respectability, possessed a highly cultivated mind, and was particularly distinguished for his knowledge in the mathematics.

Mr. Clymer was educated in Philadelphia, under the superintendence of Mr. Coleman, with whom he lived until the time of his marriage, and the principal part of whose fortune he inherited. After the completion of his studies, he entered the compting-room of his uncle for the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of mercantile pursuits. He possessed, however, little taste for this employment, his inclination leading him to the cultivation of his mind. When he had attained the proper age, hè connected himself in business with Mr. Robert Ritchie, and, at a subsequent period, with his fatherin-law, and brother-in-law, under the firm of Merediths and Clymer. After the decease of the elder Mr. Meredith, the business was conducted by the two surviving partners, until about the year 1782, when it was discontinued.

Although the early loss of his parents, the circumstances of his education, and the profession of his uncle, led him to embark in the pursuits of commerce, he was uniformly and decidedly opposed to it: he disliked it from its peculiar precariousness, and the necessary dependence which the merchant must place in the honour and integrity of others,

thereby removing to a certain degree, the conduct of his affairs beyond his immediate control. Hence he successfully discouraged his children from entering into mercantile affairs. He maintained that equal gain and loss might balance in the books, but not in the mind; that gain imparted a sudden elevation to the spirits, which soon descended to their ordinary level, while loss depressed the spirits, which did not so easily rise again; that, therefore, these considerations furnished an argument against that business, or course of life, which subjected the individual to such a variety of fortune, because there was more to lose than to win in it.

It is too often our lot to contemplate with renewed but ineffectual regret, the deficiency of knowledge relative to the early years of many of our political fathers. The inquisitive mind, while it dwells with animation upon their achievements, seeks in vain to discover the ripening of the germe, or gather instruction at the fountain-head of their usefulness. The early developments of those minds, which, in their rich maturity, shed throughout the land the rays of liberty and political light, are best adapted to incite the dawning exertions of the patriot, and guide the course of his mental improvement. Hence their loss is not restricted to the deficiencies which they create in the narrative of the

VOL. IV.A a

genius and virtues of the individual to whom they relate, but includes that of a model which would have extended its benefits to every branch of our political society. But, while we regret the deficiency, we cannot but observe that it proceeded from the most simple cause. In the youthful days of our distinguished forefathers, the dependence of this country upon Great Britain, was firmly established, and the idea of emancipation was not, perhaps, in one solitary instance indulged. Hence the flight of ambition was restricted, and the highest distinctions of the colonies had been enjoyed by a great number of individuals. Honours, in which a multitude participate, are prone to depreciate in the public view, and continue to confer decreasing distinction. Under these circumstances, however noble may have been the efforts, and flattering the prospects, of the aspiring youth, there was a boundary beyond which he could not pass, and a colonial subjection which dictated the path and the limits of his political elevation. It was not to be expected that the youthful days of individuals, whose early genius and talents predicted, on a proper theatre, the most extended usefulness and honours, could have attracted a great portion of attention beyond the domestic circle, when the course of their future career was limited to distinctions, which a multitude

of predecessors had enjoyed. If the storm of the revolution had been then heard, even afar off, the hopes of the people would have rested upon those. best calculated, by their mental vigour, to lead them through the mazes of an untried scene; but the idea of independence was then unknown, and the great actors in the times of peril which succeeded, had, in general, matured the genius which their youthful days had elicited, before they were summoned to enrol themselves among men, whose elevation was unrestricted by the yoke of slavery.

To this cause we may, in a great measure, attribute the darkness which hangs over the early days of Mr. Clymer; and the knowledge we possess only leads us more to lament the loss of that which is forever "buried in the dark backward and abysm of time." He acquired the habit of reading and reflection at an early age, and was distinguished for the clearness and originality of his conceptions, and the soundness of his understanding. He read with close attention, and frequently committed the result of his reflections to paper. Although not intended for any of the learned professions, he extended his course of studies to those branches of knowledge which contributed to the general improvement of his mind; he thus became acquainted with the general principles of law, and in the course of this

particular study, more firmly fixed them upon his remembrance, by making a compendium of Blackstone's Commentaries. He was well versed in history, but his mind entertained, from the earliest period, a strong bias towards politics and agriculture, as those branches of science which he suppos ed would more materially conduce to the happiness and prosperity of his country, to the promotion of which his mind was undeviatingly directed.

In the year 1765, when about twenty-seven years of age, he married Miss Elizabeth Meredith, the eldest daughter of Reese Meredith, Esquire, one of the principal merchants of Philadelphia. He was an early emigrant from Bristol, in England, and possessed a generous and elevated mind. The following interesting anecdote affords a distinct view of his character and feelings: when general Washington was a very young man, and before he had attained any distinction, he visited Philadelphia, and made his appearance at the coffee house, where he had not a single acquaintance, and was, therefore, entirely unnoticed. Mr. Meredith coming in, and finding a stranger in this awkward situation, went up to him, took him by the hand, inquired his name, introduced himself, took him to his house, and behaved with so much kindness and hospitality, as not only to induce him to continue