medical gentlemen in an institution for summer teaching, called the School of Medicine, and first appeared as a lecturer on surgery. At this period, I am assured, by one who knew him well, he was an impressive and agreeable lecturer, and exhibited that skill and ability as a teacher in all the practical details of his branch which not only indicated future success, but which subsequently placed him in a prominent position among the surgeons of the country. With the School of Medicine he continued to be connected till its dissolution, and the duties of Surgeon to the Infirmary he faithfully discharged for several years. In 1835, on the resignation of Dr. Hewson, Dr. Randolph was elected one of the surgeons of the Pennsylvania Hospital, a post which he retained at the period of his decease; and, in the last year of his life was made Professor of Clinical Surgery in the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1840, he revisited Europe; and, being desirous of availing himself of the opportunities which the hospitals of Paris offered for observation and improvement, he preceded his family by some months, in order the better to benefit by their inspection. While in Europe, he was elected Professor of Operative Surgery in the Jefferson Medical College, which appointment he declined, inasmuch as it would have necessitated his speedy return. Upon his return home, after an absence of two years, he again resumed practice as a consulting surgeon, and, in this capacity, enjoyed a large share of business. Soon after his arrival among us, a complimentary dinner was given to him by his professional brethren, which, coming, as it did, spontaneously from a very large body of those who so well knew him, and were in daily intercourse with him, speaks loudly of the hold he possessed on their affections.

In his professional intercourse, Dr. Randolph was straightforward, courteous, and considerate. Of a gay and amiable disposition, open and unobtrusive in manner, of the strictest veracity, warm in his friendships, firm in his resolutions, cautious in the expression of opinions, and not allowing those which he had deliberately formed to be easily shaken, he was endeared to all who had the happiness to know him well. In the prime of life, and in the midst of a useful career, he was taken suddenly from us, on the 29th of February, 1848. During his short illness, he was col

lected, and in the full possession of his mind. He prepared for death without fear, doubtless,

"Sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust"

in the principles of that Society in which he had been educated,

WILLIAM RAWLE.

BY DAVID PAUL BROWN.

WILLIAM RAWLE was born on the 28th day of April, 1759, of honorable and distinguished parentage, of the Society of Friends; yet their proudest distinction, I say it with no disparagement, was in giving birth to such a son. The earlier years of his life were passed in the acquisition of the rudiments of education, and those sublime principles of elevated morality and religion, which were, in after times, matured into the most devout and exemplary piety. At the age of nineteen, having passed through the various stages of preliminary instruction in his native land, and having for some years been engaged in prosecuting his legal studies under Counsellor Kemp, a learned and distinguished jurist of our sister city of New York, just before the conclusion of the American Revolution, he visited the Mother Country for the purpose of perfecting himself in the arduous duties of the profession for which he was designed. In London, he was regularly installed a Templar, and pursued his studies with that untiring assiduity which ever marked his career through a subsequent brilliant practice of more than half a century.

After completing his legal studies, and visiting most of the cities of Europe, in the year 1783 he returned to this country, full of zeal and hope, a most thorough and accomplished gentleman, a ripe and elegant scholar, an artist, a poet, a philosopher; and without which, all other accomplishments are but dross, a Christian. What a beautiful moral and intellectual picture does such a man at such an age present!

Towards the Bench, he was always conciliatory and respectful; and, whatever might be the result of a cause, having faithfully dis

charged his duty in its management, he was neither elated by success nor dejected by defeat. This was the more extraordinary, as his feelings and temper were naturally excitable and enthusiastic.

In 1791, he was appointed District Attorney of the United States by the Father of his Country; from which post, shortly after the election of Mr. Adams, he resigned, having continued in office about eight years. The situation of Attorney-General was more than once tendered to him by Washington, but as often declined, as being calculated to interfere with those domestic enjoyments for which no public preferment or profit could furnish an equivalent; and the President was himself too much alive to the influence of retirement and domestic virtue, to demand a sacrifice from another which he himself so reluctantly made.

Among the most cherished and the most valuable of his works, however, and which I trust will not be withheld from the world, are those pertaining to the subject of religion. His "Essay upon Angelic Influences" is replete with the most fascinating speculation and the soundest reflection. Nor is his "Discussion of the Subject of Original Sin, and the Virtue of Baptism," although certainly less elaborate, undeserving of the highest regard and encomium. Added to these, there is to be found among his manuscripts an argument of the most polished and cogent character, the object of which is to show that there is sufficient proof of the truth of Christianity to be derived from the parables of our Saviour alone.

In the year 1815, fate dashed the cup of happiness from the lips of our lamented friend. One of his daughters, an ornament to society, and "the immediate jewel" of her family, in the bloom and redolence of health and beauty, and with intellectual charms even beyond her personal attractions, was suddenly snatched away by death, and left an aching void in the heart of the domestic circle, her friends and the community, which the alleviating hand of time partially concealed, but could never repair.

In the year 1828, the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by Dartmouth University, and a short time before his death he was applied to, by that institution, for a third edition of his valuable work upon Constitutional Law, which had been adopted as a text-book in many of the institutions of learning in the United States. At the period of this application, however, his

mind was no longer with this world, but in close communion with its Maker. The proposal, therefore, was declined. For many years of his life, as has been said, he had drunk deeply from the springs of general literature and science; but as he approached the fount of eternal life and love, all other enjoyments became comparatively insipid. Within the last year of his probation, while sitting by his bedside, knowing his fondness for books, I inquired whether there was anything I could supply him with from the limited stores of my library. "Yes," replied he, "any book you may have upon the subject of religion will be most welcome to me, as preparatory to the great change that rapidly approaches. General reading is adapted only to general objects; my attention is now directed solely to one, and that is, ' to make my calling and election sure.' This excellent man and accomplished scholar died, April 12th, 1836, in the seventy-seventh year of his of his age.

JOHN READ.

JOHN READ was born at Newcastle, in the present State of Delaware, on the 7th July, 1769. He was the fourth son of George Read and Gertrude his wife, daughter of George Ross, pastor of Immanuel Church, in the town of Newcastle, who had emigrated from Rosshire (town of Tain, parish of Fern), Scotland, in the year 1705.

When only seven years old, he was a spectator of the attack made by the row-galleys upon the Roebuck and Liverpool frigates off the mouth of Christiana Creek, and accompanied his mother in her various removals during the war, which the exposed situation of their residence at Newcastle made necessary for their safety. These events made a deep impression upon the child, and were often recurred to, in after life.

His education was that of his day, as will be seen by a letter from his father to the Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, President of Princeton College, New Jersey, and an old and intimate friend.

"NEWCASTLE, 17th October, 1785. "REVEREND SIR: This will be handed to you by two young gentlemen, one my son, the other a youth, the son of a deceased friend, who wish to pursue a particular line of study at your college for the ensuing twelve months, if the same may be consistent with your rules and regulations. They have gone through all the common classical Latin authors, except 'Cicero's Orations,' at the grammar school in this town, but have read none other than some small parts of the Greek Testament, as nothing more of that language was intended for them. I had expected ere this they [would] have gone through Cicero's Orations;' however, I have been disappointed. Both these young men express the desire to begin the study of the law after employing twelve months in some other branches of learning that may be useful and necessary, to wit, logic, moral philosophy, and the most useful part of the mathematics; and they wait on you to be informed if they can have a chance of pursuing such a line of education in the college at Princeton. I have the satisfaction to say that their morals and conduct here have been as unexceptionable as those of any youths within my knowledge, and I have reason to hope for a continuance of the like, more especially if they shall be placed in the college under your direction. They now attend you to be informed if they can be thus instructed, and if so, will engage their lodgings, and return again to Princeton by the beginning or middle of the next month. "I am, &c.,

66

"GEORGE READ."

The two young men were John Read and his friend, Cantwell Jones. Mr. Read became a member of the Cliosophic Society, and graduated with credit in 1787. During his stay at college, Mr. Read frequently visited the hospitable mansion of Mrs. Read, at Bordentown, the wife of his uncle, Captain Read, and the mother of Mrs. Richard Stockton.

On his return home, Mr. Read commenced the study of the law in his father's office; and being admitted to the Bar, removed to the city of Philadelphia. He first resided, with his brother William, in a small house in Dock Street, and remained in town during the pestilence of 1793.