fcdU **. '{fit o^j \

✓^ £-rV*%*^^**<**^^
A^u §. &*-(jWw"*-'
SLS-^ 
 
PUBLIC DISCOURSE
IN COMMEMORATION OF
PETER S.  DU  PONCEAU,  LL.D.
LATE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN PtIILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY,
DELIVERED
BEFORE THE SOCIETY PURSUANT TO APPOINTMENT,
ON THE 25th OP OCTOBER, 1844,
BY ROBLEY DUNGLISON, M.D.
        One of the Secretaries.
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE SOCIETY.
*+*>f>+&m%%<f+**+—~
PHILADELPHIA:
PRINTED FOR THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETV,
        By John C. Clark, 60 Dock Street.
              1844. 
 
COMMEMORATIVE DISCOURSE.
Mr. Vice-President, and Gentlemen :—

  It has been a custom with the American  Philosophical So-
ciety, on the death of its  highest officer, to  appoint one of its
members to deliver a public discourse, with  the view of doing
honour to his memory, and of holding up,  as an example to
others, the eminent intellectual  and  moral  qualities, and the
honourable course that led to the attainment of such a distinc-
tion.
  Five discourses have thus far been pronounced; the first on
Franklin, who may justly be regarded as the founder of the
Society, by the Rev. Dr. Smith; the second on  Rittenhouse,
by Dr. Rush; the third on Wistar, by Chief Justice Tilghman;
and the fourth on Tilghman, by the lamented subject of this
memoir.   Jefferson, who  lived  for many years after he had re-
signed the presidency of  the Society, received the accustomed
tribute at the hands of Mr. Nicholas Biddle.  To one only of
the deceased Presidents  no such  tribute was permitted—to
Patterson, who modestly  urged, as a last solemn request, that
he might be an exception;  and his request was reluctantly
complied with.
  If ever there be an occasion  in which  self should  be  disre-
garded by an orator, it is when appointed, by  an  institution
like this, to commemorate the deeds of a distinguished and de-
ceased member.  The whole object of his  appointment  is to
illustrate  another.  Can  this  be more  satisfactorily accom-
plished, in the present  instance, than by a brief record of the
eventful history of a long life spent  in  eminent usefulness?
Fortunately for the biographer,  his venerable friend, in a series 
V
                             4

of reminiscences, written partly to a friend now absent,* but
chiefly to a near relative/I had himself depicted his early his-
tory, in the felicitous manner so characteristic of him.   Much
labour of research has hence been spared;  and in the details of
his youth little more has been necessary than to select and ar-
range materials, thus happily presented by him who was.the
best voucher for their authenticity.

  Mr. Du Ponceau was born on the third day  of June, 1760,
at the town of St. Martins, in the Isle  of Re, on the weste»i
coast of France, where his  father held a  military command.
All his recollections of his studies, prior  to six years of age,
were his having learned, almost entirely by heart, a Latin and
French vocabulary, which he found of great use in the sequel.
At that age he was put to an  excellent  grammar school, and
was instructed at home by private teachers.  His fondness for
language began, at this early period, to develope  itself.  He
met  one day, accidentally,  with an English  grammar, at  a
neighbour's house.
  "Childlike," he says, "I was delighted  with  the letters  K
and W, which my eyes had not been accustomed to see.   I
took the  book  home, and began to study  the English language.
My progress was rapid.  There were English and Irish  fami-
lies in the town; and the Irish regiment of Clare, and  after-
wards that of Walsh, were quartered there.  I had  a good ear
and flexible organs.   I  soon  spoke  good English, and became
a perfect Anglomane.   I devoured Milton, Thomson, Young,
Pope, Shakspeare, and so neglected the French poets,  that I
must acknowledge, to this day (1S37), I have read but few of
the tragedies of Corneille, Racine, and  Voltaire.  The English
haut gout had spoiled me from them.  I  also wrote English
correctly.  I have English verses (bad enough to be sure), but
which were addressed to me from Rochelle by  a young Eng-
lishman,  when  I was but twelve years  of age.  I  learned  a
great deal of English poetry by heart, much of which I retain
to this day."

               * Mr. Walsh.
               t His grand.daughter, Miss  Gareschc 
5
  About this time he acquired  Italian  in  the  same manner,
from the officers of an Italian regiment quartered in the town.
  Until the age of thirteen, he was at home, without any regu-
lar instruction, reading a great deal without choice, and doing
what he pleased.  His father had always intended him for the
military profession.   As he appeared fond of study, he thought
he would make a good military engineer; and as there was at
the time, on the island, a large body of recruits, who were
drilled there for the service, and afterwards draughted into
regiments for the French colonies; and  amongst these, many
young men who had received an excellent education, and were
skilled in various branches of knowledge,—the best  informed
amongst the recruits made offers to his father, who had a com-
mand over them, to instruct his children in consideration of
some relaxation from  military discipline.   These offers were
accepted, and young Du Ponceau was taught—superficially, as
a matter of course—mathematics in its  various branches, geo-
graphy,  history, military fortifications, &c.   Of these, history
and geography were alone to his taste, but they were not what
he preferred.
   His father soon saw,  however, that  he  must abandon the
project of a military life for his son, and especially that of en-
gineering, which the youth's shortness of sight did not permit
him to follow; but  he abandoned it with regret.  His mother
was very desirous that he should be educated  for the priest-
hood, but the proposition met with  no favour from his father.
It was at length determined that he should  receive a  collegiate
education, and that circumstances should afterwards  decide as
to what precise use  it should be  applied.  He was accord-
ingly, in the autumn of 1773, sent to a College of Benedictine
Monks at St. Jean Angely.   He had so profited by his studies
at home, that he was immediately placed  in  the class of phi-
losophy, and when  the theses were  publicly defended, at the
end of the scholastic  year,  he obtained  all  the premiums.
Here he continued  his English studies,  and was never without
an English classic in his pocket, so  that he  received the sobri-
quet  of VJlnglois.  In this college lie  staid but eighteen
months, when he  returned  to the  Isle de Re, just entering 
6
his  sixteenth year.   He  found the family in deep  affliction
on account of the recent death of his father.
  His mother now urged him strongly to embrace  the  sacred
calling;  and in the then distressed condition of the  family
there seemed to be no alternative;  but  his inclination,  as  his
mother knew well,  had been always opposed to it.  The fa-
mily were, however, all in favour of it; and  although  he  re-
sisted for a long time, owing to his having imbibed in the Isle
de Re (the population of which was half Protestant)  the prin-
ciples of the Reformation, he was ultimately compelled to sub-
mit; "took the tonsure,"—to use his own language—and  be-
came Monsieur PJlbbL
  The  Bishop of Rochelle  was  a  friend of the family.   He
was a nobleman of the ancient  house of Crussol, had much in-
fluence at court, and many benefices in  his gift: he  sent  the
young Abbe as a Regent to his Episcopal College at Bressiure,
in Poitou, where, at the age of fifteen, he  had a class of scho-
lars whom he instructed in the rudiments of the  Latin lan-
guage;  but the other regents, who were men twenty-four or
twenty-five years of age and miserable  pedants, were jealous
of him, because, owing to his being of  a good family and pa-
tronized by the bishop, he  was  treated by the principal with
greater  respect than they.   They called  him Gentilhomme
Bas Breton; excited the boys to pelt  him with apples,  and
annoyed him in every way they could; until, at length,  life
became intolerable, and  finding that the  principal,  although
willing and well disposed, could  not effectually check the pro-
ceedings of  those who  were determined to get rid  of him, he
finally resolved to satisfy them by quitting the place,  and to
throw himself upon the wide world.  "For the sake of truth,"
he  says, " I must add, that I was also induced to this step by
my religious scruples; and, to be perfectly candid, by a rest-
less disposition, and a spirit  of adventure, which made  me see
every thing in bright colours before me."
   On Christmas day, 1775, leaving all  his luggage behind, he
sallied  forth at daybreak, with  the  " Paradise Lost"  in  one
pocket, and a clean shirt in  the  other,  on his way  to the great
 capital, where  he  arrived in the beginning of January, with
the firm  resolution of depending, from that moment,  on  his 
7
own exertions alone for subsistence, and for whatever fortune
might  await  him.   "Behold me  now in Paris," he exclaims,
"at the age of fifteen, with a light  heart, and a still lighter
purse.   But I was full of hope, I had buoyant  spirits, and saw
every thing couleur de rose!"
   Less than two years before, his father had died at Versailles,
where he was soliciting a place of lieutenant-governor, which
had been promised him, and which,  when  he  died, he was on
the  point  of obtaining.  Young  Du Ponceau went thither,
where he was very well received by  his father's acquaintances.
Amongst these was the Baron de Montmorency, who was then
Governor of the Province in which  the Isle de Re is situate,
and who knew all his  family.  By the Baron he was treated
very kindly, although he did not approve of  his  absconding.
He was  desirous of obtaining a clerkship in one of the depart-
ments, and might have succeeded, but for his  impatience and
utter ignorance of the world.  He wrote what he himself
terms "a most foolish letter" to Monsieur de  Sartine, the Se-
cretary of the Navy, complaining,  in  no measured terms, of
the delay of his appointment, and throwing the fault upon his
secretary, who was  highly incensed, so that instead of the
place he expected he received a threat of the Bastile.
   Disappointed, he left Versailles, and returned to Paris, well
 provided with letters from his father's friends.  Here he found
 himself as  independent as he desired  to be.  He earned his
 living principally by translating English works, at so much a
 sheet, for professed translators, who made  a  profit out of his
 labours.  He  also translated  commercial letters for men of
 business, and gave lessons in the  English and French lan-
 guages.   Among those to whom  he was introduced was the
 Count de Genlis,  the husband of the  well-known authoress.
 The Count had been at the Isle de  Re, and knew his family.
 He received him  like a  true courtier.   He was the intimate
 friend of the Duke of Orleans, and resided in his palace.   One
 day he told Mr. Du Ponceau that the  prince wished to have
 an  English and French vocabulary of the words and phrases
 relating to the chase, with dialogues,  &c.  The subject was
 new to  him, "but what,"  says he,  "will not necessity and in-
 dustry do?   I undertook,  and with  great labour produced the 
8
 work, which the prince was so much pleased with, that I had
 the  pleasure to see  my manuscript in his library elegantly
 bound in red morocco, with gilt edges.  I had been promised
 a handsome reward; but when, afterwards, I modestly hinted
 to M. de Genlis something about a compensation,  his answer
 was, i Les princes ne donnent rien.'   Had I been asking for
 an alms, I could not have  been answered otherwise.  He was
 guillotined in  1793, with Brissot and others of his colleagues.
 I did not wish him so severe a punishment.  It is said of him
 that when he  went to  the  scaffold, he bowed to every body
 that he saw, and that his looks seemed to say,—' If, where I'm
 going, I could  serve  you, sir.'  This is  a true picture of his
 character."
  In the course of a  few months, Mr. Du Ponceau  became ac-
 quainted with the celebrated philologer, Court de Gebelin,
 whose reputation was then very high.   M. Gebelin  offered to
 take  him as  secretary, which  offer  was joyfully accepted.
 With him young Du  Ponceau  remained six or  eight months,
 until his departure to this country.   M. Gebelin was a Pro-
 testant  minister, born in France, but ordained, and officiating
 as minister of  the Gospel, at Lausanne, in Switzerland.
  "I do not know," says  Mr.  Du Ponceau, "what circum-
 stances brought him back to his native country, where he ran
 great risk if the law  had been rigorously enforced,  which was
 not the case, as the government shut their eyes, provided the
 Protestant ministers  abstained  from their functions.  M. de
 Gebelin resided in Paris as a private citizen, and devoted him-
 self  to  the philological  science, in which  he  acquired an im-
 mense reputation.  He  was in the  zenith of his fame when I
 became his secretary.  He was an excellent man, and I cannot
 but remember  with pleasure the time that I spent with him.
 He  was to me  as a father, and when I made known to him my
 engagement  with Baron Steuben,  and my determination to
 come to this country, he did all in his power to  persuade me
 to remain with him, and even offered to let my name  appear
 with  his on the title-page of his great work.  But though I
sincerely loved him,  and admired his talents, I did  not agree
with him in his philological opinions.   He was endeavouring
to find the primitive language, which I considered as impossi- 
9
ble.  I parted from him with  regret; but fate had determined
that I should become an American.  I corresponded with him
until his death, which happened  on the 13th of May, 1784.
He died a victim  to  his confidence in the Charlatan, Mes-
mer."
  Among the houses in Paris frequented by Mr. Du Ponceau
was that of the well-known M. Beaumarchais, where  he be-
came acquainted with Baron  Steuben, who was  preparing to
set out  for America.   The Baron was in want of a secretary
who could speak and write the English language; and he soon
found that young  Du Ponceau suited him entirely.  The ar-
rangements were  speedily made.  They sailed together  from
Marseilles, and landed  at Portsmouth,  New Hampshire, on
the first of December, 1777.
  Although one born  in a country in which the English lan-
guage is not spoken must require some time before he can feel
entirely domiciliated  here,  Mr. Du  Ponceau,  it seems, felt at
home from the first  moment he  landed.  The language was,
indeed,  familiar to him.  "I was only  astonished," he  says,
"to find even the milk-maids as  learned as I was.  My asto-
nishment would hardly have been greater if they had  spoken
Greek or Latin.   As the Baron could not speak one word of
English, I accompanied him every where, and thus I was
thrown  at once into the first company in the land.  I was
pleased with every thing around me. We ate our first dinner
at Governor Langdon's, and there we heard, for the first time,
of the capture of General Burgoyne and his whole army.  We
hailed it as an omen of future  success."
  Mr.  Du Ponceau  frequently reverted with satisfaction  to
this period, and stated his belief, that he  then understood and
spoke English as well as he ever did afterwards; and  it was
with no little  delight, that  some years ago, through the kind-
ness of  Mrs. Langdon  Elwyn, of this city, the daughter  of
Governor  Langdon, he had an opportunity of obtaining a let-
ter which  he wrote,  when seventeen years of age, for Baron
Steuben to General Whipple, of Portsmouth, N. H., Mrs. El-
wyn's relative, the language of which is signally corroborative
of his belief on this point.
          B 
10
                                   Boston, December 15, 1777.
Honourable Sir,—
  I have the honour to inform you, as  soon as possible, of my arri-
val in this town, and  to thank you for all the kindnesses you  have
been so good as to show me during  my stay at Portsmouth.  I have
given to Mr. Jackson,  at Newberry, the letter you have favoured me
with  for him, and had  it not been for the difficulty of finding lodgings
here, I should have had the honour of presenting to Messrs. Hancock
and Adams  those you  have charged me with for them, but my whole
evening was employed in looking  for a house where I might lodge;
but I hope to have to-morrow the honour of seeing these gentlemen.
  I have the honour to be, with respect, honourable sir,
                      Your most obedient,
                               And most humble servant,
                                                 STEUBEN.
  Judge Pettit has kindly sent me an autograph  letter, written
by Mr. Du Ponceau, a few months later, to General Greene,
chief of the  quartermaster's department.   Col.  Pettit, grand-
father of Judge Pettit, was an intimate and  confidential friend
of General Greene, and  had a large share of  the control and
responsibility of the department, whilst General Greene re-
tained his  rank,  and performed duty in the field as a Major-
General in the  army.

                          Camp, Valley Forge, April 17, 1778.
Sir,—
  Baron Steuben would be much obliged to you if you would be so
good as to  give an order to  Major Craig to furnish him with two
common tents, and that marquise which Col. Lutterloh had before
his departure,  which he has ceded to the Baron.  Moreover, sir, you
would oblige  him very much by ordering  your deputies to furnish
him with three wooden bowls, and four or five wooden trenchers.
Meanwhile the Baron presents his compliments to you.
        I have the honour to be, sir,
                  Your most obedient
                       And very humble servant,
                             P. S.  DU PONCEAU, A. D.  C.
To the Hon. Maj. Gen. Greene.

  At Portsmouth, Baron  Steuben  remained about  ten days,
and  thence went to Boston, where he staid one month.  Here 
11
Mr.  Du Ponceau  became acquainted with some  of the most
distinguished persons connected with the Revolution, amongst
whom were John  Hancock and Samuel Adams.  He was then
—to use his own expression—a stern republican, and had been
so from the first  moment that he began to reflect.  "I shall
never forget," he says, "the  compliment paid me  by  Sa-
muel Adams, on  his discovering my republican  principles."
"Where,"  said he  to  me, "did you learn  all that?"  "In
France," replied I.  "In France; that is  impossible."   Then
recovering himself, he added, "Well, because a man was born
in a stable, it is  no reason why he should be a  horse."  "I
thought to myself," adds Mr. Du Ponceau, " that in matters of
compliment they ordered these things better in France!"
  On the 14th of January, 1778, they left Boston, on their
way to Yorktown where the  Congress of the United States
then sate;  and owing  to  its  being necessary  to shape their
course westwardly, to avoid being  surprised by hostile bands,
they had to cross the  States of Massachusetts,  Connecticut,
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, so that three
weeks were consumed in a journey which at present occupies
but a few days.
  The fame of Baron Steuben had preceded him to Yorktown,
where marked attention was  paid him by  General  Gates.
" Congress appointed a  committee to confer with him  on  the
subject of his pretensions, and-were not a little surprised when
he informed them, that  all  his  ambition was to serve as a vo-
lunteer in their army."  All the favour he asked  was, that his
two  attendants,  MM.  Depontiere  and Du Ponceau,  should
have the rank of Captain,  which-  was  immediately granted;
and  on  the 18th of February the subject of this memoir re-
ceived the appointment of Captain, by brevet, in the army of
the United States, on which he always prided himself greatly;
and  it was  as  a surviving Captain of Infantry of  the Line, of
the Army of the  Revolution, that he received a pension until
the day of his  death.
  On the 19th of February, Baron Steuben and suite departed
from Yorktown for the camp at Valley Forge, where they ar-
rived on the 23d, and the next  day Mr. Du Ponceau had  the
honour  of  being  presented to  General  Washington, and  of
» 
12
dining with him on that and  the  following day.  " He re-
ceived the Baron," says Mr. Du Ponceau, "with great cor-
diality, and to me he showed much condescending attention.
I cannot describe  the  impression that the first sight of that
great man made upon me.  I  could not keep  my eyes from
that imposing  countenance—grave, yet  not severe;  affable,
without familiarity.  Its predominant expression was calm
dignity, through which you  could trace the strong feelings of
the patriot, and discern the father as well as the  commander of
his soldiers.   I have never seen a picture that represents him
to me as I saw him at Valley Forge, and during  the campaigns
in which I had the honour to follow him.   Perhaps that  ex-
pression was beyond the skill of the painter; but while I live
it will remain impressed on my  memory.   I had frequent op-
portunities of seeing him, as it was my duty to accompany the
Baron when he  dined with him, which was sometimes  twice
or thrice  in  the same week.   We visited him  also in  the
evening, when Mrs. Washington was  at head  quarters.  We
were in a manner domesticated in the family."
  The privations of the army during the winter spent at Val-
ley Forge are matters of history, and were deeply felt by all.
"We," says  Mr. Du Ponceau,  "who lived in  good quarters,
did  not feel the misery of the times so  much as the common
soldiers and the subaltern officers; yet we had more than once
to share our rations with the sentry at the door.   We put  the
best face we could  upon the matter.  Once, with the Baron's
permission, his aids invited a number of young officers to dine
at our quarters, on condition that none should be admitted that
had on a whole pair of breeches.  This was of  course under-
stood -as pars pro toto; but torn clothes were an indispensable
requisite  for admission, and in  this  the guests were very rare
not to fail.  The dinner took place; the guests  clubbed their
rations; and  we feasted sumptuously on tough beef steaks and
potatoes, with hickory nuts for  our  dessert. In lieu of  wine,
we had some  kind of spirits, with which we made salaman-
ders; that is to say, after filling our glasses, we set the liquor
on fire, and drank it up, flame and all.  Such a  set of  ragged,
and, at the  same  time,  merry fellows, were   never  before
brought together.   The Baron  loved to speak of that  dinner, 
13
and of his  sans-culottes, as he called us.  Thus this denomi-
nation was first invented in America, and applied to the brave
officers and soldiers of our revolutionary army, at a time when
it could not be foreseen that the name, which honoured  the fol-
lowers of Washington, would  afterwards be assumed by the
satellites of a Marat and a Robespierre."
   Whilst they were at Valley Forge, Baron Steuben was ap-
pointed a Major-General and  Inspector-General of the armies
of the United States.  To the  post of Secretary to the Baron,
which Mr. Du Ponceau then held, was added that of  Aid-de-
camp, which gave him, by courtesy, the rank of Major.  This
he preserved  until he quitted the military service.  Whilst he
 was at Valley Forge, he became acquainted with General La-
 fayette, who showed,  from the first, much partiality for him,
 which afterwards ripened  into a friendship that ceased only
 with the General's life.
   Mr. Du Ponceau  attended Baron Steuben in his various mi-
 litary movements, and at the  close of the campaign of  1779,
 they took up their winter quarters in this city,  where he had
 not been long before he was attacked with symptoms of pul-
 monary mischief—coughing and  spitting  of blood, accompa-
 nied  by great  emaciation, which induced his physicians  to
 pronounce, too  hastily, that his  case was incurable.   Mr. Du
 Ponceau's notes are  any thing but  favourable to the intelli-
  gence of one of those gentlemen.  In May*! 1780, his friends
  procured  for him a  lodging  at  Nicetown, in order that  he
  might have  the advantage which  country air and  exercise
  were capable of affording.  He had not been long there before
  he  received a letter from his  physician, which, he says, asto-
  nished  him exceedingly, and was by no means calculated to
  raise his spirits.  The doctor made an apology for not riding
  four  miles to visit him occasionally, on the  ground that  it
  would be of  no use, as his disease was incurable.   "You are a
  philosopher," said he, " therefore I have no  doubt that you
  will bear this intimation as a philosopher ought to do."   In
  the letter was enclosed  an impression on sealing-wax of the
  Goddess Hyge'ia; and referring to it he observed, that amulets
  sometimes had the  effect of restoring health; and that if it did
  him  no good,  it would at least do him no harm,   lie con- 
14
eluded by recommending him to sleep in a stable,  and inhale
the breath of cows, which, he said, had sometimes been effec-
tual.
  It is not surprising that the diagnosis of  such a therapeutist
should be inaccurate.  The letter excited the disgust of the
patient, and destroyed all  his confidence, not in  the doctor
only, but—as too frequently happens  in such cases—in medi-
cine.   Having tried an American physician, he now had re-
course to  one attached to the family  of the French minister,
but he also condemned him.
  "From  that moment," he playfully remarks, "I  gave up
iEscuIapius  and  his disciples, and determined to be my own
physician.   I kept to the milk diet, because I had faith in it.
I did not seek the company of cows, because there was other
company that I liked better.  I strove, above all things, to
keep up my  spirits.   I wrote satirical verses on the consump-
tion, and determined that it should not consume me."
  He continued  at Nicetown till  the month  of November,
when he seemed to be much improved.  His cough had  con-
siderably abated, and the spitting of  blood had become less
frequent.  " I felt ashamed," he says,  " to  receive  the  pay of
Congress,  and to  be idling my time  without  rendering any
service."
  He was in this disposition of mind when  he heard  that
Baron  Steuben had been  ordered to  attend General Greene,
who was appointed to the command of the southern army.
The Baron having come to Philadelphia, Mr. Du Ponceau so-
licited him to be permitted to accompany him,  urging, that he
had tried every remedy without success, that he had heard that
the exercise  of riding had often  cured consumptive  patients,
and  that, after all, if  he  was to  die, it was better and more
honourable that  he  should die in the field, than by the slow
process of an incurable disease.  Baron Steuben  consented,
and they left Philadelphia, in company with General Greene,
on the 23d of November of  the same year (1780), which he
designates in one place "a most dismal year,"  and in another,
an "ill-fated  year."
  They parted with General Greene somewhere in the State
of Delaware, and  pursued their route to Richmond,  in  Vir- 
15
ginia, with manifest improvement of Mr. Du Ponceau's health,
who began to think himself out of danger.   Owing, however,
to the fatigue incurred in the removal of public stores, when
Arnold took possession of Richmond, or to some  other cause,
he again fell seriously ill; and Mr. Charles Carter, of Shirley,
having offered him an asylum at his hospitable mansion, about
twenty miles  below Richmond,  the  offer  was gratefully ac-
cepted.  "I removed,"  says Mr. Du Ponceau, "to that de-
lightful place, where I was received and entertained with the
most liberal  hospitality.  1 shall never forget my obligations
to that excellent family."  And he never did forget them.  A
short time only before his decease, he recurred with marked
satisfaction to  the kindness  which he had  experienced  from
them between sixty and seventy years before.
   He staid at Shirley two or three weeks,  when, on  the re-
commendation of his medical  attendants, that he should use
travelling exercise on  horseback, he visited  various parts of
Virginia, of which, however, he retained but a confused re-
 membrance, having made no notes thereof at the time.
   These  rambles, with intervals of repose  at  the  seats of dif-
 ferent gentlemen, improved  his health so much, that he  again
 became ashamed  of his indolence " while  an enemy was  ra-
 vaging the country," and rejoined Baron Steuben some time
 before the encounter with General Phillips, whose object was
 to get possession  of Petersburg.
    On the 3d of June, 1781, Mr. Du Ponceau attained the age of
 twenty-one.   He was then at a place called the Point of Fork,
 in the western part of eastern Virginia,  where  there was a
 state arsenal, a depot of military stores, which had been placed
 there for security, and with  the view of being transported
 thence to the Carolinas, the  principal theatre of the war.  Here
 they  narrowly escaped being  captured by Colonel  Simcoe's
 horse, after which they directed their  march rapidly towards
 North Carolina.   Mr. Du Ponceau followed the Baron until
 they had nearly  reached the  frontier of that State,  when  he
 was attacked with  fever, which was accompanied  and suc-
  ceeded by so much debility, that Baron  Steuben, after much
  consideration, advised him to proceed  to Philadelphia,  be-
  lieving  him—as  was the general impression—to be incurably 
16
consumptive.   During the journey, however, his health mate-
rially improved;  and for this  result he  considered  himself
partly indebted to the violent  exercise which he was com-
pelled by Col. Simcoe to  take, and which was so irksome to
him at the time.
   When he left the army, Baron Steuben  gave him a strong
letter of recommendation to Congress, soliciting for  him an
employment in some civil capacity.
   On the 25th  of July, 1781, he took the requisite oaths, and
became a citizen—as he expresses it—"of the great Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania."  "Behold  me, then," he adds, "a
citizen of the United  States, having entered with them into a
solemn  compact,  to  which I  have  faithfully adhered,  and
which I have never repented."
   For a few months he was engaged  in  this city in youthful
and  social amusements, whilst  his  friends were  watching to
discover some  appropriate employment for him.  Nor were
they unsuccessful.   Mr. Robert  R.  Livingston, Chancellor of
the State of New York, having  been appointed Secretary for
Foreign Affairs, Mr. Du Ponceau was strongly recommended
to him as an assistant.
   Amongst those who wrote to Mr. Livingston in his behalf,
were Governor M'Kean and Judge  Peters.   The original let-
ters  from these gentlemen  have been placed in my hands
through  the kindness of Mr. Horace Binney Wallace, of this
city.  That of  Judge  Peters exhibits the high opinion enter-
tained by the distinguished  functionary of the character  and
attainments  of the youthful applicant.

                                          October 19, 1781.
Dear Sir,—
  It  is very seldom I undertake  to recommend persons  for public
employments, as it is a subject of a delicate and  embarrassing na-
ture;  but  I  cannot withhold my very hearty  recommendation of
Capt. Du Ponceau, who, I understand, has applied to  you for some
appointment in your department.   I have been acquainted with him
ever since  his arrival in this country, and from my  own observa-
tions, as well as the warm expressions of approbation  and esteem I
have heard from Baron Steuben, I have no doubt of his attachment
to our cause,  and am convinced of his abilities and unblemished cha- 
17
racter.  The  Baron has long wished him to be employed in the
corps diplomatique, as his want of health and shortsightedness will
not admit of his distinguishing himself in the field.  He has an ex-
ceeding industrious turn,  and has a  most remarkable facility of ac-
quiring languages.   French is  his  native tongue.  English he  has
acquired perfectly, and he  understands German, Italian, and  Spa-
nish.   He can translate  Danish and Low Dutch with the help of a
dictionary,  but a little application will make  him  master of these.
He is also a good Latin scholar.  From his private history, of which
the Baron has often given  me an account, I  have reason to believe
his views are entirely confined  to this country.  I do not pretend to
undertake to point out any particular employment, but am convinced
he can be useful to you in any one you choose to point out for him.
                     I  am, with very sincere esteem,
                                 Your obedient servant,
                                       RICHARD  PETERS.
Hon.  Mr. Livingston.

   On the  22d of  October, Mr. Du Ponceau  was sworn in  as
Mr. Livingston's  Secretary,  and  entered  upon the duties  of
his new  office.  Subsequently, on the 1st of March, 1782, Mr.
Livingston was allowed  two under-Secretaries; one of these,
Mr. Lewis Morris, a nephew of  Mr. Gouverneur Morris, and
the other the subject of this memoir.   Mr. Morris and he re-
ceived each seven hundred and fifty dollars a year during their
continuance  in office—the salaries being  paid  in  specie—in
French crowns and louis d'or, which was  the money current
at the time.  The  house,  that Mr. Livingston  occupied  until
his retirement from office, was the one in which  Mr. Du Pon-
ceau resided  until  his death.   " Here," he says  in his manu-
script reminiscences written nearly seven  years ago, "in the
society of  Mr. Livingston  and his amiable family,  I enjoyed
the most brilliant period of my life, and  here, in my  manhood,
and my more advanced age,  I have experienced the various
vicissitudes of human  life.   Here, in  every room,  in every
nook, in  every corner, in every walk, in our little garden, in
every flower that blossoms in it,  I find the memorials of the
scenes of by-gone days.  I love to call those  scenes  to mind,
and  to  dwell  on  the  melancholy or pleasing recollections
which they excite."
          c 
18
  The official business of the department was transacted, as is
well known, in a small tenement in Sixth street, adjoining the
office subsequently occupied  by Mr. Du Ponceau, and forming
a part of his estate.  "I hope," he remarks, and his hope was
fulfilled, "that at least during my life, this interesting memo-
rial of our early history will remain where it now stands, and
that its  memory will be preserved after me.  It  will be the
subject of a noble page for the pen of the future historian."
  In Mr. Livingston's office Mr. Du Ponceau continued until
the 4th  of June, 1783, a period of somewhat less than twenty
months.  At the close of the war he determined  to embrace
the profession of the law, which he studied under Mr. William
Lewis, whom he regarded as, at the time, "the most celebrated
lawyer  in Philadelphia, and  perhaps in  the United States."
In a letter to Mr. Thomas I. Wharton, published by that gen-
tleman  as an appendix  to his Memoir of Mr. Rawle, in the
fourth volume of the Memoirs  of the Historical Society  of
Pennsylvania,  he  gives  a  most  interesting sketch of Mr.
Lewis, Mr. Rawle, and others of their contemporaries.
  At June term, 1785, Mr. Lewis moved for his admission  as
an attorney of the Court of Common Pleas, and on the favour-
able report of the examiners he was received.   He  had  been
previously appointed, by the Executive Council, Notary Pub-
lic; and in 1791 was made  sworn interpreter of foreign lan-
guages.   His Notary's office soon kept him well employed;
and his  docket for September term, 1785, the first after his ad-
mission, showed that he was  then concerned  in  twenty-one
suits either for plaintiff or defendant.   In 1786, on the motion
of Mr.  Lewis, he was  admitted an attorney of the Supreme
Court of the State.
   In the year 1788, Mr. Du Ponceau married; and from that
time he began  to  lead a very retired life, attending only,  ac-
cording to his own testimony, to the duties of his profession.
   In the letter just mentioned, he thus playfully alludes to the
delightful intercourse which existed between the then  older
members of the bar.
   " In the beginning of the  present century, during the  reign
of the embargo, non-intercourse, and other restrictive measures
produced by the British orders in council, and the Berlin and 
19
Milan decrees, a great  number of cases were carried up from
this  city to the Supreme  Court of the United States.  The
counsel  engaged in those causes were in the habit of going to-
gether to Washington, to argue their cases before that tribunal.
These were Mr. Ingersoll, Mr. Dallas, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Ed-
ward Tilghman, Mr. Rawle, and  myself,  who am, alas!  the
only survivor of that joyous  band.  We hired a stage to our-
selves, in which we proceeded by easy journeys.  The court
sat then, as it does at present, or did until lately, in  the month
of February; so that we had to  travel in the depth  of winter,
through bad roads, in the midst of rain, hail, and  snow, in no
very comfortable way.  Nevertheless, as soon as we were  out
of the city, and felt the flush of air, we were like schoolboys
in the play-ground on a holiday; and we  began  to kill time
by all the means that our imagination  could suggest.  Flashes
of wit shot their corruscations on all sides; puns of the genuine
Philadelphia stamp  were handed about;  old college stories
were revived; macaroni Latin was spoken with great purity;
songs were sung—even classical  songs—among which I recol-
lect  the famous Bacchanalian of the  Archdeacon of  Oxford,
" Mi hi est propositum in tabernd mori:" in short, we might
have been taken for any thing but the grave counsellors of the
celebrated bar of Philadelphia."
   "I shall always," he adds, "remember with pleasure those
delightful journeys, in which we all  became  intimately ac-
quainted with each  other; for on such occasions,  when free
scope is given  to  the imagination, men appear  in their true
characters, and  no art can prevent them from showing them-
selves as  they really are.   Our appearance  at the bar of the
Supreme Court was always a scene of triumph.  We entered
the hall together,  and Judge Washington  was heard to say,
'This is my bar.'  Our causes had a preference over all others,
in consideration of the distance we had  to travel.  The great-
est liberality was shown to us by the  members of the  profes-
sion  who  usually attended  that court.   It  was  really a proud
thing, at that time, to be a Philadelphia lawyer."
   Mr. Du Ponceau was now  busily engaged in  the  active  ex-
ercise of an honourable, laborious, and lucrative avocation, but
— as he  himself said—"the life of a lawyer, in the full  practice 
20
 of his  profession,  offers  very little but the dull and dismal
 round of attendance upon courts, hard studies at night, and, in
 the day, fatiguing exertions, which, however brilliant, are con-
 fined to a narrow theatre, and leave nothing behind but a blaze
 of reputation and the echo of a name."
   The  reports of the different courts show, that  he was con-
 stantly  engaged, often  in  most important suits; and on  ques-
 tions of civil and foreign law his opinion  was justly held in
 the highest estimation.  In the intervals of his arduous  occu-
 pations, he found leisure to translate several valuable foreign
 works on law, and to write interesting essays  on professional
 subjects, some of which were published.
   His  last  published legal  opinion,  on which  he  bestowed
 much labour, although conceived and written at the  advanced
 age of eighty-two, is not unworthy of his elevated reputation.
 It was given in the  case of Mr. Levy, delegate  from Florida,
 whose seat in Congress was contested in 1841, 1842.*
   So lofty  was Mr. Du  Ponceau's reputation, at the  com-
 mencement of the present century, as a learned jurist,  in the
 Roman  and French laws more especially, that the  important
 office of Chief Judge of  Louisiana was tendered to him by
 President Jefferson;  but his prospects and associations in  Phi-
 ladelphia induced him to decline it.
   On all occasions, his time, his talents,  and his powerful in-
 fluence, were bestowed freely for the promotion of juridical
 knowledge, and  the maintenance  of  peace  and  harmony
 amongst the members  of  the legal profession.   In  the  year
 1820, a society was instituted, called  "The Society for the
 Promotion of Legal Knowledge and  Forensic Eloquence."
 The "Law Academy" was a branch of this, and under its pa-
 tronage.   The first  President of the Association was Chief
Justice Tilghman, and the  first Provost of the Law Academy,
 Mr. Du Ponceau.   This office, through the  favour of the Aca-
demy, he held until the time of his death; and on more  than
one occasion, at the  close of the Academic session, the  mem-
bers acknowledged their deep sense of obligation for the "un-
remitted exertions and unwearied benevolence of their vene-
rable Provost."t
£ee Appendix A
I See Appendix R 
21
  Throughout his long life, Mr. Du Ponceau  was much at-
tached to philological inquiries, and especially to such  as  con-
cerned the analogy  and philosophy of languages, in  the ac-
quiring of which, as remarked by Judge Peters, he possessed
a rare facility.  He knew more of the Latin than he did of
the Greek; was acquainted with most of the languages of Eu-
rope, and spake several of them; but it was not until his labo-
rious services in his profession had  secured him a comfortable
competence, that he devoted much of his  time  to philology.
An impulse in this  direction  was  given him by the establish-
ment, by this Society, of the Historical and Literary Commit-
tee.   "In the year  1815,"  he remarks in his  letter to Mr.
Wharton, "was received the  joyful news of the  peace  with
Great Britain.   Until that period,  a  colonial  spirit had pre-
vailed throughout this country, that had checked all efforts at
literary enterprise.   The successful issue of the  war raised our
spirits, and our minds took a direction towards literature  and
science.  The news  was received about the middle of Febru-
ary.  On the 17th of March the American Philosophical  So-
ciety, which  had been long  slumbering,  resolved, ' That  a
committee of their body should be  added to those before exist-
ing, to  be  denominated 'The  Committee  of History, Moral
Science, and General Literature.'"
  In the year 1819 was presented by this Committee to the
Society the report of the Committee, of which  Mr. Du Pon-
ceau was chairman, on the Structure of  the Indian  Languages,
which was  printed  in  the  Transactions of  the Committee,
speedily  obtained for  its author  the  reputation of  being  a
learned philologer, and was  followed by his receiving  the de-
gree of Doctor of Laws, and the distinguished honour  of being
elected, on  the 20th  of April,  1827, a  corresponding  member
of the French  Institute, in  the  Academy  of Inscriptions.
At  a subsequent period, in May, 1835, the prize of Lin-
guistique, founded by the Count De Volney, was  awarded to
him by the same  learned body, for a  Memoir  on  the Indian
Languages of North  America,  which was afterwards published
in Paris.
  About the same time his attention was directed to the struc-
ture of the  Chinese language, which  has  generally been re- 
22
garded as ideographic,— in other words, the written character
has been considered to represent ideas, not sounds; so that the
Chinese  and  congenerous nations, it has been conceived, may
be  able  to correspond with  each  other in writing, although
their  spoken languages may be mutually unintelligible.  Mr.
Du Ponceau boldly,  and most  ingeniously,  and ably, main-
tained, from analogy, the opposite opinion,—that the written
language is  lexigraphic;  or, in other words, that the charac-
ters represent sounds.  This opinion, however, is  contested
by distinguished Sinologists.
  His Dissertation  on the Chinese Language,  published  in
1838, when he was seventy-eight  years old, must be  looked
upon  as the last of his philological productions.
  The exalted reputation,  which these researches acquired for
him,  led to his reception into many of the most learned and
time-honoured institutions of the old world; and  on  this side
of the Atlantic there were few that did not hasten to illustrate
themselves by enumerating him amongst their associates.*
  Of  the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, of which he was
President at the time of his death, he was long an able and en-
ergetic member, and enriched its published memoirs by valua-
ble contributions.   The Society for the Commemoration of the
Landing of William Penn received his warmest support, as his
published discourses  on  more  than one anniversary testify.
Of the Athenaeum of  this  city he was President at the time of
his decease, and had been so for years;  and often have I heard
him pour forth his grateful acknowledgments to the American
Philosophical Society,  and to the  others over which he pre-
sided,  for having annually  elected him to  honoured  offices,
when, as he expressed it, advanced  age, and  its  necessary in-
firmities, had subdued, but not destroyed, his usefulness.
  The latter feeling induced  him,  in January, 1843,  to tender
his resignation as President of  the Athenaeum—a proposition
which was met in that estimable spirit which "blesseth him
that gives and him that takes."   On the motion of Judge Pet-
tit, it  was resolved—"That the Board have received with
much  sensibility the note of Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  in which he
* See Appendix C. 
23
tenders his  resignation as a Director and President of the In-
stitution; and placing a  high value upon the influence of his
distinguished  reputation  and elevated character, earnestly de-
sire  that his connexion with the Athenasum,  as its President,
may be continued; and  while  the members  will at all times
be most happy to welcome  him among them, the Board will
relieve him  from the obligation to perform active duties."
  The deep interest which he  felt  in  all these institutions
could  not be  better shown than in  the feeling manner in
which, in his last will and testament, written  in 1839, he parts,
as it were, with some of  them, after having  bequeathed lega-
cies  to almost all.*
  "I take the liberty to recommend  to  my brethren  of the
bar  the Law Academy  of  Philadelphia,  that they may take
it under their special protection, so  as  to make  it as useful
as possible to the progress of  our noble science.   A law pro-
fessorship has long  been wanted in this city: several of the
states have the advantage of us in this respect.  I  recommend
this  important subject to the consideration of the friends of the
legal science, and who are desirous of making it redound more
and  more to the honour of Pennsylvania.
  "  The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is in danger of
perishing for want  of support.  While  almost  every  other
State has an historical society,  shall it be said that Pennsylva-
nia wants one?  Under the auspices of its illustrious founder,
William Rawle, it has produced  interesting  and valuable me-
moirs: the  honour of the State requires that the  work  should
be continued.   I recommend to them  to increase the number
of their  members, and, perhaps, to raise the  annual subscrip-
tion to five dollars.  I would also recommend to them  to ap-
ply for aid  to the Legislature: no one would be better able,
than a committee from their body, to  continue the publication
of our ancient records so honourably begun, and which appears
to be  suspended.  Science  and literature are the glory of a
State;  canals and rail roads  are perishable.   The noble aque-
ducts,  temples, roads, of  the Greeks and Romans, have perish-
ed, but their literary fame will  last forever.   If England were
*  See Appendix D. 
24
sunken  into the ocean, her fame would be perpetuated by the
works of her  admirable  historians,  philosophers, and poets.
Let those, whose minds are impressed with these feelings, ex-
ert themselves and act.
   "I  hope the annual celebration of  the landing of the great
William Penn will not be discontinued, and that  the  Society
will revive under better auspices than have  for some time at-
tended it.  Might  it not be remodeled  and  united to the  His-
torical Society?
   "The American  Philosophical Society have only to pursue
their present honourable course.
   "The above objects being very near my heart, I have  ven-
tured  to give vent  to my  feelings upon them.  Perhaps  it is
out of place, but my heart is full, and I could not help  it."
   Throughout the  whole  of  his existence, Mr.  Du Ponceau
was exceedingly shortsighted;  so  that, as  before stated, his
father, on this account, abandoned  the idea of educating  him
as a  military engineer.  About the  same  period, his father
took him to walk on the ramparts of  his native town,  and, in
the course of their  walk, asked him what profession he wished
to follow.  Like a dutiful son, the young man replied:—"Which
you please, sir."  His father  then  looked steadfastly upon
him, and in an angry tone said:—"Quel etat voulez-vous qu'on
donne a. un aveugle."   This put an end to their conversation,
and they both returned home  in a melancholy mood.
   This defect was  probably the cause of many of the instances
of absence which have been related of him.  He  himself ad-
mits,  that  when a young man he was extremely distrait,
being constantly involved in thought, so that Baron  Steuben
called him  his Parson  Adams.
   The following anecdote is related by himself:—
   In  the spring of 1788, whilst  the army was encamped at
Valley Forge, the  commander-in-chief ordered a sham-fight to
be executed by two divisions  of the troops, one of which was
under the command of Baron Steuben.   In  the capacity of his
aid-de-camp, Mr. Du Ponceau was sent to reconnoitre,  with
orders to return immediately  at full  gallop as  soon as the
enemy should be in sight.  "I rode on," says he,—in  a remi-
niscence addressed to  his grand-daughter,—"to the distance of 
25
about a quarter of a mile, when I was struck with the sight of
what I was since informed  to be some red  petticoats hanging
on a fence to dry, which I took for a body of British soldiers.
I had forgotten, it seems, that the contending parties were all
Americans, and none of them clothed  in  scarlet regimentals.
Full of my hallucination, I returned in haste to the camp, with
the news that the enemy were marching upon us.   Our divi-
sion took the road I had  indicated, and behold! the sight of
the red petticoats was  all  the  result of their movement.   It
excited, of course, a great deal of merriment, to my utter con-
fusion and dismay.   The adventure was related the same day
at head quarters to  General Washington, in my presence;  but
such was the conduct of that excellent man, that I retired com-
forted, and  my mind  relieved  from the heavy weight that
pressed upon it.  I cannot  recollect the  particulars of that
scene, my mind being so confused at the time.  All I remem-
ber, is a huge bowl of punch which  was handed round to the
company, and of which I  took my share.  No taunt, no re-
proach, came to  me from  any quarter.  The mirth that  the
adventure occasioned was  mild,  and only indulged in kind-
ness."
   "This true incident," he adds, "gave rise, amongst my fel-
low-soldiers, to many tales in which there  was not a shadow
of truth.   It  was said, for instance, that I had once  rode out to
the adjutant-general's office on a black horse,  and  returned on
a white one,  without perceiving the difference.  If you should
ever  hear any of those stories,  you may safely place them
among the apocrypha.   All  that can be said of them  is—'se
non e vero e  ben trovatof for they are in good keeping with
similar traits of my character at that time."
   Mr. Du Ponceau was under the impression that he had
wholly overcome this  "great  defect," as he  terms it; and
during the last years of his existence, his apparent absence
could generally be  explained by defective  sight and hearing.
In addition, indeed, to his original infirmity of vision, and  the
diminution in the sensibility  of the nerves of sight,  owing to
the progress of age, he was  affected with  cataract; yet, until
the last, he was capable  of reading, although with considerable
labour.
          n 
26
   About the year 1829, the even tenor of his life was broken
 in upon by his zealous exertions to  introduce the production
 and manufacture of silk into this country.  With  the  feasi-
 bility of the project he  was most enthusiastically impressed.
 In  a  letter to Mr. Arthur Bronson,  of New York, he says—
 "My plan is well considered; it  is slow, but sure.  I cannot
 say in what manner the thing will be done, but that the nation
 will, before  long, enrich themselves by the sale  of raw silk,
 and  successively afterwards by  the manufactured  article, I
 have no more doubt than of my own existence.   I owe a debt
 of gratitude to this country, by which I have been kindly re-
 ceived and treated.   I lay hold, with eagerness, of this oppor-
 tunity to repay it."
  Application was made  to Congress, and a bill was presented
 in conformity with the views of Mr. Du Ponceau, which failed,
 however,  and after great inconvenience, for he went to Con-
 necticut in 1830, and twice to  Washington during the session
 of Congress of 1831-2, to further the great objects he had in
 view;  and after the loss of several thousand dollars, he was ul-
 timately compelled  to abandon  the scheme altogether.
  In  a published letter  to  Mr. Warden, of Paris, dated the
 29th of July, 1837,  which gives a "history of the silk bill,"—
 after  having  described its  fate whilst he was in Washington,
 he remarks—"Thus, finally defeated in my patriotic design, I
 took leave of my friends, and returned home immediately.  I
 made no complaints nor appeals to the people in the newspa-
 pers or otherwise, but turned my thoughts to other objects.  I
 found that I had  lost three  years of  my time, and about four
 thousand dollars of my money, in pursuing a phantom, which
 at last eluded my grasp.  I awoke as from a dream,  and con-
 soled  myself with the proverb, which says  that the shortest
 follies are the best."
  Still, the agitation of the  measure  directed the  attention of
the public more  vividly to  the silk culture; yet  any imme-
diate benefit accruing from it was, perhaps, more than neutral-
ized by the morus multicaulis delusion, which gave occasion
to so many absurd and ruinous speculations.
  From this time he  proceeded smoothly along the downhill
of life, devoting his best  attentions to the societies over which 
27
he presided; and although the infirmities of age weighed upon
him, the brightness of his intellect, to  those who knew him
best, seemed almost untarnished.  Until within a day or two
of his death, the condition of European  politics was an object
of solicitude with  him; and he anticipated with increasing
pleasure the successive arrivals of the transatlantic steamboats.
Often has he expressed to me, that these arrivals became more
and more interesting, inasmuch as, at his time of life, he might
be cut off suddenly, and was, consequently, anxious to  keep up
his knowledge of passing events to the last moment.
  This  feeling of the great uncertainty  of his existence is
strongly  exhibited in  a  reminiscence to  his grand-daughter,
dictated  on the 20th of  January  last.  "Yesterday,"  he says,
"I had a  surprise, which I was far from  expecting.  Your
friend, Miss ----,  coming  to pay us the  compliments of the
season, wished me, as  usual, a  happy  new year,  and many
more to come.   To a man of my age, this word many sounds
very much like the mil-aiios of the Spaniard.  Still,  it is not
unpleasant.  I answered, that I did not expect to  live many
years, but that I hoped this  year to  'see the  roses'—meaning,
of course,  the roses in June.  To my great  astonishment, the
lady replied, 'then  your wish is accomplished,' and presented
to me a fine full blown rose; but, alas! it was a winter flower,
and not that which was the object of my wishes.  An old Ro-
man would have considered this as a bad omen, and an un-
lucky anticipation of expected time;  but  as I  am  not super-
stitious,  I  still hope,  with  submission to  Divine providence,
'to see the roses' on my next birth-day,  and  present to my fair
friend a fine bouquet of the  queen of flowers."
  The same feeling is exhibited in another reminiscence, dic-
tated on the 1st of March, exactly one month before his death,
and—as he admits—when in a "romantic vein."
  "The ugly month of February is gone,  not  to return  until
after the  expiration of another year.  Old winter,  with his
snow-capped head, and ice-shod feet, is fast receding from our
shores.   Three weeks more—only three weeks—and  the glo-
rious sun, emerging from the oozy mansions of the fishes, and
mounted" on a  splendid ram, will introduce  to us the youthful
Spring, leading by the hand his sister Flora, accompanied by a 
28
crowd of her lovely nymphs in the various forms of hyacinths,
jonquils, daffodils, violets, daisies, lilies of the valley,  and the
lovely primroses.  Primroses!  I love that word.   It reminds
me of the  poor primrose-girl, whose simple ditty,  in  my
younger days, I sang with so much pleasure, as it was coupled
with the remembrance of her from whose lips I first heard it
sung:—
                 ' I live by primroses,
                 Come buy my primroses.
                 Who'll buy my primroses'?
                 Who'll buy, Who'll buy?'

   But enough of those by-gone times.  Three  months  more,
and the roses will appear.  You know that I  was born in the
season of roses.   On every return of that enchanting season, I
reckon one year added to my frail existence, and I ask myself
the question:—Shall I see the roses once more?  That depends
upon the will of Divine providence; yet hope is not forbidden
us.  I yet hope, at the end  of the ensuing three  months, to see
the roses again, and to present you, on the third of June" [his
birth-day],  "with a  fine bouquet of the queen  of  flowers.
Pray join  in saying, Amen!"
   Although not destined to see the third of June, he was ena-
bled to see again his  favourite roses, which he asked  for in
his last illness,  and  numerous friends hastened to gratify his
wishes.  Ten clays after the letter was penned, from which
this extract was made,  he was attacked with  symptoms of
bronchitis—a disease which is  often fatal to the aged.   For a
time,  hopes  were entertained by me, that he might  success-
fully  resist  its  fatal  influence.   His  strength,  however, gra-
dually yielded, and, on the 29th of March, the depression and
difficulty  of breathing  became more  and more  urgent and
alarming.   He,  himself,  from the commencement of the at-
tack, had little expectation  of recovery.   Still, he was anxious
to learn the report which I had to make to him, from time to
time, of his condition, and especially of the evidences that
were  afforded by auscultation, on which he  seemed to place
great  reliance.
   On the  31st  of March, he said, in reply to  a friend, who 
29
spoke to him in an encouraging manner,—" C'est la maladie
de mort."   Throughout that day, it was manifest that his ex-
istence  could  not be  prolonged  many  hours.   About one
o'clock, in the morning of the first of April,  he breathed  his
last.

  Thus died—in his 84th  year—at an  age  much more  ad-
vanced than is generally vouchsafed to man, and happily with-
out the wonted  "labour  and  sorrow,"  one  who  had raised
himself to a proud eminence; and whose  high intellectual  en-
dowments had made him known not only in every  part of this
country, but in the  four  quarters of the globe.   His corres-
pondence was extensive,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  his
letters to and from distinguished literary characters are replete
with valuable and interesting information.   In all  these—and
on every occasion—where circumstances called for  the expres-
sion of his sentiments, he exhibited that he was sincerely and
ardently an  American; and was proud that his adopted coun-
try should reap  the credit  and advantage of his  intellectual
efforts.  I  have  already remarked, that  from an early age he
was imbued with republican principles; yet it would not seem
that these gave the whole impulse to his removal to this coun-
try.   He says himself, indeed:—"I shall not set up the vain
pretension of having come to this  country for  the sake of free-
dom,  or of a republican government.   I was, it is true, a friend
to liberty, and hated despotism, but that was not my predo-
minant  passion at the time.  My most anxious desire was that
of travelling.  I  wished to see different nations, different men,
different manners, and, above all, to learn different languages, of
which I was at that time, and ever since have been, extremely
fond."  In  writing of  the French alliance, the news of which
burst  upon them at Valley Forge, he thus expresses himself:
"The public distress was forgotten amidst  the universal joy.
I shall  never forget that glorious time.  I  was  not yet an
American.   I was proud of being a Frenchman.   Rejoicings
took place throughout the army.   Dinners, toasts, songs, feux-
de-joic, and what not!   I  thought I should be devoured by
the caresses, which  the American officers lavished upon  me
as one of their new allies.  Wherever a French officer appear- 
30
ed, he was met with congratulations and smiles.  0! that was
a delightful time!   It bound me forever to the country of my
adoption."   And in a subsequent reminiscence, dictated  a
little more than three months before  his death, in alluding to
his engagement with Mr.  Livingston, he says:—" Behold me,
then, fixed in Mr. Livingston's office, an American by choice
and by solemn contract, and a  republican by principle.  Du-
ring the four years that I  had been in this country, I had be-
come entirely domesticated in it.   I loved its simple manners,
customs and habits, and its  language was familiar to me.  So
that my resolution to remain permanently in it, was the result
of a natural feeling, which  has continued  to animate me through
the remainder of my long  life.  I have never had  the least de-
sire to pitch my tent any where else, not even in  the country
that gave me birth.  I have preserved for that country a ten-
der attachment; but it is that of the young bride  for her  aged
parents, and  the companions of her youth,  which is very dif-
ferent from what she feels  for the  husband of her choice, and
the family of her  adoption.  This last attachment acquires
strength by time, while the other gradually fades, but is never
entirely extinct.  I  have  said,  I believe, somewhere,  that  I
had come to this country an Anglomane, which feeling was
produced  by my  enthusiasm for English literature, particular-
ly poetry; but the conduct of Great Britain during the  war,
cured me  of my Anglomania, and I soon shared  in the senti-
ments that prevailed here.    They have been hostile or friendly
as political circumstances  gave  rise  to  them.  The study of
different  languages has led  me into a more impartial view of
the character of the different nations of the world, of their vir-
tues, and  of their foibles.  I  love the country of my choice,
and have no political attachment to any other."
   Such were the sentiments entertained by him from the mo-
ment he  became a citizen  of this country.   A  more patriotic
American heart never beat in an American bosom.  No greater
indignity  could, indeed, be  offered him than to  regard or to
treat him  as a foreigner, in the sense of one not thoroughly im-
bued with American principles, or  likely to be unduly biassed
by those  which he  might have imbibed in the  land  of his
birth. 
31
  These sentiments led him to place foremost amongst  the
many honours bestowed upon him, those which emanated from
the learned institutions of this country; and foremost amongst
these, again,  he ranked the honourable position  in which he
had been placed by this Society, of which he was, at the time
of his death, one of the oldest resident members.  On the 28th
of July, 1791,  he  was elected  into the Society;  in  January,
1816, he was chosen one of the Vice-Presidents; and in 1827,
seventeen years ago, on the death  of Chief Justice Tilghman,
he was elevated to the highest office which the Society is ca-
pable of bestowing.
  During the whole period of his  membership, he was one of
its most attentive,  able and active associates; and  even  in  the
wane of life, was constantly at his post.  The augmenting in-
firmities  necessarily attendant upon advancing and advanced
age, interfered  however, of late, with the regularity of  his at-
tendance at the meetings of the Society; and,  much to his re-
gret, prevented him from participating in the business meet-
ings of the Centennial  Celebration in  May, 1843.  The last
occasion  on which he occupied the Presidential Chair, at  a
stated meeting, was on the nineteenth of last January.
  But although often  absent of late from  the  Society, owing
to insuperable  causes, his heart was ever with it.  Of his ac-
tivity and value as a member, the pages of the " Transactions"
and  of the "Proceedings," and especially of the Memoirs of
the Historical and  Literary Committee, bear ample and signal
testimony.
  A devoted admirer of the illustrious Franklin, he was proud
to regard him as the founder of the Society, and so recently as
the year 1840,  he  laid before the Society an  elaborate, able,
and  ingenious,  but not  conclusive, argument, in which  he
endeavoured to demonstrate, that the American Philosophical
Society is an immediate continuation of the  ancient Junto  es-
tablished by Franklin in 1727.  He was more accurate, when
in his eulogium on his predecessor, Chief Justice Tilghman,
he refers  to a  Society  which  had been established  for the
promotion of useful knowledge, as " the first germ of our As-
sociation."
  Ever happy and  elated if the course of the Society was un- 
32
clouded—dejected and deeply solicitous if the sun of its pros-
perity was obscured  even for a moment; he  fully identified
himself with it;  and if there was any object  of a scientific or
literary character,  that, rather than another,  formed  a part
as it  were of his very existence, it was the American  Phi-
losophical Society.
  When, therefore, the  country at large mourns for him as a
departed sage  and patriot;—the Bar of Philadelphia grieve for
a venerable brother, " whose profound learning and varied ac-
complishments had  for  more  than fifty years distinguished
him, and shed lustre on the profession;"—the Law Academy
express their  affection for  him who was the  founder  of the
Institution, and  who  " for nearly a quarter of  a century con-
tinued to preside over it, and until his latest moments, felt the
liveliest interest, as well in its prosperity as  in the indivi-
dual welfare of its  members;"—the Athenaeum receives with
deep sensibility  the information  of the  death  of one " whose
extensive erudition, eminent ability, and renown as a man of
science and letters,  contributed largely to the elevation of the
character of Philadelphia;"  whose "faithful services as one of
its directors,  and for more  than sixteen years as its President,
were of a kind to conciliate the  veneration and affection of its
members;"  and  " whose preeminent acquirements as a philo-
sopher, and zeal for the promotion of useful knowledge, were
equalled only  by the integrity of his principles, and the prac-
tical virtues of his life;"—the Historical Society express their.
deepest sensibility at  the " irreparable loss they have sustain-
ed" in the  death  of their  very learned and  venerable Pre-
sident, whose  " public renown as a writer and a savant was
not more eminent than the purity of his private life and social
virtues," and  whose  "endowments, erudition  and varied ac-
complishments were not merely a source of cherished pride to
the members,  but the means which were always at their com-
mand  of the  most  extended  usefulness to the  Institution;"—
We, the American  Philosophical Society, unaffectedly deplore
his loss, not as irreparable, we trust;

                             " Flagrantior aequo
         "Non debet esse dolor viri, nee vulnere major;" 
33
but for the exalted services, which through a protracted, most
useful, and most honourable career, he rendered to the Society,
to the great objects for which the Society was instituted, and
to the country.  We honoured  him for the additional  lustre,
which,  through his  distinguished efforts,  had been  thrown
around  this Society in foreign countries,  as well as at  home:
we venerated him as the pure patriot and philosopher; and we
cherished  him as an estimable and accomplished associate, the
able incumbent of a  chair successively occupied by a Franklin,
a Rittenhouse, a Jefferson, a Wistar,  a Patterson, and a Tilgh-
man.
FINIS. 
 
APPENDIX.
                             (A.)

      LIST OF THE WRITINGS  OF MR. DU PONCEAU.

  An Opinion on the Case of the Alluvions of the River Mississippi,
near New Orleans, called the Batture.  New Orleans, 1308.
  Memoire en  forme de Consultation au sujet  des pretentions du
Gouvernement  des Etats-Unis  sur la Batture dite des Jesuites.  New
Orleans, 1808.
  A Review of the Case of the New Orleans Batture, and of the Dis-
cussions concerning it.   Philadelphia, 1809.
  A Treatise on the Law of War, translated from the Latin of Cor-
nelius Van Bynkershoek, being the First Book of his duaestiones Ju-
rispublici, with  Notes.  1 Vol.  8vo.  Philadelphia, 1810.
  The Penal Code  of  the French Empire;  translated  from  the
French, with Notes.  In the American Review, Vol. II.  Philadelphia,
1811.
  The Commercial Code of the French Empire; translated from  the
French, with Notes:  published in the same Book.  1811.
  English Phonology, or  an Essay towards an Analysis and Descrip-
tion of  the Component Sounds  of  the English  Language.  In  the
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. I.  New Se-
ries.  Philadelphia, 1818.
  A Report of  the Corresponding Secretary of the Historical  Com-
mittee of the American Philosophical Society, on the Progress  made
in the Investigation of the General Character and Grammatical Forms
of the Indian Languages, in the Transactions of the said Committee.
Vol. I.  Philadelphia, 1819.
  A Correspondence  with the Rev. Mr. Heckewelder on the Indian
Languages. In the same Book.
  A Discourse on the Early History of Pennsylvania, delivered before
the  American Philosophical Society.  Philadelphia, 1821.
  Notes on Eliot's Grammar of the Indian (Massachusetts) Language,
in the Collections of the Historical Society of Massachusetts.  Second
Series. Vol. IX.  Boston, 1822. 
36
  A Discourse on Legal Education, delivered  at the Opening of the
Law 'Academy of Philadelphia, 21st  Feb. 1821.  First  published in
Hall's Journal of Jurisprudence, and  afterwards in an  Appendix to
A Dissertation on the Nature  and Extent of  the Jurisdiction of the
Courts of the United States.  Philadelphia, 1821—1824.
  Discourse delivered before the first meeting assembled at Philadel-
phia to Commemorate the  Landing of William Penn.  In the Pro-
ceedings  of that meeting.  Philadelphia, 1824.
  On the Language, Manners, and Customs of the Berbers of Africa;
in a Series of Letters from W. Shaler to P. S. Du Ponceau,  with an
Introduction and Additions by the  latter.   In the Transactions of the
American Philosophical Society.  Vol. II. New Series.   Philadelphia,
1824.
  A Dissertation on the Nature and Extent of the Jurisdiction of the
Courts of the United States.  Philadelphia, 1824.
  Essai de Solution du Probleme Philologique propose en 1823, par la
Commission de 1'Institut Royal de France,  chargee de decerner le
prix fonde par le Comte de Volney. Philadelphia, 1825.   MS.
  On the Reciprocal Rights of Belligerents and Neutrals, written in
Italian by the Abbe Ferdinando Galiani.   Translated from the Ger-
man Translation of Professor Caesar.   2 Vols.  8vo.  MS.
  A Free Translation, with Additions, of M.  Rayneval's Works on
the same subject.  2 Vols. 8vo  MS.
  Translation of Vater on  the Origin of the  American Population.
1 Vol. 12mo.  MS.
  A Review of Chancellor Kent's  Commentaries on the Laws of the
United States,  in  the American  Quarterly  Review.   Philadelphia,
1827.
  A Grammar of the Language of the Lenni  Lenape,  or Delaware
Indians.  Translated from the German MS. of David Zeisberger, with
a Preface and Notes.  In the Transactions of the American  Philoso-
phical Society, Vol. III. New Series.  Philadelphia, 1827.
  A Eulogium on Chief Justice Tilghman.  Philadelphia, 1827.
  A Review  of the Travels of Duke Bernard, of Saxe Weimar, in
North America.  In the American Quarterly Review, Vol. V. Phila-
delphia, 1828.
  A Speech delivered at the Grand  Harvest  Home Meeting at the
Valley Forge Encampment  Ground, on the 26th of July, 1828, and
published in the proceedings of that meeting.   Philadelphia,  1828.
  A Letter to Captain Basil Hall on the Necessary Connexion of the
Chinese Characters with the Spoken Language. In the London Phi-
losophical Magazine for January, 1829.
  Essays on American Silk.   By John D'Homergue, Silk Manufac-
turer, and P. S. Du Ponceau.   Philadelphia, 1830. 
37
  An Address delivered to the Law Academy of Philadelphia, on the
Opening of the Session 1831-2.  Philadelphia, 1831.
  A Review of a Work upon Silk.  In the American Quarterly Re-
view, Vol. X.  Philadelphia, 1831.
  An Historical Discourse delivered before the William Penn Society.
Philadelphia, 1832.
  A Brief View of the Constitution of the United States.  Philadel-
phia, 1834.
  Names of Places, &c, given by the  Delaware Indians, with Expla-
nations by the Rev. John Heckewelder; prepared for the press,  with
an  Introduction and Notes, by P. S. Du Ponceau.   In  the Transac-
tions of the American Philosophical  Society, Vol.  IV. New  Series.
Philadelphia, 1834.
  A Eulogium on  General Lafayette.  In  Hazard's Register,  Vol.
XIV. No. 14.  Philadelphia, 1834.
  A Discourse on  the  Necessity and Means of making  our National
Literature independent of that of Great Britain.  Delivered before the
Foreign Library Society.  Philadelphia, 1834.
  A Description of New  Sweden, by  Thomas  Campanius Holm.
Translated  from the Swedish, with  Notes.  1 Vol. 8vo.  Philadel-
phia, 1834.
  Memoire k l'effet de Determiner le Caractere Grammatical des  Lan-
gues de l'Amerique Septentrionale, connues sous les noms Lenni Le-
nape, Mohegan et Chippeway, qui a obtenu le prix de Linguistique a
l'lnstitut de France, fonde par M.  de Volney.  Paris, 1836.
  A Memoir on the History of the celebrated Treaty made by  Wil-
liam Penn with the Indians, under the Elm Tree.  By Mr. Du  Pon-
ceau and Mr. J. F. Fisher.
  The History of the Silk Bill, in a Letter from- Peter S. Du Ponceau
to David B. Warden, Esq.  Philadelphia, 1837.
  A Dissertation on the Nature and Character of the Chinese System
of Writing, in a Letter to John Vaughan, Esq.  By Peter S. Du  Pon-
ceau, &c. &c.;  to  which are subjoined, a Vocabulary of the Cochin-
Chinese Language, by  Father Joseph  Morrone, &c.  &c., with refer-
ences to Plates containing the Characters belonging to each Word,
and with Notes, showing the degree of affinity existing between the
Chinese and Cochin-Chinese Languages,  and the use they respec-
tively make of their common system of Writing,  by M. de la Palun,
late Consul of France  at Richmond, in Virginia;  and a Cochin-Chi-
nese and Latin Dictionary in use among the R. C. Missions in Cochin-
China.  Published  by the Historical and Literary  Committee, by
order of the American Philosophical Society.  1 Vol. 8vo.  Philadel-
phia, 1838.
  An Historical Account of the Origin and Formation of the Ameri-
can Philosophical Society, held at  Philadelphia, for the  Promotion of 
38
Useful Knowledge.  Read before the Society on the 19th of June,
1840.   MS.
  Case, and Opinion of Peter S. Du Ponceau and A. Davezac, Coun-
sellors, on the Contested Seat of Hon. David Levy, Delegate from the
Territory of Florida, to the Congress of the United States.  Alexan-
dria, D. C. 1842.
  He  was the author, also, of several articles, additions and notes in
the American edition of the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia; and of the arti-
cles, "Chinese Language and Literature," "Languages and Philolo-
gy," in the Encyclopaedia Americana.   Several of his speeches, de-
livered on  various occasions at Philadelphia, New York and  Balti-
more, were published in the newspapers of the day.
                             (B.)

                                      Philadelphia, May 1st, 1822.
  Sir,-—The members  of the Law Academy of Philadelphia cannot
permit another year to expire, without again expressing their deep
sense of the obligations which your unwearied benevolence  has im-
posed upon them.
  The Association to which we belong owes its origin  to your coun-
sels, and ascribes its progress and present state of vigour and prospe-
rity  to your watchful attentions.  From the moment when we re-
ceived our charter of incorporation to the present hour, we are proud
to acknowledge, that we have been advancing under  your constant
guidance; and that our character and usefulness as an  institution are
the fruits, Sir, of your superintendence and instructions.  Our discus-
sions of abstract principles of law, sufficiently dry and uninviting in
themselves, have  been  enlivened and cheered  by your presence and
decisions: errors,  which we might naturally have adopted, have been
avoided: the fixed and  all-important principles of the science  have
been illustrated and enforced in your  opinions; and, as the proper
result of these  benefits, our numbers have been rapidly increasing.
The debates in which we have participated, we regard as a most hap-
py introduction to professional argumentation before the Bench; and
as an introduction not less necessary than happy.  We now leave
your instructions, Sir,  with  regret: we gladly anticipate our return
to them the succeeding autumn.
  For the patient attention and kindness you have manifested at our
meetings,—an attention and kindness rendered doubly acceptable by
the urbanity which has always  accompanied them,—we beg leave,
Sir, on  behalf of the Academy, to offer you our most sincere and 
39
grateful acknowledgments; and, with  the  most cordial wishes for
your continued health and happiness, we have the honour, very re-
spectfully, to style ourselves,
                   Your most obliged and obedient servants,
                                WILLIAM T. DWIGHT,
                                EDMUND S. COXE,
                                RICHARD PENN SMITH,
                                   Committee of the Law Academy.

Peter S. Du Ponceau, Esq. Provost, 6fc.
                                     Philadelphia, April \Qth, 1824.
  Respected Sir,—The close of another academical session being just
at hand, the members  of the Academy, unwilling to separate from
you for a season, without some open acknowledgment, of their obliga-
tions for your unremitted exertions in their behalf, have appointed us
a committee with this view and to this end, to represent them on this
occasion.
  Permit us, then, in a representative capacity, to express that lively
gratitude, which, as individuals, we all sincerely and devotedly  feel,
for  your unwearied  attention to our feeble attempts at legal argu-
ment, and for the important information uniformly conveyed by your
exceedingly satisfactory opinions.  For four successive years has this
Institution been supported by your efforts, and directed by your coun-
sels,—its members encouraged by your approbation, and delighted, as
well as instructed, by your judicial decisions.  Animated  by your zeal,
we  have ever found it a pleasure, through the medium of adversary
disputation, to investigate the hitherto unadjudicated points of  law,
and guided by your learning and experience have ever found  a desi-
rable profit in the result.  Already have your labours, faithfully  pre-
served by the Academy, and now partly copied by the members  into
books,  for the purposes of  a more careful preservation and greater
convenience of reference, spread themselves over four hundred pages
of manuscript.   Yet still persevering in your endeavours; still devo-
ting a portion of your valuable  time, and  employing your extensive
professional acquirements for our improvement, another obligation is
about to be added to  those already conferred, by the delivery of a va-
ledictory address, containing a discussion of some important constitu-
tional points.  Being well assured, that to your laborious exertions,
occasionally relieved by those of the Vice-Provost, we owe not only
the  present flourishing condition of the Academy, and the respect it
commands, but even  its  very existence as an Institution,  we are con- 
40
sequently indebted to you  for all the advantages derived therefrom,
and must of course feel a degree of gratitude  corresponding to your
services, and an ardour of attachment proportionate  to  the benefits
received.  To  your address at  the close of this session we look for-
ward with undissembled pleasure, as the sure means of extending the
reputation of this Institution, of enlightening its members, and increa-
sing its numbers.  Equally delightful  is the anticipation of our re-
union at the commencement of the next session, as the certain har-
binger of professional improvement, the never failing accompaniment
of our interesting  employment.  Accept, then, at this temporary se-
paration, this letter of thanks as the imperfect testimonial of the re-
spect and gratitude, so sensibly felt by all the members of the Law
Academy of Philadelphia, for their venerable Provost,  and  receive
with it their most sincere and hearty wishes for your future health,
welfare and happiness.
                 We remain, very respectfully,
                       Your obliged  and obedient servants,
                                     WILLIAM F. DUNCAN,
                                     J. G.  CLARKSON,
                                     WM. B. DAVIDSON,
                                                      Committee.
  The  following  note  from Mr. Kane conveys  his impressions as
to the  legal character of Mr. Du Ponceau;  and it is especially inte-
resting, on account of the testimony  which it bears from so excel-
lent a source as to the unimpaired condition of Mr. Du Ponceau's
intellect, even in  his last illness, when it might have been expected
that its powers would be materially impaired.

My Dear Doctor,—
  I know you do not want me to undertake the  analysis of Mr. Du
Ponceau's professional character.   He had withdrawn, in fact, from
active practice,  when  I first knew him, and my recollections of him
as a lawyer connect themselves with his labours in the Academy, and
with his books.
  I was the first Secretary of the Society under whose auspices the
Law Academy was organized.  Chief Justice Tilghman was our Pre-
sident, Mr. Du Ponceau taking the title of Provost.  It lasted but a
short time; a heavy snow storm having prevented the election of of-
ficers taking place at the time fixed by the  charter, and there being
no provision in the instrument to maintain the corporate character
after such a lapse. Of the  Society while it continued,  and the Aca-
demy afterwards, Mr. Du Ponceau-was principium <>A  caput et fans. 
41
He would spend evening after evening listening to the arguments of
the moot court,  and never failed  to surmount the discussion with a
fully laboured opinion.  I  remember several of these treatises, for
they were, in fact, too grave and ample for a less dignified title, which
ought not to have been lost to the literature of the profession.
  He was a well-studied publicist, a little too liberal for the prevailing
school  of his day, and not, perhaps, always ready to do justice to the
argumentation and influences by which  that school was character-
ized.   Comparing him with some of our native jurists, I should  al-
most say that, Fitzgerald-like, he was more American than the Ame-
ricans.
  His mind was acute, and thoroughly drilled.  He worked hard and
rapidly.  Even in the last hours of his life,  he  retained his profes-
sional  tone and habit of thought, tracing nothing which he did not
elaborate.  You remember the scene in  his chamber just before his
death,  when he invited me to draw the codicil to his will.  He spoke
with difficulty, and at intervals;  but the sketch, as it came from his
mind, had all the accuracy of phrase and formality of construction of
a revised draught.  The codicil, as it was presented to the Register a
few days after, reads badly; but the fault was my own.  I undertook
to amplify and define what I thought were to be merely  notes, and I
found,  before I was done, that he had been  dictating without intend-
ing it.  A mere  amanuensis would have  taken down a much neater
professional instrument.
  This little  anecdote is probably my only reminiscence of our old
friend,  which it is worth while to admit into  your appendix.  I can
add nothing to his character as you have drawn it.
                                 Very faithfully
                                          And  truly, yours,
                                                   J.  K. KANE.
Dr. Dunglison.                                  Nov. 11, 1844.
                             (C.)
A  List  of the  Literary and  Scientific Institutions to which Mr.
  Du Ponceau belonged ; with the dates of his appointment.
 American Philosophical Society, 1791.
 American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 1813.
 Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 1818.
 University of Pennsylvania (as Trustee).
 New York Historical Society, 1819.
 Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania, 1819.
 The Imperial Society of Beneficence, St. Petersburg, 1819.
F 
42
  American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, 1820.
  Essex Historical Society, Salem, 1821.
  Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, 1823.
  Royal Institute of France, 1827.
  Antiquarian and Historical Society of Illinois, 1828.
  Columbian Institute, Washington, 1828.
  Philoclean Society of Rutgers College, New Brunswick, 1829.
  Royal Academy of History of Spain, Madrid, 1829.
  French Society of Universal Statistics, Paris, 1829.
  Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, Copenhagen, 1829.
  Royal Academy of Turin, 1829.
  Kurland Society for Literature and Art, at Mitau, 1830.
  Academy of Inscriptions, Belles-Lettres, History and Antiquities, of
Sweden,  Stockholm, 1831.
  American Institute of Letters, Philadelphia,  1834.
  Union Debating Institute, Philadelphia, 1834.
  Peithessophian Society, Rutgers College,  New Jersey, 1834.
  Bristol Institution for the Advancement of Science,  Literature and
the Arts, Bristol (Eng.),  1835.
  Geographical Society of Paris, 1836.
  American Historical Society, Washington, 1837.
  Academy of Sciences and Belles-Lettres of Palermo, 1837.
  Royal Geographical Society of London, 1838.
  Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, 1839.
  American Institute, New York, 1839.
  British and Foreign Aborigines Protection Society, London, 1839.
  Royal Society of Antiquaries of France, 1839.
  Educational Society, Cincinnati, 1840.
  National Institution for the Promotion of Science, Washington, 1840.
  Ethnological Society of Paris, 1840.
  Royal Herculaneum Academy, Naples, 1840.
  Philomathean Society of St. Mary's College, Emmetsburg, 1841.
  Albany Institute, 1841.
  Historical and Geographical Institute of Brazil, 1841.
  American Oriental Society, Boston, 1842.
  Northern Academy of Arts and Sciences, Hanover, N. H. 1842.
  Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, 1843.
  Ethnological Society, New York, 1843.
                             (D.)
  " I give and bequeath to the American Philosophical Society, held at
Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge, all my books treating 
43
 of philological subjects;  that is  to say, of languages in general, in-
 cluding hieroglyphics, alphabets, specimens of languages, and works
 treating of the various systems of writing, excepting such grammars
 and  dictionaries, English, French,  and  Italian, which  my grand-
 daughter shall think proper to take  for her use.  Also, all  my pam-
 phlets  in any language,  bound or unbound,  separately or  together,
 whether relating to politics, literature, or other subjects, excepting
 such as my said grand-daughter shall think proper to reserve for her
 own use.  Also,  my works of Locke, Condillac,  Dumarsais,  the two
 Humboldts,  Dugald Stewart, and Thomas Reid, in their original lan-
 guages.  Also, the Journal Asiatique, with its continuations, in hopes
 that the subscription will be continued.   Also, the  works of Jomard,
 Prichard, Klaproth, and Remusat.  Also, Micali's History of the An-
 cient Italian Nations, in Italian, three volumes, octavo, with the plates
 belonging to it.   Also, the Geography of Malte Brun, as those books
 shall be found in my library.
     *******
   I  give and bequeath  to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania my
 copy of the votes of Assembly previous  to the  Revolution; the Works
 of William Penn, given to me by my deceased friend Judge Hallow-
 ell, Clarkson's Life of William Penn, and Proud's History of Penn-
 sylvania. Also, two hundred dollars.
   I give and bequeath to the Law Association of Philadelphia (I mean
 the Association of which I was elected Chancellor, December 4, 1837,
 as appears from a certificate among my papers), for their library, my
 copy of Bracton, given to me by the late Judge Franklin.  Also,  Cou-
 tumes Anglo-Normandes, four volumes,  quarto, containing Fleta,  Brit-
 ton, and other ancient works of English law.   Also, Loix de Howard,
 being Littleton's  Tenures, with a French Translation  and Commen-
 tary.  I beg my brethren of the bar will accept  these as a testimony
 of my respect, and of  the  remembrance of ancient  fraternity.  As
 they are not incorporated, at least that I know of, my  friend, Thomas
 I.  Wharton, will receive this legacy in trust for them.   I add to it mv
 Corpus  Juris Civilis, by Friesleben, said to be the best edition extant.
 Also, Ayliffe's Pandects of the Civil Law, folio.   I  give them, also, my
 set of the American Jurist,  published at Boston, unless they have it
 already.
   I give and bequeath to the Law Academy of Philadelphia, one hun-
 dred dollars, to aid in their expenses, and in  token of kind  remem-
 brance.
   I give and bequeath to the Athenaeum of Philadelphia two hundred
dollars.
  I give and bequeath to  the Trustees of the University of Pennsyl-
vania, for the Library  of the  University,  my Dictionnaire  Gcogni-
phique,  by La Martini^re, in six volumes, folio. 
44
  I except from the books given to the  Philosophical Society those of
which they are already possessed, as will  appear from their cata-
logues.  Those duplicates I give to my friend, John Pickering, above
named.  As to bound pamphlets, if among them there should be any
which they already have, they may still keep the  bound volumes for
the sake of those which they have not got, as it would not do to sepa-
rate them.

  I give and bequeath,  in addition to the other bequests, to the Ame-
rican Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful
Knowledge, my Moniteur Universel ou Gazette Nationale, in twenty-
one volumes, folio, being the History of the French Revolution and of
Europe, from 1789 to 1800, with an additional odd volume of a subse-
quent date, and the six volumes of Indexes to the same, entitled, Ta-
bles Chronologiques and Tables Alphabetiques, in quarto."

',-.'•*
•*.*"'•