34 REV. JONES VERY, IN MEMORIAM ; 



He is beyond my measurement. I can only say I loved him, and hon- 

 ored him, and esteem it one of the bright anticipations of the coming 

 Life, that I shall meet him again. 



Very truly yours, 



Wm. Silsbee. 



Christ Church Rectory, 

 Riverdale, New York City, Dec. 9, 1880. 



My Dear Sir: 



The papers from Salem inform me, that a Meeting 

 of the Essex Institute is to be held on Tuesday evening next, com- 

 memorative of the life and the service to literature of your late 

 townsman, the Rev. Jones Very. 



I wish that upon an occasion, alike honoring the memory of that 

 gentle yet strong soul and the Institute itself, I could be with you. 

 To have known Jones Very, as I knew him, not alone while a resident 

 of the old City by the Sea, but long years before. I count a benediction. 



Your notice of the meeting, in its terms, furnishes a text, — not for 

 a sermon, — but for more than either my opportunity or my ability 

 w T ould dictate in the way of loving remembrance, no less than of real 

 appreciation " of the life" of Jones Very and " of his service to liter- 

 ature." The terms of the notice are most happy. In his instance 

 there was a life. They who knew him best, knew also, what and hoio 

 good it was. There was also "a service." Some of Jones Very's 

 sonnets are worthy of a place in the highest classification of that 

 form of poetry. I do not say that he should have lived away from 

 Salem. I think he loved old "Naumkeag" with a child's love; but 

 had he been transplanted, I am not sure that the "Lake Country" 

 of Wordsworth and Southey might not have been as fitting a home 

 and framework for his musings and "poetic outcome," as for the 

 bards who have immortalized the region and themselves. 



I can never forget Jones Very. I have walked with him and talked 

 with him; been instructed by his word and realized in his gentleness, 

 purity, and yet manly strength, much that is most exemplary and 

 might well be coveted, without violence to the commandments. His 

 lines, on one of the Psalms, paraphrasing the words "When will 

 Thou come to me," are worthy of any poet. 



Believe me in great haste, 



Sincerely yours, 



Geo. D. Wildes. 



