his family; so that its usual collective number was from twenty to twenty-five. It ought to be mentioned that his female pupils were instructed in many of the higher branches of literature, which had not, here, previously been taught to their sex; and that under his auspices, on the delightful spot where he resided, began that superior system of female education which is founded on the principle, that women are intelligent beings, capable of mental improvement, and which is at present extensively prevalent. Even to this day, however, in very few of the higher female schools are they carried through the same extensive and solid course of study which was pursued by his pupils. Probably to the exertions and influence of no one individual are the ladies of our country so extensively indebted. No man thought more highly of the sex: no man loved better the company of women of refinement and intelligence; and no man did more to exalt the female character.

Beside the instruction of his school he preached steadily twice every sabbath; and regularly visited his people. He also cultivated with his own hands a large kitchen, fruit, and flower garden. Living but a few rods from the public road in a most delightful village, and having numerous family connections and very many friends and acquaintance, he saw and entertained an almost uninterrupted succession of company; greater, we are led to believe, than any individual whom we have known in the State. Among these were many strangers of respectability, from various and distant parts of the country. Greenfield was the resort of learning, of talents, of refinement, and of piety; and his own hospitable doors were ever open to welcome the stranger as well as the friend. We believe the instances to be rare, in which a single individual has been the centre of such extensive attraction to men of superior character, or so entirely altered the aspect of society in the region around him.

When it is considered that, from his leaving College as a tutor, his eyes were so weak as not only to preclude him almost entirely from reading and writing, but to cause him very frequently extreme pain and distress; it will naturally be concluded, that he must have passed a very industrious and laborious life. Such, however, was his capacity for every kind of business in which

he was engaged, that he was able to devote as much time as was necessary to the calls of company and friendship, as well as to perform the extra-parochial duties of a minister to his people. Previous to his settlement at Greenfield, his character as a Preacher stood high in the public estimation. During the period of his residence there, he gained a reputation not often equalled in this country.

Having experienced the disadvantages of too abstemious as well as too sedentary a life when engaged as tutor in College, he became ever afterwards extremely attentive to his health. For the purpose of guarding himself against the recurrence of his former sufferings in this respect, he used a great deal of bodily exercise. He not only walked and rode, but he worked steadily and vigorously in his garden, and on his land.

Being unable from the weakness of his eyes to write, he very early discovered that he must perform his stated duties as a preacher without notes, or abandon his profession. A very few experiments convinced him that he was able to adopt the former course; and he pursued it for many years almost exclusively. That course was; to write the heads of his Discourse and the leading thoughts of which it was to be composed, and to fill up the body of it at the time of delivery. What was committed to writing occupied him but a few minutes. Under all the disadvantages which he experienced from the weakness of his eyes, and notwithstanding the variety of his avocations and duties, he composed and preached, while at Greenfield, about one thousand sermons; which, deducting the time he was absent during that period, will differ very little from two each week.

In the year 1785, he published the Conquest of Canaan. This work was begun, as has been remarked, when he was nineteen years of age, and finished in his twenty third year. Proposals for printing it were issued in 1775, and upwards of three thousand subscribers procured; but the circumstances of the country, just then commencing the war of Independence, which lasted till 1783, postponed its publication. A few additions were made to the poem between that time and its appearance in 1785; but the great body of it was published as it was written in 1773.

In 1787, Mr. Dwight received the degree of Doctor of Divini

ty from the College at Princeton, New-Jersey. He was then thirty-five years of age.

In 1791, he was appointed by the Governor of the State to preach the Election Sermon, before the legislature at Hartford. In the year 1793, he published a sermon on the Genuineness and Authenticity of the New Testament; and in the following year, a poem in seven parts, called after the place of his residence, GREENFIELD HILL." The Conquest of Canaan and Greenfield Hill were both re-published in England.

During his residence at Greenfield, he cultivated an extensive acquaintance and intercourse not only with the Congregational Clergy of New England, but with many in the Presbyterian Church in New-York and the States farther south. This fact of

ten enabled him to exert an auspicious influence in removing the prejudices which unhappily existed in many of both classes; as well as in various instances directly to promote the great interests of morals and religion. Among other subjects which early engaged his attention, was that of a more intimate union of the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches throughout the United States. On this subject he entered into an extensive correspondence with the more influential Clergy both in Connecticut and New-York. A proposition for this object was made by him, early in the year 1790, in the particular Association of which he was a member. It was carried from that body to the General Association of Connecticut, which in June of that year met at his house. That venerable body proposed it in form to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church and the General Convention of Massachusetts. The two former bodies appointed each a committee of three to form and establish articles of union. This committee, of whom Dr. Dwight was one, met at New Haven in September 1791, and most harmoniously and happily executed their commission. To the union then agreed on, the associat ed churches of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont have since acceded. An event that has been attended with very beneficial consequences to religion and the church.

In the year 1794, he was invited by the Consistory of the Reformed Dutch Church in the city of Albany, to remove to that place, and settle as their minister. The application was unanie

mous, and the compensation which they offered was considered, at the time, as liberal; but it was not accepted, for reasons which were deemed by him satisfactory.

In May 1795, the Presidency of Yale College became vacant by the death of the Rev. Dr. Stiles. In fixing on a successor, it may with propriety be said, that towards Dr. Dwight the atten tion of the community was universally directed. The high reputation as an instructor, which he had gained whilst a tutor, and which he had maintained and enlarged since he left the College, was so universally known and acknowledged, that there was no difficulty in determining the question, which now devolved upon the Corporation. They had nothing to do but to pursue the course pointed out by public opinion, which in this case was clearly and distinctly marked. Accordingly, he was with great unanimity, appointed to fill that important and respectable station; was inaugurated in September of that year and presided at the public Commencement; and in December following removed his family to New Haven. The people of his parish with whom he had lived for twelve years in uninterrupted harmony, heard of his appointment with extreme regret. They loved their pastor; and they were proud of him; and they could not consent to give him up. Never have we known a parish part with their minister with more reluctance.

We are now entering upon a very interesting period in the life of Dr. Dwight. Owing to a variety of causes which it is not necessary to enumerate, the state of Yale College at the time of his accession to the office of President, was in many respects unhappy. Destitute in a great degree of public or private patronage, its numbers were reduced, its discipline was relaxed, a looseness of moral and religious sentiment had become fashionable, and its reputation had been for some time on the decline through the community. One of the greatest evils under which it suffered, was an extensive prevalence of Infidelity, among the students. This pernicious spirit had been derived from the circumstances of the country at the close of the preceding war. As was natural, it found easy access to the minds of a collection of youths, who were fascinated with ideas of mental as well as political independence, and who were easily induced to shake off what they VOL. I.

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considered the shackles of habit and superstition. The degree to which it prevailed may be conjectured from the following fact. A considerable proportion of the class which he first taught had assumed the names of the principal English and French Infidels; and were more familiarly known by them than by their own. Under circumstances like these, he entered upon the duties of his office as PRESIDENT OF YALE COLLEGE.

The talents which he possessed for the instruction and government of youth were now called into full exercise. A thorough reformation in the system of discipline was early commenced, and accomplished with as much expedition as the nature of the case would admit. Infidelity was assailed by argument and vanquished; and vice was disgraced, and in a great measure banished from the College.

He took upon himself the instruction of the senior class, pursuing a system which produced the most beneficial effects." The public," says Professor Silliman," have been little aware of the extent and diversity of the labours of President Dwight, in this Institution. He has, in fact, discharged the duties of four offices, either of which is, ordinarily, considered as sufficient to engross the time and talents of one man. He has been charged with the general superintendence and responsibility constituting the appropriate duties of the presidency; like his predecessors, he instructed the senior class, in their peculiar studies, but on a much more enlarged plan; he voluntarily discharged, to a great extent, the duties of a professor of Belles-Lettres and Oratory; and he has been charged also with those of a professor of Theology*."

His mode of instructing was peculiarly his own. His long experience in this employment, had made him thoroughly acquainted with the youthful character and enabled him to teach as well as to govern young men, with extraordinary success. "The students," says Professor Silliman," habitually expected the senior year with much interest, as one in which they looked for the most valuable instructions; nor were they disappointed. President Dwight delighted much in the peculiar studies which it was his duty to elucidate. Although these studies were prosecuted by the students in appropriate text-books, the order of which he

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