7 



abandon their religion. His father, in the year IGSG, on the 

 persecution which followed the revocation of the edict of JS'mii^, 

 left his native country, and fiicing poverty and danger, fled to 

 America, as the asylum of liberty, and in the year 1688, settled 

 in the town of Boston : By his industry, economy and integrity, 

 he accumulated a very ample fortune ; and possessed so much of 

 the esteem and respect of his fellow citizens, that he was chosen 

 a member of the Council, for several years before his death. 



OUR President was born at Boston, August 7th, 172G, and hav- 

 ing made the usual progress in scholastic and collegiate studies, 

 was admitted to his degree of Bachelor of Arts, at Harvard College, 



A. D. 1745, and of Master of Arts, A. D. 1748. Durintr this 

 period he was distinguished by the decency of his behaviour, the 

 complacency of his manners, the regularity of his conduct, 

 and by his solicitude to acquire useful knowledge, which excited 



him to industry and attention, and laid the foundation for that 

 respect, which he long maintained in the literary world. It does 

 not appear, that he possessed that extraordinary brilliancy of ge- 

 nius, which entitled him to be ranked amongst those who have 

 astonished the world by the force of their imaginations, or the 

 uncommon power of their natural abilitie^- Indeed such char- 

 acters are rarely to be found, and when they exist, are usually 

 deficient in that solidity of judgment which is necessary to rc-jtrain 

 the extravagance of their ideas, and their romantic and impious 

 principles, and eccentric conduct, often conduce more to the inju- 

 ry of the world, than the brightness of their conceptions to its 



benefit. Our deceased friend possessed the more useful talents of 



sound 



-h- 



