LITERARY Annals of Yale College, in NewHaven, Connecticut, from its foundation to the year 1831, with an Appendix, contaning Statistical Tables, and exhibiting the present condition, of the Institution, by E. Baldwin. The author of this entertaining volume informs us in the preface, that the sketch was undertaken at the request of a friend who was desirous to insert a brief notice of the origin, history and present condition of Yale College, in a statistical account of New-Haven, which he designed to publish; and that, as he proceeded in his task, he found the materials so abundant, and many of the facts connected with the annals of the college so interesting, that he experienced much embarrassment in abridging the narrative within his intended limits, without doing injustice to the subject. An embarrassment of an analogous character meets us in our attempt to present an analytical notice of Mr. Baldwin's Annals. It is nearly impossible to give a more extended account of the contents of the book than is found in the title-page, without making a transcript of the book itself. In such a case, the most we can do is to recommend the work to all who feel an interest in the origin, progress, and prosperity of our literary institutions, and who take delight in tracing their growth from their small beginnings to their present important and flourishing condition. Some of these institutionsand Yale College is one of them-may, without profanity, be compared to the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, as presented to the admiring vision of the prophet of the captivity. In 1644, the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut, approved the proposition for the relief of poor scholars at Cambridge, and thereupon ordained, that Joshua Atwater, and William Davis, should receive of every one in the plantation, whose heart was willing to contribute thereunto, a peck of wheat, or the value of it. At the General Court, held at Hartford, March, 1645, Mr. Atwater, the treasurer, informed the Court, that he had sent from Connecticut, forty bushels of wheat, for the college, for the last year's gift of New-Haven, although he had not received so much. Some other brief records in relation to the college at Cambridge, of the same purport, are NOTICES. given in the "Annals," and more may be gathered from the clerk's office at New-Haven. The earliest record in relation to the was establishment of a college at New-Haven, states, that at a General Court, held at Guilford, June 28th, 1652, it "Voted, the matter about a college at New-Haven, was thought too great a charge for us of this jurisdiction to undergo alone; especially considering the unsettled state of NewHaven town; being publicly declared from the most deliberate judgement of the most understanding men, to be a place of no comfortable subsistence for the present inhabitants there. But if Connecticut do join, the planters are generally to bear their just proportions for the erecting and maintaining of a college there." It does not appear from the "Annals," that any further measures were taken to accomplish the object till 1700, when a number of ministers formed themselves into a society, and agreed to found a college in the colony of Connecticut. This agreement was soon after carried into effect, and with a ceremony peculiarly characterisic of the simplicity of the age. "Each member brought a number of books and presented them to the body, and, laying them on the table, said these words I give these books for the founding of a College in this colony.' Additions were soon after made, both of books and money, and this was the foundation of a college, that is now one of the most magnificent literary and scientific institutions in the country. The population of the whole state of Connecticut, at that period, is stated to have been fourteen or fifteen thousand. The first meeting of the "collegiate undertakers," after a charter was obtained from the General Court, was at Saybrook, in 1701. The first commencement was held at Saybrook, Sept. 13, 1802, when six persons, four of whom had previously graduated at Harvard College, were created Masters of Arts. It appears, however, that the students continued, during severalyears, at Killingworth, where Mr. Pierson, the rector, resided. Before the college was established at New-Haven, the students were under the instruction of ministers at different places,-some at Wethersfield, some at Saybrook, and some at East-Guilford. At the com mencement held at Saybrook, in 1716, the trustees voted that the college should be permanently settled at NewHaven. This vote was not carried into effect without great difficulty. The first commencement at New-Haven, was held Sept. 12, 1718. The trustees, in commemoration of Governor Yale's great generosity, called the collegiate school after his name, Yale College, and entered a memorial thereof upon record. We notice a peculiar trait of generosity,--we had almost said of honesty,in the proceedings of the government of Connecticut, towards churches whose ministers were elected to preside over the college, which it would be no disparagement to rich congregations of modern times to imitate, when they give a call to a minister from a poorer parish. To compensate the people of Stratford for the loss of their pastor, Mr. Cutler, who was chosen rector of the college in 1719, the trustees purchased "Mr. Cutler's house and home lot," for the sum of eighty-four pounds sterling, and presented it to the people of the town. The same spirit of equity actuated the trustees in 1725, on the election of the Rev. Elisha Williams, of Newington, to the rectorship. At their request, the General Court released the parish from their county tax for three years, on account of their minister's removal. Again, in 1739, when the Rev. Thomas Clap, minister of Windham, was chosen rector, the legislature made a compensation to the people of Windham for the loss of their pastor," the value of which was ascertained by a singular rule of computation. The trustees of the college and the committee of the society agreed to refer it to three members of the General Assembly to ascertain the amount. Those gentlemen were of opinion that, inasmuch as Mr. Clap had been in the ministry at Windham fourteen years, which was about half the time ministers in general continue in their public work, the people ought to have half so much as they gave him for a settlement, which, upon computation, was about fifty-three pounds sterling. We proceed no further with a summary of the early history of the institution, and pass over the account of its present condition without attempting an epitome, which, at best, must be too barren to satisfy the curious in such details. The reader of the "Annals" will find abundance of incident and anecdote, especially in the first half of the work to repay him for the time oc cupied with the perusal. We notice at page 49-51, a collection of prominent events in the life of an individual, which would furnish material enough for the fabrication of a common-sized novel. The Rev. Elisha Williams was born at Hatfield, and graduated at Harvard College, 1711. He was qualified for the ministry, and ordained as pastor over the parish at Newington, in the town of Wethersfield; was withdrawn from his pastoral charge in 1726, by accepting the presidency of Yale College. He continued to discharge the active and honorable duties of that station for thirteen years, till 1739, when he resigned on account of ill health. After his resignation, he resided at Wethersfield, engaged in agricultural pursuits, and was successively chosen and served as a member of the House of Representatives, Speaker of the House, and a Judge of the Supreme Court. Again he resumed his clerical functions, and, in 1745, went, as Chaplain in the army, in the celebrated expedition against Cape Breton. Here he was advanced in military rank, and, in 1746, he was appointed colonel of a regiment, on a proposed expedition against Canada. A few years afterwards, he went to England to obtain the pay due to himself and his regiment. In England, he married a lady of superior accomplishments, returned with her to his seat in Wethersfield, and died there, July 24, 1755, aged sixty-one years. The author of the "Annals" very truly observes-" So great a variety of honorable occupations, successfully discharged by an individual, is rarely recorded in the history of man." We respond, as we doubt not every one will who reads the "Annals," to the following remarks of the author. With what feelings of honorable pride can the American citizen peruse the record of his country's birth. No miserable vagabonds driven by penury and crime from the abodes of civilized man to gain subsistence and safety in a desert-no wretched mariners compelled by shipwreck to become the unwilling tenants of a wilderness-no ignorant savages, nurtured like the fabled founders of "the eternal city," on beastly aliment, are ranked among his ancestry; but he beholds an enlightened band of pilgrims, independent in sentiment, fearless in purpose, and rich in intellectual culture, freely abandoning the land of their fathers to plant the tree of liberty, and sow the seeds of a purified religion in a virgin soil. Among colonists thus enlightened the interests of learning would, of course, be intimately connected with those of piety. They had seen the fruits of religious creeds when arbitrarily imposed by the terrors of power, on an ignorant populace; the cold ascetic, yielding to the gloom of repulsive superstition; the ardent fanatic, inflamed by the spirit of reckless persecution, and the pampered ecclesiastic, rioting in the excess of every sensual indulgence. From their own experience, they knew that the tenets of their faith had been strengthened by examination, and they felt that the surest mode to quicken and purify the affections was to enlighten the reason. Hence the establishment of elementary schools occupied the earliest attention of the fathers of New-England, and the efforts made by them to advance the cause of education, embarrassed as they were by the wants and hardships attending feeble and ill-provided colonies, and surrounded by the perils arising from a jealous and ferocious Indian population, are well calculated, while they excite our admiration, to repress the vain boastings, that too often announce the ostentatious charities of the present age. Tales of the Indians. This is the title of a small volume just published, or about to be published. We have looked over the sheets. The book is not, as might be inferred from its title, a work of imagination, but a selection of such parts of Indian history as are most authenticated, and best calculated to throw light on the character of the aborigines. The sketches are ten in number, and are written in a style at once pleasing and concise. The first article contains the ancient history of the Cherokees, and of their wars with the whites. We have read most of the particulars before in various local histories, but never found them collected and arranged in so perspicu ous a manner. Their story goes far to confirm the general opinion of their character, and of the treatment they have met from the whites. It seems that the commencement of their misfortunes dates as far back as Braddock's defeat. They were then provoked to a war,-in which they behaved with great gallantry,-by the murder of several of their people, and the harsh and unjust measures of the then governor of Carolina. They were subdued, however. The reader need not fear to meet with the hackneyed topic of the late Cherokee controversy, as the article closes with the year seventeen hundred and ninety-two.. The The next piece, which is entitled "The Heroes of Walpole," is the story of a border family, in the early stages of the settlement of the colonies. difficulties and dangers of the first settlers are well and forcibly portrayed, and ample justice is done to their character. Next follows, a condensed account of the adventures of Alexander Henry, an Indian trader, and almost the only writer of travels in the Indian country, who is worthy of implicit confidence. He was, however, no scholar, and his book is full of redun dancies, which the author has judiciously retrenched. The most important part of this sketch is a narrative of the capture of Old Michilimakinac, an event intimately connected with the history of the north-western frontier. The Tuscarora war in the colony of North-Carolina forms a very interesting story by itself. Every one knows that this tribe, after an obstinate contest in which the very existence of their white neighbors became precarious, were subdued, emigrated to the north and joined the confederacy of the Iroquois, or Five Nations. But every one does not know the causes which led to this war, or the events which attended it. It is a remarkable fact, that while they exterminated the English without mercy, they kept the faith they had pledged to the German settlers unbroken. The other pieces consist of the adventures of the English traveler Long, the captivity of Mrs. Rowlandson, the story of Matatche, that of Lovell's famous fight, and a luminous account of the settlement of Kentucky. Though some of these subjects have furnished themes for former writers, it is not thence to be deduced that this book is a mere common-place compilation from hackneyed authors. On the contrary, much of the matter is absolutely unknown to the public. In these days it is unsafe to condemn or praise any thing, but we may say that we have been much pleased with "Tales of the Indians," and presume that others will be. Some defects in style, and trifling errors in point of fact, there are, which the author will undoubtedly perceive, and correct in a future edition. An Eulogy on the Life and Character of James Monroe, Fifth President of the United States. Delivered at the request of the Corporation of the City of Boston, on the 25th of August, 1831. By John Quincy Adams. There is a great deal of political information in this pamphlet, touching some points of importance in the history of our country. Perhaps there is more than any other man would have been likely to bring together into the same space; for Mr. Adams has certainly had, and no doubt still has, peculiar opportunities for performing all tasks of this nature to advantage; and his industry never was doubted, as it is very clear that it ought not to be. Ŏf what we, or others, may consider errors in opinion, to be found in the course of these ninety-six pages, we propose, at this time, to say nothing. Many of the positions appear to be sound, and well supported; whether at greater length than was relevant to the occasion, need not be inquired. It is satisfactory to know, however, that the benevolence of the orator induced him to omit a considerable part of his discourse in the delivery. It might otherwise have compared rather too closely with the Scotch Sermons of the days of King James V. Touching controverted points gratuitously introduced, we notice the following frank remarks upon a moot question of long standing. "The name of Republicans is not a suitable denomination of a party of the United States, because it implies an offensive and unjust imputation upon their opponents, as if they were not also Republicans. The truth is, as it was declared by Thomas Jefferson, all are, and all from the Declaration of Independence have been, Republicans. Speculative opinions in favor of a more energetic government on one side, and of a broader range of democratic rule on the other, have doubtless been entertained by individuals; but both parties have been disposed to exercise the full measure of their authority when in power, and both have been equally refractory to the mandates of authority when out." There is some pith and truth in the last remark. With re spect to the style of the Eulogy, it abounds with the writer's usual faults. It is often plain, forcible and very eloquent; but scarcely ever at ease, and in some cases as much disfigured by figures as the Lectures upon Oratorynot to mention the affectation of quoting poetry, and using rare words, or old words in a new sense. The Union of the Colonies, it is said, "may be aptly compared to the poetical creation of the world," and ten lines are inserted accordingly about Harmony and Music. He says that Washington stood upon the Delaware, "with the houseless heads and unshod feet" of three thousand "emaciate" recruits. Again, he says, the failure of the confederation in any other age, or climate, would have been followed by" anarchy," &c." with border wars, occasionally intermitted, with barrier treaties, impregnable fortresses, rivers hermetically sealed, and the close sea of a Pacific Ocean." Again" At the threshold of the war, Washington, not without a sharp and portentous struggle in his cabinet, followed by sympathetic and convulsive throes throughout the Union, issued a Proclamation of neutrality." "France, under the dove-like banners of fraternity, sent an Envoy to Washington, with the fraternal kiss upon his lips, and the piratical commission in his sleeve ; with the pectoral of righteousness on his breast, and the trumpet of sedition in his mouth." Speaking of the trials of the Revolution" The polar-star of public credit and of commercial confidence was abstracted from the firmament, and the needle of the compass wandered at random, to the four quarters of the heavens. From the root of the fallen trunk sprang up a thicket of perishable suckers," &c. * * Banks, with fictitious capital, swarmed throughout the land, and spunged the purse of the people," &c. The raw imagination of a school-boy ought not to be indulged in such a rhapsodical confusion of tropes and figures. What then can be said of the production of the "grave and reverend seignior" before us, but in his own words, that it will not "stand the test of human scrutiny, of talents, and of time ?" The Ruins of Athens, with other Poems, by a Voyager. This is a thin octavo, published at Washington, and we are sorry to add that its mechanical execution is not very creditable to the state of the art of printing in the great metropolis of this great republic. The Poems appear to have been written by a person appertaining to the navy; and in these days, when all writers are rhymesters, all rhymesters are respectable. By the way, we never could conceive why all those who do business on the great waters are not poets. It seems to us,land-lubbers as we are, having never adventured on a longer sea-voyage than that made in the elegant steam-packet President, from Providence to NewYork, that the ocean is the universe of the poet, and that no common man can look at its vastness and reflect on its innumerable and indescribable wonders, without feeling somewhat of the inspiration of Poetry, though he might be so ignorant of language as to make a rhyme of dumpling and bunting. It seems to us, we say, that ever since the "spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," the spirit of poetry has been brooding upon the face of the same mighty abyss, pervading all its heaving waves, breathing in all its resistless storms, and discoursing most eloquent music to all who sail upon its bosom. Every sailor may not indeed, be converted to a Childe Harolde; but how could Byron have written of the "dark and deep blue Ocean" in other strains than those, in which, had he written nothing else, he has won the prize of immortality? We wish we could praise "The Ruins of Athens," but, to use the language of Sir Peter Teazle with a little variation, this world (the world of poetry) is a very bad world, and the fewer we praise in it the better. What most offends us in the volume before us, is the palpable fact,-which meets our eye on every page-that he who wrote these poems is capable of writing better. Why should he who gives manifest evidence that he can write well if he will, be commended for writing indifferently? In the principal poem, which gives its title to the volume, there are some beautiful thoughts, but they are often weakened, and their beauty impaired, by careless or ungrammatical modes of expression. A common but unpardonable confusion of auxiliaries and particles, sometimes, renders the meaning of the writer indistinct and uncertain, if not altogether inexplicable. Take, for instance, the opening stanzas, which, we apprehend, very few will understand upon the first reading. The Morn is up-with cold and dewy eye Of them that reared them; and from each highplace, Where every god in turn hath found a hearth, Nature sends up her incense, and her face Unveils to Him whose shrine and dwelling are all space. Morn hush'd as midnight-save the Bee's wild hum, Or Lizard rustling through the unshorn grass; Faint sounds, but startling-for 'tis one wide tomb, And still we pause and ponder as we pass. No stone, however rude, but seems to wear The spirit of the spot-the dreams of thing that were. Earth from her old lap shakes Cities as dust; the myriads of to-day To-morrow rot; the harrow comes and rakes The soil-they fertilize their kindred clay. But Nature bounds all smiling from decay, Light on the mountain, music in the wave, And dews with incense laden come, as they Were gathered from no flowers that strew the grave, And [nor] shores by Ruin heaped, as from a charnel-cave. And here two thousand fought, three hundred fell And fifteen thousand fled! of these remain The three, where Barney laid them-they sleep well. Of the fifteen, part live to run again; And General Winder, I believe is dead, ran. All save old Handspike and his crew; they stood Drawn up, one coolly buttoning his breeches, Of purser's pigtail; no long windy speeches, Peace to their ashes! men I still have found, Though sadly looked on by us land-bred people, High-souled, warm-hearted. True it must be owned They 've no great predilection for a steeple There is an air of ease in the style of these poems (sometimes not inelegant) which indicates a great rapidity of composition, and which is to be commended as the antipodes of a stiff and pedantic style that always tires the reader. There is also a vein of pleasant humor, occasionally to be discerned, breaking out among the more barren pages, which betoken the existence of a copious fountain-such as the piece entitled "Scotticism," page 44, and some others. If the author has any more poems forth-coming, we beseech him to bestow a little more labor on the composition, and to contract with his publisher for better printers. * Discourse on Intemperance. |