THEODOUE DWIGHT WOOLSEY. 345 



a frequent contributor to the periodical press, especially to " The New- 

 Eugluiuler," a review of which he was long one of the editors. In 

 all his writings, President "Woolsey aimed first and chiefly at clearness 

 of expression. He detested the shows of rhetoric. But along with 

 perspicuity and a homely force of diction, there is often an unsought 

 beauty of illustration. He had a genuine delight in the masterpieces 

 of poetry and art. 



President Woolsey resigned the Presidency in 1871. Among his 

 labors in the closing period of his life was the task of preparing for 

 the press bis copious and learned work on " Political Philosophy," — 

 or the doctrine of rights and the State. The fact should not be 

 omitted that he presided over the New Testament section of the 

 American Revision Committee. All his life he was a student of the 

 Scriptures. Nor did his studies lie in the New Testament alone. 

 He was a Hebrew scholar, and read the ancient Scriptures in the 

 original with facility. His theological learning was far from being 

 limited to the exegetical department. In ecclesiastical history, espe- 

 cially, he was thoroughly informed. In truth, President Woolsey 

 had an appetite for all good learning. His reading was extensive 

 beyond the limits of the provinces which he most cultivated. When 

 he read for recreation, he would sometimes have ni his hand a poem in 

 the Old French dialect, or a Greek play of Sophocles, or the Inferno 

 of Dante, or the Politics of Aristotle in the original. Yet no one could 

 be more free from the disposition to make a show of learning, or to win 

 the applause which attainments so large naturally elicit. Soon after 

 resigning the Presidency he printed a few copies, which were given 

 to special friends, of a small collection of poems from his own p6n. 



In administering his otTice as President, he did a very important 

 service in advancing the standards of scholarship, and in infusing, 

 largely by his own example, thoroughness into all the departments 

 of instruction. The College prospered remarkably under his care. 

 Such were the dignity and earnestness of his character, his love of 

 truth and his demand of truthfulness in others were so intense, and 

 his abhorrence of everything base so consuming, that he drew to him- 

 self a respect that partook even of awe. Very few members of the 

 numerous classes which he instructed failed to receive, as the result of 

 their contact with him, lasting impressions of a most wholesome char- 

 acter. Rapid in his mental action, intolerant of indirection and of all 

 disguises, with occupations that filled up his time, if he occasionally 

 failed to hold a temper naturally quick under complete control, no 

 one could be more grieved or more ready to make amends. It can 



