genius and accomplishment in letters, under such advantages of aggregation, arrangement, and illustration, as immediately to advance them into the line of equality with all our glories, is connected, enduringly, with the name of Dr. Griswold. From several causes, not very difficult to appreciate, it had happened that the literary efforts of this country, in verse and prose alike, have been scattered, occasional, fragmentary, local; impulsive more than systematic; the work of amateurs rather than professors. The wandering rays that struggled with 'ineffectual beam," from a thousand divided sources, were now brought into focal unity, with an effect not merely augmented in degree, but unexpected in nature and kind. Si non singula placent, juncta juvant. It was thus demonstrated that America had produced not only a poetry and romance, but a philosophy, a theology, a scholarship, and a criticism, fairly entitled to constitute a national school. Something more than research the most extensive, memory the readiest, discrimination the most just, and taste and tact the most delicate, were needed for this success. A 'reconciling ray' of creative intelligence alone could give order, relation, composition, and singleness of tone, to elements in many cases apparently impracticable. In hands less than masterly, the thing would have been a shapeless, discordant mass, without interest, and without effect. The combining eye, which caught the rich impression of the completed architecture, in the inexpressive and inharmonious variety of the separate material, partook of poetic ardor, and the skill which accomplished what the mind foresaw was an artist faculty of not a common kind.

Upon the subject of American literature, Dr. Griswold is an enthusiast, with all the qualities, which render enthusiasm engaging, and even admirable: generous, indefatigable, self-sacrificing, successful. Apparently, he takes as much pleasure in establishing another's distinction as he could feel if the victory were his own; and he seems to feel that a personal triumph is won, whenever the lettered fame of the country is elevated. Under a light, variable, complying manner, he conceals strongly determined points of character. There is great intensity and continuance in his nature. Beneath a superficial excitability and impulsiveness, the instincts of his deeper being move firmly onward, undeviating and unresting, through that sphere of mental interest to which he seems to have been predestinated. To inform him- self of the history, peculiarities, and achievements of American effort in every form, in the past and in the present, to assimilate all this information into union with his own thoughts and views, and to organize the whole into grand and imposing views of national power, is the occupation always going on, by a kind of involuntary process, almost in the unconscious operation of this ever-active, ever-inquiring mind. This is the main pursuit of his life; all else is the by-play of his powers. It is this which gives permanence, and consistency, and unity to his character, amid the infinite multiplicity of concerns which engage his less profound attention. This imparts dignity, and the aspect even of greatness, to a mental career which, unless steadied by such a controlling passion and principle of the thought, might be frittered and frivolized. by the multitudinous petty excitements to which it is subject. What

ever 'quick whirls and eddies of the mind' may gyrate and gurgle on the surface, the under-current ever moves composedly onward through its direct and natural channel, and in due time deposits in glittering masses the golden particles which it had swept along with it.

With characteristics, and talents, and habits such as these, it is not surprising that his lore, on all matters connected with national history, biography, literature, is immense. He is, without doubt, upon the whole American subject, the most learned authority in the world. For ourselves, we can say that there are certain departments in this field, more especially connected with Revolutionary personages and occurrences, which have been to us a kind of specialité in study; but we have not yet found the topic upon which Dr. Griswold did not know all that we knew, and a little more. The system upon which all this erudition is stored and distributed, in his recollection, is deserving of imitation. There is nothing of the confusion, the chaotic agglomeration, which marks the lettered collections of the 'helluo librorum;' all is orderly, rational, connected. With great discretion he has especially cultivated that sort of information which consists, not so much in a treasury of facts laid away in the memory, as in familiarity with the sources of knowledge. It has been his practice to cultivate that style of research which the acute good sense of Dr. Johnson commended in Gilbert Walmesley, and the advantages of which all scholars are aware of—that where he does not possess the knowledge, he can at least tell where to find it. Ask Dr. Griswold as to an event or a character, somewhat recondite or controverted, and if he is not prepared to give you an exact and minute detail of the case, he will indicate, with promptness and precision, the avenues through which all the learning on the subject is to be reached; he will refer you to a letter in the middle of one book, an anecdote in the appendix of another, a disquisition buried in some series of a dozen volumes, by the combination of which a full view of what you are in search of will be reached; and he will furnish a just estimate of the comparative reliability of different authorities, and all that apparatus of study which is so satisfactory to the inquirer. His mind, in this respect, might not so truly be called a book as an index, by means of which many books may be consulted.

Doctor Griswold's life of mind is extraordinary. The energy and activity of his thoughts and efforts seem rather to be stimulated into higher force by the accumulation of toils. He cannot draw comfortable breath except in a whirlwind of occupation. To one who becomes slightly acquainted with him, and for the first time gets a glimpse into the many-roomed workshop of his mind, it is a matter of unfeigned astonishment to behold the all but limitless diversity of incompatible pursuits which this remarkable person is carrying on at the same time. As he becomes more extensively observed, and more thoroughly known, this early surprise gives way to a more permanent admiration at the distinctness with which these several employments are followed, and the unpausing onwardness with which each is carried forward duly to its conclusion. The taking up of a new project is no reason with him for abandoning or slighting an old one. It is a characteristic with him to finish every thing that he undertakes. He does not deal in unexecuted

suggestions or unterminated enterprises; every undertaking in his hands, soon sees its practical and final completion. Napoleon himself was not more habitually intent upon snatching the fruits of toil. Accordingly, in a brief life, he has accomplished a vast deal. As collector and editor, he has done in months what any other man would have required years for. As an original author, he has written thrice as much, perhaps, as any of his contemporaries. Much was transitory, and has passed away; much remains, and will long be valued. Yet with all this prodigiousness of employment, he always seems to be at leisure. In the morning, at noon, and in the evening, he is ready for any thing that his friends may propose; is always much at their service. A stranger who should be introduced to him, without a knowledge of his character or history, and should observe the eager force and earnest ability with which he threw himself into the trifles of the moment, would set him down, probably, for a gentleman of fortune and leisure, who lived chiefly in the drawing-room, whose mind habitually wanted occupation, had not enough for its energies, and was rather running to waste from what he himself has described as the 'luxuriance of intelligence unemployed.' Such a one might be surprised to learn that his gay and careless acquaintance had just published a large octavo volume, after three months' consideration, of which a dozen people, under any division of labor, might have been in gestation for as many lustrums; was carrying two or three more through the press; a monthly magazine; wrote the literary articles of one or two journals, and devoted twelve hours every day to the preparation of a great Biographical Dictionary ·the maximum opus of his life.

It would be unjust to pass by the personal relation in which Dr. Griswold has always stood to the other authors of his country; the system of friendly assistance which he makes it his duty to maintain to all, who, in any sort, may profit of his kindness. He seems to possess an ardent and chivalrous love for the literary fame of his countrymen. He is ever ready to give any assistance that may be required in bringing out their works; and his acquaintance with the subject of publication in all its branches, and all its details, enables him to render aid that is of priceless value to the shy, nervous, secluded man of genius. A virgin tragedy, an orphan muse' possess irresistible claims upon his philanthropy. If the time and talents of a skillful editor, who will labor gratuitously, in some benevolent undertaking toward the works of some defunct, are needed, Dr. Griswold is counted upon with ready confidence. The case of the late Edgar A. Poe is an illustration of this matter, very honorable to the subject of our notice. There was nothing in the private relations of the parties to render it at all natural or probable that Mr. Poe should have left a request that Dr. Griswold would be the editor of his writings; but he knew the generous spirit and admirable capacity of the person whose regard he invoked, and felt assured that he would do in the best manner what probably no other would do at all. Services such as he is constantly rendering, give him a title to the gratitude, not merely of that large number of authors who have been immediately obliged by his courtesy, but of the country at large, which has derived from his efforts benefits which it

knows not of, and which ought to admire abilities so unselfishly exerted.* No one living has conferred such important favors upon the whole class of American authors, prose and poetical; and should he be withdrawn from the sphere which he fills with peculiar advantages, there is scarcely a considerable writer, from one end of the States to the other, who would not feel that he had sustained the loss of an invaluable ally. And it is not only his personal exertions that have thus been disinterestedly given to American letters, but his purse has ever been freely open for the promotion of the same class of interests. Many a struggling young adventurer in the fields of authorship, has owed to his generous hand the means of prosecuting and attaining his favorite aims. But the grace of such acts consists in their secrecy, and as the author of them has never divulged them, we cannot venture to refer to such as have transpired to us from other sources. The younger, less-favored class of American authors will never have a warmer friend, or, to use an old word, without the invidious sense which of old it may have borne, a more liberal patron, than he of whom we write.

The boast of heraldry, and the pomp of power, alike have vanished from an era of republican maxims; yet the rational interest of the one, and the substantial value of the other, have survived the change of forms, and sentiments, and institutions. Nowhere are genealogies explored and esteemed more than among the descendants of the Puritans; and New-England, we believe, is the only community which exhibits a society, and a periodical journal, devoted to the single purpose of tracing and recording pedigrees. It is wise, and it is natural; and like all of Nature's wisdom,' it finds its vindication equally in the instincts of the feelings, and in the conclusions of lengthened observation. Struck by an historic name, awaking associations with the fame of judges, governors, and other worthies of the republic, we made application to a member of the family for some details upon the subject. He has politely responded to our call, with a greater profusion of lore than we shall at present communicate to the public.

The family of Griswold — which has included many eminent persons in the annals of the colony, and of the state of Connecticut — is descended from George Griswold, called, in his epitaph, Armiger, of Kenilworth, in Warwickshire, England, and for several years, during the life of his father, Francis Griswold, described as of Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire, where he was married. Of the ancestors of George Griswold, several had been in Parliament, and one, Philip Griswold (A.D. 1391-1460,) was honorably distinguished in arms in the reigns of the Fifth and Sixth Henries. The sons of George Griswold, with a single exception, emigrated to New-England. Edward, whose name appears for some reason to have been changed from Francis, was one

*THE writers of the country have not been unwilling to display their regard for him in ways the most suitable and graceful. BAYARD TAYLOR dedicates to him his first book, Ximena and other Poems,' as an expression of gratitude for the kind encouragement he has shown the author.' The Rev. JAMES WATSON inscribes to him a volume of Discourses, as the first fruits of a mental and moral culture for which the author is chiefly indebted to him.' The lamented Mrs. OsGooD addressed to him the splendid edition of her works, as a Souvenir of admiration for his genius, of respect for his generous character, and of gratitude for his valuable literary counsels; and we might quote perhaps a dozen similar tributes, from C. F. HOFFMAN, W. H. C. HOSMER, and other authors, illustrating the same feelings and opinions.

of the first settlers of Windsor, in the year 1630. Matthew also established himself originally in the same place, but after marrying a daughter of the first Henry Wolcott, he bought and occupied the place known as Black Hall, in Lyme, then Saybrook. Others of the family advanced farther into the interior, and are represented by the descendants of the settlers of Norwich, Killingworth (a corruption of Kenilworth), Griswold, and other towns of which they were the founders. Rufus Wilmot Griswold is of the ninth generation from George Griswold, of Kenilworth, in England; and on the mother's side is descended in the eighth degree from Thomas Mayhew, the first Governor of Martha's Vineyard. He was born in Rutland county, Vermont, on the 15th of February, 1815.

Much of the early life of Dr. Griswold was spent in voyaging about the wolrd; and before he was twenty years of age he had seen the most interesting portions of his own country and of southern and central Europe. Relinquishing travel, which had grown distasteful from indulgence, he suddenly married, and entered upon the fascinating but dangerous career of a man of letters by profession. Quodcunque amat, valde amat, is the character of his temperament, and he pursued this exciting occupation with earnest and enthusiastic assiduity. He had studied divinity, and has professed at all times to regard it as his vocation; but once a mortgage, always a mortgage,' is as applicable to the liens of authorship as to those of debts; and after nine or ten years passed chiefly in journalism and literary creation, it is not probable that he will ever wholly abandon the press for the pulpit.* There is no well-authenticated instance, we believe, on record, of a man who, for his own or his father's sin, has once been dipped in ink' of printers, either curing himself or being cured radically of that tetter of the love of approbation which the dusky immersion always leaves behind it.

6

Dr. Griswold's first habits of writing were formed under the suggestive culture of an elder brother, Mr. Heman Griswold, a highly accomplished and much respected merchant of Troy, in whose house he passed the winter of 1830. From that period, his fifteenth year, he has been a practised writer; though he considers himself as having produced nothing, before twenty-two, which he would now be willing to acknowledge. For a short time he turned his attention to politics, and conducted a political journal in the country. After this he was associated with the Honorable Horace Greeley in editing the 'NewYorker,' and with Park Benjamin and Epes Sargent in the Brother Jonathan' and the New-World;' enterprises eminently successful, which influenced in various respects, and in an important degree, the character of the literary and newspaper press. In 1842-3 he was

the editor of 'Graham's Magazine;' and by the attraction of his name and the liberal policy which he induced Mr. Graham to adopt, was

*MR. E. P. WHIPPLE, probably the most thoroughly accomplished of all our critics, observes in a recent sketch of Dr. GRISWOLD: His acquirements in theology are very extensive. In his doctrinal notions he is inflexibly orthodox, and entertains some dogmas of peculiar grimness. Those who have never disputed with him on fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,' can hardly form a conception of his innate force of character. On these subjects he is a sort of cross between DESCARTES and JOHN CALVIN. In theology he is all muscle and bone. His sermons are his finest compositions, and he delivers them from the pulpit with taste and eloquence.'