Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1832, by MARY G. HOBART, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-York.

EDWARD J. SWORDS, PRINTER,

No. 152 Broadway.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE great delay in the appearance of this Memoir has been occasioned by circumstances which were entirely beyond the control of the writer. Shortly after he had been requested to prepare it, he wrote to a number of the early friends of Bishop Hobart for information in regard to that part of his life with which he himself was personally unacquainted. A few promptly and cheerfully complied with his request. But from the inexcusable neglect of some, and the unaccountable tardiness of others, a year and a half passed away before materials enough were procured to form a connected narrative. At length, in the month of July, last summer, it was commenced, amidst an unexampled pressure of parochial duties, during the prevalence of a raging epidemic, and prosecuted since amidst all the ordinary distractions and labours of an ardous and responsible station.

New-York, May, 1833.

MEMOIR OF THE LIFE

OF THE

RIGHT REV. JOHN HENRY HOBART, D. D.

In attempting to sketch the life and character of the distinguished subject of this Memoir, it is impossible to avoid a feeling of embarrassment, both from the difficulty of the task in itself, and from the apprehension that it may not represent him according to the just measure of his fame. The close and intimate relation of the writer to him, while it affords great advantages for the delineation of those peculiarities in his mind, feelings, and habits which may have escaped more general observation, at the same time brings the object too near for the strong lights and bold relief in which he appeared to the world at large. There he was viewed in the practical wisdom collected from all his experience, in the efforts of an acute and powerful mind invigorated and sharpened by continual exercise, in the great and glorious results of a life spent entirely in the laudable ambition of doing good. To those who were honoured by his confidence and friendship, he appeared in the simplicity and frankness of a child-there was not the slightest VOL. I.

1

disguise. They saw the progress of that practical wisdom which, distinguishing him in early life, at length gave him such a superiority over other men. They saw the workings of that mind which, sometimes wavering from misgivings and distrust, finally acted from confidence in itself. They saw the process by which, with the aid of things both important and trifling, he arrived at the most noble ends. Observing him, therefore, in the whole compound of his character, and in all the various aspects of his busy life, adorned with the brightest perfections, yet shaded by infirmities, errors, and defects, they looked upon him as a great and extraordinary man, but not with such an unqualified admiration as those who only witnessed his beneficent and unwearied labours, and the unexampled success with which they were accompanied. It was, however, his peculiar felicity and glory to retain the greatest ascendency over those to whom he was best known, and, even where they might not be as much dazzled as others by the splendour of his talents, to have the highest place in their affections.

There is another difficulty in regard to his biography, which is common to that of most clergymen who are not cast on troublesome times. His life has none of the romantic interest nor strange vicissitudes which so frequently mark the course of illustrious men. The early period of it was quiet and peaceful, attended by none of the struggles with which a gifted and ambitious mind so often makes its way to eminence. Even then, however, there was observed in him an ardour of temperament, a depth of feeling, a restlessness of disposi