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.# : t*. *No. 42**** *AMERICAN BIOGRAPHT.■ • • 1 • ■ ■ • '*• , • ' ‘ I V-» *■ lt;. . r»* s''THE LIFE*OF COL. DaVID HUMPHREYS.f . ' -ff.HOEVER is much eonverfant wiSATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1799-•iVOL. I«... ¥uflto, in the fummer of 17*4. This he pleaf- | ?«“ thou?ht.iingly mentions in his epiitle to Dr. Dwight, written on board of the Courier de l’Europe, the (hip in which he left America.delights and aftonifties; none, of that fiery en-thuiiafm which hurries us beyond the bounds of fober recolleion,» ^ Vu Him firft, whom once you, knew in war fo well,iquod peftus inanlter anget,Hiftory of Literature cannot fail to1#?!* 'hof.mm. #iil founSi f. bird,ati Uniform tendency in men of.jff* n’‘k'i‘rhlrmt *iald,?««*•«»■» ‘Ms.I'That youth, whom bays and laurels early ct own'd, ^\‘.yrC..\X, wK• '■ ?• . 1■ -genius tp aflbciate arid link .thcmfelves together in fome ftitang community and ftudy of life. Point out to me a man diftinguilhed in any of the walks of fcience, and I inquire who are his companions.H will have perfons of fome congeniality of character or views with whom to confult; and generally they will feek at leaft one or two ©nment they can rely, even if they en*Authors• y *-.i’S rhofeV1,. Avy his or tneir genius The peculiar talents of Mr. Trumbull and Mr. Dtiyight, and. the enthufiafm with which. v ■ •n virtue, fcience, arts, and arms renown’d,”• * • . * •Col. Humphreys returned from. Europe in1 and was almoft immediatelf elefted a I an ^7 anlt;i becominrepresentative from his native town, toIrritjU, mulcjt, falfis terroribuj ifepleo,• /Ut magus The!»i», modo panit,*• * •Athenis—, / r * • * •but they are every where (at lead the principal poem) correct and pleafing; tl*e #verfe flowsgrace ; and thewriter aims at athe i ferments, except whenConntaSut Legiflaturea fituation to which MuWimify to which he haa no claims, arc adaped to the Occafion, and befpeak an amiablehe was rel|ie$:ed the following year, and in which he honourably acquitted himfelf. At this time, Congj^fs, refolved on the -levy offome additional regiments for the weftern fer-vice i and Col. Humphreys was appointed to the command of thar which was raifed in New-manly temper and underftandinz^ ® ^.*» ■ ■ t. \ « . *. vAi. . **i4*^ '.of:- *.►, ,1’■'-rWhat firft drew thetrymen\ towards Col. was his i 1 Addrefs to■-xi?n-wvJX.V‘*1whenf like Camden,they cultivated the politer ftudies, attracted I England. ) his appoirUment. fuYnifhed him | and one the pen empl many elevated and amiable minds to their foci- | with employment till fome time in 1788 *, | whatever may havemerits, have fudden*• t *r■if-'■ *•«- lar*• •*«f.i* *yi-fr. : •; % X. r -Among thefe fome were incited to fimi-and among the firft was the fub-..... “•* • ' r*' -.“S. - ’ •• *. - • 1 ^ , - 1-jed of the prefent article.David Humphreys was born at Derby, State of Connefticut, about the 'year 175 2 or 5 3 j Was admitted into Yale College in 17^7, andgraduated in 1771, Of the circumftances of his early education I am ignorant j nor is myrelative to his collegiate life fufli-Thatwhen the occafion for f which the levy had been made no-longer exftting, the cotm was reduced and his cornmiflibn terminated. But$Tcienny mmute to render it intcrefting. he /oYme’d liis aequaintance, at this time, with*• . _ •' v • .sir. _i •^ Im. 1 ___thea*.C:*w vvT1 •Vv*'^.h. .*. .‘V'v'-’* * •*.r, •. , K1t^V-ISJ1r^V ., and With bis friends, Dwight and ,7 is, certain 5 for, having entered theCol. Philips, of Philips’s Mann,tStateof New- fbricf * leaving Coll^, he addreftcd a poetical letter to the former, in which hfe dif-plays, with great eafe of narrative and minute-nefs of circumftarice, his fituation, piansi pro-,fpeds, and; wifhes. publilhed, and perhaps is not now in exift-ence. * How long Mr. Humphreys continued in this fituation, aud at what time, arid With what rank he entered the American a my, my recoiled ion does not now enable me to de-during m command, hi§ time was principally fpent at Hartford, iirgompany with Mr. Ixumbull, Baiiow, Hopkilft^and others of his friends ; poetry and politics lSrvided their at-tentioi § and the purpdfes of bo ed and purfued in the publication archiai'f and the various pieces, at a timehand the fword✓ ^Few publications, their fubielt or their •r their author a more reputation ; and the po-it was attended in Ameri-l - H * •it to Europe. The Marquis deeux honoured it by performing tlie office tranflator into French ; and the Englilhattrna-n-t and fa-tire which diftinguifiled that: 4 * . • •After the redudhon of hisThis epiftle was neverS| Col. Hum-iribus friend atphreys made a vifit to his Mount Vernon'. There, confidence of its pofleflfor,IHp^remained till theIP®# Wdly challengedfive of Britain. But much of this applaufemuft be attributed to the circumftances of time and place ; and the reader of the prefent day will find no reafon for this unUfual fuccefs of a poem, which, though handfome and fpirited, has no peculiar claim to the admiration of thejbtired with the critic.. .• --1' 1 Whv A.ternline. But, as early as 1778 he was Aid de camp to General Futnam, with the rank of Mijor: and in 1780, as he himfelf inorms us,(m his poeticalpromoted to be Aid de camp tcier in Chief, with ^ the rank ^ Colotiel. Inthe family tA Gen. WafiTingtoh fie cbntinuedtill the eiid of the; V) r j and;5 ^r the refijgna-| tiou or his commilfion by the General, accomVf* ‘ »i'-V•organization of- the neWelection of Mr. Wa He then accompa York, and was a public appointmen this period his life tentiye to Ame fent Minifter his refidencerupted by atumn 0: 79As at,' r.i V-i^ * AS. 51 -irrii. On the appointment of Mr. JeffefFoi to., fucceed Drf Franklin, asry. critic lofty in p. elevateCol. Humphreys’s next publication, of any erament, and the I note, was his poem “ On the Happinefs ofn to the Prefidency. e Prefident to New-jrimericaThe fuccefs of. this publication wasr of his family till his Portugal in 1790. FromI known to every one at-* ~ “ ^n affairs. He is the premoderate butit refpe^fcatiminifh theable. It did not raiie, butdipotentiary at Madrid ; ande has only been inter-vifit, to America in the Au-- -K vhd a man of letters, if eftimatedby that ideJplihdard of excellence which eves' in his own mind, and which isonion as his own conceptions areCol. HumphreysIhelupy;a ftatien in the foremoft rank ;wetof xy*!?”'-:* ■ **v,*‘,r‘ireyswas nominated as Secretary ip the Legation; and he left his native country for the firft timand failed for Europe, in company with ’ friend the celebrated and unfortuuate Ro^i-, if m judging of his literarympare him with the mafs of hts cotempora-andconfider the difficulties vwith whichmerican genius had then, and evenJtili has,g|e, we (hall not hefitate to aflign him hie place among the poets of the pre-it did not diminifh the reputation of the author. This was followed by his “ Effay on. tbs Life of General Putnam? in 1788, and by his Tragedy, entitled u Lhe W^idow of Malabartran-fiated from the French, firft placed in May and publifhed 111 Auguft, 1790. Neither of thefcadvanced the literary charafter of their author, The firft was thought deficient in that eafe and grace which biographical narration is fuppofedpeculiarly to demand-; and the fecond ihared wthe. fate of many other dramatic efforts of natives of the United States \ it was decently received, but foon fell into negleft. It muft be confeffed, however, that the turgid frigidity of the original was very little improved m the . tranflatioh ; and that the intereft which tragedy was in rehded to excite was overwlielmed, inthis inftance, by the difguft w fpeilablc as the devotion of the heroine infpired. Nor was the difguft much alleviated by the*His poems, it is true, difplay none [ u ^ry rupture” of the cataftropheS'
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Philadelphia Desert to the True American
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Sat, Apr 27, 1799
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USA 23 Jan 2020
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