4 REV. JONES VERY, IN MEMORIAM ; 



head of his class, and was appointed a tutor in Greek, 

 studying meanwhile at the Divinity school, whence he 

 never formally graduated, owing to ill health, but returned 

 to Salem in 1838. He was, however, duly licensed as a 

 preacher by the Cambridge Association in 1843. 



Accounts of persons then studying in Cambridge were 

 given, showing the deep impression of mental and spirit- 

 ual power which Mr. Very made on all with whom he 

 came in contact ; and the great rapidity and fluency with 

 which his noblest sonnets were produced (mostly at this 

 time) were alluded to. 



The warm and personal friendship existing between "Mr. 

 Very and Mr. Emerson, R. H. Dana, the poet, and other 

 distinguished men, and the exalted opinion they then had 

 of his worth as a man, and of his " extraordinary" merit as 

 a poet, were then shown by copious extracts from letters 

 written about or to Mr. Very by the gentlemen named, 

 including an account of Mr. Emerson's assistance in the 

 preparation of the little volume of "Essays and Poems 

 by Jones Very," published by Little & Brown, at Mr. 

 Emerson's personal solicitation in 1839. 



The unique state of great spiritual exaltation under 

 which Mr. Very produced this work was then detailed at 

 length ; from accounts given at the time by Rev. Dr. 

 Channing, Mr. Emerson, Rev. Dr. Clarke, Miss Eliza- 

 beth P. Peabody, and others, showing that Mr. Very's 

 mental powers were stimulated to great activity, by his 

 belief that he had surrendered his own will to the will of 

 God, and become a passive instrument of the Divine 

 Spirit. That Mr. Very had not lost his reason, as was at 

 the time alleged by persons unacquainted with him, was 

 amply proved from the same sources ; all the persons 

 named uniting in pronouncing him profoundly and even 

 exceptionally sane. 



His religious convictions were illustrated by frequent 



