no less shining mark than the elder brother to whom the preceding pages have been devoted. He died in December of 1831-having been already for several previous years withdrawn, by an unhappy condition of health, from the profession which he had eminently adorned. He had been engaged for many years in the practice of law in the city of New York, in connexion with his brother Robert, now travelling in Europe; and had risen to a rank of professional standing not inferior to the high social distinction, and strong personal attachment, accorded by all who knew him to the many noble and lovely traits of his private character.

To talents which distinguished him, even in a family in which all have stood far above the ordinary level, Henry Sedgwick united a moral purity, a glowing fervor, and a certain sweet tenderness of disposition, that in truth seemed to present one of the most beautiful phases in which human character ever exhibits itself. He was truth itselfall candor, generosity, kindliness. Within his breast no harsh or bitter passion ever found a resting place-powerfully as it could be aroused, at sight of oppression, falsehood, or wrong, to a just sense of manly indignation and abhorrence. He possessed a peculiar delicacy of mind-an unobtrusive modesty-a self-forgetful simplicity-which, while sometimes apt to give an air of eccentricity to some of his personal habits, made him the only one unconscious of the real merit or beauty of the acts of disinterested and untiring kindness to others which he was constantly performing. Selfishness, indeed-he knew not what it was; as little as, in any good cause that kindled the quick ardors of his enthusiasm, he knew the meaning of the word fear. Remarkably independent in the formation of his opinions, he was not less courageous, alike in their expression and in the action to which they might lead. His sensibilities were extremely acute-his affections as tender as they were deep-and his sympathies prompt and strong with misfortune or oppression, or with any cause that addressed its claims to the noble philanthropy of which his heart was the home. Nor was his benevolence of that order that exhausts itself in the sickly and barren blossom of mere sympathetic regrets; it rapidly ripened to the fruit of earnest, persevering, practical beneficence-and many were the poor, the sorrowful, and the down-trodden, who found comfort and support in the taste of it; many, those who felt what was uttered by one, in the emphatic language applied to Job, that "when the eye saw him then it blessed him."

It was the remark of an intimate friend of Mr. Sedgwick-himself “haud sordidus auctor naturæ verique”—that he had never known a man in whom was combined in similar degree a great intellectual power, of true, logical reasoning, and wise, healthy judgment-with a flow of feeling, from a perennial fount, unusually warm, deep and VOL. VII. NO. XXVI.-FEB. 1840. K

strong. And this was the most striking peculiarity of his mind, that while both of these distinct characteristics were so blended and harmonized together that each derived from the other an improving and elevating influence, the former had as little power to chill or check the warm tide of the latter, as the latter appeared to exert to obscure the clear light of the former.

The following sketch of his character is from a pen which records the opinions of intimate knowledge; and which, though quickened by a warm gratitude, was yet guided by a fine intelligence and cultivated powers of judgment and discrimination. We give it from a preference to allow more competent witnesses to speak the testimony which from ourselves might seem to wear the hue of exaggeration : "Such and so dear as he was to all his friends, his absence is an aggravated loss to them; yet we could not wish that his worth had been less, that our regrets might be diminished, nor can we say that we could better have spared a better man. No, he was so much more an object of confidence and honor than ordinary men, that the want of no man's presence and influence could be more felt. But because he is not still here, he is not lost. The value of his example and his sentiments, the effects of his services, and the recollections of all his goodness, yet abide with us. It is delightful to think of these-to revive one's honor for human nature, and our moral trust in our species by calling up a genuine illustration of what a man should be in all relations of life-husband, father, brother, friend, and member of society -surely it is no exaggeration to say that in all these he was without a fault, and no act of his life has blemished his pure name, or severed his dear ties. Often when I think of him, it is in relation to some principle which is undetermined in my own mind, or in doubts concerning some future arrangements of life that may be more or less safe, more or less useful-and I stop and ask myself why were his opinions such a light? Why did prudence cease to be a virtue in relation to him? Why could we so securely trust in him? His integrity, benevolence, and excellent understanding, certainly furnish an answer-but I should name his understanding first, because intelligence informed his virtues, and gave them their application and use— he might have been just as well disposed, but not knowing so well the distinctions of right and wrong, there could not have been the same efficacy in his dispositions. I know not whether a primitive moral sense led him in the ways of wisdom, or whether a rare sagacity showed him the better part, and it became his choice-certain it is, his virtues were no accidents, they grew up with his convictions, and were fostered by them. I think I never knew a man more sincere in morals, even in what are called little things; one whose good will and good opinions had in them more of cordiality and serviceableness, and less of compliments and flatteries. There was a sim

plicity in his honesty that made ambiguities and subterfuges detestable to him. Profession without practice seemed to him, not only unworthy, but foolish. He was never indifferent to any truth; nothing which concerns God's nature and will, and man's obligations and felicity, could, he seemed to consider, be wisely disregarded by a thinking and accountable being.

"And in respect to his judgments of his fellow-creatures, how discerning and kind they were-in many cases how indulgent and how full of pity! But in none did he lose discrimination in charity, or make any compromise between virtue and vice. Sins of passion and of ignorance, the deviations of untaught and unguarded minds, he always compassionated-always weighed the fault against the virtues and the capabilities of the offender-always believed in the regenerating principle, in the compensating power of the moral nature. But wicked habits and a seared conscience, all open-fronted and combined villany, all hypocrisy and sordidness, his soul hated, and his generous indignation was most eminently excited and sustained against false profession, and iron-handed, cold-hearted selfishness.

"Though he lived in the midst of society, surrounded by the iniquity that abounds, he was unspotted from the world. Pleasure did not catch him in her toils, nor avarice sully his hands with the gains of rapacity. All the days of his active life, innocence found in him a defender, truth a champion, religion a true worshipper, and talent and learning a sincere admirer, and a liberal supporter against the enmity, the apathy, and the prejudices of other men. Who that ever knew him doubts or denies all this ?"

One circumstance we may be permitted to advert to as alone securing to Mr. Sedgwick a title to the gratitude which few will be disposed to deny to such a claim. It was chiefly, if not wholly, to his appreciation of her dormant powers, and to his encouragement and advice in the developement of them, that we owe all those charming productions of his sister's pen, which are doubtless familiar to most of our readers, as among the most beautiful and valuable ornaments of American literature.

To the same source is also to be attributed the noble direction which the genius of a Bryant has taken, in its worthy devotion to the cause of those great principles of democratic philanthropy to which the columns of the "New York Evening Post" have been devoted ever since it has been under the editorship of that gentleman. Mr. Sedgwick took an early and warm interest in the literary talents which have since shed so shining a lustre on the name we have here ventured to introduce; and it was chiefly under the influence of his persuasions that Mr. Bryant was induced to remove to New York from the obscurity of the uncongenial practice of a country lawyer, in a neighbouring village to Stockbridge; and through his means that he first became connected with the Evening Post-with which arduous capacity

he has since identified a reputation inferior in honor only to the more brilliant fame of his muse.*

Mr. Henry Sedgwick was a frequent contributor, not alone to the Evening Post, but to several other newspapers and periodicals. Some interesting papers in the North American were from his pen. He wrote occasionally also in vindication of his religious opinions, which were those of Unitarian Christianity, from the attacks to which those opinions were at that period more often subjected than at present. Such writings were always, however, in a fine tone of liberal candor and kindliness. The intense activity of his mind thus sought an additional vent for the unresting energies which the labors of an extensive and important professional practice could not suffice to engross. He was the author of a number of pamphlets, generally marked by close and strong reasoning, originality of thought, perspicacity, and often elegance, of style, a graceful personal modesty, and uniformly by that spirit of warm and enlarged philanthropy which was the source whence his fine powers derived their chief stimulus to exertion.

He may be regarded as one of the most influential of that school of Free Trade, then in a persecuted minority, which has now, we rejoice to say, conquered over to its own doctrines the decided preponderance of the public opinion even at the North. On this subject his pen was as prolific as it was able and zealous. The bent of his mind especially disposed him to regard it in the point of view of its moral importance, with reference to its influence on the condition of the great mass of society; and among his other writings there are none which his friends can peruse with more satisfaction than a series of forty-seven articles published in the "Banner of the Constitution," under the title of " An Appeal for Justice to the Poor," with the worthily adopted signature of

We are here tempted to introduce an anecdote suggested by this allusion to the earlier days of Mr. Bryant's literary career, which reflects equal honor on all the distinguished names included in it. His first published poem after his removal to New York, ("Thanatopsis," and the lines "To a Water Fowl," had previously appeared anonymously in Boston in the North American Review, then a comparatively obscure and limited publication,) was his beautiful lines to the "Green River," the name of a small stream near Great Barrington, the scene of Mr. Bryant's early years. They first appeared in the year 1820, in the " Idle Man," a well-known delightful publication of Mr. Dana. At this period Drake-whose early death was scarcely premature, since he lived long enough to bequeath us "The American Flag," and "The Culprit Fay"-resided a few miles out of the city of New York, where it was the custom of his intimate friend Halleck to visit him for the holyday of Saturday afternoon and Sunday. On one of these occasions, being accompanied by Mr. Dana, the latter exhibited the manuscript of the lines to "Green River," just received from their author, then unknown to fame. The sympathetic genius of both Drake and Halleck instantly appreciated all their beauty, and all the promise of an illustrious hereafter which shone from them; and Halleck, by transcribing them, and exchanging his copy for the poet's original, possessed himself of a manuscript of which he well foresaw the future value as an autograph relic-and the same has ever since remained in his possession as one of his most precious private

treasures.

"A Friend to the Poor." These, as also a number of other valuable contributions to that paper (which was expressly established by Mr. Condy Raguet for the advocacy of the Free Trade doctrine) were published during the course of the year 1831, the year preceding his death. The enthusiasm which pervaded his mind on this subject overcame the obstacles to exertion of this nature, which proceeded from a state of almost complete blindness, and a derangement of health that too sadly affected the integrity of his mental powers. He was the author of the suggestion for the Free Trade Convention at Philadelphia, on the 30th of September, 1831, which he successfully urged upon the public mind, through the columns of the Evening Post, over the signature of "A Lover of his Country." He also formed one of the preliminary meeting in Philadelphia from which issued the call for a more general and national assemblage. Of this body the state of his health (having been shortly before stricken with a paralytic attack) did not permit him to participate in the proceedings, though we find the name of his brother Theodore, the subject of the earlier portion of the present paper, recorded as one of its members. Mr. Henry Sedgwick was, however, present on the occasion, and was invited by the Convention to a seat within its bar, to which it was necessary for him to be supported by his friends.

We will advert to only two other points of interest in this gentleman's life-the one at the very outset, the other at the close, of his professional career, and by their harmony together proving that both proceeded from the same noble source deeply implanted at the foundation of his character.

For the first we would refer the reader to the case of Greenwood vs. Curtis, in the sixth volume of the Massachusetts Reports. This was an action by the plaintiff, a resident of a Southern State, to recover on a contract which had been made on the coast of Africa, between his agent and the defendant-the latter then resident there as proprietor of several factories of the slave trade-for the delivery of a number of slaves in exchange for a cargo of goods. The defendant had but partially fulfilled the contract, having violated his engagement to deliver a balance of slaves remaining due on a settlement of the account current between the two. The main question in the case was on the ability of the plaintiff to maintain his action, on a contract of such a nature, in the Courts of Massachusetts. The case was also considerably complicated by other points arising out of the special facts of the transaction. On one of these the Court felt itself able to sustain the action, and give judgment for the plaintiff, without throwing the stress of the case fully on that essential point, the immorality of the contract; although incidentally, and with very weak reasoning, it did pronounce against the leading argument of the defence, viz. that the contract was essentially vitiated by its immorality. Judge Sedgwick was absent from the bench at the time of rendering the