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THI

POLYANTHOS.

VOLUME III.

We shall never envy the honours which wit and learning
obtain in any other cause, if we can be numbered among the
writers who have given ardour to virtue, and confidence to
truth...Dr. Johnson.

Me in silvam abstrudo densam atque asperam...Cicero.

Boston:

PUBLISHED BY J. T. BUCKINGHAM

WINTER-STREET.

1806%

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THE

POLYANTHOS,

AUGUST, 1806.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE

OF

THE REF. P. THACHER, D. D.

HE gentleman, whose life is the subject of the following brief sketch, was the son of Oxenbridge Thacher, Esq. of Boston, a lawyer of eminence, who died in the midst of his reputation and usefulness; whose amiable moral character is remembered by the present generation, and his name frequently mentioned in terms of very high esteem.* Dr. Thacher was his eldest son, and was then a student of the south grammar school. He was born at Milton, March 21, 1752, the family having retired on account of the small

The following fines were inserted in the Newspaper, the week after his funeral.

Once warm with seal in honest virtue's cause,

That tongue spoke free, and wielded Britain's laws.
With equal cloquence, unwarp'd, displayed

For wealth of poverty its powerful aid,

pox, which, during this season spread through the town. There were indications of a serious mind when he was young, an uncommon gravity of deportment, and it was then predicted that he would add another to the list of worthies, whose praise is in all the churches.

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Mr. Oxenbridge Thacher died in 1765. Before his death he had fixed his mind upon his son's having a liberal education, but, like most professional men, more ambitious of fame than desirous of wealth, he left his family in circumstances by no means affluent. He left however many friends, among them several respectable clergymen, who exerted themselves with the gentlemen in the line of his profession, to preserve the literáry honours of the name. Their desires and expecttations were answered. Many showed their friendship for the man whom they loved, when his remains were in the dust, and their benevolence received a full reward in the improvement made by the youth who obeyed every stimulus to exercise his talents and industry. The preceptor of the school at that time was the venerable Lovell, whose opinion

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"Alike to him, worth could its charm impart,
In king or beggar touched his generous heart.
From humble birth to paths of great renown
He dawned, he brightened to the hour of noon.
Learned, yet not vain, in useful science read
Fair freedom's cause with manly strength he plead
A patriot's flame with pious zeal sustained,
His country's rights with jealous care maintained;
With grateful eye beheld the glory past,

Dropped a sad tear, and sighing, breathed his last.

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