DR. HYDE was born at Norwich, Conn., February 2, 1768. His father was a farmer of respectable character. His mother died when he was but six years old. On the 6th of January, 1783, he commenced the studies preparatory for admission to college, under the instruction of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Nott of Franklin, Conn., a venerable clergyman who still lives. In September, 1784, he was admitted a member of Dartmouth college. About this time, he became personally interested in religion, and in July, 1786, united with the college church. During the whole of his collegiate life, he attached himself, from choice, to those students who possessed a religious character. On the 17th of September, 1788, he received his first degree. The members of his class were nineteen in number, among whom were judge Chipman of Vermont, and Rev. Dr. Dana of Newburyport. About one half are deceased. On the 6th of November of the same year, Dr. Hyde took charge of the town school in Northampton, Mass. He here acquired many friends, who showed him, especially in a time of serious sickness, unwearied kindness. On the 9th of October, 1789, he commenced the study of divinity under the care of the Rev. Charles Backus, D. D., of Somers, Conn., a gentleman who long kept one of the most flourishing private "schools of the prophets" ever taught in this country.* With him, he continued till June 1, 1790, when he was licensed to preach the gospel. After preaching in various places for two years, during part of which he pursued his theological studies with the Rev. Dr. West of Stockbridge, he was ordained, June 6, 1792, to the pastoral charge of the church and congregation in Lee, a town in the southern part of Berkshire county, Massachusetts. His term of theological study was not so long as others pursued at the same period, though he speaks of his residence with Dr. West as greatly beneficial to him in enabling him to obtain a more thorough knowledge of the doctrines of religion. The church and people were unanimously in favor of his settlement, and gave him, for that period, a liberal salary. On the 25th of April, 1793, he was married to Miss Lucy Fessenden of Sandwich, Mass., a granddaughter of the Rev. Benjamin Fessenden of that town. Mrs. Hyde and six sons are yet living. Three sons and two daughters died before their father, four of them in the short space of two years.

He commenced at the beginning of his ministry a series of pastoral labors, which he continued with very little variation for more than forty years. Weekly meetings were held in various parts of the town, and familiar expositions of Scripture, (in which the auditors were encouraged to make inquiries and state their views and feelings,) were among the labors most pleasant to himself and instructive to his people. All parts of his parish were visited by him many times in a year, during the whole of the period in which he was connected with it. During the early years of his ministry, Sabbath schools were unknown in this country. It was then Dr. Hyde's custom, every autumn, to invite all the children of his congregation, to convene, at a designated time, in the meeting-house. He then went through an interesting service of questions and answers, making use of the Shorter Catechism, and of the Scripture History.

As a useful and successful minister, Dr. Hyde has had few equals in the whole period of our ecclesiastical history. At the time of his ordination, his church was small and feeble, having but twenty-one male members. A very interesting revival of religion occurred during the first year of his ministry. The church received an accession of 110 members. In the

See American Quarterly Register, Vol. V. p. 180.

six following years, 42 were added to the church. In 1800, a second revival occurred, which occasioned an addition to the church of 21 members. Between 1800 and 1806, 29 persons professed religion. In the latter year, a special divine influence was enjoyed, and 71 persons were admitted to Christian communion. In the six following years, 22 were united to the church. In 1813, 20 persons professed religion, and from that year to 1821, 76 persons were admitted to the church. In 1821, the church received an accession of 86 individuals as the fruits of a very interesting revival. Between that year and 1827, 24 persons joined the church. In 1827, 125 individuals were received into communion. During the remainder of Dr. Hyde's ministry, from 1827 to the close of 1833, there were about 100; making the whole number received during his ministry, not far from 700. Most of these persons were carefully instructed in the great doctrines of the gospel, and were not received into the church until two or three months subsequently to their conversion. Such a rich harvest of souls for Christ, few pastors are permitted to gather. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. In such blessedness, the venerable Dr. Hyde is now, undoubtedly, participating.

For more than thirty years, Dr. Hyde was associated with the friends, patrons, and trustees of Williams college. He was a member of the board of trustees thirty-one years, and the vice president from 1812 to his death. He was chairman of the prudential committee of the board twenty-three years. In all these relations to the college, he performed the duties which devolved upon him to the entire approbation both of the students and the trustees. "Whenever he took part in the public examination of the students, he manifested a discriminating mind, and a thorough acquaintance with the elementary principles of the science to which his questions related." In measures for promoting the interests of the college, he was uniformly active and zealous. His elevated piety and scrupulous regard to duty, gave character to all his business transactions in relation to the college. "He was, doubtless," says one of his associates, "the most efficient man in the management of its concerns, and has probably done more to promote its prosperity than any other man." He was repeatedly solicited to stand as candidate for the presidency of the college, and, also, to take charge of some of the principal literary and theological institutions in the part of the country where he lived. No inducement, however, could prevail upon him to leave his pastoral labors in Lee.

Of his intellectual habits we have not very copious information. Early in life, he aimed at entire accuracy in all his written performances. In the preparation of his writings for the press, says his biographer, not an error was discovered in the spelling, or pointing, of any of his manuscripts ;—a very remarkable testimony, indeed, in these days of haste, and of superficial and careless habits. Those letters, which he wrote with the greatest rapidity, were legible as the fairest print, and accurately pointed. His sermons are generally fully written out, and with the same evidence of the nicest care. His performances give little evidence of extensive classical reading, and none of literary ostentation. His words are pure AngloSaxon. An intelligent layman, who often heard him preach, once remarked, that a word left out of his sermon would be as much missed, and as readily detected, as the absence of a brick from its place in a building. The published works of Dr. Hyde are somewhat numerous, and afford proofs of great industry and perseverance. Very soon after his settlement in the ministry, he prepared a variety of essays for the Theological Maga

zine, published at New York. He subsequently communicated many valuable articles to the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, the Panoplist, the Christian Spectator, the Boston Recorder, the Utica Magazine, and other periodical works. In addition to these essays, he published nineteen sermons, mostly occasional. An historical discourse, which he published on the two hundredth anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims, contains a sketch of the leading events in the ecclesiastical history of this country.

The education of youth received much of Dr. Hyde's attention. All the schools within his parish were under his constant supervision. He visited them systematically, and examined them minutely as a matter of duty. It was his uniform and unvarying practice to visit the summer and winter schools near their commencement and near their close, making four visits annually to each school within the town. This practice commenced with his pastoral labors, and closed only with his life. He was always at the school-house at the time appointed, and gave his undivided attention to the exercises of the school. If there was a single pupil present whom he did not recognize, he made inquiry; for it was a settled habit with him to know and be conversant with every child in his parish. After the examination in the appropriate studies, he questioned each scholar in relation to the doctrines or duties of the Christian religion.*

In labors to bring forward young men for the ministry, Dr. Hyde's example was worthy of universal imitation. The success attending his efforts in the work he had chosen, and his standing as a preacher and a scholar, drew around him many young men who were preparing for the ministry. He directed the theological studies of between thirty and forty young men, and declined receiving under his care great numbers who made application.

With his settled principles of religion and mental philosophy uniformly acted upon, it might be expected he would seek to make those under his care systematic students. His own mind was thoroughly disciplined, and his habits singularly methodical. In the commencement of the studies of the young men, he endeavored to ascertain the peculiar features of their minds, the extent of their literary acquisitions, together with the precise object which they had in view in the study of divinity; that he might form a judgment as to the propriety of encouraging them to proceed. He then furnished them with a series of questions, embracing the different subjects of theology, requiring them to examine each in the proper order, directing them to suitable books in his library, which was judiciously selected, and tolerably large. He then required them to arrange their thoughts, and produce written dissertations, which were carefully read and analyzed. In order to qualify himself more perfectly for these duties, as well as for those connected with his offices in Williams college, and the education of youth generally, he revised his early classical studies, and acquired additional information of a similar kind.

In the most important benevolent institutions of the present day, Dr. Hyde was an efficient and cordial coadjutor. They formed frequent topics of his conversation and of his epistolary writing; they were often introduced into his sermons and in his public and social prayers. For the last twenty years of his life, scarcely an ecclesiastical council was convened in the county, of which he was not a member, and so well balanced was his mind, and so extensive his knowledge, that his opinions were always highly regarded.

*This ministerial visitation of schools is very general in New England. Our common school system has been sustained by the labors of clergymen, far more than by those of any other class in the community. We have our eye on more than one individual, whose toils in this way have been very great and successful.

His domestic and social character is represented as excellent in a remarkable degree. There was a dignity, propriety, and consistency of demeanor, pervading all his actions, under all circumstances, which could not fail to command the respect and confidence of his children and of all under his roof. His family devotions were pertinent, attractive, and, in his later years, patriarchal. Of his affectionate and sympathizing heart, his letters are full of proofs.

Dr. Hyde was attacked with his last illness on the 28th of Nov., 1833. His solicitude and his labors in respect to the religious excitement in his own church, and in neighboring churches, during the year 1833, were very great, and undoubtedly hastened the termination of his life. His death, which occurred on the fourth of December, was such as might have been expected. He declared that all his hope was in that atonement, which he had for forty years proclaimed to his people. He met the king of terrors with entire collectedness, humility, and peace, and gave to all who witnessed the scene a most impressive commentary on the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and of its power to sustain the soul in the last conflict. At his interment the Rev. Dr. Shepard of Lenox, preached an appropriate and impressive sermon.*

A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF YALE COLLEGE, IN CONNECTICUT.

[Prepared by Professor Kingsley, at the request of the Editor.]

[IN the year 1766, the Rev. President Clap published "The Annals or History of Yale College, in New Haven, in the Colony of Connecticut, from the founding thereof, in the year 1700, to the year 1766." Dr. Holmes, of Cambridge, Mass., in an appendix to his Life of President Stiles, which he published in the year 1798, gave a "Sketch of the History of Yale College"; the materials of which, after the year 1766, were derived principally from president Stiles's manuscripts. Some additional facts and remarks respecting the history of the college, may be found in president Dwight's "Statistical Account of New Haven," published in 1811, and in his "Travels," published since the death of the author. Chancellor Kent, in an "Address delivered at New Haven, before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, Sept. 13, 1831," made the history of the college the subject of his remarks; and in the same year, was published the "Annals of Yale College, in New Haven, Connecticut, from its foundation to the year 1831," by Ebenezer Baldwin, Esq. These valuable works, the writer of the following sketch has read, and made use of, whenever he has found them to his purpose. Few important facts or dates, however, have been given, without the authority of the original documents. A manuscript history of the college, by Samuel Johnson, D. D., first president of King's [Columbia] college, in the city of New York, has likewise been consulted. This history was written in 1717, when Dr. Johnson was a tutor in Yale college; and was continued by him afterwards to the year 1719, at which time Dr. Cutler was chosen rector. Facts have been drawn from other books and pamphlets, and the college records have been examined throughout. In the following outline, greater particularity as to certain facts and dates, will,

*An interesting and valuable Memoir of Dr. Hyde, was published, last year, by Perkins, Marvin, & Co., to which we are indebted for most of the facts in the preceding sketch.

perhaps, be observed, than to the general reader may appear necessary or important. But it should be recollected, that the Register is intended to be a book of reference; and particulars, like those alluded to, though of no great moment in themselves, have sometimes a value from their relation to things of more common interest. No pretension, however, is made to a full history of the institution, in all its departments, though there may be found in this sketch, occasional minuteness of detail.]

The Rev. John Davenport very early made a proposition to the government of the colony of New Haven, respecting the establishment of a college within their jurisdiction. Some measures, in consequence, were taken for this purpose; but the small number of inhabitants, from whom the support of such an institution could be derived, the numerous embarrassments attending an infant settlement, and especially the consideration, that the aid of the whole of New England was needed for the maintenance and advancement of Harvard college, prevented the plan of Mr. Davenport from being immediately executed. It ought, however, to be stated, that though the original project of a college in New Haven was abandoned, yet the importance of a liberal education, more particularly as a preparation for the Christian ministry, seems to have been duly estimated, both in the colony of New Haven, and in Connecticut. The number of those who resorted for their education to Cambridge, from these two colonies, or from Connecticut, as comprehending both after the union in 1660, and whose names now stand among the graduates of Harvard college, considering the remoteness of their residence, the difficulty of communication, and the fewness of the colonists, bears a fair proportion to the number of those who were graduated at the same place from Massachusetts itself. Among those from the town of New Haven alone, who, from the time of its settlement to the year 1700, were graduated at Harvard, and who afterwards were ordained ministers of churches, are the Rev. Michael Wigglesworth, of Malden, Mass.; the Rev. Samuel Cheever, of Marblehead, Mass.; the Rev. Samuel Street, of Wallingford, Conn.; the Rev. John Harriman, of Elizabethtown, N. J.; the Rev. James Alling,* of Salisbury, Mass.; the Rev. Noadiah Russell, of Middletown, Conn.; the Rev. John Davenport, of Stamford, Conn.; the Rev. Stephen Mix, of Wethersfield, Conn.; and the Rev. Joseph Moss, of Derby, Conn. But the inconveniences of obtaining a collegiate education at Cambridge, were so great, that the design of establishing a college in Connecticut, was kept constantly in view. This was especially a favorite object with the clergy, who, from their rank in the State, their knowledge, and the intimate connection between learning and religion, were the principal directors in whatever respected the education of youth.

In the year 1698, a plan was devised for erecting a college in Connecticut, by a general synod of the churches. It was intended that the synod should nominate the first president and inspectors, and have some kind of influence in all future elections, "so far as should be necessary to preserve orthodoxy in the governors;" that the college should be called the "school of the church," and that the churches should contribute towards its support. This project failed; but, in the following year, ten of the principal ministers of the colony, were nominated and agreed upon by general consent, both of the clergy and laity, to be trustees, to found, erect, and govern a college. The individuals thus named for this important object, were the Rev. James Noyes, of Stonington; the Rev. Israel Chauncy, of Stratford; the Rev. Thomas Buckingham, of Saybrook; the Rev. Abraham Pierson, of Killingworth; the Rev. Samuel Mather, of Windsor; the Rev. Samuel Andrew, of Milford; the Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, of Hartford; the Rev. James Pierpont, of New Haven; the Rev. Noadiah Russell, of Middletown, and the Rev. Joseph Webb, of Fairfield. These clergymen, with the exception of the Rev. Mr. Buckingham, of Saybrook, were all graduates of Harvard college.

The trustees met in New Haven sometime in the year 1700, and formed

* In the Register, for February, 1835, the Rev. James Alling, is said to have been born in Boston. This must be an error.