at sight; yet the suspension created a strong prejudice with all those who continued to hold his bank notes, which had a withering influence on his further operations.

Distressed by numerous applications to redeem bank notes in the hands of needy persons, which, although the amounts were small, he had not the means at command to redeem, on their first presentation, he called upon his friend, John Wells, esq., stating his troubles, and observed, "I believe I had better shoot myself." That gentleman replied, "Are you crazy? How much do you want?"-taking up his pen and commencing to write. Mr. Barker, wanting five thousand dollars, replied three thousand. Mr. Wells gave him one of his most earnest looks, saying, "Is that all? if you want more, name it now, and forever after hold your peace."

"That will answer;—but why do you give it to me? If I should die you will never get a cent."

Mr. Wells, saying "That's none of your business," went on writing, and handed to Mr. Barker an order for three thousand dollars in the stock of the Bank of America, saying, "I have no money; make that stock answer your purpose."

The useful life of that meritorious gentleman was soon after terminated by the yellow fever; when Mr. Barker hastened to return the stock to his administrator, as will be seen by the following:

"FEBRUARY 23, 1824.

"This certifies that thirty shares of the Bank of America, lent by John Wells to Jacob Barker, have been transferred to the administrator of the estate of J. Wells.

H. LAIGHT, Administrator. An admirable commentary on the life and character of Mr. Wells is to be found in 2d Cowen's Law Reports. It speaks thus of that good man:

SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF MR. WELLS. "It is by no means the least testimony to the high stand which the late John Wells, esq. occupied at the bar of this State, that his death deranged and shortened, in a very considerable degree, the calendar of the present session. Repeated applications were made and granted for the postponement of arguments to the next term, with a view to the preparation of other counsel. Upon making one of these motions, Mr. B. F. Butler took occasion to bestow a

brief and extemporary, but beautiful and appropriate eulogium upon the memory of this and those attending court from different parts distinguished advocate. The bar of Albany, of the State, assembled at the court room in the Capitol, (the late Chancellor Kent in the Spencer, resolved to chair,) and, on motion of the late Chief Justice wear the accustomed badge of mourning for thirty days. A similar meeting was holden, and similar resolutions passed by the bar of the city of New York; and the obituary notices of the day abounded with very just remembrances of Mr. Wells' worth and genius. He was indeed the pride of our bar; and I need make no apology for occupying this place in presenting his surviving brethren life and character as have come to my knowof the profession with such particulars of his ledge.

"John Wells was born on the farm now owned by Mrs. E. Davis, about one half mile south of the present village of Cherry Valley, in the county of Otsego, in this State. The accounts as to the time of his birth, which I have been able to obtain, differ, between 1769 and 1770. The surrounding country was then a wilderness. During the war of the revolu tion, which shortly followed, the settlement where he was born took its full share in the horrors and cruelties of Indian warfare; and neighborhood which Mr. Cooper selected as the has recently been distinguished by lying in the scene of his beautiful novel, "The Pioneers." Wells' paternal grand-parents were both natives of Ireland, and formed part of a little band of the then extensive wilds of that region, and colonists, who, several years before, penetrated settled in the valley where the village now stands. His maternal grand-father was the Rev. Mr. Dunlap, who came also from Ireland

with the colonists.

"During the summer of that year, the indications of a descent from the savages were so numerous and striking, that the father became ily; and he accordingly removed them to Scheseriously apprehensive for the safety of his famnectady, as a place of greater security. But, in the autumn, his fears subsiding, they returned, and arrived at the farm on the 11th of November, with the exception of his son John. He had sometime before been placed by his father at school in Schenectady; and having become much engaged in his juvenile studies, and being moreover a great favorite of his aunt Eleanor Wilson, with whom he boarded at that place, it was determined that his pro

gress as a learner should not be interrupted, and he was left to continue his attendance at school. It was probably owing to this circumstance that he survived the conflagration and murders which soon after desolated the neighborhood of his birth.

"His father's family, with several of his neighbors, who had been driven abroad at the same time, and for the same cause, had been lulled into a fatal security by those false appearances which their aboriginal enemies knew too well how to practice; and on the 11th November, 1778, almost every family resident at the valley, had thus been lured to return within reach of the tomahawk. During the same month of November, and but a few days after Wells' family had reached the valley, the celebrated Brandt, learning that the harvest of his vengeance was full, seized the opportunity to effect a descent which he had for a long time meditated. This chief, with one of the Butlers, at the head of a party of savages and their British allies, advanced upon the valley in the night; and the connexions of young Wells were among the first who fell victims to their fury. All his relations, resident at the farm, were murdered; Mrs. Dunlop, his maternal grand-mother, then living at the valley, shared the same fate; and her husband, with other members of her family, were taken prisoners. His paternal residence was burned to ashes, and the whole settlement plundered and finally destroyed. Young Wells had a brother Samuel, who was older than himself by about two years, Robert and William, who were younger, and a sister Eleanor, aged about five years. His youngest brother was not more than six months old. Indeed, the massacre at Cherry Valley affords one of the most awful illustra trations of the rule which governs Indian warfare. The indiscriminate destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.'

"Cut off at this early age from the tenderest attachments of life, and left (like Logan) without one living mortal who was naturally and immediately interested in his fate, young Wells would have been either abandoned to poverty and wretchedness, or bent down to the ordinary drudgery of life, had not his warm hearted and affectionate aunt, Mrs. Wilson, interposed in his behalf, and formed him to a higher destiny. For his future prospects in life, she saw him thrown entirely upon her friendship and resources; and though I cannot learn that the latter were very ample, he found the former not of that sunshine character to be dissipated by the dark cloud which had gathered over his fortunes. Through her exertions, which were, of course, indulged and aided by her very kind and generous husband, he enjoyed the best opportunity for acquiring an education which the country then afforded. He continued sev. eral years at the grammar school in Schenec tady, whence his aunt Wilson removed to Long Island, where he studied with the Rev. Mr.

Cutting, of Jamaica. He was afterwards at school in New York and at Newark, (New Jersey,) at which last place he finished his stu dies preparatory to entering college. He pursued his collegiate course at Princeton, where he graduted in 1778, having an oration assigned him as his part in the commencement of that year. He took both the degrees of A. B. and A. M. at this college.

"Though of an age, at the time, not fully to realize the appaling story of Brandt's descent, and the fate of his family and neighborhood, yet, accompanied as it was by scenes of simi lar cruelty, occurring throughout the whole period of the revolution, the mental wound which he had received was deepened by the dreadful associations continually brought back to his memory; and the recollection of his early loss finally made a permanent impression upon his mind. His health not being the best, and his struggles to excel as a scholar unremitted and severe, these causes combined, gave him, at one time, an air of melancholy and premature decay. Just before the close of his studies at Princeton, his friends entertaining serious apprehensions that he was in a hopeless. decline, he left college, for a short time, pursuant to their advice, with a view to recruit his health. The experiment succeeded in a very considerable degree; and he was enabled shortly after to return, and complete his course of classical studies.

"After graduating, he must shortly have entered upon his clerkship; for his license as attorney was signed in 1791. This clerkship, together with the professional studies accompanying it, he pursued principally with Mr. Edward Griswold, then in full practice as attor ney and counsel in the city of New York. Mr. Griswold, some time since, retired from business and now resides at Hempstead, in Queen's county, (L. I.) He had arisen to very high reputation in his profession. As a proof that he eminently deserved this reputation, it is enough to mention, that after a retirement of several years, he is still sought out and consulted with the greatest advantage and deference, by some of the most eminent counsel in the city of New York; and this too upon the most intricate heads of the common law. Colonel Burr lately mentioned to me that Mr. Griswold was the only man he ever saw who loved the black-lettered lore of the common law for its own sake; and Mr. Wells, in the full zenith of his reputation, always spoke of the professional habits and acquirements of his early tutor and friend, in terms of the highest respect. The example alone of such a man must have been of very great advantage to his pupil; and I am told that in one respect, at least, there was a remarkable similarity be tween them. This was in a most powerful and singular habit of mental abstraction, which enabled them to sit down in the midst of their families, or a crowd of company, separate

themselves from the sports, or the business, or the noise around them, and insulated and deaf to every thing that was passing, pursue their studies, equally unconscious of any thing like interruption as in the deepest retirement of the eloset.

"On concluding his clerkship, Mr. Wells was thrown upon his own resources; and these were nothing beyond his profession. He immediately opened an office at a room in Pine street, New York; but though the stores of legal knowledge, which he laid in during his clerkship, must have been more ample than usual, his industry great, his attendance upon his office constant, and the execution of what business was committed to his hands faithful; yet, absolutely precluded from the more splendid labors of the forum, by lacking the degree of counsel, wanting in connexions, and those friends who could successfully take any immediate interest in his professional success, and located among a large number of attorneys, who had in a measure monopolized the management of those suits which are the most valuable to this class of the profession, it is not singular that during the time which intervened between his first and second law degree his prospects should have been discouraging. His business was accordingly very limited; affording him but a scanty livelihood. But he was not yet so far disheartened as to relax in his studies; and he came to the bar, after the or dinary term of practice as an attorney, well prepared for the higher duties of the profession. His license as counsel was signed in 1795. He still continued his practice in Pine street, his business receiving some trifling accessions, but not to an extent which would be, in the least, flattering to the most sanguine temper; and, for several years aftewards, he pursued the humble avocation of a mere collecting attorney, under very discouraging prospects.

"The step was deemed a hazardous one by his acquaintances, when he added to his other expenses by undertaking the charge of a family in the city of New York, where, even at that early day, the maintenance of a rank and appearance necessary to command respect required means far beyond his reach. The anx iety to fulfill an early matrimonial engagement, seemed, therefore, to have got the better of his prudence, when, in 1796, he intermarried with Miss Lawrence, daughter of Mr. Thomas Law rence, of Newtown, Queen's county, (L. I.) This respectable lady, though not portionless, did not bring an accession to Mr. Wells' means of living, which would have prevented his future embarrassment under a less fortunate turn of his prospects, than afterwards followed. But she brought him what was more important-an intelligence; evenness of temper; patience and fortitude, which enlightened, sustained and smoothed his passage along an obscure and rugged path to fortune and eminence; illumined the gloomy period of adverse

vicissitude, and cheered his rising hopes with the smile of sympathy and affection.

"There is nothing in Mr. Wells' history manifesting that precocity of intellect, or those intuitive off-hand powers at the bar, which has produced so many instances of premature and rapid elevation, in the morning of manhood. Indeed, these are, in general, but equivocal arguments for a well-earned and stable reputation. Too often does such a genius blaze forth with a fire and imagination sustained by very scanty materials, and exhib iting but a short lived beauty. It glides before us like a meteor along the sky, till exhausted by the excess of its own brilliancy, it sinks in darkness, and is extinguished forever.

"It is remarkable, that with Mr. Wells, possessing the strength which he afterwards exerted, not only the ordinary duties of his profession, but even his legal studies should have been rather a matter of necessity than choice. He has frequently been heard to declare, that previous to 1804, a snug farm and five hundred dollars would have separated him forever from his profession. He was attended with a modesty, a diffidence, an unassuming temper, which he overcame with the greatest difficulty; and it was with pain and reluctance that he commenced his career in the more public walks of his profession. That he entertained serious thoughts of abandoning it forever, between the years 1801 and 1804, there is little doubt; for it was during this period that he sought for and obtained the post of assistant editor to one of the newspapers in the city of New York.

"Those warm political contests by which our country was distinguished during the period of his more retired labors, among the choice spirits which it called into action, did not leave Mr. Wells unemployed. His pen had been much engaged in the defence of his political friends and their measures, as well as in severe criticismis and men the measures upon of the adverse party, in the course of which he had produced several of the most respectable essays with which the newspapers of the day abounded. Few of these are preserved, (an event perhaps not to be regretted,) and they were in no other respect useful to him than as exercises in composition. In this point of view they were much more so than is usual, from the hasty manner in which they were produced. But with him, having considerable leisure, and being determined to make them a source of improvement, he was able to bestow all the attention of an Addison upon the style of his productions. Almost the only flattering distinction which he had received from any of his party arose from this cause. The late General Hamilton, having read in the newspaper some very fine anonymous articles, traced the authorship to Mr. Wells. On this occasion, I am told, he ascertained his residence, sought him out, and complimented him for the genius he had dis