Unlike the crowned idols of our race, Thou dost no earthly pomp about thee cast, Who, who to CONSCIENCE doth not bow at last, Old arbiter of Time-the present and the past! Thou wast from God when the green earth was young, Or led him through her paradise of bowers; In the long luxury of their first repose! When the whole earth was incense, and there went JOSEPH HOPKINSON, 1771-1842. JOSEPH HOPKINSON was the son of Francis Hopkinson, who was one of the patriots of the Revolution, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and distinguished for his legal learning, wit, and general attainments! He was born in Philadelphia, in 1770, studied law, and became distinguished for his profound and varied attainments, and as an advocate of peculiar eloquence and ability. He served for some time as a representative in Congress, and was a member of the Convention which remodelled the Constitution of Pennsylvania. In 1828, he was appointed judge of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which office he filled with great integrity and ability, united to singular urbanity and kindness of manners; and retained it till his death, which occurred on the 15th of January, 1842. At the time of his death, he was Vice-President of the American Philosophical Society, and President of the Academy of Fine Arts. As a writer, Judge Hopkinson is chiefly known as the author of the popular song of HAIL, COLUMBIA." Hail, Columbia! happy land! Hail, ye heroes! heaven-born band! Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause, See page 56, for Life and Extracts from his works. The following account of the circumstances attending the composition of And when the storm of war was gone, this song were communicated, a few months before his death, to the late Rev. Dr. Griswold. "It was written in the summer of 1798, when war with France was thought to be inevitable. Congress was then in session in Philadelphia, deliberating upon that important subject, and acts of hostility had actually taken place. The contest between England and France was raging, and the people of the United States were divided into parties for the one side or the other, some thinking that policy and duty required us to espouse the cause of republican France, as she was called; while others were for connecting ourselves with England, under the belief that she was the great preservative power of good principles and safe government. The violation of our rights by both belligerents was forcing us from the just and wise policy of President WASHINGTON, which was to do equal justice to both, to take part with neither, but to preserve a strict and honest neutrality between them. The prospect of a rupture with France was exceedingly offensive to the portion of the people who espoused her cause, and the violence of the spirit of party has never risen higher, I think not so high, in our country, as it did at that time, upon that question. The theatre was then open in our city. A young man belonging to it, whose talent was as a singer, was about to take his benefit. I had known him when he was at school. On this acquaintance, he called on me one Saturday afternoon, his benefit being announced for the following Monday. His prospects were very disheartening; but he said that if he could get a patriotic song adapted to the tune of the 'President's March,' he did not doubt of a full house; that the poets of the theatrical corps had been trying to accomplish it, but had not succeeded. I told him I would try what I could do for him. He came the next afternoon; and the song, such as it is, was ready for him. The object of the author was to get up an American spirit, which should be independent of, and above the interests, passions, and policy of both belligerents: and look and feel exclusively for our own honor and rights. No allusion is made to France or England, or the quarrel between them: or to the question, which was most in fault in their treatment of us: of course the song found favor with both parties, for both were Americans; at least neither could disavow the sentiments and feelings it inculcated. Such is the history of this song, which has endured infinitely beyond the expectation of the author, as it is beyond any merit it can boast of, except that of being truly and exclusively patriotic in its sentiments and spirit." That truth and justice will prevail, Sound, sound the trump of Fame! Ring through the world with loud applause, Listen with a joyful ear. With equal skill and godlike power, Behold the chief who now commands, The rock on which the storm will beat, WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING, 1780-1842. WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING was born at Newport, R. I., April 7th, 1780. His father was William Channing, Esq., an eminent lawyer, who died in the midst of professional success, when his son William was in his fourteenth year. His mother was the daughter of William Ellery, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. After completing the usual preparatory studies, he entered Harvard University, where he graduated in 1798, having attained the highest honors of the institution, and distinguished himself by industrious habits, a blameless deportment, and indications of great natural endowments. Soon after leaving college, his mind was directed to the ministry, and he pursued his professional studies, partly with his uncle, Rev. Henry Channing, of New London, and partly at Cambridge. He soon became distinguished as a preacher, and at nearly the same time received an invitation from two religious societies in Boston to settle with them as their pastor. He accepted the call from the church in Federal Street, which was then the smaller and weaker of the two; and his ordination took place on the first of June, 1803. The society rapidly increased under his charge; his reputation and influence in the community became marked and extensive; and his assistance was soon eagerly sought in a broader sphere of exertion and usefulness. In 1812, he was appointed "Dexter Lecturer on Biblical Criticism," in Harvard University; but the state of his health did not allow him to enter on the duties of the office, and he resigned it the following year. He was then chosen a member of the Corporation of the college, and held a seat in this board till 1826. In 1820, the honorary degree of D. D. was conferred on him. In 1822, he visited Europe for his health, which was somewhat improved by the voyage; but a feeble constitution, and liability to disease, proved great impediments to his labors through his life, and it is astonishing how much, with such drawbacks, he really accomplished. In 1830, when the anti-slavery feeling began to take more outward form in Boston, Dr. Channing's sympathies were warmly with it, though he did not then join the ranks of the "abolitionists," technically so called. His interest in the subject, however, increased from year to year, and in 1831 he published his work on slavery, which showed that his whole heart was in the great cause of humanity. In October, 1834, he preached a sermon to his people upon the mob violence exerted in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and other cities in the country against the friends of liberty, in which he showed that he had made great advances in anti-slavery sentiment upon his previous work. In 1837, he addressed his celebrated letter to Henry Clay against that nefarious plot to extend the area of slavery-the annexation of Texas. In 1840, he reviewed, with a heart evidently still deeper enlisted in the great cause," Joseph John Gurney's Letters on West India Emancipation;" and in 1842, he delivered an address at the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the West In Letters" appeared, 'May I be pardoned for here saying that, when these " feeling how admirably calculated they were, by their fine Christian spirit, and indomitable array of facts, for general circulation, I had, with the aid of a few benevolent friends, twenty-five thousand printed beautifully on a quarto sheet of sixteen pages, newspaper form, and scattered broadcast over the land; and that when Dr. Channing's Review of the same "Letters" appeared, I had seven thousand of this, also, printed in the same form, for general distribution? Though many were sent back from the slave States (some with no very complimentary language written thereon), yet I had many letters from the same quarter of a very encouraging character, ordering more copies, and speaking with great confidence of the good influence they must doubtless exert. One of these letters, from Tennessee, called the effort "seed wheat " dies, held August 1st, at Lenox, Massachusetts. This was his last public address. His health had been very feeble for a long time, and being attacked, about the first of September, with typhus fever, his exhausted frame sunk under it, and he died October 2, 1842. His end was calm and peaceful. Sustained by the consolations of religion, he met, undismayed, his summons into the future world, assured of a happy immortality. Of the moral purity of Dr. Channing's character, it is scarcely possible to speak too highly. In every relation of life, he deserved unqualified praise. His conduct was a daily exhibition of the characteristic evangelical virtues, purity of heart, ardent love to God, habitual obedience to his will, benevolence to man, and those amiable qualities which shed a constant sunshine through the breast of their possessor, and strongly endeared him to all within the circle of his friendship and acquaintance. But the crowning glory of his character was the deep and earnest interest he early took in the cause of Freedom, at a time when such a position was uniformly attended, to a greater or less degree, by a coldness or loss of friends, by obloquy, reproach, misrepresentation, ostracism from accustomed social circles, and, in some parts of the country, by mobs and personal violence. Though of a frame so attenuated and feeble that one might fear that the very wind would blow him away, he had a high and dauntless soul-a moral courage that shone most illustrious when such qualities were most needed; and when, in November, 1837, the news of the murder of Owen P. Lovejoy, in Alton, Illinois, for defending his free press, reached Boston, he headed a petition to the civil authorities for the use of Faneuil Hall for a meeting of citizens to express their disapprobation of such deeds of lawless violence. It is commentary enough upon the character of soul required at that time to head such a petition, to say that, even with the name of Channing in the most conspicuous position, it was refused. Men who thus stand out boldly for the right, regardless of consequences, deserve to be held up as an example for imitation to all coming generations, and to be held in everlasting remembrance. THE PURIFYING INFLUENCE OF POETRY. We believe that poetry, far from injuring society, is one of the great instruments of its refinement and exaltation. It lifts the mind above ordinary life, gives it a respite from depressing cares, and awakens the consciousness of its affinity with what |