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HOPKINS HOPKINSON. 



anlour till his death, which took place in 1704. 

 Hesides the works mentioned, he was the author of 

 Lea Sections Conifues, les Lieux Geometriques.la Con- 

 ttruetion des Equations ; and Une Theorie des Courbes 

 Mccfiaiiitfttrs (4to). He was, in private life, a man 

 it integrity, of an open ami candid disposition, ami 

 of agreeable and polished manners, suited to his 

 station in society. 



HOPKINS, LEMUEL, an American physician and 

 author, was born at Waterbury, Connecticut, in 

 1750. He commenced the practice of medicine at 

 Litchfield, but, after some years, removed to Hart- 

 ford, where he enjoyed a high reputation. He died 

 April 14, 1801, in the fifty-first year of his age. As 

 a physician, he inspired the greatest confidence 

 by his skill and unremitting attention. Whenever 

 lie became much interested in a case, his attentions 

 were unceasing. Denying all other calls, he would 

 devote his days and nights, often lor a considerable 

 time, to the case, and not unfrequently administer 

 every dose of medicine with his own hand. The 

 antiphlogistic regimen and practice in febrile diseases 

 was introduced by doctor Hopkins, physicians having 

 previously been accustomed to pursue, with regard 

 to them, the alexipharmic practice. He was also 

 distinguished as a literary character, and was a 

 prominent member of that association of gentlemen 

 called the Hartford wits. With Trumbulland Bar- 

 low, he wrote the Anarchiad, a satirical work, in 

 twenty-four numbers, which contributed much to 

 draw the attention of the public to the precarious 

 state of the union under the old confederation. At 

 a later period, he was joined with others in the 

 publication of the Echo, Political Greenhouse, &c., 

 which were intended to give a tone to the public 

 feeling and sentiment in favour of the administration 

 of Washington. 



HOPKINS, SAMUEL, D. D., an American divine, 

 and founder of the sect called Hopkinsians, was 

 born September 17, 1721, in Waterbury, Con- 

 necticut, and was graduated at Yale college, in 

 1741. Soon afterwards, he engaged in theological 

 studies at Northampton, Massachusetts, under the 

 superintendence of Mr Edwards, and, in 1743, was 

 ordained at Housatonic, now Great Barrington, 

 Massachusetts, where he continued until 1769, when 

 he removed to Newport, Rhode Island, in conse- 

 quence of the diminution of his congregation and the 

 want of support. When he had resided for some 

 time in this place, the people became dissatisfied 

 with his sentiments, and resolved in a meeting to 

 intimate to him their disinclination to his continuance 

 amongst them. On the ensuing Sunday, he preached 

 to them a farewell discourse, which was so interest- 

 ing and impressive, that they besought him to remain. 

 He did so until his death, December 20, 1803. 

 Doctor Hopkins was a pious and zealous man, with 

 considerable talents, and almost incredible powers of 

 application. He is said to have been sometimes 

 engaged during eighteen hours of the day in his 

 studies He published numerous sermons, besides 

 various other works, the principal of which are a 

 Dialogue, showing it to be the Duty and Interest of 

 the American States to emancipate all their African 

 Slaves (1776); a System of Doctrines contained in 

 Divine Revelation, explained and defended, to which 

 is added a Treatise on the Millennium (two volumes, 

 8vo, 1793). and a sketch of his own life. His theo- 

 logical opinions, which are in part those of the cele- 

 brated Jonathan Edwards, have given birth to the 

 most earnest controversy. For a full account, see 

 the Dictionary of all Religions, by Hannah Adams, 

 article Hopkinsians; the work of doctor Ezra Stiles 

 Ely, entitled a Contrast between Calvinism and Hop- 

 kinsianism, and the third volume of the General 



Repository (Cambridge, 1813), where the whole sub- 

 ject is ably reviewed. 



HOPKINS, STEPHEN, a signer of the American 

 declaration of independence, was born March 7, 

 1707, in that part of Providence which now forms 

 the town of Scituate. After receiving a common 

 education, he pursued his father's occupation of 

 fanning, until 1742, when he removed to Providence, 

 which continued to be his home until his death. In 

 1732, he was elected a representative to the general 

 assembly from Scituate, and was chosen speaker of 

 that body in 1741. The following year, he removed, 

 as we have said, to Providence, where he engaged in 

 mercantile business. He had resided in this town but 

 a few months, when he was chosen to represent it in 

 the assembly, of which he was again made speaker. 

 In 1751, he was appointed chief justice of the 

 superior court of Rhode Island. In 1754, he was a 

 commissioner from that colony to the convention 

 which met at Albany for the purpose of securing the 

 friendship of the Five Nations of Indians in the ap- 

 proaching French war, and establishing a union 

 between the colonies. In 1756, he was elected 

 governor of Rhode Island, and continued to hold 

 that office, with the exception of three years, until 

 1767. In that year he retired from it voluntarily, 

 in order to appease a party dispute by which the 

 colony was distracted. He was at the head of one 

 party, and governor Ward of the other, and, to effect 

 a union of opposing interests, he prevailed upon his 

 friends and his opponents to join in choosing a third 

 person. In 1774, he was chosen a delegate to the 

 general congress which was to meet at Philadelphia, 

 and the next year was a second time appointed chief 

 justice of the superior court of the province. He 

 was re-elected to congress in 1775, and in 1776. 

 His signature to the declaration of independence is 

 indicative of a tremulous hand, owing to a nervous 

 affection, which compelled him, when he wrote, to 

 guide his right hand with his left. In 1778, he was 

 a fourth time chosen a member of congress, where 

 he was of particular service to the committees 

 appointed to fit out armed vessels, and to devise 

 ways and means for furnishing the colonies with 

 a naval armament, and in the deliberations on the 

 rules and orders for the regulation of the navy, in 

 consequence of his intimate acquaintance with the 

 business of shipping. He died July 13, 1785, at the 

 age of seventy-eight. Although Mr Hopkins had 

 received a very limited education, he had acquired, 

 by his own exertions, extensive information. His 

 Pamphlet entitled, the Rights of the Colonies 

 Examined, contains an able exposition of the injus- 

 tice of the stamp act, and various other measures of 

 the British government, and was published by order 

 of the general assembly, in 1765. As a mathema- 

 tician, he particularly excelled, and he assisted in 

 the observations on the transit of Venus over the 

 sun's disk, in June, 1769. He was a member of the 

 American philosophical society, and, for many years, 

 he was also chancellor of the college of Rhode 

 Island. To him Providence is mainly indebted for 

 its library. As a speaker, he was clear, pertinent, 

 and powerful ; sometimes energetic, but generally 

 calm, rational, and convincing. 



HOPKINSON, FRANCIS, an eminent American 

 author, and one of the signers of the declaration of 

 independence, was born in Philadelphia, in 1738, to 

 which city his parents had emigrated from England. 

 His father was the intimate friend and scientific coad- 

 jutor of Franklin, to whom, it is said, he first exhi- 

 bited the experiment of attracting the electric fluid 

 by a pointed instead of a blunt instrument. Francis 

 was educated at the college of Philadelphia. After 

 graduating there, he studied law, and, in 1765, 



