USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > New Haven, a book recording the varied activities of the author in his efforts over many years to promote the welfare of the city of his adoption since 1883, together with some researches into its storied past and many illustrations > Part 45
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In the speech of the Hon. Daniel Lord, of New York, he said in part :
In this near corner on the left, you see the portraits of Dwight and Hill- house, and the name of Nathan Hale: they claim our gratitude as the founders [Italics mine] of our Society's library. The learning, wisdom, and lofty and unfortunate patriotism which they severally bring up to our minds and hearts, are noble and imperishable memories.
The toast: The Linonian Library-Founded by Timothy Dwight, Nathan Hale and James Hillhouse, was responded
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to by the Hon. Henry E. Peck, of New Haven, Class of 1823, who said of Hale that he "found in books the source of his zeal and pure devotion to human freedom." As I read Hale's record I find in it much to support that view !! Rev. Wm. B. Sprague (1795-1876, Yale Coll. 1815), who had already col- lected much Hale autograph material, also paid a glowing tribute to his memory, but did not specifically refer to the founding of the library.
Now so far as I can ascertain-and I have no doubt but such is the fact-these formal tributes to Dwight, Hale and Hillhouse, as co-founders of the Linonia Library, were predi- cated upon the following excerpt from the introduction by a compiler, nameless but for the initial "G," to the "Centenary Catalogue of Graduate Members of Linonia" published in 1853 :
The Linonia Library was commenced in 1769, by a gift of books from Timothy Dwight, afterwards President of Yale College, Nathan Hale, the Revolutionary martyr, and James Hillhouse, for fifty years the Treasurer of the College, all, at that time under-graduate members of this Society.
Both statements in the above quoted sentence are incorrect. The Linonia Minutes show that the Linonia Library was not commenced, in any view of the matter, until July 16, 1770, and the College records show that while Dwight was an undergraduate member of the Society in 1769, Hale and Hill- house were not even members of the Society until November 7, 1770. The Linonia Minutes further plainly indicate that the first books were given by William Lockwood (1753-1828, Yale Coll. 1774) and Isaac Sherman (1753-1819, Yale Coll. 1770). It is clear that the compiler of the "Centenary Cata- logue" (whoever he was) made no examination of the Linonia Minutes himself, as he should have done, but predicated the above statements upon the following prefatory note to be found in the official "Catalogue of the Library of the Linonian Society, Yale College, November, 1846."
The Linonian Society was founded in September, A. D. 1753. To the members of the Society of the Class of 1769, and of the classes immediately
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A LETTER FROM HILLHOUSE TO HALE
following, we are indebted for the foundation of the library. In the records of the Society at that time is found a vote of thanks to Timothy Dwight, Nathan Hale and James Hillhouse for the first contribution of books.
The foregoing statements are likewise not borne out by the Linonia Minutes, i.e., "the records of the Society." The Library was not begun until July 16, 1770, and I do not dis- cover that "members of the Society of the Class of 1769" participated in the foundation of the library after their gradu- ation from College in September, 1769, save Timothy Dwight, of that Class, who is recorded by Hale, some time after November 20, 1771, as giving one book. Moreover, "the records of the Society" do not show that the thanks of the Society were ever given to Dwight or Hale or Hillhouse "for the first contribution of books," or, for that matter, for any books at any time, but the "records of the Society" do show in Hale's own handwriting, under date of November 20, 1771, that the thanks of the Society were extended to Lockwood and Sherman "for their generous Donations of Books to the aforesaid Society."
Now what do "the records of the Society" actually show with regard to the beginnings of the Linonia Library?
The first reference to a library in the minutes occurs in the minutes of a meeting of "This renowned Society" on July 16, 1770. They read (in part) :
In order to accommodate the members of this Society with a Library, a number of useful Books were collected; Mr. [William] Lockwood [1753- 1828, Yale Coll. 1774] was chosen Librarian, and for the regulation thereof, it was voted that the Members of the Meeting might have liberty to take out Books on Saturday at two o'clock in the after-Noon, that no one might keep a Book longer than a Week without returning it, that he who came first at the time appointed should have what Book he wanted and the Meet- ing was closed by a valedictory Oration delivered by Buckminster [175I- 1812, Yale Coll. 1770].
This meeting was held July 16, 1770, and, therefore, some four months before Hale and Hillhouse were taken into the Society (November 7, 1770) and nearly a year after Dwight's
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graduation September, 1769. Hale and Hillhouse were cer- tainly not present, therefore, at the meeting, and had so impor- tant a member of the secret brotherhood as "Sir Dwight" been present and donated any books or urged the foundation of a library, it is "passing strange" that his name does not appear in the minutes. The phrase, "were collected," used by the youthful scribe, Abel Chittenden, carries with it the sense of present time. It may be that the books described as "collected" were actually brought into the meeting pursuant to a previous notice not recorded. The more reasonable view is that the books described as "collected" were pledged and "collected" in that sense only.
At a meeting of "This Honorable Society," on November 20, A.D. 1771 and, therefore, a year and four months after the meeting, whose minutes contain the first reference to the library, as above stated, it was voted, as recorded by "Nathan Hale scribe":
That the thanks of this Society be given to Mr. Lockwood and Mr. [Isaac] Sherman [1753-1819, Yale Coll. 1770] for their generous Donations of Books to the aforesaid Society and that the same be recorded [Italics mine].
From the minutes last quoted, it plainly appears that the thanks of the Society were tendered to Mr. Lockwood and to Mr. Sherman, and not to Dwight, Hale and Hillhouse, as stated in the note in question in the Linonia Catalogue of 1846.
At the same meeting, viz., that of November 20, 1771, it was voted :
4ly Whereas it is a law of this Society that no book be taken out of the Library, except on Saturday, which is very inconvenient for many Reasons, it is therefore agree'd that the Members have free Liberty to take out Books at any time of the week, & that he return it within a week from the time that it was taken out.
5ly That a Person or Persons be appointed to assist the Secretary in recording as he is much behind hand at present.
6 That the Name of every Person who is so generous as to give any thing to the Library, be recorded together with the sum he gives.
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A LETTER FROM HILLHOUSE TO HALE
This meeting (be it noted that the minutes of it are entirely in Hale's handwriting), held on November 20, 1771, approxi- mately dates, as I feel sure, the first list or catalogue of Linonia's books (the list is also in Hale's handwriting) at the end of the Linonia Minutes, and a very remarkable list of books it is, and though a prejudiced witness, I have reasons for believing that Hale was more than anyone else responsible for their selection, for Hale was an omnivorous reader, as I shall show later on.
The next reference to the library in the Linonia Minutes occurs in the minutes of "This honorable Fellowship Clubb" on April 15th, A.D. 1772, when
A vote passed, that if ever this honorable fellowship club Should be dis- solved and intirely dispersed, the Books whch are or shall be given, to said Library, shall be given to the Library of Yale College.
There are no further references in the Linonia Minutes to books during Hale's undergraduate years. We should not expect any vote to be passed thanking Hale for donations of books after he met his untimely fate on September 22, 1776.
It is clear to me that the claim repeatedly made during the Centenary Celebration of 1853 that Dwight, Hale and Hill- house were the founders of the library is referable to the brief note in the Linonia catalogue of 1846 and has no foundation in fact as to Dwight and Hillhouse and is not supported by the evidence cited, i.e., "the records of the Society." I fail to discover who wrote the note of 1846, the ultimate source of so much error. I feel sure that it was not Edward Claudius Herrick, who was appointed Yale Librarian in 1843; he was not a Yale man nor a Linonia member, and seems to have been a man of careful and accurate statement. From the circum- stance that the note reads, "We are indebted," i.e., as I assume, "we" of the Linonia brotherhood, I conclude that the compiler of the catalogue and the writer of its prefatory note was some member of the Society who was given the "job" of getting out the catalogue, which was not much more than the
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printing of the manuscript catalogue then in use. Whoever he was, he "made a mess" of that prefatory note !
The Books Contributed to the Linonia Library by Dwight, Hillhouse, and Hale
The library project languished, to judge from the minutes, from July 16, 1770, until November 20, 1771, when, Hale being scribe, four votes regarding the library were passed. The vote, "That the name of every Person who is so generous as to give anything to the Library be recorded together with the sum he gives," shows the hand of Hale and his ingrained orderly habit. This characteristic vote, Hale, I repeat, being the scribe, convinces me that he inspired all of these four votes concerning the languishing library and that he proceeded forth- with himself to make the "list of Books" in the Library, with the names of the books, the names of the donors or contribu- tors and the "sum he gives," at the end of "the records of the Society."
Now it may be a Hale "complex" (some will say so) or clairvoyance, or the res gestae, but I can't resist the notion that Hale alone, or in large part, selected and secured the books so listed and then politely "stung" his fellow-members to pay for them-a procedure a bit high-handed but so effective that it is not unknown in our day. The list, with its delightful "sense of the past," is too long to print in full, even in an article flowing on "regardless" like this, but I cannot refrain from specifying the books given entirely or contributed to by Dwight, Hale and Hillhouse as shown by "the records of the Society," which is our sole source of reliable information respecting the founding of the Linonia Library.
Hale makes a handsome gesture in recording Dwight's sole gift of "Chrysal or the Adventures of A Guinea, Given Entirely by Mr. Timothy Dwight," price one pound four shil- lings; he records a contribution of six shillings by James Hill- house toward the purchase of "The Spectator," and a con- tribution by Hillhouse of one shilling two pence toward the
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A LETTER FROM HILLHOUSE TO HALE
purchase of Crevier's "Roman History"; for himself he records the donation of "The Travels of Cyrus," costing five shillings; a contribution of six shillings toward the purchase of "The Spectator," and a contribution of six shillings toward the purchase of "Lord Cames [Kames] Elements of Criticism."
Hale's choice of "The Travels of Cyrus, Prince of Persia," by the Chevalier Andrew Michael de Ramsay (1686-1743), to give to the library, throws an interesting sidelight on his char- acter and interests. The book, one of those moral romances so fashionable among the literati of the eighteenth century, easily reaches the "moral sublime" on almost every page. On page 2 of Volume I, of my copy (Philadelphia : Printed for James Rivington. By Ormrod and Conrad MDCCXCVI) I read :
They [the Persians] were the great masters of the sublime science of being content with simple Nature, of despising death for the love of Country. [Italics mine.]
Nathan could hardly have escaped that sentiment! Was it the seed of his sacrifice ?
In Volume II on page 34 there is an edifying discourse on "true politeness" conducted by the Prince and his traveling companion Araspes, King of Alexandria, on a Phoenician ves- sel on which they had embarked for Tyre, after a respectful but affecting parting with Pythagoras, with whom they had had a prolonged symposium in the Temple of "Jupiter Olympius" at Gnossus in Crete. Hale's selection of this book of "sublime ideas and useful discoveries" shows that, with his practical sense, he had a marked strain of ideality.
How pleased Hale would have been had he known that his Commander-in-Chief, General Washington, had as a youth been under the spell of M. de Ramsay's "Travels of Cyrus" and had enjoyed its precepts, its moral reflections and the classical settings of its lofty dialogues as much as he did. Washington's very copy (7th Ed. London, 1745), with his youthful autograph, to-day enriches the collection of Washing- toniana in the Boston Athenæum.
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Hale's list of books concludes with "Paradise Lost" (six shillings) ; Addison's "Evidences" (five shillings) ; "Night Thoughts" (six shillings) ; and "Prior's Poems" (five shil- lings). Naught but blank spaces against these titles-no donors' or contributors' names. One wonders how, if it fell to him, Nathan got these particular books paid for. One wonders, too, where he bought the books of his list in the first place and how he financed their purchase, assuming that he did so.
The Linonia Library One of the Greatest of Yale's Traditions
Overshadowed now and rarely in the "Public Eye," the Linonia Library, with an unparalleled record for usefulness to undergraduates, is still segregated from the books in the main University Library, in which it will soon have a noble housing. The honor of founding it a century and a half ago may be unimportant now, but even so, is not unworthy of antiquarian research. If the "palm" is to be awarded, as by the compiler of the catalogues of 1843 and 1846 and the speakers at the great Centennial Celebration of 1853, to the first contributors of books, it must go to Lockwood and Sherman, who are at least the titular founders. But "the records of the Society" show that Nathan Hale, "the mournful flower of patriotism, the young scholar of Coventry," as Horace Bushnell saluted him, was its chief promoter, beyond peradventure. So sure am I of this that some years ago I proposed (see pp. 356-357) that the historic turreted library building of 1842-3 on the Old Campus should be restored and the Linonia Library installed in it for the use of the Yale undergraduates as a memorial to Hale, its most active protagonist, not the first contributor of books but the first to bring to it any constructive system, pro- vide a catalogue, etc.
We get a final glimpse of Hale in his zeal for the welfare. of the Linonia Library in his Valedictory to the "Sirs," namely, to the members of Linonia of the Class of 1772 at the
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A LETTER FROM HILLHOUSE TO HALE
Anniversary Celebration on April 15, 1772. In this delight- fully sophomoric and decidedly partisan valedictory oration Hale did not forget the matter so dear to his heart-the library. Almost at the beginning of his address-and we can imagine with what spirit he gave it-he said, "As our benefac- tors [i.e., the 1772 Linonia delegation], we have pertaken of their liberality, not only in their rich & valuable donations to our library [Italics mine], but, what is still more, their ami- able company & conversation."
Hale the Outstanding Figure of Linonia from his Election to Membership in Nov., 1770, to His Graduation in 1773
And so we might go on adducing evidence from that first volume of Linonia minutes to show that Nathan was the out- standing figure of the fraternity from the day of his being taken into it until he left college. It will be enough more to say that he was its scribe over a longer period than any one else during his time ; that he served as its secretary and assistant secretary; its chancellor and as chancellor pro tempore; and that he first listed the books in its library; that eight of the sixty-eight meetings held between November 7, 1770, the date of his election to membership and the anniversary exercises of April 15, 1773, were held in "Hale's room"; that the minutes of nineteen meetings are in his handwriting as scribe; and that he took a speaking part in nineteen of those sixty-eight meetings, viz., speeches, narrations, dialogues, disputes, a part in the "Toy Shop," a valedictory oration, an epilogue. How all these speechifyings differed from each other I do not know, nor does it signify. Hale's name does not appear in the minutes after the anniversary celebration of April 15, 1773. There were five meetings after that and before graduation September 3d. I surmise that in this interval Hale was at home in Coventry some of the time at least, helping his father and brothers on the haying and other farm work!
On the other hand, in the minutes of those sixty-eight meet- ings, the name of Hillhouse appears but thrice-on Nov. 7th,
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1770, when his election is recorded, on November 27th, 1771, when he brought in his "Quadratic Equation" question, and on April 15, 1772, when he was appointed to take a part in the "Beaux Stratagem." Similarly, Dwight's name appears in the minutes of those sixty-eight meetings but twice, on December 12, 1770, when a narration was "spoken by Sir Dwight," and on January 2, 1771, when appointed to take a part in the "Conscious Lovers." Dwight, however, had been active in the life of Linonia, as its earlier minutes show, when he was an undergraduate.
It does not follow that Hillhouse and Dwight were not present at all or many of these meetings of the "Honorable Fellowship Clubb," since no attempt was made in the minutes to list the names of those who were "seen but not heard."
I have often wondered about Nathan's room-mate, Isaac Gridley (1754-1836, Yale Coll. 1773), who was elected to membership in the club at the same meeting with Hale and Hillhouse, but whose name appears no more. Was he a silent attendant of the meetings or did he decline an election? It is significant that his name does not appear as a donor to the Library, though better able, perhaps, than many whose names are recorded. In after years he used to narrate how Nathan was unafraid when, out sailing in New Haven harbor, they were buffeted by a storm, and not long ago it was recorded on his headstone in Cromwell that he was a roommate of Nathan Hale. Such is posthumous fame.
Hale an Omnivorous Reader of Books
Hillhouse (Hale's "old Friend Jacob") was never, I con- clude, a bookish man and at that time (1771) Dwight, as I prefigure him, was hardly eclectic enough in his tastes (despite "Chrysal") to have chosen such a list of books as we find in Hale's handwriting in the Linonia Minutes. On the other hand, it is clear that Hale was an omnivorous reader of "His- tory, Plays, Novels, Romances or whatever you please." We get just a glimpse of him as an insatiable reader of books in
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A LETTER FROM HILLHOUSE TO HALE
a letter written to him from New Haven by his Yale classmate and Linonia brother, Roger Alden (1754-1836).
Thursday Morning after Fast [1775?]
I suppose that you rose very early this morning have been perusing some agreeable as well as profitable Book, & not many minutes since, felt for your watch Chain, with your eyes intent on your Book, until you had brought your memento about the length of your Book from its Habitation & found it to be just 59 minutes after 8 OClock, if that was not the most disagreeable Time in all the Day, tell me in your next, it seems to me that you pictured out at once all the Troubles that you was to encounter-This I am certain that your reading after that did not profit much-especially if you was in the middle of some diverting scene in either History, Plays, Novels, Romances or whatever you please,
(JOHNSTON, pp. 198-200).
Hale's "Last Words" remain to show us that among the plays he read was Addison's Cato, which had liberty for its main theme and was one of the most popular and most quoted pieces of English literature on this side of the Atlantic during the War of Independence.
That Hale was an ardent reader is also amply shown by his correspondence and diary. Enoch writing on May 10, 1774, to Nathan from Lyme, after a visit home, says:
I brought no books for you, I had no conveniency but left word to have them sent to you [from their home in Coventry to New London] if oppor- tunity presented, Pope's "Iliad" and the 5th Vol. of the late war, which I found among the books & placed in my chest . . . . . Squire Noyes would be glad to see the History of the late war, so if you will send me some of the Volumes if you dont want them, you will oblige him and me.
The "History of the late war" referred to by Enoch in his letter was the Rev. John Entick's well-known work in five volumes entitled "The General History of the Late War." It contained an account of what was spoken of in the Colonies as the French and Indian War and was therefore of especial interest to Hale and his contemporaries !
Ultimately, some "conveniency" was found for sending Nathan's "Iliad" to him, since the "Odyssy" (not wanted and left behind) appears among the books at home in Coventry
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in the inventory of Nathan's elder brother, Major John Hale (1748-1802). It was listed as "Popes Odyssy .34."
Hale's diary entry of December 13, 1775, reads :
"On Main Guard, Rec'd and wrote some letters. Read the History of Philip."
Hale was fond of reading history as we learn from Alden's letter above quoted and from his ownership of Entick's five- volume "History of the late war" already mentioned. The History of Philip was undoubtedly a history of Philip of Macedon. Whether the volume was Hale's or only borrowed cannot be stated. He must have been eager for "something to read" when he borrowed from Col. Varnum a copy of "Young's Mems" as recorded in his diary entry of November 6, 1775, wherein we find the following delightful confession, "Cast an eye on Youngs Mems belong to Col Varnum-a very good book." What could better illustrate the operation of a New England conscience than this entry !! He admits that "Youngs Mems" is a "very good book" but will not stultify himself to the extent of saying that he did more than "cast an eye" upon it. Hale's diary abounds in such revealing entries. John Hale's inventory above referred to also lists Caesar's Com- mentaries-a well-worn volume we may judge since it goes in at 25 cents. Perhaps Nathan's, or it may have belonged to one or the other of his two college-bred brothers, Enoch or David. The important fact is that in that house in remote Coventry the Iliad, the Odyssey and Caesar were among the books when Nathan, Enoch and David Hale were school and college boys, for whom they provided a significant cultural background a century and a half ago.
In another way the "Dictionary of Arts and Sciences" listed in Major John Hale's inventory of March 8, 1803, is of peculiar interest to students of Hale's story, since Stuart, assuming that it was the property of Hale, predicates upon it the theory that "Hale was peculiarly fond of scientific pursuits," a theory entirely unwarranted, as I think, by any evidence at hand; on
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A LETTER FROM HILLHOUSE TO HALE
the contrary, the evidence shows that Hale was peculiarly fond of "History, Plays, Novels, Romances or whatever you please," as evidenced by Alden's letter already quoted from. The book in question, "A New and Complete Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences ... by a Society of Gentlemen, London 1764," now in the possession of the writer, is a sumptuous work in four thick octavo volumes bound in calf and profusely illustrated with copperplate engravings. It was listed at $10- a considerably higher valuation than any other book appearing in the inventory, which lists several works of more than one volume. I cannot persuade myself (though I should be glad to feel that I had in my possession a book once owned and cherished by Hale) that it belonged to Hale. In the first place it does not contain his signature, whereas it seems to have been his custom to write his name (with some flourish) in his books, but it does contain the signature of John Hale-just the name, no more. In the second place the absence of an iota of evidence so much as to suggest Hale's interest in a book of this character goes far to negative Hale's ownership of the work. It seems unreasonable to suppose that Hale bought such an expensive book on such a subject after he began his soldiering (he had just turned twenty when he received his Lieutenancy) or out of his meagre earnings as a school-teacher before that.
It may be argued that if Hale could afford to buy Entick's "History of the late war" in five volumes (we do not certainly know that he did buy it) he could have bought this "Dictionary of Arts & Sciences." We do know, however, that he was interested in History and we have no reason to suppose that he was interested in Natural Science and the subjects treated of in the Dictionary, to which there is no reference in his diary or correspondence.
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