Reminiscences of the late Mr. Whitney. 263 



dren. His fortitude and sense of decorum never forsook him during 

 his long and distressing decline. He almost always saw his friends, 

 and some of them he would never suffer to be denied ; even when in 

 intense pain, he was cheerful, social, and courteous, and to the last, 

 he maintained the observance of order, and proper attention to his 

 person. He desired that the writer of these notes should be in the 

 house at the closing scene, and although this was prevented by cir- 

 cumstances, he expressed to him, near the close of life, sentiments, 

 such as we should wish to hear from a dying friend. As is com- 

 mon, in cases where there has been severe suffering, his countenance, 

 after death, assumed its natural expression even in a greater degree 

 than for several weeks before. 



His funeral was attended by a large concourse of his fellow citi- 

 zens, who assembled in one of the churches, to which the body was 

 conveyed, and where an appropriate religious service was performed. 



His tomb is after the model of that of Scipio at Rome, a minia- 

 ture of which, of the same stone of which it was originally made, 

 was sent out cut from Italy by Mr. William C. Woodbridge, and has 

 been adopted in the case of two other^eminent men, the late Dr. 

 Nathan Smith, and Mr. Ashmun, the founder of the colony of Li- 

 beria. It is simple, beautiful and grand, and promises to endure for 

 centuries.* An accurate drawing of it, by Mr. R. Bakewell, Jr. 

 is annexed. 



* The foundations of the monument are laid at the bottom of the grave, by the 

 sides of the coffin, and lower down than it ; an arch of stone is thrown over the coffin, 

 and the structure then rises, solid as an ancient temple. The material of the monu- 

 ment is the fine grained sandstone, of Chatham, Conn. The several layers of stone 

 are composed each of one piece only. 



The following observations of a distinguished scholar and statesman, elicited in 

 consequence of a recent visit to the cemetery of New Haven, evince the estimation 

 in which Mr. Whitney's name is held, by one who is fully capable of appreciating- 

 his merits. After alluding to the monument of Gen. Humphreys, who introduced the 

 fine wooled sheep into this country, the stranger remarks ; — " But Whitney's monu- 

 ment perpetuates the name of a still greater public benefactor. His simple name 

 would have been epitaph enough, with the addition perhaps of ' the inventor of the 

 cotton gin.' How few of the inscriptions in Westminster Abbey could be compared 

 with that ! Who is there that, like him, has given his country a machine — the pro- 

 duct of his own skill, which has furnished a large part of its population, 'from child- 

 hood to age, with a lucrative employment; by which their debts have been paid off;; 



