mont in 1789. In his religious opinions he maintained many absurd notions, and in his writings ridiculed the scriptures.

Ames, Fisher, LL. D. a distinguished statesman, and an eloquent orator, was born at Dedham, Mass. in which town his father was a respectable physician. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1774, and after a few years, commenced the study of the law in Boston. Rising into life about the period of the American revolution and taking a most affectionate interest in the concerns of his country, he felt himself strongly attached to politics.

When the general government of the United States commenced its operations in 1789, he appeared in the national legislature as the first. representative of his district, and for eight successive years he took a distinguished part in the national councils. He died July 4, 1808.

Ashmun, Jehudi, the first colonial agent at Liberia, Africa, was born at Champlain, N. Y. April 21st, 1794. He landed in Africa Aug. 8, 1822. This philanthropist was eminently qualified for the station appointed him. Upon his arrival in the colony he found it in a feeble and defenceless state, and only twenty-eight effective men could be mustered when the colony was attacked by more than eight hundred armed savages. By his uncommon energy and prowess, he saved the colony from destruction, and laid the foundation of a large and well organized community of freemen. "Like the patriarchs of old he was their captain, their lawgiver, judge, priest and governor." By his hardships and exposure to the climate his health failed him, and he returned to the United States, and soon after his arrival, died, at the age of 34, in New-Haven, August 26th, 1828, deeply lamented by his christian brethren.

Backus, Isaac, a distinguished Baptist minister of Massachusetts, was born at Norwich, Con. Jan. 20th, 1724. In 1748, he was ordained minister of a Congregational church in Titicut precinct in Middleborough, Mass. In 1749 a number of the members of Mr. Backus' church altered their sentiments with regard to baptism, and obtained an exemption from the congregational tax; and he at length united with them in opinion. He was baptized by immersion in Aug. 1751. For some years afterwards he held communion with those who were baptized in infancy, but perceiving that this implied an acknowledgment, that baptism by sprinkling was valid, which he could not admit, he withdrew from this intercourse with christians of other denominations. A baptist church was formed January 16, 1756, and he was installed its pastor June 23 of the same year by ministers from Boston and Rehoboth. In this relation he continued through the remainder of his life. He died November 20, 1806, in the 60th year of his ministry and the 83d year of his age.

Bass, Edward, D. D., first bishop of Massachusetts, was born at Dorchester, Nov. 23, 1726, and was graduated at Harvard college in 1744. For several years afterwards he was the teacher of a school. From 1747 to 1751 he resided at Cambridge, pursuing his theological studies, and occasionally preaching. In 1752, at the request of the episcopal society in Newburyport he went to England for orders, and

was ordained May 24, by bishop Sherlock. In 1796 he was unani mously elected by the convention of the protestant episcopal churches of Massachusetts to the office of bishop, and was consecrated May 7, 1797 by the bishops of Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland. Sometime after, the episcopal churches in Rhode Island elected him their bishop, and in 1803 a convention of the churches in New Hampshire put themselves under his jurisdiction. He died Sept. 10, 1803. Barlow, Joel, LL. D. minister of the United States to France, was born at Reading, Con. in 1758. He commenced his collegial course at Dartmouth, but soon removed to Yale college, and was graduated at that institution in 1778. He served

Barlow

Joel Barlow, fac simile of signature.

a short time in the army of the revolution as a volunteer, and afterwards as chaplain of a regiment.

After the war he went to France, and resided for a time at Paris. When in England, in 1791, he published his "Advice to the Privileged Orders," and in 1792"The Conspiracy of Kings." While at Paris he wrote his celebrated Hasty Pudding." He returned to the United States in 1805, and in 1808 published his "Columbiad," a poem, and his principal work. In February, 1811, he was appointed minister to France. In the autumn of the next year, he was invited, by the emperor, to a conference at Wilna, in Poland, and on his way thither, died at Zarnowica, a village near Cracow, Dec. 22d, 1812, aged 54.

Bartlett, Josiah, governor of New Hampshire, was a native of Amesbury, Mass. and was born in November, 1729. He had not the advantages of a collegial education, but rose to distinction and usefulness by the superiority of his endowments, and uncommon application. He studied medicine, and established himself in its practice in early life at Kingston, New Hampshire. He for a long time held a seat in the legislature, and was elected a delegate in 1774, and again in 1776, to the continental congress, and signed the declaration of Independence. He died in 1795."

Belknap, Jeremy, a divine, and author, was born in Boston, June 4th, 1744. He graduated at Harvard College in 1762; was settled in the Christian ministry at Dover, NewHampshire, in 1767, and remained pastor of the church there till 1786, when the connexion was dissolved at his own request. After this period he was invited to settle in his native town, and in 1787, was installed pastor of the church in Federal-street, Boston, and consequently became one of the overseers of the university at Cambridge, in which he took an active interest; the degree of doctor of divinity was conferred on him by that university in 1792. He was the proposer, and one of the founders of the Massachusetts Historical Society, incorporated in 1794, and devoted much of his time to their object of multiplying and diffusing copies of historical documents. He died of apoplexy, at Bos. ton, in 1798. He published the History of New-Hampshire, 3 volumes.

Bellamont, Richard, earl of, governor of New York Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, was appointed to these offices early in May, 1695, but did not arrive at New York until May, 1698. He had to struggle with many difficulties, for the people were divided, the treasury was unsupplied, and the fortifications were out of repair. Notwithstanding the care of government, the pirates, who in time of peace made great depredations upon Spanish ships and settlements in America, were frequently in the sound, and were supplied, with provisions by the inhabitants of Long Island. The belief, that large quantites of money were hid by these pirates along the coast, led to many a fruitless search,

and thus the natural credulity of the human mind and the desire of sudden weaith were suitably punished.

The earl of Bellamont remained in the province of New York about a year. He arrived at Boston May 26, 1699, and in Massachusetts he was received with the greatest respect, as it was a new thing to see a nobleman at the head of the government. He ir. return took every method to ingratiate himself with the people. He was condescending, affable, and courteous upon all occasions. Though a churchman he attended the weekly lecture in Boston with the general court, who always adjourned for the purpose. For the preachers he professed the greatest regard. By his wise conduct he obtained a larger sum as a salary and as a gratuity, than any of his predecessors or successors. Though he remained but fourteen months, the grants made him were one thousand eight hundred and seventy five pounds sterling. His time was much taken up in securing the pirates and their effects, to accomplish which was a principal reason of his appointment. During his administration captain Kidd was seized, and sent to England for trial. Soon after the session of the general court in May, 1700, he returned to New York, where he died March 5, 1701.

Bellamy, Joseph, D. D. was born in Cheshire, Con. He graduated at Yale College in 1735, being then sixteen years old. When he was eighteen years old, he became a preacher. He was ordained in Bethlehem in 1740. He died in 1790, in the 72d year of his age, and 50th of his ministry. "He possessed a vigorous mind, and was well versed in theology. His style was plain and his manner impressive. He held a high rank among his cotemporaries as a preacher. During the great religious revival with which the churches were visited in 1742, he devoted much of his time to itinerant labor, and was the instrument of much good in many congregations. He was also distinguished as a theological instructor, both by a happy method of teaching, and by the great number of young men who studied for the ministry under his care. The most important of his publications is his True Religion Delineated.' His works have been republished in three octavo volumes."

Bellingham, Richard, governor of Massachusetts, was a native of England, where he was bred a lawyer. He came to this country in 1634, and in the following year was chosen deputy governor. In 1641 he was elected governor in opposition to Mr. Winthrop by a majority of six votes; but the election did not seem to be agreeable to the general court. He was rechosen to this office in 1654, and after the death of governor Endicott was again elected in May, 1665. He continued chief magistrate of Massachusetts during the remainder of his life. He died Dec. 7, 1672, aged eighty years.

Governor Bellingham lived to be the only surviving patentee named in the charter. He was severe against those who were called sectaries; but he was a man of incorruptible integrity, and it is mentioned as rather a remarkable circumstance, that he never took a bribe. In the ecclesiastical controversy, which was occasioned in Boston by the settlement of the reverend Mr. Davenport, he was an advocate of the first church. Though a lawyer, his will was drawn up in such a manner, that the general court were obliged to make a disposition of his property themselves.

Berkeley, George, bishop of Cloyne in Ireland, and a distinguished benefactor of Yale College, was born March 12, 1681 at Kilerin in the county of Kilkenny, and was educated at Trinity college, Dublin. After publishing a number of his works, which gained him a high reputation, he travelled four or five years upon the continent. He returned in 1721, and a fortune was soon bequeathed him by a lady of Dublin, the "Vanessa" of Swift. In 1724 he was promoted to the deanery of Derry, worth eleven hundred pounds

per annum.

Having for some time conceived the benevolent project of converting the savages of America to christianity by means of a college to be erected in one of the isles of Bermuda, he published a proposal for this purpose at London in 1725, and offered to resign his own opulent preferment, and to dedicate the remainder of his life to the instruction of youth in America, on the subsistence of a hundred pounds a year. He obtained a grant of 10,0001. from the government of Great Britain, and immediately set sail for the field of his labors. He arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, in February, 1729, with a view of settling a correspondence there for supplying his college with such provisions, as might be wanted from the northern colonies. Here he purchased a country seat and farm in the neighborhood of Newport, and resided about two years and a half. His residence in this country had some influence on the progress of literature, particularly in Rhode Island and Connecticut. The presence and conversation of a man so illustrious for talents learning, virtue, and social attractions could not fail of giving a spring to the literary diligence and ambition of many, who enjoyed his acquaintance.

Finding at length, that the promised aid of the ministry towards his new college would fail him, dean Berkeley returned to England. At his departure he distributed the books, which he had brought with him, among the clergy of Rhode Island. He embarked at Boston, in September, 1731. In the following year he published his Minute Philosopher, a work of great ingenuity and merit, which he wrote while at Newport. It was not long

before he sent as a gift to Yale college, a deed of the farm which he held in Rhode Island; the rents of which he directed to be appropriated to the maintenance of the three best clas sical scholars, who should reside at college at least nine months in a year in each of the three years between their first and second degrees. All surplusages of money, arising from accidental vacancies, were to be distributed in Greek and Latin books to such undergraduates, as should make the best composition in the Latin tongue upon such a moral theme as should be given them. He also made a present to the library of Yale College of near one thousand volumes. When it is considered, that he was warmly attached to the Episcopal church, and that he came to America for the express purpose of founding an episcopal college, his munificence to an institution, under the exclusive direction of a different denomination, must be thought worthy of high praise. It was in the year 1733, that he was made bishop of Cloyne, and from this period he discharged with exemplary faithfulness the episcopal duties and prosecuted his studies with unabating diligence. On the 14th of January, 1753, he was suddenly seized by a disorder, called the palsy of the heart, and instantly expired, being near sixty nine years of age.

Bernard, Francis, governor of New Jersey, in 1758 and 1759, and afterwards of Massachusetts, entered on his administration in the latter province in 1760. His measures were at first popular, but he soon rendered himself extremely odious, by his zeal to sustain the British ministry in their encroachments on the rights of the people. He ap pointed Mr. Hutchinson instead of Mr. Otis to the office of chief justice in opposition to the wishes of the people; favoured the introduction of troops into Boston for the purpose of constraining obedience to the arbitrary acts of parliament; and endeavoured to obtain an alteration of the charter so as to transfer the right of electing the council from the people to the crown. Arbitrary in his principles, severe in his manners, and zealous to advance the interests of the king, he was peculiarly unfit for the station he occupied, and seems by his severity and rashness to have accelerated the rupture between the colonies and the parent country. He was, however, rewarded for his devotedness to the king by being knighted, and in 1769, returned to England, where he died in 1779.

Bogardus, Everardus, the first minister of the reformed Dutch church in New York, came early to this country, though the exact time of his arrival is not known. The records of this church begin with the year 1639. He was ordained and sent forth, it is believed, by the classis of Amsterdam, which had for a number of years the superintendence of the Dutch church in New Netherlands, or the province of New York. The tradition is, that Mr. Bogardus became blind and returned to Holland some time before the surrender of the colony to the British in 1664. He was succeeded by John and Samuel Megapolensis.

Boudinot, Elias, LL. D., an eminent lawyer of New Jersey, was born at Philadelphia, May 2d, 1740. He was a descendant of one of the French protestants, who at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, fled from persecution in that country to America. He engaged in the study of law under the Hon. Richard Stockton, of Princeton, New Jersey, a member of the first American Congress. In a short time after his admission to the New Jersey Bar, he rose to the highest rank in his profession. In 1777, he was chosen a member of Congress; and in 1782 was elected President of that body. Afterwards, he was appointed by Washington, Director of the National Mint, which office he held twelve or fourteen years. He was at an early period a sincere and devoted friend of religion, the patron of various benevolent societies, and was the first President of the "American Bible Society." He died at Burlington, Oct. 1821.

Bowdoin, James, LL. D., governor of Massachusetts, was born at Boston, in 1727, and graduated at Harvard College, in 1745. He possessed superior talents, and was distinguished at the university for his attainments. He inherited large possessions from his father, and at an early period attracted the public regard, and received an appointment to several honourable stations. In 1775 he was elected President of the Council of Massachusetts, and continued in that office a large portion of the time, till the adoption of the state constitution, in

1780. He presided in the convention which formed that instrument, and contributed several of its most important articles. He was distinguished as a scholar as well as a politician, was a liberal benefactor of Harvard college, had a principal agency in forming the American academy of arts and sciences at Boston, in 1780, was appointed its first president, and left it valuable bequests. His literary character was known in Europe, and acknowledged by a diploma of LL. D. from several universities, and an election as member of the Royal Societies of London and Dublin. His publications on philosophical subjects were numerous and highly respectable. He was a man of piety, well versed in theology, and highly amiable and exemplary in his life. He died in 1790.-Lord's Lempriere.

Bowdich, Nathaniel, LL. D. one of the most celebrated mathematicians of the age, was born at Salem, Mass. March 26th, 1773. His ancestors, for three generations, had been ship masters, and his father, on retiring from that business, "carried on the trade of a cooper, by which he gained a scanty and precarious subsistence for a family of seven children." Dr. Bowdich was obliged at the early age of ten years to forego the advantages of a school, that he might go into his father's shop and help support the family. He was afterwards apprenticed to a ship chandler. While in this station, he manifested that genius for mathematical pursuits for which he afterwards was so distinguished. He died in Boston in 1838.

Boylston, Zabdiel, F. R. S. an eminent physician of Boston, Mass. was born at Brookline in that state in 1680. He became particularly distinguished in 1720, by first introducing the inoculation of the Smallpox into the British dominions. He made an experiment first in his own family, and meeting with success, soon extended it to several hundreds, and completely demonstrated the safety and usefulness of the practice. The innovation was regarded by his fellow-physicians and citizens as rash and murderous, and drew on him their violent hatred and persecution. After a long life distinguished by professional skill, usefulness and humanity, he died at his seat in Brookline, March 1st, 1766, in the 87th year of his age.

Bradford, William, second governor of Plymouth Colony, was born in Ansterfield, a village in the north of England, in 1588. He was educated in the practice of agriculture. In 1607, at the age of eighteen, he was one of the company of dissenters, who made an attempt to go over to Holland where a commercial spirit had established a free toleration of religious opinions; but the master of the vessel betrayed them, and they were thrown into prison at Boston, in Lincolnshire. He however effected his escape from England, and joined his brethren at Amsterdam. After a residence of about ten years in Holland he removed to America. He was one of the foremost in the several hazardous attempts to find a proper place for the seat of the Colony. On the death of governor Carver at Plymouth, in April 1621, Mr. Bradford was elected governor in his place.

Governor Bradford wrote a history of Plymouth people and colony, beginning with the first formation of the church in 1602 and ending with 1646. It was contained in a folio volume of 270 pages. Morton's memorial is an abridgment of it. Prince and Hutchinson had the use of it, and the manuscript was deposited with Mr. Prince's valuable collection of papers in the library of the old south church in Boston. In the year 1775 it shared the fate of

Iliam Finalford

Fac simile of Gov. Bradford's writing.