GEORGE W. PATTEN. [Born, 1808.] MAJOR PATTEN was born in Newport, Rhode | Island, on the twenty-sixth of December, 1808. He was the third son of WILLIAM PATTEN, D.D., who was minister of the second Congregational church in that city for half a century. When only twelve years of age he entered Brown University, where he was distinguished rather for abilities than for application, being naturally averse to -systematic study, and addicted to poetry and music. He was, however, preeminent in chemistry, as subsequently at West Point in mathematics. At fourteen he wrote a class poem, entitled "Logan," and when he was graduated, in 1825, recited a lyrical story called "The Maid of Scio." Both these pieces were warmly praised, as illustrations of an unfolding genius of a very high order. After leaving the university he remained a year in his father's house, at Newport, before deciding on the choice of a profession. Dr. PATTEN hoped this son at least would follow in the long line of his ancestors, who, since the landing of the Mayflower, had furnished an almost uninterrupted succession of pastors; but the young man felt no predilection for the pulpit, and rejected the profession of the law because his two elder brothers had already chosen it, and for want of nerve, that of medicine, to become a soldier. When he disclosed his wishes on this subject, Dr. PATTEN expressed regret that the son of a minister should think of a career so incompatible with the principles of the gospel, and declined aiding him to a cadet's appointment. To his inquiry, however, whether he would consent to his entering the Military Academy if he could himself obtain one, he an TO S. T. P. SHADOWS and clouds are o'er me; Thou art not here, my bride! The billows dash before me Which bear me from thy side; On lowering waves benighted, Dim sets the weary day; Thou art not here, my plighted, To smile the storm away. When nymphs of ocean slumber, I strike the measured stave With wild and mournful number, To charm the wandering wave. Hark to the words of sorrow Along the fading main! "'Tis night-but will the morrow Restore that smile again?" Mid curtain'd dreams descending, Thy gentle form I trace; Dimly with shadows blending, swered in the affirmative, willing that his son should learn by experience the futility of such an attempt; and he was as much surprised as pained when, after a few weeks, the credentials of a cadet were exhibited to him. JOHN C. CALHOUN, ASHER ROBBINS, WILLIAM HUNTER, and other powerful friends, had willingly and successfully exerted their influence with the President in behalf of a member of the family of Dr. PATTEN. The excellent clergyman could not help saying now, "I give you my consent, my son, because I promised it: my approbation I cannot give." Young PATTEN, nevertheless, proceeded to West Point, and soon acquired there the same brilliant reputation for talents which he had enjoyed at the university. He received his commission as lieutenant in the second regiment of infantry in 1830, was made a captain in 1846, and in 1848 was brevetted major, for his gallantry in the action of Cerro Gordo, where he lost his left hand. His reputation as an officer has always been very high; he is one of the best disciplinarians and bravest soldiers in the army. Major PATTEN writes in verse with a rarely equalled fluency, and has probably been one of the most prolific of American poets. Led by the exigencies of the service into almost every part of our vast empire, his singularly impressible faculties have been kindled by the various charms of its scenery, by never-ending diversities of character, and by the always fresh and frequently romantic experiences of his profession. His writings display a fine vein of sentiment, and considerable fancy, but have the faults of evident haste and carelessness. I gaze upon thy face; Thy voice comes o'er me gladly, Thy hand is on my brow; I wake the wave rolls madly Beneath the ploughing prow! Speed on, thou surging billow! O'er ocean speed away! And bear unto her pillow The burden of my lay: Invest her visions brightly With passion's murmur'd word, And bid her bless him nightlyHim of the lute and sword. And her, of dreams unclouded, With tongue of lisping tale, Whose eye I left soft shrouded 'Neath slumber's misty veil.— When morn at length discloses The smile I may not see, FREDERICK W. THOMAS. [Born, 1808.] THE family of the author of "Clinton Bradshaw," by the father's side, were among the early settlers of New England. ISAIAH THOMAS, founder of the American Antiquarian Society, of Worcester, Massachusetts, and author of the "History of Printing," was his father's uncle. During the revolutionary war Mr. ISAIAH THOMAS conducted the "Massachusetts Spy," and was a warm and sagacious whig. With him Mr. E. S. THOMAS, the father of FREDERICK WILLIAM, learned the printing business, and he afterward emigrated to Charleston, South Carolina, where he established himself as a bookseller. Here he met and married Miss ANN FORNERDEN, of Baltimore, who was then on a visit to the South. Shortly after this marriage Mr. THOMAS removed to Providence, where our author was born, on the twenty-fifth of October, 1808. He considers himself a Southerner, however, as he left Rhode Island for Charleston when a child in the nurse's arms, and never returned. When about four years of age he slipped from a furniture box on which he was playing, and injured his left leg. Little notice was taken of the accident at the time, and in a few weeks the limb became very painful, his health gradually declined, and it was thought advisable to send him to a more bracing climate. He was accordingly placed in charge of an aunt in Baltimore, where he grew robust, and had recovered from his lameness, with the exception of an occasional weakness in the limb, when a second fall, in his eighth or ninth year, had such an effect upon it that he was confined to the house for many months, and was compelled to resort to crutches, which he used until he grew up to manhood, when they were superseded by a more con venient support. In consequence of these art dents, and his general debility, he went to school but seldom, and never long at a time; but his ardent noted for his contemplative habits. At seventeen mind busied itself in study at home, and he was he commenced reading in the law, and about the same period began his literary career by inditing sult of which was that the office of the paper in a poetical satire on some fops about town, the re which it was printed was mobbed and demolished. Soon after he was admitted to the bar, the family removed to Cincinnati, where, in the winter of 1834-5, Mr. THOMAS wrote his first novel, "Clin delphia in the following autumn. It was followed ton Bradshaw," which was published in Philain 1836 by "East and West," and in 1840 by "Howard Pinckney." His last work was "Sketches of John Randolph, and other Public Characters," which appeared in Philadelphia in 1853. poems: "The Emigrant," descriptive of a wan Mr. THOMAS has published two volumes of derer's feelings while descending the Ohio, in Cin cinnati, in 1833, and "The Beechen Tree, and also written largely in verse as well as in prose other Poems," in New York, in 1844. He has for the periodicals. He has a nice discrimination of the peculiarities of character which give light and shade to the surface of society, and a hearty relish for that peculiar humor which abounds in that portion of that is original and striking in manners and unour country which undoubtedly embraces most restrained in conduct. He must rank with the first illustrators of manners in the valley of the Mississippi, and deserves praise for many excellencies in general authorship. And when some other name I learn, And would not be forgot; E'en as the wounded bird will seek But, O! believe it not; But thou art not forgot. CINCINNATI, 1838. |