98 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



while the government was in Philadelphia ; and after its 

 removal, as they were passing to and from Washington, it 

 was a temporary resting-f>lace. Other gentlemen of intel- 

 ligence were among its inmates, and several of them, being 

 men of great promise, were then rising into the early stages 

 of that eminence which they attained in subsequent years. 

 Among them were Horace Binney, Charles Chauncey, 

 Elihu Chauncey, Robert Hare, John Wallace and his 

 brother ; and as frequent visitors, John Sargeant and George 

 Vaux. There were occasionally other gentlemen, but those 

 I have named. were our stars. Alas! of the eight whom I 

 have named only two remain ; and if I add myself, then 

 an almost unknown young man, the circle of names will 

 be nine, and the survivors three, Horace Binney, Robert 

 Hare, and B. Silliman.* Horace Binney, Charles Chauncey, 

 and John Sargeant rose to the head of the Philadelphia 

 Bar, and John Sargeant was afterwards a member of Con- 

 gress, and, I believe, of the Senate of the United States. 

 Robert Hare took the first rank as a chemist and philoso- 

 pher ; Elihu Chauncey was an eminent banker and finan- 

 cier, and the Wallaces and Vaux were most agreeable 

 gentlemen, Vaux, a Quaker, but warm-hearted and of 

 easy, polished manners. Enos Bronson, of Connecticut 

 and Yale College, was also of our number. He edited the 

 " United States Gazette " with much talent. 



The gentlemen whom I have named, with the friends and 

 visitors that were by them attracted to the house, formed a 

 brilliant circle of high conversational powers. They were 

 educated men, of elevated position in society, and their 

 manners were in harmony with their training. Rarely in 

 my progress in life have I met with a circle of gentlemen 

 who surpassed them in courteous manners, in brilliant 

 . intelligence, sparkling sallies of wit and pleasantry, and 

 cordial greeting both among themselves and with friends 

 and strangers who were occasionally introduced. Our 

 hostess, Mrs. Smith, a high-spirited and efficient woman, 

 * Dr. Hare died May 15th, 1858. 



