ALEXANDER JOHNSTON. 317 



to the management of which and to literary work he devoted his ener- 

 gies till the autumn of 1883, when he received a call to the Chair of 

 Jurisprudence and Political Economy in this College. In January, 

 1884, he commenced his professorial duties, and his life from that time 

 up to the day of his death was identified with Princeton, whose fame 

 he was contributing to extend by his brilliant achievements as teacher 

 and writer. 



When it is remembered that Professor Johnston was barely forty 

 years old when he died, and that his literary activity was crowded into 

 the last ten years of his life, the list of works published during that 

 period gives evidence of extraordinary fecundity. Plis " History of 

 American Politics," published by the Holts in 1879, gave him at once 

 a position in the front rank of American political writers. That book 

 alone, had the author never written another word, was sufficient to 

 make a great reputation. It is a fine embodiment of all the charac- 

 teristic features of Professor Johnston's method and style. Clear, 

 compact, straightforward, and simple, its mastery of facts and its gen- 

 eralizations are admirable, reminding one in these respects of Guizot's 

 History of Civilization. 



During his residence in Norwalk, Professor Johnston wrote the 

 parts on American Political History in Lalor's Encyclopaedia, his arti- 

 cles comprising perhaps one fourth of the contents of the three vol- 

 umes, and being remarkable for the painstaking industry and accurate 

 knowledge of facts which they evinced. 



During his connection with Princeton there followed in rapid suc- 

 cession his School History ; a collection of Representative Orations ; 

 the volume on " Connecticut " for the Commonwealth Series, a master- 

 piece of its kind ; a number of articles in the American Supplement 

 to the Encyclopaedia Britannica ; the splendid article, or rather treatise, 

 on " The United States," in the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica ; the strikingly able and original article on the American 

 Constitution in the New Princeton Review ; and many other articles 

 in periodicals and reviews, besides frequent contributions to the 

 " Topics of the Times " in the Century Magazine, and to the editorial 

 departments of other publications. Besides the published works he 

 left two books in manuscript form, which will in due time be given to 

 the public. 



Professor Johnston's later works fully sustain his reputation as a 

 political writer. The qualities which are noticeable in his first vol- 

 ume are present in these, and there is evidence of a development in 

 richness of knowledge, breadth of understanding, depth of insight, and 



