Of the personal qualities of the subject of this memoir, it is perhaps hardly fit to speak. Suffice it to say, he is universally respected and esteemed. Unpretending in his manners and studious in his habits, the voice of praise has not rendered him arrogant or indolent, and the science of his country has much yet to hope from his labors and learning.

So far as relates to the prominent incidents in the life of this distinguished individual, the brief memoir already given is sufficiently copious and faithful. His career in the march of science and philosophy has, up to the present hour, remained unchanged by misfortune or reverse. Devoted with a peculiar love to the study of Juridical science his great work on Medical Jurisprudence, has, by successive editions, became a vast repository of precious truths, indispensably necessary to every sound lawyer, to every medical man who would give proper and safe testimony in criminal cases before courts, as well as to the enlightened citizen desirous of the promulgation of wholesome doctrines on hygiene and public health. Nor is this estimate of Dr. BECK's work on Forensie medicine limited to the opinion of his own countrymen: European science and its cultivators have favored its wide diffusion as among the surest guides of knowledge as a text book for colleges and universities of the highest renown in the Old World.

The long association of Dr. BECK with academic education has recently identified him still more closely with the interests of popular instruction in the great state of New York. Thoroughly conversant with the various measures which from time to time have been adopted by the regents of the University in the distribution of funds and in the maintenance of public schools, he has lately been selected as the secretary of the board in the place of that venerable citizen and excellent man Gideon Hawley. The Public or State Library of Albany has also long enjoyed the suggestions of his wisdom in its government. It remains only to add that upon the organization of the new Medical College at Albany, and his secession from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of western New York, (now an extinct institution,) Dr. BECK has been appointed by the Regents to the chair of Materia Medica. Lately Professor BECK has most meritoriously been created LL. D. by the faculty of Union College.

OTHO HOLLAND
HOLLAND WILLIAMS.

THE military operations of the revolution naturally present themselves in review in two series, divided geographically by the Chesapeake bay; so distinctly drawn is this line, that in every connected history of the period, from the evacuation of Boston to the capture of Cornwallis, we find the narrative alternately carries the reader's attention from one to the other side of that estuary.

This has placed the officers of the army in groups, which are inseparable in our mental associations, and renders the repetition of much historical memoranda unnecessary in this work, in which the memoirs of many of the most prominent actors in the same scenes are brought together; we shall, therefore, in the present instance, confine ourselves to as brief a space as is possible, with a due regard to the merits of an accomplished gentleman and gallant soldier.

OTHO HOLLAND WILLIAMS was born in Prince George county, Maryland, in 1748. His ancestors were among the earliest emigrants from Britain, after Lord Baltimore became proprietor of the province. At the age of about twelve years, he was left an orphan, but was protected and educated by his brother-in-law, Mr. Ross. While yet a youth, he was placed in the clerk's office of the county of Frederick, and he afterwards removed to the clerk's office of Baltimore.

He was then about eighteen years of age, nearly six feet high, elegantly formed, his whole appearance and conduct manly beyond his years, and his manners such as made friends of all who knew him. He returned to Frederick, and early in the revolutionary war (1775) was appointed a lieutenant in a rifle company, commanded by Captain Price. The company marched to Boston, and his captain being promoted, he succeeded to the command of it. When Fort Washington was attacked, he had the rank of major, and as commander of the riflemen, was stationed in a wood in advance of the fort. The Hessians attempted to dislodge him, and were twice driven back with great slaughter. Having been reinforced, they

made a third attempt, and succeeded in driving the riflemen from their position. In this last attack, Major WILLIAMS received a wound in the groin, and was taken prisoner. He was sent to New York, where he was suffered to go at large on his parole. His fine martial appearance, gentlemanly manners, and polite deportment, procured for him civilities that few others were favored with, until a suspicion arose that, being competent, he would carry on a secret correspondence with General Washington, and on that suspicion alone, he was put in close confinement, with ten or eleven other officers, under the provost guard, in a small room not more than sixteen feet square, without the privilege of egress, or of having the room cleaned more than once or twice a week. Their provisions were of the coarsest kind, and barely sufficient to keep soul and body together. In that miserable situation he was kept, until exchanged for Major Ackland,* who had been wounded and taken prisoner at Burgoyne's defeat. The length of time he was confined, and the treatment he received during that period, shattered his fine constitution, and planted the seeds of the complaint which terminated his existence.

During his captivity, Major WILLIAMS was promoted to the command of the sixth regiment of the Maryland line; that division marched to the south, and in all the battles that were fought by that celebrated line, Colonel WILLIAMS distinguished himself.

He acted as deputy adjutant-general of the southern army, under General Gates, and has left a detailed and lucid narrative of the disastrous campaign of 1780, from which we shall occasionally borrow.

These gallant young men became warm friends before they parted; and General Wilkinson, in his Memoirs, has preserved an anecdote of the period, which we transplant to our pages, for the double purpose of illustrating our subject, and of rendering a tribute to the memory of a generous enemy, who afterwards lost his life in vindicating the military character of Americans. "On an occasion, after dining with Lady Harriet, he (Ackland) proposed to Major WILLIAMS to visit an assembly; they entered, and the attention of the belles and beaux could not but be attracted by two such elegant figures as Ackland and WILLIAMS; but the rancour of civil animosity prevailed over the obligations of good breeding, and WILLIAMS was shunned like a pestilence. Ackland made his introduction general, but without effect, and after sauntering across the room several times, 'Come, WILLIAMS,' said he, 'this society is too illiberal for you and me; let us go home, and sup with Lady Harriet.'

"Ackland, after his return to England, at a dinner of military men, where the courage of the Americans was made a question, took the negative side with his usual decision; he was opposed, warmth ensued, and he gave the lie direct to a Lieutenant Lloyd, fought him, and was shot through the head. Lady Harriet lost her senses, and continued deranged two years."