sparkling; his words, too, moved as quickly, like unto those of one who feels himself impelled to speak. That he had his moments of lassitude, there is no doubt; but compared with most men, they were few and far between. He was by nature happy and light-hearted. In the medley of mental musings, the cheerful thought with him was always uppermost, and often expressed itself with childlike simplicity on his countenance. What were you smiling at?' I once said, on meeting him, walking alone. 'At my own thoughts,' replied he; I am so apt to do it, I am sometimes afraid of being taken in the streets for a simpleton.' This it was that gave to him in society a bright and cheerful tone, in voice, look, and manner. His entrance into the room was like a ray of light for wakening up the dull or dispirited, and no chance companion of an hour could ever part from him without feeling that he had been in the society of a cheerful and happy man, as well as a most able and good one.

CHAPTER II.

From his Removal to the City in December, 1800, to the first of his Publications in 1803; from the 25th to the 28th Year of his Age.

Trinity Church-Early History-Actual Condition-Style and Estimate of Mr. Hobart as a Preacher-Styles of PreachingHis Performance of Pastoral Duties-Domestic Establishment -Anecdotes of Kindness-Habits of Study-Official Duties in General and State Conventions.

THE parish of Trinity, with which he now became connected, was among the oldest in the Northern States. The Province of New-York, being gained by conquest, became consequently a royal colony. The Church of England, therefore, came in with the government, in 1664, or rather in 1667, when, by the treaty of Breda, the colony was ceded. The Church thus became, in some sense, established.

Among the rights to which it at once succeeded, was the use of the garrison chapel, which stood within the fort, near what is now termed the Bowling-green, at the foot of Broadway. Upon the subsequent increase of the congregation, a parish church was erected under the name of 'Trinity,' which stood where the present church of that name now stands. This was in the year 1696, under the reign of William and Mary, by whom, or rather by the colonial governor, under authority committed to him, it was liberally endowed-an adjoining property, known as 'the King's Farm,' being granted to the corporation for the support of the services of the Protestant Episcopal Church".

a The original grant was a temporary one, 6th May, 1607, by Governor Fletcher. It was made perpetual by a grant from Lord Corn

This edifice was originally a small square building, accommodated to present necessity; but being twice enlarged, viz. in 1735 and 1737, it became one of the largest and most splendid churches in the country, being one hundred and forty-six feet in length, seventy-two in width, with a noble spire one hundred and eighty feet in height. On the 21st September, 1776, it was involved in the memorable and melancholy conflagration which devastated that part of the city, and lay in ruins during the remainder of the revolutionary war, and for some years afterward.

The present edifice, inferior in size to the old, being forty-two feet shorter, was erected in 1788, and consecrated in 1791, by the first Bishop of the Diocese, the Right Rev. Samuel Provoost. In addition to the parish church, two chapels within its bounds had successively been erected previous to this period, viz. St. George's, in 1752, and St. Paul's, in 1766.

Such was the parish at the time of Mr. Hobart's connection with it. Subsequently St. John's Chapel was added, (1807,) and St. George's set off (1811) as an independent church. The parish was then, as it continues to be now, under the pastoral charge of a rector and three assistants. At the time of Mr. Hobart's election, the

bury, 1705, and in 1709 confirmed by the Colonial Assembly under Governor Ingoldsby.

b The Rectors of Trinity Church up to the present year (1836) have

The other ministers have been, beside the above-named, the Rev. John Ogilvie, D. D., Rev. John Bowden, D. D., Rev. Abraham Beach,

Right Rev. Benjamin Moore, D. D., held the situation of rector, having been elected thereto on Bishop Provoost's resignation, the same day (September 8, 1800,) on which the call was given to Mr. Hobart. The other assistant minister was the Rev. Abraham Beach, D. D., and the Rev. Cave Jones was chosen shortly after. With these, as his fellow-labourers in the parish, Mr. Hobart was now associated, and was soon after placed on a ministerial equality with them, by being admitted to the order of Priests. This ordination was by Bishop Provoost, in Trinity Church, in the year 1801.

As Mr. Hobart owed doubtless this his early advancement, for he was but in Deacons' Orders when elected, to his reputation as a pulpit orator, it may not be amiss here to consider his claims to that character, and the peculiarities by which it was marked.

In the physical powers of the orator, Mr. Hobart, though not eminently gifted, was yet far from wanting. His figure was somewhat under size, but it was firm and strongly knit, giving the impression of muscular strength with great agility and vigour of movement. His head was large in proportion to his body, his forehead high and prominent, and the general cast of his features, though not large, yet massive. In one feature of power, however, he was wanting: the' glance of the eye' (to the orator no feeble weapon) with him was comparatively lost, through the use of spectacles, to which near-sightedness had forced him even from boyhood. His voice on the contrary was deep, strong and flexible; having in it great compass, and varying with every expression of feeling, though not always, it must be admitted, with that chastened and harmonious movement which the critical ear demands.

D. D., Rev. John Bisset, Rev. Cave Jones, Rev. Thomas Y. How, D. D., Rev. Thomas C. Brownell, D. D., now Bishop of Connecticut, Rev. J. M. Wainwright, D. D., Rev. Henry Anthon, D. D., Rev. J. F. Schroeder, and the Right Rev. B. T. Onderdonk, D. D., the present Bishop of the Diocese.

The same charge might also be made against his enunciation, which, though always distinct and clear, was oftentimes too rapid for the train of thought in ordinary minds, and too sudden in its change of tone for hearers of a less vivid temperament than himself to follow, sympathize, and

approve.

But it was in the moral elements of the orator that his strength peculiarly lay. There was that in him which the heart of man can never long resist. Sincere, earnest, and affectionate, the sympathies of his hearers were almost immediately enlisted in his favour; so that what was not yielded to conviction was often given up to feeling. To withstand his argument seemed not so much opposition to a reasoner as ingratitude to a friend. But although the heart first gave way, the judgment of the hearer soon. followed; since amid all his discursiveness of thought and diffuseness of language, there was yet evident in all that he said, a thread of strong connected reasoning, that showed the preponderance of sound judgment, and satisfied his auditor that he was yielding to no vain torrent of youthful enthusiasm.

This style of preaching, especially when coupled with the novel practice of delivering his sermons without the use of notes, was so foreign to the placid and more formal tone to which his hearers had been long accustomed, as to be very far from universally acceptable. Some decried it on the score of novelty; others again of enthusiasm and extravagance; and many of the older members of the Church looked with no little distrust upon an innovator at once so young, so bold, and so persuasive. But these scruples were overcome in proportion as their preacher became known; and after a time changed to an unbounded confidence in both his talents and his judgment, which was never afterward shaken.

The critical objectors stood out longer because they had something to stand upon. His style of preaching they could not deny to be impressive, but they doubted its good taste. To this it was replied, that although there