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If they knew what the action was, when and where it was to be done, and how to do it, their obstacles would be overcome. In this manner one may bring the resources of others into contribution, and with such a grace as to obtain the thanks both of the givers and receivers.

"Fourthly. The example of one beneficent person, like yourself, in a neighborhood or a town, would go a great way. It would doubtless be imitated by others, extend far, and benefit thousands whom you might never hear of.

"I certainly hope to escape from this place, and return to your beloved arms. No man has stronger inducements to wish to live than I have. I have no quarrel with the world; it has used me as well as could be expected. I have valuable friends in every country where I have put my foot, not excepting this abominable sink of wickedness, pestilence, and folly,-the city of Algiers. I have a pretty extensive and dear-bought knowledge of mankind; a most valuable collection of books; a pure and undivided taste for domestic tranquillity; the social intercourse of friends; study; and the exercise of charity. I have a moderate but sufficient income; perfect health; an unimpaired constitution; and to give the relish to all enjoyments, and smooth away the asperities that might arise from unforeseen calamities, I have the wife that my youth chose, and my advancing age has cherished,-the pattern of excellence, the example of every virtue,— from whom all my joys have risen, in whom all my hopes are centred.

"I will use every precaution for my safety, as well for your sake as mine. But if you should see me no more, my dearest friend, you will not forget I loved you. As you have valued my love, and as you believe this letter is written with an intention to promote your happiness at a time when it will be forever out of my power to contribute to it in any other way, I beg you will kindly receive the last advice I can give you, with which I am going to close our endearing intercourse. . . . ... Sub

mitting with patience to a destiny that is unavoidable, let your tenderness for me soon cease to agitate that lovely bosom; banish it to the house of darkness and dust with the object that can no longer be benefited by it, and transfer your affections to some worthy person who shall supply my place in the relation I have borne to you. It is for the living, not the dead, to be rendered happy by the sweetness of your temper, the purity of your heart, your exalted sentiments, your cultivated spirit, your undivided love. Happy man of your choice! should he know and prize the treasure of such a wife! O treat her tenderly, my dear sir; she is used to nothing but kindness, unbounded love and confidence. She is all that any reasonable man can desire. She is more than I have merited, or perhaps than you can merit. My resigning her to your charge, though but the result of uncontrollable necessity, is done with a degree of cheerfulness, a cheerfulness inspired by the hope that her happiness will be the object of your care, and the long continued fruit of your affection.

"Farewell, my wife; and though I am not used to subscribe my letters addressed to you, your familiarity with my writing having always rendered it unnecessary, yet it seems proper that the last characters which this hand shall trace for your perusal should compose the name of your most faithful, most affectionate, and most grateful husband."

JOEL BARLOW.

Here ends our record of the lite of one who was a poet, philosopher, patriot, and martyr. Singularly enough, we believe the present volume to be the only work of a historical character in which the talents and public services of Joel Barlow have received recognition. In the many and bulky volumes devoted to American history he is almost entirely ignored.

To this statement there is, however, one exception.

304

LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOEL BARLOW.

On page 399 of Vol. II. of McMaster's "History of the People of the United States," we find this passage:

"This Barlow is memorable as the only one of our countrymen who has been guilty of the folly of attempting to produce an American epic poem. But a better title to immortality is the infamous part he bore in enticing innocent Frenchmen to buy and settle the lands of the Scioto Company on the Ohio. Towards America Barlow felt the same contempt which any man who admires poetry must feel toward the scribbler who defiled the English language by writing the 'Columbiad '; and, when he heard that John Adams was chosen President he poured out his thoughts on the position in a letter to Abraham Baldwin, a brother-in-law and a Member of Congress. The letter abounded in obscure passages, but the one selected by the prosecutors of Lyon contained an expression of surprise that the answer of the House to the President's speech of April 5, 1797, had not been an order to send him to a madhouse.”

In his account of the founding of Gallipolis and the wrongs of the French emigrants Mr. McMaster is equally violent and unjust. To Barlow's biographer these attacks did not seem worthy of notice, since their bitterness and evident animus destroyed their effect. They are inserted here as curious instances of the survival in our day of the campaign literature of 1799-1800, and in proof of the proposition advanced in our preface, that it is simply impossible for the historian of Federal proclivities and environment to do justice to the great leaders of Republicanism in America.

INDEX.

A.

Adams, John, on Barlow's letter,

161.

Advice to the Privileged Orders, 89.
Algiers, description of, 121.
Algerine piracies, 115.

André, Major, execution of, 35.
Anarchiad, the, 51.

B.

to Washington, 156; comments on
it of John Adams and the Boston
Centinel, 161-3; Barlow's reply,
166; its effect, 174, aids Fulton
with the steamboat, 177-203; re-
turns to America, 204; reception,
204-8; advocates a National Uni-
versity, 208-9; publishes the Co-
lumbiad, 213; settles at Kalorama,
215; critics attack the Columbiad,
218; reply to Abbé Gregoire's strict-
ures on, 221; civic honors, 234;
estimate of Thomas Paine, 236;
Jefferson's letters to, 240; Noah
Webster's, 244; letters to his
nephew, Thomas Barlow, 252; ap-
pointed Ambassador to France,
256; instructions of Monroe, 258;
delays at court, 269; Napoleon ap-
points a conference at Wilna, 270;
Barlow sets out, 273; letters de-
scribing the journey, 274-7; arrives
at Wilna, 277; fails to meet the
Emperor, 279; return, sufferings,
and death by the way, 280-2; his
death, how received at home, 284;
in France, 286; bibliography and
personal details, 289.

Barlow, Joel, birth and parentage,
1-3; early days, 4-7; graduates at
Yale College, 7-8; chaplain in
Continental army, 28; marriage,
30; writes the Vision of Columbus,
39; visits Philadelphia, 42; leaves
army and settles at Hartford, 46;
founds the American Mercury and
studies law, 46; admitted to bar
at Fairfield, 47; revises Dr. Watts'
version of Psalms, 48; and helps
with the Anarchiad, 51; publishes
the Vision of Columbus, 53; agent
abroad of the Scioto Land Com-
pany, 63; arrives in Europe, 68;
begins his mission in Paris, 68; re-
ceived by Jefferson, 70; sends a
company of emigrants to America,
70; failure of the Scioto Company,
72-3; diary in France, 73; in Eng-
land, 75; journey through France,
81-2; settles in Paris, life there,
85-8; removes to London and
writes Conspiracy of Kings and
Address to the Privileged Orders,
89; returns to Paris, 92; in Lon-
don again, 93; sets out to join La-
fayette at Metz, 94; fails, and re-
turns to London, 96; made citizen
of France, 97; goes to Savoy and
writes Hasty-Pudding, 98-9; the
poem, 99-108; returns to Paris,
110; joined by his wife, 111; Amer-
ican correspondents, 111; Euro-
pean, 112; accepts mission to Al-
giers, 117; letters from, 119-148;
return to Paris, 151; translates Vol-
ney's "Ruins," 152; writes a letter | Conspiracy of Kings, 89.

Baldwin, Abraham, tutor, 4; chap-
lain, 22; urges chaplaincy on Bar-
low, 24; advises concerning the
poem, 25; and the chaplaincy, 28;
visits Barlow, 39; takes attorney's
oath, 45; senator, 63; death, 211.
Baldwin, Ruth, parentage, 5; en-
gaged to Joel Barlow, 6; Barlow's
letters to, 21; marriage, 30; joins
her husband in Paris, 92; letter
to Mrs. Dr. Dwight, 92-93; to Mrs.
Madison, 273; on her husband's
death, 285; Barlow's verses to,
292; death, 287.
Buckminster, Joseph, tutor, 4; let-
ters to Barlow, 9, 10.

C.

Carey, Matthew, printer, 63.
Columbiad published, 213.

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Napoleon, references to, 269, 270,
271, 279, 280, 284.

New London, Barlow's description
of, 37.

O.

Fulton, Robert, resides with Barlow
in Paris, 177; experiments in steam
and submarine navigation, 177- Ohio Land Company, 55, 63.
203; letter to Barlow from Eng-
land, 209; on a review of the Co-
lumbiad, 221; announcing success-
ful voyage of the Clermont, 232.

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P.

Paine, Thomas, 200, 236.
Philadelphia, Barlow's description
of, 43.

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Vision of Columbus, draft, 15; pub-
lished, 53.
Volney, 69, 152, 272.

W.

Washington, 25, 39; letter to, 156.
Webster, Noah, 8, 9; Barlow's letter
to, 18, 22; letter to, on spelling
book, 41; other letters, 220, 244.
Wolcott, Oliver, 8, 111, 112.
Wolcott, Alexander, 272.
West, Benjamin, 93, 203.

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