seemed to be, in part to make known the improvement, and in part to draw out the clergyman who had invented it. Dr. Prince's attention was directed to Mr. Hill's publication by his London correspondent, but I do not find that he answered the inquiry, at the time, or took any steps to secure the credit, with the readers of the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' of the beautiful and truly ingenious construction which had attracted so much curiosity and admiration. He, probably, preferred to let the subject drop, rather than keep it before the public to the disadvantage of the memory of his friend. "After the death of Mr. Adams, his successor in business, Mr. Wm. Jones, sought Dr. Prince's correspondence in language of which the following is a specimen, extracted from a letter, dated London, Feb. 18th, 1797:

"A correspondence with you, Sir, will be as flattering to me as it is desirable. I have long heard of your knowledge and expertness in science, and shall be happy to receive any communications that have resulted from your study and experience.'

"In a letter, dated July 3d, 1797, Mr. Jones repeats his solicitations, as follows: Your celebrity as a philosopher is not a little known in this country. Mr. Jefferson, many years ago, mentioned your name to me, and showed me the description of your air pump. A correspondence with you respecting science and instruments, will be highly gratifying to me; and what small leisure an unremitting attention to business will permit, I shall be happy to snatch occasionally for your information.'

"The correspondence thus commenced with this enlightened and philosophical mechanician, was continued with him, and after his death, with his brother, without intermission, to the close of Dr. Prince's life, and became the foundation of a sincere and most interesting friendship. It is indeed delightful to witness the genial. influence of scientific pursuits upon the affections, binding together the hearts of those between whose persons an ocean had always rolled.

"The letters of Mr. William and Samuel Jones are full of expressions of admiration and gratitude towards Dr. Prince. In one of them, dated March 3d, 1798, Mr. Jones says, ' It is to you that the Air Pump and Lucernal owe their present state of perfection and improvement.' In another, dated September 29th, 1798, he says, ' In all respects I think you have made the Lucernal as complete and as simple as it can be made.' Under the date of March 4th, 1798, Mr. Jones acknowledges the adoption of Dr. Prince's 6 very useful and ingenious emendations' in the construction of the 'astronomical lanthern machinery.'" —pp. 11 - 13.

Dr. Prince's reputation as a divine, has doubtless suffered unjustly, as Mr. Upham intimates, from his greater eminence

as a philosopher. In theology, however, it may be proper to say, that, from the peculiar habits of his mind, he was more remarkable as a reader and an observer, than as an original and profound thinker. But such was his fondness, and such his opportunities for reading and observation, that he has left few persons equally conversant with the history of religious inquiry during the last hundred years, or with the men and books, so far as England and this country are concerned, that have figured in it. We copy from the Discourse the following just and discriminating estimate of his merits as a preacher.

"His preaching was rational, catholic, philosophical, and liberal, and although not calculated to be popular at the present day was duly estimated and admired by our predecessors. His appearance in the pulpit was venerable and impressive in the highest degree, and the tones of his voice were truly noble and melodious. His figure was tall, and although very much bent by age, remarkably graceful and dignified. His dress was perfectly conformed to the fashion of the old school, and a full head of hair, perfectly whitened by time, was gathered in curls above his shoulders, so as to resemble the wigs worn by our ancestors, for which it was often mistaken. He preached his last sermon not seven weeks ago, in the afternoon of the 17th of April; and the image of his hoary locks and benevolent countenance will not soon grow dim on the memories of those who have seen him in this desk."

p. 16.

In his personal character, Dr. Prince happily illustrated the distinction, on which Dr. Spurzheim used to insist, between natural and acquired goodness. The result may also be appealed to, in confirmation of the remark of the same sagacious observer, that, however we may respect and revere men distinguished for the latter quality, we commonly, and for good reasons, select our friends and intimate associates from among those who possess the former in an eminent degree. Rarely, if ever, have we met with a man who had less of suspicion or harshness in his temperament, or of that morbid self-consciousness which haunts some men, perpetually tempting them to put the question to themselves, "What effect will this have on me?" In company, whether large or small, whether of the old or young, whether of scholars or men of business, he was the life of the circle, taking great pains to please, and finding great pleasure in being able to please. To this end he had a fund of anecdotes and reminiscences never exceeded, which he knew how to narrate with a simplicity, a liveliness, a truth, and a dramatic

effect, hardly ever equalled; and this, too, without sacrifice of dignity, or kind feeling, or clerical propriety. It is sometimes said, that the story-telling race of ministers are dying out; an event which would be much more to be deprecated than it is, had all resembled the subject of these slight sketches in his care never to let a word, or suggestion, or allusion escape him, that could give pain, or alarm the most sensitive and scrupulous delicacy. Then there were his books, and pictures, and curiosities, and his fine collection of philosophical instruments, many of them made or improved by his own hands. Who that enjoyed his intimacy, will ever forget the patience with which, even in his extreme years, he would stand hour after hour before the screen of one of his powerful microscopes, in order to afford instruction or entertainment to his visitors? Who will ever forget that kaleidoscope, which his own ingenuity had converted from a childish bauble into a philosophical wonder, or those nicely adjusted magnifying reflectors, or that diamond beetle? In this connexion the language of Dr. Parkman, in the Appendix to the Discourse, is not too strong.

"I might speak," says he, addressing the congregation on the afternoon of the Sunday immediately following the death of Dr. Prince, "what your hearts I am certain will cordially attest, of the kindness and benevolence of his spirit, not quenched or discouraged by the experience or infirmities of old age, disposing him always, and to the last, to acts of friendship and substantial goodness; combined with singular freedom from malice and distrust; with willingness to be pleased, slowness to take offence, and something like eagerness to forgive. Nor may I omit what even my imperfect opportunities have not failed to impress, — and what you, my friends, of this society, have continually witnessed, the edifying spectacle of colleague-pastors united as father and son in mutual confidence and affection; where filial respect has been repaid by paternal love, and the labors, influence, and reputation of the younger have been invariably sustained by the friendship, counsel, and hearty satisfaction of the elder. This is a spectacle rare as it is attractive; and when you consider the undeniable difficulty and delicacy as well as sacredness of this relation, while such a union reflects a mutual honor, you must have regarded it as no ordinary indication of that generosity of soul, which none that knew Dr. Prince could fail to recognise among the traits of his character.

"Nor shall any of us soon forget, since they were the indications of the same benevolence, his venerable form and aspect; the be

nignity of his countenance; his dignified, but gentle manners of the ancient school, expressing, by an exterior politeness, the goodwill he felt conciliating the confidence of the young, so that while they waited for his wisdom,' they were not afraid to utter their own. Nor may I wholly omit, among these familiar recollections, his ancient costume, retained to his death amidst all the changes of the times, the graceful and appropriate ornament of his old age, connecting for us of a younger generation the days that have been with the days that are; and preserving for us, as it were, a living portrait of the Fathers." -p. 28.

Dr. Prince, at his death, was one of the oldest clergymen in the country. How little it was expected when he was young, that he would attain to such longevity, may be gathered from the following note.

"Dr. Prince was, in early life, of an apparently infirm constitution. His parents were apprehensive that they might not be able to rear him. At the time of his ordination his health was very delicate. One of the members of the society, before the vote inviting him to settle was put, observed in the parish meeting, that he concurred with all the rest of the society in admiring Mr. Prince very much, as a preacher and as a man, but that he doubted about the expediency of settling a minister, whose complaints were so alarming that the society would in all probability very soon be called to bury him. Dr. Orne rose in reply, and admitted that Mr. Prince was in feeble health, but stated that he did not apprehend his condition to be so immediately alarming as the other gentleman supposed, and concluded by saying, that Mr. Prince might get over his infirmities, and live to bury them all. He did live to bury them all."- pp. 7, 8.

Another statement is given in the printed Discourse, which is worth inserting for the remarkable coincidences it records. Dr. Prince, in a note to his Sermon on the death of Dr. Barnard, has said with reference to that excellent man,

"It is a singular concurrence in our walks of life, and one that has some effect upon the social feelings, that we were educated at the same university, and after we graduated kept the same schools in the same town; studied divinity with the same clergyman; settled in the ministry in the same town; the same person preached our ordination sermons; and we received honorary degrees from the same university.

"It is a singular continuation of this series of concurrences,' says Mr. Upham, "that, without any knowledge of the fact, on my part, at the time of the funeral of Dr. Prince, the same text VOL. XXI. 3D. S. VOL. III. NO. II. 24

was selected, from which the late Dr. Wadsworth, of Danvers, preached Dr. Barnard's funeral sermon. It is still more singular, and as affecting as it is singular, that, owing to some error at the time, Dr. Prince's remains were carried down into the wrong tomb, and laid by the side of Dr. Barnard's. He followed him, literally, from the cradle to the grave." — p. 17.

Dr. Prince, especially in his declining years, had the common allotment of trials and infirmities, yet who could refrain from pronouncing him, in the intervals of his distressing malady, a fortunate old man; fortunate from the many interesting recollections of his early days, when, as a Boston boy, and with the curious and active habits of his mind, he mingled with the popular movements of 1765, stood in King's Street on the fatal night of March the Fifth, 1770, saw the tea thrown overboard in 1774, and was an eyewitness of almost every intensely exciting incident, which in this quarter preluded and introduced the Revolution; fortunate from his settlement over a church, the first which our fathers gathered on these shores, and second to none in the kindness and generosity it has always felt and practised towards its pastors, and from his connexion with a colleague whose truly filial regard for him was as manifest while he lived, as in the affectionate tribute he has here paid to his memory; fortunate from the circle of enlightened and liberal-minded men, into whose society he was cast by his situation, and whose intimacy he enjoyed for so many years, and from the tender and untiring assiduities with which he was watched over, as life was wearing to a close ; — fortunate, above all, from his own gentle, tolerant, and trustful temper, and from that rational and unaffected piety, which did so much to alleviate his sufferings, and to smooth and cheer his passage to a better world. ED.