hearted. In the medley of mental musings, the cheerful thought with him was always uppermost, and often expressed itself with childlike simplicity on his countenance. 'What were you smiling at?' I once said, on meeting him, walking alone. 'At my own thoughts,' replied he; I am so apt to do it, I am sometimes afraid of being taken in the streets for a simpleton.' This it was that gave to him in society a bright and cheerful tone, in voice, look, and manner. His entrance into the room was like a ray of light for wakening up the dull or dispirited, and no chance companion of an hour could ever part from him without feeling that he had been in the society of a cheerful and happy man, as well as a most able and good one.

CHAPTER II.

From his Removal to the City in December, 1800, to the first of his Publications in 1803; from the 25th to the 28th Year of his Age.

Trinity Church-Early History-Actual Condition-Style and Estimate of Mr. Hobart as a Preacher-Styles of Preaching-His Performance of Pastoral Duties-Domestic Establishment-Anecdotes of Kindness— Habits of Study--Official Duties in General and State Conventions.

THE parish of Trinity, with which he now became connected, was among the oldest in the Northern States. The Province of New-York, being gained by conquest, became consequently a royal colony. The Church of England, therefore, came in with the government, in 1664, or rather in 1667, when, by the treaty of Breda, the colony was ceded. The Church thus became, in some sense, established.

Among the rights to which it at once succeeded, was the use of the garrison chapel, which stood within the fort, near what is now termed the Bowling Green, at the foot of Broadway. Upon the subsequent increase of the congregation, a parish church was erected under the name of Trinity,' which stood where the present church of that name now stands. This was in the year 1696, under the reign of William and Mary, by whom, or rather by the

colonial governor, under authority committed to him, it was liberally endowed an adjoining property, known as the King's Farm,' being granted to the corporation for the support of the services of the Protestant Episcopal Church.*

This edifice was originally a small square building, accommodated to present necessity; but being twice enlarged, viz. in 1735 and 1737, it became one of the largest and most splendid churches in the country, being one hundred and forty-six feet in length, seventy-two in width, with a noble spire one hundred and eighty feet in height. On the 21st September, 1776, it was involved in the memorable and melancholy conflagration which devastated that part of the city, and lay in ruins during the remainder of the revolutionary war, and for some years afterward.

The present edifice, inferior in size to the old, being forty-two feet shorter, was erected in 1788, and consecrated in 1791, by the first Bishop of the Diocese, the Right Rev. Samuel Provoost. In addition to the parish church, two chapels within its.bounds had successively been erected previous to this period, viz. St. George's, in 1752, and St. Paul's, in 1766.

* The original grant was a temporary one, 6th May, 1607, by Governor Fletcher. It was made perpetual by a grant from Lord Cornbury, 1705, and in 1709 confirmed by the Colonial Assembly under Governor Ingoldsby.

Such was the parish at the time of Mr. Hobart's connection with it. Subsequently St. John's Chapel was added, (1807,) and St. George's set off (1811) as an independent church. The parish was then, as it continues to be now, under the pastoral charge of a rector and three assistants.* At the time of Mr. Hobart's

election, the Right Rev. Benjamin Moore, D. D., held the situation of rector, having been elected thereto on Bishop Provoost's resignation, the same day (September 8, 1800,) on which the call was given to Mr. Hobart. The other assistant minister was the Rev. Abraham Beach, D. D., and the Rev. Cave Jones was chosen

The Rectors of Trinity Church up to the present year (1836) have been as follows:

The other ministers have been, beside the above-named, the Rev. John Ogilvie, D. D., Rev. John Bowden, D. D., Rev. Abraham Beach, D. D., Rev. John Bisset, Rev. Cave Jones, Rev. Thomas Y. How, D. D., Rev. Thomas C. Brownell, D. D., now Bishop of Connecticut, Rev. J. M. Wainwright, D. D., Rev. Henry Anthon, D. D., Rev. J. F. Schroeder, and the Right Rev. B. T. Onderdonk, D. D., the present Bishop of the Diocese.

shortly after. With these as his fellow-laborers in the parish, Mr. Hobart was now associated, and was soon after placed on a ministerial equality with them, by being admitted to the order of Priests. This ordination was by Bishop Provoost, in Trinity Church, in the year 1801.

As Mr. Hobart owed doubtless this his early advancement, for he was but in Deacons' Orders when elected, to his reputation as a pulpit orator, it may not be amiss here to consider his claims to that character, and the peculiarities by which it was marked.

In the physical powers of the orator, Mr. Hobart, though not eminently gifted, was yet far from wanting. His figure was somewhat under size, but it was firm and strongly knit, giving the impression of muscular strength with great agility and vigor of movement. His head was large in proportion to his body, his forehead high and prominent, and the general cast of his features, though not large, yet massive. In one feature of power, however, he was wanting: the 'glance of the eye' (to the orator no feeble weapon) with him was comparatively lost, through the use of spectacles, to which nearsightedness had forced him even from boyhood. His voice on the contrary was deep, strong and flexible; having in it great compass, and varying with every expression of feeling, though not