1§ A Tribute to the Memory of 



ledge, he kept pace with the improvements of his time, and hi 

 occasionally by original publications*, contributed to its ad- 

 vancement. He had a share of general information, and a flow 

 of animal spirits, that rendered him an instructive and agree- 

 able companion. To the rich sources of enjoyment, which are 

 opened by the productions of the fine arts, he was extremely 

 sensible, not so much from an acquaintance with critical rules, 

 as from a natural and lively susceptibility of those emotions, 

 which it is the object of the poet and the artist to excite. By 

 the native strength of his memory, unassisted by any artificial 

 arrangement, he had acquired a knowledge of history, remark- 

 able for its extent and precision; he was always eager to discuss 

 those questions of general policy, which are to be decided, partly 

 by an appeal to historical evidence, and partly by a considera- 

 tion of the nature of man, and of his claims and duties as a 

 member of society. No representation of him would, indeed, be 

 complete, that failed to notice the animation with which he en- 

 tered into arguments of this kind, or the zeal and constancy with 

 which he defended his political opinions, — opinions which, in 

 him, were perfectly disinterested and sincere, but which perhaps 

 disposed him to allow more than its due weight to the aristocra- 

 tical part of our mixed government. It would be unjust to him, 

 however, not to state, that no man could more cordially dis- 

 approve, or more unreservedly condemn, every undue exertion of 

 power; or could more fervently desire the extension of the bless- 

 ino-s of temperate freedom to all mankind. It was this feeling 

 that led him to use his strenuous exertions as a member of one 

 of the earliest Societies for procuring the abolition of the African 

 Slave Trade; and when that great object was at length accom- 

 plished, he was afiected with the most lively joy and gratitude 

 on the downfall of a traffic, which had long been a disgraceful 

 stain on our national character. 



Of his moral excellencies, there can be no inducement to offer 

 an overcharged picture to a Society, by many of whose surviving 



* Chiefly in the periodical Journals, and in the Transactions of some 

 Medical Societies to which he belonged. 



