stared in wonderment, and yet his mind was rather of a brilliant shade than a great one. Mr. Dexter was once in company with Fisher Ames and Chief Justice Marshall. The latter commenced a conversation, or rather an opinion (for he was almost solus in the dialogue), which lasted some three hours. On breaking up, the two former commenced, on their way homeward, praising the depth and learning of their noble host. Said Ames, after a short talk, 'To confess the truth, Dexter, I have not understood a word of his argument for half an hour.' 'And I,' good-humoredly rejoined Dexter, 'have been out of my depth for an hour and a half.'" In Felt's Memorials of William S. Shaw, we find it stated by Hannah Adams, in a letter to Mr. Shaw, that in the year 1790 she sent a petition to Congress, which Mr. Ames presented at her request, for a general law to be passed which would secure to authors the exclusive right of their publications. We find, on turning to the laws of Congress, that this act, which is entitled an act for the encouragement of learning, etc., was established on the 31st of May, 1790. The following incident regarding Fisher Ames is worthy of record. There lived in Dedham a farmer of great natural wit and smartness of repartee,one Joseph Kingsbury, who had a great partiality for Mr. Ames, yet would never let pass an opportunity of showing his tact, even at the expense of his friend. A town-meeting was held, at which Mr. Ames made an eloquent speech. Kingsbury, in his dirty frock and trousers, had taken a seat in the adjoining pew; and no sooner had our orator finished, than he rose and said, "Mr. Moderator, my brother Ames' eloquence reminds me of nothing but the shining of a fire-fly, which gives just light enough to show its own insignificance;" and down he sat, having thus, at a blow, by exciting the risibles of the audience, defeated the effect of Mr. Ames' eloquence. In public speaking, Fisher Ames trusted much to excitement, and did little more in his closet than draw the outlines of his speech and reflect on it, till he had received deeply the impressions he intended to make; depending for the turns and figures, says Kirkland, of language, illustrations, and modes of appeal to the passions, on his imagination and feelings at the time. This excitement continued, when the cause had ceased to operate. After debate, his mind was agitated like the ocean after a storm, and his nerves were like the shrouds of a ship torn by the tempest. When Washington died, he pronounced his eulogy before the State Legislature. This performance, though it contains touches of real pathos, is less impassioned than might at first be expected. The numerous funeral honors paid to the memory of this beloved man had already made a great demand on the public sensibility. Mr. Ames chose rather to dwell on the political events and acts which illustrated his character, than merely to draw tears for his loss; and it abounds in accurate discrimination and sententious wisdom. From his knowledge of affairs, says Kirkland, and his confidential standing with those who were principals in effecting a measure regarding the public credit, he might have made himself a gainer, along with the public, by the funding system. But he consulted his lively sense of reputation by a scrupulous abstinence from participating in this advantage. He observed upon a calumny, which was uttered not because it was deserved, but because it might be believed, "I have too good proofs of the want of property for surmise to the contrary to have weight; I have much more occasion to justify myself to my family for being poor, than to repel the charge by being rich." His delicate mind and amiable temper made the contests of his public station often irksome. Though he did not allow himself to complain, yet he sometimes felt these irritations with much sensibility. "The value of friends," he observes, "is the most apparent and highest rated to those who mingle in the conflicts of political life. The sharp contests for little points wound the mind, and the ceaseless jargon of hypocrisy overpowers the faculties. I turn from scenes which provoke and disgust me, to the contemplation of the interest I have in private life, and to the pleasures of society with those friends whom I have so much reason to esteem." Fisher Ames was a devoted member of the Episcopal church in Dedham, and ever entered with spirit and devotion into the service, by audibly responding in the litany and gloria patri. He observed to a friend, one day, after reading "Nelson on the Fasts and Feasts," that he admired the church, though he would wish to be understood that he did not consider all those holy days to be essential. It was observed to him that the Episcopal church differed very widely from the Congregational platform, in her ordination, government, and mode of worship. He replied: "The difference is what I like, and for which I give the church the preference." He directed his parish taxes to be paid to the rector of the Episcopal church, whom he requested, during his last illness, to come to his house and have the church service, and make it familiar to his family. On the Christmas eve of 1807, he had his house decorated with green boughs, and made some beautiful observations on that ancient custom, which has become as venerable by age as the church catechism. Some time after he was a member of the church, one Madam Sprague proposed to dispose of her pew in the Congregational church at a very low rate, and which was the best pew in the house. He replied to her that he did not desire it. She then said, "If they build a new, splendid meeting-house, Mr. Ames, I presume you will return to the old society." On which he gravely replied: "No, madam; if they erect a meeting-house of silver, and line it with gold, and give me the best pew in it, I shall go to the Episcopal church.” In the poem by John Pierpont, recited at the celebration of the Newburyport Washington Benevolent Society, Oct. 27, 1812, appears this glowing tribute to Fisher Ames: "Then a bright spirit, free from every vice As was the rose that bloomed in Paradise, - TIMOTHY BIGELOW. FEB. 11, 1800. EULOGY ON WASHINGTON. FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS GRAND LODGE. "HIS administration was a satire on those who are born to rule," says Mr. Bigelow. Making the general good the sole object of his pursuit, and carefully distinguishing the attention which was due from - him as an individual to the claims of relation and friendship, from the duties he owed to the public, he never yielded to the influence of private partiality, nor stooped to the low policy of aggrandizing his family by the gifts of office. He bestowed employments on those only who added to integrity the qualities necessary to discharge them. Patient in investigation, and cautious in research, he formed his resclutions with deliberation, and executed them with decision. Conscious of the purity of his motives, and satisfied with the propriety of his determinations, daily estimating, also, the sacred duty of maintaining the constitutional rights of his office,- he was not to be soothed into dishonorable compliance by the blandishments of flattery, nor diverted from his purposes by the terror of numbers, or the imposing weight of public character. When a revolution, unprecedented in its kind, had involved the European world in confusion, and the flame of war was spreading into other quarters of the globe, neither the insidious attempts of the emissaries of France, nor the treacherous arts of her American adherents, could induce him to hazard our quiet. Though himself a soldier, and equal to the emergencies of war, he perceived not only the true interests of his country, but justice and humanity, enjoined a continuance of peace. He therefore wisely adjusted the misunderstandings which threatened our tranquillity, and resolved on a strict neutrality. Our own experience, and the events which have since transpired in other countries, have fully justified the measure. Yet, strange to tell, disappointed faction, despairing of success in an impeachment of his discernment or understanding, has dared here to arraign the purity of his motives. Circumstances seem to have placed him beyond the reach of suspicion. His wealth was more than sufficient for all the purposes of splendid enjoyment; he had no posterity to inherit hereditary honors; and he was surely too wise not to know that a crown would tarnish his glory,- that his own reputation was inseparably connected with the prosperity of his country,- that his fame would mount no higher than her eagle could soar. What more than he possessed could ambition pant for? What further had the world to bestow? * * ** * Animated with a generous philanthropy, our deceased brother early sought admission into our ancient and honorable fraternity, at once to enable him to cherish with advantage this heavenly principle, and enlarge the sphere of its operation. He cultivated our art with sedulous attention, and never lost an opportunity of advancing the interest or promoting the honor of the craft. While commander-in-chief of the American Revolutionary army, he countenanced the establishment and encouraged the labors of a travelling lodge among the military. He wisely considered it as a school of urbanity, well calculated to disseminate those mild virtues of the heart so ornamental to the human character, and so peculiarly useful to correct the ferocity of soldiers, and alleviate the miseries of war. The cares of his high office engrossed too much of his time to admit of his engaging in the duties of the chair; yet he found frequent opportunities to visit the lodge, and thought it no derogation from his dignity there to stand on a level with the brethren. True to our principles on all occasions, an incident once occurred which enabled him to display their influence to his foes. A body of American troops, in some successful rencounter with the enemy, possessed themselves, among other booty, of the jewels and furniture of a British travelling lodge of Masons. This property was directed by the commander-inchief to be returned, under a flag of truce, to its former proprietors, accompanied with a message, purporting that the Americans did not make war upon institutions of benevolence." We find a highly independent and dignified passage in the oration of Mr. Bigelow, pronounced for the Washington Benevolent Society, that deserves to be perpetuated: "Thanks be to God, we still retain the right of expressing our opinions! Nor will we ever surrender it. It is our inheritance. For let it be remembered that our ancestors, from the moment of their first landing on these shores, were always free; that their resistance to Great Britain was not so much the effect of actual suffering, as of apprehension of approaching danger. It was not the resistance of slaves, but of those who were determined never to become such. It is proverbial, in our country, that Boston is the cradle of liberty. It is not so much her cradle as her asylum; not so much her place of nurture as her citadel. If this were her birth-place, she must have been produced at once, as Minerva is said to have sprung forth from the brain of Jupiter, full-grown and complete in armor. Except a short exile at the commencement of the Revolution, this always was, and I trust always will be, her favorite abode." Col. Timothy, the father of Hon. Timothy Bigelow, married Anna Andrews, of Worcester, an orphan, July 7, 1762. He was an intrepid adherent of the cause of the Revolution; and, after the battle of Lexington, with the assistance of General Warren, effected the removal |