by dignity and urbanity, which commanded their respect, and at the same time attached them to his person. The discretion with which he exercised his authority, is well described in the following extract from a letter, received by the writer from a friend, who was one of his colleagues during the existence of this epidemic, and well acquainted with his services. He remarks, that "though the duties of his station were sufficiently delicate, and required of him, on more than one occasion, an exercise of authority, and a reversal of the decision of the physicians placed under his superintendence, yet not a single angry feeling was excited; and in no instance was there an appeal from his decisions made to the Board. So judiciously and kindly was his authority exercised, that the self-esteem of his adjuncts was never wounded."

At the close of his services, the Board of Health made him a handsome pecuniary acknowledgment; "not," they remark, “as a compensation for the invaluable services rendered by him to the suffering poor of the city and county during the prevalence of the recent epidemic; but as an expression, in a pecuniary form, of their high estimate of his unremitting attention to the duties of a situation, at once onerous and responsible, which he was induced to accept, at their request, at a season of uncommon alarm and excitement."

Dr. Hewson, during the course of his long life, received scientific honors from several societies and institutions. He was elected a member of the Edinburgh Medical Society in 1796, of the American Philosophical Society, and of the College, in 1801, of the Philadelphia Medical Society in 1804, of the Philadelphia Linnæan Society in 1813, and of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia in 1821. In 1822, the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred on him by the Medical Department of Harvard University. He was a contributor to the Philadelphia Dispensary, served the institution for many years as consulting surgeon, and was one of its Managers at the time of his death. For many years he was an active member of the American Philosophical Society, and officiated either as one of its secretaries or curators from 1803 to 1822, inclusive. His services in connection with this College need not be dwelt upon, as they are known to most of the Fellows. He filled successively the offices of secretary

and censor, with the exception of one year, from July, 1802, to April, 1835, when he was chosen Vice-President; and in the month of July following, on the death of Dr. James, he was elected President, which office he continued to hold to the time of his death, embracing a period of more than twelve years. It is fresh in the memory of all of us, with what dignity he filled the chair,—a chair which had been graced by a Redman, a Shippen, a Kuhn, a Parke, and a James.

For the last three years of his life, Dr. Hewson suffered from uneasiness about the neck of the bladder, which caused the motion of his carriage to give him considerable pain. From time to time, especially after fatigue or exposure to sudden changes of temperature, his usual symptoms were aggravated, and he suffered painful attacks, attended with hæmaturia. The chief cause of his sufferings was ascertained to be an enlargement of the prostate, which, in connection with the morbid condition of the bladder, sufficiently explained his symptoms. About two weeks before his death, he was seized with an attack of his disease, more severe than on any previous occasion. Thirty-six hours before dissolution, he became somewhat comatose; but, up to that time, his intellect had been perfectly unclouded; and, though fully aware of the approach of death, he manifested the most perfect calmness and resignation. The fatal event took place on the 17th day of February, 1848, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, after an honorable career of professional exertion of nearly fifty years.

On the 5th of November, 1812, Dr. Hewson married Emily, second daughter of the late John Banks, Esq., of Washington City, by whom he had twelve children. Of these, seven sons and three daughters survive him. On the 11th of January, 1837, he met with a severe domestic calamity, in the death of his wife, after a matrimonial union of more than twenty-four years.

RICHARD HILL.

RICHARD HILL was born in Maryland, brought up to the sea, and afterwards settled in Philadelphia, having married the widow of John Delaval, Hannah, the eldest daughter of Governor Lloyd, a woman of an excellent character, and very much esteemed and beloved. He was twenty-five years a member of the Governor's Council, divers times Speaker of the Assembly, held several offices of trust, was for several years First Commissioner of Property; and, during the last ten years of his life, he was one of the provincial Judges.

His services in the religious Society of Friends, the Quakers, of which he was for many years an active member, are said likewise to have been very considerable. He had, by nature and acquisition, such a constant firmness as furnished him with undaunted resolution to execute whatever he undertook. His sound judgment, his great esteem for the English constitution and laws, his tenderness for the liberty of the subject, and his zeal for preserving the reputable order established in his own religious community, with his great generosity to proper objects, qualified him for the greatest services in every station in which he was engaged, and rendered him of very great and uncommon value in the place where he lived. He was a member of the City Council in 1708 and 1712, and Mayor in 1710, 15, 16, and 17. He died in Philadelphia, 9th September, 1729.

REV. WILLIAM P. HINDS.

FROM THE BANNER OF THE CRoss.

HUMAN life, in its course and effect, has been well compared to the streams by which the earth is tracked. The broad river flowing gently on its useful path, the more impetuous stream girded with the grandeur of nature, and rushing over precipices and waterfalls,

the noisy bustling torrent, and the gently gliding brook, all find counterparts in the life of man upon the earth. And the streams which most attract the notice of the world are often the least beneficent, while those whose silent, gentle flow, diffuses fertility and verdure in their course, pass on unnoticed and unknown. So is it also with individual life.

Such thoughts have been excited by the life of one who has just fulfilled his earthly course in our city. As our readers well know, those too common obituary notices, with which our columns might be filled, are little to our taste. But whenever a human life, however humble, illustrates some important principle, or impresses some useful example, we gladly embrace the opportunity of letting the light of such a life shine before men. Such was the life of him whose name heads this article-a life of enlarged and noble-hearted beneficence, seeking no applause from man, but rather retiring from human observation, to seek eternal satisfaction in the praise of God. It is difficult to place such an example in its full light before men without doing violence to that noble principle which shrunk from all parade and ostentation in acts of beneficence. We shall, however, say no more than simple truth warrants-far less than our heart would prompt us to speak.

As Mr. Hinds's life was not an eventful one, a few words will suffice to set forth its history. The position of his family, his early associations, and his large command of wealth, prove that his quiet, retired life, was a matter of choice and principle. While he might have held a high position in the society of his native island, or in England, he fixed his abode among strangers, seeking friends chiefly among the poor and needy, or those who were blessed by his widereaching charity.

William Prescod Hinds was born in Barbadoes, on the 3d day of June, 1795. His family was one of the oldest and wealthiest in the island, of which his father was sometime President, and his brother the Attorney-General. His first cousin was Dr. Hinds, the Bishop of Norwich, and another cousin is thus spoken of by General Havelock, in his autobiography: "My most intimate friends at the Charter House were Samuel Hinds, William Norris, and Julius Charles Hare. Hinds, a man of taste, and a poet, spent his early years in travelling, married in France, distinguished himself in one

of the colonial assemblies of his native island, Barbadoes, at the period of slave emancipation, and died at Bath about 1847."

Mr. Hinds was educated chiefly in England, in the celebrated school of Mr. Phillips, at Frenchay, where he had for his schoolmates Archbishop Whateley, Dr. Hinds, Parsons, and Thomas Foster Barham. Those who had an opportunity of knowing his attainments, can bear witness that, in learning, he was no unworthy associate of these eminent scholars. His extensive and well-selected library of the choicest books seemed as much in his mind as on his shelves. In an accurate and critical knowledge of Latin and Greek, and their best writers, he had few, if any, superiors in this country, while his wonderful memory was stored with the richest treasures of history. He was ordained in 1819, by Dr. Howley, then Bishop of London, at the same time with his cousin, afterwards Bishop of Norwich. He returned to Barbadoes, and was successively rector of two parishes in that island. After a ministry of fourteen years, his health failed him, and he was incapacitated for public duty by a disease of the throat. It was then, in 1834, that he came to this country, and fixed his residence in Philadelphia. He officiated a few times in our churches, but, finding that his voice was nearly destroyed by disease, he was compelled to resign the public exercise of the ministry.

In the providence of God he was called to exercise his ministry in the use of a gift seldom bestowed upon his order,—the gift of earthly riches. To fulfil the duties of such a ministry is, perhaps, the most trying office to which man can be called. He who knew what was in man, whose penetrating eye discovered the temptations by which the human heart is most severely tried, said to His disciples, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God." And it has always been true that the stewardship of wealth, to be administered to the glory of God and the good of man, is a ministry wherein too few are found faithful. This is especially the case in our day. It was in this trying ministry that Mr. Hinds gave signal proof of his devotion and faithfulness. With ample means to have surrounded himself with all the show and glitter of pomp and vanity, he was distinguished for the plainness and simplicity of his mode of life. This was not caused by a parsimonious spirit, for he cared little for money, and