120 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



the University he was inflexibly just, accurate, and thorough, solicitous 

 to raise the intellectual and moral standard of the institution, and self- 

 sacrificingly kind to students who deserved his kindness. Others may 

 have won more love in their daily intercoui-se with their pupils ; his 

 students left him with a respect, which rose into reverence as they grew 

 into sympathy with his lofty aims, and deepened into affection as they 

 recalled the sincerity and earnestness of his endeavors to do them good. 

 As a teacher, he was distinguished for the clearness of his exposi- 

 tions, the wealth of pertinent illustration which he brought to bear on 

 every point, the enthusiasm he awakened, and the impulse to vigorous 

 and independent thought which he imparted to his pupils. 



As a writer, he was compact, clear, and strong. No style could be 

 more free than his from rhetorical artifice. His most glowing discourses 

 exhibit no outbreaks of sentiment or emotion, but have a sustained force 

 and fervor which commands undivided attention. 



In the private relations of life. Dr. Wayland was upright and faith- 

 ful, unselfish and generous. As a citizen, he was public-spirited and 

 philanthropic. No one could have been more loved, honored, and 

 confided in than he was throughout the community in which the greater 

 part of his life was passed. 



The Right Rev. Alonzo Potter was born in Beekman (now La 

 Grange), New York, July 10, 1800. He entered Union College in 

 1814, was graduated in 1818, became Tutor in the following year, and 

 two years later, at the age of twenty-one, he was chosen Professor 

 of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. Having meanwhile taken 

 orders in the Episcopal Church, he accepted in 1826 the rectorship of 

 St. Paul's Church in Boston, where in a ministry of but five years he 

 won the enduring respect and affection of members of every Christian 

 communion, and held a place second to none of his contemporaries 

 among the clergy as a man of learning and ability, as an efficient and 

 successful preacher, and as a devoted and faithful minister. In 1831 

 he was recalled to Union College as Professor of Moral Philosophy, to 

 which office was shortly added that of Vice-President. In this latter 

 capacity he had on his hands the principal portion of the interior disci- 

 pline of the college, — financial engagements and the external affairs 

 of the institution occupying the greater part of Dr. Nott's time. While 

 here he continued in the frequent exercise of his profession, and was 

 regarded as one of the pillars of his Church ; so that, in the vacancy 

 of the important Bishopric of Pennsylvania, he was chosen to that 



