tic life in the enlivening hopes of friendship-in plans of literary improvement and professional duty; and if I know my own heart, I can say, that regarding this world as the scene of much vice and misery, and containing no bliss but what will be infinitely exalted in that which is to come, I cherish always with pleasure, and sometimes with triumph, the prospect of leaving it, and entering on the perfection and unutterable happiness of my everlasting existence.

J. H. HOBART.'

This letter must surely have been penned in some gloomy moment, for it certainly presents a picture which his nearest friends cannot realize. It is a morbid exaggeration of momentary feeling: he mistook the shadow of a cloud for the darkness of night; but the cloud soon passed, and all was bright again. To such alternations ardent minds are proverbially subject, but Mr. Hobart less so than any the author at least has known. Cheerful activity seemed part of his nature; it beamed forth in all that he said or did; whatever he thought or felt came forth from his heart as water from a living spring, bright and sparkling; his words, too, moved as quickly, like unto those of one who feels himself impelled to speak, That he had his moments of lassitude, there is no doubt; but compared with most men, they were few and far between. He was by nature happy and light

hearted. In the medley of mental musings, the cheerful thought with him was always uppermost, and often expressed itself with childlike simplicity on his countenance. What were you smiling at?' I once said, on meeting him, walking alone. 'At my own thoughts,' replied he; I am so apt to do it, I am sometimes afraid of being taken in the streets for a simpleton.' This it was that gave to him in society a bright and cheerful tone, in voice, look, and manner. His entrance into the room was like a ray of light for wakening up the dull or dispirited, and no chance companion of an hour could ever part from him without feeling that he had been in the society of a cheerful and happy man, as well as a most able and good one.

CHAPTER II.

From his Removal to the City in December, 1800, to the first of his Publications in 1803; from the 25th to the 28th Year of his Age.

Trinity Church-Early History-Actual Condition-Style and Estimate of Mr. Hobart as a Preacher-Styles of Preaching-His Performance of Pastoral Duties-Domestic Establishment-Anecdotes of KindnessHabits of Study--Official Duties in General and State Conventions.

THE parish of Trinity, with which he now became connected, was among the oldest in the Northern States. The Province of New-York, being gained by conquest, became consequently a royal colony. The Church of England, therefore, came in with the government, in 1664, or rather in 1667, when, by the treaty of Breda, the colony was ceded. The Church thus became, in some sense, established.

Among the rights to which it at once succeeded, was the use of the garrison chapel, which stood within the fort, near what is now termed the Bowling Green, at the foot of Broadway. Upon the subsequent increase of the congregation, a parish church was erected under the name of 'Trinity,' which stood where the present church of that name now stands. This was in the year 1696, under the reign of William and Mary, by whom, or rather by the

colonial governor, under authority committed to him, it was liberally endowed - an adjoining property, known as the King's Farm,' being granted to the corporation for the support of the services of the Protestant Episcopal Church.*

This edifice was originally a small square building, accommodated to present necessity; but being twice enlarged, viz. in 1735 and 1737, it became one of the largest and most splendid churches in the country, being one hundred and forty-six feet in length, seventy-two in width, with a noble spire one hundred and eighty feet in height. On the 21st September, 1776, it was involved in the memorable and melancholy conflagration which devastated that part of the city, and lay in ruins during the remainder of the revolutionary war, and for some years afterward.

The present edificę, inferior in size to the old, being forty-two feet shorter, was erected in 1788, and consecrated in 1791, by the first Bishop of the Diocese, the Right Rev. Samuel Provoost. In addition to the parish church, two chapels within its bounds had successively been erected previous to this period, viz. St. George's, in 1752, and St. Paul's, in 1766.

* The original grant was a temporary one, 6th May, 1607, by Governor Fletcher. It was made perpetual by a grant from Lord Cornbury, 1705, and in 1709 confirmed by the Colonial Assembly under Governor Ingoldsby.

Such was the parish at the time of Mr. Hobart's connection with it. Subsequently St. John's Chapel was added, (1807,) and St. George's set off (1811) as an independent church. The parish was then, as it continues to be now, under the pastoral charge of a rector and three assistants.* At the time of Mr. Hobart's

election, the Right Rev. Benjamin Moore, D. D., held the situation of rector, having been elected thereto on Bishop Provoost's resignation, the same day (September 8, 1800,) on which the call was given to Mr. Hobart. The other assistant minister was the Rev. Abraham Beach, D. D., and the Rev. Cave Jones was chosen

*The Rectors of Trinity Church up to the present year (1836) have been as follows;

The other ministers have been, beside the above-named, the Rev. John Ogilvie, D. D., Rev. John Bowden, D. D., Rev. Abraham Beach, D. D., Rev. John Bisset, Rev. Cave Jones, Rev. Thomas Y. How, D. D., Rev. Thomas C. Brownell, D. D., now Bishop of Connecticut, Rev. J. M. Wainwright, D. D., Rev. Henry Anthon, D. D., Rev. J. F. Schroeder, and the Right Rev. B. T. Onderdonk, D. D., the present Bishop of the Diocese.