Notice of the late Sheldon Clark. 225 



covery by his telescope of Halley's comet* — the first observation 

 of this comet that had been made in this country, aUhongh as- 

 tronomers in various parts of the United States had been on the 

 look-out, without success; this discovery was justly regarded, 

 "as proof that the instrument was a fine one for observations of 

 this sort." 



Mr. Clark was now fully before the public as a munificent pa- 

 tron of learning, and was justly so regarded, especially if his 

 education, his position, his pursuits and his means are duly con- 

 sidered. His feelings were, in a good degree, identified with the 

 prosperity of the college. He attended, occasionally, its quarterly 

 exhibitions and its commencements ; he passed some days or 

 weeks, every winter in New Haven, frequenting the college halls 

 and the society of its officers and their families, and returned 

 with renewed zeal to his agricultural labors. 



Mr. Clark was elected by his fellow-townsmen, a member of 

 the State Legislature for 1825, as well as in several succeeding 

 years, and served honorably during the sessions at Hartford and 

 New Haven. 



A portrait of Mr. Clark was requested for the College, and one 

 was presented by him. It was painted by Samuel F. B. Morse, 

 Esq., and was a very successful effort ; the likeness was accurate, 

 and although painted in 1S"35, sixteen years before his death, it 

 remained good to the last, except that he had grown corpulent. 

 It hangs in the south room of the Trumbull Gallery. 



It appears that Mr. Clark had made up his mind how to dis- 

 pose ultimately of his estate, before he could possibly know the 

 effect of his actual donations on his fame, for his will was made 

 and deposited with me, before the first of those donations had 

 been accepted by the Corporation of Yale College, or made known 

 to the public. The will, duly executed, bears date March 8th, 

 1823, just two months before the meeting of the Corporation, at 

 which his first proposition, that for founding a professorship, was 

 accepted. Here again his own language shall explain his views, 

 as expressed in that solemn moment, when men look death in 

 the face, and record the purposes that are to be fulfilled when 

 they are in their graves. 



* By Prof. Olmsted and Prof. Loomis, now of the Western Reserve College 

 at Hudson, Ohio, then a tutor in Yale College. 

 Vol. XI.I, No. 2.— July-Sept. 1841. 29 



