54 LIFE OF 



might as well have remained colonies to Great Britain 

 as not to manufacture for ourselves ; for the prohibi- 

 tion of those arts was the basis of the English colo- 

 nial system. Indeed, he carried this feeling to that 

 degree of enthusiasm, that for ten years before his 

 death he would not wear any article that was not ma- 

 nufactured in this country. He had once the satis- 

 faction to make an importer of British goods, strong- 

 ly prejudiced in favour of his merchandise, acknow- 

 ledge that a piece of superfine American cloth which 

 he showed him was better dyed than the best English 

 cloth of the same quality. How he triumphed oa 

 that occasion, his friends to whom he was fond of re- 

 lating the circumstance, may well remember. 



How he patronized the arts and sciences, and eve- 

 ry species of American improvement, I need not re- 

 late, for each institution in their turn looked up to 

 him as a patron. But those were not confined to the 

 bosom of one Society, they displayed themselves in 

 every scientific and literary institution to which he be- 

 longed, and those were numerous. Of the Academy 

 of ^Natural Sciences, and that of the Fine Arts, he 

 was a valued associate. He was distinguished as 

 one of the Board of Trustees of the University of 

 Pennsylvania, over whose deliberations he and a 

 venerable member of the Philosophical Society, now 

 living, were generally called upon to preside. The 

 Philadelphia Athenieum, founded in 1814, and now 

 so fiourishing, chose him for their president. He 

 presided in like manner over the Society which was 



