among whom were many members now highly distinguished for their abilities and professional eminence, Mr. Clinton held a preeminent station, manifesting at that early age, the quickness of perception, the close inductive reasoning, the ample powers of illustration, and talent for composition and extemporaneous debate, that characterised him through life.

He commenced the study of law in 1786, under the late Hon. Samuel Jones, Esq. a celebrated counsellor, the father of the present able Chief Justice of the Superior Court, recently instituted in this city. By that profound jurist, Mr. Clinton was taught to form a becoming estimate of his intended profession, and his studies were so directed and pursued, that the relation of pupil and preceptor resulted in a friendship which was interrupted only by death.

He ever cherished for Mr. Jones the warmest filial affection, and was accustomed upon all occasions, when opportunity presented, to speak of him in terms of the highest respect, considering him as the father and ornament of the New-York bar. During the prosecution of his legal studies, Mr. Clinton, with a view to his improvement, attached himself to a society of gentlemen, then engaged in the study of the Law and Belles-lettres, which was well known for the eloquence and abilities of its numerous members: in this institution also, Mr. Clinton held a prominent place. After the customary period of pupilage, he was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of the law in this city, and with a great prospect of success: but owing to the peculiar situation of political affairs in the state of New-York, his talents were soon put in requisition by his uncle George Clinton, then Governor of the state, who made him his private secretary; which station he retained during Governor Clinton's administration, which ended in 1795,

when he declined a re-election. It may be added, that Mr. Clinton during his connexion with his venerable uncle, was also honoured with the offices of secretary to the Board of Regents of the University, and of the Board of Fortifications of New-York. These events may be considered as the introduction of Mr. Clinton to public and political life; for since that period, he has, with few intermissions, been unceasingly devoted to the service of the state.

Mr. Clinton at this time entered into the state of matrimony. He was first married to Miss Maria Franklin, the eldest daughter of Walter Franklin, Esq. an eminent and wealthy merchant of this city, and a member of the society of Friends.

Mr. Clinton, by this marriage, was blessed with a large family of children, consisting of seven sons and three daughters; of these, four sons and two daughters are living.

His second marriage, which took place in 1819, was to Miss Catharine Jones, daughter of the late Dr. Thomas Jones, an eminent physician of this city, and niece of the late Dr. John Jones, of Philadelphia, well known by his writings, as well as his professional services, as the surgeon general during the revolutionary war, and one of the favourite physicians of General Washington.*

I may be permitted, without the violation of delicacy or propriety, to observe, that Mrs. Clinton is a lady of excellent education, accomplished manners, superior talents and acquirements, and no less qualified, in all respects, as the companion of her late distinguished husband, than she is to perform the duties of a mother to his children, to whose education and happiness she devotes the

* See Life of Dr. Jones by Dr. Mease. Also the American Medical and Philosophical Register, Vol. III. and Dr. Thacher's American Medical Biography.

most tender and affectionate care. May that Almighty Being, who "tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," and who has promised to be the father of the fatherless, and the widow's friend, be their stay and support in this dark hour of their affliction!

Mr. Clinton at an early period of his life, attached himself to the ancient fraternity of Free Masons, and, many years since, was advanced to its highest degrees, and has filled the most important offices of that highly respected order. In 1816, he was unanimously elected to the highest masonic office in the United States, which he retained until his death. His long continued connexion with that institution, which spreads its benign influence throughout the civilized world, which enrols among its members the illustrious names of Washington, Warren, La Fayette, Franklin, Pinckney, Robert R. Livingston, and the venerable Chief Justice Marshall, including many of the most highly respected dignitaries of the church, as well as the clergy of different denominations, is of itself the most unequivocal evidence of the purity of the principles, the correct morals, and the religious tendency of the precepts masonry inculcates. But like other benevolent and pious institutions, it has its unworthy as well as its meritorious members. Christianity has its Pharisees as well as its sincere worshippers. Had the institution of masonry been otherwise than the means of diffusing the blessings of beneficence, and of that charity, that best of virtues, which binds man to man, it never would have received the uniform support of men distinguished for their intelligence, integrity, and piety: on the contrary, could it even tacitly have sanctioned any departure from the strictest rules of rectitude or honour, it long since would have been abandoned by the virtuous and the wise.

In the year 1797, Mr. Clinton was elected a member of the House of Assembly, for the city of New-York; and in the succeed

ing year was chosen a senator. In both those stations, he exhibited manifestations of those enlarged views for the promotion of literature and the arts, which throughout life he so conspicuously displayed.

Before I enter upon the political career of Mr. Clinton, it may be remarked, that he not only received an excellent elementary and professional education, but he also possessed the stores of an elegant and cultivated mind. He was one of those few active and gifted men, who unite the elevated pursuits of science and letters, with the fullest occupation of his professional and public duties; and it may be added, that genius and application were so well mingled in the very constitution of his mind, that with regard to the departments of science to which he attached himself, he very soon acquired so familiar an acquaintance with them, as to lead to the belief that they had almost been the exclusive pursuit of his life.

In the knowledge of many of the physical sciences, particularly zoology, botany, and mineralogy, Mr. Clinton eminently excelled, especially in the first and the last of these departments of natural history. In icthyology* and ornithology,† his knowledge was minute.

In mineralogy, including geology, few persons possessed superior or more accurate knowledge; but which was only known to his

* See Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York; and Annals of the New-York Lyceum of Natural History. His description of a new species of fish, the Salmo Otsego, the Basse of the Lakes, and his paper on the Columba Migratoria, or Passenger Pigeon, may be found in letters addressed to Dr. W. Francis, and published in the New-York Medical and Physical Journal, Vols. I. and II.

† See Review of Wilson's Ornithology, written by Mr. Clinton, in the American Medical and Philosophical Register, conducted by Hosack and Francis.

immediate scientific friends. His collection of minerals, many American specimens of which were obtained from the excavations made in the progress of the canal, though concealed from the public eye, is one of the best and most extensive private cabinets in the United States.

In botany, he was intimately acquainted with the general principles of the Linnæan system, and had an extensive knowledge of those plants which are most useful, and are employed as the objects of agriculture, medicine, and the arts; to the more minute details he was less attentive, than to the great general principles of that science.

I perhaps cannot convey a higher idea of Mr. Clinton's extensive attainments in these departments of knowledge, than by saying, that I knew no man in the United States, so well qualified to discharge the duties appertaining to a professorship of natural history in any of our Universities, as was Mr. Clinton. He was an active member of most of the scientific and benevolent institutions of this city and state. He was the first president, and one of the founders of the Literary and Philosophical Society, the highest station which philosophy could confer upon him in his native State; and upon its incorporation, delivered a Discourse exhibiting a general survey of the progress of literature and science in our country, and comprising a body of illustrative notes, together with many original observations of great interest. This Discourse, with other valuable communications from Mr. Clinton, is contained in the first volume, and in the first part of the second volume of the Society's Transactions. Mr. Clinton was also one of the early presidents of the New-York Historical Society, and of which he was one of the original members. His very able Anniversary Discourse relative to the Five Nations, is contained in one of the