54r 
After a residence of four years in France, during whibfit 
time he had secured the respect and esteem of the learned 
in that country, Chancellor Livingston returned to the bosons 
of his native state and family ; and declining all public and 
political concerns, betook himself to the more delightful oc¬ 
cupations of his farm, and in promoting the useful arts. 
Thus, gentlemen of the society, I have exhibited to yom 
the whole political life of Chancellor Livingston; and you 
cannot but have seen that in every part of it, he was actuated, 
by the sincerest love of country, and a readiness to obey her 
commands and serve her interests. From the earliest peri¬ 
od of our revolution until the termination of it, he was con¬ 
stantly occupied either in the national or state councils__ 
After the restoration of peace' the court of chancery claim¬ 
ed his time and attention ; and after that, the duties of his 
foreign mission called him- from his country and from his 
friends. A life more constantly or zealously devoted to the 
state has seldom been known than his; and if public ser¬ 
vices, ably performed, ever demanded public gratitude, they 
are his. I neither would offer vain oblations at the tomb of 
the dead, nor willingly offend the living ; but yet I am ready 
to assert, that after him, “ who was first in war, first in 
peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen,” there is 
none more worthy to be second , than Chancellor Livingston. 
Until I had completed the view of Chancellor Livingston’s 
public life, I purposely reserved any particular notice of 
him as an agriculturist and promoter of the liberal and. 
useful arts. I come to this part of my subject with peculiar 
pleasure, as it is most delightful to dwell on that, which will 
most securely establish his fame to future generations. 
It is somewhat remarkable that the greatest men in all 
ages, who have most essentially served their country, in the. 
field and in council; the most famous poets and the most 
eloquent orators, have ever exhibited a love for rural occu¬ 
pations. Cicero, a name synonomous with eloquence itself, 
and the saviour of Rome, declares that u of all profitable 
pursuits, none is better, none more productive, none more: 
