ness, impart light and utility to his caressing neighbours. No more will he illuminate the public councils with sentiments drawn from the cabinet of his own mind, ever directed to his country's good, and clothed in eloquence sublime, delightful, and commanding. Farewell, first-rate patriot, farewell. As long as our rivers flow, or mountains stand, so long will your excellence and worth be the theme of our homage and endearment; and Virginia, bearing in mind her loss, will say to rising generations, imitate my Henry."

He left in his will the following testimony in favour of the Christian religion:

"I have now disposed of all my property to my family; there is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian religion. If they had this, and I had not given them one shilling, they would be rich; and if they had not that, and I had given them all the world. they would be poor."

HESTON, EDWARD, was a brave officer in the revolutionary army. At the commencement of the war. he volunteered his services, and received a captain's commission. About the close of the contest, he rose to lieutenant colonel. He continued actively engaged through all the perils of that trying coflict. He it was to whom general Potter, with perhaps his whole brigade, (then lying near the gulph) owed their liberty, if not their lives. When Cornwallis left his quarters in Philadelphia, intending to take general Potter by surprise, he marched at the head of five thousand men, crossing the river Schuylkill during the latter part of the night. Colonel Heston being on the alert, had lodged that night a short distance from home; about day-break, the enemy was discovered approaching near his farm, through which they had to pass by a man whom he had stationed there for that purpose; they advanced, and took the colonel's horse with them. He immediately conveyed him the intelligence. The colonel then fled on foot to one of his neighbours, borrowed a horse, and rode by a circuitous route with all possible speed, until he got ahead of them. He soon arrived in Potter's camp, and found them just going to breakfast. At the request of general Potter, who was then in his marque, he ran through and aroused the whole camp to arms, and then went to meet general Washington, who, with his army, he met crossing Schuylkill, at a bridge which had just been completed for the purpose. In consequence of the intelligence he brought, the Americans moved their quarters, and the British had the mortification to miss their anticipated conquest.

The next spring, the day previous to the battle of Germantown, he was one among others, who, in consummation of a plan laid down by Washington, to cut off the enemy's retreat

from Philadelphia, went to the middle ferry and assisted in cutting away the rope which then extended across the river, notwithstanding there was a continual fire kept up by the enemy on the opposite bank.

It was his misfortune at one time while reconnoitering the enemy's movements, to be taken prisoner by a troop of British horse, one of whom made a desperate blow with his sword, designing to take off his head; but striking higher than he intended, struck the back part of his head, which occasioned the sword to glance, the mark of which deadly weapon went with him to his grave. He surrendered, and was afterwards sent to Long Island, where he was detained for seven months as a prisoner of war.

After the peace took place, he was elected to the state legislature, then sitting in Philadelphia: he served in that capacity for some time. He then returned to his farm, on which he remained a few years; after which he received the appointment of Judge of the court of Common Pleas for the city and County of Philadelphia. He attended to the duties of that office for the term of four years, at the end of which his fellow citizens elected him to the office of senator; in the fulfilment of the duties of which office he spent eight successive winters.

Whether in the field, on the bench, or in the cabinet, during the whole of his services, no man was, perhaps, ever more devotedly attached to the cause of his country, and the good of mankind.

For the last twelve or fifteen years of his life, we find him actively engaged in the respectable pursuits of the practical farmer, enjoying, to their full extent, the three fold blessings of health, peace, and competency; nor did he for a moment forget duly to appreciate the value of the blessed boon, which in early life had cost so much blood and treasure to establish. He used every effort of which his nature was capable, to transmit it inviolate to posterity; and he was often heard to say that he should be happy to know every human being as comfortably situated as himself. Feeling and humane to all parts of animated nature; benevolent and liberal to the poor and afflicted; whenever merit made intercession, his spirit, not only of patriotism but that of philanthrophy, was coeval with his existence.

He died on the 14th day of March, 1824, after a short illness, at his residence in Hestonville, in the county of Philadelphia, aged 79 years: during about sixty of which time he occupied the above patrimonial estate.

While he was in the legislature, he took a very active part in abolishing slavery from his native state, and he considered it one of the most meritorious acts of his life. His ardent de

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sire had invariably been for the final emancipation of all who are kept in bondage, not only in his own beloved country, but throughout the world.

HOLDEN, LEVI. was a brave officer in the revolutionary war with Great Britain. In 1776, he entered the army, and continued in it without intermission, until the peace of 1783. During three years of this period, he was an officer in general Washington's life guard, and lived in his family. Captain Holden saw and experienced as much hard service, as any officer of his rank in the army. He enjoyed, in a peculiar manner, the confidence of the commander in chief. He died at Newark, New Jersey, on the 19th of April, 1823, in the 70th year of his age. For more than thirty years he resided in Newark, and always sustained the character of a worthy citizen.

HOPKINSON, FRANCIS, Judge of the court of Admiralty, in Pennsylvania, was born in Pennsylvania, in the year 1738. He possessed an uncommon share of genius, of a peculiar kind. He excelled in music and poetry; and had some knowledge in painting. But these arts did not monopolise all the powers of his mind. He was well skilled in many practical and useful sciences, particularly in mathematics and natural philosophy; and he had a general acquaintance with the principles of anatomy, chemistry and natural history.But his forte was humour and satire, in both of which, he was not surpassed by Lucian, Swift, or Rabelias. These extraordinary powers were consecrated to the advancement of the interests of patriotism, virtue and science. It would fill many pages to mention his numerous publications during the revolutionary war, all of which were directed to these important objects. He began in the year 1775, with a small tract, which he entitled, "A Pretty Story," in which he exposed the tyranny of Great Britain, in America, by a most beautiful allegory, and he concluded his contributions to his country in this way, with the history of "The new roof," a performance, which for wit, humour and good sense, must last as long as the citizens of America continue to admire, and be happy under the present national government of the United States.

Newspaper scandal frequently, for months together, disappeared or languished, after the publication of several of his irresistible satires upon that disgraceful species of writing. He gave a currency to a thought or a phrase, in these effusions from his pen, which never failed to bear down the spirit of the times, and frequently to turn the divided tides of party rage, into one general channel of ridicule or contempt.

Sometimes he employed his formidable powers of humour

cation.

and satire in exposing the formalities of technical science.He thought much, and thought justly upon the subject of eduHe held several of the arts and sciences, which are taught in colleges, in great contempt. His specimen of modern learning in a tedious examination, the only object of which was to describe the properties of a "Salt Box," published in the American Museum, for February, 1787, will always be relished as a morsel of exquisite humour.

Mr. Hopkinson possessed uncommon talents for pleasing in company. His wit was not of that coarse kind, which was calculated to set the table in a roar. It was mild and elegant, and infused cheerfulness and a species of delicate joy, rather than mirth, into the hearts of all who heard it. His empire over the attention and passions of his company, was not purchased at the expense of innocence, A person who has passed many delightful hours in his society, declared, with pleasure, that he never once heard him use a profane expression, nor utter a word, which would have made a lady blush, or have clouded her countenance for a moment with a look of disapprobation. It is this species of wit alone, that indicates a rich and powerful imagination, while that which is tinctured with profanity, or indelicacy, argues poverty of genius, inasmuch as they have both been considered very properly as the cheapest products of the mind.

Mr. Hopkinson's character for abilities and patriotism, procured him the confidence of his countrymen in the most trying exigencies of their affairs. He represented the state of New Jersey, in congress, in the year 1776, and subscribed the ever memorable declaration of independence. He held an appointment in the loan office for several years, and afterwards succeeded George Ross, Esquire, as judge of the admiralty for the state of Pennsylvania. In this station he continued till the year 1790, when he was appointed judge of the district court in Pennsylvania, by the illustrious Washington, then president of the United States, and in each of these judicial offices, he conducted himself with the greatest ability and integrity.

His person was a little below the common size. His features were small, but extremely animated. His speech was quick, and all his motions seemed to partake of the unceasing activity and versatility of the powers of his mind.

It only remains to add, to this account of Mr. Hopkinson, that the various causes which contributed to the establishment of the independence of the federal government of the United States, will not be fully traced, unless much is ascribed to the irresistible influence of the ridicule which he poured forth, from time to time, upon the enemies of those great political

events.

He was an active and useful member of three great parties which at different times divided his native state. He was a whig, a republican, and a federalist, and he lived to see the principles and the wishes of each of those parties finally and universally successful. Although his labours had been rewarded with many plentiful harvests of well earned fame, yet his death, to his country and his friends, was premature. He had been subject to frequent attacks of the gout in his head, but for some time before his death, he had enjoyed a considerable respite from them. On Sunday evening, May 8th, 1791, he was somewhat indisposed, and passed a restless night. He rose on Monday morning, at his usual hour, and breakfasted with his family. At seven o'clock, he was seized with an apoplectic fit, which in two hours put a period to his existence, in the fifty-third year of his age.

HOPKINS, STEPHEN, a distinguished patriot and statesman, was a native of that part of Providence, Rhode Island, which now forms the town of Scituate. He was born in March, 1707. In his youth he disclosed high promise of talents, and soon became esteemed for his growing worth, his early virtues, and his regular and useful life. At an early period he was appointed a justice of the peace, was employed extensively in the business of surveying lands, and was appointed to various other offices, some of which were responsible and important; and he discharged the duties of all with great ability and faithfulness, and with equal advantage to his own reputation and the public interest. In 1754, he was appointed a member of the board of commissioners, which assembled at Albany, to digest and concert a plan of union for the colonies. Shortly after this he was chosen chief justice of the superior court of the colony of Rhode Island; and in 1755, he was elevated to the office of chief magistrate of the colony, and continued in this dignified and important station about eight years, but not in succession. He was, also, for several years, chancellor of the College. At the commencement of the difficulties between the colonies and Great Britain, governor Hopkins took an early, active and decided part in favour of the former. He wrote a pamphlet in support of the rights and claims of the colonies, called "The Rights of the Colonies examined :" which was published by order of the general assembly. He was a member of the immortal congress of '76, which declared these states, (then colonies) to be "free, sovereign, and independent;" and his signature is attached to this sublime and important instrument, which has no example in the archives of nations.

Governor Hopkins was not only distinguished as a statesman and patriot, but as a man of business; having been ex