1815.] Dr. Riltenhoiise. 169 



is impossible for me to forget, for they were the last he ever dis- 

 tinctly uttered, and they make us acquainted with the two most 

 important features of his religious creed, — ' Yes, you have made 

 the way to God easier.' 



" Such were the dying words, as it were, of our illustrious 

 relative and friend. He was dear to us both, to all his relatives and 

 friends, and to his country. To me, let me add, he was peculiar It/ 

 dear. The most happy and profitable hours of my life were passed 

 in the society of this virtuous man. I followed his footsteps in the 

 wilderness of our country, where he was the first tg carry the 

 telescope, and to mark the motions and positions of the planets. In 

 the bosom of his family I listened to his lessons, as an humble 

 disciple of Socrates or Plato. Science mixed with virtue was ever 

 inculcated from his lips; but to me Mr. Rittenhouse was more than 

 a friend and preceptor. He was a father and supporter. He laid 

 the foundation of what little prosperity in life I now, or may in 

 future, enjoy : and if it shall ever be my fortune, either by my 

 labours or my zeal to advance the progress of science, or to reflect 

 any honour upon my country, I should be the most ungrateful of 

 men if I did not acknowledge and wish it to be known that it was 

 David Ritteniiousk who enabled me to be useful." 



That the character and dispositions of Dr. Rittenhouse must have 

 been excellent, is obvious from the high veneration in which he 

 was iield by all his countrymen, and by the annual and unanimous 

 vote of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania in his favour for 13 

 years, at a period when they were divided into two most furious 

 factions. That his honour and integrity were pure and unsullied we 

 require no further proof than this : he led in Philadelphia a retired 

 and sober life, never launching out into any extravagance, and 

 indeed holding luxury in the utmost abhorrence ; yet all the pro- 

 perty which he ever acquired cost him no more than 13,525/. ; 

 though he held for many years public oflices of the most important 

 kind, some of them lucrative ; and one, Treasurer to the State, in 

 a time of public danger and distress, in which a man destitute of 

 principles might have realized an immense fortune. Mr. Barton 

 has brought the most satisfactory evidence that he was a sincere 

 believer in the Christian religion, that he had studied its evidences, 

 and satisfied himself of their force, though he seems to have 

 r€ckr)tjcd as of no consequence the peculiar dogmas which distin- 

 guish the different Protestant sects which swarm in America. His 

 liberality and benevolence were in all cases conspicuous. He 

 advanced a consi(»«rable sum of money to enable the American 

 Philosophical Society to discharge a debt wliich they had contracted. 

 In ij'-^'^i when the yellow fever raged in Philadelphia, he employed 

 Dr. iJarion to attend several poor families in his neighbourhood who 

 had contracted the disease. He sujipoited, for some time, an 

 Italian statuary, who had come to Phihulelphia in quest of employ- 

 ment, but had been unsuccessful. Finally, he was, during the 

 wliole of his life, a violent and declared enemv to the slave-trade. 



