1876.] ** LStrong. 



the past and with hope for the future, is a duty which 

 the Hvinor owe to themselves and to those who shall 

 come after them. And this duty is best performed as 

 a skillful painter preserves in memory the subject of 

 his portrayal. A portrait is not a life, it is true, but 

 it recalls a life. So a delineation of character and 

 achievement, if it be accurate, prolongs the influences 

 the character is fitted to exert. It is therefore in obe- 

 dience to your desire to perpetuate, so far as may be, 

 the instruction and example of a life more than com- 

 monly eminent and useful, that I am to speak to you 

 of Horace Binney. 



He was born in Philadelphia on the 4th day of Janu- 

 ary, A. D., 1780, in a house belong-ing to Thomas 

 Williams, in what was then known as the Northern 

 Liberties, and in the neighborhood of Front and Coates 

 streets. He was of Scotch and Eno-lish descent. The 

 earliest paternal ancestor of whom he had knowledge 

 was John Binney, who, in 1680, resided with his wife 

 Mercy, in the town of Hull, Boston Bay, in England, 

 and from whom he was the fifth by descent in right 

 line. The family came to this country about that time 

 and settled in Hull, Massachusetts. The grandfather 

 of Horace was Barnabas Binney, a shipmaster and 

 merchant of Boston, and his father (born in 1751,) 

 named also Barnabas Binney, was a surgeon in the 

 revolutionary army, attached to the Massachusetts 

 line, whence he was transferred to the Pennsylvania 

 line. After his transfer he settled permanently in 



