came into close and amusing relations with the generous but testy Irishman and his brother Joe.t  "It may not
* Or McCarryher.
t One of the earliest of Addison's extant compositions of the facetious order
is one he wrote probably when a Junior, that is at sixteen, and is a broad
parody on the well-known verses of Campbell. Its connection with the matter
now in hand is, that it brings in an allusion to the brothers Jemmy and Joe
McCarrier. I give as much of it as now exists, or perhaps was ever written.
It is only necessary to say in explanation for the benefit of persons who did not
study at Princeton, that it contains references to the final examination of the
Senior class for degrees, to Cavallo's Natural Philosophy, then a text-book at
college, and to the horn by which the students were summoned to their meals
in the old refectory adjoining the college; and that " stumping " and " rowling"
are the slang terms respectively for the failure to recite when called on, and
brilliant success in recitation or speaking; while the first-honour man of course
obtains " first grade," and the good for nothing idler is sent off on "probation."
The laughing good-nature of the writer is apparent.
AR: " The Exile of Erin."
" There came to the door a poor student of college,
The coat on his shoulders was ragged and thin;
He sighed and he wept from the exquisite knowledge
That the final so soon was about to begin:
But a figure attracted the glance of his eye,
As it rushed with a horn from an edifice nigh,
Where oft in the moments of hours gone by,
He had sung the bold anthem of Dinner Hurrah.
"' Oh sad is my fate,' said the heart-broken fellow,'The Juniors, Sophs., Freshmen may walk, run, or sleep,
But I,' he exclaimed, with a soul-touching bellow,'To my Euclid, my room, and Cavallo must keep.
Where is my Euclid, bought new the last session?
Jemmy and Joe, for the dear creature call!
Where is Cavallo, my dearest possession?
Ah no! for Longinus is dearer than all.
"'But hunger [at last] these sad fears moderating,
One darling wish from my bosom would draw:
Jemmy, Oh Jemmy, do blow without waiting;
Comfort of nature, dear dinner Hurrah!
Stumping or rowling, first grade or probation,
Thy memory shall hold in my heart the first station,




JT. 15.]              JEMMY  MCCARRIER.                           73
be uninteresting at some future day to recall to mind my servant Jemmy McCarrier.  He has been for many years head
servant in the College, and has fulfilled his duties with a zeal
and fidelity which are seldom witnessed. His greatest delight
is to serve; no office is too menial or too laborious for him;
he insists on doing favours, and with the true Irish spirit is
offended if you decline to receive them. It is amusing to see
him pacing about the College on a dog-trot, which his continual errands, for many years performed always in haste, have
made a habit characteristic of him. He seems always to be in
the greatest possible hurry, and yet is punctual to the moment,
and most minute in his business. His affection for friends and
his gratitude to benefactors are fervent, and expressed with all
the native eloquence of an Irishman.  Rage too burns in him
with sudden impetuosity, that while it lasts is furious, but
soon dies away. If I wished a friend who would flinch from
no danger and draw back from  no sacrifices or privations for
my sake, I would lay my hand on Jemmy." *
Mr. Alexander, the subject of this biography, was matriculated as a student of the College of New Jersey, and entered
And never, I vow, till the examination,
Will I cease the bold anthem of Dinner Hurrah I'"
The four last lines of the first stanza seem to be erased, but are obviously
requisite to finish both the sense and the melody. What adds to the fun is that
the fare at the refectory in those days was plain and bad enough for an anchorite.
* The father of the McCarryhers came over with three sons from "the ould
counthry," and is remembered by a Princetonian of the former days as a shrivelled up old little Irishman, who lived at different times in two miserable houses
in the environs of the college. When the parent died, Dr. Archibald Alexander
preached his funeral sermon, and thus made a deep and lasting impression on
the intelligence and feelings of the son, who was taught in this way to look up
to him with unmeasured regard and reverence. Before the Seminary building
was put up and the oratory used, and of course long before the erection of the
Seminary chapel, the families of the theological professors used to worship in
the old college chapel, and my informant vividly remembers how every Sunday
morning, in cold weather, McCarryher Jils used to place a covered pan of hot
coals at Mrs. Alexander's feet as she sat in chapel,
4




74         nMR. ALEXANDER IN COLLEGE.              [1824.
one of its advanced classes, at an age when the majority of
boys are still at school. He was only fifteen. IHe might easily
have entered the Sophomore at fourteen, or the Freshman at
thirteen, or even twelve, had he been so disposed, or had his
parents thought it wise. He was judiciously kept back, not
eagerly pushed forward. No one ever had more prudent
counsellors. He connected himself with the Junior class in
the autumn of the year 1824, and at once took his stand among
the first scholars of his class. This position he maintained
during the whole college course. Nothing is known positively
as to his examination on entrance, but it may be safely inferred that it was entirely satisfactory. His scholarship was
never known, either before or afterwards, to fail to come up
to the most stringent tests which could be applied to it. The
boys at the academy thought he knew as much Greek as Mr.
Baird, and that it was impossible for him to be entangled
amidst the intricacies of mathematics; and some of his associates of the college fancied that he was superior on the
score of his attainments to most of his instructors of the college faculty. This was not only the enthusiastic estimate of
youth, but the deliberate and mature judgment of riper years.
But whatever may be the impartial decision upon this point,
it is certain that he had no superior among his fellow-students
in the branches embraced in the usual curriculum; and in the
various branches of learning outside of that curriculum, it was
cheerfully conceded that he distanced the others so far, as to
put all ideas of competition out of the question. But no one
regretted this state of things. He bore his honours meekly,
and was universally regarded as the prodigy of Nassau Hall.
The men were proud of him. They regarded him as one of
the bright ornaments of the institution. His standing as a
scholar was equal and uniform, being the same at the end of
his final term as it was at the beginning of his course. There
was nothing in his progress through college to arrest at-'
tention, except his assiduity, his punctuality, his accurate and
eminent scholarship, and his scrupulous fidelity in the per.
formance of every duty.




AET. 16.]             HIS SPEECHES.                     75
In the autumn of 1825 he was one of the four selected by
the American Whig Society to represent that society on the
night before Commencement, in its annual oratorical contest
with its Cliosophic rival. His subject on this occasion was
" Mionachism," and it was treated in such a manner as to draw
many discerning eyes upon the young orator.* The speech
attracted marked notice on account of its style, and the evidence that it gave of mental power and mature culture.
During the ensuing winter he appeared again before a
public audience, at the performance of one of the divisions of
the Senior class; the class being distributed by lot into four
" divisions," as they were called, which appeared successively,
at intervals of a few weeks, during the winter. His subject
this time was " the Fire Worshippers," a theme which gave
full scope for the exercise of his rich and exuberant imagination, and the gorgeous drapery in which he clothed his ideas
on this occasion, was a topic of general remark, and was much
admired.
At the summer exhibition of the Senior class he again appeared before the public, and again made the pillars of the old
chapel shake with applause. His attention, as we know, had
long before this been directed to the languages, literature, and
history of the East, and he now looked once more in that
quarter for a theme for his discourse. The thing he seemed
to have in view was a defence or eulogy of the Mohammedan race. He spoke (says the brother from whom I have
derived these particulars) in glowing terms of "that race
which in former days had passed the Pillars of Hercules in
the face of the Spanish chivalry, had built the mosque of
Cordova,f the palace at Seville, and beautified and adorned
Castile and Aragon with those delicious gardens and fountains which made Spain the paradise of the world." He
* Another of his college efforts was on "Russia," and some of its brilliant
sentences are still in preservation..t     ". the regal seat
Of Abdaldzis, ancient Cordoba."
-" till they saw




76                    AT COLLEGE.                    L1825.
pictured with graphic power the arrival of the day " when
the magnanimous Arab shall with his own hand plant the
Cross upon his own mountains; when the Christian anthem
shall be echoed and reechoed from the opposite shores of the
Adriatic, and the Christian's hymn of praise once more resound within the dome of St. Sophia."
The following extracts of a letter from Thomas Flournoy,
Esq., of Bentfield, Brunswick County, Virginia, give an excellent picture of the young scholar at this time.
He says Addison " was a very remarkable boy, as he was
universally conceded to be a most remarkable man. The impression with most of his compeers doubtless was, that he was
naturally unsociable and taciturn. Such I consider a misapprehension. We were classmates; he was my junior by, I suppose, four or five years. I always found him very accessible.
He enjoyed a good joke and laugh, within reasonable bounds.
He was a purely modest youth; but his vast resources, even
at the tender age I knew him, precluded every thing like
diffidence, as I understand the purport of that word."
He used frequently to meet with him on his longest walks
from his father's house to the recitation rooms in College.
"He was always pleasant and communicative, and always kind
and polite. I have seen him very much bored by his brethren of the Whlig Society, in their zeal for the first distinction,
by urging him to give more undivided attention to college
studies. I will not say he never thought about college honours; but I am certain he never expressed or manifested any
concern on the subject." If he put forth any effort in that
direction, Mr. Flournoy verily believes it was wholly to gratify
the ambition of the Whigs. " I believe he could have graduated with distinction the day he was matriculated. It was
The temples and the towers of Cordoba
Shining majestic in the light of eve."
Southey, Roderick, Book V.
"And strangers were received by thee
Qf Cordova the chivalry."
Byron.




ET. 16.]       HABITS AND APPEARANCE.                77
quite farcical for him to be reciting to professors whom he
could have taught. I suppose it was altogether a formal requisition that influenced him in regarding a college curriculum as imperative." The writer was much taken with his
friend's drollery and good-humour, as evinced in his college
exercises. "He always manifested genuine wit, humour, and
good feelings, in his pointed criticisms on compositions and
declamations and debates.  He never evinced selfishness,
vain-glorying, or the least pride of superiority over his fellows, though acknowledged head, neck, and shoulders over
all, by all. I don't believe he had an enemy on the earth.
His high attainments for one so young and unpresuming,
commanded the admiration of all without exciting the envy
or jealousy of any."
His general appearance, MIr. Flournoy says, was sedate
and sober-minded; but when in conversation, animated and
sprightly. "I considered him blessed with a cheerful and
happy temperament."  His looks were prepossessing. "He
was very handsome, rather under the medium height, but
stoutly formed, and with proper exercise would have been
very muscular. He had a fair, ruddy, almost transparent
complexion. His dress was of the most tasteful description,
exciting no attention whatever. I looked upon him as one of
the cleanest and purest persons I have ever known. His
general walk and deportment was that of a consistent Christian, though I am unable to say whether he was a professor."
The first trip he ever made from home, Mr. Flournoy thinks,
was with his father to New York City. "I heard Dr. Alexander say, laughingly, he never saw Addison but at mealtimes and at night; and supposed'he was on the pad' all the
time, looking after the lions of the city; but he ascertained
the extent of his peregrinations was from the hotel to a large
book-establishment, where he regaled himself during the days
they were in the city." He never knew one so young take so
little bodily exercise and keep so perfectly healthy; for he
never heard of his being sick.
The youthful intercourse between the two friends can




78                QUICKNESS OF PARTS.                 [1825.
scarcely be said to have been renewed. Mr. Flournoy returned to Virginia and lost sight of Addison. "I never had
the pleasure of meeting with him but once after our boyhood
days. I heard him preach in Dr. Boardman's church in'48,
and then had only a brief interview in the church." It
must have been on this occasion (as he tells me himself)
that Mr. Flournoy could not resist the temptation of going
up into the pulpit and shaking him by the hand.* He adds,
in closing, "You will doubtless be surprised that I am able
to furnish so few striking incidents in relation to Dr. Alexander; but his was a quiet, gentle, and unobtrusive course to
eminence."
The account given in this letter of Mr. Flournoy is a true
sequel to the statements of Mr. King. It is evidently the
same person that these two gentlemen describe; showing
himself more completely and unreservedly, however, to the
one with whom he was more familiarly associated in the careless freedom of a village school, and with whom he was more
nearly connected in point of age, than with the other, who
was also several years his senior, and who was his fellow only
in his collegiate studies. We may also, perhaps, discover
some signs of growth in character, manners, etc., since the
playful satirist excited-the mirth and aroused the admiration
of Mr. Baird's academy by his scintillations of fancy, and
wild bursts of fun at the expense of every body and every
thing. He was now, according to all accounts, a short, stout,
striking-looking, rosy-faced, marvellous-minded youth of seventeen, with a remarkable head, that was stored with unknown
treasures of strange learning, and possessing a quickness and
versatility of parts that could not easily be matched. If he
was reserved towards strangers, he on some points opened
his heart to his nearest friends with the confidence and simplicity of a little child. To them, and to his juniors in years,
he was almost uniformly gracious and affable, if not demon* He remembered his friend "Tom Flournoy's" shake of the hand, and
referred to it when in Europe in 1833, in connection with what he says of the
proverbial coldness of English manners.




AT. 16.]       MANY-SIDED CHARACTER.                 79
stratively affectionate: nay, there were times when he abounded in exuberant and effervescent hilarity and pleasant mischief.
A gentleman now residing in Charlotte, Virginia, who
visited Princeton in 1828, with a letter to Dr. Alexander,
tells me that Addison, who was some years older than himself,
at once became his chaperon, and with the greatest kindness
showed him the various objects of interest connected with the
seminary, and among them the fine prospect which is commanded by the cupola. This gentleman represents him as
being at that time "the wildest boy he ever saw," explaining
himself to mean the most talkative, sprightly, humorous,
witty, gaily enthusiastic, and intrepidly frolicsome and mischievous. He says that his comical guide fired his shots at
every body and every thing, but that the flame was of the
most lambent character and hurt nothing. My informant adds,
that Addison convulsed the little satellites by whom he was
attended, and that he himself nearly died laughing. And yet
this was the same person of whom Mr. Flournoy truly says,
that "his general appearance was sedate and sober-minded;"
though in conversation he considered him "animated and
sprightly." The truth is, the boy, like the man, had almost as
many sides to his character and genius as there were persons
to look at them. He was different to different people, and
different on different days. He was like a kaleidescope in
this, that you could never touch him without producing in
your mind a new impression of his boundless variety.
The destruction of the papers in the hands of Mr. King
will always be a subject of regret to the admirers of Dr. Alexander, and to those who are inquisitive about the events of
his early life. In the absence of these interesting manuscripts,
I give a few extracts from a letter of Judge Napton to William C. Alexander, Esq., of New York, bearing upon the same
period:
" You are right in supposing that no one could appreciate the genius
and worth of your brother, Addison, more than myself, or had better




80                    JUDGE NAPTON.                       [18s2
opportunities of understanding his peculiarities when we were both
young. It would be difficult for me to express the great respect and
veneration I had for your father-clarum et ienerabile nomen —and the
great obligations I owed him for kindness to me in boyhood, and for
wholesome advice (I have his letter yet) which was not thrown away,
as advice usually is.
"As to Addison, I looked upon him as one of extraordinary mind,
and gifted with a superiority of the imaginative faculty which was
never developed, but which might have placed him among the Irvings,
Coopers, and Pauldings of his and our day. Whether he acted wisely
in devoting himself to other branches of literature, more congenial to
his profession, I cannot say; but I confess that I regretted he did not
enter into a more popular department of literature, where he was certain of success." * * *
I am also indebted to Judge Napton for the following particulars.  It will be remembered that these reminiscences and
criticisms are from the pen of the man who was one of his best
friends, and without qualification almost his only rival of those
days as a student.
", Our acquaintance began at a very early period of our lives, and
ceased before either of us could be said to have reached manhood.
I can only speak in general terms of impressions and convictions then
formed of the peculiar intellectual and moral traits exhibited by my
friend. My acquaintance with Addison Alexander commenced, I believe, on my leaving the school at Lawrenceville, then under charge
of the Rev. I. V. Brown, and joining the academy at Princeton-a sort
of preparatory school then just established by the Rev. Robert Baird,
a gentleman subsequently well-known for his labors in Europe and his
valuable sketches of them. Addison and I must have been at this
time about fourteen years old, and our intimacy, which then sprang
up, probably from some congeniality of tastes and studies, continued
till the close of our college career, which was when we were each
eighteen." *
The most prominent and striking characteristic of Addison Alexander at this period-at all events, the one which
impressed itself with the greatest force on his young com* Addison, as we have seen, was a year or twcr younger.




ET. 16.]     EARLY TASTE FOR LITERATURE.                81
panion, was "the extent and power of his creative and
imaginative faculties, which, combined as they were with
good judgment and discriminating taste, a remarkably retentive memory, and a facility of expression in language
chaste, smooth, and elegant, fitted him, as I thought, for
ultimate distinction as a great writer in the field of popular
literature." His peculiar talent in this line exhibited itself at
a very early period of their acquaintance, upon their publishing, or rather circulating in conjunction, "a sort of literary
hebdomadal for the amusement of the school and for the
young people of the town, to which he was the principal
contributor. For this sheet he wrote tales after the manner
of the'Rambler' and'Spectator' (in those days we read
Johnson and Addison); poetical effusions after the style of
Swift, though by no means partaking of his uncleanness;
sketches of scenes and characters of a humorous sort; with an
occasional dash of satire, in the, shape of advertisements or
announcements of passing events, and all kinds of puerile
badinage. He had a peculiar fancy and talent for imitations
of the florid style of Eastern tales, and took great delight in
perplexing the savans of the village with imaginary translations from the Persian, Arabic, Hindostanee, or Sanscrit, etc.,
to all of which languages he was, of course, at this time a
perfect stranger. His skill in the invention of names for his
characters, appropriate to the country and time, was remarkable, and reminded me of a similar capacity so memorably
displayed by the great Scotch novelist."
He was, the writer rememlbers, fond of paradox: " Nothing
delighted him more, when his school task was to read an essay,
than to present views and advocate opinions at variance with
those generally received, and probably at variance with his
own. I remember an essay of his, read at the academy, setting forth the great superiority of a monarchical over a republican form of government-a position thenz regarded as totally
heterodox." lNeitier then nor afterwards, during his acquaintance with him, was he fond of metaphysical studies;
"though before the close of his college career he doubtless
4*




82                     MORAL HABITS.                        [182s
was familiar with the views of, Locke and the Scotch metaphysicians." He often wrote at this time for the newspapers.
"During our college life he occasionally contributed articles to the
political newspapers, discussing with great apparent zeal the merits of
the then Presidential aspirants-a subject however in which he took
no real interest, but in which he entered the lists en masque purely for
amusement.
"Besides the regular routine of collegiate studies, he explored every
by-path of literature, however unfirequented, and there were probably
very few books, on any branch of science, or in any department of
learning, which he had not looked into and formed some estimate of.
"His facility in acquiring languages, both ancient and modern, is
well known."
His conduct was irreproachable.
"In reference to his morals or moral habits at this period, it is impossible to speak in terms which could be regarded as exaggerated commendation. He was, or seemed to be, purity itself; he appeared to
hold in complete subjection all those passions and appetites which so
often lead youth astray.* His intellectual faculties had the entire predominance, and their cultivation and improvement was his sole care.
He neither used tobacco in any form, or stimulating drinks of any
kind; he never uttered an oath nor engaged in any kind of games,
noxious or harmless.
" On the subject of religion I never heard him speak; nor did he,
during my acquaintance with him, attach himself to any religious denomination.
" In one respect his habits were singular, and perhaps not so commendable. I mean his almost total isolation-his aversion not only to
clrowds, but to all social intercourse, except of course with his father's
family and a few, very few friends. And this seemed the more remarkable, as nature had given him a robust constitution of body, a
rather large and imposing person for his years, inclining even in youth
to corpulency, a most cheerful, nay, quite hilarious temperament, and
withal a considerable propensity and talent for satire. These natural
gifts, with acquisitions in learning so much in advance of his fellows,
* Mir. Vandyke Joline of Trenton, formerly of Princeton, another classmate
at Mr. Baird's school, bears the same testimony.




.ET. 16.]             HIGHLY  GIFTED.                      83
united with uncommon conversational powers and a keen appreciation
of the ludicrous, would seem to have fitted him for general society.
But his aversion to it was insuperable, and, I have understood, was
never in after life greatly changed.
" I do not think it necessary to refer particularly to his scholarship.
That he possessed higher natural gifts and far greater attainments than
any of his age, both at school and college, was conceded by all who
knew him; and in all branches of learning embraced in the college
course, and in general literature outside of it, among hundreds of students of varied talent and industry, he was confessedly primus inter
pares. In a word, nature and education had fitted him for almost any
sphere of life he might select. Had he chosen that occupied by Scott
and Irving at the beginning of the century, and more recently by
Thackeray and Dickens, I am persuaded he would have delighted the
world by his imaginative creations and his charming, easy and attractive style. But he selected a more narrow, laborious, and perhaps useful path, of his success in which I am not competent to speak."
There is much in this letter to set the mind to thinking,
and to shed light on the inner history of our wonderful boystudent. It will be noticed that it is written in a very grave
and cautious style, that every word is well-weighed, and that
every influence that could prejudice the feelings of the critic
seems to have been sedulously repressed. It was written, too,
by one of the very few persons who really know any thing
about the boyhood and youth of Addison Alexander from
actual experience, and by one who was not only then abreast
of the young genius in his collegiate studies, and therefore
capable of appreciating his unusual attainments, but who by
the natural bent of his tastes, and by the cast given his reflections by his professional education and habits, and experience
on the bench, was singularly well fitted to pronounce an intelligent and accurate opinion in the premises. The judgment
here expressed may therefore be regarded as almost judicial.
And what is that judgment?  That he was by far the most
highly and variously gifted of his coevals of the school and
college, and that his learning extended indefinitely beyond the
usual boundaries. It is certainly a remarkable statement of
Judge Napton's, that " there were probably very few books,




84            CHARACTER OF HIIS MIND.              [1825.
on any branch of science, or in any department of learning,
which he had not looked into and formed some estimate of."
Addison's most extraordinary gift, lie thinks, was " the extent
and power of his creative and imaginative faculties," and he
almost regrets that his friend " had not turned his attention
more seriously to the department of elegant letters, and especially of romantic fiction." It does not appear that he thought
him particularly distinguished at this time for powers of intellectual analysis. It is somewhat odd that a friend and pupil
of Dr. Alexander, who however knew him at a much later
period, after presenting (in a letter which will be given in the
sequel) a masterly view of his preceptor's fondness for, and
success in, the analytical processes as contrasted with the synthetic, leans to the opinion that he did not possess in any uncommon degree the faculty of construction; in other words,
that his mind was essentially and exclusively an analytical
one. These opposite statements must be combined and reconciled, before we can obtain a true conception of Dr. Alexander's real intellectual greatness. One of the most striking
peculiarities of the case, to those who knew him long and intimately, was the regular and equal development of all his
powers. He had the same turn for science and for art. Each
one of the faculties of his mind seemed to be what it ought to
be, without reference to any of the others. We shall have
abundant occasion to show that he was as remarkable for
analysis when a boy as when a man, and as remarkable for
synthesis when a man as when a boy. The exegetical and
critical exercises of his school days are as much marked by
sagacious discrimination and acute, analyzing logic, as his
later commentaries; and the sermons and poems which were
composed when he was at his meridian show full as much of
" creative imagination" and marvellous constructive skill, as
the grave or more fantastic effusions of his prodigal humour,
which put all " the savans of Princeton " at fault during the
time that " the sun shone fair" on Dr. Baird's academy. But
the surprising thing is, that his school-fellows did not more
generally or more fully suspect at the time, not only the ex



AET. 16.]     EQUALITY OF HIS FACULTIES.               85
ceeding brilliancy, but the extreme versatility of his mental
powers, and the immense range of his scholarship. The truth
was, Addison kept his own secrets. On certain subjects, or
when for a purpose it pleased him to be so, he was as silent as
the grave. He took few into his confidence at all, and fewer
still into the inner sanctuary of his feelings. To a very select
circle he revealed something of his hidden life, but he always
kept back a part. The half was not told them. No one of
his young companions seems to have comprehended him
thoroughly, or to have known precisely how he employed his
leisure hours. At the very time he was supposed by one of
the most congenial spirits he had in the academy to be writing
imitations of oriental tales and poems, he was filling column
after column of Walsh's Quarterly with elaborate criticisms
upon the Persian and Arabic texts. Another * of his schoolfellows, who had also the opportunity of observing his career
in after life, seems to have been impressed just as I am with
the, uniform equality of his faculties, and the rounded completeness of his mental culture. He says his conviction was
that Addison could do any intellectual thing he pleased. I
may add on my own responsibility that he was emphatically,
and beyond all men I have ever known, so far as regards the
character of his mind, totuts teres atque rotundus. His genius
was, as regards its symmetrical form and finish, as smooth and
circular as a polished ivory sphere. He could turn his mind
to any thing, from a comic almanac or a child's dialogue, to
bursts of eloquence in the pulpit, or a gush of impassioned
and imaginative song, or to a prodigious refutation, or rather
extermination, of the neological interpreters of Germany. t
The writer from whom I have been chiefly quoting looks
back with lively pleasure on the newspaper venture in which
he and Addison were interested, and towards which, he says,
Addison was the principal contributor.  There can be no
doubt whatever that the latter loved to change his hand, write
* David Comfort, Esq.
t I feel that I am justified in the use of this language, by the example of
others in this volume.




86                    COLLEGE CLUB.                       (1825.
in different styles, occupy unwonted positions, and make inroads upon untrodden ground, and thus mystify the citizens
of Princeton and even his most intimate acquaintances. This
was perhaps the diversion in which, of all others, he most
delighted. The friend from whose letter I have been making
such large extracts, adds, in a postscript,
"These labours, or rather amusements of his continued long after
the cessation of our puerile' weekly' at the Academy, and were subsequently, during the entire period of our acquaintance, published from
time to time in a newspaper in Trenton, called the Emporium. Some
of them may yet be extant."*
I now cite as a witness of this time Mr. Charles Campbell,
the author of the History of Virginia, who, though not a classmate, was a contemporary and friend.  He says, among other
things, that
" Addison Alexander entered the College of New Jersey during the
time when I was there, about 1824 or'5. I occasionally met with him
in the College, and remember his communicating to me a scheme which
he proposed, of forming a debating society among the students. Why
he should propose this, when there were two well-established literary
societies connected with the College, I do not remember. I attended a
preliminary meeting, and I believe the scheme was carried into effect,
and that Addison was the secretary of thq society and kept a record of
the proceedings."
All such clubs and meetings, when well managed, gave
him pleasure. He cared little for oral debate himself, but
liked to listen and take notes. As a young man at least, he
thirsted for this sort of social companionship, and his reputed
mauvaise honte did not embarrass him or others on the occasions of these literary hobnobbings.  He was as free, gay, and
cheerful as he was learned.
Dr. John Maclean, so long the honoured president of the
college, and one of its instructors when Addison was the ornament of the classes, writes that he has a distinct recollection
* They are not, or at least are not recognizable.




AET. 17.]             G. W. BOLLING.                       87
of him from his early childhood. " While yet a child," as he
remembers, he gave promise of becoming an eminently learned
man. At school and college he was distinguished for his devotion to study and his attainments in learning; not that he
was equally fond of all the different branches to which his
attention was directed by his several teachers, or that he was
equally proficient in them.  From  the first he manifested a
peculiar fondness for the study of languages, and an uncommon
aptness in acquiring a thorough knowledge of them.  He also
devoted himself to the use of his pen,,on a great variety of
subjects, both mirthful and serious; and his style was as
varied as the matters concerning which he wrote. The training which he may be said to have given himself in these
departments of learning, was adapted, in connection with his
great intellectual vigour, to make him the eminent scholar and
writer which he became.
A gentleman of Petersburg, Va.,* has favoured me with
the following valuable and interesting statements:
"The Rev. Joseph Addison Alexander was a classmate of mine at
Princeton for certainly two years, perhaps also one session of another
year; then he was very young, not more than nineteen to twenty-one
years old; but even at that age, as when a man, he was distinguished
for dignity, circumspection, and sterling integrity-polite, but very
bashful, social with familiar friends, but averse to mingling in society
generally. In this disposition he was peculiar."  Mr. Alexander did
not commonly visit the rooms of the students, but Mr. Bolling's was
an exception. "He was a frequent visitor at my room, and would
make himself always agreeable and instructive, provided you let him
alone and did not show him attention by introducing him to others, and
avoided all formalities towards him. He graduated with distinguished
honour. -He was even at that early day a ripe scholar, and in after life
in a most remarkable manner verified the correctness of the impress
he then gave of his great talents and scholarship. I often desired to
hear him preach, but such good fortune was not allowed me, nor had I,
since we parted at the Commencement when we graduated, the opportunity to see and associate with one for whom I entertained such high
regard as a friend and admiration as a great and good man. For the
* G. W. Bolling, Esq.




2F                    VALEDICTORY.                  ls826a
want of associating with him in after years, I am only able to furnish
you this meagre statement of his distinguished virtues. But meagre as
it is, I regard it a privilege to have an opportunity to bean' my testimony to his worth."
His last public appearance as a student was on Commencement day, 1826, when lie proceeded Bachelor of Arts.
At that day the first honour was usually divided among
several. Mr. Alexander shared it with the Hon. Peter McCall,
who has lon-y been a distinguished lawyer of Philadelphia, and
the Hon. William B. Napton, the late Chief-Justice of Missouri.
The valedictory was then given to the best speaker taking the
first honour, but in this case the faculty found themselves unable to decide between Alexander and M[cCall, and it had to
be determined by lot. Mr. McCall pronounced the Latin
salutatory, Mr. Napton the English; the valedictory oration
falling to the lot of Mr. Alexander. His subject, in this his
last college effort, was, " The Pains and Pleasures of a College
Life."
The oration was finished in style, and the addresses to the
trustees, the president, the faculty, and his classmates were
touching and impressive.
Many distinguished men attending the Commencement
were greatly attracted by this performance, and the late Hon.
Richard Stockton (who was one of the trustees) at the close
predicted with emphasis the future eminence of the youthful
graduate, and not content with this, stepped out and congratulated his father Dr. Alexander on the stage. A near relative
of the young man who received such marks of consideration,
remembers being put up on the seat at church, when but a
little child, to get a sight of him when he was speaking; but
thinks this must have been his Junior speech, as the impression remains strong on the mind of my informant that it was
at night.
Mr. Alexander took his diploma at Princeton on the last
Wednesday of September, 1826; which would put him in his
eighteenth year.- His seventeenth birthday occurred in April,
when he was a Senior looking forward to graduation the ensu



JET. 17.]     CLERK OF COMMON COUNCIL.                  89
ing autumn. It would be pleasant to know precisely what
were his feelings in that prospect, but this is more than can
be determined. It is enough to say that they seem to have
been comfortable and buoyant, though as yet he had no settled plans for life.
One of his brothers who had been graduated two years
before, then a student of law, was at this time the clerk
of the borough of Princeton. In the month of October, 1826,
being the month succeeding Commencement, that brother
left for Virginia, and the Common Council of the borough
appointed the renowned young scholar in his place.  This
position he held for some time, and discharged its duties, so
far as I am aware, to the satisfaction of the body appointing
him.
About the same time, also, his eldest brother* removed
permanently to Virginia, to  take charge of the village
church at Charlotte Court House, of which he became the
first settled pastor. The father of the young pastor just referred to, had preached to another generation at the same
spot many years before, and the memory of Drs. Archibald
and James Alexander is still as ointment poured forth over
that whole region.
The following lively epistle to his brother James will be
found to be copious, playful, affectionate, and learned, and to
mirror the writer's habits of life at this time. It is chiefly interesting, howev.r, as being the first of his letters that is now
extant. It implies a certain degree of knowledge of Latin,
Greek, Italian, Arabic, and Persian, but might not indicate
that the writer was a prodigy.
The queer names of his fowls arose from his strange way
of determining upon them. He would open a book at random, and the first word that struck his eye was to be the
nomen, and the first on the next opening of the book, the
cognomen.
* A full account of these matters will be found in the Memoir of Dr. A.
Alexander, and in the Forty-Years' Familiar Letters.




90                     FIRST LETTER.                       [1826.
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, U. S. oF N. AM.,
Friday, 21st of April, 1826.    S
CnHARISSIME VOADELI,
I had intended to indite you an epistle in classical and Ciceronian
Latin, but the thought that you have probably dropt the acquaintance
of Greek and Roman sages, since your departure from this celebrated
seat of the Muses, has induced me to " effere vernacule "-as we used
to say in the garret when you were a schoolmaster. As letter-writing
is a species of composition in which I have had little practice, I find
it necessary in digesting my epistles to adopt the same rules by which
I am guided in writing an essay for the ears of our illustrious President,
whose logical exactness of thought and nicety of expression render it
nessy in stringing our pairls to be very methodical. I shall therefore
consider my subject under three heads, 1. the news; 2. replies to
your inquiries; 3. original messages and remarks, which I am directed
to communicate by my constituents (for in writing this letter, I stand
in a federal capacity, being the representative of the household).
First, then, the news, —which is very scanty —nor should you lament
this if you are endued with reason, for "LfovXetr, eArE M0o, 7rfpLtV,
7TrvOayeaOaL XfyeraL Ir Katvov;  it cannot be supposed that any man
who has taken the oaths of allegiance in Henrico County, Virginia,
and received the power of marrying and giving in marriage throughout the Old Dominion, can care for intelligence from the Jerseys. Be
that as it may, I shall proceed to communicate the facts with which I
have been supplied. Imprimis-we are all well (you know with what
limitations to understand this statement). Item, Mr. Woodhull is not
very well, but on the contrary, is very ill, and it is expected that he
will "go into a consumption." Item, Dr. Miller has been confined to
his bed for some time. Item, a Cherokee Indian, by the name of Chew,
was buried here to-day-the obsequies being conducted by Dr. A.
Item, Green was here last night and went off at five o'clock this morning. Item, Mrs. Field has bought Mr. Baird's house and will enter it
next Spring. Item, Dr. Carnahan is going to Washington. Item,
Mr. Patton is going to deliver expository lectures on the "'Erra
enr eOqaS" of ~Eschylus.  Item, Mr. David Minge, of emancipating
celebrity, has pitched his tent among us, and intends to pursue his
studies under the care of Luther Halsey, Jr. Item, Hatching Harpoon
has hatched six chickens-to wit —Ruby Cobweb, John Peaseblossom,
Cheerfulness Plenty, Egg Sacrifice, Corpulent Ostrich, and Grapevine
Moth. Two of these are dead, the rest are in very good health. The
Chicken College is in a flourishing condition. Pompey Jack has re



AET. 17.]              LETTERS RECEIVED.                           91
signed the presidency, and is engaged in writing a work with the following title-" Istoria del collegio dei Pollastri, nella Universita di
Grattocane pollastr'anitra, del anno 1820, al anno presente.  Per Pompeio Giacco, Dottore di Penne e di mustacchi e ultimo Presidente del
collegio." *  Item, Capt. Renshaw  is appointed Commander of the
Navy Yard in Philadelphia, vice Biddle.
II. In your letter by J. F. Caruthers, you earnestly desire to be informed what letters have been received from you-I therefore subjoin
as perfect a list as I could obtain:
No. 1. To Mrs. Janetta Alexander,   dated    Baltimore, Nov. 3, 1825.
2. " Miss Ann H. Waddell,       "      Petersburg, Dec. 18, "
3. " Mrs. Janetta Alexander,    "      Petersburg, Jan. 5, 1826.
4. "  do.  do.    do.           "           do.   Jan. 26,  "
5. " Mr. Joseph A. Alexander,    "          do.   Feb. 13, "
6. " Rev. Dr. A. Alexander,     "           do.   March 3, "
7. " Miss Ann H. Waddell,       "      Richmond, March 8, "
8. " Mrs. Janetta Alexander,    "      Petersburg, March 16,"
9. " Rev. Dr. A. Alexander,     "      Richmond, April 1,  "
Add to these a letter to Winm. from Washington-another by Mr. Nisbet, a
third by Jno. F. Caruthers, and a fourth received to-day, and I believe you
have the whole of your epistles before you. I can hardly imagine your motive
for requesting such information as this.
III. Mrs. Alexander asks you whether the accounts of Virginia,
once given you by herself and Miss W., appear to you now as the offspring of wild enthusiasm.
(Then follows a line in Arabic character.)
Salamu alaikum miu ali wa ahli.
i. e., You are saluted by kith and kin.
Scritto per il tuo fratello,
J. ADDISON ALEXANDER.
During the summer of 1826 Addison, it seems, took a trip
to the sea-shore at Long Branch, and had his first view  of the
* "History of the Chicken College, in the Cat-Dog-Chicken-Duck University, in the year 1820, the present year. By Pompey Jack, Professor of
Feathers and Whiskels, and late President of the College."




92                 VISITS LONG BRANCH.                    [1826.
ocean. Dr. Archibald Alexander drove the Jersey wagon in
which were MIrs. Campbell, MIrs. Alexander, Addison, Mr.
(now Doctor) Alfred Leyburn of Lexington, and perhaps Miss
Ann Eliza Caruthers  (afterwards Mrs. Leyburn), and  Mr.
Charles Campbell of Petersburg, and one or two others. The
last named is the raconteur.
"My mother and myself once accompanied Dr. Alexander with hlis
wife and daughter and some of his sons, including Addison, to Long
Branch, the watering-place on the Jersey coast. Dr. Alfred Leyblrn
was also in company and I believe Ann Eliza Caruthers, whom he
afterwards married. The greater part of these rode in a Jersey wagon,
Dr. Alexander driving. Addison sat in the seat before my mother.
For some time he was engaged in writing,- and at length his mother inquired of him what he was writing, when he handed her the manuscript, which she read aloud. It proved to be a report of what; e:ch
one had said during the ride. His mother once remarked to mine, tlat
she never had seen Addison angry and that she had one day asked him1
how he managed to keep his temper so quiet? He replied, that he
should have gotten angry just like others, but that he had never met
with any provocation which he thought it worth his while to get
angry about. This is something like the reply of the Earl of Peterborough, who, when asked how it was that, in all the dangers of a recent campaign, he had never exhibited any fear, answered,' I should
have been as Tnuch frightened as any body, but I never saw any good
reason to apprehend danger.' Addison's sedate face denoted the equanimity for which he was distinguished. To borrow an expression, he
moved about'with all the concentrated energy of a young monk.'
" My brother Alexander, who is younger than myself, was some
years after I left Princeton with my mother at Dr. Alexander's. Addison wrote his biography for him in some little volumes the pages of
which were about the size of those of a thumb-bible. One of Dr.'s sons, it appeared, had poked a stick through the fence and
hurt Aleck in the eye. The first chapter of the biography dilated upon'the operation performed on his eye.' These little volumes were preserved for many years but are now lost."
That ride may not have made any great impression on a
mind that was perhaps meditating on the college honours or
the fragrance of roses sung by Hafiz and Sadi; but the sight




ET. 17.]         LETTER OF MRS. GRAHAM.                     93
of the sea as it rolls in upon the crushed sands, and elevated
green fields and bare levels, of the JArsey coast was one of the
things that, as Keats says, are a joy forever, and was on this
occasion a memorable joy to him. If he did not himself write
the powerful description of the mighty element which soon
after appeared in the columns of the Patriot while he was
its editor, he undoubtedly inserted it with approbation of its
sentiments and with the warmest recollections of the great
original.
A letter from his father to Mrs. Graham gives a picture in
masterly outlines of the young graduate and valedictorian, and
touches upon his rare attainments in general literature, his
reception of the President's medal for best composition, his
promise as an eloquent speaker, his taste for law and politics,
his regularity and quietness of deportment, his reserve, and his
blameless manners.
"Addison has just passed through his final examination in college.
He stands at the very head of his class in scholarship. Two others
however were put with him in the first honour, as it is called, one of
whom is fully equal to him in the studies of the college, but in general
knowledge is a child to him. For without any partiality to him because he is my son (to which I believe I am very little, prone) he is
very far superior to any one of his age I ever saw in literary attainments. The Senior class, to which he belongs, were called upon a few
days ago to decide by ballot to whom the President's premium should
be given for excelling in composition, and Addison obtained the first
place by a large majority. His ability to speak in public is also uncommonly good; and he has been appointed to deliver the valedictory
on the day of Commencement. But to what use he will apply his
learning and eloquence I know not. Probably he will be a lawyer and
politician. His views and feelings on the subject of religsoni are known
only to himself. He is so reserved that nobody attempts to draw hlim
out; but his whole deportment is as correct as it easily could be. Nobody ever expects to see anything in him but regularity and equanimity."
The expectation as regards his following the profession of
the law was not fulfilled; but we shall soon hear him crying




94                      MR. McCALL.                       [1826.
out to God for mercy through Christ Jesus, and in thanks for
the infinite favours already bestowed on him.  It is by no
means unlikely that his thoughts were often turned to this
great subject at this grave juncture in his life.
It is a little remarkable that so many distinguished men
who were his classmates still survive, and these still retain a
pleasing and vivid memory of their college friend and rival.
I shall now present the reminiscences of Mr. McCall of Philadelphia (who drew lots with him for the valedictory), which
cannot fail to be read with gratification.
Mr. MIcCall writes:' Addison Alexander was rather reserved and retiring in his disposition, and residing at home, he did not mingle with the students as
much as he otherwise would have done. It was only towards the close
of our college career that I saw him quite frequently, and had the
pleasure of a somewhat intimate fellowship with him. I was then
struck with the vein of rich humour and pleasantry that played under
his quiet exterior.
"' His brilliant talents and fine attainments were appreciated by all of
us. He was without doubt the first scholar in the class. Napton came
nearest to him, but I think Alexander, take him all in all, had the preeminence. An excellent mathematician, a first-rate linguist, an accomplished writer-he failed in nothing and was the object of general admiration.
" I hald the unmerited honour of drawing lots with him for the Valedictory and the Latin Salutatory. He drew the former, and I well remember that his performance was distinguished for its excellence.
" I have always felt proud of being his classmate, and although I saw
him very rarely after leaving college, I never ceased to entertain for
him an admiration which increased year by year with his expanding
fame.
" The traits of his character and the leading incidents in his career,
alas! too short, well deserve to be preserved in a biographical memoir.
I am delighted to learn that you have undertaken it, and I only regret
that I am not able to furnish you any material worthy of being introduced into your work."
I have it on the best authority that Mr. McCall was himself in the judgment of the faculty second in point of colle



ET. 17.3           HIS SCHOLARSHIP.                    95
giate attainment to no one inthe class, and his subsequent
eminence, and the nature of his daily occupations, render his
testimony as to his classmate's character, and scholarship, and
genius, not a whit less important than that even of Judge
Napton. The modesty of Mr. McCall would throw a cloud
over the fact that in the college studies he was himself considered, by the faculty at least, and without hesitation the
equal of Mr. Alexander.




CHAPTER III.
IT was while in college that he seems to have formed the
habit of keeping a commonplace-book, and employed for this
purpose a huge folio volume of stiff paper bound in heavy,
rough leather of the colour of gingerbread. This volume I
have carefully inspected. It was afterwards used by one of
his brothers as a scrap-book, and much that the original owner
wrote in it is thus blotted out. What remains consists of
catalogues of the various classes and honour-men for a number
of successive years, fragments of speeches, curious autographs,
snatches of poetry, and bursts of ineffable nonsense. Several
of his brothers wrote in it at a later date, and one day in
1830 as he sat in the window his brother James inscribed in
it some very pretty original verses. Among all the treasures
of this old register none are more valuable than the first
draught of Addison's now famous valedictory, and another
very remarkable effusion of his entitled the Peruvians. This
piece is one of the most florid and rhythmical of all his productions. The tune of the sentences is peculiar-something
like that of Ossian. It is nothing but a fragment, or rather a
succession of fragments, some of which are broken off in the
middle of a sentence.  It is highly and richly imaginative,
and some few of its descriptions are very chaste, reminding
one of those of Prescott. The whole is exceedingly impassioned, and admirably suited to the purposes of college declamation. I am informed on the best authority that the finished
oration was actually pronounced by one of his comrades, on
the college stage. The piece originated in this way.  His
brother William one day brought him a poem on " the Incas,"
which he seemed to admire and made the basis of a speech he
had been asked to write for one of his distressed mates.*
* The admiration Dr. Addison Alexander had for the poet Cowper was constantly showing itself, and in ways that would little be suspected. The allusion




JAT. 17.]            DECLINES  THE  TUTORSHIP.                           97
In September, 1826, Mr. Alexander, as we have just seen,
was graduated at Princeton, with the valedictory honours of
his class, having divided the spolia opima of scholarship at
the rather early age of seventeen.
About the same time in the following year, viz., on the
27th of September, 1827, he was appointed a tutor in the College of New Jersey, but declined; probably because he was already making great strides in his Oriental studies, and wanted
ample time for still greater. He was also enjoying the luxury
of vast but discursive reading. Certain it is, that the interval
between his graduation and his acceptance of the post of
teacher in Mr. Patton's Seminary, in 1829, was spent in almost
incredible linguistical toils, and especially in prosecuting his
early researches in the Asiatic languages. He was also beginning to pay more attention than formerly to the languages of
the West. He joyously seized this opportunity of comparative
leisure, to perfect his knowledge of those tongues with which
he was already acquainted, and to extend his inquiries along
every shining radius of the great circle which embraced so
in his Isaiah to Cowper's free paraphrase of the 137th Psalm, (" By the rivers
of Babylon there we sat down "), and to his application of some of its noblest
imagery to the case of the Incas, is evidently to the superb passage in
" Charity:"
"Oh could their ancient Incas rise again,
fow would they take up Israel's taunting strain 
Art thou too fallen, Iberia? Do we see
The robber and the murderer weak as we?
Thou that hast wasted earth, and dared despise
Alike the wrath and mercy of the skies,
Thy pomp is in the grave, thy glory laid
Low in the pits thine avarice has made.
We come with joy from our eternal rest,
To see the oppressor in his turn oppressed.
Art thou the god, the thunder of whose hand
Rolled over all our desolated land,
Shook principalities and kingdoms down,
And made the nations tremble at his frown I
The sword shall light upon thy boasted powers,
And waste them, as thy sword has wasted ours.'Tis thus Omnipotence his law fulfils,
And Vengeance executes what Justice wills."
Grigg 4~ Elliot, Philadelphia, 1841, p. 35.
5




98                CHARLES CAMPBELL.                [1827.
many subjects with regard to which, at present, he had but
slight information, or none at all.
A gentleman of Virginia writes that he had often heard
the praises of Addison Alexander sounded by a very lovely
young female relative of his, who had "left no common
picture" in the mind of her listener "of a young prodigy of
intellect and scholarship."  This gentleman, on going to
Princeton as a student of the college, found that the picture
of Mr. Alexander's fair kinswoman was not overdrawn. He
says, "I was very naturally led to visit at his father's; and,
besides the pleasant, gentle welcome which Dr. Archibald
Alexander always gave one coining from his native place, I
always felt when I saw that bright, genial, sincere-looking
face of Mrs. Alexander, on which the roses of youth had not
yet entirely faded, and heard her talk in her kind, earnest
manner, that I was in some measure back again in Virginia.
But Addison was very much of a recluse, and I was pressed
with college studies, and I did not make up much acquaintance
with him during that period; though my appointment along
with him on a very important special committee, which, for
some time, had frequent sessions, brought me at that time
into a good deal of intercourse with him. One thing, however, impressed me then, as I believe it has universally impressed people in regard to him, I mean the unpretending
simplicity of his character. Nobody could have seen in him
the exhibition of any consciousness of his extraordinary superiority, and so it was always in my observation of hiln."
This must have been either during or just after M3r. Alexander's own connexion with the college as a student. I think
it not unlikely it was in 1827 or'28, when he was a residentgraduate in the town and before he became connected with
Mr. Patton and Edgehill.
There are but few incidents relating to this transitionperiod between his life as a college student and his life as an
usher or schoolmaster. "Some years after graduating," writes
MIr. Campbell, "I happened to pass a week or two at the Rev.
Dr. Archibald Alexander's, in Princeton. I observed that




A T. 18.]   TESTIMONY OF PROFESSOR HART.             99
Addison did not eat with the family, but after them and by
himself. He glided into the dining-room with noiseless adroitness, his singularity in this particular being apparently acquiesced in by the family without comment. The presence of
visitors or company in the house, as a general rule, he appeared
to ignore." This he attributed to an extreme constitutional
diffidence and reserve. "In general he was, at this time,
remarkably taciturn, without being at all morose. He was'swift to hear and slow to speak.' Yet no one took more
pleasure in conversation than he, only he confined it to a very
few."  During this sojourn of Mr. Campbell's at Dr. Alexander's house, he occupied the same room with Addison, and
the two sometimes lay awake talking till a late hour. "His
pent-up thoughts, whlen they found vent, flowed in a strong
current. In the upstairs room, where we slept, he had his
manuscripts arranged on the floor around the room, along the
washboard, where he could readily lay his hand on any one
that he wanted. He was at this time writing for a paper
published in Princeton. I remember reading a humorous
account of Commencement-day, at Princeton, in which Addison, who spoke to so few persons, seemed to know not only
what the country people, who were present on that occasion,
talked about, but also how they talked." *
It is with lively pleasure that I now have recourse to the
memory and kindness of Professor John S. Hart, LL. D. of
Trenton, formerly of the Edgehill school. " From the year
1826 down to the date of Addison's death," writes Dr. Hart,
" no student I suppose ever came to Princeton, without having his imagination excited by stories bordering upon the marvellous, in regard to the prodigious learning and the mental
endowments of the studious recluse who was seldom seen, but
who was known to dwell somewhere in the neighbourhood of
the Theological Seminary."  He well remembers'the impress
sion this intellectual giant made upon my own youthful imag.
ination. The traditions of the town in regard to him, and
~ This is an exact description of the letters of Job Raw, in the Patriot.




100              PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY.               [1827.
the occasional glimpses I had of him, gave me my first idea
of genius, in the highest meaning of the word, and in my intercourse with him in later years, which at times was entirely
free and familiar, that first impression was only confirmed and
deepened. No man that I have ever met filled so entirely my
conception of mental greatness of the very highest order."
The first actual evidence of Addison's abilities that came
under Professor Hart's notice was in the formation of the Philological* Society in the college, in the year 1828. Professor
Patton, who then occupied the chair of ancient languages in
the college, and who was a great enthusiast in his department,
it seems endeavoured to infuse some of his own enthusiasm
into the young men under his instruction. " For this purpose
he called Addison to his special assistance, and with the coiperation of the other members of the faculty and of the students, the Philological Society was formed, and Professor Patton generously placed upon its shelves for the free use of the
members the entire contents of his private library, which was
particularly rich in rare and costly works on philological science. One part of the plan was to have stated meetings, at
which papers were to be read on various subjects." The first
paper that was read, and the only one of which he had any
distinct recollection, was by Addison.  " From his reputed
antecedents I expected to hear an essay, learned indeed and
able, but dry and abstruse, on some nice point of philological
inquiry. Instead of that, we were treated to a discourse on
the duty of studying our own English classics, dwelling with
particular emphasis, I recollect, upon the noble diction and
the gorgeous imagery of Edmund Burke; and, as I listened
to the rich racy English of his own glowing periods, and noticed the peculiar Addisonian grace and elegance which marked
the youthful composition, it seemed as if it must have been not
accidental, but by some mysterious prescience, that he had
been named Joseph Addison."  He remembers at all events,
* This is Professor Hart's name for it. If there were not two societies of
like name, this was called the Philologian.




AET. 18.3    LOVE FOR ENGLISH CLASSICS.             101
that it was a common remark among the students, after hearing that essay, that Addison Alexander was well named.
"Such was the effect produced on my mind by the youthful
performance. I dare say there are scores of others still living
who would testify to the same effect having been produced on
them."
This love of the best English classics for their own sake,
and not at all because other people admired them, was always
a marked trait. in Mr. Alexander's intellectual character.
Johnson, Swift, Steele, and Addison were in his youthful
fancy almost worthy to be rivals of Sir William Jones himself in the estimation of scholars and men of taste. What
struck him in Johnson was not idiomatic elegance, as in the
charming essayist and critic of the Spectator, but Herculean
sense, knowledge, and energy, and musical cadence. Burke,
and the whole school of fresh original writers who overlapped
or succeeded the age of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Garrick,
filled him afterwards with a sense of new and increasing
enjoyment, as well as that Cicero of the. English pulpit, the
incomparable Robert Hall. As to Burke, he was in his
esteem more than a second Johnson, with a magnificence of
his own, and without Johnson's faults. It was just like the
writer of the essay here noticed to defeat the expectations of
those who looked for an abstruse philological disquisition
from the young linguist. He rejoiced at every chance of
thus baffling curiosity.
It cannot now be known when Addison first became a contributor to the public press, but probably when he was at
school with Mr. Baird. We know that he used to print newspapers with a pen at that time. A paper was published in
Princeton called the New Jersey Patriot. In less than three
months after leaving college, at the age of seventeen, he colltributed to that paper an article of two columns and a half on
Persian poetry, which attracted attention, and was especially
commended to the notice of the public in an editorial article
of the paper in which it appeared. He wrote during the ensuing winter some caustic political squibs over the signature




102                     THE PATRIOT.                        [1827.
of " The Jesuit," in reference to the election of a United States
Senator for New  Jersey, which had just taken place and
caused great excitement in the state.
In the fobllowing summer the Patriot ceased to be a political paper, was enlarged and placed by its proprietor under
the editorial charge of Mr. Alexander and one of his brothers.
This position afforded full'scope for his prolific pen. In addition to editorial matter and current news, he almost covered
the broad sheet with essays, poems, tales, and communications,
to %which various signatures were attached.
It was at this time and at this early age that some of the
articles at a later day published in the Philadelphia Monthly
Magazine appeared, such as " The Fall of Ispahan," "Greece
in 1827," and " Tlle Tears of Esau."  He wrote for this paper
a tale called "The Quaker Settlefnent," of which I can discover no vestige.  Hie wrote also a tale called " The Jewess
of Damascus."
The Patriot soon ceased for want of patronage.*
About this time a literary weekly paper known as the
Souvenir had a short existence in Philadelphia. The editor
offered prizes for the best Essay, Poem, Tale, and Biography.
Addison went in for all of them, and on the sealed envelope
identifying the author, placed the name of " Horace Seaford,
care of J. A. A.," &c.  The publisher not finding it convenient
to pay the prizes offered, announced that he would give a certain number of copies of his paper to the successful writer;
and on the opening of the seals, Addison was inundated with
* During the days that the Patriot was at the height of its circulation, a protracted controversy, occupying column upon column, in weekly instalments,
was carried on in successive numbers of that journal, on the vexed subject of
Dancing. The contending writers were a leading clergyman and a distinguished
layman. After the matter had gone to great lengths, and the readers of the
paper were becoming excessively weary of the conflict and of the topic that had
provoked it, Addison, who was then one of the editors of the Patriot, brought
the matter to a sudden close with the characteristic remark in large type, that
" he presumed the spirit of St. Vitus himself must be satisfied by this time with
what had been said on both sides of the question."




AT. 18.]            PERSIAN POETS.                  103
copies of the paper addressed to "Horace Seaford, care of
J. A. A."
I am so fortunate as to be able to give some extracts from
the article on "The Persian Poets."  It is signed "Ali."  It
will be remembered that it was written by a youth of little
more than seventeen, and who was generally supposed to know
nothing of oriental literature at first hand. How erroneous
this conception was, we have already had occasion to remark.
After touching upon the wide difference in nature and degree between the influences that tend to promote works of
science, and the circumstances which foster works of imagination and taste, he affirms that no country has abounded in the
latter more remarkably than Persia. She has not indeed, he
admits, afforded to her sons those artificial aids which constitute the apparatus of the western scholar, but on the other
hand, he urges, she has richly furnished them with all that
tends to develope the latent elements of poetic talent, and
raise them to maturity. "It has been justly observed," he
continues, " that the Age of Poetry lies midway between barbarism and complete refinement.  It is neither to freedom
from all mental discipline and application, nor to the immensity of public libraries, or to the ease and excellence of public
instruction, that the poet owes his inspiration. It is neither
among the restraints of elegant society, nor the wild excesses
of savage life, that the muses work their wonders. It is rather
among scenes where the revolting harshness of unsubdued
ferocity has been removed, but the gloss of excessive refinement has not yet neutralized the energies of genius-where
nature herself wears a poetic garb, and the manners of men
are modelled after her. There the spirit of poetry is not a
shy and haughty power, inhabiting the retirements of the
learned, and looking on the multitude only to despise them,
but a gentler influence, which though it bends in the exercise
of its power to the lowest intellects, gives them elevation;
while it loses none itself; like the Peris of Persian romance,
which'eed on the flowers and perfumes of earth, though they
dwell in the regions of the air."




104                  ORIENTAL SCENES.                      1828.
How far this description may be applied to Persia, he proposes to determine by an unerring test as he thinks, in literature as in morals, by the degree of privilege and opportunity
enjoyed. This he does by considering the advantages which
she has afforded to her poets. After speaking of the fertility
of fancy to which must be ascribed the hyperbolic tendency
so visible in the style and conceptions of their authors, he
proceeds to restrict his review to their exclusive advantages,
which have aided the natural powers of the poet; and these
he proposes to consider without regard to intellectual endowments.
In the midst of the discussion of this point there occurs
the following passage:
"The genius of the Persian was never compelled to struggle with
disadvantages of geographical position-to borrow his ideas of verdure
upon earth and cloudless serenity in the skies, from the writings of another age and nation-to outrage the sensibilities of his auditors or
readers by singing the praises of perpetual spring amidst the horrors of
Arctic winter, by planting roses beneath the avalanche, and rearing
bowers on the shores of a frozen sea. His eyes were opened on scenes
where the loftiest flights of his imagination were matched by the glories of the world around him-where his boldest pictures of the majesty
of nature were but copies of the mountains which he climbed in infancy,
and his most luxuriant descriptions of fairy scenery were drawn from
the realities of his native valleys.
"In perfect accordance with the face of nature were the manners of
the people. In the character and customs of most Mohammedan nations, but especially the Persians, there ever has been and still may be
observed that rich peculiarity so exclusively appropriated by the people
of the East, as to have acquired almost universally the name of Oriental.
It is the same poetic cast of manners portrayed in the sacred scriptures, that picturesque simplicity of language, that figurative expressiveness of action, which is so interesting to every cultivated mind from
the power of association; whether it occur in the record of eternal
truth or in the trivial page of Asiatic fiction. Thle very dress, food,
and colloquial phrases of the East are objects of lively interest, from
their poetic character and their correspondence with the pictures in
that book, whose sacred precepts and sublime descriptions fell so early
and so often on the unconscious ear of infancy that we cannot trace




ET. 18.]            PERSIAN LEGENDS.                      105
their introduction to the mind, but retain them like the shadowy image
of a half-forgotten dream. It is this early familiarity with the Bible,
that causes the imagination (though schooled and chastened by the
nicest art and subjected to the control of the soundest understanding)
to yield without resistance to the spell thrown over it by the witchery
of oriental romance. We may cling to the familiar state of things
around us, or shrink from the thought of transition to another. But
while we retain our early impressions of camels, caravans, and deserts
-of dwelling in tents, and sleeping on housetops, we must feel that
these are the modes of life most congenial to the poet, and the scenes
most susceptible of poetic delineation."
It was in such a situation, he goes on to say, that the Persian poet undertook the task of perpetuating the history of his
native land by the power of immortal verse; and there could
not be a subject more fitted, as he conceives, for the wildest
flights of the most exuberant fancy. " The historical legends
of ancient Iran, which survived the Arab conquest and are
still fondly cherished by the modern inhabitants, are full of
appropriate themes for the loftiest efforts of the muse. Songs
of chivalry and love, which are often thought peculiar to the
European bard, have ever been favourites with the populace
of Persia; and no troubadour or minstrel of the west ever
tuned his harp for the recital of exploits more wild and daring
than those of Firddsi's heroes."  Nor are their characters, in
his opinion, entirely void of that species of refinement which
was the glory of the European knight in the golden age of
chivalry, and which so strongly distinguished him from the
rude and bloody warriors of other lands and eras.  " So much
nearer indeed," he protests, "does the modern knight approach
to the ancient heroes of the East than to the huge but childish
characters in Homer, that we can scarcely help concluding,
that between the former there exists a natural affinity, while
the latter are of a different race." The attachment of the Persians to the memory of those primeval warriors he thinks is
strongly evinced by the tenacity with which they have preserved the fragments of their early history.  "Though the
triumphant Khalif, with his Arab troops had introduced the
5*




106                 PERSIAN MIND.                  L1827.
Koran, and converted every fire-temple to a mosque —though
the religion and the laws of Mohammed were universally diffused, the vanquished, while they adopted both, retained their
national affections. While they heard with indifference the triumph of Omar and Othm an over Greece, Syria, and Egypt,
they cherished the recollection of their native conquerors;
and while the Arab bard found little in the character or
actions of the prophet and his successors to be the subject of
poetical embellishment, the exploits of Zab and 1Rustam furnished an exhaustless theme to the minstrelsy of Persia."
But the most remarkable advantage enjoyed by the bards
of Persia, he believes, is unquestionably to be found in the
rich and romantic mythology peculiar to that land of poets.
"It may be regarded as a singular phenomenon, that the
inflexible spirit and uncompromising bigotry of Islam should
have allowed itself to be entwined with so wild a relic of
ancient Paganism.  Though the sacred cross was trodden,
with the crown of Constantine, beneath the foot of the Moslem
-though every remnant of Arab idolatry was exterminated
by the unsparing zeal of the prophet and his Khalifsthough the sacred fire was extinguished upon every altar,
from the Caspian to the Persian Gulf; the mythology of
Iran was too elastic to be trodden down, too ethereal for annihilation.  The mind of the Persian seems constructed for
the reception of poetic images and the enjoyment of romantic
fiction; so. that although, when the alternative of'Death,
Tribute, or the Koran' was presented to the vanquished,
with wonted flexibility they preferred the latter, yet the
fanciful dreams of the Gebr poets and the beautiful superstitions of the Gebr populace were not forgotten —they were
blended with their imaginative efforts. They were strangely
intermixed with their devotions; a paradoxical alliance was
formed between these dreams of fairy-land and the dogmas of
the Koran. The holiest saint could subscribe to both, and
the devoutest. Shiah, who five times a day repeated the solemn
profession,' There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his
Prophet,' in the midst of his genuflexions could tremble at




ALT. 18.]        PERSIAN MYTHOLOGY.                 107
the power of malignant genii and listen for the waving of the
Peri's pinion in the breeze. Nor is the Persian's preference
of his own mythology surprising or absurd. Apart from
national and habitual feeling, it possesses a charm peculiar
and delightful. The imagination of the Arab is teeming and
almost uncontrollable. But its only flashes are flashes of
lightning, and its flights are the flights of an eagle among
storms and tempests. The fancy of the Persian is more
delicately formed. Its creations are less bold and vigorous,
but far more airy and enchanting; and we can scarcely wonder that the gross delights of the Prophet's Paradise should
have been despised for the charms of Gebr's Elvsium." What
follows will shock some readers. His fancy had been perhaps too much wrought upon when a child by the stories of
the Arabs, and more recently by the fervid descriptions of the
Koran. There are some, however who may agree with the
bold young critic. "But this is not all. The most fastidious
taste, on a fair comparison of this mythology with the orations
of classic genius or Grecian superstition, cannot hesitate in a
refelrence of the former. There is, in the fantastic theology
of the Greeks and Romans, a coldness and a coarseness, which
even the fire of Homer could scarce animate, and the delicacy
of Virgil could not wholly refine. The incongruous mixture
of human and superhuman attributes, and the inconceivable
vicissitudes in the fortunes of their immortals, united with the
disgusting excesses of human vice, and the ridiculous extremes
of human folly, by which they are so often distinguished,
render the Olympus or the Pantheon a poor field for the
wanderings of genius —how poor in comparison with the
Jinnistan of Persia! with the shadowy possessors of that
imaginary region, the Peris and the Dives, those good and
evil beings who fill the intermediate space in the scale of
animated nature between the inhabitants of earth and the
inhabitants of heaven! These beings which may be regarded as the originals of the fairy and giant of European tastepossessed of bodies, but bodies formed of the element of fire,
powerful but not almighty, intelligent but not omniscient;




108                POET'S PARADISE.                 [1827.
the Peris, pure but not impeccable; the Dives, sinful but not
without hope, engaged in mutual war, but not upon earth,
neither dwelling among men, nor entirely removed from participating in his fortunes; sometimes courting his assistance,
and often guiding his steps and directing his destiny; beings
like these may well be made the subject of poetical romance.
They are precisely the species of intermediate intelligences,
which might be made the machinery of an epic poem, and
possess this twofold advantage over the creations of classic
mythology, that while they are far more pure, ethereal, and
poetical, more like the phantasms of a "poet's phrensv," they
are still subjected to a paramount authority, and not like the
gods of Homer, clothed in the vileness of mortality, and then
disgraced by the sceptre of the universe. Their existence and
character were wholly poetical. They were unconnected with
religious faith, so that the wildest fictions respecting them detracted nothing from the Gebr's reverence to the Deity.
"Surrounded, then, by the most impressive and enchanting
scenes of nature; by boundless deserts and cultivated plains;
by frowning cliffs and verdant valleys; beneath a sky which
was never clouded, and among a people who'lisped in numbers,' the Persian poet sang of the most chivalrous exploits
of ancient heroism, the most romantic fictions of a beautiful
mythology. In such a situation what might we not expect?
If anything more can be conceived, as requisite to complete
the picture of the Poets' Paradise, it is that which we have
already seen abundantly supplied in the munificent patronage
of the great and the enthusiastic admiration of the populace.
The inferior bards of other lands may plead with justice the
insalubrity of climate, the ruggedness of nature's works around
them, the rudeness of their countrymen, the want of encouragement, and the absence of applause; but when the classics of the land of poets shall be subjected to the impartial
scrutiny of Western taste, deficiency of genius alone can be
the apology of those who may be said to have been born in
the precincts of Parnassus, and to have drawn their first breath
in an atmosphere of poetry."




ET. 8s.]          LITERARY CAPRICES.                  109
It will probably be agreed that this was "a right masterfill" effort for a lad of not over the age at which many go to
college. Indeed, it is by no means unlikely that this production, like many others of the same hand had been composed
at an earlier period and laid aside for future use. But of this
there is no certainty. We know, however, that the writer
who here subscribes himself "Ali" was as careless of the
fate of such accidental effusions as the ostrich of her eggs
which she deposits in the sands of the desert.
It would be incorrect to suppose that Dr. Addison Alexander in after life adhered in full to the opinions expressed
in this remarkable juvenile critique, nor is it outside the limits
of conjecture to surmise that the opinions are in some respects
as imaginary as the signature. While it is true that no man
was more volatile than he in many of his personal tastes and
preferences, being full of unaccountable caprices, it is also
true that he loved to wear a literary mask, and to mystify his
readers in every ingenious manner possible. It was also well
known that he was fond of espousing sentiments which were
at once novel and hard to defend.  Thus his depreciationi
of the characters of Homer in comparison with those of
Firdusi, and his sallies at the expense of the Olympian divinities as contrasted with the fabulous creations of the Jinnistan,
may or may not be genuine. He may have been carried
along impetuously (as was his wont) by the heat of his youthful admiration (which was unquestionably intense) of the
Persian poets, even to the disparagement of poets the most
illustrious of other countries; or, which is almost equally
agreeable to what is known of his whimsical humours, he may
have been merely actuated by a wish to puzzle the literati of
Princeton, and to excite a hubbub among the cultivated
readers of "The Patriot."  There is good evidence in the
piece itself that the writer sought for some purpose or other
to conceal his hand. It is not written in his usual style; at
least not as a whole. There is in some of these balanced sentences an evident and exquisite imitation of the great literary
dictator of the previous century. No one who is at all




110             IMITATION OF JOHNSON.               [182T.
familiar with Rasselas and the Rambler can hesitate to come
to this conclusion. What could be more like the old " Bear "
of Bolt Court and the Mitre Tavern than the following:' The incongruous mixture of human and superhuman attributes, and the inconceivable vicissitudes in the fortunes of
their immortals, united with the disgusting excesses of human
vice, and the ridiculous extremes of human foblly; " or this:
"Surrounded, then, by the most majestic and enchanting
scenes of nature; by boundless deserts and cultivated plains;
by frowning cliffs and verdant valleys; beneath a sky which
was never clouded, and among a people who lisped in numbers;" or this: "If any thing more can be conceived, as
requisite to complete the picture of the Poets' Paradise, it is
that which we have already seen abundantly supplied in the
munificent patronage of the great, and the enthusiastic admiration of the populace."
WVe can almost see before us the unconscious lexicographer
as he rounded off this sentence turning his candle upside
down at Mrs. Boswell's, and blowing with delight at the
happy finish he had given this ponderous period. Mr. Alexander's intuitive taste prevented him, however, from pushing
this imitation to the verge of caricature, and thus spoiling his
essay. The consequence is that the style of the production
taken as a whole, though resembling that of the early Ramblers, is as vigorous and original as Johnson's own, and where
his own native qualities break out, much superior to it on
literary grounds. Whether this imitation of Johnson was
whollv accidental, or not, is another question: but it will
be remembered that Addison and Johnson were in every
body's hands then, and one of his classmates tells us that
the young collegian was much given to voluntary imitations
of the most admired of the English classics. The young
graduate's overweening partiality for Oriental studies and
the masterpieces of Oriental genius, had, as we have seen,
already begun to wane, and was destined to be almost entirely
superseded, or at all events overborne, or held in abeyance,
by his enthusiastic devotion to the languages and still more




AET. 18.]          ARABIAN NIGHTS.                  111
to the literatures of ancient and modern Europe. The literature of the Greeks, which is here spoken of with a dash of
contempt, was afterwards and soon to beconme the theatre on
which, after the sacred text of the Old and New Testaments,
he employed his best powers through life. Yet he never
ceased to go for an occasional solace and entertainment to the
tales of the Arabs and the sweet numbers of Persia. One of
my earliest recollections of him  is that he taught me a
Persian song (which I have not yet forgotten), and that
he used to read me wonderful legends and fabulous and
romantic stories from  certain ancient rolls inscribed with
characters which I subsequently learned were Arabic. I also
well remember reading for hours at a time in his study and
under his approving eye (and that day after day till I finished
the volumes), from the pages of the "Green Book," as we
both loved to call it; which was nothing less than Lane's
larger edition of the Arabian Nights with English notes,
with the golden shields and Moorish spears on the back, and
the superb illustrations on the inside. The impression made
upon my boyish imagination by the dark features and spreading wings of the Jinn drawn in the broad margin, will never
be effaced.  But when the ruddy scholar placed me in a
corner of his cane settee, and regaled me with recitations,
songs, tales, descriptions, and dialogues of his own, I recognized in him a being possessing powers not unlike those of
"Sulliman the son of Daoud," who could command the genii
and the Afiik at pleasure; for no captivation was ever more
complete or genuine than that under which he held me whenever he chose to do so, a willing prisoner.
But the Patriot during the time he contributed for it, or
rather, as I might almost say, wrote it, contained very different material from that of which a specimen or sample has
just been given. The number before me (vol. ii. No. 59) is
dated September 29, 1827, and bears this title: " New-Jersey
Patriot, Princeton. Printed and published by D. A. Borrenstein."  Underneath this superscription is the motto, "The
Safety of the People is the Supreme Law." It is a quarto




112           ARTICLES SIGNED TROCHILUS.              i1827.
sheet of moderate size, but well-shaped and closely printed.
The first piece is a communication in verse signed " Roland,"
and is an address " to Music." This I suspect to be from the
pen of the invisible editor, and is an obvious imitation of the
style of poetry which was so much in vogue before Scott and
Byron, and which continued a sickly existence even after the
appearance of Wordsworth. This is just such poetry as Burke
was not ashamed to indulge in before lie became an orator and
a statesman. *
The next is some idle stanzas which surely must, have
sprung from  a very different brain! They are in a totally
different measure, are to "The Morrow," and are signed
Trochilus.  They are puerile and worthless, and are the type
of thousands like them. Yet when we read the fine prose
satire which immediately follcws, and find it too signed
Trochilus, a piece marked by all the energy, vehemence, and
wit of Swift, we are led almost insensibly to the conclusion
that the lines to " The Morrow" are also fiom the editor, and
are either intended as a burlesque upon the general mass of
fugitive newspaper poetry of the day, or else merely to throw
the reader off his guard; and that the satirical effusion is perhaps a conscious and if so quite successful imitation of the
Dean of St. Patrick's. This however is pure conjecture. It
is possible some of these pieces are by other hands. Remarkable and innocent as this production is, it is not exactly quotable. It contains among other laughable things some sly and
characteristic hits at the mathematicians and natural philosophers. This was doubtless to teaze the curiosity of the Princeton professors. Then comes an exposure of a coloured charlatan by the name of Rusworm, who had betrayed the confidence
of the venerable Dr. Miller and others. Then we have a letter,
"the original of which is in the possession of a gentleman of
Princeton," from David Garrick, in relation to a tragedy by
William Julius Mickle, the translator of the Lusiad.t  It is
* And specimens of which are given in his biography by Pryor.
t The real name of the translator of Camolus was simply William Mickle.
Julius was an afterthought of his own.




ET. 18.1         COMMENCEMENT, 1827.                113
addressed to George Johnstone, Esq.-a friend and patron of
the poet. " The Exile of Scio," which follows, and purports to
be from the "New Monthly Magazine," exhibits strong signs
of the same authorship. My conviction is that Mr. Alexander
had previously written it and contributed it to the Magazine,
with which he was certainly in communication; as another
romantic and descriptive piece in this paper is undoubtedly
by the editor.
The letter of Sir Walter Raleigh which figures on the same
page is believed to be genuine. Two pieces, one on " Visitation of Schools," from " an American Journal," and one on
Archimedes, fill up the side. The inside is taken up with
Princeton matters and domestic news. In the middle of the
page, however, are two editorials, one of which is in the usual
serious style of Mr. Alexander, much affected in this instance,
it must be confessed, by the Johnsonese swell. I give a part
of it, as it affords us a transient glimpse of the Princeton Commencement. There is a full account of the exercises, in another column of the same issue. The annual oration before the
American Whig and Cliosophic Societies in joint-meeting was
delivered by the Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, Attorney
General of the State of New Jersey, in the presence of an unusually large and respectable audience. The annual exhibition
of undergraduates took place on the evening of the 25th. This
was exactly a year from the time of Mr. Alexander's own
graduation, so that he was not yet ready to take the master's
degree. The Alumni Association of Nassau Hall held its first
annual meeting in the college chapel on the morning of Commencement. A letter was read from his Excellency James
Madison, President of the Association, expressing his interest
in the prosperity of the college, and the objects of the Association. At this meeting it was resolved, that " it is expedient
that a history of Nassau Hall be prepared for publication, and
that the members of the association be requested to furnish
during the ensuing year such biographical notices of the Alumni, as in their opinion will be useful to the college and interesting to the public."  Also, "that all such biographical




114                  ALUMNI ASSOCIATION.                        [182T.
notices be forwarded  to  MIr. J. Addison  Alexander, of
Princeton."
This history, if ever entered upon by the young student,
was, it is believed, never carried out.* These pleasant assemblages of the Alumni have been one of the most interesting
features of the Princeton Commencement ever since the meeting of which record is here made.
The editorial article to which reference has been made,
begins thus: " We are gratified to state that the number of
persons attracted to Princeton by the ceremonies of the annual
Commencement, during the present week, was unusually large.
* The following names comprised the officers of the association at the time
referred to above:
PRESIDENT.
James Madison of Virginia.
VI CE-PRESIDENTS.
Aaron Ogden of New Jersey,        William Gaston of North Carolina,
Richard Stockton    "             John Henry Hobart of New York,
Andrew Kirkpatrick "              Henry W. Edwards of Connecticut.
Ashbel Green      "
TREASURER.
Samuel Bayard of New Jersey.
SECRETARY.
John Maclean of New Jersey.
COMMITTEE OF ARRAN-GEMENTS.
Professor Maclean, Samuel T. Bayard, Esq. and Mr. William C. Alexander.
It may be interesting to some also to know that the members of the Executive Committee of the New Jersey Bible Society at this time were: Dr. Archibald Alexander, Chief Justice Ewing, General Frelinghuysen, Dr. Miller, the
Rev. George S. Woodhull, James S. Green, Esq. and Samuel Bayard, Esq.
There is still another item which may have an interest for practical men.
The delegates to the Convention for the promotion of Internal Improvements,
assembled on the 25th inst. at the hour appointed, in the upper room of the
Academy. The honourable Richard Stockton, of Somerset, was appointed President, and the honourable William Coxe, of Burlington, Vice-President; John
M. Sherrerd, Esq. of Warren, Secretary, and Daniel C. Croxall, Esq. of Hunterdon, Assistant Secretary. Delegates were present from eight counties. The
business discussed was of considerable importance, but we have no room for
further allusion to it.




&ET. 18.]           FOREIGN NEWS.                  115
A larger audience has seldom been witnessed here on a similar
occasion, than that which occupied the church on Wednesday
morning and the preceding night. It would give us pleasure
to regard this as an indication of assuring interest in the prosperity of the college." And after some very strong writing
comes this sentence of' unmistakable Johnsonese: "In almost
every State, public means of instruction are maintained by
public patronage, and are esteemed and cherished as invaluable instruments of' public prosperity. WTe may readily imagine
then the judgment wbhich an enlightened people in an age of
great and progressive illumination, will be prepared to pass
upon a community which blindly forgets the means of its existing greatness, and wilfully rejects the only means of future
elevation."
The fourth page is mainly occupied by Foreign News.
This department of the paper is in the stately Gazette style of
the same columns in the London Times. It is no doubt a
genuine extract from some English paper. The tidings from
Greece, in particular, are given in a very sonorous and spirited
manner. Redshllid Pasha had turned towards the interior.
The Constantinople fleet had returned a second time to Navarin, leaving four Greek brigs under Lord Cochrane to blockade
the entrance of the Gulf of Corinth. Tidings also had arrived
fiom Napoli that some Greeks occupying a convent bad beaten
and driven back 1500 Arabs whom Ibrahim Pacha had advanced against them. Four hundred of the Barbarians had
been slain on the declivity of a hill, where the descendants of
Leonidas had prepared an ambush.
The last piece in the paper, which is on "The Sea," is certainly by some writer after the discovery of steam, and if not
already appropriated, may be safely attributed to the young
scholar whose pen we have seen to have been so busy on the
first page. The treatment of the subject is very brief' and yet
very exhaustive. The style is so altered, as not to be recognizable. That very summer he had made his first visit to
the sea-shore, having gone to Long Branch with his parents.
He always used to say that what most impressed him on the




116                         4 THE  SEA."                        [1827.
sea-beach was the thought that he was on the edge of a great
continent.
THE  SEA.
"There is something in being near the sea, like being on the confines
of eternity. It is a new element, a pure abstraction. The mind loves to
hover on that which is endless and forever the same. People wonder
at a steamboat, the invention of man, managed by man, propelled by
man, that makes its liquid path like a railway through the sea. I wonder at the sea itself, that vast Leviathan, rolled round the earth, smiling
in its sleep, waked into fury, fathomless, boundless, a huge world of
water-drops.  Whence is it?  Whither goes it? is it to eternity or
nothing?  Strange, ponderous riddle! that we can neither penetrate
nor grasp in our comprehension, ebbing and flowing like human life,
and swallowing it up in'thy remorseless womb': what art thou?what is there in common with thy life and ours who gaze on thee?Blind, deaf, and old, thou seest not, hearest not, understandest not;
neither do we understand, who behold and listen to thee! Great as
thou art, unconscious of thy greatness, unwieldy, enormous, preposterous, twin sister of matter, rest in thy'dark unfathomed cave' of
mystery, mocking human pride and weakness.  Still it is given to the
mind of man to wonder at thee, to confess its ignorance, and to stand
in awe of thy stupendous might and majesty, and of its own being
that can question thee." *
* In singular contrast with this successful essay in the sublime style is a
critique that appeared in another issue of the Patriot, of Shelley's Poems;
which were then agitating the literary world of Europe. We do not scruple to
make a few extracts.
*  *  *  "The particular composition of Shelley's which forms the subject
of this review, is Prometheus Unbound, which its author denominates a Lyrical
Drama, although, as its author observes, it has neither action nor dramatic
dialogue. It may be observed by the way, that writers of this school are exceedingly apt to miscall and misapply. The'Prometheus Unbound' may be
regarded as a text-book in this style of composition. The dramatis persona
are as follows: Prometheus a male nondescript, being neither god nor man.
Asia, Panthea, and Ione, female non-descripts; Mercury and Apollo, gods.;
the Furies, and a Faun. To these add several voices-as the voices of the
mountains, voices of the air, voices of the whirlwinds, and a large assortment of
spirits, such as the spirit of the moon, of the earth, of the human mind, of the
hours; who all, says the Reviewer, attest their superhuman nature, by singing




.ET. 18.]             CRITIQUE  ON  SHELLEY.                            117
At the time Mr. Alexander assumed the editorial charge
and saying things which no human being can comprehend. As a specimen of
the Lyrics, take the following speech of a cloud:'I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,
And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,
I arise and unbuild it again.'
And the following song by the spirits of the human mind:'Earth, Air, and Light,
And the spirit of Might,
Which drives the stars in their fiery flight,
And Love, thought and breath,
The powers that quell death,
Wherever we soar shall assemble beneath.'
"In imitation of this wonderful production, I once projected a Lyrical
drama of my own, which I entitled'Flibbertigibbet in Liquor.' After so long
a preface, it may be unpardonable to insert a portion of the first scene. I shall
do so however at all hazards, and appeal to any impartial judge whether the
imitation even approaches to caricature.
SCENE I.
ENiTER TrWO  SPIRITS.
[Spirit of Turpentine sings.]
We come! we come!
From the hidden recess of a puncheon of rum,
Our fragrant breath,
On the wings of death,
Is building a house for the deaf and dumb.
[Spirit of Wine sings.1
Hark! Hark!
On the breast of the waves the seadogs bark,
The frantic boy,
In his senseless joy,
Leaps into the jaws of the hungry shark.
[Spirit of Turpentine sings.]
Sleep! sleep!
Spirit of Wine, thy mighty watch keep,
The billows sigh,
While the phantoms fly,
To their cold wet home in the gloomy deep.
ENTER THREE  SPIRITS.
[ Voeice of Grog sings.]
Down! down!
Where the Spirit of Wine and his train have flown




118                         PARTY  POLITICS.                            [1827.
of the Patriot, party politics were running high.* The fierce
canvass between John Quincy Adams (then President of
the United States) and Andrew Jackson was in agitation.
The paper was to be neutral; but the people expected some
politics; and so, to meet this demand, the masked editor
would write an editorial arguing the questions on both sides
and in a manner so adroit that it was not only impossible to
discover on which side the new champion was preparing to do
battle, but even to detect where his private sympathies lay.
The soul of the world,
In darkness furled,
Has passed to its tomb with a speechless groan I
[ Voice of Graery sings.]
The Spirit of Moisture comes flying abroad,
And his train is borne by the Cyprian god,
Behold, Behold,
The voice of the ghost
Of a murdered toast
Sings an anthem of praise in the palace of gold.
[ Voice of Garlic sings.]
Fire! fire!
Rise on the wings of blue desire!
The billows laugh,
For the spirit of sleep,
In the lowest deep
Is building a snowy cenotaph.
LThe Three Voices.]
The hour is come-from the puncheon of rumI see the spirit come flaming around.'Tis done —'tis done-on a beam of the sunWe pass to our graves with an earthquake of sound.
Music-The spirit of sleep playing upon th6 Solar system."
This extravaganza is signed W.  The letters of Job Raw, on Commencement Day and other topics, are full of the adventures of an absurd greenhorn
who makes as many mistakes as Yellowplush or Mrs. Partington.
* Numerous allusions to this contest will be found in the "Forty Years'
Familiar Letters" of the Rev. J. W. Alexander D. D. The members of the
family were amicably divided on this question. The subject of these memoirs
was a political Gallio.




DT.18.1      PUZZLING  LEADER  OF AUGUST, 1827.                    119
The truth was he was as strictly impartial as he professed to
be, but not so warmly interested in the clash of weapons. All
that was a ruse. A specimen of these puzzling political (or
anti-political) leaders is subjoined. It is enough to show how
keenly observant Mr. Alexander was of what was going on
in the world.
The following editorial came out in the Patriot of the 18th
of August, 1827, and excited much curiosity as to its authorship:
" As we have already intimated our intention to abstain from any participation in the political conflicts which divide and agitate the public mind; and as
neutrality is, in these days of violence, regarded as more questionable and suspicious than the utmost extravagance of party zeal, we submit to our readers
the following considerations, which we trust will serve both as an exposition
and vindication of the course which we have adopted. It is to be lamented,
that, while there is little or no essential difference of opinion among a large
majority of the people as to the fundamental principles which ought to
govern the councils of the United States, the political warfare of the present
day is waged in a spirit which to every man of impartial and unbiased judgment
must appear unnecessary and even prejudicial to the character of our country.
The privacy of domestic life has been invaded; —alleged offences, which time
had consigned to oblivion, have been raked from mouldering records; —conflicting and recrimitative accusations of the most startling magnitude and importance are urged by hostile partisans with a zeal and vehemence which makes it
difficult to ascertain the truth. On one side it is averred, that General Jackson
is a' Military Chieftain,' regardless of the constitution and laws of his country;that he is no friend to the policy by which the industry and resources of the
several states can be most successfully employed;-that he is supported by men
of desperate character and'vaulting ambition;' that his private history is
sullied with crimes;-that the principles on which he would administer public
affairs are in a great measure unknown, and, so far as they can be penetrated,
at variance with those which alone can conduct the nation safely in a career
of prosperity and greatness. To Mr. Adams it is objected, on the other side,
that he has been tried and' found wanting;'-that his adherents have made a
party question of that which ought to have been supported merely on national
grounds and left to rest upon its own merits; that by this course they have
not only put in jeopardy the due encouragement of national industry, but have
thrown the apple of discord amongst the members of the Union;-that he has
not redeemed the pledges which on various occasions he has given, with respect
to the principles which should govern him in the execution of his responsible
trust;-that he has employed the patronage of his office, merely to secure his




120         PUZZLING  LEADER  OF  AUGUST, 1827.                   [182T.
re-election, and without due regard to the qualifications of the candidates, and
has thereby sacrificed the public weal in seeking to promote his personal interests;-that from vanity, or want of correct judgment, he has excluded us fiom a
most profitable branch of foreign commerce;-that the means by which he at.
tained his present elevation were such as render his future exclusion from office
necessary to vindicate the purity of the elective franchise, and essential to the
honour and future safety of the country.
"Such are the charges proclaimed against both the candidates for the
presidential chair through the medium of the press. Many of them have been
recently promulgated, and are yet to be sustained by evidence, or demonstrated
to be groundless. Independent of both parties, wishing to decide aright, and
anxious only to serve the cause of truth and of our country, we cannot consistently with the dictates of conscience, at the present stage of the controversy,
take a side with either of the contending ranks.
" Such evidence may hereafter be adduced that General Jackson is hostile to
the plan which when properly modified will, we think, promote the welfare of
every part of the Union, as will satisfy us that the public good cannot be advanced by a change of the administration. Nor is it beyond the bounds of possibility, that such testimony concerning the means by which Mr. Adams came
into power may be made public, as to render it our duty to oppose his further
continuance in office. Such being the state of the question, and having more
than a year before us, we shall await with patience the developments of the
future, without pledging ourselves to any man or set of men. We shall use the
prerogative of a free press, and utter, with independence, but with becoming
deference, our sentiments respecting public men and public measures. Measures
which we think calculated to promote the public good we shall never condemn,
whatever may be their origin. The honest acts of a wise, firm, liberal and independent government, shall receive whatever aid our feeble exertions can
afford them. We shall conclude this article, already perhaps too much extended, by an enumeration of the qualifications which in our humble opinion
should distinguish the chief magistrate of this republic. He should possess
firmness enough to do what he knows to be right. He should regard more the
interests of the country than the stability of his own power. He should have
courage and wisdom to call to his assistance the wisest counsellors, and select
for office the most able men of unsullied integrity within his reach. The rays
of executive displeasure should never be concentrated on the humble citizen to
consume and destroy him, because in the just exercise of a freeman's right he
condemns measures of doubtful expediency. Wasteful expenditures he should
discountenance and resist. The interests of every section of the country it
should be his study to promote; nor should he, to extend his influence and
perpetuate his power, patronize measures detrimental to one portion of
the Union for the benefit of another.  In short, THE COUNTRY, THE
WHOLE COUNTRY should occupy every affection and actuate every measure
of a President of the United States. We now submit the matter to the judg



ALT 18.]             WRITING  OF FICTION.                      121
ment of our readers. When the proper time arrives for us to choose a side, we
hope to be able to give satisfactory reasons for the opinions we may then maintain, so as to merit the countenance and support of just and impartial men. In
the mean time, we will gather for our own information, and lay before our readers
all the important political information from both sides which may have a proper
bearing upon this great controversy, in the full persuasion, that fearless neutrality where both parties are in fault, is the duty of every Patriot.
"The great Bacon, describing the qualifications and duties of a chief
magistrate, declares it to be essential that' he set not to sale the seats of justice,
for that oppresseth the people,'-that inutilis cequitas sit not in the chancery,
for that is inepta misericordia; that utilis incequitas keep not the exchequer,
for that is crudele latrocinium; that infidelis prudentia be not his secretary,
for that is anguis sub viridi herbd."
The last extract I shall make from the Patriot, is the concluding chapter of the beautiful eastern tale entitled, The
Jewess of Damascus. This is the best specimen now extant
of Mr. Alexander's style in serious oriental fiction. It bears a
certain resemblance in some of its characters, and in the general
diction, to Ivanhoe. But it is still more like one or two chapters in the Talisman,* and may have been to some extent a
deliberate imitation. There is little doubt that in comprehensive force and grandeur of imagination, and in fertility of invention, as well as in observation of nature and manners, in
knowledge of human character, in genuine healthy passion,
and multifarious though not exact and critical learning, and
in quality of style, considered as admirably suited and proportioned to his subjects, Scott has had no equal since the days
of Shakespeare. But of Mr. Alexander it may be said that he
also had rare gifts of imagination, and a productive power of
untold fecundity and versatility; and a knowledge of human
nature that for one who was regarded by many as a mere village recluse was truly wonderful; and he possessed in addition
this notable advantage over the wizard of the North, that he
was intimately and even critically acquainted with the history?
literature, and tongues of the lands of the Syrian, the Persian,
and the Arab, of which he wrote. This is said merely in the
* The Tales of the Crusaders came out in 1825? while Mr. Alexander was a
Junior in college.




122                JEWESS OF DAMASCUS.                    [1827.
way of introduction to the concluding passages of the story
itself, and to indicate the opinion that certain extracts drawn
from the two writers may be compared without serious injury
to the reputation of the stripling scholar. Let it be borne in
mind, however, that writing novels and poems was the main
business of Scott's life; whereas it was Mr. Alexander's occasional pastime, and the pastime of his younger years and idlest
hours. The attention of the reader is specially invited to the
magnificent description of Damascus as it lay sparkling in an
oriental sunset. It reminds one of the opening paragraphs of
the Talisman:
THE JEWESS OF DAMASCUS.*
(Concluded.)
" The Aga of the Janissaries paused. The workings of a better
spirit were visible in his countenance.'I know not,' said he, at last,'whether I ought to release you upon any terms. But you seem a
stranger; and I will take it upon myself. You are free, if you will
profess the faith in the presence of these witnesses. Speak quickly,
rise, and begone.' A sentence of death could scarcely have been more
dreadful to the Jew than this unwonted indulgence of the Turk.'Ah,'
thought he,'the tender mercies of the ungodly are cruel. No, let me
die, rather than again abjure the covenant of Abraham.' But as he
formed this mental resolution, the recollection of the enchanting prospects it would blast, and the agony which his imprisonment might occasion to more than one affectionate bosom, rushed upon his soul. He
reverted to the horrid stories of long captivity and dreadful death in
the dungeons of the Turkish Empire, and thought of the many chances
against his ultimate deliverance, and of the ruinous sacrifices by which,
if obtained at all, it must be purchased, —his bosom was rent by an
agonizing confiict. —Truth, honour, devotion to his God, and a solemn
pledge to earthly friends, impelled him to refuse; while the dread of
unknown sufferings and of certain disappointment, urged him to obey.
The struggle was transient, however, though terrific. He buried his
face in his hands, and seemed absorbed in prayer. He was, indeed,
beseeching pardon for the falsehood he had resolved to utter, and
* The final chapter of the Jewess of Damascus stands next in the column
to the critique on Shelley.




LET. 18.]          JEWESS OF DAMASCUS.                       123
breathing at the same time to Heaven the profession of his true belief.
Then without raising his eyes, after several fruitless attempts to articulate, he muttered in Arabic the solemn confession,'There is no God
but God, and Mohammed is his prophet.'
"' He has spoken it, Aga,' said a surly Janissary, who stood directly
by him,'but we know not what he has muttered to Limself besides.''Hast thou confessed the Prophet, Ishaak,' said the Aga, who now sat
upon his horse and overlooked the multitude,' Dost thou acknowledge
thyself a Moslem?'
"It was only by a mighty effort that the Jew could give utterance
to the words'I do.''Thou art free,' said the Aga; and applying to
his mouth the silver trumpet which was suspended at his saddle-bow,
he gave a single blast, and turned his horse's head in the direction of
the castle. The Janissaries gathered around their leader, and in a few
minutes the distant sound of their horses' feet had wholly died away.
" Never, perhaps, did a release from danger occasion so little satisfaction. Ishaak now reflected that he had violated his duty to heaven,
broken his pledge to his dearest friends, and abjured the religion of his
fathers. He was wholly unable to rise from his knees till the last of
the spectators who had remained to pity and insult him, grew weary
and departed. At last, when the crowd seemed finally dispersed, he
arose slowly from the earth. But when he lifted his eyes he remained
petrified and aghast. In the middle of the street stood a camel bearing
on its back a litter of that description used in journeys by eastern females of superior rank. The curtains of this litter were withdrawn,
and within, the astonished Jew beheld unveiled and fixed upon him the
countenance of Miriam. Grief, anger and amazement beamed from her
kindled eye, and contempt sat quivering on her lip. As her look met
his, she dropped her veil, the curtains were hastily closed, and the
camel proceeded on his journey.'; The emotions of the Jew at this unexpected sight would defy any
attempt at description. An hour or two passed by, during which he
remained in a state of torpid frenzy. He was wholly insensible of
present objects, and without a distinct recollection of the past. At the
end of this time he found himself again before the door of Asher Ziddim. Again he kissed the threshold, and again gave the signal for admission. The door was opened cautiously as before, and by the same
grave domestic; but the visitor was not received with the same cordial
and respectful welcome. The servant came out to receive his commands, and gave him no invitation to come in. Ishaak mechanically
named his master.' He seeth no one to day.' Ishaak muttered some




124                JEWESS OF DAMASCUS.                      [1827.
incoherent questions respecting Miriam, and her journey to Sidon.-' The damsel goeth not forth to Sidon,' was the laconic answer, aN the
fiantic Ishaak departed in despair.
"It was sunset-a glorious hour in that land of unclouded skieswhen a traveller journeying towards the sea, paused to look back upon
Damascus. It was the same stranger who had surveyed the landscape
when glistening in the freshness of the morning. But the man seemed
not the same. The lofty bearing of his front and the proud glance of
his eye were exchanged for the contraction of inward pain and the fitful gleam of terror and conscious guilt. He gazed long in silence on
the city as it lay gilded by the parting rays of a rich autumnal sunset.
Tile splendour reflected from its domes and spires, though less dazzling
than that which appeared in a morning view, was more beautiful and
chastened. Instead of the unvaried golden tint which then overspread
the scene, the different objects now displayed an endless variety of
hues. Over one was spread a colouring of purple. Another was
arrayed in a robe of fiery red; while the highest points in the view,
the pinnacles and spires, were still gleaming in the simple brightness
of unmingled sunshine.' Thou art still belutiful,' said Ishaak,'but the glory in my eyes
has departed. I look upon thy palaces, but I no longer covet them:
I survey thy groves and vineyards, but I desire them not. Thou hast
been to me a blasting and a curse, and now thou smilest in thy scorn
upon him whose peace thou hast destroyed.'
" He turned aside to a fresh and sparkling fountain which threw up its
liquid columns from a marble basin in a neighbouring enclosure; and
having bathed his throbbing head in its crystal waters, bade farewell
forever to Damascus, and journeyed on.
" There are few spirits so exempt from the debasing imperfections of
humanity as to endure the severing of ties which once seemed interwoven with the heart-strings, and still retain perfect equanimity of
feeling. If there is any principle in action among men which can
accomplish this in even a moderate degree, it is the principle of religion. It is such a sense of devotion to the service of heaven as makes
its subject forget and undervalue the affections and associations of
earth. Yet even this principle, all-powerful as it is, has seldom the
effect of producing entire oblivion or indifference. This was sensibly
felt by Father Isaac, the revered and holy monk of the Convent of
St.  —.  He had long since renounced the obstinate unbelief of
Judaism. His heart had been subdued by the energy of grace, and his
understanding had bowed to the omnipotence of truth.  He had




IT. 18.]           JEWESS OF DAMASCUS.                      125
retired to the duties and enjoyments of monastic seclusion, and
by the holiness of his life and the warmth of his benevolence had
gained the reverence of his order and the grateful affection of the poor.
Yet there were times when, in spite of all his efforts to suppress it, the
memory of former days would rise upon his view. His sins and follies
he voluntarily recalled as subjects of repentance and self-abasement
before God. But with them there often came inseparably mingled
images of joy and pleasure which he would gladly have forgotten.
Among these, there was a dream-like form which though sedulously
excluded from his waking thoughts would often flit across his mind
amidst the airy pageant of some delightful vision. He tried to look
upon it as an angel; but memory and conscience whispered that it was
a woman.
"' The summer of 18- brought an influx of Jewish refugees to the
city of Genoa. Among the rest were a considerable number of exiles
from Damascus. The oppressions of the Moslem had become intolerable,
and even the venerable Asher Ziddim, though far beyond the appointed
goal of threescore years and ten, chose rather to brave the danger of a
boisterous voyage and become in his old age a stranger in a strange land,
than to endure contempt and suffer persecution in the contaminated
city of his fathers. His daughter clung to his side. They were all to
each other. She renounced every other association to be the solace and
companion of her aged parent; while he had made it the object of all
his efforts and designs to create and preserve the happiness of his only
child. The arrival of these emigrants was not long a secret, even in
the cloisters of St. -.  The monks in succession visited the city to
labour for the conversion of these unbelieving strangers. Yet there
was one who steadily refused to aid in this pious enterprise-and,
strange to tell, that one was the most revered and loved for piety,
benevolence, and zeal, the self-denying, devoted Father Isaac.
" Weeks and months rolled by, and each as it passed brought tidings
of the humanity and kindness of the devoted Damascenes. The aged
Asher had fortunately rescued a large proportion of his riches, which
by the hands of his daughter, at once his almoner and steward, were
freely dispensed to feed the bowels of the poor. The name of Miriam,
unbeliever as she was, soon furnished a theme of eulogy to every
tongue; and it became at last a current saying among those who fed
upon her bounty, that the balance of Justice would make no distinction
between the good works of Isaac the Christian monk, and of Miriam
the Jewess of Damascus."
This tale, like the panegyric of the Persian Poets, is printed




126                  THE EMPORIUM.                    [1827.
under the signature of Ali. The indulgent reader will not
forget that it was written hurriedly for the columns of a village newspaper. It appears to have been modelled in some
degree, as regards its form, after the ingenious romances
which were already beginning to fill the pages of the English
periodicals. It would have been read with interest had it
appeared in Maga. It is thought by some that this story
would not have done discredit to John Wilson, or to Lockhart, on the score of imagination and diction, while it is
doubted whether either of these could have more successfully
preserved the oriental, and yet modern, vraisemblance.
But the New Jersey Patriot was not the only sheet to
which Mr. Alexander was contributing these fugitive essays.
He was also writing frequently, if not so constantly, for a
journal known as the "Emporium." It is to be regretted that
most of his communications in that quarter have been lost.
The Emporium was also a weekly paper, and was published
in the city of Trenton, then as still the capital of the State. It
was first of a literary and miscellaneous character, but afterwards became the leading Democratic organ in New Jersey.
It was established, published, printed, and edited, by Joseph
Justice and Stacy G. Potts, under the firm of Justice & Potts.
Mr. Potts, then a young printer, afterwards became an eminent lawyer and a Judge of the Supreme Court of New-Jersey.
HIe was in later years a gentleman of much dignity and suavity
of manners, and of most agreeable social qualities, and withal
a person of the highest probity and excellence of character.
For this journal Mr. Alexander wrote copiously while in college, and after graduation published much which cannot now
be recovered.*
It must not be forgotten that all this was the merest
diversion. This tide of matter for the newspapers was wholly
produced, one may say, while the other young men about
Princeton were engaged in their walks and talks, were visiting
* A gentleman who has kindly examined the files of this paper for the period in question, assures me that there are pieces which " read like him," but
he is unable to identify any of them.




AET. 18.)         ESTIMATE OF TIME.                 12T
their sweethearts, or were playing ball in the college campus.
I-Fe too, it must be admitted, was at this time somewhat fond
of walking, and would occasionally take a cheerful stroll, as we
have seen, with his friends Mr. King or Mr. Napton. It was
observed, however, that with the exception of Mr. Bolling's,
he seldom entered a friend's room between recitations, or before the hour for college prayers, a degree of abstinence which
was considered a sign of great self-denial in an undergraduate;
nor did he usually encourage his fellow-students to visit him
at his own home. This we may be persuaded was from nc
lack of hospitality on his part, and I have never heard that it
gave any offence; but simply from a recluse habit already
fbrmed, and a passion for saving not only the precious ingots
but even the golden dust and filings of time. He was remarkable for this peculiarity through life. He would rush from
the breakfast table to his study as if an enemy were pursuing
him, and slam the door as if he was angry: but the next moment he would be heard murmuring in an earnest rapid tone
as he bent over the open books that covered his table. He
also had a habit at times of snapping his eyes, as if involuntarily, perhaps unconsciously; first one and then after an interval the other; in a manner curious to behold, but which it
would not be easy to describe. The movement did not distort, but gave a kind of pleasing sparkle to his face. The gentleman who sat next to him at Baird's Academy says he was
even then the admiration and despair of the school; that his
cheek was ruddy and his eye sparkling; that he was never
known to make a mistake or a blunder in his recitations, or to
fail to arrive at a perfect demonstration at the blackboard,
and that no one ever saw him hesitate for a word. The im.
pression of this gentleman was that "Addison could see
through anything at a glance; that he could not help solving
his problems, if he tried."  At the time of which I am now
speaking, the year after he took his Bachelor's degree, it does
not appear that he was much changed in his appearance or
characteristics and habits; except that he was visibly a little
older, somewhat more sedate, more fully grown, and with a




128                 READING HOMER.                    t1827.
greater breadth of knowledge, cultivation, and experience of
life. He was still, like the minstrel-warriour of Bethlehem
Judah, "ruddy and withal of a beautiful countenance, and
goodly to look to." Strange as it may seem, notwithstanding
his reserve and bashfulness (for though the word bashfulness
does not precisely express the shade of meaning intended, it
is the only one except shyness that even verges towards a
just description) and his solitary ways, he was among those
who knew him well exceedingly popular. He was so modest
and unassuming that no one envied him his growing honours.
His compeers gloried in his successes as successes of the
Academy, of the College, and of Whig Hall. He was not
one of those who seem born to be admired and hated; but
one of those who though named only to be praised are known
only to be loved.
One of the very few records of Mr. Alexander's literary
occupations at this time is furnished in the following statement
with reference to the dates at which he finished the several
books of Homer's Odyssey in Greek. He read it in the folio
of Spondanus, Basle, 1533, the same copy which was after.
wards perused by his brother James. He marked at the end
of every book the time of his getting through it, and with the
result exhibited in the annexed table:
No. of Book.                   No. of Book.
I.  January 22,   1827.       XIII.  February 10,  1827.
II.     "   23,      "         XIV.      "    19,    "
III.     "   24,      "         XV.       "    21,'
IV.      "   26,      "         XVI.      "    27,    "
V.      "   29,      "        XVII.  March   6,    "
VI.      "   30,      "       XVIII.      "     7,    "
VII.   February 1,     "         XIX.      "     8,    "
VIII.'"    1,'"               XX.      "      9, 9,
IX.      "    6,      "         XXI.      "    10,    "
X.      "    7,      "        XXII.      "    12,
XI.      "    8,'"        XXIII.      "    12,    a
XI.       "    8,     "        XXIV.       i"   13,    "
I- give here a letter which evidently, from its handwriting,




ET. 18.]            EARLY LETTER.                   129
belongs to an early period of his life. It would not be recognized as his by those who were familiar only with his manuscript of a later day. The only date upon it is the month,
September. The internal evidence corresponds perfectly with
the external, in pointing to a period anterior to the time when
his writing became round and elegant. There is a greater
freedom and elasticity of style than he permitted himself
afterwards. It was addressed to his brother James in Virginia and at Charlotte Court-House. Now his brother James
went to Virginia in 1826 and returned in 1828, and did not
revisit his old home in Charlotte till several years had
elapsed. Moreover, the allusion in the letter to "a journey
northward " is in such terms as necessarily imply a residence
in the South, and not a mere visit to that region. This is further presupposed in the reference to a previous correspondence
between the brothers. The mention of the elder brother's
sickness, seems to fix the time as towards the close of his two
years' sojourn in his native state. The repeated calling in of
the name of Mr. Patton might seem to indicate the time the
younger brother was that gentleman's assistant at Edgehill;
but this was not till November of the year following the elder
brother's return to the North. We are thus shut up to three
years, 1826, 1827, and 1828. In the autumn of one of these
years the letter was written. There are some things which
might make one incline towards 1828. The letter shows him
at work upon the Pentateuch.  So does the journal for the
winter of'28. The letter speaks of the recent completion of a
poem entitled the'" Tears of Esau," and the journal discloses
the fact that he wrote off this poem for the columns of the
monthly magazine on the 12th of January of that year. It is
not necessarily implied, however, that he composed it then.
It is more probable that he copied it. Besides, I find from
his diary that on the 3d of January 1828, he was already deep
in Exodus, whereas this letter though making copious references to the book of Genesis, makes no mention of' any of the
later books. Then again, in the letter he has a daily task of
four languages; in the journal (unless his practice ill the latter
6*




130                 WHEN WRITTEN.                   [1827.
part of the year differed from that in the earlier), of five, six,
and sometimes seven: in the letter he has just mastered the
forms of Spanish grammar, and has merely sent for Don
Quixotte; in the journal for Jan. 1828 he already has a daily
task in Don Quixotte. This I think makes it certain that the
letter was not written in 1828. It could hardly have been
written in 1826, which was the year he was graduated. The
little matters of Princeton news in the letter direct our view
to the succeeding year. A minute comparison of the letter
with the journal renders this conclusion almost sure. I shall
therefore assume that in September 1827, the young scholar
was pursuing the study of Hebrew, Arabic, and Italian, and
had just possessed himself of the rudiments of Spanish. He
at this time scorned chrestomathies, and collectanea such as
Dalzell's. He thought the best way of mastering a new language was to open a great classic and go through it from
cover to cover with the forms, the rules, and the lexicon. It
was doubtless the best way for him. Hie had the knack of
penetrating the secret of a mass of foreign idioms at a glance,
and of moving on at once to the subjugation of the literature.
The literature was his main quarry after all. In Hebrew, he
was now poring over the sublime and inspired words of
Moses.  In Arabic he put himself under the guidance of
Miohammed; in Persian, of Sadi and Hafiz; in Italian, which
he was merely commencing, of Tasso. He soon after took up
Cervantes, Ariosto and Dante.
The letter about to be given has a laughable mixture of
the boy and the man in it. It is written with all the reckless
ease of a youthful correspondence with a cherished brother.
Yet the writer never in his life threw out more sagacious hints
on the subject of philology, and never wrote better or more
playfully on the defects of current English style; and he
never expressed himself with more knowledge or a more
pathetic tenderness in the way of criticism on the original
Scriptures, regarded as a branch, and a most imposing one, of
universal belles lettres.  The critique, on the Koran, that
"bantling of Mohammed," is evidently the germ of the




~ET. 18.]         ADMIRATION  OF HEBREW.                    131
larger and later one in the Repertory. It is at once shrewd,
subtle and humorous.  As a whole the reader will find this
learned, elegant, discriminating, free and easy, bantering effusion, as well worth reading as any of his similar productions
in after years. It is very precious in a biographical point of
view, as a fragment of records which have long since perished.
" DEAR JAMES,
"The manner in which you speak of a journey northward has encouraged us all to conceive a hope which you must take care not to disappoint. Meantime, let us have a little converse de omnibus rebus &c.
" I believe you have received no letter from me since the receipt of
your philological mammoth. Cordially as I concurred in the sentiments which you there expressed, I thought it advisable to make
allowances for the evanescent nature of violent emotions and not echo
your rhapsodies till I was sure that they were likely to continue. The
absence of philology in your subsequent epistles is, I suppose, to be
ascribed to sickness. I trust you have not lost the noble enthusiasm.
I am studying as a daily task four languages. In Hebrew, I read the
Pentateuch; in Arabic, the Koran; in Persian, Hafiz and Sadi; in
Italian. Tasso. You will not be surprised to learn, that my admiration
of Hebrew grows continually. The exquisite and to me wonderful
combination of primitive simplicity, and philosophical exactness in that
mysterious tongue are without a parallel. The further I advance in
the knowledge of it and its offspring Arabic, the more I am struck with
the indications which present themselves, of their structure having been
the result of elaborate research and subtle contrivance, and yet the
simplicity which I have mentioned is so obvious and unequivocal as to
preclude all hypotheses that might otherwise be formed. I am perfectly
sincere when I assert that in every respect, the book of Genesis appears
to me the finest specimen of historical composition that was ever produced. I never thought so when I read it in English, though I must
add, that the fidelity of our version is far greater than I had ever conceived to be possible. The translation which comes nearest to it in
this respect is Sale's Koran, but alas, longo intervallo. The reason of
his inferiority is to be found in the character of the Koran itself; for I
do declare, that of all the ridiculous exhibitions of ignorance, folly, and
stupidity that ever saw the light, this bantling of Mohammed (even in
its original swaddling clothes) is the most absurd. The only thing to
recommend it, is the number of ethical truths which it contains well
expressed; and occasional ebullitions of a fervid imagination in the




132           ITALIAN  AND SPANISH  STUDIES.                [1827.
way of description and apostrophe which no style nor subject can
wholly suppress in the work of an Oriental writer. To return a
minute to Genesis-how often have you ever read the 27th chapter in
the original? It is beyond praise as a touching narrative; and nothing
can be more pathetic than the point to which the story is brought in
the 38th verse.
x;vni As1 in4-tn %=-in Gusx b-xvi: rrns ri-;in  *-:-bs  anym:x
t       *   T'    -:    * T.r *
"I was so struck by the pathos of the story on a recent perusal that
I threw it impromptu into very blank verse, which you will see in the
Patriot. (By the bye send us some poetry.)
"I am reading Tasso with great delight. It is surprising with what
graceful unconstrained ease his thoughts succeed each other notwithstanding the awkward restraint to which the ottara rima subjected
him. The Italian, through its characteristic softness, seems admirably
adapted to make the sound an echo to the sense. You know the verse
which Blair quotes descriptive of the effects of a trumpet blown in the
lower regions where tromba, rimbomba, piomba and similar words are
admirably expressive. Mr. Patton says that no ancient or modern language is more rich in words descriptive of delicate and varying emotions, especially those of love. The following couplet by Tasso I have
adopted as a valuable apothegm:
"'L'aspettar del male e mal peggiore,
Forge, che non parebbe il mal presente.'
I have mastered the forms of Spanish grammar completely; and have
just sent to Philadelphia for Don Quixote. M. Coulombe, a man educated under the auspices of Napoleon and possessed of considerable
learning, has established himself in Princeton. He teaches French;
and proposes to open a German school. Mr. Patton speaks well of him.
As writing to you is the only vent which I find for my speculations on
literature, I will set down two or three questions for your consideration. 1. Is not the imperative mood the root of the verb in all languages; i. e., Do you not suppose the first verb was used imperatively
or oratively (ut ita d.), and that it will be found in a majority of the
diverse tongues that this is the simplest form? Love-to love-I love.
It is the only simple part of the English verb. 2. Ought not all collectanea on Dalzell's plan to be relentlessly proscribed? They have
hurt me exceedingly. 3. Ought not the republic of letters to pass an
act abolishing punctuation? Keep the period and the mark of interro



ET. 18.]              TEARS OF ESAU.                        133
gation; but let the rest go hang. I am glad to see you disapprove the
dash. I loathe it as it is used by --—, e. g.:' This work-and we
wish we could say other works —came forth,' &c. No such form of a
sentence should be tolerated. Dr. Johnson never used even a parenthesis. There is little news stirring. The family are well. * * * *
William sends you the Report of the Colonization Society, and wishes
you to read Vroom's address and give your opinion.
"Yours ever,
" A."
I have been so successful as to find the poem referred to in
this letter, in an old brown fragment of the newspaper in which
it originally appeared. The piece had been carefully hoarded
by one of the author's playmates and oldest admirers. It plossesses a high dramatic and exegetical interest, and is unlike
anything else from Mr. Alexander's pen. It will be remarked
that notwithstanding the protest in the letter to his brother
he has not discarded the dash or the parenthesis. The piece
sheds some light, too, on his own character. He too was one
day to be seen in tears and helplessness-" his mighty frame"
also "shuddering in anguish"; and was to excite a similar
surprise. IHe too "loved not to be scanned so searchingly."
It had been too long and injuriously thought of him that
"from an eye so hard, so diamond-like, infusible, though
bright, the kindly drops of pity, love, or grief, ne'er found a
vent."  "Yet have I seen hirm weep  *  * *  and heard him
cry aloud in sorrow, as a child."
The difference was this, Esau was really hard-hearted;
but Addison Alexander, with all his force and brilliancy of
character, had also the gentleness and softness of a girl.
THE TEARS OF ESAU.
[From an unpublished Drama.]
GENESIS, xxvii: 30-41.
Mark yon tall chief returning from the chase:
Canst thou not read in that deep wrinkled brow,
That quivering lip, that fiercely flashing eye,
The mingled characters of smothered grief




134                     TEARS OF ESAU.                           (1827
And rankling discontent? Thou readest well.'Tis Esau, first-born of the ancient Isaac,
And monarch of the chase. There! did'st thou see
The sudden gleam his eye shot forth upon us?
Approach him not too nearly: drop thine eyes:
He loves not to be scanned so searchingly.
Yet men have guessed in vain what hidden crime
Preys on his soul, and makes his eye a coward.
The story which thou readest in his aspect
Is written in the process of his life,
And stamped on all his deeds. Proud, fearless, fierce,
Relentless —ever mindful of his wrongs,
Forgetful of the kindness which repays them.
Who would not say that from an eye so hard,
So diamond-like, infusible, though bright,
The kindly drops of pity, love, or grief,
Ne'er found a vent! Yet have I seen him weep,
Ay, seen him weep, and heard him cry aloud
In sorrow, as a child.'Twas on that day,
When Jacob-but you know the tale of old.
Ah, Arioch!'twas a sight to chill the blood,
I scarce believed it; though I stood in service
Upon the dying bed of Isaac. There
The rugged hunter knelt, and when he heardThe savoury food still smoking in his hand,
And gently offered to his father's tasteYes, when he heard the old man's faltering tongue
In broken accents tell the treachery;
And saw those sightless eyes, with bursting tears
Of agony distended; and that hand,
That withered hand, whose hallowed imposition
Had laid on Jacob's head the promised blessingWhen its cold trembling touch, reminded him
Of all that he had lost-what did he then?
I stood in staring terror to behold
The wild and fearful bursting of his wrath
Come forth in frenzied action: but it came not;
I looked again: for how could I believe,
That Esau, the fierce hunter-that the Esau,
Whom I had known so terrible in anger,
Should bear his griefs thus meekly? When I looked,
His head was bowed upon his father's hand.
His own concealed his face; his mighty frame




AT. 18.]               MONTHLY  MAGAZINE.                           135
Was shuddering in anguish: but anon,
Between his fingers, drop by drop I marked
The scalding tears were oozing, and I heard
Those strong convulsive sobs, which more than tears
Betray a man's proud grief. I could have wept
To see him humbled thus. The gentler Jacob
Might weep, and who would mark it?'Tis his nature.
But to see tears upon the manlier cheek
Of rugged Esau-'twas a moving sight.
Long did he weep in silence, but at last
There came from him a wild and bitter cry,
And then in deep and hollow tones he said,
" Hast thou for me no blessing, O my father!"
What could the old man say? Before him knelt
The eldest born-his best beloved son,
Him whom he would have blessed, but for the arts
Of Jacob and his mother. Once again,
He murmured forth " thy brother-'twas thy brother."
Again wept Esau, and again he asked,
" Hast thou reserved no blessing for thy son?
Thine Esau, Oh my father! " Then once moro
The biting, blasting thought, that he had lost
That mystic benediction, by whose virtue,
The favour of Jehovah seemed ensured,
Rose on his mind; and as it rose he cried
In bitterness of soul. But with that cry,
His weakness ended, and his agony
Passed from him as a dream. Across his brow,
He drew his hand impatiently, then sprang,
As if in anger, to his feet. His eyes,
No longer bathed in grief, were fired with rage;
And on his quivering lip there seemed to hang,
Unutterable things. The child was gone,
And vengeful Esau was himself again.              AL.
1)uring the year 1828 in the intervals of study he was also
a ti'equent writer for the "Philadelphia Monthly Magazine,"
edited by Dr. Isaac C. Snowden.* Some of these contributions
were in  verse.  The world  of romantic  literature, and especially poetry, and the world of severe scholarship, seemed
now to press their conflicting claims upon him. He may be
thought to have stood for a moment as if irresolute, like Gar



136                    WRITING  VERSES.                      t1828
rick between tragedy and comedy, or like the hero in the
Choice of Hercules.*  Judge Napton assures us that his ftiend
was certain of success, if he had chosen to enter the domain
of fiction. He probably never dreamed of this, but he had a
strong yearning towards the poetic muse.  There is no evidence, however, that he ever gravely meditated the pursuits
of mere literature. The real conflict in his mind was between
Arabia and America, the Orient and the Occident; and, at a
later day, between the law and theology. His efforts in verse
were merely for the sake of mental diversion, or to please his
friends. Alas, that we should have so little from his pen in
the way of serious stanzas! What we have gives us the
strongest evidence of what we might have had, if he had not
bent his whole mind on other things. The huge labours of
the philologist and commentator, left little room for those of
the bard, or even of the polite litterateur. Thus law checked
the literary aspirations of Lord Mansfield:
"How sweet an Ovid, Murray, was our boast!
How many Martials were in Pulteney lost!" t
And the speculations of moral philosophy proved too much for
the genius of John Wilson, which hardly ever after blossomed
into verse.  The fairies, as an anonymous writer in "Black* The following is a list of his contributions to the " Philadelphia Monthly
Magazine" in 1827 and 1828. I do not think he ever wrote for it afterward.
Volume I.
Page 125. "The Fastidious Man."
"  170. "Oriental Literature."
" 187. "The Complacent Man."
"  212. "Archy McMorrow."'
Voluzme I..
"   74. "A Vision of Greece" (poetry).
" 76. "Anut Caesar ant nullus."
"   89. "Anecdotes of the Barmecides. From the Arabic."
" 152. "Hurt Feelings."
" 351. "Father and Son; a Love Story."
f The Dunciad, Book IV., lines 169, 170.




JET. 18.]              DR. SNOWDEN.                       137
wood" predicted at the time, were smothered in the Professor's gown.
He had a good deal of private correspondence, too, at this
time with Dr. Snowden, under whose good management the
"Monthly Magazine" had reached a creditable degree of excellence, though it was never widely circulated. In Philadelphia, however, it was read by many cultivated people, and was
to be seen upon the tables of most of the public libraries and
lyceums.  I have not rescued a single one of Mr. Alexander's
notes to the editor, but several of Dr. Snowden's letters to the
Princeton essayist have fallen into my hands, and two of them
are here given. They are all gracefully and happily expressed,
and are good specimens of the old quill-pen hand then in
vogue. They are all about the Magazine and Mr. Alex
ander's varied contributions, which were sometimes grave,
sometimes gay. The distressed editor commonly beseeches
his young friend to send him light and playful pieces, for which
he knows he has a cunning gift, but is almost always willing
to publish even his most learned essays. These kind and intelligent letters were sacredly kept by Mr. Alexander under
the endorsement " Snowdeniana."
" PHILADELPHIIA, Jany. 14, 1828.
" DEAR SIn,
" The fourth number of the Philadelphia Monthly Magazine is just
completed, and will appear as usual on the 15th. The conduct of a
work like this is certainly a task, but to me a very pleasant one; and
would be still more so, if all my correspondents left me so little to
correct as you. I have the same pleasure in receiving the communications of several gentlemen, which I have in yours; but some, the
matter of which is excellent, I have to subject to modifications, which
are sometimes very troublesome.
"'The Fastidious Man' is quite a popular paper here, as it deserves to be: the counterpart in No. 4 will I think please also. I
am much pleased with the- short article on Oriental Literature, and
take this opportunity to remark, however strange it may appear,
that subjects of an elevated character had better be deferred for
the present, until the Magazine has acquired, by means of light
and pleasing papers, that popularity which will enable a learned




138                      HIS LETTERS.                       [182s.
article to stand its ground in the crowd. It may afford an author
some satisfaction to know, that four or five thousand readers have
access to his writings every month, which is the case with the
Magazine-not that it has so ample a patronage,-(the subscribers,
though consisting of the first citizens, are comparatively few) but
so many libraries, athenmeums, &c., &c., have placed it on their
tables, that the whole world seems to use it without contributing a
cent to its support. This is a disadvantage to new publications-but
it cannot be prevented. I think you might promote its interests by
placing a copy of the third number (of which I send you two) on the
tables of the Cliosophic and Whig Societies.  The result would be
totally different in this case friom  that of those which I have just
mentioned, since the students will only see it long enough to know its
character, by the time they leave college, when, it is probable, many
may think of subscribing for it on their return to their homes. This
however I leave to your discretion; if the societies should not think
proper to subscribe for a copy each, I will present them with one.
I thank you for the paper on Self-importance, it is excellent in its kind;
but not, as you have intimated yourself, exactly the thing that I wished.
It wants some of the raciness of your first paper, as well as variety
and point. Self-importance, as it manifests itself in a thousand forms
in a city would admit of many choice touches. You have, however,
treated the subject well, and in a style of much perspicuity and elegance.
It will appear in the fifth number.
"Let me request, if perfectly convenient to you, another short
article in the course of two weeks, or earlier. Take any liCht topic
that may occur to you, and play with it, in your ancient namesake's
vein; and I will consent to your being learned, after a few more numbers of the Magazine have appeared: I have held my own tongue (pen
I should say) on classical matters ever since the first number, when I
was informed, to my great surprise, that it was too learned. This is a
droll age, but we must humour it a little, if we wish to make it *wiser.
"I am, dear Sir, with great respect,
"Your unknown friend,
" J. C. SNOWDEN."
"PHILADELPHIA, ilfay 3, 1828.
"DEAR SIR,
"I received your pleasant letter of May 1st duly. You desire me
to indicate what class of subjects I prefer for the magazine,' grave, or
lighter articles suggested by fancy.' As you say it rests with me to say




AET. 18.]            MONTHLY  MAGAZINE.                      139
what species I prefer, I will remark, that however agreeable it would
be to me to insert graver papers, yet the success of the Magazine
requires gaiety: your grave papers would be very acceptable to me,
but I and all my readers would prefer your gaiety. That faculty is
rare. I have but two besides yourself who play in that vein. The
mass of my correspondents are your grave gentlemen; they abound;
I am at no loss for sober sense, in good taste: the inference then will
be that efforts of fancy, playful essays or sketches, would be more
desirable to me and my readers. People in this age do not read
magazines to get wise; e. g. Blackwood, Campbell, &c., &c. Choose
then, my good friend, whatever subject you please; and if at any time
you have on hand something of the graver sort which you may think a'confounded good thing' and which you would like to see inserted,
be sure to send it to me; and if I entertain the same opinion I shall be
happy to give it a place. This induces me to reply to a query in your
letter and which you did not wish that I should answer: I have never
inserted an article-I will say line-I had almost said word (such has
been my care in these matters) which I did not approve of; or under the
influence of any one. My control over the magazine is absolute; for,
while I am Editor, I am also the sole Proprietor, and my correspondents
are numerous-e. g., seventy and more rejected papers (among which,
to my grief I say it, is one by the worthy friend to whom I am at this
moment writing, and which he sent me three or four months ago (Conrad and Anselmo).
" With respect to the article on Self-Importance, which appears to
have given you a little trouble, I may say that It did not meet my
wishes: but then, the style, the diction, the flow of sentences, and
other matters redeemed it, and I gave it place, of right, not as a perfect
guest, but as one who deserved to be in good company. The piece, I
assure you, was not without its friends-among tlem Dr. Franklin
Bache. So much for'Self-Importance.'
"You say, you could give me a trifle on'IHurt Feelings' Good!
the subject will take.
"You mention in a postscript' Historical Roimances in milliature,'
founded on colonial and revolutionary legends. Such papers iwould be
particularly interesting.
"I hereby request my worthy friend'A. J. A.' alias'A. L. I.' to accept
(for kindnesses already rendered),'a complete set of the Philadelphia
[oantlidy Magazine' for five years, commencing from October, 1828.'
"I am, Sir, your unseen but sincere friend,    J. C. SNOWDEN.
"J. A. ALEXANDER, Princeton.




140                PERSIA  AND THE EAST.                    C1828.
"I am still unwell —a chill and fever yesterday and much debility
to-day-Twenty to one I have written as bad English, ay and Latin,
scraps as that Irish gentleman who swore that no one could write
grammar with such a pen. Pass over sucll foibles as those of an
invalid.
"God bless you, and mend your manuscript:
" Good-night,      J. C. S."
It is interesting to read what he composed at this critical
period of his life, whether in one mode or the other; but the
poetry has this charm, that these were in a manner farewell
-efforts. I give below two of the pieces contributed by him
to the "Monthly Magazine."  Though published later, they
were both written about this time.
The first implies a probable-acquaintance with the literature of the East and especially of Persia. The second shows
a growing enthusiasm for that of the West.  We shall soon
be convinced on still better grounds than any that have yet
been given, that Mr. Alexander was neither a tyro nor a pretender in these matters. Moore has written Oriental verses
ad nauseamn without ever seeing the Orient or reading any
one of its numerous languages.  Kinglake and Beckford have
written on the same subjects and with the same success in
prose. But none of these has written such a Diary as the one
on which we are about to enter.
THE FALL OF ISPAHAN.*
(From the Persian.)
THE whispers of the morning breeze
Through nodding groves of spicy trees
Have roused the bulbul from his rest;
And springing from his fragrant nest
He skims in search of luscious food,
Thy crystal waves, fair Zenderoud! tf
But save the flight of that lone bird,
No sound nor sign of life is heard;
~ The City of Ispahan was sacked by the Afghans in the early part of the last century.-J. A. A.
t A stream running through the city.-J. A. A.




ET. 18.]                FALL  OF ISPAHAN.                          141
Nor voice of mirth nor busy hum
Nor trumpet's blast, nor roll of drum,
Nor horseman's march, nor camel's tread:
But silence reigns, as deep and dead
As when the march of time began,
Through all thy dwellings, Ispahan!
Again'tis morning; but no more
The silence reigns that reigned before;
The dying child's expiring cry,
The dying mother's farewell sigh,
The groans of famine and disease,
Are now the burden of the breeze;
The bulbul wheels his rapid flight
Away, with wonder and affrightTo see the dead by thousands strewed
O'er the polluted Zenderoud!
To feel the hot contagious breath
Of the stern messenger of death,
To hear the murmur of despair
Which agitates the troubled air,
As famished beast and starving nlan
Throng through the streets of Ispahan.
Once more'tis morning, and again
The voice of nature and of men
Is hushed in silence, such as reigns
Through death's unvisited domains;
But not that calm and holy rest
Which soothes to peace the troubled breast,
And guardian vigils loves to keep
O'er the defenceless infant's sleep:
The pause that now enchains the air,
Is the dead stillness of despair:
No more to greet the sun's first rays,
The bulbul tunes his thousand lays; *
His song no more shall be renewed
Along thy waters, Zenderoud!
For see! o'er citadel and moat,
The Persian flag has ceased to float,
And struggling with the adverse air.
A stranger's flag is floating there.
*One of the epithets applied to the bulbul by the Persian poets is that of Hezer-avaz
or thousand voices, in allusion to the variety of its notes.-J. A. A.




142                   A  VISION  OF  GREECE.                       [l82&s
The strife is o'er; the deed is done:
The Persian warrior's race is run;
His sword is broken, and he lies
In death, still gazing on the skies;
While o'er the dying and the dead,
In sullen mockery is spread,
The banner of the fierce Afghan,And thou art fallen, Ispahan!"
About the same time appeared the following:
A VISION OF GREECE.
C.ALM twilight o'er the Grecian isles
Has thrown her veil of sombre gray;
The dying sunset's farewell smiles
In golden pomp have passed away.
No sounds the solemn silence wake
Save ocean's deep and distant roar,
As his chafed billows dash and break
In sullen murmurs on the shore.
But as that dull and dream-like song
Subsides in momentary rest,
A strain of music creeps along,
As from the islands of the blest.
Whence flow the sounds?  It is a lyreAnd swept by none but Grecian hand;
In mingled tones of vengeful ire
And sorrow for his native land.
As he pursues a theme so dear,
Hark! how the ancient cliffs prolong,
With all their echoes far and near,
The burden of the minstrel's song.
"Is this the land," he faintly sighs,
"Where glory reared his crest of old,
And freedom to the cloudless skies
Her crimsoned flag in wrath unrolled?"
"Is this the land," he fiercely asks,
As memory goads him with her sting,
" This land where bondsmen ply their tasks
And kneel before an alien kin?




IET.l18.J      A  VISION  OF GREECE.                        143
"Is this the land where Xerxes fled
Alone, unarmed and in dismay?
Is this the noble Spartan's bed?
Can this be proud Thermopylke?"
As the last echo dies away,
A hollow voice responds to his"Can this be proud Thermopyle? "
The answer comes —" It is, It is! "
And see! above the hallowed tomb,
Where sleeps the Spartan and his men,
Their ghosts seem mustering in the gloom,
And rallying for the fight again.
Behold! behold! the grisly band
Have seized upon their ancient pass;
Before them stalks in stern command,
The spirit of Leonidas.
One shout-one shout of ancient days,
And all is silent as before;
While from the cliffs a sudden blaze
Its blood-red light begins to pour.
Enough, enough, they work their will;
No sooner is the signal given,
Than from the crest of every hill
An answering beacon flames to HIeaven.
But what portentous sound is this,
Which rises with the rising dawn?
Half-stifled shouts from Salamis,
And cries of war from Marathon.
The spell is broken! Arm for fight!
Vengeance is sure, for God is just!
Greece has arisen in her might,
And spurned her fetters to the dust.
Again, again, from every height,
The war-cry sends its dread alarms;
Again the sun's returning light,
Sees renovated Greece in arms.
She invokes no more the fabled powers,
Whom erst her magic minstrels sung;




144                     ENGL1SH  POETS.                        1828.
But to the wind from all her towers,
The banner of the Cross is flung.
No more the heathen anthem rings,
To Mars from her embattled posts;
Her sovereign is the King of kings,
Her patron is the Lord of Hosts.
See land and ocean, tower and mast,
Teeming with countless throngs of men'!
The dream of servitude is past,
And Greece is now herself again.
The constellation of poets that about this time continued
to fix the attention of the world and dazzle the eyes of the
critics, could hardly fail to be an object of considerable attraction to the author of these verses. As canto after canto, book
after book came out, they were eagerly read by Mr. Alexander,
as well as by his two older brothers. None of the gifted
writers whose productions swarmed during this period and
filled so much of the labours of Mr. Jeffrey and his coadjutors in the Edinburgh Review, seems to have exerted a more
decided impression on the style of Mr. Alexander than those
of Lord Byron. The American student was richly qualified
to appreciate intellectual excellence of this sort, and his
quick soul must have kindled under the inspiration. The
correspondence, therefore, can hardly be altogether accidental
between the stirring numbers of "the Childe" and the nervous
diction and peculiarly sonorous rythm of every scrap of verse
that fell from that young scholar. And yet the poetry of
Addison Alexander is as original and sui generis as his prose.
Some of the very themes* on which Byron loved to write
were also favourites of Mr. Alexander's.  Much of this was
doubtless due to a partial similarity of tastes, and perhaps
* To say nothing of such familiar pieces as " The Isles of Greece," I need
only point to the LXXIII. stanza of the second canto of Childe Harold, and the
spirited translation of the Greek war song AeTi3e'radEs'cV,'EXXAYWv of Riga,
"Sons of the Greeks, arise." Both of the last named contain like allusions to
Leonidas and Thermopylhe. The stanzas given in the text will not suffer in
comparison with this animated lyric.




AT. 18.]            CHANGE OF STUDIES.                       145
a resemblance of native talents.  But he was now about to
enter more and more heartily upon the business or a translator and interpreter of foreign tongues, and to turn his back
upon the captivating East and the blandishments of poetry.
Like the Shepherd in Lycidas after a wistful retrospective
glance, he was soon to cease his song.
He touched the tender stops of various quills,
With eager thought warbling his Doric lay;
And now the sun had stretched out all the hills,
And now was dropped into the western bay;
At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue:
To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new.




CHAPTER IV.
THE first records which I have been able to find of Mr.
Alexander's studies as preserved in his own journals are now
to be laid before the reader. The earliest allusions to his
literary employments are contained in the two letters to his
brother James, which have already been given.'"Jan. 1.-Arabic, Al Koran, Sura 19. Hebrew, Exodus, chap.
xix. Italian, Tasso, Ger. Lib. Canto 12. Latin, Cicero in Q. Csecilium.
German, Rules of pronunciation; Greek, Matthew, chaps. 1-4."
"Jan. 2.-Hebrew, Exodus, chap. 20. Persian, Hafiz (Nott's Ed.)
ode 16. French, Auxiliary verbs. Spanish, Don Quix. chaps. 27-28.
Greek, Matt. ch. 4-8."
"Jan. 3.-Hebrew, Exod. chs. 20-21. Arabic, Al Koran, Suras
19-20. Latin, Cicero in Ccelio, and pro Lege Manilia. German, Declensions of art., subs. and adj. Greek, Matthew, 9-12. Italian, Tasso,
G. L., Canto 12; wrote paradigm of reg. verbs."
"Jan. 4.-Hebrew, Exod. chs. 21-22. Persian, sundries. Spanish,
Don Quix. clls. 28-29. Syriac, Michaelis gram. alphabet, points, regular verbs. Greek, Matthew, chs. 13-16. French, wrote paradigm of
eleven regular verbs (bis)."
"' Jan. 5. —Hebrew, Exod. chs. 22-23. Arabic, Al Koran, Suras
20-21. Latin, Cicero Orat. pro Lege Manilia. Greek, Matt. chs. 1720. French, Description de l'Arabe, par Neibuhr. English, Byron's
poems. Italian, wrote translation of Historia Sacra. German, wrote
paradigms of ten auxiliary verbs."
"Jan. 6.-Hebrew, Genesis chs. 1-10; Exodus, 19-23.  Greek,
Matt. 1-6 and 20-28. English, Butler's Analogy, Intro. and ch. 1.
Italian, Tasso, Ger. Lib. canto 13."
"Jan. 7.-Hebrew, Exodus chs. 23-24. Persian, Persian controversies, xlix-liii and Gulistan of Sadi. Syriac, Matt. chap. i: 6-17.
Spanish, Don Quix. chs. 29-30. Greek, Homer's Odyss. Lib. 1. Mark
1-4. French, par. eleven regular verbs."
"Jan. 8.-Hebrew, Exodus, chs. 24-25. Arabic, Al Koran, Suras
21-22. Latin, Cicero's orations. German, revised nouns, adjs. and




MET. 18.]                  JOURNAL.                           14k7
verbs. Greek, Mark, ch. 5-8. Italian, wrote translation of Historia
Sacra."
" Jan. 9. —Hebrew, Exod. chs. 25-26. Persian, Pers. contro. and
Gulistan. Syriac, Matt. ch. i. v. 18-25. French, Levizac's grammar
and irregular verbs. Spanish, Don Quix. ohs. 30-31. Greek, Mark,
chs. 9-12."
"Jan. 10-Hebrew, Exodus, chs. 26-27. Arabic, Al Koran, Suras
22-23. Latin, Cicero, pro Archia poeta. German, the whole of Wenderbork's grammar. Greek, Mark, chs. 13-16. English, Otway's
plays. Italian, paradigms of regular and irregular verbs; translation
of Historia Sacra."
"Jan. 11. —Hebrew, Exod. clhs. 27-28. Persian, Gulistan of Sadi.
French, regular and irregular verbs. Spanish, Don Quix. chs. 31-32.
Greek, Luke, ch. i."
"Jan. 12.-Hebrew, Exodus, chs. 28-29. Arabic, Al Koran, Suras
23-24. Latin, Cicero. Greek, Luke 1-3. English, wrote * communications for the Philadelphia Monthly Magazine, viz.: 1. A dramatic
fragment. 2. The Fall of Ispahan. 3. A Vision of Greece. 4. The
Tears of Esau."
The diary of the next few days presents more fully his
method of studying the various languages which now occupied his attention. What is extracted from these entries is a
specimen of all.
"Jan. 14.-Read: in Hebrew, Exodus, chs. 29-30.-May not our
canopy be derived from  the Hebrew:n:, a wing? The shadow of
wings is a frequent expression in the Bible. There is another derivation, more curious, and I think much more certain: I mean that of
each from.'i: The use of this word as a distributive pronoun in
Hebrew is very remarkable. One to another would be properly
translated.n.m   x bI     a man to his friend or brother. Nor is this
mode of expression confined in its application to human beings, nor
even to animals in general; We find it used in Exodus with things
which it would scarcely be possible to personify. For example;-' The
five curtains shall be coupled' Irnn r isx m..'twomarn, (or generically female) to her sister,' i. e. one to another,'And other five
curtains shall be coupled woman to her sister.' Another peculiar idiom
which occurs to me is that in which the word son is used in connection
* That is, i think he means, revised, copied and posted them.




148                    DAILY  STUDIES.                       t1828.
with the number of years to express a man's age. To give one example
out of many!Cin ros ~t3-   ni' Noah was the son of six hundred
years.' This may perhaps be explained by the fact that the terms
expressive of natural relations among men, such as father, mother, son
and daughter, are frequently used to express relations of a different kind
and between different objects; a large proportion of the Arabic proper
names being formed by this rule. For example-' Father of power,'
i. e. the powerful. I have never, however, met with this idiom in the
books of Moses in reference to any thing but the length of life."
"2. In Spanish. Don Quixote, chls. 32-33. The most elaborate
passage in this work of Cervantes which I have yet met vwith, is,'La
Novela del curioso Impertinente.' Indeed, from the pains which he
takes to introduce all his episodes, it is evident that he laboured them
with a care which he did not give to the main story. To this fact he
seems to allude himself when he speaks of the enjoyment which his
hero had been the means of affording to the world,' no solo de la
dulzura de su verdadera historia, sino de los cuentos y episodios della,
que la misma historia.' If the author had any partiality for this
episode,' La Novella,' it was certainly not a blind one. This story is
finely conceived, ingeniously developed, and elegantly expressed. The
speech of Lothario in opposition to the proposal of his friend is so fine
a specimen of ethical argument and eloquence, that the reader is
tempted to exclaim, as Sancho to his master-' Mas bueno era onestra
merced para predicadore que para cabellero andante.' The following
sentence contains a strong but most expressive description of the effect
of suppressed sorrow,-' No exensaras con el secreto tu dolor; antes
tendras que lioras contino si no lassimas de los ojos, lassimas sangre del
corazena.'
"3. Persian. The Gulistan. Persian and Hebrew  are radically
distinct, in their genius and structure, as well as vocables. They agree
however in this remarkable circumstance, that the government of one
substantive by another is denoted by a change in the latter and not
the former as in almost all other languamges.  The cardinal number
for six is the same also in both the Hebrew and Persian languages.
The Persian agrees with the Syriac (a derivative of Hebrew) with
respect to the definite article, which is formed in both by adding a
vowel at the end of the noun. The coincidences between the Persian
and English are very numerous and striking, and are rendered more
Fpmgrkable, by the fact that many of the words common to both are
simple, original, primitive terms used in ordinary intercourse, and not
mere technicalities."




ET. 18.]              ENGLISH  READING.                      149
" 4. In English. (1.) Sir Williaml Jones's anniversary discourse on
the Philosophy of the Asiatics. I read this with a view to the composition
of an article on the same subject. Sir William, however, speaks principally in reference to the Hindus. I should confine myself to the Mohammedan nations. (2). The Edinburgh Review. Review of the Hamiltonian System. I find I have adopted this systemn unconsciously in
teaching J. A. and P. S. C. the Italian language. The principal difference is this that I introduce grammatical inflexions at an earlier period.
My rule is to give a short lesson translated word for word. When the
meaning and combination of words is learned, to give the paradigms
of the verbs contained in it to be committed to memory, and explain
the other grammatical difficulties before proceeding further. (3). The
Red Rover, vol. 2, chs. 1-7. I am fond of beginning with the second
volume of a novel. It makes the first doubly interesting. I think the
comparison, or rather the equalizing, of Cooper with Scott is highly
unjust for these causes following:-1. Scott, it is evident from every
page of his works, is a man of taste, Cooper not. (2). Scott is always
at his ease; Cooper, constrained, and apparently striving after something unattainable. (3). Scott is always perspicuous.  His pictures
are not only striking in distant view, but perfectly intelligible in all
their parts. Cooper, on the contrary, is often obscure, and that when
he has no intention to be mysterious-and his descriptions frequently
leave the mind confused and clouded without any definite image to
occupy it. Cooper may be a man of more depth and strength of feeling; but Scott is vastly his superior in liveliness and fertility of fancy.
Cooper relies on the interest of his scene, and, at most, on variety of
incident, to arrest the attention of his reader. Scott enchains it by
the delineation of character. All Cooper's passages may be resolved
into one or two varieties; and of these few, some are unnatural and
even monstrous; while Scott has an endless diversity, and all of them
true to nature. The only passage in Cooper's writings I have met with
approaching to sublimity, is the description of the storm in the first
volume of the Pilot; but although the advantages as to scene and circumstances would appear to be on his side, that description is nothing
when compared with the escape of Sir Arthur Wardour, his daughter
and Edie Ochiltree from the sea, in the Antiquary."
"5. French. Telemaque, pp. 1-5.  Wrote paradigms of all the
verbs occurring in the above passage of Telemaque, being, in number,
thirty-five regular and sixteen irregular verbs; total, fifty-one."
"Jan. 15.-The finest passage which I have seen in the Koran is
the comparison of the excellence of the wicked to the lake of the desert




150                   EARLY  CRITICISM.                    [1828
(an optical illusion in sandy and hot countries), which occurs in the
chapter of light. I differ in toto from all writers who assert that
Mohammed, in devising a religion for his followers, proceeded upon
any regular plan whatever. We are too apt to ascribe motives to those
who never felt them, and regard as deep-laid contrivance what probably arose from accident. He was first an enthusiast; a half-mad visionary. In this character he began his revelations, and afterwards finding
their effect, became an ambitious aspirant after power. The idea that
he endeavoured to adapt his doctrines to the belief and propensities of
particular sects, I think unwarranted: not only from his ridiculous
anachronisms, but from the character of the stories which he gave as
sacred history. All that he has borrowed from the Scriptures has the
appearance of being caught from oral narration. When we consideir
the fondness of the Arabs for story-telling, we may readily believe that
the Jews and Christians who were among them found abundant employment in rehearsing impressive narratives of the Pentateuch and
Gospel. That these should take strong hold of Mohammed's mind,
then in a low condition is not surprising. By nature imaginative, he
may have brooded in secret over these historical facts, till he felt their
influence in a rising desire to emulate the ancient prophets. This I
believe to be the source of his Scriptural information. That he was
actually assisted in the composition of the Koran by either Jew or
Christian, I think improbable; because either would have given more
connected narratives. In his own, not only is the truth diluted, but
the facts confused and out of order, like the attempts of a man to repeat a half-forgotten story."
The following criticism gives us an insight into his early
tastes, confirming also the impressions and justifying the
inferences which we have already drawn from  other sources,
as to his amazing intellectual energy:
"Jan. 17. —Read the'Red Rover.' After reading this novel
through, I am inclined to think it the best, as a whole, of Cooper's
writings. The interest is far more intense and better supported than
in any of the rest. There is a sameness, however, in his descriptions
which nothing but the comparative novelty of naval romance enables
us to tolerate. The ships are forever'bending their tall spars as if to
salute' this or that object, and then'gracefully recovering their erect
position.' He is too fond, moreover, of'lurking smiles,' and'struggling smiles,' and other cant phrases of his own, which would appear




AT. 1s.]         STUDIES FOR THE MONTH.                   151
to indicate, that he had no very vivid impression of the object in his
own mind; but described rather by rote; so that his descriptions,
especially of men, are like set speeches, differing only in minor particulars, but capable of being adapted, by a little alteration to any
character. In denouement he is never successful. The winding up of
his novel is wretched in itself and rendered more so by its resemblance
to the closing chapters of the' Spy.'"
This plan of writing down his thoughts on the studies and
readings of the day he kept up for several weeks. I continue
to quote from the journal:
"Jan. 26.-I have been reading the past week nine chapters in
Hebrew; seven chapters in the Koran, and one in the Arabic New
Testament; twelve chapters in the Italian Bible; two in the Persi;an
New Testament; two in the Spanish do.; one in the German do.;
three chapters in Don Quixote, and several passages in Telemlque."
"Jan. 31.-During the month which is now closing, I have read
thirty-two chapters in the Hebrew Bible, all of them twice and 1most
of them three times; seventeen Suras in the Koran —all of them twice
except the first and last. I have also, within this month, begun the
study of the German language, and made such progress as shall be
mentioned hereafter. I commenced reading the Greek Testament on
the first of the month, but discontinued it after finishing two gospels.
On the 11th inst. I commenced the practice of repeating what I read
in Hebrew in Martini's Italian version, which I have regularly continued. On the 25th inst. I procured the 5th volume of Walton's
Polyglot, and since that date, have read the Scriptures in six languages on the following plan. 1. Leviticus in the morning; in Hebrew critically, (i. e. with grammar and lexicon). 2. The Gospel of
John in the morning in German-critically; at night in Spanish cursorily. 3. The Gospel of Matthew in the morning in Persian —critically; at night, in Arabic cursorily; repeating every day the readings
of the preceding. These readings have, since the 25th, been my standing orders of the day, which I was not at liberty to set aside. My
moveable orders of the day, which might be dispensed with, if necessary or shifted from one day to another, were —1. The critical reading
of Don Quixote in Spanish. 2. The reading of Telemaque in French.
3. All English reading; and lastly, composition. On Sundays I have
been in the practice of repeating the portions of Scripture read during
the week."
"Feb. 2.-During the past week I have read, critically, 1. In




152               STUDIES FOR THE WEEK.                     [1828.
Hebrew nine chapters in Leviticus. 2. In Persian, five chapters in
Matthew. 3. In Arabic, eight chapters in Matthew and four Suras in
the Koran. 4. In German, five chapters in John. 5. In Spanish,
eight chapters in Don Quixote. 6. In Italian, nine chapters in Leviticus. 7. In French, all the first book of Telernaque."
"Feb. 9.-During the week which began on Monday the 4th and
closes to-night (for I exclude Sundays), I have read'critically-that is'to say, with strict philological attention, and with the usual aids of
grammar, lexicon, &c., as follows: —In Hebrew-Lev. 14-23; In Persian, Matt. 9-14; in German, John, 8-13; in Arabic, Koran, 39-42;
in Spanish, Don Quixotte, 39-41. In French, Telemaque, one Book.
During the same period I have read cursorily —that is to say, with a
view to philological improvement, but with less strict attention to verbal accuracy and grammatical niceties, (besides repeating in this way
every day the portion read critically the day before) as follows:-In
Arabic, Matt. 9-14; in Italian, Lev. 14-23; in Spanish, John 8-13.
In addition to the above I have read attentively,'Goode's Book of
Nature,' ii.-vii., and skimmed over Dunham & Clapperton's Discoveries
in Africa. To conclude, I have recovered my knowledge of the Syriac
Alphabet, and acquir ed the Ethiopic."
"Saturday night, 12 M., Feb. 16.-I have, during the past week
finished in Hebrew, Leviticus, the third book of Moses, having been
employed upon it since the 25th of January. It was not so pleasing a
task as the perusal of Genesis, and Exodus (I speak more critico) —so
many words occur of which the meaning is at best uncertain and the
whole is so generally confined to a single subject, that there is comparatively little room for philological [investigation]. The 26th chapter, however, is very eloquent, and it is very interesting to observe
the difference in the design and character of the different books of
Moses thus far. The first is a picture of the ancient world and patriarchal times; a history of the chosen people while favoured by the
Deity but still living in the midst of other nations and complying with
their custolns. But the second begins the story of their sufferings
and their wrongs, their deliverance and their government, and their
journeyings toward that land where they were about to be established
as a peculiar people. The third contains the detail of those singular
ceremonial observances which were to be the badge of their distinction
from the rest of the human race.-I have also finished, during this
week, the same book in Martini's translation, having read every day
since the 16th of January (Sundays excepted) the same portion critically in Hebrew and cursorily in Italian."




AET. 18.]         QUARTERLY  RETROSPECT.                   153
These records, spreading before us as they do an exact
chart of his course at this time, give one a good idea of his
thoroughness and system  in laying the foundations of his
subsequent attainments. He continued to work under this
schedule through  the  summer months.  His labours are
summed up in the quarterly retrospect following, viz.:
"March 31.-The first quarter of the year 1828 is this day completed. A detailed review of all my studies during that period would
be but a repetition of the foregoing pages. Laying aside therefore the
consideration of subjects attended to accidentally, or on particular
occasions, and of those which I have begun, and for various reasons
abandoned, I shall confine myself to a consideration of my advances in
the six languages which have been the regular and special object of
my attention.
"I. Hebrew. In Hebrew I have read since the 1st of January, the
last twenty-one chapters of Exodus; the whole of Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy, and the first fifteen chapters of Joshua; in all a hundred
and thirty-three chapters.
" II. Arabic. In Arabic I have read the last ninety-five chapters of
the Koran, and thirty-three pages in De Sacy's Arabic Chrestomathy,
besides the Gospel of Matthew in Walton's Polyglot; making (exclusive of De Sacy) one hundred and twenty-three chapters.
" III. Spanish. In Spanish I have read the last twenty-six chapters
of the first part of Don Quixote, and the first eighteen chapters of the
second part-in all forty-four chapters.
"IV. French. In French I have read the whole of Telemaque; the'Avare' of Moliere, and two acts of Racine's Andromaque, besides a
number of minor tracts.
"V. German.  The study of German I have begun within the
quarter, and besides Wenderbork's and Noehden's gram.nmars, hlave
read the gospels of Matthew and John, in Luther's translation, and five
chapters in the gospel of Mark —in all fifty-four chapters.
"'VI. Persian. In Persian I have read since the 1st of January
the Gospels of Matthew and John in Walton's Polyglot-and various
parts of the Gulistan of Sadi and the Tooti Nameh.*  The last two
works I use in MS. To these facts it may be added that I have
regularly instructed P. S. C. and J. A. in Italian; and have written
sundries."
" Or Tales of a Parrot.
7*




154                  VARIED  READING.                     [1828.
"April 24.-I was born on the 24th of April 1809, and am consequently nineteen years old this day. Since my last birthday, besides
parts and parcels of other works, I have read the following classical
works entire:
"1. In Hebrew. The Pentateuch of Moses; the books of Joshua,
Judges and 1st Samuel.-2. In Arabic. The Koran of Mohammed,
the Gospel of Matthew, and parts of Abulfaraj and Facklibeddin. 3.
In French. The Telemaque of Fenelon, the'Avare' of Moliere and the
Andromaque of Racine. 4. In Spanish. The Don Quixote of Cervantes.
5 In Italian. The Gerusalemme Liberata of Tasso and the Novelle of
Soave in two volumes. I am an enemy to all chrestomathies, collectanea, and other scrap-books for the students of any language. Where
no other books can be had, the use of such substitutes is compulsory;
but when entire classical works can be obtained, no student ought to
hesitate. The Quarterly Review very justly says, that a young man of
sense and diligence will learn vastly more Greek by one perusal of the
Iliad than by any attention to such compilations as those of Andrew
Dalzel. This has been my principle. When about to learn a language,
I have endeavoured to obtain a standard work of acknowledged merit,
and read it from end to end; and if no other such could be immediately obtained, my rule has been to read the first again. To the above
list I may add a sixth: 6. In German. The four Gospels, in Luther's
version. I have determined that in the ensuing summer, in addition
to my philological pursuits, I will read law, beginning with Blackstone's Commentaries."
The following entries give a minute history of his studies
for some time longer:
" June 30.-1. Since the 31st of March I have read in Hebrew, the
last nine chapters in the book of Joshua, the two books of Samuel, the
two books of Kings, the prophecy of Isaiah, and twenty-two chapters
in that of Jeremiah;-in all, one hundred and forty-four chapters.
"2. In Spanish, I have read during the same period the last fifty-six
chapters of Don Quixote, and some numbers of' El Mercurio de Nueva
York,' a weekly newspaper published every Saturday.
" 3. I have read in French the last two acts of Racine's Andromaque, the first two acts of Corneille's Menteur &c., and one satire of
Boileau's; also, the second volume of De Sacy's Arabic grammar.
" 4. I have read in Persian twelve tales (or chapters) of the Tooti
Nameh.
" 5. In German I have read the last eleven chapters in Mark; all




AET. 19.1     PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY FORMED.                   155
of Luke, Acts, Romans, and two chapters in Corinthians-in all eightysix chapters.
" 6. In Italian I have read the last seven cantos of Tasso's G. L.,
and the first eighteen cantos of the Orlando Furioso-in all twentyfive chapters.
" 7. In Latin, The Institutes of Justinian.
"8. In Greek, The tenth book of the Odyssey.
"In English, Coke upon Littleton and the second book of Blackstone's Commentaries-the latter a second time."
"Aug. 23. The Philological Society was formed this day cornposed of graduates and students."
The studies of the quarter are thus summed up:
" Sept. 30. 1. In Hebrew. Since the 30th day of June I have read
the last thirty chapters of Jeremiah —the prophecies of Ezekiel, Hoses,
Joel, Amos, Obed, Jonah, Micallh, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi, and thirty-six Psalms; —in all, a hundred and sixtynine chapters.
"2. Italian. The last twenty-eiglht cantos of Orlando Furioso.
"3. Spanish. Twelve numbers of' El Mercurio, &c.'
"4. French. The funeral orations on the death of Mar&chal Turenne by Flechiea and Mascara; the last two acts of the' Menteur' of
Corneille; other plays by same author and four comedies of Moliere.
"5. Arabic. Sundries in the Koran and Lokman's Fables.
" 6. Persian. Sundries in the Gulistan and the Tooti Nameh.' "7. Greek. HIomer; Ilias, I., II., XVIII.: Odyssey, I., II. Sophocles,
the Antigone, several hundred lines. No more.
" 8. Latin. The first Book of Cicero, de Inventione Rhetorica.
"9. English. Vattel's Law of Nations; the Federalist; the first
two volumes of Stewart's Philosophy of the Human Mind; thle first two
volumes of Kent's Commentaries on American Law; the third volume
of Blackstone's Commentaries (for the third time); and sundries."
There are several allusions to Mr. Alexander's astonishing
progress in his studies, in his brother's letters to Dr. Htall.
On the 4th of April he writes, " Addison has just completed
the Koran  in Arabic, a work which  few  have attempted
in America.   He  has  added  Spanish and  Italian  to his
list of languages;" * and on the 28th, " Addison has finished
* See Familiar Letters, Vol. I., p. 66.




156             SCENERY OF PRINCETON.               [1828.
Ariosto, and is now at Boccacio.  He has read about half
of Corneille, which I have also read. In Spanish Addison
began with Don Quixote and read it over and over."*  He
was, like every other person of taste, a great admirer of the
serious and gay creations of Cervantes, and laughed uncontrollably at the absurdities of Sancho Panza. He was almost
equally amused with Gil Blas, and despised the practice of
reading such books in translations.
It would be delightful to be able to look in upon t].e
young student as he bent his eyes over these tasks, murmuring the while like a swarm of bees in the warm sunshine. Princeton, the Princeton of that day especially, had
attractions alike for old and young people. The society of
the place was refined, intellectual, various, and agreeable, and
would have been pleased to receive the noted graduate, editor,
and magazinist to its bosom. Princeton is and was famous
for its fine level prospects, and beautiful sylvan walks along
the banks of streams that were still lovely, if not so fair and
beguiling as Cam or Isis; rustic shades which would have
well befitted the speculations of Plato, and verdant undulations displaying the fantastically wreathen roots of the beechtree, or the summer shadows of the oak or dogwood or sassafras,-with many a shining surface of reflected sky and softly
delineated cloud-where Isaac WValton might have pursued
his sweet meditations, or Virgil or Theocritus piped to their
imaginary shepherds. Every observing alumnus of the college
or resident in the town, has noticed the rare glory of the sunsets. Morning and evening, in good weather, nearly all the
young persons of the place seized the occasion to take pedestrian rambles over the village roads and into the surrounding
country. A wide lane shaded for a considerable distance by
noble elms led immediately front the college, through green
fields, to Stony Brook with its grassy meadow margins, and
its isolated groups of trees, or denser forest stretched along
the stream for miles. This lane commanded the rear view of
the old grey building yclept, at the suggestion of good Gov* See Familiar Letters, Vol. I., p. 109.




'ET. 19.]       DEVOTED TO HIS BOOKS.                 157
ernor Belcher, Nassau-Hall. This was from the college, south
as the crow flies. The main thoroughfare ran east, through
the open country to Kingston. The prospect to the west
was at that time full of umbrageous charm and shelter. To
the north was Rocky-Hill, with its immense boulders and precipitous acclivities. Nor were these various localities without
their actual or traditionary associations.
But the cloistered enthusiast was not vulnerable to any of
these influences. " None of these things moved him."  His
passion for literature, the rapid progress he was making in
different departments of science, his love of cheerful, indoor
solitude, his wonderful health and unflagging spirits, and his
native shyness, and repugnance to the awkward contacts of'
the world, overmastered every thing else. The Spring might
be never so balmy, the early Summer never so florid and inviting, the autumnal coolness never so crisp and bracing, and
the autumnal forests never so dreamily brown and crimson.
What were these things to "Addison "-as he was still known
among his old companions of the college and academy? He
was a citizen of the world of mind. IHe wandered in the
fields of thought. He took wing, and hovered over the continents of literature. He was deaf to the voices of ordinary
ambition. He coveted none of the intoxications of mere
pleasure.  "What"! he might exclaim, as he swept the
pages of the Gulistan or the Cyropxdia, " what! crave ye
wine, and have NILUS to drink of"?
Time was too short, it seemed to him, for any dalliance.
Some might have to exercise their bodies to preserve their
health; but it was different in his case; he was, as Wilson used
to say, " as strong as an eagle." He was as great a prodigy of
flesh and colour as of intellect. Why should he exercise his
body?  Of recreation, other than in the pursuits of philology
and belles-lettres, and in making fun for the bevy of children
that was always at his beck and call, he needed none, he cared
for none. His duty evidently was to inform and discipline his
mind. No! let others do as they liked; he would keep his
room; he would read the Bible, and the Koran, and Firdusi,




158            NUCLEUS OF A LIBRARY.               [1828.
and Dante, and Tasso, and Xenophon, and Sir Walter Scott.
This was to him, not hardship but joy; not slavery but freedom; it was his element. " Stone walls do not a prison make."
No swallow was ever happier in the sky, than he was among
his morocco-covered tomes. "Fishes that tipple in the deep,
know no such liberty "!
Of course his library was as yet but the nucleus of the
large collection he afterwards amassed. He was pretty rich
in English history, biography, criticism, poetry, and essays of
the Rambler and Spectator kind; in the Latin and Greek
classics; and in the learned helps in classical and philological
study, and in the principal modern languages; he had enough
in Arabic, but was poor in his darling tongue, the Persian.
What he lacked he could mostly find in his father's library,
or at the seminary, or at the college, or with his brother James
(who was devoted to books), or in the hands of Mr. Hodge,
Mr. Hall or some other friend. He was not much addicted to
the habit of borrowing, and what he borrowed he invariably
returned. A new poem from Lord Byron, or a new story
by " the great unknown," would excite his interest as it would
that of every cultivated reader of English; but he became still
more enthusiastically interested if he found (as he once did) an
Arabic manuscript or got wind of a new Arabic and Persian
dictionary.* The soft light of his candles fell upon characters
of the most uncouth description, and upon walls already burdened with folios and odd-looking grammars and lexicons. Yet
the bow was not always bent. IIe had his own peculiar pastimes. He would revel in the romantic poems of Spenser and
Tasso and Ariosto and in the wonderful chapters of the wonderful book of Cervantes; and the boys and girls were nearly
always welcome, whether for a romp or story.
During the month of October, he read in Hebrew a hundred and seventeen Psalms, and thirteen chapters in the
book of Proverbs; in French, all the comedies of Moliere;
in Italian, the whole of the Decameron of Boccacio; in
* He obtained access to Richardson.




AET. 19.]             BEGINS CHIINESE.                       159
English, the Paradise Lost and the first volume of Chitty
on Special Pleading; in German, Ruth, Esther and Jonah;
and in Arabic, all the historical passages of the Koran.
The months of November and December were occupied in
the study of the same subjects, with this addition-the commencement of the study of Chinese; as appears from his note
under Dec. 12.- "Learned the first six of the two hundred
and fourteen keys; to wit, those formed by a single stroke."
Whether he continued this study is not here recorded.  He
took it up again at a much later period, and prosecuted it far
enough to understand the structure and genius of the written
language. One of the volumes in which he kept his first diary
in Europe is marked with very many of the Chinese* word
signs.
I now give his review of the past year::" In reviewing the memoranda of my studies during the year 1828
contained in this book, the first circumstance which strikes my attention
is that they are almost exclusively philological. They have, perhaps,
been too much so; but I do not regret it for two reasons:-1. My
taste is, at present, strongly inclined toward philological pursuits; if I
were to postpone the indulgence of it, it would perhaps change its
direction, and leave me unwilling, and therefore unable to pursue
philology even so far as would be necessary. 2. Languages are the
keys to science, philosophy, literature, history, &c. &c., and should be
mastered early. The languages to which I have attended during the
past year are-Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, French, Italian, Spanish and
German." t
" 1. Hebrew. I have, since the 1st of January, 1828, read the whole
of the Old Testament in the original, with the exception of the book of
Genesis and eighteen chapters in Exodus, which I had read in 1827.:
In the perusal of the Hebrew Bible, I have not been very strict or systematic. I have freely used the English translation as an auxiliary,
and have seldom resorted to the grammar. I find, however, that I
* The reader will remember that it was this language which threw Mezzofanti into the brain fever, that caused him for a time to forget all his tongues.
t He for some reason omits to catalogue Syriac and Latin.
i This seems to confirm my judgment as to the true date of the letter to
his brother respecting the " Tears of Esau," etc. See above.




160             RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR.                     R1828
have insensibly acquired that sort (not degree) of familiarity with the
language which we get of our own tongue by colloquial practice. I
cannot run through the paradigm of any one verb perhaps, correctly;
but I recognize the individual inflexions when I meet with them, and
find little difficulty in translating simple sentences from the English
into Hebrew. But although this mode of acquiring the knowledge of
a language is the most agreeable, and perhaps the best foundation for
subsequent improvement, I feel that it is not, in itself, sufficient. I
therefore intend to accompany my second reading of the Bible (which
I expect to commence to-morrow) with an attentive study of Hebrew
grammar; always excepting the accentual system, which I design to
leave untouched. I also design to adopt the practice of writing Hebrew exercises; which practice I have found exceedingly improving in
French and other languages. I am surprised that this is neglected by
Hebrew students, since the exactness of our English version furnishes
the greatest facility for doing it with pleasure and success. [In a note
to this, dated Dec. 31, 1832, he says: —" I afterwards changed my
opinion on this subject, and my mode of study too."] *
" 2. Arabic. In Arabic I have read during the past year, the last
ninety-six Sunrs of the Koran; one or two articles in De Sacy's Arabic
Chrestoinathy, and the Gospel of Matthew as contained in Walton's
Polyglot. The early age at which I commenced the study of this
language (nine or ten), and the almost constant attention which I have
given to it since, have made me perhaps as familiar with its genius
and construction as those of any other I ever studied. It is, however,
very difficult as to its grammatical forms and rules, while its vocabulary
is like an ocean. I wish to pursue it further. I have lately copied out
of the Koran all the historical passages upon which I intend to write
explanatory notes, and add a glossary and compendious grammar.
The exercise will be useful to myself and may enable me to afford
assistance to others.
"3. Persian. In Persian I have read, during the past year, the
Gospels of John and Matthew contained in Walton's Polyglot; about
fifteen tales in the Tooti Nameh, or Tales of a Parrot, and sundry parts
of the Gulistan of Sadi. Of this charming language I am passionately
fond; and nothing but the want of proper and necessary books prevents my pursuing it extensively. I have written for one or two, but
have heard nothing yet respecting them.
* This probably refers to the scheme as a whole. He never undervalued
the importance of writing every language that is to be really learned.




ET. 19.]         MEMORANDA  OF DR. RICE.                    161
"4. French. I have been accustomed from my infancy to read
French books without a dictionary, and, like most persons who have
any previous acquaintance with the Latin, found little difficulty in
catching the general idea, in ordinary cases. As I felt, however, that
I was acquiring a pernicious habit of superficial study, and had various
reasons for desiring an accurate knowledge of the language, I began in
January the study of the grammatical forms and rules, which I mnastered without difficulty; and have since read-Le Telemaque de Fenelon; six tragedies and une comedie de Corneille; Toutes les comedies
de Moliere; Le Sidecle de Louis XIV.; Le Petit Careme de Massillon;
and various detached articles in different books. Since Dec. 1st, I have
also taken lessons from M. Louis Htargous of Trenton, a Frenchman,
educated for a priest, but now a teacher of French and Spanish. I am
already sensible of the advantages arising from the instructions of a
living teacher, and intend to continue my attendance upon him, in conjunction with my private reading of the best authors." *
It is unnecessary to make further selection, as the rest
of this retrospect consists merely of the names of the books
he read in Italian, Spanish, German, English, Greek  and
Latin, which have already been inscribed on these pages.
An admirable viev of what Mr. Alexander was at this
period of his private and social relations, may be obtained
from the following extract from  a letter of the Rev. John 11.
Rice, D. D., of Mobile:
" I saw Addison Alexander for the first time in July 1828. I was
then just ten years old. I had come on from Petersburg, Virginia, in
order to go to school at Amherst, Massachusetts. My father, mother
and elder sister accompanied me. We came to Princeton by stagecoach from Trenton, and stopped at Dr. Alexander's, where we spent
several weeks. I think it was the evening of the day of our arrival,
that I met Addison on the back porch of his father's house. I can
recall his appearance as vividly as though it were yesterday. He w as
unusually fleshy, as he continued to be until a short time before his
lamented death, and wore at that time the glasses which continued to
be a necessity for him during his whole life. I was told that he lead
lately graduated at Princeton College, though at the time I did not
* Mr. Alexander thought a great deal of Mr. Hargous, and they were much
together; as his diaries attest.




162            OLD BLACK AND PETER ARUN. -                 11828.
know what that meant. He was then the same shy, diffident, retiring
person that he was in after life. He seemed averse to going into the
house, where his strange uncle and aunt were; but I, being a boy, was
running about the house everywhere with the boys who were a little
younger than myself. Upon going out upon the back porch I found
Addison there. He greeted me cordially, and very soon began to tease
me about Virginia, my provincial dialect, and the enormous use of calonmel which he affected to believe was the chief article of the diet of the
eastern Virginians. I had heard that he was a great student and very
learned, and at first was a little afraid of one who was then regarded as a
prodigy. You know how fond he was of children, and with what wonderful skill he would entertain them for hours when he had the requisite leisure. I had been but a day or two at Dr. Alexander's, when I
felt as familiar with Addison as though he had been a boy of my own
age."  [He was a few months past nineteen.]  "He very soon, I believe it was the second or third evening after my arrival, began to tell
me his celebrated story of'Old Black,' which every child who ever
enjoyed his intimacy will remember. It kept us all in a continuous
roar of laughter, so that I often rolled over the floor of the room beyond all power of self-restraint; which seemed to afford him a great
deal of quiet amusement. This story of' Old Black,' which consisted
of a series of ludicrous mistakes and blunders of an old serving woman,
he evidently improvised, inventing the incidents as he related them.
These alternated with a similar story of a serving man, whom he called' Peter Arun.' He also took occasion of our intercourse to impart in
the pleasantest way a great amount of valuable information, some of
which I retain to this day. Before I left Princeton he presented me
with my Life, printed with the pen in a number of small volumes neatly
stitched and bound in blue covers. It was written with all the formality and seriousness of an actual biography. These I kept with
great care until they were literally worn out. You know how children always loved him. So I became devotedly attached to him during
the few delightful weeks that I spent at Princeton in the summer of
1828, weeks made delightful chiefly by his wonderful skill in entertaining
children. I left Princeton for Amherst, Mass., in September. Soon after
I received a letter from Addison written on folio post paper, giving me
a playful account of everything that had taken place in Princeton since
my departure. He continued to write these large letters to me, at intervals, during the four years that I remained at Amherst. Among
them were several which seemed to me then to be the most wonderful
productions of human genius. And I confess that they still appear very




'ET. 19.]       THEIR CIIARACTERISTICS.                163
extraordinary. They were written in the form of poetry or verse; and
being read entirely across the page, were in verse of one measure and
one sense, but being read half-way across, made poetry of another
measure and the opposite sense. With him such a performance required no labour, it was dashed off with greater ease than I can
scribble these recollections. I kept all these letters with affectionate
care, but in the lapse of time and my many interruptions, they have
disappeared. They would be worth to me now more than their weight
in gold. They were all written on the largest sized folio post paper."
The above sketch presents a true picture of Mr. Alexander
as he appeared to me when I was a boy; though as has already
been said, he never appeared to any two persons in precisely
the same way. There was doubtless, too, a greater effervescence of youthful spirits at the time referred to by Dr. Rice than
at any time within my own recollection. The story of " Old
Black" has been graven upon my memory with a pen of iron.
I have heard it in one or other of its innumerable variations a
hundred times. It is given in full, in one of its forms, in " Wistar's Magazine; " which was the most elaborate and curious of
all the works he prepared for children. The story of " Peter
Arun " was of a somewhat higher grade, and passed through
full as many transformations. Old Black bore a shadowy
resemblance to Mrs. Malaprop, and the whole thing was in
a style of broad farce. As printed with the pen, it is given
in the form of a dialogue between Old Black and Mrs. Bald.
The two characters are as distinctly drawn as those of Dickens
or Fielding, and are natural and unexaggerated like those of
Goldsmith. The characteristic of Peter Arun was shrewd
mother wit combined with a sort of hilarious insouciance,
which ventured to the most reckless lengths, yet without a
particle of fear, without real malice, with imperturbable
sang-froid, and with no serious ill consequences. Seldom
was a character better sustained or managed with more
adroitness or humour. Peter's repartee is as poignant as it
is endless. The " Wistar's Magazine" contains the correspondence between Mr. Arun and a gentleman whom he had
wilfully but in perfect good humour offended, and whom he




164             JOHNSON, CROW, LANE.              [182&
had provoked to a challenge. It is a ridiculous burlesque on
the duello and the code of honour, and in point of rich, intellectual, mirthfulness deserves a comparison with some of the
best parts of " Le Bourgeois Gentilhommze." Another of his
famous stories was " Linn Lane," and still another, "Wickliffe, Johnson, Crow, and Lane." These were delivered orally
and were indefinitely varied to suit the character of the circumstances and of the auditors. They were chief favourites
with the younger children, and have seldom if ever been surpassed by the most renowned caterers for the little boys and
girls. They were as original and showed genius as plainly
and decidedly as his lectures in the seminary. Linn Lane was
sometimes introduced alone: sometimes in company with
W. J. and C. He had a voice that still rings in my ears, and
that was as inimitably peculiar and laughable as some of the
cries of the parrot. Sometimes it was Linn Lane among the
Indians: sometimes it was Linn Lane at school: sometimes it
was the incorrigible little wag and mischief-maker following
and with his comrades mocking the unfortunate Wickliffe,
who had a squeaking voice. When the bass tones of Johnson
were mingled with the bland tenor of Crow, the shrill pipe of
poor Wickliffe, and the forever indescribable quavering outcry of Lane, all uttering the same words, and all but one of
the performers uttering them in the way of gibe and mockery;
the effect was sometimes perfectly irresistible. It was often a
wild burst of laughter, a chorus of shouts, and a series of delighted childish questions. The result was in part a triumph
of ventriloquism, or at least of histrionic mimicry, in which
the face and, throat were changed to meet every emergency.
Sometimes the raconteur would laugh himself in a quick uncontrollable way, as if the fun of the thing had just struck
him for the first time. More commonly, however, he was perfectly grave, and only showed his interest in what was going
on by the animation with which he told his tale.
The year 1829 was entered upon with the same studies
which occupied his mind during the preceding.  Particular
attention was paid to the Greek. We shall still find him




WET. 19.]         READING FOR THE DAY.                     165
going to foundation principles; mastering all the grammars
he can lay his hands upon, and reading critically all the best
Greek authors. He also acquired the modern Greek.
Specimens of the diary, showing the way in which he
spent his time at this period, may not be considered out of
place here, and will be read without weariness by a large class
of book-lovers, and students of strange biography.
"Jan. 14. After breakfast went to consult Prof. Hlodge about a
proofsheet of the Repertory, and remained there in conversation till
11: then returned and read the twenty-first chapter of Genesis in
Hebrew; then read a review of Gieseler's Kirchengeschichte in the
Studien und Kritiken of Hamburg, written by himself; then removed
my book-case and a number of my books from my chamber above
stairs to the dining-room below; then read the general catalogue of
the Seminary just published, and looked at the National Gazette of
yesterday; then glanced at the British Critic for July 1828-particularly at the account of the proceedings of the two Universities; then
glanced at Ewald's book on Arabic Prosody; then read the preface to
Rosenmiiller's Arabic grammar; then wrote an abstract of Gieseler's
article aforesaid, to be inserted in the Repertory; then read the 27th
chapter of Isaiah in Hebrew; then read a part of chapter five in
De Sacy's Arabic grammar; comparing it with Rosenmiiller's, which
appears to be a translation of De Sacy; then read the 28th chapter of
Isaiah; then wrote a foolscap-sheet of French exercises; and thento bed."
Another specimen is from the journal of the next day:
"Jan. 15. Read a part of the 29th chapter of Isaiah in Hebrew;
the 4th chapter of Louis XV.; the 4th chapter of the 2d section of
Condillac's Essai sur les Connaissances humaines, in French, and the
12th chapter of Don Quixote in Spanish; then wrote the 6th and 7th
exercises in Josse's Spanish grammar; then read about a hundred lines
in the Clouds of Aristophanes; then read about the same number in
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; then went to the Philological Hall, to
attend a meeting of the Board of Criticism of the Philological Society,
and received from the President an anonymous translation of Horace's
Book 1., ode 22, to criticise. Read in the Hall the 14th canto of
Dante's'Inferno,' and finished the article on Arabian Literature in
the Foreign Quarterly Review; returned home and examined the




166         ARISTOPHANES AND SHAKESPEARE.                  [1829.
anonymous translation aforesaid, noting down some observations on
the same; then read a review of Hase's Dogmatik and Gnosis in
the Theologische Studien; then read the remainder of Isaiah 29 in
Hebrew; then read De Sacy's Arabic grammar; then read Shakspeare; then read Genesis 22, 23, in Hebrew; then wrote a sheet of
French exercises-and to bed."
I find, under date of Feb. 10, 1829, in a detached fragment,
in the shape of a little manuscript book, in Mr. Alexander's
early hand, the following critique upon the two dramatists
mentioned above:
"'I have finished the famous Clouds of Aristophanes, but can
scarcely say what my feelings and opinions are as I close the book.
Such a combination of extremes, intellectual and moral, I have never
before known. Such transitions from earth to heaven, from Parnassus
to the dunghill, are to me new and startling. Shakespeare is unequal,
but his inequalities are nothing to the fits and starts of Aristophanes.
The English poet never dives so deep into pollution, nor rises, in point
of artificial elegance, so high as the Athenian. Shakespeare's genius is
obviously untutored. His excellences and his faults are perhaps equally attributable to his want of education. It is altogether probable that
many of these original and most significant and poetic modes of expression which he has introduced into our language, arose entirely firom
his ignorance of grammar and of foreign tongues. Had he been familiar with technical distinctions and etymological analogies, his
thoughts would have been distracted between words and things. The
dread of committing solecisms, and the ambition to exhibit that sort of
elegance which results from the formal rules of an artificial rhetoric,
would have cooled his ardour.  His'muse of fire' would never have
reached'the heaven of invention,' but would have stayed its flight
amidst the clouds and mists of puerile conceit. I never read any of
Sht:kespeare's real poetry (for much of his verse is most bald prosing)
without feeling, in my very soul, that no man could write thus, whose
heart was fixed on propriety of diction, as a principal or even a secondary object. He seems to have let his imagination boil, and actually to
have taken the first words which bubbled up from its ebullition.
Hence his strange revolt from authority in the use of ordinary words
[in senses] as far removed from common practice as from etymology.
And that reminds me of another circumstance. In the common blank
verse of his dialogue, not only is he habitually careless, but seems not




AET. 19.]    ARISTOPHANES AND  SHAKESPEARE.                  167
to know (in many cases) the method of constructing a harmonious verse;
and perhaps his broken measure is more dramatic than one smoother
would be; certainly more so than the intolerable tintinnabulum of the
The~'tre Franqais. But let him rise into one of his grand flights, and
his numbers are as musical as the'harp of Orpheus.' I defy any man
to bring forward any specimen of heroic blank verse, where the rhythm
is as melodious as in some passages of Shakespeare, and the sense at
the same time within sight-I mean comparably good in any degree.
Milton, you say, &c. But who can read the Paradise Lost without thinking of the square and compass? Even when we admire, we admire
scientifically-we applaud the arrangement of the caesuras and pauses,
and are forever thinking of iambuses and trochees and hypercatalectics,
and all the hard words that Milton himself would have dealt forth in
lecturing upon his own versification. Whereas, I do verily believe,
that Shakespeare knew no more of Prosody, than of Animal Magnetism or Phrenology. Thompson, again, is among our finest specimens
of rich and musical blank verse, but Thompson is laboured too; not in
Milton's way, by weight and measure, but in a way no less artificial
and discernible. He is always lIbouring to make his lines flow with
a luscious sweetness: Every body knows that he succeeds, but every
body, alas, knows how. He does it by presenting words in profusion,
which are at once dulcet to the ear and exciting to the imagination.
The method is the only true one, but he carries it too far. One strong
proof that Shakespeare was a genius and a unique one, is that his excellence is not sustained and equal. Moonlight and candlelight shed a
uniform lustre, but who ever saw or heard of a continuous flash of
lightning? Our bard trifles and proses and quibbles, and whines (but
always without affectation) till something (whether accident or not I
cannot tell) strikes a spark into his combustible imagination, and
straightway, he is in a blaze. I think a good rocket is a capital illustration of his muse of fire. First we have a premonitory whiz-then a
delicate but gorgeous column of brilliant scintillations, stretching away
into the bosom of heaven and at last dying away in a shower of mimic
stars and comets of tenfold-of transcendent brightness. What then?
Why then comes darkness visible, or at best a beggarly gray twilight.
But in talking thus to myself, I forget what I am about. I beg:an with
Aristophanes, and have been raving about Shakespeare. All I have to
say, however, about the former, is, that he is a perfect contrast to the
Englishman. He is evidently a master of the art of versifying, but he
knows how to temper the formality of systematic elegance with the
charm of native poetry. Compared with the Greek tragedians, his




168               ENGLISH  METAPHYSICS.                   C1829.
flights of choral and lyrical inspiration appear to great advantage. More
coherent and intelligible than 2schylus, more vigorous and nervous
and significant than Sophocles, more natural and spirited than Euripides; he notwithstanding excels them all in the music of his numbers,
and the Attic purity and terseness of his diction."
No one can pursue these records far without acknowledging the astonishing industry and versatility of the stripling
scholar. And then the effrontery with which he marches up
to a new language with which perhaps few of his seniors are
at all acquainted, is fairly startling. His taste in letters, too,
is peculiar certainly, but also at once robust and refined.
"Feb. 17.-The historical style of the Arabs is very curious. It
varies indeed, in different cases. Some of their histories are florid,
inflated, and verbose. Others, and, I suspect, the great majority, are
hasty, confused and crude enumerations of heterogeneous facts. I was
amused in looking over some of the historical facts in De Sacy, to
observe the exquisite taste exhibited in the arrangement and enumeration of events; e. g. Makrizi says, speaking of Hakem, the Imaum of
the Fatemists,'He commanded that all dogs should be killed, in consequence of which a multitude were put to death. He founded a college called the " House of Wisdom," to which he transferred the royal
library. He was very cruel to his running footmen; and a number of
them he put to death.' What a circumflective climax, pour ainsi
dire? Dead dogs-colleges-libraries-running footmen! "
His notions about the literature of English metaphysics
are fresh and unusual, but not ignorant.
"Read the 5th and 6th chapters of Brown's Lectures on the philosophy of the human mind. The first four I read last summer, and was
then disgusted with the book. I know the reason; for reading Stewart's Philosophy just before, I had been drawn off from that elegant
writer's statements to his style, which, in my opinion, merits well to
be regarded as a model of purity, elegance, and perspicuity. When I
took up Brown, I judged him rather rhetorically than philosophically;
and finding his sentences (though full of meaning) to be long, involved,
sometimes obscure, and often awkward, I grew tired of him. On this
second trial I view him with other eyes. I can recognize at once, the
fire of genius and strength of intellect. I should imagine that the




JET. 19.]            BROWN'S LECTURES.                       169
lectures were posthumous, and published as he pronounced them. A
good delivery might have made them captivating, and perhaps they
were so.* On paper they are not so well, in point of style. There are
too many parenthetical expressions, and some excessively intelligible
explanations of his meaning, which, however useful and necessary in
the lecture-room, or when orally delivered, the author's task would
have curtailed in revising for the press. As to matter, though metaphysics is a terra incognita to me, I can readily perceive he shows
power and skill in drawing nice but strong distinctions and detecting
latent fallacies."
The next day he writes thus of Brown:
"He is a wonderful man, it must be owned. For length of sentences and fulness of illustration-rather, of explanation-lie is remarkable. He holds up an idea in all imaginable points of view, and never
seems satisfied till he has exhausted all explanatory ideas and expressions. But he never loses,nor forgets himself; and, what above
all pleases me, he never cants, i. e. he never uses phrases just because
other philosophers have used them, though they may mean any thing
or nothing quoad hoc. As to his doctrine of Cause and Effect, it
sounds well and seems true; but I am not satisfied. He seems to deny,
though not directly, that we can conceive of any power or causation,
except immediate invariable antecedence. Now I certainly can conceive of a power which has never yet been exercised, and which, perhaps, never will be.
" I admire Brown's ease and vivacity, especially as it exists in combination with so much depth and penetration. There is no scholastic
stiffness, nor repulsive technicality about the annunciation of his most
important doctrines. And what other metaphysician since the world
began would have quoted Gulliver and Martinus Scriblerus? This
marks the man of taste, judgment, and independent spirit. An inferior
writer would have been afraid of lowering his subject by citing such
authorities. The true philospher takes a just idea of a striking illustration, even from the mouth of a buffoon."
I find him next engaged with Dante. About the middle
* Everybody is of course familiar now with the enthqsismr they awakened
at the time, and with the fact that they were commonly dashed offW in a hert?
the night before.
8




170                 DANTE AND  SPENSER.                     1s829.
of' February he was occupied reading the Purgatorio. Here
are some of his remarks in the way of comment:
"[Feb. 19.-This part of the Divina Commedia begins with a metaphor in which the poem is represented as a ship and the subject as
the sea upon which it sails. I felt a good deal relieved on finding that
he calls the argument of this second part miglior acqua in comparison
with the preceding one. I feel now more than I did when actually
reading the Inlferno, that the poetry of Dante, like all truly original
composition, produces an original-I mean, peculiar and unique impression on the mind. Ilis conceptions of Hell, revolting as some of them
appeared (I mean poetically revolting to the taste and judgmlent) have
left their traces on my memory and fancy more strongly than the
refined but less substantial and tangible creations of Milton's genius.
The Purgatorio opens where the Inferno ended, at tlhe exit of the poet
from the infernal regions. I must confess that I have no precise idea
respecting the locality of the aperture; though Dante described it, or
intended to describe it, with becoming accuracy. For, of all poets,
past and present, he is the most trigonometrical that I halve ever met
with."'
To show still further his versatility, I give another record
made on the same day:
"Read the 4th Canto of the Faery Queen. I cannot but admire,
more and more, Spenser's wonderfill descriptive talent. His pictures
of the six passions, in this canto, exceed in vividness and truth any
description that I have ever read, without exception. I begin now to
suspect that Spenser's forte was in describing loathsome objects, and he
certainly does it with a master hand. I feel his excellence the more
on comparison with Dante. I may, through ignorance, do the Italian
bard injustice, but it does appear to me that he was deficient in a talent
which Spenser possesses in a singular degree-the talent for discriminating and appropriate description.  How striking is the adaptation
of the six beasts to the character of their respective riders themselves.
A few characteristic trait, and circumstances are selected as the prominent features of each portrait, and are exhibited in strong relief, without the aid of vague generalities and cant terms. I can actually see
Slot]h'still dro"wned in sleep and most of his days dead,' nodding along
upon hlis ass;-Gluttony, sweating and vomiting upon his swi;ne;Lechery, suffering the reproachful pain of that foul evil,'that rots




2ET. 19.]             SCOTT'S NAPOLEON.                       171
the marrow  and consumes the brain;'-Avarice, counting o'er his
pelf; and, above all, Envy, with a snake in his bosom and a toad between his teeth,'the poison running all about his jaw,' weeping that
cause of weeping one he had; but when he hears of harm, wtaxing
wondrous glad. I forgot Anger. That picture too is very fine, especially the redeeming and afflictive circumstance thrown into the description. The poet goes as far as nature goes and no further. He
does not unite a fierce and irritable, with a cold-blooded and deliberate
malignity (traits seldom, if ever, actually found in combination), but
with exquisite truth and knowledge of the heart, after telling us that'of his hands he had no government, ne cared for blood in his avengement,' adds, that'when the furious fit was overpast, his cruel facts he
often would repent.'"
"Feb. 20. Read Isaiah 54, and Genesis 43 in Hebrew. At the
Philological Hall, read the 3d and 4th cantos of Purgatorio; also examined Kennicott's Hebrew Bible and Wetstein's Greek Testament.
I wish they were both upon my table.  [The books from this library
could not be taken away.]  The former is a noble work. After reading the Hebrew Bible with the points, I find it much more agreeable to
read without them. In the historical parts I can supply most of the
points which affect the etymology, and the whole seems much more
neat and simple without such a multiplicity of marks.
" At home again; wrote the 25thll exercise in Josse's Spanish grammar.  Finished the 3d chapter of Levizac's Gramlnaire Francaise.
Read the first chapter of Voltaire's Histoire de l'Empire de Russie sous
Pierre le Grand. Finished the 2d chapter of Horne. Finrished the
extracts from  the books of the Druses.. Read the 33d chapter of
Scott's Napoleon.  Notwithstanding the literary faultiness of this
book, there is much that is valuable in it. The nature of the subject
makes it interesting, maigre lui, and the good sense and acute observa-.
tion of the author, make it frequently instructive.  His reflections,
particularly those derived incidentally firom individual facts, are often
worthy of preservation. No attributes can contribute more to the popularity of a new government than an appearance of conscious strength
combined with clemency; since the spirit of opposition, despairing of
success but not of personal safety, gradually sinks into acquiescence.
As a specimen of style, it does Walter Scott no honour. His phraseology is often rendered vulgar by excessive straining after classical
simplicity and colloquial ease. He is sometimes ungranmmatical and
frequently inelegant. But nothing disgusts me more, than the frequency
and stiffness of his similes and illustrations, which, however well they




172                    SCOTT S STYLE.                      [1829.
might appear in an epic poem, or even in a higher species of romance,
are too recherche and affected for a work like this. In a word, they
are too good. I observe, too, a disposition similar to that of Brown, to
borrow illustration from works of burlesque humour. But oh, how
far different the modus operandi! There is no work of a historical
description, which exhibits such a multitude of striking, ingenious, but
unreasonable illustrations, as this of Scott's —always excepting Tom
Moore's Life of Sheridan, which may be regarded as a perfect model
of the far-fetched, pretty style, and John Q. Adams's Ebony and Topaz
toast, which, sonorous as it was, is a sealed book, I believe, even unto
this day. My impression, on the whole, is that Scott wrote mainly in
the hope of reward; which accounts for the crudeness and rudeness of
the composition; unwisely availing himself, however, of the opportunity to surfeit the public with a profusion of good sayings, which if
retained in his commonplace book might have eked out a thousand
dialogues in a hundred new Waverleys to come."
" Feb. 23. Read ten sections in the first book of' Cicero's Academical Questions.'-My dabblings in the modern and oriental languages must have vitiated my taste most lamentably; for I protest that
this Ciceronian Latin is to my eyes, ears and understanding the most
lumbering, clumsy, formal style imaginable. Every thing seems elaborate and artificial; the terms and expressions that are meant to be
most colloquial and familiar, ate so studied and distorted, and the
inversions are so wilful, wanton, and grotesque, that I have no patience
with the thing at all. How is it, and why is it that the Latin verse of
Virgil, and especially of Horace, is much more natural and ealsy, and
consequently so much nearer the language of common life, than the
Latin prose of Cicero? Why, because neither Horace nor Virgil was
a conceited, affected, pedantic, pompous, egotistical, verbose, jack-ofall-trades."
He had now become sufficiently familiar with the Hebrew
to be able to distinguish and appreciate the styles of the dlifferent Bible writers.  His observations on this head will be
found to possess a fascinating and even popular interest:
"March 4. Read in Hebrew the 3d chapters of Exodus and Jereiniah. I can now perceive distinctly the diversity of style in the
Hebrew Scriptures. Isaiah and Jeremiah are as unlike as any two
classical or modern poets. The genius of the former is characterized
by vigour, elevation and impetuosity. He deals much in animated ex



ET. 19.]          PERSIAN  NEW  TESTAMENT.                   173
hortation and severe invective. Jeremiah on the other hand is calmer
and more equable. There seems to be a vein of melancholy running
through his composition. One thing is common to them both, as it is
indeed to all oriental writers; a figurative mode of expression. Even
in this, however, they are different. Isaiah's metaphors are lively and
animated; those of Jeremiah more subdued: both are graphic and impressive. I prefer the Pentateuch to any other book, as a genuine
specimen of primitive, unsophisticated simplicity of style. There is
nothing puerile on the one hand, nor inflated on the other. The
exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is one of the finest subjects in the
world for an epic poem."
"April 18. Read in Hebrew, Exodus and Jeremiah xxxv. Looked
through Jorton's Life of Erasmus. —Rezeau Brown* returned to-day
from New Haven, after an absence of ten days. lie brings as curiosities two Arabic letters written in Syria, and brought over by Mr.
Brewer as waste paper. They are apparently addressed to a Mr. Bird.
I am surprised to find the hand so much like my own. With a little
practice, and a good pen, I could equal it-I think. He has also brought
Henry Martyn's Persian Testament, borrowed from Professor Gibbs of
Yale. I have long wished to see this book, and am delighted to obtain
it. I have no printed Persian books, and should prefer a version of the
Bible; because with my familiarity with its contents, and, in some
measure, with the original, I can gather more instruction from it than
from any other book. The Polyglots, it is true, contain Persian versions; but their purity and correctness, are, to say the least, equivocal.
Now Martyn's version has been made within the last twenty years,
and in circumstances which afford good ground for the presumption
that it is a good one. 1st. Martyn was a man of genius and a scholar;
an upright man and-devoted to his work. 2d. He had previously finished a version with great labour which was thought too Arabic (llis
assistant having been an Arab) whereupon he instantly resolved to recommence the task. From this circumstance I infer, 1st, that his
whole soul was in the thing, which ensures fidelity and accuracy; 2d,
that although his first translation was imperfect, it must have quo:lified
him for the second, in a very great degree; 3d, this version was prepared at Shiraz which has been called'the Athens of Persia,' where
the purest Persian is spoken,-and with the assistance of an intelligent,
refined and educated native; 4th, it was read before the Shah, who
signified his approbation of its execution. It has also been approved
* Bis bosom friend. of whom we shall know more presently.




174                   GREEK WRITERS.                       [1829.
by many of the Persian literati. The first edition of this translation
was printed at St. Petersburg, soon after Martyn's death. This impression, I have sean it somewhere mentioned, abounded in errors of
the press which rendered it not only partly unintelligible, but in some
cases even blasphemous. Even this edition I should have been pleased
to see, though it would not have answered all my ends. I am pleased
to find, however, that the one before me is a Calcutta edition of later
date. Persian literature is so zealously and thoroughly pursued at the
metropolis of British India, and the latter has given to the world so
many valuable impressions of oriental works, that I feel little doubt
that this book, though by no means elegant, is perfectly correct. It is
an octavo of 741 pages, with the following title-page in English:'The
New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; Translated from
the original Greek into Persian, at Shiraz, by the Rev. Henry Martyn,
A. B. Late Fellow of St. John's College, and chaplain on the Bengal
Establishment; with the assistance of Meerza Sueyed Ulee (Mirza Seid
Ali) of Sheeraz, Calcutta: Printed by P. Pereira, at the Hindoostanee
Press for the British and Foreign Bible Society in the year 1816.' The
leaves are uncut, and Prof. Gibbs did not recollect that the book was
in his library. It is probably the only copy in America."
The continuation of the journal will afford the reader an
agreeable change of topics. The extraordinary character of
these youthful records must acquit them of the charge of
monotony.
"April 27. This is my Greek week; and I have begun to-day at
the foundation, reviewing Moore's grammar through and through,
and reading Valpy's Delectus Sententiarum Graecarum, an excellent
book for beginners. It is not only perfectly intelligible, but contains a
chosen selection of golden sentences. Some of the sayings of the old
philosfophers are wonderfully striking. As I extend my acquaintance
with the classic writers I am surprised to find so much acuteness and
wit, as well as wisdom, in their sayings. We are apt (I mean the ignorant and partially informed) to think them admirable only by comparison-a sort of silly naivete as their chief characteristic; at least this
has been my own case. When I think of the Greek writers whom I
hive not read, I think of them-but no matter, I am every day more
an;d more disabused. The little book above mentioned I have read
through to-day."
" April 29. I have finished to-day the fifty chapters of Neilson's




ET. 20.]       LETTER FROM  HIS BROTHER.                    175
Greek Exerc'ses, and am sensible of having derived great benefit from
the perusal. The Latin sentences I have passed over, as also the supplemeontal exercises on the dialects and poetry, because I intend, at
present, to confine myself to prose and to Attic prose. I shall take up
the book again hereafter and go through with it. I have also revised
again to-day, Moore's rules for the formation of the tenses. I am more
and more convinced, every day, that this grammar is the best for elementary instruction that was ever written. It does not twaddle like
the German books, about the original forms and progressive changes
of the etymology, butr, gives rules for deducing the parts of the language
as they are."
" May 4. Read in Greek about five hundred lines in the first book
of the Cyropaedia. My object is to recover and extend my acquaintance
with the forms of the Greek Grammar. For this purpose I run over
the tenses of every verb on its first appearance, and often afterwards.
This requires a frequent recurrence to the lexicon."
About this time he received the following letter from his
brother James.  The date on the outside is MIay 5.  His
brother sends him  Botta,* and had previously sent the Greek
Prayer-Book concerning which we shall presently find him
writing to Mr. Hall.  The letter contains so many allusions
that it would be hard to sum them up in a sentence.
"Hoping that William will call again I venture upon a few lines.
I send you Botta, which will be exactly in place after Scott. [Scott's
Napoleon which he was reading]. I think you will admire it, especially
as it is not marred by the absurdity of fabricated speeches. The Greek
prayer-book I also sent. I imagine it is made for the Greek Catholics
of the islands near Venice. See Carter's travels. Also, a letter of
John Hall's which contains some notices which may interest you. John
is an excellent correspondent in all such matters. He spares no pains
in answering every question I send him, even when he has to turn over
whole volumes in the library. As to the Review, all I know is this:
Walsh c:lled at Littell's and said that he thought the whole edition
would sell, and that a very favourable review of it would be in the
next Americln Quarterlly Review. I very highly approve of your devotion to the Greek, and of your ardour in the pursuit, as well as the mode
of critical study which you have adopted. You would probably find all
* I presume, his "Floria d'Italia," etc.




176                  SCOTT'S NAPOLEON.                     [1829.
Xenophon's works interesting, and then might be prepared to undertake Plato.' Das pou sto' is attributed to Archimedes, as' Richard is
himself,'-' So much for Buckingham,' are to Shakspeare, and'a sweet
morsel under the tongue,' is to the Bible. Who invented the sayings I
know not. I have found the origin of Byron's' hell of waters,' the expression which he applies to the cascade of Vellino (Childe Harold, iv.,
69). When the German poet Lenz visited the cataract of the Rhine at
Schaffhausen, he smote his thigh, (a classical gesture as per Homer,)
and cried' Hier ist wasser-holle.' Stolberg's Travels, I., 85. Next to
Mitford's Greece will stand Halsey on antediluvianism, for chasteness
and harmony of language. I have sent for an Italian Les-Buch on the
Hamiltonian plan, this being the nearest approach I can make to a living teacher; thus I hope to learn the vexatious niceties which puzzle
one so much in a new language."
I again resume my extracts from the journal:
" May 6. Read in Hebrew, Numbers 1, and Ezekiel 13.-Read in
Greek and Persian, Matt. 16. Finished the first book of the Kvpovra&eIs, and read the whole over. Finished the second volume of Scott's
Life of Bonaparte. On page 18 there are two attempts at illustrative
allusion, so to speak, which is his favourite method in this work. One
of these is pretty good; it is about vengeance and dragon's teeth. The
other is horrible; it is in these words:'Every obligation according
to the making of the civil law, is made void in the same manner in
which it is made binding; as Arthegal, the emblematic champion of
justice in Spenser's allegory, decrees as law, that what the sea has
brought the sea may resume.' I can scarcely believe that a man of
taste and genius could be guilty of such absurdity. Appealing to a
character in an allegorical poem for proof of a maxim in law, and
that, not in the way of a direct quotation, but with all the formality
of a pleader citing an adjudged case. Here is a match for it:' Every
thing projected from the earth will, by the law of gravitation return to
it again'; as the little ragged boy who cleans my boots says, when he
plays sky-high,'What goes up must come down; let every man take
care of his crown I'"
" May 14. Read the 8th and last book of the Cyropaedia. I have
read this book with great satisfaction. My principal object has been
to recover and extend my knowledge of the Greek etymology, but my
interest in the subject and admiration of the style diverted my attention in a great degree from mere grammatical forms. Xenophon is
one of those writers whose personal character seems to be exhibited




AT. 20.]          ESTIMATE OF XENOPHON.                      177
in all their compositions. Throughout this book I have conceived an
idea of the author as a man particularly amiable. There is a suavity
of temper which pervades and characterizes the whole work that is
very charming. No harsh or intemperate terms are used, even in his
censures of vice; nor is there any thing biting or sarcastic in his
humour.  He is indeed more like Addison than any modern writer
whom I know. As to his style, I am struck with its transparent perspicuity and dignified simplicity. By-the-bye, the words simple * and
simplicity are very equivocal in English. They have become, by
usage, almost contemptuous, a character which does not belong to the
primitives in Latin. We are apt, therefore, to attach to the expression
simple style an idea of something stale, flat and unprofitable. But the
genuine simplicity of classic writers is not the simplicity of simpletons.
It is not the childish naivet6 of unsophisticated ignorance. It is the
simplicity of men who had ornament at command, and exhaustless
sources of rhetorical embellishment, whose taste forbade an undue use
of them. In every page Xenophon shows himself to be familiar with
the highest learning that was known in the times in which he lived;
as well as endowed with elevated intellectual powers. His simplicity
is therefore the result of an exquisite refinement which entitles him to
the epithet which has been given him, ArTLK&'aros~.t Tilis book, which
I have read as a romance, without making any research pro. or con. in
relation to its character, deserves the highest admiration. The purity
of moral principles, which it formally inculcates, and what is still more
important, the perfectly unexceptionable character of the work itself,
astonish me. I cannot help feeling some amazement at the wonderful
superiority of the best heathen writers over the infidel authors of
modern times. That the former, in an age of gross superstition and
idolatry, and in the midst of the blackest abominations, should have
breathed a spirit so much purer than that of men born in an enlighlltened age, reared in a state of society, hostile, at least, to external vice,
and with all the advantages of Christianity, is truly wonderful. What
a figure does Voltaire make by the side of Xenophon! This charming
writer delights me also by his delicate wit, and his nice discernment
of character."
In May the Directors of the Seminary held their semi* There are some fine remarks to the same purport in the Greyson Letters.
jt This is directly in the teeth of the strange assertions of Macaulay in his
Essay on History.
8*




178                  HEARING  SERMONS.                    (1829.
annual meeting. At this time he heard several distinguished
preachers. A strong impression was made upon him by Dr.
William  Nevins, of Baltimore.  The record of fact and feeling is interesting:
" May 17. Morning sermon by William Nevins of the First Church,
Baltimore.'What is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world
and lose himself?' A fine specimen of studied oratory. The anode
of uttering every word seemed to be preconcerted; yet the preacher
had so much tact, taste, judgment, and, above all, unaffected earnestness and tenderness of feeling that be was truly eloquent. As to the
matter, the plan of the sermon was ingenious and to me noble. Instead
of explaining the quest on in the text as denoting an absolute negation,
he undertook to answer it by setting forth the advantages of sin in all
their strength and breadth. This was, of course, a very hard thing to
do well. The general strain of the discourse was necessarily half
ironical, and it was necessary, here and there, to throw in a solitary
caution in order to prevent the fascinations of iniquity from having
more effect than the countervailing benefits of holiness, which were
only exhibited by implication. And this the preacher managed wonderfully well."
On the evening of the same day, in contrast with the
former, he heard a sermon from another preacher of some distinction whom he thus describes:
"He seems to be a sincere honest man, but is one of the new
school of preachers, who place more dependence on the way in which
they say a thing, than on the intrinsic weight of the thing itself. He
seemed to be always making use of stage tricks for the production
of effect, an artifice rendered more apparent and ridiculous by the
homely simplicity of his improvisations in point of style. Thus he
tried to startle the assembly by interspersing divers observations between the verses of the introductory hymn. He even talked about the
philosophy of the mind, in this appropriate and decorous connexion.
Then in his sermon he placed great dependence on the mystical repetition of the same thing thrice, thus:'Will you tell a lie? Will you
tell a lie? Will you tell a lie?' accompanied with an equal number
of hard slaps upon the Bible. He also thought proper to display some
specimens of weeping on a grand scale, so obviously forced, if not
feigned, that they did more harm than good. How unfortunate that




ST. 20.1              JOSEPH  SANDFORD.                     179
a man apparently sincere and unquestionably zealous should resort to
such poor trickery to bolster up the weakness of the gospel! His text
was,'Is there no balm in Gilead?' The introduction consisted of a
question in the rule of three, the answer required being the relative
number of souls lost and saved since the beginning of the world. It
was as regularly stated and worked out as it could have been by Pike."
On the 18th he heard a sermon preached before the Directors, and thus notices it:
" May 18th. In the evening, semi-annual sermon before the Directors of the Seminary by Joseph Sandford, of the Arch Street Presbyterian Cliurclh, Philatdellhia. Nothing original in the conceptions or
new in the mode of expression; but the most finished taste and sound
judgment in the selection and arrangement of the materials. The
delivery was fine. I had heard of Sandford's pulpit eloquence, but
supposed him to be an oily, measured, studied speaker. On the contrary, there is no appearance of artifice in his manner. He has a noble
voice and commanding figure. The unimpassioned parts of his discourse were pronounced in a subdued tone, with great dignity and
distinctness; the animated passages, with great richness of intonation
and admirable spirit. He cited and applied to America the Scriptural
allegory of the cedars of Lebanon. This part of his sermon, could not,
I think, have been delivered better. Text:'And while Paul tarried
at Athens his spirit was stirred within hlim.' "
"May 30. Read in Hebrew, Numbers 25-26 and Ezekiel 36-37.
Read in Greek the first book of Xenophon's Anabasis. I can easily
perceive that this is not such a book as the Cyropuedia. It is evidently
written with less care and less attention to rhetorical elegance. From
the abruptness of some of the transitions, and the baldness of some of
the narratives, I should think it was a transcript of the author's memorandum book. Still it has all the excellences of the Xenopllontic style.
And the very circumstances which I have here mentioned render it
the best Greek book for beginners, as Professor Porson used to say it
was. Read in French the second and third books of Voltaire's Charles
XII. Read in Persian and Greek Matt. XXVII.
In the absence of other data relative to this period, except
those which are furnished by the diary, and a hint here and
there in letters, it will doubtless be agreeable to the reader
to be put in possession of the full particulars which have been




180           RECOLLECTIONS OF DR. RICE.                [1829.
kindly communicated by Dr. John H. Rice. The description
which this gentleman gives of Mr. Alexander's habits at this
time, will answer in some degree as a flowing outline sketch
of his habits when making visits to the city at a later day.
The minutiae of the pictures are not the same. Indeed his
plans and occupations during these visits were as different at
different times as one can well conceive. Sometimes he had
taken his carpet-bag in his hand and gone on to preach a sermon for one of the city ministers, by special request. Sometimes he had arrived in town with the absorbing purpose of
making a commentary before he left it. On such occasions he
kept himself very close. | Sometimes again, he went merely to
disport himself amidst the fantastic excitements of the crowded
streets; to make trial of the various hotels; to step into restaurants and cafes; to move noiselessly and unobserved in the
throngs of men; to see the signs and listen to the street-cries;
to refresh his eyes with the spectacle of the flashing shopwindows; to gaze upon bannered pageants and military processions; to lose himself in strange places and strange scenes;
to avoid the officious notice to which he was sometimes subjected at Princeton; and to read in the many-leaved volume
of human nature, which in the city always lay open for his
inspection.
But I will not detain the reader from the reminiscences
of Dr. Tfice.
" In 1829," he says, "my father moved firom Petersburg, Virginia,
to New York city. During our residence there Addison made us frequent visits, which were usually extended from two days to a week.
He was at that time diligently engaged in the study of the French
language, in which he afterward became a proficient. I had enjoyed
unusually favourable opportunities for learning to speak French, and
Addison seemed to think that he could gain something by conversing
with me. As I had nothing to do at the time, and was not going to
school, we spent almost every day in wandering over the city together,
going to the least attractive and most obscure portions of it, and observing the manners and habits of the poor and vicious classes. We frequently walked through the Five Points and the adjacent purlieus, and




sT. 20.J            VISIT TO NEW  YORK.                   181
saw a great deal of the street-life of the destitute and abandoned. You
perhaps have remarked that his local acquaintance with the city of
New York was such as hardly any one ever attains who has not been
born and brought up there. Much of his knowledge of the various
phases of human nature, which seemed so wonderful in one who was
generally regarded as a man of the study and of books, was probably
picked up in these and similar rambles through New York, and other
great cities in both hemispheres. Though very short-sighted, yet by
the aid of glasses he could see more than most persons whose vision is
perfect. Our intercourse was carried on entirely in French, neither
of us ever speaking English, except to discuss some question of French
idiom or pronunciation. His observation was exceedingly quick, and
his memorv the most extraordinary I ever knew, unless it be that of
his brother the Hon. Wm. C. Alexander, now of New York. I recollect that once, as we were walking near the Five Points, he called my
attention to a sign over the door of one of the most dilapidated houses,
the floor of which was below the level of the sidewalk. The sign read,'P. Brady's school.' Upon looking in we could see no sign of school
of any kind: the front room was one of the lowest of low grog-shops.
That school seemed to make a great impression on his mind, and he
referred to it in my presence years afterwards.
" You know how much he delighted in the solitude of a great city;
where he could see, yet not be seen. While my father's family resided
in New York, he felt free to come and stay with us. He stayed in my
room, and we spent a good portion of every night, after we had retired,
in talking over the adventures and rambles of the day. His conversation at that time was characterized by the same sprightliness, unaffectedness, and exuberant flow of humour. I never could perceive that he
intentionally undertook to teach me anything, but you know he was
the most skilful of instructors, and I doubt not that he made ineffaceable impressions on my mind at that time, and in a good measure gave
direction to my thinking; so that I am to this day reaping the benefit
of our familiar intercourse. I continued to see him thus occasionally
at New York and during visits which I made to his father's house in
Princeton, until he sailed for Europe."




CHAPTER V.
MR ALEXANDER'S only intimate friend at this period, and
the only bosom friend he ever had, was Rezeau Brown,* a son
of the Rev. Isaac V. Brown, of Lawrenceville, a village in the
neighbourhood of Princeton. During the course of the year
1829 the two young men studied Hebrew together. It is
nowhere asserted, but is not intrinsically improbable, that
Mr. Brown received the rudiments, or perhaps the first suggestion, from Mr. Alexander, and that afterwards they proceeded
together in delightful and congenial co-operation.
The character of this lovely youth was in some respects
so remarkable, and his relation to the subject of this biography so close and tender, that no apology is needed for the
insertion of what follows.
Rezeau Brown was born September 30, 1808, at Lawrenceville,
Hunterdon (now Mercer) county, New Jersey, and was consequently
about seventeen months older than his Princeton friend. Not long
before Rezeau's birth, his father had assumed the pastoral charge of
the Presbyterian congregation in the little hamlet, which is only five
miles from Princeton. A few years after, though without relinquishing his duties as pastor, he became the head of a flourishing classical
school at the same place.
Rezeau entered a common English school in his native village at
the age of four years. His precocity was remarkable, and he-made
rapid advances; being especially distinguished for his aptness in ac" A pretty extended memoir of Rezeau Brown (of which I have made free
use in preparing the above account) will be found in the Bib. Rep. for October, 1834, from the pen of the Rev. J. W. Alexander. The accuracy of this
account is confirmed by short but eulogistic letters from the Rev. I. V. Brown,
Dr. Miller, and Dr. Archibald Alexander.




At. 20.]               REZEAU  BROWN.                        183
quiring the knowledge of arithmetic. He was fond of study, but even
at this early period had a feeble constitution. It was noticed that
(like Alexander) he was not much addicted to the usual boyish amusernents, but derived his " chief entertainment from intellectual pursuits."
When it became proper he was admitted to his father's classical seminary, where for a number of years he enjoyed the direction and judicious care of this affectionate parent. The facilities here afforded were
not wasted upon him. He was very soon distinguished in every branch
of study. Especially in the various lines of mathematical pursuit, he
displayed a quickness and a maturity of understanding which were
rare; passing through the details of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, not
only with ease, but with delight, in no case requiring to be urged, and
in scarcely any to be assisted.
At this time the greater part of those who were connected with
Mr. Brown's academy were young men approaching to manhood, and'
some of them of adult age. Yet even these, we are assured, were
accustomed to look up to Rezeau for assistance, while he was yet a
child.* There are those still wilo rememnlber "the pleasing appearance of this promising boy, his symmetrlical form, his manly grace of
motion, and that beauty which arises from the light of intelligence
playing upon features of perfect regularity."
In the autumn of 1823, being then fifteen, he was admitted to the
Junior class in the college of New Jersey; thus being at the same age
and entering the same collegiate class with his friend Addison, who at
the expiration of a year strictly followed his bright example. Addison
was at this time at the Academy. During the period of his connexion
with the college, Rezeau was much absorbed in the appropriate studies
of the course, and like his young compeer, was uniformly in the first
rank of distinguished scholars, and received the highest literary hlonour
at the close, though a number of his competitors were young men more
advanced in years. There are but few particulars of his college life
that have been preserved, but it is known that his favourite studies
were the mathematical and physical sciences, and that " his deportn-ent
was such as to win the regard of his friends and teachers." In his
strong partiality towards the exact sciences he differed strikingly from
his friend. About this time he was so fortunate as to be dorniciliated
in the family of his uncle, the late Dr. John Van Cleve, " who will
long be remembered in New Jersey as a skilful practitioner of medicine, a proficient in science, a citizen of probity and talent, and a
* Memoir in the Repertory.




184                  VISITS NEW  HAVEN.                    [1829.
church officer of wisdom and piety."  Rezeau was employed by Dr.
Van Cleve, who was at the time delivering a course of lectures on
chemistry, as an assistant in his laboratory. This engagement covered
the period of two successive winters, and the manipulations to which
it gave rise not only tended to develop his taste for the science, but
also helped to give perfection to "that manual tact for which he was
always distinguished," and to " awaken in him a desire to enter the
medical profession."
The severity and long continuance of his studies proved greatly
prejudicial, and subsequently fatal, to his health, which was always
extremely precarious.  His physicians accordingly put an interdict
upon his scientific schemes, and encouraged him in a purpose to seek
mental and bodily improvement in a tour to Ohio and Kentucky,
where he passed the autumn of 1825, and the following winter, in
active travel in company with a college friend. On his return, in the
spring of 1826, " he was seized with a violent affection of the lungs,
which reduced him to the brink of the grave."
In March, 1826, having in a measure recovered his health, he
proceeded to carry out his cherished purpose of becoming a physician,
and entered the office of his uncle. In March, 1827, he met with a
" change in his spirit," which gave a new direction and a new colour
to the remainder of his life. It was to this time that he and others
were accustomed to date his conversion.
At the time referred to there was a much-awakened feeling about
the soul's interests, both at Lawrenceville and Princeton. Rezeau had
stood out with positive and sturdy defiance. He was opposed to the
good work itself, its instrumentalities, and its conductors. At length
suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of God's mercy, he sank to the
earth. He was admitted soon after to the communion of the church
in the little rural village where he was born; to wit, in June, 1827.
The following winter he passed in New Haven, his main inducement being a wish to attend the lectures of Prof. Silliman, a gentleman
from whom he received much kind attention, and for whom he ever
afterwards entertained an affectionate respect. He frequented the
lectures of the medical department, and particularly the course in
chemistry and mineralogy. "At the same time, the example and aid
of, Professor Gibbs strongly incited him towards the pursuit of the
Oriental languages."  It may be that his Princeton friend had already
somewhat stimulated his taste for these unaccustomed studies, though
on this point there is no certainty. He also went through a course
of gymnastics, which in his case, if in any, was absolutely essential.




ET. 20.]          SEEKING  THE MINISTRY.                    185
But above all, during his residence at New Haven, he " grew in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Great
revivals were at this time agitating New England.
The summer of 1828 was spent in studies preparatory to a regular
course in theology, especially of the original Scriptures. In the spring
of 1828 he received and accepted the appointment of tutor in the college of New Jersey; which situation he held two years and a half.
His progress in religious things was now becoming more and more
marked.
In the spring of 1831 Mr. Brown renounced his literary employments in Nassau Hall, "under an ever-deepening conviction that he
ought to enter without delay upon the work of the ministry." He had
been for a year or two engaged in theological studies, and his name
was now enrolled afiaong the young men of the Theological Seminary
at Princeton. He revolved in his mind the plan of going as a missionary to the heathen; but the state of his health was an insurmountable
impediment.'His health was even then radically impaired, and his
spare frame, and- mild but bloodless countenance, were signals of distress by which nature seemed to warn him from any further seclusion.'
As a college officer he was "conscientious, faithful, and acceptable." He was often known to " assist in various social meetings in the
vicinity of Princeton: in one of these his prayers and exhortations,
and private admonitions, were made instrumental to the awakening
of souls."
The cause of Sunday schools was very dear to him, and " among
other important services, he prepared for the American Sunday School
Union the Memoirs of Augustwus Hermann Francke, which has proved
to be one of the most popular of useful works." *
In the month of April, 1831, Mr. Brown was licensed to preach
by the Presbytery of New Brunswick as a probationer for the gospel
ministry. Soon after this event a great awakening of religion began
to manifest itself in the county of Somerset, and not less than one
hundred and twenty-five persons were thought to be converted. The
zealous and unflagging labours of Mr. Brown were largely instrumental in the hands of Providence in the production of that gracious
result. In the month of October of the same year, he received an
appointment from the General Assembly's Board of Missions, to preach
* The German work of which this was little more than an English abridgment, was reviewed by Mr. Alexander in one of the early numbers of the Repertory.-See Bib. Rep., 1830, p. 408.




186                  IN  PHILADELPIIA.                     [1829.
the gospel in Virginia. The scene of his labours was the village of
Morgantown, in Monongalia county. He greatly endeared himself to
that whole community, and shed the fragrance of his piety into the
most secluded parts of the territory covered by his ministrations.
In June, 1832, he returned from the theatre of his painful toils
in Virginia, to his father's house. The bleak winters of the mountain
country had been too much for him. He was in as delicate a condition
of body as at almost any former period. "Shortly after his return, he
again connected himself with the Theological Seminary in Princeton,
and sat down to study with an intensity of application" which gave
well-founded alarm to all his friends. He busied himself in all kinds
of researches. His health again gave way. He refused a number of
flattering invitations, and among the rest a professorship of chemistry
in a southern college.
Mr. Brown pursued the regular course of study until the summer
of 1832, and after preaching a few weeks with much acceptance in the
city of Trenton, he was then prevailed upon by the solicitations of the
Rev. James W. Alexander (who was at the time the editor of the
" Presbyterian," a religious journal published in Philadelphia), to assist
him in that work. That winter was a season of deep sorrow for the
young editor, who was himself in dreadful health, and whose distant
home was in Trenton. Those were the days of the old coaches, when
the public vehicles in use were very slow and uncertain; making travelling no easy matter in cold weather, and rendering it almost impossible for one to reside at a distance and transact business in the city.
It was under these circumstances that he had recourse to his affectionate and tried friend, Rezeau Brown, whose willingness proved equal
to the emergency.  "He repaired to Philadelphia, and for a number
of months persevered in the faithful and assiduous performance of the
duties which he had assumed. The friend whom he came to aid could
never forget the generous ardour with which he wore himself down in
this employment; nor the pious principle by which he seemed to be
actuated. Even those minute drudgeries of the editorial life which
are almost mechanical, seemed to be conducted by Mr. Brown with a
direct view to the glory of Christ."
No Lord's day passed in which Mr. Brown did not preach at least
once. He was universally respected and beloved, and visibly improved
as a public speaker. "In spite of bodily infirmity Mr. Brown continued
to study, to write, and even to preach. Towards the end of March,
1833, he was seized with catarrh, and while under its pressure conducted two public services on the Lord's day. In the interval of




XT. 20.]              FAILING  HEALTH.                       187
services, he was observed to lie upon a sofa, pallid and exhausted. The
next day a hectic flush mantled his cheek, and his pulse was alarmingly accelerated. There was no time to be lost, and he hastened to
his father's house. The pulmonary disorder was evidently seated and
confirmed. It was no small aggravation of his solicitude that he had
matured a plan for a voyage to Europe, in company with an early and
most intimate friend." There can be little doubt that this friend was
no other than the subject of the present memoir. "For such a visit he
was eminently prepared by his course of study, his avidity in pursuit
of knowledge, and his acquaintance with the French and German languages. His object was to travel through the most interesting literary fields of Europe, and to repair to the chief universities of Germany,
to acquire the languages, and to complete his familiarity with biblical
and classical antiquities, Oriental letters, and the natural sciences.
There was every reason to believe that on his return he would have
received a professorship in one of our most distinguished colleges. His
passport was already obtained, his companion was awaiting his recovery, and letters of recommendation were furnished. "In some of these
letters, kindly furnished by Professors in Yale College, he is characterized as "a young man of extensive scientific and literary attainments, well skilled in the Hebrew language, and otherwise learned."
But Providence was opening his way to "a better country, even a
heavenly."
His symptoms from this time forward grew gradually worse. He
became weak and emaciated; "' his visage assumned the hue of death,"
and no one could fail to recognize in him the victim of pulmonary
consumption. All remedies failed; and he was evidently drawing
near his end. " He was generally exempt from acute pain, and complained chiefly of a lassitude which was almost insupportable." He
was fully prepared to lay aside the frail earthly tabernacle. All his
hopes were fixed on Christ and heaven.
In the month of July, he set out in company with a younger
brother; for the Red Sulphur Springs of Virginia, which have been
supposed to possess a specific virtue in such cases. Just before his
departure an intimate acquaintance, with whom he cherished a confidential intercourse from childhood, embraced a last effort of drawing
from him a statement of his religious views. Rezeau Brown was much
interested, and though he lay panting for breath upon the sofa, entered
into a free conversation. His friend addressed him thus: "Tell me
frankly, Rezeau, what is the prospect which you entertain of recovery? " He answered much as follows:




188                       HIS DEATH.                          [1829.
"'I have no expectation of recovery. I am fully acquainted with the
nature of my disease, and aware that I am a dying man. Sometimes an illusive hope plays about me; but my prevalent judgment is, that I am not long
for this world.'
"' And now, my dear R., what effect has this expectation on your feelings?
Do you regard death with terror?'
"'Not at all,' he replied;'I am relieved from all fear, and entertain a
calm hope of heaven.' He then proceeded, in words not now remembered, to
give a clear and satisfactory actount of his trust in Christ, and his resignation
to the will of God. There was no rapture, nor any strong excitement of feeling; indeed this seemed, in his case, to be precluded by the sedative and benumbing influence of the disease; but every word indicated a serene waiting
till his change should come.'
"He came back from the Springs without benefit. This was on
the 4th of September; and though he had talked delightfully and
peacefully during the homeward journey, he was now too ill to speak.
He declined the visits of any friends, except two, with each of whom
he conversed a few moments."
Who can doubt that these were the brothers James and
Addison Alexander; who were the two friends of his bosom,
and who clung to him in mournful apprehension that they
should be soon called upon to receive his last adieux?
"To a brother who inquired after his spiritual frame, two days
before his departure, he replied:'I have experienced some seasons of
fluctuation and depression, but my prevailing state is one of established
confidence and hope.' There was no visible indication of the change
until a short time before he fell asleep in Jesus. His departure was
then without a struggle or a groan."
The funeral was largely attended by the people of the
neighbourhood and a collection of persons from the literary
institutions of Princeton. The discourse was delivered by
the Rev. J. W. Alexander, from Rev. xxii. 3-5. Much and
tender feeling is said to have been exhibited on this occasion.
There was no one who knew him that did not love and admire,
and at the same time honour, Rezeau Brown.
In concluding the sketch of his life, his friend and biographer
adds, among others, the following interesting particulars:




AT. 20.]           TRAITS OF CHARACTER.                    189
" It may not be out of place to say that with regard to personal
appearance, Mr. Brown possessed every advantage. Though slender,
he was above the common height, and had the appearance of greater
strength than he really possessed. His whole exterior was marked by
graceful dignity; and his calm and somewhat pensive countenance, in
which regularity of feature was joined with an expression of intelligence and gentleness, was highly prepossessing of his manners; it is
enough to say that he was in every sense of the term a Christian gentleman."
A survivor, confirming every part of this statement, informs me that Rezeau Brown had black hair and very dark
eyes, and before his health became hopelessly bad, a clear,
delicate, rosy complexion, of the kind which often suggests
genius, and in his case painfully betokened an early death.
The same person says that he had a sweet face, and was one
of the most generous and one of the best-hearted of men.
" His intellectual traits have already been exhibited to some extent.
Quick and discursive rather than profound or commanding, his mind
attempted almost every department of literature and science. Indeed,
such was his inquisitiveness with regard to all useful knowledge, that
we may doubt whether his reigning fault was not the diffusion of his
powers over too wide a field. Languages both ancient and modern,
belles-lettres, criticism, chemistry, physics, anatomy and physiology
were his favourite pursuits. In the acquisition of these he manifested
a readiness which was astonishing.  The versatility of his genius
made every subject soon familiar; and the tenacity of his memory
rendered these stores available. This was strikingly exemplified in
his examination for licensure before the Presbytery of New-Brunswick;
on which occasion those who were present were astonished at the compass and precision of his knowledge, and the promptness and pertinency of his replies on every subject.
"As a preacher he was hindered in some degree by constitutional
frailty from becoming eloquent. Yet it is not here meant that hle was
not both acceptable and impressive. Indeed, his improvement in pulpit exercises was rapid and constant, even until his latest public performances. And there was in all his addresses a solemn sincerity, and
sometimes a natural pathos, which endeared his ministrations to all
who enjoyed them.
"His adversaria and common-place books attest the care with




190                LINES ON HIS DEATH.                       ls829.
which he made collections for future labours. Epitomes, criticisms,
abstracts and reflections form the greater part of these manuscripts.
"But it is to his character as a Christian, dedicating all his talents
and acquirements to the service of Christ, that we turn with most
satisfaction. * * Of the spirit and character of his preaching, as
truly as of any man's that I have ever heard, I think the description
of the Apostle Paul's preaching to the Corinthians may be sued:'For
I determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him
crucified!' IIis labours were incessant-too great for his debilitated
state of health. It is well known that a desire to do good, and a love
for his Master's work, would not allow him to enjoy the relaxation
which was necessary. A respectable number were added to the Church
during his six months' labour, and many-even the most lawless and
thoughtless-were occasionally made to feel and reflect under his discourses."
It was impossible that Addison Alexander should not
be most painfully affected by the death of his nearest and
best friend.  He was in Italy when the sad event occurred;
but five months after, at Berlin, in a moment of restless
and characteristic longing for change, and a strong desire
for home, "or ever he was aware," he seems to have been
overwhelmed by a sudden rush of recollections, and at once
poured out his whole soul in the following pathetic poem,
which it may be well to say, was immediately suggested
by a conversation in which he had just been engaged with
some fiiend on the closing scene of Schleiermacher.  It was
written with great rapidity, in his ordinary journal.  The
handwriting, by its irregularity and fiery speed, shows the
presence of some vivid emotion.
"The plan was laid. The hour was nigh.
Both were resolved to brave
The tempest's terrors and to try
The swiftness of the wave.
To-day where art thou? where am I?
Alone, beneath a foreign sky,
And thou art in thy grave!
While I careered before the gale,
And the auspicious blast




AET. 20.]              THEIR  CHARACTER.                         191
Filled the deep bosom of the sail,
And bowed-the sturdy mast;
Thy pallid cheek became more pale,
Thy secret springs began to fail,
Thy life was ebbing fast.
While I, through Latium's blasted plain
Approached the walls of Rome,
Where o'er a thousand spires and vanes
The antichrist's proud dome
Like an imperial giant reigns;
Disease had well-nigh loosed the chains,
Which kept thee from thy home.
And while I hastened to explore
That world so new to me,
That grave of empires now no more,
How fared it then with thee?
Ah! thy captivity was o'er.
Death had unbarred thy dungeon door
And set thy spirit free!
There is as much sonorous passion in this verse as in anything he has written. The gates of his soul were not often
thus lifted; but when they were, the torrent that came forth
was at flood-tide, and bore him impetuously onward, till the
gush of feeling had spent itself. He was not known to revert
very often to the decease of this amiable and attractive being,
but there is every reasonable certainty that he continued to
hold his image in his heart, and that for a time it exerted a
quickening influence upon his life.
Such was "the manner of man" that the young scholar
grappled to his soul with hooks of steel, in the scholastic
retirement of Edgehill.  Brown, or'"Rezeau" (as he called
him), was not only the sharer in his literary raptures, but also
in joys and sorrows which he imparted to no other outside
of his own family.*
* As Mr. Alexander commonly burnt his letters, I have succeeded in discovering one only of Rezeau Brown's. It possesses a melancholy interest, now
that he is gone, and has been for years forgotten.
" M  DEAR FRIEND,
" I am sorry that I am unable to be punctual to our appointed time for




192               ABOUT THE GEOGRAPHY.                    s829.
A few words in the journal for June, 1829, show the stout
scholar busy upon a book of sacred geography, which he and
his brother James afterwards published through the American
Sunday School Union.
"June 25. I have undertaken to prepare a book of sacred -geography for the American S. S. Union, and am now abridging Rosenmiiller's
Alterthemskunde.
He had prepared about half when he became " disgusted"
with the work and placed his MS. in the hands of his brother
James to finish. The following letter from his coadjutor bears
upon the subject:
"CAI   September 2, 1829.
" CARISSIME,
" I wrote to Porter according to promise and informed him that I was
about completing your geography. On looking over the ground I find
that I have a hard path to travel-for instance, the ethno-genealogicogeographico-mythico representations about the early settlers.  Is it
possible to concrete or abstract Rosenmiiller's discourse into any thing
tolerable? I beg you, notwithstanding the disgust you have acquired
for the labour, to achieve l'impossible, and, without delay, mnake out an
abstract of Phoenicia, and such other parts as you have in the second
volume. N. B. I have put the references into parentheses, for your
brackets will disfigure the book exceedingly, and I find that small letlers look the best: e. g. (Josh. xliii; 10, 11. Hab. lxxxviii. 7, 9). Set
about this, and we may hope to have the whole thing accomplished this
month. Make yourself a paper book and leave an inch blank at the
fold of the sheet. Your MS. is almost intangible (ut ita dicam), one
must handle it as tenderly as a scroll of Herculaneum.
I have got all done (errors excepted) except Band I. Theil I. and
Die biblische west, in the end of the green one. I have carefully verified
all the references, many of which, either from typographical errors or
different division of chapter or verse, are irrelevant. I have taken a
reading together. The sickness of my mother called me to Lawrence on Saturday evening, and I think of going again to-night.
"Nothing but a duty of such a kind-or one equally important-would
induce me to be absent from these exercises.  Yours,
"Monday evening.                                    R. B."




AET. 20.]                 DAILY  STUDY.                         193
good deal from  Mansford, who, by-the-way, is wrong wherever he is
original. Rosenmiiller strangely says (upon Tarsus) that Gamaliel had
a school there. Paul's words are: "brought up at the feet of Gamaliel
in this city." *  By the first opportunity I will send my MS. as far as
done. I have numbered the folios consecutively after yours. Leave
what you may write unpaged.                           "J. W. A."
The advice here given was taken, and the book appealed
as the joint work of the two brothers.t
So far as I am aware this little book was the pioneer of its
class in the country.  Other and fuller works have since appeared; but probably none so compendious, and few more
carefully built up upon ascertained facts.
"Sept. 2. Read in Job, 34-36 chapters. Read in German the fifth
(and last) act of Schiller's Wallenstein.  This play, though a very fine
one, is too long. Schiller had not in perfection the faculty mentioned by
Pope'of rejecting his own thoughts.': His plots, too, are somewhat
obscure. The characters in this play are not so strongly marked as in
Don Carlos, nor the tragic interest so deep and overwhelming.  I rank
it therefore below that notable tragedy in the scale of merit, but, at
the same time, infinitely above the common run of modern dramas.
Read in Splnish'La Conquista de Mejico IV: 17-20.' Read in English
the remainder of the'Essay on Criticism,'' The Rape of the Lock,' and
the' Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady;' also a few chapters
in Denham and Clapperton's'Travels in Africa.' Read in Latin half of
Schultens's translation of Extracts from the Hamasa. Read in Hebrew
with R. Brown, 2 Samuel, 7-9. Received a note from J. W. A. with
his MS. of the Sacred Geography.
* See a full account of this matter in Conybeare and Howson.
t In a letter dated September 14, 1829, his brother James thus refers to
the joint literary task in which they had been engaged:
"Addison has consigned to me his papers and notes upon Sacred Geogra,
phy, and I have been engaged in finishing the book [for the A. S, S. U.] sQ
that we shall have it between us. The labour has been very irksome. I spent
twelve hours last week verifying the texts of Scripture referred to, by looking
for all of them. The mere geographical part is very interesting. Altogether
it is discouraging to find how little is really known of the site of many ancient
places."-Familiar Letters, vol I., p. 134.
t Oddly enough, Goethe somewhere attributes to Schiller this very power.,
9




194                           POPE.                           [1829.
" Sept. 3. Read in Hebrew Job, 27-28: in German,' The Sorrows
of Werther': about forty pages.  Goethe has in eminent degree the
quality which I thought was wanting in his compeer Schiller. Though
minute in his descriptions and details, all seems compact and condensed; there are no loose ends-no purpurii pdnni. He has also
the enviable power of describing simple familiar things without the
least tincture of mawkish affectation. Read in Pope's works:' Sappho
to Phaon,''Eloisa to Abelard,' and'The Temple of Fame.'  In
Eloisa to Abelard there are abundant specimens of rich and polished
diction; but what particularly charms me is this exquisite paragraph,
especially the last couplet, which I think inimitably beautiful:
"For thee, the Fates, severely kind, ordain,
A cool suspense from pleasure and from pain;
Thy life a long, dead calm of fixed repose,
No pulse that riots, and no blood that glows;
Still as the sea, e'er winds were taught to blow,
Or moving spirits bade the waters flow;
Soft as the slumbers of a saint forgiven,
And mild as opening gleams of promised heaven." *
"Read also Denham and Clapperton. —In Hebrew, 2 Sam. chaps.
10-12, with R. Brown.-Finished Schultens's Extracts from the Hamasa. " 
"Sept. 4. Read in Hebrew, Job, 39-40. In German, the beginning of the chapter on Phoenicia in Rosenmirller's Alterthumskunde.
Read in Pope's works:'January and May,' and'The Wife of Bath.'
I cannot help feeling contempt for a great genius who would select
such passages for imitation as these obscene absurdities of Chaucer.
The grossness is considerably refined, but enough remains to make
them  disgusting. J. W. A. came with the remainder of the Geography. Read and abridged Rosenmitller's chapter on Phoenicia.
"Sept. 15. Read in IIebrew 1 Kings, 5-6.  Revised and corrected
Sacred Geography (in part). Read in Spanish El Fray Gerundio.
Read in HIebrew with R. Brown, 1 Chron. 16-19. Read the Dunciad.
I have lately read over all Pope's poems, except his Homer. I-e has
far mnore wit than I supposed, but very little splendour or elevation of
genius, it appears to nie. Hle seems perfectly cold and heartless too.
Johnson's remark is just that Pope does not seem to have composed
with ease.  His rhymes are often imperfect and his epithets ill* Lines 250-255.




JET. 20.]          BIBLICAL REPERTORY.                   195
chosen. All his writings are elaborated with much p ain and difficulty.
He uses upon elevated subjects more colloquial language than a poet of
these times would. Finally, like Swift, lie is evidently fund of obscene
images."
Mr. Alexander had about this time more serious employment for his pen than scribbling random  paragraphs for the
Patriot and the Emporium, or writing verses and essays for
Dr. Snowden's magazine. He now appears for the first time
as a contributor to the pages of the Biblical Repertory, which
has since, and largely through his influence, become wellknown, and which was afterwards to be adorned by some
of the maturest results of his scholarship and genius.
His brother, writing to Dr. Hall from his room in the college, where he was then tutor of mathematics, thus refers to
the projected publication. The letter is dated September 20,
1828, just about the time that Mr. Alexander was admitted to
the Junior class.
" You have here. another prospectus of another Princeton work,
which I trust will prove honourable to us, and useful to the cause."*
This plan was fully and successfully carried out, and resulted in the appearance of the -Biblical Repertory, which,
begun in 1825, is still continued under the charge of its original editor.
If my memory serves me, the first volume was entirely
filled by the Rev. Charles Hodge and the Rev. J. WV. Alexander.  This I was told once by the latter. The second volume, besides a number of reprints from foreign sources, contained translations from  the pen of the editor Mr. Hlodge,
Prof. Patton, President James MIarsh (then Professor at
Hampden Sidney), and others.  The first appearance of MIr.
Alexander in the pages of the Repertory was in 1827, in an
article translated  from  John Alphonso Turretin, entitled,
"Refutation of the Hypothesis of the Papists in Relation to
the Interpretation of the Scriptures." f  This article at once
* Fainiliar Letters, Vol. I., p. 65.  f See Bib. Rep., 1827, p. 275.




196                     TIlE  REPERTORY.                         [1829.
excited notice, and was attributed in Boston to Dr. Archibald
Alexander. This was immediately followed by a translation
from Justin the Martyr, entitled " Exhortation to the Greeks."
The style of this article is exceedingly mature, and the rendering of the Greek idiom  not only of the Christian Father but
of the classical authors to whom he copiously refers, exceedingly happy. The diction is pure and terse, and the language
for the most part Saxon, or remarkably  strong  and  idiomatic  English.   While  lhe availed  himself freely  of the
helps at hand in interpreting Homer,the translations from
less familiar writers seem to be his own. I may cite by way
of example the words of Orpheus to IMusaeus and his other
children (p. 341), commencing,
clt;Ey-otaL Olt RsJE/IL?T1,?rV pas 8) fE7CLlE03E;3qi0XoL
LIaTryE 6ML&)  01)' ArKOVE coe aEo'4pov EKyOove UpyrI,
of which he gives a literal and yet spirited and nervous version: *
The Repertory was at this time temporarily in the hands
of Professor Patton, who performed the duties of editor in the
absence of Mr. Hodge in Europe. Mr. Alexander does not
appear to have contributed any thing in 1828. In 1829 the
Biblical Repertory, which had been up to that time little
more than a series of reprints and translations, was given up
* I will speak to those to whom it is allowed. Let the uninitiated be excluded: Listen thou, Musaeus, child of the shining moon, while I utter the
truth, nor let that which has before been infused into thy breast, deprive thee
of thy precious life. Behold the Divine Word, and give thyself wholly to it,
ordering aright the intelligent receptacle of thy heart. Come up hither, and
contemplate the sole King of the universe. He is one. He is self-existent.
lie alone created all things. Though good himself, he gives evils to his creatures, bloody wars, and lamentable sorrows, and besides him there is no supreme king. I cannot behold him; for clouds are round about him, and the
mortal pupils of mortal eyes are unable to look upon the ruler of the universe.
He is.established upon the brazen heavens. He sits upon a golden throne and
treads with his feet upon the earth, and stretches out his right hand to all the
ends of the ocean.  Then the lofty mountains tremble, the rivers, and the
depths of the hoary sea.




AT. 20.]             CHANGE OF PLAN.                     197
by Mr. Hodge its founder into the hands of " an association
of gentlemen," to be published as a quarterly Review.*
The change in the form and aims of the Journal took place,
as was contemplated in the new prospectus, at the beginning
of the year 1830. With 1830 also commences the present
numbering of the volumes. The periodical from this time
until 1837 bears the title of "Biblical Repertory and Theological Review," and may be considered as embracing in its
plan the whole range of theological and religious subjects.
The ninth volume, which was issued in 1837, is the first of the
whole collection which bears the title Biblical Repertory and
Princeton Review.  It had already fallen under "the direction " of the coterie of Presbyterian clergymen and literary
gentlemen of Princeton and its environs, as early as the beginning of 1829. MIr. Patton seems to have been the most active
spirit of the new management, though the Professors of the
Seminary and College, and such men as the Rev. Mr. Yeornans,
Professor MIarsh, Professor Bush, the Rev. (now Doctor) R.
J. Breckinridge, to say nothing of a host of others, lent valuable assistance.  Mr. Hodge returned from Europe, where he
had been pursuing a course of study at the German universities, in 1828, and delivered his introductory lecture to his class
in the Seminary on the seventh of November of that year.
He began by saying:
"In entering anew upon my duties in this institution, I feel con
strained to acknowledge the goodness of God, by which I have been
so kindly preserved, and restored to the field of labour to whiclh he
has called me. AA it was a desire to become more useful to you, that
led me to leave for so protracted a period, my friends and country, my
heart has been continually turned towards this institution; and it
frequently occurred to me, that should I live to return to my native
land, I would endeavour to impress upon your minds the practical
truths which the circumstances of foreign states and countries lead
deeply impressed upon my own. It is true the vividness of these impressions has faded away, but the convictions in which they resulted
remain.".
* See advertisement to the fourth volume.




198                    ITS WRITERS.                      [1829.
It is no doubt to the personal influence of Mr. Hodge that
the Repertory is indebted for the original labours of Professor
Tholuck, by which its columns were about this time occasionally enriched.
From the date of his return from Europe Mr. Hodge again
gave much time to the Review, and after the removal of Mr.
Patton from Princeton became once more its sole editor, and
has continued to this day to be one of its chief writers and its
sustaining and animating spirit.
Some of the very best things ever written by Dr. Archibald
Alexander and Dr. Miller, were written in the first instance
for this publication. The same may be said of that brilliant
genius and lamented clergyman, Prof. Albert B. Dod, of the
College of New Jersey. The brothers James and Addison
Alexander also continued their connection with the periodical,.
and now began to write original articles.  In after years, as
long as they lived, they were still accustomed from  time to
time to make use of " the Repertory " as the chosen vehicle
of their learned and graceful disquisitions upon all subjects
which were suited to the pages of such a Journal. In 1838,
we learn from his own diary, Ir. Alexander became for a short
time one of the editors, and wrote more copiously than ever.
A number of these articles were afterwards republished, with
strong eulogy, in the pages of an eclectic quarterly which
made its appearance periodically in Scotland.  The volume
for 1829 contained, besides Professor Hodge's Introductory
Lecture, and a number of valuable criticisms and dissertations, a biographical sketch of Erasmus, drawn mainly from
sources furnished by Adolph Miiller in his " Leben des Erasmus von Rotterdam," &c. This life-like portrait of the great
scholar of the Reformation has been attributed to the subject of this memoir, and is claimed by him in a catalogue of
his own articles which he made years after. * The only articles
* This is possibly a mistake, as Mr. Alexander said he was uncertain about
some of the articles on his own list of his own contributions, and as in his
brother's copy this article onl Erasmus bears the characteristic signature, in
pencil, "By J. W. Alexander." It is possible that both had a hand in it.




,RT. 20.]             THE DRUSES.                     199
certainly contributed to this volume by Addison (as he was
and still is, fondly called by the various members of his
father's family) were the translations from the Latin of Flatt
on the Deity of Christ, and an elaborate effort entitled "' The
History and Religious Opinions of the Druses."  Of these articles the former was in reality one, but was divided into two
parts which appeared at different times, the first part constituting the leading treatise of the volume. This performance
does not fail to show the same acquaintance with the technical
terms of the seventeenth century which had led the literati
of Boston to attribute the translation of Alphonso Turretin,
which came out the year before, to the father; never once
suspecting that the article in question was by his precocious
son. These able reproductions of the theological Latin writers
of the post-Reformation period may, however, be safely set
down to the guiding influence of Dr. Alexander, who had
more to do than any one else in giving shape and direction to
his son's studies, and who, as is well known, was himself a
devoted admirer of the old vellum quartos and folios of the
age immediately succeeding the times of Erasmus and Luther.
But in his second article for the year 1829, MIr. Alexander
must have broken away from all restraints, however wise and
gentle, and followed the bent of his own strong inclinations
and enthusiastic genius. The essay on " the Druses" is one
of the most singular and startling demonstrations, among the
many that he has left us, of his learning and capacity. The
theme was one which exactly suited him. It was strange,
mysterious, difficult, romantic; calling for all the hidden resources of his historical and linguistic attainments; as well as
for all the acumen of his intellect, and delicacy of his critical
judgment; and bringing into play not only his powers of
reason and analysis, but his impassioned energy, his talent for rapid and graphic description, and his talent, no
less surprising in one who was still scarcely out of his teens,
for the mere construction of a sentence.  The aim of the
article is to arrive, if possible, at an approximate solution of the vexed questions touching the origin and early




200                       EXTRACTS.                       [1829.
history of this mysterious fraternity or sect of the Moowahhiduin of Mount Libanus.  The treatise is mainly historical
and critical, but it is marked by broad outline views, and
vigorous generalizations, together with a marvellous acquaintance with the repositories of oriental learning, and with every thing relating to the oriental people, and particularly the
Arabs; as well as by masterly sketches of character, and lively and engaging but condensed narrative. As a specimen of
his narrative style, there are perhaps some who will be pleased
to have their attention directed to the following extract:
" The notorious prince just mentioned (Hakem Biamrillah) was the
fifth Fatimite sovereign after Obeidallah, and the third who reigned in
Egypt. He ascended the throne, A. H. 386, at a very early age; and
after some years of fickle and inactive government, began to exhibit
symptoms of the wildest madness, combined with the most extravagant impiety. His official acts at this period of his reign, as recorded
by Makrizi, are pitiable specimens of mingled folly, insanity, find wickedness. In one of his edicts he commanded all the dogs of Cairo to be
massacred; in another he forbids the women of the city to leave their
homes on any pretext or at any time. On one day he required that
the names of the first three khalifs should be cursed at public worship,
and on the next revoked the order. In one decree he would regulate
with minuteness and precision the distinctive dress to be worn by
Jews and Christians, and before the change could well be made, would
issue another altering the fashion and requiring strict obedience upon
pain of death. As his malady increased, he grew restless, and passed
whole nights in pompous marches through the streets of Cairo, requiring the bazars to be kept open and the shops to be illuminated. With
an intellect thus crazed, and under the influence of the wild speculations of the wildest shiahs, it is not surprising that the unhappy monarch became a tool in the hands of ambitious and fanatical impostors,
who availed themselves of his insanity, to forward their own schemes
of proselytism or aggrandizement." *
So far as I am able to ascertain, he wrote no more for the
Repertory that year.
It would be interesting to know precisely when Mr. Alex* Bib. Rep. 1829, p. 218.




IT. 20.]              STUDY  OF ARABIC.                       201
ander commenced the study of Arabic. It was probably
even before he had mastered the Hebrew grammar prepared
for him  by his father, that is when he was a very little boy.
He says himself it was when he was nine or ten years old.*
I have a strong impression that he fbund an old Arabic grammar on a shelf in " the study," or else in the litter of the attic
room already spoken of, and that he had familiarized himself
to some extent with its outlandish characters, and, I, think
gone through it from  cover to cover, before any member of
the family knew that he was acquainted with a single orthograpic sign.  My impression is that I was told so by a near
relative, many years ago. He speaks himself of his " early and
almost unnatural proclivity to oriental studies" as belonging
to the period of his "boyish dreams," and says that he continued his labours in this strange field, after his college course,
at which time he " read the whole of the Koran in Arabic, and
the Old Testament in Hebrew." His brother James, in a letter to Dr. Hall dated April 4, 1828, announces that Addison
had then just completed the Koran in Arabic, and speaks of
it as a work which few had as yet attempted in America.
Soon after learning Arabic, he took up Persian, Syriac and
Chaldee, but exactly at what time or in what order I cannot
tell.
The journal sheds abundant light on these later studies.
His first entry so far as is known was on the first of January
of that year, on which day, as we have seen, his portion of
Arabic was the 19th sura al Koran. The same day he read
also the 19th chapter of Exodus in Hebrew, and the day following, the 20th chapter of Exodus in Hebrew and the 16th
* Dr. John S. Hart has substantially confirmed this statement, in a letter to
the writer of these pages. He says, " The department of knowledge which he
early selected was that of language, and it was as a linguist that he was chiefly
known. While reading Arabic with him, I questioned him once as to the
origin of his familiarity with that copious tongue. He told me he began the
study privately, of his own accord, when he was but ten years old, having
found accidentally an old copy of the Arabic grammar on one of the top shelves
of his father's library. He seemed as familiar with the Asiatic tongues as with
Latin or Greek."
9*




202                  AN OLD TRADITION.                     [1829.
Ode of Hafiz in Persian; and this in addition to allotted work
in Italian, Latin, German, Greek, French and Spanish. These
records would seem to imply some previous acquaintance with
the Arabic and Persian. There can be no doubt that he was
somewhat versed in both of these languages from a very early
period of his boyhood.
There is a tradition still current among the old students
of Princeton Seminary that somewhere about the year 1821 a
prize was awarded to Dr. Archibald Alexander for the best
essay on Arabic literature, and that the fact was published in
the newspapers. The story runs, that alluding to the matter,
as was his wont when any thing interested him, at the dinnertable, Dr. Alexander expressed unbounded astonishment that
such an error should have been committed, as it was well
known that he possessed no special acquaintance with the
language; whereupon to the surprise of all present Addison,
then a boy of twelve, and who was not supposed to have
studied Arabic, admitted with some confusion that he had
written the article in question, and had signed it A. Alexander, never dreaming that he should get the prize. I only
mention this story to contradict it. There is certainly not a
word of truth in it: it bears its own refutation on its face;
though in different forms it has obtained much currency, and
has been repeated in my hearing by a number of highly respectable cleirgymen.  The young, scholar would hardly have
assumed his father's name in print, or even his favourite initial.
Besides this, the facts if true would have been treasured in the
family.*  The whole thing probably grew out of a mistake of
* Since writing the above I have received the following account of the matter from his oldest surviving brother. A comparison of these statements with
those of Dr..Beach Jones will probably bring out the full truth relative to the
report in question:
" The ground of the rumour about the prize essay was doubtless this.
A translation from the Latin made by him was published in the Repertory, then
conducted by Prof. Patton during the absence of Prof. Hodge in Europe. A
Boston Magazine in speaking of this translation attributed it to Dr. Archibald
Alexander, not supposing it likely to be the production of a youth still in his




JET. 20.1            STUDY OF ARABIC.                      203
Mr. Robert Walsh with regard to the authorship of an article
in the American Quarterly Review on the subject of Persian
literature, which will be explained presently.  TLis article
was written by the son, though at a somewhat later period,
and was attributed by Mr. Walsh to the father. It is quite
certain, however, that Addison was somewhat acquainted
with Arabic literature at twelve years of age; perhaps better
acquainted with it than many who were at that time regarded
as learned men. It is absolutely certain that he had studied
both Arabic and Persian to some degree, and probably also
Chaldee and Syriac, before he entered college.
An intimate friend says, in an editorial notice of his death
in the Central-Presbyterian, " From his childhood he exhibited
the rarest talent. His father removed to Princeton in 1812,
and evincing even at that early age great fondness for study,
hle was allowed to take his own course.  From ten to twelve he
commenced the study of the Arabic, and before fourteen years
of age had read the Koran."  Dr. Moore has good authority
for these statements, * though, as we have seen, Addison did
not complete the Koran until he was nineteen.  The alleged
date of his commencement of the study is doubtless sufficiently
exact.  Mir. Alexander's own expression is "'nine or ten."
Dr. Moore is of the impression that he commenced the study
of Persian very soon afterwards, and in this opinion I' agree
with him. Indeed he must have done so, if we are to account
upon any intelligible hypothesis for the commonest entries in
his diary.
It is a sad commentary upon the evanescence of fame that
minority. The article may be found in one of the numbers of the Repertory
for 1827."
It is a translation from the younger Turretin, and will be found in the volume of the Biblical Repertory for that year, p. 175. The writer was at that
time eighteen years old.
* Dr. Hall in the Funeral Sermon. Dr. Hall writes that he cannot vouch
for the minute accuracy of these statements, having merely spoken to the best
of his recollection on these and similar points.




204                    ROBERT WALSH.                         [1829.
the name of such a man as the editor of the Philadelphia Gazette and American Quarterly should now be strange to
many who think themselves versed in the literature of the
day. Mr. Robert Walsh may be said to have been at one
time the prince of elegant letters in this country. He was the
pioneer of that robust American scholarship which has since
made itself felt to the extremities of Europe. His great
work in defence of America against England * is one of the
most vigorous and cogent arguments that has ever been penned.   He was a close student and happy imitator of the
Latin classics.  IIis knowledge of current literature in the
various languages of the Continent was amazing. His English
style seems to have been influenced by that of Canning, for
whose talents as a writer he entertained an extravagant admiration.  It has been said of MIacaulay that he is almost the
only master of modern English who has left no sentence that
cannot be strictly parsed.  The same high praise is perhaps
due to MIr. Walsh.t  He was in his generation honoured by
the crowned sovereigns of France, and performed his part in
the cultivated society of the French capitol with grace and
dignity, and with a singular measure of affable tact and savoir
faire. He was the Mpecenas 4 of tasteful art in every form, in
an age that did not lack its Maros.  He encouraged every
* The title-page now before me runs as follows:
"An Appeal from the Judgments of Great Britain respecting the United
States of America. Part First. Containing an Historical Outline of their Merits
and Wrongs as Colonies; and Strictures upon the Calumnies of the British
Writers. By Robert Walsh, Jr.' Quod quisque fecit, patitur: autorem scelus
Repetit, suoque premitur exemplo nocens.-Senec.
"Second Edition: Philadelphia, published by Mitchell, Ames & White.
William Brown, Printer, 1819,"
t Mr. Walsh is described by Dr. Hall as being a man below the medium
height, with sandy hair and a dignified, intellectual face. He wore spectacles.: "Sunt Mfecenates, non deerunt, Flacci Marones." —Martial, 8. 56.




ACT. 20.]             OPINIONS OF HIM.                       205
honourable aspirant, and many a modest young man owed his
success in life to this generous protection.  Mr. Walsh was
not slow to perceive merit; and was one of the first to give a
helping hand to the two sons of Dr. Archibald Alexander, who
were then just struggling into print.  His letters to the elder
of these youths are full of kindness and wise counsel. There
is an admirable and affectionate account of him in the pages
of the Princeton Magazine,* which is the work of his friend
Dr. Hall of Trenton.
There are numerous allusions to the great litterateur, in the
Familiar Letters to Dr. Hall.  Writing from Trenton, May 4,
1829, his correspondent says:
"I entertain lively anticipations with regard to the results of your
introduction to the modern Johnson. There are few men in the country whose acquaintance would be a greater prize. May you hlave many
profitable and pleasant hours in his conversazioni. I hope that you
will come forth fiom the den of lions, unscathed as Daniel."
Again, April 17, 1835, he says:
" I shall miss Walsh very much if he goes abroad, for his pithy
paragraphs have become a necessary condiment."
On another occasion he points out a single error in Walsh's
English, viz., the saying "I doubt that," for " I doubt whether."
(Vol. I. p. 246.) On still another occasion, writing from
Princeton, he says:
" I would subscribe two prices for a bona fide old-time Walshian
gazette. I owe something to that man.
"'But why then publish? Granville the polite
And knowing TIalsh would tell me I could write.' " —POPE.
Writing from Charlotte Court-House, Oct. 27, 1840, soon
after a visit to the University of Virginia, he says:
* Princeton Magazine, p. 361.. The single volume of this periodical has
been long out of print.




206                   WALSH  IN  PARIS.                    [1829.
"Their professors do more, especially in the way of lecture, than
any I know. Bonnycastle is a wonderful man for genius and learning.
Tucker is a man of elegant English gentlemanhood; just like Walsh in
the cast of his mind, and his talk."
Still again he writes to Dr. Hall:
" One of the few things I can read is Walsh's Letters to the National
Intelligencer."
And on Jan. 6, 1843:
"' Walsh writes with as much vigour and pith as ever for the National
Intelligencer. He gave Baird a grand feu de joie in his last. His health
is quite good."
And in 1844 he writes, still in the same strain:
"' I rejoice that Walsh has the Consulship. * * I never tire of his
ana, which are copious during the vacation of Congress."
And in 1846:
" Walsh's letters in the National Intelligencer are equal to his best
days."
On the 30th of June, 1851, we have the following interesting entry in the epistolary journal kept by the older brother
when he was in Paris:
"Mr. Walsh has gone out to St. Gerinain-en-Laze. IHe sent me a
most warm and characteristic letter, mistaking me for Addison, and
went to the Director of the National (once Royal) Library, and requested that I might be introduced to the principal Orientalists of
Paris." *
It was with unalloyed pleasure that the vigorous and kindhearted old man looked back years after upon the start of
these young writers, whom he had helped on to fame.
It was doubtless with a certain sense of satisfaction that
Mr. Alexander found that his venturous efforts in unaccus* The Italics are mine




AET. 20.]     RECOLLECTIONS OF DR. JONES.                   207
tomed fields of literature were not slighted by the famous
Philadelphia critic, but were inserted among the essays of
well-known scholars, and suffered to make their way in the
world, under the most favourable auspices. Little did he
know, however, what a sensation he had created in the higher
circles of American criticism. A thrill of surprise would no
doubt have shot through his heart, if he had been informed
of the terms in which the terrible and fastidious Mr. Walsh
was speaking of his contributions, and especially those on
Oriental studies and literature. No further evidence is needed
of Mr. Alexander's great proficiency at this time in Arabic
and Persian, and indeed the Oriental languages in general,
than will result from a simple perusal of his very earliest
printed articles on these subjects. These efforts were universally admired for the "reach  of scholarship" they displayed
and their comprehensive yet easyy mastery of the topics handled. Astonishment was expressed that so much genius and
learning hadl lain so long perdue and almost unsuspected.  The
reminiscences which immediately follow  are from the pen of
Dr. S. B. Jones of Bridgeton, N. J.  Referring to the subject
of this biographic outline, he says:
" My earliest acquaintance with the fame of this illustrious man
dates back as far as the year 1831. In the fall of that year I removed
to Princeton; where I resided for four years. Young as Mr. Alexander
was when I went to Princeton " [twenty-two years old], " he had even
then acquired the reputation of a prodigy in scholarship, and especially
in his acquaintance with Oriental languages and literature."
Among the articles furnished by him for the American
Quarterly Review, edited by Mr. Walsh of Philadelphia, was
one on the Persian Language or Literature.*  The number of
the Review containing this article the writer of the recollec* "Mr. Alexander reviewed Mohammedan History in the American Quarterly Review, March 1830, and the Gulistan of Sadi, and Anthon's Horace, in
September 1830." —Forty Years' Familiar Letters of J. W. Alexander, D. D.
Vol. I., p. 135.
The article on the Gulistan may be the one referred to by Dr. Jones. If




208                     AN INCIDENT.                      [ls829.
tions I am now using has unfortunately lost: but he well remembers reading it with wonder and admiration; and was induced to peruse it by the following incident, which goes to
show the maturity of Mr. Alexander's views, as well as the
extent of his erudition, at a very early age.
Mr. Walsh was professedly a Romanist, but of a Rationalistic type. It is Dr. Jones's judgment that as such he could
have little affinity for so decided a Protestant and so prominent a Calvinistic divine as Dr. Archibald Alexander; while
for various reasons he was inclined to depreciate and stand
aloof from Presbyterians. I give the rest in his own words:
"IUpon  one  occasion, after expressing  to  a friend  disparaging opinions of the Presbyterian clergy, he remarked
that there was one Presbyterian minister with whom he
would like to be personally acquainted; and this was Dr.
Alexander of Princeton. Somewhat surprised that Dr. Alexander should possess attractions for one of such opposite views
and tastes as Robert Walsh, the friend enquired his reasons;
when Mr. Walsh replied, that'he was so rare and eminent an
Orientalist.' Knowing that Dr. Alexander was not preeminent in this department, the friend informed him that he
must have confounded Dr. Alexander's son with his father;
that the younger Alexander was familiar with several Oriental
languages with which the father had no _acquaintance.  Mr.
Walsh, however, questioned the correctness of his friend's
opinion, on the ground that the article, or articles, sent to his
Review evinced a maturity of mind and a thoroughness and
reach of scholarship which clearly indicated that they had
been written by an old rather than by a young scholar." *
The letter I am  now to give, from Mr. Alexander to Mr.
not, all trace of it is now lost. The Doctor has since informed me that my
conjecture as to the missing number is correct, and that the only gap in the
series is for September 1830; which seems to put the question at rest. If
there were another link necessary to the chain of demonstration it is furnished
by Dr. Hart of Trenton, who has seen the article on " Gulistan and Sadi" in
the Philadelphia Library, and says it is in the number in question.
* One of Mr. Alexander's brothers writes: "I know nothing of the article




AET. 20.]                CONTRIBUTIONS.                          209
Hall, refers to another contribution from the pen of the former, and which I take to be the same which is mentioned in
the Familiar Letters under title of " Mohammedan History." t
Mr. Walsh was evidently much pleased with it.
" DEAR SIR,
"I have just received your obliging letter dated yesterday, for which
accept my thanks. I am heartily chagrined and sorry, that my evil
fortune should have led me to write upon a subject any how allied to
that selected by an abler writer, and then to aggravate the evil by
adopting the same text. It will certainly look very strange to have
to which you refer.  f *  *  From the first establishment of the American
Quarterly Review, my brothers James and Addison were regular contributors,
and the articles forwarded by them were varied and numerous. They had at
an earlier day contributed articles to the columns of the National Gazette, a
paper established and edited by Mr. Walsh. I imagine that the desire of Mr.
Walsh to meet Dr. Alexander, was not caused particularly by the article to
which you allude. Mr. Walsh spent his life in a state of bewilderment on this
subject, always confounding the father with the sons. He would write to my
father on the subject of articles furnished by my brothers, and sometimes sent
him a cheque in payment for articles written by them. There is no person
living who is fully informed on the subject of these early contributions except
the Rev. Dr. Hall of Trenton. Dr. Hall then resided in Philadelphia, and I am
under the impression that all articles passed through his hands on their way to
Mr. Walsh. The subject of Persian Literature was a favourite one with Addison. I think that long before the establishmentof the American Quarterly he
furnished an article on the subject to the Philadelphia Monthly Magazine, a
periodical published and edited by Dr. J. C. Snowden in 1827 or'28. This was
immediately after his graduation. A series of Persian Proverbs and an article
on the Persian Language were also written by him and published in the Princeton Magazine."
The article in the Princeton Magazine on the Persian Language not only
gives a sketch of its grammatical peculiarities but also of its relations to the
Semitic and the Indo-European Group. The article is short, and so far as
the nature of the subject would admit, eminently popular. The other contribution to the Princeton Magazine is nothing but a string of translated proverbs.
Dr. Hall thus alludes to the point, in a letter dated March 27, 1867: " You
refer to his connexion with Mr. Walsh and the American Quarterly (not North
American) Review. I do not think this went beyond his furnishing a few
articles. I know that Walsh was always confounding the three Alexanders."
~ Vid. sup.




210                 LETTER  TO DR. HALL.                    [1829.
two nominal reviews of the same work in a single number. I have
even felt some disposition to withdraw my article; but if the editor is
content to have such a duplicate, I suppose I might as well agree to it.
The English of the titles is as follows:
1. Thousand and One Nights, in Arabic, &c.  Edited by Dr. M.
Habicht.
2. Thousand and One Nights, translated in full by M. Habicht,
von der Hagen, and K. Schall.
The running title might be'Rise and Progress of the Khalifat.'
With respect to the sheets, I entrust them cheerfully to your inspection if you will undertake the task.
I must beg to have two notes inserted, which are wanting in the
MS. I cannot designate the proper place of either, but leave that to
your judgment.  The first relates to the opinion expressed of the
character of the Koran, and is in these words.'It may be asked how
this view of the case is to be reconciled with the enthusiastic admiration of the Koran as a literary composition, which prevails among Mohammedans. The answer is, that its merit, in their eyes, or rather in
their ears, is altogether metrical and musical. To use the words of a
distinguished orientalist:' Sa superiorit8 consiste moins dans l'invention
et dans les images, que dans le charnme inexprimable de la diction; dans
l'admirable harmonie du rythme, et dans le retour des rimes redoublees,
qui produisent un si grand effet sur une oreille arabe.' (Von Hammer.) The writer, whom we quote, cites this, indeed, as a proof of
genius. To us it is just the contrary; but we cannot enlarge.
The other has reference to the remarks upon the Arabic historians.
There are no doubt some exceptions to this sweeping censure of these,
Abulfeda and Abulfaraj are among the most respectable.
I cannot conclude without again lamenting my ill luck in seizing
upon the Arabian Nights as a victim, at the same time with another
critic. It has frightened me effectually out of all the oriental articles
which I had projected. The ground is pre-occupied and I relinquish
it. Excuse my detaining you so long upon so slight a subject.
Yours, respectfully,
J. ADDISON ALEXANDER.
Princeton, N. J., Oct. 14, 1829."
The two brothers wrote a few articles for the National
Gazette under the same signature, that of " Didymus." *  It is
* rum, nU1  t v^ Saab sA Clays e tog tu uksd  d. _ s} *_ mL_ ia t_% Qvu..., CA WJWI&




MET. 20.]              ARTICLE  ON  COFFEE.                       211
likely enough these articles were remembered by the editor as
those of their father. One of these essays is before me now,
and is entitled " Coffee." *  It appeared in the number of the
paper which was issued on the 31st of October 1829, and is
complimented, together with another of the series styled'Plautus,' in one of Mr. Walsh's pithy editorial paragraphs,
in the words following, to wit:'We thank the author of the curious commun cation on Coffee,
which we ourselves honour the most among the berries. It is the' slow poison' that vivified Voltaire's wit until the age of ninety, and
would have inspired Lord Byron longer and better than his favourite
spirit of the juniper. We can never pardon those who degrade the
sovereign grain by giving its name to a powder of rye. The excellent
essay on Plaututs, with the same signature as that of the article on
Coffee, shall appear next week."
this one on Coffee was one, testifies that the two brothers wrote under the
same signature. The article on Coffee, however, I am assured by another
gentleman was by the elder brother. The former says:
" Your father and uncle undertook to write for the National Gazette of
Philadelphia (]Mr. Walsh's) both under that signature. I do not remember
whether it went further than this on' Coffee,' and two by your father; one on'Plautus' —which, with some other of his (James's) articles in the Gazette, &c.,
I find copies of."
* The Coffee article is a lively recital of the causes leading to the condemnation of this beverage in the Koran, and winds up with an old Sheikh's expression of wonder that it should be possible'to extract from a husk such an
exquisite drink with the odour of musk and the colour of ink."




CHAPTER VI.
IN the month of November 1829, Prof. Robert Patton
opened a high-school in Princeton, and Addison Alexander,
then a youth of nineteen, became the teacher of Latin, Modern
and Ancient History, Ancient Geography and Composition.
As no man, with oue exception, had more influence than Mr.
Patton in moulding his intellectual character, a notice of that
gentleman will not be out of place here.
Robert Bridges Patton, the man to whom Mr. Alexander
was so deeply indebted in his philological studies, was the son
of a gentleman who had been at one time the post-master of
Philadelphia. He studied law with Alexander James Dallas,
and afterwards (in 1814) entered Middlebury College. He was
graduated at Yale in 1817. Soon after his graduation he was
appointed tutor at Middlebury. In 1818 he sailed for Europe,
and spent some time at the German Universities, and on his
return was appointed Professor at Middlebury. In 1825 he
received the appointment of Professor of Languages in the
College of New Jersey, a position he held till 1829, when he
resigned and set up the Edgehill School. This school was
most successful, and he abandoned it when in its most successful state. After leaving Edgehill he became an enthusiast
in Natural History and especially Ornithology, and soon after
an equally great enthusiast in Anatomy. While at Edgehill
he put forth an edition of Donnegan's Greek Lexicon, in the
preparation of which the principal burden of the work fell
to the share of his gifted associate, Addison Alexander. In
1833 Mr. Patton sailed for Europe, and returned in 1834 in
the ship with Mr. Alexander. On his return he was appointed
Greek professor in the University of New York. He was un



jET. 20.3          BECOMES A TEACHER.                     213
doubtedly a learned man, though his learning was confined
mainly to the ancient and modern languages and natural
history.
In regard to Mr. Alexander's connection with the preparation of a new edition of Donnegan's Greek Lexicon,* the Rev.
S. B. Jones, D. D. of Bridgeton, N. J., writes:
" How well he had established his reputation as a Girecist is proved
by the fact that so distinguished a scholar as Professor R. B. Patton,
in preparing his first American edition of Donnegan's Greek Lexicon,
sought the assistance of this precocious young man; of whom in his
Preface, dated June 13th, 1832, he thus speaks:' I have received also
much valuable assistance from my esteemed friend, Prof. J. A. Alexander of Nassau Hall; and while I make my most grateful acknowledgments of his services, cannot but regret that much of his assiduous and
faithful labour was in a measure lost; inasmuch as the second English
edition had anticipated to such an extent the additional articles prepared for the American edition.'"
An account of the sort of work it was which is here briefly
alluded to will be found in the young professor's diary for
that period.  German scholarship was ransacked by the as
yet unknown critic and made to yield many valuable additions
to the improvements suggested by the American labourer.
In the early part of the year 1829, the Rev. Isaac V. Brown,
the principal of a classical school at Lawrenceville, N. J., had
invited Mr. Alexander to become the teacher of Greek in his
academy. This invitation he accepted conditionally, but never
entered upon the work. It nevertheless stimulated him to lay
the foundation of that wonderful knowledge of Greek, which
in connection with his Biblical studies, and especially the
study of the New Testament, was the glory of his life.
A gentleman who often walked the streets of Princeton in
those days,t thus writes, in a letter from which a few extracts
are taken:
* See Donnegan's Greek and English Lexicon: Boston, Hilliard, Gray &
Co.; New York, G. & C. Carvill & Co.
t The Rev. J. B. Adger, D.D., now a professor in Columbia Seminary, S. C.,
but then a student at Princeton.




214                      THE EAST.                       (1829.
" I had no personal acquaintance with Mr. Alexander except of the
slighltest kind. But I well remember the reverence I had for hin as a
great scholar even when he was a young man, and I was a boyish student at Princeton Seminary in 1829-33. He was at that tinme I believe not even a professor of religion, but we all knew that he was
skilled in the Oriental tongues, and a thorough Biblical critic. How
often have I gazed in admiration at the mysterious recluse who once in
a1 couple of months perhaps crossed my track as at long intervals he
took his unaccustomed walk. They said of him that he was full of fun
among children, but neither men nor boys, so far as I know, could
approach him. And I believe he had hardly any lady acquaintances.
He was deep in love with books, and his communion was with the
mighty dead and in outlandish tongues. The church in these days has
had few such lights as Addison Alexander."
But fortunately on some of these points we have a better
witness than has yet been brought to the stand, and the only
one who could speak with absolute decision-I mean MIr.
Alexander himself. I here insert out of chronological order
a letter to his brother James, which covers in a general way
all this ground, and darts a strong and steady light into
the past and into the future.  It certainly makes the period
of which I am now treating, brightly luminous. This letter,
to change the figure, is indeed the master key to the writer's
intellectual history. It derives a peculiar interest from the
fact that it was written on the completion of his half-century,
and only a few months before his brother's death. From it
we gather, what we should not otherwise have known, that
he really thought at one time of emulating Lane and Burckhardt, and becoming a denizen of the East (" not New-England but n:8.," perhaps) in the garb of a turbaned sheikh,
and that he was originally impelled to form this purpose not
from  any fervour of piety, but simply and solely to study the
languages and become acquainted with the scenery and manners.  The joke about his fear lest the Moslems should be
Christianized before he got there, will be enjoyed with a
relish impossible in other cases, by those who were thor.
oughly acquainted with the writer, and can remember his




IET. 20]            EARLY DREAMS.                   215
quick, half-bashful utterance at such times, and the quizzical
gleam of his eye. He informed one of his connections subsequently that he had at one time intended going to one of these
countries as a missionary, and was only deterred from doing
so by the strenuous exertions of one of his most valued friends.
This must have been at a somewhat later period, for he says
that he was not actuated at this time by any zeal for souls.
Whether his usefulness in the Church would or would not
have been impaired by such a step, it is impossible for man to
determine; he himself did not undertake to decide. If he
had gone to Constantinople, or India, or Persia, it is hardly
a frivolous thought that the fame of such Orientalists as Sir
William Jones and Eli Smith might have been equalled-possibly eclipsed; or if he had ventured to penetrate, like Burekhardt, in disguise into the strong fastnesses of Idumea, or like
Carsten Niebuhr and Palgrave to plunge into the depths of
the Arabian Desert, it would not be difficult to believe that
with his store of proverbs, his rich acquaintance with the
Koran, his knowledge of Eastern history and geography, his
early sympathy with the Mussulman's tastes and feelings, his
strong imagination, and his glowing eloquence, he might have
shaken the souls of the sons of Esau or thrilled the wild heart
of the Bedouin, with emotions to which they had before been
strangers. Who knows how many poor Mohammedans he
might not have succeeded in turning from the crescent to the
cross, and in bringing them to a better and more perfect knowledge of him whom they already honour under the title of
"Issa Ben Mariam "? But it is idle to speculate about such
things. The past is irrevocable, and few would in this instance wish it recalled. The sorrow of the romantic youth
when he turned away from this dream (for whether to be
lamented or not, it was nothing but a dream), was as shortlived as that of his namesake when his advisers restrained him
from crossing the Ganges, and pushing his victories into the
heart of India. There were more smiling fields to be entered
and other memorable trophies to be won. The joy of new
and successful achievements in a very different quarter of




216                STUDY OF GREEK.                 [1829.
the hemisphere soon obliterated every trace of despondency
from his mind, if any such remained, with regard to the bursting of this bubble.
It should seem, however, from this letter that notwithstanding his lingering admiration for the literatures of the
East, our student at the time to which it mainly refers had
already given himself, heart and soul, to the study of that
noble language which has embalmed forever the thoughts of
Homer, and Herodotus, and Xenophon. This was owing in
part to the influence of Professor Patton and of the Edgehill
school, with which Mr. Alexander was now connected, and
perhaps still more to the more thorough acquaintance with
Greek which he obtained in preparing himself to be a teacher
of that language in Mr. I. V. Brown's school, a position however which he never filled; as well as to other causes which
are detailed in the letter.
The Greek grammar and lexicon now became his constant
companions; and a translation of parts of Passow for the new
edition of Donnegan, greatly improved his previous acquaintance with the vocabulary and idiom. This change of tastes was
not suspected by his friends generally, and yet, when he was
appointed tutor in the Seminary (as he tells us himself) he
" had already left his first love for a second," and reproached
himself for not making this fact known to the Board. Hence,
as he thinks, he " began his course with a divided heart," and
though he liked the Hebrew, he greatly preferred the Greek, and
in private devoted to it a large part of his time and strength.
Few will agree with him in supposing that he did wrong thus
to follow the strong bent of his genius and feelings, or that
the hours taken from the Oriental languages which he had
already mastered, were misapplied. If this be idleness, or
"unfaithfulness to official obligations," would that we had
more of it! There is singular modesty and an inimitable
natvetW in these surprising confessions. In the remarkable
autobiographical document which is now to be spread before
the reader, the writer lays his whole heart bare to the inquisitive and impartial eye of his sick brother. The opening words




AET. 20.]          REMARKABLE LETTER.                      2 1 7
speak volumes as to the close and affectionate intimacy that
subsisted then, as always, between the two, and the very
peculiar and beautiful relation in which they stood the one
towards the other-as elder and younger —as adviser and advised. Here is a man at whose word, when that word was
stern, the classes trembled, and for whose emphatic voice his
colleagues eagerly waited, bending with gentleness and dignity to the judgment of a meek and sorrowful spirit who yet
did not hesitate to give candid opinions and express peremptory convictions. They were pleasant in their lives, and in
their death they were not far divided. There is much more
in the letter, all of which I leave to speak for itself:
li~ay 5, 1859.
MY DEAR BROTHER:
" Though I never should have made the recent move without your
strong concurrence and advice, and though I have consulted you at
every step, I feel that I have not yet put you in complete possession
of my views and feelings, and, more particularly, of my reasons for
adhering to a form and title not entirely in accordance with your better taste and judgment. This I cannot do without being a little autobiographical; to which I am the less averse because this is a critical
juncture in my history, not only on account of the proposed change in
my position, but because I have just finished my half century. I need
not remind you of my early and almost unnatural proclivity to Oriental
studies; but it may be news, even to you, that, under the potent spell
of Scheherazade and Sir William Jones, it was my cherished wish for
several years to settle in the East,-not New England but islt —and
so far from having any missionary zeal, that I was really afraid the
Moslems would be Christianized before I could get at them. This boyish
dream was early broken and succeeded by a no less passionate desire
to be a lawyer; but my Oriental studies were continued after my college course, at which time I read the whole of the Koran in Arabic and
the Old Testament in Hebrew. It is nevertheless true that I had
begun already to be weaned from Anatolic to Hellenic studies. The
exciting cause of this change was the influence of Patton-first as
a teacher, chiefly by his making me acquainted with the German
form of classical philology; then by means of his Society [the Philological Society] and library; and lastly, by association with him at
Edgehill.  This influence, however, would have had no permanent
10




218                   GREEK  GRAMMAR.                        [1829.
effect, if I had not been led to lay the foundation of my Greek more
firmly than it had been laid by S lmon Strong, Horace Pratt, or Robert
Baird. Whatever accurate Greek scholarship I have is three years
subsequent in date to my graduation, and owes its origin to my
having undertaken to teach the language in Brown's school, for
which I endeavoured to prepare myself by thoroughly mastering
MIoore's admirable grammar, which contains the germ of all the late
improvements. This I almost learned by heart in Latin, going over it
a thousand times as I walked up and down in the old garden, where I
anm often now reminded of that toilsome but delightful process. Having got the grammar fairly in possession, I read every word of the
Anabasis and Cyropmdia for the purpose of grammatical analysis, and,
having done this, for the firlst time felt that I was a Greek scholar, even
of the humblest rank. All this labour seemed then to be thrown away;
as I did rot go to Brown's but to Patton's, and not as Greek but Latin
teacher! This was more than made good, however, by my lexico graphical labours, in translating parts of Passow, for the new edition of
Donnegan; and although in this case too, my hard work answered no
immediate purpose, its value was inestimable to my own improvement,
as I found when I began the next year to teach Greek at College.
One effect of:all this, never known to others, was, that when I was appointed tutor in the Seminary, I had already left my fi:;st love for a
second; so that when I heard of John I3reckinridge.'s saying, in the
Board, as an apology for moving me, that I was not a classical, but an
Oriental scholar, my conscience smote me as a literary lhypocrite, for letting the mistake continue.  Thus I began my course with a divided
heart, and though I never disliked teaching Hebrew, but preferred it
much to all my other Seminary duties, I still spent much time upon
Greek in private; not without a secret feeling of unfaithfulness to my of
ficial obligations. It was this, together with my strong distaste for prophetical studies, and the crushing load of authorship,which Dr. Hodge
had laid upon me from the first, that made me catch with a sort of eager desperation at the first suggestion of a change in my professorship
(in 1845) as promising to free me from a very heavy burden, not so
much of labour, as of responsibility, and to bring me somewhat nearer
to the studies which I really preferred. A great stride was taken in
the same direction when I was unexpectedly, and as I now see providentially, compelled to study and expound the historical books of the
New Testament; the most delightful labour of my life, and the direct
source of my latest and best publications. I still felt, however, that
my studies were not classical; and cherished my old, childlish prejudice




ET. 20.]             HELLENISTIC  STUDIES.                    219
against the Biblical Greek, as something illiterate and ungrammatical,
a mere corruption and abuse of the first language in the world. My
earliest glimpse of the modern German doctrine on this subject was afforded by Schaff's admirable chapter in his history, containing little of
his own except the clear and captivating mode of presentation, but collecting the best thoughts of the best writers, in relation to the claims of
the Hellenistic dialect, as a co-ordinate branch of the Ilellenic tree, with
a distinctive independent character, and no small mnerits of its own.
From that time (about ten years since) these have been my favourite
studies; none the less because connected upon one side with the vast
domain of classical philology, and on the other, with the sacred field
of Biblical learning. My interest in the language soon extended to the
literature of the Hellenistic Jews, inspired and uninspired, as a distinct
and well-defined department of ancient learning. It is this that I have
always had before my mind, as my proposed field of study and instruction in my many schemes and efforts to attain my true position. It is
not merely the New Testament literature, strictly so called, that I wish
to cultivate-though that does lie at the foundation, and gives character
to all the rest; but I covet the privilege of making excursions, without
any violation of official duty, into the adjacent fields of Hellenistic
learning, having still in view as my supreme end, the defence and il
lustration of the Bible, but at the same time opening a new field for
literary culture in this country, and thus gaining for myself a more
original position than that of simply sharing Green's professorship.
I wish it to be fully understood, if the proposed change should be
carried out, that while the New  Testament department will have
greater justice done it than was possible at any former period, it will
have something new connected with it; which can only be suggested by
a new name, the novelty of which is therefore an advantage, if it be
not otherwise objectionable, which I cannot see to be the case. The
more I reflect upon it, therefore, the more clearly I perceive that no
description could more perfectly express what I have carried out for
nyself, than that of' Hellenistic and New Testament Literature."
Affectionately yours,
J. A. A.
It was while at 3t1. Patton's school that  Jr. Alexander's
mind first became deeply impressed with religious things, and
that he was led, as he and others believed, to put his trust in
a crucified Saviour.  Indeed the change in his feelings and
purposes was, in his own judgment and in the judgment of his




220                 PURITY OF LIFE.                   [1829.
father, directly owing to his first removal from his father's
house, to which he was attached with a passionate devotion.
Of his exercises previous to conversion there are no
trustworthy memorials. It was hardly to be expected that
one whose advantages had been so extraordinary, should
not have embraced the truth intellectually at a very early
period, and this presumption is rendered almost a certainty
by his own subsequent allusions, as well as by a multitude of collateral proofs, of slender weight if estimated separately, but of convincing force when put together and examined in combination. He was remarkable when young for
his punctilious morality and outward respect for the great
subjects of the gospel. It will be remembered that all the
friends of his boyhood testify to his singularly exemplary
character, and pronounce him one of the purest and most reputable youths with whom they were ever acquainted. But
it will be seen from the diary to which the reader is now to
be introduced, that Mr. Alexander himself confessed and bewailed his utter sinfulness, and saw no hope of salvation but
in the merits and shed blood of Jesus Christ.  The work of
restoration was gradual, and unaccompanied by strong terrors
or remorse.  These solemn records possess a strange and
mournful interest from the fact already mentioned that with
one or two exceptions they are the only extant registers of his
religious feelings.
The only glimpse, aside from matters of reasonable conjecture, which I have been able to obtain of the precise state
of MIr. Alexander's feelings on this subject before he became
an avowed believer in Jesus, is afforded in the obituary
sketch by Dr. Baird. The picture of Addison's reticent and
cautious father melted to tears over the evidences of his son's
conversion is affecting, and the fact recorded of him is remarkable and stands alone in Dr. Archibald Alexander's
history.
"While he was a student of the Academy, Addison was a punctual
and serious attendant upon the religious services of the Institution.




AET. 20.1                  CONVERSION.                         221
Seldom, if ever, was he absent from the daily opening and closing
prayer, and the reading of the Scriptures. He was always present at
the Bible class on Sabbath afternoon, and the season of special prayer
on Thursday afternoon, at the close of the usual exercises of that day.
But whilst there was much attention, respect, and even seriousness,
there was no special manifestation of deep interest in religion as a personal matter. It was not until he had finished his studies in the College, and had become an assistant teacher in Professor Patton's Edgehill School in Princeton, that his heart became savingly engaged in the
subject of religion. I shall never forget an interview which I had with
his father about that time. Dr. Alexander was a man of strong feelings; but he also had great control over his emotions, and I never knew
himl to give way to them excepting on that occasion. After speaking
of the business respecting which I had called to see him, he remarked
that as I had taken a great interest in his sons, he had a piece of intelligence to communicate which he was sure would give me much delight. He then stated that lie was well satisfied, from a conversation
which he had had with Addison the evening previous, that he was a
converted man! This he said in a tone of voice which manifested the
deepest feeling. Indeed, for some moments afterwards he could not
speak, but covered his face with his handkerchief, and gave way to his
deep emotions of joy and 11ope. IIe had a high opinion of the talents
of Addison and James, but he did not think that either of them was
naturally the most gifted of his sons. On thiis point I think he was
right, distinguished as both unquestionably were for their great mental endowments."*
But let us recur to his journal. These revelations of fierce
and remarkable spiritual conflicts will not greatly surprise
the admirers of his experimental sermons.  They are however
of a nature so unusual that I shall give them to the reader
with but little abridgment.
"Jan. 1830. During the month of January, besides attending to
my duties in the school, I have been employed in assisting Mr. Patton
* This statement needs great qualification. The father considered Addison
as on the whole inferior in point of ability and character to no member of his,
family, and in many respects in advance of every one within the range of his
acquaintance. Witness his own words in the letter to Mrs. Graham which will
be found on page.




222                DIARY  OF EXPERIENCE.                    [1830.
to collect materials for his Greek lexicon. My part of the work consists in translating from Passow's Greek and German dictionary the
definitions of words omitted by Donnegan. I have also completed the
rough draught of a review of Sadi's Gulistan for the American Quarterly Review, which I began in December. I have contributed some
trifles to the Philadelphia lorning Journal. But in addition to these
literary pursuits, I have been deeply engaged in a study new to me,
and far more important than all others-the study of the Bible and my
own heart. I humbly trust that I am not what I was. I have still
my old propensities to evil, but I have also a new will co-existing with
the old, and counteracting and controlling it.*  My views respecting
study are now changed. Intellectual enjoyment has been my idol heretofore; now my heart's desire is that I may live no longer to myself,
but in Ilimn in whom I have everlasting life. God grant that the acquisitions that I have been allowed to make under the influence of selfish
motives may be turned to good account as instruments for the promotion of IHis glory. May it not be that my strong and unaccountable attachment from a very early age to unusual studies, &c., was intended
as a preparation for God's service in some foreign land? Oh! if I were
thought worthy of bearing such a message-but I desire to abstafin
from all attempts to order my own steps. I have indulged my imagination formerly too much. It must be mortified. My God, for such
I, even 1, may call thee in the name of Christ-my God, into thy hands
I commit myself! In life or death, at home or abroad, in peace and joy
or in the dark valley, I design to be thine-thine with a devotedness
proportioned to my meanness, misery, ingratitude, infirmity and utter
unworthiness of favour. Oh! deliver me firom my worst enemy-myself. "
" Feb. 4. For some days I have been suffering the pains of melancholy-an evil from which I have been heretofore exempt. It has no
reference to my religious views, which continue substantially unchanged; but seems rather hypochondriacal in its character, engendering dark apprehensions of disease and death. Its worst effect is that it
begins to establish an association in my mind (I cannot conceive how),
between religious duties and these gloomy fears. I am sometimes
tempted to believe that it is a device of the adversary intended to throw
a shade over the subject of religion, and alienate my thoughts from it.
K This may indicate his opinion as to the true meaning of Gal. vi: 17.




LET. 20.]        COMIFORT IN THE BIBLE.                      223
I was somewhat relieved by conversing with my father last night,* but
find myself still under the dominion of evil spirits, especially as night
comes on. After all, the best explanation of it is that it arises from
my languor and neglect in the discharge of duty and the cultivation of
a spiritual temper. It is probably no more than a black vapour from the
stagnant pool of my own corruptions, eclipsing the little light whicl
had begun to shine upon my soul. 0, Sun of Righteousness, arise with
healing under thy wings. When I look back upon the doings of a day
and count over myremembered transgressions and deficiencies (to say
nothing of the nu'mberless offences which my blunted conscience takes
no notice of) I feel that I have no right to wonder or complain when
I find myself at night wrapped in spiritual darkness.
" I am reading the epistles of Peter, slowly but with great satisfaction. The nature of my occupations obliges me to read the Bible at
intervals and in very small portions at a time. This, which at first
troubled me, I find to be an eminent advantage. Instead of running
over a whole chapter with divided attention, and without being able to
retain any portion of it accurately in the memory, I can dwell upon
one text for half an hour or more, and in this way see not only more
meaning and derive more instruction from it, but give a wholesome
seasoning to my secular pursuits. Happily my business is not of such
a nature as to exclude all thoughts of other things. While hearing a
boy parse a sentence in Latin, or copying the definition of a Greek
word, I have abundant opportunity to turn the word of life in my mind
and apply it to my conscience. What shall I render to the Lord for
placing me in circumstances so propitious to my spiritual welfare! I
look back with shame to my discontented feelings on first coming to
this place, and bless God that my wish to be released from my engagement was not gratified. I am satisfied that my removal from my
father's house, by breaking the associations which had been growing
stronger and stronger for twenty years, and turning the current of my
thoughts into new channels, was highly instrumental in directing my
attention to the subject of religion. I expressed this idea to my father,
who concurred in it, and observed that the removal of a young man,
from his father's house, is always a critical event, producing powerful
effects, good or bad, according to the situation into which he passes."
"Now, thanks be to God, a better situation, quoad hoc, could not. May not this have been the very interview referred to by Dr. Baird? and
may not the father have counselled the son on the subject of Satanic temptations?




224                  LIGHT IN  DARKNESS.                   [1830.
have been selected than the one in which I find myself. The heads
of the family are both exemplary Christians; religion is treated by all
the household with respect, and I am wholly delivered from the company of any whose contempt or opposition might retard my progress.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
"I have been reading Augustin's Confessions as abridged in Milner's
Church History. What a wonderful conversion!  Like most other
practical works which I have read, it contains something parallel to
my case. The difficulty which the historian appears to look upon as
something very singular (viz., of forming a conception of the Deity
as a spiritual substance) gave me no small trouble sometime since,
and is not yet conquered. Most of his conflicts too I have felt, though
not in the same circumstances. The statement which he makes in the
last book, of his temptations through the different senses, I might
almost transcribe and make my own. Does not this coincidence in the
experience and language of men separated by such intervals of space
and time, prove the truth of their religious sentiments?
"I finished yesterday Ellerby's abridgment of Edwards on the
Affections. I am happy that I read it. It put me on my guard against
some delusions into which I should have been very apt to fall. I am
reading slowly Owen on Spiritual Mindedness. Large portions of it
cannot be digested well at once; but it is evidently well worth the
perusal.
"10 o'clock, P. M. Thank God! I feel myself much relieved from
the irrational and sinful melancholy which has been oppressing me. I
have been enabled, in some measure, to obey the precept in 1 Peter
5.7 (Ps. 55.22). O my God, KaraprL(oratL arr7plaL Oevcooar, Oe,/EXtor-aL!
I am weak but thou art strength itself. I do, Lord! humbly cast my
burden upon thee, knowing that thou WILT sustain me, for I dare not
disbelieve thee.
" I have no longer any right to wonder at the darkness and discomfort which have lately troubled me, when I find myself so prone to
yield to every temptation, however feeble.-O my Father who art in
Heaven, when shall I feel humbly grateful for the privilege of calling
thee my father? Oh, how canst thou who art holiness itself endure
the approaches of an impure worm? Save me from the presumptuous
folly of ascribing it to my own merits, and give me a deeper and deeper
conviction of the truth that it is only through the intercession of a
great High Priest that I am not spurned from thy footstool; —Hallowed be thy name; —strike me, in mercy strike me to the earth under
a deep sense of thy holiness and majesty; Oh! save me from the blas



AET. 20.]                 CONFESSIONS.                       225
phemons impiety of trifling with thy name.-How often, O Lord, I
have taken it in vain! How needless do I utter it even at this moment! Keep me, O Lord, for I have not even holiness enough to look
upon thee with reverence! Oh! blast this pride and insensibility, not
with the lightnings of thy wrath, but with the breathings of thy 1toly
Spirit. Let me no longer come into thy presence reeking with the
vanities of life, or wallowing in my own native filthiness, and in such
a state presume to take thy name, even thine O God, upon mny polluted
lips! But enable me to say with my heart as well as with my lips,
hallowed be thy name!-Thy kingdom  come! Oh enable me to rejoice with joy unspeakable at the very thought that thy throne is forever and ever: knowing and believing that the sceptre of thy kingdom
is a right sceptre, and that from everlasting to everlasting thou art
God! Oh, when shall thy kingdom come among the nations    When
shall our God and Saviour have the heathen for his inheritance? Come,
Lord Jesus, come quickly! Oh, that my eyes might see the salvation
of the world! And, O Lord, when thou coinest in thy kingdom, remember me-remember me!
"Feb. 5. I have read to-day with great pleasure and benefit the
fourth chapter and part of the fifth in Owen on Spiritual AMindedness.
The perusal of it was permitted to be instrumental in dispelling somewhat the black cloud of selfish melancholy whlich has hung upon me
for some days. Alas, alas, I yielded this evening to a temptation which
I vainly imagined I had gained power to resist.'Who shall deliver me
from the body of this death! A short time since such surprises, by
making me despair of my own strength checked my progress toward a
life of obedience. But now I thank God I have learned two lessons
that before were foolishness to me; one is, that my own strength is
perfect weakness; the other that I can do all things through Christ
that strengtheneth me. I arise from this fall with new convictions of
my own inability to think a right thought, and, I trust, with renewed
dependence upon God.
" Feb. 7. Read an abridgment of the life of IHenry Martyn. I have
so often read this biography for its almost romantic interest, that I expected to derive no entertainment from it. But in this perusal my
attention was abstracted to the account of his conversion; and I was
surprised at its remarkable resemblance to my own. It was equally
gradual, without strong terrors or remorse, and seems to have resulted
as immediately from study of the Scriptures. The fragments also of
his subsequent experience, contained in'extracts from his journal might
be transcribed here as narratives of mine; I mean his unfavourable
10*




226                EXPERIMENTAL JOURNAL.                     (1830.
pictures. Would to God I had his-and far more than his-love, faith,
devotion, patience, deadness to the world, meekness and charity toward
all men! But as Martyn himself says,' The gospel was contrived to
meet the case of sinners, and no sins can get beyond its redeeming and
purifying power.' Oh for light; God is light; Oh for more love-God
is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in
him. Oh let me dwell in thee eternally!"
" Feb. 8. Though I awoke at an early hour sloth and the severe
cold made me break my resolution as to early rising and devotion.
Would to God my senses had less influence upon my spirit! Notwithstanding this delinquency, my mind was graciously brought into a more
comfortable and, I hope, more spiritual state than it has been for some
time, if at all. The evils which I have most reason to complain of are
distrust in God's goodness* and a proneness to unbelief. A delightful
letter from the dearest friend (as to community of feelings, sentiments,
&c.) that I have on earth, stirred up my feelings not a little. Six weeks
ago I should have been annoyed by such a letter; as it is, I desire to
bless God that I have such a brother. I have lately been oppressed
with a feeling of solitariness arising from my situation; for I have intimate communion with no one in the same house, and my occupations
are exceedingly confining. In my anxiety about my own state, too, I
have forgotten others. I have unconsciously regarded myself as the
only one on earth who stood in just such a relation to God. In some
respects this has been beneficial. It has enabled me to make up my
mind, and lay my plans, independently of mere humnan considerations,
and to regard personal religion as an affair between God and my own
healrt. The views which I have entertained and the resolutions I have
taken, have rested on the supposition that I stood alone; I hope, therefore, that they will be less likely to be moved by any chan ge in external
circumstances. But now that I begin to feel some confidence that I am
in the right way, I find it to be a privilege as well as duty, to look at
others. Archbishop Leighton's observations on the first sentence of
the Lord's prayer, brought the duty to my mind with new liveliness
and force; and this letter makes me feel the value of the privilege of
Christian communion more forcibly.
"2 P. M. I have constantly new warnings against putting confidence in the stability of my own resolutions, and the permanence of
my feelings. This morning I felt confident, resigned and spiritual. At
* The letter of his eldest brother, which is here referred to, is not now in
existence.




AET. 20.1         EXPERIMENTAL JOURNAL.                      227
this moment, I am not only cold in my affections, and indistinct in my
views of truth, but plagued by a return of my old feelings of false
shame, attachment to mere worldly objects, &c. I thank God, however, I am still enabled to feel that it all arises from the want of faith
and watchfulness, and to believe that it is possible to obtain other
states of mind, by unwearied diligence combined with humble reliance
upon Divine assistance. This remedy I am determined to apply; fighting my way through all difficulties, and waging war especially against
myself, as my most treacherous enemy. Oh my God! though thou
canst not but abhor the unbelief and corruption which produces these
vicissitudes, yet thou knowest that my heart's desire before thee is to
love thee with a fervour, and serve thee with a zeal, above and beyond
all that I have yet imagined or designed. Oh, aid me in the struggle
with my own heart and with sin!
" 11 r. M. I am  hourly made to feel my weakness.  I vainly
imagined that my religious feelings were not likely to be influenced by
outward circumstances; but on going home to-night and finding my
father low-spirited and my mother unwell, though both spiritually
well and rejoicing in my change, I felt my spirits sink within me as if
my prospects of eternal life depended upon them. When shall I be
delivered from this bondage to mere natural affections, and mere
worldly objects? Lord, this struggle is too hard for my unassisted
strength. Oh, fan my dying faith into a flame with the breathings of
thy Spirit! Oh, sustain me with the arms of thy everlasting love;
I feel my own shortcomings. In this single day how little have my
thoughts been with God; how little have I thought of His omnipresence; how little have I tried to wean my affections from the world
and fix them upon Christ; how little have I been actuated in my conduct by a regard to duty and a sincere desire to do the will of God.
Lord, thou hast searched me and known me; thou knowest my downsittings and my uprising; strengthen my weakness; animate, excite,
invigorate me! In humble confidence that thou wilt not reject this
prayer, I desire to resolve in thy presence that I will endeavour, if
permitted to behold another day, to spend it in a way more agreeable
to thee and beneficial to myself. What a mercy is it that our duty and
our interests are so united. God might justly have required us to submit to torments in his service, but no-the very duties which we render, if performed aright, are sources of delight.'"
" Feb. 9. Cold, languid, earthly-O Lord, how long? But is it not
one of my habitual sins to expect God's aid without the use of means;




228               EXPERIMENTAL JOURNAL.                     [1s30.
and then to complain of my deficiencies, as if they did not spring from
my own sinfulness?
"10. —11. A little comforted, strengthened and enlightened by the
latter part of Romans xiv; but still tormented by a dread of ridicule,
disgrace, &c. My imagination works too much; one of Owen's rules
struck me forcibly; to take from our most valuable time for God's
service, not palm the scraps and refuse on Him.
" The fifth of Romans is a glorious chapter-even my blindness
could perceive its brightness! O my God apply thy Word to me the chief
of sinners. I have obtained the first volume of John Newton's works
and hope to derive much advantage from it. He always speaks from
his heart and from his own experience.
"Who hath bewitched me? Though rationally satisfied that this
world contains nothing commensurate with my capacity and desires,
and that if I will, I may obtain a crown of everlasting life, I am llarassed by constant disposition to fall back into my old pursuit of
worldly happiness; and even when I feel no relish for the beggarly
elements around me, I am equally devoid of taste for spiritual good; so
that I am left in a miserable state of fluctuation and dissatisfaction.
"11 P. M. From some cause I feel much relieved from melancholy,
&c. I am thankful for the comfort, but distrust its source. I find by
recent experience that when I emerge from  gloom, it is commonly
to run into the opposite extreme of negligence and levity.  God
grant that I may soon be brought into the golden mean of cheerful
obedience and unhesitating confidence in His fidelity and goodness!"
" Feb. 10. To my surprise I awoke this morning with an agreeable
impression on my mind of the words,'Though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, &c.' I am struck with this because I
begin to see that my melancholy feelings may be all resolved into an
undignified fear of death. I take comfort, however, in the reflection
that my dread is not simply that the terrors of death are great, but
that they may be so great as to overpower faith and love. From these
forebodings I derive at least temporary relief from such passages as the
latter part of Romans viii (a glorious revelation). I am also comforted,
strengthened, and encouraged by the experience of John Newton which
teaches me that my want of deep sensibility, strong convictions, &c.,
though a melancholy defect, is no proof that I am not in Christ. Mkay
God preserve me from unbelieving despondency, on one hand, and presumptuous confidence on the other.* I feel that I need trials and
* This was an almost daily petition with him, long afterwards.




XET. 20.1          EX1'  IMIIMENTAL JOURNAL.                  229
troubles to mlake inc feel, as well as know, my dependence upon God.
Every little cilrcumstlance distracts my thouglhts, and throws me back
into my old associations; and yet when I read of temptations, &c., I
am reatly to say, my mountain stands firm.
"11 P. AI. By enllgaging in long and somewhat frivolous discourse,
I find that I have lost much even of the spiritual taste and feeling which
I had this morning-little as that was. I do, indeed, want something
to wean my affections altogether from the trifles of this life. I alm apt
to think sometimes, that if placed in such or such a place, I should be
more spiritual. The truth, no doubt, is, that without new supplies of
grace, I would carry the same worldliness into any situation. My own
strength is perfect weakness-when shall I learn to lean upon my allsufficient helper? O God, humble my proud heart, crucity my lusts,
subdue my obstinacy, melt my insensibility, and bring all my powelrs
into captivity to thee only! I shall be satisfied when I awake with
thy likeness."
" Feb. 11. I derive much pleasure, and I hope advantage, from the
writings of John Newton. He evidently grounds his opinions on the
Word of God, confirmed by personal experience. I find it necessary,
however, to beware of placing my dependence on human aids. Men
are fallible; and their fallibility is everywhere apparent. I value religious books because they bring into a single point of view, truths
which are detached in the Scriptures; and because they show the
effects the religion of the Bible has, actually, upon the minds of men.
In almost every book, however, there is a tincture of some personal
infirmity or error-an overstraining of some one point in preference to
others. Thus Owen, who wrote his book on Spiritual Mindedness in
his old age, when waiting for his last change, was too apt to underrate
the social relations and man's duties as a member of society; while
Newton, who was wonderfully changed from a wicked slave-dealer to
a Christian minister, naturally set too little value on learning, education, &c. It is only in the Book —the Book of Books, that all is symmetrical and consistent; Olh may I love it more and more! I have
felt some grateful emotions this evening in reflecting on the mercies of
God in arresting my sinful projects and opening my eyes. A year ago
lhow many resolutions had I broken as to my conduct during the ensuing year! But alas, such feelings with me are but transitory. Light
conversation and mere literary employments distract and dissipate my
thoughts till I feel as if there was no spiritual life within me. Lord,
quicken me! "
" Feb. 12. The book of Ecclesiastes is an exact expression of the




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feelings which I have lately experienced as to the vanity of earthly
things. How true is it, that though the experience of men is infinitely
various, the Bible contains a description of every possible and imaginable case.
"I have reason to be continually upon my guard against internal
enemies as well as those without.  On reading the report of the
Oriental Translation Fund of London, I found myself at night carried
back by a current of strong associations into my old train of thought,
Iny literary projects, &c. This I must watch and pray to be delivered
from; for I am fully persuaded that I ari more in danger from literary
pursuits than from any other quarter. Sensual gratification I always
despised, even when I was a slave to it; but intellectual pleasure has
been the idol to which I have deliberately sacrificed my interests and
my duty. I cannot recollect a moment in which the prospect of any
sensual enjoyment could have induced me to have abandoned my acquisitions and the hope of more; whereas I would at any time have
given up forever the pursuit of all bodily enjoyment to procure some
favourite objects of the other kind. But amidst the turmoil of my passions I can still take refuge in the consciousness that my supreme desire
is to make God's glory my first object, and to use all things else as instruments.  God preserve me in this disposition for Christ's sake."
" Feb. 13. O Lord, what a blank is the past week! What progress
have I made toward heaven and toward thee? I am not even so peaceftll nor so single-eyed as I was a week ago. Though I have overcome
the temptations of old lusts which gave me trouble, the lust of the underlstanding-the Inost plausible and insinuating of all unsanctified
affections, seems to be creeping back upon nc. The thirst for mere
literary pleasure, which was one of my besetting sins, seems to threaten
a return. I can only guard rnyself by making sncred literature an object of attention, for which reason I design to study Hebrew de novo.
Greek I study with exclusive reference to the Scriptures. After all,
my surest dependence is on Ilimn who is, and was, and is to come; to
Hliln be glory forever:and ever, Amen."
"Feb. 14. I have not enjoyed much light or peace to-day, because
I have not sought it with sufficient zeal and diligence. Unbelieving
fears or wild imagination, and the natural aversion of the heart to God
have kept me from the throne of Grace. The greatest difficulty which
I have to encounter is a perfect resignation of myself-life, health,
reputation, talents, acquisitions, time, and all, into the hands of God.
I feel willing to (o great things, and make costly sacrifices in His service; but it seems as if my proud heart would not be contented with



XET. 20.]         EXPERIMENTAL JOURNAL.                         231
out having some share in ordering my steps.  Hide me, O Lord, under
the shadow of thy wings! "' Feb. 15.  The evil I have most to complain of to-day is dissipation
and distraction of mind.  Every thing seems vague and undefined.
Though I have no spiritual distress, I have no clear views of truth, nor
elevated affections. I have not yet learned to be sufficiently jealous of
myself. I am too apt to fall back into my old trains of thought and
association.  When I do so, and in consequence forget God and spiritual things for many minutes, I invariably feel a painful void which
can only be filled by turning my attention to religious matters again.
And, I thank God, I feel something like a relish for hIis service, and
thougllh lhypochondriacald still, feel little attachment to my own life, or
tlhe world in comparison with that which lies beyond."
" Feb. 16. At times to-day I have enjoyed considerable peace of
mind; but for the most part, I have been distracted between intellectual exercise on one hand, and hypochondriacal apprehensions, on the
other.  From the latter plague I never feel so free as when I amn engaged in prayer.  Yet, strange to tell, it is with difficulty that I can
constrain myself to go upon my knees. What an enigma of wickedness
and folly do I daily find myself to be! I am'astonished that I could
live so long without any discovery of my own chlaracter-its selfishness
and meannes%, its weakness and inconsistency. But I console myself
with 1 Corinthians, xx. 51."
"Feb. 17. At different }hours on this as on eve'y other day, my
feelings vary. Occasionally I am quite resigned and contented to 1epose upon God's wisdom and goodness. These are my happiest moments, but they are few and transitory.  Would to God I were iid of
this selfish solicitude, which not only mars mly comfort by diffusing
gloom  through all my feelings, but engrosses so large a share of my
attention that there is none left for God."
" Feb. 18. I have hardly patience to continue this monotonous and
meagre record. My experience on one day is the same as o(n another.
Still I desire to take all the shame and grief of mny darkness and discomfort to myself, while I give all the glory to God. The occasional
intervals of satisfaction whlich I enjoy are evidently produced by colnmunion with Him, while the disquietude and alpatlhy of other nimonmets
as evidently spring fionm a neglect of religious duties —KnpLE &Xglc-ov."
" Feb. 19. I began this day in considerable peace and comfort, and
though I have had returns of my dejection, I hlve reason to be thankful for my general tranquillity.  At noon, when alone, I felt some
emotions of st!rrow in reading the account of our Saviour's agony."




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"Feb. 20. During the past week I have finished Canticles, and
read forty-four chapters in English. I have also finished Matthew,
read all of Mark and eight chapters of Luke in Greek. In the Septuagint I have read eighteen chapters of Genesis; in Martyn's Persian
New Testsment the remainder of the Apocalypse and five chapters of
Malrk. I have also studied Stuart's Hebrew grammar and Rosenmfiller's
Arabic grammnar, and have finished the revision of thirty-three pages of
the Greek lexicon; lastly, I have read much of the first volume of
John Newton's works, and several other books, such as' Advice to a
young Christian,''Jowett's Christian Remembrancer,' &c.
"This is little enough, but when I turn to spiritual things, and ask
what progress I have made during the past week I am dumb with confusion. One sin stands forth with especial prominence —my ungrateful
and presumptuous neglect of intercourse with God. I have scarcely
prayed regularly during the whole week. Sloth in the morning combined with other delinquencies would drive me from the mercy-seat,
were it not for such grand revelations as Isaiah lxiii. 25. If it was for
my sake the Lord showed me ftvour, I might well despair of ever
gaining it, but since, as he expressly declares, it is for His own sake, I
submit-my defections make me cling closer to the throne of God and
to the cross of Christ. Still I must do something, and therefore with
reliance on Divine help I resolve that in the coming week I will arise
as soon as I awake, and devote the time so gained to secret prayer. If
the immaculate Saviour rose'a great while before day,' and spent
whole nights in prayer, surely I ought to pray without ceasing."
"Feb. 21. I was enabled to-day, after a slight struggle, to gain the
victory over sloth, and rise a little earlier than usual. Read the Scriptures with great pleasure and I hope Divine illumination. I am astonislled to meet with such multiplied and convincing evidences of the
deity of Clhrist. I never saw them before because I looked for direct,
positive declarations, whereas the most satisfactory proofs are, apparently, minute and accidental. In fact, the strongest argument, it
seems to me, is that the supposition of Christ's divinity gives a harmony, consistency and beauty to the Scriptures which they cannot
have without it. The point to which my attention has been chiefly
called to-day, in relation to this matter, is the fact that God is repeatedly declared to be the only Saviour, and that this name is as strongly
claimed by Him, as one of His inalienable titles, as any other; while,
on the other hand, it is so expressly given to Jesus Christ in the New
Testament, that it has become his most familiar and appropriate epithet throughout the Christian world. Under the influence of these




AET. 20.]         EXPERIMENTAL JOURNAL.                      233
considerations, I cannot help regarding Christ in God, when I examine
in connection the following texts, which I have been able to turn to
without a concordance (multitudes of others tend to the same point)
Isaiah xliii. 11; xlv. 42; Jude, 25; 1 Tim. i. 1; 2 Peter i. 1, 3, 18Two of these (1 Tim i. 1, and 2 Peter i. 1) admit of an interpretation
which amounts to positive assertion of Christ's deity, but even waiving
this, they satisfy me.
"Read the 9th chapter of Luke with feelings altogether new. What
a glory is thrown upon the gospel history by keeping constantly in
view its connection with the former dispensation! I have been too
apt, in spite of the Saviour's own admonition, to suppose that he came
to destroy the law. I have commonly looked upon his advent &c. as
a plan formed subsequently to the revelations of the Old Testament.
But now, when I read the predictions of a Messiah in the prophets, the
types of him in the ceremonial law, the promise of him in paradise,
and then turn and read the gospel as nothing more nor less than a continuation of the history; recognizing in Christ the Messiah foretold
of old, and all that he did as steps taken to accomplish the grand
scheme-it is unutterably glorious. In reading our Lord's instructions
to his apostles, Luke ix. 1-6, I was more than ever, or rather for the
first time, struck with the fact that he did not heal the sick and raise
the dead for mere sympathetic feeling for the sorrows of the sufferers,
but as means for the accomplishment of the great end of his incarnation. I read the account of the transfiguration with new emotions,
heightened by a recollection of the intercourse between God and
Moses and Elias in former times. Two circumstances struck me:
Moses talked to Jesus of the;'osov which he should accomplish at Jerusalem;-what a contrast must there have been between the feelings
of Elijah, when he stood with his face wrapped in his mantle at the
entering in of the cave, trembling at the still small voice of his unseen
God, and those which he experienced on the summit of Mount Tabor
hearing the same voice proceed from the excellent glory, and conversing with the same God, incarnate, faceto fce! Moses was a great man
— Elijah was a great man, and the simple inscription given in the
gospel of their intercourse with the Saviour, at this time, gave me
some impressions and strong feelings of the Saviour's glory which I
never had before, but which I never wish to lose. Is it not strange
that my conceptions of the Saviour should be still so gross-that even
Moses and Elias could reflect light upon Him?
"11 o'clock, A. M. Heard Mr. Woodhull on Jesus Christ and Himn
crucified. At 4. P. M., Mr. Bush lectured at the school on the Ten Vir



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gins and the Talents. Went home and attended the religious conference in the Seminary-subject, zeal. I have enjoyed, to-day, unusual
peace and satisfaction. These feelings were less strong toward evening; probably because I trusted too much in my own ability to keep up
such emotions at my pleasure. The Lord preserve me fiom self-confidence! I have read, to-day, in Greek, Luke 9-12; in English, Isaiah
xliv-xlviii; Newton's letters, Force of Truth, Jowett's Researches."
"Feb. 22. I feel a sensible declension from the elevation of feeling which I enjoyed yesterday. It arises partly, no doubt, from my
necessary return to secular business, but also, in a great measure, from
my proneness to self-confidence and to forget that of myself I can do
nothing. Oh, that I had attained that stage in the progress of the
soul in which the only motive is the love of God; the only end, the
glory of God, and the only dependence on the grace of God! I also
need to be constantly reminded of the emptiness of this world, and
its tumult of affairs! Oh, that it were written indelibly in my heart
-EVO9,) EVOl, CO7L XpeLta.
"Feb. 24. I am backsliding very fast; the change is very sensible.
I find the impression which I had of the vanity of earthly things fast
wearing off; the little sense which I had gained of the excellence of
holiness becoming less and less lively, and all my feelings setting back
towards their ancient current. The worst symptom of all this is, that
I feel no grief on account of this declension. And yet amidst it all I
feel that I could cheerfully sacrifice all the pleasures, gains and honours
of the world for an increase in holiness. Lord, save me —I perish.
"'Feb. 25. It pleased God to rouse me from the lethargy into
which I was sinking, by a deep wound in my pride; occasioned by the
contemptuous treatment of one of my large pupils who has always behaved to me with great respect. I bless God I was enabled to defer
my anger, to repress all resentful feelings and to pay the boy's impertinence with kindness and forbearance. It was, indeed, of great use to
me, by giving me a clearer view of the precarious tenure by which men
possess the respect and esteem of others, and so leading me to renounce
the world as a source of happiness. While under the influence of this
incident, I read Jeremiah ii., and was astonished at its appropriateness
to my own case. A personal address on the subject of my backslidingr
could not come more home. Verses 13, 17, 23, 34, 37, struck me p)articularly as precisely applicable. Oh, that the Lord would sanctify
this portion of His work as a means of awakening, convincing, and
humbling me! "
" Feb. 27. For some days past I have been vexed by a return of




AT. 20.]          EXPERIMENTAL JOURNAL.                      235
some old feelings which I thought had quit me long ago. Their first
effect has been to agitate and disturb me; their second to drive me
back to God as the only source of true felicity. I conversed this afternoon with Mr. Patton on the subject of religion. He gave me some
account of his experience, which, in some respects, resembles mine.
One observation of his struck me, viz.-that when the soul is harassed
with doubts and difficulties as to the evidences of its state, peace may
often be obtained by asking itself a simple question:' Would any thing
induce me to give up my hope, such as it is?'
To-morrow is the blessed Sabbath. How little did I think, six
months ago, that I should ever hail its return with joy; not as a season
of mere relaxation, but a precious opportunity of waiting upon God.
I thank the Lord that he has enabled me to look upon His Sabbath as
a delight and as honourable. Oh, may He give me grace to sanctify
the coming day aright! "
"Feb. 28. I went to sleep last night with a delightful impression
on my mind of the relation between Christ and His followers, as represented by the figure of a shepherd and his sheep. There seemed to be
a force and beauty in the allegory which I had never before observed.
This morning I awoke earlier than common. It is somewhat singular
that for some time past, thouagh I have generally slept till late, I have
been awakened early Sabbath morning by the crowing of the cock.
Through the day I have been generally comfortable and have had
much more enjoyment in secret prayer."
"March 1. After reviewing my recorded experience during the
month just past and endeavouring to feel some of that humiliation
which my coldness, sloth and inconsistency afford so much reason for,
I venture, in reliance upon God's assistance to resolve: 1. That during
the present month I will endeavour to watch with redoubled vigilance
against the beginnings of evil; especially against those temptations
which I know by experience to be most dangerous. 2. That I will endeavour to act more upon principle, with more regard to the will of
God. 3. That I will endeavour to avoid with equal diligence, an irreligious levity, and an unprofitable despondency and gloom. 4. That I will
watch with more care against sloth; endeavouring to improve the time
more than I have done. 5. That I will endeavour to cultivate a Iprinciple of Christian benevolence and love. 6. That I will endeavour to
mortify my pride; especially those latent forms under which thblt evil
principle conceals itself' 7. Th'at I will guard against my old enemythe love of intellectual pleasure; by studying with regularity, and with
constant reference to the grand object of all study. 8. That I will en



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deavour to study God's Word with more reverence, attention, patience,
faith, and love. 9. That I will pay such attention to my own health as
duty seems to demand, by moderation in diet and regularity in exercise.
10. That having done all I will throw myself, always and forever, on
the gracious aid of the Almighty, without which I cannot stir a step in
my progress toward perfection.
"' And now, O Omniscient Searcher of hearts! if thou seest any insincerity in these resolves, purge it, I beseech thee, from my heart; and
if I am indeed sincere, Oh, enable me to keep the vow which I now
make in tlJy name and presence: for the sake of Christ. Amen."
" March 2. I have had something of a struggle to-day between my
literary lusts, so to speak, and a sense of duty. I fully believe, from
experience as well as testimony, that an exclusive devotion to intellectual pursuits is one of the worst enemies with which the renewed soul
has to grapple. I am not certain that I ought not to relinquish my
Arabic; at least for the present; as I have relinquished French, Spanish,
German and Italian reading."
"March 7. How seldom do we know what we are praying for,
when we ask God, upon our knees, to humble us, show us our vileness,
wean us from dependence on ourselves, &c! For my own part I know
that when I offer such petitions, I commonly expect themn to be answered by an immediate operation on my heart, without the intervention of external means. No wonder, then, that I am often taken by
surprise by the answer to my own earnest supplications. On Tuesday
(Mar. 1,) I vowed, among other things, to endeavour to mortify my
pride; especially those latent forms under which that evil principle
conceals itself. At the same time I besought the Lord to assist me in
adhering to this resolution, and to detect any insincerity by which it
might be vitiated. On Tuesday all went well, but on Wednesday a
trifling occurrence was permitted so to stir up the corrupt mass of my
bad passions, especially my pride, that I stood amazed at the mingled
folly, wickedness and helplessness of my own heart. Yet, strange to
tell, it never occurred to me until this evening, that this occurrence
was in'answer to my own request and was graciously designed to show
me what a risk I run whenever I presume to make a vow or resolution
in dependence on myself. If this be indeed so, I bless God for the
timely warning, and hope to profit by it. The two great evils I have
to complain of are, my proneness to act upon mere impulse, without
regard to principle, and my inability to view things temporal and eternal in their great proportions."
"March 15. O Lord! Thou knowest me altogether; when I look




JAT. 20.]          EXPERIMENTAL JOURNAL.                     237
back through the past week and consider my neglect of thee, my discontent, my ungrateful and rebellious murmurings against thy providence, how can I appear before thee? And yet, when I look further
back and remember my presumptuous self-confidence, my fancied
preparation for all trials, I cannot but acknowledge in the dust before
thee, that I did indeed need a lesson such as thou only canst give.
With shame, too, I confess, O thou long-sufiering and gracious Lord!
my selfish reservations in giving myself up to thee. Thou hast opened
my eyes to see that in all my acts of self-devotion, I have constantly
prescribed conditions unto thee; consenting to serve thee if thou
wouldst let me choose the circumstances; submitting to thy will, provided it coincided with my own; and professing myself willing to
undergo all sufferings, provided I should never be required in practice
to submit to them. Even now, O Lord! with my eyes in a measure
open to the wickedness and folly of such dealings with a holy, merciful
and jealous God-even now my corrupt, my rotten heart suggests that
these confessions will bribe thee to deliver me from the natural evil,
with the fear of which I have been long tormented. Against this diabolical and mad corruption, I would strive; but where is my strength?
When I should have clung to the throne-to the cross-to the pr'omises,
with most tenacity, I have foolishly forsaken them; what wonder then
that I am weak, blind, unwilling and unable to confide in thee-allfaithful as thou art?  O God, thou art just!  I deserve it all: but in
the name of one whose intercession thou canst not despise, I praywith agony pray, that I may be made willing to do or to suffer any
thing! Amen."
"March 16. 0 Lord, God of infinite compassion! words fail me
when I undertake to express my gratitude-or rather obligations to
thy goodness. I can hardly believe that I am spared, preserved, exempted from excruciating torments.  What am I, O Lord! that thou
shouldest regard me, even for a moment, with forbearance. O Lord!
extirpate this hypocrisy that taints every exercise of my soul. Save
me, I implore thee, from the damning sin of uttering words before thee
which belie my thoughts. When I say that I am vile, Oh drench my
spirit in an overwhelming flood of shame and unfeigned humiliation at
the thought of my pollution! When I confess my enormities, O suffer
me not to confess them with my lips alone! —mke me feel that I am
viler than any language can describe me."
"March 17. This morning little IIarlviet Patton died of the scarlet
fever. On Sunday she was at church, and ap!peared as well as usual.
IHow shall I derive any personal advantage fronm this melanchloly event?




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The Lord seems to be teaching me, by repeated lessons, the shortness
and uncertainty of life; the folly and meanness of mere hypochondriacal
depressions; when the occasions of real sorrow are so numerous around
me; the necessity, the absolute necessity, of providing sources of relief
and consolation altogether independent of mere human circumstances.
From the gloom which at present clouds this house of mourning, I feel
constantly disposed to take refuge by visiting or thinking of my father's
family; where all are well, and where I might no doubt, obtain a temporary and unprofitable interval of freedom from unpleasant thoughts.
But when I begin to mnake the supposition that death might enter even
that asylum; that one and another even of that circle, to which all lmy
affections have so long been selfishly confined, might be removed as
suddenly as this poor child; when I merely imagine these events as
possible; my very soul grows sick and revolts from the painful thought.
But why?  It must be so at some time! Nothing can be more certain
than that sooner or later I must either die and leave my friends, or
must survive the last wreck of my family. Where, then, is the wisdom
of shutting my eyes to the consideration of suchl truths? The fact is,
at least in my case, that strong remedies are necessary to overcome
this sickly tenderness. Men must die: they are dying every moment;
and the very unavoidableness of the event seems to tempt us all to
labour to forget it. In no circumstances do men hew out broken cisterns with such perverse diligence as when shrouded in the gloom produced by the death of friends. And, indeed, this would be the height
of wisdom, if death were the closing scene. If we ceased to exist at
death, and death were inevitable, it would be gross folly to torment
ourselves with apprehensions which could only multiply our pangs.
But is it so?  Or if salvation was a hopeless thing; if death must
necessarily plunge us into illisery; I cannot see what better course we
could pursue than to exclude it altogether froin our thoughts. But if
it be true (and multitudes who act thus will at least profess to believe
it), if it be true that one ray of light from heaven beaming into the
soul, one single ray of spiritual light, could dispel this darkness perfectly; if it be true that thlousands have enjoyed this beatific sunshine
in the midst of sorrows-nay, amidst the pangs of death; if it be true
that'the Itoly Spirit is as willing now as ever to impart this delightful
gift; and indeed only shuts up the apertures through which'the dim
light of this world shines in order to lead us to another source of illumination; if it be true that we have only to resign ourselves to God,
disputing nothing-leaving ALL to Him in absolute defiance of appearances and of ourselves; why should we be depressed at all?




MET. 20.]         EXPERIMENTAL JOURNAL.                      239
"Noon. I have been to-day inexpressibly gloomy. The concurrence of so many melancholy circumstances tinges my imagination with
a dye of tenfold blackness. The death of this child; my hypochondria;
my slight indisposition; the gloomy weather; but above all, the unsettled state of my mind as to religion. I find there are two kinds of
assurance necessary to religious comfort: 1. An assurance of the truth
of Christianity. 2. An assurance of personal interest in its advantages.
On both these points I feel a corroding anxiety entirely incompatible
with joy or peace or even resignation. My doubts as to Christianity
itself are not so much settled and habitual misgivings, as occasional
suggestions of distrust and scepticism. I have good evidence that this
state of mind arises from corruption and is radically sinful; because I
feel myself continually prone to lay a thousand times more stress on
difficulties and objections, than on arguments that lean the other way.
My perplexities on the other matter are more constant and abiding.
I have so little evidence woithin me (and where that is wanting what
external indications can avail) I feel so little evidence woithin me of a
renewed heart, and a principle of grace, that I am continually tossed
about in miserable uncertainty. I think internal evidence of one's acceptance far more valuable by itself than the most ample satisfaction
of the understanding as to the verity of Christianity. For it seems to
me that the former, where it exists at all, must be founded on a consciousness of changes wrought in the character and feelings which no
lower cause than a divine operation can produce; and consequently
must include, in some degree, a lively conviction of the truth of the
gospel. The other, on the contrary, may be wholly unattended even
by a belief in one's conversion-nay, a man may preach and convince
others and be a cast-away. What then are the necessities which press
most heavily upon me in my present circumstances?
"To-night it pleased the Lord to give me some stability of confidence in the Scriptures; through the reading of Scott's preface to the
Bible.
" April 24. I am this day twenty-one years old, and after looking
back upon my past life, and forward to eternity, having also sought instruction in God's Word and at the throne of grace, I desire with few
words, but with a fixed heart, to consecrate myself, soul and body, now
and forever, to the God who made me. With this intent I now most
solemnly renounce the service of the devil, my late master; abandoning
not only certain sins, but sin itself; with all its pleasures, honours
and emoluments; desiring and beseeching God never more to suffer me
to taste the least enjoyment of a sinful nature. I also bind my con



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science in the presence of the jealous God who searches the heart and
cannot look upon iniquity without abhorrence, to watch against all
temptation; and, if necessary, to resist unto blood striving against sin.
At the same time I renounce all dependence upon any thing I may be,
do or suffer, here or hereafter, as a ground of deliverance from helltrusting for mercy in the cross of Christ. And having thus discharged
myself from all allegiance to the Prince of Darkness, I submit myself to
God in Christ; desiring and consenting to be His forever, to do and suffer all His will, in the joyful hope of an eternal recompense. And now,
having learned by sad experience, the deceitfulness of my own heart,
the weakness of my resolution and the craft of Satan, I throw myself
at thy feet, O Lord! and claim the promise of thy strengthening and illuminating grace to aid me in the performance of these vows. Oh, let
me not, I pray thee, be forsworn! Let me not insult thy majesty by
perjury so gross-so impious-so damnable!  Keep me, O God, in the
hollow of thy hand! For the sake of thy dear Son impart to me the
gift of thy free Spirit to purify, enlighten and transform my heart!
Through life m'ay I be thine, and in death, O Lord, in death be thou
my God! Again, and again, and again I solemnly devote myself to God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; desiring nothing,
hoping nothing, fearing nothing if I may but be accepted in the name
of Christ! Amen."
" April 25. Read the epistle to Titus in Greek and English. What
a comfort it must be to ministers that the apostle Paul has left such
particular directions in relation to their office, the character of the incumbents and the subjects of their preaching! I was much struck with
the explicit charge he gives to Titus, to insist upon the great doctrines
of redemption by the blood of Christ, and regeneration through the
influences of the Spirit, and to avoid vain controversy. What a rebuke
to the zealots of the present age! who, as Robert Hlall says, forget the
things about which they agree, in disputing about those in which they
differ. I am also struck with the fidelity in adhering to his own directions by frequently and repeatedly summing up the essentials of Christianity in a few words. This is done withl wonderful brevity and force
in verses 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the third chapter of this epistle. In this
short passage we have: 1. A clear exhibition of universal depravity.
2. Of God's free grace. 3. Of the offices of the Son and Spirit in the
work of redemption and sanctification.
" Read the Section Daleth in the cxixth Psalm. I have derived great
satisfaction, within a few days, from perusing this masterpiece of devotion. It is not to be read like the epistles; which I find are most




ALT. 2L]        EXPERIMENTAL JOURNAL.                       241
intelligible and impressive when perused upon Locke's plan, continuously and as a whole. The Psalms must be taken piece-meal; and
drank in drop by drop. Every verse seems to be full of meaning, and
to become more so the longer it is pondered. I find it advantageous
to read each verse in the original, and, also, in such versions as I lhave
at hand. This I have read in Hebrew, Latin, French and English.
This is the end of his experimental journal so far as it has
been continuously preserved. Detached entries reappear, but
from this time nearly all his diaries of this nature were kept
in separate books  iich were afterwards destroyed.  The inner history of his soul can be truly read only in the light of
these fragments which have escaped the flames. He seldom
spoke about his own spiritual state.  The silence of his
journals as to this important subject for so long a course of
years cannot be compensated.   It is "hiatus maxime deflendus."
11




CHAPTER VII.
Ix the month of July of this year, Mr. Alexander was
dangerously sick with scarlet fever. It was seldom indeed
that he suffered from any thing that could be called illness, and
he was hardly ever known to be confined to his bed. On this
occasion he was very patient, and a survivor distinctly recalls
his placid face and quiet grateful ways. This attack though
sharp was soon over; and upon his recovery he was, on the
29th day of the same month, appointed by the trustees Adjunct Professor of Ancient Languages And Literature in the
College of New Jersey, with the understanding that he was to
reside in the College and act as tutor. This position was one
which afforded many advantages in the way of self-improvement. The College tasks were not burdensome to him, and
left much leisure for the prosecution of other and still more
congenial studies. The rigid sameness of the academic routine no doubt fatigued and possibly fretted him; but its
methodical regularity was exactly what he liked. The scholastic repose of certain hours, the lively noise of others; the un.
broken seclusion of his own apartments; the verdant or
frozen lawn, that was spread like a carpet of velvet, or
snow* under his window; the grateful early summer shades;
the occasional intercourse of men of learning and talents, or at
any rate of extensive information and experience; must for a
while at least, have been agreeable to his tastes and disposition. But the truth was, when not fully employed, he became wretched in any situation of unvaried repose. He loved
to be surrounded by excitement, and was never so happy as
* He lived in the college; No. 59 of the old college, now burnt; next to
the bell-rope.




ET. 21.]    ENTRAN'CE UPON HIS PROFESSORSHIP.              243
when the sport of painless vicissitude. It may be inferred
that he soon wearied of his work at the College.
If by this is meant, that he was often restless in his new
employment, and at times thirsted for a change, the inference
is probably correct. But if it be meant, that he was on the
whole dissatisfied with his new situation, or that he was soon
induced to give up the post, the impression is a mistaken one.
His diaries lend no countenance to any such notion; and he remained at the College till he set sail for Europe, that is for a
period of two years and five months, and then (to use a political phrase) he gave up his portfolio in obedience to the
dictate of obvious and imperative duty.
His journal contains a transcript of his feelings at this time,
and presents a somewhat detailed account of his mental operations, as well as the series of his regular tasks in the College.
"Dec. 16.  On the 11th day of November I entered on my
duties as actual * tutor and nominal Professor in the College of New
Jersey. My official labours are not so burdensome but that they leave
me considerable time for study. Indeed, I should not have accepted
the appointment, except upon the supposition that I should be able to
continue my professional pursuits. Having finally resolved upon preparation for the ministry, I feel the satisfaction and advantage of having
some one definite object in my studies, instead of wandering amidst a
thousand, under the mere guidance of capricious inclination. I have
set before me as the specific end of my toils, to become thoroughly
acquainted with the Scriptures; philologically, theologically, practically and so to qualify myself for interpreting them properly to others.
~My studies having this for their chief end, will, at present, fall under
three distinct heads: 1. Biblical criticism. 2. Systematic theology.
3. History. To the first I shall for some time devote one whole day in
each week; to the second, four; and to the third, one. The first and
third will however receive some attention every day. My course of
study in the first branch will consist in studying the original Scriptures,
and in reading approved works on criticism, under the direction of Mr.
Hodge. Before taking up theology proper, my father advises a course
* He acted as tutor so far as discipline in the building was concerned, but
wap neyer tutor by appointment,




244               PROGRESS IN STUDIES.                   El30.
of Metaphysics; upon which I have already entered. My historical
reading will, of course, be chiefly in the Ecclesiastical department; but
I have determined to embrace this opportunity of laying a firm general
foundation. This I shall do by reading the best original historical
authorities in the languages with which I amn acquainted. I shall avoid
compilers and second-hand retailers. Content adire integros fontes.
MIy object is to survey for myself the raw stuff-the material from
which historiographers have wrought their patch-work. I shall begin
with the historical books of the Bible, and then probably proceed to
IIerodotus. Further I have not yet looked ahead."
The following statement will show what progress he had
already made in these departments, and what his scheme was
for the future. In Biblical criticism he had begun the gospel
of Matthew in Greek; pursuing the method of thorough-going
analysis-sifting every syllable and letter, and not even forgetting the accents.  He had also begun the Epistle to the
Galatians, of which he declares his intention to read it over
and over again; first repeatedly in Greek, with critical care,
but not with such minute regard to grammatical niceties as in
the other exercise; then in all the versions that he finds accessible, comparing the best commentators.  When he should
think himself well grounded in Galatians, he proposed to go
on to Ephesians. Ile had thus finished the first chapter,
making  use of "Robert Stephens's magnificent edition," and
comparing the text with that of Griesbach.  His lexicons at
this time were Bretschneidcr's (Leip. 1829), and Robinson's
translation of Wahl.  He had also been revising Gesenius's
grammar, preparatory to a course of critical rending in Hebrew.
The plan he had thought of, was to take some short book and
proceed inch by inch as he had done in Matthew.  HIe should
also be reading the historical books pari passu; but with more
freedom.  He was to use Kennicott's and Vanderhoohlit's editions and Gesenius's Hebrew.German Lexicon.
In metaphysics, he had read within a month, Beattie on
Truth; Buffier's First Truths; the fourth book of Locke's
Essays; the first book of the Novum Organum; Des Cartes's
Meditations and the first book of his Principia; Hobbes's




ET. 21.]           SUBJECTS OF STUDY.                     245
treatise on Human Nature; and Reid's Enquiry into the
Human Mind.  The last he had finished two days before, and
was to attack Reid's Essays next.
In history, he had begun Genesis in Hebrew, merely as an
exercise in historical literature. I find that he was reading it
in Kennicott without the points, which he discovered was a
very pleasant method in his unfettered excursions. For purposes of critical analysis he of course used the pointed text.
He had this day finished the twenty-sixth chapter.
To metaphysics and theology, he was now devoting four
days, viz.: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, or
to speak more strictly, the best part of four days, from four to
six hours each. To history he devoted Tuesday, and a little
additional time on every other day-" say enough to read one
chapter."  Friday he gave up to the study of books on Biblical criticism.  His critical reading in Hebrew and Greek was
continued daily and revised on Friday. IIis chart also included a plan for amusement; nor did he suffer his literary tasks
to crowd out his religious meditations.
" Besides these subjects of systematic study, I shall indulge myself
moderately in lighter reading as a relaxation. For the present this
shall consist in a partial survey of European periodical literature, beginning with the Monthly Review for 1758. I shall read no newspapers (regularly) except the Boston Recorder (a weekly religious
paper), which I expect to take. As I know by experience the importance of distiibuting my time exactly, I have adopted the following
scheme to serve till I form a better.
" 1. My leisure time in the study hours of College, both before and
after dinner; i. e. between nine and twelve in the forenoon, and two
and five in the afternoon; I shall devote to the leading subjects of the day.
"2. The part of an hour after breakfast and dinner before study
hours begin, I shall occupy with my critical reading of Greek and
Hebrew.
"3. From eight to nine P. M. shall be sacred to devotion.
"4. The time before breakfast, between twelve M. and dinner, and
between evening prayers and eight o'clock, are not appropriated above.
The mode of spending this time will depend on circumstances. Some



246                  PURSUING  HEBREW.                     [1830.
times I shall be in at these hours; sometimes not. During one of these
intervals I must attend daily to my more cursory reading in Greek and
Hebrew.
"The Sabbath is not included in the foregoing arrangements. My
reading on that day must be confined to the Scriptures and practical
divinity."
Here is a picture of the young scholar among his textbooks.  We can almost hear him  muttering over the oddlooking pages of his great open volumes.
"Dec. 23. This is my Hebrew day. My object, at present, is to
obtain as accurate a knowledge as I can, of the lexiography and grammar of both languages. I choose a passage therefore, merely to serve
as a text, and go over it twice. In Hebrew I do this first in Kennicott,
without the points, looking for every word in Gesenius's lexicon, and
reading the whole article upon it carefully. This is my way of studying
the passage lexicographically. I then take the pointed text, and analyze
it most minutely, reading at large every article in Gesenius's Elementarbuch which has a bearing upon the subject. By pursuing this plan
I shall soon have read a large proportion of the lexicon, and grounded
myself pretty completely in the grammar. In this sort of study, the
grammar and lexicon are the real objects of attention; the Hebrew
passage only serving as an index to the parts to be consulted. In
another branch I shall make the exegesis of the passage my chief aim.
Even in the former mode, however, I shall be slowly, but surely gaining a thorough knowledge of some parts of the Bible."
The boldness of the attempt to master the entire Hebrew
dictionary in one course of study, does not seem to have
once occurred to him. With him to resolve was to do; unless
his mind was suddenly diverted to something else, or he lost
interest in his labours. In the present case neither of these
events happened. He was at this time not near so stout as at
a later period, and was remarkably good-looking, with short,
dark brown hair, and a clear, fresh, florid complexion. His fine
blue eyes twinkled through a pair of strong near-sighted
glasses. His face was clean-shaven, and he was exquisitely
neat in his person, dress, and habits. A lady who saw him
for the first time in June of this year tells me that he was




ET. 21.]        LEADING CHARACTERISTICS.                  247
very retiring, but very kind and pleasant. To her he was all
that was cordial and agreeable, and she should never have
dreamed that he was in any important respect different firom
other people. No one saw much of him, for he was buried
among his books at Mr. Patton's school. His devotion to his
mother was unbounded. During his illness he was observed
again and again to turn his head and look up in her face with
glances of wistful love and pleasure. Iis admiration for her
understanding, and the winning charm of her society, was
almost as great as his affection for her person.
The uniformity of testimony as to his leading characteristics at this period, leaves no doubt as to what they were.
":From my boyhood," writes one who has travelled far and met
with a variety of men,* "I had been accustomed to hear of Addison
Alexander through a relation of his who was married to one of my
brothers, and who having spent some years in Dr. Alexander's family
had, of course, enjoyed the most favourable opportunities for an intimate acquaintance with his son Addison.  The minute detntils thus
given me of his manner of life and his various sayings and doings
greatly impressed me, and excited a strong desire to see him."
This was before he became known to the public, but even
then this writer had learned to look upon him as an intellectual
prodigy.
" My personal acquaintance with him was made on my going to
Princeton as a student of the college, in which he then held the pllace
of adjunct Professor of Languages. He had previously been carrying on
a correspondence with my brother George to induce him to accept a
tutorship in the college during his course in the Theological Se-mintary
which he was about to enter; and as I accompanied my brother to
Princeton,-this circumstance immediately brought me into contact with
Mr. Alexander."
He found him affable and kind, unassuming and apparently
much like any other educated and pleasant gentleman.
* The Rev. John Leyburn, D. D., of Baltimore, but for many years of Philadelphia, and at one time one of the editors of the Preslyterian.




248                   IN THE CLASS.                       1s830.
Subsequently he was himself a member of one of his classes
in college, and was smitten with the general admiration for
his teacher.
" The students among themselves always called himn'Addy,' but
they never ventured on familiarity with him. His extraordinary
mental gifts and wonderful scholarship were perfectly understood and
commanded their respect, while his prompt and decided manner in the
recitation-room showed that he was not to be trifled with. He had
but little patience at this time with the indolent and negligent, and
sometimes cut them up with sharp words."
Occasionally too, it struck him that Mr. Alexander's own
gifted and luminous mind had elevated him so far above
the common range of intellect as to some extent to incapacitate him from appreciating the difficulties of a naturally dull
student.
" One in our class of this description he used to be quite hard upon.
He would allow him to flounder along through the lengthy and complicated sentences of Cicero, making the most hideous blunders; the
Professor never correcting them, but once in a while casting a glance
of mingled astonishment and displeasure at the poor fellow; until having completed his tissue of incomprehensible nonsense, the latter came
to a pause.'Now Mr.,' the Professor would say,'what do you
understand by that!' The tone in which the question was put, in connexion with the exhibition just made, rendered the thing so ludicrous
as to call forth a general titter."
A year or two after the graduation of the Rev. George W,
Leyburn of Virginia, it was proposed to  him  to take  a
tutorship in the college, and Professor Addison Alexander, as
a member of the faculty, conducted the correspondence with
him. While, for the next year or two, as tutor and as a student of the seminary, Mr. Leyburn was again at Princeton, he
and Mr. Alexander exchanged occasional visits, and the former
has nevrer ceased to regret that he did not more fully improve
the opportunity he then enjoyed of cultivating acquaintance
and intercourse with a man whom he " so much admired, as
one of the greatest geniuses of our own or any age.  But,




AT. 21.1          MR. GEORGE LEYBURN.                    249
though I believe his condescension would have encouraged it,
my own diffidence as to seeking such a privilege, and my
absorption in the studies of the seminary course, too much restrained me."
That was really the period at which the writer of these
reminiscences saw most of him. But that part of his life was
spent in the quiet, unconspicuous walks of his college subprofessorship. Nothing of a striking character in regard to it,
presents itself to the memory of the survivor.
" lie was then pious, though not a minister," and was sometimes at faculty meetings called upon to make an opening or
closing prayer; and scarcely any thing in regard to him, during
that period, impressed the young tutor more than the rich and
easy flow of thought and diction, which marked those prayers.
It will be noticed that Dr. Burrowes bears the same testimony.
Mr. Leyburn then goes on to say that to the eye —his eye,
at least-the two brothers were men of quite different appear,
ante:
"The one being a man of pale, pensive face of oval shape, the
other having a fair complexion and a rotundity of face and person
which made me think of the phlegmatic German students, according at
least to my idea of them, who fatten upon study. I once thought of
Professor Addison Alexander as one who could almost do the sane, a
real salamander as to the capability of endurance in this respect."
But on his renewing his acquaintance with him  on his
second sojourn in Princeton, Mr. Alexander expressed to him
the opinion that no man of sedentary habits could do without
seasons of relaxation, and told him  that he had himself suffered in health from too great confinement and labour in
study, during the time he was at IMr. Patton's.  He appeared
to allude especially to the severe work he had had in getting
ready the edition of Donnegan.
"But," continues Mr. Leyburn, " though dissimilar in some things
of the outer man, the two brothers were much alike in others: in
that musical tone of their voices, their eminently high and varied cul11*




250                  ARTICLES WRITTEN.                      [1830.
ture, and the remarkable fecundity of thought and flow of correct
and elegant language which made them such attractive and even
fascinating men to those who listened to thcm publicly or privately or
read the rich productions of their pens.
"' They were to me, I believe, the two men who of all that I have
ever actually known, threw  over me the spell of an admiration
amounting to a kind of charm; and I think of them  with a peculiar
sadness, oft-times, as taken away just in the glowing ripeness of those
high powers and graceful accomplishments which clustered so richly
about both of them.'Was it,' I sometimes ask myself,'in their
cases the realization of the idea of an early, rapid, and astonishingly
beautiful efflorescence, to be followed by a correspondingly early and
what would seem to us premature decay and dropping of the leaf?'
But I felt as if the whole church of God, this western continent that
gave them birth, and this generation at large, had to mourn the death
of the two Alexanders."
Mr. Alexander wrote but two articles for the Repertory
this year; for the July number, a Review of Guerike's Life*
of " August IHermann Francke; " and for the October number,
a most lively, racy, entertaining, and skilful showing up of
Madden's " Travels in Turkey, Egypt, Nubia, and Palestine in
1824, 1825, 1826, and 1827."  The article on Francke is mainly
biographical, and is bright and vivid in its character.
Among the students of this time was Parke Godwin, Esq.,
of New York, the well known editor and historian. He has
politely furnished me with the following recollections of his old
teacher, who at the period referred to was in years barely a
man.   MIr. Godwin writes that the impression which the
* The following is a list of his contributions to the Philadelphia' Morning
Journal" in 1830:
"I cannot positively in every case distinguish them from J. W. A.'s, but
am pretty confident of the following.-J. H."
Jan. 15. " Carsten Niebuhr."
"  16. Several literary paragraphs.
Feb. 24. " The Child of Mystery, translated from a Persian MS."
" 27. Literary pary paragraphs.
March 31. A humorous letter for an ambitious author.
April 14. " Arabic Anecdotes, translated from the original."




AET. 21.]            PARKE GODWIN, ESQ.                      251
young professor made upon him is still very distinct. It will
be fobund that MIr. Godwin's ideas as to the attainments of
his youthful instructor do not differ materially from those of
others who were better acquainted with him.
"I shall never forget the abruptness as well as the sagacity of the
firlst remark he made to our class, during the Sophomore year.'' Young
gentlemen,' he said, in a quick but positive way,'all knowledge is
pleasant.' IIe then stopped for a moment that we might digest the
truth.'All knowledge is pleasant,' he resumed:'and I shall therefore take it for granted, when I hear that any one does not like any
particular study, that he does not know any thing about it.' That was
about the whole of his address, and you may infer from it that he received few  complaints from  us, during his incumbency at least.
"'Addy" as we called him familiarly, was held in the profoundest
respect by all the students; and for two reasons: the first was, that
nobody ever saw him, except in the class; and the second, that we
imputed to him a marvellous amount of 1Humnan knowledge of all sorts.
Ile was supposed to study about eighteen hours a day, adding to his
already prodigious acquirements; and these acquirements were computed at no less than thirteen different languages, and all the then
known Natural Sciences.*  You may imagine that we always approached him with a feeling of awe and veneration.
"I found afterwards that these popular estimates of the students'
halls were scarcely exaggerated; he was a marvel of erudition; his
learning was no less accurate than comprehensive; he seemed to find
no difficulty in mastering any tongue or any science; and what was
better than this mere facility of accumulation was the thoroughness
with which he assimilated his omnivorous gatherings. Itfcould not
be said of him, what Robert Hall said of Dr. Kippis, that'he llad so
manv books on his head that his brains couldn't move.' His brains
did move, and moved to great effect. When he either wrote or spoke,
his matter was original, well-considered, apt, and vivacious.  You
wondered alike at its fulness, its fluency, and its fervoul. IIis lectures
and sermons were models of chaste and elegant composition, as well
as of a complete mastery of the subject. IHe was not eloquent in the
sense that his brother James Waddel Alexander was, but he was
always instructive, elevating and moving; and no student willingly
* It is due to truth to say that Mr. Alexander's knowledge of the natural
sciences was but slight.




252               STUDIES OF THE YEAR.                  [1830.
staid away from chapel when it was given out that he was hbout to
occupy the pulpit."
Of his personal traits Mr. G. can give no account.  The
professor was always hard at work, and was as shy as a fawn.
" He was then so close a student that none but the members of his
family saw much of him, and when a chance encounter brought you
into his presence he was generally very shy and reserved. It was the
ambition of all of us to become intimate with him: but we were not
permitted the opportunity. I regret that I cannot furnish you other
particulars, as I have never ceased to love and admire the man, as one
of the noblest and most gifted of our fellow countrymen."
The plan of study indicated in the foregoing journal of
1830, Mr. Alexander carried out faithfully during the year
1831; and his diary consists of nothing but a view of his
daily employment under this rigid scheme. The following
list embraces most of the works upon which he was engaged:
in psychology and kindred sciences, Reid's Essays, Brown's
Lectures, Stewart's Elements, Payne's Elements, and Edwards on the Will; in Persian, Bakhtyarnameh;* in German,
Gesenius's IHandbuch, Gesenius's History of the Hebrew Language, and a large part of Conversations Lexicon; in the ancient languages, Thucydides, HIerodotus, parts of Plato, parts
of Demosthenes, and parts of Aristophanes, besides many pages
of the L~in classics; in Biblical criticism  and theology, Wetstein's Prolegomena, and New  Testament in Greek; parts
of Schramm's Analysis Patrum, Stillingfleet's Origines Sacre,
Kennicott's Disertatio Generalis, Pictet, Herbert Marsh's Lectures, Watson's Institutes, and Turretin; in history and 111uon
miscellaneous topics, Dunlop's History of' Roman Literature,
various works on the History of India, the New  Monthly
Magazine, and the Boston Recorder; besides whatever fell
into his hands during his idle moments, if any of his moments could be so called. He was moreover a faithful at* Or the story of Prince Bakhtyarnameh and the ten viziers.




JET. 21.]            TURKISHI LANGUAGE.                    253
tendant upon his father's lectures on metaphysics, which were
delivered to one of the classes in the Seminary.
In addition to all this, he continued his study of Portuguese and Danish, and commenced the study of Turkish.
This last item is gathered from the following record:
"October 22. —Began to study Turkish in an old Grammaire
Turque, which may be regarded as a typographical curiosity; as it
was printed a hundred years ago in Constantinople. I have examined
it before, but never studied it with care. I went to-day through the
chapter on adjectives; the language appears to be remarkably free
from grammatical anomalies."
And on the 25th:
" Learned the personal, possessive, and relative pronouns, the cardinal, ordinal, and distributive numerals in Turkish. I think this language more remarkable, so far as I am yet acquainted with it, for
regularity than any other which I have attempted.* It takes precedence
of the Persian, quoad hoc, because the latter is remarkable for paucity
of changes and inflections, whereas Turkish has a multitude, e. g. five
cases of nouns distinctly marked. I shall wait, however, till I enter
on the verb, before I pass judgment."
The common opinion was then andl still is, that he not
only had a dislike for metaphysical reasoning, but was wholly
unacquainted with what had been done in this department. It
will be seen from the extract which follows, as is evident from
the many like it, that this opinion was erroneous.  He was
well read in the writings of the English and Scotch schools,
and though he never lost an opportunity of satirizing the
German idealists, few persons were better informed as to
their names and the nature of their speculations; and no one,
unless Henry Rogers, has given us a better parody of theirf
manner than he has done in the "Diagnosis of the I and the
Not-I," in the Princeton Magazine,]: or has made them the
* See Max Muller Sc. Lang. First Series, pp. 108, 109. Ch. Scribner, N.
Y., 1862.
t See the Grayson Letters.: "' DIAGNOSIS OF THE I AND THE NOTT.' —Assuming as we safely may that
all the reflex actings of the rational idea towards the pole of semi-entity are




254                   BURLESQUE  WRITING.                        [1831.
butt of a more intelligent and refined ridicule, than he has done
casually in his Seminary lectures, and his review articles, as
well as in various squibs in his children's books. There is
a trace of this raillery in the subjoined burlesque on the disproportionate zeal with which writers often advocate their
hobbies.
"PRIZE ESSAY UPON NOTHING.*
"The app:~'ent incongruity of coming forward, at the present
crisis, when the minds of men are agitated by the fear of fiscal and
political convulsion, with a systematic treatise upon nothing, will, it is
fondly hoped, be found excusable, on a deliberate examination of the
principles maintained and the practical inferences thence deduced.
CHAPTER I.
"1. Nothing may be defined not any thing.
"2. It naturally divides itself into two species, positive nothing,
and negative nothing.
"3. Positive nothing includes every thing of which the non-entity
is demonstrable.
" 4. Negative nothing includes every thing, of which the non-entity
may be presumed, but cannot be demonstrated.
" 5. The principal use of Nothing, is to nullify every thing.
"6. Nothing may be converted into something, by abstracting its
non-entity.
naturally complicated with a tissue of non-negative impressions, which can only
be disintegrated by a process of spontaneous and intuitive abstraction, it inevitably follows, as a self-sustaining corollary, that the isolated and connatural
conceptions, formed in this antespeculative stage of intellectual activity, must
be reflected on the faculty itself, or, to speak with philosophical precision, on
the I, when viewed concretely as the Not-I; and in this reciprocal self-reproduction, carried on by the direct and transverse action of the Reason and the
Understanding, modified of course by those extraneous and illusory perceptions, which can never be entirely excluded from the mutual relations of the
pure intelligence on the one hand and the mixed operations of the will and the
imagination on the other, may be detected, even by an infant eye, the true
solution of this great philosophical enigma, the one sole self-developing criterion of the elementary difference between the Not-I and the I."-Princeton
Magazine, p. 35.
* From Wistar's Magazine.




JET. 21.]              METAPHYSICS.                        255
" 7. Nobody may become nothing by being deprived of its negative
personality.
"8. Any thing may become nothing, by annihilation. The only
other remark which I propose to offer on this interesting and important
point is-nothing."
His wonderful powers of analysis are as evident in some
of these little whimsical effasions which he poured out almost
spontaneously, as in his serious works. His mind moved as
regularly as a planet.
His opinion as to the relative merits of two of the most
eminent writers in this department may be gathered from the
following record:
"Jan. 8. Read cursorily the first volume of Dugald Stewart's
Philosophy of the Human Mind. I read this book once before. I
liked it better then than now. He seems to me to have made himself
master of all Dr. Reid's discoveries, and then to have busied himself in clothing them in elegant but diffuse expressions-just differing enough from his exemplar to escape the charge of servile plagiarism. From his studied attention to style and his frequent introduction
of historical illustrations, I infer that he was more of a rhetorician
than a philosopher. He appears to care more for the way in which he
says a thing than for what he says."
His adversaria of this period evince the same shrewd, critical acquaintance with Reid and Brown, and the same discriminative appreciation of their philosophical labours. The
literary merits of Stewart and Brown could not escape an eye
that loved to wander over every pleasing territory in the
domain of the belles-lettres, and it required but a single
glance of so penetrating an intellect to discover the defect in
Brown's Theory of Cause, which had already been conclusively
pointed out by Dr. Archibald Alexander, and was afterwards
more fully exposed by Sir William Hamilton. The son had
probably read the father's article, but gives his own independent impressions.
Whatever else he did, or failed to dlo, he at no time neglected the study of the Scriptures in the original tongues.




256               GRAMMATICAL STUDIES.                    [1831.
Hebrew, whether with or without points, he could now read
and write with somewhat of the ease of his vernacular. On the
same day with the reference to Stewart, there is the following
reminiscence of Mr. Alexander's early Oriental tastes, which
were never entirely brought into subjection to his later views
with regard to the Indo-European tongues in general and the
importance of the Biblical or Hellenistic Greek.
"Read in Hebrew the historical parts of Exodus xv, and the whole
of chapters xvi, xvii. Read a number of articles in Gesenius's lexicon.
Read ten pages in Bakhtyar-Nameh (Persian). Read the first volume
of the Mussulman, a novel by the traveller, Madden. Interesting from
its illustrations of Oriental character and manners, but full of affectation and false taste. There seems to be a covert aim at satire upon
European manners running through the work."
The subjoined entries explain themselves, and show very
fully what he was doing in the way of generous excursion into
various fields of knowledge.
" Feb. 3. Continued Payne's Elements of Mental Science. Read a
portion of Thucydides. The second part of Matthiae's Greek Grammar
(comprising the syntax) contains the most copious collection of authorities, I suspect, that is anywhere extant. The index of the passages
cited occupies, of itself, above 200 pages. I think of reading the volume and analyzing the citations as I go along. Read the first section
in this way to-day."
The discreet estimate here given of the great work of Matthiae, reveals only partially the thorough way in which MIr.
Alexander prosecuted his researches in this and every otlher
direction.  He was versed also in such authors as Winer,
IKihner, Wahl, Thiersch and Buttm-ann, and of nearly all of
the English and American compilations which he thought worth
his attention. But in Greek as in every other language he
had his own, original, unwritten grammar and lexicon, derived
from his own surprising recollection of the various meanings
and relations of' the words, phrases, and idioms he had met
with in reading. There is no one but has been struck with this




MET. 21.]                  JOURNAL.                        257
in perusing his " latthewv " or "Mark," or his work on "the
Acts." A compendious but characteristic lexicon, as well as
grammar, of the Greek language, especially in its Hellenistic
form, might almost be constructed out of the hints that are
thrown out in these three books.  The plan of mastering the
citations as well as the text of Matthiae, he fully accomplished.
Sometimes the entries in his diary are in Greek, sometimes
Italian, sometimes French, sometimes in Arabic or even Persian.
The items which followed enable us to trace him  through
the summer.
"'Aug. 8. Read in Greek Ps. xxxviii-xliii. Read in Greek and
English, Ephesians i. Read in Greek three sections in the Melpomene of
Ilerodotus. Read in German the articles "' Englische Poesie," "Engl.
Theatre'" and part of the article "Deutsclle Literatur" in Conversations-Lexicon. Read in English Woodbridge's account of the maritime divisions of tlhe"earth.  Read the 23d chapter of Matthew in
ancient and modern Greek. Read the first chapter of John in Danish.
Wrote three pages of Valpy's Greek Exercises.
"Aug. 18. Read Psalms xc-xciv in the Septuagint. Read Philippians ii. in Greek and English. Read Matthew xxvi in ancient and
modern Greek. Read forty-nine sections in the Melpomene of Herodotus.  Read the latter half of the Batrachoi of Aristophanes in
Kuster's edition, referriig to his Latin version and Greek scholia.
This play is truly witty, and has this advantage that there is nothing
immoral or indecent in the plot, and very little in the language. The
satire on Euripides is very amusing, but that on Bacchus and the
heathen mythology still better. I think, with a little expurgation and
exposition, this comedy might be made an excellent text-book."
I find the following isolated experimental record.
"June 5. Read a considerable part of Halyburton's life with
avidity and astonishment. I seemed to be reading a history of my
own life. I speak within bounds when I say that up to the age of
twenty his spiritual history is mine in almost every point. Both minister's sons, and both ministers of the same commulnion-both guarded,
in an unusual degree, by circumstances from exterior temptation-both
outwardly exemplary, inwardly corrupt-both led to seek religion by
distress-both tormented with the fear of death! The coincidence is




258                RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.                     (1831.
truly wonderful. The account of his vows and resolutions; his frequent breaches of them; his distress in consequence; his subsequent
resorts and shifts-I might transcribe and make my own. I was
obliged to pause sometimes and wonder at these strange coincidences;
and I bless God that the book fell into my hands. From the experience
of one whose early history was so much like my own, I have learned
solne precious lessons. Some enigmas have been solved; some mysteries of iniquity developed; some obstacles removed; some useftul hin:ts
suggested. On one head particularly, I have been much edified.
When Dmy conscience has been wounded by relapses into sin, I have
always been tempted to sink down into a sullen apathy, or else to wait
a day or two before approaching God again. It has seemed to me, on
such occasions, that it would be awfully presumptuous and insolent
to ask God to forgive me on the spot. I never knew why I thought so
until HIalyburton told me. I had been trusting in my abstinence from
sin, instead of Christ's atonement, so that when surprised and vanquished, by temptation, I felt that my foundation was removed, my
righteousness gone, and I had no righteousness wherewith to purchase
favour. It pleased God this afternoon to use the memoir as an instrument in fixing on my mind a strong conviction that the only reasonable course is to come at once, and ask forgiveness in the name of
Christ. The remarks which particularly struck me as conclusive were
these three:
1. After an act of known transgression, every moment that I spend
without applying to the blood of Christ I spend in sin; and consequently
aggravate my guilt.
2. It was my folly to suppose that I should never sin again. IIe
that trusteth to his own heart is a fool.
3. Above all I seemed to have received new light upon a point
which I never before thought of as I ought, viz. that God's chief end
in dealing with men's souls is not to discipline them nor save them;
but to promote his own glory. Now He chooses to glorify all his attributes together-His mercy as well as His justice. To distrust the
extent of His forgiving mercy through Christ Jesus, therefore, is an
insult. It is in vain that the sinner talks about his unworthiness and
the greatness of his sins. Poor wretch; —if God thought of your unwortliniess you might well despair; but it is to glorify Himself that IIe
invites you! You may be sure, therefore, that lIe will receive you.
This is an humbling but delightful doctrine. I feel, however, the necessity of guarding against an antinomian spirit. Self-righteousness
and antinomianism are my Scylla and Charybdis."




AT. 22.]            THE TWO BROTHERS.                     259
At the close of a letter to one of his old pastor's sons, a
friend* thus expresses his sense of obligation to the Reverend James W. Alexander, who was still labouring at the
State capital:
"'LWhile writing this there have been constantly running ill my
mind remembrances of my youthful days, blended with your sainted
father, when in that old church in Trenton with its lofty galleries and
pulpit perched aloft between the doors, I took, in the depths of my
soul, impressions from his then peerless preaching, which have done
so much towards forming my literary taste and moulding my religious
life; times when in my father's gig I drove him to some neighbouring
church on Saturday, to preach on the Sabbath and return on Monday;
and with what hearty pleasure, he would have me stop the horse that
he might go along the banks of a brook to gather wild flowers and
magnolias; and with what happiness he entered into the beauties of
the green fields, and of the summer works of that God whom he adored
and Saviour whom he loved so well. But my hand is weary and I must
pause."
How pleasing it would be to be able to give a record of
the words that fell from the lips of the brothers James and
Addison in conversation! This is of course impossible. A
few sentences of it has beenpreserved in letters and commonplace books. One day speaking of Watson the Methodist,
whom he had just compared to Turretin, the younger brother
exclaimed with vivacity, and I have no doubt with a beaming
countenance, "I He reasons like Paley and descants like Hall! "
To this opinion his auditor heartily subscribes.t  On another
occasion, in a later year of this general period, the talk fell
upon childrens' books and the younger scholar said to his delighted companion, "Don't try to vary the Bible language
too mu(ch; say what you will it is the most intelligible to
children. Don't try too much to improve upon the Bible; let
what you add be exegetical and brief." He went on then to
say that " a thousand books may yet be made out of the raw
* Dr. Burrowes, of Easton.
t Fam. Lett. Vol. I., p. 181.




260                   HIS READING.                   [1831.
Bible material, with very little alteration of the text. Thus
one may take all that relates to the archteology of the Hebrew
houses, and make a book of it; and that not by casting the
scriptural parts into the pigeon-holes of formal artistical arrangement, but following the exact order of the scripture
story. Take one subject and chase it through the canon." *
His thirst for knowledge was no less insatiable than when
as a boy he devoured strange volumes in his father's garret.
On the sixth of July he writes, " I was seized to-day with a
strong desire to study geography, created probably by the
perusal of Kotzebue and Stewart's voyages."  He continued
this investigation with some mental entertainment until he
had finished one of Woodbridge's school text-books. He was
always passionately fond of books of travels. "England's
Forgotten Worthies," Drake, Raleigh, and the other early
navigators, were as fascinating personages to him in his rural
solitude, as they were ever to Froude. He lived largely, as
in his boybood, in an ideal or imaginary world. lie could
summon round him at will, the famous personages of ancient
or modern history; the men and women of the Bible; the
scenery and manners of the East or of the. West; the fictitious
actors in the story of Cervantes, in the dramas of Shakespeare,
in the chivalrous ballads of Firdusi, in the glorious poems
of Homer. His studies all ministered to the purest aesthetic'
as well as to higher forms of intellectual enjoyment.
During this time he was a contributor at intervals to
Walsh's National Gazette of Philadelphia, and to the Princeton Courier, a weekly newspaper.  But in the midst of all
his laborious and diversified pursuits he saved time for the
most heart-searching exercises in his closet. He gave himself
up to daily communion with his God. He might neglect
every thing else, but he could not neglect his private devotions.
In point of fact he neglected nothing. He moved as by clockwork. The cultivation of personal piety, in the light of the
* Fam. Lett. Vol. I., p. 219.
t None of these articles is in the Courier known to be extant.




XET. 22.]        HE LOVES THE BIBLE.                 261
inspired word, was now with him the main object that he had
in life. The next most prominent goal that he set before himself was the interpretation of the original scriptures; for their
own sake, and for the benefit of a rising ministry, as well as
for the gratification he took in the work. The Bible was to him
the most profoundly interesting book in the world. It was in
his eyes not merely the only source of true and undefiled religion, but also the very paragon among all remains of human
genius. He knew great portions of it by heart. He was now,
or afterwards became, a consummate master of every one of
its idioms, of the wide embrace of its contents, of the whole
sweep of its doctrine, evidence, history, and literature, of much
of the broad domain of exterior but kindred science and belleslettres, of the innumerable manuscripts and versions, of the
immense field of patristic comment and modern hermeneutics
and criticism; and long before the close of his life, he had
analyzed every book, every chapter, every paragraph, every
sentence, every word, every syllable, every letter, of which an
analysis was possible, with a degree of minuteness, precision,
clearness, originality, fbrce, and comprehensive fulness, and
with an humble childlike reverence for truth as it is in Jesus,
which, as exhibited in his'printed volumes, have awakened
the respect of pious scholars on both sides of the Atlantic,
without distinction of creed or rubric. But more than this:
the Bible was the chief object of his personal enthusiasm; he
was fond of it; he loved it; he was proud of it; he exulted in
it. It occupied his best thoughts by day and by night. It
was his meat and drink. It was his delectable reward. There
were times when he might say with the Psalmist, "  ine eyes
prevent the night watches that I might meditate in thy word,
I have rejoiced in the way of thy precepts more than in great
riches." He succeeded perfectly in communicating this delightful zeal to others. His pupils all concur in saying that
"he made the Bible glorious " to them.
On the twenty-first of May we have another isolated record
of his religious experience:




262                      TEMPTATION.                       ~1831.
" I have been grievously tempted to-day, and the temptation has
not left me. It is on me at this moment; I take refuge in the act of
writirg, from its assaults. Oh, that I were delivered from this body
of death!
How strange a conflict! between a man and himself! How strange
the coexistence of two wills in one person!-a will to do evil and a
will to avoid it.
"When I look forward to temptations I am always confident of
victory, and that an easy one. I have a vague idea that the foe to be
contended with is something extrinsic to myself, and feel myself interested, therefore, in resisting unto blood. But when the trial comes
and I find arrayed against me my own strongest propensities and tenderest affections, when every blow aimed at the tempter rends a fibre
of my heart-then is my strength indeed found perfect weakness.
"It grieves me, too, and galls me to discover by experience, that
the strongest deductions of my reason are of little use by themselves
in the moment of temptation. During an interval of calm, dispassionate reflection, I revolve a moral question in my mind. I weigh all the
arguments on both sides. I am satisfied-entirely satisfied that reason,
conscience, gratitude, require me, una voce, to do this, or abstain from
that. I foolishly imagine that with such convictions I can never be
seduced into transgression. A strong temptation fastens on me-all
my fortified conclusions seem to vanish into air! I no longer seem to
be a rational creature. Instinct, passion, appetite, appear to be omrnnipotent. I may remember all my arguments, but I no longer feel their
force. What then is to sustain me? The grace of God imparted at
the moment and proportioned to the exigency. How is it to be had?
By prayer and holy living through the Saviour's intercession. How
shall I be assured of having it in season? Trust-trust —trust in God.
Remember that you do not deserve to be sustained at all; that if you
are, it is a mere favour. What assurance, then, is wanting but a
knowledge of God's goodness and a firm faith in his promises? "
He does not seem to have written any this year for the
Biblical Repertory.
The year 1832 was occupied very much as the last. Besides finishing, or continuing the perusal of the works already
named, but not fully read, he addicted himself to Horne's Introduction, Paley's Natural Theology; Paley's Evidences; 3Iurdock's Iosheim; Gesenius's Einleitung on Isa.; Stuart on He



ET. 22.1             DAILY TREADING.                   263
brews; Wolf's Bibliotheca Hebraica; Alexander on the Canon; Acts of the Synod of Dort; Clarendon's History of the
Rebellion; and Milner's Letters on the Christian Ministry. He
also studied Isaiah, in Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Greek, Latin,
English, Arabic, and German, with Rosenmtiller's and Gesenius's and Lowth's notes; the Peshito, and the Targum of Jonathan; also Campbell's gospels; Hugo Einleitung; Bush on
Millennium, etc.
I find the following record:
"March 11. At the conference last Lord's Day, my father urged
upon the students the duty of storing their memory with Scripture.
I resolved, by way of experiment, to get by heart a portion of Scripture
every day, both in English and the original."
In pursuance of this purpose, during this year, he committed the whole of the Psalms in Hebrew and English, and the
first few verses of each chapter in Isaiah; and the epistles of
Romans and Hebrews in Greek and English. Ile also fastened
in his memory the succession of events in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, so as to be able to give an analysis of
each chapter from memory.
He had, during the previous year, studied critically, almost
the whole of the Bible in that thorough and exhaustive way
proposed in his plan of study. This work he now completed.
He also thoroughly mastered several grammars of the German,
Syriac and Chaldee languages. During most of this time he
was giving instruction to two classes in the college in Greek;
writing for Walsh's Review, the Biblical Repertory, and the
Presbyterian; teaching one of his brothers and a young lady
German and French, and reading the English poets with
them; besides reading English reviews, many treatises on
various subjects, and portions of many books, great and
small, not enumerated above.
DEAR S  PRINCETON, Jutly 31, 1832.
"DEAR SIR,
"I happened to hear, not long ago, that you were editing the
S. S. J. pro tempore. The thought occurred at once, that this arrange



264                LETTER TO MR. HALL.                    [1831.
ment might be rendered permanent with great advantage to the institution. I was not aware, at that time, of the purpose to employ another
editor, which you have since informed me of. Your letter of last week
affords me an opportunity of meddling in the matter, which I do at
once by saying, that I think you called by Providence to undertake this
business. I speak, of course, in deference to public interests. Those
private relations and considerations which may bear upon the case, I
know nothing about. Looking at the thing from the Sunday School
side only, I should certainly have given you my vote, if qualified, even
though I had never been called upon to do it by way of repartee.
" I do not deny, that arguments suggest themselves in favour of my
doing what you ask. But I can truly say that there is not one of them
(I mean of such of them as rest upon the ground of public utility) which
does not reach you just as fully as myself. And then besides these,
there are others which apply to you alone, and strongly too. Let me
mention three as samples. (1.) You have experience and resources as
an editor, which I have not. (2.) You are already familiar with the
entire system, or, to use the new word,' cause'-of Sunday Schools.
(3.) You would not be forsaking one field of usefulness to rush, perhaps
at no small hazard, into another. That many things in the life of an
editor would please me, I admit. But you see how stoically I have set
aside the dulce for the utile.
" I am afraid that you will find this a very informal and unscientific
answer to your protocol. Please to lay the blame of its defects, in part
upon a class of interesting youth who are awaiting me, and in part upon
my own procrastination, which has left your favour unacknowledged
for a week. With true, though tardy thanks for it, I now stop short.
"Yours, truly,
" ADDISON ALEXANDER.
" J. Eall, Esqg.' On stating the substance of the above to James, he graciously assented to it. He desires me to say that he has received your letter
and may answer it (or will-I have forgotten which.)"




CHAPTER VIII.
DURING the year 1832, Mr. Alexander contributed no less
than six articles to the Princeton Quarterly,viz. one on Heng.
stenberg's Daniel, one on Arabian and Persian Lexicography,
one on the Historical Statements of the Koran, one on Gibbs's
Manual, one on De Sacy's Arabic Grammar, and one on Hebrew
Grammrrar. There is something in the profusion of his mind at
this time that strikes one with fresh astonishment and admiration. His efforts of this period are equal in most respects to
any of his life. His continued preference of Oriental themes to
classical, would seem to show that whatever might be the
ripening conclusions of his judgment, the governing bent of his
inclinations was still towards the tongues that are spoken in the
tents of Shem; though he tells us that he was now becoming
daily more and more enamoured of Greek, and soon came to
rate it as his first choice among all his studies. This was so at
the time of his appointment as teacher in the Seminary; but as
he says himself, he was already somewhat weaned from anatolie studies as early as 1829, when under the guiding influence of
Patton he began to explore the wonders of modern German
philology, and under the stimulus of new and better grammars
to ground himself in the principles of profound classical scholarship. The years intervening between his residence at Edgehill and, his first European voyage, was the transition period.
At the time these articles were published he was on the
point of casting the slough of his Semitic tastes and proclivities, and to wear it no more as his favourite and almost
exclusive vesture. He was in a short time to emerge from his
youthful chrysalis apparelled in intellectual garments of scarcely less resplendent richness. He was (to modify the figure)
about to clothe himself in raiment wrought out of the IndQ1 a




266               ORIENTAL PREFERENCES.                   [1832.
European looms. But the language he was learning more and
more to love was Greek. It was to become almost as easy to
him as his native tongue. It was for it he was to give up his
coat of many colours by which he had been distinguished from
his brethren. If the languages of the East (and the remark is
chiefly applicable to the Persian)* in their variegated splendour
were his toga prcetexta, the Greek in its snow-white purity
may be said to have been his toga virilis, which still however.
bore its fringe of anatolic purple.  He clung to the Hebrew
and the cognate dialects, and to the Hellenistic Greek, with
ever growing enthusiasm and unconquerable affection.
Perhaps the most remarkable of these contributions is the
one on the "IIistorical Statements of the Koran," t though
the one on " De Sacy's Arabic Grammar" ~ is of the same general character, and exhibits the same sort of philological and
critical ability; and, besides the remarks more strictly germane
to the subject of De Saey's volume, is distinguished by a luminous exposition of the relation between the Arabic and the
Hebrew.  The article on "Hebrew  Grammar" is also very
learned  and  able, discovering  a thorough  acquaintance
with the writings of Jahn, Storr, Buxtorf, Gesenius, Lee,
Miechaelis, I-offman, and Ewald.  The article on "Gibbs's
Manual Lexicon," is a short but appreciative notice of the
admirable vade-mecum put forth by the Yale Professor, for the
benefit of Hebrew and Chaldee students, in the year 1832.
It is interesting in this connection to note the fact that Mr.
Alexander was afterwards a pupil of Gesenius and Nordheimer, and a bearer of despatches between De Sacy and
Freytag.
The article on "Itengstenberg's Vindication of the Book
* I am aware that the Persian, though written in Arabic characters, is not
one of the Semitic languages.
T Bib. Rep., 1832, p. 195.: Bib. Rep., 1832, p. 543. "Grammaire Arabe, A l'usage des 6leves de
1'6cole sp6ciale des langues orientales vivantes; avec figures. Par M. le Baron
Pilvestre de Sacy," &c., &c.': Paris; imprim6 par autorisation du Roi," &c.




AET. 25.]              THE KORAN.                      267
of Daniel," * is equally attractive on similar as well as on very
different grounds. Mr. Alexander, as we shall presently see,
was afterwards somewhat intimately associated with this
Coryphaens of Evangelical criticism in Germany, both as his
pupil and friend. He probably owed more as a commentator
to Hengstenberg than to any other man, unless it was Calvin.
He was an early convert to the outlines of Hengstenberg's
Messianic theory, as well as to his general views as to the
structure of prophecy; and though he discarded many of his
particular opinions and interpretations, believing them to be in
some instances palpably incorrect and in others mere visionary
crotchets; and while he never yielded himself up to the slavish guidance of any teacher; he yet held this great scholar in
the most exalted estimation, for his learning, his bold sagacity, his strength of will and breadth of mind, his independence
of judgment, vigour of logic, soundness of view, and eminent
piety. His own work on the Psalms was in large part a repro.
duction in another form, of Hengstenberg's; and while in his
"Isaiah" he often mentions the great German only to differ
from him, he never mentions him in terms that are inconsistent
with the highest respect and admiration.
But the article on the Koran is the one in which Mr. Alexander seems to have exerted the whole force of his mind, and
gives what is possibly the best cotp d'oeil that can now be
had of the grasp and reach of his acquisitions in Arabic
literature. In this article he not only corrects many of the
numerous blunders, loose translations, and wrong translations,
into which Sale has wittingly or unwittingly fallen, but takes
"the Perspicuous Book" to pieces precisely as a watchmaker takes to pieces a watch, rearranging and systematizing
the historical portions of the volume on a plan of his own.
It must have been a gigantic toil, but it was a labour of love.
The same faculty of minute analysis which he afterwards
Bib. Rep., 1832, p. 48. " Die Authentie des Daniel und die Integritaet
des Sacharjah, Erwiesen von Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg, Dr. der Phil. und
der Theol. der letzt. ord. Prof. Berlin, 1831, 8vo,"




268                     MOHAMMEDANIS M.                       [1832.
brought to bear upon the gospels of Mark and Matthew, is
here brought to bear upon certain obscure or controverted
passages of the Mussulman's Bible.
But what lends a popular interest to the article, and impresses upon it a strongly distinctive character, is the fact
that it also exhibits a complete view of Mohammedanism and
its relation to Christianity, and makes known the author's own
conceptions of the great deceiver of Islam.* The reader will
be richly rewarded by a perusal of the following extracts:
"The Mohammedan religion is, in some respects, the most remarkable of all false religions. The specious simplicity of its essential doctrines, and its perfect freedom from  idolatry, distinguish it forever from the gross mythology of classical and oriental paganism.
But besides these characteristics, it displays a third, more interesting
still. We mean the peculiar relation which it bears to Christianity.
Whether it happened from a happy accident or a sagacious policy, we
think it clear that Islam owes a vast proportion of its success, to the
fact that Mohammed built upon another man's foundation. Assuming
the correctness of the common doctrine that the impostor was a brilliant genius, though a worthless libertine, and that his book is the offspring not of insane stupidity but of consummate contrivance, there
certainly is ground for admiration in the apparent union of simplicity
and efficacy in the whole design.  The single idea of admitting freely
the divine legation of the Hebrew seers, and exhibiting himself as the
top-stone of the Edifice, the Last Great Prophet, and the Paraclete of
Christ, has certainly the aspect of a master-stroke of policy. Besides
conciliating multitudes of Jews and soi-disant Christians at the very
first, this circumstance has aided the imposture not a little ever since.
It relieves the Moslem doctors of the necessity of waging war against
both law and gospel."  *  *  *
Every discrepancy is at once conveniently resolved into
corruption in the text.
* It is interesting to compare the impressions of this young scholar, impressions mainly derived either from admitted facts in the history or else from
the n-ked text of the Koran, with the results of modern criticism and the investigations of such thorough-going workmen as Mommsen. A very striking
view of these results is embodied in an article entitled 4' Mahomet"' in the Ed.
Rev. for 1866.




ET. 23.]            THE FALSE PROPHET.                       269
"It is not the policy of Islam to array itself against the Jewish and
the Christian dispensations, as an original and independent system;
but to assume the same position in relation to the Gospel, which the
Gospel seems to hold in relation to the Law-or in other words, to
make itself the grand d6nouement of that grand scheme of which the
old and new Testaments were only the preparatory stages. Indeed,
if we were fully satisfied that the Rasool Allah * had any plan at all,
we should be disposed to account for it in this way. He was acquainted with three forms of religion, Judaism, Christianity, and Paganism. Disgusted with the latter, he was led, we may suppose, to
make some inquiries into the points of difference between the Jews
and Christians. This he could not do without discovering their singular
relations to each other."  *  *  *  "This fact might very readily suggest the project of a new dispensation-a third one to the Christian,
and a second to the Jew. The impostor would thus be furnished with
an argument ad hominem. to stop the mouths of both. To the Jews he
could say, Did not Moses tell your fathers that a prophet should rise up
in the latter days, greater than all before him? I am he. Do you
doubt it? Here is a revelation just received from Gabriel. Do not all
your sacred books predict the coming of a great deliverer, a conqueror,
a king? I am he. In a few months you shall see me at the head of a
thousand tribes going forth to the conquest of the world.
" If this was the ground really taken at first, how striking must
have been the seeming confirmation of these bold pretensions, when
Mohammed and his successors had in fact subjected, not Arabia only,
but Greece, Persia, Syria, and Egypt.
"To the objection of the Christians, that the line of prophets was
long since completed, he could answer, Did not Jesus come to abrogate
or modify the law, when its provisions were no longer suited to the
state of things?  Even so come 1, to supersede the Gospel-not to discredit it but to render it unnecessary, by a more extensive and authoritative doctrine. So far from being Antichrist (as some no doubt objected) I am the very comforter whom Jesus promised.
"That such sophistry might easily have undermined the faith of
renegadoes and half-pagan Christians, is certainly conceivable. Whether
this was in fact the course adopted in the infancy of Islam will admit
of a doubt.  Be that as it may, it is certain that the Impostor
considered it expedient to incorporate the leading facts of Sacred his* The Apostle of God. We are not aware that Mohammed ever called himself a prophet. —J. A. A.




270               THE PERSPICUOUS BOOK.                    [1832.
tory into his revelation, so far as they were known to him. That his
knowledge of the subject was imperfect, need not excite our wonder.
The sources which probably supplied his information, could scarcely be
expected to remit a purer stream than that which irrigates the pages
of the Perspicuous Book."
In illustration of the way in which he could combine learning, exegesis, irony, keen criticism, wit, humour, sarcasm, caution, moderation, strong writing, and knock-down argument,
in the same paragraph, I adduce the following:
" One thing more in this account of the creation may deserve our
notice,' Iie said to the heaven and earth, Come, either obediently or
against your will.' This was obviously intended as a match for that
inimitable sentence' God said, Let there be light and light was.' One
can hardly help smiling at the Irish sublimity of poor MIohammed's
masterpiece, the alternative proposed to two nonentities, and their
sagacious choice. It is but just, however, to admit, that the language
may be considered as addressed to the heavens and the earth after
they were created; but before they were arranged and beautified."
What follows sheds a new light on the Arabian tales with
which we have all been fLniliar from our childhood:
"The Genii, we are told in the chapter of Al llejr [c. xv.] were
made of subtlefire, as Sale translates it. The original words are nar
semum, the latter term properly denoting the hot wind of the desert
called simoomn by travellers. There is something poetical in this idea,
which would no doubt strike the fervid fancy of a Bedouin with
mighty force."
It is not proposed to follow out the writer along the
various ramifying lines of this intricate but often alluring investigation. The concluding words of this article, however,
convey such ocular proof of his capacity as a critic and
philologist, and as a writer of flexible and muscular English,
and show him in so many various attitudes and lights, that it
seems proper to reanimate them from the dust which always
envelopes the bound volumes of anonymous periodical litera.
ture.   His inventive  turn, or shall I say his planning




AET. 23.]         THE STUDY OF ARABIC.                     271
faculty, which was always so prolific of new schemes and
suggestions, finds full play in this learned essay. His views
respecting translated grammars will strike many persons as
novel and worthy of attention. His witty allusion to the
Chinese tailor is characteristic.  There is indeed an air of
light-hearted gaiety about the whole performance. This was
always his mood when he was in full health, and was interested
in his work. He took the same joyous satisfaction in his folio
Targums and Oriental dictionaries, that a sportsman does in
his horses and dogs. His favourite studies were always an
enthusiasm with him; he was either in love with a pursuit or
had taken a disgust for it; and was never more ready to break
out into fun than when he was most busy, and his mind was
excited by his toils.
"We shall add a few words with respect to the study of Arabic.
It is highly desirable, on various accounts that a knowledge of this
noble and imnportant language should become more common. Biblical
learning and the missionary enterprise alike demand it. What we
most need, is a taste for the pursuit, and a conscientious willingness to
undertake the task. The great deficiency is not so much in grammars,
as in men to study them. We observe that Mr. Smith, the American
missionary at Malta, has declined to undertake an English version of
Ibn Ferhat's grammar. His views are such as might have been expected from a man of sense and learning. It may, indeed, be stated as
a general truth, that translated grammars are as likely to be hinderances as helps. A grammarian cannot possibly explain the phenomena
of a foreign language, except by appealing to the structure of his own
or of that in which he writes. Now as every language has its peculiarities, both great and small, no two can stand in the same relation to a
third. Latin and French agree where French and English differ. The
same form of speech in Latin, therefore, which must be explained to
English learners, may be as clear, without elucidation, to the Frenchman, as if founded upon some fixed law of nature. Give the latter the
same comments that you give the former, and you not only do not aid
him, but you really confound him. For we need not say that the attempt to explain what is perfectly intelligible must have that effect.
The same remark may be applied to another case. For a familiar
instance, we refer to Josse's Spanish Grammar, as translated into English by Mr. Sales, of Cambridge. The original work was designed for




272                 FOREIGN  GRAMMARS.                     [1832.
Frenchmen, and as the translator, we believe, is himself a Frenchman,
many rules and statements in themselves just, and in their proper
places useful, are wholly unintelligible to the English reader. Analogous cases will occur to every scholar, abundantly proving that the
servile transfer not of language merely, but of rules, arrangements,
proofs, and illustrations, is unfriendly to the only end which grammars
should promote. While we believe, with Dr. Johnson, that the practice
of translating (in the proper sense, and on an extensive scale) is injurious to the purity of language, we likewise consider it injurious to the
interests of sound and thorough scholarship. To avoid the former evil,
we would substitute the transfusion of thoughts for the translation of
words. To remedy tile latter, we would have bilingual scholars to
study, sift, digest, remodel, reproduce. By this we should avoid the
needless introduction of an uncouth terminology and the practical
paralogism of attempting to explain ignotum per ignotius. By this
means too, a freshness would be given to our learned works, very unlike
the tang contracted by a passage over sea. This too, would serve to
check the strong propensity of young philologists towards a stagnant
acquiescence in the dicta of their text-books, which is always attended
with the danger of mistaking form for substance, and forgetting the
great ends of language in the infinitesimal minutiae of a barren etymology. In Germany, that great philological brewery, the extreme of
stagnation has been long exchanged for that of fermentation, and
although we do not wish to see the eccentricities of foreign scholarship
imported here, we do believe that much of their advancement may
be fairly traced to their contempt of mere authority, their leech-like
thirst for indefinite improvement, and their practice of working up the
materials of their learning into new and varied forms without much
regard to preexistent models. Let us imitate their merits and avoid
their faults. Let us mount upon their shoulders, not grovel at their
feet. Let us take the stuff which they provide for us, and mould it for
ourselves, to suit our own peculiarities of language, habit, genius,
wants, and prospects. Let our books be English, not Anglo-French or
Anglo-German. Let us not make them as the Chinese tailor made the
tar's new jacket, with a patch to suit the old one.
"To return to grammars-though what we said above may seem
directly applicable only to those written in one language to explain another, it applies dfortiori, to what are called native grammars, which
are merely designed to reduce into systematic form the knowledge previously gathered by empirical induction. To those who have become
familiar with a language in the concrete by extensive reading, such




JT. 23.]             FOREIGN  GRAMMARS.                        273
works are highly useful and need no translation. To beginners they
are useless; for they presuppose the knowledge which beginners want.
Besides, they are untranslatable, as Mr. Smith justly affirms-with
special reference, indeed, to Bahth El Mutalib, of which we know
nothing but through him. We may add, however, that even if that
work admitted of translation, it would scarcely throw more light upon
the subject than De Sacy's lucid digest (pre-eminently lucid after all
deductions, drawbacks, and exceptions) the fruit of most laborious and
long continued study of numerous authorities-a work, too, which has
had more indirect influence on biblical philology than many are aware
of. *
"When De Sacy has been mastered and exhausted, he may very
fairly be condemned and thrown aside. To those who would prefer a
shorter grammar and the Latin tongue, Rosenmiiller's book may be
safely recommended. It is Erpenius rewritten, with improvements
from De Sacy. Meanwhile we look with some impatience for the
forthcoming work of Ewald, whose acuteness, ingenuity, and habits of
research afford the promise of a masterly performance.t It must be
owned, however, that we do not need reading-books, or Renders, for
beginners. Most of the chrestomathies prepared in Europe appear to
presuppose some acquaintance with the Koran. For us this will not
answer. Here, where the study is, at most, but nascent, we need an
introduction to the Koran itself. We have often thought that a selection of historical passages from that book, reduced to order, with
grammatical notes and a vocabulary, would answer the ends of a
chrestomathy for mere beginners most completely. It is highly important that the learner's first acquaintance with the written language,
should be formed upon the Koran. Amidst all the dialectic variations
of a tongue which is spoken from the great Sahara to the Steppes of
Tartary, there is a large proportion both of words and phrases, everywhere the same. These are the words and phrases of the Koran,
which religious scruples have preserved from change, and religious use
* No one we think who is familiar with De Sacy's noble work can fail to recognise its agency in giving form, perspicuity, and richness to the famous
Lehrgebhade of Gesenius.                                  J. A. A.
f There is in addition to the works referred to by Mr. Alexander, a valuable and very compendious handbook by Tregelles. There is also a grammar of
note by Caspari. It has been translated into English by William Wright,
Assistant in the MS. Department, British Museum, and published by Williams &
Norgate, Covent Garden, London, 1862. It must be imported, and is a beautifully printed and yet really cheap octavo.
12*




274       FAMILIARITY WITH CURRENT ARABIC.               l1832.
made universally familiar. He who is acquainted with the language
of the Koran, has the means of oral access to any Arab, and to almost
any Mussulman. Ile may not understand as yet the many variations
of the vulgar from the sacred tongue, much less the local diversities of
speech; but he has the foundation upon which these rest, the stated
formula from which they ar'e mere departures. He will also have acquired a measure of that knowledge, with respect to facts and doctrines, which no man can dispense with, who would either vanquish or
convert the Moslem."
The writer of the above could be no smatterer; he certainly must have felt the firm ground of true and thorough knowledge, of a learning as solid as it was extensive, beneath his
feet. We need not wonder then, if Mr. Walsh should confound this nameless young man who wrote the Persian article
in the Quarterly with the well-known theological professor at
Princeton, and suppose him to be one of the maturest orientalists in the country. IIe was one of the maturest orientalists in
the country! "The study," as he says, " was then, at most,
but nascent." Mr. Alexander had few companions at that
day in those tropical voyages among the spice-islands, or in
these violent inroads upon the domain of the false prophet.
Persian was a greater luxury to him than Lalla Rookh.  He
had been reading  Arabic from  the time he was nine or ten
years old, and had been familiar with the Koran ever since he
knew anything about the language. He had read it through
at least four years previously, and had committed parts of it
to memory. He could write Arabic letters (Arabic epistles, I
mean) with the same rapidity and apparent ease that he could
English.  Ile had a great talent for forming the characters of
a foreign language. He wrote the Hebrew with singular elegance. The letters were made small and uniform, and looked
nearly as well as print.  Some of his Arabic is in the beautiful
current hand in which accomplished dragomans write l'Arabe
vulgalre:* sometimes it is carefully copied from  the style
which is seen in printed books; more commonly it is in the same
* See fac-simile in Byron's poetical works. Murray, 1815, vol. i. I. 303.




~T. 23.]            HENRY VETHAKE.                  275
general style but dashed off with the masterly negligence with
which a man, who feels at home in it, dashes off a familiar letter in his native tongue.
The young adjunct professor lived at this time in the
house of Mir. Henry Vethake, the professor of natural philosophy. The building was situated at a point precisely in a
line with the college and towards the dwelling of the President. On the other side of the college stood the steward's
hall. It was now and there that Mr. Alexander gave his heart
to God according to the terms of the everlasting covenant.
Mr. Alexander had a decided admiration for his associate, as
was the case with all others who knew him. Henry Vethake was an accomplished man, and in a great variety of ways.
His forte was probably political economy, though in his time
he honoured and graced many different chairs. He was a
scholar of the type that is best known on the continent of Europe. HIe was a native of Prussia, having come with his
parents to the United States when he was yet a child. His
boyhood was passed in New York, where he afterwards received his academic degree from Columbia College. His first
post as a teacher was in this institution. Subsequently he accepted the professorship of mathematics and natural philosophy in Queen's (now Rutgers) College, New Brunswick, N. J.
In the year 1817 he was chosen to be the occupant of the
chair of mathematics, natural philosophy and chemistry, in
l:e College of New Jersey. He seemed for some time to be
the sport of changes. The next year his department was divided and he became the professor of mathematics and mechanical philosophy. Two or three years later he resigned
his chair at Princeton and went to Carlisle, Penn., as professor
of the same branches in Dickinson College. There he remained till the autumn of 1829. The following year he returned to Princeton and was for two years professor of natural
philosophy in the college. After the lapse of two more years
he again resigned his chair at Princeton and accepted one in
the University of New York, then just established.  Two or
three years after he was elected to the presidency of Wash



276                  COLLEGE MANNERS.                      [1832.
ington College in Lexington, Rockbridge county, Virginia.
He remained there about twelve months.
The last thirty years, or more, of his life was spent m
Philadelphia, amidst the congenial society of men of letters,
and chiefly in connection with the University of Pennsylvania,
in which institution he was at first the professor of mathe
matics, and afterwards the Provost of the University.  At the
time of his death he held the same chair in the Polytechnic
School, or College, of Philadelphia.
Dr. Vethake was a man of varied attainments both in
science and literature, and an excellent teacher. He was withal
an amiable man and a good companion. As a writer he is
chiefly known as the author of certain contributions to the
science of political economy. He prepared a supplementary
volume for an edition of the American Encyclopoedia, published
some years ago in Philadelphia. The daily society of such a
man must have been a great treat to the bashful linguist.
Professor Burrowes* of Easton writes, that when he entered
Princeton College in the autumn of 1830, Mr. Alexander was adjunct
professor of languages, living in the college and acting as tutor. His
room was on the fourth floor of the old college building, next to the
bell, and over what was then the chapel. He occupied afterwards the
front room on the left of the entry of a house then standing on the now
open space between the college and the old Library. " As my room,"
he says, " was on the same entry with his in college, he looked in on
us daily in the visits made by the tutors to the roolms of the students.
There was a marked difference between the air with which the other
tutor threw -aide open the door in his visits, and, pausing, looked
around to see if any of the inmates had escaped since his last trip;
and the quick movement with which the door was opened barely
enough to let us catch a glimpse of the fresh, ruddy, handsome face of
Professor Addison, and then closed again and he was gone.  On
one occasion a member of our class, pleasant and companionable, but
not in danger of hurting himself with study, came into our room just
* The Rev. Geo. Burrowes, D.D. Professor of Biblical Instruction in Lafayette College.




ET. 23.1                 ANECDOTES.                      277
after the professor had passed, mortified and saying-" I will try hereafter to avoid Professor Addison in his rounds. As I passed him in
the entry he said to me,' Mr. -, you seem a bird of passage; I find
you always on the wing.'"  Even then, though a young man hardly
one and twenty, this writer remembers that he carried with him great
influence, and commanded unbounded respect. " No student ever
dreamed of playing on him any of the pranks of which the other
tutor had so bountiful a share. His great reputation for one of his
years had thrown a something around him that caused him to be
looked up to with a kind of awe by the poor hard-working herd, plodding our way along through jagged passes of the hill of science, over
which we felt he had swept with an eagle's wing."
He mentions an amusing instance of this feeling. There were two
rooms in the refectory, in one of which was a cheaper table where were
gathered most of the pious students. The young professor took the
head of the table in this room. "' I noticed that his end of the table
was for some reason deserted; and found that these good men, most
of whom were candidates for the ministry, had crowded away from
him to a most respectful distance, because they were absolutely afraid
of him. They appeared to have the impression that he could not
stoop from his lofty perch to anything short of Persian and Arabic
roots. They seemed to look upon him as they might look on a Leyden
jar heavily charged, as likely to give a dangerous shock to any one
coming too near." No shadow of dislike, he is satisfied, had anything
to do with this sti'ange avoidance. " The thing was amusingly ridiculous, when the reason was known. He doubtless never knew anything of it." Seeing the way in which the table had been cleared at
the professor's end-" really an instinctive tribute to his great reputation"-the writer says he took a vacant seat next to him, and, "to the
surprise of the others, found this young man of whom they were so shy,
to be gentle and pleasant, possessing great powers of conversation, and
in his conversation most suggestive and instructive. I regret that I did
not make a record of some conversations then had with him.
"Indeed," he continues, "both he and his brother, Dr. James W.
Alexander, were such men that it was hard to come in contact with
them without receiving some influence making itself felt in an enlivening power on the mind and heart. A single remark by Dr. James in a
morning walk before I went to college, made an impression on me
through life. He suggested the importance of resolving to read at least
one verse of the Greek Testament every day; to read the Psalms
through once a month according to the division in the Book of Common




278                   PUBLIC PRAYERS.                       [1832.
Prayer; and to read a chapter daily in the book of Proverbs, which
will take us through them once a month. The suggestion was a simple
one; but the enduring effects have been among the most valuable on
my religious life."
While sitting at the college table with Professor Addison Alexander
he could not avoid noticing "how little indulgence he gave his appetite. He carried in his countenance every appearance of the best
health, and was of full habit of body; but he ate less than any person
I have ever known. One slender meal a day was all his healthy appetite seemed to crave. At the other meals in the refectory he would
preside, but take nothing. The powers of his body were made tributary to the wants and higher ministry of the mind; and they received
no indulgence on his part any further than was necessary for keeping
the material enginery in fit condition for the demands of the service
needed by the activity of the soul." *
He cannot forget the impression made on him as a student, by the
prayers of Professor Alexander while officiating at morning prayers in
the college chapel. " It was not that there was any attempt at display,
or fine language. Like his father before him, everything of this kind
he despised. The simplicity, fitness, and comprehensiveness of the language constituted its beauty and its power. It was the utterance o
the feelings of humble piety in abasement at the feet of Jesus, by a
mind which grasped those subtle feelings with the precision of a giant's
strength, and expressed them in words of a transparency and fitness
that genius only can command." And when he attended the meetings
of the Philadelphian Society, a gathering of pious students only, he was
struck with the same characteristics of his language. "Had it been
possible to evaporate the ideas from the words, it seemed as though
there would linger a nameless beauty and music still among the words.
His language flowed easy and gentle; though strong, a stream'Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full'full of the clearest, richest good sense and piety."
The writer, like most others, thinks it was a wonder that a man
who had mingled with the world so little, could know so much about it;
and that one who had so lately become pious, could pour out such a
flow of sober, clear, rich good sense to professing Christians. " Good
writing," he says, " and'good discourse is the embodying of good sense
in good language. In all this, he was even from that early age pre-emi* I am under the impression that he took some of his meals at home.




AT. 23.]   MODESTY AND  SKILL AS A  TEACHER.                  279
nent. To him, this was natural. He could not help it. He could not,
if he would, have used any other than this clear, appropriate, precise
expressive, unapproachable language. Of him I felt it was not trueUt sibi quivis
Speret idem; sudet multum, frustraque laboret
Ausus idem:
For you had no disposition to try. You felt in listening, that try as you
might, you could never hope to attain such a mastery of language."
The vigour and clearness of his mind were apparent in the class-room.
He was a great teacher. The secret of successful instruction is to interest and rouse the mind of the student to work for himself. This he
did. " He benefited his class not by loading them down with useless
lumber, like an ass sinking under his panniers; but by stimulating and
quickenring their dormant energies. IIe was quick; sometimes perhaps too quick for the grade of scholarship in college-classes as they
then were; and like all men of energy such as his, seemed to slower
and more plodding minds, at times a little sharp: forgetting under the
impulse of his own fulness and enthusiasm, the great interval there was
between his own talents and attainments, and the talents and attainments of those before him. In any accidental case of this kind, a moment's reflection was sufficient to bring into exercise his lofty magnanimity, which soothed any wounded feeling."
The writer adverts to the fact that some men are fond of making
an ostentatious display of their learning. To this the professor never
stooped. " With a memory of marvellous power and all the varied
riches of his great acquisitions at instant comnmand with ease, he
brought forth from his treasures only what was needed for putting in a
proper light before the class the point requiring explanation, and what
the grade of scholarship in his students needed and could appropriate
with advantage." In his instructions in college, he says, the same
characteristics appeared that are visible in his commentaries —" the
results of the richest and most varied learning sifted from everything
extraneous, and concentrated on the direct point at issue, always with
reference to the wants and degree of advancement of those under instruction. He was the last man to suspect of Hezekiah's weakness in
showing' the house of his precious thlings, the silver, and the gold, and
all that was found in his treasures.' All his intellectual treasure of
whatever kind that might be needed, was, however, forthcoming at the
right moment; and that too, refined, recoined, and bearing his own
imperial impress and superscription."




280                 THE TRENTON PASTOR.                   [1832.
If the testimony of Dr. Burrowes is worthy of credence, no man
could command more respect. "He was respected for his abilities and attainments; and then his quick wit made those disposed to
trespass feel there was a power behind the throne with which it was
perilous to meddle. Self-conceit and presumption found instinctively
their level, and were satisfied to keep it." In keen delicate wit and
sarcasm he was, in the writer's estimation, unsurpassed. "This was
never used unnecessarily; it was kept as a power in reserve. Like the
colossal spectre touched by the wand of the magician in the Arabian
tale, the unlucky wight of large dimensions in his own conceit,
shrivelled up into pitiable littleness under the touch of this polished
shaft. In his writings a passing flash of his sarcasm often carries more
power than a labored argument. It may come like lightning from a
cloudless sky; an unexpected flash, and the airy towers and battlements
of pretension and sophistry have disappeared."
Mr. Alexander's eldest brother returned from Virginia
about the time that the young philologist accepted the position at Patton's school. He was elected pastor of the congregation at Trenton in the autumn of 1828, and preached his
first sermon to the Trenton people on the 10th of January
1829.
The letters of the Trenton pastor to Dr. Hall and others,
and his copious private diaries, and ephemerides, of this period, are not only profoundly interesting for their own sakes
and because of their connection with the contemporary history, but give many a passing glimpse of the life and manners
of that day, as well as of the new teacher Mr. Patton had induced to join him at Edgehill, and who soon after became a
sort of tutorial professor in the college, and a few years later
buried himself from the observation of the idle villagers of
Princeton, among strange people and strange scenes across the
seas.
Besides finishing the books commenced the last year, MIr.
Alexander read, during the winter of this year, Kleinert on
Isaiah, AEschines, Hariri, (with Arabic scholia,) Luther's Letters, Rosenmfiller on Isaiah, and Neander on the Primitive
Church.




AET. 23.]          NEWSPAPER  SCRIBBLINGS.                          281
On Feb. 20 he began to read the Psalms again with some
degree of critical attention; supplying the vowels in the unpointed text, and using the pointed text as a commentary.
"This," he says, "is my general plan for Hebrew study'
now."
During the months of Dec. 1832 and Jan. 1833, he wrote
forty articles for the Presbyterian, of which his brother was
then the editor.*
* I am able to give the titles of these little articles, from a paper in the
author's handwriting, labelled:
"PARAGRAPHS CONTRIBUTED TO THE PRESBYTERIAN," (by J. A. A.). "IN 183233.
DATE OF WRITING.
1. Nov. 27, 1832. On Verbal Orthodoxy.
2.               The Biblical Repository.
3. Nov. 29.      The Art of Reading.
4.               Soliloquies in Church.
5. Nov. 30.      Learning and Religion.
6.  "           Moderation.
7.  "           Princeton.
8.  "           Oxford and Cambridge.
9. Dec. 1.      Excerpts.
10.   "          Anecdote of Gellert.
11.   "           German Criticism.
12.   "           Guardian Angels.
13.   "          Mode of Printing Poetry.
14. Dec. 3.      Loyalty.
15.  "           Hastings.
16.   "          Public Worship.
17.  "           Introductions.
18.   "          Formality in Preaching.
19. Dec. 5.      African Colonization.
20.   "           Charles I. and Scotland.
21.   "           College Discipline.
22. Dec. 10.      Excerpts.
22.   "          Pascal.
23.  "           Dante.
24.  "           Imitation.
25. Dec. 17.     Theological Libraries.
26.   "          The Sonna.




282                  PROGRESS IN  STUDIES.                        [1832.
DATE OF WRITING.
27. Dec. 18.     The Sanhedrim of Paris.
28. Dec. 24.     An Article, Prejudice.
29. Jan. S., 1833. A Sheet.
30. Jan. 13. -    An article siged Simon.
31. Jan. 15.     An article signed Peter.
32. Jan. 16.     An article signed McD
33. Jan. 17.     A paper signed Holofernes.
34. Jan. 18.     A Churchyard Dialogue signed S. D. A.
35. Jan. 21.     An article signed Idiotes.
36. Jan. 22.     An article on Plain Preaching.
37. Jan. 23.     An Editorial on Imitation.
38. Jan. 24.     An Editorial on Missionary Facts.
39. Jan. 25.     An Editorial on the Advantages of Presbyterianism.
40 March 1.      Translation of an article on Cyril Lucaris.
W. S. MARTIEN to J. A. ALEXANDER,                                   Dr.
To 40 articles at $1.                                        $40.00
Received payment."




CHAPTER IX.
NEVER was there a greater mistake, than that Professor
Addison Alexander did not care to know about the busy world
beyond the limits of his study and class room; and he was
now resolved, with Parnell's hermit,* "to find if books or
swains report it right." Mr. Alexander's acquaintance with
the learned and critical labours of Germany, and his knowledge of the valuable mental discipline afforded by her universities, had greatly stimulated in him the curiosity which
every enlightened American feels with respect to Europe, and
had awakened in his breast a strong desire to cross the seas,
and spend some time in foreign travel, and in the search for
intellectual improvement in the foreign schools.  His friends
all thought well of the scheme, and his father and those
who were on his return to be his coadjutors in the seminary,
heartily approved of it.
The Rev. Rezeau Brown, who was animated by similar
views, and still more by a wish to corroborate his shattered
healthb, made every preparation to accompany him; but was
destined, as we have seen, for a shorter voyage to a better
country. He was too unwell to start, and soon after breathed
his last. This was a heavy blow to Mr. Alexander; though the
voyage to Europe was, in his case, an accomplished fact before
he heard of his friend's death.
Several distinguished gentlemen communicated with Dr.
"To clear this doubt, to know the world by sight,
To find if books or swains report it right,
For yet by swains alone the world he knew,
Whose feet came wandering o'er the nightly dew."
-Parnell, The Hermit. London, Strand, John Bell, 1774. p. 161.




284              SAILS FROM  NEW  YORK.                  [1832.
Alexander on the subject of his son's projected voyage. Here
is an extract from a letter of the Hon. William C. Rives, of
Virginia, relating wholly to this topic. Mr. Rives had been
the United States Minister to France.
CASTLE HILL, April 12th, 1833.
MY DEAR SIR,
* * * You will perceive that instead of a letter
to Baron de Sacy, with whom I have nt the pleasure of a persona
acquaintance, I have written one to the Baron de Ferrusac, who, having
been a long time at the head of the Bulletin Universel, &c., has familiar
relations with the whole corps of literati at Paris, and whom I have
particularly requested to make your son acquainted with Monsieur de
Sacy. The deaths of the Count Chaptal, Baron Cuvier, &c. during the
last summer, have narrowed considerably the circle of my acquaintance
with the savans of France, or I should have added other letters to
members of that fraternity. Those which I have written to General
Lafayette and Mr. Niles, our late Charge d'affaires, will, however, amply
and more efficiently supply the deficiency.
I am, my dear sir, most truly, Faithfully yours,
W. C. RIVES.
On the o10th of April, 1833, having resigned for that purpose his chair in the college, Mr. Alexander sailed from New
York, in the ship Samson, Captain Chadwick, for London.
While making his final preparations for the voyage, he remained a day or two with Dr. Benjamin H. Rice, who had
married his father's sister; and was attended by one or two
of his kindred to the quay. During Mr. Alexander's absence,
Dr. Rice removed from New York to Princeton, and became
the pastor of the Presbyterian church, at that time the only
church in the place, though the building of an Episcopal church,
which was subsequently put up, was then in contemplation.
The following letter to his mother was intended to cheer
her on his departure. It had been looked for with impatience.
StIP SAMSON, 
5 o'clock, Wednesday, April 10, 1833.
MY DEAR MOTHER:
Here comes your pilot-letter. I have as yet had no means of ascer



ET. 24.]                SHIP SAMSON.                       285
taining whether I am proof against sea-sickness, the weather being so
extremely mild and the water so smooth. Capt. Chadwick is one of
the pleasantest men that I have ever seen. Dr. Cox pleases me well
thus far. He is frank and cordial, but not obtrusive. He has read me
whole passages from his book already and told me things without number. Our party includes Mr. Clay, Secretary to the Russian Embassy,
on his way to St. Petersburg. two officers of the English army, two
other Englishmen, two Canadians, and a Frenchman. We have thirty
steerage passengers, mostly English people going home. There are
chickens, ducks, and a cow on board. Dr. Cox, the English officers,
and 1, have the ladies' cabin to ourselves. The Captain is positive that
we shall reach London before the " first proximo," and seems to anticipate fair weather throughout. Clay asked me if I had relatives at
Princeton-said he knew a Mr. Alexander in Virginia.
I must go above now and see what is passing there. Farewell, be
of good cheer, as I am and shall try to be.
Love to all and every one.   J. A. A.
During his year's absence, Mr. Alexander kept a minute
journal of all that befell him. We shall select here and
there from his diary interesting facts, without attempting
to give a continued history of his daily life. He was much
interested in the movements of the captain, the mate and the
pilot, when they reached the Needles. I give his own words:
" In the midst of our exulting expectations of a speedy landing, we
were becalmed just outside of the Needles. By the bye, the chief mate
is a sturdy Yankee, and stands up for America with laudable intrepidity. As he was eating his supper to-night with the other mate and the
pilot at the foot of the cabin table, I heard him speaking with great
scorn of the English game laws, and the absurdity of a man's not being suffered to shoot on his own grounds, without a certain amount of
property. He also mystified the old pilot about panthers and other
beasts in America, in a very amusing style. He was at dinner to-day
when the weather changed, and the pilot gave the orders for rnaneuvring, &c. The captain hearing the noise, ran up, looked about him,
countermanded the pilot's orders, asked him what he was about, &c.,
and assumed the command himself; yet all this was done with perfect
equanimity of temper. I never knew indeed, till I came to sea, how
far peremptory decision and even rigour could be blended with uniform
good humour. It is a fact, however, that both Chadwicks scold the




286                ENGLISH  STAGE COACH.                    [1833
sailors without a change of countenance. The second mate scolds
the seamen, the first mate the second and the captain, all together,
without any manifestation of surprise or discontent. But to return to
the pilot; he was once a slaver on the coast of Guinea, end still speaks
with satisfaction of his former enormities. His son was lately detected
in smuggling, and was condemned to five years service in a man-of-war.
The old man's dialect and manner are to me entirely new and
strange."
Here is a lively description of an English stage coach, as
these vehicles were thirty-five years ago; which may be read
before, or after, those of Irving, Dickens, and De Quincey.
"Just imagine that you see us at the door of the hotel, surrounded
by some six or seven men each asserting the immense superiority of
his or his master's coach and directly contradicting what the others
said. The' Rockett is much the fastest coach, sir-we shall be in by
half-past five.''The Rockett charges extra for baggage, sir-the Regulator never does.''We go at nine, sir-we shall be in first.'' We
go at ten, sir-but we arrive before the others.'' How can you lie
so? you are unable of speaking the truth.' During our negotiations,
we changed our scene of action. One was taking us off to see his
coach, when lo! another turned us back by his representative, and thus
the thing proceeded until I began to think our situation rather ludicrous, and told Dr. Cox that if le pleased, I would assume the responsibility of deciding at once, which I forthwith did, in favor of the Regulator, the 9 o'clock coach, which, in the course of ten minutes was at
the door.
" The coach, when it took us up, had only a pair of horses; but while
we stopped at another inn to receive our complement of passengers,
two horses were added; forming the noblest quaternion of steeds that I
ever saw attached to a public conveyance. The harness, too, has the
appearance of being perfectly new; and to complete the picture, a'gentleman,' dressed in a black frock-coat, with drab trousers and
gaiters, took his seat as coachman."
He continues to describe the ride through English country.'" We now paid our fare (15s.), and were dunned by a lad who pretended that he had' loaded our luggage' at the Quebec hotel; though
we all agreed in saying that we had never seen his face. A handsome




ET.24 W]          PORTSMOUTH  TO LONDON.                    287
young man, about my age, took his seat beside the coachman, and we
set off at a smart pace through the streets of Portsmouth. This being
the first time that I had travelled in the old world, I kept both mny eyes
wide open in search of novelties. The first thing that struck me was
the antique look of the houses, built of dirty brick, as little like the
brick of Philadelphia or New York as you can well imagine. The next
thing that struck me was the variety of costume. Here was a man in
pantaloons, there one in breeches, yonder one in gaiters; further on
was one in a shirt or frock, &c., &c. Soldiers we saw at every corner;
young and old; and I was much surprised at the smartness of their
appearance; their red coats and white trousers seemed to have just
proceeded from the tailor's hands. A ride of any sort, after our voyage,
would have been a luxury; but such a ride as we were now to enjoy
was more than luxurious; it was luscious. In the outskirts of Portsmouth we began to catch a glimpse of English cultivation; little gardens,
exquisitely neat, grass-plots of the most delicious green, hedges and trees
and shrubbery-all combined to make it overpowering. The milestones
glided by us with surprising speed, and yet the motion of the coach was
all but imperceptible. It was only when I looked at the horses that I felt
convinced of our impetuous progress. The coachman made much entertainment by his dignified and gentlemanly air. There was not the least
degree of that vulgar swagger which our'drivers' commonly display;
he did not crack his whip once, and very seldom lashed the horses,
though when he did, he did it with a boldness quite alarming. He was
loaded with commissions in the shape of bundles, letters, &c., both from
Portsmouth and from places on the road. These he frequently took up
without stopping at all; just as he paid his toll, while at full speed. We
changed horses six or seven times, with great rapidity and elegance.
Besides the variety of scenery, the frequent interchange of grain fields,
pasture grounds and commons, we were pleased with the sight of flocks
and herds, and the appearance of the country people. What struck me
particularly in the latter was their fresh, healthy appearance; I do not
mean mere ruddiness. Indeed, I was mistaken in my preconceptions.
My ideas of English health and heartiness were associated with images
of grossness. I find, however, that in the country the people at large,
and especially the women and children, are remarkable for a clear,
transparent complexion, smooth full skin, and smiling countenance. I
am forcibly struck with the contrast'between the boys whom we met in
wagons and on foot, and the young rustics of New Jersey. I think
I may say with truth that every one whom we met was fresh and
handsome."




288                 HOUSE OF COMMONS.                       [1881.
His first visit to the House of Commons was not altogether
satisfactory.
" As the Doctor and I walked along the street at night, we felt a
curiosity to know where the House of Commons was. The Doctor therefore asked a gentleman who passed us.  Ie replied' This is it. I will
show you the way; but you can't get in without an order from a
member.''I was not aware of that, sir; we are strangers.''If you
wish to go in, I will give you an order with pleasure.''Are you a
member, sir?'  Yes-for Ireland."  He then took us in through a
number of halls and passages lined with two rows of persons waiting
for admission, or something else, to a little office on one side, where he
wrote an order.' Admit the bearer. P. Lalor.' He gave this to Dr.
Cox and said that he would go and get-one for me; as no member can
can give more thlan one. While he was gone, we were knocked about
by the door-keepers, &c., telling us to stand, now on this side and then
on that. At last he returned and took us up through a labyrinth of passages to a small, dark lobby in whichl a number of persons were crowd.
ed round two doors. Into one of these we at length contrived to
peep, and had the happiness of seeing Mr. Manners Sutton, in his robe
and wig. Mr. Lalor gave Dr. Cox his card and said that he took a
particular interest in Americans, and would be glad to do us any service
in his power."
He was a little more fortunate at Exeter Hall.
" As I was going in, a policeman at his door asked me the colour of
my ticket. I told him I had none.'You can't go in without one,'
said lie.'Do they sell them?' said I.'O no,' says he,'if you wish
to go in, I think I can get you a place.' He then took me round the
corner into a postern door, got a ticket from the porter, and conducted
me'up-stairs, saying-' This is not customary, but I don't like to see a respectable person turned away.' In a moment I found myself in a sort
of gallery opposite the platform where the speakers and other leading
personages sat. I soon recognized Dr. Cox, who had gone out while I
was dressing. Lord Bexley presided. A note was read from Teignmouth, and then an abstract of the report by the Rev. Mr. Brandram,
one of the Secretaries. The Bishop of Winchester then rose, dressed
in a frock coat and black apron. He was followed by J. J. Gurney,
the Quaker. Then came Dr. Cox, then a member of Parliament, then
Baptist Noel, then Dr. Morrison, then Lord Monntsanford, then the




SAT. 24]               EDWARD IRVING.                      289
Bishop of Chester. All the speakers were applauded more or less by
stamping, clapping of hands, and occasionally, cries of' hear.'"
Mr. Alexander's'passion for courts and juries, judges, witnesses and barristers, was much indulged in England. Here is
a description of the High Court of Chancery, and what he saw
there.
"A guide introduced us to the High Court of Chancery-a room
not near so large as the court-room at Trenton, but handsomely fitted
up. Here we saw Lord Brougham, and had the satisfaction of hearing
him utter a few words. I think I could have recognized him by the
pictures I have seen, though they are all caricatures. He has a very
intellectual physiognomy, and much sarcastic expression in the twitching of his face. Here, for the first time, I saw the counsellors' robes
and wigs. In the latter I was agreeably disappointed; they are by no
means so grotesque as I supposed. After hearing Sir Edward Sugden
plead awhile, we left the court, and in the hall met counsel without
number in their gowns and wigs. As the courts all sit at once, the
lawyers are obliged to pass incessantly from one to another, with their
green bags and enormous briefs."
The name of Edward Irving, who was now one of the lions
of London, had recently become familiar to the two Americans,
and they were both eager to see and hear him. The following
account by the younger of the two, tallies precisely with that
given by Lockhart in the life of John Wilson * by Mrs. Gordon,
and with that subsequently printed by Dr. Cox. It possesses
a curious interest now.
"After breakfast, having learned that Edward Irving was to hold a
meeting at half-past eleven, we resolved to go; but without expecting
to hear the tongues; as they have not been audible of late. Mr. Nott,
who had called before breakfast, conducted us to Newman street, where
Irving is established since he left the house in Regent square. As we
walked along we saw a lady before us arm in arm with a tall man in
black breeches, a broad-brimmed hat, and black hair hanging down his
shoulders. This, Mr. Nott informed us, was Irving himself with his
card sposa. We followed them to the door of the chapel in Newman, See "Christopher North." W. J. Widdleton, 1863. p. 271.
V'3




290                      HIS CHURCH.                         1833.
street; where Dr. Nott left us, and we went in. The chapel is a room
of moderate size, seated with plain modern benches, like our recitationrooms. The end opposite the entrance is semicircular, and filled with
amphitheatrical seats. In front of these there is a large arch, and
immediately beneath it a reading-desk in the shape of an altar, with a
large arm-chair beside it.  From  this point there are several steps
descending toward the body of the house, on which are chairs for the
elders of the church. I mention these particulars because I think the
pulpit and its appendages extremely well contrived for scenic effects.
The following diagram may give some faint idea of the aIppearance."
Here follows a carefully drawn picture of the dais and
chairs.
" Soon after we were seated, the chairs below the pulpit were occupied by several respectable men, one of them quite handsome and well
dressed. Another man and a woman took their seats upon the benches
behind. While we were gazing at these, we heard a heavy tramp
along the aisle, and the next moment Irving walked up to the altar,
opened the Bible, and began at once to read. He has a noble figure,
and his features are not ugly; with the exception of an awful squint.
His hair is parted right and left, and hangs down on his shoulders in
affected disorder.  His dress is laboriously old fashioned-a black
quaker coat and small clothes. His voice is harsh, but like a trumpet; it
takes hold of one and cannot be forgotten. His great aim appeared to be
to vary his attitudes and appear at ease. He began to read in a standing
posture, but had scarcely finished half a dozen verses when he dropped
into the chair and sat while he read the remainder. Ile then stepped
forward to the point of his stage, dropped on his knees and began to pray
in a voice of thunder; most of the people kneeling fairly down. At
the end of the prayer he reaJl the 66th Psalm, and I now perceived that
his selections were designed to have a bearing on the persecutions of
his people and h]imself. The chapter from Samuel was that relating to
Shimei. He then gave out the 66th Psalm in verse; which was sung
standing, very well, Irving himself joining in with a mighty bass.
He then began to read the 39th of Exodus, with an allegorical exposition, after a short prayer for Divine assistance. The ouches of the
breast-plate he explained to mean the rulers of the church. While
he was dealing this out, he was interrupted in a manner rather startling.
I had observed that the elders who sat near him, kept the'r eyes raised
to the sky-light overhead, as if wooing inspiration. One in particular




ET. 24.]                "TONGUES."                         291
looked very wild. His face was flushed, and he occasionally turned up
the white of his eyes in an ominous style. For the most part, however,
his eyes were shut. Just as Irving reached the point I have mentioned
and was explaining the ouches; this elder of ye church who sat in the
chair marked P on page 48, burst out in a sort of wild ejaculation, thus:'Taranti-hoiti-faragmi-santi'*;'O ye people-ye people of ye Lord,
ye have not the ouches-ye have not the ouches-ha-a-a; ye must have
them-ye must have them-ha-a-a; ye cannot hear-ye cannot hear!"
This last was spoken in a pretty loud whisper; as the inspiration died
away within him. When he began, Irving suspended his exposition and
covered his face with his hands. As soon as the voice ceased, he resumed the thread of his discourse, till the' tongue' broke out again' in
unknown strains.' After these had again come to an end, Irving knelt
and prayed, thanking God for looking upon the poverty and desolation
of his church amidst her persecutions. After he had finished and arisen
from his knees, he dropped down again saying-' one supplication
more'-or'one thanksgiving more.' He now proceeded to implore
the Divine blessing on the servant who had been ordained as a prophet
in the sight of the people. After this supplementary prayer, he stood up,
asked a blessing in a few words, and began to read in the 6th John about
feeding on Christ's flesh. In the course of his remarks, he said-" The
priests and churches in our day have denied the Saviour's flesh, and therefore cannot feed upon him.' He then prayed again (with genuflexion)
after which he dropped into his chair, covered his face with his hands
and said —'Hear, now, what the elders have to say to you.' No
sooner was this signal given than the'tongue' began anew, and
for several minutes uttered a flat and silly rhapsody, charging the church
with unfaithfulness and rebuking it therefor.  The'tongue' having
finished, an elder who sat above him rose, with Bible in hand, and
made a dry but sober speech about faith, in which there was nothing,
I believe, outre. The handsome, well-dressed man, whom I have mentioned, at Irving's left hand, now rose and came forward with his Bible.
His first words were-' Your sins which are many are forgiven you.'
His discourse was incoherent, though not wild, and had reference to the
persecutions of the church. The last preacher on the occasion was a
decent, ministerial looking man in black, who discoursed on oneness with
Christ. A paper was now handed to Irving. which he looked at, and
then fell upon his knees. In the midst of his prayer he took the paper
and read it to the Lord, as he would have read a notice. It was a
* I do not pretend to recollect the words. -J. A. A.




292              COACH-RIDE FROM  OXFORD.                   [1833.
thanksgiving by Harriet Palmer for the privilige of attending on these
services to day. After the prayer, they sang a Psalm, and then the
meeting was dismissed by benediction. The impression made on my
mind was one of unmingled contempt. Everything which fell from Irving's lips was purely fiat and stupid, without a single flash of genius, or
the slightest indication of strength or even vivacity of mind. I was confirmed in my former low opinion of him founded on his writings. Mr.
Nott, who knew him when he was in Glasgow, says that his first eclat
in London was owing to the notes which he had taken of Dr. Chalmers'
converslti;)n; and that when he was cast upon his own resources, he
appeared in his real character as a dunce. Dr. Cox and I flattered ourselves that he observed us, and preached at us. I saw him peeping
through his fingers several times, and I suppose he was not gratified to
see us gazing steadfastly at him all the time, for he took occasion to
tell the people that it would profit them nothing without the circumcision of the ear. This he defined to be the putting away of all impertinent curiosity and profane inquisitiveness-all. gazing and prying
into the mysteries of God, and all malicious reporting of his doings
in the church. We were, afterwards, given to understand that one of
the elders was, probably, the Hon. Spencer Percival."
The ride in the stage coach from Oxford was a very picturesque and agreeable incident to look back to. He says:
"You never see here, as in America, a long string of stages; but
there is a perpetual succession of coaches; so that you can choose your
hour in almost every case. I do not know how many passed the Mitre,
bound either to or from London, while I was waiting; and you must
recollect, my dear readers, that an English stage coach under sail is a
majestic sight. The number of passengers above, below and around;
the pile of luggage on the roof, and the tremendous speed at which they
are driven, make these vehicles a really sight-worthy spectacle. At
length the Union arrived, but to my dismay the inside was full. This,
however, is not so shocking in England as in America, where much
disappointment would be seriously felt. The bookkeeper of the coach
office assured me that the next coach would be along in fifteen minutes;
and so it was. There were only a gentleman and lady inside, so that I
got in very comfortably. Off we went at a tremendous rate, over the
Oxford pavement; our guard shaking the houses with his trumpet. The
silent but well lighted streets through which we rattled, and the moon



ET. 21.)            DASHING COACHMAN.                      293
lit fields through which we afterwards glided, made me quite romantic
till sleep overcame me, and I dreamed of home."
Here is a pen-and-ink drawing of the dashing coachman
who gave him the best notion he has ever had of the character
of Jehu.
"Our coachman was of a different class from those I had seenyounger, more dashing, and extremely reckless in his air and manner.
In driving he was a perfect Jehu; indeed, I never entered into Jehu's
character before. The coach horses are invariably spirited, and there
is always (at least so far as I have seen) one that is ungovernable: this
is obvious from the cautious manner in which the vicious horse is
brought out and put into the harness, and the mysterious hints which
are given to the coachman by the hostlers and'horsers.' Again, if
there is any delay between the gearing of the horses and the starting
coach, two men at their heads can scarcely hold them at all. When
they do start, it is all at once and fortissimo. When any of the steeds
begins to play the fool, the coachman increases their speed, and brings
them to reason by galloping up hill."
" On the way we took up an old, old man, and when he alighted
a woman had to take him in her arms. A toll-gate tacksman put his
wife into the coach.'Who's that, Jeremy?' said the coachman.' A
friend of mine,' quoth he.'She's na rinnin awa yet?''Na.'
Between two and three we hove in sight of Edinboro'. Villas and
country seats began to make their appearance, and through the haze
which hung upon the atmosphere we began to discern the steeples of'Auld Reekie.' I shall make no attempt to describe my first impressions. I felt as if I were in another world. Hills, valleys, gardens,
palaces-all brought together! The castle frowning from its cliff, the
unfinished Parthenon on Calton Hill, the splendid churches, and the
long, lofty ranges of stone building-well, what of them? Nothing."
He saw an odd thing in Edinburgh to which he thus refers:
" The first projecting house, a little, old, low and narrow one, was
once the residence of JOHN KNox, whose image and superscription are
still upon the wall, with the date of his birth and death, and the name
of God in Greek, Latin and English. It is now occupied by a fashionable hairdresser and wigmaker!!! named Dryden!!!
It would be tedious to follow him  through mazes which




294                  VISITS PROF. LEE.                     [1833.
have been exhausted by the guidebooks. I prefer to retain
the following vivid description of the celebrated view from
Calton Hill:
" I now left Holyrood, and ascended Calton IIill by an elegant carriage road, winding spirally around it. Every turn presented a new
scene, or a modification of it, but from the top I beheld one of unspeakable
nmagnificence. On one side lay the New Town like a map, regular, spacious, splendid, interspersed with trees and gardens; on another stretched
the hills of Fife, the Frith of Forth, and the German Ocean; on another
lay a beautiful slope of rich and cultivated lands, bounded by lofty
mountains. Last but not least, I had before me the Old Town, magnificent'Auld Reekie.' The New Town is very noble in its way, and equal
to any other place I ever saw; but if it were demolihed, the old town
would be a wonder still. The total absence of wood and brick, the
loftiness of the houses, and the inequalities of the ground, reader it striking to the eye beyond description. I am a fool to say as much as I do
about it."
His visit to the house of Professor Lee, the late orientalist,
should not be omitted. He was directed thither by the coachporters.
"'LThe situation is a very pleasant one-retired but not remote. A
genteel servant lad opened the door, and carried up my name; he then
returned and conducted me into the study. A moment after the Professor came in, dressed in cap and gown; he read Mr. Horne's* letter,
asked me a few questions, and then invited me to walk with him to the
Library, which he said would close very soon. On the way he talkled
about German theology, Professor Stuart, Gesenius, &ec., &c. In the
Library he showed me the Beza MS. While I was looking at it, a man
came up and said:' Professor Lee, will you please to step to the ViceChancellor's?''Bless me,' said he,'I quite forgot it.' He then asked
a librarian in attendance to show me the Burckhardt MSS., and went
off, saying that he would return in a few minutes. I saw no more of
him. We were soon after turned out, and the doors shut."
From England he passed over into France. He was much
impressed with what he believed to be the genuine politeness
* Author of the " Introduction."




AT. 241                  LAFAYETTE.                        295
of the French. On the road from Calais to Paris they were
surprised by an invasion of French beggars.
"On setting out," be says, " we were assaulted by a host of beggars.
Such an assortment of cripples, dwarfs,' mallheureux' and'affliges,'
I never saw before. The French beggars, however, are nothing like
the English. The former are so amusing that I laugh all the time they
are addressing me; they look as if they were joking and ready to burst
into a laugh. At last, we got off. As we drew nearer to Paris, our
postillions became more and more grotesque. Once during every stage
they stop before an inn, and a dram is brought them, of about a tablespoonful of brandy.  Some took cider in, preference, and one pure
water. The conductor drank nothing but beer, except a little wine at
dinner. In the night we passed through Clermont, where Massillon
was bishop; soon after which I fell asleep."
Few things in his journal are more interesting than the
following description of a call he made upon old Gen. Lafayette.
He had learned from a Mr. Curtis that'Gen. Lafayette intended to leave town to-morrow, for which cause
he and Mr. Adams urged me to go and deliver my letter. I accordingly hired a cab by the hour, and drove first to Meurice's; where I
paid my bill; the man refusing to take the fraction as a franc (five sous)
I then went to No. 6 rue d'Anjou, St. Honore, and held the following
dialogue with the porteress:'Est-ce l'h6tel du G6n6ral Lafayette?'Non, monsieur, il demeure ici, mais l'hotel n'est pas a lui.'' Mais
est-il ici''Oui, monsieur, montez au gauche.' I mounted au gauche
accordingly, and rang a bell. The door was opened by a servant, who
informed me that the General could not be seen; but the next moment,
asked whether I was an American. On hearing that I was, he said:'Entrez done, monsieur, entrez,' and ushered me through a vacant
apartment into another, where about a dozen people were seated.
These, I found, were persons who had appointments with the General.
They were mostly plain, common-looking people; one was a soldier,
and one a woman. The rule,' First come, first served,' was very rigidly
observed. While one was in the'presence,' the master of ceremonies
would ask the next his name, and then announce it as he entered. I
waited at least an hour; had I foreseen what happened I should not
have gone at all, but when once there I was resolved to get something
for my pains. Once, indeed, I did propose to leave the letter, saying
that perhaps it was too late fo(r the General to receive me,but the major



296                        A VISIT.                        [1833.
domo said:'Non, non; c'est (gal; vous allez entrez tout a l'heur.'
At last my turn came, and he took Mr. Rives's letter in. A few minutes
after he came out, and invited me to enter. I passed through another
vacant room into the General's bedroom: as I entered, he was tottering
towards an inner door, to shut it. When he turned round he advanced,
took me by the hand, and placed me on the sofa where he sat himself,
saying that he was very much pleased to see me.' How long are you
in Paris, Mr. Alexander?' I wish to preserve as much of his conversation as I can.' Did you leave your father and other friends at Princeton
well?' I then said that I supposed he remembered Princeton very well.'Yes, indeed,' said he,'many, many years before you were born. I
don't know whether you remember, but when I came to Princton I
found my diploma signed by Dr. Witherspoon: it had been waiting for
me forty years; and it was publicly delivered to me.''Yes,' said I,' and I was present; I was a boy at school.' He then made me many
offers of service, and on my asking how I could get into the Chamber
of Peers he wrote me a letter to the Count de Somerville, Grand R6ferendaire of the Chamber, requesting him to give me a ticket. When I
rose to go he shook hands with me, and said he would be happy to do
me any service when I came to Paris again. He also requested me, on
my return to America, to give his respects to my father and his other
friends at Princeton."
The General did not forget his promise to his Princeton
visitor.
" I was just dressed when some one knocked at my door, and in
came Mr. Dunscomb Bradford (Acting American Consul) with a letter
from General Lafayette, who has been searching in vain for my address,
which I did not give him, as I thought that he was going out of town:
The letter was directed:'A Monsieur Joseph Addison Alexander, a
Paris.' It enclosed a note with these words in the General's own hand:'Gen'l Lafayette's compliments to Mr. Alexander, and sends him a
diplomatic ticket for the Chambre des Paris-friday evening." Within this note there was another in these words:'Les huissiers et gardiens pr6poses a la Chambre des paris introduiront dans la tribune
diplomatique jusqu'a la fin de la session Monsieur."
One day After visiting the flower garden of St. Denis, and
other places of interest, he
"' Repaired to the fountain of the Palais Royal, where I was soon




XET. 24.]            RELIGIOUS SERVICE.                    297
after joined by Mr. Jenks, and we went together to the Ecole Royale des
Langues Orientales Vivantes. There we sat and tattled,'till Monsieur
Caussin Percival camle in, Mr. Jenks reciting to him in vulgar Arabic.
The other two pupils did not come. I then went with Mr. Jenks to his
lodgings in the rue la Pelletiere. There he showed me some Turkish
firrnans."
One Sunday in Paris he heard Mr. Wilkes preach from the
words-' The foxes have holes,' &c. " He arrived at 11 o'clock last night.
His prayers were beautiful, and his discourse though rambling contained  some noble passages.  We were introduced to him  after
sermon. Mr. Stoddard and I now proceeded to the Palais Royal and
dined at P6rigord's. We then went to No. 9 rue de Clery, where I
sat with Mr. Stoddard until half past 7, when we went to the Oratoire,
and heard M. Monod expound the preface and first petition of the
Lord's Prayer.  He is wonderfully brisk and rapid in all that he
says and does; and I have no doubt that he is the most'efficient'
man among the evangelicals.  He is also clear and earnest in discourse; but quite inferior to Audubez in unction, and to Grandpielre
in eloquence."
Here is an account of a Church in Munich, and of the man.
ners of the Roman Catholic worshippers:
"By the way, we went into the'Students' Church,' or University
chiapel, and saw a part of the High Mass service. It is the only plain
Catholic church that I ever saw. The music was grand. I never
heard fiddles and trumpets used in worship before.  The German
Catholics enter into the imposture with more intensity of feeling than
any others. The lower people whom I see in the churches here, seem
to go through their performances with a sort of solemn enthusiasm.
I saw, too, in one of the churches, a card suspended on which was
painted an apostrophe to the worshippers. It was really affecting, and
displayed a degree of earnestness and tenderness very unlike the hollow
barrenness of Popish Christianity as I have seen it elsewhere. One
sentence as far as I can recollect, ran thus:' God have mercy upon you,
poor, forsaken, unhappy souls. The merciful God have mercy upon
you for the sake of the mortal anguish (Augst der Blutsch witzender
Jesus.)' This last phrase cannot be translated."




298              TRAVELLING  COMPANIONS.                   [1833.
What is next to be related took place on or near the terrace of the Cathedral Church at Berne.
"While I was looking at the edifice, a young man of intelligent countenance, but rather beggarly-dressed, accosted me in French and talked
about the architecture of the church. As he proceeded to ask me
questions about the town, I told him that I was a stranger-' You are
a Frenchman, perhaps?''No.''A German?''No. I come further
than that.''Further than that? Are you Prussian?''No, further
than that.'' From Russia?'  Further than that.' He next guessed
America, but could hardly believe that I was born there, as I seemed
to him too white. He asked me a number of questions about America,
and then informed me that he was a mechanicien, but was familiar with
all branches of science. He drew from his pocket two drafts and explanations of inventions of his own. He is travelling through Switzerland on foot, he says, spending his father's money."
On Thursday the first of August he found a place in a
coach going to Lausanne by the way of Frcyburg.  Iis own
account is graphic:
" I had scarcely taken my seat when the Englishman arrived; and it
was well that I knew him to be such, for I should never have guessed
it. He was a tall, thin, sickly-looking young man with a large moustache and a complexion darker than that of Italy or Spain. I broke
the ice at once.'Do you speak English, sir?''Yes sir; are you
English?''No, I am an American.''Oh, that is the same thing.' I
was as much struck with the dignified mildness of his manners, as I
had been with the color of his skin. But he soon explained both by
saying, that he had served six years in the East Indies, had come home
with the liver complaint, and was travelling for his health. I have never
met with a military man since I came to Europe who was not a gentleman. It is a fact that even the common soldiers are particularly gentle
and obliging in their manner when accosted. My new acquaintance
pleased me particularly well.  He talked some Hindostanee, and answered many questions which I put respecting India."
While in Geneva he wrote an immense shteet upon every
sort of topic to his brother James, in a hand wonderfully minute
and compact, which is one of the finest of the few extant specimens of his writing in the old-fashioned free and easy, collo



AtT. 21                    LETTER.                         299
quial, epistolary style. In the course of it he takes occasion
to refer to his growing attachment to republican institutions
and to Presbyterian government; and then descants upon the
manners of John Bull, European music, an old Swiss beggar,
the transcendental philosophy, the Munich library; and in artlessly pathetic terms, acknowledges his unabated love and
frequent prayers for his correspondent.  Some of Gray's letters when abroad are not wholly unlike this.  There are
remarkable revelations of character and disposition in this
letter. I can give but a part of this interesting document,
which bears date Geneva, August 14th, 1833.
"MY DEAR BROTHER:
Though 1 have just dispatched a sort of catholic
epistle to the family at large, yourself included, you will not, methinks,
object to a more specific personal address. Your letter, dated June 26,
I have read repeatedly, and thank you kindly for the news and counsels which it furnishes. There is a vein of melancholy feeling running
through it which at first affected me by sympathetic contagion; but I
soon recovered. On some points where we once agreed, we agree no
longer; and among the number there are two at least which have to
do with your epistolary sadness. In the first place, I have got new
feelings with respect to politics. I no longer look at the details of our
democracy with shame or loathing. I have dismissed the habit of
regarding our republic as the certain prey of premature destruction.
The other point on which my feelings have experienced a change is
Presbyterianism. Everything that I have seenin England, Scotland,
France and Switzerland, gives a rational confirmation to my hereditary
confidence, and thus converts a prejudice into a strong conviction.
Look at the various systems of church polity, and inquire to what
extremes they run, and you will find these various and opposite extremes, almost without exception, shunned and remedied by scriptural
Presbyterianism. The extremes of clerical and popular power, the
extremes of strict and loose communion,the extremes of pomp and meanness as to forms,the extremes of rigor and license as to doctrine, the
extremes of superstition and irreverence as to sacred things, the extremes
of learning without piety, and the converse, among ministers-all these
are held at arm's length by the wise yet simple constitution of our
church.
"Two nights after my arrival at Geneva, having spent the daylight




300                    SINGING  SCHOOL.                     [1833.
in the public walks, I was sauntering homeward, or rather inn-ward,
when a bell began to ring. Recollecting that it was the first Monday
in the month, I imagined that some of the evangelicals might be observing the monthly concert. I accordingly followed the sound, till it
brought me to the door of the Eglise de la Fusterie, one of the principal
city churches. The house was lighted, and a number of persons were
standing round the doors.' Qu'est-ce que c'est!' said I to one of them.'Monsieur, c'est un chant; vous pouvez bien entrer.' The door resisted
my attempt, but a moment after it was opened from within. The doorkeeper asked whether monsieur was a foreigner, and invited him
to ascend into the tribune.  Monsieur ascended accordingly, and
looking down, saw the body of the church filled with well dressed
men and boys, while a great number of ladies were collected round
the pulpit. Over the' clerk's desk' was a large blackboard with a
piece of music scored in chalk. Before it stood a man with a long
stick in his hand, with which he touched every note as it was sung.
I said to myself,'This is noble-a congregational singing-school
on a splendid scale. It was not in vain that Farel and Calvin insisted
on the introduction of psalmody.' I was more and more delighted
as I watched the skilful and efficient manner in which the leader
managed the performance; he did not sing himself, but beat time for
the whole, by occasional directions, by clapping his hands, stamping
his feet, &c., regulated the forte and piano to perfection. When a mistake was made he stopped them and corrected it. Nothing that I ever
read or heard went half so far towards making me believe that a whole
congregation might be taught to sing. Here was the proof auricular
and ocular before me, and as I listened to the majestic swell of that
majestic instrument, the human voice, I asked myself why the paltry
organ above the pulpit was not thrown out of the window. I even
went so far as to premeditate an article for the Presbyterian, lauding
the zeal with which the modern Genevese, from infancy to hoary hair,
apply themselves to psalmody, and calling upon the Christians of America
to follow their example.
"My illusion was dispelled by a young man who sat by me in the
gallery, and politely offered me half of his music-book. This encouraged me to talk; so I asked him whether it was an ordinary thing.
He said,'yes, it took place every week.''It is for the service in the
church?' said I interrogatively.' Oh, non, monsieur,' said he, with a
look of surprise. HIe then proceeded to inform me that about two
months ago a society was formed here for the purpose of learning and
practising the national songs of Switzerland; that the number of meel



AET. 24.]                 SWISS SONGS.                       301
bers was about twelve hundred, and that this was one of their weekly
meetings. Though such an association would, in other circumstances,
have interested me deeply, I was so disappointed on discovering my
mistake, that I felt disposed to slight the whole affair. I might as well
have felt disposed to walk on my head; for in a few minutes they
dispatched their evening's task, and began to sing some airs which they
had previously learned. The words of the songs, the wild pathos of the
melodies, the richness of the harmony, the appearance of the people,
the historical associations, mixed together, formed a compound that
was really intoxicating. What shall I say? I will have the magnanimity to leave it undescribed. One of the choruses sank so deep into
my ears and brains, that I can never forget it; and if ever we meet
again I engage to sing it con amore for your benefit. It is a very good
specimen of the qualities whidh distinguish the Swiss airs, and which I
cannot otherwise describe than by saying that they are expressively
monotonous. This is eminently true of the Ranz des Vaches which
I heard upon Mount Rigi. It kept time precisely with the jingling of
the cowbells, and sounded as if the minstrel had been making variations
to the ding-dong. At the same time it was wild, plaintive, and unearthly.
I believe I am talking about the Ranz des Vaches, though that is not
the subject of my story. The words of the song, or rather chorus,
which I have engaged to sing, were these:' Serrez vos rangs, enfans de
Helvetie! Les oppresseurs ne sauraient les ouvrir. S'il faut tomber
tombons pour la patrie! Pour savoir vivre, il faut savoir mourir.' How
can the poor fellows who have just gone off to Bale sing this on the eve
of battle? How can they talk about oppressors, when their business is
to separate two bands of fighting brethren? Unhappy Switzerland!
God grant her a good deliverance! As you are gifted with a good deal
of musical imagination, I invite you to employ it in composing a tune
or tunes to the above words, which shall be at once monotonous and
expressive, for the purpose of comparing your invention with the real
air (unless you know it already) when we meet again. I have attended
a second meeting of the Societe du Chant National. They did not sing
Serrez vos rangs, but they sang another air, wild and lively even to
enthusiasm,, containing a eulogy on Switzerland.'Ses hautes mon.
tagnes, ses belles campagnes, sont tout notre amour.' This was sung
with amazing spirit; as was another, a solemn fugue, perhaps a dirge, in
which there was a solo by a female voice, alternating with a sepulchral
bass by 150 voices, and terminating in a wild, musical shriek by all
the parts together. This was the last piece, and was followed by a
thunder of applause from the performers themselves, or as a man who




302                      VISITS MERLE.                       [1833.
sat by me explained it,'une explosion patriotique.' I have since
reflected that I was too hasty in abandoning my inchoate argument.
Though this was not a school of psalmody, it is equally relevant and
valid as a proof of possibilities. If twelve hundred respectable Genevese, little boys, old men, young girls, and ladies of a certain age, can
be brought into the harness by a mere feeling of romantic patriotism,
what might not-ought not to be done in the American churches from
a sense of duty, joined with a desire of rich enjoyment. I have used
the phrase'romantic patriotism,' not without design. It is a very
instructive fact, that in England and America the cradle and home of
freedom, political advantages are things of real life, and are never associated with poetical imagery; while in France, the favourite country of
mock freedom, triumphal arches, statues, pictures, music and declama,
tory fustian are the insignia of liberty. And in general throughout the
continent of Europe, men seem to think more of the name of freedom
than of the thing itself. The patriotism that evaporates in song is illadapted to contend with the inharmonious prose of tyranny or rebellion.
The'common sense' of liberty is only known to England and her
offspring-the haughty mother and the alienated child. Are we not
bound to pray for England's welfare? If she should go to destruction,
what a stupendous shipwreck! But there are more than ten in Sodom.
Hfow impressive Wilberforce's funeral must have been! The great ones
did thlemselves more honor than the dead.
" But to conclude the chapter on music, I proceed to state that the
psalmody of the French churches is, to my ear, most monotonous and
insipid. They retain the old recitatives which are bound up at the end
of the French bibles. Perhaps they sing the same airs here as in the
days of Farel.
" I suppose I mentioned, in some former letter, that M. Monod, of
Paris, gave me a line of introduction to Professors Gaussen & Merlet.
On applying at the house of M. G., I understood that he was staying in
the country. M. MI. lives in the Eaux Vives, a suburb of Geneva. * *
h1. Merle d'Aubigne left his card when I was out. Yesterday (August
13th) I called again at M1. Gaussen's, and found that he was just gone
back into the country. I then set out in search of M. Merle's abode,
and after asking directions of two men and two women in succession, I
arrived at his house, which is beautifully situated on the water's edge
in full view of the city, lake, and mountains, and surrounded by some
very pretty grounds. Professor Merle d'Aubign6 is a large, fine-looking
man, between thirty-five and forty, as I guess, perfectly French in his
looks and manners, full of animation, and extremely courteous.




AET. 24.]             LETTER FINISHED.                      303
"When I know anything about Kant and his successors on the
throne, you shall have it I assure you. Meantime I turn to another
subject which is rather more congenial. I am studying the Greek
Testament, with no other commentary than the skies and mountains."
[Part of the letter is torn away here] " * * Alp is quite a useful aid
in understanding scripture. I am chewing upon the second of Matthew
with laborious rumination. My rule as to quantity is, as little as possible. This little I turn upside down till every latent implication has
been shaken out and every meaning brought to light. I ask myself
questions in Greek, and answer them in the words of the evangile.
(This was the mode   -  used at Munich, more than once in conversation). * * The references to the 0. T. strike me with peculiar
force; and the Messiahship of Christ looms very large through the
prophetic spy-glass.
" It is a fact which seems surprising to myself, that Ihave never once
since the 10th of April felt the absence of my books. For once it seems
a pleasure to be bookless. Or rather, I happen to have one which is
an equivalent for all. The sight of the Munich Library made me sick of
books. * * It was oppressive: it was a silent insult to the brevity
of life. The mind cannot be steady amidst half a million magnets.
"' But methinks your patience will be thoroughly exhausted. Forgive whatever seems fantastic, frivolous, or foolish. I affect nothing
which I do not at the moment feel. I am cheerful and yet very
serious. I have reason to be both. I thank you for remembering me
daily before God. He may have seen us, when we could not see each
other, both employed alike. Christianity cares little for localities as such,
and superstition makes too much of them. Yet as the scriptures have
allowed us to associate our Saviour's prayers with the brook Kedron and
the Mount of Olives, why may I not be pleased with the reflection that
I have borne my friends in mind upon the Thames and the Seine, the
Rhine and the Rhone, the Iser and the Danube? Why may I not say
that I have prayed for thee, my brother, under the shadow of the Alps?
Iay we both go from strength to strength, till we appear at last together on Mt. Zion and drink of the water of the river of life which
proceeds from the throne of God! Our way may lie through deep
waters, but they shall not-they shall not overflow us! With the tenderest love to all,
"Yours truly,
"Jos. ADDISON ALEXANDER."




304                        VERSES.                         C1833.
He thought Turin inferior to Munich and Philadelphia.
Even in his travels he must dip into a book now and then.
Here, the book was Botta. He writes:
" I have been reading Botta with great satisfaction; I finished the
first book to-day. It is a singular fact that I should read the Stamp
Act for the first time in this howling wilderness (Pace tua Augusta
Taurinorum! ). I do not admire Italian. It is very feeble and mawkish; though, no doubt, good for music. How far below Latin! I begin
to like Latin again."
The following record is pleasing:
"The verse which I have been studying to-day is Matthew ii. 10:
am astonished at the' new light' which shines from the lamp of life.
Perhaps it looks brighter in consequence of the surrounding darkness.
Since I wrote the last sentence I opened the Greek Testament and saw
these words: —'"O'XeTE Kparj-rarle a pLS ov av - co.' I must try to hold
my little light fast. What a superlative language Greek is! Since I
began it anew in the spring of 1829, and read the Cyropaedia and Anabasis through without stopping, I have regarded it as the first of earthly tongues.
"Soft and gentle is thy hand,
Shepherd of the chosen flock;
On the ocean, on the strand,
On the mountain and the rock.
Wandering in a foreign land
In perils oft, in sadness much,
I have felt it to be such,
I, I have known its soothing touch.
(Caetera desunt.)"
hIere are more of his Italian verses, composed at Turin:
When with aching head and heart,
I have laid me down to rest,
Melancholy's poison dart
Deeply planted in my breast:
A voice has bid the fiend depart;
A hand-what h and I need not say,
Has sought my anguish to allay,
And gently plucked that dart away.




AET. 24.]            WRITTEN AT TURIN.                     305
Sometimes nature seems a waste;
And to my deluded eyes
All signs of beauty are effaced,
From the ocean, earth, and skies;
While I seem miserably placed,
Like one upon a sea-washed deck,
An undistinguishable speck
Amidst the universal wreck.
But when that gentle hand is laid
Upon my eyes to give them sight,
The world at once appears arrayed
In living robes of liquid light;
As if my sadness to upbraid:
Rebuked, amazed, delighted, awed,
On land and sea I look abroad
And bless the handiwork of God.
Oft when I have wandered long,
Led by some deceitful star,
And pause for fear of going wrong;
Suddenly I hear afar,
The echo of the shepherd's song:
The welcome and familiar sound
Turns my bewildered feet around,
And guides them to the pasture ground.
And now at length before me lies
A valley dark and unexplored;
But through the gloom my soul descries
The stately steppings of her Lord;
I hasten on in glad surprise;
Let life recede; let death draw near.
I cannot, will not, dare not fear,
Hip rod and staff are with me here!
The thought that he was nearing Rome seems to have
proved inspiring to him; or perhaps it was only the unwonted
cup of coffee. After conning over the stanzas given above,
he says:




306                        POEM.                         [1853.
" I then proceeded to compose the following, on a theme which I
selected before leaving home, viz:
"Be still and know that I am God."
As this has been thought one of his noblest productions in
metre, I make no scruple to give it without abridgment.  For
solemn grandeur of meaning, and for nervous diction and
sonorous music he has perhaps not written anything that
exceeds it,
I.
When fortune smiles and friends abound;
When all thy fondest hopes are crowned;
When earth with her exhaustless store,
Seems still intent to give thee more;
When every wind and every tide
Contribute to exalt thy pride;
When all the elements conspire
To feed thy covetous desire;
When foes submit and envy stands
Pale and abashed with folded hands;
While fame's unnumbered tongues prolong
The swell of thy triumphal song;
When crowds admire and worlds applaud
"' Be still and know that I am God."
II.
When crowns are sported with and thrones
Are rocked to their foundation stones;
When nations tremble and the earth
Seems big with some portentous birth;
When all the ties of social life
Are severed by intestine strife;
When human blood begins to drip
From tyranny's accursed whip;
When peace and order find their graves
In anarclly's tempestuous waves;
When every individual hand
Is steeped in crime, and every land
Is full of violence and fraud;
"Be still and know that I am God."




aET. 24.                    POEM.                          307
III.
When to the havoc man has made
The elements afford their aid;
When nature sickens, and disease
Rides on the wine of every breeze;
When the tornado in its flight
Blows the alarm and calls to fight;
When raging Fever leads the van,
In the fierce onset upon man;
When livid Plague and pale Decline
And bloated Dropsy, form the line;
While hideous Madness, shivering Fear
And grim Despair, bring up the rear;
When these thy judgments are abroad:
"Be still and know that I am God."
IV.
When messages of grace are sent,
And mercy calls thee to repent;
When through a cloud of doubts and fears
The Sun of Righteousness appears;
When thy reluctant heart delays
To leave it's old accustomed ways;
When pride excites a storm within,
And pleads and fights for every sin;
Be still, and let this tumult cease;
Say to thy raging passions, " Peace! "
By love subdued, by judgment awed:
"' Be still and know that I am God."
"I began another poem in the night which I did not finish. Le
voici I
I.
When by strong love and sorrow led,
The women hasten to appear
Where their departed Master's head
Was laid upon its rocky bier,
Desiring there once more to shed
The sweet, but sweetly bitter tear;
The joyful words which met their ear,
Though by the lips of angels said,




308               TRAVELLING  COMPANIONS.                 183.
Like idle tales to them appear:
"He is arisen from the deadHe is not here! "
II.
Yet when they saw the cold, hard bed,
For his sake to their bosoms dear;
And saw their Master's body fled,
And the cast grave-clothes lying near;
They in their turn to others said,
With mingled wonder, joy, and fear:
"He has arisen from the deadHe is not here  "
This is without doubt the sweetest and most delicate of all
his scriptural paraphrases.
On the way from Florence he had an adventure with an
old priest, a young Franciscan friar, and some seculars, the
account of which is very entertaining.
"After I had waited an hour or two the vettura came to the door
and I got in. On the back seat there was an elegant old gentleman, in
ecclesiastical costume, with a red ribbon round his hat. I asked him
whether he spoke French. He answered, in Italian, that he had never
practised it. On the seat opposite to him there was a huge pile of
bundles, bags, &c. He laughed and said he had taken two places, one
for himself and one for his things. We drove along the street called
Porta Rossa; and stopped before a coffee-house, where a boy got in
about fifteen years of age, dressed in velvet, which is very common here
among the lower orders. We stopped again before a church, where a
young Franciscan friar joined us and a young priest. The latter sat
inside with the old priest and me. The Franciscan and the boy sat in
the cabriolet. We did not get away till after 12 o'clock. I found,
from the conversation in the coach, that the young priest was in some
way dependant on the old one, whom he treated with obsequious
servility. His name was Paidre Luigi (Father Louis). The Franciscan's name was Padre Leonardo, and the boy's Bartolomeo Novara.
The old man was called'Monsignore' by the others, so that I did not
learn his name. The boy was going to a convent in Rome to try
whether he would like to be a Franciscan. He was from Genoa, Padre




AET. 24]                  JOURNEY.                         309
Leonardo from Port Maurice in Piedmont, Padre Luigi from Pistoja,
and Monsign6re from Siena. We stopped for the night at Poggibousi.
The old Priest and I had rooms to ourselves, the other three'had one
between them.' We all supped together. The two seculars were very
polite to me-the young one officiously so. The old one was truly
kind and fatherly. I am  very certain that no Italian travelling in
America, would have met with such treatment from any two Protestant ministers. The Franciscan was civil but unpolished. The little
Genoese had all the native grace of an Italian peasant, with a great
deal of intelligence, modesty, and wit. The language was like music
in his mouth. The Pistoian spoke in a very affected manner and pronounced c hard like k; e soft, like sh; cucino he pronounced kuslheno."
Wednesday, Sept. 4.-They were called at an early hour and proceeded on their'journey. The ecclesiastics spent a large part of the
time over their breviaries. Their manner of praying, however, was a
little odd. In the course of the morning they passed through Siena,
and stopped before a book-store while the old priest bought a poem
lately published. All of us read it. It was a satirical performance,
lashing the priests among others. The old man made great sport of
the Franciscan during the ride to-day, asking him curious questions and
laughing about the idleness and voracity of the monks. He also talked
a great deall to Bartolomeo, in a humorous way, about his turning
friar. His object seemed to be to disgust him with the project, and I
therefore liked his raillery very well, though it was rather unmerciful
to the poor Francsican, who bore it with great patience and good
humor. He seemed to be an honest, sincere, ignorant man. Pddre
Luigi was a prim, affected, sly, hypocritical sort of a body. His business seemed to be to echo every thing Monsign6re said, by adding,
"vero,-veramente-sicfira-va bene-si-si-gidi-giSi."  We stopped at noon
to breakfast at a village inn. The old gentleman took great pains to
ascertain what I would like, and ordered it for me. When it came
upon the table, neither he nor the rest would touch it; and I found
that they were fasting, for they ate nothing but milk broth. At night
they were more complaisant, for when we stopped at San Quirico, a
village of Tuscany, they ate meat very heartily for supper. A large
fine-looking priest came in while we were at the table, to pay his respects to Monsign6re. The latter, who took all the carving to himself,
being unable to divide a chicken, made the other priest, who was
sitting near, perform the operation.
Thursday, Sept. 5.-They were up and off betimes again. At Radi.




310                     ON TO ROME.                        [1833.
cofani, the last town of Tuscany, their passports were signed. "The
officer was very polite and inquisitive. At an inn, some distance further, we stopped to breakfast. I ate a thrush, (tord6lla), Pddre Leonardo and Bartolomeo ate another, which the old man paid for. He
himself ate nothing but soup, and Padre Luigi, of course, did likewise.
The vettfirino told me that my goods would have to be examined on
entering the Papal territories, and that it -would be useless to fee the
officers because they would examine none the less. He also told me
that the old priest besides his trunk and chests outside, and his pile of
bundles inside, had the boxes under the seats full of things which (the man
said) he was taking to Rome to sell. None of these, however, could be
touched, because he had a lascidte passare from the Roman government,
which is a very hard thing to procure; and sure enough, when we crossed
the line and reached the custom-house, the old gentleman produced a paper, seeing which the officer backed out. The vettdrino now came
round and told me that if I would give something to the fellow, he
thought I might escape too, under the old man's wing. I accordingly
inserted 20 cents into the hands of the illustrious officer, who bowed,
and we drove off. This was a happy riddance, for I dreaded the inspection very much, having heard that in Romagna they are very troublesome and captious in such cases. The old gentleman chuckled very
merrily over the affair, and seemed to enjoy my escape as much as his
own. The first considerable town that we passed through after crossing
the line was Aquapendente; where my passport was sealed and I was
charged one paul, i. e. 10 cents precisely. The old gentleman, besides
continuing his gibes at the Franciscan, played a practical trick upon
him toward the end of our day's journey, which was very amusing, but
I must not tell it here. At supper he talked about the British and Foreign Bible Society, and informed me that he had been in England, at
the time when the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia were
there. He and the other priests talked about celibacy and scholastic
theology. Bartolomeo was a favorite with us all. I became, indceed,
very much interested in him, though we could not talk together. His
speech was more musical than any that I have heard in Italy. The old
man called him Fra Bartolomeo, and sometimes Padre Bartolomeo.
His reverence seemed to know all the tavern-keepers and servants intimately. Last night and to-night, at supper, the landlady came in to
kiss his hand. The one last night brought her daughter Amabile in,
and made her say' Baton appetito, Signori.' I feel much obliged to
the old gentleman for his kindness and real politeness to me; and, in
return for it, I hereby certify that he is the handsomest old man that I




iT. 24]                   VIA CASSIA.                       311
ever saw. His face, which is truly Roman, would grace an antique
medal; his hair is white, and his countenance one that indicates a long
life of temperance and health. His complexion, strange to say, is very
fair, and his skin smooth as a girl's. He wears a blue frock coat, black
breeches and gaiters, and a looped hat of peculiar form with a red ribbon round it.
lFriday, Sept. 6. It rained tremendously during the day with occasional intervals of sunshine. I like this, because it tends to abate the
heat and purify the air, and when it does rain I would rather be in a
carriage than a tavern. Our vettfira, however, began at length to leak;
and on arriving at Viterbo, Monsign6re found a package of sugar which
was under our bench, fairly soaked. He laughed very heartily and
spoke of it twice, as a good joke. His equanimity seemed really imperturable. At Viterbo he told the waiter that I would probably like
some meat, but that they would take boiled eggs, as it was Friday. I
ate a mutton chop at the same table. We arrived at night at Ronsiglione amidst a pouring rain and found the tavern nearly full. I got a
room to myself, however, as did the old man. This has been the case
throughout the journey. As the waiter was making my bed, I asked
him whether he knew the old priest-' Oh, yes,' said he,'he is a
bishop.''A  bishop!' said I,'bishop of what?''Of some little
town,' said he,'near Rome.' So, I have been travelling with a bishop
all this time! Ecco! "
On Saturday, Sept. 7, the American traveller began to perceive a
change in the face of the country. First, the corn-fields disappeared,
then the vineyards, then the trees, then the bushes, till at length the
motley party in the coach was surrounded by a scene of desolation.
No houses, no enclosures, no cultivation, no people for miles together.
"' We were now in the blightedregions of the lfailria. There was a
strong smell of sulphur during some parts of the journey, proceeding
from stagnant pools. It was like passing through'the vale of Siddim.
Milestones began to make their appearance, and at length we came to
one on which was written VIA CASSIA. I began to think of Viri
Romae, and grew sentimental. The solemn dreariness of the surrounding scenery strengthened the impression. Nor was it diminished when
the bishop opened the window on his side and pointing to a weather
beaten altar of gray stone, said-" Behold the tomb of Nero!" (Ecco il
sepolelro di Neronec). After a while, vines again made their appearance, and the road began to be skirted by elms. We ascended an eminence and saw a town. " Roma!" said the bishop. He pulled me toward the window " Ecco il du6mo di San Pietro!"  It did not strike




312                THOUGHTS OF HOME.                     [1833
me as very grand, and I was surprised to see it at one end of the town
instead of being in the centre. We crossed the Tiber on the POns Milvius. A scum of filth was floating on its surface. The colour of the
water is a dirty yellow. We entered Rome about five o'clock, through
the magnificent Pbrta del Popolo. I again escaped the custom-house
by means of the kind, though unscrupulous old bishop; and thus I have
got to Rome without having my trunk opened, a thing which rarely occurs to travellers in the public conveyances. I should, no doubt, have
lost some of my books, as Frazer did. We drove to the'Hotel del
l'Europa, in the Piazza di Spagna, where I took up my abode. The
bishop and priest shook hands with me very cordially, and the old man
thanked me for my company. I had not Italian enough to thank him
as I wished, but he understood my looks. He showed me to-day a
copy of the British and Foreign Society's Italian bible which he bought
in Florence. I wish that instead of selling it he would read it himself,
and, Oh, that it might convert him! And why not?'The Law of
the Lord is perfect converting the soul.'"
In the coach he composed some very striking and suggestive blank verse. I give the lines exactly as he wrote them:*
The wheels ran smoothly on the Italian road, and all within was silent. Stiffly braced
or carelessly relaxed, each traveller sat, and as he
sat he slept. All slept save one, whose thoughts
were wandering far beyond the seas in sweet
yet bitter musing. For a time the ocean dwindled
to a drop; and home-his father's fire-side, and his
mother's form-were with him in his exile.
Even there he felt himself at home; and well he
might. For the resplendent m:oon, which he
had seen go down behind the Alps, was his
own moon, the moon which he had loved
in foolish childhood; and the few bright
stars that still kept watch were
his familiar friends. The busy sprite who
had bewitched his eyes, now made his
ears to tingle. Parting words, adieus, and
benedictions crowded back like ghosts
but not to scare him. And with these
mingled the lasts sounds which had




2T. 24J              THOUGHTS OF HOME.                       313
met his ear as he forsook his country;
first the hum of streets and markets, then
the busy stir and bustle of the'port and last
the voice of the impatient ocean, as he
chafed against the New World. For the
wanderer loved that wild mysterious
music, in its swell and in its dying fall. To
him it seemed as if the strings of nature
had been swept by an almighty hand
and forced to give their diapason forth.
These were his thoughts in days long past;
and now that he recalled those days, those
thoughts returned; and with them came that
*    *    *    *    the sound itself, that
old familiar sound. The coach stopped; and
Italy was forgotten and he seemed to stand once more upon
his native beach. The coach stopped and the thought
that he was still a stranger in a strange land, all
at once entered his soul like iron. The coach went
on; and still that sound,   *    *    followed
*    hard after. Weary of a dream
which, like the drunkard's solace, only
soothed in order to torment; he rubbed his
eyes and strove to be awake. But still the voice
of Earth and Ocean meeting filled his ears. He
is awake and every other sense performs its
office.
office     *  *          *      *      *       *
*    *    Thanks be to God, our senses are
contrived to disabuse each other; and as
oft the ear reproves the eye, so now at
last, the stranger called his eyesight to
his aid; and looking forth saw what? Italian vines, hung in festoons between
the trees; or spread as a green curtain
over frames like that which Moses reared
at IHoreb   *    *    *    forming cool
delicious arbours hung with clustering - s
of gold and purple grapes. The scene was void
* Almost all the verses which he wrote while trav.lling are written like
prose. Milton has written verses in the same way.
14




314                     LEAVE ROME.                         lss88.
of foliage and of fruit; but in its barrenness
there was a charm for him who now
surveyed it.'Twas the sea. Not a Swiss
lake or fish-pond, but a sea, with its
blue convex surface reaching up to the
well marked horizon. Not a lake nor yet
the mighty ocean in its wild immensity of compass; but a sea, whose waves
have language. and whose ragged coast from
every inlet and projecting point sends
back the echo of a thousand years. These
are the land-locked waters upon which
the old Phenician crept along the
coast with coward daring-these the
waves, on which Carthaginian
learned to conquer and be conquered.
It was here that the first plash of
Roman oars was heard, e'er yet Duillius
had become a god  *    *  and reared
his mortal column.*
Composed in the coach between Viterbo and Rome, Sept.
7, 1833."
On Tuesday, Sept. 24, they were called by the servant at 3 o'clock
in the morning. The sunrise was beautiful, but they were soon enveloped in fog. They crossed the Po on a pont volant and entered
the Austrian dominions.
Their baggage was examined at the custom-house near the river,
and Dr. McDonnell, an English-speaking companion, had to leave a
trunk behind him. In the course of the day, the fog subsided and they
had delightful weather. They breakfasted at Rorego, and dined at Padua. I now quote again: "'The road from Padua to the sea-side is
delightful. It is one long street skirted with gardens, parks, neat and
sometimes splendid houses. The moon rose clear and the night was
most superb. At Fusina we left the diligence and got into a boat. We
stopped at a military station in the midst of the water to show our
passports. Our first view of Venice was rendered more impressive by, An allusion tp the columne nostrata. See Cicero Pro Cu. 25. Oxon. p.
455 and De Senect, 13, planc. 455.




AT. 24.1      NEW  CHAIR IN THE COLLEGE.                 315
the magnificent moonlight. We entered the grand canal and passed under
the Rialto. We landed at the diligence office and exchanged our passports for tickets. The Germans went to a German inn. The priest,
Dr. McDonnell and I went in the same boat to the Hotel de l'Europe,
but did not land, as it was full. We then went to the Hotel de Grand
Bretagne, where we found two vacant rooms-one with two beds, the
other with one. The priest took the latter, and we were obliged to be
contented with the former. It is a very handsome one, with a large
closet and a recess for the beds. The floor is of marble. The adjoining room is a dining-hall of magnificent dimensions. The house appears to have been once a palace. I saw on a card to-day, which was
attached to one of my companion's trunks, his address thus given:'Rev. Dr. MacDonnell, Bagot street, Dublin.' "
I interrupt the journal for a moment to look at an event at
home which was deeply interesting to the young traveller.
On Thursday, the 26th of September, the Rev. James W.
Alexander, who was at this time residing in Philadelphia, and
editing the Presbyterian and Biblical Repertory, went for a
few days to Princeton, where he was met and informed that
he was elected to the new chair in Princeton College, of
Belles Lettres. He found all comfortably well on his return
home the next Monday.  I copy the following from a detached
slip marked " Private  Journal," of date of October 1st.
It is in the hand writing of the elder brother, and evidently
refers to the event announced above.  " I have never had an appointment which fell in more with my feelings. During some
days since I had the first inkling of it. I have prayed that the
Lord would not suffer me to be called unless it were right
that I should go. To-day I have been in some pain, but blessed
be God I had choice mercies."  On the third he records the
arrival of good news from home; " also a letter full of happiness from my dear brother, J. A. A., Geneva, August 1st. The
Lord be with thee, my brother! "
The goal of the absent Professor was now attained, and
he was soon to become familiar with the daily life of a Germarn
TUniversity.  His first impression of Halle was not prepossess,
Ing.




316                       THOLUCK.                          1:s33.
"' Thursday, Oct. 23. —Here, as elsewhere, my first proceeding has
been to walk about the town by myself, and get a general notion of it.
This I was the rather disposed to do because I may possibly spend the
winter here. I am inclined to think not, however, for a dirtier, meaner, and more dismal town could scarcely have been selected for the
seat of a University. I saw but one fine house, and on that was inscribed'Frankens Stiptinger.' There are a great many idle children
playing in the streets. I was assured at Leipzig that the lectures were
going on here; but I find, to mny great disappointment, that they are
not to commence for a fortnight.
" Friday, Oct. 24. —After breakfast I went with a servant to Dr.
Tholuck's. The woman of the house seemed as much rejoiced to hear
that I was an American as if she had been one herself. I waited in a
little side room till the Professor entered and read Mr. Hodge's letter.
He thinks I ought to spend more time at Berlin than at Halle; but
that Halle should come first. He informed me that there are two
Americans here-theological students-a Mr. IIaverstick, of Philadelphia, who has been here a year; and Professor Sears, a Baptist, who
came a few weeks since. Dr. Tholuck sent his maid to show me Mr.
Sears's house. The woman there seemed likewise overjoyed to see an
American. Mr. S. was not in, but she told me to come at precisely
12. I did so but he was still out. I called again at 3, and found him
with a lieutenant who speaks English. After the latter had gone Mr.
Haverstick arrived. At 5 they went with me to Tholuck's door, as I
had promised to walk with him. We took a long walk out of the
town. He talked about the moon, about German wildness, about
Rome, about Mir. Hodge, about England, about Lee, about Mr. Mdjller
of South Carolina, about Professor Stuart, about hlis own book on the
Bergpredigt, and another which he is writing. We returned to his
door about 6 o'clock. Mr. Sears was to have been there to meet me.
As we did not see him Tholuck went with me to his house. He was
not there, but we met him in an open space behind the library, where
he and Tholuck walked up and down talking about the studies which
Sears ought to pursue. Tholuck invited me to dine with him to-morrow at 1 o'clock. I drank tea with Professor Sears and talked with
him till 9 o'clock, when he walked home with me to the hotel. I am
almost persuaded to take up my abode here and stay till I am tired.
"Friday, Oct. 25.-At 1 o'clock I went to dine at Dr. Tholuck's.
His sister, his niece, a young man, and a little boy were at tho table.
He talked about the Christian Advocate, Hegel, Schelling, presbyterianism, monarchy, the crown-prince, and the ObertollhausiiberscItappungs



JET. 241]               VON GERLACH.                       317
narrenschiffe. HIe showed me Bagster's edition of the New Testament (Hebrew). I told him about the man who borrowed WValker's
Dictionary to read. He laughed excessively and translated it to the
youth. I then returned to the hotel and soon received a visit from
Messrs. Sears and Haverstick. They were going to see Dr. Ridiger
about studying Hebrew with him. On their return they took me with
them to Mr. Sears's lodging-house where I think of taking roomns.
They offer me a parlour and bed-room, now occupied by a captain, for
five and a half Prussian dollars a mouth. The captain, however, does
not move till November. Until that time I am to have another pair
of rooms almost or quite as good. Mr. Haverstick left us, and Mr.
Sears went with me to Herr von Gerlach's but found that he and his
family had gone out walking. I returned with him to his room and
drank tea with him again. Just as we began, Herr von Gerlack's servant came to say that ile would be glad to see us. We went at 7, and
saw the Herr, the frau, and her mother and two sisters. We drank
tea and ate some nameless thing like hominy with vinegar in it. We
also had some wine. A Judge of some sort came in to take leave before going to Berlin.  Herr von Gerlach talked magnificently about
slavery, royalty and other matters.
" Saturday, Oct. 26.-After breakfast I paid my bill and caused the
porter to transport my baggage from the Crown Prince to No. 81
Grosse Ulrichsstrasse where I took possession of my stube and my kammer. The former contains portraits of Zwingle, Melanethon, two other
pictures and a funny little clock. Mr. Sears and I dined together in
his room at 12 o'clock. In the afternoon I read Hengstenberg's article
on the Sabbath, and looked over Tholuck's commentary on the Bergpredigt. At half past four we walked in the environs of the town.
We then returned and drank tea.
" Sunday, Oct. 27.-In the course of the morning Professor Tholuck
sent a note requesting me to walk with him at 11. (It was signed'Dr. A. Thk.') At 9 Mr. Haverstick called and we went with him
to the Marktkirche, where we heard old Mr. Fulda preach an election
sermon, and read a long list of deaths, births and intended marriages.
At 11 we went to Tholuck's and walked with him. (We all three
jumped over a fence).*  He took us into his house on our return to
lend Mr. Sears a Hebrew bible and me a Hebrew grammar. At 2
o'clock Mr. iaverstick called again and took us to the Ulrichskirche,
where we heard an orthodox sermon from a youth on Phil. iv. 4. At 4
" See page 321.




318              DAILY LIFE IN  GERMANY.                  [s183.
o'clock 3Mr. Sears and I went to drink coffee with Mr. HIaverstick in
real' student style.' He made the coffee himself and told us that his
expenses are not more than 75 cents a week. He showed us some of
his hefts and told us a ghost-story. We talked about German philosophy and animal magnetism.
"Monday, Oct. 28.-At 11 o'clock Mr. Sears and I went out. At a
corner we met with Mr. Calman, a teacher of English here, who showed
me where to buy gloves, and put a piece of court-plaster on my fice
where I cut it in shaving, and borrowed Tennemann's smaller History
of Philosophy. This latter I read during the afternoon. Before dinner, Baron Welzien called to invite us to drink tea with him. After 6
we went accordingly and found there Mr. Haverstick and Mr. Beutschel, an old gentleman born at Halle, who has been absent forty years,
eighteen of which have been spent in Philadelphia, where he now resides. He returns very soon. After tea we ate apples. A soldier
came with a paper to the lieutenant and was sent back for his musket.
" Tuesday, Oct. 29.-I finished Tennemann's Hist. of Germ. Philos.
After dinner, ]Mr. Sears and I took a walk returning by the Waisenhaus. I bought a quire of letter paper and a list of the lectures. I
drank tea alone. Mr. Sears went to Director Schulze's. I was invited
too, through Mr. Calman, who sat with me some time this afternoon.
" Thursday, Oct. 31.-I read DeWette's Introduction nearly all day.
Before dinner Mr. S. and I took a walk to' Liidwig's etcetera.' On
our way home we hired the Conversations Lexicon, and I put a letter
into the Postoffice. At 5 o'clock Mr. Haverstick, Mr. Sears and I
walked with Herr Professor Dr. Tholuck agreeably to an appointment
which he made last night.
" Friday, Nov. 1. —Mr. Sears and I went to several bookstores to inquire for Hupffeld's Dissertation, Ewald's Arabic grammar, and Bopp's
Sanscrit do. Mr. von Gerlach's servant came to invite us to drink tea
there. We went an hour too soon. Tholuck called soon after but
stayed not long. Then came IHaverstick. Mr. von Gerlach talked
a',),ut church and state.
" Saturday, Nov. 2.-I read Hebrew and Greek, and De Wette's Introductio:. Mr. von Gerlach sent two volumes of the Ev. Kirch.Zeitung. In the afternoon Mr. Beutschel called for Mr. Sears's letters..
Afterwards Mr. Haverstick called and told us that Prof. Meekel was to
be buried at 7 with a Fackelzug. We went to see it but saw it not.
"Sunday, Nov. 3.-In the morning we went to the Domkirche and
heard Prof. Blanc on the first part of John xv. He reminded me of
Dr. Carnahan. There were many soldiers present. In the afternoon




AT. 24.]             PROFESSOR POTT.                     319
we went to the Ulrichskirche and heard Candidat Valentin preach on
the words,' Ie that cometh to me,' &c.
"Monday, Nov 4.-At 10 o'clock Mr. Haverstick called and we all
went to a room in the Gross Berlin and heard Tholuck lecture on'Moral.' Our dinner came too late, so that we had to lock it up and
hurry off to the Waage, where we heard Tholuck lecture on Galatians.
We then went to see Professor Pott and inquire about his Sanscrit
lectures, which do not begin till next Monday.
" Wednesday, Nov. 6.-I have heard Tholuck lecture thrice to-day.
Hie invited us to drink tea with him Friday evening. I have been reading Numbers, Judges, Isaiah and Ecclesiastes in Hebrew; Matthew,
1 Corinthians, Acts and Revelation in Greek; DeWette's Introduction,
Ewald's Grammar and Botta's America.
" Thursday, Nov. 7.-I heard Tholuck twice, and went to hear him a
third time; but there was no light nor fire, and he postponed it until
Monday.
" Friday, Nov. 8.-I heard Tholuck lecture twice. At night Mr. Sears
and I went to his house and drank tea. Mr. Miller and Mr. Stier of
Frankleben were present. He lent Mr. Sears a bundle of Anzeigers
and me a hook on Sin and Atonement.
" Saturday, Nov. 9. —We heard Rodiger lecture on Hebrew syntax.
I went to the police-office for an aufenthaltskarte, but did not get it.
Dr. Friedlunder and Mr. Fulda were in Mr. Sears's room. Some Jews
took possession of the room opposite to mine.
" Sunday, Nov. 10.-Luther's birthday (350 years old.) Tholuck
preached in the Ulrichskirche to a great congregation.' Ein feste burgist unser Gott'-was sung with a posaunenspiel. Mr. Sears was invited to dine to-day at Director Schulze's, but declined because it was
the Sabbath. We walked with Tholuck in the afternoon. The quarterly fair has begun to-day.
"Monday, Nov. 11.-We attended Tholuck's lecture on ethics at 10.
At 2 we went to hear Dr. Fuch, but the room was not open. At 4
we went to hear Dr. Pott, but he had begun before we got there.
"Tuesday, Nov. 12.-I have heard four lectures to-day; two by
Tholuck; one by Fuch, on Genesis, and one by Pott, on Sanscrit.
Tholuck had above a hundred hearers; Fuch, fifteen, and Pott four.
Mr. Haverstick brought me a petition to the magistrates, for an aufenthaltskarte which Candidat Fulda had written for me. This I signed
and delivered to the passport-shop keeper. Mr. Sears and I walked
through the fair. Our landlady went oiut to buy me some stockings,
and Mr. Sears some cake. I did not like the stockings, and the land



320        CONTRIBUTION OF PROFESSOR SEARS.                [1833.
lady's mother is to knit me some. We have joined a circle of newspaper readers and received two papers to-day.
"Wednesday, Nov. 13.-At 10, I heard Tholuck lecture on ethics.
At 12, we dined on hare and apple-sauce. At 10, I heard Tholuck lecture on Galatians. At 11, Mr. Sears and I called again on Prof. Pott.
At 3, we went to see Lieut. Welzien. At 5, we heard Tholuck lecture
(for the third time) on the Psalms.
"Thursday, Nov. 14.-At 10 and 1, we heard Tholuck lecture. At
2, Mr. Haverstick went with me to the Orphanhouse, where I ordered
some books. In the afternoon Mr. von Gerlach came to see us, in consequence of which, we did not hear Dr. Pott's lecture. He invited us
to his house this evening; but we both had colds.
" Friday, Nov. 15.-I have heard four lectures to-day; two by Tholuck, on Galatians and Psalms; and two by Wegschneider, on I Corinthians and Dogmatik. For dinner to-day they sent us raw ham, gruel,
and some stuff like salve. I received a written summons to appear before the magistrates.
"Saturday, Nev. 16. Ml. Sears and I went to the Waege after breakfast and heard Wegscheider lecture one hour, on 1 Corinthians, and
another on the epistle of James-the latter in Latin. At 11, I went to
the police-office and was questioned by the magistrate with respect to
my profession, residence, and motives for stopping here. At 1, I heard
Tholuck on Galatians."
Among the Americans he fell in with, was a young protessor who was destined to high distinction in his own country,
as the President of one of the colleges of the United States.
This was Prof. Barnas Sears, afterwards the Rev. Dr. Sears of
Brown University, and at present the respected Manager of
the Peabody Fund in the South.  The two young scholars at
once became intimate, and long after these days Mr. Alexander delighted to refer to his intercourse in Europe with " Professor Sears." It gives me pleasure to present to the reader the
following letter from Dr. Sears:
" In December, I think, of 1833, when I was residing in Halle, Germany, I was joined by Prof. J. Addison Alexander on his return from
Italy. We lived in the same house, not only as Americans in Germany
-a thling not very common in those days-but as ardent young men ot
kindred pursuits. We became as intimate as brothers. We were young




.ET. 24.]           WALK  WITH  THOLUCK.                    321
professors who had taken a similar course of literary and theological
studies, though under different auspices. What a range of intensely
interesting topics was before us when we began to compare notes!
Our college studies, the gaps of which we had just discovered, and
were enthusiastically endeavouring to fill up; the value of classical
studies, which we both defended against the attacks of Grimke and
others; New England men, institutions, theology, literature, dictionaries, compared with those of a more Southern latitude, on which we
agreed tolerably well, even theology and dictionaries not excepted;
American and European scholarship; the relative position of England,
France, and Germany in this respect; the different German schools of
philology, philosophy, and theology; the men who represented them;
Hebrew, Oriental, and Sanscrit literature. These and other kindred
topics were discussed as earnestly as Reconstruction is now. What a
chasm these thirty-five years have made! It is as if an age intervened
between then and now. The first thing that struck me in my new
friend was his somewhat voluble bookish German. MAy German was
meagre but conversational; his was copious, but labored, being man.
ufactured on the spot from the grammar and dictionary. Our German
fiiends must have enjoyed the two specimens. I had been in Ger-:many three months and he three weeks. I soon learned two traits in
his character: a constant overflow (in private) of humour and drollery,
and a shyness in respect to going into ladies' company. Once we were
taking a long evening walk to Giebehenstein with Dr. Tholuck. The
Doctor was small of stature, of imperfect sight, and timid and nervous
as a woman. We came to a very high fence, running from a steep
rock a few feet to the river.  There was no getting round it;
and it was already dark. We hoisted him up to the very top
of the fence.*  Prof. Alexander being also short, stood on tiptoe
and tried to balance him; while I the taller one, was to spring over
the fence and catch the Doctor before he should fall. It was too
much for my American friend. The idea that we had' such a body
of evangelical divinity' in our keeping, and that, for a moment, it was
so ludicrously poised in the air, made him almost burst with poorly
suppressed laughter; and for a long time he would recur to that scene,
making it appear like one in Gil Blas. We lived in Grosser-UlrichsShasse, where the crowds passed when they poured out in going to
the Pavilions. I shall never forget the fund of innocent humor with
which he would stand at the window and make his comments upon
* See page 317.




322                       ANECDOTES.                        [1833.
individuals as they passed. It was a playful attempt to see how many
amusing, yet pertinent, things he could say, without a moment's reflection, about hundreds of individuals) the moment they passed. I remember that when his store of wit seemed to be nearly exhausted, he
said of the next one,'there, that one ought to be spoken to,' and
finally closed with a broad laugh, as he said the last thing he could
think of,' that one ought to be sltpped!' We attended Prof. Pott's
lectures on Sanscrit literature. The founder of that school of Philology,
F. Bopp, was Prof. Pott's teacher. Mr. Alexander said, with his usual
air of drollery,'if the Prof. ever has a son, he ought to name him
Bopp; we should then have Bopp Pott!' I should not have mentioned these little incidents but for the impression that many have that
he was a sort of recluse who did not know how to unbend. Ludwig
von Gerlach, since then at the head of the judiciary of Prussia-a nobleman of high rank, was an intimate friend of Tholuck's and was consequently our friend. Wishing to show us a special favour, he invited
us to witness his family celebration of Christmas, which was to be
magnificent for the splendor of the gifts bestowed upon the different
members of the family, the two strangers not being forgotten. But
there were two or three female Vons included in the arrangement; and
not all that I could say could induce our inveterate bachelor to attend.
This same von Gerlach was a devout monarchist, and looked with a
superstitious veneration upon persons of royal birth. Hearing Mr.
Alexander say that he had been presented to the young princess Victoria, then heiress to the throne, he listened with eagerness to the recital of the visit, and when the interest of the scene wals at its height,
and von Gerlach could resist his curiosity no longer, he broke out and
said,'and how did she appear?' The roguish reply was,'rather
silly!' The effect designed was complete. We heard no more about
- kings, and queens, and princes. Such instances of correcting an extravagant- opinion were not uncommon with him.
" Professor Friedlainder of ialle, was a great antiquary and lover of
art. We were invited to tea at his bachelor's hall. So far everything
was to my friend's taste; and we had a delightful social titne. In the
course of the evening, the Professor began on the antiquities of Rome,
and had many questions to put on the subject. Whether from indifference or mere roguery we could scarcely tell, our young traveller
remarked with great gravity that there was little to be seen in Rome'but priests and beggars.'' What a young man' said Freidlin.der,'to
go to Rome and coms back with such a story!' That sort of running
fireO was kept on both sides for a good half hour.




ET. 24.]    THOLUCK'S ESTIMATE  OF ALEXANDER.               323
" He made everything subservient to his studies. It was his custom
when he went from one country to another, to go to a restaurant and
there make a beginning in the use of the language, by calling for everything at hap-hazard that was on the bill of fare, and when it came in
he would know what it was. But he told us he once got caught in
that way. One morning at Rome, he gave one of those chance orders, and what should be brought him but a huge crab; which he paid
for without eating.
"He was much amused at the custom  among the Germans, of
men kissing each other at meeting or parting. Pastor Stier, author of' The Words of Jesus,' and other works on the New Testament, called
on Tholuck while we were visiting him. They embraced each other,
putting their hands around each other's necks, looking each other
silently in the face, then kissing one cheek, and after a long pause kissing
the other, till at length the good pastor broke out'Herr Jesus! how
long it is since I have seen you!' Tholuck admitted t) us that such
exclamations, common among Christians in Germany, are irreverent and
therefore objectionable, although Luther apologizes for them. Professor Alexander told me afterwards of an amusing scene between
Professor Hahn, editor of the Greek Testament, then visiting at Leipsic, and Professors E. Robinson and —, who had been studying under
Gesenius, Tholuck and others at Halle.  Dr. Robinson was somewhat
cold and phlegmatic in his temperament; Dr. -     (both of them
young then, and neither of them doctors,) was, as Gesenius said of him,' as affectionate as a woman.' When the two Americans were about
to part in Hahn, he accompanied them to the Post-house; but while he
was hugging and kissing the       professor, the sturdy New Englander made off with himself to escape from the operation. I do not
know how much my friend's humorous propensity led him to add to
the original picture. His stories are always good, but had, I think, a
little of himself in them —at least in their colouring. They were told
for amusement.
"He was a great favourite of Tholuck's —more so than any other
American or English visitor.*  After he left Halle for Berlin, Tholuck
often spoke to me of him in terms of the highest eulogy and admiration.'He is the only man,' said he,'who could always give me the
right English word for one in German, apparently untranslatable.'
* Professor Tholuck has written a note to the editor of these memoirs, in
which he expresses himself on this subject in terms of strong regard and
warm encomium




324         ANECDOTE OF LOUIS VON GERLACH.                 [183
Indeed these two men were in several respects, very much alike.
They were both fond of the languages, classical, ancient and modern,
and were adepts in them, being able to speak I know not how many of
them. I have heard them both speak at least six. Both were great
readers, and remembered everything they read. The studies of both
had a wide range, especially in all that related to any one of the departments of theology. When they were together, conversation did
not flag for want of topics.
"But after all, what most struck me in my daily companion and
friend, was the earnestness with which he gave his whole soul to the
religious interests of society. Everything in' his mind centred in this
subject. Most of our time was given to topics connected with the
bearing of Christianity upon human society. Never did I with any
man so completely go over the whole ground of all the branches of
theology, the present state and prospects of the church in Europe and
America, its struggles with foes and false friends, and the work yet to
be accomplished by Christian scholars, as with him. The books which
he published after his return to this country, are the best commentary
upon the state of his mind at the time when le was laying in his stores
of knowledge. To me the recollection of those golden days, is as
pleasant, inspiring, and elevating as it is fresh and diverting."
Before leaving I-alle, M1r. Alexander or one of the other
Americans received his friends at a little entertainment, at
which was present General von Gerlach.  While they were
sitting round the table, a grenadier came in with a despatch
for the General, and whether overawed or not at the sight of
the company, failed to give the customary military salute.
The Prussian nobleman forthwith compelled the poor soldier
to go all the way back (two miles) and return in proper form.
Mr. Alexander was wont to relate this incident with lively
pleasure, both as showing the character of Louis von Gerlach
and as a sample of the continental punctilio.
At the beginning of the year he went from Halle to Berlin. I resume the extracts from his journals.
" Sunday, Jan. 5.-I went to the Domkirche at 11, and heard Strauss
preach on the gospel of the day, (Matt. iii.) to a large and fashionable
audience. In the afternoon I heard Lisco preach on the same subject
to a house full of common people.




ET. 24.]      KARL RITTER  AND  HENGSTENBERG.                325
" Saturday, Jan. 7. I attended Hengstenberg's Exegetical Seminary.
A passage in Hosea was read and discussed in Latin.
"Saturday, Feb. 1, 1834. Continued Mark and Jeremiah. At noon,
heard Neanderlecture on the monastic orders. At 6 o'clock, heard
Bopp on Sanscrit grammar. Bopp had four hearers, and Neander four
hIlundred. HIengstenberg held no seminary to-night. I read Maimonides on Forbidden Food, and Michaelis's Orientalische Bibliothek.
Biesenthal brought me a very fine copy of Hinckelmann's Koran, to
look at. I am afraid I shall buy it.
" January 20.-I began to read Rabbinical Hebrew with J. H. Biesenthal.
"February 4.-At 9 o'clock I went to the university and heard
Schleiermacher lecture on the concluding words of the first epistle of Peter.  HIe explains o avrTL8tKor ivyv 8tapoXoV, of human slanderers,
and paraphrases the latter part of the 9th verse, thus:' Knowing that
the Jews who have not embraced Christianity suffer as much as you do."
Moreover, he says that the 8th verse cannot refer to demoniacal posses-,
sions, because in those, instead of the devil devouring men, men devoured the devil! The old gentleman is very fond of Lachmann's New
Testament, and quotes its readings almost always with approbation.
At 10, I went to No. 10 and heard Hengstenberg explain the 34th
Psalm. This he thinks was composed by David, at a later period, in
recollection of his escape from Gath. The 18th verse he applies to the
righteous, not to those mentioned in the preceding verses. In both
cases I think he was wrong.
"' At noon, I went to the university and heard Neander on 1 Cor. xv.
48-54. He examined and rejected Lachmann's various reading in the
51st verse, viz., 7raTcvres 1EV KotLf7itr7(TOrLea, ov 7nrreTE  U aXdXa-y/TO/'lea.
"Wednesdlay, Feb. 5.-From 8 to 9 I heard von Gerlach introduce the
Epistle to the Hebrews. HIe lectures this winter on'Introduction'
only, and has a dozen hearers. I-is manner is lively and agreeable. I
heard Hengstenberg on the 35th Ps., which he thinks is not properly
Messianic. Tholuck says that H. has changed his mind of late with
respect to the double sense, and now admits a sort of qualified duplicity. In the afternoon, Biesenthal came and we read a part of
M;imonides's Letter on Astrology. At six o'clock I went to the university and heard Karl Ritter lecture on the geography of Palestine.
He reads five themes in the week on geography in general, and delivers
a public (i. e., gratuitous) lecture every Wednesday evening. IIe draws
-a map upon the blackboard as lie goes along.
" Friday, Feb. 7.-I read the 22d chapter of 1 Samuel, and studied




326          NEANDER AND SCHLEIERMACHER.                   [1834
Aben Ezra's preface to the Pentateuch. After dinner, I read the 37th
Psalm, and tugged away at Aben Ezra. At 5 o'clock, I paid a visit
to Professor HIenstenberg, and found him, as I expected, writing and
smoking. We talked about the Christologie, about Hitzig, Isaiah,
Rosenmtiller, Gesenius, DeWette, Hartmann, Tholuck, and the' Hallische Angelegenheiten.' He says that he has an article from Halle,
for the Kirchenzeitung, which will make as much noise as the one in
1830. It is to-day in the hands of the Censorship, and he is doubtful
whether they will let it pass. If not, he will appeal to the King. On a
former occasion, Tholuck thought that the publication of Gerlach'sletter would ruin him: but it did him good. All that is good, says H., in
Rosenmiiller's Scholia on the Minor Prophets, is taken from the margin of Michaelis's Bible.
" Feb. 12.-Biesenthal and I read the preface to David Kimchi's
Michlol, and part of his preface to the Psalms. He also showed me
some remarkable passages in the Chaldee Paraphrases, and especially
one at the end of Ruth. Moreover he told me that if I ever wished to
study the Chaldee Paraphrases critically, I must have the,n  am-i  or
q5tX'6$dvos, published at Vienna in 1830. The author is a professor
at Padua. At five o'clock went to see Von Gerlach, but found him in
the entry talking to Hengstenberg. He promised to come and see me
to-morrow, and informed me that Schleiermacher died to-day of an inflamrnation of the lungs. He had been ill five days.
" Thursday, Feb. 13.-Finished the song of Moses in the 32d chapter
of Deut. Between nine and ten Mr. von Gerlach came to see me, and told
me that Scheleirmacher would be buried on Saturday. Ie also stated
that four men were spoken of as his successors; Nitzsch of Bonn,
Twesten of Kiel, LiUcke of Gdttingen, and Olshausen of KTnigsberg.
Hie says moreover that Hengstenberg lectures on the New Testamnent,
in consequence of an injunction from ministry, designed, he thinks, to
blast his influence. We then talked about the history of the American
churches, and he proposed that I should collect and send him the principal authorities on that subject, receiving in return German books of
equal value.
" Feb. 14.-I read the 42d Ps., and the 23d chapter of 1 Samnuel in
Hebrew. Then I continued the Michlol. At night I read Kimilchi,
Michaelis, and Guericke; Colossians and Acts. Biesenthal caine in the
evening to say that he would come at 12 to-morrow, as he wished to
attend Schleiermacher's funeral in the afternoon. He brought a note to
leave if he found me not at home. It was in Hebrew, and I have put
it away among my autographs. He says that Neander cried when he




4ET. 24.]               VISITS NEANDER.                     327
mentioned Schleiermacher's death in his lecture, and the students cried
too. Neander said,' May it be allowed to him at the feet of the Lamb
to see that clearly, which he struggled after here.' The last words of
Schleiermacher's last lecture were'Morgen wird dies klarer seyn.' S.
is said to have been the real manufacturer of'Lachmann's edition of the
N. T. Lachmann himself lectures on Horace and on the history of
German poetry.
"Feb. 18. —Read Deut. and Psalms in Hebrew; also Kimchi with
Biesenthal. At night I went to see Focke, who invited me when I
was there last to call and spend the evening without invitation. Soon
after I arrived the Dean and Deaness of the Juridical Faculty arrived;
and a little later the Dean and Deaness and Grand-Deaness of the Theological Faculty. Then came the Justizrath's brother and his wife. A
good deal was said in conversation about Schleiermnacher. They say
that on the day of his death he partook of the communion and administered it to his family. He then repeated the Apostles' creed, and
added,'In this faith I die.' His last words were'Die Barmherzigkeit Gottes!' *
" Feb. 21.-At half past four I went according to appointment to see
Dr. Neander. He received me very graciously and was very talkative.
He spoke German and I English, at his own suggestion. Part of the
time, however, both spoke English and both German. We discoursed
about America, England and Germany. He admires the Christian Observer very much and asked me who was the editor. He thinks we
ought to have Universities with Theological faculties composed of representatives from the different sects. He laments the Einseitigkeit
and Befangenheit of the German Christians, and says there is not a
religious journal conducted in a Catholic spirit. When I came away
he took a memorandum of my lodgings. I take this opportunity to
say that I have been agreeably disappointed in Neander. When I first
came, Ayerst told me there was no use in going to see him, unless I
wished merely to see him, for he would stand still and look behind the
table all the time. And Von Gerlach informed me that when Mr.
Luttworth, of Paris, called upon Neander he did not speak one word.
Another case of the same kind has been mentioned since. When I
first went to his house, therefore, I expected to be in an awkward predicament, as I am the last man in the world to hold up both ends of
the discourse. I now record it, however, as a fact, that Neander re* A few lines below this occurs the poetical tribute to Rezeau Brown.




328.          BOPP, RHEINWALD  AND NITZSCH.                [1834.
ceived me at first with great cordiality and talked very freely. Hie bas
a canary bird in a cage.
" Sunday, Feb. 23.-At 9 o'clock I went to the French church, in
the Gens-d'armes Market, and heard M. le Pasteur Henry, the biographer
of Calvin, preach on the necessity of Christ's death. There were
very few present, besides a number of children from the charity schools
of the'French Colony.' Henry looks at a distance like Hargous.
" February 25.-At 11 o'clock I went with Biesenthal to Professor
Bopp's. There the Brahmin and I had a long discourse in English, about
Sanscrit and all the Indo-Germanic tongues. I asked him questions
about English, and he gave me a great deal cf information. He was
more polite and pleasant in his manners than any man whom I have
seen in Germany. Most of his pupils study Sanscrit on account of its
relations to classical philology; and he expects through some of them
a great change in the aspect of Greek and Latin grammar. No particular grammar has yet appeared presenting the results of the Indo-Germanic researches. Pott will probably do something in this way. Bopp
spoke very highly of Pott's recent publication.
" At 7 o'clock I went to Focke's. He asked me about a phrase in
Rutherford's Letters. Soon after Mr. and Mrs. Ayerst came, and then
another lady whom I have seen there before. The conversation was
in English. We sang two of Watts's hymns. I read a chapter and Ayerst
prayed."
On MIarch the 3rd, he left Berlin.
"March 6.-In Gottingen we heard Ewald lecture on Biblical History. At 11 o'clock I went to see Ewald and introduced myself. I
shall say no more of the interview at present than that I was delighted
with the tout ensemble of the man."
On the 7th he left Gottingen, passing through Cassel, Marbury, Giessen, Frankfort on the Main, Weisbaden, Nassau,
and Coblentz, and on the 11th I find him in Bonn. Here he
called on Prof. Rheinwald, to whom he had a letter from Otto
von Gerlach.  On the 11th, Prof. Rheinwald took him to see
Prof. Nitzsch, and then to the house.of Augusti.
" They were drinking tea, and we drank tea, after which the folding doors were opened and we were taken in to supper. It was near




ET. 24.]   REMINISCENCES BY DR. SAMUEL MILLER.    329
11 o'clock when we got away. Augusti was very funny. At parting
he kissed me!"
On the 13th, he heard Nitzsoh* lecture on esctatology, the last
topic of dogmatik-Anti-Christ, the man of sin, and Christ's
second appearing. Afterward, Rheinwald directed him to
the works of Bleek and Sack, and gave him the last volume of
his Repertory to take to Cousin in Paris, with a letter.
"At 2 o'clock, Rheinwald came up to my room and asked me to
walk. Two others went along, a Professor in the Gymnasium here,
and Simrock, a lecturer on the old German poets. We went to a garden and drank some coffee."
In the afternoon he was taken by Rheinwald to Freytag's,
where he took tea with the Professor, his wife and daughter.
"He showed me several of his books, and talked a great deal. Ile
asked me to take a copy of his Chrestomathy to De Sacy, and one to
Renaud, the keeper of the MSS., at Paris; which I gladly agreed to do."
On the 14th of March he left Bonn,f and reached Paris on
the 21st, where he remained in company of Mr. Patton and
other friends, visiting interesting points until April 14, when
he left for IIavre, and sailed from thence in the ship Poland
for New York.
Among the Americans on shipboard, who had known him
also in France, and 1before, was Mr. Samuel Miller, now the
Rev. Dr. Miller, of Mount Holly, N. J.
Dr. Miller has communicated the following sketches:
"' F om my earliest recollection, he was the wonder of Princeton for
his lir guistic learning on the one hand, and his semi-monastic life on
* While this work was going through the earlier stages of preparation, the
imposing funeral of Nitzsch was occupying the attention of f~reign journalists.
Hengstenberg died while these pages were in the hands of the printer.
f Where he saw Cousin and De Sacy. The last-named " was very talkative,
and when i came away ran through half a dozen rooms to bow me downstairs." Mr. Alexander never forgot or neglected an errand. He calls the
Garden of the Luxembourg, " my favourite spot."




330   PARIS AND PRINCETON  HABITS CONTRASTED.   [ls34.
the other; and it seemed to be commonly imagined that nothing too
wonderful could be told as to either of these particulars.
Though for almost a quarter of a century I lived in Princeton, and
nearly all that time was nominally acquainted with Addison Alexander,
it would hardly be right to say that I ever had an intimate acquaintance
with him. I was a few years younger than he, and that, with his recluse habits, prevented any intimacy. IIe and I, in fact, had seldom
if ever exchanged a word, beyond a passing salutation, until I met him
as a preceptor, first at Professor Patton's Edgehill School, then in the
College, then in the Theological Seminary.
At Edgehill, he struck me particularly as a very acute observer of
all that was going on about him. It was difficult to elude his watchfulness. Of his learning I could form no competent judgment, but took
for granted that it was prodigious, as I had always heard it was. Of
my college acquaintance with him I have little definite recollection; a
high estimate, formed at the time, of his scholastic qualifications as an
instructor, chiefly lingers in my memory.
Some years before I met him as a professor in the Seminary, it had
been my happiness-a real and very great happiness-to pass about a
month with him on shipboard, returning from Europe. A day or two
prior to our sailing, in the spring of 1834, he joined the party of which
I was one, in Paris; where, only a few hours before our departure, I
walked with him early in the morning through the streets, which the
previous night had been the scene of a popular emeute, and were still
partially obstructed by ruinous barricades, formed chiefly of the cubical
paving stones. I found him a most entertaining and instructive guide,
acquainted with everything I wanted to know, and quite determined to
see whatever was to be seen.
The previous evening, I had met him at a sociable tea-drinking at
the rooms of an American friend. Two or three ladies were of the
party. Here he reversed all my notions formed in Princeton of his
rigid self-exclusion from society, particularly female society, by proving
remarkably unembarrassed and affable, in fact taking the lead in free,
sprightly conversation with all around him. There can be no doubt,
however, that his Princeton and Paris habits in this respect were as
far apart at least as the two places.
On shipboard we had a month of something like intimacy. Most
of the gentlemen were foreigners, or had wives to attend to; and we
naturally attended somewhat to each other. We laughed ourselves
through a preliminary sea-sickness, which perhaps served to get us together the more happily; and I found the association most entertaining




.ET. 2.]  PARIS AND PRINCETON  HABITS CONTRASTED.  331
and profitable. He was full of information, very communicative, wonderfully observant, versatile, and humorous. He had, I think, his Arabic * books with him; and whiled away part of the time in the study
of them. Now and then he would extemporize a little Latin, having
caught the infection perhaps from  Dr. Samuel II. Cox, whom I, and
probably he, had met in Europe some months before. A more interesting companion I could not well have found."
* One of his smaller diaries has a third of its space taken up with a catalogue
of Chinese keys. It contains a numbered list of 210 vocables or word-signs
There are also several consecutive pages of Hebrew.




332            RETURN TO PRINCETON.               1884.
CHAPTER X.
THE time was now at hand for the absent scholar to return,
and to enter on the most important business of his life. There
was lively expectation in the little borough of Princeton, when
it was known that one so well fitted by nature and grace, and
who had made such unusual and extensive preparations to give
new fame to the place of his adoption, was coming home refreshed by foreign travel and laden with the honeyed spoils
of European learning. His father's family awaited the event
with the keenest and most pleasurable emotions, and stood
ready to welcome the wanderer with the warmest salutations
of affection.
At the time anticipated, the happy voyager set his foot
once more upon his father's threshold, the picture of health and
delighted animation. While abroad he had been invited to
accept the chair of Adjunct Professor of Oriental Literature
in the Theological Seminary at Princeton. I have the authority of President Maclean, for saying that " The Trustees
and Faculty of the College would most gladly have done anything in their power to secure his services permanently: yet
no one questioned the propriety of his decision in this matter,
asall knew that his studies and his tastes rendered him in an
eminent degree a suitable person to be engaged in the direct
work of preparing young men for the duties of the holy ministry."
As to Mr. Alexander himself, he does not seem to have
hesitated for a moment in deciding in his own mind where
the path of duty lay. He was not slow to see and feel
that his life's work, for which he had been undergoing so wonderful a preparation, was to be at the Theological Sem



AET. 25]         THE NEW  PROFESSOR.                333
inary. It is undeniable that he was passionately fond of
change; but he was also passionately fond of science and literature; a devotee to books and study; and the shadow of a
great institution of learning was enough to keep him fixed in
his place. He remained a teacher in the Theological Seminary,
though he was not without alluring invitations to go elsewhere, from this time until the day of his death, a period embracing nearly twenty-five years. He had given himself to
bis Saviour, and he believed it to be the will of God as plainly
indicated by the suggestions of Providence, that he should
avail himself continuously of the best means of mental improvement which were at his disposal, with a single eye to thorough preparation for the task to which he felt himself to be
called, viz. the exhaustive study and careful exposition of the
sacred volume. To this grand end he now cheerfully bent all
his faculties, and sacrificed some of his dearest inclinations.
He was strangely constituted. Much as he longed for variety, he was commonly contented to look for it in the perpetual re-distribution of his books, and the incessant re-arrangement of the furniture of his room. If this endless shifting of
the scenery within his own study, did not suffice to please him,
he would change his study by removing to some other apartment; and so on ad libitum. This was the case at least, in winter. It was hard for him to stay at home during the summer
months. The long summer vacation which was now afforded
him, was therefore the very thing to meet and satisfy his desire
for travel and a totally different set of studies.
Mr. Alexander returned from Europe in May, and soon
after entered upon the discharge of his duties in the Seminary,
as the assistant of Dr. Hodge, in the department of Oriental
Literature. His youth, robust health, powerful head, and his
pleasing and at the same time commanding face, his quick motions, his mastery of the art of speech as well as silence, his
precocious reputation for scholarship as well as for native ability, his rigid seclusion, his stern exacting discipline, and the
contact of his fiery genius, from the first made a profound impression. The young men were fascinated. The new professor




331           SEVERITY IN THE CLASS-ROOM.                [1834.
saw this at once and took advantage of it to carry out certain
plans of his own which till then were novel in the recitation
rooms at Princeton. Of course he immediately took the reins in
his own hands, and, though he did not always ply the whip as
he did at first, he never suffered them to slip from his fingers.
It is true there were cases of insubordination; but with great
force of character and with much play of satirical wit, as well
as by a candid acknowledgment of error when he was at fault,
he succeeded in putting down every emeute and making fast
friends of some who threatened to be deadly foes.
The question has sometimes been raised, was Mr. Alexander's severe and unforbearing reproofs and sarcasms in the
lecture-room consistent with the idea that he had a warm heart
and a tone of humble piety? I desire earnestly to give the
simple truth about this whole matter. If Mr. Alexander was
cold, hard, cruel, truculent, and little under the habitual power
of religion, as some seem to have supposed, the fact must have
been known to the young men with whom  he mingled daily,
and to his colleagues in the Seminary.  We shall find them
taking a very different view of the case. Whatever may have
been the promptings of his natural inclination, and I think it
has been shown that his disposition was frank, simple and generous, he was a shining instance of the power of divine mercy.
This has led Dr. Hodge to say:
" His religious character was very marked. He had as much of the
humility and docility of a child under the teachings of the Word and
spirit of God, as any man I have ever known. He seemed to have no
difficulty in believing. Everything that he found taught in the scripture3 he accepted without hesitation; and every portion of the received canon was to him part of the word of God. The strength and
simplicity of his faith are so clearly impressed on all his commentaries
and other writings, that they cannot escape the notice of any of his
readers. He was conscientious, faithful, and punctual in the discharge
of all his duties. He was never absent from the lecture-room or pulpit when called to be present, unless absolutely unable to attend. All
his students were impressed by the tenderness of his conscience. If
any manifestation of impatience escaped himl in the recitation room,




ET. 25.]         GROWTH IN GENTLENESS.                   335
they were sure that the next prayer he made in their presence would
show that he sought forgiveness of such lapses fiom his Father in
HIeaven."
Surely even in his natural disposition he was generous and
amiable. One of his friends and colleagues* is satisfied that
as a teacher he was not easily and well understood.  The
massive intellect, rich learning, and rhetorical power, could he
always appreciated.  But the rapid process, and apparent
impatience of his manner, sometimes oppressed and discouraged the student. Often, he says, his quick and curt correction
mortified the stranger, and sometimes left irritated feelings.
"It was only towards the end of the course, when his mind and
heart had been measured out more fully, and some radiation of kindness had been sure to reach every one who was worthy, that many
could attain to the just admiration and love with which his later pupils regarded him. Then it was solid. No patronizing air had won
it; no flattery of self-love in the learner; but power, learning, eloquence, heart, and simple piety."
But even at the beginning, I may add to the words of this
skilful judge of character, he was always comprehended by
some, who united with fair talents and diligence in study a
little boldness, an unsuspecting confidence in their superiors, a
discerning generosity and sympathy, and a manner as far removed from obsequiousness on the one hand, as intrusive presumption on the other.
It will not fail to be noticed as we go on, that the men of
the later classes were in the habit of repeating and exaggerating stories that had come down to them like ancient myths
or legends from students of the earlier periods of Mr. Alexander's professorship, all of which went to show that the athletic and fiery Hebraist was terrible and even cruel to those
who were so unfortunate as to attract his anger and thus bring
down on themselves his witty repartee. I have been at no
* The Rev. Alexander T. McGill, D. D. Dr. McGill became associated with
him long afterwards.




336             DR. LYON'S RECOLLECTIONS.                [1834.
little pains to sift these stories to the bottom, and have embodied the results of my investigations in various forms, such
as extracts from  students' letters, descriptive sketches and
anecdotes, running comments, and the like, which will be given
to the reader in due order. The amount of what truth I have
arrived at in the premises is this: Mr. Alexander made his
first classes in Hebrew work like Trojans; and was often out of
patience with gross negligence, vanity, or dulness, and sometimes treated the offenders without measure or mercy. But
he was very peaceable after all was over; and gradually he became more and more tolerant and gentle, until towards the
last, his steady meekness was more noticeable than the occasional flashes of his first or mistaken resentment.  His detected errors he was always ready to acknowledge and repair. I
now call attention to the words of one of his earliest pupils.
Dr. James A. Lyon of Columbus, Mississippi, was a student at
Princeton Seminary from 1832 to 1836, and thus spent some
two or three years under the tuition of Mir. Alexander.  He
well recollects his first appearance in the lecture-room.
" He glided noiselessly and suddenly into the lecture room, and in
a moment was at his chair, not in it; for he rarely took his seat before
he commenced with a very short prayer, rapidly uttered, and before
the class had all adjusted themselves in their seats, he had called on
some student to begin the recitation. With a glance of the eye, quick
as a twinkle, he seemed to comprehend the situation, and detected instantly who were present and who were absent. The recitations were invariably short, not exceeding three quarters of an hour. At the close
of the recitation he darted out of the room, as his place was near the
door, and gave no opportunity for parley with the students."
In Dr. Lyon's opinion, which it is but fair to state, he was
not, in a social point of view, very accessible, especially if the
visiting student manifested the slightest symptom of being too
familiar, or of deviating from the exact subject of inquiry.
" Ile took a most unmistakable method of making a student of this
kind feel, after he had answered his questions, or given the explanations
sought for, that his absence would be-very pleasant. This he did by




AET. 25.]         MANNERS IN HIS STUDY.                    337
remaining silent with his eyes fixed on the floor, at the same time playing with his fingers on his chair, or engaging in a loud whistle. If
this did not speedily produce its desired effect, he would deliberately
turn to his table and resume his studies."
Consequently, when the same writer visited him in his
study, which he sometimes did, as he was a member of two or
three of the professor's private and special classes in the study of
Arabic, Chaldee, and the peculiar terminology of the Levitical
ceremonial law, he rarely took his seat before he began his
business; never asked a question which he did not regard as
essential to the point; and the moment his business was accomplished, left the room. The result was that he was received without any very visible signs that he was unwelcome.
Occasionally when he rose to leave, the professor would request him to sit longer; which, however, he but seldom did.
"' I dreaded " he says, " his finger-beat upon his chair, or his
loud whistle, which was anything but music to my ear." This
fear of him which so many had was unquestionably the source
of much of the teacher's embarrassed restlessness.
Dr. Lyon was impressed with his exceeding avidity for
study and work. Not satisfied with the ordinary daily recitations in the lecture room, Mr. Alexander proposed to such of
the class as were so inclined, to form private classes with
him in Arabic, Syriac, Chaldee, and other departments of oriental learning. At first, several students availed themselves of
this opportunity of enlarging their fields of study. But most
of them soon fell off, until at length the private class was reduced to three, MIelanethon W. Jacobus, Joseph Owen, now
a learned missionary in India, and Mr. Lyon himself.
"These private classes," says Dr. Iyon, "seemed to be formed as
much for his own employment and improvement as for ours. He appeared restless and unhappy unless he had as mich work as he could
do. He was so thorough in everything he studied, that he needed not
to review, and therefore seemed to have an aversion to travelling over
the same ground twice. To him nothing was so tedious as' a twice-told
tale.' Hence he was constantly changing the field of study; and to
some whQ were incapable of appreciating the magnificence of his men15




338                  POWER OF SARCASM.                       [ls
tal powers, and the necessity there was for constant mental excitement
he seemed fickle."
This impression was very general at all times, but as Dr.
McGill, Professor Hepburn, and others will abundantly show,
was not altogether just.  He had not yet mellowed down into
the tractable and sympathising teacher he afterwards became.
" He was not considered amiable during the first years of his service in the Seminary, but on the contrary rather severe and unfiorbearing. The students were afraid of him. I-low lie became afterwards I
am not able to say. D,)ubtless, however, he became nmore patfent as
he grew older. Ile was sometimes fearfully sarcastic, having no tulerance for the plroud, impertinent, or self-conceited, whom indeed, he
did not hesitate to cut in twain with a word, or a look, or a sneer."
Mr. Alexander was a terror to the idle, and often took
pleasure in making such expose their own ignorance and rev-eal their own lazy devices.
"' I recollect that on a certain occasion one of the idlers was called
on to recite il IHelbrew. As a substitute for studying the lesson word
for word, so as to be able to give a correct translation, he simply memorized the English version. It so happened that he was calle(l to readl,
when within tfhree verses of the end of the chapter. He read one
verse of the Hebrew, but instead of givilng the rendering of the verse
read, he gave that of the succe ding verse. The professor sa~d nothing,
but with a cruel smile on his face exclaimed,'read the next verse'which he did, still travelling ahead;' now,' said lie, blandly,' read the
last!' The poor fellow read the Hebrew, but looked up in utter dismay: midst the roars of the class, at his humiliating and ridiculous exposure."
If we now turn to the outer world, we shall find there was
not much change in the situation of things in the village.
Professor James Alexander was still occupied at the college.
Every fortnight a literary club met in Princeton. On alternate
weeks there was a sederunt of a strictly clerical association.
The members of the literary club at this time were Drs. Alexander, Miller, Carnahan, Howell, Miaclean and Rice; Professors




AET. 25.]        LITERARY RECREATIONS.                   339
Dod, Henry,* Jaeger and Alexander; and Tutors Stephen
Alexander,t Hart,T and Wilson. These were delightful reunions.
The older brother of the two Alexanders especially enjoyed
them, but the younger was not indifferent to their attractions.
They were, strictly speaking, literary soirees, and were the
means of putting in circulation a good deal of scientific and
other useful knowledge. It was evidently this association
with the savans of the college, that set Mr. Alexander about
the perusal of such popular works as Herschel and Mudie.
This is almost the last we shall bear of the exact sciences.
He never pursued these studies far, but I am certain that they
entertained him. The reading of Oriental books was still a
great hobby with him. Hebrew was his atmosphere and his
sunshine. It coloured him, as the leaf colours the silkworm.
The Pentateuch and the Psalms, and Biblical archaeology and
antiquities, were his principal subjects in the Seminary. In
the afternoon or evening, when his eyes began to grow a little
heavy over Kimchi and Michaelis, he had many a lively chat
with one of the old Romans, or with quaint, comical Thomas
Fuller, or Spottiswode, or Chrysostom, or Jerome, or the marvellous romancers of the Thousand and one Nights.
Other and more informal gatherings offered their attractions
to those who liked them. There was, of course, much to draw
strangers to the fountains of learning at and near the college.
On Sunday, August the 9th, the delegates from the Congregational Union of England visited Princeton, and doubtless
visited Dr. Alexander, and could not fail to excite the interest
of his son Addison, though it is more than probable that he
sought no introduction to them. The foreign gentlemen were
Mr. Andrew Reed, minister of Wickliffe chapel, Hackney,
London, and Mr. James Matheson, of Durham, another dissent* Joseph Henry, LL. D., of the Smithsonian Institution.
t The present distinguished astronomer of that name-not related to the
subject of these memoirs.
$ John S. Hart, LL. D., now principal of the State Normal School situated
at Trenton, N. J. See Forty Years' Fam. Letters for further particulars in
regard to this club.




3 10      KNOWLEDGE OF EUROPEAN POLITICS.          [1834.
ing minister. Mr. Reed was known as the author of a work
entitled "No Fiction." Mr. Matheson was the son of Greville
Ewing, and was said to be a leader in Reform. It might be
supposed that Mr. Alexander missed no chance of seeing such
people and increasing his stock of ideas, which had just been
enlarged so much by personal observation, as to the manners,
events, and general state of things abroad. His habit in this
respect, however, was somewhat singular; he kept his room,
and saw only th'ose who called; but he did not fail to infobrm
himself. His acquaintance with the contents of the German
periodicals, with the state of English parties, and with the
genealogy of the crowned heads, to say nothing of the margraves, electors, archdukes, count palatines, and other titled nobility of Europe, exceeded anything I ever met with. He seemed
to know these little minutiae connected with'high life beyond
the Atlantic exactly as a first-form boy at Eton is expected to
know his quantity. It was just the thing that suited him, to
wind in and out through the whole length of a tangled historical succession, where the name of a given personage is often
changed and concealed by the acquisition of his coronet, and
to be able to tell you who was who. No one knew, or surmised,
better than he did, who at any given moment was the Lord
Chancellor of England, who the Lord Chief Justice, who the
Lord Chief Baron, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, &c. &c.
carrying the thing down, in some cases, to lists of ordinary
knights and baronets, and their seats, and even untitled members of parliament.
Let us now turn once more to the Journal. In the absence
of Dr. Hodge, Mr. Alexander now had the third class almost
wholly to himself: He taught them Hebrew and archoeology.
They read the Psalms, which he studied himself very carefully
in private, comparing the text with the different versions and
commentators. He amused himself reading the Thousand and
one Nights in Arabic, and learning Ethiopic grammar. He
also wrote a little daily for the Repertory. Early in July he
finished a massive article on the Antiquity of the Pentateuch,
founded upon one by Hengstenberg. This should be read as




AET. 25.]       THE LITERARY ASSOCIATION.                  341
an elaborate introduction to his work on the Psalms. He was
busy, during the same month, at a review of the Life of Roger
Williams by Professor Knowles.  "History," lie writes, July
25, "is still my amusement." He continued to be employed
pretty much in this way throughout the summer.  On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, he heard the Third
class in the seminary recite each day-in the morning on Hebrew, in the afternoon on Biblical antiquities. In Hebrew
they were at this time reading the Prophetical Psalms. On
Wednesdays and Saturdays he had no recitations. On the
sixth of August he records:
"This afternoon I took up Cicero's Works, and read the introductory oration against Verres with a great deal of pleasure. I derive
more satisfaction from the classics than when I had to teach them.
then it was a task, now I feel it to be a pleasure. I was particularly
interested with the allusions to the politics of Rome-electioneering,
canvassing, intrigue, &c., &c. How much human nature is like itself!"
That evening the Literary Association met in Dr. Alexander's parlour; it is thus described by the junior professor:
" It is composed of the faculties of the college and seminary, with
some other literary characters, and is held at the houses of the members
in succession. Some subject is proposed at the meetings for conversation, and occasionally papers are read. At this meeting Prof. Henry
gave a verbal account of a magnetic needle which lie had invented for
the purpose of determining the variation. After tLis there was a f;ree
conversation on the subject of lightning-rods; and it was agreed th:at
Professor Henry should furnish something in writing on the subject at
the next meeting. The other gentlemen present were Professors Torrey,
Maclean, Dod, Alexander and Jaeger, of the college; Professors Alexander and Miller, of the seminary; Tutors Hart, Alexander and Wilson,
of INassau Hall, and Principal Wines, of Edgehill."
The Journal is resumed:
"August 7tl. —I am reading Genesis.in Hebrew, with Bush's notes,
for the purpose of fixing my attention. I am also reading Jay's Closet
Exercises, morning and evening, with much delight."




342               REPERTORY  ARTICLES.                   [1834.
The day previous he finished the revision of his article on
Roger Williams. It was now ready for the press. The July
number of the Repertory, which had just appeared, contained
two articles from the pen of Mr. Alexander: one on German
New Light, another on the Life of Rowland Hill. The former
is learned and satirical, and the latter is in his happiest and
sweetest vein, and might easily deceive most of the admirers
o' his brother. A third, on the Antiquity of the Art of Writing,
was already in the printer's hands for the October number, and
on this seventh day of August he began an article on Guericke's
Manual of Church History.
"My method," he says, "is to write, between twelve o'clock and
dinner, seldom more than one hour-often less. In this way I do not
feel the labour, and keep something always ready. I am now ahead of
the press, and if others (lo their part I shall not be hurried and dunned
for my contributions."
lie the same day lectured extempore on the twenty-second
Psalm. These oral and unwritten discussions were among his
most ingenious and masterly efforts. They were the free outpourings of a mind that was always full to the brim.
He had been reading Ethiopic grammar this summer, giving
a few spare moments to it every day. He finished Otho's Compend on the 9th of August, and immediately framed a purpose
to attempt the Psalms in Walton's Polyglot. He read, the
same day, some chapters on Herschers Discourse on Natural
Philosophy, with the liveliest satisfaction. I find the following
record for
"August 20.-Finished Herschel's Discourse on the Study of Natural
Philosophy, from which I have derived much satisfaction. Many things
that were once vague to me, are now distinct. I have derived a tolerably clear idea of the inductive method; have met with valuable hints
as to the means of acquiring knowledge, and above all, have experienced
an agreeable and salutary excitement. I have read the book chiefly
in the afternoon, when rny regular studies were concluded. The same
time I shall now devote to Mudie's Popular Guide to the Observation
of Nature, which I began to-day. My other studies proceed as usual."




.ET. 25.]          EVENING DIVERISIONS.                   343
It was commonly supposed that Mr. Alexander had not
even the elementary knowledge in the natural sciences. The
reader is now aware that this was an error.  During the summer he had read a selection of the Psalms in Hebrew with the
Trhird class. In private he had studied Sanscrit and Ethiopic
grammar.  In the evenings he had been reading history, and
about the end of the summer had finished Fuller's Church History of Britain. He had then taken up Spottiswode's History
of the Church of Scotland, and read about one half of it very
closely. Finding, however. that a large proportion of the
work was occupied with matters of mere civil interest, he had
confined himself thenceforth to the part which was purely
ecclesiastical. In this way he read the remainder of the work,
and reached the end of it about the first of November. This
is an exact resumin of his literary occupations for the season,
with the exception of a few unimportant rambles among the
English Classics and the Ancients. Minor details are of course
excluded from this summary. He also wrote on different parts
of Scripture for his private use, five articles in the Repertory,
and one or two little books.
The winter session of the seminary opened on the sixth
of November. In prospect of the duties of the new term, he
records:
"My only regular public employment will be the instruction of the
lower claszes in Hebrew. I have a private class in Arabic; in private
I read two chapters in Hebrew daily, making scholia on them as I go
along, by way of preparation for minuter study afterward. This method
I commenced on the 22d of September, when I made a calendar for the
remainder of the year. assigning to every day a chapter in the historical,
and one in the poetical books. When I chance to miss the lesson of a
day, I pass it over and go on to the next. If at the end of the year I
like the plan as well as I do now, I shall form a calendar for 1835,
so as to finish the Bible in a twelvemonth. This, however, is not to
exclude the more critical readirg of other passages, and particularly
those which are recited by the classes. My plan includes a chapter of
the Greek New Testament for every day. This part of it, however, I
have not so fully executed as the other. At this, as at other times, I




344         COLLOQUY WITH THREE BISHOPS.             [1834.
leave some portions of my plan of study to be gradually formed according to events. The only additional items on which I have resolved are
Sanscrit and history. In the former I must resume the grammar-in
the latter I have not yet fixed upon a subject."
Little incidents of the time help to take us back to
the scenes in which he moved. The Episcopal Church (Trinity)
was consecrated in Princeton towards tLe close of September. Twenty clergymen in all were present, and among them
three prelates, Bishops White, Ives, and Doane. The venerable and bttoved Bishop of Pennsylvania preached a sermon of an
hour's length, and was induced to stay and attend commencement, which was then the last Wednesday in September.
That night the Rev. James W. Alexander drank tea with the
three Bishops at Professor Dod's, and records his pleasure in
a letter to his friend in Trenton. Alluding to Bishop White,
he says, it was like being transported to a purer air to talk
with him.  About this time Tutors J. S. Hart and Stephen
Alexander were made adjunct professors in the College. The
Rev. Dr. Benjaman H. Rice, who married a sister of Dr.
Archibald Alexander, the brother of the Rev. Dr. John H. Rice,
of Union Theological Seminary, Virginia, was now pastor of the Presbyterian church in the village, and sometimes
made very warm and powerful appeals from the pulpit. He
had been for years the honoured pastor of the Tabb street
Presbyterian church in Petersburg, and his memory is still
precious in Virginia. From Petersburg he went to New
York as pastor of the Pearl street church, and from New York
to Princeton. Coleridge died this year; and the news created
a stir in the literary circles of academic Princeton. Amidst
these and other changes, the new professor in the Seminary
moved on steadily in the prosecution of his enormous labours
as linguist, exegete, lecturer, review-writer and miscellaneous
reader.
Few teachers have had a greater fondness for keeping their
eyes on their pupils after the days of tuition Wrere over. The
pleasant gentlemen, above all, and especially the earnest




AT. 25.]          REMARKS OF DR. SCOTT.                    345
Christians and creditable scholars were never lost sight of; and
he was always ready to lend them a helping hand and give
them brief but timely counsel.  Though not fond of writing
letters, he has written many to such persons and for such purposes. His old students, many of them, remember and speak
of this trait in his character.
The recollections of one* who is himself reputed to be the
master of many languages, and among them, a number of
those with which Mr. Alexander was acquainted, can hardly
fail to prove interesting. He writes:
"My personal acquaintance with Addison Alexander was short;
altogether too short for my good. When I entered the Theologlcal seminarly at Princeton, he was absent in Europe. When he returned I was
for some time in his classes. It became necessary, however, for me to
leave the Seminary before I had finished the full course."
Mr. Scott entered upon missionary labors in Louisiana,
but prosecuted his studies, till by the aid of notes which he
obtained from the manuscripts of the Professor and from fellow students he completed the careful study of all the topics,
themes, and authors usually embraced in the Greek course.
"Having, as you would suppose, some difficulties in the way, especially in prosecuting Syriac and Arabic in the cypress swamps of the
Mississ ppi and Red rivers, I sought Professor Alexander's aid, and he
was kind enough to write memoranda of books and suggestions, and
remarks on the languages from time to time: but I think only two of
the letters have escaped the ruins of removals and of time." t
The writer always admired him fromn the first time he ever
saw him.
"His warm heart, his breadth, depth and originality of thinking,
and his method of prosecuting thought, and his prodigious learning,
always charmed me."
Sunday the 19th day of October was a day darkened by
* Rev. William A. Scott, D. D., of New York.
j These have perished or disappeared.
15*




346                   DR. IIILYER.                 [1s34.
heavy clouds.  Mr. Alexander read aloud to his brother
James from Owen, and the whole of John Howe's sermon on
" Why hast thou made all men in vain? " which both esteemed
better than Robert Hall's on the same text. Their father was
spending the day at Burlington, in company with Professor
Dod.  Monday was signaliz6d by a cold north-wester, which
however did not prevent Mr. Alexander from arranging his new
chamber in the Seminary. Tuesday marks the date of a visit
from Dr. Hilyer of New England. He remembered seeing Dr.
Alexander in Philadelphia about 1800, just before the latter
made his trip to the eastern States.  Dr. Hilyer was at that
time in great depression of spirits and did not expect to live.
IIe heard the young Virginia clergyman preach firom the text,
"Why art thou cast down O my soul?"  The announcement
of the text, he said, was overwhelming to him. The troubles
of the next month was known afterwards as "' the dark day."
Candle light continued till nine o'clock a. m. Dr. Archibald
Alexander sat reading by a candle at this hour. Rain fell, and
a yellowish fog obscured and choked the atmosphere. Henry
Clay was in Princeton on the 25th. These rapid touches may
serve to bring up the picture of the times.
A heavy affliction was now however, to darken the house
of the elder brother. On Saturday, December 15, he had gone
after tea to his brother's new study in the Seminary, and had
there spent an hour or two in reading and conversation. On his
return to his own house, where he had left his little son Archibald, he learned that he had been seized with a croupy hoarseness. The disease was rapid and fatal. When the daylight
of Monday came, the father perceived with agony that ore
night had made him a mere wreck. He had been a blooming,
fresh and hearty little boy; he was now become pallid, wan, and
haggard. Not long before he was released from his sufferings
he tried to sing. He also put up his hands and said, " I want
to say my prayers." He passed away with but little pain.
He was the third son of his father, and was a great favorite
with his grandfather, and indeed with the whole house. He
was a little over two years old. The father's comments on the




AT. 25.]       STUDIES OF THE BROTHERS.              347
event are recorded in his unpublished diary. It was he says,
" a lapse into slumber. * * I feel a blessed consolation in the
belief that this dear lamb is safely gathered into Christ's
bosom."
This sad blow brought grief to the hearts of all the relations, and among them to one who was thought by many to
be hard and unfeeling, but who was as soft and gentle as he
was strong and at times imperious. His studies went on much
as usual, though Mr. Alexander was always varying the particulars of his scheme.
Mr. James Alexander meanwhile was busy with his classes,
and writing for the Repertory and the Presbyterian, of which
newspaper he was still the editor, as well as working for the
New Jersey Lyceum. Like his brother at the Seminary, he
gave himself no rest, and made it a point to read all great and
good books that reached his hands, besides many volumes which
he could not fully commend. He was a most rapid reader. He
was now upon Simeon's works, Guericke's History of the Church,
Fichte, Hegel, Fuller, Wordsworth, Neander, Coleridge's Aids
to Reflection, David Russell's Letters, Butler's Lives of the
Saints, Hannah More's Life, besides many reviews and pamphlets and much in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and German. He
was buying up works on Hebrew, English, and Anglo Saxon.
He was richly acquainted in the principal modern languages,
and in several others that are not generally known. He was
also full of schemes of literary usefulness and practical benevolence. He had the Juniors five times a week in the De Oratore of Tully. He also delivered occasional lectures to them.
He filled a volume or more every year with diary accounts of
the weather, descriptions of people and incidents, and of natural
scenery, recorded conversations, plans of sermons, Latin prayers and marginalia, French epistles, elaborate quotations, cornments and criticisms, abundant sketches of character, religious
confessions, sportive effusions of fancy, and every species of
agreeable and instructive reading; the whole done in a style
of composition and penmanship that might excite the envy of
many a famous litterateur. His sensibility to fine sights, sweet




348       BEARING IN HIS PRIVATE CLASSES.  l8s&
sounds, animating temperature, and the charms of art and literature, was of the most exquisite sort and the most tremu.
lous acuteness. But we must return to the subject before us.
It is amusing to go back to the childish and youthful days
of the restless commentator, and to his father's remark in
one of his letters to Mrs. Graham that Addison had a repugnance to teaching.  In after life, in addition to his regular
classes in the Theological Seminary, Professor Addison Alexander was seldom without private pupils who came to his
room, and hardly ever without a small class or two of enlthusiastic orientalists, generally the pick of the Seminary, who
also frequented his study at certain hours and had a larger and
more genial experience of their preceptor's extra-rdinary
mental vivacity and the bursting fulness of his animal spirits
and social good humour than any others. His punctuality on
these occasions often cut short these agreeable interviews in
the very middle.
During the years 1834 and 1835, Messrs. Hugh N. Wilson
(now the Rev. Dr. Wilson) and John S. Hart were associated
in the tutorship of the College. Being of kindred tastes they
employed all their spare hours together in linguistic studies.
Having read together nearly the whole of Hero3otu3 and about
two-thirds of the Hebrew Bible, they determined to begin
the study of Arabic, and applied to Mr. Alexander to teach
them. Although the application involved a serious tax upon
his time, he gave a most ready assent, and appointed the hour
from nine to ten of every evening for the purpose. He was
occupying at that time rooms in the basement of the Seminary
Chapel, and hither every night (except Sunday) for nearly a
whole year, the two young men resorted, no inclemency of the
weather, even in one instance preventing their attendance.
Knowing how precious was the privilege accorded to them,
they felt disposed to avail themselves of the advantage to the
utmost. During this course they went through the Arabic
Grammar under his instruction, and read the whole of the
Koran except the last two or three chapters. In this course
of reading and study, besides the knowlege of Arabic, they




ET. 25.]     TESTIMONY OF PROFESSOR HIART.                 349
received continually frequent hints and suggestions such as
might be expected from a man of his ripe general scholarship.
"Nor were oriental learning and linguistics the only topics of that
favoured hour. Never was teacher more genial or more freely communicative, and after the lesson of the evening was finished, other
topics connected with literature and theology came up, and we drew at
will from the exhaustless fountain open to us.  Nor did we often go
away with our buckets empty."
Before beginning this arrangement, he told them with some
distinctness that he would give them an hour, and they understood from his manner that a moment beyond the hour would
be counted as an encroachment. Knowing well his peouliatities, they were careful to leave precisely at the striking of
the clock, no matter how interesting mightbe the topic u_.der
discussion.  They were equally careful never to enter his
room a minute before the time, even if they had to stand out
in the cold for the clock to strike.
" This quiet and precise punctuality," writes one of them,* " seemed
greatly to please him. and reconciled him evidently to bearing with us
longer than perhaps he might else have done. For he always managed
to make us feel perfectly welcome, and poured out the resources of his
learning for us with unbroken profusion up to the sixtieth minute.
But when that moment camne, the stream of talk suddenly stopped.
There was not a word to be said: he was ready to return once more to
his silent studies."
He then goes on as follows:
" No hours of my life have been hours of greater intellectual activity and pleasure than those now described. There is something particularly quickening and stimulating in this kind of intercourse with
a man of genius, and I felt my own mental energy taking fire from
his."
The impression which he made upon them in this familiar
encounter of mind with mind, was that of
Dr. Hart.




350              TRIBUTE BY DR. WILSON.                  [1834
" a man of prodigious intellectual strength united with prodigious intellectual activity. It was the power of the locomotive, and the speed
of the telegraph united in one machine. Indeed the most noticeable
thing about him was the general roundness and completeness of his
powers. There are numerous instances on record of his prodigious
power of memory. I have myself recorded one feat of this kind.
But the mnemonic power is usually accompanied with a weakness in
some of the other faculties. In him, on the contrary, every other
intellectual power, reason, imagination, fancy, attention, judgment,
and so forth, seemed to have an equal development. He excelled accordingly in everything which he undertook. He did not often indulge
in personal reminiscences. One of these, which I remember, described
the change of views he had undergone while in Europe in regard to
the character of Napoleon I. He said that he had gone abroad with
that view of Napoleon's character once nearly universal in this
country, and derived from our familiarity with English literature. It
was in fact Napoleon as seen by Englishmen who did him the greatest
injustice. His remark was, that in every part of Europe which he visited he saw proofs of the constructive, regenerating, and beneficent
power of Napoleon as a civil ruler. It is not impertinent, I suppose,
in this familiar memorandum, for me to say just here that we college
boys always used to see in Addison's head a remarkable likeness to
Napoleon."
This fine tribute is confirmed by the language of the other
pupils in this class. Dr. Wilson also mentions one or two
things omitted by his friend, and gives a few recollections of
an earlier date.
"My acquaintance with Dr. Alexander dates back to the time of his
entrance upon public life. At that time Professor Patton had just
opened Edgehill School-of which Addison Alexander was one of the
first teachers; and there he prepared his edition of Donn, gan's Lexicon. Prominent among the young men of Princeton, and in the circle
of his friends at this time, were John C. Young, Albert Dod, Rezeau
Brown, and Samuel Winchester; all of whom, alas! are now, like him,
numbered with the dead.
Dr. Hart has probably mentioned our Arabic studies with him. I
do not remember to have seen any notice of the long narrow notebook wbhi;h always lay upon his study table, waiting, it would seem,
for some inspiring thought or treasured sentiment, and waiting not in




AET. 25.J   BIBLICAL AND ORIENTAL LABOURS.                351
vain. Day after day we could see that new pages were turned, and
that the numbers, (for each jotting was carefully numbered) rose continually higher."
The minute chronicle of Mr. Alexander's life which follows will be interesting to scholars and the lovers of personal detail. During the month of December he pursued the
various subjects mentioned in his last entry and added new
ones. The third class were now under his direction, and reading the history of the flood in Genesis.  In the way of an
expository lecture the instructor treated the class to an extemporaneous and lively commentary upon the history of Joseph.
At each recitation, too, an essay was read upon a subject assigned by the teacher, and relating directly to the subjects
upon which the class were engaged.  With the second class he
read Isaiah. On Dec. the 31st he records,
" We have to-day finished the sixth chapter. This employs me
more or less during the week, though I meet the class only on Wednesday morning. Besides studying the text itself, I compare the ancient and modern versions, and the notes of Chrysostomn, Jerome,
Theodoret, Jarchi, Aben-Ezra, Kimchi, Calvin, Michaelis, Grotius,
Vitl-inga, Gesenius and Hitzig."
In private he had continued the plan of reading Hebrew
daily, and I find him at this date making out a calendar for
1835.  His Arabic class had read the extracts appended to
Rosenmifller's Grammar, and more than fifty verses in the
Koran. It also appears from his diary that he -was not
without the stimulus of companionship in some of his private
studies, and that he was thoroughly interested in the languages of Upper India. He writes,
" I am teaching   ~  Hebrew, and A. A. Hodge Greek. I read a
little Sanscrit daily. I am now engaged upon' Neal's History of the Puritans;' which I read at night. I have wlitten two more articles for the
Repertory which will appear in the forthcoming number. They are
both reviews-the one of Charles Stewart's' Travels in England,' the
other of'Bush's Commentary on the Psalms.'"




352                   PLAN OF STUDY.                       [1834.
He had completed one of his books for the American Sunday School Union, and had abandoned the other.  The subject was the Life of Elijah. Another on the same subject had
just been purchased by the " Union," " and the execution of
music," writes the modest author, is not satisfactory to myself
or others. One has curiosity to know where the fault lay!
This wish is not gratified. I again return to the Journal.
"I finished the first book of Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History last
week. I read it alternately with Josephus."
One should have gathered from what comes next that Mr.
Alexander had not always been the most exact and punctual
of clock-work scholars.
"I hlave gradually fallen into a pretty systematic plan of study,
which with the leave of Providence I shall retain in the coming year.
The most that I ever read before family prayers in the morning, is a
chapter of the New Testament in Greek. Between breakfast and prayers I re:ad Sanscrit. After breakfast I prepare for the lecture or recitation of the day, and pursue my private studies in Hebrew. Two
hours at noon are appropriated to exercise and dinner. In the afternoon I study Isaiah and intend to take half an hour for writing. An
hour and a half is assigned to public and private devotion. Three
evenings in the week I read Arabic with my private class. An hour
at n'ght I give to Eusebius and Josephus, alternately, another to Theology (Turretin at present), and another to writing. Before I go to
bed I read the newspapers or Neal's History of the Puritans, as I feel
inclined."
Then we have this solemn prayer and dedication of himself
to God:
" May the next year be a happy one, intellectually and spiritually!
May less time be wasted than in any former year! May my faculties
be better employed than ever before! May I be more entirely devoted
to my Master's service! May I daily grow in grace and in mastery
over sin! May all my studies and employments be blessed to the
sanctification of my soul! The Lord in mercy grant it for the Saviour's
sake."




JET. 25.           HIS NEW CHAIR.                  353
There is little to show what he was doing in the year
1835. At least outside of his study and his class-room. His
correspondence, which was almost exclusively with Dr. HIall,
is altogether barren of incident, and his diary as usual, is chiefly
taken up with the record of his daily studies. The truth is he
was now stretching himself like an athlete in preparation for
the great tasks of his life. One day was as another and yet
more abundant in the spoil of conquered languages and tributary literatures.  He was learning every hour something
new about the Bible and his own heart. He was in the springtide of early manhood. He was the picture of florid health.
He was full of animal spirits, and was an enigma of muscular,
nervous, and mental force. He was becoming accustomed to
his post in the seminary, and began to find it delightfully congenial to his tastes and suited to his powers. There was only
one drawback. He was growing more and more in love with
Greek, with Europe, with the New Testament. His predominant inclination was no longer what it once was. He found
himself perpetually lured away from his Oriental studies into
what he regarded as forbidden paths. There was therefore a
conflict of purposes or desires in his mind which he feared
might be prejudicial to his highest success, but which in the
wisdom of Providence was overruled and made a singular
blessing to the Church.
The winter of 1835 in Princeton was cold. On Wednesday the 7th of January the thermometer went down five degrees below zero, and the snow was hard on the ground. On
that day Mr. Alexander walked upon the crust to see his
brother James, who was unwell; and found him enjoying the
Olney Hymns. Princeton in those days seems to have been
agog with rumors. For instance, it was said that an attempt
had been made upon the life of the President of the United
States; and then that Calhoun and Benton had fought a duel,
in which the latter was killed and the former wounded.
There was also much talk of a possible war with France.
March came in like a lion; and though there were occasional
vernal appearances, and blue birds were twittering in the




354             MESSIANIC INTERPRETATION.                  [1834.
warm sunshine, yet the snow soon returned with great violence.  The rough gales seem to have blown good to Mr. Alexander, for it brought him a Danish manuscript which was
in alter years a source of considerable pleasure to him. On
Wednesday the first of April, the clerical meeting was held
at Dr. Miller's.  The subjects of discussion were the establishment of lectures against Popery; the superficial cast of
the age; the republication of Boyle's religious works; Dick's
Theology; Moral Philosophy; &c.
But we turn back to the Journal.  On the 14th of January, Mr. Alexander finished the seventh chapter of Isaiah
with the second class.
"It is," he writes, "indeed a most difficult scripture."
What follows, relative to the great German Commentator
and his theory, cannot fail to be of interest to the intelligent
reader:
" Hengstenberg has convinced me that the Messianic interpretation
is encumbered with fewer difficulties than any other. But the difficulties which it has are very serious. I am especially at a loss how to
interpret the fifteenth and sixteenth verses in consistency with Hengstenberg's hypothesis. I am very far, however, from being willing to
abandonr it. It does not follow, because I cannot explain everything
according to a theory, that the theory is false. There may be positive
evidence sufficient to establish it beyond the reach of doubt, though a
thous'Ind difficulties still beset it."
He was, at this time, suddenly visited with another fervor
on the subject of' geography, and this time for geography
viewed in its connections with history.
"I have been thinking, " he says, "of a plan for geographico-historical research. It is to select some portion of the globe and make it
the oblject of particular and long continued attention. I shall, probably,
choose Africa at present, and my design is to go back as far as I car,
and ascertain what the first intimations are which history affords
respecting that vast continent. I had scarcely formed this plan when




MET. 25.]             ENGLISH  REVIEWS.                     355
I came upon a passage in Josephus exactly to my purpose. It is in his
Archieology, Book I., chapter 16, page 24, D. E., Geneva edition, 1611,
where he traces the name Africa to Epher, the second son of Michan
(Genesis, xxv: 4) on the authority of Alexander Polyhistor.'
On January the 16th he expresses a strong contempt for
Antony Theodor Hartmann. His own language is amusingly
vigorous and racy:
" The preface to his book on the Pentateuch is very absurd. The
cant of the Rationalists about love of truth, philosophy, Kritisch and
Unkritisch, tuz ns my stomach. Hengstenberg* has more sense in his
little finger than these men in their loins. Hitzig on Isaiah is disgusting. He is far worse than Gesenius, more unblushing and malignant;
his remarks on the offer of a sign to Ahaz (ch. 6) are worthy of Tom
Paine."
And then he breaks out in his vehement way:
" John Pye Smith and Moses Stuart give up the prophecy in Isaiah.
They may give up what they please for me. While the Germans are
groping their way back from  infidelity, we are slowly(?) moving towards it."
He continued his lectures on Isaiah.
"February 18.-To-night I have been reading Thomas Aquinas on
Original Sin, and find it very entertaining. The method is so perfectly
mechanical and uniform, that I lose sight of it completely, and think
only of the thoughts presented.
" March 7.-I have been reading Vol. III of the Quarterly Review
(Feb.-May, 1810). For some reason old periodicals please me more than
new ones. Time seems to mellow them. I am very fond of reviews.
The variety of topics is entertaining, the rather as there is no methodical
arrangement; while the unity of form and spirit distinguish works of
this sort from miscellaneous magazines. The articles in this volume are
very unequal, but almost all bear the impress of classical scholarship
andl general refinement. Whether the subject be political economy,
* The Biblical Repertory fairly groaned under the burden of allusion to this
writer, imposed upon it by Mr. Alexander.




356              MISCELLANEOUS READING.                   [1835.
politics or poetry, there is still an air of gentlemanly elegance that commands respect. There is great diversity in point of tact as well as taste
throughout the volume."
In the entry which follows he gives his views of the comparative merits of two articles on the same subject, though
under different covers. His mental ingenuity is always apparent when he begins to compare and analyze.
"March 9.-Walsh's letter on the Genesis of the French Government
is revived in the Quarterly for Feb. 1810, and in the Edinburgh for
April, 1810. i like to compare such articles. The one in the Edinburgh is written with far more vivacity and ease of style, and exhibits
a high decree of stirring popular eloquence, but it is flippant and lawyer-like. The Quarterly article is careless and unequal, but dignified
and serious, with an air of sincerity which is wanting in the other.
Its style, though less pointed, is also less monotonous; and there are
passages here and there, which in classical richness and depth of moral
tonie hlave no p:lrallel in the Scotch review. It imay be fancy, but I
think I can mark the contrast between the scholar and the advocate,
even when both are merged in the politician."
Mr. Alexander with all his passion for hard reading was
always a great lover of miscellaneous literature, even in the
more restricted and popular sense of these words; and used
to hang with delight over the English Quarterlies, when those
great journals were at their zenith, in the days of Jeffrey,
Sydney Smith, Horner, Canning, Gifford, and their able confreres. One of his younger brothers informed me that Mr.
Alexander's acquaintance with current literature, which was
something that never ceased to excite the astonishment of
those who knew him best and saw him  most constantly, was
due originally to the fact that he made it a point to read almost everything in the Quarterly and Edinburgh Reviews
during nearly the whole period of the unchallenged supremacy
of' these great critical organs. This not only afforded continual refreshment to his mind, but enabled him to know with
accuracy where to meet with what he wanted in volumes in
which the information was to be obtained at first-hand.  Mr.




AET. 2s3]              BIBLE STUDY.                      357
Alexander was never satisfied with the gatherings of others
he was not content unless he could gather for himself. His
main end here, however, was pure recreation.
The month of April found him as busily engaged as ever.
He was still interested in geography, especially the geography
of the Bible. He was reading Greek and Hebrew in vast
quantities. He was approving himself a workman that needed
not to be ashamed.
"April 13.-I continued my collections for a Hebrew Reader, and
read Genesis iii with the third class. I began to prepare for my lecture on Galilee, writing on the interleaved copy of my geography.
$ince the beginning of the year I have read the Pentateuch, Job, and
Joshua in Hebrew; Matthew, Mark, Luke, Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Philemon, and James in Greek."




CHAPTER XI.
FRIDAY, the 24th, was Mr. Alexander's 26th birthday, on
which occasion his brother James writes, " Gratia, misericordia
et pax, a deo triuno, semper super fratrem  dilectissimum
maneat! "  The joys of this fraternal intercourse will never.
be fully comprehended by those who have been left behind them
and who did not witness the occasions when the two scholars
met. Recent memories of such meetings no doubt partly prompted these warm ejaculations of piety and brotherly love. The
affections of the elder born were radiant and diffusive, and were
fixed with a special and unalterable fondness upon " Addison."
But he the younger, had small acquaintance of the kind that
ripens into intimate friendship; and with his manly impulsive
heart he spent his feelings with all the greater absence of restraint and with all the more intense devotion, on a few.
Chief among these few were the members of his own family,
and the dearest of his companions and friends was " James."'Let us now take a look out of the professor's window, and
see what was going on around him in Princeton and a neigh.bouring city. The Linden trees were half out early in May.
Lilachs were in full leaf, and ready to burst into flower. The
grass was everywhere becoming green. The Seminary examination occurred on the 6th; Dr. Green presided. In the
afternoon Dr. Green dismissed the students with the customary
address.
This was the month of the Anniversaries in New York,
and Mr. Alexander went on to hear the speakers. I find
him on the 11th at the meeting of the Sunday School Union
and of the Assemby's Board of Education. On the 12th he
" stepped into the Anti-Slavery meeting " and heard Birney,




,T. 26.]          OLD AND NEW  SCHOOL.                     359
and George Thompson of Liverpool make speeches; after
which he went to the Anniversary of the Colonization Society, where he heard Dr. Bethune, Dr. Hewett and Dr. John
Breckinridge; from thence he went to the Peace Society, and
at night to the adjourned meeting of the Colonization Society.
A Krooman and several Africans were on the stage.
He soon returned and began to crowd his great folio blankbook with entries relating chiefly to his studies.
What comes next will be attractive to those who retain an
interest in the great battle between the Old and- New Schools.
The Assembly was at this time in session at Pittsburg.
" May 15.-We are all agape to hear something from the Convention and Assembly. The session of the latter has been, for several
years, looked forward to with lively interest, but never with so much
as now. There is this singularity about the present case,-that public
expectation has reference, not to some one specific question, which is
likely to come up, but to the whole tenour of the Assembly's proceedings; or, in other words, to the relative strength of parties. This may,
or may not be indicated by the choice of Moderator. For several
years this first step has been taken by mutual consent, without dispute."
In the next entry he returns for a moment to his quiet occupations at home; but is soon beguiled again to the topic of
fascination.
"May 26.-I finished my inspection of Luther's letters, and the
first draft of the first part of my Archaeological Catechism."
He hails with delight the first tidings from the Assembly.
"We hear to-day from Pittsburg, that Dr. Miller preached the opening sermon in the absence of the last Moderator, and that then a very
curious, and I suppose unexpected trial of strength took place. Dr.
Ely nominated Dr. Beman; on the ground that he was the latest Moderator present as a commissioner. He was voted into the chair; but
not long after (I forget whether at the same or another session) he was
excluded and Dr. W. McDowell substituted. Now, so far as I can discover from the book, it lay entirely with the Assembly to select any




360                 SCRIPTURE READING.                    ti3.
person as their temporary chairman. There was no rule requiring that
he should have once been Moderator; much less that after he was appointed he should be thrown out to make room for another not a
member of the body, simply because he had been Moderator since. I
draw the conclusion, therefore, that the exclusion of Beman was a
party act and a sufficient index of the prevailing power. This is confirmed by the fact that Dr. Phillips, who was nominated by Dr. Miller,
was elected Moderator by a majority of 100 (I write from recollection),
though not only an Old School man, but an Act and Testimony one.
Though I can easily suppose that some of the New Sclhool men, according to custom, joined the majority to avoid defeat. I cannot help regarding this election as a proof that the Old School party is decidedly
predominant. Quodfelix faustumque sit  "
On the second of June he wrote several sheets towards a
revise of Bush's Hebrew Grammar. Besides his daily lessons
in Scripture, he read nine chapters in Hebrew with Vitringa's
analysis. This was to be the subject of his readings with the
second class this summer; and he wished to get it familiar to
his mind in its general connection, instead of becoming familiar
with it piecemeal, which he found the winter before to be
" very disadvantageous."  "The minute verbal study of these
chapters," he writes, "I shall leave to be attended to
from week to week."
The next record gives among other things, further statements concerning the Assembly and its doings.
"June 10.-I red Isaiah, xl. —xlviii. in Hitzig's German version,
comparing it with that of Gesenius and with the original. I also read the
chapters in Hengstenberg's Chrisrologie, on the nature of prophetical inspiration. It is announced to-day in print that John Breckinridge has
been elected Professor of Pastoral Theology, and J. A. Alexander, Adjunct-Professor of Oriental and Biblical Literature."
Professor James Alexander was now busy upon Tully and
the Antonines, and amusing himself with the ranz des vaches.
The father went on an early day in June to lay the cornerstone of a new Presbyterian Church in Freehold. Dr. Archibald Alexander was now one of the busiest of men, and yet




AET. 26.1        PROFESSORSHIP DECLINED.                 361
though he almost never left his study, he lavished many hours
daily on the students who repaired to him for counsel. His
biographer thinks he gave up half his time to them. They
would run in at all hours. The keen sidelong glance of that
bright eye seemed to read them through and through; but the
quick ear and apprehension of the great practical philosopher
seized at once the point of difficulty or embarrassment, and
his wisdom and benevolence seldom failed to relieve the
student's doubts or to inform his ignorance.
In the month of May, Mr. Alexander, as we have seen,
was elected by the General Assembly, Adjunct Professor of
Oriental and Biblical Literature in the Theological Seminary.
This compliment he modestly and firmly declined. The Board
of Directors sat in September. This was his opportunity, and
he availed himself of it to convey to them his sense of the
honour that had been conferred upon him, and of his inflexible
opposition to the proposed change. Here is his letter to the
President of the Board:
" I beg leave to communicate through you, to the Board of Directors, my determination to decline the appointment with which I was
honoured by the last General Assembly. Should the Board desire a
continuance of my services, I am entirely willing to retain my present
station as an Assistant to Professor Hodge."
This not proving altogether satisfactory to the learned
gentlemen of the Board, they sent a committee to wait on
him. But here are his own words:
"After a mneeting of the Directors, I was visited by a committee of
the Board. After conversing with them, I persisted in declining to
accept the appointment of Professor, but consented to the postponement of the whole affair, if the Board thought fit, till the next meeting; which was done accordingly."
There is not one word on his side of this correspondence,
of pretended unfitness for a post for which he must have
known that he was probably better qualified on the score of
preparation than any other man in the church. We have
16




362                      DEAN  SWIFT.                      [l835.
here a fine instance of real humility as distinguished from its
counterfeit.
After a lapse of six years he now again became a teacher
at Edgehill, which was at this time under the direction of Mr.
E. C. Wines. This filled his hands to superfluity; since he was
called upon to teach sixteen hours a week, besides his ordinary
Seminary duties.  IIe had also given lessons during the year
to several youthful pupils, and regularly instructed a private
class in Arabic. During the same time also amidst the multifarious labours of his study, he had read through the Old
Testament once, and the New Testament twice, critically. He
was becominc a master of new languages.  He was daily fired
with new zeal in the old ones. Zest, playftilness,: chameleon
volatility, directness, tremendous energy, unwearied diligence,
unconquerable perseverance, absolute tr:umph over difficulties,
marked him in all he attempted.
The allusion in tile following extract to the Dean of St.
Patrick's cannot be passed over without calling the attention
of the reader to it specially.
"To night I finished the first volume of Dean Swift's correspondence, which has given me much amusement, fo(r with all its folly and
heartles ness, there is a humour so unique, and a common sense so exquisite, that I fcel even the nonsense to be the nonsense uf a master. Besides, I aln passionately fond of all familiar correspondence;
the more minute the better; and in this case, the society in w-hich the,
writer lived, gives the letters even a historical interest. After Swift
changed his politics, he abused Addison often, but confesses now and
then that he is the most agrceable man of his acquaintance."
bIr. Alexander had a vast liking and respect himself, for
his namesake Joseph Addison. Swift, though, was in some respects the more congenial spirit.  He loved these casual rambles among the hedge-rows of literature.  The amount of his
general reading alone was enormous.  Ie is sharp upon
Washington Irving.  It is best to give his own words:
"Finished the Crayon Miscellany, NQ. 2, which contains a few




To. 26.]          MR. JAMES ALEXANDER.                    363
good sentences and thoughts, but on the whole is a paltry catch-penny.
The style lacks the merit which once gained Irving calebtity, though
it exhibits a constant striving after beautiful expression. The sentimental feeling about Byron is contemptible; the style in which it is
clothed is mawkish and nerveless; and the whole book is unworthy of
the Sketch Book and even of Bracebridge Hall, and of course vastly
lower than Knickerbocker."
It was Mr. Alexander's opinion that the first books both of
Irving and Dickens were much their best; and in this opinion
I think that a majority of sensible people concur.
About the middle of July, Mr. James Alexander went to
Saratoga in search of health and recreation; and remained
there, or in the vicinity, the greater part of the summer, drinking the waters and talking with such men as Mr. Pierpont the
poet, Dr. Wayland, and Dr. McClelland, and feasting his ears
with German and Italian music. He returned much invigorated.  Soon after, on the last day of August, he was escorted
one evening to see Chancellor Kent; of whom he writes to
Mr. Hall, "spent a grand evening with Chancellor Kent," and
whom he describes elsewhere, as " robust, loquacious, boyish,
comical, and oddly snaippish and pleasing. His manner is so
singular as to baffle description." He ever continued to regard
the Chancellor as one of the greatest and best of Americans.
The scene.now changes again to Princeton.  The Hebrew
professor was meanwhile making progress in his studies and
with his classes.
It appears that he kept up his communications with Germany, and now and then refreshed himself in the old paths of
Oriental romance and poetry. His habits wrere healthful and
regular, with the exception that his labours seemed excessive,
and that he gave himself no sufficient bodily recreation.
"August 13.-I rose early and walked; studied and wrote notes
on the fifteenth Psalm. Read the fortieth Pstlm with the class. Dr.
Hodge received a letter from James Clark in Boston, enclosing a note in
German to me from Biersthal, my old acquaintance and Rabbinical
instructor.  He promises to send me his Manual Hebrew Lexicon
which he began while I was there. and wants al situation in America.




364           DR. ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER.               [1835.
I read a capital review of Sir John Sinclair on paper currency, in the
London Quarterly for 1811."
" September 7. —Read Psalms xvi, xci, with my class. Added a
codicil to my article on Prelacy.  Resumed the perusal of the Thousand and One Nights in Arabic, which I suspended on the 13th of September last year. I am also rapidly revising Jaubert's Turkish Grammar, which I studied on my voyage to Europe, so that I am likely to
become again quite Oriental."
Dr. Archibald Alexander on a Sunday in September
preached in the Chapel a powerful extemporaneous discourse
from the text "Consider your ways."  It was very awakening
and penetrated the heart and conscience of many. On such
occasions there was often a return of Virginia warmth; and
pictures addressed to the fancy were mingled with shrewd
touches of human nature and profound and moving appeals to
the springs of human action. There were times when Dr.
Alexander could sway the passions at his will.
One may know the impression that would be produced on
an audience by warm, lively appeals from such a man to the imagination and feelings; especially when we take into view the
faultless taste of the style, and the indescribable accompaniments of voice and manner. There are people now living in
Virginia who remember him perfectly as he appeared at
the time that he preached at Briery, and who confirm all that
has been said as to the exceeding sweetness and pathos of
his intonations, and the imimitable naturalness, freedom, and
cordiality of his delivery. There are some, indeed, whose recollections go back to a much earlier period. lMost of those,
however, who knew him in those days have passed away.
There is little in his printed sermons to put one in mind of
the familiar and often unpremeditated but sparkling outpourings of his youth; they are elegant and not devoid of unction,
but grave and severe, and almost wholly bare of ornament. His
style became more and more Doric in its simplicity, as he grew
older and advanced in experience. His friend Dr. Speece sportively compared his efforts in his earlier days to the gambols




MET. 26.]             HIS PREACHING.                  365
of a mettlesome colt in a broad pasture. It was not until Dr.
Alexander's removal to Princeton that his manner underwent
a marked and decided change. The characteristic to which I
refer, was an extraordinary power of bringing the scene he
was depicting before the very eye of his audience. He held in
his hands the wand of a magician. He was undoubtedly one
of the most natural and graphic speakers in America. He
saw the thing himself, and made others see it. There was
nothing theatrical about this; or approaching in the remotest
degree to such a quality. He held his audience under precisely
the same kind of spell that a good story-teller, who is interested
in his subject and who draws inspiration from the open mouths
and sparkling eyes of his little hearers, can throw around
children. This was due to his own childlike simplicity. His
expressions were as nearly colloquial as was consistent with an
almost absolute purity and propriety of diction, and a singular felicity in the choice of words. His sentences, too, were
neatly rounded, as if by a sort of happy chance or careless and
unconscious grace, and were often very harmonious. But before one could well detect anything like cadence or rhythm, the
tune would change, or rather would be broken up, just as in fireside talk. His tones even in his most spirited moments were
those of animated conversation.
I am again indebted for important facts to Dr. Jones of
Bridgeton.  For the greater part of Mr. Jones's term  of
study in the Theological Seminary Mr. Alexander was Adjunct-Professor of Ancient Languages in the College of New
Jersey. The new Professor was appointed during Mr. Jones's
last year; and the pupil remembered to have heard at the time
of his election that one distinguished minister had expressed
the opinion, that " only one Addison Alexander was born in a
century; " while the other felt sure that but one such man
was allotted to a generation.
" One of these persons was the venerable Aslhbel Green, formerly
President of Princeton College; than whom few were better quali
fied to pronounce judgment on a scholar. It is not toos much to say




366                  PRIVATE CLASSES.                      183a
that those most competent to judge would be the last to pronounce such
a eulogy extrlavagaut."
All that this gentleman had ever heard of MIr. Alexander before he came under his instructions, was far more than realized
by what he saw and learnt of him while his pupil. In addition to his ordinary and regular instructions in the Seminary, he
proposed to form a volunteer class, to meet on Saturday afternoon " our only holiday" and to study the Book of Leviticus, in a more private and familiar way.  Four of the young
men gladly accepted his invitation, by meeting him fobr an
hour each week; and the writer of the sketches which I am
now using is persuaded that only those who then and there
listened to these informal exercitations can form an idea of
the interest with which the voung professor contrived to invest
his exposition of a book which under a less fascinating treatment might have seemed dry. He goes on as follows:
"' During one session of my Seminary life, it was my rare privilege
to reside under the samne roof * with Professor Alexander; both of us
occupying lodgings in a house near the Seminary."
Here it was that he became better acquainted with the
man than he had, or otherwise could have been.
"His writings and his instructions in the recitation-room had excited my wonder and admiration at the vastness of his resources and
his skilful management of them. His powers of mind, his acquisitions
andl the facility with wlich he gained all kinds of knowledge seemed
to lift hin above the level of mere mortals, and to place between him
and me an impassable gulf. Brought nearer to him by residence in the
sine house, his mind became to me more a'phenomenon' than before.
There seemed to be no difference in his case between work and play.
Study to other men is a toil; attended or followed by fatigue. In his
case there seemed to be no greater tension of mind while engaged in
his prof undest investigations than when he was reading for entertainment. All forms of mental employment seemed equally easy to him.
I neve.r heard him complain of weariness; and I never saw him when
* At Mrs. Henderxon's, on the Trenton Turnpike, just at the foot of the hill
north of Judge Field's.




JT. 28.]             PERSONAL TRAITS.                      367
he seemed weary. Wlhat would tax any other mind I ever knew
seemed mere entertainment to him.  The old proverb,'no man is
great to his own valet,' was not realized in the case of Addison Alexander."
The writer's private intercourse with him at this time, and
at a subsequent period, when his duties called him at least
once a year to Princeton, enhanced his estimate of
"His moral excellence and the prodigious intellectual powers of the
man. The nearer I approached and the more closely I studied him,
the more I saw to admire, and the more astonishing seemed his capacity. The glance of his mind was alike comprehensive, keen, and minute.
The decisions of his judgment were rapid, beyond those of any man
with whom I ever conversed; and they were as sound as they were
rapid."
Among the personal traits which impressed themselves
upon his notice, in private intercourse, were' transparent honesty and truthfulness, perfect simplicity of character, and the
rarest union of simplicity and commanding dignity."  A more
thoroughly honest man he never knew; and he questioned
whether such ever lived.
"I never knew him to utter, as his own sentiment, what I did not
believe to be the actual exponent of his views. I never knew him to
equivocate or prevaricate, or practise deceit in any form or shape."
Tie never knew a man who had a greater repugnance to
anything approaching pompous pretension, or parade.
"In his manners and conversation, in his lecture-room and in the
pulpit, in his great critical works and in his fugitive writings, there was
an extlaordinary absence of everything like an attempt to impress one
with an idea of his greatness. You could not but feel it; but it was
not because he made an effort to convince you of it. You felt his
grefltness just as you feel the greatness of a lofty mountain or a Gothic
cathedral."
After speaking of his conscientious regard for truth and
charity, Dr. Jone3 continues:




368           BEARING TOWARDS HIIS CLASS.                  [1835.
"This same tenderness of conscience and of feeling was often
evinced in a way which elicited the admiration of his pupils, and
greatly heightened their estimate of his piety. Like all other theological teachers, he was occasionally brought into contact with students
who annoyed him by their indolence, heedlessness, mental sluggishness, or self-conceit; and such he would sometimes rasp with no little
severity. Whenever this occurred, his students noticed that for some
time after, his prayers before his class were marked by unusual humility of tone and tenderness of spirit; as if the recollection even of a
merited castigation had cost him profound regret."
So'habitual was this exhibition of a tender spirit under
such circumstances, that students on their return to the class
after a temporary absence from the recitation-room, frequently
suspected that some one had been recently visited with one of
these telling rebukes, from the peculiarly subdued and reverential tone of the Professor's opening exercise.
A pupil of some years' later date,* in referring to Mr. Alexander's bearing towards his classes, remarks that the only fault
he could ever see in him as a teacher, was his impatience of
dulness.
"He seemed to entertain towards the very dull or incorrigibly
stupid youths, who are found in almost every academical class, a feeling akin to resentment or indignation; and he frequently showed them
no mercy. There are, I believe, several traditions in the Seminary of
his unsparing severity to some very pious, good brethren, or who were
esteemed such, which (so run these traditions) aroused the feeling of
the class against him."
There were traditions of this sort afloat when this writer
was in the Seminary.
"I could not account for it until I had the opportunity of observing
him in the class myself. I then ascertained, or fancied that he had no
conception of the slowness and dulness of some minds. IIe thought
therefore that the only hypothesis by which he could account for the
manifest failure of some of his pupils to make any adequate progress,
was that they were idle and neglectful of their duties. In his view,
-  Dr. Rice, of Mobile.




AET. 26.1               SHARP CENSURE.                         369
for a Seminary student, a candidate for the ministry, to ne-lect the
advantages furnished him by the church, to waste his time in idleness
or frivolity, was a great sin and shame. In his eyes it was hateful hypocrisy; and he had the most profound scorn for everything like sham
and pretence in religion."
It is true, too, that in so large a school as Princeton was
then, there are always some who deserve sharp censure on
the score of laziness:' A sort of literary antinomians, concerning whom  the Professor
felt in a measure as the apostle Paul did concerning those who would
turn the grace of God into lasciviousness,'their damnation is just;'
and he did condemn them  without much compunction.  I think that
he was naturally of quick temper,* but I have no doubt that it was
somewhat soured and rendered a little morbid by his earlier experiences
as a teacher in the Seminary.
"l He learned afterwards to make more allowance for want of capacity,
and to feel more Christian charity towards real offenders, while he still
condemned their conduct.  After I entered the Seminary, I saw but
little of the petulance, anger, and undue severity, for which he had a
reputation among former classes. It must be said, however, that the
students who made fair progress in his department knew nothing and
could remember nothing of this nature.  The severity of his reproof
was often solely in the tone and quality of the voice."
I-e remembers a case in which he was himself the sufferer:
" He asked me why a certain form  of a Hebrew word was not so
and so, naming the normal condition of the word. I replied with, I
believe, a somewhat flippant manner,'It ought to be.' His answer
came instantly flashing back,'No it oughtn't!' and I felt a sort of
thrill shoot through me like the electric shock."  He could not tell, at
first, what caused the sensation, but soon discovered that it was due entirely to the tone of voice in which the few syllables of reply had been
uttered.*  "It made me cautious ever after of the tone in which I an* This is doubtless true; and his other emotions were as quick and energetic as his "temper."  His temper was certainly at times bitter. I do not
imagine, however, that his temper was ever habitually or even for a length of
time continuously sour. Dr. Rice, probably, does not mean this.
16*




3 70                     CONVERSATION.                        [135.
swered his questions. He then went on very pleasantly to- say,'You
mean that it would be so, but for such and such circumstances.' "
" I have in the course of my life met with three teachers of pre
eminent ability as teachers, and lie was the foremost of them all, for
pupils of intellect above the average.  For dull boys he was not so
good, for the reasons above stated. If a young man had anything in
him, and was disposed to make use of his advantages, Mr. Alexander
could draw it out better than any teacher I ever saw.
"HIis instructions were characterized by surpassing clearness.
There was no mistaking his meaning; and there was no mixing of subjects, no confusion of thought."
The same writer also refers to his directness and brevity,
and to the happy peculiarity of his diction.
Few persons of scholarlike habits and recluse disposition
have had sulch talents for common talk, or more carefully concealed the gitt from the vulgar.  In allusion to MIr. Alexander's social qualities, and the unaffected charm of his manner
when he was at leisure and  among  his friends, one of his
warmest admirers t writes, that he never monopolized conver.
sation as Coleridge did; and never like Johnson, attempted to
bear you down by the weight of his greatness, I or the force
of authority.   "With intimate  friends he would  take his
proper share in conversation; and in this, as in his writings,
there was no redundancy of words, nor irrelevancy of ideas."
His manner was that of perfect ease and unstudied simplicity;
his language precise and elegant; and all his utterances were
marked by point and condensation.   So finished was his ordinary talk that so far as accuracy is concerned, it might have
been committed to print without correction.   And the same
may be said of his oral interrogations in the recitation-room.
* It has been strongly impressed upon me that with his talent and love for
personation, he sometimes may have copied after the Captain of the Samson, of
whose manner of scolding the sailors without being angry he has expressed his
warmest approval.
f Dr. Beach Jones.
$ And the writer might have added, never, as Prescott says Miacaulay did,
oppressed you with the ponderous weight of his matter. He was always easy
and colloquial.




~T. 26.]              OBSERVER OF MEN.                     371
"A  competent judge who had never heard of Dr. Alexander's
fame, would have pronounced himn an extraordinary man simply from
listening to his questions to his class. As to all the minute laws and
elegancies of language, both written and spoken, he had no superior.
In orthography, orthoepy, and syntax he was a model.
"With all his vast, various, and even curious learriing; with all
his addiction to study; with all his recluse habits; Mr. Alexander was one of the wisest practical judges of men and affairs whom
I have ever known. I-Ie rarely erred in his estimate of men, and was
one of the wisest of counsellors on almost any subject on which he
was consulted."
That one so immersed in books should sometimes be abstracted when moving among men, or that he should be careless or oblivious of little things, would have excited no surprise, because such is usually the case.  "Yet a keener observer of all that was passing in the busy world around him, it
would have been hard if not impossible to find.  Names and
circumstances and peculiarities of manner indelibly impressed
themselves on his mind.  Little incidents were as accurately
retained as great events and fundamental principles.  He has
reminded me of things I had said, many years after I had
utterly forgotten them."
The friend to whose exact recollections I owe so much of
the materials of this account, winds up a paragraph by saying,
that
"When we consider the versatility of his powers and his love of
change, and the fact that he rarely, if ever, carried two successive
classes through precisely the same routine of studies, and constructed
scarcely any two of his sermons on the same plan; it will furnish
another proof of the healthiness of his mind and the solidity of his
p)iety, tlhat he should never have adopted. theological whimsies nor
darted off in heretical aberrations."
This is admirably said. With all his changes he ever swung
back again like the agitated needle and pointed steadily to
the pole of duty and right inclination.  Like Wordsworth's
lark, however he might ruffle his plumage and beat the air with
his wings, it was only that he might soar the more easily into




3 72                    DR. HALL.                    t[1835.
the bright skies; he never forgot his nest, and his little household cares upon the ground. In brief, with all his seeming
and real vacillations, with all his inexplicable flights and
descents, he always remained
" True to the kindred points of heaven and home."
There is little of positive value to be gathered from this part
of Mr. Alexander's private correspondence. He seldom wrote
letters except on matters of business, and these were commonly
very short. He corresponded, however, at irregular intervals
with a few intimate friends. The only one to whom he occasionally poured out all the feelings of his soul in his epistolary
effusions, was his brother James. There were certain men
nevertheless to whom he wrote with great freedom and with
great satisfaction to himself and them. Among these the first
place is due to Dr. Hall of Philadelphia, allnd afterwards Trenton, to whom he continued to write copiously. His neighborhood, his position at one of the great centres of polite information and of the operations of the Presbyterian Church, his intelligent congeniality of feeling, his tried friendship, and his
incessant communications with the professor's elder brother,
made this intercourse at once valuable and full of enjoyment.
When he removed from Philadelphia to Trenton, the country
scholar could not resist the temptation of keeping aut courant
of what was passing on the banks of the Delaware, and found
or created many occasions of reminding his friend of his own
fixed position at Princeton.  Mr. Hall possessed one great
advantage over the mass of Mr. Alexander's acquaintances, he
had a perfect comprehension and an exquisite appreciation of
his humour. This led to the most comical imaginary strife or
mock-warfare between them. This will explain the fact that
half that is contained in these letters must be regarded as pure
irony. This statement is necessary to meet the case of those
who have a sort of colour-blindness in this matter. Mr. Alexander was really modest and humble, yet it will be perceived
that he often writes to Mr. Hall in a tone which if serious




MET. 26.3          CORRESPONDENCE.                    373
would be one of supercilious condescension, or arrogant presumption. Of course all this was the merest fun, and was so
taken by his correspondent. Sometimes the letters are refined
burlesques. They are frequently couched in the language of
diplomacy. They are often signed with a succession of upright hair-strokes crossed with flourishes of the pen in the
form of an hour-glass. Sometimes they are from a bishop, in
due pomp of ritualistic precision, and breathe the most sacerdotal or even Prelatical spirit. Sometimes they are from a
very testy and punctilious "star preacher" (a character
whom Mr. Alexander abhorred most intensely) who is solicitous about the times and circumstances of his personal exhibition, and inquires anxiously, or gives directions, about the
benches in the aisles. Some of the letters are made up almost
wholly of the current ministerial slang or cant. Often the
writer is half in earnest in what he says in a strain of ironical
affectation, and chooses this mode of conveying real feelings.
Sometimes he writes gravely on some subject requiring or inviting grave attention. In all cases he shows unlimited confidence in the discernment and fidelity of his Philadelphia
agent, caterer, and friend. Not a few of the letters are on
questions of ecclesiastical procedure, the General Assembly
and the New School controversy, &c., and are full of references to the names and characters of living men. They are also
remarkably and intentionally local in their allusions, and are
some of them by this time quite unintelligible. Now and then
I have fallen in with one which could be understood only by
the man who wrote it, or possibly also the man to whom it was
written. Restricted as the field of selection is thus made it
yet presents a number of letters which however uninteresting
they may seem to the superficial reader, will undoubtedly
afford a vantage ground to those who wish to see the soul of
the writer in its undress garb, and from a multitude of minute
disclosures of character and feeling, to ascertain for themselves
what manner of man he really was. These letters will be introduced from time to time according to their dates.
Princeton was at this time suffering greatly from the rava



374                    ARABIC LETTER.                       rl835.
ges of a disease resembling what is now known as the typhoid
or enteric fever.  Many deaths occurred sometimes in one
family.  Dr. Howell, the friend and physician of the Alexanders, whose family had been scourged and reduced in numbers
by the fever, died himself on the second of November. Early
in December the great fire was raging in New York, and the
refiection in the heavens was distinctly seen at Princeton, and
mistaken for an aurora.  We have but few  glimpses of Mr.
Alexander in the midst of these occurrences, but such as they
are they indicate the fervour and the brave energy with
which he was holding on his way as a student.
Monday the 21st, like several of its predecessors, was a
bad day; mizzling and slippery. During the whole of this
dull day Mr. Alexander was closeted with Mr. John Porter
Brown, U. S. Consul at Constantinople, decyphering under
his eye an Arabic letter which was sent to Mr. Brown by the
U. S. government as a test of his knowledge of the language.
Mr. Brown was applying for the situation of interpreter at the
Porte.  The letter was found to relate to certain missionaries
at Beirut.*  Mr. Brown also gave IMr. Alexander a Ferinda, such as are used by the IHadjis.  It was very beautiful,
writes his brother James.
On Lord's day, the 27th, Dr. A. Alexander preached
another remarkable sermon in the Seminary chapel.  It was
on Regeneration, and struck his eldest son as being as great an
effort as he ever heard from him. It was astonishing how he
would sometimes flame up and electrify the audiences that
had grown accustomed to his colder and more didactic sermons.  He certainly had the faculty of thinking and composingr while on his feet, at times looking as if he were forgetful
* The prospective Consul had hunted all over the United States for some one
to make out the MS. Among these he went to Peter S. Duponceau, President of the American Philosophical Society, who asked if he had seen Professor
Addison Alexander, of Princeton? On his sayling he had not, Professor D. said he
had better proceed thither at once. My impression is that several other
scholars had been baffled by that manuscript. They found out between them
that it was written in the Morocco dialect.




&ET. 26.]               PRAYERS.                      375
of the presence of hearers, in a degree that has not often been
equalled.
One thing in the pulpit ministrations of Mr. Alexander
which specially arrested the notice of devout and reflective
minds was his prayers. In these, as in his sermons, be spoke
as at the time he felt. At times there was much more of fervour and unction than at others. But never were his prayers
eloquent addresses to his audiences.
His reverence for the great Hearer of Prayer was profound
and self-abasing. He seemed to forget everything but the presence of the Divine Majesty. If he had a fault in this exercise
it was the condensation of too much in a brief compass. He
poured forth his adoration, confession, supplication, and
thanksgiving, with such rapidity that only by the closest attention could his fellow-worshippers accompany him. His
prayers might sometimes be styled grand; but grand not because he sought to make a grand prayer, but because the
themes were so grand, and because they were so simple, so
free from everything like parade. It would not have been
strange if a man of Mr. Alexander's scholastic habits had
lacked simplicity and unction in prayer. That he was characterized by both of these excellences, was to his friend one
evidence of the reality and depth of his piety. Like his venerable father, Dr. Addison Alexander was in conversation
very reticent as to his own religious experience. But when he
came to prostrate his soul before God, in public devotion, his
piety unconsciously disclosed itself. " I remember attending a
meeting of great interest, at which several foreign ministers
addressed the Synod of New Jersey; and where Mr. A. was
called upon to lead in prayer.
" At the close of the services one of the most spirituallyminded members of the body remarked to me that the prayer
of Dr. Alexander had been to him by far the most impressive
and profitable part of the evening's services; and in this
opinion my own judgment fully acquiesced."
Mr. Alexander was not usually in the habit of writing out
his prayers; but I find a little volume for this year which con



376                      A SPECIMEN.                        1535.
tains some specimens of his private devotions, and some liturgical forms which were used at the opening of his lectures and
recitations in the Seminary. They are not at all like the peti.
tions I have heard him offer extemporaneously, which were
more abundant, particular and colloquial. Subjoined is a
single specimen:': Jan. 18, 1835.-Matt. xxv. Lord, may I be ready when Thou comest! May my lamp be burning! 0, give me a watchful spirit and save
me, O save me, from forgetfulness and sloth!
" Teach me, O Saviour, how to estimate my privileges; help me to
resolve that every moment shall be spent for Thee! I renounce vain
amusements, idle talking, slothful ease, useless reading and all mere
literary, intellectual pleasures. If life is a span, how can I find time
for mere diversion? I forego them all, not grudgingly, but with a willing heart. Thou, who hast made me willing, accept and bless the
sacrifice! 0, for the art of redeeming time! Wilt Thou not teach me,
O my God? I ask of Thee, for Christ's sake, not to let me waste a
moment hereafter! May I be burdened with the weight of my responsibility! May I feel, more and more, what work I have to do, as
well as undo!  The habits of five and twenty years are to be
broken, and new ones to be formed. Mercy and help, 0, Lord, my
Sovereign Lord!.Thou who lovest little children, make me a little
child! Make me humble, simple-hearted, tender, guileless and confiding! Kill my selfish pride! Shiver my hard heart! Break my stubborn spirit! Make me love mykind by making me to love Thee! O soften me, my Saviour, by showing me Thy own tender, bleeding, melting heart! Purge envy from my heart by causing me to live and
work for Thee! 0, that this foul fiend were wholly dispossessed! I
bless Thee for trials-may they do me good!  Compel me to remember that I am not my own! Save me from being the object of envy
or ill-will. Save me from the wickedness of trying to excite it!
Lord, I would give the world for true humility. 0, make me-make
me humble!"
One of the prominent traits of his disposition in after-life,
was rare freedom from the canker of jealousy or envy, and a
very low opinion of his own powers and influence.  This, indeed, had always been the case, as was best known to those




At. 26.1                 RESOLUTIONS.                       3 77
of his immediate family; but from this time onward the trait
became more marked and fixed.
The following resolutions are appended to the preceding
prayer. They relate to the practical guidance of his life.
I RESOLUTIONS.
"1. I will try to perform every act of my life with conscious regard to religious motives. I will eat, drink, talk, study, teach, write
suffer, not only as a Christian, but with Christian affections, with the
love of Christ in my heart.
" 2. I will try to live for a death-bed, and for eternal life. I will
try to remember what it is I am living for, and to form the habit
of remembering it always-not at certain seasons only.
" 3. I will try to be tender-hearted and to love my fellow-creatures.
I will deny myself, in order to cherish the affections. I will try to
show that I am no misanthrope.
" 4. I will try to maintain an humble spirit; I will try to live as
though it matters not whether I be known or unknown —honoured or
despised.  I will try to rejoice in the eminence of others.  It is
hard, but I will try it in the strength of my Redeemer. But, O my
Lord, Thou knowest I may try forever, yet in vain, without Thy
grace!;" 5. I will try to hate sin. I will think and think about my Saviour's
sufferings, till my heart is broken. I shall fail a hundred and a hundred times; but I will still persist till my proud heart yields, and I
become a little child. 0, that my head were waters! "
" Feb. 26.-Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! Thlou
hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me and
hear my prayer. Rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me
in Thy hot displeasure. Lighten my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death.
Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. According to Thy mercy remember Thou me, for Thy goodness' sake. O Lord
pardon mine iniquity, for it is great! Turn Thou unto me, and have
mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my
heart are enlarged. O bring Thou me out of my distresses! Look upon
mine affliction and my pain, and forgive me all my sins. Mine eyes
are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.
0 keep my soul and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I put my
trust in Thee! Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief! Let the blood
of Christ purge my conscience from  dead works, to serve the living




378             ESTIMATE OF HIS PRAYERS.                  r1835.
God. Let me have grace whereby I may serve God acceptably! 0,
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day and forever, by Thee let me
offer this sacrifice of praise to God: and 0, Thou God of peace, who
didst bring again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make me
perfect in every good work to do Thy will; work in me that which is
well pleasing in Thy sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever! Amen."
The lamented Dr. Edward Yeomans, of Orange, N. J., has
contributed the following sentences on this subject:
" The structure of his public prayers strikes me as a marked example of his ready aggregation, or setting things in array. And in this
field his peculiar facility was another excellence. In exteinpore prayer
it is as easy to develope a train of thought as to string together common-placesand stereotyped phrases. Dr. Alexander did neither. The
hardest thing to do, extemporaneously, is to enumerate particulars connected rather by a real than by a logical association; and this is the
thing to do in prayer-set forth things connected more by a common
root in the heart's want, than by abstract or mechanical relations.
This came naturally to Dr. Alexander. I think I have never heard
any other extempore prayers so characterized as his by this simple collection of things directly asked of the Lord, and at the same
time so ready and orderly in the enumeration of the things. Hle asked
for things instead of descanting on subjects."
Nothing was ever more truly or justly said. The prayers
of this migbhty man of God, were as simple as those of a little
child; but they were also the prayers of one who sometimes
found it natural to unburden his heart in sentences and phrases, which though familiar in his mouth as household words,
were such as are not often met with in the language of formal
and studied devotion.
There was a certain peculiarity about the prayer before
lecture. Dr. Moore says that his petitions in the class-room
always struck him much more forcibly than his recitations.
"They had that wonderful concentration and variety with an essential sameness, which -you notice in Calvin's prayers at the close of




AET. 26.]        PRAYERS BEFORE LECTURE.                   379
his lectures on the Minor Prophets; which while they are always substantially the same in their leadin( outlines, yet gather up and concentrate in a few words the substance of a whole lecture. His prayers were remarkable for their suggestiveness. IIe would bring in a
word, in some connection that would suggest its etylnology, or some
philological fict associated with it, which threw a new and rich light
on the thought expressed; and although he never dwelt on the suggestion or carried it out in detail, or seemed to have thoughlit of it be:ore,
it gave food for thinking long afterwards.  His wonderful fluency
showed itself in his prayers more than in any other exercise I ever heard
him in; and I felt the power of his intellect in packing, condensing and
arranging thought, without losing any of its perfect clearness, but
rather giving new lig'it by its angles of crystallization: in his prayers
in the class-room more than anywhere else. His command of language then was very wonderful, indeed to my mind unsurpassed, especdally in that scholarly collocation of words that showed meanings
and relations of them in his own mind which this peculiar collocation
indicated without exactly expressing, and suggested so much more
than was said."
On Monday the 13th of December, Professor James Alexander made the acquaintance of Signor Borsieri, a friend of
Silvio Pellico, who had been for fifteen years a political prisoner in the dungeons of Italy. Mr. Borsieri was before or afterwards presented to Mr. Addison Alexander, and became, if I
mistake not, one of his numerous foreign teachers.  One Captamn Stuart, a British Army officer, on half-pay, who had been
stationed many years in Persia and was thoroughly acquainted
with the Persian language, was about this time introduced to
Mr. Alexander.  The Captain was a genuine John Bull,
dressed in a smock-blouse.  On being asked to give examples
of the Persian pronunciation, he consented by uttering a number of harsh throat-splitting gutturals.  Mistaking the smile
of his listeners and the impression he had made upon them, he
exclaimed in a tone of gratified bonhomie, as if he meant to
echo their inmost feelings, "Pretty language!"  There was
no end to the fun the cloistered student had with these outlandish people, and with the mistakes and idiosyncrasies of
the workmen in his employment.




CHAPTER XII.
THE notable event of the year 1836 was the election of MIr.
Alexander, in the month of February, to the chair of Oriental
and Biblical Literature in the Union Theological Seminary,
just established in the city of New York. The fact was never
generally known; for like his father and brother before him,
3Ir. Alexander seldom spoke of such things; indeed, never
without strong reason. This, however, he respectfully declined. Dr. Archibald Alexander on such points was almost
absolutely dumb. His son Addison was not quite so reticent,
but very much so.
Iu January I find him writing comments on Leviticus for
the benefit of his private class. These records possess great
exegetical value, but are not suited for extract.
"Jan. 16.-Finished my comments on the 5th chapter of Leviticus.
The work becomes more and more interesting as I get along with it.
The chaos of the ritual begins already to assume some shape. In the
afternoon I read Leviticus v. 5-6, and afterwards wrote my notes on
Chap. vi. 1-7."
At night he diverted his mind over Dyer's History of
Cambridge, and Burnett's History of His Own Times. These
nocturnal rambles in all good literature were of the utmost
advantage to him in his subsequent labours as a commentator.
It was at this time usual with him to go through most of
his heavy work before the twilight.  With candles came the
joys of discursive wanderings at the sweet will of fancy.
Perhaps none in Princeton had more real, inward contentment.




XET. 27.]          DISCURSIVE READING.                      381
"Feb. 13.-Finished the Edinburgh Review for October last. The
first half of it is dull. The article on Bolingbroke is slight compared
with that in the Quarterly. Its only value consists in its citations from
Mackintosh's manuscripts. The article on political associations and on
the House of Lords interested me, because they let me into the existing state of politics. I had no idea of the strength of the Tories, until
I learned it from the concessions of this writer. But the leading article undoubtedly is the best. I cannot help feeling still that the estimate of Mackintosh's power is exaggerated; partly through the influence of party spirit: but the castigation of Coleridge pleases me much,
not only by its truth and spirit, but by the vivacity and vigour of the
style, which is worthy of the old days of the Review.  The writer
must be Jeffrey; thefre is not wit enough for Sydney Smith; the style is
too correct and elegant for Brougham; too rapid, affluent and laboured
for Macaulay.  The concluding observations are original, ingenious,
and to me consolatory."
The hints disclosed in these extracts of his knowledge of
contemporary English politics, are not delusive.  IIe kept
abreast of the whole intellectual movement of the age. As in
his youth he was mindful of the words of the oracle, and found
no subject of uninspired knowledge more instructive or entertaining than man.
FROM MR. ALEXANDER TO MR. HALL.
" PRINCETON, April 4, 1836.
" Mfy Dear ASir:' I make bold to draw upon your kindness for a favour.  The accompanying parcel is a Latin Dictionary, sent to me from Germany,
in sheets. It is there already bound in one volume, and I am very
unwilling to have it bound in two. I am afraid however, to trust a
country binder with so thick a book. You will oblige me greatly by
having it strongly, neatly and compactly bound in calf, and causing the
binder's bill to be sent to me. The book itself may wait for a convenient opportunity. The inclosed letter has relation to the American
Quarterly Review. As the bearer of my despatches is a minor, I put
it inside for greater safety.
"Very truly, yours,' J. ADDISON ALEXANDER.




382                 QUARTERLY  REVIEW                     U18K6.
" P. S. —As you may have some influence on the new r6gime of the
Review, I beg that you will take some pains to free it from two evils,
which have greatly hurt it: (1) The elementary or ABC character of
many of its article;, particularly those on scientific subjects, s )me of
which have resembled the prefatory chapter in a college text-book.
(2) The want of that unity in principle and sentiment, both political'
and literary, which gives the Edinburgh and Quarterly their peculiar
cllarin by investing them respectively with a personal identity of cl!aracter and tong. In my (humble) opinion, the admission or exclusion of
discussion and diversity of sentiment, on leading questions, is precisely
that which constitutes the specific difference between a modern Magazine and a modern Review.
" I likewise hope that the new editors will abolish the distinction
between reviews and critical notices. as a magazineish feature unworthy
of the great guns of periodical literature.
"Excuse this excursus and likewise the binding-job, with which on
second thoughts, I am ashamed of troubling you; but those who live
in the centre of the world must expect to be plagued with ceminissions from the circumference! "
Tuesday, the 5th of April, was a cool, beautiful day, of the
late winter species. The frogs had just began to sound their
instruments in the meadows upon Stony Brook. The college
examination was going on. In the evening Dr. Archibald
Alexander preached powerfully to the students from the passage, " There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,"
&c.  At the clcse he was seized with a deadly faintness,
which however left him  uninjared.  On the 17th, which was
Sabbath, Dr. Archibald Alexander completed his sixty-fourtI
year. The college vacation commenced about the middle of
the month, and Professor James Alexander took a trip to Virginia.  On the 19th of April his brother Addison writes to
his Philadelphia friend for Richardson's Arabic and Persian
Dictionary, which he afterwards reviewed in the Repertory;
and on the 19th of May, to thank him for some books he had
had bound and lettered for him, and to beg him to go in quest
of an inkstand of peculiar shape. These commissions were
always discharged with punctual fidelity, and this fact went
far to cement a friendship which was already one of great




.&T. 27.1                  DR. RAMSEY.                            383
strength. Mr. Alexander never forgot a kindness, and though
he said little, was one of the most grateful beings I ever knew.
The Commencement this year was largely attended, and
was dignified by the presence of General Harrison, who made
a speech in the Campus.
It is now my privilege to spread before the reader some
of the recollections of the Rev. James B. Ramsey of Lynchburg, Va., who was four years under the tuition of IMr. Alexander as a student in the Theological Seminary, viz: from 1836 to
1839. His reminiscences will be all the more prized when it is
known that they were written in the chamber of suffering, and
at much cost of strength and feeling. Dr. Ramsey entered
the Seminary in the autumn of 1836, but does not think he
ever spoke to Mr. Alexander except in recitation. He has,
however, a very definite impression of him as he appeared in
the  class-room, and  of the  impatience  he manifested  and
uttered, at the idleness of some of the students. The remarks
were usually very brief but very keen; and made him  very
unpopular with a portion of the class.
"My own feelings," says Dr. Ramsey, "and that of others too, of
all as I regarded it, whlo took the right view of the subiect, was that he
never uttered a sentence too severe for conduct so utterly unworthy of
a student for the ministry.*  I felt glad that conduct which it seemed to
* Dr. Hall writes, that his relations to Dr. Alexander, from the time when
the former became a member of the first class he taught in the Seminary, to
that of their last interview previous to the death of the latter, were of the
most agreeable character.  He has none but pleasant recollections of him. He
admied him as a prodigy of learning and a most versatile genius: while he
loved him for the kindly interest he manifested in all who wished to make progress in their studies. " He was never pleased with young men who neglected
preparations for the class-room, or who attempted to recite when it was
too evident that they had given little attention to study.  His patience
was sometimes sorely tried by students who seemed to lack conscientiousness, and a proper sense of their responsibility as candidates for the ministry." Dr. Hall never knew him to administer a rebuke to one of this class unless it was richly deserved, " and there can be no doubt that his keen satire in a
few such cases has done immense good to many others besides the persons
addressed."




384              ABHORRENCE OF DRONES.                    [1836.
me, would have incurred censure in a Freshman in college, and have
placed him in the lowest grade at least of scholarship and diligence,
should be held up to scorn and contempt.
"In the autumn of 1837 he volunteered to give a course of lectures to three or four of our class, on the book of Leviticus.'Drs. Daniel Stewart and M. W. Jacobus were of that number as well as myself.
The exercise was recitation and lecture.intermingled, and was a rich
treat."  He was never more at his ease than on these occasions, or
appeared to be more completely master of his theme. An abstract of
these lectures is still preserved by this pupil. " He evidently took
great delight in communicating knowledge, and before such as appreciated them he poured forth copiously his stores of learning with great
childish simplicity of language and manner."
The intense abhorrence and disgust which the Professor
ever showed for these Seminary drones, their culpable ignorance, and especially the attempt to cover it up, and to give
an impression of knowledge where there was evident consciousness of neglect, and for everything like conceit, rather
tended to make Mr. Ramsev take a strong liking to him; for
it seemed to him that
" There were some there, who, had they been dealt with as faithfulness to the church required, would have been dismissed and ordered
to betake themselves to some other calling in which laziness and vanity
might better be tolerated."
The opening lecture one year while the writer was there
was delivered by Mr. Alexander, from  the passage " Let no
man despise thy youth," and it was made to bear with tremendous severity upon those who were frivolous and negligent of their duty; and though some thought its spirit of
caustic satire not altogether appropriate, it was heartily approved by the writer:
"I have no doubt," he says "' that it was just the very thing needed, and that by the very keenness of its point it penetrated the blunted sensibilities of a few who could be made to believe in no other way,
while it did good to the whole class, profiting even those who were
tenderly conscientious and circumspect."




JT. 27.]                GENTLENESS.                       385
The pupil thought then and thinks now that the Professor
showed, as he says, " not a little patience with our blunders
and slowness in learning the Hebrew." And the impression
always produced on his mind by his teaching was that of
great kindness and magnanimity toward all who appeared
anxious to do their duty. He was himself exceedingly timid, and
whenever called upon in class during the first year, rose confused and often found it difficult to express himself without
painful hesitation; yet he fails to remember having seen the
first mark of restless anger in his teacher, or to have been treated
with anything but the greatest gentleness; so that he often felt
grateful for the forbearance shown, and to use his own words,
" very much ashamed of myself for giving occasion for it."
The same writer was one of those who sought him out in his
study, and like most others who did so was agreeably disappointed.
" My first visit to his room was, if I remember right, at the end of
the first year, during vacation, and it was in consequence of his sending
for me, to offer me a situation as teacher in a private family in town
(Commodore Stockton's). I occasionally after this called upon him,
but never without a positive cause; and I always found him perfectly
accessible and ready to hear patiently, and attend to, anything I had to
say: and there was no professor there to whom I went with more perfect freedom from undue constraint than to him."  He had much more
difficulty in feeling at his ease with some of the other professors. A
"vast gulf" seemed to separate him froma them.  This, he imagines,
may have been " all his own fault."
"On one occasion I remember calling oa him (Addison)-it was
during my last year-with a passage in Hebrew, in 1 Sam., chap. xx.
which I could make nothing of. He looked at it, and not finding any
solution of the difficulty, after looking at some commentaries, told me
to call in again in a few days, and in the mean time he would see if he
could find any more plausible attempt at a solution."
Before he called, the Professor sent for him and showed him,
in some old German, commentary what seemed to be a very
ingenious solution indeed, based of course upon the supposition that some slight error must have crept into the text.
17




386               INTEREST IN HIS CLASS.                   [1836.
" It was, however, the interest which he so promptly took in the
matter, and the pains he was at to find out everything which could be
found out in that little affair of minute criticism, that was so pleasing
to a student, such as I then was, and that was so unlike what many
have thought of him."
The minuteness and wide extent of his scholarship were
constantly appearing in the allusions and illustrations to
which the teacher continually had recourse, especially in his
familiar and least elaborate lectures.
"No one " he says, "' could help feeling the vast difference between
the instructions of such a man, and those of one perhaps equally
familiar with the immediate subject of instruction," but one who in
his comparative ignorance of, or non-acquaintance with, matters which
were but remotely connected with his chair, should be constantly betraying that he was a man of "far narrower range of thought and
knowledge."
He seemed to be almost unconscious of his own large resources; and his pupils always believed him to be just as humble as he was learned and able.  There was often exhibited a
feeling of dissatisfhction with himself and his own methods
and plans,
" And a way of speaking of others who were greatly his inferiors
in every particular, that seemed strange to those who regarded him as
so great a man." This feeling of dissatisfaction with his own arrangements, "led him very frequently to change his course and method.
His ideal of everything seemed to be even further beyond his attainment, than his attainment was beyond that of almost all others."
The writer pays a just tribute to the value of his teacher's
oral expositions:
"As an exegete, I hardly know how he could be excelled. His
analyses, with which he introduced each exegetical lecture, so concise,
so clear, so simple, were themselves far better than most commrnentaies."
To their class he lectured only on part of Isaiah and the Messianic
Psalms. "To his lectures on the first ten chapters of Isai:ll I owe
more than to all the other instructions received in the Semlinary, as to




ET. 27.]             ORAL EXPOSITIONS.                      387
the method of analyvzing and expounding Scripture." Speaking of tho
valuable labours of certain other expositors, the writer goes on to say
that he profited comparatively little by them in this respect. " I learned indeed the meaning of much I did not know before; I received a
certain quantum of explanations; but I did not even begin to learn how
to explain the Bible myself. But I had not got through with the first
chapter of Isaiah with Dr. Alexander's lectures till I felt as if I had
become conscious almost of a new power. Every passage he touched
seemed to be suddenly lighted up with a new beauty and glory, and
often a single remark would be so suggestive that it seemed at once to
pour light all over the Bible, to bring up into new and striking association other truths and passages, and to stimulate the mind to the highest
activity, and fill it with wonder at the amazing fulness of God's word."
The class of expounders to whom Dr. Ramsey had referred,
were equal to no such mighty office as this.  They
" Would give us the minute details of criticism-repeated over and
over as they occurred, and leave us to generalize for ourselves. Dr.
Alexander would bundle up a hundred of these at once, and give us
the principles.
"Another striking trait of his exegetical lectures was that his
faith in the simple statements of the Bible was so childlike and so perfeet. This reverence for the sacred text was one of his noblest quali.
fications for an instructor in these times. This was abundantly manifest in his works, but the impression made by his lectures as we heard
them, was still stronger.
"The comprehensiveness of mind, and the elevated point from
which he looked on any topic of Biblical exposition or of ministerial
duty enabled him often to compress into a remark some pregnant
truth that no amount of details could ever have imparted. I got more
good from a single remark of his, made to a few of us who met him
the last year in a private class, than from all the lectures and books on
Homiletics.  It was in substance this: to collect the other passages of
Scripture bearing on the same point as the text, and to let your heads
and divisions be but the exposition, virtually at least, of these; and
thus avoid the danger of substituting human reasonings for God's
Word, and at the same time secure endless variety."
Dr. Ramsey regarded Mr. Alexander's as the most powerful intellect with which he ever came in contact,




388                 MASSIVE INTELLECT.                     [1836.
"It was, to my apprehension best characterized as massive. But it
was as beautiful, as well proportioned, as it was massive, and all its operations were as easy and exact as they were powerful. To use rather
a rude comparison, it was like an elephant's trunk; it could pick up a
pin, and pluck up a tree by the roots, with equal ease.
" And yet the meekness and teachableness of the man was just as
manifest. He seemed to be ready to learn something from everybody.
And the perfect docility of his great mind to the slightest whisper of
God's Word was its crowning glory.
" It would be strange indeed if, so conversant as he was with God's
word, and reverencing it as he did, lie did not manifest it by his holiness and nearness to God. And especially during the latter part of my
course in the Seminary were we impressed with this; and the remark
was often made that Dr. Addison was a man that walked with God,
and was evidently growing in grace. His preaching, his lectures, and
his prayers gave proof of this. And on all proper occasions he would
converse on the subject of experimental religion with a zest and interest, that showed how much he meditated upon it, and how he sought
to have his own hneart brought under its full power." While a student,
Dr. Ramsey did not see him very often in private. " Of course my personal intercourse was very limited: the vast distance between us in
every respect rendered it impossible for me to venture into his company
except when necessary."
He often heard the students speak of the Professor's traditionary " peculiarities; " but if Mr. Alexander possessed traits
which could be described by this term, he never became cognizant of them; he was never placed in circumstances in which
hle observed any special peculiarities.
This testimony is greatly strengthened by that of others.
The dreaded Hebraist was of the sanguineo-choleric temperament; and though naturally patient and  affectionate, he
had a stern eye to duty; was inflexibly honest and just
and if his anger was once kindled, it burnt like tinder. The
spark, however, was extinct almost as soon as it was struck
out.  There were at these rare times a flash-a blaze-an explosion; and then all was over: but not before some one had




AT. 27.1          IMPETUOUS FEELINGS.                  389
been struck down and terribly shaken by the concussion.*
After giving way to his impetuous feelings, none was more
ready to acknowledge his failing than he was himself: but
not so were some of his best and most pious pupils. There
were some in nearly every class, who like Dr. Ramsey
justified him with scarce an exception in everything he
said and did while in the chair. This is as much as can be
said for most thoroughgoing disciplinarians, and perhaps as
much as need be said for any man.
But in the popular sense of the term, he was not very
peculiar or eccentric.  Hie was the roundest man I ever
knew. It is a great though common mistake, to suppose that
there was anything outr6 about him. He was certainly diffident, or rather shy, and sometimes bashful, and that to a very
poignant degree, and some of his habits of mind as well as of
body had possibly become a little morbid, and in both cases
from the disuse or seclusion of certain of his powers. But he
was not as compared with men generally, odd, droll, or queer.
He was no Samuel Johnson, as that huge personage appears
in the pages  of Macaulay  and  Boswell.  He was no
mere heluo librorum, like Dr. Parr, with no acquaintance with
the world and in a manner lost to the feelings and sympathies
of his race. He was no Dominie Sampson to be annoyed because he could not give his friend Dandie Dinmont the praise
of "erudition."  He was, it is true, a man of extraordinary
learning, and of great powers; he was to a great extent isolated from his fellow beings: but when one drew near to himone found him to be in other respects, like any other man of
cultivated taste and refinement.
Many current stories about him are sheer lies, and some of
them very malicious ones. A sufficient answer to all such
idle tales is the unquestionable fact that Mr. Alexander, whatever else he was, was a pleasant Christian gentleman, and a
* As in the case of another, of whom he has written very amusingly, the
sufferer smarting under the sting of his terrible repartee too often mistook
" cool contempt " for " rabid rage."




390                CURRENT STORIES.                 [1836.
man of exquisite common sense. It is true that for the most
part he shunned promiscuous company. It was his fancy to
do so. He had no time for society. Every hour was consecrated to hard work in his Master's service. Then, again, he had
perhaps as much morbid consciousness of being observed, and
as violent a repugnance to being stared at and commented upon,
and patronized by his inferiors, as any man living. And to
crown all, the habit of solitude had become to him a second
nature.
As Byron did not like to be treated as a poet, but as a man
of the world; so Mr. Alexander did not like to be treated as a
prodigy, a book-worm, a dangerous person to approach,
or in any sense an exceptional man; but as a gentleman
of piety and good breeding, with the common manners
and sympathies.  I-e felt that he was not exceptional in
the sense supposed, and with his acute observation and sensitively quick apprehension of the thoughts and designs of those
who approached him, it hurt his nice sensibilities and touched
his self respect, when lie was regarded in a light that was so
untrue and so obnoxious to his feelings. He was equally
averse to being either browbeaten or flattered. If he was exceptional in anything, it was in the strength and honest expression in his case of this very natural state of mind. There
were no anomalies in his psychological structure; every deviation, so to say, from  the usual or regular inflection, was
strictly subject to the law of the formation. Any one might
know beforehand precisely how he would act in given circumstances, so far as one may ever know this in the case of a
person of great talents and originality and quick emotional
impulses.
If he was met boldly, fiankly, unsuspectingly, and treated
as any other man of high notions of propriety and nice feelings of delicacy; and he were not too much occupied to stop
work: no one could be more agreeable, more conversible, more
friendly, more free and easy; or if an opportunity arose, more
full of sunshine and gaiety; in short, more perfectly delightful
as a companion.  But there were certain classes of men he




JET. 2T.]         OFFENSIVE MANNERS.                391
could not always tolerate; there were certain moments when
he could not, and would not put up with bores, idiots,
sponges, and sycophants; or with curious visitors who were
blown with self-conceit or bursting with arrogance. If such characters persisted in annoying him, he would sometimes administer a reprimand which even a fool case-hardened in his folly
could never forget. He would now and then have recourse to
the weapon of sarcasm; which in such cases would gleam for
a twinkling in the air and then take off the head of the offender like the cymitar of Saladin.  More generally in such
situations he was simply silent, cool, impassive; answering in
mild but expressive monosyllables; and soon turned his back upon the intruder. He also found it extremely hard to get along
with very timid persons, or those who were too evidently afraid
of him. It worried him and made him appear cold and taciturn. Often this was nothing but sheer sensibility. At times
he had laid out a certain amount of work and did not wish to
be disturbed. At such times, not caring to open the door and
bow his visitor out, he would adopt such a manner as sufficiently to intimate that he was engaged and did not choose to
be interrupted. Any man of real sense could tell when this
was the case, and could see at once that no unkindness was
meant. All these little individual traits which have been so
much overdrawn in some quarters may be resolved, except so
far as they sprung from physical causes, or from close application to his studies, into varying expressions of a certain sensitive shyness and fastidiousness of feeling, coupled with a wish
to be thought like other men; an instinctive and refined
knowledge of human nature; and the most transparent honesty.
It ought also to be said that like his father before him, he
was to some degree under the influence of changes in the
weather. He was shrewdly affected by the east wind. This
was still more true of his brother James. A bright, clear day
acted upon him like champagne. Dark and wet days operated as a damper on the spirits. In the case of Dr. Archibald
Alexander, the effect of easterly weather was instantaneously




392           EFFECTS OF T1HE WEATHER.             C1836.
felt, and exhibited by a drooping gait and air, and an absence
of his wonted elasticity and buroyant cheerfulness.  In the
case of his son Addison, the same effect was produced, though
not so invariably, and never in anything like so great a degree.
The weather often occasioned him disagreeable bodily sensations, and sometimes made him silent, or gave him a touch of
the " blues." He acknowledges his vulnerability on this point
in several entries in his European Journals.
But after taking everything into the estimate, and looking
at him in the broad, common way, it must be conceded that
Mr. Alexander, though greater and better than most of them,
was, on the whole, and especially in little things, surprisingly
like the rest of mankind. He was not a monster, or a learned
automaton; but aside from his gifts and attainments, a gentle,
tractable, teachable, loveable, true-hearted man.
His pupils were not slow to find this out; and numbers
of them, after becoming fairly acquainted with him, stood
in greater fear of several of the other Professors than they
did of him. They were, as a body, proud of him; and looked
upon him as one of the noblest Christian scholars and brightest
geniuses in the world. Whenever it was announced that he
was to preach in the town of Princeton, the students would
desert the Seminary chapel almost en masse. They knew that
they had some reason to expect one of his brilliant flights of
eloquence. These he would not often give them in the chapel.
He would merely lecture in a close exegetical way. They
called him by an amiable nickname, which however disagreeable it would have been to the feelings of the Professor, showed
how much at home they felt in his presence, and the affection
they had for his person.
The simple truth was that those who attended to their
lessons, which were always made plain to the dullest comprehension, could not fail to be fascinated and at length
carried away captive, not only by the teacher, but the man.
There was at times something so childlike and naif about
him; something so engaging about his looks, the tones
of his voice, and his characteristic ways in, the class



:ET. 2T.]            ART NAPOLEON.                     393
room, as well as about his patient, kind, forbearing, cordial
disposition; mingled with, or rather in a subtle way succeeded
by an indefinable something that was on occasion so startling,
swift, magnetic, so impregnated with genius, so peremptorily commanding awe and obedience, so suggestive of slumbering or waking prowess, and so ominous of assured triumph;
in a word, something so strangely Napoleonic; that, as on
other accounts, his favorite pupils had for him much the same
sort of vivid feeling that the Old Guard had for the First Consul and the Emperor; while the body of the class had the
more quiet feeling of admiration that was generally prevalent
in the French army.
He had, too, the " art Napoleon" as an instructor (which
was possessed in so high a degree by Dr. Thomas Brown of
Edinburgh, and by Sir William Hamilton and Professor Faraday) of inspiring his pupils with a lofty enthusiasm, which did
not burn out when they left the halls of the recitation-room.
What he was as a Professor may be inferred from the fact that
with all his other gifts, he was apt to teach. Dr. Hodge testifies that he always secured the attention, admiration, and
confidence of his classes. IHe never failed to interest them in
the subject under discussion, and he never failed to instruct
them. " His views were comprehensive, and so clearly exhibited that the minds of his pupils were expanded under his in.
fluence, at the same time that they were elevated. He made
the Bible glorious to them. This remark I have heard from
the lips of those who sat under his teachings."
Almost the only hint I have been able to obtain from the
diaries in my possession as to Mr. Alexander's outward life at
this time, is contained in the brief statement that on Monday,
the 3d of October, after a night of rain, and while his father
was in New York, and amidst tidings of more deaths from
" the fever, " he was engaged in " the removal of his effects
into the ancient house on the Canal street."*  It is hard to
* This was an old house that had been removed from another part of the
town and occupied by a Mr. Noah Green, and was from this fact playfully
called " Noah's Ark."
17*




394                  PRIVATE PUPILS.                    [1836.
keep up with his various changes of geographical position and
residence. His migrations were almost as short and quite as
frequent' as these of good Dr. Primrose from the blue bed to
the brown. He hung over every new scene like a hummingbird, poised indeed, but ready to dart at any moment.  The
delight he experienced in these strange movements was that of
a child in its fervour and intensity, and was just as transitory.
Among his principal companions this year were his two
private pupils, Henry M. Alexander his youngest brother, and
Samuel Harrison Howell, son of a skilful physician of
Princeton. The boys used to meet him at his quarters on the
Trenton Turnpike, and when out of school had much pleasure
and fun with him. When the fever was raging in the neighborhood no family suffered more grievously than that of Dr.
Iiowell, the faithful nurse and medical adviser of the sick.
Several members of his family contracted the disease, and two
of them died of it, as he did himself. Mr. Alexander was much
affected to learn that his little pupil and playmate was also
seized sometime afterward, and wrote him a long whimsical letter in the shape of machine poetry; portions of which are here
given, not to show his genius or his learning but his simple kindness of heart. They vividly paint the scene presented to master
and pupils in their leisure hours, as well as the rude furniture
with which the memory of the teacher was associated in the
minds of the pupils. They also' greatly magnify the very
questionable advantages and ornamental qualities of the quaint
house on Canal street, into which the former was thinking of
"flitting." I can only find room for the first part of this letter.
" I thank God for the favour, as I reckon it to be, not only to yourself
and your relations, but to me; and I trust that he will give you, in exchange for pains and tears, entire restoration and a length of happy
years. I have tried hard to forget you, Hal; but how can I succeed,
when every chair I sit upon, and every book I read, recall to recollection in one way or another, my little playmate, room-mate, pupilfriend, and younger brother? When I look at the round table, or the
broken arm-chair, I easily persuade myself that he is sitting there; and
when gaizing from the window I can almost see him still, coming




ET. 27.1              RHIYMING LETTER.                   395
slowly with his books and his umbrella down the hill. Methinks I
hear his light step upon the entry floor, and the sound of his umbrella
as he sets it by the door. I hear him turn the lock; I see him enter
with a smile, my solitude to sweeten and my languor to beguile.
Methinks I see him offer me an apple or a peach, with a look that
overpays me for thie little I can teach. Methinks I see him put his cap
upon the closet shelf-every motion, every attitude is that of Hal himself. But when I wish to speak to him the vision fades away. I miss
the gentle voice that used to cheer me every day. I miss the real
presence of my real little friend. I miss it in the evening when my
toils are at an end. I miss it in my homeward walks; I miss it even
more when I sit in my old elbow chair behind the chapel door.
Whatever else I see or have, I find I must and shall continue to miss
something and that something is my Hal. But when I recollect my
boy that you are safe and sound, I feel that for repining I have no excuse or ground."
Even if he should not be allowed to see his face again, it
will always be grateful to his heart to hear that his pupil is
good and happy. He nevertheless indulges the hope of a
pleasant re-union with his little friend, and in the meanwhile
resolves to do his best to keep in good spirits.
But Mr. Alexander was not always to be found on Henderson Hill or at the " Ark."  He was as fond of going about as
ever. The modes of travel were at this time a little antiquated; though railways were in use, and the applications of
steam well understood.  A gentleman of Newark, for instance,
wishing to go to Princeton, would perhaps ride in his stanhope or barouche to the 3Market-street stand, where he would
find a horse car, in which he would be conveyed to the Brunswick depbt.  There he would enter a steam  carriage, which
would take him from the depot to East Brunswick. Thence he
would be hauled in an omnibus to the wagon-coach running to
Balser's tavern; which being at the juncture full, would have
to be exchanged for an old fashioned stage-coach, that was sure
to break down at or near the canal barge at Kingston, fiom
which the jaded traveller was fain to emerge and deposit himself in the canal-hack plying betwixt the Princeton Basin and
the collegiate groves and campus. There was much room for




396                  TRAVELLING.                   U536.
adventure on these trips, and the vicissitude suited the temper
of a man who like Mr. Alexander loved to go through as many
small external transformations as possible. The journey was
notwithstanding very irksome and fatiguing.
On Thursday, the 20th of October, the arrival of a
young Greek from Athens was reported, one of Dr. King's
proteges, by the name of Luke Oeconomos. He was subsequently followed by another named Constantine MIenaios,
from whom Mr. Alexander learned the Romaic, and under
whose guidance he became a proficient in writing and perhaps
speaking it. Mr. Oeconomos was a young man of talents,
amiability and virtue. He was graduated at the college of New
Jersey in 1840, and died at Clarens, in Fairfax county, Virginia, the 7th of MIay, 1843. He was at the time a teacher of
the Greek language in the Fairfax Institute. His disease was
a galloping consumption. There is for many a mournful in.
terest connected with his somewhat romantic history and untimely fate.
Early in March of the next year, Signor Borsieri had the
pleasure of introducing his Princeton friends to the Count
Confalonieri, an elderly man, a fellow prisoner of his, who had
been in bonds fifteen years. These were golden opportunities
to the two Alexanders of learning the spoken tongue of
Italy. The elder brother's 33d birthday occurred on the 13th.
Not long after this Mr. Borsieri made a profession of his faith.
I think Mr. Alexander gave this gentleman lessons in English.
He certainly played this part to several foreigners, receiving
their instructions in return.
Soon after this, Professor James Alexander was invited to
take the Presidency of Hanover College in Indiana. He however declined the honour.
Mr. Alexander, on the 26th, was in torture with a swollen
face. He was very subject to this affection, which he styled
a "jaw-swell."  His relief on such occasions was an odd one.
He would lecture immoderately, and on the most difficult parts
of scripture. He used to say this was the only way he knew
of diverting his mind from the pain. This remark is strictly




AT. 27.]    TEACHING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.            397
applicable rather to the common dull tooth-ache than to a
violent inflammation of the cheek and jaw such as this was. I
have seen him sitting in his recitation-room  with his hand
thrust against his face, and swaying to and fro with rapid
movements of his body, but pouring out his usual torrent of
exquisitely chosen words and fascinating his class with some
of his most remarkable lucubrations. Sometimes he would
have to pause a moment from the sheer intensity of his sufferings.
The synod of Philadelphia convened this day. The great
topic of interest before the body was the controversy between
the Old and New School parties in the church. The Rev. W.
L. McCalla made an attack on Princeton. His argument was
an able one, but he was called to order for his strong language
and personal allusions. He was, however, allowed to proceed
with his invective, or rather his impassioned remonstrance.
The theme is an inviting one, but the days of this heat are
now over, and the subject of this memoir took no active part
in these discussions. Indeed, I have no positive information
as to what his precise views on the mooted questions were, except that he was a staunch old school man, with general sympathies with his colleagues at Princeton. Whether he went
as far in the direction of moderate views as some of these, I
do not know. He was editor of the Repertory during the flagrant outbreak of this quarrel, but took no further part in the
engagement than to print the articles of others, and occasionally to launch witty sarcasms at the men who in his opinion
were the chief troublers of Israel. His arguments were all
of a purely incidental and unpremeditated character.
Mr. Alexander about this time undertook the teaching of
two of the sons of Captain Stockton, U. S. N. The instruction of a younger member of the captain's family occurred at a
later date.  These gentlemen now speak in most grateful
terms of the preceptor's kindness and assiduity, and love to
tell of the odd humours of their master when books had been
laid aside. He made the two eldest of these write letters to
him in a large thick folio volume, using the same book him



398                  WRITING  LETTERS.                    [ls36.
self for most of his own writing between times, and filling it,
or inducing them to fill it with letters, compositions, poems,
and critical comments.  Some of the writings in these big
books -are well worthy of being kept carefully, as they have
been by their owners.
I give the following remarkable letter to Mr. Hall, which
sufficiently explains itself:
im
"s PRINCETON, January 13, 1837.
"MY DEAR SIn:
" The number of alphabets, you know, bears no proportion to that of
languages; and among those of which I have a smattering the variety
of character is by no means great. I have selected the word " day"
as being short and simple in all the languages exemplified above. The
horizontal line (1, 2, 3, 4,) exhibits a four-fold diversity of character
in the languages of the same family; and it so happens that the word
which I have chosen is precisely the same (yom or yam) in all four.
The vertical column (1, 5, 6, 7,) illustrates, on'the other hand, the application of one alphabet to four languages of different stocks. The
Arabic yim (or rather yaum), the Persian roz, the Turkish gan, and
the Malay hMrr or ari, though wholly unlike in sound, are all in the




AET. 27.]                 ALPHABETS.                        399
Arabic character. To these examples I have added the Sanscrit ahan,
the Chinese je, and the Armenian ahr, all likewise meaning day. It
is a fact worth noticing that the Chinese character is used by the greatest number of men, and the Arabic over the largest surface; at least it
is so said. The latter is employed (with additions and modifications to
express peculiar sounds) not only by the Persianis, Turks, and Mohammedan Africans, but by several of the Indian races. The Sanscrit is
thought by philologists to be, on the whole, the most perfect form of
alphabetical writing.
" I have two books begun which I have not touched for a year, perhaps for two. The one is a series of dramatic sketches almost entirely in
the words of Scripture explanations, descriptions, &c., being introduced
as stage-directions. My idea was, that each scene should be accompanied
by a picture. The scenes are of course detached, and the only object
was to attract attention to familiar subjects by a change of form. When
I broke down I had written Scene 1. A well near the city of Nahor,
ten camels kneeling by the well-two men sitting near-Eliezer by himself.  Sc. 2.-Isaac's encampment near Beerslleba-Rebecca's tent.
Rebecca and Jacob (the deception of Isaac). Sc. 3. The plains of Moab;
Naomi, Ruth, Orpah, in mourning garments. Sc. 4. The wine-press
of Joash the Abiezrite, in a retired spot surrounded by oaks-Gideon,
the son of Joash, threshing wheat-a stranger approaches and sits
under one of the oaks. Sc. 5. The priests' chamber near the Tabernacle in Shiloh, containing two beds on which Eli the High Priest and Samuel, a child, are lying-a voice —" Samuel! Samuel!'" &c., &c.-Sc. 6.
A field near Ramah-Saul and a servant sitting beneath a tree-Saul,
" Come, let us return, lest my father leave caring for the asses," &c.
Sc. 7. A field near Gibea-Jonathan and David-David, " What have
I done? what is my iniquity? " &c.
"My other book was a conversation on King David's nephews, intended to show how many not uninteresting facts may be overlooked
even by the diligent straight-forward student, unless he takes the
trouble to compare scripture with. scripture.
" As usual, I became convinced before I had well begun, that the
plan was not worth carrying out, and I abandoned it. I am not willing, however, that you should suppose I have never even attempted
anything.                    Yours truly,
" JOS. ADDISON ALEXANDER."
The next letter I shall give is also addressed to Mr. Hall.




400                   CORRESPONDENCE.                      [1836.
In it he refers to the Asiatic languages, and inquires for a
cheap American set of the Edinburgh or Quarterly:
" PRINCETON, December 21, 1836.
" M DEAR SIR:
"My friend and room-mate Harrison Howell, who brings you this,
will take charge of my Lexicon if it is in your hands or if you will
direct him to the binder. I am sorry to trouble you with these small
jobs, and by way of proving it I herewith send you my John Bunyan
to be dressed * —fine but very plain. I feel that I have some claim on
your time, in consequence of my prompt attention to your application
made last summer for some scraps of language.  Did my answer miscarry? or is it printed? Pray lay the blane on Amos Kendall t and let
me know what I must do. My grammars and lexicons are at your
service, especially the latter, as so many of them lhave enjoyed your
protection. Seriously I have mislaid your letter and do not recollect
precisely what you want.
" In some of your publications or perhaps in your private letters you
have spoken of a plan devised by Trevelyan and others for reducing
the Asiatic languages to the Roman orthography. Have you the details
of the plan in any form? Again, in what form is your large map of
Palestine put up, and what is the price thereof? James I believe on
reflection has one; but I have not been in his study for eighteen months,
as I live in Canal Street and lie in Mercer. Once more, do you think
that in any of the second-hand book stores it would be possible to find
anything like a complete set of the Edinburgh or Quarterly Review
as republished in America, at a very reduced price? James thinks such
an article cannot be in the market; but nobody knows what a man
may sell to second-hand dealers. If you will answer these inquiries at
your leisure, say before the end of 1837, and add any practical or
other observations upon these or other subjects; not forgetting to repeat your prescription for the dose of unknown tongues without delay
-you will confer a favour upon     Yours, very truly,
1"M1r. Hall),                      "J. ADDISON ALEXANDER."
"E. S. S. J.
"1. If the binder knows of my existence, and will trust me, please to
give Harrison his address, instead of troubling yourself about old Bunyan.
* And lettered simply " Pilgrim's Progress." J. A. A.
t The Hon. Amos Kendall, who was Postmaster General under Jackson.




ET. 27.]               SEEKING  BOOKS.                    401
"2. I have just heard that my lexicon is come, and feel much indebted
to you.
"3. Mr. John P. Brown, our diplomatic dragoman at Constantinople,
told me last winter that reed pens or reeds for making oriental pens
could be procured in Philadelphia. If you know where such an article
is venal, I should like to have it priced by the bearer.
"(Finis.)"




CHAPTER XIII.
I NOW present the reader with some graphic reminiscences
of' Mr. Alexander as he appeared to the class of 1837. The
writer of these memoranda * was himself a member of the
class, though not an intimate acquaintance of Mr. Alexander;
and in the admirable sketches which follow he is unable to conceal the traces of his own native humour and benevolence. He
begins by saying that he does not belong to the variety of
mankind who keep journals of their own lives and times; and
therefore owing to the lapse of years, has now " rather dissolv.
ing views of the men and scenes amidst which" his earlier days
were spent. He now wishes for some such record:' For as one of the ancient Greeks thanked the gods that he lived in
the days of Pericles, so the students of Princeton who lived in the days
of Addison Alexander had reason also to be thankful. It was indeed a
privilege to be trained under such a teacher; and the consciousness of
that distinction does not diminish as time adds new honours to his
name. The period of my acquaintance with Professor Alexander was tile
golden age of the Seminary. The venerable men who gave that institution such an elevated rank and rosition were then at its head, and in
the prime of their usefulness; Dr. A.. Alexander and Dr. Miller being
the senior professors, and Dr. Hodge and J. Addison Alexander the
junior professors. The last named was then a young man and yet had
reached the full meridian of his fame and popularity. He had not
only a high standing in his own peculiar department of Oriental literature, but also ranked very high for his attainments in ancient and modern languages. He was considered by the young men in the Seminary
as a regular prodigy-a perfect polyglot; and they believed he was
master of so many tongues that the tower of Babel need never have
* The Rev. David Teese, White Plains, N. Y.




&ET. 28.]          PERSONAL APPEARANCE.                    403
suspended operations if he had only lived in those early ages, and been
appointed superintendent of the building. * We had great pride in our
Oriental Professor. He was an oracle, and an object of universal admiration, to the enthusiastic youth. They would follow his judgment
on Jewish literature or antiquities in preference to any of the Rabbis
either ancient or modern. We venerated the fathers of the institution; but with the natural partiality of youth we attached ourselves to
the junior Professor, and worshipped him as the rising sun."
The young Professor was one of those rare men who realize to the eye of the beholder one's preconceptions of what the
bodily presence of a person of great intellect ought to be. The
description which follows of his personne will prove attractive, and is corroborated by innumerable voices. The freshness of his complexion, and his corpulent fulness, diminished
gradually as he grew older, and had entirely left him before
the termination of his last sickness.
"As the visible presence of great men is always a matter of
curiosity and interest to the reader, I may offer a remark on that subject. At the time now spoken of, the personal appearance of the
Professor was quite interesting and attractive. He was, as we said,
in the dew of his youth, and its bloom was on his cheek. A remarkable high and polished forehead was the indication of his massive intellect; and the thin covering of hair was (in our judgment) the indication of exhausting mental labor. His face, however, was not'sicklied
o'er with the pale cast of thought.' By no means; it was round and
plump; and his complexion was that of the full-blown red rose. His
colour would come and go very easily, and he used to blush like a girl.
It was a fancy with our class that in form and features he was an exact
fac-simile of Napoleon; and that there never was so perfect a resemblance to that great man to be found in allthe world. Each time I
looked in his face I thought of'The great Captain.'"
The likeness to Napoleon was very commonly noticed.
* Byron said that Mezzofauti ought to have been interpreter at the Tower
of Babel. The idea seems to have been borrowed from Pope. See also Princeton Rep. on King James's Bible.




404               SOCIAL INTERCOURSE.                  183'7.
It was not a close similarity of features; Mr. Alexander's
head and body were much broader than Napoleon's. It
was his full person, his impressive front, the regularity of his
countenance, the impetuous brevity of his speech, and the
look of power in his face, which reminded so many people of
the great Frenchman. In shape and size Mr. Alexander's
head bore a wonderfully striking resemblance to the cast of
Count Cavour's. His face and bust were not unlike the picture of Swift in one of the old Penny Magazines. His head
was a grand one; that would have befitted Jupiter Tonans.
The same writer touches delicately upon the subject of his
gifted teacher's shyness and humble opinion of his own powers. He was observed to avoid what the world calls company:
" He had a girlish modesty and diffidence at this period of his life
which prevented him from going into society, or enjoying much pleasure in social intercourse. Many remarkable traditions were current
among the students in regard to the difficulties and embarrassments
which he met with in his necessary intercourse with men."
This, Mr. Teese thinks, might have proved in his case a
bar to the most extensive usefulness as a pastor, and concludes
that his preceptor was more adapted.to a chair such as the one
he then occupied, than to the charge of a promiscuous congregation. This opinion is given for what it is worth, and without comment. It is right to say, however, that Mr. Alexander's aversion from society, and lack of enjoyment when in
company, were often much exaggerated; as was also his supposed inability under such circumstances to take his part in
general conversation.  He was sometimes, though  rarely,
a fascinating member of such promiscuous circles. There is
evidence of' this fact in the statements of several witnesses
which are contained in this volume.
The class of'37 was pushed forward with the greatest
vigour. The evidence of the Professor's diligence was unimpeachable. He laboured with a will and with a quenchless




AET. 28.]       HIGH  PRESSURE TEACHING.                   405
enthusiasm.  The poor fellows were almost exhausted, and
some of them completely overwhelmed, in the effort to keep
up with him. The class was divided into two sections;
each section recited two lessons a day, and each lesson occupied an hour. Says the good-natured writer to whom I am
indebted for these particulars:
"You may be sure that neither the Professor nor the students had
much time either to eat or sleep. For myself, I was as busy as a nailer;
and to keep up with the demands of the teacher, and attlin enough
Hebrew to pass the Presbytery, I had to rise up early and sit up late
and eat the bread of sorrows. To speak the plain truth, we did think
the Professor was a little exacting; and that our condition was not
much better than that of Israel in Egypt under the old task-masters.
Our progress up the hill of science was like the upward progress of the
unhappy Sisyphus-' with many a weary step and many a groan.'
To our class, at this time, the ardent Professor devoted six hours each
day, of arduous toil; and after we had passed our three years under
his faithful eye, we thought we had learned enough of oriental literature to teach Hebrew anywhere, except, perhaps, in a German University. So severe was the labour that several of our class succumbed
under the effort, and gave up their attendance on the class lectures; and to those that continued faithful and hopeful to the end,
there remained days of weary toil and nights of arduous study. The
school-boys in the'Deserted Village' had learned to trace the day's
disaster in their master's face; but we often had a premonition of our
trouble before we saw his face. For as one division of our class came
out, the other went into the class room; and mingled thus together we
were admonished by those before us of danger ahead, in some such
words as these,' 0 you'll catch it to-day!' 0'tis dreadful!' and
similar encouraging expressions indicating what we might expect."
Few teachers would have dared to attempt, and fewer still
would have persevered in the attempt, to force onward a body
of young scholars in this way, against their own inclinations
and convictions; and fewest of all would have finally achieved
the end desired.  It was the privilege of Mr. Alexander to
succeed in everything he s2t his heart on accomplishing.  He
knew quite accurately, or soon found out, the limits of his own




406                     HARD STUDY.                      [1837.
capacity; and would not continue long in a course in which he
did not feel sure of success. He had the knack of ascertaining also precisely what his pupils could do; and he had the
art or the power of making them do it.
" It is but proper to say, however, that we were greatly encouraged
by our progress under'the Professor's admirable training; and by the
knowledge that it was all for our own good that our present condition
was not joyous but rather grievous. The enthusiasm of the teacher
imparted itself to the students; and under every green tree, in the wellbeaten garden walks, in the adjacent woods, as well as in the Seminary,
in the study, and in the class-room, young men were seen walking,
or lying down, or sitting; with their limbs stretched out on the grass, or
over the mantel-piece, or on the backs of chairs; all intent on the perusal of one book-' Bush's Hebrew Grammar.' Memory loves to
linger round those days of youth, gone never to return; and upon the
pleasant employments and associations with which they were connected. Of all the great names we there venerated, not one now remains, except as an object of memory to which each passing year adds
new lustre; for the memory of the just is blessed."
This whimsical, while yet genial and delightful picture,
might be repeated again and again and accepted as true
for every one of the succeeding years, were it not that
as the years multiplied, the Professor became year by year
more and more gentle and easy to be entreated, and more
and more reasonable in his demands upon his students'
time and brains.  When he became a teacher of Church History, he had grown so wise in all these practical matters that
a person more easy to be satisfied with a creditable recitation
could not be found. He never was able altogether to suppress
his contempt for Boeotian ignorance, or utter stupidity, or for
the pert conceit often attendant upon laziness, which will
sometimes elude all vigilance and find their way even into the
Halls of sacred learning. Then his eye would flash, and his face
glance fire. He would sharply reprove, or else would terribly
confound with one of his annihilating sarcasms, which demonstrated at the same time the folly of pupil and the genius and
authority of the master.




JET. 28.]         STOLID STUDENTS.                  407
It however took a great deal to move him in those days. He
was silent in presence of some of the most grievous exhibitions.
In reply to the question, " What barbarous tribes invaded Europe at the close of the fifth century," a poor fellow who had
stood the hot fire of Mr. Alexander's cross-examination without blenching or even so much as uttering a word, suddenly
exclaimed, apparently very much to his own relief, " the Barbarians! " The Professor, who sat writhing under this rejoinder, showed in his face the traces of an inward conflict between
mirth and anger; but merely said in a tone of contemptuous
commiseration, "That'll do, sir! The next! " The stolidity of
this man was almost incredible. On another occasion the Professor asked him, "What change took place in the orders of
the clergy at such and such a period? " referring to the introduction of metropolitans. The response was startling, " They
were reduced to the same footing with the laity, sir! " This of
course produced an explosion of laughter among the lookerson; but the Professor contented himself with saying, " Oh, no!"
in a tone of utter disgust, and permitted the unfortunate blunderer to take his seat.
Early April was full of the usual vernal promise. The aspen at Dr. Alexander's Seminary-gate was in blossom, and the
fields were beginning to change their winter raiment. Mr.
Alexander was writing "' Words of a Scribe," " Nails by the
Masters of Assemblies," &c., in the Sunday School Journal. The
Presbytery at Bound Brook appointed Dr. Archibald Alexander
and Mr. Yeomans their clerical commissioners to the Assembly. The Hebrew Professor was not yet a licensed minister,
and not yet editor of the Repertory; and of course performed
no public acts in this stage of the difficulties. The weather
continued exceedingly lovely, and the temperature gradually
rose to a point of oppressive heat.
On the 30th, which was Sunday, I find that. Mr. Alexander
was lying sick. He had suffered from a high fever in the
night, with delirium and severe pains in the head. Dr. Forman cupped him in the morning and afterwards bled him
pretty freely. Whether from this cause or not, he swooned;




408                 ASSEMBLY  OF 1837.                        r1837.
but soon began to exhibit symptoms of amendment.  On May
day he was better, though still gravely diseased, and after a
bad night showed marked improvement.
Dr. Sprague * dismissed the students with a striking address on Ecclesiastical Ambition.  If I were to continue this
minute diary of Princeton matters, I should lay myself open to
the charge of writing the memoirs not of one man, but of many.
I shall, however, from time to time fill gaps in the narrative
in this way.  In general it will be sufficient to mention only
those incidents which have a direct bearing on the life of Mr.
Alexander. The great Assembly of 1837 of course occupied
all eyes, but its events need not be touched upon here.  Mr.
Alexander was not called upon to take sides one way or the
other until the division occurred, at which time he went heart
and hand with the Old School. As soon as he was able, the
enfeebled scholar took a jaunt as far as Baltimore, and returned
about the 20th, somewhat recruited.  He spent the night
with his brother, and the two chatted over the scenes of
travel.
The northerly winds of the next day prepared the heavens
for a clear sunset.  Fires were cheerful, and news came of the
Old School majority.  The foliage was exuberant before the
Spring went out, and by the 31st, Summer was fairly enthroned in the latitude of Princeton.  It appears that Mr.
Alexander was again absent from home; and he must have
gone somewhere in the immediate vicinity of the Assembly,
probably to Philadelphia, for on June 8, Thursday, his brother
records in his journal:
* The Rev. William B. Sprague, D. D., of Albany, writes that he remembers Mr.
Alexander as quite a small boy, when he himself was in the Seminary, in 1816;
but he knew nothing of his remarkable powers till after Mr. Alexander had
passed through college. " Dr. Addison Alexander" he continues, "was a man
of so much mark, and in some respects stood perhaps so entirely alone, that it
was hardly possible to move in any intellectual circle without having a definite
idea of him. So often as I met with a Princeton student during the period of his Professorship, I was sure to hear the highest possible testimony rendered to his great talents and learning, and to his almost matchless facility at
communicating knowledge."




AZT. 2&1               A LATIN TENSE.                     409
" Addison writes to me every day. His letters keeps me informed
of Assembly matters. It is expected that the New-School men will
go to law. Some say sooner or later there must be a new Chlur:rh, and
t'.at it will be called the American Presbyterian Church. What will
ours be called? Whatever may result, our descendants will look back
on the doings of the Assembly of 1837 as among the most momentous
in our history."
A  wonderful revival was going on at New Brunswick.
Nearly seventy souls were indulging a good hope through
grace of eternal life.  Among the preachers were the Rev.
Messrs. Abeel, Jones, and the Rev. James W. Alexander. The
work soon spread to Metuchen.  In June, the Presbytery met
at New Brunswick to take measures to extend the benefits of
the awakening to other churches. The deep feeling continued
for many weeks.
On the 24th of July Mr. Alexander writes amusingly to
Mr. Hall, for Sir Thomas Browne, and makes fun of one of
the Latin tenses.
PRINCETON, July 24, 1837.
"My DEAR SIR:
"' As I write in a hurry, I cannot do justice to your valuable letter,
but must rush at once in medias res. If it is the new English edition
of Sir Th. Browne that Whitham has, you would oblige me much by
securing it for me. I am a little puzzled by your use of the praeterperfecturn, when you say, "I have seen a copy of Lamartine."  If this be
not a melancholy reminiscence of some former vision gone forever, but
a statement of what is still visible, I should be very glad to get, not
the poems, but the travels.
"Yours sincerely,
" J. A. ALEXANDER."'
The next letter contains a comical allusion to the Infant
Library. The old manuscript was, like enough, something new
and humorous.
PRINOETON, August 8, 1837
"MY DEAR SIR:
"I hope this will find you in recovered health. If any of the infinitesimal books 4re missing, they shall be forthcoming. I have just laid
18




410               PICTURE OF PRINCETON.                    l1837.
my hands upon an ancient MS., a fragment which I enclose without
reading it over. If, by any process, you can render it available, in
whole or in part, as material for your invaluable labours, no one will be
more pleased or surprised than.    Sir,
" Yours most, &c.,
- " J. A. ALEXANDER."
The study fires were resumed in September; and the anticipations of Professor James Alexander were realized, when
" The crackling billets, flaming high
Shall send a gleam to every eye
Of happy inmates round the hearth,
Full of warm friendship and pure mirth.
Here let the hoary grandsire bask
And grandame ply the worsted task,
And hardy urchin frame his snare
And chubby girl her sports prepare,
While Jolin with school-boy tone rehearse
The newest book in prose and verse." *
With the exception of the proper name, this is a true picture of one of the homes in Princeton.  There were almost
always young pupils in the house, and the daughters of friends
or cousins often came in from abroad.  These were happy days,
days of sunshine and intellectual and religious improvement.
The aerugo aninmi was unknown, and the hours flew  like a
shuttle.
The winter session of the college began on the ninth of
November.  There was a clerical meeting that day at Dr. Miller's. The topic before the Association was certain questions
relating to the status of the coloured people.
This year Professor James Alexander brought out the es.
says of Charles Quill, which had a great run for a while. They
were afterwards reprinted with the title of" The American Mechanic," and still later incorporated with a new  series, under
* From an imaginative sketch by the Rev. J. W. Alexander, which was first
printed in the Newark Daily Advertiser.




JET. 28.]     CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PAPERS.                  411
the style, " The American Mechanic and Working-Man." The
author once told me that he knew most persons would set a
higher value on his life of his father, but that he himself considered these essays the best thing he had ever done; though
at that but a small contribution to our Presbyterian literature.
The essays are terse and sprightly, and very instructive; with
a fine flavour of the Bible and of the Latin and English
classics.
The letter which is subjoined, asks an important question
in the interests of the Repertory:' PRINCETON, December 1, 1837.
"MY DEAR SIR:
" I write in haste, at the request of Dr. Hodge, to beg your aid in an
important matter. As you are in the habit of reading many journals,
can you state, for the benefit of an "Association of Gentlemen,"
whether the doctrine of the Oxford Tracts, the new form of Church of
Englandism, has been distinctly endorsed or adopted by any of the
Episcopal papers in this conntry. If you could refer to documents and
vouchers, tant mieux; but even your ipse-dixit will be worth a great
deal. Dr. H. is also anxious to obtain a sermon on Tradition, by
Henry M. Mason. Perhaps you could procure it for him. I hope to
let you hear from me soon in a less troublesome manner.
"With the highest consideration, &c., &c.,
" JOS. ADDISON ALEXANDER."
" MY DEAR SIR:
" I observe that my last contributions to the Journal were clothed
in an editorial dress. This is more agreeable to my taste as well as
flattering to my vanity. My only misgiving is, that many of the scraps
I send you are repeated sometimes in my lectures to the students, and
might perhaps be recognized, if rendered too conspicuous. I begin
however to be sick of series; and to think that even scraps lose much
of their intrinsic value by conglomeration. I send you a few paragraphs from a work of Baxter, which is very little read. I have no
objection to your making any of them'leaders,' if you wish.' Mr. Whiting of Jerusalem writes to my father, that a number of
American and English people are now in the Holy Land, waiting for
the Second Advent; having been much encouraged by the earthquake
of the firsti of January.




412               LETTERS TO A PUPIL.                    [1837.
"Do you suppose it possible to get any Portuguese books in Philadelphia? I should like very much to obtain a Grammar, Dictionary,
and Lusiad.                    Yours,
"J. A. A."
A few letters to one of his little pupils are now given to
show how pleasant he was in his relations to them. The politeness of these communications is remarkable.  It was not
his nature to be intentionally rude. Tie was gracious and
courteous to the smallest child. Sometimes indeed, like most
other schoolmasters, he spoke short to them, but he did it for
their good.
The first of these letters from which I take extracts is dated
October 28. In it he says, in allusion to a playful discussion
they had together as to comparative merits of the two great
cities:
"October 28, 1837.
"DEAR J.:
"I shall not try to defend poor New York any longer, but allow you
to prefer Philadelphia henceforth and forever. You know, indeed, a little more about New York than I do; as I never visited the theatre, and
hope I never shall. You forgot to mention which of the Museums you
had seen; and I am quite surprised that you s:ay nothing about Broadway, the Battery, or the City Hall. Perhaps you do not look upon the
fine bay as belonging to the city; or you would hardly have omitted to
express your admiration of that splendid sheet of water, which is said
to be unrivalled in the world for beauty except by the Bay of Naples.
" Yours affectionately,
"J. A. ALEXANDER."
"If you find any difficulty in reading my letter, please to let me
know, and I will try to write a little better."
The next is an essay on the secret of true happiness, and
though written for a boy, is richly worthy of perusal at the
hands of grown up men and women.
"December 19, 1837.
"DEAR J.:
" Your question is an interesting and important one. I must first tell
you what does not constitute the happiness of man. I suppose you




.MTr. 28.]            TRUE HAPPINESS..413
know by your own experience that peevishness, and ill-humour, and
angry passions do not constitute happiness. You must know too, that
eating, drinking, or riding cannot make you happy; you would not be
willing to eat, drink, play, or ride forever. I need not tell you that
sleep and idleness would not make you happy. And do you think that
money ever made a person happy?  Some of the most miserable
wretches in the world have been immensely rich. Perhaps you think
that finery, fashion, and pleasure constitute the happiness of man. If
you ever live to make the experimnent (I pray that you may never make
it) ) ou will find to your sorrow that you were mistaken; and that none
are more miserable in their hearts than some who seem most gay to
others. The longer you live too, the more you will be convinced that
people can be happy who have neither health, nor wealth, nor learning,
nor amusements, nor distinctions.'What makes these people happy? The
only thing that can make you happy, even in the midst of all these
pleasures in thle world. I mean the favour of God. This, and nothing
but this, constitutes the happiness of man. You may think it very far
from pleasant to spend all your life in serving God; but if you think so,
it is because you never tried it. A person born blind cannot understand how people should take pleasure in seeing sights; but if his eyes
could be opened, he would understand it at once. That your eyes may
be opened, my dear boy, to see and know what constitutes tle happiness of man, is the desire and prayer of your affectionate friend,
" Jos. ADDISON ALEXANDER."
The next is very kind and edifying:
" MY DEAR BOY:
" I have no right to scold you for doing what I do myself. I was
about to begin my letter by finding fault with you for hastily writing' I will try,' before' Dear Sir'; but you see I have forgotten both
the date and title. From this little circumstance we both may learn
not to be too forward in condemning others, when we ourselves nmay be
equally to blame. Much less, when we are more to blame. This is to
quarrel with the mote in our brother's eye, when there is a beam in
our own.' Judge not that ye be not judged.' The question you propose gives me great pleasure. I trust you ask it not for form's sake
merely, but because you really desire to know. The answer to it you
must learn from the Bible; and I hope you will have grace to understand it rightly. Do you not know that you were born a sinner? That
you need to be pardoned and cleansed, in order to be happy? You




414                   ISAIAII BEGUN.                     [1837.
must feel this to be so; and you can never get what you thus need, but
by God's favour. If. ou are pardoned and made holy and received into
heaven, it will not be because you deserve it, or because you are so
good; for by nature you are vile. It is a mere favour given to you by
God, for the Saviour's sake; and if you are not willing to receive it as
a flvouryou cannot receive it at all. Let the next question be-' Why
did our Lord Jesus Christ live and die upon the earth?' Your last letter upon the whole, is as well written as the one before it; but I do not
think it any better. Try to improve.
"I subscribe myself your faithful friend,
" J. A. ALEXANDER."
We now approach an epoch in the life of this quiet student. This was no less an event than the commencement of his
magnum opus, at least if regard be had to its size, its fame, and
its visible display of exact critical scholarship and almost incalculable stores of erudition. It was this book that gave him a
name among the literati of Europe as well as America. At home
it was spoken of everywhere. The world of letters rang with it
This never deprived the author of his masculine intrepidity of
judgment, or one whit altered his serene modesty.  He began
the first actual writing upon his commentary on Isaiah on
the 21st of June, 1836; as appears from the following extract
from his day-book: " I began my notes on Isaiah and wrote
on the first ten verses of chapter xlix." He commenced at this
point because he had arrived at this place in the regular instructions to his class.
Even under the pressure of his gigantic exegetical labours he could not put aside the disposition to learn new languages. During this year he acquired the Polish; having an
educated native as his instructor. It was always his custom
to obtain what living guidance he could in his linguistic efforts.
His principal studies during this year were connected with his
commentary on Isaiah.  Besides attending upon his regular
classes in the Seminary, he was also engaged in instructing
private classes in Arabic and Hebrew.  These private classes
were a great delight and refreshment to him. The men who
composed them were never forgotten, and were some of them




ET. 28.]           THE DOOMED MIAN.                 415
always greatly admired. One or two of them became professors and commentators themselves. Others, following just as
strictly in the path marked out for them by the footsteps of
their teacher, became themselves teachers of Hebrew and Oriental literature. This indirect influence of MIr. Alexander in
moulding and giving purpose to the best minds in his various
classes, can never be estimated.
His journals at this point consist chiefly of rough notes on
Isaiah. He continued his Commentary, the study of the Polish;
Malay and Chinese languages; and besides hearing the recitatations of his private classes in Arabic, he gave instruction to
several boys, whose habit it was to frequent his study, and
after school hours to laugh and wonder at his stories. The multitude, difficulty, complexity and total mass of his studies at
this period, will never cease to excite a surprise that borders
upon unbelief. Nothing could be more utterly astonishing,
unless it were the gaiety, the ease, the smiling unconsciousness
of hardship with which the whole was accomplished.
He wrote some verses and sent them off this year to the
Sunday School Journal, then edited by his friend MIr. Hall,
which have since become widely and justly celebrated. They
were the famous lines on the " Doomed Man." He wrote them
very rapidily (one night, I think), put them in the post-box,
and thought no more of them; indeed almost forgot them. He
Mwas afterwards inundated with letters asking for copies;
making pertinent and impertinent inquiries; and crammed with
undisguised compliments. One of these letters I once heard
read aloud, and it was truly preposterous. The thing came to
such a pass at length, that the distressed author one day remarked he had begun to think he was himself the doomed
man. The stanzas which were so much admired, have been
thought to be awfully solemn and impressive; and are certainly
written with a terrible energy of diction.
The Saxon brevity of the words; and the terse antithetical
point that is reached by the conception and arrangement of
the successive clauses; and the wild, dirge-like cadence of the
rhythm; it would no doubt be hard to equal. The lines had




416                 WHEN WRITTEN,                  [1837.
a great run. The papers got hold of them, and they have
been circulating ever since. Many preachers have recited
them at the close of sermons, and often with visible effect.
They are included in at least one collection of hymns, a large
volume put forth by the Baptists; and it is believed have been
the means of awakening many souls. They have sometimes
been attributed to Dr. James W. Alexander. They have often
been reproduced in a mutilated form. Some time after their
original appearance in the Sunday School Journal, they were
handsomely reprinted on large square sheets of paper with
broad margins. Dr. Rice, of Mobile, is my voucher for the
averment that-this was done by the New York minister.
They were certainly reprinted by him in his little volume entitled Revival Tracts, in which he says erroneously that this was
the first time they had been published with the author's
consent.   Dr. Rice, however, speaks of a conversation
he had with the elder brother in New York, when the
latter lived in White street, at the time of the appearance
of the sheets before spoken of, in which the city clergyman
told him that he had taken the verses from a drawer in his
brother's table and had them struck off without the author's
knowledge or express approval; and the Mobile editor
points to a passage in the Familiar Letters of Dr. James Alexahder, where the writer says that if Dr. Hall had not asserted
and proved the fact of an earlier publication, viz., in the S. S.
Journal, he could not have been easily persuaded that the lines
had not had a quite different introduction to the public. It is
obviously possible, (aside from Dr. Rice's evidence,) that Dr.
James Alexander may have stated to Dr. Rice, through some
lapse of memory, what Dr. Rice has affirmed to be his recollection of his words. It is equally possible that the memory
of Dr. Rice himself may have swerved a little from the exact
truth. The piece as originally written contained an additional verse, which is given with the editor's note of explanation
in the Familiar Letters.
* See Fam. Let., vol. ii, p. 285, foot-note to letter of March 4, 1859.




AiT. 28.]              PARALLEL BIBLE.                      417
I have been favoured by Dr. Hall with a sight of the proofsheet for the Journal containing this stanza crossed out in red
pencil marks, with the printer's well-known theta in the margin, also in red pencil. The stanza was omitted without any
hesitation, upon the editor's saying that in his opinion it was
" too horrible. " The prevailing reason for striking it out may
have been the simple fact that objection had been taken to it.
Whether " too horrible " or not, the stanza would unquestionably have detracted a little from the singular merit of the poem.
These lines are so well-known that it is not necessary to insert
them here.
On the 29th of December, he wrote to his Trenton friend,
advocating the printing of bibles giving the exact words of all
the parallel passages, instead of mere references. * I make a
single extract:
"It has been said already, that one principal objection to the usual
method, is the number of irrelevant and mere verbal parallels by which
the learner is perplexed without the possibility of choice among them,
until after an actual reference to all. And one main end of the proposed reform, is to save time and labour by winnowing the margins of
our bibles and commentaries; a process which will certainly reduce the
bulk of matter to a much more reasonable compass. In short, the plan
which I propose is this, that parallel texts which are really illustrative
of any given passage be selected by an experienced hand, and printed
at length. To perfect the arrangement, there might be a class of less
important parallels (but none irrelevant) printed apart, for the benefit
of those who are willing to pursue the matter further. None but those
who have spent much time in the study of commentaries, knows to
what extent the multitude of references would be thus reduced, and
how much time and trouble would be saved to the poor learner. To
others, the true state of the case can be made evident in no way but by
specimens."
The next letter shows that he was at this time pursuing
four distinct courses of exegetical study, and lecturing on
* The thing here proposed, as is well known, has since been carried out at
the suggestion and by the labours of others.
18*




418                 LETTERS TO DR. HALL.                   [1837.
each topic to the class. He excuses himself' from writing in
the S. S. Journal, thanks his correspondent for civilities, asks
for more writing paper, and threatens a visit to Philadelphia.
"PRINCETONx, Dec. 15, 1837.' MY DEAR SIR
"I have, rather imprudently perhaps, undertaken four distinct
courses of exegetical instruction in the Seminary, all of which require
attention, and two of them laborious study. I hope this will induce
you to excuse my repeated breach of promise as to journalizing for
you. Please to consider yourself thanked by the anonyme for your
late communication. I send the stray pamphlets and regret the error.
I shall count it a privilege to obtain letter paper at all similar to this.
My excuses above are not designed to blast all hopes of aid, but only
to prevent impatience at the delay of my precious contributions. I
hope to do something yet before February, in which month I anticipate
the pleasure of a personal interview; and in the meantime,
" Am yours,
"Jos. ADI)ImsO  ALEXANDER."
In the undated co mmunication given below, he begs in his
usual serio-comic strain for Wettenhall's Greek Grammar and
the Family Cabinet Atlas.
"Mx DEAR SIR:
" Do you think it would be possible to find in Philadelphia, two
copies of Wettenhall's Greek Grammar (in Latin), either the English
or American edition? If you should learn the existence of such phenomena, whether at first or second hand, I would thank you to secure
them for my benefit. I likewise wish to get two copies of the Family
Cabinet Atlas. By picking them. up and sending them by the first occasion, with a memorandum of the price, you will much oblige
"Your most obedient servant,
"J. A. ALEXANDER."
" Mr. J. HALL."
The letters of this period to Dr. Hall would be enough of
themselves to convince the sourest skeptic that the writer of
them  was a  man of versatility, kindliness, humour, true
politeness of heart, and heavy intellectual labours. It would




LET. 28.]      FIRST EFFORTS IN PULPIT.               419
add to this impression if I could recover reams of paper now
burnt up. The recollections of survivors are now my only
resource.
The studies in Isaiah, and those bearing upon collateral
subjects, were carried on again in 1838. His private class in
Hebrew was resumed and continued. His class duties in the
Seminary were performed with exemplary zeal and patience.
The year is marked by his entrance on the distinctive work of a
preacher. He was received as a candidate under the care of the
Presbytery of New Brunswick, in February, and during the
month of April was licensed as a probationer for the Gospel
ministry. His first efforts in the pulpit were anxiously expected, and were accepted with applause, as tokens of a noble
career as an expounder of Scripture, and as an orator apt to
teach, and to win souls. The most intellectual were charmed,
the most frivolous were awed and arrested, the most simple
were instructed in the mysteries of the kingdom. This year
is also signalized by his connection with the Princeton Review,
of which he now became an associate editor. The light now
broadens for a while upon his path, owing to the comparative
fulness of the journal.
He was visited on the morning of January the 1st, by a
Mr. Burgess, who was then supplying the place of Dr. Robinson, in the Union Seminary of New York. At 11 o'clock
he heard Dr. Rice preach on the duty of praying for a reign
of righteousness. In the evening he attended the monthly
concert of prayer in the Seminary. As a sample of his
method of preparation and instruction at this time, I insert
what follows. No one can fail to be struck with the conscientious thoroughness and diligence such statements imply,
and the power of rapid and consecutive reading which they
betray.
" January 2d.-I examined my private class on the book of Nahum.
In preparing for my lectures to this class, I have read every word of
the Septuagint, Targum, Peschito and Vulgate; a great part of
Jerome's commentary; every word of Jarchli, Kimchi, and Aben-Ezra;




420           EXPERIMENTS WITH HIS CLASS.                  183s8.
every word of Grotius, and in Pool's synopsis, J. D. Michl-aelis. Rosenmuller, and the Comprehensive Commenta:ry. This course of reading,
though laborious, has been highly satisfactory; the rather as I have secured, in black and white, the results for future use."
It is somewhat amusing to consider the force of the word
"laborious" in such a connection.  The thing so described
would probably have broken the back of any other man on
this side of Germany.
Here is something about the Princeton savans:
"January 3d.-Attended the conversazione at Professor Henry's.
Mr. Stephen Alexander gave an account of the solar eclipse which is
to take place in September, illustrated by drawings, and a map of the
United States, drawn by Professor Henry on a very large scale. I
wish very much to have such a map or maps, for the illustration of my
lectures on Biblical Geography; and Mr. Henry has kindly offered to
superintend the preparation of one for me."
It appears from a record in another volume, that he was
now. making some bold and singular experiments with his class
in the Seminary. Among, others was the plan of giving out
Hebrew words and phrases to be taken down at his dictation.
The results of these trials are given in the subjoined extract
from his journal. He got his cue from Germany.
As this entry lets us into the secret of much of his thinking on the whole subject of lecturing and questioning a class,
I may as well bring in just here a few words by one of his
pupils Professor Andrew D. Hepburn of Miami University, in
reference to this matter: though belonging to a much later
period they come in properly at this point. After many
pages of unqualified, though discriminating eulogy, he goes on
as follows:
"While superior to any man I ever heard as a lecturer, I think Dr.
A. failed in another part of the work of the class-room; in his questioning on the lectures. The questions were always clear and sh.:rp;
it was impossible to misunderstand them, but they were rigidly confined
to what hall been said in the lecture. He allowed no digression; he
demanded only what had been said. He never made, so far as I recol



AET. 29.]        QUESTIONS IN THE CLASS.                  421
lect, any explanations in the hour dgvoted to questioning. He never
allowed another to put questions to him in the class-room. He once
told us, that those who had questions to ask could write them and
place them on the desk, and he would answer them at the next meeting; but that he could not answer externpore. I do not know why he
adopted this method of requiring the bare repetition of what he had
communicated. That he had some definite principle I do not doubt;
for more than most of our professors, had he made the subject of
methods of education a matter of study."
It will be seen from the record now to be given, that Mr.
Alexander's methods were indeed a matter of deep and sagacious study with him, and that at one time he permitted extemporaneous questions to be put to him by members of the
class.
The opinion expressed as to the failure of the teacher
as a catechist will not be concurred in by all his pupils. Of
course I shall not presume to decide such a point  The account given of his manner of questioning is undoubtedly correct. In addition it may be said that a series of questions,
having almost precisely the same purport would be fairly
hailed at a silent student. The object of these questions
which were all as simple as possible, was to draw out from the
lips of the embarrassed student a single sentence giving part
of the substance of the lecture he had heard at the previous
recitation.
"January 6.-I adopted a new method in my Hebrew recitations.
Instead of making the class read the whole of the lesson, which is
very tedious to them and to me, I merely ask questions on the different parts. I am pleased with the experiment.  I had previously
adopted the European method of lecturing at one recitation on the part
to be recited at the next; and am convinced, now, that it is the true
method of imparting the most knowledge in a given time. I was formerly, prejudiced against it, as a plan adopted merely to save labour and
make superficial scholars. In this I was first shaken by my visit to the
German Universities, which made me ask myself, how is it that this
method of instruction is adhered to in a country principally noted for
its love of change? If anything could have been gained by innovation




422                 METHODS OF STUDY.                      f1838.
the Germans would have tried it. J I have now removed my doubts by
fair experiment, and am persuaded that, even in elementary instruction
this plan is the best. As for the usual objection to it, that it enables
the indolent to dispense with study, and deprives the studious of the
advantages which flow from independent intellectual effort; it is
founded on a mere mistake. The only effect of this sort, is, to elevate
the standard of acquisition by sparing the necessity of hunting after
some things, and thus leaving time for the mastering of others. But
the great argument in favor of the method is to my mind, this: that
it enables the teacher to direct the student's mind as to what he ought
to study. The student of the Bible, for example, needs to be informed
by one who knows what are the real difficulties of a passage; not one
in ten of which might possibly suggest themselves. When there are
different opinions to be weighed, he needs a brief, clear statement of
them, and at least an outline of the reasons pro and con. These he can
digest and compare in private study; and his intellectual acts will thus
become more elevated and salutary in proportion to the variety and
complexity of their objects: always provided that the latter are not too
various and complex for his time or strength; which of course must be
left to the discretion of the teacher, and is one of his most interesting
and important duties. These statements might, indeed, be made after
the student has prepared his lesson; but the result of my experience
is that they are then too late. After toiling through a tak in which
he feels no interest, because he does not know the interesting points
of it, he is apt to regard all further illustration as surplusage; as something added to a thing of which he has already had enough. When,
on the other hand, explanatory statements are made before he enters
on the careful study of the lesson, his attention is awakened by the
hope of valuable aid, and the fear of losing something which he ought
to get keeps his attention steady. Then when he retires to private study,
whiat he studies has at least some interest made from having been, the
subject of public remark; and when he comes to recite, he comes with
at least a curiosity to know how others have succeeded; and however
negligent in private, what he has already heard in public renders him
competent in some degree to judge his fellows. All this tends to make
the exercises interesting, which if not a causa qud, is a causa sine qua
non of all improvement. The effects which I have described, are not
suggested by imagination. They are rather at variance with my former fancies, and are the products of my own experiment. I began the
new method at the opening of the session, with the 2nd class in studying Isaiah. My plan with former classes has been to assign a lesson




ZET. 29.         WITH  HIS PRIVATE CLASS.                    423
and to hear the whole of it read, translated, and grammatically analyzed. The effect has been that while a few men, who would make
progress under any method, have pursued the study both with pIleasulre
and advantage, the greater number have been listless, and learned nothing in the lecture-room beyond what they acquired in their rooms.
Under the new method things are wholly changed. The class, by no
means a superior one in intellect or zeal for knowledge, seem now,
with scarcely an exception, to be deeply interested in the study; and
the most of them take copious notes, spontaneously of course, at each
lecture. At the same time, those who would have done well in the
other case, appear to make still greater progress; so that I am greatly
encouraged in my labours."
" The next step was to introduce the method in my private classes,
and with like success. I had no thought of trying the experiment with
those who are beginningr to read Hebrew, until very lately. I had, indeed, determined long ago, to introduce the practice of writing more;
and with that view had the lecture-room refitted with conveniences for
writing, and required the new class from the beginning to write at my
dictation the first outlines of the grammar. For this purpose they
learned to form the characters as soon as they learned to read them;
and a number of the class can now write Hebrew words with great
facility-all, I believe, except some one or two, with tolerable correctness. In order to maintain this habit, I continue to propound short
sentences once a week to be translated into Hebrew; and have been
surprised not only with the execution, but also with the interest taken
in the exercise, which is wholly voluntary. I had supposed, however,
that the old plan of reading Hebrew would be necessary, at least for
the present session; but the contrast between these dull recitations and
my exercises with the other classes, led me to another experiment, viz.:
that of explaining beforehand the more difficult points in the passage
to be read, and directing attention not only to grammatical, but also to
exegetical questions connected with the lesson. In order to gain time
for this, I mean to catechise the class on those points which are really
difficult, and let the others go, except so far as they are brought up by
the questions which the students are allowed to ask. To-day, after examining several on the first eight verses of the 8th chapter of Genesis,
I lectured colloquially on the eight which follow. Besides mere gramnlatical phenomena, I touched upon the two words rendered generations, in v. 9, and the difference in their meaning; the true sense of
righteous and perfect, as applied to Noah; the use of the words flesh
and way, in v. 12; the meaning of the end of alt flesh is come before




424                    BIBLE STUDIES.                      11838.
me; the materials of the ark and its dimensions; and the meaning
of the word translated wintdow, in v. 16."
The next lets the reader still more fully into his plans, and
enables him to comprehend the scale on which the young professor was projecting the future.
" January 9.-At 10 o'clock I met my private class. Having finished
Nahum, I began to-day to lecture on the twelve Psalms of Asaph.
These Psalms I propose to study no less thoroughly than Nahum. The
books which I expect to read upon the subject are: the four chief ancient versions; the three Rabbins, Jarchi,. Kimchi and Aben-Ezra;
Calvin, Cocceius, Pool's Synopsis, Grotius, J. II. Michaelis, De Wette,
Rosenmiiller, Klanss, Stier, Ewald. I devote much time to these private classes, not for their sakes merely, but for my own improvement,
which is sensibly promoted by the stimulus of teaching. What I learn
in this way will be also available in teaching future classes, whether in
public or private."
The next day he made this entry:
"January 10.-Read Genesis xxv. xxvi. xxvii. and Matthew xiii. in
course. I have for several years read the Old Testament once, and the
New Testament twice in twelve months; according to a calendar of my
owninvention. My rule is to read four chapters of the New Testament
every Sunday, and one of the New Testament with three of the old every
other day, besides Sunday. To bring the numbers out exactly even, I
divide the. 119th Psalm into eleven portions."
The next entry has reference to his studies in modern
Greek.
"I read to-day a number of colloquial Greek phrases with my
friend Constantine Menaios, an Athenian and a member of our
college, with whom I have read, talked and written Greek since
the beginning of the session. Besides the assistance which he gives me
in the language, he is highly intelligent and well-informed in everything
relating to his country. The January number of the Princeton Review is through the press at last. Since it was put to press, Mr. Dod
has consented to become the editor, conjointly with myself. To this condition i have agreed for the purpose of obtaining his services for the




AET. 28.]           A  POEM  SUGGESTED.                   425
work. I have written for the present number a desultory article on
Melanchthon's Letters, and a few short notices of books and pamphlets,
one or two of which will be thought ungracious, and perhaps they are."
The following record shows what he was doing with his
private class:
"January 12.-Lectured on the eighth and ninth chapters of Leviticus to my private class, consisting of George Hale, Melancthon W.
Jacobus, Jacob W. E. Ker, and Daniel Stewart. These men are the
flower of our senior class in relation to Biblical Philology. I meet
them every Friday morning. I am at present reading what I wrote
upon Leviticus when teaching a private class two years ago."
The secluded student did not forget to think of the poor
and houseless, and few were more liberal even to the most
worthless beggars. On January the 13th he wrote these words:
" A most enchanting day: while the ground is frozen hard and the
walking therefore good, the sky is clear, the sun bright, and the air
like that of May-an Italian winter. What a mercy to the poor in these
hard times! "
He sometimes thought of writing again in metre; but soon
abandoned the idea. The most beautiful of Mr. Alexander's
verses are on themes connected with or immediately drawn
from the Bible. His favourite themes were those which combined a sacred, a biographical, and a dramatic interest.  Such
a theme he had found in " Esau," and such a theme he now
thought he saw in Judas.
"January 13.-I have some thought of trying my hand at a dramatic
poem to be called'Iscariot,' correcting some popular mistakes as to
the character of Judas, and presenting it, poetically, in a juster ligh!t. I
have little time for such employments, but it might do good, and by
printing the thing in the Literary Messenger I might pay my debt to the
conductor for the last two volumes, which he wishes to be paid for not
in money but in writing."
The diary of home events is then resumed.
" Mr. Dod brought from New York several books for our review.




426                       A  SERMON.                         [183S.
Into my hands he put Roberts' Visit to Muscat, &c.; for J. W. A. he
brought Gardiner's Music of Nature; for Dr. Miller, Henry's Christian
Antiquities; for himself, something on Phrenology.
Here is a specimen of the exegetical writings that crowd
his journals of almost every year.
" January 14, (Lord's day.)-I have always been accustomed to suppose that vs. 6 and 10 of Matthew xviii. related literally to children.
On reading the chapter to-day I am inclined to think that little ones in
these two verses means humble Christians, in reference to the expression
vmal o roLOvTrov which is again to be explained by the comparison in
v. 3 and 4. 2nd, A true Christian must in this respect be a little child:
whoever receives such a little child as a true Christian receiveth me:
whoso shall offend such a child is a child in this sense, i. e. an humble
Christian."
Here is his account of a sermon:
"' Heard my father preach from Isaiah xlii. 16. His design was to show
that actual conversion is a very different thing from what the subjects
of it previously expect. He mentioned among other particulars, that a
soul when under true conviction seems to itself to be growing worse
and worse; which is graciously so ordered to preserve it from self-cornplacency: which is also true with respect to pungent feelings, which the
awakened soul desires without obtaining. In like manner men expect
their exercises after conversion to be something supernatural, and
wholly unlike what they had before; whereas they find them to arise
as naturally as their former thoughts. He related in the sermon two
cases illustrative of the slight occasions of conversion; one was that of
a person who being disappointed in his expectation of going to a distant church, walked out with Doddridge's Rise and Progress in his
hand, to read alone. During that walk, as he ever afterwards believed,
he underwent a saving change; the reality of which was attested by
the piety of fifty or sixty years. The other case was that of an Irishman.
(Jno. Ross, I believe) who had been brought up strictly a Roman Catltholic, and never heard Protestant preaching till he made his escape from a
British man-of-war, into which he was impressed during the blockade of
New London, and passing through the town went into a place of worship, was awakened and converted, and became a student in the Seminary here. Looked at a little book just published proposing a new




SET. 28.1           PRINCETON  REVIEW.                     427
order of missionaries: viz. intinerant preaching physicians-and a peculiar course of education for them, and substituting medicine for the
dead languages. The substance of the volume night have been put
into a dozen pages; but the thoughts are good. We are too much
disposed to overlook the fact that the way of the gospel was prepared
at first by miracles of healing, which opened the people's hearts and
made them willing to hear the truth. The same effect in kind has followed friom the exercise of medical skill among the heathen."
The brothers sometimes hit upon the same solution of a
difficulty.  Here is an example, "The same interpretation of
Matthew xviii. 10, which I have suggested on page 20, occurred
to James in reading the chapter two days ago, but I find tonight that it is giver, by Beza and other old writers." The
journal of the day proceeds as follows.
"' Received the 28th Annual Report of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The January number of the Princeton
Review has at length appeared. A great improvement in appearance on
the former volumes. The paper is large and white, and the cover much
more sightly. This last change is owing in a great measure to the decision and industry of the new editor, who plagued the printer till the
object was accomplished, after much experiment. I think the number
a fair, readable number. It contains an article on. Melancthon's early
Letters, by myself; one on Pastoral attention to Children, by Dr. Miller;
one on Expository Preaching, by James W. Alexander; one on Incidents
of Travel, by Dr. Alexander; one on the Oxford Tracts, by Dr. Heodge;
one on The Physical Theory of Another Life, by Mr. Yeomans of Trenton; and one on the South Sea Islands, by Mr. Dod. I also wrote the
notices inserted in the quarterly list of books and pamphlets at the end
of the number; as many more were excluded for want of room. We
were anxious to begin the list in this number, even on a contracted
scale, to show that it would hereafter form a regular part of the work.
I have now to commence my preparations for reviewing Roberts on
Cochin China and Muscat. I have never been kept so busy within my
recollection. I have reason to be thankful that my business is at once
so agreeable and useful, whether in public or private."
The following letter to Dr. Hall is undated, but certainly
belongs to this year. The same cover embraces a translation




428                       A LETTER.                       [18s3
of a Greek prayer, and extracts from Rutherford and Leighton,
of whom the latter especially was a favourite writer with him.
He criticized his behaviour in ecclesiastical matters with impartial severity. I have heard him say of the former that he
did not please him  as a writer half so much as old Boston.
This was one of the points on which Mr. Alexander differed from
his brother James, who hung over Rutherford's letters with
an unfading delight. The brothers agreed in admiring the great
learning and singular piety of both.  The exegetical remark
next made is worthy of attention. The letter itself contains
an interesting fact with regard to Makemic.
"MY DEAR SIR:
" As my day-book is still in your hands, I believe I will trouble you
to get a third bound to match it. I am making extensive inroads on
the first already. I will thank you to buy Millington * when it appears. I learn from James that Mr. Packard had said something to
him as to our not noticing the Di tionary. Did, or did I not explain to
you that I had actually written a short notice-nay, that it was in type
and had been read in proof, but was excluded in consequence of mny coeditor, who knew nothing of it, having given the printer something to
be put before it? I knew nothing of the error till the sheet was printed off. I have been reading Spencer's Letters. He says Makemie, the
first Presbyterian minister in America, left his library to your church.
Have they it now, and does it include the pamphlet on Lord Cornbury's
persecution? I would come to Philadelphia to see it.
"William hastens me.
"Yours truly,
"' J. A. A."
He drank tea on the 17th at his brother's, where he met
the Rev. Oscar Harris, originally of Goshen, N. Y., a pupil of
Dr. Fisk's, and a graduate of Williams college. They went together to Dr. Miller's to attend the Philosophical. There they
fell in with the Rev. David Magie, of Elizabethtown, and Wm.
B. Kinney, Esq., of Newark, and Dr. Carnahan, Dr. Rice, Prof.
Dod, Prof. S. Alexander, Principal Hart, Tutor Cooley, Dr.
George M. Maclean, and their venerable host, Dr. Miller him* Millington on Engineering.




AET. 28.]          PHILOSOPHICAL CLUB.                     429
self.  Messrs. Maclean, Dod, Kinney, arnd Magie had just
come from the Common School Convention; " which " writes
the enemy of all conventions, in his "' Day-Book, " " seems to
have been a very interesting meeting. It was resolved to petition the Legislature for the existing School Law, and the appointment of a minister of public instruction. Speeches were
made last night by Mr. Frelinghuysen, Mr. Aaron of Burlington and others."
It is evident that the free and easy conversation at these
re-unions pleased him; and though he may have been often a
silent member of the club, he never failed to pick up and carry
off with him something in the wav of knowledge or mental
stimulus. In his regular journal I find the following record of
this meeting
"January 17.-Went to the Literary and Philosophical meeting at
Dr. Miller's. After prayer by Dr. Carnahan, Mr. Dod suggested as a
theme for conversation, the expediency of forming a New Jersey Historical Society. Several f.lcts were stated in illustration of the fact
that what is done must be done quickly. Mr. Kinney said that certain
ancient records of the town of Newark, which he had examined some
years ago, had now disappeared. Dr. Miller stated that a chest full of
Gen. Morgan's papers had been found in Mr. Teneyke's barn, some
years ago, broke open and the papers scattered. J. W. Alexander referred to the case of Dr. Minto's papers, which he and I had examined
some years since, and out of which I formed a sketch of his biography
and printed it in some petty Pliladelphia paper. [Afterwards reprinted
in the Princeton Magazine.]  To show that original documents may
yet be recovered, Mr. Kinney stated that the original grant of West
Jersey to Wm. Penn and others, had been recently recovered by the
State, through Mr. John R. Brown, to whom it was forwarded from
Harrisburg, among some ancient papers relating to a suit in chancery;
and that the original deed for the land on which Newark stands was
lately brought to light from some obscure place in the country. Mr.
Hart observed that in the Morford family there is the history of an ancient Princeton family, called Fitz Randolph, who owned the ground
on which the College stands. Dr. Maclean stated that the two old
ladies who nursed Gen. Mercer are still living in this neighborhood.
Vice President Maclean informed us that Gen. Mercer was not buried
here; that he died in Philadelphia. Mr. Magic also gave an entertain



430                  CURIOUS INCIDENT.                     t[isa
ing account of an old woman whom he travelled with from Somerville
to Elizabethtown, in whose father's house Gen. Washington lived, at
Morristown. This old gentlewoman bore witness to the General's communing in the Presbyterian church there, and to his habit of daily
prayer. This led to a discussion as to Washington's character, Dr.
Miller doubting his piety, and J. W. A. and Mr. Magie suggesting that
the way in which he died might be explained from his habitual reserve,
and Mr. Dod affirming that the general opinion as to Washington's
virtues, even if erroneous, was better than the truth. Dr. Miller related an interesting anecdote received from Dr. Barton, the amount of
which was, that when Washington left home to take command of the
Continental Army, he charged his nephew, Lund, to be hospitable,
kind, and take care of his affairs. but not to trust any man, for no man
can be trusted."
Afterwards he had some conversation with Dr. Carnahan
about Aaron Burr, and the life of him by Davis, " which we
wish him to review." He adds, " Mr. Hart has Tyndale's New
Testament in his hands for the same purpose."
" A curious incident: four or five years ago, John Hart imported
from Europe Baxter's works, in twenty-odd volumes. One volume
was missing, and he replaced it by another [order], but with a volume
which did not match the rest in binding. To-day the missing volume
has appeared; brought by Mr. Harris from Mr. Jones in Brunswick, who
found it in the hands of one of his parishioners, by whom (or some
one else) it had been picked up in the streets of Princeton, soaked with
rain; I bought the set from Hart last year."
I think it must have been at night after getting home from
the Philosophical, that he penned what follows. It will be
perceived that his mind was still excogitatiny plans of Bible
study and instruction.
" January 17'.-I have conceived a new plan for my biblical instructions, if the Lord should spare my life and keep me here. It is briefly
this: to abandon the practice of reading scraps with the classes; and,
in lieu thereof, lecture continuously on the whole Old Testament. The
beginrling class are now studying Genesis. After finishing that book, I
propose to take up Exodus, and go as far as I can during the first year;
after which I can pursue the course, in a more private way, with such of




AET. 28.J           MISSIONARY HERALD.                     431
the class as may choose to attend. In this way I think I could expound
the Pentateuch at least, and perhaps Joshua and Judges, before the class
leave the Seminary. My object in this method would be, chiefly to
compel myself to study the whole Bible critically in course, and to record the result of my researches. In order to attain this end as soon
as possible, I might make the next new class begin with Ruth instead
of Genesis, and the following class with Esther; and carry each forward, without any omission, to the end of the year. On this plan, with
God's blessing, I believe that I might finish the historical books (Genesis-Esther) in three years, and possibly the whole in five. I shall
never feel at home in Scripture till I have accomplished such a course,
in the Old Testament at least, and possibly not till I despatch the New.
Quodfelix faustumque sit!
"January 21.-Read the Missionary Herald for 1822. I began to
read the journals of our American Missionaries in order from the beginning several months ago, and have continued so to do at intervals.
The connected view thus presented of a history so full of incident is
deeply interesting. I wish I had time to read more regularly and constantly."
This course he continued till he had read and mastered the
whole series. No one took more delight in missionary news,
or complained more bitterly when the intelligence was meagre.
He thought that with whole boundless continents their own,
our gifted missionary writers might oftener get beyond the
horn-book of the Sunday-schools.
" January 19.-Mr. Boyd asked my opinion of Roy's Hebrew Lexicon. I told him that the specimens which I had seen before the work
was published were exceedingly absurd, but that I had not examined the
book since." He continued the reading of Baxter's Christian Directory,
which he had begun long before, and resumed at very irregular intervals.'; His fervour, plainness, and directness," he records, " are inimitable."
On the 21st, (Lord's Day) he drank tea with his brother James, who read
him some passages from " Essays, Sermons, &c.," by Henry Woodward,
a clergyman from Ireland, " characterized, " as he testifies, " by piety,
originality, sober wit, independence, and a charming style of vigorous
simplicity." He hoped his brother would review it, for the sake of
giving extracts. " Orne of the most important duties of the religious




432                          DIARY.                         [1838.
press, it seems to me, is that of bringing to the knowledge of our public truly valuable matter ab extra."  He heard Dr. Rice preach from
" They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."
"First letter fi'om Malta (Missionary Herald, 1822, page 179) says,' I
write you in much haste, and you will not forget that I am only giving
you a prima facie view of things here.' Would that he and other missionaries would continue to give prima facie views, instead of abridging
road-books and geographies.
"January 22. —The Watchman of the South to-day contained an
extract from Dr. Chalmers, addressed to his own students and advising
them how to conduct their own studies. I was much pleased with the
whole of it, but most with what he says about the critical study of the
English Bible. I have myself been thinking of a lecture, speech, or
article on that same subject, and may hatch it before long.*
"'JJanuary 25.-One of the chief pleasures of exegetical study,
when rightly conducted, is the gradual reduction of confusion into order, and the gradual dawn of day upon the darkness of the text."
"' January 26.-Received a letter from Rev. John C. Brown, a grandson of Brown of Haddington, and now a missionary at St. Petersburg,
who was here a few years since, and was then requested by my father to
enquire whether Persian manuscripts could be procured there. He
writes that the Rev. Mr. Glenn, Missionary in Persia, would gladly aid
us in procuring anything of that kind, but requests me to send a list of
what I want, and what I am willing to give, promising to submit it, if
I choose, before he forwards it to Mr. Glenn, to Mirra Carim Bey, Adjunct Professor of languages (oriental) at St. Petersburg, and considered
the most learned Persian in Europe. Such commissions have frequently been given, but seldom recollected after such a lapse of time, even
by missionaries of our own church and country. I am therefore the
more indebted to Mr. Brown's kindness. Received the Foreign Missionary Chronicle for February. It is now conducted on an excellent
plan (that of the Church Missionary Register), giving a general view
of Protestant Missions. The Herald has kept all missions but its own
too much in the dark.
" January 27.-I have been reading lately a file of the' Friend of
India,' edited by John C. Marshman, son of the Baptist Missionary. He
was educated in England; and was evidently connected with the public
press there, probably as a reporter. This appears from that peculiar
tact and style for which the regular English editors are so distinguished.
* Here we have the germ of the inaugural address.




AET. 28.1                    A  SERMON.                         433
The paper is a general one, not exclusively religious, and is not only
conducted in an admirable spirit, but affords the best views of East
Indlia affairs that I have ever been able to obtain. I have read it with
special reference to the controversy respecting the expediency of printing oriental books in Roman letters, on. which subject I have some idea
of writing a review.* The papers were lent to me by the Rev. John C.
Lowrie." His notion of Dickens is given below:
"I read to-day some parts of the last volume of the Pickwick Club.
The author I have long regarded as possessed of an original vein of
humour, and an unrivalled talent for describing personal habits and appearance. He has ruined himself here by undertaking a continuous
story. I think his original sketches by Boz equal to all the Pickwick
Club together. Mr. Dod returned to-day from Philadelphia, bringing
a new edition of Bentley's works, Upham's Mental Philosophy, and
John Aug. Smith's Discourse against Materialismn."
" January 29, Lord's day. —Heard Dr. Rice preach from Rev. ii, 25 —
against antinomianism. (1) What have Christians already?  (2) How
must they hold it fast? lHe suggested two interpretations which were
new to mne: one was, that when our Lord says that Abrahanm desired to
see his day, and saw it, and was glad, he referred to the trial of Abraham's faith, (Gen. xxii); where the doctrine of vicarious atonement was
taught by the substitution of the ram  for Isaac.  This thought stggested one to me, entirely different, viz. that this trial was intended to
give some idea of God's love in sending his own Son to die for sinners.
I must prsue both ileas at some other time.  The other interpretation
new to me, was that by our Lord's being glorified in his s:iints, and
admired in his believers, we are to understand that the angels who attend  hlim at his coming, unable to look upon the brightness of his
glory, will admire it as reflected in his people. I have read the survey
of Protestant Missions in the last two numbers of the Missionary
Chronicle: it puts a new face upon tile whole matter. Our American
Missionar:es, instead of being every thing, are but a fraction of this
glorious unit.  I am surprised at the accumulation of nisionary effort
in South Afrtica. There are representatives of the United Brethren, the
London M. S., the Glasgow M. S., the Rhlenish M. S., the French Protestant M. S., thie American Board, the American Baptist Board, the
Church Missionary Society, and tile Wesleyan M. S.  What a brilliant
* He afterwards wrote copiously on this subject. See article in the Princeton Repertory on Robinson's & Smith's Palestine.
19




434                  EXEGETICAL STUDY                       18s3a8.
constellation!  Ther'e are three missionary families in as many ships,
sent by our Presbyterian Board, now on the ocean and in need of prayer.
His method of exegetical study is thus recorded:
"Jan. 27. I llave been studying Ps. lxxiii to-day, with the commentaries of ie Wette, Rosenmiiller, Klaus, and Ewald. This, I think
has been the most delightful exegetical investigation I have made (I
do not mean to-day's work only). I am now persuaded that I greatly
erred in making it a rule to read a number of commentaries through consecutively; in consequence of which I felt no special interest in any
part, and was scarcely able to distinguish the hard parts from the easy;
and although I was glad to finish my task, the- doing of it was more
irksome than agreeable. In studying this Psalmn I have pursued
another method. I first read it carefully in English to obtain an impression of its import and arrangement, and observe what passages
appeared obscure. I then compared the Englisll with the Hebrew to
determine bow far the former seemed to need correction. By this
time, one or two verses had begun to stand out friom the rest as specially
difficult and interesting (e. g. vv. 10 and 25), while others appeared so
in a less degree, and the remainder seemed entirely plain. I then compared the four ancient versions —Greek, Latin, Chaldee, Syria(c: first on
the more, then on the less, perplexing passages; during which process
several new modes of explication started into view. I then read Calvin and Cocceius on the same parts; then De Wette and Rc,senmiiller;
then Klaus and Ewald. Before I finished this course, I felt a curiosity
and interest almost intense with respect to the meaning of the obscure
parts, which feeling effectually precluded that of weariness. I believe
that I have also been too much in the habit of writing while actually
studying a passage. This not only broke the train of thought, but kept
me uneasy through the fear of losing something which I oug-ht to note
down. On the other hand, I find that my memory commonly retains
every suggestion worth remembering, and when I have to look back
for something I forget, the repeated reference is really an advantage."
The Presbytery of New Brunswick met on Tuesday, the 7th
of February. The Rev. IMr. Comfort, of Kingston, preached the
sermon. There was a large attendance. The event of interest
was the reception of 1Mr. Alexander under the care of Presbytery, after an examination pro forman.  The adjournment was
to the second Tuesday in August; the meeting to be at New




AT. 28.]                 A  CANDIDATE.                       435
Brunswick. The tidings from every quarter were of awakenings
and revivals. Philadelphia, New-York, Pennington, and other
Ilaces, were much stirred. The conversazione on the 14th was
at Professor Stephen Alexander's.  The sound of sleighbells
might be heard late at night, and the merry ring of laughter
from the young people who were pleasure-taking.
Mr. Alexander thus refers to his own connection with the
Presbytery:
" February 7. This day I was received under the care of the New
Brunswick Presbytery as a candidate for license. Quod felix faustunlque sit! Sine te, Dornine, nil possum! This is the first step toward
the execution of a purpose which I formed eight years ago." *
The same day Dr. Yeomans called upon him to borrow a
number of the Christian Baptist Review, intending to write
on the Bible translation controversy, about which he and Mr.
Alexander had some talk.
Here is a continuation of the journal:
"' Feb. 11. Dr. Miller brought me an article which he has written
for the Review, on Henry's Christian Antiquities, which I am to revise
and complete in some way.
"Feb. 15. The exercises of the Seminary recommenced. I have
been busy all day preparing articles for the Review.  Finished the article on Christian Antiquities, and continued my own on Nordheirner's
Grammar.
" Feb. 17. I finished a review of the first part of Nordheimer's Hebrew Grammar and laid it aside until I get the rest.
" Feb. 22. This being the day set apart for prayer in behalfof Colleges, Dr. Miller preached a sermon in the church fiom Job ii, 4, 5.
Chiefly remarkable for a severe denunciation of those persons in the
neighbourhood of Colleges, and particularly here, who for the sake of
gain encourage the students in vice, and even tempt them to it. Attended a prayer-meeting in the church at night; Dr. Rice made an address.
" Feb. 24. Received an article from Mr. Dod on India as a missionary field, by John C. Lowrie, lately a missionary to Lodiana. I sent
* And consequently while he was tutorial professor in the college, and not
long after the time of his conversion,




436                        BEGGARS.                         [1838.
some time ago for the remainder of Nordheimer's Hebrew Grammar,
and yesterday it arrived by mail charged with folr dollars postage.
Finished my article' On Naming Places,' and sent it to the Southern
Literary MesSenger. The first article of tell for the Princeton Review
(next number) is in type; it is on Henry's Christian Antiquities: the
second (on Roberts's Embassy) is also in the printer's hands: a third was
received to-day (on India): and a fourth on Nordheimer's Hebrew Gr'ammar; a fifth on Tyndall's New Testament; a sixth on Phrenology; a
seventh on the Baptist Bible-translation controversy; and an eighth on
the State of the Church, are nearly ready.
"Feb. 25. Heard my father preach from Psalm ii, 12.'Blessed
are all they that put their trust in him.' God oftentimes leaves his
children to conflict with doubts and temptations all their lives, because spiritual comfort would betray them into self-complacency and
spiritual pride. The reason we are unhappy even under a sense of sin
is because we cannot trust. Finished the Missionary Herald for 1827.
There is a pleasing alternation in the interest of the different missions.
As the Sandwich Island Mission becomes settled and establi-hed, the
Palestine Mission becomes highly interesting.
" Feb. 26. Received the remainder of Nordheimer's Grammar and
completed my review."
Wednesday, the 28th of February, the Club met at Dr.
George Maclean's. Mr. Alexander this day received a charming letter from the grammarian Nordheimer.
On the 4th of March, four English beggars were on the
tramp through Princeton. If strollers called at the door of Mr.
Addison Alexander, they were either eagerly admitted or else
abruptly dismissed. Sometimes he invited them in of his own
accord, and picked up much useful and amusing information
from the wretched vagabonds. He was especially pleased if'they
were from continental Europe and spoke a foreign language.
He was amused at their con tradictory stories, and often imitated
their incredible relations in his tales to children.*  He kept at
* He used to tell a story about a wifeless and childless beggarman (whom
he would personate) that had, together with his consort and offspring, passed
through some surprising adventures; having been blown up in an earthquake,
shipwrecked in a volcano, etc., etc. Compare this with Charles Lamb's closing
words in his " Complaint of the Decay of Beggars."




AT. 28.]             GROWTH  IN GRACE.                     437
one time a large volume in which he recorded their histories and
imaginary escapes, and which he styled the "Book of Beggars."*  At another time he kept a boy posted at the door
with directions to slam it in their faces after giving them a few
cents. In Ireland and among the Alps these creatures only
tormented him, and he could hardly rid himself of their filthy
company by talking Persian and Arabic at them and making
impassive gestures which seemed to show  that he was a
traveller fiom  some strange country and unacquainted with
the tongues of the Continent or of Great Britain.  A single
extract from his journal will illustrate the way in which he
derived information from wandering mendicants.'Talked French to a Spanish priest from Mexico and gave him an
alms. He gave me an account of the way in which he preached. He
says that it is customary in Catholic countries to preach sermons out of
printed books, and that another priest usually sits below the preacher
and prompts him. Very few, he says, make sermons de la te"te.'
The next record he makes seems to show plainly that he
was making advances in the Divine life.
"March 11. I have experienced to-day a new religious impulse
leading me to take delight in the reading of the Scriptures, in prayer,
and in the ordinances of God's house, and dispelling the guilty gloomn
which has, for some time, brooded over me. The Lord preserve me
from delusion! I have renewed my vows and here record the fact."
His studies went on pretty much in the usual way.
A few days after this, he finished Deuteronomy again, hav
ing read it in Hebrew, comparing the English version and De
Wette's German. He has now, i. e. by the 14th, read the
Pentateuch again in Hebrew since the beginning of the year.
The entries which follow may serve as examples of all.
"March 14, 1838. Attended the conversazione at Dr. Rice's; Present
Drs. Miller, Rice, and Torrey; Professors Maclean, Dod, J. W. Alex* Doubtless with remembrance of the eccentric volume to which Luther
condescended to write a preface or introduction.




438                    SCRIPTURE READING.                 (s38.
ander, Henry, J. A. Alexander, S. Alexander; Tutor Cooley.  Dr.
Torrey exhibited somhe specimens of the metal magnesium, which he
converted into magnesia by burning. The next meeting is to be at
Professor Maclean's.
"March 20, 1838. Received as a present from the American Sunday School Union a copy of their new Bible Dictionary, elegantly
bound. Received at the same time a number of English papers of
December and January; saw a letter to my father from our former
pupil, Professor S. B. Jones of Oakland College. Another old pupil of
oul's is now in Princeton, the Reverend Geo. Burrowdes, of Port Deposit,
Maryland, who graduated here in 1832, and was afterward a tutor in
the College and a student in the Seminary. Received to-day a copy of
a new book on the Limits of Human Responsibility, by Dr. Wayland.
" March 23. Finished the Book of Joshua again."
He then announces another change of programme:
"I have reluctantly determined to suspend my rule of scriptural
reading by a calendar, and to adopt another method. I find that it is
too much of a task at present, and that it does not answer any useful
purpose, to read just so much without regard to the difficulty or importance of the passage. I propose to begin Romans and Judges, on the
plan of reading everything attentively and more than once; the quantity
to be determined by the time. If I do not like the mnethod, I can return
at any time to my calendar, which is made out to the end of the year.
" March 24. Drank tea and spent the evening with my brother.
Looked at the new Nova Scotian jeu d'esprit-Sam Slick. It is much
superior to Jack Downing; less exaggerated, and constructed for a definite mnoral purpose. It must be a great treat to John Bull. I have
formed two new plans to-day. One is, to reduce my diet, both in quantity and quality; with a view to intellectual and moral effect. The
other is, to suspend my commentary on Isaiah and write a popular analysis instead. This might excite an interest in the prophet and prepare
the way for detailed exposition; though, in my opinion, analysis is
three-fourths of the exposition wanted."




CHAPTER XIV
THE beginning of the career of such a preacher as the subject of this memoir is commonly admitted to have been, is an
event that will be approached with a quickened interest on the
part of the reader who is inquisitive as to the sources of the
young minister's power. Great attention was of course paid
to the rumour that Mr. Alexander, who though he had so long
occupied one of the chairs of a school of theology had not
yet entered the pulpit, was to be carried through the usual
course of interrogations and formally authorized to preach
that good news with his lips which he already published by
his example. His diaries disclose the fact, that his own spiritual exercises in prospect of this crisis were profound and
humble. The church court before which he expected to appear was holding its sessions but a few miles off, at Lawrenceville. IIe accordingly made no delay, but accepted the offer
of Dr. Benjamin H. Rice and rode over to the little village
where, after the preliminary trials, he was, on the 25th of April,
duly licensed by the Presbytery of New Brunswick as a probationer for the Gospel Ministry. The following account of
the proceedings is from his journal. It will be perused with
gratification by such as desire to be minutely informed as to all
the particulars relating to the affair, as it were from the lips of
the person himself most deeply interested in the issue of the
business.
On the 25th of April he records:
"Dr. Rice called for me with his carriage at 8 o'clock, and I went
with him to Lawrence,* where we found the Presbytery sitting in Mr.
* A familiar abbreviation.




440                   AS A PREACHER.                      [l838.
Hammill's schoolhouse. I then read my exegesis -De Sacrficiis, my
criical exercise on Gen. xlix, 8-12, and my lecture on Micah iv, 15; and was examined on Theology by Mr. Perkins, on Church History
by Dr. Rice, and on Church Government and the Sacraments by )ir.
Miller. We then repaired to the church where I delivered my sermon
on John iii, 36. Dr. Miller and Mr. Dod were in the pulpit with me.
The latter read the hymns and made both prayers. We then descended
from the pulpit. I answered the constitutional questions and was
licensed."
This is the whole of the simple narrative. He has preserved his " Latin exegesis " (as it is absurdly called) in one
of his manuscript books. There is nothing specially noticeable about it, except that it is short, and in a very different
style fi'om Turretin's.
The advent of the young preacher created a decided sensation among the ministers as wcll as the mass of ordinary
hearers. The venerable President Green heartily said that he
was " orthodox."   Other dignified and famous clergymen,
men who were not easily driven from their self-possession,
were heard to echo this sentiment and to express themselves
in the language of unbounded eulogy.  In the midst of this
commotion there was one at least who, though deeply interested in what was going on, was not at all excited and was
as simple as a child in thll  expression of such feelings as he
had. This was Dr. Archibald Alexander.
A member of the senior class of 1838, gives the following
account of the manner in which the happy father received the
news that his son had preached his first sermon.
"'It was while I was at the Seminary that he was licensed to
preach. The interest excited by his first sermon was very great, as
you know, both in Princeton and in the cities. I happened to be in Dr.
Alexander's parlour one Monday evening, after Addison had preached
the day before for the first time in New-York, when a lady from NewYork who hadjust arrived came into the room. She began at once to
tell of Addison's preaching, and the great interest it had excited."
The venerable Dr. Archibald Alexander was present, and was greatly
animated by what he heard. These were tidings he had long wished




AET. 29.]          DR. RAMSEY S ESTIMATE.                  441
and expected to hear about his son. No one had ever better gauged
the young man's capacity. But he had doubts on one point: and that
was his voice. He feared he could not be heard in a large church.
How natural and affecting the picture that is brought before us by Dr.
Ramsey!
"I well remember," lse says, "how eagerly the good old man
listened and enquired, and how delighted he seemed.' Did he speak
loud enough?' he asked,' I was afraid Addison would not speak loud
enough."'
Dr. Ramsey continues that he himself always loved to hear
him, and never heard him without profit.
"You know that everybody rejoiced to listen to him, that could
appreciate God's truth declared, illustrated and enforced, by all that
genius, learning, and simple, forcible, transparent diction, which in
him were so remarkably combined. It seems to me you will not find
it a very easy task to characterize his preaching. I could not do it.
It was so endlessly varied. At one time, brilliant, dazzling, overwhelming; at another so plain as to be almost without an illustration, except of the simplest kind, yet deeply interesting; at another, severely
exegetical so as to be, in the estimation of many, dry. Did he ever, do
you suppose, compose two sermons on any one plan? It seems to me
that his two volumes of sermons are enough to show how the church
has suffered by Procrustean rules for sermonizing, by making the sermon a thing so different from every other kind of composition, except
in its being an exposition of God's word.
" The power of perfectly natural intonations in delivery was shown
very fully by his preaching. Reading, as he did generally when I heard
him, quite closely and with scarcely a gesture, he thus always managed
to secure attention, and to hold it to the end without weariness either
to himself or his auditor. His tones, almost as much as his words,
contributed to the strange art by which he was wont to cause his
thouglhts to be immediately apprehended by the hearer."
Among those who listened to his first discourse after licensure was one who has never ceased to cherish a glowing sentiment of admiration for the genius and piety of Mr. Alexan19*




442                        FIRST  SERMON.                         [1838.
der, and who  has associated his own name with Christian
authorship.*
"It was my good fortune," he writes, " to hear the first sermon he
preached on being licensed by the Presbytery. It was in the Princeton Church, before a crowded auditory composed of the faculty and
students of the Seminary and College, with all the principal families
of the village, who were attracted to hear the first effort of the learned
Professor in what had been to him, till then, the untried art of public
speaking. His success was perfect. He went through the whole service with an ease, self-possession, propriety, and solemnity which would
seem to have marked a preacher of many years.  That first sermon
established his reputation as an attractive popular preacher, and from
that time forward it needed only to be known that he would preach to
fill any house of worship in Princeton with the melite of the place." t
* The Rev. Professor L. I. Halsey, D.D., of the Seminary of the Northwest,
the biographer of Lindsley, and the author of "Literary Attractions of the
Bible."
t In a series of letters to the Northwestern Presbyterian, on the great
preachers of the last quarter of the century, the same writer thus refers to
this peculiarity of Mr. Alexander's modes of preaching:
"As a preacher he possessed endowments of the highest order, and he was
equally successful in whatever style he chose to deliver the sermon. He could
enchain the attention of an audience when he read his discourse closely from
a manuscript, with scarcely more gesture than was necessary to turn the pages;
and he could thrill and electrify the same audience, when without a line before
him, he poured out a swelling and magnificent stream of thought with all the
fervid animation of the most impassioned delivery. From the time he was
licensed, he took his position, as it were by a single bound, among the most
admired and powerfull preachers of the times; and his services were in constant demand, not only in the pulpit at Princeton and its vicinity, but in the
largest and most intelligent congregations of New-York and Philadelphia."
It is in connection with his account of this sermon, that Dr. Halsey introduces the following passage into his "Distinguished Preachers of the Last
Forty Years:"
"Nothing could exceed the rapidity, energy, force and fire of his impassioned delivery. At times it was like a rising flood; it was a sweeping, onrushing, impetuous torrent. And yet it was always free from any approach to
extravagance or verbiage. It was the lightning of thought. It was the heavy
artillery of truth. It was the eloquence which combined the four elements of
original, stirring thought, brilliant diction, magnificent imagery, and a soul in




XET. 29.]        DIVERSITY OF METHODS.                     443
It was no doubt painfully embarrassing to the young Professor to deliver that sermon. It was an experiment even to
himself. He had always low views of his fitness and calling as a
preacher.  He thought his proper place was in the chair.  In
this he resembled his old preceptor Lindsley, and like him was
strangely ignorant that perhaps " his forte was his magnificent
preaching."
One of the first things about his pulpit efforts that attracted
general notice, was the diversity of his methods. The unexampled variety in the plans of his sermons and the modes of
his delivery of them, struck everybody who heard them. There
was, however, a rich peculiarity of thought and diction in all
of them. The gentleman just quoted, who heard him constantly
at this period, testifies:
"From the first his style of preaching was unique and original-I
should rather say his styles of preaching; for I have never heard any
one preach in so many different ways as ma:Irked his manner during
these first years of his ministry. His services were in great demand,
and lie preached often, both in the Church and the Seminary Chapel,
besides being frequently called to New-York and Philadelplhia. At
times he appeared in the pulp;it without a line of manuscript, and delivered what seemed an unwritten discourse, teeming with profound
and striking thought and brilliant imagery, with a precision and wealth
of diction which nothing could exceed, and with all the impassioned
animation and ardor of an extemporaneous orator. At other times he
would place his manuscript of large size paper on the pulpit desk and
read it without indeed appearing to read it, turning the pages as he
advanced, but no more trammeled or constrained as to gesture, look, or
voice by the paper than if he had been preaching without notes. Then
again I have seen him stand in the pulpit and preach, reading from a
little sermon-book which he held up in both hands, going through the
entire discourse without a gesture, or a look at the audience, while every
eye was fixed upon him, and the attention of every hearer riveted by
earnest. Without any thing of what would be called the graces of manner,
or the attitudes of oratory, he had the very essentials of true and powerful
pulpit eloquence in the truth he uttered, in the words and images with which
he clothed it, and in the ardour of his delivery."




444                  TRUE ELOQUENCE.                      Lis.
the perfect articulation and emphasis of his voice, and the exceeding
richness and originality of his matter."
The effect was the same under all these various methods.
"It mattered not in which of these methods he preached. He was
always interesting, and at times sublime and thrilling. I could scarcely
say in which of the styles I admired him most. I never heard any
preacher who seemed to me so completely independent of all the aids
of external method. In every method alike he poured out the richest
treasures of Gospel truth. With him the form seemed to be nothing.
In every style it was the eloquence of brilliant imagery, of powerful
thought, of rich and choice diction, of impassioned feeling. I never
heard any preacher who seemed so little indebted to the rules of rhetorical art, or rather so fully the creator and master of his own art. In
this respect he was a law unto himself. It would be difficult to say
which was the most remarkable chlaracteristic of his preaching: the
fervor of his own spiritual emotion, the grand movement of his
thought, his magnificent imagery, or masterly command of language.
His diction was at once simple, chaste, ornate, copious, and forcible.
It was perfectly radiant with thought, luminous with flashes of imagination, and surcharged with feeling. Though he always spoke with
clear and distinct articulation, his words flowed with great rapidity,
indicating the quick and powerful movement of his mind. I cannot
recall a single instance in which lie ever, either in the pulpit or lecture-room, hesitated a moment for a word, or failed to get the right
one; although his utterance on all occasions was remarkable for its rapidity. His reading of the Scriptures was also marked by the same
rapid and yet distinct articulation. This power of expression, both by
the tongue and the pen, was but the natural exponent of the clear and
powerful intellect with which the Almighty had endowed him."
He was now, of course, busier than ever as, in addition to
his usual engagements, he immediately took to writing sermons,
and was continually in request as a preacher. His valuable
aid was greatly sought after, especially by churches in NewJersey and Philadelphia; and the eloquent licentiate was not
at all unwilling to oblige his friends and serve his Master by
speaking to sinners of the joys and wonders and dangers connected with redemption.




AET. 29.]              TRAVELLING.                  445
On the 3d of May, 1838, the cautious scholar wrote a letter
to the President of the Board of Directors of the Seminary, accepting the Professorship to which he had been appointed by
the assembly of 1835. The Directors on receiving his acceptance resolved, that he should be inaugurated at their next
meeting, which would occur in September, and that he should
pronounce an inaugural address. Dr. Spring was appointed
to deliver the charge to the Professor.
During parts of April, May, June, August, and September,
he was travelling; chiefly to and from points between Princeton and Washington. He took several extensive tours and
many short rambles. He was at various, times at Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore, and the Federal Capital. Sometimes he was alone, and sometimes accompanied by one of his
brothers.  His longest sojourns were at Philadelphia.  I
have found among his papers minute accounts of the little
humdrum incidents of these excursions, stating the events of
each day with a precision and uniformity that would exhaust
the patience of the reader. The truth was, his pleasure lay
mainly in the substitution of other scenes and associations for
those to which he was daily accustomed, the rapid transit
from city to city, and the agreeable alternation of travel by
water and travel by land.* Nothing of lively interest occurrc d to vary the essential monotony of these ever shifting
and never changing diversions. But few extracts from this
narrative need be given here. In the intervals he was as busy
as at any other time.
When in Philadelphia, where he was thoroughly at home,
he commonly put up at the public house known as Sanderson's; walked hither and thither in search of small adventures (that would have been adventures to nobody else) on
the streets, and made necessary or trivial purchases at the
" He unconscious whence the bliss,Feels..
That all the circling joys are his,
Of dear vicissitude."
Gray. (Little, Brown & Co., 1853, p. 128.)




446                     PREACHING.                    [1838.
shops. On Sunday, when he was not engaged to preach himself, he went to hear some one or other of the city pastors, or
strangers who were advertised in the newspapers. Now and
then he fell in with an acquaintance; and though avoiding observation and recognition as much as possible, indulged in a good
deal of casual intercourse with old and new friends, and appeared at times to enjoy these wayside encounters with no
little zest.
Dr. Joseph H. Jones has told me that he could scarcely
ever get a glimpse of the ubiquitous linguist; of whose society
he was very fond and whose memory he holds in exalted estimation. The same is true, without doubt, of the majority o f
his Philadelphia confreres.
In addition to these journeys taken commonly without
definite object and, as it were, with malice prepense, he was
constantly going off somewhere to preach. He was invited
hither and thither; had his bag full of fresh sermons (the best in
a popular point of view that he ever wrote); was in the luxuriant bloom of his bodily, mental, and emotional powers; and
was ready and even eager, on all fit occasions, to make full
proof of his ministry and to preach " the glorious Gospel of
the blessed God." He astonished and enraptured the best
minds and the warmest hearts of every assembly over which
he threw the spell of his glittering eye and thrilling accents;
and many a hardened sinner was made to feel his guilt and
danger, and to see the ample provision that had been made
for his salvation. His own soul often took fire under these awakening influences, and his voice rang out as sweet and passionate
as the note of a bugle.
He was in Washington on the 9th of May, with one of his
brothers. He records:
"After tea we walked through Pennsylvania Avenue, and found
the village (city) very dismal.  It is a mere collection of suburbs
without any urbs, or as James describes it, a moderate town pulled
out like India-rubber to make it big. It has all the discomforts of a
city, with few of its comforts. What a mistake it was to leave Philadelphia for the purpose of creating a central city which is now far less




LET, 29.]1     VIEWS OF THE DISRUPTION.                447
central to the twenty-six States than Philadelphia then was to the old
thirteen-a great city without commerce or government munificence 
What a chimera.
"Wednesday, May 16. I had intended to go to-day, but as I hear I
can reach Philadelphia to-morrow before 2 o'clock, and as Hoffman
has the floor in the House of Representatives, I have determined to remain one day longer. I did remain accordingly, and heard Ogden
HIoffnman, who was interrupted or answered by Rhett, Legare, and
Waddy Thompson. I also heard J. W. Jones of Virginia, and Henry
A. Wise in reply."
The spring had been very tardy in its advances. May was
more like one of the earlier vernal months. The weather, however, was soft and balmy, after a period of unseasonable cold.
From Philadelphia came the important tidings on the 18th,
that the General Assembly was divided, and that the newschool party had seceded. Dr. Plumer was moderator of the
old assembly, and Dr. Fisher of the new. These were exciting times, and Mr. Alexander took a deep and lively interest
in them, and kept himself informed of all the ecclesiastical
movements; but it does not appear that he entered actively
into the controversy. His ecclesiastical life dates from the
disruption of the church.  He sided, heartily with the oldschool incumbents. The article condemning the Exodus of
the new school men came out during his editorship of the
Repertory, but was not written by him. No man was more
strictly old fashioned on all points of doctrine, and on most
points of policy. Whatever were his views, none could call
in question his honesty or independence, or his courage. Assured in his own conscience, he was indifferent to censure,
and laughed at intimidation. It had been as easy to govern
John Knox or Martin Luther.
On Lord's Day, May  20th, Dr. Archibald Alexander
preached one of the most eloquent sermons ever heard in
Princeton, on the text, Sin no more. He awakened the cold
and somewhat academic audience as he had done the warm
assemblies in his youth. His hearers were deeply impressed.
Not long after this, his old teacher Mr. Baird was in town,




448                   IN BOSTON.                     [1838.
and received a pleasant greeting from one or more of his
former pupils. He was becoming a great traveller, and frequently sbowed his face in Princeton on returning fromn one
of his tours abroad.  He liked nothing better than to recount the incidents of these journeys. I find that Mr. Alexander was at this time absent, having gone to Philadelphia
with his father. IHe seems to have proceeded to Boston
and other places in New-England, and then returned to the
Pennsylvania Capital. He wrote home almost daily; an unusual thing with him. Saturday, the 26th, he had diverged
as far as Elizabethtown; where he was to preach on Sunday.
I give below the only record he has left of this journey.
It seems to have been penned in Boston:
"Lord's Day, May 20. Waterbury's Church. Beecher,'Have I any
pleasure in the death of the wicked.' Beecher again,'Seek first the
kingdom of God.'"
It is hard to clothe a skeleton journal with flesh and blood.
The days were not alike, but it is scarcely possible to revive
them in their distinct individuality.  The materials at my
disposal are not such as to enable me to hit off the physiognomy of each transient period; a few touches here and there
must suffice.  Professor James Alexander could not be induced to give a favourable answer to a solicitation from the
church in Petersburg, which he received about this time. The
younger brother was still in motion upon various neighbouring railways.' On the 18th of September he came home fiom
New-Brunswick, bringing with him clouds and signs of bad
weather. He dined with his'brother, and was, I doubt not,
very communicative and entertaining about his journey. He
was never more agreeable than after such returns. His eyes
would fairly sparkle with fun and pleasure, and the little ones
would laugh louder than ever at his amusing inventions.
On November the 11th, he records:
" To-night I heard Dr. Rice preach from Acts xvii. 30, on the duty
of repentance. Anniversary of my last awakening. Thanks be to God




ET. 29.]          DR. HODGE'S ESTIMATE.                    449
for his unspeakable gift! I have lately finished Lockhart's Life of Scott,
which I read with much interest.
"Nov. 17. Within a few days I have read the trial of Warren
Hastings."
On Sunday the 8th of December, he arose for the first
time in the Seminary Chapel; and there can be no doubt that
he was listened to with the greatest attention.
Among those who watched with interest his dawning reputation as a preacher, was Dr. Charles Hodge, the friend of his
boyhood and his colleague in the Seminary; a man who above
almost all other men, had opportunity and ability to know and
rightly estimate the greatness and variety of the gifts with
which God had endowed him, and the breadth of the charmed
circle that limited his attainments and means of influence.
IMr. Alexander's intellectual wealth was like treasure hid in a
field. One had to resort thither for it; it was not exposed in
the market-place. Dr. Hodge had seen the treasure buried,
and, of course, knew what it was. He writes as follows as to
his mode of preaching:
"As a preacher, he had, for an intelligent audience at least, few
equals. His mode of constructing -his sermons was various. Sometimes his preaching was exegetical.'He would take a passage of greater
or less extent, and so expound it that his hearers would be astonished
at the treasures of truth which it contained beyond what before they
had apprehended. Sometimes his discourses were graphic; abounding
in the highest kind of description; filling the mind with esthetic and
devotional feelings so mingled as to be hardly distinguishable; and diffusing through it a purifying delight.
" He generally wrote his sermons and used his manuscript in the
pulpit; but never slavishly, as though he needed it. He always appeared to be master of himself and of his subject. I have heard him
in the Seminary Chapel (if the solecism be intelligible), read extempore. That is, he has gone into the pulpit with blank paper, and in a
level tone of voice, and without the slightest hesitancy, deliver a discourse as though he were reading from a book; not addressing his
hearers, but reading to them. This was not an exhibition of a power
of committing to memory without writing, but was done apparently
off-hand, with little or no premeditation. This, of course, was not done
for display, for he did not expect to be detected; but if, when called




450                LETTERS TO A BOY.                     [1838
on to preach, he could not lay his hand oh a sermon which suited his
purpose, he would adopt this method. Preaching to theological students was not so agreeable to him as addressing a promiscuous audience, and he seldom spoke in the Chapel with the animation which
characterized his manner under other circumstances."
This year, I1r. Alexander became one of the editors of the
Biblical Repertory; to which he had already contributed a
series of remarkable essays upon exegetical, critical, biographical, historical, and miscellaneous subjects. Associated with this
change was that of the title of the periodical, which now acquired new fame in connection with the additional description,
" and Princeton Review." He loved to call it so himself; but
the old title is still the more popular one.
Some letters written to one of his young pupils at this
time, will give us some idea of the kind of influence which
he exercised upon them.
"JULY 7, 1838.
"MY DEAn Boy:
" As you are improving in your mathematical studies, I propose to
reward you with a letter of unusual length. It is sometimes said that
people of quick tempers are more affectionate than others; and this
may be partly true. But that can be no reason for neglecting to restrain your temper. Why may you not be both good-tempered and
affectionate? If you had a dog which was extremely fond of you for
six days in the week, but on the seventh would go mad and bite you,
(lo you think that his good habits and behaviour in general would reconcile you to his bites at other times? I am the more disposed to urge
you to improve in this respect, because you have improved so much
already since I first became acquainted with you. Go on, my dear lad!
and with Divine help you may conquer this and every other evil disposition.
EAVTt ea0rl q VLKq 1 rLKjaua ToV KOOLOV, 77 7NOT7LEtS 7COV.' And now let us change the subject of discourse. I am sorry for
the accident which befel your hat on the fourth of July, and hear that
you are somewhat extravagant in your expressions of delight and gratitude for national independence. Do you not think that many people
celebrate the day without remembering why it is kept? And can you
tell me what is the connection between liberty and rockets-independ



AET. 29.1                 DAY-BOOK.                      451
ence and turpentine? The accidents which happen on the fourth
of July throughout the country, are very numerous and often very
lamentable. But the worst of all is the intemperance and riot which
prevail, under the pretext of rejoicing in our freedom. Many prove in
this way, that although they boast of freedom they are utterly unfit for
it. And now as this may be the last letter which I shall address to
you, I wish before I close to beg that you will lose no time in gaining
all the knowledge that may be within your reach; as life is short and
you have much to do. With this advice and my best wishes, I bid you
adieu.                       Yours sincerely,
" ADDISON ALEXANDER."
In another letter to the same, of Sept. 21, 1838, he tells him
he must keep a journal.' To-morrow you will please to commence a journal of your own
adventures, studies, and employments, which I wish you to keep for
my information and your own improvement until you can resume your
correspondence, either with me or with another teacher. In writing this
journal, you must be particular and put dowr everything which is at all
important on the one hand, or amusing on the other. Write very often
and little at a time, putting down things as they happen, before you have
had time to forget them. As this will be your principal employment for
some time, I hope you will take pains to tell me a great deal and to improve in writing.        Your affectionate friend,
"JOS. ADDISON ALEXANDER."
During the summer of 1838 and the winter of 1838-1839,
Mr. Alexander wrote most of his best sermons, and was continually called from home to preach.  The record of his studies and reflections for the earlier part of this period is preserved in a volume of singular but eccentric interest. It is,
regarded outwardly, a square thick quarto bound in sheep and
made of unsized white paper, and is labelled on the back, "Day
Book No. I."  In this volume he not only kept as usual a copious journal of thoughts on different parts of the Old Testament, especially Isaiah and Nahum, and the earlier historical
books, as well as plans of sermons, bare skeletons, random
hints, and sermons in extenso; but wrote doggerel verses, and




452                  WRITING SERMONS.                      [s838
scribbled letters in every sort of hand-writing and in every style
of courtly periphrasis. Scraps of unintelligible nonsense are
here and there scrawled right across a profound comment on
Isaiah. Sometimes there is nothing but the signature, and thQ
sugared compliments that were then, and are still, somewhat
fashionable among foreign ambassadors; or the assurances of
chilling politeness which we look for from persons who, though
inimical to one another, are yet not quite at dagger's draw.
The book also contains amusing epistles to Constantine Menmeus
in modern Greek. It is one of the finest specimens of his
calligraphy.
Here are a few more records from his journal:
" Sunday, July 1. Sermon by my father; communion administered
by Dr. Rice. Monthly concert in the afternoon. Sernon at night by Dr.
Rice, on the First Commandment. [Opened] Bryan Owen's treatise on
the Mortification of Sin, and read several chapters with a deeper effect
upon my heart and conscience than I have experienced for years firom
any book. iRecommenced the reading of the Bible by my calendar;
began with Job xxxiii, and Matthew vii.  With the former I used
Rosenmiiller's Scholia in a cursory manner. Began to write a sermon on
Romans x. 4.
" July 3. Abandoned the writing of my sermon, and concluded to
prepare without writing.
"': July 7. Resumed and finished the writing of my sermon on Romans x. 4.  This is the second sermon I have written. I have
preached ten; two of these twice, and one three times. Dr. Rice has
invited me to preach to-morrow evening.
" July 8. I heard Dr. Miller preach in the Chapel from Rom. viii.
33. I read the IMissionary Herald for July, and Owen on Temptation. At
night I preached in the Church my sermon on Rom. xx. 14. Every experiment brings me nearer to the conclusion that I can preach more
acceptably and profitably'without notes' than with them. My present purpose is to write most of my sermons and to read none of them.
I wish, as early as possible, to form such a habit as will tend most to
increase my ministerial usefulness. Lord guide me! On this occasion
I read my sermon. It is the second that I have written.
"July 9. Wrote six pages of a sermon on Ephesians iii. 14. Received a letter from the Rev. J. H. Jones, requesting me to supply his
pulpit on the 22d instant:'agreed.'




AET. 29.1                  JOURNAL.                          453
" July 15. Preached in the first Presbyterian Church, New-York,
an expository sermon (John iii. 36), without the manuscript. At night I
went to John Mact.uley's Church, and heard him preach from the text,' I remembered God and was troubled.'
"July 17. Received a letter from Dr. Pennington, inviting me to
preach before the Young Men's Society of Newark, on the evening of
the last Sabbath in August.
" July 22. Expounded the 6th of Isaiah in the Spruce-street Church,
Philadelphia. Dined at Mis. Hall's, and in the afternoon read my sermon on Hebrews xi. 10. Drank tea at John Hall's again, and went
with him to hear Bascomb preach in Dr. Skinner's Church.
" July 23.'No peace to the wicked.' Wrote a fill analysis of a
sermon on the above text, with one or two paragraphs written out at
length. I propose to try this method of preaching, as compared with
the reading and the pure extempore method.
" July 25. Wrote a similar analysis of a sermon on Psalm  xvii. 15.
My method is to write the leading ideas under every head, on the
right-hand page, having the left for any passages that I may choose to
write at length. I propose to try this method in Philadelphia next
Lord's Day. This evening, several of us met at Dr. Hodge's to take
leave of Dr. Breckinridge; after some conversation we joined in prayer
with Dr. Hodge, and bade Dr. Breckinridge farewell.
"July 26. My brother began to remove his effects to Dr. Breckinridge's house. His wife and I dined there, and I lodged there at
night, as I expect to do hereafter.*
" Jully 29. Preached in Dr. Boardman's Church, Philadelphia, from
full notes on the text,' There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.'
In the afternoon, I read my sermon from the text,'Awake thou that
sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.'"
The journal is filled with statements of this nature. The
few extracts given may serve as samples.
One of the most intelligent of his Princeton hearers t
thus refers to his power over his congregation:
"I only knew him  by his sermons and his writings. Judging of
* The house he had occupied since April of the last year, was at Mr. Voorhees's, corner of Nassau street and John's Alley; and in the very centre of the
village hubbub.
t The Hon. Rlichard S. Field.




454                   AN ELOCUTIONIST.                    [1838.
him by them, I would say, he was a man of great learning, great eloquence, and great intellectual power. I frequently heard him preach;
and embraced every opportunity of doing so. He was by far the
greatest preacher I have ever heard. I have never known any one to
compare with him. He possessed every quality for a great pulpit orator, physical as well as intellectual. His face and forehead were massive, large, and round; his voice combined the highest degree of melody and the greatest compass and volume; and when he chose to be
eloquent, his eloquence was of the very highest order. I say, when
lie chose to be eloquent; for whlat always struck me more than any
thing else was this-that he never seemed to put forth all his power,
but, on the contrary, impressed you with the idea that he had a fund in
reserve upon which lie might have drawn to any extent. What he
did, never seemed to cost him the slightest effort. I always felt that
there was nothing in the way of eloquence which he might not have
done."
By the 30th of July, the family of the elder brother were
well settled in their new house, and could give thanks for a
profusion of comforts; though during all this period they
were passing through a sore trial. Mr. Alexander, at their
warm entreaty, took up his lodgings under the same roof. At
one time or another, he had nearly every room in the building.
The advent of a teacher of elocution set the brothers about
the business of guarding  and strengthening  their voices.
They both  took lessons, but afterward  concurred in very
contemptuous views of this branch of instruction.  Perhaps
they carried this prejudice too far. The older brother used
to say that the great pulpit orators, such as Bourdaloue, Masstlion, Hall, and Chalmers, were not made by the elocutionists
but in despite of all their artificial rules. The subjoined record
shows what progress they were making under Mr. Bronson:' Addison and I are taking lessonsin barking and howling, and ventriloquism, firom an elocutionist named Bronson, and who with much
stuff, has also certain discoveries on which I thought I myself had hit; *
* He refers to his own review of Gardiner's Music of Nature, in the July
number of the Repertory, p. 268.




AET. 29.]           DR. ABEL STEVENS.                     455
but which he carries so far as to convince me that the Laryngitis
(erroneously called Bronchitis) is preventable."
It is worthy of remark that in his last journey to Philadelphia, shortly before his death, the younger brother jotted
down in a copy of the History of Methodism by Dr. Abel
Stevens, the word " excellent," in approval of a long passage in that admirable work on this subject of "elocution"
as related to true eloquence and as illustrated by Whitefield.
His notion and that of Dr. Stevens was, that if a man had the
soul of oratory, he would be very apt to have the form; and
that ardent and melting sympathy have more to do with the
highest effects of eloquence than terror.
This was the secret of M1r. Alexander's own power in the
pulpit. He had not the tricks and graces of the mere histrionic performer. His influence was that of a man thoroughly
in earnest and in loving sympathy with his hearers, iamportunately pleading with them to be saved through the great sacrifice for sinners. I am glad to refer in this connection to the
words of a thoughtful admirer of Mr. Alexander's preaching,
who brings out his character in this respect very forcibly.
The writer I am about to quote is a physician living in the
West, far in the interior.
He knew Dr. Addison Alexander well, and in all his phases.
He says:
"Mr. Alexander was one of the most attractive preachers to me
that I ever listened to. He was no orator in the ordinary acceptation
of the word. His sermons were generally written and closely read, or
if not written, delivered without raising his eyes from the Bible before
him; his utterance rapid beyond that of any other speaker I ever listened to except Dr. Robley Dunglison, of Jefferson Medical College,
Philadelphia; making no gestures, only an occasional emphasizing fall
of his right hand, with the fingers closed, standing firmly and squarely
on his feet, without motion, there were yet but few men I ever heard
preach to whom I would sooner give the palm for eloquence. I remember hearing him deliver a sermon on the text,' Remember Lot's wife,'
which I shall never forget while I live, if I forget it ever. The




456               STYLE OF PREACHING.                      [183&
effect upon the audience was visible and audible: all present seemed
drawn forward in their seats, and holding their breath; and when he
paused to breathe, you could hear the inhalation of the mass of his
hearers over the whole church. It always seemed to me that if there
ever was a man whose sermons would read as well as they sounded,
it was Addison Alexander: but many years after I read this very
sermon, printed among others in the volume of his sermons, and I
must say that I felt as if a portion surely had been left out. I missed
something-which something I now feel must have been the intense
biotic force, magnetism, brain-power of the man. This sermon was one
which no one but himself could have produced, or have delivered with
the same effect. You know that Dr. Arclibald Alexander was considered unapproachable in his ownpeculiar style of preaching, and yet I
halve heard his son Addison fully equal him in that very style; except
that the glance of the eye, and the individualizing dart of the forefinger
with which the'old man eloquent' was accustomed to launch the
truth into the very heart of some particular person before him, were
always wanting. And so also I have heard him preach in the styles
that were thought peculiar to Dr. Miller and to Dr. Hodge, and, me
judice, equalling if not surpassing them in their very best efforts."
He cannot say that these efforts of his were predetermined
adoptions of the peculiar modes of thought of these other
ministers. He rather thinks not: but only that the coincidences
or resemblance of sty]les resulted from the " exuberance of his
mental activity that led him to try every mode by which it
was possible for thought to be communicated from one mind
to another."
One of his pupils, the Rev. B. T. Lacy, D.D., of St. Louis,
gives the following account of the matter:
"His preacliin  was to mee xceedingly attractive and impressive.
The style was so fine, and the order so lucid. The truth was so clearly
and boldly stated, and the fervour so genuine and so animating. Although he seldom touched the chords of pathos, at times I have heard
him when he was scarcely surpassed, either in tenderness of emotion or
depth of solemnity. All the varied powers of his mind seemed to work
together, and to move in perfect harmony with each other. IBence his
discourses were ordinarily distinguished as much for one quality of excellence as for another. He was always logical and argumentative; always




AET. 29.]         INVITATIONS TO PREACH.                   457
rhetorical and imaginative; always fervent and solemn. And these different and dissimilar elements were not separated and disposed into different parts of the discourse: they interpenetrated each other, and
were beautifully and naturally blended into every portion of the sermon. His manner was peculiar, and consisted chiefly in the distinct
and very rapid reading of his manuscripts, with great stress of voice
and force of emphasis, which impressed you with the earnestness of
the speaker and the importance of the message, and which invariably
carried you on with him. IIe always secured the undivided attention
of his audience. No preacher ever impressed me so much with the
sense of his power-a power both intellectual and spiritual-both in
the man and in the message. If such a comparison may be tolerated,
or will serve to illustrate the idea, the impression of power which he
made as he swept right on through his manuscript, in the earnest rapidity of his utterance, was not unlike that produced by a train of cars,
propelled by a mighty engine, with great speed and irresistible force
right on upon the iron track. And the resemblance did not end here:
the hearer felt that if he did not attend closely to every sentence, he
should be left behind and should not again be able to recover his lost
position."
I now return to the narrative. August the 8th was the
centennial anniversary of the Presbytery of New-Brunswick.
On the morning of the 12th Dr. Archibald Alexander and his
two sons were all preaching in Princeton, and without previous concert: the former at the Seminary Chapel, and the others respectively at the Church and the African meeting. Mr.
Alexander preached again at night. His services in the pulpit were c,dled into constant requisition. He was now everywhere recognized as a powerful and persuasive minister of the
Word. Towards the close of the month he went to New-York
on one of his?'ttle summer jaunts, returning after a few days'
absence. He preached in the city, and had some religious conversation with an aged serving-woman who was at the point
of death. A few extracts from his diary during this month
may not be unacceptable:
" Tuesday, August 21. Dr. Nordheimer lectured on the Hebrew
alphabet. Took a lesson from Bronson, the elocutionist. Nordheimer
and James dined with us.
20




45 8                   INST ALLATIOg.                      r838.
" August 23. Second lesson from Bronson; learned to hold my
breath; second lecture from Nerdheimer on syllabication; finished
my sermon for the young men of Newark.
" Sunday, August 26. Preached in the First Church at Newark on
Romans x. 4, in the Second Church on Ephesians v. 14.  At five
o'clock heard Dr. Nott preach on temperance.  At night preached to
the young men on Matthew vi. 33.
"Sunday, Sept. 2. Finished the Gospel of John and continued
Owen on Indwelling Sin. Remember, from this time forth, to set apart
a certain time in the morning and at night for spiritual exercises. Remember also, to be slow and temperate in'eating; to join, ex animo, in
the prayer at table; and to think at every meal of the Giver of your
mercies.  Remember thirdly, that from this time forth your time must
be more conscientiously redeemed; and, O thou holy and long-suffering God! help me to keep these resolutions.
" Partook of [my] the Lord's Supper with some degree of pleasure
and profit. My father preached from the words,' It is finished.' Resolutions, 1st, To avoid temptations, especially those which do so easily beset me. 2d, To redeem time. 3d, To give set times to private devotions. 4th, To cultivate an habitual spirit of prayer, and for this purpose to practise ejaculatory prayer. 5th, To cultivate expansive a.nd
benevolent feelings. 6th, To avoid the extremes of moroseness and
frivolity, sanctimony and worldliness.  Give me grace, O Lord! to
kee.p these resolutions.
"September 14. Presented Nordheimer with Passou's Greek and
Freytag's Arabic Lexicon. He took leave. I finished my article on
Hengstenberg in a hurry, with the printers at my heels."
I-Ie was, shortly after this, installed in his chair as Professor of Oriental languages and literature; as we learn from
the following record:
"September 24. Heard Dr. McElroy dismiss the students. At
night I was inaugurated. After singing, Dr. Green played; I read and
sub-cribed the formula, and delivered my inaugural discourse, and Dr.
Spring his charge.
" Sept. 25. My inaugural address was requested by the Board for
publication. Heard Warren Scott's annual oration."
The inaugural address of the young professor must have
been listened to with rapt attention and delight  for it is one




ET. 29.1              INAUGURAL.                    459
of the best things he ever uttered. It will be found entire in
the Repertory for April 1839, where it forms the larger part of
a review of his brother's little volume entitled, "The Scripture
Guide. A Familiar Introduction to the Study of the Bible."
As in his first essay before the Philological Society, he had
amazed and charmed his youthful compeers by leaving the
tomes of antiquity and going to the neglected pages of our own
literature; so when every eye was turned upon the travelled
Hebraist, and every mind was probably in expectation of a
wide and accurate display of Oriental learning, the modest
scholar uses all his genius in an effort to exalt the English
Bible. The discourse is marked by novelty and originality of
substance; by great force and cogency of statement; by those
traces of erudition which he was not able, or did not care, to
hide; by felicity of illustration and diction; by wit, sarcasm,
keen excoriation, playful innuendo, sweet and wholesome humour; by admirable common-sense-of the kind that was once
loved in old England: and has an aroma of the old practical
writers, and of his own closest devotions, and (towards the
close) a kind of rushing eloquence that reminds one of a
stream that chafes its bed and threatens to burst from its embankment. It is a comprehensive plea for the study of the
English version paripassu with the original. The main discussion is laid off under seven heads. The image that is contained in the concluding sentence of the address, was one of
those grand and happy conceptions of which his mind seemed
to be full, and which came from him spontaneously whenever
his.reason and feeling were strongly excited by the proper
stimulus. With him, to think at all was to express in his
choicest language. He seemed to be as automatic in this
respect as Mozart or Coleridge.
The 26th was Commencement; and on that day the Hon.
James McDowell, of Virginia, pronounced an address of
fervid rhetoric and rare sagacity before the two literary societies. The weather was stormy. It should seem from the annexed entry in his journal that Mr. Alexander, who was perfectly acquainted with the fame of the orator, had purposed




460                      A SERMON.                          s838s
to hear him, but was prevented by the incessant pouring
showers.
"Sept. 26. Confined to the house with rain. Missed McDowell's
speech."  The traditions of this speech still linger among the Princeton students; and I have heard that there are gestures and turns of expression there now which are clearly traceable to its influence.
There is no other record until October the 2d. From his
diary it appears that Mr. Alexander now preached his first
sermon memoriter, and was not displeased with the experiment:
" Having breakfasted with Mr. Dod, I set off with him in my carriage for Freehold, where we arrived at noon, and found the Rev. L. O.
Brown preaching on the history of David and Nabal. After sermon,
the Presbytery met, Mlr. Dod in the chair. They were chiefly taken up
in the examination of candidates. I preached at night firom Mark xiv.
41. My first attempt to preach from memory."
Here is another entry touching sermon-making:
"Dec. 23. Preached in College, RMatt. vi. 33; read closely; disliked
the sermon more than ever; written on a bad plan; skeleton made
first; no spontaneous flow of thought. The best part was half a dozen
pages which I wrote last night; declamation at the end very fiigid.
Requiescat in pace.
" Sermon at night by -—; genuine Yankee sermon; metaphysical, not scriptural; clear, logical, acute, ingenious, heartless,
orthodox: moral and natural inability; when they talk of this I never
know what they believe. Thankful I do not'sit'-as they say-'unler' the best of such preaching; I should starve."
"Professor Alexander's peculiar repugnance to every thing like
ostentatious parade," writes one who heard much about him at this
period, "was evinced in various ways, after his entrance upon his
career as a preacher. The extraordinary character of his sermons at
once arrested public attention, and drew crowds of hearers; especially
from among the most intelligent classes. It was impossible but that
so acute an observer of all that passed around him, as was Mfr. Alexander, must have been aware of his popularity; when preaching in the
same pulpit for successive weeks and months, he saw the pews of our




ET. 29.1          MIANNER OF PREACHING.                    461
largest churches densely packed, and the aisles filled with supplementary benches. Yet so far from seeming elated by these evidences of
his acceptableness, or assuming those airs of consequence, which popular preachers are apt to acquire; he was at times not a little dismayed by
such demonstrations. I have no doubt that his feelings were akin to
those of Robert Hall, whom in very many traits he resembled, who in
the later years of his life could scarcely be induced to preach in London, because of the throngs who pressed to hear him. Both of these
great men felt the sanctity of their work, and the fearful responsibility of God's ambassadors to perishing men. Both were aware that when
men are drawn to listen to the preacher for the sake of his talents as a
preacher, there is little likelihood of their being benefited by the
Divine ambassador."
At one time he preached in the afternoons in a school-house
in the neighbourhood of the little town in which he lived. Referring to these efforts, one of his students says:
" His sermons at Queenston were always preached without notes,
and were generally plain, instructive discourses, delivered with great
rapidity of utterance, perfect fluency, and intense earnestness. Though
his speech was so rapid, such was the clearness of the thought, and the
distinctness of the enunciation, that there was nothing lost by the ear
of the audience."
His more elaborate sermons were generally read.  Conversing with this gentleman one day on this subject of reading
sermons, Mr. Alexander expressed the opinion that every
preacher ought to try every method, and finally settle down
upon that which he can make most effective.  He then asked
his companion if he did not think that reading was his most
effective mode of preaching, intimating that in his own opinion
it was. His acquaintance very readily agreed with him.
The Rev. James W. Alexander once remarked to me (what
has since. been published as his opinion) that he and his brother
Addison were differently constituted as to this matter; for
that in his own case the imagination was never more stimulated than in extemporary preaching; whereas in the case of
Addison the reverse was true: the embarrassment of apDear



462                WRITING SERMONS.                [183&
ing before an audience without notes of any kind, or some
other cause, hindered the movement of his imagination, though
the excitement of speaking greatly encouraged and excited
other powers, such as the memory, the reason, and the faculty
of rapid, exact, fluent, and felicitous expression. Writing
was, on the whole, a greater stimulant than speaking, in the
case of the younger brother. He reasoned out his propositions
with equal force and facility at one time as at another, and
always with the most admirable novelty and cogency. He
expressed himself under all circumstances, whether pen in
hand or in the presence of an auditory, with nearly the same
ease and conciseness, and with a vigour and precision that have
put many persons in mind of the complex, fine, quick, yet invariable movement of powerful machinery.  But when he
spoke extemporaneously, he seemed to be darting to and fro
very swiftly upon the surface of the ground; whereas when
he wrote, he often seemed to be plunging through yawning
chasms into the bowels of the earth, or hovering over the
abyss of waterfalls, or climbing dizzy mountains, or rioting
among the clouds and colours of sunset, or soaring like some
bird of strong pinion into depths of distant azure, as if he
were making for the very zenith.
When he wrote, he sometimes seemed to exult in the opulence of his own vocabulary, and to experience a kind of
exuberant joy in marshalling in skilful order the images of
glory that peopled his brain, and threw an iridescent splendour over his exciting meditations. This was seldom the case
when he discarded verbal recollection, together with the assistance of manuscript in the pulpit.  He then commonly stuck
to his text considered as a proposition to be merely analyzed,
expounded, and energetically pressed upon the conscience
and religious feelings of his hearers. His mode of procedure
in such cases was by profound, suggestive remarks'upon the
nexus of particular inspired utterances, or upon the general
principles of Scripture exegesis; by admirable processes of
deductive logic; interspersed with pithy, homely observations
drawn from his large acquaintance with the ordinary character




AET. 29.]      NOT DEPENDENT ON NOTES.                 463
of his fellow-beings; and by simple and direct appeals to the
heart.
His genius, under such conditions, seemed to be some " creature of the elements," rather than merely the ordinary powers
of his mind harnessed to nobler work. It would be wrong to
think that all his written efforts were of this lofty or aerial
description. His sermons on paper sometimes differed scarcely at all from the sermons which in a manner sprung from the
occasion. There was infinite diversity, moreover, if not between the two principal classes of sermons, yet among his individual discourses. It is not rigidly true, either, that he was
never imaginative except when he was in the chains of manuscript. He would sometimes break away into splendid imagery and vehement appeals, when he had written nothing.
But this was an exceptional experience with him, and probably
happened most frequently when he had a blank book before
him, or one virtually so, (as he occasionally did) and could
employ his eyes and his fingers in turning over the leaves.
Whether this was a mechanical necessity, like that which is
observed often in absent-minded people, or whether it arose
from mere caprice or whim, or from excess of morbid consciousness, it would be hard to determine.  I have myself seen
him turn his leaves alternately in opposite directions.
It is certain that he was in no way dependent on his paper, either for his thoughts or his language; and that his verbal
memory was fully equal to his invention. It seems most likely, on the whole, that he distrusted his powers as an extemporaneous orator; and that his fancy,* and to some extent also
his feelings, did not often take fire except in the atmosphere
of his study, or in the pulpit after he had written out every
word.
Every one of such discourses would be concatenated link
by link, and made as bright and invulnerable as a suit of chain
armor.  In his later years, he changed his whole theory of
* I here use the words imagination and fancy in their popular sense, and
not in the sense accepted by psychologists apres Coleridge.




464                   SCRIPTURE STUDY.                    [ls38
sermonizing, and wrote his discourses almost exclusively in
this style. His taste had become bare and severe like that
of the Greeks; and his preaching, though comprehensible as
ever, and more deeply instructive than at any former period,
lost in great measure the pomp, the magnificence, the martial
tread, the plaintive music, the terrific power, the strange
captivating charm, that had characterized it at an earlier day.
He also became much less impassioned. This was owing in
part to the gradual exhaustion of his physical energies.  As
years rolled on, he became much more calm in his manner, as
he was also much less hot and impetuous in his temper.
The following hint of Mr. Alexander's employments at this
time is from his brother's diary for the 23d of December:
" We might accomplish more if we were not foolishly asking ourselves so often, how long such and such a great work would take us.
Mr. Robert B. Patton used to engage in most laborious lexicographical
works. Whien Addison asked him how he had patience to go on, he
said, that he never thought of asking how long it would take him, but
went on as if it were to be his work for life.
" Addison tells me he finds the same thing good in his Commentary
on Isaiah.  Our Lord's maxim about taking thought for the morrow
seems to have very wide applications."
I find this entry for Dec. 9th, in his own diary:
" Began a new method of studying the Scriptures in course. In
order to keep up my attention, I have determined to read with a view
to exposition."
There was a bright frost on the morning of the 12th.  It was
Wednesday, and the clerical meeting was at Dr. Rice's. The topic
was the abridged creeds and communion covenants of the New England Congregationalists. The Rev. James W. Alexander made remarks in opposition to the new modes, and his little speech was
requested for publication.
The younger brother records on Monday, Dec. the 1 7th:
"I resumed my labours on Isaiah, beginning with the thirteenth
chapter."




MAT. 29.1                   CICERO.                        465
This work now went on pretty steadily for a while; but was
soon again interrupted.  In a letter to Mr. Hall, which he wrote
during this month, he makes an odd reference to Cicero.  Here is
the letter itself:
" PRINCETON, Dec. 19th, 1838.
MY DEAR SIR:
After reading Secretary Burrowes's manifesto about sealed returns,
unsealed returns, &c. I came upon the following in Cic. Orat. 3 in Cat.*
" Cum vero summis ac clarissimis hujus civitatis viris, qui, audita re,
frequentes ad me, convenerant, literas a me prius aperiri mane quam ad
senatum deferri, placeret; ne, si nihil esset inventum, temere a me tantus
tumultus injectus civitati videretur; negavi me esse facturum, ut de
periculo publico non ad consilium publicum rem integram deferrem."
The above you are at liberty to publish (but not in your " valuable
journal") as your own discovery, and this douceur, I trust, will make
you lend a willing ear to two petitions which I have to offer. The
first is, that you would have the goodness to inform Sam where he
can procure some Congress paper, or quocunque nomine. The other
is that you would " aid and assist " him in procuring a sermon-case
(horresco re feren8) made on a plan of my own invention-black
morocco covers, but stiff with pasteboard, and adapted to letter-paper
folded once-or say the largest pocketable size.
Hastily and truly yours,
Jos. ADDISON ALEXANDER.
The narrative is now once more resumed.  On Monday,
April the 15th, if we could have had a peep at them, we should
have seen Mr. Alexander reading Croker's Boswell to his
brother James. How the talk must have flowed, with such a
theme to tempt to every species of discursive remark! Both
the brothers were hearty friends of Samuel Johnson, and neither of them ever tired of his foolish but incomparable biographer. They regarded Johnson's table-talk as the strongest
and best in print. They both loved to read about Dr. Goldsmith and his peach-blossom coat and his silly conversational
explosions. They concurred in the opinion that Irving made
a mistake in not dwelling more on the oddities and amusing
M* I. Tull Cic. Orat. in L. Catilinam Tertia, iii. 10.
20*




466             TALK OF THE BROTHERS.              [1839.
weaknesses of" Goldy."  The elder brother once said to me,
that Macaulay had damned Irving with faint praise in his
celebrated article in the Encyclopmdia Britannica, where after
speaking highly of Forster's life, he adds of the American
writer, "Mr. Irving's style is always pleasing."
The talk of the two brothers was much on sermonizing,
and they both loved to quote their venerable father as authority. One day, one of them tells the other that he had heard
his father say a man ought not to begin with making a plan.
Neither should he wait till he is in the vein. "Begin, however you feel, and write till you get into the vein, however
long it be!'Tis thus men do in mining.. You may throw
away all the beginning. Men who write with ease, can think
best pen in hand. This applies to sermons, and also to books."
These are the thoughts of Dr. Archibald Alexander modified
by the mind of one of his sons. It will be seen that he coincides with Dr. Johnson on this point. The prevalent view of
his eldest son was different from that of Dr. Alexander as here
expressed, and the younger of the two seminary professors
could certainly never do anything unless he was in the vein.
The majority of literary men have opposed the dictum of Johnson. Macaulay told Prescott in London that he had moods *
for writing, and seldom put pen to paper at other times.
Tuesday, the 23d, was a delightful day, and Mr. Alexander
and his brother occupied the same carriage to Lambertville, in
company with Dr. Carnahan, Dr. Rice, Dr. Maclean, and a
young lady by the name of Brown. The budding loveliness
of spring lay all around them, as they wended their way in
full view of the Blawenburg vale and the Sourland mountain.
They arrived a little late at Lambertville, for Mr. Yeomans
had announced his text; though he broke off as soon as he
caught a glimpse of Dr. Rice, who was appointed to preach.
Mr. Alexander preached at night. The next day was equally
fine, and was taken up with the Presbyterial proceedings.
Professor Alexander, of the College, moved certain resolutions
* See Life of Prescott, by Ticknor.




AET. 29.]           HIS ORDINATION.                 467
touching the independence of the Church on the State. The
occasion was a memorable one for the subject of these sketches,
for on this day he was exactly thirty years old, and on this
day he was solemnly ordained as a minister of the Gospel.
The moderator of Presbytery was Mr. Perkins. Several young
men were licensed. The meeting was harmonious and agreeable.




CHAPTER XV.
MR. ALEXANDER was still a licentiate at tle time the writer *
I am about to quote entered the Seminary, and he has a distinct recollection of the period of his ordination. It was an
occasion of much interest and pleasure to all the students.
3Mr. Alexander was already somewhat renowned as a pulpit
orator, and still more as a precociously-gifted sermonizer.
1" Though but a probationer for the Gospel ministry, he had, even at
this early day, obtained an enviable popularity as a preacher, and was
greatly sought after by the most intelligent and fashionable congregations. They were attracted by the high fame of his learning, and
edified by the variety and extent of Gospel truth in which his sermons
abounded; for he fed the people with knowledge and understanding."
The following remarks are literally exact, as well as highly
amusing:'" For the encouragement of such as read their sermons closely, and
pay but little attention to their audience, I may say that if they read
more closely than he, it is a pity! He took no pains to conceal his
notes, nor to' cheat the eyes of gallery critics' by any'underhand'
measures, such as shading his notes from public view, taking stolen
glances at them as it were, and then launching out like an independent
swimmer. He scorned all concealment, and proclaimed to all his faith
in the pen. He evidently had a great contempt of the opinion that
reading sermons spoiled their effect, and was not slow to express it; for
on one or more occasions that I heard him he took up his note-book in
his hand, held it up between himself and the people, turned page after
* Rev. 3Mr. Teese, of White Plains.




JAT. 30.1    PRESBYTERIAL EXAMINATION.              469
page, and read leisurely through the discourse without once casting his
eyes on the congregation. And yet there was earnestness and enthusiasm, both in his composition and delivery."
It was natural that the youlng men should have much curiosity as to the manner in which this terrible inquisitor would
himself stand inquisition. The result was surprising. He
sometimes confessed ignorance: Dr. Alexander never pretended
to know what he did not know. He thus often confounded
sciolists who put questions to him which no one living or dead
could answer with certainty. He was as honest in this respect
as Socrates and Dr. Johnson. When the latter was asked by
a lady why he should have made such a mistake in his Dictionary about the pastern of a horse, he replied: "It was from
pure ignorance, madam."  It is said that Mr. Alexander was
once invited by the President of a college to dine at his house
with a number of the clergy and literary people of the place,
and that the host put the same question all round the table
about a vexed context in Isaiah, wishing to draw out bis guest
the commentator.  Of course various decided opinions were
elicited. When it came to the turn of Mr. Alexander, in reply
to the question, " And what do you say is the meaning of this
passage? " he answered, with expressive brevity: "I do not
know."
But to return to the narrative. When he was about to be ordained, he must of course be examined, according to the Form
of Government, in regard to his literary and scientific attainments; and especially his knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew languages. Nothing could have been more agreeable to
the young men of the Seminary, who exulted in the prowess
of their young leader and wanted to see him fairly tried; not
doubting for a moment that the event would shed kclat on the
reputation of their teacher, and in spite of his excessive modesty and the sensitiveness of a genius which " blushed so to be
admired," would make him as widely famous they knew as he
deserved to be. There was doubtless mixed with this feeling
a half-malicious and half-mirthful pleasure, such as from the




470                 JOSEPH  JOHN  GURNEY.                   [1840.
beginning of the world has animated the breasts of students
under similar circumstances. The teacher was to be taught!
The Hebraist was to be quizzed in Hebrew! There was the
flavour of a jest here that could not be resisted. The tidings
ran everywhere that Mr. Alexander was to be examined at
such and such a time in the ancient tongues.
"This excited great amusement among the students, and we attended
in order to see one who had puzzled so many of us by his own examinations himself questioned and examined, and made to suffer some of
the misery which he had so often occasioned us. We thought of the
old story of' The engineer hoist by his own petard.' * However, we did
not anticipate any' fizzle,' such as we had often seen in the class-room;
on the contrary, we had entire faith in the all-sufficiency of our young
Professor, and entertained rather a feeling of wonder at the presumption of men who undertook such a work as his examination. The
service indeed was one of much difficulty to the Presbytery; for very
few of the members cared to examine the candidate, especially on Hebrew, of which they probably never knew a great deal and had forgotten much of that. However, the candidate Inade no great ostentation
of his learning, for his reply to several of the questions was, very much
to our surprise,'I do not know."' t
On the 29th, Joseph John Gurney was in Princeton, and
attracted much attention by his noble presence. He preached
twice in Quaker meeting. The elder brother describes him, in
his journal, as a large, portly, heavy-looking, red and white
Englishman. He made the impression of a strong intellect
* "For'tis sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard."
f He gave the same answer to a single question at his licensure, unless my
informant's memory is at fault.  Dr. A. A. Rice, of Wyoming, Kentucky, was
present when Mr. Alexander was examined before the Presbytery of New
Brunswick, as he thinks, for licensure. "I remember," he says, "nothing
of his examination but one question and its answer. It was during the examination upon his literary course. The question was put to him,' What is taste?'
and his answer was very prompt,'I don't know.' You may imagine my astonishment at this answer; for I thought that if there ever was a man who knew
everything, it was Addison Alexander."




AET. 30.]           LITTLE GEORGE.                  471
and an accomplished man. There was great charm about his
manner when he was a little excited. His devout love for the
Saviour and the Bible was obvious.
On the 9th, Thursday, the important news came by letter
from Philadelphia, that Judge Gibson had declared for the Old
School on every point. " Laus Deo!" writes Professor J. W.
Alexander in his Every-Day Book. "Judge Gibson's opinion
gives the Old School everything which they can desire. " Laus
Deo per Christum! Sit nobis gratia ut simus ab omnibus superbise malitiaeque remoti!"
How faint are the echoes now of the din and turmoil of
that day! The matters which interest us of the year 1868,
-will presently fade out of memory as did those of 1839. The
waves of time wash everything to oblivion.
The house of the elder brother was now again thrown into
mourning, and this time the anguish was for the first-born.
Little George was born in 1831, and was therefore eight years
old when he died. He had met with an accident in his infancy,
and had long been a blind and helpless invalid. He had an
astonishing memory, and a marvellous genius for music; though
his other faculties were not equal to those of other children of
the same age. George was a radiant little fellow; always
full of joy and sunshine. He was, even above most other children,.devoted to his uncle Addison, and would scream with
delight when he heard his foot upon the first step of the outer
porch. His uncle was never happier than when he was at his
side singing to him and telling him stories. " He was," says his
father, "a very small and feeble child at his birth, but afterwards improved so much as to be very lovely. But before he
reached the age of two years, he was seized with hydrocephalus, and his surviving it seemed all but miraculous. From
that time, his head began to enlarge, and this disproportion
continued more or less, as long as he lived; so that for one or
two years he was always in a lying posture." Within the last
few years, he had improved greatly in health, and with a slight
exception was never better than the year before his death oceurred. The event shed grief into the hearts of all his kins



472                    DR. JACOBUS.                     ls840.
folk, and every accustomed scene was for a time enveloped in
gloom. This affliction was, without doubt, deeply and tenderly
felt by Mr. Alexander; for he unfeignedly loved the little boy.
Mr. Alexander was now thirty years old, and his mind and
character were by this time stamped with the impress which
they bore through life. There are abundant accounts of the
impression which he himself made on his pupils.
The recollections of one who is himself a professor and a
commentator will be read with pleasure. Says one of his
favourite and most admired students:
" He was thirty years of age, when, after I had been his pupil during
the Seminary course of three years, I was brought into a closer association with him as an assistant for introducing the Junior class to the
Hebrew language."
The writer noticed the resemblance to Bonaparte. He
looked and felt his power, but was modest, shy, and affectionate.
" With a Napoleonic face and form, he bore himself like a man conscious of power; yet he was shrinking as a child from publicity. He
was notoriously shy of social gatherings, yet he loved to play with
children, and spent much time in ingenious efforts to amuse and instruct
them. These were his favourite recreations. It was comparatively seldom that he was seen in the streets of Princeton. All his living savoured
of study; and this was his element, in which like a leviathan he disported."
The testimony of this writer to Mr. Alexander's abilities as
a learned commentator is just as clear and emphatic. He was
now scattering leaves of his Isaiah over the Repertory, and by
this and other means drawing to him minds like those of
Nordheimer, the philosophic Hebrew grammarian. The fact
that this able man received the benefit of Mr. Alexander's
suggestions while adding finish to his work is not generallo
known. On these points Dr. Jacobus writes:
" The great attainments which he was known to have made in Ori



AET. 30.J        POWER OVER THE CLASS.                     473
ental and European languages and his enthusiasm in Biblical learning,
gave him a well-deserved fame at home and abroad, even before he
had issued any of his commentaries. He attracted to himself that singular scholar, Nordheimer, who brought out his Hebrew Griammar under his eye, while lecturing at the same time to a select class of students
at the Seminary. It was known that he was at work upon his Isaiah,
and from the morsels of it dispensed to the students in the lectureroom, as well as from the hints and foretastes of it given through the
Princeton Review, it was awaited with high interest. Other articles
from his pen evinced his fertility of mind and his rare genius for grasping great points of controversy in various fields, and dealing with them
in masterly style."
The writer adds that
"His imagination was glowing but chaste, and his logical acumen
singularly keen and effective."
He was also a good judge of human hearts.
"Ile had an intuitive insight into character, and very promptly
weighed and measured the incoming classes, man by man. Though
habitually reticent in his intercourse with the students, and evidently
not encouraging any familiarity, he was most genial in his temper and
most agreeable as a guest away from his books, or as a friend in his own
study."
Over the class he reigned as king.
"His power with the students was that which belonged to his lordship in the domain of truth. His whole aspect and air in the classroom commanded respect. They showed he demanded it, and could
enforce it. Often a few sharp words would thoroughly dissect the folly
or stupidity of a blunderer; or would lay bare the shallow impertinence of a questioner; until of the rest no man durst venture in that
direction unless well fortified."
The testimony of Dr. Jacobus as to his traits of person
and character need not be continued here, for it does not vary
from the statements of others which are spread before the
reader in this volume.




474             FIRST THOUGHTS OF ISAIAH.                   (1840.
The following letter broaches the scheme of his Isaiah to
one whom he often consulted on such points. Like Sir Walter
Scott, he gays, he needs the stimulus of a pursuing press:
" PRINCETON, Jan. 8, 1839.
" My DEAR SIR:
"The persuasions of some friends and the assent of others have
brought me to believe that I might do some service by putting forth a
small work on Isaiah. The state of the case is as follows: I have a
critical commentary written out for the press on the first six chapters and a part of the seventh. I have condensed notes (the fruit of
much laborious study) on fifty chapters. The latter are so written that
they might, with little change, be published as a popular commentary.
They were, in fact, prepared with that intention. If I conclude to
publish, I shall begin to print at once, for a double reason: 1st, Because
I cannot write steadily without Walter Scott's favourite stimulus. a pursuing press. 2d, Because I should wish to announce the work at once
as in the press. This method I could, of course, pursue with ease; as
I should only have to abridge and transcribe; till the middle of the
seventh chapter. Your judgment as to the whole matter will be welcome and a great assistance."
Here is another letter to the same person, and on the same
subject:
-" PRINCETON, January 8th, 1839.
" SIn:
"' You will consider this lett6r as addressed to you in your official
capacity, as Charge d'affaires at Philadelphia, and as such give answers to the following queries: 1. Is there any present demand for a
popular book on Isaiah? 2. Is Barnes's book forthcoming?  3. Ought
the text to accompany the notes in such a book; and if so, ought it to
be given verse by verse, or in slabs, a la Hodge, or at the top of the
page d la Barnes and Bush? 4. Ought practical remarks to be incorporated with the explanations, or collected at the end of chapters d la
Hodge on Romans? 5. Should any Hebrew or other foreign words be
introduced into the text? 5. Is duodecimo the best form for the book
in question? 6. Should it be printed in Philadelphia, Princeton, or
Boston? 7. What publisher would undertake it on reasonable terms?
A speedy answer is requested. I am, sir, with sentiments, &c. &c.
" Your most humble, &c. &c.' J. A. ALEXANDER."




JET. 29.]                  ISAIAH.                         475
Here is still another of these early disclosures of his purpose:
To the same.
"PRINCETON, Jan. 14, 1839.
"My DEAR SIR:
" The friendly interest you have taken in my project induces me to
lay the case befdre you still more fully.  In studying Isaiah with a
view to publication, I have been compelled to keep my eyes on two
distinct classes of readers-those who can read the English version
only, and those who can read the original along with it. In considering
how I might most effectually benefit both classes, I have entertained
successively a number of different plans; which, however, at the present
juncture, reduce themselves to two; the alternative being this: Shall
I write a popular note-book on the English version, d la Barnes, and on
this foundation afterwards construct a critical commentary for the
learned reader? Or shall I write a critical commentary; adapted to the
wants of the Hebrew scholar, but legible and intelligible to all educated
persons; leaving the expediency of subsequent abridgment for the use
of Sunday-schools to be determined by the current of. events? After
some vacillation I have come to this conclusion; inasmuch as the
production of a popular book would contribute little to the making of
a learned one, whereas the latter would afford all the materials of the
former; as there is little demand for anything at all on Isaiah just at present, and that which exists is chiefly among clergymen and biblical students; as the indirect influence of a critical work upon the unlearned
public would be greater than that of a popular work on the more learned
public; as those who know me would expect something critical; I am
inclined to think that a book which should be critical, without being
pedmantic, would do me more credit and the world more good (in the
end, if not immediately) than anything else I could bring before it. In
this conclusion, right or wrong, I am confirmed by the deliberative
judgment of my best advisers; and have now the honour to announce,
that I propose to begin the loading of my great gun as soon as I can
find a man to fire it off.
" This is of course a very different affair from that which I first
mentioned, and which you proposed to Perkins. If you are still disposed to help me through the agonies of publication, you are fully authorized to state the case to any publisher you choose. The maximum
extent of the book will be two volumes, like Stuart on Romans (say




476                     HEBREW  TEXT.                      [1839.
1,200 pp. 8vo). It will have to be printed at New Haven for the sake
of the unknown tongues, and very much in the style of Nordheimer's
Hebrew Grammar, but on better paper.
"In addition to the reasons given over the leaf, I am more and
more convinced that at least two thirds of the exposition requisite to
make Isaiah intelligible, must consist of an analysis* and retranslation;
both of which require space, and the latter justification too. There are
numerous passages which no sagacity or strength of intellect could
ever understand aright with an exclusive use of the English version."
The letter which follows, of the 24th, enters more fully
into the same subject. He will not give the Hebrew text, except to avoid circumlocution. He'will imitate the page of
Stuart's Romans. He praises the printing of Nordheimer's
books. He wishes to bring out his own work under the eye of
Mr. Turner, and compliments his taste and judgment. He
speaks of some picture-books and a volume of the Princeton
Review which he desires bound. He begs for an American
Latin-Greek grammar.  He winds up with a sincere expression of thanks.
"PRINCETON, January 24, 1839.
"My DEAR SIR:
"I have no idea of giving the Hebrew text, but merely intend to
insert the Hebrew word, which is the subject of remark, where it is
necessary in order to avoid awkward circumlocution.  E. g. in commenting on chapter vii. 14, I should introduce the word,rl7. instead
of saying'the word translated virgin." It is impossible to say with
certainty how much Hebrew there would be; but I think half a dozen
words per page would be a large average. As to style, Stuart's Romans might be taken as a sample; especially those pages on which HIebrew occurs. I have insuperable objections, however, to its being
printed there. Besides, Andover is no longer preeminent in that way.
Nordheimer's books, and especially his Chrestomathy, are the best specimens of.Hebrew printing in America. As to Zeever's type, it looks well
en masse, but would not match with Roman type of the proper size; and
his own book is, in some parts at least, incorrect. What I should de* This was a favourite but singular opinion of his as to the sacred books
in general.




AT. 29.]                 PRINCETON.                       477
cidedly prefer would be to print it in New-York; under the eye of Nordheimer and Turner; the latter of whom has more typographical taste
and judgment than any man in this country, out of Boston. I have
written to them to know whether, in their opinion, the book could be
well executed in New-York. This will cause some delay. As to terms,
I do not mean to sell the copyright, but the edition. Further than this
I can as yet say nothing.
" The picture-books are intended for a parlour table, and may be
bound KaXc; KaiyaZo;r at your discretion; the' Princeton Review,' &c.
half bound in calf, with comely backs, also at your discretion.
"I sent you a note by Mr. Murray, bespeaking your kind offices in
getting me two copies of the same edition of any Latin-Greek grammar ever published in America. I have heard of several, but no two
alike. If you should light upon such articles, you will much oblige me
by impressing Mr. Baird at the earliest opportunity.
" With many thanks for your assistance,
"Yours very truly,
"C JOS. ADDISON ALEXANDER."
The Rev. Asahel Nettleton, I find, was in Princeton at this
time; having previously visited Elizabethtown. He was a
great friend of Mr. James Alexander, who was always powerfully struck with his shrewd and solemn genius, his peculiarity,
and his piety. His criticisms on certain passages of Scripture
were eminently profound and pungent; and his grave, colloquial eloquence was based on the most sagacious experience and common sense. One evening, he preached to a
crowded house upon the text: " In that day I will pour on the
house of David," &c. It was a sermon of rare excellence and
force, and singularly Scriptural.  The day had invited to outof-door recreation. Grass was coming up in tufts along the
unfrequented paths. The robin and the blue-bird were hailed
as glad messengers. The conversation of the brothers ran
much upon the use of the press. At one time, "Addison"
quotes his father, as strongly and repeatedly giving it as his
judgment, that "no one ought needlessly to write very much
below his own abilities." This the younger brother seems to
have urged as an argument with the elder why he should try
his halld upon a higher class of books than he had yet essayed.




478                     PREACHING.                      [1839,
The view presented made a deep impression on him; but he
never did himself anything like full justice even in his best
books. It required the revelations of his posthumous correspondence to acquaint the world with the fact of his extensive learning in nearly every department of ancient and modern belles lettrcs, and his affection for the severer sciences.
Much yet remains untold; but his copious ephemerides and
journals attest his extraordinary industry and high attainments in various fields hardly touched upon in his familiar letters. Above all they show with what fluency and almost
classic beauty he could write in Latin, and how easily his
thoughts flowed into voluble French.
Sunday night, Sept. 29, the Princeton congregation had
the satisfaction of listening to Mr. Alexander; a privilege
which they always prized. He was now in the flood-tide of
animal health; and he had only to leave the chapel and the
audience of students, to ensure an overcrowded house. IHe
loved a large promiscuous assembly; where he had a wide field
of human experience to appeal to, and where he met with the
minimum of local peculiarity; but even in a village he exerted
great power over masses of men and women.  He spoke best,
undoubtedly, before a body of educated hearers; where, however, there was no predominance of any one element, such as
preachers or theological classes.
There is a throng of testimonies as to Mr. Alexander's appearance and traits of mind and character in those days. I
am  glad to be able to present here the recollections of the
Rev. T. V. Moore, D.D. of Richmond, Va. his pupil and friend:
"I entered Princeton Seminary in the fall of 1839, when the faculty
consisted of Drs. A. Alexander, Miller, Hodge, and J. A. Alexander.
My first sight of the latter was in the oratory, where the four professors were seated in a row; and having never seen any of them before,
I studied their faces with curious interest. The head and face of Professor Addison Alexander struck ine as very much like Napoleon's in some
respects-in its massive breadth, in a suggestion of prodigious strength
in reserve. and a certain indication of fiery energy ready to blaze out at




AET. 30.]              AS A TEACHER.                         479
a moment's notice. He was then very recluse in his habits and reserved
in his manners; and was regarded by the students generally as a prodigy
of learning, and possessing a power of sarcasm that it was very dangerous
to provoke: and hence was held in more admiration and fear than love.
It was with these feelings that I looked upon his face, and perhaps they
gave it that INapoleonic impression which it had in my eyes, as I am
not aware that any one else was struck with the likeness.* My first
relations to him as a pupil, were in Hebrew; and as time wore on, I was
brought into closer personal relations to him: and although I never
could wholly divest myself of a certain fear in my intercourse with
him, I found him much more accessible and kind than I expected.
"As a teacher he was remarkable for his minute accuracy and
thoroughness. Ile never was satisfied with a recitation that did not
go to the bottom of the matter in question; and although he sometimes
flashed out into something like impatience, yet it was always when it
seemed to him that the student was wilfully negligent. He was often
wonderfully patient with mere dulness, but whenever anything like
laziness was exhibited, and especially when self-conceit cropped out,
they were sure to elicit a flash of sarcasm that was not soon forgotten.
His power of repartee was so wonderful that every student stood in
awe of it, and many a good Hebraist owes more to his dread of it
than he is aware.
" On one occasion, after a very lame recitation in Genesis, which
tried his patience no little, he abruptly brought it to a close, and announced that he would give a lesson for the next day adapted to the
capacities of the class, and they would therefore take the next verse!
The usual lesson being from twelve to twenty verses, the rebuke was
keenly felt, and he had no more such recitations. Sometimes he used
his satire severely, though I do not think unjustly.  On one occasion a young gentleman gave a discourse in the oratory on the
destruction of Sodom, that was very pretentious; and Dr. A. being in
the chair, thought it needful to perforate his mental culticle somewhat,
and remarked when it catne his turn to criticise, that Mr. D.'s discourse
consisted of two parts; that which everybody knew, and that which
nobody knew; and that he did not think that under either head MIr.
D. had added to the stock of our knowledge."
The remarks of so good a judge, as to the effects produced
* The likeness was remarked by many others.




48p                HIS AUDIENCE  MOVED.                    [1839.
by his preaching at this time, will be accepted as evidence of
positions I have ventured to take on other authority:
"His powers as a preacher were then in full development, and
many of the striking sermons published in the volumes issued since his
death were prepared and preached then, besides others which I wish
could also be put in print. He had a wondrous fascination to me as a
preacher at that time, and had a nameless power of delivery which he
lost in later years, as I knew from hearing the same sermon in my own
church which I heard in the Seminary (preached at my request), and
yet with a diminution in the impressive power which I could not refer
entirely to any change in myself. The impression one felt as soon as
he commenced the exercises was that of immense mental power coupled
with an intense emotive nature, which grasped you as if with the hand
of a giant, and would not allow you to escape. He usually laid the
Bible aside from the cushion, laid his manuscript on the cushion, and
read with but little motion of any kind, or even raising his eyes from
the paper. And yet in spite of these disadvantages he seemed to rivet
the attention of the audience by a spell which only broke when he
ceased to speak, and the long pent-up feeling gave way in the rustling
noise of a crowd seeking relief from long and breathless stillness by
changing their position. There was a strange charm in his voice then,
a wild, wailing melody when he touched on the more solemn thoughts
that he marshalled with such matchless elegance which had an Eolian
sweetness, and which I can feel thrilling in my memory now after an
interval of nearly thirty years. And there were times when he would
bring out suddenly some of those grand or terrible conceptions which are
scattered through his sermons, with an effect on my mind precisely
like a flash of lightning. I felt actually blinded for an instant by the
blaze, and would look unconsciously around to see where the lightning
had struck. I have never had any speaker to produce these stunning,
dizzy, and burning impressions on me as did Dr. A. at that time.  It
always has seemed to me that he had then a concentrated energy of
emotive power which he gradually lost; and which was expended
in those electric discharges from the pulpit, such as I never felt from
any other man, and did not feel from him nearer the close of his life. I
know a part of this was owing to the fresh enthusiasm of my own nature,
but I also think that another and larger part of it was owing to the
same fact in his nature. He was then in the peerless maturity of his
powers; with all the burning energy of youth, and all the ripe development of later years."