SPARKS, JAB 



SMITH, AUGUSTUS W. 



C89 



in Theology.' 1 f.<>m \.n-ious authors eminent 



fur their talents, learning, and virtues, with 



;i!iirul anil critical notice-*, comprising 



..!' which was published in 



the impaired state of his health 



d him to rc.M^n hid pastoral charge and 



;'r..in the, ministry. Returning to Massa- 



.c.s for seven years proprietor ami 



tlio North American lien lew. In 



he puhlishod from original materials an 



life of "John Ledyard, the Ameri- 



can Traveller." Some years before this, in the 



.-uplines undertaken for a friend con- 



! with the university press, ho had con- 



! the plan of preparing a full and authen- 



tic lite of Washington, and of collecting from 



all sources, at homo and abroad, the correspon- 



of that great man, and the official and 



private documents that might throw light on 



his public career and the history of his times. 



In preparation for this work, on which ho 



spent ten years of his life, he made extensive 



hes in various parts of our own country, 



and then visited Europe and employed a year 



in examining the public offices in London and 



and taking copies of all important papers 



bearing on his subject. Ho was received with 



much courtesy and consideration, and through 



the kindness and friendship of the French min- 



ister, Guizot, as well as of the English officials, 



he found unexpected facilities for the accom- 



plishment of his enterprise. The first fruits of 



his labors appeared in 1829-'30, in the " Diplo- 



matic Correspondence of the American Revolu- 



tion," a work in twelve volumes octavo, follow- 



ed, two years after, by the " Life of Gouverneur 



Morris, with Selections from his Correspondence 



and Miscellaneous Papers," in three volumes oc- 



tavo. "The American Almanac," a work of 



great value and various information, was also 



originated, and its first volume, for 1830, edited 



by him. lie also became editor of the "Library 



of American Biography," of which two series 



were published, comprising twenty-five volumes 



in all, between the years 1834 and 1848, and for 



which several of the biographies were prepared 



by his own indefatigable pen. Thus, in the 



inid.-i of the execution of his great and specially 



chosen work, ho was carrying on with admirable 



diligence other literary labors of much ii 



and value. In 1834, and the three years fol- 



lowing, he gave to the world his " Life and 



Writings of Washington," in twelve octavo 



volumes. In 1840, he completed the publica- 



tion of "The Works of Benjamin Franklin, 



with Notes, and a Life of tho Author," con- 



taining much before unpublished or uncollected 



matter, in ten octavo volume-. He soon after 



made a second journey to Europe, and, in his 



ivuewe 1 researches among the French ar- 



chives, discovered the map with the red lino 



marked upon it, concerning which, and ti. 



made of it in settling the question of the North- 



"ii boundary in 1842, there was so much 



debate, both in this country and in Englar.d. 



In ls"> I appeared "Correspondence of tho 



VOL. vi. 44 A 



American Revolution, being Letters of eminent 

 Men t'><icorge. Washington, t'roin the Ti: 

 his taking Command of tho Army to the llml 

 of his 1 'residency, edited from tho Original 

 Manuscripts." In 1839, Mr. Sparks was 

 McLean Professor of History in Harvard Col 

 lego, which office ho held with distinguished 

 credit for ten years, when ho was elected prei- 

 ident of that college, administering tho duties 

 of his position with honor to himself for threo 

 years. As an instructor, ho was lucid in his 

 expositions, firm and dignitied in his manner, 

 bringing tho fruits of extensive research and 

 lar^e experience to tho illustration of his sub- 

 ject. As a scholar, he was remarkable for in- 

 dustry, perseverance, and patient research. 

 No degree of labor could divert him from his 

 ta-.lv. His character was a union of simplicity 

 and unassuming dignity, and his sweetness of 

 temper made friends of all who knew him. An 

 accident which for a time disabled his arm, 

 and prevented the accustomed use of his pen, 

 disappointed his execution of a long-cherished 

 plan of writing the "Foreign Diplomatic History 

 of our American Revolution " a part of a more 

 extended work on the "History of the Revolu- 

 tion," for which he had mado largo preparation, 

 and a considerable portion of which he left in 

 manuscript at his death, though he had laid it 

 aside on learning that Mr. Bancroft would 

 occupy that field in the later volumes of his 

 history. The evening of his days was passed 

 in the leisurely prosecution of the literary pur-. 

 suits which had been the delight of his life. 



SMITH, Rev. AUGUSTUS WILLIAM, LL. D., an 

 American Methodist clergyman, author, and 

 teacher, president for eight years of Wesleyau 

 University, Middletown, Conn.; born in Iler- 

 kimer County, N. Y., May 12, 1802 ; died at 

 Annapolis, Md., of pneumonia, March 26, 1866. 

 His early years were passed on a farm, but, hav- 

 ing a strong desire to acquire an education, ho 

 attended the academies of his native county 

 and qualified himself to teach, and thus ac- 

 quired the means to prosecute his studies. Ho 

 graduated at Hamilton College, Clinton, in 

 1825, and had been for a year previous ono of 

 the teachers in tho Oneida Conference Semi- 

 nary at Cazenovia, where ho continued till 

 1831, being the principal of tho seminary from 

 1828 to 1831. In the latter year he was chosen 

 Professor of Mathematics in Wesleyau Univer- 

 sity, and continued in that chair till 1851 

 twenty years when he was chosen president 

 of the university, and presided over it till 

 1859. His retiring disposition had mado him 

 very unwilling to assume or retain the presi- 

 <>f the university, and, in 1859, being 

 appointed by the Government Professor of 

 Natural Philosophy in tho United States Naval 

 Academy at Annapolis, ho resigned tho presi- 

 dency to accept this position, and remained ia 

 it until his death. He was an excellent mathe- 

 matician, and thoroughly familiar with all tho 

 applications of mathematics to science, and in 

 his field of research had few superiors. HL* 



