war with England, was a native of New Jersey, born at Lamaton, January 5, 1779. His father was a soldier before him, and he followed his footsteps by entering the army at an early age. When Louisiana was obtained from France he was employed in 1805 in a government survey of the new territory, in its western portions. He embarked from St. Louis in August of that year, and traversed for nearly nine months the Indian country of the North-west, adopting a conciliatory policy among the Indians and British traders of the region. In July, 1806, he set out on another expedition, the object of which was the restoration of some Osage captives, who had been taken in war by a hostile tribe, to their nation. This accomplished, he pursued his survey of Western Louisiana. Winter overtook him, and his party suffered severely. He unwittingly passed the boundaries of the Spanish provinces and was taken a prisoner and carried to Chihuahua, whence he was soon dismissed, and in July of 1807 arrived at Natchitoches. He published his Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi, and through the Western Parts of Louisiana, from 1805 to 1807, and a Tour through the Inte rior Parts of New Spain, when conducted through these Provinces by order of the Captain-General in the year 1807, in Philadelphia, in 1810. It is in the form of a diary, with an appendix of geographical and other disquisitions. On the breaking out of the war with England in 1812 he received a colonel's command, and the next year was appointed a brigadier-general. He led the land expedition in the attack upon York, Upper Canada. He bravely stormed the defences, but was mortally wounded at the moment of surrender by the enemy's explosion of their magazine. He was carried to Commodore Chauncey's vessel on the lake, where he died in the arms of victory, with the captured British flag foldel under his head. He thus fell April 27, 1813, at the age of thirty-four. He possessed some accomplishments in literature. Though self-taught, he had made considerable progress in the foreign languages and the mathematics. Dodsley's publication, "The Economy of Human Life," was a favorite with him for its moral maxims-to which he made some alditions in his copy presented to his wife shortly after his marriage. JOEL R. POINSETT. JOEL R. POINSETT was born in Charleston, S. C., March 2, 1779, of a Huguenot family of distinction in the state. He was educated by Dr. Dwight, at Greenfield, Ct. At seventeen he was sent to England, where he was taught the classics at a school near London; next studied medicine at Edinburgh, and to recruit his health made the tour of Europe, engaging before his return to America in the study of military affairs, for which he had a special aptitude. In 1800, at the age of twenty-one, he came home with a strong desire to enter the army, but was induced by his father to become a student of law. His studies were, however, interrupted by new schemes of European travel induced by ill-health, which he pursued with the advantages of wealth, family influence, and a happy natural disposition, facile to receive and pleasant in the communication of knowledge. He travelled through Switzerland on foot, visited Italy and Sicily, and the Austrian empire. The death of his father recalled him to America; but he speedily resumed his travels, extending his journey to St. Petersburgh, where he was warmly received by the Emperor Alexander, who was much impressed by his military capacity, and who offered him a command in his service. He then travelled through the Russian empire to the country of the Calmuck Tartars, visited Persia and the region of the Caspian, meeting with adventures which proved his courage, among the tribes of that region. Returning to Europe, he received the first decided intimation of the breaking out of the second war of the United States with England at Paris, and soon presented himself in America to President Madison, with a request for employment in the army. While the necessary arrangements were pending, he received a commission to visit South America and inquire into the relation of the new Republics. He sailed to Rio, crossed the Andes to Chili, and visited Peru. The authorities of the latter state, on a rumor of Spain having declared war with the United States, seized the American whale ships at Talcahuano, a port of Chili. This aggression, Poinsett met in person, taking himself the command of a small force put at his disposal by the Chilian government, and promptly rescuing the American vessels. He was at Valparaiso during Porter's heroic conflict in the Essex with the Phoebe and Cherub, which he witnessed. The refusal of the British officer to let him proceed homewards by sea compelled him to cross the snow-covered Andes in the month of April. At Buenos Ayres similar difficulties of egress offered, but he got off privately by a Portuguese vessel to Bahia, and thence to Madeira, where he heard that peace had been declared. On his return to South Carolina he was elected to the State Legislature, where he interested himself in utilitarian projects, securing the construction of the important road in the state over the Saluda Mountain. In 1821, he took his seat in Congress for the Charleston district, and was twice re-elected. He discharged an important mission to Mexico in 1822, under President Monroe, during the brief imperial reign of Iturbide, of which he published an account. He subsequently, in 1825, returned to the country as Minister Plenipotentiary under the administration of Adams, where he maintained his personal independence with spirit and courage during some scenes of peculiar difficulty growing out of the revolutionary movements of the times. He returned home in 1829 to his native state, to become the leader of the Union party, and on his accession was called by Van Buren to the head of the War Department. At the close of this period, in 1841, he delivered a spirited discourse on the Promotion of Science at the first Anniversary of the National Institution. He afterwards lived in retirement, writing occasionally upon topics of a practical character. He died at Statesburg, S. C., Dec. 14, 1851.* The writings of Poinsett grew out of his active career. His Notes on Mexico, made in 1822, with an Historical Sketch of the Revolution, published Democratic Review, i. 301-368: 443-456. in Philadelphia in 1824, is the most important. It is a book of value, a personal narrative originally written in letters to a friend, and in its description of manners and customs, one of the best of the period when it was written, particularly in its study of the national character. In these respects it remained a valuable authority till its interest was diminished by the shifting relations of the country. In 1846, a somewhat similar work of sound political judgment appeared from the pen of Waddy Thompson of the same state, the Recollections of Mexico, which is of historical importance for its sober representation of the estimate in which Mexico was held by intelligent citizens of the United States, on the eve of the war which resulted in the annexation of the vast territory on the Pacific. Poinsett was also the author of several essays and orations on topics of manufacturing and agricultural industry. He had also considerable taste for art, and was the founder of an Academy of the Fine Arts at Charleston, which existed for several years. CLEMENT C. MOORE Was born in New York July 15, 1779. He received his early education in Latin and Greek from his father, the Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in New York, and in 1798 became a graduate of Columbia College. After leaving college Mr. Moore devoted himself with much success to the study of Hebrew, the result of which was subsequently made public in his Hebrew and English Lexicon, published in 1809, 2 vols. To Dr. Moore, therefore, belongs the high merit of having been the pioneer in this country in the department of Hebrew Lexicography. When the work was prepared for the press a difficulty arose from the want of Hebrew type. After some delay a fount was obtained from Philadelphia. The first volume contains a complete vocabulary to the Psalins, with an appendix of notes; the second a brief general lexicon, arranged in alphabetical order, with a grammar of the language annexed. Though now superseded by more ample and critical productions this little work was, as the "compiler hopes" for it, "of some service to his young countrymen in breaking down the impediments which present themselves at the entrance of the study of Hebrew," and establishes for the city of St. Nicholas the earlier title to successful efforts for the study of the venerable language of the older dispensation. In 1821 he accepted the appointment of "Professor of Biblical Learning, the department of the interpretation of Scripture being added," in the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church. When that institution was united with the Diocesan State Seminary his Professorship was entitled that of "Hebrew and Greek Literature," and was not long afterwards altered to that of "Oriental and Greck Literature." From his family inheritance he made a most important gift to the seminary of the body of land in the city of New York on which it is located, comprehending the entire space between Ninth and Tenth avenues and Twentieth and Twenty-first streets, with the water-right on the Hudson belonging to it. Professor Moore has lightened his learned la bors in the seminary by the composition of numerous poems from time to time, chiefly expres Clement C. Moore. sions of home thoughts and affections, with a turn for humor as well as sentiment, the reflections of a genial, amiable nature. They were collected by the author in a volume in 1844, which he dedicated to his children. Though occasional compositions they are polished in style, the author declaring in his preface that he does not pay his readers "so ill a compliment as to offer the contents of this volume to their view as the mere amusements of my idle hours; effusions thrown off without care or meditation, as though the refuse of my thoughts were good enough for them. On the contrary, some of the pieces have cost me much time and thought; and I have composed them all as carefully and correctly as I could." The longest of these poems is entitled A Trip to Saratoga, a pleasant narrative and sentimental account of a family journey. Others are very agreeable vers de societé, commonly associated with some amusing theme. One, a sketch of an old Dutch legend greatly cherished in all genuine New York families, has become a general favorite wherever it is known. It is A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS. "Twas the night before Christmas, when all through I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. name; Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer, and On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen! Boot; A bundle of toys he had flung on his back, His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, F. S KEY. FRANCIS SCOTT KEY was born in Frederick County, Maryland, August 1, 1779. His father, John Ross Key, an officer in the army in the Revolutionary war, was a descendant from some of the earliest settlers of the province. May The son was educated at St. John's College, Annapolis, and, after completing his course, studied law in the office of his uncle, Philip B. Key, at Annapolis, and, in 1801, commenced the practice of the profession at Fredericktown, in his native county. Some years after he removed to Washington, where he became District Attorney of the city, and there remained until his death, January 11, 1843. Mr. Key was the author, in addition to the StarSpangled Banner, of a few other songs and devotional pieces. His poems were written without any view to publication, on some passing topic for his own and the gratification of his friends. They were noted down on odd scraps of paper, backs of letters, &c., a piece of several verses being often on as many separate slips of paper, and were seldom revised by the author. We are indebted for a copy of the Star-Spangled Banner from the author's manuscript, and for the Hymn for the Fourth of July, and the Song written on the return of Decatur, both of which are now for the first time printed, to the poet's son-in-law, Mr. Charles Howard, of Baltimore. SONG. When the warrior returns from the battle afar, Columbians! a band of thy brothers behold, In vain frowned the desert, in vain raged the ocean. To a far distant shore, to the battle's wild roar, How they fought, how they fell, in the blaze of their glory. How triumphant they rode o'er the wondering flood, This song was composed under the following circumstances: -A gentleman had left Baltimore, with a flag of truce, for the purpose of getting released from the British fleet a friend of his, who had been captured at Marlborough. He went as far as the mouth of the Patuxent, and was not permitted to return, lest the intended attack on Baltimore should be disclosed. He was therefore brought up the bay to the mouth of the Patapsco, where the flag-vessel was kept under the guns of a frigate; and he was compelled to witness the bombardment of Fort M'Henry, which the Admiral had boasted he would carry in a few hours, and that the city must fall. He watched the flag at the fort through the whole day, with an anxiety that can be better felt than described, until the night prevented him from seeing it. In the night he watched the bomb-shells, and at early dawn his eye was again greeted by the flag of his country.-M Carty's National Songs, Ill. 225. Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave No refuge could save the hireling and slave Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, HYMN FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY. Before the Lord we bow, The God who reigns above, The nation thou hast blest For this fair land, Our fathers sought thee, Lord, Thou heardest, and gavest the word, Led by thy hand To victory, They hailed a free God of our lives! that hand May every mountain height, Earth! hear thy Maker's voice, The Crucified. And when in power He comes, To Heaven's high King, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS. 66 THE American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded at Boston, 1780, and was the second institution of its class in the country. Its objects, as expressed in its charter, are to promote and encourage the knowledge of the antiquities of America, and of the natural history of the country, and to determine the uses to which the various natural productions of the country may be applied, to promote and encourage medical discoveries, mathematical disquisitions, philosophical inquiries and experiments, meteorological and geographical observations and improvements in agriculture, arts, manufactures, and commerce; and, in fine, to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people." The number of members cannot be less than forty or more than two hundred, and four stated meetings are to be held every year. The Presidency of the institution has been held in succession by the following eminent gentlemen: James Bowdoin, John Adams, Edward A, Holyoke, John Q. Adams, Nathaniel Bowditch, and John Pickering, all of whom have been already noticed in these pages. We have also spoken of Count Rumford,* whose foundation by bequest of a fund, in the control of the Academy, for the encouragement of researches in heat and light, has been of material service in advancing its objects. The first volume of Memoirs was published in 1785. Four volumes have since appeared, all of a uniform quarto size. Among the contributors we meet with the names of President Kirkland, J. E. Worcester, Nuttall the ornithologist, Dr. Holyoke, James Bowdoin, President Willard, and Professor Williams of Harvard, James Winthrop, Jeremy Belknap, Caleb Gannett, Edward Wigglesworth, Noah Webster, Theophilus Parsons, the Rev. Joseph M'Kean, President of Bowdoin College, Dr. Bowditch, Professor John Farrar, Thaddeus Mason Harris, Benjamin Pierce, John Pickering, and David H. Storer. Dr. Jacob Bigelow is at present the presiding officer of the society. donation of $10,000 has been recently received from the executors of the late Samuel Appleton, being part of a fund bequeathed by that gentleman to public objects. A SIMON GREENLEAF. THIS eminent legal writer was born in Newburyport, Mass., December 5, 1783. His father was a captain in the Revolutionary army, and on his mother's side he was connected with the family of the late Chief Justice Parsons. While he was yet quite young, his father removed to Maine, and when he was eighteen years old, he entered as a law student the office of Ezekiel Whitman, Esq., • Ante, p. 871. of New Gloucester-since Chief Justice of Maine -where he remained three years. In 1806 he married, and began the practice of the law in Standish, Maine, whence, after a residence of six months, he removed to Gray, where he remained twelve years. In 1818 he removed to Portland. In 1820, upon Maine becoming a state, and the establishment of the Supreme Court, he was appointed Reporter of its decisions. He held that office until 1832, when he was superseded by a political opponent. His reports, and especially the later volumes, are considered by the profession models of judicial reports. He was at this time one of the foremost of the Maine bar, and had an extensive practice. He remained in Portland one year afterwards, and in 1833, upon the death of Professor Ashmun, he was appointed Royal Professor of Law in the Dane Law School, which office he held until 1846, when he was transferred to the Dane Professorship, then vacant by the death of Judge Story. He held this professorship but two years, when, in 1848, his failing strength becoming wholly unequal to its accumulated and poorly requited labors, he resigned the place. His release from care and toil was followed by an immediate amendment of his health; and he was enabled to devote himself to the preparation of his law books. The Law School at Cambridge is indebted for its success to no one of its many able professors more than to Mr. Greenleaf. Before Judge Story and Mr. Greenleaf united their labors, it had been made a respectable school by the efforts of Stearns and Ashmun. The extended and well deserved reputation of Judge Story as a jurist and a profound lawyer, attracted large numbers of young men to the school, and by his glow and fervor, he awakened in them a-pirations for the higher attainments of the profession; but it was the gentle and affectionate, yet decided and controlling, manner of Mr. Greenleaf, who had always the direction of the internal affairs of the school, and for many months in each year during the absence of Judge Story at Washington, and on his circuits, its entire control and management and instruction, which, connected with the respect which his extensive learning, his extraordinary aptness to teach, and his power of attracting and holding the attention of the students, kept the young men together, satisfied and harmonious. By all those who had the good fortune to be his pupils, his death is felt as a personal loss. Before coming to Cambridge, Mr. Greenleaf was an author of law books. Besides his reports, nine volumes in number, he published in 1821 a volume of over-ruled cases; in 1842 the first volume of his work on Evidence; in 1846 the second volume; and in 1853 the third and concluding volume. The first volume has reached the seventh edition; the second, the fourth; and the third, the second edition. In 1846 he published an annotated edition of Cruise's Digest of Real Law. Of his position as a law writer, a distinguished judge has said: "Among those eminent lawyers who have never held judicial station, the name and opinion of Mr. Greenleaf stand highest as authority in all matters of law. He gained this high position by incessant and devoted labor in his profession.' He also published in 1846 a volume entitled, An Examination of the Testi mony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence administered in the Courts of Justice, with an Account of the Trial of Jesus. The preparation of this was begun as early as 1817, and it has been republished in England. Besides these works, he published others of less size and importance, and of more temporary value, and he also contributed not unfrequently to periodical literature. He was never a politician. He was once elected to the Maine legislature, but there devoted himself chiefly to amendments of the statute law of the state. He was an upright man and a devout Christian. His death was sudden. He retired to rest in perfect health; was soon seen to be ailing; medical aid was called, but before it arrived he had gone to his long sleep. He left the wife of his youth a widow; and of a large family of children, two sons and two daughters survive him.* BEVERLEY TUCKER, THE son of the eminent jurist, St. George Tucker, was born at Matoax, Virginia, Sept. 6, 1784. He was educated at Williamsburgh, where his father took up his residence in the son's childhood. Having completed his course at William and Mary, he prosecuted the study of the law; married in 1809, and removed to Charlotte county, where he resided till his removal to Missouri in 1815, of which state he became a resident, and where he was appointed judge. B. Jucher He passed fifteen years in the West, when he returned to Virginia. On the Fourth of July, 1834, he was elected by the Board of Visitors to the professorship of law in William and Mary College, which he held till his death, which occurred on a summer tour in the state at Winchester, August 26, 1851. The writings of Judge Tucker are, his work on Pleading, his lectures on Government, his three novels of George Balcombe, the Partisan Leader, and Gertrude, and his contributions to the Southern Review. He had begun shortly before his death a life of his relative, John Randolph, and also left among his unfinished MSS. parts of a dramatic production. We are indebted to a letter from his intimate friend William Gilmore Simins, for the following familiar notices of his character and writings. "He was a brave old Virginia gentleman, a stern States Right Doctrinaire, intense of feeling, jealous of right, and with an eager sense of wrong and injury. He was jealous as a politician, like his brother John Randolph, and had many of the characteristics of that fiery politician, as his speech at the Nashville Convention witnesses, where his invective, more elaborate and polished than that of Randolph, was quite as terrible. His We are indebted for this notice to the obituary of the American Almanac for 1855. It is evidently prepared by one who knew Judge Greenleaf, and we have preserved its language entire. |