hiding place and sit by him at his meals, in order to receive the crumbs with which its boldness was plentifully rewarded. His pigeons also became so much attached to him, from his constant attention to them, that, when he walked in the yard, they would alight on his person, and contend for a place, crowding upon his head, shoulders, arms, and indeed wherever they could rest.

He was always distinguished as a man of great taste, fond of science, when he had leisure to devote himself to it, and acute and clear in his professional exertions. His skill in music was considerable, and the airs which he composed for his own songs rendered them doubly popular. At a time when the rudeness and poverty of the country permitted few to devote themselves to the cultivation of the arts, Mr. Hopkinson gave to them all the attention which it was possible to bestow.

Mr. Hopkinson possessed uncommon talents for pleasing in company. His wit was not of that coarse kind which was calculated to "set the table in a roar." It was mild and elegant, and infused cheerfulness, and a species of delicate joy, rather than mirth, into the hearts of all who heard it. His empire over the attention and passions of his company was not purchased at the expense of innocence. They who have passed many delightful hours in his society, declare that he was never once heard to use a profane expression, nor utter a word that would have made a lady blush, or have clouded her countenance for a moment with a look of disapprobation. It is this species of wit alone that indicates a rich and powerful imagination, while that which is tinctured with profanity, or indelicacy, argues poverty of genius, inasmuch as they have both been considered, very properly, as the cheapest products of the mind.

Mr. Hopkinson left behind him at his death, a widow, and five children, two sons and three daughters. Of these the eldest, the late Judge Hopkinson, is well known as the distinguished successor of his father's talents and honours, uniting the same quickness and brilliancy of genius, the same taste and fondness for the arts, with superior success as an advocate at the bar, an orator in the public councils of the nation, and a judge upon the bench which had been dignified by the virtues of his father.

JOHN HAR T.

IF those who administered the British government in the early part of the reign of George the Third had been well informed of the real character of that party in the colonies, which opposed their pretensions to the exercise of unlimited power, they would have seen the impracticability of their scheme, if they had not been convinced of its injustice.

They were not aware that prudent and unambitious men-established land-holders, deeply interested in the preservation of tranquillity-had rallied round that standard of resistance which they supposed to be supported only by needy adventurers, or noisy demagogues, to whom any change might bring an improvement of condition.

One of the patriots that voluntarily incurred the greatest degree of suffering, without the possibility of any individual gain, was JOHN HART, a member of that congress which issued the memorable Declaration of Independence.

He was the son of Edward Hart, of Hopewell township and Hunterdon county in New Jersey, from whom he inherited a considerable patrimonial estate, and a spirit that would have been worthy of the best days of ancient Rome.

During the war with France, Edward Hart was one of those brave and loyal colonists who generously lent their aid to the military operations of England :—aid that was gladly received and emphatically acknowledged, but never recompensed, by the royal government. He exerted himself in the cause of the mother country, so far as to raise a corps of volunteers, called the Jersey Blues; a name that they first bore, but which has become a favourite military designation since that period. With this corps he marched into Canada, and arrived before Quebec in time to participate in the victory which closed the mortal career of General Wolfe.

John Hart, the son, did not join in these military expeditions, but was quietly cultivating a farm of four hundred acres, which he had

purchased. He had married a lady of respectable connexions and great amiability of character, named Deborah Scudder, and was surrounded by a numerous family of sons and daughters. In the enjoyment, therefore, of domestic happiness, and engrossed by the cares of his farm, he felt no aspiration for martial fame, and was not particularly excited by the quarrel between France and England, in which the colonies took, generally, an active part.

He served, however, in the colonial assembly, and for twenty years assisted in the local legislation which was exercised for the improvement of the country, in the laying out of new roads, the erection of bridges, the founding of seminaries of education, and the provisions for administering justice. When the series of agressions upon the rights of the colonies was commenced by the passage of the stamp act in the year 1765, he assisted in the selection of delegates appointed to represent New Jersey in the congress held at New York, in the month of October of that year; and he was one of those who at once perceived the true nature of the dispute between the ministry of King George on the one side, and the people of the colonies on the other; he saw clearly that the question at issue between them involved nothing less than absolute slavery to the colonies, if they should submit to the novel pretensions of the British government.

The even tenor of his life was interrupted by few incidents that would not appear trivial in narration. His farm grew yearly better in value and improvement, his stock increased, and his family was augmented by a biennial addition of a son or daughter, until he was surrounded by thirteen children. In their education, together with the care of his farm, the exercise of friendly acts of assistance to his neighbours, and in serving brief tours of duty as a member of the colonial legislature, he found occupation of that enviable kind which, at once useful and tranquil, brings old age with no wrinkles but those which time has traced, and preserves for advanced years the cheerfulness of youth.

A course of life so peaceful and happy is not often destined to remain free from interruption. While everything was proceeding in its regular course in the domestic circle of honest John Hart," great events were occurring on the other side of the Atlantic, which were to reach, with a malignant influence, even to the calm retirement of the New Jersey farmer.

In 1767, Charles Townshend being elevated, unfortunately for the British empire, to the place of chancellor of the exchequer,

brought forward his plan of revenue, including duties on glass, paper, pasteboard, painter's colours, and tea, imported into the colonies.

The generous confidence in which the colonists had reposed since the repeal of the stamp act, was now dispelled; they had trusted that the hateful project of imposing a badge of slavery upon them would not be revived, but the adoption by parliament of this new imposition, excited the most serious alarm and the gloomiest apprehensions.

John Hart, in the midst of his quiet comforts, appreciated the extent of the evil that impended. Valuing all the blessings which were his own, he felt that they might all be rendered valueless if he were to possess them but as the slave of a despotic master. The amount of tax that he would pay was not worth a thought; he had little occasion for English paper, pasteboard, glass, or paint; and tea was a luxury that hardly found its way to the tables of such plain country families as his.

But the sense of personal security and unalienable rights, the sturdy pride of freedom, which every Englishman of that day, and every inhabitant of the British colonies was accustomed to cherish as his birthright-these were indispensable to him. Without these, all the advantages he possessed were of no avail—his riches might increase, his friends might multiply, his honours might thicken upon him, his children might be all that his parental wishes could suggest—still if he might be taxed, to the value of a straw, by a parliament in which he had no share of actual or virtual representation, he could be no more than a slave. It was a noble sentiment which actuated such men to join in the plans of resistance—a sentiment alloyed by no hope of personal aggrandizement, excited by no restlessness of temper, fomented by no artful demagogues-but pure and disinterested, founded on a sincere belief of rights invaded, and leading to the most unbounded sacrifices.

The congress of 1774 was called, and assembled. Of this body the members were variously constituted. Hart was elected in July, by a conference of committees from different parts of the colony, and was a fit representative of the moderation, disinterestedness and firmness that then characterized the people who elected him.

Of that august and venerable body nothing can be said in commendation, that would be beyond the truth. To that body will future statesmen look, and learn what it is to be a patriot. There was no selfish intrigue for power, no aim at personal distinction, no factious striving for individual honours. Of the members of that

congress it may emphatically be asserted, as was said of the Romans in their most virtuous age, "with them the republic was all in all; for that alone they consulted; the only faction they formed was against the common enemy; their minds, their bodies were exerted sincerely and greatly and nobly, not for personal power, but for the liberties, the rights, and the honour of their country."

He returned, after the adjournment of congress, to the unvaried occupations of his farm; and waited, with anxious hope, the effect of the appeal that had been made to the generosity of the king and British people.

In January, 1775, the general assembly of New Jersey re-appointed him a representative in the congress which was to meet in the ensuing spring. He took his seat in this illustrious council on the tenth of May; and attended assiduously until the adjournment in the following August.

At this time, however, the royal authority ceased in New Jersey, and the general assembly was superseded by a convention of deputies from the several counties, attended of course only by confirmed and decided whigs. This convention, on the fourteenth of February, 1776, elected Mr. Hart one of their delegates to congress, and he did not refuse the appointment.

His colleagues were William Livingston, Richard Smith, John Cooper and Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant; and they were vested with full powers to consent and agree to all measures which congress might deem necessary; and the province of New Jersey was pledged by the resolution appointing these delegates, to execute to the utmost all resolutions which congress might adopt.

On the twenty-first of June, a new appointment was made, in which John Hart was retained as being of accord with the people in their determination to risk all, and suffer all, that might be necessarily risked or suffered in the effort to gain independence; but some of his colleagues were not continued, because their zeal or their firmness could not so safely be trusted.

This new appointment, made after the proposition to declare independence had been brought forward in congress, and with a knowledge of Mr. Hart's opinions on the question, was accompanied with instructions "to join with the delegates of the other colonies in continental congress, in the most vigorous measures for supporting the just rights and liberties of America, and if you shall judge it necessary or expedient for this purpose, to join with them in declaring the United Colonies independent of Great Britain."