NOTES TO THE MEMOIR.

NOTE A. p. 10.

Of the the other sons of Levi and Ruth Maxcy, Milton graduated at Brown University, in the year 1802, and afterwards became an eminent lawyer in Beaufort, South Carolina, where he died of the yellow fever in 1818. Levi, another son, who was distinguished for his talents, died also at the South.

Virgil graduated at Brown University in 1804, and was a classmate of the Hon. Marcus Morton, LL. D., late Governor of Massachusetts. His recent and sudden death, from the accidental explosion of a gun on board the United States Steam-Ship Princeton, Febuary 28, 1844, has not only filled the hearts of an afflicted family with the deepest sorrow, but a large circle of friends by whom he is sincerely and feelingly lamented.

"Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit."

The Hon. Virgil Maxcy possessed talents and accomplishments of a high order. He was a ripe scholar, a finished gentleman and a pure statesman. His manners were bland, courteous and dignified. In social and domestic life, he was the object of love in his own family, and esteemed and honored by all who knew him. As a husband, father, friend, master and citizen his conduct was exemplary, and his virtues shone resplendent. In his public life, he exhibited a rare union of political firmness, united with candor and moderation. After studying law with that eminent jurist Robert Goodloe Harper, of Maryland, he settled in that State, and soon rose to professional

eminence. He was successively distinguished in both houses of the Maryland Legislature; as Solicitor of the United States Treasury; and as Charge d'Affaires from this country to the Court of the King of Belgium. In all the high and responsible stations which he was called to fill, he displayed signal abilities, and received the meed of high praise.

In the melancholy catastrophe which occurred on board the Princeton, our country was also deprived, at the same moment, of several distinguished persons and valuable citizens. Among others, an intimate friend of Mr. Maxcy, the Hon. Abel P. Upshur, the Secretary of State; the Hon. Thomas Gilmer, the Secretary of the Navy; Capt. Beverly Kennon, chief of a Navy Bureau; and the Hon. David Gardiner, of New York, by a mysterious dispensation of Divine Providence, were all suddenly cut off in the midst of health, activity and usefulness.

The following epitaph was written by Mr. Levi Maxcy on his honest and faithful colored servant, who was an exemplary member of the first Baptist Church in Attleborough.,

NOTE C.-P. 12.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF HON. SAMUEL EDDY, LL. D.

AMONG the classmates of President Maxcy, with whom he formed an intimate and cordial friendship, and which continued uninterrupted to the end of life, was the Hon. Samuel Eddy, LL. D., of Providence. Mr. Eddy was born in Johnston, R. I. March 31, 1769. He was graduated at Brown University in 1787. He studied law with the Hon. Benjamin Bourne, an eminent and popular barrister, and was afterwards his partner in Providence. In 1798, he was elected by the people Secretary of the State; and they evinced their confidence in his ability and uprightness by annually re-electing him to that office without opposition, till May, 1819, a period of twenty-one years, when he declined a re-election. On his retirement from that office the General Assembly unanimously voted their thanks to him, "for his distinguished talents and ability manifested in the discharge of the duties of said office for more than twenty years."

On the occasion of his resigning the Secretaryship of State, the duties of which he had so long, so ably and so faithfully performed, Mr. Eddy made the following private record: "May 5, 1819. This day terminates my duties as Secretary of the State. I have the satisfaction to believe that, in the discharge of my official duties, I have been free from partiality. I have never knowingly received more than my lawful fees, and no man's business has been refused, or left undone for want of money."

Mr. Eddy was elected a Representative in Congress from RhodeIsland for three successive terms, and held a seat in the national councils, from 1819, the year he resigned his Secretaryship, to 1825. He was subsequently appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode-Island, and was annually re-elected for eight years, till June 1835, when sickness compelled him to relinquish all public employments. He passed the remainder of his life in domestic happiness, and literary pursuits, beloved by his relatives and friends, and honored by the public.

Judge Eddy departed this life, at his residence, in Providence, February 3, 1839, aged 69 years. In his death his native State and

his country were deprived of a pure and an able statesman. Without stooping to the arts of popularity, he exercised a wide and commanding influence over the minds of others, as benign as it was effective. His name is hallowed in the grateful remembrance of the citizens of Rhode-Island and identified with her history.

In 1801, he received from Brown University the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. In 1805, he was elected a member of the Board of Fellows of that Institution, and, with his accustomed punctuality, attended all meetings of the Corporation, until his decease, a period of thirty-four years. In 1806, he was elected Secretary of the Corporation, which office he held for twenty-three years, when he resigned it in 1829. He was an honorary member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and enriched the Collections of that Society with contributions from his powerful pen. He was Vice-President of the Rhode-Island Historical Society, and presented to that Society many valuable communications. He intended at one period of his life, to write the History of his native State, and it is a subject of regret that he did not execute such a work, for which he was so admirably qualified. His literary acquisitions were extensive, critical and profound. His mind was vigorous and active, his apprehension quick, and his judgment sound and discriminating. He had a marked predilection for analytical investigation, and for works of clear, strong and conclusive reasoning. In his manners he had great frankness, simplicity and sincerity, and in his habits he was singularly methodical. He was able in counsel, wise in deliberation and energetic in action. In his mental constitution there was a native dignity which never permitted him to descend to any thing little or mean. In the discharge of his private and public duties no man ever acted from better and purer motives. He possessed that integrity which no interest could pervert, and that love of truth which no difficulties could repress. In the language of Juvenal he dared,

"Verba animi proferre, et vitam impendere vero."

Judge Eddy, by his talents and his virtues, adorned every station which he occupied. To have been honored with the friendship of this excellent man, is regarded by the writer of these lines as a distinction and happiness which will ever be regarded by him with feelings of no ordinary pleasure. Sooner shall memory perish,

"Quam nostro illius labatur pectore vultus."

NOTE D.-P. 13.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF PRESIDENT MANNING.

Rev. James Manning, D. D., the first President of Rhode-Island College, now Brown University, was born in Elizabethtown, N. J., Oct. 22, 1738. He graduated at Princeton College, N. J., in 1762, with the highest honors of his class. In 1763, he became the Pastor of the Baptist church in Warren, R. I. In the same year he recommended the project of establishing a College, and the next year, a charter for the Institution was obtained from the Legislature of R. I. In Sept. 1765, Dr. Manning was appointed President and Professor of Languages. In 1770, when the College was permanently fixed in Providence, Dr. Manning became the Pastor of the first Baptist Church in that town. In 1786, he was unanimously appointed to represent the State of Rhode Island in the Congress of the United States

This excellent man, on the Sabbath morning of July 24th, 1791, was seized with an apoplectic fit, and expired the ensuing Friday, aged 53 years. He presided over the College with distinguished ability, and discharged the duties of his office, with unwearied assiduity for the period of twenty-six years.

The following character of President Manning, is from the pen of his early friend and official associate, the Hon. David Howell, LL. D., of Providence, and was originally published in Rippon's London Register.

"In his youth, he was remarkable for dexterity in athletic exercises, for the symmetry of his body, and gracefulness of his person. His countenance was stately and majestic, full of dignity, goodness and gravity; and the temper of his mind was a counterpart of it. He was formed for enterprize; his address was pleasing, his manners enchanting, his voice harmonious, and his eloquence irresistible.

"Having deeply imbibed the spirit of truth himself, as a preacher of the gospel, he was faithful in declaring the whole counsel of God. He studied plainness of speech, and to be useful more than to be celebrate ed. The good order, learning, and respectability of the Baptist churches in the eastern States, are much owing to his assiduous attention to their welfare. The credit of his name, and his personal influence among them, perhaps have never been exceeded by any other character.