Notice of the late Sheldon Clark. 231 



are left to presume, that the appUcations were generally allowed 

 to pass sub silentio. 



As my object in this brief memoir is to present Mr. Clark to 

 mankind as a Uberal patron of good learning, I shall offer no 

 opinions upon his views of moral and metaphysical subjects ; but 

 some judgment may be formed of them from the pamphlets which 

 he printed and distributed. 



It is however probable, that had his warm aspirations after a 

 liberal education been indulged ; had he been disciplined in cour- 

 ses of exact study, in literature and in science ; — had he been 

 brought into conflict with other minds, pushing forward on the 

 same journey — had he been placed under the pressure of able in- 

 structors in the various branches of human learning, and beneath 

 the sunshine of a kindly Christian influence and example, happy 

 fruits would have been gathered from his gifted intellect. 



hi his laborious rural employments, he sighed for something 

 more liberal and elevated than his daily toil — in his comfortless 

 seclusion, (without that friend who, more than any other, cheers 

 man's soUtude, and influences his moral feelings and sentiments,) 

 he found no favor to his mental efibrts, and his vigorous mind 

 shot in wild luxuriance, with little external culture and as little 

 pruning. 



While therefore his speculations always indicate ingenuity, and 

 he seizes his subject with a vigorous grasp, it is not surprising 

 that he, like many men of higher name, should sometimes have 

 been bewildered in the mazes of his own metaphysics ; — as a 

 pilgrim threading a deep forest, wanders around and around, 

 and emerges at last at a mistaken point, or emerges not at all, 

 but plunges deeper and deeper, into the gloom of the dark and 

 impervious wilderness. 



