THE

POLYANTHOS.

FOR JULY, 1814.

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

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

OF THE

REV. ELEAZAR WHEELOCK.

THE REV. ELEAZAR WHEELOCK, D. D. the founder and first president of Dartmouth College, was born in Windham, Connecticut, in April 1711, and died at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New-Hampshire, April 24, 1779, aged 68 years. Few have accomplished more for the benefit of society than this great and good man. The ancestors of Dr. Wheelock were respectable. His great grandfather, Mr. Ralph Wheelock, was born in Shropshire in England, A. D. 1600. He was educated at Clare Hall in Cambridge University, and was an eminent preacher of the gospel. In 1637 he removed to New-England, and settled in Dedham, Massachusetts. The doctor's grandfather, Mr. Eleazar Wheelock, settled in Mendon. He lived in a period of warfare with the Indians, had a military spirit, and commanded a corps of cavalry. The father of Dr. Wheelock removed in early life to Windham, Connecticut; he was an officer in the church, a respectable farmer, and universally esteemed and beloved. The doctor was an only son, and early discovered a lively genius, a taste for learning, and an amiable temper. His grandfather, or whom he was named, left him a legacy to

defray the expense of a public education. He was sent to Yale College, where his genius and acquirements became conspicuous, and he and the late Doct. Pomroy of Hebron, Connecticut, were the first who received the interest of the legacy given by the Rev. Dean Berkley to be awarded annually to the two best classic scholars of the senior class. He received his first degree in 1733. Soon after leaving college he became a preacher, and settled in Lebanon. There for a number of years he labored with remarkable fidelity, zeal, and success, giving himself wholly to the ministry. But his people becoming inattentive to his just claims, and but partially sustaining the necessary expenses of his family, it forcibly occurred to him, that they had a demand only for a corresponding part of his labors. It then became a serious inquiry how he should appropriate the residue, which he estimated at one moiety of his time. The Indians appeared to him to be the most suitable objects of his attention. He immediately commenced his benevolent labors; his plan succeeded, from which arose Moor's School and Dartmouth College. Seldom hasthere been more striking evidence that "Discord is harmony not understood, And partial evil universal good."

From his application to Sir W. Johnson, superintendant of Indian affairs in North-America, and to the Rev. John Brainerd, and others, he soon had a considerable school from the Mohawk, the Delaware, the Mohegan, Narragansett, and Montauk tribes of Indians. Dr. Wheelock was now indefatigable in his labors, his journeys were frequent through the neighboring colonies to solicit benefactions from the generous. Numerous were the contributions through the country to promote this great and benevolent work. The honorable Scotch Commissioners in Boston and the vicinity were the first public society, which gave their influence and aid to Dr. Wheelock. The same year "The great and general court of Massachusetts" became his patron. Soon after the legislature of New-Hampshire made a handsome dona

tion. The fame of the Indian school reached England, and there rich benefactions were made to this rising seminary, from which school masters and missionaries were sent to various tribes in the wilderness.

The endowments and privileges of the school, not affording such a course of studies as was thought necessary for youth designed for the gospel ministry, numbers were sent to different colleges. This was thought inconvenient, and it was determined to found a college, in which the studies might be completed which had been commenced in the school. Connecticut was not inviting to such an object, as a flourishing college had been founded there in 1700. For some time it was a matter of doubt whether the intended college should be established on the bank of the Missisippi, where a grant of land had been made to the officers engaged in the French war, or in Berkshire county, Mass. or in Albany, or in New-Hampshire, in all which places large offers of assistance were made. Hanover in New-Hampshire was finally preferred as the place of Moor's School and Dartmouth College. In 1770, Dr. Wheelock was dismissed from his people in Lebanon, and the school and college, which had been organized, were removed to Hanover. The pupils performed the journey on foot, a distance of 170 miles, a great part of it through a dismal forest, in many places passed with difficulty. This little colony consisted of about 70 souls. The site of the new college was a plain, shaded by lofty pines, with no accommodations, except two or three small huts of logs, and no house on that side the river within two miles. Many were obliged to sleep several nights on the ground with boughs of trees for their bed: there now is a lively and splendid village, exhibiting opulence and taste. Here for nine years Dr. Wheelock was employed in a most laborious and useful manner; the school and college flourished under his paternal administration; but in Jan. 1779 his health began rapidly to fail, and on April 24, sensible that his hour was come, he set his house in order, gave his last advice to his family, joined with them in prayer, declared his

strong faith in the Redeemer, and his desire to depart, and without a groan yielded up his spirit into the hands of his Maker. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.*

* For a more partial and interesting biography of Dr. W. with a history of Dartmouth College, the patrons of the Polyanthos are re ferred to the Life of Dr. Wheelock by Drs. Mc'Clure and Parish. The style of the work is sprightly, and the narrative interesting, ac. companied with miscellaneous information and reflections instructive and entertaining.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

HON. JOHN PHILLIPS, LL. D.

BOTH for utility and entertainment biographical memoir ranks as high as most descriptions of writing. The learned, the virtuous, and the munificent, are for the most part the subjects of it, and he who often beguiles his time by survey. ing the images of departed excellence, in some measure be comes actuated by the spirit that enlivened them. JOHN PHILLIPS, from the living example and encouragement he gave to the literature of his country, is deservedly numbered among the benefactors of mankind. Andover in Massachu setts was the place of his birth which took place in 1729. He was the son of the Rev. Samuel Phillips, who, for sixty years, continued in that town the faithful discharge of the du ties that belonged to his sacred office. Mr. Phillips, the son, was educated at Harvard, whence he received his Baccalau reate in 1735. For many years he was a member of the Council of New-Hampshire, which state more than any oth er has occasion to be proud of his name, for at Exeter in 1781, owing to his sole munificence and public spirit, was incorporated the fine flourishing literary institution that now bears his name. Nor is this the only instance of his benevo lence to mankind, for, with his brother Samuel, he was the joint founder of the academy at Andover. In person Mr.