deceased needs no tribute from us; his fame rests with a grateful community, and it is his highest praise to say, that his best and surest monument is to be found in the memory of all who rightly knew him. Dr. Van Rensselaer, in his most impressive address before the Assembly, in the funeral services, made the following remarks: "He accepted the presidency of the University of Nashville in 1824, and for a quarter of a century devoted his life to the institution. In the midst of many difficulties and disadvantages, he persevered: and the presidency of an institution, which was so much indebted to the labours of the father, has descended, as the free gift of the people, to a son; and may the father's work and the son's work be carried forward, in providence, until this goodly city and this goodly State shall reap the blessings of a Christian University, on whose towers the name of Lindsley shall be immortal! "It is proper to remark here, that Dr. Lindsley served God in whatever he undertook. His piety was deep, cheerful, unaffected. Whether he lived, he lived unto the Lord; and whether he died, he died unto the Lord; so that, whether living or dying, he was the Lord's. In social life he pre-eminently shone. His heart was affectionate and easily won. His conversational powers were exuberant. There was a fund of anecdote, of information, of personal reminiscence, from which he drew with a prodigality that never exhausted it. His manners were bland and courteous. After my first interview with him, in this city, nine years ago, I thought, and still think, that I never saw a more charming specimen of a Christian gentleman, minister and scholar. His labours are over. His benignant face will never here kindle again with a smile, nor will his voice ever again be heard in our Assembly. His last address was in reference to the baptized children of the church. God had no more work for him to do. 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord."" It would be easy, both from his private correspondence and the newspapers of the day, to multiply testimonials of his ability and success during the whole period of his presidency. He lived in a com paratively new country, where some of course could not fully comprehend what he was, or what he was attempting to do for them. But he did not live unknown, nor die unappreciated, either at home or abroad. We subjoin a few notices indicative of this appreciation. The following is from a Louisville (Kentucky) paper of 1840, written, if we mistake not, by an eminent medical professor there: "Dr. Lindsley has presided over the University of Nashville for nearly fifteen years, and has obtained for it not only a new but a great name. He is one of the most gifted and learned of all our writers and teachers. You say at once, on meeting him, that he is one of nature's great men-inevitably great-but improved by study and art. He has a brow to grasp all sciences, and the field over which he has travelled is a very extended one. He is a deep, original, independent thinker, and comes down upon his subject like a strong man wielding a flail. But with all this vigour he has taste. His mind has all the polish which long familiarity with the great masters of ancient eloquence and poetry could give, and his style is as chaste as it is terse and energetic." In his correspondence of 1833, we find a letter from Hon. James K. Paulding, thanking him for a pamphlet just published, entitled "The Cause of the Farmers and the University of Tennessee," consisting of two annual addresses delivered before the University. In the letter he says: "It is long since I have read anything more eloquent in language, or more conclusive in argument; and nothing surprised and delighted me more than the novel manner in which you have illustrated an old subject." Accompanying the letter is a most genial critique on the pamphlet, which the writer had published in one of the Eastern papers, from which we take a few sentences: "The Discourses of President Lindsley should be read by every man in the United States. We do not mean by scholars alone, but most especially and emphatically by the respectable farmers and mechanics of this country, who are too apt to suppose that taxes and donations for colleges and universities constitute a burden without a benefit; at least any benefit of which they are likely to partake. He traces the stream of intellectual fertility in all its beautiful meander 78 A SUPPLEMENTARY BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. ings, and shows, that it is not alone those who reside at its source who partake in the riches it diffuses all around, but that its blessings pervade the whole land, and offer themselves spontaneously to all who choose to come and taste 'the waters of life.' "Indeed, throughout the whole of these Discourses is diffused a glow of earnest eloquence, a generous spirit of chivalry in defence of science and learning, and a power of enforcing his sentiments, most highly honourable to the zeal and talents of President Lindsley. We scarcely ever recollect seeing a more powerful vindication of science and learning, or more conclusive arguments in favour of their universal diffusion." One more notice shall suffice. It is from a recent number of the North American Review: "Of the intellectual fathers of the generation now on the stage, Dr. Philip Lindsley was one of the most eminent, useful and indefatigable in life, and his name will be held in deserved honour in coming years. In 1812 he became Senior Tutor, and in 1813 Professor of Languages, in the College of New Jersey. His learning and abilities as an instructor had now become widely known; and from his thirty-first year, until the impossibility of inducing him to change his sphere had been thoroughly ascertained, he was in receipt of frequent invitations to honourable appointments, to an extent perhaps unparalleled in the collegiate history of our country.' After enumerating these appointments, the writer says: "When the aggregate of learned judgment, represented by the action of so many boards of trustees, is for a moment appreciated, we shall be justified in saying, that the abilities and personal characteristics of no man who ever lived among us have received a more weighty indorsement. All literary men, especially all educators, therefore, will feel a lively interest in an attentive examination of the suggestions of such a mind." |